This is definitely a Memorial Day that will be difficult to forget. (Not that I want to forget it) It's just so freaking random how your day can start one way and end up as something that you never expected.

For instance, I thought that I would just spend my Sunday of Memorial Day weekend just swimming with my fiance and her cousins out at her grandparent's cottage by Lake Milton, but at the end of the day, I was pulling a stray dog out of freeway traffic at 2am and driving her to an emergency dog clinic.

Wow.

Even without that last event, I still had an action-packed day with friends and family. 

It started with a giant table of food at my fiance's grandparents' cottage in Lake Milton. You know the drill. Embarrasing stories, kids running after golf carts, and girls screaming in the water. 

Later, we were just sitting around, discussing our problems, and trying out new alcoholic concotions. 

After that all passed, I was driving my fiance and myself back to my hometown where we waited for a friend to have a small fire for close friends. It was great to catch up.

We had some of the classic discussions of "Remember in high school..." and "What ever happened to So and So..." Plus I got to check out this awesome dock made out of tree limbs that reminded me of something from Hook. (Never Never Land and the lost boys)

When that little shindig ended, it was time to book my fiance back to her house... but not without coming across a timid Boston Terrier that was briskly walking along the median of Route 680, putting herself in the dangerous path of passing cars.

Now, I've never picked up a stray animal before, but this was dangerous and we were both worried of what the results could be of just driving on by, so I felt that we had no choice.

We picked up the poor pooch, contacted an emergency clinic that was open 24 hours and put her in some good hands until she was found earlier today by her real owners. It was really a load-off to find out that she wasn't just dumped.

That definitely occurred to me and those kinds of thoughts anger me to my limit.

I had to crash on my fiance's couch at that point since it was about 5am and couldn't imagine myself driving any more.

I'm happy to say that she's back home and happy now and that I probably gained some karma points. All in all, it was a great Memorial Day celebration, and I hope that your celebration was/still is just as awesome!

Happy Memorial Day!

Your friend,

Kyle

My dad is actually a huge Beatles fan and owns a large collection of books that talks about this subject in great detail. (Not to mention that he was once Paul McCartney in a Beatles tribute band)

But in these volumes, they brush on the same idea. Everyone was so overwhelmed with the talent, diversity, and sudden fame of the Beatles that everyone just assumed the band's tunes must have contained powerful, deep, and almost messiah-like meanings.

You know what those books say?

The Beatles have said things similar to "Sometimes we just picked things that rhymed well."

That cracks me.

I just thought that I would share my interest with that special piece of history. It doesn't really have to do with my lyrics since they HAVE meaning behind them in this instance, but it's funny to think about.

So let's talk about Way With Words. You can check out the lyrics here:

Way With Words Lyrics

I like to use personification sometimes with my lyrics and this is one of those times.

Yea, personification. Look who was awake during high school English.

When I'm saying the line "She's got a way with words, but I'll never follow", the "she" is what's being personified.

OK, so you're probably asking "What the heck is the 'SHE' then?"

"She" can be anything that you are reluctant to conform to. At least that's what I meant it to be.

The real meaning behind this tune is "Whatever you do in life, stand out." Be a person, be an individual, and be proud of who you are.

And no, this isn't an Oprah special.

I just feel that a lot of people that fraternize with are generally unhappy with their place in the world mainly because they fear standing out and being recognized as an individual.

But you know, sometimes, you just gotta step out of your comfort zone, be yourself, and follow your beliefs.

I would hate to die thinking that I never expressed myself honest to my beliefs and personality. Wouldn't you?

When I have the gang vocals singing, "You can't fight me on your own!", I meant this as a representation of how strong you can truly be when you have a passion that identifies you as an individual. It empowers you like adrenaline and makes you feel almost invincible.

And the words, "I know I just keep on breaking these bottles, but I'm still craving the burn when I swallow", are metaphorical about how the thing you're trying to separate from usually is a struggle to beat.

I thought imagery of alcoholism would set off some emotions here.

I find myself thinking too often about the things in my life that have a "way with words" and are trying to get me to follow blindly.

Comments? Leave 'em below.

e-|-------------|

b-|-------------|

g-|-4-----7-----|

D-|-4--5--7--7--|

A-|-2--5--5--7--|

E-|----3-----5--|

Reading Time: 7 min

A couple weeks ago, I was cleaning out this cupboard full of old VHS tapes and I came across something that I never thought I would see again. It was the recording of my very first show in my very first band ever!

Like whoa. I was 15 when I was in my very first band called The 534 Band and we thought that we were awesome. That band consisted of Dustin Underwood on bass guitar, Adam Dempsey on drums, Jimmy Cahalin on lead guitar, and me on rhythm guitar and vocals. We were a classic rock cover band.

It still makes me laugh to this day, but I whipped out this video and started reminiscing on how cool we thought that we were.

For instance, I forgot that we had covered both Stay Together for the Kids by Blink 182 and Mary Jane's Last Dance by Tom Petty all in the same set. Definition of cool right there.

But it was where I started and I thought that it was pretty awesome and that caused me to start pulling up memories of later bands that I was a part of and the local scene that I felt was fantastic for the time.

It was in the days when every year there was a Battle of the Bands at St. Luke's Church in Boardman called the MV Ulster Peace Project. (I know it's still there, just not a battle anymore)

There were shows every weekend at Lion's clubs and Veterans halls. Freaking sweet. And for some reason, I always thought that the biggest and best bands in the area played at the Champion Rollarena. haha

But I just wanted to share with you, this list of some of the local bands that I felt were a huge part of the local music scene and where it is today.

