Sometimes we try too hard to be instead of just being

Well I am sure this is true of myself sometimes. I get caught up in where I want to be or what I want to be doing instead of just enjoying where I am at. I am learning tho. You learn from your mistakes and you grow and its a beautiful thing.

The other night I watched a documentary called "Woodstock-Now and Then". I get really inspired by the purity of the music from that time. They put so much emotion and passion into every note. They just let it pour out of them. They had something to say that ,at the time and even now people could relate to. Its honest and true. Comes from the heart. So that brings me to right now. Present time. Sure 1969 was a time of change with so much going on in good and bad ways. Very magical time in music for sure. Like we don't live in a magical time? This is OUR time so it has to be magical. In our time we elected the first black president ever. EVER!! Think about it.......Malcolm X was assasinated. Martin Luther King Jr was assasinated. Can you imagine the chaos if that happened with President Obama? I really hope it does not happen. I don't need President Obama to get assasinated to inspire me to write songs.

Okay so what has happened to music? Wheres the emotion? The passion? The amazing musicianship?? Is it about a party now with Paris Hilton? What you're wearing? Who you're with? Are you indie enough? Emo enough? How bout can you play your instrument? Can you write a song that will make people feel? Do what you want, I respect that but for me.........I want to write songs that make you feel. Make you think. Stop you in your tracks. I wanna tear open your chest and make you feel every ounce of emotion I was feeling when I wrote it. The pain of lost love and heartbreak, the loss of my family and friends that have died, I want you to feel it tearing you up inside and cry for my pain because you can feel it in our songs. I want you to feel like a phoenix rising up from the ashes and feel uplifted by our songs. I want you to smile so big the world feels it when you hear that song of ours that gives you good feelings. I want you to close your eyes and drift up into the clouds and the heavens when you can't resist busting a move on the dance floor cause that groove we're playing is just too good to not dance to. I want you to feel all we're feeling from our hearts straight into yours. Like an arrow exploding with all kinds of emotion. This is OUR time in history. Lets make it something by just being. Being here at this moment right now and enjoy it to the fullest. I know its not easy and it might sting a little sometimes but growth is important. Its a part of life. A good part.

I hope everyone has a beautiful sunday and look forward to seeing ALL of you tomorrow night at El Cid in Silverlake for our show with The Naked and Fat City Reprise. Come about 9pm so you can share a magical moment in time with us.

Ciao.

Andy/Novista

Sick but San Francisco bound.

On the way to the bay to play. Have an L.A. cold so I'm laying down in the back of our home away from home......Vanny. That's right we have a name for our van. The van is family. Takes care of us. Dave Chappelles Block Party on the DVD player aka Kevins laptop. Be ready SF to get your groove on to our Costa Nova sounds time for you to get up stand and get down to our sound!! Hopefully you don't catch my cold in the process. This has been a Costa Nova update from the road. Be well!
Andy/Novista



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Going for broke.

When you have big dreams and high aspirations you have to let go of everything and go for broke. Don't worry about losing it all when tomorrow you could be the richest person in the world. And I don't mean money. Thats a only a part of it. If you think only money can make your dreams come true then you've already lost the battle. Its everything that makes it happen. From the shows, to the recordings, all the online promoting, the networking, the playing your guitar till late in the night, to the several nights a week rehearsals, the song writing, the listening to music for inspiration and learning, the lessons, the caring, the heart, the love of, the drive, the appreciation, the gratitude, the desire, the friendships, the bond, that never say die attitude, the hope, the faith, the belief, and of course the blood, sweat and tears..........if you want something bad enough then go after it. Don't give up. Dreams do come true.

This has been sunday thoughts. Hope you enjoyed them.

Andy/Novista

New songs for you to dance along........

From the ashes rising up like a Phoenix..........worked on our new (well its a song waiting on the launchpad for over a year now but we didn't have the perfect drummer to start the countdown and now getting closer to liftoff!) song called Phoenix. Came out of a jam we did and Gilday put together a masterpiece that we have contributed to for quite some time now. We've actually road tested it a couple times at shows but it was never the full version of what it is now. Today was an exciting and inspiring rehearsal. Kevin our singer is out of town for........oh wait yep you guessed it. Another wedding! I think this is like the millionth time he has gone to something wedding related since I first met him in the spring of 2005. A side note to his friends.........congrats. Kevin is just too popular. Singers.......Psssshhhhhhhhhhhttttttttt. Nuff said. So back to us. Yes yes so today was awesome. Alex killed it on And The Colors Ran so it looks like that could well possibly be in the set again! Great job Alex. So yeah we did some killer work on Phoenix. Can't wait for Gilday to get in his lab downstairs and post today's songs so I can get lost in Andyland listening to them. Oh I guess that might mean that we could play And The Colors Ran at El Cid on Monday October 12th as well. Hmmmmmmmm. That would be dope. Okay off to see other people play music for a while. I got cabin fever......need to get outside....be social......must try to talk to strangers.........psssshhhhhhhhttttt.

Much love.

Andy/Novista

Things Behind The Sun

Saturday songs. We have a song called "Burning Building" in the works and can't wait for this one. Coming soon.

Today I learned "Things Behind The Sun" by Nick Drake. Love this song. The Mars Volta did a badass cover of it recently.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV4D_q9QiuQ

thats Nick Drake's version and this is the Mars Volta's

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K5d9ROU9N4&feature=related

dunno about the videos but the song is incredible.

Maybe we'll cover it one day for Costa Nova. Ya never know.

Have a great rest of the weekend.

Andy/Novista

Traveling, my heart talks and The Market.

