When Stax Attacks...

Wine and Music Pairing for June 2009

2009-06-12T09:49:00.000-07:00

Anaal Nathrakh - 'In The Constellation Of The Black Widow' + Orin Swift 2006 'The Prisoner"

If you follow me on Twitter, you recently witnessed my obsessing over the new album from this infamous "kvlt" UK duo. Blackened death crustcore with absolutely seething ferocity. We're talking sizzling vitriol all over the place, from the stellar production to the uber-necro vocals, these guys go for the jugular with blast beats, nihilism, evil riffage, and a dose of melodic dynamics to help sink their teeth in even further. What do you pair with something so cacophnously delicious? Orin Swift's 2006 'The Prisioner'. It's richness and lush flavors work wonders with Anaal Nathrakh (get over their name third-grader) and the style and imagery of both are seductively dark. The music is like a hot knife through butter with this wine, helping cut through the layers of dense fruit from six unique varietals (mainly Zinfandel and Cab Suav based). The 2006 vintage is rumored the best Prisoner that winemaker David Phinney has produced to date (bear in mind, the 2005 Prisoner was listed as #17 in the Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines of 2007 and awarded 93 points)! An intense wine for intense music.

At the end of the day, do something!

2009-06-05T13:55:00.000-07:00

There is a vacuum in the center of our music culture. Whatever the genre — metal, punk hardcore, dance, pop or rock — the trend remains the same: leave your beliefs at the door. Our 21st Century promise seems to be that of a society in the advanced stages of decadence and social apathy. Not only has our music been stripped of any message that it might have had, but it’s now packaged as being “beyond message” — irreproachable in its indifference.

In the recent past, bands as diverse as Fugazi, Megadeath, Pearl Jam and Ministry all had songs that raised questions about political corruption, social inequity, personal responsibility and artistic freedom. Today, we see artists more concerned with friend requests on MySpace or wanting to “shake it” than with the problems of our lives. This isn’t to say that there’s not a place for celebration, joy, silliness and fun in pop music. That would be a frightening vision in its own right. We just have to ask ourselves, if we’re not facing the big issues then who are we leaving them to? Politicians? Lobbyists? Maybe it’s time to quit f—ing around and wake up.

Where did it all go so wrong? Although there seems be be a cavernous gulf between the glory days of Dischord Records to the vapid careerism of today’s mall-centric punk and nu-hair-metal, the transformation took place in less than 25 five years. Were we all tired of being earnest? Was sincerity unflattering? Was a compassionate world merely a naive dream or is it something that we killed with in-fighting and ego-stroking?

It’s quite possible that the dialectic of our progressive music movement was responsible for its own demise. The conversations in ‘zines and at shows resembled the discourse of a University debate rather than the concerned talks at a town meeting. People were discussing the politics of language instead of volunteering at soup kitchens. Arguments over patriarchy and masculinity took precedence over starting women’s outreach centers. The intellectual one-upsmanship became a rhetorical nightmare; many young kids came to shows energized and ready to start making a change and left feeling drained and humiliated. In short, we liked to talk about the revolution more than we worked for it.

Our own philosophies have been used against us. Canadian ’70s media theorist Marshall McLuhan once famously contended: “At the empirical level of consciousness, the medium is the message, whereas at the intelligent and rational levels of consciousness, the content is the message.” As a counterculture, the underground punk movement simplified this message to “the medium is the message” or “the music is the message” and adopted it to mean that the message and music were one and the same and wholly indivisible. It seems obvious now that the shortened version isn’t the same. It’s missing an essential word: content.

Various groups, including The Nation of Ulysses and Refused made a study of the aesthetic of revolution, and so did many underground artists such as Sheperd Fairey and Banksy. These artists explored the links between advertising, propagandizing, evangelism and philosophy. As a subtle and complex exploration of art, commerce and humanity these artists were very successful. Unfortunately, this may have been an important turning point in our culture — the point at which the image replaced the message.

In the years since, we’ve been given bands that retain the sound and image of our counterculture but forget the politics and leave out the distasteful bits of reality. If Milemarker and Q and Not U put some dance into modern punk, it wasn’t so that they would be replicated sans-politics by third rate impostors being blasted in every Urban Outfitters or American Apparel. There has been a domino effect: Political punk gets more accessible, accessible punk gets less political, punk becomes completely apolitical and irrelevant. The tiger has been declawed and we’re all wasting time in our twenties pretending not to care about anything but ourselves.

