In 1995, I was wrapping up my first year of high school at the age of 15. I had just started playing drums and would form my first band by the end of the year. But most of my time was spent skateboarding and listening to music, often at the same time. I recall taking the bus out to neighboring cities with a portable cassette player and listening to the same handful of albums over-and-over.

It wasn’t until I hit high school that I was exposed to punk rock. And it didn’t take more than a single Rancid song for me to see the glorious light. That’s it, I was sold! Who the fuck needs the radio when there are dudes scraping their picks down the neck of their guitars and making the coolest noise I’ve ever heard in my life? Not this guy. And so it begins…

	Face to Face – Big Choice I was introduced to Face to Face when I saw them perform Disconnected on a local TV show. The faster songs like A-OK and It’s Not Over totally blew my mind. I couldn’t even fathom how someone could play drums that fast.
	Good Riddance – For God and Country I caught wind of many of the bands I listened to back them from compilations. Fat Music For Fat People was my bible, as it introduced me to so many great bands like Strung Out, Lagwagon, 88 Fingers Louie, Propagandhi, and of course Good Riddance. Better and All Fall Down are still two of my favourite Good Riddance songs, even after all these years.
	Lagwagon – Hoss Another disappointing album, at least at first. Hoss simply didn’t live up to my expectations that Trashed and Duh had set so high. “Is that even the same drummer?” I remember thinking. Technically, it might be inferior to the first two albums, but it’s chalk full of hits, especially the second half.
	Rancid – …And Out Come the Wolves I absolutely hated this album at first, with the exception of Maxwell Murder. I spent days on end listening to Let’s Go, and for Rancid’s follow-up to be all ska-ridden, I was not impressed. But I kept listening, and each time it would grow on me a little more. Now, …And Out Come the Wolves is one of my favourite albums of all time and I can’t imagine how many times I’ve listened to it. It’s always remained in regular rotation – 15 years strong!
	Voodoo Glow Skulls – Firme “WTF is this?” Those were the words that came out of my mouth the first time I heard Voodoo Glow Skulls, and rightly so. They play the strangest mix of punk and ska known to man. They do it really damn well, and I’ve had the pleasure of seeing them play several times over the years. I still smile like an idiot when Charlie Brown and Fat Randy come on.
	88 Fingers Louie – Behind Bars Love, love, love 88 Fingers Louie! Behind Bars is up there with my absolute favourites. Aside from the rather weak recording, this album doesn’t seem dated to me in the least. Pent Up, Outright Lies, I’ve Won… so many great songs on this album! Oh, and let’s not forget about the secret song at 7:05 of track 12 – a cover of Minor Threat’s classic, I Don’t Wanna Hear It.

It was super fun going through my iTunes library and reminiscing over some of these classic albums of my youth. Do the same with yours and let me know what you find. Do we have similar tastes? Do you still listen to many of the albums you did back then?

I was working away on a project and testing out posting with YouTube videos embedded and did a quick search for “aggrolites” to find something interesting to test with. I came across these three videos of them playing live at a radio station. Nothing but a guitar, 3 dudes playing percussion instruments and the singer and it’s simply mind blowing! Hopefully they put a smile on your face as they have mine…

I’ve recently re-established a link with a couple guys I played in a band with on 2 separate occasions. The first being the better of the 2. We had a lot in common as far as musical preferences and direction went. We wrote some solid tunes that I still enjoy listening to, to this day. But we butted heads on a couple levels and things just didn’t work out. As people grow and change, we seemed to have found a medium that we’re all happy with. More than happy with, actually. I’m the youngest of the 3 at 26 and we are most definitely not in this to make money or fame. I worked at a music television station for 5 years and have several friends in bands. I know how things work and I realize that can’t happen – and really, I wouldn’t want that anyway. Afterall, I turned down a couple opportunities that could have resulted in either without batting an eye. Simply not my bag. It’s cool that we can all play music together and have the same mind set with the same ultimate goal – to make music we love and to have fun doing it. No pressure. No bullshit. Just rock.

It really does feel good to be playing again. It’s hard to believe after so many years, that I just stopped one day. I never thought that would happen, but it did and I let it go on for far too long. It’s almost like re-establishing a relationship with an old friend you haven’t seen in years.

I’ll leave off with a few songs we (myself and the guys I’m playing with now, minus the bassist) recorded in our rehearsal space back in 2003. It’s not for everyone – very raw and gritty and the recording is pretty weak, but you’ll get the idea of what we’re up to. These are songs I really love and still enjoy playing.

