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The Electronic Saviors: 2 - Chicago venue Interviews.

2012-06-26T13:40:00.000-07:00

I've been working on getting all of these done, here's a directory of the interviews. More to come.

Keep watching this page.

Jim Semonik - The man behind Electronic Saviors

David Schock - WTII Records

Donna Lynch of Ego Likeness

John Verbos of Am.Psych

darkNES of The Gothsicles

Eric from Cryogen Second

Wait a damn Cryogen Second... ES2:Chicago Interview with Eric Sochocki

2012-06-26T13:29:00.001-07:00

Another ES:2 Interview, this time with the man behind Cryogen Second's - Eric Sochocki

Rusty: I'm going to be completely honest with you here, I haven't listened to anything that Cryogen Second has done. Period. Why, I'm a slacker and I want to hear it live. Give me a little bit of background on the band for the kids out there in internet land.
(I'm going to download and listen to the album WHILE we're doing this)

Eric: So, I started playing live/actually working on this band thing in 2005ish. I had been dicking around with programming for about 5 years beforehand, and never got the right combination of people to work with (I had originally wanted a female lead singer, wanted another person to program with, etc.). In 2005, after much prodding by my wife, I just decided to start doing it myself. I originally started this as a more futurepop type outfit, but the lyrics and music progressively got darker/more screamy/less about personal bullshit.

Also, tell those kids that my lawn is still off limits.

Rusty: Noted. I've been listening to Anthem for the Great Self Destruct while waiting for your answer. I am digging it. So if you did this all yourself, what are we to expect from a live setup? Is there a live band?

Eric: Glad you like it, man! Live is rather different from this record. I like the idea of adding in elements to a live show that aren't present on an album, so I have Kevin Edlin, a Nashville producer and engineer, playing the guitars and Asli (my wife) on live synth. Really, it's all about energy. I came into industrial from the Connecticut punk scene in the mid/late 90's, where kids would never release an album, only knew three chords, but got up on stage, and ruined themselves for thirty minutes, all for the entertainment of a handful of people who really got into it.

Rusty: For me, that's the thing. Energy is huge when you're on stage. Give it your all, or go the fuck home.

So, you said you came from Connecticut, where do you hail from now and has the response in your area been a good one for Cryogen Second?

Eric: Yeah! There was this whole... thing... that happened for a while in our scene where people either didn't realize or didn't care that while there is some importance to image and presentation, but unless you have something substantial live to back yourself up, you're just a dude in a costume, wandering listlessly around on stage, looking like a dickhead. Fortunately, I've seen more and more bands that have been coming up that are amazing performers and incredible musicians as well. It's a really exciting time to be in this scene, for all the jaded "I HATE INDUSTRIAL" shit that seems to be happening now.
To answer your question, I'm in Nashville, and have been, since 2003. It's been interesting. Nashville isn't a big scene, but we have had great response from the local markets around here in the past year or two, and we've been fortunate to have an amazing local promoter who actually cares about the local bands.

Rusty: I just drove through there TWICE over the last couple of weeks for my trip to Florida. The things I should know ahead of time before travelling. It's not too far away, so maybe we can get a show down there with you guys some time.

So, lets get to the reason we're all in Chicago on Saturday. Electronic Saviors 2. You have two tracks on there, one a remix for Inure and the other one of your own. How did you get involved in this project?

Eric: YES. LET US PLAY SHOW TOGETHER. I promise that I will only call you Busty when I introduce you to people.
I'm trying to find a way to answer this question without sounding ENTIRELY TOO serious or overly wordy, might take a minute.

Rusty: Take your time... show's saturday...

Eric: The remix was a no-brainer. I love working with Adam's music, so when he approached me to remix him, I jumped on it. I'm actually in the middle of mixing a track that we did along with another amazing artist that's going on his next single that's gonna be epic.
The other track (thirty eight) was a bit more of a labor of love, I lost a good friend under really shitty circumstances to a ridiculously rare form of blood cancer ten years ago. The people that worked with me on that track (Kevin on guitar and Sarah from Synapse on vocal) were amazing to deal with, and it served as a way to actually get closure about not being able to say proper goodbyes. I guess that was my main motivation for doing this. Watching people fight that shit and lose is horrifying. You hear stories about what people go through, but it's a lot different when you SEE it, you know?

Either way, when I learned about what was going on, we jumped at the ability to contribute and play. Life's too fucking short to be waylaid by the depressing shit, Jim putting out this comp (and by proxy the shows that have been going on around them) are a great way to make something great out of one of the worlds bigger dick moves.

Adam has informed me that I should not use the word "epic" when describing anything relating to him.

So, you know... leave that in, Highlight and bold it, and whenever those kids that were on my lawn ask about him, Make sure to use nothing but that word to describe him.

Rusty: Shit, I don't edit anything, this whole thread is going in there.

I'm trying to get a couple of these done today, so I apologize for making this a short interview. That means we're in for my ever famous "Lightning Round". 5 quick questions that could be word association as well and 5 quick answers. Ready? Alright, let's do this thing.

1) Jim Semonik
2) Beyond Therapy Records
3) Your take on the current state of industrial
4) Dave Shock
5) Beer or the hard stuff? (I gotta know what you drink for Saturday)

Eric: 1. Hopefully not an alien from another planet. I've never met him and only talked in a few short emails. Or maybe hopefully he is. Who knows.
2. Great starting point for smaller artists. Nothing but love for them.
3. Still lots of work to get out of the rut, but getting great again.
4. Probably a Gynecologist.
5. Me: A shot of Jaeger and a Jack and Coke.
Kevin: anything alcohol related
Asli: If you can get her to drink ANYTHING alcoholic you win everything.

Rusty: Fantastic. Alrighty, I'm wrapping things up here. Thank you for your time today. I'll see you on Saturday in Chicago for the awesome!

Eric: yessir! Have a good day, Senor Trombón

Holy Shit! I interviewed darkNES (He's played Kinetik... I know that doesn't rhyme) - ES2 Chicago Interview

2012-06-26T12:57:00.000-07:00

Today, I get to banter with Brian Graupner of The Gothsicles! Sit back and enjoy the ride.

Rusty: Alright, Brian, I know this is a little late in the game to do an interview. We have a show on Saturday and we want all those kids in Chicagoland to get their collective asses to the show.

Let's do this. We'll have a little back and forth here. I ask a question, you answer, I ask another one. Sometimes your answers will lead to me asking different questions.

I've been a fan for a while, I have seen the shows, but I am not sure I have ever sat down with you and asked this question. What's the deal with the old school 8-bit obsession?
Brian: "Write what you know", man. I've never been in a cyborg war or drank vampire blood, but I definitely wasted a whole summer trying to beat Castlevania II.

Rusty: I've been there too, I jumped over the 8-bit stuff due to having my 2600 and Colecovision for years and went right in to the 16-bit wars. Sorry to say I was on the Sega (not Andrew) side of the fence for that one. I'm a video game nut, so I totally get it.

There's been a little bit of a lineup change recently, you've got Mike on keys now. How has that added to the live performance and is he adding anything to future recordings?

