FREE
CENTRAL PA.
Dec 17, 2010
PLUG’D IN The Hard-Rock'n Bi-Weekly Magazine Jingle Our Christmas Balls!!
Inside This issue The Daily Grind: Interview w/ George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher of Cannibal Corpse Impact: Interview w/ Dan Jacobs of Atreyu On Tour: Interview w/ Spencer of Ice Nine Kills Plug’d In Features: 20Til8 Dear Dead Abby The Years Top 10 Chuck Norris Jokes
Merry Christmas from everyone @ Central Pa. Plug’d In Magazine. May the spirit of the season bless you and your families and fill your hearts and homes with joy.
Check out our kick-ass full color version online
www.centralpapluggedin.com
Upcoming Shows
Jan 2nd - DREAMLAND PARK!! Thats right! I said it! Dreamland Park is hitting the stage for a show! Ace Augustine, Garmonia, From This We Rise, No Remorse for The Fallen, Oh! Rabbit! Rivers Of Nihil, and Days Of Waste! All Ages! $10 at the door!! Start the new year off right! Jan. 14th SEVENTH CORVUS, ITS A TRAP, SIX PENNY CD RELEASE SHOW, CALL ME CRAZY, THE GRIM WILDERNESS AND MORE TBA! ALL AGES, $10 AT THE DOOR! Jan. 15th - EAST COAST WILD CARDS, CHASING THE UNKNOWN, ENGINE PRESS, INVARIANCE, HEADSTONE 118, All Ages, $10 at the door! Jan. 21st - THRODL! CONFESSIONS OF A LIFETIME, 20Til8, OF THE NINTH CIRCLE AND TBA, ALL AGES, $10 AT THE DOOR! Feb. 4th - FOR THE PERILOUS,MAESION, A SCENT LIKE WOLVES AND TBA! ALL AGES!! $10 AT THE DOOR!
www.drivingmetal.com www.thesilorocks.com
The Daily Grind: Interview w/ George ”Corpsegrinder” Fisher of Cannibal Corpse Interview and Photo by Nicole Marie November 20th I had the amazing opportunity to sit down and interview George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher of Cannibal Corpse. Cannibal Corpse being a leading authority in the death metal genre, they have a cult like following and an extremely controversial history, to say the least. It is completely traditional to expect their shows to be sold out, their fans to be crazy, and their music to be horrifically incredible. Every time I see Cannibal Corpse play I leave with a huge smile on my face and bruises to go with it. It’s an amazing experience and I love every fucking second of it PI: Can you name off hand how many countries you and your music are banned in? CG: Well right now, Belarus, which is in Eastern Europe. Honestly, we’ve been banned in so many countries but somehow find ways to play there anyway, like in Korea, New Zealand, Ukraine, and our first 3 albums were banned in Germany. Like I said, they say we can’t play there, but we do anyway. It’s stupid, and getting through boarders is a bitch, but we go where our fans want to see us, that’s our number one goal. PI: What 4 words would you use to describe your fans? CG: I could use one word, DEDICATED. They stuck with us through the years, with the member changes, all the controversy, they still come to shows and our crowds get bigger and better. Our fans are truly dedicated, we love them. And we can’t thank them enough. PI: “Evisceration Plague” debuted at #66 on the Billboard 200 with 9,571 units sold, making it the band's highest charting debut to date. Why do you think this is? CG: I think a lot of it is due to the fact that we’ve really been out a lot, doing so much touring. People have seen a lot of us. I think the climate for metal has been changing and a lot of more extreme music is being accepted, there’s a lot of bands that open up a lot of doors for bands like us. We’ve been touring our asses off, especially for this album, but obviously in the beginning we were surprised by it, we thought it might hit the charts but yea its incredible to be on the top like that, it’s pretty damn cool, if we were #666 it would be even cooler but that’s a little low. It stayed on the charts for another week after that, and that surprised us even more, we were definitely thrilled about that. We would say, we made the charts, now we gotta STAY on it. And we did! (PI) It’s awesome that you appreciate it so much. (CG) HELL YEA! It’s a big fuckin’ deal! We can’t thank our fans enough. And, you know, I really hope this success trickles down the same way to bands like us or the bands playing with us today, to Dying Fetus, and Vital Remains and Devourment. I hope they and all the other bands in our genre feel the effects, from our success. You know, we’re going to be gone one day, its just going to happen, sadly, there’s not going to be us touring and being around, hopefully its no time soon, but it’s going to happen, and when we’re gone, I hope everything continues. Honestly, I love this music so much that I hope in the future I can still go out and get albums from other bands, and they can keep carrying the torch, so yeah, what I’m saying is that hopefully this all transfers. Also, I know a lot of people saw us on
Mayhem, that never heard of us before, and the more tours we do, the more people are seeing and that all definitely us helps us. I hope people can come out to see us and also like the bands we’re with. Because I know not all of our fans are diehard death metal fans, they like other things too, and the more bands they see, they really realize wow I really like metal, and that way all the bands like us get more exposure and the genre just becomes bigger and bigger. That’s the picture I’d like to see. We’d like to set the course, and bring the other bands with us. We want to build the genre up, we want to dominate! PI: When you replaced Chris Barnes, did you feel like you were under pressure to sort of copy or imitate what he did and how he preformed, or were you given freedom to create your own persona? CG: FUCK NO. I’m going to be honest, nobody ever asked me to be like him. If they did I would have never done it, because I don’t want to be like him. I have my own thing. (PI) You’re definitely original! (CG) Exactly! I never want to imitate or copy anybody. (PI) Did you feel like some people wanted you to be like him, or do what he did? (CG) Well, there were probably some people who did. But I don’t think fans really wanted another Barnes, he did what he did and somewhere it didn’t work out. He has his thing, and I have mine. If I had to replace Glen Benton (Deicide), or Dave Vincent (Morbid Angel), I can see trying to kind of replicate them, or Chuck Schuldiner (Death), which you really can’t ever replace Chuck Schuldiner, but I can see myself trying to be like them, just because those are the type of vocals that I’m into. More so than what Chris was into, except for the first album, he was awesome in the first album. But yeah, I never felt pressured. I mean obviously they got rid of Chris for a reason and they wanted somebody different so I came in and did my thing, I was never asked to be like him, that’s not what the band wanted. Maybe that’s what some of the fans wanted, I know some were done after the change, but everyone rightfully has their own opinion. But it seems like more of our fans stuck and remained loyal, and that’s so awesome.
