Friday, April 29, 2011

I've Never Bagged A Babe. I'm Not A Stud.

In high-school I had a ton of friends that were all crazy about Fall Out Boy. First one of my friends started to listen to them during what I assume was their Take This To Your Grave-period. It was common on MSN messenger to have a handle at the start of your screen name that you always keep there (mine for example was just "timmy", which I would then usually follow with lyrics from a song or a movie quote) and his was something like [Fall Out Boy] (keyboard symbols were so fucking cool back then). The band then put out From Under The Cork Tree which won them a pretty huge audience in the "emo" scene (I think I've explained the quotation marks in the past, rest assured I'm familiar with what "real" emo is). They had a string a very successful albums which really solidified their place in the mainstream. Though the band is met with mixed opinions, it's a hard fact that they were one of the most successful rock bands of the last decade, with their last three albums all going at least platinum in sales.

In high-school I was a ska-kid and was thus required to automatically hate the band because I was narrow-minded and a moron. Sort-of recently though I've heard a lot of people say that their debut album, Take This To Your Grave is more or less a typical pop-punk record from the early 00's and pretty good. I really think their later stuff is bad, like really bad. Not just from my standpoint, but music in general. "I Don't Care" basically uses a Nickelback riff for the entire song. But this blog is basically just my thoughts on what a lot of people my age consider a "classic" album.

The first time listening through it I did a kind of Jack Black in High Fidelity moment, putting my face into my hands and thinking "Fuck...It's really good", because of how embarrassed I was to like. But generally with me, every time I find an album I like I think it's a classic through the first few listens, but come to my senses after a while. So that period passed and now I'm able to gather my thoughts on it.

Musically they run through every cliche Drive-Thru pop-punk cliché in the first two songs. Double-stops on the G and B-strings, one-drops and beating the hell out of the "pop-punk T". I can't really hate on this though. Firstly, I like that type of music, so it seems fucking stupid to say "This band sucks because they play music the way that lots of bands I like play music". Secondly, why hate on a band when the songs I write are usually pretty sonically similar? This is pop-punk, not a fucking ELP record.

I guess one of the big things about the early records are girls swooning over Pete Wentz's lyrics because they think he's a cute tortured soul and they find that adorable. And also dudes swooning over Pete Wentz's lyrics because the girl they made a mix for made out with a jock at a party. Wentz was obviously the biggest attention grabber of the band and him writing the lyrics for the songs kickstarted that I suppose (why doesn't everyone love Steve Klein then?) (I also found out that Patrick Stump also did a decent chunk of the song-writing on this album) (Another side-bar: I think I'll write a blog about Wentz in the future, I find him kind of interesting). I'd say that roughly a third of the lyrics are clever and pretty good while the rest is kind of laughable. I find that he mostly preoccupies himself with trying to sound like the male lead in a John Hughes movie ("Maybe he won't find out what I know, you were the last good thing about this part of town") and I guess most Fall Out Boy fans hadn't seen Sixteen Candles when TTYG came out so they thought it was really endearing. I don't want to totally rip him though, he does have his moments. Being the type of record that it is and coming out when it did, the whole thing is obviously about shit getting sour with a girl, which I'm always down with. "Let's play this game called when you catch fire, I wouldn't piss to put you out"? That's alright.

I constantly find myself thinking that if the band was made up of four hardcore kids from New Jersey instead of the actual roster, it would have been a really good record. Though in their beginning the band was essentially four hardcore kids from Chicago, so I don't know how valid that is.

I guess long, useless blog short, they've got some pretty good songs, but I really don't understand what the big fucking deal is.

And why would you want someone who watched No Strings Attached last night's opinion?

Monday, April 25, 2011

The Delusional Gaze On The Satisfied Face Of The Saddest Man I Know

I just finished my fourth year at the University of Guelph. I am not done though and need to come back for some added time next September. It feels very weird. On one hand, I really don't want to leave university yet and start post-education life. I have a lot of fun at school, meet a lot of awesome people and don't want that to end. On the other hand, I feel like a tool because a lot of people did in 4 years what it is taking more than 4 years to do. Oh well right? Next year is going to be weird because about half the people I know won't be there anymore. Luckily though, essentially all my closest friends are coming back, so I imagine it won't be all bad.

This shit is finally done at least.

Day 27: A song you wish you could play.

I really don't give a shit what you say, Bri Robinson is far and away the best bass player in punk rock and definitely up there in music in general. He never just sticks to the root note and things that are very, very hard very, very fast. The fact that he does all of this as a "finger player" rather than just going a million miles an hour with a pick also shows just how much better he is than everyone else in the genre. You could really throw any A Wilhelm Scream song up (post-Ruiner at least, when he joined the band), but the tapping intro to this song is especially gnarly.


Day 28: A song that makes you feel guilty.

