“Stop, I Get It”
Directed by Chris Laughter

“If You Only Knew”
Directed by Evan Glodell

Enjoy!
Sarah

The dates are all up on the Shows page, and I put “help book this show” next to the cities in which we haven’t found any really solid leads yet. If you have venue/promoter or band suggestions in any of these cities, email me! The more info you can send, the better (i.e. contact info, website URLs, etc): sarah at gardeningnotarchitecture.com

If you want me to play in your town but you don’t have any rad venues, I’d be more than happy to play a show in your living room, high school, or church! I can tell you what we’d need to pull this off — and there’s always the option of an acoustic G,NA show, if all else fails. So please… be creative! But only contact me about an alternative venue space if you’re totally serious about putting it together, and you’re ready/willing to put in the work, time, and money!

We are also trying to put together EIY Workshops before the shows on this tour, preferably at the venue, but possibly at a coffee shop, or restaurant, or maybe at your house? If you’d be interested in helping with this aspect of a show (in addition to, or instead of, helping book the show), email me! Again: serious inquiries only.

Thanks to everyone who has already offered help in these cities. It means so much to me that so many of you are willing to take the time, and I hope I can make it worth your while!

More soon…
Sarah

More in the PRESS section!

Love,
Sarah

But then, I eventually find my way, and calm down, and on the way back I remember exactly where I’m going and I don’t even have to consult Google Maps, and I can just enjoy listening to Death Cab For Cutie on my iPod and pretending I’m watching the best music video ever.

It’s all about facing and overcoming the things that intimidate you.

Love from New York,
Sarah

I’m in a car somewhere between New York and Massachusetts, with three camp counselors who are taking me to America’s Camp. I’m playing a show there tomorrow with Amy Kuney and hanging out with the kids this weekend. The camp started as a place for kids who lost family members in the 9-11 attacks nine years ago, and each year they invite a few musicians to come perform for the 400+ kids and counselors. I might also run a workshop for the kids to make their own G,NA shirts! I’m super excited even though I have no idea what to expect. I have a feeling it’s going to be a really incredible experience.

Warped Tour came to a halt before I even knew what had happened, and I haven’t had time to fully process the experience because I’ve been in constant motion since I left. I met some incredible people and bands on that tour that I will know and cherish for years, and I’m endlessly grateful to Kevin Lyman for giving me the opportunity to play and to run the EIY meetups all summer.

Adam and I are slowly pushing forward on the Fall tour dates, although it has been slow-going with my crazy schedule. We will start posting confirmed shows very soon!

If you ordered anything from the online store recently: I’m getting to those as quickly as I can. The shirts and hoodies will take me a bit because they’re in storage on the other side of the country from where I will be until late September. I need someone to run my online store! Who’s up for the job?

In semi-sad news: the handmade canvas sleeve version of “First LP” is officially SOLD OUT. It took less than a year, and who knows how many hours of cutting/sewing, but they have all found their way to their new homes.

But have no fear, because the new full color digipak version is now available online for just $10 (which includes shipping)! So get to ordering!

I’m gonna try to post a pic of what I’m seeing out the window right now…

Love,

Sarah

There are so many exciting things that have come out of my summer on the Warped Tour. I have barely been able to keep up with everything, but hopefully I’ll be able to catch myself (and everyone else) up soon. Between performing on the tour each day and running the EIY Meetups each day, I’ve been extremely inspired and I have tons of new ideas for the world of G,NA.

If you haven’t yet, go to the Press section and check out the things people have been saying about G,NA this summer!

And if you didn’t know, I’m working with my good friend to book a North American tour for the fall, and the tentative routing is up at earnityourself.com/gardeningnotarchitecture. I can’t wait to get back to all these cities (and more) to hang out with everyone I met this summer!

It’s been a very intense summer for me, personally, with extreme highs and extreme lows that will undoubtedly fuel the fire to write some new G,NA songs. I never thought I’d be back on this side of music, touring full time with no money, no security, no personal life, and no idea what might happen next. I definitely never thought that in just under two years, G,NA would be on the entire Warped Tour or that so many people would be invested in the project — a project I never intended to be anything more than a free downloadable EP on a website.

I can’t say I’ve ever been happier, or more personally satisfied with my life, than I am right now.

