All posts by Kev Brock

I'm a musician, singer/songwriter, blogger, writer, poet, bodybuilder, movie lover, music lover, video gamer, history/political buff, conservative/republican, etc. I like to do a lot of things.
music

Metallica used to record their demos on a 4 track recorder Before their HQ days…

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Before the “Black Album”, Metallica was already a mainstream band thanks to the “Master of Puppets” and “And Justice For All” albums that helped get them there. After “And Justice For All”, they were in the process at beginning work for the self-titled album which is better known as the “Black Album”.

Believe it or not, the band used to record their demos on a small 4 track recorder machine at Lars’s house, in his basement. That’s where they used to write and rehearse. Even Metallica have to start somewhere, right? Back then, they couldn’t afford their own studio so they recorded demos first and then they would make the official recording at a studio they would pay studio time for.

A 4 track machine is just a small recorder with 4 tracks on it, I know ’cause I used one before.

I’m sure Metallica never expected the “Black Album” to become an important album in metal. Love Metallica or hate ’em, they’re the ones that helped metal become a little more mainstream. I’m sure the boys in Metallica never expected “Enter Sandman” to be a huge hit either. MTV played the video for “Enter Sandman” throughout the day pretty much and that song was all over FM radio and you heard it everywhere you go. The same with the other Metallica hit singles on that album: “Wherever I may Roam”, “Sad But True”, “Nothing Else Matters” and “The Unforgiven”. That album had 5 smash hits.

That album was huge in the 90’s and still is a pretty huge album even after 30 years. It’s still an amazing record overall, though. There’s other great songs on the album that aren’t hits like “Holier THan Thou” especially and also “Don’t Tread On Me” and “Of Wolf and Man” are kickass songs too. The whole album is great.

Metallica are in celebration for the 30 year anniversary of “The Black Album” so in celebration of that, they are releasing a re-issue expanded edition with more songs and they are also releasing a picture book titled “Metallica: the Black Album in Black and White” and I’m probably gonna buy both of these. Why? Because I love Metallica.

I’ve always been a huge fan. I’ve got every studio album they’ve put out even “Garage Inc.”, “St. Anger”, “Lulu” and “Load/Reload”. I’ve also got Metallica’s “Some Kind of Monster”, “The Big 4” live DVD and their “Through the Never” film on BluRay. I also got to see them live in concert once so you can say that I’m a die hard Metallica fan.

I’ve always defended that band whenever they are in trouble and when they’re being criticized for something. They’re the biggest metal band of all time and yes, they are metal and can’t wait for their next record too.

Kev

Politics/war

Feels amazing to finally be able to go out in public unmasked and unvaccinated!!!!

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At long last, after a little over a year of this dumb mask mandate and getting forced to wear face diapers, we can finally go out in public places unmasked. Yes, we still have this dumb “vaccinated = unmasked” and “unvaccinated = mask up” policy but it seems like it’s your decision now whether or not you want to walk into businesses unmasked and unvaccinated.

I’m starting to go out in public unmasked even though I didn’t get the vaccine and don’t plan on getting it ever. I’ve been going into grocery stores, the gym and everywhere else lately and it feels great to breathe again. Yeah, you don’t really need a mask anymore even if you’re not vaccinated.

At the gym I go, the “mask required” signs were taken down and each time I walk into the gym with no mask lately, no one says anything. So far so good, no employee/staff asked me, “are you fully vaccinated”???

Yeah, there will be some asshole business owners that still has “mask required” but fuck ’em, they are leftist business owners still in panic mode so boycott any business that is still, “mask required”.

My body, my choice right? Freedom, that’s what it’s all about.

Wearing these dumb masks never worked and they were pointless anyways. Glad this mask shit is just about over, though, it’s about freakin’ time!

Yeah, the “vaccinated = unmasked” and “unvaccinated = mask up” policy is still in place but who cares about the rules? Fuck the rules, man!

Kev

Politics/war

Keeping masks on Children is really evil…. really, wake up…

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While it may be exciting news that Cuomo finally opened up NY but it’s not completely free… yet… we still have this dumb “vaccinated = no mask” and “unvaccinated = masked” policy. Also, the CDC and Cuomo are still forcing children to wear masks in schools which is disgusting.

Lefties claim to be disgusted at children being kept in cages but they don’t say a thing about children being forced to wear masks. Masking up children is probably the most evil thing the CDC and left-wing governors could do. Ya kow, little children aren’t human lab rats and they’re being treated exactly that. It’s unfair and wrong.

Masking children is not healthy for them. Plus they don’t understand any of this of why they have to do what they have to do. They need to breathe… lefties probably hate children being masked but they don’t do anything about it. Lefties are just doing everything the CDC, the news media and their left-wing governors say.

Masks on children is very dangerous especially for children with that age, ya know?

As long as unvaccinated people are still masked up and children are still masked, we are not really a free state yet. Sorry, we’re really not. They say we’re getting back to normal but this isn’t back to normal. Getting back to normal is getting our freedom back 100%.

The CDC and governors don’t want to lift all restrictions and protocols ’cause they don’t want to lose their power. They’re obsessed and addicted to power. The more you comply, the worse they get.

Our country has gone completely batshit crazy and insane. What’s going on?

With that being said, I’m not getting vaccinated. It’s funny as hell ya know. People rushing to get fully vaccinated just so they can remove the mask, well I’m reading a lot of posts on FB of people experiencing some dangerous side effects after their 1st and 2nd shots. Their 2nd shots get much worse. They wonder why some of us are “anti-vaxxers”?

Scary stuff we’re seeing, I tell ya and it’s gonna get a lot worse.

Kev

music

The new Weezer album, “Van Weezer” is one of the best new albums this year… really, it’s that good!

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I used to listen to Weezer a lot when I was young in high school. You can betcha, I bought their debut “blue album” when it first came out in the 90’s when the band was exploding all over MTV back in the day. I used to own their first four albums: the blue album, Pinkerton, the Green Album and Maladroit but after the “Maladroit” album, I suddenly lost interest in the band. I don’t know, I just stopped buying their albums and got rid of all the Weezer albums that I had in the past.

I did rebuy the blue album and the green album years later, however. Weezer kept releasing new albums over the years and they just came out with another new one this year titled, “Van Weezer”. They released another album this year called, “Ok Human” which I haven’t gotten yet but I did buy “Van Weezer” last week.

Why did I buy the new Weezer album, “Van Weezer” when I stopped listening to the band years ago? Well, I kept reading interviews of Rivers Cuomo talking about the new album “Van Weezer” like through Guitar World and the more I read about the album like through magazines and online, the more it piques my interest. The album is a metal album. Over the years Weezer was always known as a pop/rock band so for “Van Weezer” they decided to do something different and risky and make a metal album. It’s the first metal album they did. Why did they do a metal album? Well, simply because Rivers Cuomo, the band’s leading man is a huge metal fan. He did it ’cause he likes metal and that’s it, really.

I listened to the album like 4 times this week and holy shit, it’s that good. It’s a fucking awesome record. Loved it so much. It just proves that Rivers can play any genre of music after hearing all those covers he did on youtube. Back to the “Van Weezer” album, it’s basically a homage and tribute to 80’s metal. I hear a lot of Ozzy influence, Van Halen, Sabbath maybe, some Poison, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard Guns N’ Roses, a bit of Ac/Dc too and I hear a bit of Metallica in there.

It’s an incredible album… I listened to it 4 times this week and that says something. What I loved the most about this album was that it made you realize that Rivers really is a great guitar player. With a guy like him, you’d think he’d be mostly playing power chords with the type of music that he plays but no, he’s way more than that. He can play lead guitar, two handed fret tapping and all of that stuff.

The “Van Weezer” album totally blew my fucking mind and I’m going to be listening to this one a lot, I think. This album definitely made me a Weezer fan again and I think I’m going to get back into buying their albums again. Rivers is a talented guy and his singing is pretty killer on “Van Weezer” too. I would recommend you buy it or if you’re on streaming services like Spotify/Apple Music, give it a listen yourself. It’s recommended! Rivers is trying to help keep rock alive!

Kev

movies

At long last, IndIana Jones 5 is finally filming In Bamburgh, UK…

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After many rewrites of “Indiana Jones 5”, the movie is finally filming as we speak. Here is a legit set photo of the crew behind the scenes. I believe this is the only set photo I can find of Indy 5 ’cause why? People taking pics is probably not allowed.

The cast and crew is filming the fifth installment of Indiana Jones in the Bamburgh, UK. They’re filming it at Bamburgh Castle. I’m sure the whole movie won’t be filmed at Bamburgh castle, just some of it. From the looks of things Bamburgh Castle is on a really small island in the UK which is great for an archeology spot.

As you can see here you see a mask Harrison Ford in full Indy garb speaking with Kathleen Kennedy. That unmasked man is Rob Marshall. Not sure but I think the film’s director, James Mangold is standing behind Harrison?

The plot and the title of the next movie is being kept under wraps for now but I’m sure we’ll learn more as we go along.

