Hardcore Lives?

Here we have Wes Eisold aka Wes Nighmare of American Nightmare fame talking with Ben Cook aka Cooker NWC of No Warning fame. They were overheard discussing plans to do a joint tour with their reunited bands... you go guys.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation...

I discovered that Nu-Metal dudes are chill...

(this is the singer from Slipkont... no, not the good one on Rev)

(This is the singer of Korn)

Let me also add some other realness:
- lookingforgold is a cesspool.
- If your entire record collection has been purchased off ebay: you are not a record collector you and simply someone with too much credit.

I Got An Owee!

This is the first time I have actually hurt myself with a razor blade... it really hurt. I literally wound up leaving a part of myself in Serbia... the top right side of my left thumb.... in the hotel hathroom... along with a pint of blood.

Brammy

This is Bram. For the past two weeks we have been tormenting him as we worked our way from fest to fest. We have learned a few things about his Flemish ass along the way:
- he has beautiful "i"s (and eyes).
- he likes the band Vogue a little bit.
- he loves weeds.
- he thinks that Mika Miko are better then the Stooges (or a least he thinks the sax parts are better but he does admit that the Stooges are "even sexier then Mika Miko).
- he like touring with No Age, The Vivian Girls, Mika Miko and Vogue more then us.
- he has only ever toured with: No Age, The Vivian Girls, Mika Miko and Vogue.
- he really likes Red Bull.
- he doesn't know that it is not cool anymore to like Gang Of Four.

We love you buddy

How low can a punk get?

I'm in a skate park in Belgium and In searching the internet for something to read I stumbled upon the following list of topics of on a certain "punk" message board:

-JAPAN!
-pixies vans
-First time you ever jacked off
-Want to do a DEATH METAL band in the NYC/Brooklyn area?
-Mainstream shit you hate
-If you could only listen to one album for life
-what is your favorite color
-wet dreams

Ben and I thought this was hilarious and he said I should post it... and now I have.

On the road again...

We are out on the road again, this time in Europe playing Festivals and the odd real show. As you may have read on the ol'NME site, I have become some what of a video-o-grapher. Here is the first excerpt from my documentary about playing huge festivals. If you look closly you can see the poo on this guys leg. Part of me feels bad about getting such enjoyment out of the dudes humiliation but the other part of me doesn't so I guess I'm conflicted.

What Are You Dudes Doing On Wednesday Night?

Well, if you are free I will be DJing, for what will only be really my third time ever, at the Drake as part of the City Sonic launch party. I can assure you that what I lack in technical aptitude I more then make up for in obscurity of the stuff of what I'm playing. I can safely say with the exception of one or two crowd pleasers (ie. songs for the poseurs) none of this stuff has ever been played in a DJ set in Toronto. What does this all mean? Well, most probably that no one will be dancing (or paying very much attention). I'm listening to records now and planning it out and it will be very power-pop/ poppy-punk heavy. So if you are around come keep me company.

If you can't make it to that then the next day, starting at about 6:00pm, I will be hosting the Myspace Dundas square show. It is a free show at Dundas and Younge with the Black Lips and Melisa Auf Der Maur (no, it was the other one that was in Janitor Joe) as well as a wack of other bands.

Finally, if you still want to hang out I will be handing out free ice cream at the corner of Queen and John on Sunday starting at 1pm.

Why am I doing this you might ask? I am broke and hate tel-a-marketing and these people have been nice enough to invite me to do stuff for them and for that I thank them.

SAY WHAT????

So I flew into Spain this morning, turn on my computer and find out that I have chosen to work for Fox News.... that truly is news to me.

...when I got the music I got a place to go!

So this past Monday, bright and early, I took the subway down to the CBC building and appeared on "Q". It was a ton of fun and you don't have to take my word for it, here is a you tube video of it.


Also, if you like the interview so much that you want to listen to it again and again, this is a link to a podcast version.

I guess the Chain Of Strength shirt is the new Motorhead shirt...