07/16/10
PI: In your opinion, where did the fixation will killing with a knife come from? Considering that is the weapon of choice in many of your songs? CG: Ha-ha I don’t know. I think it’s really the easiest weapon you know? Like if you’re in your house, somebody breaks in, and if you don’t own a gun you’re going to go to your kitchen and grab a knife, right? Its second nature, you automatically know that something you can kill someone with. (PI) And it’s more personal right? Like up face to face and...(CG) Definitely personal! If it’s somebody I didn’t fuckin’ like, I wouldn’t just kill them, id fuckin’ torture the bastard. If somebody did something to me or my kids, I’d torture that motherfucker; I wouldn’t let them die for as long as I can. If something happened, and I had a choice of a weapon, then a knife is what I’d use, oh definitely I would do some mean shit. But yeah, a knife is just the easiest thing, just think about it, you pick up a gun, you got to load the thing and take off the safety and what not, you can put a knife by your bed and need be (pretending to stab somebody) bam, ha-ha, done! PI: What are the top 3 songs you feel your fans respond most to? CG: Number one, hands down, “Hammer Smashed Face”. Then probably “Make Them Suffer”, “Stripped, Raped, and Strangled” is another one, and “Evisceration Plague” is really getting up there. When I’m up there and announce the next song and people are like ahhhhhh! Ha-ha. That’s when I know what people are into. Also, something we haven’t played in a while, like “Fucked with A Knife”, if I say that, people usually give a big reaction. But definitely “Hammer Smashed Face” and “Make Them Suffer” are the ones fans seem to respond to the most, everyone goes crazy and screams the words with me, it’s fucking awesome. PI: Have you ever “Hammer Smashed” anyone’s face, if not, would you like to? CG: No I haven’t. But there are some people that I would love to. Ha-ha. So yeah, I’ve never done it, but you NEVER know. PI: Your current line up has not changed in a long time, why do you feel this is? CG: Because once you join us, you can’t get out until your dead. You can’t leave unless you leave in a box. (PI) That’s a damn good answer. (CG) I thought it sounded good. Haha but no, we really do get along well. I mean being on tour we’re together constantly so there is obviously some bitching and complaining but that’s just normal. Stupid things like people leaving hair in the sink, messing up shit on the bus haha there’s a lot of “fuck you” and “you’re an asshole” going around. But that’s pretty much it. Everybody has their own pet peeves that get on everybody else’s nerves but that eventually we all get along. We are all here for the same reason, playing death metal and our fans.
