Bleeding Through - On Tour

Bleeding Through are going on tour this year and will play in NY just 3 days before my birthday! I'm very excited about this. I think it should be an awesome show as I'm impressed with how they've grown and the fact they are still all Straight Edge. Over on Straight Edge Lifestyle is a good interview with Brandon, the lead singer.

Tour Dates:

8.21.09 – Tucson, AZ – The Rock

8.22.09 – Farmington, NM – Gators

8.23.09 – Las Vegas, NV – Red Electric

8.24.09 – San Luis Obispo, CA – Downtown Brew

8.25.09 – San Jose, CA – The Urgency

8.26.09 – Roseburg, OR – Riversdale Grange

8.27.09 – Sparks, NV – New Oasis

8.28.09 – Orangevale, CA – The Boardwalk

8.29.09 – San Diego, CA – Epicenter

8.30.09 – Anaheim, CA – Chain Reaction

9.25.09 - Baltimore, MD - Sonar

9.26.09 - Norfolk, VA- Norva

9.28.09 - Atlanta, GA - The Masquerade

9.29.09 - Orlando, FL - The Club

10.1.09 - Houston, TX - Warehouse Live

10.2.09 - Dallas, TX - The Door

10.3.09 - San Antonio, TX - White Rabbit

10.5.09 - Albuquerque, NM - Sunshine Theater

10.6.09 - Tempe, AZ - Marquee Theater

10.7.09 - Pomona, CA - Glasshouse

10.8.09 - West Hollywood, CA - Key Club

10.10.09 - San Francisco, CA - Slim's

10.12.09 - Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theater

10.13.09 - Seattle, WA - El Corazon

10.14.09 - Vancouver, British Columbia - Rickshaw Theater

10.16.09 - Salt Lake City, UT- Club Sound

10.17.09 - Englewood, CO - Gothic Theater

10.19.09 - Mokena, IL - The Pearl Room

10.20.09 - Cleveland, OH - Peabody's

10.21.09 - Toronto, Ontario - Opera House

10.23.09 - Worcester, MA - The Palladium

10.24.09 - Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero

10.25.09 - New York, NY - The Fillmore @ Irving

10.27.09 - Montreal, Quebec - Club Soda

Edge the Movie

A new documentary about Straight Edge called "Edge the Movie" is circulating the film festival circuit mailings. So it might appear at a local film festival near you soon. I do want to see this one as it appears that will at least have a more positive look at SxE despite the fact that they mention they will talk about the negative aspects as well. I do feel though that it isn't that necessary to even discuss these aspects at all. Enough has been documented about those that claim Edge and are violent and ruin the scene and name for the rest of us. That would be like doing a movie about Christianity and saying well we have to talk about the Crusades and the Spanish Inquistion, not if you focus on the positive aspects as your documentary. I feel like the iea of doing an unbiased balanced documentary can be lame as a proper focus on the positive aspects can be just as important and fullfilling in a documentary. I'll keep my official judgement quiet until I see the film though.

They do plan to do a DVD release so even if you can't catch it at a film fest or local independent theatre, you can still watch it at home.

Doing Too Much at Once

I find myself sometimes doing way too much at once and never getting anything done. At work this seems like a boon and since I'm constantly getting tasked by other's to get things done on pretty crazy schedules I find it easy to switch gears from one task to work on another. But at home I see myself skipping around a lot with out schedules and getting very little done.

I'll start to fold laundry, then remember I needed to take out the trash so I'll do that, then I'll rearange somethings that were cluttered and then realize I forgot to finish folding the laundry and go back to that, get bored and do something else, etc... It goes on like that a lot.

Lately I keep feeling like I may have ADD (Atention Deficit Disorder) but I'm 32 so I'm not sure what can really be done at this stage in my life. I want to be a little more sane when it comes to getting things done instead of switching around all the time and not comleting a lot of tasks that should really have my full attention. Surprisingly I can sit still and write a blog post without much internal distraction, although from what I've read about ADD and ADHD that's common as well. You can hyper-focus on things you truly enjoy or find important. That leaves other things to flounder that have less importance.

