Being on a stage is like being trapped on one side of cliff. No way to get to the other side.
I really derive my energy from being close to the audience. When I can't be down with them, when I have to room to move, I have no room to breath, and little passion for what I'm doing. Yes. All from a stupid stage. I'd rather be down on the floor.

With that little rant out of the way, let me say that the Tombs, Junius, Irepress, and Rosetta show in NYC was one of the most fun and enjoyable nights I've had in a long time.

Here's a little blurb Brooklyn Vegan did about the show:
Link


Even though I think we were nervous about the new material, we played technically well(For once I could hear my voice...always a plus for me). However, due to the freshness of the new songs out energy level was low, and with little room to move on the stage, it felt a little weird for me.

The turnout was fantastic. Even before we played the room was nearly maxed out...or at least it looked that way. This show was also the first time I've ever seen an audience pressure an opening act(Rosetta in this case) to play an encore. I truly thought that would have been impossible in the state.

Irepress was impressive, and it's been nice to see them evolve over the last two years. They really have a tight sound mapped out now. Irepress also pulled off a sweet 90s style singalong that really was nostalgic. Whats so awesome about this is that Irepress is an instrumental band. It got me excited.

Junius is one of my favorite bands at the moment, and it really was a treat to see them play in a good sounding space. Their new LP is fantastic and I recommend it to anyone who is looking for something new.

Tombs played some new material that blew me away. It was very heavy, and a little more angular than their last full length. I'm excited to hear it once it's recorded.

Our friend Luke from Burning Wheel has been letting us crash at his place the last 3 weekends while we record. Once again he provided us a haven for the night by allowing us to crash on his floor. It's always nice to get breakfast in Queens with him.

Travel conditions did not allow for us to get to upstate NY and play with Achillies.This was a bummer for me because I really like that band and have been wanting to play with them for sometime. But it was nice to get home early. Admittedly I'm overly exhausted and looking forward to my Christmas Vacation. Recording on top of school, on top of Grad classes, on top of shows really has taken it's toll on me again. Some much needed R&R is on the horizon.

Rosetta recording part one

While it's going really well, day one destroyed me.






There are still two and a half songs to finish vocally. That's going to easily be 5 hrs of non stop screaming. My chords are tired as is. And my muscles feel as if I spend the night wrestling a panda(that would be awesome, minus the claws).

Overall I'm happy with the sound, but once again feel like I'm Ill prepared for the job.

Here are some other photos just for the hell of it:

Really looking forward to this.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Junius- Martyrdom of a Catastrophist

Please do yourself a favor and download the new Junius record: Martyrdom of a Catastrophist. You'll be glad you did.

So it's been a minute.

I'll give you a short breakdown in 4 parts: Rosetta, Teaching, general complaints, and where I'm looking next.

Rosetta- We start recording next month. This will be first and only recording session I've ever been prepared for. My contributions to TGS and Wake/Lift can only be described as “Free Association”. The lyrics for both records were composed during live shows and evolved to what was finally recorded. It's not the same this time. I drive to school each day listening to the demos, going over parts, scripting things out. And just about each Friday since we recorded the demos, I've been locked inside my house with head phones on, putting the pen to the paper. Yet I'm still not sure this is enough. I fear I'll step inside the recording booth with nothing done.

For the first time I can truly say we're working hard. Lets see what the payoff looks like.....

Our touring schedule is really exciting! First and foremost, the Rosetta/Battlefields/ City Of Ships tour is going to be a whole lot of fun. We're going to some places we normally would not travel to this time of year and I'm looking forward to that very much. But I'm really looking forward to spending time with the traveling party.

Rosetta will be touring Europe again this summer.....STOKED!!! I had such a good time last year and I hope this year is just as amazing if not better. And I want my Godflesh shirt back.

Teaching: This year I'm teaching American Government and Intro to Psychology/Sociology. The classes are awesome, the kids are fantastic, the 12hr days are fast. How October 25^th came around so soon I'll never know. I would like to go apple picking with someone thought. However I think that might just pass by this year.

The grad class I'm taking is coming along well. It's nice to be back at Temple and indulge in that community once more.....now only if a nice lady would talk to me.

Awesome quotes from school-- “Hey Mr. Armine.....I'm a street pharmacist”

“Chick peas.....that's that....over there food”(points to world map)

General complaints:

Please allow me to clear this up for the general public: My dog has three legs. The following statements need not apply: “Dogs got no legs” or “Dogs got one leg”. If either of these were statements were true Rosie would not be able to walk. Yet she walks well. Thus, she has more than one leg. She's just missing one.....O and she'll kill you.Please see the picture below in case you're still confused.

Things are really good right now.....so this is my only complaint=)

Whats next......

Tattoo apt in December. Going to Syracuse to finish my arm with the following:

Yeah....it's lame.

Mule

So it happened. Finally. It was bound to. Last night was as good a night as any I suppose. She stood behind the counter, hunched over doing a crossword in front of the coffee machine. I walked slowly towards the leather cushioned sofa and sunk there for a few moments. Hiding probably, from the 5 or so years I'd much rather not confront. How unavoidable time is these days, especially when everything I know and loved has been seemingly distorted somehow, sculpted into something it was never meant to be. It was going to have to happen, if I left without saying anything I'll never get over it, accepting the last 5 years for what they've been. Amazing? Possibly....possibly maybe. But there are always doubts, always. The door was open and I could have left, told Kyle I'd catch another open mic at another spot another time, but instead I went and said hello, to a girl now in her second year of college, studying English Lit, doing a semester in Scotland. I taught this girl American History 5 years ago when I was student teaching. 5 years.
That's a long time to have spent in and out of a van, living in a basement, paycheck to paycheck, all in support of dreams.

Having spent the last 5 years almost everywhere, I finally feel like I'm getting somewhere. This will be my second year at Haverford teaching, and I'm starting Grad school next month for a Masters in Special Education.
But even still I'm an old mule these days. Hardcore......I don't know about Hardcore anymore. It's only once in a blue moon that Rosetta gets to play a show that truly feels DIY anymore, and heavy music is getting a little too trite. It's so hard to find something heavy and fresh.
I never went to shows at bars. I had dreams of playing houses and squats. Yet here we are, doing shows in bars because that's all that can be maintained for any consistent amount of time.
And Skateboarding....that's changed so much. But something remains the same about it. Skateboarding is always right where I left it.

I'm finished, because I feel broken. No more energy for Rosetta outside of practice and shows. That warhorse did me in simply trying to feed it as best I knew how. Once bitten twice shy? Is that the saying. I love Rosetta, but she's a burden I can no longer care for the way she needs to be cared for. Dave's picking up the pieces anyway.

Focus has to be on teaching and skateboarding. Teaching makes me happy, skateboarding brings me balance. I'll be able to go on accepting my age, and the changes if I do this.

I feel like a mule any longer, or the next time I look 5 years back it won't look so good.

It's good to know what your friends think of you.

Duncan: dammit get armine on this chat shit..

Matt Weed: he doesn't have internet

Duncan: ah

Matt Weed: he steals wireless with his ipod

Duncan: wow
ok
good to know

Matt Weed: yeah he's a real hippie scumbag type dude

Duncan: hes beautiful and violent

Matt Weed: haha

Solo shows

After Europe I started playing some solo shows in and around the Philadelphia area.
In a few days I'll be posting some live recordings along with some open mic nights I plan on being at.

They know the words....all of them.

Tour is over.

Birds are singing into a Baltic sunrise....boats of all kinds are leaving the ports....men are sleeping all over the hotel floor, and I can't find the stillness to join them. So I'll write.
I wonder if I milked this tour for all it was worth. At the moment I would say that I have not. I never do. Too much time was wasted worrying about this, that and the other. Too many nights were wasted being uptight about going out after the show. And too much time was spent thinking about the next night, the next show, the next wall to destroy.

Could I have stayed up later? Could I have slept less? Sure, but I do not know how much good that would have done me while I was playing.

I gave my everything into all the shows we played. The good ones and the bad ones all got my one hundred percent. If I were up late, if I was not reserved like I was, I'm sure the show would have suffered.

For the most part I'm content with the way this tour went. There were problems, and I have my qualms. But all in all I will look back on this and smile.
My only regret is no spending more time getting to know the guys in Blindead. Besides being the most metal guys I know, they were also some of the sweetest.

For you.

Inside joke.

Tilberg 013

Anyone who knows anything about me know why this made me smile....a bunch.
Holland has a lot of amazing things going on(Amsterdam is not that cool). The 013 is a famous venue in Holland we were fortunate enough to play. 013 has three rooms, two large ones and a small one called "The Batcave" where Rosetta played. According to the people running the show, the venue was very pleased with the turnout as they were only expecting half the amount that actually showed. They want us to play the big room next time we come.


Here are some photos of a small town in Holland we played called Leeuwarden. It is one of the coolest towns I've ever wondered around.

"We might as well be in New jersey"-Matt Weed

Our first few hours in Belgium were not the best. We arrived at the show very late after an 11hr drive from Leipzig Germany(sweet show!) only to find that our van had a broken fuel line, and Rosetta only had time to play one song. Days like this really test my patients and looking back I rarely feel good about how I expressed myself in these moments.
At this point I'd rather not dwell on it. The fest we played the following day was outstanding. A lot of kids turned out and we played really well. The promoter, Davy(who is turning out to be one of the nicest guys I've met in a long time) cooked us dinner and both Rosetta and City of Ships got to eat outside on the street. Even with all the ups and downs, this has still been a fantastic experience never to be forgotten.

I also had time to visit the Breendonk concentration camp with Matt and his wife. It was a good experience, one I'd like to bring into the classroom one day depending on what I'm teaching. They did a wonderful job restoring pieces of the camp, although I would have liked it more if they had let time ware it down.

Photos from our Poland show.

People knew all the words, and never once hesitated to sing along. I was left speechless.

Days 3,4,and 5(I think)

Time as escaped me. So at the moment what day it is is questionable. Asking someone is the obvious way to find out, but that takes the fun out of tour. Losing track of the day and time are especially enjoyable for me. However the last 2 days have been more stressful and less enjoyable that I would have liked them to be.

Our show in Poland was unreal. It's still questionable if it even happened. So many kids were singling along and going crazy. Of all the shows I've played it was the most heartwarming. A girl was crying as we played.

We later walked the streets before laying out heads back at the hostel.

____________________________________________
Prague.
Not too much happening here because getting 20 people together to make a move to do any one thing is near impossible. We arrived at the venue about 2hrs late due to several mishaps:
*The buses we were supposed to get for this tour were replaced last minute by dumpy vans.
*These vans sit everyone but only by squeezing four persons to a bench seat.
*While the person responsible accounted for the number of people traveling, they did not account for the gear/personal items that also needed to come along.
*It took our tour manager and drivers an extra 2hrs to realize and obtain a trailer for said gear and personal items.

The venue was located on a local college campus. It was a small bar, nothing special. About 100 kids came out and once again, they really made me feel good about being here and doing what I'm doing.
Seeing that the show ran late, and that we had to be on the plane at 1oam for Athens no sightseeing took place. We simply went back to our hostel and stayed up way too late.
_____________________________
Athens, Greece.
In the three days we have been in Europe I have not had to:
*Ask for a place to sleep
*Open my wallet for money
*Get food
*Drive

We got flown to Athens Greece to play one show. We arrived early enough to see the following:

The day was truly breathtaking. Not to mention Jon, who did the show, really took good care of us. Athens is beyond words. One day I will return here as I was that moved by this city.
The promoter lost a lot of money on bringing us here and was unable to pay the guarantee. While I was totally fine walking away with not money from the door(because we were FLOWN IN), others were not. The promoter was forced to pay something out of pocket. This really put a damper on the night, and that damper found its way into Brno.
___________________________________________________
Brno, Czech Republic.
Time shifted too much for me in too short a period. Going from Prague to Athens saw a 4hour time difference. Then time shifted again going back to Prague. So much time on airplanes really killed me as we had to transfer in Budapest before getting back to Prague.

This show went down hill for the following reasons(in my opinion):
*The club wired their PA system into the same electrical circuit the bands were to plug their gear into. So all of our equipment cut off during 3 of the 4 songs we played. I really feel bad for the people who came to see us.
*Matts sister was supposed to meet up with us here and travel with us for a few days. This was not a problem until she showed and there was not only no room for her, but our driver/tour manager refused to squeeze her in with us. She had to re-work her entire summer schedule overnight. I can't help but feel that I could have done something to prevent this, as in I should have seen this coming. But I put too much faith in people to make sure they will do their job well.
*The tour money was stolen/lost somewhere in the cource of the night. No one knew where it was in the first place, and no one knows where it went off to.

So all in all the last 30hrs have been a large bummer. However we are not in budapest and everyones spirits seem to be in better places. Tonights venue is spectacular. I will take and post pictures later. I'm super excited to be here.

Oh,,,and I really miss my dogs.

Europe Days 1&2

Our flights went as smoothly as they could. Baggage arrived in Wroclaw(Votslav) Poland with no initial problems. The TSA opened up Matt's amp case and basically started unscrewing random nuts and bolts. Needless to say he was upset, but I've never seen him go to town and solve a problem so quickly. In a matter of 12 hours he not only rebuilt the head, but rewired it to run on 230 volts. Not to mention he swapped out parts that prevented future fuse blowouts. I've always been consistantly impressed with him, but this was over the top.

At this point we have not even played a show. The venue lets us unload gear, fed us dinner, and checked us into our hotel. Tomek, the promoter, even gave us free tickets to go see UR-Hamlet.
I've seen Hamlet, and read it twice. So after I accepted the fact that I was not going to understand a damn thing about these adaptation, I was really able to enjoy them.

My sleep schedule is way off, however I'm doing alright. Napping here and there is proving to be a bad idea as it actually makes me all the more tired. But this really is working out alright because we are playing shows close to the times we would normally be working.
__________________________________________
Day 2
Most of the stress that has been building up over the last two weeks was relieved in one 3 hour period.
*All our merch arrived at the 9th hour.
*I got an email informeing me of my acceptance into Temples Graduate program for Special Education.
*Sound check went well(however I
ve already started pissing off sound guys), all gear seems to be working normally.
Here is a pic of the Rosetta sound check:
The is really nice. The stage is very open and the venue itself seets about 400 people.
More later.

Junius- Blood Is Bright

Junius- Blood Is Bright. This record has really been hitting me hard lately. Blood is Bright has really become one of the more moving albums to come my way this year.

If you're into really thick, heavy, moving, shoegaze while secretly a fan of The Cure, then you need to check this out.

http://www.last.fm/music/Junius

Also being spun over the last 24hrs:

Madlib- Sources For Madlib's Shades Of Blue-LP

Bluetip-All LPs

The Roots-Organics LP

ISIS- Oceanic LP

Rosetta playing a new song on June 5th at Death By Audio in Brooklyn. Everything about this video brings a smile to my face, but not my voice. It was blown out.

Final tour details.

**All shows with City of Ships and Blindead.
17.06.2009 - Wrocław @ Firlej Club [POLAND]
18.06.2009 - Prague @ Klub 007 Strahov [CZECH]
19.06.2009 - Athens @ An Club [GREECE]
20.06.2009 - Brno @ Yacht Club [CZECH]
21.06.2009 - Budapest @ Dürer Kert[HUNGARY]
22.06.2009 - Vienna @ Arena Dreiraum [AUSTRIA]
23.06.2009 - Leipzig @ Atari [GERMANY]
24.06.2009 - Berchem @JH Eglantier [BELGIUM] + .Maudlin
25.06.2009 - OFFERANDUM FEST @ Knokke-Heist [BELGIUM] + .Maudlin
26.06.2009 - Hamburg @ Rota Flora [GERMANY]
27.06.2009 - secret show, details TBA
28.06.2009 - Tilburg @013 [HOLLAND]
29.06.2009 - day off/ need help

30.06.2009 - Gdynia @ Ucho [POLAND]
Only Rosetta & Blindead + Sepultura

TGS lps are in.

I'm so happy with the way these look. The version below is a 2xlp of the first disk of TGS. The version to the right is a 2xlp of the second disk of TGS.
These are going to be very rare as I believe there are only 1000.
Please visit www.musicfearsatan.com to order them.

Touring with BJ is one of the main reason I can still tour at all. At the moment I'm extremely tired. Having put more than 2000 miles on my VWTDI(had to get it looked at in Pittsburgh so I drove separately) in 3 days has not done well for my sleeping habits. However, I got to see Bj and this random girl have a 3hr long conversation/unforgetable moment that revolved around World Of War Craft. Moments like this are priceless for me.















This was the first weekend tour where I was away from both by dogs. I actually became rather homesick as a result. As much of a pain these two can be I missed their company. It would ne nice if I could bring them along, however Dave hates dogs, and neither of them are social enough yet for big groups.

The drives to and from these shows has destroyed me. If I did not have to work each day I'd be fine but running on less than 2.5hrs of sleep a night and working an 8hr day is killing me.

Tour Updates.

05.29.09 - Ad Lib Cafe.. Lancaster, PA
05.30.09 - Now That's Class.. Cleveland, OH (happy hour)
05.03.09 - Ravari Room.. Columbus, OH (late)
05.31.09 - Mr. Roboto Project.. Pittsburgh, Pa
06.02.09 - The Talking Head.. Baltimore, MD
06.03.09 - Nara Sushi.. Richmond, VA
06.04.09 - The Moose Lodge.. Doylestown, PA
06.05.09 - Death By Audio.. Brooklyn, NY
06.06.09 - Elmwood Park American Legion..Elmwood,NJ
06.07.09 - Wescott Community Center.. Syracuse, NY