it's the end of a fucked up year...and another one coming..

hey there. sorry if the title's a little depressing. i guess it's just that line from the almighty embrace that keeps popping up every time the new year comes along.

but seriously, 2008 has been a very good year for me and i think the hardcore community as well. here are some good things that happened last year:

1. passing the bar (worth al the blood, sweat and tears and i hate everone calling me 'attorney!' at every turn..haha)

2. bystorm - malaysia/singapore tour

3. bystorm/pulling teeth split cd (thanks mike, dom and the rest!)

4. conquest for death show @ cainta

5. magrudergrind tour

6. verse 'aggression'

7. richard collier 'for the love of death'

8. sauna 'deeper it goes'

9. half the battle reunion show!!!

10. matt skiba singing on 'what happened' by h20

11. all non-compliant shows (thanks to led, z, arje, denver and everyone else who helped out in putting up all the shows last year..tis great having you guys on board)..

12. audiobooks, ebooks and 'regular' books...

as for the downside, well, nothing really, just keepin it positive..i just want to apologize for not updating this site regularly. i got a bunch of excuses and i don't really want to get into that. part of my new year's resolution is to update this shit regularly. like a newsletter with show reviews and hopefully get in the interviews i promised earlier..

cheers to 2009!!!

stuff to watch out for in early 2009: ESKAPO PILIPINAS TOUR - Jan. 5-13, 2009, PUNISHABLE ACT from Germany show at Sta. Rosa City, SECOND COMBAT/MOTIVATION tour on February, DEADLY RHYTHMS FROM THE PRODUCTION LINE - 4 way split with ESKAPO, KILL RATIO, LA GRITA and ISTUKAS OVER DISNEYLAND

Thanks!

I was trying to upload some pics from the recently concluded Conquest for Death tour but there seems to be a problem with blogger.com. I'll try to post them later.

Anyway, the CFD show last Friday was awesome. One of the best I've been to this year. Their first set was swesome but when they did an encore of three What Happens Next? songs the shit just hit the proverbial fan and everything just went nuts. Must get a video of this show. If anyone has a copy, hit me up. Also some nice quality pics...

So there's going to be a lull of shows for the next couple of weeks which is fine by me since I need to do a lot of stuff myself. I'll definitely be at the War All the Time show on November 28.

Something to watch out for is the upcoming Southeast Asian Tour of A BETTER HOPE FOUNDATION. They got a free downloadable dmeo on their site. I'll try to post it later. The show will be on December 12, 2008, Friday, most probably somewhere in the metro.

Also, I Remember Halloween Issue No. 3 is out now. Has a Bystorm interview and Chokecocoi tour diary among others. Hit the link on the right side of your screen to check it out. Definitely one of the best zines around these days.


Good stuff: Short, Fast and Loud Issue # 19, Eskapo 'Wind of Hell', Monster X 'Indoctrination (Discography)', Propagandhi 'Live from Occupied Territory', Side by Side 'Live on WNYU', My Name is Earl Season 2 (Again!), Conquest For Death 'Beyond Armaggedon'

CFD @ Cainta, update flyer and directions!

Here's the updated flyer for the Cainta leg of the Conquest for Death Tour here in the Philippines. Hopefully everyone can come. It's a Friday night and the venue is pretty accessible either by car or public transport. CFD will be hitting a bunch of What Happens Next? songs to make up for their supposed Asian tour last 2004. So this maybe our last chance!

The Time is Now! Circle pits!!!

Pizza? Coffee?

Yellow Cab 18(!)" Cheese Pizza. 5 guys without dinner. On1 18" cheese pizza. Amazingly this piece of work won. We only managed to eat two slices each. Great group pizza. Amazing pizza crust.

Double-shot espresso from The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. This little monster gave me pulpitations in no time. Perfect for late night work. Too strong for my tastes though.

Had this one after a Bystorm practice. Feeling like a cop so we grabbed some donuts and coffee. I don't eat any other donut or cake or ice cream if its not plain chocolate. These are made of 3 layers of chocolate. Even the coffee is surprisingly good. They also got Iced Coffee but this is the way to go. More to come...

My Disco Tour Just Ended! Conquest for Death Up in a couple of days

Dangleregs classic Have Heart shirt witht the greaty live pica t the back. Live pics are awesome on hardcore shirts. good color scheme too. Dark Blue ink on light blue shirt.

KIds on the Move/Channel X Indonesian Tour 2008. Got this when Bystorm toured Malaysia and Singapore last summer. Nice shirt. Cool bands. When is KOTM coming to the Philippines?

Led's ELEVEN shirt. Eleven is another upcoming SxE band from Kuala Lumpur. They have a CD coming out from UnitedxFront Records so we gotta watch out for that one.

