I wrote a song the other day for the hardcore band that I'm in. I'll be interested to see what the other guys in the band think of it, as the main songwriter is interested in a more melodic/positive hardcore approach, but coming from a background of listening to black metal and crust I don't really write stuff like that and this song is definitely faster and darker than the other stuff that's been written for this band.

Why would it e a bad thing for them to label themsevels as queer or gay when they in fact are? yeah they sing about it. Are you also upset with hiphop about growing up in the projects? I know it often seems stupid but it is kind of a big deal (especially for minorities that deal with lots of discrimination) to be proud of who they are. That being said I wouldnt take the queercore label seriously, I just see it as a way of saying "we are a hardcore band comprised of LGBT members" not that different from say, straight edge or whatever.

Has nothing to do with it being gay. if you said it was japcore (japanese hardcore, or whatever ethnic or whatever shit that you go out of your way to customize the basis of your sound to say it's blah blah core) I think it's a gimmick. If they just said we are a hardcore punk band our lyrics are about gay rights or whatever, yea we are gay... that's fine 100% behind it. You go out of your way to tell me you are queercore I assume you are a bunch of dudes who think it's funny to act gay and 'creep out homophobs' Otherwise get the fuck out. I also feel the same way about this about straight edge bands that go out of their way to make sure you know they are straightedge... straightedge bands like Casey Jones or The Promise.... fucking great example to on how to do it... they are first and formost a hardcore band yes they sing about scene unity and living a clean lifestyle but they don't plaster everything with ridiculous bullshit about how straightedge they are. Hell even Earth Crisis isn't bad about it. but when you put 100 X's in your name to show how fucking edge you are then you are a tool and will probably break that edge quick as well.

You are making it out to be much more than what it is. I think the label is stupid because of the label not because of what it's compromised with.

I don't give a fuck about hip hop that's a total non issue about stupidity. You might as well ask me how I feel about other pointless fucking shit like tap shoes or different horse breeds and how well they race. Completely and utterly pointless. But let's go down that road... those hip hop artists... THEY DON'T CALL THEIR GENRE OF MUSIC PROJECTHOP OR GHETTOCORE HIPPIN OR whatever other stupid shit. They call it H-I-P- -H-O-P.

This reminds me of: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=051tj2ImFKQ


On topic, this morning I wrote about a minute of music with industrial black metal aims. Got to a point where I did a really cliched transition I didn't like so I need to rework that to figure out what to do next in the song.

hahah yea I completely agree with that AC song.

You just need to do some bass drops and you'll be set.

I've bought 6 Celestion speakers yesterday to build a 612 cab

I just bought 3 Eminence speakers... 2 Man O War and one Wizard. I'm debating what I'm going to do with them. obviously get another wizard... but I'm sitting on 2 swamp thangs right now. so I might make a mixed 412 Tallboy cab... or I might get 3 big ben 15's and do 3 Tallyboy 212 115 cabs. I think what might be best is one 412 and 2 of the 212 115 cabs.

I also have 2 older eminence 15's on the way that I planned on dropping in a green 215 to match the green 412. but I was also thinking of getting another 2 and making a 415 cab. I guess it depends on if I come across some more deals.

so much anger! I didn't mean to offend! I agree that it's a rather superfluous label. But also I don't really consider it a bad thing. I guess it could also just be shorthand for "we are a hardcore band with songs about gay rights" we also have RAC so who cares.. more labels... I could give a fuck if someone calls their music projectghettocore (good point btw ) Guess I don't have strong feelings one way or another on this. Anyway sorry for derailing the topic!


I was thinking about building a cab a while back, seems like a fun DIY project!

I just kinda find it more gimmicky when you do. I rather they just tell me they are a hardcore band and if I enjoy their music I'd investigate their lyrics. I don't need to have it shoved in my face.

You should, they are fun to build if you know what you are doing. Just 2 months ago I started building them as a sort of side business and it's already taken off.

