The Story So far

What better time to write than when on holiday, when your mind is clear and you have no every day troubles eating away at your mind. Plus it's about damn time. 

I've been living in Cape town since July. And I fucking love it. Not because of the lovely surroundings and endless supply of obnoxious food and drink. Or the convenience of having everything within a few steps away from your front door. Or the fact that there's something do to every day of the week, or even if you're flat broke you can still have a good time somewhere somehow.
I love it because I have figured out who I am. I've learned to much about what I like and dislike, what it's like to be a lone in a  big city and having to fend for myself.  Some might say "what took you so long", to that I say this is simply my time. It happens earlier for some but it took me this long. 
I see life in a completely new light now. 

Of course I miss friends and family, but I've made new friends and family in Cape Town. I feel like I have the support I need, even though people are all busy with their own lives there will always be someone ready to lend a hand, ear, car. And of course, there's still the knowledge and support that comes from back home. Thank you guys for being there!

I've discovered so much through music too. Since before I moved I had been in talks with my CT bestie Alain about getting his and his brother's project, Veladraco, off the ground. Things are finally rolling. We have a band, we're practicing, Alain is writing like a machine and we're set to play our first show in January. Hold thumbs for us.

Musically speaking, my mind is open to so much more. I like to think I've always have a good tolerance for music no matter what type it is. There's no form of music I can say I hate. I just dislike Rihanna's voice a little.
In a city full of culture and sounds you are bound to come across new and amazing noises. The more music I listen to, the more I learn about myself through lyrics. I've heard so many songs I can relate to across the spectrum of music. This is something I cherish so much and I look forward to discovering the endless supply of music out there.

This girl gets me

I've become a stronger person through realising that not everything is about myself. The things you or I do can affect people in the hugest ways. Sometimes you learn the hard way, other times it hits you right there in the moment. I appreciate everyone that has entered my life since my move. There are some people that I cannot thank enough for being in my life. People from different paths who have lessons to share, people who love and care so much. I hope I can do the same for you all too. 

I look forward to adventuring into the future with everything that I have gathered on my journey so far. And I hope that I can take everyone with me so we can be free and live the lives we want to live. 

I guess form all of this I realise the significance of people. As much as the general public "hate humans" we are good beings. It just takes a little more effort to look deeper and understand why people do things in certain ways.

I'm really working hard to get rid of the word "hate" and to not spread negativity at all. It sounds all hippie and peace-loving stoner, but it's true. I've discovered so much more through taking time to understand why people do things and why they think the way they do. 

We've developed this culture of negativity and hate, and not having time for things we don't like, even though we haven't given those things enough light of day to undertsand them. 

"The haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate ,hate. I'm just gonna shake, shake shake, shake, shake. Shake it off!"

2014 has been one fucking crazy roller coaster ride for me. Thanks to all those who have jumped on and helped slow the speeding train to a nice cruising pace. I look forward to this journey with you all.

I leave you with a cheesy quote from one of my greatest heroes, Tom Delonge, out of the Angels and Airwaves song Rite of Spring: "And every day I wake, I tell myself a little harmless lie: The whole wide world is mine."

What is even how?

I don't even know why I have a blog. 

Maybe I was peer pressured into it. But by who? I have no reason to really have thins. I could write about things I think are cool. But who cares? I'm so not cool. 
People are funny on blogs, I guess. They talk about things that they've experienced, so I guess I could do that. Come to think of it they have probably thought all of these things too. But who am I to assume such a thing? Perhaps they have it all figured out and that's why people read their posts and look forward to every installment. 
My spelling isn't even that good.

I moved to Cape Town, I could write about that. I hope I used that comma correctly. Life's just going, bru. I always seem to be doing someting but t the same time I'm also doing a lot of nothing. So it's not like I have an excuse not to "blog" more. What a silly words too. Blog. Blog.

Blog.

We tweet the silliest things. It's awesome, but why do we do it? I love it though. But why? 

Funny thing. I was at this point that I stopped to tweet about how I have no idea what I'm doing and I received confirmation on this very subject. Thanks Leigh!

Okay. So now that I know that at east one other person has thought this, why am I ever writing about this?

Maybe I'll find my"path through life on the internet. But do I even need one at all? Why do we do this?


