Following the passing of Daniel Johnston last month, we were asked to contribute this cover to a benefit compilation organized by Pillowsnake. The proceeds from the compilation will to be donated to the Hi, How Are You Project, a non-profit from Austin, TX working to spread awareness of mental illness and its many issues. In the same spirit, all money paid for the song here will be donated to the project as well.

Joseph and I (Andres) are particularly big fans of Johnston's work, and so when we were given the chance to interpret one of his songs, we wanted to do the song (and its purpose) justice. We miss him, plain and simple. His work touched so many people's lives and changed the course of music forever. I don't know if he ever knew or cared about this fact, but it means a lot to us. Joseph picked "Casper" because it was one of his favorites, and also painted a pretty concise autobiographical portrait of Johnston as he lived his very difficult life.

In the process of learning and recording the song, one of our friends died. We learned that he had been hospitalized while rehearsing the song at one practice, and two weeks later, we received the news of his passing half-way through our recording session. He was in our thoughts every step of the way, so much so that I started to see parallels in the song's lyrics to experiences from our friend's life as well. He also did not live an easy life. He knew much joy and loved music more than anything in his life, including himself. He was one of the most driven and dedicated musicians I'd ever known, as I'm sure can be attested by anyone else from our local scene (and beyond) who has had the privilege of crossing paths with him. His name was Eric Lopez, better known as Eric "Fly" in the scene, and he is a legend. He was a legend before I met him in 2011 and he will be a legend long after I am gone.

We contemplated stopping our recording session when we got the news, but Joseph (who'd known him the longest, almost 20 years) brought up an excellent point: he said that Eric would have wanted us to finish recording the song, and I agreed. He would have called us 'posers' for even considering not finishing what we started. So we did. We worked hard and put everything we had into this song. It's the first recording we've made in 3 years (something I was unsure would ever happen again for a time) and it's the best thing we've worked on yet.

We wouldn't have done it without Eric on our minds and in our hearts, so along with releasing this in the memory of Daniel Johnston, we would like to dedicate this song to our dearly departed friend, Eric Fly. Oi.

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