Social Disorder

As per usual, we sat together collectively as a band to try and come up with yet another new name for our band. We had our ritual Saturday afternoon jam session, then we lounged around brainstorming for the remainder of the afternoon. After hours of ridiculous names being tossed around, we still hadn't come up with anything remotely acceptable.

The following Monday I was back at school and I decided to turn to my muse, one of my best friends, and one of the most inspirational people in my life, Sanjai. Sanj agreed to come to my place after school with me to see if we could come up with a name. During the process we both agreed that it would be cool to incorporate two words that were polar opposites of each other, or two words that clashed against each other, something along those lines would be ideal we figured.

Eventually we came up with the first word, "Social" from there we tried to come up with a 2nd word that would work well with it, ie: Social Misfits, Social Deviants, etc. Finally it was Sanjai who found the 2nd word we were longing for....Disorder.

Social Disorder. I was instantly sold on his suggestion, seeing as we were all thrashing punks, there couldn't of been a more suitable combination of words. We immediately began working on a logo, which really did all the work itself. Normal, regular font for the word "Social" and a more chaotic font for the word "Disorder". We whipped a design up in no time and I couldn't wait to get to school the next day to tell the guys about our new band name and show them our new logo.

The next day I eagerly presented our new name and logo to the guys and everyone was on board with the idea, which I give Sanjai 99% of the credit for. So we now had a new kickass band name and logo, there was just one more element missing...

Oh right! My band!

With all the new and exciting things going on in my life, I almost forgot we still had an active band. We had still been jamming religiously every Saturday afternoon at Ryan's place, and we actually had a few songs under our belts, a few cover songs and a few originals.

As far as cover songs went, we mainly stuck to our favourite bands/songs. We covered "The Bag Lady Song" by The Accused, "I Killed Mommy" by The Day-Glo Abortions, "Spandex Enormity" by M.O.D., and "Loss For Words" by Corrosion of Conformity. We also did a parody version of Tone Loc's "Wild Thing" but our version was called "Static Cling" (about doing laundry) and we had two renditions of it, the rap version and the hardcore version.

The first original song we composed was called "Suck my nose until my head caves in" a line Jerry and I had heard in some cheesy 80's t&a comedy movie. We ended up later changing the title of the song to "Kevin Does Coke" as well as changing all of the lyrics. Somehow rumours started flying around town about yours truly being a "coke head" which was hilarious to us, as all of my true friends knew how against the drug I was, I had never even tried it.

The next original song we wrote was called "Will-nots" and it was somewhat in the vein of Minor Threat and The Cro-Mags. This little ditty was about those annoying shitballs that get stuck in your ass hair and "Will not" come out. This ended up being one of my all time faves of our songs, it was catchy, upbeat, fast & heavy. We would go on and continue to write a few more originals including "The Brady Bunch", "Curry Cookies", "Left 2 Die", "The Reject", "Cotton Pony", and a couple more that weren't quite as memorable.

Things were shaping up and getting a bit more serious, and we were getting a bit more serious despite the obvious comedic subject matter in the lyrics of our songs, just like our heroes E.B.S. & Curious Mold. For some reason our band name wasn't sitting right with me anymore. G.P.K. or Garbage Pail Kids, didn't have the same ring to me as it once did. Perhaps now that I was 16, I found the name to be too juvenile to match the music we were making.

The time had come YET again for ANOTHER name change...

THEM!

It seemed like having a newly shaved head brought with it some unwanted attention, mainly from the black folks in my high school. I could barely make it from one class to the next without being swarmed in the hallway by a posse of brothers accusing me of being a "skin head" or "racist" just because I had a shaved head. Mind you I did have some skin head friends so I can see how one might get lumped in with them, but the truth of the matter was I had black friends, Asian friends, Indian friends, you name it. I was one of the first white kids I knew of who embraced rap music. How could I be a racist?

Even out in public, like shopping at the mall per say, I'd be approached by "the brothaz" just so they could launch hate in my direction. I remember one time specifically a few of them got in my face and were calling me "skinhead" and "racist" so I ripped my jacket open like I was Clark Kent exposing the "S" only under my coat was a P.E. t-shirt. I yelled back at the group of guys "Do racists and skinheads listen to Public Enemy???" They all stood there dumbfounded in silence as I walked away muttering.

