The New World Order Wreaks of Dying Empire Odor

08:31 pm - Christmas in Santa Cruz on a Saturday morning

12/5/09

Standing at the counter of an empty record shop on Pacific Avenue, original Jamaican reggae ska lightly bounces over the speaker as more and more people gather outside to watch the slow parade of wood paneled cars, high school bands and old ladies in Santa hats march down our version of Main St. Children in tye dye shirts holding streamers with smiles of personal importance, wave at anyone who will look. The paraders ring sleigh bells, each jingle jangle creating auditory snow, making the watchers forget it's only 60 degrees in this sunny beach town, even if for a moment. Old hippies raising the new generation, sprinkled with pockets of roller derby girls, classic car buffs and people wearing giant umbrellas on their heads made to look like jelly fish, complete with long pink streamers flowing in the air.

A symphony of children laughing and women cheering up and down pacific make it hard to believe that this is the same street where dozens sleep nightly, where the run away kids with dirt encrusted hands bum change for booze, smack or whatever else they are feeling at the moment. Where just last night two separate fights broke out in front of a couple local bars, which are interspersed on Pacific every 5 buildings or so. All the trash, grime and lost dreams covered with a blanket of holiday cheer, tinsel and red fuzzy hats. Maybe this really is a special time of year, where people can put the differences and pain aside to help their fallen man, even if it's with a smile, the simple act of a good deed done or a parade. I hope so. If not, then we are just as fake as the felt gingerbread suits marching down the street, still eagerly swallowing the Kringle myth. No kids, there is no Santa, it's up to you to fill in his place.

10:59 pm - found this in the files. . .

Wrote this back in April and forgot about it. It's short and written in a wine blur, but i think it conveys my thoughts nicely. I might even say I'm proud.

"Welcome Home. Welcome back to the parties and wine. Welcome back to the clean streets and crooked police. Welcome back to the plastic families in their plastic homes and their plastic life. Welcome back to the weed and women. Welcome back to the old friends and the new beginnings. Welcome back to desert roads running like veins; if you're a junkie and know where to look. Welcome back to the misfortune of having everything you wanted materialistically, but a life completely void of soul. Welcome back to the heartaches and headaches. Welcome back to the tragedy of the upper middle class. Welcome back to the compassionate Christians who care more about the unborn than the living. Welcome back to fake smiles to your face and rumors behind your back. Welcome back to the force fed American dream that is now the nightmare we're choking on. Welcome back to late nights, long conversations and creative destruction where ever you turn. Welcome back to your life."

02:31 pm - 10/14/09 A quick one while she's away. . .

Shit. It's about time I update this thing. My problem is that I'm too diverse; I have two other paper journals besides this and I have the damnedest time switching between the three. But a month or two is a long time in between.

Two weeks into Oct 2009 already. It seems time goes by quickly in your 20s and slows to all hell in your 40s, or at least they make it seem so.

God, this is a horrible way to start. Who the hell writes this shit?

Fuck, I don't even know what I want to say anymore. More and more I feel like I've been losing my voice, my identity. Is it because I'm in a relationship, or because I never really had one? Is it even real or just the way I perceive it in my warped mind? See that? I used "warped" to describe my mind because I subconsciously believe it . Not a good sign.

I need to remember to write for me. One thing I see over and over again from my favorite writers, or even just people who enjoy what they do like that "Stuff White People Like" guy, is that they all put out things that they like; that they wanted to see in the world rather than trying to cater to what they thought someone else would like. Quite good advice, but a hell of a hard thing to do when you're still trying to find your solitary voice in a world of confusion. Not to mention the more I prattle on the more I believe just how god awful this really is. Tripe, all of it.


So it's back to the lady then. We've been fighting on and off all day, this last one because I was apologizing and trying to explain to her my thoughts, if you can believe it. That's just my luck, or maybe just the stage in the relationship. We're at a code orange now and Bin Laden just sent in a new video tape straight from the caves. We may be in the Obama administration now, but that's still a good metaphor damn it.

I need to stop using my inhaler so often, it's been only two weeks and the thing is almost empty already. Or maybe I should stop smoking. Yeah, that might be good. I'm on the road to quitting cigarettes. I say "on the road" because in the past two weeks I've only had 1/2 of one down South after staying with my parents. The way I see it, I wasn't so stressed I smoked 1/2 a pack so I'd say I'm doing pretty well. This succulent herb, however, that's another story.

I was doing well for a while there, I must say that I've cut back my cannabis intake by great leaps and measures. But since I was perpetually stoned for the past couple of years, I'm still stoned a lot more than the average human being with things to do in their life. Not too long ago we were smoking around an ounce a week. This past week I think it was a quarter, so cutting out 75% ain't bad. But I still feel like I'm not getting anything done, so maybe it's not the weed. But why not take a break? One of two things could happen: you could either enjoy it and never go back to smoking, or go back after a little while. Doesn't seem like there's a loss either way. But admittedly, it's hard to go cold turkey in a town like Santa Cruz, or when you're sitting on an ounce and a half with 4 more lovely ladies on their way, ready to be plucked and trimmed in the next week. I guess life's not all bad, eh?