A song that makes me feel guilty? I honestly can't really think of something that applies. This song has the line "and hope you find someone who won't hurt you the way I know I do" so I'm going to use it.


Day 29: A song from your childhood.

In grade 6, 7 and 8 my friends and I thought we were just the punkest motherfuckers on the face of the earth. Our soundtrack to being these punk motherfuckers was Treble Charger, Sum 41 and blink-182. Yea, I know.

Funny story though, years later my friend Damien's band got picked up for this Much Music show Disband, the host of which was Greg Nori, Treble Charger's singer. They geeked out way harder than any other band about it being him. I'm pretty sure Damien still has his number in his phone.


Day 30: Your favourite song at this time last year.

"Thank You" by the Descendents has been my favourite song for a long time (obviously why I posted it for day 1), but just like everyone else I got through cycles of loving a few songs a whole lot and just playing the hell out of them. When I was leaving school last year it was really the Movielife and the Ergs! (I clearly must have been having a great time with relationships!), so I'm just going to put up a song from each. Still two of my favourite bands for sure.



Man that turned out to be pretty fucking dumb. I thought maybe it would get me in gear to write way more stuff, but whatevs. More time to do that at home now right?

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Darkness Fill My Heart With Pain

Should I make a pun about smoking drugs because it's April 20th? No, I shouldn't. At least this 30 day song challenge shit is almost done, right?

Day 21: A song you listen to when you're happy.
Wasn't there already "a song that makes you happy"? And "one that makes you sad"? Anyways, I always put this album on when I'm in a partying mood. Which would also be a happy mood.

(I realize there's a long intro, but this was definitely the funniest version of the song on youtube. Deal with it.)


Day 22: A song you listen to when you're sad.
When I'm bummed out, rather than listen to sad songs that will only make my mood worse, I try to play happy music to get me in a good mood again. Stuff from this album generally does the trick.


Day 23: A song that you want to play at your wedding.
Best love song of all time. There is no question about that.


Day 24: A song that you want to play at your funeral
I am totally serious about this. I've told my friends many times that on the occasion of my death, I want this to be the song when my casket comes out. Funerals are fucking sad enough already, I want people to smile for at least a second at mine. Baby we ain't born to mourn and there's no hope in mope.


Day 25: A song that makes you laugh.
The song is funny enough already, but it always reminds of one band practice with my first band. We were tuning/getting everything ready and my friend Damien busted out the guitar line to this. Without any hesitation, my friend Erik and I joined in on drums and bass respectively. I did the "TIMMMAAAAY"s and Damien did the "and the lords of the underworld!". I guess you had to be there.


Day 26: A song that you can play on an instrument.
I guess this isn't as interesting as would be with most people. I don't want to sound conceited, but I play guitar and bass so I know a bunch of songs. It would be cooler if this was my brother, because he could post "Brain Stew" by Green Day because it's the only song he knows how to play on guitar, or something along those lines. Anyways, this is my favourite song to play on bass.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Look How Jaded I Can Be

It's almost the end of the semester! I have my last assignment due tomorrow and after that it's just hanging out for a week. I love having nothing to do. It is the best. I'm not even sick anymore either! And it's nice out!

Day 17: A song you hear often on the radio.

I don't listen to the radio. I don't to come off as trying to sound "punker than thou", but it doesn't play anything I like, so I just don't listen to it. We do play the galaxy radio 70's channel all day at work though. It really sucks for the most part, but I get really stoked whenever this comes on because, well, Thin Lizzy rules.


Day 18: A song you wish you heard often on the radio.

This band should be absolutely massive. Whenever I hear this song, it reminds me of John Hughes/coming-of-age movies, because I think this song would be perfect for one. It's like the Replacements meets indie rock and I love it.


Day 19: A song from our favourite album.

This has been my favourite album for a long time and I'm pretty sure that will never change. When I feel like shit, these songs make me feel a lot better.


Day 20: A song you listen to when you're angry.

Every year at school I have to go and pick up my student loan. Last year I was missing one of the things I needed. So they made me come back another day with something else. Then I had to do that again. Then I had to go somewhere to get a social insurance card replacement. But they didn't send me to the right place, so I had to drive out to somewhere else to finally get it and receive my student loan 5 days later. It takes a lot to piss me off, but I was steaming at this point. Anyways coming home from all that shit I was blaring this.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Beautiful Day With My Best Friend

Day 16: A song that you used to love, but now hate.

I really liked Nirvana until about grade 9. I'm so fucking tired of hearing about them now. I really don't like this song:

Saturday, April 9, 2011

I'm The King Of Catastrophes

Hmm, I guess it's been awhile since I've posted anything. I've been pretty busy this week though, as it the last week of classes. I saw Comeback Kid/Title Fight/Wayfarer in Kitchener on Thursday. All three bands put on really good sets, but tons of fights started during Comeback Kid's set. It really made me angry and put a huge damper on the atmosphere of the show. I understand that hardcore is a very aggressive style of music and violence has been (for better or for worse) a part of the scene since it started, but gigantic guys punching some 16 year-olds because they're push moshing is not the reason the scene started. I realize it is just my opinion, but violence is seldom the answer.

