The Grand Bandshell

With the tension building between band mates, Pauly decided it was time to pull the plug on Black Belt Jones. As much as I disagreed with the decision I totally understood his position, as things between him and Mike were rocky so he wanted to salvage the relationship and dissolve the band instead of salvaging the band and in turn dissolving a friendship. We still had a few gigs lined up and we felt it was our obligation to honour those dates, which we did.

Our final gig was approaching, and even though it would be our last performance as a band I was highly excited due to the venue location. We would be playing an outdoor music festival in none other than our hometown of Brampton, which really wasn't anything new as we played Brampton frequently, but this time we would be gracing the stage of the infamous Chinguacousy Park bandshell.

The bandshell was quite legendary in my mind seeing as it had quite an impact on my life growing up in Brampton. It was set on a small man made pond and equipped with paddle boats. At a very young age I had attended the bandshell to see fireworks on numerous occasions, as well as musical performances by mainly Canadian acts. I also experienced my first "fishing trip" there with my Dad at age 5 and we caught sunfish & catfish. As I approached my teenage years I saw myself back there a few times with my Father to see live wrestling shows. When I became a teenager I was frequently at Ching Park skateboarding and yes we did used to skate the bandshell stage almost daily.

In the late 80s the bandshell wasn't seeing much action, and being that it was outdoors it had began to rot and wither away. As the 90's rolled in there still wasn't much action going on there musically, and when there was it didn't generally suit my musical tastes. Now here we were approaching the mid-way point of 1996 and I was standing on this stage with my band facing a fairly large audience.

I saw a few familiar faces in the crowd, even my girlfriend Jenny's father Bruce was right up at the front of the stage grooving out, but for the most part we were literally playing to a sea of strangers. Just regular everyday Brampton common folk who wanted to break the monotony and treat themselves to something different for a change. There were all walks of life, parents, grandparents, and children of all ages. We received a warm reception and it felt amazing to be up there giving back to the town that gave to me for years and years, even though inside I was still hurting knowing this would be our last gig. I didn't want this day to end.

Shortly after the big show (and the break up) I was shooting the breeze with Pauly one day and he informed me that he had been contacted by some bigwigs involved in the Tibetan Freedom Concert. Turns out we had made a noise after all and they were interested in us becoming a part of it.

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Tibetan Freedom Concert is the name given to a series of rock festivals held in North America, Europe and Asia from 1996 onwards to support the cause of Tibetan independence. The concerts were originally organized by the Beastie Boys and the Milarepa Fund. The idea for a Live Aid-style concert for Tibet was conceived by members of the group during the 1994 Lollapalooza Tour.

Organized in 1996, the first concert was held in May in San Francisco and featured acts such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Björk, Smashing Pumpkins, Cibo Matto, Rage Against the Machine and De La Soul. It drew 100,000 people and raised over $800,000 for Tibetan and social justice causes.^[1] Additional concerts were held until 2003, generating public awareness about the Tibetan plight, particularly amongst young people. The concerts helped spur the growth of Students for a Free Tibet worldwide.

Unfortunately unbeknownst to us, Pauly had turned down the offer. I realize we were no longer a band, but our demise was still fresh and I felt we easily could of regrouped to take part in this incredible offer. Again, I understood Pauly's position with him and Mike's strained friendship so I never pushed the issue that much. Looking back I still feel the same way I felt that day, having that crazy idea behind a door in my mind that just possibly, just MAYBE, that would of or could of been our big break...

1996 Continues...

1996 had been a roller coaster ride to say the least thus far. The passing of Jay Poole, the finding of new love, the growth of Black Belt Jones, the opening of new local clubs to play, moving to Malton with my friends, and the continuing explosion of  Wiggaz A.D.

As fast as I had moved to Malton, after a whirlwind of fun it seemed as if I was moving out just as fast. Not wanting to rely on my parents again I decided to try and find somewhere new to live. My girlfriend Jenny suggested that I move into her place with her family. I wasn't wild about the idea, but it did mean I wouldn't have to burden my folks again. I was also out of work so I really didn't have many options.

Surprisingly her parents were fine with the idea, the only catch was that they had a family dog and they were not very fond of cats, so my kitty Fritz would have to stay confined in the bedroom. A small sacrifice to say the least in order to have a roof over my head.

