We really wished we had more pictures of this show, but you all will have to make do with this one. No, that's not us, that's the band we played with, Decomposition of Us. Normally, we have fans take pictures for us, but as this was our first time to Traverse City, die-hard Once a Hero fans were hard to come by.

This was Doug and Alex's first trip up north in Michigan, being the out-of-staters that they are, and it was also Once a Hero's first time playing north of Mt. Pleasant (if you count Stand to Reason's 4th show ever.) If you haven't been, the drive to Traverse City is really beautiful. Some of the trees were just starting to change, and Traverse, a small but very nice city right on the water, was a nice change from Southeast Michigan.

Jacob's Well is an independantly run coffee shop and music venue, that hosts poetry readings and other community events as well as rock shows. We were glad to see that something like that is alive and well in Traverse. There were only two bands, so we played first. No one in the packed house (with a couple exceptions) had probably ever heard us before, but I think we came off well, and the crowd got into our music better than any other first-timers have. Decomposition of US followed not letting the energy down at all. We were somewhat similar in style, but they had a slightly different aesthetic. We won't bother trying to define it. Labeling music is such a tedious task.

Well, we'd be lying if we said that we didn't have a blast in Traverse City, and we know we'd love to play again. If you're from there, we'd love to hear from you to see what you thought. We'll try to make it back as soon as we can. Until then, stay warm up there.

-Once a Hero