Marc told me last night. Oh well. And I didn’t post a thing last month either. But I’ve done a few twits, though. ]]> http://www.notsilent.net/2009/02/05/no-open-mic-at-music-depot-this-saturday-again/feed/ 0 http://www.notsilent.net/2008/12/29/no-open-mic-at-music-depot-this-saturday-2/ http://www.notsilent.net/2008/12/29/no-open-mic-at-music-depot-this-saturday-2/#comments Tue, 30 Dec 2008 03:41:00 +0000 Julio Rey http://www.notsilent.net/2008/12/29/no-open-mic-at-music-depot-this-saturday-2/ Marc Golob has cancelled the open mic scheduled for January 3 and will resume the fun on February 1. Me, I guess I’ll record a new track next month.

The set:

1. Night Of The Living Dead — cover of the old Misfits tune, seasonal song because of Halloween.
2. Roll The Rock — my Easter country gospel/grindcore song, to try to clear out the ungodly vibes of the Misfits. Cedric Rey on harp!
3. Thank You For My Money — one of the last times I’ll be singing the Republican version of the song, I reckon. Cedric back on harp. I also did it the next day at church with youngest daughter Corinne joining in on harp also.

Hugo Martinez (who played bass and violin in Nina’s band a couple of years ago) was in attendance and did a great bass solo. WIth his wife, Ana, he runs a nice site called MiamiBandStuff.com, chronicling the local music doings in the 305.

First Saturday of the month means it’s time to renew that monthlong tradition of playing a set at Music Depot’s open mic. Former Frank’s Enemy bandmate and Music Depot mangler Marc was running it, as usual, making it all fun and smooth.

I took my two eldest offspring, Astrid and Cedric, along. Cedric joined me for some random harp playing on one tune.

1. Yellow Submarine (Cedric Rey on harp) (since my kids were there, I decided to play the song they most often request at home).
2. I’m Living My Lie (from my CD)
3. 23 (Gorki’s Tune from my CD — my arrangement of the Porno Para Ricardo deconstruction of a Castro children’s tune).

One last plug: if you’re a playin’ yokel from the 305, consider getting over to Marc’s place on November 1. You’ll like it!

Onstage at Music Depot, September 6, 2008.

First Saturday of the month means it’s time to renew that monthlong tradition of playing a set at Music Depot’s open mic. Former Frank’s Enemy bandmate and Music Depot mangler Marc was running it, as usual, making it all fun and smooth.

I took my two eldest offspring, Astrid and Cedric, along. Cedric joined me for some random harp playing on one tune.

1. Yellow Submarine (Cedric Rey on harp. Since my kids were there, I decided to play the song they most often request at home).
2. I’m Living My Lie (from my CD)
3. 23 (Gorki’s Tune from my CD –my arrangement of the Porno Para Ricardo deconstruction of a Castro children’s tune).

One last plug: if you’re a playin’ yokel from the 305, consider getting over to Marc’s place on November 1. You’ll like it!

Marc Reyes is one half of Maywoods, and a close friend of Marc Golob’s, and a big time supporter of Frank’s Enemy, providing food and shelter on tours and manning both still and video cameras at different points in time.

My freelance project is on hold, so I was able to upload some more vintage FE. You know the drill: click on the linked text to get to each CD’s page at last.fm. The CDs are still all for sale, signed to you personally by me, at my Not Silent Store.

From the first CD (1994), Link Line (thrash/hardcore/funk).

From Neoblasphemies (1996), Human Reich (death/grind).

From Illumination (1998), Straight Up/Down (rapcore).

As usual, here’s what I’ve written before about these songs, and the lyrics.

Link Line

06.13.07 (okay, this entry is current):

My Libertarianism has given me a heck of a lot more tolerance towards gays nowadays than I used to have when I wrote this song. A lot more loving the sinner as opposed to hating the sin. I’m also more inclined to agree with homosexuality being genetically influenced than I was back then. I still don’t think that this disqualifies it as a sin, though. But Christians have better things to do than try to reenact Sodom and Gomorrah. Myself, I’d rather pursue the mind of Christ and let God sort his judgments out.

I also used the 1980s punk device of comparing anything I thought was immoral to Nazi Germany. Ecch.

Just a couple of things about those lyrics that make me wince now.

09.08.01:

I wrote this in late 1991, and it was originally supposed to be for Global Warning, my first failed post-Lead band. It was inspired by a teen hotline set up by a local TV station which offered various and sundry bits of “advice” to kids seeking answers. The specifics are pretty well-detailed in the lyrics above. I don’t think I’d be as strident today on the same topics; I’m not sure this song does any service to selling the Christian viewpoint in the marketplace of ideas. It does do a good job of selling Frank’s Enemy as a band with an attitude.

We originally recorded this for our 1993 demo, Qoheleth (and that was a better performance too-we weren’t under the gun with studio time). This was recorded in 1994 at Capstone Music. We also made a cheap video of this song the next year.

Minds captured and controlled by the sin disease
Getting together to build the mad phone machine
Pre-recorded lies speaking in the voice of a god
Victims think they’re thinking for themselves helplessly nod
Pre packaged with hip-hop graphics and the pamphlet looks cool
If you seek out another opinion you are condemned a fool
Like the death camp Jews who worked to finance their own deaths
Money coming out of our pockets to misfeed heads

Link Line (Disconnect the) Link Line

Let alone not preaching abstinence but encouraging sex
Let alone not saying it’s a choice but you’re stuck with homo-sex
Employing theories and opinions that fit the agenda the best
Selling it as truth with nothing getting through to oppose this
Purporting to be of help and of service to the community
Achieving nothing but to spread a kind of immunity
To anything righteous and that costs and is the difficult way
In the name of their philosophy and the god of “anything you say”

I’ll hang on to my Bible cause its burning’s on the way
Teach my children well that we’re at war today
Chip away at my block at the corner that the Lord gives
Make the most of my life and the time I’ve got here to live
So you can take your Link Line and make all your little chains
This is one player praying against all your games
You versus God and it’s a battle for every mind
Pit eternity against the rest of your life

Human Reich

Press release, 12.12.96:

After the acoustic intro, Frank’s Enemy in its full incarnation explodes out of the speakers. This song, a basic dissertation on the ills of the system, was based on “The Human Reich” which appeared on Julio’s first solo Frank’s Enemy demo, 1992′s FINAL ABSOLUTION, featuring the Lead’s Robbie Christie on drums. Robbie’s appearance on that version was due to the fact that the recording was originally a Lead demo for their ill fated, never-recorded project: NOT SILENT. The original song was 9-12 minutes long, with a mountain of verses. “We were going to record it in its original form, but then I saw the looks and attitudes Marc & Alex had at having to flail away for that amount of time, and I realized I felt that way, too. Maybe it would have worked in 1990, but now it was simply overblown. I went back to the drawing board.” The result: four minutes and forty seconds of blinding speed punctuated by time changes and a dizzying progression of riffs (note the death-meets-funk riff midway though the song). It has been a highlight of Frank’s Enemy’s shows in 1996. “And Marc and Alex like it now, too!” said Rey, who fully embraces the Cookie Monster-style grindcore vocal style in this song, riding over an ocean of downtuned (B-flat) guitars, setting the stage for the rest of the CD.

Adds Rey: “Along with “Destroy” and “Psychic Pain” (both featured on Frank’s Enemy’s self titled 1994 CD), “The Human Reich” was slated to appear on that last Lead album in 1991. And it probably would have been the last, because we were growing apart, besides the problems that were going on. I would have accepted the breakup fully if it had come after we made that last CD, because I wanted to get those three songs off my chest. In fact, I dare say that if it weren’t for those three songs, Frank’s Enemy may never have happened. I was 31, I had cut my hair, I had met my wife-to-be, I’d played Cornerstone three times and put out a few projects. I felt the Christian punk and metal scene was in a better state than when I first started contributing to it, however much or little I may have helped or hurt it. But God is wiser than me, and He’s bigger too. The last 4 1/2 years I’ve had with Marc and Alex have been the happiest ever for me as a member of a band. I’ve enjoyed the shows, the tours, making the records, rehearsing, and even hanging out with these guys. So I praise God it took this long to get those last three songs out, because of the great time I’ve had. By the way, now I’m 36, my hair is longer than ever, I’ve married my wife, I’m going back to Cornerstone in 1997-hopefully as a performer-and the Christian punk and metal scene continues to blossom with no help from me!”

