Mortified Beyond Belief

Hello people! Last night I was playing a show, and I stayed late to pack up the drums. The band that was playing last was a very talented group called Lavamoth . I had never heard of the band before. The group was pretty remarkable because the guitarist could play a lead on his guitar while playing a Moog synthesizer. His guitar playing reminded me of Zack Wylde without the pinch harmonics, he was definitely no slouch trying to showboat. The drummer played very well too. He was easily the best drummer out of the 4 bands I saw last night. Here is a youtube video of the band playing another show. They wore the same jumpsuits last night: You should watch the above video to the end to hear and see what world class musicians sound like. The bass player was really good too. I usually think that bass players who use a pick are somewhat sleazy (joke), but he had some incredible ways of using his wrist with it to get a lot of speed. I decided to write this blog to give credit where c...

I have been meaning to do this for a long time. I heard all of these at work. Work can be torture. If its not country they are playing, its this crap. These losers ran out of songs of their own. Most of these songs weren't even great songs to begin with 1. House of the rising Sun--- FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH LINK TO SONG- STARTS AT 1:50. THIS BAND NOT ONLY SUCKS BUT IS RETARDED 2. Bad Company--- FIVR FINGER DEATH PUNCH Bad Company Shitty cover 3. Another Brick in the Wall--- KORN https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzkiJJ_NkD0 4. The sound of Silence--- Disturded https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Dg-g7t2l4 5. Careless whisper--- Seether https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z_Xsmk_ArQ 6. Simple Man--- SHINEDOWN https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgFQ6WmxdMs Why am I torturing myself? Hearing these then turning them off gives me a HUGE sense of relief to know I am not at work! What the hell is it with half of these videos having a long introduction, like they are some so...

This week I was at Wal-Mart and felt ambitious enough to buy a new cd player for my Scion XB. The one that came with it was not working. The radio worked, but the cd player had a habit of rejecting cds when you tried to load them, and scratching them at the same time! Here are some helpful hints when installing a cd player in a car. I am not an expert, I learned all of this stuff the hard way! 1. Always disconnect the battery when installing a cd player! I wasn't afraid of electrical shocks, which maybe I should have been. What really got my goat though, is that I made a short, and blew a fuse. It took me a second to find which one it REALLY was visually. However when I later had trouble getting the new cd player to work, I kept on assuming it was another blown fuse. I ended up buying 2 small boxes of fuses (that were low profile, not high profile) that didn't fit right even though they looked almost exactly the same! If it wasn't such a pain in the ass to post pictures...

A couple of weeks ago, a young cashier at my favorite chain store talked me into signing up for Guitar Center's string club. This is how it works: 1. Pay 20 dollars for a one year membership 2. Every month for a year you get 5 dollars to spend on strings in the store. 5 dollars a month x 12 months = 60 dollars a year in strings - 20 dollars in membership cost= 40 DOLLARS IN FREE STRINGS a year I used my first 5 dollars in February to buy a 3 pack of D 'Adarrio strings for 9.99- 5.00= 4.99 They did not ask for an id when I signed up. Will they ask for one when I sign up again under a different name at a different store? We will have to find out if they ask for my ID when I use my first membership card for the month of March. Then I will decide if I should invest in more string club memberships under different aliases. Matthew Von Mruzekstein Just think, if I invest 200 dollars, I will have 400 dollars in free strings every year! My usual 3 for 10 pack of strings ...

I am frustrated. I have broken 4 cabs, and 3 amps within the last year. Most of the damages were incurred while using distortion pedals. I broke my Behringer BVT5500H bass head. I was using it on top of a 4x12 cab and it vibrated off and fell down undamaged! So I put the head on the floor to prevent that from happening again. Then I promptly tripped over the cable plugged into it and broke the main input jack. The -15 db input jack still works though. 2- Peavey 2x15 cabs. I broke one running a guitar with a danelectro fuzz/octave wah. The other 2x15 cab broke at an Ill Itches gig while using a "Swollen Pickle" distortion pedal. This is the beginning of a common theme. Then I blew out 2 peavey 12inch + horn PA speakers when using the Swollen Pickle. Then I had a friend blow out his fender bass amp, using the same pedal. I stopped using the Swollen pickle. Then my little sister gave me an OCD overdrive pedal for Christmas. Everyone always says, "you can't h...

Some people may wonder what I have been up to since the disbanding of the Ill Itches . The band disbanded in a very unofficial, flaky, runaround sort of way. It took me about 2 or 3 months to realize the group was nothing more than a collection of overworked "extremely" busy flakes. Josh and Matt are apparently too busy working at Doner to play, and I think Stephen doesn't want to play because he got a girlfriend, or is busy working as some sort of slave-chef in some bullshit trendy restaurant. I don't have much sympathy for these wimps. I am the one that used to drive directly to work and sleep in the parking lot of my job for a couple of hours on a weeknight gig so I could be at work by 5:45, after being out until 2. So then what did I decide to do? I decided that I was going to buy myself a drummer, and play with other people that were willing to play for free. I have very few expectations about what types of gigs I can book in Hipster Rock City . Like I ha...

These are in no particular order: 5. Oreos.  There is no substitute for real Oreos. Every time I have bought a generic brand of these I have been left disappointed. I recently bought my first pack of mint filled Oreos. At about the same price as regular Oreos, I highly recommend them. 4. D'Adarrio Guitar Strings.  I will admit, I will buy strings from another manufacturer is they are the only ones on sale. Usually it's pretty easy to get these 3 for 10 at Guitar Center most days of the week. They really do last longer. I like them better than Ernie Balls. If I had the money, I'd buy Elixers, but what they want for those is just crazy. D'Adarrio came out with its own line of higher end strings in 2014. I received some as a gift a year ago. They are good, but once again they are between 10 and 15 dollars a pack. They are holding up pretty good, so I have re-used them on 3 different guitars. (I am a cheapskate) 3. Diet Mountain Dew  Diet Mountain Dew is a soda ...