Like my ‘Wheel of Fortune’-style before & after title? Yeah, lame.
It’s Saturday night. I feel like I should be out doing something. I could be at a party in Imlay City. I could be calling people. I could be doing many things, but I choose to sit at home. I guess I need the rest, being sick for the past two weeks. I slept for two hours already tonight; it was nice. I got to hear some crazy live 80s covers in Hammond, IN via cell phone, which was cool.
Oh. Last Thursday. I finally got to see the Dillinger Escape Plan.
Oh. My. God.
It was just as an Amazon review describes it: Pure. Organized. Insanity.
In my previous entry, I spoke of the Funeral for a Friend guitarist being my new hero. While he is really good, I’m going to have to say that in the past week, I have 3 new heroes. All three guitarists for the Dillinger Escape Plan were amazing. Their fingers were going 1000 miles an hour. The lead(?) guitarist kept doing knee-plants into the pit, while still playing. He would run up the wall, jump over, up onto the amp, onto the drums, back into the pit. He wasn’t wearing a wireless for his guitar.. his cord was right there behind him. All the while, left hand going 1000 miles an hour, Dillinger-style. The singer — HUGE. The drummer, although reminiscent of Bryce from Joe Schmoe 2, was awesome. I would never be able to move so fast, so rhythmically, for so long.
In short: insanity. Go see them. Now.
I think I will go play my guitar now. It’s been almost 12 hours since I last did. That’s far too long.
Yesterday, Darren, Joel and I went to the Intersection in Grand Rapids and saw nine bands. Halifax, Punchline, The Academy Is…, Spitalfield, Funeral for a Friend, The Bled, My Chemical Romance, Senses Fail and Less Than Jake. There were two or three tours that happened to be in the area and have a day off, so they had a huge 8 hour show.
Halifax: I was impressed. Good music to walk in to.
Punchline: Great. I wish they would’ve played more off the Rewind EP, since thats all I’ve heard of them. Oh well, still good. I ended up getting suckered into buying their new CD by the Steve, the singer/guitarist in Punchline. He was hanging around outside the front door afterwards, and convinced me to buy their CD.
The Academy Is…: They sounded like their CD. Nothing spectacular; yet still good. The singer kept walking a horse-shoe / half-circle pattern back and fourth and back and fourth. That was amusing.
Spitalfield: I honestly don’t remember much from them. Blame it on Budweiser.
Funeral for a Friend: I have a new hero. The guitar player with the beard made my jaw drop, and stay on the floor until they walked off the stage. His fingers were going non-stop playing crazy 16th notes, all the while jumping around, throwing the guitar every which way, and never missing a note. See these guys live before they head back to the UK. It’s worth it. \m/
The Bled: I had heard of the Bled, but never heard them. I’m definitely going to have to pick up their CD. So angry. So good.
My Chemical Romance: I decided that I would have fun, and went in the pit. I haven’t been in the pit in a good four or five years. So fun. So hot. So violent. Frank got a new (or at least one that I haven’t seen) Zakk Wylde Les Paul guitar. I stared. I want. $3800 is something I don’t have right now.
Senses Fail: They weren’t bad. Same as the last time I saw them, I guess. I like them, but am not a huge fan or anything.
Less Than Jake: Duh. LTJ. It was amazing as expected. Lot’s of energy, craziness, and confetti. Darren and I got to talk to Roger before a bit. I think he was just playing around, but when I asked if he had seen the Roger is My Hero webpage, he said yes, and that his mom liked it. I found that amusing. I’ve decided that it will probably return soon, so .. if you’re here looking for that, wait a bit longer. I’ll also throw on the Flint, Michigan bootleg from 1998 (until the bandwidth kills me).
So, I woke up at 8am; got home at 3am; lost my voice completely; made myself sick(er). Best $15 concert ever.
Grandpa Mooley Fitch and His Stinky Pants played tonight. We did our 5-song setlist, messed up one, but the other four sounded pretty good (to me, at least). I think with a bit more practice and a few more songs under our collective belt we should be able to do an actual show, rather than the open mic’s.
I’ve been sick. Being sick sucks. It sucks more when you had plans that you couldn’t attend because of said sickness. I missed the open mic show on Monday night that I was excited about. I felt like I had a bag over my head, and there was a vice squeezing my head, while I was concentrating on swallowing rusty knives. It wasn’t pleasant. I slept for a few extra hours yesterday in hopes of getting a bit better, and I think it paid off. I’m only about 25% miserable, instead of the full-on 100% misearable.
