Reviews...

Basement boys. 4 song demo. 3 original songs. 1 cover. Best demo I've heard all year. There are a lot of oi! elements but there is a bit of harder punk thrown in as well. Very cool. "You're a saggy tit" is, by far, the best song on here, very melodic and memorable. Musically, it reminds me of something from OC circa 1981. Excellent band. Order this demo. I'm thrilled that there is a new local band that has quality music that isn't just songs based around some "super brutal heavy moss part bro" bullshit. Anyways, excellent demo.

Rev...

Recently I was discussing the merits of all the fantastic mid 90s punk bands. Said friend recommended the Ten Foot Pole record called "Rev". I finally tracked it down today. Man, I'm kicking myself for not discovering this one sooner. I loved this style so I'm lost as to why I overlooked this one. I know I have even seen this band a few times. Great melodic and fast punk band featuring Scott Radinszky of some major league baseball team. Also singer of great 80s hardcore band Scared Straight. Anyways, every song on this is great, completely creative and packed with memorable hooks. A+++
There are some shows coming up, each one filled with all the same bands that play every show around here for the last couple of years. So much for anything new, right?
I saw a kid skate into the road this morning and he was nearly leveled by a bus. He had an Adolescents shirt on and I thought that was pretty cool.
Breakfast today was good.

Exploding Head...

I meet people who have been into hardcore for years, like 5 or 6 years, and they have never hear bands like the Circle Jerks or Blitz or NOTA or Agent Orange or Adolescents or Government Issue. Shit! I remember buying every punk and hardcore related item that I could find, trying to hear as much of everything that I could. Now it seems like not a whole lot of people care about that stuff. Just download the shitty Bridge 9 back catalogue and you are set. You are a hardcore all star now! Idiot. Next topic...
At that endless summer jam show aka show with at least 7 or 8 too many bands, I heard someone make fun of some young guy because he wasn't dressed to fit the current lame hxc dress code. Perhaps its time to check out when the sheep are more concerned about what people are wearing at shows instead of wondering why the music isn't that good. Oddly enough, when I got into this whole mess, it was about doing your own things and getting away from the highschool douchebags. Now its about being the highschool douchebags. Imagine this... You are in school. You are pretty much a loser, no friends, etc. But you find punk and its filled with cool people just like yourself. You think, "hey I like it here, people are just like me here". So you stay. You get some friends. You see some bands. You travel around a bit. Hell, you might even meet a girl. Then you get an ego. You start thinking you are much cooler than you actually are. You start to judge people and look down on people who you don't think are cool enough for your hxc hipster crowd. Imagine that... the guy who got into punk and hxc to get away from that type of people because honestly you were never cool enough to hang with them but now you act exactly like them. The joke's on YOU!!!

The Heat Factor...

I have this friend. He has worked at various cleveland area show venues over the last 10 or so years. I asked him, "what's the shadiest thing that goes on at those places?". His reply... "Man, the heat. They always wanted the heat on, get the place all nice and warm. Then everyone shows up and the temperature triples. People are getting all worked up over bands, you know, getting all sweaty. Of course they are going to get thirsty. Not everyone drinks or is even old enough to drink, right? So the place would be blazing hot and we would sell water! Cups or bottles of water, $1, $2, whatever. At the end of the night we would literally have piles of money from people buying water, people paying $2 for something that was free at the sink in the bathroom. About an hour before a show, we would turn the heat up, even in the summer. Of course it was shady but from a business standpoint, it was genious.".
:)

Dun Dun... We're Back!

I thought no one read this but over the months that I have not posted anything new, I have received random emails and messages requesting new posts. So here we go...
Ninety seven percent of current bands are just a poor imitation of something from the past. There are record upon record of worthless music that is tuneless garbage. There is nothing memorable about any of it besides how shockingly average it is.
Another joke... Bands that have more shirt designs than they have songs.
Yet another joke... Touring bands who whine and cry their way onto shows. Maybe there is a reason that said bands were not asked to play shows? Shall I list bands... The Pledge comes to mind. Or the endless stream of bands that get added to shows last minute. Booooooring. People learn to use the word "NO". Example:
Band X: yo, my band has a demo and 9 shirt designs. Can we get on this show you are doing? Please. Listen, I know we are really bad but we really want to play your show and kill the energy and annoy everyone who came to see good music.
Dude Putting On The Show: No! See, its as easy as that! Now get to work show promoters!
A lot of people will criticize everything that they are not a part of.
A lot of people wish they were like the people they hide behind.
Fireworks at shows is not new, is not innovative or exciting. People condemn people who throw fireworks but then throw lumber at people? The world is confused, I think.
Keep trying son, you will get you hxc fame anyday now.

Unquestionable Presence...

I was lucky to get into non crappy music at a very very very very young age. And additional circumstances allowed me to be able to see a lot of these bands. There was one band that I loved that all my friend always made fun of me for. Atheist. Yes, the very talented Florida Death Metal band. A lot of people didn't like that band too much because they just weren't "brutal" enough. Why listen to Atheist when Obituary, Autopsy, Entombed or Massacre records were much harder? Whatever. I loved Atheist. So, eventually, Atheist was playing around me and I wasn't going to miss it. Luckily, they were touring with some other death metal legend, so I had no problem obtaining a ride. I think it might have been a show with Massacre (who I also loved), but I can't remember for sure. Shit, I barely remember ten years ago, much less the early 90's. Everything blends together. I was so sure Atheist would be the best thing I had ever, or would ever, see live. And they were amazing! It was funny though, no one moved when they played, just stood there and watched. I remember that well. Of course, Atheist was like the first technical death metal band, but shit wasn't called technical death metal then. That came later. Such a great band. Well, they went over like a lead balloon. Later on, chaos erupted for Massacre. But to me, the highlight was Atheist.
Side note: I had money somehow then, maybe from doing chores, haha, and I wanted an Atheist shirt and all they had were XL and those were huge on me then, but I wasn't not getting one, so I had an Atheist shirt that was huge on me. Kind of like a dress. I wore that thing everywhere for months.
Atheist. Great band.

Flyboys...

SoCal punk source #1 recently sent me a CD the great old Flyboys ep with both songs from their Crayon World ep on it, as well. This is fantastic stuff, super melodic punk, with hooks and memorable vocal lines. Fuck, the ep is so good, it has a fantastic gloomy edge to it, kind of like how a lot of early OC HC bands bad. I've listened to this multiple times in the last few days and you are mistaken if you do not do the same!

Fuck...

The other day I was driving to the store to get a book I had ordered. This was pre snow so I took the longer way to take up some time. I was at a stop light and some lady pulled up next to me. She had kids in her car, two kids, and the windows were all up, probably because it was freezing out. Even colder then in The Thing. Ha. Anyways, this lady was puffing away at a cigarette. Man, those little kids don't have a fucking chance. Sitting in that car with their "parent", breathing in all that smoke, I wanted to set them free. By the time they are smart enough to realize their mother is trash it will be too late. Bummer. I think I'm losing my mind for real.

Good quote...

"They say they're so open minded but anything that doesn't agree with the bullshit they like, they are real quick to cut it down".
Truth.

Tomorrow...

Tomorrow.
9am.
Breakfast and boating.
Nice combo.
Also, I would like to add that I made a very funny flyer for the Overload show on Friday and I will post it all over the internet as soon as I scan it.
Finally, people in hardcore or punk even, should stop feeling like they should have to explain themselves to people who have NOTHING to do with either. Just saying.

Show Review...

