Black Belt Jams 101

We were officially moved into the Slayer House and party time had commenced. Steve Waller was heading back to BC soon, so he was spending most of his time at our place. Our backyard backed onto a field that was part of an elementary school, and it's big blank walls stared into our kitchen windows. Waller declared he would tag (graffiti) the school before he departed to Vancouver. Sure enough, on his last night in Ontario, he snuck over to the school during the wee hours of the night and emblazoned one of its walls with a big graffiti burner. It was beautiful. Steve wanted to get a picture of it in the morning before he left, but we were all shocked and disappointed when we awoke and discovered the schools janitor had already removed it. I was going to miss Steve big time, and I didn't know it then, but it would be another 4 years until I saw him again. 

Meanwhile in our new, not so humble abode, we finally had an official jam space for our newest musical endeavor Black Belt Jones. We had a table in the corner of the space where Mike had set up his turntables and mixer. We also had a P.A. system set up on said table, as well as space for our drum machines. In the adjacent corner, Mike's small jazz drum kit was set up for rocking beats, as well as his guitar amp and guitar. Myers and Pauly brought their amps and guitars and the special ingredients, their drum machines.

Pauly had gotten his drum machine awhile back, and Myers now had one too. I had previously programmed a few songs into Paul's as had he, and Myers had programmed a couple of songs into his. I liked the fact we had two different drum machines, as it meant we would have varying sounds for our songs. I don't vividly recall our first jam here, but I do know that since we already had beats programmed it was time to start building songs.

From this point forward we would have a weekly jam, generally Friday evenings after everyone was done work. There was never a shortage of beer and the pipe was always packed. It was in these first weeks of jamming that we put together the songs that would eventually be our first demo tape. Our first batch of creations included "Oldschool Enuff" a song loosely based on The Message by Grandmaster Flash, "It's Like Dope" which is pretty self explanatory although it was inspired by the Schoolly D song of the same title, and the coup de gras: a self titled bomb track that always hyped us up. 

Myers had also had come up with a little ditty he called "Slut love in B minor" which was one of the first songs we completed. It later came to be known as "The P-Stro Beat" which spawned from Myers old 3 n' Pass MC alias "Mr.P." I'm not sure how the whole "stro" thing came into play, but I gather it was on account of the Beastie Boys song "The Maestro" in the later days to follow we would even start to refer to Mike C as "The C-Stro". We now had the P-Stro, the C-Stro, Prince Pauly, and myself "Black Belt Jones" the final four of what started as a 10 man band.

Lyrically I had an abundance of material to choose from, so when we were building these songs I was merely reading random pages from my rhyme books. When I found something that went well with the music, I stuck with it. Over the next few weeks we continued jamming and refining our songs, each week they'd become tighter and better. Musically this was the most fun I'd had in any band yet. Everyone's input and ideas were welcomed with open arms, we collectively created our songs together, there were no egos, no control freaks, we were simply four guys who were open to suggestions and down for whatever. 

What we were down for now though, was getting some shows booked so we could spread our sound to open and willing ears...

The rhyme book that started it all...

Slayer House pt.2

So why was our new abode to be nicknamed "The Slayer House"? The answer is quite simple. On either side of the driveway were beautiful stone statues of falcons, which were very similar and reminiscent of the falcon logo the band Slayer had been using on their merchandise. There you have it....no big mystery.

The day we moved in was a gorgeous day luckily for us. We had rented a large moving truck and managed to get all of our stuff into it. Shayne had wrangled up an old salesmen buddy of his from Majestic to help, which was a blessing as he seemed to be an expert packer and mover, which just kept everything running smoothly.

When we arrived to move in our new digs a bit of drama occurred. There were now two couples and a debate arose about which couple should get the master bedroom. I really couldn't of cared less either way, but my girlfriend Tara, who was very loud and outspoken, got into it with Shayne. When you have two loud, stubborn people butting heads it is always a fiasco to say the least. Shayne brought up a valid point, that he was very instrumental in getting this place for us, which was absolutely true. I really didn't give a shit either way I just wanted to move into a room already. 

