Here’s a clip of them at Come Together

Apart from that, I’ve been doing a few new things – indoor rock climbing and trying to learn electronics. Why? No reason, just something to do. The rock climbing is fun, but I kind of suck at it because I’m short and not particularly coordinated. I end up covered in bruises every week. Still, at least it gets me off the couch once a week. Electronics is something I always wanted to learn, but never got around to. So, in the absence of any beginners courses, I bought a Short Circuits book from Jaycar, a soldering iron and a few basic kits. While they were kind of fun to put together, I didn’t feel like I knew anything more about, well, anything after making a few of those so I bought another book. This one is called Making Things Talk by Tom Igoe. The projects are a little more challenging. The first one is something called Monski Pong, where you get a toy monkey to play pong. I couldn’t find a stuffed monkey, so used a tiger and created Tiger Pong instead. Here’s a few pics of my poor wired-up tiger.

Unfortunately, one of his arm sensors is currently broken, so no pics of him playing pong, but I assure you it did work until a bit of metal snapped off. Next step – fix sensor, then try to make it wireless! Poor tiger will still have cables poking out everywhere, it just means he doen’t have to be hooked to the computer with a USB cable. Hopefully I can post some pics of functioning wireless Tiger Pong soon.

I’ll mention the TLM gig first, because it was a little bizarre. I’d wanted to see the band again since I saw them supporting Kissteria in August, but every other time they were playing I happened to be in Canberra. I saw they were doing a gig in Sydney when I wasn’t going to be away so figured I’d go. Only thing was, they were playing as part of a thing called Blood, Rock and Wrestling. I was a little dubious, but figured since it was at a pub not far from my place, I’d give it a go. The band were really good and did a mix of their original stuff and a few covers (Rebel Yell and Go – which was awesome). The wrestling, not so much. There were 3 matches, the first was a tag team one with four guys who talked a lot of trash, but weren’t very good. When you can see that the punch doesn’t connect, it kind of ruins the illusion. The second was cosplay wrestling, with a chick dressed as Lara Croft and one as some chick from Street Fighter 2. At least they looked like they were inflicting some pain on each other. The heckling from the crowd was pretty poor. “Someone’s on the rag” was about the standard, I’m afraid. The third match was fucked up. This is where the “blood” part of blood, rock and wrestling came in. Two guys wrestled, but also used things like barbed wire, thumb tacks, mouse traps and glass rods. And it really did look like they were bleeding after going through some of those rods. Ewww. At least the band was on again after that, and they rocked. I recommend seeing them when they tour in March (no idea on dates, just going on their twitter posts).

The second concert was Them Crooked Vultures, which I had been looking forward to ever since they announced the tour. Hell, I bought tickets before I’d even heard any of their songs. I figured I couldn’t go wrong with a band featuring Josh Homme and Dave Grohl, given my taste in music. I was right. They were brilliant. They played everything from their album. Some songs came across even better live than on the album. And best of all, the bit in Reptiles that I love didn’t get fucked up live. There’s nothing worse than having a bit of a song which gives you shivers on a CD being half-hearted when sung live. Maroon 5′s Harder to Breathe comes to mind as an example of that (yeah, I saw Maroon 5 when they toured Songs about Jane, what of it?). Here’s the setlist. If you ever get the chance to see them live, I seriously recommend it. They’re playing the Download Festival this year. Wish I could go. It was awesome last year. Oh well.

Anyway, now I’m just counting down the days until Faith No More week which starts on the 21st February. I’m seeing them 4 times in a week. You can never have too much Faith No More.

And now, I leave you with a clip of Them Crooked Vultures performing Reptiles at the Hordern.

Here’s footage of one of their songs from Wednesday:

I was trying to find one that showed the facial expressions, but it looks like they were all taken from further away. It appears that the sound was better from there though, the vocals were drowned out by the drums a bit down the front.

FNM-fest aside, there’s also Them Crooked Vultures in January and The Pixies in March. And Janes Addiction, Eagles of Death Metal and Placebo at Soundwave (plus heaps of others – definitely avoiding Paramore though). So 2010 looks like it’s going to ROCK. If only I could have a Tool or Ash tour, it would be near-perfect (perfect would require a NIN concert, which clearly won’t happen).

A music video, which is really cool:

And a bizarre Sid and Nancy thing:

Zooey and Joseph are awesome.

It was a Sydney band called Torch Le Monde, I guess you’d call them a metal band. They did some original stuff and some covers. Ever heard a metal version of ‘Big Love’ by Fleetwood Mac? No? Surprisingly, it actually works. Even my friend who generally hates heavy-ish music enjoyed them because they had good harmonies in some of their songs.

Here’s a video:

You can get their EP at Utopia Records if you’re interested.

