#[ ATHENE ] And they were bandmates...

[peterdemo]

I'm Procrastinating

I had an incredibly busy day, i work at a bank so this time of year gets really tough and i had to stay till 6:30 to close up because some suit in Canada thinks it's real important that we take care of the 2 people max that come in after the clock hits 5. I spent the whole day thinking about what I would do when I got home and when I got here I couldn't do any of it. But for prosperity here is what I'm thinking about:

In the elephant 6 documentary theres this scene, a real passing remark where one of the interviewees says "everybody was doing something: writing, drawing, painting, recording, filming" and on the screen flashes these really weird sort of mercurial drawings from jeff mangum, the speaker says that "jeff always used to do these really recognizable little guys" I cant help but be in awe of the originality and the abstractness and just the will to live of these little guys that jeff drew, and its not even something he really cared about or put thought in. it feels like these guys in athens georgia were just screaming look at what a genius i am, and no one heard them but each other, and so they worked and worked and eventually when someone did hear them it was too late and too much and jeff went crazy and never showed his face in public again.

So yeah, i didnt get anything done. Because how do you think about that all day and come home and make something you are proud of. Im trying to write something here everyday as an open journal to keep myself accountable to what i think is important, im so prone to rot and do nothing and hate myself without reason, and i do truly love this shit, even if no one sees it or reads it or listens and understands. I just wish i felt confident in a path forward for my art and that it was easy for me and it just flowed out of my head like water. i know these feelings are apart of finding it.

The video linked above is a performance my bandmates and i (here's my stupid face) did 2 weeks before greater anatolia came out. we recorded it and uploaded on the same day. right after this performance im pretty sure i at least drank 18 spiked lipton iced teas, a really stupid idea, and i got more drunk than i ever have in my life, well, maybe not the most drunk but definitely top 5. in my head i was celebrating finishing an album, and i did really have a really great time.

the song itself i think is one of the more interesting ones on the album, its by no means the one anyone mentions to me when the say they listened (usually stele for bronze, or adam and eve) but something in me just loves the sparseness of the lyrics and visceral unexplainable emotion that it brings me, its definitely a creation of my own head though. ill include the lyrics below just so maybe anyone reading can tell me if im crazy or shit.

thanks for reading

Grasping an old familiarity so old I cant remember its name it grabbed me tight it wont let go of me it extends to mortal tribes of every kind I saw a kid diagnosed with cancer it ate right through him all on camera I saw it happen while i was laying impending self reflection and I was horrified scared of the burden i've been given grasping an old familiarity taking a step closer every goddamn day increasingly medicated to the truth the hand of thanatos would be so comforting so comforting

[deadbirdtyton]

What the FUCK is happening to Vinyl City right now.

[ohc-and-the-music-tapes-archive]

Article in Record Journal about Chocolate USA, bands name and Maria Caso's (Julian's grandmother) contribution to the recording of “All Jets Are Gonna Fall Today”, 23 July 1993

transcript:

Granny helped Chocolate U.S.A. with debut

Marie Caso has a lot of opinions. For years, she's dutifully recorded them in cassette letters to her grandson, Julian Koster. Now, grandma's introspective snippets are radio fodder, providing commercial breaks between pop songs on her grandson's first CD. "OK, that’s all the complaints I have right now,"’ Caso said in a chatty Lone Island drawl during one of her many between-song guest appearances on Chocolate U.S.A.'s spunky debut, All Jets Are Gonna Fall Today. "So, uh, I'll talk to you again later. I'll put on Tommy Dorsey again, and maybe if he's got some nice music, I'll let you hear it.” She also talks about contentment vs. happiness (‘'...Yes, you can be content. I've taken happy out of my vocabulary. I never say that I'm happy! I say that I’m content") and how she's waiting for ‘God to water my garden," offers piano accompaniment to vocal exercises (presumably for Julian to practice with), and tells us when to turn the tape over. "She's the real deal," said Julian's bandmate, Keith Block, in a mid-tour interview from Granny Caso's Amityville, Long Island, home. "As we were recording the album, it just kind of dawned on him that he had all these tapes. So he sat down and listened to them, and he realized pretty quickly that this was something we could use. Bits and pieces seemed to relate to our songs. "Most of the songs were written when Julian was 14 or 15, and recorded when he was 18. At the time, she was the voice of comfort as he was going through all that turmoil of having parents or teachers or whoever bouncing you back and forth and telling you what to do and basically scaring the hell out of you. His grandmother was one who saw things in the long run and put things in a comforting way.'’ And does granny like the all the between banter stuff - the songs? "She thinks some of it's pretty interesting," said Block, adding that grandma agreed to be sampled. "She thinks that’s cool." Granny won't be part of the show when Chocolate U.S.A. stops by for a gig tonight at New Haven’s all-ages club, Tune Inn. But the band's quirky blend of King Missle meets They Might Be Giants pop-rock promises to be entertaining anyway, touching on topics from television teen doctor Doogie Howser's love theories to the desolation of missing Feelies Show. Formed in Florida and based in Athens, Georgia, Chocolate U.S.A. actually started out as Miss America — that is, until they started getting publicity and drew threats from the real Miss America people (inspiring a "We're getting Sued by the Sexist, Fascist Corporate Pigs" re-naming party and the grandiose single, "100 Feet Tall" about Miss America status). They realised Jets on their own, recording in dribs and drabs as money trickled in. Less than a year later, Bar None signed the band and rereleased the album. Already, the band's moved past the old material and is preparing to record a second release with more contributions from other band members. Before finishing the interview, Block asks, ‘‘Don’t you. want to know our influences?” responding to his own question with: "Definitely They Might Be Giants and Sonic Youth and all that. Also Simon and Garfunkel and Three Dog Night. And Jackson 5, big time, back when they were just another Motown act they were great." He seems eager to dispell the notion that the band's spoken-word "Wash My Face" ans stream of consciousness lyrics may have been inspired by Kin Missile's success; the two bands played together once and are friends, but the songs predated Missile's success, he notes. And though Chocolate U.S.A. has a "Chocolatey Good Smash Hit of the Month Club," in which the band offers non-album ditties on cheat cassette newsletters "to all the little chocolatey good folks in America," that also developed before the band knew about They Might Be Giants' phone line for fans. And what of the band's new name. Is there any significance? "No, basically, it's something that everybody loves," Block explained. "It's something that's childish and not very good for you but you can't help yourself. But beyond that, it's something that was kind of taken offhand. As far as I'm concerned, the band will always be Miss America. If not, then I just said, 'Screw it, we'll name it Fred.' " For information about Chocolatey Good Smash Hit of the Month Club, see a band member at the show or write to Bar None Records at P.O. Box 1704, Hoboken, NJ, 07030.

[boonesfarmsangria]

The last two years have been tough ones for any musicians, and for UK band Foals, they've been dreaming about a return to some sense of normalcy on an endless loop. A glorious day in Athens provides the backdrop for the Zoom call with Foals' lead singer Yannis Philippakis, and it's serendipitous - their new single, Wake Me Up, was written for days like the one Yannis is currently experiencing (unfortunately, the same can't same be said for this writer in Melbourne).

Wake Me Up is a reintroduction of sorts for the band. It's the first single they've released without keyboardist Edwin Congreave, who amicably left the band in September to focus on his economics studies. Writing about his departure on Facebook, Edwin says, "Music is a balm and a light, and so I couldn't be prouder to have called myself a musician, and to have played a part in Foals' journey from indie delinquents to bona fide rock stars. I've heard the new album - it is of course brilliant. Looking forward to next year, I'm thrilled to once again be able to watch the UK's best live band from their best angle - that is, I mean, from the crowd. See you there." Foals' origin story is deeply indebted to techno music and house parties, and it's not hard to hear their younger selves coming through on this new track. 

Wake Me Up is a song that has been written to soundtrack the reopening of the world, and Yannis says it came about after the band decided that enough was enough - if the world wasn't going to change, then they had to mentally whisk themselves off to a different time and place. He explains, "Winters in the UK can get a little bleak, especially if all the pubs are closed and nothing's open. In the past we’ve explored more melancholic moods at times, and when we were discussing about what we wanted to write on this record we wanted to do the antithesis of that.

"We wanted to transport ourselves out of the UK and our current time with COVID into a parallel universe where there was a party going on. We were thinking about writing music for when lockdown would be over. We were envisioning what summer would be like and so with the song specifically I'm trying to transport myself into other situations, to be in the brightest place, the finest place I’ve ever seen. I wanted to be up in the mountain dancing and just to be woken up from the crazy fever dream that was the last eighteen months. It looks like things are starting to improve, so hopefully our plan to make music for the re-emergence of the world will work out."

