Straight Edge Talk...

me: Straight Edge Rules.
roomate: what?
me: Straight Edge Rules.
roomate: You mean Straight Fucking Edge?
me: Fuck yea!
roomate: hahahaha
me: I am going to post this on my blog.

The Phillies Win The World Series...

Well, the Phillies just won the World Series. I can't say I'm either happy or sad, because they're not the team I root for. I mean, i fell happy for Philadelphia, because they finally beat an AL East team in the World Series. But the truth, and my opinion as well, they were not the best team this season. This was a series that I thought all along Tampa Bay was going to pull an ace up the sleeve, but they couldn't manage it, and neither Upton or Longoria had a good series.

Even with them winning, they were not the best team in the leage. In my opinion the way they made the playoffs was pure luck, because the Mets for a second year in a row managed to literally throw the season away. About Tampa Bay, I think they were the team from the Al that was supposed to be there, because they managed to be the Champions of the AL East, which everybody knows is the best division in all of baseball. But they had 4 bad games, and those bad games ended up being the most important games in the history of that franchise.

So, I admit i screwed up my predictions. But that's how baseball is. And that's why I love it.

Down To Nothing/50 Lions Split CD Review

Well. I have heard the Down to Nothing songs forever, and I love DTN. Anyone that knows me for sure knows that. Anyway, I didn't have a chance to pick this CD up until the other day when I went to the city to buy comic books. I saw it there, so I was like I am going to buy it.

The Down To Nothing songs are in my opinion like the tracks they didn't use for The Most. It's stays in that line. They used the same formula for this, compared to like the little subtle changes in the other releases. My Favorite is Shot Down. That song just pumps me up. But I do have to admit the lirics in Watered Down were kinda weak and generic.

Now coming to that other band 50 Lions. First of all, I have only read about that band, and heard it once in myspace. But from what I heard before. They were just another heavy band, nothing special. That translates to their side of the Split. It's just pretty much generic heavy hardcore, even in a way trying to hard to be like DTN. Something I didn't hear in the other stuff. I mean, it's not bad for what it is, but I just can't dig it as much as the DTN songs.

Although I have to admit that I love the idea of bands from different countries doing split albums. Specially for a band like 50 Lions. Even thought they're not the band I would usually listen to, I know kids that definitely dig that, and that's good for them. Gives exposure to bands from different places, not your usual European or American band. This gives us a taste of what's going on in the Land Down Under.

Sneaker Commercials

So today i was at work. I was playing basketball in the team sports area because I wanted to, so I started talking about the old Air Jordan Commercials. But I remember my favorite sneaker commercial. Which actually was for a sneaker that I don't really like as much as others, and by the way, I never got. But still, It remains to this day my favorite sneaker commercial.



I also remember I used to call dunks "jordans". That was funny.

South American Hardcore News

Well. I just got back from the european tour with my band. So I have been checking online to see new bands, or to find webpages of bands that we played with over in Europe. At the same time, I don't know if most of you know I am a sucker for South American hardcore. And one of my favorite bands from South America is El Eterno Enemigo from Argentina. So the news is that El Eterno Enemigo has called it quits. So they are not a band anymore, and that bums me out a lot.

Anyway, I hope the guys start new projects!

Hamburg Airport

So, it's been my home for the last day and a half, and now it's about to close yet once again. But this time we'll just wait like 6 hours instead of 30!

Be home in 24 hours, so I am stoked.

Everything went well.

Got some CD's old and new so, once I get back, I am going to do some reviews, and post some links for websites and interviews and all that.

So, later.

Mannheim

So, I slept. Woke up to the kids Larping, and lighting arrows on fire, and shooting them with crossbows. They were fake arrows, but they did light them on fire. Anyway, we had a good breakfast, we went to a music shop, to the supermarket, and now we're in the city hanging out since it's our last off day on tour. Three more shows then it's time to go home.

But I want to post this for W-lo.

