Music Group Afi
Thu, 18 Feb 2010 01:19:27 +0000
3 Responses to “Win AFI tickets and a meet-and greet!”
PABLO'S UPDATE: The video is now down. It shows a story line and AFI performing. You get to see Adam staring at some dude with two girls with him, Jade sitting in a bar (lol) with some dude, Davey poisoning the whole party (and ruining it therefore) and Hunter being seduced by a girl at the pool. Davey does not die!
Although we appreciate the sharing-spirit of our dear readers, for legal and obvious reasons we will NOT be hosting/accepting video links. Please don't request them here either. If you search hard enough you'll find it somwhere else.
Screamo Music Code
February 16th, 2010 at 10:36 pm
AFI means everything to me.
Why yes, that sounds silly. But it’s true, they are the fire inside of ME.
I discovered them while going through some tough times, the death of a family member, and serious depression from being made fun of at school. But there was SOMETHING, something about the music that I heard that gave me strength.
I eventually decided to research the people behind the band, and discovered that they were REAL. I watched interviews, and each member was so kind, humorous, and just AMAZING. I had forgotten that people like them actually existed. I found out that they were straight edge vegans, and decided to try it for myself. I have been a vegan straight edge for about five months now, and have no desire to ever go back.
I have always begged and BEGGED my parents to allow me to go to an afi show, but they always refused. My sister had recently disappeared from college for the second time in a year, and ran away to New York City, where she opened a new bank account, disconnected her phone, and refused to have any contact.
Even though I have always been the most relaxed and in control member of my family, my parents were afraid to let me to an afi concert, of fear that I might run away like my sister did. (Which I would never do. I understand their concern, but I have never had any desire to escape from my life. I love every single person involved in it.)
But they have recently agreed to let me go to the Charlotte concert, if I can find my own way to pay for tickets. This however is a problem for me. My sister went to a private college, and worked herself into about $20,000 worth of debt without telling us. Now that she has vanished of her own accord, we have been left to pay off her debt, which has left us with very little money for anything else.
Call it silly, but winning these tickets would mean the world to me. As my world is AFI, as I wish for it to always be.
February 17th, 2010 at 12:45 am
AFI really is one of the biggest influences in my life. I associate their music with the strength it has brought me over the years. My favorite, most memorable story of how AFI has impacted me goes like this:
For a little more than one year of my life, I was homeless. When I was fourteen years old my mother lost her job, and because we could no longer pay rent, we were soon evicted from our house. My mother and I both got terrible jobs at this sleazy motel working as housekeepers. Instead of actually paying us, the manager let us stay in a disgusting room in the back of the motel. The whole time we were there we never knew when our next meal would be, or if we would even have somewhere to sleep the next night.
Before we lost our house, I never realized how much of a person’s identity is tied up in where they live. When I lost my home, I lost a part of myself. I made some pretty terrible choices during this part of my life. I would go out and drink excessive amounts of alcohol and I began cutting myself, always trying to find what I was missing. No matter how I tried, I never felt like an entirely real person, until I discovered AFI. The music is like nothing else in the world. There is a depth and intelligence to it that really just astounds me. When I would listen to their music, it felt like the piece of me that had been missing so long was finally replaced with something better, something that could never be taken away.
Throughout the time I was homeless, I clung furiously to the idea that there was this dynamic group of people in the world creating something so extraordinary. I would fantasize about what I would say to them if I ever got the chance. AFI was really my solace; the members of AFI were my role models, my standard by which I wanted to live my life. After learning that some of the members of the band were straight-edge, I stopped drinking and became straight-edge as well. I learned to respect myself, and a sort of strength was offered to me through their music. AFI helped me through the darkest time in my life.
Now I am nineteen, and I have really never been happier. I like to think that AFI was a massive part of that. I’m not going to say that AFI saved my life, because I believe that when it comes down to it, you can only really save yourself. I will say that AFI, the music, the way the members of the band present themselves, has had a bigger effect on my life than anything else in the world. This is why I am such a huge AFI fan.
I want to meet AFI just to try and express my gratitude to them for everything they do. It would mean everything to me just to say thank you.
February 17th, 2010 at 6:49 pm
So the question is why do I love AFI so much, musically as well as personally? Well that is a long and always enjoyable story.
AFI as a band and musically has been a huge inspiration on my life as a whole. I have been a fan of AFI since 2001 and a member of their despair faction since early 2004. I met the love of my life through the enjoyment of their melodic melodies and have enjoyed everything AFI has had to offer. Their songs go deep into my life’s twists and turns and have comforted me when it seemed as though nothing could.