PI: Would you ever participate in an “Edible Autopsy”? CG: Ha-ha! Um, probably not. PI: In the music industry today, so many bands are changing their style and pretty much selling out to get more fans and more popularity. But it’s the complete opposite with Cannibal Corpse, you guys stick to you stuff and stay original, and still you have a cult like following and your fans stay loyal. How do you feel about this? CG: You’re totally right, and it’s amazing! Like I said earlier, our fans are incredibly loyal and dedicated. We put ourselves and our music out there and they just take it to the next level. It’s such an honor to see our shows sell out; our songs hit the charts and how many people pick up the new albums. We are so grateful to our fans and I can’t say that enough. We’re not going to change, we know what we like, and what our fans like. We’ve chosen this path and we’re sticking to it. PI: Are you currently working on anything with Paths of Possession? CG: Actually yeah! We’re playing a show next month in Tampa, on December 18 th. After that we’re going to have some time off, we’re writing a new album for Cannibal Corpse for next year, and with Paths of Possession we’re going to try to do an album for next year too, we have enough stuff for one, we just haven’t put it together yet, but considering the circumstances with Cannibal Corpse we didn’t have enough time. I’ve been crazy fucking busy with Cannibal Corpse, touring nonstop for this album (Evisceration Plague) which this is the last tour we’re doing for it. Plus our Paths of Possession bass player Randy joined the army and is in Afghanistan now, he’ll still be at the shows; he just can’t play because he’ll miss all the practices and everything, so that was just another obstacle for us. So next year the plan is to do another Paths of Possession album, hopefully. PI: When you’re not with the band, what’s a normal day like for George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher? CG: Warcraft! Haha no, It really depends on the day. (PI) Well if you’re at home. (CG) It’s really different every day. (PI) Ok, ha-ha what about on a Thursday? (CG) Alright so on a Thursday I wake up about 8:30 or 9:00, I might even be up anyway with my daughters, my oldest daughter Maya is in kindergarten now, so I’ll take her to school, and then I’ll watch my youngest daughter Abby, we’ll run around, be wild and crazy haha, I’ll just be playing with her. She has a fixation now that she owns a beauty shop and guess who gets to wear the princess makeup and get their hair done…Daddy. She’ll brush my hair, put on some eye shadow and lipstick, when she’s done I look pretty wild haha I’ll tell you that. Then around 2:30 I’ll put Abby in her little wagon and we’ll both walk the 2 blocks to Maya’s school and pick her up. Then we’ll go back home, I’ll make them some lunch, play some games around the house, do whatever they want to do, then we’ll have some dinner and I’ll put them to bed. That’s pretty much my typical Thursday. (PI) Well that’s pretty much the cutest thing I’ve ever heard. (CG) Haha. Well thank you. PI: So, What’s next for Cannibal Corpse? CG: After this tour, definitely time off. We’re going to be writing and recording the new album for next year, it should be out late 2011 or early 2012. And then summer 2012 right we’ll be right back into touring. PI: Can you give us any hints about what to expect for the new album? CG: Honestly I think we have one song written, nothing else, and no title yet. We really haven’t had time to write anything as of yet, but when we have these couple months off we’ll start writing and getting everything together. We’ve been touring 2 straight years for this last album, we definitely need some rest. And as for what’s next for me, Cataclysm! (PI) Umm, what? (CG) World of War Craft, Cataclysm, December 7 th, woo! Ha-ha I can’t wait. (PI) Ohhh ha-ha I gotcha! PI: Alright George, thank you so much for sitting down with Plug’d In! CG: Anytime guys!
www.cannibalcorpse.net
www.the-last-level.com
www.pennavemusic.com
Cyanide and Happiness Toon of the Week
Disclaimer: Cyanide and Happiness is property of Explosm.net. We are just supporting them cause they’re funny as crap. Want to see more? Check out:
www.explosm.net/comics Top 10 Hard Rock Albums on Billboard.com 1) Bon Jovi– Greatest Hits 2) Linkin Park– A Thousand Suns 3) A Day To Remember– What Separates Me From You 4) Disturbed– Asylum 5) Avenged Sevenfold– Nightmare 6) Five Finger Death Punch– War is the Answer 7) My Darkest Days– My Darkest Days 8) Shinedown– The Sound Of Madness 9) Trans Siberian Orchestra– Night Castle 10)AC/DC– Iron Man Soundtrack
College Football Saturday Special 24’ Steak Sandwich (Any) & a “Belly Buster Size” order of Cheddar Bacon F.F. Only 15.99 NFL Football Sunday Special Large pizza, 2 Dozen Wings & a 24’ Cold Sub Only 25.99
www.dineindie.com/bellybusters
Impact:
Interview w/ Dan Jacobs
of Atreyu Interview and Photos by Michael Demos Dan Jacobs is a phenomenal guitar player. His shredding style is a key factor in the glue that makes Atreyu the heavy-weights they are today. We caught up with Dan before his show @ the Croc Rock and he is such a laid back, down to earth guy. I really enjoyed talking to him and here’s what he had to say……M.D. PI: Dan, we wanted to ask you, right now, how’s the tour going? DJ: So far, so good. It’s the first headliner we’ve done in a few years and all the bands on the tour are bands we’ve toured with before or know from other experiences and stuff so it makes it a little bit easier coming into it, just knowing everyone already. So, it’s been fun so far. PI: Congregation of the Damned has been out for a while now. Now that you guys had a chance to fully digest it being out, and your fans had a chance to react to it, what direction do you see Atreyu taking in the future now? DJ: Well, even just from all of our experiences from all the records, we worked with so many different producers and so many different people and I feel at the end of the day like when we kind of just do our own thing and don’t work with producers, just write our own shit, which we do anyway, but I mean as far as letting other people kind of whisper in your ear and stuff like that, our stuff comes out the best. So, we’re probably going to go back to that a little bit, and I don’t know, it might be a little bit heavier, might be more Death Grip on Yesterday-ish. PI: Right now, in our opinion at least, there seems to be a split in the Atreyu fan camp. You got new fans, you’ve got the older fans, and they’re very, very opinionated. Do you have any idea why they feel the way they do? DJ: Yea, I mean, our newer stuff sounds a little bit more melodic. It doesn’t sound just like our older stuff. But, all of our music, even from day one, it’s kind of been all over the place to some extent and it’s just hard to please everyone. At the end of the day, you always win, but you always don’t win at the same time. Everything we put out we’ll have fans that love it, new and old, and everything we put out we’ll have fans that hate it, new and old, so you just kind of have to do your thing and as long as you’re having a good time and write what you back and just put your heart into it, that’s all you can really do. PI: Are you guys going to throw out another video for this album? DJ: No, not for this one. PI: What about for Covers of the Damned? DJ: No, that’s just kind of a fun thing we did just for the story. PI: I want to ask you, since Covers is out, who did your favorite song on that album? DJ: That’s a tough one. I’d say either our version of “Living on the Edge” by Aerosmith or that Deftone’s cover is really good. It’s Brandon from Chiodos singing and Travis our guitar player and our bass player Mark on it. Or Dead Kennedy’s, the Endless Hallway… guys really went to town on that one. It’s so spooky and darker and heavier than the original one.