So it was settled. Shayne & his new girlfriend Pauline got the master bedroom. Tara and I got the next largest bedroom. Noel called dibs on the only room that faced out the front side of the house, and Mike C got the smallest bedroom which was located between our room and Shayne's room. The room Noel took had a small den area off to the side of it, so we set up a little makeshift library there. Later on I'd find a lot of solace in said den. It was a very relaxing place to read and/or write.

There was oddly enough a spare bedroom on the main floor of the house, which nobody wanted, so it became exactly what it already was... a spare bedroom, which would come in handy for friends who needed a place to crash. There were also two living rooms, one by the front door which Noel pimped out with his new furniture he'd bought. This came to be what I called "the plastic room" as it was the embodiment of a living room you'd see at your grandparents, covered in plastic and never used.

The second living room ended up being where my snake Regius lived, and I set up a computer desk with my old Commodore 64 to relive the retro gaming era. Strange part about living rooms, we never really used them at all, so they definitely weren't living up to their names. There was also a dining room but we only had one table, which obviously found its home in the kitchen. The dining room stayed completely empty with the exception of a few plants.

Speaking of the kitchen, it ended up being the most communal part of the house. We always seemed to be gathered at the kitchen table when we hung out, and the radio in the kitchen was constantly blaring the soundtrack to our lives. We all worked different hours, yet seemed to cross paths in the kitchen before or after work. Little did we know the kitchen would be the place where we did most of our partying... and the basement as well.

The basement was my true sanctuary of the house. The tv was down there as well as the video game system, which at the time was Sega Genesis. We collectively had so many couches now that we set up two around the television, then had numerous more couches formed in rows behind the couch closest to the tv. The result was like our own little comfy cozy movie theater. Behind the couches there was still a large area of empty basement, where Mike set up his drums and turntables. This would now be the official jam space of our band Black Belt Jones.

We were all moved in and we had everything arranged to our liking...now it was time to see what kind of shenanigans we could get into...

Slayer House

The time had come for us to find a new place to live, which was going to be a struggle considering we were four young men with two cats and a snake, not to mention two of our girlfriends wanted to move in with us, one of whom had a cat as well. So that's six people, three cats, and one snake. Who in their right mind was going to rent to us?

Luckily, Shane our neighbour and good friend, had a sister named Tracey who was a real estate agent. We put her on the case and crossed our fingers and hoped for the best. Tracey was amazing at her job so we all had faith in her. Sure enough she delivered promptly and properly within no time. 

She had found a place for us in Flowertown, which is in the west end of downtown Brampton. I'd always been a bit anti-Brampton, as I grew up in the east end of the town which was known as Bramalea. Nowadays it's all considered "Brampton" but back in the 80s there was legit heat between Bramalea and Brampton people. Regardless of the silly geographical politics we needed a place to live, so we went with Tracey one day to check the place out.

We arrived at 28 Phelps drive in Flowertown and we were overwhelmed by the size of this house, it was huge! The owner was an old Italian gentleman named Joe, and the front lawn was adorned with a big fountain and cherub statues. There were also matching falcon statues on each side of the driveway. There was a double car garage and the driveway could easily fit six vehicles. We hadn't even stepped in the door yet and I was already sold!

Once we entered the premises we were greeted by nice polished marble floors and a giant sparkling chandelier. The main floor had a bathroom, laundry room, guest bedroom, dining room, two living rooms, and a large gorgeous kitchen. From the kitchen you could step out to the backyard, which boasted a nice deck and a barbecue gazebo. 

The basement was unfinished, but it was absolutely massive. It even had a big room that would remain locked, as it was full of Joe's possessions. The cool part about the basement was it also had a bathroom, as well as two staircases, one to the main hallway and one to the laundry room, which also had a door into the garage and a side door to the backyard. 

We made our way to the top floor, which had a full bathroom, three bedrooms, and an enormous master bedroom with a big walk in closet, and the swankiest bathroom I'd ever seen. The can was adorned with crystal, mirrors, and marble. There was a glass walk in shower, a bidet, and a large step up tub with jets. This place was unreal, and we definitely wanted it.

