The Decay

Recording...

2011-03-09T18:29:00.000-08:00

... okay so RIGHT now I'm watching Glee, but the band as a whole is trying to finish off a split LP with Wayfarer, and we're really, really excited about it. We're recording with Steve Rizun who also just finished off the new Junior Battles album which... yes we're very very excited about that too.

So far so good, Erik's taken some pictures and we'll throw them up when we're done.

^_^ kekekekekeke

Been around this town...

2010-10-27T12:38:00.000-07:00

The Decay been playing a few shows here and there, including a wonderful night @ Cafe Pyrus with Cheap Girls.
Writing new songs with Dakota and they're coming along, so we're going to start demo/recording/DIY sleepover sessions come the start of November.

I(Tyler)-'m heading down to Fest tomorrow, riding dirty with the artist formerly known asLemuria. The Decay sent their application waaaay late because we didn't think there was a chance anyone in florida would care about us, but did it anyway. Surprisingly, we're on the "wait list", which means we're "not playing", but Lemuria are so that's almost as good as playing. I could watch them 7 nights a week and enjoy it every time... for several months. I'm going to use the 20+ hour drive to convince them to play Bristles and Whiskers at least once (I'm hoping for three times back to back during one set. Fingers crossed)

When I get back we're playing with the colossal jerks in Junior Battles, @ the Jimmy Jazz in Guelph on Nov 4th. Yeeha for never leaving town #RealJobs . Ahh shit this isn't Twitter

SkateJam - The Summer, etc.

2010-08-05T07:04:00.000-07:00

We played SkateJam '10 in Sarnia last weekend in a park. I think the first time we played outside? Sounds are really weird in open air. I was playing my Garnet Rebel for the first time in forever, and while it sounded fantastic in the basement it just disappeared on stage in a fit of treble and sizzle. I don't get it! back to the drawing board.
Erik has been using Christine (from Mighty Atom)'s cab because he finally destroyed the Dinosaur cab, and since then his amp sounds phenomenal. We suspect his 4x12 was only running 1x12 for some time, hahaha. All our shit is broken, it's impossible to get ahead of it.

But yeah, that show -Great time with lots of people skating, and a good showing in the park.
Dakota went camping after and we were jealous because we didn't have any plans.

We did however, go and get sandwiches in a pub after, and we saw this ridiculous picture on the wall, with the title

"THERE ARE SOME FISH AROUND HERE"

Expect it as the cover to an upcoming 7" or album:

NXNE, drumming and beyond

2010-06-15T05:09:00.001-07:00

We're playing NXNE @ the Bovine this wednesday (June 16th) with a buttload of other Juicebox bands as part of a JuiceBox Records/Underground Operations presents - music.

I'll post more info when I'm not at work - it's going to be a great time. The Bovine is staying open until 4am.

Also, this will be our new drummer's (Codename: DK) first show with us so we're pretty excited for him to get behind the tubs

Jesse Robertson is a friend of ours

2010-05-27T13:42:00.000-07:00

Someone keeps finding our site by searching for Jesse Robertson. Do you need to get in touch with him? he's elusive for sure. Let us know! decaydudes@gmail.com

Everlong Records CD Giveaway

2010-05-25T06:55:00.000-07:00

Everlong in Australia is doing a give-away of our album to people that mention this post on their myspace:

http://dyingscene.com/news/everlong-records-giving-away-free-cd-s/

it's like downloading, but for real

2010-05-20T12:39:00.000-07:00

Read this in an interview. Been reading Please Kill Me again for the fourth time..

Legs McNiel: "It takes really damaged people to make good rock and roll, the best rock musicians are the most fucked up, look at Kurt Cobain. But when rock and roll became a viable career, all these square guys got into it. Like Rolling Stone never has rock stars on the cover any more, they've got actors, because all the rock stars are boring. Everybody now is playing for all the other 13-year-old kids, it's about hair and fashion, but it's always been like that. What really appealed to me about punk was that the lyrics were so good, like it could have been literature."

I believe that can separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to punk. Punk bands often have downright stupid lyrics... but stupid in a Witty way. Ramones lyrics are so simple, but so poignant. Same with Screeching Weasel.
It's usually pretty easy to tell the fake from the real. Even if lyrics are convoluted and 'deep' there's a big difference between someone who means it and someone who doesn't.

Not to say I'm fucked up. I'm probably one of the squares

Free music for free people

2010-04-28T07:53:00.001-07:00

I found this cause we're on it (#9) But it's a great list of free music to download. La Dispute catches my eye because I know they're good.

http://www.assault.it/2010/04/22/50-awesome-bands-musicians-giving-away-free-music-downloads-volumeone/

New Song!

2010-04-18T06:13:00.000-07:00

Hey folks! Our homies over at 519punkvids have been nice enough to post a brand new song of ours that was recorded live at the Useless ID show in Kitchener.The song is called Everyday at this point we are not sure if it will be on a 7 inch or the next full length record, but you will be happy to know that we have 6 brand new songs! Check it out!

Useless ID Show Candid Video!

2010-04-03T06:57:00.001-07:00

StereoKiller Party Punx 2010

2010-04-01T20:17:00.001-07:00

Hey!

Our homies down south at Stereokiller have made us the featured band this week. Check out their site and our profile here:

http://www.stereokiller.com/TheDecay

Exclaim Review

2010-03-24T17:10:00.001-07:00

It's nice to get a good review from a website - but it means something to hear some kind press from local paper; especially when it usually means you're eating pizza while reading it.

Exclaim! gave us some ink time which you can check out over at http://bit.ly/armi8U

I'll take a Swinging Utters comparison anyday ... so close to making the "This Month's Rent" title and Filthy Thieving Bastards connection.

Best comparison so far has been:

"You know the 3rd song on the Constantines' Tournament of Hearts album? Your guyses voice sounds IDENTICAL on that track."

Hahahaha - yeah right!

Video Killer the StereoKiller...

2010-03-22T14:04:00.000-07:00

Hey yall,

Our BFF's over at StereoKiller.com have given "This Month's Rent" a fantastic review!! Check it out:
Bestest Review Ever!

