So Can We Leave Today and Start the Next Mistake, or Are We Fucked This Time?

A quick summary of last night:

Jays surprised us all and won 10-5 at the Trop. Great game all around (Kaz home run and three really nice plays in the field by José Soriano), but I'll remember it for this three-AB run by Alejandro Kirk, which continued his hot streak that has lead the Jays back into playoff contention:

1. Double into the corner in which he barely legged out the throw. Then turned on the wheels to score on a single.
2. Home run on a pitch above the strikezone to deep left-centre.
3. RBI infield single.

Then watched Gregg Araki's 1999 movie Splendor with Becks. Already said it in my Letterboxd review, but I've been trying to get into Araki's movies and it just hasn't clicked yet. This was fun though, and I really enjoyed it.

Didn't want to watch any more TV, so I read some blogs on my laptop after, including this post from Former Clarity. In reading the part about Jeff Rosenstock's residency at the Metro, I was struck by the fact that the author mentioned Jeff playing the Bomb the Music Industry! song "The First Time I Met Sanawon," which felt... wrong to me?

I asked myself why I cared so much. The first response: BtMI! (always the abbreviation over "Bomb") was, ostensibly, a Jeff Rosenstock solo project in the beginning, even if it was always a collective, so maybe the division between Bomb the Music Industry! and Jeff Rosenstock is mostly semantics. I mean, some of the songs on I Look Like Shit were first released as BtMI! demos, right? But then why stop the band and stop playing the songs? I'm sure members of BtMI! beyond John play with Jeff live often, but is it a disrespect to play songs from the band with different people. Again, certainly no, but I guess I thought about it.

It might also be that I feel slighted because I went to the final Bomb the Music Industry Shows in Brooklyn in January 2014, documented in this, uh, documentary Never Get Tired, which always makes me cry and feel inspired. Maybe I feel slighted because I made such an effort to drive fourteen hours to the shows from a different country, and now the songs are being played live sometimes?

Jesus, there is a lot of self-righteousness coming out here.

I think it's more than I felt a certain amount of peace and finality in saying goodbye to Bomb the Music Industry! I had such an intense relationship to the band's music, where I identified with it so strongly at such an impressionable age and, to be honest, had a parasocial relationship with Jeff. I was young and very confused about who I was and how to navigate the world and Bomb the Music Industry! discography was something that made a lot of sense. In January 2014, I was starting the second semester of my master's, Beat Noir had just put out Ecotone, and I was on my first trip with Becks, three months into our relationship. More than saying goodbye to the band, I think I was also eager to say goodbye to the younger version of myself.

From a contemporary standpoint, I think that I'm still happy to leave the Timmy of his early 20s in the past. As a yute, I valorized the idea of never losing your youth and now, as an adult, when I see punk guys in their 30s that cling to records about getting broken up with and dressing the same as they did fifteen years ago, that idea doesn't hit the same. I think there's still a golden nugget of truth in the idea that you shouldn't grow up and lose the outlook and morals that defined you as a person when you defined yourself, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't evolve as a person.

Go to admit though, I put on some Bomb the Music Industry! while I wrote this and man, does it ever hit when you need it to.

Recently discovered this band Class Ring from Chicago through Axe to Grind's weekly radio show Friday Night's Alright. Really great lo-fi power-pop, college rock. Love the emo-y guitar lead on "No Faith."

Hearts of Gold Can Still Feel Lonely if They Don't Know They're Not the Only Ones

 Yesterday was the 10th anniversary of the release of Bomb the Music Industry's last record Vacation in 2011. Lest you think I was keeping track of that, I only noticed this once friends of mine and bands started posting about it on social media and seeing these posts brought back a lot of memories for me around the record. These days, it's hard for to pick an actual "favourite record" and it varies depending on my mood and how the music is hitting me at that moment, but there are probably 5 or 10 I could narrow it down to that take that spot and Vacation is absolutely among those. Since Vacation is sometimes my favourite record, here are episodes from my relationship with this album.

