Tales of the Salty Bag

  So back in June of 2022 I conducted an email interview with Joe Compayre. Cut to almost 4 years later, it slipped through the cracks and I didn't get it posted...now 2022 feels like a lifetime away....and for Bazooka Joe 204, 2 albums have come out since (off the top of my head, not sure if I'm missing anything); 2023's banger as part of the group Park Like Setting with This, That and the Third  and May 1, 2026 (this past Friday as of this posting) Bazooka Joe 204 put out his most recent solo effort  333 McPhillips: Halfway to Hell  (my first impression, no matter what moniker Joe Compayre is putting out music under it's always top notch and should be celebrated by all, Halfway to Hell is no exception. Every aspect from lyrics and wordplay, to flows to production [mixed bag of producers this time around] is spot on). Me not posting this interview had nothing to do with the quality, it just didn't happen. With that said I think there's some good stuff in here...

If you're into collecting punk (all sub genres [and some metal in the mix]) records and looking for some stuff that may be off the beaten path  Forbidden Beat Distro on IG may be of interest to you. Jimmy was running it by himself for a minute (and expanding my Cure collection exponentially), then he took a break for a minute before coming back recently (I believe with a partner) with some absolute bangers in stock. A few weeks ago he posted some records that I was quite interested in, one was on my list, the others weren't on my radar. Of the ones that wasn't really on my radar was Rancid's Life Won't Wait Demo's . When I slid the post over to see the back of the album I saw that one side of the LP was the Silencers...now that got my attention. Cut to a handful of days later and my order came in, I threw on the Silencer's side first because the lore of the Silencers really intrigued me (it's Rancid with a few other notable musicians, the one that made ...

 About a month ago I fell down a wikihole...and ended up ordering Cannibal Corpse's Centuries of Torment: The First 20 years (I don't currently own any Cannibal Corpse cd's or LP's, but I dig music history). I've dabbled in streaming CC's music, but my primary point of reference to date is seeing them open for Hatebreed in like, 2011 (googled it, it was Nov 2009). I remember Corpsegrinder banging like crazy with his tree trunk of a neck, and CC being heavy (who woulda thought eh?).  About 10 mins into this documentary and they mentioned Darren Pfeiffer being the drummer in the pre-CC band Beyond Death. Man, is Goldfinger the Kevin Bacon of music? Also, lets go Buffalo, amiright! So my in laws went on a trip late last year and as usual were thoughtful and brought me back a bag of Qtela Singkong cassava chips Rasa Balado (Balado Spicy Flavor). When I cracked the bag I got a whiff of BBQ. The front of the bag shows chips, some spicy red hot peppers and garlic. Cass...

Neon Taste Records has been around for a minute (since 2017 as a record label it appears) but I wasn't really aware of them until this past fall when I was trying to find a Canadian distro that was going to be carrying the new Dark Thoughts LP ( Highway to the End  [I'll likely write about it on this blog at some point but the coles notes of it all is that Dark Thoughts nailed it again]). Anyway, what was I writing about? Oh yeah, Neon Taste has, and keeps on, putting out some fantastic music. From YUMRE001 with Easy Money's Collection 79-82, which is some fantastic Canadian power pop that Neon Taste unearthed and put to wax..er, vinyl...to the absolutely blistering hardcore of YUM050 (it looks like they dropped the RE from release numbers) Winnipeg's Negative Charge with their Self Titled (frantic mid 80's east coast flavoured hardcore) and face melting YUM51 Toronto's Imploders with their Targeted For Termination (frantic early 80's west coast flavoured ...

 Yooooo! Old Dutch Pretzel Pieces, All Dressed Flavoured, are bangin'. I wasn't planning on putting up a post tonight, thought maybe I'd just take some notes in my phone, then I popped these in my maw and had to grab the laptop. The pieces are soo piecey, it's like someone had a bad day and took a bat to these pretzels (that would have been 1.5cm+/- diameter. I'm not typically a pretzel man, but these are thick enough that they're not just dried out meh, they have a dense crunch. Mildly bready (but still crunchy) goodness. Now, the flavour is what really knocked my socks off. I'm not sure if they use an agent or if there's moisture from the pretzels but the seasoning is heavily covering these pretzel pieces. It's like when you're at the movie theatre and put butter or margarine on the popcorn, then sprinkle some seasoning on and it's almost like a pasty seasoning in certain parts. There's also some well-toasted pretzel that welcomingly po...

My kids getting slightly older means I can now bring them along on my adventures to shows in Winnipeg (at least when it's all ages and ties into a weekend..which is what happened just over a week ago). I was stoked with I saw Quit It! was making their way to/through Manitoba again and it was on a Friday. It was touch and go for a minute if I/we were going to make it but the hockey scheduling gods shone down on me/us and I was able to justify keeping the kids up late on a Friday night. First of all Domohaus is absolutely fantastic, Adrian and Hannah seem to have a scene (tapped into a scene), that's friendly (and more importantly kid friendly, at least IMO). At their 4th Annual Occasional Halloween House Party (with bands playing out of the garage due to mild spitting/rain) started off with Grotoko (full band style for the first time in a minute) killing it in their '66 Batman villain costumes. I love Blue's live stage presence, it fits perfectly with the confluence of d...