Hello everyone! Today’s post actually is not about Backyard Heroes. A number of years back, I had another art project. It was music as well as a film. I called it Ode To An Adventure. It all started with my senior project in high school. I set out to record a concept album of my experience with cancer. However, during my senior year I wasn’t even one year off of treatment at that point. So due to growing personal struggles with the subject, it was shortened to an EP. Ode became a concept EP that chronicles the mindset of a teenage boy as he’s faced with the possibility and eventual diagnosis of leukemia. 

10 years ago today, marks the start of what you could say was the most infamous four days of my life. Today would be my first night in the hospital, which you’ll here me sing about in Answers, then finally, May 14th will be the official day of my diagnosis. I listened to the EP last night for the first time in a long time, and as you can imagine, I was overcome with a crazy amount of emotions.

As tough as it is for me to listen to the stories told in these songs, I also can’t help but know that I am who I am because of this whole experience, this twisted gift. I wouldn’t change a thing. So to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of my diagnosis, I thought it’d be special to share the story that started it all.

This is my story. If you’d like to learn more about each song, I wrote descriptions for each one that you can see by clicking the title of each song: 

http://soundcloud.com/tmathews

I used this as a chance to share “liner notes” about each song. Thank you to my cousins Dan and Bob, and my brother Greg for making this project with me. Thank you to all my friends and family who supported me through everything. Thank you all for listening. It’s been a crazy decade, and I can’t wait to see what comes next!

-Tim Mathews

PS - As you can hear in the newest of Backyard Heroes songs and if you come see us live, I like to think I’ve grown a lot more as a vocalist. I was 18 when I recorded this EP and hadn’t “found my voice” just yet. Regardless, I’m still so proud of what we accomplished and how it came out. Thanks again!

01 - Ode To An Adventure
Ode To An Adventure is a concept EP I wrote and recorded with my cousins and my brother way back. It chronicles my mindset from right before and leading into my diagnosis of leukemia. This song is the "overture" of that project.

02 - That Day
This was the second song from the Ode To An Adventure EP. This song was written about the pain in my rib that would soon lead to the discovery of my leukemia. It's about how until that moment I was just an average teenager struggling through middle school, trying to fit in. When all was checked it would seem, we couldn't figure out where the rib pain was coming from. On a hunch, my doctor called for blood tests that would turn out to be quite low, to the point that there's no way I should have been running around Six Flags, which is where I was when my parents got the call saying that I needed to get to a hospital as soon as possible. As I returned home, my mom picked me up and told me the news. From there we went straight to the hospital where we would first hear the possibility of it being leukemia.