(Despite not feeling it today, lot's of inspiration out there, and was still productive!!)
Ye, today was definitely not the day to be as productive as I would have like to have been. I had some drinks last night, while enjoying the Terminus: Isolation live stream, and was a little tipsy by the end of it... and I woke up today, with quite the hangover and just wasn't feeling it today... Also attempted to do vocals, nope! Just not happening. I have noticed that during this period of self-isolation, that drinking right now, is just not the same... and quite frankly, generally after the evening of drinks... the day after, I generally feel like shit, and unproductive. So, I think while this self-isolation shit is going on, just gotta stay away from the alcohol. Of course, there is one exception to that rule, which is, if I'm performing a live stream... then I'll have a glass of something, as that helps calm the nerves, but outside of that, that's it!
Despite not being as productive as I would have liked, I still got some stuff done, and added some layers to a track that I'm working on! I think tomorrow evening, I'll be able to knock this song off, and get the vocals done, and be able to move to the next song! Once again, I'm very excited about this whole challenge, and I'm definitely doing things and thinking outside the box when it comes to writing this music! Lots of inspiration, and learning a lot of new things, and I will say there's a lot of things I'm realizing about my process, and why a lot of other industrial musicians, or musicians in general do things the way they do... in regards to organizational structures, and setting up your recording environment to get out your ideas as easily as possible!
After this challenge is done, I will likely do some other blogging or vlogging or something like that, getting a little bit into the process, and how my process has changed, and how I went about doing the things I did.
(INVA//ID; modern dark electro-industrial reminiscent of Wax Trax! era bands)
I keep coming back to the Wax Trax! Records back-catalogue. There are modern bands that are inspired by the Wax Trax! roster of bands and ultimately hearing these bands brings me back to the record label's catalog. Once again I will say, for some reason the bands on the Wax Trax! roster, not only do I keep coming back to, but feel inspired by! Out of all honesty, I'm not really sure why, I just really enjoying stuff that has come off that roster, and once again, feeling really inspired by. I guess there is a certain sound to the bands that were on that label, like you can hear the mixing and mastering and just general sound that came off that label for the bands, and at least I find there is a similarity. It may have been the fact that Al Jourgensen played a very important role there. It could also be the fact that almost everything that came off that label, was done in an in house recording studio... and the bands and side-projects, they were all hanging around when other bands on the label were recording their music, so there would be this, cross-pollination between the bands. It's funny cause, it's actually a lot of the modern bands that I'm listening to these days that are actually drawing me back to the Wax Trax! roster. Like, the bands INVA//ID or Cocksure... the style and sound design is very reminiscent of the Wax Trax! sound (granted Cocksure is an obvious one, as Chris Connelly was in the band Revolting Cocks and that influence is definitely there), Malekko is another one (once again, fairly obvious why... Paul Barker is the main songwriter for Malekko, he also was Ministry's bassist for, well a loooong time, as well as vocalist for his other project Lead Into Gold), but I find it interesting that there are these modern bands that when they are writing their albums, the sound design is specifically and intentionally done in a way that is reminiscent of the bands that were on Wax Trax! Records... and quite frankly, I'm glad there are people/bands/artists that are doing that, cause A) I like their music, and B) It reminds me of the Wax Trax! roster and I find it highly inspiring!
(Revolting Cocks)
I just love the history, I love the stories, I love the sound, the bands... all that, and just listening to the music from that time and trying to decipher how they went about in creating those songs, and the sound design... yeah inspiring! And, when hearing modern bands do that, it's like hearing a piece of history, but a modern take on it, which is also inspiring!!
Well, I got done what needed to get done today, the process was still fun... and I'm very productive. I will say though, today I was feeling anxious for some reason, not sure why. Like normally, when I pour my morning coffee... and have the first sip, I feel good and relaxed, but today for some reason, before I poured my coffee, I felt anxious today... not sure why... I couldn't really place my finger on it. I'm thinking maybe I feel a little time starved... (there's a reason for that, and I'll let you know why in the future... right now is not the time)... However, even though I felt time starved... I was still productive, and got everything done that needed to get done today!
