NYC Memento Mori Party Recap

[Brittany]

So, I'm sitting in a hotel room, trying to remember the finer details of this evening. It was a really amazing, unique experience to be a part of, and I'm glad we took the time out and drove a couple hours to get to NYC.

After traversing through muchos traffic and many New York City driving death traps, we managed to secure a spot in a kinda sketchy looking parking garage around 5PM. We then walked a few blocks to the BLVD at Crash Mansion. It looked like a pretty classy place from the outside, and I think that vibe stuck once we were inside. We met our friend Chris who had been waiting there for a good 45 minutes, and said hi to Chris from residentherofans.net. I also had the pleasure of meeting Lydia. That girl has a really radiant, genuine smile. For some reason that really stood out to me. She's also probably one of the nicest people ever. I only got to talk with her a little bit, but I hope I run into her again somewhere down the line.

We waited for around two hours in line while more people queued behind us. There was a good mix of people as far as gender and age. At some point during the wait, Lacey and Jared scooted past all of the people in the line out of nowhere to get inside the club. Some of the people in line were hypothesizing that they had popped out of a UPS truck that was randomly stopped in front of the building because their arrival was so sudden and everyone apparently missed which car they came from.

The party was announced to start at 7PM, but we all started piling in at around 7:30. The entire club was decked out in white rose petals, Memento Mori flyers, signs, TV's everywhere... It was all very vibish indeed.

Once inside, we pre-ordered our copies of Memento Mori and got our lithographs. Those things are pretty incredible. A lot of people have said lately that Pat is an amazing artist, and it's really worth repeating. And emphasizing. A whole lot. His woodcuts are such a unique, wonderful thing, and it's so great to see them featured during this album cycle.

We went into the main room where the party was, and after standing around for a while, Carmen Electra came out to announce the party. Or her twin sister at least. Not sure who she was or where she came from, but she had a great energy.

We got to hear several tracks from the new record a few times. Beautiful Bride and Again played first. No need to really describe those because we've all heard them a bunch by now. :) Chasm came next, I believe. That song is hard to capture with words. It's hard hitting, has a great rhythm and a great message. I couldn't stop tapping my foot and bobbing my head during that one. I believe it's based on Luke 16:22-31 just from hearing the lyrics.

Missing was really catchy and upbeat. I found myself dancing to the chorus, regardless of how embarrassed my boyfriend looked. It was pretty funny. It's going to do well on a mainstream level if the label decides to go that route. Who would've thought that Pat Seals would write the one that makes ya dance.

The Kind was next I think. It starts out quieter and slower, and builds into this more upbeat, urgent song with a huge chorus. Such a great song.

Circle is incredible. It's one of my favorites from the night. The story in the lyrics sounds really amazing. This one starts a little slower too, and builds to have a big chorus. It had an interesting song structure I noticed.

Arise is everything people have been saying. It's epic and beautiful and meaningful. This song is going to blow people away when they hear it. Sameer hit a home run when he wrote this song, and the band added to it all perfectly. Lacey's vocals soar, the lyrics are beautiful, and the everything is just amazing. Love this song. Can't wait to get the album so I can put it on repeat 2035720 times.

After the songs played, Lacey, Jared and Carmen Electra's twin sister all did an interview up on the stage. We learned a lot of cool things. They talked about how Pat wrote Tiny Heart on piano years and years ago and they put it on the record so they could have a ballad on there. Lacey made a joke about how their intention was a ballad, but Howard innately turns things into pop songs.

We also learned that the male vocals in Beautiful Bride are indeed the members of Flyleaf. They all went into the vocal booth to record them. James is really anti-singing I guess, and just stood there and looked around while everyone else was singing. The way Lacey explained it was funny. I hope they put up a video of it.

After the interview, we saw the video for Beautiful Bride. It features a LOT of Pat's artwork, and a wedding. It was really visually stimulating and beautiful, and had a cool story. I won't say too much about it, because it's really cool and I don't want to ruin it for anybody. It does feature James' sister/Sameer's wife April who was in the Sorrow video and Joshua, Lacey's husband. The video is just awesome. Watch it when it surfaces on the internets.

After that, we all got in line to get our lithographs signed. Jared drew a lovelyyyy cat on mine. I'm not usually a sentimental dork about cool Flyleaf stuff, but I'm definitely getting it framed. It's just a great piece of artwork and I know it'll make my wall much more interesting.

GO to a listening party if you're able to. It's totally worth it. It's such a unique, and cool experience. By the way, it's FREE. So partake of the goodness. DO it. Dooo it.

Boston recap to come soon!

Pictures from the event below:

[Kimberly Abreu]

haha. You just missed me in the picture of the people on line. I was second on line, but I think I was sitting down so I wasn't shown.
The interview was really cool and the video for BB was amazing. I do wish they would've done some acoustic stuff. I've never been to any acoustic sets of theirs. My favorite song of the night was Chasm by far. It has been stuck in my head since then.

[Alex]

Wow sounds like it was amazing and now I really want to hear the full studio Arise...ive even replayed the acoustic version like 300 times in the past day, Hate that I had to miss this, it was the only one I coulda made

[Jackie R]

aww so james didn't sing in BB :( i was picturing him singing it...lol... :'( But anyway thanks so much for writing this!!!

[Bianca Montes]

I am so excited for Tuesday now, expecially after reading your blog and watching the videos on flyleafonline, and its my birthday so YAY lots of fun

[JAMYS REYES]

Oh snap!!! I'm in the picture!!! I love every moment when they were talking. I froze when she walk right next to meet. I was right next to her when she enter the building and she smile at me. I was like I'm the luckiest guy in the world. She even like my tattoo. I wish I could have huge her and tell her that her music was an inspiration for me!!! I got my ticket to see them in Nov in NY and I'm counting the days for them to come.

[Mary Sanders]

Haha,i see me in the first picture:) Thats an awesome camera you have. What kind is it?

[michael albelo]

awsome sounds like fun

[George Smith]

Great recap of the night. It was an awesome time. I did not know that we would get a chance to meet Lacey and Jared. I'm so glad that I went. I can't wait until the show at The Gramercy on Nov.18.

[Christopher]

Awesome recap Brittany. It was fun hanging out there with ya'll.

[Deborah]

Great to meet you Brittany. Thanks for the awesome recap