Of course not, there have been some very good things the last month or so. For the life of me I still can't remember the end of August. **"Invalid number" tone: "Marijuana affects the memory."** No matter, August is a shitty month anyway, what did it ever do for you except horrible weather?

12:43 pm - I sold my soul to a Burning Angel

01:48 am - If Any SoCal Homies Want to Come Up For The Weekend. . .

12:08 am - Your Music Magazine #70

Warped Tour 2009 Review

http://issuu.com/numerous/docs/ymm70/12?mode=a_p

Civet Interview

http://issuu.com/numerous/docs/ymm70/14?mode=a_p

The Fabulous Jeffree Star

http://issuu.com/numerous/docs/ymm70/16?mode=a_p

The One and Only Fire Whiskey

http://issuu.com/numerous/docs/ymm70/32?mode=a_p

11:59 pm - Shock Treatment

Loving life and hating every day. I'm going through an existential breakdown; complete loss of identity and self. How did it come to this point? Nobody said following your dreams, or God, ever paid but just getting by isn't always fun either. Where's the passion and romance? Everyday seems to be another goddamn Wednesday. Where were you when the band stopped?

But it's never all bad, always something to be grateful for. There's life itself, for starters. All of life is beautiful and important, period. That's why we should always do what we can to help life, whether it's universal healthcare, shutting down an oppressive government or saving the environment. Any argument against the helping of life-whether it's based on surface excuses of "lack of finances" or "we don't have the power". . .shit, or even "America first!,"-are complete bullshit. There's always a way and the surface excuses are usually covering deeper reasons spewed by the bribe taking politicians, regurgitated by the media and repeated by the people who believe the t.v. Fresh bullshit, now in HD!

Haven't updated anything in a while, trying to get myself back in that groove. Where to start? Intense madness, degeneracy and all around shenanigans have ensued, but I still feel apart from it all.

Went to Warped Tour with a press pass which was pretty rad, until I walked through the gate. Dear Jebus, what the fuck happened? I'm glad I grew up when I did, I just feel bad for these kids. And before you start whining "But if you grew up in their generation then you'd be into that too!" You might be right, you might be wrong. I was never one to blatantly follow the teen trends, but either way we will never know. However, I do know these things: MOST of the bands I listen to have substance and meaning, regardless of whether you like the music, and MOST of the bands today have none. A lot of it is pop/dance shit, and the rest are hardcore/screamo/emo/cookie monster with dance beats that are all a copy of each other, . EVERYTHING IS PRE-PACKAGED AND SOLD TO THESE KIDS! Everyone looked the same with their clothes, hair, music, idea and life sold to them for the price of their humanity. Dear Lord, If this ain't the End Times, then what have we done?

But hell, if everyone else is cashing in on these corporate billboards, then so will I. Been working 3 jobs lately and Hot Topic is one of them along with Natural Balance Pet Foods and body piercing at Kalifa's Tattoo & Piercing. While it's nice to be working a crazy schedule again, there's still only so much cash and even less time to write and I'm starting to understand the whole "time is money" concept. What's the point of working an 8 hour shift for a few bucks when I could spend it writing and trying to sell that? Yea gods, you are always laughing while we learn how to crawl.

07:52 pm - End of July means 2009 book update

1. The Sea Captain's Wife - Martha Hodes

2. Choke - Chuck Palanhuick

3. Enrages and Situationists in the Occupation Movement, France, May, 1968
- Rene Vienet

4. The Captain is Out To Lunch and The Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship
- Charles Bukowski

5. Breakfast of Champions - Kurt Vonnegut

6. What Da Vinci Didn't Know: An LDS Perspective - Richard Neitzel Holzapfel

7. Post Office - Charles Bukowski

8. Beyond the Pleasure Principle - Sigmund Freud

9. Anarchism and Other Essays - Emma Goldman

10. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead - Tom Stoppard

12:27 am - The Writer who never writes

Great Buddha Christ! I've been running around in a glory of green smoke and a haze of booze for weeks without staying on top of the ONE GODDAMN thing I should be doing. "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans." I have my own beef with the Beatles, but Lennon was onto something there. And I know this is the time I should be utilizing to explain how I've been piercing out of a shop, or about the various shows and music festivals we've been going to, about the partying, the weirdness, the naked people and sex, not to mention all of artists, musicians, photographers, painters, pin-up models and burlesque dancers we've been meeting and working with along the way. . .but I'm deeply engaged in a conversation with my platonic soulmate and everything else can wait. But quickly, for now, I have to post two things . . .Hands down, this was not only my favorite, but the best journalistic coverage on Michael Jackson I've read since his death. I mean, for Christ's sake, the guy who orchestrated the Vietnam WAR, which killed at LEAST 58,000 Americans and some 3 MILLION VIETNAMESE (not including later deaths due to Agent Orange and other chemicals thanks to Monsanto), DIED two days ago and it took time to find the ONE article in each of the major news sources amid the sea of Jacko. Except the BBC. How sad that a foreign news agency would have the best coverage on American politics.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lopez8-2009jul08,0,1986695.column

And Two. . . .






