Hands to the Stars

Bring on the fall.

Summer was amazing. Met a lot of cool people. Did a lot of cool things. Summer is one of those times where you never want it to end. Yeah it’s not particularly my favorite season (I’m more of a jeans and t-shirt kinda guy), especially with that unbearable heat wave we experienced, but I think people hold onto the thought of what summer symbolizes for the youth of our country. A break from the reality of our lives and three months of time to kind of live in the moment. Forget planning and navigating our lives. Just live with what we have and learn to find beauty in the simple days of doing nothing and having nothing to do, but at the same time having everything to do. That’s always the best. For kids to the general age of 23-24, thats what summer is. I commend the rest of the workforce for being able to continue working hard and providing ‘cause I sure as hell would have a hard time doing that. I wanna stay a kid forever. I’m sort of surprised no one has invented any sort of drink, potion, spell, or something of that nature yet. In the mean time I’ll just enjoy every second I have with the people I love. Make the best of the time you have, even if it doesn’t seem like it’s enough every second counts.

Anyway, now that fall has presented itself I’m actually pretty interested to see how it all goes. I feel like I’m entering a new chapter of my life once again. I turn 21, become an uncle, go back to school, attend two weddings for family members and continue to write a  lot of music. Sounds kinda hectic to me. But there’s a lot of cool things in the works. I find it particularly ironic that I wrote something similar to this almost exactly one year ago. Fall really is the season of change. Every fall I enter something new and crazy in my life. I got to do so many things this past year that I would have never planned or expected. This year could be the exact same scenario. It’s the beauty of life. Keep things interesting and new. Bring the people you love with you. That’s what it’s all about. Good luck to everyone in this fall season. Have an open heart and mind. Never forget who you are and where you wanna be.

Hands to the Stars coming this fall. 

Looking back…

Haven’t done one of these in a long time. GK tour has been hella busy but I had some down time to mentally regroup and think back on the experience thus far. I started looking through some old Tumblr blogs that I posted when I would write the giant bibles of all the crazy shit that was flowing through my head. For some reason I was brought back to a blog that I wrote right before I left to go to California the first time. All the way back in November of 2010. Seems like forever ago. Probably cause I’ve been to all continental 48 states since I’ve been there. Damn. 

Anyway… my eye was drawn to one particular line that I wrote which is as follows,

“I’ve learned a lot over the past few months and it’s always nice to find that type of person. Relationships are what we make of them. You either take the time and effort to stay in touch or you don’t. You get out of them what you give. And if they are worth that extra time and effort, distance won’t change a thing.” 

I find this kind of funny now because I think I missed a major point when trying to reach the main goal of what I was trying to get at. Not all people see things the way as you see them. I left for 9 weeks. The people that deserved a place in my life have put just as much effort back into these relationships as to what I put in. I spent the first few weeks not really enjoying myself because I was worried about the outcome of relationships and friendships. I quickly came to realize you can’t live life that way. You do what makes you happy as a person, if someone doesn’t step up, understand, and stick it out then it’s their loss and they don’t deserve to be a part of your life anyway. You as a person deserve the best. We all deserve to get back what we give. Karma, ya know? So don’t settle for anything less. I realized this and have been able to completely enjoy myself and become secure because I know when I come home I know who my friends are, I know I have my family and most of all I know who’s worth it. Better late then never right?

So I guess we should change this statement up a little bit. Distance changes everything, puts you in new positions that make things harder. I won’t lie, a lot harder. But if those people are worth that extra time and effort make sure they know that. And above all, make sure you are worth that extra time and effort to them as well. If they don’t give back what you give, screw them. They aren’t worth your time anyway.

Snowy Days- Hazy Mind

Today has been quite an interesting day. I used to love snow. I would wake up early in the morning to see if we got off school and build snow forts, have snowball fights, and wreak havoc among whatever neighbors were bold enough to walk through the streets. Hot chocolate, chocolate chip cookies and a warm fire was all I needed to be happy back then. Simplicity to life, it’s a beautiful thing.

