I didn't make this video, nor am I the 'dancin' pumpkin face guy'...
ok, maybe I did tinker around with something....
It's Sunday, so not quuuiiite a 'Horror Movie'.... But it's probably quite frightening to christian folk... and some film lovers.... And it's become one of my favorites.
Ken Russels 'The Devils'
From Wiki: The Devils is a 1971 British historical drama horror film directed by Ken Russell and starring Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave. Russell's screenplay is based partly on the 1952 book The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley, and partly on the 1960 play The Devils by John Whiting, also based on Huxley's book.
The film is a dramatised historical account of the rise and fall of Urbain Grandier, a 17th-century Roman Catholic priest executed for witchcraft following the supposed possessions in Loudun, France. Reed plays Grandier in the film and Vanessa Redgrave plays a hunchbacked sexually repressed nun who finds herself inadvertently responsible for the accusations.
The film faced harsh reaction from national film rating systems due to its disturbingly violent, sexual, and religious content, and originally received an X rating in both the United Kingdom and the United States. It was banned in several countries, and eventually heavily edited for release in others. The film has never received a release in its original, uncut form in various countries, and is largely unavailable in the home video market.
I just love the sets, the insanity and the sacrilege (To be clear here, I love other aspects of this film too).... I've not seen a better marriage of the 3, made a year before my birth.
That Vanessa Redgrave rolls around as a humpbacked nun is worth watching itself! From such humble beginnings....
yah yeah, Flurries, they called for them and it's happening. Strong gusts of wind and yep definitely flurries.... Is this going to be an 'early and severe' Winter?.... One can hope not but brace yourself anyhow!
We got a long 5 months ahead of us (I'm counting November in 'Winter')... Git yer Winter tires on, grab bags of salt and sand and some great shovels... Get that snowblower primed up! Jeez, I'm starting to sound like 'Frankie the weather dude'!
Short chipmunk video. I was in the kitchen and happened to look out the window and see a chipmunk out sitting on the fence, just by the garage.... I always find it odd they'll sit on the fence, there's not much coverage from any high flying predators just lookin for a chipmunk sandwich... So I wanted to get a good picture of it sitting up there so I grabbed my DSLR and headed out.... Sorry, I had the 'optical zoom' on as I wanted to get a really nice clear shot of the chipmunk... When I got there....
I'm suspecting soon the little ones will be heading to sleep for the Winter... Albeit, they don't completely hibernate, but they do 'wake' up every so often to eat, go to the can, watch some TV...
Will be interesting to see who's alive and around come Spring.
Alright, back to cursing the sky for dropping white shit!
Before we begin, some 'breaking news' from the music World:
Tobias Forge, the genius behind the band 'Ghost' has just had the lawsuit launched against him by former band mates or really, employees, dismissed!
Former 'Nameless Ghouls' as they are called, each band member, up until this lawsuit nastiness came down, were completely unknown to the outside World. So in the court case, several of the 'Nameless Ghouls' sued Mr. Forge AKA Papa Emeritus aka Father Copia, saying that they are owed royalties and other payments by Mr. Forge. Mr. Forge has maintained that these 'Nameless Ghouls' were nothing more than 'hired guns', hired musicians for studio and touring work. Albeit that some of the Ghouls did contribute to song writing (and according to legal documents I've read) were paid accordingly.
It's great that 'Ghosts' whirlwind climb of success won't be delayed or tarnished by some guys who just thought because the band blew up really well, that they deserved more.
We'll start off with Ghosts 'See The Light' a song on the new album 'Prequelle' that I believe was aimed at these former band employees and about the upcoming case against Tobias... That's what I get from the lyrics....
Man, I was hoping to turn on the news this morning and see the news anchors completely fucking high out of their trees laughing until they soiled themselves! (Don't worry, no one actually soils themselves in this video.... That I know of....)
I don't see this as a big change. Sure I guess you don't have to worry about transporting a bit of pot around with you. Does it have to be locked in the trunk? Are joints considered open ...drugs? (Like open liquor)...
I don't drive so it doesn't matter to me, any of the "impaired driving" rules. And in my opinion the current "law" and device will be thrown into court and it will be defeated and they will have to find a better way to 'test for high and driving'.
Currently, if a person who let's say just now smokes on the weekend, like having a couple beers... So this person smokes 1 joint Friday night. By Saturday morning, that person is no longer under the 'influence' of the marijuana BUT in a blood test THC will more than likely show up in the blood, everyone is completely different on how they absorb and expunge foreign bodys from our bodies. So you'd probably get a $1000 fine and be 'sober as a judge'. So I believe this will be one of the first 'laws' to be quashed in the courts.
