#fm rock scene

[kb-p2730]

W.E.T.

Work of Art/Eclipse/Talisman

[earlofbats]

Discotechs died with the collapse of the gay party scene, the Reagan administration, the rise of the LGBT community and gay liberation movement.

In Disco Elysium disco fell as Revachol lost its independence and the grasp of the moralintern, coalition and the economic disparity of capitalism shut its jaws around the people.

EDM, electronic dance music birthed from the ashes of the discotech and new club music was born, similarly ADM, Adonic Dance Music is starting its journey into the main stream.

This places culturally and phonically Disco Elysium sometime in the mid to late 80s or even Early 90s.

Now I wanted to figure out what music was on Speedfreak radio:

DJ mesh says:

"...AND DE FACTO THE FASTEST MUSIC IN ALL OF R-R-REVACHOL R-ROCK CITY. ALL YOU HOOLIGANS, DOWNTOWN DRIFTERS, SIDEWAYS SALLIES AND POWERSLIDING PIERRES."

The only song we hear on Speedfreaks radio is described as:

"If, when a motor-carriage's engine was ignited, it could drive by its own accord off to a high mountain and there write a song -- perhaps it'd be something like what you're hearing now."

We know that the music is rock and it's fast and has the essence of something a car would write as well as a clear association with car culture.

Similarly around the mid to late 80s metal rock music was gaining popularity in the mainstream.

Including a subgenre of metal known as speed metal.

Anyway, I'm not a huge metal fan, in fact I'm a complete noob when it comes to the genre.

But I've done my best collecting some metal from the time period that I think would be played on Speedfreaks FM and would be to Kim's tastes.

As well as a few more anachronistic additions plus some songs just for fun.

The mix isn't quite done so if you have recommendations leave em in the comments or notes!

Also check out my similarly done Disco Mixtape.

Also also check out my Kim fic I'm working on.

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

Brian Eno - CJOM-FM, Windsor, Ontario, July 21, 1974

What was Brian Eno doing in Windsor, Ontario, in the summer of 1974?! I don't know, exactly (I also don't know exactly if he was in Windsor, Ontario — see the YouTube comments for some discussion as to whether he was across the border in Detroit, instead). But I do know that this is a cool little slice of late-night radio with Eno and DJ Ronnie Legg — some candid discussion, some joking around, some catty gossip.

Eno had obviously had a very busy year already — he'd released his solo debut Here Come The Warm Jets (50 years old last month!); he'd gone on tour with the Winkies, (a tour which was cut short due to Brian's famously collapsed lung); he'd performed with Kevin Ayers, John Cale and Nico at the Rainbow Theatre (later released as June 1, 1974); he'd helped Nico record The End; and, as he tells Legg, he was already well into the making of Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy. Dude was making things happen!

But Brian sounds cool as a cucumber on the air here, explaining his departure from Roxy Music and his dislike of the touring lifestyle, along with some typically ahead-of-the-curve recommendations of Sparks and the burgeoning krautrock scene. "I'm gonna have to write these names down!" Legg (who otherwise seems quite hip) exclaims when Eno tells him about Kraftwerk, Neu!, Can and Harmonia. Good as always to remember that those were different times; you couldn't just dial up obscure German bands on your phone. But I'm sure that Brian knew that — someday — you would.

Speaking of different times, one thing Eno doesn't seem too enamored with is Lou Reed, who was then touring behind the sleaze-tastic Sally Can't Dance. He says that he's seen Lou twice already in '74 and pretty much hated both experiences. Fair enough — I can see how the cartoonish funk-rock that Reed and his band were playing at the time would definitely not be Eno's cup of tea. "He seems to have moved against all the things that I thought were interesting in the original Velvet Underground — which were the qualities of 'bad' musicianship rather than 'good' musicianship that distinguished them. The fact they didn't know when to let up when they weren't tasteful at any point. The new band that he's got now are incredibly tasteful and very into long, funky guitar solos. I mean, who needs it?"

[tmbgareok]

are you guys fans of R.E.M?

I know I sound like a contrarian but this is the most thoughtful explanation I can give--It is kind of hard to understand how insular our existence was. I think from the moment we landed in NYC in 1981 until 1987, we were kind of out of the college radio's general cultural pull, and living in Brooklyn, we never had MTV! The radio we were hearing was hip hop and WCBS FM oldies. When we went out of the road, and started playing these college towns--completely contemporaneous with the alternative/indie rock explosion we became much more aware of all the bands that would become such a big deal on that scene. Our favorites were the Smiths and later on the Housemartins.

[chevvy-yates]

103.1 TECHNOI⚡︎E FM

A fictive/headcanon radio station fit for Cyberpunk 2077 presenting German ebm artists. It is Ryder's overall favorite station he likes to listen to every day.

The first of two spotify playlists with a collection of songs I imagine to be one of Ryder's favorite radio stations (in my headcanon) he listens to when he e.g. drives around in the city or got it running in the background in his apartment. Had a hard time chosing the word 'Technoise" for one of them, yet I went with this one for the more ebm, industrial and dark wave focused tracks. I think it does fit better to the overall 'Technoise lore' (see further below) than the hard tech stuff on the second playlist. Some of the artists are already in business since the 80s/90s and especially Faderhead I would have loved to have in the game as he did a whole EP named '2077' dedicated to Cyberpunk when it came out. Overall these songs sound very 'tech'-like and each of them has this base of a repeating beat or melody and even words that stick to your ears. Some of them have actually lyrics, too, some are English, most in German.

—

109.6 HELL BUNKER FM

Mostly a hard techno playlist Ryder listens to, especially when he's working out. Most of these songs get played at 'Chrome Chamber Rave' a fictive/headcanon event occuring every 1st Saturday per month at the 'Hell Bunker', located in the underground of the Dark Matter Bld. Japantown.

This one is for the more hardcore ravers. When you listened to the other one first then for this one you may understand my decision why I've splitted it up. The beats are harder, there is much less to non lyrics and singing – all is focused on beats, repetition and other sounds. Wanna work out? Take this list if you like it. However, I've placed a few more 'melodic' ones in between so you can take a little break from the harder tracks. These are mostly by the artist 'Klanglos'. Also placed some with opera singing (Venezia, Hardtechno Anthem, Bella Ciao, Fortuna and Ameno) as it is the kind of techno Thyjs surprisingly will find good (because Ry will definitely listen to his music at home and even drag soldier boy to CCR).

—

All cover artwork done by me.

⚠️ READ: Please do not repost/reupload any of my art (the cover pics) here or to any other platform, or I will be forced to do anything to get it annihilated.

Why two?

There's two of them as I wanted to separate the (hard) techno beats from the more ebm (electro body music), dark wave and industrial ones which I also minimized to German (and one Austrian) artists only. I like the idea it is a station that plays only German as I've read in one of the many lore books that 'Technoise' is a German music genre:

"Technoise and its various derivations dominate much of the German scene. If you're hip, you already know about Technoise. If not, listen up. Technoise is quite popular with the discerning young punk; it was popularized by Germany's own NetWerk actually, you've got your Overlay style from London, Jazznetic from Rotterdam and Echo from Frankfurt. In addition, there are people producing Frock (Fractal Rock) all over the place. The good thing is, Technoise is quite easy to produce. You only need a small computer, some software and you're ready to buzz. Those of you with a message might miss the political attitude, but you're missing the point. Technoise is strictly for partying, tripping and dancing. People meet and dance up to the runner's point. Maybe that's a political statement in itself, oder?" — Eurosource Plus The New Eurotheater Sourcebook for Cyberpunk

Now I do not know how exactly the 'Lore Technoise' does sound as I can imagine it very well having more rock elements (as they speak of 'overlay style from london' (like punk back then swapping over to Germany in the mid or was it late? 70s -> German punk bands formed but also the New Wave came to exist, spread into the goth genre and so on, also Industrial so both ways; rock and electronic elements etc.) so I may have my own headcanon for it, while others maybe interpret it differently?

I definitely see some political messages in some ebm and industrial songs as well but a lot also are focused on something else less political. And if we go pure (hard) techno, it's definitely just for 'partying, tripping and dancing'. I can't say if it will stay like this, if I delete some songs or add new but for now I think it's good. If you want you can follow one or even both playlists. I would be happy about it though I know it's not everyone's music taste. ;)

And yeah ofc I placed Ryder into the covers, it's playlists for him, so yeah. If I ever do it with my other boys I'll do that the same way.

–

I'm also working on a list for Chrome Chamber Rave that will be even longer and have more songs by the artists that are already on Hell Bunker, but it's more for personal reasons as I started to dive so deeo into it I also searched pics that help me imgine how the location looks etc. Maybe I'll make another post for it, maybe not.

[weneverlearn]

Kurt Bloch: An Awesome Guy Who Awesome People Like

Rocking with the Fastbacks and recording all your favorite bands since 1979

Fastbacks, 1988; Kurt Bloch far left, Gumby t-shirt

“There truly is something about inspiration and enthusiasm that really is inspiring and enthusiastic!” - Kurt Bloch

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By: Eric Davidson

I’ve been thinking a lot about joy of late. Like pure, eyes-to-the-sky, skipping down the street joy. There is a paucity of it around right now.

We could follow a zillion trails to and from how we got here, but this is ostensibly a music blog, so I’m going to make a quick stab at the roots of this unenviably joyless position we’re sitting in, rock-wise.

The Fastbacks were joyful. Starting out in 1979 in the dawning days of Seattle’s punk scene, they became a local fave on the basis of action-packed shows stuffed with careening pop hooks, irked energy, and a friendly, guffaw around onstage demeanor that didn’t exactly scream “pre-hardcore era.”

