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Good news everyone!  We moved to a dot com site so all new post going forward will be found at Crashchords.com.

Crash Chords Podcast Episode 4

Crash Chords Episode 4
This week we talk about the new Wallflowers single, Flea’s new EP, a review of Maroon 5’s latest album, Overexposed, dream bands and much more!

O’Death Rocks! At Least, I Think So… by Joseph

Been awhile everyone, so this will be a bit disjointed, but bear with me.

The music:

While on leave from Iraq—just putzing about with my brother, sharing a few beers and watching New York Noise (a local music program)—a video for a unknown band started to play. The band: O’Death.  The album: Head Home.  The song: “Down to Rest.”  The intro to the song was quite simple (just a couple of chords, slightly haunting and repetitious).  The vocals…. my God, how raw!  The video itself… so odd an unprecedented.  All in all, it was just a scant 3:42 seconds. It seemed to scratch its nails down the chalkboard of my soul. I spent the next two weeks trying to find out everything about the band and that soul-searing song.  (Being a fossil with no access to the Internet, this was a Herculean task!)  I was final able to track down a copy of Head Home, and spent a full month listening to that damn fine album! I still couldn’t tell you what half of the lyrics for “Down to Rest” were, but this seemingly unknown band had rekindled my interest in modern music.

I devoured Head Home and quickly fell in love with the haunting melodies, which at points gave way to discordant symphonies, stretching string instruments to unholy bounds.  The vocals made me shudder with their raw intensity (“Ground Stump,” “Down to Rest,” “Adelita,” “Allie Mae Reynolds,” “Busted Up Church,” ” All the World,” “Nathaniel”).  Yet still, they could touch the very core of my soul with such sincerity and sorrow as to make me weep (“Only Daughter,” “Jesus Look Down”).

As soon as I found out that O’Death had a second album, I pounced on the chance to find it. In what would have taken a modern man only a day to find on the internet, it took me four months of scrounging around in local music shops and mega-marts to find Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skins, my favorite O’death album. From the frantic opening of “Low Tide,” my interest in this band was set on fire, anew, as the same folk/metal blitzkrieg assaulted my yearning eardrums. The whole album brought the organized chaos of the first album to new heights. While the raw vocals where still there, they were refined into something more. The soul-rending instrumentals sent me into a bacchanalian frenzy.  Just a small list of my favorites: “Low Tide,” “Fire on Peshtigo,” “Legs to Sin,” “MOUNTAIN SHIFTS!!!,” “A Lift That Does Not Dim,” “Angeline.” My three absolute favorite songs (which I had the luck of seeing preformed live) are: “Vacant Moan,” “Home,” and “Crawl Through Snow.”

A very good friend of mine picked up their third album! At the outset, I found it to be quite a departure from their previous work, being far more melodic and instrumental, and much lacking in the raw energy that had drawn me to them in the first place. This is not to say I don’t enjoy this album—it just leaves me wanting so much more. In short, I think that no matter what your musical inclination, you will enjoy this band.  I have been passing O’death off like a virus to friends, and to friends of friends. I’ve also noticed that they have been doing the same, which makes me feel like I’m doing my part, no matter how insignificant.

The concerts:

I have a hard time connecting to my friends (being so out of place due to my age, tastes and general outlook on life), so when I tried to bait my friends with free tickets to an O’death show at The Bell House in Brooklyn, it was a bit of a surprise when a friend I think highly of—Joe Massella (a social animal who cannot be rivaled)—took the bait. On our misadventure to find the venue, we almost went on a walking tour of the historic Brooklyn seashore, we spent an hour killing time and sipping beers at the main bar until show time, and then an hour and a half listening to the headliners.  I was quite worried Joe would hate the band, but was pleasantly surprised at how much he got into it. O’Death was bloody brilliant, and their energy quite high. All in all, it was the best show I’ve been to all year. It was all so primal and conjoined, I didn’t feel out of place in the slightest. I remember looking into the impromptu pit that started, and wistfully wishing I could participate. I bought a beer for Joe and toasted him, and he gave me a knowing smile, “So why aren’t you in the pit?” And I replied, “Well, I’m too old and broken for that, man; leave it to the young.” He laughed, “I have a feeling you’d be able to hold your own Joseph.” That meant lot to me… as did the fact that he loved the show and bought me a brand new copy of Outside that very night.

Second concert:

I pulled the same trick as before.  (This time, not only did I snag Joe, but I also snagged the owner/operator of this website, Matt Storm. Though the GlassLands was a much smaller venue, O’death rocked just as hard.  I insist that, if you like this band, you MUST see them live. I all but gave up on modern music until I heard this band, and now my faith is renewed.  So give them a chance and I’m sure you’ll be surprised.

