A message to our super cool fans!

[Tikithehutt]

Hello Select Start peoples!

Welcome to the FUTURE! Or more precisely, 2009. Things have been relatively quiet over the past few months and I wanted to get in touch and let you know what's going on, and what's going to be happening over the next year.

First off, I want to apologize for the severe radio silence. As you'll see things have been in a massive transition period since earlier this year. We lost a bit of organization and apparently, the ability to speak and type. In all sincerity though it's not fair to you all who have supported and helped us and may have just been wondering what was going on. I hope this hasn't hurt our chances of having a long term relationship, there are some (mostly) good reasons for why we've been so distant.

I moved to California a year and a half ago to take a new job, and this was the start of things becoming much more difficult. Our own Mr. Yasensky was working full time as well, as was our Cellist John. Essentially this made time and distance a difficult factor to overcome in order to practice and play shows together. Soon after our Cellist left the band for personal reasons. This was a particularly difficult time and left us hurting when it came to fulfilling our responsibilities to the shows we agreed to play, and all of you awesome people. Recently Ms. Elaine Chan was accepted to graduate school for violin!! This is exciting, and also troublesome for show purposes (but mostly exciting). Our other violinist, Kiki has recently moved out of state as well, and our pianist Ms. Christine Lee has moved out of the country entirely. We now sit as a band in disarray due to time, distance, and other factors.

So now all the negative stuff is out of the way and I aim to answer the question "What are we going to do about it?". For starters, we've been employing the help of our web master, the fantastic Kevin, as well as the ridiculously talented flautist Ms. Maho to help us keep things going while we pick a new direction. They have been invaluable to us, and with their help we have found a new direction for the coming year. We will be putting a halt to playing shows for a bit in order to focus on composing new music, and putting together a brand new CD. Our aim for this recording is to have a mix of older songs that we haven't played as much, and brand new pieces (can anyone say Duck Tales? I just found out that I definitely can). Focusing on composition, will allow us to keep making music without overextending ourselves by trying to fly people in from across the states, and different countries for every show we'd need to play.

My goal is to keep everyone updated as to some of the progress we are making in both composition and recording. We will try and maintain the same sound and feel we have always had, though things will alter some as we search for new folks to fill the incredibly large shoes of those members of the band who can't be with us to record. Expect to see a few pieces that are either solo or duet works, as well as our more traditional whole band affairs! Additionally, we'll be releasing our self titled CD for free download on the site. If you haven't already, please download and share the love with everyone who might like to listen.

CD Download

Thank you all for your time, effort, and patience with us in times of merriment and silence alike and we look forward to making new music for everyone inspired both by the games that produced it, and all of you who are willing to listen to us and smile.

- Sir Austin from Select Start Band

[Bloodmuffin]

I hate to see you guys so uncohesive, since I was there for your first Anime Express show. I've been a fan for a long time now!

But alas, I too am out of the state. I suppose it would torment me all the more if you were having shows I was missing out on.

Anyway, guys, keep on being awesome and good luck recording new material!

[Tikithehutt]

Yeah, it's rough times for sure but I'm pretty optimistic and hardships like such can lead to a stronger better place!