#fun fact the drummer of golden earring is a family friend

[hobgirl]

they're all in english so you have no excuse <3

[boleyn-falcon]

The Queens of The Castle Chapter 5

Its here! i changed it up a little with this one and almost doubled the word count! I’m gonna be putting more words into each chapter so there’s a bit more since i take so long updating (whoops sorry hehe). haha i proise they wil actually be in the parks next chapter i swear! I just wanna build the suspense lol

oh and i hope yall like the little LiW cameo, i will prolly have them pester the queens every once and a while because i love them too much to have them not lol

Word-count - 2811

Chapter1 Chapter2 Chapter3 Chapter4 

‘The queens finally figure out how to actually get into The Magic Kingdom’

Jane looked around in confusion and turned to her Spanish companion with a quizzical look. Catalina just gave an equally confused look as the rest of her fellow queens turned to her, looking for an answer to their confusion. The Spaniard quickly pulled out her phone to double-check if they got on the correct bus. “Well this don’t really look like a ‘Magic Kingdom’ to me ‘Lina”, the German said as she stepped forward, hoping for an explanation of why there were at this ‘transportation center’. The blonde queen walked over to her golden friend and placed a friendly hand on her shoulder, “ I bet it was just a slight misunderstanding of the bus schedule, right Cathrine?”, all Jane got in response was a worried glance.  Anne and Kat decided to just look around to maybe find someone that could lend them a hand, but all they saw where other guests in groups are lines.  The green-clad queen was starting to get a bit antsy as she had no idea what they were doing or what they were doing next, the plans that she made in her head were starting to derail. The idea of not knowing, of being in the dark, left her feeling like she was a sitting duck in an ocean, she hated feeling like a duck. Kathrine, noticing her cousin’s slight fidgeting and cracks in her usual confidant façade, gave her a reassuring smile and put her hands in a ‘rock, paper, scissors’ position. The young queen knew that playing it would help Anne take her mind off of everything, and she was right, her and her older cousin started playing and Anne’s nerves started to calm down slightly.         Cathrine, after a few minutes of reading, addresses the group of Tudor queen, “Okay girls, I know for a fact the bus we took here was the correct one, but after looking at a map I’ve found that the park in question is… across a body of water and we need to take another mode of transportation to get there.”. The rest of the group gave out a groan but Jane was fast to shut down the frustration party, “Well I bet there’s a fast easy way to get to the park! We could maybe find someone who works here to point us in the right direction!”, Anne was fast to shut her optimistic friend down, “Me and Kitty already tried, the only people here are guests like us”. Jane gives a confident look in return and starts to walk towards the crowds of people, “Well then I guess you didn’t look hard enough, trust me, I can find someone!”, the silver woman was gone before they could tell her to wait. They all just stood in shock as they waited for the eventual return of their motherly friend. “ Huh I can’t believe Jane of all people took charge like that, I guess she really is determined for us to have a good vacation here”, the curly-haired bookworm said with a slight smirk tugging at her lips. The cousins just returned to their games of ‘rock, paper, scissors,’ while Cathy continued her book and Anna and Cathrine started chatting.         “So you and Jane really think this trip is gonna go smoothly? And be as good as everyone makes it up to be?”, the short-haired woman says with a hint of skepticism, “I mean it’s going somewhat well so far I just really hope it’s all as good as it seems is all.”, the older queen gives a hopeful look at her fellow divorcee. “Well we are gonna do everything in our power, as you can see with Jane going on her little hunt, to make sure you girls get the vacation you all deserve. We all have been working hard on the show and we needed a well-deserved break and some ‘family fun’ and Jane would call it”, Anna, satisfied with her friend’s response, gave a nod and thankful smile.          Meanwhile, in the crowd of people, Jane was trying to find anyone who even remotely looked like they worked there. She noticed a lot of the people were lining up at certain booths and kiosks, a lightbulb went off in the pale queen’s brain as she walked over to one of the lines. After just a few minutes of looking around her surroundings, she spotted a shorter elderly woman earring a plain white shirt and a name tag. She got a bit closer to get a better look at her nametag that read, ‘Florence’ in bold, presumably her name and, ‘Ocala, FL’. Jane guessed that’s where the woman was from, that would make the most sense. She approached the older woman but before she could speak, the woman flashed her a bright smile, “Hey there honey! You need help findin’ somethin’ ‘round here?”. The queen was slightly surprised by the woman’s straightforwardness and readiness to help, but she was thankful she knew why Jane approached her.  “Well actually yes ma’am, see me and my friends need help trying to get to ‘The Magic Kingdom’, we thought the bus we took here would take us there but we ended up here. Where do we go to get to the park?”, the woman smiled brightly and gave a two-fingered point to her right and Jane’s left, “Well okay darlin’ your gonna wanna take you and your friends in that direction to the ‘Magic Kingdom’ express Monorail right ovr’ there. When Yall take that there Monorail it will drop you off right at the park! I hope all have a magical trip!”. Jane gave a small ‘thank you very much’ and started off back in the direction of her fellow queens so they can really get this show on the road. The hospitality and over-friendliness of the people here threw her off slightly, was everyone here like that? She really hoped so, it would make their trip a lot easier in the long run.        Cathy watched her blonde friend approach the group with a slight skip in her step and a wide smile. Hopefully this meant she found out a solution to their little dilemma. “Okay loves lets get moving! This lovely employee I met told me that we need to get on this ‘Monorail’ to get to the park! It’s right over there so we should be there in no time!”, they all grabbed their various bags and water bottles they set down next to them and started walking with Jane taking the lead. Cathy started to take a closer look at where the silver-clad woman was leading them. There was a large sign that said ‘Magic Kingdom Monorail’ and under that was a large ramp for people to walk up. The short queen looked further ahead of them to see the ramp lead to what looks like some kind of docking and boarding area above the ground. They all make it about halfway up the ramp and stop, there was a line to board but it wasn’t really that long. Cathy takes this as a chance to look up just in time to see a white futuristic train-like vehicle with a lime green stripe going along the side of it. It seemed to have several different areas for, what Cathy assumed, people would be riding. She took a guess that it was going about 40ish miles per hour. This must be the Monorail that takes people from and to the park, seeing this only made the blue queen more curious about what this place had in store.      Cathrine would be lying if she said she said she wasn’t worried about the trip as a whole. One thing that worried the Spaniard was having The Ladies in Waiting house watch for them. Yes she loved and trusted the girls but they can be… a lot sometimes, and that’s why when Catalina got a call from Bessie, she was pretty concerned. The gold queen let out an exhausted sigh and answered, putting her phone on speaker so the rest of the group could listen in. The first thing that comes out of the phone is a distant shrill scream, definitely Joan everyone collectively thinks. Thankfully next they hear an actual voice, a frantic sounding Bessie, “Hey um mu- I mean um Cathrine? We have a small issue at the house-”, the bassist was cut off by a very panicked sounding Maria screaming, “Maggie put the- NO! God no don’t use her legs!”. They all exchanged very concerned looks, well, and a small chuckle from Anna. “Bessie dear what’s going on? Is everyone okay? Was that scream Joan? Is she okay?”, the group waited silently for the musician to respond. “Well um not really? One of Anna’s dogs got out of backyard through a small hole under the fence, but good news Maria grabbed it before it got far! Bad news is Joan tried to squeeze through the hole after it and now shes a little… stuck?”, another crash can be heard and another wail from the stuck pianist and the panicked drummer, “Maggie be gentle with her! We can’t have you ripping her back skin off!”, an even louder scream can be heard in response. Cathrine clears her throat and continues the conversation, “Okay Bessie dear first you all need to calm down. Then just try and calm the poor girl down enough and try slowly pulling her arms from the other side of the fence. If that doesn’t work just try making the hole bigger so she can get out, okay?”. All the queens hear a quiet ‘Okay.. thank you’, Bessie hangs up and they all give out a sigh of relief.  The group all notice the line starting to move and walk forward till they are covered by the stone roof of the open boarding area. It looks like the next monorail that comes along should be the one they can get on since there’s only about 25ish people ahead of them now.         The Cousins continue their games as they wait but Anne soon gets distracted by a spaced-out Cathy near the back of the group. She turns to her younger cousin with a small smile, “Hey Kitty I’m gonna go see what Cathy is up to, you should go keep Anna company since she’s just on her phone, sound good?”, the younger girl gives a smile and a nod as she practically skips over to her German friend. The older beheaded queen makes her way to the back of the group and taps her shorter friend of the shoulder which makes Parr blink and step back slightly in confusion. The curious queen soon turns her surprised look into a happy one after she notices that it was just Anne who tapped her. “Whatcha starin’ at nerd? I’m surprised your nose isn’t buried in that book like earlier”, Cathy just raises her brow and gives a smirk at the dark-haired girl, but the look just becomes a small laugh and smile. “Well I was just thinking about all of the new technology, like yea its been a while since we first came to the modern world and learned about all of the new stuff, but there’s still so much more we haven’t even seen yet!”, Cathy’s eyes practically turned to stars while talking about her fascination with all of the new things she was seeing. The green queen smiled and put her arm around her friend’s shoulder to pull her along, “Well there’s plenty more to see so you have tons of time to see everything, but I bet being up here with the rest of us will let you see even more”, she pulls the curly-haired queen forward closer to the rest of the group.  