Anti-eyebrow. I was quite proud. . .brushin' my shoulders off

11:36 pm - New Issue of Your Music Magazine #69

2 CD reviews pgs 20-21

Taxi Project interview pgs 28-29

Kris Special interview pg53

10:01 am - Letter to Myself

5/28/09. . .3AM. .. .

Strange rustling in the winds. Something's in the air, but it's not necessarily good. A lot of people who I consider to be a little off - and therefore more on than your average person - are having a helluva time getting things accomplished as of late. Even more describe feeling off or not themselves. And when it comes to matters like this, it's always the off ones who feel it most. I was told it was Mercury in retrograde, maybe so. Luckily, we only have 2 more days. That is, unless my informant was wrong, in which case she will get what's coming to her, ho ho.

But enough of that nonsense, there's no reason for it. Giant celestial body or not, I'm done. And by the great non-existant moon gods of Mercury, I'm going to take back what's mine no matter what it takes. This goddamn spell is too short to go wasting it on anything else but the cardinal rule: Live how you want, not at the expense of others. Keep that whole thing in mind and it will take you to where you want to be. Forget the ending, and karma will find you. Don't believe me? Give it a shot. You've done this all before.

That in mind, nobody can get inside your head unless you allow them. THIS INCLUDES YOURSELF. Negative thoughts will always be there and guess what, EVERYONE has them. But of course you will slip, there will be stumbles and horrific face plants into the cold concrete. But instead of feeding the demons, like you always do and deleteriously well, make work a defense against brooding. Just as you know how to embrace the rotten, you also know how to bring yourself out. Keep that PMA and nurture it. Blow that bitch up like some kush. Strive to be better than everyone else, never waste a minute and move forward in whatever you do. You never were one for a stagnant scene anyway. Remember, most of the Saints would've been diagnosed with mental disorders today. But, "they were Saints because they were able to stand the pressure of their respective neuroses rather than because they did not suffer from them." Keep telling yourself everything's ok and that THEY aren't out to get you and you too, can be a Saint.

For too long have you run back and forth, doing one thing than another, never committing to one thing, yourself. And that's the only person all this bullshit fuckery is screwing over. You only have yourself in this world baby. If you don't accomplish your dreams, your wants, your ideas, not only do you have nobody else to blame, but you're the only one who will suffer from it. And unless you're serious about punching yourself out, you're gonna have to live with yourself for what will seem like a very, very long time. So what's the point in letting yourself down? You can't even stand 24 hours, don't make it 24 years.


Basically, what I'm trying to say in short, is that you have what it takes as long as you believe in yourself. I never really knew what that meant before, but I know you're starting to finally understand. It's not a gimmick, it's not a hoax. Believe in yourself, and others will too. Confidence is sexy.

11:21 am - Book update

I'm going to have to step it up if I'm going to make it to 24 by december. . .


1. The Sea Captain's Wife - Martha Hodes

2. Choke - Chuck Palanhuick

3. Enrages and Situationists in the Occupation Movement, France, May, 1968
- Rene Vienet

4. The Captain is Out To Lunch and The Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship
- Charles Bukowski

5. Breakfast of Champions - Kurt Vonnegut

6. What Da Vinci Didn't Know: An LDS Perspective - Richard Neitzel Holzapfel

7. Post Office - Charles Bukowski

11:17 am - I'm going to be the White Lil Wayne

Santa Cruz to L.A.
and bringing
all
its
finest

the beach
to
the city
showing
Mary's
kindness

If you
want
some love
and
have the
flow
then hit me on the
Razor
and let me know

12:15 am - Alright. . .

Back on task. The past couple weeks have been binge and burnout but it's time to get serious. Get in the mindset, live the life, practice what you preach and believe, keep moving forward and laugh all the way to the top. 2009: time to shine.

10:26 am - No matter how bad life gets, at least I'm not this guy

Hahahahahah! This is what we've become. There's never a shortage of people who need to take themselves out of the gene pool. Better yet, Vanessa and I will team up as evil super villains and take them out while conquering the world.

http://www.wlwt.com/cnn-news/19305002/detail.html

CINCINNATI -- Cincinnati police have a new ally in their fight against crime, whether they want it or not.
He calls himself Shadowhare, and he wears a mask and a cape to conceal his true identity. He's Cincinnati's own version of a superhero fighting crime and injustice where he finds it.

