Afterlife

Derek, was a quiet, friendly, unique individual whom I originally met back in grade 6, as he was a fellow misfit in the classroom of kids who were too terrible to go on the Camp Kilkoo trip. I had seen him all through grade six but never actually talked to him or got to know him until that particular week towards the end of grade 6. At the time Derek was a straight up doppelgänger of pop singer "Cory Hart" and the chicks seemed to dig him. It honestly wouldn't have surprised me if tourists visiting Canada stopped to ask him for a pic or autograph....THAT is how down pat he had the look. Who was I to judge? I was looking like a rejected extra from the set of Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. Oh the 80's. By grade nine I was a thrasher, Derek was now goth, and then he just kind of disappeared. All I ever really heard of him was that he was going to school in Toronto and had a store down there now.

So here I was in 1991, strolling down Queen west, I finally encountered a sign that read "Afterlife" this was the place. I went up the rickety staircase and passed through a cloud of incense smoke as I entered the shop. There was Derek, now looking like a white Bob Marley, with big chunky dreadlocks. We were both pretty stoked to see each other, as we chatted and laughed about the old days. I eventually had to get back to work, but I told Derek I'd come see him the next day and we could catch up some more. 

The next day I went to see him on lunch, and then the next day, and then the day after that, until it became a daily routine.  We both seemed to enjoy each others company and we had a lot of common ground. One night he invited me out to dinner with him and his girlfriend at the time, who I had coincidentally helped him land back in grade 7 on our school trip to Quebec. Here they were still a happy couple, amazing I thought. They took me out for authentic Jamaican cuisine, and I tried jerk chicken for my first time, becoming an instant fan. 

Before long we were hanging out on a regular basis. I'd go see Derek on lunch. After my co op was done for the day I would go hang with him at the store, usually until they closed up. From there it was generally dinner and then back to Brampton. The store "afterlife" sold used vintage clothing, jewellery, and accessories. The atmosphere was very chill and I quite enjoyed sitting on the window ledge watching all the beautiful women below me, strutting their stuff down Queen street west.

During our many chats, Derek had made reference to "his band" a few times. We had been hanging out for a few weeks now, and I had yet to meet any members of this band, so one day I decided to ask him about it. Turns out his band was just him, and a fellow student from the alternative school he was now attending in Toronto. Two guys....a green guitarist and a skilled bass player.....and a name....."Slow Poke" they were merely lacking a drummer, which is kind of a big deal when one proclaims to be in a band.

Derek seemed almost embarrassed that I had uncovered the truth about his "band" but I was never one to break somebody down for stretching the truth a bit, or criticize someone for having a dream. There was a pause of silence and an awkwardness in the air. I finally spoke up, shattering the silence with a statement that would change both of our lives forever...

"I have a drum set" 

Lightbox

My first day of work was comparable to the first day of school. I was nervous, anxious, and I didn't know what to expect as I entered this new foreign world. I was met at the door by the receptionist, who was an attractive, tall drink of water. She let me in and offered me a seat while she got on the horn to let the "big boss" know I had arrived. Within minutes I was met by the "big boss" her name was Mary, a tiny woman of Asian descent. Upon first appearance one would expect her to be shy and quiet, but she was actually very harsh, abrupt, and loud. I assumed she had a complex due to her being so petite, but looking back I'm going to guess her being the boss had something to do with her harsh attitude. 

Mary gave me a tour of the place, and all the employees were checking me out like I had 3 eyes. Eventually she led me to a small, unused room, where she introduced me to a guy named Mark. Mary left me in Marks hands so he could show me the ropes, then she quickly vanished to the sanctuary of her office. Mark was a very nice fellow, he had a bit of a limp and a gimp hand, I believe he had MS or some similar condition. Mark had the lovely task of cleaning labels off of VHS cassettes so the company could re use them, and lucky me got to help! We literally spent a full day scrubbing labels with lighter fluid of all things, the fluid was best for removing the sticky adhesive apparently. 

