The Vanity Plan

The Vanity Plan has recorded 2 EP’s with Matt Malpass, No More Lovers Die Tonight (2007) and The Ignorant Are Sold (2009). The Ignorant are Sold contains the song “Before I Die” which is featured in EA Games Madden NFL 10. So, the big question is: "Who the heck is The Vanity Plan?". If you're reading this then you may have already googled it, maybe even looked us up on Wikipedia. At this point it's pretty safe to go with your first impression: In the worlds of Rock n' Roll and video games we're no one, at least not yet. =) As of today, however, Madden NFL 10 has been out for a while and our status has been consistently evolving from "unknown" to "little known". Through a fortunate series of events our music fell in the hands of the right people, all of which made possible me writing this blog today. But I'll get back to that in a minute, depending on how fast you read. What everyone should know about The Vanity Plan is that the current lineup, the same that recorded "Before I Die" and the rest of the songs on "The Ignorant Are Sold", Manny, Josh, Christian, Brett, and myself are the original lineup. We've all known each other for over 12 years, some even longer. We've been schoolmates, roommates, played in bands together, bunk buddies, etc. We knew each other as kids, and we've attended each other's weddings. Should the lineup ever change (God forbid) what we have now is not just a band, but a small community. Technically, The Vanity Plan started as the latest incarnation of one of Brett's old bands, Tenderfoot. From 1996 through 1999 Brett and I were in a band called Dear Ephesus (I'm sure you can google/wikipedia it as well) which drew a small, but faithful following. Most of the band's lifespan was spent traveling in a van all over the continental U.S., sharing bills with bands like Squad Five-O, P.O.D., Living Sacrifice, and Switchfoot, but our roots were firmly planted in Orlando. Back home everyone was playing shows: Manny joined one of Christian's bands, and Josh joined one of Manny's bands. Dear Ephesus came off the road and Brett was still writing music that was a little heavier and faster, so with other DE members he formed Tenderfoot. After parting ways with DE, Brett took Tenderfoot on the road, opening for signed acts such as Blindside and others. Christian would eventually join Tenderfoot, but some time later Brett decided to take a break from the constant dues-paying and work on having a normal life. It was through some tough, personal circumstances that Brett again found the inspiration to write, and the need for an outlet. He called up Christian and his old DE/Tenderfoot drummer, Jeff Irizarry (now in Gasoline Heart) to go record a new Tenderfoot demo with some of the old songs, and a couple of new ones that included "Before I Die". The rest of us had kept playing together on and off, so when Brett started recruiting his new band, one by one, we all joined. The music had evolved yet again, and with the songwriting becoming more of a group effort a new band was born, needing a new name, The Vanity Plan. The original version of "Before I Die" was the first one submitted, and rejected, until the following year. Changes needed to be made, and since the engineer couldn't find the original files we had to (re-)record The Vanity Plan version of "Before I Die" you hear in the game today. This is the best opportunity this band has ever been given, and as such we took advantage of it, making all of the songs on "The Ignorant Are Sold" available everywhere online for your listening enjoyment. We are forever grateful to God, and all the people at EA, and partners, to make this possible for us. At the present moment "The Ignorant Are Sold" is going up and down the Amazon.com charts (# 1200 in the UK today), and we're getting great response from Europe, Australia, and Latin America. We won't really know exactly how we're doing for another month and a half or so, but preliminary reports are showing we're headed in the right direction. Please, tell your friends about us. We're on itunes, amazon.com, and just about everywhere else. You can also connect with us here, on myspace, facebook, reverbnation, and purevolume. Thanks to all of those putting our stuff out there on youtube, and other sites. We have a little bit of an "online street team" going and all it takes is to, if you like what you hear, pass it along. Thanks again, everyone. I can't say that enough: THANKS! Next time I'll talk a little bit about us guys and what we're really all into as far as music and games (Madden, duh?). Oh yes! We're gamers! =) God bless. Ed. TVP. www.thevanityplan.com www.myspace.com/thevanityplan