Now, I know that the songs I’m about to list are by no means the greatest songs ever written or particularly influential on music history, but its what I like so too bad. I’ve made sure I haven’t got more than one song by the same artist though. These are in no particular order, because I can’t decide on a favourite song at the moment:

All Night Thing – Temple of the Dog

I originally listened to Temple of the Dog because Eddie Vedder sang on Hunger Strike. I was a massive Pearl Jam fan when I was about 14-16years old. I ended up falling in love with Chris Cornell’s voice instead and he usurped Eddie Vedder. Especially after Pearl Jam released No Code. This song can be heard in the background in Wayne’s World when they’re in Rob Lowe’s flat, if you were interested.

Why Can’t I Fall in Love? – Ivan Neville

This features on the Pump Up the Volume soundtrack. That soundtrack introduced me to a lot of fantastic bands like Soundgarden, The Pixies and Sonic Youth, but this would have to be my favourite song on it. Kind of sad though.

Plush – Stone Temple Pilots

I actually thought this was Pearl Jam the first time I heard it. Scott Weiland looked kind of like him in that film clip too. The whole Core album was really good actually. This song still makes me grin whenever I hear it.

No One Knows – Queens of the Stone Age

I love the guitar riff in this song and the bass bit in the middle. I hate it when you listen to this on the radio and can’t hear that bit.

Even Flow – Pearl Jam

Yeah, there probably are better Pearl Jam songs. But I always wanted to learn the guitar riff in this one or get one of my friends to learn it. None of them ever did though. Hooray for Guitar Hero!

Don’t Go – Yazoo

Since I grew up in the 80′s, there had to be an 80′s song in here somewhere! This song was on the Raiders of the Pop Charts tape I had, so it brings back memories of dancing around the spare room with my sister. And it’s still a good song.

Something I Can Never Have – Nine Inch Nails

It was tough to pick a NIN song because I like so many of them. Realistically, I would probably struggle to limit my favourite NIN songs to 10. I decided on this one. It makes me a little sad though.

The Gentle Art of Making Enemies – Faith No More

Even though I hated the King for a Day album when I first heard it, I liked this song. And it goes off live. Or, rather, I go off when hearing it live. The people around me didn’t seem too fussed either way.

Outshined – Soundgarden

Tough call on choosing a Soundgarden song. I picked this one because the line about feeling Minnesota reminds me of my friend who lives there now. And a crappy movie starring Keanu Reeves and Cameron Diaz, but the less said about that movie the better.

Only one pick left. Damn. Suppose I should make it a good one.

Forty Six & 2 – Tool

I absolutely loved the Aenima album when it came out and this is my favourite song on it. It song just rocks!

That was tough. Depeche Mode, Ash and The Animals nearly got a mention, but were edged out for various reasons. Can’t half tell I was/am a huge grunge fan, huh?

• One baby on a plane is bad, but when there’s five within two rows of you, it’s pretty near unbearable. Especially when one of them squeals.
• It’s a pain in the arse to get around London when there’s a tube strike. And very expensive to catch a minicab from the airport.
• Faith No More still rock live.
• I don’t sleep very well when camping and I’m super-cranky when I don’t get any sleep. Saturday at Download was pretty much a write-off for me due to extreme crankiness. Bailed 3 songs into The Prodigy, even though they were really good (I was surprised by this because everyone I knew that had seen them live said they were rubbish).
• Camping is made bearable by sleeping pills. Much happier on the Sunday even though it was  80′s metal day. Hell, I even enjoyed Journey.
• Jaffa Cakes are the best. I can buy a Greek version at the local supermarket, but they’re not as good.
• The British Music Experience is awesome. You should visit it.
• I really didn’t retain anything from the four years of German I did in high school. Pretty much all I could remember was ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘excuse me’, ‘thank you’, ‘do you speak English?’ and the numbers. It was sufficient to get around ok though.
• You should always have wet weather gear at a festival, even if it says it’s going to be 31 and sunny. I got completely drenched at Nova Rock on the Friday.
• Wellies are fantastic.
• You don’t get your passport checked going from Vienna to Bratislava by train.
• $2 plastic ponchos are a necessity if you are going to an outdoor concert in the rain.
• Depeche Mode are brilliant live (so were FNM, NIN, Kaiser Chiefs and Chris Cornell, but I already knew that).
• The random song that I used to get stuck in my head was Its No Good by Depeche Mode. I never knew what it was called or who sang it. Here it is for those of you who haven’t heard it:

• The holiday was totally worth it. Seeing FNM three times, Chris Cornell twice and also seeing NIN, Kaiser Chiefs, Placebo and Depeche Mode within the space of 2 weeks was unbelievable.

Mike Patton won. I still love Chris Cornell and he did a good variety of songs – Soundgarden, Audioslave, Temple of the Dog and some solo stuff. His scream is just as brilliant as ever and Spoonman went off. But Mike Patton was better. The diversity in his vocal styles is amazing, from the kind of nasal style in “Falling to Pieces”, to screaming in “Jizzlobber” and crooning on “Just a Man”. If you heard all three songs without ever having heard of Mike Patton, you wouldn’t even know they were performed by the same person. I think the atmosphere while watching FNM may have helped a little too.

