If I'm not practicing drums or watching Raiders preseason football, then I'm going to nostalgic Heavy Metal gigs with my friends. 🤘🏽🤘🏽🤘🏽

Yeah, since the supposed Civilians practice didn't happen (big shock, right? 😂) Jeff and I decided to jam together for a bit before heading off to Vamp'd to see Armored Saint play. I haven't seen Armored Saint play since they opened for Metallica and W.A.S.P. at the Country Club in Reseda in '85, and Jeff has never seen them play before, so I kind of wanted to go, because I was kind of intrigued to see how the band sounded these millions of years later, and I kind of wanted to see who would come out to see Armored Saint on a Thursday night! LOL The place was packed! Opening band Act Of Defiance delivered a pretty solid warm up set, Heavy Metal 101, and after Jeff and I demolished a Hawaiian pizza of some sorts (yes with pineapple on it - get over it), Armored Saint came out and just killed it from the first note played onward. They did not disappoint. They opened up with March Of The Saint, one of the only songs I wanted to hear them play, and despite the bass heavy, echo ringing, bouncing around shitty sound system inside Vamp'd, the band sounded great. Armored Saint were playing their Symbol Of Salvation album in its entirety, not one of my favorites from them, but they did a good job playing the tunes from that classic album. Of course, original guitarist Dave Prichard was missed, but it was cool seeing Gonzo still behind the drum kit, and still whalloping the shit out of everything in front of him and around him. He's a hard hitting monster, that's for sure... heh heh When they were done with the album they played a few more tunes I wanted to hear - Win Hands Down and, of course, Can U Deliver, and that was that. The show was over, the crowd was happy and so was I. It was a good gig - I even bought a shirt! 😉

You ever been to Boron, CA? Well, neither had I until this weekend... I mean, I know a few borons in California, but other than that... hahaha
The gig this past weekend with Headnoise was fun as fuck! The drive to Bakersfield was interesting, to say the least, much easier than driving to LA, that's for sure, and having Bob as a co-pilot always makes things even more interesting than they should be, both in a good way and in a bad way. The venue was a giant hall or cafeteria or something, and we were given full backstage privileges including a kitchen staff at beck and call that made us all sorts of awesome foods and cookies and fruits and drinks and we wanted for nothing! I spent most of my time in the kitchen eating homemade cookies and drinking coffee by the gallon (Mug mug mug!), but I did manage to tear myself away long enough to watch some bands play... ha ha Doulos has this new drummer that's made them sound 1,362,964,189,673 times better than they already did, and they played a great set. I think they kept their mistakes down to single digits this time around. 😆 They keep teasing me about having recorded a 4 song demo a while back, but they won't give it to me to listen to for some reason... heh. Until We Die! just get better and better every time I see them with their Black Flag tinged musical onslaught. They remind me so much of Git Some that it's scary. Their guitarist Chuck just kills me everytime I see him play, and I'm not even a guitar guy, but he's a monster riffer who makes the most of his Marshall full stack. They're a great band - check them out when you get the chance. The Bedlam Saints were OK but then they started playing cliched Ska Punk covers and I tuned out real quick. Headnoise played a sloppy but energetic set. People dug it. Bob took pictures. Maybe I'll post them someday, maybe I won't. Afterwards it was all hug hug hug kiss kiss handshakes all around wanna go get something to eat? No? OK. I'm going home then! See ya last month! LOL Yeah, the Headnoise gig in Bakersfield was a happy fun time. Thanx to Nick and everyone with the Bruised Reeds collective in Bakersfield for the hospitality and excellent accommodations. Find a reason for us to come back. I'd love to play there again. 😉

"Older and Jadeder"... 🤣🤣🤣

Yeah, last Saturday night's gig @The Doll Hut (complete with 9 o'clock Disneyland fireworks!) was pretty fun. Mike, Tyson, and Eric from Wolfhounds were in town recording with Paul Miner @Buzzbomb Studios (Ow! My foot!) and decided to stop by and hang out for a bit, which was cool. We spent the majority of the gig standing around checking out the bands that were playing and observing the sad fact that Punk kids will pretty much slam to anything nowadays, no matter how pathetic and asinine the band and the music are. As I stood there watching the Yeastie Boys embarrass themselves on the outside stage while the kids went ape shit for them, I commented to the guys that I was getting too old and jaded for this shit. Old and jaded? Mike said laughingly. You've been old and jaded since I met you almost 20 years ago! hahahah "Older and jadeder then" I said... LOL I dunno if it's me though. I mean, if a bands good I'll give them props - like this band that played that night, Damaged, they were fantastic! So was Carpit too, come to think of it. The rest of the bands that played? Just sad shitty cover bands really, surfing a wave of nostalgia, although there were some pretty sick covers played... I mean, I heard Flipper, R.K.L., Dr. Know, Circle Jerks, The Damned, D.I., Agression... good stuff. Just wished they played 'em better, that's all. 