Once again, I'm really enjoying the process right now, and it truly reminds me of the early days of Twitch, maybe not sound-wise, but definitely in the sequencing and programming kind of way. There was a part of me that felt, for at least part of the creative process today, that I needed to change things up a little bit today, so I cut up and fucked with a drum loop that I was playing with... it definitely payed off! I will say again, I'm really loving the process... and it's forcing me to think about music differently, and really get my ideas out, as they come out! In the future it is very likely that I'll work in this kind of fashion moving forward... sooo inspired!!
I hope you folks are staying safe and doing well!! I know they are starting to open up things where we live, and I know some of you are worried what this is gonna look like... are we gonna be able to remain safe, or is this whole situation gonna get worse... I'm remaining hopeful and positive... but the numbers, ultimately will tell us the tale.
(Darkness... something that I have lived in my whole life, but through darkness, ultimately, you will find light!)
Well, today... didn't go as planned... thought I would have gotten more done, but that's ok... wasn't really sure where to take this piece, so... tomorrow I can come to it from a fresh perspective and fresh new ideas. Although I will say, there was a lot of messing around and shit... trying things here and there, but could only get so far, I've got the basic structure of what I want, it's just all the details inside! Still fun though, and quite honestly when I shut everything down tonight... and stepped away, already had fresh ideas that I want to use for this particular piece, but that's a tomorrow thing.
Overall feeling: Still learning new stuff, and going about things in a way that, for me is highly inspiring and really getting this shit, as it comes out!! Love this!!
So, I think if I remember correctly, the first song to be written for the album "Databomb" was "Activate". A lot of what I was feeling at the time of writing this song is... I feel like people are forgetting and maybe not realizing that these are things we can do, to make sure our voices are heard... and any person in power or politician, is kind of forced to deal with us. And, I see younger generations, kind of just not being involved politically, cause they think it's all the same shit, and nothing changes despite what they do, so... they essentially do nothing. Whether a person votes or not, well... I mean ultimately it's up to them, but if you do nothing, you can't expect a different result. "Activate" is a protest song, and ultimately the message of the song is, don't sit and do nothing, actually get up and do something, cause if we do nothing, nothing will change, and we will see the erosion of our rights, and the way things are done, and it will be a lot easier for these politicians to do whatever the fuck they want to do, cause they know, no one is gonna do anything about it. As my generation gets older, and maybe this... every generation sees (although, I'm not sure Boomers are on the same page), it seems the younger generations are generally disengaged, and to me that is worrying, cause there truly are politicians that want to be in power cause they truly want some kind of dictator type scenario, they want to push their politics, their hate... because, they feel others aren't equal to them. It also seems this neo-liberal movement has resurfaced and they seem to want to give corporations and the rich more money, and their idea is that... if they give corporations more money, that it'll trickle down into society, but the truth of the matter is, typically when they give corporations more money, and bail them out of whatever crisis, the corporations will cut and run, pulling their investments in whatever endeavor they were meant to create, and give bonuses to their CEO's and shit. The money doesn't trickle down, they basically take it and run... no new jobs created.
Even though we are getting into a creative space again, we have just released a new album called "Databomb". So, I thought I would touch on a few points about "Databomb". The album took roughly 3 years to make, we started it while we were travelling (which is typically the case when we start albums, we are working on one thing in the studio... then we go travelling and we can't take that current stuff, so we start something new). There were a lot of things that were going on, while this album was being written, first and foremost, the U.S. saw a new President, probably someone who shouldn't be a President, but for some reason the populace voted for him. Within that election cycle, and the campaigning that was going on, Russian hackers exploited social media, in particular Facebook, and used the ads feature, to manipulate the election results, by posting fake news and false ads and statements. There was truly a debate of whether or not the U.S. was going to fall into dystopia. Both potential candidates for the democrats and republicans were highly questionable, and it was either pick, dystopia A or B. Are they truly in a dystopia..? Not sure on that... I don't think they are quite there yet, but it is not looking good for them.
