Tales of the Salty Bag

I bet you were starting to think that my blog description was a lie. That there was never going to be inverview on this site! Well, if you're reading this I can guarantee you that there will be at least one interview (we'll see if an s is warranted in the future) because Mike Park of Asian Man Records (and Skankin' Pickle, Chinkees, Bruce Lee Band, Ogikubo Station, solo..solo kids, Kitty Kat Fan Club....[and I'm in Love With a Girl Named Spike "A Degrassi Podcast]) graciously agreed to let me interview him (via email [which I've found may not be the ideal interview format but that was my choice..I figured it'd be easiest to schedule around]). I was pretty excited when he agreed to the interview so hopefully you're just as excited to read it..so without further ado... (the text below hightlighted in green are follow up musings, questions, etc. that weren't part of my initial interview email and I'm guessing may have gotten lost in the email sh...

Is Beer Cheese a classic cheese styling? I've had beer & cheddar soup, I thought that was pretty good..but I don't recall ever having beer cheese. Well, maybe Lay's is lying to me or maybe they're not, but one of their turn up the flavor..flavors..this year is Kettle Cooked Classic Beer Cheese (with an orange lightening bolt between Beer and Cheese). When I cracked the bag and took a whiff they smelt like somewhat stale chips (I think that's the beer in the beer cheese flavouring [the Guaranteed Fresh date is 21MAY2019]). I took a bite and the first thing that popped into my head was, "my, those chips are yeasty..with some thick seasoning (the coverage is fairly good, but I mean the actual seasoning is quite dense). Once you get past the initial yeasty flavour, you're met with a weird faux cheese mixed with..I don't know, it's weird..it's almost a the taste of a fair or carnival (I know you can't actually taste a fair/carnival, but you c...

How would I describe Lay's Streats of the World..Taco you ask? I bet you didn't guess they'd smell like taco seasoning. Do the chips differ from standard flat Lay's? Na, they're pretty typical, on the lighter side of crunchy..no ridges, no skins, pretty sterile. Do they taste like 'plain' chips with a light sprinkling of taco seasoning? Yuppers. There's also a faint onion seasoning way in the background. The seasoning was pretty uneven throughout the bag. I'm not sure if these are still in production, if not..well, you're not missing out on a whole lot. (now don't let my indifference towards the chips taint your opinion of the below music. I didn't really try to tie the two together this week) It took me way too long to acquire MakeWar's sophomore album Developing a Theory of Integrity . It ended up in my bandcamp wishlist a while ago but I just never got around to listening to any of it, then finally a couple months ago I was scr...

So I have a bag of chips that I anticipate is going to be a challenge to consume, with that in mind I wanted to pair them with some heavy music..que a text to Ryan (who's deep into metal of the death/black variety) for a recommendation for a super heavy/aggressive album. I'm just starting to listen to Outer Heaven's late 2018 album Realms of Eternal Decay. Before even listening to the album, based on the cover font, I'm going to go with..death or crust (as I previously mentioned the affinity for death so it must be a death font [do metal genres have distinguishing factors between their fonts])? A few songs in, this shit's heavy. The vocals are gutteral and I'm not sure if my ears just aren't trained to pick up on the deep vocals (based on my primarily punk to hardcore listening tendencies) or maybe they're just too barked to discern what the actual words are (not saying it's a bad thing [and suffice to say I'm not going to be delving into the lyr...

In the latter part of 2018 I picked up The Brokedowns newest album Sick of Space. The Brokedowns play bouncy punk rock that is mid to up tempo. Both the music and vocals can be at times quite aggressive..abrasive..the vocals are slightly strained but it's intentional and it fits the bands sound. There's some nice harmonies. They have a Festy gruffness to them. The lyrics are darkly funny criticisms about..well, to be very broad, how the world is going to shit. They paint pictures in your mind somewhere between a 90s Tarantino movie and an adult swim cartoon. They have just the right amount of grit and anger to make for a very enjoyable listen. This is the third Brokedowns album that I've purchased and it's the 3rd for a reason, they always deliver the goods. Bangin'. I usually try to have some sort of connection between the music and chips in each blog..well this week I'm writing about Pringles so don't read too deep into the connection. The best connectio...

Franks grilled cheese & ketchup. Covered Bridge. Taste like ketchup, followed by au gratin then culminating in a combo of the 2. CBmini ridged kettle cooked. You can taste the potato in conjunction w seasoning. Great chips, decent flavour.  (The above is a direct cut and paste from my phone notes.  I saw and picked these up at a Canadian Tire [hence the Franks labeling] in Calgary this past November. Hadn’t had breakfast yet and they were more than sufficient to break my fast. Covered Bridge has so many interesting business partnerships. Hazzah!) Calgary’s Knucklehead (that basically went on to become Territories [I believe I blogged about Territories self titled in Nov/Dec of 2018]) put out their last few releases through Pirates Press. You know who else has a history of releasing music through Pirates Press? Lenny (and the Piss Poor Boys) Lashley, most recently through the form of his sophomore Lenny Lashley’s Gang of One album, All Are Welcome. I got into Lashley...

What do Doritos Late Night fully loaded Nachos smell like? Chili powder..err, Old Dutch Mexican chili chips. What do Doritos Late Night fully loaded Nachos taste like? Well, they taste like they smell. Predominantly "chili" (as a chip flavour) flavoured chips with the odd hint of cheese (similar to President's Choice's jalapeno popper chip seasoning [but without the increased heat]). What sets Doritos Late Night fully loaded Nachos apart from..I don't know, not Doritos fully loaded Nacho chips [apart from the obvious seasoning differences]? Well, let me tell you, I found that you get a lot more of the corn chip flavour with these chips compared to typical Doritos (now is this true or have I just not had Doritos in a minute..you tell me). Any final thoughts? I thought that these were going to be pretty wack based on the "Late Night" labeling and neon sign looking bag artwork (this is based off of previous superfluous Doritos naming and bag layout)....