It's hard to imagine such an upbeat, exciting track being created in a small, airless rehearsal room in South London town Peckham, but that's exactly what Yannis and bandmates Jimmy Smith and Jack Bevan did. The song draws heavily from disco and dance to channel the restless energy that has engulfed creatives everywhere over the last two years into something more positive than perhaps the circumstances deserved. As Yannis puts it, writing music was initially on the backburner, using the time off to recover from relentless touring over the past few years. "We had quite a few lockdowns in the UK and in the first one we didn’t do anything. That’s where I really felt there was this pressure to write your version of the great novel, it’s time to write that screenplay or it’s time to write, when actually I found there was something irksome about this feeling.

"It was propagated through social media - you know you have to learn how to make sour dough bread - and it’s actually like 'well I just want to sit at home because I haven’t been at home for ages'. We didn’t push it, but by the time the second lockdown came around we’d been sat at home for about six months and we couldn’t travel obviously. Had we’d been able to occupy ourselves in other ways, then maybe we would have, but come second lockdown I was eager to start writing some music. I had some demos and then the guys were around so we were like ‘let's go jam it out.’"

Before the pandemic hit, the band spent 2019 releasing Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Parts 1 & 2, two albums that gave the band to push their guitar-driven sound further than ever before. The size and scale on those albums not only encapsulated the best parts of the band's evolution over the preceding decade and a half, but also showcased the appetite for rock music is alive and well, both in the UK and worldwide. The success of Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Parts 1 & 2 goes against what some people have believed for a long while - guitar music is on the way out. It's a phenomenon that's breathlessly discussed by certain sections of the music industry, and yet, it never comes to fruition. 

The contrast between Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Parts 1 & 2 and Wake Me Up is stark, as the two albums also captured the band's simultaneous optimism and pessimism at the time. In a 2019 interview with Cool Accidents, fellow band member Jack Bevan spoke about the inspiration for the name. “When Yannis thought it up ages ago, the actual name, when it’s presented as a quit screen message on Nintendo, it’s super… unromantic and very direct. But when you take it in the context of music or art or whatever, it can take on so much more meaning. For me, I think it’s like… you can take it in a lot of different ways – there’s optimistic, or there’s a negative, pessimistic statement. You can look at it in one way to mean to cherish everything you’re living right now, but also if you take the pessimistic read, it’s kind of a warning sign that we’re all gonna die." Despite the events of the last two years, all signs point to Foals' new album being more upbeat, rather than channelling the dark clouds that have hung above us all for what feels like an eternity.

I ask Yannis about what he thinks about the doomsday claims that rock music attracts, and he points to the fact that it's a natural cultural shift - and for a change, rock music isn't the top dog, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. "There's a weird inner neurosis when it comes to rock music, and to be honest I think it’s mainly with the media. I don’t think that that many bands sit around discussing if rock music is dead, but I think that things have changed. I think that there’s amazing guitar music being made, especially in the UK.

"In the last few years there's been an awesome wave of great guitar music being released, new wave-y bands, with lots of them coming out of South London. It seems really healthy, but I think the thing is that it’s not where the cultural zeitgeist is at the current time. However, that’s not a problem, and it’s certainly not a death rattle for guitar music. It’s also good when guitar music gets to be slightly more underground and bands aren't worrying about commercial pressures. I don’t think it’s going to go anywhere anytime soon."

Foals have recently made their return to the live stage in the UK, and the experience has made the band even more excited for 2022, which promises to be a big year of touring. As the lead singer for Foals, Yannis is the focal point of their performances - and when asked about how he's found embracing the persona of being a lead singer once again, he says that it's felt as natural as one could imagine. "I definitely think that I am two distinct people. There’s the person that’s on stage that is usually much more volatile and emotive, and having not played live I forgot that bit of me existed because I can become kind of domestic. However, as I’m saying this maybe I don’t know myself that well because I don’t know how domestic I really am at home. It didn’t feel weird, it felt super natural in a way that reaffirms the life choices of becoming a musician. I’m meant to do this, and we all feel like that in the band, so it was like putting on a second skin again."

A new Foals album is set to be released in 2022, and they're looking to release an album that could soundtrack a night out on the town. Yannis points to their debut record, Antidotes, which leaned heavily into rhythmic elements, designed to be played at the "indie clubs" which the band considered their ecosystems. Six albums into their existence as a band, their next project is set to be influenced by the disco and '80s new wave acts they're listening to, "slightly experimental guitar new-wavey bands". They're planning to release an album full of songs that you can dance to, ones that capture the joy of a world that's been through a lot in the last two years. The album is set to be their version of a "party record" that'll lift your spirits and make you want to dance. It's sounding like what the world has been sorely missing as of late.

Cool Accidents || Ben Madden

[extremelyblackandwhite]

i wanna know what love is - 20

Pairing: rockstar! sebastian stan x writer!reader

Warnings: teasing

A/N: enjoy xx 💕💕

Last Chapter // Next Chapter

Y/N had slept on his shoulder for the whole plane journey and he didn’t dare move, he daren’t wake her up after waking her up this morning. Of course with that came the jokes from his bandmates and snarky remarks from Melody who’d get a snarky look from Mary in return. Luckily, he didn’t have to awake her up once the plane landed as the captain’s announcement did that for him and she was pissed. He couldn’t help it but find it rather cute how she would pout at not being allowed to sleep. 

They all went through security again, got their bags and all met up in a quiet zone of the airport to figure the best way to get into the bus without getting too much attention drawn to them, specially to Y/N who was new to all of this. Luckily, they weren’t and knew exactly how to go without being noticed, they just liked to brainstorm. Y/N knew they probably got a kick out of brainstorming ideas to be unseen. 

     - Y/N can go with one of the security guards to the back. - Michael pointed out but Y/N already knew what she was gonna do, and it wasn’t going to enter the bus again.

    - I think I’ll just get the taxi to the bay and then get a boat to St.Michaels. Gonna see my parents for a while, if that’s alright. 

    - Yeah, that’s alright, Y/N. We have around three days before the gig, so take your time. - Anthony replied, taking his eyes from his phone to look at her while he spoke and returning right back to it. He was probably speaking to his wife. 

    - Right, then I’ll see you guys in three days. - she kissed Sebastian goodbye and turned on her wheel to walk to the taxi area to see if she could hail one and get to her destination in one piece. Sebastian watched her go with a tinge of sadness, something that was greatly noticed by Mary. What could she say? She was a great emotional reader.

    - Do you wanna go with Y/N? - she questioned before they could all leave and go inside the bumpy, hard to sleep in bus until they reached Maryland, where they would once again sleep in the uncomfortable bus. Besides, if Melody was staying in, he was definitely gonna sleep in the coach. - Go on, just don’t sleep with her in her parents’ house. 

   - He’s not really gonna go to her ... - Melody started to complain but her complaint fell on def ears as he had already decided to start sprinting towards the taxi area, hoping she hadn’t caught one yet. Gladly, she had not caught a taxi yet and was seated on the sidewalk waiting for everyone to get one so she could try and hail a cab once again. How did she even survive in NY? Sebastian chuckled before walking over to her and sitting by her side.

   - Seb ... - she turned to see him, a look of worry in her face. - Are you alright? Please tell me you didn’t get kicked out of the band already.

   - Not yet, Mary just suggested I went with you to St.Michaels. 

   - Mary suggested? - she raised her eyebrows at him in pure disbelief. 

   - Yes, it’s a 30 minute journey from Washington to Maryland plus boat journey. You could get kidnapped, lost or worse drown at sea. - he added making her hold in a chuckle as she tried to look serious. - Unless you don’t want me to meet your folks. 

   - Can you hail a taxi? - she asked and he immediately got up on his feet, raising his arm up and as if by magic a taxi stopped. She sure needed to get famous as that was the only explanation as to why he could hail a taxi so easily.

The taxi drive was, to put in the least interesting. Small talk was not her strong suit, however it was Sebastian and he spent the whole half hour making the man question if he really knew him or if he was just going insane. She wanted to scold him for that, but she couldn’t deny it wasn’t funny. They got to the docks on time and she went over to the ticket place to get some passages while Sebastian stared at the boat. He hated boats. He never understood the fixation of famous people with boats, he personally hated them and he hated them even more once he had taken a half an hour journey only to get dumped at the beach along with Y/N in the middle of the most posh collection of beach houses. 

   - Your parents own a house here? - he questioned, following her as she walked through the sand to one of the white houses. - For someone who gets excited at the glitz and glamour, I don’t understand how you don’t get bored. You’re clearly rich. 

   - My family is rich, it’s their money not mine. - she replied. Y/N did indeed live comfortably until her teenage years where she decided to move to NY and from them on she went on surviving with her own money so she didn’t really have many memories from being surrounded with riches except for the holidays. In her mind, the money her parents had were theirs and she didn’t want anything to do with it. She was gonna make it without any monetary help from her family. They finally reached the porch of a big white house that looked straight out of a dream holiday magazine and Sebastian swore he still did not understand why she got interested by the riches of his lifestyle. She knocked on the door, and took to stand next to Sebastian. - Most of my family lives here.

