GR & Bleeding Through @ Pipeline
12.11.2005 - 1:38 pm

Doors opened at 4pm. Lame. Got there around 4:30. $18. Lame. Went in. Sat on a stool. Met a guy I had seen at a few shows before. I don't remember his name. Met another guy that came up and talked to the first guy. Don't remember his name either, but I basically hung with him the entire show and we talked about a lot of cool stuff in between bands.

Opened up with a local band Crackskull. They get a lot of support from the scene, and they were a lot of fun to pit to. I liked 'em.

THEN, a band called Valient Thorr came on. Oh jeez. How to explain? Image in your head (image, not SOUND): A cross between Led Zeppelin and Greatful Dead. My friend Richard was telling me about them and he had planned on going to the show, but I didn't see him, so I hope he got to see his band. These guys were freakin AWESOME. They had a really good set, really good pits and a fucking cool message. Seriously, they sounded like CLASSIC rock. Not just any old rock'n'roll, but CLASSIC CLASSIC rock. RAW classic rock'n'roll. It was GREAT! And their lyrics were even GREATER! I totally forgot myself and thought I was in the 60's for a minute. And then, I THINK it was the last song, the singer came down and gathered the entire crowd around him and got everyone in the club to kneel and sit on the ground while he preached a message of happiness. It was the greatest thing I ever heard. It was SOOOO Buddhist mentality. Talking about being in the moment and talking about the moods of people and then talked about the power of music and shit. It was freakin GREAT. And then we all stood up, went crazy in the pit and they were done. They sounded so friggin cool. I hope to catch them again, it was awesome.

Then Bleeding Through came on. I'm not a huge fan, but live? They rocked. The pits were a LOT of fun. They have pretty good presence on stage, but, I don't know if I could ever get into that kind of music. It just seems so dramatic in a really stupid way. Kinda like 'get the fuck over yourself.' I think that's how I feel about the majority of this new Hardcore thing. I mean, when every band has a name with 'Blood' 'Death' 'Die' 'Bleed' etc etc etc in it, it's just... I don't know what a good word is, it's just dramatic. It reminds me too much of emo shit and their drama. I just can't seem to grip that much of a mania about it, which every 'fan' seems to demonstrate. like "OMG YOU GUYS CHANGED MY LIFE, I WOULD DIE WITHOUT YOU!" and uh... yeah not feelin that. Which is funny, because Music is my religion, right? I worship it, it has saved my life, I am obsessed with music, and I feel I demonstrate that fairly well, but you still don't see me getting so INTO a band that it's like "YOU ARE A GOD AND I WILL RAPE AND PILLAGE IN YOUR BEHALF." I just can't get that worked up, I'm sorry, but Hardcore is (for lack of a better word) CHEEZY. Nonetheless, Bleeding Through put on a good performance and based on the few songs they played I think their new cd will be much appreciated by the 'masses.'

Finally Good Riddance came on. Ok, eh. I was hopeful, buuut they kind of did some asshole-ish shit on stage that gives me a slight anxiety attack. PLEASE tell me they didn't turn into jerks. Totally gonna give them the benefit of the doubt and I'm going to try and assume they were being humorous, but I think I need to see them in Cali before I get too happy with them again. AND I blame a WHOLE lot on Pipeline being so stupid. They ruined Against Me for me, and they're really close to ruining Good Riddance. NOT GOOD RIDDANCE. Please, not Good Riddance. THEN AGAIN, it would be a lesson in Buddhism and what Brad Warner was saying in Hardcore Zen about having "heroes" and what-not. But I AM kind of idolizing GR right now and I think I might be slightly depressed to find out they're jerks.

They played a good set for being so short, but you know me and short sets. LOATHE. When I saw them last about 6 years ago or so, they played a MUCH better set, but also to a much better crowd at the Palace in Hollywood. Last night they played two or three songs from Comprehensive Guide, they played Yesterday's Headlines and other good ones from older albums. I wish they played Shadows of Defeat and Last Believer, but it's okay. HOWEVER, I am not really enjoying the new sound of Russ's voice. Eh. I like Comprehensive Guide (my fave album) BECAUSE of his deep voice. And at the show, when they opened up with Weight of the World, he was doin his new higher-pitched-not-so-gruffy-but-more-emo voice and I didn't like it. I could get used to it, but I really miss the old sound.

I was worried at first that everyone was there to see Bleeding Through because the pits were bigger, but after about 2 songs of Good Riddance, the pits turned out better than Bleeding Through (thank you).

Then uh, Andrew WK was supposed to come on, but I left. And after just googling him a minute ago, I'm really glad I left. What a douche he seems to be. I just saw a picture of him and I felt like punching him in the face. But I have no idea what he sounds like, so I should shut up.

Anyway, I got home at like 8:45 (horrible, I know) and I was really fucking tired, but I managed to sew some patches and read some of my book and listen to some GR to make myself feel better annnnnd yeah then I passed out.

Woke up this morning slightly sore. I tried getting in the shower, only to discover that the scalding hot water really hurts when you have gashes on your body. Gashes? Yeah, GASHES. Probably from Bleeding Through. And I have this one grotesque bruise on my upper arm that i'm really proud of. Everytime I catch a glance of it I go "ugh!" and then I go "oh yeah" And then I go "sweet"

yesterday - tomorrow