73' announcement

It's time once against for some current updates. I just briefly wanted to bring everyone up to speed on the progress of my newest pending release " 73' ".

As it stands the album is almost 100% complete. I am waiting on a friend of mine to help me with a collaboration on the one song that is unfinished. My goal was to have this thing wrapped up by December so it seems I'm 4 months ahead of schedule. So what does one do when they are ahead of schedule? Take the extra time to play video games? I don't think so. When I give myself a deadline on something I'm fully committed. That's why I've decided to take this release to the next level.

It's been very enjoyable for myself to be working on this project for the last 20 months. It has also been very rewarding hearing and reading all the positive feedback from friends and fans alike. I somewhat stepped out of the box for this record and it changed the typical formula I'd generally stick to when making music, perhaps for the better. I feel this is my best work to date and judging from the feedback I've been receiving a lot of you feel the same way.

I'd like to give huge props to my man Oliver "Artimetik" Corby as he is essentially the brainchild of this project. Back in 2004 or so we began collaborating and did a song called "Shame" over David Bowie's "Fame" which spawned an idea in his head to make his own record revolve around the sounds of the seventies. I donated Shame as the first track for his effort and later went onto produce two more songs for him using Queen's "fat bottomed girls" and The Guess Who's "These Eyes" Around 2009 or so I asked him what became of the project and the answer was simple....nothing! He had scrapped the project completely so I humbly asked if he would mind me taking his great idea to use for myself, and he agreed without hesitation. Although Shame was released almost a decade ago now, I feel it needed to be on this recording as it truly is the song that inspired this idea in the first place.

Since I feel this is my best work to date I feel the need to make it the best it can be. I have been in contact with my good old buddy Greg Dawson from BWC Studios, and I've expressed an idea to him that will take this recording to the next level. I've decided to book some studio time with him to make this masterpiece exactly that. Ideally I'd like to go through every song and assure the mixing levels are completely on point. I also want to re-record my vocals for every song. From there onto mastering. These final steps are only going to strengthen this musical effort and make this sound the best it possibly can.

In the meantime the rough copy of the record is available online for your listening pleasure, minus the one incomplete song which will hopefully be up soon enough. I will also be adding updated versions of each song over the course of the day. Please listen, share and enjoy these recordings for the time being as eventually they will be replaced with the new final FINAL cuts.

http://kabal.bandcamp.com/album/73

The Illest Video

I was somewhat of a mall rat as I got into my teenage years in grade eight having turned 13 that January. One of my most favorite things to do was frequent the record stores and look through all the wonderful records I wished I could own. I'd stare at the artwork, read the backs of the records, and browse through t-shirts, pins and other memorabilia.

Speaking of pins I've just unlocked another old memory from gradeschool. I used to make my own homemade rock pins by cutting out small record covers from ads in metal magazines, I'd carefully glue them to a square of cardboard I had cut out the same size, then wrap it in layers of scotch tape for a nice glossy finish. I'd also painstakingly apply very thin strips of tape through a safety pin, attaching it to the backside of the pin on the cardboard and voila! Custom pins! Back to the story...

Once in awhile my mom would bribe me with getting something from a record store so she could get me to go to the dentist, and I happily obliged. Since I hung out at the mall so much to begin with, I always caught the new items in the record stores before a lot of other people. My dentist was in the mall and on one particular day after a visit, my mom took me to Sam the record man to get a record or tape. At the time bands were starting to release VHS tapes of live concerts and their music videos. As I scanned the shelf a very familiar image caught my eye. It appeared to be a joint butted out in an ashtray but it was actually a plane crashed into the ground or a mountainside depending on which way you looked at it. If you don't know where I'm going with this perhaps you haven't been following the story, it was the cover art from the Beastie Boys "Licensed to Ill" only it was a home video!

I quickly snatched it up as it was the only copy there and my mother agreed to buy it. The entire car ride home I scanned it over, reading the track listing. There were 2 videos I had seen on tv before which were "Fight for your right" and "No sleep till Brooklyn" but other than that everything was new to me and I was super pumped! As soon as we got home I rushed down to the basement and popped the tape in the good ole trusty VCR. Asides from the 2 videos I had already seen, there were 4 other music videos. One of which was a song that wasn't on the album but was a song I had briefly heard in the film Krush Groove, She's on it! I was very ecstatic to finally hear the song in its entirety and it didn't disappoint one bit. After the videos there was some footage of the boys partying backstage with some groupies which was also cool to see. This tape was legend and I had scored gold once again!