In the end it's helped my career, I think my ability to jump from task to task works to my advantage there well. So I wonder if I ever did anything to affect how I am would it make me less productive at work?

The Past The Present 1982-2007: A History of 25 Years of European Straight Edge

Another cool book is out about Straight Edge over a 25 year period in Europe. I'm actually quite interested in this book as it follows five Dutch bands through the various periods of SxE. I am quite amazed at how worldwide Straight Edge is and that it has become something that can bring people from all over together with a single philosophy. I'm very excited about all the books that are coming out lately that cover Straight Edge.

You can check out more info on the book from this blog and you can order the book from Refuse Records. I realize I'm a tad late on this news, but better late than never.

Burning Fight: The Nineties Hardcore Revolution in Ethics, Politics, Spirit, and Sound

I recently found out about a new book about hardcore culture. I haven't picked it up yet, so as soon as I get it I'll post a review. The book is called "Burning Fight: The Nineties Hardcore Revolution in Ethics, Politics, Spirit, and Sound" and it's by Brian Peterson. The book is supposed to cover where 80s hardcore left off and discuss the culture that embraced straight edge, animal rights, D.I.Y., and spirituality into their lives and hardcore.

I find the concept of this book rather interesting by the fact that the author was into hardcore in his teens in the 90s and now is a writer and high school English teacher. Just because you're a punk as a kid or even listen to hardcore as an adult does not mean that you can't become whatever you want in life. Hardcore isn't a barrier to life and you can live your life as an adult outside of the scene and still enjoy the music and culture.

I think that too many people see subcultures like hardcore as a dead end. It's whatever you make it, it's not a beginning or and end, it's part of life and a means to get some enjoyment from the world around.

HATEBREED: For The Lions

The new Hatebreed album For the Lions is out in stores now. They have some wicked covers on there. I love the Judge cover! Here's the Track Listing:

1. SLAYER - Ghosts of War


2. CRO-MAGS - It's The Limit


3. SUICIDAL TENDENCIES - Suicidal Maniac


4. SEPULTURA - Refuse/Resist


5. METALLICA - Escape


6. BAD BRAINS - Supertouch/Shitfit


7. MISFITS - Hatebreeders


8. D.R.I. - Evil Minds


9. MADBALL - Set It Off


10. SICK OF IT ALL - Shut Me Out


11. BLACK FLAG - Thirsty


12. NEGATIVE APPROACH - Sick Of Talk


13. CROWBAR - All I Had I Gave


14. MERAUDER - Life Is Pain


15. AGNOSTIC FRONT - Your Mistake


16. JUDGE - Hear Me


17. OBITUARY - I'm In Pain


18. SUBZERO - Boxed In

Question? Have you ever lost friends because you claimed Edge?

Let us know and tell us why, post your answer.

Thanxxx.

Straight Edge and Stress

I feel like being Straight Edge gives me an advantage when dealing with stress and anger. Often we are faced with problems and people that are very difficult to handle, people that only care about themselves. Having Edge forces me to face those issues head on. Quite often people hit the bottle or pop some pills to forget their troubles, but they don't go away. Before I claimed Edge I drank to ignore the crap in my life, and nothing got better. The only way things got solved is when I talked it out with people, when we figured out the real problem. Stress can tear you apart. But for me having faith in myself to stay Straight Edge is what gets me through the stress.

xTRUE TILL DEATHx

Birds X Of A Feather

Just found out about a great Straight Edge band called Birds X Of A Feather. Here's a nice interview with the band from @xroldx.

"To me hardcore and the edge are no passing phase. ...I've never been fed up with hardcore and you know why? Because I don't care about what other people do, how other people dress and how other people interpret hardcore. I'm just doing this for myself"

You can find Birds on myspace.

Twitter

So I've had a defunct twitter account for a while and finally got around to using it. I'm going to be posting new and different content all with the same pessimistic angry outlook on the world around us -- along with links back to the blog and some music using blip.fm and pics using twitpic.com and whatever else is worthy of twitter.

So please follow me on twitter: @phreekk

I also listed myself on wefollow with #straightedge #punk and #hardcore

And NO, this is not a result of Ashton Kutcher or Oprah.