Screaming Fish show

2010-02-27T14:17:00.000-08:00

I would post about the show last night, but I honestly can't remember much of it - Instead, here's some posts and messages I received when I woke up:

"Highlights of last night:
- You smashing bottles on hodgsons (yours I think?) bass cab
- Tall can assualt on entire room
- Trying to make out with Erik
- Disappearing."

"...even when you bum-butted me into the mosh pit and I got elbowed in the rib, and anyone I heard talking about you was laughing or talking about how you'd disappeared entirely and they were all going on a Tyler hunt.

I think the only time I was scared was when you were pitching beer bottles from the patio at the band and there was potential for one to smack me in the face, but even that was funny, and luckily I eventually found my sweater after you pitched that from the patio as well."

"i would maybe expect this from a fishman or a drunk punx but i was a little surprised seeing it come from you. no one got hurt though so all's well that ends well i guess."

"I get another call at 2:28 am, that again I miss, but this time there's a voicemail. It goes a little something like this:

"Hey Dave, this is Tyler Savage from The Decay and Kirstin from Kitchener. We wanted to ask you about if I ______________________ (??), but you weren't there. So um... yea, apparently we're not going to get it... So um... Yea I'll call you sometime when you ARE in Guelph and uh.. Hopefully you'll be able to give us the answers ___________________. Ok, bye."

You kind of sounded like you were crying and most of it was on the verge of inaudible. "

Punk.Me.Up.com Review of This Month's Rent

2010-02-24T08:27:00.000-08:00

Punk.Me.Up.com has reviewed This Month's Rent. Check it out and check them out. They are an awesome resource out of Montreal:

http://www.punkmeup.com/musique/index.php?section=critiques&title=This%20Month%20Rent&date=2010-02-19

And in english:

This Month's Rent is the first album from THE DECAY. When I heard, I immediately was hooked. The first two songs, Humble Beginnings and These Days, immediately capture your attention. Interest continues until the instrumental piece Winterlude, it stalls a little because it resembles another short instrumental piece earlier on the album. Fortunately, the rest of the disc is just as captivating as the first part, if not better. Interestingly, the album is downloadable for free via Juice Box and if you wish, you are also invited to donate for CHGlobal who come to the aid of Haiti.

The song that I believe stands out most is called I'm Moving To BC. It is composed with a more of a folk which relates very well with the style of punk / rock. One of the few weaknesses of this album is that the final product is somewhat homogeneous. This does not detract, however from its quality. The texts are mostly inspired by life in general and I think a little diversity would not hurt. So I was a little disappointed about this point. But, you can really feel the energy of the group in each piece, and I think that is what he wanted. After each listening, I wanted I wanted to be back in the pit of a punk show!

. To conclude, I think the group managed to make a great album that I highly recommend and I hope to see them in concert in Montreal soon as it they are as good in concert as on this album, I believe a bright future is waiting for them.

+: Very catchy and melodious

-: Subject undiversified

Favorite song: Revelations

Genre: Punk / Rock

This Month's Rent all over the Internets!

2010-02-23T13:11:00.001-08:00

Check out the cool shit people have to say about the record and also the cool places people have been sharing it!

http://dyingscene.com/news/the-decay-giving-away-their-album-this-months-rent/

http://www.mp3boo.com/download-mp3/the-decay-this-months-rent.htm

http://www.indexofmp3s.com/tag/download-mp3-the-decay-this-months-rent/

http://downloadfreepunkalbums.blogspot.com/2010/01/decay-this-months-rent.html

http://www.filestube.com/b4c13b8bfeeb291303ea,g/The-Decay-This-Months-Rent%5Bwww-mp3boo-com%5D.html

http://sw-ke.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=256008259910

http://digg.com/music/The_Decay_giving_away_their_album_This_Month_s_Rent

http://resonancity.com/?p=1559

http://www.punkmeup.com/musique/index.php?section=critiques&title=This%20Month%20Rent&date=2010-02-19

http://www.jr7ei.com/vb/t39812.html

Off with their Heads show last night

2010-02-22T07:46:00.000-08:00

We opened what seemed like a super early show at the horseshoe last night in Toronto. A bunch of people talked to me later complaining that they weren't going to come because they missed us. Bummer. Ben Hodgson was off in florida hooking up with old men for money (or so he'ed have us believe) so our friend and gang enforcer Matt Horto filled in and did a damn fine job.
My mouth is still a little messed up from having my wisdom teeth & vampire fangs removed so I'm sure I did a damn terrible job.
Off with their heads were great - we played with them in Buffalo at 99 Custer (Custard?) street and they were a lot of fun to see with the ridiculous sound at the horseshoe. They're on Epitaph now apparently which means... someone at Epitaph is doing something right.

The Decay in Australia

2010-02-13T18:25:00.000-08:00

So some fine folks at Everlong Records in Australia are using This Month's Rent as their first release and we couldn't be happier.

If you're reading this from Australia, check them out - http://www.myspace.com/everlongrecords

and grab our album from their distro at whatever show you, and they are at.

Unfortunately our lyrics haven't been translated and are still all in english.

Shows with Dave Haus

2010-01-28T21:35:00.000-08:00

We're playing some shows in Guelph and Kitchener with Dave Haus from the Loved Ones. I don't know who that is, or who they are though because I only listen to GBH exclusively.

The Decay on Punknews

2010-01-14T16:21:00.000-08:00

http://www.punknews.org/article/36670

Checkimacheckimacheckima bah bah bah

New Album - This Month's Rent - Free! download on JuiceBOX recordings

2010-01-12T12:12:00.000-08:00

http://juiceboxdotcom.com/recordingco/jb019/

Go there and download our album. No tricks. No charge per song. Just listen to it and let us know what you think. Pass the link along to your friends and forum lovers.

The kind (and smart) folks over at JuiceBox recordinigs are doing a great job in releasing some of the best underground bands in Canada, and we wanted to be a part of that.

We're never going to make money making music. Why? We kind of suck at playing guitar, and we don't know how to work "the industry", so instead we'ed rather have people hear us as easily as possible, and the result being people come out to our shows. The more people at shows = the more fun we have. Talk - action = 0 and so on.

We sell shirts and CDs/Vinyl at our shows because some people still want something to take home right away, but we make very, very little money on any of it. Check our prices - check the prices of other bands WE'LL MATCH ANY PRICE. IT'S JUST LIKE A MINI MALL

Open source software works in that you give away the software for free, and then people get paid to use and customize it to benefit people. Call it open source music - You can hear us easily, and pass it on to your friend, and then we can come to your house and hang out with you and your parents.
It's a business model you can't beat, because instead of C02, the emissions are only 'good times'.

