An Introspective Look At Resident Hero Part 1
Yesterday a package from amazon.com arrived in the mail. It was a copy of Resident Hero’s full length album Look. It came out in mid 2009 and I’ve been listening to it practically on a daily basis since then. So why am I just now getting around to buying a physical copy? I don’t honestly have that answer, I just know I’m glad I did. It feels complete now I suppose. Maybe it was inspired by the fact that Ryan(vocals) finally admitted that RH was done in a blog a few weeks ago. This is something I’ve both suspected for a long while and known when I’ve hung out with Jay (drums) a few times in the past few months. It doesn’t make it any less crappy however.
I first saw Resident Hero open up for Flyleaf in the spring of 2007. My first thought of them being at that show was annoyance to be honest. I went to see the show because I was just getting into Flyleaf and I was really enjoying Kill Hannah, who was also on the bill. Sick Puppies were also there whom I fell in love with as well, so that was just an extra bonus. When we got there I was annoyed hearing that a 4th band was on the bill. Anybody who goes to long concerts knows that feeling of dread when you’re already tired. But I was honestly and extremely surprised when they hit the stage. Sure on the outside I was making fun of Ryan for looking like he was batshit crazy onstage and super veiny in his neck, but the music spoke for itself and I was hooked. Even though by the time I got home from the concert I had to be up for work in a matter of hours I was busy looking up everything I could about them on the internet. I bought their EP the next day online and saw they were doubling back around with Flyleaf in Fayetteville in a few weeks. That show was much more enjoyable seeing that I was now hooked on their music and seeing them and knowing the words was even better. I bought merch, I got a picture with the band and told them how awesome they were. I was impressed with the genuine friendliness of the guys and how excited they were to be there.
Around that time they had just released their song Vendetta Black that in a nutshell is about the question they posed of “when even your heroes fail what do you do then?” From what I understand it was written when Ryan’s favorite band, a band whom he saw as really having something special and was sure to go places, ultimately fail and crumble apart at the seems. So what do you do when this happens? According to them you pick up the pieces and you forge ahead and remember the path paved for you and move on without them, but remembering them the whole way. And that’s just what Resident Hero did. They forged ahead. They never quite made it to being signed to a major label. They never truly reached nation attention. They did it all themselves. They worked hard for every step they took and every bit of success they had was made their own. They used their own money, time, effort, and energy to create a truly excellent album and got it out there themselves. They toured, fought, won, lost, and everything in-between and rocked the entire time.
The songs they played seemed to touch something inside my own life. I had finally found an artist who’s music I could listen to from beginning to end and actually feel like most everything I could relate to. There have been other bands I’ve obsessed over or could deeply relate to, but not quite like this. It almost felt like this legitimately was the soundtrack of the days I was living. And the best part is that it kept evolving as I did. What meant something to me one day took on a whole new meaning the next. It was like a living breathing thing that came along with me for the ride. The cd was left unchallenged in my car for months on end. I seriously never took it out of there and even when I did, it went right back in shortly thereafter. That’s still the case. It still has a permanent place of easy access to where I can listen to it. Time Is Nothing has become my favorite song of all time. It means something to me on so many levels and even though the faces have changed over the years, its irony of how much it follows the pattern of my own life. They were one of the greatest influences on me perusing music in my own right. The question of “if these bands can play and do their thing why cant I?” was always the focal point of why I started a band, but watching RH closely enough really made me think and feel and have hope. “If they can do it, then so can I. If only I work hard enough and believe.” And that happened too. They’ve done more for me than could be known.
My whole life I’ve never really had a hero. I’ve made that realization numerous times growing up that I just didn’t have one. I had people I admired and looked upto but no heroes. But ironically enough they became heroes to me. They fought for what they believed and never took no for an answer. They became my friends; I was able to bond with them on different and special occasions, hell they even crashed at my own house while on tour!
Then suddenly they were done. Gone. Poof. I’ve heard the stories, the reasons we were told, the reasons behind the curtain, and everything in between from the guys themselves and from what has been written down online. Near devastation to be honest. The real irony is the very thing Ryan had penned down as inspiration for Vendetta Black became their swan song and became what happened to them as well. They may be gone now as a band, but I still stay in communication with them and follow their new endeavors pretty closely. Birds of New York still has that defining pinch, but its not quite the same to me. I still love it to death, but yeah. They still continue to inspire me to this day and make me wonder to really what great lengths we all will go to to achieve our dreams and will we make it or will we fail trying? To quote Mr. White: “All My Heroes Are Dead”.
But they’ll never be forgotten.
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