#deftones came on at work and i had to get through like four things before i could draw something for this song

[thesandlorde]

you should know I could never make it work

it's pretend, really // do you like the way the water tastes?

it's like gunfire

#my art #lupin iii #lupin the third #jiglup #or evil jiglup i guess #deftones came on at work and i had to get through like four things before i could draw something for this song #its one of my all-timers for sure #the limbs dont make sense and thats fine btw #i'm tired and feel very mentally ill tm today

[breezybeej]

Last year I started a project to listen to all 3800 songs I had on my phone at least once because I found I was mostly just listening to the same 500 over and over

In the middle of the project, I added Herbie Hancock's and Paramore's discography to the list and had to backtrack to catch up.

Now that I'm through with the project, here's what I've taken away:

My taste in music is immaculate. You are all jealous.

I have faded on some bands that used to be my very favorites. TV on the radio doesn't really do much for me anymore outside of one or two songs. Their spot was basically fully usurped by Radiohead. By the way the Radiohead is in my top 10 bands now.

On the subject of favorites, I want to talk about some Rising Stars. L'imperatrice has blown me away with how much I've fallen in love with their last album. I am so excited to see more work from them even though they are french. It might be a bit misguided to call Bleed from Within rising stars because they've been putting out albums for a decent little while now but they haven't gotten as much recognition in the US since they are from Glasgow. Their album Fracture is pretty close to being a 10 out of 10. I do have to leave it with a nine though. Tei Shi blew me away when I saw her live and her music is pretty good, she has a lot of potential and I want to see how she goes from here

Chevelle, Gojira, Deftones: these are three bands that have absolutely earned their spot as being among the greats. I love so many of their songs but not as a full listening experience. They are best served in a playlist of other bands so every now and then you get a shot of Excellence.

Ye and Lorde - ADHD struck. Over the course of four fucking months I always forgot to go into my phone and delete these albums I don't actually want to listen to donda. Also this is no hate to Lorde I just don't really like her style.

Red hot silly fellers - these guys are basically ingrained in my brain folds. I will always come back to them but I never really listened to their early work before. I understand now why Blood Sugar Sex Magik was such a big deal now that I've listened to the albums that came before it. Don't get me wrong, one hot minute was really good but it has the unfortunate positioning of being between Blood Sugar Sex Magik and the rest of their early work. Some of the early stuff is rough.

Where is Janelle Monae?? I was obsessed with her music 5 years ago how have I not put any on my phone. that's another thing that I will have to fix just like removing Ye from my device

The Deep resounding Joy that filled my spirits whenever machine girl popped up on the mix was unmatched. Machine girl still reigns supreme

At some point I will upload a few screenshots of fun little coincidences that appeared in my full set list playlist. There are a lot of titles that songs have

Go listen to the full album Dis Is Da Drum by Herbie Hancock

#mine

[thisaintascenereviews]

Of Mice & Men - Tether

Metalcore band Of Mice & Men has gone through a lot of things over their 13 years as a band. I swear they’ve been around longer, but their debut came out in 2010. They’ve been in their current incarnation since 2018, when original vocalist Austin Carlile left the band, and the band’s bassist, Aaron Pauley, stepped up to be the lead vocalist as well. It kind of worked out, because at that time, they were going through a sound shift; from 2014 to 2018, they were one of the first bands to incorporate more nu-metal into their sound and they were open about being influenced by bands like Korn, Papa Roach, Deftones, and Linkin Park. 2018’s Defy, which was Pauley’s first album as lead vocalist, culminated in being one of their worst albums (2016’s Cold World was bad, too), but they’ve been on the upswing since then. 2019’s Earthandsky was a lot better, as it was a metalcore album that went back to their roots but added a progressive element to it. It was very unexpected, but also very good.

Before their new album, Tether, we got Echo in 2021, but what’s interesting about that is that album was released in four EPs. I ended up listening to the album as a whole last year, and I thought it was fine. It took some time to grow on me, as it was more akin to a generic metalcore album, and I ended up enjoying it with more listens. A few songs came out from Tether, but I waited until the whole album came out, too, and I forgot it came out this week. The 13th is when a lot of stuff comes out, so I thought it came out next week, so it was a nice surprise to see it in the new release section this week. Despite not knowing what to expect, I felt as though that if it was like Echo, it would be pretty good, and sure enough, Tether is a solid album. Just like with Echo, it did take a few listens for me to get into it.

If you’re going into this expecting a brutal metalcore album, you’ll be disappointed. This record leans more into their melodic side, but not without having some heavier moments thrown into the mix. I do appreciate that every song isn’t a clone of each other, because it makes the heavier moments that pop up feel earned and worth it. Some songs are a bit slower, and lean more into hard-rock, whereas some are more energetic metalcore bangers, and that’s all across a 38-minute album. Of Mice & Men has never been great at melody, per se, especially when they helped to create the “generic clean chorus guy” trope in metalcore, but they’re not bad, either. Aaron Pauley is a good singer, and he can make a hook work, but I will admit that a lot of the books on this record are just passable at best.

A few of them are pretty good, but this album isn’t quite as good as their last couple of albums. I appreciate the diversity, as each song isn’t just a metalcore banger with a main riff, clean chorus, a breakdown in the bridge, and that’s that. That is something to appreciate, but the hooks aren’t extremely strong, and I actually get psyched when the metalcore songs show up, because there is a pulse to them, versus a rather mid-tempo hard-rock song. They’re not had at all, and they’re actually solid for what they are, but if you prefer their metalcore stuff, you won’t care for this as much. I’m sort of torn, because as much as I like the diversity and the more melodic angle, the hooks aren’t very strong, despite the performances being good. This is a mixed bag, but it works more than it really doesn’t, and if you like that kind of metalcore with a more hard-rock lean to it, such as Wage War or Beartooth, you’ll like this record. It’s got just enough heaviness to stand out a bit, but it’s got a lot of accessibility as well.

#of mice and men #tether #echo #heavy metal #metalcore #rock #alt-metal #hard rock #Aaron Pauley #sharptone records

[girlsbtrs]

How Being a Woman in Hardcore Helped Me Learn to Love Myself

Written by Jen Moglia. Graphic by Laura Cross. 

Since this is my first piece written for Girls Behind the Rock Show, I figured that I should introduce myself; hi, my name is Jennifer, but most people call me Jen. I live on Long Island in New York, and my favorite things include my cats, the color pink, giving gifts to my Animal Crossing villagers, and watching sports. Above all else, however, I love music.

I frequently refer to music as the love of my life. It somehow plays a role in everything that I do. I got my first iPod when I was five years old, stacked with everything from Miranda Cosgrove and Avril Lavigne to Tool and Deftones. Some of my favorite memories growing up are sitting in my pink and purple bedroom singing and dancing along to Paramore’s crushcrushcrush and Fall Out Boy’s Thnks Fr Th Mmrs on the local alternative radio station. I danced for 12 years, played cello for seven, and am currently a wannabe ukulele rockstar after buying one on impulse and starting to teach myself how to play four years ago. Even on the simplest, barely noticeable levels, music has been everywhere in my life for as long as I can remember; even now, I can’t complete a basic task without a song playing in my headphones.

Music became an even bigger part of my life when I started attending live shows. I went to my first concerts at age 10, seeing my two favorite artists - Nickelodeon boy band Big Time Rush and classic progressive rock band Rush - within one month of each other. By the time I was 15, I had been to my fair share of arena/seated shows with one or both of my parents, from Fifth Harmony to Fitz and the Tantrums to Alice in Chains. My first general admission show was seeing the Foo Fighters at Citi Field with both my mom and dad when I was 12, but my first pop-punk general admission show (yes, they’re different) came a few years later. I had the typical list of favorite bands that you would expect from a young teenager getting into alternative music: Neck Deep, Knuckle Puck, Real Friends, and State Champs. 

In late 2018, I was able to see all four of these bands for the first time, and I am a firm believer that it changed the course of my life. I met, cried-during, and eventually got the setlist for Neck Deep at Stereo Garden on Long Island in September. I sang all of “Untitled” at the barricade for Knuckle Puck at SI Hall at the Fairgrounds in Syracuse in October. I had my first minor concussion scare (yay!) before Real Friends’ set at Irving Plaza in New York City in November. Finally, I crowd surfed for the first time during State Champs’ anniversary show for The Finer Things at House of Independents in Asbury Park in December. After just a few shows, I had fallen in love with this new brand of live music that I had just been introduced too. There was something so magical to me about skin covered in sweat and Sharpie marks, feet hurting from dancing in the pit all night, and meeting strangers on line outside the venue who would become your best friends and know your deepest secrets by the end of the night.