We couldn't be happier to be involved with JuiceBOX world domination.

We already have half a new album written, so you'll find it at http://juiceboxdotcom.com/ when it's done!

Decay vs. FLQ part 2 still to come.

mOshawa & Lumberjacks

2009-12-20T08:12:00.000-08:00

Decay vs. FLQ will continue, but:

We played in Oshawa on friday with toughers Empty Hands, at a place called Atria - noteworthy for the old arcades and seating area for dinner. Hometown heroes Caution Inc. were nice enough to host us all there and put on a killer set with the energy of ten christmas-ses. The Drive-Chimes opened the show and were nice guys who didn't play enough Pantera covers (seriously)
We met some great people and it's good to see there's a fair number of punks kicking around in Oshawa and a lot of them seem to be real cool-like.

Except this one guy decked out completely in red plaid including hat, who called us fags/pussies/homos/fairies/scene-jumping-bitches, while flipping us off and calling us on to fight... all before we even played. My only guess is Lumberjack man didn't like my club dancing, or because we didn't mosh to the first band with him.. I really have no idea. From then on the night escalated - he took a few runs at us on stage, with the staff at the Atria eventually kicking him out.
Between every song we announced the Decay as gay-punk, and we're all gay and all our friends are gay and we make people gay all the time and we love it because goddamn all we do is be gay gay gay gay gay... and if anyone has a problem with that to come talk to us: which no-one did of course.
At some point in the night Lumberjack got punched outside and went home I guess. Looking forward to meeting him again next time we're in Oshawa .. don't drink the water?

Pierre Laporte Rescue Mission - Part 1

2009-12-03T19:09:00.000-08:00

HOLY SHIT HERE WE GO.

Kyle told us to meet him at Coffee Time right after this class on Wednesday evening. He said that it was on Gordan St. in Guelph right across from the University. Now I'm no Guelph hippie, but I don't ever recall there being a Coffee Time there. I was right. Somehow Coffee Time turned out to be Second Cup. I know the logo's are just so much alike... Kyle is
out of class at 10:00 pm and sure enough we are waiting for him at Second Cup. The plan is to drive through the night to Ottawa, get into Hugh's house at around 3:00 am, sleep then drive to Quebec City. YA RIGHT. The first mighty obstacle that stands in our way is of course "direction" or at least the lack there of the ability to read road signs. We stopped for gas in just outside of Oshawa and myself being myself take the Westbound ramp back onto the 401. After going the wrong way for about 30 minutes I recognize a building on my left...a building that I saw 30 minutes ago on my right. FUCK ME. So I tagged an extra hour onto the trip! Whatever, we are all friends here right? I blame the next slip up on our GPS.

THE MACHINE KNOWS DWIGHT!

Well apparently it didn't and told us to miss our exit, get off on the next one, turn around and then take the correct one. We did make it to Ottawa, but it certainly wasn't 3:00 am, it was 5:00 am. We had called ahead to Hugh to let him know that we would be late so we certainly expected to just let ourselves in and for no one to be awake, but as you could have guessed we were wrong. We were greeted by a cheery gentleman who posed us with the question, "Are you The Decay?" Quick on his feed Ben Hodgson (Dinner Party) replied, "No we are that other band that was suppose to show up here at 5:00 am." The slightly confused resident replied with, "What band." I guess he didn't get the fax. He then proceeded to tell us that he didn't live there and that he had to go get breakfast. He then left and we never saw him again. Spooky. We settled in and got some much needed rest after a 7 hours drive in the middle of the night. Thus concluded day one of The Decay Vs. FLQ Tour.

The Decay vs. FLQ 2009

2009-11-29T14:11:00.001-08:00

Just wanted to give a quick update! We played Quebec City, Ottawa and Toronto this weekend. We have loads of silly pictures, stories and videos that I am going to upload in a blog here. Check back this week!

Hostage Life last show?

2009-11-15T17:26:00.000-08:00

Hostage Life are calling it quits - bringing the total number of punk bands in Ontario down to like, five. Doubly unfortunate is they had just put out a record on http://www.juiceboxrecordingco.com/ and so far from what I've heard it's amazing. So we'll hear exactly one show's worth of the new album; except that we'll all be yelling old songs at them because it's the last chance to hear them.

Anyway - their last Guelph show will be November 18th

Hostage Life (the end of an era)
The Decay
Kobra Kobra
Mark It Zero

$10 at door
Doors at 7:00
All Ages / Licensed

Shadow
72 Macdonell St
Guelph

2009-11-05T09:50:00.001-08:00

Raptors win, Raptors win.

the new Drummer

2009-10-13T07:57:00.000-07:00

No-one can replace our ex-drummer Ben Brake; especially when it comes to being a pain in the ass both on and off the court. (Raptors win, Raptors win)

Our new drummer Dave has been bugging people on www.519punk.com for years. He can kick it with us anytime:

Jessie & Jason Gormley: Guelph Music Scene Wedding

2009-09-02T08:02:00.000-07:00

This happened a couple weekends ago, but man what a great time! Jessie & Jason are some of the coolest people I know, and it's a blast having them as friends, not to mention Jason's band LifeStory:Monologue which is every bit as amazing as the members in it. Now that they're married .. well, nothing really changes - it's just fun.

Congrats guys

Hot amp tip of the day

2009-09-02T07:51:00.000-07:00

I just got my amp back from being serviced, and while the majority of the issues with it were fixed - when I plugged in my amp sounded incredibly bright and thin. Playing around with things, I noticed that when I tapped the amp there was a high pitched metallic noise, which I eventually traced by tapping to be a microphonic preamp tube in the first pre-amp slot.

Checked out the pre-amp tubes, and two of the tubes were 12ax7-A tubes, while the other, the one in the first slot, was a 12ax7-LPS. Did some reading, and in amps being cranked, often these can be caused to go microphonic, and cause this issue and overall possibly sound bad.

I switched two tubes positions and wow, my amp was back in business .. thicker, more low end, way more gain. Overall about %500 better sound.

