Oh No’s trip to NYCby Sky N
At the beginning of January, we got an offer to play a TV show in New York City called ‘FearlessMusicTV’. Right after getting the offer via email, our first thoughts were along the lines of …’Too bad we’re not gonna be in NYC!”. Just days later, we got another offer to work on some new songs with a producer in Jersey City named Jayson DeZuzio. At that point, we knew that we couldn’t possibly pass up these opportunities, especially when plane tickets were only $95, and after we saw Jayson’s roster of bands that he has worked with!

Smile for the camera. Or, not.
This trip to NYC was probably one of the easiest trips yet. Lots of traffic at LAX, but smooth sailing once we got outta town. Myk, Jussi and I had minimal musical equipment, no illegalities (go figure), and we were flying in one day early (Monday) just to make sure we could get settled in NYC before we hit the recording studio (Tuesday). The TV show was being filmed on Thursday.

To hire Ryan Mapes and Jussi for your wedding, birthday party, funeral, etc. click here.
Right when we stepped off the plane we could tell that it was freezing cold. Damn good thing we all had four jackets on.) We checked into a Holiday Inn in Times Square and started doing the Irish Pub rounds. (There are soooo many in Midtown Manhattan!) We were all beginning to adapt to where we will call home for the next week.



Roosevelt Hotel Lobby, NYC. Guess who took the picture?

Larry (Hit The Lights’ Tour Manager) came to hang out with us in Times Square. I barely remember taking this picture to be honest.



The next morning we made our way to Jersey City to meet Jayson and start working in the studio. We didn’t have a schedule or particular plan since we wanted to keep an open mind to every possibility. The first day in the studio we all agreed to put our minds together and come up with something from scratch, on the spot. Myk and I started jamming riffs together, eventually coming up with a basic structure. The rest of the day consisted of everyone chiming in on what they think the song should be about. Everyone started exchanging stories that either inspired us or worked us up. Every good song has something specific to say, and we hit the nail right on the head with this one. We created a very powerful, upbeat, anthematic song that lyrically represents where we stand in the music industry and how we strongly and proudly embrace our integrity as a team. We’re still gonna continue our legacy no matter what gets in our way. The song that we made from scratch within the first two days is entitled “We Are Who We Are (You Can’t Take That Away)” and we’re damn proud of the final product.

NYC skyline on the way to the studio. If you look closely you can see the Loch Ness Monster.(and a wheelchair falling out a hotel window)

There must be something in the water in Finland. And I’m not talking about Licorice.

Walter the engineer and Jayson, working on Sky’s sweet rollerblade grind stance.
I even got my picture with Darth Karvinen. Just cost me 750 tickets and 30 minutes in line.

Thanks to The Entwistle estate for letting us borrow this amazing bass.
During the vocal session, we invited some friends to join us in the chant vocals:

Stand up and scream for everything you believe. Sing proud! Right now!
Thanks to Ben from Armor For Sleep, Joe from Hidden In Plain View, Jesse from The Number 12 Looks Like You, Jaguar Shark, Lisa Thomas, Wes, GLAC, and Everett Connors for helping us with the vocal chants.


We met up with Everett (from The Royal Heist, who was filling in on bass for us) the second night we were there, and headed straight for a rehearsal spot in NYC to prepare for the TV show that was being taped the next day, at noon. Now this place was not just your typical hole-in-the-wall rehearsal facility like we expected, and like we are used to in LA. When we walked into this place (called Ultra Sound), we were blown away at how much backline gear they had. Literally 40 of the nicest amp heads, 6 combo amps, 5 keyboards and organs, speaker cabinets of every size and shape, this place was a dream come true for a gear geeks like us. I’ve never had so much fun rehearsing, and three hours never passed by so fast. Glad we went there. So glad that we went back to the hotel and got to watch Everett and Ryan Mapes throw a wheelchair out my hotel window, 22 floors up in Times Square.(video footage will be retained for legal purposes)

This photo was taken on accident, Jussi does indeed have a head. (Wait, what button is it?)


