btw

CTP goes Hollywood!

And here's us and our new celebrity friend. Can you say "Point Break?"

The Flame Still Burns

We're currently in Albuquerque, New Mexico a week into our tour with Grave Maker, which has had its share of obstacles to say the least, but we're doing what we always do and riding through it. Ok, so that sentence makes it sound like it's worse than it actually is. It's really not that bad. Let me explain.

Unfortunately, our bass player Kyle "I got angry and I jumped" Bowen has a problem keeping his credit cards in order and has racked up enough debt to warrant a bailout from the federal government. But since he's not the CEO of AIG, has got to do what normal people do when they're in debt: go back to work. So instead of going on tour with us he's at home being a working stiff, which has left us as a 4 piece for the next month or so. For the first time ever, I have switched over from playing guitar to playing bass every night. I'm still trying to get used to it, but I suppose it's going well.

We started off the tour in West Virginia where we met up with Grave Maker on their last date with This is Hell. After driving 16 plus hours to the show we showed up too late to play in our designated time slot, so we ended up playing after This is Hell, which I guess wasn't the best, but kids still stuck around. After doing a month long metal tour in October, we kind of forgot that kids still listen to hardcore and some kids actually go to shows for other reasons than trying to "bring the mosh" (gasp!). It was just nice to play a show where everyone didn't run for the door once we started playing a fast beat.

Covington KY probably would've been a good show, but the building caught fire before we got to play. Oh well.

We spent Thanksgiving with our friends Claire and Mary in St. Louis, so thanks to them for taking in a bunch of crappy dudes, and bringing them around their family no less.

Since then we've been having fun with Grave Maker and we're stoked to be out with a hardcore band and getting back to playing actual hardcore shows. Tulsa was a dope show, and in Oklahoma City we got to chill with our old friends in Decades. We met them a couple years ago on one of our first tours and hadn't played with them since, so it was great to see them and hear how they've developed since then. Take Control from Iowa also played a couple shows with us, and they're solid dudes who you should check out.
So really things are pretty good. We're just broke and hungry, but that's nothing new. Tomorrow we're in El Paso and then we start heading west. We'll see you around.-Harbor

P.S: If you want to read a review where they compare us to Black Flag and Modern Life is War, check it out here

We're back!!!

Tentative dates with Grave Maker and other shows. More info is coming soon. You can help fill in the blanks if you'd like.
Nov 14 2008 5:00P
The Fireplace Vero Beach, Florida
Nov 15 2008 3:00P
Pizza di Rock w/ The Eulogy Tour Merritt Island, Florida
Nov 23 2008 6:00P
The Brickhouse w/ This Is Hell & Grave Maker St. Albans, West Virginia
Nov 24 2008 6:00P
Stewart Iron Works w/ Grave Maker Covington, Kentucky
Nov 25 2008 6:00P
HELP! TBA, Indiana
Nov 26 2008 6:00P
HELP! St. Louis, Missouri
Nov 27 2008 8:00P
HAPPY THANKSGIVING! St. Louis, Missouri
Nov 28 2008 6:00P
The Pink Eye w/ Grave Maker Tulsa, Oklahoma
Nov 29 2008 8:00P
HELP! Clovis/ Portales, New Mexico
Nov 30 2008 6:00P
The Compound w/ Grave Maker Albuquerque, New Mexico
Dec 1 2008 6:00P
TBA w/ Grave Maker El Paso, Texas
Dec 2 2008 6:00P
The Living Room w/ Grave Maker Tucson, Arizona
Dec 3 2008 6:00P
TBA w/ Grave Maker Phoenix, Arizona
Dec 4 2008 6:00P
HELP! Yuma, Arizona
Dec 5 2008 6:00P
TBA w/ Grave Maker Tijuana
Dec 6 2008 6:00P
The Nitty Gritty w/ Grave Maker Rancho Cucamonga, California
Dec 12 2008 6:00P
Friends Church w/ Grave Maker Citrus Heights, California
Dec 13 2008 6:00P
TBA w/ Grave Maker Eureka, California
Dec 14 2008 6:00P
TBA w/ Grave Maker Portland, Oregon
Dec 15 2008 6:00P
The Viaduct w/ Grave Maker Tacoma, Washington
Dec 16 2008 6:00P
TBA w/ Grave Maker Vancouver, British Columbia
Dec 17 2008 6:00P
The Shop Twin Falls, Idaho
Dec 18 2008 6:00P
Marquis Theatre w/ Agnostic Front, First Blood & Fight Like Hell Denver, Colorado
Dec 19 2008 6:00P
Cactus Jack’s Lifequest Church Belton, Missouri
Dec 20 2008 6:00P
The Gravel Pit Mountain Home, Arkansas
Dec 21 2008 6:00P
Swell Skateshop Jackson, Mississippi
Dec 22 2008 6:00P
TBA Pensacola, Florida

Oh, and this show in particular should be pretty fun.

Get into it!!!

Double Negative=Positive?

"MUSICALLY, IT'S HARD NOT TO SAY THAT THERE IS NOTHING NEW HERE."

word.

Here's an interview from SMNnews.com for you to read:

Call To Preserve are a hardcore band from Florida who have just released an album on Facedown Records. The band play was influenced by acts like Madball, Strongarm, and No Innocent Victim. SMN News spoke with guitarist Harbor Partin about their From Isolation album, the Florida underground scene, and his views on the Christian hardcore scene.

