And We'll Love And We'll Hate And We'll Die All To No Avail

Thrice. I figured that's the first word you wanted to read out of this new update. I was in the middle of fighting the good fight on Call of Duty with Badih and I get a text message from my friend Joe asking "If you could listen to Beggars(the new Thrice album coming out in October), would you?" Usually with Thrice, I like to wait until it comes out so I said no. He then replied "Well, the album leaked and I have it on my computer." I couldn't resist. I agreed to go listen to it later on that night. I was freaking out! What if it's bad? What could Thrice have possibly done this time? These questions were all going to come at some point but not till October. It was just too much to handle! This album determines whether my fall semester will be good or not! Such standards! Well the time finally came. Me, Joe and Sabrina parked by the pier and experienced it together. I don't know where to begin. It's so much different. But when hasn't a new Thrice album been? But this time it was a different kind of different. I felt like there was hardly a trace of Thrice in it. I heard a lot of Muse. It was just completely different. Yeah all their albums have been, but they managed to maintain this certain sound to them. The sound to where you knew it was a Thrice song. It's hard to describe. Kind of metalish, darkish, melodic, something that I can hardly put into words. But you just knew it was Thrice. It's kind of like 2:06 on To What End from Identity Crisis. It's kind of like 3:21 of So Strange I Remember You(didn't have the album version) or 2:11 of Kill Me Quickly. It's kind of like :27 or 2:37 of Cold Cash and Colder Hearts. It's kind of like at 4:01 of Music Box or 2:54 of Red Sky. It's kind of like 2:35 of Firebreather or 3:33 of Lost Continent or all of As The Crow Flies or 1:10 of Child Of Dust. Kind of like that? I don't know. It's really hard to describe the sound that I just didn't really hear throughout listening to Beggars. I kept thinking of the color purple? If that means anything. I remember really liking it but it wasn't instant love I don't think. We had agreed not to listen to it again until October 13th though. So maybe I can give a different view of it then.

Fuck. Listening to Water still sucks. I leave in 20 days. I'm unbelievably excited for San Francisco. Not just for the amazing school I will be attending and all the experiences out of that, but for the punk scene. That sounded kind of lame but you know what I mean. There is in OBSCENE amount of shows going through San Francisco in just my first semester it almost pisses me off. Then there is just so many new records coming out. Take a look at my myspace and look at all the shows/records to come. 2009 was meant to be a year of change for me and good fucking god was it ever when it came to living life. The music I have listened to thus far and the shows I've been to and pretty much my entire involvement with music has helped make this year one of the best I've ever experienced. And it's only halfway over. I mentioned Muse. I haven't listened to them a whole lot in my days, but this song is ridiculously good.


Muse-Stockholm Syndrome

It's So Comforting To Know I'll Never Have To Think Again

So I made a movie. My brother always does this 7 day film festival deal and this year he asked if I could act in it. It involved having to wake up at 5 two mornings in a row to shoot at Starbucks. There was actually a night to where I was out till 3:30am and took a nap from 4:15-4:30am to wake up and take off to starbucks. It was pretty rough. I had a shit ton of lines. I hadn't acted in so long so it was a little hard finding my character with a script 8 pages long. I did get this really intense moment when asked about past relationships though. Unfortunately it will only make it on the extra's/bloopers. It can not be posted until mid August though for certain reasons I'm not 100% sure of. Anyway, what does this have to do with music? Well in movies, there is music. There is a church scene and I gave them a BWV 508 to play during the back ground. It's pure beauty and just another example of why Bach can not be matched. I know your asking, "Why have any other piece of music when you already played Bach once?" But it wasn't my movie so there as other music. We managed to get permission from Mike Hale and Suburban Home Records to use Hale's music for our movie and they have requested a copy. I don't know why, but it gets me super excited that the people from Suburban Homes and Mike Hale are going to get to point and laugh at my acting and our cheesy love story. It will most likely be posted on here when it can.

I visited Waco this past weekend with my family to visit my older brother Randy. It seems I always find myself there at some point in the year. It was a good time. Had good food at George's as always. George's is pretty much the epitome of Texas diners/bars. Just super Texan. Loud country music. Neon signs. Abundance of "cowboys and cowgirls." While I'm completely not into that stuff, it's always pretty fun to experience it. I started to think of how I'm going to miss certain things about Texas. Anyway, it was cool seeing Randy play. Heard a ton of old country songs that I still know all the words to. Good meat. Good Crazy Wings. Good everything. Solid.

