movies and mix tapes

I guess I'll back track to the weekend. The show was amazing! It went well over 11pm but no complaints and no police, luckily. There was way too many bands for one show, but luckily it worked out. The house had well over 100 people. In the end it ruled and I'm glad to see basement shows continuing in Ottawa. They're the most fun and truely DIY and truely represent underground music. Tylers house fucking rules for keeping basement shows alive in Ottawa.

The rest of the weekend included lot's of hanging out with my homie, BSC brotha and friend, French Iain. On Sunday we hit up the Mayfair to see Malcolm X. A three and a half hour flick starring Denzel Washington about the story of Malcolm X, an African American Muslim minister, public speaker, and human rights activist. This was my first time fully watching Malcolm X and I thought the movie was awesome. Spike Lee did an amazing job of capturing the true story of Malcolm X, without putting a complete hollywood twist to it. Denzel did a beautiful job. Malcolm X was definitely a historical icon and paved the way for racial equality in the world.

Malcolm X's assassination in the movie. Seeing this on the big screen was, wow.:


After Malcolm X ended, we grabbed some poutine, did some stuff and came back to see Flicker. Flicker was fucked. It's about this object called the the Dreamachine created by modern artist of the 60's and 70's, Brion Gysin. It's a machine that gives you a high by looking at it. Read the link for Dreamachine to learn about what it fully is. The movie featured Iggy Pop, The Yeah Yeah Yeah's and other wacky people. It was interesting to say the least.



We ended the night by getting our drink on at the Dom, and going to Zaphods to make Matty play some Municipal Waste. Awesome night. The next morning I hit up the Mayfair again with Iain to see E.T. Not much to say, but that E.T. rules, especially on the big screen. More movies need bike chase scenes.




The rest of the weekend I spent with Cas. We watched Friday The 13th on Friday. Awesome classic horror movie! 924 Gilman Documentary on Sunday. Good documentary. I wish we had a place like this in Ottawa that was co-op run with DIY ethics. A wicked place for independent bands to play. We also watched Searching For Bobby Fisher on Sunday which stars Max Pemeranc, Joe Mantegna and Laurence Fishburne among some. Great movie based on the life of prodigy chess player Joshua Waitzkin.




I made the sickest punk rock mix tape this weekend for Cas:

Here's the track list:
Side A:
Gunmoll - Less Than You Hoped For
The Creeps - I Broke Your Hymen, You Broke My Heart
Osker - Strangled
Fifth Hour Hero - Cut Me Dead
Small Brown Bike - Shadow
Against Me! - Pints Of Guinness Make You Strong
The Queers - See You Later Fuckface
Dwarves - Dominator
Gob - Censorshit
Sack Lunch - On Your Own
The PG-13s - When You're Around
The Transit - My Murderer And Me
Screeching Weasel - Hey Suburbia
The Lillingtons - X-Ray Specs
The Ergs - Boston, Mass
Statues - Pinpoint
Bouncing Souls - Punks In Vegas
Good Riddance - Salt
blink 182 - Apple Shampoo

Side B:
88 Fingers Louie - Something I Don't Know
Digger - I Want My Hat Back
The Arsons - Magoo
Jersey - This Town
Descendents - Nothing With You
Samiam - Bad Day
The Get Up Kids - One Year Later
The Gaslight Anthem - High Lonesome
The Loved Ones - Jane
The Bellabombs - Super Glue
Four Stroke - (We Don't Sing About) Rock And Roll
The Visitors - Vietnam
The Valveenus - Waiting For The Day
Off With Their Heads - I Hate My Stupid Ass
Banner Pilot - Deadender
Lagwagon - Sleep
Diesel Boy - Titty Twister
Bracket - Talk Show

I'm going to end this blog with The White Wires music video, which I can't stop watching/listening too:

i choo choo chooooose you!

So today has finally arrived and I'm super stoked! 6 bands at 62 Bell St. for everyones favourite fabricated holiday, Valentines Day! (or as I called it on punkottawa 'Hardcore Punk Valentines Day'). Ok, I'm not original with names. Names are for suckers? Anyways, here's the glorious lineup:

Picked On (crusty hardcore punk hailing from kingston)
The Castevets (in your face hardcore punk straight outta montreal)
Vile Intent (brutal power violence from montreal)
Four Stroke (everyone's favourite punk rockers)
The Dirty Nuns (east end hardcore punx)
Harsh Supplement (FIRST SHOW! oldschool noisecore)

Last show at 62 Bell St. was Seasick, Killin' It, It's Asshole Time and H.O.P.E. and the turnout was nuts. I think around 75 people were in the house. It was nuts, especially considering the bus strike was on. This time the bus strike is over, buses are free, and in general more people I've talked to are coming out. Let's hope it runs smoothly!