Brian: Holy smokes on high, the live show is so much better now. It was Mike's idea to go the keytar route and it was a total home run from space. We've gotten into this pattern of feeding off of each other on stage and the result has been like this upward spiraling feedback loop of positivity. It's just awesome.

Mike's also working a lot on the new album, which is new for me because recordings have classically just been Dan Clark and myself. The stuff he's sent me sounds great, though, plus he just picked up a Moog about which he's crazy excited, so hopefully that will make it on to the new disc (or whatever).

Sega had a lot of quality titles.

Rusty: A keytar, that's something you just don't see too often anymore. I know that they seem to be making a bit of a comeback. But, I thought it was just for 80's cover bands and Johnny V's wet dream of an Am.Psych lineup.

It sounds like you've got a new lease on life with Mike in there now. I can't wait to see the show and feel the energy. I saw that you guys were at Kinetic again. How were things up in Montreal? It's been a couple years since the last time you were up there.

Brian: Right, we were there in 2010 and that was effin' great, but 2012 was completely the shit. It's so crazy to just casually hang out backstage with dudes like Beborn Beton and Haujobb and then have them tell you that you played a great set. The crowd was really fantastic as well, and that festival is so professionally run, it's crazy. Thanks times infinity to J-F for having us.

Who the fuck is Am.Psych?

Rusty: Am.Psych? Some band from Wisconsin. I think they play about an hour before you on Saturday. Anyway, I have not been witness to the full audio/visual setup for the Gothsicles as of yet. Last year at the WTII minifest, there was a technical issue, and the one other time I was at a show, I am not sure if I just blanked out or what. I have seen videos online of this spectacle though. Who does all that work for you? Is this something you have done yourself?

Brian: I've been outsourcing video more lately, such as with Adam Alvarez's work on the "Save Dat Mermaid" video and Steven Cheek's work on the new Kinetik comp track "This Year's Password is 'Party'", but yeah, everything else is me. It's a huge asspain to come up with a video concept for every track, but it's also a really great avenue for jokes.

Rusty: Well, not only that but getting everything synced up together, get the quality of the videos where you want them to be, hope your machine doesn't lag when you play them back. I can see it being a daunting task.

So, new album? I'm a big fan of the latest, and Save Dat Mermaid is a personal favorite of mine. When can we expect the new one out?

Brian: Hard to say. We're working hard on it, but have a ton of upcoming shows and whatnot, and that takes time, so I'm not sure. I'll say "before the end of the year", just to keep myself motivated.

Rusty: I'll try to hold you to it! So, I'm going to go back to some 8-bit fun here. Konami Code. I have this feeling it holds a special spot in your heart. For a lot of us it's the first cheat we remember. What about it is so special for you that you've got a great song written about it?

Brian: It's a super old track that was initially written with a friend back in 1998 when music about video games was still kind of a novel idea. There's something so indelible about that code to the 8-bit culture that when deciding to first write about that sort of thing, the Konami Code becomes an obvious choice. Maybe to a fault, actually. I've gotten a lot more obscure with references over the years.

Sidenote, this interview has inspired me to do some Sega Genesis sampling in between questions.

Rusty: Awesome. So, Saturday is the Electronic Saviors 2 show in Chicago. You have been on both compilations so far with "Jim, Let me know when you can drink again" on the first, and now "Who wants to join our superhero team (Right now, it's just Me & Jim).

I'm a proud member of the superhero team now, thanks to you. What does being on these compilations mean to you?

Brian: Well, cancer's terrible, obviously, so being able to contribute to something that helps fund it's treatment means a lot to me, especially when it's a friend and fellow industrial guy that's affected.

On a different note, though, it's an effin' spectacular comp to be on! The new one is fantastic!

Rusty: Alright, B. I am making these a bit shorter as the show is this Saturday.

We head off to "The Lightning Round". 5 simple question and answer. Some may be word association, some may require a rather lengthy answer. Here we go.

1) Sex or Video games?
2) Superman or Batman?
3) Song you have the most fun performing is?
4) Synthsizers: virtual or analogue?
5) If I could be any video game character in real life, it would be:

Brian: 1) One time I dressed up as Princess Peach for Halloween so I wouldn't have to choose.
2) Moon Knight
3) "This Year's Password is 'Party'"
4) I used the analog outs on my Virus TI for the whole "analog warmth" thing for while, but recording via usb is a grillion times easier, so Imma go virtual, at least for that machine.
5) My first thought was Mega Man because I like stealing people's powers after I murder them, but if I was Bionic Commando, I wouldn't have to get up to grab a beer.

Rusty: Awesome, Thank you again for doing this on spur of the moment notice today. We will see you on Saturday for the show!

ES2: Chicago interview with John Verbos - guest writer Joseph Graham of Razor Blade Dance Floor

2012-06-20T16:35:00.003-07:00

I've been on vacation for the last week getting all engaged and stuff, and interviewing a band mate is kind of odd. I have asked Joseph Graham of Razor Blade Dance Floor to step in and do the honors for this one. I've formatted a few things to make the read more to the format you are used to, but I have not altered any questions or answers in any way. Thanks again, Joe, you rock for doing this for us.

Joseph: Hey there, John. First off, I want to thank you for taking the time to sit down and do this interview with me. Second, I want to thank Rusty for letting me step in as a guest for his platform. He interviewed you last year, and I think that having someone outside of the band interview you is a really great idea. I have interviewed many bands, usually in person or on the phone, so this is going to be a first for me: interviewing through e-mail. This is an odd concept to me, so bear with me. I’m sure that we can make it work. Also, Rusty interviews by trading e-mails back and forth, creating a conversation, but time is very precious in my life, and since I work 7 days a week, usually 14 hours a day, I don’t think that we will be able to have that luxury. So I will have to unfortunately do this my way, by blasting you with all my questions up front. Perhaps we can tailor the end result to sound like a conversation. Maybe not. We will just have to see!

Let’s start with your band, am.psych. What exactly does ‘am.psych’ mean and how did the naming of the band process unfold?

John: I’ve always wanted to be asked this question, man. This is super exciting. Well, I’m pretty sure that the most common assumption is that it’s short for American Psycho, which is pretty alright. I mean, it’s a great book and all. The actual full name is “Amphetamine Psychosis”, which is a sort of psychological disorder caused by excessive use of amphetamines. The name came up as a discussion between David Manning and I. I had an ex who had a pretty serious drug problem that was focused mostly in the area of amphetamines. I was hurting really badly at the time and wanted to make a statement in a very public and “cool” way that what she was doing was bad news (from my perspective). So, we decided to get our hands on some software and start making music that we could slap the name onto. As it stands, we’ve got a line-up that all agree on a fairly clear-cut drug-free mentality. We’re all in very monogamous relationships with our alcohol. The booze would get mad if we cheated on it with other subtsances.

Joseph: How did you arrive at the current sound of am.psych, which is a perfect balance of electro-industrial and hard rock music?

John: Thanks for compliment, for starters. I think, as with most music projects, the final outcome sound is determined by the contributing tastes of the musicians involved. In the past, I struggled between wanting to make 80s synth pop, classic coldwave industrial, or more of the post-2000 sort of stompy industrial. I think that a lot of the influences I had in mind played through, but you can also absolutely hear Rusty’s more classic metal style in the guitars and Dan (Clark)’s more traditional rock sensibilities playing through in the final mixes. We maintain a really great equilibrium in terms of what we contribute, and nothing gets green-lighted until we’re all happy.