Do you remember a few years back when all of the sudden you started to see random people rocking Motorhead shirts?



It was a really weird feeling because you knew that there was no way they were listening to Bomber when they got home... Now we have to ask ourselves: "Is Chain the next band that this is going to happen to?"



The Hundreds have announced the release of the above shirt as well as a few other "Tribute to Hardcore Shirts". Now before we gather the pitchforks and torches, I should point out that, first off, some of the shirts (not the Johnny Cupcakes one) look pretty cool. Secondly, they are not the first to pee on consecrated ground. And finally, they are also pretty cool for actually reppin' hardcore on the reg. That being said... it is still make me feel weird.

Radio, Radio, Radio, Radio, Radio, Radio, Radio

Tomorrow morning (or today depending on when you read this) at 9:00 am est, I will be interviewed on "Q" on CBC Radio One. For those of you who are like"Hmm, that's sounds familiar," well it maybe from this moment of infamy a few weeks back:




You can listen live here.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Edge day...

Good news! Edge Day is less then five months away. And in honor of this this here is a short documentary on one of the greateast sXe bands ever: Judge






And remember you only have a few short months left to decide what you are going to dress up as and to buy those last minute edge day gifts...
and as an early edge day gift, here are the top three straight edge records according to the us here at VoD:



1: Brotherhood: No Tolerance For Ignorance
Before Gregg Anderson of Sunn 0))) discovered pot and boring music and before William Goldsmith discovered terrible college rock in Sunny Day Real Estate and the Foo Fighters, they were the axe-man in the greatest and bass-tard in the Greatest Edge band ever. Cool harsh vocals and illest gang vocal part ever: "More then music... IT'S A WAY OF LIFE!!!"


2: Turning Point: s/t
Once again the harsh vocals make the record. As a young edge kid nothing hit closer to home then the lyrics to few and the proud... fuck it as a 29 year old edge man they still hit:
Because I'm straight It's a trend to you How could that be When we number so few You've always criticized us Saying we do wrong You just feel threatened Cause you don't belong There's nothing to fear In our existence I'm reaching out to you You keep your distance... then they start to suck.

3: Confront: s/t: This record makes it a gruff vocals trifecta. Harsh, fast and Clevo... the three greatest words in the english language. So what if they became the OLC... I mean Crime Ridden Society is a killer record as well.

Fox Hunt

Recently.... actually, a couple weeks back, I made a return appearance on Fox News' Red Eye. This time I was actually in the belly of the beast itself: Fox News Studios. Unfortunately, I didn't get to meet Bill O'Reilly or Glenn Beck but I had a good time and managed to nearly give some of the behind-the-scenes people a heart attack when I gave Greg a "Support Our Canadian Troops" shirt on air. You can read about it here and watch the clip here.

Correction...

Do you remember that reference in the last post about Fucked Up not being liked by African-Americans (as evidenced by the reaction our Coachella set recieved on mediatakeout.com) ? Well, not only did it come off sounding a little, unintentionally, racist but it is also not really true; as illustrated by the rapper Mos Def putting Fucked Up in his playlist in today's New York Times:

"You know how you hear something and you just relate? They rock. I like the title of their album too: “The Chemistry of Common Life” (Matador). I think I found out about them on the Net, I saw their name [unprintable in this newspaper], I said, “I’m game, I want to see what they’re about.” It’s raw, but it’s elegant. It’s intelligent, hardcore rock. It’s like Bad Brains, Minor Threat and Fugazi. A lot of people will call it punk, but it’s rock. It’s got good melodies. I listen to them on the road a lot. A lazy Sunday is a good time to listen to them. I would chill out to this music, read a book like “Animal Farm” and listen to this."

This is cool for multiple reasons. Firstly, because I have been a fan of his since I bought Soundbombing in '97. Secondly, when the record "Black On Both Sides" came out I had this fantasy that one day I would get do the punk part of "Rock N Roll" with him on stage. Thirdly, this video....wow:

Baby, Baby, Baby...