Recently, the magazine Adbusters, published an article railing against “hipster culture,” saying, “We’ve reached a point in our civilization where counterculture has mutated into a self-obsessed aesthetic vacuum. So while hipsterdom is the end product of all prior countercultures, it’s been stripped of its subversion and originality.” While this may be true, we need to investigate how we got to this point. We have to face facts. We have let the “hipsters” down. By not presenting a counterculture movement worth caring about, we’ve railroaded them into a subculture of not caring. We need to reach out to our DJ friends and organize events that are socially conscious. We need to inject a sense of urgency into all our mediums of expression. It’s not like all hope is lost. Le Tigre has made feminism danceable. Verse put out, in the form of a record called Aggression, a political protest you can feel, not just think about. Darkest Hour and Lamb of God are continually blasting a message into the headphones of metal lovers around the world. And everywhere in the world, kids are starting bands in their basements and they are pissed off.

We have been attacked repeatedly as a generation and as a demographic. We have been derided because of our looks and attitude. At the end of the Adbusters article, the writer, Douglas Haddow, tellingly concludes, “I take a look at one of the girls wearing a bright pink keffiyah and carrying a Polaroid camera and think, ‘If only we carried rocks instead of cameras, we’d look like revolutionaries.’ But instead we ignore the weapons that lie at our feet –oblivious to our own impending demise.”

Pretty glum. He writes something so insidious here, it’s easy to miss: “…if only we’d carry rocks… we’d look like revolutionaries…” Maybe looking like revolutionaries isn’t enough anymore. We have to start thinking like revolutionaries. The only sane response to criticism is activism. Let’s get active.

Written by Geoff Rickly from Thursday/United Nations

Stax Attacks Featured Wines

2009-04-09T08:49:00.000-07:00

I specifically chose these wines cause I've had them and they rule and I want to share them with you... Please buy them and share with me your thoughts. :)

Remember when I said I'd update more often...?

2009-03-27T11:49:00.000-07:00

...Well, I'm starting to make good on that, I promise!

Recently I've gotten a new car (Scion xD) a new dog, Hank (Williams III) and things are constantly movin' and shakin' at work.

You can hurt me, do whatever you want

2008-07-07T21:47:00.000-07:00

Ups and downs, ebb and flow. Ultimately it's all about balance. Active and Passive. Making things happen and letting them happen.

I've decided to try to actively post more on this blog.

It was originally start for a short trip I had in the Spring, but I think I'll continue to post. The trip was a good memory book of sorts which I've even forgotten about in the last couple months (haha!) so...

Big ups to the waxing and waning and the more to come...

Back home...

2008-05-01T16:15:00.001-07:00

So, in case you are reading this and don't know, the tour is over. It went up until the New England Metal And Hardcore Fest in Worcester, Mass, April 26th.

After which, I stayed in Worcest for a day, went to New York to eat and then headed to Philly where I stayed with my best friend for a couple of days before returning to good 'ol Walla Walla.

Not sure what that means for this blog, but we'll see, perhaps it'll continue but revolve around a different topic/subject matter? Maybe I'll put up some other random pics from tour that didn't make the initial cut... either way, stay tuned!

-Stacy

2008-04-28T21:09:00.000-07:00

2008-04-27T21:02:00.000-07:00

Tour over.

2008-04-27T20:07:00.000-07:00

And all I can say is said better in these lyrics:

Making come true our modest impossible dreams.
Stuck in public school classrooms at age 15.
Those long hot days just before the summer...
Knowing that we're stuck here...
And there's something happening somewhere.
Knowing we know we gotta get there.
It's true what they say...
Death is more perfect than life...
That's why we already died.
What could have been?
We don't wanna know.
Tonight we'll get our kicks.
Tonight we're all letting go!
'Cause we're all Dead Ramones!
Sore back!
Sore feet!
A ragtag army and we're sick in the heat.
We're not pretty and we're not rich.
We're gonna hafta fucking work for it.
It's our life!
We do what we choose!
Black Jeans.
Black
Shirt.

Black Shoes.
Mom and Dad still don't approve.
Twenty eight shows.
28 days.

Pulling up new rogues all along the way.
I'm just another face in this desperate youth parade.
And all the bunk beds locked doors, hardwood, sweat,
Guts, skateboards, cold war bomb shelter basement screams, no sleep, good dreams.
We're playing hard as we can and a whole lotta time stuck in the van.
Reading the graffiti on every bathroom wall in truck stop fast food hell.
Save me from ordinary.
Save me from myself.
Another punk rock summer came and went
Now I just wanna go back home and turn up my stereo
Until the rhythm melts my bones 'cause I'm a Dead Ramone.
D.E.A.D.R.A.M.O.N.E.S.

