08.22.03 the official date for our last show is september 20th. it will be at the manasquan women's hall in manasquan NJ. other bands will be announced soon. it will be bands that we are friends with and have history with and hopefully everything will work out. thanks to jason for helping us do our last show. 08.14.03 we are back from europe. we had an excellent time and very thankful to everyone, the experience was great i posted info on 3 of our 4 last shows, you can check out the shows section for that. info for the very last show is on the way! 06.25.03 we leave for europe on saturday and will begin tour on sunday night in germany. we are very excited and can't wait to meet everyone from scene police, nova, and the company with the golden arm. the vinyl of our cd will be available in the europe and the united states through scene police, so keep an eye out if you're into vinyl. when we get back from europe we are going to bring the band to end. we're not sure when or how, but we'll have more news when we sort it all out after tour. our last DC and CT shows are already booked. i put them up in the shows section. more info when we get back! 06.04.03 our new cd is out!!! thank you everyone who came out to the show on sunday at todd's house, we all had a blast!! it was probably one of the best shows i've ever been a part of. 5.21.03 the record release show will take place at todd's house!!! since june 22nd will be our last chance to play in the united states for a while we've decided to play two shows that day. check out the shows page for more info. thanks to everyone who has been at the past few shows, it's nice to get to hang out with nice people so far away from home! 4.30.03 The M&M hall has been shut down again so we won't be doing our record release show there anymore. we're looking around for a place to do it at now. 3 out of 4 of the members of the assistant are also playing in another band called the last will be the first. click here to check out some show dates. 04.12.03 we just got our dates for the europeon tour. you can check them out at http://www.tcwtga.de. we're hoping to finish the layout for the cd on monday. 04.10.03 We will be doing a split label release for our new cd between summer creek darling records (our label) and alone records. we hope to get the layout done next week and send it off to press. i guess we'll see what happens. 03.24.03 I updated the links section and added a bunch of links that i got off of the diyhardcore.com site, please check it out. if you live in the new brunswick area and are interesting in going to the sunday night vigils in highland park to protest the war, email me. i'll be going every sunday night with some friends and the more the better. 03.11.03 we had a great time in norton last weekend, thanks to everyone who was at the show. it was great to be so far away from home and feel so welcomed. step softly ghost are still out on tour, so go check them out! our new cd was finished today. the final mix and master is done. we were planning on putting the cd out ourselves put the stability/activity of the band and our financial situation has made us rethink the whole notion. so at best we'll be doing a split label release between summer creek darling (leigh's label) and one other label who we have yet to figure out. anyone that order a tour cd from me will get it soon. i ran out of cd sleeves and had to order more. i'll have them out as soon as possible. 02.18.03 Guerilla Warfare Video ZIne #2 is out and features an interview and live footage of the assistant among many other bands from the NY/NJ/PA area. You can get info on that from our releases section, we should have some copies to sell at shows soon. Also, the assistant appears in the march issue of alternative press as one of the "100 bands to know in 2003". we're not sure how that happened, but it seems that someone over at AP is into DIY hardcore as demonstrated with other spotlights on paint it black, rescue, against me, strike anywhere and from ashes rise as well. It's good to see DIY getting some credit. 02.15.03 long time since my last update. we're going to master our cd on monday. nova records will be doing the cd release in europe, scene police records will be doing the vinyl in europe, and summer creek darling records will be doing the cd version here in the states. i'll have links for nova and scene police up soon. we played a great show in baltimore last weekend and i just want to thank everyone who came out, all the bands, and nick for asking us to play. the charm city space in baltimore has a great positive vibe, definately check it out! 02.03.03 I posted some new shows today. thanks to everyone that came out to the show yesterday. it meant alot to us because it was our first show in nj since september, our first nj show with todd, and also ponce de leon's last show. we had a great time. we also finished mixing our new record that afternoon, so now it's just a matter of mastering and pressing, so i'll post news on the cd as it happens. we're playing a bunch of out of state shows in the next two months and we're really excited for that. the new song samples are still posted below, so take a listen and let us know what you think. 