I joined Symphony X's mailing list, then known as TEoF, in late 1999. A few months later, I was made a list moderator when I took over the list's now-defunct FTP server, and assisted then-List Admin Matthew 'Jester' Needham in arranging an IRC chat for the fans and the band (my first contact with MJR was around this time, when he came online so that Matthew and I could teach him how to use mIRC).

In January of 2001, Symphony X played what was only their second US show ever, in Pittsburgh (often referred to as the blizzard show, as it snowed like crazy that night). That was my first time seeing the band, and I'll never forget introducing myself to MJR for the first time, saying "Hi, I'm Jax" and him saying "Oh, I know who you are" with a smile. That's the sort of thing that fangirl dreams are made of..*laughs*.

A week or two later, I asked Matthew (who was the sole line of contact to the band; they were much less involved with the band's web presence at that time) to ask the guys if I could put a fan club together for them. A month later at the very first ProgPowerUSA near Chicago, IL, they gave me permission to do so.

In spring of 2002, Matthew stepped down as the List Admin of TEoF & passed the torch to me, with the band's blessings. I took on those duties as well as some others along the way, like moderating the band's message board soon after it was created in summer of 2002, and maintaining the band's official e-mailbox. After a while, the band and I reached a comfortable level of consistent (and at times quite frequent) contact, and I finally felt that the circumstances were right to finally get the fan club going. Planning and organizing began in mid 2002, and after a couple of relocations on my part that slowed things down, CotM was launched in December of 2003.

Since then, I've also taken on the position of being the main source of contact between the band and their fans online, maintaining the band's official pages on MySpace and Facebook, and numerous other little things here and there that need to be done. I work closely with the band's management and label as well as being in frequent contact with MJR, who's gone from being my boss to being a good friend.

And the rest is history..thanks to all our members for making CotM a success! May we only get better and better as we get bigger and bigger.

Jax
July 2005
[updated January 2008]