Right as the pair make it up next to the rest of their friends, they see the monorail enter the docking area.       The group sees doors open on the opposite side of the monorail and just a small handful of people exit, then the doors on their side of the monorail open, and people in the line start entering. They are ushered inside one of the monorail cars along with a handful of people. A small group of teenage boys and from the looks of it their mother, a small family of four, and your average happy couple. They all stood, holding onto the metal rails, waiting for the doors to close. Out of nowhere, they here a voice over the speakers, “Please stand clear of the doors;¡Por favor manténgase alejado de las puertas!”, the Spanish words startled the Spaniard slightly. “Did..did I just hear that correctly? I’m not going crazy right?”, her question was answered as the voice repeated the message when the final doors on their left closed. The rest of the girls gave out a small laugh as Cathy took this as a moment to share what she learned, “Yep! You heard that all right! Since this country is so diverse they commonly have safety messages in multiple languages, most commonly Spanish! Actually a large population of Florida and the south, in general, is Latin American so a lot of people speak Spanish!”, the blue queen beamed, proud of herself for her research coming in handy. Aragon hummed in understanding and awe as the monorail finally started to move.       The queens stood in silence while the groups around them began to start chatting like no one was around, they didn’t seem to mind talking amongst themselves in such an enclosed and public space. That is until the assumed mother of the teenage boys stopped and looked between her boys in the seats and the six queens standing. “Goodness boys where are yalls’ manners? Get up now let these nice women sit down Dontcha?”, all five boys stand up with smiles still plastered on their faces and one of the older ones turns towards the queens, “I’m sorry ladies, here you sit yourselves down and get comfortable”, the queens obliged and sit down, slightly in shock but give small ‘thank yous’.  Anna notices none of the boys are actually hold the poles as they stand, they are all just standing with their feet firmly planted to the ground or with their backs leaning on the poles, one of them even is gripping the pole but with his hand in his pocket, so his hand isn’t actually touching the pole. The German gave a small cough to get the boy gripping the pole through his pocket’s attention and he looks up at her with a curious, but friendly look of acknowledgment. “Not to be rude but, why are none of you actually touching the poles, aren’t they there to be held onto?”, the boy flashes a smile and gives his response, “Well yall obviously ain’t from ‘round here, but here it’s kinda common to not actually hold onto em.”, the teenager counties, “Because you don know how many strangers have touched it an’ all, haha you don’t know what kinda germs they have yknow?”, Anna thinks about his answer, it makes a lot of sense so she just gives him a look of acknowledgment and he goes back to playing on his phone. The red-clad queen didn’t realize how germaphobic people here where, she became used to holding onto things barehanded on the tube and didn’t really think much of how many people must have touched them.       After just five or so minutes of riding, Anne noticed a few of the boys began to look out the window to her left on the sliding door. She moved her body forward slightly to get a better look at what they were gawking at and saw, in the distance, a white and blue castle. The rest of the queens followed suit and peered over to get a look outside the window. “It’s…”, is all Catalina could get out before they all started to slightly tear up at the sight, “...Gorgeous”. Anne took a wild guess that this was the castle that was plastered as a symbol all around the resort. She couldn’t believe it, it hadn’t fully hit her until now, she really was about to enter the famed ‘Happiest Place on earth’. Obviously the castle was meant to be slightly ‘magical’ and look like it was pulled right out of a fairytale, but it looked like something she would gladly take residence in her last life. They started to get closer but the castle came out of view and another docking area began to get closer, they were almost there. The brunette queen began to practically vibrate with excitement as she wiped a stray tear from her eye. Anne stood up as the monorail began to slow down and enter the stone enclosure, “alright girls”, she turned to her friends with a proud and confident smile, “Lets go storm the castle!”.

