A funny road story for all of you....
We were asked to play a 3 day Metal/Rock festival up in a town called Owego, NY on Friday August 13th. The town is right near Binghamton, NY about a 3.5 hour drive west from NYC. The Festival was called Nikstock. Basically some guy Nick from California puts on this festival in the Upstate NY area every year. He invites like 50 bands to come and play at some campsite. Well it was more like an open field next to some raceway. He put together some half ass stage and rented a PA for a decent sound I guess. It didn't sound so good on the stage but facing the stage sounded decent.
The festival started on Friday and ended Sunday. We were asked to play Friday night at 8PM. So we packed up the trailer and this time brought with us a couple of tents, a canopy, some zero gravity chairs, a beer pong table, and a cooler of about 5 Thirty packs of beer.
Of course, Slam One Down is always late, so we arrived around 7:30PM and we were supposed to be there at like 6PM. So we pull right up to the stage and it was kind of funny because as you look around the field it was all covered in tents. We pull up to the stage and we are of course rushing to get our gear on stage.
Perfect for us, was that we went on right before the bikini contest. Now I guess a bikini contest in upstate NY is the kind where every guy grabs a chick and throws them on the stage and then they basically have to take off all of their clothes. I thought that was pretty cool. So now picture this; Slam One Down on stage with all of our equipment and watching about 10 naked drunk girls on stage dancing all over and around us. I guess that is enough to put a smile on anyone's face.
As soon as the contest was over. We started playing and we crushed it as usual. Made some new friends/fans of the band and converted people to the Slam One Down family.
So we finish up playing and get all the equipment back into the trailer and now have to set up camp. We basically drove right into the middle of the whole party and set up two tents, a huge canopy, chairs and a beer pong table within like 30 minutes. Unfortunately for them, Scott and Roach had to leave because of work and other engagements. So all you have left is Bobby, his girl, and me all by myself. Bobby starts playing beer pong and really gets a huge crowd around us. I have to say our little camp was the funnest party of all the little campsites. We met some great new friends and had some good times. There was go-cart races and everyone was really cool and kept screaming out "Slam One Down" to us as we walked by.
As the night rolled on, I thought to myself, "Wow, these upstate NYers really like to get (Fucked Up)." I would say like 90% of the people there were either tripping on Acid or Tripping on Ecstasy. I sat down next to one dude and he was like, yo the trees are flying up into the sky. He took his first hit around 4am, I was like whoa that is harcore. Than everyone was talking about some drug called Molly, but with their accents it sounded kind of funny. Towards the end of the night everyone ran out of beer except for us. Everyone kept asking to buy a beer from me and me being the Entrepreneur that I am, gladly provided the service. I woke up the next morning with all of these dollar bills in my pocket. Needless to say every party must come to a close so I passed out in the tent only to wake up to the 6am sun beaming down on my tent. I swear I must have sweated out like 10 pounds of booze and water through my pours. Bobby woke me up around 10am and I had the biggest hangover ever, with that pounding headache you get right in the front of your head. One good thing was that I woke up around 6:30 am to hear somebody playing the whole "Slam One Down" CD from beginning to end on their car stereo.
Bobby and I did nothing but lay in a chair until around 2:30 PM Saturday afternoon. The campsite was disgusting, it was like a Frat housed exploded in the middle of the woods. There were beer cans and garbage everywhere. So we packed up and I slept the whole way home as Bobby drove....sucker!!!
In conclusion, we had a great show, made some awesome friends, got wasted, and saw some naked women. I guess, .....We win again!!!
Love ya's
J.R.
Slam One Down
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
our first three day road trip - part 1
Roach here wanting to talk about the insanity that was this past weekend. S1D went on their first three day road trip to three different states to play some shows outside of New York City. A lot of shit happened so let's get into this:
first stop was friday July 30 in Bethlehem, PA. we get to the place and its a nice, small place. Some sort of gathering hall for members of some community. The beer was cheap, the people at the bar were nice and it seemed like it was going to be a good show.
I won't lie to you folks, the show didn't go the way we expected it to go. First off, almost nobody but the other bands showed up. There were maybe 8 people there in total. I'm not saying this to shit on the promoters. They were awesome people and they worked their asses off promoting and trying to get people to the show. It just didn't work out the way they wanted.
We set up our stuff and start our set and even with the small space, hard walls and hardwood floors, making for bad acoustics, it actually sounded really good. Of the people who were there, though, nobody is moving. Nobody is getting into the show were trying to put on. We do our covers and I see that one guy is wearing a Metallica shirt so I'm thinking "he's gonna love Seek & Destroy." He doesn't move at all when J.R. goes into the opening riff. He doesn't move for the entire song. Not...one...bit. He doesn't sing along, He doesn't even bob his head. He just stands there with his arms folded half sitting on the table behind him.
We finish the cover and Bobby immediately goes to us and stops the show. He then proceeds to yell at the people who were there for not interacting with us or even reacting to what we were doing. We seriously could've been playing to a morgue and we would've gotten a better response. And it wasn't because we weren't on our game. I think we sounded and played tighter than we ever have. The people just weren't into it for some reason. So we brushed it off and finished our set.
