Hey,

I hope you’re doing great! It’s already September 1st as I’m writing this new missive down… Simply unbelievable. September 1st means we’re the 245th day of the year which also means there are precisely 100 days left until 2025! I sincerely hope you had a memorable summertime loaded with festivals, travels, gatherings, family times, sunsets and sunrises with your loved ones, or long walks where deep thoughts and sincere reflections that hopefully brought peace to your heart and soul!

Yesterday has been this kind of day for us all in Tangier, a typical situation in this city where we started walking around all together working on our daily 10k step count objective! We didn’t have any specific direction in mind, which led us to walk by our favorite library, which is run by two very soulful and inspiring people. They both were there, especially busy serving tea and coffee to a few people who had decided to spend their Saturday morning on their doorstep, sharing about different topics revolving around books, authors, art, and Tangier, as for most of them, summertime is sadly over, and heading back home is pretty much at the heart of everyone’s conversations. 

We decided to stop there for a little while and join the conversations, mainly with our two friends, as we always leave the door open to connect with people who were strangers to us as we arrived. This is the thing I love the most about this city; the unexpected leading toward a moment that might impact you and live on forever, or the complete opposite, depending on how open you are toward the stranger, the strange, the unknown, the difference and the authenticity of simply being, or, on the contrary, the pursuit of role-playing games, self-branding, and poker face festival! Everything is up for grabs and free for everyone involved so that they can decide where they stand! This is what Tangier is all about; a mixture of people coming here for different but specific reasons, some looking for answers with a humble and open heart, while others are waiting for questions to be asked, rooted in a prideful spirit wishing to empty their tanks recently filled by the last book they simply memorized.

A Saturday morning in Tangier at the library! A pretty yet ugly manifestation of this personal journey everyone’s onto. Quite fascinating! But, in all honesty, I kinda love those random conversations, since to me, and of course especially Alex, those moments have the ability to truly reflect, in so many ways, precisely where we are at in our personal lives, where we are at into the actual year, why we’re in Tangier, what we want to accomplish in life in general or during this specific journey, but mostly and above all, what kind of food do we want to feed our souls and spirit with in order to reach what we thought was unreachable in the first place?!

Following this random manifestation of Tangier in all of its essence, we, Alex, Isabel, Sef, Ben and I, all sat down at one of our favorite tables in the city, opening up regarding our own band culture, what we feed ourselves with, what we would like to talk about more, about our ability to go deeper in our relationships and what kind of price are we willing to pay to see this happening. It was pretty serious and really inspiring to hear Alex inviting us all to something far greater than us all once again, inviting us all to step out, step forward, and embrace something else, something we don’t know, something we maybe all crave for but simply don’t have the courage to welcome, become, and lead the way in terms of opening conversations and reflections on real personal things. An open door leading somewhere or nowhere, but is up for grabs to whoever aspires to something unknown and isn’t afraid to question the status quo!

The spirit of that moment truly was about re-shaping our own band culture and not being scared to even completely redefine it by pushing the boundaries we ourselves decided would fit right there. This is what we would like to see happening during these 100 days left in the year! And I would like to see this happening for us all and for every project we’re envisioning to do, as this year’s theme says: A Light Too Bright to Hide!!!

YEAR XIII -  A LIGHT TOO BRIGHT TO HIDE

If you just recently joined The Club, we have a yearly tradition that has been lasting for 13 years now. Every year, Alex develops and designs a membership package under a soulful theme for the year. This idea that Alex had to give The Club a yearly theme, identity, vision, and colors, has always been such a treat; everything is thought of, designed, and crafted in a DIY ethos and in grand style with Alex and his incredible design and creative team! 

This year makes no exception and we’re already getting to that specific and exciting time! Last year’s theme and designs around “The Exhilarating Joy of a Life Made Anew” have been quite meaningful to us all, sparking so many great conversations throughout a year that has been like no other on so many levels, good and bad. 

So, for the 13th time, we’re now very proudly celebrating this community spirit, those precious friendships, and the unlimited possibilities of what being together can truly mean. For Alex and I, it’s all about the us, the we, the community, this sense of a tribe that we’ve all encountered, shared and built together since the very beginning and that reached new heights all year long. This is what we’re both the most proud of!

Important to know: In the upcoming missives, I’ll walk you through the meaning of this theme and design as I’ll have the opportunity to sit down with Alex for another Open Conversation! Please, feel free to send me any questions you might have!  

OLD SCHOOL PACKAGE

NEW SCHOOL PACKAGE

Your Old School package will consist of: 
• Lathe Cut Vinyl (Shadows of our Evening Tides live from Nuremberg Brückenfestival, August 12, 2022)
• Slipmat
• Tote Bag
• Buttons
• Wrapped and shipped into an amazingly handcrafted and designed box
• Free Shipping

VERY IMPORTANT

If you’re interested in upgrading to Old School, you simply need to send an email to info@htrstore.com and let them know. They’ll guide you according to your current membership & renewal time!

NOT TO MISS

We will ship those packages for you during the week of September 17th! Alex and I will be traveling to Hamburg, Germany, and will be sending those packages to you in the hope of cutting down any possible customs fees to you, our friends living in Europe!

Let’s be great to one another! 

Your Host & Friend, 
Jeff 

PS: Another cool thing about hitting September is that so many artists are releasing new music! I’ve been switching between Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s Grey Rubble Green Shots as well as Kim Gordon’s Razzamatazz!