After making some friends at all of the pop-punk shows I was going to, they started to tell me that I should get into hardcore music. I was hesitant at first - the heaviest thing I had listened to at that point was nowhere near the snippets of hardcore that my friends had played for me - but, eventually, I decided to give it a chance. I was bored and home alone with nothing to do one night over the summer of 2019 when I listened to my first hardcore album, Laugh Tracks by Knocked Loose. Immediately, I got that gut feeling that you have when you know you’ve heard one of your favorite bands for the first time. I knew that this was something special that I was meant to find at this point in my life. For the rest of the summer, I worked my way through the rest of my friends’ hardcore and hardcore-adjacent recommendations, with Cost of Living by Incendiary, Stage Four by Touche Amore, You’re Not You Anymore by Counterparts, Time & Space by Turnstile, Springtime and Blind by Fiddlehead, Smile! Aren’t You Happy by Absence of Mine, Bad to my World by Backtrack, and Reality Approaches by Harms Way being some of my favorites. By the time the next school year started, I was hooked, and I already had tickets to my first few hardcore shows in the fall.

My first hardcore show was in November 2019, seeing Knocked Loose at Webster Hall in New York City - fitting, right? They were on tour supporting their new record A Different Shade of Blue, which I had become obsessed with the minute I heard it for the first time. Although I was ridiculously scared of getting stepped on and breaking all my bones (yes, that was an actual fear of mine), I had the time of my life at that show. There was something about this newer kind of live music that prompted a cathartic release, one that I hadn’t found anywhere else before. As soon as the show was over, I was counting the days until my next one.

My love for live hardcore music (and live music and hardcore music in general) has only grown since then, and that story sort of ends there. However, I want to go back to that first hardcore band that I listened to, Knocked Loose, and the album they put out that first summer that stole my heart. I was taken by storm as soon as the first notes of A Different Shade of Blue rang through my headphones, but something was different about the third track, A Serpent’s Touch, particularly the ending; I heard a voice that sounded a little bit more like my own.

This song features Emma Boster, who does vocals for one of my favorite hardcore bands right now, Dying Wish. When I heard A Serpent’s Touch for the first time, though, I had no idea who she was. I was used to the aggressive vocal delivery of frontmen in hardcore, particularly that of Knocked Loose’s Bryan Garris, but hearing it come from her changed my perspective on a lot of things. It’s not like the song was super angry and changed its tune to be lighter once the token girl came along; in her verse, Boster sings, “I watched the venom / Overcome your spirit / Jealousy holds you now / Distorting your appearance / Bleed out.” These were lyrics that held the same intensity that the lines screamed by the men held, and they sounded just as cool coming out of her mouth. As cheesy as it sounds, it had never even occurred to me that women had a place in this new world that I had discovered. The audiences in the live videos I watched (and eventually at the shows I attended) were made up of mostly men who looked bigger and older than me. When I did start going to shows, most of the non-man population consisted of my friends and I. Emma Boster, along with so many others, began to open my eyes to the fact that a place for people like me existed in this community. It didn’t matter that I had bright red hair or liked butterflies or wore pink - I was just as much a part of this magic as the men multiple feet taller than me with tattoo-covered arms, and I belonged there just as much as they did.

As time went on and I got more involved in the genre’s music and community, I discovered more bands with women in them, and it only fueled this fire of empowerment inside of me. When I felt insecure, I’d watch live sets from Krimewatch, a hardcore band from New York City, just half an hour away from my hometown. They have multiple women as members, including their energetic badass of a vocalist, Rhylli Ogiura. Year of the Knife became one of my all-time favorites, and their bassist Madison Watkins became a serious inspiration to me; the way that she can balance killing it on stage and running the cutest, most pink apparel brand I’ve ever seen (aptly titled Candy Corpse) amazes me. Even some of the bands I’ve found more recently have had an impact on me. I started listening to Initiate last year when their EP Lavender came out, and their beautifully colorful cover art caught my eye before I had heard any of their songs. Their vocalist, Crystal Pak, is also a woman, and she’s insanely talented. Discovering this kind of representation in this new universe that I had come to feel so at home in introduced me to a world of confidence and determination that I had never known before.

When people ask me why I love hardcore so much, I often give the easy answer; “the music sounds good.” If the person allows me to ramble on for a little longer, the answer becomes much more emotional and cheesy. Hardcore taught me that speaking up for what I believe in is important, and if there’s something I’m passionate about, it’s worth shouting about. I became familiar with this when listening to one of my favorite bands ever, Incendiary (the second hardcore band I ever checked out), before quickly realizing that politics are a pretty common topic within the genre - it’s what this music was practically built on. The first time I heard their vocalist Brendan Garrone singing about police brutality and injustice on songs like Force of Neglect and Sell Your Cause, I realized that there is so much more to music than just sounding good.

However, at its core, the thing I love so much about hardcore is what it taught me about being a woman. Growing up, I was the loud girl with the personality bigger than the room who always had something to say and had a never ending supply of excitement about just about everything. As I got older, I was taught that this was not okay. People didn’t like how enthusiastic I was about everything, or that I constantly had new ideas and new discoveries I wanted to talk about. As cliche as it sounds, I felt like everyone around me was trying to dull my sparkle, especially some of the men that I was encountering on a day-to-day basis. Even when I started to come to terms with my big and bright personality, in turn also coming to terms with my own femininity, I was told that this wasn’t how girls acted. I had to pick one - I could watch Disney princess movies and wear Hello Kitty hair clips, or I could be outspoken about my beliefs; but never both. The women that I mentioned earlier, along with so, so many more, helped me unlearn these toxic mindsets. Seeing someone like Emma Boster take the stage and scream ferociously for a full set helped me see that I could be a girl and still be a powerhouse. Following Madi Watkins around on social media showed me that I could love bands like Year of the Knife and also love heart-shaped purses and wear pink from head to toe. My aggression and passion didn’t make me any less of a woman, and my femininity didn’t make me any less of a force to be reckoned with. 

So, at the end of this love letter to hardcore and the women who run it, I say this; thank you for teaching me that I don’t have to shrink myself anymore. It has made a world of a difference.

#jennifer moglia

[ffsjeongyeon]

The Teachings Part II: Monkey See, Monkey Do (SMUT)

WARNINGS: SEXUAL SITUATION (JEONGYEON/NAYEON/CHAEYOUNG), G!P, VOYEURISM, CHOKING)

After way too many messages telling me to do a second part of The Teachings, I finally had the time. I have some plans for a part three, so hopefully I’ll have the motivation to write that out soon. I don’t know how well this came out, but here you have it none-the-less.

This focuses more on the dynamic between Jeong and Nayeon more than anything, but it’s alllllll part of the learning process for Chaeyoung.

As always, send me some prompts, any ideas or just plain encouragement lol. That’d be awesome. Peace.

Chaeyoung unlocked the front door to the shared house, letting herself in with an exhausted sigh. This whole ‘having a job’ and ‘being an adult’ thing really sucked sometimes. As much as she enjoyed being a graphic designer for a record company, lately she’d been struggling with motivation, and when your whole job requires a large amount of motivation, you definitely notice when it’s lacking. It had been a long day of meetings with artist representatives, and one cover that she had designed and sketched out for a singer had been totally shot down by her team. She knew that it definitely wasn’t her best work, but that really made her feel awful. Like a failure. She had ended up leaving the office early and making her way home, not able to stay any longer. She heaved another soft sigh as she wandered into the kitchen, clicking the kettle on and boiling the water to make herself a cup of tea.

It was then that she noticed there was music coming from upstairs. She remembered that Jeongyeon had today off, so she guessed it was her. It didn’t sound like something the older girl would listen to. Although it was muffled through the ceiling and walls, it sounded like rock music. Weird.

They hadn’t really properly spoken about what had happened between the two of them. It wasn’t awkward by any means, it was basically like it hadn’t happened at all. The two girls acted exactly as they had before. Chaeyoung didn’t know why this thought sent prickles of annoyance down her spine. This was what she should want, right? Everything totally normal!