Joseph: Your vocal style is forceful and sinister, while at the same time maintaining melody and a beautiful darkness. What is your background in singing, and what did you do to help you develop this singing style?

John: Ha! Well, for starters, I have no actual training other than the brief vocal coaching Dan threw at me while I was in the recording booth. My singing background is based, I guess, on me being a huge music fan who can’t stop singing along in the car. I definitely have my list of vocalists I love. Guys that I wish I sounded more like, that sort of thing. In the end, obviously, I picked up pieces of each along the way. My quick list would be: Chris Randall, Chris Cornell, Raymond Watts, Tim Skold, Nivek Ogre

Joseph: You have played a number of live shows, having the chance to open for some great acts, headline your own shows and participate in some awesome festivals. Which ones stand out to you as the most memorable, and what shows would you rather forget?

John: Well, the WTII Minifest was up there. Top five, for sure. We played a Skinny Puppy pre-show at The Rave in Milwaukee during their “Greater Wrong of the Right” tour. It was a pay-to-play gig, but even still, we went on in the bar at the same time as Otto von Schirach going on in the main hall. Nobody left during our set. The bar was packed with people and they went nuts for our set. That was pretty killer. Opening for Chemlab, USSA, and Skeleton Key in Milwaukee was also about as good as it gets. It’s hard to say. We’ve had so many great opportunities and played with some many awesome people. I think we’re really lucky. As for stuff I’d like to forget… The two years or so of shows when we started out were pretty bad. We played with a band that put little to no effort into promotion, but always made sure they got paid out first. I can’t mention any names, because that’s catty and unprofessional. Heh.

Joseph: Last year I had the chance to catch your live set at David Schock’s WTII Minifest at the Abbey Pub in Chicago, and we actually had a bit of time to hang out and talk. One of the things I took away from the festival was the overwhelming sense of family and community amongst the musicians, promoters and fans. Is this an inherently Illinois/Wisconsin thing, or do you feel like this camaraderie can be brought to a national level, or better still, and international level?

John: Honestly, I’ll always hope that we can find that level of camaraderie in any city we go to. That’s pretty much the glue that’s holding most music-based cultures together. We’re pretty laid back, like to have fun, and like to meet people. I suppose a part of that is the Midwest attitude. We’re all drinkers, and I’ve always felt that bars for us are much like Holy ground to the immortals of Highlander—neutral ground for everyone to relax and be awesome. Now that I’m thinking about it, I’m going to stick to that mentality. I continue to meet more and more amazing people as we are given the opportunity to play with more bands. It’s staggering how large a percentage of people are honest, great people. Of course, there are still self-important, destructive dickheads out there. It’s inevitable. We’re just trying to skirt around those guys.

Joseph: Let’s get right to the heart of why this interview is happening: The Electronic Saviors 2 compilation that Jim Semonik just released on Metropolis Records, and the subsequent benefit show that David Schock of WTII Records is putting on in Chicago that you are performing at. First, what led to your participation in the compilation to begin with?

John: Well, after we released our EP on WTII, Dave (Schock) got to work on promoting it to everyone he knew, etc. Jim got his hands on it and was really into it. I hadn’t met Jim at the time. He promoted the EP and pushed some sales for us. Shortly thereafter, he asked us to contribute a track to ES2. We handed him, “My Enemy”, which I’ve often said is the best song I’ve ever written, lyrically. When we played at WTII Minifest last year, we got Jim onstage with us for, “Reload”. There’s been a bromantic love affair between am.psych and Jim ever since. I mean, the guy is amazing. The comp is for an awesome cause. When Jim himself asks you for a track to put on a comp that thousands of other bands are submitting tracks to, only hoping to maybe snag a spot, you throw him the best thing you’ve got. We did, I think.

Joseph: How did you wind up getting included at the benefit show?

John: Oh, thank Christ. This is an easy question that I don’t need to ramble on about: Dave Schock is an awesome label operator, that’s how. We give him our A game, he gives us awesome show opportunities.

Joseph: I myself have had more than a few family members affected by cancer, and I am watching a friend deal with the affliction as it attacks her young son’s brain. It is a heartbreaking and helpless feeling to watch someone go through it. What are your personal experiences with cancer?

John: When I was in High School, my family had a tough couple of years with cancer. We lost my aunt, my mother’s youngest sister, when she was only in her mid-late thirties. Shortly thereafter, my mother lost an uncle to cancer as well. Seeing a human being suffer like that is one of the most painful things I’ve ever experienced.

Joseph: I could go on and on asking you questions, so I will wrap it up with this question: what is the future of am.psych? I hear a full-length album is in the works. How about touring?

John: Yeah, we’re still working on our LP. It’s taken a lot longer than we wanted it to, but for good reason. We’re all human beings with other obligations. If the cost of getting the LP out quickly is not going to college, not seeing our children as much as we’d like, or anything else in that realm, it’s too great a cost. We’re about halfway along as-is. I want everything as perfect as we can get it. I want it to be worth the wait. We’ve already started adding newer songs to our live performances.

Joseph: Rusty likes to play the word association game in his interviews, so I guess I will have to comply to make it fit within his branding. So here it is: The Lightning Round! Five quick statements and you provide a wordy answer to them. Only I’m going to change it up a bit and turn the words against each other, sort of like a battle or a deathmatch. You tell me who wins and why. So here goes:

Joseph: PC vs. Mac

John: I used to say Mac, but… PC (built by my Australian and I)

Joseph: Bart Pfanenstiel vs David Schock

John: Both are such amazing guys, but I’ll go with who I know better: Dave.

Joseph: Matt Fanale vs. Brian Graupner

John: Damn. These are all tough. Brian’s doing me a solid soon, so he gets it.

Joseph: Playstation vs. Xbox

John: PS3 to play Borderlands with my Aussie while we wait out the immigration process, Xbox 360 for everything else.

Joseph: Boxers vs. Briefs

John: …Boxer-briefs?

Joseph: Thanks again, John. I hope this was as fun for you as it was for me!

ES2: Chicago interview with David Schock

2012-06-06T14:05:00.000-07:00

Love this guy.

This session brings us David Schock of WTII Records. He's the man hosting this shindig at the end of the month. I've seen him as Santa. And, much like the fat man in red or a hooker with the clap, he gives you a gift with every show.

Rusty: Dave, thanks for taking the time to do the interview. You've done these with me before, so lets get to the meat and potatoes of this thing.

Electronic Saviors 2. It looks like there is a hell of a line up again for Chicago. Who do we all have and who are you looking forward to seeing the most?