I know you the members of the band got their start playing more punk inspired music. How did the evolution towards hardcore happen?
I think as a band our musical tastes got heavier so we just gravitated towards that type of music. I remember at first I was the only one in the band that wasn’t really into hardcore and I just wanted to play punk, but then I heard bands like American Nightmare who played traditional hardcore and it turned me on to hardcore. Plus as it turns out hardcore is a lot more fun to play, so I guess that probably had something to do with it.

Although your sound is tough, there’s a lot of melody in certain spots. It reminded me of Terror with some Stretch Armstrong thrown in there and a more straight-forward hooky element to it. Can you talk about the writing process?
Yea we all grew up on Stretch Arm Strong so I think that influence definitely came out a little more on this album. When we were writing we worked a lot more on song structure and having parts that would be memorable. When we were picking and choosing what was going to be in a song we were going “ok, what does this part bring to the overall song? ” It made us try some things that I think we might have been to afraid to try before because it wasn’t typical hardcore type stuff, but I think it paid off in the end.

This interview is for a site that is definitely not Christian. We cover everything from Norwegian black metal to bands like Cannibal Corpse and Incantation. What do you have to say to the kid who’s looking at his computer right now and questioning us for covering a band like yours?
I don’t know really know what else to say except to keep an open mind. When it comes down to it, lyrics or and personal beliefs aside, we’re still a hardcore band. I don’t mean to be cliche and say hardcore is about standing up for what you believe in, but it kind of is. Diversity is what has made hardcore great from the beginning. Even in the early days when there were bands that stood up against religion, you had Krishna bands like Cro-Mags that were vocal about their faith. Imagine if no one would’ve listened to Cro-Mags because they didn’t share the same beliefs. Hardcore wouldn’t be the same. So I guess keep that in mind.

Did you guys ever find yourselves in a situation where you’re on a bill with bands that were resistant to playing with you because of your religious beliefs? For example, I’m not Christian but that doesn’t stop me from listening to bands that might be but I there must be people who don’t feel that way.
I suppose there are people who feel that way, but we haven’t encountered too many people like that. We’ve played with all different types of bands and everyone we’ve ever played with has seemed to respect what believe. I think part of the reason is because we’re not a real preachy band. You can look at our lyrics and talk to us and know what we’re about, but we’re really into just playing and letting the music speak for itself. I’m sure there’s tons of bands we play with who aren’t into what we’re about, but I guess not to the point where they wouldn’t want to play with us. There’s a lot of bands I’d like to play with that aren’t Christian, so I don’t see why it couldn’t work the other way too.

Do you think because of the religious overtones, kids who listen to positive hardcore follow the lyrical content closer?
It’s hard to say. I guess we have a lot of positive type songs, but I know with the new album there were a few songs where the outlook isn’t exactly positive. A song like “Sinking Sun” has kind of a bleak outlook to it, just because that was how I felt at the time that I wrote it. I know we talk about a lot of positive stuff, but I hope that anyone could relate to our music, no matter where they are in life.

Which songs on From Isolation are people responding to the most on tour? “Hope For the Fallen” seems like one that would go over really well live.
“Hope for the Fallen” does alright, but I think it’s going to be one of those songs that’s going to do much better once people get more familiar with the new album. I think “Sinking Sun” has probably had the best response out of all them, probably because it’s been on our MySpace for a while now and it’s got that intro in the beginning. Shameless has also gone over really well. It’s probably the heaviest song on the album, possibly the heaviest song we’ve ever written so people tend to react to that song very well.

On the song “Sinking Sun” you have the lyrical refrain, “We come from isolation but we’re never alone.” Who is the “we” in that particular track?
That line is about thinking you’re alone in whatever mess you’ve gotten yourself into and then realizing that it’s not just you who goes through low points in their lives. It’s everyone. You have to face the reality of your decisions by yourself, but it’s kind of a common aspect of being human and we can share the burden of our struggles. “We” is pretty much everyone in the most general sense.

It seems like the Florida hardcore scene is really coming up lately. Can you talk about some of the bands that we should keep our eyes out for?
Yeah Florida Hardcore is pretty dope. One of our favorite bands here has got to be Infected. We’ve known their singer Josh for a long time and has come on the road with us a few times. They played a bunch of our cd release shows and they’re awesome to watch live. They’ve got a real pissed, thrashy, sound. Definitely got that Infest or Seige vibe to them, but darker. Definitely check out Infected. Good dudes and good music.

I loved Strongarm and actually became friends with Nick and Steve from the band years later when I was in a band that was signed to Nick’s label. How important was that band to Christian hardcore and the Florida music scene?
That band was extremely important, especially when it comes to the genre of “spirit filled hardcore.” They were definitely a huge influence on this band, not only the music but also what they stood for and how they stood out in the scene at the time. What stands out about them to me is that they’re music was just as good as any of the other hardcore bands at the time who weren’t Christian and that definitely cemented them as one of the defining Christian hardcore bands. They’re definitely a huge influence on Christian hardcore now as far as their message goes, but I wish more bands actually sounded like them. There’s too few Christian bands who still follow in their footsteps musically and I wish there were more.
How is the tour going with For Today? Are the turn-outs decent and how are the out-of-control gas prices affecting everything?