I've built 2 412's and a 215 for myself which I'd sell if someone was interested.

but outside of that I've done a 212 for Dragunov here, a 2 8" cab, Almost completed with another 212 that's ported that's going to Canada and then a guy I know who is moving to nola has claimed the 212 115 I've built and commissioned me to build a mathcing 412. Also have a head chasis I'm building for another guy and a empty 212 115. I've been staying pretty damn busy if I didn't have to leave for work for these two weeks I'd be done with those other two and well into these other ones along with the other ones I had planned for myself.

Learning the cover song for the next Oshiego album (and thinking of ways to mix it up and make it our own) and writing solos. I think I will track rhythms a couple of weeks from now. The songs aren't as punishing as the previous album (in terms of being difficult to nail) overall and my playing has certainly improved (if only by a bit) so I should have an easier time. Oh wait, now I'm doing the work of both guitarists....

Which will make it all the more tighter.

Looking forward to hearing it somefella I was actually jamming Great Architect of Nothing while playing Dark Souls this weekend.

Did more arranging yesterday. My girlfriend is leaving for Bonnaroo this week so I'll have a lot more time to write stuff when she's gone

Good! Send her ass off more often!

So our split with Special Buddy Discount is on bandcamp. Pretty good stuff. Gonna record for a split with Faction Disaster from Michigan, maybe make that into a 4-way split thing. Then after playing a ton of shows in July and August going to finish writing for a full length. We put in work. Our new stuff sounds like Rot, 90's hardcore and a bit of HHIG.

Its also really rad that Dan and Heather Lilker come to our shows just to see us and actually talk to us. Pretty rad considering Brutal Truth was one of the first grindcore bands I really got into.

So I'm looking for yet another guitar upgrade. I'll have to sell my Ibanez RG321EX (modded with a Duncan JB in the bridge) to fund it but I was looking at one of the newer models in the Ibanez Iron Label series, the SIX70FDBG. Anyone have any experience with those?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp71YfGJTvg

The tone does sound pretty ass (I tried it at work myself today for a little bit) but I'm very inclined to believe its due to the crappy pickup (DiMarzio Tone Zone). The guitar itself has a solid mahogany body with a bubinga top and a maple neck with a bubinga centrepiece. I'm pretty sure that throwing a JB or Blackout in it will solve the problem. It's pretty nice to play too. I was looking at either this, or a Gibson Les Paul 50s Tribute (the only les paul i can afford currently).

Any advice?

Mmmmmmmmmm.

@somefella: mahogany AND bubinga? Does that guitar weigh 50 lbs?

the dude in the glasses looks like he is about to bust a fucking nut while the guy started and then kinda looked like he is holding in a shit. guitar looks pretty

Mahogany with a bubinga top. Surprisingly it's really light, it's basically an S series Ibanez.

Oh, nice! The only guitar I've played that was made of bubinga was a short-scale German-made Warwick bass, and it was heavy as fuck.

It's just a bubinga top and a 3 piece maple neck with a bubinga centrepiece. I'm looking at this, or an RGIX20, which has the same neck but a basswood body with a quilt maple top and EMG 81/60 instead. Both are from the Iron Label series.

My band, Funeral Age, played our first show in 7 months this past Saturday. e headlined the first night of the WADM (Washington Death Militia) Fest at a bar called Uncle Sam's. Its a very tiny bar itself, but they have a huge backyard area with a VERY NICE stage. Pretty decent turn out and just a blast to play. This was our first show with our new bassist, Shevin, and he did great! Really good performer

Here is a video of a brand new song we debuted called "Mother Of God". The final version will have vocals, but we decided to just do it instrumentally in memory of our friend who passed away during the writing of the song (he loved us)...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=owehUeAB7xw

Other than Funeral Age, I finished recording drums for a doom project that myself and the guitarist of my other band, Dalla Nebbia, started. The project is going to be called Mesmur, and our album should be getting released within the next few months. Already have artwork and everything \m/

As for Dalla Nebbia, I will be recording drum tracks for that in the next month or two for our second full length album. Really looking forward to that! We will be having Sareeta (Borknagar, God of Atheists, etc etc) as guest violinest performing on the album! The demos have been sounding SO GREAT!