   - Like a beehive? 

   - You could say so. - she chuckled but got interrupted by the door being opened. The woman in front of them had Y/N’s vibrant eyes and Sebastian guessed it was her mother. 

   - Y/N, what a lovely surprise. - Miss Wiley came to hug her daughter, her gaze still stuck on the man next to her. - I thought you were working.

   - I took a little vacation. - she smiled. - Mum, this is Sebastian Stan. The one who got me the tour article. 

   - Pleasure to meet you, I’m Elizabeth Wiley. - she extended her hand for Sebastian to shake which he did. - Please come inside.

Sebastian followed Y/N and her mother into the entrance. It was a very serene with white walls and light blue accents, something he’d expect to see coming into a beach house. It was mind-blowing to him how he could still hear the ocean waves as if he was on the beach. 

   - Who is it, Betty? - a man, probably in his mid 50′s dressed in a plad suit walked into the entrance. - Pumpkin, what are you doing here?

   - She came to give us a little visit. - her mother placed her arms on her shoulder. - Oh and this is Sebastian.

   - Are you her boyfriend? - he was quite blunt, something Sebastian should’ve been expecting from a political reporter but he was still taken aback. 

   - Dad. - Y/N scolded, a light warmth coming to her face.

   - It’s a fair question, pumpkin. 

   - Leave them alone, Harry. - her mother went to stay by his side. - Why don’t you two come into the living room? 

She took them onto the living room where an elderly man was sat down watching a movie Sebastian had briefly seen. His eyes immediately set on him and he felt a cold shudder run through his spine. He was speechless, not sure how to act. 

   - Look dad, Y/N came to visit us. - her mum told the man who got up to look at his granddaughter. - Oh and this is Sebastian, he’s the one who got Y/N the writing job. 

   - You look much more like your mother. - he commented, shaking her granddaughter’s hand which Sebastian found odd but didn’t dare comment considering he was still looking at him like he was the enemy.

   - Right, why don’t you go into the garden and call for your brother, we should be dinning in a bit. I’ll take your bags. - Elizabeth took their bags and disappeared into the hallway and Y/N pushed him through the house and into the back garden. He’d never been so happy to be far away from someone as he was right now. 

They reached the back garden which should really be called a back park in Sebastian’s opinion. He’d never seen a garden so big yet there he was and a bit further away was a man playing squash against a movable plastic wall. He turned his back to see what the rustling noise was and a smile plastered onto his face. He rushed through to the couple, completing ignoring Y/N and shaking Sebastian’s hand.

   - You sir, are a legend. - he said, shaking Sebastian’s hand thus becoming the 3rd man in the Wiley household that he did not know what to reply to. - I have most of your records.

   - Thank you. - was all he could say. 

   - Why, thank you Theseus for noticing me. - Y/N interjected, arms crossed and a playful look on her face. - Sebastian, this fanboy is my brother, Theseus. He often likes to pretend I don’t exist. 

   - Call me Theo. - he replied. Their parents were avid mythological readers so when their firstborn came along, they decided to name him after the mythical king and founder of Athens. He, however, immediately found a nickname to replace it, something Y/N never really decided to call him by. - So, what are you doing here? Sleeping with my sister or something?

   - No, I’d never do that. She’s a respectable woman and I wouldn’t dare ...

   - Chill. - he interrupted. - Save that for granddad. He’s the one who believes Y/N is innocent but I was there when she had a crush on Indiana Jones.

   - Why don’t we go freshen up. - she pushed Sebastian out of the garden before her brother could spill more secrets. She ignored the living room, having noticed how awkward the scene had been with her parents and grandparents. Y/N took the kitchen rout before climbing the stairs up to her bedroom.

Sebastian always had a thing to see other people’s childhood bedroom and Y/N’s was no different. She had a trophy stand which was no surprise for him, a few boyband posters along with some vintage movie posters. The thing he found funnier was the Phantom of the Opera mask hanging from the one of the windows.

  - 1st place at the Spelling Bee? - he lifted a bee shaped trophy from the stand chuckling at it. - Aw bunny, you’re a nerd.

  - Give me that. - she took it from him, placing it back on her shelf. She would be lying if she said she didn’t love her little trophy collection. - I’m really glad you came over.

  - Free time away from them with you ... - he placed his hands on her hand, moving her a bit closer to him. - Sounds like a real good plan for me.

  - Mh ... - she hummed, her hands on top of his. - I’m sorry about my grandpa. He’s a very ... old school man.

  - Elitist, you mean. 

  - He’s still my grandpa, Seb. Besides, I’m sure he’ll love you once he gets to know you.

  - Yes, because you obviously adored me when you first met me. 

  - Well, you did say that you loved when I talked dirty to you.

  - I’d still love if you talked dirty to me. - he placed his chin in the space between her shoulder and her neck, so close she could feel his breathing. Y/N once again got uncomfortable, pushing from him. Sebastian furrowed his eyebrows, putting his fingers against his forehead. - What’s wrong?

  - Nothing’s wrong. - she took her jacket off, hanging it on the two hanger screwed to the door. 

  - No there’s definitely something wrong because whenever I used to make any sex involving jokes you’d normally roll my eyes at me, not act like that. Is everything alright? - he questioned sitting on her twin bed. - You don’t need to tell me if you don’t want you. I just don’t want to hurt you or make you upset.

 - You’re not making me upset. - she sat by his side, hands on top of her legs.

 - Did I do something that annoyed you? You can tell me.

 - Sebastian, I’m a virgin.

[darkwaved]

my muse is sick, and won’t admit it. send “you need to rest.” for their reaction. @deadbirdtyton​ said: You need to rest.

many aspects of their joint lives had changed since they were teenagers. while stan now owned an incredible underground bar, athene sat atop the indie charts, close to rivaling NSR artists with her sound. age had graced them both with experience and wisdom, the kind that their younger variants only ever witnessed in others. but some things stayed the same.

his former bandmate’s unwillingness to sit still was one of these things.

the surgery on her lungs had gone well. no complications, no issues, but that obviously didn’t mean she could go back to doing whatever she wanted right away. so per the request of her doctor, she stayed in the hospital for five days before returning home, and then was recommended two more weeks of bed rest. and even then, she’d have to have regular check-ups to make sure the prosthetic was working correctly. which basically translated to ‘don’t do anything you’d usually do for almost a month. no fun allowed. ‘

“ look, stan -- we both know damn well i’m not sitting home for another two weeks doing absolutely nothing. and while i appreciate the visit, i just... really need to get up and do something. “ she frowned. “ besides, i’m feeling much better. can’t we go out to eat, or take a walk ? anything other than this ? “

[vermillionpieces]

I had a dream of Daisy Berkowitz telling me that “If problems never existed, then, that’s a problem. It’s inevitable” We were on a table outside a cafe in Athens. He had the green hair still and the zigzag eyebrows. Apparently, he has a healthy (band) relationship with MM and the others bandmates too. Made me feel better for a bit.

[x--daughters-of-darkness--x]

Queens of Darkness: Top 6 Iconic Female Black Metal Vocalists

Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult

Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult is a black metal band from Dormagen, Germany founded by vocalist and guitarst Onielar (Yvonne Wilczynska) and former drummer Ariovist. The black metal that the band plays is heavily inspired by the seminal Norwegian black metal, basking in the glory of hectic drum blasts and delicious tremolo-picked riffs. In addition, Onielar has proven to be an immensely competent singer, and her guttural screams add a whole other dollop of raw power on the band's already impressive sound.

As one would expect from a band influenced by the genre's original greats, Darkened Nocturn Slaguthercult's lyrics abound with themes like Satanism and brutal, nihilistic critique of modern life are written and delivered in a dead-serious manner. For anyone saying that most newer black metal bands are posers – these guys surely ain't.

Currently, the band consists of Onielar (vocals, rhythm guitar), Velnias (lead guitar), Horrn (drums), and Adversarius (bass). They released their debut album titled "The Pest Called Humanity" back in 1999, and have since enjoyed a prolific career with eleven released studio albums to date. Their latest is called "Mardom" (2019) and you can check it out here:

Ilkim Oulanem

Ilkim Oulanem is an extremely talented vocalist and multi-instrumentalist from Turkey. Her first forays into black metal occurred in 2005, when she founded a trve black metal band called Messerscmit in Ankara. She helmed the band as the bass player and vocalist until 2008, when she released a critically-praised demo titled "Alarm" on which she performed all the instruments as well as vocals.

In the following year, Ilkim would release an EP titled "Iblisbilim", her only other solo release to date. However, despite the relatively small amount of material she put out, her work was vastly praised and Ilkim (deservedly) amassed enough of a cult following for her gigs to be eagerly expected. Check out her song "BOŞLUĞUN LEŞ RUHLARI" and see for yourself what a powerhouse of black metal this woman is:

Cadaveria

Cadaveria (born as Raffaella Rivarolo) is one of the first ladies to have graced the extreme metal scene in the early '90s. She began her career as the vocalist and keyboardist of the Italian melodic black metal band Opera IX in 1992. After championing the band for five albums during eight years, she would leave Opera IX with bandmate Alberto "Flegias" Gaggiotti (who has also been the vocalist of the extreme metal band Necrodeath since 1998) to begin her eponymous solo project.

