It’s hard to find the right words to describe how I’m feeling about our album being put out into the world… but I’ll try!
This album has existed lyrically for a long time for me. Drawing immense inspiration from existentialist philosophy, struggles with mental health (depression/ survivors guilt/ suicidality to name a few), religious critique, and even the zen practice. Enveloping Absurdity is at times very dark but I hope you listen to the music and read the lyrics and find the hope to carry on that I needed and wanted to share.
I’m absolutely blown away by the support and kind words we’ve already received and honestly this whole album release cycle is very new to us and I don’t really know how to accept everyone’s incredible kindness and praise. Very surreal, making music like this and sharing with likeminded people is my dream and getting to do this means everything to me.
If you’ve ever felt unsure of your place in this world, unable to find the silver lining in the meaningless suffering, like a stranger to yourself… this album is for you. Life is often times absolutely brutal, and I hope we all find the people who truly want to see us and love us. Cheers friends, be kind to yourselves and know that you are not alone!!! It’s so important to be there for others and allow others to be there for you.
I’m so unbelievably proud of my brothers Josh Poer, Christian Alm, and Aaron Dudgeon. More than bandmates, more than friends, we’ve managed to push each other musically and lean on each other when we’ve each needed it. I don’t know where I’d be without them or how I’d make sense of this silly thing we call the human experience.
We poured our every fiber into making this album the best we possibly could and I’ve never been more proud of something I’ve been a part of! Humungous thank you to Adam Tucker for capturing the very spirit of Phobophilic for this record. His advice and skills were so crucial to executing Enveloping Absurdity.
Thank you to our visual coconspirators @endlessvastmystrium@kaydargs@kousinkilljoy@awilco for always understanding our vision and adding their own incredible artistic depth.
This is only the beginning…
This one is for my boys @gatecreeper who were just in town the other day. I had the honor of showing these freaks around to visit the distinct pleasures of the Red River valley. To honor their brand of extreme metal, @starbirdlounge brings you an extreme @jeppsonsmalort infusion… @takisusa 👹 🔥 ✨
⚠️ WARNING ⚠️ NOT FOR COWARDS!!! 😂🤕🙀
✨ RAFFLE TIME ✨ ☠️ 👼 👹
Please share and donate if you are able!
I’m once again coming to yall hoping to generate some funds for a dear friend who’s really behind on bills and needs a hand getting out of debt.
💸 VENMO: Vinnie-Tweten
HOW IT WORKS: every $10 gets your name added to the raffle drawing. No limit on how much you can donate!
For example, $50 = 5 chances to win
The piece is 2ft wide by 4ft tall. It’s on the best slab of wood Menards has to offer and drawn with black and white sharpie 😼
Friends from out of state, I’ll split the cost of shipping this monster with you or we could do a bunch of prints/ tote bags or something! Thanks yall!!!
Thank you for your attention on this matter.
-VMT
Every Sunday is our official Malört sponsored industry night here at @starbirdlounge .
Your entire tab is 20% off if you are service industry! We will be dropping a NEW malört infusion every single Sunday.. when that bottle is gone it is gone!
This week we have the incredible Girl Scout cookie: THIN MINT infused MALÖRT. ☘️ 🍫 😜
Come in and support the team with our fun infusions. Ask the bartenders who to thank/blame for each weeks creation! 💪😎
Had a lovely Duluth weekend getaway with my sweet babe @karlimcmartin to celebrate her birthday! We saw friends, ate great food, I bought too many records, and stayed at a beautiful old mansion. Special thanks to @antoniastarzl & @samkaliher for putting us up for a night and hanging out with us!
PLEASE READ. PLEASE SHARE!
I am raffling off this huge painting in the hopes to raise some money towards the efforts in Minneapolis. For every $10 sent, your name will be added to a piece of paper and entered into the drawing. There’s no limit. For my friends farther away, I can’t really ship this painting as it is 4ft by 2ft, so we can figure something out or I’ll send you a bunch of prints/ tote bag instead.