Tracey put our lease application in and we hoped for the best. The rent was about $1400 a month or so, which was almost $500 more than we were already paying, but between 6 people it would work out to about $230 each a month, which was more than affordable. I figured we weren't going to get the place, as Tracey had been very honest with Joe, explaining in the lease that there was indeed six people, three cats, and a snake looking to move into his house. Perhaps the old saying "Honesty is the best policy" is indeed true, as we received the call from Tracey shortly after to inform us we'd gotten the place! 

Come the end of the summer we would be moving into our new abode, that would come to be known as "The Slayer House"...

SLAYER HOUSE as it stands today

UPDATE: Devils Night

Greetings everyone and happy Devils night! My favorite time of the year has approached us once again, and I'd like to wish everyone a safe and happy Halloween. I wanted to apologize once again for my lack of posts over the past few months. I have had a lot of things on the go which in turn has affected my time to write. Moving forward from here I shall try my best to post at least once a week.

Asides from spending time with my lady, friends and my son, the majority of my free time has been spent working on music. I've actually had quite a few projects on the go as of late. First and foremost I recently released the "Lockdowns" LP, which is essentially a self proclaimed collection of greatest hits, or greatest misses, depending on how you look at it. I chose 15 tracks from the last 15 years that have garnished the most positive feedback and downloads. You can stream or download the album for free via the link below.

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

I've also been working on my latest full length "Theokoles" which will hopefully drop in January of the new year. I've completed a handful of tracks thus far and it is coming together nicely. The new album will feature a few guest spots as well as a couple of guest producers. Stay tuned for the announcement of who will be joining me in my quest. I am keeping it all under wraps until it's completion, but you can access the song "Two Crows" in the meantime, a dedication to my fallen brothers Mike Chapman, Jay Poole, and Rich Polyzotis.

https://kabal.bandcamp.com/track/two-crows

Last but not least, I spent the majority of August and September working on my second Halloween EP entitled "Horrorcore Bouillabaisse II" Some of you may recall I did the first bouillabaisse back in 2009. I figured it's been six years so why not do another one right? This time around it's a bit different, as majority of the songs are actually cover versions of rap songs that have appeared in horror movies. It was a super fun project and once again my man Greg Dawson from BWC studios was kind enough to supply the mastering. The EP drops tonight at midnight in celebration for All Hallows' Eve. Be sure to get your copy and have it bumping while you hand out candy to the kids tomorrow! 

https://kabal.bandcamp.com/album/horrorcore-bouillabaisse-ii

That's all for now folks, I'm signing off here but I shall be back tomorrow with another post in the ongoing story of Heavy Ghetto...

Heat Bringerz

Just a quick footnote before I commence with today's post. In the previous blog entry entitled "94' News" I covered a few world events that had taken place at the time. These events actually occurred between 1991 and 1994 but everything seemed to culminate close to the same time period. I also hadn't made mention of much happenings outside of my own life, so I figured it best to tie them all together in one post. I just wanted to clear this up so people weren't under the impression that I was off as far as the time frame goes, or confused as to the actual chronological order of my story. Now let us move forward...

Summer was here, and we had embraced it. My three roommates and I were taking full advantage of having our own place, as were the majority of our friends, as they all now had a flop house to hang out at. It wasn't uncommon for all of us to got o a bar in the city on a Friday or Saturday night, and then have all the crew over to our place afterwards to keep the party going, usually until the sun started to peek up over the horizon. 

When I wasn't partying, most of my free time was spent watching movies with my girl Tara, or my homies, jamming in the basement, making mix tapes, and skateboarding with Steve Waller. I was still working midnight shifts at the gas station in Woodbridge, and I used that time mainly to write lyrics. Sometimes I'd work on my comic strips or read a book, but I always made a point of writing at least two full pages of lyrics every night. I had purchased a hard cover notebook from the dollar store, and that would go on to be the first of many "rhyme books". Each night at work when it was time to write, I'd go back a page to see what I left off on. From there I'd use the same rhyme scheme as the last line on the previous page to start my new page. My philosophy in doing so, was that once completed, the entire book would read as one giant rhyme. Some of the stuff I wrote was mediocre, some of it was garbage, and some of it was straight up gold. All that mattered to me was that I was expressing my inner thoughts and elevating my writing and rapping skills.

