Zambales part 3: Anawangin Cove.

Some pics from the recently concluded tour of Zambales with Bystorm/Rush ID/NCI/Bulacan peeps. Hanging out is what we do best!

Currently watching: Justice series (TNT & G rules!)

TBOD 'Just Matter' Release Party!

Just when we thought The Beauty of Doubt will be breaking up, Ronald gives me a call and tells me that they will be having a release party for their three-song 'Just Matter' CD. The party will be held at Ten02 on May 15, 2010. I told you all the good shows will be bunched up in May right after the elections. So save up and go to all the shows!

Also, I just came back from a third time of hanging out at the good beaches of Zambales this year and again, I'm f'n burned to a crisp and suffered another round of migraine because of the heat! Pics will be up soon!

Currently watching: The Sopranos 'Season 4' DVD rerun

Hell's Coming With Me.

Ruiner World Tour 'And Hell's Coming With Me' tour shirt. Great look.

No shows this weekend I think. How come? I think they're all bundled up in May: Bane @ Sta. Rosa City, Warbringer @ CFA, Forgiveness Denied reunion, which is actually a good thing because there's a lot of things to do than hardcore punk, right. Haha.

Good stuff: Boston @ Miami, Game 3, going to Anawangin tomorrow morning (need to prepare the BBQ), His Hero is Gone 'Monument to Thieves', Hot Water Music - everything

Beat the Heat.

The statement goes to the mf'n summer heat as well as the ones residing in Florida. Celtics beat them hard in Game 2 without KG and should do the same in Games 3 and 4 to get enough rest for the next round.

Halo-halo from Iceberg. Really big and complicated. Thoroughly enjoyable. Beat the Heat. Wassup Dan?:D

Just got the last batch of files for the PILIPINAS THRASH DETONATION tape but it still needs a little mastering and artwork. Need to do some work.

Got a wedding and a swimming adventure to go to this weekend. Should be an awesome time.

Currenly listening to: Foundation 'Hang your head'

NCI No. 36 - Forgiveness Denied Reunion, May 23, 2010!

This just in. The flyer for the 36th edition of Non-Compliant Issue which features the reunion of Batangas City's favorite sons : FORGIVENESS DENIED.

This will be their first show in 4 years, I think and the line-up is sick. It also features reunion shows of RICHARD COLLIER and SAUNA who were never given last shows, so in all probability, this may be the last chance you'll see them together.

So if you're one of the unclucky few who saw these bands in their prime,May 23 is your lucky day. make sure you're there!

Artwork done by Felix Rosales.

Currently watching: Everybody Hates Chris Season 3

Eggplant Parmigiana.

Holy sht. This is a big serving of penne eggplant parmigiana at Via A Venetto. I'm not kidding that this is a big serving. Could feed 5 people in my opinion. The eggplan'ts crispy so it makes it a whole lot better.

The materials for the upcoming PILIPINAS THRASH DETONATION tape compilation is almost complete. Mastering will be done in a week's time. I'm still waiting for materials for some bands (I'm looking at you YFC and KINGKONG BATTERY...and other bands..hehe). Send them now!

Bad stuff: Red Sox slump. What the hell happened to upgrading the defense?

Good stuff: Celtics and Heat waging a war. Chilling at work. Zambales trip this week (again!)

Currently listening to: Bane 'Holding this Moment'

HTB LP on JAD Records!

Got great news this morning. Easy recently posted that the Half the Battle LP will finally drop on Just Another Day Records. Here's the link for more info: http://www.justanotherdayrecords.com/site/

Congrats to Easy and the rest of HTB!

Currently watching: Milwaukee at Atlanta. MIL was down by 24 but the lead is now 8 with 4 to go. Should be a fun morning. Miami will be playing Boston later. I love lazy Sundays.

Just heard that Testament was great at the PULP show. Didn't even know that was last night. Ha.

Good stuff: Down To Nothing 'All My Sons'

Bane @ Sta. Rosa, Laguna, May 19, 2010

Great news I heard today. Finally, someone posted the Bane show flyer which will be happening at Sta. Rosa City, Laguna. Definitely gonna be there. Bane has been one of the greatest bands for the past decade and they're finally touring the SEA. So be there if you want to experience this once in a lifetime chance to see Bane.

Good stuff: NBA Playoffs starting on Sunday (Manila time).

Currently listening : 97a 'Abandoned Hope', His Hero is Gone 'Dead of Night...'

NCI Show Listing...

First, we got this Talk Sick, MCHC (Malolos City Hardcore) shirt, white ink on blue shirt. Great feel.

I just made a list of the shows NCI has put up thru the years and it's great to see that we're on number 35 now and counting. Which one's your fave so far?

