Discovering

[LT. Typhoon]

When you first heard STG (Radio, TV, Psychic pickup  , etc), What was going on in your life and why do you feel so connected to them, and the music?

When I first heard them...Well Its kinda complicated.
During my inhabiting of Tennessee, I only got 5 channels VIA Antennea (Antenny  ), And me and my sisters would watch Americas next top model, Cycle 7 I believe. I well they played Le Disko for the show and I was like "WOW who is this?!". Well my research was unsuccessful. I couldn't find out. Even from the CW Site! Anyhow, I moved several times after TN, resulting in me forgetting. When I lived in Mississippi, my grandmother became sick due to cancer. When we began to plan a way to get to California from MS, She passed away. So we got to CA. The week of her funeral, I was watching TV---Mtv-- --I tear up writing this lol-- and Rainy Monday came on. I was like "OH MY GAWRRSSH, I gotta find these guys!". But they were kinda reintroduced to me in a very down time in my life and STG and their music made it better. The music really lightened up the whole thing. I connected to the music. And here I am.  . So, Yeah, I hold STG close to my heart. I mean, I miss my grandma, but Thier music helped me from getting depressed. You cant Listen to Rocketship and be depressed @ the same time. 

So how do you connect with STG and the music?
Long stories are my thing but Sorry for it 

[IHeartBooks]

It was late 2005 and I was home from college on a break when I first heard them on the radio; they played You Are the One. I liked them a lot and kept trying to catch their name before or after their song was played. Sadly I did not have much success with this and returned to college without discovering the band. I didn't really think of them much for a while as I had school to attend to and the hits radio stations in my college town definitely did not know know who they were.

Some time went by, I fell in love, the relationship went long distance, and I received a copy of a CD in the mail (We Are Pilots). I listened and realized that here was the song from so long ago! I finally knew of Shiny Toy Guns and loved them from that point on. Turns out STG was there for me whenever I missed my boyfriend and is again helping me with the turmoils of living even further away from loved ones.

That's my story. I'm connected through love. Oh, happy endings (sort of).

[abthomas]

In 2006, I downloaded Le Disko from iTunes' Single of the week. I rarely did the Single of the week, so when I heard it I tough, "Sweet. This is hardcore!"

I burned it to a CD and popped it into my car, listening to it on repeat for a week solid, singing along as hard as I could. I remember thinking, "This must be some angry femme band" and was fine with that as I was suffering some boy troubles and feeling angry at them as a mass. Then I started noticing there was a male part in the background and thought that was odd. So I popped over to MySpace and found them.

I remember thinking how awesome their pictures were, and You Are the One really struck me. I will admit, I illegally downloaded it, but less than a week later I went on iTunes and bought a few more of their songs. Then I decided I really wanted Weather Girl, so I bought the whole album. So I had a few of the songs twice.

I've been in this love affair ever since.

[LT. Typhoon]

So, STG Came into our lives on some time during a loss?
Thats a Connection all together.

[IHeartBooks]

I had noticed. I don't know...when I connect to bands, like really connect, there's usually something big going on in my life. *shrug* Maybe I'm weird.

[Helegad]

I absolutely loved Score and Neo (The One) when playing Grand Theft Auto 3 on Rise FM. Will always remember flying around in a Dodo listening to the orgasmic screaming of that chick in Score.

Attempts to find a full rip of the songs proved fruitless. So I ordered a vinyl called "Deep Time" by Shiver off Discogs. I thought Deep Time was Score, because the order that the GTA3 credits page listed it as proved different to the real in-game station tracklist, and everyone on the internet kept chalking up Deep Time as Score. Nobody really knew any different because the Rise FM tracks never became mainstream, which is really unfortunate because Score and Neo are the best trance tracks I've ever heard. Period.

I was fairly disappointed when Deep Time arrived, because

1. I realized my mistake,
2. I didn't really like Deep Time.

Nevertheless, I mucked around with the record player, and ripped the vinyl to my computer. I realized that the song I wanted was Score, but I wasn't prepared to buy another vinyl because Score vinyls go for around $100 a pop (Deep Time cost me about $30 including postage). I eventually found Neo on YouTube and Score in a torrent. I was a very happy guy. Looking at the Slyder wiki, I discovered that they formed a new band called Shiny Toy Guns. darn weird name, but let's give 'em a go.