So, after 12 years I officially and publicly concede defeat.  James, you win.

Reunited (Peaches & Herb cover)
The Real Thing
From Out Of Nowhere
Land Of Sunshine
Caffeine
Evidence
Chinese Arithmetic
Surprise! You’re Dead!
Easy
Last Cup Of Sorrow
Midlife Crisis
Cuckoo For Caca
The Gentle Art Of Making Enemies
RV
King For A Day
Malpractice
Jizzlobber
Be Aggressive
Epic
Mark Bowen

Encore 1:
Chariots Of Fire/Stripsearch
Just A Man

Encore 2:
I Started A Joke
Pristina

Mike Patton’s voice is amazing and he can sing such a fantastic range of styles. Who else could go from Surprise! You’re Dead (complete with manic laughter) to Easy? They played my favourite, the Gentle Art of Making Enemies, which was my highlight of the evening, but of course the biggest crowd reaction went to Epic. For good reason too! I also never thought I’d hear a rock version of Chariots of Fire (which lead into Stripsearch). Surprisingly, I think if someone released that version of Chariots of Fire it would actually be something I would buy. It will be interesting to see what the setlist is at Download on Friday. Can’t Wait!!

The support band, Selfish Cunt, weren’t too bad but the lead singer was really camp and they did get a lot of booing. To be fair, I think pretty much any band who supported FNM were going to get booed just purely because they weren’t FNM.

Here’s a very low quality video of them playing Evidence at last night’s show:

I would have linked The Gentle Art Of Making Enemies, but the distortion was really bad, and you can hear the guy recording it singing more than anything else.

I am leaning towards going since the “Tour of the Universe” does not appear to include Australia, so it may be the only opportunity I have to see them. I still have 3 weeks before the concert, so I can think about it a bit longer. Maybe this clip will help me decide…

*update 01/06: I bought my Depeche Mode ticket today. Bratislava, here I come!

That got me thinking about songs that reminded me of other people. Or situations in general. So here are a few songs that I can never hear without associating with someone or something:

Daughter by Pearl Jam – I had a friend in high school whose favourite bands were Pearl Jam & Faith No More and this song always reminds me of him because I bought him Vs (on cassette!) for his birthday one year and he really loved that song. I should really thank him for his positive influence on my musical tastes – I may still have been listening to D:Ream and East 17 if it weren’t for him!

Axel F by Harold Faltermeyer – Another friend always managed to find ways of programming things to play this, so I can never hear this song without thinking of being in our IT class in high school.

Blue Monday by New Order – I once received a note from a guy asking me out which contained the entire lyrics to this (which creeped me out a little at the time).

Beautiful People by Marilyn Manson – Reminds me of one of my old flatmates because I remember both of us rocking out to this in the car once. It’s not even the sort of music she usually likes!

Highway Star by Deep Purple – Listening to the Dazed and Confused soundtrack for the first time and the entire family basically headbanging and/or playing air guitar in the kitchen. Only reason I remember that is because I was thinking it was like something you’d see on Party of Five, not something that families actually do!

And last but not least, since my sister shamed me with such an embarrassing song that reminded her of me, what reminds me of her?

At least I’m not threatening to play songs she hates at her funeral. She wants to play Common People by Pulp at mine (assuming I die first) because I hated the song so much when it came out that she once chased me around the house playing it on a radio. How that came up in conversation I have no idea, but I would like Wave Goodbye by Chris Cornell, if you were wondering (no, I am not planning on dying anytime soon).

Basically, I would never have rented it because it’s a horror movie and I’m generally not much into horror. It’s not that I can’t watch them because I get scared or anything, quite the opposite actually. I remember watching A Nightmare on Elm Street at a sleepover when I was 12 and laughing myself stupid at the special effects. No one else found it funny though. I may have been a little odd. Anyway, my friend had already seen Braindead and said it was really funny, so I watched it. He was right. Yeah, it has all the bad special effects, but it was so obviously deliberate you knew it was supposed to be funny.

I’ve rented the movie a few times since then, but had never been able to find it on DVD. It was always a battered VHS hidden in some dark corner of the video store. Then last week a guy at work advertised it for sale second hand, so I bought it. The poor guy told me how much effort he had gone to to find the movie, but was selling a whole lot of DVDs to make more space.

Here’s one of my favourite scenes, which was frequently quoted by my friends:

Looking at the line up, I think it may be time to bring out my inner-bogan. How can I not, when it includes Def Leppard, Motley Crue and Whitesnake?

So, I’m thinking this will be my new look:

No?  I think I’d fit in well with the chicks in the audience in this clip: