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Radio

Lets preface this with the fact that I know that Japan and China are distinctly different places.

Now that that's out of the way, Potshot was a Japanese ska-punk band that existed (according to their wiki) from '95 to '05. I was introduced to them through (I believe) Napster. Around 2001 (give or take a year) I stumbled upon Radio from their first album Pots and Shots, which being the killer track that it is, quickly made it to a mixed cd and forced the band name Potshot to stick in my head. A few years later, torrents rolled around and I got my download on of full albums. Fast forward to 2007 (give or take a year), Asian Man Records had record bundles for sale and 2 of Potshot's albums were in the deal, Pots and Shots and 'til I die, I jumped at the chance to hear more Potshot. They're a super uptempo (verging on frenetic) ska band (I'd put in the same family as the Suicide Machines..with less aggressive vocals and more brass) with plenty o' harmonies. The lyrics are in English, however (for me) for the most part they're hard to understand. They're sung fairly clearly, I'm thinking that they may have been written in Japanese, translated to English then sung phonetically..this however does not detract from the music. There's enough whoa-oh's and such that you can sing along if you'd like and the energy of the music transcends language anyway (from what I could find googling [LP didn't come with a lyric sheet] the lyrics are typically posi-outsider). There's 2 covers on the album, Since Yesterday (Strawberry Switchblade..if you've never heard the original version of this song you're truly missing out) and Tears of a Clown (English Beat), they manage to make the songs their own without getting weird and off-putting while still staying true to the originals, really well done. If you're into ska-punk..ska..punk..good music, check out Potshot.

Recently I had a little feedback on my last IG post inquiring if I had tried Lay's Sizzlin' Szechuan chips yet. Nope, but they were in the salty cellar. So here we go. They sort of smell like feet..but it's not terrible. The odor of a chip has never turned me off before. I threw one of these typical Lay's mid-to-lightweight chips in my mouth and you know what. Not bad. There's some bite to em, similar to standard chip jalapeno heat. Garlic is present as well which goes well with the sugar like sweetness. Pleasantly spicy chip flavour. Way better than the typical Do Us a Flavour fare (I believe that win with flavour finally usurped do us a flavour, so far so good.).

Stay hydrated,
marc

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