Hurricane Sandy crippled the east coast. It was immediately strange. There was no electricity or phone service across a large stretch of our cities and shores. The entire world suddenly seemed far away. The clouds were gone, but their looming remained.

As we drove through our neighborhoods, surveying the incredible devastation, there were 2 equally moving realities. The first reality was the loss. Houses were gone. People were gone. Entire neighborhoods were literally just gone. The second reality was far more moving. It was such a beautiful reality. It was a devastated community coming together in a most amazing way. It was people knocking on their neighbors' doors offering the shirt off their back. It was people of every age and color cooking outside with an open invitation to whoever was hungry. It was an abundance of open arms for broken spirits. I knew both realities needed to be seen and heard by and around the world.

It wasn't long before my brother, Jeff, and I reached out to our community of musicians, and were privileged to team up with all stars like Zakk Wylde (Ozzy Osbourne, Black Label Society), John "J.D." DeServio (Black Label Society), Morgan Rose (Sevendust, Call Me No One), and Kevin Martin (Candlebox). We had a vision. We set out to write a song about this moment in time in hopes of raising spirits through the power of music while raising money to help rebuild lives.

The result was "The Pride". We sat in a circle with pads, pens, and acoustic guitars. Our collective goal was to capture the idea of strength and community during our most trying times.

Just as we witnessed our neighbors hand in hand, so did we write this piece as a group of friends and members of a much larger community called humanity. Kevin had no doubt that the verses should document the devastation while the choruses should invoke hope and power.

Like a pride of lions, we protect our own with confidence and grace. Thus, we sing, "We are the heart, we are the soul, we are the pride."