We go downstairs to drink some more and i notice a little sign behind the bar that saids "Hot Bologne in a cooler: 75 cents" J.R. tells us he's ordering a pizza pie for us before he disappears. We wait for the pie and laugh our asses off when it finally comes because its one of those personal pan pizza. The diameter was no longer than a dollar bill. We all took a bite before J.R. comes back to see the tiniest slice a pizza can be.
So everyone else notices the hot bologne sign and we're intrigued. How can a bologne be hot but also in a cooler? I couldn't let this question get away from us. So i waved the bartender over and with a wave of my finger i ordered up 5 hot bolognes in a cooler. She gives it to us and we're about to dive in when she immediately stops us and saids "YOU HAVE TO TAKE THE SKIN OFF" After removing the thin layer of skin from the bologne we tried it and, while it was cold from being in the cooler, it was sort of spicy but really good. We all approved.
Day two: Worcester, Mass
We drive up to Mass and we found out we were going to be playing with Hemlock. If you haven't heard Hemlock then you NEED to we also got some friends of ours on the bill too, Odd Man In. There another band you should be on the lookout for.
The drive wasn't bad. We get to the venue and I don't know about you people, but Worcester looked as ghetto as can be. I mean when I see a Fried Chicken place, bullet holes in the restaurant next to it and iron bars on the window of the pizzeria next to that, something tells me "ghetto" right away. We unload our stuff and for the first time I think we weren't the ones who brought the most equipment. Anyone who has seen us knows how much equipment we bring, but i think Hemlock beats us out. Odd Man In goes on first and they kill it. There's a drunk guy dancing, moshing, jumping on stage with them. Guys were running around acting crazy. It was a fun show.
Fuel of War goes on next. This band features a midget paraplegic in a wheelchair on guitar and this guy is amazing. He's fucking shredding and rocking out more than most guitarists I've seen. People were definitely into them and they kept the metal going.
We go on next and we destroy this stage. Everything is tight as hell and everything is working. Odd Man In jump in and start singing some of the songs on the mic with some of the audience, including Beer Run. Let me tell you its fun as shit to see a bunch of guys grouped around a mic yelling Beer Run as loud as they can.
Hemlock closes out the show and, after packing up my drums, i jump into the fray to mosh and bang my head to this amazing band. Their music is tight, their stage show is phenomenal and their talent is undeniable. These guys are amazing and if you haven't seen them live, you should see the next time they're in your town and check them out. Not something to be missed.
Now before i move on i want to tell you a mini story. A story of getting food in Worcester Mass. As i mentioned before there was a chicken place, a diner, and a pizzeria next to each other a block away from the bar. So me and the mrs go to get food before the show starts. The diner is closed. its 6 in the evening. So we go to the chicken place. There's a indian/spanish guy behind the counter and saids hi to us. we look at the menu and my wife wants shrimp. So i order the 21 piece shrimp with fries (not 20...21. i dont know either) the guy looks at me confused. So i point to it on the menu and say shrimp again. hes still confused. So i say the number of the order. He goes to a back table to get his glasses, which dont have handles. he looks at the menu for a longer period of time than i thought was necessary, but he finally saids shrimp in spanish which i understood and agreed with. He then proceeds to go to the back room where another guy is and converses with him while looking in the cooler for the shrimp. They're not looking for the shrimp, they're trying to figure out what shrimp is. at this point i look at my wife and say "thats ok. thank you." and we walk out of the chicken place to go to the pizzeria. we get pernil sandwiches (pork shoulder for you non spanish people out there) and it was actually quite good, but that one things nags me to this day. how do you not know what shrimp is? i mean i can understand if he was retarded or something, but he wasn't. he just simply did not know what shrimp was. and the fact that he had to go to a back room to converse with someone else who also didn't know what shrimp was boggled my mind even more.
this story isn't over by the way...
so we're walking back up the block to the bar when a car screeches up the hill beside us and spins out right in front of us. it literally was two steps away from hitting us. the two guys in the car just stare at us for a minute before reversing the car and parking it on the street they just spun out on and then run up the hill past us laughing. they almost killed us and were laughing about it.
needless to say i wanted to get out of worcester as soon as possible.
we rented a hotel for the night in Auburn Mass to save time for the drive to Walden the next day. I passed out right away while J.R., Mrs Roach, Gio, and Bobby explored the hotel and had a party of it.
Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion...
-Roach
first stop was friday July 30 in Bethlehem, PA. we get to the place and its a nice, small place. Some sort of gathering hall for members of some community. The beer was cheap, the people at the bar were nice and it seemed like it was going to be a good show.
I won't lie to you folks, the show didn't go the way we expected it to go. First off, almost nobody but the other bands showed up. There were maybe 8 people there in total. I'm not saying this to shit on the promoters. They were awesome people and they worked their asses off promoting and trying to get people to the show. It just didn't work out the way they wanted.
