God Lives in NYC

Tom and Kevin played a "reunion" set this past weekend at the Knitting Factory. They played all of Crime plus a bunch of other amazing songs. You've got to be fucking kidding me.

Set:
(Just Tom)
"I Dreamed Bob Dylan Was a Friend of Mine"
"Random Hearts"
"Amputations"
"Joy"
"Harsh Realms"
"Anna is a Stool Pigeon"
"Wagon Wheel"
"Jordan's First Choice"
"Tonight We're Gonna Give It 35%"
(Tom and Kevin)
"Walking is Still Honest"
"What We Worked For"
"Those Anarcho Punks Are Mysterious..."
"I Still Love You Julie"
"Shit Stroll"
"Impact"
"Ya'll Don't Wanna Step To Dis"
"Burn"
"We Did It All for Don"
"8 Full Hours of Sleep"
"Sink, Florida, Sink"

We Found Our Own Reasons To Sing

I nearly died on the highway driving fast through the rain. I was determined to get there as early as possible and get just left of center at the front of the stage. to hell with the wait. I struck up a conversation with some people from Parker about how shitty the barricade being there was, and then we talked about previous shows.

Future of the Left started at 8pm sharp. Their post-punk/indie style kind of bored me for most of their set, but there were a couple songs that got me nodding. Their bass was way to fucking loud, it drowned out the guitar and the singing. and I happened to be right in front of his monitor. Their last song was my favorite of their set, even more so when their bassist climbed over the barricade (and myself) played in the middle of the impromptu pit, and the proceded to pull himself up (with some help from the audience) into the balcony and play up there. It was astounding.

Before Ted Leo + Pharmacists began their dance friendly set, I was tapped on the shoulder by a girl who recognized me from the Streetlight Manifesto show that I went to on my birthday the week prior. We struck up a conversation, and I turned out she and her friend had come to the Gothic by the way of bus from Boulder. I told them I avoided coming to Englewood via bus like the plague, and offered them a ride back to Boulder after the show. I just couldn't let them wait for the bus in the cold following the show, like I had done so many times before. Ted Leo and company (his pharmaceutical company of course) went through a great set, even though they didn't seem to have that many fans. I shook around like a epilleptic through every song. I only recognized a few, and even less by name. "Where Have All The Rude Boys Gone" and some songs from Shake the Sheets were the highlights.

I began to get anxious as they began setting up their gear. The last two times I had seen them were lackluster and dissappointing to say the least. But I still had hope, despite what some of my friends asserted. I knew they still had it in them to pump out a great show. My nose even miraculously cleared up, no longer impeding my singing ability in anticipation for the main event. Their roadies had a problem with one of the amps creating some godawful feedback, and once that was sorted out and everything was soundchecked.

Under red light, they grabbed their instruments and busted straight into "Cliche Guevara" and at that moment I knew the night was going to be amazing. They followed up with 3 songs from New Wave, including the worst song they've ever written. However the worst was over. They followed up with 4 songs in a row from Reinventing Axl Rose, and in that span, I almost lost my voice and passed out from sheer excitement. They were doing what they do best: not stop. They just pound through their set to fit as many songs in as possible, and keep the energy going at a maximum. As Tom strummed the opening notes to Miami, a song I hadn't seen them play in years, that excitement only grew. I took a break from singing for the next song, rocked out like a maniac for "Americans Abroad,"and then took another break during Borne On the FM Waves of the Heart. Good thing as the next song was the not often heard "TSR." following that short yet triumphant burst, they closed their "official" set with some less energetic tunes, but included "Pretty Girls" which I've never seen them play ever.

They took a long break before their encore, and Tom came out alone and played a song from his "solo" album, entitled "Only Cowards Sing at Night." With its chorus of "come back home johnny, come back home from Vietnam" its a clear jab at the McCain Train (wreck). What happened next caused me to audibly yell "oh my fucking god!" as they started playing "The Disco Before the Breakdown." The only surprise encore song that has topped that was when they played "What We Worked For" in Boulder last year. They closed the night out right with two of the greatest sing alongs they have written: "Sink, Florida, Sink" and "We Laugh at Danger (And Break All The Rules)." sadly, no one took the iniative to bum rush the stage as is typically appropriate, but it didn't matter. I got Andrew to hand me the setlist, I made my way to the merch booth, found my new acquaintences and flew back to boulder to write this.

