I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit now. The time has come for me to get my own place yet I’m not sure if I want to stay in the county in which I’ve spent my entire life in. I really don’t have anything keeping me here with the exception of wanting to be around my niece who’s gonna be born in a few weeks. I have a job I can work anywhere I want to as long as I have wifi and there’s Starbucks everywhere with free wifi. No girlfriend and the girls I do like have two or three other guys fighting for their attention so I’m completely fine moving on. The Fink Bombs are looking to be something I’m really going to enjoy doing, but my heart isn’t 100% into it just yet. So as you can see, nothing really keeping me in San Diego.

I truly enjoyed my trip up to Seattle and could see myself living there no problem. Would be fun trying to figure my way around a new city. Any time I go somewhere on vacation I fall in love with the city cause I have nothing that NEEDS to be done so you get to enjoy it all. How would I like Seattle if I lived there and had daily responsibilities like I do here? I think I’d rather enjoy living there. Yes, I know the weather is less than great there most of the time, but too much heat and sun isn’t as cracked up as it seems. Yes we have amazing days here and I would miss that, but change is needed.

Maybe I just need to get out of town more and do stuff. Right now it seems as though I’m always dreaming about doing things outside of San Diego yet I never do em. I just want to be lazy and not have anything to do except enjoy the outdoors. At the same time, I’m horrible with saving money so staying in SD and saving money to go on vacations isn’t something I expect to happen soon. Maybe I just have to get my priorities strait and just do that? The Ana did just that and it seems as though she couldn’t be happier with her decision to visit Europe. The 3 day trip from SF to SD with a band was a blast. I could easily see myself getting used to that sort of life style.

I need something to clear my mind, a reset button so to speak. Something to get me out of my routine that I’ve been following for too long.

I got to spend a couple days on the road with the Reverend Horton Heat last week. Saw em in Vancouver and Seattle while up there on vacation. A couple days after I got home I flew up to SF to be there for the 25th Anniversary DVD filming and hopped on their bus down to SD. I had a complete blast and the thing I think I enjoyed the most was watching everyone, all three bands, get along and have fun. It was like a rock n roll summer camp. Yes it’s hard work and tiring being on the road, but well worth the friendships you make. Pulling into each town the guys didn’t know which of their friends they would see later that evening and when they did see em they time they got to spend catching up was cool. I could only imagine how many friends they have made over the 25 years of touring. As you can see in the photo Lemmy and Slim Jim Phantom showed up to the show and decided to do a song with Jim and Jimbo. Random stuff like that is always a surprise not only for fans, but the bands themselves.

I loved both opening bands, Split Lip Rayfield and Hillstomp. I had seen Split Lip Rayfield before when they opened for the Rev way back when. I didn’t really pay attention to them back then cause I didn’t really “get it” back then and by that I mean I didn’t appreciate the Country/Folk style of music they play. Now that I’m older and wiser I completely appreciate it. Hillstomp I had never heard of before but they kicked ass. Just two guys playing banjo, guitar, washboard and plastic bucket drums. Pure energy with these guys. You need to check em out.

So yeah, it was a great few days and interesting to see the “other side” of a touring band that you’ve seen too many times to count and have been a fan of for almost half your life. Crazy to think about.

Up until about five years ago all I really knew about Monster Magnet was the video for “Space Lord” from the late 90′s. I liked the song, but I wasn’t into with the shinny suits, dancers, fireworks, light bulb suits and all the excess. Now that I look back at it the video is pretty awesome since it’s a total hip hop video for a metal song, but at the time I just passed them off as a band trying to make it “big.” So when I started listening to Queens Of The Stone Age it opened up a whole new world of music I had been missing out on for a long time. Even though Monster Magnet isn’t from the “desert scene” of California i fell into this album because of guitarist John McBain. John also played in the bands Wellwater Conspiracy (along with Matt Cameron of Soundgarden/Pearl Jam) and Hater (with Cameron and Ben Shepherd of Soundgarden) as well as contributed to the first Desert Sessions with Josh of QOTSA. So there’s ties between MM and that whole scene.

“Spine Of God” is their first full length release and it’s been hailed by many as one of the best stoner rock albums. Originally release in 1992 on Caroline Records with nine tracks it was remastered and re-released in March 2006 with new artwork, new liner notes, and a demo version of “Ozium” as a bonus track. The version you can get from ThinkIndie is the remastered version and it sounds great. Lots of slow over driven guitars (has that super compressed “grunge” sound of the early 90′s) with lots of room to give it a little bit of a psychedelic feel to it. The track “Nod Scene” would be a great track to listen to while partaking in some of the devil’s lettuce. “Snake Dance” is a good rocking song with one of the best lines I’ve heard, “If Satan lived in Heaven he’d be me.” If you’re just getting into stoner rock or metal, this album needs to be one of the first you listen to. Trust me.