This is the time of the year when the veil between the spirit world and our world is the thinnest. Ghosts walk the streets and there’s an extra bit of magic in the air. I feel it this year.

Maybe the Year of Kings was all about doors opening - playing at the Orange Peel, recording with Kevin Moloney, getting some nice music press. Maybe the Year of Queens is about not taking this for granted. I tell you this: when the world is turned upside down then every practice is precious and every song we write together is precious and every show is precious and every friendship is precious.

There’s blue in the mountains this morning - and a blue to the clouds in the shade.

There’s a blue to the steam of my coffee - and blue to the bird calls made.

There’s a blue to the smoke in the chimney - lonely and lingering without you.

There’s a blue to the breakfast being eaten - and my breath is turning blue.

And then the color fades without you.

We will have power and then sewage and water in the next week or two. There will be a public event to mark this flood. And then there will be music. There will be a lot of music this Fall and Winter and into 2025 - maybe even more music. Music from us, to us, and for us. It will be a very powerful time. It will be drunken and emotional and happy and sad and quiet and expressive and brave and defiant.

We have a very dear friend who recorded Sinead O’Connor’s first two albums. She was 20 years old and pregnant. I’m pretty sure she understood the gravity of her situation. And she responded with creating music of timeless beauty. Our friend helped her. How do we try to use our lives to create such beauty?

Bringing the drama.

Thank you @slygrog. Best music/art space. Thank you @_willfranke and @amanduh_derst for your amazing genius sets!

Dance and dance away the ache.

Dreaming leads to better days.

Dance and dance away the ache.

Dance before it gets too late.

Writing a song is like catching a firefly on a July evening and then letting it go.

It has been an interesting summer. On the outside it seems like stop/go and stop/go. On the inside it feels like we are slowly creating an unstoppable song book.

The trick in life is to have one foot in the real world and one foot in the magic world. At least one foot in the world of melody and poetry and dancing and singing….

This is the equation that we hope works: Good songs + Kevin Moloney producing + good reviews = ???? A label? Playing at festivals? Playing fun stages? A mini tour? At this moment I find myself asking - why do I want these things? Because I do want these things. And what does this all mean?

Year of Queens. Day 68. We got some more music media covering our album release of “Love Is Punk” - https://jammerzine.com/the-dark-city-kings-love-is-punk/. “There is this common thread of playfulness, jollity, and intellectuality, too. It’s as if Irish music, pop, and rock all met in a classroom at Berkeley and decided to form a trio.”

“Swinging from songs such as “Trouble,” which drives on post-punk-pop smarts, to “True Believer,” which is anthemic Celtic folk writ large, it is an album that bridges folk traditions and pop pursuits. “Buckminster Fuller” sounds like B-52s singing about a traditional British beer but is actually about an American architect and polymath and things round off with the title track, which could be a long-lost ballad by The Alarm, which is fine by me.” Dave Franklin, Big Takeover Magazine

Last song on the album: Love is Punk. Being in a band is like being in a relationship. You have these intense experiences together and you have to look after each other. Sometimes it falls apart. Sometimes it hurts. But it’s better to be in a band than not in a band. It’s better to try than not to try. It’s better to give everything. Love is Punk - and LOVE IS PUNK!

Love Is Punk. Track 1: Anxiety 7. A love song to night terrors and growing and pushing beyond the boundaries the world has set for us.

“Dark City Kings have delivered an album that is both a heartfelt homage to the punk ethos and a masterclasse in blending genres with ‘Love Is Punk’ ” -We Write About Music

The most heartfelt gratitude to: @kevin.moloney.music, and to @kebbage.buggs, and to @citizenvinyl.

This is amazing art from Charlie Armstrong.

Dance and dance away the ache

Clean up our mistakes

give more than we take

Oh we miss those carefree days -

Dance and dance away the ache

Dreaming leads to better days

dance and dance away the ache

Dance before it gets too late