Well, I logged onto www.tripod.lycos.com today, innocently enough, and to my great surprise, this sad little neglected hovel of a website has not yet been removed from the internet, and is still up and and running! Truly the internet is a wonderful thing. Do not let this pathetic little page be any representation to you of Notwithstanding's success. We've been busier than ever, and as a RESULT, the website has not been updated very recently. And in any case, we're going to get a new one. A BETTER one. A COOLER one. Maybe one without the incessant pop-ups and advertisements. One of my geeky friends has already agreed to build us a new one.

 

By the way, if you're one of those reclusive, possibly non-existant people who've never met us or heard our music but but come to our site for kicks anyways, happy new year! And come to our shows. And maybe give us money while we're there. Did we mention our upcoming shows?

 

So far, the one at Shannon's Irish Pub(e) is the only one set in stone. And it's going to be a damn good time. Provided you are either eighteen or older, or your parents (or "rents", as the kids say) are willing to accompany you. Being a "pub(e)", which is Irish for "bar", they have this tendency to serve ALCOHOL. That's right. The devil's beverage. So you have to be eighteen+, or bring a parent. This means you, Brent and Caleb.

 

We also have several shows that aren't set in stone. They're set in...jello...or something. They're either still in planning stages, or the planners of the events haven't told us everything about them yet. We got a fundraiser in May at the Christian Centre with our handsome and talented friends The Reception. We got another fundraiser at the school we're in, and we'll know all about it as soon as we attend the meeting tommorow. Rory's setting us up with a show in May or April, very likely at his headquarters, the Winnipeg Christian Centre. Or he'll set us up if I give him my Slurpee. Augh. I can either have a show or a Slurpee, but not both. The life of a rock star is rough indeed. In addition, we're putting together a show of our own, probably mid-April, at our beloved old church, probably with the Reception, Pure Karma and the Public. That show has been tentatively named the Entire Chaos Tour. You like that, Taste of Chaos? One-upped again! Abby, our popular friend from Grant Park High School has just talked to us about another show at, surprise surprise, Grant Park High School. Perhaps MuchMusic-favored Kiros will be there, yes? Finally, all three of Notwithstanding's fine members will be in attendence at the Glenlawn 30-hour famine, where I'm told there will be an assortment of instruments. Ooh. Once again, we'll let all of you know something about these shows as soon as we know something.

 

In extra-curricular news, you may have seen Brent and I absolutely kill the grade 10 and 11's in the Glenlawn Spirit Week Voice Your Stuff event. We put together a third-wave ska band, aptly named Woody and the Peckers. Blew the judges right out of the water. Caleb could barely hold back tears of joy, so proud was he of our accomplishment (Caleb is in grade 10). Also, you could listen to the recording of me playing all of the instruments on Zombies Ate My Neighbours, which was impromptly broadcast to the entire school without my knowing. Brent and Rafe sing backup. You could also listen to Caleb, who's currently retelling stories of his philandering endeavours on the Bemidji Jazz Trip that he is most proud of. Even though I was there, I proved to be an ineffective chaperone, and Caleb's lepido was allowed to run free. He was a real chap.

 

Fortunately, no one was injured. Unfortunately, that's all the time we have. For Notwithstanding news, I'm Mike McDermid.

-Mike

Merry Christmas site readers! Thanks for not abandoning us in our month-long time of website negligence. Quite honestly, we've been too busy out there and living life to bother letting you site-reading types in on what we're doing. But that's the end of that! We're back, in all our glory, to inject joy and life into the Notwithstanding.tk news!

 

So, on that note, what have we been doing? Brent and myself (I'm Mike. Hi.) have been slaving away at the Glenlawn drama production of My Very Own Story, which as anybody who's anybody around here knows, ran from Tuesday Dec. 6 to Friday Dec. 9, complete with matinees and evening performances. We are unanimous in that it drama'd the pants off of everyone who came to see it, and it was generally a good time. It better have been a good time, for the amount of effort that Brent and I put into it. That is to say, Brent rigged the overhead microphones, mic'd all the cast and made sure the microphones were put away every day, coaxed our 28 year old soundboard into cooperating, operated all the volume levels and controlled all the sound effects and cues.

 

 I played the trombone. And it wasn't easy! Some of the My Very Own Story songs are tough! But that's what took up most of our recent spare time.

 

What was Caleb doing all this time? Passed out naked in an alley somewhere is our guess.

 

So! In other news...you want to know if we have any shows. Yes. We can see right through you, site-reader. Your best bet if you want to see Notwithstanding in all their splendour these days is to drag your site reading buttocks out to KOZ on Monday nights. 6:30 to 9:00, 596 St. Mary's Road, behotches.