But things weren’t really normal.

Since the day that Chaeyoung had had a taste of Jeongyeon, she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her experiences… or lack thereof. She still felt overwhelmingly unequipped to deal with most things sexual, and the thought made her blush slightly. She ducked her head, hiding her face behind her newly bleached hair, as she stirred milk into her tea before removing the teabag.

Chaeyoung took her tea and her work bag full of rough design ideas and colour swatches, and wandered her way upstairs. The music got slightly louder and clearer as she ascended, and she recognised the sound of Deftones playing through the speaker. Nayeon’s room was the first to the right after the stairs, and the door was cracked open. Hers was the room playing the music.

Why is Jeongyeon in Nayeon’s room?

Chaeyoung walked over to have a look and say hi to whoever was in there, but what she saw stopped her in her tracks. Just as she had gotten to the door, she realised why the music had been blasting.

Nayeon was on all fours on her double bed completely naked, her arms shaking with effort, head threatening to be buried into the mattress, ass up. Thrusting into her from behind with what seemed like a relatively large amount of force, was Jeongyeon. Unlike the other girl, she was still wearing a tshirt. They were both facing the door, but neither had noticed the younger girl completely freeze in shock by the entrance, both a little… preoccupied. Chaeyoung could see a bead of sweat trail down Nayeon’s temple, down the side of her face and accumulate at her chin, dripping off delicately onto the bed below. Her eyes were shut, her eyebrows gathered together, mouth wide open.

“Oh my god, Jeong. Harder, please. Harder.” Nayeon’s words trailed off into a blissful whine as her wish was granted and Jeongyeon thrusted noticeably more forcefully. Nayeon’s arms stretched out in front of her on the mattress and her head lowered, leaning the top of her body heavily into the springs. Her moans that seemed to be getting louder were muffled as Jeongyeon’s hand came down heavily between her shoulder blades and pushed, giving herself more leverage and forcing Nayeon’s face into the mattress. “Ughhhh.” The guttural, dulled sound of her pleasure filled moans reverberated through the bed they were on.

“I know, baby girl.” Jeongyeon muttered, her eyes locked on the girl’s sweaty back. “You’re taking me so good. So well.” Jeongyeon used her hand to pull Nayeon back into her after each thrust forward. Chaeyoung could see Nayeon’s ass quivering with each whack against Jeongyeon’s crotch. Nayeon groaned out something unintelligible into the bed, and scrunched the bed cover hard between her fingers. A solid palm came down onto her trembling ass as the short haired girl slapped hard, drawing out a half scream, half sob from Nayeon, her mouth wide open, drooling slightly on the bed underneath her face.

“I can feel you getting tighter.” Jeongyeon taunted. “Are you gonna come already, baby girl? Weren’t saying a couple minutes ago that you could last hours with me if you really wanted? Were you lying? You naughty girl.” Nayeon’s moved her head to the side instead of face down, so she she could breathe a little easier.

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my…” The older girl’s rambles were interrupted by Jeongyeon.

“Unnie. Look, we’ve got a visitor.”

The blood ran cold in Chaeyoung’s veins. Her eyes looked up and met Jeongyeon’s. She gulped thickly. Nayeon didn’t even seem to realise what she had said, and just continued to moan openly, so Jeongyeon bent down, wrapped her forearm around the other girl’s neck and hoisted her upwards, so her back was against Jeongyeon’s front. She whispered something into Nayeon’s ear, and her eyes finally caught Chaeyoung.

To Chaeyoung’s surprise, neither of them stopped what they were doing. Nayeon seemed shocked for a second, but after another thrust from Jeongyeon in this new position, her eyelids slid closed again and her came back, resting on Jeongyeon’s shoulder.

“Oh fuck. I don’t care, keep going.”

Chaeyoung’s feet felt like they had melted securely into the ground beneath her and her hand was still on the door as it had been when she first discovered the scene. She watched as Jeongyeon’s eyes stayed locked on her own, as she continued to fuck Nayeon in front of her. The short haired girl’s left arm stayed barred around her neck, and her right hand travelled slowly down until it reached Nayeon’s clit and started rubbing quick circles. This is when the older girl started getting really loud.

“Fuck me! I’m gonna cum. Holy shit!”

“That’s right, babe.” Jeongyeon said into her ear, loud enough for Chaeyoung to hear. She continued to thrust hard enough for the slapping sound to return. “That’s right. Cum for me. Show Chaengie what a naughty girl you are.” Nayeon’s hand grabbed Jeongyeon’s and lead it to squeeze her neck, cutting off a bit of her airflow. “Show Chaeng what my cock can do. Come on, show Chaeng what you all keep coming back for.”

“Oh shit, oh fuck, oh god. I’m cumming! I’m cumming on you!” Nayeon’s wild moaning went silent for a second, before returning full force as her entire body quivered. Chaeyoung watched with raptured eyes as Nayeon’s stomach muscles became pronounced right in front of her as she came. Jeongyeon let her neck go and the older girl flopped back down onto the bed, still shivering around her cock and breathing heavily.

“God, you always cum so well for me.” Jeongyeon stroked Nayeon’s hair, almost possessively, lovingly. “But you know as well as me that we haven’t finished yet, babe.”

#twice fanfic #fic #chaeyoung fic #jeongyeon fic #nayeon fic #2yeon #no jam bros #let's see how well this one goes down lmao

[boozeymustdie]

Feature Story: Frank Iero

OCTOBER 8, 2017 BY BECTON SIMPSON

Frank Iero and Bec

Frank Iero is a busy man.

So far this year, he’s been involved in a serious bus crash in Australia, toured with Taking Back Sunday, made an appearance at Slam Dunk festival, played with the all stellar line up of Thrice, Rise Against and the Deftones, and now he’s released a brand new EP, Keep The Coffins Coming, and has embarked on a month-long tour of the UK and Europe in what he describes as “the first headlining tour for Parachutes.”

After the accident down under that left him and a couple of his bandmates banged up in hospital, Frank Iero and the Patience were thrown off kilter for a while and plans were put on hold. So, despite the release of Parachutes in late 2016, this is actually the first time Frank has had the chance to tour it properly, as a headliner rather than a support act. It’s now ended up being a ‘double tour’ for both Parachutes and Keep The Coffins Coming.

“I like to multitask as much as possible,” laughs Frank. “Feels like it’s been almost a year in the making though, y’know?”

We’re sat in a darkened corridor backstage at the Academy in our makeshift ‘office’ with a couple of mismatched chairs we’ve managed to squander from the Student’s Union. It’s half an hour before the doors open, and as we chat, we’re also listening to the sounds of Frank’s excellent line up of support bands soundchecking a few rooms down – the Paceshifters, The Homeless Gospel Choir, and Dave Hause & The Mermaid.

Despite his own soundcheck going on fifteen minutes longer than expected, Frank seems relaxed and happy. His laid-back manner and cheeky sense of humour make him easy to interview, and the passion when he talks about his music and inspirations shines through. The fact that Frank has been to the UK no less than three times in the space of twelve months is no coincidence.

“I really do fucking love it here. I really do,” he says enthusiastically. “I feel like as a young person, I didn’t truly understand all the history of it. I got held up on the hardships of travel, and didn’t get to enjoy it as much…” And he has similar words to say about the touring lifestyle in general. “I’m incredibly thankful for all those opportunities to get to see all this. I mean, it’s unreal. That education is unlike anything else you can possibly get. You start to have this real worldly view. You realise that being a big fish in a little pond is worth nothing. There’s so much more out there. So many people out there, so many cultures out there, so many things to experience and to do and to see.”

Frank talks like an excited, wide-eyed boy, still in awe of the world around him, despite having been in a touring band since he was a teenager and now approaching 36 years old. Perhaps it is this consistently fresh outlook that always seems to keep him on the road. He still enjoys it, and very rarely takes time off.

“There’s something to be said about creating and getting to play, y’know? I’ve done that for so long, I don’t know what my life is like without it,” he readily admits, but he also insists that next year he is definitely having some time to himself and his family.

“I’m telling you, this is it,” he insists with a playful giggle after I express doubt over his ability to avoid the addictive lure of the road. “At the end of this year, I’m gonna take some time. I swear to God. I keep saying that, I do, but I actually made the phone call two days ago. I had stuff ready for next year, and I fucking canceled it.”

