Foxing/Special Explosion/Caravels Flyer (Febrauary 19,2014 at Art Closet Studios)

Neutron Rats Flyer

If your from Kansas City. You all should definitley come out to this show! It will be a gud’n. This is my first flyer I’ve done for a show, or just flyer in general.

Daily Sketch-039

Catholic Spray

Catholic Spray is a great change-up from the regular hardcore punk ive been attending lately. This beautiful band comes from Paris France, and i am one of the privileged people to say they have seen their performance in the United States. They actually decided to come to Kansas City first for the first us tour. All the guys in the band were super chill, and knew pretty good english. They were also astounded and amazed at my friend Anya’s hairless armpits. But here’s the shtick: They Are Great Music! Its a surfer punk sound and some fun get up vocals. The electronic waves that flow from their guitars put a remedy of a beach scene holding some comic angst in a glass of whiskey( thats what they were drinking anyway). I highly encourage checking these guys out.

And for another rant about why do it yourself bands are now my new favorite labeling system; you can always meet the band or community of people at their show. Its much more familiar and supportive, when you can actually discuss with the members of the band your appreciation, or interests in general.

Daily Sketch-012

Tryed a bit harder on this one. Kinda proud. Messed around with blending mode in layer styles, and recreation of characters. Also tryed my shot at observation skills of my favorite punks.

Brave Bird and Trapper

So yesterday i went to yet another touring do-it-yourself band and some locals. Need i say more, im obviously to supportive of “non-pros”. Im telling you guys it is by far more talent and more friendly then the big dogs. Anyway the band that was touring was called Brave Bird and the locals i enjoyed the most were Trapper.

Brave Bird: Is an emo math rock band from Ann Arbor. They are beautifully executed, with precision plucking and collection of teamwork. If you get a chance to check out their lyrics you should as well, because i really enjoy them and their vocalist alone is phenomenal. Not really much else i can say, except worth buying their music and also very much made me want to dance.

Trapper: I got to the show a little late, but ended up talking to these guys outside before i heard their set. I had recently heard about them only through my friend Zoe, who has some art lined up for them. Anyway, they were super nice guys and when they started playing i wasnt sure what to expect. I had been told they were punk, and they definitely were in a sense. But they had more than one genre up their sleeve. These guys were super original with lots of nifty tricks and trades to keep a fellow to keep listening. They broke down into hardcore settings sometimes, but most often had a soft spoken mellow tone with groovy little get-ups leading into chorus singing and harmonic styles of lyics that hold some righteous meaning. They have a new addition with a keyboard player, but has not released him yet. Check them out for sure.

http://www.reverbnation.com/trapperkc?page_view_source=facebook_app

There was another band i missed called The Family Bed who are also really splendid from what ive heard on bandcamp.

Slam Dancing Versus Moshing (Sucked Dry: LP Release Tour)

So its official folks. Ive decided to add interest in music for this blog. So if you want to follow different Music look at this and what I post please.

Sucked Dry is the very first diy(do-it-yourself) hardcore punk band i ever started listening to, thanks to my good friend Noah Hayes. They are currently on tour for their newest LP “Dog Children”. I highly encourage seeing their set if they visit your town. Even if you don’t move or get energy flowing to their live music they are still an incredible execution as far as hardcore punk goes. Always on point, with an insanely fast (or slow) played toms. They are an angsty aggressiveness that flows through my slam dance movements. Sunday was the first time i have seen them live, and they play a spectacular show. From Kansas City, I’m proud to say these guys are local.I haven’t yet attended very many punk shows yet, but let me tell you they are probably my favorite energy I’ve ever seen and experienced at a concert.

 Like I’ve said before, i enjoy all music, and all live music is even better. For a while my favorite shows to attend were metal shows for energy and performance, crowds, and craziness. Which still are really fun. But there is indeed a difference between push-pits and throw-downs versus slam dancing and skanking.

I tried looking up a decent Definition in the urban dictionary but none reflected the way i truly feel about it. Its hard to decipher the difference from a picture, so ill just explain it.

Slam Dancing: Originated from Punk music most likely in the 70-90’s era, slam dancing is a movement to enjoy music with an aggressive dance syncopated to the melody and beat of the song.  It usually consists of a circular motion or back and forth continuation. Slamming ones feet to the beat and hunching your back low to the ground swinging arms one after the other in the direction of which your going. When a slower “breakdown” or less fast paced punk riffs occur, its usually polite to kick your feet high in the air as if marching and try rotating or falling seemingly with little balance or interest in being stable. Sometimes there is a motion with ones feet that is specifically called skanking. The best way for me to explain this is a forward “jerk” dance. Moving one foot forward while the other is still then slightly readjusting the stationary foot beneath you, and quickly returning your foot in a forward motion back beneath your body to execute the same motion with your feet in the opposite positions.