Fastbacks retreated for a few years, circa 1988, and when kicked back into gear a couple years later, found themselves being a preferred opener for a load of grumpy grunge bands who I’m guessing hoped to absorb some of the Fastbacks positive energy to counteract their mope – which the Fastbacks were more than ready to supply.

A mélange of metal volume, fleeting bouts of prog whimsy, Ramones tempos, and BubbleYum stickiness, the Fastbacks created a  singular sound. Like most great bands, they never fit into any particular zeitgeist – too raggedy for the pop punk contingent, too peppy for the grunge trend, they nonetheless retained a respected status among bands who appreciated their consistently grabby tunes and fun live show.

Despite any remaining expectations of what “success” was supposed to be, by the turn of the millennium the Fastbacks became that precious thing – one of those awesome bands that awesome bands like.

It should be noted that, while grunge soon gained a definition as a downer genre (that has taken root since), Bloch and company palled around with that Seattle scene from the get-go, and knew many of them as fun rocker kids just trying their best to get through seven months of rain by rocking. 

The Fastbacks kept careening forward right through the ‘Alternative Rock” era that ignored all the fun underground garage punk and instead painted rock as increasingly dreary and grievance-based. The early 2000s came, and the Fastbacks took their leave.

They’ve recently gotten back together for occasional reunion shows. Always holding them together throughout their stop/start whirlwind of a career was ace guitarist/producer and philosophical center of the band, Kurt Bloch.

Bloch, who began his career as a recording studio whizz with Fastbacks, never stopped twiddling the knobs for lots of your favorite bands and/or underrated acts. We checked in with him on his ongoing mission to bring fun to the fringes despite the mainstream consistently choosing incorrectly.   

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Kurt Bloch, rockin', 1990 (Fuck the NRA. I will assume Kurt's t-shirt here was de rigueur '90s irony.)

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What was the first album you loved; and what was the first album you loved because of its production?

Good question, hard to answer. I think it was 45s and AM radio that got me going on recording qualities, how loud some of the great hits of the early-’70s sounded. How some records sounded like they were a band playing inside your head. I think I was aware of EQ and compression sounds early on, how the drum fills would sort of obliterate everything behind it on some songs. How the guitar would be so loud in the breaks. How, if the record didn’t have enough treble, it would be unexciting; if there was too much then it’d sound wimpy.

Then getting into albums, and FM radio, you’d listen to Larks’ Tongues In Aspic or Dark Side Of The Moon, and they had this spacious quality that was rad; the Scorpions’ Fly To The Rainbow was right in your face, really up-front and close. Then, going to see bands live, we’d see the coliseum style shows – that was so cool, but then getting to see bands in smaller spaces where you could hear the amps on stage, and feel the sound pressure in the room –now that was a mind-opener. You could feel the Marshalls and the actual sound coming off of the stage.

Then when punk bands started playing, that’s when it started getting interesting. You know, like I just saw this killer band that sounded so great at the show, and their record sounds like a bowlful of shit. Why?! That leads to one-track, two-track, four-track tape recorders, and each time you record something, you have a whole book of revelations of what to do and what not to do. So many great recordings from that early punk era without a bunch of reverb. It was another revelation. A lot of those early digital reverbs that everyone had, I just hated that fake trebly, scritchy sound. Rather just not use any reverb than that icky sound.

How did the Fastbacks form?

Kim and Lulu were high school friends of ours, The Cheaters was our neighborhood band; only lasted a couple years but they were good ones! When that band disintegrated on-stage, there was still band gear in my parents’ basement. Kim (Warnick, bass/vocals) had been in a band, The Radios, and Lulu (Gargiulo) wanted to play guitar and sing. Somehow my parents didn’t put a stop to it all, so we started playing a couple times a week. Not saying we got good, but we got better.

How long before you felt you had locked into the Fastbacks’ sound?

I reckon whatever “sound” we had was pretty well established early on; it was just whatever we wanted to do. Of course we loved the punk bands of the era first and foremost, but also the ’60s and ’70s pop music we grew up with; and the hard rock bands of the ’70s too! And I always was a fan of the wonderful arrangements and sound of the ’70s prog bands, once I started writing most of the songs, these things would creep in.

Live, 1986

I have this romantic vision of Kim Warnick as a long-haired rocker teen crashing parties and such. Is that correct?

Ha ha ha!! We were all pretty good (bad?) at crashing parties, some of the shit we did makes me wince thinking of it all. But it was 1977, ‘78; things were different back then, a different kind of boredom ran rampant through kids’ minds back then. There was a real disdain for society, maybe not to the degree of the UK bands at the time, but still there nonetheless. Often there was nothing to do other than the proverbial let’s go fuck shit up. And the music was such a part of all that.

So you got a story about something back then that would make you wince now?

Back when we were teenagers in The Cheaters, we would go to pretty desperate lengths to create excitement. The Cheaters singer, Scott Dittman, was maybe the funniest person I’ve ever known, and often in our search for something to do, he would drive a car full of us down to the frats at the University Of Washington. We’d go crash frat parties, rarely did we fit in unnoticed. You’d grab some keg cups and try to hang out, usually immediately, “Would you please leave.” And that didn’t often sit well with Scott. If we were going to “please leave” then we would not leave without exacting some sort of a toll. I guess we could run pretty fast, or we would’ve got our asses kicked pretty well back then. Somehow a few weeks later we’d go back to the same frat house that had a bookcase upended or a row of bikes knocked over, and lo and behold, the same thing would happen again. Of course we were never hired to play any frat parties.

Scott also loved to fight. He took boxing lessons and was always trying to teach us how to fight too. You knew when the gloves came out it was time to find something else to do. “Come on, you just gotta keep your guard up.” (smash smash smash) “You said you weren’t gonna hit us in the face.” Yeah right.

The Cheaters and The Accident (another erstwhile punk outfit) set up a show at a non-punk bar, somewhere down by Olympia. This would’ve been 1979 maybe. There were no roadmaps for like-minded or “friendly” places to play, outside of the major cities. But we were trying to do something, anything, and our double bill got the booking. This bar had a dance floor that also was used for bar fighting. There must have been some sort of organization to the fights, but it was sanctioned bar fighting. No-one was on the dance floor or anywhere near it when we started, so Scott tried to solicit a fight or two during our set. This was unfriendly territory, we were all, “Stop this nonsense!” But once you told Scott not to do something, well he was going to double down of course. Fortunately no one took him up on his offers, and we got out unscathed, but the bar owner took me into his office at the end of the night and gave me a rundown on what we needed to do to become successful in the music business, and the first thing was to get rid of that singer.

1978

First Fastbacks show, February, 1980 – any memories of it?

Oh, totally! The first Fastbacks show, it was at a rec center in a quiet neighborhood, it was three bands: The Vains, Psychopop, and The Fastbacks. We were all friends, and it was all three bands’ first shows. Very ramshackle, but we cobbled together a sound system, someone had a few lights, everyone brought what they had, and the show went on. A little rough around the edges, but the power didn’t go out, no cops were called, nothing was ruined – an early triumph for sure.

Was the power pop zeitgeist of that time a thing for Fastbacks? Did you feel a part of it?

No! For sure the New Wave was hitting strong at that point, but we were certainly not embraced by the new wavers at all. I suppose for that first year, we were pretty terrible, but we had some friends and people who wanted to give us a chance. Getting Duff (McKagan – yes, that one from Guns ‘N Roses) to play drums was the first step into making the band more listenable, but we were still a long ways off of what the general public would consider valuable music. We got kicked off of a show after our first set (of two). “That’s okay, you guys don’t have to play another set.” And I was all, “What do you mean we don’t have to?!” Oh, I get it.

Then when the hardcore bands cropped up, we were pals with some of them, but we weren’t furious enough for them really. I recall some sort of fury at a DOA/The Fartz/Fastbacks show. It required some foresight, which many didn’t possess, to support any kind of music that wasn’t 100% punk. Conversely, the proper power pop bands, well, we were a little too power and not enough pop, I reckon. We wanted to be that, but it’d take a bit still to hone those chops.

Had Duff McKagen played in any band before that?

Duff was the bass player in The Vains, who played that Laurelhurst Rec Center show. That was his first show. He must’ve been 15, barely 16?

Did he exhibit behaviors that would later align with Guns ‘N Roses’ infamous lifestyle?

We were still pretty reeled-in at that point, no one really even got plastered, no one started doing drugs yet. Might’ve been some Budweisers around, but nothing stronger yet.

Guns 'N Roses 2nd show, 1985

Got any Vains stories, recollections of a show, or the general scene from whence they came/played? Was there a good raw, original punk scene in Seattle in late '70s? I'm aware of Soldier and some other bands, but I wanna get it from the horse’s mouth.

The Vains only played three, maybe four shows total. In the late ’70s into early ’80s it was pretty hard to keep something going if you were any sort of impatient. Most bands never got the chance to play enough to iron out any difficulties, or taste any sort of real success. Lots of arguing over what direction to take, stick to your punk rock guns, and play to a rental hall of your friends; or try to get “jobs” in the bars, which would mean being stricken with the “cover band” tag, which was NOT punk.

1978

The Enemy worked the hardest, yet still couldn’t crack the code in 1979. The Telepaths, The Blackouts, The Lewd – everyone broke up, or moved away and then broke up. The Fartz made a pretty good go of it, but even they sorta morphed into Ten Minute Warning, and then morphed into an art band… The Silly Killers stayed pretty punk. The Living ripped it up for their short lifespan. But they were all in that 1982 dilemma, you can almost see a line in the sand, drawn in the summer of 1982. Not a lot of bands made it across that line that summer.