By the way, the Pilipinas leg of the MY DISCO tour ended last night. They played two awesome shows with some of the finest bands we have. CAITLYN BAILEY from Davao also played in the two shows and did not disappoint. If anyone is interested in their 'Fuego' CD, drop me a message, I got a bunch of copies thru trade. RICHARD COLLIER also played an awesome set on Wednesday. They had a bonus 'B-sides' CD-R that they gave away to those who purchased their 'For the Love of Death'CD that night. They played new songs and it sounded terrific.

Thanks to everyone who came out to support the two shows. My Disco had a lot of fun playing in front of us. But there's no time to relax kids, CONQUEST FOR DEATH will be hitting the Philippine shores starting on Thursday! We got two shows lined-up for them. The Thursday show will be held at Lucena City and the Friday show will be held at Cainta, Rizal. I'll post the updated flyers later.

Good stuff: the recent My Disco shows, Wait in Vain 'Seasons', Anchor 'The Quiet Dance', Verse - everything, The Big Bang Theory Season 1 and 2 (one of the funniest series ever made), Prisonbreak 'Season 4', Tropic Thunder (definitely one of Ben Stiller's funniest movies, seond to There's Something About Mary, exceptionally funny was Robert Downey Jr.'s performance as a black guy), Unbroken 'Life, Love, Regret', Celtics 2-0, the upcoming Conquest for Death tour!

Bad stuff: nothing really, except Nawasa and MWSS digging on the streets of Sampaloc. They piss me off...

More Vegies! Coffee!

Recently ate at Latazzia Fusion last week. Took some pics another food review. Up first is Lumpiang Shanghai. Wrapped ground gluten and then deep fried. Nice. Perfect with the right amount of catsup. Up next is fried tapa (beef to you foreigners). Moderately good. But tastes good when you put some vinegar with chili. Needs to be fried more. I recently learned that the people behind Latazia Fusion make their own gluten. How cool is that? Can you spell DIY? Last but no the least is their BBQ. I must say that this is the vegie BBQ with the most 'Pinoy' flavor in it. Really cool if you miss your friendly neighborhood BBQ.

Now some coffee review. Me and some buddies recently went to Gonuts Donuts to try some coffee. They had a promo with one Cafe Americano and one donut for about Php 57.00. Pretty reasonable. But I think the guy who made the coffee put way too much water in my cup so it tastes kinda bland. But with the right amount of sugar and creamer, the tastes kinda creeps back. Will try again for future reference.
Who says vegetarians/vegans can't eat street food? I was recently at the Atrium Building in Makati and they had this small bazaar/food stores at the ground floor. I was starving so I went to check it out. I found out that they serve plain fried noodles for Php 20.00 a cup wherein you can put your choice of sauce (chili, sweet, spicy, teriyaki, etc.). I put way too much chili in mine. I think it's called noodle place or something. Beside that stall is another one called 'Pupung' I think or some character based on that comic strip. Anyway, I found out they had this nice Indian Vegie Samosa made from potatoes and curry. And anything with curry is pretty nice in my book. Awesome quick meal to say the least.

If you have any recommendations on where to find good vegie/vegan food/coffee, hit this blog up.

Currently listening: Bad Brains 'ROIR', Soul Control 'Involution'

RICHARD COLLIER 'For the Love of Death' CD out now!

It's been a couple of weeks since we received the finished product of Richard Collier. And thank you. It's finally out. This full-length contains 11 new recordings by the band including a cover of 'In Another Time' by the legendary Biofeedback. As a bonus, we also included numerous outtakes, demo recordings and a bunch of other you will not hear anywhere else. If you're into melodic punk rock music without using the allergic 'E' word, this is definitely for you. Available from me and the rest of the band and Take-4 for only Php 200 direct and Php 250 via registered mail. Bulk orders, send me an e-mail, I'm very reasonable.

Good stuff: Red Sox' coming back from 7-0 down to beat the Rays 8-7 via Drew's walk-off hit. Nice. Definitely going to watch Game 6 tomorrow. I hope ESPN doesn't fuck upt omorrow.

I recently discovered that I could read and browse e-books and comics via Sony PSP. Very nice. Currently reading 'Arkham Asylum'.

I'm also in the middle of reading 'Porno' by Irvine Welsh, Sick Boy's got a lot of adventures. I got my copy through a used book sale in UP for only more than a hundred bucks. If you're in the University check that bookstore out. It's nnot Bookay-ukay by the way.

Currently listening to: Verse 'Agression' (definitely one of the best LP's of the year), Into Another 'Ignaurus' (recently 'Rediscovered' this band..haha), FxPxOx Discography, Bitter End Live DW Series, Monster X 'Indoctrination' Discography...

