Rock and Roll Week
This week has been absolutely insane, but most of it has been
absolutely insane in a good, fun way. I'll break it down by day
for you.
Monday: This night saw the last open mic of the year at the coffeehouse. "Open Mic" is a bit of a misnomer for this one, because someone in the Musician's Guild borrowed the microphones for recording and didn't bother to tell anyone or return them on time, which led to a lot of cursing and pacing by Jordan and I. So we did kind of an a capella thing, which actually went over quite well. Kate Edge came up with some sweet supporting riffs/bass lines for one of my songs, so we played that instrumentally. Max did quite possibly the best freestyling I've ever heard him do, and it was made even better by the fact that it mixed Star Wars and racism into one hilarious bit of social commentary. FlareGunSuicide (and by FlareGunSuicide I mean the half of the band comprised of Jordan and I) played another tiny preview set, which could only hint at the glory in which we would bask later in the week...
Tuesday: I finally killed off my Deep Sea Bio research paper, which didn't turn out being my longest paper (6 pages of actual content, 8 with sources), but was one of the more interesting topics I've written on (feeding transmitters to deep sea sharks and tracking them by chasing them with an ROV). I came away from this paper really wanting to do the actual experiment. Anyone have millions of dollars, a research vessel, and an ROV that can hit 2,000 meters depth that they'd be willing to blow on some shark research?
Wednesday: Around 5:30 p.m. on this day I finished off my second story for Creative Writing, which effectively ended my commitments for the week. Rock and roll. So then I went to the BRU Birthday Bash in the Greatest City on Earth (Providence) and met up with Drew in the line. Good times. I got inside in time to catch about half of Sasquatch & the Sick-a-billies' set, and they freakin' rule. For one thing, they were the only band with dancing girls (something either I or FlareGunSuicide need to incorporate into the stage show) and the lead singer was hilarious, spouting out obscenities like they were carbon dioxide. I wanted to pick up their cd, but unfortunately had to blow a lot of money on parking (I couldn't remember where the secret spot Meghan had shown me before the Jimmy Eat World show was). Next up was Morningwood, who I only know from their moderately annoying song "To the Nth Degree." I have to say, their set was not as annoying as I thought it would be, and I genuinely enjoyed quite a bit of it, particularly when the lead singer berated a girl in the audience who didn't seem to be enthusiastic enough. After them came 30 Seconds to Mars, or more accurately the band's 40 minute long set up and sound check. I don't understand why no one sound checked before the damn show, but these crazy-ass set up times easily made the concert twice as long as it needed to be. In any case, 30 Seconds actually rocked, despite the fact that Jared Leto constantly calling the audience a bunch of "crazy motherfuckers" made it look like he was trying a little too hard. That said, they did have quite a good, energetic performance. I continue to have a kind of cautious appreciation for 30 Seconds to Mars, due to the fact that the rational part of my brain is still unsure what to think of a pop-metal band that is essentially an actor's side project. They did have some great hecklers, especially the kid who screamed out "Did you ever fuck Claire Daines!?"
Then came Zox, the band I had put down the money to see. They were worth every penny, plus tax, despite the fact that they didn't play this cover of "Where is My Mind" that I keep hearing about. These guys deserve to be huge. They played a lot of songs off their new album, The Wait, but a fair amount of older songs were busted out as well. Their violinist continues to kick that guy from Yellowcard's ass, and I still don't know how you jump around that much while not just playing an instrument that has to be held up under your chin, but playing it well. If you ever get the chance to see Zox, do it.
After Zox I was exhausted and headed out, totally skipping Story of the Year's set. There's no way they could have topped the "Princes of Providence" anyway.
Thursday: Thursday was a comparitively laid-back day. I turned in stuff that was due, and worked my last night shift at the pool with Chrissy and Lindsey. I'm going to miss working with them, because those girls are completely nuts, and it rules.
Friday: Friday morning the precipitation changed three times on the way to school. In Narragansett, it was raining. In Wakefield, it started snowing really hard. On South Road, it started sleeting. By the time I got to campus it was snowing again. By the time I got out of the pool it was a frigging downpour. By the end of the day Neil, Jon, and I had to use our umbrellas as shields against the sleet, which was being driven totally sideways by hurricane-force wind. The campus lost power. Trees went down. We had every kind of precipitation possible. All in all, a nice day out.
The weather cleared up as abruptly as it had begun, allowing me to see Narnia with some old friends and then hit up the "Jungle Jam" party over in Eastward Look. Narnia was good, though there were some parts that were definitely trying to mimic Lord of the Rings (if you're going to copy, copy the best). The party was ridiculous, and I ended up staying a lot longer than I was planning to.