Fuck the haters. This band means the world to me.

Cliche Guevara
New Wave
White People For Peace
Stop!
Pints of Guinness Make You Strong
Reinventing Axl Rose
Those Anarcho Punks Are Mysterious
Walking Is Still Honest
Miami
From Her Lips to God's Ear (The Energizer)
Americans Abroad
Borne On The FM Waves of the Heart
TSR (This Shit Rules)
Pretty Girls (The Mover)
Don't Lose Touch
Thrash Unreal
--------------
Only Cowards Sing At Night
The Disco Before the Breakdown
Sink, Florida, Sink
We Laugh At Danger (And Break All the Rules)

(Goddamn.)

Dear mother,
This is just survival.
Cannot promise your children everything,
But you would lie so they can sleep tonight.
Defeat tasted nothing like you said.
Still 22 days left till the end of the world.
My legacy was making you a man
For a justice I could not change.
This is one voice not to forget;
"Fight every fight like you can win;
An iron fisted champion,
An iron willed fuck up."

Can anybody tell me why God won't speak to me?
Why Jesus never called on me to part the fucking seas?
Why death is easier than living?
You can be almost anything
When you're on your fucking knees.
Not today,
Not my son,
Not my family,
Not while walking is still honest,
And you haven't given up on me.

Dear shithead,
This isn't happening;
The sky is really falling,
The paint's all made of lead,
There's asbestos in the walls,
Hell's coming to rip off the doors
To your priveleged heaven.
Do you want to love and feel it?
You can look but you can't taste it.
You can reach but you'll never have it.
We are untouchable;
Untouchable is something to be.

Can anybody tell me why God won't speak to me?
Why Jesus never called on me to part the fucking seas?
Why death is easier than living?
You can be almost anything
When you're on your fucking knees.
Not today,
Not my son,
Not my family,
Not while walking is still honest,
And you haven't given up on me,
And you haven't given up on me,
And you haven't forgotten me...


(this song rips out my heart).

100 Years of War

100 Years Of War

I've Never Felt So Strange Standing In The Jersey Rain

Happy Freedom Day!

It's been a while since I've posted, mostly due to my own laziness. A lot has happened, I left New Jersey, George Carlin died the same day, and the next day my family began the big move across the country to San Diego. Its a weird feeling, losing your home for the past 5 years. Being a military brat, I always felt that I really had no home, being that we moved every 2-3 years. But for some reason, I'll always consider myself from NJ. I spent 3/4 of my high school years there, discovered music, love, and good friends there, and it was the longest my family has ever lived in a single place. I don't know how long my family will be in Southern California, but I know that I will never consider it my home, no matter how fun it will be to make Anchorman jokes. I've always considered Colorado my second home ever since my Dad moved out here however many years ago (7? 8?) , and now it is my only home. That itself is weird. I'm not very good at saying goodbyes, so for the most part, I avoided them. My last couple days in town, I tried my best not to see anybody (except Jules) not because I didn't want to see them, but because I didn't want to have to deal with the awkward "well goodbye, possibly for years, possibly not, see you around I guess" Leaving my best friend was also weird for a myriad of reasons, even we avoided a drawn out goodbye, despite knowing what lay before us (and not knowing at the same time). Hopefully she isn't lost forever.

