Riffs.

Shit i've been jamming lately that i think should be shared.




Chris Colohan (vocalist of Cursed, Left For Dead, The Swarm) and others. Sounds like Motorhead if turned up to 11 with an extra helping of evil. Catchy riffs with the vocal and lyrical stying that you would expect from a Colohan project. 6 tracks in under 11 minutes. So fucking good. I grew a handle bar moustache just from listening to it. You can to.

Burning Love - Demo 2009
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I saw this band at Dudefest and i was never more afraid of a female in my life. This female fronted hardcore/punk band plays at speeds that im sure all you wanna-be power violence, ceremony loving kids can get behind. Feedback drenched, old school hardcore jams about topics such as straight edge, meat consumption, and feminists. I'm in love. and it feels alright. Did i mention how fast this is?

Punch - Self Titled LP
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Friends of ours (Biter) from Syracuse, New York. Sounds like Cursed with smokey 70's stoner riffs overlaying all the crusty punk awesomeness. To top it off, when i bought my 7" from them, it came with incense and a pin. now all my records smell great! thanks Oak & Bone! They are playing my townhouse on September 29th along with us and a band called Mistletoe. More details on that later, but you are so totally invited because house shows are only fun if its crammed tight and the cops come.

Oak & Bone - Self Titled 7"
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And just for the record, you should buy these artists records/shirts/whatever because in the DIY community, these bands don't function without your support. So if they come close to you, at least go out and sing a long or head walk (boogie board). Or order their records like i normally do. Support the art that you are passionate about.

need i remind you...

...I'm still Straight Edge.

It's been 6 years.
I claimed when i was 15 to rise above the worship of a plant and a liquid.
I am now 21.
21...the holy golden gateway to bar culture and being the man at underage parties.

Fuck that.
I said it 6 years ago
and I'm still saying it today.

I find it really funny actually. My life with Straight Edge that is. You see, a lot of us got into the hardcore scene and found out about straight edge once there. Not so much for Whitey and I. Being AFI fans for years, we were analyzing the music video for the leaving song pt. 2 when we saw kids "x'ing up" in the so called "pit."

I had no idea what this was all about so i checked it out.
I discovered Ian Mackaye and his musical and philosophical adventures, got the album Soldiers by Embrace Today, and found out that members of some of my favorite bands at the time (Reversal Of Man, Refused) were straight edge also.

At the time i was making all these landmark discoveries, Whitey and I were also dealing with losing a lot of our childhood friends to drugs and alcohol.

And then one day we woke up and all the friendships we once had were gone. And all we had was in one another.
All because we refused to worship a liquid.

Needless to say it made the following years hard. It gave us scars, it gave us tears, and it gave us a bond that could never be broken.

We started going to shows and meeting others like us. Throughout the years, i meet more and more straight edge kids. And more and more throughout the years i realized how different our upbringings were.

You look at me and you will see a tall skinny awkward kid with straight legs, some punk band's t-shirt and probably some shitty haircut to hide my bulb like hair growth. I listen to a vast collage of musical genres and have a large population of friends who drink and smoke and whatever else.

Does that make me less Straight Edge than anyone else? No.

It seems to me that the reason that "we" are all in the punk and hardcore community is because we were sick of the comments about our dark clothing, taste in "music with yelling", and lack of substance worship. This is something i believe to be the uniting bond between anyone in the scene who went to a public high school and got ridiculed for not fitting the status quo.

But on a daily basis i see my peers judge, bully, look down on, practice intolerance and generally do the same things that were done onto us in our younger years to those who are new or different to the scene. Acceptance and tolerance are the only things that can truly unite people.

As far as myself and my other Straight Edge peers are concerned, we have a similar passion. We despise to see youth, at its peek of activity, creative power, and mental sharpness, waste it's time, money, passion, and overall interest in commercialized and romanticized articles of self destruction.

But for us to judge them for their choices and criticize them makes us no better than the kids in high school who made us feel like shit and cast us out because of our choices.

I have pride. I have pride because i know in my heart that i am doing something that betters MY life. I am Straight Edge for me. And for no one else.

big ole' life update.

dynamic duo is in full effect



working on the biter album stuff.
you'll see.
In this picture: giant scythe.




now the proud owner of Cursed - One on 180gram 12" vinyl. one of my top 5 records. thanks casey.

THE MUDPIT SAGA







mission complete.

summer is almost over and its like im just starting to enjoy summer for the first time this year.
im ready for classes because i just want to house them and get it over with.
im broke also so the refund check will be much needed.

biter show so soon. get stoked