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...

UPDATE 12/02/2016

Greetings everyone! It's time once again for a general update. As another year approaches its end I couldn't help but feel somewhat guilty that I hadn't released any new material this year. Looking back now in retrospect I did release 4 albums in 2015 so I'm not feeling as bad about it now, plus I've managed to release an album before the year ended. 

I spent the better part of 2016 working on two albums, and recently I started working on two more projects. I am happy to announce that on November 28th 2016 I finally released "If You want C.H.U.D... YOU GOT IT" a vision I started in early 2014 after a friend and customer of mine mentioned he really missed me working with metal and hardcore bands. I decided to incorporate my two musical loves of rap and metal and infuse them into somethings special for my friends and fans alike.

I ended up working with a variety of people and that definitely shines through in the songs, as each one is different from the next. There's some rap metal, thrash, hardcore, electronica, industrial, and even 3 cover songs, all embracing the heavy music that inspired me growing up as a teenager. This was a super fun project and it was so worth the time it took to get out. 

I'd like to give a major thanks to Greg Dawson of BWC Studios for helping out with the mastering once again, and big props to Steve "Knuckles" Donohoe for passing more production wisdom onto me. You can stream or download the album for free via the link provided below. This is a free LP so simply click the "buy now" tab and enter $0.00 as your price. 

www.kabal.bandcamp.com/album/if-you-want-c-h-u-d-you-got-it

In some not so happy news, I lost a friend yesterday. I'd like to give my condolences to the family of Dave Wroblewski. In 2007 I became a father and I wanted security for my family so I took on a second job in the spring of 2008. I met Dave through work and we hit it off famously as we were close in age and shared a lot of common interests. I can count on both hands how many friends I made after 5 years at that job and Dave is right up there at the top of the list. 

I looked forward to conversing with him every day, as we always had great conversations and lots of laughs. He was one of the few co-workers I actually wanted to hang out with away from work, and we had some fun times. He was such a genuine person, and he was an amazing father, raising his son Teddy all on his own. Our kids became friends despite the age gap, and Dave would offer to babysit for me anytime I was in a jam. On top of that he was my goto computer repair guy and he helped me out a lot in that sense. 

Dave was a great generous person who would put his own neck on the line just to do a kind deed for his friends and family. After I left the job he was one of the only people I kept close contact with and we saw each other on a weekly basis. He ended up leaving his job and moved onto bigger and better things, earning employee of the year at his new occupation which in turn won him a trip to Vancouver. 

Just when it seemed like everything was getting better for Dave he was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer precisely one year ago. Things started going down hill rapidly, and unfortunately he was unable to take his trip last April. He was loosing weight at an alarming rate and chemotherapy wasn't helping, yet amongst all the madness he was still always positive, strong, and optimistic. This past year he spent most of his free time at his family's cottage, connecting with nature and his kin, which brought him great happiness. 

I was devastated yesterday when I heard the news even though I knew it was only a matter of time, yet still nothing can prepare you for the loss of a friend. He's left behind a 14 year old son and I want to do anything I can for that child as nobody deserves to lose their father at such a tender age. 

Once again I'm left baffled why the good ones are taken from us when there is so much human trash infesting this planet. You will be missed dearly by many people Dave, and even though we've only been friends for 8 years I feel like I've known you all my life. In reality I wish I had known you longer as you were an incredible soul. Dave was also an avid fan of this blog, and I'm honoured he is now apart of it despite the unfortunate circumstances. I'd like to think you are sitting on a cloud somewhere reading this.

Rest in paradise my friend...

Eat Yer Words

Life was getting peachy again. I had a new love interest in my life, and Black Belt Jones was moving forward once again. We had come up with quite a bit of new material, and after several jams we were ready to hit the stage once again. As if the timing couldn't be better, a new bar had opened in Brampton called "London Bridge" and it was ran by a fellow named Billy, the same man who was responsible for Tremors & BackTrax, the two former Brampton bars that embraced live music. As much as it was great playing at The Ivy Bridge, it was greater to have another local place to gig. 

We were also ready to hit the studio once again and create our second demo tape. This time we wouldn't be doing it ourselves, as we enlisted the help of Pooh's brother Steve, AKA Knuckles, the same man who recorded the Wiggaz demo. I was quite stoked to be working with Steve again, this time however we would be recording at "The Geon" which was the nickname for "the dungeon". The dungeon was the basement of the Donohoe residence which Steve  occupied, while Mama D, Pooh, and youngest brother "Erk" inhabited the other two floors of the house. What was even more exciting to me was the fact that our second demo would be recorded on an 8 track recorder, as opposed to a 4 track like we used on our first demo. It was a great time recording with Knuckles, it was a very laid back environment and we really had no time restraints. 

Before long we were ready to release our second demo tape entitled "Eat Yer Words". Once again yours truly took care of the cover art, liner notes, and inserts. Each one was lovingly hand cut and folded by us and we took care of the dubbing as well once again. We had a new tape to sell, but we decided we needed free merchandise for our fans as well, which led to a plethora of sticker designs, Black Belt Jones matches and rolling papers, as well as our very own BBJ "pogs" a new game for kids that was sweeping the nation.

We also added some new blood to the band. On bongos and percussion we now had "Jus-Tone" who's real name was Justin. I had met him through Paul's circle of friends and took a shining to him instantly. He was a very peaceful and happy person, somewhat hippy-ish with funk and soul to him. He was a perfect fit. 

Our second edition was Derek Begley, who I lovingly deemed as "D-Rek" as he was a big muscular jock... minus the dumb jock mentality which I loathed. I had met Derek through Scott & Pino, although Pauly knew him from back in the high school days. Derek had recently returned from an Australian vacation, and he brought back with him an instrument from the Aussie natives known as a didjeridoo. Between the bass, guitars, drum machines and samplers, we now had two more dynamics added to our sound, which also gave us a bit more of a visual on stage for the audience.

It wasn't long before opportunity knocked and we were offered a spot at CMW, Canadian Music Week, an annual event that catered to any music lovers taste, with various bands playing at various venues for a 7 day stretch. BBJ ended up getting put on a bill with Choclair, who was a local rapper that was blowing up and receiving somewhat of a mainstream push. 

When CMW arrived I was pretty stoked that we'd get exposure to his fanbase, but was more so stoked at the fact he would now know the name and sounds of Black Belt Jones. Needless to say I was quite disappointed when he left the venue after his performance without even sticking around to check out our set. I found it highly disrespectful and distasteful of him, and from that point forward decided I would never support him or his art.

We had been gigging quite frequently, and once again it was becoming a thankless job. As much as I loved bringing music and happiness to people, it got rather taxing with all the traveling, lugging of gear, extra late nights and not really seeing any money for our hard work. Something had to give...

Black Belt- Jones - demography