David: First off Rusty, I wanted to thank you for starting up these interviews again much like you did for the WTII Records Minifest 2 back in June of 2011. I had a fantastic time reading your blog and I thought it gave some interesting insight to some of the bands and helped to create a true “family” feeling between all of the bands who performed at the Minifest. Several different factors went into assembling this amazing line-up this year, part of it was that we weren't going to do another WTII Minifest in 2012, but wanted to have some type of show with a “festival” feel to it, I wanted to try to top (or at least equal) the first ES show that we did back in 2010 that had a lineup of Acumen Nation, Gothsicles, Cyanotic, the (short) return of Christ Analogue, Xuberx, the live debut of Aimonia and more, plus this is the final ES 2 benefit show so I wanted to go a little overboard to make it special and a fitting end to the 2012 round of benefit shows.

Anyway I am excited that we have Patricia Wake from Pittsburgh, opening the evening up as her voice is one that stays with you and her brand of Gothic song writing/story telling is unforgettable. We then quickly lead to Chicago's Short to Ground who are quickly becoming one of the hottest rising Chicago bands around. Nashville's Cryogen Second will be making their Chicago debut at this show and are one of the bands that I am most interested in seeing. The newly revamped lineup of Madison's Sensuous Enemy will be bringing some eroticism to the stage, followed by fellow Wisconsinite's Am.Psych. The man of the hour, Jim Semonik, will be leading his project (and WTII Records artists) Rein[forced] to the stage and you can expect to hear many songs off of his upcoming WTII release debuted at this show. Chicago's very own, Gothsicles, need no introduction (no seriously they don't need an introduction) and rounding out the evening are Baltimore's Ego Likeness and a very special late set by Ohio's AimOniA. You asked me who I am most excited to see and it may very well be AimOniA on the strength of their jaw dropping Minifest set. Oh and I am also excited to have Dj Pathogen (Pandemic), Wade Alin (Christ Analogue, The Atomica Project, and producer extrodinaire) along with Don Anderson (Terror Firma Sky) working the decks all night!

Rusty: I don't think a lot of people really appreciate the kind of time and dedication it takes to get something like this going. You have done the Sunday showcase for almost 5 years now, and a couple larger events as well. Now you're pulling this off. You have a full time job, a wife, a kid, you help run WTII with Bart. Where do you find the time to get all this festival/promotion stuff done?

David: Thank you for the kind words Rusty and I want to be truthful with you and tell you it's not easy at all. During the 5+ year run of the monthly WTII Records showcases that we did things kind of fell into place and I was able to get into a 3 month groove where I kept a schedule of "by this time I need to book a band, by here the artwork needs to be done, by here I need to post info to websites/physical media" etc etc and it was pretty easy to do as these things take on a momentum of their own. Now you are correct I have a new full time job, a beautiful, supportive and understanding wife, an amazing 18 month old son and still have many responsibilities with the record label. Being organized with my time and laying out a schedule has always been an important part of promoting methods. I obviously had to take a break during the birth of my son as well as I wanted to take a break after putting on the 4 day WTII Records Minifest 2 as it was emotionally, physically and financially draining but I have started to pick up my shows again and have done or are doing shows every month from March-July AND increasing the territory of shows that I book to include Milwaukee as well. As much as I would love to stop booking/promoting shows I always harken back to some advice that Gray Kaze from Club ? in Milwaukee gave me and that is "you can't ever truly get out of it, you can try to leave, but the bands/fans/clubs will drag you back into it". It's in my dna makeup now and even though it takes more energy to put on a show it's still something I take a lot of pride and pleasure from.

Rusty: Yeah, when you said you were "retiring" from promoting, we all said you would be back. It's like a WWE wrestler saying he's retiring... you're never really done and you can always take one more bump off the ladder.

Also, you're freaking me out being so professional with your responses. Knock it off.

So, we're doing this show over at LiveWire this time. Why the change in venue? Things were running pretty smooth at Darkroom for such a long time. (I know some of the story, but not all of it... fill us in here)

David: Well Darkroom has been and always will be where we call home, they were one of the first people and venues to really get behind the idea of monthly live "industrial" shows and the nights and club grew exponentially because of it. Darkroom played host to some of the most amazing independent shows that Chicago has seen over the past ten years or so. Now unfortunately Darkroom like many other venues in the city (and country) suffered during the recent economic recessions and they have been trying to sell the building now. The are still open and are still booking shows at Darkroom but unfortunately they are doing it on a month to month basis which doesn't really work when I normally book shows 3+ months out at a time. If Darkroom's future improves I would love to work with them again as word has gotten around the country about the professional staff there as well as the sound and ambiance of the venue. The memories that Darkroom has provided not only to my wife Jean and I such as our wedding, baby shower, several bday shows, holiday events, simply pale in comparison to the relationships that were forged there over the years, shows, and the many bottles of Jameson's. But speaking of professionals I am pleased to have started up a new relationship with Dave Hornyak and Live Wire Lounge. I've worked with Dave in the past for a few shows at Underground Lounge and was excited at the idea of working with him again especially in this new venue. Live Wire has been kind enough to let me book my April, June and July shows there and we hope to do more in the future. While it may appear as if it won't hold the as many as the 235 people that Darkroom holds some changes and concessions are being made to improve the spacing in the venue to accommodate the 150-200+ crowds that we are anticipating to see for both this event and the upcoming July iVardensphere show there

Rusty: That's great that you still have a place to get all the bands seen. We're getting a bit wordy today and I want to give our readers what they come for... the lightning round... you know the drill. 5 questions, 5 answers. This time we're going to do it a little different. I'm going to name off five bands that are playing the show and you rattle off what comes to mind first.

1) Ego Likeness

2) The Gothsicles

3) Rein[Forced]

4) ummm... Am.Psych

5) Sensuous Enemy

BONUS!!!! Fuck it, lets get them all out there.

i ) Cryogen Second, Short to Ground, Patricia Wake (and if you feel like it AimOnia... they've been picking on me online lately... something about goats and being called something with a trombone...)

David: Yes I realized that we were a tad wordy so I apologize if I bored anyone to death, guess we'll go to the other extreme and use the minimal amount of words now
(1) Ego Likeness---Ultra Talented and worthy headliners
(2)The Gothsicles--Soon-to-be scene Superstars (if they aren't already there, Jesus who would have ever thought that!!)
(3)Rein[forced]---My Hero, My Friend, My Brother (nuff said)
(4)Am.Psych--Proud (watching them grow up over the years as a band)
(5)Sensuous Enemy-- Underrated (more people show know about them, Jai is an amazing Frontwoman)
(6)Cryogen Second---Wildcard (never played Chicago so their set is highly anticipated)
(7) Short to Ground--Up and Comers (taken the chicago scene by storm in a very short time)
(8)Patricia Wake--Beautiful Voice (get out early to check out her set as you won't be disappointed)
(9)AimOniA---Bar is Raised (after their jaw dropping set at the WTII Minifest a lot is expected out of this band now!!)

Rusty: Dave, thanks for getting back to me on these questions and taking the time out of your crazy busy day. I think we've got a hell of a show lined up for the end of the month.

ES2: Chicago interview with Gooby and The Goddamn Batman of Ego Likeness

2012-06-06T13:02:00.000-07:00

I probably should have let Ego Likeness know how I operate when it comes to doing interviews. I work my interviews like a conversation. One question at a time this way people can get responses out and it actually flows. I'm not sure why, but I've been told this interview would only be done if I referred to myself as "Busty" and in the middle of the interview Steven decided he was "The Goddamn Batman" and after it was all done, Donna said something about "Gooby" so that is now going to be her pet name in this interview.. Now that we all have our alter egos ready for this interview... here we go.