Sorry this blog has been somewhat dead lately. I was super busy with that movie and other things. This blog will be much more active once school starts. I mentioned in a previous post about the Thrice cover show. Practices have been pretty fun. There is something else about playing music with a band as opposed to playing solo pieces. Both two very different feelings. Well our set list has changed up quite a bit. Due to certain reasons, we are now playing a little bit less of an intense line-up. It goes as follows.

1. Deadbolt
2. Trust
3. See You In The Shallows
4. Don't Tell We Won't Ask
5. Silhouette
6. That Hideous Strength

and MAYBE Under A Killing Moon. Oh hell! I mentioned Thrice again! You know what that means!

Thrice-Trust

When this frame fails me
Will I trust you to carry me through?
I know there's no such thing as safety
But I know what a promise can do.
Will I trust you, will I trust you to carry me through?
I will trust you, cause I know what a promise can do

Wait, Afterall, He Did Get Us Across The World And Back

Do dreams actually mean anything? Is it all just a bunch of nothing or is it really just your subconscious showing you everything that really is on your mind whether it be about the past, future, or present? Alright, enough 15 year old girl talk. All I can say is that it's about damn time. I got a text from my friend Justin the other day telling me that my wall of fame picture at Del Mar finally got posted. I went on a day adventure with a lady named Bianca and the FIRST thing we did was go see myself on that wall. It was one of the more arrogant moments in my life, but come on, I had been waiting for that thing to go up for over a year. And I have another one going up next year. I'm one of those losers that got on the wall 2 years in a row. I got on the Wall of Fame for being a winner in the Del Mar Honors Commencement competition. I won it two years in a row. I played BWV1001-Adagio, Presto and BWV996-Prelude y presto, Gigue.

It was a cold day in my sophomore year of high school when my friend Joe linked me to a purevolume(I miss the purevolume days) page for The Swellers. I instantly loved it. And I was super envious that the drummer was 17 or 18 at the time because at the time, being in a bad ass, touring punk rock band was my life goal. It was like if No Use For A Name and Millencolin had a kid that could sing a little better, play guitar a little better, and make just as good if not better melodic pop punk songs. Through out high school and college, they played in Corpus at least 5 times in which I made it to 4 of them and I've seen them in Austin about 3 times. Been somewhat of friends(in the way where I talk to them at every show and they recognize my face but remember me as "thatsyouth," "Roys little brother" or "that corpus kid") with Nick and Jono over the years. Well recently, they signed to a major pop punk(hardly punk) label Fueled By Ramen. Yes that's right. The same label with all your favorite bands like: Paramore, Cobra Starship, The Academy Is..., Fall Out Boy,
Panic! At the Disco and Punchline. Notice how I didn't link them because I don't want you to hear such music. Did I even have to say they signed to Fueled By Ramen? Because I'm pretty sure the picture to the left just SCREAMS Fueled By Ramen. And who's that new bass player? I liked both the old ones. Jono and Nick need to get a line up and stick with it before they get looked at as douche bags like Ryan Kepke from Slick Shoes or Chris Connelley from Saves The Day or Ryan Keys from Yellowcard. Don't get me wrong, I'm so stoked for them. They deserve it. But it's a hard thing to swallow when one of your favorite bands signs to such a label. It's a little bit worse when you have pretty much been there with that band for 80-90% of their existence. But I have faith that they will keep producing great music. Their EP was perfect. Their first LP was nearly perfect as well. Both albums were good, up beat pop punk. But those days seem to be coming to an end. I've always known they were super into stuff like Jimmy Eat World and Foo Fighters and Weezer and just that whole really good alternative rock music deal. After hearing 2 or 3 of their new songs and their attitude on writing new music, it seems they have taken a step closer in this direction. My douche bag friend Vivek did some interning work with the dude from O Pioneers!!! and that guy said that it sounds a lot like Piebald. I really like Piebald. That story may not be 100% accurate. I know Vivek was interning for something involving O Pioneers!!! but one thing that is for sure is that he is a douche bag. Piebald is also a perfect band to listen to at parties. Great, easy listening music that everyone can enjoy.

Why did I start posting all the lyrics to songs? It used to just be 4-5 lines. Back to that. Did I mention Weezer? I did. Well first off, they have made so many great songs in their existence as a band but the main reason I'm posting this is because yesterday my best girl-friend left me to study abroad in Spain. She doesn't get back till August 21st and I will be living in San Francisco by that time. In 8th grade, I would play guitar on the morning announcements and I played Weezer's Island In The Sun as she requested. I fucked up a little bit. She'll never forgive me. Mini-Wheats and classic movies will be experienced come late December.