Well In music related happenings, its been a good few weeks. The Gaslight Anthem's new album The '59 Sound leaked, and it is fantastic. Not quite Sink or Swim, but still fucking great. It has potential to be album of the year, but there are still some albums left to be released. At the least, it is in the top 3. I haven't felt this good about a band since I first heard As the Eternal Cowboy. I also picked up Street Dogs' new album State of Grace, which is already sounding like their best to date (it even has a kickass cover of The Skids' "Into The Valley". Although Fading American Dream is a tough act to follow. Warped Tour was interesting but fun. I got in for free, thanks to Amnesty International. I spent most of the day tabling under the Non-Profit tent, and got to meet a bunch of cool people from other organizations. Apparently we were sitting right next to the Iraq Veteran Against the War who wrote "Letter From Iraq" and we didn't even know it! I managed to catch the sets of 3/6 bands I wanted to see. The Bronx were the first band to play all day, and they kicked ass to say the least. During the last song, which if I remember right, was "History's Stranglers," their singer jumped into the pit and sang down there the entire time. I look foward to their two new albums coming out this year. It seems they were 100% serious about making a mariachi album. Awesome. Street Dogs also played a kick ass set full of new material, and Cortie ended up getting punched in the ear, and even today it looks purple. The last band we saw was the mighty Against Me! at 3:00. The song choice was kinda "meh" (mostly due to closing with "Thrash Unreal", weird right?) but I still had a ton of fun, and it was cool to see "Piss and Vinegar" live. I nearly died of heat exhaustion from going crazy during "Walking Is Still Honest" Despite the mostly lackluster choice, the band themselves played in top form, despite being interrupted by a fight/douchebag of some kind in the middle of "New Wave"

I also went on a CD re-organization rampage, fueled by the sounds of Billy Bragg and The Weakerthans (Bob Dylan came too), and it was a resounding success. Nobody cares but me!

Well that's all for now, enjoy the traditional freedom tub!

A Playlist for the past 3 weeks:

1.Alkaline Trio-San Francisco (Remastered!)
2. The Gaslight Anthem-The Patient Ferris Wheel
3. (Young) Pioneers-We Ain't Even Married
4. Alkaline Trio-My Friend Peter
5. Leftover Crack-Gay Rude Boys Unite!
6. The Bronx-History's Stranglers
7. Street Dogs-Into The Valley
8. Against Me!-Piss and Vinegar
9. The Bouncing Souls-Letter From Iraq
10. Andrew Jackson Jihad-Jesus Saves
11. Billy Bragg-Which Side Are You On?
12. The Weakerthans-Confessions of A Futon Revolutionist
13. Bob Dylan-All I Really Want To Do
14. The Measure [SA]-Fourth of July

download link

A Brief Yet Triumphant Post

So Tom Gabel released a new Against Me! demo song called "Graceful Confession." And as I have come to expect from him, its beautiful and honest. Leave it to him to write another song I can instantly relate to, and wish was my own. here is the song and the lyrics:

Graceful Confession

Your talent outshines all that I could ever do or say
and me and my jealousy, I stole your songs and passed them off as my own
As much as I would like for it not to show
you can smell the stink on my breath and in my clothes, it's so obvious
oh if I could only be half the things you write about in your songs
if I could only mean half as much to anyone

and in my arrogance I write pages of anger hate and spite
all of the reasons I have to trust... absolutely no one
today I heard you on my stereo and it shamed me,
yes it shamed me to think that I could be so unoriginal
oh if I could only be half the genius that you are
to feel such honest want, to show love
I would show you love
I would show you love
I would show you love
oh if I could only feel half as resolute in my beliefs,
if I could only sing with such bravery
I can not explain how much you mean to me
without your words, I would be lost.


fuck, that pretty much sums up how I feel about Against Me! I mean, they were the reason I decided to learn how to play guitar and write my own songs, even if I only ever played their songs to my friends. The countless times we have sung along to "Baby, I'm An Anarchist" or "Pints of Guinness Make You Strong," and me wishing I could write a song that would burst the whole room into chorus. No matter how often I learn to play other songs or write my own, I always go back to playing Against Me!'s songs or attempting to learn each new song that comes out.

So thank you, Tom Gabel and the rest of Against Me! for creating such awesome fucking music and being a constant source of inspiration to me, from the first time I heard the Crime EP out of my shitty stereo with one working speaker, to this second right now.