Zine Con Tomorrow!

Hey. So I'm at a lull again on updating this site. Been busy the past week or so. Job stuff. Gotta work you know. Need to have some cash for upcoming shit. Tomorrow Bystorm will be playing with a bunch of Sampcore bands at Cuerdas. But this is not an ordinary gig. Gore (Disabuse) and company initiated a zine convention just like we used to have maybe 8 years ago, you know when the internet is such a thing of the future. Stoked to see that a lot of zines are still kicking ass. Drop by Cuerdas and hang out.
Up here is the flyer for the upcoming Conquest For Death Tour - Manila Leg which will be held in nearby Cainta, Rizal. The show line-up and the new venue is awesome. Make sure to save enough dough for CFD stuff like CDs, shirts, etc.

Flyer for the Lucena show. Here's the show line-up for y'all:

CONQUEST FOR DEATH

Mindfuckingboy (Noise attack from Singapore) www.myspace.com/mindfuckingboy

All Affected (pagbilao)

Sauna (batangas)

Vex (manila)

Another Mortal Sin (bulacan)

Kaktus Karuka (pagbilao)

Killratio (manila)

But before that, make sure to come to the My Disco! shows on the 29th and 30th of October @ Ten02 Bar and Nine Mile Bar!

Good stuff: Red Sox will destroy Tampa Bay tomorrow for a 2-1 ALCS lead; Mario Puzo 'Omerta'; Burn 'Cleanse'; Orange 9mm 'Tragic'; Conquest for Death - everything

Lazy Saturday...

Went to the Defiled/Hydrophobia show last night. Big turn-out. Metal kids all over. Wrong night to wear a black shirt for a hardcore kid. Hehe. Decent show. The guitar amp kept fucking up. It was cool to see Center for the Arts set up like that. Also saw Ressurected, Olongapo's Down from the Wound and a bunch of other bands. Good night to hang out.


ELEVEN 'Royal Town Hardcore' Shirt. Eleven is a cool band from Kuala Lumpur. Great guys. Great music. Their CD should be out next month from UnitedxFront. Make sure to pick it up. I'll probably havbe a bunch of copies of that CD so I'll keep you posted.


BLACKLISTED 'We're Unstoppable' Shirt. Classic Design from Blacklisted. Their 'Heavier Than Heaven, Lonelier than God' LP has been one of my favorite releases of 2008. Awesome lyrics.

If you got a little extra time and money, make sure to check out this Vegie Burger (I think they call it Garden Burger) from Mexicali. A little pricey but its worth it. I honestly couldn't finish this becuase its too big. Plus the bun is wheat bread. Pretty heavy. Also has nachos on the side. Awesome meal. I think there are branches of Mexicali in Trinoma and Greenbelt. By the way their menu has an insert containing all their vegie food selection. Nice.

Good Stuff: Red Sox beating the Angels earlier in the day for a 2-0 lead, Abhinanda 'Senseless', Soul Control 'Involution', Conquest For Death 'Beyond the Hidden Valley', Integrity 'Systems Overloaded'

Bad stuff: haven't been doing any reviews and interviews for this blog...zzzz...

Manila Destructo Holocaust!

What we have here is a Kill Ratio "Manila Destructo Holocaust" shirt. I got this from Z when it was delivered to him somewhere in Manila. If you haven't heard, Kill Ratio is one of the finest d-beat bands we have right now. They're part of an upcoming 4-way split with Eskapo, Istukas Over Disneyland and La Grita entitled 'Deadly Rhythms from the Production Line. Check them out at some shows this October including the Oct. 29 leg of the My Disco Tour.



Fine meal we got here. At the lower center portion is a tomato-based dish with some tofu, ground vegie meat, lentils, shitake mushrooms, etc., Kind of like a Vegie "Sarsiado", you know the one your mom used to make. At the top right is Vegie Chicharon, made of Tau Pau or tofu skin. Very crunchy and chicharon-like. At the top left is Vegie Pochero, complete with the bananas and stuff. Power meal on very rainy Wednesday afternoon.

I'll be at the DEFILED/HYDROPHOBIA show tomorrow with some friends. See you there!

Good Stuff: Red Sox beating LA in Game 1 of the ALDS; Snapcase 'Steps'; Second Age 'The Tides Have Turned'; Battery 'Discography'; Burn 'Cleanse'; Ceremony 'Still Nothing Moves You'; Michael Moore 'Dude Where's My Country?' (book version); Prisonbreak Season 4 (I thought this fourth season would suck but I was wrong! Dead wrong!) CSI:NY Season 4.

Bad Stuff: Wipers not working; Dirty Streets; very wet weather (I've always loved the rainy season but the FLOOD ruins it for me).