First off, thanks to everyone for their kind wishes for our new little family. We are all still doing well and I have come realized that I don't actually need or like sleep that much.

Secondly, I just got back from Coachella and I had the time of my life down there. For those of you who don't know what Coachella is, it is a festival held each just outside of Palm Springs. "Big fucking deal,"right? WRONG! It was chill as fuck and here are some musings about the weekend:

Twitter is so stupid: All weekend I would overhear people talking about it and then it made me have to sit through M.I.A. set (the worst thing I saw all weekend by the way) because she was twittering about how Lil Wayne was going to join her on stage. Well, in the end he didn't and she sucked... but it did give me an idea for a new arthouse film: "White People Dancing to MIA".

I could have been the whistle-blower on that: Last week the news broke that David Hasselhoff had fallen off the wagon and this blog could have totally had the scoop on that story because the Hoff was wandering around the backstage of Coachella like a drunk kid at Jr. Prom. I swear on the life of me child that this will not happen again. So everyone start bracing yourselves for the news that a certain female co-star of Spiderman can, again, no longer sing-a-long to her Project X record without feeling a little bit silly.

Best Set: Throbbing Gristle. Never did I think that a stage full of high school art teachers would be so menacing.

Your Joking Right?: Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon looking legit shook when Henry Rollins and Ian Mackaye walked by them.

I bled a ton:


and it did nothing to help Fucked Up's African American Fanbase.

so chill...

I have to change a diaper... more soon.

Kids Do the Darndest Things

Well I'm going to keep this brief, today at 12:16pm Lauren and I welcomed Holden ford abraham into the world. All parties involved are doing fine but very tired. Please expect a large post in the next featuring a full Coachella wrap up loaded with gossip (no beth ditto), shit talk, celebrities at their worst, blood, name dropping and tons more. As well as a blow by blow of my day at fox news and the usual bad spelling and typos... And baby photos!

Not Just Your Average Mark (or How I learned To Stop Caring and Love Pro-Wrestling)

I came late to the world of pro-wrestling. While I certainly watched it and enjoyed as a youngster as I got older the shame of liking it became too much and I convinced myself that it was stupid and put it behind me. I was, in reality, lying to myself as I would find myself watching one program or another of it weekly. But I never really fully enjoyed it. I found it relied too heavily on hoacky angles and lame characters. It wasn't until I started working with a man by the name of Glen Salter (a sort of culture guru for me) that I was shown the light and truly embraced my love of the sport. Glen showed me that wrestling wasn't all WWF or the, then recently, defunct WCW. I was shown the glories the were ECW, Smoky Mountain Wrestling, AWA, the insanity and brutality of Japanese feds like FMW and New Japan and amazing new small federations known as Ring Of Honor and Combat Zone Wrestling, both of which this year received increased profile by the prominent role they played in the film The Wrestler. And yes: I know it is staged, and yes: I can see the homoerotic qualities of it but I also see that it is amazingly fun to watch. And recently Fucked Up has received, what is in my opinion, the ultimate honor: OUR SONG "GENERATION" IS BEING USED AS ENTRANCE. The wrestler the American Dragon Bryan Danielson, arguably: the greatest wrestler alive, now enters the ring to "Generation". How insane is that? He enters here at about the 30 second mark but watch the whole match it is amazing.

Round Two: FACE TO FACE (no Fat Wreck)

(those are deep fried bees in that photo)


To bring you all up to speed, a few months ago I was on a Fox News show called Red Eye. Afterwards they asked me to come back on and do a whole hour and talk, not just music this time but, politics. I accepted their challenge and then all this happened. And now Red Eye is the most vilified show in Canada. I'm so pumped for this! If you are also pumped: it goes down on April 21st at 3am est and if you can't stay up that late I will post a link on here.

ps.Obviously, I was joking about the "Normals" thing. My mom is a normal so that makes me half-normal.

It's Been A While...

First things first, congratulations to the winner of our first annual "Why Mike Sucks..." essay contest: Rick Haliechuk. Young Mr. Haliechuk won the opportunity to spend the day with the editor of this fair blog. As you can see from the photo above, fun was had be all that day.