35 - Minority blocks, patyon, deviants @ ten02
34 - Ruiner @ Center for the Arts, April 5, 2010
33 - Out of Step @ Center for the Arts, March 4, 2010
32 – first blood @ ten02, january 17, 2010
31 – discrimination free @ ten02, january 10, 2010
30 – krupskaya, year-ender show @ ten02, December 20, 2009
29 – Sunday matinee (all-local) @ ten02, November 22, 2010
28 – forum anniversary @ ten02, august 29, 2009
27 - as a whole cuerdas
26 - secret handshakes cuerdas
25 - have heart
24 - pazahora lucena city
23 - new blood ten02
22 - antagonist ten02
21 - second combaat manila ten02
20 - eskapo lucena city
19 - eskapo manila ten02
18 - ABHF manila ten02
17 - CFD manila cainta
16 - CFD lucena
15 - my disco 9 mile
14 - my disco ten02
13 - driven fear manila dayo bar
12 - crux day bar
11 - magrudergrind lucena city
10 - magrudergrind manila dayo bar
9 - sauna full length/bystorm split release show in batangas
8 - summer slaughter dayo bar
7 - sauna full length/bystorm split release show dayo bar
6 - magnicide calamba, laguna
5 - new names release party maru bar
4 - thieving the cavalry tribu uno
3 - southern discomfort lucena city
2 - forgiveness denied last show
1 - sizzling stop

What's next for NCI? Pilipinas Thrash Detonation/Feud Reunion Show on June! and some more touring bands for the second half of the year/ DIY Forum anniversary show on August...


Currently listening to : The Smiths 'Hathful of Hollow'

NYPD.

We have been talking about eating at this place for some time but for some reason or another, we never got to eating at NYPD. During the MB tour, me and a handful of people went out to check this joint out.

Nothing really special. Pricey, too. I'd prefer Napolis or Via A Venetto anytime.

Currently watching: ESPN Baseball Tonight

Currently reading during the 2-hour brownout: Gotti 'Rise and Fall' (with Leeway as soundtrack of course...)

Pics by Danj.

New kicks.

Nike Air Pegasus (Pic by Danj)

Finally got some new shoes at a discounted price. Love the colorway. Green on white and gray. Playoffs are gonna start soon and the Celtics will emerge on top. Bet on that!

Some interesting news: Finally decided on starting out another label which will produce cassette tapes (for now) as it is the most viable option, financially or otherwise. Let's face it, kids today would rather download stuff than to buy the actual CD. It's really hard to sell 500-1000 cds even if given a year's time.

Tapes on the other hand, are cheaper to produce and you can do a hundred or two pressings at a time which is essential so that you don't get stuck with a ton of CDs you can't move.

So you ask, would i still have to rip the songs off the tape just so i can listen to it on my ipod? yes. Well, no, actually, we'll be providing you the password along the cassette tape so that you can download the songs right on your computers, together with the complete artwork and stuff.

The label will be called STILL ILL. Got it? Whose artist was this name ripped off from?

First release will be the long-awaited PILIPINAS THRASH DETONATION (in nod to the great BARBARIC THRASH DETONATION series of the early 2000s) and will feature a lot of up and coming bands which cater to lovers of short, fast and loud music. It will be released in the ARAH/KIRI and FEUD reunion show in June so you kids better watch out!

The next will be a RUSH IxDx colection tape. Other projects are in the works and I hope you can support the same. Thanks for reading and share the info!

Currently watching: Phoenix at Utah for 3rd place in the West. Screw the Lakers.

Grandma's Pizza.

Pictured above is a new pizza variant from Sbarro. Tomato, basil, cheese. How could one go wrong? I think in other places, this is better known as Margherita Pizza.

The summer heat is still at its peak and its f'n my head up in words that escape me. Need to relax...

Currently listening to: 7 Seconds live set at the React Showcase in Gilman St.!

Currently watching: Kansas City at Detroit with the Tigers staging a late rally...

Mindwalking.

Here's a Soul Control shirt I've been wanting to get for sometime now but never actually got myself to buy it. Fortunately it was sold by a guy from San Pablo City.

There's a show going on this Friday at Ten02, Damokis, grindcore from Malaysia will be hitting the Metro. The show features bands from the Flowergrave Collective. Check it.

Just keeps getting hotter and hotter everyday. Don't forget to drink lots of water now! Avoid dehydration! Haha.

Currently listening to: Down to Nothing 'All My Sons', 108 '18.61'

MB, Patyon, Deviants wind-up.

The crew hanging out at Nomnomnom after the show.

Sunday "heatstroke" afternoon. Got out of the house around 2:45 PM and its blazing hot. Headed to Cubao X to meet with Bystorm and Rush ID to do a quick practice before the show. Had a nice mango shake too while waiting.

Practice at "Thortilla" went like a breeze and we went to Ten02. 5:30 PM and its still bright and sunny.