• Backwards Thought 4.81mb
• At What Price? 6.86mb
• Same Fuel 7.61mb

Also released in 2003 on Wind-Up was Cauterize‘s So Far From Real. Being a friend of the band, I was extremely stoked for them – having a chance to release an album the would get international distribution, large scale touring and a large chunk of cash couldn’t be bad… or could it? The band was enlisted on the Nintendo Fusion tour which took them across the US playing stadiums and arenas with other Wind-Up bands; Evanescence, Finger Eleven and yes, Boysetsfire. After that, they did a short stint with Eve 6 and another with Three Days Grace – which sucked big time for the boys as their trailer was broken into during the tour and all of the gear taken while they slept. Brutal. They released a video when the record was released and were promised a second one… which never happened. It seemed that it didn’t do well enough and didn’t get picked up by enough radio stations, so I guess they just gave up on it. Shortly after, the band started writing for a follow-up to So Far From Real. Months passed while the band continued to write and submit demos to the label. But nothing seemed to satisfy them (Wind-Up). They continued down this road for a good year and a half without playing any shows. Finally, they grew tired of the bullshit they were being fed and managed to get out of their contract. They’ve since released Paper Wings (which is killer, btw) on their own and have played a few shows locally. So great to see them back in action and I believe Paper Wings contains some of the best songs they’ve ever written.

Sadly, that’s not where this story ends. Some where in the middle of Cauterize’s experience with Wind-Up, Summer Hero (who are also good friends of mine and share a jam room with Cauterize) got involved with Wind-Up. They spent the better part of a year writing and sending demos to the label only to go through the same process and receiving feedback like, “We don’t hear a single.” At one point a ‘co-writer’ was brought on board to help them sound more like what people wanted to hear – which was apparently that god-awful, Theory Of A Default Back, Three Days Grace type crap. They even went as far as asking Ryan (lead vocals) to change they way he sang. Bull. Shit. Fortunately, the Summer Hero smelled it to and got the f-o before signing anything that bound them to Wind-Up. If they hadn’t, they probably would have missed out on all the amazing shows they’ve played this past year. Which included opening for some of the biggest names in punk-rock like Nofx, Good Riddance and Goldfinger.

About half an hour ago as I was checking my feeds, I see the headline Boy Sets Fire signs to Equal Vision/Burning Heart, re-releases planned, demos available – Fuck! Yeah! To make it even sweeter, they’ve launched a new website and announced a bunch of new tour dates (none in Canada, though). On the new site, they have a great write up in place of the standard, stuffy biography where they cover their departure from Wind-Up. The last few paragraphs had me both saddened, and insanely stoked…

After Australia the label let us know that they were in affect giving up on the record. There would be no second single. It was ÃÃâ€Â ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢ÃƒÆ’ƒƒâ€Å¡Ãƒƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒƒÃ†’Ãâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒƒÂ¢ÃƒÂ¢Ãƒ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬Ãƒâ€Â¦ÃƒÆ’‚¡ÃƒƒÃ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’ƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬ÃƒƒÃ†’âââہ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¬ÃƒÆ’‚¦ÃƒƒÂ¢ÃƒÂ¢Ãƒ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬Ãƒâ€Â¦ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã¢â‚¬Å“write another record, kids.ÃÃâ€Â ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢ÃƒÆ’ƒƒâ€Å¡Ãƒƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒƒÃ†’Ãâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒƒÂ¢ÃƒÂ¢Ãƒ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬Ãƒâ€Â¦ÃƒÆ’‚¡ÃƒƒÃ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’ƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬ÃƒƒÃ†’âââہ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¬ÃƒÆ’…¡? Ok, we were ready. It was a blast writing this record. Ideas came fast and the songs were up a couple notches in intensity. We were broke, Bush was the president, and our personal lives were in shambles. Sucks for us, but great for our music. We had every intention of writing for a couple of months, recording, and then immediately going out there again. Not so fast.