Saturday: More rock and roll! I worked/performed at the Musician's Guild's annual Rock Out! concert for pretty much all of Saturday evening. This concert illustrated all the reasons I'm in the Guild; I got to play, I met some new people, and I saw a lot of awesome bands. My own set was in Atrium II at the very beginning of the concert, and due to the fact that I was competing against Enthused in Atrium I and Hogg in the ballroom, I think my crowd peaked at 7 people, though there may have been more listening from the hallway. The quality of people was excellent, though. The other bands may have had the high school kids who made up about 90% of the attendence, but I had other musician's and a couple serious music fans listening to me, and got some positive reviews. The singer for Anamalech played drums along to "Untitled #1" out in the hallway while bringing in equpipment, and members of Right Side Down took time out of dragging their own stuff in to check me out. That said, no high school girls screaming for me at that gig. Damn it feels good to be a rock star...
Other bands rocked the house, particulary Sick Electric, who continue to be the nicest guys ever to come out of Fall River. If you haven't heard them, they play progressive-sounding metal with a twisted sense of humor, and are prone to erupting into vicious guitar duels. I only caught one song out of Right Side Down's set, but they seemed to be in the business of rocking that evening. I also caught Of the Hour, a band out of Providence that exists in that sonic middle ground between old-school Our Lady Peace and new-school Radiohead. I was a fan the second I heard one of their songs on MySpace, and their set did not disappoint. I had a chat with their guitarist afterwards about all the cool toys he uses (he has an e-bow!).
But all other bands, including headliners Committee of Thirteen and Hell Within, were but appetizers for the main course of the show, FlareGunSuicide. We stole Sick Electric's drummer for the set, and just generally thrashed around and blew people's minds. I played a couple songs in the stormtrooper helmet (apparently the guitarist from Sick Electric took a really awesome picture of me in the helmet, which I hope he e-mails to me soon) and was probably the most animated I've ever been on stage, though I was still a freakin' statue compared to Spencer (the other guitarist) who rolled around on the ground and probably got a good ten feet of air out of one jump. Just wait, FlareGunSuicide will be the best band to come out of Rhode Island since Zox.
Sunday: I woke up, drank a glass of milk, and started writing this. Now I'm going to go live the rest of my life. Peace!
Monday: This night saw the last open mic of the year at the coffeehouse. "Open Mic" is a bit of a misnomer for this one, because someone in the Musician's Guild borrowed the microphones for recording and didn't bother to tell anyone or return them on time, which led to a lot of cursing and pacing by Jordan and I. So we did kind of an a capella thing, which actually went over quite well. Kate Edge came up with some sweet supporting riffs/bass lines for one of my songs, so we played that instrumentally. Max did quite possibly the best freestyling I've ever heard him do, and it was made even better by the fact that it mixed Star Wars and racism into one hilarious bit of social commentary. FlareGunSuicide (and by FlareGunSuicide I mean the half of the band comprised of Jordan and I) played another tiny preview set, which could only hint at the glory in which we would bask later in the week...
Tuesday: I finally killed off my Deep Sea Bio research paper, which didn't turn out being my longest paper (6 pages of actual content, 8 with sources), but was one of the more interesting topics I've written on (feeding transmitters to deep sea sharks and tracking them by chasing them with an ROV). I came away from this paper really wanting to do the actual experiment. Anyone have millions of dollars, a research vessel, and an ROV that can hit 2,000 meters depth that they'd be willing to blow on some shark research?
Wednesday: Around 5:30 p.m. on this day I finished off my second story for Creative Writing, which effectively ended my commitments for the week. Rock and roll. So then I went to the BRU Birthday Bash in the Greatest City on Earth (Providence) and met up with Drew in the line. Good times. I got inside in time to catch about half of Sasquatch & the Sick-a-billies' set, and they freakin' rule. For one thing, they were the only band with dancing girls (something either I or FlareGunSuicide need to incorporate into the stage show) and the lead singer was hilarious, spouting out obscenities like they were carbon dioxide. I wanted to pick up their cd, but unfortunately had to blow a lot of money on parking (I couldn't remember where the secret spot Meghan had shown me before the Jimmy Eat World show was). Next up was Morningwood, who I only know from their moderately annoying song "To the Nth Degree." I have to say, their set was not as annoying as I thought it would be, and I genuinely enjoyed quite a bit of it, particularly when the lead singer berated a girl in the audience who didn't seem to be enthusiastic enough. After them came 30 Seconds to Mars, or more accurately the band's 40 minute long set up and sound check. I don't understand why no one sound checked before the damn show, but these crazy-ass set up times easily made the concert twice as long as it needed to be. In any case, 30 Seconds actually rocked, despite the fact that Jared Leto constantly calling the audience a bunch of "crazy motherfuckers" made it look like he was trying a little too hard. That said, they did have quite a good, energetic performance. I continue to have a kind of cautious appreciation for 30 Seconds to Mars, due to the fact that the rational part of my brain is still unsure what to think of a pop-metal band that is essentially an actor's side project. They did have some great hecklers, especially the kid who screamed out "Did you ever fuck Claire Daines!?"
