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fiftytwotwentythree · 1 year

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Wellness Wednesday:

It's Gonna Be May

Dude, I love May.

I am excited for yard games, cookouts, movies, golfing, campfires, traveling with no fear of icy roads or freezing temps.

The first week of May I am diving in hard. Got a Fresh Haircut, Taking PTO, catching a Matinee Flick with My Buddies, Getting a Massage, Free Comic Book Day on Saturday, and I am planning on having a good time with my family.

I don't know why but things just seem easier in May. Probably my favorite month/time year - right up there with September. Hoping to lose some tension and just relax.

Workout-wise - I started working out to music and it been a total gamechanger. Yeah - this is nothing new or unheard of - but I been typically watching/listening to show or the news while working out.

My workouts were averaging around 55mins each session.

Now with music on in the background I am knocking out workout sessions in about 23 mins... and I am still getting the same amount of sweat if not more.

Only difficulty I have experienced with the new workout routine is what album to put on. Looking for album that is solid throughout.

Listened to couple Foo Fighters, Weezer, Blink 182, The Darkness, and Childish Gambino albums, and one Movie Soundtrack.

Food-wise, I am working on cleaning out my cupboards, fridge, and freezer before buying anymore food/meals outside fresh fruit, fresh veggies, milk, and bread.

Earlier I bought a lot of groceries for meal prepping and never prepped them. So, that is my mini goal to tackle but I not going to be pigheaded or stubborn about it - going to be loosey-goosey with my meals.

18th CHECK-IN:

Current Goals:

Lose 52 lbs

Completed as of 4/12/2023

New Goal: Maintain or Continue on The Weight Loss Path

Avoid "Junk Food"

Minimize Take-Out / Fast Food Consumption

Short Term:

Vegetarian-ish Diet: Completed

End Date: 4/09/2023 - 46 Days Total

Stats from April:

Food:

Salads: 17

Bags of Popcorn: 17

Leftover Meals: 16

Cans of Soup: 4

Oranges: 0

Take Out: 0

Candy/Sweets: 0

Workout:

Jumping Jacks: 6,000

Push-Ups: 3,000

Glute Bridges: 3,000

Assisted Push-Ups: 3,000

Reverse Leg Lifts: 1,500

Leg Kickbacks: 1,500

Squats: 0

Sit-Ups: 0

Plank (mins): 0

Weight Loss:

Weightloss This Month: -9 lbs

Average Weightloss per Week: -2.25 lbs

Total Weightloss: -57.2 lbs

Entertainment:

Movies Watched: 12

Favorite from the Month:

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Hours of Television Watched: ~5 hours ( Ink Master )

Books:

Books Completed This Month: 0

Book Title(s) Completed This Month: -n/a-

Book Total for the Year: 2

Meal Tracker:

THURSDAY

Lunch:

(2) Johnsonville Beddar with Cheddar Smoked Sausages on Toasted Hotdog Buns

- Ketchup

(3) Scoops of Potato Salad

Snack:

Handful of Wonderful's Salt & Vinegar Pistachios

Bag of Orville Redenbacher Ultimate Butter Popcorn

Supper:

Panera Bread Microwavable Potato Soup

- 8 Crackers

Chef Salad

(3) Scoops of Potato Salad

(1) Glass of Chocolate Milk

FRIDAY

Lunch:

(2) Hot Roast Beef and Melted American White Cheese on Toast Sandies

Snack:

Handful of Wonderful's Smokey BBQ Pistachios

(2) Bowls of Valley Top Popcorn

Individual Bag of Wonderful's Salt & Pepper Pistachios

Supper:

Birds Eye Veggie Teriyaki Stir Fry served over

- Annie Chun's Sticky White Rice

- Planters Peanuts

(1) Glass of Chocolate Milk

SATURDAY

Lunch:

Big Sur Microwavable Breakfast Burrito

Snack:

(3) Handfuls of Nice's Salt & Pepper Cashews

(1) Handful of Good & Gather's Tex Mex Trail Mix

(2) Bowls of Valley Top Popcorn

Supper:

(10) Pieces of Tyson's Crispy Chicken Strips

- BBQ Sauce

- Parmesan Garlic Sauce

- Polynesian Sauce

- Ranch

- Spicy Garlic Sauce

(1) Glass of Chocolate Milk

SUNDAY

Lunch:

(2) Johnsoville Beddar with Cheddar Smoked Sausages on Toasted Hotdog Buns

- Ketchup

(1) Glass of Chocolate Milk

Snack:

Handful of Wonderful's Smokey BBQ Pistachios

Handful of Good & Gather Tex Mex Trail Mix

Bowl of Valley Top Popcorn

Supper:

Southwest Salad

(1) Glass of Chocolate Milk

MONDAY

Lunch:

Chef Salad

(1) Hardboiled Egg

Bowl of Valley Top Popcorn

Snack:

Handful of Good & Gather's Tex Mex Trail Mix

Handful of Wonderful's Salt & Vinegar Pistachios

(1) Hardboiled Egg

Supper:

Bowl of Cesaer Salad with Croutons

(1) Hardboiled Egg

Bowl of Good & Gather's Shelled Salt & Pepper Pistachios

(1) Glass of Chocolate Milk

TUESDAY

Lunch:

Bowl of Leftover Cesaer Salad with Croutons

Snack:

Handful of Good & Gather's Tex Mex Trail Mix

Bowl of Good & Gather's Shelled Salt & Pepper Pistachios

Supper:

(2) Hardboiled Eggs

(2) Buttered Pieces of Toast

(1) Glass of Chocolate Milk

WEDNESDAY

Lunch:

(1) Roast Beef and Pastrami Sandwich on a Toasted Wheat Hoagie with Melted Provolone

- Miracle Whip

(2) Handfuls of Good & Gather's Tex Mex Trail Mix

Bowl of Good & Gather's Shelled Salt & Pepper Pistachios

Supper:

Large Plate of Birds Eye Oven Bake Creamy Parmesan Garlic Chicken (with Penne Pasta and Broccoli)

- Dusting of Parmesan Cheese

- Dusting of Pepper

- (2) Scoops of Peas

- Half a Can of Pineapple Chunks

(1) Glass of Chocolate Milk

Workouts:

THURSDAY

(200) Jumping Jacks [4 sets of 50]

(100) Glute Bridges [4 sets of 25]

(100) Push-Ups [10 sets of 10]

(100) Assisted Push-Ups [2 Sets of 50]

(50) Reverse Leg Lifts [5 sets of 10]

(50) Leg Kickbacks [5 sets of 10]

FRIDAY

(200) Jumping Jacks [4 sets of 50]

(100) Glute Bridges [4 sets of 25]

(100) Push-Ups [10 sets of 10]

(100) Assisted Push-Ups [2 Sets of 50]

(50) Reverse Leg Lifts [5 sets of 10]

(50) Leg Kickbacks [5 sets of 10]

SATURDAY

(200) Jumping Jacks [4 sets of 50]

(100) Glute Bridges [4 sets of 25]

(100) Push-Ups [10 sets of 10]

(100) Assisted Push-Ups [2 sets of 50]

(50) Reverse Leg Lifts [5 sets of 10]

(50) Leg Kickbacks [5 sets of 10]

SUNDAY

(200) Jumping Jacks [4 sets of 50]

(100) Glute Bridges [4 sets of 25]

(100) Push-Ups [10 sets of 10]

(100) Assisted Push-Ups [2 sets of 50]

(50) Reverse Leg Lifts [5 sets of 10]

(50) Leg Kickbacks [5 sets of 10]

MONDAY

(200) Jumping Jacks [4 sets of 50]

(100) Glute Bridges [4 sets of 25]

(100) Push-Ups [10 sets of 10]

(100) Assisted Push-Ups [2 Sets of 50]

(50) Reverse Leg Lifts [5 sets of 10]

(50) Leg Kickbacks [5 sets of 10]

(100) Sit-Ups [4 Sets of 25]

TUESDAY

(200) Jumping Jacks [4 sets of 50]

(100) Glute Bridges [4 sets of 25]

(100) Push-Ups [5 sets of 10]

(100) Assisted Push-Ups [1 Set]

(50) Reverse Leg Lifts [5 sets of 10]

(50) Leg Kickbacks [5 sets of 10]

(5 mins) Planks [8 sets of 30secs; 1 set of 1min]

WEDNESDAY

(200) Jumping Jacks [4 sets of 50]

(100) Glute Bridges[4 sets of 25]

(100) Push-Ups [10 sets of 10]

(100) Assisted Push-Ups [2 Sets of 50]

(50) Reverse Leg Lifts [5 sets of 10]

(50) Leg Kickbacks [5 sets of 10]

(100) Sit-Ups [4 Sets of 25]

WEIGHT TRACKER:

Starting Weight (Noon, 1/01/2023): XXX.X lbs

Weight at Last Check-In, 4/26/2023: -1.8 lbs

Weight As of Noon, 5/03/2023: -1.6 lbs

Total Weight Loss: -58.8 lbs

Closing Thoughts:

The Good:

I've been attempting to read book for over a month - really wanted to have one completed in the month of April but the books I chose were dragging. I pivoted and gave up on those books and picked up a new book at the beginning of the week and it is cruising - over half way complete.

Finishing workouts in a reasonable amount of time.

Added Planks and Sit-Ups to the workout routine. So far so good - no back pain, but do have that core/ab burn.

I went ham and bought a large variety of cashews and Pistachios.

The Bad:

I heard some comment a long time ago that if you go clean (no takeout, junk food, sugar sweets) for just 21 days that you would break all the cravings. Well....It has been well over 21 days - closer to 122 days - can somebody explain why I just want to go all 'Tracy Morgan" on a Double Whopper with Cheese with a of Side Chips??? If I even get a whiff of BK I start drooling.

The Ugly:

My Sleep and My Workouts have been battling each other for dominance. Been having to take a nap just so I can workout which then causes my workouts to take place at odd hours of the day - talking anywhere between 2am and 5am

#52 in 23

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fearsmagazine · 3 years

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Innovative Composer DANNY ELFMAN Releases New Double Album BIG MESS

After releasing a series of singles and videos over the past few months, renowned composer Danny Elfman is releasing his new double album Big Mess today, his first solo record in thirty-seven years. “I knew from the start that this wasn’t going to be a neat, easy-to-categorize record,” says Elfman. “It was always destined to be this crazy cacophony, because that’s who I am. The Big Mess is me.” Listen to the album HERE

Big Mess was almost entirely created spontaneously during quarantine in 2020. It began as an experiment Elfman had been considering which combined aggressive rock band and orchestral strings in a way that had not been heavily explored. “Once I began writing,” he explained, “It was like opening a Pandora’s box and I found I couldn’t stop. None of it was planned. I had no idea how many songs I would write but from the start it quickly became a 2-sided project with heavily contrasting and even conflicting tones.”

Clocking in at 18 tracks, the sprawling, ambitious double album finds the 4x Oscar nominated, Grammy and Emmy Award-winning composer breaking bold new ground as both a writer and a performer. He is joined on the album by drummer Josh Freese (Devo, Weezer, The Vandals), bassist Stu Brooks (Dub Trio, Lady Gaga, Lauryn Hill), and guitarists Robin Finck (Nine Inch Nails, Guns N’ Roses) and Nili Brosh (Tony MacAlpine, Paul Gilbert).

The songs on Big Mess combine both harmonically complex arrangements and simple high energy driving music with biting, acerbic wit as they reckon with the chaos and confusion of the modern world. And while the anger, frustration, and isolation of it all is palpable in his delivery, Big Mess is about more than simply blowing off steam. In making the space to truly sit with his emotions and write without limitations, Elfman achieved a kind of artistic liberation on the record that had been eluding him for decades, rediscovering his voice and reinventing himself all at once in the process.

Album opener “Sorry” showcases that frenetic electricity, with driving strings and swirling vocals giving way to bruising drums and snarling guitar. Like so much of the record, the song is eerily off kilter, full of unsettled tension that threatens to explode at any moment. The sardonic “Happy” twists an upbeat pop melody into a bitter social commentary, while the searing “Love In The Time Of COVID” taps into the simmering angst of life under lockdown, and the slow burning “True” faces down hopelessness and despair head on. And a reworked Oingo Boingo song, “Insects”, transforms itself into a meditation on the greed and sickness of the American ruling class. Elfman’s vocals are gritty and growling here, and his raw unfiltered delivery only adds to the emotionally charged atmosphere.