 

We'll also no doubt be performing our Christmas set for the Dakota Community Church pageant. Just like the old saying goes: Christmas comes but once a year, and that time of year is when you should be going to see Notwithstanding. Seriously. Our Christmas set kicks arse.

 

We also got wondrous things planned in the new year, if not on New Year's itself! Keep coming back to Notwithstanding.tk. We'll try our best to let you know what's going on with this hapless but tenacious band of ours.

 

And God bless us. Everyone. You bastards.

-Mike

 

Wow! Thats all I can think of saying about the show yesterday night at KOZ youth group. for those who wern't there, it was the grand opening at our new building but also our 4th year of KOZ. Notwithstanding (hey thats us!) started off the night play some songs and it was awsome, everyone was all into it and we sounded great. after that youth Paster Chris Cormie got a chance to talk to all of us and his topic was amazing! after that everyone went down (but mike and I) and everyone got some pizza (except mike and I) cause we were busy helping The Recption set up for what was sure to be a awesome set...well I was right. The Reception rocked off the roof! and they brought back there Kelly Clarkson cover "since you've been gone" which was so awesome to hear again. Well after about 3-4 songs Andrew broke a string so while we re-strung we had a Coke chuging contest. David L, against Jared A...I couldent watch but I was told Jared won...so reception played some more and on their second last song andrew broke ANOTHER string...so in between songs mike bagged him to use his own guitar...Andrew agreed to for their last song...Mike is still in shock of this, but he will be okay. later that night The Reception was talking to Chris and they want to do another show at KOZ sometime in November so keep your eyes open for another KOZ Reception show. well thats a few things that happend that night...everyone who came, we ask you to come again cause we promiss the fun will not stop, and we encourage anyone else who has never gone to come check it out! well I'm out of here!

 

-Brent V

 

 

Ladies and gentlemen, you know that we at notwithstanding.tk really appreciate all the viewing that you do, and we feel credit should be awarded where credit is due. Consulting my tripod counter here, it reports there's been 483 visits to our fine site this past month. This is FAR more visits than we've ever had in the past. I'd like to thank Brent and Caleb for continuing to be the popular superstar franchises that they are, and of course you the viewer. But most importantly, we'd like to send a huge thank you to Friendfinder.com, "The leading personals network for dating, marriage, romance and fun!" for selecting our humble site for their opening advertisement. Many a notwithstanding.tk commitee has decided that this advertisement is the cause of the majority of male visits to our site, and has completely ruled out that Brent, Caleb and I have visited our own site 483 times and kept hitting the "refresh" button. Thank you Friendfinder for your ongoing support of this fledgling band.

 

In actual music-related news, we at notwithstanding.tk firmly believe that you should drop whatever you're doing on Sept. 10th and come to one or more of our fun-filled concerts that day. We at notwithstanding.tk believe that there is nothing you are doing on the 10th that can't be done on the 11th, so you should therefore come to one of our concerts. Maybe both. Did we mention there are TWO of them? Both concerts feature many fine performances by bands and individuals much better than us, so it is certainly worth your while.

 

And that's the way it was. I'm Mike McDermid. You stay classy, San Diego.

-Mike

 

Wow, it's been a while since we've updated you guys but we've all been away and busy with other stuff. A few days ago The Reception had their CD release party for their first full length album Does It Keep You Awake? The show was amazing and the CD is so great and everyone should go out to their shows and get the CD. And with this whole talk about releasing CD's our Manager Rory Bruce was letting us know that our dream for recording is about to become a reality. From what we know now, NWS will be recording a full length album with A Place Tomorrow's Brent McCrea. This is really exciting but we still have many more songs to write. we are not yet sure what we want to name the cd, if you have any cool ideas you can e-mail us at nwsmail@hotmail.com and give us some ideas. thats all

 

Hello again, my happy little site reading fanatics. I'm happy to report that I've just completed my monthly-or-so Site Makeover, so check out our minorly-adjusted bios and stuff, as well as a couple new On the Songs courtesey of the man himself (me). And I've almost got this camera dealy working, so check back soon for even more photos of the musical pleasure that is Notwithstanding. We also have a lot to tell you guys about the McDowell and D.C.C. shows, but this is a task for a time when Notwithstanding has had a little more sleep. God, it's 3:43 am and I'm still awake at this bloody computer. Shows how much I love you guys.

 

Peace.

-Mike

 

Dear Members of the General Public,

It's me, Mike, frittering away valuable hours of my all-too short life to keep you site-reading types in the loop. I don't write the news very often, as Brent often reminds me, and there's a reason for that. But I'll do my best...

 

First, a note about being kept in the loop; it doesn't happen to me. Seriously. If something happens here at Notwithstanding, I'm usually the last to know. It's probably a good thing that Brent does the news. But, using my limited knowledge of Notwithstanding's current events, allow me to present:

 

THE MIKE REPORT

 

Well, seeing as I don't know anything new, I'll just repeat some of the stuff that Brent's already said. Just let me scroll down to the bottom here, find out what we've been doing, and put my own special spin on it....

