Another week, and another KICKASS gig! The metal juggernaut known as Noisecult played out first gig Saturday night at Lyrix in Nashville, and after we got done we got asked back to play on Friday, November 2nd because we rocked that hard. Each show seems to keep getting better, and for some reason I was more relaxed for this one than any other I can remember. I don't get stagefright, but usually a little bit before we go on I wonder what I might mess up, will people dig the tunes, blah blah blah. For some reason it felt like a practice...just very loose. One really cool thing was a guy Don works with came to the show. This guy had no idea Don was playing, he just happened to be driving by and stopped in to see what bands were on that night. After we got done he was giving us a lot of praise, and may have paid us one of the best compliments I've heard. He said we had "it". Yeah, that intangible that sets bands apart. Oh I know, I'm probably sounding quite full of myself but I don't care because I do think we're pretty damn good. One funny thing that happened was when I first arrived at Lyrix, a guy named Chris who was the one putting on the show was out in the parking lot. He came up to me and said that is was a pretty weak crowd. When we went on there were probably about 25 people or so in there, and Chris apologized again afterwards. I just had to laugh and tell him about playing to the sound guy at The Muse when NO ONE else was in there. If anyone shows up to watch, I'm happy. And now for a wee bit of a rant. You know what really annoys me? It's when other bands on a bill either hang out outside with the people that came to see them play while another band is on, or when bands leave right when they're done. Yes, sometimes you have to leave, I understand about getting up for work and stuff like that, but on a Saturday night playing a rock show, you have to leave? Why not hang out and just have a good time? Five bands played last night, and when the last band went on it was us, a friend of the band, Jimmy from Mindsplitter, and my bud Jason were the only ones watching. What the heck??? Honestly, to me that's just being an ass. Would I have rather played and then just come home to play some videogames and chill out? Sure...but I was out having a good time and stuck around. You never know if you'll see a band that's really good that you may never hear of. Plus, if the bands going on later have to sit through us playing, I think it's only fair to check them out. The singer of one band was saying to me that it pisses him off when bands don't stay to watch the others...yet when they got done they took off. Is it ego that does this? I don't know. It's almost like "well we're done and I'm sure the other bands will suck so I'm leaving". I'm not a guy who just goes to a club and hangs out, but when we play I don't mind sticking around to be out having a good time with my friends and be courteous to show some support to the other bands. I swear though, if I wanted to vent about all the bands and the attitudes and stuff around here, I could go on for days but there's no point to it. I have no clue what goes on in someone's head to think they're above everything and I really don't want to know. But we had a blast, and we'll be back up there with our buds in Mindsplitter on November 2nd. And yes, it's a Friday night so there's no excuse in the other bands leaving early...haha.
Here's some other band stuff. The other night we filmed some interview segments for our new DVD which we will have out in November, and it was PAINFUL! Here was the premise - sitting in front of the camera trying to ssay stuff about the new CD and the DVD that can be used with the studio footage and the bonus new live stuff recorded with our new drummer Ben that we're including. I can't tell you how many times each one of us would be saying something and then go "man I sound like a complete idiot". Ben's biggest hang-up was saying the word "great". I think once he said it like five times in one sentence and we all just started laughing. My key word was "basically". You know, stuff like "well basically we wanted to get this sound..." or "we were basically trying to capture the live feel" and just stupid stuff like that. Then we all got so self-conscious about what we were saying, we kept screwing up even more. Something that should have lasted about 15 minutes or so to film took over an hour due to all the laughing and screw-ups.
And now for a quick anecdote from the dating world. There's a girl that started working at my company a little over a year ago, and the first time I met her that "click" went off in me. You know what I mean? Have you ever met someone and from that first moment you get floored? I've had it happen two times in my life before, once when I was 20 and another when I was 28. It happened a third time when I met her. We worked on the same team, and once I asked her out shortly after she had started. She hesitated and I asked her if she had dated someone she worked with before, and she said she had and it made for an awkward situation. Fair enough, I could see how it would be. So over the last year, we have worked pretty closely every day and got along great...and in my mind I knew if I went to another job or she did that I would ask her out again if she was available. Yeah, I was nuts about her. I really can't put my finger on it, you know how difficult it is to explain that emotional charge you get. Well she came up to me two weeks ago and told me she had turned in her resignation...she got an offer somewhere else. Honestly my first thought was that it was going to really suck losing her because she did such a good job and made my life easier at work, but then I thought "hey...I can ask her out". So guess what I did? Yep, I asked her out. We've worked closely together for over a year, she wasn't seeing anyone, she actually could crack me up and we could talk about all sorts of stuff...plus I think she is very hot...so I figured that since she was going to work somewhere else we could go out once and see how it goes. Did we? Nope. I got the "lets be friends" line. Yep...she told me that she thought we'd be better off being friends and she also said she knows how much I hate that line, but she meant it. Yeah, we had talked about relationships and dating and stuff, and that line was brought up by me because I think it's the nice way of going "I have no interest in you and I'll say this so if we run into each other somewhere, I won't feel awkward since we're friends". But when she said this, I honestly think she was being sincere. Why? Because she actually started to get a little choked up it looked like. Usually that line is delivered in a very cold and unfeeling way. When I was driving to practice Friday night, as most guys do even though they may not admit it, I replayed the event in my head...and then thought to myself "Wait a sec...'Saw IV' comes out next Friday and she can't stomach those types of movies" and it hit me - it wouldn't work out...haha. As many horror movies as I watch, there is no way I could ever go out with someone who can't handle them. That's not a knock on anyone, it's just something I really enjoy doing and it does occupy a lot of my time. Speaking of which, here's a few of cool movies I saw this past week that you should check out if you haven't.