Moshing: Originated from the likelihood of punk music and slam dancing, or skanking that has evolved into the more edgy metal music and less attended brain to the song. Moshing usually involves pushing and shoving within a pit, that does not usually fall into place with the rhythm of the song, but more just the fact that the song has commenced a breakdown. When someone knows the lyrics to a song, its usually fun to crowd surf your way to the vocalist, shouting back what you know. Sometimes there is no push pit or moshing that is visible, due to tiredness, or there are too many people throwing down in a pit. Throwing down usually is another form a slam dancing, but mostly stationary. It consists of constant arm swinging in circular or punching motions and stomping, syncopated to the song. It doesn’t always require a direction of motion besides standing in the same spot.

My Fourth Of July (A Compelling Story of Punks)

So at First I wasnt gonna blog about this event but i decided it really was influential enough on my minds development to explain to my followers and interest-ers.  But anyhoo, I had an awesome fourth of July this year. Started off the day grilling some nice big juicy pineapple bratwurst. http://instagram.com/p/bHTz9nCK_6/. For me and the family of course, along with the Famous Kc Royals baseball game. And to follow my first “Punk” concert. Which is going to be my focus point of this post.

The Royals Game:

Now in my experience of baseball games, they were always fun and something to do for the day but if my team was losing then it really started to drag on and i would become very anxious to leave the stadium. Todays game was different. I had high hopes for our Royals as they faced Cleveland and their Indians. It was real slow for the first five innings with the indians ahead 5 runs. We caught up with a grand slam and then a homerun with a single later. Up by two, they returned to our score of 7 and in the 8th inning we were up by three, Winning the game 10 to 7! A Great and Beautiful Game!

Now to non-sport fans i sound like im a fanboy hankering for a close game with all my favorite pros that i look up to and idolize. But honestly i never watch, listen, or keep up to date at all with baseball or sports in general unless im actually at the game itself. But this game inspired me again that there is a reason people do dream and follow the players. Its really fun and an interesting hobbie. I could easily get into it.

The “Punk” Concert:

Over the past few months i had somewhat respected the “punk” genre a little more and more. My friend Noah had always encouraged me and advocated all his favorite bands, mostly punk, and i had been “open minded” but not understanding. See before i said, “yea its good, just not for me. This is your kind of music, which is fine.” But now ive understood what the genre is about and the vibe of the people and feeling. I started listening to it on my own time a little more, but the 4th was the night i finally got to see it live. And if you didnt know, a musician or genre is never fully understood or appreciated until you’ve seen it live.

I have seen lots of different music tastes live before. Probably some subgenres im still missing out on, but ive been able to experience the people, envirenmont, music itself in that setting within various accounts. Personally I recommend everyone see and observe a live setting of the music of their choice to analyze the following:

1.How People Dress

2. How People Act

3.How People React

4.How the Music is Performed

I say to view these things simply because i find it interesting that its so different in almost every music scene, depending on how specific or broad the category of music is. So anyway heres some Pictures from that night taken by my friend i met there named Hudson Luce.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/streamfortyseven/sets/72157634606358410/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/streamfortyseven/sets/72157634612714323/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/streamfortyseven/sets/72157634613565395/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/streamfortyseven/sets/72157634643082521/

It was really a blast. The danger the Punks provide, yet goofy demeanor and gestures. There was lots of slam dancing and circling pits but no “moshing”. It was chill. We werent trying to push each other for violence or aggressive releases. But just mosh to our individual settings within a crowd, if that makes sense. Moshing= Having fun with pushing,shoving, swinging on others. Slam dancing= a dance with movement that sometimes requires running into one another indirectly. The really only differnce is how direct the pits were. Other than that though, the people were really fun. Dressed, miss matched, trashy, and patched to perfection, with all their favorite music attire, belts and studs. But personalitys were just normal people. Some that liked lots of drugs or alcohol. The show was at a house, and lots of these kids in the scene were blowing off fireworks IN the basement. It was pretty gnarly. As you can see in some of the pictures during the band Nuke Cult. The smoke was so immense they aired out the basement before returning back in there. I would definitley like to check out more of these shows in the future as well. Especially if there’s fireworks. I love Kansas City.