11/30/10

life is GOOD

Bad Religion, The Aggrolites, and the Power of Music

October 22, 2010 I saw Bad Religion play at the Starland Ballroom. It was seriously one of the most gnarliest nights I've ever had. It was just me and my brother. We spent the past couple weeks prior to the show listening to Bad Religion. We were amped! We've also been listening to The Aggrolites; they were playin too that night. It was Off With Their Heads, The Aggrolites, and Bad Religion.

We left the house at 5, went to Lens Crafters to get my glasses adjusted (like that helped! I'll explain that later), and off we went to the Starland Ballroom in Sayerville, NJ. We got there quick! In two hours. Hey we got there on time!

So we get to the venue. Last time I was there it was PACKED! Streetlight Manifesto was playin and if one more person got into the place, it would've exploded like an over-filled water balloon. Anyways the show didn't start yet and people were still comin in. We're walkin around and we see Brian Baker's guitar case! We were stoked! It had his number and his address. I didn't know he still lives in Washington DC. For those of you who don't know, he was in Minor Threat (DC band). I thought he would've moved to LA or something.

The first band comes on, Off With Their Heads. The place was still half empty. The people who didn't arrive though missed a good band, cause they friggin rocked! My only regret that night is being ignorant and not looking them up. They were really good! They kinda sounded like The Explosion to me. My bro said They sounded like Squirtgun. Whatevers though, I tip my hat off to them.

They finish their set and my bro and I go by the stage where they pick up their equipment. I yelled, "YO!" The bassist saw me and I gave him a thumb up and a hang loose for an awesome job. I see him later that night and shook his hand. He was cool.

The next band started to get ready, The Aggrolites! My bro looks at the stage and freaks out. We approach the stage and there he is, the lead singer/ lead guitarist, Jesse Wagner, gettin ready. We yell for his attention, he gave us a thumbs up. That night we turned into little girls about to see Justin Bieber. They were fun! A pit breaks out where I was standing, I join in. I was singin along with the songs I knew. Oh yeah! I saw this small chick with patches and a bullring piercing. She was friggin cute! One of her patches was a Less Than Jake patch, I thought that was pretty cool. And my bro thought she was a lesbian. So she was in the pit also. Everyone was havin fun. They finish and go to bring back their equipment. We call Jesse over again and he waves at us again but runs back with his guitar in his hand. But he comes back out and goes to me and my bro. We got to shake his hand! " Thanks for comin out guys!" And we got to meet the bassist Jeff Roffredo too!

Next up Bad Religion! A tall dude with white hair comes up on stage and starts messin around with the guitars. We thought it was Greg Ginn (founder of SST Record and Black Flag). But it wasn't. Greg Hetson comes on stage, he was literally right in front of me! Then everyone else comes in, except for Brett Gurewitz. "WHERE'S BRETT?!?!" I yelled a thousand times and got no response. It turned out he was working back at Epitaph.

BOOM! They play Sinister Rouge. "Coming back for more!" My mind was goin nuts! Then they played We're Only Gonna Die! Next song comes up, I run into the pit. My heart was pumpin and I was amped! I run in and DOOF! I get punched in the face and my glasses fly off. I catch it, run back to my brother, and run back in. It was a crowd of 6' 5" people. And I'm 5' 6". It was craaaaazy! Pushin and shovin in a circle. Even just tryin to stand, you were constantly bein pushed. But how can you stand still when Bad Religion is playing? I see that chick again! She was in there too! She had to be at MOST 4'10". And her glasses were still on!

I was singin along with the songs, singin my lungs out. Everyone was goin insane. It was chaotic where I was chillin. They end the set and go off stage. I go to my bro and get my glasses. They come back on for an encore! A dude makes a run for it and hits the stage. He jumps off! But gravity and his fat ass kept him from jumping far and high and ended up landing close enough for the bouncers to grab him and escort him out of the venue.