“I hadn’t really sung anything as myself in 25 years,” he explains, “and to my surprise, I found that I could do things now that I couldn’t have done when I was younger. It was like discovering I had a whole new voice.”

This fall, Elfman will return to the stage as Jack Skellington with a live-to-film concert experience of Disney’s timeless holiday classic “Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas”. Taking place on October 29 at Los Angeles’s Banc of California Stadium, tickets are available HERE.

Listen to BIG MESS:

1. Sorry 2. True 3. In Time 4. Everybody Loves You 5. Dance With The Lemurs 6. Serious Ground 7. Choose Your Side 8. We Belong 9. Happy 10. Just A Human 11. Devil Take Away 12. Love In The Time Of Covid 13. Native Intelligence 14. Better Times 15. Cruel Compensation 16. Kick Me 17. Get Over It 18. Insects

#music news #album #album release #danny elfman #big mess

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carlosgabrielruiz · 3 years

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PINKERTON - 33 1/3 Proposal Part 6

CHAPTER 4 Many Rivers to Cross:A Brief History of Rivers Cuomo

For most people, Weezer begins and ends with Rivers Cuomo. Period. Point blank. Rivers Cuomo is undoubtedly the brains and heart behind the band – without him, there would simply be no Weezer. Rivers is the primary songwriter, lyricist, band director, and de facto Great Leader (although it should be noted that in the early days he shared some of those songwriting duties and credits with Matt Sharp and original guitarist Jason Cropper).

Rivers was born in Manhattan on June 13, 1970. He grew up in upstate New York in the Buddhist Zen Center where his father was a farmer. In 1975, his father left the family and Rivers moved to Connecticut with his mother and brothers to live in Yogaville on an ashram farm.(1) He grew up as a quiet and shy child only later to become a metalhead with an outgoing love for Kiss and Van Halen.

When he turned 18 Rivers moved to L.A. and started to officially make a go of it in music. He got a job at Tower Records and was introduced to drummer Pat Wilson. (2) They became friends and formed a band called Fuzz. Rivers moved into Pat’s apartment which he shared with Matt Sharp, who was a talented multi-intrumentalist. Matt soon decided to join them and they embarked on an odyssey that would eventually make musical history.

Valentine’s Day of 1992 was a momentous occasion for the newly formed, yet still-unnamed, new band because that was the day that Rivers Cuomo (lead guitar), Matt Sharp (bass), Jason Cropper (guitar), and Pat Wilson (drums) first gathered together to rehearse and record their sessions. The band “got together at T.K. rehearsal studios, in West LA, and rehearsed for either 3 or 4 days straight.”(3) The demo tape that was made during the session featured a list of all the potential band names they were toying with at the time including the initial band name “Fuzz”, as well as “Meathead”, “Outhouse”, “Hummingbird”, “the Big Jones” and “This Niblet”.

Things moved quickly for the band from there. A little over a year after their first official rehearsal, the band - now officially named Weezer - signed a major label record deal with Geffen Records. The band had hoped to self-produce their debut, but the suits at Geffen were not going to let that happen. Eventually, the band picked Cars’ frontman, Ric Ocasek, to handle production on the record. According to Rivers Cuomo, “The record company was really pushing us to work with a producer, so we figured that if we had to have somebody in the studio with us, it might as well just be someone who writes good songs – and the Cars’ first record just rules.” (4)

The band went to Electric Ladyland studios in New York to work on their record. Everything was going great up until it wasn’t. There were internal problems with the guitarist Jason Cropper that led to Rivers firing him from the band. According to Ric Ocasek, “He (Rivers) called me when the record was finished, the day before we were supposed to start mixing, and said, ‘Listen, I just fired the guitar player.’ So I said, ‘What are you gonna do now?’ He’s like, ‘I want all of his parts off the record.’” Luerssen (2004)

With two days before mixing was due to begin in New York, Sharp and Cuomo called Brian Bell.5 He auditioned on tape and was hired to replace Jason. But it was too late to in the game to fly him out to re-record all of Jason’s guitar parts. Under the gun, and with only a day of studio time left before mixing was slated to begin, Rivers re-recorded all of the guitar parts himself (even though Brian is credited on the record).

The Blue Album was released on May 10th, 1994. The 10-track LP provided a “new roadmap for alt-rock following the death of Kurt Cobain and the conclusion of grunge’s first era.”(5) The catchy power-pop record with hook-laden choruses and kitschy Spike Jonze directed videos was an overwhelming success. It would invade the mainstream and go on to sell over 3 million records in the U.S. alone. The band went on a seemingly never-ending tour to promote the record.

Rivers struggled with the newly found fame and success that the Blue Album had brought the band. He was “frustrated by the limitations of rock and the lifestyle of touring around on a bus and playing the same songs over and over.” Cohen (2015). So he did what most people in his position would do, he put the band on a hiatus and enrolled in Harvard to study classical music.

But before the semester started, Rivers decided to fix his right leg, which was two inches shorter than his left leg. The surgery on his right leg left him in agonizing pain. It would be a long recovery. During his first year at Harvard Rivers’ right leg was encased in a metal frame that would require him to adjust and tighten the screws daily in order to elongate the bone.(6) He became hooked on painkillers and opioids while trying to manage the pain.

As he told The New York Times. “I grew a long beard and walked around with a cane… The only time I could write songs was when my frozen dinner was in the microwave.” Rockland (2006) “Where I was emotionally … I went to a more serious and dark place.” Runtagh (2019).

Alone and in pain, Rivers was listening to a lot of classical music and he kept coming back to the opera Madame Butterfly by Puccini. “One of my favorite operas by him was Madama Butterfly, specifically when the role was played by Maria Callas,” he recalled to Pitchfork. “On tour, I would listen to her every night after the show and be so moved by the depth of emotion and sadness and tragedy. It really was calling to me, like, “Come on, Rivers. You can go there. You can go much further with your music than ‘The Sweater Song’ or ‘Buddy Holly’.” Cohen (2015)

His deeply personal and emotional lyrics were raw, to say the least. He opened himself up to a level of honesty, anger, pain, and emotional truth that was only hinted at within the Blue Album’s casual, ironic detachment. But make no mistake, that anger and honestly was always there just below the surface, only it was wrapped around a bouncy hook with a singalong chorus.

With a dozen or more new songs ready to record, Weezer decided to head to the studio. Only this time, they would self produce the new record themselves. They wanted a feel that was similar to their live shows that would better capture the power and energy of their new songs. The resulting record was a “grittier, slightly darker sound that was more Pixies than the polished power-pop Ric Ocasek had helped the band realize on the Blue Album.” (7)

A few months before the album was slated for release, Rivers Cuomo “issued a precarious warning to the band’s fan club about his mental state during the writing process:” Braun (2016).

There are some lyrics on the album that you might think are mean or sexist. I will feel genuinely bad if anyone feels hurt by my lyrics but I really wanted these songs to be an exploration of my ‘dark side’ – all the parts of myself that I was either afraid or embarrassed to think about before. So there’s some pretty nasty stuff on there.

You may be more willing to forgive the lyrics if you see them as passing low points in a larger story. And this album really is a story: the story of the last two years of my life. And as you’re probably well aware, these have been two very weird years.

But the worst was yet to come... TO BE CONTINUED IN THE 33 1/3 BOOK PINKERTON

1 - Weezerpedia. Rivers Cuomo. https://www.weezerpedia.com/wiki/Rivers_Cuomo.

2 - Cohen, Ian. (2015, February 9). Rivers Cuomo. Pitchfork. https://pitchfork.com/features/5-10-15-20/9590-rivers-cuomo/.

3 - The Weezer Recording History. (2006, February). Weezer.com. http://www.weezer.com/info/recording/WeezRecHist3.htm.

4 - Luerssen, John D. (2004, August 1). River’s Edge: The Weezer Story. Toronto. ECW Press.

5 - Runtagh, Jordan. (2019, May 10). Weezer’s Blue Album: 10 Things You Didn’t Know. Rolling Stone. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/weezer-blue- album-rivers-cuomo-things-you-didnt-know-822881/.

6 - Rockland, Kate. (2006, February 16). At School with Rivers Cuomo: Student with a Past. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/16/garden/16weezer.html.

7 - Braun, Laura Marie. (2016, September 23). How Weezer’s ‘Pinkerton’ Went from Embarassing to Essential. Rolling Stone. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music- features/how-weezers-pinkerton-went-from-embarrassing-to-essential-105567/.

#music #writing #weezer #pinkerton #bloomsburypublishing #333sound #rockandroll #anniversary #pitch #books #rivers cuomo

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stuonsongs · 3 years

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My Top 10 Favorite Songs of All Time - 2006 Edition

2021 Editor’s Note: I was looking through some old files and found this thing that I wrote sometime in the summer of 2006 at age 22. For all I know, it could’ve been 15 years to the day! Looking back, I’m not sure how many of these songs would still make my top 10. Don’t get me wrong, I still love all of these tunes, but I’m sure you know how it goes - You get older, you get exposed to more things, and your idea of good music expands. Anyway, I thought it might be nice to share with anyone who still uses this site. I present it in its original format without edits to my writing. I ended up writing full posts in this blog about some of these songs if you go through the archive.

Stu’s Top 10 Favorite Songs…Ever

Let’s start with some honorable mentions. These were so close, and I thought about it for so long, but they had to be left off.

Honorable Mentions

All Summer Long – The Beach Boys

All Summer Long. 1964. Capitol

This song has been described so many times as being “the perfect summer song.” When you listen to it, you can’t help but smile from the opening marimba intro, all the way through. It just screams “summer” and it hurt me to leave The Beach Boys off my top 10.

Bleed American – Jimmy Eat World

Bleed American. 2001. Grand Royal

So full of energy, so rocking, and so what would’ve been the most recent song on my list. I wanted to keep it in the top 10 just so I could have a song from the ‘00s, but it wasn’t meant to be. When the chorus kicks in, I can’t help but headbang.

Marie – Randy Newman

Good Old Boys. 1974. Reprise

Randy has said that a lot of young composers pick “Marie” as their favorite Newman song, and I can see why. The idea of a guy having to be drunk to tell his wife that he loves her is pretty funny, and throughout the whole song it’s just the beautiful melody with tons of strings, all to a tune about a guy ripping on himself as he comes home drunk to his wife.

Does He Love You? – Rilo Kiley

More Adventurous. 2004. Brute/Beaute

I guess this is newer than Bleed American, so it would’ve worked too. This is another more recent song that it killed me to leave off the list. The outro is an arrangement of the main tune with a different chord progression performed by a string quartet. Very beautiful. Also when Jenny Lewis screams “Your husband will never leave you, he will never leave you for me,” I get chills every time.

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So here it is. After a long day’s work, I’m finally finished. It actually turned out much different than I was thinking when I first started. The number one wasn’t really even in my top five when I started, but I slowly realized I loved it so much. I also left Ben Folds (Five) off this list completely, and I don’t know, I just feel the whole catalogue of Ben is so solid, none of the songs stick out to me that much. But anyways, here it is! After the break of course…

Stu’s Top 10

10.

(Love Is Like A) Heat Wave – Martha and the Vandellas

Heat Wave. 1963. Motown.

This one beat out “Bleed American” just barely. The reason being that somehow, despite being nearly 40 years older than Bleed American, it still has so much energy that it kills. Dan Bukvich once told our Jazz Arranging class that you can boil all the oldies you hear on the radio down to three categories: 1) Great Song. 2) Great Performance. 3) Great Arrangement. This song is one of the great performances. The handclaps throughout, combined with the driving baritone sax behind everything and constant snare drum action will keep anybody with blood running through their veins dancing all night long.

Bodhisattva – Steely Dan

Countdown to Ecstasy. 1973. MCA

This song is my Freebird. It’s just a basic blues progression song at its core with some minor changes at the end of the form. The real kicker that drives this song home is the three minute guitar solo in the middle that isn’t nearly as rocking as Freebird, but it is highly proficient and takes me to places that just make me want to play the song over and over again. I have no idea what this song is about, probably Buddhism, but hey, this once again proves that lyrics rarely matter and the music itself is the core.

