July 02, 2011 Issue

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CENTRAL PA.

July 02, 2011

PLUG’D IN The Hard-Rock'n Bi-Weekly Magazine Plenty of pics, but not your Mom’s...yet

We’ve been hangin’ out at Reverb quiet a bit lately...check out our exclusive interview with Neil Fallon of Clutch and Jess Margera of CKY

Inside This Issue On Tour: Neil Fallon of Clutch, Impact: Jess Margera of CKY, The Visual: A Photo Experience of J.X.M.X. Part 1, From The Grave: Dear Dead Abby, Through Their Eyes: Exceptional Photography by the Plug’d In Photographers, Pocket Aces’ J.X.M.X. Demo, and much more!

Check out our kick-ass full color version online

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Dear Dead Abby Brought to you by It’s All The Hair Rage Designs

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 Father and my Brother don't get along at all; in fact they haven't spoken to each other in at least 10 years. They never attend the same family functions. My dad was just diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.

I really want to help them patch things up before he passes on, but I don't know where to start. Any ideas? S.S. A. Getting involved in other peoples' business is very tricky. You could make things worse, or make them angry with you. I would casually mention it to both of them separately. Is this really how you want to leave things? You could mention to your brother that although he may not see it now, he will regret it in the future. Does your brother have kids? Ask him how he would feel if one of his own children never made peace with him. If they both refuse, just let it alone. You tried. Let them live and die with the consequences of their actions.

Q. I just found out this girl I like is a stripper. Should I even bother trying to get to know her better? I don’t know if I could handle it. What do you think? D.G. A. Times are hard. If that's what she has to do in order to make ends meet and survive, then cut her some slack. Just because that's the job she holds doesn't mean that's how she is. Many times they put themselves in a different frame of mind to be able to do what they do. Very few of them enjoy their job, but it's a job and the money is better than most other jobs people are lucky to get right now. Why don't you think you could handle it? Just the simple fact that men pay money to see her naked? There are worse things to be done. It's not like she advertises herself on Craigslist for "other things."

Q. What’s the best way to completely get rid of a body? G.D. A. Do you have access to a pig farm? Shave the head, burn the hair, burn the clothes, and feed the pigs. Pigs eat everything. Just stick around long enough to make sure it's all gone. It won't take long. Anything that might be left uneaten, perhaps a bone, take it with, grind it up into flour, and bake something for a community yard sale.

Q. If you're dead how can you use a computer to type your answers? Or do you just tell them to someone else and they write them? A.I. A. People have created some nifty little software programs that will type out what you speak. Makes things really simple for all us dead folk.

Q. What’s the deal with this massive solar flare in 2012? Will it be the end of us? M.N. A. I don't know, I can't predict the future, but my firm belief is no one knows when the world will end. I don't think the world will end. I think people adapt to the changes that come. If by chance the world gets too hot or too cold for humans to adapt, then we die out like the dinosaurs. I'm really not worried about it. What's the worst that can happen? Death? Bring it. We all die anyway.

Submit your questions to: deardeadabby@centralpapluggedin.com

Cyanide and Happiness Toon of the Week

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Impact: Jess Margera of CKY Interview and Photos by Michael Demos Was there one show this year that I was completely stoked about going to? Yep… CKY! I love these guys! I grew up in the same area as all of them and I’ve been following their careers for years. I have no problem at all admitting that they’re one of my favorite bands of all time. I caught up with drummer Jess Margera right before their show @ Reverb in Reading Pa. We got to sit down, throw a couple back, and chop it up. Here’s what Jess had to say…

M.D. PI: You guys have so much going on I really don’t know where to start. So I’m going to ask you…what do you not want to talk about?

JM: You can ask me anything man, anything’s fair game. (PI) We just ran into your brother outside, do he come to a lot of your shows? (JM) Yea anything close by, actually not so close by too.

Whenever he’s got a free day or two and we have a show he will fly out or just hang out.

PI: What do you guys do to get ready for a show?

JM: I drink a lot of booze. (Laughs) I like to hang out with our friends and fans. I like to know who’s coming to my shows.