I wasn't gainfully unemployed at that time so I spent most of my days perusing the shelves of Blockbuster video in search for classic kung-fu movies to rent and dub. I took a chance on a whim one day and rented a samurai movie entitled "Shogun Assassin" or "Lone Wolf & Cub" In the opening minutes I was thrilled to hear samples the GZA of Wu-Tang had used on his new debut solo LP. It went on to be one of my all time favourite films.

I built up a pretty good collection in my short stay there, and surprisingly grew close to her family despite my anti social personality. Her father had even became a fan of my band Wiggaz, after I inadvertently left our demo in the tape deck of his car one day. Jenny was in tears laughing explaining how her father was cruising around Brampton with his shades on, windows down, and Wiggaz blaring out the stereo. I thought it was the greatest thing ever.

Despite not working, her parents always supported me and I did whatever I could to pull my weight around the house. Their dog Wilson, who pretty much hated everyone, was now my best friend and we had an incredible bond. Her family embraced me and included me on outings such as spending time at their cottage in Bancroft. Jenny & I even got the place to ourselves a few times and had friends stay there with us. It was paradise.

Speaking of paradise, the old saying "trouble in paradise" was creeping back into my life and my friend's lives, specifically my brothers in Black Belt Jones. Tensions were rising between Pauly & Mike, and myself of course. Mike had voiced his displeasure at the fact that Paul & I were the ones who had our hands in the beat creating and song writing. Mike could play drums and he was one hell of a guitar and bass player, so he was resenting the fact that Paul was writing the stringed content of the music, in turn dictating what Mike had to play.

I totally understood where Mike was coming from and I didn't blame him for feeling how he felt by any means. Truth be told, Mike was a busy man. He was working multiple jobs and he had many circles of friends, which in reality meant he really wasn't around us much at all these days. Paul & I hung out a lot hence us being the creative force behind BBJ.

We were gigging regularly at the London Bridge in Brampton now, where we continued our tradition of the open mic segment at the end of our sets, we even went as far as to make a first place trophy/bong for the best freestyle rapper. Delving further into experimentation, the open mic segment had now transformed into an open stage concept - meaning anyone could come join us on stage with their own instrument of choice for some freestyle jamming. I was even jumping on the drum kit as was Mike, who was also switching between bass & guitar with Paul every other track for the most part during our sets now since voicing his opinions.

The club had a massive movie screen on stage so we also began editing our own VHS videotapes so we could have a video presentation to run along side our audio presentation. It was exhilarating having this new found creativity in the band, but with Mike already being bitter about Pauly writing all the guitar parts, and with all the freestyle jamming that was going on, Mike went rogue.

What I mean by that is Mike started playing what he wanted when he wanted instead of sticking to the structure of our songs that had been set in stone. At times it could work, at other times it completely threw us off. Needless to say Mike & Paul started bumping heads quite often. The whole vibe reminded me of the tension between Derek, Mike & I in the Grasshopper days, and deep down I knew it was the beginning of the end...

UPDATE 09/07/2017

Well, what can I say? I haven't really written much this year after making resolution that I would. Truth be told I was having a bit of writers block, and memory block for that matter. I was a bit unclear of the order of events at that point in my life, but alas things are coming back now. My friend TJ aka Bob sent me a DVD of a Wiggaz reunion gig from August 1997 and watching that literally helped me fill the gap from where I was stuck in my story. It's amazing how one thing can open all these doors in my mind. I checked the blog stats for the first time in I don't even know how long, and I was surprised to see I was still getting hundreds to thousands of views a month.
Moving forward I am really trying to make a conscious effort to write more...

I was also finishing up multiple musical projects which is all I mainly posted about this year, and I decided to just enjoy my summer and my time with my son...not too mention I have been playing quite a bit of Xbox with one of my top rap icons, Cage. If you are not familiar with him you should definitely check out his music.

http://cagewm.com/
http://chrispalko.com/

As expected i haven't really taken much of a break from music. I've already started writing concepts and made a few new skeleton tracks for my next full length "North of Hell" which I was really planning on taking my time with, but the ball is already rolling more so than I expected.

I've started writing lyrics for some songs my old Black Belt Jones cohort Prince Pauly sent me so that has been quite fun on the creative front. Next month I will be performing with Street Trash live at a town near some of you, more details TBA soon.

I hope everyone had a great summer and I look forward to continuing on with the story...

