Kids Stuff

 After over a decade of writing doomy, psychadelic love/hate songs, I am finally putting out a record. The name I have chosen as the catalyst for this material as some of you may already know is Crooked Man. (Please find us HERE on facebook and like the band!!) At this point Crooked Man consists of myself, Wayne Daren Schneiderman (Black Pig, A Family Plot) on the drum set and our newest addition to the band, guitarist, Tommy Tripi. Me and Tom grew up together. When we were kids we played hockey, roamed the streets of Southern Brooklyn, skated, road dirt bikes, listened to Metal, Punk, Hardcore and every other type of extreme music we could get our hands on. Most importantly though, Tommy taught me how to play my first few "guitar licks". Bending a string, playing power chords, vibrato, all kinds of cool things a young guitar player wants to learn given the opportunity.
 After a couple of years of taking guitar lessons from the same teachers, me Tom and our close friends Michael Scondotto (Inhuman, Confusion) and oddly enough Wayne D. Schneiderman formed a band. Although I was reluctant to play hardcore at first, it was the type of music my best friends wanted to play so we formed Close Call. We played cross over hard core in the vein of Token Entry, Judge, Crumbsuckers, Cro Mags and Bad Brains. We played a couple of local shows and did some recordings with Don Fury which was cool but we were too young to take it serious and the band broke up after a couple of years.
We were just kids I guess and we wanted to do kid stuff.
Check out the artwork for the 1989 demos!! I was 16 haha.
I continued to play in bands with Wayne until later on when I joined Candiria. Everyone remained friends though and life has a funny way of putting things in its proper place because I'm playing in a band with the guys I grew up with again and it sounds great!! I'm very excited to start playing some shows with Crooked Man. We have one coming up, August 13th. It's my friend Lee's birthday party, it should be a packed show. We are playing with the infamous, James Plotkin (Scorn, Atomsmasher), my buddy Josh's band, Inswarm, Lee Bartow's, Theologian + Tournament and one other act. Its going to be at The Acheron in Buschwick. I'm totally psyched!! OK that's all for now. Thank you all for your support <3

Endless Midnight

Waylon Records has announced the release date of Crone's "Endless Midnight". The Debut album from Isis bass player Jeff Caxide. The album features musical contributions from myself and a few other fantastic musicians. Check out all the details here.

http://waylonrecordings.blogspot.com/2011/05/crone-endless-midnight.html?spref=fb

Candiria, in the wake of total destruction

Candiria is in the process of recording its seventh official full length release to date. It has been a very strange and extraordinarily difficult journey for the band. Most of you know just how close we all came to passing on from this life on September 9th in 2002.
And that it is an absolute miracle that we are all still not only alive but able to continue playing music. Every one of us including our driver and ever faithful tour manager Kevin McCormack still suffers from some form of cronic pain or a limitation of motion or a herniation of some sort.
And every one of us is mentally scarred for life with the memory of the impact and the van flipping several times before coming to a complete hault upside down on its roof. Well except me, I was knocked unconscious on impact and did not come to until hours later, in the hospital, with a doctor shoving a tube up my nose and down my throat, with Ken yelling from the other room at me to man up and deal with it because he had to deal with it too. I must have been crying or screaming or something to that effect but it's really all a blur. I only remember brief moments that faded in and out for several hours after the initial impact.
 Apart from that horrific incident there were other major hurdles for us like contractual obligations with dead beat record labels, musical differences (which led to my departure from the band for a period of time) and then their were the basic pressures of  life we were faced with such as paying bills and feeding new born babies. Another notable disappointment was a Candiria documentary that we all agreed to take part in which was finished but never released for reasons unknown to us. Each of us spent hours and hours answering questions that spanned the entire history of the band, opening up and unraveling truths in great detail. Maybe that documentary would have made all of what we went through somewhat understandable. Maybe it would have softended the memory of some of those horrors and hardships we faced. But no, epic failure once again.