Pauly had gotten a drum machine for our Black Belt Jones project, and he let me bring it to work a few times to start crafting beats, which was a godsend in itself. Working midnights can be very boring so I was always looking for things to occupy my time, more so in a productive and creative way. I'd start work at 11pm but things would generally come to a screeching halt by 1am. I'd do two solid hours of work including inventory and dealing with customers, then it would be like a ghost town until about 530-6am. So I would basically have 4-5 hours to kill every night, and I needed things to occupy my time so I could avoid falling asleep from utter boredom. 

By the morning I'd be dead on my feet, yet I still had to do a 30 minute bus ride to get home. I'd usually read on the bus, but after working a graveyard shift the reading would make me very tired. It wasn't uncommon for me to fall asleep reading and miss my bus stop all together. This was a pain in my ass, as all I would want was my bed, and now I'd have to travel further and wait longer to get to it. I didn't even have a real bed, just a mattress on the floor in the basement. It was situated under the stairs from our living room to the front door. It was impossible to get any sleep with my roomies and friends constantly opening and closing the front door, tromping up and down the stairs, and having conversations all within an earshot of my resting place. After chewing the guys out a few times, Mike suggested that I sleep in his room upstairs, as he was already gone to work when I arrived home in the mornings. Mike was a great friend indeed, not many people would offer you their bed, but in him doing so I was able to get some decent sleep finally.

We were also now getting heat from the owner of the house as well as the neighbors, due to our lack of upkeep. Everyone around us had nicely groomed lawns, yet our grass was well over a foot long and riddled with weeds. I don't even think any of us owned a lawnmower to be quite honest. To make matters worse, we lived at the inner end of a dead end street, meaning our house was basically a spectacle for everyone else who lived on the street. I'd constantly see people spying out their curtains trying to catch a glimpse of what was going on inside our abode. I'd also see neighbors out on the street "talking" which was really just their ruse to be nosy and keep eyes on us. With all the friends we had constantly dropping by I could only imagine what was going through our neighbors minds. It was just a matter of time before someone dropped a dime on us and the boys in blue came knocking on the door. 

As the old say goes... "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen" 

Well the heat was up full, and it was definitely time for us to find a new kitchen...

94' News

It had already been quite an eventful year thus far... with all of the bands who broke up, the new bands that formed, the side project bands, our DJ gig at CHRY, our first house together, Waller down visiting from Vancouver, and a second successful epic may 24 weekend. There was so much stuff going on among our circle of friends all of the time that it seemed as if nothing else important was going on around the rest of the rest of the world. Such was not the case...

.

We had three couches in our living room formed in the fashion of a horseshoe. At the opening of the horseshoe was our entertainment centre. We had of course a kick ass stereo, TV, VCR, and the hottest game console at the time, Sega Genesis. It was common for 5-10 guys to be occupying that space, usually playing video games with 5 different CDs in the carousel busting out our favourite tunes. It wasn't very often we actually watched television, but the odd times we did that year we were witness to some amazing historical happenings.

Firstly were the Los Angeles riots, sparked after an African American male named Rodney King was beaten relentlessly by LAPD. Unknowing to the police someone was videotaping them, and it was major headline news before Mr.King's blood even dried on the ground. The officers in question were found not guilty in court, which led to absolute madness in south central Los Angels. Lootings, fires, random pedestrian beatings, all being televised. I was glued to the TV set with my VHS tape recording it all over the course of the weekend. And what did the police do? Absolutely nothing. They sat back and let these people destroy their own city. It was one of the most surreal things I'd ever witnessed in my life.

Roughly two months later we found ourselves glued to the television once again. It was one of those rare occasions that I actually decided to flip through the channels, only on this particular day every channel seemed to be airing the same thing; a high speed police chase on the LA freeways. The LAPD were in pursuit of a white bronco, which we were shocked to learn was being driven by none other than O.J.Simpson, a famous ex-football star and actor. We were all mesmerized to learn he was wanted for questioning in regards to the death of his wife and her friend. Once again it was absolutely a surreal situation watching this chase, which felt like it lasted hours. Eventually it came to an end, and OJ would go on to be found not guilty in what was one of the highest profiled Supreme Court cases in the history of United States law.

