Archive for the ‘E.P.’ Category
2012: A Year in the Life
Quite a year. Started it with my friends from the Press/Kntrlr/Bicycle Boys: Dave, Alex, Mike and Chuck. We hung out at Chuck’s, where I met their various wives and sweethearts… I got to be the center of attention amongst a group of couples all the while, I never felt like the 9th wheel. I know I can come off a bit boorish at times, certainly a loudmouth, thankfully I lack no amount of story telling. I think Alex, Alex’s girlfriend got the entire history of Rocker Tycoon and the Press (A tale that spans some 4 years now, and 3 then) over the course of the night. At around 1. I went home, relatively dry… I had a few, but aired out quite well. And I woke on Jan 1st hangover free.
Shortly into the year, I convinced Adam Copeland (Black Water/Meltdowns) and Gerry Griffin (Black Water/Meltdowns) to join me in creating a band. For a time Mike Horaz (I Am The Heat) stood in as our drummer. Eventually, Lloyd Naideck (Black Water/Meltdowns) settled in as our fulltime drummer. All the while Black Water was recording its second album Friendly Fire.
I practiced, overcame whatever minutia of stage fear I had lingering from childhood and we played our first show to friends in Jersey City with fellow bands, Holy City Zoo, Cryptkeeper Five and Black Water. Looking back I have to think, what an awesome line-up for my first show with Warface (our working name at the time). New friends I’d found in Holy City Zoo, old friends in Johnny and Jimmy of CK5 and my friends in Black Water 3/4 of which were in my band.
The show wasn’t exactly a packed house, but we had a blast. Played well and plenty of friends I hadn’t seen in a while came out. It was ideal to me.
Around March a new pal of mine and a Barback at my roomate’s bar, Dylan Hiester, convinced me it was time I start untapping again. I took his advice and did my first Tuesday Night Magic Draft of Innistrad Dark Ascension. I was made to feel welcome as I relearned a game I loved so well as a young adult. I remember playing Monique in round 1 or 2. She marveled at how quick I was progressing since my hiatus. “You’ve gotten better since last turn.” When I finally started doing things on her end step.
It was only a few months later I had built a deck, and began to play constructed… Two tournaments in I won the whole thing, to a very land screwed Rob Kofsky. The bug was full on! I was once again a Planeswalker.
Springtime. Warface played a show at Lucky 7 with I Am The Heat, Black Water, and Kntrlr. The Show was a rocket. Everyone had a great time and most of all we surprised some folks. “I had no idea you could sing!” was the exclamation most of my friends had. Hell to be honest neither did I!
Our next show was at the Pianoland Morgan Junction. We killed with They Live and Marvin Berry and the New Sound. I had a time so good I lost my voice the next day… Note to self: you might know the lyrics to the other bands’ songs don’t feel like you have to prove it.
Jersey City Bike Tour: Rained Out. But it’s here that we agreed a name change was in order. Adam and I agonized over a few weeks about whether we should or not then we just decided better now then later. Zac Clark and the Something… Adam argued under a small amount of protest by me that we should use what local celebrity I have in Jersey City and use my name in the band. I conceded that it’s easier to get folks out (especially after a year of promoting other bands) if they know the show is with my band. Zac Clark and the Griswolds was born.
A few weeks later we played a fundraiser for Steven Fulop for Mayor. Few rock bands have played the Zeppelin Hall beer garden in Jersey City. A 9 year old opened for Billy Alpha who opened for us. We ate chicken fingers and drank beer. We helped kick off a political campaign that I believe (no matter it’s result) will change this city for the better.
Right at the end of the summer. We released our first EP. This was momentous for several reasons. It was the first thing I’ve ever had to show for myself as a musician. Following in the footsteps of my forefathers. It was also a mark of success as a band. Now we wern’t just dicking around in the studio playing songs and then one shoting shows. Now we were recording music.
Summer fades. I begin writing Hipsters of the Coast. A blog that at the time detailed my return to Magic: the Gathering an has since become a sort of community forum. Like Rocker Tycoon, I’m now able to reach out to people in my hobby and I’ve since become good friends with my associates that help me on the blog by weighing in with their writings. Matt Jones, Li Xu, Rich Stein, Jess Lina and Giaco Furino have Renewed my thrill for writing and helped me feel like I’m making an impact locally. Even if it’s just a gaming blog.