 But there is light at the end of that very long and dark tunnel. Four fifths of what made Candiria the band we were known to be are working together again. Ken Schalk, Carley Coma, Michael MacIvor and I are all working to make the next Candiria album the very best album we've ever made. Drums for six songs are tracked, and several other songs are being written. In the past few weeks Michael MacIvor has been writing bass lines for the first 3 or 4  pieces and I personally feel that it is some of the very best he has ever written to this date, hands down.

The band plans on going back into the studio to track drums for another 3 or 4 songs and after that, completing all of the music and art and prepare it for manufacturing. We are gearing up for an early 2012 release and with the release, 2 headlining dates in NYC and then who knows, maybe even a tour.

I Love my job

This is a photo I took today of the vinyl we have available at my label  RISING PULSE RECORDS . I really do love my label. I love the work and of course I love the music. I am very fortunate to be able to do this and I appreciate all of the many supporters all over the world who have made a purchase!!! thank you.
 This will be an exceptional year. Candiria, Spylacopa, Julie Christmas and now my own, Crooked Man are all working on new releases.

2011 and Beyond

 A busy year indeed!! There are 3 releases out this year or scheduled for release that I have contributed to. First off, Julie Christmas (Made Out Of Babies, Battle Of Mice, Spylacopa) released an EP titled "Coextinction Recordings 5". This is the 5th release on Andrew Schneider's Coextinction Records hence the title. Other releases on Coextinction include music by Shrinebuilder, Unsane and Pigs to cite a few. The EP features the usual suspects from Christmas' critically acclaimed full length "The Bad Wife" (Rising Pulse Records). For CR5, Andrew Schneider engineered, supplied bass and produced. I co-wrote the tunes along with the lovely lady herself and performed all guitars. Finally, new recruit Wayne Daren Schneiderman stepped up to the plate and delivered in spades on the drums. You can purchase the EP here. JULIE CHRISTMAS EP

 Next up, with no official release date set Lee Bartow's, Love Is Nothing will be dropping its first official full length release titled "Without Me" sometime in the second half of 2011. With contributions from myself on guitar, Mike Hill (Tombs), Carrie Ingber (ex-Zambri) and many others, Bartow is stepping away from what he is known for (Navicon Torture Technologies) and pounding out something completely different. Fans of Joy Division, The Cure, Mogwai, My Bloody Valentine and Jesu take note. Click this link to check out the first single. ABUSE

Finally, Jeff Caxide of the mighty Isis' new project, Crone, will be releasing his debut full length 'Endless Midnight' in the late spring. With no official release date set, it includes contributions from Isis members Aaron Harris and Bryant Clifford Meyers. The first recording session for Endless Midnight was actually done in my home studio on a stand alone 16-track recording unit where I recorded and engineered Caxide laying down a series of brilliant bass performances using a Music Man Sting Ray and an arsenal of effects pedals. We then layed down some overdubs and loops, and that set Jeff Caxide and Crone on its path. Not all of the first session will make it to the full length, but the best of it will.
 Just about a year has past since the first session and Endless Midnight is in the process of being mastered. Aaron Turner (Isis, Mammifer) is also in the process of designing the packaging for the CD, which will put the finishing touches on it and then its off to the manufacturing plant. A Facebook page will be created and a Crone track will be available for preview soon. That's all for now!!! Stay tuned for updates regarding Candiria, Spylacopa, Rising Pulse Records and my latest endeavor, Crooked Man.

This is my blog

 I've done this before. I created a personal blog and then let it drift off into cyberspace, forgetting the user names and passwords and eventually giving up on trying to remember them. My intention has always been the same with each and every one I have created. To document and post about my music(al) and artistic endeavors. Also to post subject matter, video and imagery of things that interest and move me on a personal level. Here's a few random photos I took on my journeys in the last couple of years. Lets use them to get this blog started.

Bklyn Ny, 10

Vanessa Twyford, Bklyn, Ny '08

 

 

Sweetfire Studios, Bklyn Ny '07

Vanessa Twyford, Bklyn Ny '08

Miami Fl, '09