PI: We all know that you love 80’s metal, that’s your thing. Is there a song from that era that you would love to cover, but Atreyu style? DJ: I don’t know. That’s a tough one. There are a lot of songs that I would love to cover, a lot of bands. It’s just a matter of, when Atreyu picks the covers; could we pull this off Atreyu style? Will it make sense if we do it our way? (PI) Any particular band? Instead of a song, maybe a band? (DJ) I’d love to do a Def Leppard song or a Van Halen song, Ratt, Scorpions; I love Scorpions, that’s probably one of my favorites. PI: Now, you’re involved with Rokk clothing; that’s your clothing line. I wanted to ask you, how has the venture with that been going currently? DJ: It’s actually kind of spun into two different things. It was a clothing line, but in sort of doing that we started working with all these other companies, designing stuff for them, and we ended up, my brother Joe and I, we started a merchandising company called Rockworld Merchandise and we work with a bunch of bands, we work with Kat Von D, Monster Energy Drinks, Razor Rob McCullough the fighter; we’ve done stuff with Josh Barnett, Clay Guida, and tons of people, a lot of bands and stuff like that. Its cool man, it’s like a whole nother experience its cool because you start a band with your friends and it becomes big, and we did this. It’s cool because I get to do this with my brother, and for him seeing me do this for so many years it’s cool for him to have something that he can latch onto and we’ve just got tons of stuff going on together. PI: Since you are so busy, how do you find time, how do you manage time personally to take care of everything? DJ: Surprisingly, I have a decent amount of free time. On tour, other than our sound check which takes a half an hour, from maybe 3-3:30 and then our time when we actually play and maybe the occasional interview we just sit around all day watching TV and just picking our butts. There’s nothing else to do really, you know. So in that time, before I wasn’t really doing anything with it and then since about 2007 I’ve been trying to use my free time to like, you can never have your hand in too many pots. PI: How has being in the band, and the fact that you guys tour so much, how has it affected your personal life or your family life? DJ: Family life, it can be a little rough. Just when there’s people getting married or deaths in the family, sicknesses, stuff like that it’s a little hard when you’re away having girlfriends and all that, but I’ve been single for a long time so I haven’t really had to deal with any of that, but other dudes are married and they got to deal with trying to get their wives out here on tour and trying to work around their wives’ work schedules. That can be strenuous on you a little bit. but I like it because it gives fuel for the fire for lyrics, it fuels the music. PI: What about the personal life, do you prefer the single life? Does this fit real nice? DJ: It makes it a little easier in one sense, because I don’t have to deal with worrying about someone back home or try to fly anyone out here or anything like that, but the grass is always greener on the other side. PI: If you could pick one thing inside the music industry to change, what would you change about it? DJ: I don’t know, maybe the internet end of things, the downloading. Not that I’m opposed to it entirely, but I think with such easy easy access to music, it makes people not as hungry for it and bands just don’t have that prestige like they used to back in the day. People can download records, listen to it real quick and move onto the next one, but I mean, back in the day, you go buy a cd you save up for it, you got to go to the store and physically buy it, you sit there and you read the lyrics on the record and learn every word, you listen to that cd over and over again until its fucking broken it doesn’t even work anymore and you get tired of it. Then you go out and you buy another cd and you really take it in where you appreciate that music more than if you just download it and listen to a couple songs and “yea yea, its cool, yea, that’s good I like that, next next next”. That’s just how easily accessible it is nowadays. PI: There’s a high profile case where a woman was just fined by superior courts for like 1.5 plus million dollars for 24 songs. What’s your opinion on that? DJ: They’re trying to be like hey, we’re cracking down on this more. The music industries, especially record labels, are hurting hard. A lot of them are going under or not doing so well and they need to think of other ways to do this because you got the internet and stuff and every band is becoming their own entrepreneur. You almost don’t need record labels anymore, they’re just a bank. They have connections. If you could do it yourself, you could put your music
out there for free and it just gets out there, you become huge and set up tours and do all that shit without them and that scares the shit out of them because what are they supposed to do. So they’re probably trying to find someone like her and slap her on the wrist real hard and make an example of her to some extent. That’s what I’m guessing PI: You were featured in IMV’s “Behind the Player”, the DVD series. How was the response to that? DJ: It was cool. It took kind of another angle and then let people see that, especially on a more personal level and the level of a guitar player. Not being so much about the band but about me and what I bring to my band, what influences me, which is essentially a big part of what molds Atreyu to some extent. PI: In your career, what do you want to do that you haven’t been able to do? DJ: I just want to go to all the places we’ve never been, I mean any place you can physically play a show in, I want to go there. We’ve been all around the world. I’ve flown around the world several times. I want to go down to South America a little bit more. I’d like to go to Africa. I’d like to tour around the Asian territory