"Anger and coffee, feeling mean."

black_robin @ 2008-03-19T12:28:00

2008-03-19T13:12:13Z

Last night and this morning I was experiencing severe panic, just general life panic and now I feel much better. Work problems are not insurmountable and I'm going to move in with James Minton in late May/early June - affordable housing can be had for two it seems.

I had a brilliant weekend of great adventure and many brilliant books. None of which were written by Curzio Malaparte alas.

Also, sad news:

British science fiction writer Sir Arthur C Clarke has died in his adopted home of Sri Lanka at the age of 90.
The Somerset-born author came to fame in 1968 when short story The Sentinel was made into the film 2001: A Space Odyssey by director Stanley Kubrick.

His visions of space travel and computing sparked the imagination of readers and scientists alike.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse paid tribute, hailing the writer as a "great visionary".

Since 1995, the author had been largely confined to a wheelchair by post-polio syndrome.

He died at 0130 local time (2000 GMT) of respiratory complications and heart failure, according to his aide, Rohan De Silva.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7304004.stm

It's unclear whether or not he previously donated money to polio charities so he probably had it coming.

black_robin @ 2008-01-08T17:15:00

2008-01-08T17:24:29Z

Gosh, that's a bit brilliant.

I've bagged the review of Atrocity's daft '80s cover album. It's got voice-overs but fuck it, it's got death metal takes on:

1. People Are People (Depeche Mode Cover)
2. Smalltown Boy (Bronski Beat Cover)
3. Relax (Frankie Goes To Hollywood Cover)
4. Don't You (Forget About Me) (Simple Minds Cover)
5. The Sun Always Shines on TV (A-HA Cover)
6. Hey Little Girl (Icehouse Cover)
7. Fade To Grey (Visage Cover)
8. Such A Shame (Talk Talk Cover)
9. Keine Heimat (Ideal Cover)
10. Here Comes The Rain Again (Eurythimics Cover)
11. Forever Young (Alphaville Cover)
12. Feels Like Heaven (Fiction Factory Cover)

black_robin @ 2007-12-22T17:18:00

2007-12-22T17:21:56Z

High fives all round.

One of my news stories has been ripped to blabbermouth.net, sadly they've balls'd up the URL.

black_robin @ 2007-12-07T09:02:00

2007-12-07T09:02:55Z

The new issue of Terrorizer came out yesterday and you should totally buy it for the following reasons.

1) The cover looks amazing.
2) In the last issue of Metal Hammer they called The Black Dahlia Murder a black metal band. Protest with your wallets.
3) EXCLUSIVE Gaahl interview talking about the Gorgoroth split.
4) My bloody fantastic news section.

Let it burn, let it breathe...

2006-05-12T10:20:44Z

1. I'll respond with something random about you
2. I'll challenge you to try something
3. I'll pick a color that I associate with you
4. I'll tell you something I like about you
5. I'll tell you my first/clearest memory of you
6. I'll tell you what animal you remind me of
7. I'll ask you something I've always wanted to ask you
8. If I do this for you, you must post this on yours

I feel a bit ill but I'm gonna go to Studio81 and see when John's free to touch up my pin-ups.

Also I'm going to buy a coffee machine!

It’s not the scissors that are dull. It’s our minds, It’s our apathy and shallow goals entwined...

2006-02-24T13:45:40Z

I'm half an hour into one of my bullshit magazine group meetings, or I would be if anyone other than me actually turned up. I'm not even the 'editor' so I'm sat in the Magazine Newsroom listening to the post-grads be loud and clueless about their paranormal magazine. I could help them out here - I know exorcists and ghosthunters. I won't though because I'm a cunt.

Pluto is gonna be out monday instead of today because the printers are on crack.

This weekend I need to write a bunch of reviews and start law. I'd also like a cuddle at some point.

These words I used to scream from the roof tops, they fall like ash from my tongue...

2006-01-29T21:27:21Z

The fire alarm's gone off so much today that Pig Destroyer just hasn't stopped spinning. One of these days I'll fry here and the laughter will end tragically.

My weekend has been lovely in the extreme, friday evening was some quality face-melting with Dragonforce and the exceedingly homoerotic Ed Guy in the company of Dom who's sexy sexy feature was in this week's Big Issue. Go buy.

Saturday I did a tiny bit of work and went to hang out with the lovely Rufus, then came back watched Black Hawk Down and slew the features pages. I did however have to conjure up almost an entire feature from scratch because once you took the crap out of Andrew Ewart's piece it was only about 250 words long.

And today? Overly earnest white guys giving speeches and prancing around inside dragons whilst all the Chinese people looked embarressed and wished they were at home.

All days are in darkness, and I'm biding my time...