Then, adopting a more serious tone and speaking in a reflective murmur I can barely hear above the noise in the next room, he admits, “I think this year’s just been a little too much for me, and I think it’s put a lot of things in perspective. I think I need 2018 to be mine.”

It really is fair enough, considering everything Frank went through at the beginning of the year, and how busy he’s been since that, bouncing back doubly hard in a way that a lot of people couldn’t. Plus, he has a wife and three kids at home who are bound to miss him when he’s away, and finding the work/life balance is always tough.

“It’s like a tightrope, and I think that you spend a lot of time trying to make everyone happy and end up not succeeding so much. And then everyone’s miserable and so are you! I think you owe it to yourself to kinda take a step back and get your head straight and kind of figure out who you are without this, y’know?”

Then, never quite able to stay serious for too long, he adds with a little twinkle, “Plus, if you’re on the road, you’re probably not in certain cities, probably in Brazil, that people are going to be very upset about!”

It’s no secret that Frank’s fanbase is widespread and worldwide, and when he doesn’t tour those cities and countries, he gets frequently pestered about it on Twitter. His online relationship with his fans has been well documented in the rock press, and he definitely gives as good as he gets. Although recently, a lot of the Twitter hype in his fanbase has been surrounding the recent release of his brand new record, Keep The Coffins Coming, which has so far has been met with warm reception and favourable reviews.

Despite it being a ‘new’ release, the four tracks on the EP are not new songs and were in fact recorded before Parachutes. Frank has been sitting on this one for a long time, and he goes on to explain why it seemed like the right time to release these very special tracks.

“When I recorded this, it was really something I did just for me. I’d just finished touring on Stomachaches, and I had a conversation with Paul, my manager, and he said, ‘Alright, well what’s next? What do you wanna do?’ And I said, ‘I don’t really know. I have some songs, but I don’t know what the next thing is just yet.’ And he’s like, ‘What are things that you’ve always wanted to do that you’ve never gotten to do?’ So, we made a list – a bucket list – of people I wanted to work with, things I wanted to accomplish. And he was like, ‘Alright, let’s start checking them off,’ and one of those was to work with Steve Albini.”

Albini is something of a legend in the music industry, having produced records for Nirvana, the Pixies, and Jawbreaker to name a few, and Frank readily admits “he’s someone that made me want to create and make records” and that he’s wanted to work with him “since I was like, 11!”

Frank’s childhood dream finally came true when his manager placed a phone call, and before he knew it, he was in the studio. For Frank, it was a fulfilling and exciting experience, but also an eye-opening one on a personal level that ultimately led to him choosing Ross Robinson as the producer for Parachutes.

“Steve’ll tell you, ‘I’m not a producer. I’m an engineer, and I want to facilitate your vision.’ He’s very hands-off, and I think that’s because of experiences he’s had in his formative years of becoming an engineer and learning the recording process. He saw one of his favourite bands get kind of railroaded by a producer, and he said, ‘I’m never going to do that again. I just want to showcase bands’…and he’s booked constantly because of that, and also because he is such a genius and such a talented engineer and guy…he knows his shit. So, when we got in there, I didn’t know how much time we were going to have or what we were going to do. His process was very confidence-building in that he said to me, ‘The reason you’re here is because you know what you’re doing. I’m not gonna come in here and tell you how to play your songs.’ And that was amazing, but I still felt like I was…on my own in that realm, y’know? Which is cool…but I had done that with Stomachaches. I did it all by myself. I didn’t have anybody else to bounce ideas of off; it was very DIY. And yes, for this, Steve would be behind the board and micing things and getting the sounds that I wanted. But there wasn’t someone there who would really get to the core of what these songs were about and push me farther. It was all on me. And I knew that I needed to – these songs demanded that. And that’s why the record was done by Ross.”

As for the track choice on Keep The Coffins Coming, at least one of them will be familiar to casual Patience fans – “I’m A Mess” – which is featured in its final form on Parachutes and is given a different lease on life with this earlier and slightly rawer version.

And those who have been following Frank’s solo career from the beginning may also have an awareness of the other tracks on the album. “BFF,” for example, was originally released back in 2014.

“That was a song my daughter wrote that I did in my basement before even Stomachaches,” explains Frank. “And when I knew I was working with Steve, I handpicked that song because I knew I wanted to do a full band version of it…I thought that…just the tendencies of that song and the way I heard it in my head…what it could be…it was a perfect Steve Albini song.”

Then there’s “You Are My Sunshine,” a cover of an old classic, of course, and one which Frank used to whip out and play live on stage occasionally.

“No Fun Club” is an interesting one. It’s probably the noisiest and punkiest of the four tracks. It has gone on a musical journey of its own, reforming and taking shape into something else entirely, although the music is still roughly based on a joke song Frank released some years ago…

“It’s not the first thing I released but like…around the first couple of EPs and 7 inches I did on my own under my solo ‘career,’ I put up a song on Soundcloud called “Xmas Sux.” It was just kinda this thing that I threw together in an hour in my basement, and it was just an experiment to see if I could do these types of things. As soon as I put it up I was like, ‘I kinda really like this song, but it’s a joke.’ I didn’t really put too much thought into it, but I liked that I could take that and make it something important. It’s this idea that songs don’t die until you say they’re done with them. I can have that idea and mold it and grow it and evolve it years later, and form it into something that has some gravity – and actually has some meaning behind it and a purpose.”

Evolution is a key theme on this EP, and even for Frank in general, who is constantly changing the name of his band.

“It’s not just to confuse people,” he laughs. “It’s to keep me interested. Every record, the band name is gonna change. The original idea when I was formulating what Parachutes was gonna be, I was like, ‘Maybe I’ll do two records, a double record. One will be Patience and one will be Patients,’ but it didn’t make sense to split those songs up when it came to fruition. It just felt like a full record. So this time around, after the whole experience in Australia and stuff like that, it was just my own clever little way of being able to change the band name up again.”

I tell him I think it’s a cool idea to which he replies, without missing a beat, “I think it’s cool too,” before cracking up in a fit of giggles. But Frank’s not the kind of guy to use throwaway, unimportant titles for anything – either for his band names or his records. Wordplay and meaning are clearly important to him, so it goes without saying that Keep The Coffins Coming wasn’t just chosen simply to keep up his dark emo credentials. There’s a much deeper and more interesting message behind that choice of words.

“With Stomachaches, I could trace every song back to a feeling of illness. With Parachutes, every song was a story about feeling safe or an instance that allows you to kind of enjoy life or experience that fall. This…this is more like…these ideas, these songs, these creations that we have. We relinquish control of them, and we send them out into the world…almost like sending the bodies home from war…and if you can continue that process of creating and inspiring, creating and inspiring, and never letting these ideas fizzle out…just keep them coming and coming and coming. Then hopefully, even beyond our own mortal souls, these things will carry on.”

Inspiring words, indeed, Frank, and we certainly hope you’re right!

Keep The Coffins Coming is out now on Hassle Records, iTunes and all your usual music providers. You can still catch Frank Iero on tour if you’re in the UK until 21st October. You probably should try and do that – he’s pretty damn good. Check out frank-iero.com for dates.

Link to Article

#Frank Iero #frnkiero andthe patience #Frank Iero And The Patience #FIATP #FIATP UK/Europe Tour 2017 #Keep The Coffins Coming #Parachutes #10.8.17 #Stars and Scars #October #My Chemical Romance #MCR #Frank Iero Interview

[circlesandsoundwaves]

"You might as well tell the truth and be unapologetic about what your truth is.": Interview with Frank Iero

Interview by Molly Louise Hudelson.

Last October, Frank Iero released his new record, Parachutes, with his band Frank Iero and the Patience. But- as you’ve undoubtedly heard- the first several months of touring post-release were cancelled following a terrible bus crash while on tour in Australia. In contrast to Stomachaches, which he recorded in a room “with a drum machine and a computer, just kinda figuring it out”,  Parachutes was “very intentional” as a record. While it was released on its planned date in October, having to wait so long to play the songs live was “excruciating.” But maybe things happened for a reason, and when things knocked him down, “that opportunity to grow and get back up is imperative.” Frank recently wrapped up a long round of touring with a hometown show at White Eagle Hall in Jersey City, with The Homeless Gospel Choir (Derek Zanetti) as support. I sat down with Frank before the show to talk about the making of the record, sharing it with the world, and the comforting realization that he doesn’t know what he’s doing. Read on for the full interview!