a little bit more. We’ve dabbled in there but not entirely. I don’t know. I just want to see more. Traveling is probably one of my favorite things about being in a band; getting to see the world and opening your eyes up to so many amazing things. I just want to travel more. PI: You’ve got your own signature guitars. Think back to yourself as a kid. Alright, we got little Dan, did you ever see yourself being this big, like having guitars modeled after you, kids looking up to you? How does it feel? DJ: It’s crazy. Stuff like that, I mean, for anything, you want to go big, you got to dream big. For anything, you got to think big. And I always thought big and it’s what I wanted and it’s what I imagined myself having and doing, but until you get it, it doesn’t really become a reality. You’re just like, “I’m going to do this.” or “I’m going to do that.” and “I want to be famous.”, “I want to be like that guy.” and “I want to be like this person in this band.”, and you fast forward and all the shit happens and it’s crazy to look back and be like “Wow, I actually did get big”. If you really go for it, it works. PI: What’s the one thing you wish your fans knew about you, that they don’t know about? DJ: I think they know a lot about me. There’s not really much to me, I’m pretty cut and dry to some extent like I’m kind of a weird dude. But I like to play guitar, I like Japanese food, I like drinking…smoking stuff sometimes (laughs). PI: What about the band as a whole? What don’t people know about Atreyu that they should? DJ: We’re all like brothers. A lot of bands don’t get along internally very well, so to say. Everyone has their differences and whatnot. But all of these dudes, especially our singer Alex and drummer Brandon, I went to middle school with so I’ve known them for almost 20 years. I’ve known them for a long time. It’s a totally different sensation when you get to grow up with these people and do this and travel the world with these people. I don’t know, it’s cool. PI: These are special guest questions that are submitted by some of our readers. None of them are related, but these are the questions: Anthony Dobranski wants to know “Lead Sails Paper Anchor was not as hard as your previous stuff. Why?” DJ: I think it was just our way of venting a little bit. As far as the whole singing and screaming thing, we were one of the first bands in that whole genre doing that whole thing and as soon as we start seeing a lot of other bands doing
that, not that we’re the only ones doing that or it’s all about us or anything, but when you other bands doing it or other people doing a lot of stuff that starts to become really popular, that shies us away from it a little bit. We just want to be different and we don’t want to fit the mold of everything else. That was kind of our thing from the start is the fact that we were different from everybody else and we always want to be different from everybody else and for fans and even for ourselves as musicians to keep ourselves interested in it. If we just wrote the same record over and over again, we’d get bored. We wouldn’t still be here if we just wrote the same record over and over again. It keeps our minds fresh, keeps us wanting to be in the game. April Yurkonis wants to know, “What do you personally do in your spare time?” DJ: I play golf, my rendition of golf. It’s one of those games I thought it was going to be an old persons sport so I tried it and I hit that perfect shot. I see beautiful golf courses all over the world and we bring our golf clubs and you go these places and it’s like going to this beautiful park or something. You just drive around for a couple of hours, get away from the show a little bit, hang out with your friends, have a couple beers, check out even the animal life, the trees, and everything that’s different depending on where you are in the world. It makes me look at cities differently. My view on cities everywhere I go is, see the dirty part of town where the club is, but then you go and you see this beautiful golf course and this beautiful foliage and like “Oh this is so quiet and relaxing and peaceful”. It’s like the yin to the yang of being in a loud rock and roll band. I think that’s why I like it so much, its so the opposite. Kevin Piccioni wants to know, “Why do you guys never get any airplay from these shit ass local radio stations? All they ever play is the mainstream stuff.” DJ: That’s why they’re shit ass local radio stations (laughs). No, I mean there are only a few special stations out there that really go out on a limb and play some aggressive stuff, or play stuff that’s a little left of center. It’s a shame because there’s a huge fan base out there for people that want to listen to stuff that’s not the “shove-down-your-throat mainstream bullshit”. PI: Dan, I want to say thanks so much for sitting down with us, giving us a chance to get Plug’d In. DJ: Yea, thanks for having me, I appreciate it. And if you want to check out my clothing line its rokkclothing.com and if you want to check out my merchandising company its rockmerch.com.
www.atreyurock.com
Dear Dead Abby From The Grave Abby was born and raised in the coal regions of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The oldest of eight, she constantly had her younger brothers and sisters asking her questions about everything from how things work to why that boy threw dirt on her. She’d try to steer them straight with her advice, though sometimes she could be a bit sarcastic. Abby also had an uncanny ability to see the truth in people, despite what they tried to portray with their lies. Unfortunately, this led the locals to believe that she was with surrounded with dark forces. The summer before her final year of school, Abby was sentenced to death by hanging, without a proper trial, simply stating that she was a witch. Abby can’t recognize the faces of her family through death, but she answers questions, thinking it might be one of her siblings needing her guidance.
