Not the band...just the mood lately with the way the band is pulling together on new songs, how we tie them together, how we are all throwing out great ideas, and just the general excitement.  The creative process at it's best, and in a way I haven't seen in years. 

Every band goes through phases, changes, trials, arguments, burnout, or whatever.  I can remember when we played all the time, sometimes 10 -12 gigs a month.  While it was a lot for a part time band, we thought  it was challenging, cool, and made us air-tight in terms of our execution of songs and the timing...as if we could read each others minds on stage.  We called this period the "riding the dragon"  tour because we all worked full time, were in graduate school, had families, and had other responsibilities outside of playing almost every weekend in a cover band...sometimes out of our home state of Maryland.  We had some terrific shows, it was fun, and we were really tired!

This period was followed by some personal challenges, and what I would describe as general burnout.  Like everything else in life, if you don't strike the correct balance in how you manage your time in multiple areas, it can be painful, and in some cases downright destructive.  So in our case the outcome was a decision to slow down and take a break for awhile; for reasons we chalked up to the not-stop gig routine.

That was a number of years ago.  Today, we know what the limits are, we know each other really well, and we know our capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses.  This is a comfortable place, and we are enjoying the experience of playing great music and entertaining our audience.

Maybe we will launch a "riding the mini-van" tour, or something similar (because Bill has one, you know).