IT LIVES

Holy shit, it's my blog. :P

I'm backk finally, I thought it seemed like a good time to restart my blogging habit

Keeeep it metal. :D

The Drug of a Nation

It's astounding really that something this old is still so relevent.. People have become such zombies in the past 20 years. Every single thing in this video still rings true today.

Yeah.. And even if you don't like what it says you'd probably just flip the channel or better yet click the mouse. Some things never change, they just get new names. Think about it.

The Farewell Kiss.

I'm sure you all remember this little event in our history, When a shoe was thrown at our last president, George W. Bush. This is an interesting side that all of us should take into account when we view this later in history. Why did he do it. What would compel anyone to do this, to a foreign leader. I think it's probably the funniest thing i've ever seen, and I don't think he was wrong to throw it, but I really think it's interesting as to what it symbolizes. I think when people look back on the presidency of Bush, this event will be very symbolic.

Just when you thought it was safe to let the children out.

HEAVEN AND HELL RELEASES: THE DEVIL YOU KNOW



Holy shit. SO this came out about 2 weeks ago or so, and WOW it's definatly awesome.

Dio era Sabbath was heavy metal at it's finest, but this takes it to a new level of evil. Doom Metal influenced gloomy riff rock like this hasn't been made decently in years. This album reminds me a lot of Candlemass with Dio on vocals. Iommi punches out his always demonic riffs, but none seem to really stand out so far. I've only heard a few songs but the opening of this one, Breaking into Heaven, is pretty metal. So is Atom and Evil, and The Devil You Know. Another awsome one, a little more upbeat, is Turn of the Screw. Every track i've listened to so far screams oldschool badass rock and roll.

I'm definatly getting this album. You should too.

New Guitar? Custom Voyager?

So i've been talking to XX Gutiars out of Belle Plaine, IA. A local custom shop that crafts hand-made guitars. I'm pretty excited, i hope they get my quote back soon. I'm basically making a Kramer Voyager copy with 3 hums, a floyd, and 24 frets. It's going to be an amazing guitar, if I have enough cash. I'm assuming that this place isn't exactly cheap, so who knows at this point.. I'll probably end up modding it out a little myself anyway after they do most of the work. Like i want pointed ends on it opposed to rounded, and i'll have to do the paintjob myself, and I'm not sure about the necks they make or put on it, but I assume they're of decent quality, or they wouldn't be selling them. The paint-job is the only thing i've got left to make up in my mind.

My other option is to get a brand new guitar, I was thinking either a Les Paul or an SG. Les Paul's are expensive but killer, and for the SG i was looking at this G-400 and it looked pretty dece. Depends on the action mostly.. I want a guitar I don't have to do a thing to, Just pick it up and go.

I'm really hoping i'll be able to just custom shop a guitar though, It's too much of a pain to keep looking around for a 88 Kramer Voyager, and everything at guitar center ends up feeling cheap. Used gutiars are nice, but they're not always super reliable.

Sooo, Yeah. I'm not sure what to do yet. I'm really wanting a custom shop voyager though.

Find yourself a girl, and settle down. Live a simple life, in a quiet town.

So the white stripes have been around for a few years but, I decided that I need another blog on here or two, so I'll talk about these dudes. Basically it's the lead dude Jack White, and his ex-wife Meg white. They often say they're bro and sister to shut the media up. ANYHOW, they write basic simple happy classicly influenced rock. They have this level of asthetic that not too many other groups really seem to have. With two people it's not that hard. They have Meg on drums, and Jack rocks the guitar, and keyboards. He's got a very classic rock/ robert plant kinda feel to his voice.



Jack White is also in the Raconteurs, whom have written some cool material, and one of my favorite songs as of late, Steady As She Goes. PERSONALLY i think i liket he Raconteurs more as a band, because they've got a little more to their sound, however the songs aren't always as good as the Stripes, because they're just so damn simple and catchy. So it's really hard to make up my mind here. Does anyone else have this issue?

I dunno, I dig em both.

Which one do you think is better? lemme know.

Keep rockin it.

Forming a new band!

So Sacred kinda fell through the cracks, Not really anyones fault, None of us were super commited, and I never scheduled practices enough. I'm working in a new group though, yet to be named with some kennedy alums, Michael Finley, and Kevin Halbrooks. We're definatly gunna be an Oldschool rock band. Finley is talented in precission playing and articulate leads, where i'm much more show-offy and improved. Definatly two good characteristics. As for our bassist Kevin, he's going to school to learn how to build guitars, and has built his own stuff before. Me and him worked in a group pre-dating my first band with my other bassist Michael Pattison. This group never officially became a band, more just some buddies jammin. As for the drummer, we're possibly going to go with my old vocalist from Sacred, who's been dying to play in a band. Sounds pretty fuckin killer to me.

If not i'm sure we'll find someone. Regardless i'm still friends with everyone from present and past, and I hope theres not any hard feelings. Jammin out with tons of people is always fun, always looking to find the right chemistry.

As for the straight edge show, who knows, Sacred might end up playing that gig, or I might get the new group that spot.

Thinkcrime.

This is not a blog about the actual year of ninteen eighty four, it's about the book/movie called 1984. It's a vision of a man from 1949 of the future. in ninteen eighty four he sees that the world will be under the control of a lovable dictator called Big Brother. Everyone is under the control of the government in an insanly powerful facist dictatorship.

The book has two interesting concepts: The concept of thinkcrime and the concept of doublethink, as well as the modification of the english language to newspeak. They control speech because they hold to the philosphy that if you cannot speak it, then you cannot think it. If you do think it it, you're commiting thinkcrime, and must be fixed. If you hold in two contridicting thoughts at once, seeing that black is white and white is black and finding both are true, and never thinking you knew any different.

