Old School

Last night, on the way home from Another Day In Hell practice, Chris and I listened to highlights from Beneath The Remains, Chaos A.D. and Roots (all by Sepultura, in case you didn't know). When I was at home the other day, I listened to Beneath The Remains and Arise from start to finish. This is something I have not done in quite some time.

Sepultura were such a good band until Max Cavalera left. I've not listened to any of the stuff they've released since then, but I don't really hold out much hope for it, although there's a new album coming in 2008 apparantly.

Anyways, while listening, it became apparent to me the impact that both this band and early Machine Head has had on the music that I've written over the last few years, and, as a direct consequence of this, on my life in general. There are others who'd probably disagree, but I definitely don't think this is a bad thing. As a result, I've decided that this weeks listening is going to heavily feature bands that I used to listen to all the time when I was 15 and 16.

In any case, practice last night was great. Zach was supposed to be in work til 8, but got off at about 7.30, so before he got there we worked on some bits and pieces that may or may not come to anything, but after he arrived we got down to business and hammered out a new song that I'm pretty sure is going to be my favourite once we get it all nailed down.

We're DIY. Ha ha ha.

Because it's not quite ready, we won't be playing it at our next show, which is this Thursday the 21^st of February, in Eamonn Dorans. It's supporting Los Mendozas and The Mingers with Only Fumes And Corpses and one of my boy Zach's other bands, Find A Way. It's going to be a good time. Doors are at 7.30pm and you can get in and kick people in the face for a measly €7.

Flier on the left.

Come and ruin the other people's lives.

I'm finished plugging now.

After practice, Chris, Zach and I hit up Tin-Tins on Baggot St. for some sweet eats and solid laughs. On the way home, I drove through some of the heaviest fog that I've ever seen. I could see maybe 2 feet up the road in front of me. 15 ^km/_h for about 8km. That's not to say that everyone else on the road was taking the same precautions, and there were cars going past us a LOT faster than we were going. It's no wonder there are so many road deaths in this country.

It was still foggy this morning when I was on the way to work, but it was much prettier out. I drive the back-roads to Blanchardstown from Skerries, and it was like a winter wonderland. I would have taken a photo if I wasn't too busy trying to survive.

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Bands I'm listening to that you should also be the one that's listening to:

• Machine Head - The More Things Change
• Sepultura - Chaos A.D.

Impulse

I've been playing Guitar Hero III now since it was released on the XBox 360 in Europe, and I'm pretty good.

I've completed the game on a couple of difficulties, played through the co-op campaign, unlocked every song in it, gotten 5 stars in plenty, and even 5 gold stars in a couple, and had hours and hours of fun doing it.

I still haven't managed to finish the 'expert' campaign because Beat The Devil, featuring the ridiculous battle mode, is actually beyond me. Neither have I bested Through The Fire And The Flames, although I have managed to get about 78% of the way through the songs and gotten the 3x Star Power achievement.

But anyway, I'm pretty good.

My brother, on the other hand, is INHUMAN. Every time we play he destroys me at the game. Last night was the worst thrashing yet. I could partially blame this on a slightly faulty controller (the red fret is a little unreliable), but I'm not one for excusing my own shortcomings, especially when in the presence of a Golden God. He had scores that were THREE times mine. 380 note streaks. 99% of notes hit.

He is a freak, although he can't beat the devil either.

I can't wait until we get to play Rock Band, especially considering that drums is actually what he loves the most...

xkcd and it's place in my life

I'm still finding identity with stuff I read on the internet, but none more so than what's in xkcd. Sometimes, I wish that I didn't, because what's in there doesn't always make me feel good. The one above does though, because I've been doing it for a long time.

I've spent the last weekend doing stuff with my friends that I love to do. Hanging out and organising shows, this time for a couple of bands from England and Wales. I got to come alive for another 25 minutes on Saturday afternoon. It was the best time yet.

In about a month, I'll be heading to England to play my first shows outside of Ireland. I'm looking forward to that. The week after, I'm going to Sweden via Denmark to hang out with my boy Simon and eat good food and maybe get tattooed.

On occasion, life is alright.