Boo!

Happy Halloween everyone! This used to be the biggest day of the year for me as a kid. I used to know my costume by the end of August, but ironically I'm going to a party on Saturday and still don't know what I'll be. I wanted to be a big furry animal like a bear or something, and tried one suit on and started to sweat like a whore in church, so I think I'll just go with a wig and fake beard and go as a bum. I guess I won't have to do much will I? Brendan and I went to the rehearsal spot and made some noise until about 2 am last night. I've got some cool ideas and thanks to my loop pedals, I think we're going to get this new project up and running pretty soon. As for tonight, I've made a specifically spooky playlist on my ipod, and I'm going to light some candles, roll one up and scare myself silly. Also, I highly recommend listening to my New Rock @ 9 show tonight! I've made a really cool playlist, and there's a few treats in there for the witches in flight.

Also, do yourself a fav, and check out this blog. Made my day!

The Beat Goes On...

So as promised I came back! Wow two days in a row, and I'm pretty sure nobody has even been here, but as I stated, it helps time pass at work. Last night I went over to my buddy Pete's place, as we've been talking about jamming for a while now. I didn't think it would really go anywhere, but as it turns out, Pete has an old 4 track unit with an old Roland drum machine. Now anyone who knows me, understands that regardless of my capacity of playing music, I LOVE to record. He kind of talked down the fact that it's an older set up, but I got a huge kick out of seeing someone else similar tactics to track your own stuff. We sat and listened to a bunch of his old cassettes and I was totally blown away. I'm now inspired to go back to the older unit I have and try to look at this from a different angle. Thanks Pete. Look out Bob Pollard!

Someone else I've been listening to and learning from is one Bradford Cox. He's the front man of a band called Deerhunter and I'm pretty sure he's one of the most prolific artists in music today. Not only does his band actively play and release albums, but he's also doing another project called Atlas Sound. He's just wrapped up an album under that name, but if you click the Deerhunter link up there, it'll take you to his blog where he basically tracks and uploads a song each day. It's really out there, and it's trippy, loopy stuff, but I burned a disc with all of his songs from his blog, and I'm excited about doing something different again. My band The Champion Heartache is great, and I love writing and recording original pop rock songs, but I feel I need another outlet. Something that is completely different than what we're doing, and really fucked up. So I think I'm going to start playing with the sequencer I have on rent, and get started on a side project. I still don't know where to start, but tonight after work, I'm going to make my way over to our rehearsal space and make some noise. I need a medium upon which I'll actually record the music, but I like the thought of recording songs and uploading them here for you to listen to. Hell, maybe I'll bang out a quick EP and call it something weird. Who knows. Bottom line...I've been inspired!

On another note, I'm spinning a set at Brendan's party this saturday which is amazing. I haven't DJ'd in a while, so I'm hellbent on selecting some creepy, dancey music for Halloween. The Heartache is playing a set that night too, and we've just added some new dates for the next couple months too. We're playing on Nov.16th and Dec.21st at The Velvet Elvis.

Listen to this: (Atlas Sound...Thanks to www.stereogum.com

http://www.stereogum.com/mp3/Atlas%20Sound%20-%20Calvary%20Scars.mp3

Holy Shit...It's been a year!

No idea whyI decided to come back here. I've been reading blogs from different bands latley and thought I should get back to dog-fucking at work and write some pointless entries. So, in the past little while (or year) our band has re-shaped, re-formed, re-bounded and re-corded some new songs that will be available very soon. This stuff takes so long, but I'm thankful that I have such amazing people behind me to help make this possible. The Champion Heartache's first album has literally taken a year to record. We're now in the mixing phase and it will be mastered and ready to go for January. In the meantime, we've been jamming on sundays and we've got about 5 newer songs that will be on the next album. We're adding them to the live set gradually and even pounded out a new one last night too. I promised myself I was going to take some time off to gather my head and write some new stuff, but instead we're going to continue to jam, and play the occasional show. One being on November 16th at The Velvet Elvis. We're opening for St.John's reggae rockers "The Idlers." This upcoming saturday is Brendan's Halloween party. No clue on what I'll dress up as, but we're playing a set with our dear friend Joel Phair behind the kit, as Terry Toutant has another gig with one of his other bands. I think he's got 3 or 4 on the go now. Good for you dude. Oh, and it's his birthday tomorrow too, so sing the song for him. On friday I went to see Rogue Wave. I went alone to The Mod Club and I was selfishly excited to see the lack of attendence. Why? So I could walk to and from the stage with nothing to worry about. They're so amazing live, and Zach Rogue's voice is better live than on CD. Hell I bought a t-shirt! Next show is Nov. 9th as Band Of Horses are playing at The Phoenix, and the next night, Caribou are in town too. That'll be awesome too. Autumn always rocks for concerts in T.O

That's it for now. I like the picture above so much...Just a perfect image of my best buddies with my fav band's lead singer. I'll be back soon and won't take a year.

Songs to love like I do: (Thanks to Neile's Life....http://neileslife.blogspot.com/ )

http://neileslifestorage.com/Please_Purchase/03%20Chicago%20X%2012.mp3

http://neileslifestorage.com/Please_Purchase/02%20-%20publish%20my%20love.mp3