PureVolume

 Josh and I have spent 5 years working on what we call The Holiday, what some knew as Red Letter Reason, and what we know as…every spare moment of our last 5 years. 2010 has been one of the funnest years since 2007 for us and we have played more shows in nine months than we have in a long time. We have finally toured, slept in the van, been kinda poor and dirty and still, we are a part-time, unsigned local band from Indianapolis. I've never been too concerned with that before as long as we were having fun, so being that small band from Indy has been good enough for us. 

  Since 2005 we have played about every venue there is in Indiana and watched the majority of them open, close, then open again. "Keeping our Scene Alive" and Awakening the Indy Music Scene was our task and sharing good music was our mission. We were one of those bands that thought Indy had a chance for an original music scene...this is arguably so untrue.

 From nursing homes and youth rallies to festivals and ballrooms, this band has taught us more than anything else and taken us to places we never would have gone. I remember our first official show at Logos in Franklin, IN with Liptocoal and Poor Man's Riches. Shortly after we met all of the guys and bands from The Attic in Plainfield...My Hidden Track (This Is Me), Same As Sunday, Chasing Canadia, Short Kid Sammy (Forevermore), Josh LaMore, Bob McGutcheon. The Attic days were the "good ole days". 

  2006 we did some recording with my uncle Charlie in his home studio. We sucked and the recording showed us we had a lot to learn. 2007 was probably my favorite year. We were having more fun than ever before, we bought our first van (1978 Ford) and played Cornerstone which was huge in our eyes. I think we ended up playing 80+ shows that year. 

  2008 was pivotal for us when we made the decision to work with one of our best of friends, Travis Palmer. We went to Nashville to work with Travis. We had enough time and money to do three songs that weekend. He spent a month and many all-nighters working with us over the web, driving to Indy, and finding the perfect 808 drop to please us. We were just blown away to have real-sounding strings in our music, but the quality of our songs on CD gave us hope that we could move forward to great things. We released our E.P. at The Taste Of Chaos Chicago show when we won the Contest to play the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago that night. The official local release blew us away when 200 people came to The Gear to listen to our new music and buy our E.P. Later that year we recorded our first music video with Adam Shoemaker and won a few local contests with it. We recorded a Christmas song and sent it in to the radio DJs. I woke up one morning to our Christmas song on the radio. All of the feelings that go along with each accomplishment will stick with us for a lifetime. 

  Josh, Matt and I are all at peace with our decision to move on from this band and go after the next chapter of our lives. We came home from our July tour pumped up to make new music, but in the back of our minds some of us knew there might never be any new music from The Holiday. Sure enough, in August we sat down to talk about our goal for the fall and instead made a decision to call it to an end. 

 I would like to say that God has taught us so much about character and commitment through this band. We have had some down times and struggles but people along the way have helped us grow stronger as individuals. Each of us have new plans and places to go that we've been held back from due to our commitment to our music. The guys can tell you or will post more about their plans as they develop. I, Derrick will continue to play with Ranger.

  If you have ever bought a CD, a shirt, a sticker, pick, or anything else we might have put out at a show we thank you. If you had to listen to us while waiting for your favorite band to play after us we thank you. There are a lot of people that have supported us and people we would have never known without this band. We love you all and wish God's best for you. We will keep our emails and sites up as long as they will let us so don't lose touch if you desire to message us. Show some love anytime.

  The Holiday would like to recognize a few people that have influenced us or helped us in an outstanding way at some point in time. Gene for teaching us integrity, Rob for lightening our spirits, Ben for being our backbone, Jenn for being amazing and helpful, Dylan for all of the fun, Moms for all of the patience and cookies, Dads for all of the borrowed equipment and tools, Mitch for being a great guy to know, Kelly and Carissa for being awesome friends to a band, Matt R for being a positive influence, Travis and Olivia for all of your time and friendship, Craig for all of the help and introductions along the way, Tyler and Scott for all of the shows, Old Bethel People, Tyler for coming to the shows, Adam for your video talents, Steph for all the photo shoots, Blake for reminding us of passion, Choco for touring and losing money with us and all of you who we don't mention that have done anything to support us. 

  The Last Show Will Be October 22nd. We have picked some of our favorite talent from Indianapolis to join us. We hope you will too.

 -The Holiday