A back story on my life will help show what AFI has really helped me overcome and conquer from my past. The date was September 25 in 2005 and after Hurricane Katrina there was yet another Hurricane named Rita. Hurricane Rita was to hit land in a small costal city in TX called Corpus Christi. So like many others that were in the same area we evacuated to the inner states to run from this monster storm…long story short she didn’t hit Corpus Christi. Well as you are probably thinking whew as we were the story does not end there as I wish that it did. Instead as we headed home from our short trip to Oklahoma we received a phone call from a panic stricken neighbor with the words that no one would want to hear: “Your house is on fire!” As we headed through the outskirts of Houston we pulled to the side of the road and sat in total ruin. Since we had evacuated in such a hurry we had left all of our possessions and even a few of our pets inside our once safe and comforting home. So as we returned to our remainder of what we once had so many found memories in nothing was left but the skeletal remains of our home. My cats Havok and Ming were found inside but were no longer there to be by my side the firefighters buried them in the back near the fence. My cockatiel Pete was no longer there but the horrific sight of his burnt cage mangled in the once large den/ family room remains. The firefighters labeled this an “electrical fire” but this was soon to be overturned because the Police found it to be Robbery Arson. The house had been broken into by the back door, electronics and gaming devices as well as my DVD collection had been taken and then the house was caught a blaze. My cats would have been roaming freely around the house as usual and Havok a young addition to the family would have greeted them as they ravaged our home for childish and expendable items. They knowingly closed the door behind them after setting the place a blaze with our pets inside.
This I felt was the worst and most tragic day of my life. Time stopped and it seemed as though the world actually ceased to turn. At the time I could’ve cared less, to me my life was over and there was nothing to comfort me from the pain of emptiness that soon swallowed me whole. There was one thing though that I could connect with that kept my lungs moving and the dim light in my eyes shinning, and it was Davey’s lyrics and the musical instruments of Hunter, Jade and Adam that what you could say saved me. Sing the Sorrow seemed to sooth my screamingly numb soul and found me when I couldn’t even find myself. Fire is a remarkable thing, its power is unstoppable and when it’s done it leaves nothing but ash and remains of what was; this is how I felt. There was nothing left to me but the skeletal remains and a hollow shell of ash of what I once was. But from the tune of Leaving Song to But Home is Nowhere life continued to go. The sun continued to shine and the world seemed to turn once again. Davey’s lyrics played to my song of life and the instrumentals were my soundtracks to my own private movie where I had front row seats. The announcement that AFI was to soon release a new album in the summer of 2006 and this gave me hope for climbing out of my hollowed self. December Underground was the title of this new hope and it again hit home for me. I felt as though I was tumbling in what could be described as a cold December underground alone and with no way out. But with AFI there and their powerful, inspirational, and moving works of art there was a light at the end of my tunnel, and there was a way up from the bottom of the barrel. The recent release of Crash Love has once again blown me away with the ever-changing persona of the sound of AFI; I just can’t seem to get enough of it. The way that the lyrics are designed to describe the flames of love and the dimmer times and make it a point to show love at its higher peak and the destruction that is left behind from the crash of the high.
I now have a forever embedded reminder of what I have been struck with and overcome in my life proudly displayed on the top of my right wrist. The piece (tattoo) is the word HAVOK written over in a cuff shaped pattern. I reminder that I can overcome and there is a way to keep going. As the new me ascended out of the ash of which I once was AFI was there with their melodic tunes and deep lyrical pulse. I became an open straight edge after finding out that there was actually a name to this lifestyle that I was unaware that I had been living. Davey Havok has been what some I guess may call my role model to life. From being vegan and straight edge to standing up for animal rights and against many organizations Davey has inspired me to be who I am and stand for what I believe in. His lyrics are stirring and the depth has no end, the meaning of one song to one may mean a totally different thing to another and it is ok. I feel that the songs are written that way for a reason, so that they are personal and they do more than just bounce off your ear drums they sink into your soul. You don’t really listen to AFI you live it. They say that you either love or hate them but once you’re a fan its forever. There is no I once was a fan but no longer listen to them….its a lifestyle and a way of life.
AFI is what keeps me breathing. They are what helps me through not only the tragic or darken days but the exciting ones as well. If I’m down they bring me up, and if I’m already up then I’m flying on the high of what AFI generates. I would love the opportunity to meet the band as a whole and actually try to put into words what they have done for me, and how they have helped shape the person I am today. AFI moves me to strive for more and aids me to do what I know is right and be the person I know that I really am. Thank you so much for this opportunity and listening to a short story of my life. I am but 22 years old and I still have a lot of life left to live, having this chance to meet the band that has helped me become the “real me” would be a phenomenal achievement and would quite literally mean the world to me!
Thank you again for this opportunity and the time! Much love and appreciation!