The show ends, and it's safe to say this was the gnarliest concert I've ever been to. The bands playin played just as good, even better than they sounded on the records. People pay $100+ for tickets to see bands play from a distance. I was standing right in front of them. They were no more than 10 feet away. For $35 for a ticket. For $35 dollars I got to see legends play. Even though I didn't really know Off With Their Heads, they kicked ass too. And when I was there, there wasn't a worry in my head. It was all about having a good time. All the stupid little things that I worry about wasn't there. I felt great. Music blasting in my ears, goin crazy to the songs, singing along, it's therapeutic for me. The sound of great music, washin away all the worries, all the insecurities, the stupid bullshit that runs around in life, for that 2 minute or 3 minute song. That's the power of music.

We head out of the venue, thank God I didn't leave my sweater in the car like i wanted to. Plus probably would've gotten sick. My shirt was soaked in sweat, 40% of which probably wasn't my own. We get in the car and head to White Castle. Split a sack of twenty with fries and onions. It was one of the best nights I ever had.

What's for next month?

i realized that these past couple months i've stuck to doing two things for a month. did that make sense? july and august all i did was work and play bass. september all i did was listen to Lagwagon and read Scott Pilgrim. now all i do is play guitar/ bass and drums. month's already over in 2 weeks. i wonder what's goin down next month.

razor burn

to shave or not to shave?

that is the question. it's been on my mind for a while now, shave the signature stache? take out the chin hairs? shave off the sideburns? i was thinkin usin the 1 guard and shavin my head. take out the sideburns and keep the stache and chin hair. i could finally look like the pseudo-mexican that i am. and seein how winter's comin soon, i'm gonna be wearin a hat all the time anyway. even during the summer i was always wearin a hat. i'm now known for the red baseball cap and the black... i don't know what my other hat is called... and my black "other" hat.

hurray for indecisiveness!

Unity

"Unity, as one stands together"
- "Unity" by Operation Ivy

It's blacks vs whites. The religious vs athiests. Bloods vs Crips. The liberals vs the conservatives. The Shiites vs the Sunnis. Team Edward vs Team Jacob. It's bullshit.

Everyone's preachin about peace, love, and unity. "Love, not hate!" "Love thy neighbor." But everyone still has a problem with each other. "God hates gays!" "It's those lazy Mexicans!" "Religion has to go!" "Those black people are criminals!"

Yeah? You want unity? So in order to obtain it, we gotta take out the "bad" groups? Well... ok, then let's start shall we? Let's take out the religious people. Especially the catholics. They're just a bunch of ignorant, closed minded people who believe in nonsense. Let's take out the Americans. They're all lazy fat-asses with nothing better to do then blame other people for shit. Let's take out the punks. They're all just a bunch of no-life elitists who live in the gutter their whole life. Let's take out the Italians. All they do is work out, get tanned, and party. Let's take out the hippies. They're just a bunch of burnouts who don't contribute to society. Let's take out the vegetarians and vegans. "Affection, not dissection! Meat is murder!" They're all hypocrites holdin animals in cages at home when they're tellin us they should be free.

Do you see how ridiculous this sounds? It's not only stupid, it's friggin prejudice. I've heard atheists say again and again, that religious people are a problem. They're ignorant. They force their beliefs on everyone. And then they go on about the "nonsense" they believe in. They call it all fake. On a couple occasions, when someone found out my religion, I was told it was all lies. That what I believe in was stupid. That everyone in my faith forces their beliefs on everyone else. "Oh. So what, are you gonna try to convert me?" SHOVE OFF! Do you see what you are doing? You're doing everything that you said was wrong about the religious person. People aren't gonna find out about my religion unless they ask, because I don't go forcing my beliefs down other people's throats. Ok, fine. You're stating your opinion. Why are you saying it in a confrontational manner? I've got nothing against atheists. Because they do raise up good points about the ridiculousness about religious people.

But that's everyone. Eeeeeeeeeeeeevery group has their large percentage of assholes. EVERY GROUP! Every race, gender, sub-group, age range, and every other clump of people in society. I could go on and on about every friggin group out there. But if you ask me, it's not about what someone is labeled. I'm not gonna judge you cause you're gay. I'm not gonna judge you cause you're atheist. I don't care if you're African. I don't care if you're a hipster. Does anyone else realize, that all these people in these groups.... are people? We're all the same guys! We all eat when we're hungry. We bleed when we get hurt. We piss when our bladder is full. All these labels mean nothing.