So far the tour’s been going pretty awesome. Everyone in For Today are awesome dudes and they’re a lot of fun to hang out with. For the most part the turn outs have been great, probably better than decent. There’s always good and bad shows on tour, but even the shows with less kids haven’t been that bad and they’ve all turned to be a good time. Gas is definitely taking its toll, but we’re still surviving. It could be worse because gas has actually gone down since we’ve been on tour, so I guess if gas would’ve gone up instead we’d probably be really hurting right now. So yea, we’re still a pretty broke band, but we’re gonna be ok. This is what we love to do so nothing’s going to stop us.

What’s the best part about being in Call To Preserve and what’s the worst?
The best part is getting to do what I love and travel the country with my best friends. The worst part is that since I’ve decided not to have a real job, I’m broke and I can hardly afford to feed myself. Don’t even ask me how I plan to pay off my student loans because I don’t have an answer.

Name your 5 favorite hardcore albums of all time.
In no particular order:

American Nightmare: Background Music
Dag Nasty: Can I Say
Stretch Armstrong: The Rituals of Life
Give up the Ghost: We’re Down Till We’re Underground
Cro Mags: Age of Quarrel

Home Sweet Home.

Our time on the minotour ended a few days ago and now we're all back home safe in Florida and enjoying the fact that it's not 30 degrees outside. We had planned on being out for another week, but some of the dates fell through and we didn't feel like having 3 days off between the next show and losing even more money, so we decided to cancel the few dates we had left and head home.

The last few days of the tour ended being way chillier than what we expected for a fall tour. On Tuesday we were driving from New York City to Pittsburg when it started snowing like crazy. I didn't think there would be a chance in the world we would see snow in October, especially with all the global warming hoopla nowadays. We pulled over and some of us got out and acted like little kids playing in the snow, but after about 5 minutes though we remembered how snow sucks (especially wet, northeast, October snow) and remembered how everyone hates it when it snows and now we have 6 more hours to drive in this slush. Luckily the snow let up after not too long and we got to Pittsburgh safe. After we survived the roads, our lungs had to survive the smoky death trap that is Club Octane where we played that night. I don't even remember how our set went. I just remember about 100 underage kids smoking in a small room and making the place resemble a gas chamber. It was so sad to see all those young kids smoking. I just wanted to tell all those kids good luck having working lungs in the future, cause I was only there for a couple hours and I thought I was getting Bronchitis.
Our last show was in Edinborough Pa, at the hangout and I thought it was good show to leave off with, except for the fact that both me and matt broke a string within 5 minutes of each other. War of Ages came and hung out and even did a surprise song at the beginning of For Today's set. Kids were stoked! I'm not going lie though, I was more stoked on the fact that a Misfits cover band played that night. It's not that I don't like War Ages, it's just that I Love the Misfits! I probably enjoyed that band more than any other local band I saw on this tour. At the end of the show we had a small snowball fight with For Today which turned into a air soft gun fight, which really wasn't fair because Dave from For Today was the only one with an air soft gun.
After out debacle we said our goodbyes and wished them well. We're gonna miss those dudes! Such awesome guys and we'll be stoked to hang out with them at Facedown Fest. After the show we drove 18 hours straight and got home on Halloween Night with just enough time to crash some parties and make fun of drunk girls. I love Halloween!

We got a couple dates coming up this month. One being this show:
Lots of good bands on this show, and hopefully you'll get to see most of them before the show gets shut down. just kidding!...but seriously.
We'll be announcing our Novemeber/December dates with Grave Maker (Think Fast!) very shortly. Stay Posted!- Harbor and CTP

We hate days off

Last minute show today. Just go ahead and add our name to the list. We play 1st for 15 minutes.


Also here's another video for you to check out:

Fast times in the Jersey countryside

Greetings from the middle of nowhere New Jersey! I would like to tell you where exactly we are in the garden state, but I honestly have no idea. We played in Clinton tonight and after the show we followed this nice family on what we thought would be a short drive to stay at their house. After about 10 minutes of driving we got into a rural area and I thought, "Oh that's nice, they live in a quaint little area." 20 minutes later country road turns into even more country road and we're still not to the house. Back at home nothing good ever happens this deep into the woods. All the sudden I started thinking of that movie Wicker Man and thought there might be a possibility we were being taken to be sacrificed at the hands of pagan farmers, bent on spilling the blood of good Christian boys, all just to appease the land so they're crop would yield plenty for their little backwoods Wiccan agricultural commune. fortunately that is not the case and we are all alive, and enjoying the hospitality of this nice family.

Last night we played in Annapolis, Maryland, where not a whole lot a kids showed up, but the few that did seemed to be stoked. Plus, we got to hang out with a couple of dudes from xLooking Forwardx and that's always fun. Justin came and hung for a little bit and then after the show we all stayed at Kevin D's new place, which is pretty ballin'. All those guys seem pretty stoked to not be playing shows in xLFx right now, but since they're all doing grown up things like having kids and getting married and having real jobs, I can't really blame them. At least we still get to hang out when we come to Maryland.
This band called One Step Too Many played the show, and it was great to play with those dudes. They have great musical taste for a band whose singer is barely old enough to drive. On a tour where I've seen at least 5 kids wearing a The Devil Wears Prada shirt every night, they were a breath of fresh air. You can check them out here.
Tonight's show was a little wierd. There were over 200 kids in this church's gym, but everyone stood in the back most of the time. The "pit" was in the middle of the floor, but nobody was in front of them. It was just odd. I think it might have to do with the venue's rules about "no riding on the crowd" and having "happy pits." I'm sure having about 5 kids there who knew what hardcore was didn't help either.

