Whenever I write boring posts about stuff that has been written about before on this blog I feel like a mega doofus but UGH, I am really sick of people not being enthusiastic about stuff. I think? Like do people even fully like things any more? SPECIFICALLY MUSIC? It seems like people are afraid to fully express how much they love bands these days because people that do that are SO LAME and usually like SUCH SHIT music. This is a dumb paragraph. It’s mostly a set-up so I can gush about some stuff.

AGAINST ME! Gah, this band. Does anyone besides Tom Gabel write lyrics with such an awkward ferocity? This fucking band! Ignore all the bad shit (and there admittedly is a bit of it) and focus on all the good stuff because OH GOD, so good. FROM HOBOKEN TO L.A! FROM PORTLAND TO GAINESVILLE! FROM THE GREAT PLANS TO NIAGARA! ROUTE 66 STRAIGHT TO CALIFORNIA! 

Miss u so bad America : (((( 

Also if I wasn’t lying awkwardly on my bed I would type up a thing about how much The Weakerthans are probably the best band of all time and I want to get all of their lyrics tattooed across my face. 

“We can control the medium/We can control the context of presentation”. New Wave opens with the kind of thing you aren’t supposed to sing about and Against Me! really picked the worst time to do so. After bailing on their independent roots they released an album on a major label that was also produced by Butch Vig (yikes!). It felt like a slap in the face to long-time fans and the reaction to this album was exactly what you would expect. It’s overproduced garbage! What happened to this band? Sell-outs! But really guys, we’ve had a few years to get over this DIY betrayal so I think we can finally appreciate just how good New Wave is.  

This is an album about the music industry, from directly within the thick of it. Against Me! know the ins and outs of the industry like no other band; from the DIY to the million dollar contracts. They saw it all when major labels courted them back in the day (they made a fucking DVD about it) and most of all they knew how to position themselves within this insane market without losing sight of themselves. With the majority of songs on New Wave being about the music industry, it felt alienating and strange. Where were all the political songs? Fuck that, where were all the acoustic guitars? Not one acoustic song, fuck. No wonder people didn’t like this thing. 

The opening title track sets the tone of the record both lyrically and musically. Big and loud guitars with big drums and big vocals. Pretty big. Vig is in no way a subtle producer but after years of hating him, I have to say his production style actually really suits the content of these songs. Complaining about an industry while using its money to make your album sound huge must have been a fun position for the band to have been in. No wonder they took full advantage of it, there’s nothing like sticking it to the man when you’re on his dime. Probably. 

They do take breaks from the music industry such as with “White People for Peace”: a song about protest songs that is almost painfully self-aware and reflexive. Pretty apt timing too as 2007 was just when we whiteys were becoming obsessed with the idea of stuff white people like. Remember when it was white people problems instead of first word problems? Never forget etc. 

I’ll write more about this soon, I guess. 

I want to write a long thing about how Against Me!’s New Wave is in retrospect, kind of a brilliant album but I can’t really bothered right now. This is a reminder for me to do that because SUPER INTERESTING FOR YOU GUYS.

Actually a really great album that is a really good comment on the music industry circa 2007 and full of good lyrics and songs (good!!). Too bad the production is still kind of a mess but if you look past it then GREAT ALBUM!!!!!!!! 

Hey Tumblr here is some bullshit that happened to me lately. Mostly it’s pretty good I suppose. 

I think last time I updated this tumblr with words I was in San Francisco? Yeah? Well, San Francisco is pretty dope. And NO not just because it’s really gay friendly but also because it has SEVERAL fantastic neighbourhoods and beatniks and all that shit. I mean really, if someone offered me a job there I would totally take that job. Unless it was a really bad job. 

I also turned 23 last week which threw me into a total crisis. Probably didn’t help that I got a hardcore crush on this guy I will probably never ever see again and UGH why did I even do a degree in journalism? I don’t even like it. It’s boring. I hate interviewing people and writing. This is probably the only birthday ever that has “affected me” and hopefully not all birthdays are like this from now on but I spent literally the past 5 days thinking about my shitty future (reference!) and way too long thinking about someone who I knew for an extremely brief period. Kind of ruined Sasquatch festival a little bit, but actually Sasquatch was still really fun so I dunno. I could of had more fun if my brain wasn’t such a fucking dickhead.

Deep, getting so deep on my Tumblr right now. I should be more shallow and superficial so I guess here are some dotpoints to go with this wall of text.

• Against Me! are so fucking damn good again. Yeah, I know they released a pretty terrible album this year but FUCK they still bring it live and I will love them forever and even though they were pretty much the first band I saw at Sasquatch they were probably also the best.  
• Camped with some brothers called Forest and Skylar at Sasquatch. Plus their friends Reed… and Kenny. Lmao. Nice dudes. 
• Death Cab, everyone. I mean, Death Cab are kind of a joke due to their over-earnestness but I was in the mood for some emotion so yeah, good set. I legitimately enjoyed all the new songs even though the crowd didn’t seem so into them.
• Hitchhiking is surprisingly easy. Pretty much take a photo of yourself standing in front of a sign saying “hitchhiking is permitted in this area” and then a car will pull over immediately. It probably works all over the USA. 
• How good are trains? So good.
• Hey guy who was offering me $300 to sleep with you. You are a cool guy. Really appreciated the offer of United airline travel vouchers when I said no. You are just the coolest. 
• Saw some spaceships from Battlestar Galactica today. So awesome! I’m the coolest. 
• The buskers outside of my hostel in Seattle were covering Against Me! 
• I REALLY need a haircut. I tried to get one at the hairdressing school or something just now but they were all booked out. That is some bullshit. Related: I have really terrible teenage facial hair at the moment.
• I went to the Golden Gate bridge and it was cool. Mostly because I took the like 2 hour walk to get there entirely in the rain but when I finally got to the bridge the weather cleared up and it was the best. Related: Alcatraz was also fucking great but mostly because it was super similar to the Alcatraz level from Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4 (the best in the series) so it felt like I already knew my way around and all the rust and birds were just so great. The audio tour was also a lot cooler than it should have been in and I never knew that native Americans tried to claim the island at one point? Interesting history Alcatraz.

So that is maybe enough dot points for the moment. I should really just post pictures and screencaps or whatever other tumblrs do because I feel like this is just becoming a giant blog of text (gross). I have about enough money left for one month of travel so maybe I will come back to Austalia after that but I would really like to stay here longer and maybe get a job but as I mentioned I have no idea about anything to do with my career and what am I even going to do? I’m worried when I go back to Australia I will be in the same situation but maybe even worse because while travelling I can kind of avoid some of the problems I was having back home? I dunno. Look at all these emotions!! Yuck!!

Bye.

:„„,(