2005-08-19T23:19:25Z

Fri 30th Sept - Mendeed + Guests - The Mill, Preston

Well I'm off back to Scunthorpe. First Penknifelovelife, and now this? I don't know who's been worshipping the Old Ones and rubbing their meat-wand on gravestones but it's clear God fucking loaths Preston.

It's a family, a band, I hope it never ends...

2005-07-22T16:17:14Z

My LJs gone Friends Only, I've altered the last few blogs to that effect but I have neither the time nor the inclination to do the whole lot.

Maybe at some point when I've nothing better to do.

Comment if you'd like to be added alright?

Boo-yah.

Thier hands fall apart when we need to hold them, and the skeleton speaks of what we've told them...

2005-07-10T01:48:37Z

I was worried the Avenged Sevenfold hatemail had stopped. Oh, no.

ur a dumbass. city of evil is their best album. so keep posting ur bullshit. maybe if u were a musician u would understand. i bet u cant play any of their new shit. so go fist urself!

Hurray! I was worried the internet didn't love me anymore.

Thank you for your kind words and comments, it's always a pleasure to hear from our readers especially from those I didn't even realise were capable of working the internet-machine - well done, I do hope that you had enough functioning brain-cells left to remember the breathe.

My comments regarding City Of Evil were fairly well balanced, I avoided calling it 'Shitty Of Evil' which I've been gleefully doing in conversation since the day of it's release and essentially I'm perfectly qualified to pass judgement on it because I'm a 'consumer' of music, a massive fan of Avenged Sevenfold, and yes, a musician.

By the way - I hope you can play any of their new shit because if you were a musician you would understand and we wouldn't need to be having this conversation, you'd just cry a lot and perhaps take the whole bottle of whatever it is that's obstructing your ability to do your own thinking.

Happy fistin'

James

It's late and I was a little bit savage and a lot less funny. Just because I'm a fan of Avenged Sevenfold doesn't mean I'd nibble on a turd if they offered me one...which funnily enough is exactly what they're doing.

By the way - the Zao interview is up and with photos from the super-sexy Macky. Much love and rejoicing.

ATTENTION

2005-06-21T15:40:22Z

THIS MAN IS NOT NIKKI SIXX.

Their poison tongues, poison hearts. Burning cold, now let the darkness fall...

2005-06-20T18:02:09Z

I'd promised myself I'd do a couple of reviews today but instead I've settled for putting other people's reviews up. I'm ace.

Walls Of Jericho was...I was gonna say 'off the hook' and then 'proper bo'...thanks for that Justin, I was there stupidly early so I did my interview and sat around talking to the band and anyone else who accidently made eye-contact. My re-occuring fears that I don't fit in were satisfyingly scuppered when someone mistook me for one of Walls Of Jericho and asked me where 'my' drummer was. That's right, I just ooze hardcore.

I'm on a massive At The Gates thing right now, I've been shrieking "I FEEL MY SOOOOOOUL GO COOOOOOOLD" in the street.

PS - Will someone find me either a) a black flat-cap or b) a Volcom Stone medium combat-cap in black? Love you. Bye. xx

For so long I have felt alone, content to live with unrest...

2005-06-15T18:08:08Z

Got bored.

I was born on planet Earth, a rotating ball where man comes first...

2005-06-13T10:26:43Z

Everyone should go read the current Nothing Nice To Say.

GO NOW.

Tools of the trade, forceps and blades, skillfully lathed, for us to maim...

2005-06-12T11:46:06Z

Well I changed my mind and went to my first show in Leeds yesterday and it was wierd - it started off being really intimidating because everyone seemed to be a lot cooler then me but I calmed down. No-one outed me, no massive finger descended to scream "YOU DO NOT BELONG WITH YOUR BORING HAIR AND WELL-FITTING JEANS."

It's just a bit of a culture shock after Preston where everyone's got this 'Only hardcore kid in the village' thing going on personified perhaps by Pat "I've never met anyone else that likes Himsa" Elias Last Day that means they have to undermine the hardcore-osity of anyone outside their clique (of 17 year old scene kids from Preston college) as is witnessed by his attack on Justin ("How can HE have heard of the The Nothing?!")

Ah well, he likes me even if he thinks I'll fall to my knees in worship everytime he mentions his terrible terrible band.

Anyway I had a lot of fun.

Turning once strong men into lost little boys, standing well dressed staring into six-foot holes...

2005-06-10T23:58:41Z

This is pretty uplifting - just thought I'd share, it's improved my day.