The Enemy live, 1980

If I remember it was some sort of divine intervention that The Fastbacks reconvened in 1983 to fire it up again, it was nearly the end of the line. But it was also clearly a new beginning, a new lease on life, a new crop of kids started bands in those Metropolis years; the Metropolis was a new all-ages venue that I would consider the petri dish of the next bundle of bands.

As the ‘80s took hold and punk rock hall shows were sort of the only stage for many of our bands, after a couple years of not getting to any sort of next level, it was clear that there needed to be a re-grouping of some sort. We’d see our friends’ bands get actual paying gigs in bars – if they were non-punk sounding. Of course many of the punk bands went to the dark side of ’80s metal. Everyone was looking to do something that could “go somewhere.”

Somewhere right in that 1982 corridor, drugs started flourishing, stupidity set in. Duff came with us Fastbacks as a “roadie” in 1984 down to L.A., and when we came back I reckon he moved to L.A. to escape that whole rigamarole. No one was getting anywhere here anyway. A bold move at that time, at the advanced age of 20!

1987

Word is Fastbacks have had between 12 and 20 drummers. Short of naming every single drummer, are there a few you’d like to point to as having had a particularly interesting stint; or who went on to other bands?

Gosh, all the Fastbacks drummers had something great about them. There were a few who only did one show. I publicly apologize to those who didn’t last. Those were strange times. I don’t think there are any unsolved mysteries in the Fastbacks drummer world, Dan Peters, who recorded a couple songs with us but no shows, Tad Hutchison, and Tom Hendrikson, who each did one show…. Some convoluted moments for sure, and all killer drummers!

Do you think if you would have remained drummer for Fastbacks that you would have still gotten into production?

Yeah, I think the fascination with recording was parallel to the live playing side of things, it was always there in my constitution. Wanting to learn, wanting to figure out how to make records that captured how killer bands sounded. It was such a tall order back then. Seemed like the old guard [engineers] didn’t “get it,” or were prohibitively expensive; and so many of the others didn’t sound kickass like we wanted. Of course this comes from the actual band, first and foremost; that is learned the hard way! But if the band blazes at their show, it seemed that their records should sound blazing too, but that wasn’t often the case.

1988

1989

From what I remember, the Fastbacks rep was that of the favorite local band of all the Seattle bands, and hence got on as openers for bands who would soon get huge during that whole grunge thing…

Pretty hard to say from the inside view. We had the unfortunate hurdle of being broken up from late-1988 till mid-1990. A lot of opportunity probably squandered during those times. But, unlike anyone else I can think of, we did get a second chance via Sub Pop, and another decade of rock. I know we were quite lucky in that department. We never did gigs large or small with Nirvana, Soundgarden, sort of the class of ’89. We did share a slightly miserable practice space with Green River and later Mother Love Bone. Always pals with those cats, so we did do opening stints with Pearl Jam in 1996, all around the world.

What was miserableness about it?

Oh man, that place… It was in a basement in Pioneer Square, the old, original downtown Seattle. The Great Seattle Fire devastated downtown in like 1889, and they rebuilt the city on top of the old city, one floor higher. So our basement was on the level with the old, original city; some rooting around could be done. There was no bathroom or running water down there, so you had to go to the bar a block away to use the facilities, but often you just couldn’t be bothered. In the space next to ours, it was a smashed up, decrepit old room that we moved all the garbage from our side into. No lighting of any sort, so it was all flashlights if you had them, and filling up bottles of pee and putting them where ever we could find room.

But of course we raged supreme down there, some epic parties, bands playing, and whatnot; of course no water or facilities, but grand times in the ’80s. Somehow, I ended up being in charge of paying rent, not the best job for me to take on. It meant tracking down Andrew Wood once a month and trying to get him to pay his share of their rent. First it was Malfunkshun, and Green River was there too. We might’ve blown up before Mother Love Bone started? I think I remember Green River blowing up too, after their California trek; it would’ve been not too long after that that The Fastbacks unceremoniously imploded. But for a while it was definitely a rager.

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Nifty, random link I stumbled on with some cool early Fastbacks fliers, stories, and live stuff.

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1992

While you didn't play with the "biggies" of the scene as much as I thought, got any early Nirvana or Soundgarden tale of any sort you'd like to share?

Our fabled practice basement was just a couple blocks from The Central, a venue that was sort of home base for a lot of stuff. The Vogue as well, it was on the north end of downtown, we were on the south end. Many people had keys to the place, so it was not surprising to duck in between sets at The Central, to have cheap beers or whatnot. I first saw Soundgarden at The Central, and they were certainly mind-blowing. Would’ve been ’87? Quickly became a favorite Seattle band, and when their first 7” came out, my roommates hated me. I had a tendency to play those 45’s over and over and over again. But they played The Central a lot, and just got better and better, heavier and heavier. I remember the first time they played “Beyond The Wheel”, it was at the Vogue. I was standing next to Mark Arm and we looked at each other and just said FUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHH…

The first Nirvana show I saw was also at the Vogue, it was maybe not the greatest Nirvana show, but man I thought that singer was amazing. Shortly after, Jon Poneman (Sub Pop co-founder) was at the bar there and said, “If you buy me a coffee now, I’ll give you a 45 tomorrow that will change your life.” An easy proposition. Sub Pop HQ was half a block away, he gave me a “Love Buzz” 45, and once again, the roommates had a reason to hate. I must’ve played that record 100 times in a row. Might’ve taken them a bit to find their pummeling style, but man they sure did. Then after Bleach had been out a while, all the rumors of major label this and major label that… So exciting and weird.

Who is a favorite Seattle “grunge era” band you really dug and maybe didn’t get the recognition you think it deserved? Mine are the Derelicts and Zipgun.

Of course! Pure Joy, Flop, H-Hour, the Meices – wait they were actually from SF… Huge Spacebird, Once For Kicks…. Have you got an hour or so?!

I know you are no doubt tired of this question, but do you have a late ‘80s/early ‘90s story or show that happened where you thought, “Damn, this Seattle scene thing is getting some real attention? This is fucking weird.”

After the Fastbacks blew up in 1988, I started playing with the Young Fresh Fellows, and we were off and running pretty hard right away. Certainly a parallel path from the Seattle Grunge Explosion, but a decent path it was! I was pals with Jon and Bruce (Pavitt) at Sub Pop when they started, so I’d go hang out at their early HQ/distributor place downtown. It was amazing to see some of these bands blow up when they did.

Young Fresh Fellows, 1989; Kurt Bloch far right

I suppose the thing that sealed it for me was listening to the advance cassette of Nevermind on a Young Fresh Fellows trip. Scott McCaughey had been assigned to review it for local music rag, The Rocket, and I nabbed it from him on a trip out East. It totally blew my doors wide open. Already having been a superfan since that “Love Buzz” 45, and seeing a couple of the shows they did here before going out to record that album, then hearing it for the first time on headphones; then as our tour progressed, seeing the record just going ballistic at every record store, it was just crazy. It never stopped getting bigger and bigger. This is so fucking weird!

Strange feeling of seeing a local band you saw shlubbing around town or peeing next to them at a dive, to hearing them play in a grocery store in Nevada, or whatever....

Soundgarden was the first one I remember blowing up. They went from Sub Pop to SST to A&M – they sorta seemed to have their shit together pretty well. Alice In Chains were kinda off our radar, they were only on the Rock radio stations; it wasn’t until their second album that I noticed that they actually were killer. But Nirvana, they were crazy cool from the get-go, not in the FM Rock station sort of way, but the punk underground sort of way. Plus I didn’t really know them at the beginning, so there was way more mystery about them. A couple legendary Seattle club shows before they went off to start Nevermind; the OK Hotel first playing of “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” we were just transfixed – What the fuck is this?! Then the Off Ramp show, they went on really late, and got cut off right before 2am. Somehow the club picked up the empties and let the band play on into the night, and what a show it was. Then… nothing.

Didn’t really hear anything from Nirvana ‘til the advance cassette of Nevermind went out, and of course thinking, if I like this so much, it’s probably never gonna go anywhere. Wrong. It was like a slow ball of fire, radio then record stores, like every record store playing it, every magazine… It would’ve made you hate a lesser band, but it really was great so there was a sense of pride attached to it all. Finally something we loved is big. But then how big? There seemed to be no end to it. It was everywhere. And so weird to think that kids dug something that was blazing and amazing.

Were you defacto producer of Fastbacks from the get-go of recording?

Oh for sure. Not by strong-arming anyone, but just because there was no money, and no one else could be bothered! Our first 45 was with Neil Hubbard and Jack Weaver, as we were doing a song for a Seattle comp LP, and as per the usual, just recorded some extra songs in our allotted time. The first EP was Peter Barnes, drummer for The Enemy, killer Seattle band and very much an inspiration to all the bands in the late-’70s in Seattle. Then after that, it was trial by fire.

Can you tell me more about The Enemy, and their local import?

The Enemy pretty much initiated the punk “scene” in Seattle. There were a few bands, but they started a club, it was all ages, March, 1978. Otherwise it would’ve been hall shows, but The Bird brought everyone together. Originally only open for a few months, but there were shows there every Friday and Saturday, it really did give us something to do.

My first band, The Cheaters, might not have actually played anywhere if not for them. We could have languished in my parents’ basement forever if not for being stopped by The Enemy members at a Ramones show: “Hey! Are you guys in a band? Would you want to play at our club we’re opening up in a few months?” Of course we said yes, we didn’t tell them that we were just barely a band, we’d never actually played a show, nor would we maybe ever had if not for their offer. We were just teenagers, my brother Al was still in High School. But they took us in and let us play shows. The drummer, Peter Barnes, filled in for a night our real drummer couldn’t play.