Zanzibar – Billy Joel

52nd Street. 1978. Columbia

This song reminds me of long car rides on vacations down the west coast with my parents growing up. They used to play a tape of 52nd Street, or at least their favorite selections, constantly on these trips. I didn’t hear this song again until early in my senior year in college and remembered why I loved it so much. The song has a heavy jazz influence, displayed in the breakdown where Jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard does a solo. The best part of this song though is at the end of the 4th line of each verse, Billy does this “Woah oh oh!” thing that just makes me want to sing every time. It was between this and “Miami 2017 (Lights Go Out On Broadway)” which is also a great song, but the “Woah oh oh!” is too much for ol’ Stu boy.

Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) – Bruce Springsteen

The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle. 1973. Columbia

Early Bruce Springsteen records have something that very few other artists can ever pull off without sounding cheesy or forced. It has this undeniable sense of urgency, like the world will fall apart and life will crumble through your fingers if this one moment in time doesn’t work out the way Bruce describes it. There are so many early Springsteen songs that just set a scene of “We have to get out of this town right now girl before it kills us, no matter what any of our parents, friends, anybody has to say.” There’s a line that kinda sums it up: “Well hold on tight, stay up all night ‘cause Rosie I’m comin’ on strong. By the time we meet the morning light, I will hold you in my arms. I know a pretty little place in southern California down San Diego way. There’s a little café where they play guitars all night and all day. You can hear ‘em in the back room strummin’, so hold tight baby ‘cause don’t you know daddy’s comin’.”

I’ve Got You Under My Skin – Frank Sinatra

Songs For Swingin’ Lovers! 1956. Capitol

This song falls into the category of great arrangement. This Cole Porter classic tune was arranged for Sinatra by Nelson Riddle. The story goes that he was still copying down parts for the players while riding in the cab to the recording studio on the day of recording. After the players ran through it once with Frank, they stood up and applauded. The Baritone sax takes control here, outlining a Db6/9 chord throughout the intro. Of course, Frank’s vocal delivery is spot on and goes up and down in all the right places for the biggest emotion impact. It’s amazing how a song with no real chorus can be so good.

A Change Is Gonna Come – Sam Cooke

Ain’t That Good News. 1964. RCA Victor

This song was not even going to be on this list, but then I ran across it while scouring my collection of music and remembered how good it was. Then I listened to it and was blown away by the level of detail that went into this arrangement. Sam’s vocals soar above the mind blowingly beautiful arrangement. The lyrics to this one actually add to the tune itself, speaking of wrongdoings in the world around him, and how social change is on its way in the form of the civil rights movement. The song flows with such ease out of Cooke that one might forget the weightiness of the content, but the song’s content is just so heavy that it’s impossible to deny it.

Whatever – Oasis

Whatever EP. 1994. Creation

This song was released as a Christmas present to the U.K. from the Gallagher brothers and company. It never appeared on any full album, only being released as a single, and amazingly, it blows away anything else they’ve ever done. Think “All You Need Is Love,” but with tons of rocking energy and a snide, nonchalant attitude. The chorus speaks, “I’m free to be whatever I, whatever I choose and I’ll sing the blues if I want. I’m free to be whatever I, whatever I like, if it’s wrong or right, it’s alright.” Not exactly poetry, and the song isn’t exactly breaking any new ground either, but the song is absolutely perfect in every way, and it was going to be my #1, but perhaps the only reason it’s not at number one is because I’ve played this song so many times that at the moment, these next three are beating it, but who knows how I’ll feel in a few months. This song also pulls the same “outro performed by a string quartet” thing as “Does He Love You?” but even better. It’s so simple, but I can’t get enough of it.

Mr. Blue Sky – Electric Light Orchestra

Out of the Blue. 1977. Jet

This is obviously the best Beatles song that the Beatles never wrote. The staccato guitar during the verse combined with the strings present in just about every ELO song combine to make a force that is undeniably catchy and musically challenging at the same time. This is really what makes ELO so good. I didn’t discover this song till probably Nov. 2005, and it was one of the best days of my life. I didn’t want to include two songs by the same artist in my top 10, but if I did, I probably would’ve added “Turn To Stone” on this list too because it is almost as awesome as this one. It’s a shame that just like Billy Joel, most critics at the time hated ELO for being overly creative musically (they called it pretentiousness). These days we have acts that really are pretentious (see Radiohead), but everyone loves them, even critics. I’m not knocking all Radiohead, just most everything post OK Computer. Sorry, got a little sidetracked there.

Only In Dreams – Weezer

Weezer. 1994. Geffen

This has been my favorite Weezer song since about a month into me picking up Weezer’s debut album back around early 2000. It has this ostinato (a repeated motif over and over again) in the bass throughout most of the whole song, never even really resolving to the Gb major chord (excluding chorus, which never really resolves) that it wants to until the end of a 3 minute contrapuntal guitar duet when everything dies out except the bass which just retards on its own until it finally plays the single Gb we’ve all been waiting for. The song on the whole up until the guitar duet is pretty tame, but once those contrapuntal guitar lines start intertwining, my ears perk up every time. I can sing both lines at separate times upon request and when the drums finally kick back in fully at the climax of the song, I let out a sigh of relief or bang on my car wheel in exultant joy, whichever is more of an option at the time.

All Is Forgiven – Jellyfish

Spilt Milk. 1993. Charisma

I always loved this song from the first time I heard it, but I didn’t realize how much I loved it until maybe April 2006. I found out about Jellyfish first semester of college in the Fall of ’02 and heard this song, and knew it was great. The constant tom-tom driven drums, the fuzzy, almost white noise distorted guitar, and the half time bass throughout. It was great. Then in April I put it on my mp3 player for the walk to school, and then I listened to it for about two weeks straight. Seriously. It runs into the next song entitled “Russian Hill” which is almost as good, but because it’s a separate song, I couldn’t include it on the list, but in my mind, they always run together and are basically one long 9 minute song. The ending just gets more and more white noise filled until you can barely take it anymore and then it just cuts off completely into the slow acoustic intro for Russian Hill. It’s perfect in every way. I think this would fall into the category of great song. And the way the song builds up right to the middle of the song and then cuts out completely except for some very VERY faint xylophone noodling, and then busts back in with some feedback directly into guitar solo. Man I love this song.

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johannesviii · 4 years

Text

Top 10 Personal Favorite Hit Songs from 2005

16 to 17 years old. Finished public highschool, started public university in September. Looking back at 2003-2005 feels like looking at ten years of my life condensed in three. Exhausting.

Also we’re now past the halfway point of these lists! And this is another exceptionally good year for hits.

Disclaimers:

Keep in mind I’m using both the year-end top 100 lists from the US and from France while making these top 10 things. There’s songs in English that charted in my country way higher than they did in their home countries, or even earlier or later, so that might get surprising at times.

Of course there will be stuff in French. We suck. I know. It’s my list. Deal with it.

My musical tastes have always been terrible and I’m not a critic, just a listener and an idiot.

I have sound to color synesthesia which justifies nothing but might explain why I have trouble describing some songs in other terms than visual ones.

So I finished highschool that year. I met my best friend ever in late 2004 and we even had some sort of small crew back then! I had a bit of a crush on her but alas it wasn’t meant to be. I don’t know who invented the term ‘friendzone’ but they got its meaning completely wrong because staying friends basically forever with someone you love can be a fantastic thing. Things weren’t rosy nor perfect that year, of course, and I still was miserable at home, but I’m not sure where I’ll be today without her. She's amazing and she still lives nearby nowadays. Shoutout: if you read this, E., you pretty much saved my life.

I was still making tapes and burning CDs, still using my trusty portable cd player, and always listening to stuff while drawing during recess, sitting in a corner and doodling stuff in my sketchbook on the floor like a weird gangly goblin.

I had already started to buy Rock Mag in August 2004 but it really became my monthly ritual in 2005, and it lasted until autumn 2007. A reliable source of posters to cover my walls. At that point they were almost completely covered with paintings, drawings, torn pages from magazines and posters of Linkin Park, Mylène Farmer, Placebo and Indochine.

I also had a better access to the family computer and was a bit more involved online. Might explain why the number of singles I was buying plummeted.

It’s time once again for some (ok, many) honorable mentions!

Beverly Hills (Weezer) - I don’t even know why I like this but I do.

Bouger Bouger (Magic System) - I never understood why it was cool to make fun of these guys in my country. Their music is so happy and fun.

Holiday (Green Day) - My brother loved that band and listened to it a lot, and I was 100% fine with that.

Wake Me Up When September Ends (Green Day) - See above.

Gabriel (Najoua Belyzel) - That is so-bad-it’s-good at its finest right here.

Candy Shop (50 Cents) - As a sucker for terrible puns (HA, get it?? I’m sorry I’ll get out immediately) I can’t help it, I love this.

Love Generation (Bob Sinclar) - Stay tuned for more of this guy on another list.

Listen to Your Heart (DHT) - The original is better, but it was really nice to hear that again on the radio.

We Be Burnin’ (Sean Paul) - Not my favorite but still damn good.

Bad Day (Daniel Powter) - I even bought the single. What can I say except “relatable”.

All About Us (Tatu) - I bought that single as well. Almost made the list.

Le Bateau Blanc (Karol) - The last cut from the list. Not even kidding at all. I’m still not sure if Keane deserves to be on the list more than this to be honest.

Like it happened previously with Placebo not being elligible at all, it is a complete outrage that Precious by Depeche Mode isn’t elligible for this list. Like, what the f█ck. Playing the Angel was one of the defining albums of the year to me. I’m not even sure it would have topped the list, maybe #2, but it still feels wrong.

There’s another band who’s complete absence from this top feels kinda painful to me, considering how much I loved their new album at the time. Indeed, no single from Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge by My Chemical Romance is elligible for this list, and it feels wrooooong, man. I love I’m not okay and especially Thank You For the Venom, but even Helena would have been nice. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

For some unfathomable reason, Get The Party Started (Pink) and, even more unexplainable, Do You Really Want to Hurt Me (Culture Club) recharted in France in 2005 and both made the year-end top 100. The fact they are both elligible but all the stuff mentioned above this paragraph isn’t makes no sense whatsoever.

And now, the actual list!

10 - Everybody’s Changing (Keane)

US: Not on the list / FR: #48

Pretty great even though it’s not my favorite Keane song. That would be Crystal Ball. It’s fantastic and as a person who is scared, above all, by existential horror, the music video is terrifying. Sadly, it’s not elligible for my 2006 list, so Everybody’s Changing will have to be its slightly less good proxy for 2005.

9 - Et Si En Plus Ya Personne (Alain Souchon)

US: Not on the list / FR: #100

This has to be the most borderline non-elligible song ever put on one of my lists. But I’m glad it is still elligible. Remember the song on the 1993 list that I called an “anticapitalist ballad”? Well that’s the same guy. And this time it’s a song about how religion can cause both beautiful things and war, and how “the sky might be empty” because of us. It’s great. Here’s a translation. You’re welcome.

8 - F█ck Them All (Mylène Farmer)

US: Not on the list / FR: #62

Aaaaaaaaand unfortunately for everyone including myself, she’s back. Not her best song by a mile (told you it was all downhill after C’est Une Belle Journée didn’t I), but still pretty damn good, and that music video where she’s destroying bird-like scarecrows is amazing so here’s a bonus gif.

7 - Boulevard of Broken Dreams (Green Day)

US: #7 / FR: Not on the list

My brother LOVED this band and listened to it SO MUCH. And yeah, they were very good and that song might just be my favorite one from them. I don’t have much more to say about it, you all know it already. Let’s move on.

6 - Sugar We’re Going Down (Fall Out Boy)

US: #40 / FR: Not on the list

Again, it feels wrong that both Fall Out Boy AND Panic! at the Disco were elligible for this list but not My Chemical Romance. I was never a fan of these two acts, at all, and their supposed rivalry was kinda hilarious to watch from afar. With a bucket of popcorn. While listening to Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge and nodding sadly, of course.

This is still a great song, mind you.

5 - Feel Good Inc (Gorillaz)

US: #37 / FR: Not on the list (really? wtf happened)

Again, I live with someone who loves Gorillaz, so I claim overexposure.

It’s still #5 on a list based on a very, very good year.

That’s quality for you.

4 - Speed of Sound (Coldplay)

US: #57 / FR: Not on the list

A new chapter in the ascension of Coldplay from “Johannes hates this band” to “this is one of the best mainstream bands we have”. An epic saga, years in the making, and Speed of Sound was basically the last scene of Act One. Not my favorite song from X&Y (that would be Talk), but still really good. Hell, I even bought the single, and goodness knows I wasn’t buying a lot of singles anymore in 2005.