ÃÃâ€Â ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢ÃƒÆ’ƒƒâ€Å¡Ãƒƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒƒÃ†’Ãâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒƒÂ¢ÃƒÂ¢Ãƒ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬Ãƒâ€Â¦ÃƒÆ’‚¡ÃƒƒÃ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’ƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬ÃƒƒÃ†’âââہ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¬ÃƒÆ’‚¦ÃƒƒÂ¢ÃƒÂ¢Ãƒ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬Ãƒâ€Â¦ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã¢â‚¬Å“We donÃÃâ€Â ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢ÃƒÆ’ƒƒâ€Å¡Ãƒƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒƒÃ†’Ãâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒƒÂ¢ÃƒÂ¢Ãƒ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬Ãƒâ€Â¦ÃƒÆ’‚¡ÃƒƒÃ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’ƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬ÃƒƒÃ†’Ãâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒƒÂ¢ÃƒÂ¢Ãƒ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬Ãƒâ€Â¦ÃƒÆ’‚¾ÃƒƒÃ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’ƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢t hear a single.ÃÃâ€Â ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢ÃƒÆ’ƒƒâ€Å¡Ãƒƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒƒÃ†’Ãâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒƒÂ¢ÃƒÂ¢Ãƒ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬Ãƒâ€Â¦ÃƒÆ’‚¡ÃƒƒÃ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’ƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬ÃƒƒÃ†’âââہ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¬ÃƒÆ’…¡? Was the common refrain we heard from label and management. ÃÃâ€Â ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢ÃƒÆ’ƒƒâ€Å¡Ãƒƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒƒÃ†’Ãâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒƒÂ¢ÃƒÂ¢Ãƒ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬Ãƒâ€Â¦ÃƒÆ’‚¡ÃƒƒÃ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’ƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬ÃƒƒÃ†’âââہ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¬ÃƒÆ’‚¦ÃƒƒÂ¢ÃƒÂ¢Ãƒ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬Ãƒâ€Â¦ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã¢â‚¬Å“We don’t care.ÃÃâ€Â ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢ÃƒÆ’ƒƒâ€Å¡Ãƒƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒƒÃ†’Ãâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒƒÂ¢ÃƒÂ¢Ãƒ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬Ãƒâ€Â¦ÃƒÆ’‚¡ÃƒƒÃ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’ƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬ÃƒƒÃ†’âââہ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¬ÃƒÆ’…¡? (that was our reply). None of us listen to the radio, or if we do, we don’t like it. Boysetsfire will never sound like watered down nirvana or stop singing what we sing about. ÃÃâ€Â ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢ÃƒÆ’ƒƒâ€Å¡Ãƒƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒƒÃ†’Ãâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒƒÂ¢ÃƒÂ¢Ãƒ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬Ãƒâ€Â¦ÃƒÆ’‚¡ÃƒƒÃ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’ƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬ÃƒƒÃ†’âââہ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¬ÃƒÆ’‚¦ÃƒƒÂ¢ÃƒÂ¢Ãƒ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬Ãƒâ€Â¦ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã¢â‚¬Å“Ya gotta go easy on the president.ÃÃâ€Â ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢ÃƒÆ’ƒƒâ€Å¡Ãƒƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒƒÃ†’Ãâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒƒÂ¢ÃƒÂ¢Ãƒ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬Ãƒâ€Â¦ÃƒÆ’‚¡ÃƒƒÃ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’ƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬ÃƒƒÃ†’âââہ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¬ÃƒÆ’…¡? We heard that more than once.

Not that I blame Wind-up. They were great to us. They just didnÃÃâ€Â ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢ÃƒÆ’ƒƒâ€Å¡Ãƒƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒƒÃ†’Ãâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒƒÂ¢ÃƒÂ¢Ãƒ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬Ãƒâ€Â¦ÃƒÆ’‚¡ÃƒƒÃ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’ƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬ÃƒƒÃ†’Ãâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒƒÂ¢ÃƒÂ¢Ãƒ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬Ãƒâ€Â¦ÃƒÆ’‚¾ÃƒƒÃ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’ƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢t really know or understand who we were. The idea of a co-writer was broached. Do we look or sound like Ashlee Simpson? Maybe Nathan is as cute as she is, but, come on….

So the story continues. We were given the go ahead to record. And then told no. And then the go ahead And then told no. Third time told yes and then no. That broke it. We asked to be released, and they, being very gracious and in their hearts, kind, let us go our separate ways. (Remember the whole one record one label thing? Oh yeah, life is weird.)

So here we are. We signed deals with Equal Vision Records and Burning Heart Records not because they gave us the most money but because we felt they cared the most about our band and the direction we want to go. We talked to a lot of good people, but in the end we went with our gut reaction.

We poured our anger, pain, and yes joy into the writing and recording of our fourth full-length ÃÃâ€Â ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢ÃƒÆ’ƒƒâ€Å¡Ãƒƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒƒÃ†’Ãâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒƒÂ¢ÃƒÂ¢Ãƒ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬Ãƒâ€Â¦ÃƒÆ’‚¡ÃƒƒÃ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’ƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬ÃƒƒÃ†’âââہ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¬ÃƒÆ’‚¦ÃƒƒÂ¢ÃƒÂ¢Ãƒ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬Ãƒâ€Â¦ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã¢â‚¬Å“the Misery Index; Notes from the Plague YearsÃÃâ€Â ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢ÃƒÆ’ƒƒâ€Å¡Ãƒƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒƒÃ†’Ãâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒƒÂ¢ÃƒÂ¢Ãƒ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬Ãƒâ€Â¦ÃƒÆ’‚¡ÃƒƒÃ¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’ƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬ÃƒƒÃ†’âââہ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¬ÃƒÆ’…¡?. The record was born from intense frustration, anger and tears. I hope you like it. We do.