K

Street Trash 2 - ELECTRIC BOOGALOO

Greetings, salutations, and all that good shit! I just wanted to make a quick post to inform anyone (who already doesn't know) that this past Saturday was the release of the newest Street Trash album "Street Trash 2 - Electric Boogaloo" with my cohort and partner in rhyme crime Mach Spitz. 

We released our first album a few years ago, and we felt it was time to do it again. We started production in late 2016 and we were both ecstatic to have this completed in such a timely manor. I'd like to thank Mach for bringing out the best in me once again in both my lyric writing and music creation. 

Tons of rhymes here, a lot of dope beats, and some definite replay value. This is a non profit release and you can download the digital copy absolutely free. Just click "BUY NOW" and enter $0.00 as your price... Or a higher denomination if you are feeling generous. 

Downloads available on both my site and the ST site. Cheers!

www.kabal.bandcamp.com

www.streettrash.bandcamp.com

THEOKOLES DROPS!

After a long 3+ year journey, a crashed hard drive, lost data, lost ideas, only having mixes of certain songs backed up, starting new songs from scratch, collaborating with people, being left in limbo by people, then collaborating with new people to finally bring it all together as one, I am pleased to FINALLY announce the release of "THEOKOLES"

As always I have to tip my hat in respect to the folks that helped out with my vision, mad props & mad love for: Mach Spitz, DJ Moves, Stew Gunn, Tank Diggs, Upperkutt, my seed Lil' G, and of course my alter ego/evil twin KABAL. As always this release was composed to be listened to from start to finish, so crank it up and enjoy the next 45 minutes of your life!

https://kabal.bandcamp.com/album/theokoles

HEAVY GHETTO FINALLY RETURNS NEXT WEEK!!!

UPDATE 03/28/2017

Greetings and salutations faithful readers, and welcome to a quick general update. Spring is here and it couldn't have come sooner as I'm quite fed up with this -20 degree weather on the daily. Here's hoping Old Man Winter is finally down for the count.

Two weeks ago today I was pleased to finally release a new E.P. I'd been working on for the past 7 months or so. It is a collaborative effort with DJ Moves, a name you might recognize from this blog. Moves was apart of a rap group called Hip Club Groove, whom which my old band Black Belt Jones performed with a few times in the mid 90s. 

It's been an absolute pleasure to get in touch with Moves 20 years after the fact and I was glad to see he is still doing his thing. Moves has worked with a lot of artists over the years and has established a name for himself in the hip hop scene. The guy is an absolute pro, which is why I had absolutely no qualms about paying him for his production work. 5 dope tracks and a few pages of writing later equaled the completion of this latest release "East Coast Alumni" which you can purchase for digital download or stream for free via the link below.

https://kabal.bandcamp.com/album/east-coast-alumni-e-p

In other news I've still got two pending releases for this year. "Theokoles" which I was gearing up to release last April, suffered some setbacks and had to be shelved for awhile, but it is finally nearing completion. The LP will feature a few guests and I had a real blast producing this album. Keep your eyes peeled for that in the coming months. I've also been working in cahoots once again with "Burt" AKA Mach Spitz, to bring forth a second Street Trash release entitled "Street Trash 2: Electric Boogaloo" which is nearing its final stages of production, and that too will be hitting the streets in the next few months.

On top of all that I've been helping a few friends with guest spots on rap songs as well as hardcore songs, and as always it's a damned pleasure to work with my buddies. Needless to say anything I release or appear on will be made public through this blog first and foremost, so make sure to check in from time to time.

I thank you all once again for your continuing support and loyalty, both as readers of my blog and listeners of my music. Until next time, get out there and enjoy the weather and more importantly enjoy your life. Cheers! 

- K

The Generator

Our new place in Malton had become the new party headquarters. Friends were constantly coming by from Brampton and the surrounding areas to hang out and spend some quality time. It was nice having the crew back together again and I hoped there would be no more squabbles in the future amongst us.

Meanwhile on the music scene, our good friend Noel who was now the manager of Wiggaz and Dirge respectively, was attempting to make his own power moves in the Toronto scene. He had lined us up a few gigs in the past, but he had now affiliated himself with Donny Blaze, the owner of a new club that had opened up called "The Generator".

