For some it's anxiety manifesting, for others it's considered preparation, but for anyone freelancing, over-planning exists. It's not a part of life, it's how we live our lives (I mean, come ON, who else pays their taxes in advance?!).

Austin, TX troubadors The Wind & The Wave kicked off their "Happiness Is Not a Place" Tour in Denver with two sold out shows at Lost Lake.

I caught Flay and some of her friends - new and old - dancing together at The Black Sheep in Colorado Springs, CO. Since my first encounter with her one early morning on Warped Tour 2014, what immediately stood out was her lyrics: brutally honest, uniquely witty, and above all else, so personal and introspective it’s as if she’s speaking to your own life experiences.

Photos from K.Flay's Colorado stop on the 2017 leg of her "Crush Me" tour, taken on 2/7/2017 at The Black Sheep in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
photo credit: Maddie Casey

These are reflections on the horrendous terrorist attacks that occured at the Bataclan in Paris on November 13, 2015.

When I last left you, we were headed across the border to Toronto, our first of two shows in Canada. If you’ve ever traveled, you understand that border crossings can be tedious and exaggerated, but let me tell you, crossing a border with a band is a whole ‘nother animal.

It’s Saturday night in a drizzly Ithaca, NY, and I’m the only person sitting on our Prevost bus, waiting for the rest of the crew to return from a bar before we make our way north into Canada for a show in Toronto. Today marks show 7 of the Glass Animals Fall North American Tour, and what a whirlwind seven days it’s been! It feels like we’ve been out forever, but it’s hardly been a week.

Photos from twenty one pilots stop at Red Rocks Ampitheatre as a part of their "Emotional Roadshow" tour, taken on 7/12/2016 in Morrison, Colorado. Images include photographs of ChefSpecial, Mutemath, and twenty one pilots. These images originally appeared on Ultra5280.
photo credit: Maddie Casey

Photos from KTCL's Big Gig 2016 featuring Vinyl Theatre, Misterwives, X Ambassadors, Young The Giant, and Cage The Elephant, taken on 7/9/2016 in Denver, Colorado.  These images originally appeared on Ultra5280.
photo credit: Maddie Casey

This collection of images from the South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival in Austin, TX captures a variety of artists in a variety of venues all around the city, taken from March 15 - 20, 2016. These images were originally shot and published on Ultra5280.

I've done nothing but fall in love with this country during my 20 days here - every last part of it. While each city has been drastically different both in scenery, climate, and culture it's been awesome to see so much rather than just one city, and realize how these landscapes feel just as familiar to as they are different to anything I've seen before.

While it felt super speedy, I think 2 days in Melbourne was the perfect amount of time for the city. We saw the basics, and were able fill our days, but not so much that we couldn't enjoy the moment. The city was much more "metropolis" feeling than Sydney in my opinion, but it's architecture and hidden alleyways filled with restaurants looked more like Europe than Australia. A neat change of pace, I'm happy to have seen another one of Oz's major cities, feeling the differences from state to state across the country.

The trouble with making friends around the globe is how little time you get to spend with them. As excited as I am to continue exploring, it's honestly pretty heartbreaking to be leaving Sydney. I don't know the next time I'll see these amazing humans so I've tried to cherish as much of this time as I could. As they say, all good things must come to an end so that more good can come, but this has been to good to be true, and will definitely be hard to top.

I've dreamed of visiting Australia since middle school and have been planning this trip since last August, so this entire week has been spent pinching myself with each new experience - in awe and disbelief that this is actually happening. It's crazy to think that today marks the end of my first week on the continent - equal parts saddening as to how fast it's going, and exhilarating to realize how much I've done in such a short amount of time.

Photos from Jack's Mannequin's "Everything In Transit" 10yr Anniversary Tour, taken on 1/20/2016 at The Regency Ballroom in San Francisco, CA.
photo credit: Maddie Casey

I haven't loved every experience I've had in the past 365 days, but I've loved the learning. I've learned what it really means to "adult". I've learned the power of friendships, seen the kindness of random strangers, and felt the joy of coming out on the other side better than I was before. I wouldn't wish my 2015 on anyone, but I hope anyone going through these same struggles can push forward to find the silver lining the same way I have.

It’s a 90º Saturday morning at the end of September and I’m sitting in a Starbucks inside Sky Harbor International Airport with Laurel. There are few things that could feel more “regular” to me than her and I boarding another plane, heading home from another one of our musical escapades across the country. But this time as we fly home from Arizona, things feel different.

Apple re-imagined the world of mobile listening, and created the first line of products that made mobile listening, let alone music streaming feasible to begin with. Apple got us to the point where we can argue about streaming services and their pay rates and what's the best for us all, and at the end of the day, I'm hoping that Apple Music can be the thing that makes these debates a non-issue.

I always knew that this time of year would be difficult once I was trying to tour full-time, but I hadn't prepared myself for the reality that I wouldn't be able to find anything at all. I can't just not work - I'm not good at having down time - so I did what anyone would do, and tried hard to find a way to stay afloat. I found a short-term answer in the strange, new world of Brand Ambassador work.

SXSW, Graduation, Warped Tour, Red Rocks and Riot Fest. It's been an amazing 12 months that led to new discoveries, new challenges, and plenty of funny stories. I've been lucky to share those with you all here, but thought we should re-cap just for good measure. Below you'll find my top 5 shows, top 5 albums, and top 6 (cause I can't decide) photographs of 2014.

Buckle your seatbelts and startup your Spotify, kids, it's time for New Music Tuesday! I know I said I am working hard to be better at this, and I'm getting there slowly but surely. I think it'll take ages before I get to a place where I can really do this weekly, so for now monthly will have to do. This week I write to you about two of my favorite new finds: the most amazing Blues player I've heard in ages, and one of my favorite new bands I discovered while out on Warped Tour 2014.

My battle with acne has slowly built into a war, and one that I never thought would lead to a blog post ranting about it. I've never openly discussed my struggles with anyone outside my friend group, but the past four years have been a roller coaster unlike anything else I've dealt with. I swear I'm not turning into a beauty blogger, but I wanted to take a minute to talk about a real problem that almost everyone faces. Hopefully my story of struggle can instill some faith in others like me who think they're at the end of the line in the fight for better skin.

Alt-J's debut album An Awesome Wave hit me like nothing i've experienced before. New, dramatic, instrumental, and almost sharp with distinct sounds, the band was simply different. To say I got hooked was an understatement, so when the band finally began releasing the singles prior to this album's release this month, I was eating them up.

I've spent September and October working at Red Rocks Amphitheater, selling merchandise for all of the artists that have come through to play the venue from August through the end of the season, which was October 4th. I've worked twenty-six shows (if I counted right), spent countless hours on the sacred, music-filled grounds in Morrison, spent a few nights shooting pool until 2a.m., and I've learned more about merchandising than I can put into words.

This is probably the only band I've ever properly "fan-girled" over, so when they finally announced an anniversary tour for my favorite album of theirs, Futures, it felt like the best day of my life. October 7, 2014, that tour hit Denver, and I experienced something I’ve never felt before - the feeling of a decade-long dream coming to fruition, and being able to share that with a band who I fully credit as the reason I have a career that I so truly love.