exploring new shirt options (an excuse to get crafty)

So our drummer Josh and his wife Lauren, my lovely management assistant, and our friends Josh Driller and Cassie Sandberg got together and painted some shirts. Wait, I should back up.

As I explained in this post, Maywood shirts are sewn by hand and made-to-order according to each fan's preference. There are limitations to what you can ask for, of course (No, I will not sew "maywood" across the butt of your pants), but as Lauren once calculated, there are still over 9000 options available for customization. HA! Other than getting something one-of-a-kind that more aptly expresses your personal taste than a mass produced one-design-fits-all shirt (which we're still hoping to make, btw), there's a whole philosophy behind knowing where your product came from and why that's important, blah blah blah. Read it here.

Ok, back to these painted, stenciled shirts. I got the idea here. I took zero pictures of what we came up with that day, of course, so this post will be short. (Yay?) We test-marketed them at our last concert on July 9th and got a healthy order of 3 stenciled shirts, including one from my new pal, Zac, who was introduced to Maywood while working a summer job with Joel, Jared and Caleb. He coudln't decide on a stencil design, so he said "surprise me." Josh saw this an an opportunity to do something over-the-top-RIDICULOUS and described a magical fantasy scene straight out of the World of Warcraft on top of which I should impose our band name. He was probably being sarcastic, but *ding* CHALLENGE ACCEPTED! The below design is what Zac got.

original sketch, stencified

after i cut it out

after painting

It turned out a little messy, but overall I am happy with it. Because it was a black shirt, we had to spray the whole stencil white first, then cover the cloud and spray the dragon green. We got it EVERYWHERE (sorry about that, Zac). Also, I can't guarantee the structural integrity of this or any of our shirts, but I hope it brings you, our fans, joy while you wear yours.

No, I will not be making anymore dragons. Sorry Dakota! But you CAN ask Josh for his design "stereo love." It is my new fav!

Provision

The summer is always difficult. We thought last year was slow, even though we were scrambling to finish our album, but this year is a molasses fest. Sprinkling concerts over summer jobs, vacations, and mission trips spread across 7 band members is a task of insanity that only a few bozos would take on. And, as you may have noticed, I haven't done a very good job. Blessedly, God is in control and He sufficiently flooded our Spring with opportunities that have kept us financially stable throughout the summer months. Additionally, a couple of very significant, though last-minute, opportunities landed in our laps and have kept the wheels rolling. But we're about to enter another season of drought.

Even as I cringe at that thought and look toward the rest of July and August with anxiety, I know from experience that drought is necessary. When burdened with financial obligations, it's easy to prioritize like this:

1. keep hands busy
2. keep brain busy coming up with ways to keep hands busy
3. keep feet busy fulfilling ideas that brain comes up with to keep hands busy
4. keep eyes busy looking for opportunities to keep hands busy
5. keep mouth busy asking for support
6. spend time in prayer and God's Word

See what I mean? Many Christian organizations and churches fall into this trap. We become so concerned about meeting deadlines or strategically evading boredom in our parishioners that we focus all our time and energy on oiling and maintaining the machine (at great moral cost) instead of focusing on Christ. As individuals, we fool ourselves into thinking that a busy hand equals good Christianity, all-the-while disregarding the message of Hebrews - that though our service to mankind is commanded of us and pleasing to the Lord [Note: not everything you busy yourself with actually serves a Godly purpose, so be careful] (Heb 6:9-12, James 2:14-26), we are slacking in our spiritual growth (Heb 5:12-14) and letting our faith wane. The ironic thing is (this is hilarious) that by faith, the very thing we put off til last, we are saved (Eph 2:8-9). And by faith, the very thing we are too busy to worry about or help grow, we receive God's blessings (Heb 11).

Why are we so stupid and distracted? Why do we try to take things into our own hands, like Sarah did (ha?) when she decided that the descendants God promised her and Abraham could not possibly come from her own womb (Genesis 16)? She said "Oh, I'll handle this!" and told Abraham to make a baby with her maidservant instead. #facepalm  Eventually, she got it right, but not until after she threw a wrench at the whole plan.

Maywood struggles with this, joyfully. We vow to stop trying to handle it ourselves and just get out of God's way so that He can bless us. This season of drought is exactly what we need to lean on Him and focus on what really matters - our personal relationships with Jesus. We know, according to the Word (as referenced above) that through our growing faith His love and truth will be reflected in our lives, multiplying His Kingdom and His blessing of provision will be poured out on us in our time of need. It's painful, yes. But contrary to what the world wants us to think, pain is good. Take up your cross.

