Well, well, well. Look at this, as predicted we are back with another episode so very quickly and this one has both Tommy and Don. It's been five months since we were able to get together and record something and we end up going for almost an hour, how's that for stamina? Among the topics discussed were what happened on the 4th of July (Don got hit by fireworks), the lack of any road trips since the Iron Maiden one, the status (or lack of thereof) of Tommy's band Alloy and how recently Don finally came to grips with what is the definition of poetry. Expect an episode of Don's spoken word poetry sometime in the future, who knows when he'll get around to it. Then the talk shifts to the recent move to get a medical marijuana initiative on the ballot for the next election and how ridiculous the anti-marijuana laws are in this country. All in all a pretty good conversation.
Opening Music: Alloy - Live To See The Day Closing Music: Sublime - Smoke Two Joints
Friday night while at work I received a call from a former employee and dare I say it, friend, who we will call Thomas (basically because that's his name) because he wanted to let me know that his band Kaizen Pursuit (google it for an explanation) would be playing Saturday night at the Flytrap Music Hall and he wanted me to come see them play. This was to be the 2nd time they had played at a local showcase for newer bands at The Flytrap and he said they would probably play at around 9PM but the club hadn't given them any indication of what the order of bands would be.
Upon receiving the okay from my wife (AKA The Boss) I waited for the appropriate time and then jumped into my truck and made the drive in less than 10 minutes. After paying the $5 cover fee I ventured inside and quickly Thomas came up to me and informed me that I had just missed them. Unfortunately they had been the 1st band of the night. Since I hadn't seen Thomas for a few months I thought at least I could hang out for a little while and talk. Okay the thought that I'd paid the cover charge and hadn't even been able to see them play also crossed my mind.
The next band up (and the first for me to see) was, well I didn't catch their name. They sounded like Creed clones (not a good thing in my book) and nobody in the band had any stage presence whatsoever, least of all the vocalist. The most he could manage other than his double fist grab of the microphone was to a take a few shambling steps to one side as if he was some homeless person meandering around looking for something to eat. Luckily for him this is exactly the kind of gig where you can learn how to present yourself to a live audience. I will add that the drummer was very good.
The 3rd band was called Sleepwalking Home and basically they are a female fronted screamo rock band with a commercial sound to them. Again, not my kind of music but at least they had some energy and their vocalist definitely had stage presence. It's not perfected yet but she does have it. I can see how females would gravitate to this band simply because it has a female singer and that might help them in their drive to become bigger but that's not all that they've got. If you like this kind of music then give them a chance based upon the music first.
At this point I was all set to go but for some reason I decided to stay and check out the next band, if only for a song or two. Instead I ended up staying for their entire set. They were a cross between Cypress Hill and Sublime (they sounded like they could have come from Long Beach) as they had 3 rappers (2 who appeared to be Mexican American and 1 who looked like he was a white rasta) and a guitarist who looked like Mick Jones from The Clash. I believe their name was The Informers but since The Flytrap didn't bother to put anything up on their website I can't say for sure. Their set was a bit ragged in part because it seemed like in some songs they had left it open so that they could freeform rap and kind of tag in when they wanted to and then the song would come to a crashing halt. There were plenty of bright spots for me though and I think of the 3 bands they were the most promising because they are so different from the majority of commercial crud out there whether it is local or national. Give them a year or less to work on their song structures and smooth out the rough spots and then watch out. Now if only I could find some info about them on the web, so far I haven't been able to find anything.
There was to be at least 1 more band but I had to bow out since I have to get up early in the morning to teach my Sunday School class. That's right, I said it. Look, as I get up onto my soapbox I'll let you know that I don't drink, smoke, do drugs, mess around or try to force my views and beliefs on others but sometimes I do like to hear live music so cut me some slack. What someone wants to do is their business as long as they aren't hurting somebody else. Don't judge me on your past experiences and I won't judge you on mine. With that said it's now time to get to sleep so that I can get up and teach the aforementioned class. Tomorrow I'll come back and read over this to edit all of my mistakes so until then cut me some slack, I'm tired. Below is a video from Kaizen Pursuits first visit to The Flytrap, maybe next time I'll even be able to see them play.
Well it seems like I'm behind the times, always a day late and a dollar short so it's no surprise that I'm just hearing about this. Former Sublime bandmates Bud Gaugh and Eric Wilson have gotten together with a new vocalist/singer named Rome Ramirez. It seems that the pair had an itch to perform as Sublime again with a new frontman however after Bradley Nowell's death his family had retained the rights to the bands name since he owned it outright and they were against any new group calling themselves Sublime. After some legal issues everyone came together and are apparently fine with the "new" group calling itself Sublime With Rome which is cool by me. I had already known who Sublime was before they hit it big with their self titled 3rd album "Sublime" which was released posthumously after Nowell died from a drug overdose and I loved their music. For a time the void left musically from Nowell's passing was filled by the group Long Beach Dub AllStars which Wilson and Gaugh were members of but that band broke up in 2002 after releasing 2 fine albums. Both Wilson and Gaugh had gone on to other bands after LBDAS broke up but none had the success of Sublime or LBDAS. The band has been performing for over a year now off and on and have recorded a few new songs with a full length new album due next year. Here's a video of them performing their new song "Panic" on the Jimmy Kimmel show.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
It's Saturday night and my wife and son are out so instead of working on posts with more depth and meaning what am I doing? You guessed it, just throwing up some songs that I felt like listening to. I have the aforementioned posts in development but for some reason I'm having difficulty actually finishing them, I just don't feel like working on them. Guess I'm just in one of my moods so instead I want to hear some music that I don't always get a chance to listen to. Maybe later or tomorrow .............
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