I went to an art show on Friday that had an open bar. Since then I've been hungover and sick. We are not smile times.

I guess I missed a bunch of these eh?

Day 12: A song from a band you hate.

Fuck this band and fuck this song so hard. I never want to hear this shit again.


Day 13: A song that is guilty pleasure.

I think most people have a skewed view of the term "guilty pleasure" and usually refer to liking things that wouldn't usually be associated with them. That's just liking a wide variety of things. That being said, I know how shitty this band is. I hate every other song. But I just can't help (and don't mention in public) how much I like this song. *Shield my face in shame*


Day 14: A song nobody would expect you to love.

I think is what most people associate with the term "guilty pleasure". I know I've posted a few times about how much I like old R&B/Soul music, but I think it's the best example of this.

The motherfuckin' Rev:

Day 15: A song that describes you.

Less Than Jake has roughly a billion songs that qualify for this category. That is why they're my favourite band.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Fuckin' Eh

Awesome news! The new Decay/Wayfarer split Decayfarer has been put up for download! They've been talking about this release for awhile and finally the digital version (at least) is now available! I figured it would just be a 7" with two or three songs from each. Buuuut, instead it's a twelve inch, with 7 songs by The Decay and 5 by Wayfarer! Exclamation points!

It's really good though, on the real.

The Decay haven't put out anything for a awhile (a friend told me that This Month's Rent was recorded a few years ago, but only released recently) and I think it shows that they've taken their time for their next release.

Wayfarer is pretty stellar and this just keeps the ball rolling.

Plus, shit's free. Support good, local bands!

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

I Don't Mind Weepin' If It'll Keep You By My Side

I'm probably going to come off as pretty fucking emo in this post, so I'm going to apologize for that in advance.

So yea, sorry.

Pretty much everyone I know who isn't in a long-term relationship seems to be pretty burnt out on love. Everyone says that they're perpetually single and it's never going to work out for them and they don't even care anymore. I personally think that's pretty bullshit. I've been in the same position as them; I get dumped pretty frequently and my longest relationship has been 3 months. And yea, it totally sucks. Getting dumped is up there as the worst, but giving up on stuff because of past failures is dumb. I guess I might be just being a blind optimist, but I'm still confident things will work out one day.

I'm thinking of this because I was listening to The Temptations today. This is because the vast majority of their songs are typical 60's/70's R&B/Soul love songs. And while listening to these songs I realized that I can still connect to them and really love the songs and lyrics even though it's been awhile since my last relationship. It could be that I listen to All/The Ergs! too much, but I like to think it's because of my outlook.

I'm not going to let a few failed relationships keep me from being stoked on what could happen in the future, y'know?

I know I've been really beating the shit out of this dead horse for most of my entires in this thing, but keep your head up while you're going through the neutral zone. It really helps.

You know what else helps? Dancing and singing along to soul music:

I Could Deal With This Non-Stop Spinning World

Day 11: A song from your favourite band.

Well, technically this is three songs. I really love this clip though and have always hope that they would do the "Anchor/Sugar In Your Gastank" combo live in Toronto. Still haven't seen it, haha. They really are my favourite band on earth though, nobody can displace them.

Monday, April 4, 2011

I Know You Like Them Too

Day 10: A song that makes you fall asleep.

Not so much it makes me fall asleep, but this is one of my favourite songs to put on when I'm in bed to fall asleep to.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Seems I've Done 'Em Before

Apparently I can't do this every day. Whateva, I do wha I wont.

Day 8 (Yesterday): A song that you know all the words to.

I'll remember every word to this song for as long as I live. Obviously there's tons and tons of songs I know every word to, but this is definitely one of my all time favourites.


Day 9: A song that you can dance to.

Yes, "dance".


Marvin Gaye and The Arrogant Sons of Bitches on the same page? Fuck, I'm weird.

Later, time to watch Wrestlemania.

Friday, April 1, 2011

It's The Rhythms That You Go Through

Day 7: A song that reminds you of a certain event.

Last summer, my friend Pat and I roadtripped down to Detroit to see a Suicide Machines reunion show. We blared this album on the way down. Then we left the cd in our motel room because we thought that if the van got searched going over the border, the guard wouldn't enjoy seeing this album art. So this song always reminds me of that show/trip. What sucks about Leftover Crack is that if their lyrics weren't so dumb, they'd be an awesome band.

Oh well.


Day 6: A song that reminds you of somewhere.

Hanging out at St. Agatha in grade 7: