Just kidding. But seriously, I figured since you're visiting my blog, you might like to know that I now have music and merchandise for sale. Check it out:
Music (in digital format)
Bandcamp- Not just limited to Sam Sinister stuff, this site also has a lot of other free releases from Sam's past bands, including Dead City Dealers and Bob Sagget and the FullHouse! Solo material (Sam Sinister/Plastic Sinister Band) is purchase-only, but full albums are still slightly cheaper than if you got them via iTunes or Amazon.
Amazon - The 13 Songs! LP, now with extended bonus tracks not found on the Bandcamp release. 20 songs in all! Only $8.99.
iTunes - Same as the Amazon listing above, but a dollar more (not my decision). $9.99.
Merchandise (shirts, stickers, etc.)
Redbubble - T-Shirts, hoodies, kids/baby clothes, stickers, postcards, posters, and more. Prices starting at $1.92 plus shipping.
Society6 - T-Shirts, hoodies, iPhone cases, iPod and laptop skins, and more. I also sell alot of my own artwork on this site. Check out your options in the menu on the left-hand side of the site.
Also, for your listening pleasure, I also have the extended release of 13 Songs! available for free streaming on Spotify,MOG, and Rdio. Listen and share!
Thanks to ReverbNation's nifty little Digital Distribution package, you can now purchase a digital, expanded version of Sam's album 13 Songs! (now expanded to a whopping 20 tracks) on either iTunes or Amazon, and/or listen to it for free on Spotify!
To order on iTunes, click here.
For Amazon.com, click here.
The expanded version includes 7 extra bonus tracks, including both old and new material, 3 of which are the Plastic Sinister Band songs "'Til the Walls Come Down", "What the Fuck Do We Call This Song?", and "Oi! Used to Be a Friend of Mine"!
(WARNING: This note will be filled with insane, OCD-induced lists full of slashes and/or parenthesis, and an unreasonable amount of demands and stipulations.)
Shitty songwriter and rhythm guitarist looking to start a band that is equal parts punk rock and soul music. Looking for like-minded individuals.
Band will be based in New Castle, PA. Must have dependable transportation, unless you can provide a rehearsal space at your place of residence.
Only looking to play 3 to 5 gigs throughout the year.
A couple of days ago, I checked my "snail mail" mailbox, and stuffed right in there, like a well-packed sausage, was the latest Traditionals album, Steel Town Anthems!
Well, obviously I'm not much of a "blogger," as I haven't touched this thing in months, but just on the off chance that someone out there actually reads this crap, I'd thought I'd make an update on the goings on in my life and whatnot.
After leaving DCD, I decided I'd give organizing/booking/promoting shows a go. It wasn't nearly as much fun as I thought it would be. I think it's too much pressure. So I quit doing that as well, and for pretty much the same (main) reason I left the band: I realize now that I have no real ambition when it comes to music. I'm much happier and have a better time at shows where there are only 20 people there, and this is true whether I'm on stage, behind the scenes, or simply attending. I never started a band for any other reason than to annoy the shit out of people and have fun while doing it, so if no one showed up to a gig, oh well.
I don't care about making money. No, scratch that; I like making money, but that's never been the goal. The goal was just having something to do, and I don't like being around extremely large groups of people, so having me run a live event is sort of counter-intuitive.
I don't like doing PR, and being nice to people because they might be potential "return customers," and remembering names, and so on, and so forth. I'd much rather go and see some bands as one appreciative member of a small audience. No amount of money is worth the annoyances and stress associated with putting a show together. Sitting at the door and haggling with tight-asses? No thank you.
Not to mention, when you label yourself a "promoter," people start expecting things of you. I like being the guy who does things without ever being asked to do them, like, "Hey, here, I did this thing for your band, because I think you're awesome, and I want to support you, and tell everyone how good you are, and blah blah blah..." As soon as people start emailing and calling me to ask for favors, I don't feel like it anymore. Then it becomes like this responsibility, an obligation, and if I don't do it, then I feel like a scumbag, or a lazy-ass. And I would just as soon avoid the situation.
I'm probably a little nuts. I repeatedly put myself out there, like, "Go ahead, use me, I'm here to provide this service, or that service," and then, as soon as people take me up on my offer, I go, "Eh, I'm kinda busy right now, why don't you contact so-and-so, he's really good with this kinda crap," and then I beat myself up about it.
Blogs are fun, huh?
"Dear Diary..."
Anyway, I started doing an open mic night once a week at one of the local watering holes, Fat & Skinny's, because then I wouldn't have to worry about piss-poor attendance for out-of-town bands who I needed to make sure I gave some money at the end of the night. Just a fun, creative atmosphere for anyone who is interested. It hasn't been doing as well as I had hoped, so it's been cut down from a weekly thing to a bi-weekly thing. Hopefully, if we can get more customers in there in the coming months, we can work it back up to a successful weekly gathering. And it's not limited to music (this isn't a "jam night"). I want to see stand up comedians, magic acts, slam poets, etc. Help me make it happen. The next open mic is on August 24th.
Solo project news: I've finally started getting my inspiration back as far as songwriting goes, so there are 4 new Sam Sinister and the Plastic Sinister Band songs, one of which has been recorded as a final mix and released as a digital single, and one which is just a demo right now. Stay tuned for more in the coming weeks.
Well, since whoever it is that runs the Facebook page for my local newspaper has decided to ban me, for what I can only assume is my unabashed honesty and consistent criticism of the way the newspaper itself is run, I guess from now on I have no choice but to air my (minor, and brief, but nonetheless frequent) frustrations here, in a worldwide setting.