Secondly, yes we were back from China... but now we are on the road again.

If you wanna come and hang out here is where and when:
04-08 Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock Social Club
04-09 Winnepeg, Manitoba - Royal Albert Arms
04-10 Regina, Saskatchewan - The Distrikt
04-11 Calgary, Alberta - Royal Canadian Legion No. 1
04-12 Edmonton, Alberta - The Pawn Shop
04-14 Vancouver, British Columbia - The Biltmore Cabaret
04-15 Seattle, WA - Neumo's
04-19 Indio, CA - Coachella Festival

and if you come out to Coachella you can hang out with my boy Paul McCartney too.

Thirdly, our good friends at Mishka have just opened a store in Brooklyn and you can buy this shirt there:

arguably the coolest looking shirt ever.

Fourthly, I was sorting through my computer and found this stuff. It is a bunch of list I did for various places for the end of last year:
Top Ten Things I didn't Do In 2009 That I Should Have Done...
10) Try "Drank"
9) See Dark Knight in the Theatre
8) Hear "Chinese Democracy"
7) Play "Grand Theft Auto IV"
6) Lose money in the stock market
5) Get a pizza from that new place on Ossington
4) Watch Rage Against The Machine
3) Start watching Saturday Night Live again
2) Fall in love with / totally hate (insert band name here)
1)Vote for Obama (I'm Canadian)


My Top Ten Shocking Moments of 2008

10) Winding up in a mental hospital in Denmark
9) Becoming a sex symbol for bears
8) The decline in the morality of certain members Fucked Up
7) Standing on stage with my penis tucked between my legs in front of 10,000 people
6) Winding up in a hospital in Calgary with half a pint glass stuck in my head.
5) Doing a photo shoot with Terry Richardson.
4) Getting a bill for $5000 from MTV after our live set.
3) Accidentally shaving my beard off the night before the NME cover shoot.
2) Moby claiming he saw us with Youth Of Today six years ago (never happened)
1) Finding out I'm going to be a dad.


Mind Eraser - Conscious/ Unconscious
The prospect of finding a way to make a great ten minute power violence song is daunting enough let alone doing it twice on the same record but leave it to Mind Eraser (the reigning kings of nu-power violence tm) found away. Ladies and Gentlemen, we have entered the mannerist stage of power violence.

Nodzzz - st
Once in a blue moon you find a record that makes you wish you were still in highschool just so you could have the pleasure of sticking it on a mixtape for that special someone; this is that record. Sunny punky-pop that manages be witty without coming off smug and naive. without being contrived.

Lil Wayne - Carter III
All the hype placed on this record, which will no doubt turn into a backlash at any moment, will not detract from the fact that this is one of the most enjoyable records of the year. Sure it has some problems (Busta Rhymes' verse, too many RnB songs, etc.) but you can't argue with that flow.... and how great is Fabulous' verse?

Cold World - Dedicated To The Babies That Came Feet First
Nothing, and I mean nothing, will ever be able to cleanse the negative connotations that surround the mix of rap and aggressive music but that isn't Cold Worlds fault and that isn't going to stop them from trying to take a different approach to this highly toxic mixture. While it is debatable whether or not this is the truly great record they are destined to make, it is a major step towards it.

Vogue
I have only heard this record once at this point, on the first day of this seemingly unending European tour that I'm currently on, but I am so sure that this is one the best thing I have heard this year that I am willing to put it on this list. Hardcore by kids but for adults.

Fifthly, my wife and I went to pre-natal classes and it was the first time in ages that I hung out with normal people in a long time and now I am finding myself sharing the opinion of the Vivian Girls on normals. But I must stress not their opinion on TGI Fridays which I finally was taken to by the young men in the Bronx and it rules so hard.

Finally, now that I am on tour again I will be posting on the reg again so check often.

BALLS! BALLS! BALLS!