VENMO- Vinnie-Tweten OR send me a screenshot of you venmoing to any sort of mutual aid request in the Minneapolis area. I will be posting screenshots in the next few days showing where the money is going.
I’ve talked with organizers/ friends/ family working on the front lines helping their communities against the federal murderous cowards terrorizing the streets and doing whatever they want with impunity.
It’s too easy to look away or shut down, but I urge you, especially my friends farther away- do not look away. I know how hopeless it can feel when the thing we’re up against has so much power and feels like individually we can’t do much, but that’s where the power of community and the people is, we MUST advocate for each other and help however little we can, it adds up and goes farther/ means more than you would think. Keep sharing, keep talking about this, please donate wherever you can, help the people of Minneapolis if you are able to. Call your reps, this cannot be reformed- it must be abolished.
Another cherished community member was killed today. His name is Alex Jeffrey Pretti and he was a VA nurse. He was killed helping another community member to their feet and recording with his phone. The videos are horrific but I encourage you to watch them if you want to see for yourself how little of a threat he was posing to the officers. There is no justification for his murder, we must do better. Rest in power, Alex 🖤
I’ve been home for a couple days now and have been trying to figure out how to make this post. The last month has been a whirlwind of a tour, definitely our most successful and exciting one yet. It was such an unbelievable privilege to get to open for two of my favorite bands @deathtoallofficial & @gorgutsofficial !
Death was the first death metal band I heard and obsessed over. It was insane to not only hear Symbolic in full every night but getting to hang out with some of the guys who were on that record and so many other groundbreaking records.
The tour itself went smoother than any tour we’ve done, everyone in the bands and the crew were incredibly kind and fun to be around. I’ll never forget this tour, it was endlessly inspiring and I’m excited to take what I’ve learned and propel myself forward as a drummer. Watching @therealgenehoglan and @michelbelanger_drummer play drums every night was insane. Some of the best to ever do it!!
All that being said, this was the hardest tour for me. Not only the first tour after losing Stephanie, but the first time performing in general. The first time being away from my incredible supportive partner @karlimcmartin and our sweet cuddly cats. It was hard regulating my emotions, hard playing the Belasco when the last time we did she flew out and hung out with us there. Steph was a champion of our band and with me from the early days, she was our biggest cheerleader and believed in me when I hardly could believe in myself. There were many times I needed to step away and just let my emotions out. I felt so conflicted having a great time and then feeling like I didn’t deserve it. She would be so proud and more than anything I wished I could share this experience with her.
We opened our set with the instrumental track on the album “Individuation” each night and after our set would play Fearing’s “Black Sand”, her favorite song when we were together. There will never be enough I could do to honor her life and express how much she means to me, but I will keep trying.
Thank you for all the love 🖤🖤🖤
October 5th at @starbirdlounge 4-8pm we will be hosting a silent auction for Stephanie’s birthday raising money for suicide prevention. There will also be a limited merch release with a logo I drew and the return of a specialty cocktail I made in honor of our girl 🖤✨
-all proceeds of which will be donated!!!
Birthdays were really important to her, let’s show up and raise some money for a cause close to all our hearts.
I’ve been struggling trying to figure out a way to do something for Stephanie. I’ve wanted to find a way to honor her life and the love so many people have for her. I didn’t want to center her story around how it ended, she was an incredibly giving and endlessly loving person. She would seriously go to any lengths to help a friend and I think we could all strive to be more like that.
I am so lucky to have had such a profound friendship with her and I wish that everyone gets to have their own Stephanie. I hope we can raise some money and someone else doesn’t have to lose their best friend.
If you are unable to make it, please donate any amount to @myfirstlink who are doing such vital work in our community.
I’m so incredibly thankful to Adam and Shannon, they run Starbird with so much love and support our team so well. I can’t thank them and the rest of the team enough for how welcome and understood they’ve made me feel during such a painful year.