In the following years, she would release six studio albums through which she acquired a serious reputation in the extreme metal scene both in Italy as well as the rest of the world, with her last being 2016's Mondoscuro, a splt release with Flegias' Necrodeath.

Toward the end of the previous year, Cadaveria emerged victorious from a severe battle with cancer, only confirming how much of a badass this woman is. She has since become a true champion in the battle against breast cancer, by raising research funds and serving as a spokesperson for the cause. You can check out her song "Death Vision" in the link below:

Mordichrist

Featuring yet another veteran lady of black metal, Mordichrist was formed in Sweden by Chaq Mol and Nenia in 2000. In the trve black metal fashion, Mordichrist is a mysterious project that lets only its work speak for itself (aside from Chaq Mol being the guitarist of Dark Funeral as well). So far they have released three demos and two EPs, but these proved to be enough for Mordichrist to receive the status of a cvlt hidden gem of the genre.

A statement on their Facebook page says "There are no female fronted black metal bands in the world today as brutal as Sweden's Mordichrist". And although we can't confirm that with the same level of certainty, we can confirm that the band's output so far has been brutal as fuck.

Myrkur

In the previous several years, Myrkur (stage-name of the Danish-born multi-instrumentalist and composer Amalie Bruun) has become not only perhaps the best-known woman in the extreme metal genre, but also one of the most spoken-about current black metal musicians.

By know most of you are already aware of the praise their first two albums "M" and "Mareridt" received and I don't have to tell you anything you don't already know about it. Her latest album, this year's "Folkesange" saw Myrkur focus completely on the Scandinavian folk-inspired aspect of her work. However, "Folkesange" doesn't at all seem so strange an endeavor for a musician who began in black metal, as there was always a certain amount of strange, haunting beauty showing through the grotesque and the volatile nature of the genre even since its early days.

However, Myrkur has more than proven that he is a prodigious black metal vocalist, and for argument's sake I'll leave her iconic song "Måneblôt" here:

Astarte

Astarte were an all-female black metal band from Athens, Greece who had been showing us just how much ass such bands can kick even within black metal as early as 1995.

Originally named Lloth, the band released their demo album "Dancing in the Dark Lakes of Evil" in 1997. Shortly after, they changed their name to Astarte, in homage to the Semitic goddess of sexuality. Astarte would go through several lineup changes over the years, and would release five studio albums over the years.

In 2014, founding member, vocalist and multi-istrumentalist Maria "Tristessa" Kolokouri sadly passed away from complications following her battle with leukemia, and Astarte disbanded soon afterwards. The remaining members regrouped in 2015, once again under the name of Lloth, and have released one demo ("I (Dead Inside), 2015) and one studio album (Athanati, 2017).

Maria's untimely passing cut short what could have been an even more prolific career, but there is no doubt that she'll remain remembered as one of the greatest ladies of black metal vocals.

[bubblesandgutz]

Every Record I Own - Day 524: Pink Floyd Animals

I’m supposed to be in Belgium today, preparing to embark on a six-week European tour with Russian Circles, but instead I’m sitting in my upstairs loft at home listening to Pink Floyd.

First our Italian shows got cancelled due to the quarantine in the wake of coronavirus. Then our Paris show had to halt ticket sales because it was on the verge of exceeding France’s cap on public events surpassing 1000 attendees. Then our Czech and Austrian shows were cancelled due to the ban on public events. Then our promoter in Greece asked us to reschedule. Then we were told our first show was most likely going to get cancelled and the German shows weren’t looking too promising either. The tour was evaporating before our eyes as coronavirus spread. We weren’t necessarily worried about our health, but we were worried about being stuck in a lockdown or quarantined away from home.

Ten years ago we were about to wrap up a six week tour in Europe with a show in Athens when the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull erupted and the resulting ash plume closed the European airspace. We were stuck at a hotel attached to Schiphol Airport outside of Amsterdam for a week while we waited for flights to Greece to resume. We were eventually able to fly to Athens where we played a rescheduled show, but we were still stuck waiting for the airspace west of Europe to open so that we could fly home. It was a strange time. Greece was in the midst of a financial crisis with daily protests and armed soldiers patrolling the streets. No one knew when it would be safe to fly again. It felt like the end of the world.

Whenever I listen to Animals, I remember listening to the album on my iPod while pedaling away on a stationary bike at the hotel at Schiphol. I was stressed out and stir crazy, and I figured wearing myself out at the gym would take some of the edge off my anxiety. I have no idea why I chose to listen to Pink Floyd at the gym---they’re usually a band I use to wind down rather than get my heart rate up, but I guess I was looking for something more on the soothing side at the time.

Animals has always been a strange album for me. I consider it the last great Pink Floyd album, even if I still see it as a decline from some of their previous work. It doesn’t feel as visionary or adventurous as Dark Side of the Moon or Wish You Were Here. It feels like a more straightforward rock album, and I presume that has something to do with some of the behind-the-scenes drama within the band, with the story being that Roger Waters oversaw most of the writing. It’s a bleak record in tone, though I’ve always felt that the bookending compositions “Pigs on the wing (Part One)” and “(Part Two”) helped resolve the ominous tone with a reminder that we can always find solace in each other. It’s a device Russian Circles used on Memorial, with “Memoriam” and “Memorial” using the same chord structure to give the album a sense of closure. Or maybe it was meant to give the impression of a cycle, death and rebirth. A reminder that we’ve been here before.

But I have to admit I didn’t listen to Animals much after our time in Schiphol. Even though I love this album, it had bad connotations after that experience. Yet for some subconscious reason, I pulled this LP out a week ago and listened to it several nights in a row. It finally sounded good again. I wasn’t thinking about how a six-week European tour was looming on the horizon. I wasn’t thinking about coronavirus. But yesterday morning as I was talking on a conference call with my bandmates while in my pajamas, my gear packed up and waiting by the front door, I was reminded about those weeks in Europe back in 2010 when I had to make a call across the ocean to my husband saying I didn’t know when I was going to be home again. 

Everything is a cycle. We’ve been here before and we’ll figure a way out of it. In the meantime, find solace in the people you love. And wash your damn hands.

[canaryrecords]

According to George Katsaros’s WWII draft registration, he was born April 3, 1898 in Trikala in western Thessaly, Greece. He arrived through Ellis Island alone on October 20, 1913, and his declared age at the time was 17, which would have meant he was born in 1896-7. His brother Harry (whose also WWII card as well as a 1930 border crossing document also give Thessaly as his place of birth) had preceded him and settled in the Detroit area. Their parents’ names were Kristos (Gustos) and Zoe.

Much of the information about Katsaros’ life that has circulated for decades, drawn from stories he told in the 1980s and 90s when he was an old man, including that he was born ten years earlier on the island of Amorgos with the surname Theologitis appears to be false. For reasons we haven’t ascertained, Katsaros was by then an untrustworthy narrator of his own life. Two serious studies of his biography and music have been undertaken - one in Greek by Panagiotis Kounadis (which, unfortunately, I have not been able to read because of the language barrier) and another in English by Steve Frangos. The interviews conducted by Frangos in 1985 (available through the site of the State Library and Archives of Florida) and that articles Frangos subsequently wrote based on on those interviews are an invaluable resource on Katsaros’s self-mythology and some of what follows in drawn from them.

Katsaros’s memories of his life were often highly detailed and therefore more or less verifiable. There are some vast craters in his narrative and some apparent fantastic invention. It seems reasonable to suppose that he is telling the truth that he was playing at a cafe called the Zapeion in New York around early 1917 when he had an opportunity to go to San Francisco to play at the Minerva and Acropolis Cafes, both on Folsom Street. The Minerva at the time widely promoted its family-friendly French dinners and 30 cent vegetarian lunches while, around the same time, being under close scrutiny by the police for underworld activity, resulting in the 1919 withdrawal of its liquor license after a fire and a drugging-and-theft incident there made the news in quick succession. Police found the cafe in violation of the wartime prohibition act.