The tip being the first preamp tube is VERY essential to the character of the gain in the preamp of your amp. Don't be negligent with preamp tubes - gets some decent ones that fit right with the tone you're going for and have fun.

Note - if you're in Canada and looking for tubes, I really can't find any other place that has better prices or service than www.thetubestore.com

pretty much any brand, any style, super decent prices and great descriptions and data with each one. Can't recommend them enough

2009-08-28T05:15:00.000-07:00

like hell you will

In the mountains, we all eat ducks.

2009-08-17T19:13:00.000-07:00

I think too much about everything. This is a fact that makes the lack of depth of this situation understandable. Whenever I debate doing something new, I think and think until I eventually decide that its not something I want to do. So when an opportunity arose to move across the country, live in the mountains, and work in a kitchen I did my best not to think about it. For five years I've loved this band more than anything and its possible I'll play drums with those wonderful losers again, but I needed to do something.

I'm still the same farty, confrontational asshole, I just do it 2500 miles away.

Ben Brake: Leader of Men, Drummer of Drums

2009-08-10T05:18:00.000-07:00

Ben said he just wanted to take off and not make a big deal about leaving the band; but I'm a suck, and it's just really weird not having someone around when they've been pretty accessible (and in your face) for the last five years. I'm the oldest, but I'm still immature enough to know we all did a lot of growing up around each other, and even with the age difference I always felt on the same level. I'm writing this more for myself than anyone's interest, and hoping that he reads it because it was weird the last couple of weeks before he left. We had arguments and annoyances, shit talking and complaining, but for five years of late, late nights I'd say we did pretty good.

It's always hard to find a good drummer

Miss you buddy

Rock the Mill

2009-07-28T06:29:00.000-07:00

We're a band featuring members from Guelph and Kitchener. I moved to Guelph from Sudbury for school, and now work full time in Cambridge. We've played shows and festivals around this area, and have always been pround to be part of the Kitchener/Waterloo/Guelph/Cambridge area due to it's rich contribution of talent to the Canadian/World music scene as a whole. We've seen the impact underground music culture can have on the lives of young people in ourselves and our friends and feel it's one of the most important things to keep active in communities.

I don't think we're a terrible band. If I did, then I wouldn't put the time/energy into it, but threads like these on www.fiveonenine.com keep us thinking we're doing something that people enjoy, and so should keep doing: The Decay are soooo awesome

Which is why it has been puzzling for us that we can't seem to play a music festival that showcases local music in our area, while dozens of bands with less connection to the area, or bands we've been on bills with over and over again get selected for the festival. Yet, we have played Scene Fest, and NXNE, which are arguably "bigger" and have nothing to do with our area.

Rock the Mill is a youth oriented alternative music festival. It is in part supported by the city of Cambridge and is (primarily) volunteer run.

We have applied to their festival for the last three years. Last year, given the gamut of bands that played who were in the same "league" as the Decay, we didn't understand why we couldn't get on the bill, but chalked it up to "well, we'll try next year after exercising more".

This year, things were a bit different, and a fair amount has been said on FiveOneNine/519punk boards about it, so from our perspective this is our final take on it:

Rock the Mill band application committee member (Chris Taylor) sends out invite to apply
Erik from the Decay sends application and $10 to Rock the Mill c/o the city liason as required
Couple weeks go by, Erik is depressed/hungry because he didn't hear back from RTM
Chris Taylor indicates on FiveOneNine that he's excited for us to apply, but didn't get the app
Erik, still hungry, sends out the second application and $10. He's out $20, and Erik loves money
More weeks go by, Rock the Mill line up is posted. The Decay is not on it
Chris again tells us he didn't get the applications
The city liason tells us HE doesn't have the applications, so either didn't get them, or RTM has them.
People, from RTM start talking on 519punk, tell the Decay:"Sorry, try next year"
Brian Santos, who is managing RTM in the future, puts a stop to RTM staff talking publicly about it

Now, going back to previous attempts to play RTM:

A former RTM committee member tells us, that last year out of 150 bands, we were voted #14 by the committee for bands to be on the show, and should have been on last year. What? Rats.

The Decay were #14 on the list. Looking at bands that fell below you guys, this is who I can recall that made it into the lineup: ___ (#18), ______(#21), _____ (#22), ________ (#29), _______ (#36), __________ (#47).

From that first list I posted, I can let you know that our __________ is the tour manager (or something) for _______ and I believe he is good friends with ______. The _____person I believe is also friends with ____.

I guess we suck

The Decay meet with Brian Santos. Brian tells us (I'm paraphrasing) there's pretty much nothing that can be done, and no-one he can blame, but insists next year will be better.

We're not naive enough, or inexperienced enough to not know this is how the music (and most) industry tends to work, but given Rock the Mill receives what I can only guess is a large amount of funding from the City of Cambridge, (Budweiser sure isn't bankrolling them) and given they are requesting an application fee, there is an expected duty of care to seeing that we get a fair application process. At no point in time did anyone from Rock the Mill say "Hey, you said you sent in your application, twice and we didn't get it? Well lets just look at your band right now".
Instead we just got "I don't know who lost it, better luck next time"

$20 is like two burritos+nachos man!

Rock the Mill is a festival with a lot of potential, and as a resident of the area, I would like to see it get as big as possible, but not at the expense of Erik's sanity, or the legitimacy of a city event, as people suggest on the most important message boards in the world.

I'm not trying to whine, we're okay with not playing it and hell we have enough band problems, but we know how to mail stuff, I swear.

I also don't want to knock the efforts of volunteers who care enough about the music scene to invest their time and effort into such an event. Huge appreciation for that - and without the volunteers something like this wouldn't happen. But if some of the people volunteering have a business stake in what gets decided on with regards to the festival, then are they really volunteers or are they just doing their job?

I could go on making conclusions given how this all relates together, and back to the city - but I'll leave that up to all you, true believers.

Guitars, Amps, etc.

2009-06-02T09:24:00.001-07:00

After being in a band for awhile, it's hard to not get increasingly interested in the wide variety of musical equipment out there; both new and vintage. We've had an ever changing variety of gear - partly due to things being broken, and partly due to finding crazy deals on the used market. Probably if we just stuck with the same "general" stuff from day one, we would have been just that much better at playing the instruments we have, but where's the fun in that.
Erik and I especially over the years have swapped and accumulated guitar gear, and it's really the only thing besides other people and the band (and beer for me) that we spend moneys on.
It's also nice being out of school and working, so we can actually afford something from time to time. I can't think of the amount of things we've sold to finance gear purchases.