If anything, to me, there are two main labels. The assholes and the cool people. Anyone can be an asshole. Anyone can be cool. Just because you're an asshole, doesn't mean you're Catholic, punk, or Italian. And just because you're cool, doesn't mean you're Jamaican, Muslim, or ghetto. Being a good or bad person has nothing to do with ethnicity or religion or anything. I am proud to have the friends I have. They're diverse. I have friends who are atheist, Muslim, Hindu, Jamaican, Guyanese, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Irish, Puerto Rican, Mexican, punks, rude boys, scene kids, hipsters, and many many other groups. They're all really good people.

"You think I give a shit?
If you're a socialist?
If you're a capitalist?
We've all got to exist
on this planet with nowhere to run
The millions of brainwashed must open their eyes
We are one"
- "Nowhere" by NoFX

We're sharin the same planet. How bout we... I don't know... put all our bullshit aside, and learn to coexist. We can't take out this group and that group because not everyone there is the same. As I said every group has their large percentage of idiots.

"Without people, you're nothing."
- Joe Strummer Punk Rock Warlord

Circle One

"Everything works in circles. Like sometimes you're doing something, and, a year later you're back at the same point... You understand me? So circle one is what we're doin right now. Someday we'll probably do circle two."
- Shane West as Darby Crash in the film "What We Do is Secret"

He was onto something here. I've been on circle one (or i guess circle two) for the past 13 years of my life. When I was a child, I never went to pre-school. I hung out with my lola (tagalog for grandma) at the house. My mom and dad would go to work. My bro would go to school. I would chill with Lola until everyone came back. We'd eat dinner as a family and all the good stuff. That was circle one. I turned five in June and September I went to kindergarten (start of circle two). I wake up, go to school, go home, homework, dinner, repeat (until summer of course). But this cycle, circle two, repeats for years. June 24th, 2010 comes along. I graduate high school. "WE'RE OUTTA HERE!" I proudly spray painted on my SEN10RS t-shirt we were givin at prom. I even cut the sleeves off (even though I have no muscle to show). I thought of graduating high school as an exit. I thought that my high school graduation would bring me out of circle two and into circle three. I mean, I should be onto bigger and better things now right? I don't know man. I still feel the same.

September 1st 2010 I attended my first day of college. I walked out of my first class thinking, this is it? This is the gnarly life I was waiting for? Half way through high school, my junior year, I realized, "Man, I don't wanna get outta high school. This is the easy life!" as I half-assed my way to C's and B's. "71... THAT'S NOT A D! I'M NOT GROUNDED!" I thought of college as hard work and no fun. But everyone else said the opposite. "College is gonna be fun!" "You should be lookin forward to college!" It's nothing out of the ordinary. I have more fun walkin around Newark (I go to Rutgers Newark). I guess since I'm not a party person, that "fun" doesn't apply to me. All I've done since school started is listen to Lagwagon and read Scott Pilgrim.

There was a point to why I quoted the movie. All my peers who graduated seem to be doing good. They're all stoked about college. They're all having fun. They're ready to move on, which they did. I kinda feel all my friends who graduated has moved onto a new circle. But I'm stuck on circle two. My oldest friend dorms. A lot of my friends are dorming. My best friend speaks of moving to Canada or going away for college if she got the chance. And I'm truly happy for all of them. I wish them the best of luck. I mean I'm still gonna see them, just not as much as I'd like to. Right?

As for me, my attempts to "move on" myself, I feel, are not workin so well. I'm still on circle two. But I have an iTouch full of music and Scott Pilgrim volumes 1 -4 (they cost money man and I'm not made of money. Luckily the guys at Fortress of Solitude the comic shop I go to in Newark are friggin gnarly and give me discount). I got my guitar, bass, a crap load of ideas and inspiration, and a motivation to make finally make a demo.

I need to stop sound like I'm whining all the time. Peace bra-dahs.

Post Updates

Epitaph/ SST Theory:
Weezer is now on Epitaph Records


The Nursing Home:
My brother used to hate his job. He used to say how much he wanted to quit and how sucky his job was. But after a year, he got used to it. He loves his job. He calls it, "playtime".