Last night there was a show. People were excited that there a lot of people there. My old man wisdom did not allow such excitement since old man wisdom let me know that 75% of those clowns will not be seen or heard from again until the next giant hype band show.
Bands:
Convicted, or Conviction, whatever, i don't remember, they started playing and all i could think was, "oh no, another one of these type of bands". watered down tenth rate Terror clone, heavy hardcore. why copy a band who was never that good to begin with?
Mad Minds, excellent set, i still hate the slow parts, but the fast stuff, especially the new songs, are top notch, good stage presence, superb Integrity cover, possibly their best set yet, at least in the top two. A+
Let Down, is straight edge, is pretty good, fast songs, lots of energy (not the band), fun loving dudes who like cleveland.
Blacklisted, never a big fan, i like that Eye For An Eye song, they did not play it, i think, at least that was what i was told, mega pizza time.
Ceremony, wow, horrible, gargly vocals, stop and go songs, boredom awaits, not digging it at all.
Have Heart, the most overblown, overhyped band in ages, they had a couple good songs, the new stuff is crap, lots of energy (again, not the band- i miss Tank!), when they are playing fast, they got power, the slow parts remind me of the worst musical parts of the early to mid 90's.
There were three 'zines for sale.
Bands had some awful shirt designs.
People need to find a sense of humor.
Tons of people I only see at the giant shows.
Lots of young kids, which can be good, they need to get into good tunes.
Oh yeah, people don't have any style anymore when they mosh. Dudes just run back and forth as hard as they can, flailing their arms around like a gay guy running from a burning building. A saw a couple people with quality mosh style, but the run into the sides as hard as you can style is lame.
Some babes, not as many as the last Have Heart show, some girl looked like the girl from the Girl Next Door, major babe, she blew Tank Top Guy's friend, but not last night. The Driver didn't think she was too hot though. The kid needs glasses!
Mad Minds is tight. Hangouts were fun times. I give the night an A.

I see...

I see people who will do or say anything to fit in and be accepted. Never mind who your friends are or what opinions you might have, because that changes depending who is around.
I see a pathetic fashion show that reminds me more of high school than anything else. Got to make sure you got that cool new shirt design on. Got to make sure all the people make sure you are down with all the right bands.
I see people who are so far from having an opinion of their own. Clowns wandering around, afraid to offend anyone, people without opinions, people who will change their mind of things depending who is around. Man, got to make sure everyone likes you. Soon enough, you will be the king of the scene!
I see people who support anything they are told is cool. Never mind the quality.
I see people who judge others based on the shirts they have on or the shoes they wear.
I see people who cannot accept others opinions and ideas.
I see crappy bands who get sad when someone doesn't like their music. Man, if those people spend half the time writing quality songs as they spent defending their bands mediocre releases then maybe people wouldn't be putting it down.
I see hardcore kids with stars (and dollar signs) in their eyes.
I see straight edge kids who aren't even straight edge.
I see people who care too much what other people think.
I see people who will read this and think, "None of that is me!", but in reality most of it is!
F U

Another Day Passes...

Things have been looking up lately...

- Jason has been hosting swimming hangouts at a hotel and they have been getting progressively better. We swim with babes, towels, chairs and eventually plants. We discovered a way to jump through the windows to get some extra air for dives. Last time we raided the pantry and got some bananas and pastry for everyone involved. Hopefully, we will get to swim there a couple more times before the fun ends in August. During the swimming hangouts, Jason took over Taylors titles as the meltdown king... BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

R.I.P.

- Riding has been particularly fun lately, as well. I specialize in riding ridiculous looking bikes. I need to bring my bike from Cleveland to Medina so I can ride in style. Anyways, we ride all over, mostly in near or total darkness. Up hills and down hills. Of course, down hills is always better. Last time Hess almost killed the Supiria, but luckily bike expert Brandon was there to fix that shit and keep things going. We always stop for snacks and the ride always ends in a giant downhill ride. We circle cars and bum out dudes with fat girls. It's always an A+ fun time and you are invited to join us.

- Shattered Faith is playing here on the 31st and I really want to go.

- "for all those people who like to party on a friday or saturday night... you know, you just got off work, you got your paycheck, you want to drink and get fucked up and party like the end of the world is around the corner... to all you people... go fuck yourselves!"

more later...

Boating...

See that boat that heads this post? That's what I spent my morning doing. Not on that boat, but on a boat...
I woke up super early today and went for a good run. Then I got home and got a call about some early morning breakfast and boating. I wasn't denying that. Things started with a cookout/breakfast on the dock and then some boating and tubing on the lake. Tubing is fun times. It is when you get pulled behind the boat on a tube. It seems easy at first, but once you get some speed and hit some wake or waves, you go airborne. What a fun way to start off the day!