I ended up loosing mine somewhere over the years and then acquired another one years later. I also went through the labour recently of downloading the video off the Internet so I could burn it to DVD and have it on my hard drive and it's still a classic. If you can get your hands on it somehow I strongly urge you too!

The Wall

Today we are time traveling back a few months to the summer before I started grade 8, as I have unlocked yet another memory. While viewing all the old photos in our family albums at my parents house over my summer holidays I saw a picture that brought back another musical memory that I felt was important to the story.

That summer of 86' my folks rented a cottage up north for a few weeks in a town called Gravenhurst. When we arrived at the cottage I immediately started exploring the place and established what room I'd be staying in. I began snooping around the room and found an old record player in the closet and a few vinyl records. Most of the albums were music I had no interest in such as Gordon Lightfoot & Kenny Rogers. There was one record that caught my interest and I figured to myself it was better than nothing. The album was called "The Wall" by a band named "Pink Floyd".

At the time I believe the only song of there's I actually knew was "Another Brick In The Wall" and I actually liked the song despite the music being significantly less heavier than what I was accustomed to. It was the wall or bust so I decided to give it a chance and surprisingly enough I loved the record and absolutely got lost in it for the majority of the holiday. Instead of going fishing and swimming in the lake I spent most of my time listening to the record, reading the lyrics over and over as well as getting lost in the albums artwork. I also started drawing images from within the album as I sat and listened to it. When reading the credits and liner notes I discovered this wasn't just a record but it was also a soundtrack to a movie. I now couldn't wait to get home and find this movie!

My first day back in Brampton I walked to Jumbo video....no luck. I then walked to armchair theatre which was an Indy video store in a strip mall at Dixie & Queen street....no dice. I then walked over to the Bramalea City Centre to check out video 99.....voila! They had it!



Movie poster/box cover for "the wall"

 I excitedly rushed home, headed down to the basement and popped the tape into the VCR. I found the movie very confusing, none of it seemed to make sense except the fact that there was little dialogue and the lyrics to the songs were essentially the films script. It made a bit more sense to me now yet it was still very hard to follow. Never the less I absolutely loved the record so in turn I fell in love with the movie despite the fact that I didn't quite get it.

Years later in highschool I often heard that the movie was intended to be viewed under the influence of LSD or what most people called "acid" in order for it to make sense. I had never done acid and I assumed this fact must be true as I had now seen the film dozens of times over the years yet it still never really made any sense to me. The big question now was wether I was ready or willing to expand my mind and hopefully be able to make sense of this film I loved so dearly but still didn't comprehend...

the photo responsible for this post. My grandparents and I at the cottage in Gravenhurst.
Screened enclosure on the left is where I sat & listened to the wall.

Raising Hell

I'd once again deeply like to apologize for the lack of posts over my last 2 weeks of holidays. Now on with the story...

I saw another video in grade 8 that was very fundamental in shaping my musical tastes. It was a collaboration between RUN D.M.C. and Aerosmith called "Walk This Way" The video depicted both bands practicing in their rehearsal spaces with nothing but a mere wall dividing them. Both bands are clashing over volume and eventually the wall breaks down and they all rock out together. Rock and Rap were friends and this appealed to me very much, so I went out and bought the RUN D.M.C. record "Raising Hell" which ended up being incredible and full of great songs.

Some of the tracks were comical, some were serious, and some were just straight up bad ass. Run & D flowed perfectly together with the right blend of Run's high voice and D's low voice, with DJ Jam Master Jay filling in the mids with sweet scratching. What appealed to me the most was the fact they used a lot of rock guitar in their songs much like the Beastie Boys. In the title track Run uses a lyric from a Beastie Boys song "slow and low" which I went on to learn was actually a D.M.C. song that they never used and donated to the boys. They were touring together and before long the two names went hand in hand.

These two rap groups brought the art form to the mainstream audience and paved a lot of roads for the years and acts to come. They were all over the headlines and in the pages of magazines, always sporting the Adidas logo which I had always been a fan and supporter of. Now I just had an excuse to buy more Adidas products.

Adidas poster boy for 1987.

I made a cassette tape to listen to in my Walkman, it contained "Raising Hell" on one side and the Beastie Boys "Licensed To Ill" on the other side. This tape was in constant rotation from the day I made it, right through the school year, and all throughout the summer of 87' and then some. Everywhere I went it was playing in my Walkman, if I was with friends it was playing in someone's boom box or on my small handheld tape player. These two albums were essentially my soundtrack for 1987 and not all of my metal head friends could quite understand why, in fact I even caught a lot of slack from them over the issue.

This bothered me to some degree but I knew that through my love and dedication to this new sound and through the perseverance of time and music that my friends would eventually understand it one day.....one day.

Vacay Rundown pt.2

Today's post is a follow up to the previous post in regards to my vacation. The next post that will appear after this post will return us to our regular scheduled blog material. After a bit of relaxation time on Saturday afternoon it was off for another big swim with my son and then over to one of the neighbors for a huge BBQ feast. I neglected to mention in the previous post that we went on a nice boat ride friday afternoon. After dinner (sat.) we swam off the dock for awhile and then went and swam in the pool until closing time. There was a band playing at the park in a large utility barn and we could hear the tunes a rocking as we swam. We decided to go get dressed and then check out the barn dance and the band. It was very humid in there and Gabe wasn't digging the high volume of the music so we didn't stick around too long. It was getting late so we headed back to the trailer and I got the boy to bed. Out of nowhere a big, windy thunderstorm hit and put a damper on the nights usual plans for drinking around the fire. I opted to sit on the deck and have a few drinks with my sister's boyfriend and his brother before retiring for the night.

Out on the boat with Gabe

Sunday morning it was still drizzly so we had our coffees and breakfast then packed up to head back to my sister's place as they had an anniversary dinner to attend. Gabe and I had the luxury of watching some cable tv for awhile, then we went outside for the evening which saw Gabe play hockey, drive some golf balls, and drive my nephew Ryan's motorized jeep around the street until my parents showed up to grab us, fresh back from their two week cruise of Alaska. It was fairly late when we got to my folks place in Bowmanville so we called it a night.

The next two days we hung around the house with my parents and relaxed with the exception of the odd trip to the store or park. Gabe stayed busy playing with toys, playing darts & air hockey, watching movies, riding the scooter, swimming in the blow up pool, and beautifying the sidewalk with chalk. I finally had Internet access so I posted a quick blog entry which I still have to edit and add a photo to. Speaking of photos, I had the pleasure of checking out the 100 or so pics that my folks took on their holiday, and needless to say they were quite breathtaking. I also spent the good part of Monday going through all of the old family photo albums. I took about 100 pictures on my iPod, some of which aren't of the best quality but the memories are priceless, a lot of these photos are also related to past blog stories so I will be going back through all my old entries and adding new photos.

One of the numeros old photos to come. Myself in 1973

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On Wednesday I finally watched a bit of the Olympics for the first time and wasn't it my lucky day as women's wrestling was on! My dad brought us back home that afternoon and we took it easy, Gabe ended up going back to his mom for 2 nights which gave me some relaxation time. I spent this time playing the new downloadable content for Left 4 Dead 2 and I managed to get a few more songs mixed and mastered for 73'. I also finished up a new song which should be up in the next day or two.
It is now Friday afternoon, Gabe is back for the weekend, it's raining out, so we're just going to be having a quiet, relaxing day inside. As far as the weekend goes I'm sure we'll get up to one more finale of an adventure before my holidays come to a close.

Back to our regular scheduled program...

Vacay Rundown

As I write this blog entry, unsure of when I will actually have the chance to post it, I'm sitting on a swing bench in the shade enjoying my first jack and coke of the day overlooking a spectacular view of rice lake.....and 4:20 came about two hours early. In the midst of this trailer park paradise I seem to be caught in the moment which in turn is creating writers block. The fact that my son is pestering me to play games on the very iPod I'm writing on isn't helping the cause either. I suppose this blog entry will serve as current updates in regards to my holidays.

