Monday, April 22, 2013

Finally


After one year off the long awaited debut of Desolate Rage finally happened this past Friday. Playing in front of our friend’s family and fans was absolutely kick ass. I would like to think that we did not miss a beat after being off for so long. All the hard work we did in practice paid off. The night started off with a weird twist. 4 bands were scheduled to play that night starting at 8 pm. In all of my years of playing I have never heard of 2 bands pulling out the night of a show with out so much as a phone call but sure enough that is what happened. We were to go on 3rd that night but ended up opening the show. The club (Velvet Underground) was not impressed at all. At least they gave us a high five for being there at 6 to load in when we were not to go on till about 9:30 that says a lot about our dedication and professionalism. In any case we hit the stage and the butterflies were in high gear. After our first few notes it all subsided and we collectively breathed a sigh of relief and went back to business. It was a fun show and the crowd was great. The Highlight for me was when Jorge gave a speech right before our last song dictating his struggles over the past year and how he has overcome them with support from all of us. The final song had extra meaning that night. I would like to personally thank everyone who came out that night and had a good time with us. And of course all the extra hands that were lent out when it came time to carry our gear back to the studio. All in all it was a good start to our new journey as Desolate Rage. Looking forward to many more shows.

On a side note I would like to take this time to respond to an allegation made in last week’s blog by my drummer Marco. He referred to me as a “Stubborn prick” well listen here you Egg plant eating, curly haired bitch! I am many things but stubborn is not one of them. Ok ….maybe just a little. LOL still love you long time. If any one is stubborn in this band it would be that Drywaller we call a lead guitarist. That dude has problems :D

Cheers to all.

Jeff

Friday, April 12, 2013

What's Happening Chiefs?!!

Whats happening Chiefs!

Well, I'm finally recovered from my knee injury which has been a bit of a struggle and seem to be somewhat back to my old drum - smashing self again (that usually means I'm breaking a drum stick every other song.) Practice this week was pretty interesting, Jorge almost busted his ass when we started a song and he tripped over a patch cord:) He will probably kill me for mentioning this but I laughed my ass off for most of the song, I thought I would give you guys an idea of the funny stuff that happens when we have our jam sessions. During the next week we will be gearing up for the upcoming show on April 19, which Iam sure you all know about by now. But aside from that, I will be meeting the drum tech who is going to help us get some wicked drum sounds I'm sure. It's pretty exciting for me to hear what drum sounds I can get from my Mapex Meridian Maple kit, since it will be my first time recording with this kit. We will be playing around with some different drum skins to hear the tones I can get, but our goal is for all you crazy-ass metal heads to get a ball busting, jaw dropping sound! But I'll have to see if it impresses Jeff our bass player, as he is a hard to please stubborn prick..........love you always buddy! I'm pretty sure he will get me back for this in some way, shape or form;) Regardless, we will keep you all posted with the progress of our new album.

Until next time, 
Marco (STIXX)

Friday, April 05, 2013

The First Shall Be Last

What's up all you DR fans and readers!
    So it's been a couple of weeks since I've written anything and this week was my turn and I thought I'd start off by saying that I hope everyone had a great "Metal" Easter with family and friends.....

    Really cool news we got our new custom guitar picks from Steve Clayton Inc. and they are sweeeeet (you can check them out on the news page). We're also getting ready to hit the recording studio post the April 19th show (which is exactly 2 weeks, 2 weeks, 2 weeks away) to record a new album for you all. Much like Jeff said a few weeks ago it will be some serious thrashy shit that we've written over the last 2 years and we're looking forward to bringing our evolutionary mistake to you all. There's lots more exciting shit happening but I'll hold off for now!
  So....I had a conversation last week with a friend of mine about various things but one in particular that came up was how I was feeling about life and what I'm grateful for now knowing that I'm at the end of chemo after being diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma (July 18th, 2012 - I was officially diagnosed and have been going through chemo since then and will be done on April 17th).  

    We talked about how I'm grateful for the fact that I get to wake up and look outside and enjoy each and every day and I explained how sick I really was and didn't either realize it or didn't want to admit it but to put it into perspective for you all I had a "mass" of lymphnods that were swollen from my trachia down to and around my heart (about 6 cm wide, 11 cm long, and 5 cm in depth) plus a few other ones around my arm and one in my diaphragm that had formed. We talked about how I feel like I'm a different person and that this has forever changed me. I started talking about my "legacy" and what I leave behind and that it wasn't about a plaque on a wall or how well I do at work or kids for me but rather what "I" leave behind and not what "product of me" I leave behind (this is hard explain). 
I've realized that the one thing that I can truly say is "me" is what we do in Desolate Rage (at least 25%) and that this is my legacy and what I leave behind when I'm gone. They are my words, my soul, my heart, and it makes me happy knowing that "we" are able to do that for you all. 

    So what does it all mean......well, you'll get 100% from me at each and every show and every recording we ever do....it's all or nothing. So come April 19th (2 days after my last and final treatment) what you'll get at the Velvet Underground is a Desolate Rage debut that will be explosive and energetic! It's all about having a good time and enjoying every moment cause you honestly never know when the train is going to come to a halt and your stop is up.
So live every moment like it was your last and never regret a damn thing folks! In the words of my sister "FORGET REGRET"!!

\m/ Much Luv \m/ 
Jorge