Q. My son is 8 years old and still believes in Santa Claus. I want to tell him the truth but my wife says not yet. I'd rather he learn it from us than kids at school. I also think he’s too old to believe. What should I do? K.K. A. Oh, I'm going to offend someone here.... How did you tell him a rabbit doesn't go around at Easter crapping out candy and colored eggs, or at Halloween, the ghouls and goblins don't exist? Or the monsters in his closet or under his bed aren't real? I think the idea of Santa Claus in general is ridiculous. Parents lie to their kids from the beginning that a fat man in a red suit flies around the world in a sleigh pulled by reindeer, slips down through the chimney to leave presents for the children that were good, eats the milk and cookies, and on to the next house, all in one night. Christmas is far too commercialized that people seem to forget what's truly important. Do you really want to go behind your wife and tell him after she said no? Let her deal with it. Your lie, you figure it out. Q. Which video game system is better....Wii, Playstation w/ Move, or XBox360 w/ Kinect? Anon. A. Matter of preference. I've never played any. I don't really care. Q. Last year I acted like a fool at our company Christmas party. I don’t want to go to this year's party, but all of my co -workers are pressuring me to go. Should I go? D.G. A. You should go. You show your face at work every day since last year's party. What difference is going to this year's party? If you know you acted like a fool, then take the precautions not to repeat it this year. Limit your drinking, or whatever it was that caused you to act that way. If you don't go, that will just cause people to gossip. Pull on your grown up pants and act like an adult. Q. My Ex-boyfriend still texts me even though he has a new girlfriend. He’s always trying to flirt with me. Should I tell his new girlfriend about what he's up to? A. Don't tell her. Why did you two break up? Maybe he has unresolved feelings with you. It's his issue, not yours. Stirring the pot will just make things worse. People need to mind their own business. His relationship with her is not your business. Just don't reciprocate; tell him how you feel.
deardeadabby@centralpapluggedin.com
www.gothamcitytattoos.com
www.itsalltherage.biz
www.1upcollectibles.com
Plug’d In Features: 20Til8 Review by Michael Demos I’m going to go out on a limb here and tell you I like 20Til8. Most of you who are reading this will probably go check out their website now…but beware, there nothing to really see yet. They don’t have a super polished site, there’s no professionally recorded studio tracks, no merch to buy…hell; they don’t even have any decent pictures up of themselves yet. So why would I recommend them you ask? Simple, they’re really good. 20Til8 is heavy. They’re heavy just the way I like my heavy. Nice heavy vocals, deep grinding guitars...pretty much music I’d want to start a fight to. I first caught them when they opened up for the Misfits @ The Silo earlier this year. They’ve put together a couple decent shows since then and it seems like things are heading in the right direction for them. They just uploaded some new “dirty basement” songs to their MySpace and Facebook pages. They’re pretty decent too. The band is talking about going into the studio in the next couple of month’s ad recording their first album. I’m excited and can’t wait to see how that will turn out. I won’t try to describe the band to you…just check them out for yourself. When I listen to 20Til8 I’m transported back 10+years ago. I can imagine myself sitting in Webster Theater or Toads Place, I can see the insanity of the pits, I can feel the energy, I can hear the music, and I can imagine 20Til8 belonging there and playing with the best…All Out War, Sworn Enemy, Madball, Agnostic Front, Hatebreed…any of the greats. With enough work and dedication, 20 Til8 will get there and claim their place as well.
www.myspace.com/20til8
Top 10 Reason Chuck Norris can kick your Ass! Chuck Norris' tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried. Chuck Norris counted to infinity - twice. Chuck Norris does not hunt because the word hunting infers the probability of failure. Chuck Norris goes killing. If you can see Chuck Norris, he can see you. If you can't see Chuck Norris you may be only seconds away from death. Chuck Norris sold his soul to the devil for his rugged good looks and unparalleled martial arts ability. Shortly after the transaction was finalized, Chuck roundhouse kicked the devil in the face and took his soul back. The devil, who appreciates irony, couldn't stay mad and admitted he should have seen it coming. They now play poker every second Wednesday of the month. When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night he checks his closet for Chuck Norris. Chuck Norris built a time machine and went back in time to stop the JFK assassination. As Oswald shot, Chuck Norris met all three bullets with his beard, deflecting them. JFK's head exploded out of sheer amazement. Chuck Norris has already been to Mars; that's why there are no signs of life there. They once made a Chuck Norris toilet paper, but it wouldn't take shit from anybody. A blind man once stepped on Chuck Norris' shoe. Chuck replied, "Don't you know who I am? I'm Chuck Norris!" The mere mention of his name cured this man blindness. Sadly the first, last, and only thing this man ever saw, was a fatal roundhouse delivered by Chuck Norris.
