Artist: The Apprentice
Title: The Epic Struggle
Catalog #: FDR 005
Release Date: March 9, 2003
Matthew’s Notes: The college I attended was very small and we would have shows every so often. I saw Eric DeLong play some acoustic songs at one of these shows, it may have been a battle of the bands. I remember that my hair stood up on my arms and I was immediately captivated.
Eric at the time was also playing in a hardcore/blindside-core band called Samwise. He was playing bass at the time. I had actually met Eric when I first came to school because I was at a Samwise show and his string broke and I had just came from band practice and I had my bass in the car. I offered him my bass and he goes “what kind is it?” This is funny for 2 reasons: 1. He didn’t have any extra bass strings and 2. The other band already left that played the show. So I guess he was trying to figure out if my bass would suffice or if he should play his bass with 3 string on it. Needless to say, he used my bass.
Back to the battle of the bands, I asked Eric if he ever considered putting out a solo CD and he emphatically said “No.” He said no because he was afraid his bandmates would get mad if he did. I’m not sure how it ended up happening, but he came up to me sometime later and said he wanted to do a full-length. I was super excited and I told him to meet me at Huddle House to sign the papers.
The CD was recorded in December-January of 2002 and it was released in the spring of 2003. The first pressing sold quickly and it was then repressed with new artwork. Later that year, we shot a video with Shane C. Drake for “To My Surprise…” The drum loop on the song was by a member of the band Viva Voce. It was at this point that I was really starting to feel like a record label.
Tracklist:
01. Afraid to Fly
02. Grace for the Pitiful
03. I’ll Say No
04. Overboard
05. To My Surprise…
06. This is My Spiel
07. Whispers of Deception
08. My Frustration
09. Promises Broken and Promises Fulfilled
10. I Will Not Be Afraid