The club was located at the corner of Queen and Ossington, directly across the street from the metal health centre. Yes, the same mental health centre where Dallas and I had both seen the elusive albino squirrel that nobody believed us about. On an interesting side note, the street that branches off the mental health centre has since been named "White Squirrel Way" or something along those lines. See! We weren't crazy after all!

The Generator was a smaller club that had a feel very reminiscent to Sneaky Dees and the Apocalypse club. It was small, dark, grimy, and roach infested, but it was the new hot spot for aggressive music in the city. I quickly learned that the owner Donny was the same fellow I had thrown my snair drum at back at Hot Rocks battle of the bands during the Grasshopper days, when he informed us we couldn't play because we skipped soundcheck. I decided to put that past me and give him a second chance, after all he was handing us a new platform to perform on.

Noel also managed to land Steve Donohoe a job there as the sound man, which was very beneficial to us as he knew our music inside out and he could engineer our sound like no other. Steve even knew my vocal range perfectly and he would tweak the mic level accordingly throughout every song. Noel was booking us steady gigs on a weekly basis by this point, and The Generator quickly became our new home.

After a short while of gigging, the owner Donny and Steve became quite close, close to the point where Donny would leave the shows early and let Steve lock up. I'd usually hang behind with Steve and help him clean the place up while we helped ourselves to whatever was behind the bar. We generally wouldn't get out of there until 3-4 am and Steve was always nice enough to bring me home despite the levels of intoxication. Looking back I count my lucky stars that we always made it home safe. 

When Wiggaz weren't gigging, I was spending most of my time playing the new Doom 64 red cartridge on the Nintendo 64. I honestly can't even remember who's Nintendo it was as I didn't buy mine until a few years later. 

Black Belt Jones was also pressing forward as we continued to play the odd rave here and there and we too were also making ourselves comfortable on the stage of The Generator. We were usually lumped in with metal bands, so our reception wasn't the greatest, yet we still managed to win audiences over despite the fact we were barely jamming anymore. On an interesting side note, the location of the Generator is now a Starbucks coffee shop of all things. It saddens me every time I pass by that intersection now.

Rebirth was running rampant in the fresh spring air. A new girlfriend, a new house, a new club, and new opportunities. 1996 was definitely shaping up for the better...

Welcome To Malton

EDITOR'S NOTE: A few posts back I had mentioned the disbanding of Wiggaz, in late 95/early 96'. Upon writing more I unlocked memories as I often do, and realized this was incorrect. So as it stands it is now the spring of 1996 and Wiggaz are STILL a band. Let us move forward in the story now.

In the spring of 96' the guitar player for Wiggaz known as One Gerg Noswad (Greg Dawson) asked me if I'd help him move a few things as he was relocating from Malton back to Brampton. I obviously agreed to help my friend so off to Malton we went. When we arrived at Greg's place of residence I was surprised to learn he was living with my old buddy Jay Dove and my former roommate Shayne who I had not seen or talked to in about 7-8 months. Greg didn't have too much stuff to pack, so I had a chance to catch up with my pals. One thing lead to another and somehow it was agreed I would be moving in to take over Greg's former room.

It was a bit of a bold move for me to jump from Brampton to Malton, but it had been a rough year of ups and downs with a lot of change, so I decided to run with the ball. Before I knew it I was living with Jay & Shayne and starting another new chapter in my life. My first order of business was to get myself a pet.

I had heard from a fellow named Mike Chesterman, the savior who adopted my cat Sapphire after we moved out of Slayer House. Mike informed me Sapphire had a litter of kittens, so naturally I wanted to give back. My girlfriend Jenny brought me by Mike's to pick up the only male kitten of the litter. We ended up being there for close to an hour but we couldn't get the tiny critter out of hiding. We returned a day or two later and I was now the new owner of a baby kitten. I decided to name him Fritz in ode to Fritz the cat, a character created by one of my favorite comic book artists Robert Crumb.

Shayne now had a pitbull named Mac, and needless to say I was a bit nervous having this tiny kitten around him. Surprisingly Fritz held his own and he was very cunning, constantly escaping from Mac into small areas that only he could fit. Mac would try cramming his face into said small areas only for Fritz to sneak out another route, scratch Mac's ass, and run off to a new hiding spot. It was highly entertaining and I could watch them play their games for hours. The two quickly became great friends and I had no worries.

