Tag: “Weightlifting”

Crowbar at Saint Vitus

Posted on by Mike

49-exl

I celebrated my 31st birthday in Manhattan yesterday, with my girlfriend.  It was a great time.  Bought a Power Trip CD at Generations on Thompson St, got free ices courtesy of the New York Rangers, who had an ice truck outside Washington Square Park, got a Black Flag t shirt on St. Mark’s Place, which I might cut the sleeves off of.  But as a birthday gift to myself I started my day by getting myself tickets to see Crowbar on Monday, June 29th at Saint Vitus Bar in Brooklyn, Ny.

This is fittingly being called the Summer of Doom Tour, as they released their 10th album, Symmetry in Black, just last year.  Also on the bill are Battlecross and Lord Dying.  I’m hoping I can find a way to meet or at least take a picture with Kirk Windstein.  If you love to lift weights Crowbar’s music is the perfect music to listen to.  Really sludgy, heavy as FUCK, so unrelenting.  Twenty six years later Kirk is still a beast.  His lyrics over the last two albums have changed to reflect his positive outlook on life after becoming sober but the music is as inspired and as badass as anything he put out before.

Anybody remember when they first heard Crowbar?  I do.  “Huh huh – he’s always taking a dump! – huh huh.”  Man, I miss Beavis and Butthead.  I’m sure a good chunk of people out there would have never known about Kirk or Crowbar had it not been for his stint in Sludge supergroup Down, with whom he made three classic albums and an EP before leaving to focus entirely on Crowbar.  I personally think that was the best move he could’ve ever made.  If any of you reading this plan on going to the show you should drop me line/comment/whatever; maybe we could meet up.  I’m also sure I’ll be doing a write up of the show for this blog.  Until then, here’s probably my favorite Crowbar video – mostly thanks to Beavis and Butthead!

Workout Song of the Day

Posted on by Mike

This will drive anyone to lift heavy or just fight some guy and just not stop – even if several cops are trying to rip you off the guy you’re beating the shit out of!  Ironically this is also the very first Testament song I ever heard back when I was in high school.  Metal. As. Fuck.  \m/\m/!!!!

…if I owned my own gym…

Posted on by Mike

I’ve have thoughts about trying to open my own gym for the past four years now.  Not only would I be my own boss but I could do what I want with it, which obviously includes dictating the entire vibe of the place.  Who would my gym cater to?  How would I design it?  What equipment would I bring in?  And of course there’s also the music. I love hardcore gyms like the ones I’ve seen in articles and on youtube.  They cater to serious trainers, bodybuilders, powerlifters, you name it they are serious trainers.  I’d love to go to a place like Metroflex in Arlington, TX, with those SICK designs all over the walls, music blasting through the speakers and dudes likes Branch Warren training their asses off; a place like Pumping Iron not too far from me.  THAT place is Grunt City!  The first time I walked in there they grunted and screamed so loud they were cutting through the music!  These people were cutting through two big, 80’s era life size speakers! I train at a newly christened Powerhouse Gym.  The owner bought Atlas Gym from the original owner and is looking to renovate the entire building.  Thankfully, Mike, the new owner likes to play lots of rock music and some metal.  But of course he’s not going to play the good shit all the time.  I’ve already heard shit bands like Shinedown, Trapt, Limp Bizkit, Guns N Roses.  Yeah I included Guns on that list – overrated and pretentious as fuck if you ask me! But Mike does let us put our phones/mp3 players into the stereo system – just ask the guy who’s always playing his Eminem mix every Thursday night!  So one day I asked him if I could plug in my Spotify gym mix and he let me.  I need the heaviest music I can think of to amp me up, especially when I’m squatting and deadlifting on the same day.  This is my initial gym playlist called simply Gym Music:

