*Photo above features Michael Bivens of Connibal Road at The Pageant.
This slideshow contains some pics that are just some random concert photos that I took at some past shows that I covered for STL Music Press. These are some examples of photos that were taken in the past from various shows. The slideshow begins including shots from Relient K, Senses Fail, Transit and goes on to feature many STL music acts. Such as, The Takedown, The Vondrukes, Earl, Butcher Holler, Bella & Lily, Clockwork, Since 1902,Dear Genre,Social Slave, Sicfaist,Never My Silence, Corvus,The Orbz, Make Me Break Me & also Connibal Road. The thumbnail pic is of Butcher Holler. In the past, I also did some interviews and album reviews for the music press site. Those are indexed on the categories cloud on this blog. I particularly remember having fun at these shows and enjoyed fellowship with friends and meeting new people. Good times. I’m thankful for the opportunity and the experience. All of these were shot using a meager PowerShot SX120 IS by Canon.
God is changing me. My desires are changing. I’m not going into it in depth and I just want my friends to know that as of last year Ockum’s Razor is more than likely done for good. We had a good run. All of the music is set to free download. Since the winter of last year into this year, I have been able to devote more time to STLMU and Rock U Fest since I have more free time. Honestly, I don’t know if I want to continue doing music in the same fashion that I have. I have been making good on the things that I have dedicated time to, but I need help with some stuff in order for it to advance. Otherwise, I cannot guarantee that I will continue having the drive to do what it is that I have been trying to accomplish. I’m not giving up or quitting, I just don’t have any more to give and it seems that very few people truly care enough to help. Some of the friends that I thought were good friends didn’t turn out to be as understanding or as real as I thought they were. I don’t owe anyone an explanation, but my personal friends keep asking me what is going on and I figure this post is a good way to explain things, in general.
My friend Greg and I had been working on some good recordings just for posterity of music that we used to write and perform years ago in our teens into our early to mid twenties w/ LTG. We are at a stopping point now because of an issue with work that has to be done to his home and it will be chaotic. We plan to pick up in the fall again. We hung out with Jason, our original drummer when we started and he has been talking about getting a kit again and him doing some drum tracks down the road. The songs that are up now on my Soundcloud account are the most completed, so far. We have worked on others, they just don’t have drums, etc. Those are not uploaded. Our mutual friend Dennis had been offering to do drum tracks here and there so far, but we want to try and have one of our original drummers on them. Chad has gotten re-married and his new wife has been with child and such. His time just would not allow for it given the responsibilities he already has.
I am still a part of STL Music Press and the editor has slowed down the frequency of posts until the fall. I have been spending more time trying to accomplish some personal goals and writing. Ever since I moved over a couple of years ago, I have been so focused on things going on around me that I haven’t ever really gotten things together on my end and it is just time for me to take inventory from my perspective. I love hearing from my friends and always make time for the ones that make time for me. I haven’t always been the best at keeping up with them for various reasons, but I’m working on that too. To my friends that I miss, this is for you. Hope all is well. Take care and God bless… Sincerely, C.M.D.
August 14th of 2012, Los Angeles’ own The Dreaming came to town. In January of this same year, I was fortunate enough to share the stage with these talented guys. They came to Pop’s Nightclub in Sauget, Illinois on a Monday night then. This time around, they performed at The Old Rock House on a Tuesday night. They are all genuinely down to earth people before and after the show. Who are The Dreaming? One may ask. Allow me to explain their importance.
Lead vocalist Christopher Hall and percussionist Johnny Haro are known from the group that was formerly known as Stabbing Westward. The Dreaming also consists of guitarist Rich Jazmin from Kerli and Martin Kelly from Living Dead Lights on the bass guitar. These guys have been touring hard and building up a new hardcore following of their own alongside of the success of their first major label release “Puppet“. They previously released their first studio album “Etched In Blood” in 2007. Below is a video of their song “Breathing” that was recorded by Martin Kelly and Christopher Hall on the Apple I-Phone during the 2012 “End In Tears” summer tour. They do have a more recent and costly video they have done, but I want you to see the simplicity and effectiveness of the following video.