Friends vs Business Partners vs Fellow Ministers

There is a delicate balance to the above referenced roles we play in a Christian rock band. Aaaaaaand we haven't completely found it yet. Usually we just trade off from week to week or, if we're super sick of it all, we disappear.  Some of us are better at these than others and some of us stink at all of them but do the disappearing thing really well!

the upside of being friends

laughing til we cry

trust

forgiveness

not afraid to fart in front of each other

brutal honesty without fear of destroying the band

making fun of our each other and our own music (see video below)

the downside of being friends

not afraid to fart in front of each other

letting fun wholly eclipse time scheduled for business crap (see video above)

taking advantage of each other

laziness

the upside of being business partners

Uh ... can I get back to you on this?

the downside of being business partners

EVERYTHING

Ok, not everything.

But darned near!

the upside of being fellow ministers

growing in Christ together

joining in prayer over the youth of the midwest

feeling the same sense of calling and responsibility for God's Kingdom

the downside of being fellow ministers

having to kick each other in the butt to pray and study God's Word DAILY

feeling called in another direction from the other members

confronting one another in our sin

Maywood is not perfect. HA - just in case you had misconceptions! (/sarcasm) And our ministry is still very disorganized. Beyond the music, we want to get better at showing Christ's love and spreading the name of Jesus in everything we do, even business (UGH). Sometimes the world trips us up and sometimes we trip each other, but we strive to constantly refocus our goals and double our efforts for God's Kingdom. 

So be in prayer for us. We drive each other BANANAS on a regular basis, but we believe God has brought us together and blessed us in this endeavor, so we are continuing to pursue it and continuing to find, in Him, that delicate balance.

Fragmented Summary of Events: ALBANY

-So Maywood was invited back to First Baptist Church in Albany, Missouri last weekend. We were there in January 2010 and were completely overwhelmed by the reception. Seriously, these kids are FANTASTIC and they wipe away all of my fears surrounding touring which include financial stress, getting burnt out, living on the road away from my hubby, "performing" day after day verses remembering to convey Christ with a microphone in a 3 minute song from a raised platform while separated from the audience (/sarcasm), etc. 

Rebecca and I.

Makenzie, me & Kate.

Our Albany peeps are very good about making all of that anxiety disappear. Maybe it's because it's a small town and maybe it's because we've been there before, but these kids are like family to us. Oh sure, they buy stuff and ask for autographs (on shirts, shoes, cell phones, arms), but it's all in good fun and they never allow us to take ourselves too seriously. They keep us grounded with the reminder of what this is all for - to glorify God in our music and in our relationships. And I know what you're thinking. How can God be glorified by this?

I dunno, but it's AWESOME! And Dakota ^ totally asked for it.

And now for a fragmented summary of the night before! This is life in a band 101:

Friday, March 4th:

-Scott drives 84 miles to Sarah's house.

-Scott & Sarah drive 64 miles to Independence to meet up with Joel & Jared.

-Joel, Jared, Sarah, Scott & Cassie S'berg load borrowed trailer (though Joel & Jared did most of it).

-Joel, Jared, Sarah & Scott cram into borrowed SUV and drive 21 miles to Oak Grove to load more stuff onto borrowed trailer.

-Sarah pretends a piece of large styrofoam wall (for the drum cage) was really super heavy.

-Scott runs to her rescue, applies too much force to pick up styrofoam, realizes he's been tricked.

-Laughter ensues.

-Sarah can not function for several minutes due to laughing.

-Everyone crams back in SUV to head to Albany.

-We listen to best of Chicago.

-We sing really loud and in perfect harmony to Peter Cetera.

-We get lost in northern Missouri.

-Phones die while looking for service to navigate us.

-Sarah freaks out inside, but displays cool exterior.

-We try to stay calm with iPod therapy.

-The hour grows later and later.

-Worry that friendly host-homes will be offended by the outrageously late hour.

-Wonder if these back roads are ever going to lead back to a town.

-Probably not.

-Joel is driving.

-He is strangely calm and collected.

-The needle on the gas gauge ticks to EMPTY even though we JUST filled up.

-Oh no. We're going to run out of gas and get murdered asking for help.

-We discuss hypothetical death scenarios loosely based on poor quality (but completely believable) horror flicks set at night on a deserted road in the desolate countryside after running out of gas.

-Vaguely wonder why Joel is so calm.

-Is he stupid?

-Is he a genius?

-Is he doing this on purpose??

-Joel's phone does NOT die and he nonchalantly navigates us back to a main road as though this was his plan all along.

-It probably was.

-Tears of joy are shed.

-Resume iPod therapy.

-ARRIVE in Albany!

-ARRIVE at First Baptist Church.

-Unload borrowed trailer.

-Travel to host homes way later than planned.

-Eat all their food.

-Stay up even later laughing about our nearly-(but not really)-murdered-in-the-countryside experience.

-Exhaustion overtakes joy.

-Go to bed.

-Sleep like a rock.

Until next time!  /hugs

Sarah

Huh? Hand-made band shirts?

Why? Because we're LUNATICS!!! And only lunatics would have this incredibly time-consuming, exhausting and easy-to-screw-up idea for creating/selling merch!

See, we were playing all these concerts/youth retreats and fans wanted to show their Maywood allegiance via the internationally accepted method of endorsement - the "I've been there" commemorative shirt, but we were  are poor and couldn't can't afford to both record an album and have shirts printed. But before we could ask people for money or take on a second job, I went through one of my CRAFT FRENZIES, which, like any phase, is temporary but strangely empowering while it lasts. So, as though I took a swig of Felix Felicis, I decided we would MAKE ALLLLL THE SHIRTS!!! And by "we" I mean "I" since I lived in a different state at the time was the only one with sewing machine skills and access to my mom's dusty Closet O' Fabric & Supplies From 1987.

So, based on this cheesy photo from our "early years," I designed our shirts simply. "MW" or just "maywood".

Basically, I use material from my aforementioned Closet ^ and from any old thing lying around my house that I  don't really need anymore for the patch design. As for the shirts, themselves, we buy them new for the cheapest possible price. After washing, they artfully fray around the edges, giving them a worn-in look.

This undertaking was born out of a desire to save money while the band paid for a CD and to give our awesome fans something to take home with them. But the experience of laboriously pumping blood, sweat and tears into each shirt by hand sewing them has forever altered my point of view on rock band merchandise.

I mean, where are you most likely to purchase a band shirt? A concert, right? And you probably just have to choose your size because all the shirts are the same, no? I mean, most bands have "tour" shirts that commemorate a particular album/tour, but in an unestablished band like ours, we don't really have much more than the fact that we exist to commemorate, you know? We have an album now, but we played at events for almost 2 years before that happened, so this is what we sold. Anyway, typical band shirts are one design and made in a factory somewhere. You can't even be sure that said band personally designed them. I mean, let's face it, the most involvement they probably had was saying "yay" or "nay" in between being fed grapes and dressed for television appearances. 

The entire concert experience is somewhat impersonal anyway, right? You go and stand in the audience, give a fist pump or two, sing along and then leave. If you buy a shirt, it's just one more piece of clothing that will eventually end up in the Goodwill pile, no? It's not much, maybe, but Maywood shirts are hand-made with love by a lead singer and completely customizable to fit your style. You can forever say that you had a hand in the look of Maywood's advertising campaign. Look, even letter placement is customizable now!

   

But do people really care if it's hand-crafted? Do they really care what it looks like? Do they WANT all of these choices? I don't know yet. Some concerts sell 5-6 shirts while others sell none. I'm tempted to believe that folks just want to be told what to do. It requires less thought and effort. They just want to support the band, you know? Why do we have to make it complicated - trying to get more involved by customizing something just for them? It's exhausting to open up to people in this way - to stop and think about what you, personally, might prefer before taking action. It's easier to just be told what to wear, isn't it? It's easier to be told what's stylish, what's a good song, who to vote for, what to believe, right and wrong ...

Maywood will probably get printed shirts soon. I can't do this forever. My craft frenzy is not nearly as strong as it once was and, as I just mentioned, the market for choices is strangely small so far in the land where Maywood plays. So if you have one, hold onto it! It'll be rare very soon. To order one, go here.

What is worth pouring your heart and soul into? We do it with our music, don't we? Why not give that kind of attention to every aspect of our band? Otherwise, we're just hitting the print button and collecting cash. I don't want to sell you worthless junk. I want it to mean something to you, just like our music.

Why in the world would anyone EVER want to be in a rock band?

