Sugar, We're Going Down Swinging

It's all gone to shit people. I'm sorry but I doubt I have the ability to keep this blog going on my own. Let's face it: I have no talent when it comes to writing or trying to be insightful about anything. If this blog was about lame jokes then I could do it. I may throw in a post every once in awhile from here on out but I make no promises. Robby J was the glue that held this thing together and probably the only reason people read this blog. But, hey, I never go down without a fight, so here is my best attempt at a post.

So remember how I said that All Time Low signed with a major label and released a new record? And remember how I hoped it didn't ruin them? Well, it did. That new album sucks balls! And I mean it sucks. It's like every other pop punk pukey band out there. It's like a mix of Panic! At The Disco and New Found Glory. It's fucking shit! Do not even waste your time listening to it, it's such a disappointment. If you want good All Time Low, listen to Nothing Personal or Put Up or Shut Up. Those are good albums.

Also, WTF is with the HMV in Guelph? I went in there to get the new Alkaline Trio album and a couple of Farewell albums and they didn't have any of them! Get your act together HMV or I'll have to resort to downloading albums and I would genuinely like to support these bands and actually have a hard copy of their work. Besides, everyone knows there is less compression on CDs then there is on mp3s so the music just sounds better.

The one thing that was good about my HMV trip was the acquiring of the new Flogging Molly album Speed of Darkness. I've just finished listening to it and WOW, it's amazing. Gonna go out on a limb and say it may be the best Flogging Molly's album to date... time will tell but first impressions are off the chart. This is a pretty fitting song for the mixtape right now. This is "So Sail On".

I guess if this is the end of the mixtape then I'll have to throw in some of my favourites that have yet to surface. This is Motion City Soundtrack's "Even If It Kills Me". These guys own my life.

Another great finishing song by one of my favouite bands. This is "For All The Unheard" by The Bouncing Souls. Just listen...

Have you read The Perks Of Being A Wallflower? You should. It will change you. The main character, Charlie, makes a mix tape for his friend. The first and last song of this mixtape are "Asleep" by The Smiths. The Smiths only recorded this song once but they got it right the first time. Between Morrissey's voice and Marr's piano, I don't think a better song has ever been written. If this doesn't punch you in the heart, you have no soul.

Farewell friends, thanks for reading and maybe we'll be back again someday!

C Dot

Krazy Fest Recap

Whoooo! It's finally here people. The post you've all been waiting for. The moment of pure awesome. The greatest 20 minutes you will ever experience... Ok, sorry, I'll get to the point. As some of you may or may not know I went down to Louisville, KY for Krazy Fest last weekend. And, because real life sucks and I have to work and be responsible during the week I am only telling you about the weekend now. Where should I start... Well, first off, Dayton, Ohio sucks balls. Read le blog du rob to find out why. I'm done thinking about it.

Ok, on to the music. Friday night we saw Chamberlain and By the Grace of God. Both were incredible. Chamberlain was also unhappy about the length of their set so after a lot whiskey and most people had left the show they had a very impromptu and informal acoustic set/sing-a-long by some pool tables and out in the parking lot after we all got kicked out. Rob and Todd (not to be confused with Rod and Todd from The Simpsons) were pretty much in music heaven. The smiles on their faces were too genuine to describe. This is a cover of some song that I don't know the name of or the artist who originally wrote it. I'm sorry if its your favourite song. It's awesome and even after a shit ton of whiskey Chamberlain still rocked it.

Day 2 was a little weird and was going to be hard to top after what Chamberlain did the night before. Saturday was "the end of world" which was set to occur around 6pm. Luckily, Anti-Flag started their set at 5:30 so if we had all died at least I saw them live. Their set was pretty awesome. They played a lot songs off of Terror State which is one of my favourite albums. Unfortunately, there were just a few too many young teenagers in the crowd for me to really get into it. These punk kids were skanking about (quite terribly I might add) and just ruining it for us older folks... OK, I'm joking, the show was awesome. It was made even more awesome by the drummer as you will see in this video of the song Power to the Peaceful.

Saturday was also Hot Water Music's turn to take the stage. Unfortunately, I think the Apocalypse tried to happen and failed (take that God) because one hell of a thunderstorm broke out. HWM was supposed to play outside but they were moved inside to avoid serious drowning concerns (not actually). They still killed it. Rob Watson crowd surfed. Some drunk guy tried to climb over me to get closer to the stage (thanks to Todd for pulling him off of me). And of course everyone sang along ridiculously out of tune. Mostly if was just me that was really out of tune as you will hear in the video. I apologize and please don't make fun of me. I may have had one or two American beers in me and I can't carry a tune on the best of days. All in all, HWM is awesome.