At the show, there was this awesome anarchist distro. But I was looking between all the records, and I saw a cool 4 Walls Falling Euro press record, and I wanted to get a book, but it was all in german. But then all of a sudden, Bill, bassist from my band goes, "Kike, check this out!" When I look at him, he's holding a Sepultura's Arise record on vinyl. Looked pretty old, so I went and asked the dude that ran the place about it. He said, "Yes, that's an original Brazilian pressing from 1991." Anyway, I HAD to get it. So I did. And then I took a picture of me wearing my Arise Shirt, with the Arise record, and the biggest smile you can ever imagine! Since then, the only thing playing in my iPod is that record.

Poland, Germany, Austria, Germany

I have not been able to post at all. No way to find internet anywhere.

Well, we went to Poland and it was weird. I was probably the only person in the whole country that wasn't white. But It was OK, the people were nice. We played this huge show in like a huge venue and all that. We were good but we shouldn't have headlined, because Make It Count is a way bigger band, and Sean was still sort of sick. I signed autographs to polish girls and gave away drumsticks to girls. It was funny.

Second show was amazing, at this kid's house in the only nice city in Poland that actually had a highway system. The one of the best shows of tour. We partied hard at the house afterwards. Slept and came back to Germany. We had a show at Stuttgart in Germany where we met the dudes in Masterpiece, which we pretty much join to tour for like 4 days. Great dudes. We played an alright show, sold merch which was good for a sort of alright show.

After that we headed to Salzburg, Austria. That was an amazing show, but Salzburg was like different from what I expected. I thought it was gonna be like super big city, but pretty much looks like San Sebastian in PR, obviously bigger so that it had a tranvia train, but had cool buildings.

We didnt play a show in Vienna, so I wasnt that bummed, because we had a day off in Berthesgaden, which is the place where Hitler used to live when he controlled Germany. We were literally tourists for a day. And I got to live for 1 1/2 days the life of the Alps. We went cliff jumping, and damn, that was a high jump, and even colder water, the coldest water I have ever jumped in. But I got used to it quick. I saw a duck and took a picture of it. Had awesome Bavarian home made food, and it was delicious. There was snow in the Alps and it was the summer. I thought I lost my passport, but i found out it was on my backpack all along.

By the way, before Austria, right after Stuttgart, we went to Munich and I slept at Basti's house, Got the pair of sneakers I had planned, and it was awesome. Saw the English Gardens and all that. Beautiful city. The only bummer that I didn't get to see the Alianz Arena (home of Bayern Munich).

Now we are in Mannheim, I am at the venue, we just played, and all the bands are gonna sleep here, so we're partying. Free internet, from a computer with a keyboard I know how to use.

Mom, I am ok, not sick. Just didn't have internet.
W-lo nice choco honeys in Mannheim. plus I saw some of those K1X brand shoes, and the Rick Apodaca signature.
La Parka. pictures when I get back
Ema. stop being emo.

love.

Berlin

So we left Sweden finally. And we're back in Germany, once again. I thought we were going to Poland today, but i guess we have 2 days in Germany before Poland. Anyway, the show tonight got cancelled, but we managed to hop on this other show with really really bad metal bands, one from Germany, one from Australia.

We're only going to play a couple songs because Sean's super sick with a very high fever. The typical one day fever, at least we hope. So Chris is going to sing tonight instead of Sean. Really hope Sean feels better later. We told him we'll just do the same thing tomorrow, to let him rest.

Anyway, Berlin is pretty much another New York City, but they speak german here.

For my friend xHectorx who keeps asking for pictures. You have to remember I am posting from internet cafe's, not from my own computer, so I don't have a way of uploading the pictures for now. Don't worry, I'll post them.

Also, the dude with which we stayed in Malmö last night had a Millencolin demo. I took a picture of it. He also had a 59 Times The Pain demo, but I forgot to take a picture of that.

I heard Bernie Mac died, and it was a bummer, another good comedian that dies this year. So yea, nothing really interesting in between last night and today, apart that in Berlin dogs are really well behaved.

To W-lo. No choco sweet swedish girls. But I did see a couple of choco-licious german girls.

Actually one cool thing I saw was that there was a windmill farm in the middle of the sea near Copenhagen, that was in Denmark when we were on our way to the Ferry.

I'll keep updating whenever I get a chance.

Last Night in Sweden

We just played our second show in Sweden. It went alright, because I saw this really cute girl with nice kicks (sneakers). We talked about sneakers and it was cool because she was the drummer for the first band. Let me add that there are literally no ugly girls in Sweden. Well. Maybe one or two, but that's about it.

