Howdy folks,

Looks like there's a new sheriff in town. My good friend Jef started up a record label called Arbco Records. It's pretty cool. So far he's released the FAS/Monsters or Mayhem split 7 inch and Counter Cosby/Texas Prison Rodeo split. The plan is to have Arbco release the next Mazinga full length on sweet 12" vinyl next spring 09. We kind of need to write and reocord it first, but we're working on it. Jef is also silk screening up a storm. He's been cranking out record covers, awesome posters, and he even did Mazinga shirts for us. Jeremy helped out by letting us borrow his flash dryer. Big thanks to Jef for doing cool stuff instead of bitching about how nothing cool is going on in Ann Arbor.

Pray for Big Tony.

Regardless of what religion you subscribe to, we all need to send out positive energy for Big Tony, graphic artist, Mazinga bass player and good friend of mine. He was diagnosed with Emphysema yesterday. Tony has always been a heavy cigarette smoker. It's finally caught up with him. He needs to quit smoking now or he's going to die. For real. I'm going to visit him tomorrow at the hospital.

Big three killed my baby.

There is this crazy scary story today on the yahoo intertubes. I sort of wish now that Theresa and I hadn't bought a house. We couldn't move if we wanted to. If the Big Three totally crash then it'll look like the apocalypse around here. I'm scared. For real. No joking. Here is a preview of what you can expect on Michigan roads soon.


On a brighter note...
Some sort of comment high jinks went down over at the ETC blog over the Metro Times 50 coolest music people in town list. No, I had nothing to do with it. I don't even know a 1/4 of the folks on that list but I wish I did so I could get some hook ups for my bands. The people I do know from that list have always been cool towards me.
Happy Thursday.

Save your fork, there's Pie!

Howdy folks,
The Mazinga cd release show was fun. It was packed. People got crazy. We sold cds and it was good. I missed the after party cause I was tired, but I heard it was rocking' till about 4-5am. The opening groups Invader and JWPP were both high energy rock groups and they were really good. Nice to see actual rocking bands in an area so over run by the Bitchfork generation. Really though, nothing against indie-rock bands, I never liked most indie-rock/college rock music going all the way back to the 80's. It's just not my thing. I enjoy loud fast guitars and bands that go out and explode on stage. I always try to give new music a chance. I work for AMG so I hear tons of new music on a daily basis. I can't stand 95% of modern indie-rock or most of what is covered by spin or pitchfork or the blogs. If you think that makes me uncultured or close minded then so be it.

"Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing." R.E.H.

I love it when the current music scene rips on the old music scene about being an exclusive insiders club, when actually the current scene is just as exclusive, if not more then the last one and the next one will be as well. It is what it is.
Mazinga has always been on the outside looking in, when we've bothered to look at all. We've never been excepted by any scene to our knowledge and I think that may be a good thing. We were never retro enough for the garage rockers. We aren't punk enough for the punkers, and we're to rock n roll for the hipster indie set. All of us (except the drummer) are over weight. None of us are very fashionable at all. We're all over 30. We don't have beards. Guess we're fucked.
Oh well, move along...move along...

Mazinga is playing at the RAW house this Friday night. It's an ALL AGES DIY show space/house in Ann Arbor, MI. We're playing with FAS, Dead Ringers, and Serpent Men; doors @ 6pm; $3. See you there.

PEOPLE OF THE INTERNETS!

Your lives are boring and lame. Do you find yourself going to see the same handful of bands every weekend that the blogs tell you to see, at the same venues with the same people, same drinks, same clothes, same conversations, SAME EVERYTHING! Break the cycle of monotony. Be an individual! Take a chance and do something different for a change.

GO TO THE MAZINGA CD RELEASE PARTY THIS FRIDAY NIGHT!

Your attendance at the MAZINGA CD release party this Friday night will prove without a doubt that you are a true trend setter. Your decision to attended the celebration will show others that you are someone who is willing to risk the scorn of your fellow hipsters in order to discover new musical sensations and new groups of friendly, inspiring, interesting people. This amazing once in a lifetime event takes place in fabulous downtown Ypsilanti, at the world renown Elbow Room on Friday Nov. 14th. Should you chose to make this Rock N’ Roll extravaganza your Friday night destination, here a few things Team Mazinga can promise you. You will be entertained. You will have fun. We’ll get you wasted. Loud Guitars Rule. We will Rock you. You will also discover that there are more cool bands out there besides the ones those blogers chose tell inform about. In the end you must decide for yourself, but Chose wisely…Will you follow a pack of sycophants to whatever the new trend is or will you set out on your own path toward Rock N Roll Salvation?Only Team Mazinga can give you the true Rock N Roll satisfaction that you crave and deserve!Except no substitutes!

Michigan + life = sucks right now.

Michigan sucks these days. My wife is looking for work in a state with the highest unemployment rate in the nation. A bunch of my friends have either moved away or are talking about moving away. We can't move away because we own a home and would lose all of our money if tried to sell it. The company I work for laid off 8 people yesterday with potentially more layoffs to come down the pipe in a few months. Not much to look forward to at this point. Fall is coming. Lame-ass U of M Students are returning to A2 to make our lives hell. It's already getting colder outside. I keep looking for new and exciting things to occupy my mind but I'm having a hard time finding them. I'm getting old and fat and my hair is turning gray. Also I can't seem to stay up past 2am anymore even on the weekends. Worst part, I'm always broke. I'll try to post something positive tomorrow. There has been some cool band developments going on. But we all know that doesn't really mean jack shit in the long run. I just want to know, Where the gold at?

Motor City Comic Con

Don't miss the Motor City Comic Con this weekend! May 16-18. My plan is to interview Chirs Clarmont. If you have any questions you would like me to ask him please let me know.