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I hope yall get that reference in the last line because if not im gonna feel like a huuuuge nerd-

Taglist - @mindless-pidgeon   @prisky0731  @patdfobmcr-yt  @whenallthestarscollide  @ashkibagi-ziibiing @homosixual-dumbass   tell me if you ever wanna be added or taken off!

[doomedandstoned]

Chicago’s Black Road Announce ‘Witch of the Future’ & Drop Single

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

No two bands are the same. They all start out differently, and for their own reasons. Tim M. and Suzi Uzi of Black Road decided to form the band out of what felt like pure necessity. Tim had many riffs built up from almost two decades of guitar playing. Upon showing many glimpses of skill and songwriting knowledge to Suzi, she decided to try and form a band. There was an inherent need to get these riffs and songs out to the world. In June of 2015, Tim chose the name Black Road, and the rest is history.

Upon naming the band, the couple had an uncertain view of what direction the band might take. Anthony Petrucci was asked to join in on bass, and within one month of jamming, the trio recorded an acoustic rendition of a song Tim had brought forth from his past. “Innocent Woman” can still be found on the SoundCloud account for Black Road. After much reflection, the group decided they wanted to play out as a band and needed a drummer. Dennis Franco, longtime high school friend of both Tim and Suzi’s, was asked to join in on drums. A second guitarist was also involved, Eddie Salinas. Eddie and Tim had played alongside one another for years in high school. Along with Dennis, they were known as the main guitarists during the years they and Suzi all attended the same school together.

Photographs by Matthew Vineyard

After an unorganized, but ultimately fun first gig together, the band went through immediate lineup changes. Black Road lost its second guitarist, and became a 4-piece. Another gig opportunity presented itself in November of 2015, and then-current drummer Dennis was unable to perform. A fill-in was quickly found at the music store Suzi worked. Andrew Becker became Black Road’s full-time drummer going forward, after learning the entire set as a fill-in. For about 10 months, the band wrote more songs, became tighter, and performed several times together. The lineup then changed once more in September of 2016.

Former drummer Andrew was the first one to take a step out of the band for musical differences. Suzi had quit smoking to improve her vocals and had gotten much stronger and more confident. It was then that Tim had the “okay” to pull out the heavier metal riffs he had been holding back. Simply to allow Suzi time to get stronger and the fact that heavy songs can be harder and more taxing to sing, the band hadn’t written too many songs that would be considered metal. Since this was the direction Tim and Suzi wanted to go, Andrew and then one week later Anthony, both decided they wanted to pursue other musical endeavors.

Film by Billy Goate

A drummer who had previously made contact with Suzi online immediately stepped in, Robert Gonzales. It was clear from the first time jamming with him that he would become a member of Black Road. The last thing to find was a bassist, and there were some folks who auditioned and did not end up working. Without realizing he was under their noses the entire time, bassist Casey Papp stepped forward as a local who had already seen Black Road perform and supported the band. He came to audition and Tim knew right away that he fit his style of playing and would make an excellent addition to the lineup. A couple jams later, the band was announcing the new members on Halloween of 2016, and they remain to this day.

Black Road was eventually noticed by DHU Records label head Robert Black. There were several demos out online, all recorded by John Morrison. In August of 2016, Black Road had signed with the label out of the Netherlands for a vinyl and cassette release. This may have prompted the eventual split with the former members, but it was a great source of inspiration to everyone in the current lineup. In the time the band was going through all of this, BloodRock Records (Italy) label head Enrico Spallarossa took notice, and signed the band to another deal for a CD release. There was a sense of urgency but also excitement, knowing the songs the band was learning and eventually writing together would be printed on multiple physical formats. in January of 2017, local friend Brad V. Earl tracked and recorded the band’s debut EP. It was released October 6, 2017.

Photograph by Matthew Vineyard

There were many hard lessons learned during the recording process, and the same can be said with most bands. These experiences with demos and album recordings made the eventual full-length album much easier to conceive and execute. The “Black Road EP” was well-received, and completely sold out on all formats. The band knew what they wanted and now did not want to happen for the next time they attempted the recording process. The band went through many hardships, struggled financially, and survived some intense times together...only making them stronger. The songs were written from life experiences and shared interests. The full-length album “Witch of the Future” contains songs completely written by the current lineup, whereas the EP had songs written from both incarnations of the band. An initial, separate recording session of a single track for “Witch of the Future” was done prior to the full-length, to test the capabilities and sound at Roosterbat Studios. It was released late 2018 on Bandcamp in the digital format.

The recording sessions varied, as they always do. There were bumps in the road both technical and personal. The window of time to record was limited. Already planned were a music video shoot and two tours quickly following, so the album needed to seemingly be done by then. In the time the band and labels were waiting for the mixing to be done, DHU Records proposed a 7” inch single vinyl release, and Suzi immediately said yes! Thanks to original artwork created by Shane Horror, a mock-up became a reality in less than a month. 50 copies were printed and the tiny clear vinyl sold out in a mere 20 minutes. It was also thanks to the quick work of John Becker that the single was made possible. He and Alec Haley tracked, recorded and mixed the full-length album at Roosterbat Studios. It was then handed over to DHU Records favorite Tony Reed at HeavyHead Recording Co. for mastering on all formats. Over 2 years in the making, “Witch of the Future” can finally be brought to the present. It is the culmination of the band’s progress, triumphs, and failures.

Album Notes

Tim M. lead the songs as usual with his soaring riffs. Melodic and harmonic, they set the tone for the vocals. All lyrics and vocals are done by Suzi Uzi, with Tim doing backing vocals on a few tracks. There is synth and tambourine sprinkled throughout, but not overdone. Robert Gonzales took charge of the recording sessions! He absolutely nailed his drum takes during the live recordings, while Casey Papp complimented his every beat with some killer, amazing bass.

After having super solid takes, vocals and guitar solos were added, as well as percussion and synth, to round out the sound. The ambience of the studio and the relaxed nature of the entire process comes out in the album. The single "Witch of the Future" was first released as a live track in 2017, then again in 2018 as a standalone digital single. It was completely redone in the studio and is released as the title track for this album. “Blood on the Blade” was released for the music video and as a single, but has been remixed and remastered for the “Witch of the Future” album release. A bonus track in included in the digital release, previously released as Side B of the “Blood on the Blade” 7” vinyl single.

From The Band

“There were many people who helped bring this to the light. Artists like Nick Gurley have helped make a name for us by presenting one-of-a-kind pieces inspired by the music, that made a lasting impression. Music videos can be found thanks to Don Corthier and Liza Moon, which have been the source for thousands of people discovering Black Road. Friends have helped record demos, take photos, and get video up online for others. All of the support from reviewers, blogs, and interviewers have helped get people involved and interested in following the band. We feel so humbled by hard-working people like DHU Records and BloodRock Records, and we are honored to be on their roster! It is a community effort, and we are one big family. We wouldn’t be here without you all, and we are eternally grateful. We live by the golden rule and the future looks super bright. Thank you for being a part of this journey trippin’ down Black Road with us!”

First Single

And now, Doomed & Stoned proudly presents the single "Hash King" from 'Witch of the Future' (2019) by Black Road, coming to DHU Records on Halloween, with pre-orders beginning on Friday, September 13th.

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