Then came Zox, the band I had put down the money to see. They were worth every penny, plus tax, despite the fact that they didn't play this cover of "Where is My Mind" that I keep hearing about. These guys deserve to be huge. They played a lot of songs off their new album, The Wait, but a fair amount of older songs were busted out as well. Their violinist continues to kick that guy from Yellowcard's ass, and I still don't know how you jump around that much while not just playing an instrument that has to be held up under your chin, but playing it well. If you ever get the chance to see Zox, do it.
After Zox I was exhausted and headed out, totally skipping Story of the Year's set. There's no way they could have topped the "Princes of Providence" anyway.
Thursday: Thursday was a comparitively laid-back day. I turned in stuff that was due, and worked my last night shift at the pool with Chrissy and Lindsey. I'm going to miss working with them, because those girls are completely nuts, and it rules.
Friday: Friday morning the precipitation changed three times on the way to school. In Narragansett, it was raining. In Wakefield, it started snowing really hard. On South Road, it started sleeting. By the time I got to campus it was snowing again. By the time I got out of the pool it was a frigging downpour. By the end of the day Neil, Jon, and I had to use our umbrellas as shields against the sleet, which was being driven totally sideways by hurricane-force wind. The campus lost power. Trees went down. We had every kind of precipitation possible. All in all, a nice day out.
The weather cleared up as abruptly as it had begun, allowing me to see Narnia with some old friends and then hit up the "Jungle Jam" party over in Eastward Look. Narnia was good, though there were some parts that were definitely trying to mimic Lord of the Rings (if you're going to copy, copy the best). The party was ridiculous, and I ended up staying a lot longer than I was planning to.
Saturday: More rock and roll! I worked/performed at the Musician's Guild's annual Rock Out! concert for pretty much all of Saturday evening. This concert illustrated all the reasons I'm in the Guild; I got to play, I met some new people, and I saw a lot of awesome bands. My own set was in Atrium II at the very beginning of the concert, and due to the fact that I was competing against Enthused in Atrium I and Hogg in the ballroom, I think my crowd peaked at 7 people, though there may have been more listening from the hallway. The quality of people was excellent, though. The other bands may have had the high school kids who made up about 90% of the attendence, but I had other musician's and a couple serious music fans listening to me, and got some positive reviews. The singer for Anamalech played drums along to "Untitled #1" out in the hallway while bringing in equpipment, and members of Right Side Down took time out of dragging their own stuff in to check me out. That said, no high school girls screaming for me at that gig. Damn it feels good to be a rock star...
Other bands rocked the house, particulary Sick Electric, who continue to be the nicest guys ever to come out of Fall River. If you haven't heard them, they play progressive-sounding metal with a twisted sense of humor, and are prone to erupting into vicious guitar duels. I only caught one song out of Right Side Down's set, but they seemed to be in the business of rocking that evening. I also caught Of the Hour, a band out of Providence that exists in that sonic middle ground between old-school Our Lady Peace and new-school Radiohead. I was a fan the second I heard one of their songs on MySpace, and their set did not disappoint. I had a chat with their guitarist afterwards about all the cool toys he uses (he has an e-bow!).
But all other bands, including headliners Committee of Thirteen and Hell Within, were but appetizers for the main course of the show, FlareGunSuicide. We stole Sick Electric's drummer for the set, and just generally thrashed around and blew people's minds. I played a couple songs in the stormtrooper helmet (apparently the guitarist from Sick Electric took a really awesome picture of me in the helmet, which I hope he e-mails to me soon) and was probably the most animated I've ever been on stage, though I was still a freakin' statue compared to Spencer (the other guitarist) who rolled around on the ground and probably got a good ten feet of air out of one jump. Just wait, FlareGunSuicide will be the best band to come out of Rhode Island since Zox.
Sunday: I woke up, drank a glass of milk, and started writing this. Now I'm going to go live the rest of my life. Peace!