Dear Tumblr,

As I type this, I realize that not many people will read it.  This fact is a little more than slightly discouraging.  However, for those of you who are reading this post, you have probably noticed that The Okay Feeling has been quite stagnant for a long time.  This, too, is a bit more than slightly discouraging.  With the exception of a show on New Years Day (almost two months ago), we have been all but forgotten to the local scene.  Please don’t forget about us!

This stagnation is occurring for a plethora of reasons, including school, a long distance relationship with our beloved bassist Matt, concentration on stupid things that aren’t our music (like work), etc.  Hopefully, you agree that this sucks.

In order to avoid this phenomenon, The Okay Feeling will more than likely attempt to bring something (anything) new to those of you who are the least bit interested.  We have (very unofficially) talked about this scary notion, and have come to the following conclusion: We are making a bar set.  A long one.  While playing covers is a lot of fun and can be pretty lucrative, it doesn’t exactly give us the opportunity to flex our creative muscles, but hey, at least we’ll be playing, right?  We have a super long list of potential covers, and we are very excited to put them together (even though there has not been a lot of momentum, even in attempting to accomplish this).  We ask that you bare with us though, as we have a lot of confidence in the “listenability” of these new covers.  In other words, we really think that these covers kick ass.

Along with these covers, we have been hammering out several originals, and I think that all of you will be a bit surprised in the direction we are heading.  We are not becoming solely a bar band.  We are still very much interested in our own creations, and this new material is coming out strong.  It is a bit different for us, but it is certainly a good thing.  We hope you will be as enthused as we are about this new sound.  Hell, you might not think it’s all that different, but we are definitely trying to put out something that you will like.

We are still the same band, and we are still keeping with it.  We aren’t going anywhere until they make us, and even then, we’ll give ‘em hell!  Keep listening, please.

On a side note, I confirmed my belief today that there is absolutely no escape from the “Bible Belt.”  One might be so inclined to believe that a university is the absolute escape from the blind conservatism and small-mindedness that can be found in the confines of Southwest Virginia.  That makes sense, right?  Apparently not.  As a political science student in my final semester at Radford University - the small, liberal arts university that I attend - I am continually amazed/appalled/confused by the blind conservatism of the TWENTY-SOMETHINGS that I get to call my classmates.  I understand being a self-aware, involved, well-read anything (conservative, Marxist, fascist-anarchist, balloon animal enthusiast, etc.), but I do not understand why these young people no longer think for themselves.  I guess it’s more fun to party than to think.  Perhaps I’ll try that…

-Grant, The Okay Feeling.

We played a show in  Harrisonburg, Va a few nights ago - it was fun.  It was also hot and sweaty and rainy.  What more could a band ask for really?  We played with two awesome bands full of awesome guys.  Nothing is more fun than meeting cool new people. Hopefully we’ll make it back up to H’burg more often. A super talented photographer named Evan was kind enough to take a few pictures of us.  Check him out right here.  Hopefully we’ll have a few of those pictures up soon. We also have a new jam up on the myspaces. Just follow the link that says “H’burg” from up above.  No one uses myspace anymore do they?  I think it’s only bands and super creepers.  Maybe we’ll find another site to put our jams up on (don’t end your sentences with a preposition kids. It’ll make your palms hairy).  Anyway, like always, we had a blast playing music together and sharing it with new people.  We hope everyone enjoyed it and we look forward to doing it again sometime.

-TOF

I remember when we first decided on the name The Okay Feeling that the word “okay” would be a problem for us.  Jokes like “Are you guys Feeling Okay?”, “Did that song make you Feel Okay?”, “That band is only Okay” still persist to this day and I don’t really see them going anywhere.  I think it’s a good thing though and I don’t think of any us really mind.  In fact, I think it’s generally been embraced by the band and all the fans (all 12 of you).

The name of the band is not the point of this post.  I just wanted to let you know how this summer seems to be shaping up.  I (Matt) go to school in Harrisonburg and I’m staying here for most of the summer.  I scored a sweet internship with a company called Southard Audio doing professional audio gigs (I helped with an Alison Krauss show a few days ago).  That is why I am here and not in Pulaski playing music.  Despite our long distance relationship, which is admittedly my fault, The Okay Feeling has some exciting things in the works for the summer.  We’ve got a few T-Shirt designs and hope to have them ordered shortly.  That means you can now support of The Okay Feeling every day!!