I watched the film on youtube, of which two parts I had to see in Italian, because they contained nudity and the thinkcrime of nudity cannot be allowed on the Youtube. Alot of New World Order conspiricies seem to take ideas from this story, and it could be the origins of most of this thought. however if it were really a conpsiracy, wouldn't the conspiritors be controling our thought and access to such material? Is the internet and youtube so free that we are completly free to do anything on it? Some would say yes you can download music illegally, you can steal almost anything digitally, and others would say no, it's all controlled by the system's super computer.

The other creepy thing is that technology is slowly getting closer and closer to that of 1984, where everyone can be monitored, such as with cellphones being tracked by law enforcment, cameras on stoplights and places of buisness, slowly they are installing a system that is not radically different from this film, and it's rather freaky.

The wars in the film are not much unlike our modern wars which are constantly perpetuated for the right wing think-tank, and the empire building of post-modern America. We cannot seem to keep out of international affairs and always seem to be in a war whenever republicans get in office. I think that watching this film and reading this book are very good ideas for modern americans, because some people honestly need a wakeup call.

And ofcourse there is the always looming fear of 2012 that has been slowly growing fear in the common man.

Another interesting dude, my friend Tamera turned me on to, is this Terrence Mckenna guy, who has many ideas relating to this, including that culture is your operating system

Intersting stuff.. Check it out.

3 INCHES OF BLOOD

Alright mannn You guys love metal as much AS I DO so if you've not heard of these dudes then listen up!



(3 INCHES OF BLOOD comes from Canada aye, which uses the metric system, but obviously 3 cubic centimeters of blood is too long to use so I assume they just said Inches would have a better ring to it :D)

SO when you hear these dudes it's like Judas Priest Painkiller mixxed with even crazier thrash metal shit, and sudden screamo vocals. They have two vocalists, and two shredding guitarists. It sounds like a much heavier version of Maiden from time to time too. I really dig these guys, and had a chance to see them almost at Ozzfest 2007, but we didn't get there early enough and they were pretty much opening the jagermiester stage so we didnt see them. (Yes me and my family went to ozzfest for free in 2007, and it twas metal.)

Check these dudes out, I like this Darkhorse track quite a bit, but there most famous one would have to be THE GOATRIDERS HORDE off the album fire up the blades.

So has anyone seen this Jesus Camp doc? [Bad Idea Series]

I had watched it awhile back, and now I saw it again recently, and it really freaks me out. Luckily only 30% of the USA identify strongly with conservatism. It's freaky how much these guilt ridden evil facist republican think tanks can take over the minds of the weak. Watching this video you can see President Bush and all sorts of Army stuff just thrown in the background, like these people can't exist without it. At one point they bring in a cutout cardboard version of George Bush, which basically brings flashbacks of Nazi Germany and all sorts of other weird shit. Fanatics in any form are always creepy, but these ones are in modern day life... They use religion as a drug and a crutch to keep people obedient and like livestock herd them.

Plus the whole chanting in tounges thing kinda makes me cringe.

Yngwie Malmsteen

This guitarist shreds like crazy, If you've not heard of him I feel sorry for you. He has such insane classical training that I can't even begin to explain his playing. Listen to that video and you'll understand, once you get past the incredibly 80's sounding keyboard solo. This song had a video that is no longer around, but It show's Yngwie fighting a 20 foot tall dragon with pure heavy metal shredding.

I love the sound of this song. It's got incredibly Neo-Classical style while not making a complete specitcle out of Yngwie, like some of his other material does.

Check it out.

Rockin' the STRAIGHT EDGE.

I got my band "Sacred" and the prog rock band "Open Evolution" a gig at a little venue called the Straight Edge. It's actually the only all ages venue in the area. As the name would prompt the show has strict rules against Drugs and Alchohol, it's about the music. I think this is a cool idea, and I respect the venue's rules (but I'm definatly not a straight edge individual, mean come on it's about the drugs sex and rock and roll always.) It's a completly do it yourself in a garage rock out with your cock out kinda gig. I've heard many different opinions about the venue, but I personally don't care, and plan to rock the gig. Who can complain anyway? It's exposure, and everyone has to start somewhere, No one plays an arena their first gig. Working your way up the laddar is part of the whole experience.

Plus EVERY good rock band starts in the garage.

Of Roadies and Tech Crews.

ONE night was a disaster. In all honesty my group got boned. I'm not going to mention names but I'm glad there will be other gigs. My friend Tamara just said Tofu Wiener.

An astounding horrible idea relating to post-modernism. [Bad idea Series]

In relation to our post-modern studies, I've found something that ties in quite well. A film about NOT stealing video game software from the early nineties. Yes that sounds incredibly like a bad idea am I right? Not only is it a cheesy public service announcement, it's also done in a hip-hop format. Hip-Hop almost always uses sampling of audio, and in this case most obviously does. At one point they say that this stealing of programs could be the "end of the computer age". It's no wonder society as a whole sunk it's teeth into illegal downloading. Let's watch and see.

A new blog series: "When was this ever a good idea?"

There are far too many moments in my life that go un recorded. Times when i see something and say to myself.. WHO EVER THOUGHT THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA?



Not only does he pose on the cover of every Harlequin love novel imaginable, he apparently in 1993 got a record contract. From the first electronic drum beat of love.. You know this has to be great. The song doesn't include.. singing. It has fabio going on about how he wants to make love to you with 50 or so inuendos that make no sense after awhile. Lovely.

Enjoy.

Religion: A way to hate eachother differently.

