When I was a kid and first learning about 'the scene', doing things on my own wasn't a stylistic or sociopolitical choice; I wasn't making a statement about the commercialization of art or the privatization of space or anything like that. I had to do stuff on my own because my friends didn't understand or support my interests and no one would help me make anything real. I grew up trapped and isolated in a beautiful suburb where there weren't any venues or labels or record stores or anything like that for me to connect with. When I first started getting real with guitar and writing my own songs back in like 7th grade, it was a simple matter of necessity to self-record them onto cassette using my little stereo in my bedroom, and hope maybe some of my friends would eventually listen to it if I made them a copy. What other choice did I have? At the time a CD burner was something you had to have installed onto your PC and it was more than my parents were willing to invest. I just figured out whatever way I could to make my shit something tangible.
For a long time, "doing it yourself" really was a singular activity in my mind, not some 'we-built-this-as-a-group' communitarian bullshit; that's all well and good but no one ever wanted to include me in their reindeer games and I used to actually resent movements like that. It always felt like the start of some little alternative corporation to me. I felt like, if I didn't do everything completely on my own, I was giving this piece of me, the only piece of me that I love at such a recognizable level, to someone else for them to smash into their form. For years I didn't even want to fuck around with finding other band members to play my music with because I was so afraid I would lose what was so deeply mine. I still sometimes feel odd having other people record us play, like there is an impulse still within me telling me to just get everything onto my little portable demo-maker so I can control everything and not let anyone into my little corner of the world.
Shit, I've been single for like 6 years, that's how "do-it-yourself" I am.
(Sorry I couldn't help myself.)
Still, I have very conflicted feelings about what "DIY" means and the importance it has in the long-run. It all depends on application. If you're like me, and all DIY functionally means for you is booking shows, releasing music, and making merch, well then you're just mirroring mainstream consumer society on a smaller level and declaring it righteous.What about the tools of music themselves, are they so "DIY"? Your name-brand guitar? Your cymbals, your speakers, your fucking pedals?? Even you whiz-kids who DO know how to rig up your own gear, where do your materials come from? Do you manufacture wire out of your garage or what?
What about means of proliferation? The Postal Service is an arm of the U.S. government and other delivery services are corporately owned. The Internet is the easiest tool these days for an individual to send messages into the world, while still retaining the sheen of independence from the constant high-level bludgeoning we're all subject to. It allows the user the ability to control and mandate your intake and output, after generations of being spoon-fed from major media outlets without many viable alternatives. If you have something to say, if you have a piece of music or writing or porn that you want to share with the world, there's no middleman holding you back anymore! Record labels are more novelty vestiges than the crucial gatekeepers they once were. Today, kids like me who don't have any friends can just set up a Bandcamp or a SoundCloud or whatever and instantly reach the world. DIY is easier than ever!
But despite the seemingly ubiquitous nature of the Internet nowadays thanks to all your SmartPhone shenanigans (kids these days...), it is still a tightly controlled commercial product. To access the Internet at my home I have to pay money to Verizon and the signal goes through some router we bought from some company to my Toshiba laptop, on which I use Microsoft's software to open a Mozilla browser and log-in to my Google and Facebook accounts. That's like 7 huge-ass corporations before I've even checked my daily messages. No matter the 'revolutionary' connectivity, the possibilities and creativity it affords, the very act of using the Internet is corporate as fuck (unless you're some crazy hacker, in which you have a whole 'nother set of problems). ISPs are corporate as fuck. Computer manufacturers are corporate as FUCK (and real bad about environmental stuffs too -- see: rare earth materials). Google and every other major site people use to find anything on the Internet, all that shit is corporate as fuck. It keeps us under surveillance to be constantly expressing ourselves via the interwebs, it builds our advertiser profiles and creates unwitting content for outside sources, for them to make pay-per-click profit from. In a way, the Internet is the most non-DIY thing possible because it takes our independent creations and Borg's them into extremely fertile marketing data, while giving us consumers the idea that we are actually independent producers.
Once again, never mind the sincerity of our intentions or the quality of our creations, the tools of our craft pull the pin on our claims of from-the-self legitimacy.
What I'm saying is there's an inherent limit to how much you can ever truly "do by yourself." Especially when the unspoken goal of many DIY efforts is the supposed de-commoditization of culture, a lot of our behaviors when not participating in our various cultures contradict that basic goal. If you're going to Del Taco after shows or chilling on a Starbucks cup all night at the venue, if you are a regular consumer of cigarettes or alcohol, much of the self-righteousness garnered from self-releasing your screaming and whining onto 50 cassette tapes goes right out the window. Sure, our 'art' is free from corporate control but is that really the biggest part of our lives?
No.It might seem like that sometimes, what with all the time we collectively waste on our various creative endeavors, but you will actually die without food. The merits of your DIY label or whatever are severely compromised by your insistence on eating processed factory food from chain supermarkets. The basic thing that keeps you alive, you're not making the same effort to de-corporatize that as you are to de-corporatize your hobby. The same people who make a big deal about getting their news and culture from 'alternative' sources, are not always so determined to get their food from farmer's markets or their clothes from thrift stores.
I'm not trying to claim to be than higher-than-thou regarding any of this, either; the reason I am so keen on pointing out these discrepancies between what is being preached and what is being practiced by much of the "DIY" world is because I myself am indicative of so many of those problems. Sure, I self-record my own music and I give it out for free (I rarely
pay for music, I don't expect others to pay for mine) and I book all my
own performances and all that jazz, but on a deeper level that shit
disappears. That's just my "art." That's just my self-obsession being
selfish. I don't grow my own food, I don't have a working bike, I'm on the Internet all the fucking time and I have almost no practical skills to speak of. Supermarkets keep me alive. I go to big festivals in the summertime. I am a consumer.
Perhaps thats why, in the end, the Minor Threat model of doing "DIY" music is still so appealing to me, still something I cling to and feel awkwardly defensive of. Despite all the existential smack I just spouted, I understand. We can't control the fucking cosmos here, we're just doing what we can. That's really the key. Understanding the ways - although limited - that you can actually take matters into your own hands, and then not letting those things go. Making something out of these meager means we have.
That's really the inherent value of "doing it yourself": you know that you were able to put your 2 cents into this million-dollar world without having somebody else say, 'I did that for them.' We are never going to realize certain utopias, we are all consumers, but that small act of understanding yourself and giving it to the world...It's all we can do sometimes.
During my third year of college at UC Irvine, Ian MacKaye came to the campus and did a question-and-answer session for almost 3 hours in a room of DeathCab-looking OC college kids. I was way in the back in standing space but he did see my raised hand about halfway through and complimented my homemade Faith T-shirt.
My question was regarding the Internet dilemma I've already written about in this very piece. "How can anything on the Internet ever be DIY?"
Most of the other questions were about Fugazi reuniting or stupid shit like that so he was giving very curt, pissed off responses, but he went on for like 20 minutes about this issue. That was several years ago and I was a bit in awe that Ian MacKaye was looking me in the face answering my question for such an extended period of time, but I remember this: "I didn't pave those roads, but where the fuck else am I going to drive?"
At some point we all lose control over who we are in this society, the avenues in which we contribute to our own silent servitude. It's just a matter of understanding yourself and taking that small corner of the world that you can find and not giving it up.
Rock n roll will never die.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
BAND MINI-REVIEW: Limerent Dance Machine
Limerent Dance Machine is an indie rock band from Murrieta that have been playing since early 2012. Guitarist/singer Joseph Moore wrote much of their recent album "Dream A Reason Why" while living in New York and put the band together upon moving to California.
Their sound is somewhere in between early post-punk, non-abrasive shoegaze, and a little bit of 90s emo-rock. Like Joy Division occasionally playing My Bloody Valentine riffs and subconsciously aware of Sunny Day Real Estate, all with infectiously romance-obsessed lyrics. Despite the gloomy stylings they bring to mind, songs like "Oceanside" and "Another Breath" still maintain an upbeat momentum and in general they never fall into slow trenches as many other groups with similar influences do.
Although their aforementioned debut album was one my favorites from last year, this is one of those bands that is just better live.They have plans of releasing a new EP in 2013 entitled "Blush Response" once they can get funds for recording, so keep your eyes out for that.
https://www.facebook.com/LimerentDanceMachine
http://limerentdancemachine.bandcamp.com/
Although their aforementioned debut album was one my favorites from last year, this is one of those bands that is just better live.They have plans of releasing a new EP in 2013 entitled "Blush Response" once they can get funds for recording, so keep your eyes out for that.
https://www.facebook.com/LimerentDanceMachine
http://limerentdancemachine.bandcamp.com/
Sunday, March 24, 2013
SHOW REVIEW: Crisis Arm/Teenage Sweater/Light Light/The Gift Machine/Washing Machines @ The Dial 3/20/13
Last night I went to a show at The Dial after work. What an earth-shattering surprise, I know. The Crisis cats picked me up on Enterprise Circle and I forgot to have them stop by AMPM real quick so I could get an iced tea.There was pretty much no one there at all besides the bands who were playing and the regular outside-smoking girls who don't care one way or another who's playing. They're just there.I've already reviewed Light Light and Crisis Arm before and I didn't really go into this show with the expectation of writing a review. I was just big chilling. Then again, I've been reviewing things pretty much at random lately so intent can't fully be taken into account as the full cause (CRIMINOLOGY).
I was end-of-the-rope sleepy and only had a sandwich for dinner so I was being kind of awkward and didn't really know what to do with myself (again, big shock right). I got some work in on another review I'm writing but really not too much. That one will either become a full-blown short story or never be written at all. Probably the latter.
I'm intentionally gonna be kinda vague in my reviews of the bands who played because, I was FEELING kinda vague.
Washing Machines played first; they're an "indie" band from Los Angeles who kind of reminded me of Pavement but without the quirky vocals. They have a girl playing mandolin and the lead guitarist looks exactly like my buddy Matt Brown. They were pretty tight but didnt wring my throat or anything. The main singer guy, who clearly spends alot of time on his "just-rolled-out-of-bed" look, threw his expensive as shit guitar at his amp and then kicked it on the floor during their last song. They then asked for a share of the door money (you are the first band playing and clearly no one is here yet) and left directly after their set was done.
A real class-act, those Washing Machines.
At some point in-between bands, maybe it was here, I went out and sat with the cigarette girls. Kate mentioned that she had never seen any of the Harry Potter movies; I recounted that I'm unfamiliar with the books as well and we gave each other a high-five. As a circle we continued on about dorky subjects we do or do not like, which of course concluded with me raving on about R2D2 after Sara brought him up.
The real hero.
The Gift Machine was next, they're an indie band from San Diego who play real subtle, pretty music along the lines of The Evens. Last time they played here it was a guitar-drum duo and both of them are full-blown adults so the Evens comparison was even more apt, but this time around they had a younger dude adding electric guitar flourishes to their existing songs. He performed cool guitar-loop song before they played that had like 15 parts going in and out of each other. As much as I hate on pedals and loops and stuff, I secretly wish I knew how to do that kind of thing. It reminded me of an interlude from an early Dredg album but more fleshed out. I guess that guy's name was Dan Chambers.
I really really like The Gift Machine. Dave's vocals are very soft but hitting. Altogether they have a soothing sound but the lyrics have a restrained sentimental value that almost reminds me of Mark Kozelek's writing. The last song they played reminded be of the 'she knows, she knows' part in the Pumpkins song "Crush," and they played it for Norissa. Norissa is this lady who sometimes comes to the more indie/experimental shows. On this particular occasion she brought a boxful of fresh kale she grew in her frontyard that anybody could take if they wanted. That was really nice.
Light Light was gonna play next but since he's just one dude and Teenage Sweater has a somewhat complicated set-up, they put all their stuff together before he played. As they did that I talked with Doug and Brent and Tyler about the glory days of childhood, with lazer-tag and rubberband guns, Paintballing came up but we all agreed that was too expensive and we never really did that. I never even went once.
Doug did a little sound check and then started his Light Light set. Like I mentioned earlier up, I've reviewed his set before so I don't know how similar my description will be but I fucking love this guy's music. He does solo guitar soundscape stuff with all these effects that make his rapidfire strumming sound just huge. It's like a crystal. I don't know what that's supposed to mean but there you go. I closed my eyes and kind of meditated during his first song "Breakfast"; he played an acoustic song that was like, haunting; my favorite song of his is called "Good Luck, Have Fun." He says that's what you say to someone you can't have in your life anymore, and at the beginning of Starcraft games; it reminded me of "A Warm Place" by Nine Inch Nails but with an even deeper feel of regret. Really very good.
I followed Crisis Arm out to their van for some snacks but since Teenage Sweater had already set up before Light Light played they were pretty much started by the time we were packed in. So we just packed right back out. Teenage Sweater is a 2-piece group from San Francisco and they play synthed out heavy-dance music with live drums. Kind of, somewhat in the vein of groups Glass Candy, Sleigh Bells, or Crystal Castles (but without a female singer, like HEALTH) these guys have elements of raver or dubstep culture wedded with live performance and slightly abrasive elements lifted from trash-garage-core culture. It's dancey but not cute.
They're like a self-contained unit; they bring their own PA, speakers, everything. The non-drummer has feet pedals for these multicolored lights they have for effect, switching from blue to white to straight darkness. It seemed that most of the melodies were prerecorded because much of what he was doing on his huge double-keyboard-mixer device seemed minimal. I was jamming to this stuff though, they were cool. They'd probably kill it in a room with more people, I can see general vibes erupting for them.
They had actually played the cassette release for my band's album last summer but for the life of me I don't remember. I was pretty stressed/drunk that night. That was the only time The Gravitys played without a bassist and it was fucking terrible.
I had been sitting in a chair alone in the corner writing my Nuclear Family review until I realized, "what a loser," so I went into the lobby while Crisis Arm set up. The Gift Machine peeps and Norissa were on the couches chatting and they mentioned something about Spotify so I inquired about that. Earlier that very day a friend of mine had asked if he could find my music on Pandora and I replied, "no," but it got me to thinking: we don't really have much Internet presence outside our Facebook and Bandcamp. Are we supposed to be on SoundCloud and RadioFlag and all these other Internet things that I don't really use but casual music fans do? Dave kinda made me feel better about things though because he said Bandcamp is the best; the others you have to pay for memberships or they take some of your publishing rights or something. He was like, "You're good, bro" in so many words.
I think it was past midnight by the time Crisis Arm started. Cameron had mentioned earlier that she doesn't like playing last because she gets tired and just isn't into it. They seemed fine to me but they had played here at The Dial 3 times in the last 4 days and they've been sick the whole time so I can understand they were kinda over it at that point.
They have a few new songs besides "Late" (which is my muthafuckin JAM) and they played at least 1 that I think is called "Follow;" much like Late its pretty accessible in relation to the Crisis catalog and has a strong 90s-rock vibe. They played "Old Lightbulb," that one has a demented circus melody going on they should make a music video of like a room going in circles for that shit. I've had leads from a few of the songs stuck in my head since, battling for space with Fleetwood Mac's "Everywhere." Kevin broke in the head to his floor tom during one of the last songs. He's probably gonna need to buy another one of those, I'd suspect.
---
After the show was over we were all just lingering around. Some of the Dial regulars who actually do work for the space (like painting and fixing things and not just talking a bunch of smack online about out-of-town bands) were doin' thangs so I milled around with them a little bit.
Eventually I got back in a conversation with the Family Time crew because I overheard Tyler say "I liked it better when I saw it in theatres and then I watched it again and it sucked." That sounded like a conversation that I would thrive in so I asked them what they were talking about; it was Ashton Kutcher's movie "The Butterfly Effect" that I never even made it all the way through when I tried to watch it once. ("I don't like movies")
We got to talking about the general phenomenon of no longer enjoying something the way that you used to and I recounted a similar case regarding the 90s punk band Good Riddance. When I was in like 6th or 7th grade I really liked them alot, they seemed so much more serious than the other Punk-O-Rama type bands and they have the kind of obvious, watered-down "Aimed Wrench" political lyrics that I used to eat the fuck up. Upon listening to like 3 Good Riddance CDs a few weeks ago when I was going through Mark Gravity's collection, however, it just seemed so played out and just not even close to the dopeness I had remembered.
Doug and I kinda broke off to discuss this further and he surmised it's like when you eat your favorite food way too much and then its like you can't eat it anymore. I related that in a way that's what's happened for me regarding punk and hardcore and metal and other 'extreme' musics; I overwhelmed myself and now everything just kind of blends together. Stuff I used to really enjoy, new stuff I probably would have been way more into a few years ago, it just doesn't hit me the same way anymore. He pointed out that genres are all so mixed and blended nowadays that kind-of everything seems less powerful than it used to. "Nothing's Shocking."
Homeboy was talking about how in alot of ways he doesn't like the use of genres, sees them as unnecessary or even misleading. That makes sense coming from him, as the music he makes is difficult to pin down using genre terms. I'm obsessed with finding the correct combination of genres to describe certain bands but other times I just use "indie" for bands with totally different sounds like I did in this very review. It's like, what does that even MEAN?? It is something that has crossed my mind before but I don't really know how to remedy it. I just love segregating music too much.
As luck would have it, both Doug and I have been having the same reaction to the hordes of experimentation and envelope-pushing in every direction numbing our senses lately: a newly-strengthened appreciation for the craft of commercial catchiness. I'm not necessarily talking about 'pop music' the way most people use that term, but I'm not necessarily NOT talking about that. I've always been a sucker for sweet sounds but I used to think certain things, especially the more mainstream it was, were supposed to be 'guilty pleasures' for someone like myself who's supposedly so alternative and underground or whatever. But it's like why? This shit is a natural pleasure, it was written that way so people would like it. That's a quality that seems lost on certain sectors of songwriters. Doug agreed that attempting to make catchy music is way harder than it would seem because the end result is by its very nature very immediate and seemingly pre-made; but no, somebody made that whether it was the performing artist or a studio songwriter or whatever, it's a difficult craft. So many musicians and artists in general get concerned with cacophony or 'breaking new ground' or just kinda showing off how technical or bizarre they can be, and they either forget to make those little basic bugs that climb into your brain and stay there forever, or they never knew how to do that in the first place. Doug was talking about the value of restraint and I very much identified with that. "Sometimes more isn't better; it's just more."