Our show tomorrow in Yonkers got canceled. Sucks. We're trying to find a last minute replacement show here in Jersey. We'll see what happens.

Stuff You Should Check Out
First off all, we finally finished our second video blog for this tour, and it's quite possibly the best one we've ever done. It's jammed packed with all sorts of goodies. Watch it:


Here's an Interview we did with Pure Grain Audio. You can check that out here:http://www.puregrainaudio.com/interviews/call-to-preserve
I just want to say, I think the question I'm tired of being asked the most is, "Do you think being a Christian band keeps you from being accepted?" I honestly don't really know the answer. I don't really care either. Sometimes we play to Christian kids and do really well and sometimes we do really bad. Sometimes we play just regular hardcore shows and we do well and sometimes we don't. I have no idea whether or not it's because we're all followers of Jesus or not. I can't always find the correlation of why some people like us and some don't, but I feel like it's not my job to analyze what people think about us. Isn't that their job? Isn't that your job? This little rant shouldn't keep you from reading the article though. Read it and make your own judgements about us.

Lastly, Heather Utley takes awesome pictures like this one:

Check out her site!
We Love You!-Harbor and CTP

Don't be that Gwuy!

So we've been on tour for the past few weeks now, and it's been a lot of fun. We hooked up with For Today a little while ago and we've been causing trouble all over the country. As it turns out they're pretty rad dudes. I would tell you more about the tour, but I don't want to ruin the next video blog, which should be up here in the next few days. It's going to be jam packed with craziness and mischievous behavior that you wont know what to do with yourself.
Besides that, I will say this has been the most metal tour we've been on (translate as no one knows who we are on this tour). In all honesty it's been kind of a mixed bag. A lot of the shows have been like if you dropped a handful of kids who would usually be at our shows into a crowd of 150 kids who've never heard of us, or any other hardcore band for that matter. This does not mean we're not having fun. We definitely are. You will know how much fun soon enough.

If you get a chance, pick up the new issue of Outburn magazine, where you'll find a nice little interview with us, which would be a little nicer had they gotten our album title right. Is it so hard to get "From Isolation" right? C'mon! Go buy it, or come see us at a show and will give you one for free! Actually if I get a chance I'll scan it and put it on here.

Well this was fun. The next entry will include such visual mastery you won't know what to do with yourself.

If the Cohen Brothers toured in a van...

As promised, here is the first video from our cd release tour. I know this one seems a little long, but it's worth watching the whole thing. Of course if you were at one of our shows last week there's a good chance you're in it, so go look for yourself. If you do decide that 8 minutes is pushing your short attention span to unknown levels, fast forward to the last 2 minutes. You won't be sorry.


Also tomorrow we got added to a show last minute in St. Louis with Folsom (we just can't stay away from those dudes!) It's at the Rubar, so come out and have a good time. Later Slater!

Win some shoes from CTP and nike 6.0

So in case you didn't know, Nike 6.0 is making some pretty hot shoes right now, so there's no reason why you shouldn't do this contest and get some free dunks, as well as our brand new cd! You can sign up here. Big thanks goes out to our good friend Adam at 6.0 for hooking this contest up!

We just played a show in Louisville, Kentucky tonight and I guess it wasn't too bad of a show. Supposedly, Hoods played the same place the past two nights before we played, so I guess that probably affected the turn out a little bit. We still had a great time and thanks to everybody for coming out. Right now we're hanging in our friend Heather's basement in Evansville, Indiana where we'll be playing tomorrow. We're definitely stoked because Evansville is always good people and the last few times we've played here have been amazing. There's also this promise of donuts when we get up in the morning and that makes me like being here even more. Oh and I have mention that the staircase to Heather's basement is the steepest staircase I've ever seen. It's like some booby trapped stair case that guards the resting place of the holy grail, or the entrance to a lab of an evil genius. Actually the first thing I thought when I saw it was "Stay close to the candles. The stairway... can be treacherous." If you know where that quote is from you get a free shirt next time we play your town. Enough about stairs. I shouldn't be making blog posts at 4 in the morning. Goodnight!-Harbor

P.S.: I'm in the process of editing the next tour video blog, so be ready!

Today is the Day!!!

The new album from Call To Preserve titled “From Isolation” is in stores and online today! Pick up a copy at Hot Topic (on sale for $9.99), Hastings, Virgin, and select Best Buy and FYE stores. As always, you can also pick up a copy at some of our favorite indie record shops like: Newbury comics, Gray Whale, Bull Moose, Angelos, Dimple, Electric Fetus, Independent, Rasputins, Zia and many more. You can also pick up a copy on iTunes or in the
Facedown Records online store.


What else can I say except GO PICK IT UP!