Just got back from traveling a few days ago. In a sense I'm always traveling I just don't always see the earth moving below my feet cause I get so lost in my head. Yeah I travel a lot in my own head with my imagination, lucid dreams and dreams in general. So in the real world I went on a big jet plane to New Jersey,Philadelphia and NYC. Seeing Mom, friends and family. In Philadelphia I saw rain and art. Oh and I love the urban style girls have on the east coast. It can be real subtle sometimes but its cool. I dig it. Art always inspires me in so many ways. I saw stuff by Picasso,Cezanne, Duchamp, Mattisse, so many more and especially one of my favorites......Jasper Johns. So dope. Being in Jersey is interesting for me cause its where I'm from. Its funny hearing people dis Jersey saying how its the armpit of NY. Suckers. Jersey is so lush and green its not even funny. Plus we have really nice beaches.

What does any of this have to do with our music? Lots cause it refreshes the soul and reenergizes you in so many ways.My heart was talking to me while I was there and I didn't figure it out till today. I'm at a place in my life where my heart is pretty ripped open. Its a scary place to be and and amazing place all at once. I'm getting more and more comfortable with it everyday I live. So much great emotion I feel like its gonna explode sometimes. Crazy.But without emotion your heart doesn't really feel. And then the heart dies. No one wants to have that. All I gotta say is feel it..............let it in.

And who can forget NYC? Chillin with Tarasky and the ever so infamous Matt Goias. Both inspiring people in their own right. Now back home and working on our new song called "The Market". Its flowing through my headphones right now as I type. So many cool ideas and vibes going on musically within the 4 of us. Alex Keefe brings such a great beatstyle to this band that we have been longing for,doesn't get much groovier than Gilday on the bass, and Kevin is a lyrical Jackson Pollack. Everyone jamming together painting on our canvas. I am so grateful for those magical 3 guys.

So for the near future we might possibly be traveling to a northern city soon........stay tuned. Otherwise tune into these upcoming shows.......

El Cid (Silverlake) Monday October 12th

The Viper Room(West Hollywood) Thursday October 22nd

Ciao for now.

Andy/Novista.

Life, The Universe,AndyLand, Music, and The Journey.

Costa Nova is living life alright. Yes I know its been a while since the last blog and I am to blame for that. I am surprised the band trusts me to ramble on here but thats just part of being in a band. Life. What can you say about life huh? Well life is what you do and it inspires us to write more music. I've been told its cathartic. Yes its true. I unload emotions just sitting in my room playing the guitar. Its pretty amazing and I am grateful to be able to do so. Without life and its experiences ,what would we have? Emotions good and bad are necessary for balance right? To be a well rounded band its good to have songs of all types. Feel good songs, get up and dance your ass off songs, introspective songs, daydreamy songs, sad songs, reflective songs, and so on. This way you can feel all of life's emotions just by listening to a bunch of songs. If you can relate of course. Its a matter of getting someone. A connection. So what have we been up to lately? Connecting on all levels is what. We have an amazing new drummer(Alex Keefe) who has inspired us in so many ways. We are all connected. Some of the music coming out of new jams is gonna be our best stuff yet. I am listening to a new one called "Nightwatch" as I type and its probably the 7th time I have listened to it today. Narcissist? Okay guilty.......sorry but I love what we do. I can't help it. So the universe.........the universe gives us a beautiful gift. Can't deny the universe man. And it keeps on giving. Just tell it what you want and you will get it. BUT!! Make sure you are very clear with what you ask for. Make sure you KNOW what you want. Be prepared cause here it comes.

Okay so AndyLand..........well sad to say one of my pedals that gave me so much of my signature sound died out recently. Heres the kicker..........I went out and bought the same pedal only to learn( from one of the original designers himself) that my pedal had some weird defect that gave it the sound it had. I was(as far as we know) the only person to ever have that sound to the pedal. So the saddest news to me was that the sound is gone forever. Frustrating but Gilday has been encouraging. The whole keep moving forward thing is what am I embracing. In many ways right now in my life. Close one door and another opens. So AndyLand is being repaired and always growing. If you are wondering what AndyLand is, well, hmmmmm......its many things. Its a place created by sounds deep from within my lucid dreams. haha. Thats pretty much true tho. Which leads me to the music. Oh boy. I love music. What more can you say? We have so much new music to share. One of my favorite quotes of all time was something Richard Ashcroft of The Verve said........"Its not tough selling records, Its tough when you are making amazing music and no ones listening to it."

Thats a pretty intense statement because as a band trying to make it you can totally relate. We've been getting good feedback on the newer songs lately and I've heard some really cool things said about them. Its like trying to find your perfect lover. You just need to find that person who gets it. Well try doing that all at once to the whole world with your music!! haha. Thats where the journey comes in. What I've learned lately is to enjoy it. End of story. Seriously if you can enjoy the journey then you've already succeeded in so many ways. And I'll be the first to tell you its not always easy at all. The universe will push you so hard and try and hold you down just to see how bad you want it. And we get right back up everytime and ask for more. I'm starting to enjoy how much more it gives back each time now. It seems to increase its generosity. Hey like I said ask the universe for it but just be clear. We have gotten so much clarity after being knocked down so many times. Like I said we keep getting back up. Theres still so much more of the journey left and we are going to fully enjoy it. So I think you know what you have to do. Come enjoy the journey with us. Let us entertain you and give you a soundtrack for your journey. Happy times, sad times, party times, move and groove on the dancefloor times, you name it. Cause we write songs about life and I know you can relate to life................Happy Labor Day weekend.

Andy/Novista