Lets hear it for local hatemonger Eric Schumacher, a local pastor, Says

"Last June, a "500-year flood" ushered millions of gallons of water through eastern Iowa. In Cedar Rapids alone, more than 25,000 individuals were displaced in one day. Hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage was done.

The Flood of 2008 is arguably the most destructive disaster that the state of Iowa has seen -- at least, that is, until last Friday.

On April 3, the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a state law limiting marriage to one man and one woman violates the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution. Licenses will be issued to homosexual couples April 27.

It is not hyperbole to say that this ruling has the potential to be the worst disaster to strike the state of Iowa."

What an asshat. I understand the whole right wing jesus freak attitude "Let's take some little parts of a book out of context and piece them together until they make my opinion sound right, and then spam it out to the masses" formula but denying the rights of others is no longer acceptable. It's not 1950 anymore. I'm glad they finally were able to understand that church and relgion are seperate entites. Homosexuality is love, of a different variety, but love none the less, and homosexuals are people too. I don't care what anyone says, people are born gay, no one would choose to be ostrocised and made of/hated by anyone. People can't choose their sexuality, much like you can't choose the color of your skin.

I totally took my pills today.

Feeeelin the downers.

Sweeeet.

Wanna know some killer lyrics?

"Oh

Oooh yeah

Ah

Ziggy played guitar,

jamming good with weird and gilly

And the spiders from mars.

he played it left hand

But made it too far

Became the special man, then we were ziggy's band

Ziggy really sang, screwed up eyes and screwed down hairdoo, Like some cat from japan, he could lick 'em by smiling

He could leave 'em to hang

They came on so loaded man, well hung and snow white tan.

So where were the spiders?

while the fly tried to break our balls

Just the beer light to guide us,

So we bitched about his fans and should we crush his sweet hands?

Ziggy played for time, jiving us that we were voodoo

The kids were just crass, he was the nazz

With god given ass

He took it all too far but boy could he play guitar.

Making love with his ego

Ziggy sucked up into his mind

Like a leper messiah

When the kids had killed the man i had to break up the band.

Oh yeah

Ooooooo

Ziggy played guitar. "

The other thing that's really awesome about this song is that the guitar tone is really classic sounding. It's kinda like Queen but a little more ballsy. Bowie totally rocks the high notes in this song too. I really like his rock and roll era opposed to the 80's synth pop stuff he's become a little more famous for. The Ziggy Stardust era of Bowie was much cooler in my opinion.

Good things never last.

ONE night.

That's the new name of the band; Sacred. No one liked Sonic Daze. I thought it had a good ring, but whatev.. I'm only lead guitar what does my opinion mean? haha, So uh, we're totally 80's rock-ish/metal-ish. We've been working on some crazy good material. I'm totally pumped for the show. The ONE night preformence features every single quality performence group in the school. Being the co-leader of Guitar Club, I've been in on it since it's creation. I'm really glad we auditioned people to a pretty high standard. I hate it when bands show up and aren't really good enough to play a gig but try anyway. I think it's about self respect more than anything ya know? I mean if I sound like shit I won't sit there and force people to listen to my bullshit for 20 minutes. There's a band that could stand to learn from this. That or play less SOAD covers. less to say they didn't quite make it in.

It hasn't all been perfect and clean. The rehersal schedule has been somewhat messed up. No one can seem to just print off 20 copies of a calander and tell us what's up. Then there was the totally spinal tap experience of having to hunt down a drum kit that we couldn't even use for a half an hour, and ofcourse I get yelled at for it. Then i'm working with a guy that's in two bands which are bothing playing this show. It seems to be hard for him to balance them at times, but he's doing a good job.

As for our setlist, it's going to be Run the Streets, Storm the Gates, When We Were Young, and Paranoid so far. We might have time for some other stuff but our drummer can't nail The Sword's: Freya, and we're on limited time. I'm kinda feeling mixed about that, but I can dig it.

Guitar Strings.

Guitar strings are the one part of your almight axe that aren't so indestructable. I mean you can shred it out for hours and hours but eventually those motherfuckers are going to snap right off. AND they're going to wait till you have a hard time getting new ones for sure. And forget about the rest of your night if you have a Floyd Rose trem with locking blocks. You're totally fucked then.

I think the guitar industry has a hold on the Guitar string market and makes them about as flimsy as possible. I mean they just want more money every time you snap them you gotta head out and blow 5 bucks on their PREMIUM STEEL blah blah. They could be weaving it out of tinfoil for all we know. I recently bought these Nickel super lights and THEY'RE SHIT. They cost half the price of normal strings and lasted a quarter as long.

Maybe this will help

I guess they raise the point that guitar strings are usually made out of high grade material, but I think there is totally something behind the idea that they make em weak on purpose. We live in a disposable evil capitalist system mannnnnn

And with that said.

peace.

On a more personal note.

It seems My blog has become a little less about me and more about what I like, which is fine and dandy, but I decided to put up a post that'd be a little more chill, and perhaps vent some frustration.

Well it's rather strange how close to the end things really are. I mean.. in eight weeks or so I'm gone from this place... That moment I've been begging for the past 3 and 3/4 years is kinda catching up to me. And it's fucking scary. I'm not even leaving town or home for that matter for another 4 years and i'm still kinda fucked up over it.

I mean honestly, I don't drive, I don't have a job, and I don't really know what the hell i'm doing with my life. I always seem to be a step behind everyone else, but i really try as hard as I can.