Everyone knew each other, when it was time to record what was to be The Fastbacks’ first EP, Peter volunteered to be our producer. He figured out how to get cool, kickass sounds and make things happen. No one had any money or experience so it had to be on a budget, but he made it happen. The record turned out great. “In America” was on the commercial new wave station, we thought we had it made!

I thought I knew what to do, to various degrees of success. Conrad Uno at Egg Studio did much of our first album. He was wise beyond words and also a great teacher. After that LP was finished he was all, “You can do all this, I think, I’ll be back at the end of the night to close up!” Then it seemed like the right avenue. So many producers seemed like they just wanted to add stuff in order to have their presence be felt. I always felt, like – what is the least amount of stuff we can have on here to make it happen? Less stuff, but louder. Certainly not against adding things, but also happy to leave things out as much as possible. Always loved the one-guitar bands that didn’t double everything all the time. Makes you think a little harder about what you’re doing.

1994

Okay, I will name a band, and you give me the first thing that comes to mind when you think of your production gigs with them:

Presidents of the U.S.A.

We’d do several takes of any given song, as the band was learning them, Chris (Ballew, singer) would play his two-string bass flawlessly every take, and sing a scratch vocal that could’ve been used as the keeper. Never a mistake, never less than killer every time.

Robyn Hitchcock

Also just an amazing music machine. Put him in an iso booth with a mic for vocal and one for acoustic guitar. He’d show the band a new song and go into the booth, sometimes it would just be one take and they’d nail it, with the lead vocal included. Never a lyric sheet in sight. A brain that truly works overtime. Peter Buck playing his 12-string on a song that he had just heard, and plays flawlessly the first time. Great Peter quote: “I like to get things right.” Indeed!

Fastbacks

Ha!! Some of the recording we’ve done astounds me to this day. It’s like any idea we had, we’d just do it. I swear, no one ever said, “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Listening back to the early ’90s recordings, there truly is something about inspiration and enthusiasm that really is inspiring and enthusiastic! Some of that music is pretty weird, even some songs that I wrote, I can’t imagine where they came from. I know we did them and all, but what was the impetus, where did they come from?!

Nashville Pussy

Another tale of just trying not to ruin a band that sounded killer. Amazing to think that they all fit in the tiny live room at Egg for that first album. The sheer volume of air pressure in there was unbelievable. A perfect example of what we’d set out to do, just try to not let the recording process get in the way of the recording. And nominated for a Grammy! I went with them to the Awards show – limo, booze, and afterparties. We were scheming all the horrible things that we’d say when we won the award, who we were gonna thank, who we were gonna blame. Of course there’s no way we’d win, they barely could say the name of the band when reading off the nominees! But what an experience. So many laughs.

Mudhoney

Five Dollar Bob’s Mock Cooter Stew (Reprise, 1993) doesn’t get enough props. I think it’s a great record. I really tried to make each song sound different and killer in its own way. Dan Peters (drummer) is always dishing out the quality.

Young Fresh Fellows

It’s easy to work quickly with a band you’re in. You kind of already know what’s going to happen, you know how to set up since you’ve already seen what works and what doesn’t over the last decade or two. We had intended to record maybe four or five songs for Tiempo De Lujo. Somehow we’d crammed all four of us in the basement here; after the two days we’d recorded twelve band tracks – so an album it was! Toxic Youth as well. We’d gone over to Jim Sangster’s living room to learn a few songs before starting recording the next day, and once we got going, they just kept coming and coming. When inspiration strikes, keep the tape rolling!

Can you describe Conrad Uno's Egg Studios; the kind of size or situation you were dealing with? Was there like a famous recording board there you worked with?

Egg Studio, where I and others honed their chops, was a welcome alternative to the “normal” studios of the time. It was truly a basement studio, the performance room was smaller than an ordinary living room. Many bands’ rehearsal spaces were larger than this. But it really did have a relaxed feel to it, and loud bands could all set up in the room and play live and get a good sound. Mudhoney, Nashville Pussy, Supersnazz, Devil Dogs, Supersuckers, Zeke – it was home base for so many great albums.

Conrad Uno moved into the house in maybe 1987, I reckon we finished Fastbacks …And His Orchestra there; and by early 1988, we began Very Very Powerful Motor, then the Sub Pop 7” and Zücker sessions. It began as an 8-track studio. Conrad brought in the Spectrasonics console that was formerly at Stax/Volt studio – rumored to once be owned by Paul McCartney, under whose purview a varispeed knob was installed. The knob remains, it’s Paul’s Knob. The console is now at Crackle And Pop studio here in Seattle, and is working better than ever.

Before Mudhoney began their third album, Piece of Cake, their second at Egg, they bought a 16-track machine for the studio, and that was the classic setup for so many records there in the ‘90s.

1996

I personally would love to hear about making the classic Devil Dogs album, Saturday Night Fever (Crypt/Sympathy for the Record Industry, 1994). Whose idea was it to make it kind of like a party, with friends and fans whopping it up in the studio between songs?

It was their idea from the beginning to make it a party album, “You have been invited… to a party!” Another band that didn’t need any fancy fussing about, they already sounded like a house on fire. Just tried to record them and not get in the way, make sure that the playback sounded like it did in the room with them.

Definitely the last night of the session, they invited all their Seattle friends over for a party, and we played the songs from the album through twice, if I remember, and just had a mic in the room while they were going. All the bottles clinking and all the blabbering was totally what happened. There was so little time to get everything done while we were there. They had booked two gigs on recording days – one out of town in Bellingham! Basically it was like wrangling the Three Stooges to record and mix a full album and an EP in like five days. Let’s just say that the morning hours were not particularly productive. But fortunately, when they were on, they were unstoppable. And so fuckin’ funny! What a fucking great record!

Oh yeah, definitely the most hilarious band to tour with too! We did a month with them once in Europe, traveling in the same packed little van. And even the bad hungover mornings in the van drives would lead to so much cracking up. Singer Andy G. sometimes stood up and imitated Tom Jones live. Anyway, can you recall who all was in the “crowd” on that record?

Honestly, I don’t! The studio was in a neighborhood, so all sessions had to be finished by 10pm. I loved the idea of recording a loud listening party and then mixing that in with the album, but it was so precarious to cram a bunch of drunks in the tiny studio and try to not let any gear get ruined, while still egging on loud misbehavior. Then getting all the cats out of there by 10 and not annoying Conrad or his neighbors in the process.

You must have some fun Andy G. stories too.

All three of those guys had their moments! Andy, Steve, Mighty Joe. Someone should’ve given them their own TV series. It might not have lasted very long, but what a show it would’ve been. I’ve never seen a group rile each other up the way they did. Should’ve had a room mic going constantly while they tried to make a group decision. There was way more work than we had time for. Somehow we got it all done, but just barely.

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Crypt Records, 1993

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And here’s where I decided to check in with Devil Dogs drummer, Mighty Joe Vincent, to get some more details on their Bloch party: "So, in the friends crowd [on the Saturday Night Fever album] was Eddie and Dan Bolton from the Supersuckers, James Burdyshaw and the rest of the Sinister Six, and a bunch of really cool women whose names have escaped my memory banks.

We def recorded on the Stax board. I remember because we had hopes that there was some soul residue left in the cables that might coat our tracks.

We totally loved Kurt. What’s not to love? I do remember that it was a Crypt budget recording so we had to make every minute count, so we were mixing until we were all so tired we were delirious. I’m pretty sure we went ‘til 2a.m. or something like that, but that was mixing. We did that in the middle of a tour, so we did about two weeks of gigs from NYC across this great nation of ours as well as that other great nation to our north, then out to Seattle. While we were doing it , we had a gig up in Bellingham, so we took a day off to drive up there.

I remember Scott Mccaughy was working there at Egg. I was talking to him one day and he told me his days of playing out on the road were over as his wife just had a kid and he had to be a good dad and provide a steady paycheck. I really felt bad for him. And then of course, a short time after that, Pete Buck asked him to come on the road with R.E.M. and said he would pay him a million dollars. Like an actual million dollars. That always made me happy to hear."

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And now, back to Kurt Bloch!

Who were bands you liked to tour with? And/or, a classic Fastbacks tour story?

We had some great west coast tours with DOA in the early-to-mid ’80s, they were definitely an early inspiration to go head-on and charge through best you can. They certainly blazed a trail for the rest of us to follow, doing everything themselves, like Black Flag did from Southern California. The ’80s were a rocky road for the Fastbacks. We played a lot of shows in Vancouver, BC, as well as Seattle, but it was a lot of problems and fighting, ha, and it wasn’t until the ’90s that we actually went out for any length of time – certainly getting into occasional serious trouble with The Meices, Motocaster, Gaunt, and even the New Bomb Turks!

Pearl Jam asked you to do some stadium shows in 1995, arguably the peak grunge year. How did you relate to the whole fame/stadium situation surrounding those shows?

It was January ’95, Pearl Jam asked us to play a radio show from their rehearsal space. I kinda didn’t know what they were talking about, and maybe sort of blew it off. I was trying to finish a Sicko record that night, couldn’t be bothered. I did like their Vitalogy record, “Not For You,” “Spin The Black Circle.” The rest of the Fastbacks were all, “C’mon, we’re doing this!” And I grudgingly told Sicko I was going to have to leave early. I didn’t even bring a guitar, I knew that Stone had a cool ‘50s Gold Top, maybe I could use that.