On tour you have a lot of time to wonder about things, like: What is Chinese Josh up to? Why is there a tv channel in China that just shows people playing video games? One thing though that I don't have to wonder about anymore is what Mike's balls look like.

Look what I made...

Singer, blogger and now breeder..... TRIPLE THREAT. And before you are all like: "What the fuck is up with the side of his face?" That is the placenta... he is hiding like a ninja.

Introducing....

Chinese Josh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The picture falls to truly capture the likeness but it was uncanny. Also I'm not being racist I am now in China not Japan.

Also as much as I love all the people that like Fucked Up... I would trade you all for this kid:



ps. yes, he is singing into a phone charger.

pps. For the final word on the moshing debate:

I Know, I Know, I Know...

you're all like: "Dude, you haven't posted in like a week! What the fuck is up?!?"
And I'm like: "Everything's great."
and then your like: "Well, where the fuck have you been then?"
And then I smile: "A magical place that is more perfect then anywhere else I have ever been."
And now you're pissed: "Tell me where it is already!"
"JAPAN!!!"


It is everything and more that I hoped it would be. Food: amazing, record stores: everywhere, people: cool as all get out, it truly is the Valhalla I had thought it would be. I have no idea where to begin... so I'll leave it here for now.

ps. If you guys can't play nice I won't post anymore funny videos. As far as this blog is concerned: moshing is cool but not the type displayed in that video.

Where They Were Then?

Yesterday I did a photo shoot with my good friend Ben Rayner (not to be confused with our other friend Ben Rayner). And it got me thinking about his transition from geeky straight edge kid to fashion photographer superstar and then I remembered this video...

I'm not the first to post this video but this thing needed to be posted at least one more time.

Where are they now?

Many of you have surly wondered: whatever happened to the Beav? Well, we here at Voice of Dissent are happy to report that the Urban Blight front man/ much maligned singer for Fucked Up on the first European tour is doing well and apparently fronting some kind of David Bowie cover band. Way to go Beav!!!!




(in all seriousness: Urban Blight has just finished recording their long-time coming 12", It will be out shortly on Slasher and it will be ill)


Oh and by the way, for all those that thought my last post about Slumdog Millionaire was out of line (like my wife): well it appears that at least one literary giant agrees with me.

Do you like film?

For the record: Slumdog Millionaire is to Indian cinema what Shaft In Africa is to African cinema... think about it.

Records!!!!!

What is it about these little discs that brings me so much joy? I think I could literally spend a day doing nothing but playing and organizing them... I mean no food or no bathroom breaks. I can remember the first time I started "collecting" them. It was back when Rotate This had the collectors wall behind the cash and I went and bought a first press of the 7 Seconds "Committed For Life" 7" for $20. This was the turning point. Prior to this I had been just buying records, this was a total change in priority: no longer would I be simply content to own the music on a repress or, god forbid a CD. Represses became little more then place holders until I could have the "real thing". I get asked all the time: why does Fucked Up release so many records and simply put it is because everyone in the band was at one point was a record collector so we naturally have an affinity for them. So far this year I have scratched three of my top wants off my list and, apart from the impending arrival of my son, nothing could have made me happier.

Tour Is Over If You Want it.

Well, I'm home at last after one month on the road. Here is some figures for you to ponder:

Hours spent in a van: thousands
Shows Played: 27
Video games beaten: 3
Number of people who have become more film literate then me: 4 (Mike is still film retarded)
Times I watched the first 3 seasons of "It's Always Sunny..." : 2
Cost of damage done at Boston show: $900
Records scored: 97
TV appearances: 3
Internet TV appearances: 5
Radio sets: 2

more to come...

Im Sorrwee....

Last night we had to cancel our show in Omaha due to the fact that I had totally lost my voice. It is the first time we have ever had to cancel a show and it is made worse that we had to do so in the home of the Better Beatles. I would promise that would make it up to you but that might not be true and then I would be a liar.

Introducing....

Mikey Cellphone.

What did you do this weekend?

Keith one day and Jello the next... no big deal.


video borrowed from Umlaut.