Thank you for being part of this

Love,
Sarah

*EDITED 29 MINUTES AFTER POSTING: Found someone! *

Does anyone want to come to Warped Tour in Pomona on Wednesday and take my road case back to LA for me? I need to store it in someone’s garage until the end of Sept. I’ll get you in to the show, and I’ll pay you for storage! Otherwise I have to leave it in Portland and then get it to LA for the start of my Fall Tour, somehow.

Oh, the logistics of being homeless, car-less, and broke.

Email me if you can help, and you have a safe garage or storage space!

Love,
Sarah

Subject: Little Listeners

Message: Sarah,

Saw mention of your music in some article covering the Warped Tour. Not really into the music in the tour but the article was interesting. It mentioned a different electronic-pop group GNA and so I quickly pulled it up in Google. Great stuff!!! I’ve always loved Mono and this was like a merging of Mono with another one of my old favs – velour100.

Anyway! I put the CD in our van hoping my wife would chance on it when she drove next. Well, its funny, the next time we used the van, we drove together and while she liked GNA she said, “Where’s that new The Innocence Mission CD you just got?” mainly because she loves Innocence Mission as I do and she had been looking forward to it for some time. I reluctantly put it in. The next time I had a chance I put GNA back in the CD Player

Well fast-forward a week later. Yesterday as we were driving home seperately. We reach home, she gets out and says, “That CD you put in the van, what are they called? I love THEM!” I said, “Gardening Not Architecture ……what happened to Innocence Mission??” She said, “Yeah I couldn’t get into the new songs”

:O

She went on,”Your little ones are singing along too you know….” Sure enough inside the house, my five year old is singing “Stop I get it, it wasn’t obvious” and my 3 year old is singing “a million circles round the same old thing” LOL.

It gets better. I go out for Chinese and I take my 3 year old daughter with me. Your CD is playing. On the way back when I am taking her out of her carseat she says, “We need this music in our house”. XD

What better recommendation could you ask for???

Take care, keep safe,

David

But enough gushing, let’s get down to the nitty gritty. I need your help! There are tons of cities on this (tentative) routing that I have only played on Warped Tour, so I need suggestions for the best local venus, promoters, and bands to hook up with in each town! The more info you can give me, the better – and the best thing would be if you can book the show yourself! I will play anywhere, and prefer small venues or house shows. I also need floors to sleep on in all these cities, and help passing out flyers, selling merch at the shows, loading in my stuff and setting it up, etc. AND, if there is a way to tie in an EIY Meetup/Workshop before the show in your city, we should talk about how to make that work, too! So, there are lots of options and ways to get involved.

I will be using my EIY profile as the home base for info about the Fall tour while we work on the routing, date/city changes, additions, updates, etc. It’s just easier to keep it in one place until everything is confirmed, so I don’t have to go around editing a million different profile pages and such.

Bookmark this page, and email me if you can help with any of the shows: www.earnityourself.com/gardeningnotarchitecture

I can’t wait to get back to all these cities, this time with the infamous LIGHT WALL for all to see!

Love.
Sarah

My friend was an incredible energy source in my life. She was full of light and everyone wanted to be around her. She was not afraid to be herself and she was honest in everything she did and said. We had such an amazing friendship. We met when we were 20, and immediately fell in love. We threw basement shows together, went on adventures together, made each other mix tapes, and spent endless hours listening to music, talking about life, and encouraging each other to live out our dreams. She introduced me to The Weakerthans, which is still one of my favorite bands of all time.

She eventually moved from Madison (where we met) to Seattle, where she became a social worker, helping troubled kids get on the right path. She took a year off to travel the world by herself, something I can’t even imagine trying to do, but she did it and she won the hearts of everyone she met along the way. She stayed with me in LA before and after that trip, and I got to see how nervous she was going into it, and then how confident she was when she got back — having achieved and surpassed her goals, and having learned so much about herself in that year.

Though we didn’t see each other or talk often enough after we both left Madison, the connection remained strong, and I knew I could pick up a phone and call her anytime, and it would seem like no time had gone by at all. Thanks to G,NA, I was able to tour to Seattle a few times in the past couple years, and spend some time with her there. We got to have some of our inspiring talks, and catch up on all the latest stories from each of our lives.

A few days ago, she texted me to ask if she could bring some of the kids she worked with to Warped Tour to see me play. I told her of course, and that I missed her. I will never get used to the idea that I can’t pick up a phone to call her, but now more than ever I am inspired to live my life to the fullest every day, to be true to my calling, to never take anything for granted, and to head into each new adventure with determintation and a smile on my face.

Sara, I love you, I thank you, and I will always miss you.