Another thing that starts to get to me is how everyone changes. The guy I was personally four years ago is nothing compared to the guy i've become.. I'm so far from what I was then it's scary to think of what it will be like after collage, but at the same time i'm excited for it. People change so much though, I've become more and more of a social outcast as every day passes and I feel like a lot of people are just pushing me further away from them. Ya see Highschool students really have no heart or mature sense about them. They see anyone excuting individuality and they decide to ostrosize them. What makes me different is that I won't play by the rules, and i'm not here to make anyone else happy.

What really struck me was a few weeks back I got to see a girl I used to love and know as my best friend. We met in the 7th grade, and she was really a pretty awesome person. She became insecure as the years went on and became a negative bullying kind of person. I never seemed to be able to say No to her though, And i'm not really sure why. Maybe it was because deep down I thought I loved her somehow some way. If I ever began to show any interest in her at all she'd shoot it down with negativity and make sure to make me aware of my differences from everyone in a somewhat joking manner, and played it off as this onging inside joke. I hadn't seen her in what felt like ages really... And when I did I was met with the harsh reality of what had become of her. I was really appaled at the way she spoke to me like we were still little kids, saying mean things about my hair and all sorts of things, I really felt like I was twelve again or something. this isn't something I will ever go through again because I feel really guilty for having put up with her shit this time around. I mean, I let myself down by submiting to her cruel stupid little immature shit, and I really don't feel bad for saying that. But really... Who's the changed one now? me...?

I've come into a circle of friends that I've never really had this year. A lot of my friends came to know one another and there's a group of about 12 of us or more that hang out and do what all teenagers do on weekends. [Sit around and read the bible ofcourse]. While we study up on our "scripture", I can't help but feel accepted for the first time in eons. My personal connection with everyone is somewhat limited, but It's the thing i've been seeking for about 17 years I think. It's really reminding me of That 70's Show with Eric's basement, only with more people obviously.

This one story can't escape my mind, and i've been kinda questioning what could've happened on this certain night not so long ago. We went to meet some people in a certain location where many other teenagers with nothing better to do on a Friday night go, to a certain parking lot not too unfamliar to me. I was somewhat nervous in this locale because at the time, we weren't exactly supposed to be there or thinking of doing what we were planning on later that night. Ofcourse about 3 minutes or so after we come to this location, a squad car drives into the lot and my friend that was driving decides to not so inconspiciously bolt from the scene in a orderly manner past the 5-0. Now i'm kinda relieved we're going and all, since we were already leaving when the squad car drove in, and we're turning out of the lot and my friend goes up over the fucking curb and almost nails a sign, The fucking squad car didn't see a thing. I would've been hit straight in the face with the sign had we ran into it too hard, I shouldn't have been doing what I was that night, and all the above. The amount by which I slipped by is not even measureable by the naked eye. This little incident has made me step back a little bit and look at what I'm doing before I do it.

I wrote some songs today with my good friend/band mate. This guy is insane, and can totally outplay me if he wanted to at guitar. We've got this insane chemistry and wrote two full songs in less than 5 hours. The only downfall to working with him is, his strict unforgiving music hating parents. They seem to find almost anything to kill this kids ego and creativity without any real reason. Not only does this hurt our band, it really just brings him down. He's the most talented musician i've ever met in my whole life, and I feel lucky that he wants to play music with me every time we jam. If you wanna hear what we wrote, listen to Storm the Gates and When We Were Young. They're amazing tracks and I can't believe we wrote them. They're not complete yet and a little sloppy, but They'll be much better in April at the ONE Night Benefit Show. I really can't wait to show them off tommarow at the rehersal.

I hope maybe this Blog is some kind of insight into me, and maybe people will be able to look past some of my image i've built up over the years. I don't want to change myself to please others, I want the world to accept me a little more for being individual. Just today a group of urbanly dressed african american guys came up to me, and one said that "this guy loves you mann" and laughed for no reason, and the other guy which he was referencing became insanly defensive and said "NO WAY MANN THAT GUYS A FREAK" and they all just laughed for no real reason. I don't understand why expression of ones self is so frowned upon. Is everyone really that shallow? I mean I honestly can't get any respect, and 95% of the time it seems to be african americans that make fun of me. All other races are much more tolerant. I believe it's the clash of values which makes me sound almost racist. It seems that the whole "ghetto urban hip hop culture" thing has been glorifying ignorence through rap music and brainwashing suseptable youth into becoming capitalistic thug gangster wanna-be kinda people. They idolize these mean rapper dudes who just want to hate eachother and shoot and kill eachother over something as stupid as money. Not to mention the trends it has set on to american youth. Wearing oversized clothing and talking as stupidly as possible is supposed to be "cool". This trend has crossed over into all gullible people, not limited to african americans alone, but it most definatly originated there. I really come to wonder what civil rights heros of the past have come to think of this. I mean, honestly they gave everything, sometimes even their lives to give these people freedom, and they abuse it to no end, and treat others with complete rudeness. I'm not a hateful person, I really try to be the most accepting individual as I possibly can. I put myself in everyones shoes, I'm not a judgmental person in the least. But something tells me more and more that maybe I should be.

That's all for now, I suppose i'll blog like this more often.... Comment if you wish.

METAL ON METAL

Oh mann, Metal on Metal. So i'm a poser unfortunatly and DIDNT know about Anvil till this whole movie buisness came out about them "Anvil: The story of Anvil" A touching story of the band Anvil and their journey over the past 30 years. They apparently inspired thrash metal and all sorts of shit but got all their ideas ripped off and have spent the past 30 years in relative obscurity. Now with the help of MTV2 and VH1 Classic they're being hyped even more than Guitar Hero: Metallica and hopfully are getting enough exposure to make it big. I believe they're going to tour with someone big eventually.

