Teenage Stereotypes.

Oh man, You would be lucky if you haven't seen a few of these in your life.

Emos, Goths, Scene, Indie, Skater, Punk and a Variety of other breeds which look like the result of a man getting it on with a parakeet.

Anyway, It's really starting to annoy me, These people claiming individuality by dressing up as their best friends do..
I mean, i don't mind people who have out of the norm hair colour who admit they are doing it just for fashion, But when they start using terms like "Rebel" and "Fashion Statements" Its just laughable.

1: Half of them probably don't know what those terms mean.
2: LOL, WHAT? Rebel?

I mean, i like the styles. I do. But it's when people call them something that they aren't, OH GOD it annoys me to no end. Dying your hair Blue, Black and Yellow is not rebelling, It just looks pretty bad-ass.

Another thing; "Emos".
I like the style. Fringe over one eye thing, Yeah its cool.
BUT GOD DAMN IT, When you try to turn a style into a LIFEstyle, that's when these problems occur..
I'm not gonna go into this, But seriously....Wheres the common sense?
Did you leave it at home, Next to your virginity.

One last point...
Scene kids.
Alright, Fine, There are some cool ones out there, but some are so arrogant with huge egos that it just pisses off EVERYONE to no end.
Just because you have to cool hair doesn't mean you have any increased personality.
You still have the personality of a wet dishcloth, And the fact that it's a bage wet dishcloth doesn't get you any more points.

I guess the point im making is, Be stylish and all that shizz...But theres no need to go as acting like something your not.

- Irvine & JB.

Mobile phones.

Remember where phones could do one thing? And that was make calls and beep noises? And then texting came out. Then it was sending text and making more noises. Phones where so simple at this time, batteries lasted decades and phones could be bounced of a wall, and still work. Now if you drop a phone, it’s like dropping a plate of glass. It’ll shatter into 50 different pieces. Next thing you know you’re on the phone asking someone to fix this jig-saw for you.

Phones have moved far on since calling and texting only. Now, phones are practically mini, portable computers. Expect no one has a 12 mega-pixel camera in their laptop. And on top of that, laptops can’t really slip into your pocket, and can’t be held up to your ear. (Unless you’re Dom Joly)

Last time I borrowed someone’s phone (it was some top of the line touch screen) I couldn’t find the numbers. I had to use the phone as if it was an atlas, navigating here and there. Once the number was entered, I actually couldn’t find the stupid call button. Now, I’m not old fashioned, I absolutely love new things, but when they have a learning curve the size of the moon, something’s not right.

iPhone? It’s not much of a phone, is it? It does calls and texts. And then a few thousand applications here and there, and a HD Video camera built into it, and it’s an internet browser. Good “phone.”

I’m a sucker for new technology, if it wasn’t so stupidly over priced. It currently costs about £118 ($188USD) And then Apple sell it off for £500? I do admit, I’d love one, but I’m not paying a kidney and lung for something that’s gonna be obsolete in two years time. Anyway, I could buy this phone at a later date (at a fraction of the price) of someone who’s sold their leg to keep the thing running and up to date.

My point? Mobile phones are a rip-off, but no matter what, people will keep forking out money simply because it’s trendy.

Irvine & JB.

Photography.

I've always quite liked and admired the work of photographers, So i decided to write a post on it.

It's amazing how much photographers are under-rated, A lot of people think that it's just a quick camera shot here and there, But it is much more than that, I assure you.

Photographers edit their work using computer software, They use several effects, They adjust lighting, They know precisely what time of day to take the shot at among other things.
Not to mention the fact that a lot are extremely creative and individual in their photography, It takes real talent to be a photographer.

This wasn't intended to be a long post, Just a little eye-opener so that when you see a photographer you can think, "Man, he must be talented."

- Irvine & JB

Picking up an instrument.

Picking up an instrument may be a daunting task to some at first. But it’s also very exciting. The first time I picked up a guitar, I thought “This ain’t gonna be easy.” I was right. My fingers bruised like a peach. My fingers got squashed easier than one to. And that was only chords.

After my fingers stopped being so sensitive. I tried to learn electric guitar. That was really confusing. Looking down, you see about two dozen frets, six strings. Playing chords was easy, because the teacher kept it (really, really) basic. But trying to learn electric guitar by being self taught was really confusing. After getting the hang of it, it all went up hill. It was a struggle. But it paid off. Big-time.

I’ve attempted keyboard many times. Been on and off it (mostly off) since I was eight. I can still only barely read music. How I passed my Music GCSE is one of the wonders of the world. I have to actually ask what note I’m currently playing on.

So, what’s my point?

