Thursday, March 12, 2015

BAND SPOTLIGHT: KANE KORSO

Left: Sean (Night Terrors),  Right: Nina (Lows), Not Pictured: Kristy (Time)




Holy shit, dudes and dudettes.  Hellbeard's skinsman, Sean Boyles, has got himself another project.  For anyone who follows him, you already know that he has joined Insolence.  And now he's got another one (and also a acoustic project he'll be working soon), in Kane Korso.  A project that Sean started with some friends in the Bay Area.

Wanting to know more about this new band, I messaged Sean to tell me how this all started.  How long he's know his new band mates.  His move from playing drums to doing guitar and vocals.  And when will the World hear some Kane Korso.

On how Kane Korso started:  Kristy and Nina are in a band called Harriot.  It's a nice band.  All girl band.  The estrogen flows in like the river Nile.  Nina has recently joined Harriot, and Kristy and her became fast friends.  They are cut from the same cloth, so to speak.  Both into heavier music.  Old hardcore and the like.  They had been talking about doing another band to get some aggression out, but hadn't really found an outlet for it.
I became friends with Kristy within the last couple of years after I started giving her drum lessons.  We go to shows together, hang out, we're good.  We were at a show, watching Noothgrush.  And she leans over and says "That's what I want to do.  That's the kind of stuff I want to play."  I said "Okay.  You, Nina, and I are gonna start a band."

How he ended up doing guitar and vocals: (after Sean told Kristy about starting a band) She's excited at first, but then immediately confused.  She said "Wait.  What am I gonna play?"  I said "You're gonna play drums.  I'm gonna try and play guitar and sing."  She then gets excited again and said "Oh my God.  I feel like I just got proposed to!"  It was rad.  She runs it by Nina, she is stoked, so there it is.

Finding time to focus on Kane Korso: Kristy is a high school teacher; very dedicated to her students.  Nina is a mother of two with a very good career.  And I'm in 3 other bands.  So finding the time to do it is when ever we can squeeze it in.  And we all know it's gonna be a slow road.  Basically, I have material that are left over Hellbeard riffs.  Stuff that got shot down by James (Miller, Hellbeard guitarist and apparent quality control).  I think the parts are cool, so to use em for tis project is gonna be rad for me.

Will he be anal about Kristy's drumming: Kristy has already expressed that she is willing to have me tell her what to play, cuz she feels it'll be better for her playing anyways.  Saying this will be better than drum lessons (laughs).  For me, when I'm coming up with guitar parts, I kinda hear the drums already.  It's a second nature thing.  I started playing guitar a long time ago.  But I never really got serious about it til a few years ago, writing parts for Hellbeard.  Then when my father passed away, I started writing a bunch of acoustic material that will make my 5th band, with my cousins, that are more or less honoring my father.  But for the most part, I want Kane Korso to be a band where we all contribute.  I'm not gonna be to big of a Nazi on drum parts (laughs).

Who came up with the band's name: The only other name we threw around, and as a goof was Hellbush.  But Kristy decided that would be the all girl Hellbeard tribute band.  I came up with the name.  A few years back, James Miller and I , who I've known for close 20 years now, had an idea of a two piece thing.  We had a few names we threw around, and Kane Korso was one of em.  We decided on TramaBond.  It's in the vain of Death From Above 1979, but not as spastic.  It never really got off the ground, but it's not a dead project either.  So I remembered the name from that.  I just like the way it sounded, and it's a little unassuming.  Most people don't know what cane corso even is, so that's good.  And their is nothing with that name.  You know how fucking hard it is to come up with band names?  FUCK!

What he wants to accomplish with Kane Korso: I've been playing in bands since I was 14.  I played in a club for the first time in the 90's.  I'm gonna be 41 in a couple of weeks.  To do this kinda thing now seems fun and challenging for me.  It's just been a natural progression for me personally as a musician.  I've been playing guitar more, doing more vocals in the Beard, why not try to crawl from out behind the kit and front a band.  It's gonna be fun.  We are all stoked on the project and looking forward to contributing to the already amazing heavy music scene that is Oakland.

Right now, Kane Korso haven't recorded anything yet.  The band is jamming and hopefully they'll put something out soon.  All we can do now is just let them have their space, and let things grow.  If you want to follow Kane Korso on their development, "Like" them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/search/str/Kane%20Korso/keywords_top









  







 





Sunday, March 8, 2015

Nightcrawler (2014)




One thing that I always hear in the underground horror community is "if you want to see true horror, watch the news".  We're all people and we all have that morbid curiosity.  When ever we see a car crash on the highway, we can't help put stare and the metal carnage.  And as long as we have those thoughts, there is always going to be people to document those events.  And these people are known in the media inner circle as Nightcrawlers.  