Holy shit, half of these are Benassi Bros garbage. None of them are elligible, though! Dodged a bullet there, didn’t I.

3 - Numb/Encore (JayZ + Linkin Park)

US: #93 / FR: #75

What a blessed mashup. For a few magical months in 2005, all the punk goth kids and the hiphop kids were united under this song’s banner and it felt like world peace had been achieved. It could have pissed off everybody but no! Everyone loved it instead!

“But Johannes, this is just Numb all over again with different lyrics. You can’t keep putting Linkin Park at the top of your lists forever.” Sadly no, I can’t. I know. It’s only #3. Don’t yell at me. Also, the next two songs are genuinely better, at least in my opinion!

2 - Lift Me Up (Moby)

US: Not on the list / FR: #31

I heard this on the radio and bought the album, Hotel, on the grounds that Natural Blues from 2000 was one of my favorite songs ever and than it wouldn’t hurt to actually own an album of that guy after all that time (”all that time” being only five years, but please keep in mind the past three years had felt like ten, and in my mind, they still do ; trauma is one hell of a thing). And a couple of days later that year, we went to Disneyland for my brother’s birthday, and I only had a small bag that could contain my cd player, and the earphones and nothing else. So I could only put one cd in it and that was it.

So I picked Hotel, and I basically retreated inside of it whenever my mother was starting to talk aggressively, which happened a lot in the various queues. So in the end, I listened to that cd a LOT that day and every single time, it would calm me while still being energetic enough to keep me enthusiastic for the various Disneyland rides.

Lift Me Up is energetic but cold, aerial but distant, uplifting but sinister. It was the perfect song for someone who was, at the time, trying to tone down their aggressivity and anger and trying to be masculine but in a softer way, while still staying themselves and not giving up the fight. I absolutely adore this song. It’s perfect.

It instantly joined my list of favorite songs ever that year.

1 - Mr Brightside (The Killers)

US: #16 / FR: Not on the list (this feels so wrong)

If I had to make a top ten of the hits of that entire decade, this would be #2. No debate whatsoever.

Because holy shit.

I was already sold on that band after hearing Somebody Told Me on the radio, which sadly isn’t elligible for this list (I instantly loved it, first because it was catchy as hell, but also because I love the chorus “Well somebody told me you had a boyfriend / Who looked like a girlfriend / That I had in February of last year", because as you already know I tend to be extremely literal minded and my immediate conclusion was “wow you two dated the same trans guy before and after he was out of the closet” and that was highkey relatable and no you can’t change my mind). So I bought the album about two weeks after, mostly blind, because the cd store was playing it and also because Rock Mag said it was great.

That was an understatement. Hot Fuss is one of the best albums of the entire decade and you probably know that already. The first song, Jenny Was a Friend of Mine, floored me right after putting the cd in the player and it felt like the album already reached its peak and there were still 12 tracks after that.

The very next track was Mr. Brightside. And. How do I put this.

There’s like a dozen interpretations possible for this song, and most of them are something like “this guy is so anxious and paranoid he’s gonna break up with this girl because he keeps imagining her cheating with another guy and it might not even be real.”

Now might be a good moment to remind you that at the time, I had a crush on my best friend, and was still firmly in the closet. And this song starts, as everyone knows, with “Coming out of my cage and I've been doing just fine“.

So... yeah. This is the song that accidentally convinced me the closet sucked and did nothing to deter bullies anyway, and that after more than three years of feeling mostly miserable, I should try to be myself and screw the consequences. I know it wasn’t the original intention behind that song. But still.

Godspeed, The Killers. I owe you one, guys.

Next up: Still not able to put Indochine nor Placebo on a list, OP is this close to punching a wall

#Johannes’ bad not good pretty terrible music lists #music #long post #eye contact tw

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kidchameleon92 · 5 years

Text

“life story” 1

i’m not going to edit this at all going along. typos, bad grammar, mistakes. doesn’t matter. this is spontaneous thought.

disclaimer: i changed the word to “spontaneous” from “spurious” which means something completely different, so the first paragraph is already a lie.

anyway, it’s been a really weird and sort of bad couple months for me. mostly in my state of mind. i feel very stuck and very immobile when it comes to my art and career. and that is having a very negative effect on my brain. even though i’m putting out my favorite songs i’ve ever written. i’ve been meaning to write for awhile. i used to post when i lived in los angeles several years ago, just journaling my day to day life. but i haven’t for awhile. i guess i also used to write in a notebook while on different tours. but i think i’ve since thrown that away or hidden it somewhere.

point is: i just want to write to get things off my mind. and hopefully, maybe, it’ll help you (if you care to) get to know me a little more and on a more personal level. even if we haven’t met. and maybe it’ll make what i make (if you care about it) mean more to you. either way, mostly, i just want to rant a bit. so, this is my life’s story. i guess.

chapter 1: kid

i was born in a suburb of the twin cities in minnesota. my parents both grew up in minnesota and lived there their whole lives (until my mom recently moved to tennessee). my mom was a mortician, and my dad was an accountant. also an alcoholic. he cheated on her and left her and i when i was one year old. i remember growing up going to stay with him on weekends, except it was with him and his girlfriend at the time. except he was drunk a lot. and would drive drunk with me (a baby) in the car. so, that’s cool. anyway, my mom was really depressed, and that was not a good time (or so i’ve heard, because i was a baby, so idk).

i stayed with my grandparents a lot, because my mom worked full time. my maternal grandparents lived on a ton of land. my grandpa and i would ride motorcycles and four wheelers and sleep in a treehouse and all that. my other grandparents lived in the same town but in a small house. i used to go up to their cabin during the summer and go fishing and swimming and boating and all that. different g-parent vibes, but loved both a lot.

anyway, when i was three, my mom married my step-dad. he is from india and has had a lot of unique and challenging experiences, so that certainly brought a lot of particular lessons and outlooks into my life. i went there once when i was about 14. it was wild. but so, yeah. that kinda solidified my family unit. my dad got remarried later on as well. but the older i got, i saw him less and less.

so ... i loved video games. i played them all the time. a big part of my childhood. mostly nintendo. explains a lot. as a kid in school (4 years public, 3 years private, 1 year home, 3 years private, 1 year PSEO [look it up]), i was never popular whatsoever. i always wanted to gain some sort of acclaim or attention from my classmates, but was pretty much always looked down on for one reason or another. i remember in elementary school, i was the kid who was literally terrified of storms. probably because i had been in a tornado when i was six. but the moment it would thunder, all the kids would look at me to see if i was gonna cry. usually, i did. and the school nurse would take me outside and we’d walk around as a sort of therapy. i guess it helped sorta. i still get nervous in storms. but i don’t cry.

i also remember a time specifically that i got made fun of for wearing a denver broncos t-shirt. this kid just railed on me because it wasn’t a minnesota vikings shirt. so, one: i don’t even give a fuck about sports. but two: it stuck with me for some reason that someone would be a massive jerk over a t-shirt of a sports team. i guess that’s just because we as humans are messed up things.

anyway, in middle school, i started becoming semi-interested in music. i listened to the radio every night, listening to the top 10 countdown of big songs from that week. kanye, weezer, the click five, black eyes peas, green day. those were some anyway. besides that, i was just listening to like kelly clarkson and relient k or something. my mom had a steven curtis chapman cd in her van i thought went hard. but i started getting into popular music around then. i also started to write my own music. i used to take piano lessons from when i was like six or seven until i was 14 or so. but after i started writing my own songs, i hated practicing assigned pieces. i didn’t care. i wanted to play my own. so, the teacher said if i quit, i couldn’t be her student again. so i did. that’s fine. she said i was her most talented student. but i didn’t work that hard. so, that goes to show that natural talent and hard work have different roles, i suppose.

chapter 2: girls and high school and such

in high school, i started LiKiNg gIrLs and stuff. i also was still not very popular. i also had started a band (with jack). i wasn’t very good, but i was just as obsessed with it as i am now. anyway, i liked this one girl from my church, and we talked all the time. but because we grew up in a pretty fundamental church culture, we weren’t allowed to date. which honestly, i fine, because looking back, no one knows what they are doing at 16 really. i definitely didn’t. i still don’t know what i’m doing. anyway ...

so, this girl and i half-dated for a couple years, and i was really clingy and annoying. but that’s just how i be. and i thought i was gonna marry her and stuff, because in a fundamental church context, you over spiritualize everything.

[[disclaimer: i am a christian, and i still go to church, but my theology and ideology on a lot of things has just evolved and changed a lot since i was young and since leaving the ultra-americanized/ultra-fundamental “christian” realm. main point being: we all are effed up bro and need saving. i’m an idiot always!]]

but now we’re back. girl “dumped” me and started dating another guy named “patrick” right after, even though she technically wasn’t allowed to date until she was 18. but apparently, she just wasn’t allowed to date me. so, that was cool. anyway, i was angsty, but then i got over it. because i was 17, so life big time goes on.

then i met another girl from canada while i was finishing school and going hard at my band stuff. we hit it off, and i started visiting her up there. and she visited me and all that. it was cool. and then all of a sudden, she really started hating me. and to be fair, i was weird and clingy and sort of a lot to deal with. but we kept dating. all the while, i was sort of leaving behind music to try to get into nursing school. yep, nursing school. but i got rejected, which is great. and so, i decided to go to audio engineering school in canada. and she was gonna go to college in the same city. this is great! so i thought. she dumped me (well, i sort of broke up with myself for her) about a month after we were living in the same city. wack. but it made me buckle down and work my ass off in school. i was top of my class one semester. yeah, i’m not that dumb. sometimes.

towards the spring of the next year, i happened to meet a girl who was at my church with one of my friends. she seemed chill. just talked a little. nothing crazy. happened to hit her up on twitter just to say hi. no intention. we talked a bit. nothing after that. then all of a sudden, a couple months later, i was tweeting about reading harry potter for the first time (note: fundamental upbringing). she happened to tweet me back about it. and long story short, we went out on a date. a sort-of-date. and what was supposed to be a lunch turned into an all day and half the night date. anyway, we got married a year later. after a lot of immigration paperwork and expenses. that’s a whole other post. that sucked. it’s a lot. and it’s why i feel bad for people who have nothing who are trying to come here to flee danger in their own countries. again, another post.

chapter 3: married, and other hard things

so, i forgot to say that before we got married, i lived in los angeles for a year after school. i was doing more sound for film work. on set stuff, post-production. got to do work with like ... james franco, matt damon, emma roberts, william shatner. some cool stuff. but jack’s old band came through on tour, and i saw two shows. and i was like ... bruh. i gotta do music, what am i doing? so, i literally moved back to minnesota within like two weeks, worked as a nursing assistant for a little bit and got married. then moved to nashville like two weeks later. i guess i could’ve stayed in los angeles. but nashville felt like the move at the time. everything happens with a purpose.

so, we moved here, and she couldn’t work for three months because of immigration stuff. so, i was like, well, guess i need a job. so, i got a job managing a home for a couple people with intellectual disabilities. it was super hard. mostly because the company was really, really bad. so, i got another job working as a staffing coordinator in an office for a home health care agency. that was a little better. still tough. but less overwhelming. a couple months after i got that job, i got an offer to go on a country tour playing bass for someone. and i was like ... well, this is why i moved here. so, i quit and went on tour. and shawna actually took my old job. interesting.

i was gone for three weeks, and it sucked and the pay was bad, but at least i was doing what i wanted. but then i got an offer from my friend to do some tech work on a much bigger country gig. i hadn’t done it before, but it was better pay and a better position. and on a bus and nice things and all that. so, i went for it. i pissed the other girl i was playing for off. but that’s show biz, baby. but like, i found a replacement for myself and paid to fly him out to her shows and stuff. so, really she won.

anyway, i toured with this other artist for four years. and i learned a lot. it was very, very challenging, both mentally and physically. and some people are just hard to work with. but i still gained so much valuable experience and insight into touring from that. i also started playing guitar for another artist who was small at the time, but has now had a couple number one hits. but his label fired me because i didn’t look country enough. we’re still homies though, so it’s literally fine. because i do indeed not look country enough.

at the same time, i was doing my own solo music and also producing and writing with and for other people. i’ve had the opportunity to write and produce for everything from independent artists to major label to billboard charting albums to whatever. songs on major television networks. i’m still very un-rich though, if that tells you anything.