Getting Back in the Van

We had a pretty fun weekend of cd release shows and we want to thank everyone for coming and having a good time with us. Our friends in Infected came along with us and it was awesome to hang out and see them play every night. Make sure you check them out! The show in Brandon was definitely the stand out show of the weekend. I could tell you about it, or you could watch these videos:

We shot our video for "Hope for the Fallen" on Saturday night and it went extremely well. Thanks to all our friends from home and from south Florida for hanging out and filling the shots with high fives and stage dives. You'll be seeing that up in a few weeks. You'll also being seeing some video blogs up pretty soon too. Keep checking back!!!

We've been hanging out at the beautiful beaches in Destin, FL since yesterday for a little R'n'R before starting the next leg of the tour. Tonight we wrap up the Florida cd release shows in Pensacola at the Red Door and we'll be playing with our good friends in Jump the Shark. Until then I'm going to take in he salty air and go for a sail. See ya'll on the road!-Harbor

Tour Dates Tour Dates Tour Dates

Oct 8 2008 @ Java Jazz; Houston, Texas

Oct 9 2008 @ New Hope A/G ; Wade, Mississippi

Oct 10 2008 @The Vault; Clinton, Mississippi

Oct 11 2008 @ The Red Door; Pensacola, Florida

Oct 12 2008 @ The Harbor; Panama City, Florida

Oct 13 2008 @TBA South FL Hook It Up! South, Florida

Oct 14 2008 @ Beacon Community Church; New Port Richey, Florida

Oct 16 2008 @ Fuel Coffeehouse; Jacksonville, Florida

Oct 17 2008 @ The Fish; McCalla, Alabama

Oct 18 2008 @ Mercy Hill Church; Rainbow City, Alabama

Oct 19 2008 5:00P @ (Hood Fest) Hope In Christ Church; West Columbia, South Carolina

Oct 20 2008 @ Livin Lattes; Pilot MT, North Carolina

Oct 21 2008 @ The Refuge; Fredericksburg, Virginia

Oct 22 2008 @ Lucky’s Pub; Wilmington, North Carolina

Oct 23 2008 @ Knights Of Columbus; Annapolis, Maryland

Oct 24 2008 @ Aquifer; Clinton, New Jersey

Oct 25 2008 @ TBA Connecticut

Oct 26 2008 @ Yonkers YMCA; Yonkers, New York

Oct 27 2008 @ Vibe Lounge; Rockville Centre, New York

Oct 29 2008 7:00P @ Club Octane; Charleroi, Pennsylvania

Oct 30 2008 7:00 @ The Hangout; Edinboro, Pennsylvania

Don't forget about our cd release shows this weekend all around Florida. One more week till "From Isolation" hits stores!

Oh and while your at it go pick this album up TOMORROW!

flyer this!

From the far corners of the interwebs, we've scraped up these flyers for some of our upcoming shows.







If you live near these areas, use your virtual wheat pasting skills to to spread the appropriate flyer around the internet like an infectious disease. Or if you actually do wheat paste, spread them all over the real world too!
Remember that if you want to be in our video, make sure you go to the melbourne show on the 27th. This will be nuts!
See you out on the road!

Resilient

First of all:
Here's the first batch of dates for our cd release shows and the first part of tour.

Sep 25 2008 6:00P
Fuel (CD Release Show!) Jacksonville, Florida

Sep 26 2008 6:00P
The Porch (CD Release Show!) w/ Thick As Blood Brandon, Florida

Sep 27 2008 7:00P
Jaycees (CD Release Show!) w/ Thick As Blood Melbourne, Florida

Sep 28 2008 7:00P
The Capitol (CD Release Show!) Ocala, Florida

Sep 29 2008 8:00P
tba North FL, Florida

Sep 30 2008 6:00P
The Red Door Pensacola, Florida

Oct 1 2008 6:00P
The Warehouse East Ridge, Tennessee

Oct 2 2008 6:00P
The Hideaway Johnson City, Tennessee

Oct 3 2008 6:00P
Bulldog Cafe (CD Release Show!) Louisville, Kentucky

Oct 4 2008 6:00P
TBA Evansville, Indiana

Oct 5 2008 6:00P
Mojoes Rock House Tinley park, Illinois

Oct 6 2008 8:00P
MEMPHIS HELP! Memphis, Tennessee

After this we'll be out on tour till november so we got a whole bunch more dates coming.

So John got into a motorcycle accident last week. Fortunately he's ok, but he's going to have to take it easy for the next month or so, so we had to cancel our Orlando show with Recon, the Pensacola show with Advent and Reign Supreme, and we've rescheduled the video shoot for August 27th at our cd release show.

Fortunately John made it out of the accident with mostly scrapes and bruising, but he's still got a lot of healing to do. We would really appreciate it if you keep him in your prayers. We're hoping he'll have a speedy recovery and he can get back on stage soon. We appreciate everyone who has already offered their prayers and support. It means a lot.

We'll see you guys soon!

Tropical Storms can't stop us!

Despite the in-climate weather going on over our great state, we still got a lot of stuff going on, so here's a some important stuff you'll want to to know:

Pre-Orders are up!


You can now pre-order our new album "From Isolation" from the Facedown Records website. They've got a few different options too so you have the choice of getting 1 of 2 different new CTP shirts with the cd. Plus, when you pre-order you automatically enter to win a PSP. That's a deal if I've ever heard one!