Speaking of friends, somewhere along the way our pal Shane AKA Foxy Bano caught wind of our living situation, and he ended up moving into one of the empty rooms in the house. Shayne was living in the basement, and another friend named Wes ended up moving into another small room that was in the basement. It was starting to feel like old times again having the boys back together under one roof. 

One night Jenny and I decided to head to Hooterville station in Brampton for some drinks, and I ran into my best gal pal from school Julie. We were chatting away and reminiscing, as she'd just gotten out of a relationship with a man who basically kept her locked away. Throughout our conversation we were name dropping people when she mentioned she'd always had "the hots" for Jay Dove. I burst out laughing and when she questioned my actions I informed her Jay was now a roommate of mine. Somehow I convinced her to come back to Malton with us. 

When we stumbled in drunk at 2 or 3 in the morning we inadvertently woke everyone up. Jay strolled out, eyes barely open with a sour look on his face. Before he could administer any type of dissatisfaction I presented him with his gift, Julie. His frown was quickly turned upside down and everything was cool. They ended up hitting it off, and like Jenny, Julie was now a part time resident of our home. Little did I know I had made a love connection, as Julie & Jay went on to get married a few years later and they are still together to this present day, now with two amazing children in their lives as well.

 Shayne also started dating a girl named Rosina, who was the singer of Dr.Liquid, a band Wiggaz had played with a few times. The next thing I knew Rose was living with us and we were all one big happy family.  Jerry was coming over quite often, as was Greg and many other friends of ours. Inside I was the happiest I had ever been. After almost a year of dysfunction our family of friends was unified again. It was going to be a great year...I hoped...

RAVE ON!

  

Happy new year and a happy 2017 to you all. I hope this year is great for you and yours. My resolution? Post blog entries MORE than once a month. With that being said let us move forward in the story...

1996 had been a roller coaster ride thus far. One of my good friends had passed away, i hadn't been in contact with some of my closest friends for months, I had spiraled down into one of my darkest moments of depression and alcoholism, I had met a new love interest, my band Black Belt Jones released our second demo tape, we were gigging frequently at the newest Brampton bar, and my OTHER band Wiggaz had disbanded. It was definitely a journey of ups and downs. 

BBJ was going strong, but as I mentioned in a previous post it had become a thankless job. Something had to give and something did give...the rave scene. Mike & Derek, who were the only two band mates into techno music and the rave scene, brought to our attention the type of money DJs were being paid to perform at these events. We had been paying our dues for a couple of years now and it was time to make some cash. We got in touch with the proper sources and before long we had booked our first gig at a rave.

It was most certainly a different scene than what we were used to, but people were open minded enough to give us a chance and embrace us. The first rave we performed at seemed to be going well until we blew the power just a few songs into our set. It was somewhat a downer yet at the same time I felt like the people weren't ready for nor could they handle the awesome power of Black Belt Jones. It was a great little teaser that generated some buzz for us in the scene. 

The second rave we played at had multiple rooms, one of which had a stage, which was a step up from the floor we last performed on. Unfortunately there was a DJ in the same room who's setup was slightly drownings us out. We upped the volume and continued to do our thing, a crowd slowly gathering in front of us. Once said DJ caught wind of such, he killed his music and joined the growing crowd. We received a warming ovation that night, and a short while later I was stoked to see we had made it into "TRIBE" a local zine/paper that covered the underground rave scene. It felt good to finally get some of the recognition I believed we truly deserved. 

We went on to play a few more raves, and the reception was always love AND we were seeing some decent money. There was never a shortage of free drinks and other assortments of party favors offered for our disposal. We were somewhat getting "the rockstar treatment". 

At one of the last raves we ever performed at, we were on stage at about 3am just killing it. We had everyone's undivided attention and the vibes were through the roof. Mid way through the set I noticed some flashlights moving through the crowd. At first I thought it was ravers until I realized one light had a badge beside it. I assumed it was a police officer holding his badge, but as the light emerged from the crowd I was surprised and somewhat taken back to see an Indian Sikh officer wearing a turban with the badge attached to it. It was such a surreal sight that we just kept on playing. They eventually shut the party down yet I cherish  this memory greatly as I've never seen another Sikh officer in the 20 years that have since passed. 

What started out as the darkest and most depressing year of my life was slowly illuminating more and more with positive light. It was a year of change and I was ready to embrace whatever new path appeared beneath my feet...