FLYLEAF Guitarist: What I Did During Holiday Season

FLYLEAF guitarist Jared Hartmann has issued the following update:

"I guess I will take this time to fill everyone in on what's been going on with us for the past month or so.

"After the Music As A Weapon tour ended, we were able to fly home for Christmas and that was great. I got a Nintendo Wii and I have been playing Zelda a lot. I'm pretty sure that the Wii is the best game system invented so far...it's really cool.

"So we were home for about a month during the holiday season, and my wife and I finally bought a car. That was nice. The band also got together and practiced a bit, and we worked on some new songs that we have been writing as well. We're really excited about them and can't wait to play them for our fans some day.

"Now we are on a short tour with THREE DAYS GRACE before we head over to Australia. This tour has been so great. We are so overwhelmed by all of our fans' support. It is so encouraging to see how many people come out to watch us, have our CD, and know the words to our music. It is just amazing...so thank you for that!

"We are really looking forward to our 'Justice and Mercy' headlining tour this spring. We can't wait to see you guys at the shows. Thank you so much for your continued support. We have the best fans."

FLYLEAF is among the bands confirmed to perform at this year's Cornerstone Festival. The Christian music event is scheduled to take place between June 25 and June 30 in Bushnell, Illinois and will also feature appearances from SWITCHFOOT, UNDEROATH, EMERY, ANBERLIN, DISCIPLE and others. Even though all the members of FLYLEAF are Christians, singer Lacey Mosley told Launch that they're not comfortable with being called a Christian act. "You know, we don't, like, wear a sign because it can give you a bad connotation because there's a lot of really negative things about religion," she said. "Just the fact that it separates people, and that it's hypocritical and it's judgmental and that there's all this whatever. And so it's not like we're trying to shove anything in anybody's face or change anybody. We're just being who we are."

FLYLEAF appeared on last summer's Family Values Tour with KORN, DEFTONES, STONE SOUR and others, and is featured on the recently released CD and DVD documenting the trek.

The Texas-based band has been supporting its self-titled debut album, which has sold 528,000 copies in the United States since coming out in the fall of 2005, according to Nielsen SoundScan.