Day 3 was big day. While no alcohol was consumed this day (at least by us) kraziness still ensued. Dave Hause started off our day with an awesome acoustic set. This guy is super cool. I want to be his friend. His music is also super cool. I suggest acquiring his solo album asap. He did break two strings on his guitar during his set but he managed to change them while telling some pretty funning stories. Did I mention he may be my new favourite person? I think I've developed a serious man crush here.

Ok, last performance video of the blog. This is The Bouncing Souls. They've been one of my favourite bands since... well, since I started listening to The Bouncing Souls (around grade 9ish we'll say). These guys are well into their 40s but are still rocking hard. I was front row center for this set and got pretty much demolished in the pit. I should also mention that I got really sun burnt on Friday and it was still killing me on Sunday so when this guy decided to use my back as a drum set... yah, it was a little painful. All worth it though cause The Bouncing Souls put on an awesome show. This is a video of their last two songs.

SO those were a sample of the videos I took. There are plenty more and they may make it onto youtube some day. I'll let you if that happens. The next little video is a slideshow of some of the pictures I took. There are performances from By the Grace of God, Cave In, and Against Me. There are also candid shots of Rob and Todd and our nice walks from the hotel to the venue. I just wanna say that Shively is one interesting place. Luckily because of the strip clubs, run down buildings, crazy people, and just general ghettoness, no one cares about 3 skinny white dudes walking down the street drinking beer. Especially the cops. They have bigger problems to worry about. All these elements made our walks very entertaining. (The song is by The Loved Ones (Dave Hause's band) and is a cover of Billy Bragg's 'Lover's Town Revisited')

Good job Krazy Fest, hopefully we'll be back next year.

C Dot

Putting the KRAZY in Krazyfest

Hello y'all. C Dot here again. Apparently I'm the only surviving member of the Mixtape... my companions have moved on to bigger and better things. Jackson is becoming a country music star and Tara... well, Tara has to put up with Benoit on a regular basis so her mind may be broken. Me though, I'm still here. I will never leave because I have no life and no friends. Except for next weekend when Rob Watson, his high school buddies and myself will be traveling down to Louisville for one hell of a music festival. What music festival is this you ask? Krazyfest of course. And what makes this music festival so KRAZY? Well, aside from the bands, it is mainly the presence of Rob Watson (crazy MFer). The bands though feature some of the greatest punk rock bands from the mid to late 90s that are still kicking it strong today. Info on the event can be found here. This blog will be a small preview of the bands I am most excited to see.

Anti-Flag (Est. 1988)! Aside from the fact that these guys somehow manage to put out what seems like 2 full length albums a year, their music is awesome. Extremely politically charged and just plain krazy, they hold nothing back when it comes to playing music. Grade 10 was a big year for listening to Anti-Flag. My friend Joel was obsessed with this guys. Rightfully so, they're pretty awesome and Justin Sane (leader singer) is a pretty brilliant dude. This is "Turncoat" from The Terror State, released in 2003.

Against Me! Everyone probably knows Against Me! from their popular radio releases such as "Thrash Unreal" and "I Was A Teenage Anarchist". While these guys have many more amazing songs. Definitely looking forward to rocking out during this set.  This is "Stop". Pay attention to the bassist's dance moves in this video... amazing haha!

The Bouncing Souls! THE BOUNCING SOULS! I don't think I can accurately describe how pumped I am to see these guys. I love The Bouncing Souls. LOVE THEM. They rock hard, they play great music, they seem like awesome dudes, and they have fun doing it. I may try and make out with one of them... or not. But autographs will definitely be sot after. This song wasn't written by The Bouncing Souls but its such an amazing cover that I have to share it with you. This is "Lean On Sheena". The video also features Rob Watson (if he stopped running, got a little chubby, and had to wear glasses).

Dave Hause. Dave is the front man from The Loved Ones. I love The Loved Ones. I was very happy to discover them. I first heard them on a summer sampler CD I picked up from FatWreckChords. I'm not sure if Dave will play any music from the Loved Ones but either way, I'm excited to see him. He has some pretty good solo stuff. It's along a similar theme to The Loved Ones songs but more melodic. The same passion, emotion, and intensity is there. This is "Time Will Tell".

Hot Water Music. These guys are OK, I guess. I mean if you want straight up, in your face, heart felt punk rock then I guess you would like these guys. Chuck Ragan is kinda cool. He writes some pretty good lyrics and has a very unique voice so I guess they'll be alright live... FUCK THAT! I may not make it through their set alive. I may have an adrenaline overload and go crazy in the pit resulting in massive head trauma and die. I won't care. I'll die a happy man. The problem is picking a song to share with you all. HWM has about 1.5 music videos but every other song I've posted has had a video so I'm switching it up. This is "Jack of All Trades" by HWM. Awesome song. So stoked to for these guys!