However their best song in my opinion is METAL ON METAL, or maybe MOTHRA or 666. You definatly get a feeling for how Spinal Tap one could see them as with the names of their songs, but I really just don't understand how they've lied in obscurity for THIRTY FUCKING YEARS??? Everyone claims they influenced Metallica and Slash said he liked them and all this shit on the commercial, but no one's said "HEY LETS TAKE THESE DUDES ON TOUR". The problem is they're cheesy as fuck. The live video i saw of them playing in 84' brought back images of Stonehendge and dancing migits.

I guess you be the judge.

OH NO ITS . . .

THE ANTICHRIST?

Apparently this wacko Evangelist dude is claiming to be the anti-christ. Apparently this Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda dude thinks he's the 2nd jesus, therefor making him the anti-christ.

I personally feel this is a prime example of the failure of our health programs to asylum these bastards. The whole idea of Evangelism is creepy and fanatical, and I must admit to watching the Evangelical channels here and there for kicks.

While he evades divorce settlements his followers worship him while on the run through video. They say his persicution reaffirms their devotion to him because jesus was persicuted as well.

I spose the lesson learnred here is "if you ever get married pretend to be the anti-christ and go on the lamb to get out of it."

LIFE ON MARS: Coming to an end????

Apparently all ABC cares about is MONEY and LOST. Because Life on Mars is going off the air. The show's finalie comes out next week and i'm pissed. This show has kicked ass though every episode, but it comes on after LOST. Lost sucks. They've been on that island for about ten seasons now. Jesus christ wouldn't they have been raped by natives or something by then. I know I would beg for sweet death if I had been LOST that long.

So apparntly it's going to be a pretty good ending show, the previews for it look amazing. For those of you not in the know Life on Mars was on ABC every thursday night in the first season last year, and then switched up to wednesday nights this season. It's about Sam Tyler, a police officer who gets hit by a car and is teleported back to 1973-74' through the two seasons. It features really good old music and is much like Dragnet meets CSI, but the good guys opperate outside the law a little to get the job done.

Unfortunatly This show got fucked by LOST and you'll probably never watch it or see it.

Thanks for nothing ABC.

S L E E P

The almighty SLEEP. These dudes released their first album back in 91' when i was one year old. I love this fucking band.

They released Volume 1 which was one of the first really dark doom stoner metal albums. It just plods along like a never ending Sabbath number, With chugging bass lines on the song "Wall of Yawn" and much more spacey feeling vocals and almost feels as if it's being chanted, rather than sang. The vocals will often become an instrument of their own, uninteligable screaming that creates a feeling of: Fuck.

Volume 2 wasn't really much, just an EP, showcasing Black Sabbath's Lord of This World, and 2 songs that show up on their pinnacle of awesome stoner doom raw amazingness, Holy Mountain.

Holy Mountain was the band's last real release unfortunatly. It has only 7 tracks, starting with the amazing Dragonaut, and working its way up to the monsterous 10 minute stoned out jam track "From Beyond", to other tracks like "Some Grass", which is a meger 48 seconds of banjo like plucking with delay.

They later tried to record Jerusalem, Which was originally refered to as Dopesmoker - A one track monolith of pure dark stoner rock. The record company would not let them release a 52 minute song as an album and the frustrated Sleep after many tries to record, disbanded.

All is not lost though. They plan to reunite for a 2 set, one time only show at the All Tommarows Parties music festival. If only I had the means to get to England in May, I would totally be there.
Check them out if you like Black Sabbath or Electric Wizard or any of the other stuff I put on here.

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD

So I know there is a lot to be said about this film, but so much has already been said it'd be stupid of me to reinstate all of that riight?

Night of the living dead is considered one of the first real Zombie Apocylpse type films. I picked it up on VHS about week ago while at a shady consignment store for like 68 cents or something weird. Even if it doesn't work I just love the case it's in. It's all raunchy and worn on the edges.

It was filmed in 68' but they have 1970 listed on the box here, so I'm pretty sure it's just because they've re-released it over a million times and no one figured to fact check it. Kinda funny actually.

This film is totally a cult movie, and was filmed with a $114,000 budget. It's grossed several millions though around the world since it's release. Who cares though it's raunchy zombie fun. The special effects are low budget, the music is totally cheesy and weird, but awesomely they don't take anything away from it. They use chocolate syrup for blood and the Zombies are seen gnawing on chunks of meat and such, but it's all very grainy and very real feeling.

If you've honestly yet to see this film you should feel left out. It's a wonder how you can even go out in public, enjoy ice cream, or simply exist. May the horror film nerds have mercy on whatever soul you may still be clinging to.

Nothing is quite what it seems in the city of Dreams

I recently started listening to these dudes again on Pandora radio. I picked up their album awhile back because I heard it on Guitar Hero II. How poserish I know. Those were different times... :(

Anyhow these guys got really hyped out for no apparent reason. I guess everyone liked the song "Women" and didn't look any further. Their self titled EP "Wolfmother" is actually a pretty solid album. Theres tons of material to be heard here, for the Australian Trio. They've got a drummer, a lead singer/guitarist, and a bassist/ keyboardest. An intersting trio really because it sounds like a full band.

I've gotta say the coolest part about Wolfmother is that they've nailed the retro sound without sounding like they're trying to be in the trend of retro rock that came out in the 2000's. I really dig on the opening track Dimension, because it's no bullshit, all balls rock and roll.

Favorite Tracks:

Dimension - Kicks Ass
White Unicorn - Goes into a quiet jam and then comes back to kick you in the nuts
Women - Great Single
Colossal - Very Sabbath like
Minds Eye - Catchy
Witchcraft - Jethro Tull esc. flute solo. Plus it's about Witchcraft.

