Unknown unknowns, let all our gardens grow, and overtake our history.
Seeking strength in mystery.
Let us feel the air inside the clothes that we wear.
Try to find ghosts behind the buildings in our lives.
Draw us lines
-Constantines

We love music. It’s pretty intense. One time we saw music at a bar, gave it the eye, bought it a drink, put out the vibe and…ah, you know how the story goes. Seriously though, we’re just a couple of guys from Pittsburgh, PA that take our musical pursuits pretty seriously. I’m Jim and he’s Blake. Or I’m Blake and he’s Jim. It doesn’t really matter, now does it? It’s nice to meet you, though.

This site was founded June 2010 by Blake and Jim after years of doing things the old fashion way – Napster and LimeWire; mix CDs and playlists; URLs and .rar file. We fought the urge to pay for a subscription to Mediafire and Rapidshare. Blood, sweat, and tears all in electronic format. You probably got an email from us saying, “This will totally blow your mind”.

…and it probably did. We know you definitely listened to that one song 94 times in a week. Score.

Brendan joined the crew as an almost full time contributing writer about 3 months into this gig. Almost one year to the day, he joined the ranks of Blake and Jim as WordPress jockeys, co-running the site, and making this whole thing three-parts strong. He’s at every show you’ve ever been to and more. He’s the shit.

So, our goal is bring you new music, new bands, old bands, reviews, concert listings, interviews, insightful essays, the local Pittsburgh scene, original videos, and music we just love with all our spirits and stuff. We know what we’re doing. Right? Right?! Relax.

Oh – the name. Yeah. Kind of important. That’s the title of the first song on Constantines‘ Tournament of Hearts album. Crazy good. Once the words came out of our mouths, it was almost too easy to decide. One time we saw them in Pittsburgh at The Thunderbird Café and Matt and Chris and I totally….well that’s a story for another time.

Lastly, we’re really really lucky to have writing contributed from our friends across the U.S. Chris, Jacob, and Will, although not Pittsburgh located, do their damndest to bring us original and inspiring features. Ricky hits up the local live shows and gives us the skinny on his favorite albums, record labels, and other stuff. Vicki lends a female voice and awesome new bands, new classics, and live reviews. Michael and J. are the new Echo Chamber crew and are just killing it. They all love music just as much as we do and by God, if you ever get us all in a room together, watch out. Let’s give ‘em a round of applause. If you feel like you can do as good or better, feel free to drop us a line (here and here and here). We are always looking for fresh articles and perspectives.

Enjoy.

Love,

Jim, Blake, and Brendan @ Draw Us Lines