but really, i just wanted to do my own music. and i literally couldn’t get it to go anywhere. i had no idea what the “secret” was. what was i missing? money? connection? power? actually probably all of that, to be honest. this industry is wacko. i was pretty close to giving up.

chapter 4: milkk

i read a satirical article on vice.com about “how to start a trendy band” or something. i thought it was funny. so, i called jack. he had just been kicked out of his old band for no reason. i was like, “bruh, let’s do this article.” and he was like, ok. so, we sort of did. and i’m not gonna go into all the early details, because i’ve done a million press interviews about how our band started. and i don’t wanna say it again. google it.

this was the first time that i actually saw people care about my music. it was a high. it was like a dream. and we hadn’t even had any big song or anything. just the fact that people were listening and engaging was mind blowing to me. but just like with anything, the more things went, the less i found satisfying. the more “likes” or “follows” on socials didn’t feel like enough anymore. the streams didn’t seem good enough. the chart positions on the debut album didn’t seem that great. the hype wore off a little after the debut album hype. and that made me insane. probably because we as humans are not built to be satisfied by the things in our life. “Vanity of vanities!” it’s in ecclesiastes. like the bible one.

chapter 5: now

anyway, that’s bad. i had (and have) let my mind convince me that i have to achieve something in order to be happy or fulfilled, when i know that that stuff will never fulfill me. i could play the biggest stadium and have the biggest song in history, but after a burst of dopamine and excitement, it would be empty. and i know that nothing here will do that. at least, that’s what i believe. my hope is outside of myself.

but that’s hard to internalize when you are so passionate about something, and have been for so long, and all you want to do is create things for other people that they can appreciate and be influenced by. but it’s probably also selfish. like i openly admit i like the idea of fame and presence. and it probably ties all the way back to wanting acknowledgement and attention as a kid, from being unpopular and ridiculed and, honestly, left by my dad. maybe i just therapied myself.

but regardless, i know i can’t put my identity in all this stuff. it’s hard, and it’s harder when you create stuff. because it’s so deeply tied to you. but it’s still not “who i am.” i know who i am and what i believe, but i’m still a mess, so i can’t enact that in my brain perfectly. in fact, far from it.

anyway. it’s late, and i��m going to post this and attempt to not worry about how it does on social media. stupid!!! i just want this out in the world for you to read. hopefully it’s helpful for you in some way. but mostly, it was just cool to write this out, for my own sake.

i’ve been blessed in some amazing ways. my family. oh, yeah i forgot that i have two kids. i love them a lot. i don’t talk about them on social media much. but they are very special to me. and we’ve always been taken care of, even when times were tight or i didn’t know when the next paycheck was coming in or i thought my wife was about to die or whatever. the Lord provided for us every time. and i am grateful to have what career i have. it may be “small” and nothing to look at by the big industry standards, but i believe in what i make so much, and i’m just grateful that anyone cares about it at all. and i will continue to do so until the day i die. because i have to.

it’s what i was born to do, for better or worse. and no one can tell me otherwise.

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tuaparadis · 5 years

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4 and 11 for the ask thing please? 😁

TUA Asks

Holy shit! I got this ask... I'd like to say 2 months ago? I'm so sorry I haven't gotten to it all this time, but here it is!

4. What do you think all the siblings’ favorite bands are?

I had so much fun coming up with these, though I did get help from my friends. Also we didn't only include bands because creativity costs a lot these days.

1. Luther; Although Luther doesn't quite seem like the time to listen to tøp, he so would. We love a depressed 29 year old. He would also listen to The Lumineers! [help from: @tidalwave-prince]

2. Diego; Weezer, definitely. He tried to get into Imagine Dragons at first, it just seemed to pop-ish for his taste. [help from: @princejoopie]

3. Allison; I don't feel like Allison really likes bands specifically, but she would definitely be into musicals. Literally all musicals. She once played in a musical but she rumored herself into getting the role so fuck yeah it hurts. She'd definitely listen to the backstreet boys with Klaus though. [help from: @tidalwave-prince]

4. Klaus; Before Vietnam, his favorite band was The Hollies. But in his time in the 60's, Dave introduced him to The Doors. It was Dave's favorite band and now it's his favorite as well.

5. Five; We see Five in the series kind of invested in the 1950's (he knew what that decade tasted like), he probably had an assignment in that time and that's when he started listening to the Beatles. Five loves the Beatles.

6. Ben; Mother Mother. Not a lot left to say, they're unique, intense and also pretty depressing. If that doesn't scream Ben vibes I don't know what does. [help: @evelinaonline]

7. Vanya; She definitely likes classical music, she plays the violin for crying out loud, that isn't a band though. She definitely went through a punk phase at some point in her life, and she lived for Green Day.

11. What hobbies do you think the siblings have?

1. Luther; I'm still not sure if it's confirmed because I've forgotten, but Luther definitely likes to write poems. It helps him keep his mind off other things.

2. Diego; If we exclude the vigilantism and knife throwing, I feel like Diego likes to dance? David Castañeda has got some moves I'll tell you that, so I simply can't get this off my mind.

3. Allison; I'm honestly not so sure what Allison would do. Before she lost custody, she spent as much time with Claire as possible. However, considering how famous she is, she doesn't have a lot of free time, she never did. I think she does sports and/or goes to the gym a lot. She probably tries to improve her singing skills without rumoring herself as well.

4. Klaus; I've said it once and I'll say it again. Klaus is unpredictable and he would try literally everything. We've seen his drawings on the walls of his room, they're pretty darn good, we've also seen him trying to knit. I feel like Klaus would take knitting seriously though, unlike his other hobbies.

5. Five; I don't know how old people work. But for some reason I cannot get Five playing video games off my mind. It's hilarious! At first he thinks video games are stupid, and a waste of time, next thing he knows he's obsessed. He is a competitive gamer.

6. Ben; Ben loves reading. He always did, even when he was younger. In a way, it's an escape from the reality of him being dead. He can live inside every story instead.

7. Vanya; Vanya's kind of obvious, she plays the violin. We've seen how much it means to her, but I think after the whole apocalypse thing, sometimes even touching the violin would be too overwhelming. So, she tried to find new hobbies, like making collages! She's good at arts & crafts in general.

Ask me more questions if you dare.

#tua #the umbrella academy #the umbrella academy netflix #tua netflix #netflix #tua asks #luther hargreeves #diego hargreeves #allison hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #five hargreeves #ben hargreeves #vanya hargreeves

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spankerella · 4 years

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20 Questions for 2020

1. Do you make your bed? Ish. I pull all the pillows and blankets off of it and stack them where my dog can’t get them because when he gets mad, he likes to pee on things.

2. What’s your favorite number? 9

3. What’s your job? My paying the bills job is processing time sheet approvals for {redacted} at {redacted}. I have also self-published a few books.

4. If you could, would you go back to school? Perhaps. I do like to learn new things but I also have a difficult time staying focused in a traditional classroom setting. I might be able to do online classes, but again, focus can be an issue unless I am writing.

5. Can you parallel park? Yes, now, but back in the day when I took my driver's exam, I failed the first time because I mowed down one of the cones I was supposed to park between. There’s not a lot of parallel parking in Dallas, so I don’t really have a need for the skill.

6. A job you had which would surprise people? Substitute teacher always seems to carry the most shock value. Especially when I mention it was for elementary/grade school level.

7. Do you think aliens are real? Why not.

8. Can you drive a manual car? It’s been more than 30 years. Probably not anymore. I used to be able to drive the truck on my great grandma’s farm, but every car I have ever owned has been automatic transmission.

9. What’s your guilty pleasure? I would not say I feel guilty about any of it. Since I am so into horror, I think it always unnerves people how into Jane Austen I am also. I mean, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was, like, my mother ship. I also enjoy Broadway musicals and am really into history, so… Hamilton wins there. I am a huge nerd for history, especially the American Revolution or the Salem Witch Trials. I also like to visit cemeteries - the older the better.

10. Tattoos? 4 right now. I already have tattoos 5, 6, and 7 planned.

11. Favorite color? Black or pink

12. Things people do that drive you crazy? Well, I have misophonia so certain sounds, specifically people chewing, will send me into a rage or trigger an anxiety attack. So literal crazy on that one.

13. Any phobias? Spiders. I have legit childhood trauma attached to spiders, so… NO THANK YOU.

14. Favorite childhood sport? Ballet... and fight me if you don’t think ballet is a sport.

15. Do you talk to yourself? I’m a writer - OF COURSE I DO.

16. What movie do you adore? I have to pick one? Just one? Oh balls. I really love Empire Strikes Back. I watch Easy A to cheer myself up. The Linguini Incident is one of my all-time faves. I love Labyrinth. I love Into the Spiderverse. Recently, I really liked Doctor Sleep. That was some epic visual storytelling. I could go on and on - I won’t.

17. Do you like doing puzzles? Sometimes. I do like to play puzzle games on my phone.

18. Favorite kind of music? I’m all over the place, but I would say I’m a rock chick. I mean I listen to Disney movie soundtracks, I love Broadway musicals, and listen to the occasional top 40 radio, and then I also like Nine Inch Nails, the Ramones, Weezer, etc. I was a 90s teen so Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, etc. I also have an affinity for artists from my home state of Texas so… Geto Boys, Kelly Clarkson, and Post Malone there.

19. Tea or coffee? Tea. There is something in coffee that my body does not like. When I drink more than a certain amount of it, my body will expel it by any means necessary, so I drink a lot of tea. I even put creamer in my hot tea when I drink it.

20. The first thing you remember you wanted to be when you grew up? A ballet dancer, but I didn’t love it enough to destroy my body for it. It’s mainly your feet. I think I lasted 3 months in pointe shoes before I told my parents I was finished with that nonsense. My mother argued with me about it because I was a good dancer, and I remember telling her that if I was going to keep hurting myself for it, I think I needed to love ballet, and I didn’t love it - I just happened to be good at it. I also remember wanting to be a teacher, but by the time I got to an age where I could test that out (as a sub) it was too much about “politics” and standardized testing scores and not enough about actual learning. I got disenchanted with that really quickly.

#2020 answers

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hermitologist · 5 years

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My 20 Favorite Records Of 2018

Hi. I made a list of my favorite records of the year again. People seem to enjoy these things, and I definitely enjoy tearing my hair out trying to figure out what I liked best, so here we are again.

This years list is chock full of heavy/sludgy bummer jams, post-rock epics, and super aggressive metal and hardcore, with a few poppier and more adventurous indie records scattered about. The honorable mentions list gets a bit more eclectic if you’re looking for stuff that sounds a little less like it was birthed from the loins of the late-90s/early-00s Hydrahead and Relapse discography.

As always, I welcome your suggestions for records and podcasts I might’ve missed the boat on, no matter the genre. There’s way too much good stuff out there to keep up with, so help me out.

Also: When my aging corpse is not being pissy about being used for something other than child-wrangling, eating, or sleeping, I try to run a few days a week and will listen to/briefly review a record on each run. Almost every record on this list has been a part of one of those posts, so if you’re interested in such a thing, please check out my Instagram.

BONUS: I put together playlists of my favorite song from each of my top 20 records, so if you’re overwhelmed and don’t know where to start, just throw it on and see if anything grabs you.

Hermitology’s Favorite 20 Records of 2018 - Spotify Playlist

Hermitology’s Favorite 20 Records of 2018 - Apple Music Playlist

20) Slugdge - Esoteric Malacology

This record is ridiculous in the best ways possible -- insane amounts of shredding, light-speed double bass and blast beats, and lyrics about slugs and other assorted beasts. It’s been ages since I went through my Swedish & Norwegian Metal phase, but this awakened those long-dormant receptors that used to hum when I listened to At The Gates, Opeth, Dimmu Borgir, Soilwork, et al.

Listen here.

19) Ingrina - Etter Lys

Excellent French doomgaze/post-rock that sounds like it could very easily be the soundtrack to the apocalypse. Etter Lys has a familiar sound/vibe, but a refreshing energy and captivating sense of dark melody that really makes them stand out to me. Highly recommended for fans of This Will Destroy You, Rosetta, God Is An Astronaut, et al.

Listen here.

18) Beach House - 7

This record was the perfect foil to all heavy stuff I listened to this year, and my go-to in-flight record of 2018. It’s a damn near perfect collection hazy, airy, dreamy, downtempo indie pop. I’d never been a huge Beach House fan, but 7 hooked me and pulled me in. Throw this your headphones on, press play, and melt into your chair or couch.