A few weeks later the same group of guys approached me in the mall, but this time they were all smiling and being friendly. The biggest one of the group asked me "Yo star you got a cigarette?" Being the nice, non confrontational person I am, I responded "Yes" and began to take my pack of smokes out of my pocket. No sooner than the smokes appeared, the big guy ripped the pack out of my hand, causing the pack to open, resulting in my smokes flying all over the place. Then all his lackeys ran around laughing and snatching all of my smokes up off the ground. I stood there in disbelief shaking my head. Instead of causing a scene I just walked away while they all scoured the ground like savages, fighting over cigarettes that literally cost pennies back in those days.

As I walked home from the mall that night I just got more and more furious thinking about what had happened. Here I was being generous and kind to these guys and this is the treatment I received? With actions like theirs I can see why one would have racist feelings. You aren't doing much justice for your people when you are causing non racist people to start harbouring hate and resentment towards people of colour. My friends and I even started referring to these ignoramuses as "THEM!" an old science fiction movie about giant man eating ants. I tried being civil, I tried being peaceful, and I tried being the bigger man and where did it get me? Absolutely nowhere. I really didn't know what to think anymore but I did know one thing for certain, I wasn't about to take any more grief or shit from "THEM!"

Left 4 Dead

Greetings to all my loyal readers, today I am taking a break yet again from the story at hand, so I can indulge in some shameless self promotion.

I have recently began working on my newest recording effort over the past few months entitled "What's Below Remains Below" and I am both thrilled and pleased to be officially finished my second song, "Left 4 Dead" which is based on the Xbox 360 video game of the same name.

I started playing Left 4 Dead back in 2008, not long after finally buying an Xbox, I bought the game based on a recommendation from a friend and co-worker, and I was instantly hooked. For those of you unfamiliar with the game, Left 4 Dead is a first person shooter set during a viral outbreak that has turned the majority of mankind into zombie-like, blood thirsty maniacs. After killing countless hordes the next thing I knew it was the fall of 2009 and "Left 4 Dead 2" was being released. Needless to say I was uber ecstatic!

I picked the game up the day it came out and also finally got an Xbox gold account so I could play online. The game offered a "versus mode" which pits two teams of four against each other, and you actually get to play as "special infected" superiorly mutated beings each with their own unique attack.

After learning all the levels inside out I started playing online and was immediately addicted. I love nothing more than playing as the special infected, so much in fact that almost 3 years passed by and I was still playing the game religiously. I even ended up having to buy a second copy of it after my first one got played out and mysteriously cracked in half while I was in the midst of playing.

About a year ago I met some people playing online and we became friends. I play with these friends on a daily basis almost, and even though I have never met any of them, they have become the newest addition to my family. We have fun most of the time (except when playing against "try hards") and they've also been there as friends I can blow steam off around and talk about my problems with. In some way they are the main inspiration behind this song and I'd like to thank a great bunch of guys (& gals) for being the people they are, I'm glad to have you all enter my life and I dedicate this song to you, enjoy!

http://kabal.bandcamp.com/track/left-4-dead

Mad props & shout outs to the
"L4D Friends Assemble" family:

MickeyPryde2
moose attac
Kael n minions
Silver ShOts
crusher1885
P3 Charmed Ones
C00ki3Monst3r45
Danny890x
NEMO0521
awhCB
FlamezZ xV
LiLMsANiMeGaMeR
Miss Stay Puft

Horizon Expansion

My musical horizon was constantly expanding and I was always on the search for new music. I would scour t-shirt adds in metal mags and Thrasher mag, pay attention to the t-shirts I saw older guys wearing, and most importantly I would read the liner notes of my records, in particular the "special thanks" section, to see which bands were receiving gratitudes from the bands I was listening to. After all, if my heroes were giving them props then they had to be good right? On top of that MuchMusic was playing more aggressive bands during their metal show, and I had older friends like Spicoli who was kind enough to lend me records on occasion for me to bootleg onto blank cassettes.

With all of these elements combined I was fortunate enough to discover all types of bands ranging in numerous different styles, that all lay within the main genre of the music I adored. Bands like 7 seconds, Attitude Adjustment (who's album "American Paranoia" I feel is in the all time top 10 crossover records), Bad Brains (who blew my mind because they were all Rastafarians of African American descent who quickly silenced the loudest of all racists through their undeniable sound), Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Dag Nasty, Dark Angel, Dead Kennedys, Gang Green, Jerry's Kids, Nuclear Assault, The Nun Fuckers, Poison Idea, Possessed, Ramones, Sacred Reich, SNFU, Sudden Impact & Sons of Ishmael, (both of whom I can proudly say were from my local Toronto scene), Misfits, Life Sentence....I mean the list just went on and on and I was loving every minute of it.

On the video side of things, I found it incredible how more and more bands were coming out with music videos, AND they were actually getting air time! I've added a few of my favourites from these times, please enjoy!