Ye, another evening in the studio, lot's of ideas... making a lot of progress... learning so many things right now! I am feeling good about being creative again! The directions this creativity is going is... well... you'll just have to wait to find out! Doing things this way, I think if I can pull this off, will be the new way of doing things! Exciting!! I'm glad I gave this a bit of time to start, the inspiration is different, and what I thought was gonna go one way, has now changed. Although, it is funny, cause if I had started this sooner, rather than doing it now, things have completely changed... although, I do feel time really is a luxury, so in the future, when something wants to come out, I'll let it, but I am thankful I waited a little bit on this!
A little side note: The other evening I had a dream that the lead singer from Dope Stars Inc. was testing me on my cyberpunk knowledge, cause he figured I was becoming a cyberpunk and I had to pass the test, if I didn't, I wasn't a true cyberpunk. I will tell you, lately I've had various feelings about cyberpunk, and dystopia... but I'm not gonna get into that here (will some of this inspiration bleed into what's coming... we'll see...).
Yeah, was in the studio yesterday... bein all creative and shit, and I was doing some filming... then at the end of the night, I end up tripping over my fucking video camera plug... the camera crashes into the ground, and... well... let's just say, this last week has not been good for gear... video camera is now fucked.
I will be replacing it with something new obviously, at some point... just frustrating, when a person is trying to be productive and creative, and shit like this happens. I will say, it was an older camera (a step before HD), but the thing I liked about it was, because it was an older camera, the file sizes of the videos were easily manageable, and quick to load. Granted the quality of the video wasn't the best, but it did the job. Yeesh, I get this is a first world problem, but frustrating none-the-less.
On a plus note, I have been doing some things in the studio, there have been a lot of realizations in my process and how I'm starting to think, the process I had before when writing stuff, needs to change. Like I said in a previous studio diary (here), things have been changing, and this new process first of all reminds me of the early days of Twitch, when I was doing stuff in a Tracker type program, and yeah... it's been a lot of fun right now, and it truly is helping me change the way I think about writing. Depending on how this goes, my writing process may change permanently, cause the way things are coming out right now, is really inspiring, and... well... you'll just have to wait and see ;)
We did just release an album called "Databomb" if you are curious what it is about, you can check it out here (and hey, just fucking download it, it's free)!
Anyway, thank you folks for all that you do, and your support,
Yes, that is my guitar! I've written many albums, singles, EP's with it... with the exception of this most recent album "Databomb", and my last EP "Instructions To Your Revolution". This last Friday I decided to plug it in and play around a bit... unfortunately, there was no volume. Every time I touched the volume knob, it crackled... and I eventually messed around with it enough, to get a tiny little bit of volume... (although it was cranked to 10). I unplugged it and took a look at the internals... everything is connected and seems to be fine... no fucked wires or loose wires or anything. The pick-up switch is also fucked, makes noise, and volume will cut out if you touch it fuckin weird.
This guitar I've had since the beginning of my music career, I purchased it when I was around 17 years old from a friend, I paid $75 for it. It was one of those cheap starter guitars, that is some weird brand name, that you wouldn't recognize... the company that made it, probably doesn't exist anymore. When I originally purchased it, I didn't have an amp for it, but I plugged it into my parents stereo and played through that. A couple years later, I would start a band called Adam Hates You... that was my first industrial band (although, we didn't really write any songs, and we didn't play any shows), but this guitar was there. Eventually, I would move to Calgary, and this thing followed me. That's when I started to write the first Twitch album. I sampled the guitar, and threw it into the tracker program (sequencing software) I was using to write music with. Course along with those samples, I had a friend that helped with other guitar parts and recorded those onto the album. Over the years, I used the same technique to write the guitars (sample it, then sequence those samples). Eventually, I would acquire a different kind of writing/recording/sequencing software, and I would finally be able to actually record parts without having to sample in little chunks, "ant" and everything moving forward, outside of the two most recent releases.
