Conflict In The Sky - [1st ever Studio Track Coming Soon!]_

Also check out our official website blog at blog.conflictinthesky.com

An update mucho grande
June 1st, 2008

Hello all. It's been too long since our last update, but don't worry...it's not because we haven't had anything to report. We've had a lot of good things going on...jam packed into one e-mail. Here are the highlights:

COLLABORATION PROJECT INVOLVEMENT - 2 songs
Beautiful Chaos (w/Telepathy) - We posted a rough version of this last month and have been in the studio re-recording it. The version we have up now was somewhat of a rush recording so it could be entered into another contest before it's deadline. Well...rushing is never fun, but we WON the contest, so it was definitely worth it. We beat out a whopping...1 other entry. haha. We'll take it. Plus 5 parts for us, and a great new song in our catalog.

Dear Life (MR-10/Angie Arsenault/Kostek Andreev) - This is about as collaborative as you can get. 4 artists from 4 countries, all working together solely via the internet. It started with Maarten from MR-10 writing the music. Then Angie and myself (Chris) independently laying down vocal ideas over it. Without even hearing each others versions, the 2 very different melodies managed to compliment each other perfectly, as if we worked on it in the same room (great minds think alike! haha). We've made some adjustments so the both of us aren't singing the entire time, and it's sounding pretty good. Angie added some piano parts, and Kostek is also
adding some strings and other effects. Every single person is really adding their own creative input, and it's turning out great. Now if only we could figure out a way to make my voice not sound bad compared to Angies. ha!


IN THE STUDIO - new tracks!
This is the one we are most excited about. We've tried recording with a few different people before, but had been dissapointed with the results. No one had really been able to capture the sound we were trying to put out...until now. Ironically enough, a friend who we didn't think we'd be on the same page with at all (differing tastes), was able to do it for us. It took some headbutting and many hurdles, but we finished recording a new song called "The Manual" (teaser clip on our page), and it sounds great. We are looking to post the full version sometime in the next month or so. The better news is that we now have someone that we know can capture the sound we want. We've been working with him to re-record "Beautiful Chaos", and new track called "Repentance." We'd like to record 3-4 more after that, so we are currently going through a list of about 15
other new songs to narrow it down. We've also considered re-recording a few off the EP....most likely "Death Clock" and "Exile" as those are the 2 most popular tracks.


LIVE SHOWS - From the Studio to the Stage
In the process of recording, our friend, Joe, the engineer, has also began to learn our songs. He plays the guitar and it just so happens we need a 2nd guitarist to play "real" live shows. I say "real" because we've been playing acoustic sets for now. Although they are fun, they don't really do our songs justice and are not really the way we'd like to introduce new people to our music. However, until we found a guitarist, we went with the approach that playing some shows is better than playing no shows. Now that we have someone that can man a 2nd axe, we've began practicing to play electric. It's been going well so far and Joe has been making nice progress with the songs. He's yet to master some of my non-conventional "spider-grips" as Al calls them, but he's gettin there. haha. No set date on "real" shows, but we are antsy to get out there, so the sooner, the better.

VIDEOS
For somewhat of a video recap of what was mentioned above - be sure to check out this video on our myspace profile - "What we've been up to"

You can also check out our YouTube profile for some home footage of acoustic shows we've been playing - youtube.com/conflictinthesky


Wow - that was long. We really have to send these out more often so you don't have to read so much in 1 sitting! haha. However, we don't want to be those artists that send out "updates" every 3 days. "Hi, we just got back from taking a dump. Buy more parts!" - if we did that, Chito would be sending out 6 e-mails a day! hahahaha. So like everything else - it's always Chito's fault. ha. "Blame Chito" shirts coming soon!

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Oh this Beautiful Chaos
Mar 6th, 2008

So we are in the process of finishing up a demo for the "Beautiful Chaos" contest and wanted to post the lyrics to the song. For those of you that don't k now, Willow from Telepathy posted a partial poem/lyric for another sellaband artist to complete and put to music. Here are the lyrics we came up with (her's are in bold)

poverty is filled with hope
of luxuries we'll never know
try to see a pot of gold
with every cumulus rainbow

Escape to an Oasis
from the middle of the mad rush
breathe the green air garden
hidden from the road dust

society begins to fold
this tragedy it has it's role
a dark beauty without a glow
the spectacle becomes the show

Escape to this new haven
from the fragile bearing arms
slip underneath the radar of
this temporary storm
sit back and watch humanity
build up til it implodes
the overbearing pressure
sparks a diamond from the coal

and you will see
in all this war
there's still beauty
in chaotic forms

Oh the dust of the road
in the heat of the sun
the clashing of souls
and the firing of guns
we rest in the peace
and quiet of our homes
but we just can't escape
the contradiction
of this beautiful chaos
oh this beautiful chaos
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New Recordings/Songs?
Feb 6th, 2008

Haven't been as active on SAB in the last week or 2, so wanted to drop by and say hello to everyone!