We set up our stuff and start our set and even with the small space, hard walls and hardwood floors, making for bad acoustics, it actually sounded really good. Of the people who were there, though, nobody is moving. Nobody is getting into the show were trying to put on. We do our covers and I see that one guy is wearing a Metallica shirt so I'm thinking "he's gonna love Seek & Destroy." He doesn't move at all when J.R. goes into the opening riff. He doesn't move for the entire song. Not...one...bit. He doesn't sing along, He doesn't even bob his head. He just stands there with his arms folded half sitting on the table behind him.
We finish the cover and Bobby immediately goes to us and stops the show. He then proceeds to yell at the people who were there for not interacting with us or even reacting to what we were doing. We seriously could've been playing to a morgue and we would've gotten a better response. And it wasn't because we weren't on our game. I think we sounded and played tighter than we ever have. The people just weren't into it for some reason. So we brushed it off and finished our set.
We go downstairs to drink some more and i notice a little sign behind the bar that saids "Hot Bologne in a cooler: 75 cents" J.R. tells us he's ordering a pizza pie for us before he disappears. We wait for the pie and laugh our asses off when it finally comes because its one of those personal pan pizza. The diameter was no longer than a dollar bill. We all took a bite before J.R. comes back to see the tiniest slice a pizza can be.
So everyone else notices the hot bologne sign and we're intrigued. How can a bologne be hot but also in a cooler? I couldn't let this question get away from us. So i waved the bartender over and with a wave of my finger i ordered up 5 hot bolognes in a cooler. She gives it to us and we're about to dive in when she immediately stops us and saids "YOU HAVE TO TAKE THE SKIN OFF" After removing the thin layer of skin from the bologne we tried it and, while it was cold from being in the cooler, it was sort of spicy but really good. We all approved.
Day two: Worcester, Mass
We drive up to Mass and we found out we were going to be playing with Hemlock. If you haven't heard Hemlock then you NEED to we also got some friends of ours on the bill too, Odd Man In. There another band you should be on the lookout for.
The drive wasn't bad. We get to the venue and I don't know about you people, but Worcester looked as ghetto as can be. I mean when I see a Fried Chicken place, bullet holes in the restaurant next to it and iron bars on the window of the pizzeria next to that, something tells me "ghetto" right away. We unload our stuff and for the first time I think we weren't the ones who brought the most equipment. Anyone who has seen us knows how much equipment we bring, but i think Hemlock beats us out. Odd Man In goes on first and they kill it. There's a drunk guy dancing, moshing, jumping on stage with them. Guys were running around acting crazy. It was a fun show.
Fuel of War goes on next. This band features a midget paraplegic in a wheelchair on guitar and this guy is amazing. He's fucking shredding and rocking out more than most guitarists I've seen. People were definitely into them and they kept the metal going.
We go on next and we destroy this stage. Everything is tight as hell and everything is working. Odd Man In jump in and start singing some of the songs on the mic with some of the audience, including Beer Run. Let me tell you its fun as shit to see a bunch of guys grouped around a mic yelling Beer Run as loud as they can.
Hemlock closes out the show and, after packing up my drums, i jump into the fray to mosh and bang my head to this amazing band. Their music is tight, their stage show is phenomenal and their talent is undeniable. These guys are amazing and if you haven't seen them live, you should see the next time they're in your town and check them out. Not something to be missed.
Now before i move on i want to tell you a mini story. A story of getting food in Worcester Mass. As i mentioned before there was a chicken place, a diner, and a pizzeria next to each other a block away from the bar. So me and the mrs go to get food before the show starts. The diner is closed. its 6 in the evening. So we go to the chicken place. There's a indian/spanish guy behind the counter and saids hi to us. we look at the menu and my wife wants shrimp. So i order the 21 piece shrimp with fries (not 20...21. i dont know either) the guy looks at me confused. So i point to it on the menu and say shrimp again. hes still confused. So i say the number of the order. He goes to a back table to get his glasses, which dont have handles. he looks at the menu for a longer period of time than i thought was necessary, but he finally saids shrimp in spanish which i understood and agreed with. He then proceeds to go to the back room where another guy is and converses with him while looking in the cooler for the shrimp. They're not looking for the shrimp, they're trying to figure out what shrimp is. at this point i look at my wife and say "thats ok. thank you." and we walk out of the chicken place to go to the pizzeria. we get pernil sandwiches (pork shoulder for you non spanish people out there) and it was actually quite good, but that one things nags me to this day. how do you not know what shrimp is? i mean i can understand if he was retarded or something, but he wasn't. he just simply did not know what shrimp was. and the fact that he had to go to a back room to converse with someone else who also didn't know what shrimp was boggled my mind even more.
this story isn't over by the way...
so we're walking back up the block to the bar when a car screeches up the hill beside us and spins out right in front of us. it literally was two steps away from hitting us. the two guys in the car just stare at us for a minute before reversing the car and parking it on the street they just spun out on and then run up the hill past us laughing. they almost killed us and were laughing about it.
needless to say i wanted to get out of worcester as soon as possible.
we rented a hotel for the night in Auburn Mass to save time for the drive to Walden the next day. I passed out right away while J.R., Mrs Roach, Gio, and Bobby explored the hotel and had a party of it.
Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion...
-Roach
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
this past weekend at the Pickwick Pub
So we drive up to Poughkeepsie, New York to play with our friends No Remission, Left In Ruins, and Assault (F.Y.C.) J.R. and I drive up together while Bobby and Scotty took their own cars. We get there around 7:30 and start having some drinks with some of the other bands who are already there. Scott arrives and we unload the trailer and have more drinks. After a pizza dinner, we find out that Bobby is going to be late to the show. People are already filling the bar and are getting a little antsy. Before we even play one note a guy walks up to us and asks to buy a shirt because he loves the BEER RUN on the back. This was already turning out to be a good experience.
After a couple of more drinks, J.R. is feeling the buzz and sets up his guitar and starts warming up. He plays some old school Metallica and Black Sabbath tracks and the people start yelling. I jump on the drums and Luigi, the lead singer of Left In Ruins, grabs a bass and we start to play any and every cover song we know. Metallica, Ozzy, Pantera. The crowd is going nuts. People are taking turns jumping on the mic to sing whatever parts of the songs they knew. We were having way too much fun.
Bobby finally shows up and we crush our set. The fans are going crazy and we loved every minute of it. Definitely a fun show to play. Afterwards we go outside and start mingling and selling t-shirts. A couple of people buy some shirts before a guy walks up to us and saids "I'll take a shot in the nuts if you give me a free shirt." Everyone starts getting in on it, taking bets and egging people on to do it. This girl raises her hand and offers to do it. Turns out shes a dancer and a martial artist. She's stretching her leg right in front of me and her leg seriously went straight into the air. I was like "holy shit!" Everyone starts to call foul, however. She has flip flops on and everyone saids that its not going to hurt. This dude then raises his hand and saids "she can use my steel toed boots!" Everyone starts to go nuts.
She laces up the boot and starts warming up. Everyone is chanting. This dude assumes the position and, while the kick was not full force, it still obliterated him. He's on the floor for a good 20 minutes and he was coughing the rest of the night. We decided to give him two shirts for each of his testicles.
We go back inside and No Remission is picking up where we left off, destroying the stage. Left In Ruins keeps it going, always a pleasure to see those guys, and Assault finishes up the night in true metal fashion.
More drinking, more partying. J.R. tells me to get some sleep because I'm driving us home. at 2AM i jump in the passenger seat, lower it, and take a nap. He wakes me up at 4AM. The bar is closing. The owner and the bartender are leaving with everyone and the party is over. I'm still a little groggy and A LOT hungover, but i managed to keep it together enough to get us back into Jersey. We stop at a MCdonalds and J.R., having recovered enough, drove the rest of the way home. We unpack the trailer and i realize its 6:30AM. I have to be at work at 7AM. J.R. throws me the spare keys to the car and tells me to go to work. I drive to work on two hours sleep, take two aspirin, and get through the workday. I drive back to J.R.'s to return the car and then he drives me home.
Insane insane fucking weekend with a lot of booze, a lot of cool people. A lot of new memories were made and a lot of metal was had. We're definitely coming back to Pickwick in the future.
After a couple of more drinks, J.R. is feeling the buzz and sets up his guitar and starts warming up. He plays some old school Metallica and Black Sabbath tracks and the people start yelling. I jump on the drums and Luigi, the lead singer of Left In Ruins, grabs a bass and we start to play any and every cover song we know. Metallica, Ozzy, Pantera. The crowd is going nuts. People are taking turns jumping on the mic to sing whatever parts of the songs they knew. We were having way too much fun.
Bobby finally shows up and we crush our set. The fans are going crazy and we loved every minute of it. Definitely a fun show to play. Afterwards we go outside and start mingling and selling t-shirts. A couple of people buy some shirts before a guy walks up to us and saids "I'll take a shot in the nuts if you give me a free shirt." Everyone starts getting in on it, taking bets and egging people on to do it. This girl raises her hand and offers to do it. Turns out shes a dancer and a martial artist. She's stretching her leg right in front of me and her leg seriously went straight into the air. I was like "holy shit!" Everyone starts to call foul, however. She has flip flops on and everyone saids that its not going to hurt. This dude then raises his hand and saids "she can use my steel toed boots!" Everyone starts to go nuts.
She laces up the boot and starts warming up. Everyone is chanting. This dude assumes the position and, while the kick was not full force, it still obliterated him. He's on the floor for a good 20 minutes and he was coughing the rest of the night. We decided to give him two shirts for each of his testicles.
We go back inside and No Remission is picking up where we left off, destroying the stage. Left In Ruins keeps it going, always a pleasure to see those guys, and Assault finishes up the night in true metal fashion.