1. Starting in high school, I began a personal ritual in which I would download the new Bomb the Music Industry! record from QuoteUnquoteRecords.com the day it was released and then read along with the lyrics on the website for my first listen through of the record.* The songs and band were so important to me and, as I've explained ad nauseam on here, it felt like they were my own special thing. These listen throughs reading the lyrics were an important part of that relationship and were for sure a major force in me building it. When Vacation came out though, I had to work in the morning and didn't have time to perform that ritual. Instead, I downloaded it, immediately put it on my iPod, and listened to it on the way to work. As a result, it took me a little bit to warm up to the record, and at first it didn't measure up to BtMI's past material.

*It makes me happy that the website still looks the exact same as it always has. Wish I wasn't always so nostalgic, but maybe I should just accept that this is who I am.

2. I saw Bomb the Music Industry! on their Vacation tour in the summer of 2011 and, like Vacation's place in my list of favourite records, I often think of this as the best show I've ever been to. Opening the show, I got introduced to the Sidekicks, who killed it live and immediately became one of my favourite active bands. BtMI! played a long set that mixed all of their wonderful albums and the show ended by them played "Syke! Life is Awesome!" a personal favourite of mine. I stagedove at the end of the set and screamed the ending refrain that I used to write in the margins of notebooks at eye level with Jeff Rosenstock. It was cathartic.

3. During my winter break from school in 2011/12, I returned to Scarborough for the holidays. One night, while sleeping in my parents' basement, I had a really bad night thinking about my life and my future and got really low. I listened to Vacation from start to finish and decided to then do my read along on the website. It made me feel a lot better and that is when it became my favourite Bomb the Music Industry! record.

4. I had a tough year in 2012 and was a particular low point in mid-February. I was listening to the record constantly at this point, but one particular time sticks out when I was walking home from a friend's house in a snow storm. The line "In truth, December destroyed me, January crushed me, by February I was not myself" in "Felt Just like Vacation", while walking in heavy snow, overwhelmed me.

5. In January of 2014, I traveled with Rebecca to New York to see Bomb the Music Industry!'s last two shows. Both shows were amazing and seemed like the perfect way to send off the band. My friends James and Nick travelled to the shows separately and I met them there. So did Dave and James. Rebecca's friend made them wait with all of our coats during the second show. The Slackers opened the first show and that ruled. Even though the sets were lengthy and amazing, something that has always stuck out to me was the band opening with "Campaign for a Better Next Weekend", the first track on Vacation, each night.

6. In January of 2018, Rebecca and I went to their family's cottage with a few friends. It was a really nice and relaxing time. My friend Pat has described it in the past as a formative weekend for him that convinced him of some moves he had to make in his life. On the first night, we cycling through music and he put on Vacation and said something like "I was listening to this the other and thought it really held up." Part of me was like "Duh, I never stopped listening" but part of me was also like "Man, does it ever."

7. In July of 2021 I put on Vacation to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the record. I was feverish, sore, and tired from receiving my second dose of the COVID vaccine. "Felt Just like Vacation" still made me tear up.

Regardless, Thanks A Lot

Last night, on the last night of my Christmas break, I got to see Jeff Rosenstock play an intimate solo show at D-Beatstro. It was wonderful and I feel confident saying it was one of the best nights of my life.

The night before, Jeff took to Twitter asking if there was anywhere in Toronto that he could play a house show while he was passing through the city. Though I'll always associate Jeff with his early ultra-DIY Bomb the Music Industry! days, where playing a small house show was the norm for him, his star has grown considerably since then, so playing a show this small was unexpected and exciting.

I also felt weird when I saw him tweet that. In my younger days, I would have jumped all over the chance to have Jeff play at either Fuck Mountain, The Dude Hole, The P'Zone, or The Fortress of Solid Dudes (my friends and I are so creative), so my immediate reaction was "Should I put on the show?" Music scenes are exactly what you make them. The prospect of a Jeff Rosenstock house show is amazing, but for it to be amazing, someone needs to put on the show. I salivated at the thought of Jeff playing my apartment. But I quickly realized that having the amount of people Jeff would draw in that small of space that also has a cat and a dog in it is not a good idea. It sort of felt like a chapter in my life had closed and it was the first time that I had acknowledged that the house I was living in is not a punk house.