The first show we played here was probably the best show I have ever played in my life with any of my bands. Beat the set we played at This Is For You Fest in Florida, and beat Edge Day. Kids were jumping everywhere, singing along, and went bezerk when we played the Refused song. We had the best time ever here. For the next tour we are definitely playing in Sweden again, if not, I am literally thinking about moving here. It's just amazing. By the way we drove in the highway E 20. It's the one from the Millencolin song.

We are in Malmö, Sweden (see that I used the local spelling of the city). This is Zlatan Ibrahimvic's hometown. I got a Sweden National Hockey team scarf and I love it. Anyway, tomorrow we go to Poland for like 3 more days, so we are leaving really early. I have to go because the battery is dying and I wanna post this!

Sweden

So after the show in Osnabruck we stayed over in the city, but then we left for Hamburg again. We met up with Monique and her sister, and we hung out in the city for a while. Forgot to say, the show in Osnabruck went awesome, and I totally found out Slapshot has not broken up. The owner of the place told me they played there like 2 weeks ago. Anyways, the place was amazing, had a sweet skatepark, and the food they gave us wasn't as good as the one on the second Belgium show, but was good.

Well, anyway, when we went to hamburg, it was weird, because we were walking on the street and all this girls just standing there, and they were hookers. Like to be honest you couldn't tell which girl was a hooker and who wasn't. I ate some KFC, I don't even eat KFC back home, but I needed chicken.

Since the Denmark show got cancelled, and that's why we went to Hamburg instead of Denmark, we had a long drive to Sweden. We were deciding wether to take the ferry or just drive through Denmark and the bridges. We went for the second option. So it was pretty much an overnight drive. The only thing I remember is that we stopped at this gas station somewhere in Denmark and i bought some chocolate milk in a bottle, and it was probably the best thing i have ever had. After that I don't remember a lot, because this was around 4 in the morning. And I tried to sleep right after we went through a bridge near Scandinavia, with me playing some black metal to get in the Scandinavian mood.

I wake up, and we're already in Sweden, which I was bummed out because I wanted to see Copenhagen. But we played some Millencolin. We got to the city we're playing early in the morning and it's like a ghost town. But very beautiful, right next to the ocean and all that, very quiet. I saw 2 black people, so I felt i wasn't the only minority in this area. Everyone is really tall and blonde, but yea. We are playing one more show in Sweden tomorrow, then the next day is back to Germany, this time by ferry.

We're at this nerd place that's a gaming place and kids playing like World Of Warcraft. But they don't use Euros in Sweden even though it'd part of the European Union. The keyboards actually are the most similar to the USA ones, except ont lil' thing here and there, but I can type really easy. Just look at the characters that we dont have that they have: ÄäÖöÅ夣.

Well I want to see around the city a little bit, before I play the show.

Back In Germany

So we are in Osnabruck, Germany, and I have 14 minutes on an Internet cafe computer. It is pretty much impossible to use a phone here, and my calling card sucked and didnt work. But we are staying at this house that is pretty amazing. We have all these beds and we bought cheap, but great food. I am making pastrami sandwiches every day.

It is cool, but I cannot find the apostrophes to cut words down. We play tonight a bigger show from what I hear. The one last night in Belgium was alright, not tht many people, but there was this band with a Boca Juniors Edge shirt, but they left before I could buy it. I have to go because i just have 5 minutes left on this.

Start of Tour

All right. Right now I am in Belgium in an internet cafe. I dont understand a single word said, ane even the keyboards have the letters in weird spots. Like to use a period I have to use the shift key and all that. The A and the Q are inverted, and there is a lot of weird charqcters I have never seen.

The flight here was awesome. The plane was pretty much very technological and stuff. Saw like 3 movies, listened to music, and slept, plus had as much food as I could. We got to Frankfurt, like at 6:25 local time, which was like 1:25 our time. Then we flew to Hamburg an hour later, then an hour after that we arrived at Hamburg, then had to drive to Belgium for our first show. That was like another 4 to 5 hours, but we made it right on time. Show went amazing for both Heartbreak Kid and us. We partied hard after the show. Like at 2 in the morning all these kids walked in the venue, because they were dropped off. I guess it is normal to drop the kids miles away, then they have to find the way home by themselves. Now we are on the way to the second show, but we decided to stop at this city to find internet, and sight seeing, since the city we are playing is not really far.