#Moist

#UltraMal

I'm loving it here. The people have been great, so welcoming and hospitable.
I'm two weeks into my new job and have been loving that too.
I experienced my first real office party on Friday which turned out being one of the coolest ones I've attended. Let's just say I may have left an impression.

Hawaiian office jol

It was my birthday last week and I felt all the love from near and far. From family and friends at home to the new ones I've made here. Thank you all for being such incredible human beings. 

This week brings even more excitement and is the last step in ultimate radness. I move into my new apartment! I finally managed to find a place to stay. It's in the CBD, I can basically see my office from my lounge and I am one step closer to nearing my dream of a carless existence. Unless it rains...

I really have enjoyed my time here so far. It hasn't been long but it has been real. My musical endeavours are kicking off, I'm falling into routines as one should, I guess. Everything is becoming more normal. I see good things, I'm inspired, I'm driven and I'm lone ranger. The master of my own universe. I hope I can lead myself to great things. I feel it.

<3

It's Happened

This is my first blog post from Cape Town. 

It feels like forever but it has only been a week and a day since I arrived in Cape Town. I drove down with my brother over 2 days and we spent some time in town hanging out and doing brotherly things.
It was pretty emo leaving home, as expected, but once we hit the open road and I got my first speeding fine it was all down hill. Literally. 

If you ever drive down to Cape Town and need a place to stay on the way down, don't stay at the Wagon Wheel Lodge in Beaufort West. It looks like a murdery set from an episode of Breaking Bad, and not in a cool Breaking Bad kind of way.
I've spent my last week hunting for a place to live. It's a flippin' mission and estate agents don't do much, really.
I started a new job at a new agency and it's been a productive first week. Nothing worse than joining a job and spending a week or two floating about waiting for someone to find something for you to do. I basically got straight in and am loving every minute of it. 

The Maantin

Of course, I have already stuck my fingers into a musical pie or two. It's like moving to a new town and trying to find a new dealer... I would imagine. Except this is music, some may say it's a drug, once you get that first sweet hit and feel that high, you'll always want more. Or so I've heard from drug users.

I miss my friends and special people back home, but we keep in touch. There are a few extra specials who make extra sure I'm okay. Don't you worry, this lone ranger is just fine.

Walking is the greatest ode of transport and I am abusing that privilege as much as I can. I'm hoping to find an apartment where I can park my car, walk to work and only use it on weekends. Holding thumbs...

I have to give a big internet hug to Ingrid and Gord who have welcomed me into their home for the time being. Also, a huge internet belly scratch to Sakura and Rukia who have kept me warm by owning my bed 24/7. It's the best having cats around!

Rukia/Sakura

Until next time.
Tsek jou mal naaiers!

It's Happening.

I was born in the East (not too far East) of Joburg, spent the first few years of my life there before moving to the West (not too far West either).
We lived in one house for about 14 years before moving less than 2km away for the following 12 years. Now, I'm leaving Joburg all together. I've known no other city like I know Joburg. It has been my home, my playground, my life for a little more than 2 weeks short of 28 years. 

I never thought I would leave home, it just never appealed to me. I had my band(s), job, home, cats – "I have everything I need here", "All those other places are there for us to go on holiday"... It's funny to think that the next time I'll be home will probably be for a holiday.

I'm damn excited for this. Everything I can take with me now is packed, all that's left to do is sleep, wake up and go. The past few days have been sad, seeing friends and family one last time is never fun. Well, it is, but you have to leave eventually.
I saw myself writing a novel of a post, but I'm not quite sure what to say. I can't thank everyone, there are just too many thanks to give.
The ones that are close to my heart know who they are. You are very special to me and I cherish every moment spent with you. Moments may be less from now on, but they will be richer when they do happen.

I'm looking forward to the friends, experiences and challenges that come with a new life in a new place. I'm looking forward to having my friends from home crash on my couch/spoon when they're in town. I'm looking forward to everything.
The sadness of leaving is heavy, but the excitement of arriving matches it. I think I know what I'm doing... we'll just have to wait it out.

Let Me Try Explain...

I know metal isn't for everyone, but we can still try.

Firstly, one needs to understand that there are SO many sub-genres of metal. I don't care for sub-genres. If it sounds good and it's metal, it's good metal.

