Hi there, this is Zen (Songwriter, lead vocalist, and band mom of Please Do Not Fight). Nice to see you! How have you been the last 13 years? Yeaaah, us too. Fuck.

Believe it or not it was 2011 - just before the band broke up - when we put out our final release at the time, the EP “pastpresentfuture : part 1”. Now, almost 13 years later, we are releasing the follow up.

Why now? Well, we had a really dreamy sweaty time playing a packed reunion show at Bottom of the Hill in 2019 and decided that it would be a bit of fun to explore writing and releasing some more songs. Selfishly, I also wanted more tunes in my arsenal that would be even dreamier and sweatier to play to a packed room. So, I set to work. Some songs I wrote on my own, some songs I wrote with co-writer Erin Keely. One song was an older one that (guitarist) Geoff McCann and I wrote right before the band broke up in 2011. But, most of them were new. Somewhere in there we had a pandemic and I ate ice cream and played Animal Crossing non-stop for 6 months straight.

Then in the summer of 2021, right as things were opening up and (sane) people were getting vaccinated, I pulled together a band in Los Angeles consisting of Russell Henson (lead guitar), Brandon ‘Spike’ Phillips (drums), and Justin San Souci (bass) - all close friends and folks who had contributed to, or been full-time members of, Please Do Not Fight in the past. The four of us workshopped the tunes live and in person and - after over a year trapped inside - I realized that playing music with other human beings is something I had always taken for granted. It completely shreds.

Later, Erin and producer Jonathan Devoto helped me tweak and refine (virtually this time) and we got to recording. Along the way I got encouragement, songwriting help, donated studio time, hoots, hollers and backup singing from a dizzying array of friends and family. I am a very lucky human.

During all of this I worked a full time job (and then some). I moved to Los Angeles. I released some indie pop tunes under the name ‘Music with Jeff’. I came out as queer and trans. I wore eyeliner for a bit. Then I had a bit of an existential crisis about releasing songs I had written while still so deep in denial about my inner world. Erin and I even remotely shot an entire ass music video that I attempted to edit for months before deciding it gave me too much gender dysphoria and jettisoning the entire project (sorry Erin).

But! But but but, the songs are done and we’re releasing them and you can listen to them (yay). We’re calling the EP “pastpresentfuture : part 2” because it’s nice to have a little closure and it feels thematically appropriate. If Part 1 was all about nostalgia and regret, Part 2 is very much rooted in the slimy, sticky, messy, now. I am really proud of how these songs turned out. Humbled, actually. Both by the opportunity to release new music and by all the incredible contributions from my insanely talented friends. After all these years I can’t believe I still get to make songs with people this talented, whom I love, in the way that is the most fun to make them: Loud and in person.

What a thing.