There have been countless times I've brought this thing back to life, so many times that it somehow got fucked, and I fixed it. The last time, I had a friend fix it. It worked for a long time, and then this last Friday... it looks like there is nothing I can do this time to bring it back to life, and quite frankly... I will likely not be taking it to some guitar tech to repair it... the repair will cost more than the guitar is worth. It is time to retire this guitar, I will miss this friend, (although, I'll probably keep it, and mount it on the wall or something like that), the last 25 years have been amazing, and I'm glad I got so much life and use out of this thing. Time to hang this piece of history up, and replace it with... well, not sure yet, but I'm sure whatever it is, it'll be great!!
(What's in this dark photo..? Inspiration? Maybe...)
Ok, so... I feel right now, with what I'm doing in the studio... I really don't want to take the time to move shit around right now. I'm actually really enjoying and liking my set-up the way it is. My synth is a little far away from my desk, but I don't mind right now, and I'm liking standing at my synth, rather than sitting. Also being that, I'm kinda doing something creative in that respect... like I said above, don't want to interrupt the creative process right now... I also feel kind of inspired with the current way things are set-up and such... soo, yeah... gonna leave it for now.
So, we are doing something different with our creative process right now, and it feels good... I will say the stuff I'm doing right now, and the way I'm doing it is definitely a learning experience! I hope this works out in my favor and I can meet this challenge! It almost reminds me of the old days of using tracker software to get things done, but also kinda new too, cause it's forcing me to make decisions and... well... when this is done... you'll know!
(This photo may have been from said show, not sure... but it occurred at the same venue)
I can’t remember what show this was exactly (it was quite
some time ago, probably more than 5 years; may have actually been a show in support of our "This D1sk" EPs), but I think it was a set with the
full band lineup, me, Guitarist and drummer. We ended up playing last, but
there was this guy in the bar, I’m not sure if he walked in drunk, but as the
night progressed, he ended up sitting right up at the stage, and while we were
performing, he was making kissy faces at me… he was definitely drunk, but… I
had long hair and was wearing eyeliner, I think he mistook me for a lady, and
during our set he motions that he wants to say something to me, so I go to the
front of the stage, and he tries to kiss me… I quickly get out of the way, one
of my friends (who is in the audience) comes up and says to him, “Have a seat
dude! They are trying to play a show.” was probably the funniest shit that has
happened to me during a live performance. Our set ended and that was it, we
pack up our shit and drunk dude leaves. I would say, that is the first time
that has ever happened, at least during a live show… although, out of all
honesty, I don’t think that has ever happened outside of a show… anyway, funny
story.
Yep, was in the studio last night, and things certainly need to change! I tried to fit everything and make sure everything has it's place and there some kind of sense of organization a few months ago, but... this current set-up is not optimal to being creative, so... I'm probably gonna have to move some things around and kinda see if there is a better way of setting up my gear, so that it's good for live streams, and it's good for being creative as well... (although, I like the idea of standing at my synth to do whatever playing, sound design, synth tweaking and all that)... we'll see... Not gonna get into all the details, but if you want a confirmation, yes last night I was being creative... in what capacity, well... you are going to have to wait and find out 😉! I will post another update later today, regarding the solution to this situation... just feel my Yamaha EX7 Synthesizer is too far away from my main desk.
Yep, I think that title says it all! It's 2020, matter of fact we are just about halfway through the year... and there should be no excuse! It's time to start your industrial music project!! First of all, let's get into the mentality of it... This year has definitely been rough, we are seeing a pandemic that has essentially stopped the world. Everyone around the world is experiencing a lockdown, or a period of self-isolation of some sorts. I personally have been in self-isolation here in my province in Canada for 2 months... so, what does that mean... First of all, if you were working, and are now not, now is the perfect time to start on your endeavor! Second, time is very short, if we are lucky we might live till we are 100... that actually isn't a lot of time if you think about it... so what better reason do you need to start!