We did really well in our first show. Kids loved it, and we thought we sucked because we were so tired, but we even sold around €260 on merch only. multiply that for 1.6 and that´s how much money in USD we made. And there was like 30 people only there. Well if there were 35 people, probably no one would have fitted in the place.

Oh, I wanted to visit the Netherlands forever, and we got to drive by there. I was in 3 different countries in about 5 hours. Weather is kinda bad. Rainy qnd cold, then it gets sunny and hot right away, so I´m like putting my hoodie on and off all the time.

Believe it or not, it´s been so difficult to write this thing. But it´s awesome to say I am literally across the world playing music.

I forgot to say last time, that I got this sweet NY Mets hat, just because it´s my dad´s team. He´d appreciate it! Well, I´m gonna get going, because I want to get some food!

Confirmed.

I actuallt do have a plane ticket. Now the new thing is to see if I can bring an extra carry on with me.

I already talked with a girl with a real sexy german accent on the phone today. damn i can't wait.

Kind of super scared now

Well, it's about 2:40 am, and I am supposed to be leaving in approximately 13 hours and 20 minutes. The thing is that I dont have a confirmation email for my plane ticket and all that, and that's very but very scary. If I get there and i dont have a plane ticket, I am simply going to buy a ticket for the next available Puerto Rico flight. So at least I'll have some fun.

That's about it.

Merrimack Valley Hardcore and other news

Well, I just heard about this, and I have to admit I am very very excited.

I don't know if most of you know about Welfare Records. It was the last MVHC venue we had, and it got shut down. It really makes me mad when stuff like that happens. A lot of the kids don't understand that these kind of venues are but a priviledge. But the news is that Welfare is opening the venue up again as "Anchors Up!". This makes me very happy because that means we will have a new venue here in the Valley. I just hope kids don't pass this for granted and actually take care of it so it doesn't get shut down like it happened when it was Welfare and like when we used to have New Direction.

We're gonna be having a lot of awesome shows here in the valley again, and it's really awesome for the hardcore scene up here. Anyway, I am not going to be here when it opens in a week or 2 because of tour, but there's nothing better than being away from home and coming back to know I'll have a place to go ton shows and have fun again.

In other news. Los Perex (http://www.myspace.com/losperex) from Dominican Republic have just posted a new song from their upcoming album "Internacionalizando La Ezperanza." And if you live in the Arizona area or in Mexico, get ready, because they are going to be touring near you. Also they are going to be having some shows at the end of the year in Puerto Rico. I really am looking forward for this new album by them! Be on the lookout, this band is here to stay!

Also in Puerto Rico. August 29 and 30th. Blood In Blood Out is going to be playing shows in the Island. Hardass hardcore from Indiana. Here's a little promo video for the show!

Some Album Reviews

Cold World

"Dedicated To Babies Who Came Feet First"

Well, to be honest I was waiting for this album for a long time. I even forgot that it came out, so I got it like a week late. (I usually don't do pre-orders and stuff like that). Anyway, i was really pumped to hear what this new album was gonna be like, because I really liked their previous releases. I was also sort of curious to hear what is was going to be like once I saw the cover for the first time. It looked kinda cool, but sort of artsy, well, at least in my opinion. So, I have to say that this album is a total letdown. It looks to me that the main idea of the band when they were recording and writing this album was simply to find a way to let you know that they like Hip-Hop, and that they like sampling. I mean, this we already know since the first 7", we don't need to be reminded every two songs with some cheesy samples, or beats. Musically, it's pretty slowed down from their first two 7"s. I have to admit I do like slow hardcore, but in this case, it just doesn't really work. It gets boring after the first song, and it's like has a couple good songs here and there. I don't even want to mention which songs are, because it's the type of album that you may want to listen to a specific song depending on your mood. Final thoughts. It's the kind of record you'd think twice before you put it on, and then pretty much realize you don't want to listen to it. Maybe some time later, you'll listen to a song here on there just to see if you're gonna like it then.

