We lost

My band was in a battle of the bands last night at the local Methodist church. There were nine bands, we were fourth to play. I thought perhaps there was one band that could compete with us in the first three, until I got on stage. My band destroyed; the crowd loved us and energy in the room was super-high. We got so many compliments afterward that I was sure we were a shoo-in for first. The seventh band up was quite good, and what they lacked in songwriting they made up for in getting the crowd on their side. With their performance, I would have been happy with second place (as both first and second place got to play at the local teen venue in downtown Nashville, Rocketown). The results came in... and two of the shittiest bands got second and third, and an average band came in first. I was very confused and upset, but I figured out that all three bands had one thing in common: their members all went to that church. Two of the four judges worked at the church, knew the kids, and purposefully gave them higher scores, despite my band receiving the highest marks from the other two judges. So we are left with no gig, no prize or anything. And you know what I think?

This reminds me a whole lot of the trial of Barabbas and Jesus, when the Jews sent Jesus to his death and freed a murderer.

GO WITH ME ON THIS. The Jews are the biased judges that robbed us of our prize. Pontius Pilate stands for the two noble judges who pushed for our victory. Barabbas is the band that won wrongfully. And my band- we are Jesus Christ, sent to die for all of mankind. The common theme: RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION

Think about it.

W O L V V E S - eaststrikewest (2009)

This is the debut of a great post-rock band from the United Kingdom. The great thing about them is they won't spend the first 2/3 of a song boring you to tears with their build-ups, as many post-rock bands make the mistake of doing. They have vocals and driving instrumentation to keep you interested. A great album for people trying to get into the genre, I'd say, since it's not so daunting to listen to as, for instance, a GY!BE album.



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The Fall of Troy - Gig Review

Hopefully the first of many gigs at the local hardcore venue, I went with a few friends. I knew I had to see The Fall of Troy on their final tour, or I couldn't live with myself. They are one of my favorite bands, after all. So we arrived at 6 o'clock, and waited about an hour for someone to start playing.

The bill had only listed an opener and The Fall of Troy, but I got more than I bargained for. First up was a local band named Cactus's, and I actually knew the guitarist's brother beforehand. They were pretty phenomenal, and really caught my interest. The lead guitarist/vocalist had a great vocal sound, on clean and guttural vocals. The drummer had one or two songs where he just destroyed his kit, the fills he was playing were insane. The bassist I couldn't hear so well, but that's usually the case in live shows unless you're trying to pick it out. I'd like to say they were a hardcore band trying to invoke the response ska gets - feet tapping and heads bobbing, but not moshing material, which is perfectly fine. I give their performance an 8/10

Next up was a Scottish poppy rock band called Twin Atlantic. They had the best rapport with the crowd, the vocalist often making jokes about Scotland and America, and how fucking hot it was. It wasn't the heat as much as the humidity, there was a lot of bodies packed in this small basement of the venue. They did a good job live, and had a good atmospheric sound, but I have the feeling that if I were to listen to their studio work I'd find them lackluster. And the lead guitarist took himself way too seriously, as if he was shooting a music video or something. In spite of some times where I was bored, I give their performance a solid 6.5/10

After them was the official opener, Envy on the Coast. I'm not sure how famous these guys are in the metal scene right now, but 5-10 people in the audience were big fans. I almost always enjoy bands pushing forward the genre of metal, so the use of vocal synthesizers was pleasant. The vocals were the real stand-out parts; the lead singer claimed he was sick but sounded like a record, and the back-up vocalist pulled some wicked falsetto screams out. They seemed to enjoy themselves and even had some guys moshing with the last song. The best song was by far their cover of The House of the Rising Sun, which in my opinion should have been their closer. Three part vocal harmonies for the win. I give Envy on the Coast live 7.5/10

Finally, the main event. The Fall of Troy busted out with Rockstar Nailbomb and never stopped. The house was rocking with the moshing, and everyone was drenched with sweat by the time it was over. The setlist was fantastic; they didn't play too many songs off the new (kind of bad) record, but the ones they did play off it were the good stuff: Single, the one truly good pop song on the record, and Dirty Pillow Talk, with its awe-inspiring riff. But who cares about those when they played the one song I dared to hope would come: The Circus That Has Brought Us Back To These Nights (Yo Chocola), my favorite song by them. They closed with the killer combination of What Sound Does a Mastodon Make? and Nature vs. Nurture. It must be the Bacardi, but I'm going to give The Fall of Troy a whopping 9/10, a number that I don't think can easily be matched.

Please check out and support all of these bands!

JUST REALIZED SHE'S A BITCH

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

True sadness is in the recognition of futility

Sad little title I came up with. It's so true though, and it makes one wonder: is it better to give up hope on something and feel depressed about it, or maintain an unrealistic hope and keep a modicum of happiness? I've always thought of myself as somewhat of a pessimist, but now I find myself facing a failure and being able to do nothing but think "This will sort itself out somehow". Logically I know nothing's going to happen, whether that's fair or not. But another part of me keeps coming up with scenarios in my head where I meet success. I don't know if this hopefulness will ever go away, what will happen if it does, or if I even want it to. Just an observation of existence.

My mom got an ipod

My mp3 player broke over a year ago, and I've kept this hidden from my mother for all this time because she gets mad at trivial things that are out of my control anyway. Now it's her birthday and she gets an ipod, when all she'll be listening to is Eurythmics, The Beautiful South, Glen Campbell, Susan Boyle, Shania Twain, Fine Young Cannibals, the Lighthouse Family, and THE ROCKY IV SOUNDTRACK. She told me to include some Smiths, but I'm skeptical as to how much airtime they'll recieve.

My taste in music