Just when the year seemed like it couldn't get any crazier, it did, years prior there was an alert in our area warning residents of a man labelled "The Scarborough Rapist" so whenever we were out drinking in parks and whatnot, we always had our eyes peeled for the Nissan car he apparently drove. Now the man has been caught for several rapes and murders. His name was Paul Bernardo, and he did not act alone, his girlfriend/wife Karla Homolka was also involved. The trial was subject to a publication ban which applied to Canadian newspapers and media, and the venue was moved to Toronto from St. Catharines, where the murders occurred. There was however no publication ban in the U.S., and a friend of Greg's father had been sending him copies of the court transcripts each day, which we were lucky enough to aquire. It was mind blowing to read all the details involved in the gruesome case.

I could only wonder what the second half of the year would hold in store...

Through Death Comes Life

With another May two-four passed, it brought with it once again a world of new music, experiences, ideas, and influences. I can't remember if it was prior or shortly after, but the band known as Sweetgrass came to pass. Yet another solid Brampton band was put out to pasture. I'm not sure exactly why they broke up, nor did I ever inquire as to why, but I suppose as all good things it had to come to an end at some point. I had only ever seen them perform once or twice, and although they weren't my cup of tea per say, they were a hell of a solid band.

Sweetgrass (L-R) Basil, Louis, Greg, Frank

On the plus side of things, we were seeing a lot more of Greg now, who'd come by quite often and bless us with his presence, and guitar playing from time to time. I assumed now that Sweetgrass was no more, it would enable us to move forward and do something productive with our "Dead Homiez" project, but alas it was put to rest. 

Greg ended up getting together with former EBS drummer John McCuish, and a fellow named Rob Clarke who was learning to play the bass through Greg's tutelage. They kept the whole thing on the down low, until showing up one day with a four track recording of a song they'd created called "Carnivore" The track was essentially poking fun at the former girlfriend of a mutual friend of ours. The track they created weighed heavily in both musical aggression and humour. The boys all shared the vocal duties since they didn't actually have a singer. We all quite enjoyed it, and they vowed to make more music.

Speaking of music, we were still trying to get Black Belt Jones off of the ground, but it was difficult considering our work schedules conflicting and other factors such as girlfriends, our radio show, and life in general getting in the way. I still needed some form of musical outlet, so I turned to Mike C's DJ setup in the basement of our house. Whenever I had a free moment I'd be down there working on beat mixing and making mix tapes. 

It only felt as if a few moons had passed, but Greg's new side project had already evolved into something more. Somewhere along the line John decide to bow out of the project. I'm not sure if he'd lost interest or just didn't have the time for it, but nonetheless he was done with it. Not to let things die prematurely, Greg enlisted Frank Barone, the drummer of his former band Sweetgrass. In the blink of an eye the boys were back with their second song "Death Metal Mama" which was spawned from our clowning of females that past May 24 weekend. Once again they brought forth the heaviness mixed with tongue in cheek comedic lyrical content, and like the previous song, Greg & Rob shared the vocal duties and another classic was born.

The guys kept at it and seemed to show up every week with a new song to premiere for us. They stuck to the formula that worked best for them: jam at Greg's, create a song, then sit down and find some inspiration for the lyrics. Wether it was their homeboys, spray cans, cheesy CDs, or the devil himself, they kept coming forward with song after song, all of which were gold in our opinions. The only thing now pending, was this power house trio was lacking a title.

We sat around shooting the shit one evening and began brainstorming ideas. We had recently gotten into the habit of calling each other "Wiggaz" "Sucker Wiggaz" and "Death Metal Wiggaz" since we all loved metal and rap music respectively. I had always referred to where we lived as "South Central Brampton" in ode to the group N.W.A. who were from South Central Compton, so a simple marriage of words came to mind "South Central Wiggaz" or "S.C.Wiggaz" for short.

The boys officially had a name, but unbeknownst to us at that moment, it would be a name that would morph as time passed on...