Damn…where to start?

Well, I’ll go over the Fear Factory show first:

I noticed a couple of months ago that they were going to be coming close by, on the 19th of November. It was a no-brainer on my decision to go. Well two weeks before the show, we attempt to get tickets. All in all we have to order 7 tickets. Myself, Josh, Chris, Christopher Lee, Andy (aka Hammett), Ko, and Mardello. Josh also decides to invite Christine without first asking….just assuming…which fucking pissed me off. So now the grand total is 8. Now mind you, that Mardello, and I are the only full on F.F. fans. Josh and Chris have been into them every since I introduced them to the wonderful little diddy known as Slave Labor. Christopher has been hardcore F.F. for about 3 months. He heard of them and remembers me blasting the Digimortal album, but never really gave them a full on listen. Andy….Andy digs them a lot and heard of them but never gave them a full on listen either…but he appriciated the show and rocked out as well. Christine on the other hand had no idea who Fear Factory was and just went because Josh invited her.

When he finally asked me if she could go I just assumed it was the first mention of it…I said sure because Josh was talking to her at the time. What pissed me off was when I found out that she had been telling people that she was going a full week before I was even asked. Yeah…I needed to be asked because it was MY show. My birthday present….part of it anyway. So I felt that it was party crashing. Anyhow:
A week before the show, and Josh didn’t get his ass out there to get the “front money” so we could order the tickets. He instead spent both nights at her house, came home and crashed. What pisses me off more is that he said he was going to get the money sunday night. Then when we asked him about it Monday morning, he said he didn’t even go out there. I HATE FUCKING LIARS. He didn’t have to lie to me. He could’ve told me where he was going. I think he did it, because I told him this wasn’t a goddamn Motel 8 and he needs to fucking help pick up around here and shit. All he did for a while was goto work, after work hang out at Ko’s, come home…sleep, rinse and repeat. He would get up for band practice and have a fucking shitty attitude and stuff for us waking him up. We talked with him about that Sunday, only a few hours before he pulled the lie. *sigh*
Anyhow, Tuesday rolls by and no tickets, and I’m fucking mad as hell. There is no way we could order the tickets and have them be here in time. So I fucking tell everyone to just forget it. But then I have a brainstorm. I formulate the plan. I execute it Thursday. I hand chris the money, and he takes it to his bank. We use the check card and order the tickets, but have them E-Mailed!!! We run to the library and print them out, and violia!!!!! 8 Fear Factory tickets!!!!

The show was on!!!!

On the day of, we get there and get lost after gassing up. Mind you, this is in Cleveland. So we’re running around trying to find the place and I look out and happen to see Lake Erie. It was fucking beautiful. The sun was setting on it and it just took my breath away. There was a little access road leading out into it and at the end there was a little light house. It was very picturesque. I just didn’t have a damn camera. I’ll be back there though…just for the damn picture!!!! You watch!
Anyhow! We get to the show, and as soon as we get in, Mardello is like…alright…who wants something to drink….Smalley, you need something! (It was my birthday after all…) I was like ummm…ok! But whatever it is I need a chaser…just in case. I end up having a shot (of course…it was more like a triple shot…the bartendress was very generous..) of tequlia. And it wasn’t that bad actually. It was the higher end stuff so I guess I’ll have to try it some more to see if I like it. Hmm….No…I’m not an alchoholic.
We head down to the area where the show is going to be and I’m like…alright…where’s the merch table. I love F.F. but never have found/owned a shirt. I hit it up and end up getting the “Machines at War” tour shirt, and a Fear Factory beanie. The shirt is awesome…it has a guy in a gasmask on the front. I’m a sucker for gasmasks! The beanie is rather plain, just has the band name on it. If I had enough money I was going to get the Hardee’s knock off shirt. It had the Hardee’s star logo with the smiling face in it, but it was turned upside down and had cross bones under it.
I’ll find it again soon though.  That’s a promise.

Speaking of crossbones…at the door the ticket guy wrapped a band around my right wrist. Of course this is where my metal skull and cross-sticks are. (Instead of crossbones it’s two different drumsticks crossed.) Like the pirate skull n bones. If you search, you can find my post on why I have it, and the picture of it. Anyway, after he wrapped the band around and fastened it, he said “Now you can be a buttpirate!”