Solid! Sounds like you have been quite busy!

Broke a string and don't have any spares

Busy is an understatement
I'm really excited to release this Mesmur album. Its 5 tracks but just about an hour long. Very atmospheric doom metal, very VERY VERY out of my comfort zone, but I feel pretty good about what we came up with

Solid, when I get back in town I plan on doing the vocals for the uzumaki album the new Yzordderrex album, finish mixing the Dragunov split and Vomitwolves vocals will be completed this weekend or next for a brand new ep.

Also waiting on my older Sunn Concert Lead to get back so I can start tracking a new Mountain of Beard album with two difference concert lead models on Sunn 412L cabs so I have 2 guitar tracks per channel. I want a fuller even sludgier sound.

Can't wait to sell off my current 2nd axe so I can get that Iron Label RG/S series (yes, I still have not decided).

I played both again at work today in between serving customers (including a rich kid who could barely play Highway To Hell but whose dad was ready to buy him a Gibson Les Paul Standard Premium, US$4800).

EDIT: Also been getting my chops up for recording, making sure my riffing is all airtight and spotless(without losing dynamics and aggression) as well as trying to write solos (I throw 5 away for every one I keep lolol) for the songs. I haven't even began writing my basslines yet, goddamn.

The more I look at this guitar, the more I come to like the body binding. I usually absolutely hate that type of weird pearloid binding on guitar bodies (especially the ones ESP and Schecter make...ughhh), but this time it kinda works and is actually kind of cool-looking. I almost want to try this guitar out...

Spent most of last night writing and rehearsing. This death metal song is gonna rule! Can't wait to do leads for it. I'm actually looking forward to doing vocals too.

It's probably gonna be the RG, as soon as I sell my other RG to fund it. I'm not the biggest EMG fan but they seem to work in this guitar. Sometimes I think it's good to just forget about the specs and the brand and all that, and just sit down to play the damn thing and discover how it speaks to you.

EDIT: And I'm in the same camp as you when it comes to the pearloid binding. The ESP ones are fucking stupid but this one for some reason definitely appeals to me.

Just got some cheapo 5-piece drums, drums only though so I still need to worry about stands, cymbals, and something to sit on. I'm pretty damn excited about it still, but at the same time feeling financially guilty because I also at the same time got an amp, 6505+, fun night so far for sure. Hoping to pick piece out the rest of what I need for a kit up in NH where there is no sales tax.

Between the two of us we own a complete drum kit and all the things that come with it. Sadly, I acquired neither the financial guilt nor this beautiful 80s Zildjian K ride and weighted Pearl stand from the guy I got my hi-hats and China from.

Hahaha, great now I'm thinking "with our powers combines we are Captain Planet." This weekend I'll have to record a toms and kick drum only black metal album or something.

LOW FI AS FVKK!!!!!!
Just do what Slayer did on Show No Mercy and punch the cymbals later

My black metal band practiced today, and I'm really liking how we're sounding. we're still jamming out a bit trying to figure out the best song structures, but I'm really excited for where we're going. Probably gonna record a demo later this month, and we're also playing a show at the end of the month. This month is really the only extended amount of time we'll be in the same area to work on this project, so who knows what will happen to it afterwords, but I'm excited that we'll play at least one show.

Wrote and recorded 2 Kamikaze Pilots songs and a black metal song not sure what project it's for yet.

So the rhythm guitarist we just hired for Spirit Division three weeks ago quit on Wednesday after our drummer got a concussion loading his equipment right before we were supposed to play a set. We were going to keep the rhythm tracks he recorded with us for the record but we'll definitely be replacing them after some nasty words were exchanged the next day. Fortunately, we have our upcoming shows in July still booked, including opening for Shadows Fall on the 3rd, and are talks with a guitarist or two about filling in if need be.