Also on tap for this summer is more recording.  If you’ve been following the band at all the past few years (as I’m sure you all haven’t been), I know what you’re thinking.  You’re thinking “But Matt, you guys have been saying that for years now.”  You’re absolutely right, we have been saying it for entirely too long, but we’re serious this time.  I’m going to set up that Dell I’ve got, buy Pro-Tools and we’re going to finish this thing.  What’s probably going to happen is we’re going to do a rough EP for ourselves and then maybe have someone else mix it and/or record it over again. 

Anyway, look out for some Okay stuff from us this summer.  We’re trying to make it as productive as we possibly can and we cannot wait to get out there and play some shows for you guys!!

-TOF

*Disclaimer: Although this was posted on April Fools Day, it contains no pranks, just one very bad pun.

Hello friends,

This is my first experience blogging for the Okay Feeling (or blogging at all since the LiveJournal/Xanga days), and I am extremely excited about it.  I just wanted to fill all of you Okay Feeling news junkies in on some news, both past and present.

Recently, the Okay Feeling in it’s entirety piled into Justin’s dad’s Yukon, and went down to Georgia (much like the devil that one time).  We rented a U-Haul and rode 6 deep (the 5 of us + Justin’s Papa) in a beast of a car to the Atlanta area, where we played two excellent shows with very special guest, and close friend of the band, Brian Johnson.  We were able to stay in what was way too nice of a hotel before waking up at 5am to prepare to rock at a school fundraiser.  We played 3 sets that morning and had an incredible time doing so.  We were also able to meet and exchange information with an exciting new contact (Gabe drank lots of coffee to facilitate this exchange).  The crowd seemed very responsive and genuinely interested in our music.  Immediately following the morning show, it was time to break down, load up the U-Haul, and head to the next venue, a Greek restaurant called “Veranda,” to set up our gear, and prepare to rock some more.  By this point, after playing 3 sets, the first of which began around 7am, and constantly loading and unloading heavy equipment, it is almost needless to say that we were all dragging ass.  We went to a BBQ restaurant called “Swallow At the Hollow,” where we all ate WAY too much because the food was that good.  It didn’t take long after we had feasted before we were all napping back at the hotel.  I’ll go ahead and speak for the band as a whole by saying that nap time was absolutely fantastic.  After the napping had been exhausted (very bad pun), we went back to Veranda and prepared two long sets.  We played to a large crowd that really seemed to like us.  We received lots of compliments and even filled up our tip jar.  The next day, we started our trip home, with a brief intermission at JR (the huge outlet place with all of the billboards).  Once again, I will speak for the band as a whole in saying that we had a wonderful trip, and we wish we could have taken you all with us.

Since Georgia, we have all been busy back in school.  After a great trip it is always really hard to go back to the “real world.”  The adjustment from professional musician to professional student is not a fun one.  All that aside, we have some exciting shows lined up for this month, including a big show on the Radford University campus with our good friends Aside Oceans and Alliens on April 24th (Quadfest weekend!), and a show at Champ’s in Blacksburg with the Forecast and House of Fools on April 30th!  I hope that everyone can make it to both of these shows, as they are destined to be lots of fun with lots of good bands!

Sorry there were no pranks involved in this post, and sorry for the pun.  Thanks for reading, and be sure to check back for more posts!

Grant

This is a possible TShirt idea sent to me by our good friend Ryan McCardle today. Just an idea. More to come. Stay tuned.

-Matt

Hey guys and girls,

     This is our first post on our new blog so hopefully we can keep you entertained and informed.  Last night (2/4/10) we won a battle of the bands sponsored by the SGA at Radford University.  We all had a blast and we played our hearts out; in fact, my bass hit my knee sometime during the performance and now it’s bruised and swollen.  I guess sometimes this can be a dangerous line of work. As a band, we would like to thank everyone that came out to support us and we’d especially like to thank the other bands that played. Anyway, we’re going to finally order some shirts and we’re very excited about the whole process. 

A little over a month ago we started recording an EP (I think we’ve been talking about recording for over a year now but we’re serious this time. Really.).  There isn’t really a timeline on when we’re expecting it to be finished, just whenever we can find time between shows and school. Just keep nagging us about it and we’ll try and get it done.

We’re trying to book more and more shows simply because we love playing and we don’t play enough during the school year.  Keep an eye and an ear out for us and we promise you wont be disappointed.

Excelsior!

-Matt