Not to mention check out this fucking sweet artwork.

SONIC DAZE

That's the name of the band. We're doing the ONE night benefit show here at Kennedy Highschool April 17th. Come check it out, we'll be jamming with like 9 other acts. It's more of a talent show thing, but I'm pretty confident that we'll be the only rock band there.

We're doing a few originals that I wrote. They're only giving us so much time, so it'll be a hard choice as to what we're gunna toss in.

South of Heaven

So I was at Goodwill a few days ago, and I was looking at the quality merchandise they have, such as used toasters and analog TV's. I found some SLAYER CD's in all the mess. Priced at like $3.38, that's like less than you could download them for. Worth it.

So i got Reign in Blood and South of Heaven, and threw them on my awesome pink iPod mini. So far, I like; South of Heaven, Reign in Blood, Behind the Crooked Cross, Read between the Lies, Angel of Death, Jesus Saves, Piece by Piece.

Slayer has a very thrash metal sound but not really that much like Metallica or Pantera. It's a little more gothic feeling and has a certain darkness that the other two most often lack in their songs.

Also. Blackle is the way of the future. Make it your homepage today.

We are the Priests, of the Temples of Syrinx

[[WRITTEN OUTSIDE THE CONTEXT OF THE ASSIGNED BLOGS.]]
(pardon my language.)

Dude. Rush is the shit. I don't care what anyone says. I recently popped in my 2112 cassette and jammed that shit out. It's a great experience. You don't have to to worry about shit, and it just plays the whole side for you so you can just sit back and jam to that shit.

Which brings me to a good rant. Music's become all computerized in the past decade and taken all the ritual out of music listening. 30 years back you got this giant dinner plate sized vinyl that would shatter if dropped and such. This made music so much more physically valuable because it was much more fragile. Vinyl wears out. You put that needle down and it brings every pop and snap into your speakers and eardrums.

Now you click on your ipod and play one song off an album and are completly without the cover art. What kinda bullshit is that? I mean seriously, no one even cares about what's on the album cover anymore. It used to be like a piece of art you'd wanna hang on your wall, or atleast some kinda statement.

Now any hard rock album cover you see is like skulls and features this uninventive middle aged obsession with trying to look like a biker. Unfortunatly a good portion of my generation doesn't understand jack shit about any of this and listens to Nickleback, and sputters forth sentance fragments like LOL or WHATS A DEEP PURPLE? OMGz.

God i hate Iowa..

HORROR!

So the past few days i've been pretty much outta it. Didn't even wanna go to school today. So i had a Ferris day and took cough medicine. So after listening to music as loud as I want for 2 hours I look for something better to do. After I found that something, I ate all the cheese pizza in the freezer and proceeded to watch horror movies.

The lovely people at the Kirkwood channel who probably do these same things crank out some awesome B-rate horror movies between re-runs of Cowboy Showcase and I Married Jane. The fifties re-runs are boring and I hate them, but the rest of it is great grindhouse B-rate horror flicks from the golden era of horror movies.

Sunday night, I watched Track of the Vampire, The Terror, and fell asleep during Crypt of Horror. Of the three Track of the Vampire was the best, it was about some Artist named Sordi, who would capture his victims in his paintings. He came from a long line of vampire/artists who did this. His ancestor was burnt at stake for sorcery as he captured the soul of his mistress in his best work, which was also destroyed. For some reason he would revert back into the vampire and slay hot 60's babes and then paint his work and throw them in a vat of boiling plaster. He'd keep his statues around his lofty dungeon in a bell tower. In the end they turn on him and stop him from creating his masterwork of his true love.



Today I watched I Eat Your Skin, and The Brain That Wouldn't Die. Along with these i flipped around to find another great cheese film called Road Warrior. It's the sequel to Mad Max and shows what happens in times of extereme foregin oil dependancy. I Eat Your Skin was the only one to really write home about. The rest of it was pretty dull. The down side to watching all these B-rate flicks is that you always get pleanty of duds. The ending of Brain featured a crazy reanimated womens head and some guy with three eyes and mutations smashing the doctor and killing everyone. Road Warrior features Mel Gibson in his forte, a douchebag fighting other...You guessed it, Road Warriors. Everyone wears one shoulder pad and has a mohawk and are after "the precious juice" which turns out to just be an oil tanker full of sand. There I just saved you 2 hours of lame action flick. The only upside to this film is watching a cave boy throw a boomerang into a guys skull and seeing the occasional set of tits.

Currently listneing to Pandora Radio:
For Madmen Only - May Blitz
Lord of This World - Black Sabbath
Baby Please don't Go - Budgie
Happening To Me And You - Mouse

Witchcraft.

Alright for all you classic rock fans, I bet most of you started diggin on Wolfmother when they came out a few years back. They had quite the classical sound but, were unfortunatly over hyped and fell apart after only a few releases.

Well theres another great band out by the name of Witchcraft. They have a Led Zeppelin kinda feel and definatly have recreated authentic 70's hippie rock. I've been listening to some of their stuff recently, and I'd say if you liked Wolfmother you'll like these guys. They're a bit less keyboard, but much cooler in my opinion. They've done Ozzfest and stuff, but still kinda kept under the radar. They're on the same label [Rise Above Records] as Electric Wizard and many other great stoner rock kinda groups. Check out the label and this band.

Currently Jammin to: Wooden Cross - Witchcraft

Keep rockin!

A Blog on BLOGGING?!

Such insanity. Personally I'd say Blogging is a kickass way to have homework. Mostly because my handwriting looks as if I went epileptic and started writing in lost germanic tounges. I hate writing in notebooks too because all the pages fall out and you end up with this crumbled pile of weird scribbles and some half gnawed cardboard thing after being in your bag for a few months. I don't really give a shit about having to write because I always bend it into something I actually give a shit about, which is exactly what this class is.

