Tales of the Salty Bag

I like pop punk. Ramonescore..Lookout, Recess, Red Scare, It's Alive records; you know, that ilk. Majority of what I'm exposed to (or expose myself to) is either American or based out of GTA/Ottawa areas. For some reason, it's rare for me to get a record and find out that the band is from the prairies or western Canada. This is not to say that there aren't killer pop punk bands in these regions, it just takes more digging to find them. (I know, you're angry and yelling Chixdiggit! at the screen right now. There's always exceptions). One of these amazing Canadian pop punk bands is based out of Vancouver and go by the name of The Hextalls. I had heard their name before but never really gave them a listen until last January (2014) when I got their LP "Rock You to Sleep". Shit is fantastic. Catchy, cheeky without turning themselves into a joke; straight forward pop punk. With heavy nods to the bruddas, I would be more than surprised if at least a few of th...

Raised Fist was coming to Brandon....again. Every music scene has an ebb and flow to it. From what I am told, Brandon had a huge punk..that turned somewhat metal..scene in the mid to late 90's. I can't attest to that. I can however attest to a punk/metalcore scene in the early to mid 2000's that was anchored by 1 band from Winnipeg (that consisted of a few Brandonites), Volition. I was lucky in high school that there was a local all ages scene for me to take part in and learn from. I can't remember the frequency of shows but I do remember that whenever I heard of a Volition show there was bound to be a packed house. Crowd surfing, a respectably sized pit (more often that not void of those dick swinging, spin kicking, windmilling, slam dance douchebags) and electricity in the air. Park Community Centre (primarily, along with other community centres around Brandon) was alive with youthful indiscretion. It was after a Volition show in 2003 that myself, along with my frie...

I can't remember how I was introduced to Rancid. I think it was either through the X Games Pro Boarder soundtrack or Punk-o-rama vol. 1. Either way, if you were lucky enough to be introduced to Rancid in the late 90's you know one thing, they were amazing. The songs were catchy without sacrificing substance and the bass lines were mind blowing. Rancid had respect and in my opinion made no missteps, that includes Rancid (2000). Since I hadn't fully experienced a new Rancid album when it was in fact, new, I was pretty excited in 2003 when I heard that there was a new album slated for release. I had some apprehension being that they made a deal with Warner Bro's but whatever, they hadn't let me down yet. Finally the first single, Fall Back Down, was released. It wasn't a terrible song..but as the leading single it left something to be desired. I still held onto hope that the album would be good. It wasn't. I tried to give it a chance, I wanted to like it but I ...

April 1, 2001, The day that I attended my first punk rock show. I found out in the spring of 2001 that Gob, one of Canada's biggest punk bands at the time, was actually coming through Brandon. Everyone that I associated with was going to this show, it was going to be huge. Not only was this the best way to cap off spring break but it was the day after my 15th birthday. Happy birthday to me. When I picked up my ticket there were 2 other bands listed that I had never heard of and didn't really care to look into; Big Wig and Bowling for Soup. Excitement was growing leading up to the show, I could hardly wait to hear Soda. Late afternoon on April 1st I met up with a group of friends then headed to the Victoria Inn ready for my introduction to the rest of my life. The opening bands were good, I was in the pit, shit was getting wild but honestly I wasn't paying much attention to the music, I was just waiting for the headliner. Finally Gob took the stage. My hair was blown back,...

From my (limited) research the origin of this rant dates back to the spring/summer of 2009. I was at 7-Eleven, a couple blocks from where I was living at the time, strolling through the chip section looking for something to snack on. All of a sudden something caught my eye. There was a new flavour of Doritos! This bag was white with a question mark in the centre of the bag and no name describing what taste would be found within. I was stoked! Doritos rarely has a dud flavour. I snatched up a full size bag, paid the lady and sprinted home. I don't remember the exact series of events that unfolded when I got to my apartment so I will describe what is the most likely scenario. I opened the door to the apartment, "New Doritos flavour!" I most likely exclaimed to my roommates Mike and/or Adam as I opened the bag with the excitement of a 6 year old on Christmas morning. I darted my hand into the bag and pulled a couple Doritos. As the chips got closer to my mouth a pool of ...

I'm not super into metal. I enjoy dabbling into the genre every once in a while, however I am far from being an expert.  A good number of years ago I read a review of this band called Pig Destroyer; they had no bassist and played some heavy fucking metal. I checked them out on myspace because the review, and name of the band, intrigued me. The music was good enough, however being that I lean more towards the punk side of the music spectrum I didn't feel the need to add any of their music to my collection. That being said their name has always stuck with me..and whenever I put those words together it brings to mind blackness. I can only assume that their shows have the gnarliest of mosh pits. In my mind it'd be one of those pits that people go into expecting to get hurt. The first few minutes might be awesome but eventually you end up with a bloody nose and dislocated shoulder. It's more of a dick out than a fun time... This past Friday I had a small bag of Blair'...

Starting in the new year (2015) I will be posting on here a minimum of once every 2 weeks, maybe more but I plan on no less. My subject, chips. Musings, interviews, reviews..sheeeeet, as long as I can tie it to snacking you will have a chance to read it. At that, I will leave you with a little piece of advice. If your going to crush an entire full size bag of chips to yourself at night, hydrate. That shit dries you out. - Marc