More drinking, more partying. J.R. tells me to get some sleep because I'm driving us home. at 2AM i jump in the passenger seat, lower it, and take a nap. He wakes me up at 4AM. The bar is closing. The owner and the bartender are leaving with everyone and the party is over. I'm still a little groggy and A LOT hungover, but i managed to keep it together enough to get us back into Jersey. We stop at a MCdonalds and J.R., having recovered enough, drove the rest of the way home. We unpack the trailer and i realize its 6:30AM. I have to be at work at 7AM. J.R. throws me the spare keys to the car and tells me to go to work. I drive to work on two hours sleep, take two aspirin, and get through the workday. I drive back to J.R.'s to return the car and then he drives me home.
Insane insane fucking weekend with a lot of booze, a lot of cool people. A lot of new memories were made and a lot of metal was had. We're definitely coming back to Pickwick in the future.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
The Underground Heavy Metal Scen in New York City Part 1
I am writing this blog not to complain but to talk about some of the things that I have observed being a member of one of the Heavy Metal Bands in the Underground Heavy Metal Scene. I also am writing this to offer some guidance to all of the bands that make up this scene. You know who you are. I bet some of the advice that I offer here can help other Metal scenes throughout the country or the world, but this is specific to NYC only because it is all I know.
The greatest thing about the underground is the freedom of musical expression that is so readily available. I mean lets face it...if you call up a local venue or promoter and tell them that you will bring 20 people to one of their events, you are pretty much guaranteed to play a show no matter how good or bad you are. And that shouldn't be too hard, 4 guys in a band all bring one girlfriend and 4 friends each you got your 20 right there. Like I said, this is a good thing because I think everyone should have a platform to express themselves musically. So if you are honest about the fact that all you are there to do is express yourself and you are not trying to reach a larger audience, the underground is a great place for you....however....
Most of the people that I run into are using the underground to get to another place. I would say a lot of them are looking for a record label to "discover" them and offer them some sort of recording deal, and an avenue for them to tour the world playing their music....Slam One Down is for sure.
The New York City Underground is a double edged sword. And when I say NYC underground I mean NYC, the 5 boroughs, Rockland etc., North Jersey & Long Island etc. The reason that it is a double edged sword is because there are a ton of places to play. This is a good thing and bad thing...the reason that it is a good thing is because it is very easy to get a show and play live. The reason that it is bad is because....
....So here is the problem...there are soooooo many bands and sooo many venues and we have a very small and concentrated scene (or better said, not a lot of people). SO what happens is every band takes their 10 or 20 people and take them to wherever they can get a show. Then what happens is the band plays 1 week in NYC, the next week in Brooklyn, the next week in Jersey and the next week in L.I. The problem is that now they keep asking their friends to follow them to every show and their friends go to the first 2 shows and then say to themselves I wont go this week, I'll go next week because they will obviously be playing again next week or so. I mean let's face it, even if Metallica played every Friday for 6 months at the Garden, by the end of the first month there would be like 100 people there. What Metallica does is plays once and then leaves and does not come back for a year and makes people come out everytime they play. It's a simple strategy.
You can ask anyone in the scene, I go to almost every underground show that I can. The only time i don't is if we have a show or practice. If someone invites me, I go and you don't even have to call me. I go on facebook and look at today's events and I go to whoever is playing wherever. But I have to, because I am a true supporter and I have to promote my band. I also hope and expect people to do the same for me. But guess what, most people are not like me and do not care about the scene the way I do.
So here is what is happening, their are about 20 or 30 solid bands that are really doing well and making some noise in the scene. They perform well, write good music, get the crowds involved, bring 20-60 people and throw a good party. But most of them are not getting anywhere because the whole scene is being watered down. Everyone is playing every week in the city and all the time. So I have a bit of a solution to the problem. This is not a perfect solution and is going to take time to organize but if we all start working together it can work well....to be continued!!!!-J.R.
The greatest thing about the underground is the freedom of musical expression that is so readily available. I mean lets face it...if you call up a local venue or promoter and tell them that you will bring 20 people to one of their events, you are pretty much guaranteed to play a show no matter how good or bad you are. And that shouldn't be too hard, 4 guys in a band all bring one girlfriend and 4 friends each you got your 20 right there. Like I said, this is a good thing because I think everyone should have a platform to express themselves musically. So if you are honest about the fact that all you are there to do is express yourself and you are not trying to reach a larger audience, the underground is a great place for you....however....
Most of the people that I run into are using the underground to get to another place. I would say a lot of them are looking for a record label to "discover" them and offer them some sort of recording deal, and an avenue for them to tour the world playing their music....Slam One Down is for sure.
The New York City Underground is a double edged sword. And when I say NYC underground I mean NYC, the 5 boroughs, Rockland etc., North Jersey & Long Island etc. The reason that it is a double edged sword is because there are a ton of places to play. This is a good thing and bad thing...the reason that it is a good thing is because it is very easy to get a show and play live. The reason that it is bad is because....