I finally got a lunch break around noon, and I couldn't be happier. I was going a bit stir crazy from 4 solid hours of scrubbing labels. I didn't really know what to do with myself, or where to go, so I smoked a cigarette as I walked the streets, eventually coming across a hot dog vendor, entrails and intestines sounded good to me. After lunch it was right back to scrubbing labels. Not long into it we ran out of lighter fluid. Mark declared we'd need more, and he asked me if I'd be interested in going out to buy some. Of course I would! Anything to get away from these labels! I was given some petty cash via Mary, and next thing I knew I was walking down King Street, smoking a cigg, on my way to buy lighter fluid. I took my time on this mission as I was in no rush to get back to those VHS tapes, but I couldn't stay out on the streets forever, so there I was again, back in the empty part of the studio scrubbing labels. 

Now when I say the studio was empty, I mean it was set up like a functioning animation studio, with light tables and all, but NOBODY worked down there, everyone worked upstairs in newer offices with equipment that was also clearly superior. It seemed like Mark and  I were the only ones who worked on the main floor, with the exception of the receptionist. I soon gathered that Mark was essentially the "gopher" around here, as he obviously wasn't doing any animating with his bum hand. Before long it seemed like I was rapidly becoming the new gopher, as I was constantly cleaning things, xeroxing endless amounts of work for the animators, and going on supply runs. One benefit of this was being able to get out of the office and cruise the streets of Toronto. I'd take my time, go shopping in record shops along the way, and pop in any other place that caught my eye. Lightbox had business accounts with all the art supply shops in the city, so when I went for pickups I didn't even need money, everything was charged to the company account. Naturally I took advantage of this and started throwing in extras for myself on the company's dime.

Mark ended up leaving and I was officially the new bitch boy for Lightbox. One very cool aspect of literally having an entire floor to myself, was the fact that I was never being watched or monitored. It's not like I was up to anything shady, I've just always proffered working alone. When I was done my list of tasks that were assigned to me each morning, I had the rest of the day to do as I pleased, and a fully operational animation studio at my finger tips. All I did was draw in my free time and plan out animated films that I aspired to bring to life one day. 

A few weeks in on a Friday afternoon, Mary asked me if I would be so kind as to go pick up some supplies from "Curry's" on Queen street west, a place I was very familiar with from my Toronto shopping excursions. I got the list from her and was on my way. As I strolled down Queen street, I started thinking about an old friend from school who I had heard now ran a clothing store down here. I decided I would pop in and say hello to my old school mate. Unbeknownst to me, what started as a simple gesture of friendship would lead to an incredible musical journey that would influence and dominate a major portion of my life...

Co-Op

It was now January 1991, I was about to turn 18, and I was beginning my second semester of grade 12, which would also be my final semester of high school. I was a bit sad to see high school coming to an end, but most of my friends were already gone, so I knew deep down there really wasn't anything left here for me to miss. I was also quite excited to be spending my final months of school in a co-operative work placement program, meaning I'd be "working" a job somewhere instead of going to classes. I use the term working loosely seeing as you don't get paid for the work. 

When I initially registered for co-op the previous year, I never even stopped to think about what I wanted to do. I had initially chosen something, which escapes me now, but at the zero hour I changed my mind, expressing my passion to work in the animation industry instead. The powers that be told me they would see what they could do, and I left it in their hands as I waited patiently. I honestly didn't think they were going to get back to me with good news, as my scholastic karma had always been quite negative. Needless to say I was in total shock when the guidance counsellor informed me they had found me a placement at "Lightbox Animation" in Toronto. It was going to be one hell of a commute everyday, but I was so anxious and ready for it! 