www.therecordconnectionpa.com
www.shoo610.com
On Tour: Interview w/ Spencer of Ice Nine Kills Interview and Photo by Liana Marie It was a long and busy day at Eleanor Rigby’s Big Giant and The Extravaganza. Spencer, lead vocalist of Ice Nine Kills, was still willing and able to set time aside to meet up and chat with us. He was a really awesome and interesting guy. Here’s what he had to say... PI: Would you mind if we started out naming each member and their role in the band? S: Sure. I’m Spencer, I do vocals. Shane plays bass and sings. JD plays guitar and also sings. Justin is guitar. And Conner is our drummer. PI: Great! What’s the story behind Ice Nine Kills? How did it come about? S: The name of the band? (PI) Yes. (S) There’s a book called Cat’s Cradle by the author Kurt Vonnegut. In the book there’s a deadly substance called Ice Nine. Essentially this substance freezes over the planet and kills the world. We thought it would make a cool band name because it means something and a lot of band names don’t really have any significant meaning. We thought it’d be cool to create a name with actual meaning behind it. (PI) Right, right. Versus...,”The guys just thought it sounded cool.” (S) Yeah. “That sounded cool!” I hear that a lot. (PI)Yeah, me too. [Laughter] PI: When you were younger, have you imagined you’d be where you are today? Did you have other plans? S: Since age nine or ten, I definitely realized I wanted to be a musician. I was really into Nirvana, which kind’ve got me into playing guitar. I really wanted to pursue a musical path for my life. To tour and travel the country, it’s been pretty fun so far. I’m really stoked with what we’re doing. (PI) Great! Well it’s good to see that you’ve reached some of your lifetime goals and achieved some of your dreams as a young child. (S) Yeah!! It’s been a long journey but we’re finally getting some moderate success...We’re doing cool tours like Warped Tour, which I always went to when I was younger. So, it’s definitely cool to see it working out to some extent. PI: How long would you say you have all known each other? How did you meet? S: This current line up...I’ve known the guys for about 2-3 years. I started the band several years before around 2002. We have had a lot of lineup changes over the years but, the current lineup we’ve been together for about a year and I’ve known the guys for about 2-3 years. PI: For those who don’t know, what genre of music do you consider your band? S: It’s var. We have a lot of different influences. When we started the band it was very pop-punk Ska, the kind’ve music I was into when I was 15-16 years old. We have that kind’ve influence as far as strong melodies etc. bands like Blink 182, Goldfinger. Over the years I got into different styles and heavier music, metal bands and so on. I like a lot of different stuff. I like plays like “Les Miserable’s” etc, weird stuff you probably wouldn’t expect us to be influenced by. (PI) That’s cool, though. It’s always good to keep it interesting. (S) Yeah, Yeah!! So I mean, I guess I would classify us as an experimental kind’ve metal-core band. We’re not completely restricted to the rules of that genre we kind’ve bring in other influences. So, it’s like experimental, I guess that’s what I would call it.
PI: Which one of your songs do you enjoy performing live most? S: I would say, out of our new songs...There’s a song called “Buildings Burn,People Die”, that’s really fun to play. Kids seem to really be into that one. “The Greatest Story Ever Told” which has been kind’ve like our calling card kind’ve song for the last couple years. A lot of kids know our band because of that song. That song’s a lot of fun to play as well plus often time kids know and sing along to the lyrics. PI: Is there any band that you haven’t played with that you would like to play with in the future? If so, who would that be? S: Hm. I think over the last couple of years I’ve played with most of my favorite bands. Although, I think one band we haven’t played with, and that I would love to play with would be Finch. I’m a big Finch fan, and it would be pretty cool to play with them. PI: This one gets kind of fun...Put together your ultimate tour. What bands would you include? S: Can it be unrealistic? (PI) Yeah, it can be living. It can be dead. You can choose whoever you want. (S) Okay. I would say Nirvana to start just because they got me into music. Although, I don’t know how possible that is since they’re not alive. (PI) No, I gotcha. (S)Finch, He is Legend, As I Lay Dying, and maybe...Senses Fail. Yeah, they’re all pretty cool. I like those bands a lot. PI: Sweet! Yeah, we actually have an interview coming up with Senses Fail. (S) Oh, yeah? (PI) Yeah. It’s scheduled at the Chameleon club, in Lancaster Pa. (S) Oh, that’s a cool club. (PI)Yeah. (S) Yeah, we played there in the spring. It’s a cool club. That’s where August Burns Red is from right? Texas In July? (PI) Yes. (S) Yeah. Cool! PI: How would you say being in a band affects your personal life? S: I think really, they’re one in the same. They become one kind of entity, because if you’re in a band or want to be in a band you really have to devote all of your time to it. So, my whole life its pretty much wrapped into it. Therefore, it completely reflects my personal life. People I know, people I meet, because we’re on tour a lot of the time... So, its kind has become one in the same. PI: What would you say your biggest challenge as a band has been so far? How did you overcome it? S: The music industry is so competitive. There are so many bands trying to do the same thing and become successful. So, you just have to think outside the box for ways to market you’re band differently. You have to just try and get into kid’s heads before other