I’m hoping the next Indy movie will focus more on archeology and the history part of things like they were supposed to be. Yeah, I’m sure Indiana Jones 5 will still be a typical popcorn action flick too like the first four were but I’m hoping the next one will focus on story than action. Even though the plot is being kept under wraps, it’s probably gonna end up being a “passing of the torch” story like they’ve been hinting at for years. Ya know, passing the whip to someone much younger. Is that why Phoebe Waller-Bridge was hired as the female lead? She’s gonna be wearing Indy’s hat and whip at the end? A female archeologist is the goal? That’s what it’s kinda looking like to me.

And looks like John Rhys-Davies is about to reprise his legendary role as Sallah in “Indy 5” too ’cause he wasn’t in the last movie, “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” so it’s gonna be cool to see him again.

I’m sure Harrison is getting all kinds of criticism about his age for this movie but I’m sure he’s still capable of doing his own action scenes and there probably will be lots of action in this one for sure. He is 78 now but I’m sure he’s capable of swinging his own whip again and running around.

I’m a huge Indy fan. Love ’em all, yeah I thought “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” was great ’cause it was different and risky. I think James Mangold is capable of making a great Indiana Jones movie. Ever see the Wolverine movie, “Logan”? That film kind of reminded me of Indiana Jones a bit which is probably why he got the job.

Indy 5 will have lots of action, some comedy and some archeology stuff. It will be the same old Indy. I think they won’t disappoint us this time ’cause they know about all the bad reviews that Indy 4 got. They’ll definitely try to smarten up and make the next one better. Trust!

And I don’t think we’ve seen the last of the Ark either and it’s pretty likely we’ll see the return of that. The hunt for the Ark again?

Kev

music

Prince’s “Purple Rain” album is really is a masterpiece… beautiful album for sure…

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I may be late getting into Prince’s music but late is better than never, right? I never bought a single Prince album in my life so I thought I would finally start getting into him. Of course, I picked his “Purple Rain” soundtrack that he made himself for the same film with him in the leading role… well, I thought the movie was excellent too as I remember watching it on Netflix not too long ago. That’s what made me want to get the soundtrack album sometime so I picked up the soundtrack album from Itunes over the weekend since it was $4.99.

I listened to it once over the weekend and the album blew my fucking mind. Prince was a genius for sure and now I can see why he means so much to so many. I’m not gonna deny the guy is extremely popular.

I’m amazed at how melodic Prince’s music is and his guitar playing is killer too. I loved all 9 songs on the album but course, the album’s title track “Purple Rain” is always a beautiful song. Prince proves that all you need is like 4 or 5 chords to write an anthem. It’s a beautiful record for sure, though.

I’m probably gonna get into his music more but I won’t get every album ’cause he has a large discography. I’ll just get the good ones. Prince was a great artist just never got into his music much. He was a great songwriter for sure.

Kev

Random/off topic posts

Why does entertainment industry have to celebrate “Black” everything??? Why Can’t we be one???

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It’s in all the streaming services, Itunes, music streaming, bookstores, etc. “Celebrate black” this and celebrate “black” that. Get rid of the word “black” and lets come together as one. If you feel the need to use the word “black’ and use a color to describe someone then you’re the real racist. Think about it right??? No reason to celebrate “black” everything.

Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy entertainment by the african/american community. I love a lot of blues music which mostly consists of dark-skinned musicians like BB King, T Bone Walker, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Robert Johnson, etc. I love all that shit. When it comes to african/american rock n’ roll, I love Hendrix and Chuck Berry. I love singers like Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey.

When it comes to the movie industry I like and admire a lot of dark-skinned talent too like Denzel Washington is one of my favorite actors and Sam L. Jackson is cool.

Why do we need to describe “black” everything when it comes to the entertainment world? Well, I think this is all part of the divide and conquer, really. Nothing to see here.

Why can’t we treat them like real “people” and real “humans” like us and not “black this” and “black that” on everything? I think you get my drift, by now and where I’m trying to get at.

I love all entertainers regardless of skin color, why do we need all this? Celebrate black music, celebrate black stories, celebrate black movies, etc. It’s everywhere…. uggghhhhh…. stop all that already. So tired of it all.

Oh and I did happen to pick up the Prince “Purple Rain” album from Itunes since it was $4.99 celebrating “black music” is why so I went ahead and bought that album and loved it. Now I see why Prince matters and that’s my very first Prince album believe it or not. I might just get into his music more.

Kev

movies

Even though Theaters are slowly disappearing, people are still going to the movies after lockdown for “The Conjuring 3” and “A Quiet Place II”… Insane really…

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This is pretty insane really. Just when you thought theaters are dying ’cause of the pandemic… well fortunately that’s not the case. it’s actually the opposite ’cause people are starting to go back to the movie theaters after over a year of having no movie theaters.

After some theaters in the states started opening back up and some are closing for good, you would think you would see the death of the movie theater going experience but after seeing this, I predict theaters are about to make a huge comeback.