Video Shoot!
September 6th we'll be doing a video shoot at the Melbourne Jaycees. I believe the cost to get in is going to be $4, but there will be a couple other bands playing and they're is probably going to be some grilling going on out back. When's the last time you went to a show for $4? Come on! The video is for our new song "Hope for the Fallen" which is the one we had up on our myspace from our pre-production sessions a while back. Hopefully we'll have the album version posted soon. We're going to do some shooting before we play with the song playing over the speakers (this is real Hollywood stuff!) Then we're going to play a regular set and film that too. It is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT that you:
A. Bring as many people as you can to this show. It doesn't matter if you don't have any friends who listen to us or hardcore or whatever. Bring your parents if need be. When need that place packed!
B. You must go absolutely crazy at this show. We don't want footage of people standing around looking bored. We want footage of people who look like there at an actual hardcore show (go watch "American Hardcore" or the Champion DVD if you need inspiration). We prefer stage dives, finger points, pile-ons, and headwalks, but if you're feeling creative just go do it. It doesn't matter, just go nuts!
Show starts at 5pm and the address. 2401 Post Road Melbourne, FL 32935. Mapquest it! If you live out of town, or out of state, just do a road trip with all your friends. It'll be worth it!
That's it for now. Keep checking back. We'll have cd release shows announced soon, as well as tour dates for next month and through the fall. Keep it real.-Harbor

new song posted!

We just posted a new song from our new album on our myspace! It's called "Sinking Sun" and it's the first track from the cd, This song kind of sets the tone for the rest of the album. It's about being lost. It's about realizing everything you used to know about the world is changing before your eyes. It's about growing up. It's about new beginnings that can look like dead ends. Read the lyrics. Take some notes. Commit it to memory. Whatever you gotta do. Hope you guys like it!

We've come from isolation but we're never alone.
When the sun sets on everything you know how will you know where to go?
I've spent my whole life running and now I'm left with nothing to show.
Now my life ahead looks nothing like how I thought it would.
I'm left behind. I'm looking for a future that I can't find.
Not who I thought I could be.
Being held back by my humanity and now my life ahead looks nothing like how I pictured it.
But somehow I know it's always darkest before dawn
so I look into the black and I keep walking on.
I know there's more than what I can see.
Because sometimes you're the only one searching for what's real.
There is another way than this.
There's got to be another path than this.
Beyond what I see, beyond those darker days ahead of me.
But somehow I know it's always darkest before dawn,
so I look into the black and I keep walking on,
because sometimes you're the only one searching for what's real.
Sometimes you're the only one discontent with just living by how you feel.

home sweet home.

We just got home tonight after the 26 hour drive from Boston. We packed up and left the apartment in Fenway yesterday morning, drove to the studio in Stoughton, left right after the last mix was done and got on the highway around 3:30. i just want to take this moment to apologize to whoever is going to be living in that apartment after we inhabited it for the last 2 weeks: We're sorry if you can't get the smell out of it. There's a good chance that place won't ever be the same. I also want to take this opportunity to let everyone know that if you're ever in the new england area and pass by a Honey Dew donuts after 4pm, do yourself a favor and take advantage of their "dozen donuts for $1.99 after 4pm" deal. You wont be sorry.

And now without further ado, I present the final video blog from our little trip. I tried to post it yesterday, but was having difficulty getting a solid internet connection.


Hope you enjoy it as much as we did making it!-Harbor

Stormy New England Weather

All recording sessions for From Isolation have been completed. All the tracking is finished and now were in the process of mixing the album. We've been doing about 4 songs a day, which has left us some time to hang around the city. After the last day of recording we took a day off to refresh and get the songs out of our heads.

The weather was beautiful the first week we were here, but as luck would have it, the day we don't have to do anything it rains all day. We'd been spending most of our time in the studio or in the one bedroom apartment we've been staying at, so we had to get out. We ended up spending most of the day walking around downtown Boston in the rain. Never did the sun come out once. The weather only varied from fairly gloomy to torrential downpour.

Despite the rain, it ended up being a good day. We saw Paul Revere's house, watched a regatta, and had some wicked awesome macaroni and cheese. By the way, according Jim, the thing to say up here a few years ago was "wicked decent," which seems weird to me because I don't think it has the same impact as wicked awesome. It's like saying something is "amazingly average." I don't know...

Here's a little interview I did for the cool dudes over at Hxcchristian.com this week. I talk a little bit about what's going on wiith the new record and answered some questions about our beliefs as a band. Check it out and check out their site!

Side note: Reading it back, I think I sound a little too accusatory about people who think we aren't "Christian" enough, and I didn't mean to come off that harsh. I didn't mean in any way that bands who openly preach at shows aren't doing the right thing. That's just not what we feel like WE need to do. Just wanted to clear that up. Anyways, read on!