First of all, my town made national news (again) for negative reasons this morning, which isn't my gripe. I mean, I'm all for truth and honesty, so when something horrible or, in this case, hilarious happens in your own backyard (figuratively speaking), it's only natural that the AP is gonna get a hold of it and spread it around a little bit. My complaint here is that not only does the national interest New Castle seems to occasionally receive almost always involve drugs, murder, juvenile charges, or all three, but on top of that, one of the news articles that comes up in any Google search is from the town itself. And it's poorly written.
The New Castle News reads like a high school kid wrote it. And you know what, I wouldn't be all that surprised if that was true, either. I think maybe someone's kid is ghostwriting for them. I mean, for the most part. After all, we still have plenty of stuff from the Associated Press, and they're usually pretty good about, oh I don't know, stuff like not having typos, or strategically placed weasel words and other biased bullshit in their reports. The main thing that got up my ass today, though, is the frequent use of SLANG.
Take this article for instance. Luckily, the headline alone makes me giggle, so I won't go off the deep end this time, but just read the third "paragraph", or, as we outside of the NC NEWS' staff like to call it, the third sentence. Go ahead.
"The bag of weed". Now, you might not realize this, but the term "weed" is a slang term. I believe the correct, legal term is "marijuana". Why does this bother me? I'll tell you...
It's a news article. It's not your fucking blog, or an opinion column. It's a NEWS REPORT. You don't use slang terms in a news article unless you're directly quoting someone. You don't write the way you talk. You're not talking to your drinking buddy, you're not telling him (or her) a funny story, you're reporting. Write like a goddamn reporter, ferchrissakes.
UPDATE! The saga continues... http://goo.gl/JcSPK ("Packaged pot"? When did it become a misdemeanor to distribute cookware!? ;P)
I just recently launched a ReverbNation profile for my solo project. All of the songs posted thus far are old, except for a "sneak peek" at my new song, which currently has no vocals (or lyrics, for that matter). You can download the instrumental, if you like crap like that. There's also a store, so if you have a dollar or two in your bank account, download a couple MP3s and make me that much richer. I think the transmission in my car is about to shit the bed.
I know, I know, it would have been really cool for me to have posted something stupid and hoax-ey yesterday, but I don't always aim to please, and I'm sure as hell not as motivated as people always seem to think I am.
But anyway, you may have noticed that I posted some free album downloads (see below this post on the main page). Probably not. But if you did, good for you. Have at that shit.
And I did, believe it or not, have permission to upload all the shit I put up on here, with the exception of the Oi!'s Revenge comp, which is a web bootleg. But, in all fairness, no one asked for my permission when whoever made it put DCD on it. Or anyone else in DCD's permission, for that matter. So finger-fuck you in the bum-hole, Mister I-Have-Something-To-Say-About-That. Exposure, muthafucka! Stop grubbin' the money. Just be happy that people are hearing your band. I don't even know who I'm addressing right now.
HEY! I just remembered - There was a show last weekend in Youngstown, and you most likely weren't there. Shame on you. It was a good time, I'm here to tell you. The Plaid Disasters were there, and so was Crisis In America. Most of all, Violent Offense was there, and they only got through 4 and a half songs before someone took out the drummer with a bottle and gave him a concussion, the poor guy. Was it you? Probably not, but if so, you should owe up to that shit. You owe Luke some money for stitches, you sonofabitch.
Moving on.
The next show, as of now, is The Return of Dead City Dealers show in quaint little Edinburg, PA with CL1 (Toldeo) and Mala Sangre (Erie). I won't be performing with DCD, so please stop asking me. Unless maybe they still can't find a drummer by then, in which case I might fill in, but don't tell them that yet. It's a secret.
The show's at Fat and Skinny's Bar and Grille on May 14th, and it's a 21-and-over (BOOOOO!) show. You can get in the door for the low, low price of five hard-earned dollars.
You can check out some songs by each band, and download them if you want at my ReverbNation profile. Eventually, I'm gonna integrate a bunch of the ReverbNation widgets on here, but for now just follow the links.
This is not a rash decision. I've been talking about leaving the band for well over a year now and going back and forth on what I actually want to do (or not do). I'm just bored and tired of the whole thing.
Everything involved with being in DCD has become all about obligations and expectations, both from within the band and people who like what we're doing and I've become alternately overwhelmed and annoyed more and more frequently as time goes on. It's just not fun anymore.
If Dead City Dealers goes on, it's gonna have to be without me. I'd still like to work with everyone in the band musically, but it's gonna have to be in a much more relaxed and, um, "not serious" manner. I know a lot of people have dreams and goals as far as what they're doing muscially, but that's just not me and it probably never will be.
I only want to play shows and write and record songs when it's convenient for me. Maybe that's selfish, but I can't force it. If I'm not happy with what I'm doing and just putting on a happy face, then that's bullshit. It's fake. I can't be fake. I have to be me. No matter what. I can't schedule my free time or take on responsibilities for other people anymore.
All I wanted from the beginning was to effortlessly write songs that were fun and simple. Songs that I would enjoy listening to if I weren't in the band. Not that that's not what we ended up with in DCD, but it always seems like there's this push to go outside of the realm of what I'm comfortable doing musically, effort-wise and time-wise, and how far I would want the band to go (which isn't very far at all, actually).
This is probably gonna read as being a little melodramatic, but that's really not what I'm trying to do. I'm just stating facts. And like I said before, this decision wasn't made lightly. Point blank: I just need a break.