But the show got put together without me, which I knew would happen anyways. And at an actual venue, no less! I used to live across the street from the venue, know D-Beatstro's owner Jess, have seen a ton of great shows there, and have played there myself, so I was happy to see the spot get such a big pull. D-Beatstro puts on at least two shows a week. Places for all ages shows in Toronto are scarce, so a venue like D-Beatstro existing, regardless of if I like every show that happens, is important.

The place was so full that I couldn't see the performers from my vantage point (no stages, no managers), but it didn't really matter. Junior Battles could play "Basements" on a fucking accordion and it would still fill me with equal measures of pride, happiness, and nostalgia.

Something that I'm constantly trying to fight against is my tendency to feel a sense of ownership of "Jeff Rosenstock". I was the first person I knew to listen to him and for long time he was "my thing" that I enjoyed and not many around me did. Now it seems strange to see so much press about him and see him play bigger venues and bills. But fuck that. That's stupid. I know it's stupid. but the feeling also comes out without my thinking of it. I suppose it's up to me to consciously try to not be a pompous dick about it.

It's also weird to me that so many fans of his music seem so into his SideOneDummy output, while seeming to ignore all of the early stuff that had such a huge impact on me. I was thinking this yesterday when cuts from Worry, which is a wonderful record, don't get me wrong, were getting really big pops while I was thinking to myself "Imagine if he played 'RSTLNE'!" But then he played "Saddr Weidr", the only Bomb the Music Industry! cut of the night and it got the biggest pop of the night. Everybody is there for the same reason and stupid jaded attitudes like mine aren't helping anything.

And even if there were a bunch of people who aren't familiar with Jeff's music there, isn't that a good thing? I bet there's a few who had never heard Bomb the Music Industry! and are checking them out now because he played a song from Scrambles and I bet there's even more who had never been to D-Beatstro before and will now come back for stuff. That's important. That's how you build a scene.

The show was amazing and I'll remember it forever and it was the type of event that reminds exactly why DIY and punk matters in the first place. The show reminded me of three things that Jeff taught me while I was in high school listening to a constant rotation of Three Cheers for Disappointment, Album Minus Band, To Leave or Die in Long Island, and Goodbye Cool World that I have carried with me since then and try to apply to everything I do:

1. Don't be so jaded. It can be hard not to be and sometimes it feels natural, but fight against it. Resisting that tendency leads to immediate good.

2. What you are doing is important. It doesn't matter what it is or on what scale. If you are putting yourself into, it is important and you can let other people convince you that it's not. Don't stop!

3. DIY IS THE BEST. DIY IS EVERYTHING. DO IT YOUR FUCKING SELF AND NOBODY CAN STOP YOU.

Such a Guarded Guy

A definitive ranking of all albums where Jeff Rosenstock is the primary vocalist and songwriter, written by a true connoisseur and 12-year listener of his music:

1. Bomb the Music Industry!- Vacation

2. The Arrogant Sons of Bitches- Three Cheers for Disappointment 

3. Bomb the Music Industry!- To Leave or Die in Long Island

4. Jeff Rosenstock- I Look Like Shit

5. Bomb the Music Industry!- Goodbye Cool World

6. The Arrogant Sons of Bitches- All the Little Ones Are Rotting

7. Bomb the Music Industry!- Album Minus Band

8. Bomb the Music Industry!- Get Warmer

9. Bomb the Music Industry!- Others! Others!

10. Bomb the Music Industry!- Scrambles

11. Jeff Rosenstock- We Cool?

12. Bomb the Music Industry!- Adults!!!...Smart!!! Shithammered!!! And Excited by Nothing!!!

13. Jeff Rosenstock- Worry

14. Bomb the Music Industry!/Laura Stevenson- Split

15. Kudrow- Lando

16. The Arrogant Sons of Bitches- Pornocracy

17. Bomb the Music Industry/O Pioneers!!!- Split

Because how else would you follow up a call to arms than with a list?