01.17.03 So, we're assuming that the show on january 23rd is not happening because we were told they do not have a place to do the show. i removed it from the shows page. It looks like we'll be packing our bags and heading to europe this summer to tour. how long we are going for and what dates we will be there are still up in the air, but we hope to have that information very soon. We've almost completed our song for the split with circle takes the square on exotic fever records and hopefully we'll be recording for that later on in the year along with a split on red scroll records with our favorite gainsville rockers, against me!. 01.05.03 Ok, so we didn't finish our recording yet, we're set to finish mixing on january 26th. But, just to keep you interested, here are some samples of what we have so far so you can download them: an afternoon at the badlands we are all collateral damage these samples are not mixed, however i did a little tweaking and mastering in cool edit, so let us know what you think. we have a new jersey show coming up on january 23rd, i'll post all the info as soon as i get it. 12.18.02 So i've been slacking a bit with the updates. We've been busy. At the beginning of the month we played one of the best shows in the world at ren's house in long island. the vibe was extremely positive and i can definatley say that ren's house is one of the best places on the east coast as far as DIY hardcore is concerned. thanks to everyone who makes that place happen, especially ren. The long island show was todd's second show with us and he seems to be getting into the swing of things quite nicely. We started recording 2 weeks ago in brooklyn at vallhala studios with our friend steve roche. we recorded 7 songs and are set to finish mixing and doing vocals on sunday. steve and off minor leave for australia a week after, so hopefully we'll get it all done before he leaves. We played a show in Delaware last weekend....well kinda. we played one song and then the cops showed up and shut down the show. thanks to everyone who came out and to benn for trying really hard to make things work. I've posted some new shows for february. enjoy. 11.25.02 our first show with todd went great. thank you to everyone in CT for making the show so much fun! especially to brian! we look forward to the long island show this sunday. thanks to everyone who came out to see twenty inch burial, they came all the way from portugal and they appreciated your support tremendously! 11.07.02 We are proud to announce that we will begin recording our new record on december 8th at vallhalla studios with Steve Roche. we are very excited and hope to finish it up by the end of december. in the meantime we'll have some extra copies of our tour cd available at the next three shows to give everyone a preview of what our new stuff will sound like. 10.31.02 happy halloween! to clear up some confusion: we are not playing in long island on november 10th. we were never confirmed for this show, however the people doing the show advertised the show with our name. when we emailed the kid and told him that we never confirmed the show he turned it around on us and said it was messed up that we were cancelling. however, it's impossible for us to cancel because we were never on the show in the first place. this has happened to us in the past a few times with various people doing shows. i do shows in NJ some times and i never put a band on a flyer until they've confirmed, i don't understand why people keep doing this to us. i'm sorry to the people doing the show and sorry to anyone who was hoping to see us that night. the fact of the matter is, even if our schedules allowed us to play that show we wouldn't be able to play anyway because our new guitar player has to learn a few more songs before we can begin playing shows with him. we'll be playing long island very soon, check out the shows page for more info. 10.29.02 In a few hours i will officially turn 24 years old. so i've decided to celebrate by taking back some of the info in the last update. you can find my random rants on the writings page from now on. the old writings will be archived. 10.26.02 We had to cancel a couple of shows because ross got a new job. however, if you like vegetarian food and live in the philly area then you can see ross in action at his new job at the horizon's cafe. for info on there menu and location you can email ross. Our new guitar player, Todd O'leary, is working out well. He will most likely be playing on more than half of the new record and will be playing his first show with us on november 23rd in connecticut. I set up a page where I rant about random stuff. you can find the link under my profile in the info page. 09.01.02 New shows have been added. We've been home from tour for less than a month so we wanted to take this time to say thanks to everyone who helped us out on tour. Under A Dying Sun and Box the Compass did most of the shows with us and it was a pleasure travelling with them. Other bands we travelled with included Against ME!, FIYA, 1905, forstella ford, peralta, k10 prospect, fire down below and with arms still empty. All the bands were quite excellent and everyone who let us sleep on there floor, did a show, fed us, or just came up to talk to us was awesome. we're writing a few new songs before we go record. we're also working on getting another guitar player. 08.24.02 thanks to everyone who came out to the show at louis street the other night. the show was amazing in many aspects. big thanks to PJ and his housemates for letting us do the show there. 08.06.02 WE ARE HOME FROM TOUR!!! the show today is at todd's house located at 604 TEXAS ROAD in OLD BRIDGE, NJ. the show will start at 4 pm with schematic of waking life, box the compass, under a dying sun, fall on dear years, and us. for directions, use mapquest. 