For All Who Seek the Truth: the Call to Preserve blog

Outta Time

2011-05-06T22:12:00.000-07:00

Whenever I try to do any kind of business for the band, or even try to post on this blog I'm reminded of why we're breaking up. It's really hard to keep a band going while you're working full time. We've been getting stuff ready for the tour and the 7" while trying to juggle busy lives and some of us living out of state, so it's not as easy as it used to be. That being said, here's a little run-down on what's been going on. Hopefully later I can post about some of these things in greater detail.

Facedown Fest

Facedown Fest was a lot of fun as always, but this time was different since it was our last west coast show and it was our first time not touring out there. We all flew in to San Diego on Thursday and ate In-N-Out Burger immediately. We had really missed it. Our friend Drew happened to be in town with A Day to Remember, so we called him up and ended up hanging out at their show with 6,000 screaming tweens. It was quite an experience. The fest itself was a lot of fun and we're really going to miss going out there. Our set was great and the kids really made it worth our while.

Here's a short clip from the set where we play Empty Promises and a No Warning cover. I was stoked that so many kids knew that song:

Also, here's a video of 60 dudes in black t-shirts trying to take a picture on the beach.

And this is what it came out looking like.

Pretty cool, huh?

Validation

We just got done recording our final release, the "Validation" 7". It's finishing getting mastered right now and we're really excited about it. I think it's really going out on a high note for us and we can't wait for you to hear the new songs. Here's the tracklisting in case you're interested.

1. Exploit, Neglect, Condemn
2. Validation
3. Closer
4. To become One

We'll be posting more about that soon, including details about the pressing.

The Final Tour

We've just announced our final tour for this summer. We'll be heading out with a band we love touring with, Dead Icons, and our new friends in Dynasty. We tried to hit up places we love playing and for a two week tour it's pretty spread out. If we didn't make it to you area, we're really sorry. Here's the dates:

6/15 Fayetteville GA @ 11th Hour Venue **
6/16 Columbia SC @ Unit One Art Space
6/17 Whitesburg KY @ Letcher County Tourism
6/18 Cookeville TN @ Westside Station
6/19 Southhaven MS @ Cafe 549
6/20 Little Rock AR @ Downtown Music Hall
6/21 Tyler TX @ The Attic
6/22 Houston TX @ Cain's Ashes
6/23 McAllen TX @ VFW Hall
6/24 San Antonio TX @ The White Rabbit
6/25 Dallas TX @ The Door

6/26 Tulsa OK @ The Reverb w/ Onward To Olympus
6/27 Springfield MO @ Salad Days w/ Onward To Olympus
6/28 Springfield IL @ Black Sheep Cafe
6/29 Bushnell IL @ Cornerstone (Blood & Ink Friends Night) **
6/30 Bushnell IL @ Cornerstone **
7/01 Bushnell IL @ Cornerstone **

7/05 Evansville IN @ The Rev **
7/06 Chattanooga @ The Warehouse **

** No Dead Icons

We'll be announcing our final Florida dates very soon. Until then we're playing an awesome fest next week in Ft Lauderdale called Bringing it Back For The Kids Fest. There's a lot of awesome bands playing so you should definitely be there!

That's it for now. Check back soon!
-Harbor

California Uber Alles

2011-04-06T22:31:00.001-07:00

I shouldn't be up this late since tomorrow will be such a long day. In a matter of hours we will be flying out to California in preparation of Facedown Fest 2011. We always love coming out to the west coast and we're especially excited about this show. Not only is it Facedown Fest, but it's our last west coast show ever, and that's a pretty big deal. We got a pretty good set planned. A lot of older ones and a few of our favorites. Get STOKED!

In other news, we're almost done writing the 7". We're going to be recording this month at Warrior in Chapel Hill, where we recorded Life Of Defiance. We're excited about these 4 songs. They're not like anything we've written before, and for our last release, why not? We're going to be announcing a title for the 7" very soon, so keep checking it out.

There's going to be a lot more posts on here from now on. We promise.

See you soon California!

The Beginning of the End

2011-01-30T15:10:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since we've updated this thing and a lot has changed since then. Last year was a turbulent year for this band. On the positive side we put out a new record, we went to Europe for the first time and stayed on the road for most of the year. The negative was that we got into debt, debt that we couldn't seem to get ahead of no matter how many tours we did and half the band had to stop touring, leaving us a band full of fill ins. That leads us to where we are today, a band that has started to feel weary, tired and factioned. That's why we've decided to hang it up and this year will be our final year as a band. Here's the official statement:

After eight years, three full-lengths and countless tours all over, Call to Preserve is calling it quits. For the past year or so we’ve done our best to keep functioning as a band despite losing members and having remaining members cut back their involvement. Now all of us are being pulled in different directions and our aspirations for our future have expanded much further than being on tour all the time. With some of us moving away, going back to school or starting careers, we just can’t sacrifice our time to this band like we used to. It would be a disservice to ourselves to do CTP half heartedly, so instead we want to go out on a high note and enjoy our last few months as a band.

We want to do our best to make sure those who want to can come see us for the last time. This April we’ll be playing our last west coast show at Facedown Fest 2011 and in the coming months we’ll be announcing our last tour dates, which will include a stop at Cornerstone Festival. Our last show will be near the end of July this summer in Melbourne, Florida. More details will be announced soon.

In these final months we’ll also be working on a few new songs that will be on a 7” coming out this summer on Facedown Records. We’ve wanted to put out vinyl for years and felt we had a few more things to say before we go, so this seemed like the perfect time and place to put out a 7”.

We never thought that this band would get as far as it did. We never thought we’d have the chance to travel so much and tour with some of our favorite bands and make such amazing friends from all over the world. We are eternally grateful for the chance we were given to play music and actually have people listen. We want to thank Jason Dunn and Facedown Records for standing behind us for the past five years, being some of the easiest people to work with and for just being great friends. We want to thank all the bands we’ve met and toured with who have become some of our best friends and we will miss the shows and the hangouts dearly. Finally we want to thank everyone who has supported us by coming to a show, buying a shirt, letting us sleep on your floor or feeding us. We are more thankful than you’ll ever know.