1) Night of the Living Dead 3D - Now I only watched the 2D version because that's what Blockbuster.com had, but did have a chance to check out some of the 3D version when my bud Jason brought it over...and I may go buy it. I had heard SO many bad things about this movie and was really nervous about watching it. After it was over I wondered what in the heck everyone's problem was with it. Of course I consider myself somewhat of a zombie aficionado and have sat through TONS of crappy zombie movies. I'm talking about ones that are so bad you watch it at 8x on the DVD player because you don't care about dialogue, you just want to see if anyone gets eaten. This movie was a pretty good take on the original with enough changes in it to make it different. Plus, it stars the one and only Captain Spaulding - Sid Haig!
2) Flight of the Living Dead - Yes, you read that correctly. The premise is a commercial plane has a top secret medical experiment in the cargo hold. Gee, could the experiment be that it's a dead body given some top-secret formula to bring it back to life? Yep, you guessed it. And could it also be that this body comes back to life, infects a couple of people, and starts a zombie outbreak on a plane? That's exactly what happens. I didn't know what to expect from this, and was pleasantly surprised. A decent enough story to keep it moving, and some moments you don't see coming. Definitely a recommendation for zombie lovers.
3) 28 Weeks Later - Wow. Now it's not really a zombie movie in the technical sense, but it's pretty close. I saw "28 Days Later" and liked it, but this one blows it away. Very tense and very ominous. And as the AC/DC song says, if you want blood, you got it. This thing was a blood-fest. The premise is that a part of London has supposedly been deemed a safe area and the virus from the first movie has been contained. The military is running the show, and of course the virus isn't as extinct as some might think. A truly great horror movie.
4) Planet Terror - HOLY CRAP!!! As it stands right now, there is no need to wait for the Oscars because this movie should win every category! If you don't know, this is the Robert Rodriguez half of the Grindhouse double feature that he and Quentin Tarantino did. Absolute genius at work. Another situation with a top-secret military experiment gone awry that leads into turning people into zombies...but it was done in such a way that you really don't know what's coming next. Plus, I never really thought much of Rose McGowan before, but in this movie she was absolutely stunning. If it wasn't for the machine gun she had for a leg, she might take Milla Jovovich's place as the hottest zombie killing machine...but I'm not into a hot chick with a machine gun for a leg. Granted it might be nice in some situations, but in day to day life it would be a wee bit weird for me to deal with. But before that happens...wow...she looks unbelievable. This movie kicks so much ass that you could probably scatter copies of the DVD in the middle east via airplane drops and the war would be over.
Now, I stated that "Planet Terror" would win all the Oscars as it stands right now, and that's only because I haven't seen "Saw IV" yet. This Friday at 5:00 I'll be in the front row with my bag of peanut M&M's and my bladder-buster sized Diet Coke ready to hopefully witness cinematic genius. From the trailers and clips I've seen, this thing could be absolutely beyond awesome. I have LOVED the last three, and unlike other horror movie franchises, this one has yet to disappoint. And I wonder why I'm still single...hahaha. Man I'm such a dork. In fact, I was ecstatic that I beat the videogame "Marvel Ultimate Alliance" on the hardest difficulty level this weekend. But I guess when you consider that my team of The Misfits with Moon Knight, Deadpool, Elektra, and Blade had all their abilities maxed, Doctor Doom never stood a chance!
At work today I was talking to two women I work with...just some office small talk stuff. It was a rainy and gloomy day and both were talking about how long the day was and it looks to be a long week and all that. I said it would be a long week because "Saw IV" opens Friday and I can't wait to see it. One remarked how I always sound happy because I have something I'm looking forward to. She's exactly right. I don't care how much of a dork I sound like, there is always something cool for me to look forward to that helps me get through times that seem mundane. This Friday "Saw IV" opens, this week Ace Combat 6 comes out for the XBOX 360, next week Manhunt 2 comes out for the Playstation 2 and we have a gig next Friday. The week after that Call of Duty 4 comes out for the 360, the week after that the new WWE wrestling game comes out...and I wasn't going to buy it until I played a demo of it this weekend. Oh, and I saw today that the new Rambo movie comes out January 25th. Plus, my band is playing a punk rock show at the end of November. Yes, we aren't a punk band but we have enough tunes that are in that style to play it, and I think we're going to work in a Black Flag cover. Plus, each day I always get to look forward to my two dogs running up to the gate and barking, all excited because I'm home. I don't care if these things make me sound goofy at all...it's who I am and what I enjoy. And I'm STILL buzzing over the Van Halen show and am more than happy to tell people about it who haven't heard yet...hahaha.
I'm out...later sportsfans!