Band Name: Call To Preserve
Music Style: Hardcore
Location (Home Base): Rockledge, Florida
Q: How long have you been playing as Call to Preserve?
A: I think we started playing as Call to Preserve in early 2003. The four of us who have been in the band since the beginning have all known each other most of our lives, if not all. Matt and Mike are brothers, I met John when I was 3 or 4, and we both met Matt and Mike in Kindergarten. When we were in middle school we played in our youth group band together, and when we got to high school we started playing in a punk band. It never went anywhere, but the songs kept getting harder and heavier, and we ended up writing hardcore songs kind of by accident. We ended up regrouping at the end of one summer, wrote some more songs, and took the name we have now. We’ve been going at it ever since.
Q: Where does the name Call to Preserve come from?
A: The name kind of came around by mistake. Matt was reading the book of Jude and this passage had a headline over it that said, “A call to persevere ,” but he read it as “A call to preserve.” He liked what he thought he read, so we went with it. It wasn’t till later he realized he read it wrong and by then we had already been playing out, so we just stuck with it. I definitely think there’s a meaning behind it though. It has to do with keeping a mindset or thinking what has gotten us through life, like being followers of Christ or being straight edge. To me it has to do with not wavering in whatever you believe.
Q: When did you guys decide to be a Christian band?
A: I don’t think there was ever really a discussion about it, we just knew that would be the purpose of the band. I think we’ve always seen Call to Preserve as an extension of who we are, so I think since we’re all followers of Christ, our music is going to reflect that. There was never strategic design or anything. We just wanted to have fun and play music, but at the same time our higher calling as people bleeds over into our role as a band.
Q: You guys don’t hide the fact that you are a Christian hardcore band, have you guys met much resistance for being a Christian band?
A: I can’t say we’ve really felt a whole lot of resistance, except for the occasional message board comment here or there, but that’s really not that big of a deal to me. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that most kids who write us off for being a Christian band probably haven’t ever given us a chance. I know that especially in punk and hardcore there is stigma around bands who are Christian, but a lot of times I can see why. For people who don’t know God, all they see are these bands who get up there that haven’t paid their dues in the scene, they play half-hearted music and then try to “pitch” Jesus to the crowd. To them we look like salesmen. That’s why even though we’ve never backed down from our beliefs, we’ve really tried to stay away from shoving Jesus down people’s throats when we play. I think people have had enough of it and it can turn people off. We would much rather just talk to people about our faith and create dialogue after our shows.
Some people don’t like the fact that we don’t preach, but we all feel it’s much more personal and has more impact than just ranting and raving every night on stage. That’s why when we play we always emphasize that we are there to make friends and get to know everyone. We’re not rock-stars, or preachers for that matter. We just want to share Jesus with people one on one because that’s how he shares himself with people.
Q: Where in the bible does Call to Preserve get the most inspiration from?
A: Pretty much from anywhere. Anything that inspires me at the time I guess. “Unsinkable” was based on Ephesians 4:14, which talks about not being “tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching.” I thought it gave a great visualization about the struggle of faith, so I just ran with the concept. We have a song on the new album called dear Galatia that’s based in the book of Galatians and it talks about not relying on religion for salvation. We’ve also got a new song that parallels the prodigal son parable and one that uses a lot of imagery from Exodus where the Hebrews wander in the desert. We pretty much use anything that stands out to us as something with a visual characteristic to it.
Q: You recently signed to Facedown Records, Congrats! What does this mean for the band?
A: Thanks man, we’re pretty stoked about it. Well, obviously it means we’ll be putting our next record out on Facedown, so we’ll have more of a push for this record than we did for Unsinkable. As a band, signing to Facedown means we’ve decided to really step our game up. When we wrote the new album, we put a lot of time into it, and it’s definitely a few steps up from our older material. We’re going to be touring a lot more and you’re going to hear a lot more from us. With the new signing, the new album coming out, and everything we have in store for the future. You’re pretty much going to see a new Call to Preserve.
Q: What was the craziest show you guys have played?
A: This is always hard to narrow down. One of them would have to be the first time we played With NIV (No Innocent Victim) a couple years ago in Ocala, fl. The show was in a church in a decent sized sanctuary, but it was packed from wall to wall. When we played the first note, the whole place went off. Kids were going wild and stage diving and singing along. It was an amazing response considering we hadn’t played Ocala in years, we were the opening band, and we only had a demo out at the time. Both times we played Facedown Fest was also amazing. More recently we played a packed garage in Springfield, MO that was pretty awesome. There was probably about 60 people packed in a space about the size of someones living room. Kids were stoked and the energy was pretty intense.
Q: Is everyone in the band straight edge?
A: Yep.
Q: Why do you suppose that some many Christian bands are edge to?