Chamberlain is also playing at KrazyFest but Youtube apparently hates them so I couldn't locate any videos for them. Definitely look them up though. I think the only band that would make this festival even more awesome would be Alkaline Trio. Probably a good thing they're not playing though or I would actually never come back alive. I will be sure to video tape and record as much mayhem as possible so that I can share it with everyone once I get back. Until then, Later days people!

Bullying The Jukebox

Alrighty let's get this rolling. I am definitely down with good party tunes. They can make or break a party. Unfortunately, my idea of good party tunes coincides with no one else's idea of good party tunes. I attribute this to my superior human intellect and advanced brain function. The rest of you will catch on eventually.

First 'must have' on the party soundtrack is the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' "Zero". This song is great and it nicely showcases the rest of population's lack of coolness to good party tunes. You can have fun anywhere with this song and you don't need anyone around to do it.

Next is a tune that just makes you feel good. Definitely a summer song, Bedouin Soundclash's "Mountain Top" is one groovy piece of music. You can dance around to it, sit and nod your head to it, or just smile along with it. Fun for the whole family.

The Bouncing Souls are just awesome. Flat out. This song rocks. If you can't party to this song, you can't party to any song.

Ok, there are many more party tunes I could throw up here but in anticipation of St. Patty's Day, you're getting an Irish tune. This song is a standard on St. Patty's (or just any drunken night/day/afternoon), The Mahones' "Drunken Lazy Bastard". Plus this live video is from a show they did in Kingston in 2008 so I had to post it.

Party hardy people.

C Dot

You're So Rad

Wasn't that the cutest thing ever! I love Valentine's Day, it's great. Or not so much. Pretty ridiculous actually. Either way, gotta post some love songs this week. Unfortunately, I don't really feel like it so I think I'll go with some fun girlfriend songs.

First up, The Bouncing Souls and "You're So Rad". This song is rad.

Next up, the greatest high school band of all time. Where would we be without the poetic and musical stylings of Blink-182? Nowhere I'd wanna be that's for damn sure. Here's "Josie" off of Dude Ranch. Josie sounds like the ideal girlfriend to me. Also, gotta love Mark's purple hair, haha.

Alrighty, one more tune. Ever heard of Guttermouth? They're pretty quirky and ridiculous. They remind me of a more badass, underground, perverted version of Blink (if that's possible). Nothing much serious comes from these guys but they're pretty funny. This is "My Girlfriend".

I'm done now, gonna go take a nap. But I will leave you with a serious love story. Alec Bray showed me this movie trailer and I must agree it looks pretty good. It's definitely a love story too. Just watch it, you'll be impressed. Later Days!

The Great Escape

Hi everybody!

Road tripping is one of my favourite activities, and each one is defined by the people and music that are along for the ride. A few summers ago, my friend Alec introduced me to a band called The Refreshments. They have two albums that were released in '96 and '97 and they are quite possibly the greatest 90s rock albums ever. These guys are from Texas or Tenessee or someplace down south and every one of their songs is a road tripping song. Driving through the countryside on a sunny day with the windows down and tunes cranked really can't be beat. Epic moments have been had while listenig to The Refreshments and while "Banditos" isn't my favourite, the music video is awesome.

So there's pretty much a million songs I could post on here this week and I was thinking of just uploading my entire music library but I guess I can be selective. Any good roadtrip should start with a viewing of One Week, just to get you pumped up about traveling, not so much about cancer. With that done some very happy and carefree songs should be compiled. Some of my favourites are Eve 6's "Open Road" or Flogging Molly's "Within a Mile of Home". And of course there is always this gem by good old Gob, who back in the 90s were just crazy. This music video is awesome and its under 2 minutes long.

Finally, if on a road trip and your CD player/cassette player/8-track player dies, hopefully you still have a functioning radio. While roadtripping through strange places can result in some pretty weird music genres, including that aweful form of music called country, hopefully you can find something to your liking during some channel surfing. It's unlikely that you'll find this song by The Bouncing Souls but it should give encouragement that there is a song out there that you can "Sing Along Forever" to.

(for unknown reasons - probably stupid embedding functions - the actual video won't show up here. Youtube has it so go there and watch it, its awesome. Driving around in a motor-home, scanning radio channels, crowd surfering, etc.)

So yah, there are some road tripping songs. And on your way home you can always throw on some John Denver or Belle & Sebastian.

C Dot