I know some of you folks may not even have the option of purchasing gear right now, as there is no delivery service, or even curbside service. So, what does that mean for musicians, or people who are just starting out, or are considering starting an industrial music project. If you can't order gear, or go pick it up... look at all the options, and resources we have online! I mean, if you have a computer and an internet connection, you are already ahead of the game! There's some software out there, that is capable with the soundcard that already comes with your computer... so, here's a couple that I suggest to get started with, first is:
Jeskola Buzz Tracker: this is a tracker based program and it is Windows based. I personally have used Jeskola Buzz, and have written a couple of albums with it. It comes with built in synths and a tracker style sequencer and all kinds of other stuff! Here's a video about Jeskola Buzz Tracker (*Just a quick note this is an older video from an older version of Jeskola Buzz, but it gives you a general idea of what it is about! This video is also quite comedic!)
You can find a download of the latest version of Jeskola Buzz here! There are all kinds of YouTube tutorials to help you get started with this software or any other music software out there! So if you are stuck, or just want to see more of what these pieces of software are about, YouTube is the resource to find that kind of stuff!!
Audacity: now I personally haven't used Audacity in my own endeavor, but it is another option for at least recording audio and editing or modifying that audio! If you are using Jeskola Buzz Tracker, and you need to do vocals for your tracks... Audacity would be the way to do it! Here's a video about Audacity:
You can download the latest version of Audacity here!
Garageband: now I've only used Garageband very briefly, but if you are a Mac user and looking for something to get you started in your industrial music project, this is the free option that I do believe most Mac's if not all have already loaded onto it. This is basically band in a box, everything is included to get you started, and if you are looking for a relatively affordable upgrade from Garageband for your Mac, Logic Pro is the answer (when it is time to upgrade, and you feel a little more serious about your musical endeavor)! Here's a video about Garageband:
You can find Garageband on most, if not all Mac's, and if you do not have it on your Mac, then go to the App Store and download it (I think even in the App Store it's absolutely free)!
There are also demo versions of some of the pay-for Digital Audio Workstation software out there, but they are usually limited in what they can do... but I'll list a couple that you may find useful:
FL Studio: this is the current software I've been using to write most of my albums these days (although, I have a fully featured version), and I think it is quite excellent software and would recommend eventually getting a full version of it (if you feel this is the right software for you)! You can find a demo trial of it here!
Cockos Reaper: This software I've been using these last few years for running my backing tracks for live shows. This software is fully featured, you can record and sequence and all that kind of shit with it! You can find a demo of it here!
Ableton Live Lite: I've played with the trial version of this software, that's about it! However, Ableton is a great piece of software, and even though it is made for live performance, it is and can be used for recording and sequencing and all that kind of shit! You can find Ableton Live Lite here!
I figured for this blog, I would just suggest the "Free, don't need anything else to get started recording and sequencing software" out there, cause I know some of you folks may not have mail or delivery or really anything available to you... So, I hope that this was helpful and you are now on your way to becoming that underground industrial music artist!
(Twitch: August 26/2016 @ Lord Nelson's Pub, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.)
If you are already an established or even smaller industrial music artist, and you have suggestions as to other free options out there, please leave them in the comments! Anyway, thank you for reading and I may make a small series out of these blogs... we'll see!!
*Note: Just want to make a quick note here, I'm sure you're wondering how to do vocals when you have no way of getting the vocals into the computer, or you don't have a microphone to properly record your vocals. I think I want to stress here, be resourceful. When I wrote my first song, I had no way of recording vocals, I didn't have a mic, but I had these really old pair of headphones, and I thought "Why not plug this into my computer soundcard, and sing through them..?", I didn't know if it would work (these were really old like 1970s headphones), but I plugged them into the back of the soundcard, and sang through the headpieces... and, it fuckin worked, course my vocals came out all distorted and shit, but at least I got them, and it worked for what I was doing! So, nowadays... you might be able to use a shitty pair of headphones, or the headphone mic on your earbuds or whatever... be resourceful. I mean, if your computer has a mic on it, or you have a webcam with a mic, that might be another way of doing it! So... if there is a will, there is a way!!