Gerry Griffin leaves the band for the farmer’s life. We spend a few months looking for a new bassist. Someone who is into our sound, someone who digs Devo. Sam Fit the bill. He more than fit the bill in fact. I had serious concerns about the future of the band post Gerry, Lloyd and Adam assured me they were in this for the long haul. Or however novelty punk rock bands last. We officially welcome Sam in! Griswolds are once more a party of 4!
Fall comes. ZC&theGs played a show at the Lamp Post in Late Sept that really knocked it out of the park! Packed house a ton of friends and strong performances by our friends I Am The Heat, Tijuana Bibles and Secret Country. We’re all very excited and we booked a show with the Everymen for Halloween.
On the Magic front. Grand Prix Philadelphia comes up. I meet up with my buddy Stephano and new friends Brandon and Qu. We and my 20ss friends travel down to The City of Brotherly War (Magic Joke). I go 6-3 on day one narrowly missing day two. But doing super well for my first pro level tourney back. Hurricane Sandy cuts my Sunday short.
I spend the next few days playing cards with my childhood friend Harry. We play a lot of sealed (format of Grand Prix Philly) and then we decide to go to Lisbon at the end of November to play Magic!
Sandy ruins ZCGs for a month. Our studio gets robbed. And the Path makes getting to JC and Home a nightmare.
I finally get to BK. Something like Wednesday. The storm was Sunday/Monday.
November rushed through like bad Chinese food. I was busy with work and sparse Magic happened. Mid month I went on a date, and had a pretty excellent time. Her name is Victoria. We went on a few dates and corresponded during my trip to Lisbon.
Speaking of Lisbon… What a great time. Harry and I flew straight in and took a tour of the city with Taylor (our host and guide at the Oasis Hostel). This being Harry’s first time in another country, we wanted to get in as much of the travel experience as possible. Tours and drinking with locals, meeting new people! Great times, it’s been so long since I’ve been able to hang out with Harry like we did when we were growing up. There’s always some job or I’m traveling or working every weekend while he works the week. We end the trip with a huge Magic Tournament. GRAND PRIX LISBON. There’s a blog post about Lisbon that highlights my addiction to cardboard and energy drinks. So I won’t recant that here. Harry goes 4-5 (pretty good for a guy who plays a couple times a year!) and I go 5-4 not as good as Philly. Still not terrible.
I return from Lisbon, feeling pretty good about life. These trips remind me how good my life is. I’m in a rock band, I get to play games when I’m not working, and my jobs are pretty great! I’m bartending one of the coolest spots in Brooklyn. And I write for a Tattoo magazine as their travel writer. Man, if I could go back and tell that to my 14 year old self he’d … Well let’s be honest he’d probably ask me if I made the pro tour yet. Next Year little buddy, next year.
So I’m back and I’m feeling good. And then I ask Victoria to be my girlfriend. She says yes! Which is a relief, for a few reasons. It’s hard asking someone to be your girlfriend when you’re 32. It seems like something teenagers do. Strange right? Also she’s pretty awesome, and buys me cookies/ laughs at my terrible jokes.
That brings us to the present… Good Job, sweet lady that is content with her nerdy boyfriend and I’m playing some of the best magic I’ve played since 2000. Zac Clark and the Griswolds has a show coming up this New Years Eve with the Everymen at Lamp Post.
Things are looking mighty good, and nix all that crap about the Mayan apocalypse, I think it was most about a paradigm shift. Things are gonna start turning around for the human race perhaps. I hope things do at least. But not all at once, we need strife for the good music. There’s not much good music in the peace and harmony market.
That’s the year for me. Pretty wild when I look back to Jan 1, listening to Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, to going on stage to sign off the New year. Good luck in the next one. Be safe, rock out, and always tap your land correctly.