Thanks for listening and see you soon. – CALL TO PRESERVE

Knowing that the end is so close this blog suddenly feels important again, a feeling that felt lost when we were on the road with only two original members and we seemed to still be playing to the same small crowds when we first started. There's this feeling now that we need to document our history while it's still here and fresh in our minds, so that's what we'll do. In the next few months we'll do our best to look at what's going to be happening in these final months, and also look back on the eight years of CTP's existence.

It's going to be a fun next 6 months. Let's go out with a bang!

Updates!!!

2010-05-12T11:41:00.000-07:00

Hey kids! so there's a lot to cover, so I'll be brief. Here it goes:

We got back from Europe about 2 weeks ago and it was a blast! It was seriously one of the best experiences of our lives and we're stoked we were able to go. We did have a pretty awful situation trying to get back home (and it didn't have anything to do with a volcano) you can read about that here on Harbor's blog. Nonetheless it was amazing and can't wait to go back. Here's a few shots from Europe:

Next order of business:

We were stoked to be heading out with our good friends Take it Back! on the "Breaking All The Brules Tour!" It's going to be a blast so make sure you go. We'll also have some additional summer dates posted shortly.

and finally...

Our new album "Life of Defiance" will be out June 8th and you can now pre-order from Facedown, and all pre-orders will be eligible to win a one-of-a-kind CTP skateboard deck! You can do that here. We recently posted a new song from the album called "Functionary." You can check that out here.

That's it for now. See everyone on the road!

The Rain in Spain.

2010-04-15T07:46:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the length of time without an update. We've been busy covering the entire continent of Europe. You know, no big deal. After a week or two in Eastern Europe, we moved into the warmer and more civilized counties like France, Spain, Italy and Portugal. It's been rad. The other day we got to hang out in Badalona, Spain, a vibrant little city on the Mediterranean outside of Barcelona. We hung out on the beach and then got lost in the city. That's what we've been best at. Wandering away from the venue every day and getting lost. Today we were in Lyon, France. We got lost and then ended up at this park with all these gardens and atriums that were built around the turn of the century. There were deer just walking around and a lot of people on razor scooters for some reason. It was wild!

A couple days before that we were in Lisboa, Portugal a huge city on the coast. It's an old city with tons of statues, cathedrals and narrow streets that wind up and down the hills and makes no sense. The venue we played that night was on a street too narrow for the tour bus, so we unloaded the trailer at a hotel across town and had to load everything into the promoter's van. It took about 3 trips to get everyone and every thing there. The ride to the venue was like a death race dodging traffic and old trollies through the streets. The venue was at the bottom of a hill and the road going up the hill actually went over the venue, but it was just an overpass, there was a city block built on top of the venue. WILD.

Shows have been lots of fun and we've been having a blast with Agnostic Front and This is Hell hanging out on the bus. We couldn't ask for better bands to see Europe for the first time with. Here's a a few pictures from my phone, with the exception of the live shots. Some better ones coming soon

Bydgeszcz, Poland

Leipzig, Germany

Hamburg, Germany

Switzerland

Badalona, Spain

Lisbon, Portugal

Lyon, France

A video blog we'll be up soon, and hopefully if this volcano in Iceland chills out soon, they can resume European air travel and we'll be home in just over a week. If not we might be stuck here for a while. We'll see. That's it for now. More updates soon!

Greetings from Eastern Europe!

2010-04-01T05:43:00.000-07:00

We have been on our European tour With Agnostic Front for about a week now and it's been pretty rad. We've been chillin' on the bus, hanging out with skin heads, storming castles, things like that. It's been a lot of fun.
The tour started out in Kassel, Germany. We flew in the day before and hung out with our German friend Tim from Today Forever, who was nice enough to order all our food for us since we don't speak German. The next we played the first show to over 500 people. The place was packed! When Agnostic Front came on the place went insane, and that's how it's been every night.

After Kassel we headed to Wroclaw, Poland, our crossover into eastern Europe where the effects of the iron curtain are still visible. In Kassel the crowd was about 50/50 hardcore kids to skinheads. In Eastern Europe there's about 80 skinheads for every 20 hardcore kids. Skinhead culture is alive and well in Eastern Europe. This might explain our mediocre merch sales. Don't get me wrong. People are getting into it and we're having a lot of fun, but none of our merch has iron crosses on it, so they're not interested.
The other day we played Bratislava, Slovakia, a beautiful modern city with an old world feel. It was a fun show and we got to check out the city before the show, including Bratislava Castle. The next day we played in Kocise which is close to Slovakia's border with Ukraine. It was quite the contrast to Bratislava: grey, dreary and depressing. Exactly what you would think former communist city would look like. What's strange though is how much people love ska and dancehall out here. In the most depressing city so far, the back stage had Specials and Aggrolites posters everywhere and the walls were painted with checkerboards and Jamaican colors. Ska is alive and well in Slovakia.

Today we're in Leipzig, Germany at a place called Conne Island and it's supposed to be awesome. They already made us some tasty sandwiches, so I got a good feeling.

The week before we left for this tour we were finishing up our new record "Life of Defiance." so here's our video blog from making the record. We had a pretty good time. Check it out:

That's it for now. There will be a bunch more updates about tour and the new album soon!

We're in Europe!

2010-03-27T17:56:00.000-07:00

A lot is happening right now. I will go into detail about happenings in the next couple days, but for now here is the rundown.

- Our new album "Life of Defiance" is now mixed and mastered. The recording went pretty great and we're happy with the way everything came out, and I'm in the process of editing the video from making the record. "Life of Defiance" will be out June 8th and will be having several cd release shows planned that week, as well as some June tour dates. We're also working on some dates for May, so be on the look out for those.

