Larger view here - http://www.tackfilm.se/en/?id=1259092439689RA38

The evening was too perfect for any of us to remember to take any photos or video. You'll have to watch Heima ... and then watch Home Alone. It was probably somewhere in between those two.

One year later, we've booked two shows in New York. Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan. Aside from being eager to play in New York again, we couldn't wait to experience the city a little deeper this time around.

To kick off the visit, we set up camp at a pizzeria in Bushwick and in a matter of minutes, we were reunited with Steve. Apparently Steve is working on a novel right now in which a band loosely based on Metavari are among its characters. That's scary. Scary and hilarious. I think we love Steve more than NYC itself. Below are a handful of photos from the two days we spent there. Discovering amazing food, hauling the van through Times Square, climbing up onto the roof of the apartment we stayed in, and taking audio recordings of the sounds of the street.

Andrew captured the audio from a few songs in Greg's set here:

"My Girls"


"Two-Headed Boy pt.2"


"The Deepest Blue"

We played with Jason Zavala and Ben Purdom. Unbelievable. Amazing voices and brilliant song-writers. By the end of the night Nate was on the drums backing Ben Purdom on his casio. Their albums now reside in our van along with Prince's greatest hits, Deastro - Keepers, The Ventures - Walk Don't Run and a slew of 90's pop punk that we dug up before we left Fort Wayne. No, we don't listen to pop punk.. but there's something that just seems right about listening to Hoss by Lagwagon in the ol' Beauville.

Also, found Twin Peaks season 2 on DVD at a comic book shop and a claw machine who's "claw" was a t-rex and whose prizes were rubber dinosaurs. Didn't win.

The Luminary is located in a historic convent that's been turned into an alternative gallery, studio and venue. To be in and around everything that the people at the Luminary are doing breathed life into what we are doing in Metavari. We are learning everyday how to see this band in a light where the music we play is only a small part of the energy and focus that is what we are accomplishing. And the folks at the Luminary are in the thick of it. James McAnally, the man who runs and books the Luminary, had an installation set up the evening of our performance with some unbelievably inspiring words in his artist statement. In an attempt to not completely botch up what he wrote, we'll just paraphrase one short section. He described art as a vehicle to answer questions that maybe there aren't clear answers for. And even the answers that art presents do not themselves have a way to be put into words. We'd maybe even take that further to say that art and music can be a vehicle for hope and inspiration in those that are participating in it. James said in his statement that often times those participating in the art are in fact a part of it. We hope one day Metavari can blur that line between the art we produce and the people who interact with it.

Thanks to everyone who came out and thanks to all at the Luminary who we are proud to say are our friends. Early Day Miners and Fractured Army were phenomenal. We posted a handful of photos below.