So, there you have it. I’ve now seen three bands be almost destroyed by that label. I’m sure all of them will be forever changed by their experience of being on a major label whose only goal is to release singles and make rockstars. Hopefully other bands take notice of what’s happening out there and are a little wiser before signing that deal that looks oh-so-sweet on paper. It’s unfortunate that this cycle may never be broken, but wouldn’t it be great if it was? Dinosaurs will die!

The Transplants (featuring Tim Armstrong of Rancid) were scheduled to play the Warped Tour kick-off show as the special guest headliners, but cancelled when they heard the news.

Suck.

Update: Tuesday, June 28 2005
From the Epitaph site…

Matt Freeman recently underwent a successful surgery and his doctors have determined that his condition is not terminal. Matt is now home and recovering well. Matt and Rancid would like to thank everyone for their thoughts, love and prayers.

March 30th was a sad day for the Fat Wreck Chords family as we learned about the passing of Derrick Plourde. Derrick played drums on the very first Fat release, Duh, and we consider him one of the founders of the label as well as a great friend. His profound talents can be heard on all of the early Lagwagon albums and also on recordings from Mad Caddies, The Ataris, and Bad Astronaut. Above all, Derrick was a great guy who will be sorely missed and will always remain a member of the Fat family.

Fuck. Next to Derek Grant (of Alkaline Trio and The Suicide Machines fame), Derrick Plourde is my favourite drummer of all time and has been a huge influence on me as a musician. He’s one of the most technical drummers I’ve ever heard and still to this day, I can’t figure out how he pulled off some of the stuff he did on the first 3 Lagwagon records. Simply an incredibly talented musician. Such a shame that he’s gone.

Kris Roe posted a nice little story about some of his memories of Derrick on The Ataris’ site. Here it is in full…

Just found that our friend Derrick Plourde shot and killed himself today. He was our original drummer and was the current drummer of the band Bad Astronaut, along with our cello player Angus Cooke. and our friends Joey Cape and Marko Desantis.

I first met Derrick in 1997 after having had our demo passed along to several drummers, Derrick called me up. I immediately knew that the guy was a complete character, He definitely had a sense of humor like no one else I had ever met before, I mean seriously the guy could get away with the craziest shit, I remember the first time we played the non-for profit D.I.Y. very P.C. “Gilman ST.” in Berkeley and the first thing he said to the kid putting on the show when we showed up in the club was “Who fired the maid?!” If any of you ever went to this club you will know what I’m talking about just look in any early Crimpshrine/Green Day/Fifteen/Op Ivy… L.P. and most of those photos of that completely grafitti covered shit hole was none other than the infamous “924 Gilman ST.”

Derrick would litterally walk up to any random person and be like “Hey are you gonna eat that?” and then fully smack the entire plate of food from their unsuspecting hands, where I came from if you tried any of this shit it would mean a serious ass kicking but somehow this charasmatic, young, individual managed to get away with it all, I could never do him justice, I would reccomend for any of you to go pick up the first Bad Astronaut E.P. entitled “Acrophobe” at the very end of the c.d. there’s around 20 minutes worth of answering machine messages that he repeatedly left on his friend Jeff’s machine just over the period of a couple days, over and over again…

I mean serioulsly this guy was warped, you probably won’t understand alot of the inside jokes but it is funny none the less. (Note: it is only on earlier pressings of the C.D. as it was later removed… to us it was just typical Derrick in his usual form.) In late 1997 after recording our first L.P. Derrick came to Indiana for a few months to live and rehearse with Jasin and I where we all slept on the floor of a 12 x 12 apartment with no heat next to the drum set. Those were great times. Derrick, I am sure that Jasin would also want me to extend his best regards as well on his behalf so I shall do that.