We spent last Friday working with a producer/engineer for the 1st time. It's a friend of the band who has MUCH better recording gear than we do, and also knows what he's doing when mixing (as opposed to me who has cheap gear and no training). Hopefully i can suppress the control freak in me and let him do what he's good at :)

The new track is going to be called "The Manual" and it's a bit more intense than the stuff we have up now. If it comes out well, we'll be recording "Magic Bullet" and "Repentance" with him as well. Hopefully more too (we have so many songs written, it's getting a little silly)

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We can do acoustic too
Jan 10th, 2008

Don't let all the synths and electronics fool you. We can do our songs acoustically.

As of last weekend, we began practicing to play some scaled down acoustic shows in our area. The synths will still be there, just in a different way. We thought it'd be cool to give people a different taste, and show our diversity. Believe it or not, most of our songs originate with just Chris and his acoustic guitar.

We'll be playing a few songs from the EP, then a few ones you haven't heard yet. We are still working on the final arrangements, as the songs will be quite different in some cases. While we work on everything, we hope to get some good video footage this weekend. Maybe post a few work in progress versions of the songs, or maybe just Chris and the acoustic. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully his voice is ok this weekend :)

Be on the lookout for some videos...

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It's Time To Upgrade - Why we are on Sellaband
Dec 30th, 2007

Hi everyone, it's been less than a week since we signed up and we already have 5 different believers and 8 parts sold. I know it's not much, but it's pretty nice considering we haven't had time to really promote it yet (holidays and all). Thanks to everyone who's jumped on early! We won't disappoint you.

As mentioned in our "info" section, all of our songs at this point are completely self-recorded/produced/mastered. I wanted to write a little bit about our current recording setup and give you a background from where we’ve come.

I (Chris) record the guitars, bass and vocals in my bedroom using a $50 dollar mic and an inexpensive audio interface to my PC (I know, I should get a MAC!). I then do the mixing/programming in FL Studio (another recording sin according to audiophiles). From there, I send the mix over to Chito, who then records his drums via an electronic kit (by far the most expensive piece of equipment we use to record) and sends that file back to me for a final mixdown. At that point the file gets sent over to Al who does some final mastering.

All things considered, I am pretty happy with what we were able to do on the songs that made it on our EP. We are leaps and bounds ahead of where we were even 6 months ago when I was recording the initial demos by myself (there was no band at this point). Before this year, I personally had ZERO recording experience (unless you count recording an acoustic guitar into a cell phone). I went with the “trial by fire” method.

It’s our belief that good equipment does not equal good music. This is why we didn’t go out and break the bank on top-dollar equipment. For myself, it would have been a complete waste a money since I wouldn’t know how to use most of it the right way anyway (I probably still wouldn’t). Start basic and build up from there. When you’ve gotten all you can out of your current equipment, then upgrade.

We are on Sellaband because we feel it’s time to upgrade. Although we like the recordings we have now, we know we could benefit tremendously from professional help. Our EP is essentially our demo. It’s a small taste of the great potential this new band has to offer. Sellaband presents us the unique opportunity to find out if you hear the same potential.

We are determined to make this band work any way possible, but Sellaband is our preferred choice to the next step. Hopefully you guys can make that a reality for us.

Thanks,

-Chris

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Welcome!
12/24/2007
Hello fellow sellaband artists and believers! We just finished the mixes for our self-produced, debut EP, "Blinding Epiphanies," and thought this would be a good time to open our sellaband account. We'll post more at a later time.

PAST SHOWS:

5/14/2008 - Munchaba Lounge - Levittown, NY
4/23/2008 - Munchaba Lounge - Levittown, NY
3/12/2008: The Cup in Wantagh, NY


Also using this section for our lyrics:

ONE LAST FUNERAL (new track - video on our youtube page - youtube.com/conflictinthesky)

This eulogy
can not be read
a loss for words
nothing to be said
can't make your peace
when thinking that
there is no reason
for you to move ahead

You saw your last friend
meet up with the end
now there's no one left
to feel your dead hands
as they
feel so
frozen

sitting up late
alone in bed
half empty queen
reminds your head
of how the ceiling
is closing in
least how it's feels now
that living things have fled

so you turn to faith
as your saving grace
filling a dark void
trying to replace
the hole
their heart
has left

never did believe
in a greater being
you still really don't
but it makes you feel
like there
is hope
again

angels float outside the window
escorting the pain in you, they
take it away

You saw your last friend
meet up with the end
now there's no one left
to feel your dead hands

As the flowers sink
push you to the brink
broken floorboard nails
sealing the extinct

so you turn to faith
as your saving grace
filling a dark void
trying to replace

never did believe
in a greater being
you still really don't
but it makes you feel
like there
is hope
again

One last funeral to seal my faith
I need something spiritual
saving me from this lonely world
everyone I know has passed away

ROBOTS

Disrupt beauty and natures vision with an incision
that cuts straight to the heart of...
enslaved, general population
on a foundation that was built by the empire

holding up what is not forsaken
identity of the dreams they've taken
filed and logged for a skewed statistic
based on made up facts that are unrealistic

From the outside we all look like robots
who've been programmed to ignore all our thoughts
until the one day he feels the remedy
with our eye's closed we'll all begin to see

Despise the independent thinking
use domineering, strategic placed suggestions
hypnotic and subtle by nature
the nomenclature will hide the real objectives

holding up what is not forsaken
identity of the dreams they've taken
filed and logged for a skewed statistic
based on made up facts that are unrealistic

From the outside we all look like robots
who've been programmed to ignore all our thoughts
until the one day he feels the remedy
with our eye's closed we'll all begin to see

read our script and play our part
detach my brain, take out my heart
replace them with machinery
i'll act like you, you'll act like me

From the outside we all look like robots
who've been programmed to ignore all our thoughts
until the one day he feels the remedy
with our eye's closed we'll all begin to see

DEATH CLOCK
The calendar shows our deadlines and remainders
til events we have planned, all are premeditated
years upwards they count, a life measured by ages
our metric discounts, the time thats left remaining

Death comes in many forms
it doesn't wait for you
it doesn't care that
you were not ready to close the book, final chapter, its over
pen ripped out of your hand, story without closure

watch as the sand grains fall from top to bottom
Irrelevance shown as it's smashed from the side
blowing out the glass chambers we thought once were restricted
your time has run out
from your body, evicted

Death comes in many forms
it doesn't wait for you
it doesn't care that
you were not ready to close the book, final chapter, its over
pen ripped out of your hand, story without closure

Bleed for me, Bleed for me
Scream like you mean something
Inside me is where you'll live for eternity
Photos and memories can't replace your image
for granted, are taken
the lives we've been given

Death comes in many forms
it doesn't wait for you
close the book
this story's over

Death comes in many forms
it doesn't wait for you
it doesn't care that you were not ready to
close the book, final chapter, its over
pen ripped out of your hand, story without closure

Death comes in many forms
Death comes in many forms
Death comes in many forms and now this story's over.


EXILE
waking to the morning sea
crashing down upon your island
a new home full of beauty
but your life is past the horizon
now a distant memory
the world you knew it has expired
forced into this misery
now paradise reminds you

of their face
standing there
you were erased
no one cared

breathing in the evening air
peacefulness builds like a fire
enraging you to a stare
cuz everything reminds you

of their face
standing there
you were erased
no one cared

so is there any time left til we
will see the guilty blame
the innocent for crimes of treason
just to protect their name

so now you must embrace
this is your home
a life without a face
cuz now your gone
vanished without a trace

and now there is no time left til we
will see the guilty blame
the innocent for crimes of treason
just to protect their name
the man with truth and answers silenced
exiled to maintain
distorted version of the truth by
claiming he was insane

STARING CONTEST

Frozen, the eyes glaze over as thoughts engage him like a warrior
evil deeds made a guilty mind whose cold blank face, reads out like a sign
painted, with a premonition, an ill-bound fate filled with ammunition
heading down steady the hellbound course
disrupt the pain straight at the source

He's stuck in a staring contest
his body's froze and he cannot move
He's stuck in a staring contest
locked in stalemate, but he wants to lose

focused, the eyes gaze forward in two connect, a smoking murder
dot your t's and cross your eyes, solution waits, back in disguise
itchy finger scratch, is not a factor, your head decides, who lies in tact
backwards thoughts, so unconvincing, a self despised, manic condition
nothing can serve as a deterrent, the past outweighs anything current

shoulders feel heavy, the throats gone coarse
evaluate the “diers” remorse
He's stuck in a staring contest
his body's froze and he cannot move
He's stuck in a staring contest
locked in stalemate, but he wants to lose

all these lies blown away
no more tears on their face

baited
into a life that seems so overrated
where you sold dreams for your own entertainment
watching their lives turn into devastation
eventually resulted in a hatred
of your own life and the filth you engaged in
theres too much guilt, now you are inundated
with memories that you'll never escape from
so you stare down the barrel of your gun

He's stuck in a staring contest
his body's froze and he cannot move
He's stuck in a staring contest
locked in stalemate, but he wants to lose

itchy finger scratch, is not a factor, your head decides, who lies in tact
backwards thoughts, so unconvincing, a self despised, manic condition
nothing can serve as a deterrent, the past outweighs anything current
so take a shot, fire out your best
ironic tragedy ends with the 1st success

ironic tragedy ends