Ruining Nature...

I was in the bookstore the other day and I was looking through magazines, and what do I happen to see?
Maximum Rock And Roll. The newest issue.
Let me tell you...
What a piece of shit that waste of paper has become! I remember spending much time as a young warrior, reading that magazine over and over, looking at all the adds and ordering stuff, memorizing reviews so I knew what to get when I went to the store.
I read the entire thing the other day, but it lacks all the soul and substance that made it something special many moons ago. It has safe reviews. Run of the mill columns. And an overwhelming sense of wasted trees. Nature is pissed. And I would be too if someone cut me apart and used me to create complete shit. The one worthwhile thing in the entire issue was a good review of the new Resolve 7". Otherwise, complete junk. Tim Yohannan (sp?) must roll over in his grave on a regular basis.
At least Flipside knew when it was time to retire.

Amazing night...

So, the last few weekends have kind of sucked. A major summer bummer. No worries, though, because last night was amazing.
I missed day time swimming and was losing faith that the day would be good. I got a dinner call and then the day picked up and the night ended up being amazing and one of the best nights of the summer.
- the hostess babe where we ate was A+ and Pat dropped her hints about his amazing qualities but she didn't get it. Her loss.
- Moo Town, still should be called Moo Cow, babe there gave us (basically) free ice cream. Massive amounts of ice cream.
- the bathroom there was taught lesson after lesson by one dude after another. There is a babe at eye level in there to keep you occupied while you take care of business.
- more dudes showed up and we chatted with babes in the parking lot. we decided to go riding.
- i was seriously doubting my partaking in riding, since I was already super tired, but then Brent revealed the coolest bike ever so I said "Fuck it!" and decided to go.
- Robson showed up with an out of town babe. She wasn't too into riding at first, because she had to wear boots and she definitely hated riding up hills. Everyone thought she would turn around soon, but she didn't and ended up being a worthy addition to the hangout.
- Medina is not bike friendly at all. Pussies.
- some car tried to be tough, but got surrounded by eight people and they got skurred and drove away.
- snack stops are a good idea while riding.
- we played Paperboy.
- the ding bell.
- stupid gazebo.
- Starbucks was pissed that we didn't buy anything. I bet if they fixed their shitty A/C, we would have bought lots.
- Pat sang to two babes, but they weren't having it.
- the final hill on the way back from Pat's is non stop fun, with minimal peddling and lots of being real loud.
- swimming at Brent's house. Well, not for me. But there was ball throwing, a nude Carlson, a mad Carlson, a ba-bow ass (not Carlsons, no homo), lost swim trunks, a disco ball and lots of solid jokes.
- Sheetz hangouts, massive amounts of food. Robson made a candy game to throw candy in your mouth, but minimal candy went in mouths, and lots went on the ground. Gleert gets a gold star for the day for driving to Sheetz, we tried to fit seven in that car but it wasn't happening. Alex's van was missed.
What a great night! There needs to be more hangouts like that. Solid bike hangouts! There were no negatives to the night. A+ all around.
Mad Minds interview posted soon!

The Worst Haircut Ever...

