self-titled electrified album (recorded by a very patient rob mcgregor on jon's birthday, july 21st, 2004)

1. taking your work home with you
2. community
3. one minute with the real government
4. fucking up is how i learn best listen to mp3
5. is this all we get? listen to mp3
6. the cave-in listen to mp3
7. this is a test
8. and now for something completely different
9. well, things change

sterlo & jen acoustified ep (recorded at sterlo's house)

1. parking lot punks rule listen to mp3
2. this bike is a pipe dream listen to mp3
3. mt. larry everest listen to mp3
4. save gabriel listen to mp3

1. emo²
2. parking lot punks rule
3. emergency
4. pump up the choir
5. and now for something completely different
6. community
7. the cave-in
8. taking your work home with you
9. well, things change
10. my beard/muff is so cool

1. liberating couches everywhere
2. violence

taking your work home with you back to top
jon decarmine

“let me tell you about my day,” she said, “a woman walks in, eight months pregnant, with a stab wound on her wrist and her children, in line, terrified, behind her. another came in today after her husband and his buddies waved, threateningly, the guns that he bought to keep his family safe.” and we close our eyes because it's so convenient. and we sleep at night, but it doesn't change things. “loud neighbors” only means loud stereos. when there's violence in the picture, we cover our ears and say it's none of our business. “if i could only describe the look in her eyes, fourteen years old and crying. ‘i'll make it,” she said. ‘i'll try to forget that i was raped and left for dead out on the reservation. there's a connection between sexism and violence. it's a redefinition of a woman's position, kept in place by not-quite-gentle-men. we're all connected.

community back to top
jen vito

tonight a van drives around delivering supplies to a family still waiting for their check to come. resources are spread thin, it's time for us to step in to make a difference where it counts in people's lives. i'll strive and i'll struggle to make a change at the community level. we'll play hard, a contribution and a song. we'll take care of our own community. right now in my town three kids live in a tool shed with their dad. he's filled out all the forms but there' no housing. the budgets have been cut. jeb says it's “waste not, want not.” jeb, people can't live on red tape alone while my country does nothing but filter money through a big bureaucracy. a giant sucking sound between funds collected and funds received while back home it's another day. when you're in need a little goes a long way.

one minute with the real government back to top
sterling stokes

so i decided to write another song about it. it's a subject worth repeating. and in case i had my doubts about it, i made the title for good reading. it seems there's a lot of shit inappropriate for america to be seeing, and so we see teddy bears and underwear and we watch our must-see tv. if this is a country then i am a saint, and i saint sterlo would like to complain. give us the real news, not this good news, and ‘fess up to all the years of hate, and give back the land to the shattered hands of the people who really cared about it, or just admit to your shame.

fucking up is how i learn best back to top
jon decarmine

do you wish that things would stay the same even when they're not how you want them to be? it's so easy to accept your life as it is even when you're dying to be free. i don't know what i'm walking away from. feels like the best i ever had, but right or wrong the point of life is to learn, and fucking up is how i learn best. don't live down to your expectations – they're just someone else's plans for you. they'll take advantage of your apprehension and lay it on the line for you until you can't go a single day without someone saying what's best for you. but when we dull our pain with symphonies of memories yet to fade, with conscience bleeding, barely breathing, planning our escapes, then yesterday could have been last year for all i see and do and care. everything i've ever loved is everything i'm giving up. some moments flash past too fast to recall. i'm leaving.

is this all we get? back to top
sterling stokes

who the fuck stole this day from me? my fucking cigarettes were just in front of me, but now they're gone and i'm too drunk to drive, so can one of you assholes who made fun of me bum me a spoke and i'll pay you back when we leave this place and hit a corner store. i promise i won't bum from you anymore. i'm your friend and you're mine, too, and this is what friends do. so if you tell me what i'm doing here i'll put a smoke back in your mouth along with a cup of beer. i need to find the keys that were attached to my hip. is this it? is this all we get when we're barely making rent? i'm through with booze, it's made me lazy. i sleep till noon and then i wake up aching, wishing i had slept a little more. then i proceed to fuckin' write songs about this repeating cycle, how i couldn't live without it. please define the word catch-22. i'm through with being through with you. i'm gonna drink and not like it, but i've gotten used to this.

the cave-in back to top
jon decarmine

hey man, you're gonna have to get a hold of yourself. i can see from here that you're caving in. you're just bogged down in repetition and i know the world has never seemed this big before, never weighed this much before, never hurt this much before. and i know the only blue skies you've seen lately have been tinted amber-bottle brown, but i promise you it only hurts this bad the first time around. you've got to hold your head up high once more before you die. all you've got to do to get by is survive one more night, one more time than the number of times your world dies. the sun will rise tomorrow.

