🇮🇹 Hello from Italy - Alex About What Gave Birth to "Winter Is Coming In" Part II

Hey,

I hope you’re doing great! I have to thank you again since it was so much fun to go through last week’s release around the “Winter Is Coming In” vinyl and the fall collection! 

The ambiance at the HQ during those kinds of days is an absolute delight, especially since Alex was there with us, which totally added to this love fest week where everyone was buzzing around, from those who are crafting the items to those who are spreading the word out there…! Felt so nice! Alex is also feeling a little better than when he left a few days prior!

As you’re reading this, I just landed in Italy with Alex for the very first time in both our lives! We’ve been invited to speak and share about our very unique DIY journey and set up, to connect with the Italian music industry, and of course, to spend our evenings watching a lot of young bands, all working very hard to capture everyone’s attention! We’ve been there and done that so many times, so it’s great for us to give back!

I hope you enjoyed reading Alex’s very intimate thoughts and insights on the song “Winter Is Coming In” as much as I did. This song truly means so much to us all and it’s a great privilege to invite you in what has been a very long personal journey in such a wonderful fashion which is always Alex’s true signature - in grand style! 

Here it is exclusively for you!

THE STORY BEHIND THE SONG - Part II

It’s only a few days after that what would become “Winter Is Coming In” started to resonate with me once more. I wrote without thinking too much about what I thought would be an answer to that friend of mine.

So I heard another winter is coming 
Never truly knew what to make out of it
I spent my whole life crafting storms of my own
Always looking for new possible ways
To avoid the shades of my pale shadowing reflection
Confused with lights, confessing pieces of my everlasting sorrows
Have I lost my senses? I don’t know…

The rest of the lyrics came as easily as I was willingly being honest. I wanted to be “touched”, as it was ok to be confused, angry, lost, and miserable. I must have written all day and most of the night, again being honest about my broken childhood, the repeating abuses I’ve been a victim of, my inability to establish an intimate relationship, the sufferings, the functional depressions, the profound sadness I’ve learned to live with, how I entertained the idea of taking my own life… It wasn’t about understanding the concept of confession and faith any more, it was allowing those words to loudly carry a burden I was usually holding in the loneliest of all silences…

I realize that it never was about finding the truth but about making sense of what felt missing, as if spending so much time in the darkness of my own excuses and reasons, even melancholia became an admission of self-preservation and control over my own denial of any possible light coming my way.

I guess in the end, it’s not that much about the truth
But how good we became at turning late night illusions into a bright morning view
It’s never that easy I suppose, to kneel down with a smile
When we kept denying our souls from the magic shining through

But I think the breaking point for me comes with the acknowledgment that I indeed kept that storm alive. The reality is the fact that I never wanted to take if only a second to stop and openly decide to trade shivers and any possible affective dazzle for misery. That being admitted, I knew that not only winter never really came, but the sole fact that I was so honestly exposing myself would offer me the opportunity to determine if I ever wanted to witness the first light of spring in the future…

- Alex

NEXT FEW WEEKS…

I’m very blessed to share all of this with you all weeks after weeks! I can’t wait to let you know how this trip to Milan has been! 

We will also be traveling to Paris and then Tokyo in the next few days, as we need to ship those beautiful vinyls! 

Looking forward to hanging out and making new friends! Connecting truly is what matters the most to us! 

Be blessed and take good care! 

I’m so grateful! 

Your Host and Friend!
Jeff