Zac Clark, Rocker Tycoon
Disc Deconstruction: Holy City Zoo – Nobody Sells For Less
Holy guitar rock, Batman! The Zoo (Holy City Zoo, that is) is back and bringing it full frontal with their new EP Nobody Sells for Less. The only Crazy Eddie these cats evoke is Iron Maiden’s mascot, though. What I mean is that this album is not a Ponzi scheme or some kind of tax fraud to off shore accounts, this is red blooded american hardcore. Finally something I can clench my fist, bare my teeth and keep my chin upto. Lets dissect this bugger.
War World 5? Not sure, but I’ll say this: The build into the song is great! A little guitar then forceful drums coinciding vocals, then like a stealth bomber she takes off! The chorus rockets off with lead guitar that sounds like its out of an Ikari Warriors reboot for a game system that’s not out yet. The bridge is a battlefield of guitar. A lil calm vocal action then climax and it dies out…
Afterburner
… ONLY To blast back off with Afterburner’s hot riff! She flows into the chorus with dueling vocals… or are they Mexican stand-off vocals? (If this album was made in Mexico they’d just be stand-off vocals). Back to the riff, then we calm down for a build. And lead guitar sounds like a dive-bomb at the peak! Whoa! Ending with a top off. I imagine some kind of Blue Angels figure four deal fading into the sunset, Top Gun Style.
Paper Beats Rock
Spillpeak Media’s Al Vasquez put together a sick video of this song. More reminiscent of HCZ’s previous EP. Pay attention to the the flourishes between vocals on drum and guitar right before the breakdown. That’s one thing about the Zoo, they give you a respite before utterly destroying your face with temperatures approaching absolute infinity. They end it with a little piece of universal truth which is also the song title. And a hard stop.
Medolarke
This could be a b-side from Foo-Fighter’s first Album. The lead-in is followed by a wheeling guitar part and a call/respond vocal part. This is the album’s anthem for sure! Theres a violent trade off on guitar and bass… a small break and a solid piece of drumwork then the fade out. Nobody Sells For Less leaves you as classically as it entered.
So there you are kids. One for the record books! You can find this wonderful EP over at HCZ’s Bandcamp.
Recapping 2011: A Year of Singles
Every year I do some kinda recap about how I spent my year musically. This year I entrenched myself quite deeply into the local music scene. I think its funny now when people ask me what I do the first thing that comes out of my mouth is that I’m a music blogger. Saying that used to inspire a great deal of poserism in me. I was a pretender, just trying to figure out if I could hold a readers attention. Almost three years later and hear I am watching Flash Gordon, and figuring out which tracks were the best I’d heard this year. People actually value my opinion and as laughable as that still seems to me, I’m humbled by your unwavering fealthy to local music and to you tolerance for my coverage. So here they are 10 songs I rocked out to this year, in no particular order.
Sun Tea in the House of Atreus by Hushmoney
Hailing from Detroit, Hushmoney isn’t exactly local. No matter they rock out(and it’s my blog so nah)! Sort of a mix of Epic Metal and Dance Rock. Think Everytime I Die meets Cobra Starship.. Catchy though, The Breakdown is fucking rad as shit! Listen to that lead guitar! And its free so how about you get on that!
Yea yea I know this Track has been out for a while. But 2011 was the year I really, started listening to Black Water. After a meeting with Adam Copeland that went sorta strange (My Bad) at the end of 2010. I booked BW with Ben Franklin at Lucky 7. Although I had apparently seen them in 2009 at Automata Chino. Anyhow, I really got into these guys in 2011 and this song “Arizona” is one of my favs. Back in April, I asked Copeland about the inspiration for the song… about what incident it referred to. “A fictional one. Its a reverse terrorism fantasy tale of an American whose homeland (AZ) is invaded and fights back” He told me. It’s an intense concept and the song is just as wild.
I saw these guys at a show in the middle of the year. And I can’t get this song out of my head. That guitar riff is stuck in there. Seeing them live I gotta say their mid song banter rivals that of The Press’s Mike Henry.