"Busty": A lot of people reading this may not be too familiar with Ego Likeness, I myself don't want to butcher any back story. Donna, why don't you give us a little history lesson. (Side note, I have complied with all demands on how I am to conduct myself and address myself... let's do this thing.)

Gooby: Well, Busty, Steven and I got together, started dating, and started a goth band sometime around 1997 or 98. It was pretty straightforward goth, and we found ourselves wanting to do something that incorporated our other influences, (and so help me, if you ask me what our influences are -as every single interviewer EVER has done- I'll cut you) so we started Ego Likeness. The goth band broke up and then we got married in 1999. We released our first full length EL album in 2000 or 2001 (I can't remember) with the help of a friend at the time, then did the next two albums with Dancing Ferret. We signed with Metropolis for 'Breedless' in 2010, and will be releasing the next full length at the beginning of next year. So in the past 12 years, there have been numerous members, numerous shows and tours, a couple of nervous breakdowns, and many, many miles put on our van.

"Busty": I will have to admit, I didn't know a whole lot about Ego Likeness untill the WTII Minifest last year. That was my first opportunity to hear you and see the live show. I was blown away. I love the stage presence and your voice with the music matches up perfectly. I know a lot of this scene seems to have a lot of acts that don't have women as the vocalist or the main focal point of the band. Have you found this a challenge at all to get people to notice Ego Likeness? (Don't worry, Steven... I have questions for you too...)

Gooby and The Goddamn Batman: Goat hunting

"Gooby": Thanks. We've been at this a long time, and I do often think about why we haven't made more of an impact, considering we sell well, get good reviews, people enjoy the shows, we get to open for some of the biggest acts around, etc... You may well have hit the nail on the head. It seems that in this scene female fronted bands don't get taken as seriously, though I can't put my finger on why. I think sometimes there is this attitude of "Oh, that's one of those bands where the guy does all the work and the girl -usually his girlfriend- is just there as eye candy." It is still a bit of a boys club out there. More than once before a performance, people have assumed that I was either the merch girl, or at best, the keyboard player. To be fair, though, with some pretty major and awesome exceptions, (Ayria, I:Scintilla, Sensuous Enemy, Hansel und Gretyl, to name a few who are ) some of the female singers for darkwave/ industrial bands I've seen could stand to step up their game a little. Confidence and a strong stage presence go a long way.

"Busty": Well, from the show I saw last year, you have the confidence. So do the other bands you mentioned as well.

Merch is an interesting transitional topic for me with your band. Ego Likeness had one of the most awesome merch tables I have ever seen. Why? Most of it wasn't "band" merch. There was art. Some crazy creepy stuff blended in with skulls and bones and they were turned in to necklaces and pendants, things of that nature. How did that all start? Is this something that was done by necessity to "change it up" a little bit and stand out?

"Gooby" : Well, you see, Busty...we are starving artists. We have no real skills beyond making things, so we've had to survive on what we know. Steven -who, incidentally, requested we refer to him from here on out as "The Goddamn Batman"- is an artist, and we are both writers, in addition to being musicians, and really- it's all tied together for us. When we started touring, we realized pretty quickly that CD and Tshirt sales alone weren't going to cut it - gas, food, van repairs, supplies, places to sleep - it adds up fast. Sometimes, some of those things are covered, but you're not going to get a swank room at the Super 8 every night, you know. Having all of the art and books and jewelry makes a huge difference in our income. And, as you said, I think it does help us stand out a bit. Nothing sadder than a nearly empty merch table.

"Busty": (Jesus, "The Goddamn Batman" needs to stop making so many demands. Anyway...) I tend to keep my interviews short (minus that Caustic one cause Matt and I talk like little girls when you get us together). I want your music and your live performance to speak for itself. If you've never read any of my other interviews, I have a staple in them. I watched a lot of game shows as a kid. So... it's time for...

The Lightning round! Five quick questions or statements, and five quick or wordy answers to them. It's going to be a little different this time because of who I'm interviewing and the fact that "The Goddamn Batman" should probably respond to at least one of these questions. So, questions 4 and 5 are specifically meant for him.

1) Band you can't miss at the ES2 show in Chicago:

2) Best book you've read in the last six months:

3) Your favorite meme:

4) Electronic Saviors and Jim Semonik:

5) Goat:

"Gooby" :

1) Gothsicles

2) "Gooby": JG Ballard "Myths of the Near Future"
TGDBM: Peter Watts "Blindsight

3) "Gooby" : Dolan Duck (it's sooo dumb, but all I have to do is think "Gooby plz" and I crack up)
TGDBM: Insanity Wolf

4) He's one of our heroes, though he's still not going to make 'Yak' happen.

5) They have horizontal pupils and FUCK YEAH GOATS.

Also, thanks! You're a good sport, Busty! xx

"Busty": No, Thank you. I have fun doing this. I'll see you at the end of the month for the show.

"Gooby": We're so excited! ; )

Electronic Saviors 2 : Chicago Release Party Interview with Jim Semonik

2012-06-05T18:58:00.000-07:00

Electronic Saviors 2

Once again I bring you a round of interviews from the world of Industrial music. This time we focus our attention on the Electronic Saviors 2 : Chicago Release Party that is being held down in Chicago at the LiveWire Lounge on June 30th.

What follows is my "interview" conducted with Jim via email the last couple of days.

Rusty: Jim, welcome back to another round of interviewing with me. Thanks for taking the time to respond to these questions. By now, you know how I work on these.

We're a couple years removed now from the first Electronic Saviors compilation. To me, that was amazing for electronic music. There was nothing that was going to top it. It seems you have done it again. What was your motivation for getting a second compilation on the books knowing what a huge amount of work this would be?

Rein[Forced] - Live

Jim: Wow, I'm glad you feel that way. I hope others do as well. A tremendous amount of work went in to this, but that is not the point.
The point is to try and help people with our music. I knew it would be way more work but it is fun work. I just wish there were more hours in a day.
I would go to work for 10.5 hours every day then come home and work on ES2 for another 5-6 hours, get up and do it all over again.
I am glad that part is over because constant 16 hour days, promoting shows and getting a new Rein[Forced] album out was crazy and exhausting.
We are now in the next phase which is the release parties. This is the fun part, haha. I get to see alot of my colleagues who worked with me on this. We laugh, cry, drink and fall down together. It's greatness. There was always a plan in place for 3 volumes.

Rusty: Three volumes? So that means you're nowhere near done abusing yourself with this. That's pretty cool. Well, if history repeats itself, you'll double up again and it will be 16 discs of awesome music.

Just kidding, that's a lot to ask for here.

Let's get to the serious stuff right away. The charities that this goes towards this time. Tell me about them and why they were picked.

Jim: Well, I am 2 thirds done, haha. I hope to get a DVD out too but we'll see. We (Chase and I) were talking about a 6 disc regular and a 10 disc premium next time but that depends on the material. We only went the route of 8 discs this time because we had such great stuff. We haven't even thought that far ahead. This one still has to do great in order to warrant a 3rd, you know. A lot of costs go into this and Metropolis has been astonishing with the work they do.