Throwing a wheelchair out of a window can be quite exhausting, if you didn’t already know. Everett fell asleep on the rollaway bed with his bass, and within ten minutes he made that bass his bitch, so I took a picture. Something tells me that 9 months from now Derprett is gonna have a baby bass on his hands. Looks a lot more comfortable than where he fell asleep in Vegas though:
The man is a champion. What can I say?

Sometimes you just don’t wanna go in the toilet. Especially when it’s chalk full of empty beer cans.

The next morning we headed for the Crash Mansion, which is where Fearless TV is filmed. The venue was super nice, and the staff was very professional. We felt welcome and were very excited to get all set up and play!!! Our sponsorship with Orange Amps came in handy this trip too, they delivered and set up everything we needed to play the show, for free. Huge help. We played the four songs they asked us to play for the show, and then they requested we play an additional two! After we got all our gear broken down, the film crew showed us the footage and we were very proud of what they got!!! Truly a great experience. They asked us if we’d play at their party (the next Tuesday) and we absolutely couldn’t say no. The trip got extended a couple of days, so we decided to be tourists and go see the Empire State Building with our manager Mapes!
Setting up for FearlessTV @ Crash Mansion. Caution: Overhead Clearance is 6′ 1″. Shit.
photo by Jailberg Ryan. World tallest building until 1972. Bunch of total wannabe’s now.

Ahhhh… the day we get this guy raised. (I’m only jealous that I didn’t think of this first)
Ryan Mapes post-loogie hock.
Mykul Lee was (clearly) having the most fun. Even Lisa couldn’t believe how excited he was!

The third and fourth day in the studio we repeated the process and came up with another song out of thin air. The new system that we had quickly developed, of keeping an open mind, not having too much expectation for where the song should go dynamically, and opening every door of possibility really helped us out on this trip. The pressure of having to collaborate made everyone think. And the thinking paid off in the end, we’re always stoked to see new songs come about in new ways.


Everett, Sky, Willie Jayson and Myk showing mixed emotions. I went with the snarl, personally.

On the way back to our hotel from the studio (at 3:30am) we got pulled over for speeding through the Lincoln Tunnel. Mapes, who was driving our rental car since we had all been drinking, immediately hands me his wallet and phone and says “I’m definitely going to jail. Hold these.” I was thrown off as to why he would think that, but sure enough… We heard “Step out of the car please, Sir” and knew he was done. He hadn’t been drinking, but his license was apparently suspended in Arizona for an unpaid traffic citation. When the cop came back to the car and told us that Mapes was going to jail, he asked who was fit to drive the car. We informed him that we had all been drinking and legally we probably shouldn’t be driving. His response was “Well are you fucked up or what?”. My response was, “We’re definitely not wasted but we’ve been drinking in the studio all day. I can operate the vehicle but not legally.” He said that he was gonna give me a police escort back to our hotel to make sure we arrived safely so he didn’t have to impound the car full of guitars and suitcases. So yeah, I got to drive through Manhattan with a police escort who knew I was drunk. I’ll put that on the list of life experiences for sure.
(audio clip of Mapes getting arrested retained for personal security)
Mapes got out of jail the next day and made it just in time for soundcheck at the Crash Mansion party. Once they told us that there was an open bar, I knew we were all done for. It was snowing pretty hard by the end of the party, and we were looking forward to getting back to LA at this point. Especially Everett, who took the 7am flight the next morning and accidentally left his suitcase in the cab. Nine days in NYC, check!

Five ham sandwiches about to drop their bottles all over the floor. Except Mapes, of course.Note the WMD that Willie (the one who looks like a japanese sniper in a sandstorm) has.
Jayson and Sky recording guitars at Treehouse Studios.(photo by Mykul Lee)
Buy a bottle and get a free belt buckle? Sounds like a screaming deal to me.(photo by Mykul Lee)

Outtake from the Music Dealers video blog. (Myk didn’t really eat his own head.)

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