Well, my latest musical choices have been keeping me inspired, motivated, and energized! It's interesting the musical listening choices I have been making during this pandemic, and period of self-isolation. Now, initially I was trying to stay away from music that was typically Cyberpunk themed, cause initially focusing on that and listening to the lyric content kinda stressed me out, and quite frankly being that dystopia may be a reality or possibly could be a reality, just focusing on that aspect it was initially stressful, but as of recently, I accidentally turned on Blush Response... and at first I was like "Nope. Not the right music for right now.", but I let it play through a little bit of the song, and I wasn't stressed out anymore, I was actually enjoying it. Now that is definitely not a commentary of where I think things are going... I still think that dystopia is bad, and I do think we need to do whatever it takes to not end up in that reality... but for some reason I'm finding music that has cyberpunk themes inspiring right now... and I will be honest, I haven't really been listening to a lot of the old standards that you would think would help with maintaining a healthy mindset. Like, even though Nine Inch Nails has released their new "Ghosts: V - VI", I truthfully am having a harder time listening, at least to side VI, cause it really is too dark and depressive for me, cause I do think musically, it captures at least part of what I am feeling right now, and I feel like, to maintain mental health, I just have to avoid listening to it (truthfully speaking, I haven't listened to a lot of NIN in these past 3ish months... the most I've listened to them was a few days ago, when a DJ here in Calgary, hosted a NIN night on Twitch.tv, that is it).
(Deckard Cain)
There is a select list of bands that I am listening to right now, like I said... not the usual standards to help maintain a healthy mindset (which right now, I don't feel is helping maintain my mindset), but new stuff that I typically wouldn't listen to... here's some of the bands I've been listening to these days: Dope Stars Inc (I absolutely do not know why I'm listening to them, normally in the past I wouldn't have, but I feel like their music is really resonating with me right now). Blush Response (like I said, initially when listening to them, it was actually causing stress, but for some reason now, I'm really connecting with it). Chrysalide, Atari Teenage Riot (anything that is typically labeled Digital Hardcore). Cocksure. Cubanate. Cyanotic. Encephalon. Era Nocturna (not entirely sure why, but I feel her music is kinda this calmness, and currently what fits on the playlist that isn't heavy or hard). Covenant is also on this list (but, thematically their music seems to fit and is helping me stay focused, even though they are kind of an old standard... "Dreams Of A Cryotank" seems to be really helping with my mindset). Fear Factory is also on this list. Julian-K (their latest album "Harmonic Disruptor" is excellent). Paul Barker's Malekko is also on the list (just purely from a sound design aspect, for some reason this is fitting into the list). Nevada Hardware. Some noise stuff as well like; P.A.L., NeedleSpit, Stahlschlag and Wychdoktor. Panic Lift is also on the list. A band called The Rain Kills Quietly (dark industrial techno type stuff, for some reason really helping out with the mindset). Skinny Puppy (I realize they are an old standard, but they are on the list as well, and I'm finding their music really helping with the mindset). I realize this band may not fit into the industrial side of things, actually these next couple of bands don't, and they are kind of old standards, at least for me: Slipknot (only a select couple of tracks), as well as Sepultura (once again, a select couple of tracks), and Korn... now these bands are on the list, cause they are heavy, and seem to capture a part of what I'm feeling right now. Standalone and Hate Dept. are also on the list. Yes, also my own project Twitch is on the list. Venus In Aries. Wumpscut. And finally even though I haven't listened to a lot of Nine Inch Nails in the last little while, after the NIN night on Twitch.tv that a DJ from Calgary hosted, I added them to the playlist, cause it really has been quite some time since I've listened to NIN, and I realized I was missing them (but that was really only in the last couple of days here... so yeah, it's been a while)!
(Out for a walk during this period of Self-Isolation and Social-Distancing)
So, that seems to be the playlist recently, and what has been keeping me mentally well, focused, and highly inspired in my own endeavor. You can listen with us here!
What music has been helping with your mindset and keeping you inspired, and motivated during this period of self-isolation?