"We help enforce the law by doing what we can in legal standards, so we carry handcuffs, pepper spray … all the legal weapons," said Shadowhare. "We will do citizen's arrests. We will intervene on crimes if there is one happening in front of us."

The man behind Shadowhare's mask is 21 years old and from Milford. Those are the only clues to his true identity that he will reveal. Shadowhare said he was abused as a child and grew up in foster homes, perhaps leading him to a life helping others.

"My message to Cincinnati is that there is still hope and all we have to do is stand together," he said.
Shadowhare is not alone in his quest to fight crime. He heads up a group of men -- and one woman -- called the "Allegiance of Heroes." The members communicate with each other in online forums. Among the members are Aclyptico in Pennsylvania, Wall Creeper in Colorado and Master Legend in Florida.
"I've even teamed up with Mr. Extreme in California -- San Diego -- and we were trying to track down a rapist," said Shadowhare.

The crime fighters will often pair up to patrol the streets. Even so, fighting crime comes with its share of hardship.Shadowhare said he suffered a dislocated shoulder two years ago while trying to help a woman who was being attacked.

And the authorities don't always take him seriously. In one encounter with a Hamilton County corrections officer, Shadowhare was greeted with a chuckle and a look of disbelief.

But Shadowhare said he and his team are not deterred by the criticism. He remains focused on trying to make Cincinnati a better place, whether it's fighting crime or feeding the homeless.
For now, the law is on Shadowhare's side.
It is legal in Ohio and Kentucky to make a citizens arrest, however, the arrester does face possible civil litigation if the person arrested turns out to be innocent.

01:51 pm - Screens (in progress)

When our civilization collapses, as it surely will at some point since no civilization has ever lasted, and the remaining humans begin their own rituals and traditions, they will look back upon us not as a culture that worshipped God, Allah, or even money, but instead they will see us as "The Screen People." Think about it, how do we decipher the ruins of our ancient civilizations? We look at the remains they leave and try piecing the civilization back together with our best scientific guesses. Theories about the economies, living standards, etc. come after the fact.

Televisions, cell phones, computers, laptops, electronic billboards everywhere let alone in places like NY and Vegas, medical monitors, movie theaters, entertainment monitors, ebooks, cameras, portable dvd players, ipods, car tvs, car cameras, palm pilots, everything we do is through screens! And now with more and more things that used to represent physical culture becoming digital, all that we will have to leave behind are the empty screens. Because we all know just how long your new cell phone lasts, or the life of the newest ipod, so to think that they'll still work in 2000 years shows just how plugged into our digital dream you really are. All of the literary masterpieces will be erased, lost to the digital ether. But that's what you get when you change 1984 into a computer code.

And who knows if we'll even have any art to leave behind? I'm completely covered in tattoos like the next man, but that's part of the problem isn't it? All of our art is becoming biodegradable; living flesh that can only be preserved through mummification or skinning, and not many people are donating their bodies, eh? But how cool if they did? Future museums filled with our generations skin on display, each in different sections. "Teacher, the tribal section sucks zorg balls, can we go see the Zombie tattoos?"

But how else can future people see our culture other than that? If you figure that the average American family has at least 2 tvs , plus 2-5 cell phones, probably the same amount of ipods, 2-3 computers. . .they are our new gods. Blank machines we stare at , focus on, yell at, and even converse with. Television was created and grew beyond acceptance, it became a babysitter for parents and a friend to children. And now all of our technology has grown around the screen, which in turn shapes our culture to be screen centered.

01:18 am - New Tattoo

2009: Time to Shine!




Got this from my buddy Corey the night before Easter. V and I went to Missy's house where we drank wine, smoked weed and had long conversations about the New World Order with Matt Swinford. V's tattoo from Missy looks like this:





So yes, now we have matching tattoos in the shape of a blood diamond. Everything has it's price.