To directly contradict that sentiment, we shared the bands we've been tripping on lately, both of whom have pretty rounded, layered sounds. He's been feeling on the Talking Heads lately and as everyone within shouting distance should know by now, I've been on a pretty harsh Fleetwood Mac binge for several months now. The sweet fullness of their melodies, the obvious yet also hidden 'rumours' that define their persona, I fucking LIVE for that shit.
"Sometimes I run. Sometimes I hide. Sometimes I'm scared of you, but all I really want is to hold you tight; treat you right; be with you day and night. Baby, all I need is time." - thanks for summing it up for me Britney. I'm not gonna deny my inclinations towards catchy-as-fuck melodies ANYMORE.
When everything was all packed up we went out by the van and chatted. Kyle Mouthful was still big chilling and we got to talking about the Smashing Pumpkins and how we love Billy Corgan although he's an arrogant piece of shit who talks shit on everything and is incredibly, embarassingly self-obsessed. (No wonder I latched onto SP at such an early age.) I joked with the Family Time kids about how dope the "Scream 2" soundtrack is (which is actually no joke) and we talked about LiveJournal and Xanga and MySpace and shit like that. The Internet personalities that, for many people, have been more emphatic livers than their physical personalities.
Crisis Arm drove Patty Limerent and I home and I babbled about things I have probably already discussed with them before.
It was kind of an awkward night, I'm increasingly awkward, but I had a pretty good time doing hoodrat stuff with my friends and that's what matters.
Eventually I got back in a conversation with the Family Time crew because I overheard Tyler say "I liked it better when I saw it in theatres and then I watched it again and it sucked." That sounded like a conversation that I would thrive in so I asked them what they were talking about; it was Ashton Kutcher's movie "The Butterfly Effect" that I never even made it all the way through when I tried to watch it once. ("I don't like movies")
We got to talking about the general phenomenon of no longer enjoying something the way that you used to and I recounted a similar case regarding the 90s punk band Good Riddance. When I was in like 6th or 7th grade I really liked them alot, they seemed so much more serious than the other Punk-O-Rama type bands and they have the kind of obvious, watered-down "Aimed Wrench" political lyrics that I used to eat the fuck up. Upon listening to like 3 Good Riddance CDs a few weeks ago when I was going through Mark Gravity's collection, however, it just seemed so played out and just not even close to the dopeness I had remembered.
Doug and I kinda broke off to discuss this further and he surmised it's like when you eat your favorite food way too much and then its like you can't eat it anymore. I related that in a way that's what's happened for me regarding punk and hardcore and metal and other 'extreme' musics; I overwhelmed myself and now everything just kind of blends together. Stuff I used to really enjoy, new stuff I probably would have been way more into a few years ago, it just doesn't hit me the same way anymore. He pointed out that genres are all so mixed and blended nowadays that kind-of everything seems less powerful than it used to. "Nothing's Shocking."
Homeboy was talking about how in alot of ways he doesn't like the use of genres, sees them as unnecessary or even misleading. That makes sense coming from him, as the music he makes is difficult to pin down using genre terms. I'm obsessed with finding the correct combination of genres to describe certain bands but other times I just use "indie" for bands with totally different sounds like I did in this very review. It's like, what does that even MEAN?? It is something that has crossed my mind before but I don't really know how to remedy it. I just love segregating music too much.
As luck would have it, both Doug and I have been having the same reaction to the hordes of experimentation and envelope-pushing in every direction numbing our senses lately: a newly-strengthened appreciation for the craft of commercial catchiness. I'm not necessarily talking about 'pop music' the way most people use that term, but I'm not necessarily NOT talking about that. I've always been a sucker for sweet sounds but I used to think certain things, especially the more mainstream it was, were supposed to be 'guilty pleasures' for someone like myself who's supposedly so alternative and underground or whatever. But it's like why? This shit is a natural pleasure, it was written that way so people would like it. That's a quality that seems lost on certain sectors of songwriters. Doug agreed that attempting to make catchy music is way harder than it would seem because the end result is by its very nature very immediate and seemingly pre-made; but no, somebody made that whether it was the performing artist or a studio songwriter or whatever, it's a difficult craft. So many musicians and artists in general get concerned with cacophony or 'breaking new ground' or just kinda showing off how technical or bizarre they can be, and they either forget to make those little basic bugs that climb into your brain and stay there forever, or they never knew how to do that in the first place. Doug was talking about the value of restraint and I very much identified with that. "Sometimes more isn't better; it's just more."
To directly contradict that sentiment, we shared the bands we've been tripping on lately, both of whom have pretty rounded, layered sounds. He's been feeling on the Talking Heads lately and as everyone within shouting distance should know by now, I've been on a pretty harsh Fleetwood Mac binge for several months now. The sweet fullness of their melodies, the obvious yet also hidden 'rumours' that define their persona, I fucking LIVE for that shit.
"Sometimes I run. Sometimes I hide. Sometimes I'm scared of you, but all I really want is to hold you tight; treat you right; be with you day and night. Baby, all I need is time." - thanks for summing it up for me Britney. I'm not gonna deny my inclinations towards catchy-as-fuck melodies ANYMORE.
When everything was all packed up we went out by the van and chatted. Kyle Mouthful was still big chilling and we got to talking about the Smashing Pumpkins and how we love Billy Corgan although he's an arrogant piece of shit who talks shit on everything and is incredibly, embarassingly self-obsessed. (No wonder I latched onto SP at such an early age.) I joked with the Family Time kids about how dope the "Scream 2" soundtrack is (which is actually no joke) and we talked about LiveJournal and Xanga and MySpace and shit like that. The Internet personalities that, for many people, have been more emphatic livers than their physical personalities.
Crisis Arm drove Patty Limerent and I home and I babbled about things I have probably already discussed with them before.
It was kind of an awkward night, I'm increasingly awkward, but I had a pretty good time doing hoodrat stuff with my friends and that's what matters.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
BAND REVIEW: The Nuclear Family
About a month ago, this kid named Jai who I'm friends with on Facebook sent me a message asking me to review his band on this blog. How someone could read the dismissive way in which I write about things and want to be subjected to that, by choice, is beyond me. You brought this upon yourself, Jai.
I met this kid last summer at The Dial when my little brothers in The Coltranes were supposed to open up for Griever but Spencer got hammered to beat shit and sort of just lost it instead of playing. The input on his guitar just straight broke off and fell out like innards from a ravaged wolf-eaten corpse so he just started angrily going around the warehouse demanding that someone let him use their guitar. Eventually one of the bro guys who have/had some hand on lease for the warehouse that I never really understood, he loaned Spenny his black metalcore-looking guitar.
Unfortunately, this guitar was in drop-C with a fucking tuning lock on it (I didn't even know that was a thing) because this guitar was metalcore as fuck. The Coltranes play in standard tuning but the dude was like, "well just change'em to C" like drunken Spencer can just transpose his guitar and bass parts to a different key on the spot. To prove how awesome this guitar really was in the hands of a true musician, the dude took it back and wailed out some bitching solo right in Spencer's face. That scene has been seared into my memory for all time because it was so mind-blowingly ludicrous.
It got to the point where this whole fiasco had taken as long as entire punk rock set should take, so they just didn't play. Really that's more punk than playing. I think it was actually Evan who decided fuckit and walked out from behind the drums, livid as shit, because he had had it up to HERE with these Heath-en shenanigans.
The bro-guy realized that Spencer had finally lost it and was like, "You better not drop that guitar...You BETTER not drop that guitar" but Spencer went ahead and dropped the guitar. The dude charged at him but his own bro-friend stopped him before Mark really had to intervene.
("Mark" in this story is Spencer's dad, not Gravity Mark; he doesn't make an appearance in this one...I throw alot of un-contextualized names around and everyone I know is named Kevin Zack Chris Mike or Mark so I understand it can become confusing)
Anyway, this Jai kid was there at the show because his dad is friends with Mark; they're actually from Australia but were here visiting or something so why not check out the band, right? Too bad that didn't end up actually happening due to Spenny's antics but I think perhaps the effect had somehow been felt.
The Nuclear Family is a 4-piece garage punk band from Wollongong, Australia. I listened to their EP "Sick Sad World" during lunch at work and my very first thought was 'wow this alot like early Coltranes'. Not like the heavy feedback punk-core they play now, more like the grungy almost goofy basic punk that they try to deny ever existed.