On a more positive note, we'll be going back into the studio to mix the three tracks we've gotten done and will be tracking a fourth for free sometime in the next month or so.

Tracked a bunch of Blacksoul vocals today. My throat is thoroughly ready to rest.

I've been lamenting that I couldn't buy that ride at the tag sale for weeks. The Sabian crash I have and the no-name hats just sound cheap and thin next to the Zildjian hats and China. I've been reading everything I can find about Zildjian cymbals, learning the engravings and markings, the many different models and variations. I've been looking on eBay at cymbals like that one. The guy listed it on CL last weekend for $195 with the Pearl weighted double boom stand (looks like a BC-2030) and I didn't have the money. That's a deal I'm not going to find often, but I couldn't do it.

I played every cymbal in Guitar Center and I like the Zildjians, but the older ones had a certain ethereal shimmer to them that the newer ones didn't have. I found a cheap kick pedal while I was there, a Yamaha belt-drive pedal for $25. It bounces quite a bit and hits the top of my foot, I'm not sure I like it too much. I'll probably return it and buy a used double pedal, probably one of the inexpensive PDP (Pacific) ones that SLK mentioned. While I was there I spotted one of the BC-2030 stands used for $150 - I got one of those with the China, it's really nice. Man, I could've gotten an awesome vintage cymbal with the stand for that price. Damn, I really wish I could've afforded it. I've been watching CL and haven't even seen many drums lately.

Today, it was listed again. I gave him a call and he was happy to hear that I wanted it. Zildjian K Custom 20" ride from the late 80s, with a Pearl weighted stand. With my recently acquired knowledge of cymbals, I failed to locate the stamp despite spending a few minutes looking over it with a flashlight, barely managed to make out "custom" and maybe a bit of the K. It's got a nice patina, I suppose. Sounds fucking killer. The fellow was 100% certain that it was a K, because he heard one at a drum clinic and took a train to NYC to buy one. I bought and verified the other Zildjians from the late 80s from him, so I'm inclined to believe that if it sounds great, it's what he said it is. I asked him what he was listening to at the time and tried to figure out what year based on that - turns out he preferred the earlier stuff over Seventh Son, but he was guessing around 88-89. A bit more chatting and I found out that he has more stuff that he's slowly parting with - two Zildjian crashes and the rest of the kit, and he's going to send me some pictures and give me the first shot at them in a week or two. I paid him $150 for the cymbal and stand and I am very happy about it.

When I got it home, my brother very quickly found the imprint of the K Zildjian Co made in USA - the 80s K cymbals made by the Avedis Zildjian company. I also noticed that while the top half of this stand is the Pearl weighted one, the bottom half was from a Tama, single-braced, not double. Oops, I missed that. I'll assume the other half is on one of those crash cymbals, which gives me more reason to throw responsibility aside and buy them.

This thing sounds wonderful. Heavy, fast, and the bell is brilliant. If anyone hears me in the basement, admiring my precious, it's not a ring, it's a ride.

That is very awesome, great story to go along with it. Almost gets me gassing to actually seek out cymbals instead of the spree bidding and hope I get what I get.


But I just won a Sound City 120R on ebay also another 6 speakers, 3 12's 3 15's. so I'm going to chill from ebay.

Recorded a song this weekend and I'm very happy with how it turned out. Wrote some lyrics and came up with song titles, album title, and concept for the album. It will be called Born of the Runes. Song titles so far are Severing the Limbs of a Celestial Giant and Woodland Effigies.

Glad to hear that my ramblings are appreciated, I've enjoyed similarly written stories and try to write about my adventure, rather than just saying that I bought a piece of gear. The hunt, the research, and the desire are what makes the find so fine. That, and pinging 16th notes on the cymbal just to hear it.

One day I'll have a mountain of year like you do, and my days will be spent in the cave playing with all of my gear. I'm working on it, slowly.

By the time you have a mountain I'll have an entire range, I'm starting builds on a 612, 415, and 2 412's... for myself. I plan on using that as part of my live rig.