bands do. If there are a thousand bands, you have to try and work harder than every one of them if you want to get your name out there. So, that’s kind’ve in our mantra. We played Warped Tour the last couple years, but the year before we played we followed the entire tour and sold CDs the entire time without playing. We sold thousands of CDs doing that. That definitely helped us get our name out there. So when we played Warped Tour the last couple year’s kids knew our band. So, that was something that was pretty cool. PI: What are you currently listening to? S: What are we currently listening to...Let’s see what are we into? A band called Periphery, they’re pretty cool. I’ve been listening to them a lot as well as the new As I Lay Dying. I am interested in hearing the new Senses Fail. There’s a band called You, Me, and Everyone We Know that’s really cool. I really like them, they’re not quite as well known yet...That’s kind’ve what I have been listening to. PI: Do you have any specific musical inspirations or influences? S: I would say Nirvana to start, you know, kind’ve soft. That band’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” Video, I wanted to play guitar right after I saw that. Later, I got into a lot of punk bands. I remember seeing Goldfinger and Reel Big Fish live one time and that changed everything for me... Like, “Wow. I really want to tour and play shows”. I want to have kids know our band in places that aren’t our local scene. So, I’d say that, for sure. PI: What advice would you give to those out there looking to start or be in a band as successful as yourselves? S: I would say, when we started I had the mentally, “As long as we write good stuff and send it out to a bunch of labels they’ll come calling” but it doesn’t really work like that. The best advice I could give a band is to not worry about labels starting out. Just do your own thing and try to become successful doing it on your own. Tour, start to develop a fan-base. If labels and/or management see that you’re doing it on your own, and making noise without their
help, they’ll think “Look this band’s doing great without our help, imagine what they could do with our help...” I guess that would be the advice I would give; do it yourself and don’t get discouraged. The music business can be very discouraging, but if you really want to do it you can make it happen. It takes a lot of work and patience. I mean we’re not there yet but we’re making strides so. PI: What can we expect from Ice Nine Kills in the future? S: A lot of touring. I think we’re going to try touring for at least the rest of this year If not the next couple months. We’ll be putting out a new album hopefully by next summer. We want to keep pumping out new and fresh material as well as keep everyone interested. We’d also like to get on more successful tours and continue to progress. Hopefully we’ll be able to do the whole Warped Tour this summer. The last two years we did a few weeks of it so, that’s something that we’re hoping to be a part of it in its entirety. PI: Did you have any last words? Anything you’d like to share with us? S: Definitely, Thank you for listening to our band. Continue to spread the word, and definitely check us out on MySpace and Facebook. We’d really appreciate it. And even more importantly, COME TO A SHOW and hang out! We like to hanging out w/ our fans. PI: Great well it was a pleasure getting a moment to speak with you and get to know you and your band a little more. Thanks so much for your time and giving us a chance to get Plug’d In. S: Yeah, no problem. Thank YOU!
www.myspace.com/iceninekills
From The Throne of The Rock God Rants, Raves, Reviews, and news for the Minions Well the Holiday season is fully upon us. This is personally my favorite time of the year. I love Christmas. I love shopping, I love decorating, watching my Children wake up on Christmas morning...I love it all. Of course the season isn’t with out its challenges either. Its sometimes stressful, money’s tight, and it seems to be one big rush. But still, I wouldn't change it for the World. Its also the end of the year and time to reflect on the things that have happened throughout the year. Its also the time when a lot of bands start to release info on their upcoming tours for the next year. And trust me, there's some big ones coming up! As always, we will be there to highlight them and bring you our unique perspective on the music scene. 2011 will hold lots of big changes for us and we refuse to stop. We will only get bigger and better! I want to personally wish all of our readers and their families a warm and joyous Holiday and may the peace of the season be with you. Until next time...
www.centralpapluggedin.com www.myspace.com/centralpapluggedin www.facebook.com/centralpa.plugdin
Congrats to Alana Fadigan for winning our Atreyu Giveaway. She wins an exclusive, autographed vinyl copy of “Congregation Of The Damned”. Next contest coming soon!
Special thanks to all the following for making this issue happen: Without you...well, we just would have had to work a little harder.
The Reading Tattoo Co, Shoo, American Heroes, Belly Busters, 1Up Collectibles, Its All The rage Hair Designs, Vertical Pole Fitness, Pottstown Tattoo Co, Gotham City Tattoo, The Last Level, Pocket Aces Skate Shop, Crocodile Rock Café, Michael Demos, Liana Marie, Curt Ridall, Nicole Marie, Nicolle Stella, Justin Ernst, Sol Santiago, Vikki Sin, Dan Clark, Bandi Budwash, Designs By Your Arsonist, Roadrunner Records, Century Media, W.M.G., Victory Records, Facedown Records, Fearless Records, Metal Blade records, E1, Hollywood Records, Disney, Solid State Records, DRP Records, and all the amazing National and Local bands we’ve had the privilege to work with.
www.crocodilerockcafe.com