I've played many instruments in many bands for many, many years. Cut my teeth running a Soul / Ska act "Harmonauts" for a decade. Booked gigs and wrote till the cows came home.
2014? Jumped on stage with the Slackers in Buffalo.
Toured Europe several times with various acts, most recently in Irish punk band The Mahones.
And then I met Caroliine.
Despite being signed to Warner, blasted all over the radio and having one of the coolest bands on the planet, I somehow managed to avoid listening to Die Mannequin until we became friends.
And boy.... did we ever become friends.
I am so thankful for all the time we spent together. That beautiful soul pushed me so much. It took her some serious prodding - over a couple years - but with proper willpower, coerced me into recording my (/our) own shit. We started a band and put together a song and video submission.
That is a compilation of songs Care and I had worked on in some form or another. Most are still awaiting her vocal.
We both knew we had something real special, and once 'Slums' was finished, the plan was "let's make the best record *Ever*... and tour it for the rest of our lives". So in order to make that a reality, I built a recording studio for us.
That too took a couple years of painting, assembling, gear and design acquisition, and most importantly turning a closet into a vocal booth for her... It was a big job.
I finally finished in February 2023.
Caroline - bless her sweet heart - fought through adversities everyday. Despite that, she had the world's biggest smile and lust for life.
Caroline Slezak Kawa passed away in March 2023. I still think about her everyday. I still miss her all day everyday. I almost didn't make it through, but what kept me going was knowing how pissed off she'd be if I called it.
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I've got a lot of work to do. I'm damn excited to do it.
I'm taking her along for the ride.