Now we just need Marc Deaton to come and do "Son Of Sam" with us on Wednesday.

I just want some...

Alright, so last night we played in LA at the Echoplex. And again we were graced by the presence of Mr. Keith Morris for a cover of Nervous Breakdown.... next time we will do Wasted in to Bevehills. If anyone has a video please let me know.

The night before we saw NOFX for their 25th anniversery show. It was insane. 

WTF?

Today I woke up to find that we have been nominated for a Juno. This is proof positive that there is a glitch in the matrix. For the unfamiliar, the Junos are the Canadian Grammys but even more conservative.

I Believe

Hello my pretties. Today we're in New Mexico and on the way to the show we stopped off in Roswell. I hate to break it to you all but we did not see any aliens. We did however check out the International UFO Museum and Research Center (well most of us... Mike stayed in the van because, like cars, planes, onions and me, he is afraid of aliens). While it has nothing on "The Thing" in Arizona, it is nice to know that our entry donation is going to something positive.

Also, we have a tour coming up in England with Rolo Tomassi and the Bronx. The tour is called Shred Yr. Face and it has its own site, so if you want you can post on it.... keep it funny or mean.

Also, one of our loyal readers pointed out that I misspelled Mike's last name. It is spelled with an "e". HALIECHUK.

Also, this is awesome:


and this is not:

How's Tour?

-Good, thanks for asking.


To bring you up to speed:

The thing I have been asked the most about in recent days is the Fox News thing. For the record, yes, it was real and yes, I am as shocked as you are that it happened.

-Today we went Amy's in Austin. An ill ice cream place but Mike found a way to fuck it up. Dude got a Key Lime, dark chocolate ice cream mixed with peanut butter cups. What a douche.... did I mention that when we used to live together he would add maple syrup to his pasta?

-Also, it has come to my attention that Mike's dad reads this blog now. Hello Mr. Halichuk! Our movement is growing.

DO YOU LIKE TO LAUGH?

Well, I am in Gainesville Florida and Mike is wearing a cowboy shirt. We spent yesterday hangin' out with Henry Owings. If you aren't familiar with Mr. Owings, he is the funny motherfucker behind the amazing Chucklet Magazine and one of the funniest books of last year: The Rock Bible. In these hard times you need some levity so pick up the new Chunklet and the Rock Bible.



Also, further proof that Mike has no soul, he thought this was gross.

ps. This blog is not about hating Mike... it is about lashing out at your oppressor.

Seriously, fuck Mike!!!

So that douche has tried to steal my thunder from my new blog. Well I won't let that bummer rain on the parade. Here is the video of my appearance on Fox News... as scooped by Mike on lookingforgold.



So more to come... and I have also made it so you can now post comments without leaving your name... have fun and play nice.

Media Bltz pt.1

Well we did it! Somehow things in the world of Fucked Up manage to keep getting weirder and we found ourselves gracing the the pages of the "liberal" bastion of the NY Times the same day that we were featured on the conservative championing Fox News. From now on such a feat shall be known as "doing a deuce". Animal Collective: you have your challenge.

The NY Times reviewed our show at Brooklyn's Market Hotel. If you would like to read it please click here.

The Fox News appearance requires a little bit more of an explanation. Just before Christmas, I was sent a link to a youtube clip of a host on a Fox News show called Red Eye. In the clip he picks "Chemistry Of Common Life" as his favorite record of 2008:



I was shocked to say the least. So I wrote the show to express my shock and Greg, said host, emailed me back and invite me on. It turns out the show has had some pretty cool past guests on, so I agreed and a few nights ago, via a satellite from studio in Philly, I was on the show. I will have a clip soon so you can see it for yourselves.
Best part, I wore this ill Mishka shirt:




(For more info about the above shirt and a cool article about the "Black Bart" phenomena, please click here.)

You are now tuned in!

The world of Fucked Up has for too long been spoken for by one voice. This blog will serve as an alternative. This is the CNN to lookingforgold's Fox. The main difference will be in what is covered here ie. NO TECHNO.