A: It seems to me that there aren’t that many Christian edge bands out there right now. Actually, I would think there would be more than the handful that I know of because in some ways the straight edge lifestyle compliments a Godly lifestyle. Of course, neither is essential to the other, but I know that personally, straight edge has just been something thats reinforced my own personal morals that I already had as a Christian, like treating your body like a temple of the Holy Spirit. From what I can tell most of the Christian edge bands are kind of in the same boat as us. They are people who love Jesus, but also happen to be straight edge, so that comes out in their music. I wouldn’t mind seeing more Christian straight edge bands though. Actually, I wouldn’t mind seeing more Christian hardcore bands in general. It seems the trend in the Christian underground scene lately has been all about metal and metalcore. Consequently I can’t say I listen to a whole lot of Christian bands these days.
Q: What bands does Call to Preserve compare itself to?
A: We don’t compare ourselves to anyone, but I guess people might say we sound like Terror or Seventh Star or any other “tough” band. Hopefully the new stuff will throw people off and they won’t be able to pigeon hole us and say we sound like a certain band.
Q: What bands have influenced your sound?
A: Some of our biggest influences have been the early Facedown bands like Figure Four, xDisciplex, No Innocent Victim, and Point of Recognition. Some other bands would have to be Stretch Armstrong, American Nightmare, and Strongarm. Our newer material we incorporated some influence from a lot of different bands like No Warning, Madball, Buried Alive, Modern Life is War, and maybe even a little Slick Shoes.
Q: What are the future plans for the band?
A: We’re almost done recording the new album and it should be out by the end of September. We’re currently looking for a label to do a vinyl release of it as well. We’ve got a couple tours we’re working on with some rad bands, so within the next couple months we should be back on the road. Once it gets close to the release of our next record, we pretty much plan on touring full time. We’ve also been wanting to go to Europe the past couple years, so hopefully will be able to go over there some time next year.
Q: You are currently in the studio, how is that going? What challenges are you facing? When can we expect your new album to hit the streets?
A: Being in the studio has been awesome. We’re working with Jim Seigel, who’s recorded so many good bands that it’s ridiculous. American Nightmare, Blood for Blood, Guns Up!, Have Heart, the list could go on and on. He’s definitely got his own signature sound and we’re stoked to have that in our record. We started putting vocals to everything yesterday, so all the songs are really starting to come together. I guess our biggest challenge is probably just being able to finish on time and on budget. I think pretty much every band that isn’t on a major label deals with that every time they record. I’m pretty sure we’ll finish on time, but it’s definitely something we think about a lot. It was also just a challenge to get up here to record. For some reason we couldn’t get any shows booked on the way up, so we had to drive straight from Florida to Boston, which is something like 28 hours. Since we didn’t have any shows to support the cost of driving, a lot of that $4 a gallon gas came out of our own pockets.
The album’s going to be called “From Isolation” and hopefully it will be out by the end of September.
Q: How has the hardcore scene received Call to Preserve? Are other bands that are not Christian open to Him whom you represent? (Him being Christ and God).
A: We’ve always tried to make friends with everyone we play with or whoever comes to our shows, and we’ve definitely made good friends with people all over the country who don’t have the same beliefs we do. For the most part, people have been very respectful of what we stand for as a band and I don’t think its ever caused us to not get along with a band. Whether or not they are open to Jesus, I’m not always sure, but we’ve really tried to break down the perceptions of what these bands think about Christians by just being good friends and sincere. I think in that way we’ve probably kept people more open to Jesus than before we met them.
Q: What is the most challenging thing about being in a Christian band?
A: The biggest challenge about being a Christian band is the scrutiny you willingly put yourself through when you’re a band that claims to be a certain way. What we always have to remember is that if we claim to be Christians, then we are examples of who God is to people who don’t know him, and it’s even more so when you’re in the spotlight. I know that I’m human and I make mistakes just like everyone else, but if people are looking up to us to see who Jesus is and we’re acting like idiots, than we’re not doing our job. Of course there’s always going to be people who will never be happy and decide to be the judge of every bands walk. I guess it’s much easier to tear down other people than to actually be understanding of who people are are, but all we can do is be honest about who we are and let people know that we are regular people who mess up all the time and are no more deserving of the grace of God than anyone else.
Q: Have you had kids come to you after shows to discuss Christ?
A: It doesn’t happen all the time, but it definitely happens. We are always open to talk to people and get to know them when we play somewhere. That’s where we feel we can have the biggest impact, not necessarily from reciting a speech on stage. Sometimes kids just want to talk about music or whatever, and that’s cool too, but we do get kids who will come up and tell us how one of our songs has impacted their life, and that’s always great to hear. Sometimes people want criticize us about something we do that they don’t like, whether it’s because we’re straight edge, or they don’t feel we preach enough, and that’s fine too. We’re open to what everyone has to say.
Q: In my life, I have definitely felt Christ helping me succeed, do you attribute your success with following Christ?
A: I’ve always believed that if you put God first, he will give you the desires of your heart. I know that when we started this band, all I really wanted was to be able to do a little touring and have people outside our little town know we are, so I definitely think God has opened doors for us to get places we didn’t think we’d ever go. since we’ve been a band, the only label we ever wanted to be on was Facedown, and to think about the events that lead to us meeting Jason and getting signed, it would be hard to believe that God didn’t have His hand in this since the beginning. I don’t want to say that following Christ means you’ll be successful in everything you do or make lots of money, but I definitely thank God being given the opportunity to do what we love and for exceeding our expectations every day.

We're not serious about anything.

See if you can catch any references of The Office in this one!

Also, we got the artwork for the album today, and it's freaking crazy! You'll find out in time.

Next post will be mostly pictures, followed by the 3rd and final video from the studio.

we love you!


Current Playlist:
Have Heart: Songs to Scream at the Sun
Cat Power: Moon Pix

Currently watching:
The Office season 3
Wayne's World

We're making records

This is our first video blog ever! I guess its supposed to be about us recording and stuff, but most of it is just us goofing off. Whatever. Hope you enjoy it.

We left last week to go record our next album, "From Isolation." We're working with Jim Seigel in Stoughton Mass and it's coming along amazing. We picked up a couple friends on the way, which has made the experience even more enjoyable. Here's everything that's happened from Florida to Boston by way of photography.

New York City

Boston Mass/ recording the new album

Video posts coming soon!