The gig the night before, the Sacrivox Music Festival, was pretty intense. 2 days, 4 stages full of all sorts of crazy ass Punk, Thrash, Metal, Beardcore, Rap and Indie bands were playing the thing, all singing the praise and glory of the Lord. Interesting so say the least. Getting to the gig was a nightmare. It literally took me 8 hours to drive from Vegas to Downey where the gig was happening at some crazy big church compound, so I didn't get to check out as many bands as I was planning on, but it was still a fun ass night, to say the least. All sorts of Rockstar trappings were included with the gig, including in house road crew (I didn't lift a thing), laminates, a souvenir programme for the event, and a backstage area full of food and drinks galore! Ahhhh. I could definitely get used to this! hahaha I got to the event as Doulos were playing (hi guys - and gal!), and they sounded fantastic with their new drummer and all, whoever he is, and Until We Die killed it as they always do. Chuck D. is a MONSTER guitarist, and Mark and Murph are always fun to hang around with and be around. During the Headnoise set I hit my China crash cymbal so hard it flew off the drum riser and perfectly chopped Robert's bass cord in half mid-song, but other than that little snafu it was a great set. I bashed my knuckle open while playing and bled all over the place. One of the guys from Grave Robber said it's not a good show unless there's blood involved, and he was right! ha ha ha People dug us and we made a lot of new friends - well, at least I did anyways! 😊 It was a fun time. It took forever for Grave Robber to set up / get their costumes and blood on, so quite a few people had left before they even got on stage (who leaves before the headliner plays? 😂) which was a shame because Grave Robber turned in a pretty cool set, looking like extras from some nightmare horror zombie flick and sounding a lot like the Misfits while doing so. I know it's lazy and cliched to say that about them but they fucking do. Stayed around chatting with everyone, trading merch with the bands, and once the festival organizers kicked us out, said my goodbyes to everyone before heading back to my hotel room, but not before stopping at Alberto's along the way for some grub just because. Oh Alberto's. ❤ You'll be the death of me yet. 

$25 to see Zeke... and they're not even headlining?? Eff that. I don't even know who those other bands are. Too lazy to look 'em up. 
​I really am the old dude now... lol I can't be bothered. 
I stayed at home and made tacos and chocolate chip cookies. That seemed more interesting to me than going Downtown and dealing with all the BS involved with it.
I sure could of used a new Zeke shirt though... lol
I stayed in to finish these Circle One photos, because they've  been on my computer screen staring me in the face for days now. Click here to check them out.
Anybody miss out on the fact that all updates to the website can be found down below? Meh. Doesn't matter. Nobody reads this website anymore anyways, right? 😂😂😂 I'm going to go back to reading about how that POS Cheeto skinned snake oil salesman trusts the Russian intelligence agency more than the American intelligence agency. Who's gonna be brave enough to charge him with treason??? Nobody probably... 

I remember the first time I saw Carlos, but I know he doesn't remember the first time seeing me! LOL 

Back when I used to give a fuck about the scene, I would bring lots of bands to play here, The Exploited being one of them, and this gig, at the University Theater, back in March '07, was the first time I saw the guy who would become a constant source of irritation and inspiration for the next 11 years and counting of my life. I was taking random pix of the circle pit action and captured him. See him there in the corner? Mohawk not as blonde but still as just as sharp looking? 🤣🤣🤣 Yup! That's Carlos, future founding member of S.F.T. (10 years this fall!!), and currently wrecking shit up with Lean 13 and Los Carajos. I hear he's got another project in the works too but that's neither here nor there. 😉 I love the knucklehead like a Brother, and the last 10 years of my life definitely wouldn't of been as fun filled or as interesting if it wasn't for him. It's his birthday tomorrow, (on 7-11 free Slurpee day!!) and he's gonna be spending it Downtown with his lovely wife Christi, drinking somewhere no doubt, so if you see him wandering around all borracho'd out, buy him a beer (he doesn't do shots, the big sissy laa-laa) and wish him a Happy Birthday. He definitely deserves it and the best part is that he won't remember talking to you the next day. 😉

​Happy Birthday Carlos!! Love ya!! ❤