PI: You guys are very interactive with your fans on ckyalliance.com. You guys actually go on yourselves and interact on a daily basis right?

JM: We’ve been doing it for the last 10 years and it’s called “ASK CKY” and we’ve answered about 12,000 questions on it. I like it, its fun to just hop on in the morning with your coffee. I like to have fun with it. Sometimes you get to be a dick, or you get to help people…its cool, I like it.

PI: What’s some of the craziest stuff you’ve been asked?

JM: Holy shit…people send me weird stuff. They like know my P.O. Box or something and I’ll get an envelope filled with hair. (Laughs) I get the weirdest shit you can imagine. It’s fun to me. Just don’t send me poop!

PI: Big News...you guys just got added to Download right?

JM: Yea, it’s cool man. We did Sonisphere last year and I heard those guys are kinda rivals. The guys wasn’t really into having us play cause we did Sonisphere last year, but our fans went on and blew up their message boards and Twitter so hard that it was un-ignorable. They put us on the main stage on the first day, so were pretty stoked about it.

PI: Do you have any plans for while you’re in Europe?

JM: Yea man, I love England and we always go there and rock n roll. There’s no country, no rap, it’s all rock! We’re going to do a couple of towns there and then we’re going to do Download.

PI: You’re on a little mi9ni tour right now right?

JM: Yea, we wanted to give PA one last hurrah because we probably won’t get to play here again till next year. And Frank the owner of Reverb was like “You have to play my new place”, and after seeing Clutch play here the week before we were really into it.

PI: You guys just release B-sides, are you working on any other new material?

JM: Yea, B-sides just came out and is coming out next month in Europe. We are doing something for the die-hards, shit they’ve been asking for from us for ages. Shit like demos, live videos, and some other cool stuff. I understand the appeal of unfinished tracks…I love when bands release rare stuff.

So, we just decided we’re going to go through the vault and release as much shit as we can.

PI: Speaking of the “Vault”…you’ve released so much stuff…vinyl’s, CD’s, everything, do you personally own a copy of everything you’ve put out?

What does your collection look like?

JM: Yea we own a lot. We got pretty lucky. When we signed our record contract we made sure we held on to a lot. We’re with Universal/ Fontana and Mighty Loud now which is pretty much our own label and they just get it into stores for us. They take care of the stuff we really can’t do on our own.

PI: What’s the downside about the way the music industry is now?

JM: Man, I just saw the record store I’ve been going to since I was 8 close down. I used to ride my fucking bike there to get the new Iron Maiden tape you know? Kids today don’t know what that’s like. It’s funny because I was talking about that earlier. I used to have to skip lunch at school to save up $ so I could go buy the new Motorhead tape. Kids today are like “That’s shitty”, but I’m like “Nope, it was fucking awesome!”

PI: You’re still grounded in your hometown, but you’ve been everywhere…How far do you want to see this thing go? What are your plans?

JM: I’m cool with how things are. We played the Troc in 98’ and sold it out and we just sold it out again last year. I don’t want to do big arena shows. It seems the bands that get big fall just as hard. I’ve seen a million bands come and go. This band called Hoobastank opened for us years ago. (Laughs) Then they got this enormous hit and became huge and then they disappeared off the face of the earth.

That’s just how it is. I’m happy with keeping and maintaining a solid career. It’s the most respectable thing when you can keep an audience for 10 or 15 years.

PI: How were things when Jackass 3.0 came out? You guys had the closing song right?

JM: Oh yea, it was cool to work with those guys again. My brother called up and he said everybody wants to hear some new music from you guys. So we gave them a new song called “Afterworld” and they loved it and put it in the credits.

(PI) Do you guys get a lot of new fans when something big like that comes out?

(JM) oh yea, it’s funny because I’ll be dropping my daughter off at daycare and the kids and parents will recognize me. Just recently I was at the airport getting my bags x-rayed by some old dude and he knew who I was. It was hilarious.

Wayne Lozinak

PI: What has been your favorite show?

JM: New Orleans the day of…this is a crazy story. We were booked in New Orleans Aug 29th, 2005…the day Katrina happened.