- We left yesterday for our Euro tour with Agnostic Front and This is Hell and we couldn't be more stoked. We got into Amsterdam this afternoon, where our buddy Tim from Today Forever picked us up and took us to his hometown Kassel, Germany where we kick off the tour tomorrow. We haven't done a whole lot yet, but we got a chance to walk around Kassel today and take it all in. It's a beautiful city and is almost postcard like. Later on Tim took us to our first German disco, which is a lot like any club in the states, except no one seems desperate. Just something I picked up on. Also Tim insisted we try a type of soda called malt beer, which he said was like root beer, but as it turns out its not. My conclusion was that it tasted like a barely sweet beans and rice flavored soda. Not so good.
So there's going to be a lot going on and I'm going to try and update this as much as possible. Keep checking back!
-Harbor

We're shuttin' Down The Studio

2010-03-19T10:33:00.000-07:00

We've been at Warrior Sound recording "Life of Defiance" for the past four days, and I'm sitting here listening to John lay down the first vocal tracks. Given our our limited number of days before we leave for tour we've spent all day here everyday. I have to say I think everything is coming even better than we hoped it would. It's already sounding pretty killer and and its only been four days.

This recording experience has been quite different than recording From Isolation. Last time around we were in Boston and had two weeks of 6 hour days. This time we're in a rural town outside of Chapel Hill, NC and we're doing 6 10 hour days. Last time we were a 5 peice and brought 2 of our friends with us. This time we're a 4 peice, we didn't bring any friends with us and mike had to leave after he finished tracking drums. We've spent a lot more time recording and less time goofing around and yelling at girls with umbrellas. I personally have spent much more time playing on this album than last time, which means I've been able to document the process less. This makes for a good record, but not for hilarious video blogs. Don't worry there will be some, but I can't promise they'll be as funny as last time.

It hasn't been all work and no play though. The other night the dudes from Advent came by and hung out with us, and mike from For Today showed up out of nowhere. It ruled. Tonight they're coming by to help us with some gang vocals and I'm sure some serious partying will ensue. I'm sure you can infer who's doing some guest vocals on this record.

Here's a few shots from this week:

We leave for our European tour with Agnostic Front and This is Hell in one week. Get stoked!

It's Crunch Time, Kids!

2010-03-09T23:34:00.000-08:00

With everything we have to get ready for I shouldn't be blogging right now, so I'll make this short.

We played two shows last month with Take it Back!, Ambush!, and Continuance. It was a lot of fun, as it almost always is with those guys. The first show was in Melbourne and it was pretty much just our friends there, which was alright, but it would've been nice to have some other people there so they could hear our new songs. The Tampa show was a lot of fun, but it was quite different. john had a naga tournament in south florida he had to be at, so he had to miss the show. Chase Moore of Seventh Star fame filled in on bass and I did vocals. I had a blast and kids responded well. Thanks to everyone for putting up with me.

Now its March 10 and we're just a week away from going to record our next album. We'll be recording at Warrior Sound in Chapel hill, North Carolina. Advent recorded their new album there and it sounds pretty amazing so we're stoked. And the title of the album:

"Life of Defiance"

Deal with it.
After that we'll be home for about 3 days before we jump on a plane for Europe and start our tour with Agnostic Front and This is Hell. This is going to be unreal. I still don't think it's hit that in the next month and half I will have been to about 10 different countries I've never been to before. WILD.

Just like last time, we're going to record all the studio hijinks and put it up on the world wide web. We will do the same for Europe. Be on the look out. We're about to be crazy busy.
-Harbor

A new video with old footage.

2010-02-09T13:29:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to putting together a video blog. This one is footage the past year that we never got to do anything with. Mostly because I ran out of space on my computer. And also because I'm lazy. I'm calling this "The Lost Tapes" and there will be a part two of this segment along shortly. Enjoy!

Also don't forget about these shows this week. We'll be playing some new songs so come out to 'em!

European tour 2K10

2010-01-29T00:39:00.000-08:00

We're heading to Europe this spring with the one and only AGNOSTIC FRONT as well as THIS IS HELL. We're super stoked and it's going to be an amazing tour. Check out the dates:
Mar 28 - Kassel @ Spot (Germany)
Mar 29 - Wroclaw @ Alibi (Poland)
Mar 30 - Bratislava @ Randal Club (Slovakia)
Mar 31 - Kosice @ Colloseum Club (Slovakia)
Apr 1 - Leipzig @ Conne Island (Germany)
Apr 2 - Bydgoszcz @ Estrada Bar (Poland)
Apr 3 - Rostock @ Zwischenbau (Germany)
Apr 7 - Traun @ Spinnerei (Austria)
Apr 8 - Cham @ L.A. (Germany)
Apr 9 - Castelletto Cervo (Biella) @ Koko Club (Italy)
Apr 10 - Montpellier @ Secret Place (France)
Apr 11 - Badalona @ Estraperlo Club (Spain)
Apr 12 - Madrid @ TBA (Spain)
Apr 13 - Lissabon @ Music Box (Portugal)
Apr 14 - Arrasate @ Hiru (Spain)
Apr 15 - Biarritz @ Atabal (France)
Apr 16 - Lyon @ CCO (France)
Apr 17 - Arlon @ L’Entrepôt (Belgium)
Apr 18 - Eindhoven @ Dynamo (Netherlands)
Apr 19 - Karlsruhe @ Die Stadtmitte (Germany)
Apr 20 - Montbeliard @ Atelier des Moles (France)
Apr 21 - Weinheim @ Café Central (Germany)
Apr 22 - Bochum @ Matrix (Germany)
Apr 23 - Meerhout @ Groezrock (Belgium)
Apr 24 - Berlin @ SO36 (Germany)
Also we're confirmed to record our next album in March. Keep out for all this stuff. Good Things! See you on the other side of the pond.