Then of course we get there and it’s really fun, just a big party scene, tons of buddies and band cats. We played three songs on the Pearl Jam gear setup, maybe Kim talked on the radio, drank some beers, great time! That was cool enough, but then they asked us to open a few shows at the end of the year, Salt Lake City and San Jose I think, and we’re all like, “Hell yeah!” And everything went well, then, “Would you want to go do a U.S. tour, oh and maybe a Europe tour following that…?” And we were all, “Hellz yeah!” And that all went great, clearly we would be the next big thing, the world is gonna love us, nothing holding us back now! We had a great record out, New Mansions In Sound (Sub Pop, 1996). Man, that was it – lots and lots of fun, great shows. We invented an auxiliary opening band for some of the shows, The What. We played Who tunes with Eddie Vedder incognito with a wrestling mask. We drag Mike McCready out for jams, Stone Gossard to sing one of his PJ songs, Eddie did “Leaving Here” with us a couple times, just great rock times in the giant venues. Somehow it didn’t lead to us being the Next Big Thing, but it was fun to pretend for a few months.

1994

Any good backstage shenanigans stories?

There weren’t a whole lot of super shenanigans. They had an espresso machine onstage every night, so we’d all slug down coffees, blast through our tunes, and then get drunk and watch Pearl Jam. Sometimes we would annoy their wonderful crew by being loud and boisterous aside of the stage, spilling bottles of wine or whatnot, but not much more than that. Everyone got along really well, and it was well-protected against after show bullies or negativity. We’d just keep on our course, often ‘til the huge sports arena closed down and they’d kick us out after everything had been loaded out – and we’d still be back there cranking tunes and running around.

It was totally like an arena-sized version of a living room party most every night. Their crew moved all the gear, we barely had to do anything except play every night.

I know you knew some of their members from earlier in the scene, but did you know Eddie Vedder before he got asked to join Pearl Jam?

I might not have met Eddie until the live radio show we did? He came up from San Diego. Didn’t know him before then at all, but we were fast friends. We would spend hours talking about the Who and riding around on the catering carts and smashing into the walls of the arenas. Come to think of it, we were probably very annoying. But no one, like, smashed up their hotel rooms or anything. It was probably comparatively tame.

Might sound weird, but while playing in the Seattle scene -- which is generally described as kind of serious, or dark, or junkies, or you know, “grungy” – did you and the Fastbacks feel kind of out-of-place; or are those kind of definitions of grunge and that town/time not correct?

The Seattle “thing” certainly was a dark, serious sound. That isn’t to say that every musician was dark and serious, but that darkness prevailed. To say The Fastbacks felt a little out of place at that point would be correct; but I always thought we were here first. It’s not like we didn’t dig lots of the bands, but it also wasn’t like we would try to take them on at their own game. It just wouldn’t’ve happened. We did do a version of “Swallow My Pride” – Green River’s, not The Ramones – on Sub Pop 200 [compilation], after a Soundgarden version too; but it ended up being menacing only in a Blue Öyster Cult sort of way, rather than ala either previous version. Slow and heavy just wasn’t in our DNA.

Columbus, OH, 1993 (Courtesy of Bela Koe-Krompecher)

I remember when Fastbacks stayed with New Bomb Turks while on tour in 1993, you guys, well I think specifically Lulu, made an amazing Thai meal for us. Did you always cook for bands you crashed with, or just for us ‘cuz we’re so awesome and nice?

Ha. I think the wonderful cooking was a bit of a rarity. We weren’t much of a crash on people’s floor kind of band by the ’90s, but sometimes it was great to have a day off and some good ideas! Remember that Metallica VHS box set had just come out, and we watched it ‘til the end because Lulu and I both worked on the film crew for the shows they filmed in Seattle, and we wanted to see if we, several years after the actual shows, got any credits at the end… and sure enough we did. Reason to celebrate!

Columbus seemed to love you. What were some other fave towns you played?

Always a great time in Columbus. Not necessarily Cleveland though. We weren’t the hard-touring road warriors that a lot of the other (more successful) bands were. It was whatever city we had friends in that were the best. Vancouver BC, San Francisco, L.A., NYC, maybe Albany, Columbus, Istanbul…

Contract and ticket for 1993 Columbus, OH show. (Courtesy of Bela Koe-Krompecher)

Highly technical and professional stage diagram implorations, Columbus, OH, 1993 show (Courtesy of Bela Koe-Krompecher)

I could be wrong, but you didn’t go over to Europe a lot, did you? Were you able to procure any production work from Euro bands you met whilst on tour there?

Oddly, not a lot of Euro tours… Seems like we should’ve done more, but there was always something. Young Fresh Fellows did some great trips, especially in Spain. Fastbacks Spanish tour was a bit of a dog’s breakfast. Not because of the people in Spain, no sir. We certainly lit it up in Japan once, though!

I did a couple albums for Les Thugs, the French band. One of them in Seattle and one in Angers. May have been bookended with some music travel. It’s amazing to look back at the old calendars and see that between tours with the Fastbacks and Young Fresh Fellows, recording with those two bands and recording other bands. Man, there were times when there was nary a day off, those ‘90s months were packed! Gotta consider myself pretty lucky. And so many killer records I got to be part of.

As a producer, do you feel you are mainly bringing an “ear” to finding the sounds the band wants, or do you try to gently impose a certain style and sensibility over the whole production?

Always try to keep the kickass factor high. I would never try to impose anything other than to try to keep everyone happy so they could do their best work, and not do the same bit over and over and over. Work hard and play hard, but not to overanalyze every little thing. Not under-analyze either, but if it’s killer, it doesn’t matter if everything “lines up” perfectly, or if the choruses speed up a little bit. Try to capture what is great about a band live in concert, and not dilute that if you can help it. Don’t add a bunch of crap just to put your mark on a project.

It's interesting how you professed a love for prog, but you had an innate sense of not always overdubbing too much – note your comment about loving bands that only had one guitar, etc.

The true exciting prog bands started coming out around 1968 and ’69, Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, Van Der Graaf Generator; Pink Floyd and Moody Blues had already been around but maybe weren’t quite included. Recording technique at the time was still fairly straightforward for the most part, there was of course room for overdubbing on an eight-track machine, but most of the first-wave prog bands’ recordings were not overloaded with overdubs. The magic was what they did with their four or five musicians, the arrangements you hear on the record were the same instrumentation as they played live. Some of the songs would have been concocted in a studio, but it wasn’t until later that walls of overdubs became commonplace.

That’s where the greatness of the original bands lies – cool vocal arranging and melding several songs’ worth of ideas into one track. Not a lot of room for squirminess either, it wasn’t so easy punching in on a giant eight-track tape machine in 1968. You made one mistake on that verse? You do the whole thing again!

Okay, gotta ask, with as much exposition as you’d like – what was your favorite recording session(s); and worst recording session(s)?

Pretty much always subverted the disasters. A time or two I told a band, after seeing a live show, that they weren’t quite ready to record yet; play a few more shows and practice a lot, record your practices and actually listen to them constructively. Studio time is expensive, practice time is (or at least was) cheap. You don’t have to have every bit of every song nailed down exactly, but do have most everything pretty well figured out, and be ready for criticism during the recording. If the rhythm isn’t working, be prepared to fine-tune your part so it is; if your harmony vocal is a half-step off, go ahead and adjust!

Some of the great sessions are those where I feel that I learned things, a new piece of gear, a new way of looking at things. Overwhelming Colorfast, Supersuckers, Les Thugs in France, The Meices in Florida… Or the records that just slammed out of nowhere. Devil Dogs, Flop, Supersnazz, Nashville Pussy. So many first albums by bands where they have been playing the songs at shows for a year or two, the tempos are up, the blood is pumping, get rid of the headphones and make it like you’re playing a gig. Play the song three times without stopping. Play three different songs in a row without stopping.

1999 (Courtesy of your's truly)

You’re still actively producing. What have you worked on recently you’d like to highlight? And what’s coming up?

There’s always some great Seattle band records going on – Bürien, 38 Coffin, Once For Kicks, Insect Man, The Drolls, Zack Static. These days, some records take a while to finish, I suppose it’s the nature of the business now. Trying now to clean the slate and get these out the door before starting new ones!

And there’s maybe a new Fastbacks coming, no?

There was no plan of any sort. We were having lunch as we sometimes do, and started talking about a couple songs it would be fun to learn and maybe record. Our pal Joe “Meice” Reineke had recently finished an ambitious and fantastic recording building in his back yard; wouldn’t it be fun to check that out….? Well let’s call him and see what his schedule is. Oh! he’s got a day open, whaddayasay, let’s take it. Well there’s a few other songs we could learn, let’s make it two days… I guess we’d better practice… What if we did enough songs for an album? Maybe we did! Got some band tracks, everyone played their butts off! Now we gotta make more magic. No target completion date nor avenue to release, but everyone is excited to finish it!

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Post Script: This article sprung from an editor at a national mag asking if I wanted to do a story on Kurt Bloch, which of course I said yes to cuz Kurt's a great guy and I've been a Fastbacks fan for a goodly spell. But some months passed and plans changed, and so here it is! Also, I would've put more videos in this piece because the Fastbacks have a ton of great songs, but I guess I just learned there is a 10-video limit for a tumblr post. Who knew?

All images courtesy of Kurt Bloch, except where noted.

[yyh4ever]

Megumi Ogata - Hohoemi no Bakudan (Smile Bomb)

Our dear Megumi Ogata (Kurama VA) was a guest at the Oishi x Nakamura's Memories Anime Song Club last month, and sang the opening theme of Yu Yu Hakusho. I love her voice!!

🎸Guitar and back vocals by: Masayoshi Oishi and Shugo Nakamura

A-R-I-G-A-T-O-U G-O-Z-A-I ... MASU!!

She also sang "A Cruel Angel's Thesis" (Neon Genesis Evangelion). I hope they upload on YouTube too.

Megumi also talked about the upcoming Netflix's Yu Yu Hakusho live action this Wednesday (November 15, 2023), on the "Megumi Ogata's Roar Yell ROCK!". The broadcast is available on the audio service "AuDee", operated by TOKYO FM.