Many many many many years ago, I had long hair. Long metal hair, well past my shoulders, blonde, but at one point dyed black, in order to look even more evil. The story about the legendary mess I made while dying my hair is a great story, but nevertheless, a story for another day. Anyways, my hair was long. This was in 8th grade and I was nearing the end of the days of long hair. In fact, 8th grade was about to end and there was a fancy dance planned for the graduating class. I normally didn't attend any school functions, fuck, I attended school itself as little as possible. Well, you see, I wanted to go to this dance real bad because a bud of mine told me that this total babe that I had been eyeing for years was "into" me. I wouldn't have minded being "into" her either, if you know what I mean. So I told him that I would be at that dance and to somehow let her know that I would be there. So as the time grew closer to this dance, I concocted this grand plan to woo this girl and make her mine! This included wearing "normal" clothes and, gasp, cutting off my ruling metal hair. I ended up obtaining nice dress pants and a button down shirt, that could be worn with or without a tie. Everyday I would come up with all these great lines to say to her. I imagined that she would love my new look and blush when I said all these great things that I had thought up. So the day of the dance arrived and it was a couple hours before the dance and I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to get a hair cut! Shit! Well... I would just have to do it myself! After all, how hard could it be cut hair? So I took scissors out of the desk in our den and went to work. I cut and trimmed and styled and...
OH NO! What had I done? It looked like a blind man had went to town on my head with hedge clippers. Not cool I surely would not be wooing any babes with hair like this! What to do? I know! I would fix it!
Well, any attempt to fix it just made things even worse. I tried to even out one side and made it too short, so I tried to shorten the other side, but then that was too short, so I went back and tried to make the other side match, and on and on and on.
Eventually, I gave up and figured, I would just dye it black and slick it all back, like some douche bag Italian guy. But no hair dye!
I eventually gave up and settled on the 'animal with mange' look, patches longer than others, some parts real short and others scraggly. The back was the worst part, because I couldn't even see it in the mirror, and it ended up being a huge inverted U, but all uneven and lopsided. Hell, this girl wouldn't even care though. At some point, I also bagged the fancy clothes idea because I know I ended up wearing jeans and a Possessed shirt.
I left my house and walked to where the dance was. Everyone I passed gave me weird looks. Hmmm, I started to think this would not be going as planned. I walked up to the door and some lady I had never seen before was there, taking names and giving out name tags. She took one look at me and said to go home and not to come back until I 'fixed myself'. Hahaha. I soon abandoned any ideas I had about that babe because I saw other people arriving and they all had on fancy clothes and dresses and ties. That wasn't me! I found a pay phone and called up dudes who weren't going to that dance and some metal friends and we went on a giant citywide vandalism spree that night instead. What a great time!

Can't Kill What's Inside...

So say there is this kid, and he has a band and they have some solid tunes and the kid takes the time to write some lyrics for these songs. He writes about what he knows and how he feels and how he sees things. The words fit the music perfectly, and are actually pretty cool. Holy shit, the tunes are really good and people are way into it. They have a solid late 80's hardcore sound. But then people decide to crack on the dudes lyrics because they are "too simple" or "generic". That really burns me. Not every song needs in depth lectures or essays for lyrics. Save that shit for the crappy math metal hectic core bands that make you wish you were deaf. In fact, don't ever listen to those terrible clown bands. I like the bands better, who just say how they feel and who cares if it is simple? Everything doesn't need to be advanced and mature and stupid for it to me good or worth listening to. I'll take someone, any day, who just says how they feel without being a wordy "clever" idiot.

Booooooo!

Stupid fucking flat tire fucking up my plans last night. Oh, I was pissed!
Luckily, the tow was free since stealth dog knows people.
Not so luckily, the new tire was not free! Also, I don't think stealth dog was too pleased about having to drive me to Westlake after midnight to get the other car. Fuck.
Hopefully this upcoming weekend fixes this bummer of a week.

More later...

It's a backwards world...

So I was supper happy to see that TSOL will have a new record soon and touring a bit in support of it. But.... there are no shows close to here! What the fuck?!?! The only midwest date is Chicago on October 12th. Of course I will be going to that.
The saddest part of this new information was that some of their shows, not the one in Chicago thank god, are 'in support' of Rancid and/or Tiger Army. HAHAHAHAHAHA. What a stupid backwards fucked up world this is when a band like TSOL has to play 'in support' of piece of shit bands like Rancid and Tiger Army. Fuck, that shit is clown music. I suppose people will go and see good music (TSOL) and then stop listening to horseshit bands. At least I would certainly hope so. Anyways, someone should come to that show with me, so it's not a solo drive. I'll get tickets and everything and the hotel room is free as always. The show is a big fest, so there is the chance of other good bands.

Also, the picture at the top of this post is a shot os TSOL playing at a place called The Vex. Notice the white faces. Hahaha.

This weekend is fixing to be a lot of fun, four days off work, a solid show, fireworks, babes, a great time!

More soon...