The first couple weeks of the semester was spent in class preparing ourselves to enter the working world. Mike Myers happened to be in co-op at the same time, but as fate would have it we were in separate classes. I ended up chilling with "The Iceman" most of the time, both in and out of class. Iceman, or Randy, was one of the coolest black guys I ever had the pleasure of knowing, and he was one of the only brothers who saw me for who I was, instead of assuming I was a racist due to my appearance. Randy taught me quite a lot about the fine art of basketball, Jamaican 3 card, and how to get younger girls to buy you lunch. Before long however, our time was through, as both co-op classes entered into the working world. We did still however get to see each other on Mondays, as that was our in class day. 

I can vividly remember my mother waking me up for my first day of "work" it was about six o' something in the morning and still dark outside. I went through the motions of showering and getting dressed without barely opening my eyes, and before long I was sitting in the front seat of my mothers car. She worked at a bank in the mall where the bus stop just so happened to be, so she dropped me off on her way to work with enough money to get the go bus & subway to Toronto and back. I had my trusted Walkman with me and some reading material, and I quite enjoyed the commute down. 

When I finally exited the subway at King street, I walked up to the cold, snowy streets and began my trek to work. I was starving by this point, and still had time to kill, so I went into a cafe called "The Kit Kat" which was really cool. The place was decorated with an assortment of "Felix The Cat" memorabilia. I immediately thought to myself that Mike Chapman would love this place, as he was a huge Felix fan. I enjoyed some baked goods and chocolate milk, and then headed down the alley behind the cafe, which led me to Mercer  street, where I quickly found a small black & grey building with frosted glass windows and a small sign that said "Lightbox Animation" It was time for my first day of "work"...

The Best Man

The first semester of grade 12 flashed by in the blink of an eye, Christmas had passed, and it was now January 1991. Jerry had disappeared from my life over the past year, as he had met a girl he fell head over heels for. Craig was still practically living at Phil's place, and Ryan.....well he was still Ryan.

In late 1990 however, Jerry showed up at my parents place one day just as I was heading out the door to go skateboarding. I was surprised and taken back to see the infamous "S.E." parked in my driveway with Jerry sitting nervously behind the wheel. As soon as he saw me, he jumped out of the car with tons of enthusiasm and energy. After all, it had been over a year since we had seen or even spoken to one another. Before I could even pass a word between my lips, Jerry insisted that I hear him out. It ended up he had broken up with his girlfriend and made the realization that he had completely neglected and ignored his friends for the last year. 

I could understand why he felt guilty about that, but I couldn't fathom to what levels of depth his guilt lay with, and they were much deeper than I had expected. Jerry apologized for his disappearing act that he had just pulled for the last 12 months, but he went on adamantly about it, professing that deep down inside of him he figured out I was his truest best friend, which was a bit shocking to me as I always thought Craig and him were closer. I suppose when Craig branched off with Phil, Jerry saw that I was still there for him as a friend, even though he also chose to "abandon" me around the same time.

Regardless of whatever caused this epiphany in him, Jer made a point of apologizing endlessly while continuously reassuring me that we would be best of friends until the end. The story got even deeper as he confided to me that he felt I was the one person solely responsible for him having "a life" as he put it, meaning all the cool things he had done,  the places he had went, and the people he had met, many of which had become friends of his by this point. Jerry swore up and down that if it wasn't for me taking a chance on a goofy, but loveable guy in grade 6, he wouldn't have enjoyed his life to the quality he had up until this moment. 

With that he swore his undying devotion to me as a best friend, and promised he would never disappear from my life again. Looking back now from this present moment in 2013, there were a few gaps of time over the years that we didn't see or talk to each other for extends periods, yet when we did get in touch with each other it was as if we had come full circle and never skipped a beat. In my mind that is the ultimate element to a true friendship or connection between friends. To this day we are still best friends, Jerry was the best man at my wedding, and we even live in the same town once again. We get together once a week, sometimes twice, and we are still both very inspiring to one another. 