It took me a couple weeks. I like my job now. The morning people (half of them at least) are cooler to work with and are less douche bag-ish. I've gotten used to it. I've gotten to the point that I'm now relaxed at work. Relaxed enough to half-ass the job. If I'm hungry, I make myself a sandwhich. When I'm thirsty I grab a drink from the fountain (it's all free!). I do all this when the boss isn't looking. Instead of a hair-net I wear my red hat. I like my job. It's too bad I'm giving my 2 weeks notice on Monday. Hopefully next summer I could come back.

the nursing home

so uhhhh... it's 10:30. it's been forever since i've logged in. i feel kind dumb makin that whole to do list. ever since i started working, i havent had the time to write anything. i'm gonna pretend like i didnt post that. it'd be pointless to delete it i think. i mean anyone whos following me or has seen this has already seen it. and i'm too lazy to delete it anyways...

i'm just gonna go on about work right now, since thats the reason i havent written anything. i'm a dietary aide in cedar hill healthcare center. not a bad place i guess. there are different duties i take on depending on where they assign me that day. one day i'll be puttin soup on trays and then cleaning all the pots. another day i'll be puttin the resident's ticket, napkin, silverware, bottom and hot pellet, and 2 sugars on trays and then cleaning the food out of all the trucks (or food karts). on another day i'll pour coffee and send out the food trucks and then put plates and hot pellets back in their dispensers. sounds easy, pretty much kinda is, but remember, i'm doing it for over a hundred old people. and it gets pretty tedious. but whatever, i'm gettin used to it. the only thing that really does most of the tiring out and all the good stuff is the people there.

evening crew works from 3:30 to 7:30 (but we usually get out at 8). theyre all chill. the morning shift works from 6:30 (yes, thats right, i wake up 5:20 just to get ready for this) to 3:30. this shift is filled with grumpy assholes. "come on, hurry up!" "youre not doing it right" i always hear from them. "sorry man, i'm new!" whatever man. some of them are cool. i got a nickname. i was talkin to this one chick and didnt hear what she said. so i said, "i didnt hear what you said bro". and she responded, "bro?!?! want me to smack you?! callin me bro..." so now her and this other chick call me "bro".

oh yeah, i'm one of four people (not including bosses - which are only two) who are not black in dietary. me and my god-sister who got me the job are filipino, and then we got one dude whos indian and a chick whos... latin... i dont know what she is... but yeah, everyone else is black, which i think is cool. they all got thick accents. some or most are from jamaica. i know one dude is from giana. one dude from jamaica, whenever i'd see him gives me friendliest hello. "ay siiir! hows eet go-een?" he calls me boss sometimes. but yeah race and ethnicity aside, morning crew is filled with jerks. all they do is bitch and moan. i know this is what i'm kinda doin now, but they do also... a lot...

and then theres the residents. i kinda feel bad for the residents. some of them look miserable. they dont get a lot of visits from loved ones. theyre pretty much confined in there like a prison. with bingo.

some of the residents there are cool. kenny is an old black dude, glasses, cool hat, and mustache. he's always sayin hi to me, really chill man. another dude, george cabrales (i hope i spelled his name right) is cool. every day he asks me to get him a cola from the fountain. oh yeah, we have free fountain drinks. that thing is like my best friend there. whenever i'm thirsty, i'll sneak over there, grab a cup and take a gulp. we're not allowed to, but the people who trained me said i just gotta be careful of who i do it in front of.

bill is awesome. i dont understand a word that comes from his mouth. i understood three phrases from him out of all the times i've "spoken" with him. the one that stands out and is one of my favorite things thats happened to me at the nursing home, is when he said, "hm ah eez bra nerf you da man ryan. ha ha." whenever we "talk" i play along, he mumbles something and adds a small laugh at the end. i find it friggin hilarious.

this is gonna sound really mean, but i see a lot of those really old people you see in cartoons. the ones with the one tooth, hunched over in their wheelchair, baby faced expression, and childish speaking. it's kind of like they grew younger... but theyre good people. i've had no problems with any of the residents. theyre all nice people. working with them actually made me appreciate my youth. some of them cant eat solids. it's literally like being a baby again. they cant walk, i've seen one drool, as i mentioned they cant eat solids, i mentioned their baby faced expressions... seeing it all kinda just makes me think, "man i'm happy i'm still young".