Waking up out of hibernation

2010-01-21T14:26:00.001-08:00

This is our first show in a long time and it's good to be playing with some of good friends like Take it Back! We'll be playing some new songs so make sure to come check us out.
Here's what our schedule is looking like right now:
February: Florida shows
March: Recording new album
April: Europe tour
May: US tour
early summer: new album
So yea we're not dead. We're actually quite alive.

What's Up Stangers?

2009-10-26T00:24:00.000-07:00

So there hasn't been a lot to post about lately. We got off our last tour over a month ago and we haven't played any shows since. In fact, we don't have any more tours planed for the rest of the year. So what gives?

Well first off, a few of us are taking this time to focus on school. Actually 3/4 of the band is focusing on school so that's taking up a lot of time. The other reason (and the one you're probably more interested in) is that we're taking this time to write new material for our next album. With school and having one member living on the other side of the state, it's a slow going process(Thank God for Garage Band and Ichat!) but we're working it out. I have to say I'm personally pleased with the music we've written so far. It may catch you off guard. We'll see.

The tentative plan is to record early next year. We'll be going back to Boston to work with the one and only Jim Siegal, and then the record should be out in the spring. Will we finally release something on vinyl? Maybe...

Our other order of business is finding a new bass player. For those of you who didn't catch us over the summer playing as a four peice, Kyle had to leave the band at the beginning of the summer. Nothing dramatic or anything. He's just up to his eyeballs in debt and can't afford to be in a band that doesn't make any money, so now he's got a 9-5. We still love him and wish him the best in his battle against the credit bureau.
If you're interested in trying out send us a message on the myspace. Here's a few of the requirements:

-Loves Jesus
-Straight Edge
-Able to tour full time
-Lives in Florida or willing to relocate
-Good attitude!

And these aren't required but preferred:

-Pro gear (and it has to work too)
-Good taste in music (subject to my opinion)
-Into The Office, 30 Rock, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Friday Night Lights
-Can quote most of Waynes World, Zoolander, and Airheads
-Ability to skate is always a plus
-You don't wear stupid shirts that are sold at truck stops. We already got one of those.
-You gotta be able to hang!
That's it for now kids. See everyone in a few months.

Roof tour 2k9.

2009-09-13T21:46:00.000-07:00

Up until two days go we were on tour with one of the heaviest bands in the world. A band called Advent. We traveled across the Southern United States with them, playing in states including Alabama, Tennessee, Texas, and finally ending in the great state of Florida, where we would have beach parties by day and play hardcore by night. Here's how it went.

Last July after playing the world famous Cornerstone festival we met up with Advent and did a short tour through the north and the midwest. During this time we found we really like touring with each other. And not just a little bit. Like a lot! You couldn't really ask for more from a band to tour with. They all like good music, they're always down to hang out, and they all have really cool hair (seriously, it's perfectly quaffed.) We decided we needed to do it again. Fast forward to the end of August and we were driving to Birmingham to meet up again on part two of the ADV/CTP tour.

The month we had in between tours Advent had lost their old drummer Chris and found a fill in named Jordan. Pretty much right when they got to the first show Joe from Advent pulled me aside and told me that their new drummer was a little strange and socially awkward. He told me Jordan was homeschooled and was very sheltered, so he was almost frightened to go on tour. He was even paranoid he'd be beaten up by some rouge straight edge gang. Being the Gulla Bull that I am I believed him, and it seemed right to do so because that dude WAS super weird. He introduced himself to me about three times while never making eye contact. He grumbled to himself and always looked super paranoid and uncomfortable. It was like having Rain Man around. I even asked Joe later if he was autistic, which became super awkward when I saw Jordan peaking around and staring at me from behind the corner. As it turned out Jordan is not autistic. In fact he's pretty normal guy and I had believed one of many crazy untrue stories that Advent would tell me over the next couple weeks.

The tour started in Alabama and winded its way through Nashville, where we played with the ultra gritty and ultra heavy Mankind, and on to Oklahoma where we played with our buddies in Take it Back! Further into tour we made it to Mcallen Texas, a small border town that always has sick shows. Not only was the show amazing, but we spent some time exploring the roof of the local VFW hall, much to the dismay of the bartender at the VFW. Me and Mike and three of the guys from Advent are up on the roof for about a 30 minutes with no one noticing, just being goofballs and reenacting scenes from the Matrix. When we decide to get down a guy in his 60's and a security guard walk outside looking at us like we're crazy. At the same time a mafia looking guy drives up in Cadillac giving us the same look. It's like if there were two Robert Deniros and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson looking like they were ready to rough you up. Quickly Johnny makes up a story that we were goofing around and someone's wallet got thrown onto the roof and we came up to retrieve it. The mafia guy got real concerned. "Well did you find the wallet?" We assured him we found it and he seemed relieved and we all got off the roof without getting a beating from the Mcallen VFW mob.

After a grueling 16 hour drive into Florida, we played our next show in Freeport. A little rural town on the gulf coast. It's pretty much the last place you would think to have a hardcore show. We got to the show, which ended up being in someone's backyard in the middle of nowhere, thinking this was a big mistake and we're all going to get murdered. But kids literally came out of the woodwork and the backyard was packed out. It was a fun little show in a place that could've been the site of folk festival. Or a chainsaw massacre. Or both. The next day was followed by some down time hanging out in the gulf of Mexico. Jumping off channel markers. Swimming with sharks. You know, the usual.

Wednesday we played a sold out show in Jacksonville with a little band called Have Heart and our friends we met in Canada, Cruel Hand, along with some other amazing bands like Crime in Stereo and Foundation. We got to open and the place was nuts from our set up until the last note played by Have Heart. I don't know what else to say except it was seriously one of the best shows I've ever been to. I'll leave it at that.

The tour ended Saturday night in Lake City with kids going wild pretty much the whole night, and us ending the set with a pretty horrible American Nightmare cover. Still fun none the less and it was a great way to end the tour. It's been a couple days and we miss those Advent dudes. Already. They're great guys who have their heads in the right place and are one of the heaviest hitting bands out there. By the way, go check out their new album "Naked and Cold." It will blow your mind.