The show started with Deviants from Cebu because one of them had a flight at 7:00 PM. Good, quick set. The crowd at the time was relatively small, around 50-60 people, I assume. Again, I forgot the order of the bands who played but there was Strongwill from Bulacan and Sister Bastard who never fail to amaze me.

Bystorm played ALL new songs so it was good to finally have a feel of those songs before heading over to record it. Knuckle Under from Manila came next and were good followed by a great set from Bulacan's Shirley Steinberg. Any news in bringing out a demo?

Rush ID played next and it was great to see the crowd get going. Opened with 'Broken Lineage' from GI and the Idiots and did a great set (according to my standards). Play followed and did some new songs as well as some really cool covers from Black Flag and that familiar one which sounds like an aerobics song. Great stuff from these guys.

Went out to eat only to notice that we were at the tail end of the show. Still managed to see a great set from Minority Blocks though. These guys just bring in your face hardcore punk which just pummels you through and through.

Thanks to the Cebu City contingent for visiting and we hope you had a great time!

It was around 30 minutes before 10 PM so its still pretty early so we went to Nomnomnom to hang out and shoot the sht. Great night.

Good stuff: Last night's show and hangout session, doing nothing at work (well, not really nothing), new kicks!, Orange 9mm s/t, Burn 's/t'

Bad stuff: heat and sunburn (ugh.)

Kikiam. yes.

Vegetarian kikiam, sliced and refried from Bodhi. Great for brunch. Minority Blocks and the rest of the Cebu contingent will be playing at Sazi's Bar tonight and Non-Compliant Issue will be holding a Sunday Matinee tomorrow at Ten02. Make sure to get your ass there.

Just started watching an old series 'Everybody Hates Chris'. Really funny stuff from Chris Rock and company.

Currently listening to: 108 "18.61", Get the Most 'Together'.

Ruiner Dance Troupe?

My fave pic of the Ruiner show. 2 boys. 1 girl. Same shirt design from 1 band. Pic by Mina. The pic of Ruiner below was taken by Mel Towards The End.

Currently playing: Punch, Weekend Nachos

Ruiner show review.

Monday started off as a very long and hot day. A lot of problems surfaced including logistics, communication and equipment fck-ups. So I want to apologize first to everyone who got hassled one way or the other last Monday.

The show started way later than expected with Hampaslupa opening the show. It was followed quickly by Talk Sick from Bulacan. We (Bystorm) followed suit and played all our new songs which we will be recording very soon (ehem...).

Staid played next and got the lazy crowd moving. The Beauty of Doubt reunion (?) was up next and these guys, whether they have played regularly or once a year, are just a sight to see. Awesome set once again. Tame The Tikbalang followed them and were definitely a crowd favorite. Because Isvarah was MIA, Rush ID played next and we "rushed" thru a quick set. Finally played a "new" song so I was psyched.

Prayer of Endurance from Baguio was up next and once again, these guys delivered the goods. I'm telling you, these guys never fail. I'm sorry if I forgot someone or just jumbled the line-up because I was too busy and stressed out at this show.

Ruiner hit the stage and they just killed it. They played old and newer materials and were destroying the stage. Unfortunately, the mics at the club were fcked up so Rob had to resort to screaming at the fans and climbing at the ceiling. Fck yeah.

Thanks to everyone who came out to support this show. It was great to see old faces again and I hope to see you again at the Minority Blocks, et. al. tour this Sunday at Ten02!

Good stuff: Red Sox beating the Yankees on opening night, Bane 'Holding this Moment', Title Fight 'The Last Thing You Forget'

Bad stuff: the motherf'n heat! the sunburn!! Aarrghhhh!!!

Capones Island.

Last week was a visit to Anawangin Cove. This week, my feet brought me to the great white sandy beach of Capones Island. It was a small island off the coast off Pundakit, San Antonio, Zambales, but the short coastline is the best I've seen in recent years. Fck yeah.

Playlist during the long trip: Good Clean Fun 'everything', Bane 'everything', Have Heart 'Songs to Scream...', American Nightmare (oh yeah, 2000's hardcore...)

Vegetable lasagna.

Hopefully, this is not a limited run of awesome vegie lasagna at The Old Spaghetti House. It's awesome. Lots of vegies smothered with cheese. What's not to like?

It's a shame most of the TOSH branches are disappearing. I think the only one remaining is at the UP-Ayala Technohub. What branches would you know?

Vegie-Hana.

This meal has been my favorite to eat whenever I'm Robinson's Ermita. Vegie Hana rice topping. This one's got veggie ham and shitake mushrooms. Really good shit I can eat two in a row. Definitely a must-try.

I just came back from a visit of Capones Island in Pundakit, San Antoni, Zambales and I'm f'n burned to a crisp. Going to a Bystorm practice and a Mossuraya show later tonight.

Oh, by the way, the RUINER show is tomorrow night!

Currently watching: Wanted (again!), Jack TV all weeekend!