So obviously we cancelled that show and moved it to Little Rock, but the roof of the House of Blues just blew the fuck off. They told us they were putting the roof back on and they’d be ready for us in Jan of 06’ and they welcomed us to be the first band back. So we

were driving down there and we were thinking “Who the hell are we going to be playing to…the cleanup workers?”

The place was still a fucking disaster zone. So, that’s exactly who we played to. The fucker sold out and it was just the people still there and the cleanup workers and it was the most insane night of my life! People were thanking us and telling us that their houses were destroyed but we helped them take their minds off it and shit. We end up at this bar afterwards and this dude Shitbird who is my drum tech and uncle tells all the people that the drinks were on me. I didn’t know this. So, it was an insane night and everybody was smashing shot glasses on the tables and going nuts. It had to be the craziest night of drinking in my entire life. At the end of the night I get slapped with this bill of $3,200 and the bartender told me that Shitbird said give it to him, meaning me. He was laughing his ass off at me. Before we could even get into an argument about it this kid, who was maybe 24, says “I got it!” We were blown away. He owned a trucking company that was pumping water out of the city so he was getting paid anyways, but it was super cool of him. He said it was the best night of his life. Shitbird lucked out that night! (Laughs) PI: Thanks Jess for sitting down with us and giving us a chance to get Plug’d In. JM: Yea man thanks a lot. Had a good time!

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On Tour: Neil Fallon of Clutch Interview by Michael Demos Awhile back I had the pleasure of sitting down with Neil Fallon, vocalist and guitarist for the band Clutch. I caught up with Neil before their sold-out show at Reverb in Reading, Pa. It was the first show I caught at Reverb and the place is amazing.

Living up to all my expectations and easily surpassing them, Clutch put on a spectacular performance that night and are one of the best live “Jam” bands I’ve ever seen.

Here’s what Neil had to share with us…

M.D. PI: Neil, you guys just had an amazing sound check here @ Reverb in Reading, Pa. What do you think of the new place?

NF: It’s nice to have a club in Reading. I was talking to Frank earlier about the last time we played here and I think it was at the Silo like four years ago. We have played Central Pa since, but not Reading per se. It’s always hard to judge a club at 3 in the afternoon, but I can tell it’s going to be good. It’s always more about the people in the room, but the sound here is good. It’s also so new it doesn’t stink yet.

PI: You guys are getting set out on tour and this is your first show.

Are you ready?

NF: We don’t really rehearse too much before a tour. We just really get out there and plug and play. It’s terrifying, but we prefer it that way. When you’re scared you get that adrenaline rush. When you over-prepare you get lazy. This area and this region have always been good for us.

PI: You guys are known as an amazing “Jam” band. Are you pulling out all the stops this time around?

NF: Well our reissue just came out so we did some acoustic reworking of some of our songs and will probably be doing them as an encore. We have a lot of material so we try to pick a little bit of everything from the last 20 years.

PI: You have your own label and you put everything out yourself right?

NF: In the 90’s we signed with major labels, then we signed with smaller labels, and we’ve done everything in between the two. I think in this day and age its easier for the artist to sell directly to the fans. You don’t have to sell platinum and gold records to make a living at this. You might not become “super rich”, but you can subsist off it. In the business aspect it’s all about cutting out the middle people. As for our label it’s the four of us and 2 other people.

It’s a lot cheaper to put out an album; we can afford better CD packaging because we cut out the middle man. It’s a learning process and sometimes it’s hard to divide the artistic and the business aspects, but so far I think it’s been ok.

PI: Years ago did you see the music industry changing the way that it did? Did you prepare for it?

NF: I don’t think anybody saw that one coming. Nobody really understood the ramifications of digital data transfer until it was already there. But with us, we’ve always made our living and taken joy from playing live. We didn’t take joy in reading Billboard Top 200 charts. I think because of that we’ve been insulated against these major changes. Our shows are always good, we’re always on tour, it takes a little while longer to build up a fan base that way, but it also lasts a lot longer too. I kinda have a bone to pick with bands that complain that no one buys their records anymore and they have to go out and tour. Boo-hoo! There are people who tar roofs for a living. I mean c’mon, let’s put it into

perspective. It’s a double edged sword. Maybe someone burns your record, but maybe they also come to your show and buy a t-shirt. It works out even.