In 2009 this song was my first impression of Billy Gray as well as Ben Franklin. In early 2011 it was released through Killing Horse Records as a B-side on the Urgency EP. What a timely song, though it’s loosely rooted in a true story, the Newburgh Four, I think the chorus really should be the new recruiting jingle for the US military. “Serve your country. Do us some good, it’ll get you off the street. Keep the fear alive keep the threat alive keep the population undercontrol.” Just listen to the thing, otherwise I’ll have to write out the whole damn thing out.
What Would Lou Reed Do – I Am The Heat
2011 was the year I moved to Brooklyn. I moved for several reasons some good (To embed myself into the Brooklyn Indie Scene a bit more) some not so good (I’d worked at every bar in Jersey City). One of the Bands that really took me under their wing was I Am The Heat. No song embodies these guys better than What Would Lou Reed Do. This song reminds me of the end of Wayne’s World when Crucial Taunt is playing to get Mr. Big to give them a record contract. It’s chaotic raucous and fun. That’s how I think of I Am The Heat.
Truthfully I can’t pick one song off Porter In The Making that I like better than the others. It’s a faceblast furnace of rock! The whole album should be listened to over and over again while sharpening knifes. One thing I can say with impunity about this band in that their recordings hold up just as well as their live shows. Be sure to catch them at the Killing Horse Records 2nd Anniversary show at Maxwells this Friday Jan 6th at Maxwells. It’ll be the last time to catch them before they go on hiatus from Live shows (hopefully for just a bit).
Retrograding the Masses – Holy City Zoo
What the fuck can I say about Holy City Zoo that I haven’t already. I’ll keep it simple, they belt it out and they wail! I know this is a curveball for the band (they think that Mark your Path is my favorite). Part of the Tiny Giant Artist Collective HCZ is crazy supportive of the local scene as well. Traveling far and wide to help spread the good word of underground music. I haven’t seen this much positivity in a scene since I started doing this blog.
This song has heart. It’s a little dark and little depressing but damn I just can’t get enough of it. It’s like a catharsis to the rest of the Imposter EP. Perfectly placed. I hear tell KIlling Horse is looking to release this on Vinyl!
Talk about a wall of noise! First off the video is great! EV and Paul are animals! This song is like combining Motorhead and the Rocketeer! And Live? Fuck, I’ve seen these guys play their hearts out for like 3 hours. Thats fortitude! The whole Shoot the Freak EP is like a night in county jail, that is to say you should experience it with your eyes and ears at the ready. You’ll be surprised, but at least you’ll be ready.
I have slept of these guys for WAAAAY too long. The album has been on my ipod since just a little before Brick City Sound Riot and this song jumped out at me the other day. The intro is great the melodic backing vocals contrast the main vocals perfectly. Importantly you can dance to this! The chorus just makes me feel like this song should be used in a commercial or as the intro to a sitcom.
BONUS ROUND
The First Time I Killed Someone – Wyldlife
My favorite song off the much celebrated LP. These cats are in store for big things mark my words. The story behind this song is kind of great as well. Back in 2009 Dave Feldman, was looking for a lil extra money. He tried his hand working as a cook at Lucky 7 with me… it didn’t take. (Dave Feldman doesn’t cook burgers he sings rock n roll.) Well, the guy that got his job also got his room in his apartment. I’m not sure of the exact details, but this song is a lil murder fantasy about his old roommate. You’re a dark dude Dave, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
I had a terrible time narrowing this list down, but I firmly believe that ten is a good cut off and I couldn’t even stick to that. That said, here are some other excellent songs I loves this year. I listened to them on the train or while I was writing, friends passed them around, and they are all on my playlist at home.
Big Boss Little Boss – The Press
Disc Deconstruction: Meet/Pause Cluster Cascade EP
I always have my fears when I’m checking out new material. Especially when I become really invested in a band. There’s a fear that the new music just won’t resonate with me the way the old stuff did. There’s a bit of a “getting to know you” period (I like to call this the game of who the fuck are you) that most bands’ new stuff evokes. These feelings and fear where no different with Meet/Pause’s new Cluster Cascade EP. So go to www.meetpause.bandcamp.com and download it for free (I’ll wait) and Let’s Break it down…
1. Cell Blocks & River Docks
The album starts out in classic emotive rock fashion. A few notes some silence then we get into the meat and potatoes. The album’s longest song by just over two minutes summons up a a pretty epic guitar love/hate ballad. By the third line it’s getting pretty dark and rocking out, Scott’s vocals are accusing and assertive. Graeme’s work on the skins is beyond excellent and really drives this song. You can’t beat the chorus either! The song switches from manic to depressive and back again. It feels nostalgic, maybe i’m just projecting my slap dash love life.