I can still remember him parked in my parents driveway like it was yesterday. After he was finished saying his piece, I got in the car with him and we drove off, wandering the streets aimlessly as we theorized and hypothesized about how we would be as friends when we hit our 90's... Only 50 more years to go my friend... 

Pic my mom took the night of our re-union. X-mas 90/91'

Cows

Growing up during grade school and middle school, it was almost as if time stood still, or moved slower than molasses in January. The days felt like they took forever to pass by, and the 6+ hours in school each day felt more like 12 hours minimum. 

When I first got to high school I was a bit concerned because the length of classes were going to be longer, but much to my amazement they seemed to go by quickly. I finally came to the conclusion that being in a different classroom for each class as opposed to spending an entire day in one classroom must of had something to do with it. When I stepped back to take a look at my life, it seemed as if high school was passing by in a flash, and grade 12 was no exception. The snow was on the ground, exams were underway, and the first semester was coming to a close....OH! AND the Epileptic Brain Surgeons video was finally complete! 

For the life of me I can't even remember where I was when I saw it for my first time, which is fairly shocking given my track record with memories. I honestly can't remember if there was a viewing party, or if I saw it on much music, or perhaps one of the guys simply showed it to me on a VHS tape. Never the less, it was amazing in my eyes.

Although the Surgeons had now released 3 different demos, a lot of the same songs were on each of those demos. For the video however, they decided to go with one of their new songs "Cows" which to even the un trained ear, was clearly one of the stand out tracks on the tape.

The video kicks off with some footage of a creepy abandoned house/barn which I believe was in Streetsville, or Caledon if I remember correctly, followed by footage of goats hopping around in a pen. I always found it hilarious that they threw goats in there, one just assumed they couldn't find any cows to film. Or perhaps it was just older stock footage that Owen had kicking around.

The rest of the video is a potpourri of imagery that still brings a smile to my face over 20 years later. Some of the high points being: Pooh playing guitar in oversize shades resembling a muppet version of Ray Charles or Stevie Wonder, Waller singing with drumsticks coming out of his ears, footage of the boys dancing from the infamous "Club 2000" (now known as Nashville North and coincidentally in the town I happen to live in currently), Steve shredding the 12 foot half pipe at the legendary Grassroots, the only indoor skatepark Brampton ever had (R.I.P.), cameos from Ronnie Rowbottom and Al Nolan, our favourite pool hall we used to hang out at, the scenes in front of the old K-Mart in Brampton, which were my old stomping grounds as a kid....shall I go on? 

I've pretty much just described the entire video with the exception of the ever classic hot rocks footage, which could be a blog post in itself. Since I'm on a roll here though I'll give you the gist of it. There was a battle of the bands held in Brampton once upon a time at a bar known as "Hot Rocks" which any true metal historian can tell you about if you've never heard of it. 

Old sketch I did slandering Hot Rocks

E.B.S. signed up, showed up, and battled it out against an array of "hair bands" essentially. Waller was dressed like he was straight out of Motley Crüe or Poison, and there was a lot of tension in the air between the hardcore kids and the "glam fags" as we used to call them. 

An all out brawl almost ensued in which Mike Myre was the ring leader of, and a certain....ummmm.....humble narrator was at his side. The crowd was predominantly people who came to see the Surgeons, so naturally the glam rock guys backed down. Every time I watch the video I can remember that night like it was yesterday. It was really incredible seeing my friends in a video on television, I felt as if they were somewhat famous now, or at least a step closer to fame.

Here is the video, it will also be added to the videos page for easy access should you feel the need to watch it again in the future. Mad props still after all these years, go out to Owen S.Roberts. Film maker extraordinaire.

Current Updates 10/17/2013

Serious apologies everyone, I seemed to have really dropped the ball last week with my blog postings. I ended up missing Wednesdays post as I was knee deep in a new Street Trash song that literally demanded a weeks worth of attention from me. We had our friend Greg Dawson from BWC studios do some guitar work on the track. I literally poured 40 hours of heart and soul into this new song, we hope you enjoy.