She watched the live action teaser PV and thought it was really good. She was surprised in many ways, like by Yusuke's spirit gun (reigan) and the best VFX team in the world doing the visual effects. She was really impressed by that scene from the trailer when Kurama throws the rose and it goes flying through the air. She thinks the main cast is really good.

She also complimented the additional cast, fangirling over Kenichi Takito's Elder Toguro. She was really excited to see him on Younger Toguro's (Go Ayano) shoulders, and is really looking forward to seeing Takito-san's laugh (if you guys watched the trailer, that creepy laugh of Elder Toguro was scary XD). Megumi-san can't imagine other person playing the older brother!

She also recognized that Keiko-chan is actually Sei Shiraishi-chan, who has worked with her quite recently. She also mentioned Keita Machida-kun's Koenma. She thinks it must be incredibly difficult to talk with that pacifier in his mouth and definitely wants to see it in live action version.

In short, she's looking forward to the live action ^^

[brandstifter-sys]

Continuation of previous ask where they realise they’re in love

It was a few days after “DWIT” he remained calm after seeing Virgil again after so long. But he decided it was time to make a move. Did Miguel feel the same? Or was Virgil already moved on? Or did he never feel the same to begin with? Is he with someone else?

Remus puts on a leather jacket and white shirt (the whole Remy get up) and grabs a boombox. He goes outside of Virgil’s room and holds up and lets the emo love rock music about “doing the deed” or smth play.

Virgil then pokes his head out of his door and sees Remus looking up at him while he’s doing this.

Virgil:👁️👄👁️…

Virgil:omg come in.

Virgil was also worried he’d never get with Remus since he thought Remus didn’t get feeling or smth.

Prev ask

I'm sorry because I know this was auto correct, but my first thought was "Who's this Miguel bitch and why is he getting between the gremlins?"

Anywhore....

I don't think he would pull off the Remy look, mainly because I feel like in his emotional state Virgil would throw stuff at Remy and Remy-mimics until he leaves. But Remus would wear something other than his usual flaming goblin king outfit

As far as the song goes for the Say Anything boom box scene remix, there is one emo song that is so perfect it hurts. Niki FM by Hawthorne Heights

I can see Virgil poking his head out and letting Remus in, like you said. I can also see him opening the door and then tackling Remus and dragging him inside like a trapdoor spider. With or without a ton of horror elements

[hjbender]

I think this may break my current record for "Longest I've Gone Without Knowing the Name/Artist of a Song".

Sometime in the late 90s, I was listening to my local rock station (99X, 99.7 FM) and recording songs onto tape. A song came on with a rocking base line and synthesizer, later joined by drums and lead guitars. No lyrics (that I could understand). And of course the DJ never tells you the name of the song afterward, but he's happy to talk over the first 30 seconds of it.

As is the case with most instrumental music, it's difficult to describe a song unless you can hum it. And I could not hum this one. It was too weird.

So I spent the next twenty-fiveish years in a state of maddening non-consensual ignorance. The era of tapes ended, and though I still have mine stashed away, the tapes themselves are wearing out and already sounding pretty bad. I don't listen to them but maybe once every ten years, so I had forgotten all about the song.

Until earlier this year, when I was watching Carl Sagan's Cosmos (1980). The song playing in the background of this scene from Episode 09 "The Lives of the Stars" is the one I'm talking about:

When I heard it, I launched out of my chair faster than you could say "billions and billions". Finally! I had a piece of the song! ...but it still wasn't doing me any good. Was there a site I could run it through to identify the song? Would some kind stranger on Reddit possibly solve my dilemma? Disheartened, I put it on the back burner.

A few months passed. Then, a few days ago, as I was looking up something related to Cosmos, I came across a website—a wonderful, wonderful website—that had the complete soundtrack of Cosmos listed out in excruciating detail, every little clip and soundbite.

I bookmarked it because I'd forgotten which episode my mystery song was on and needed to go back and search. Sigh.

Well, I finally got around to it tonight. By sheer luck I found the episode almost immediately, and at long last, I finally have a name and artist.

[phant0m-l0rd]

I wanted to share this cool find I made a few weeks ago while going through some of my uncle's old music magazines from the early 80s : an article from June 1984 written by Hervé Picart about a little up and coming band called Metallica... Finding this article felt like opening a time capsule.

(Magazine: BEST N°191, June 1984, French.)

I translated the article to English for the non-French speakers- translation after the cut:

Everything is currently changing on the good old West Coast. Just as we thought Frisco and Los Angeles forever attached to FM rock, poppy hits and beach boy philosophy, a surprising push of hard fever has come to contaminate them. Van Halen is no longer alone. Mötley Crüe, Heaven, and many others are shaking up the prophet kingdom in California, to such an extent that it might soon be necessary to rebaptise the Golden Gate "Metal Gate". Among all these new groups which are currently candidates to convert Jerry Garcia to heavy music and force everyone to trade their flower patterned bermuda for a black leather jacket, Metallica is without a doubt the most significant, and the most jostling act. These Californians have only released one album as of right now, but an album of such power, and accompanied by such emotion that a regular dose of Metallica has become a priority for all metalheads worthy of that name. There is no doubt both from a musical standpoint and from a purely emotional one that America now beholds its own Iron Maiden. Nothing less.

Like always in the case of rising waves, it was a compilation of various heavy groups, created in 1982 by the little local label Metal Blade Records and baptised "Metal Massacre", which revealed to the public of aficionados and curious minds alike the existence of Metallica. Their unique title, the henceforth mythical "Hit the lights", crushed all competition like Maiden's "Sanctuary" had done on the legendary "Metal For Muthas". "Hit the lights", it was a sort of sonic whirlwind which makes one want to take from all bands known for their label of "speed" that very label and reserve it for Metallica. The gang was then at the tail-end of their first chapter and was finishing off their work with their first formation, as five, with two guitarists.

Of this initial quintet, today there only remains the singer/rhythm guitarist James Hetfield and the drummer Lars Ulrich. The others, exhausted, passed the baton to the bassist Cliff Burton (speaking of which, treacherous minds have said ever since his solo "Anesthesia" that he had a dinosaur for a teacher), and the electrifying lead guitarist Kirk Hammett. As evidenced, Hetfield and Hammett are the two poles of Metallica, one with his warm and powerful voice which lends itself well to choruses of miraculously melodic quality amongst such chaos, and the other with his totally insane solos. Visibly, Kirk Hammett has learned to play his Flying V thinking it was a machine gun because he seems to create blasts more than anything. His virtuosity, the speed of his going along the fretboard inevitably make you dizzy.

After having blown minds from the get-go thanks to "Hit the lights", Metallica found a peculiar glory as immediate as it was underground, as those wired into heavy music consider it the pinnacle of power to be able to share, like sharp conspirators, precious copies of cassettes of demo tapes the band had made in order to make the rounds among record labels. While some official labels, rather frightened, quickly closed the door on them, the incredible interest from the underground scene acted like propaganda for the group, from Frisco to LA. Metallica then decided to play this game in their favour and opted for the small label Megaforce in order to release their first album, the crushing "Kill 'em all", very quickly released in England by the knowing people of Music for Nations, then later here by Bernett.

This more than mighty album does a good job in presenting two different aspects of Metallica. On one hand, relatively short songs, but hyper-accelerated, like "Hit the lights", the famous "Motorbreath", or the terrific "Whiplash". On the other, much longer tracks, composed of various sequences which battle each other, superposing riffs, rhythmic sections syncopated to an extreme, and more labyrinthine tracks that undeniably make one think of Iron Maiden. And all of that magnetised by the two bewitching Flying Vs, that of Hetfield which sounds like a metallic cavalcade (that of the "Four horsemen" of the apocalypse), and that of Hammett which comes again and again like a Mirage plane attacking. Midway between Motörhead and Maiden, then.

Ever since this incandescent record which has made them appear in Europe like the saviours of American rock, Metallica is progressively emerging from its lair. This spring, they were in Europe recording a new album. "Ride the Lightning", which will come out in June when they'll come to shake the first swarms of French fans, will give you all the occasion to fully integrate their healthy maxim, "Bang that head that doesn't bang"!!!

- Hervé Picart

Discography:

- In French pressing: "Kill 'em all" (Bernett- Musidisc)

- Imported:

"Seek and destroy " (max 45 live tours)

"Metal up your ass" (other version of "Kill 'em all")

[withwritersblock]

Hey

~Hey by Pixies~

Author's Note: this is lowkey my own version of that scene between Barney and Robin in HIMYM. My fav show of all time. So enjoy this recreation of it :) The song is the song that played during that scene. As always italitcs are flashbacks Summary: Alex returns to Denver for the first time since being traded Warnings: swearing, implied smut Word Count: 1,787 Alex Newhook x fm!reader

“I can’t leave Denver, Alex,” she muttered while she wiped a tear that fell onto her cheek. She looked into his dark brown eyes, they were watery but he refused to cry. He couldn’t. It was too overwhelming and confusing. 

He was leaving the team he won the Stanley Cup with. He’s leaving his best friend, he’s leaving his girlfriend of three years. He’s leaving the town he’s fallen in love with.

The rumors of the trade were circulating the locker room, he remained optimistic that he would have a positive outcome from it. Whether that is he’s traded away to a team that treats him right or he stays in Denver. But he was in fact leaving, going to Montreal. A young team, full of potential. He was ecstatic. 

Except when Y/N heard the news she broke down. She was successful in Denver, a full-time job that would be difficult to get anywhere else.  

“But you don’t need a job, I can prov-”

“I need to be independent, Alex. I cannot imagine just following you wherever you go. Alex, I can’t follow you to Montreal,” she mumbled standing up from the couch and walking towards the front door.