That's it for now. Check back for a bunch of videos. Later!

Hilarity

2009-05-22T22:40:00.000-07:00

Check out this dude rant about our CD and hate on our brand of "Christian Metal."

The funniest thing about this video is his distaste for the song Shameless, which he seems to think is written about atheists, when in reality the song was written as a response to other Christians.
Hope you have a nice little laugh over this.

Americans Abroad.

2009-05-13T13:04:00.000-07:00

In case you were wondering, we're still in Canada, and we've been here for just over a month. After we left Horizons in Winnipeg we headed east through the Canadian Wilderness towards the province of Ontario where we've been ever since.
We've been on the road since March 26th and I'm almost too fatigued to give a full detailed account of everything that's happened since we've been here, so instead I'll leave you with a few details and as many pictures I can find. There may possibly be a post-tour blog in full detail of everything that happened, but until then here's the liner notes:

- We didn't see one Moose, Bear, or Mountie. What's the deal?
-We played a lot of house shows. House shows are always fun.
-When we were in Quebec we played a show in an elementary school. Then we stayed the night there and skated through the school all night.
-We had some shows fall through, so we hopped on a few dates with Madball, Cruel Hand and Wisdom in Chains. Fun couple of days!
-During those few days, Madball taught us a game called Mafia, and now it's our favorite thing to do especially on days off.
-Up here it's way too cold to be May. At home it's 90 degrees!
-Food is expensive so I'm always hungry.

Now enjoy these photographs!

A number of video blogs are coming soon. See you soon America!

Oh, Canada!

2009-04-19T03:11:00.000-07:00

So there is this whole other country that is a lot like America, and it's even really close to America, but it's not America. You would only know it's not the U.S. by very little things. For one thing It's a lot colder. Also there's no Taco Bells, everything is measured in the metric system, and their currency has silly things on it like polar bears, kids playing hockey and the queen of England. This place is called Canada and we've been hanging out here for the past week or so.

We first arrived in this strange, yet somehow familiar country last Sunday. After a miserable drive through a very wet and cold Washington state, we arrived at the border eager to explore and receive our free pancakes and maple syrup (the guys in Rebuilt told me this was a common occurrence during customs and for some reason I believed them). We expected to spend at least an hour at the border, especially after hearing horror stories from other bands trying to cross into Canada. Strip searches, interrogations, being taxed for all your merch, that kind of stuff. Though we were asked a few seriously worded questions, such as if we were "into civil disobedience" we got by unscathed and headed in.
No joke, as soon as we drove in the skies opened up and welcomed us into the new land. We pulled into Vancouver somewhat awestruck at this big city juxtaposed between cloud covered mountains and blue ocean. The show that night was in a small loft that is currently a sort headquarters for anarcho-punk kids who are super pissed about the Winter Olympics coming to Vancouver next year. Not a huge turnout, but fun none the less. After the show we made our way to Kelowna, which meant driving through lots of mountains and lots of snow. Coming up here I really assumed "Hey it's April, how cold can it get?" Apparently enough to drive through snow for a few hours.

After having a belated Easter dinner at Dustin's from Horizons in Kelowna (which was amazing btw) we had another long drive through more snow covered mountains, but this time the weather was much better and it was daylight, so we were able to enjoy what was probably the most epic drive we have been on. The scenery on that drive was insanely beautiful and I've never seen anything like that. That night we played Edmonton, which we heard was going to most likely suck, but it ended up being a lot of fun, especially since Grave Maker played and hung out, and Todd from Means was there and let us stay with him in his cramped little apartment.

The next night we played Calgary in the most Canadian bar you've ever seen and then proceeded to party into the night with Horizons. We ended up at this party after the show where within the first ten minutes of our arrival there was a dance party, almost everyone got half naked, and a fight was super close to breaking out. The party was followed by all of us getting into Horizons' van and moshing/ stage diving inside, until all the mosh spilled out onto the side of the highway. It was one of those nights where you just had to be there.

Most of the shows so far have gone pretty well. There's been some good and some bad. The show in Winkler the other night was unreal and it was cool to see everyone get into the new stuff. Winnipeg wasn't so great but the beatboxing in the street with the locals afterwards made up for it. Horizons have been great guides on this tour, teaching us about the best parts of Canada such as poutine (french fries covered in gravy and cheese curds), "Good Gods" (attractive Canadian girls) and the very Canadian show known as Trailer Park Boys. The Winnipeg show was our last night with them and we're bummed we had to say goodbye. We'll see if we can survive the east coast on our own. I'm sure we'll be fine as long as we don't hit any moose.

Another video about being in a touring band...

2009-04-08T18:50:00.000-07:00

Hello again

2009-03-26T16:11:00.000-07:00

Much has happened since our last update. I don't know why it has been so difficult to write in this thing lately. But I promise that will change very soon. Until then here's an update about everything that has been going on.
Way back in March we did a two week tour with a band called Madball and a band called Reign Supreme. I don't really know what else to say about except for that it was an awesome experience and we wish it had never ended. Sometimes as a band you sit around and think what would be the perfect tour lineup to go out with. It usually consists of one of your favorite established bands you've been listening to for a while and a younger band that you're getting into that will most certainly blow up very soon.

Usually these kinds of tours don't happen, except this time it did and we couldn't have been happier to be apart of it. The shows were crazy fun and just seeing a band like Madball play every night was a treat, and getting to see Reign Supreme for the first time was quite intense. Those dudes are incredibly heavy!
We made some great friends on this tour and we want to thank both those bands for being such good guys and fun tour mates. Also thanks to all the kids who came out and supported us and weren't afraid to sing along for us in a room full of really big dudes!