CIRCLES & SOUNDWAVES: You did a bunch of touring overseas earlier this year, you had some headlining stuff in the US earlier, then you did the tour with Deftones and Rise Against- and today is the last day of the headlining run. How does it feel to be playing a hometown show?

Frank Iero: It's rad- especially to end it here. It's the end of this run- it's kinda nice to be home to do.

C&S: Was it intentional to end with a hometown show?

FI: You shoot for that, but sometimes it just doesn't work out. It's kinda like a happy accident- it's one of those things that you shoot for but you really don't have much say over it. It's what's available within the mileage. There was definitely gonna be a Jersey show, it was just a matter of when that was going to land.

C&S: I also am from New Jersey and to me, I go to shows in New Jersey and I go to shows in New York. Does playing New York City feel like a hometown show too, or not so much?

FI: Yes and no. Friends will come to New York; my family won't go to New York. 

C&S: Really?

FI: Yeah, cuz my family's all from South Jersey, so you say New York and it's like, "Oh, that's real far."

C&S: But- well, Starland Ballroom-

FI: Starland's perfect for them, yeah- they like that.

C&S: You have The Homeless Gospel Choir out on this run- why did you choose to bring Derek out?

FI: Derek's just amazing as a person and as a musician. I love playing to a crowd after he's played. He says everything I want to get across without me having to say it. I don't know how he does it but he embraces the entire room with a huge hug- he's fantastic at that.

C&S: I saw him a year and a half ago opening for Anti Flag and I had no idea who this guy was and then he gets on stage, and I'm almost crying.

FI: It's everything. It's such a good vibe when you walk in to that room after people have seen him. He's so engaging. Plus he's a good friend of mine; it's a good hang. So anytime there's a show, it's like Silent Bob- whenever Jay makes a movie he's like, "All my friends are coming."

C&S: "Of course my friends are gonna be here." Had you toured with Derek before this?

FI: Oh, yeah, yeah- we've [done] quite a few tours- three or four. Anytime there's a show I'm like, "Can Derek come?" That's kinda how it goes.

C&S: Like, "This is an artist that I really enjoy seeing."

FI: Yes.

C&S: So you put out a record about nine months ago, Parachutes; after the bus crash a lot of the initial touring was cancelled. Does the record still feel very new?

FI: It does, it's kinda strange. We didn't get to start touring until four or five months in, and that was crazy. I mean, that's a really, really long time, especially in this industry.

C&S: I had interviewed you right when you put out Stomachaches, and the record came out and the tour started the next week, or something.

FI: Yeah, that's how I usually do it, you know? This was excruciating. 

C&S: I can imagine it's tough to feel like, "Okay, I have this thing and it's out and it exists in the world"- but you don't get to share it live in that space with people.

FI: Exactly. And it was very much a record written to be in that environment, you know? But also, I think everything that happened and the time leading up to it allowed the record to really evolve in my head.

C&S: How so?

FI: The things that I wrote about took on this whole other life after the accident. And it was because I wrote a record about things happening for you instead of to you. It was like I had written this letter to myself and it was like, "Don't open until this fucking horrific thing happens to you." It really got me through it and a lot of the things meant so much more. It's strange, yeah, but it was something I was able to work towards and it really forced me to get back up on this horse of playing, because I really didn't think I was ever gonna play. So to do that, it meant so much more, it was crazy. Everything happens for a reason.

C&S: Definitely. And whatever perspective you come from- whether you're someone who believes in astrology or you're religious- you never want to believe "Oh there was a reason, someone intentionally made me go through this shit, or whatever"- but things do come out of it, sometimes you learn things about yourself that you wouldn't have expected to, for better or for worse.

FI: Absolutely. I feel like those things that knock you down- that opportunity to grow and get back up is imperative. 

C&S: When you were making Stomachaches, that was a record that was not intentionally going to be a record when you were writing it- this one was.

FI: Yeah. Very intentional.

C&S: So how does that- I mean when I'm writing in my diary vs. writing an article that I'm gonna publish on the internet- how does that impact your writing and your ability to open yourself up when you're just making songs in your bedroom or whatever versus, "Okay, we're making a record, we are going to put this out for the world"?

FI: So the initial mindset is- it is writing a diary for the masses, basically- divulging things to people. And the decision comes in to play where it's like- alright, do I veil this, do I make things up, what do I do, do I hide? Or do I just go for it- no apologies, no regrets?

C&S: So you went for it.

FI: Yeah! So I was like- "fuck it." Here's the thing. If you're gonna fake it, you can do anything else. You can be- I don't know, you can work at the mall and fake it. If you're gonna do this, you might as well tell the truth and be unapologetic about what your truth is. And that's a hard thing to do sometimes. So- once you make that conscious decision to really go for it, the other thing that comes in to play is, "Alright, how do I do this in the most clear and concise manner, knowing that I'm not speaking to myself anymore, I'm speaking to maybe people that don't know exactly what I went through" and how do you communicate these emotions without confusing the issue?

C&S: So this time around you were writing with the band, right?

FI: Yeah- so I was writing and then bringing things to a live practice room and being like, "this is the idea, let's play this" and then listening back, recording it on a handheld [recorder] and then going home and re-listening and changing everything and going back the next day and [doing] that process for months.

C&S: Do you think working with other people helped you at all to be clear in your communication of ideas?

FI: Absolutely. Completely. It definitely, I'm sure, drove them crazy- but it had to happen that way. The record that we ended up making couldn't have been made any other way. Stomachaches was a moment in time; it was me in a room with a drum machine and a computer, just kinda figuring it out. I didn't know what I was doing, and-

C&S: Do you think you know what you're doing now?

FI: Fuck no! [laughs]

C&S: I think that if you ever think you know what you're doing, you probably don't.

FI: Oh no, absolutely not.

C&S: In a way, that realization that you don't know what you're doing, that you have a lot to learn, is what prompts you to keep working on yourself- personally, emotionally- as well as on your ability to communicate and share that with people.

FI: Yes. I'm a big fan, too, of going in to a medium with a pure intent and even though you don't know your way around, the meaning behind it is so pure that you're going to figure it out. Whether it be divine interference or whatever, you use your deficiency as your strength and make it work. I had a conversation with a person yesterday about how if you were to give a guitar to a monkey they would probably play it in a very percussive way- in a way that no guitar player would play it- and that is what's so special about that.

C&S: A theme that I got out of the record was this idea that you have these "demons" or whatever's going on in your life and you're wondering to some extent how that effects other people and how they see you and think of you and do they still care and accept you. A song like "Oceans" sees you kinda coming to that point where you're like, "Okay, maybe there are people who understand and accept what's going on"- when people say, "I relate to this" or "this makes sense to me"- what goes through your mind when people are saying they get that, or they get anything out of the record?

FI: I'm over the moon about that. Whether people love it or hate it, those are all emotions that are valid. I want people to feel something. If people are indifferent to it I think that's the only problem. You want to invoke some sort of thought process- some sort of feeling, some sort of conversation. And a lot of times, people are not getting out of it what I expected them to- or my original intent on that- and that's fine.

C&S: I mean it even sounds like the record took on a new meaning to you in a sense over the past year.

FI: Oh definitely, definitely. But that's what's so wonderful about music- I could be writing about, you know, ice in a tray, but what you get out of it is not gonna be that, and that goes on and affects somebody else in a different way- and then maybe it comes around again to ice in a tray but maybe it doesn't, you know? It goes off in this ripple effect. I'm sure we grew up in different households and different things like that- that means nothing when it comes to art or to music, I can affect you in a totally different way through that.

C&S: I was just outside and I saw people that have been out here for hours with sleeping bags and lawn chairs that have been waiting a long time- and I bet that if I talked to every single one of those people, they would all say, "Oh Frank's music means a lot to me"- but they'd probably all to some extent have different answers of why, which is cool.

FI: I totally agree. That's the point, you know.

C&S: If everyone got the same thing out of it-

FI: Well- that's what I think is so wonderful about people, is that we're all just so fucking different- even if you hate somebody, they're different from you and that's a wonderful, miracle thing.

C&S: Definitely. Well- thank you, Frank.

FI: Yeah, my pleasure!

