Post-Tour Conversation with Jason Decay of Cauldron

Cauldron recently returned to their Toronto homeland, fresh from a month and a half long US tour with Virginia thrash provokers Municipal Waste. ACRN had the opportunity to chat with bassist and frontman Jason Decay about the current position of Cauldron in the metal world.

ACRN: Is it safe to say that Cauldron is what Goat Horn would have continued to do when you guys broke up, or did this allow you to take a different direction?

Jason Decay: Well as far as I’m concerned, we continued on with what Goat Horn was doing. But I think Ian brought a new element to the band, you know – his certain style of guitar playing, which is, I guess, more proficient. And it shows in the sound, but a couple of those songs were written back in the Goat Horn days and sort of never made it to the light of day.

Click here to read the rest of the interview. This article was published in ACRN.com on December 15, 2009.
Photo provided by the band's Myspace.

Album review: Lady Gaga "The Fame Monster"

Lady Gaga fascinates me. She has grown from what many initially perceived as a short-term pop star to the epitome of what a singer of pop should be. I was once a naysayer, thought of her as obnoxious, and lashed out at her - particularly at "Love Game" for being such a shallow song (though that's still the least listenable Gaga track in my opinion). But then "Paparazzi" grasped my attention and this 8-song released had me bowing down. I hope Gaga can forgive me for under-looking her ability to create and be a masterpiece.

In The Fame Monster she presents these fears in a conceptual format where each song represents a topic of fear (sex, death, addiction, etc.) almost as a paranoia adaptation to the seven deadly sins. With an exception to “Speechless,” each song is packaged within a broody, gothic techno-medley of sorts – some ironically uplifting, some haunting – to represent this mental turmoil between the soul and its outside enemies. Although drenched in some level of darkness, they are all equally danceable – but isn’t that sad that we’re dancing through the sound waves of her personal struggles?

Click here to read the rest of the review. This was published in ACRN.com on December 2, 2009.
Photo provided by Interscope records

Album review: Amish Electric Chair "Straight. No Chaser"

These five songs are more polished than your average punk tunes, and kudos to the band for composition. But as far as personal impact, it’s nowhere near groundbreaking. The constant style similarities to some of the biggest punk bands reminded me to revisit well-recognized tracks from The Bouncing Souls and Anti-Flag, instead of putting Straight. No Chaser for a second spin. But for big fans of anything Fat Wreck Chords and Epitaph puts out, this is the record for you.

Click here to read the rest of the review. This was published on ACRN.com on December 2, 2009.
Photo provided by the band's Myspace.

Live Review: The Get-Up Kids in Columbus, OH

The band somehow took consideration of the Santa list of requested hits for this reunion tour because the selection of fan favorite songs from albums Four Minute Mile to The Guilt Show was dead-on. The band managed to even surprise by playing “Beer for Breakfast," a Replacements cover from Eudora that’s more punk than pop and raw enough to cast a sweaty mosh in the crowd. In motion, Pryor and guitarist Jim Suptic twirled, kicked and charged their guitars against the air and toward each other in a joyful manner that seemed to discard past hardships the band has experienced in its 14-year run.

Click here to read the rest of the review. This was published on ACRN.com on November 9, 2009.
Photo provided.

Concert Preview: Goodbye Goats' Rock Opera

This time around, although equally prop-infested –- an attribute that marks the band infamous -- the plot shifts to another dark phenomenon hidden in the cult rituals of black masses. Duly called “The Black Goat Mass,” Goodbye Goats will explore the religion-mocking ceremony and its bizarre sexual nature through its own goofy, over-the-top rendition laden with an elaborate “ceremony set-up, a girl, an altar and weird things going on throughout,” according to the band’s ring leader and owner of Decorative Injections, Jimmy Kisor.

Click here to read the rest of the article. This was published on ACRN.com on October 23rd, 2009.
Photo provided by Jimmy Kisor

Feature: Girls on the Road

First off, I just want to give huge thanks to all the interviewees who kindly agreed to help me write this article. This was something I wanted to pen down for months and finally spent all of October to talk to my sources and do further researching. My respect for these women and those who have gotten their backs as they climbed in their careers cannot be explained in words.

"If passion is a career, then running a show is no exception, but it’s not elementary. Whether it’s booking, tour managing, or handling merchandise, a fondness for music is barely a baby step. Try throwing in the physical demand of a construction worker, the mental assiduity of an accountant, a high level of patience, and 3,000 mile long game of stop-and-go. Those who can’t handle it find themselves taking a one-way Greyhound trip back to their abode.

Click here to read the rest of the article. This was published in ACRN.com on October 24, 2009.
Photo provided by Jenny Douglas.

Album review: Skeletonwitch "Breathing the Fire"

In this journey to and through the malicious fires of hell, Breathing the Fire does not leave listeners frostbitten - which sophomore release Beyond the Permafrost managed to do. Instead, it does exactly what the album title implies. Right when the needle drops into the first track, "Submit to the Suffering," a surge of melodic thrash riffs leaves no room for parched speed demons to warm up. Singer Chance Garnette's black metal croons draw the listener closer into the fret cataclysm, and has full intentions to do so, according to the lyrics: "Submit to the suffering/I am taking your life."

