Vow Of Silence

The Webmaster - Caitlin Hartlen

The Webmaster! Hmmm, the life story of Caitlin Hartlen...where to start. Well ok, how about the beginning!! I was born in Greenwood, Nova Scotia on March 29, 1986. When I was about a year and half old we moved to Germany, had some good times there 'til I was around 5 years old, at which time we moved to Cold Lake, Alberta. I more or less grew up in Cold Lake, doing all my schooling from kindergarten to grade 10, until a cruel twist of fate in early July of 2002 brought me back here to Greenwood, mere weeks after having performed with one of my best friends, Matt Small and Vow of Silence at my going away party. The whole thing was frantically thrown together a day or two before the party. Matt had called me on, I think the Thursday before it (the par-tay was on Saturday...that rhymed) and offered for his band to play, as a going away gift. I immediately said yes and things were more or less worked out i.e. time, length of gig, etc. in a matter of days. At the last minute, we decided that the band would pull me up on stage to sing as a gag, but it turned into a little more than that.

On Friday, I went over to Spencer Mortenson's house, whom I'd never met to "jam" with him, Matt, and Julie and Braydon (whom I also thought I'd never met, though it turned I had met Julie before...several times, good memories, eh Jules??). At this point I should mention that my visiting aunt and uncle drove me to his house, having never been in Cold Lake, much less negotiating a car via an outdated map, so I was a little late. So anyway, I arrived there, and went down to the basement where the band was. I swear, in my entire life I have never met a group of people that I clicked more instantly with. After maybe 45 minutes or so, and a well-deserved break on Spencer's trampoline (during which we discovered we all had an addiction for Coke...a-Cola, and a knack for doing impressions of Simpsons characters...there was also a spirited game of "let's see who can catch the nickel while we're bouncing"...I'm not sure who won) we returned to the basement. The entire time I was sitting on Matt's amp, not believing my ears at how well these 4 people played together. After a time, I timidly asked if I could try out the song we had picked to perform on Saturday. After all, I was coming in cold and I'd need as much practice as I could get. I tried singing along with the band as best as I could, but I could scarcely hear myself, so we turned the song on the stereo as well and I used that as guidelines. The song of choice was "Complicated" by Avril Lavigne and if I knew how to put video on a computer I'd have it up here, but no such luck.

Anyway, after I'd finished cuz I just couldn't keep what little rhythm I had going, I sat back down. I asked VOS what they thought, and I was surprised at their answer. I had been expecting something to the effect of "Are you tone deaf? Do you have a cold?" but instead, it was more along the lines of "Hey, you're not bad! This is going to be cool!"

And so the next day was my official live singing debut. I'd like to say it went off without a hitch, but then I'd be lying. In actual fact, I lost the beat a few times, and poor Spencer, he was trying so hard to get me back on track but I was like "Spencer, I can't read music!!" So anyway, I got through it and went sort of nuts towards the end; I had been growing more comfortable as the song progressed. I finished to applause and cheers from the back of the room where my friends were. People were coming up to me the rest of the night congratulating me and saying "Wow! I never knew you had a voice like that!" One of my best friends, Ali, her dad came up to me and said "I've known you since you were little, and I never knew your voice had that much power...why didn't you let that out at Cub camp??" He also said it brought tears to his eyes, which was sweet. I guess I surprised a few people that night.

So, that's the main connection I have with Vow of Silence musically. I jammed with them twice after that, but then I friggin' moved. While I was in the hotel, Matt and Julie came to visit me (in fact, they were there before I was and helped me carry in my stuff haha) and gave me a going away present: cards, a Linkin Park poster, a disposable camera ("In case you run out of film on the road!"), and....a 2-litre bottle of Coke with ribbon around it!! Do they know me or what?
Those few days I spent in the hotel were the best and worst of my life. There was a lot of laughing, and also crying, and also laughing 'til it led to crying. I bid Julie a tearful farewell, and talked to Matt on the phone well past 1 AM...to make a long story short, I was immensely sad that I was leaving, and it still hurts.

So there you have it, folks. Caitlin Hartlen, summed up in a ridiculously long bio. Now, enjoy the site and sign the guestbook!!