So here we go... to start off, I would like to let everyone know that these stories are the truth - the story of my life. It's taken me some time to actually get my full story off my chest; it's been a scary, sad and emotional ride. This post is for any one and every one of you out there who has gone through rough times or whatever experiences that have made you sad. If you have a story to share I would love to hear it too. After my story has been published to this site it has felt like a weight has been lifted off my chest. As you begin reading, you may cry, you may get depressed, you may feel inspired or you may not feel anything at all. I would like to say to anyone reading this that at times it may feel like everything is against you, everyone is attacking you, but this is life... it has its up and downs. Just stay strong, keep your head high and breathe. Here we go...

I'm Ian Harrington, I was born February 5th 1999 in New Jersey and this is My Story...

Demons - My Beginning

I remember Mom telling me that everything was going to get better, that she was going to stop the alcohol and drugs. For some reason or another, I seem to always remember the one day when she came home drunk and my parents started fighting. Things quickly escalated as punches were thrown and soon both my parents were bloody - I was six at the time. When the cops eventually came, they took me out of the house and put me in the police car while they got my parents to stop fighting. They put my mom in another car and my dad in the same one I was in. Sitting on my dad's lap, I remember him saying, 'I'm Sorry'. I was just so scared of both my parents at that moment, I didn't know how to answer, so I sat there shaking. As we pulled up to the police station, I saw my mom being carried in by three police officers, she stared straight into my eyes, but it felt like she was staring right through me. I will always remember that stare, it felt like a ghost was staring straight at me, my stomach dropped and my heart sank. After all of that, my mom had to go to rehab, my dad and I walked home to our one bedroom apartment I have lived in all of my life.

The next time mom came home, she sat me down and began to cry, saying that it would never happen again. Two days after that it did. Three days after that it happened again. It went on like that for five years before my dad finally gave up on her and told her to pack her things and leave. He filled out a restraining order against her, but the worst happened a few months later, when the Superior Courts Of New Jersey stepped in and signed off on my mom - which means my mom lost all custody of me. She wasn't allowed to be in the same building as me or allowed to sign off on any guardian papers for anything. My mom wasn't my mom anymore, she was just another stranger to me after that ruling. I saw her on and off at first, then I didn't see her for a year because she had to go to rehab. It was a hard change for a young kid like me to make, but I got over it quickly. I was by now thirteen and my mom got out of rehab, she was clean for a year.

On a warm day in March 2013, I left my apartment to go hangout with my friends, but from across the street I heard a car horn beeping non-stop, like something was stuck on it. I walked over to the car, but as I got closer I recognized the car... it was my grandfather's. I looked into the car, toward the driver's side and saw my mom passed out on the steering wheel. As I went to her side I started saying, 'Mom! Mom! Wake up!' and she did - she looked at me. Something got a hold of my emotions, I didn't know what it was, but then I looked at her and realised it was that stare... the same one from the police station, that same one from all the other times this had happened before. I walked away crying, made an anonymous call to the cops and waited. By the time they arrived and found her, she was completely passed out and the car was just sitting there . I thought my mom had won the battle against her demons of addiction, but I also forgot that it was not just one battle, it was a war. She is still fighting her war with addictions. She is still in and out of rehabs. I don't know when she will win, but I hope she does soon.

I Love You... Mom. 

Music - My Getaway

I remember sitting at a bank in Elmwood Park in 2008 when a song came on the radio, it was Move Along by The All American Rejects. I fell in love with that song, so when I went home I looked up other songs by them and every one I listened to, I fell in love with. I read their bio from Wikipedia, and other sources showed this was a little dream they all had, so they took it and turned it into a reality. I thought to myself, why can't I do that, why can't I make my dreams come true? When I watched one of their live shows I wanted to be like them, I wanted the fame, the money and love - all the things I never had.

So I learned to play an instrument, a Rogue Bass Guitar, I fell in love with it instantly. The bigger problem was that I knew nobody else who played an instrument, everyone I knew wanted to play sports. Over the years, I have personally began to lose interest in sports, because in my mind, being a sportsman only lasted about 4 years, but music lasts forever. So in March of 2014 a miracle happened, I found three kids that all played instruments - a month later we formed a band. A month after that we lost a guitarist and a few months after that we lost our other guitarist. They found other interests in life, while me and the vocalist were the last ones left in the band. I didn't know him that well and I thought of quitting the band too, because I thought nothing would work out.

Then I watched a short interview with Tyson Ritter (Vocalist) and Nick Wheeler (Lead Guitarist) of The All American Rejects... I remember Tyson saying that it was only him and Nick most of the time with the band. That they didn't find any more band mates until they got signed to a label. I was like, holy crap! So I called up our vocalist and we hung out. We learned more about each other and found that we shared the same dream - to make it big, to get famous and not have any worries in life. He told me the story of his life and I went home and cried, his story was the most emotional story I've ever listened to. To know that we both had a lot of horrible memories made me want to learn more about him. After two months, Ryan Cooper became my best friend and I could tell him anything and everything about all the shit that has happened in my life. He knew that he could tell me anything that was on his mind. So we took everything we told each other and made songs out of it.

We recorded them on a MAC computer, produced them and worked endlessly on perfecting them to the best of our ability. Early march we saw an add for Warped Tours Battle Of The Bands, asking for bands to join to win a chance to play one of the biggest rock tours in the world. We quickly joined, uploaded our best songs, went on Instagram and told people to listen to our music. By the end of the night we were in 368th place, pretty much close to last. I already knew that we weren't going to rank high. We went to bed and by the next morning when we woke up, we looked on the website and to our amazement we were in 6th place with 1k views in ten hours. So we kept on campaigning our battle across the state and the next day when we woke up, we were in 4th, then two days later, we took 1st place in our state, but we were hungry for the world competition. As we sat 5th in the world, I was amazed at what was going on. Life got even crazier four days later, when When Forever Ends became the Top Played band in the world with 4k views in one week.

The dream started getting closer to reality when two kids from small town America took control of one of the biggest rock competitions in the world. Even though we were going in and out of 1st, I was amazed to see that our band was the top played in the world. Till this day we are still working to make our music better and to get our music out there to everyone. Do not give up on your dreams because you never know, they may come true.

Conclusion - But Not The End

I would like to say thank you for reading my story. I hope you were inspired or got some kind of emotional rise out of this. I will be posting more about my story, but I would love for you to tell me your story. Keep your head up, take a breath and most importantly, get through the storm.

P.S. Stay Strong