I usually don't do cheesy shit like this but I'm gonna break the cardinal sin of reviewing and go track by track with this bitch. The first song "Videoman" is pretty basic 3-chord punk with a little mid-tempo part in the middle. I listened to it twice because my IT guy at work came to get me and show me a video of his band of old dudes Sounds Kill the first time, but even the second time around it didnt really do much for me but remind me of "Ugly Aldous" or "It Ain't Gravy". "Drown" reminds me of "Bleach"-era Nirvana and I guess its their single because they have a seperate listing on their Bandcamp for it in the Discography section. "Farmer John" is a bit more of a soft-loud plodder with a pretty cool chorus melody that's alot like the Pixies or something like that, maybe even like Silverchair or something, while the vocals are very reminiscent of Thom Yorke's sound in "Creep". Extremely 90s.
"Sally" is, again, very much like early Coltranes both in sound and subject matter. Somewhat threatening but still pretty basic punk riffing, with lyrics of a woman trapped in a basement. This one has female vocals. It opens with bass and ends with a seemingly-tacked-on-for-no-reason circle pit part. Very "Ugly Aldous." The next one "Get To School" is yet more punk-meets-Nirvana that actually also reminds me of another band in the old Coltranes circle, Sketchy D's old band Wretched Philiproy. This sounds alot like "Pills" right down to the strained vocals. This was probably my favorite, although they're all in the same lot. The last song "Intergalactic Fibs" (badass name) has a bit of a different vibe although not far off from the rest. The female vocals are back and more enjoyable. She's not doing some amazing singing or anything but I like her delivery. The music is kinda like The Hives just, you know, grungier.
Overall The Nuclear Family aren't too bad but they aren't too great either and I'm jaded because I'm so painfully familiar with music they sound to be emulating. I don't know if as a family friend Jai did have access to those old demos and early albums I'm talking about or not but the aesthetic is just so similar that it would be a bizarre cosmic coincidence if not. That said, Wretched Philiproy and first-wave Coltranes were both dope as hell and if they are some kind of influence that's what's up. That's cool there's an Australian member of the crew now. They dont play sloppy or anything like The fucking Gravitys, and they have a cool offbeat sense of humor that just feels like stuff from our little group. Plus this is just their first release it looks like, they'll develop a more defined identity as time goes by just like all bands do.
Well there ya go Jai, you asked for it!
Let this be a lesson for the rest of you.
I met this kid last summer at The Dial when my little brothers in The Coltranes were supposed to open up for Griever but Spencer got hammered to beat shit and sort of just lost it instead of playing. The input on his guitar just straight broke off and fell out like innards from a ravaged wolf-eaten corpse so he just started angrily going around the warehouse demanding that someone let him use their guitar. Eventually one of the bro guys who have/had some hand on lease for the warehouse that I never really understood, he loaned Spenny his black metalcore-looking guitar.
Unfortunately, this guitar was in drop-C with a fucking tuning lock on it (I didn't even know that was a thing) because this guitar was metalcore as fuck. The Coltranes play in standard tuning but the dude was like, "well just change'em to C" like drunken Spencer can just transpose his guitar and bass parts to a different key on the spot. To prove how awesome this guitar really was in the hands of a true musician, the dude took it back and wailed out some bitching solo right in Spencer's face. That scene has been seared into my memory for all time because it was so mind-blowingly ludicrous.
It got to the point where this whole fiasco had taken as long as entire punk rock set should take, so they just didn't play. Really that's more punk than playing. I think it was actually Evan who decided fuckit and walked out from behind the drums, livid as shit, because he had had it up to HERE with these Heath-en shenanigans.
The bro-guy realized that Spencer had finally lost it and was like, "You better not drop that guitar...You BETTER not drop that guitar" but Spencer went ahead and dropped the guitar. The dude charged at him but his own bro-friend stopped him before Mark really had to intervene.
("Mark" in this story is Spencer's dad, not Gravity Mark; he doesn't make an appearance in this one...I throw alot of un-contextualized names around and everyone I know is named Kevin Zack Chris Mike or Mark so I understand it can become confusing)
Anyway, this Jai kid was there at the show because his dad is friends with Mark; they're actually from Australia but were here visiting or something so why not check out the band, right? Too bad that didn't end up actually happening due to Spenny's antics but I think perhaps the effect had somehow been felt.
The Nuclear Family is a 4-piece garage punk band from Wollongong, Australia. I listened to their EP "Sick Sad World" during lunch at work and my very first thought was 'wow this alot like early Coltranes'. Not like the heavy feedback punk-core they play now, more like the grungy almost goofy basic punk that they try to deny ever existed.
I usually don't do cheesy shit like this but I'm gonna break the cardinal sin of reviewing and go track by track with this bitch. The first song "Videoman" is pretty basic 3-chord punk with a little mid-tempo part in the middle. I listened to it twice because my IT guy at work came to get me and show me a video of his band of old dudes Sounds Kill the first time, but even the second time around it didnt really do much for me but remind me of "Ugly Aldous" or "It Ain't Gravy". "Drown" reminds me of "Bleach"-era Nirvana and I guess its their single because they have a seperate listing on their Bandcamp for it in the Discography section. "Farmer John" is a bit more of a soft-loud plodder with a pretty cool chorus melody that's alot like the Pixies or something like that, maybe even like Silverchair or something, while the vocals are very reminiscent of Thom Yorke's sound in "Creep". Extremely 90s.
"Sally" is, again, very much like early Coltranes both in sound and subject matter. Somewhat threatening but still pretty basic punk riffing, with lyrics of a woman trapped in a basement. This one has female vocals. It opens with bass and ends with a seemingly-tacked-on-for-no-reason circle pit part. Very "Ugly Aldous." The next one "Get To School" is yet more punk-meets-Nirvana that actually also reminds me of another band in the old Coltranes circle, Sketchy D's old band Wretched Philiproy. This sounds alot like "Pills" right down to the strained vocals. This was probably my favorite, although they're all in the same lot. The last song "Intergalactic Fibs" (badass name) has a bit of a different vibe although not far off from the rest. The female vocals are back and more enjoyable. She's not doing some amazing singing or anything but I like her delivery. The music is kinda like The Hives just, you know, grungier.
Overall The Nuclear Family aren't too bad but they aren't too great either and I'm jaded because I'm so painfully familiar with music they sound to be emulating. I don't know if as a family friend Jai did have access to those old demos and early albums I'm talking about or not but the aesthetic is just so similar that it would be a bizarre cosmic coincidence if not. That said, Wretched Philiproy and first-wave Coltranes were both dope as hell and if they are some kind of influence that's what's up. That's cool there's an Australian member of the crew now. They dont play sloppy or anything like The fucking Gravitys, and they have a cool offbeat sense of humor that just feels like stuff from our little group. Plus this is just their first release it looks like, they'll develop a more defined identity as time goes by just like all bands do.
Well there ya go Jai, you asked for it!
Monday, March 18, 2013
JOKE REVIEW: Pat Butt
The other night I went to my buddy Evan's house and stood around as my friends played beer pong. There was a show at The Dial and some other concert at a wine bar that Skylar's brother was playing music at too, but it was also the Saturday night before St. Patty's. We already knew there was a DUI checkpoint on Ynez (and another one materialized on Jefferson later) so it was probably best for us not to be driving all around to places that require main roads.
Later on in the night I went outside while everyone else was smoking cigarettes because they have this gigantic $200 glass bong I would never buy myself. Mark and I got to shooting the shit and the conversation quickly progressed into an engulfing portion of the night. He had something he just HAD to get off his chest. It was like he was brimming at the edge to tell me this and at first it was difficult to even say the words because he was so excited.
The other day at America's Tires they got a new client, and his name is Pat Butt.
I'm gonna stop right there and give you all some context:
Mark was my nextdoor neighbor when we were growing up and in many ways we're both still kids. Some of you may remember him as the OG drummer for The Gravitys. Sometimes/most of the time our conversations devolve into incomprehensibly childish rants that we will both readily admit are over-the-top stupid as well as fundamentally entertaining.
His sense of humor is gleefully, obstinately, unchangingly juvenile. Toilet humor without any sense of decency or grace. He has a particular fondness for jokes about butts and poop (go for it, Freud) so as soon as he told me that name, I already knew:
Pat Butt is one of the greatest things in Mark's life right now.
He said that he got Mr. Butt's order form for some tires or whatever, and he didn't say a word he just turned around and went into the garage to find Adam to share this newfound golden treasure. It's even spelled B-U-T-T, there's not an E at the end like the city, it's so much funnier that way.
They don't even really have anything much to deal with on this poor bastard's account but his name is goddamn Pat Butt. Mr. Butt. This is a tire place you think the entire garage isn't gonna be clowning on that? This guy has probably had a pretty difficult time with that name his whole life. That's for a different blog.
His wife's name is Bobbi Butt, which is fun phonetically too.
So for the last week or so, all day in there I guess it's all "I'll be right back, gotta deal with that whole Butt situation," and "those Butts, I swear, they're gonna bring this place to its knees" and other Butt-as a person riffs.