So I get my medicinal marijuana for free from a compassionate source. The government cannot offer that. So that it's legal to me is like, 'well, maybe a small percentage of people who didn't smoke before now will'... But I think for the rest will be the status quo.... I don't believe that ALL growers are related to organized crime and there are lots of growers out there growing for their own needs but more importantly, usually helping out someone who can't afford the now legal marijuana.
It would be sane to think that right now behind the doors there are insurance companies and lawyers figuring out what this means for them. Because marijuana, unlike booze, can be 'consumed' in a variety of ways, everything from smoking, to eating to sprays, salves... But it's ALSO, medicinal... So this 'product' that's now legal, how do you cross over between what's medicinal and should be covered by government or insurance companies?
May You Live In Interesting Times.
Cheers and be responsible with your pot!
Oh! A spooky N|EW video from GHOST!
And a recent release from Behemoth's 'I Love You At Your Darkest'
from my former 'hometown' of Burnaby British Columbia hails my good friend Geoff and his solo project 'I'm Not Sorry'... Geoff' was the bassist and chief anarchist for the 1990's band 'Beverley Soul Crusher' a band that did pretty awesome in their own time.
Now an 'old Metal bastard' like many of us, Geoff isn't content to just sit back and have music blasted at him, he's recording his own album, video's being shot and his latest track 'Menace' is fuckin killer!
I'd say like a mix of Ministry/Fear Factory and maybe some Nine Inch Nails.
Geoff did everything on the track except the mixing.!
Turn this up!
If ya have any head left, read on!
So as I was going through Chris Galbraith's pix from the benefit, I was thinking about this... What's 'this' you might ask... About photo's of musicians and videos.... You don't get into a band not to be heard or seen... Ok, sure, there's some genres and some bands, TOOL comes to mind, that don't 'show themselves'... They hide from the limelight, but for the most part MOST musicians have a bit of ego that needs to be stroked... We all need to be told our songs are awesome or that our set sounded awesome, though I don't know of any who ask, 'How'd I look on stage?' I mean that's a bit much, but I know others are wondering.. We need our ego's stroked.. Sure, sure there's a few band's out there that claim they don't "give a fuck"... But they do.
And I find that seeing pix or video from a performance is really great. I mean, I don't know about other musicians, but when I'm on stage after the set I'll barely remember anything that happened.
In the Dreamkick days, we'd get done a show and the guys would be like, "Holy shit! Did you see that girl flashing us during *whatever song*?" And I'd be like, 'What??? I didn't see no bewbies!'... I never saw shit going on lol.. So, not that the video would show you the boobs (because it was shooting the band, not from the band's perspective).... But watching the vids can help a lot, pinpoint songs which need more 'umph' or tightening up, maybe something you wanted to try during a song and see how it played out, do you need to change stuff? Are the rest of the guys standing there like bags of potato's... And audio of course you can hear how the set went... So, 'ego' aside, there is a lot of value to the pix and vids.
Don't let any singer fool you. We're out there for a reason. We WANT to be seen, we WANT to be heard... We wouldn't be 'lead singers' if we didn't.
For some of us it's a height thing, 'little man syndrome' for other's, you can't miss them, I'm talking lanky fuckers like, Joey Ramone, Josh Homme, Blackie Lawless, Peter Steele of Type 'O' Negative was over 6.5!
And we're all a bit to REALLY egotistical, I know, I know, my 'lead singer' Metal brother's are saying, 'No, not I!'.. But they lie!
We WANT the spotlight, the attention (maybe not offstage)... We got a message, we're eccentric, we're crazy but we all want to be seen.
We all looked at Metal & Rock mags when we were kids and our favorite bands music videos, capturing those 'super cool' photo's or segments of video... This is where Galbraith caters to my ego lol, he knows I'm gonna wanna see how stupid I looked after the show.. But I'm just searching for that shot, the one like my idol in some magazine, where the 16 yr old kid in me goes, 'Damn, that's a wicked cool photo!'...
One of my favorite photos taken by Chris Galbraith, from the Social Club at UNB during the 1994 National College Radio Conference (I'm aware it says '1993), wish I could still pull those off today.
But also, video and photos can help you refine your image, how you want to come off. Video is great to hear and see how it all looked from the audience perspective; did this work? did that song go over well? What did I do in that solo? 'Man it was all so cool when the crowd was singing along'...
It can be very helpful in that sense, which songs need to be tighter, 'so and so said I was "off key" here, was I?'
We're the show-offs, the show ...erm... persons...
Raised on the breast milk of Iron Maiden, Jesus Christ Superstar, Meatloaf, Alice Cooper, having a 'stage persona' helps you to escape the confines of your mind and to portray a truer version of yourself that is rebelling or being an activist or just a showman an entertainer...