Critical played a lot with Picked On and The Castevets, so I'm excited to see them again and hang out. Party!

kman is about to rule your life

I just had an amazing weekend. I had two lovely dates with Cassandra. Friday we went to Mavericks to see Killing For Friday, a band she use to play guitar in. We got their late and missed their set. Since we were on the guestlist, courtesy of Shawn, we decided to stick around for the other bands, even though they were terrible. After the show we headed back to my house to grab more beer and head over to my friends house to see The Rough Sea and dishouse Jason's new band. We ended up stopping at Winterlude along the way. Some of the sculptures were unbelievable! I bought Cas her very first Beavertail, and she loved it. We eventually got to the show and made it just in time for The Rough Sea. The house was packed and I was pretty drunk. The Rough Sea played an awesome set. The whole room was singing along. After them was Jason's band. It was himself and two friends making noise (not even oldschool noisecore, just straight up noise). It was interesting to say the least. After they played people started heading out and a small group of us stuck around. About 10 of us ended the night by having a dance party in the kitchen, which included someone eating mustard out of a jar and stage diving off of the counter, and a mannequin leg smashing the light fixture to pieces.

On Saturday I went to my friend Corey's to sit in on mixing with my band, The PG-13s, for our 7". I just joined the band, so unfortunately I'm not on any of the recordings. The songs are sounding amazing though! After that I went to my friend Derek's for a bit where Cas met up with us. Cas and I then went to see Dig It Up from Montreal with The Wellits, Jon Creeden and Ashton Starr at Ashton's house, The Book Depository. The Wellits were a sick folkish celtic punk band. They had mandolin, which is awesome. I've always loved mandolin. Dig It Up were amazing. Straight up. I can't even explain their sound. They remind me a bit of Turbonegro or The Bronx. Super rock and roll esc punk. Melodic and aggressive. The turnout was amazing and everyone went nuts. I've been to a few shows in Ashton's basement, and this was the first time I saw people mosh.

And now, Kman! He is my new best friend:

good vibrations

Here's some music I've been digging lately and bands I think you should check out. I've been listening to a lot of melodic punk rock and folkish stuff. Mainly everything No Idea Records related. If I could, I would have sex with No Idea Records.

I'll kick the blog off with sharing Living With Lions new music video. They're a kickass pop-punk band from Vancouver. They write hella catchy tunes and are always fun live. This video rules. I wish more bands, especially punk rock bands, made fun videos like this.



This next video is of Orphan Choir. They're one of my favourite Canadian bands. They remind me a lot of Hot Water Music. The vocals are really distinctive. I know a lot of bands who play this style try to rip off classic bands like Hot Water Music and don't pull it off, but I find Orphan Choir has their own edge. They add their own originality to the genre and do it well. I don't even know if I could just throw this in the "melodic punk rock" genre. It's a style of it's own. Not to add that theres no other bands like them in Canada. They have a couple 7" and CDs out. Definitely worth picking up!



I don't know if you guys are familiar with a website called If You Make It, but it's basically two guys and a gal who document bands they're friends with and love. They have whats called the Pink Couch Sessions where they have bands come in and do acoustic sets on this pink couch. They also film bands live. They just did a bunch of footage at The Fest this past fall. I'm in love with this website and pretty much every band they document. Recently, they just started uploading their videos to Vimeo. So now you're able to copy the embed code and spread their videos around! So here's some bands/artists I'm currently in love with that are on If You Make It:

This first band is Blacklist Royals. They're an awesome punk rock band from Nashville, Tennessee. Here's a video of them doing a Pink Couch session. You can also click on their name for a link to their myspace page.


Blacklist Royals - Things They Say from If You Make It on Vimeo.

This next one is of Good Old War. They're a folky/indie band from Philly? I don't even know what genre to put them under. They're going on a big tour with The Gaslight Anthem soon which rules. Awesome band. Here's their Pink Couch session.


Good Old War - Coney Island from If You Make It on Vimeo.

Here's American War. Awesome, awesome folk. Don't know what else to say..catchy tunes, awesome voice. Love American War!


American War - Bricks from If You Make It on Vimeo.

Nana Grizol is a weird band. Weird in a good way, though! Really catchy tunes. I'm not sure how many are in the band but they have a variety of instruments in their songs (horns, keyboard) and lots of clapping!


Nana Grizol - Blackbox. from If You Make It on Vimeo.

Well, thats another post! I think I'll end this one with a wicked video I found of old Montreal punk rock band All The Answers playing live. They ruled so much!