C&S: Anything else that people should be on the lookout for this year, anything else you want to say or add in general?

FI: We're announcing a tour Monday. We're doing UK and Europe with Dave Hause and The Mermaid and The Homeless Gospel Choir and Paceshifters. We're releasing an EP on the 22nd of September so I'm looking forward to that as well.

C&S: Awesome, well thank you so much.

FI: My pleasure.

Thanks Frank!

See a full list of tour dates on Frank Iero’s website. Frank Iero and the Patience will be releasing a limited edition EP, Keep The Coffins Coming, on September 22 through Hassle Records. Keep up with Frank on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

#interview #molly #frank iero #frank iero and the patience #parachutes #stomachaches #mcr #my chemical romance #music #music blog #band interviews

[theplaguezine]

DEATH ANGEL

Interview with Dennis Pepa by Daniel Hinds

(conducted April 2004)

The boundless energy that defined the thrash metal movement of the 80s was perhaps most evident in the Bay Area's most vibrant and innovative act, the Filipino five-piece known as Death Angel.   This is a band that is just at ease letting loose with a fast thrasher one moment and a somber acoustic number the next.  After a decade absence from the scene, the band reunited (minus original guitarist Gus Pepa) for the Thrash of the Titans show in 2001, a benefit for Testament's Chuck Billy and his cancer treatment.  That went so well, they quickly booked several local and European shows and proceeded to record a new album, The Art of Dying, which effortlessly combines everything the band has done before and incorporates several new elements as well.  Bassist Dennis Pepa brings us up to date with unique outfit… You've always had slightly unusual album titles - how did The Art of Dying come about? It actually came up from Andy watching a Bruce Lee video, a documentary on TV.  I think it was part of an old Bruce Lee proverb and Andy just brought it to us one day and it was definitely on the list on the wall of what album title we were going to use.  After analyzing everything to death (laughs), we thought that would make total sense to put that on the album. Do you have a deeper meaning that you've ascribed to it? Some people look at it and are like, 'Well, you guys are coming back, shouldn't it be The Art of Living?'  But if you look at it one way, yeah, but then the way we look at the title, it is the art of dying - not the art of death, it's what you do before you die, you actually live your life.  So it's kind of a rebirth title, it's got a twist to it.  We didn't want to make it that simple. The production has a pretty raw feel to it - were you setting out to avoid getting too polished a sound on this one? Definitely.  Out of all the Death Angel albums, we try to do that for each one of them, because we've always liked the live feel and we feel we are more of a live band than a studio band.  Brian Dobbs somehow captured it this time - he just turned the right knob and used the right mics and our chemistries just gelled as far as what the goal was.  To me, it's our best production just because he did capture that live feel with a clarity - I mean, you can hear every single instrument on there.  Again, we were trying to do stay away from what everybody else is doing, as far as production nowadays.  The whole Death Angel, just use somebody not too many people are using, take a different path. Can you describe the general songwriting process in Death Angel?  Is it any different from the early days? I think it has actually changed to where more of us are contributing a lot more to each song and there's definitely more input throughout the band.  Rob is still the total main writer of the band, he probably wrote I'd say 75% of the music, but we definitely all have say in it now.  It's cool because we don't take just one formula and write that way.  Sometimes, somebody will come to practice with a whole song written, sometimes we'll all write a song in one go, and sometimes we'll give each other a riff and somebody will add to it.  Each song was written differently, there's not really one formula to it.  I think the break we had was really good as far as our musicianship and respecting what each other does. The arrangements on all of your songs seem very meticulous, very well planned out.  Is that stuff all nailed down before you enter the studio? Yeah, pretty much.  We try to nail that down during pre-production, just demoing and demoing a song.  Nowadays, you can do that in your own studio because technology.  Rearranging songs and playing with how things fall after each thing.  I think that is definitely one of our strong points as far as writing.

I know you did some touring before you recorded this album - did you get a chance to try out any of these songs live before you recorded them? We started playing "Prophecy" and "Five Steps of Freedom" during the earlier legs of the last tours, just because those were the two newest songs to us so we just started playing them live.  We just wanted to see what the response would be and it was pretty cool, people really embraced them.  Aside from that, we didn't really play any of the other songs, we kind of wanted to keep it hidden. I read something about re-issues coming out on Rykodisc. What's happening is The Ultra-Violence is being remastered and the bonus tracks on that are the Kill As One demo, produced by Kirk [Hammett], and that's also remastered.  Frolic is getting remastered and three unreleased Death Angels songs are on that, from that era, and a third CD is coming out that is called Rarities.  It's twelve songs that Death Angel never released.  Some of them are demo versions, some are studio versions, some of them are live garage tapes, but it's going to add up to a new album for us.  It was all recorded in the 80s and it's all songs that were never on any of the three albums.  It's more of a hardcore fan CD versus somebody who wants to pick up a Death Angel album, because it's older stuff and not the greatest produced stuff, but it's songs that we've never released and quite a few people out there know some of these songs from back in the day.  They asked us why we never released them, so now is the chance to go out and buy it.  All three CDs will also come in a box set which will include a DVD which has old interviews with us and I think our older videos, from the first two albums.  As far as Act III goes, nothing is really moving on it yet.  I think what's going to happen is I think Geffen has it right now and they're going to hold onto it until the new album launches and they see what the numbers are.  I'm crossing my fingers, I hope they reissue it. Do you think you'll ever have a proper live album released someday? It's one of those things where we just need to be in the right place of this new career of ours.  We don't want to rush into it and do a half-assed job, we definitely want to plan it out and do it right.  We actually want to do a DVD version of it, too, so we'll probably release the live album as well as the DVD and the DVD will probably have more of the whole concert versus the album.  We're hoping to do that within the next two years. When the band split back in the early 90s, was that a difficult decision to make or was it pretty obvious by that point that something needed to change? Yes and no.  With all the shit we were going through, it wasn't too hard and we just wanted to walk away from it.  But then again, there was all the work that we did as well, so it was both.  I think it was actually easier than not because we wanted it to end and move on.  That's why right after that we started The Organization. When you reformed for the Thrash of the Titans show, was it thought to be just a one-off thing? Definitely, the whole thing was for Chuck and his cause and we only rehearsed two days before that because we thought it was just going to be a one-off   From the audience feedback and people telling us we stole the show and just the way it made us feel on stage, a few months later we re-established the band and announced it officially. Do you get a lot of younger fans coming to the shows? We're starting to.  I mean we definitely want to hit the younger audience, that's always the prime market, but we want to do it with the right bands.  We don't want to go out with any of these commercial nu-metal bands - we want to keep it at a level where it is respectable to us, too.  About four months ago we played a show with The Deftones in Sacramento and the kids went crazy and their whole audience is like 12 to late 20s.  I walked around after our set and all these kids were amazed, they didn't know who we were, they had never seen anything like us.  We pretty much sold out of our merchandise and the Deftones guys were like, 'Man, nobody ever sells merch like that!' (laughs)  I definitely think we have a niche in that market, we just need to be exposed to it.  I think if we did like the Vans Warped tour, that would be perfect. You guys did a video recently? Yeah, for "Thicker Than Blood."  It turned out really good.  We filmed it in an abandoned train station in Oakland.  Hopefully you'll see it on MTV. Death Angel has always drawn on more than just thrash metal, but what are your thoughts on the genre and its resurgence in recent years? To be honest, until we got back together three years ago, I really didn't pay attention to it.  Like I said, I listen to punk rock and that's really my scene.  I would now and then go see a metal band, but until we got back together, I didn't really know what was going on in the whole metal scene.  I just knew that these bands were commercial sounding and they were on the radio and was kind of disgusted by it.  Everybody was tuning down and playing three chords, everybody wanted to be crossover rap kinda metal thing.  It lasted for over ten years but I think it's starting to crumble now, it just seems like so many people are tired of it that nu-metal is just like old-metal or used-metal, whatever you want to call it - it's just not hip anymore.  I think thrash metal is definitely on an upswing and has the potential to be really huge this time.

https://www.deathangel.us

#Death Angel #interview #apr2004

[happymetalgirl]

Thoughts on Gojira’s Magma

Magma is, without a doubt, my favorite album that came out last year. I know that it came out in June and that a lot had already been said about it around the time of its release, but its impact on metal last year was huge and it sustained discussion about itself and its creators all through the year. It became my favorite album from a band who I already had immense respect and adoration for, and I was fortunate enough to see them tour in support of it and play six of its songs live. (“Pray” was so insane live.) Considering the album conjured up their first two surprising Grammy nominations (as the Grammys are usually pretty ridiculous) and considering the fact that this is my blog and I can write about whatever I want, I think it’s still perfectly relevant to write about an album from last year that I ABSOLUTELY LOVED. I fear this might get pretty long.

