Another band I like

Another new hard rock band I like is De La Cruz.  Most of the members are from Australia and they formed a little over a year ago.  The originator of the group was a guy named Casey Jones who you can find on YouTube doing guitar instructional videos.  He plays guitar like you would hear in old 80’s glam rock bands such as Poison, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Dokken, Ratt, etc.  His bandmates shared similar tastes in music so when they got together they sounded like a more modern version of those bands.  They put out a free ep of six songs to download a few months after they formed the band which I got and loved immediately.  Now, this past March they have released their first major label CD titled “Street Level”.  I FREAKING LOVE IT!  Unfortunately though, I found out through their Facebook page that Casey was getting tired of the band and decided to quit and focus on more guitar teaching and some other music projects.  The rest of the band decided to stick together and wished him well.  You would think this might put an end to the group but the 2nd guitarist in the band (they were a two – guitar band to start with) is pretty capable and maybe they’ll find a replacement for Casey or just keep going as a four piece outfit.  Anyways, if you like any 80’s heavy rock such as Motley Crue, Dokken, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Poison, or Ratt you would probably love this group.

And then there was

Well hello to anyone who reads my blogs.  Haven’t posted in awhile because nothing has really motivated or inspired me lately.  Spring Break has started for some schools around my area so it will give me some time to relax from work.  I’ll try and come up with a more interesting post soon.  Till then, take  care.

Foster the People!

Here is live footage of Foster the People performing “Pumped Up Kicks” earlier this year on David Letterman.  Maybe you will get why I like this band so much after watching it and maybe comparing it to the studio version of the song.

Greatest Band Ever!

Here is a recent interview Charlie Rose did with the surviving members of Led Zeppelin.  Hope you enjoy!

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57560436/led-zeppelin-rock-legends-get-real-about-the-best-band/

My Favorite Television Programs

The first television program which is my favorite of all time is Doctor Who.  This program has been around since the 1960’s and is still very popular today.  The show is about a man who is an outcast from an alien race called the Time Lords who travels through space and time through his ship called the TARDIS.  The TARDIS looks like an old British telephone booth but its multi-dimensional and has more room inside it than it appears from the outside.  The man is called the Doctor, no one knows his real name.  If he gets so hurt that he’s near death, the Doctor regenerates his whole body.  This concept has allowed several different actors through the years to play the Time Lord.  I first started watching Doctor Who when it aired on my local PBS station and had Tom Baker playing the lead.  I  watched several episodes and got hooked.  I even went back to watch the old episodes of previous Doctors whenever they would come on.  And I was always nervous about new actors getting the part after the Doctor regenerates.  Doctor Who also includes several iconic alien races as enemies to the Doctor and the two most well known are the Daleks and the Cybermen.  My favorite actors to have played Doctor Who are Tom Baker, Jon Pertwee, and Matt Smith.

 

My second favorite television program of all time is Supernatural.  The series is basically about two brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester, from Lawrence, Kansas, who travel across the country finding and killing ghosts, demons, and other monsters.  There seems to always be an underlying conflict between Dean and Sam and usually its about Sam wanting to just stop dealing with all the supernatural beings they hunt.  I like the fact that they incorporate many urban legends into the stories and also use a great deal of classic rock tracks in the show – “Carry on Wayward Son” by Kansas seems to be the show’s unofficial theme song.

 

If you have not watched either of these two television series, please give a couple of episodes a chance.  Who knows, you might become a new fan.

The Shooting Today

I found out about the shooting of the elementary children and teachers in Connecticut when I came in from work today.  I am a high school teacher and it just hurts me so much that something like this happens and seems to be getting more and more frequent.  Here is a video from one of my favorite bands in the 80’s White Lion with their popular song “When the Children Cry” because words just won’t do!

Trouble

Trouble is a heavy rock band (doom or stoner metal) that I did like in the 80s but did not own anything by them.  I recently started listening to them again and purchased their self-titled CD on Google Play.  Trouble probably would have been more popular during another time period but they were competing against the hair metal bands like Bon Jovi, Poison, Winger, Warrant, Motley Crue, etc and the thrash bands like Metallica, Anthrax, and Megadeth and their music did not not fit either of those styles of music.  They were more old school metal like Black Sabbath or old Judas Priest.  Anyway, one of my favorite tracks on that self-titled CD is “Psychotic Reaction”.  Here is a YouTube clip of them playing that song at a reunion show in Stockholm a few years ago.

Favorite new music

There isn’t much new music that catches my attention.  I usually am listening to the music referred to in my previous post by the CDs I own, mp3 files on my computer, streaming them through Spotify, or watching videos or concert footage on TV channels such as VH1 Classic or Palladia or even on video sites such as YouTube on the Internet.  Two new bands have stood out to me lately and they are vastly different.

The first one is Foster the People.  Heck their song Pumped Up Kicks is beyond catchy.  I watched a few live performances by them on various media and they sound even better to me live than the music they recorded.  Plus, you can tell they are not lip-synching and really playing their instruments – a really big deal to me.  They do not sound like anyone else.

The second band I really like is The Sword.  Much heavier band than Foster the People.  They just released a new CD in October titled Apocryphon which is really heavy, has many fist-pumping, headbanging riffs, and catchy as well.  I have also watched several of their live performances and videos on YouTube and they sound just as good there.  The singer is not the best but he is also playing guitar most of the time while trying to sing and I know that is very hard to do.

Creative Outlet

I love music.  I can listen to just about all genres and find something interesting in them.  Unfortunately or fortunately, harder-edged rock always captured my most attention.  You probably already knew this from my previous post by listing Led Zeppelin as my all time favorite rock band.  Other bands that I love include Queen, AC/DC, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Bad Company, Blue Oyster Cult, Black Sabbath, Metallica, Megadeth, and so on.

But listening to music isn’t the be all and end all for me.  I also long to be able to create my own music.  I have delved into songwriting and learning how to play guitar as well as other instruments for awhile now.  I know some people are fulfilled by just learning how to play songs from artists they themselves love.  I am not like that, I want to make music I can call my own.  I am definitely not a super guitar player, keyboard player, songwriter, or singer by any means.  Also, I have never been in a band, but me and my best friend would get together and play music and sometimes even write some music.  It was very fun and definitely a creative outlet I needed.

Looking Forward To

I do not go out to watch movies in theaters very often.  In fact, the last time I went to a theater to watch a movie was when Lord of the Rings:  Return of the King was released.  I have always loved J.R. Tolkien’s books, especially The Hobbit and The Lord of the Ring series, therefore I am excited about The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey being released as a movie starting this month.  More than likely, this will be one movie I actually go to the theater to see!