03:18 pm - Waking Up with The Kris Special

Tucked away on the corner of a dusty road in my middle-class hometown of Santa Clarita Ca., surrounded by debt ridden yuppies and gentrified neighborhoods, sits an old country diner called the Way Station. It's the home of the best hangover cure (country fried steak and eggs), and one dish so good, Anne Pointer and Nick Schutz named their band after it. The Kris Special's music is just like the Weigh Station: a fresh breath of desert air in a sea of conventional plastic.
Formed in 2001, Schutz (drums) and Pointer (singer/guitar) began jamming on Pointer's front porch. Over the years they played with several bass players, eventually returning to the purity of a duo. The band's minimalist approach pays off for them in a way it would destroy others. Their first LP, Alone Feels like a Hotel Room , is the perfect album for a long drive or watching the clouds pass over the moon; their songs are contemplative, honest and quite beautiful. Pointer's innocent voice and melodic playing trickles between Schutz's soulful drums to create a nostalgic sound that makes you want to travel in any direction. I hate using the word "indie" since it conjures up images of trust fund hipsters, but they are indie in the true sense. Alone takes you through crescendoing melodies(April loved John), storytelling country ballads (Poor Boy in a Field), reflective composure (Fiasco, Wet Payphone) and even some upbeat punk (Shadow Smart, Untitled 2). By constantly touring state to state in Schutz's packed Corolla, the Kris Special has made a following for themselves that is already beginning to avalanche. More and more people are showing up to their L.A. hometown shows, and they just added a couple punk legends to their fan base; but I won't be naming names.
When they recently played Santa Cruz, I was fortunate enough to trick them into staying at my backwoods cabin; only to wake them up early with a face full of tape recorder.

Mat: So why pick The Kris Special?

Anne: Nick and I really liked to eat at the Way Station because it's not homogenized. It has old license plates on the wall, old cowboy pictures; basically a trucker/cowboy/Old California atmosphere that is very much my setting. Everyone there is cheerful but not in your face, which makes it a cool hangout. When you're there you step into a different space than the rest of Santa Clarita. We used to not be vegetarian and vegan, so we'd go there and order the Kris Special. (grinning mischeviously) To me, that's the most punk rock plate of food ever! It comes with hashbrowns, 2 English muffins, 2 eggs any style, bacon or sausage, and then completely blanketed in gravy, and it's cheap! I always tell people, "Yeah, it's covered in gravy," but they don't even realize! You can't see the food! You think you're getting soup at first until you poke around and find the food underneath. Plus, it was named after a waitress there that was popular and I've always liked diner waitresses. So that's where we got our name. Everyone thinks either Nick or I are named "Kris," so I have to tell them, "No, my name is Anne."

Mat: (imitating) Kris? Oh Kris died, thanks for bringing it up.

Anne: (laughs) Yeah, it's our memorial to her.

Mat: Your LP, Alone Feels Like a Hotel Room, has been out for a year now. What is the writing process like for you two?

Anne: Nick wrote one song on the album called "Fiasco," but I wrote the other songs throughout the years. I don't force my writing. I'll usually start with a melody, then go to my guitar and write lyrics. So it wasn't that we sat down and wrote the album out; the songs collected over a long period of time. It's interesting writing a song because it starts out one way, then you record it, then play it a couple hundred times at shows and it develops over time. You hear different parts, change the dynamics, change lyrics, stuff like that. So the songs we recorded were "done," creatively speaking.

Nick: But to some extent they're still evolving. When you play something the same way for years, you want to change it up.

Anne: It's inevitable, there's no escape in wanting to change your art. But it can be stressful because you'll hear something you like and think, "I wish I recorded it like THAT." You just have to let it go, what's done is done. We're excited because we're hoping to record our next album within the year or so.

Nick: Yeah, we're in the process of turning Anne's garage into a recording studio.

Mat: Within the past several years you've been playing together, the digital revolution has boomed. Have you noticed a change?

Anne: It's helped tremendously with booking tours. I can't believe people used to book tours before sites like Myspace (laughs). I don't care if you buy our album, as long as you hear it and, hopefully, like it. I love how a band can cruise into a town they've never been and still have a following because one or two kids in the town spread their music through the net. A band can have a following in a town and not even have an album, just a couple songs on Myspace. You don't have to be on Capitol to be known outside of your hometown.


Mat: It takes out all of the middlemen and management gangs that just want to make money off the bands.

Anne: Totally. People complain about pirated music and artists not getting their money, but if you're getting into this to make money then you're in it for the wrong reasons. If you're a musician, you better have a day job and you better realize that this isn't work, it's your passion. It's nice if you can make some money off it, but you shouldn't get into it thinking, "I'm gonna quit my job and be a famous musician." The mentality should be more, "Alright, I'm going to find a job that will allow me to take weeks off for touring and I'm going to produce art."

Nick: It's really rare to make money off of album sales, too. The bands that are doing this professionally make their money from touring and merchandise.

Mat: You have a sound that's very unique, how did you develop it and what influences do you have?

Anne: From the beginning I've been inspired by old country, and old punk. I love people like Patsy Cline, Carl Smith and Slim Whitman. Johnny Cash is great but I never got into him the way others did; I'm a Hank Williams girl. I'll hear the old country, but think that I can make it darker, with a maybe a hint of the desert. My brother and I were always into old punk along with ska and the other subgenres. So in the beginning, those two dynamics met together to produce our sound. I had a Stratocaster and a shitty amp back then. Next, I got a DeVille and I could make my sound with more of a surf/country twang. Finally I got my Hollow Body which really molded the tone and that sound really ended up influencing my songwriting. Now we've developed into a more dramatic sound, even a surf sound. It also developed with Nick becoming a more creative drummer.

