dogs under water

I've got nothing to say, but these photos of dogs under water make me laugh every time I see them.

If you don't find those hilarious, you have no soul. 

Other than looking at pictures of dogs underwater, life is busy.  Went and saw Every Time I Die in Myrtle Beach this past weekend with the Stonez and Jared. Such an amazing show and one of the openers, Let Live, absolutely blew me away.  I saw them open for August Burns Red but the sound was so bad (popping speakers are the worse) that it didn't dawn on me how amazing they were.  ETID had tons of energy but nothing will compare to a Let Live show, dude was all over the place.  We're going to have to get Kyle a longer mic cable for our next show. 

Here's "Homeless Jazz" off of Let Live's "Fake History", you should go pick it up....right now. Support good music by good dudes. 

Besides the great show, hanging out with Jared, Kyle, and Harmz is always a blast. Lots of laughs, stupid jokes,  and good, good food (you'll always have my heart Steak & Shake). 

This weekend the House of Fools dudes will be playing Charleston, so that's going down on Saturday and if you're in the chucktown area, you should be there. I've already roped Jared into coming, which is awesome. Plus it's nice to see them play live without having to drive 4 hours to Greensboro. 

April is already shaping up to be a pretty busy month, should be a banger. 

And here's ETID's "Grudge Music", just because it's awesome and I enjoy it a lot. 

much love, 

X

Read More

Ex Lives

In the event that the title doesn't give it away, Ex Lives is the title for the new Every Time I Die album...and I'll be damned if all the hype leading up to it wasn't spot on.  And when I say all the hype, I mean ALL of the hype because there were tons of it.  From the music sites I visit daily to the merch guy at the Maylene show who happened to get a few listens somehow.

Ex Lives is every great thing they did on the previous five albums, mixed into one of the best albums I've heard in years.  And I don't even own it! My pre-order should be in today but up until today, I've been listening solely to the album stream on SoundCloud (provided below, not sure how long it'll be up). So thanks to modern technology and the SoundCloud iPhone app, I've been able to listen to this in the car, at the gym, at work, etc...hell, i'm listening to it now as I type this up.

So yea....highly recommended pick-up. Listen to Underwater Bimbos, Typical Miracle, and Grudge Music. 
   

Other notable releases for this week are Good Old War's Come Back As Rain and Lovedrug's Wild Blood, and Moonlight Bride's Twin Lakes EP. I actually listened to and bought the Moonlight Bride EP and was worth every penny, I have a feeling that band is going to get the attention they deserve in 2012. I've yet to listen to GOW and Lovedrug's albums though, I'll have to get to them this week sometime.

Also, Merchants had our first show on Thursday, and holy hell that was fun. I'd almost forgotten how much fun playing live was. I screwed up a ton but I jump around too much, and I'm still learning how to play guitar properly, for me to be to surprised by that. We've got our second show lined up on the 13th with Hollow Earth (Shai Hulud side project....yea, that Shai Hulud), we sold out of all of our shirts (we only made 11 but still), got rid of a lot of stickers and patches and overall had a good time.  A lot of friends made the trip out which is more appreciated than I can ever properly express. Actually, I think it's only something another musician could truly understand...the idea that someone is willing to come listen to you make a ton of noise for 30 minutes, just because they know you love it.

I started my volunteer work with the Charleston Miracle League this past Saturday too. We were able to wrap up the adult league games before Charleston's mini-monsoon started up but I had a blast.  It was a little awkward at first, just because I knew no one and most of the volunteers are high school kids trying to up their college applications.  Plus, my tattoos made every one a little hesitant first but luckily they needed a pitcher and I happened to be standing right there so I got signed up and pitched for the first 2 games.  By the time the third game rolled around, I had been hit by enough balls and made enough semi-funny jokes for everyone to warm up so I was able to chat away with people.  Definitely plan on being out there this Saturday, hopefully we'll actually get to the kids games this time.

much love. X

Read More