03.25.01:

This started as a 12-minute Lead song called “The Human Reich” in 1989/1990. It was for the CD we never got to make in 1991, but that’s another story. You can hear the full 12-minute version on Frank’s Enemy’s 1992 cassette Final Absolution (if you can get hold of a copy) with Robbie Christie drumming- that recording was originally a Lead demo.

Fast forward to 1995: I tried to get Alex to learn the 12-minute version, and we did get through it a couple of times. But it suddenly started to sound tired to me (and Alex A was getting tired physically), so I pared it down to 4 minutes and added some blast parts in the end. It gave the song a good kick in the butt.

You say right and you say wrong
You’ve got nothing to stand upon
Germ that kills you is more right
Along with you your morality dies
Under your rulers that measure so well
But what they measure no one can tell
New totems and taboos for humankind
Don’t know what to do with your mind

A condemnation of condemnation
Abolish all black and white insinuations
Your version becomes the text
Of a human brotherhood sect
Have faith only in what computes
A number’s strength is its truth
Pocket adjustable moralities the norm
Man and its hero the conqueror worm

Cut the Truth off from its Source
Ritual masses disguised as discourse
Suckling on the pleasures you love so much
Shiny coin before a touch

You bring up the children and then you betray
As your flowers of life desiccate
See your offspring deathly pale empty eyes
As your holy tenets reveal themselves as lies
Calling mother father as you spit them out
Reach for a kiss as you strike them down

Your only truth is that all is true
No mind for what mutually excludes
Punishing enemies for hypocrisies
No absolutes determined no authorities
Search for aliens out in space
Hoping for a better place
Send a satellite out that far
Find a planet destroyed by war

Straight Up/Down

Press release, 11.16.98:

Now the CD moves somewhat away from grind. The only remnants are my occasional vocals and downtuning. This is another example of where my writing was heading; groove metalcore but this time with an attempted hip-hop feel and start and stop guitars. Marc and I trade vocals (me still growling). The solo is Marc with a bass and octave pedal. The lyrics are a declaration of the need to proclaim the whole Gospel, and it isn’t done by tossing tracts around.

09.08.01:

If I would have stayed in Frank’s Enemy, I would have kept going with this type of song. Maybe we would have ridden POD’s coattails and become billionaires like them (right…).

We played this on tour in 1997, with me doing all the vocals. I actually wanted Marc to sing it all, but he wanted us to trade off. I think I works well. He also did the crazy sounds with a bass going through an octave pedal a la Tom Morello. He did this live as well.

The lyrics are an exhortation to present the complete Gospel when evangelizing. That is my pastor’s first step when witnessing: tell the person to read the Gospel of John first, then you can talk.

I told you about the work and all that it means
God came down as Jesus and fulfilled the the ultimate dream
A gift wrapped in His blood and it’s ours to take
You will hear that the just shall live by faith
But I sing a song sung so many times before
A familiar message with familiar holes
You should have questions and they should be answered
It will not happen while I stand up here and you sit down there

Straight up/down The time will come

There’s more to the Gospel than this
But everybody seems to want the Reader’s Digest
I too am guilty of encapsulation
To a concise five-step plan of salvation
But can you blame me when we’re on the Titanic
On this sinking system of things satanic
Like Paul walking down the gallery of the gods
In a battle where it gets hard to like the odds

I could be hit and run and shove it down your throat
To win the argument would be my highest hope
And maybe make you say the words and pray they’re true
Just like how everybody taught me to do
But you could grab the Book and start to read for yourself
Not decide on your afterlife from the words of my mouth
Matthew Mark Luke John could probably tell the story best
And you can always call us: silenot@safari.net (my old email addy — Julio)

1. Donde Esta Tu Biblia (new wave ska rock)
2. Donde Dios Me Tenga (pop punk)
3. En El Mundo (new wave)
4. Vida Loca Vida Poca (punk rock)

Back

Label

PLAYERS:
Yami Valdes: vocals
Kristina Flor-Rey: vocals
Alberto Valdes: vocals, keys, guitar, drums
Julio Rey: guitar, bass, vocals

Produced by Las Ovejas Electricas
Recorded at Capstone Music by Marc Golob, 1999
Mixed by Alberto Valdes and David at David’s facility, 2003

My latest legacy rerelease on last.fm. Here’s what I’ve written before about the Ovejas.