I have a bunch of Gibson rip off guitars, all of them great for a variety of reasons, but call me a brand whore - I always wanted a "real" gibson, if not just to know for sure what sets them apart.
I have a Gibson marauder, and love it to death, but it's not the same thing as a Les Paul at all. I liked the Marauder because it's weird, not everyone has one, and that's why I have all the ripoff guitars as well. It's always nice to be original, try and have something of your own, something that makes your sound (or look) unique. For a long time that was my Sovtek Mig50H..

a lunch box of an amp, I would get comments all the time on the diminutive size, but the massive sound. I still don't know for sure if it's just my amp, or the design itself, but the thing has always been pretty fuzzy/muddy. Clean sounds are fantastic but the distortion is just 'weird'... However, if you put a distortion or overdrive pedal in front of it, it gives it enough edge to sound great. I love this amp, and like all things I love I absolutely destroyed the input section of it by hauling it off the top of my 4x12 during a gig. I fixed the low input, but never the high (the wiring is so confined and hard to do anything with), and almost immediately afterwards picked up my Marshall JMP 50. The Marshall is a pretty standard sound, but it's also such a fantastic sound, it's really hard to give up. So in the search for originality, maybe I'll go some different directions.

Since I always wanted a gibson, I scoured craigslist.kijiji and eventually found a good deal on a rare model called the Gibson Les Paul "Gem Series" Amethethyst.

(not my apartment)

I thought it would be purple (cool with me) but it's more of a burgandy/brown. After picking it up, I started to realize there was all kinds of problems with it. Wouldn't stay in tune, some fret issues .. things I should have noticed immediately. I figured I would get frustrated myself trying to fix all of it, so I took it to local guitar masters Folkway Music and a few weeks after getting it back, it looks like they fixed/improved everything (although they set it up standard and not to Eb as was asked. I've never had anyone remember to set it up a half step down.. is this impossible?). I take any guitar I buy to have pro. set up once, just in case, and then I maintain them myself from that point on. Suffice to say, I love this guitar. It's exactly how you would expect a les paul with p90s to sound, and it plays fantastic. I read online that it's one of Gibson's "best kept secrets", and with never having owned real classic les pauls, I will agree anyway.

Right now my equipment is
Gibson LP Gem > Boss-Nu2-Holy Grail Reverb-Maxon OD808 - Trem > Marshall JMP 50 > Marshall 1960BX

Although here I'm playing my Greco. Ben's playing my new bass, and Erik's playing his Squier JV Telecaster which is a story unto itself.

(photo credit Mike "All Hands" 4thWave)

The Sweatlodge - Kitchener/Waterloo Punk house 1977-2009

2009-05-26T14:13:00.000-07:00

So, it's with regret that we played our final show at the Sweatlodge on sunday. Great times were had: every time. Thanks to Cory, Hugh, Jesse, Kristin and everyone else that has lived/cooked/played/helped/attended shows at the sweatlodge. It wasn't school, work, sports or a club. It was just something we all did together.

The End Of An Era (copied from mike's blog: http://boredpunks.blogspot.com/)

Last night, May 24, we saw the end of the great Kitchener Punk-House, The Sweatlodge. Started by Jesse Robertson, Cory Kobbert, Hugh (Sorry, I don't know your last name) and Kristin (Sorry, I don't know your last name either) in the summer of 2007, the house was a home to many others, including 2 Germans and some of my good friends Sam and Adam.

The house was located in downtown Kitchener, very close to what was considered the "sketchy" area of town, apparently only a few blocks from a handful of crack houses. Despite this, it never stopped kids from packing the house on a weekly or monthly basis. The house held a strict "No Drugs, No Booze, No Bullshit" policy, which helped avoid numerous police visits. It also helped a lot of people to see that you can have the time of your life watching great bands, sober. That might seem like a given to a lot of people, but there's a fair share of people who's only reason to go to a show is to get drunk and break stuff. They also kept nearly every show to $5/PWYC (Pay What You Can), and made a point to pay touring bands every time they played. On many occasions, there would be vegan food prepared for bands and guests. On more than a handful of nights, I'd be at my house trying to cook up a giant pot's worth of food for the show, and having to rush so that I'd be able to get down there before the show started.

In case you're curious about the name, it was given to the house after the first show there, in the summer of '07. You see, the basement is barely 6 feet high, which would be alright for short people watching indie bands, but not great for people to dance to punk bands to. So, they held the shows in the house's Master Bedroom. In an attempt to soundproof the room, the one window in the room was filled with soundproofing material and sealed off. Needless to say, the room got hot, especially in the summer. There were at least a dozen times when the first band had just finished playing, and there was already condensation dripping down the walls. So anyway, after the first show, I think it was Erik from The Decay made a comment that "It's like a sweatlodge in here", and at that moment, the house had it's name. One time, after the Brutal Knights finished, I was walking down the stairs, eager for a breath of fresh, February air to cool myself down, and ended up falling down the stairs because they were so soaked with condensation. The thing was, no matter how hot the house room got, no matter how drenched in your own (and other people's) sweat, you always wanted to stay until the last band was finished playing.

The first show at the Sweatlodge was held on June 9th, 2007, where the bands U-Lock Terror, The Derailers, The Decay, A Good Story and Elsa Jayne played. In that near 2-year period, many bands played, including (in no particular order) Mockingbird Wish Me Luck, Broadcast Zero, Hard Charger, Dead City Citizens, Subsistance, Black Bloc Serenade (My first band), Bomb The Music Industry!(Played their first show in Canada at this house), Yakiniku Warfare (our good friends), Empty Hands (Yakiniku Warfare + Black Bloc Serenade + About To Snap), Confustion Bolts! (Pop-punk amazingness, thanks to Adam), Second Guess (My second band), Titan, RAH, Eating Glass, Vatican Chainsaw Massacre, Black Ships, Fathers Day (an awesome hardcore band, thanks to Cory), Breadcat, Life In Vacuum, A Good Story (Adam's folk-punk band), The Decay, The Rebel Spell, The Fallout, White York, Orphan Choir, Spy Machine Sixteen, Lemuria, Summer of '92, What Seas What Shores, Barbarian Electric, Dead Dogs, Reprobates, Brutal Knights, Cursed (played their last show in North America before breaking up in Europe), Newberry Vs. Newberry, The Music Box, Elsa Jayne, Wayfarer, Hinindar, The Derailers, U-Lock Terror, Fairy Boy, Aspirations and Demos. I'm probably forgetting a few, but just by the size of that list, you can see how many great people and bands passed through the house.