Katsaros named no less than 16 towns in California where he played during the period 1917-18 and another dozen in Oregon, Washington, Utah, Montana, and Nevada in 1918-19. Performing a wide array of traditional Greek (and some Armenian) folk songs for audiences of agricultural workers, port workers, and miners, he spoke in generalities of this period, but the fact that he names specific venues (the Parthenon and the Aphrodite in Salt Lake City, for instance) and some bandmates, including cymbalom players Frank Gazis, who later recorded with violinist Demetrios Poggis, and Spiros Stamos, who later recorded for the Greek Record Company in Chicago, gives credence to his story. He bragged of earning $50 ($750 now) a night, often playing almost continuously from 7PM to 2AM. By 1920, he says, he was back east, playing at the Kentron Restaurant at 1018 Locust Street in Philadelphia. His claim of having been called to sign a 5 year contract with Victor Records in 1919 seems to be fabricated or at least unverifiable, as were his descriptions of a tours to Mumbai, India (via Australia, Burma, Singapore, and other locations) or his assertion of a 1924 trip to Algeria, Tunis, Morocco, Libya, Egypt, Ethiopia, and South Africa. "My records, they went all over the world," he said. "From every place in the United States and South America and Europe [...] they pay me and I take a boat and I go. Playing for the big concerrts. I play for the churches, for the rich people." But he hadn't actually made any records yet.

We can be sure of two significant events in the Summer of 1927. On June 6 and 16, he made his first recordings for Victor across the bridge from Philadelphia in Camden, New Jersey, resulting in his first issued disc, a 12” with the zeibekiko “Elleniki Apolausis (Greek Pleasure)” on one side and “A Kakoorga Eli (Cruel Hearted Elli)” on the flip. And then, at 29 years old, he married a 20 year old woman named Ouranea (b. Dec. 25 1907; d. April 28, 1984). Years later, she told a newspaper that she was the niece of Theodoros Pangelos who had become President of Greece in April 1925 in the aftermath of a coup, only to be deposed August 1926 in a counter-coup.

By June 24, 1928, George and Oura were in Michigan, where George’s brother Harry lived, for the birth of their first daughter Arete (Rita). During the onset and and deepening of the Great Depression four more children arrived there near Detroit - Steve (Jan. 13, 1930), Cleopatria (ca. 1933), James (ca. 1934), and Paul (April 23, 1936.) Parallel to the growth of their family, George made approximately annual trips to New Jersey, New York City, and Chicago to record. His memory in 1985 of the number of sides he made during that period is pretty close to the facts: 18 for Columbia and 36 for Victor, he said. In fact, he released 8 on Columbia and 33 for Victor as well as an additional 20 or so for Victor that were rejected and unissued. At present, we have evidence of one concert during that period, a fundraiser for the Women’s Organization for National Prohibition Reform under the auspices of a Greek organization in Detroit on December 1, 1931 along with a Greek soprano and pianist. A photo given by Katsaros to the researcher Pangiotis Kounadis in 1987 apparently depicts him with a friend in the early 1930s in Birmingham, England.

His reputation as a seminal force in the development of rebetika, the music of the Greek underworld, based on certain of his 1920s and 30s discs is only part of the story of what he did. The vast majority of what he recorded were his own compositions and many of them spoke plainly of the nightlife, of an empathic eye for modern women, a wicked confidence as a gambler, a powerful appetite for hashish, rough companions, and the hustling all of it entails. He also recorded songs that were comedic or deeply pathetic, as often in tango rhythms or with similarities to American songsters like Jimmie Rogers or Mexican conjunto as they were to the zeibekiko rhythms and quasi-Turkish tonalities of the rebetika demimonde that grew in Athens at the same time. Playing a spruce-topped Martin parlor guitar made in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, his songs were straight-shooting, deeply honest, and totally syncretic of his experience as a Greek-American. There is nothing Hellenistically “purist” about Katsaros’s records, but they are adamantly pure in their relationship to his own sense of himself. That is what made him so unique and, perhaps, what made him one of the very, very few Greek performers to have been able to continue to record at all during the 1930s in the U.S. The 1929 stock market crash had simply ended the recording careers of most the Greek-American performers on records, including for instance Marika Papagika, (with whom Katsaros said he worked in the 30s on the road and characterized as a "very very lovely singer and a very very good person") or made their performances feel like remnants of the “old world." It was Katsaros’ singular approach to his instrument and his plain-talking songwriting, as in his exhortation of Herbert Hoover at the end of his Depression ballad “With Pockets Empty” or his lament for the sick “Mother, I Have Tuberculosis [Consumption]” that gave his records such legs that they were regularly repressed, year after year into the 1940s.

Katsaros claimed to have recorded another 24 sides for Decca in the 1930s-40s, but we have no evidence of those having been released. We know that he made about 10 sides for the Gary, Indiana independent label Grecophone and then in the 1940s about six sides for the New York Metropolitan label (related to Adjin Asllan’s Balkan label) and four or more for Standard (run by Tetos Demetriades, who had previously been the head of the Foreign division of Victor in the 1930s and had championed Katsaros then).

In 1940 his family of seven was living in Wayne, Michigan in a heavily Polish neighborhood along with a 51 year old boarder, who, like George, was making $1,900 ($35,000 today) a year working six days a week as a switchman for the Grand Trunk Railroad between Six Mile and Nine Mile of Detroit. The census that year also counted them at another house in Tarpon Springs, Florida where a "John Katsaros" is listed as the head of the household was working as a driver. Katsaros spent the Summer of 1943 playing hotels in the Catskills - the Monte Carlo, the Olympia, and the Sunset. Performing was lucrative enough that he and Oura got their picture in the Detroit Free Press that November for having bought a total of $842 in War Bonds (about $12,500 today), and his occupation was mentioned as “nightclub performer.” But on February 7, 1945, they divorced. He was 46; she was 37. A few years earlier the German occupying forces in Athens had killed his mother for having hidden two American servicemen. Her house was burned. George’s sister Sophia survived and later emigrated to the U.S.

By 1950, he was living in Brighton, Massachusetts at 100 Washington Street. On his way home just before 5 in the morning in November, 1952 Katsaros was robbed at gunpoint. The two muggers grabbed $150 in small bills from his inner jacket pocket but, he said, neglected to check his pants, where he had another $2,000 in cash.

Meanwhile, back home, George and Oura’s eldest child was in the papers. Having been drafted in 1949 to the Korean war, he’d been called back for another year of service as an enlisted infantryman in 1950. On February 12, 1951 he was captured and held as a prisoner of war until August 1953. He was 23 years old when he was reunited with his mother and siblings, living at 2961 Hanley St in Hamtramck, Michigan, including his younger brother James who had also served in Korea. Every member of the family is mentioned in the press notices of his joyful return except for his father.

Katsaros worked in the late 50s in Chicago in Boston at the Club Zara at 475 Tremont St. According to researcher Amy E. Smith, the Club Zara might have had mob ties. On May 6, 1960, 25 days of police surveillance a resulted in the dispersal of a crowd of 300 people at midnight and the arrest of seven women (five of them dancers in their 20s) and five men (including the maitre d, the manager, and an Armenian singer) under charges of “participating in or contributing to an immoral show.” Whether Katsaros was present that night or was even still working there at the time, we don't know. He said in 1985 that he’d been one of its cofounders and took credit for hiring the club’s first bellydancer “Morocco.” The trial that resulted from the raid was a media circus, and all but one of those arrested was fined between $200 and $1500. Four of the dancers were given 3 to 6 months in prison. One dancer lost custody of her eight year old daughter. The club lost its liquor license. The District Attorney told the press “This is filth, real filth. It’s about time we get rid of that show.” If they’d been looking for evidence of underaged employees or other illegal activities, the catalyst for the raid was when one dancer’s bra straps snapped.

Whether or not Katsaros was still in Boston when the raid happened, by about 1962 he’d moved to Holiday, Florida near Tarpon Springs, a town founded in the 16th century as a Greek sponge fishing village. Through the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, he performed sporadically at Greek community events and restaurants, often with the accordion player John Gianaros whom he’d known since the 40s back in New York. Katsaros was getting old with several lifetimes’ worth of experiences and songs in the head, still covered in a thick pile of of kinky hair that he kept vainly under a net at home.

When a new generation of Greeks got hip to the 1920s-30s material of the old dope-smoking hipsters, they found him there in Florida. At 80-something years old, he wanted to know where the money was. In 1985, he asked Steve Frangos about how to collect royalties on his recordings from 50 years earlier or how to get a new record deal. In 1988, he traveled to Greece to perform and gave interviews. His old music was reissued. In March 1995, he was flown again to Greece to be honored by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs at a widely-broadcast concert and spoke and played for his countrymen (now available on YouTube).

When he died at home in Holiday, having outlived practically everyone who could have remembered him, on June 22, 1997 at the age of 99, newspapers around the world told an incredible story about 109 year old badass, a walking antique, who had been everywhere and done everything. Among them, the researcher Aydin Chaloupka noticed a mention in the Pappas Press that Katsaros had a birth certificate from Amorgos for one Yiorgos Theologitis born in 1888 that he'd had authenticated and showed visitors, letting them make copies of it. The story he told that his last name Katsaros was a stage name referring to his his hair ("katsaros" means "kinky" or "curly" in Greek) might hold true if his brother, a grocer in Detroit, didn't share the same name.