After the madball tour ended we went home for a week to relax, skate, go to the beach and practice occasionally. We prepared a new setlist and we've been throwing in a couple songs we hadn't been playing before, so keep an eye out for that.

Our journey back on the road started by doing a few dates with our friends Take it Back! and The Red Baron, as well as our new friends Venia and We Still Dream. These shows were tons of fun and we got to try out that new set, which seems to be working like gangbusters! Later on we were lucky enough to play to shows with Energy and Defeater, two bands that blew us away. We were privileged to be able to play with those guys and I definitely suggest checking them out!

This past weekend we played Facedown Fest, something we look forward to playing every year because of the friends, the food, and of course all the fans that come. I think this was the most different Facedown fest for us by far. For one thing our friends xLooking Forwardx weren't there and our dudes in Seventh Star and Means are no longer making music, and they were missed dearly (although I'm sure Drew wasn't thinking about Facedown Fest. He got married this weekend! Congrats dude!) We did make a lot of new friends like the dudes in My Epic and still had so much fun with everyone.

Our set was also cut short for some strange reason. We had played for about 11 minutes when they told us we had one song left, when were allotted a 25 minute set. We played 2 songs anyways and the stage managers were steamed. I don't know why that when the show is dragging late it's usually our set that they decide to cut, but I guess we made the best of it. Maybe it was a sign though, Because let's be honest. Most of those kids were there for IMPENDING DOOM.

This week we start our Cali/ Canada dates with Horizons so please check those out. It's going to be tons of fun!
Apr 7 2009 6:00P
CHINA TOWN YOUTH CENTER w/ Horizons & Rebuilt Fresno, California
Apr 8 2009 7:00P
MASONIC LODGE w/ Horizons and Rebuilt Oakdale, California
Apr 9 2009 6:00P
SUB-MISSION ART SPACE w/ Horizons & Rebuilt San Francisco, California
Apr 10 2009 7:00P
FRIENDS CHURCH w/ Horizons & Rebuilt Citrus Heights, California
Apr 11 2009 6:00P
3RD ST PIZZA w/ Horizons & Rebuilt Mcminnville, Oregon
Apr 12 2009 8:00P
ANTI POVERTY COMMITTEE OFFICE Vancouver, British Columbia
Apr 13 2009 7:00P
THE HUBB w/ Horizons Kelowna, British Columbia
Apr 14 2009 7:00P
AVONMORE HALL w/ Grave Maker Edmonton, Alberta
Apr 15 2009 7:00P
THE NEW BLACK ART CENTER w/ Horizons Calgary, Alberta
Apr 16 2009 7:00P
U OF L BALLROOM w/ Horizons Lethbridge, Alberta
Apr 17 2009 7:00P
THE LYRIC w/ Horizons Swift Current, Saskatchewan
Apr 18 2009 7:00P
THE CLUB w/ Horizons Regina, Saskatchewan
Apr 19 2009 7:00P
THE BUNKER w/ Horizons Winkler, Manitoba
Apr 20 2009 7:00P
WAR ON MUSIC w/ Braindead Winnipeg, Manitoba
Apr 21 2009 7:00P
BLACK PIRATES CLUB Thunder Bay, Ontario
Apr 23 2009 8:00P
TBA Barrie, Ontario
Apr 24 2009 7:00P
THE REVERB Toronto, Ontario
Apr 25 2009 7:00P
THE CHUBBY PICKLE Windsor, Ontario
Apr 26 2009 7:00P
THE POLISH HALL Sarnia, Ontario
Apr 27 2009 7:00P
MOON OVER MARIN London, Ontario
Apr 28 2009 7:00P
SESSIONS AT 73 St. Catharines, Ontario
Apr 29 2009 7:00P
ST PAUL’S UNITED CHURCH Milton, Ontario
Apr 30 2009 7:00P
EMMANUEL PENTECOSTAL CHURCH Port Perry, Ontario
May 1 2009 8:00P
TBA Montreal, Quebec
May 2 2009 7:00P
ECOLE DE L’ODYSSE Gatineau, Quebec
May 3 2009 7:00P
PETIT PAVILLION AGRICOLLE Rimouski, Quebec
May 4 2009 8:00P
TBA Moncton, New Brunswick
May 5 2009 8:00P
TBA Charlottetown, Prince Edward
May 6 2009 8:00P
TBA Halifax, Nova Scotia
May 7 2009 7:00P
THE PARAMOUNT Moncton, New Brunswick
May 8 2009 7:00P
SALLE SCOUT Victoriaville, Quebec
May 9 2009 7:00P
THE SHARON TEMPL Sharon, Ontario

We love you and probably miss you! See everyone soon!

Playing Catch-Up

2009-02-23T14:47:00.000-08:00

We are a band full of procrastinators. Just ask every promoter we've ever worked with. This is why you are about to watch a video from our tour that ended almost 3 weeks ago. I don't really have an excuse accept for that I've been trying to do normal non band things lately like working, riding my bike, and riding my bike at work. Plus I lost about an hour of footage while working on the video that included a sick skate session in palm springs and an awesome house show in Tuscan. It seriously bummed me out and I thought about just walking away from this one. But alas! I mustered the courage to finally finish this beast and it's not half bad. Check it out!

Lately it seems these videos that last no longer than a few minutes end up having their own soundtrack. This one is no exception, and incase you were wondering, here's the list of all the music used in the video.

James Taylor- "Mexico" (the bus ride)

Kid Cudi- "Day 'N' Night (Crooker's Remix)" (dance sequences)

Sufjan Stevens- "Say Yes! To Michigan" (the birds scene)

Since our last tour we've played one show in Kissimmee. It was a pretty epic show though. The Red, Baron, Take it Back! and Wrench in the Works also played. It was ill to say the least:

We've got one more Florida show before we leave for tour on the 28th:

(I hate it when they call us A Call To Preserve)
Come out it's gonna be dope. Also here's some other flyers for upcoming shows. There's a couple new ones so check 'em out!