You Don't Have the Magic in You Kid, You Never Did. What? BEAT IT!

This past week, Jason Bateman did an interview on Marc Maron's podcast WTF. It's a good listen and I would definitely recommend it, as Bateman has had an interesting career path, going from child star to teen idol to a decade of semi-self-imposed obscurity to critic sitcom darling to comedy movie star. Check it out here. He says some hilarious things about Horrible Bosses 2!

If you know me, you know that Arrested Development is maybe my all-time favourite show. Right up there with The Wire. I know that those are basically the most obvious choices in terms of comedy and drama shows, but fuck it. Those are my favourites and this my blog and that's the way it is and if you don't like it you git out.

The Pet-Sounds-is-my-favourite-album-of-all-time-ness of my taste in television aside, Arrested Development really does mean a lot to me. In high school I noticed that Bomb the Music Industry! made a lot of references to the show, specifically on Goodbye Cool World (though my linked example is from Album Minus Band) which was a huge album for me at that time and really the soundtrack to the summer of 2006, so I figured I would check the show out. This was of course after the show had already ended, so the way I was introduced to show was through re-runs shown by the CBC back-to-back at 5 and 5:30 on weekdays. I still didn't really get what was so amazing about the show, but there was a lot about it that I didn't understand at that time and that really drew me in.

I gave the show another shot in first year university and promptly bought the series on DVD. That has really proved to be one of my best purchases as it gave me an avenue to watch the show before Netflix and everything being immediately available for streaming on the internet. I introduced a ton of people to the show and me getting to watch the slow process of them realizing just how smart and funny the show was something that I never got tired of. It's my most-watched TV show by a wide margin and has a high degree of re-watchability.

Sure were a lot of hyphens in that paragraph. I'll try to refrain for the rest of this post.

This podcast brought up a lot of feelings for me regarding Arrested Development and one in particular.

In second year university I went through my first break-up and it hit me pretty hard. I had been let down by people before that and I felt depressed before that but never like the way I experienced at that time. I had a lot of very strong emotions that I didn't know how to deal with and I had a very low sense of self-worth. I ascribed everything wrong in my life to myself and blamed myself for everything and I felt like everything was going badly and it was completely my fault and because of that I was a shitty and useless person.

Sidenote: Those feelings are what inspired me to start good ol' IMU here.

During this period of depression, I was re-watching Arrested Development for the first time. It was still just as funny as the first time and I was amazed that there were still loads of jokes that I had missed the first time around. It felt great because I could get out of my own head and laugh for 20 minutes at a time and not worry about the other things in my life. Arrested Development was so so helpful to me in coping with my terrible headspace at the time. I would think to myself at that time "It's just a TV show I like, it's not like I'm actually depending on it." trying to minimize the role that the show played in my life at the time because the fact that I was relying on a TV show that heavily made me insecure.

But you what? Fuck it. If you're going through a trying time in your life and something, anything, is helping you in a healthy way, there is no shame in admitting that. None whatsoever. Don't be ashamed of what you like and why you like. Anything can beautiful depending on how you look at it.

I Look Like Shit (Again)

What the fuck is up!

You should be able to tell I'm going to make a half-assed effort to keep up this blog (Yes, again. Ugh. I know.) because not only have I put a new picture at the top (MAXIMUM EFFORT YOU GUYS.) but I also added another contributer who happens to also be me, just with a new email.

More importantly, Jeff Rosenstock has put out a new album and I feel compelled to write about and we all know this is a fucking haven for music news right?

Right.

So yeah, last week Jeff Rosenstock released a solo album without having mentioned the release date or built up any hype whatsoever. Just completely out of the blue. He's done this on the last few Bomb The Music Industry! releases and I have to say I'm fan of it. Rather than trying to drum up praise or excitement, he just lets the music speak for itself and in his case it works because the music is extremely good.