PI: We hear quite a bit about the different touring scenes between here and Europe. Is it different for you?

NF: Not so much. For us Northern and Western Europe is good, Southern Europe is a different temperament to crack. The same can be said for California. It all varies and that’s ok because we will play in a room for 5 people just as hard as we will for 500. It’s tough in Europe and sometimes it’s like a catch 22. People aren’t coming to your shows because you haven’t played there very often, but you haven’t played there often because people aren’t coming to your shows. (Laughs) There is always a way to break that cycle, usually by opening up for another band.

PI: What have been some of your favorite place to play?

NF: I love Australia. Great place, great people! It’s very familiar in a lot of ways, but very different in others. Scandinavia in the summertime is pretty amazing. The sun barely goes down.

When you get off stage at midnight and it looks like 6pm, it’s always cool. Scandinavians in the summertime know that winter is coming so they want to have a really good time! We just played Greece for the first time last summer and that was insane! I had such a good time there and the people were so great. I’m going back there this summer. I think that’s the cool thing about touring…you meet people all over the world in a non-tourist capacity. You sit down and eat with them, you drive with them, you meet their friends, and you’re not marching around a city with a tourist brochure.

That’s one of the great things about touring.

PI: When you’re in an exotic local do you try to schedule yourselves down time to explore the landscape?

NF: If time allows, but a lot of the time there isn’t time to do anything. In Europe a lot of the night clubs are in the middle of nowhere. A field is a field is a field no matter where it is. (Laughs) When you end up in a city like Athens all you have to do is walk around the corner to see something great. I think everyone likes to get away from each other and go places in the wee hours of the day to get their heads straight. When we’re on tour there are 10 of us and we all need some “D” time.

PI: What would be your favorite and least favorite things about touring?

NF: My favorite thing would be getting to see and experience things most people only dream about.

For example…my parents. They did one trip to Ireland when they were 60 years old, and they saved up for forever to do it. They still talk

about it and it will always be their trip. I take it for granted because I get to do it all the time. The part that I don’t like about touring is leaving home. It gets harder and harder the older you get. Marriages, kids, mortgages…the simple things in life become hard to leave. The older you get the deeper your roots go.

PI: Thanks so much for sitting down with us Neil!

NF: Hey man, no sweat!

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We held it…He won it…

Congratulations to Tony “Two-step” for winning our 1st Annual “Pit Captain” contest. He will be defending his title next year at J.X.M.X. II

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Pocket Aces Skate Shop Skate Demo @ J.X.M.X. Photos by Liana Marie

Call for new summer hours!

Through Their Eyes: Exceptional Photography by The Plug’d In Photographers

Photo by Nicole Stella

Photo by Liana Marie

Photo by Nicole Stella

Photo by Liana Marie

The Visual: A Photo Experience of J.X.M.X. ( Part 1) Photos by Liana Marie

Central Pa Plug’d In 2011 Staff We’re missing Bandi, Star was taking the pic, and Abby’s Dead so you cant see her.

Sunday Special Large pizza, 2 Dozen Wings & a 24’ Cold Sub Only 25.99

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1402 N. 9th Street Reading, PA 19604 Sun July 10th – GLOOMINOUS DOOM – JUCIFER – The Sinking Earth – The Pharaohs – Callous and more Fri. July 15 – SIX O’CLOCK SAINTS + LOVE AUTOMATIC (ex – Senses Fail/ Armor For Sleep) + The MOXY Sat. July 16th – BURNT BY THE SUN + I WANT TO KILL YOU and more Thurs. July 21st: 2 Time Grammy Award Winner Fatman Scoop + special guests!

Fri. July 22nd: HELL WITHIN and more.

Sat. July 23rd: SCARY MONSTER – 3 Hour Tour – Pull My Finger – Guitar Mark – and more Sat. August 6th: Special OUTDOOR SHOW – THE REVERE – JOHNNY ACTION FIGURE and more Sun. August 7th: STRENGTH FOR A REASON – ANIMALHAUS – Bottom Feeder – Unlearn – Unite.Resist.

