PICK UP THE PHONE TOUR 2009:

BANDS STAND-UP FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION & AWARENESS,
TEAMING UP WITH
1 800-SUICIDE THE NATIONAL HOPELINE NETWORK,
TO WRITE LOVE ON HER ARMS,
SYNCLIVE.COM AND POSTSECRET
FOR FIRST-EVER SPRING COLLEGE TOUR LAUNCHING APRIL 2009;

ALKALINE TRIO
WILL HEADLINE CROSS-COUNTRY TREK JOINED BY
ANBERLIN
AND NEWCOMERS SINGLE FILE

The reality of depression and suicide has inspired artists to take part in the PICK UP THE PHONE TOUR, a traveling college music tour committed to reducing the stigma associated with mental health as well as making the access to help and hope for students safe and without fear. ALKALINE TRIO will headline the inaugural PICK UP THE PHONE TOUR--where impassioned artists join together to raise awareness and funds for depression and suicide prevention. ANBERLIN will support on the trek with newcomers SINGLE FILE opening the show. The PICK UP THE PHONE TOUR marks the first-ever suicide prevention tour happening on college campuses; the events are also open to the public. The trek will launch in April; look for tour dates and venues and a ticket pre-sale to be announced in early 2009.

The PICK UP THE PHONE TOUR is created through a partnership between the non-profit organization To Write Love on Her Arms (TWLOHA) which boasts the largest audience on MySpace and Facebook: Postsecret.com; Synclive.com; and 1-800 SUICIDE The National Hopeline Network. Through 1-800 SUICIDE--which provides a life-saving service that is private and confidential for people in need--callers are routed directly to the closest crisis center in their immediate area so that quick referrals to behavioral health services and other supports can be offered. Since 1998, 1-800-SUICIDE has received over 3 million calls and rescued more than 4,000 individuals who had already initiated suicide plans.

"In moments of bravery and confusion and honesty, people turn to 1-800-SUICIDE--over three million of them," points out Jamie Tworkowski, founder of To Write Love on Her Arms (TWLOHA) and PICK UP THE PHONE TOUR partners. "The folks at the Hopeline Centers have been answering those calls for ten years, picking up the phone when it's mattered most. Now it's our turn. This is our moment to respond." To Write Love on Her Arms (TWLOHA)--a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide--exists to encourage, inform and inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery. Since 2006, they have responded to 80,000 messages from people in over 40 different countries.

The Alive! Mental Health Fair--present onsite at every show day on the PICK UP THE PHONE TOUR--will contain booths with information, therapy and local help resources as well as offer education in suicide prevention with the goal of recruiting volunteers to be trained and staff local peer-to-peer hotlines and online crisis support centers at the college. The tour aims to inspire and raise awareness of students' mental health rights by spreading the best practices and guidelines for colleges, students and faculty set forth by the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law (www.bazelon.org).

In another innovative move, the tour has partnered with Synclive.com to air live performances from the artists via the Internet as well as provide an immediate online confidential connection for fans in need. Synclive.com will create an essential connection for concertgoers in crisis who are unable to approach a booth at the show in-person either for direct help or to volunteer for the online counseling program.

"ALKALINE TRIO is thrilled to get to work with the Hopeline Network," says the band's frontman Matt Skiba. "We are especially excited about being a part of this whole tour and the cause it's supporting. Suicide is a very permanent solution to what may be a temporary problem and it feels great to be a part of something that is purely there to help people in times of desperation." Skiba adds, "If one life is saved because of the hotline, then I consider it a success and we're very proud to in any way be a part of something so positive."

ALKALINE TRIO's new single "Over And Out"--inspired by a story Matt read about a grieving woman waiting in vain for her slain husband to return from Iraq--offers a timely connection to the focus of PICK UP THE PHONE. The group released their sixth studio album Agony & Irony (Epic), which debuted at #13 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart in July 2008. Alkaline Trio is Dan Andriano (vocals/bass), Derek Grant (vocals/drums) and Matt Skiba (vocals/guitar), who emerged from the working class suburbs of Chicago in 1996. The band's career was propelled by the 2003 release of Good Mourning--their first full-length of the current lineup--which was met with critical praise. The band has since led the charge in defining a genre of music, selling nearly a million albums and continuing to maintain a rabid fan base. www.myspace.com/alkalinetrio

"We're extremely excited to be on this upcoming tour because it brings together two of our favorite things: great music--such as Alkaline Trio--but also a helping hand to those in need and serving a purpose greater than the typical tour," notes ANBERLIN frontman Stephen Christian. "To Write Love on Her Arms, Hopeline, Post Secret and the fight for the prevention of suicide are all causes and organizations we firmly stand behind; we're always excited about touring, but to tour with a purpose makes it an unbelievable experience."