The charities...yes. They were picked because the bands wanted them. They met all of our criteria and are legit. We have a good working relationship with them and hope this blossoms even further. There is a Gilda's Club down the street from my work so it has been a treat to work with them. It is a gorgeous building ran by great people.

Rusty: You say you're two thirds done with the series of Electronic Saviors... How about you? How are you holding up? What is the update on your health and your journey through this wild trip? Last we talked you were in remission and things were well. I hope that is still, and will remain, the case.

Jim: Well, at this point I am a year and 3 months away from being declared cured. Life is still difficult, dealing with a third of my digestive
system missing is rough but I take it day by day. I get tired a lot easier than I used to. I don't know what the future holds for my health. I just heard yesterday that my insurance premium is going up yet again. This makes living more difficult and I am sad to say that I may not be able to do what I love for a living for much longer. I may have to either go back to school for my doctorate and quit doing shows and such, just to be able to live an affordable life. With gas prices, high deductibles, low attendance at shows and dwindling interest in new music, is there really a point? I do it because I love it but at the expense of a more comfortable, stable life. I'm 36. I don't know....when I feel like I have accomplished enough, it's time to move on, i guess.

Rusty: You bring up a good point. I'm hitting 38 this year. I haven't gone through what you have, but I have had 3 surgeries on my knees already and I sometimes feel like I don't know if I can keep going on even though I love it. I have to keep me healthy in order to do it.

You touched on economy a bit and low attendance with shows and the dwindling interest. Why do you think that is? I look at ES2 and there are eight CD's full of great music from so many artists, yet, we just don't see turn out at shows like there used to be in the late 90's to early 2000's. What's your take on that?

Jim: Well, I don't have time to write a book....haha. I'm not sure, but I do know that as our crowd gets older, people have more responsibilities. Marriage, family, work, kids, houses...not stuff we really had to deal with in our early 20's. There are some great discussions going on in the Violent Playground forums about this stuff. As a promoter, musician, semi retired dj and such, I see that new music isn't pushed at all other than the bigger acts in the genre in the clubs. I don't spin anymore other than an occasional guest spot but when I do spin next which is in DC, I will be playing all new stuff. 15 years of spinning is enough for me so after I tried to do some club nights that went nowhere, I kind of gave up on that because I had ES2 and a new Rein[Forced] album to work on and it didn't make sense to pursue anything else dj wise. I also noticed that most djs here don't buy music on a weekly basis or even monthly. Not sure what it is like in other cities, but that is what I see. I have a new record coming out in August and I doubt I'll get any press coverage or club spins in my own home town. I mean, I have to book myself if I want to play a show, which disturbs me. I hate doing that. It is extremely exhausting having to promote a gig and then play it as well. Okay...rambling. ES2 is a pretty awesome piece, but I wonder if maybe there are more artists making the music than actual fans of the music. Okay, enough bitching and complaining...just keep in mind when reading the above that I don't know shit :)

Rusty: I hear you on the new music thing. I know when I was doing some stuff at Club Anything I would play stuff that nobody else would, and I would get looks from people like "what are you playing, I want some Covenant." But, I was waiting for you to bring up Rein[Forced]. I hear we are off to mastering and it's going to be out soon. I can't wait to get my hands on it after hearing the single that came out earlier this year.

What are you most proud of with this album?

Jim: August 24th on WTII for the new album and yes, I am very proud of it. Maybe we'll sell 3 copies, wait you are picking it up? 4 then.
Seriously though, Dan Clark did a great job mixing this puppy. I would say I am most proud of the songwriting that Turner and I did. I love every moment of this thing which I have never said about any of my work before. Sure, I say it about the ES comps but that's because all you guys are awesome. I love how this record can crossover into many different scene and non scene areas. I feel our synth work has a little bit of a progressive rock feel to it at times, but can slam the dancefloors and kids who were into the lyrics of the Coldwave scene of the 90's might appreciate the lyrics. I wrote this album over 4 years so it encompasses all the things I went through at those times. Mainly being sick and going through bad times with relationships and friends.

Rusty: So, it's not some sort of happy, get around a campfire jubilee then? Sounds like my kind of music.

I'm going to wrap this up with my ever famous lightning round like last time. Some of your answers may be the same as last time, some may be different.

1) Favorite band

2) Favorite track from all the Electronic Saviors submissions

3) Your hero

4) Best concert you ever promoted

5) Who are you looking forward to seeing the most during the Chicago show

Jim: 1) Chemlab/Hocico
2) Oooo tough...probably Sensuous Enemy, The Mighty Chouffe, Tenek or my Ayria Collaboration. That's just thinking quickly.
3) Chris Saunders
4) Legends Of Synthpop w/ Mesh, De/Vision and Iris or Constance Rudert or Chemlab/16 Volt on my birthday. Very happy times.
5) Cryogen Second since I never saw them.

Rusty: Jim, Thank you again for your time, I can't wait to finally see you and Rein[Forced] live in Chicago on the 30th!

Jim: Likewise, brother for am.psych.

I'm piecing it all together now.

2012-06-05T11:58:00.002-07:00

It's been a long strange trip for me and my arm. I started messing with it when I was nineteen and I got a small tribal squidish looking thing on my shoulder. That was all that would be on there for quite a long time. It was easily hidden by my shirts so I wouldn't have employers looking at me strange when applying for jobs.

Barely any ink

Triloback

This picture just seems so bare now without anything showing on it. After I started thinking about what it was that I wanted to do with it, I continued on with my back which has been a work in progress for years as well.

I kept thinking over and over about what it is I wanted to do for my sleeve and even then while thinking of that, I got my Chinese "Peace, Love, Harmony" on my stomach. If you have never had a tattoo on your abs, I don't recommend it. It feels like you're doing crunches or planks the entire time the needle is drilling in to your flesh.

Peace, love, harmony

Finally I started thinking about my kids and that I wanted something that represented them but in a way that I enjoyed and was special to me. I decided to go Chinese. I love Asian culture. The style, the look, the history. Love it. So, my daughter was born year of the dragon. That is where my dragon came from.

Next came a mistake, I got not only my Leo zodiac on me, but I also got a Gemini on me as well. I'll let you figure out why that was a mistake. But, At this time I decided to add a little more Asian flare. This is where the koi came in. The top one covered up my previous shoulder tattoo and it was the start of my arm being completely done.

With this one, I didn't heal well at all. It wasn't from a lack of care either. I felt very raw from this session for now reason at all. I decided it was time to find a new artist.

That's where Tom Aldana at Superstar tattoo came in. I was introduced to him and we hit it off right away. I had a few ideas, he had a few as well on what we were going to do and we started with a "rebirth" of my arm and my life. He got to take a crack at it, so he did a cover up of the Gemini with fire (which oddly enough, Leo is a fire sign) and put in the phoenix. At this stage, it was black only on it.

After healing fantastically on this one and seeing how it all ended up, I decided Tom was the guy that was going to work on my arm from now on. It was time to get my son's tattoo put on me. Both he and I are year of the tiger. That is where this one fits in. I've never really been much of a color guy either. The design I sent Tom was just the black tribal with the red eyes. He called me up the day of the appointment and goes, "yo, Rusty, we're putting color in this. It's gonna look awesome."