My son came over Friday after I finished my final shift for work. We just hung out and watched movies. On the Saturday it was toys, Xbox, and videos on YouTube followed by a visit to the creek to catch frogs and fish, then we went for ice cream. On Sunday Gabe went to stay at his friend Jordan's place for a sleepover, I literally spent the morning, day & evening cleaning my appartment, then chillaxed for the night and enjoyed some movies. On monday we went shopping then hung around the house having a quiet day. On Tuesday we went down to one of my favorite childhood spots, Center Island. It was nice to see some of the same old rides from when I was young and my boy absolutely loved the place. Wednesday was another quiet day at home which entailed of packing for our excursion the next morning.

On Thursday morning we took the go bus to Toronto and met up with my niece Brittany, who brought us to my grandparents for a nice visit and lunch. My sister, her boyfriend and her son Ryan met us there. After lunch we rolled with them to Oshawa to get packed up for the trailer, which awaited us up on Rice Lake. We arrived there in the early evening, had some pizza, and drank a few beers before retiring at about 1:30am. On Friday morning after breakfast it was right to the pool with Gabriel. It seemed all we did was swim for the majority of the day, either in the pool or off of the dock, only ever breaking for meals or trips to the store. I somehow managed to almost polish of my bottle of JD in one day, no easy feat considering I don't drink very often. Once dusk hit we got the fire rocking and were joined by my sisters friends from the park. After a walk at 2:30 a.m. I came back to find everyone had gone to bed so I followed suit.
Saturday morning was a bit rough but surprisingly I wasn't hung over. After coffee and breakfast for the boys I took my son and nephew down to the pool as it was a scorcher of a day. Our epic swim came to a close and the boys are now cooling off in the trailer playing video games as I sit on my swing and write.....more adventures to follow I'm sure...

Krush Groove

It was 1986 when I went into Grade 8, it was turning to 1987 on the calendar that Christmas. Not long after discovering the Beastie Boys I was watching movies on first choice when I stumbled upon a movie called "Krush Groove" and decided to watch it. I'm not sure why I did nor can I recall what it was that caught my attention, but I was glad I did. Revenge of the Nerds had a new competitor in town. And of course as always I recorded the movie onto VHS. The tape already had 2 movies on it "Weird Science" and "Aliens" the sequel that is, not to be confused with "Alien"This would be the staple VHS cassette which played almost daily until I started grade 9 in 1987.

The movie told a somewhat non fictional tale of the inception of Krush Groove (Def Jam) Records and it's founders Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons. Rubin portrays himself and Blair Underwood plays Russ. The film also follows the story of two different rap groups trying to make it in the music business, RUN D.M.C. and the Disco Three. If my information is correct the movie somewhat tells the story of how both bands got in the business. RUN D.M.C. are on Def Jam along with Kurtis Blow and the flick follows their hardships as well as those of Rick & Russ who are trying to get their new record label off the ground.  

The Disco Three on the other hand, were three highschool students who are somewhat on the obese side, trying to earn the respect of their peers and their fellow students, while dreaming of landing a record deal through the art of rap music. They are without a doubt the comedic relief throughout the movie as well, and are always debating and arguing over numerous issues. One of these being the name of their crew, which they eventually change to "The Fat Boys" and their history begins to be made. There are a few cameos from other rappers as well such as Whoodini, Jekyll & Hyde, a VERY young L.L. Cool J, and of course my boys.....the Beasties!!! 

Their cameo was very brief, maybe 30 seconds to a minute long. They were performing on stage at a battle of the bands type of event. It was amazing for me to get a glimpse of the boys doing their thing live as opposed to a music video which is scripted and acted out. This quickly became my favorite scene of the movie and i would rewind it countless times over. What was even more amazing was the fact that they were performing a song I had never heard before! Like most of their music, it was full of heavy guitars and kicking drum beats, put together in a more up tempo, catchy concoction. I can't remember if I checked the credits at the end of the movie or if my brain picked up on the song's hook, but I somehow figured out the track was called "She's On It"

Now I just had to figure out how and where to find it...