The wisdom of graffiti

2008-04-26T07:06:00.001-07:00

There was a stretch of days without Internet, hence the lack of updates to this blog. However I'm about to do a big post now that I'm in Worcester, Mass. To tide everyone over till then, here's a single glorious picture and example of why graffiti can be amusing, enlightening and just plain wise (well four out of five on the list ain't bad I guess).

Nashville redux

2008-04-23T07:31:00.000-07:00

Bart is vegan, this is his cousin's t-shirt. Bummmmmmed!

Be careful what you shake hands on...
All the bands on the tour love each other. REALLY.
I don't even know...

Louisville to Nashville

2008-04-23T07:19:00.000-07:00

My iPhone went kaput on me. Mostly while in Toronto of all places! Damn it... We tracked down an Apple store using our GPS and they were cool as shit! Gave me a brand new iPhone without any stress at all. I decided I should pick up a protective case while I was there :)

Bad news in Louisville. A little boy got hit by a car right in front of the club in front of a lot of people. I was out front seconds after it happened, and it turned my stomach, he was pretty messed up and in such pain. I sent my thoughts/energy his way, I hope he's alright.

We roll into Nashville. The show was great and fun, unfortunately due to some violence and fighting that broke out Heaven Shall Burn had to cut their set short. Damn it...

Murder capital of the world

2008-04-21T14:40:00.001-07:00

... or so they say. We played Detroit last night. This girl said it ain't as bad as most people say.

and although the show was the smallest on the tour, and we have nearly zero merch for sale, it was a good show for many reasons. Free drinks (yay!), crazy psychedelic bowling till 3am, cool people, etc.

The people who were there for HSB raged pretty hard. It was great. The final stretch to the finish line.

Nothing like a good t-shirt to pump you up for disco bowling!!!

family and friends seem a a universe away when on tour...

2008-04-21T07:40:00.000-07:00

...sometimes not even just a universe away, but an entirely different universe.

You love the freedom, but you miss home too.

You hate tour, but you also love tour.

And it weird cause it's not like a normal love/hate relationship where sometimes it's love and sometimes it's hate, it's at the same time somehow.

Anyway, long drives make you think about that kind of abstract stuff.

Enter the fist... of Canada

2008-04-19T21:25:00.001-07:00

We got to Toronto, but not before the 5-0 pulled us over. We all had to get out, get searched, have documentation, ID, passport, etc. It wasn't so bad, as it was annoying. Especially when you see cops digging through your bags.

I did get to visit Niagara Falls which was cool. I didn't realize it was one of the eight wonders of the world. Is that true? Someone tell me... I can't entirely trust info from Germans unless someone verifies it ;)

I did get to eat sushi after the show (which was on par with Cleveland... yea, that's right, TWO insane shows in a row, both ridiculous amounts of merch flying off the table!)

It was the best sushi I think I've ever eaten. Full on authentic, and the people there didn't even speak English, a true sign of legitimacy.

Cleveland DOES rock!

2008-04-19T21:13:00.000-07:00

What would a tour be without having your transportation sidelined for a time?

Just when I was recovering from the great merch day in Cleveland, Chicago goes the extra mile and nearly DOUBLES the merch sales (insane). We are running so unpredictably low that we made some quick arrangement for more goodies to arrive in Nashville.

The kids in Cleve-O are great, a good time was had by all and I was pretty excited about the whole night.

No time for bathroom breaks = peeing in a bottle... Not entirely uncommon.

This dude had the sickest Snoop Dog shirt on. Besides the Germans all the other kids on the tour are west coasters so when he was reppin' this shirt we were all stoked and I had to snap a photo.

Chicago

2008-04-19T21:07:00.000-07:00

We played in Chicago yesterday. It was very interesting. The venue was enormous, but a small turnout (however, those who WERE there, were totally amazing fans and incredible responses throughout all bands’ sets).

There was some violence and fights at this show. It was shitty. The cops came and the plug almost got pulled.

A girl working there came up to me and pleaded with me to help regulate the crowd by telling them to dance less violently or else the show would get shut down. Of course security there were total dicks and provoking the tension. While this girl spoke to me in the deafening venue, I took everything she said with a grain of salt, and then she dropped the key phrase, ”I’m a hardcore kid, I don’t wanna see this show get shut down.” Instantly my attention perked up. A hardcore kid, eh?