I never got to post on Friday as it was a holiday and I got my son a day early for the weekend, plus I had him the holiday Monday as well. Needless to say all my time was devoted to him. I hope all my fellow Canadians had a nice thanksgiving with their families and loved ones. 

This week feels like its almost over before it even started. Tuesday I ended up going down to Toronto to see Mach Spitz perform with Friendly Rich & the lollipop people, which was definitely a treat for me. It was nice seeing some old faces and meeting some new ones too. 

Yesterday I went up to the boonies to work with my good pal Steve at thedevilslatex.com in my latest venture. I have been trying my hands at sculpting mask designs for Steve, and so far it's going quite well. I absolutely love sculpting and I am excited to see where this new venture brings me. 

I haven't had a chance to shoot anymore Heavy Ghetto segments yet either for YouTube, so hopefully I will get around to that next week. It's kind of strange, I quit my job yet I seem to be busier than ever now. Between working on music, hanging with my son, sculpting, tattooing, catching up with friends, the new podcast, and GTA V, it's been a bit tough to focus on writing let alone even finding time to sleep! I know I said a few posts back that I was trying to break away from current events and move forward in the story, and I apologize for falling short on my word, but I guarantee you this sorry will continue...

My newborn great niece "layla"

Welcome To Grade 12

Another summer of debauchery had passed, most of which is a blank to me surprisingly, and it was September once again. I was truly excited for my final year of high school. Everything had come full circle and I was at the top of the ladder and the top of the food chain once again...the king shit of the school if you will, and I was looking boss in my new army green combat pants and Misfits t-shirt my mom had bought me for the first day of school. I was still growing my hair in the undercut style, and it had gotten quite long over the summer, it now touched my shirt collar.

It was strange coming back to this place and not seeing my gang of friends, most of whom were older than me. Majority of them had graduated, but thankfully a few of the more scholastically challenged ones still remained, so I wasn't completely alone. Not too mention Mike Myres was still present, which I couldn't figure out since he was already in grade 11 when I started high school ! Turns out he wasn't sure where he wanted to go career wise after gaduation, so Mike decided to accumulate practically every possible credit on the agenda. Smart guy I thought, at least he will have choices.

It seemed like Mike and I were really getting closer as friends now, since most of the boys were gone and we had the same lunch period. Plus our common love for the Beastie Boys just continued to bring us closer as Mike became a bigger fan of them with every passing minute. The same went for Mike Chapman, who was now attending Humber College for radio broadcasting. Chapman had also gotten himself a motorcycle which he used for his college commute. The three of us hung out quite often, and we were continuing to jam in Mike C's basement on occasion. 

Mike ended up meeting some pretty cool dudes in his college course, mainly two guys named Stewart & Owen. They were both very cool, laid back, friendly guys with a bit of flare and a zest for life. If I remember correctly, Stew was in the radio broadcasting course with Mike, and his friend Owen was majoring in film. Owen & Stew were trying to start their own audio/video production team, and now that they had met Mike, they knew someone in a band. A band that could use a music video. When I heard the news I just about shit 10 bricks! Epileptic Brain Surgeons were going to have a music video...

The Coin-Op Podcast

Just as I told everyone I'm trying to shy away from too many "general update" blog posts, here I am yet again with my foot in my mouth, as its time once again for some new current updates.

This time however, I'm stepping aside from music for a change, to inform you of my latest non musical venture. My friend and former co-worker Jon and I were always having hilarious discussions about old arcade video game machines, and our conversational chemistry was so natural, we would be red faced from laughing, eyes tearing up, and highly excitable...all from a simple video game convo. After a few hangouts where the same pattern re-occurred, Jon suggested we should start a podcast radio show. Being the type of guy that I am, constantly relying on my creative outlets to maintain my sanity, I instantly agreed on his brilliant idea. 