I was scared. the only color I really had was the fire and the Leo. That was only a little bit of shading. I was really pleased with what he came up with. Once again he out did himself to a point where I told him to put color in to the phoenix. The last piece I needed was my demon. This is a bit symbolic to me as I have had a lot of demons keeping me down over the years. This demon was put in to keep the others away.

This brings us to the big project... figuring out how it all fits together. The original plan was to have a multi colored brown tribal in the back like a tree that would have cherry blossoms on it. Well, about a month ago I got the idea to "stitch" it all together. Fit all the pieces of my life in to one spot. Frankenstein style.

We started somewhere around 6 after I got some food in me and drew on my arm for almost two hours. Tom knew what was up and I told him that it was his arm to do with now. I'm done giving direction. "Make it work."

Around 8pm we got started with the ink. The new gun he's got seems to really let him move quickly and accurately. It was nice to see how fast he was going compared to the other pieces he had done on me already.

There were points where I would look down and I had no idea that he was working another color or doing some accents on the stitches until I actually looked at where he was in the process.

I've learned over the years that I can take a beating when it comes to the needle of a tattoo gun. There are parts on me that are more sensitive than others. Ones that I just could care less about and go about my day. But I found out that I have two spots in particular that just don't jive well with me. My wrist, and my inner elbow might be the worst I have experienced so far in my life.

These wrist was painful because I couldn't control my hand. I was pressed down so I couldn't move and the needle getting dragged over my tendons was not pleasant.

My fingers would twitch, I'd make a fist without knowing it. I joked with Tom that he'd get a finger in the belly button and it would be his fault.

The inner elbow was one I did not expect.

I don't have a nice history with surgical needles. I hate them. Giving blood, IV's whatever. I'm in pain in that area for days on end. Must have some crazy bit of nerves there or something. The Frankenstein patch took about 20-30 minutes alone. He wanted to get it done right.

When you're upside down from what is being worked on, you can't really see what is going on in the mind of the artist. You don't see things in their perspective. I sat in that chair until about 12:30 this morning and there were times I had no idea what I was looking at. "Why is he shading it this way, why is that line there, why did he choose the colors he did?"

I told Tom last night again, "This is YOUR arm now. I trust you're going to finish it right."

We have one more session left to go. At least we have pictures of the outline from this time. We thought we were going to get more done, but we just did not have time. Once more session, then I'm done for a while.

The countdown to Tampa has started.

2012-05-29T08:51:00.002-07:00

Road Trip!

In just a couple short weeks, the lady and I are going to take our first road trip. We're heading to Tampa for some fun and sun (more fun than sun, actually).

The last time we went to Tampa, it was right around Labor Day weekend 2010 (I know this because we started classes right after we got back). We flew down that time, got a hotel and a rental car, but only had a few short days there. She already knew everyone there. I was just meeting everyone for the first time.

Since then, we have strengthened our friendships with these people thanks to the joy and amazement of the internet and social media. We already know what we're doing on Friday and Saturday night. Sunday, I want to head out to a baseball game if it's not too hot. The rest of the time we will play by ear. It's going to be good.

The road trip thing just kind of happened thanks to the economy. We don't make as much and airline prices suck. I did the math and round trip in the car for gas is just as much as one round trip plane ticket for us. Also, there is adventure involved. Will we kill each other on the way down? Who knows. It's going to be fun. This also lets me not have to go through TSA checkpoints, take off my shoes, belt and whatever else. I won't have to sit in a seat that is too small for even skinny people. I am not going to have to worry about my arthritic body swelling up and then decompressing for 8 hours after the flight. I won't have to pay extra baggage fees for her 80lb's of club gear. I'll just be in MY car. A place I know I can handle for hours on end with the lady I love the most.

The next couple of weeks are going to be fun getting everything together. At least I have hotels set already. That is the good part.

I'll make sure to get pictures here. We're also going to get a YouTube video or two up of the trip. Should be a good time.

...tomorrow will be AWESOME.

2012-04-24T20:30:00.001-07:00

Look, I had a not so good day. What did I do about it? I decided tomorrow will be awesome.

Join in the fun. I hope tomorrow is awesome for everyone.

Be Awesome Wednesday on Facebook

Monoprice cables: Hands down the best

2012-04-12T07:32:00.000-07:00

Monoprice - Awesome cables

I purchased a bunch of stuff for my home theater the other day from Monoprice.com. I got turned on to these guys a few years ago from a friend who was redoing his basement and adding a home theater room.

This time around I was adding in an HDMI Switch, a couple HDMI cables, a wall mount for another TV we have, and some auxiliary jack to rca cables for use with iPods and such. The last thing I got was a cable for my phone to go to my aux-in jack for my car. I didn't use it until I was almost to work. This cable is big (see picture to the left). I am used to a very tiny flexible cable that does the job just fine. The connector on it is like one of those pens that they give to people with arthritis problems. The big difference was when I turned on the stereo and put on some music. Holy crap was there a huge difference in sound. I always remember being told that if you give audio a larger cable that it would give it less resistance, therefore letting more of the signal through. I've always used thicker gauge speaker wire. I just never thought of applying it to a line source before (yes I know, technically it's a powered headphone jack on my phone, but still).

The bass response is amazing, I can tell the difference in clarity right away. Now, if you didn't look at the links I put up before, you might think that these cables are anywhere from $10-$20 a piece. That's what places like Best Buy and Monster Cable might have us think. I used to work at Best Buy. Their prices are insanely marked up on accessories. It's how they make their money. That cable there. Under $2. The HDMI cables were under $10 a piece and they have really nice black braided sleeves on them.

If you can be patient, stay away from the big box stores. Buy from these guys. I've used them multiple times in the past and I've never had a bad experience with them.

My girlfriend plays Call of Duty with me.

2012-04-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

So, back in December, I introduced Cat to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. I decided to take some video of this to document that she did indeed play.

Just recently she has decided that she has taken an interest in the game that I play with my friends. As of now, she's getting better. She gets a couple kills each game. She gets very few deaths for the most part, and she's starting to venture out and not camp so much.

There is still the occasional screaming coming from her when someone freaks her out by flying around a corner, and she shoots at everything that moves (friend or foe). But she has taken a liking to playing. Just the other night all I heard was "ooo! I want to play too!" as she was supposed to be doing her homework and I was playing.

Last night, I had her work on playing the single player campaign to which I was told "I don't like this. It's not as fun as the other game" (multiplayer). Yet after all of this. She will still try to say that video games are still "dumb" and that she doesn't particularly care for them.

We have to play split screen because I'm not about to get a second Elite account for her AND a gamertag, so for the moment, she plays as my "guest". I am also working on getting her a headset that she likes and possibly a microphone too. At the moment, she gets a little loud while playing and everyone can hear her through my microphone while we have game chat through the speakers.

Also, big thanks to Drift0r for the words of advice on how to get her more in tune with the game. You can check out his videos on YouTube.

Quotes from Cat: "I shot him first, why didn't he die?"

Multitasking - It's how I get shit done, son.