this is a test back to top
jon decarmine

where are you right now? what are you doing right now? did you know that i'm in love with you right now? this dream has never felt so far away. this is a test right now, and i know we'll make it through this somehow because you know we've got the whole world on our side. the stars in the western sky have never looked so bright, but i don't think that i can make it through this. it's hard to keep your concentration when all your thoughts are two thousand miles away. i've got nothing keeping me from sleep, because right now all i have are dreams. well i'll toast to these champainful memories, look out to the western sky and dream tonight. and now i think that i can make it through this.

and now for something completely different back to top
jon decarmine/sterling stokes

last night i scanned the southern skies and found a thousand things to wish for. this morning i saw the sun rise for the first time in a month. so bright i had to shield my eyes. so fucking beautiful. i poured some cereal. i filled the bowl and i put some records on. my latest mix produced a smile that was brighter than that sun. and my head feels fine so i guess last night the whiskey didn't win. but tonight i'll let it try again. i spent the afternoon with my favorite kind of friend. she's loyal and she loves me and i know she'll never turn her back on me. so innocent. so unaware. so fucking beautiful. i take my fuck-ups like tequila, with a little grain of salt, some excitement, some caution, and the hope it's not my fault. and my head feels fine but i think tonight i'll let the liquor win and tomorrow i'll try again. sometimes these songs (and these friends) are all i have. i swear i try so fucking hard.

well, things change back to top
jon decarmine/sterling stokes

here's the situation: our nation has divided our poor population. what's desegregation? it's not in the thirty year old textbooks they read. it's not in my hometown where they still can't get a seat on the bus. this world used to belong to all of us. all the things that they use to divide us provide us with reasons to hate. so we sit on our side of town talking about how bad the crime is now as we watch black men killing on the evening news. couldn't be much further from the truth. but the ones who make the news are the ones who make the dollars and by keeping us afraid to be outside, they hold the collars until no one is on the streets but the police. we need to reconsider who we've chosen as our enemies. so let's give it one last shot. it'll take all the friends and the pens that we've got. let's make them understand what we're not...

parking lot punks rule back to top
jen vito

can you tell i've been hanging out in parking lots lately? my heart's burning brighter than my sunburnt cheeks and my eyes are sore from seeing miles of concrete, but unfamiliar faces have never bothered me. we'll all meet up eventually, when the stores close down and the lots are all empty. so are you going to the show tonight? we'll drink some beers and i'll borrow your bike. tonight these streets belong to us, like we've been doing this for years but tonight will be different. tonight we'll liberate them. tonight we'll liberate ourselves. this culture of fear we live in, we've all got our way of dealing with it. wide-eyed and sweaty, drowning and downing drinks, puking with your friends, still lonely? oh yeah, me too, so here's to feeling alone, as we raise our glasses in a crowded room. in every face there's a connection. i see myself, i see us all, afraid, of our own reflections. so tonight we're unified, in being all torn up inside. tonight we'll liberate ourselves. tonight we won't fear broken hearts. tomorrow we'll only remember the good parts. we'll talk about friends who've moved on, things we've carried on for so long from winter in a smoke-filled warehouse, we've taken the best of it with us.

this bike is a pipe dream back to top
sterling stokes/jen vito

do you need this bike more than me? is there something that you want to say? don't be afraid. i'm not ratting you out. i'm just asking you how you'd feel if you were me. i know you're young and in a world where having fun doesn't seem so easy to do but a brighter day where our class doesn't separate us happens somewhere between me and you. you're so afraid and you don't even know what's happening. you're taking from the same dish we do and it's almost empty. kid, close to 90% of the wealth in this country is controlled by the top 10% and we fight over scraps but we can take what is ours right back. so do you need this bike more than me? if you do then i guess we can see how many lawns on our blocks with the bush/cheney signs on them really need four ten-speeds. i know you're young and you think that who you are comes from money and material things but there will come a day where we're judged not by what we own, but by who we are and what we're offering to our communities. you're so important to me and you'll never even get to see just how much you could change those around you with smiles and good company. we've been spoon-fed these lies that put hatred in our eyes and it chokes our hearts. let's transform this hate right now before it tears us completely apart. we're in the best of places to start. and if you take my hand, i will lead your heart. i want to ride with you to the end, to the end of our fears. i'll tell you things you won't learn in school. i'll tell you things you might not want to hear. like how this world is so fucked-up that a small group of people control most of the wealth. while one poor kid steals a bike from another and we're all struggling and resenting each other(for what we have). i say we end this all right here, man. somebody always has more, but believe me kid, no one has more than them. so let's band together passionately and write it all down all over the city. we'll break this empire into a million pieces for all of us to share. there are so many things i can't wait for us to do.

mt. larry everest back to top
jen vito

are you ready for liberation? so this is liberation. neo (military) colonization. is it all about freedom, or broader objectives for the resources of the region? a colonial client state geared to U.S. interests. global energy dominance. one nation under brener, reconstructing the economy to support privitization and better suit the corporation's needs. so take your liberation, american empire. resistance is futile. they shut down every newspaper and radio station speaking out against the occupation. economic and social re-ordering of the region. re-education - does it sound like freedom? are you ready for liberation?