 

Geez, I haven't been on here since the Tsunami show. And if we played the Tsunami show around the same time the Tsunami happened, then I REALLY haven't been on here in a while. Well, all the same, I seem to remember it being really helluva awesome, so a belated thank you to everyone who came out.

 

Hmmm.....oh yeah, we didn't play the McDowell coffee house. Thanks, of course, to the unnecissarily long and energy-draining GLENLAWN PRODUCTION that took over everyone's lives for a little while. Thank gentle Jesus we've jumped over that hurdle. 

 

So getting back to the McDowell coffee house.....it still happened, even without the pleasure of our company. And Caleb was there anyways. Deprived of his band, he got up on stage and sang a song, a cappella, about pushing buttons. We'll keep you updated on the course of Caleb's career as a solo artist.

 

And the show on the 29th!!!! Talk about....uh.....shows on the 29th!!!!! Actually, now that I think back, that show was amazing. Kiros was amazing. Kiros was good enough to merit us buying more merchandise than we've bought from any other band. Of course, that's partially because Kiros HAD more merchandise than we've seen from any other band. Almost as impressive as their endless talent, energy and stage presence was their endless selection of t-shirts, hoodies, CD's, pins, patches, posters, hats........at the end of the night, I think they were just writing "Kiros" on scraps of paper they found on the floor and selling them to us, but WE WERE BUYING THEM DAMMIT because Kiros was THAT GOOD. A Place Tommorow was as ass-kickingly heavy as ever I've seen them. They were by FAR the best hardcore band there. If a band's success can be measured by the number of cuts, bruises, pulled muscles and minor fractures all over my body from their mosh pit, then A Place Tommorow was REALLY GOOD. The Reception.....those guys........let's just say we are lucky to share the same PLANET as those guys, never mind the same stage. If Notwithstanding has seen far, it's because we've stood on the backs of those guys. And we have. To the point of sacking ourselves on Andrew's head whilst crowdsurfing, and easy task as his head is approximately seven feet above everyone else's. We regret that we, Notwithstanding, were unable to watch Twenty Pound Shovel's performance, as we, Notwithstanding, were collectively REALLY hungry after our set, so we all went to McDick's across the street for a while. However, the ever-helpful Laura Gardiner informs us that T.P.S. rocked out extensively. And you guys can thank me for the amazingly catchy "T.P.S." acronym. I just thought of it now.

 

Alright now, that brings us to where we stand right now. Now if Brent accuses me of never writing any news on the site, I can say that I've done everything he has. Take that Brentie. But, if you guys want any news that you haven't already heard, Brent's still the guy to go to. If this news report has taught you anything, it's that I don't know what's going on. That's why we have Brent in the first place.

 

Peace out, you guys.

-Mike

 

 

The show on the 29th was awesome...Reception is amazing me more and more by every show. I can never get sick of them. Kiros was so awesome, A Place Tomorrow sounded great...and Mur's Pants are getting tighter and tighter...but he can pull it off. thank you to eveyone who came out to the show and I hope to see you at our next shows and the other bands shows.

 

-Brent V

 

 

The show we played on the 2nd went wonderful. all but mike's amp who was being a bad girl!...she's being spanked as we speak. Some news with NWS is that we have be come aware that Brian Cook, DJ for Freq 107 HAS heard of us and wants to hear our demo when were done...I dunno who told him about us but who ever it is I will kiss you all over. Also according to Guitarest of The Reception Andrew Hedlin we are "Probably the youngest band on Scene" so now we are on a scene and no one freaken told me till now...I would of had a party but NOOOO...the way I was picturing it to happen is some fancy guy with a document saying that we have accepted into the scene and then balloons fall down and all our friends and family jump out of no where and a chearing. but me sitting alone working on the site at 1:13 is also just good enough. Now that we are on the Scene we are way to busy and if you would like to speek to us or "hang out" you will have to book one of us...to do so you can call Sheldon and he will be mostlikly to hang up on you. thank you :)

 

-Brent V

 

 

 

Well we had a blast at the show on sat. we made over $1000 for the tsunami relief. just wanna say a thanks to Chernoble Fate, Pure Karma, A Place Tomorrow, Sunday Night Cruise, and The Reception for helping out and just having a great time...it was awesome! all the bands sounded great and we missed The Guitar section for reception...Hope you get better quick Andrew. But I had a blast last night and a crick in my neck today but it was well worth it.

 

-Brent V

 

 

 

 

 

As usual, you can catch us every Monday night at KOZ Youth Group at Dakota Community Church, 596 St. Mary's Road.