When it was spoken it was said with honesty, but the thing that I later realized while driving in the van is that this term is like a badge of honor. Instantly I took her seriously. A hardcore kid knows the scene, the politics, the strife and also the elation that comes with the extreme underground. Her saying this was like uttering a password for a secret brethren, and instantly I knew she was on the level. She wasn’t some typical suburban kid, she was a HARDCORE KID.

It was just an interesting anecdote that came to mind when driving in the van.

We’re on the way to Cleveland right now. We’re late because of the time zone change.

We’re all tired and dirty.

We stayed with my friend Selena in Chicago (big ups!)… She’s a true pro when it comes to photographs (lurk her out: www.selenasalfen.com). A fellow Gemini, we have a lot in common and a good connection that I treasure.

The band sold the most merch in Chicago than any of the other shows, AND with the smallest attendance! Go figure. Guess these kids are bloodthirsty for HSB.

Prior to the show time was spent counting merch, getting the beauty school next door to give bikini waxes, riding fixies, etc… basically “the usual”

By the way, I found out Oreos are vegan. Cool!

Chicaaaaaaago.

2008-04-19T20:51:00.000-07:00

Between here and there

2008-04-17T16:28:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I'm amazed by food... The sign may be low brow, and when the tour manager made it, I hesitated, but it's actually worked on this tour, so what do I know?Sometimes backstages are really shitty basements that look like out of a serial killer movie...

Show in St. Paul, MN after the 35 hour drive

2008-04-16T23:41:00.000-07:00

Oh man. After a 35 hour drive, people regress into Lord Of The Flies like it's not even funny... we were rapidly becoming Jack Nicholson from The Shining, it was scary.

So, we were tired, cranky, etc. our expectations of the show were not that great... I'll be frank morale was low, we thought the show would suck.

We thought the show was going to be in the seedy, dirty, ghetto of St. Paul, but-surprise-it wasn't! Even better, the merch area was nice! The staff was cool, the fans were totally nice. ...And what's this? The sound is REALLY good there? Whoa. Don't call it a comeback... spirits are up again, just in time for EMBRACE THE END to shred the stage, and they sounded amazing. After them, the crowd was blood thirsty for Heaven Shall Burn who delivered the goods in spades. Everyone was eating it up and the vibe for the show was great! Especially when this little six year old kid got on the stage as the band were destroying and just jumped up and down in place for an entire song! So cool! (His coolness was only multiplied by his size extra-large HSB shirt which looked like a nightgown on him) The band gave him big props to the crowd and he was the cool kid of the night. The band did an encore. I don't think they had a choice, people were rabid for them at this show. Afterwards we sold a good amount a merch (yay!) and the band signed autographs, hung out, etc. Then this cool girl, invited us to this mega cool place for vegan food (note: it's midnight on a weekday, vegan food in these conditions is a miracle), so naturally we couldn't say no. Embrace The End joined in on the fray as well. Everyone had a great time laughing, chatting and generally bringing the party to this restaurant. Of course when you roll in 15 people deep (all but three are vegan) you're gonna bring some liveliness to the place. Oh, and what about having veganaise as a standard table condiment? Hell fucking yea bitch! We also decided that Addison, the bass player for Embrace The End, looks just like Milhouse from The Simpsons (the pictures don't do this comparison justice).

And a good time was had by all...

From there to the hotel, where I am now, it's 2:15 am and we have to have up around 7 to drive 6 hours...

Climate change...

2008-04-16T13:44:00.000-07:00

So, when you're driving 35 hours (instead of our estimated 24 or whatever it was), you go through some climate changes and time zones.

In just one single drive, we went from blizzard white-out conditions to arid desert. It was crazy.

Pretty crazy indeed. You blink your eyes and you're seemingly on a different continent.

But sometimes you get pulled over :(

...Which is a bummer, but it's tour, what can you do, ya know?

But then you get to the venue after the long drive and can nerd out on the internet for a while... ahhh, all better!

The road

2008-04-15T06:49:00.000-07:00

After Seattle, we have a 22 hour drive to St. Paul, Minnesota... ugh! That means a whole lotta time, sometimes goofing sometimes zoning-out and music-ing up, stuck in the van.

First night on a stranger's floor

2008-04-14T22:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we played in Seattle. It was a great show. The band I Declare War was one of the openers, so I was excited because I've heard REALLY good things about them... the vocalist's voice is totally inhuman. I wonder how we gets so primitive and brutal sounding?

Anyway, the band played awesome, sold a good amount of merch and there were some serious diehard HSB fans there. We befriended some cool people who let us stay at their house. There was all seven of us (band plus tour manager and myself) in just ONE ROOM! I don't know how we all fit, but we did... take a look at photos below. There was a great dog there, her name was Pocket, which I thought was a cool name. She tried to steal my bed, and by bed I mean sleeping bag on the floor underneath a table.