Not only does the band take you back to the “Darkest Days” era of Stabbing Westward, but they also present you with an onslaught of all new music that is a delicate and sophisticated blend of rock. Dark-wave meets new-wave, metal meets alternative-rock and electronica. Why, Christopher Hall even breaks out an acoustic guitar on a song. The production value of the show is excellent too, I must add. Precisely synchronized with their music, they bring a rock show that is also similar to the likes of 30 Seconds To Mars, My Chemical Romance and The Birthday Massacre.
Key songs that they performed off their album were “Hole“, “Breathing“, “There Will Be Blood” and “Every Trace“. Not to mention, classic Stabbing Westward songs they played like “Save Yourself” and “Sometimes It Hurts“. It was on the latter song just mentioned that Christopher played the first half of the song acoustic, meanwhile the band built the progression up after the first verse and such. I encourage you to judge them for yourselves. Look at the pictures below, take the time to check them out online and they do have a song or two for download on their Facebook fan page. Sign up for an alert there for the next time they come to town via email. Then, when you see me at their next show in Saint Louis you can come and thank me.
The second annual Rock U Fest, also known as Rock University Festival, took place on Saturday, July 28, 2012 at Atomic Cowboyin St. Louis. The event hosted three stages of rock simultaneously from 2:00 pm to 2:00 am. It was put together by a group of friends to promote unity in the St. Louis rock scene. Some thirty-five plus acts performed that day. The charity that was chosen to help promote and support was Play It Forward. P.I.F. fills a gap in the schools of our city by providing teachers with much needed instruments to facilitate their classrooms and programs. Click HERE for my review of it and video slide shows of pictures documenting the event. Below are free downloads by some of the artists that performed.
Archfront Media put together a couple of big metal shows for bands to battle it out for two spots on the Sumerian Records stage at this year’s Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival. One lucky band from each show would get a spot on the side stage and be exposed to a larger audience. I attended the first battle and met a new friend by the name of Chris Bauer. Note his watermark in some of the the pictures in the below video. The pictures without his logo are mine. My friend Ricky Sherman went to the second battle and took photo highlights from that show. Click HERE for the full article on the St. Louis Music Press.
Part One was on Saturday, June 30, 2012 and Part Two was on Friday, July 6, 2012, at Fubar .
I went to the Chevy Music Showcase launch party at Atomic Cowboy and in case you missed it and or haven’t heard about it, HERE is a post that I put together for the STL Music Press.
I had initially had taken pictures of Redlight King on Monday, August 15th at Pop’s Nightclub & Concert Venue. I planned to have my review posted in the STL Music Press site, but things were pretty busy on all fronts. I recently went through all of my emails, as my gmail was about full. So, there was not a way to find my actual review I wrote up for them, but it was good! Anyway, here is the pictures that I liked the best. The local act on the bill was the Midwest Avengers and their portion of the review was published on the STL Music Press in promotion of Rock U Fest 2011. Enjoy.
The St. Louis Music Press site is being revamped and changes are happening there. So, these are just some pictures that I took of The Rat Rod Kings at The Crack Fox from this past fall. I have been making good use of my time off there adding to the STLMU music blog and running the Ockum’s Razor machine. Eat your heart out Tony! These are for you and your band mates. KDHX recorded them doing a live set there this fall too, here is the playlist and below are the pictures.
This was a show review that I went to do for a full-show feature on the STL Music Press and also to highlight Revence as a Rock U Fest 2011 artist also. I have posted the highlight article on Revence, but HERE is the full show review recently published in the archives.
My last two articles that I wrote for the STL Music Press in promotion of the first annual Rock U Fest event that took place on Sat., Sept. 24th at Atomic Cowboy are as follows:
Review of Panic Attack‘s latest release “Deathpop”
*For a complete listing of all the interviews that I did and that Angie did for the event, visit this link HERE.
*For a highlight feature on the Acoustic / Electronic stage, click HERE, for the highlight feature on the Foxhole stage, click HERE & for a highlight feature on the Main / Outdoor Stage, visit HERE. Kudos to Ricky for photographing 30 out of 39 acts in a 12 hr. period. Each feature also includes the playlist from Sound Cloud on each artist that submitted music. You can stream/download tracks there or you can download the compilation HERE .
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