Nick: Yeah, over the process of this band, I started and finished music school learning composition and all these really weird ideas. Like the guys in the 20th Century who just said, "Fuck the theory," and just started making really weird stuff.

Anne : Complete abstract music like performing a piece entirely by scraping a toothbrush on piano strings.

Nick (snickers): Well, that's a little too pretentious. But yeah, the abstract really has a big influence on the way I drum. I'm always trying to get different sounds.

Anne: He always tries to do something different than the standard radio beats and I really appreciate that. It then influences me because I think, "Oh, Nick can come up with something really cool right here and push it." At this point I think we're really starting to embrace our sound and over the last couple of years the band has become what it should be.

Nick: I never really listened to much old punk until I started hanging out with Anne, her brother Garret and our old bass player, Barry. One time Barry wanted to do a Misfits tribute show for his birthday. I had never listened to the Misfits before, so they had to make a compilation for me of all the songs we were going to cover. And now I'm a huge Misfits fan, I love their old sound. The Cramps were another really good one though Lux Interior just died. We were going to try to work in one of their songs for our last tour but it didn't work out. I grew up with a lot of grunge and then moved into jazz, classical, Indian music; everything i could listen to and I think you can hear that in the music. I mean, we don't have sitars or anything but-

Anne: No, no. No sitars. People might think we're hippies. (laughs)

Mat: So where are some of your favorite places you've played?

Anne: Berkley is way cool. We played this place called Blake's and people went nuts for us. It was a younger crowd, just a bunch of kids 18 and under, but it was this totally cool place. It was a dirty basement underneath this nice bar over on Telegraph; our bass player knew Berkley so we got to hang around there and they loved us. When we came back they were singing the lyrics! That was the first time we had really heard others singing out stuff, it was so cool! (laughs) Personally, my favorite spot we've discovered on tour was Santa Maria. We have become really good friends with some people there purely based on playing shows.

Nick: Now we even just go there to hang out.

Mat: What other projects are you involved in?

Nick: I have a lot of different music projects I'm involved in. I'm planning on eventually going back to school and getting my Master's, but for now this is the focus. I'm also involved in another band. . .Anne, how would you describe Warm Climate?

Anne: Very abstract. For the most part it's instrumental, but Seth does sing on a couple parts.

Nick: There's a lot of controlled improvisation. For instance, there are sessions where we are just going crazy but still listening to each other. It's like the old, freestyle jazz stuff from the 1950s and 60s. When it's done well, we really mesh. I also play Zimbabwean music; we play with these gigantic xylophones. It's very random, but apparently it's really big in the Pacific Northwest, or so I've heard.

Anne: It's really fun to watch! Every time I listen to them I feel energized; probably because the melodies are so pure and major that it's a very primal thing.

Mat: I was impressed when I saw you playing a suitcase with a bass pedal, your snare, cymbal and xylophone all at once.

Nick: I got that idea after watching Wilco. Their drummer has a degree in percussion and he actually writes abstract music like I do. He was even commissioned to write stuff for the Kronos Quartet, which is this very forward thinking string quartet and he's even touring with them right now. He also does traditional Zimbabwean, now that I think of it. So we're on the same page but he's just a lot more advanced than me.

Mat: So, what's the future for the Kris Special besides the new album?

Anne: For right now, the plan is to keep touring. We like to spend a lot of time on the album because it's a creative process. It's like a painting: you put it on the wall to see how you like it and then take it down to change things, it may never be finished. So at some point you just have to say, "Alright, I think I like this enough to let people look at it." I think we will just keep pushing on. This whole two piece thing is still kind of new, so I'm hoping it will develop into something even cooler. I'm always pushing myself to be more comfortable on stage and to write more songs.

Nick: I'm going to quit next month. (laughs)

You can learn more about the Kris Special and buy their album at thekrisspecial.com