Everyone is a comedian….

We waste away during the show’s first three bands. The best was the second one…it wasn’t all fucking death screamo metal. The third band’s frontman was pretty good, just couldn’t understand what the fuck they were saying. He mentioned something about…if he was in the crowd and a band was fucking playing death metal, he’d be swinging a chain saw..because it’s brutal music..

And with that…all respect was lost…I mean…it just sounded stupid.
And then….the Factory came out. It was fucking awesome. I was 2 people from the front gate. Still enough to be right in front of Burton. It was fucking killer. He reached out and slapped five and shit a couple of times. Very awesome. We rocked out hardcore. My voice has never went through so much, except at the Metallica concerts. It was worth it though. They played Slave Labor, which is just fucking amazing. After that, this guy and I started screaming over and over again “Nothing….you say….matters….to us….”. Which is the opening lyric of Cyberwaste, which happens to take place right after Slave Labor on the fucking album. He points, grins and says “What?” And just get’s everyone else into it.
Bad ass…Definitly worth the 5 hour trip!!!

Onto more business:
Josh, Chris and I were in Goodwill the other day looking for blankets to help soundproof the windows to the bandroom and I noticed something very odd. There were fucking prosthetic legs on the bottom shelf in an aisle in Goodwill. That in and of itself is noteworthy, except I took it a step farther. I walked up to the counter and asked them if it was $15.00 for the pair, or a piece. (there were price tags on each leg seperately.) They had to go ask, and it ended up being for the pair. I was going to argue if they said per leg. So yeah…I wasted $15.00 on a pair of prosthetic legs at Goodwill. Just so I could say that I have them and I could tell the story of where I bought them.

I have since named them…Reginald and Paulie. Reginald served in ‘Nam, and Paulie is that oldskool gangster like on the Sopranos. I have no life.
The band has decided to instead record an E.P. instead of a full album. That way the music isn’t rushed and we can take more time and love with the songs we do select. It’s gonna be about seven songs, and be a healthy mix of old material, her material (her lyrics with our music) and, NEW material (songs we’ve written together completely from scratch.). So far the only steady ones that are going to be on is:

• Shadowed Thoughts
• Jealousy
• Esophogus
• Dirge

We’re thinking about tossing Lost Virgin on there, and trying to get Broken list down as well. Escaped Solitude would make for a nice one too. We also got Shackles and Missing Pieces to work with…but they’re still in the beginning stages. We’re going to sit down at the next practice and finalize the list so we have a complete go through and we can work on them like never before.

We’re going to still treat it as a full album. Complete with full on mastering, extras, and professional packaging and duplication. So it’s gonna be a trip. We’re just trying to make sure each song on it complements the others and tells a full story of who we are and what we’re about, and shows our different sides to the music.

No name for it yet, but we do have three samples I mocked up from the Butterfly’s and Nails sessions. They’re really fucking rough, but they’re kinda neat. I may post them for shits ‘n giggles…not sure yet.

But that’s it so far…there is more I probably wanted to say, but I’ve got a fucking headache and can’t think straight at the moment. So….later!!!

Smalley

GOD! Help me pour this gas on me!

I need to drown in flames to be free!

Help me pour this gas on me!

Help me pour this gas on me!

Okay! I’m going to have to post both parts of the email I’ve sent out to my family at Blkradio to update them on Nicole, and the band situation from the last post! Sooooo:

Part 1: Saturday

Hey you bastards!

Give ya a quick update on Nicole’s (our singer….)situation: She’s out of the hospital and doing better. In fact, she’s only attending therapy an hour a day and she’s slowly starting to be able to do things. Not that that’s stopped us. We quickly conjured up a rigged recording “studio” and recorded 5 songs that sound pretty damn good. We’re going to master them as instrumentals then bring the condensed version of the console to her and turn her closet into a vocal booth. So..hopefully we’ll have a demo done by Monday. If things go well, the demo will turn into an EP by the following Monday when we do it all again for some more songs! So hopefully I’ll be able to provide you with some material to make up for the extreme lack of “us” in your musical library.
Part 2: Sunday
Hey hey!