Click here to read the rest of the review. This was published on ACRN.com on October 13, 2009.
Photo provided.

Live Review: AFI and Gallows in Columbus, OH

Around a decade ago, AFI, or A Fire Inside, strolled into Columbus to play a low-key show at a legendary punk squat called the Neil House. Several albums and many transformations of singer Davey Havok later, the members return this time to Newport Music Hall in Columbus with Crash Love, their latest album, and British supporting act Gallows.

Click here to read the rest of the live review. This was published on ACRN.com on October 7, 2009.
Photo by: Rika Nurrahmah

Feature: Pala

They won’t settle for 12 tracks of d-beat so you can pigeon-hole them into the crust-punk genre, nor will they magnetize themselves to chugging breakdowns to ignite an obligatory rain dance among crowd members at some hardcore show. The latter is reserved for bassist Chris Kuhn’s other band, Baltimore’s hardcore magnate Pulling Teeth. Sweeping, almost whispering guitar riffs will tease you into assuming they’re trying to murmur the ghost of '90s screamo, but then a drop into stoner-riffs make you believe otherwise. Call them dysfunctional, but they’re not here to serve you something to label.

Click here to read the rest of this article. This was published on ACRN.com on October 1, 2009.
Photo by: Robert Scheuerman

Interview: Chris Demakes of Less Than Jake

Put Chris Demakes on a stage, and his humor and verbal eccentricity come alive. Put him on the edge of some vacant squat where rust and weathered mattresses reek in the atmosphere, and the Less Than Jake guitarist and frontman is no different.

Around mid-July, ACRN was blessed with an opportunity to chat with this one-liner extraordinaire and look back on 15 years' worth of Warped Tour memories through Less Than Jake’s perspective. While the conversation was as personal as a coffee shop chit-chat, we were a pair of ants struggling to tune out the Warped festivities and multiple performances just paces away in Cleveland’s Tower City Amphitheater.

Click here to read the interview. This was published on ACRN.com on September 30th, 2009.
Photo by: Charles Yesenczki

Review: Warped Tour 2009 in Cleveland, OH

Covering this for ACRN.com made me realize how much I weep for growing music lovers (says the girl whose official gateway band was Sum 41 - though I still think they're alright). I couldn't fathom the appeal of some of the most looked-forward bands on the tour's roster, and some of the attitudes I encountered made me dash for fresh air. But "some" is only a handful of bands on this tour.
Talking to a lot of people working backstage and fellow crowd dwellers enriched my perspective on the Warped Tour. Encountering naive 16-year-olds took me back to my last Warped experience as a crowd member in 2005.

The Warped Tour has shown miniscule wear and tear from 15 years as a music juggernaut. Although traditional acts like Bad Religion and NOFX keep its tradition alive, a new evolution of genres are now taking over to refresh the scene –- for better or worse.

Click here to read the rest of the review. This was posted on ACRN.com on September 30th, 2009.
Photo by: Charles Yesenczki

Lesson in Style: Health professor Juli Miller prefers being 'black to basic'

This was supposed to be part of a series that I pitched called "Lesson in Style" in which I profile several fabulously dressed professors and investigate the origin of their personal fashion taste. This was the only published article of the series, as I later left SpeakeasyMag.com to focus on my Exec position at All Campus Radio Network.

Many popular figures in pop culture have flaunted their adoration for the color black: Johnny Cash donned himself the “man in black,” AC/DC came “back in black” and Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld wouldn’t dare to wear anything but. Within Ohio University, Professor Juli Miller is one of them.

Click here to read the rest of the article. This was published on SpeakeasyMag.com on September 26th, 2009.
Photo by: Alanna Geoghagen

'Dressin for Recession' to celebrate the beauty of thrifting

As fashion shifts from logo excess to humble ensembles, so have its followers’ shopping habits. While everyone glooms over their shrinking shopping bags due to the recession, sophomore Devon Turchan has embraced its presence by organizing Thursday’s “Dressin’ for Recession” competition.

Click here to read the rest of the article. This was published on SpeakeasyMag.com on June 2nd, 2009.

The Velvet Rope: Runway suits up with 'casual Friday' atmosphere

A blog entry that was part of my event blog "The Velvet Rope" for SpeakeasyMag.com. This was my first submitted entry since the site relaunched in spring 2009.

Wednesday’s “Dress for Success” show was a step up from last year’s, incorporating Will Ferrell’s infamous “glory suit” SNL skit, an insightful do’s and don’t’s lecture, and hilarious runway commentary guaranteed to give Joan Rivers a run for her money.

Click here to read the rest of this article. It was published on SpeakeasyMag.com on May 30th, 2009.

The Velvet Rope: Happy bellies pack street fair despite the storm

Despite the near-hurricane that deprived the happy-go-lucky moods of many, International Street Fair wanderers clenched their umbrellas tightly to get a taste of culture, traditional clothing and, most importantly, enough delicious food to drool a flood.

Click here to read the rest of this blog entry. This was published on SpeakeasyMag.com on May 21, 2009.
Photo taken by Rika Nurrahmah