Queue LimeWire, and I downloaded You Are The One, I Promise You Walls, and Le Disko (in that order). I loved the music almost as much as Score and Neo. So I proceeded to download a whole CD's worth of their music off LimeWire. Showed it to my dad, he liked them as well.

Fast-forward to present day, and I've deleted all the pirated songs and replaced them with better quality copies off of my own CDs, vinyls, promos, and whatever else I can lay my hands on. Yes, I'll admit that I did download the advance torrent of Season of Poison, but only because I couldn't wait But I have my own Best Buy special edition now, so all sins should be forgiven.

I collect Shiny Toy Guns, Slyder, RRDS, and Cloud2Ground stuff now. I've spent well over $500 on CDs and vinyls, and I intend to keep going until I've got 'em all

So thank you GTA3. You are my favourite game, with my favourite band playing 

[Nightflyer]

Matty (Enuf3) gave me a link to Youtube for one of their tracks and that's all she wrote. I was hooked ever since.

[IHeartBooks]

No worries, we all know who Matty is. You can ignore the Enuf3 part. And welcome, I see that he referred you here.

[Nightflyer]

Yeah, Matty shared the link on FB. Now I'm just hanging for STG to come downunder for a tour.

[abthomas]

Cool, you're Australian? Are you nice?

[selection7]

I was bummed because I had begun to realize all my favorite bands were either '90s bands or were completely defunct (Zeppelin for example).  I was thinking surely there's someone out there that's new and worth becoming a major fan over.  Within a week of that realization I heard You Are the One on my local radio, thought "I like that", found out what song it was from the radio station's website, and proceeded to the STG myspace to sample tracks.  After several days of finding myself continually coming back to the myspace I realized I really liked all those songs and so I just went to the store and bought the album.  At the same time I had come across v1&v2 via torrent and so from the very beginning, my We Are Pilots was v3 with the v1&v2 songs added in (no v1 Rocketship or Ritz though).  To this day, I can't even tell you the true track order of WAP, but I've got my 16 track version memorized easily.  I used the Shiny's original track order choices as a basis though.  Coincidientally, 2 weeks later the Shiny's played Tulsa's 2007 D-fest and seeing them live cemented my fandom.

My first thoughts of the band were...raising an eyebrow at the Final Fantasy insired getups on the back cover of the cd, that I liked the electro influence (I was only exposed to this through Nine Inch Nails previously--another '90s act), and how shocked I was that I especially loved the singer's voice, and not only that but also there were two of 'em and I really liked them both.  Within a couple of weeks I found that 3/4s of the songs gave me goosebumps, which is a ridiculous ratio, and WAP has since become one of my favorite albums of all time.

[Enuf3]

Cool, you're Australian? Are you nice?

Yes, he's nice. He's bringing balance to the force, my dear.

[abthomas]

See, when I meet people who feel the same way I do about STG, and they feel it as deeply and fully as I do, I just want to pull them all in close to me and have them nearby. Going to concerts with people who get it is the ultimate feeling.

Most people don't really understand why I love them so much. They give me funny little looks or smile like, "That's cute."

[Enuf3]

See, when I meet people who feel the same way I do about STG, and they feel it as deeply and fully as I do, I just want to pull them all in close to me and have them nearby. Going to concerts with people who get it is the ultimate feeling.

Most people don't really understand why I love them so much. They give me funny little looks or smile like, "That's cute."

I understand you Alli.. I understand you.

[abthomas]

*hug* I know, Matty. I know it.

[LT. Typhoon]

I'm sure We all understand.
I think my love for STG is illegal somewhere.

[Enuf3]

I'm sure We all understand.
I think my love for STG is illegal somewhere.

I think that applies to a lot of us.

[Nightflyer]

Cool, you're Australian? Are you nice?

Indeed. Are there so not-so-nice Aussies here?

[abthomas]

Um, er. I'll... Well, there are interesting ones. That not everyone gets along with.

[bladeofgrass]

*cough cough* Helegad *cough cough*

Oh, man. Sorry about that, had an itch in my throat.


And okay, so my STG story isn't that great. I knew them before, but I became addicted/obsessed in love with them when I was completely hating my family and feeling alienated, stuck in a city I hated with no escape. I was also trying to find a best friend.
I could go on, but you all know I tend to ramble.

Plus, thinking back, it actually wasn't that bad. STG just stuck with me though. Always and forever.