I mean when you think about it, It's kinda like being on a stage. Your thoughts/music/pictures/whatever can just kinda get tossed up there for everyone to jam to and groove on. Ofcourse there has to be naysaying whiny bitches, like some people who are complaining "OMGZ I HAVE TO TYPE WORDZ WTF LOLCOSTER?" Well they're just retarded. Perspectives has probably been the coolest class i've taken next to AP Art in my entire school career, because it's like getting a grade for doing shit I already do: Surf the web and bitch my opinions about it. It gives teh INTERNETS more purpose then being a portal of porn and retarded Youtube scream videos.

Well this is where I end my post.. It's hotter then a whore in church in the computer labs.

-KEEP IT METALLL

-Stuthedew

P.S. Currently Rockin to: Future Tense - Sanctuary.
Post 80's Power Metal at its finest :D

Planet Terror!

I was recently chillin watching TV and while surfing the movie listings on my digital cable i see the words "Grindhouse: Planet Terror". Who could pass up something that awesome sounding? So I started watching, It had just started, and of course ZOMBIES come out of nowhere and start killin stuff. So I'm totally hooked because Zombies are awesome. Then theres this dude named El Wray who comes in all guns blazing. Tons of action in this flick for sure. I'd say more but I don't want to ruin the suppose plot line for those who havn't seen it. :P

So this movie is supposed to pay homage to old horror flicks of the 70's and 80's that inspired Robert Rodriguez. I'm an old b-rate horror movie junkie from time to time, so this really peaked my interest. The film also has false intros of "Upcoming Features" with names like "Don't" and "Werewolf Women of the SS". There's a supposed rumor that they're making the one called "Machette". which I've always liked old "Grindhouse" or "Exploitation" movies because they're usually still spooky and from time to time unintentionally funny. Not to mention crazy random violence torwards radioactive zombies is always good in a movie.

This film had all the charm of it's predecessors, and a really hot chick with a M16 for a leg who rides motorcylces. How could anyone not like that? Originally they released this movie with another called "Death Proof" in a double feature. Death Proof was directed by Quentin Tarantino, and is more like Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry with a few horror elements tossed in [It still doesn't top a hot chick with an M16 for a leg in my book].

Without ruining anything, I highly reccomend this film because it kicks ass in all ways.

Grindhouse: Double Feature Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0AaVUs3-Pw
Grindhouse: Fake Traliers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmckBc0aG3M

Currently Listeing to: Nothing.. MY iPod died. My manly pink iPod mini died...

Dopethrone

Alright, I decided to share with you one of my favorite Doom Metal albums of all time. This monolith of sound crushes your eardrums not to mention your very soul with monstrous riffs. My favorite songs are between Funeralopolis and Dopethrone, but in reality the whole album features amazing songs. Funeralopolis tells of a world inhabited by the undead. It starts in with this slow creepy plodding bass line, reminding one of the undead stagger of a zombie. The song is around 8 or 9 minutes, which may sound long to some, but in all reality the Wizard knows what they're doing. The music builds upon itself until it becomes a wall of grooving sound

The album artwork really foreshadows what lies within. Drug references and Satanic imagry are plentiful in this entire bands catalog, exspecially this album. Lead singer and guitarist, Jus Osbourn claims to be influenced from watching old horror movies while in an inebriated state of mind. Dopethrone set the standard for modern Doom Metal. Released in 2000, this record mixes doom metal with stoner rock and other phsycodellic elements. The vocals are somewhat barried under layers of phaser and chorusy reverb and whatever else they wanted to throw into the mix. The guitars are tuned lower than most any other form of music, A# which is about 6 steps down from standard E tuning. This gives the guitars and bass a very elastic rubbery feel, which adds an element of creepiness. The bass is often distorted as well, creating a wall of dark heavy sound. The drums are loud and almost messy without being offbeat, often it almost sounds like a cave man is back there on the kit, but it works. All of these elements come together to create this dark crazy groove. I would highly reccomend this to people, but I feel the average metal head wouldn't be interested, and fans of Doom Metal already worship this album. So take it as such, and if any of this peaks your interest, Check it out.

http://www.myspace.com/electricwizarddorsetdoom

http://www.riseaboverecords.com/home

Dopethrone - Rise Above Records

1. "Vinum Sabbathi" – 3:06
2. "Funeralopolis" – 8:43
3. "Weird Tales" – 15:04
I. "Electric Frost"
II. "Golgotha"
III. "Altar of Melektaus"
4."Barbarian" – 6:29
5."I, the Witchfinder" – 11:04
6."The Hills Have Eyes" – 0:46
7."We Hate You" – 5:08
8."Dopethrone" – 10:35

Life on Mars - FINALLY BACK ON!

Alright, so the fine people at ABC made a show worth a shit finally. Life on Mars is a show about detective Sam Tyler, a cop from the year 2008, who has an accident. He wakes up in 1974, doing the same job. Now this may sound a little out there and cheesy, but Tyler still has all his future knowledge, which he tries to impliment from time to time. The other officers have named him "Space Man" because of his crazy stories.

The music and clothes and cars are just so damn awesome. They're a grungy take on retro style, making everything feel more real and modern while having a distinct vintage look. They drain the color in all the shots to have a burnt orange kinda feel. It's really great artistic approach to make everything seem more dated.

I highly recommend you check this show out if you're into retro things, time travel, and crime shows. It's kind of like Dragnet meets CSI where the whole cast bends the rules to get the job done.