Why would Katsaros lie about his date and place of birth and go the trouble of obtaining someone else's birth certificate? We can only speculate, but it is not out of the question that there was something in his life that he did not want to catch up with him even as he attained some notoriety in the late 1980s. Perhaps is was the family he left behind in Detroit in the mid-40s. Perhaps it was the authorities for something he'd done (or felt he'd done) wrong. Perhaps it was some of the underworld characters he'd crossed paths with in the course of his career. Maybe the birth certificate was an insurance policy so that, if someone knocked on his door, he could say "you've got the wrong guy. I'm not George Katsaros, born 1897 in Thessaly. I'm Yiorgos Theologitis, born 1888 on Amorgos." Plausible deniability.

Something is true. But George Katsaros was probably not the person who would have told you.

[the--blackdahlia]

Too Young to Fall in Love Chapter 2 (Dirt!Nikki x Reader)

Title: Too Young to Fall in Love Chapter 2

Summary: Nikki Sixx was a hard partying musician on the strip. He never expected to fall in love with anyone, until a girl knocked on his dressing room door looking for a ride home and took his breath away. Just like everything else Nikki did; the drugs, the money, the music; Nikki went hard with love. (Y/n) Bass never expected the bassist of Motley Crue to be the one to shake her calm and calculated life up. She had a plan. Graduate school, become an epic producer, and watch from behind the scenes as her brother’s band rose to fame. Nikki and (Y/n) were perfect for each other, too bad her brother, Tommy, didn’t think so.

Series warnings: Smut (18+ Please), drug use, language, referenced miscarriage, drug overdose, mentioned attempted suicide, out of character moments for everyone in the band, the timeline might be a little screwy but it’s fanfiction! Also, I have very limited medical knowledge and knowledge about the music industry. So please don’t hate on me.

AN: Thank you so much to @flamencodiva! Check out more chapters on my Patreon!

The next morning, Nikki found himself daydreaming during practice. He couldn’t stop thinking about that sweet smile, and her intoxicating kiss.

“Dude!” Tommy said, throwing a drumstick at him. “You thinkin’ about whatever pussy your scored last night or what?”

Nikki jumped, "huh? Oh sorry…" he rubbed the back of his head. "No I didn't score. It was vanilla ok? I called her left my number and she hasn't called so…"

“Whoever it was probably just wanted free food or something.” Vince said with a shrug. Nikki didn’t know what, but it pissed him off.

"Just sing the lyrics and flip your hair," Nikki growled.

“Someone’s PMSing this morning.” Vince laughed, high fiving Tommy. Nikki didn’t know that right then, (Y/n) was calling for leave a message on his machine for when he got done with practice.

The rest of the rehearsal was smooth, and the guys started talking about their next gig.

“There’s going to be so many fucking hot chicks there.” Tommy laughed, leaning back in his chair and tossing one of his sticks up in the air. “Maybe Sixx can get laid and chill out?”

"Yeah whatever," Nikki grumbled, leaving the rehearsal room, aka their living room. He walked into his room and froze at the blinking light on his machine. Slamming the door and wishing that he had a lock on it, he grabbed a paper and pen and played the message.

“Uh, hey Nikki, it’s (Y/n). I just woke up and I figured you’re probably out. Thank you for dinner last night. I’m working today but should be free tonight. And I’m babbling. Anyway, I’ll talk to you later Nikki.” She hung up then.

"Shit," Nikki cursed. He grabbed the phone and dialed her number. He felt his heart race as it rang.

“Hey, this is (Y/n)! Leave a message and I’ll get back to you as quick as I can!” Her machine said in his ear.

"Hey sweet girl," Nikki chuckled. "Seems we keep missing each other. We have a gig tonight if you want to see us again. We could try some dinner and a walk somewhere after." He heard his door open and began waving off whoever was trying to get inside.

"Hey is that the girl you were with last night?" Tommy shouted getting Vince and Mick's attention.

"Awwwww," Vince chuckled and moved towards Nikki who had the phone to his ear and was trying to get away from the guys.

"Ok, so our gig is at the Hollywood Palladium and think about what I said for after. I hope to be able to…  ow guys stop it." Nikki was trying to balance in the bed

Tommy was reaching for the phone and laughed, "yeah he really wants to see you. Whoever you are you got him missing his queues!"

“You moron stop it!” Nikki called out.

“He thinks your smokin’!” Vince yelled into the phone. Nikki got the phone hung up before they could say anything else.

“You guys are assholes!” Nikki growled.

"Awwwwww," Tommy pinched Nikki's cheek. "You really like her! You want to kiss her and then you want to fuck her!" Tommy began guessing his hips.

“Shut the fuck up.” Nikki said, pushing him out of the room. “She probably won’t even come by man.”

“Ooooo, Nikki is love struck.” Vince teased.

"Seriously," Nikki growled. "Just drop it ok!"

"Dude?" Tommy raised his eyebrow at him. "Do you seriously like her?"

"I…" Nikki ran a hand across his face. "I think I just really like her… yeah."

“I hope she comes to the gig so I can meet her.” Mick laughed. “Anyone dumb enough to like you probably makes Tommy look like a genius.”

“Yeah. Hey!” Tommy flipped Mick off.

"Trust me she is something I don't even think I deserve man." Nikki grabbed a beer from the fridge. There was nothing in there but beer, a box of expired baking soda, and a pair of panties.

“I’ll be the judge of that my dude.” Tommy laughed. “Come on. I’m hungry and there’s no food.”

"Yeah you ate it all," Vince growled. "We had a weeks worth of groceries you idiot!"

“I got hungry! Sue me!” Tommy laughed. Nikki shook his head, but his mind kept drifting back to (Y/n). Her sweet laugh and cute smile, the way her lips felt against his…

Tommy waved his hand in front of Nikki's face. "Nikki? Hello? Nik!" Tommy snapped his fingers. "I think he's been abducted by aliens."

“Shut up!” Nikki slapped Tommy. “Come on, let’s go get some food.”

**********

(Y/n) sighed as she helped a student check out another book. Time seemed to be moving slow at the circulation desk. It was quiet today, and the only people in the library seemed to be a handful of over achievers and just as many students who had waited until the last moment to finish projects.

She just kept wondering if Nikki had gotten her message and if he had called her back. She sighed. He was probably just being nice to her. Why would a guy like him, who could have any girl he wanted, be interested in a little bookworm like her? Hell, she had even lied to him about living in the dorms. Why would he want to date her?

She felt her mind wander back to the kiss they shared last night. The way his lips felt against hers. She leaned and her hand and sighed. She imagined him coming into the library and a soft, sweet music was playing. Her pulled her away from the counter and moved her with the music. She could almost feel his breath on her skin as he leaned in and was about to press his lips to hers once again.

"(Y/n)," a voice called out. "Earth to (Y/n)! Come back to earth!"

“What?” (Y/n) said, looking around to see her friend standing there. The friend she was staying at her dorm for the night, mainly so she could go to the concert with Athena and not have to worry about her parents worrying about her. “Oh, hey Nessa…”

"Seriously," she shook her head and stretched. "This is the like… third time I caught you daydreaming." She laughed. "Who is he? Or she? I don't judge." She leaned forward and snapped her gum. Vanessa was the epitome of Valley Girl. (Y/n) used to be that way, until Tommy started a band.

“So, you know how we went to the record store and you got Madonna and I got Motley Crue and Kiss?” (Y/n) asked.

Vanessa rolled her eyes, "I just don't know why you don't like pop… but go on…" she smiled and leaned on her fist.

“Well, I met one of the guys from Motley Crue last night.” (Y/n) blushed. “Well, the one that’s not my brother. His friend Nikki. And he’s...amazing.” She smiled.

"You meet Nikki Sixx!" She snorted. "Wait…. Doesn't your brother drum for the band? How have you guys not officially met?" She leaned in. " Oh oh oh… can I meet Vince Neil?" She might be more into pop, but she knew hot when she saw it.

“Tommy doesn’t like for bandmates to meet me.” (Y/n) shrugged. “He says he doesn’t want one of them to hurt me or something. I think he’s ashamed of me honestly.” She laughed. “And I’m not sure if you want to meet Vince Neil, but I can see about it.”

"Well I heard he's hot," she shrugged. "I think the music sucks but hey dick is dick."

“Dear god.” (Y/n) shook her head. “I gotta check my messages when I get home. See if he called me.” She sighed. “I’m hoping for too much I think. I mean, I’m a nerd who skipped two grades and started college early. He’s a rockstar who could have Heather Thomas or someone like that.”

"Girl you are smoking! I think your and Athens got all the looks and Tommy got all the ugly," Vanessa laughed. "Why wouldn't he check you out. Besides you are probably as breath of fresh air compared to being around your brother all day."

“That’s probably true.” (Y/n) laughed. “But, I don’t know if he realizes I’m Tommy’s sister or not. I mean, I don’t go by Lee like him and Athena do. I use Bass.”

