When I was 12 I responded to a flyer I saw at the music store Rody’s and the skating rink on victory for teenagers wanting to start a band - influences listed were MxPx, Blink 182, Pennywise, and Squad Five-0. I ripped off the piece of paper with the number on it and called as soon as I got home. A couple days later I was in my room “jamming” for the first time ever with anyone other than playing drums in church and by myself. That was the first moment I remember feeling connected to people and like I’d found my place in the world. Justin Boykin and Brenden Robertson had become my new best friends. I found my sense of purpose and self worth in playing music and particularly playing music with Justin. By the time we got outta high school we had already toured all over and been playing with all of our favorite bands, playing bars late at night and being hungover at school the next day. In the following years we became 1/2 of nearly every working band in town at one point or another, and wrote and recorded great songs with a lot of folks. Some that even saw a bit of major success. We got into a lot of stuff real fast and real young and we learned a lot of lessons the hard way. I’ve never known how to tell our story, or how to share with people who don’t know him how influential he was to me and so many other people - musicians, friends, etc. In his absence some of my biggest accomplishments felt hollow without him by my side. We worked so hard and sacrificed a lot to dedicate ourselves to music the way we did, and some of those decisions altered the course of our lives in ways that we could never have imagined. Now that he has left the physical form and left us all with so many questions, regrets, and broken hearts all I want to do is share my best memories of him, tell his story, and keep his memory alive - not for his mistakes but for the amazing person he was and all he taught all of us. Jeremiah Stuard put together an amazing tribute video to the song Flood with compiled footage and photos all given to me since he passed away by fans, friends, and family. My hope is it comforts anyone who misses him and inspires us to be grateful for who/what we got while we have them.