Made in Canada - Myspace

It appeared that everybody knew who Made in Canada was in their prime and if you went to a show where they were playing, people were right up front and in their face. I can remember at one of the last shows where I was a part of Let All Prevail, we played at a high school with Made in Canada and got yelled at when we lifted Scott up to crowd surf during MIC's set.

Ah. Good times.

Those boys had at least one full-length album to their name called Turn Your Head and Cough which I am the proud owner of. I can remember being pretty jealous that they had a trailer and everything cause they went on short tours.

Ten Count Fall was definitely a big name around the area. If you got to share the stage with them, you were considered a big deal. I gotta give them respect cause they were the sort of band that you thought might make it.

I had a very short (very short) conversation with the vocalist/bassist and he basically said that he didn't have a job and that he was gonna just be in a band. Sounds awesome to me.

This band was more of a mystery to me because I had only seen them play once. However, there name was common amongst most of my friends who often went to local shows like me.

Frankly, I couldn't describe what their sound was because it was all over the place. haha They were original definitely stood out in the group of local bands. Again, I thought they were really something.

I can't count how many times I would hear about Another Found Self winning some sort of band battle or headlining with some sort of huge act. Honestly, you could open the local paper and see their pictures in there just about every week!

When I got to play shows with them, they really knew how to get the crowd going with huge introduction grabbers, syncronized moves on stage, and just tons of interaction with the audience. Most of the other bands just stood their with stone faces of jealousy. haha

This is another group that I only saw once and it was totally worth it. Out at the Section 8 Skatepark I might add! Hey-o!

But, these guys put on a great stage show and I can understand why there vocalist moved on to eventually be a part of Inhale Exhale. (Signed to Solid State Records) It appeared that during their sets, he was much more into the heavier tunes and would just go nuts like standing on the kick drum and starting the mosh pits and stuff.

Here's another band that I saw out at the Section 8 Skatepark in Hubbard, OH. Geez, that place was a gold mine! But when I first saw them, they had four members with the infamous Silent Ron. haha

I can remember being very impressed by what I heard and those guys were tight together. Even after the departure of Silent Ron, I tried to follow R3's progress through new songs and music videos and such. They were another heavy hitter around the area.

This band has been around for what seems to be forever. They may not have had the same name, but those guys were so talented that they could switch instruments write a whole other set of tunes to captivate their audience.

With being one of the very few pure instrumental bands in the area, they really stood out. If that wasn't enough, they're a bunch of the nicest and courteous guys I've had the pleasure of doing business with.

Now, there was a band called Phoenix. They played around Warren every so often, and that's just about all I can remember about them. haha

I just know that they had a sort of grungy-classic rock thing going on, but they had a good following for it. I think there were chain wallets and steel-toed boots involved. I could be wrong.

Aldous was a band that I saw quite a lot of and saw even more through my past band experience with Wake the Lion! They're a bunch of solid bros even though I understand that they may not be together any more. They're still awesome guys.

The first time I saw them perform was at the Stomping Grounds in Austintown, OH where they were surrounded by a huge crowd of kids. Shane, the lead vocalist, had his shirt off as usual, and things were pretty damn crazy. I believe that my past band mate Mike suggested that we ask them to play with us. That was good idea.

Just about everyone that I know has been in contact with the famous Duma brothers that started this Christian pop punk band. I actually auditioned with them... but it didn't go so well.

They were some really great guys and I've kept in touch with most of them. I can still remember them jamming out at Section 8 Skatepark. What a magical place.

Matt from Aldous used to be in this post hardcore band and it was this group that performed at one of Let All Prevail's very first shows at the Newton Falls community center about 4 or 5 years ago! Whoa!

They were the first band that I actually heard were going on real tours and things. I was very impressed back then. Then the lead guitarist moved away to do tattooing or something.

The first time that I saw Sanity Fare was at the Champion Rollarena with my friend Erika and the crowd was huge. It was really neat because they didn't play music like everyone else. They covered quite a few genres like folk, pop, rock, and other things.

The lead vocalist, Jeff, is now the CEO of FTF Records out of Stowe, OH. Talk about big dreams. I really admire the heck out of that guy.

Two of the guys that were in this band, I played with in the first band I was ever in, the 534 band. (Named after a road near where I live) Riputa was just a 3-piece playing classic-rock style jam tunes that could mesmerize you.

The bassist and guitarist, Dustin and Tino, now have a new group called In a Circle that's some really gnarly folk.

This may have been one of the bands that truly opened up my eyes to playing before I even knew what was happening. 

I can just remember them playing (At Section 8 once again) and there was a pit on just about every song. And the guys in the band were just nuts. They were like melodic-hardcore or something sweet.

The thing that stands out in my memory the most is when they played their final song and the vocalist yelled "Somebody hit me!!"

It was super intense since the crowd was right up in front of them. I was blown away.

All the best,

Kyle

Here's a little something to tide you over until I get this tune completely finished. It's called Realizing the Betrayer and I'm really happy with how it turned out so far.

Sometimes I like to create songs with a very simple item and then repeat the catchiest part until it engulfs your mind and you can't get rid of it and that's exactly what I did with this piece. I love writing music like this where it can come across as powerful with very simple elements pushed to the limit.

You can listen to the tune on my player to the right if you're on the e-mail list. If you're not on the list, you can sign-up underneath the About Me video, or right underneath this sentence :]