My Therapy

This is my therapy
You breath life into me
My only sanity
Within these walls is where I'm free

Square peg, round hole
Faces come and faces go
There is so little cast in stone
Regarding life, luck, loss, love
But there is one thing that I know for sure

These are the only crowded rooms
Because of these days I'll never have nothing at all
Because of these times there's only so far I can tell
There will always be a place, there will be a crowded room
Where I'm not all alone

The years have come and multiplied
So much of me has been washed out with the tide
Still there's nowhere else
That I'd rather be
Drawn like a moth to a flame
Without these days I'd have gone insane
So many hearts pinned to so many sleaves
Within these blessed walls
You have set me free

There is no mistake that I'm not free to make
All because of six strings stretched across a board

In other news I'm gonna have a massive ebay soon, and yes the Avenged Sevenfold t-shirt is the first one on the pile. It's a bit too big, and of course...SHITTY OF EVIL. LOLZ.

Crazy alldayer thing tomorrow - can anyone tell me how I get to Josephs Well from the station? I've been to Leeds about four times in my entire life...

EDIT - Scratch that, I've left it far too late to even begin to figure out how I'd be getting home.

black_robin @ 2005-06-10T01:37:00

2005-06-10T01:05:21Z

It's all gone a bit Something Awful, now go click.

Warning: I preach.

Cause no matter how you choose, you know you'll lose If you ain't looking for the truth...

2005-06-08T14:21:17Z

Ah, hello, what did you do last week?

Meow-meow-MWROWL!

I'm sorry what?!

Mew.

Oh, you built a fort.

I can see it too, for you, I'm scared, if I lose you, I'm not prepared...

2005-06-07T18:53:02Z

I hated it. Flame me.

In other other news I got a black Dickies polo shirt today and it's very flattering.

Darkened eyes you'll see, there is no hope, no savior in me...

2005-06-05T12:34:10Z

Yesterday was my adventure to end all adventures, armed only with my Zen Micro, a mobile with one bar of battery (that I pissed away messaging Michelle), my camera and note-pad all stashed in my Misfits satchel I was dumped unceremoniously in Scunthorpe.

I’d forgotten that Record Village is officially THE BEST record store in the universe, I found that bastard Cro-Mags album I’ve been after for ages and whilst I was there I also picked up a bunch of Venom and Overkill albums as part of my quest to make me a more well rounded individual along with the new Bane and a second-hand Napalm Death album (one of the irrelevant Earache ones).

I got to Sheffield, found the venue rather easily and then received a phone-call from Sarah at Century Media to check I’d found the venue (bless her) and given I had time to kill I did the only thing I knew how to do in Sheffield – I went to Forbidden Planet, Patriot Games and the Sheffield Space Centre…

I did my interview with Napalm Death’s Barney Greenway in the lobby of his hotel – it was a bit weird because I really got so much inspiration from Stuart Marconie’s autobiography ‘Cider With Roadies’ (which I think Lara has now) and there’s a chapter where he’s stuck in the back of a van with Napalm Death getting increasingly irritated with them until he just explodes and tells them to grow up. Maybe they did because Barney was perfectly alright. It was just a major land-mark in my quest to be serious writer. Very moving. Shed a tear.

I also delivered my 'buy a Zen Micro' speech because like every sensible free-thinking individual Barney was convinced that iPods are shit, technologically inferior and for VICTIMS.

Do Or Die were fucking ace but I nearly died in the pit, I was crouched arsing about with my camera when the place exploded and I got knocked off my feet, my camera went flying out of my hands but thankfully as paranoia demands I wrap the strap tightly around my wrist I rodeo-ed the wayward fucker back into my hands where I lay cradling it and frantically and back-peddling in an attempt to push myself out of the stampede. All I could see where these spindly metal’eads thrashing about above my head as some concerned citizen pulled me back to my feet.

I got some fickin’ ace pictures though, although you’re gonna have to wait until I get back to Preston to see them.

FUN

2005-06-03T19:57:40Z

Write down your six current favourite songs (some people are doing all-time, some are doing current, I'll do current) and list six people who should do the same.

Kill The Lights - Vada Mori
"And now I am treading water, the sun is setting fast, the temperature is getting colder, how much longer will I last..."
A snarling whirling nihlistic hardcore punk anthem - despite coming from an album released this year by a band from Sheffield it has that classic timeless quality, I can promise that in five years I'll still whack Kill The Lights on and rock the fuck out. The vocals sound raw and snotty, the riffs catchy and repetitive and the lyrics dark and dismal.They make first place just because Jay (vox) told me he saw one of PenKnifeLoveLife in Leeds and thought of me...

Himsa - A Girl In Glass
"Kill it and put it to rest, She's never coming back..."
One of my first ever proper hardcore bands and something from 'Courting Tragedy and Disaster' would always make it's way onto a list like this just because it's such an absolute fucking epic - insane galloping metal riffage with absolutely massive plunging chords and vocals so horse they're coming from the devil's own lyrax. Himsa never fails to make me feel like the scariest fucker around.