Yes, that last one is Canadian date. We'll be there with Horizons in April. We're pretty much touring the entire continent of North America in the next few months, so be ready to see us real soon!

Just another 2 weeks till the Madball tour! Get stoked! I know I am.
-Harbor

Dates

2009-02-08T01:49:00.000-08:00

These are the dates we're doing with Madball(!!!) and Reign Supreme. Please try to be in attendence. There will be an abundance of new memorabilia available at all these shows.

Mar 6 2009 6:00P
FORWARD HALL w/ Madball & Reign Supreme Erie, Pennsylvania
Mar 7 2009 7:00P
UNCLE PLEASANTS w/ Madball & Reign Supreme Louisville, Kentucky
Mar 8 2009 7:00P
NEW DAISY THEATRE w/ Madball & Reign Supreme Memphis, Tennessee
Mar 9 2009 7:00P
CAVE 9 w/ Madball & Reign Supreme Birmingham, Alabama
Mar 11 2009 7:00P
VOLUME 11 TAVERN w/ Madball & Reign Supreme Raleigh, North Carolina
Mar 12 2009 6:00P
THE SOAPBOX LOUNGE w/ Madball & Reign Supreme Wilmington, North Carolina
Mar 13 2009 7:00P
THE MASQUERADE w/ Madball & Reign Supreme Atlanta, Georgia
Mar 15 2009 7:00P
JAVA JAZZ w/ Madball & Reign Supreme Houston, Texas
Mar 16 2009 7:00P
THE MAX w/ Madball & Reign Supreme Dallas, Texas
Mar 17 2009 7:00P
RED 7 w/ Madball & Reign Supreme Austin, Texas

It's finally here!

2009-02-05T11:06:00.000-08:00

Here is the video for Hope for the Fallen. Check it!

Ps: We're now on twitter! Follow us: Calltopreserve

We're Still Alive!

2009-01-23T00:53:00.000-08:00

So I've been kind of neglecting the blog lately, almost a tour without a post actually, and I apologize for that. We made it home safe from the Gravemaker tour, but just barely. After a short break for the holidays and michael almost dying from the flu, we met up with Folsom and CDC in Corpus Christi Texas a few days later than we had hoped. We've been out now for a couple weeks and it's been just great. We've been staying warm by hanging out in states like Texas, California, and even crossing the border to Mexico. I'm working on our first video blog of the new year as we speak, but for now here's just some random shots of what's been happening.

Well the video will be posted soon so keep looking out. In the meantime there's another review of "From Isolation" for you to check out at pastepunk.com.

Oh and one more thing! You may remember this picture from the last post:

It appears that someone at somethingawful.com got a hold of our souvenir pic and slightly altered it to look like this:

Can you believe the audacity! Well everyone have a good weekend. Check us out on the road!-Harbor

btw

2008-12-06T03:04:00.000-08:00

CTP goes Hollywood!

2008-12-06T02:04:00.000-08:00

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

The Flame Still Burns

2008-12-01T00:54:00.000-08:00

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!!!

2008-11-12T14:36:00.000-08:00

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?

2008-11-11T20:11:00.000-08:00

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

word.

2008-11-10T13:49:00.000-08:00

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.

2008-11-02T08:47:00.000-08:00

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

2008-10-25T11:08:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-25T00:33:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-19T00:22:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-10-05T02:04:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-04T00:59:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2008-09-30T11:49:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-22T12:16:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-13T14:30:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-31T13:30:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-08-22T13:49:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-08-19T15:07:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-07-28T18:39:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-26T09:07:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-07-25T11:03:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-07-23T21:36:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-19T08:16:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-07-15T18:27:00.000-07:00

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!

So what have we been up to the past couple weeks?

2008-07-02T01:00:00.000-07:00

We played a couple shows, saw some old friends, done a lot of practicing, and had a couple cookouts and movie nights in between. It's turning out to be a good summer. Here's some of it in pictures.

Hanging in Ocala, Fl with the Red Baron crew and our friend Katelyn.

We spent way too much time in this Wal Mart that day. Kyle was amazed by this state of the art golden arches.

We returned to Lake City, Fl for another awesome show. Thanks to everyone who came out.

Sorry to the kid who John stabbed in the eye with the mic though.

(Not pictured: the Clearwater show, hanging with Mike Rich and Advent in Jacksonville, and the crazy game of Balderdash.)

We've also been working hard on the new album and it looks like we will have 14 brand new songs for you guys to enjoy. The track list looks something like this:

note: Most of these songs are out of order and have fake names. It's the best I could do.
We'll be recording "From Isolation" in less than 2 weeks. Get stoked! Until then we have a hometown show coming up in Melbourne. Come show us some support so we can get to Boston. Maybe buy a shirt or something too? That'd be nice. As always, feel free to come talk to us. Let us know what you think of the new stuff!

See you there- Harbor

P.S: check out our friends in these bands:
Advent
Infected
Choices Made

shows, shows, shows

2008-06-19T12:33:00.001-07:00

We've just been added to a few shows around the state of Florida this month. If you live in the sunshine state make sure to check them out:

Jun 22 2008 6:00P
The Capitol w/ The Red Baron Ocala, Florida

Jun 27 2008 6:00P
Church On The Way Lake City, Florida

Jun 28 2008 6:00P
688 Skatepark Clearwater, Florida

Jun 30 2008 6:00P
Fuel Coffee House w/ Advent Jacksonville, Florida

Just a reminder, we have new songs up on our myspace that we'll be playing at all the shows, as well as one or two more new ones. We have the lyrics posted on there for "Hope for the Fallen" so learn them and sing along. See you there. Come talk to us!-Harbor

We've signed with Facedown, "From Isolation" in the works.