“Y/N. Y/N!” he let out urgently as he followed her movements. She spun around and met his gaze. His eyes became more teary eyed. “What does that mean?” he asked in a hushed tone. 

She pressed her lips together as she dropped her gaze towards the floor. “I love you, I love you with everything that I have, Alex. But I can’t follow you to Montreal,” she muttered as she wiped another tear that fell on her cheek. “I have a life that I love in Denver. I grew up here, everything I love is here,” she explained. 

He looked into her eyes as he nodded slowly. His heart shattered in that moment. He was going to a team that cared about him, wanted him so badly. But all he cared about in that moment was that the woman he loved was not going with him. 

The season was not going as Alex expected. He was injured for the majority of it and was feeling incredibly low. The fans were overwhelmingly supportive over the whole process. He was feeling at home with his new team. He was actively taking French lessons to try and become more accustomed to Montreal. 

He was getting along great with his new teammates, he was happy. He was also happy because Y/N and him were still friends. Despite ending their relationship, they remained friends. 

At first it was awkward, only keeping their friendship over text but it was still close. Now they talk almost every day, she was his rock during his recovery. And now he was in Denver for two days. 

She was sitting on her couch, her gaze watching Alex fall into the boards hard. A gasp left her lips as she covered her mouth with her hands. He was slow to get up, but was able to get off the ice on his own. He went straight down the tunnel.

She began texting with Kailey, Bo Byram’s girlfriend and her closest friend. She was frantically typing about how nasty the injury looked on Alex. It was a long intermission, waiting to see if Alex would return but it was hard to tell.

Kailey had called her, the Avalanche game was just starting in Arizona. “I saw the clip on Twitter, that didn’t look good,” Kailey mumbled.

“I know it was tough, but he hasn’t been ruled out,” Y/N explained as she watched the intermission report draw to a close.

“I’m sure it was just scary, easier to get checked out than to force it,” Kailey reassured as she let out a dramatic groan, probably about something that was happening during Bo’s game. 

“Yeah, yeah, totally,” she mumbled. 

“So, are you sure you and Alex aren’t doing long distance, seems like you guys are still super close,” she pressured, a smirk evident on her lips. Y/N rolled her eyes playfully as she watched the ice fade into view. The broadcast zooms in on Alex skating on the ice, to start the game.

“He’s on the ice,” she mumbled into the phone, a sigh of relief leaving her body as she smiled towards the screen. “I gotta go, call me later,” she mumbled before she hung up the phone and rested it beside her.

The game starts and only twenty seconds in, Alex is shoved and falls awkwardly into the net, his foot getting entangled with the net. She gasps as she watches him try to get up, but finding it impossible to put any pressure on his ankle. 

The ref calls the play dead, she gasps as she watches him get assistance from his teammates to stand. He skates towards the bench with help, unable to put pressure on his other ankle. 

It had been forty minutes since the game ended, Alex unable to return to the game. She calls him, needing to hear his voice. After seven rings, she nearly ended the call before he answered.

“How bad is it?” she asked as soon as he answered. He chuckled dryly.

“Not looking good,” he mumbled as he took a sharp breath, “Definitely out for a while,” he mumbled, sadly. 

“Oh Alex, I’m so sorry,” she muttered as she tilted her head back. He stayed silent. “Al?” she let out. He hummed. “Whatcha thinking?” she asked. 

“I’m frustrated,” he mumbled, “Finally have a place where I can say I can actually make an impact and I’m out for like the whole season,”

“You don’t know that,” 

“Two months at least,” he let out, groaning. “So you were watching?” he asked, changing the subject. She smiled as she tilted her head back.

“Haven’t missed a game yet,” she mumbled.

He let out a huff of air as he smiled widely, “No?” and she hummed as a reply. “Well, you’re gonna have to watch the games even though I’m not playing,” he let out.

Tonight was the first night he was coming back to Denver. He was nervous especially since his best friend, Bo, wasn’t playing for the Avalanche anymore either. He was laying in his hotel, unsure if he was allowed to call and ask to see Y/N. 

The boys were supposed to be on lockdown and rest inside their hotel rooms, alone. But he had to see her. He pulled his phone towards his ear, the phone rang a handful of times before she answered.

“Welcome back to Denver,” she said teasingly. He chuckled as he bit his bottom lip.

“Go to dinner with me,” he requested, in more of a demand. She furrowed her eyebrows harshly. “Meet me at our restaurant in an hour?” he asked. 

She needed to say no, this whole being friends was easy with phone calls and texting. She wasn’t sure how she was going to act if she saw him in person. It’s been nearly a year since they’ve broken up and she hasn’t even thought about being involved with anyone else.

“Okay,” she mumbled before hanging up the phone. 

~

It was several hours later and they were finished with the dinner. It wasn’t awkward at all, almost as if they’ve been together this entire time. Except there were no signs of romantic tension. “I can’t believe we finished a whole bottle of wine,” she mumbled while shaking her head.

“You act like that’s a lot for us,” he said laughing. They stood up from the table, walking together out of the building. She rolled her eyes playfully as they continued walking through the restaurant that they used to be regulars at.

They waited for the Uber they were going to share home. It was easier than riding separately. Her apartment was on the way to his hotel room. He stared towards her with a look she couldn’t quite decipher. 

“I’m glad you agreed to go with me,” he let out, a smirk toying his lips. She smiled towards him, unsuspectedly she wanted to kiss him. It was a sudden urge, she wanted to blame the half bottle of wine she drank. Or it was the way he was looking at her, she missed his lips. The small scruff of facial hair looked amazing on him, as his brown eyes seemed brighter than normal. 

The Uber pulled forward, and stopped in front of them. They climbed in the backseat. They were suddenly aware of each other's presence. Being on the opposite end of a dining table it was easy to feel normal. But being a near inch away from one another it was hard to ignore the magnet pulling them towards one another.

“Are you nervous?” she asked as he shifted his gaze towards her. His eyes looked down towards her lips for a brief second, admiring the red gloss covering them. 

“Right now?” he asked, she shook her head. “Oh tomorrow? Yeah, a little. But I’m excited to play at Ball Arena again.” he mumbled as he licked his lips.

“I’m excited to see you play in person again,” she muttered. 

“Yeah?” he asked, squinting his eyes slightly. She nodded.

“You know, our nights after that restaurant usually end differently,” she changed the subject, dropping her gaze to her lap. He smirked as he leaned his head towards her. She lifted her gaze to meet his eye. Her heart was pounding so loud it was the only thing she could hear.

She was getting hot as he was staring her down with utmost desperation.

“Yeah we are usually all-” he began making dramatic kissing motions towards her, purposely swirling his tongue out of his mouth. 

“Right?” she laughed as she began mimicking the motion again as they leaned towards one another. Suddenly they began kissing for real. His hand took a hold of her cheek, pulling her towards him. The kiss was sloppy and desperate for more. 

It was only a few minutes before the Uber driver stopped in front of her apartment building where they both climbed out of the car without thanking the driver. He took a hold of her hand guiding her towards the apartment as they were both breathing heavily. 

Stepping inside the apartment they stumbled into the stairwell beside the front door to the building. He shoved her body against the wall and began kissing her again. She leaned her body against him as his hands held her hips tightly against him. 

“Fuck,” she mumbled against his lips before she slipped away from his grasp, taking a hold of his hand as she guided him up the stairs towards the second floor.

[m3yme]

—The end of a cycle

Genre: Angst, Comfort, short ff

Pairing: Beomgyu x fm!Reader

Warnings: Toxic ex relationship, hints of abuse.

Synopsis: Somehow you have ended up in a toxic relationship, where endless fights and break-ups seemed to be your destiny. Like an endless cycle that wished to be broken but never could be, until the cafe worker seemed to get involved.

Note: Hi! This is my first ff so I’m sorry if it’s not that well written. I’m not super happy with how it turned out but I thought I’d just post it anyway. This story reminded me of a ex-relationship that seemed to be a endless loop for me. I would always imagine scenarios like this and so I just wrote one down. Hope you don’t find it too badly written!

You can’t help the heavy sigh leaving your lips as you feel a lump form in your chest, making your breath feel heavy as rocks. You’ve were sitting at a cafe with your boyfriend, or rather ex-boyfriend. As a matter of fact he had broken up with you countless of times but every now and then asked you out again. It was an endless cycle , but you couldn’t bare to say no to him, your feelings being way too in deep for any sort of self respect. He sat in front of you shaking his head and yelling words that you were too tired to pay any attention to. You knew it all to well, It was bound to be another breakup today. You look around the cafe to insure not too many people were witnessing your vulnerability. Lucky for you it was almost closing time, which meant that it was pretty much empty. You looked up at the man you loved so much, with a blank expression. Honestly speaking, you had stoped reacting a few breakups ago, too drained to let any sort of reaction show. When he finally ottered the words “i wanna break up” all you could do was lower your gaze as a simple “ok” left your lips. With your head lowered, you held ur breath until you could hear the bell from the door ring, signaling that he had left. Finally you let out a heavy breath. You sat there quietly for a few minutes until you could hear a cup being placed on your table. You look up to see a tall browned hair boy wearing a brown apron and a mask towering over your table. “Sorry, I didn’t order this” you quickly say thinking that the worker had given you somebody else’s order by mistake. He shook his head as to gesture that it wasn’t a mistake. “You can’t keep going back you know, it’s not good for you” he said with a low pitched voiced, raspy probably from talking to customers all day. You were about to question how he would know your routine but soon realized that this cafe was your exes favorite place to break up. Looking quickly at the boy you noticed his name tag “Beomgyu”. All you could do was sit quietly and let the tears run down your checks. Feeling embarrassed as even strangers seemed to see how pathetic you were. The tall boy sighed and left a handkerchief on the table before walking away.

