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

Jenny 2.0

Day by day I was coping more with the passing of my close friend Jay Poole but deep inside I knew it was an internal scar that would never fully heal. They say that time heals everything, but even now 20 years after the fact I can honestly tell you that old saying doesn't hold true. 

Paul and I were continuing to plug away at his new sampler and it was both fun and very therapeutic. We had already came up with some pretty banging songs so far and it seemed that every new song we created was better than the previous.

I had eased up on the sauce quite a bit, but there was one good thing that came from my extensive alcohol binges. I had met a new love interest. Her name was Jenny and I had actually gone to high school with her. She was a girl I'd always admired from a far, but we were from two different worlds which I assumed was a recipe for disaster. 

Five years after graduating I had seen her one night at a bar in Brampton while on one of my benders. When I got home that night (or early morning) I decided to look her up in the white pages and gave her a drunken call at 3am in the morning. Surprisingly she answered. The conversation was brief, but I informed her she had a secret admirer. I left it at that.

I seemed to continue on with these intoxicated phone calls every time I was inebriated. Her curiosity was growing more with each call, but her patience was wearing thin as well. Eventually I mustered up the courage to tell her who I was, which I assumed would mark the end of our late night phone conversations. Much to my surprise she was still very flattered now that the cat was out of the bag.

We made plans to meet up a few days later and the rest was history. I now had a new girlfriend. Valentine's was just around the corner, and since I was never a fan of the holiday I decided not to get her a gift. The relationship was also very new so I assumed it was too early for gifts. Needless to say I felt like a complete asshole when Jenny showed up at my place with an extensive gift basket full of my favourite candies and even a carton of John Players Special cigarettes, which I had started smoking after Jay passed away. JPS were now known as "Jay Poole Specials" in my world and I started smoking them to honour my fallen brother. Every time I looked at that pack my thoughts were with him. 

It was quite obvious that I had landed a very thoughtful woman and I couldn't of been happier, especially after Tara turned her back on me in my darkest hours when I really needed a friend. Jen's generosities didn't stop there either, she was constantly doing nice things for me, picking up thoughtful gifts, and carting me around in her car to visit friends and partake in social activities & outings. I had even met her family, she had met mine, and it wasn't long before I was sitting down with hers for Sunday dinners. 

I had fully emerged from my dark place now. Between making new music with Paul and having someone to love in my life, my internal light was shining very bright. 1996 had started off as the worst year of my life to date, but I planned on grabbing it by the horns, owning it, and making it one of the best...

RAW IS PAUL

1996 was off to a terrible start to say the least. Wiggaz had broken up, our circle of friends was divided, and Jay Poole had passed away a mere 5 or 6 days after my 23rd birthday. I couldn't seem to get myself together, as all I was doing was drinking myself into oblivion. I always felt the need to get out and do something to clear my mind, unfortunately that "something" generally led to bars, strip joints, and excessive amounts of alcohol. On top of that I had found myself in a few fights since Jay's passing and that certainly wasn't helping release the pain I had deep inside. 

I was still hanging out with Scott & Pino quite frequently as I couldn't just sit at home. Unfortunately I was drinking a lot in their company as well, but they were great friends and I needed that during these hard times. Just when it seemed like my dark path of depression was leading me deeper and deeper into a void of negativity, there was still one positive in my life to bring me back to the light....music. I hadn't finished my song I started writing the day I found out about Jay, so it was now time to put pen back to paper.

Another very important ingredient to getting myself grounded again was my bandmate Pauly. Paul had recently upgraded from drum machine to an AKI sampler. Not only could we now sample beats, but we could essentially sample any sound from anything we wanted. This was going to elevate Black Belt Jones to the next level. Pauly started coming over religiously every Monday, and we would watch the newest WWF wrestling program "RAW IS WAR". After Raw we would head into my bedroom and work on music. This literally became my saving grace and it was the one thing I looked forward to most each week. 

I had kind of stopped watching wrestling around the time I graduated in 1991, I was still a casual viewer, but this new RAW show was ushering in what would come to be known as "the attitude era". It was actually unpredictable for once, had cliffhanger endings, and you really never knew what was going to happen each week. It was great to see a resurgence with unlimited potential.

It was also amazing putting my head together with Paul's each week and seeing what we could come up with. Once we composed what would be the "Jay Poole song" I was stoked to finally lay these lyrics down and pay tribute to my fallen brother. It was by far the most emotional moment in the history of my involvement with music. I literally had to fight back the tears throughout the whole recording, and you can literally hear the misery and heartbreak in my voice. On a positive note though, it really gave me the closure I needed and steered me towards the light. 

Pauly and I stared banging ideas out like mad and it wasn't long before we had quite a few new songs put together. Our next step in the plan was to work on recording a new release and to continue playing live gigs so we could showcase our new sounds and our new songs. Despite the fact he was still in the band with us, I really hadn't seen much of Mike C. since we had moved out of the Slayer house. I truly hoped the collaborations Paul and I were creating would garnish his approval, and I had faith that they would. After all we were coming up with some killer stuff, and Mike was definitely one of the easiest going, most laid back guys I had ever met. 

I'm not sure if Pauly realizes how important he was to me in these times, but I truly saw him as a savior. He's forever held a place in my heart, and to this present day I would still drop everything in a flash to answer his call or help him with anything. He was a true homie, a true brother, and a true best friend, and I shall cherish that until the end of time. 

Changes were occurring and they were all for the betterment of my life. I had cut my drinking down drastically, now limiting myself to only partaking on weekends. Musically the creative juices were flowing at an all time high. I was also making time to get out more and catch up with many of the friends I hadn't seen since moving home. I had seen the light, and followed it until I emerged from the dark tunnel of depression. 

Things were looking up...