Listen here.

17) Culture Abuse - Bay Dream

This record was not what I was expecting, but it ended up being exactly what I needed. (If that makes any sense.) Instead of a grimy, high-energy punk record, I got a fuzzy, bouncy, catchy-as-hell soundtrack to my entire summer. A perfect blend of The Ramones and peak-Weezer, with a vibe all its own.

Listen here.

16) Deads - LLNN

Roughly forty minutes of insanely heavy and furious drop-tuned, down-tempo, doom-inspired crushers offset by eerie, cinematic synth parts. If you’re a fan of early-Cult of Luna and/or Isis, this record should be a new staple in your diet. There’s also enough atmosphere here to appeal to post-rock fans who might desire a little aggression boost.

Listen here.

15) Heads. - Collider

Beautifully written sludgy rock that falls somewhere between the heaviness and spookiness of Young Widows and the heroin-soaked atmosphere and melody of Failure. For what it’s worth, I dig Collider more than either of the aforementioned bands’ most recent output. It’s a perfect marriage of influences, killer songwriting, an excellent recording, and a flat out fantastic record from front to back.

Listen here.

14) mewithoutYou - [untitled]

I’ve been a mewithoutYou fan for ages and love everything they’ve done (so I’m a little biased), but this record is just on a completely different level as far as I’m concerned. It’s the peak of their creativity, songwriting, mood, dynamics, lyrics, production, etc. It’s got the atmosphere and moodiness of post-rock, the angular quirkiness of Fugazi, the energy of Refused (at times), and the all the character of a classic mwY record. It’s phenomenal, and doubly impressive because they made it 18 years deep into an already impressive career.

Listen here.

13) Foxing - Nearer My God

I was familiar with Foxing before this record came out because they’d toured with many former tourmates, and while I appreciated what I’d heard from them, they never really clicked with me. And then I heard this record and it totally floored me. It’s incredibly ambitious without coming across as super scatterbrained or pretentious and it’s executed flawlessly (production included). This band should be massive, and I’m stunned that I’m not seeing this record on more year-end lists

Listen here.

12) This Will Destroy You - New Others Part 1 & 2

Somehow TDWY managed drop two incredible full lengths a month apart, and I honestly cannot choose between the two (so I’m combining them into one). These LPs are arguably their best work as a band, the addition of Robi Gonzalez on drums has given their sound new energy, dynamics, and pocket, and there aren’t many bands in post-rock doing it as well as these dudes do. Incredibly impressive to be able to put out this much music all at once and have it be this consistent.

Listen here.

11) The Armed - Only Love

Somehow this record manages to be chaotic, energetic, beautiful, delicate, catchy-as-hell, abrasive, and atmospheric all at once. Sometimes it sounds like you accidentally have five different songs playing at the same time. Somehow modular synth-soaked punk/metal works. Clearly I cannot explain exactly what in the everliving hell is happening here, but I can tell you that it’s a wholly arresting record that blew my mind on first listen, and has gotten better with every listen since.

Listen here.

10) Hemwick - Junkie (EP)

Normally, I wouldn’t include an EP on this list, but this is one just too good to ignore. It’s 30 minutes of insane riffage and heaviness that sounds like it spawned from the same gene pool that produced Converge, Cult Leader, and Intronaut. It’s got the spazziness and brutality of the former, blended perfectly with the occasional post-rock/metal shift into the epic melody of the latter. Super excited to hear what comes next for these guys (hopefully an LP recorded with Scott Evans or Kurt Ballou?), because this is an incredibly promising “debut”.

Listen here.

9) Architects - Holy Hell

As a standalone record, Holy Hell slays. As a follow-up to losing a family/band member to cancer (guitarist, Tom Searle), it’s a fucking triumph. Somehow Architects managed to push through the grief and heartache, and pushed the boundaries of their musical creativity and emotive lyrics to create what is arguably their best record. Holy Hell is packed to the gills with with massive, arena-sized riffs and moshworthy breakdowns, sprinkled with just enough melody and dynamic to keep things fresh without losing its edge. An amazing accomplishment in the face of such adversity.

Listen here.

8) Slow Mass - On Watch

An outstanding fusion of mellow(er) post-hardcore, bummer jams, Unwound-inspired post-punk, and shimmery shoegazey goodness. “Suburban Yellow” (see playlist) is one of my favorite songs of the year, falling somewhere between the crushing gloominess of a Kowloon Walled City song, and the somber plod of a classic Pedro The Lion track. I tend to shy away from music with dual lead vocals (because I often prefer one of the voices to the point that I’d rather just hear it all the time), but Dave Collis and Mercedes Webb’s voices are so complimentary and perfectly balanced that they take these songs to another level. Bonus: I’d highly recommend watching their frigid Audiotree session.

Listen here.

7) Hot Snakes - Jericho Sirens

One of my favorite bands of all-time put out its first record in 14 years, and it was well worth the wait. It’s Hot Snakes doing what they do best -- ripping 30 minutes of high-energy post-punk jams fueled by the brilliantly weird guitar wizardry of John Reis, and propelled by the dual drummer attack of Mario Rubalcaba and Jason Kourkounis. I’m not entirely sure where I’d rank it in their discography, but having fresh Hot Snakes tracks makes the world a better place.

Listen here.

6) Cloud Nothings - Last Building Burning

What did we do to deserve two Cloud Nothings LPs in two years? I was a little worried about whether the band could churn out a record as fantastic as Life Without Sound (which landed at #7 on last year’s list), but they absolutely did. Last Building Burning builds on the catchiness and energy of LWS’s bummer jams, but adds a little extra grit, fury, and urgency. The result is a record that’s damn near peak Cloud Nothings. It’s got hooks for days, an energy that’ll make you want to bounce off the walls, and a nasty edge that brings to mind 80′s Wipers or early Hot Snakes jams.

Listen here.

5) Cult Leader - A Patient Man

Cult Leader’s Lightless Walk was a Top 5 record for me in 2015, Gaza’s No Absolutes In Human Suffering was in my Top 5 in 2012, so it should be no surprise that they’ve cracked the Top 5 again. I’d be hard pressed to name another HEAVY band who has done it for me the way these guys have over the past six years. A Patient Man hits all the notes -- pure chaos, expansive and melancholic post-rock sections, and the most headbang-worthy breakdowns on the planet. It’d take a miracle to get this 43-year-old geriatric with a bad back to come out of mosh retirement, but the breakdown in “Aurum Reclusa” is seriously making me think about a comeback.

Listen here.

4) Low - Double Negative

I don’t think I’ve had a record screw with my brain as hard as Double Negative did since I heard Kid A for the first time. It’s a spooky, brain-liquifying journey through sonic textures and ambience, arranged and mixed in a manner that is absolutely enthralling (and a bit unnerving and “wtf are my headphones broken?”at times). If you’re gearing up for a first listen, I’d highly recommend clearing an hour on your schedule, throwing on a good pair of headphones, and letting this have its way with you. If you’ve already heard it, you should listen to it again. It gets better and weirder and more captivating every time. It’s a trip, and a great one at that.

Listen here.

3) Daughters - You Won’t Get What You Want

As a standalone record, this is groundbreaking. As a “comeback record” it’s a fucking triumph. Their S/T record (2010) is one of my favorite heavy/noise rock records of all-time, and somehow YWGWYW surpassed my lofty expectations for a follow-up. It’s a dizzying journey for sure. It’s moody as hell. It’s coherent. It’s adventurous without being overly weird. And it’s all of the best things about their previous work distilled into a perfect chunk of musical madness. The best records are the ones that make your brain matter spill out of your ears upon first listen, but it’s the all-time classics that do that and get better with every subsequent listen. Sure, it’s a record for “when the mood is right”, but when I’m in the mood, this hits all the notes for me. It’s a masterpiece.

Listen here.

2) Holy Fawn - Death Spells

This record came out of nowhere and absolutely knocked me on my ass. I’m not sure I’ve had a record do that to me since I first heard Cloudkicker in 2009 -- knew nothing of it, had zero idea what to expect and literally had goosebumps for a majority of my first listen. Tempe’s Holy Fawn have created a unique blend of dense, dynamic, and cathartic post-rock, doom, and shoegaze with airy vocals that remind me a bit of Jonsi from Sigur Ros. It’ll be a daunting task to follow up this masterpiece, but I’m incredibly excited to see and hear what the future holds for these guys.

Listen here.

1) Pianos Become The Teeth - Wait For Love

This was one of my most anticipated records of the year, and it not only lived up to my lofty expectations, but exceeded them. “Bitter Red” was far and away my most played song of the year, and I must’ve listened to Wait For Love 50 times during the month of February alone. It’s no surprise that I found myself going back to it throughout the year, and in revisiting for this list, it gave me chills just like it did 10 months ago. These dudes are doing melancholic and cathartic post-hardcore better than just about anyone these days, and I cannot wait to hear what’s next for them.

Listen here.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Roughly 80% of these records could/should have very easily landed on the Top 20 list (and probably would if I obsessed over this list any further and gave everything a super dedicated re-listen). They’re all absolutely worth checking out.

I know this list might be a little daunting, so I put together a Spotify Playlist of my favorite songs from each record, so you can just throw it on and see if anything grabs you.

Thanks to my man Zack Hite for helping me out and putting together an Apple Music version of the playlist.

Hermitology’s 2018 Honorable Mentions Spotify Playlist

Hermitology’s 2018 Honorable Mentions Apple Music Playlist

Baptists - Beacon of Faith

Birds In Row - We Already Lost The World

Boygenius - S/T EP

Candy - Good to Feel

Coastlands - The Further Still

Conjurer - Mire

Death Engine - Place Noire

Drug Church - Cheer

Emma Ruth Rundle - Dark Horses

Failure - In the Future Your Body Will Be ...

Fiddlehead - Springtime and Blind

Hammock - Universalis

IDLES - Joy As An Act Of Resistance

Jay Jayle - No Trail & Other Unholy Paths

Jesus Piece - Only Self

KEN Mode - Loved

Man Mountain - Infinity Mirror

Mogwai - KIN

Nate Smith - Pocket Change

OHHMS - Exist

Ólafur Aarnalds - re:member

Polyphia - New Levels, New Devils

Portrayal of Guilt - Let Pain Be Your Guide

Prefuse 73 - Sacrifices

Rolo Tomassi - Time Will Die …

Sectioned - Annihilated

Slow Crush - Aurora

Snail Mail - Lush

SUMAC - Love In Shadow

Svalbard - It’s Hard To Have Hope

Taken - With Regards To (EP)

The Story So Far - Proper Dose

Tides of Man - Every Nothing

Vein - Errorzone

Yashira - Shrine

PODCAST QUEUE

The Deadcast (humor, sports, politics)

Chapo Trap House (politics, humor)

Hang Up & Listen (sports, culture, nerdy)

Effectively Wild (baseball)

The Frotcast (movies, humor)

The Trap Set (drums, psychology)

The Gist (current events, politics)

Song Exploder (songwriting, production)

The Modern Drummer Podcast (drums)

#music #year end lists #AOTY #hermitology #podcasts

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kfcnyancat · 5 years

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Nostalgiaposting, but not in an "only 2000s kids will remember" way

I'm like 17.9 years old.

I don't want to grow up.

I'm pretty much living where I do now under the condition I get a job after graduating high school. I get why I need to, but it's not going to help my advancement any. I legitimately don't see how a job is going to make my life better. But not getting one would unfair to my brother and cousin who lift boxes for hours, and my other cousin who deals with the godforsaken [MAJOR AMERICAN NORTHEASTERN CITY] education system every day.

Really I've been missing my childhood since I was in 5th grade, as when you're autistic, once your peers realize that you're different, it's never the same, and that's also when economics got really shitty for me.

But still, what I'm really missing is my high school years. As in, my actual high school years. The ones where I actually went to a building and did phys ed and had peers and kinda had friends and crushes I never thought I was good enough for or had enough in common with. Not this crap where nothing matters and I leave the house once or twice a month to help my mom with something mundane. I don't know how I could possibly miss Junior Year, everyone left me and it was so boring, but I do, I guess.