Hammer Bros.

"The Kids Are Dead"

All I have to say about this one is "Finally!!". I was already starting to think that this album was never going to see the light of day. Anyway, I had already heard every song live, except one. I have seen the evolution of this band, and this lineup is by far their best. This is the definition of anger made music. Since the beginning of "No Wait" until the end of "Animal" you pretty much want to eat babies for breakfast. My favorite song in the album is "Years", it sort of reminds me of Sepultura in the Arise era. Not on lyrics, but on sound. Those bands have very different lyrical content. I kind of hated when people told me that The Vitality wasn't a good album because the songs had all the same formula, and that Hammer Bros' songs were becoming all the same kind of thing. Something I disagreed with, but could see why they were saying it. After listening to The Kids Are Dead, pretty much proves my point that they were wrong. So, final judgement, this is one of, if not the best release of the year. But it's debatable. Go to Welfare Records and buy it.

New Apartment, And Leaving Soon, Plus I Hate Crocs.

I moved to a new apartment. Same city. Just 5 minutes away. Good place, I can speak spanish all the time. And there's internet which is a plus. I can't live without my Soccer and Baseball scores.





I am leavin on tour in 2 days. Here's the checklist:


Sneakers - yes


Shirts - yes


Hats - yes


Backpack - yes


Instruments - yes


Haircut - yes


Having fun before I leave - not yet





Although I have to admit I am very nervous. But it's gonna be fun.





Also, I have to say I hate Crocs. Me and a friend from work were talking today about how much those things suck. We were saying that they are made of something like nicotine. People are like. "Man, I have been in this normal shoes for too long, I need a Croc break."


It's because those ugly ass things are like addictive to them people. like they have them and thay have to have to buy every color of the same style. Now that I think about that, I am like that with my sneakers, so I am making fun of them people for something I do myself with different type of footwear.....STILL....Crocs suck, they look awfully bad. And chicks definitely DO NOT dig them.





Imma put a picture from my new "Guarida Punk Rock"


If you see. I have two Down To Nothing posters. That means I love that band. And it's true. I toured with them. I mean, my band toured with their band. It was awesome, and I moshed every single time I saw them.

Getting Ready To Leave

Well, I leave for tour with my band in like 3 days and a half. I got a pair of sneakers to add to my collection, but also to look fresh when I head over there. I have to admit, I like to have new kicks for special things, and tour falls under "special things" in my book. Well, I just got a pair of Nike Cortez's. I really wanted to find this pair of Air Max 1's to get there, 'cause they'd definitely fit perfectly with my new windbreaker, but it's OK. I have been longin' for a pair of Cortez kicks for a while. I might put some orange laces on them so they can definitely fit. Even though white laces would make it too. To be honest, I dont remember if they came with blue or white laces.



Anyway. I leave in 3 days pretty much, and I still have to finish packing, my drum stuff is at the practice space which is gonna be our practice space no more once we go on tour. Which is gonna be weird 'cause I dont know where are we going to practice when we come back. We'll figure something out.



Every time I think about that tour thing, I am like getting all nervous and all that. I just can't wait to go there. But once we get there I think time's gonna fly so fast and that it's gonna seem like it was a couple days only. I want to find good sneaker boutiques over there, any place I could get any exclusives.



I got this iPod for tour, and to entertain myself everyday when i go to work, and it's awesome. Got the backpack I wanted, the only thing i need to do now is to change my snare drum head, and buy underwear and socks.



I also just moved from my old place. I had been living there for almost 2 years. It's awesome for a change, but it kinda sucks, because i am gonna miss those dudes, hahaha. That sounded kinda gay, but it's true. The new place rules though. I live with my main man Juni, and when i get back, with his girlfriend too. Let's see if I bring a german girlfriend back with me. I mean, it could be from anywhere, I don't mind if she's from Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium or Austria (which are the countries we're playing at).



I'm just stoked I'm going to play at Ieper Fest in Belgium. I have always heard about that, but it's funny that we get to play a fest that big even before we get to play a fest like Sound And Fury or This Is Hardcore, which I don't really care, but it's funny. So yeah. That's it.