Fri. August 19th – An Evening With THE WALLACE BROTHERS! Outdoor Stage!

Sat. August 20th: HALF DRAWN – United We Fall – and more.

Tues. August 23rd: BLACK GUARD + IN RUINS – and more Thurs. August 25th: PENTAGRAM – VALIENT THORR – Just The Brotherhood Fri. September 30th: BATTERY (The Ultimate Metallica Tribute!) + special guests.

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Award-winning work in a clean environment

From The Throne of The Rock God Rants, Raves, Reviews, and News for the Minions We have a pretty cool issue here. Both of this week’s interviews are mine and they were a real blast. Neil Fallon of Clutch is such a down to earth guy. We hung out in his tour bus for his interview and things went really well. We had a super cool “off the record” talk, but his interview was amazing too.

Jess Margera was a blast! We down some drinks on the back patio at Reverb and Jess is the coolest! He was surrounded by friends who made the drive to catch CKY’s show that night.

We also tied in with his brother Bam which we were pretty stoked about. Jess gave a great interview and I’m personally excited to see their fans reaction on their website www.ckyalliance.com Not sure if all of you know who he is, but the guy in the picture on the right will me is my partner Billy Mohan. Billy’s no longer an active Plug’d In staff member, but he still remains a strong supporter. He kind of like Plug’d In royalty. He was there from inception, thru the first interviews, printings, deliveries, and more. Without his help there would have been no Plug’d In. He came out to J.X.M.X. with us so it was really cool to hang with him again.

Hope you enjoy this issue and until next time…

www.centralpapluggedin.com www.facebook.com/centralpa.plugdin 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, David Barber, Mark Kohl, Nicole Marie, Nicolle Stella, Vikki Sin, Tyler Heckard, Bandi Budwash, Mark Kohl, David Barber, Justin Ernst, Estrella Torres, Designs By Your Arsonist, Roadrunner Records, Century Media, W.M.G., Victory Records, Facedown Records, Fearless Records, Metal Blade records, E1, Hollywood Records, Disney, Adrenaline P.R., Solid State Records, DRP Records, Strike First, Rise Records, Tech Basement, The Children's Home of Reading, Bimbo Bakery, Pepsi, Smaltz’s Harley Davidson and all the amazing National and Local bands we’ve had the privilege to work with.

Upcoming Shows

July 6th - AMB (AXE MURDER BOYZ) MINDSHOT, FLOWS!! Featuring Optimus, and more! Tix $12 presale and $15 dos! ALL AGES! DOORS AT 5!!

July 8TH - PENNTERA (PENTERA TRIBUTE BAND, SCHIZM (TOOL TRIBUTE BAND), MIDNIGHT DECADENCE, HEADSTONE 118, AND THE LAST REMARK!!

July 15th - DREAM DEVICE, CIRCLE OF SANITY, SEVENTH CORVUS, LOVEHATETHING, ENGINE PRESS, AND MOURNINGWOOD !!!

ALL AGES!!

July 22nd - DREAMLAND PARK, GARMONIA, PERCY PRINGLE, FOR THE PERILOUS AND HAVE FAITH WITHIN!! ALL AGES!! $10 AT THE DOOR! DOORS AT 6:30!

July 29th - UNITED WE FALL, SEVENTH CORVUS, CALL ME CRAZY, 4TWELVE AND ALL I'VE EVER KNOWN!!! ALL AGES!! $10 AT THE DOOR!! DOORS AT 5:30!!

July 30th - DEAR SUBMARINE, SIX PENNY, FORGER AND MORE TBA!! ALL AGES! $10 AT THE DOOR! Sept. 5th - 5 HOUR SHOWER, IT'S A TRAP, EVAN RUSSELL SAFFER, QUENTEL THE CRYPTIC AND MORE! DOORS AT 7, ALL AGES! $10 AT THE DOOR! Aug. 26th - ALL STAR ROCK TOUR 2011!! ORLEANS, ROBBY DUPREE, JOHN CAFFERTY, JOE LYNN TURNER!

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