It pays off. Truthfully, I’m terrible at piano, but I’m not bad at guitar. Even after a few months of playing guitar, I played with a few other guitarists and a small orchestra in-front of around fifty people. Nervous? Sure was. But, no one seemed to pay attention to the quiet, kinda out of tune guitars. It was really fun. Completely payed off in the end.

Starting to get serious into electric guitar after a few years, it was fun to play “this and that” in-front of a few people. It’s nice to show off now and then. A few months ago, I had my Music GCSE Practical test. Which means: Play guitar with a band, and a backing track. The backing track went okay. But playing with a band is so much fun. I’d recommend it to anyone of any instrument. Even if you only play the triangle.

A few weeks ago, someone had placed ten pianos laying around Belfast’s city center. I had the pleasure of playing one (it sounded beautiful) and even had a small audience of three of four people just passing by. While trying not to embarrass myself, it turned out pretty fun.

Writing your own music is also amazing. Even if no one hears it (like myself) it’s nice way to spend time. It boosts your confidence to hear someone say, “That was awesome.” It’s also very refreshing to have a few fans here and there.

I encourage everyone to pick up an instrument some time in their life. Or at least, try. It’s one of the best ways to spend time, it’s one of the most fun, and it’s definitely one of the most rewarding.

-Irvine & JB

Complaint #4: Dress code in UK schools.

I think it’s fair to say, This is going too far.
After hearing countless god-damn reports on this, I decided to write a post on it.

A girl was expelled from her school for having two toned hair.
A girl was expelled from her school for having braided hair.
A guy had to have his hair shaved off for being too long.

Didn’t we make a word for when things like this came up?
Oh, that’s right:
DISCRIMINATION.

In schools lately, These rules have been taken to far. No make-up, No oral piercings, No ear piercings, No jewellery, Guys hair must not go past the collar, No hair dye, No two tones, No spikes and let’s be honest, No individuality.

I mean they’ve already got us wearing uniforms for christ sake, Is this really necessary?
The last time i checked, Schools was for educational reasons, Not appearance.
Well apparently it’s okay to be un-educated as long as you look respectable to everyone else.

The worst thing about the whole damn situation is that most schools go around preaching individuality, Don’t follow the crowd, Be your own person ect.
It’s the biggest hipocracy i’ve seen in a while.
The idea of education has been replaced by “Lets all be little clones”.

We aren’t five anymore, We’re mature, We should be able to get piercings wherever we want and dye our hair any colour under the god damn sun.

We need to get rid of these damn rules, I agree with uniforms and i agree with nothing amazingly extreme (Liberty spikes, ect) But this is taking it too god damn far.

Leave a comment below if you agree with this statement, If not, Pass me that shit your smokin’.

- Irvine & JB.

Complaint #3: The music industry.

The music industry hasn’t been having much luck in since 1999. And the internet’s to blame. There’s lots of ways to get free music online, and there’s not much the music industry can do about it. Some of the most popular sites on the internet (YouTube?) have mass amounts of music on their servers. I don’t think that Universal or Sony can do much about that. And who’s to blame?

Well, ever since the internet, people didn’t really wanna leave their spinny computer chair. It got to the point where people didn’t wanna go out and buy an album. And ofcourse, because it was free, people started to download songs for free. While is great for the consumer’s pocket, it’s not so good for the musicians and CEO’s pocket.

People like free stuff! If the music industry and internet providers tried to put millions of pounds into blocking peer-to-peer networks and removing all the copy-righted music from YouTube and the likes, there would still be ways to get around it.

When a person downloads files, their IP address is available to all. Yet people still risk getting caught. Why’s that? Because they can’t be stopped! Even if it gets to the point where there is a way to prevent illegal downloading, there will always be another way. For example, before the internet, it was bootleg CDs!

My point in this complaint is that don’t be intimidated by illegal downloading. People will always pay for the CDs, even if it’s not you, some one will. Just don’t share thousands of songs where you actually risk getting caught.

- Irvine & JB

Album review #3: Slash’s solo album.

Slash is mostly famous for his work in Guns N’ Roses, and that was simply awesome. After mishaps with Axl, he left and had a few bands. But it was only very recently that he made his own solo album. Being a massive Slash fan, I was excited, but worried if it would just lead on to be all hype.

Imagine if the album was a movie, with all your favorite actors. That’s how this was for me. That was just the hype. Some songs on the album really stand out, such as Beautiful Dangerous featuring Fergie. I haven’t lost my mind, nor am I a fan of the Black Eyed Peas. Wolfmother’s Andrew Stockdale sung for Slash on By The Sword. Aside from the cheesy lyrics, this is another  high-light of the album.