2. (Don’t) Get the F*ck Out of Jersey
Oh I like this one! This mad as hell and it’s not gonna take it anymore. “If you can’t stand to be around (Then get the fuck out!)” I can’t wait to see them live cuz I wanna yell that out in a crowded room. I might just go to a restaurant and do it anyway. Start with the drums and that fucking catchy guitar riff. This song has it! Whatever it is, more more more of this. It’s the same feeling I get when I Hear Long Way down by the Goo Goo Dolls (when I listened to the Goo Goo Dolls). and wait for the break down with the keys and bass! Put that shit on a mixtape and send it off to your ex girl friend. When she texts you that she doesn’t have a tape deck text her a picture of you flipping her the bird!
3. Cluster Cascade
The Title Track… the albums slows down for a little sing long. Artifacts of Get-up Kids, Brand New, and Funeral for Friend come through. This song has a great potential for live shows. I’m not totally sold though, I think of this track as a sort of intermission to the album.
4. Lakes, Ladders, Laboratories
Back to the rock! Guitar comes in hard followed by keys and lead guitar. This is a bit more hopeful than the rest of their catalog. Of all their songs this is the most danceable. This feels like I’m in the fight/race scene from a sci fi movie set in the future where the vehicles are made of psychic projection and whatever it was in Ghost that made Patrick Swayze be about to move shit.
5. Coworkers
Someone has dipped his pen in the company ink! And it went very very wrong. Thats what I get from this song. Or it’s about to get very wrong. I’m not totally sure. This is a perfect end to the album. Get breakdown on keys, nice and simple with a little power guitar. It’s the end of the movie song when the hero decides he has to choose between responsibility to humanity or banging Mary Jane and he (surprising) walks off into the sunset.
In summation, I was not disappointed. On the contrary I was quite thrilled. Meet/Pause still has it! This is surely a herald of things to come. One of the last unabashedly local “emo” bands does an excellent job of staying true to their sound and evolving as well. I’ve labeled them as emergency rock. Listen to the album, and you’ll see, it’s urgent it’s pleading and it’s tempo rises and falls at the right points. It’s free too so if you can’t afford it/ your just being lazy.
Disc Deconstruction: Ben Franklin – Urgency
Where do historical figures come from? The answer is simple, the question seems quite stupid once you hear the answer, in truth. If I were to tell you that Ben Franklin is Billy Gray, Sarah Tomek, Eddie Garza and and Adam Copeland, you’d think I was insane. How can one man be four people? More questions! And suddenly the whole mess becomes a deconstruction of not just the man, Ben Franklin, but the concept of him as well. Pretty soon, there you are, questions filling your head. Questions like: Has the Rocker Tycoon lost his mind? Who are those people that the Rocker Tycoon was talking about? And is this not a rock blog?
I’ll answer all those questions and more. Firstly, This is a Rock Blog! Damnit Man! have you been reading? Have you been listening? Have you been to the shows? Fuck there I go, more questions. Let’s assume you have been reading and listening. Then you know that Billy, Eddie and Sarah as well as new comer Adam are a BAND called Ben Franklin. Indeed, then you know that I have not lost my mind. I’m sober as a judge.
Hark! Then if those questions have been answered then you must know this: Ben Franklin will on the first score and fifth day of February (that’s the 25th) have an E.P. release party for their new upcoming album, URGENCY. Knowing this myself (This is what I do after all) I hit up Billy Gray (who knows way more dirt about the women in my life than the women in my life do). I said to Billy, “Billy, man, If you don’t let me check out your new E.P. early I’m gonna write a blog about my first girlfriend, then I’m gonna make you read it… in front of me at the bar during your E.P. release party.” Billy complied forthwith, what else could he do?