2008-06-10T07:49:00.000-07:00

From Facedown Records:

We are happy to announce the signing of Florida's Call To Preserve to Facedown Records. They have released their debut album "Unsinkable" on our imprint label Strike First Records and after touring and working hard over the past years, it's an honor to be releasing this upcoming album on Facedown. The new album will be recorded in July at The Outpost in Stoughton, MA with engineer Jim Siegel (Dropkick Murphys, Blood For Blood, Give Up The Ghost) and will be titled "From Isolation". Guitarist Harbor Partin commented on the title and lyrical content: "We've written about being in places in life where we feel we're at our lowest and don't know why. The times when our faults are getting the best of us are the times we learn who we really are. It's when we're broken and humble that we're able to see the full extent of grace." Look for "From Isolation" to be released in Fall '08. In the meantime you can check out a couple of pre-production tracks from the upcoming album on the bands myspace page.

This deal has been in the works for quite some time, but we can now "officially" say we've signed with Facedown. We're stoked to continue working with the amazing people behind the Facedown family, and looking forward to recording at a studio that has released some classic hardcore albums. Go listen to our new songs and let us know what you think!

Summing up what's to come.

2008-06-05T10:40:00.000-07:00

"Though the pressure's on, the broken are never on their own.
We've come FROM ISOLATION, but we're never alone."

stay posted.

Everyone has a story

2008-05-06T08:20:00.000-07:00

If you get a chance, check out the May/June issue of Relevant Magazine that came out this week. I had the pleasure of conducting an interview with Mike Fretto at Rosa Loves, a t-shirt company out of St. Augustine, FL that's actually worth supporting. Every shirt they sell is unique and each one goes to help a specific person or group. They are really doing amazing things with what they've been given. Go check out the article, or even better, go buy a shirt from them:
Rosa Loves
Also check out:
Relevant Magazine
That's it for now. Keep checking back this week. We got a lot information coming out that you'll want to know.-Harbor

More about "push-button paradise"

2008-04-23T21:07:00.000-07:00

here's a little more explanation for the song mentioned before:

Hope you enjoy it!- Harbor

The First of Many...

2008-04-22T16:19:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the brand spanking new Call to Preserve blog. We thought this would be a good way to let everyone know what's been going on with us, whether it's making music or otherwise. You'll get to see a few pictures, possibly some videos, and most importantly, we'll let you know about the progress of our upcoming album, which we'll talk about later.This is where you're going get to know us, and we are going to get to know you. It's a good thing. On with the blog!

Spring Tour, Facedown Fest, etc...

We were out on the road a couple weeks ago, and oh what fun it was! Actually I'm not sure about the first half since I wasn't there, but from what I've heard it was pretty dope. I've been busy finishing up my bachelor's degree in communication, so I flew out to our Vegas show after I took care of some crucial college business. For the first week and a half we were out with Take it Back!, the newest signing to Facedown Records. They are cool dudes and an awesome band. They got an album coming out this summer, so check that out.

After Vegas we pretty much hung out in Southern California all weekend for Facedown Fest and it's always good to see all of our friends from around the country in one area. The only drag about being in So Cal is the ridiculous traffic combined with how spread out everything is. We missed most of the first night because we were sitting in traffic for almost 3 hours. L.A. is a drag. We were staying with Matt and Mike's sister in Santa Monica so we spent some time in Venice Beach where Mike, Kyle and John looked at the local art, and I tried to skateboard with the locals and ended up looking like an idiot.

While we were walking around the boardwalk, this dude in a turban and on roller blades while playing the electric guitar started following us playing this crazy sounding song. The song was actually pretty heavy, kind of later Black Flag-ish, and from what we gathered the lyrics were "T.V. cop, T.V porn, push button paradise," but he sang it in this weird accent like he was from India or something. Then the rollerblading-Sabbath-loving Hindu stops playing and asks us in a completely normal American voice, "So you guys, one of those bands playing in Pomona?" which is pretty weird since Pomona is 45 miles away and we didn't know of any of the other bands hanging around there that weekend. When we said yea he said, "that's too bad" and skates off. It was a little strange to say the least.

The actual fest this year went really rad for us, so thanks to everyone who came out and made on of our best shows this year. Having the barrier this year was kind of weird, but I guess its one of those things you have to deal with and we still had fun regardless.

Of course I can't talk about Facedown Fest this year without talking about Seventh Star. This year was their last show ever, and its sad to see them go. They've really helped us out as a band and been great friends to us. Even before we knew them we were all fans. From the time our first demo came out up until the last tours we did with them, they've always been huge a support for us, and without them we definitely wouldn't be where we are today. Thanks for being such awesome dudes!

After California we started making our way back home. Most of the shows went well. Kingman, AZ was great, as they always are and so was Amarillio, TX. Albuquerque wasn't so good, but the good skate spots made up for it. You guys are lucky to have such sweet drainage ditches all over town. Plus we got to hang out with our good buddy Breed.
Our last show was a house show in Springfield, Missouri and it was a great way to end the tour. That little garage was packed and everybody was hospitable. Me and John were talking about how we wish we could only play little packed house shows and shows like Facedown Fest. It always sucks when you play a venue that fits 200 people and only 25 show up. It feels so awkward. If you put those 25 people in someone's living room it's not so bad. I'm also not going to try to be punk rock and say I hate being on a huge stage with a good sound guy and a crowd of 1500 people. That feels pretty good too.

New Album...no, really.
We've been working pretty hard on a new album for the past few (more like 9) months and were happy to say a good bulk of the writing is done, but but we still have a few details to work out. For now I can tell you it should be out late summer on Facedown Records, and it's going to have somewhat of a different feel than Unsinkable did. I won't try to describe what it sounds like because it won't really help anyone. I can say that from the music to the lyrics, everything is going to be fresh and new and we're very excited about it. We apologize for taking such a long time, but we want to be sure everything comes out just the way we want. We'll be posting updates including new lyrics and and commentary on what the album is about, so stay posted.

That's it for now. Keep checking back. There's a lot to come.

-Harbor

P.S.: Check our friends in these bands:

Take it Back!

Grave Maker