Misery Signals - The Year Summer Ended In June
"Waiting to see and be with you again, wishing the best for you my lost friend..."
There's no way around this - Misery Signals are frickin' intense and 'The Year Summer Ended In June' is an abosulte beast, moving and heartfelt in a way that you really didn't think metalcore could be - bonecrushing brutality gives way to tender moments as fleeting as a lover's kiss before the tsunami of heaviness washes over you once again leaving you breathless.

The Misfits - Where Eagles Dare
"Let’s test your threshold of pain, Let’s see how long you last..."
There'd be something seriously wrong with me if I didn't include anything by the godfather's of khol-core wouldn't there? It was a toss-up between this and 'Bullet' - they're both pretty similar with fantastic possessed Elvis vocals, funk-ridden bass-lines and a wierd graphic bit about sex two thirds of the way through - what tipped the scales in favour of this one however was the chorus of "I ain't no goddamn son of a bitch" Makes me feel better.

3 Inches Of Blood - Deadly Sinners
"Flash of iron, leather, spikes, and swords, mighty warriors with metal on their side. Enemies of metal, your death is our reward..."
Bloody good fun - How can you not smile at any ferocious operatic fret-wankery about goblins? I'm starting to get really into power-metal and 'Deadly Sinners' is to that what 'Gotta Go' is to hardcore - a massive declaration of alleigance, a blood oath to fight and die for your genre. Saddle up, we ride....

The Unseen - Scream Out
"My frustration needs release, so cut me open and hear me bleed. Playing punk it keeps me sane, don't need drugs to numb the pain..."
I've been getting a lot of milage out of 'Scream Out' recently - I've been feeling a really down and fed up and this catchy little fucker is an aural release, the whole frickin' song's written just for my sorry ass and everytime I hear it I jam my fist right in the air and get over myself. Punk-fucking-Rock.

Six people :...ah fuck it, you're all dull - make this an open invitation

I remember the day the sun went out, It halted all progression with all its beauty...

2005-06-01T23:27:11Z

I've just this minute written my best review in a long time and there's no-one online (well no-one who matters *coughnerdscough*) to read it so you lucky bastards have drawn the short straw by blessed default - click here or I won't be your friend/give you a handjob/buy you a pony/follow through on my promise of nautical chocolates (delete where applicable).

We went out for drinkage on tuesday (Hush first for exotic bier and then impressive cocktails and then to The Warehouse for smoke and dirty fucking moshers) where I spoke to Hot Sam and Furry Craig, Hot Sam was a sweetie and told me how she watched me go "from a geek, to a metal kid to the coolest guy around" - for the unenlightened I went to college with her, we did our Media Studies project together in the first year and so on.

Justin sexed up his various underage Myspace hos and I quite contentedly got drunk and danced like a lunatic.

I also dropped by work beforehand to hand in my uniforms because I figure if I distract them with the stuff they DO know I've stolen...

...you get me? Anyway Tony the Chef (now Manager and good luck to him)has me in his phone as "Misfits' James" which gave me the warm and fuzzies, anyway we're going to be DJing the Warehouse pre-bar thing that hopefully Stuart will have no input in - Tony can lull them into a false sense of security with Linkin Park and Queen and then I can bend them over and rape them with the FUCKING METAL. I need to produce some generic 'rock night' flyers so if anyone fancies helping me out...?

By doing this out of the kindness of my heart I will be able to:

a) Continue to bond with Tony
b) Introduce the Elias Last Day dependant music victims of Preston to some real 'core
and
b) Get wankered for free and then stagger foolishly to The Warehouse every Tuesday for the the rest of my life

Anyway - home tomorrow, Napalm Death in Sheffield on Saturday and then back west for Underoath on wednesday

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

2005-06-01T11:17:02Z

"Bullet For My Valentine have now joined the Trustkill Records roster. According to Trustkill, the Welsh group combines "epic metal ala Avenged Sevenfold and super catchy hooks ala Thrice." The band's debut EP will hit stores through Trustkill in August."

Jesus. What's wrong with people? Why can't they see what I see? And what I see is a zietgeist-surfing mini-mosher boy-band with flying Vs.

There's nothing for you here....

2005-05-30T11:04:23Z

Rick and Justin.

Through the darkest hour, grace did not shine on me, it feels so cold, very cold...

2005-05-28T19:51:02Z

Our landlady's such a sweetie, she's been leaving me and Lee food abandoned by the people who've left for the summer.

Just four hours left and then I'm a gentleman of leisure and already a very pretty lady is encouraging me to go to the Warehouse on tuesday. Sounds good. Anyone? Wanna go get wankered? Huh? Huh?