....So here is the problem...there are soooooo many bands and sooo many venues and we have a very small and concentrated scene (or better said, not a lot of people). SO what happens is every band takes their 10 or 20 people and take them to wherever they can get a show. Then what happens is the band plays 1 week in NYC, the next week in Brooklyn, the next week in Jersey and the next week in L.I. The problem is that now they keep asking their friends to follow them to every show and their friends go to the first 2 shows and then say to themselves I wont go this week, I'll go next week because they will obviously be playing again next week or so. I mean let's face it, even if Metallica played every Friday for 6 months at the Garden, by the end of the first month there would be like 100 people there. What Metallica does is plays once and then leaves and does not come back for a year and makes people come out everytime they play. It's a simple strategy.
You can ask anyone in the scene, I go to almost every underground show that I can. The only time i don't is if we have a show or practice. If someone invites me, I go and you don't even have to call me. I go on facebook and look at today's events and I go to whoever is playing wherever. But I have to, because I am a true supporter and I have to promote my band. I also hope and expect people to do the same for me. But guess what, most people are not like me and do not care about the scene the way I do.
So here is what is happening, their are about 20 or 30 solid bands that are really doing well and making some noise in the scene. They perform well, write good music, get the crowds involved, bring 20-60 people and throw a good party. But most of them are not getting anywhere because the whole scene is being watered down. Everyone is playing every week in the city and all the time. So I have a bit of a solution to the problem. This is not a perfect solution and is going to take time to organize but if we all start working together it can work well....to be continued!!!!-J.R.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Slam One Down to open for Devildriver
S1D needs your help...we were asked to open up for Devildriver & Kittie at Eleanor Rigby's in Jermyn, PA about 2 hours from NYC on Thurs Aug. 26th @ 7pm..tix are $20each we need to know if people are willing to come with us on a bus road trip again and if people near the PA venue will buy tix from us...otherwise we cannot afford to do the show, we need to sell 100 tix, this could be huge for us...please respond.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Who gets thrown out of the woods?
This has to be the most ridiculous story ever. We were asked to play a 3 day mini tour in upstate NY near Niagara Falls, called the campfire sessions by a management company called Kalamazoo Recording and Management Company. The company invites 10 metal type bands to campsites all over the country for 3 day mini tours. So what you do is go to a campsite and set up your tents and so on and then drive to three different venues, play a show and then return to the campsite to sleep and then do that for three days from Friday through Sunday. So we thought that sounds like a cool way to get out of the area and invite more people into the Slam One Down family.
So everyone tried to get out of work as early as possible and we hit the road to Niagara Falls which is about a 6 hour drive. Our navigation system told us that we were going to arrive at the campsite around 10 and when I told the promoter that he said we were going to miss the first show. We were kind of pissed about that but new we would make it up somehow. We finally arrive at the campsite at 10:00PM. And the whole place was closed and shut down. The promoter told us where to go and we found the site.
When we arrive we saw about 6 other bands with their campsites set up. It looked like everyone was having a good time. SO we start setting up immediately. We had a canopy, two tents, a beer pong table, acoustic guitars, a fire, 6 chairs and a cooler full of about 6 thirty packs, a beer funnel, a bottle of crown royal, and a bottle of Jagermeister.
So we start attacking the booze like every good metal band does. Now remember we are in the middle of the woods, with about 6 other metal bands, a cooler full of beer and its about 11:00 PM. We are now having a party in the middle of the woods. We were singing songs by the fire, playing beer pong, laughing and having a fucking amazing time. The weird thing was out of 6 bands only 2 people came over to hang out. All the other bands went to bed around 11:30PM. Now no-one said anything to us about noise or being loud. We just went about our partying like everything was OK. It didn't seem like there is anyone around us.
Then at around 2AM, out of nowhere in the pitch black night someone walks up to us yells, "What the FUCK are you guys doing." We were completely freaked out and didn't know where he came from. It was a cop in the middle of the woods and he snuck up on us. He was flashing a light at us and Bobby was flashing his light back at him, because we didn't know what was going on. That pissed the cop off. He starts asking for our IDs and what not....One of the guys in our group was mouthing off to him a little because the cope was very rude for no reason. Now think about this for a second. What kind of cop sneaks up on people in the middle of the woods. He didn't ever pull up in a cop car he came out of the blackness of the woods....who does that. So he takes our IDs and disappears back into the blackness of the woods. So we continue to drink and do funnels.
Then all of a sudden 3 more cop cars come pulling up. I guess he called for back-up. And returns to us and says he is not going to do anything and said we have to leave the campsite at 10AM tomorrow morning. SO we are like "Cool" now we will get a hotel room and not have to sleep in the fucking woods. Most of us passed out around 3-4 AM.
We wake up around 10:30 AM to pack up and now drive to the show that we were supposed to play. This time a different cop comes back around 10:30 and said that we need to leave around 1PM which was perfect because that was the time we needed to go to the show. However, he walks up to the promoters and tells them what happens. These two kids are like 17-years old and proceeds to tell us that we are off the tour and have to go home. We couldn't understand why, we didn't do anything wrong. We didn't break any rules. See the way we look at it....if we were causing a problem, why didn't we get a warning. Someone should have come up to us and tell us we were being "TOO Loud" in the middle of the woods and we would have gladly brought it down a notch. So these 17 year olds who we have never met and apparently were at the campsite monitoring the campsite says to us well you guys were kind of loud but we didn't want to stop you from having a good time. They then allow someone to call the cops on us and then have the nerve to tell us that we cannot play the shows that we already paid $125 to play. They kept blaming it on their boss, but I didnt see any boss anywhere. At that point there was no reason to argue, we were dealing with morons.