Now I get pissy cause I can’t do anything when the weather becomes abnormal to the standard Maryland conditions (Two inches and the world ends). As I’ve gotten older I think my fast paced lifestyle has caused me to become anxious and freak out when I can’t get out of my house and meander around town. As I hate to admit, anxiety has always given me problems. I miss those simple days when I could appreciate one day in it’s full entirety. I miss looking out the window and seeing the beauty of nature- the beauty of not having a single care in the entire world. I never seemed to worry about all the things that adults are frustrated about. I guess this is a sign I’m actually growing up. Slowly but surely. Screw that I’m still a kid.

As I grow up and start traveling, I’ve really started to see who are your real friends and such. As you get out of the high school days those “friends” you thought you had kinda disappear and peoples real colors start to show. College simply wasn’t for me- for now at least. The whole concept of being told how to think and who you should be turned me off. Paying for friends to “party” with seems kind of lame and stupid to be honest. Basically high school all over again but on steroids. Seeing the real world made me step up my game and search for some sort of deeper connection. This connection led to friendships and support. I’m still in the process of slowly building a solid support system. While I’m extremely thankful to be able to travel like I do, it also takes its toll on relationships. Going without seeing family and significant others for months at a time is a task in itself. So yes it’s fun and I love it, but it can also be emotionally draining at times. Finding people who will be there no matter is few and far between. I have the most supportive family in the entire world. They have been there from day one and understand this is my life. I have best friends in different area codes. Awesome sometimes, but definitely gets hard. I have met one of kind people who have the same vision as me. I’m going to grow old with them. I found my best men before I even found a wife. Weird. Now to find a wifey… I need someone crazy enough to actually stick around and take a risk. What’s life without risks? Distance is only a number, love is worth it. Hopeless romantic over here? Maybe so. A guy can hope right… Chivalry is definitely not dead. You have one life. I’d rather try  a million times and find my way then said I never tried at all.

Moral to the story:

-Enjoy every single day you have and don’t get caught up in petty nonsense.

-Find real people who would run across the world and back for you and make sure to do the same for them. With technology the way it is there’s no excuse.

And most of all… Whether it’s following your dream, stepping out of your comfort zone and trying something different or telling someone you love them.

Take a risk. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose.

My Name is Casey Phillips

Why hello there ladies and gents.

I said it was my new years resolution to work on my blogging skills so tonight I figured I would type up a little something something for those of you who enjoy reading these things. Maybe I’ll delve some more into my life this time… January has already been a wild month.  It’s been nice to spend some time with the family and friends after being gone for 2 months and before we leave for 2 more months. It’s nice to enjoy the simple things in life again. For example, being able to feed my never ending desire for Panera, Starbucks and/or Chipotle. Also, being able to drive again is nice. While the tour bus is quite the experience I feel as though I lost some driving skills while I was away from my lovely 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Poppa is home now and brushing up on the basics of automobiles, like changing the blinker light. Job well done.

While doing this I had the chance to hang out with some of best friends that have all seemed to move along to other states and countries. My best buds Mike and Evan live in Cali now and it was great to have some time to chill with them and have some good life talks. Nuge out to Colorado and Emerson lives in Canada. Yeah Canada. I don’t know about that, we’re working on the whole green card situation as I type this. Looks like he’ll be back around soon though playing drums with us so I’m stoked to have my brother from another mother back on the road with See Camden. Should be a blast. On that note, it’s safe to say I have the best friends in the entire world of which I wouldn’t be here without them. They keep my head on straight and keep me in check. When you find friends like that, it doesn’t matter where they are. They are still there for you like you should be for them. My friends are more like family.

Now for See Camden. I’m going to give you all a little insight into what this new project is to me and what you can expect. Hold onto your panties and boxers? I don’t know.

