This is a video from 14 years ago! LOOK AT HOW SKINNY I AM!!!!
I miss playing in this band. It was incredibly fun and formative. Not just as a musician, but as a person.
Being in a band teaches you how to interact with people. You have to get along with bandmates, you have to get along with promoters, and you have to get along with fans.
This show, in particular, predated our last album.
I know I usually write about stuff that came out forever ago, but this album just got noticed. It may have just been released.
Anyway, this band is fantastic. I played with them several times, and they are bred from Krhaemer. Krhaemer being one of the first bands that I ever saw. What’s amazing about this band is how they make being ridiculous sound normal. I am getting ahead of myself.
This album has some of the cleanest vocals this band has produced. The vocals are like a less annoying Choke. In fact, this band is like a less annoying several things. Take the best things that the classic punk scene could produce, and distil it all together. That’s right: the best of all the best. Now make it better.
Dillinger Escape Plan meets Belvedere meets Choke meets Fall of Troy. That would be the easiest way I could describe this band.
OH! AND SINGLE KICK! somehow. Seriously, how? The drummer is literally inhuman. When listening to the EP knowing that it’s single kick, you can fathom it. If you had no idea, you assume he used double. To substitute the potential extra hits, his hands strike toms between beats. His hands are so bloody fast.
Have I mentioned the bass yet? One would be put to talk to find jazz with bass this complicated. For the best example, listen to Leaving Shippinsburg and thank me later. The entire thing is just scales and melody’s that shouldn’t be possible.
…and you know that ever part of the band is fantastic if I talk about the ridiculous guitar player last. Considering he is the lead vocal last I saw them, I have a hard time wrapping my mind around playing and singing the songs.
At the end of this short review where I don’t point you to a song but beg you to enjoy this 20 min EP, I am reminded why I usually stick to writing about classic albums. I can delve into political movements and the greater ecosystem that is the music industry. I can examine trends and maybe recommend a track that was ignored by charts and fandom’s. It doesn’t change the fact that if you are a punk fan OR a math-metal fan, you need to listen to this album. You need to explore this bands full back catalogue, but this album is a fantastic place to start.
I hate posting “in memorial”s on this page. I always feel like it is just me saying “PITY ME, I’M SAD!” which could not be further from the truth. I feel like this is important because of how important Krista was, to me personally, as well as a fantastic person.
I met Krista in 2008. She worked at a local video game store that my store dealt quite a lot with due to our similar stock and interest. She seemed to be a quiet girl, very knowledgeable and well versed in the world of electronic media. At the time I really did not get to know her well, and I always regretted that.
Fast forward to mid 2019. As far as I knew, I was the only person alive who contracted Viral Meningoencephalitis. I say that with absolutely no pride, as I felt alone and absolutely isolated from everyone I have ever and could ever meet. I wanted to share with someone what experiences I had, and wanted to learn from someone what to expect. As far as my limited research goes, there was no one for me to reach out to.
Shortly after my first book, You’re Not Dead, was released, my friend Michelle reached out. She wanted to get a copy to read to her friend that, as far as I knew, went through a similar ordeal. Fast forward a year, and I finally was put back in touch with Krista. It tuns out that she went through a similar thing because we had similar diagnostics. We had both confounded the medical communities with symptoms that made no sense.
For the next year, we would talk over messengers about what we went through. She, daily, reminded me that what we went through was not a competition. At the time, I was completely confused what she could mean by that. It took me several weeks to realize that, inadvertently, I was trying to compare by competing. By that, I mean that I would say “I suffered more because I went through this” while trying to see if she did something similar.
I am not proud of many things, but I am extremely proud that I had ever met Krista. I will miss her.
As some of you may have read, I moved back to Cambridge, ON today. I am NOT excited for the move, but not for the reasons that some may have anticipated.
First, I am EXCITED to have all of my friends near by. I have missed you, and I am finally within a decent distance to most of you. In fact, I think there are only two that I am farther from, and only one that will actually feel the sting of my moving.
So, why am I not excited? I am 30, married, and had to move in with my parents to keep existing. I love my family, I really do, but it is embarassing to go almost three years on your own then throw in the towel because life “got too hard.”
ANYWHO, I am going to need the week to organize myself. I have a post going live on Sunday only because I wrote it a little while ago.
heh.. So much for taking the month off. I think I posted more that I have in months prior.
My friend Hannah is looking for contacts who know anything about the Grandview Training School based out of Cambridge, Ontario. If you think you know of something, or know of someone who knows something, her information can be four here.
She is a long-time friend of the family. Grew up with my brother, and therefore, grew up with me. The article has all relevant information put way better than I could pretend, so I will post the link here again.
plain text. 