In 2004 Mr Solid was at the crossroads coming up on 10 years. We'd reformed with our other founding member Josiah after a brief hiatus where Duncan and I had toured in the short-lived hardcore band The Retaliation. We'd taken on Adam as our lead guitarist and we were set to make it or break it. We had been shopping the studios for producers. One of those sessions produced the Greenhouse Recording. Needless to say that never ended up happening and continued to evolve our sound to a place where we felt our music could be taken more seriously. With the formation of Solid we did accomplish that and attracted Mike Reno to produce our album. We had prepared about 15 tracks for a new album but budget dictated that we try to shop a well produced EP before doing a full album. The result was the Solid recording. The egos and conflicting vision made short work of that band, and we all went our separate ways starting up new Hardcore and Metal projects. But never pop punk again.

It was no secret to those who know me well, those songs were not my favorite of the bunch. While I was onboard with the new direction, the writing process and content prevented me from ever returning to that time period. For me Mr Solid was always about reliving those moments that maybe in the whole scheme of things meant nothing but felt so life changing at the time. The songs reflected our nostalgia right out the gate, even though the events may have just happened the night before. I had this keen sense that if I didn't celebrate them then I may never. It's a lot like the end of Stand by Me, "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?". It's more than a statement about innocence lost (and definitely much more apt than our hideous "Innocence lost is Stupidity Gained" patches). Sometimes you can just never really go back. This was a lot more subtle than the last time I walked into Seylynn Hall and understood I didn't belong there anymore. It was more that you can't relive your first love.

Honestly it may have just taken this long for all of us to finally appreciate what we were doing and get over how juvenile and ignorantly simple it might seem. Or it might be the last couple years have a been a lot of new firsts in our lives and it has given the rare opportunity to take a moment to appreciate life that surrounds us. Luckily for us the songs were already written and we just needed to pour our new feelings into our old experiences as a send off to the most defining time period of our lives. It wasn't a time when we accomplished the most. Like how to do quantify the value of lazy Sunday afternoon band practices and 5 am sunsets after staying up all night after a great show? How can you measure living a dream with your best friends? In a way it was the continuation of those days at age 12, when we built tree forts in the park and swung on the swing sets past sunset. If playing in a pop punk band is not the epitome of a Peter Pan complex I'm not sure what is.

Maybe some of you can relate and can take a few moments to go back to a time when the unimportant was so important and when friendship was bigger than life; a time when every loss felt like an eternity, and every new day felt like the dawn of a new era. This has been a passion project for us and we want to give it away free of cost. Hopefully you enjoy listening to this as much as we enjoyed creating it. And all best on the roads you now travel.

See you in a lifetime...

Ryan Solid