work isnt that bad at all. i think i'm already used to it. but i dont wanna call it fact. i remember the third day, i came home an hour over clocking out time. i was dead tired. i remember feeling useless because of the people yellin at me that day. it was the morning shift and it was the douche bags that made me feel like that. but thats just an excuse. i was just being a wussy. it's all good now i guess. it's not as stressful as that day.

the only thing i dont like is that summer is half over and all i've done is work. i havent been able to hang out with most of the people i was looking forward to chill with over the summer. but whatever man. i knew that after high school, i would be kicked into the real world. this is it man. i gotta work to pay for school. oh yeah, look at that school's comin up in a little over a month. more work! yay! whatevers man. i'll manage.

by the way...
this isnt here to here me complain. i think i wrote this in another post. screw it man, i'm already typing this. but yeah man, i dont wanna sound like i'm complaining. i have a job which many people who are trying to snag are not able to obtain. it's puttin paper in my wallet (well rutger's wallet). and it's not a bad job. i'm pretty friggin lucky to have this job.

peace.

to do list

i got a couple things i've been wanting/ already writing about. i just finished bigger sibling influence. i was gonna use that as a segway into punk influence, but reading what i already wrote, it doesn't work. and i was gonna use the punk influence to go into the question no one was able to accurately answer, "What am I?" (hipster, punker, preppie - i'm neither!) but yeah, and the last thing to write is how people try to be "free". that's gonna be fun haha.

- bigger sibling influence
- punk influence
- what am i?
- being "free"

and if anyone wants me to write about something else just give me something and i will

Bigger Sibling Influence

Bigger sibling influence. Bigger siblings, whether you like us or not, you play a gigantic friggin role in our lives. Older cousins, you too. This is something I've been saying for a while now. I'm not talkin about older siblings and cousins who live far. I'm talkin about the older people you grow up with, that you see almost every day or week. Parents, you play a gigantic role too obviously. I'm not takin that away. You raise us. You take care of us.

But it's the older siblings and cousins or even friends who we grow up together with those parents taking care of us that molds us. YOU are the reason why we walk and talk the way we do right now. YOU are the reason why we like this and hate that. YOU are the reason why we wear the certain types of clothing we got on our backs. Like I said, whether you like us or not, you influence us.

My friend admitted it to me. She looks up to her older sister. She told me to keep it secret, which is why her name isn't gonna be mentioned, but that's what she said. Even though they're not the closest sisters, she looks up to her older sibling. And I see the influence. The way she dresses, their sense of humor, their music, all influenced.

My cousin's children, whatever the older brother says, the younger does. Whatever the older brother says, the younger says. The older bro took off the lid from his drink from 7-11. The younger brother took it off and dropped it on the grass. I said, "AY! Don't throw your garbage on the floor! Why'd you take off your lid? He replied, "Kuya did it!" -_- ("kuya" [KU-YAH] is a Filipino label to older siblings or cousins. For example, I don't call him this, but my brother to me would be "Kuya John")

I have younger cousins in Virginia. I do not influence them at all because I only visit them once in a while. The duo is an older sister and a younger brother. The older one fines him annoying and vice versa. To be honest, the younger brother is a handful. But watching them grow up, I've watched them fight, constantly. But no matter how much they don't get along, if you look at the younger brother, you see the bigger sibling influence. You're not gonna see it in the way he walks, talks, or dress, but the interests are there. I took a look at his music in his PSP. He has the music she has on her iPod. And I know he doesn't just have them there because the sister put them there because she doesn't want to have to search and get his music. He sings along to those songs! Even TV shows they watch. He loves the shows that she watches. He just loves those Disney shows.

My older cousin from California, friggin HUGE influence on my brother and I. Most of the music that we listen to, we got from him. NOFX, Lagwagon, No Use For a Name, Rancid, Less than Jake, and a crap load more, we got from him. Well, actually, my brother got from him, and then I got from my brother. I'll explain that later. Anyways, even skating style was influenced. My cousin talked about surfing "DK". He took my brother's Silver Surfer toy and put him in DK position, or Drop Knee. My bro hopped on his longboard, riding the conrete wave DK.