Uhh ...

Look, I don't know. I was just asked to join, OK??

Boy, that would've been a boring post.

But seriously, rock bands are trouble. They are enticing for few reasons:
1. glory - Getting up on stage and exalting yourself with a microphone, a cool hair cut and a shiny guitar promises A LOTTA glory. Unless you're kinda fat, old, and washed up (as some of us claim to be because, you know, all the successful rock bands are young and sexy and bread in a laboratory), so that glory is exponentially decreased for us. Except Joel. He's our only plausibly authentic rocker. Pop-rocker, really. (See: Laboratory.)

2. fun - It's true. Being in a band is SUPER fun, but unless you've got someone to slap you on the wrist for talking [farting] during rehearsal, to get you to places on time, to ride your butt for not practicing or bringing extra strings and guitar stands to a concert  ... Unless you've got a manager, basically, to be the bad guy then YOU must be the bad guy. And then it's no fun at all. Then you're just going around biting your friend's heads off and justifying yourself because WE ARE A ROCK BAND AND FRIENDSHIPS MUST BE SACRIFICED FOR THE GREATER GOOD OF THE ROCK!! It's not fun at that point. It's just stupid. And then you cry. Ok, I cry. Cause I'm the girl and I just want everyone to get along.  /sniffle

3. money - HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Don't kid yourself.

So what gives? Why did we do it?

Have you ever been in a situation where something bad was happening and you were powerless to stop it? Like watching a train wreck? Or being stuck between two friends screaming at each other and there doesn't seem to be any hope that they will ever reconcile, ever? Have you ever jumped in the middle of the situation and made it worse??

What if you could do something about it? What if you found a bunch of other like-minded people who were willing to help? What if, together, you could CHANGE THE WORLD!? I think that's why we did it. We love Jesus and we want to spread His word with the gifts we were given. We don't think it was luck that brought us together. We believe that we are all pieces to a puzzle that fit. We may not always fit together. We may have to change shape now and again to better mold to the situation at hand, but right now we do. It's hard most of the time, especially when finances/distances/other ministries demand our attention, but we know that it is glorifying to God. He ordained it, after all. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here right now making this cheesy blog.

So that's what makes it all worth it. That's why we're a rock band. In my opinion, anyway.

Ok, so it's not as miserable as that picture might suggest ...

...unless they fart. And that happens. A LOT.

Seriously.

It's like when you go to Taco Tuesdays and eat until you explode and then your stomach calms down a bit and THEN your butt explodes. Yes. It does. But this happens in Maywood more than on Tuesdays. In fact, I rarely ever see them on Tuesdays at all. They must all know about Burrito Saturdays because the gas_is_toxic everytime we have a rehearsal or play a show. Not that I don't know a thing or two about burritos and tacos. Cause I do. But my gas smells like sunshine after a rainstorm. Yes it does. I'm magical.

Alright, so this blog is to document my experiences with Maywood, my rock band. Yes, I'm in a rock band. We rock. Yes we do. Go listen to us on the internet -----> HERE. We rock. And as long as I can tell myself that with sincerity, I can feel confident about this venture. Even if all the members are gassy.

So it's February. We're completely booked starting on March 5th until April 30th, which is AWESOME but also kind of stressful. We aren't signed, corporately sponsored or independently wealthy, so most of us have to work full-time jobs in order to pay bills and support our spouses to follow our dreams and be rock stars. And some of us have to live at home with our PARENTS in order to avoid having bills in the first place while others of us live off of said-spouse like a leach and don't do nearly enough cleaning/cooking/laundry to make up for said parasitic lifestyle.

My point being, it's hard to tour and play shows. It's hard on us and we get crabby and fight like siblings and whine a lot sometimes, but in the midst of it all lies a single prayer that stubbornly falls from our lips: "Lord, humble us in order to exalt Yourself. We are Yours and this music belongs to You for the service of Your Kingdom. Do what You will." And He does. EVERY TIME. It's incredible. Slowly, we are seeing how God uses our willingness to GO. Opportunities to play just keep popping up. Some of them help us pay off this $14,500.00 album we just made and some of them don't. But when we're faithful to do what He's called us to, He shows up and makes Himself exalted. Sometimes by allowing us to make idiots of ourselves and sometimes by allowing us to look/sound/act awesome on AND off stage.

It's a crazy experience and I'm happy to be a part of it. It's just beginning. I will keep you posted!