save gabriel back to top
sterling stokes/jen vito

tonight a knock stopped the rock. it was a cop. the door was unlocked. jon pulled it up and he said hello. he (the cop) said, "you're in luck. i enjoy this show of intelligence. most musicians have a sense. and hey, what symbol is this? is this communism? castro took my family's life from them. but you know i've read it all and honestly, it's human nature and irony at best. and even i'm upset with our drug policy and i'm a cop. can't you see? but it's a free country and i have to respect even alleged rapists to the kids who get busted with mids." i cannot bellieve this, good people do exist in the uniforms of our enemies. tonight a knock stopped the rock. but not for long, because you can't stop the rock. (of course not!) people with power abuse it. is it the uniform or the one who wears it? he said the volume is fine with him and his blue eyes seemed to understand there's a difference between freedom and a police state. when there's nowhere safe to play music because five miles away they don't want to hear it or any sounds of life from anywhere. "and i'm not gonna ask to see what you have in your pockets because it doesn't concern me." it's a rare thing, yes. but good people do exist in the uniforms of our enemies.

pump up the choir back to top
sterling stokes

who doesn't know that the earth is burning? who hasn't seen our skies? who hasn't coughed through exhaust so thick it swallows up our eyes? who hasn't heard of kyoto protocol? higher gas emission accomplished. if you still can't understand that a class war's at hand then you might as well be their accomplice. because you live it. you breathe it. you hate it and you know it. but you're so comfortable. well, get up and get it started. pull the plug on the mindsucker. you might be broken-hearted but you know it heals to be so much stronger than before. don't pretend you don't hear someone laughing at the color of another man's skin. just don't laugh at it. if we got common sense it's fucking high-time to show it. this world will disappear before we all can get to know it. i, for one, don't want to be a hypocrite anymore. with all we've been given, why must we still keep living these lies? who hasn't seen the money changing hands? who hasn't watched them lie? who needs to hear anymore when there's blatant disregard for indigenous human lives? who isn't sure about a new wal-mart built to destroy their lives? if you cannot believe your eyes then it is time to exercise your right to organize. come on, let's scream it. let's bleed it. let's see it and let's show it to the world so they'll recognize that we're at war with globalized capital and it's bigger than we know.

emo² back to top
sterling stokes/jen vito

smoke bombs and some holes in a beer can. a southern rocker who's smile fit right in. wild turkey and a benefit punk band. those were the days that changed us forever and for the better, man. for the better man. frisbee golf 'til dusk and the back of a truck was the last hole for us. can you believe their gonna plow it down and build up something so horrendous? don't you love it when it's perfect before it dies? the irony is ripping the tears out of my eyes. and here is something helpful i want you to keep in mind when you can't sleep: you'll get nothing but the best and all of our love from these gainesville streets. speed chess and the bottles of liquor that fueled many nights of our voices and acoustics. it's insane how weeks before we were lost in our lives and daily repetition. 3 am in a neighbor's jacuzzi asking questions like, "hey, when do we forget these lives and start again? we've got our dogs, our friends, and a sense of the end. we can be something more than this." if you can feel it happening right now, then we say celebrate it happening right now.

liberating couches everywhere (the 101st chairborne division) back to top
sterling stokes/jen vito

this is the second time i've drank alone this year. i'm getting there and i've got smoke coming out of my ears. it's nice to let my mind just drift in and out of this... this fresh new wound, this global consciousness. but i still can't slip too far away because if i lose another day to buying junk and ditching out, i'd lose track of what life's about. i'd lose track of the world unseen to a life of packaged identity. i would wake up naked in poetry that's been shot down by our enemies in defense of corporate entities whose entire agenda makes enemies who (in turn) make perfect pawns for ravaging countries and for profiting just one more time. we're all in line. we're all stood up. and there's nothing that can stop the inevitable unless we change the movement's momentum. we can stop them. we're all slowly waking up...often alone. the more we come together, the faster this ball rolls. some days i wake up on this couch and want to burn it to the ground. let these songs carry me to the next town where i can meet more kids who think these same thoughts, sing these same songs... where i can meet more kids with changed minds.

violence back to top
sterling stokes/jen vito

"eye for an eye." a handy bible violence guide. a how-to on committing violence that's okay. that's not okay. violence justified & chivalry romanticized. some acts are considered noble and okay but they're not okay. we can leave this behind us. fearful response. culture derived. we can move past it, like so many other things we've left behind. right before our eyes, it's broadcast to us all the time. justified on an international level and it trickles down. what we celebrate in soldiers they bring home to their families and relationships, trained to act on their instincts: kill or be killed. we can leave this behind us. fearful response (that's) used to control people. it's power-over, greed inspired and empty. end this violence. deconstruct the cause, not the symptoms.

emergency back to top
jon decarmine