In an attempt to keep Bella safe from the world of vampires, Edward leaves Forks. In “By You”, The Mitch Hansen Band brings that sense of loss and depression that Bella felt before you she turned to Jacob Black in Stephenie Meyers’ New Moon.

This is Lullaby and some of my own commentary about the song–what I was thinking when I wrote this.

We’re proud to announce another
contest! Hosted by Twilighters Anonymous,

And before I forget, we have a special “gift” for everyone who completes their registration by subscribing to our MHB VIP List after entering the contest–a FREE RINGTONE!

Below are the prizes:First Prize:
One (1) first prize winner will receive:

• A personalized Phone Greeting from
  Mitch
• A copy of the Limited Edition Endless Day CD
• A personally signed poster of
  Mitch Hansen and Brent Cook
• And a personally designed “one of a kind” T-Shirt from the band exclusively for the winner!

Second Prize:
One (1) second prize winner will receive:

• A signed poster and limited edition Endless Day CD

Third Prize:
One (1) third prize winner will receive:

• An Endless Day CD

Contest Instructions:

• Winning is easy! In 200 words or less, write an essay telling us which Mitch Hansen Band song is your favorite and and why the song should be on the
  New Moon soundtrack!
• To enter, follow these steps:
  1. Click on the ENTER
  CONTEST link below or CLICK HERE2. Fill out the form completely with your contact information and make sure to include your essay submission.
  • FULL NAME
  • EMAIL
  • LOCATION (CITY, STATE)
  • ESSAY

  3. Hit SUBMIT ESSAY

  4. Then click on the SIGN UP FOR

  MITCH HANSEN’S NEWSLETTER

  Rules:Deadline: All entries must be submitted by Friday, July 3rd, 2009 at 12pm PST.

We know you are a creative bunch so we can’t wait to receive the submissions and see what you all come up with.

Also, be sure to check out Mitch Hansen Band at Forks Summer School in Forks: A Twilight Symposium! Join us at the real Forks High School June 25-28, 2009. Be sure to stay tuned to TwilightersAnonymous.com as TA will be broadcasting their live performance! (We will be posting more information about the live event here as well!)

For more information about the Twilight Symposium, visit http://www.litfanevents.org/summerinforks/

In the meantime, make sure to subscribe to the RSS feed (the orange button in the upper right corner of this page) to keep up on events, fun stuff, new music and see what else the band is up to.

GOOD LUCK!

ENTER CONTEST

PS. you MUST enter this contest on the TA site to be eligible for these prizes–and we have a special ringtone for you for FREE just for “playing” with us!

PPS. Make sure to share this opportunity with your friends!

If you’re on Twitter, let’s connect! I use Twitter to share what I’m doing, what’s happening with the band, events that are coming up, contests, and even what I’m listening to!

You can follow me at

Twitter.com/MitchHansenBand

A clip of the Endless Day version of Jacob Black with commentary about what I was thinking when I wrote this song. Let me know your thoughts on this.

Congratulations to:

Cari Glover as the winner of the TwiCon 2009 Contest. Cari will be receiving 2 tickets to the TwiCon 2009 event, 1 room reservation, and the opportunity to meet the Mitch Hansen Band (we can’t wait, Cari!), get a limited edition CD, signed poster and special tshirt.

PLEASE NOTE: You must contact us before midnight on Thursday, June 18th to claim your prizes. Full details below.

1) Must be 18 years of age or accompanied by a legal guardian
2) WINNER 2 tickets to the TwiCon 2009 (twiicon.org for more details)
a. http://twicon.org/twicon2009progdetails_june12.pdf
3) And (1) room reservation for July 31 – Aug 2nd, 2009
4) Transportation is not included
5) Meet the Mitch Hansen Band, receive a limited edition CD and signed poster by the band, and a special T-shirt
6) You have until midnight (EST) Thursday, June 18th to contact us before another winner is selected
7) Please email us at drust@harpermusiccompany.com to confirm acceptance of this prize
Or Call us at 702-966-5133 to confirm acceptance of this prize

.

Additionally, we cannot forget our other winners!

Second Place winner of the Endless Day Limited Edition CD (value $24.95) goes to Linda Doyle

and Third Place winner of the Endless Day Regular CD (value $16.95) goes to Ronnie Gayle Brown

Mitch wrote Number 3 mainly because of the back of Stephenie Meyers first Twilight book. The chorus for Number 3 follows this verse: About 3 things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a part that thirsted for my blood. And Third, that I was unconditionally in love with him.

Chorus for Number 3:
One, I know, it probably should chill me
Two, I think you probly want to kill me
Three, I know I want to spend my life with you
Youd never harm me
And of all of these
The only one I fear is number three.

Everyone probably knows that I listen to hard rock and alternative rock music, right? Well, I thought I’d take a minute to share with you something you may not have known about me. I have a deep, dark secret on my iPod lurking somewhere between Incubus and The Killers, waiting to be discovered. Therein lies one of the most talented musicians anywhere in the world. His name: Josh Groban.

You can laugh if you want, but the dude has serious skills! Not only is he a ridiculous vocalist, but he plays piano and writes songs, too. Never have I heard someone who sounds identical to their album in concert like he does. I just watched his PBS concert and I was blown away.

There you have it. The first of my secret iPod confessions. I have others, but they’ll have to wait for another time. Have a great week!

Mitch

PS – Maybe I’ll do a video impersonation of Josh for you sometime, but only if you’re nice!

Hey, folks! I just saw the first New Moon trailer and like many of you out there I totally stoked for the new film! The larger budget alone is going to make this film shine like Alice in the sunlight! The part where Jake turns into a wolf mid-jump rocked my world. I’m sure the coolness of it all will warrant our forgiveness for the inaccuracies in the story. Where is the meadow in that scene? Its integral to the story that Bella is searching for “the meadow.” Oh, well. It still looks amazing and I’m willing to bet it will blow all of our collective fan-minds! Have a good one!

Mitch

Ok, so you know the actual story behind the lyrics of By You already, because you all have read New Moon. I wanted to tell you a little about how the song came about, though.

The first two Twilight-inspired songs that I wrote were Twilight Hour and Jacob Black. After completing Jacob Black I really wanted to write a song with a time signature of ¾ rather than 4/4, so I started toying with chord progressions.

Any Chevelle fans out there? Well, if you’ve heard of them before then you’re most certainly familiar with one of their bigger songs called The Red. It’s a very driven, melodic rock song with some really vast dynamic changes. So, if I had to pick a song that musically inspired By You then it would have to be that one. I wanted By You to feature some of the same major changes in dynamics throughout the song, too.

I actually had the chorus to the song written before I wrote everything else. The rest of the song kind of radiated outward from the line “And the chill of your touch, Never thought I’d miss the cold so much.” I always wanted it to be kind of a retrospective song, too. At the end of the song Bella is back in Edward’s arms looking back at everything she had been through leading up to that point.

Its an emotional song so I always wanted the chorus to a huge “wall of sound” that smacks the listener in the face. The word “chill” in the chorus is belted out on top of heavy distorted guitars to help listeners feel what Bella had been missing in her life. Even back on Twilight Hour I tried to convey that same emotion, but without the luxury of drums, electric guitars, and other production values.

Anyway, as a rocker at heart, By You is one of my favorite songs on the record. It was meant to speak to everyone who has ever had a hole in their chest. Whether or not the holes are filled the way you expect them to be or not, the void is always temporary in the end.

Mitch