Having said that, this particular style of metal (progressive metal, if you will) has been on the rise over the past few years. I like to think of it as a grown man's metal. Strange time signatures, odd tunings, technical riffing. It's mathematical and quite complex, musically.
The best part about this kind of metal is that it's so groove based. It will keep your head bobbing from start to finish. 

Now I've listened to this song about 40 times in the past few days. It has been on repeat for the most part of those few days and I've analysed it hard.


Let's try this.

Things you will need: Good headphones. An open mind. A head to bob.
If you can read and listen at the same time, this would be idea.



This song is easy to groove to. The beat coupled with the guitars building up into the main riff in the intro is like a warm you up for what is soon to happen.
Now comes the hardest part for most. At 0:34 a huge growl kicks in with the main riff. Now, this is hard to do - This man's voice is so big and powerful, you just get goosebumps as it fades out.

The key to listening to metal vocals is you need to focus on the melody. Screaming is by no means pretty to listen to, but if you listen through the vocal melody onto the guitar you will see how well the 2 work together.

The drum beat is constantly driving in the background, it's never too over the top and keeps a solid beat for you to bob along to.

The clean singing is a treat. His voice is worthy of awards, I reckon. I get shivers at the thought of being able to belt out notes like that.
What's better is the contrasting tones of the screams and clean vocals. Both melodies are really catchy, they compliment each other well. Tasteful!

Just sit back and take it in. Until the breakdown, that is.

The breakdown is the climax of most metal songs. It's heavy, it's catchy, it's groovy and it end things off with a bang.
This breakdown in particular is a treat. Why? Well, at 4:39 you'll encounter a belting high note where the music pauses and drops into the tastiest chugging and riffing, ending the song with you wanting to start it all over again. It's all about that groove, man.


I hope this has given you at least a better understanding of what makes a metalhead such as myself tick. I like a lot of different kinds of music, but metal always surprises me with great things like this.

<3

I Promised Myself I'd Write Today

Here I sit in front of a blank screen while Facebook is down, hindering me from work. I'm not too upset about that at in the slightest... I kind of hope it never comes back.

So, writing, hey? It's something I've always loved but lost grip of a long time ago. That, and drawing. Both of which I have slowly been working on again.
Creativity makes life so much more exciting. The things you can add to a blank screen or clean sheet of paper are endless. If it's in your mind you can put it there. 
At the risk of boring you with my theories, I'll write something. I'm not sure what it is or what it's about yet, but we'll see when I'm done, right?

HERE WE GO!

I like writing about people. Not in a skinnery, nonsensical way, just as observation.
We are fucking interesting things. We have brains that we think with, most of the time, and hearts that we feel with. You can't feel your heart, but so much comes from there.

We listen to music. Arrangements of noises put together to create something that we enjoy so damn much. I can't imagine what kind of world we would live in if we hadn't discovered music. Again, some of it brings weird feelings in our hearts, the place where you don't feel physically, but you feel. 

We write blog posts fueled by flu medication and lack of sleep, hoping people in the world will read them. Throw a link out and see what happens. It could be something great, it could be something pointless. They'll only know once they get to the end, if they haven't stopped already...

We make irrational decisions - "If you don't try you won't know". We're adventurers! Well, some of us. To others adventures and experiences are scary and they would rather stay where they are comfortable. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but with a world of places and people what's not to adventure?

We create. We make things, we use our imaginations to interpret what we feel and experience and make them into tangible things that we share with the world. Some people get it, others don't. None of our minds are the same. 

I think as shit as the human race can and has been at times, we are smarter than we allow ourselves to believe. It starts with your mind, once you can master that, there's no stopping you.

Let's discover.

It's What Makes You You.

I promised myself I'd write more. But recently I've had so much on my mind I haven't been able to pin one thing down for long enough to think about. I also think I've started too many posts with "I promised myself I'd write more" or something like that...