Anyway, See Camden is about being honest and real with people and bringing the fun back into the music we play. I’ve been getting a lot of people asking what we sound like and so on and so forth. To be honest all I can say is electronic, dance, club, bass bumping, catchy songs. I don’t know any other way to describe it. Expect a dance party. It’s something new and fresh and definitely the direction Rick and I have always wanted to go.

With that being said I’m also going to be honest with how I act and lyrically. I’m a 20 year old kid. Yes, kid. I still do kid things and I don’t classify myself as an adult. I’m not going to put on some act as if I’m the perfect person and try to bullshit all of you into believing I’m some super human. Doing that is only a disservice to myself and all of you. I plan on being open and real with everyone because the world has enough fake people in it. I was forced into an act before and it’s something I’ll NEVER do again.

While those comments may sound like I’m an intimidating freak-a-zoid. I’m really not. I love and read every single tweet, facebook comment, message, post, everything. Literally everything. I spend more time keeping track of all of you then I do my own life! I love talking to everyone and I want to build long lasting friendships with people. I love all of you and owe you everything for turning my dream into a career. Let’s create a SC family. But I want you to know the real Casey, not some fake version of Casey. If I offend you in anyway with my opinions, language or anything else I apologize in advance. Know that they are only opinions and everyone is entitled to one. Everyone knows that we all slip up and say something inappropriate and such. We are humans. We all have great days and rough ones. This will be reflected in our music. But it’s the respect we show each other and love we show to another that matters. Be real with me and I’ll be real with you. 

This is Casey Phillips. The real one.

Welcome to 2011 

I seem to always promise that I will become better at doing these blogs but then I always forget. So my New Years resolutions are as follows: Read my tweets before I tweet them and become a more frequent blogger. I think thats a manageable goal. I’m going to try to sum up the end of 2010 and beginning of 2011 as quickly as possible so I hope I don’t leave you in the never ending black hole of what is Casey Phillips’ brain. So here we go…

November:

As many of you know, my good ‘ol pal Rick and I journeyed to California to write some new songs and clear our mind from the mess that laid back on the East Coast. This was probably the most rewarding month of my entire life. I got to explore the Westsyde with my best friend, meet some amazing and extremely generous people and we wrote about 10 songs. We built relationships with a new family and got to see the places that I would frequently dream about in my sleep. We went to Santa Barbara to visit my best buds Mike and Evan, of which I wrote a song about our time there called Santa Barbara Sun. They showed us a great time, oh SB how I will never forget those 4 days. This trip helped me realize who was important to me back home as well. Distance is only a number and this month definitely showed me the character of particular people from my hometown and why I love them so much. We were supposed to fly back home December 1st but on November 29th our plans were, to say the least, slightly changed…

December:

We were flown right to Nashville to meet up with the lovely and charming guys from Allstar Weekend. We were asked to do merch for the remainder of the Suddenly Yours tour. So December 1st turned into December 21st. We got to spend time and become close friends with the guys on the tour and I am eternally grateful for that experience. We learned so much and met so many amazing people. We got to see tons of cities, venues, eat great food and talk to all of you guys. I wish I was able to thank every single person that made the tour dope but I’d be here for days. With the tour going well we ended back in Hollywood CA right where we started. It was awesome to be with those guys and now I have some of the coolest most genuine friends ever. We then said ‘see ya later’ to the A-Dub family and made our way back to Baltimore for the Holidays. Spent some time with the families on the East Coast and practiced for the first See Camden show ever.

December 30th:

What a day. We had our extended musician family from Canada and Panama fly in for the iBot Records New Years party at Ottobar. I can’t explain how amazing this show was. Hands down, the best show I was ever a part of. After quite a long hiatus from playing shows, it was so rewarding to get back up on the stage and see all of your smiling faces there. My favorite show of all time and I hope you guys could see the excitement in our faces. We are back and not stopping. See Camden has a lot up our sleeves and this was only the beginning. Hold on to your panties kids, it’s gunna be a hell of a ride.