2012-03-28T22:35:00.000-07:00

I have this book I'm supposed to read for school (Empire of the Summer Moon) and do a book report/review by Friday. I also want to work out.

So, I have decide that thanks to the Kindle app on my iPad, I can do both. Then the crazy set in.

As you saw from Monday's post, I went 90 minutes, and somewhere around 7 miles while reading this book. It has been my life all week. At lunch, at home, and now at the gym.

The report is due Friday night at 11:30pm. Well, I have the kids this weekend and that means I have to go and get them. So, I'm not going to be home until almost 11. Not a lot of time to write a report. So, I pretty much had to have the book read tonight. With over 130 pages of a very slow moving book to read, I hopped on my trusty Precor glider/stepper/thingy tonight and away I went.

One hundred and thirty minutes (and ten and a quarter miles) later and I have about 20 pages left that will get read at lunch tomorrow. I will get to write the paper when I get home from work and have it done in time to hand in electronically.

I don't think I've ever worked out that long at a continuous pace... ever. There was always a break of like ten minutes, or something, in there. This was 130 minutes straight. Let's put it this way. I could have watched Empire Strikes Back and still had 6 minutes left after the credits were done. Wait a minute, looks like I know how I'm getting through my workouts from now on.

Oh holy crap!

2012-03-26T20:38:00.000-07:00

I went to the gym tonight to accomplish two things. One - Work out. Two - Get some reading done for school. I got a lot of both done.

In the middle of my workout (originally a 60 minute run on the machine), two middle aged ladies couldn't figure out how to start up on the machine. I showed them how to get going on it. In doing so, I reset my machine by accident at around 30 minutes. I started it again, and now I'm counting down from 60 again. Crap. "I'll just stop at 30" I told myself. Well, I looked down in the middle of my reading and the counter was now at 20 minutes... I had gone 10 minutes past my usual 60. "I wonder if I can go the full 60?" So I pushed on and kept reading. Next thing I knew I was in the 5 minute cooldown aspect of it.

After all was said and done, 95 minutes - 7.5 miles. I could have gone another 90. I'm almost certain of it. But, the people around me might not like the smell too much.

I'm down to only 1/2 a door.

2012-03-10T16:46:00.001-08:00

I've had a little side project here at home going for a while now. All the upstairs doors are going to get stripped down and repainted.

Well, I am down to only one half of one door needing to be stripped down so I can start the sand/prime/paint process. I don't think that will be a very long process at all once I get started.

The paint, it's old. Some of it came up nicely, other parts of it we needed to go to chemical measure to fix and remove.

Overall, not bad for the weekend.

I got rid of the hash tags.

2012-03-07T09:52:00.000-08:00

So, for all of you who seemed annoyed, I removed the automatic hashtags.

Feedburner hid the Twitter settings page on their site and it took quite a bit of searching to find it.

Now you can all see the posts without all the tags in them.

You're welcome.

am.psych is on Spotify.

2012-03-06T14:33:00.000-08:00

Side Effects

So, I must not be keeping up with the kids or something. Side Effects is on Spotify now!

So, now all you have to do to get your Am.Psych fix is log in to Spotify and listen away.

Fitness run was amazing.

2012-03-05T19:56:00.000-08:00

Precor AMT 835

I haven't been to Gold's Gym since last week. I needed to go today. I have a type of machine that I really like to use when I am there. It is an AMT 835 made by Precor. It's hard to explain, because it is not your typical glider. This thing has zero impact and you choose what you want to do when you are on it. Some gliders don't work for short people, some are not big enough for long legged people. This thing changes the stride based on what you do. You can run, walk, and stair step. The only thing it won't let you do, it seems, is go backwards. I have tried a couple of times. Each time it reset my workout so I had no clue how far I was going.

Well, today it seems that my stamina is getting a bit better. I hit 5.5 (miles?) in 65 minutes. That's a new distance record for me on this machine. I feel great. My legs didn't want to stop. Near the end I was sweating like crazy and I took serious consideration to going another 30 minutes. This is the kind of workout I need to keep doing the crazy shit I do on stage with Am.Psych. Last show, I had more energy at the end than I normally do and I attribute the changes in my workout ethic to it. If we start getting more shows, the old man can't buckle up and fall over on stage.

But, work in the morning calls and so does school later in the evening. Maybe I'll take my gym clothes with me and get 45-60 in tomorrow night as well and shoot for 6 miles.

Am.Psych Live at Club Anything

2012-02-29T11:12:00.000-08:00

Here is the video for Am.Psych live at Club Anything this past Saturday.

The original plan was that my girlfriend was going to take video of just the songs I had solos in that night, but she ended up getting the whole show and it just might be the best video we have of us so far.

Special thanks to i:Scintilla and Dark Clan for playing that night as well. I know Tony and Amie will not forget it.

10,0000 page views.

2012-02-28T15:47:00.001-08:00

Only 29 more to 10,000!

Sometime in the next 48 hours I will hit 10,000 page hits. It's a small milestone for something I never thought anyone would look at.

Thank you to everyone for following along, commenting, and watching the world through my eyes.

SEO - my new job (and other updates)

2012-02-28T14:46:00.001-08:00

SEO Ninja

On Monday, I started my new position at work. Search Analyst. I've had a bunch of people ask me what I am going to be doing. The only answer I can give really is this. I will be optimizing our web sites so that when people search for them they are higher in the rankings than other similar pages from other websites.

This is new ground for our company. We have around 100 web sites for various things. My job, get people to our site, without cheating the system. It's Called SEO - Search Engine Optimization. That's what I'm going to be living for the foreseeable future.

I loved managing the help desk that I created and molded in to what I thought our people needed from a customer service standpoint. But this, this is a challenge. One that I need to take on head strong.

Most IT departments don't help the company they work for make money. They are usually a service. An expense. I plan on getting traffic driven to our company sites and watch our revenue grow.

Am.psych live at Club Anything

2012-02-25T14:09:00.001-08:00

Today is the day. We are going on in a few hours. Sound check is happening soon. But first, pre show sushi.

UW-Milwaukee Sophomore Honors.

2012-02-23T20:56:00.001-08:00

I got a strange package in the mail from University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee yesterday. When I opened it, I had no clue what it was.

Seems to be I've been recognized for Sophomore Honors as I have carried a 3.5 or higher the whole time I have been at the school.

I'm kind of floored. From what I remember, I didn't do that well in school.

Yesterday's exercise.

2012-02-23T11:42:00.001-08:00

Holy crap, I'm slacking here. I got exercise in on Monday and Wednesday nights.

Monday: 30 minutes - elliptical + leg and arm weight training.

Wednesday: 60 minutes - elliptical + leg, arm, and back weight training.

Food side of things I have a hard time remembering right now, but I pretty much stayed on course. Need to get better at breakfast on weekends, but overall, I'm still doing well in that aspect as well.

Seriously, it's Thursday. Why can't it be Saturday already?

2012-02-23T07:55:00.001-08:00

It's our first show of 2012. We said we were not going to do one until the album came out, but hell. This is for a really good reason.

Shameless self promotion, but hell, you gotta do what you can.

(I'll be posting this every day all week)