Here's another story of when I was on the streets... I mean there are so many to choose from, but here's another one that is kind of a continuation of The Waking up Freezing Story. Sometime after we had been on the streets for a little while, it was gonna be cold again... and we were at the same location as the Waking up Freezing Story... being that that parking lot was open all night, there was this little indoor area that was heated... I convinced my friend we should sleep in there, cause it was heated, and we could avoid the cold. So, we sleep in the heated area... and I wake up to the elevator opening. Not sure why it opened on our floor, but it did. Then I look out the glass door of this place, and the police show up. I wake up my friend, and the police come and talk to us... they basically make us vacate the area, but the funny thing was... we almost got arrested, they thought we were drifter types who were only passing through Saskatoon, and when we were questioned, my friend basically said to them "Actually, we live in Saskatoon, we can't afford to live in a place right now, it's too expensive." The officer is like "oh, ok... you can't be in this area, your gonna have to go somewhere else." So we pack up our stuff and head somewhere else... this was right around when, my best friend and I started to realize, this whole street thing is not a good idea. Like I said in the other street story, a person will end up fucked somewhere, you may get arrested, or someone will try and steal your shit, or worse. Why am I telling you these stories? I thought... maybe you would interested in a little bit about my story... I know most of my friends where I live, only have parts of the story, a lot of them don't know a lot of the details... so I figured I would share (and maybe you learnt something). I think in the end, I spent a total of 6 months on the street, my friend seems to think it was two years... but at least, I think for the portion I spent was about 6 months. At some point 5 or 6 months later, we end up renting a room in this shitty fuckin apartment (there were roach's under the floor boards, and all kinds of questionable types that live in this place, but that is a story for another time)!
Here's a Twitch story for you... a loooong time ago, around Halloween 1999, I was living in London, England, and there was an industrial event happening that I figured would be great to go to and check out some amazing bands, as well as celebrate Halloween too! So, I ended up at this show:
This was my first time seeing several of these bands... I think out of all of them Das Ich couldn't make the show for some reason, but every other band on this bill I did see... The most obvious one I saw once and only once was C-Tec... it was also my first time seeing them, as well as Covenant! C-Tec show was off the hook, I wasn't too sure if they were fucked on drugs or alcohol or a combination of them, but if I remember correctly every member of the band had these hand held strobe lights, that they would fucking pick up and stare at... it was interesting!
Covenant was good as well (this was my first time seeing them), it's kinda funny cause seeing them here in Calgary at Terminus (many, many, many, years later) Eskil was doing similar things and saying things that he said at this Halloween Festival in 1999, while on stage... interesting and funny!
Leech Woman was great! They set up all these metal objects on stage for the drummer (I think one of them was a propane tank)... there was a bassist and one other dude if I'm not mistaken... they also set up these projector units that showed images of war and violence and shit on the screens... their music was kind of a mix between Einsturzende Neubauten, mixed with industrial metal/punk... definitely excellent!!
Chaos Engine... well... their set was excellent, although I barely recall what they sounded like (although, after doing a search for them on the internets, I found some soundcloud playlists; which I'll include here)!
The last two bands The Borg and Man(i)kin didn't really stand out for me... (I had actually seen both of them at other shows previous to this Halloween show, and wasn't really interested in them), so I will not be including their stuff in this blog, but yeah... overall the night was excellent, lots of excellent music that night, and I figure I would tell you folks about my experience there (or well, at least this part of it), and a little bit about the Twitch Story...long story short, I went out there to kinda see what the music scene is/was like and to determine whether or not it would be a place for me to really have a life-long music career, but that is a story for another time! The reason why I include this particular memory in the Twitch Story, is cause there was a lot of inspiration that night, a lot of realizations when it came to my music career... and this show and these bands were a part of it!
IT.IS.HERE! Yes, we are excited, and I hope you are too! Twitch's new album "Databomb" has now been officially released on Bandcamp, aaaaaand we know some of you folks may not be in a financial place to support us monetarily right now, so we've set it up so you can grab the album for free (Just insert a zero into the "Name Your Price" field)!! If you still feel like you want to support us, share the album Bandcamp link on your social media channels! You can grab the album here!
You can also take a listen here:
A Databomb is a piece of information that is designed to change or render useless the person or governing system receiving it!