Maybe it's more regret than nostalgia. A lot of things I wish could've been different. My mom could never drive and my dad was separated, and neither me or my brother were proactive in getting our licenses.... Or anything else. I also lived in a neighborhood of people whose kids were teenagers when I was 6. Also mom scared me out of walking anywhere (I hate the news to this day.) I never really had any friends I saw outside of school and really didn't have much in common with anyone except music taste except one, but TBH I would hate him now, last time I saw him on Instagram he was sexually harassing a girl ("Nice ass?" Really?) No surprise that a lot of sheltered Nintendo nerds become like that, and I'm not entirely sure I'm not. One of the others pretty much abandoned me when she got a boyfriend (if you ever see an old post of mine where I rant about "Blacked.com stereotypes," that's like 1/3 of the reason why, the other 2/3rds being body image issues and a general inability to fit in with other black people.) I gotta wonder whether anyone likes me for any reason other than feeling sorry for me, but I'll never know for sure.

I never really got to go on any dates or have girlfriends because I was broke, transportationless, and also ugly until I lost weight that I'm probably putting back on but don't have a scale. Is it sad that my greatest achievement is "weight loss?"

I think at least two girls had crushes on me, but one I had a crush on her best friend and she moved away, plus my drug obsession and warm weather induced hypomania bouts probably turned her off (if you knew me IRL I am not surprised if you are scared of me.) The other I could never touch because I first talked to her reaching out to her because she was depressed (another regret: not having more casual conversation with this girl) and I'd feel like I was overstepping a boundary. The latter was a cute chubby goth girl and the former was a cute stoner, I do wish them the best. And again, I thought of myself as a lazy slob even back then, and they deserved better.

Honestly I feel like I'm getting old, I've only gotten really into one new music artist since those times, that artist being Weezer. Which, other than video game music and the big three classic grunge bands, is 99% of what I listen to now. Also, I just don't feel music anymore. Pink Floyd albums DSOTM and Animals are more relevant to me than ever but I just don't feel it anymore. Maybe I need to find something new to relate to due to the sheer amount of times I've listened to those two, but it's not the same. I just remember listening to mostly Green Day, Pink Floyd, My Chemical Romance, Alanis Morissette, and Nirvana wherever I was in class and the days would just fly by, me unable to contain myself from rocking my body along.

This post is mostly complaints, but I still long for this era.

#nostalgia #high school #journal #senior year

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donghun-s · 5 years

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the great big mel is lazy tag

i’m lazy and haven’t done anything i’ve been tagged in for like the past month or so,, so here’s all of em in one go

tagged by @seonghwoah

rules: tag 10 5 none im sorry followers you’d like to get to know better!

name: mel

birth year: 2001

sign: libra

height: 5′8″/173cm

put your playlist on shuffle and name the first 4 songs:

finale - h.u.b

starry sky - astro

let go - bts

i need u - clc

grab the nearest book, turn to page 23, what’s the 17th line?

A thin crust of dirt spread from the ghoul’s hand, straight up Eurymachus’s spectral arm.

- blood of olympus, rick riordan (mind you, this book was d u s t y when i picked it up)

ever had a song or poem written about you?

yeah,, it was for a poetry assignment in 8th grade and it was by this kid who i had ‘dated’ for two months and then ‘broke up with’ and it was abt how he hated me and hated the notion of love and anybody i’d ever love in the future lmao

when was the last time you played air guitar?

uh yesterday while bopping to rock me by one direction

celebrity crushes?

,,, u mean my whole blog

what is a sound you love/hate?

i rlly do love the sound of children laughing or giggling,, its one of the purest things in the world tbh

i hate the sound of ppl cracking their necks,, dont care what else u crack just not your neck it makes me s o uncomfortable

do you believe in ghosts?

yeah why not

do you believe in aliens?

well duh

so you drive? and if you do, have you ever crashed?

yes i drive, and i have crashed,,,, the second time i ever drove my mom was like ‘hey let shave u pull into the garage’ and then screamed at me to brake and i hit the gas instead of the brake oops

last book you read?

uh not including fics,,, probably ‘death by black hole’ by neil degrasse tyson??

do you like the smell of gasoline?

for the most part, yeah

the last movie you saw?

i rewatched dinsey’s hercules recently

do you have any obsessions right now?

aside from kpop, probably boba tea, my friends i have gone at least twice a week for the past month and im running out of money

do you tend to hold grudges?

not rlly,,, holding grudges and hating ppl is just so emotionally exhausting for me tbh,,,, like i’ll let go of it but that doesn’t mean that i pretend like it never happened, i just dont waste time on it

are you in a relationship right now?

nah dude

tagged by @seonghwoah

rules: shuffle your playlist and write down the first 10 songs!!

ok i’m gonna do 5 songs from two diff playlists, one is hzck, my list of just new-ish songs i’ve been listening to recently, and another is beyond the direction, which is the entire discography of 1d and bts all in one playlist ok cool

1. feels alright - watsky

2. i wanna know - roh taehyun

3. pain is beauty - chanmina

4. black dress - clc

5. treasure - astro

6. loved you first - one direction

7. answer: love myself - bts

8. dimple - bts

9. tell me a lie - one direction

10. boy in luv - bts

tagged by @1ove1ies and @ohkaypopthis

group music tag

rules - using only song titles from one artist/band, cleverly answer the questions and tag ten people.

artist: bts

gender: outro: her

how do you feel: i’m fine

if you could go anywhere: magic shop

favorite mode of transportation: airplane pt. 2

your best friend: answer: love myself

favorite time of day: 24/7 = heaven

if your life was a tv show: begin

relationship status: whalien 52

your fear: moving on

tagged by @seonghwoah

home/lock screen/last played song

ok so my lockscreen is me n some of my swim kids so im not comfortable posting that but here’s my homescreen n last song

tagged by @seonghwoah

share 5 little things about yourself that people might not be able to tell without seeing you in person, and tag a few people you want to get to know!

1. i’ve got two rlly deep dimples that u can see p much all the time,,, even when i’m angry they pop out sometimes

2. i gesture a lot when i talk, and when i sign, my facial expressions are wild,, my hearing friends that don’t sign think its hilarious to watch my face when i sign

3. i have mild vitiligo across 40% of my body!!

4. i’m an awkward size where a lot of time ‘plus-size’ stuff will be too big bu ‘normal’ sizes are too small

5. i have a rlly bad habit of cracking my knuckles a l l t h e t i m e

tagged by @seonghwoah

url tag game aka let’s make mel suffer for the third time (this is the second time i’ve done it w this long ass url,, and i did it before w starlightbangtann too lmao)

say my name - ateez

thinkin’ about you - jbj95

all day all night - shinee

reflection - rm (of bts)

like that - clc

i’m not famous - ajr

good night - dia

headache - day6

teenagers - my chemical romance

jump - bts

easy to love - key

oh my! - svt

no scrubs - weezer (cover)

girlfriend - bigbang

intro: ringwanderung - bts

nice - got7

aah that’s it!! if you read all of this wow congrats, now u know a bunch abt me!! also if u got this far, feel free to do any of these tags urself and say that i tagged you

#mel talks

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omg-puddingpie · 6 years

Photo

57 facts about OMG-Puddingpie

Tagged by @twistedsimblr

1. I am going to be 30 years old in 4 months! :0 Gettin’ old folks. XD

2. I was born January 5th and EVERY YEAR on my bday, my mom tells me the same story regarding my birth, the weather and so forth. (I just let her do it. XD)

3. I have terrible depression but I’ve learned how to handle it and find healthy alternatives for those bad days.

4. My wife and I have been together for 10 years, married for 3 and have 4 beautiful children: 3 girls and a boy. (We’d like more but we want to wait until our youngest is at LEAST 2 or 3. XD)

5. I will only date women with a ‘thicker’ body type. We ALL have our preferences, so don’t wave your damn finger at me. :P

6. I am Graphic Designer and freelance artist but always wanted to have my own tattoo shop and be a tattoo artist.

7. I never show too many pictures of myself. (I’ll do the Simself and draw it but that’s it) There have been a few times and people often ask why....what are you hiding? And the answer is the same: I’m not hiding a damn thing but I don’t need to showcase myself in every which way, to be honest. The internet is an ugly place at times.

8. I’m a cat person and if I had it my way, I’d live on a farm and allow all kinds of Cats to roam the lands!

9. I’m an Xbox man myself but I’m not against Playstations or other platforms.

10. I’m in love with the video game Overwatch and I’m a Junkrat, McCree, Hanzo, Mercy, Roadhog and Ana main. (I try to play all the heros, though.)

11. I started drawing at 9 when I kept complaining I was bored. Guess my mom got tired of it and told me to find SOMETHING to do, so I did. XD

12. I do not like people bugging me with requests: Can you draw this, can you draw (insert character’s name) can you draw my Cat, can you draw my boyfriend and I, etc. I’ll only do them for certain people and I MUST approach you. If not, prepare to be ignored.

13. I’m Portuguese, A little Italian and a TAD German.

14. I love disney movies and could care less that I’m a grown ass man: I will SING ‘Colors of the wind’ from Pocahontas until my heart is content! XD

15. My very 1st car was a 2007 Mustang

16. I inherited the name Puddingpie from the wonderful game ‘The Wolf Among Us’

17. ‘Fables’ is my favorite non-marvel comic

18. I love Supernatural creatures: Werewolves, Fairies, Vampires....you name it.

19. I love the holiday season and can not WAIT for the Fall to finally set in. (I live in Cali and it can get....pretty....damn...hot!)

20. My parents have been divorced since I was 5

21. Can not wait for the remastered Spyro trilogy! I was pretty bummed when they pushed the release date to November but yay: Early Christmas present to me! :D

22. People assume I’m gay or bi because I draw naked dudes, play same sex sims, etc and to be honest, I like to have different options and I’m open.

23. I got into my first fight when I was 12.

24. I’d do anything for my children. They mean everything to me.

25. My wife is African American and we use to HATE one another, before we officially became a couple. (Hilarious, I know. XD)

26. To @twistedsimblr Your drawings are amazing and I wish I had the time (and patience) to make poses like you can, girl! :D

27. I use to write A LOT of fanfictions during my college years. (Like, 4 or 5 years ago?)

28: I personally do not know this person but @emmypess and I go waaaaaaaay back in the writing community and use to write stories all the damn time in the same forum. Her stuff is still amazing!

29. I love Las Vegas. I mostly go for the shows and food, though.

30. I love Pizza and will drive in the rain, snow and end of the world, just to get one. :P

31. I love listening to the oldies. (70′s, 80′s, 90′s. Old country songs are the best)

32. I am estranged from my father and it’s been the best damn thing I could have ever done.

33. I can make a pretty good Pecan Pie.

34. My Vinyl Pop figure collection has become an addiction and I MIGHT need help. XD

35. I have an issue with Beer and hard liquor (meaning I’ve been known to over drink) so I limit myself or avoid it, if possible.

36. Never been fired from a job

37. I’ve been playing The Sims since 2001. It was included with our new computer at the time and I fell in love with it.

38. People assume I live by the beach and surf, just because I live in California. Although I USE to, I’ve recently moved to a town surrounded by factories, Dairies and some pretty decent eateries.

39. I love Vans and Converse shoes

40. One day, I will complete a Sudoku puzzle without the help from my wife.

41. Facebook is overrated and although I have one, I rarely use it these days. (Mostly to post photos during the holidays)

42. I have a foul mouth and it’s be a struggle keeping that at bay. XD

43. I hate large crowds and they make me very nervous

44. I’m not much for television and prefer watching youtube or stream shows on my tablet, if I need that entertainment.

45. I have music playing every time I draw. It helps me concentrate and the lyrics often help push out what I’m trying to doodle.

46. John Gardner’s book ‘Grendel’ is one of my all time favorite reads. (And not just because I’m a fan of Gren. XD XD)

47. Metallica is the shit

48. I eat Peanut Butter like it’s never coming back to the shelves

49. I can be very mean and say hurtful things. (Get this from my father) And although it’s an ongoing battle, I’d like to say I’ve made progress

50. I have a tattoo of Otto from ‘The Simpsons’ on my right leg. He is my spirit animal. :P

51. I love Black Cats

52. My wife and I TRIED to grow our own produce, like Onions, Tomatoes, etc and well.....it failed. BIG time. XD

53. SPEAKING of Tomatoes, I hate, hate, HATE them on sandwiches or Burgers but I need Ketchup for my Fries. Go figure. :P

54. I use to smoke cigarettes

55. I’ve been told when I make Coffee, it’s almost like drinking oil. It’s pretty damn strong but I need it!

56. I’m currently obsessed with Weezer’s attempt at the song ‘Africa’ and have replayed it well over 100 times by now.

57. This year, I’m going to take a week off from EVERYTHING job related and just be a lazy bum. I need some me time, dammit! XD

I tag….

