In October 2016, The Vice Rags, came together under the premise that we would be a plug and play straight up rock band. We knew who were, but more importantly, we knew who we didn’t want to be. We were not going to be one of those bands that drags on ambling around aimlessly. So we gave ourselves a shelf life of one year to: write, record, play shows and then we were out.

At least that’s what we said then and that was obviously easier said than done, because one year came and went and we ignored our expiration date. To our credit, things were going too well at the one year mark and we were having too much fun, so why would we stop? But the problem with ignoring a shelf life...Take a carton of eggs for example. You see, if you open a carton of expired eggs and just look at the shells, the eggs seem normal…You can even eat them not too long after the expiration date and they might still taste ok, but the longer you let them go, the more likely you are to get some rancid eggs that stink and will probably kill you.

So I’m not saying we were going rancid or anything like that, but the truth is, the longer the band went on, the harder it was to do. Families, new babies, jobs lost, new jobs, careers stagnating, careers soaring, houses, health stuff…All of your standard cliché grownup crud that makes it difficult for band’s to be bands, made it too difficult for us. So after two cancelled studio dates and about a year and half after the expiration date stamped on our carton, we decided to put the band on pause.

There’a a reason we paused instead of tossing the expired eggs in the trash altogether…Alright I think I’m just gonna ride this egg thing straight through to the end, but I digress…So even though we trudged through that last phase of the band, we did some great stuff. Correction, almost did some great stuff. We had a bunch of songs that were almost finished and it would be a shame to have nothing to show for the back half of the band and for all of that hard work we had done when it was hardest to do. So when everyone’s life eased up a bit in October 2021, almost 5 years to the day after we had started the band, we got together and we had another plan: finish these songs and release the record in the summer…Done.

And did we do it?!?! Yes...No...Well...Almost...We are done, and while I'm thinking warm thoughts, it's clearly not the summer...That good old cliche grownup crud knocked us off course again and yes, we've ignored our shelf life yet again. Maybe not by too much this time. I think we're still edible anyhow, but you can be the judge. Crack open the carton, make yourself an omelet, close your eyes, take a bite and you tell us...Are we still fresh, slightly rancid or are we more like one of those gross 100 year old eggs that millionaires eat when they get together and eat gross shit that only millionaires have access to and can afford? I really have no idea...all eggs make me gag.