Basically, I have recently learned a whole lot about myself as a human and about humans in general.
For a long time I lived as part of a unit. It's something we all eventually want no matter how much anyone may deny it. There will inevitably come a time that you will feel like there's something that's just not making things as great as they could be. Having said that, that thing could be a pet, a hobby, learning something new or even getting rid of something old. Just something.
Having been a lone ranger as of late, I've been exposed to so many new feelings, situations and lessons. Some great, some scary but mostly all new. I have discovered who the important people really are. You'd be surprised where they come from. Some have always been there and I never really gave them the time to let them be there. Others are completely new. People that I had met along the way who showed who they truly are form the start.
Anyway, to the point. This is not meant to be an emo, bluesy post. It's really a list of great lessons I have picked up about us as people through some of my recent experiences. They may not all apply to you, but they all exist.


It's what makes you you.

We're great people. We have our doubts, but they are our doubts. Just because we have them it doesn't mean they exist to others. Those things make us the people others love. No one is perfect, no one is right.
No matter how confused, hurt or alone we might feel, there is always an answer. Our thoughts are our only fears and we are the ones scaring ourselves.

We are beautiful. We all have at least one thing we don't like about ourselves. But that's just what we we don't like. Those things are someone else's favourite things, and if we didn't have them they wouldn't be able to be appreciated. Beauty is merely a matter of perspective.

New things are scary. Think of how many things we've done for the first time that we were once scared of before. We can do it. We have done it.

We are talented. There's that one thing that we can do that someone will completely adore and appreciate to the ends of the world. It's that thing that you're so good at that people are in awe of every time they see you do it.

Why are we sorry? We don't need to apologise to anyone for the way we feel or the things we say. Unless they are silly, hurtful things that were in the heat of the moment, then, yes, apologise. You shouldn't feel sorry for your decisions. What's right for you won't always be right for someone else. 

We often forget to take care of ourselves. We worry about the wellbeing of others, and that is great because we care, but we need to direct more of that towards ourselves. Sharing is caring, but you can also share with yourself :)

We make someone happy. Whether it's just by being able to spend time with us or being the love of someone's life, we make someone happy somehow. It's the happiness that counts.

There will be tears. I'll be the first to admit that few things take some weight off your shoulders like a good, hard, wailing cry session. Let it out.
I believe that the smiles always outweigh the tears, even when they feel like they don't. We remember the cries because they hurt more. We must remember more smiles. 

We have each other. It's the people we spend our time with that make it all worth it. With the right mix of good people and good vibes there is nothing that can go wrong. We uplift each other through our laughs, our stories and our consumption of substances. 

As different as we all are, we all have our simple needs and comforts in our personal life. I have learnt that by respecting each person's way of living, they too will accept you. At times we may not agree, but we still understand each other because we're all people. People are awesome. We are interesting, we are individual and we are exactly who we need to be. 


We will feel down and out sometimes, but there is always a pocket of happiness that we know will make us feel better. 

Here is a photo of a sleeping cat.

It Is Time

New things. Let's make them happen.

Mom

To Mom.

You've been out of town for the past few Mothers Days and I don't quite feel like I've been able to make it up to you, so I'll try do so here...

I've done some silly things in life, some pretty great things too - All of them would not have been possible without you and your support.

You stuck up for me even when you knew I was wrong. 

You believed in me even though you knew what I may be doing was silly or fruitless.
You helped me get the things I needed for my hundreds of "brilliant" life ideas, even though you knew most of them would end up collecting dust in a corner somewhere.

You've always been proud.

You've always forgiven me.

You put me in my place when I needed a reality check, had you not, I don't know where I would be now.

Although I'm all grown up (I think) you still make me feel like the little boy who always looked to you for answers and understanding. I will always.

As I sit here a "grown man" sobbing while I write this, I can't thank you enough for the person you have made me. 

There are so many aspect of my personality that I am so proud to be able to say come from you. I will do my best to always share the great knowledge you have shared with me. 

You are the only person in the world who can bring me back down to size and make me see just how small I really am in the grand scheme of things. When I think my world is the only thing that matters you are sure to let me know that it is not. 

I know I don't show you the appreciation I always should. You may think these things don't cross my mind, but they do. Every day. Every day I think of how I could have done things better and how I can do things better in future, I just want to make you proud. Every day I hurt from the things I could have done for you but never did.

You are beautiful. You are special. You are my guardian angel. You are my mother.

I love you.

Cool Covers

Do you know what's cooler than looking for your favourite artists' new songs on the internet? Looking for people who do those songs better.