I’ll keep from going through every little detail from the album that made me love it (and also from the few moments that weren’t perfect) because I know that each song would take a LONG time. But while I’m here I can’t help from fawning over the excellence of the tone set by the catchy groove of the opening track, the cathartic solo in the Grammy-nominated track that gracefully follows the opener, the combined power of the drums and vocals on “The Cell”, the straightforward and memorable mid-paced groove and vocal prowess on “Stranded”, the meditative state the title track generates, the infectious “Bleed”-like rhythm that “Pray” uses more convincingly than any other band that has tried to rip off the now-classic Meshuggah drum pattern, the anthem-like quality of the death metal riffing in “Only Pain”, and the touching lyrics and perfectly designed cadential aura of the brothers’ tribute to their late mother on “Low Lands”. Wow, that was a long sentence!

When Magma came out last June, and when “Stranded”, “Silvera”, and “The Shooting Star” helped prepare the metal world for it, the obligatory debate over Gojira’s masterfully intense and technical death metal taking the back seat to this new, proggy, groove-centered, and diverse style they debuted. It seemed unusual to me at first too, but it didn’t take long for me to see that this was still Gojira playing to their strengths, only this time it was strengths they hadn’t revealed before. One of my favorite things about the album, which was discussed significantly as part of their change in style, is Joe’s vocals. I already worshipped the special, melodic, burning growls that enriched every one of their previous albums, but his clean singing especially on this album helped especially well to set the bar unimaginably high for them now. The songs on the album fit snuggly with his unique register and his varied, nonformulaic use of his clean and gruff vocal styles throughout the album compliments the music exquisitely, setting atmospheric moods with clean singing and breaking those atmospheres down resonantly with reintroduced howling, and swirling that majestic chaos back into meditative mood after meditative mood of blast-beat-y hammering. Indeed, many of the brutal moments on the album are just as ambient and meditative as they are blood-pumping and head-banging, an art that resembles the hard-to-capture duality of the violent jazzy metal tranquility of Meshuggah. The naturalist vibe and message Gojira has already cultivated is enriched in the lyricism and the successful experimentation with their sound on Magma. The expansion and molding of the ambient component of their sound, which people complained about having replaced the nonstop torrent of overwhelming technical death metal, both provides more of Gojira to love, and highlights what most of the band’s fans already loved about them. The heavier moments stand out more with the mix of relative calmness into the tracks and resurge with the real force that keeps the punch from becoming numbing the way a lot of music by the likes of Nile or Decapitated often does, and in that regard, the heavy is really heavy, due credit also being due to the mixing and mastering work done on the album. It does not flash all its magic at once and fizzle out after one listen either. The songwriting throughout the album is interesting and beckons many repeated spins to become connected, and rewardingly so, with its every enthralling nuance; I’m listening to it right now, with all my appendages pulsing with more of Magma’s moments and spirit than the last time I listened to it. I often yearned for the album to be longer when I was giving it early listens, because it’s just so damn compelling, but it really is crafted to impart a specific experience in exactly the time of what it already presents. I could go on and on and relay more poetic praise for what Gojira has done for me personally with this album, but this is already pretty lengthy.

This album has meant a lot for me, and also a lot to the band themselves (Mario and Joe especially evidently) and to the metal community and our music as a whole. It was a triumphant delivery after the four-year wait between L'Enfant Sauvage and their new album’s release after many were underwhelmed or indifferent to Metallica’s comeback and even disappointed with Meshuggah’s studio return. Indeed, despite many other huge figures in metal (Metallica, Avenged Sevenfold, Meshuggah, Deftones, Opeth, Rob Zombie, Korn, Megadeth, Dream Theater, Anthrax, In Flames) dropping many highly-anticipated albums, Magma and everything that went along with it really made 2016 Gojira’s year. The enigmatic nature of the album that made it hard for the metal sphere to finish its first rounds of talking about it, the massive tour the band set out on to celebrate it, and their tasteful, refreshingly artful social media presence (their tour diaries being outstandingly gorgeous and worthwhile, and Evil Mario being an awesome window into their goofiness behind the scenes) certainly also helped them end up in many metal publications and topping their year-end lists by December’s closing.

It’s also worth talking about how all of this culminated in Grammy nominations at the end of the year for Gojira. The Grammys have ever been a somewhat redundant ceremony to parade what everyone already knows has made the most money that year based on its hard-to-avoid splatter across radio and social media, and ever since their infamous snub of …And Justice for All, they have never really been taken too seriously or even passionately in the context of metal, which is minimally represented anyway. Even their metal picks seem to be pretty consistently basic and out-of-touch most of the time; although I do find it funny how much silverware they give Metallica now that they’re huge and they know they goofed back in 1988. But this year, they seem to have run their finger luckily across the giant pulse Gojira made in metal, and they seem to have picked up on just how significant Magma was this past year because they nominated the entire work for an award and not just the most accessible single. They also noticed, to my amazement, the fabulous work Baroness did at the end of the previous year. Even though most of us don’t really get our hopes up for the Grammys recognizing meaningful work in this genre, it’s somewhat reminiscent of Metallica’s first nomination almost 30 years ago; a somewhat underground band’s (pretty underground for the Grammys) death metal-marinated album in the hard rock category, one that really made waves and earned its reputation. It’s sort of a significant moment for death metal, even if Magma doesn’t win. But if it does, it would be a sight to behold, and what would that mean for metal in the world to come? Would it boost interest in the styles of metal Magma is rooted in? Would that interest develop invested participants in metal culture or just shallow visitations to these trends of desperate fame-seekers the way a lot of dime-a-dozen djent music has emerged since Meshuggah’s breakthrough and how blackgaze has become battling grounds ever since Deafheaven’s explosion onto the scene? Would nothing happen because we ignore the Grammys for the most part now and don’t consider their voice accurately representative of metal? I don’t know, and it’s too early in the morning to speculate now, so I’ll stay on the topic of Magma.

I feel like there were so many points I wanted to make about this album and its contextual presences and that even though this is long and winded, I’m forgetting something. I’ll quickly mention that I love the artwork associated with the album; I’m a sucker for volcano-related stuff and I love the front cover artwork and I’ve been meaning to get the visual companion. Call me a fanboy, but the primal, cave-painting-esque art style really fits the nature-centric theme of their music and I dig it. I’ll mention that I have this album on record as well and I love displaying and looking at that large square piece with the sunshine volcano eruption while I play this thing. The vinyl itself is quite crackly, but strangely, I don’t mind for this one.

I’ll finish this off by just saying thank you if you read this. I know this was long and I understand if you just skimmed it. I did this in one sitting and I’m sure there are some typos and convoluted sentences. The long sentences thing tends to be the way I write, and I can’t help but write extensively because I just adore this music so much. So, thank you again; see, I can’t even finish this tacked-on paragraph briefly without trying to discuss something.

Thank you whoever reads this. Thank you, teriyaki turkey jerky, for getting me through this. And thank you Gojira for Magma and everything else!

#gojira #magma #metal #progressive metal #groove metal #death metal #album review #grammys

[corneliussteinbeck]

GGS Spotlight: Marcie Sislow

Name:   Marcie Sislow Age: 39 Location: Seattle, WA

What does being a Girl Gone Strong mean to you? It means being unafraid to live in your own skin! Discovering my own strength increased my self-confidence and has helped me to be a better role model for my daughter. I believe being self-sufficient is empowering, being confident in your imperfections is freeing, and being able to move with a healthy body is a privilege. My mantra is mindful, attainable strength. It’s something that I strongly strive to achieve every time I train myself or others. It’s a state of mind, and it’s a movement! In today’s busy life we need to be ever more present in our daily activities, and that includes training. Being mindful,present, and truly showing up connected with your body is as important as your fitness journey.

Attainable strength is something that we can all strive to achieve. It takes dedication, consistency and most importantly a support system. Girls Gone Strong has been my support system!

