Missed Festival, Wedding, & 3OH3!

I’ve had a few days off now and it all comes to an end in less than 5 hours.  I took some time away from work to be with friends as one of us was getting married.  I normally do not like weddings as they are very formal and of course I am not a church goer.

I feel like I canceled some plans too in order to attend the wedding.  I thought I told Matt that I was going to hook up with him sometime this weekend as he and his friend were going to be in Kent for We The People Fest.  I told Matt that my wife and I were possibly going to see Hawthorne Heights and Ben Taylor play at the fest on Friday and also check out the rest of the event but in turn we decided to crash the wedding rehearsal party.  Saturday was an all day event for the wedding, and Sunday we were too pooped to go out there and see the final day, plus the Cleveland Browns were playing. (Finally, a win!)

Sorry Matt…  I hope it was a good time. I hope you can forgive me and tell me a little about it…if you went.

I am sorry too, Chuck Norris, as I know you were speaking on Sunday.  I know you wanted me to be there.

So let me tell you a little about the wedding…

My friends Sam and Ryan decided to tie the knot.  Sam is a few years younger than me and I have known him for a while.  He grew up in the same city as I did.  I met him through friends and thanks to beer and punk rock music we became friends.

Sam met Ryan, they fell in love, and got married.  They had a wedding locally and my wife and I were invited along with plenty of friends. The neat thing about the wedding is that it was sort of a punk rock wedding with a lot of guests being in local punk rock acts at one time or currently.  Sam wore Chuck Taylors as did the groomsmen and when the happy couple entered the reception hall “Hey Ho Let’s Go” was played.

I sat at a table with my friends who some were also members of The Facials.  They are a Cleveland punk rock band that has played tons of shows in Cleveland and Akron as well has opened for Rancid and UK Subs.  They are currently working on a new album and I will be sure to share it once it is pressed.

Also as the wedding were friends of mine who were once in the now defunct punk acts such as the Narcoleptics X5, the Beat Kids, and Novallos.  Its been a while since some of the bands played local shows.  It was awesome to see that even that some of the bands separated that they still remained friends.  The groom was actually a member of all three of the bands.

At one time during the day, the former drummer of Novallos, Ryan,  was sitting next to me at a bar in between the wedding and reception, and we were talking about how he moved to Colorado and recently moved back.  Before long we started talking about music.  He asked me if I was at the Warped Tour this summer and when I said I was he asked if I saw a band called 3OH3!.  I said hell yes.

I told Ryan that I loved 3OH3! and caught their entire set at the Warped Tour.  Knowing that they were from Colorado I already knew what he was going to tell me.  He knew them.  I was stoked to hear Ryan tell stories about them. He then told me that they would be playing in Cleveland in November and asked me and my wife if we wanted to hang out with them.  I thought that was pretty awesome.  We shall see what happens.

The band is relatively new but has been making a strong impact on many music lovers.  Their mix of emo, punk, and crunk really made me a fan.  I reviewed their debut Want and will post it in my archives on here.

If I do happen to kick it with 3OH3! I will be sure to let you all know how it was.

Metalli-riffic

I am probably one of the last people who has not talked about Metallica‘s Death Magnetic.  Everyone out there has their opinion on the CD.  My pal over at Pitriff wrote a few things about it earlier as did many other music lovers.  Some said it was a comeback album while others find it brittle.

I think it is great.  It’s hard to say Metallica is back to what they used to be because let’s face it, age and the battle of life takes its toll.  I think Death Magnetic is the best album the band has done in years and I really enjoy listening to it.  I am not going to sit here and pick through songs and say this one could have been better and this one was perfect.

I will just say that in a whole, the boys did a great job.  Way to grab another #1 album!  That right there is impressive. The album makes me think back to the first five albums and forget about the last few.  It’s nice to see that they still have it.

I finally got to see the video for “The Day That Never Comes”:

Reminds me of the video for “One”.  Very sorrowful video.

Metallica is going to be touring in support of Death Magnetic.  The sad thing is that they are hot hitting Cleveland yet but they will be in Columbus.  Some of me wants to see them again.  I have seen them 3 times now but they were all tours in support of the albums I could care less about.  I really want to see them rock out.

I also want to see this tour because Down is opening for them…awesome.

Face To Face Reunion?

I was just killing some time tonight when I came upon a post on Punknews.Org stating that Face To Face has started a reunion tour.  Excuse me???  Apparently I have been out of the loop because I thought the band called it quits for good in 2002.  I really hadn’t heard anything from them since.