Check out the video for Down To Rest

Crash Chords Podcast Episode 3

Crash Chords Podcast Episode 3

This week we talk about new music videos, new music from Green Day, how some musicians are pompous, As Tall As Lions album review, and we discuss music in marketing campaigns. We’re playing with the format as we try to expand so click the link above to hear the podcast or you can save it by right clicking and selecting save as.  Also I want to thank the Wall Street Playaz for letting us use “Livin’ The Life” as our theme music.

Chillin’ with the Playaz

Saw the Wall Street Playaz perform last night. It was fantastic! Here is a shot of me and the guys from the podcast with them before they played. For more photos go to facebook.com/crashchords.

Road Review: The Flesh Junkies

Looking for something to do on a Friday the 13th? You say you want to see a band that dresses as zombies and covers songs about the undead, werewolves, and blood, there’s a band for that. Zombies + Rock and Roll + High Energy Fun = The Flesh Junkies.  I saw them last night at Adobe Blues in Staten Island and it was a fantastic show. With a fearsome stage presence and a slick classic rock sound they are super entertaining. The band consists of Jack Dabdoub on vocals and guitar, Rina Sklar on vocals, Frank Cavallo on drums, Mike McMahon on guitar, and Al Sklar on bass, they are a solid and well oiled machine who play hard and have fun doing it. If you want to go to a show where you don’t necessarily value leaving with you brains intact come see these flesh eaters and you won’t be disappointed.

In conclusion if you like zombies and music about them, you should definitely check these guys out. For more on these fine dead folks check out their facebook fan page here.

Here is a video of them performing “Bloodletting” from one of there older shows. Enjoy!

Song Shots: Matchbox Twenty – She’s So Mean

“Every now and then, she makes you just a little bit crazy, She’ll turn a knife into your back and then she’s calling you baby, crazy”

The boys of Matchbox Twenty have done it again. “She’s So Mean” is the first single from their new album North due out in September. The formula for a great Matchbox Twenty song is here. Catchy riffs and playfully painful lyrics sprinkled with a bouncy drum line. It’s definitely clear the Rob Thomas’ solo experience and sound has some influence here and that’s a great thing. Anyone who has ever been strung along by a cruel but hot woman now there is an anthem for you too. These guys are one of my favorite bands and I’m incredibly excited for the new record.  I look forward to talking about the new album on my podcast come September. Haven’t heard the podcast yet? Check out the newest episode here.

Crash Chords Podcast Episode 2 Featuring the Wall Street Playaz

This week we talk about the world’s largest drumsticks, a review of Cage The Elephant’s latest, we get up close and personal with the Wall Street Playaz and much more. Enjoy!

Crash Chords Podcast Episode 1

Hey guys and gals! It’s our first podcast. We talk new Linkin Park, technology, its effects on the music industry, music in general and much more!

How Eve 6 Saved My Life.

This isn’t some story about how Eve 6 collectively saved me from a burning building or anything. It’s about how a band I’ve loved since the late 90’s have gotten me through when things have been both at their worst and at their best. I remember it like it was yesterday the day I first heard them. It was back in high school.  I remember sitting at home bored one day after school and I was flipping channels on my T.V. It  was a time when MTV meant music television and they actually play music videos on t.v.  I was flipping and I stopped on MTV just as the video for “Inside Out” started playing.

I stopped and watched.  I was hooked. I went out the next day and bought their self titled record. I listened to it non stop for 2 weeks straight on my CD player.  The song “Inside Out”  has become a Rock Band and karaoke staple for both me and my girlfriend. My favorite song to this day on that record is “Open Road Song” which is always the first track on any mix CD I make specifically for long drives.  That first album was probably one of the major soundtracks of my young music life. I actually much later on in life had to buy a second copy because I wore out the first one.

I have a very close friend of mine named Tovah. We have often talked and reminisced through music. One of my fondest memories of time spent with her during one summer is completely attached to the song “Here’s to the Night” from their second album Horrorscope. It was a wonderful summer where we spent away with the rest of our Jewish youth group called USY. Every time I hear that song I always remember that time and all the fun we had that summer. A song that will always bring me happy tears every time I hear it.  It seem a long time ago but I will never forget it.

I have a friend Jonathan who I helped make a demo for back in college. Very talented guy. He played a bunch of live shows back then and one of his go to cover songs he would play was an acoustic cover of “Think Twice” from their third album It’s All In Your Head. Every time I hear that song it reminds me of how awesome those shows were and how much fun I had at them.

Right at this moment I’m unemployed and looking for work. I’ve been extremely depressed and Speak in Code their 4th album has come out just in time to pick me up. The song “Lost and Found” has become an anthem for me and keeps me moving forward.  Eve 6 is one of the few bands that I can always listen to. They fill me with happiness.  They break me down to cry. They make help me vent anger. They make me think. This band saved my life.

Wanna know more about Eve 6 check them out on Facebook here, on Twitter here and on the web here.