03:17 pm - Embrace Forever Interview

EMBRACE FOREVER FOR THE SAKE OF IT


It's about 9 PM in the tiny farming town of Salinas, Ca. Famous for author John Steinbeck, strawberries, and having one of California's highest crime rates, Salinas seems an unlikely place for any metal band to have its origins. But as I pulled up to Embrace Forever's practice garage and heard the music blasting, I realized how perfectly Salinas would fit into their "rags to riches" story.
Always one for the Truth, I'm making it clear now that I've been friends with EF's singer for a couple of years and since then have become friends with the guys. That having been said, Embrace Forever is a band I would listen to even if they were a bunch of douche bags. They combine the pure energy of metal with the raw anger of hardcore criss-crossed with epic melodies, all wrapped in DIY ethics to create a glorious sound of structured chaos. You can (and should!) go pick up one of their two EPs or their debut album, 100 Worlds Away, but seeing them live is another experience entirely.
Think of a musical kick to the face from a guy who just drank ten Red Bulls and you have an idea of an Embrace Forever show. I've seen them play for ten people and I've seen them play for sixty people, and every time I've been impressed with how much of themselves they give to the audience. Guitarists Jay and Rick tear through notes and chords while bassist Phil and drummer Isaac pound your soul with crushing blows just to have frontman Bobby either scream you into hell or sing you through the pearly gates. They always make sure to get the audience involved and never fail to thank and talk to their fans after. It's easy to see how a band with only a couple recordings has such a big local following. Plus, they're talented enough make it to the finals of the YMM Olympics two years in a row by a vote of their peers and fans. So without further ado, I present to you, Embrace Forever. . .

Mat: Tell me about how you started.

Bobby: Well, "Embrace Forever" has been around since 03 and it was Isaac, our guitar player Rick, and myself. We ended up playing together until around 2005, when I moved down South and met you. Rick then started collaborating with this guy Jay, who he had played with before in Largo Prestisimo. I had also known Jay just from the other local bands he had played in. When I moved back, I talked to Rick and we decided to throw all these various projects together. We kept the name Embrace Forever because we had played some shows with it previously. But, it was also because we're just not good at names. (laughs) I remember we had the show coming up and still no name. We were trying for something ambiguous.

Phil: Yeah like if you are going to name your band "Slayer," you can't be a jazz band.

Mat: So Phil, when did you join the band?

Phil: I joined in January of 2007. I was going to join in 2006 but I work in construction and almost cut my bass playing finger off. But I ended up joining later because of that guy Jay; we had played in bands together on and off. I ran into him one day and he convinced me to check out Embrace Forever at a Petra show because they needed a bassist. I ended up seeing them two more times and thought, "Hell yeah, I can do this." We practiced together for a week and a half and then started playing shows.

Bobby: I think Phil has also really helped hold us together. Phil had played drums for years in various bands, so he has a drummer's instinct.

Isaac: Which is really awesome because we had three bassists before Phil.

Phil: Yeah, I've been playing too damn long to fuck around. (laughs)

Bobby: Everyone in Embrace Forever is here because music is in their soul. Our lives basically consist of our jobs and music, and the jobs are only there because we need to pay the bills. We don't care if we play for ten people or a thousand; we play music for us. We love it if other people are into it, but we don't make music to please a crowd.

Isaac: That's probably another reason why we've stayed around longer than most Salinas bands, we all love it.

Mat: So how long have you guys been recording local bands?

Isaac: For forever! We've even been recording ourselves on and off.

Bobby: It's really just a way to finance our endeavors. We're not making enough money as a live band yet, so we try to find whatever means to finance the merchandise we want to make.

Isaac: We have a full length album already recorded--

Mat: You guys started that back in April of 08 right?

Phil: Yeah, and we're just sitting on it.

Isaac: Right now we're just trying to raise the money to release it. When we started thinking about ways to make money, recording local bands just stuck out. Plus our studio is starting to become really nice too.

Mat: What's going on with the album? Any idea when it will drop?

Bobby: We're planning on doing a tour in the summer time and we're hoping to have the album out before then. Especially since we're writing more material right now.

Phil: Yeah, we don't want to have to learn these songs again. But for the time being we're still paying the album off.

Bobby: We had to get more mixing done on it after already spending several weeks at LoveJuice down in SoCal. We had a rough time mixing it because we never really got what we wanted. Every recording we've put out, the demos and 100 Worlds Away, has been a step above the previous one. So with the new one we wanted something that would be twice as good; especially since we really felt like the songs had arrived. We wanted the album to be something that stood out, but we didn't really feel we had that coming back from Lovejuice.

Isaac: Yeah, one recording had too much vocals, another was too loud, all that stuff.

Phil: We definitely hung our heads when we returned, thinking, "Shit, we just spent $2500 in two and a half weeks and it's not even that great." We didn't have our own equipment back then.

Bobby: We felt let down because there's this guy, Zach Ohren who owns Castle Ultimate Studios in Oakland. He's done more "mainstream" bands like All Shall Perish on Relapse Records. We had originally wanted him to do the album, but at the time he was busy with All Shall Perish. Luckily, we knew we wanted to remix the album and he takes random mixing assignments since he can do them at odd hours. It was fate because he just had an opening in his schedule when we contacted him again. Thing was, he needed the album the day after we talked.

Phil: So Isaac and Rick come over early in the morning, screaming, "Dude! We need to get the album up to Oakland now! Let's go" And here I am just waking up like, "What the hell? I'm still drunk!"

Bobby: (laughs) Yeah, when they handed it to Zach he just looked at them and said, "You know you could've just mailed it."