Me, bein the youngest brother of two and the youngest of the Saavedra cousins, I know where all my inluences came from. But I know for a fact, the biggest influence was, no, IS, my brother. All the music I listen (even though I said it came from our cousin), I got from my bro. The movies I like - brother. The way I dress - brother. On many occasions when me and my brother go out, we walk out of our bedrooms and look at each other. "FRIGGIN AY JAY!" he yells, because we're both wearin plaid shorts and a band t-shirt. Then he goes and changes his shirt. One time he saw I was wearing my Rancid shirt. So he went back into his room and changed out of his Operation Ivy tee. Oh yeah, today! We went to see Predators with Millie. He saw I was wearin my NOFX so he changed out of his Lagwagon (both Cali punk bands).

Anyways you get the point. Bigger brothers and sisters and older cousins, watch out for us. We don't know anything. So we follow you (or at least from my own experience).

Battery

I've always thought about it. We talked about it in Mr. Francisco's sociology class my senior year. Bad Religion even sung it. "I am a 21st century digital boy" My life runs on a battery. I'm even plugged into the wall sometimes. Today after work I wanted to just relax and watch some tunes on youtube (a common thing I do a lot in life). The thing was, that there was no internet. I'm not gonna lie, I was kinda bummed out. Captain Buzzkill of the day was Mr. Wireless Router for crappin out on me today, everyone give a round of applause. It's sad, that for me to relax, I needed a stupid screen that sings to me my favorite tunes.

When I'm not jamming, uhhhh... Hey! Check that out, I'm plugged into the wall via amplifier. When I'm not with friends... Oh wait, our cell phones keep us battery powered... Well, without cell phones... We're... crap... we've got our eyes glued to the screen watchin tv or a the movie screen, hands on a controller, coolin ourselves off with the air conditioning or else we melt away from the 80 degree weather, taking pictures of our non-narcissistic selves, listening to music even though we're talking to other people, or playing with our hand-held gadgets (PSPs, iTouches, Game Boys, etc.)

I'm not sayin it's bad. Well I actually kind of am. But this is the way we live. "Well I go out and play sports." Yeah man, I do too (although not as much as you do Mr. Ass-lete), but afterwards, you cool off in a pool, or grab a Gatorade out of your fridge, or cool off in your air conditioned home. Man I sound angry in this rant. Whatevers man. This is our society now-a-days. This is how we live. As much as I don't want to be technologically dependent (did I say that right?), we've gone too far to just go take all that good stuff away.

Hey look, I'm typing this thing on my laptop and posting it on the internet. And you're using the internet to read this... and your computer to access this content.

experienced with being not experienced at all

i used to say to people that i'm experienced with not being experienced at all. i've never had any real responsibilities. when ever i tried gettin a job, no one was hiring or was too young. high school work to me was nothing. i pretty much half-assed my high school career. i didn't work hard to be honest. i didn't do much. "well you did all those clubs and helped run the Hey Jude concert." yeah but that was all easy stuff. the people running the clubs and the show were really laid back people. i didn't work hard at all. for the eighteen years i've been chillin on this planet, i've pretty much done not much at all.

but today i walked into cedar hill nursing home, and made coffee for the WHOLE nursing home. i cleaned tables and trays and trays and trays of food. all the carts of food throughout the nursing home were cleaned out by three people, one them being me. then i took all the forks, spoons, and knives and put them into this little bag with a straw for people to grab the next day.

it wasn't hard, but it was really friggin tedious. i don't wanna complain though. i hear my friends complain about their jobs and i understand that it sucks. i don't blame them for saying how much they hate it. but they're payin me eight bucks an hour, so i'm just gonna smile and say it's alright.

:)

peace bra-dahs

Garbage Disposal

So I came up with this idea to get rid of garbage. I don't know if it's a good one or not, but I'm thinking. Instead of taking the garbage of cities and towns and throwing them into dumps, I think we should throw them in middle of deserts. I mean nothing lives there anyway. It's too hot and unbearable. The garbage dumps and junk yards in the cities and towns, their space could be used for much better things. And we don't have to deal with the sight and smell of it.