EVERYONE…

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ahoybyeler · 6 years

Text

tag game

tagged by: @trashmouths-love-to-cuddle (thanks for the tag ily!)

Lasts

1. drink - water

2. phone call - my dad

3. text message - a group chat

4. song you listened to - africa (the weezer version)

5. time you cried - hmm idk prolly the last time my mom yelled at me a lot

Ever

6. dated someone twice? - nope

7. kissed someone and regretted it - no

8. been cheated on - nope

9. lost someone special - no

10. been depressed - lowkey but not really

11. gotten drunk and thrown up - huhh no

Favorite colors

12. orange

13. blue

14. pastel yellow

In the last year have you-

15. made new friends - yeahh, but I made a lot near the end of the school year

16. fallen out of love - no

17. laughed until you cried - ye

18. found out someone was talking about you - yeah, but it was funny to me

19. met someone who changed you - not really a specific person, but meeting a lot of people on tumblr changed how i view things a little, and educated me more

20. found out your friends are - 11/10 (most of them)

21. kissed someone on your facebook friends list - uhh i’m not that old i don’t have fb (jkjk)

General

22. how many of your facebook friends do you know irl - nope

23. do you have any pets - no, i used to have fish but they ded

24. do you want to change your name - no

25. what did you do for your last birthday - went over to my friends house, and had dinner w/ another friend

26. what time did you wake up today - 9ish

27. what were you doing at midnight last night - like going upstairs to sleep

28. what is something you can’t wait for - honestly, idk, I just want someting good to happen

29. when was the last time you saw your mom - like 5 mins ago, she just left the house to go somewhere

30. what are you listening to right now - nothing, but my sister’s playing her annoying ass starfall music, so ig that counts

31. have you ever talked to a person named Tom - yes, my dad’s boss

32. something that’s getting on your nerves - my sister, also the table that i’m sitting at is messy

33. most visited website- youtube, discord, tumblr

34. hair color - dark dark brown

35. long or short hair - long but not super long

36. do you have a crush on someone - ye but he’s lowkey annoying but iss ok

37. what do you like about yourself - my eyelashes

38. want any piercings - i would want a second ear piercing, but my ears are super sensitive, so prolly not gonna happen

39. blood type- a+ just like my grades (hah i’m joking)

40. nicknames - bitch, dumbass, hoe, haz

41. relationships status - single pringle

42. zodiac - gemini

43. pronouns - she/her

44. fave tv shows - stranger things, everything sucks, dance academy

45. right or left handed - right

46. ever had surgery - nope

47. tattoos- no

48. piercings- just my ears

49. sport - track but i hate it, and dance ig if that counts, but not a lot

50. vacation- i just wanna go to the beach 😩

51. trainers- nike

More general

52. eating - i was eating some greek chicken pita thing

53. drinking - was drinking water

54. I’m about to watch - some shit on youtube

55. waiting for - a manz 😩

56. want - to go get ramen

57. get married - i mean i’d like to, but i would still be ok with being in a non-married relationship if it was healthy and stable

58. career - idk i’m a mess

Which is better

59. Hugs or kisses - never kissed anyone, so hugs ig (but only from certain people)

60. Lips or eyes - eyes

61. Shorter or taller - taller (bc i’m short af)

62. Younger or older - idk, i’ve always had crushes on ppl about the same age as me, a few months either way. so ig about the same age (like a couple years either way) would be good.

63. Nice arms or stomach - stomach (does this mean abs?)

64. Hookup or relationship - depends on the person, but prolly relationship

65. Trouble maker or relationship - relationship

Have you ever

66. kissed a stranger - no

67. drank hard liquor - yeah but just a super diluted sip, it was gross

68. lost glasses - ye, but i got them back

69. turned someone down - i mean,, i was pretty young so idk if it really counts

70. has sex on the first date - no

71. broken someones heart - i don’t think so?? probably not

72. has your heart broken - ye

73. cried when someone died - no

74. fallen for a friend - idk if we were actually friends, so imma say no

75. been arrested - no

Do you believe in

76. yourself - sometimes

77. marcels - what’s a marcel?? sorry i’m dumb just idk

78. love at first sight - no

79. Santa claus - no

80. a kiss on a first date - yes

81. angels - no (but people can be like angels)

Other

82. best friends name (s) - peppa pig, myaya, amyoloa, poopj, aryaa

83. eye color - brown

84. favorite movie - three idiots, coco

85. favorite actor - noah schnapp, finn wolfhard, tom holland

tags: @ohsoreddie @aexo289 @harringtonwife @stellarlosersclub @danielle-010 @danny-dyke @who-the-buck-is-stucky @cocoe-13 @strangerthanyou011

#tag game #hazel rants #i was tagged

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toogoodmusic · 6 years

Audio

TOO GOOD TUESDAY INTERVIEW: New Chums

New Chums may be a Phoenix based band but their roots extend from all over the country. The foursome includes Seth from California, Ben from Boston, Matt from Nashville and Cassandra from Michigan. Their diverse backgrounds have come together to form this indie rock band that is still riding the wave of the release of their debut EP, See It For Myself. The EP brings together big energy, heavy guitars and shining vocals that come together to form a sound that is both unique and familiar at the same time. Lucky for Too Good Music, the foursome recently took some time to answer some questions about the EP as well as their song, “Come On Come On.” They also discuss how they promoted their EP in a vending machine, what they would like to see before they die and much more below!

TOO GOOD MUSIC: So diving right into it, how did you guys come up with the name New Chums?

SETH (vocals/guitar): I got the name New Chums when I was on holiday in Sydney, Australia. I was in a history museum when I read a placard that described how when new prisoners were arriving in the Sydney harbor the current prisoners would say, ‘The New Chums are here.’ Something about the idea of random people coming together as New Chums resonated with me. When I was putting the band together, and seeing how none of the band members knew each other when we started the band, the name New Chums only seemed fitting.

TGM: Interesting! So yeah going off that idea, you guys are from all over the country…how did you guys all meet and end up becoming a band?

MATT (guitar): Yea, like Seth said, no one knew each other before the band. All of us moved to Arizona over the past few years for various reasons, so we are all transplants to this area. Since I was new to town, I had just put up an online ad if anyone needed a guitar player for some paid gigs to reach out. Seth ended up emailing me and sending me a few of their early recordings. I liked what I heard and thought my guitar playing could really fill up their sound as there weren’t really extra guitar parts on the demos. We met up and jammed and got along really well, so that’s how it began for me. Same thing with Ben before me and then the 3 of us auditioned Cassandra a few months after I joined and it all clicked. So the current line-up formed pretty quickly and then 2 months later we went into the studio to record our first EP together.

TGM: Speaking of the EP what was the inspiration behind “Come On, Come On” and what does that song mean to you guys?

SETH: To me, “Come On, Come On” is about the overall feeling it leaves you with. That feeling is going to be different for everyone who hears the song but my hope is that it fills people with energy and excitement, especially at a live show, and keeps them coming back as our shows get bigger and better. What does “Come On, Come On” mean to us? Hopefully it means we’ll be cashing huge paychecks in the not-so-distant future. We can be a little sarcastic and dry if you can’t tell…

TGM: Ha! I can see that. Continuing on the EP, its titled See It For Myself – what is something that you’d like to see for yourself, in person before you die?

CASSANDRA (bass): On a large scale, I'd like to see the end of "us vs. them" mentality that seems to be pervasive right now. We are more alike than different, so I'd enjoy seeing people realize that and take a breath from all the narrow-minded BS. Smaller scale (and admittedly more selfish), I'd like to see a large venue filled with people who are singing along with all our songs.

SETH: A world tour with The Killers. Is that too much to ask for?

BEN (drums): I, personally, love seeing new countries. I’d love for the band to be able to travel overseas and play a bunch of shows. Touring elsewhere is a ton of fun, and it’d be a blast with this group.

MATT: I just had my first daughter 5 months ago, so I’ll be mushy and say I’d love to live to walk her down the isle at her wedding someday. Also, of course, along with the guys, I’d just love to get to the point where we were headlining tours and had a strong, sustainable fanbase across the US and abroad.

TGM: When you released your EP, you did it in a clever way involving vending machines. Can you tell more about the story behind that and how that happened?

CASSANDRA: First, you pour all your energy and focus into writing and arranging songs that you really like. Then you pour all your energy and focus into recording those songs, making them sound as good as they can. When you finally have that recording in your hands, you need to pour all your energy and focus into getting it into other peoples' hands. You do that any and every way you can; selling CDs at shows isn't enough, you need to reach wider. We had access to a vending machine at a large sports complex, so we threw a few copies in there, put a sticker on the outside of the machine that said "Support Local Music! You won't regret it" and we sold all the copies of our EP that we put in there. It helped break up the monotony of asking friends/fans to buy it via social media and in person at our shows. It's fun to think that people who didn't know our band, haven't seen us live, bought our EP in a vending machine and may be driving around listening to us right now.

TGM: Ha! That is really cool and what an interesting way to promote an EP and I bet the people that didn’t know you before and bought the EP enjoyed what they heard. With that being said how would you describe your sound?

SETH: I’d say our sound is guitar driven with an emphasis on great tones, big hooks and melodies you can’t get out of your head. We spend a lot of time fine-tuning our songs so there’s a unique element to each individual song. The blank canvas of the melody over a single guitar lends itself for interpretation to the rest of the band members and we all collaborate on it from there to ultimately develop what it blossoms into.

TGM: Let’s dive deeper into that - what is your writing process like? Is it more collaborative or individual?

MATT: Seth will typically bring a chord progression and lyrics already in tact for a song. Sometimes, we will just begin jamming on a brand new song in full rehearsals and just all start hashing parts in real time. Mostly though, Seth and I will sit down and I’ll begin writing guitar parts off of his original structure so we at least have a general map of what the guitars will do going into full band rehearsals. From there, we begin jamming on it full band and songs can go all sorts of different directions with everyone just throwing out ideas as they come. With the end product being very collaborative, each new song usually take several weeks in rehearsals to finalize. It’s crazy sometimes to hear how much dynamically or arrangement wise some of our songs end up from where they started at that first rehearsal. That’s the cool thing about writing and creating together, also being patient and working on a song until it feels right to everyone.”

TGM: I saw that you guys performed on the main stage at the Mesa Music Festival in Arizona - what was that like? Any interesting stories from that festival?

BEN: It was hot and sweaty like rock n roll should be! The only real surprise for that show was actually finding and getting to the stage. It was our own little Spinal Tap moment. Overall, that was a fun one to play, though. Big stages are cool, and in some ways, are easier to play than smaller ones.

TGM: If you could headline one festival which one would it be?

MATT: I’d say Bonnaroo or Lollapalooza would be incredible

TGM: Those would be great - Bonnaroo is a favorite of mine so I’ll definitely have to make it out there if you guys headline! Individually, if you could only listen to (5) artists/bands for the rest of your life who would they be?

CASSANDRA: Wow, that's a tough question and I will be second-guessing my answer for weeks: 1) Elvis Costello and the Attractions 2) Cheap Trick 3) Frank Turner 4) Jimmy Eat World 5) Butch Walker

MATT: Weezer, Jimmy Eat World, The Beach Boys, MXPX and Copeland

SETH: In no particular order: Gerardo, Milli Vanilli, Chumbawamba, Smash Mouth, The Beatles (winks)

BEN: This is always a tough one to answer. There’s the Beatles that will always be timeless rock music and should be included. Further than that, though, I’d guess I’d want to find 4 other artists/bands that change things up a lot from record to record because I get bored easily. I think I’d just probably go crazy listening to only 5 bands.

TGM: And last but not least what does the rest of 2018 look like for you?

MATT: We will be staying busy playing mostly regional shows and a few Festivals through the Fall. There is always new music we are working on and have been playing a new song out about every 2 or 3 shows. So just keep writing and gearing up for our next run in the studio, no time table set on that yet.

A HUGE shout-out to Ben, Cassandra, Matt & Seth of New Chums for taking the time to answer some questions from Too Good Music! Be sure to keep up with them and everything new with New Chums below:

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