Hi Friends,

Well it seems like these updates seem to be yearly now, since the last one we sent out was February last year. Sorry about that but we hope you have been able to stay connected with us via Facebook, Myspace or Twitter. That said, we haven’t been sitting idle. We’ve been playing plenty of shows and working on new material and even brought a new player into the fold. Recent times have brought on some challenges as well all of which we’ll cover in this update.

First, we’d like to officially welcome our new guitar player Tim Sankar. We could not have found a better fit for Asyst. He’s a great player, has a great attitude and work ethic and most of all, puts up with the rest of us. If you’ve been able to make it to the last several shows you’ve seen him in action. We put the new album on hold (more on that in a bit) to get him up to speed on our set list and to play some shows together and we are excited to be able to add that extra dimension to our sound.

Second, we wanted to let you know about our bass player Vic. As of late he was having some back issues that were bugging him, but he didn’t let that stop him from giving his all at every show. A few weeks ago the pain got worse until eventually he woke up in the middle of the night without feeling in his legs. He was rushed to Stanford where they told him he had two bulging discs in his spine and needed surgery immediately. Six hours of surgery later, he was in a hospital bed not knowing how much mobility he would have for the rest of his life.

Vic is a fighter though and it was within a day that he started getting feeling back in his legs. His progress has been amazing and after just a few weeks he is already mostly walking on his own. Though we cannot know how difficult all this is for our friend and brother to go through, we know how strong his will is and that will get him to a full recovery. Expect to see him rocking out on stage soon and please send your well wishes his way.

Due to Vic’s present condition we won’t be playing shows for a while and have decided instead to use this opportunity to get our album done. Starting this weekend, we will be locking ourselves away for weekends at a time to get a new CD out for you this year. We can’t believe it’s already been five years since our last CD! You can look forward to hearing a lot of the songs we have been playing over the last couple of years like Middleman, Withdrawn and Pulling Back. There will also be several that you have never heard as we are still finishing up a few new songs. Please be sure to follow us to get updates on the recording as it progresses. We’ll be sure to post photos and maybe some video teasers for ya!

Thanks again for all your support!

Asyst