For a person who almost/did get expelled (I'm not even sure) for being an unruly teacher-hating bastard who refused to put together paragraphs if there was a gun to his head, Mark's ability to put together very appropriate double entendres on the spot is uncanny. He's a real master of his craft and he's helped me grow in that respect over the years but I still kinda have to think about ones like I wrote above. I can't even emulate that kind of ridiculousness, its a level beyond.
A few days after Mr. Butt came in, proof that there is true greatness in this dark world was manifested unto America's Tires because a man named Peter Wang came into the shop, in need. Admittedly, Wang is is a much more common name so the hilarity has waned significantly since elementary school (shit I went to UC Irvine), but this guy is named Peter as well and if you think there aren't fresh new ways to use a Wang, that Butt really gives you a new avenue.
(You see what I mean about Mark's influence?? -- it's incalculable. Here's one I put some time into but I still don't think its all the way there -- "I feel different about Pat Butt depending on who I'm with. With some people, I dont know, the whole approach, its inappropriate")
After exhausting a wide slew of Butt-Wang combinations and sharing some hearty guffahs, I came upon a revelation: The existence of a Pat Butt entails an entire lineage of Butts. A Butt ancestry. Butts who fought in the Civil War.
Mark's eyes lit up like his world was given a new light; the floodgates were reopened, there was still so much more joy to be had with this ever-giving gift he has been given. It's like a little nerdy kid learning about the extended Star Wars universe. I just hope Mark has more quality work come out of this whole Butt excursion.
I do want to emphasize that both of us are 25-year-old "adults" who spent a significant portion of their Saturday night in a backyard smoking weed and giggling about Farrelly-level butt jokes.
Some things will never change
Overall the whole night was pitted, I didnt play any pong because I am notoriously bad and my partners always get pissed at me. They have the best dogs and they got some badass new boat from like the late 60s that I guess just HAULS. I don't wanna fish but I do wanna go mob around in that thing.
As has become standard, Sarah finally pulled her eyes out of the constant roll they had been in and drove us home as we continued to speculate on different ways this whole Butt situation can further benefit our happiness.
Later on in the night I went outside while everyone else was smoking cigarettes because they have this gigantic $200 glass bong I would never buy myself. Mark and I got to shooting the shit and the conversation quickly progressed into an engulfing portion of the night. He had something he just HAD to get off his chest. It was like he was brimming at the edge to tell me this and at first it was difficult to even say the words because he was so excited.
The other day at America's Tires they got a new client, and his name is Pat Butt.
I'm gonna stop right there and give you all some context:
Mark was my nextdoor neighbor when we were growing up and in many ways we're both still kids. Some of you may remember him as the OG drummer for The Gravitys. Sometimes/most of the time our conversations devolve into incomprehensibly childish rants that we will both readily admit are over-the-top stupid as well as fundamentally entertaining.
His sense of humor is gleefully, obstinately, unchangingly juvenile. Toilet humor without any sense of decency or grace. He has a particular fondness for jokes about butts and poop (go for it, Freud) so as soon as he told me that name, I already knew:
Pat Butt is one of the greatest things in Mark's life right now.
He said that he got Mr. Butt's order form for some tires or whatever, and he didn't say a word he just turned around and went into the garage to find Adam to share this newfound golden treasure. It's even spelled B-U-T-T, there's not an E at the end like the city, it's so much funnier that way.
They don't even really have anything much to deal with on this poor bastard's account but his name is goddamn Pat Butt. Mr. Butt. This is a tire place you think the entire garage isn't gonna be clowning on that? This guy has probably had a pretty difficult time with that name his whole life. That's for a different blog.
His wife's name is Bobbi Butt, which is fun phonetically too.
So for the last week or so, all day in there I guess it's all "I'll be right back, gotta deal with that whole Butt situation," and "those Butts, I swear, they're gonna bring this place to its knees" and other Butt-as a person riffs.
For a person who almost/did get expelled (I'm not even sure) for being an unruly teacher-hating bastard who refused to put together paragraphs if there was a gun to his head, Mark's ability to put together very appropriate double entendres on the spot is uncanny. He's a real master of his craft and he's helped me grow in that respect over the years but I still kinda have to think about ones like I wrote above. I can't even emulate that kind of ridiculousness, its a level beyond.
A few days after Mr. Butt came in, proof that there is true greatness in this dark world was manifested unto America's Tires because a man named Peter Wang came into the shop, in need. Admittedly, Wang is is a much more common name so the hilarity has waned significantly since elementary school (shit I went to UC Irvine), but this guy is named Peter as well and if you think there aren't fresh new ways to use a Wang, that Butt really gives you a new avenue.
(You see what I mean about Mark's influence?? -- it's incalculable. Here's one I put some time into but I still don't think its all the way there -- "I feel different about Pat Butt depending on who I'm with. With some people, I dont know, the whole approach, its inappropriate")
After exhausting a wide slew of Butt-Wang combinations and sharing some hearty guffahs, I came upon a revelation: The existence of a Pat Butt entails an entire lineage of Butts. A Butt ancestry. Butts who fought in the Civil War.
Mark's eyes lit up like his world was given a new light; the floodgates were reopened, there was still so much more joy to be had with this ever-giving gift he has been given. It's like a little nerdy kid learning about the extended Star Wars universe. I just hope Mark has more quality work come out of this whole Butt excursion.
I do want to emphasize that both of us are 25-year-old "adults" who spent a significant portion of their Saturday night in a backyard smoking weed and giggling about Farrelly-level butt jokes.
Some things will never change
Overall the whole night was pitted, I didnt play any pong because I am notoriously bad and my partners always get pissed at me. They have the best dogs and they got some badass new boat from like the late 60s that I guess just HAULS. I don't wanna fish but I do wanna go mob around in that thing.
As has become standard, Sarah finally pulled her eyes out of the constant roll they had been in and drove us home as we continued to speculate on different ways this whole Butt situation can further benefit our happiness.
Friday, March 15, 2013
BAND REVIEW: Ground Up
Ground Up was started in February or March of 2007. Our original
singer/bandleader “Big” Chris Gutierrez had written a few songs, namely the
song that became “Pushing Forward” and wanted to get something going. To be
honest, part of what gave us an initial boost was an upcoming ‘battle of the
bands’ type deal at the local high school. TVHS was having some sort of band
war and Chris wanted us to be part of it so me and Skylar learned his song
right quick. But before we knew it, however, the deadline for entry was passed,
so what’s the point?
Chris kinda left the field after that, but me and Skylar had realized
that there was something worth working with here. Although the type of music we
were playing – straight-ahead modern hardcore without obvious punk OR metal
influences – wasn’t exactly what I was about at the time, it was a lot of fun
and it felt like we were making something really energetic and worth the time.
As that time went on, I became a major fan and somewhat of a defender of the
classic hardcore sound we were going for and I also kind of walked away from
some of the anarcho/mainstream type stuff I had been into previously. We played almost every night, at Skylar’s parents house until the cops
made it a point that we couldn’t anymore, and then at his older brother’s
secluded hill-pad in Wildomar where we could play as loud and late as we
wanted. Within a few weeks we had some badass songs written between the two of
us, but I couldn’t do vocals while playing hardcore guitar. I can sing while I
strum regular chords, but I can’t scream while I chugadun power chords. You
gotta know your limits.
For the most part Skylar wrote all the music for Ground Up although he couldn't play a lick of guitar at first. He learned things over time, the way I can rudimentally play a few convincing beats on drums, but mainly he would verbalize what he wanted and we'd piece it together. "Be like shun dun, dun dun dun, shugadun dun wah rickita rickita peeewww".
On the other hand, his vision for what the vocals should be was extremely vague but I understood what he meant and pretty much handled that department. My aim was actually to make the most basic, to-the-point, almost intentionally boneheaded lyrics I could make so that our friends can relate to us, while still slipping in little messages about doing things for yourself and not relying on the world around you to establish your goals.
"If we don't do this, it won't get done. We've got to build this from the Ground Up."
The hardcore scene around us at the time was married to the heavy metal scene and so commercial and merched out and we just didn't identify. Skylar's fucking main influences are Terror and Comeback Kid but he hates on "mainstream" stuff even more than I do. We were so DIY about everything we did that we didn't wanna do shows we didn't set up ourselves or really work with anyone else who was trying to help us even a little bit.
We were exactly like the elitist hipster bastards that I have always hated.
For the most part Skylar wrote all the music for Ground Up although he couldn't play a lick of guitar at first. He learned things over time, the way I can rudimentally play a few convincing beats on drums, but mainly he would verbalize what he wanted and we'd piece it together. "Be like shun dun, dun dun dun, shugadun dun wah rickita rickita peeewww".
On the other hand, his vision for what the vocals should be was extremely vague but I understood what he meant and pretty much handled that department. My aim was actually to make the most basic, to-the-point, almost intentionally boneheaded lyrics I could make so that our friends can relate to us, while still slipping in little messages about doing things for yourself and not relying on the world around you to establish your goals.