August 6, 2001:

Las Ovejas Electricas is the latest of several musical collaborations between my childhood friend Alberto Valdes and I. We put out two semi-legendary cassettes in 1987 and 1990 under the name of King James and the Concordances.

Al plays drums, guitar and keyboards. His warped sense of humor has been an inspiration to me for over thirty years. He is as avid a songwriter as I am and also has a 4-track. He also has a Th. M. from Dallas Theological Seminary. Put the two of us together, with the ability to overdub, and we make for a pretty good 4-piece band.

Las Ovejas Electricas is something of a “Rock en Espanol” version of King James and the Concordances. We actually recorded four songs on 4-track in 1991 in Spanish under that name. I put three of them out on the Not Silent Sampler cassette in 1992. Soon thereafter, Frank’s Enemy came into being, we got married (to our wives), etc.

During the rest of the decade, Al wrote and demoed a few songs in Spanish while I pursued Frank’s Enemy. After it ended in 1998, we talked about finally recording some music on proper equipment. We decided to give the Spanish songs a shot.

With Al providing the financial backing, we made it into the now-defunct Capstone Music (where Frank’s Enemy did all its projects) in August of 1999 and recorded basic tracks to eight songs (five of Al’s, two of mine and one collaboration). My former partner in crime, Marc Golob, was at the board. In December we added the overdubs. We decided to get our wives into the act as vocalists, to become something of a Christian New-Wave version of ABBA in Spanish. Al was able to get three of the songs mixed recently, although more recording work needs to be done on most of the other songs.

February 16, 2004:

Las Ovejas Electricas’ first project is finally seeing a true release. Al finally got the eight songs mixed for real last year. Unfortunately he doesn’t know the last name of the guy who’se studio was used and who lent his engineering skills to the task. He was, however, working with the immortal Celia Cruz at the time of her death. So “David,” whoever you are, muchas gracias.

Song-by-song descriptions from 2001 and 2004 (I have more to say on the stuff I wrote myself, unfotunately. Hey Al, want to write for this blog?):

DONDE ESTA TU BIBLIA: This is one of the songs Al demoed out during the 90s on his Portastudio. My big arrangement suggestion was to do the ska riff over the bridges. Al double tracked his vocal. Actually, we did a ton of vocal work on this song. Kind of gives it a “glee club” vibe.

DONDE DIOS ME TENGA: This is one of the very first Spanish songs I ever wrote. The context was somewhat appropriate, as the lyrics are me dealing with the Lead breaking up, which had happened the day before. Trying to face up to the fact that we as Christians are not exempt from human failings and conflict, as well as reasserting the assurance that in the end we will work in harmony in the Kingdom. Doing this Spanish lyric was a liberating experience.

Al and I recorded a demo of this in 1991, which appears on the Not Silent Sampler Cassette I put out in 1992. I changed the chord pregression of the verses on this version. It used to be a Ramones ripoff. Now it’s a Huntingtons ripoff.

Another fun fact: Loogie Soup (alias Frank’s Enemy playing punk) performed this song at all two of its shows in 1996.

EN EL MUNDO: Another one of Al’s 90s songs. The ending was totally random, but somehow the lead guitar and keyboard managed to stop at the same time.

VIDA LOCA VIDA POCA: Here’s how we wrote it: Al had the title and a basic tune that he sang to me. I devised the riff on the guitar based on his tune, then added music for the chorus and bridge and fleshed out the song’s structure. We then recorded the basic track. Then Al wrote the final lyrics before we went back into the studio four months later. His wife Yami sang lead with Al, myself and my wife Kristina on back ups. I added a distorted (courtesy of my Buzz Box) bass and lead guitar and we had our hit (right…).