Phil: (laughs) We were like, "Fuck that! Here we are! You said 'tomorrow,' forget mailing it!" There's still room for improvement in the recording quality because of Lovejuice, but Zach did a phenomenal job on the mixing.

Bobby: It's better than anything we've previously put out, but we know we're not perfect. There's always room for improvement.

Mat: It must be hard being a metal or hardcore band in the Bay with all these kids listening to jam bands.

Bobby: We've had a weird time because a lot of kids up here don't want the hard stuff. But then the small group of kids who do want their hard music usually want pure hardcore, which we aren't. We don't limit ourselves to just one style; we play the music we like. We're not always trying to play the heaviest we can. At the same time, we all bring our own influences into the music. One style is just not enough for us.

Mat: I know all of you guys have different and various influences. Like Bobby, I know you're into AFI, Danzig, Misfits. . .

Bobby: Yeah, and it's ok if the other guys don't like that. We don't have to like everything that the other guys like, we just bring our own twist when we practice.(laughs) Yet somehow we've all come to common ground.

Phil: We definitely consider each other's opinions and ideas. Then, when we latch onto an idea, we practice it over and over until we get it right. We'll never go out and perform a sloppy song. Bobby is the perfect singer because he has the perfect vocal range for the crazy shit we come up with.

Bobby: Well, there's been a couple songs that were overwhelming and I had to just say, "I can't see myself singing that."

Phil: (laughs) Or sometimes we'll write a whole song and he'll restructure it for his singing but then it sounds even better and we keep it.

Bobby: Like that song I want to shoot the video for, "Everything's Broken." They had completely opposite ideas, for how it should go, than me. The chorus and verse riffs were originally switched, but I changed it knowing how my natural singing tendencies are. So it became one of our only songs that is hard and then gets quieter while still remaining upbeat. It adds for a really great dynamic and we only just started playing it live this year.

Mat: So how does Embrace Forever get ready for shows?

Phil: I think we just get psyched out! When we're actually on stage, everything is second nature to us. We don't put too much thought into how we look on stage like some bands. We just get up there and do whatever we want. That's why we like playing on big stages: more room to jump around. The ideal is having a place not too big or small, so you can have interact with the audience.

Mat: That's the fun of a live show! You go to see THE BAND. If you just wanted the music you could stay home and save yourself the ticket and bar money.

Bobby: Yeah, you want the live experience. Usually at "all ages" shows, they have so many bands playing that they want you up and out in 25 minutes. So a lot of times at places we will barely pause between songs. Where as, when you saw us in Monterey, the show lasted some 3 hours and there was only two bands. (laughs) We didn't know what to do!

Mat: So how do you think your music has evolved?

Phil: I think that every new member brings their own change to the music. And collectively speaking, you never want to do the same thing twice.

Bobby: Yeah, some bands release the same album over and over again. Granted, I can understand that because people come to expect something from them so the bands develop a formula. But none of my favorite bands have ever done that, so that always inspired me to strive for something different.

Isaac: We have our own sound, but we never turn it into a formula that we repeat. We have the hard, fast beats, the break downs and even some soft, melodic stuff.

Phil: It makes for something that isn't boring. Because when we're up there playing it, we don't want to be bored, let alone bore the audience. We have a couple of songs that are almost like dance numbers and we even have a secret song on the album.

Bobby: We wanted to end the album on something that people wouldn't expect. So the song is nothing that we would ever play live, but it's pretty epic all the same.

Phil: The first song on the album is all screaming and no singing, then when you get to the last song it's all singing and no screaming.

Bobby: The album is called I Am Fiction and the lyrics at the beginning are very extroverted. They look at the problems in life and point the finger at others in classic hardcore fashion. But then, it implodes. (laughs) We switch it up on you half-way and it becomes about someone who begins to doubt his own righteousness and, ultimately, his existence. So when you listen to the album from beginning to end, it goes from screaming and pointing the finger to singing and quiet reflection. It makes for a great dichotomy of sound that we hope will bring us onto the next level of music.

You can check out Embrace Forever April 18 at the Petra Church in Salinas or May 15 at the Gaslighter in Gilroy.

02:59 pm - ARTicles in the new YMM #67

Tattoo Artist Dan Wysuph

http://issuu.com/numerous/docs/ymm67/18?zoomed=true&zoomPercent=100&zoomXPos=1&zoomYPos=0.34544334975369456



CD Reviews

http://issuu.com/numerous/docs/ymm67/24?zoomed=true&zoomPercent=100&zoomXPos=1&zoomYPos=0.34544334975369456


Art Show blurb w/pics (there are a couple errors on this one, damn editors.)

http://issuu.com/numerous/docs/ymm67/60?zoomed=true&zoomPercent=100&zoomXPos=1&zoomYPos=0.34544334975369456