It's with a heavy heart that I announce that I will no longer be playing drums with the American Autumn. The reason why seems simple to me, but could get a little complicated. I'll give it a shot anyways.

We started the band with a pretty basic philosophy: to play simpler punk-rock, something that could be fun to play instead of difficult or complicated, something that people could clap their hands to. Even though we all had different ideas for where the band should go musically, we agreed on one thing: let's have fun and work the band around the lives we already have.

Over the past two years, we've done that to the extent that it's possible. Recently, though, we've outgrown that philosophy. The American Autumn is ready to play shows on Thursday nights at the Subterranean (instead of being limited to weekends), to headline a show at 11:30 at night, to go on a tour across the country--all things that interfere with the life I already have outside the band.

As my mind has it, I'm leaving so that the band can reach its full potential. It wasn't an easy decision to make, since my hands and heart were so invested in the entity that is the American Autumn. But if I didn't think that it would somehow be better for the band, I don't think I would have reached this decision.

I do want to thank Chris and Josh, who have become best friends of mine in the past two years. Chris has become a person I can talk to about things that I can't talk to most people about, plus he's one of the few people whose musical opinions I trust. Josh's optimism and positivity has been inspiring to me; I consider myself a bit of a cynic and "realist", but Josh helped me lighten up a bit over the past few years.

Dave and I have been friends for a while, but the band has helped bolster that friendship. Dave is a super-smart and talented person whose progress as a musician has left me startled. I want to thank him for his support and for being a great friend.

Of course, there's other people who need to be thanked, like my parents, whose basement has been a practice space since band's beginning. I also want to thank Emily, my wife, who has supported the band, who inspires me to play music, and who has been one of the band's biggest advocates.

I'm glad that the band made the decision to move on and I know that the American Autumn is a band with potential to do some really amazing things. If you're a fan of this band, stay tuned, since there will be some pretty awesome things in store for the American Autumn in the next year and beyond.

And thanks, guys.

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