Currently Listening to:
Orange Goblin - Time Traveling Blues , [[coincidence much?]]
David Bowie -Suffergate City

DOD Classic Fuzz

The DOD - Classic Fuzz, sounds like a Big Muff Pi old school fuzz pedal at a much cheaper price. This thing was only like $20, i got it awhile back, and it has a diluted fuzz with pleanty of low end. I was looking for something more like this, because I hate when fuzz pedals sound to trebley and harsh. The fuzz is subtle, but has an overdrive adds a level of harshness to the sound. I really enjoy the old school burnt orange style of this pedal, wth specled paint. I don't see why people spend so much on these kind of pedals, because all it does is make your amp sound trashed.

Laney HCM30R - One kickass Practice Amp

I recently decided to pick up a practice amp, because I've been beating the shit out of an old bass guitar amp and it began to sound like I had a blanket over my amp or something, It was so muffled and the speaker is about to pop one of these days. I hit up a local pawn shop on the other side of town, I hadn't been there in a few months so I figured they'd get some new stock in and stuff ya know. This place always has tons of amps for cheap from like Waterloo or some place. They ship all their extra gear down here and try to jack up prices. Luckily for me they're having a sale [most likely because of the recession] and much to my surprise I glanced down at a Laney amplifier logo. This was an insane find because they only made this model in England, and it's very rare to find Laney amps in pawn shops, usually you can see a one or two in a music shop, and Guitar Center doesn't carry them [or anything else worth a shit].

Well this little deal would have been crazily amazing, but some moron took a sharpie to the N in Laney, and so my amp at the moment.. Is a Larey. It looks completly stupid.. I've tried everything to get the ink off this thing... It's kind of funny though so I might just have to leave it. Laney amplifiers have a perfect hard rock crunch and tone, and are the amplifiers of choice for the legendary Tony Iommi. I can dial in his sound almost perfectly with this little 30 watt solid state monster. It's still got the driver in it from like.. 1996 when this thing was made.. That's like 12 years ago.. And it sounds killer.

So to make this even crazier I was able to pick up this little monster...for only [drum roll]

$50.00

These things sell for atleast $200 anywhere else, but this somewhat shady pawn shop totally gave me a good deal. They've got tons of other gear laying around too, So I think i'll refer anyone else seeking used amplification to this place, because they had much larger much louder amps just chillin around for just under $150.00 - $200.00, And most of these in my opinion were upwards of 300 to 500 dollar amps and heads when they were new.

Keep on Rockin

- Currently Jammin to: House on the Boarderlands - Electric Wizard

COMPUTER FIXED

Finally my computer is back to somewhat normal operation. I'll post more stuff later on.

Keep on Rockin :D

The Holy Grail of Distortion

Behold, the MXR Distortion +. I recently came across a vintage one at a little known shop called Somewhere in Iowa guitars. They're real underground, and unfortunately going out of business. This little yellow box is perfect. It works as a overdrive pedal as much as a distortion, and boosts your amp that little extra amount to make it sound godly. From the second I stepped on this monster, I knew this was the one. I have an older model then the one shown here, But the owner dated it back to the eighties.

The main artist that I knew to use this was the late and great Randy Rhodes [for those whom are not in the know, was Ozzy Osborne's lead guitarist on his first two albums, among many other things I'm sure I'll blog on in the future.]

Currently listening to: Black Sabbath - Supernaut

[[funny story behind this track, It nearly lead to the split up of Sabbath back in 74' because Bill Ward was so fucked up on coke he couldn't get the beat down along with the fact that the band was going through a rough patch.]]

EDIT: This awesome post came to you from my old computer. A vintage 2000 Blue iMac. It's classy one click mouse and old lady compatible interface are pwnzorxz. My computer crashed on me because the of interwebs monster put a virus adware spyware thingy of doom on it. I'm going to try to cntrl alt dlt the spyware program before it dies. It's like space invaders too when the popups shoot out and you have to click all twenty of them real fast like. If only it had the cool music.

. I'm not sure whats worse, this processor that loads half an image every 20 seconds or the pop-ups on my dying PC. Either way this sucks, and I think maybe I can do it this time.

-Keep it METAL

-Stuthedew

Helstar's THE KING OF HELL

So, I was checking out some bands the other day, my common pass time, When i came across this golden band. These dudes have been around since 84', yet retain some really great old school style. The lead singer sounds like a cross between Rob Halford of Judas Priest and Ronnie James Dio. That let alone should make you go crazy, but then, the icing on the cake, They have thrash type influences on this album. Totally metal. The song starts out with a creepy operatic women singing in Latin, and then the lead vocalist comes in to match her octave. The guitars then rip into a thrashing shred and it feels as if you fallen straight into the burning pits of hell, at least.. Musically :P. The lead vocalist begins shouting things in his high register, that makes you wake up instantly and ignore whatever it was you were doing before you turned it on, Then the rhythem changes, and he begins commanding you to "Bow down to The King of Hell!!". This part is probably my favorite. The lead guitarist then proceeds to shed into an amazing solo that sounds as if Satan himself came up from the pits of hell just to jam out with the band.

This band has a very Judas Priest musical direction. The lyrics usually depict some kind of Maiden-esc story about demons and things that go bump in the night. They released an album in the eighties called Nosferatu, which was a concept album about Dracula. Their other 80's release, Burning Star is also really good old school metal. Fans of the older material seem to have mixed feelings about this new release, but I personally think it's awesome. It comes out Jan 13th 2009, In North America. If you like old school Priest type metal this is totally you're cup of tea... or blood or whatever you drink.

-Keep it METAL.

-STUTHEDEW