GET THIS ALBUM RIGHT HERE. IT IS FREE. YOU ARE A CLASS-A JABRONI IF YOU DON'T.

One can immediately recognize that Senor Rosenstock is behind the music not only from his distinctive voice, but also because the music more less follows the style that BtMI! has established over the course of their last few albums (makes sense as several of the tracks were originally intended to make up a Bomb EP that was never finished). Since a bunch of the songs are demos, they're a little more stripped down than what he put out in the past, though there are more than enough drum machines and clear (but awesome) signs of home production to satisfy fans of Bomb's early work.

One thing I've really noticed is how much work the guy puts in vocals nowadays. He's gone from yelling as many words as he can per song (which I loved) during the Arrogant Sons of Bitches to writing less words but putting way more melody into his vocals (which I also love) as was the case on Vacation, all while dramatically increasing his range along the way.

Along with this what is definitely his most interesting choice of cover, and maybe even his best cover, as he chose to do the pop-punk tune "I Don't Wanna Die" (Ai Don Wana Dai?) by the extremely rowdy and awesomely weird Ging Nang Boyz. Jeff has a habit of making the second or third last song a longer/darker number and then following it up with the most epic ender one can imagine that just makes you feel amazing and posi and fuzzy and happy to be alive. In this case "Amen" fills the role of the former, while "I Don't Wanna Die" takes care of the the latter.

I guess it could just be me, but I've spent the last week yelling "The Internet Is Everywhere" and "Bonus Oceans" and it feels PRETTY DAMN GOOD MAN.

To put it shortly, if you love Bomb the Music Industry! then you will love this album. If you don't love Bomb the Music Industry!, then get yer head outta yer ass and download this album. The guy's a genius and this is probably more accessible to you than anything else he's put out.

Album of the year?

Probs.

So Yea

Who would win in a fight? Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock and Mankind or a raptor?

I can't decide which of these songs is my favourite right now because they are all so damn good:

The Replacements- Can't Hardly Wait (demo)

The song's about a kid thinking to himself while he drives to the water tower in his small town to commit suicide. The lyrics are really good and the instrumentation is better than the other version they recorded

Grave Maker- Time Heals Nothing

This song is about being cheezed and feeling shitty. Grave Maker is one of the best hardcore bands around today and their last album was really solid front to back. I listened to them before bed the other day and got so stoked that it took me awhile to fall asleep because all I wanted to do was stage dive.

Bomb The Music Industry!- King of Minneapolis Parts III & IV

This song is about being so depressed that you try to drink yourself to death. During the night you meet a stranger that is really nice to you even though you don't know them. You also have a conversation with one of your friends and that cheers you up. You wake up in the morning without a hangover, even though you drank more than Theo Fleury last night. Then you decide that life's ok and you don't need to worry that much. Jeff's lyrics are obviously autobiographical and he got a tattoo of that stranger's face.

I Love Jeff

I sat along the rocks and watch the cold Maine water rush away.
The sun and my guitar and I knew what you were doing yesterday.
You broke those promises but I’ll get over it.
‘Cause as long as I’m breathing fresh air I don’t really give a shit
So I’ll complain for the next ten years, but remember that sometimes things are great.

I didn’t have directions and I hadn’t eaten anything all day.
We sucked a fat one and wasted a hundred dollars just to play.
I ate a bag of peanuts right before the windy road.
And I couldn’t drink a thing all night ‘cause of the vomit in the back my throat.
Then you gave me your number and your sweatshirt so I didn’t give a shit.
So I’ll complain for the next eleven years, but remember that sometimes things are great.

You don’t own me! You don't own me!

I worked my ass of my entire life to accomplish one dream.
It started happening and everything was bastardized my greed.
I said “pull this shit over and let me out
I swear to fucking God I’m fucking giving up right now”
And now I’ve got a brand new start, I remember that something are great.