I’ve been listening to it everyday since. Listening to it in the shower, on the way to work, when I’m at home writing, and sometimes when I’m sleeping. The songs are embedded into my skull. I can’t get them out. I would if I tried. It’s an E.P. so I’ll break down each song for you. The whole thing start to finish.
Track 1 URGENCY:
Billy’s voice grains in after Eddie’s bass starts it off Sarah sets in with the drums and Adam’s lead melding with Billy’s rhythm, “There’s a sense of Urgency drowning in the frequency, in our headphones.” This song has a few solid and timeless themes. Sibling rivalry, Man vs Future, Struggle against Isolation, and the fight to become what you were meant to be. Basically its a song about getting your shit in order and living your short life with a little purpose… and that your sister is sort of a slut.
Track 2 TEAMWORK
One thing you can’t say about Ben Franklin is that they make tongue and cheek political references. I think I may have said this once. I was wrong. No punches are being pulled here. The message is clear, i think it’s clear at least: Join the military if you want to contribution to the faceless masses of imperialist conniving fat cats that control everything from the food you eat to the information to take in. They’ll sell you a romantic dream or heroism but at the end of the day TEAMWORK will only get THEM ahead. Musically they posit that war is a side effect of over population, and a large game of RISK played at the leisure of the world leaders. I could be totally of base here though. My belief is thus: It’s an anti-propaganda propaganda song.
Track 3 NO PLEASING YOU
Eddie takes the vocal lead on this track. I’d be upset with BF didn’t include one song that centers on relationships. Things slow down a bit this is one of the mellower tunes. The title is the chorus, “No pleasing you, and no reason to.” It’s about giving up on someone. Just finally coming out of the haze and saying, as Eddie puts it, “FUCK IT DUDE! (Let’s go bowling).” That moment of change when you realize this not worth it anymore. There are better thing to concern yourself with and just getting on. The song ends abruptly, which is a nice little touch.
Track 4 SMILE
Smile starts out whimsically enough, Billy is back on lead vocals. This is a great sing-a-long. I can almost feel the how crowd swaying and chanting the chorus. This is definitely a love song. I’m thinking its one of those, I can’t create a song for you, but I can for everything else deals. Why? You ASK! Well cuz you’re too god damn special to sum up in a few chords and some words. I could have totally missed the point here but that’s my guess. I’m sure Ben Franklin will comment on who close or far away I came on a scale of nuclear disasters the scale ranging from K-19 to Chernobyl.
In conclusion, I can’t get some of these songs out of my head. It took a while for Teamwork to grow on me, now I can’t get it out of my head. Oh and the Answer to the first question… HISTORY, dumbass.
Zac Clark, Rocker Tycoon
9/12/2011
Anyday Parade Jersey City EP release party
I’ll be frank! I’m not really sure if it was an E.P. release party or not. But there was a new E.P. for sale and the place was packed to capacity. As so far as I’m conerned it was an E.P. Release Party. Anyday Parade, Jersey City’s own country rock quintet, recently put out four new songs in an E.P. named Where We Fall! I was keen to hear it since I’d heard they where working on it a bit before my previous article involving.
“We can’t decide whether we’re a rock band or a country band, so we’re just doing both.” JD (vox, guitar) explained to me in a tête à tête after the show. Well they seem to be doing “two hells” of a job. The album itself sounds wonderful, quality and musically speaking. JD and Larry move forward a bit more on vocals, though Tree still takes center stage. 
The Chucks round out the background on bass and drums. Chuck Daly on bass falls into a hypnosis during a live performance. “You caught me making love to the bass!” He chuckles when I tell him I wasn’t sure if he opened his eyes during the set. Chuck Richard ended the night with a drum solo worthy of Rush’s Neil Peart! There was dancing and singing and general carrying on. I think all the best looking people in Jersey City must have come out that night!
If you’re looking to get your hands on a copy of the E.P. contact them via Myspace. I’m sure they’ll set something up with you! You can hear most of it there too! If you’re looking for the Next Big Thing in town, keep your eye on these cats. They have something going on that’s unique and thoroughly rockin’! Here’s video of their title track from the EP!
Zac Clark, Rocker Tycoon 