I’ve been listening to a bunch of the Copeland lately. I pulled up the old Copeland/Pacifico split, and wow. I forgot how good those three songs were. I think when I originally bought the CD, I listened to the songs one or two times, and didn’t give them any credit because the recording quailty wasn’t as good as their latest. I guess thats the difference between tiny vs. small labels. Once you listen to the song itself, the music that is, and not the quality / production of it, you know its an awesome set of songs. I probably wouldn’t suggest it to new Copeland listeners, but if you dig their ‘Beneath Medicine Tree’ album, you’ll love these three songs.
Speaking of Copeland .. they have a new cd coming out — FINALLY. They were set to release it in March, I think, but they decided to hold off to ride out their current CD for a few months while they were on tour. So, August 10th is the magic day where their 5-6 song cover CD comes out, featuring covers of Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, Berlin, and other 70s/80s songs. I’ve been patiently waiting, and am now counting down the days. Thankfully this falls outside of my ‘no buying anything’ bet I have with Amanda. I need this album.
Hrm.. more music talk? Sure. It seems like all I talk about is music. Oh well. I like music. You like music. We all win.
The Polyphonic Spree. Ever hear of them? Of course, they were on ‘that commercial’ way back when. I decided to buy their ‘The Beginning Stages of The Polyphonic Spree’ album on iTunes last night. It reminds me alot of The Flaming Lips, especially vocally. They use the same effects on the vocals, as well as back it with orchestral and choir elements. And, it’s happy music. Can’t go wrong with generally happy music. I will definitely be buying their new album, which as I’ve heard, is supposed to be just a continuation of the album I purchased last night.
I’m trying to get better at finger picking on my guitar. I can’t do it.. at all. There are so many songs where I should probably be using my fingers rather than a pick, but I just can’t get it to sound good, or be consistent. So, I’ve decided to force myself to learn it and get better. How, you ask? By learning a quality finger-picking song. ‘Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah’ seemed like a good one to start with. I will do it. I can. I will.
Hopefully one of these days the callouses on my fingers will strengthen enough where I don’t feel the pain. They used to be like that .. it’s only a matter of time before they’re like that again.
The week of rock has been awesome, and isn’t over yet. Open mic on Thursday was fun. There was nobody there, but there were still some good guitarists, comics, and singers. I even got up and played a song or two, one with Darren singing. It was rad. The instrumental song I played by myself (intsrumental because I didn’t remmeber the words, and wouldn’t sing anyway) went pretty OK. I messed up alot, couldn’t remember how it started, and generally sucked. Oh well, next time I’ll prepare.
I’ve been having a lot of fun this past week. Since Monday, I’ve been out with friends 5 of the 7 nights. It’s been Darren, Joel, Katrina, Beth, and Ed, mostly, and every time has been a blast. I’m lucky to have such great friends.
Tonight is the practice for the new band I was invited to join. We are going to play a few songs tomorrow evening at the open mic night at Pub 1281. I think this is going to be really cool and you should come out and watch if you can. I can’t explain what it will sound like, because all four of us haven’t practiced together yet. I just have a feeling that it will be awesome.
Speaking of awesome. Last night, Joel, Katrina, Beth and I went to Xhedos in Ferndale to watch Kent Koller perform. He is an amazing guitarist & singer who is playing shows and open mic nights all over metro Detroit. I sat in awe as I watched him put on an amazing show. I could only hope to be that good one day. And, before/after him, we saw Anjuli Dawn play. She also put on a great show. I wish I wasn’t still in the “don’t buy anything” bet with Amanda, otherwise I would’ve bought three or four CDs last night at their show, no doubt.
Expansive orchestral folk to quench the soul: honest words sung in soaring harmonies, put to goosebump-raising music, by a girl who knows how to write a meaningful hook.
Anjuli is touring all over the midwest. Go see her if she comes to your area, especially if you like Ani DiFranco, Sarah Maclachlan, Patty Griffin or anything like that.
So, in review. Open mic: good. Kent Koller & Anjuli Dawn: awesome. Fingers: raw. Friends: awesome. Brandon: happy.