"Why?" Vanessa shook her head. "I mean you could get guys with that last name." She shrugged. "Hell you can get any guy now."

“I want to succeed on my own, not on the aid of that last name.” (Y/n) shrugged. “Plus, Tommy would tease the hell out of me.”

Vanessa have an exaggeration sigh and banged her head on the desk, "dude, you think too much. Cut loose, hang back and enjoy the now." Vanessa grumbled. "Take some initiative and grab life by the literal and metaphorical balls!" (Y/n) blushed.

“It’s almost time for me to leave. Maybe he called?” She asked Vanessa.

"Oh, I bet you a shift next week that he called," Vanessa said and winked.

“Oh you’re on.” (Y/n) laughed. “I’ll see you Tuesday, right?”

"You better give me the dirty details," she said. "Oh, and think about being my dorm mate next semester will ya!?"

“I will, I will.” (Y/n) smiled and headed back home. Her mom was out shopping and her dad was at work. So she made her way to her bedroom in peace. Her eyes widened when she saw the light flashing on her machine.

Diving to her bed she pressed the button and sighed at the sound of his voice. She looked at the time. She had enough time to shower and get ready and find a ride to the Hollywood Palladium.

Forever Tags:  @anathewierdo @dekahg @marvel-af-imagines @feelmyroarrrr @nanie5 @imboredsueme @gemini0410 @aiaranradnay @babypink224221 @mogaruke @xxwarhawk @sandlee44 @shatteredabby @caswinchester2000 @supernaturalwincestsblog @lauravic @mrsambroserollinsacklesmgk

Too Young to Fall in Love Tags: @waywardprincess666 @primal-screamer

[kimjoongs-main]

tag your mutuals as characters from different aus ✨

this was so much fun oh my god

also i’m sorry if i didn’t tag everyone !! putting this under the cut bc wow this got long oop

@jenuminous - i mentioned this before but athene would be an inventor’s daughter in a steampunk au bc y e s, she’d accompany her father whenever they go out to the city to buy parts and she just becomes so fascinated with all of the machines and she’s always wearing these huge goggles and lugging around a satchel filled with tools, and she and her friends always see who can invent the most ridiculous, yet efficient, piece of machinery omg

@nothaechan - i see agnes in a soulmate au, but like...a sad one bc angst and she’s my angst wife so *shrug* basically she has her soulmate’s name tattooed on her left wrist and her anti-soulmate’s name tattooed on the right but gASP it’s the same name on both wrists (bonus: her soulmate/anti-soulmate has her name tattooed on the anti-soulmate side and someone else’s name on his soulmate side) did that make sense idfk

@cinanamon - if you follow me then you know i always go on abt tea shop owner steph and tbh it’s still my fave thing ever, but i wanted to change it up this time. steph would be the prince’s consort but she like,,,,hates his guts KDJHKDJ bc he comes off as abrasive and arrogant but she endures it bc this marriage would be good for her and her kingdom, and eventually the two fall in love waahhh this is basically an enemies-to-lovers au but in a royal setting

@icymv - bri would be a guitarist in a high school band omg lemonade mouth who??? idk she’d be that really chill but also not chill character, like everyone is freaking out about practice but bri’s just chilling on the couch strumming mindlessly whilst her bandmates are running around like chickens w their heads cut off, but when they’re performing she just gets really into it and you can tell she’s passionate abt what she does

@berryjaellie - sweet millie would be a florist :(( she always has a sweet smile on her face and greets the customers who walk in. her knowledge about flowers knows no bounds and she’s always willing to help out in any way she can. the people around town always say hi and wave when they see her outside watering the plants, and on the days that aren’t super busy, she’ll be in the backroom making flower crowns for the little kids that sometimes come into her shop. 

@cheonsajaemin - i can see vic as a barista in a coffee shop au tbh, she’s super sweet to the customers who are nice but is also not afraid to be passive aggressive to the ones who are...not so nice eek. she attempts to make drawings in the coffee and sometimes they come out looking amazing and other times they look like blobs djfdsh but she’s trying her best !! 

@1ove1ies - lia mentioned the victorian era being her weakness so i’m going to use that piece of info to my advantage and say that she would be the heir to a family of aristocrats, but resents the limitations put on her by her family. she wants to go out, explore, and satisfy her curiosities !! but she’s stuck in her mansion having to go through lessons w her mother and teacher 

@seungbinz - mmm chloe would an art major who lives in an apartment right across another art major, and the two of them would frequently see the other person through the window and they both have a fat crush on each other but god forbid they say anything jhdsjh they’ve talked a couple times whenever they bump into each other outside the building, and one time they literally bumped into each other but oh no chloe dropped her sketchbook and oops it conveniently opened to the page where she drew the other person

@bitchendery - elena would be in a theatre club au as the set designer, but she’d looove to pull pranks on the actors sometimes. like let’s say they were doing romeo and juliet and she had to set up the iconic balcony scene and during rehearsal the set would be perfect and beautiful and wow but during dress rehearsal she’ll probably stick a dummy on the stairs or smth to freak everyone out omg pls give me this

@neoye119 - dia would be a sassy mage hands down, she’d have a shop filled with all sorts of potions, charms, and other trinkets but everyone is lowkey intimidated by her so she rarely gets visitors, but when she does they’re always surprised bc wow she’s a lot nicer than i thought and omg she even healed a minor wound i had on my arm. she’ll also play tricks on the townspeople from time to time like turning the poor baker’s loaf of bread into a snake, or replacing the drinks at the tavern w sleeping potions

[deadbirdtyton]

What if?

Anonymous said:

What if you and Phantasma got together?

“Y’all really got it in for us two, don’tcha? Well, I mean, I guess we DID sorta go on that little concert, but ah... Don’t y’all got yer own stuff t’worry about?”

He straightens up, amused at the thought, though his face flushed red.

“Well, I reckon I’d make the most out of every time we spent t’gether. Me an’ Buki get along like peanut butter n’ jelly, so I could hang with her while her mom was busy. I’d ALSO wonder if maybe we could have a jam sesh like we used to!”

[mywindowslookwriting]

The B-52s - The B-52s

Athens, Georgia new wave band the B-52s met sharing a flaming volcano cocktail at a bar. It’s such a weird drink, and such a weird story, that it makes perfect sense that the band is also insanely weird.

They took inspiration from 50s 60s fashion, thrifting, and tiki culture, and played with strangely tuned guitars, keyboards, and children’s toy instruments, to create a beautiful mess of sounds that defined their debut self-titled album.

The first time I heard the album, I was nine years old. My mom had the CD, and she put it on in the car. My first thought was that Planet Claire sounded cool, but was it ever going to start? Of course, my fears were abated because although it takes two minutes and thirty seconds to gather confidence and get going, once it does it’s glorious.

The third track, Dance This Mess Around, is one of their most well-known songs. Using a he said she said narrative, it’s the perfect dance track as a lot of it is just the naming of completely ridiculous sounding dance names. The Shy Tuna, everyone? It also displays their retro interests, as they reference dances that Patti Smith screamed about in her song Land.

One thing to love about the B-52s is just how funny they are. Their music isn’t serious, it’s fun and glorious and queer, it’s kitschy and unpolished but gleaming and shiny like a plastic makeup mirror. Their music might have sounded niche, but they inspired everyone from John Lennon (who said the album reminded him of Yoko Ono’s music) to Nirvana.

Rock Lobster is probably their most famous song. The intro guitar riff (sampled in Don’t Threaten Me With A Good Time by Panic! At The Disco) is so famous just on it’s own, but guitarist Ricky Wilson introduced it to his bandmates as ‘here’s the stupidest riff I’ve ever written’.

As the song cartwheels through tales of parties and sea creatures and matching towels and rock lobsters (of course), it’s clear why the B-52s are so great. Of course, they make great music that’s perfect for dancing, but they’re also the Harry Potter of music. Perfectly enjoyable for children and adults alike. But besides that, the song is perfect, funky and authentic.

The three songs after that are good, but less memorable. But we have to talk about 6060-842. It’s hilarious storytelling, of a woman going into the bathroom, seeing a number written on the wall, and trying and failing to call the number. It sounds simple, cheesy and stupid,  but it’s weirdly heartbreaking while still really funny and danceable. The vocals are erratic, yet girl-group, high-pitched but not shrill.

But no matter your age, or the music you like, you can find something in this pitch-sharp debut of a band that just wants to have fun and dance in the sun. Even as the singers feel like they’re about to have a nervous breakdown and lose their shit, it’s fine, because they have so many great friends on their side, ready to dance it out and drink flaming volcanoes.

-written by sagan, february second 2019

[justmicro]

Roger waters st paul

#ROGER WATERS ST PAUL FULL#

Gilmour appeared at the show at The O2, London playing lead guitar on "Comfortably Numb" and mandolin on " Outside the Wall", on which they were also joined by Nick Mason on tambourine. Following a charity gig Waters performed with his former Pink Floyd bandmates on 10 July 2010, he confirmed that David Gilmour would guest on " Comfortably Numb" at one show during the tour.