I think it's a good idea. Maybe it's because I don't know any negative consequences of this. Wouldn't it just be the same thing as throwin the middle of cities though? Like instead of humans smelling and seeing that garbage, it'd be two cacti and a lizard being blown away in a sand storm. I don't know man.

The SST/ Epitaph Theory

aight so, i've been workin on this theory. it's not perfect at all and could be easily disproved. but i'm still in the works to prove it right. if i fail, then whatevers man. so here it is:

The SST/ Epitaph Theory by Ryan Saavedra

The SST/ Epitaph Theory states that all American punk bands from 1978 to uhhhh... I'm gonna say 1999 (hey man, it's my theory!) are connected to either Brett Gurewitz' Epitaph Records or Greg Ginn's SST Records. That means bands like The Ramones, The Clash, and Iggy and the Stooges are out of the picture. But bands like Rancid and The Vandals are in play.

Brett Gurewitz is famously from Bad Religion and Greg Ginn from Black Flag. So Bad Religion is on Epitaph and Black Flag is from SST. And now some other bands. Bad Brains, Minutemen, Sonic Youth, and Bl'ast were all on SST Records. Epitaph Records has even more. Rancid, NOFX, Lagwagon, The Vandals, New Found Glory, Pennywise, Millencolin (I know I said American bands, but they're one of my favorites), Rich Kids on LSD, Agnostic Front, The Offspring, and Pulley were all or apart of Epitaph Records.

Now onto bands that have not been signed with Epitaph or SST. I'm not gonna lie, there's gonna be some bands I'm gonna mention that you may say, "that doesn't count man!" But as I said, this theory is not perfect. SO! Even a band like Blink 182 can be linked to SST or Epitaph. Travis Barker, the drummer, plays for another band called The Transplants. The Transplants have Tim Armstrong, who is head of Hellcat Records, which is a sister company of Epitaph. Any bands of Hellcat Records is an automatic link to Epitaph. So you got bands like Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards, Dropkick Murphys, and Tiger Army linked to Epitaph.

Same thing with Fat Wreck Chords. NOFX and Bad Religion are very close with each other. Brett helps Fat Mike produce some of their albums. So you got bands from Fat Wreck Chords such as No Use For A Name, Strung Out, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Dillinger Four, The Real McKenzies, Anti-Flag, and many others linked to Epitaph.

Minor Threat's bassist is Brian Baker. Later in their career he switched to guitar. He now plays for Bad Religion, who is on Epitaph. Same goes for Circle Jerks. Greg Hetson, their guitarist, now plays for Bad Religion.

The Offsring as said before was on Epitaph. Dexter Holland, the vocalist and one of the guitarists, started his own record company, Nitro Records. Bands such as AFI, TSOL, and once again The Vandals, along with others, are linked to Epitaph like Hellcat and Fat Wreck bands.

Joe Escalante and Warren Fitzgerald of The Vandals started a record company in 1996 called Kung Fu Records. There you go, another record company linked to Epitaph. Kung Fu has bands features(ed) Tsunami Bomb, The Ataris, and even as one-time releases, Blink 182 and MxPx.

The Descendents were on SST and Epitaph (respectively). They are now on Fat Wreck Chords. Even Green Day is using Epitaph to re-release their Kerplunk and 1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hour albums.

Now here's a stretch. Agent Orange's Steve Soto left and made The Adolescents. Pat Smear played guitar for them at one point, linking The Germs to the theory. Chris Royer from Social Distortion (an Epitaph band) was once their drummer. Social Distortion had Matt Freeman play bass in 2004. Matt Freeman is from Operation Ivy and Rancid, both Hellcat bands (Op Ivy - only for releasing material).

I think you get the point. Epitaph and SST contain(ed) some of the best punk bands on earth. If it weren't for them, music wouldn't be the same today. We wouldn't have NOFX. We wouldn't have Rancid. Thank you Greg and Brett.

this is it....

so jackie tells me, "you should get a blog." a couple weeks later millie and matty suggested it too. to be honest, i don't really know what i'm typing here. so here it is. the toilet bowl. where what i crap out what's on my mind. take a wiff man.