Mark Kilfoil always would say after he saw us play that he just can't get over the 'off-stage Chris' vs the 'on-stage Chris'... And that's just it, I can't control that 'on-stage Chris' - No matter how bad I feel, the music moves me, the adrenaline is harnessed and spent in any spastic motion my body will allow.
As I say, I'm always in pain no matter what, well unless I'm sleeping floating in water is nice... But other than that, when I'm on stage, what happens happens and after I pay the price.
Back in the day, Corey Walton (rest in peace brother) dubbed me as 'Zippy' because of how I would "zip" around the stage (Or when working in the theater, up and down ladders and scaffolding), Terry Daly and Dave Campbell adopted that nickname for when I worked with them and ACE productions, their lighting and sound production company.
I used to be able jump like straight up in the air (as seen in photo above), Terry had a great photo that I never managed to get a copy, but I was levitating, like in the photo Chris Galbraith took.
But now, I'm trying to channel energy into singing, but i've not kept going with my instrument like my musician friends and I'm severely lacking in strength, I can't 'scream' like I used to as it's an art unto itself, a process of ripping your throat raw and almost like building a callous, like guitarists and bassists go through playing... I don't rehearse in a loud setting to really bust that hump and get to the point where i could 'scream' again without irritating my throat and going into a coughing fit... But I try. And I thank people for saying nice things.
I can't wait to record our new songs, especially 'Anubis Rising' as it's my current favorite of our songs.
So, someday, someday I'll 'disappear' and after a while, my neighbors or maybe some friends will break down my door and find this:!
Check Elsa's claws for blood under the nails....
Had this song in my head the last few days.... Never much liked too much 'Seal', but this was an amazing song.
Wanted to add, the shirt I'm wearing, all but concealed by my hair, is an old 'Awake By Sunday' shirt that Donnie sent me when I lived in Vancouver. He had got a hold of me after years of not being in touch, as I hadn't probably seen him since we had played some shows together, with his band back then and Dreamkick. But he was in this "wicked new band called 'Awake By Sunday'" and he was telling them all about them and then asked for my address and sent me out a shirt. I've always been wearing it through the years and got to see them play when I was back for a visit. Galbraith and I saw them at Mama's Pub on the city's North side. But yeah, it's been one of my favorite shirts, mostly because I really love the band name.
Chris Galbraith, he's the man. I'm telling ya, since Dreamkick into the Wasteland Zombies, Chris was always like a 5th or 6th member (depending on how many were in the band) has always been there as support, as help, as roadie, as 'tour' manager, babysitter, Photographer, videographer, director and most of all a valued friend.
Chris and I, we've seen some things... Chris, Peter and I, we've seen some more things!
So it was actually really special that Chris was at the benefit because he introduced for the first time, his son to the World of live Rock music! It was pretty cool that he got to see us, sounded like he liked it, but from what Chris says, it seems he's more into DJing club mixes than Rock right now. And ain't nothing wrong with that, I feel if children are exposed to all kinds of music and books, it can't possibly harm them (Just please, don't let your kids watch music videos... Some of them are really nasty).
Anyhow! Chris got some great shots of all the bands (though I only have ours), but we'll start out here..
Jaime Rockin' out with the Marshall's
Jake as always, shattering ribcages!
Hate those instrument mics...
Standard look on my face on stage
Ray probably waiting for me to shut my mouth
Good thing I can become a human tripod
Otherwise I wouildn't be doing this..
And then a violent wind came up upon the stage!
Was like walking in a hurricane!
Jake hammering his bass whilst Jamie shreds
Said it before, but it was great to have Ray join us...
Ray soloin'
After show interview...
LOL, we're all kinda lookin at Glen like, "What's he talking about??"
I'll probably be adding onto this entry as I begin to recall things I wanted to say about last night.
I have to say that nearly everyone you talked to spoke of some story, time, moment they had with Donnie. I know people say it of just everyone of their friends, but Donnie really was a great guy.
Oh and they had multiple camera's there last night and captured the audio on the board and by the sounds of it they are going to be editing it into a DVD and I'm not sure, maybe the bands can choose their 'best' tracks and put them out as single to send more money to Donnie's son's trust accounts.
Well what a day and night. I don't even know where to start.
We had a great set, was awesome to have Ray join us on stage. The event was amazing, every single band was tight and sounded perfect. Seriously, I was there for just about every band, I think I only missed two bands..... I always, always feel bad for having to bow out early, but I had been there from the start of the show and although I told myself not to let loose in our set because I'd pay for it... I can't help it. I can't... It's impossible to be on stage and not let it take possession of your soul... Maybe for others, but not for me. Music moves me.... Even genres I dislike....
A couple of years ago I remember driving with Ciaron and Grant from Neighbourhood Watch and Ciaron's a big Reggae fan and that's one genre of music I thoroughly dislike, Ska and Reggae I have no use for, but as we're driving along I couldn't help but be moving to the beat, either by taping my feet or keeping time with my hands, I cursed Ciaron for it lol... Music movies me, it always has and always will.
Again our set was really really good, I even sounded better than I thought I would... The stage sound was excellent. The guys did amazing, Ray had a great time. Here's some photo's courtesy of our bassist's wife, Kate Taylor:
We didn't have the biggest of crowds, but that was kinda part of my strategy. I wanted to play early because I didn't know how long I'd last through the day and I had wanted to be there for my cousin Todd Obe's band and also to see my good friend Scott Wild's band 'Brass Knuckle Heads play. We had a great little crowd and Donnie's ex wife Melissa and the boys were in the audience. So that was an honor to play for them.
Now, the rest of the day and evening.... Unbelievable the people who showed up. People I had not seen in over 25 years. Everyone was blown away by who came out of the woodwork to come and be part of a celebration of Donnie's life in music.
It did occur to me and I'm so glad it did, all the members of Dreamkick, except Mike Dunn were there.
Pat who's usually always playing actually wasn't playing in a band last night, but Peter Gillies did a two song set and Doug Gibbon's band 'The South Bound Sinners' played.... So I said to Nancy, 'We've GOT to get a picture of the Dreamkick guys together, it's rare we're actually all in the same place... So I managed to round everyone up and we went out back of the club for a couple of shots, which turned into a photo shoot with around 5-6 capturing the moment. I have to admit there was a couple of moments where I almost broke down, to see all of my friends together like this was absolutely moving. As it was mentioned several times that evening, it's sad that it takes something like this tragedy to bring us all out together and we should do it more often than when someone passes on.
Here's a couple of photo's courtesy of Nancy Brown, I'm sure some more will surface.
Even freakin Bradley Palmer showed up! And again, every band was absolutely giving it. The stage gear was top notch and everyone played it like they owned it.
Talking to Larry Hall, one of the benefits organizers, they just about made their goal of ten grand. There were no incidents, no egos, no primadonnas, but excellent musicianship abound.
Once I get some more photo's I'll post 'em up.
There were some interesting moments. While outside talking with Peter Gillies (bassist for Dreamkick), a guy was talking to us about the Dreamkick years... It's flattering, it's humbling when someone is telling you that Dreamkick was the best Rock'n'Roll/Metal band the area had scene. But this guy had a question for us and he kinda said it like it was a secret, like not many people knew and he asked Peter and I, "Were you guys signed?", at first I wasn't too sure what he had asked and said, 'What's that?' and he said again, "Were you guys signed... to a label?" and Peter and I looked at each other, 'Nope we both said,'... Never heard that rumor about us before, heard all kinds of other's lol...
There were a lot of the old Dreamkick crowd there and a lot of Wasteland Zombies fans too, a lot of them sad they missed us play, but not everyone of course could get there for our set at 5PM.
Both Dreamkick and WZ friend Chris Galbraith was there with his son and it was his son's first live 'Rock show. I'm not sure how old he is... 10ish? But he had a blast, Chris is almost always around for these kinds of events and is a great photographer. So he'll have some pictures coming sooner or later as well.
Another interesting conversation was with Daniel Monteith. I love the Monteith guys. truly great musicians, they have a refreshing and voracious drive for music. I've tried any chance I could to help them and to spread word about their band.
Daniel was saying, "Chris, you know, sometimes my Brother and I sit and talk, debate stuff and you actually come up quite a lot, I guess it's the integrity you have, you know, we feel like there should be the 'Chris Waddell award'" lol... Daniel's awesome and it was great to see him. I had not seen so many of the the local musicians because I'd not been part of the scene for a good year.
I wish I had had that integrity back in the day, I'm sure I had the drive, I'm sure I had the ego, but integrity is something that comes with experience and we had some great experiences, but it takes time. I feel bad these days because I can't do more for the scene... But in some ways it seems that this scene peaked maybe a year or so ago and is now heading into or in a lull and it'll come back, it just goes in cycles. I think this last cycle made great strides in lashing out as far as it could. Showing people that there's real fucking talent in this province and city. Tim Rayne's 'The Capital Project', Jay Chetwyns 'Maritime Metal 'fest' has allowed local bands to reach out into scenes they may never have thought of or thought they could get to.
But anyhow, back to the Rock For Donnie benefit. I'm so glad we were able to be part of it. It was a moment, a moment in time and one of history for our scene that I think people will be talking about for a long time.
Again, we're truly thankful to have been part of it.
From Wiki: The Devils is a 1971 British historical drama horror film directed by Ken Russell and starring Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave. Russell's screenplay is based partly on the 1952 book The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley, and partly on the 1960 play The Devils by John Whiting, also based on Huxley's book.