Now that I think back, who the hell would call the cops on us. Was it one of the other "Metal" bands that we were camped out with. I mean is that the weakest thing ever. You call the cops on us and not ask us first to quiet down. That is pathetic. Or could it have been some neighboring campers who were not part of the group. Those people had to be pretty far away for our voices to travel that far and have them call the cops. Either way I would say that is the promoters fault because he should have made sure that we were far enough away from people that 10 metal bands couldnt bother them. I mean lets be realistic...there was hundreds of miles of open space I hope you didnt put us that close to other people. Plus these guys will not give back my $125.
Anyways we drove home around 11AM laughing the whole way home. I mean how does anybody manage to get thrown out of the woods by cops who sneak up on you in the black of the night. Only Slam One Down can. I guess this is the stuff that "Legends are made of" Thanks for reading....J.R.
http://www.slamonedown.com
http://www.myspace.com/slamonedown
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Slam-One-Down/130550258953?ref=ts
So everyone tried to get out of work as early as possible and we hit the road to Niagara Falls which is about a 6 hour drive. Our navigation system told us that we were going to arrive at the campsite around 10 and when I told the promoter that he said we were going to miss the first show. We were kind of pissed about that but new we would make it up somehow. We finally arrive at the campsite at 10:00PM. And the whole place was closed and shut down. The promoter told us where to go and we found the site.
When we arrive we saw about 6 other bands with their campsites set up. It looked like everyone was having a good time. SO we start setting up immediately. We had a canopy, two tents, a beer pong table, acoustic guitars, a fire, 6 chairs and a cooler full of about 6 thirty packs, a beer funnel, a bottle of crown royal, and a bottle of Jagermeister.
So we start attacking the booze like every good metal band does. Now remember we are in the middle of the woods, with about 6 other metal bands, a cooler full of beer and its about 11:00 PM. We are now having a party in the middle of the woods. We were singing songs by the fire, playing beer pong, laughing and having a fucking amazing time. The weird thing was out of 6 bands only 2 people came over to hang out. All the other bands went to bed around 11:30PM. Now no-one said anything to us about noise or being loud. We just went about our partying like everything was OK. It didn't seem like there is anyone around us.
Then at around 2AM, out of nowhere in the pitch black night someone walks up to us yells, "What the FUCK are you guys doing." We were completely freaked out and didn't know where he came from. It was a cop in the middle of the woods and he snuck up on us. He was flashing a light at us and Bobby was flashing his light back at him, because we didn't know what was going on. That pissed the cop off. He starts asking for our IDs and what not....One of the guys in our group was mouthing off to him a little because the cope was very rude for no reason. Now think about this for a second. What kind of cop sneaks up on people in the middle of the woods. He didn't ever pull up in a cop car he came out of the blackness of the woods....who does that. So he takes our IDs and disappears back into the blackness of the woods. So we continue to drink and do funnels.
Then all of a sudden 3 more cop cars come pulling up. I guess he called for back-up. And returns to us and says he is not going to do anything and said we have to leave the campsite at 10AM tomorrow morning. SO we are like "Cool" now we will get a hotel room and not have to sleep in the fucking woods. Most of us passed out around 3-4 AM.
We wake up around 10:30 AM to pack up and now drive to the show that we were supposed to play. This time a different cop comes back around 10:30 and said that we need to leave around 1PM which was perfect because that was the time we needed to go to the show. However, he walks up to the promoters and tells them what happens. These two kids are like 17-years old and proceeds to tell us that we are off the tour and have to go home. We couldn't understand why, we didn't do anything wrong. We didn't break any rules. See the way we look at it....if we were causing a problem, why didn't we get a warning. Someone should have come up to us and tell us we were being "TOO Loud" in the middle of the woods and we would have gladly brought it down a notch. So these 17 year olds who we have never met and apparently were at the campsite monitoring the campsite says to us well you guys were kind of loud but we didn't want to stop you from having a good time. They then allow someone to call the cops on us and then have the nerve to tell us that we cannot play the shows that we already paid $125 to play. They kept blaming it on their boss, but I didnt see any boss anywhere. At that point there was no reason to argue, we were dealing with morons.
Now that I think back, who the hell would call the cops on us. Was it one of the other "Metal" bands that we were camped out with. I mean is that the weakest thing ever. You call the cops on us and not ask us first to quiet down. That is pathetic. Or could it have been some neighboring campers who were not part of the group. Those people had to be pretty far away for our voices to travel that far and have them call the cops. Either way I would say that is the promoters fault because he should have made sure that we were far enough away from people that 10 metal bands couldnt bother them. I mean lets be realistic...there was hundreds of miles of open space I hope you didnt put us that close to other people. Plus these guys will not give back my $125.