After the lockdown, two popular horror franchises came out with new films “The Conjuring 3” and “A Quiet Place – Part II” which both are now playing in theaters. It turns out that both movies did very well in the box office, surprisingly.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/conjuring-devil-3-box-office-quiet-place-ii-1234963632/

I went to see “A Quiet Place – Part II” last Friday afternoon, in case you haven’t seen my post about that movie the other day and it was really good. Loved it. Seen that the 3rd one was immediately green lighted but looks like John Krasinski is not gonna direct the third one.

Even though not confirmed yet, I’m sure a 4th “Conjuring” movie is on the way after the success of the third one. I haven’t seen the third one yet but gonna get around to it and want to see it badly. Had to choose one movie to see last Friday so I went with “A Quiet Place II” instead.

I think what it is why movie theaters are still a hit is ’cause people grew tired of watching movies at home during the lockdown with no theaters open. Movies were meant to be seen on the big screen, ya know? It’s about the theater experience.

Now that I think about it, movie theaters will never be gone ever.

Kev

music

Rock and Roll ain’t dead, it’s still alive and well… don’t listen to the idiots out there that claim it is…

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Well lets see… we have Greta Van Fleet, Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown, Alter Bridge, Ghost, Royal Blood, Dirty Honey, The Struts, Badflower, Rival Sons, Kings of Leon, Tame Impala, Black Stone Cherry, La Luz, Alabama Shakes, black midi, Gojira, Black Pistol Fire, Bully, Tetrarch and the list goes on and on and on.

I used to defend Gene Simmons at his “rock is dead” comments but I won’t anymore ’cause there’s so many new modern rock bands out that are doing well for themselves, honestly.

Rock has never really died and all those bands I listed above are pretty great too. Those bands I listed are “rock”. Yeah, rock is trying to make a comeback in the mainstream but it will and I think it’s about to. People are tired of pop, rap and country dominating the industry so a lot of people are turning to rock.

There are also still long time rock veterans that are still active in music today like Cheap Trick, AC/DC, Weezer and the Rolling Stones… still actively touring and putting out albums even to this day. So rock isn’t dead, no. Don’t listen to those that saying that rock isn’t going anywhere ’cause at the same time, rock is starting to become more successful again, it’s amazing to see.

I’ve been listening to a lot of the new stuff lately and there’s a lot of great new rock out there especially a band called black midi, they’re the best I think. Some of the bans I listed I haven’t heard much but I should get into them more. I love Gojira too, though… they’ve been around since 2001 so I still consider them pretty new. They make great metal and I love their new one “Fortitude”. Great shit.

I bought Weezer’s new album “Van Weezer” out of curiosity. I stopped listening to Weezer for a long while but I bought “Van Weezer” ’cause it’s a metal album. Looking forward to hearing it, though.

Those saying that rock is dead well, they’re living under a rock and it never has gone away.

Kev

Politics/war

Tired of the Leftist ideology being rammed down our throats constantly, are you???

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BLM, Gay Pride, Abortion, Gun Control, etc. So tired of it all. So tired of seeing leftist politics and ideology getting rammed down our throats everywhere. Yes, you see it everywhere nowadays. On your TV, in movies, in your hometown, streaming services, bookstores, on the internet, businesses (whether chain or local), etc.

It’s getting worse. Why? Why is it all happening? I think the Obamas are behind it all really. They are still controlling the country even though Barack is no longer president… kind of weird since you still see Barack’s face everywhere still.

If you think America thinks like that, we don’t ’cause why do you think Trump won the election in 2016?

We don’t need to see BLM everywhere and we don’t need to see the rainbow flag everywhere. It’s all tiresome and boring. Politics isn’t everything.

Why would a full grown adult think leftist? People would look at me and say I’m just a hardcore right-winger but not really. Even the right-wing stuff drive me crazy too… I think like an American and think for myself. Why can’t we all be like that?

I’m tired of people following the leftist ideology and everywhere you go and every person you meet is a die-hard leftist. It’s getting nuts. I’m tired of the rainbow flag and BLM like most.

We really need to unite as a country ’cause it’s getting bad. That’s why they do what they do… “gay pride” and “BLM” is all part of divide and conquer. Period.

Yeah, things are getting crazy and the left will bash you if you are critical of their views and that’s getting tiresome too.

It’s getting scarier and scarier under Biden. Enough is enough. Yeah, things maybe pretty wild now but I continue to live my life the way I want to and continue to be happy the way I want. Life is good. I’m just enjoying life by playing my guitar, listening to music, reading books, working out, etc.

I’m trying to stay away from this leftist politics the best I can ’cause I’m not interested in any of it and you can throw covid in there too.

Kev