How long have you been strength training, and how did you get started? I’ve been consistently strength training for the past five years. It all started after the birth of my son who is turning six this year. My turning point came in the fitting room of one of my favorite clothing stores. I was about eight months postpartum. After I had a full on meltdown and cried in the fitting room while nursing this new baby, I decided to take control of the situation and do something about it. I went home that night and did an internet search for at-home fitness. One of the first things that caught my eye was an ad for a kettlebell DVD. I had no idea what a kettlebell was, and I wanted to learn more. My search led me to Neghar Fonooni. After contacting her, I started online coaching and quickly fell in love with kettlebells and strength training.

What are your areas of expertise in health and fitness? I’ve always been a sporty kid. I played soccer, ran cross country in high school, and ran a half marathon back in the day. For a little over three years, I worked as a paramedic in Chicago while I finished my degree in exercise science. After graduation, I decided I wanted to add some more skills, and went on to become certified in massage therapy through the Cortiva Institute of Massage in Chicago. Today, I am a proud SFG-1 Instructor, RKC Instructor, Onnit Foundations coach, and lover of all the tools in the toolbox! I tend to gravitate towards unconventional training because it’s fun!

What does your typical workout look like? It depends on what I’m working toward at the time, but on a typical day I start with some mobility work, and I usually start my sessions with a couple sets of Turkish get-ups and light swings. Currently I’ve been doing three or four total-body, strength-focused days with some kind of metabolic finisher during the last five to ten minutes of my session. Variations of the deadlift, squats, chin-up practice, military press, and swings are some of my favorite things to train. As far as a finisher, my favorite right now is a Tabata of 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest for eight rounds. I’ll throw in whatever I’m in the mood for that day.

Sometimes I stick to the plan, and sometimes I don’t I think it’s important and just listen to what my body is in the mood for that day.

Favorite Lift: Two of my favorites moves are the deadlift, because of the booty gains and the KB Turkish get-up. The get-up is one of those moves that engages your whole body, and it almost feels like a beautiful piece of choreography. It’s like a dance with your kettlebell. It’s graceful and powerful all at the same time!

Most memorable PR: Crushing my snatch test for the SFG and RKC! I completed my test by snatching 100 reps in five minutes with a 16kg kettlebell. The last two minutes of the test took absolutely everything I had, but I wanted to finish what I started so badly that I was nearly in tears at the end! Besides being physically challenging, it was such an emotional journey for me because I had been training for this and trying to get to that finish line for quite sometime. It felt amazing to finally accomplish something I had been working toward for so long.

Top 5 songs on your training playlist:

So What’Cha Want/Beastie Boys

W.O/Ministry

Strobe/deadMau5

My Own Summer(Shove it)/Deftones

Gasolina-DJ Buddah Remix/Daddy Yankee,Lil John,Pitbull

Top 3 things you must have with you at the gym or in your gym bag:

Sling Shot Hip Circle I use it to activate my glutes as well as in my dynamic warm up

Bose wireless headphones

EO Everyone Baby Wipes for those post-training wipe downs

Do you prefer to train alone or with others? Why? Alone. Training is a chance to shut off the world and get in my own head. It’s my zen! With two kids, my home life is far from quiet. I crave that alone time where I can blast my angry music, smash some weights, and not think about anything other than the lift.

Best compliment you’ve received lately: I was at my favorite coffee shop(El Diablo in Seattle) recently when a very fabulous man came up to me and asked me if I was wearing fake lashes. I said no, just wearing mascara. He then waved his hand in the air and said “YAS Queen…SLAY girl….you are blessed!” The thing about that morning was that I wasn’t feeling very fabulous, and I was battling some negative voices in my head. That one minute interaction with this stranger totally changed the way I was feeling. In that moment my attitude totally changed, and I went on with my day with a better attitude. When in doubt……slay, girl!

Most recent compliment you gave someone else: The most recent compliment I gave was to my daughter. I told her that her curly hair was looking extra fabulous. It totally made her morning!

Favorite meal: Does dessert count as a meal? Hmmm….Pizza, pancakes, and pie…oh my!

Favorite way to treat yourself: A cup of chamomile tea at night in my favorite robe, with my lavender heating pad wrapped around my neck… total #grandmastatus happening at my house. I also love getting regular massage and a mani-pedi.

Favorite quote: “Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light!” — Dylan Thomas

Favorite book: I haven’t really read for pleasure in quite sometime, which is something I’d like to change. The last book I enjoyed was Born Survivors by Wendy Holden.

What inspires and motivates you? My kids, Sophia and Trent. They are fearless and care-free little humans. They inspire me to charge into the world fearlessly and confidently. As we grow up, we tend to lose that care-free attitude toward life. We stop questioning, and we stop wandering. We are raising our kids to question everything and to never be afraid to wander and get lost in the world. How are you supposed to find yourself if you never truly lose yourself in the first place?

What do you do? I’m a kettlebell coach, mom, wife, and personal trainer. At one point in my life I considered myself to be a professional booty cleaner but thank goodness those days are no more!

What else do you do? I love trying new things, I’ve only been in Seattle for the past three years, so there is still so much to explore! I enjoy taking long walks, paddle boarding, eating all the things, and am pretty darn good at making pottery. I also love making potions and lotions! In another life I must have been a healer or a medicine woman, since I have a strong connection with plants, herbs, and homeopathic medicines. I love making healing tinctures and syrups, herbal soaps, soothing salves for those callused hands, and loads of other medicinal concoctions.

Describe a typical day in your life: Depending on the day…

5:15 — Wake up. 6:15–7:15 — Teach my kettlebell class. 7:15–9:20 — Head back home and drink my coffee in silence before getting the kids up and starting our morning. Breakfast is made, backpacks are packed, then I walk my kids to school. 10ish — Head back to the gym get my own training session in, and depending on if I’m teaching another class, I hang out till after. If not, I head back home. 12ish — Lunch, laundry, house stuff 1:30–3ish —  Work on business development, write programs for clients, catch up on emails, etc. 3:30 — Pick up kids from school. 4–6 — After-school activities, homework with the munchies. 6–7ish — Dinner and clean-up 7–8ish — Hang out, family time 8ish — Put the kiddos to bed. 9–10ish — Relax! Watch my trash TV, with my cup of tea and my lavender heating pad, then bedtime!

Your next training goal: What’s next for me is getting jacked before I hit 40 this year! I’m going big, and I’ve started the Bigness Project from my friend and fellow GGS Kourtney Thomas and GGS Advisory Board Member Jen Sinkler. I’m really loving the change of pace and the change in training tools, and I’m excited to see what the end of the journey will bring!

What are you most grateful for? I am most grateful for my health! A few months ago I had a severe vertigo attack that landed me in the ER. It was so violent that I thought I was having a heart attack! Fast-forward through many trips to the doctor, meds, and finally seeing my naturopath. I was diagnosed with Benign Paroxysmal Vertigo. It completely floored me for months. I was bedridden and just the simple task of walking my kids to school became the most difficult challenge of the day. Training and teaching were out of the question, when I couldn’t look up or look down without getting severely dizzy. This humbling experience taught me to slow down and really listen to my body. I had been juggling too much for so long that my body had finally said enough!I’m starting from scratch with my training, but I can finally do deadlifts and Turkish get-ups without feeling queasy. My strength is slowly coming back but I’m just grateful to be able to do what I love again!

Which three words that best describe you? Outgoing. Bubbly. Annoyingly happy.

What’s the coolest “side effect” you’ve noticed from strength training? One of the best side effects of strength training is being able to lift my kids however and whenever I want. They’re getting big, and I can still keep up. Also, I love my friends call me when they need help lifting anything heavy.

How has lifting weights changed your life? It’s definitely made me more confident and has opened the doors to be able to teach others what I’ve learned along the way. I feel so lucky to be able to do what I love each and every day.

What do you want to say to other women who might be nervous or hesitant about strength training? In today’s busy society, we make ourselves the very last priority, when in fact, we should put ourselves at the top of our list. Do it! We only get this one life, this one body, to truly discover our inner and outer strength. We are given these amazing vessels.

What a shame to go through life without ever really knowing what you’re capable of!

All professional photos by Paolo Sanchez. Location FUELhouse, Seattle, WA

Feeling inspired?

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The post GGS Spotlight: Marcie Sislow appeared first on Girls Gone Strong.

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