Weezer-Island In The Sun

When you're on a golden sea
You don't need no memory
Just a place to call your own
As we drift into the zone

This World Is Breeding Cold. Ridiculed. Only Good For A FUCK

First off, I got sponsored! I no longer have to pay for my flight to and from San Francisco! Unreal! Anyway, so last night was the long awaited night. The night I get to see Joey Cape. It's been mentioned thousands of times what I think of his music and how much I love the guy so I won't even get into it. Me and Joe took off to San Antonio around 5:30. Listened to good music on the way up. We had heard the doors opened at 8. Got there at 8:45 to find out the doors opened at 9. Shitty. But while we were standing outside probably looking like a bunch of n00bz, mother fucking Joey Cape walks out the front door and gets out a cigarette. I had no idea what to do. I wish I smoked so I coulda "bummed a smoke" off of him. I just started talking to him. Asked him about touring, what he's doing next and a few other things. I was a bit upset to hear that Lagwagon is pretty much not active and not looking to be active any time soon but I was stoked to hear he's going home after this tour to record a new acoustic record. It's so cliche to say about a guy you meet from a band, but he really was a super down to earth, nice dude. It was unbelievable. Never did I think I'd meet the guy and be able to talk with him.


It was an all acoustic show. This would be the first show I ever attend sitting down at a table. Felt kinda classy. First band went up who's name I forgot. Eh. They could learn a few things from Joey Cape and other acoustic song writers. Whenever you make your pop punk song into an acoustic song, there is so much more to it then just playing the exact same thing on acoustic guitars. Musically, it should almost feel like a different song. The only difference between their actual music and acoustic music was the acoustic guitar. Everything was pretty up-beat and was just kind of boring.

Next up was Joe Snodgrass and Cory Branan. Joe Snodgrass has an undeniably great voice. He opened up with "Break Your Frame" by Bad Astronaut. Him and Cory Branan would just switch off songs. I had never heard of Cory Branan before, but he really really impressed me. He kinda looks like he's hopped up something the entire time and is super energetic and passionate when he sings. He is a fantastic guitar player as well. Listening to his music is like listening to a humorous short story. It was extremely entertaining watching him. Here is a video of Cory Branan.



Obviously up next was Joey Cape. What was an awesome feeling was knowing that no matter what he played, I would be extremely stoked for every song because he has hardly written any songs I don't like. He played songs off his solo album along with songs off the Lagwagon and Bad Astronaut records. Seeing May 16th was a dream come true seeing as to how it's my all time favorite song.

Set list:

1. Not A Dull Moment
2. Only Good For A...
3. Whipping Boy
4. The Contortionist
5. Who We've Become
6. Wind In Your Sail
7. Move The Car
8. Killers and Liars
9. Errands
10. Canoe
11. You Deserve This
12. No Little Pill
13. Minus
14. Last Train
15. The Kids Are All Wrong
16. May 16th
17. Alien 8
18. Lullaby
19. Greg's Estates
20. 500 Miles
21. Grey Suits
22. Violins
23. Razorburn

I was able to snatch the set list and have him sign it. It's still kind of hard to accept that I saw and met the lead singer of my favorite band of all time. He is such an inspiration to me. This year has just been too much for me. I have had so many great things happen. Auditioning for schools, flying to New York, getting accepted into 3 or 4 schools, getting TONS of scholarship money to go to sfcm, running around Texas Stadium, visiting the new stadium, the amazing week I spent in Brownsville with the trio, whipping out every one in that competition, the 4-5 performances I was asked to do in representing Del Mar, going up to Austin numerous times, seeing Propagandhi, listening to great music, enjoying all the what seem to be endless perks of being single, the parties. Everything about 2009 has just been amazing and it's literally only halfway done. And I have just so much to look forward to.


Bad Astronaut-Our Greatest Years

In the ashes of our greatest year
I forced the point and gave them grief
As if I find relief to see the worst in everyone
Still it's hard to be cruel to you
I wish I could- no that's not it
See what I mean to say is this
In this mad world it's hard to see the imperfection in your smile
And it's hard to be true to you
Even though I run away from you, I'm sorry
I wish I had chosen to be true
I'm sorry, I miss your disposition and your strength
I'll miss your disposition and your
Strength to see the best in everyone
Still it's hard to be cruel to you