I've grown up watching Jake Gyllenhaal evolve from film to film.  After watching "Prisoners" with Hugh Jackman, from a a couple of years ago, it is great to see Gyllenhaal doing films with a darker tone, like "Nightcrawler".  Seeing him in films like "Donnie Darko" and "Zodiac", it's always a treat to see him bring those characters to the screen.  When I saw the TV spot for "Nightcrawler", I knew this is something I can't miss.

"Nightcrawler" takes place in the city of Downtown LA.  We meet Louis Bloom (Gyllenhall), a sociopath who is trying to make a quick buck by stealing whatever he can, and then sells them off.  While driving back home, he notices a car crash in the side of the freeway.  He pulls over and we see two CHP officers trying to pull a lady out of a burning car.  As CHP are doing their job, we a see a van pull up and a camera crew pops out to film the accident.  After the rescue, Louis goes up to one of the camera crew, Joe (Bill Paxton), and asks him about the work he does.  Joe tells Louis all about nightcrawling.  "If it bleeds, it leads", this pretty much sums up about this career.  When Louis sees the money that can be made from this, he goes out and gets himself a camcorder and a police scanner.  His first night Nightcrawling was a total disaster.  Whenever he tries to record any police activity, he always gets chased off by cop.  Then finally, Louis was able to get some footage when he arrived at a crime scene, where someone got shot during a carjacking.  He was able to sell the footage to Nina (Rene Russo), who manages all footage in the late shift, for Channel 6.  Louis has now found his calling in nightcrawling.  So now he begins to start his own news video company.  He hires poor bloke by the name of Rick, to be his assistant.  Sadly, Rick has no idea what Louis is going to put him through.  And what Louis is paying him, it's totally not worth it.  Whenever there's a major incident heard on the police scanner, Louis tries to get there before Joe and his Mayhem Video crew get there first.  And whenever that happens, he takes it out on Rick.  Desperate to capture any footage or a certain shot, Louis would do anything to have the best shots and angles.  The closer he can get into the incident, the more the news stations will pay.  And because of this, Louis is able to get Nina to pay him what ever he wants for the footage.  And with all the money he's making, Louis is now able to buy better equipment and a faster car.  As each day goes by, Louis now has a better understanding of the nightcrawling and tv news business.   And then of course the way he's able to take advantage of people in desperate situations.  Like with Nina.  Louis found out about her contract with the station.  He knew that his videos were giving the station high ratings, so he was able to get certain "demands" from her for him to be exclusive to Channel 6.  Then we got Rick.  A man who has nowhere to live, only trying to make some cash.  Only for Louis to put him dangerous and immoral situations.  During the last scenes, we see what little care Louis has for human life.  That dialogue that Louis tells Rick pretty much sums up what kind of chone Louis is.  The harm that Louis is willing to put people through, just to capture a curtain shot on video is just shameful.

I would love to get in more details about the ending, but that is for you to see for yourself.  If there's a updated version of the dictionary, and you look up "sociopath", chances are you might see a picture of Louis Bloom's face.  If someone has already said this, I apologize,  But that's the best way I can describe Gyllenhaal's performance.  This movie is very dark (and not because the scenes were shot at night), and shows the ugly side of the media.  If people didn't care for such violent images while watching the news, then people like Louis Bloom wouldn't have a job.  But because ratings show that people actually tune in for those segments, then these televised carnage will be continued to be shown.  Anyhoo, the movie was great.  As much as I despise the character, I really enjoyed Gyllenhaal's performance.  The way Dan Gilroy was able to capture Los Angeles at night was fantastic.  I also enjoyed the script.  When Gyllenhaal says "what if my problem isn't that I don't understand people, but that I don't like them".  When I heard that line, I was like "holy shit!"  Just as Jerry Janda (writer/star of Painkiller) said, "The greatest performance as a sociopath ever?".  And of course Riz Ahmed.  I just felt so bad for his Rick character.  So if you enjoy Jake Gyllenhaal's more darker performance, then check out "Nightcrawler".  That ending makes it worth it, too.

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Code 415 Podcast: Relapse Records 25th Anniversary Special



To celebrate Relapse's 25th anniversary of bringing the extreme, I'll be playing my top 5 favorite Relapse artist of all time.  You can also download a special compilation on Relapse's bandcamp page.


5. Mastodon - "Blood and Thunder"

4. Deceased - "Planet Graveyard"

3. Dying Fetus - "One Shot, One Kill"

2. Nile - "Lashed To The Slavestick"

1. Neurosis - "Locust Star"

You can purchase these songs at http://www.relapse.com/store.html