"If we don't do this, it won't get done. We've got to build this from the Ground Up."
The hardcore scene around us at the time was married to the heavy metal scene and so commercial and merched out and we just didn't identify. Skylar's fucking main influences are Terror and Comeback Kid but he hates on "mainstream" stuff even more than I do. We were so DIY about everything we did that we didn't wanna do shows we didn't set up ourselves or really work with anyone else who was trying to help us even a little bit.
We were exactly like the elitist hipster bastards that I have always hated.
Our search for a vocalist was ultimately what limited us. We were never
satisfied with the death-growls that 2007-era “hardcore” kids were trying to
emulate because we didn’t want to be a fucking deathcore band, but none of our
actual friends were into hardcore AT ALL, so those were the only kids to try
out. We recorded a few demos on cassette tape with myself doing spoken-word vocals
that now sound ridiculous because I was so lax about my delivery, but for most of 2007 we had no recordings of our dope shit.
Eventually our friend Thomas came into the picture and was doing vocals
the way we liked it. He introduced us to his buddy Jordan, who learned the
songs on bass and we got amped on playing our first show. Our friend Nicole
said we could play at her larger-than-average estate and we booked our punk
friends Kirby and The Hellraisers, our indie friends Wretched Philiproy, and
our hardcore friends Hellbent to play the show with us. Unfortunately, that
night there was a pretty relentless rainstorm that forced us into the garage
instead of the backyard where people could dance, but it was a lot of fun
nonetheless.
That turned out to be our first and last show. We recorded 4 tracks at
some quasi-producer’s garage-studio in Oceanside a few weeks later and soon
dissolved. Thomas and Jordan wanted to play metal, me and Skylar wanted to play
hardcore. At the time I was also going to school in Irvine so it just became
impossible to practice consistently, especially given our stylistic
differences. Those times are done.
Looking back, I’m happy that we were always true to our vision of the
music that we played, even if we did isolate ourselves from the “scene” around
us. We imbued our music with messages that we truly identified with, and we
made songs that 5 years later I still bounce to. A lot of people make music so
other people will like it, but we made music that we liked. This is for us, not
for you. And if you like it, thanks. If not, thanks.
Monday, March 11, 2013
PRODUCT REVIEW: Armour "Lunch Makers - Turkey Cracker Crunchers"
WinCo has a knock-off brand of Lunchables for like .60 cents right now and I honestly think this had more food in it than a normal Lunchable.They have Butterfingers and everything.
There were "pizza" varieties but I never liked that.
Don't fuck around with no name-brand shit, if you're looking for a quick, portable, extremely bad-for-you, almost-devoid-of-nutrition thing to fill your stomach really quick, this is a very obvious option.
"Bread", "meat", "cheese", "dessert."
Don't even give me that look, like your life is so much better.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
NIGHT REVIEW: The Dial and Pechanga, February 15 2013
I can't really remember much about my day at work prior to going out but from the looks of my Lead Form I sent a lady named Snaigoule through. I'll tell you what, that doesn't happen every day.
There was a show at The Dial with Indian Taker, Throne, Missive, Black Panther, and Ocean Man. I lagged in really putting in the effort to find a ride and then when I did get picked up by friends Kate and Sara it was even later than my initial lag. Ocean Man and Throne had already played when we arrived; I saw Ocean Man (and reviewed them) not too long before this and Throne wasnt really my thing upon my initial listen to them online so I wasn't totally tripping. I would have LIKED to see them both but Missive was actually the band I liked most from this lineup. I wanted to see them.
Black Panther was the band setting up as we got there and although I thought I had already seen them before I think I was mixing them up with a different band. They were solid as fuck, I really enjoyed their set and was like, impressed...But I'm not even going to lie to you I can't remember a goddamn thing about that set. I think the singer guy had like a beanie on. They play indie-pop-punk type stuff. I had intentions of listening to their EP again (which I've heard before and is on my iTunes but it never comes up on shuffle = I never hear it) just so I could describe their sound a bit better but I just said fuckit. That wouldn't be genuine that would be me trying.
Before the show, when I had been calling around for a ride, I learned that Mark and Sarah were gonna be going to Pechanga after she got off work. I haven't been seeing alot of my friends from that crew too often lately so I told them to come pick me up at the warehouse when they were on their way out; I didn't expect they would be so quick though, they were calling me from the parking lot like right as Missive was starting. When I had talked to Sarah she was still working but she arrived alone because Mark was still pounding whiskey and was gonna come with the homeboys. I think she just came straight from work.
It was odd leaving a show after only seeing one band, and missing out on the main one I had come to see, but it seems like I am CONSTANTLY at shows and rarely with my outside-show friends and sometimes I can just hear their disappointment when I'm like, "Well, there's a show at The Dial tonight...." when I haven't seen them in weeks/months but I act like there's something better going on...So I just fuck it, Imma go to Pechanga with the homies.
I'm not a gambler, not in the least, but I am a drinker and its fun to stumble around that bright, smoky campus of a place with the buddies. Maybe its because I don't have inclinations towards randomly losing every single dollar that I have, I usually have a good time at Pechanga. I'm mainly there to watch the misery of others unfold.
Sarah & I went to the food court so I could get the biggest slice of cheese pizza I've ever eaten and wait for the homeboys. This weird dreadlocked tweaker-looking guy walked past while I was eating and I guess he had been seated at the table behind me just staring her down with MAX creepitude. I had been blathering on about the advertisement in front of me for 70's-prog band Yes's upcoming performance so I didn't even notice her dismay until the subsequent relief when he left made it apparent.
The brothers still hadn't arrived when I was done eating so just went to the Round Bar. I got a beer and we went to some couch on the second level; almost immediately as we sat down we saw everybody mobbing up to the bar. It was cool cuz I hadn't seen Chris Hellraiser in a good minute, we caught up a little.
Mike Hunt(er) was still talking shit on my exaggerated assertion from a few nights back that "I don't like movies"; as evidenced by pretty much everything I've ever posted on this very blog, clearly I SAY ALOT OF THINGS. MAINLY TALKING SHIT FOR GIGGLES. Take it with a grain of salt, maybe a pound of rice. But he just can't get that particular gem, and the last couple times we've kicked it he spends half our time together spewing out infuriated rhetoricals like "Who doesn't like movies??"/"How could you not like movies?"
You would think, there are only so many variations on that general theme; but he sure seems to keep'em coming.
Adam was, of course, nervously talking about hitting on all the most inaccessibly attractive women there, but I don't think he ever actually did because we were all making fun of his various recent mishaps and failings. As much as we clown on Adam's propensity for awkward, obvious rejection, at least the homeboy is trying. That's more than I can say for my goddamn self. Maybe if I foolishly went and made a jackass of myself and actually TALKED to a random girl I would learn how to not be such a C-grade Scooby.
Maybe.
After shooting the shit over a couple of beers we decided to actually hit the slots and lose some money. As we went down the stairs we saw some old Asian dude, just passed THE FUCK out on the couch behind ours. Glory. It's stuff like that that make casino trips worthwhile.
People-watching in the dregs. Miserable, self-eluding "adults," wallowing in loss and waste. Being surrounded by non-stop, almost abrasive sound and light. Drunken seniors who don't speak the same language as me so we communicate spatial discrepancies through physical language.
Prince and Collective Soul on the building-wide radio, CONSTANTLY.
It's just fucking dopeness all around.
My grandfather George, who my entire extended family says I am exactly like, right down to our weird-ass sense of humor and the way we walk with our feet pointed outwards, he was a gambling addict and that was his major malfunction. He gambled the house my dad grew up in away, back in Ohio, thats why my family moved to California.
Suffice it to say, despite my various other vices I have never found gambling to be attractive in the least. I'll follow my buddies around as they lose dozens of dollars in moments and I just don't get it at all. What is the allure? Ive heard stories, but in all my years as a general accomplice to minor debauchery I have never seen ANYONE win anything justifiable of the losses. Moral losses sometimes. I just don't get it at all.
Sometimes when KP was still in town he would give me like $2 to lose at the penny slots; so I don't feel like I am COMPLETELY out of place and needlessly here. He's still in Arizona right now though so I swallowed $2 of my own.
I played my first dollar at some game that was like, frog-based or something. All the games are exactly the same but they have different cartoons on them to attract you. It's like fucking Chuck E Cheese. Usually, with KP's money, my games would go by in like 30 seconds and totally justify all the shit I had been talking to my asshole friends. This time, however, I sat at this fucking frog game for like half an hour, just pushing "2 lines 5 credits"/"1 line 1 credit"/"5 lines 1 credit" etc in random, un-strategized procession. I don't know what any of that shit means. My score just continued going up in down in random variables that I totally didn't understand but I never did go over the $2 mark. Eventually the inevitable happened and all my credits were gone.