ANBERLIN released their fourth studio album New Surrender (Universal Republic) in September 2009 when it debuted at #13 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. Originally hailing from Florida, the group--lead singer Stephen Christian, guitarist Joseph Milligan, bassist Deon Rexroat, drummer Nathan Young and guitarist Christian McAlhaney--have established themselves as one of alternative rock's most exciting acts. The group reinvented themselves with their 2007 mainstream breakthrough Cities, and after releasing three successful albums on the well-respected indie label Tooth & Nail, the band signed with Universal Republic to release their major label debut New Surrender. www.myspace.com/anberlin

Hailing from Denver, CO the power trio SINGLE FILE will open the show. After self booking and promoting hundreds of shows over several U.S. tours, as well as independently releasing and distributing three self-produced EP's, the group has signed with Reprise Records. SINGLE FILE teamed with producer Howard Benson (My Chemical Romance, The All American Rejects, Less Than Jake) to record their full-length debut Common Struggles, set for Spring 2009 release. www.myspace.com/singlefile



Partners for the first-ever PICK UP THE PHONE TOUR 2009 include:


About the National Hopeline Network 1-800 SUICIDE (784-2433) and the Kristin Brooks Hope Center (KBHC):

After losing his wife, Kristin Brooks to suicide in 1998, Reese Butler founded the Kristin Brooks Hope Center (KBHC), which created the National Hopeline Network 1-800 SUICIDE. In 2000, Reese gained the support of the late Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN), Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) and obtained more than seven million dollars to expand and support the National Hopeline Network which is comprised of 200 community crisis centers in 48 states. Callers in crisis to 1800-SUICIDE are routed to the closest crisis center in their immediate area so that quick referrals to behavioral health services and other supports can be offered. Since 1998, 1-800-SUICIDE has received more than 3 million calls and rescued more than 4,000 individuals who had already initiated suicide plans. www.hopeline.com



About To Write Love On Her Arms (TWLOHA):

In 2006, Jamie Tworkowski wrote a story, a glimpse into a friend's life and her first steps to recovery from drug addiction, self-injury, and depression. The story, titled To Write Love On Her Arms (TWLOHA), and t-shirts Tworkowski printed to help pay for his friend's recovery, started a movement, not only within his local Orlando, FL community, but one that was swiftly embraced by people everywhere. Realizing a strong need to bring these mental health issues to light, Jamie created TWLOHA--a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide--and enlisted bands such as Paramore, Thrice, Anberlin, Switchfoot, Bayside, The Almost to spread TWLOHA's message. Jamie and TWLOHA joined national and international touring bands spreading their message of hope before bands took the stage each night. In August 2007, MySpace awarded TWLOHA the winner of their "Impact Award" for "Community Building," TWLOHA garnered the most votes in the history of the Impact Awards. To Write Love on Her Arms began with one broken girl, one painful night; addiction, depression, self-injury. It is the realization of what life can be when people commit to meeting a need. "A friend of mine told me there is no such thing as suicide prevention. This is an attempt to prove him wrong, to say that love can change a life. We can hold back the darkness. Rescue is possible," says Tworkowski. www.twloha.com



About Synclive.Com:

Synclive.com is a highly interactive music and entertainment Internet community that allows users to broadcast their live performances, as they happen, over the Internet to a worldwide audience. Synclive.com is currently reaching 127 countries with over 1 million video views a month. Shows can be broadcast from anywhere, at anytime. Synclive.com offers artists a tremendous promotional platform for worldwide exposure. It is a great way to promote new music, a new tour, new merchandise, and stay intimately connected with your fans. Shows are streamed live, recorded and stored at the artist's discretion for future on demand viewing. Our most used tool is the embedded player which allows an artist's live and on demand shows to be placed on all of their websites so fans can watch the show in the artist's environment. Synclive.com is free for artists, fans, and venues to use and is open to all genres of music and live entertainment. www.synclive.com



About PostSecret.com:

Called "the most trusted stranger in America," Frank Warren is the sole founder and curator of the PostSecret Project: A collection of nearly 200,000 highly personal and artfully decorated postcards mailed anonymously from around the world, displaying the soulful secrets we never voice. The PostSecret.com site now receives more than 1,000,000 visitors every week. In 2005, the All American Rejects approached Warren about using images of actual PostSecret images in their "Dirty Little Secret" music video. They offered Warren $1,000, but Warren instead asked them to donate $2,000 to 1800-SUICIDE where Warren is a volunteer. The donation was made and the music video became one of the most requested on MTV. The National Mental Health Association presented Warren with an award for his work in raising public awareness of Suicide. The PostSecret project has now raised over $200,000 for 1800-SUICIDE. PostSecret has won the December 2008 "Myspace Impact Award" and will donate 100% of the proceeds to 1-800 SUICIDE. www.postsecret.com

For more information, visit:
www.pickupthephone.org
www.hopeline.com
www.twloha.com
www.synclive.com
www.postsecret.com