Different people bring out different vibes in the covers their do. A voice can change so much in a song, just as much as changing the music up.
I really love the sound of one instrument and one good voice in a song. In a way you're detached from the production and cool hooks and you're left with the raw basics of the song. The melody and the lyrics.

Here are some covers I think are rad. 

This first one is a song I've wanted to cover on my own for like, ever. Firstly, I don't have the balls to, and secondly I have to train my voice back to its former glory to even attempt it again. What's rad about this is what a surprise his voice is... well at least I think so.
Brendan Walsh covers The Early November - Ever So Sweet.

Sometimes you don't even need lyrics.
I present to you guitar prodigy, Sungha Jung. Lie on the floor/on your bed and pay this loud and just listen.
Sungha Jung covers Adele - Someone Like You

This band is just too rad. They've been at it since they were teenagers and have grown into dapper young men. The band is tight, their musical style is awesome and damn they can sing!
Our Last Night covers Katy Perry - Dark Horse

This one hits the heart strings. I found this a lovely treat from the lil' Kelly Buckerfield. When she tweeted the link I had no idea what to expect. Yoh, I was surprised.
I'm sure I speak for every man by saying that there's just something about a girl singing at a piano that does things to a guy.
Kelly Buckerfield covers Rihanna - Stay

This song gets me amped. I've been on a big swing, Motown vibe recently. When I heard The Coasters' version of this I must have listened to it about 20 times over. It's too groovy.

Anyway, I stumbled upon this video looking for covers of it. 

Couch Covers by The Student Loan covers The Coasters - Yakety Yak

Here's one just for shits and giggles, it's cute. It will make your heart explode with joy.
Gail Sophicha covers Bruno Mars - Lazy Song

I'd love to see what awesome covers you've heard. 

Bye.

Satanic Dagga Orgy

SHOCK! HORROR! How can you call your band that? Well, because we can.

What's in a band name? Yes, some have relevance to their music, others are gimmicky word plays or alliterations, but ultimately it's just a thing to call your thing that you make music with.

Before I go on, please, take a few minutes to hear us out.

So that's us, well, not all of us. We have since commandeered the skills of Clint, aka Grandpa, and Gianluca, aka Zam, on the bass and sex/percussion/jazz hands respectively. However, we are by no means satanists, we may partake in recreational herbal treatments, and we're slowly gathering enough numbers for an orgy...

We've played 10 shows (I think) to date, each one completely different, yet each one the same. The same in that we eventually got people dancing and laughing. Yes, we may have offended some, but the majority of people who watch us end up dancing or singing along. 

The Orj

At the risk of sounding like a musical ponce, I must inform you that people dancing is not a result of theoretically structured chord patterns and complimenting leads. I't's purely because people like to jol, and we are merely the facilitators of the jol, wherever it may be.



So please, let us facilitate a jol near you and we could end up having the best night ever.

Get down with The Orj.


Hit us up on Twitter for updates on shows, orgies and more.


We'll be playing the D-Day 4/20 Street Party in Maboneng on 40 April. It's what Jesus would have wanted: https://www.facebook.com/events/476947755740725/

I Don't Feel Sorry For Humans

People often complain about how shit life can be, myself included. We all hate having jobs, hate traffic, hate spending money. But we do it because we have to. No one told us to, we just have to or we'll basically die. There are a few people who have figured out "the old life". We all can, I guess, but why is it so difficult? Well, because we made it so.

You may or may not be familiar with a film called The Gods Must Be Crazy. If not, I'll explain:
It's basically about a group of bushmen who live a happy life in the Kalahari desert. They have no rules, no laws, don't need to time, and as a result live a life of mutual respect and freedom. No one fights or argues, no one owns anything better than anyone else. Until one day, when a "noisy bird that flew without flapping its wings" (a plane) flew over and the pilot threw an empty bottle out of the window. One of the bushmen found this new thing and it all went downhill form there.
Everyone wanted to use the new thing that the gods had sent them. There was only one, so it had to be shared. Some people thought their tasks were more important that others', others got jealous and eventually the tribe started fighting with each other. You get the vibe...