January:

Started the New Year surrounded by best friends and family. Emerson stayed at my house with us after the show and he became part of the Phillips family. He is truly one of the best friends I have ever had and I am blessed to know him. We have this insanely deep life talks and he is truly the best life coach I could ask for, and he also contributes to my use of Canadian lingo and love for tattoo’s. Hopefully you will be seeing more of him back in the states when See Camden tours! We had some meetings and long business trips up to NYC but the first ten days of the New Year have shown some promise.

What Lies Ahead:

We are hitting the studio this month to start recording a few singles and the first See Camden EP. That’s right, an EP. Songs will probably be released next month. We are heading back out on the road with our boys in Allstar for the GK tour so come say hey and hang out! Then this summer get ready for our first tour! Hope to see you all soon. Thanks for reading my obnoxiously long blog, if you got this far of course. I say this all the time but we really do appreciate all of you. Every tweet you send, comment on my fb page or e-mail I receive reminds of how lucky I am to be doing what I am. I am blessed to have amazing people behind us believing in what I believe in. Thanks for the love and support. See Camden is coming at you in 2011, hope you all are ready :)

My Brain is About to Explode

Hello everyone! I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t post on this enough so I’m going to try to do this more often. So much has happened the past few weeks that it’ll be nice to fill you in and talk about it :)

I turned 20 years of age on October 12th of this year. I don’t know whether its a cool thing or a depressing thing. The idea of growing up is scary. I only really know how to be young but I guess thats what keeps life interesting. I’m no longer a ‘teenager’ weird thing to think about but this year has shown some major promise and I’m not stopping. I call myself 20 years young and I’ll always be a kid at heart.

I leave for California in one week. What a crazy thought. To be honest I didn’t think I’d be about to fly to the other side of the country. Let alone for an entire month. I’m basically living out there with my best friend Rick. Experiencing life the way it should be, with your best friend. Plus we are going to see my two best friends Evan Vogel and Mike Bowrin. Never been so excited in my life. My 3 best friends in one place? Sounds like a party. I’m hoping this opportunity will let me clear my mind of everything that happened earlier in the fall and let us be able to really write some good songs. I’ve been having hardcore writers block the past few weeks. I think with work, school and everything else going on I have been distracted and slightly thrown off guard. I have a lot to talk about and a lot I want everyone to hear, but lyrics and music is more then just that. I think what makes good songs are the experiences in your life but also being in the right frame of mind and place to be ready and willing to talk about them. I think I’m almost to that point now. 

I’ve also met some pretty amazing people this month. It’s crazy how things happen and certain people just seem to pop out of the wood work. I’m so thankful to have such an amazing and supportive family, not to mention some of the sickest friends a kid could hope for. It’s so cool to me that I can meet someone and automatically feel like I’ve known them from years. It doesn’t happen that often BUT when it does, don’t let it slip away. I’ve learned a lot over the past few months and it’s always nice to find that type of person. Relationships are what we make of them. You either take the time and effort to stay in touch or you don’t. You get out of them what you give. And if they are worth that extra time and effort, distance won’t change a thing. As I go to see friends in California, I leave some in Maryland, but only for a month! I’ll be back home soon. It’s funny how it only takes one person who cares enough to listen to make you feel that much better. Someone made that difference to me. Words can’t explain it.

See Camden. All I can say is HOLY SHIT! You guys have been SOO SOO amazing so far. We haven’t released a song yet, but you guys are staying by our sides and pushing along the way with us. Things have taken off this month and they show no signs of slowing down. We already have 27 State Street teams, we launched the Facebook page last night and have over 400 Likes already. It’s safe to say we have the best fans/friends/SC family ever. I promise we won’t let you down and I want to thank you for sticking around with Rick and I through this transition period. Big things are coming soon and believe me I can’t wait to show you! We do this for you all.

Much love,

Casey