We shot some ideas around, mentioned it a few times, but nothing ever really came of it. Jon lived right across the street from me too so why were we slacking so much? Ironically he moved to Guelph at the end of the summer, and NOW we finally decided to actually do this damn thing! So last Tuesday, Jon showed up at my place with some energy drinks & party favours, and it was time to roll tape.  

I had previously planned to set my living room table up as a make shift radio station, with various microphones and a mixer, unfortunately I realized at the zero hour that I was missing a few key elements to pull off my planned setup I had in mind. So we ended up simply sitting a microphone in the middle of the table to do our thing. An hour later we were finished an we both felt pretty good about it, it felt natural, nothing felt forced, and surprisingly we spent 45 minutes talking about the classic 1983 arcade game "Dragon's Lair"

Later that day I did a bit of editing and processing of the recordings, which I wasn't super thrilled about. There was a substantial amount of noticeable air and hiss in the background, caused from the two of us sharing one mic that we were both sitting a fairly far distance from. I'm so picky when it comes to production but there wasn't much I could do by that point, but live and learn, move on, and retain that new knowledge for the next recording. I also made us a theme song that day, finalized all the editing, and launched a website for our new podcast, which we decided to call "The Coin-Op Podcast" since we are strictly talking about coin operated machines. 

We're both pretty stoked about the whole endeavour, and we've already received some decent feedback from people. The show is going to be bi-weekly for now, so you can expect episode two sometime next week if things go as planned, however it might end up being a monthly show, we haven't quite decided yet. Never the less if you've got 45 minutes to kill listening to two bad dudes talk about Dragon's Lair, click the link below, and be sure to like & share on Facebook! Peace out!

http://coinop.podomatic.com/entry/2013-10-01T16_57_09-07_00

www.facebook.com/coinoppodcast

 

The Epiphany

It felt like the rest of my grade 11 school year was spent in a lysergic stupor, when I wasn't too busy squeaking through classes with below mediocre grades... or reciting off the entire "Paul's Boutique" album with Mike & Mike. Apparently that wasn't enough for us anymore either, and we decided to take it to the next level after Mike Myre informed us his home camcorder had the ability to retain music in it that you could later record video over without compromising the pre recorded audio. So naturally we decided to take our "rapping" to the next level and make music videos.

It wasn't long before we were at Mike's place, recording some choice cuts from "Paul's" onto the camcorder. If I remember correctly it was material from the later part of side two. It was time for the next step, and now here we were having to lip synch essentially while trying to keep in time with the audio. It was actually a bit difficult just trying to jump right into action, since we could punch in the video recording at any given point of the song. So now here we were like a bunch of fools, dressing in various outfits and filming footage in Mike's garage as well as other places around Brampton. We knew it was pretty ridiculous, but it was just fun as hell to do, and we actually felt like we were doing something noteworthy and creative. 

As fun as it was, it was also quite embarrassing being half in the bag one night at a party when Myre decided to put the video on. Normally at a party in those days the tv didn't garnish much attention, but at this particular party the home wonder happened to have a HUGE t.v. that was the focal point of the entire room! I'm not sure if I was red faced with embarrassment or not, but I specifically remember having a really hard time even making eye contact with the tv. It felt so awkward to have a party full of people watching us pretend to be the Beastie Boys. 

It was at that very moment that I felt like we were a bit of a joke, despite a lot of positive feedback around the room. I realized right then and there that if we wanted to be taken seriously, we had to REALLY bring this rap thing to the next level...

OMG! DOUBLE POST!!!

Yes you read that correctly, double post! In honour of Friday and Mondays posts being non existent I've decided to be twice as nice today and make up for the two lost days. The first posting "M.E.A.T." is the continuation of the story, as where this post will be a short and sweet one, mainly to bring you up to speed on current events. I feel like I've been doing this a lot lately, perhaps because I have a lot going on in my life right now.  I was also having some continuity issues with the Heavy Ghetto storyline as far as dates and timelines went, but those issues have been resolved. Hopefully there will be more story and less current updates from here forward. 

