There were a couple of pictures that were posted last from my phone. One of them was of myself with Melissa(Vocals in Chance Jones) in the background as we were doing a one-off live performance of Outkast's song Bombs Over Baghdad(More about that later). The other was a picture of the beach that I took when I was out in Muskegon Wednesday which was my day off. The picture above is of the same beach on a different day. I took three pictures on my camera phone and blended them together. Figured I would post that one for fun.
Back to the show on Saturday June 26th. It was the album release for Charles The Osprey's album 'Consider.' These guys are a two person instrumental rock group that you need to look up if you haven't heard of them. You can do so at http://www.myspace.com/charlestheosprey Rock/Metal/Progressive/Instrumental/Mathy/Awesome. Very hard to describe. It's just guitar and drums and nothing else is needed. Another group that played was Ozenza. Check them out at http://www.myspace.com/ozenza . This is another great Grand Rapids based group that I can best describe as Thunder/Sludge/Smash/Groove/Rock/Metal. Noblesville also performed. Those guys were amazing. Fantastic hip hop with smooth catchy rhymes and superb lyrical content. With Chance Jones opening the night, this made for an incredibly diverse mix of music consisting mostly of bands from the Grand Rapids label Friction Records.
Everyone played their asses off and the night was fantastic all the way around. Friends were in from other states/cities, everyone was having a great time and I couldn't walk three feet without running into someone I knew. Can't beat that! For the very last song, various members of the bands that played plus a few other local musicians came together to do a collaborative effort in the form of a live performance of Bombs Over Baghdad. This was complete with marching bass drums, marching snares, drum set, keyboards, guitar, bass, shakers and backup vocals. That was one of the most fun performances I have ever had the pleasure to be a part of.
Next we had the Boiling Pot Music Festival in downtown Kalamazoo. This was the first year it was held and it was a great time. It was a little low on attendance, but I have no doubt that it will grow as it hopefully continues each year. It was a beautiful sunny day and it was organized quite well. Two stages provided ample time to set up for each band as well as a contant flow of music for the audience. We saw some really cool groups play down there and I felt that our set went quite well. The sound crew did a great job as they were both accommodating and great at making everyone sound as good as can be.
After driving back from Kalamazoo, Jessie and I went to Mulligans Pub in Eastown to catch Beast In The Field, Mean Mother and Ozenza. I had never seen Beast In The Field before and I didn't this time either as we got there too late. Crap. At least we got to see Ozenza with there always slaying song 'Black Box' closing out their set.
I didn't do much but sleep for a lot of July 4th this year and I am strangely comfortable with that. My back has been killing me and I had a long Saturday, so it felt quite alright.
Goals for this week:
1. Work on new songs at expunk practice on Wednesday.
2. Work on new songs at Heavier Than Air Flying Machines practice on Thursday and also practice old ones to prepare for the upcoming recording sessions.
Life is good.
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