Three months later I moved to Santa Barbara with Derrick, it was through Derrick that I was introduced to Mark Desantis who would soon thereafter become our first bassist and one of my closest friends. One of my fondest memories of Derrick, Marko and I together would have to be a night on our first tour ever. We were in Modesto, CA and Derrick dissapeared, got drunk, completely naked and was later seen walking around the halls of the hotel with a towel wrapped around his head talking in strange foreign tongues… Still makes me smile. Derrick taught me many colorful new words of a foreign language called “Goletian” not known to anyone outside the circle of Goleta, Smile

I would like to extend my love and respect to all of Derrick’s many friends and family, Joanne, Joey, Jessica, Snodgrass, Derrick’s Brother and Father, pretty much everyone in every band in Santa Barbara, just anyone who loved and cared about this guy as much as I did. This is one of those things in the back of your mind you kinda somewhat think could happen anytime then suddenly on the day you get that call it just doesn’t really seem real. We defintely take some things… some friendships for granted while we are alive, and then suddenly they’re gone. Derrick, I can assure you that tonight in Santa Barbara, Goleta and the rest of the world there are many glasses raised in your honor, Be well and we all love you always.

Make sure that when you see Keith Moon and John Bonham up there that you give them plenty of shit and make them laugh like no one else could do… Party.”

Listening to the Duh album as I type this and Bury The Hatchet just came on. God dammit… so good. Gone.

Reggae music hits this nerve that no other has. I can’t quite put my finger on it. I think it’s somewhere between the honesty and sincerity that can be clearly heard in every word of an old reggae album. It’s genuine. Those dudes were playing music because they absolutely loved it. They meant every word they sang and there’s no doubting that. I also think the recording has a lot to do with it. The fact that the majority of it was recorded live off the floor with little to no over-dubbing blows me away. The little imperfections haven’t been covered up by auto-tuning and it really just adds to the feel. So good!

Back to the show… When the lights came up, the band started jamming out a tune for a few minutes, then Toots made his entry and they kicked into Pressure Drop. I knew they’d start with a classic but I was expecting Funky Kingston first. None the less, holy hell, what a way to start the night! They continued roll out song-after-song for over 2 hours! They played everything I hoped they would – and it sounded 10x better than I ever could have imagined. All the songs that were re-done on True Love were played the old school way, which was awesome!

The highlight of the night for me came about half way through the set. Just a few songs after Take Me Home, Country Roads – the lights dimmed down, Toots picked up an acoustic guitar and continued to tell everyone how this is a special treat for us since he hasn’t been around for a long time. Apparently, he never plays guitar live, but he did that night. He walked up to the front of the stage and started playing and singing Love Gonna Walk Out On Me with a single spotlight shining down on him. Right at the point where the guitar and bass usually come in, the whole band kicked in full force as the lights came back up. That was probably the most amazing moment I’ve witnessed at a show! Simply amazing!

I could go on and on about how good this show was, but I think you get the point. Now that I’ve seen the best show I’m ever gonna see… now what?

The show, in my opinion, was quite disappointing. I’ve been pretty into BC for the past few months, listening to them on a regular basis. I find they’re good to have on when I’m working. Some good chillin’ music for sure. Their live show on the other hand, is a completely different experience. While their albums are totally mellow, their drummer doesn’t feel he needs to keep up the vibe and just beats the living piss out of his kit. Don’t get me wrong – I love a drummer that can rock out and play wicked hard. But there’s a time and a place for it… and playing for Bedouin Soundclash is neither. Totally ruined the vibe.

The worst part of the show, though – was the horrid delay/reverb effects used on the vocals and drums to make them sound all ‘dub’. Either the sound guy was new or was drunk… cause he didn’t hit a queue once. He’d crank up the delay on the bass drum in a break-down, but would leave it up a couple bars into the next part when they pick it back up. Which resulted in this unbearable repeating bass drum and made me want to tear my face off. Same with the vocals. He’d throw up the delay on the end of a line to get the last word to echo a few times – which is cool. But then he wouldn’t turn it off and singer dude would start the next line with each word being repeated like 8 times. Worst!

One of the highlights of the show were the covers they pulled out. They probably did a half dozen covers, if not more. They did some UB40, Beres Hammond, Billy Bragg, Toots And The Maytals and a little John Legend, too.

This show was my first show at Lee’s Palace… believe it or not. And I’m hitting it up again tomorrow night to see the legendary Toots And The Maytals! I couldn’t possibly be more stoked about that show!

When I was at HMV yesterday picking up the John Butler Trio album that finally got released in North America (and is fuckin’ awesome, btw), I noticed a new Suicide Machines record. What do you know? It’s a ‘best of’ album with 2 live tracks and 2 unreleased tracks. The ‘best of’ album usually signifies the end is near. Suck!

I figured if this in fact was the end, it would say so on their site. What’s the first thing I read in the news? Some new dates announced and a little write-up on how the new album is going. Eff yeah!

Just the sort of thing I needed to read to help get me out of this slump. Oh wait, I haven’t talked about that yet…