House of Anarchy

Growing up in Brampton, I caught wind of a place that sadly I never once had the privilege of going to, it was a place known as the "House of Anarchy" or "House of A" for short. Some of my older thrasher buddies had attended a few parties there and they were the ones who brought it to my attention.

As legend had it, the House of A was a residence inhabited by members of F.B.I. and their circle of friends. Essentially it was a party house and a flop house for punks, thrashers, and everyone in between. I could be wrong about who actually lived there but I am going on memory, memories from 25 years ago.

From what I understood the place was a non stop party, I'm pretty sure they even had bands play there on occasion but don't quote me on that. I may actually do some more research on this subject so don't be surprised if you see a follow up post to this one at some point in the near future. In fact if you the reader personally have any memories, stories, or inside knowledge, please feel free to send them to me via email at:
theofour20@hotmail.com

All I really knew besides the above stated, was that the House of A was quite close to where I lived. I would pass by it everyday during the 15 minute stretch I walked from my house to my high school. Every time I passed by it my head was filled with imagery of how I envisioned it and imagined it to be on the inside. I didn't see paint or wallpaper on the walls, I saw graffiti, stickers, and vandalism. I didn't see furniture like you'd typically see in a house, I saw empty rooms with drunk and high people sprawled across the floor, partaking in party festivities regardless of the time of day or the day of the week.

I honestly don't know what the inside looked like, nor do I know much about the houses history. All I know is how I imagined it in my brain, and how I longed to have stepped foot inside, even if it was only for one magical moment, because in my mind anarchy is freedom and freedom is anarchy...

Not the National Wrestling Alliance

Being a fan of rap from the moment the flood gates opened, I had the privilege of hearing and discovering all sorts of groups right from the get go. Grandmaster Flash, RUN D.M.C., Public Enemy, Kurtis Blow, The Fat Boys, LL Cool J, Twin Hype, Boogie Down Productions, Biz Markie, Fast Eddie, Erik B. & Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, EPMD, Schoolly D, Beastie Boys, and 2 Live Crew, these were the early pioneers of the music and essentially all that was available to the public. One thing they all seemed to have in common was that they all came from the east coast.

Little did I know that out on the west coast there was a whole new world of rap I had yet to discover, but it wasn't JUST rap, they had their own flavour going on out west, it was called "Gangsta Rap" pioneered by the first west coast rapper I ever heard, Ice T. I could go on about Ice but I shall save that for another day. On this particular day I truly have no memory or recollection of how I acquired it, but somehow I got my hands on a cassette tape called "Straight Outta Compton" by a group named N.W.A. (Niggaz With Attitude) The album cover depicted a group of black men in a circle staring down at perhaps you, the victim on the ground. Genius idea I thought to myself immediately. I also knew I didn't want to be the guy on the ground.

I had always been comparing the parallels between rap and hardcore, but this new tape just solidified my philosophy on the matter as this was some seriously hardcore shit! The crew was made up of 6 members, DJ Yella, Dr.Dre, Arabian Prince, MC Ren, Ice Cube, & Eazy E. The beats and music were extremely aggressive and in your face, somewhat similar to Public Enemy. Each MC had his own unique style and voice, and they had no qualms about getting in your face with it, their delivery almost more of a yell as opposed to the laid back raps of the easy coast style. Needless to say I was completely enamoured from the moment I heard the opening line of the first song. With track titles like "Fuck Tha Police" & "Gangsta Gangsta" N.W.A. painted a portrait of the street life out on Los Angeles and they definitely weren't afraid to say anything.

I truly thought these guys were legitimate killers, at least that's what some of the lyrics portrayed. Previously to this group, I had never really heard many rappers talk much about having guns and murdering people, but it seemed like that was all these guys did! I wondered how they could admit to heinous crimes on a recording without fearing the backlash they could suffer if the wrong ears heard such words. Eventually I came to the conclusion that they weren't really killers. I thought perhaps they were involved with the gang life at one point in their lives, and now through the salvation of music they could escape the gangland warfare and tell their tales. Whatever the story was, it didn't matter to me. All I knew was these guys made some awesome music and kicked the ass of my ear drums.

N.W.A. were also responsible for everyone and their mother wearing L.A. Raiders gear. Jackets, hats, toques, you name it. Raiders gear was everywhere you looked and it appeared everyone wanted to be a "Gangsta Gangsta" myself included. I stood back from the flock of Raiders sheep and wondered what new sounds may spawn from the west that I might be fortunate enough to encounter...