STREET TRASH: My current new side project with my pal Mach Spitz has come with another one! That's right, we've released yet another new bomb track to smack your senses around. This ones entitled "Skrew-ta-knee" some clever word play on "Scrutiny" The vocals are a back n forth frenzy between us that almost feels like a barrage of samples, mind you there are a barrage of samples here. Mach created the music, I mixed and arranged, and we collaborated on the vocals together. We hope you dig it as much as we do.

http://streettrash.bandcamp.com/track/screw-ta-knee-scrutiny

HEAVY GHETTO-THE VLOG: It's back! Episode two is now complete as of this morning and I've just finished uploading it to YouTube as I write this, literally! I hope you enjoy it and as always feel free to contact me or leave comments  with your constructive criticisms, and don't forget to like, share, subscribe, and all that good social media Tom fuckery! Cheers! 

K to the Bizzallz

M.E.A.T.

Another musical matter of importance I overlooked was a new fanzine type magazine that came out in 1989, serving the greater Toronto area and its surrounding suburbs. The name of the magazine was M.E.A.T. which was an acronym that stood for "Metal Events Around Toronto"

I'll never forget the first time I encountered the rag. I was partaking in my usual record shopping at HMV, and on my way out the door I noticed a small magazine rack with a sign that said "FREE" so I grabbed the first ever issue of m.e.a.t. It was all printed on black and white news print, like a small newspaper. Although it was somewhat ghetto, it was steps beyond your typical homemade fanzine. 

When I got home I flipped through the pages quickly, then I dismissed the mag so I could listen to my new records. Eventually I became bored and made my way back to the magazine, this time however I ended up reading the entire thing from cover to cover. It was actually well written, and the fact it supported local talent was almost a godsend. M.E.A.T. also catered to the typical metal fans in regards to what was happening on the more commercial side of things with bigger bands that weren't local. 

M.E.A.T. gained steam and momentum very quickly, and the magazines publisher Drew Masters, was releasing an issue every month. In the beginning I was questioning if we'd ever even see a second issue, now here I was scouring record stores on the 1st of each month looking for the latest copy. The mag had also graduated to a slick, glossy coloured cover by now, signs it was doing well. I had no idea who this Drew character was until I finally saw a pic of him one day. Drew looked like your typical hair bag, head banging rock on, the type of guy I once was, the type of guy I loathed now, and although he did come across as a bit of a dick in some of his writings, I couldn't give the guy anything but respect. Respect for investing his own time, energy, passion, and money into something he truly believed in... Us! 

Us as fans of heavy music and us as the local musicians making the music. How could you hate on a guy who had that much ambition which ultimately meant exposure for us. You couldn't hate...even if the guy did look like a Mötley Crüe reject. 

For something that was free, the rag had over 35,000 copies in circulation a mere 2 years later , quite impressive for the little zine that could. I think one of the driving forces behind that was the scene itself. Toronto has always had a very prolific music scene, and the fact we now had our own magazine to document and support that scene, how could the rag not do well? 

It was always exciting getting the next issue and seeing what bands were being interviewed, what new local talent had been discovered, plus you could find out all of the metal happening around the city as far as live performances went. After awhile it wasn't uncommon for me to see my own friends such as the E.B.S. boys or the dudes from Mal Havoc gracing the pages. 

By 1995 m.e.a.t. was no more, but some of its contributors went on to start "Brave Words Bloody Knuckles" which has since became the leading authority in local heavy music, and it would be an understatement to say they've taken the ball and ran with it. Kudos to all involved with BWBK for keeping the spirit alive, and of course Kudos to Drew Masters for being one man who made a difference for all of us. I think he should change his name to Drew Mattered...