Our homie and drummer for local awesome radical band Brighten Jimmy Richards announced via Myspace blog today that he is leaving Brighten to go to Africa and then to school right here in good ol’ Chico, as well as to focus on his badass design business, Junior Kickstart:

Hey everyone,

This is a rather depressing blog for me. Something that is not easy to write or deal with right now, but it is something I feel I have to do. I have decided to leave Brighten. Over the last year or so I felt God pulling at me about this. Leading me in another direction. I’m not leaving on any bad terms whatsoever. Alex and Justin have been great about this and weren’t taken by surprise. I’d been talking with them for months and months about this and finally decided.
It’s very hard. Being in a band is awesome. I love being able to meet and share with cool people like all of you all over the world. But it is mostly hard because Justin and Alex are my brothers. I’m going to miss hating ridiculous amounts of time in the van with them and dumb arguments, spitting on alex while playing, making funny videos, talking about life and things going on at home, and so many other things that go on when you spend 24 hours a day 7 days a week 9 months out of a year with people.
This isn’t a pity party. I am just sharing what’s happening in full rather than just peacing out on all of you. You guys (fans and friends) are a huge part of Brighten. I absolutely LOVE that part of it all. Getting to meet all of you is such an amazing thing for all of us in bands. I love talking to each of you.

So what am I doing now?

I am leaving for africa on July 21st. Two weeks. I’m very excited! After that, I will be going to school here in chico. I work full time designing merch for bands (www.juniorkickstart.net). I’m not exactly sure of what I want to do with my life yet, but I’ll figure it out soon enough.

Brighten’s new EP, Early Love, will be available really soon. I’m so proud of Justin and Alex and love what they are doing and everything they are about to do. I know you guys will be too.

If any of you would ever like to talk to me, please keep in touch!
My screen name is : eagersails

It’s been an amazing time,
Jimmy

I’ve heard some fun rumors as to who Jimmy’s replacement might be, but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how shit pans out. In the mean time, if you’re a label and you haven’t signed Brighten yet, what the fuck are you waiting for? Teen girls everywhere will thank you with money. Promise.

On the heels of today’s earlier announcement that Hawthorne Heights had dropped its suit against Victory Records and would be releasing their next full-length August 5th, the band has posted a clip of a new song called “Rescue Me” on their Myspace. If you’re just guessing who produced Fragile Futures, you can, and should notice the way the letters in this post look.

Every now and then a band thinks out of the box and sends us something cooler than the same old stupid press kit. We still haven’t figured out what to do with all the one-sheets we get. Sometimes we make paper airplanes out of them. Sometimes we crumple them up and use them for ammunition anytime an intern steps out of line. For the most part they get thrown away, um I mean, RECYCLED.

Today we got something cooler. Well… kind of. Swedish band Hyeno sent us this…

The cards are awesome… but what’s with the dirty seagull feathers? There’s like… poop on one of them. I did check out their MySpace, so kudos to them for piquing my curiosity. Could only stand to listen to 3 of their tracks though. Too much industrial shit makes me craycray.

I can kinda feel The Meltdowns on several levels. The first track that came up, “Tonight We Dine,” reminds me of what Michael Jackson would put out if he were raised on the Papa Roach cover of his own “Smooth Criminal,” but then decided about a year and a half later that he was “too indie” for Papa Roach anymore, sold off his Ibanez 7-string and downloaded every Gang of Four track he could find on SoulSeek. Unfortunately, he still ended up with a shipwrecked career all because he fondled a little boy’s penis. But now he writes frenetic, dancy-y, house party, dancing on the countertops punk and gets MAD GASH and free PBRs everywhere he goes. That’s just reason #1.

Also, I would like to point out that by swapping letters in the band name “Gang of Four,” you get “Fang of Gore”; and when you type “Fang of Gore” into a google image search, you get this:

That’s just reason #2 why you should click on The Meltdowns’ MySpace Page, befriend them, and then let them crash at your house when they’re on tour.

The Meltdowns’ debut EP, “No Authority, Direction, or Control” was released in January and should be purchased HERE. It sounds like demon dance party dogs tearing through a sweaty basement club and nipping at the heels of rad chicks with ugly-ass haircuts.

Don’t worry: Unlike both the real and the alternate reality Michael Jacksons, The MELTDOWNS WILL NOT TOUCH YOUR PENIS. (maybe.)

The Meltdowns have East Coast shows coming up. You can find them after the jump.
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GarBelle Clothing just got started this year and while they still have a lot of work to do in terms of marketing, their dresses hold a lot of potential. I haven’t had to chance to personally touch and feel the craftsmanship of the garments, but looking through their pics, they seem to be doing everything right stylistically. Pockets and hoods on classic cuts paired with shorter, fuller skirts - pretty fresh stuff. The only problem is they have got to get a better design on their MySpace page and they need a real website too, if they are going to take and be taken seriously. And while they’re at it, they should send Synthesis one in a size 2 so I can model  it and put it in our upcoming digital magazine, and then maybe I can has new pretty sundress for summer??? Ya? iLove…

For some reason, Dashboard Confessional have decided to post the majority of their back catalog for streaming on their Myspace. This includes my two personal favorites, the So Impossible EP and the Summer’s Kiss EP. Today I’m going to pretend like it’s 2002, when I had a mini-disc (yeah, that’s how long ago this was) with the first two Dashboard records, the two aforementioned EPs, and the Further Seems Forever record that Chris Carraba sang on all back to back to back, that I used to torture my coworkers to no end. Today is officially Dashboard Confessional day in the Synthesis office. BE PREPARED!!!11