Face To Face is a So.Cal punk rock band that was one of my favorites in the late nineties.  Their one song that got major attention was “Disconnected”…

I am not sure yet if the band is going to only tour a couple of cities at this time in the US and overseas or if they will take it one step further and create and album together.  I would love to see a new Face To Face album as they are one of those punk bands I wish never broke up.

I have been aware that front man Trevor Keith has been doing his own thing since the band split.  In fact he has been doing a few things…a few things I was not entirely aware of.

First there is his solo material he has been working on and his label Antagonist Records.  I had no idea Trevor Keith has been working on creating music on his own.  Earlier this year he released his solo album Melancholics Anonymous.  The album is available on his website via download for 5 bucks or you can send him some of your cold hard cash and he’ll send you a CD if he has any left.  I am going to be dishing out 5 bucks myself so I can check it out.  He has the album streaming on his site and from what I hear I like so far.

Then there is Legion Of Doom, a mash-up project like no other featuring Trevor Keith and producer Chad Blinman.  The duo remixes emo, punk, and hip hop songs as well as creates original material, some of which have been featured in films.  I have been a fan of this project for a couple of year now when I accidentally came across a remix of Senses Fail and Coheed & Cambira….

I love the sound of the two bands clashing together, it’s perfect (but you have to like the bands to appreciate it too of course).  I also got a kick out of Claudo’s shorter hair on the video….  This song and others were released on Legion Of Doom’s debut CD called Incorporated.  The CD is well out of print but you can find it out there in the digital world, I know I did.

Smashing Pumpkins Announce 20th Anniversary Tour

(Classic) Smashing Pumpkins
(Classic) Smashing Pumpkins

Two of the pumpkins (Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin) have announced the Smashing Pumpkins will be touring (5 week quick tour) in celebration of the band’s two decade career. 

Smashing Pumpkins are one of the bands on my list I still have yet to see live.  I almost saw them last year but missed out.  Last year at the 2007 Virgin Mobile Festival they were once of the end of the festival bands performing.  It was starting to rain that night and my friends and I thought it best to just hit the road and miss their performance.  I may try and see them when they start their tour off in tropical Cleveland, Ohio….

I have always been a fan of the Smashing Pumpkins.  Why in fact I was a fan when good ol’ Billy Corgan had hair! 

Here is a video that is a classic:

and another….(I love this song…):

 Tour Dates (in case you are interested): 

Smashing Pumpkins 20th Anniversary Tour

November 1 – Cleveland, OH @ The Palace Theatre
November 3,4 – Toronto, ONT @ Massey Hall
November 6,7 – New York, NY @ United Palace Theatre
November 8 – Atlantic City, NJ @ Borgata
November 11,12 – Washington, DC @ DAR Constitution Hall
November 14,15 – Boston, MA @ The Wang Center
November 16 – Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena
November 18, 19 – Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre
November 21,22 – Chicago, IL @ Auditorium Theatre
November 26 – St. Louis, MO @ Fox Theatre
November 30 – San Diego, CA @ RIMAC Arena
December 2,3 – Los Angeles, CA @ Gibson Amphitheatre

Nominations For Rock Hall Inductees Announced Today

It’s about time the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame has their induction ceremony in good ol’ Cleveland, Ohio.  Seriously, why is it always in NYC when the museum is in Cleveland?  It’s about time the rock n’ roll capitol holds one of the most important event of the year!

This year there are a few bands I have enjoyed throughout my life that are being nominated as possible inductees including Metallica, The Stooges, and Run-DMC.  Tickets will be made available to the public for the first time ever and you can bet your sweet you-know-what I am going to try and be there.

From the Rock Hall website:

The nominations for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum have been announced!

The 2009 Induction nominees are:

Rock + Cleveland
Rock + Cleveland

Jeff Beck
Chic
Wanda Jackson
Little Anthony and the Imperials
Metallica
Run-D.M.C.
the Stooges
War
Bobby Womack

Five of these nine nominees will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  The inductees will be announced in January 2009.  Ballots will be sent to more than 500 voters, who will select artists to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the 24th Annual Induction Ceremony on April 4 at historic Public Hall in Cleveland.  For the first time, tickets to the ceremony will be made available to the public. Advance ticket sales for the events will be made available to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum members and then to the public.

 

For more information check out the official Rock Hall press release.