Scream it in apartment halls -
Scream it loud in shopping malls -
Take a ball point pen and paint the inside’s of your eyelids with the constant reminder:
You don’t own me. You don’t own me.

Then I was underground without food or sunlight or encouragement.
Depression set in ‘cause I was a product of my environment.
Then the other day, I got in my car.
Pick Glenn Tillbrook up from the hotel, drive him to the bar.
He wore a t-shirt just like me and wasn’t on his phone
and for fifteen minutes I had a conversation with a hero.
So I’ll complain for the next ten years...
And after that we’ll go drink beers until the bar runs out of beers
prepare for the next twenty-three years.

‘Cause if I wasn’t a fat kid in high school, I would have never listened to punk rock.
And if I knew how to throw a football, I would have never played any music.
And if never got my heart broken, I would sing “blah blah fucking nothing.”
And if you didn’t fuck my ex-girlfriend, I would still owe you three-thousand dollars.
And if I never lived in that van I wouldn’t have met Chris or Steve or James, Alex or Middagh.
And if I never worked in a basement I would have never moved out of my house.
And if I had a big emo band or dropped out of college, I would have never met you, man.

"It was all written in Long Island and it is very expressive of my hope to go around the country playing stupid songs for people who will forget me again."

You fucking changed my life Jeff, I won't forget who you are for the rest of my life.

Everything Is Always Falling Apart

It’s actually pretty scary how much I relate and depend on the music of Jeff Rosenstock. Whether it be the music of The Arrogant Sons of Bitches (ASOB for convenience) or Bomb The Music Industry! (BTMI! for the same reason), his words and chords have been a cornerstone of my existence since I heard each band.

I first heard ASOB through word of mouth on the internet. It was right before the put out “Three Cheers For Disappointment”. I thought “So Let’s Go! Nowhere” was pretty awesome, mainly because it is. I loved the way that their new songs sounded on their MySpace, mostly because they were super fast. I wanted the CD super bad, but my lack of credit card, as I was 16 at the time, and my not living in the North-Eastern United States prevented me from having it. So I just listened to the three songs that I got for free on their purevolume, “So Let’s Go! Nowhere”, “Pornocracy” and “RSTLNE” on repeat. Randomly on a message-board a guy linked to a site where someone had put up a whole bunch of ska albums for download. Low and behold “Three Cheers...” was up there and I didn’t hesitate to get that masterpiece.

When I got it the soundcard on my computer was broken, so I plugged my Discman into my computer speakers (ghetto!) and proceeded to listen to album 8 times in a row with no breaks in between from  8 pm to about 1:30 am (funny how you remember that kind of stuff). Then I listened to it another 5 times in a row the next day on the bus. This album was exactly was I was looking for at the time, but this isn’t even when it had its largest impact.

So that summer I liked a girl a lot, yadda, yadda, yadda, no one wants to hear all the details. I was head over heels and she broke my heart for the first time, it happens to everyone. I had leant her the CD telling her it was the greatest thing ever (she ended up not liking it). Anyways, she came over to give the CD back, some stuff happened that lead to aforementioned heartbreak. Needless to say, the next morning I was pretty bummed. At this point I didn’t look extremely heavily into lyrics (at least nowhere near as much as I do now, which is probably more than anyone I know), so I liked ASOB a whole lot, but didn’t really get them. To make matters worse that morning I had a full day of work ahead of me. I still had a Discman then, so I would only listen to one CD all day. Naturally I grabbed “Three Cheers...” as it was one of my favourites and I had just gotten it back.

I must have been about twenty steps out of my house when I realized that I had made the exact right choice in CDs for that day. I was flabbergasted at how I hadn’t noticed the lyrics in “The Last Bell I Will Ever Hear” before. Three Cheers grabbed me and I couldn’t listen to anything else. I was really bummed for a while, between that situation and the ever shitty scene at my high school and the main thing helping me through it was “Three Cheers For Disappointment”.

It’s still my favourite album to this day.