The beginning of the film compares the life of the bushmen to the lives of modern man, and the narrator sums it up pretty damn well:

"Civilised man refused to adapt himself to his environment. Instead, he adapted his environment to suit him. So he built cities, roads, vehicles, machinery, and he put up power lines to run his labour slaving devices. But somehow he didn't know when to stop. The more he improved his surroundings to make his life easier, the more complicated he made it.
So now his children are sentenced to 10-15 years of school just to learn how to survive in this complex and hazardous habitat they were born into. And civilised man, who refused to adapt himself to his natural surroundings, now finally has to adapt and readapt himself every day, and every hour of the day, to his self-created environment.
For instance; if the day is called "Monday" and and the number seven-three-zero comes up, you have to disadapt yourself from your domestic surroundings and readapt yourself to an entirely different environment...
... But in the Kalahari it's always Tuesday, or Thursday if you like, or Sunday. No clocks or calendars tell you to do this or that." 

What I want to know is, at what point did we lose touch? 

People get upset at the millions of animals that die to feed us, at the millions of tons of garbage that we create. In some way I feel like we have no right to be angry about it. As humans, we are responsible. We may not be directly responsible, but we are human, we have the ability to change that.

So how do we?

The Day I Met Affiance

I've been pretty damn lucky in that I have had the opportunity to meet some amazing bands, most of which I look up to as influences in my life and music. 

Yesterday I had the opportunity to spend an hour in studio with Affiance who had been in SA for a day ahead of their South African Tour. 
Seldom do bands have the time to sit and chat to people, but the organisers of this tour did well in giving the band some hang time.
They were at Audio Militia's studios recording a special something. Let's just say it sounds fat, and you'll love it. At the risk of sounding massively cliche, the guys were really grounded. They were more excited that they were in Africa and that people were amped to see them than anything else. This made me happy. They also seemed surprised that we have avo on our pizza here... You'd think that being from America they would have seen it all.

Tracking Bass

What also made me happy was how much they loved the biltong I brought around. Although people think Sloane Meat Market makes the best biltong on Joburg (which was the biltong I had), I have to disagree. Impala Butchery makes the best biltong, and I will fight you on that.

Lekker Ous
Pic: Chris Preyser

Needless to say I'm fucking excited t be paying a show with them. I'm also excited that we'l be playing just before Van Coke Kartel. I just am. 
I hope to see some familiar faces there!

Obligatory "Proof It Happened" Selfie.
Dennis Tvrdik (vox) - Left
Patrick Galante (drums) - Right
Me (winning) - Middle

New Blog, Same Old Shit... But Not Really

Once again I find myself here. This thing we do on the internet where we hope people will come and read and maybe learn something about us.

I've been thinking about doing this whole blog thing again for quite some time. Since then I've moved into a new apartment, started another band, broke up with a member of my old band, got a new job, got a new voice and done some other things.
This week was the tipping point for me. As much as I love talking sometimes you just need a good ol' vent, be it good or bad. So sitting in front of my laptop frantically ticking away seemed like a good idea... also, it's helping me forget about the dishes I need to wash.


Why am I doing this? Well, I guess I'm feeling a bit confused with the world. It started last week when Bryan (the now ex-vocalist of my band Facing The Gallows) decided to quit. Fair enough. He was a big part of the band, the voice, the face and he has a personality to match. He also contributed a lot musically. Replacing a guitarist or any other instrumentalist is different because it's not as obvious as a vocalist. The voice is the first thing people hear.
I thought I was fine with his decision, but as the days go by I get a little more bummed, but at the same time I get fucking excited for new things. That is where my focus will lie. On the new. I'm over the bummedness now.

It may sound lame, but my band is a big thing in my life. It doesn't pay the bills, it doesn't entirely pay for my travels for tours, but the people I've met and the friends I've made have paid for that in my heart. I've worked with amazing people, I've seen my favourite bands, fuck, I even get to tour with one of them in May! I should be SO happy. But I have to work a 9-5. And as much as I'd like to be my own boss, I'm just not in that space. So I'll keep on the good fight. It's totally worth it. If there's one thing I could urge anyone to do it would be to learn to play an instrument, no matter how simple.

So let's be awesome, let's enjoy the shit out of everything we do.
I will write more. I don't know what about, but I shall do it. 

Get your butt out.