The final show was held on Sunday May 24, 2009 with the bands Despite All This, Wayfarer, Adam CZ, Jesse Robertson, Empty Hands, The Decay and Mark It Zero playing. I was amazed by the number of people who came out for this show. Nearly everyone who lived in Kitchener-Waterloo who'd gone do more than 5 shows was there, all of our closest friends showed up, a handfull of kids from Guelph biked from Guelph to Kitchener, bringing with them a couple kids from Winnipeg who'd come down to visit and Adam ventured back from Winnipeg, where he's been living since this winter. It was one of the happiest times we'd ever had at that house, and we're all going to miss it when it's gone.

The Sweatlodge did so much for the Kitchener-Waterloo punk/hardcore scene. In recent years, we'd had numerous venues closed down due to the antics of (seriously) dumb fucking kids who have no respect for the people and buildings around them. Without this house, more than half of the bands in that giant list above would not have played in Kitchener, and so many of our local bands would have no place to play, I think The Decay and Empty Hands played there more than anyone else.

I just want to thank everybody who made that house what it was in the 2 years that it was active for: Jesse, Cory, Adam, Hugh, Kristin, Chris, Josclyn, Sam, Christine, Colin, Mike, Branco (for all the poster artwork), Kyle, Steve, Steve the Ginger, Tyler Savage, Erik, the Bens, Jordan, Dan, Scott, Bill and all the Guelph kids, Blar, Cam, Dave, Kay, The Commotion House Kids who were inspired by the Sweatlodge, everyone who went there and had a great time, all I can say is THANK YOU SO MUCH! I had some of the best times of my life at that house because of all you.

Punk in Canada

2009-05-13T12:10:00.000-07:00

Awhile back we opened at the Kathedral for Set your Goals. Another band on the bill impressed us more that night (much tighter a band), which was the Real Deal from Montreal. Never running into them before, we were surprised at how good they were, and had a great time hanging out with the guys, and kept it touch.
Fast forward to last weekend, we went out to Montreal to play The Real Deal's cd-release party (out now on stomp records), which was our first show there ever. On the way, Erik remembered his friend Jeff told him about some awesome pizza in Napanee (Avril's favorite), so being pizza monsters we made the detour. First thing: what a weird little town, seemingly completely overrun by teenagers. Second thing: the pizza was incredible. I forget the name of the restaurant now, but it's right on the main drag and worth a side trip. In Montreal, we set up at Cafe Campus which is a pretty cool venue with great sound. You can hear anything from anywhere in there. We played the show and then slept at our friend Dan's apartment. Ben accidently copped a stare at Dan's roomate making out with his girlfriend, but the guy was so stand up he got the mattress out for us, hung out for awhile and then went back to bed. I accidently got "party'ed up", anticipating a sleepless night on the floor. Trying to wind down, I started wrestling everyone, and when Erik tried to get the wireless passwords from across the room, I invited him to "Get through me first" and him really hard, square in the jaw; he's a good sport.
We woke up early to drive back to Guelph to play with The Real Deal again at the Shadow, expecting to take a detour to Ottawa to get some poutine at Elgin st. Diner. ESD had some good gravy and curds, but their fries are a let down. What wasn't a let down, was the wacky waiter, shouting "I'm going to make like a lion and leave!" or calling everyone 'Pal' and grinning like a mad spaceman. I think he just got his pants out of the dryer, because that's what I feel like when I do that.

The show in Guelph on saturday at the Shadow was great except for our trailer getting stolen and the skinhead/rapper fight. No, not skinheads fighting rappers, but weird urban skins. Like skins, but more trailer trash. I blame the Transplants. Without going into details I'll just say it was a "total boner kill". Also, the word faggot isn't ever going to be wildly acceptable, so you can stop being surprised when people think you're a hick for using it to publicly address anyone.

Being stupid about trailer security, I left ours unlocked while I went back to my apartment in downtown Guelph to go BM because no-one should ever have to use the Shadow bathroom.
When I returned, our trailer was gone. Luckily, after running around crying, hugging, cursing, and counting limited money supplies, Ben found it tucked into an alleyway behind the parking garage. Bastards; but they're almost as stupid as us, so we managed to steal it right back.

Note: Our trailer will probably get stolen for good at some point. If it hasn't been repainted, it says "CRUST" on the back of it. Please let us know if you see it attached to anything but a 2001 Toyota Camry. Right.

Which leaves us at last night, and the title of this blog post. We played with our friends the Rotten from Kitchener, and a band called Winslow from Montreal, who are friends with the Real Deal and Blurt. After talking to them for awhile, we pretty much knew all the same people, but had never run into each other, even though both our bands have been together for a few years. Now, Canada is a pretty big country, but there aren't THAT many punk bands, let alone ones that make large trips to play for a few people in a dingy basement.
In this age of technology where I can easily, at any moment, find someone in kansas who is DTF, you would think getting out there as a band would be easier, or at least getting in touch with like minded individuals. Maybe we just suck at it.

If you're into the years 1977, 1982 or 1994 and have at any point in time, sewn a patch on clothing when there wasn't a hole in it, come hang out with us in Guelph, or let us come to you.

Oh Burlington

2009-03-25T05:32:00.000-07:00

We've only ever played house shows in Burlington and so playing at the YMCA there a couple weeks ago was a welcome change. YMCA shows, while sometimes poorly organized or weird (this show was anything but, Ashley is a great promoter) hold a place in my heart because of the history of punk bands who played epic shows in YMCA. A quick google search for "Fugazi+YMCA" or "Black Flag+YMCA" will familiarize anyone with what I mean. A search for "the Decay"+YMCA found a posting for the show I'm writing about. That feels way too Neuromantic.

Anyway.
I was sick as hell and threw up apple juice all over the bathroom. It was a good time.

