New bass, Guild starfire reissue

DIY Tube amp

Entrepot Bruges

Here's the deal: We both had seen that Russian Circles was coming to Belgium.
I had straight away informed my darling about it. My darling being the sweetheart that she is, had already planned on taking me there as a surprise.

Seeing my state of excitement she didn't dare to keep it a secret* so she proposed we go get them together.
YES!

*She had done this once before with a series i was dying to see and she wanted to offer it to me so she had to make me erase it on the computer because i had downloaded it. She's so sweet i'm sure she had the hardest time coming up with reasons for me to erase it.

Back to the main story, we were going to see Russian Circles!

We bought them at Caroline Music, one of the soul surviving record stores in Brussels. Keep in mind that this is just an extra birthday gift, i'm so spoiled!

This was going to be the first time we went back to Bruges since we were there to enjoy a romantic weekend in a B&B. This was also the first time we were going to the Entrepot.


We don't have a GPS so getting there was quite the struggle seeing that half of the city was on lockdown due to a marathon. In the end we circled round it, went way into no man's land. We stopped at some weird hotel to ask for directions and they were about to send us on to the highway again. No way dude!

We chose to follow some industrial route until we came to a halt in front of a nice looking Fritterie.
It had been our plan to eat some fries in a place we saw when we were there last time but thanks to the marathon, no such luck!
Not knowing where we were, we decided to go in and eat where we stranded. Little did we know our luck was about to change...

Once we started eating, a lot of people started coming in to the place. I had already suspected some of them coming for them. It was someone with an AmenRa sweater who certified my suspicion.
I asked the way to the Entrepot and it seems that we were 5 minutes away by foot. NICE!

The Entrepot is really an awesome concert hall. It's name kind of says it all. An old factory that is transformed into an awesome place. For the occasion, the youth house next door was opened as well.
We arrived just in time to see Intronaut.

They had this thunderous crushing sound coming out of the little room where they played. Perfect to get us in the mood!

We hadn't taken our camera so there is no visual proof of our presence but we didn't regret it for two reasons:
1. It allowed us to bathe in the music without have to worry about catching the atmosphere on film.
2. Someone else did a way better job then we could have ever done.

By someone else i mean GoDi. I will use his pictures to illustrate the magic this concert was.

The main act for me was Russian Circles, i've been following them ever since they made their first album, this however was the first time i got to see them live.
I must admit i am a bit of a Brian Cook fanboy, his basstones are just bonecrushing.
Seeing them in action nearly made me shit myself. The precision of their drummer, the thickness of those layered guitars, the grinding bass, it all was perfect. Never again will i listen to one of their albums the same way! The lighting of their show was quite subtle but matched it perfectly.

After Russian Circles it was up to Boris to play on the main stage. During that time i got to choose an awesome Russian Circles T-Shirt! Thank you Misses K.

Boris is a one of a kind band. And they are loud! Four crazy Japanese make up for one interesting band to see live. Their opening riff almost ripped the room to shreds. I think the people leaving before the end were the ones who didn't have earplugs, like us.

I loved the show but some songs just came at us to loud to be able to hear the different instruments.
I need me one of those Orange amps for my guitar!

With that, we returned home, ears ringing, hearts content, totally in awe with the gigs we saw.
It was a night to remember, i couldn't have wished for a better birthday nor a better girlfriend!

She's the greatest!

Also, all these lovely pictures belong to GoDi, make sure to check his blog !
If you have any taste in music, you will love it, he is at every concert you wish you were and is a master at catching "that" moment !

GoDi's Blog

Breaking the Silence

My last post was may 31st.

A lot has happened since then, some of it good, some of it bad.

First of, i have survived a huge exam period. Which is good you would say...except that i got screwed over and i have to redo 5 out of 11 exams.

Secondly we went to see Russian Circles and Boris for my birthday.

Hot damn, they were awesome. I will write an article about it later.

Furthermore me and the misses have both started working. I work at Groupon during the whole month of july, taking care of angry customers. My patience has been tested quite a few times i admit.

Also, we went to Rock Werchter, which is one of the biggest festivals in Europe.

Expect an article about that to.

Many more things have happened since then and there is so much i would still want to write.

Just for myself here is what i will write about for sure:

Every week of covers i missed will be made up for by a MEGAPOST!

Report on the Russian Circles gig

Report on Rock Werchter

Review of my new Epiphone SG

Review of my boss RV5 reverb

A bike check for my BMX bike

Some new discoveries musically

...

That's all folks!

Weekly Cover Shootout XV

This is the Belgian band Triggerfinger covering a classic from the great Jacques Brel, who is Belgian also.
Both songs rock but i prefer Triggerfinger's heavy sound. They got out a new album this year so check them out! Can't wait to see them live at Werchter again this year.

Cheers!

Weekly Cover Shootout XIV

This week's cover is awesome. Again it's thanks to my girlfriend that i know this one.

She should be the one making this post. At least i'm giving her credit for it :)

Placebo giving a go at "Running up that hill" and they rule it!

The Big Birthday Post

It's this time of the year again. Flowers blossom, birds are laying their eggs, exams are in full swing and my birthday is coming up.