While being a great album, every track sounds like a ballad. This may be a great thing to some people, but may get boring after the first few songs. But Slash fans will enjoy it the whole way through. The album is fairly varied, Saint is a Sinner Too (featuring Rocco DeLuca) closely resembles classical guitar songs. I thought this was a nice addition, and even the hardcore Slash fans may enjoy something lighter.

While the album is great, it feels like Slash tried to shape his song around the singer’s style (listen to Crucify the Dead featuring Ozzy) and while he does a great job of mimicking, it feels somewhat “forced.”

All in all, the album is great to listen to, and will please Slash fans everywhere, but may sound boring to others.

- Irvine & JB.

Album review #2: Iron Maiden’s “Final Frontier”

The Final Frontier Review.
How long do bands keep together? And how long is it before they sell-out, or lose all their originality? Ah, least of all, how often do bands sound as good as they did 30 years ago? Well, one thing’s for sure, Iron Maiden still do what they did best: write epic music.

After four years of being out of the studio, breath taking tours, and flying about the world, Maiden come back a masterpiece, The Final Frontier. Has everything you’d expect from Maiden; thick distorted guitars, grooving bass, dramatic drumming, and Bruce Dickinson’s still youthful voice.

The album is a classic, only Maiden could pull something like it off. It has all the usual you’d expect from them, thriving melodies, strong lyrics, and amazing song writing. The albums starts off slowly, and drags you into it. The album is ruled over by astonishing songs such as, “Coming Home,” “Starblind,” “The Man Who Could be King.” But the whole album itself is gold for the ears.

To finish off, the album sounds like a bunch of Maiden’s unreleased songs from the 80s, just pure Maiden. They took the time to write not-so-radio-friendly music. You won’t hear this on your radio, so go buy it! This is one of my favourite albums to date, and probably the best metal album released in the last decade.. or two.

I would fully recommend to anyone with some decent music taste.
In my opinion, the least I can say about The Final Frontier is mind-blowing.

- Irvine & JB

New Snow Patrol album for 2011!

“Snow Patrol have revealed that they are planning to return to the studio and hope to release their sixth studio album in 2011.”

So, the date has been confirmed and we can only hope it lives up to expectations, and knowing snow patrol, it will.

The bands previous album, “A hundred million suns”, Released on The 24th of October 2008, Debuted at #2 in the UK with sales of 100,330, And was very impressive.

The album was more cheerful than compared to their last albums, But no known theme for the upcoming album has been revealed.

Snow patrol has been known to live up to expectations, although their previous album received generally mixed reviews, It was well received by the fans.

This far into it, We can only speculate how the album will be, but if it is anything like their previous work, It should be fairly impressive.

- Irvine & JB.

Album Review #1: Rise against’s “Appeal to reason.”

So, I had been hearing a lot of bad things about Rise Againsts new album, So i decided to check it out for myself.

Let me tell you, The bad things were completely untrue.

Appeal to reason is a great new album, With songs like “Savior”, “Re-education (through labor)” and “Elective amnesia.”

The album, Although not so much going back to their roots, Shows over time that Rise Againsts sound still does not change, Combining a fast, strong drumbeat, With the bass and guitar and Tim Mcllraths amazingly distinctive voice creates a texture hard to beat.

In an interview Tim of Rise Against said: “This album focuses more on the message than our last albums.”  True, But the quality of the songs are still amazingly high, And my expectations were met.

In short: In my opinion this was a great album, A lot of great new songs and some amazing bonus tracks, I suggest you buy it now!

Album can be bought here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Appeal-Reason-Rise-Against/dp/B001ESYAOE

- Irvine & JB.

Complaint #2: The entertainment industry.

Justin Beiber, The Jonas brothers, Britney spears, Kylie monogue.

These are people you have heard of. But are any of them actually talented? No. They are not. They are ATTRACTIVE. That is the key word in this blog.

The reason most famous celebrities you see today are attractive is simple: More ratings and screaming fangirls wanting more.

Anybody can write a 3 minute song bragging about the girls they get, the car they have, Or in one case, im serious, The food they eat. There is slim to no talent left in the entertainment industry.

This can bring up a problem: If we find a way to get real music mainstream, then all those “hardcore” obnoxious metalheads, Will hate that too. Im not saying i have a problem with metalheads, But if you haven’t met a metalhead in your life who doesn’t act like he knows A-Z on the history of music, Then you are one lucky person. So the solution?

There isn’t one. We can’t put it mainstream, or only a few will continue to admire it, the majority of the herd will say things like “Sell outs” and “I listened to them before they were cool.”

The only way we can make this world observant to real music, Is to open peoples eyes. Not by showing them good music, but by telling them what it means, Showing them the message of the music. To really admire music, You must understand it.

True music is music written with passion, With feeling, And most of all, With message.

Don’t let music die.

- Irvine & JB.