So, before I even got their last album, ASOB broke up. So I never got to see them. I bought a ticket to the reunion show, but didn’t end up going because I couldn’t afford going to New York. But after they broke up the singer/songwriter Jeff made a new “band”. Basically he didn’t like the idea of being in a band anymore so he just wrote songs, recorded them in his bedroom, played all the instruments and put it all out for free. I’m going to emphasize this. He put out the music completely free. Way before Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails. He spray paints shirts for free at shows. When he started he only asked for enough money to cover the cost of gas to get to the show. If you do not think he is doing it for the music by now, I have no idea how to convince you. These aren’t shitty bedroom recordings either. To date BTMI! has put out 5 albums, 1 rarities compilation and a split ep. Each of these albums is incredible and I would say there isn’t a piece of filler on any of them. Each is also an interesting progression from the last, changing and adding new elements to the sound of the band without being too alienating.

Oh yea and all of that is since 2005.

So yea I first got into the band when their third album “Goodbye Cool World” came out. I had never thought that playing too fast+ska+synth+singing too fast so you can’t understand all of the lyrics+fake drums+corny keyboard effects would=great album, but hey all of us make mistakes. After seeing how great that album was I went back and got all the other ones. They kept being the most interesting and innovating in punk and I kept loving them. “Get Warmer” came out and more people began to take notice, that album was the first big departure in their sound; it’s a really good collection of songs. They came to Toronto twice I missed them both time for being too poor and not being 19 at the time. But anyways they came again and I most certainly did not miss them that time. They put on an awesome set (with an iPod as their drummer!) and as soon as they broke into “Congratulations John! On joining Every Time I Die” I was climbing over 15 year-olds to scream the lyrics as loud as I could. The show was an extreme catharsis of energy and emotion. It ruled. More importantly, I was hoping that I would be able to meet Jeff at the show, figuring he would be walking around the show, since that’s the type of guy he is. I was right.

First though, third verse of “Syke! Life is Awesome!”:

“Then one day, he said “Jeff get in your car and pick Glenn Tillbrook up at the hotel and drive him to the bar”. He wore a t-shirt just like me and wasn’t on his phone. For fifteen fucking minutes I had a conversation with my hero”

I saw him walking by and said “Hey Jeff, I just wanted to say Three Cheers For Disappointment has gotten me through a lot of shit. Thanks for writing it man.” Most musicians would say “Hey, thanks. That means a lot” and run off to whatever they had to do. Jeff stopped said “Wow, man that’s cool. I’m glad that you like it so much. That means a lot” and then gave me a giant bear hug. Him being so cool and humble while being an extremely talented songwriter and pretty much a musical genius the way he’s put together such individual and interesting music the way he does is pretty cool. Oh yea, he also had on the same hoodie and vans as I did. It’s pretty funny how similar my experience was to his.

Both his bands have been extremely large parts of my life since the first second I heard them. I have no clue what type of person or what I would be doing if it wasn’t for The Arrogant Sons of Bitches and Bomb The Music Industry! Jeff is hands down my favourite songwriter. He avoids trying to come up with clever wordplay and favours spilling as much emotion as he possibly can into each song. When I think girls suck, I listen to “Three Cheers For Disappointment”, when I thought my high school sucked I listened to “To Leave or Die In Long Island”, when I think that moving on in life sucks I listen to “Get Warmer”, when I worry about growing up I listen to “Scrambles” and when I start to feel better about all of that I listen to “Goodbye Cool World”.

All of Bomb The Music Industry!’s music and The Arrogant Sons of Bitches last album are available free of charge at www.quoteunquoterecords.com.

Also, when listening to this music, please read the lyrics on the website while listening. They are the high-point and most important part of all the albums.

I was going to put a quote from a song at the end, but I would just end up putting all of either "Syke! Life is awesome" or "King of Minneapolis Parts III & IV" or "So Let's Go! Nowhere!" or "Kill The President" or "1800-ALARM-ME" down, so I refrained.