I moved on to a different, non-frog-themed game, but I was very underwhelmed and I lost my dollar way more quickly. I don't understand how these games work and it's like, not even fun. It like weed vs cigarettes. That shit doesn't even get me high. If I'm gonna spend $1 on some goddamn video game I would rather play "Tekken" and have some fun.
Pretty much as soon as that second game was ending Mark was calling me to find out where I was. I had just kinda wandered off on my own but I don't know my way around Pechanga without a seeing-eye friend so I just described the stuff around me and they came to get me.
Me and Mark stumbled back to the car, with Sarah as patient and silently annoyed as ever, and we talked shit on everyone we know while remarking how dope we ourselves are on the ride home.
There was a show at The Dial with Indian Taker, Throne, Missive, Black Panther, and Ocean Man. I lagged in really putting in the effort to find a ride and then when I did get picked up by friends Kate and Sara it was even later than my initial lag. Ocean Man and Throne had already played when we arrived; I saw Ocean Man (and reviewed them) not too long before this and Throne wasnt really my thing upon my initial listen to them online so I wasn't totally tripping. I would have LIKED to see them both but Missive was actually the band I liked most from this lineup. I wanted to see them.
Black Panther was the band setting up as we got there and although I thought I had already seen them before I think I was mixing them up with a different band. They were solid as fuck, I really enjoyed their set and was like, impressed...But I'm not even going to lie to you I can't remember a goddamn thing about that set. I think the singer guy had like a beanie on. They play indie-pop-punk type stuff. I had intentions of listening to their EP again (which I've heard before and is on my iTunes but it never comes up on shuffle = I never hear it) just so I could describe their sound a bit better but I just said fuckit. That wouldn't be genuine that would be me trying.
Before the show, when I had been calling around for a ride, I learned that Mark and Sarah were gonna be going to Pechanga after she got off work. I haven't been seeing alot of my friends from that crew too often lately so I told them to come pick me up at the warehouse when they were on their way out; I didn't expect they would be so quick though, they were calling me from the parking lot like right as Missive was starting. When I had talked to Sarah she was still working but she arrived alone because Mark was still pounding whiskey and was gonna come with the homeboys. I think she just came straight from work.
It was odd leaving a show after only seeing one band, and missing out on the main one I had come to see, but it seems like I am CONSTANTLY at shows and rarely with my outside-show friends and sometimes I can just hear their disappointment when I'm like, "Well, there's a show at The Dial tonight...." when I haven't seen them in weeks/months but I act like there's something better going on...So I just fuck it, Imma go to Pechanga with the homies.
I'm not a gambler, not in the least, but I am a drinker and its fun to stumble around that bright, smoky campus of a place with the buddies. Maybe its because I don't have inclinations towards randomly losing every single dollar that I have, I usually have a good time at Pechanga. I'm mainly there to watch the misery of others unfold.
Sarah & I went to the food court so I could get the biggest slice of cheese pizza I've ever eaten and wait for the homeboys. This weird dreadlocked tweaker-looking guy walked past while I was eating and I guess he had been seated at the table behind me just staring her down with MAX creepitude. I had been blathering on about the advertisement in front of me for 70's-prog band Yes's upcoming performance so I didn't even notice her dismay until the subsequent relief when he left made it apparent.
The brothers still hadn't arrived when I was done eating so just went to the Round Bar. I got a beer and we went to some couch on the second level; almost immediately as we sat down we saw everybody mobbing up to the bar. It was cool cuz I hadn't seen Chris Hellraiser in a good minute, we caught up a little.
Mike Hunt(er) was still talking shit on my exaggerated assertion from a few nights back that "I don't like movies"; as evidenced by pretty much everything I've ever posted on this very blog, clearly I SAY ALOT OF THINGS. MAINLY TALKING SHIT FOR GIGGLES. Take it with a grain of salt, maybe a pound of rice. But he just can't get that particular gem, and the last couple times we've kicked it he spends half our time together spewing out infuriated rhetoricals like "Who doesn't like movies??"/"How could you not like movies?"
You would think, there are only so many variations on that general theme; but he sure seems to keep'em coming.
Adam was, of course, nervously talking about hitting on all the most inaccessibly attractive women there, but I don't think he ever actually did because we were all making fun of his various recent mishaps and failings. As much as we clown on Adam's propensity for awkward, obvious rejection, at least the homeboy is trying. That's more than I can say for my goddamn self. Maybe if I foolishly went and made a jackass of myself and actually TALKED to a random girl I would learn how to not be such a C-grade Scooby.
Maybe.
After shooting the shit over a couple of beers we decided to actually hit the slots and lose some money. As we went down the stairs we saw some old Asian dude, just passed THE FUCK out on the couch behind ours. Glory. It's stuff like that that make casino trips worthwhile.
People-watching in the dregs. Miserable, self-eluding "adults," wallowing in loss and waste. Being surrounded by non-stop, almost abrasive sound and light. Drunken seniors who don't speak the same language as me so we communicate spatial discrepancies through physical language.
Prince and Collective Soul on the building-wide radio, CONSTANTLY.
It's just fucking dopeness all around.
My grandfather George, who my entire extended family says I am exactly like, right down to our weird-ass sense of humor and the way we walk with our feet pointed outwards, he was a gambling addict and that was his major malfunction. He gambled the house my dad grew up in away, back in Ohio, thats why my family moved to California.
Suffice it to say, despite my various other vices I have never found gambling to be attractive in the least. I'll follow my buddies around as they lose dozens of dollars in moments and I just don't get it at all. What is the allure? Ive heard stories, but in all my years as a general accomplice to minor debauchery I have never seen ANYONE win anything justifiable of the losses. Moral losses sometimes. I just don't get it at all.
Sometimes when KP was still in town he would give me like $2 to lose at the penny slots; so I don't feel like I am COMPLETELY out of place and needlessly here. He's still in Arizona right now though so I swallowed $2 of my own.
I played my first dollar at some game that was like, frog-based or something. All the games are exactly the same but they have different cartoons on them to attract you. It's like fucking Chuck E Cheese. Usually, with KP's money, my games would go by in like 30 seconds and totally justify all the shit I had been talking to my asshole friends. This time, however, I sat at this fucking frog game for like half an hour, just pushing "2 lines 5 credits"/"1 line 1 credit"/"5 lines 1 credit" etc in random, un-strategized procession. I don't know what any of that shit means. My score just continued going up in down in random variables that I totally didn't understand but I never did go over the $2 mark. Eventually the inevitable happened and all my credits were gone.
I moved on to a different, non-frog-themed game, but I was very underwhelmed and I lost my dollar way more quickly. I don't understand how these games work and it's like, not even fun. It like weed vs cigarettes. That shit doesn't even get me high. If I'm gonna spend $1 on some goddamn video game I would rather play "Tekken" and have some fun.
Pretty much as soon as that second game was ending Mark was calling me to find out where I was. I had just kinda wandered off on my own but I don't know my way around Pechanga without a seeing-eye friend so I just described the stuff around me and they came to get me.
Me and Mark stumbled back to the car, with Sarah as patient and silently annoyed as ever, and we talked shit on everyone we know while remarking how dope we ourselves are on the ride home.
Monday, March 4, 2013
PRODUCT REVIEW: Starbust Morphs fruit chew candies
These Starburst Morphs are more like combos of different flavors than
actual 'morphs', like, i thought the whole selling point was that they
changed from cherry flavor into lime flavor, not that they were cherry
and lime at the same time...honestly its not even the taste of the candy
that im upset with, the candy itself is just fine, its the
misrepresentation of what i believed i was going to get, based on what
the product itself is called, that really disappoints and somewhat
peturbs me
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Playlist for February 2013
This is a list of all the albums, EPs, demos, etc that I listened to in their entirety during the month of February 2013. Afterward are my general notes and a list of the live performances I saw as well. This month kind of sucked.
2/1/13
Baptists - S/T EP
2/5/13
Spectre - 4-song demo CD
The Carrier - "One Year Later"
2/6/13
The Gravitys - "Unplugged in Murrieta" EP
2/7/13
Air - "Moon Safari"
2/8/13
Robin Trower - "Essential"
Ruptures - "Milkbled" EP
2/9/13
Uniform Choice - "Original Demo"
2/10/13
Funkadelic - "America Eats Its Children"
Hatebreed - "Supremacy"
P.O.S. - "Skate Slam Jam" EP
New Found Glory - "It's All About The Girls" EP
When Air Turns To Water - "Tell Better Stories"
Ink - "Where the Sidewalk Ends"
The Secret Plot To Destroy The Entire Universe - "I Only Miss You When I Want To"
Missive - "Not A Minute Goes By" EP
2/11/13
Bright Eyes/Neva Dinova - split EP
Indian Taker/Shortcuts - split EP
Haste The Day - "Pressure the Hinges"
Crude Dudes - "Demo 13"
Bad Religion - "New Maps of Hell"
2/12/13
Malthus Markheim - "How To Destroy Your Brain (Using Only Your Brain)" EP
2/13/13
Pulley - "60 Cycle Hum"
2/14/13
Globe & Beast - "Tides" EP
Ultravox - "The Voice: The Best Of"
2/15/13
Opeth - "Deliverance"
Throne - S/T
2/16/13
The Gravitys - "Bring You Down"
100deadrabbits - "Teeth" EP
2/17/13
Martyr A.D. - "On Earth As It Is In Hell"
Vision Of Disorder - "For The Bleeders"
Alan Jackson - "Mercury Blues" CD single
V/A - "DJ Encore presents Ultra Dance 02.2 - Underground"
Queens Of The Stone Age - "Songs for the Deaf"
2/18/13
Ben Folds Five - "Whatever and Ever Amen"
Zoology - S/T EP
The Bronx - S/T 2006 LP
Environmental Youth Crunch - "We Live To Smush the Family of Bush" EP
2/20/13
Oh, The Story! - "Grow Wings and Sing" EP
Brightside Drive - "Transitions" EP
Memento Mori - "Summer 2012 Demo"
Ezra - "Today I Saw It In Us"
Vlad Voorhees' Wallachian Nightmare - "Illegally Alive!"
