Greetings, and a happy New Year to everyone,

We hope that the beginning of 2016 has been good to you! 2016 is shaping up to be an exciting and fun year for Picture Atlantic.

This blog post comes at an interesting time for the band. We’re on the cusp of our 3rd LP release, we’ve been working with a new sound (live and studio), and 2016 marks the 11 year anniversary of the band.

So this brings me to the main point of this post. A lot of time has gone by. A lot of changes have taken place in the band, and with each album or release, our sound changes, or we explore a different facet of our influences and tastes. Each one of our releases has it’s own feel, sometimes drastically so.

When the band started, it was the passion project of four teens in their friend’s garage. When we recorded and released our first batch of music, in 2006, it was an EP entitled ‘Change is Welcome’.

Picture Atlantic circa 2007 (The 'Change is Welcome Era') playing Vans Warped Tour

Last week we got an email from the company who handles distributing all our music to places like iTunes , CD Baby, Amazon, and streaming services. It said that our annual renewal payment for ‘Change is Welcome’ is coming up. Ryan and I talked briefly and decided that we think its time to end that annual payment for ‘Change is Welcome’ and let it come to rest.

Now, some of you are probably asking yourselves ‘Why?’ and others are probably saying ‘Who cares?’. More of you will probably be saying ‘Wait, you have a very first EP?’. The reason we’re putting word out on this is two-part:

One, and most important, is that many of our long time, devoted fans, found Picture Atlantic through that recording and started supporting and following the band because of that EP. In fact, as silly and surreal as it sounds, when we broke away from that sound and album in 2008, we actually had people leaving comments on our MySpace page (yes, that’s how long ago it was) to the effect that they didn’t like our music anymore, and didn’t want to listen to the band. That’s how much some people connected to that album! We’re a small band that not many people have heard, so you have to understand how wild and ridiculous that sounds to me now, even as I type this. However, a lot of you took faith in us and came along for the ride when we dropped our first LP ‘Kleos’ and have been with us since! But regardless, we acknowledge that our first EP holds a special place in some people’s hearts, and for some, is the reason that they even still listen to us.

Secondly, and also importantly, we simply feel that ‘Change is Welcome’ just doesn’t represent or portray the band and people we are today. It’s so far outside our sound and artistic direction, that to us personally, we haven’t identified with that EP in probably 8 or 9 years. Furthermore we haven’t even played any of those songs live, for about the same amount of time, for that same reason. We think it’s fitting and symbolic to say goodbye to that recording, as we get ready to release a new recording that we are insanely proud of. Our new album, will in all ways, describe the kind of band that Danny, Ryan and I are now.

Just three friends....hanging out in a graveyard...laughing....You sure you trust these guys?

Out of respect for our fans though, we thought it should be mentioned what our plan was, and why. Especially since that means our first EP will no longer be attainable directly through the band, or through an official portal. It would also give everyone a chance to check out or purchase the music if they haven't yet. Simply put, it felt right, and nice to communicate a little.

So come February 13th, ‘Change is Welcome’ will in essence be no more. We only did one printing of 300 copies of the physical album in 2006, and iTunes is the only way right now to get the album (to our knowledge). If you want to take a last listen, feel free to find it online. I think the dichotomy in where we started as a band might be interesting for some of you. You can take a peek at the EP through this iTunes link

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/change-is-welcome/id356008202

With that I’ll let you get back to your lives. Thanks for reading, and to all our fans, whether you started listening to us right at the start, or more recently, thank you for everything you’ve done to support us, and have a great 2016. Be expecting new album news soon!

-Nik