Three weeks has passed, and Beomgyu had everyday anticipated to see you. He didn’t know why but he felt anxious, not knowing if you would enter the cafe again with your good for nothing boyfriend or not. He really couldn’t wrap his head around why you were willingly hurting yourself in that way. As if on cue, the bells of the cafe doors ring and you walk in. Beomgyu almost felt relieved until he saw the angry man that followed behind you. Sitting down at your usual table Beomgyu tracked your features scared that your old routine was about to be displayed again. While watching you he couldn’t help but notice the dark circles under your eyes and how pale your face looked. Despite your tired state he couldn’t help to feel mesmerized by your looks. You on the other hand payed little to no attention to your surroundings. Your eyes felt heavy reminding you of the countless of sleepless nights, staying up to hear your boyfriend scream at you through the phone about how imperfect and stupid you were. Nothing was new as the same scene played out again. Beomgyu ccouldn’t help himself from approaching a nearby table pretending to wipe it down in order for him to hear your very one sided conversation. “You know, if you could just be more quiet and behave better maybe I wouldn’t have to break up with you so many times.” Your boyfriend said with a stern voice. In order not to break down in tears your eyes traveled around the cafe, as if to find something that would take your mind off of the situation. They quickly stopped as you meet the gaze of the browned haired waiter. He gave you a sympathetic look almost snapping you out of the spell of your ex. It gave you a little courage as you turned to face the man in front of you. “Listen, I’ve had it with this draining relationship. Can’t you see that I’m not getting any sleep cause I have to listen to you complain all night about how bad I am. I already know about the girl you’re texting but I choose to stay quiet because I fucking love you. Please stop this back and forth game and just break up with me for good I really can’t take-“ you didnt get to finish your sentence as you felt your check go numb. Had he really just slapped you? Although your relationship was very toxic, violence was never used before. Before you had any time to react you heard a familiar voice speak. “Hey, it’s time for you to leave now or I’m calling security.” This time his voice sounded stern and angry compared to his previous southing one. Your ex decided to stand up muttering a quick “whatever” before walking out the door.

Beomgyu turned to face you.

“Come on, is it that hard for you to see how this man is actually hurting you? How many bruises and scars is it gonna take?? I really don’t understand why you can’t just fucking snap out of it already? I mean-“

He stopped his rant as he noticed the tears falling down your cheeks.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way, I just don’t like seeing someone getting used that way” he quicky said.

It stayed quiet for a few minutes as you noticed Beomgyu sitting down facing you.

“What you’re saying is true it’s just-“ you start not really knowing how to continue. You look up at the Brunette that is sitting in front of you anxiously waiting for what you would say next.

“He’s my first love” you whisper almost hopping that he wouldn’t catch it.

Beomgyu’s eyes soften. “Hey listen, I understand it is hard but please for the sake of yourself don’t continue, I mean look what he just did. Imagine how much more could happen to you.” He placed his hand on yours, which somehow soothed you. All you can do is nod your head, as it felt like all your problems were temporarily solved.

The rest of the evening you spent at the cafe as Beomgyu had asked you to wait for his shift to be finished. You didn’t know why but you couldn’t keep your eyes off the boy as he continued to work. A state of confusion but also relief filled you, as you thought about your situation. The weird thing being how a cafe worker seemed to have been able to finally break the shambles of your broken relationship. You found comfort in him. Maybe this was due to the fact that he was the complete opposite of your ex. Not only was he calm in his demeanor, but every thing he did he seemed to do with grace. While you were looking at him your eyes met for a brief second before he turned them back to the counter he was wiping. “How did you even fall for him in the first place” he asked breaking the silence. You thought for a minute about how to answer him, all while he stopped wiping and patiently waited for an answer. “To be honest I don’t know, I think I just felt happy in the beginning when we were both in love and caring. But somewhere along the line that changed I guess.” You say thinking back about the first dates you two shared. A sad smile plastered your face. “I guess I was too much of a wimp to leave him after thing s changed.” You added. “Loving someone with all you’ve got doesn’t make you a wimp, in fact I think it makes you really strong. I mean it couldn’t be easy to love someone so much that you’re willing to hurt yourself in the process.” Beomgyu said with a fierce look in his eyes, as if he was fighting to get the meanings of his words across. You were left a little stunned, mostly at how he again had known exactly what to say to make you feel better. It felt good. “Thank you Beomgyu” you said with a soft smile on your face. Beomgyu felt butterflies in his stomach when he saw your smile. All he wanted to do was to protect you from any harm in the future and to be by your side. You had a similar feeling of comfort in him, that you felt over time would be the softness your life needed.

[originalharmonysalad]

Twin Peaks: 12 Days of Christmas

The Twin Peaks 12 Days of Christmas. It was recorded by some cast members for the L.A.- based modern rock radio station KROQ-FM in December of 1990. Edited with scenes from Twin Peaks and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me for your enjoyment!

[tolkiens]

anyway my 2 cents...if you've seen any of the current discussion on twt re: discovering music through a certain national source in australia (which became hostile real fast bc a certain group of fans have absolute worms for brains stumbled upon something outside their personal bubble) i just wanna say..

community radio is infinitely better than whatever that wealthy man programming a national 'youth' station for like 30+ years has to say. far more diversity in genre and programs. some faves of mine who have played my music: 4ZZZ, 3RRR, PBS, 2SER, FBI, RTR FM (my local beloveds!!!! right now you can listen to the 3pm-5pm gender diverse showcase spanning all genres and eras) are great starting points. there's probably many more as well.

you go a long way through engaging with your local community and music scene. get out there and see someone play at a show. talk to people of different ages, backgrounds etc. can't begin to say how much i've learned talking to older punks and metalheads in my city that have given me extensive histories, let me borrow stuff they have that you cannot find anywhere online. if you can't do any of those things, that's fine too because the internet is at your fingertips now. plenty of sites, forums, reddit threads. look at what your mutuals are posting about. i use spotify blend playlists with groups of 3-4 friends, i also have that collaborator (?) feature where people can throw in songs they like onto a playlist. it's a great way to exchange music with ppl.

generally...approach things with an open mind and you'll be more than fine. you absolutely do not need to rely on something that churns out the same 5 racist upper middle class white dudes w mullets who play indistinguishable festival friendly whiny alt psych rock or whatever.

[bandzboy]

tunning into fairy fm 🧚🏻‍♀️✨ . . .

today's song recommendation is hot mess by friday pilots club! this is one of those bands that i found out through a spotify playlist and i've been obsessed with two of their songs too ('for the wicked' and 'end of it' if you wanna check them out too). this song is a rock song that is quite 'in your face' and it honestly reminds me of those movie scenes where the main character is being chased by the bad guys in a way. i would say if you love quite aggressive rock songs this is definitely the type of song for you!

[crystalninjaphoenix]

I think I am genuinely sick about Your Fantasy Masks au.

i've read great fics before (hell, pnpt and Septic heros are some of my top fics ever) but i am so not normal about FM.

Unfortanetly It's not possible for me to convey how much I love a 200k word fic (and still going!!!) by discussing each chapter, but GOD. This fic rocks.

The dynamics you build between the characters and the interactions they have are just fantasitc. I like how (in all your fics but especially FM) you give time for bonding scenes and let the reader see how the characters bond together.

Marvin, Jackie and Henrik are awesome. I adore their backstory and just the 3 of them together are so fun to read. Jackie and Marvin teasing Henrik over Vsevna is wonderful (!!!!They're courting!! <- is that the right word?)

Side note: One of my favourite scenes (or scene that has stuck with me) Is Jackie and Marvin apologising to each other. He did a shit job at it but I'm glad that they forgave each other

Jameson!! I like how he joined the main cast by being yoinked by Chase. I feel bad for him -being trapped by the king could not of been a fun experience. But! I like how you've developed his character. In the beginning he was very scared (rightfully so) and doubted he could do anything. Now in latter chapters, he's learning how to be his own person again after being stuck with the king + starting to be brave (my mind immediately goes to hiding the masks under the floor and trying to shield his mind from The king).

And Chase!! He's such a good character I love him. First: Him and his family <333 We don't see much of them but I love them (also Stacia!! She very cool. Can't wait to see Chase (hopefully) reunite with them after they've stopped being enchanted the the enchanter. And Amy and Quinten!! Can't wait to see more of them). I also like how Chase just knows a lot of stories (that end up being relevant to figuring stuff out). I just think it's really cool.

And the king/Jack??? Oh no he's locked in a well. So the king is being possesed?? thats so cool. I can't wait to see how the plot progresses and if Jameson's oracle about Chase will come true.

On a final note, I just really love the masks. Your world building for this Au is insane but I just really like the masks. I like how everyone gets to choose an animal and the symbols that represent the roles.

Okay that's only the main(ish) characters but I need to finish this ask off otherwise I might just start screaming and stop making any sense.

I've been constantly rotating this fic my head these past 3 days as I've read it, so thank you for writing it. It's fantastic and I love it a lot :D Not sure which fic of yours I'll read next, probably Horror Septics or Switch Au.

Yayyy I’m so glad you’re liking it! :D You do have an uncanny ability to send me asks when I’m busy XD but I’ll try to address everything you said. I’m so happy that you’re liking the characters! The scene with Jackie and Marvin making up was one of my favorites to write. It’s not often that you see something like “person messes up an apology at first” in writing so I wanted to include that. And yes, the others teasing Henrik for courting Vsevna is one of my favorite running jokes. I also love Jameson’s slow character development and Chase’s love for others. And yep, Jack is the true King but he’s being possessed—the spirit has been the villain of the story the whole time! Anyway, I’m happy you’re enjoying my stuff ^-^ If you’re gonna read more I’d be delighted :D