  • Nevermore -Born
  • Meshuggah – Combustion
  • Crowbar – The Lasting Dose
  • Pantera – The Great Southern Trendkill
  • Morbid Angel – God of Emptiness
  • Black Label Society – Black Sunday
  • Strapping Young Lad – Shitstorm
  • Crowbar – All I Had (I Gave)
  • Pantera – Use My Third Arm
  • Slayer – War Ensemble
  • Meshuggah – Future Breed Machine
  • Nevermore – My Acid Words
  • Strapping Young Lad – Oh My Fucking God
  • Meshuggah – New Millenium Cyanide Christ

Pretty heavy, right?  And I know a few guys in the gym that are metalheads but man, not even THEY could handle my shit.  Within a few songs dudes were bitching to me that what they were hearing is “garbage”, “dude you have any Metallica?”, “Why don’t you make a playlist where you mix it up so everyone could enjoy it?”.  Are you people fuckin’ pussies??  This is lifting music!  It’s not supposed to be Master of Puppets; hell, everything on this list fuckin’ buries ‘Puppets six feet under in terms of intensity! The best was when the music ended Eric, one of those metalheads, quietly said “Thank god it’s over!”.  Eric…I heard you buddy.  But that’s not even my problem.  Whenever I go to the gym a lot of what I hear is SHIT in plain English, but I don’t say a word because what right do I have?  Therefore, what right do they have to bitch about my music?  If you don’t like what you hear there’s a thing called HEADPHONES you pussies.  Man, if I had my own gym the music would be loud and heavy as fuck all the time.  And yeah, I’d probably scare a lot of people away…an exercise in weeding out the weak. Also… RIP AJ Pero 1958 – 2015

Introduction to a jerk

Posted on by Mike

I never thought I’d start one of these things.  I did a wordpress blog back in 2007 for some fucking worthless Advertisement course I took in college, despite the fact that it had absolutely nothing to do with what I originally wanted to do with my life.  Again…worthless.   So why am I here again…and why now?  I’d like to think it’s because after years of curbing my thoughts and opinions as to avoid issues with those who can’t handle them I decided just recently that it’s about time I said what I had to say.  My name’s Mike.  I’m 30 years old and I’m a weightlifting, guitar raping (Yeah I said it!), sarcastic as fuck, ranting, rambling, angry metalhead.  I’ve been a metalhead going back to the late nineties/early 2000’s, when it was so uncool to be a metalhead.  Yeah, I went through shit that early.  See, when my musical taste began darkening the “in” thing, depending on the year, was faggot ass Rap Metal shit like Limp Bizkit and Korn, or Pop Punk like Blink 180-suck.  When nearly everyone I knew was listening to Weezer, Mudvayne and Emo I was the one guy taking the bus to Zig Zag Records on Victory Blvd buying the REAL classics.  I’m talking Slayer’s Reign In Blood and Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying by Megadeth.  That place was amazing and I miss it. After high school HELL I joined my college radio station.  I won’t say what station because they don’t deserve the attention thanks to the few jerkoffs from back in the day that are STILL there like the losers they are.  I was an assistant engineer and within a few months into my 2 plus year run there I began DJing.  I began calling myself Metal Mike after a joke my then guitarist, Chad, made one day when I told him I was getting my own show.  I don’t know that I was a local celebrity but I do know that when I began playing shows with my band a  few people knew me as Metal Mike, which I thought was crazy.  I’d also gotten phone calls from some strange motherfuckers.   Trust me, I’ll get into that one day. During these years I became very opinionated in terms of music.  I don’t know if it had to do with the fact that I wanted to be a journalist for a brief time, or that I used to write reviews for the CDs I played at my station, or I somehow developed extremely high standards of what Metal is and should be in my eyes.  I also had become very opinionated about society and the morons surrounding me.  I hate people and I’m extremely selective with who I hang with for many reasons. That’s not to say I’m friends with “just” metalheads because even THEY are so fucking cliquey it’s ridiculous!  What the fuck happened?!?!  I intend on using this blog for a few things.  You might see my ramblings of the day, my takes on the bands that ruined me for life, surviving as a metalhead in the outside world, etc.  But it’ll always be honest as fuck.  You’ve been warned.