06.25.02 We've update the shows and tour section of the website. things are getting together. the tour is almost completely booked, we're just waiting on a few details on a few shows. thanks so much to everyone who helped us out this summer with the tour. we can't wait to see our friends from forstella ford, with arms still empty, 1905, hirestsukan, and under a dying sun (among many others!). it looks like we'll have a whole bunch of merchandise for tour including our cd, a new tour cd which has 6 new songs on it, our split 7' with the scarlet letter, our books to prisons compilation, a vinyl version of our first cd, and some t-shirts. we'll also have some cd's of my now defunct other band, tasharah. we'll also be playing some shows in nj and the northeast when we get back from tour in late august so keep an eye out. 06.15.02 We all want to wish sean the best of luck, he has moved out west and we hope to see him soon! The last a days refrain show was sad, but at the same time a very good experience. first aid kit played and are still out on tour, so try and check them out! Our 6 song cd was mastered today and will soon be ready for tour thanks to sal delaquila. 06.02.02 we just had the most inspiring weekend with forstella ford and lack. great people, great cooks. thanks to everyone who has supported us in our conversion to a 3 piece band. friendly fest went wonderful and we had an excellent time, huge thanks to brian for letting us jump on at the last minute. the summer tour has been changed around a little bit. we took some shows out of the middle and added some to the end. leigh and i also recorded our vocals on two new songs yesterday and recorded a new acoustic track with steve roche. all of these songs plus more will be available on a 6 song tour cd that we will have with us summer on the road. we'll probably press about 200 or 300 of them. lastly, everyone make sure to come out to see a days refrain one last time this weekend at the M&M hall! (that's right, the M&M is back!) 05.20.02 - a letter from jay: after almost three years of fun times, shows, and songs, i have decided to no longer play in the assistant. my reasons for leaving the band are personal to me, but basically i feel that i am at a point in my life where playing "full-time" in a band is not my number one priority. to clear the air and make sure rumors are not started, i feel the need to point out that my departure is not due to any kind of personal problems with the other members in the band. they have been some of my best friends, and we have great memories together that i will always hold on to. i only hope that in time they will understand and accept my desicion amongst themselves. also, to make another point clear, this is not to say that i am leaving music behind by any means. i want to start another band in time, and rediscover the unpredictable carefree fun that playing in a little punk rock band supplys. i could never give music up, and will always be in, around, and among it. but for now, i need to renounce the time and priority that it holds in my life. this is my desicion, i feel its what i have to do, and i dont hold any regrets. thank you to everybody that ive met through this band for the good times and great memories. ill never forget this. -jay p.s.-feel free to email me if you have any questions, comments, whatever. jerseymooch@hotmail.com 05.08.02 Thanks to everyone for there support at this tough time, it means alot that all of our friends have been there for ross at this time. Dates for tour are coming together, but there are still a few wholes. You can check the tour out by clicking here. We have a few shows coming up in may and june so keep an eye on the shows page. 04.03.02 We're cancelling all of our shows for this month. we'll have more details at a later date. 03.18.02 Ok, so we played in Utica yesterday and it was excellent. Thank you john, andrew and the VBLP for always making us feel extremely welcome. We're going to record April 27th-29th for our new LP/CD on Alone Records. We're also starting to book our tour for July, if anyone wants to help out, please get in touch. That's all for now. 03.04.02 andrew from alone records thought it would be funny if he advertised our show on march 17th as a youandi reunion show. i'm not sure what he was trying to achieve by doing this, but there is absolutely no truth to it. the real info for the march 17th show is posted in our shows section. please excuse andrew, he has some serious mental problems that can only be healed by years psychiatric evaluation. 02.06.02 Thanks to everyone who came out to the show in new brunswick last monday. Extra thanks to dan for letting us do the show at his house and to Jesse for making such great food and having his awesome band, something in the water, play the show as well. it was a great night. we were recently informed of some disturbing news about our tour sampler split with A Days Refrain being sold off of an internet auction board for $35. i would just like to say that this sampler is not worth that kind of money! its just a cd-r with a sticker on it! we released these two songs with A Days Refrain for the sake of finally having something new to give to the punk community. it is not a label release and was done d.i.y. for the sake of selling them as cheap as possible, after production expenses. if you see this cd for sale on any auction boards, please, PAY NO MORE THAN THE $5 WE WERE SELLING IT FOR! no matter how disgusted you are, if you pay the high prices, you will be supporting that type of trade. we never wanted this band to be a money making profit machine, and we dont think its fair that other people are making money off of us. so in hopes of lowering the value of the tour sampler, i want to say that these two songs will be on the forthcoming full length on Eyeball Records/Alone Records in the months to come. it will be a nice $8 cd with a lot more songs on it. doesnt that make a lot more sense? thanks...jay