In the morning we ate at an amazing vegan cafe where I had a fake tuna san dwich and-believe it or now-another kambucha drink (there are so many organisms chilling in my body right now it's crazy)!

Here are some pictures from Seattle:

Portland show greatest hits

2008-04-13T21:08:00.001-07:00

President of the Dimmu Borgir fanclub ;)

Face painters, think again.
In case you feel like punching something to get pumped up for your performance this venue has got you covered!

Women (and Stacy) be shoppin'

Heaven Shall Burn in front of 1,000+ people at The Roseland in Portland, OR

Part III...?

2008-04-13T20:29:00.000-07:00

At the show in Portland, Dimmu Borgir was the headlining act and all opening bands are forced to match their prices. Normally Heaven Shall Burn charges 12 bucks for shirts and 30-35 for hoodies, however, at this show with Dimmu, it meant $25 for shirts and $60 for hoodies. Unacceptable for HSB so, they refused to sell their merchandise and rip their fans off. Instead, we took it to the streets and sold it on the sidewalk! We actually did pretty good surprisingly...

I felt like a hustler selling knockoffs outta the trunk of my car, but it was still cool and still worth it.

First show continued...

2008-04-13T16:25:00.000-07:00

Before hitting up the show, we stop by Veganopolis, one of my fav places to eat!

I had this drink there, that had active bacteria cultures in it. Yes, yes, it's technically good for you and your body, but damn, it's just a weird feeling that you are drinking a living collection of organisms. The particular bottle I had contained 2 billion bacterium!

First show

2008-04-13T11:27:00.000-07:00

So, Heidi and I decided to check out downtown Portland before the first show. Of course, at the beginning of any tour, anything that can go wrong, WILL go wrong. Heaven Shall Burn blew out a tire while driving up from Sacramento and barely made it to the show on time (key word: BARELY)... but it bought us sometime to shop around. We went by 2nd Ave., one of my fav records stores, and the locals were already a-buzz about tonight's show, when I noticed the poster on the wall:

Hank

2008-04-12T10:54:00.000-07:00

Made a new friend in Portland before the show...

Now on the road...

2008-04-11T18:21:00.000-07:00

The bag is packed...

I'm officially on the road now. First stop Portland, OR which is always a treat when driving along the Columbia River (which separates Oregon and Washington, for those of you who aren't from around these parts)... It's basically an enormous, beautiful river with amazing cliffs along either side for miles and miles

Definitely a great drive, and right around sunset nonetheless!

Zen and the art of iPhone problems...

2008-04-11T14:46:00.000-07:00

Soooooo... Today, I'm packing up a bag for tour, and I'm still pretty psyched about starting this blog, when disaster struck: my iPhone stopped taking pictures.

My iPhone was my main resource for posting pictures in this blog, so I'm pretty freaked, pissed, and sad in general. What happened in short is, my camera would 'click' like it took a photo, but there would be no picture saved, my 'Photo Roll' of pictures I take, remains empty. I searched online for some answers and remedies for fixing my problem.

Luckily it seems as though I've found the solution and here's my first blog post and picture combo...

No excuse me while I scramble to finish work and complete my packing :)

2008-04-10T14:59:00.000-07:00

The genesis of this blog comes at the advent of my next tour adventure.

I'll be hitting the road for roughly 2-2.5 weeks with Germany's Heaven Shall Burn, and Sacramento's Embrace The End.
myspace.com/officialheavenshallburn
myspace.com/embracetheend

Here are the dates, come out and party/bro-down if there's a show in your town!

Apr 11 2008 The Boardwalk Orangevale, California

Apr 12 2008 Hawthorne Theatre Portland, Oregon
Apr 13 2008 El Corazon Seattle, Washington
Apr 16 2008 Station 4 St. Paul, Minnesota
Apr 17 2008 The Pearl Room Mokena, Illinois
Apr 18 2008 Peabody’s Down Under Cleveland, Ohio
Apr 19 2008 Wreck Room Toronto, Ontario
Apr 20 2008 Magic Stick Detroit, Michigan

Apr 21 2008 Uncle Pleasants Louisville, Kentucky
Apr 22 2008 The Muse Nashville, Tennessee
Apr 23 2008 The Casbah Charlotte, North Carolina
Apr 24 2008 Jaxx W. Springfield, Virginia
Apr 25 2008 Mainstage Pompton Lakes, New Jersey
Apr 26 2008 The Palladium Worcester, Massachusetts