We got the song “Dirge” completed! With vocals and everything. All we have to do is round off the edges of her vox and maybe throw a smidgen of reverb and we’ll have it done totally! It sounds killer right now as is though! We ended up having to scrap one of the five tracks because it fucking hiccuped in the fucking outro. We were just going to fade it out but it felt as is if it cheapened the song…ya know…took away from it. So this weekend we’re just going to re-record it, and record the rest of them! But this week we’ll have four..hopefully tomorrow for you. Everything is going good, took us forever to dial in her vocals though. She’s fucking powerful! And it was also slow going because we didn’t want to push her too hard. So easy going….but the results are nothing less than spectacular for how we’re fucking doing this! Expect amazing results! And the music kicks ass too!

So yeah…damn…it’s fucking killer. We’re going to release it for a week as an ep with just a stomped label, and a sticker on the back…no insert. Maybe just pass it out to friends and family, and after we get the others done in another week do a full release as an EP. Both are going to be named “Butterflies and Nails”, since they’re essentially the same album just adding more material to meet the EP criteria and show more sides to our band. The name comes from the fact that Nicole was on some pretty decent drugs during her stay at the hospital and she hallucinated and thought up all this wierd shit…I mean…aside from normal. She grabbed Andy, her boyfriend (and our recording engineer and co-producer with me…) and asked him in a very serious, strained manner….”DO YOU LIKE BUTTERFLIES AND NAILS?” and then passed out asleep. It was pretty funny…so we decided to utilize it.

So far, the four track demo is going to contain: Dirge, Esophogus, Brokenlist, and Shadowed Thoughts. The to be recorded schedule for this weekend is: Lost Virgin, Escaped Solotude, and Jealousy. If we feel confident enough we might throw down some inworking songs just to give a sneak peek…although technically it’d be a first peek all around…..DAMN!!!!!!

Anyhow….that’s where we’re standing right now. One down, three to go…and this weekend we’ve got 3 to go…
Smalley

Uoom Papa Mau Mau!

Lastnight….well…techincally tonight…was supposed to be our first show as a four piece. At the Monster Mosh. We worked our fucking asses off to get there too. Each and every one of us brought nothing but our best to the goddamn table. Illness. FUCKING ILLNESS. The one thing that noone can control held us back! Nicole…fucking Nicole! Bless her fucking soul! She was wanting her fucking mom to fucking get the nurses and doctors to wheel the bed and IV’s and shit down the street and shit so she could put the bed on stage and sing! All that so she could sing!

I’m sorry. I’m getting ahead. Rewind to Sunday. Nicole was at play practice and had a seizure. Then when we picked her up for practice monday she had another, and at home later that night another. Then more at the hospital. Every since it’s been nonstop. It’s gotten worse and worse and no one knows the cause, but it’s suspected emotional trauma, or some shit. I dunno. But it’s tearing us apart. Not as a band, or as friends or as a family. Our sister, our friend, and our band member is in so much pain and there is nothing that can be done to stop her from having them. Or nothing those fuck tard dip fuck sticked douche nads can fucking pull their fuck headed heads outta their goddamned fucking asses to fucking try and help! I wish they’d remove their fucking heads from their asses long enough so I’d be fucking able to stick my foot up there!

Her parents were iffy on us in the beginning I guess. But now that they seen how much we actually care about her daughter….they actually want us there. They told the nurses that we’re family. I’m “Uncle Smalley”. Heh. I’m that uncle that noone leaves their kid’s with I guess.. Her dad hugged me today. It was kinda wierd. Her mom has been crying to me since the whole thing started but her dad hugging me was just kinda well…I guess a break through since he’s a hardass. I guess I’ve got a lot more respect for the man.

Her mom has her sing through the seizures now. Or try to at least. One was about peeing by her self. Since she almost passes out and has to have company. She was singing about peeing in a history teachers mouth. We all had a good laugh. Four minutes later….sadly she had another. But she sang one of our songs. Jealousy. I don’t know if she did that for us, or for her, but I started tearing up and she did too. I held her hand for the whole thing and sang it with her.

After I came home I got an email from Cheston, the guy who did the design for the Minibosses T-Shirt, and this is what he and I come up with, in rough form:

so this should make her laugh, pretty good huh? I know I did!