Ace Enders (formally of The Early November) has his new record up for FREE to download on www.fuse.tv the new group is called Ace Enders and A Million Different People (ummm ok)
last but not least Gym Class Heroes will be shooting two videos with director Dale "Rage" Resteghini. One for "Peace Sign"
featuring Busta Rhymes and another for "Cookie" featuring The Dream
These guys are also headlining the Vans Warped Tour along with Katy Perry, Angels And Airwaves, and Against Me. Who's gonna go to the show???
What I discovered what might have been a normal bug bite turns out to
be worse!! I went to the doctor today to have this "bite" checked out
because it was a lot larger than normal. It turns out that it could be
an infected spider bite, and that I need antibiotics and if it doesn't
go away, then an incision must be made in order to remove the excess
and bring down the swelling. I can't tell you WHERE it is just yet, for
more detail is to come soon! But I'll tell you this, it ain't pretty!!
The Offspring - Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace Record Label: Columbia Release Date: June 17, 2008
Album Review By Chris Fallon. Courtesy of Absolutepunk.net
There is a certain whiff of familiarity that exudes from Orange County
punk rock veterans The Offspring and their most recent effort, Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace.
The distinct and capricious vocal harmonies of front man Dexter
Holland, the three-chord punch of lead guitarist Kevin "Noodles"
Wasserman and the smooth, fast-driving bass lines from Greg Kriesel;
like Pavlov's dog, their blend of SoCal skate punk and modern rock ring
a certain bell within all of us as one of the most successful, seasoned
bands who is oftentimes lost amongst the crowd. Best known for their
novelty tracks such as "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)," "Hit That," and
"Self-Esteem," it has been nearly five years since their last major
release of all-new material.
As quiet as The Offspring have remained this past decade compared to
their 90's contemporaries Foo Fighters and Green Day, the band has been
working feverishly with producer Bob Rock (Metallica, Motley Crue,
Simple Plan) for the past two years on Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace, a disc that thoroughly combines familiar melodies with anthems
concerning the same course of lyrical imagery the band has tinkered
with since their initial inception in the late 1980's.
Rock's meat-and-potatoes style of producing doesn't offer much more
than a larger scope of sound for the band. Juggernaut lead single
"Hammerhead" rips through its nearly five-minute length, yet still
sounds too long. "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid" exhibits shades of Finger
Eleven's "Paralyzer," incorporating dance-floor grooves to punk rock
territory, while "Fix You" goes where no other Offspring song has truly
gone before: the ballad zone. The song plays as nice-guy sequel to
"She's Got Issues," from 1998's Americana,
taking an even slower course-of-action that "Gone Away" (the only other
song they have written that resembles an honest-to-God ballad) had. The
lyrics tell of a girl from a broken home, with Holland achingly crying
out, "I wish I could heal you / And I wish you could heal me," coming
to grips with his own flaws while wishing he could fix her own. While
it's not quite the style of music fans have associated them with, it
works better than expected; Holland takes a cue from Dave Grohl and
Billie Joe Armstrong by adjusting his dynamic vocals a few octaves to
fit the piano-layered verses. Keeping in line with the Green Day
references, Holland anxiously belts out what sounds like a leftover
song from the American Idiot sessions with second-single
"Kristy, Are You Doing Okay?" The song suffers from the same
head-scratching rationale "Fix You" does as it doesn't necessarily fit
the band who has pigeonholed themselves after eight studio releases.
While it is increasingly evident the band is slowly going the way of
the buffalo (in this case, buffalo meaning the contemporaries
previously mentioned), The Offspring refuse to let go of their past
sound, etching many new songs from the foundations of older ones.
"Nothingtown" is basically "Want You Bad" sung at mid-tempo and "Trust
In You" starts out much like "Smash," the title track from the band's
1994 landmark debut. Holland continues to have a knack for smart****
tongue-in-cheek songs about "**** [being] ****ed" ("Stuff Is Messed
Up") and the band as a whole is obviously enjoying themselves (as is
showcased on the Goldfinger-ish "Let's Hear It For Rock Bottom"),
however, this group of talented individuals cannot decide which way to
go: arena-sized punk rock, a la Green Day or stick-to-your-roots SoCal
punk rock, a la Pennywise.
The album has nothing inherently wrong about it. Plain and simple, it's
a predictable record that has nothing fresh to give its audience. After
a five year period of no new material, it's nice to hear from an old
friend but eventually, you realize that not a whole lot has truly
changed and it's clear why you forget about them over time in the first
place.
Between 10 am and 4 pm, my car was
broken into, and the only thing taken was my change in my ash tray!!
NOTE TO SELF!! NEVER leave anything in your car out in the open. Even
if its a CD or a pair of nasty jeans, because some bum or punk will
assume you might have stuff of value in there and will not hesistate to
break into your ish!! I have been upset for quite some time, especially
because this is the THIRD time in 7 months I have to take my car into
the autoshop. This sucks!