#ROGER WATERS ST PAUL FULL#

On 23 April, the full band line-up was announced on Roger Waters's Facebook page. He was replaced by cousin Pat Lennon, also of Venice. Kipp Lennon, Mark Lennon and Michael Lennon of the band Venice were confirmed for backing vocal duties, but Michael Lennon withdrew from the band due to rehearsal difficulties. Snowy White (who was a session and tour musician with Pink Floyd in the 1970s, and was in the tour band for the original 1980–81 tour for The Wall) and Dave Kilminster were the first musicians confirmed to be in Waters's touring band. Waters, a pacifist, incorporated an increased emphasis on the show's anti-war message, and he requested fans to send him pictures of loved ones who have died as a result of wars. After the 21 September 2013 Paris show he claimed on stage this to be possibly the last The Wall show, confirming rumours that there will be no further tour dates planned for 2014. The tour returned to European stadiums again in summer 2013. This last show in Quebec City was the second largest outdoor production of "The Wall" ever – the largest being the Live in Berlin show in 1990. It was confirmed by Waters during an interview with Jimmy Fallon that he would be returning to North America for yet another leg of The Wall tour, beginning 27 April 2012 in Mexico City and ending 21 July 2012 in Quebec City on the Plains of Abraham, a former battlefield. In 2012, the tour included Australia, New Zealand, and South America, resuming 27 January in Perth, and ending 1 April 2012 in São Paulo. The European tour began 21 March 2011 in Lisbon, Portugal, and ended 12 July 2011 in Athens, Greece. The tour opened on 15 September 2010 in Toronto, and moved through North America before ending the first leg of the tour in Mexico City, 21 December 2010. It is currently the 7th highest-grossing tour of all-time. In 2013, the tour held the record for being the highest-grossing tour for a solo musician, surpassing the previous record holder, Madonna (the record was later eclipsed by Ed Sheeran). It was the second-highest-grossing concert tour in North America in 2010 and the third-highest-grossing concert tour worldwide as of 2013. The first leg of the tour grossed in North America over $89.5 million from 56 concerts. The tour is the first time the Pink Floyd album The Wall has been performed in its entirety by the band or any of its former members since Waters performed the album live in Berlin 21 July 1990. The Wall Live was a worldwide concert tour by Roger Waters, formerly of Pink Floyd.

[ray-dog-67]

The Replacements - Bastards of Young (SNL 1986)

The Replacements were a band, who, early in their career played a ferocious style of punk, then segued into a straight-up pub rock n roll band. Led by rhythm guitarist Paul Westerberg, the tone of the songs became more in line with the singer-songwriters he admired. Early adherents of the group would yell “sell-out” but the band, whose first record, Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash, was released in 1981, soldiered on, their recorded output’s sound getting more polished and refined with each release. Finally, in 1991 the group called it quits. Up to that point, with varying degrees of quality, The Replacements released 8 LP’s; 4 of them on the major label Sire. Critics generally loved them, and indie rock fans gravitated to the group’s wild, even bizarre stage antics, and heavy drinking—of course, they all loved the tunes, but the craziness, especially exhibited by lead guitarist Bob Stinson, quickly thrust the band into legendary status. All of the members, drummer Chris Mars, bassist Tommy Stinson (Bob’s much younger half-brother), and Westerberg, were from the Minneapolis area which, at the time the band began, was not necessarily known for its punk/indie rock scene. For fans and rock connoisseurs on the coasts, Minnesota was a backwater, the rise of Prince was still a little way off, and Bob Dylan was more identified with New York than his home state. Part of the band’s repertoire consisted of songs like “Gary’s Got A Boner,” “Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out,” “I Hate Music,” crazed, punk-fueled, juvenile rippers that could get a basement party quickly moshing, pogoing, and throwing beer. As time progressed Westerberg’s songwriting would become more mature with tunes like the tender ballad “Skyway” from 1987’s Pleased to Meet Me, the sad, desolate “Unsatisfied” from the band’s 1984 album Let It Be; a song that pre-dated the grunge of the early ’90s. The Replacements were losing some older fans but gaining new ones. Contemporaries of R.E.M. The Replacements were part of the pack of indie rock bands who leaped to the major labels, but, unlike the quartet from Athens Georgia, The Replacements would never be able to score the huge hit or extended record deal, owing to their abhorrent behavior, and inner demons. When most people associated “college rock” with bands whose member’s image was nerdy, scholarly even while playing a style of pop that was jangly/folksy The Replacements were blue-collar, disheveled, even a bit clueless, no wonder I loved them so much. The span of their career proved to be that the band was a little ahead of their time, I think had they started in the mid to late 80’s they could have rode the wave the Seattle scene, scoring bigger hits, filling larger venues, while the record companies showered them with cash and incentives…or maybe not, The Replacements could never get out of their own way, but they would have an effect on indie rock for years, they were revolutionary in a manner that is hard to define. Author Bob Mehr’s well-researched Trouble Boys the True Story of The Replacements does an exemplary job of telling The Replacements’ rough, hardscrabble, emotional, tale.

Mehr begins the book with guitarist Bob Stinson’s funeral, in 1995, 4 years after the band called it quits. Stinson had been dismissed from the band at the end of 1986’s Tim tour was replaced by Bob “Slim” Dunlap, an acquaintance of the band. From there Mehr’s narrative begins with chapters dealing with each band member’s history—Chris Mars being the exception, he gets a few introductory paragraphs at the beginning of chapter 6. Through extensive interviews with family members, friends, and former band members Mehr is able to shed some light on the causes of The Replacements legendary dysfunction. This is not a fan’s glorification of the “rock n roll” lifestyle but rather a written expose’ of the childhood traumas suffered by the Stinson brothers. Paul Westerberg, a nerdy yet irascible teen, father is an alcoholic with a rather cynical, grim outlook on life. Chris Mars seems to have the least troubled upbringing, has musical and artistic yearnings, traits that get one labeled an outsider in most Midwestern communities. Trouble Boys tells the story of 4 boys, really, Tommy was only 12 when he started playing bass in Dogbreath, the first incarnation of The Replacements, who have somewhat similar backgrounds, who came together to form a rock group, even though they each had different tastes in music, temperament, and notions of how the band needed to conduct its business. The hard life caught up with Bob, his booze and drug addiction, did him in, his body couldn’t take it anymore, in a way he exemplified The Replacements, even though he was not a constant member. His style of guitar playing was fast, wild, usually performing on stage in a dress, diapers, or completely nude, a lover of prog rock a counterpoint to Westerberg’s more contemplative, singer-songwriter approach. The funeral is the perfect place to start, Bob Stinson remains a focal point of sorts, throughout the book.

By the mid-’80s The Replacements became indie rock celebrities, garnering some critical acclaim, major label interest, and a glorious—although completely fucked-up, performance on SNL, early 1986. Usually, this is when the story begins to grow stale, but Mehr does an excellent job chronicling the group’s interactions with major players in the record industry, while Westerberg is tasked with writing the always elusive big hit. Bob Stinson, a smart affable character when sober, was a major source of tension for his brother Tommy, Paul, and Chris, but his dismissal didn’t seem to put the band on the proper footing for success, the heavy drinking, and abhorrent behavior continued. Dunlap, whose family were successful lawyers and journalists, had a wife, 2 young children, and a 16-year-old daughter, was something of an anomaly within the group, his role, and contribution somewhat less than the elder Stinson. Still, he could keep up with the drinking and maintained a caustic attitude toward producers, managers, and Sire’s staff. Hotels, buses, venues were destroyed, while insults were lobbed at fellow rockers, chemicals never far from the band’s grip, that was the major label existence of The Replacements, by 1991 everyone had grown tired of it. Recently, there have been some reunion shows, but they were half-baked, with no intention of returning to the old days. Chris Mars was fired from the band before 1991’s All Shook Down tour, Dunlap suffered a stroke in 2012, hitting his head while falling to the floor.

After the breakup, Mehr follows the former bandmates solo projects, marriages, without losing any of the story’s traction. Sometimes a book, toward the end, can feel hurried, in need of an editor’s red-inked pen, this is not the case with Trouble Boys. The reader gets a glimpse of life after a band has broken up, and the realities of receiving unemployment checks, telemarketing jobs, or just simply hanging out with the family is a nice bookend to the chaos, anarchy of a signed, performing rock band.

Trouble Boys chronicles a time of popular music that was very different from our current environment, even though it really wasn’t that long ago. This book describes a band who redefined the term “underdog” who never had great success, but had a huge effect on rock’s direction, especially the mid 90’s Americana movement. Trouble Boys is full of insight, information, with concise prose, a pleasure to read, one of the best rock books I have ever read, and not because I was a huge fan of the band.