Playing all-ages shows at bars is usually the most enjoyable venue because we have friends that like to drink, and friends that aren't 19 yet, but you don't generally meet families out for their friday night jazzercise in some skid dive. Getting to the show early, we met some Grade 6 (eleven and a half year olds) who thought being in a band is cool and hung outwith us while we restrung our guitars, and generally kicked it looking real cool. The girls told us about what it's like to be eleven these days, and updated us on Rihanna's current status with Chris. I wish kids would worship figures that advance our society (like my man Joe E. ), instead of gyrating pop icons, but reflecting on my own childhood, I often told people exactly what Axl Rose was doing at any given time. When you're 12 and your daily highlights are lunch and farting, not having to wear pants in front of a crowd seemed like to most balling thing going.

We stuck around the show and caught the other bands. One of the guys from the Saint Alvia Cartel (the Joe-Strummer-for-halloween enthusiast), played an acoustic set which I was looking forward to checking out, but the rockin' grade sixes had me enthralled and when I thought he was finished sound checking, he was actually done. Dude left immediately afterwards, but seemed nice enough. God knows I have places to go on a friday (I don't).

The rest of the night is a blur to me but we played with some decent bands who were really nice. I have to pee.

Spring, and the proper uses of sunlight.

2009-03-15T10:59:00.001-07:00

- Listen to Confusion Bolts
- Help out your parents around the house
- Ride your bike/skateboard/segway
- Play basketball
- Buy something old and fix it
- Travel
- Camp
- Read in the sun
- Have a picnic
- Sit in a boat in the middle of a lake
- Go to shows secure in the fact that you are going to sweat, not freeze

Decay in Portugal

2009-02-23T20:21:00.000-08:00

Ola! Portugal kicks ass - Ben and I have been here on a much needed vacation (for me) and can't recommend it enough. It's 4am right now and we just finished mopping the floor with some locals at pool (mostly Ben's brother Matt) they killed us too though and were really nice.

pictures don't seem to be working

Tyler

The Decay on MTV! (Via The Artist Life)

2009-02-19T14:42:00.000-08:00

Check out Deaners shirt!

Home Alone

2009-02-17T09:03:00.000-08:00

Not a whole lot to write about, so I'll write about why there isn't. As some may know, Tyler and Ben H. are on a two week trip in Portugal, I think they are saving a princess from some giant lizard. Regardless, Ben's parents are a very concerned bunch and asked me to watch over their house/start the cars/eat all food. Within the first day the toilet was broken, the TV was saying boot and there were drum sets and amps strategically placed around the house. I've sinced fixed the TV and toilet, but there is just a special feeling to playing drums while you watch the laundry go ''round. My overall goal for today is to go buy Final Fantasy VIII, and turn an old bike into a scraper bike.

In terms of actual band news, Tyler and Ben get back at the end of the month, and we're playing March 6th at the Vinyl with This is A Standoff. Also, we are awaiting a reply from Epitaph for a letter stating:

Hey, you've signed some real stinkers lately, sign us instead?

"I've got a flat tire in my pants."

2009-02-14T07:52:00.000-08:00

What a spectacular evening.

I'll begin the story with me at our practice space. With Ben in London already, Erik in Kitchener, and Tyler at work the onus was on me to move every piece of gear up the stairs, including Ben's 8x10. Good times had by all. Once Tyler arrived we hit the road with his Xena:Warrior princess. Arriving at the show we found although we were half an hour late it had been delayed due to the show being in an apartment and we had to wait for the landlord to vacate the premises for ample destruction.

Once they were gone Wayfarer played and it was a solid set. Jason had time to practice more, and there were more fast songs. I'm sure they played a Goo Goo Dolls cover. Win.

We were playing next and according to Dylan there were about 80 people. I feel bad for every one of them. Highlights included: Me being able to hear nothing, because Tyler's amp was right behind me, Tyler breaking 4 strings in under a minute, and the quote at the top. Also we played some songs.

Tie Breaker played next with the new drummer and I was impressed. They seem to actually have a solid enough lineup to pull it all together. They played a Millencolin cover and it was swell but a bit slow.

I missed portions of Orphan Choir's set due to Pizza consumption bylaws but what I saw slayed as always. Nate and I were engaged in an exaggeration-off but we both forgot until about their last song. Next show together, and I promise there will be plenty more.

Blurt's set was one of the craziest things I've ever seen. Aside from some very nice girl getting her rib broken (Jumping feet first from a balcony at a crowd=intelligent design) and some dude smoking the weeds it was perfect. They played so many songs and people kept eating it up.

In conclusion, I'm hungry.

De-evolution

2009-02-12T08:51:00.000-08:00

This comic is perfect for the first four years it covers, but from what I've found there is a cyclical nature. Getting into punk I had to find things accessible to me. Luckily I had Ben Hodgson to search out things with. Doing any research is easier if its a group project. By year four though I at least was getting older and getting really nostalgic for the stuff I listened to before I largely got into punk.

So we turned back the clock. You can probably see it in our songs, when we turned back into giant pansies. I'm sure a timeline of pictures would show it too, as Tyler was alluding to with yesterdays posts. We miss the old days a lot of the time, but its harder to have blue and pink hair when you need a job because your basement just flooded.

I remember when I was younger I thought the older punk guys who all had decent hair and wore jeans and band shirts sucked. Its not so easy now, except now all those guys have kids so I still think they suck. I said it when I was 17, and I'll say it now: I will never be like those dudes.

In conclusion, a long long time ago, I was punk as fuck.
Furthermore, like I said everything was cyclical, my love of hot dogs as well returns. Much like Pennywise the dancing clown, it comes back every 30 years to terrify children.

Embarrassing old pictures day

2009-02-11T19:24:00.000-08:00

we used to be so cool. What the fuck happened.

Your Idea of Heroism

2009-02-09T18:26:00.000-08:00

Often bands with stupid or long, or long and stupid, or stupid stupid long long, or just dumb band names, refer to themselves by some consonant ladden acronym (I'm talking to you, potential metalcore band) like GFKTGIF
Ages ago, or before 2005, there were a lot of great bands using short formed names, like TSOL, DRI, GBH, DOA etc. Since the hayday of these bands, if any other band were to refer themselves by these acronyms, they would be chastised, and rightly so.