I always have a hard time telling people how old i am. Once i turned 20 it all started blending a bit together. I was born in 1988 and besides me being born the year was low on blessed events.
There is one thing that always helps me remember how old i am though.

It's all thanks to my girlfriend. She makes sure that every birthday is so great i remember my age according to the feast she organised.

This year she outdid herself AGAIN. Be prepared to get jealous and get ready to hate me for being so lucky.

So it was may 20th and i wake up next to my beautiful girlfriend. She says HAPPY BIRTHDAAAAY!
Before i know it she told me to sitp up in bed and close my eyes. I feel something falling in my hands. I hurry opening the gift and see there is a magazine inside. OH YEAH! It's a collector's item of NME Icons featuring Dave Grohl. I kid you not, an entire magazine dedicated to the man himself!
Inside there was the most endeering birthdaycard ever. It was filled with balloons and like every year she manages to write me text that brings me to tears!

 She told me to read this in bed while she jets off to the kitchen. I hear some drawers opening and closing, some pots clinging and after about 15 minutes the most delicious smells are coming out of the kitchen. "You can go sit at the table!"
I happily follow her order and install myself at the table.

There it was, the breakfast of kings! A candle burning, freshly squeezed orange juice, two eggs and the most delicious sandwiches i ever ate. She is such a princess!

The sandwiches were soooooo jummy, she baked them from scratch and they were filled with tiny pieces of ham and the center was filled with cheddar. SO GOOD!

Since we are still in the middle of our exam period i had said that i needed to work and well so we did. Until like noon and then we kind off decided that we would enjoy the rest of the day!

My girlfriend offered us sandwiches and snacks for the afternoon but i took a desert because i wanted to eat those awesome birthday biscuits again!

And then the "moment suprême" was coming. Since we decided to enjoy the rest of the day she decided i could have my gift sooner.

Prepare yourself, this is so awesome.

I GOT A FUCKING ELECTRIC GUITAR !!

And not just any guitar, it's an Epiphone SG in Worn Brown. This thing is an absolute beauty! It's really the coolest guitar i've ever seen and it plays like a dream. Stock strings and stock setup this beast rocks. A review of this beauty will follow! I couldn't believe my luck, my first electric guitar!
Since she knows me like she made me, i spent the rest of the day playing this guitar and giggling like a schoolgirl. To top things of, she had added a set of brand new strings, D'addario EXL's, jsut because she is so thoughtful and sweet. I decided to keep them as a spare set because even the stock strings are mighty fine!

 Look at the proud daddy! After i spent the whole afternoon playing this beauty ,and secretly shitting my pants because of the awesomeness of this guitar, she had planned us a restaurant date. I had secretely hoped we were going to eat mexican and guess what? Mexican it was. We went to Los Ponchos. With a name like that it can't go wrong. I was so excited while going there. This was such a great surprise and since we were blessed with nice weather we got to eat outside on a patio surrounded by roses.
A fresh Corona and my girl, what more can anyone need?

 

Those were our starters. I had fresh gambas with guacomole and my girl had the gambas with garlick.

The place is really the bombshiznit! So fresh, so tasty, so mexican!

At one point i had to go to the bathroom and when i came back there was a gift laying on the table.

This can't be happening ? Another gift! I rushed over to the table and opened yet another present.

It's a book about Bike Snobs, something i care about super much seeing that i'm so big one riding BMX bikes and any other bike by the way. That is why i can't stand bike snobisme, just like any other snobisme. I've gotten the chance to read in it and the book is just hilarious. There is everything you will want to know about bikes in there! It's just crazy i ever got this lucky!

On to the main dish and more Corona!

So the top one is my girlfriend's dish wich was DELICIOUS! Mine is a beef burrito served as i've never had one before. This was soooooo yummy! By now i couldn't believe it anymore. And yet she still managed to keep it going! For desert we had a delicious chocolate cake and ... more Corona!

This restaurant is a MUST if you are in Brussels. Even if you don't like mexican food. It was so chill and the people, they run this restaurant the two of them, are so friendly. I would recommend calling because the place fills up nicely after 20h. It's normal though seeing the food they serve! Mmmmm.

When we got home after this blissful event i crashed on the bed happier than ever. I felt something quite hard so i checked... you guessed it, moooore preseeeeents!
I opened it up to find a biography of Metallica. FUCKING GENIUS! How could i ever thank her enough? This book is just awesome. It follows the band from the get-go.

If all of that wasn't good enough guess what else i found? An envelope containg two tickets to go see...  RUSSIAN CIRCLES! One of my favourite bands on earth!

I feel so blessed to get all this attention and these beautiful presents. I know many don't have even half of what i got and i just can't say thank you enough. I'm not trying to be mean or show off but i just like to brag a tiny bit because i'm so proud and thankful!

For that i give her a kiss and all the love i have. Thank you so much for everything and for making this another moment that will help me remember till eternity!

Isn't she a peach?
If anyone ever reads this, please make sure to visit this beauty's blog, it's full of interesting articles and good music : Misses Badger

Good night!