Caulfield - 5-song cassette
Artist Vs. Poet - S/T EP
2/21/13
Farabee - "Welcome To The Underleagues"
Fever Dreams - "As Above, So Below"
2/23/13
The Exploited - "Singles Collection"
Led Zeppelin - "IV"
Queensryche - "Operation: Mindcrime"
The Jam - "All Mod Cons"
2/24/13
Casey Jones - "The Messenger"
Steve Miller Band - "Greatest Hits 1974-1978"
The Eagles - "Greatest Hits Vol. 2"
V/A - "Now! That's What I Call Music Vol. 32"
2/25/13
V/A - "Sounds of the Eighties, The Rolling Stone Collection: 1980-1981"
Hoobastank - S/T
Eric Henderson - "My Favorites"
R. Kelly & Celine Dion - "I'm Your Angel" CD single
2/26/13
Bad Company - "10 From 6"
Berlin - "Pleasure Victim"
The Fixx - "Greatest Hits"
Linkin Park - "Hybrid Theory"
2/27/13
Elton John - "Greatest Hits Vol III 1979-1987"
The Gravitys - "Unplugged in Murrieta" EP
Ground Up - 2008 demo
Melting Corpse - "Ramirez" demo
2/28/13
Depeche Mode - "Playing the Angel"
Alice Cooper - "Love It To Death"
NOTES:
- Does the band P.O.S. know about the hip hop artist P.O.S.? From Doomtree? He's fairly well established and did the Warped Tour one time its not like he'd be invisible to the casual punk music enthusiast...It always flabbergasts me when bands like, didn't do a quick Google search of their name before going with that, you're gonna have to change that shit eventually I'd imagine...And then there's Pain Of Salvation in the metal world who are sometimes referred to as POS....Like, I don't know, I can't get past the name and the EP is mediocre Nardcore-type skate-thrash-punk that didn't really do much for me anyway.
- The Secret Plot's new album is my favorite of the new year so far, I really wish I hadn't missed them play at The Dial
- CD singles
- I took a pile of CDs I had never listened to before from the Heath house towards the end of the month that I'm still working through so you can blame the Hoobastank and the Linkin Park on them
- The second half of that Depeche Mode CD SUCKS
- This whole playlist is pretty marginal I didnt really listen to too much dope shit this month
Live Shows:
2/15/13 - Black Panther @ The Dial
2/16/13 - The Daisycutters REUNION SHOW/Dudes/(The Gravitys)/Leftmore @ The Dial
2/19/13 - (end of the summer)/Hear The Sirens/Farabee/Welcome To Now @ The Dial
2/22/13 - Drew Nsomnia/(Ian C.)/Ink @ The Dial Night Of Words
2/23/13 - Fever Dreams/The Coltranes/Globe & Beast/Apathean/Ezra/Hands That Mold @ The Dial
2/1/13
Baptists - S/T EP
2/5/13
Spectre - 4-song demo CD
The Carrier - "One Year Later"
2/6/13
The Gravitys - "Unplugged in Murrieta" EP
2/7/13
Air - "Moon Safari"
2/8/13
Robin Trower - "Essential"
Ruptures - "Milkbled" EP
2/9/13
Uniform Choice - "Original Demo"
2/10/13
Funkadelic - "America Eats Its Children"
Hatebreed - "Supremacy"
P.O.S. - "Skate Slam Jam" EP
New Found Glory - "It's All About The Girls" EP
When Air Turns To Water - "Tell Better Stories"
Ink - "Where the Sidewalk Ends"
The Secret Plot To Destroy The Entire Universe - "I Only Miss You When I Want To"
Missive - "Not A Minute Goes By" EP
2/11/13
Bright Eyes/Neva Dinova - split EP
Indian Taker/Shortcuts - split EP
Haste The Day - "Pressure the Hinges"
Crude Dudes - "Demo 13"
Bad Religion - "New Maps of Hell"
2/12/13
Malthus Markheim - "How To Destroy Your Brain (Using Only Your Brain)" EP
2/13/13
Pulley - "60 Cycle Hum"
2/14/13
Globe & Beast - "Tides" EP
Ultravox - "The Voice: The Best Of"
2/15/13
Opeth - "Deliverance"
Throne - S/T
2/16/13
The Gravitys - "Bring You Down"
100deadrabbits - "Teeth" EP
2/17/13
Martyr A.D. - "On Earth As It Is In Hell"
Vision Of Disorder - "For The Bleeders"
Alan Jackson - "Mercury Blues" CD single
V/A - "DJ Encore presents Ultra Dance 02.2 - Underground"
Queens Of The Stone Age - "Songs for the Deaf"
2/18/13
Ben Folds Five - "Whatever and Ever Amen"
Zoology - S/T EP
The Bronx - S/T 2006 LP
Environmental Youth Crunch - "We Live To Smush the Family of Bush" EP
2/20/13
Oh, The Story! - "Grow Wings and Sing" EP
Brightside Drive - "Transitions" EP
Memento Mori - "Summer 2012 Demo"
Ezra - "Today I Saw It In Us"
Vlad Voorhees' Wallachian Nightmare - "Illegally Alive!"
Caulfield - 5-song cassette
Artist Vs. Poet - S/T EP
2/21/13
Farabee - "Welcome To The Underleagues"
Fever Dreams - "As Above, So Below"
2/23/13
The Exploited - "Singles Collection"
Led Zeppelin - "IV"
Queensryche - "Operation: Mindcrime"
The Jam - "All Mod Cons"
2/24/13
Casey Jones - "The Messenger"
Steve Miller Band - "Greatest Hits 1974-1978"
The Eagles - "Greatest Hits Vol. 2"
V/A - "Now! That's What I Call Music Vol. 32"
2/25/13
V/A - "Sounds of the Eighties, The Rolling Stone Collection: 1980-1981"
Hoobastank - S/T
Eric Henderson - "My Favorites"
R. Kelly & Celine Dion - "I'm Your Angel" CD single
2/26/13
Bad Company - "10 From 6"
Berlin - "Pleasure Victim"
The Fixx - "Greatest Hits"
Linkin Park - "Hybrid Theory"
2/27/13
Elton John - "Greatest Hits Vol III 1979-1987"
The Gravitys - "Unplugged in Murrieta" EP
Ground Up - 2008 demo
Melting Corpse - "Ramirez" demo
2/28/13
Depeche Mode - "Playing the Angel"
Alice Cooper - "Love It To Death"
NOTES:
- Does the band P.O.S. know about the hip hop artist P.O.S.? From Doomtree? He's fairly well established and did the Warped Tour one time its not like he'd be invisible to the casual punk music enthusiast...It always flabbergasts me when bands like, didn't do a quick Google search of their name before going with that, you're gonna have to change that shit eventually I'd imagine...And then there's Pain Of Salvation in the metal world who are sometimes referred to as POS....Like, I don't know, I can't get past the name and the EP is mediocre Nardcore-type skate-thrash-punk that didn't really do much for me anyway.
- The Secret Plot's new album is my favorite of the new year so far, I really wish I hadn't missed them play at The Dial
- CD singles
- I took a pile of CDs I had never listened to before from the Heath house towards the end of the month that I'm still working through so you can blame the Hoobastank and the Linkin Park on them
- The second half of that Depeche Mode CD SUCKS
- This whole playlist is pretty marginal I didnt really listen to too much dope shit this month
Live Shows:
2/15/13 - Black Panther @ The Dial
2/16/13 - The Daisycutters REUNION SHOW/Dudes/(The Gravitys)/Leftmore @ The Dial
2/19/13 - (end of the summer)/Hear The Sirens/Farabee/Welcome To Now @ The Dial
2/22/13 - Drew Nsomnia/(Ian C.)/Ink @ The Dial Night Of Words
2/23/13 - Fever Dreams/The Coltranes/Globe & Beast/Apathean/Ezra/Hands That Mold @ The Dial
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)