Anyways we drove home around 11AM laughing the whole way home. I mean how does anybody manage to get thrown out of the woods by cops who sneak up on you in the black of the night. Only Slam One Down can. I guess this is the stuff that "Legends are made of" Thanks for reading....J.R.
http://www.slamonedown.com
http://www.myspace.com/slamonedown
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Slam-One-Down/130550258953?ref=ts
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
show this last saturday. meeting Eddie Ojeda of Twisted Sister
So we had a show this past saturday night in honor of J.R. and Scott's birthdays. It was at a bar called The Blue Room. Nice place, nice stage. Thanks to our good friend and unofficial/official manager Stevie, a couple of people showed up to the place, including Eddie Ojeda. If that name doesn't ring a bell then I'll spell it out for you. He's the lead guitarist for Twisted Sister. Coolest fucking guy in the world. Now i have a bit of history with this guy before i even meet him.
A band i was in two years ago recorded in a studio in Long Island run by a guy named George Marshall. That name is not familiar to you, but he's the guy who does ALL the sound for Twisted Sister on their tours. They take him everywhere. We instantly became family with this guy and we had a blast at the studio. He told us stories of touring with Twisted Sister and all the places they went in the world. So seeing a member of the band was doubly amazing for me.
After he had a conversation with J.R. I sat next to him and introduced myself. I mention that i recorded with George Marshall and he immediately lights up and i knew right away that this was the right thing to do. We get into a conversation about playing on the road when Steve comes back into the picture and mentions were both Puerto Rican. We look at each other and give each other five. We start talking about the Puerto Rican Day parade, being young and Puerto Rican in the city, about being close with family, and even how the Italians treated us like family as well. In summation, Eddie Ojeda is the coolest fucking guy I've ever met.
Its our turn to go up on stage. We set up everything and this was a special performance. It was our first one hour set show so we were debuting some new songs, including Hell Doesn't Want Me, which marks the first time Bobby Brazen sings instead of screams. He was obviously nervous and we had rehearse the song hundreds of times before the show trying to get it perfect, but i was confident he would pull it off. The opening goes fine, we're getting into it, then comes time for HDWM. The minute Bobby started singing, I knew he hit it. He was on point with every note and he didn't crack once. Even the part where I jump in sounded amazing.
The rest of the show went without a hitch, Eddie and company loved every minute of it and the birthday show was a complete success. Afterwards the crew went next door to AJ's, which is a strip club connected with the bar. That story can't be told by me, probably because it would get some people in trouble, but mostly because I didn't get to go. I had to hop on the 2:18AM train back into NY (last one for the night) so i can get home and get some sleep. I had a funeral and a procession to play the next day. Me and my endless weeks.
So thats it. Met a bonafide rock star and he was awesome, great show, and great friends to hang with. stay tuned for more from SLAM...ONE...DOWN!
-Roach
www.slamonedown.com
www.myspace.com/slamonedown
www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Slam-One-Down/130550258953
A band i was in two years ago recorded in a studio in Long Island run by a guy named George Marshall. That name is not familiar to you, but he's the guy who does ALL the sound for Twisted Sister on their tours. They take him everywhere. We instantly became family with this guy and we had a blast at the studio. He told us stories of touring with Twisted Sister and all the places they went in the world. So seeing a member of the band was doubly amazing for me.
After he had a conversation with J.R. I sat next to him and introduced myself. I mention that i recorded with George Marshall and he immediately lights up and i knew right away that this was the right thing to do. We get into a conversation about playing on the road when Steve comes back into the picture and mentions were both Puerto Rican. We look at each other and give each other five. We start talking about the Puerto Rican Day parade, being young and Puerto Rican in the city, about being close with family, and even how the Italians treated us like family as well. In summation, Eddie Ojeda is the coolest fucking guy I've ever met.
Its our turn to go up on stage. We set up everything and this was a special performance. It was our first one hour set show so we were debuting some new songs, including Hell Doesn't Want Me, which marks the first time Bobby Brazen sings instead of screams. He was obviously nervous and we had rehearse the song hundreds of times before the show trying to get it perfect, but i was confident he would pull it off. The opening goes fine, we're getting into it, then comes time for HDWM. The minute Bobby started singing, I knew he hit it. He was on point with every note and he didn't crack once. Even the part where I jump in sounded amazing.
The rest of the show went without a hitch, Eddie and company loved every minute of it and the birthday show was a complete success. Afterwards the crew went next door to AJ's, which is a strip club connected with the bar. That story can't be told by me, probably because it would get some people in trouble, but mostly because I didn't get to go. I had to hop on the 2:18AM train back into NY (last one for the night) so i can get home and get some sleep. I had a funeral and a procession to play the next day. Me and my endless weeks.
So thats it. Met a bonafide rock star and he was awesome, great show, and great friends to hang with. stay tuned for more from SLAM...ONE...DOWN!
-Roach
www.slamonedown.com
www.myspace.com/slamonedown
www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Slam-One-Down/130550258953
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
