Can't Separate From Everything

I think that I was a teenager and became a music fan at a weird time. The aughts still had one foot in the "buy physical copies of music" while its other was steadily pulling it towards "spend no money and have no physical copies" era. Sure Napster and all of its clones had already come and went, but people still bought a lot of CD's. I mean, my friends and I made almost weekly trips to stores to do just that. Maybe it was just us?

What I'm trying to say is that while the internet was hugely influential as soon as it happened, people were still working their way through all of it and it was nowhere near as streamlined as it is now. I guess that that is how everything in the world works though. Isn't it weird when I get oddly philosophical for one sentence? I feel like I do that often here.

People used to write stuff. Not nearly as many pictures. Not the bullet points of opinions in Facebook statuses, not an idea condensed into 144 to rifle it off in one go. People would take the time to formulate their ideas. Blogs were HUGE. I know that the world is constantly changing with regards to your social life and the way you use the internet (what a weird sentence) and you really just have to get used to it, so as not to get stuck in the past and become a grumpy son of a bitch, but people actually writing their thoughts and feelings and life events and ideas down is something I truly miss. This is also why I still cling to my out of date blogspot like soggy cotton candy sifting through a cute raccoon's hands.

I used to avidly read tour blogs from any band I could find. Since all of my friends went to a different high school, I didn't have much to do at all during weeknights and this is how I amused myself. My favourite one was www.pickyourpoisons.com, which was kept by Vinnie from Less Than Jake. Through reading Vinnie's entries, I gained a intimate, humourous, and personable window into the life of my favourite band through the eyes of the quiet brain of the band. I've always felt an odd affinity for Vinnie, like we're cut from the same cloth or at minimum would get along really well and I think this stems directly from reading and relating to these blog entries that talked about drinking coffee and what records he was listening to and looking around wide-eyed at the world he was traveling through.

I like to make grandiose statements like Less Than Jake became my favourite band the first time I saw them or when I saw them play all of Losing Streak at a sparsely attended show on Canadian Thanksgiving, but the reality is that it was a gradual process and took a while. It sure seemed quick though. The records were the biggest part. The shows were part of it. The artwork was part of it. Those blogs were part of it.

Through the wonderful internet tool called the Wayback Machine, which archives sites, I've been going through pickyourpoisons and re-reading some of the entries and it's really reminded of why I fucking love Less Than Jake so much. The songs and lyrics are so great, but it's this entire package of many different things that, for whatever reason, always hits me in the just right way. The songs always remind of everything I love about the band, but reading this stuff reminds me of falling in love with the band. It's a great feeling.

Of course, I listened to like 4 albums of their's while doing so.

Conclusion: A Story About the First Time I Saw Less Than Jake

I went to see Less Than Jake in February 2006 with Damien and his then-girlfriend. About 3 minutes into the first band, they started making out and didn't stop for the entire show. As such, I was left to take in the show by myself. The first two bands, Damone (great name) and Rock 'n Roll Soldiers, sucked and then A Wilhelm Scream, touring Ruiner, were pretty good, but Less Than Jake headlined and blew my mind. Having been left to my own devices I had an amazing time being alone, in a crowd, with the band. They played "All My Best Friends Are Metalheads" fourth and I crowdsurfed. When they ended I was pretty sure that they were the best band I had ever seen and I didn't even think about being there by myself a little bit.