Unfortunately, some things are never sacred and I've noticed online rimjobs referring to bands like Diddling Boy Squad or Doing Ben's Sister, as, you guessed it: DBS. Dammit!
...Forcing me to refer to the best band to use this moniker, as the lower case d.b.s. (Which is more correct anyway, but I digress)
In this case, d.b.s. Stands for... well, I never managed to figure that out - like FUGAZI, sometimes we'll just never know what a name stands for.

d.b.s. was one of the first non-mainstream-popular punk bands I got into. The combination of raw emotion and aggressive energy/melody struck a note with me as a middle class white kid fighting for freedom in Northern Ontario. Fuckin' eh.

I remember being 16 in my girlfriend's basement listening to "David O is a Nazi" and knowing that deep down, I too wanted to declare someone a nazi with such knowing vigor. I did this of course, later, at indoor soccer; only to find out the guy I likened to Hitler and made Stuka noises towards was German, and I got punched out in the locker room for it. Rock on.
Later, after my eventual ex girlfriend slept with a bunch of my friends, I screamed out David O with different lyrics while my parents were out. (They came back early and asked if I had been crying. Fuck that!)

Years later, trying to find albums and info on d.b.s. while using a much more mature internet, I'm amazed at how little there is kicking around about them. It could have just been luck that I ever got turned onto them before many other more accessible acts, or maybe because they're canadifian..
Regardless, d.b.s. is damn bloody sweet any way you spell it, and you can still buy some of their albums from Joey Shithead's Sudden Death Records.

dbs myspace

Pritchard Auctions from Space

2009-02-09T06:32:00.000-08:00

Auctions are the absolute strangest place on earth. I am convinced they must have originated on another planet, most likely being Tatooine, which is why everyone who attends them has multiple tentacles growing out of their face.

Myself, Tyler, Ben and our weirdo mutant friend Jeff went to a musical instrument auction on Saturday. We went because we heard that on the first day of the auction all sorts of great deals were had. The second day, being the one that we went to was less than impressive. We immediately saw people walking away from the auction building back to their vehicles with looks of disappointment on their face and we figured out why when we got inside. No custom shop telecaster's, no 1970's Marshall Plexi's and no Gibson TV Yellow DC's!

The place itself was strange enough, it was an old barn that had a finished inside, complete with some old movie theater seats. There was junk piled everywhere, all around. The first thing that caught my eye was a crossbow. I bid on it later in the day, but lost. Fuck. We walked around the room and sifted through piles and piles of shit. Just complete utter garbage. Some of which we bought later. The people, oh man, the people that attend these things are out of this world. I would say you could safely generalize by saying there were 3 different kinds of people there. There was the broke ass musician who read about it on a message board and wanted to come buy some Traynor tube heads. There was the fat rich asshole from Toronto which a gear collection containing 4 of everything, in 6 different colours. Then there was the dude who didn't know fuck all about gear but just loved auctions.

There was really nothing that cool left and we didn't really get too many useful things. Between the 4 of use we purchased the following: An unloaded Traynor 4x12 tower, an unloaded bass bin, a tube tester, a life sized "Krusty the Clown" doll, an adult size tricycle, a 30's pump organ, a 60's drum kit, 20 broken guitar cases, a bike and an acoutic guitar. Not including the drums which were $200 because they were pretty much the only legitimate piece of music equipment there, we spent about $150. Overall it was a fun day. Me and Tyler got coffees, well he got peach juice, and drove around in farm country for a while rocking our own CD.

If you want to check out a cool pop punk bored go here: Pop Punk Message Bored

Write nice things about us so people love us and let us sleep on their floor!!

Sweat it out like a Fever

2009-02-08T16:53:00.000-08:00

One of the best things about being a band is the opportunity to meet weridos in other bands. We're lucky enough to be able to call the toughs in Orphan Choir our friends, because we haven't stolen or broke any of their things.
If you're one of those lucky sorts, you managed to catch them at Jimmy Jazz last night in Guelph. Note that the Jazz is one of the only bars on or near Macdonell street that you don't have to line up for. Also, its not full of shitheads (usually), but smell that pint before you drink it - We've made a few mistakes in the past.

Aaaaand I just spilled cola product on my crotch. Now I'm all sticky.

Orphan Choir recently posted some new recordings they did with that Blurton guy, and should have an album out somewhere/how by summer.
From these songs, and what they're doing live its going to be great.

Jan 31st - Sweatlodge Kitchener

2009-02-02T18:50:00.000-08:00

We've been a band for pretty much five years now - and judging from how far we’ve progressed in that time, the next five years should be “dodgy at best”. In light of this, and the recent Michael Phelps marijuana scandal (I say he’s innoncent), our last show at the Sweatlodge was a pinnacle of human achievement. Wayfarer played a set which I can only describe as “music” and “well put together”, with the long haired ewok Kyle Kriche getting things started right by writing songs that people like, and then playing those songs to those people. It’s a formula for success that we’re still working to figure out, but without a Mac, it just might not be possible. No no, use two fingers. We recently learned how to re-string and tune our guitars, and so spirits were up to provide a full 17 minutes of entertainment - unfortunately, this world is full of shoddy power in old houses (see: Ben’s parents basement), and our amps were fucked starting the day before. Backup amps, and backup friends (see: ewok) to the rescue; every other screw up that night was completely our fault.

Ben fell off his drums for some reason (poor inner ear development). I blame not using a drum "throne" . Regardless, no-one helped him up, which is good because it was way more punk that way. Rise above.
I was being shocked from the microphone so I kept touching my guitar to Erik to use HIM as the ground. He complained but I know he liked it. Later in the set he stopped mentioning the shocks so I just hoofed him in the janglies (he didn't complain). I think it was our best performance ever.

Blurt kills it and really shouldn't break up. Hopefully even better bands come out of it, but it's still a downer.

From the sounds of things Rocket Reducers had fun - everyone was talking about how nice the bass player was, and how rock and roll everyone else was (yelling, carrying on). They covered TV eye at one point, but just the lead guitar riff at the start (cool!). I think it was over the head of most people; call me observant.

Someone told us we should play less house shows and more "real shows". We would rather play in pizza joints, but we take what we can get. Please feel free to let us know what a real show consists of.