RYMODEE - Top Ten of 2012

  I'm pretty sure that Rymodee thinks I'm gonna use this space to say something snarky about his old band once again, but I'm not. Truth be told, there was one day when I listened to the song "Johnny" by THIS BIKE IS A PIPEBOMB upwards of 40 times in a row because I thought it might be one of the saddest songs ever written (then I listened to "I'm So Depressed" by Abner Jay in the rain and that song won). He wrote a solo album (also kind of depressing in tone) that I could not stop listening to one winter. I don't mean to make the man sound like a sad sack, because he's not. I've been stuffed into s small van for weeks with the guy and did not get sick of his company. We've drank whiskey and yelled really loud. We've drank tea and had quiet conversations. We've eaten the dried out weed of a joint on the side of the road in the middle of the desert for no apparent reason. I'm really excited that he moved to my side of the country, but I still never see him. He's also on the search for a new band to play in, so if you're interested, head on up to Mendocino. If you need references, look no further than BRAINBOW, VERY VERY SNEAKY, TRIGGERMORTIS (Actually, the guitarist is some dude named "Old Dead Steve", but he looks eerily like Rymo) and the aforementioned bands. 

RYMODEE'S TOP TEN OF 2012

   i don't really consider myself current in the area of music appreciation, or any other type of appreciation, so forgive me. this is going to be slightly personal. probably the biggest thing to happen to me this year and the hardest to do was reconciling with my family. my family is pretty weird. i don't want to put too much of my life up on the internet, but maybe this is good...my dad died about 15 years ago. my mother immediately decided to move to some small town in indiana, marry some guy 20 years older than her and stops talking to me and my sister, except for me calling her on her birthday, and christmas. after about ten years of her never calling me back, i just gave up. my sister and i have never been very close. neither of us did anything hurtful to each other, but we just aren't close like brother and sister should be. last month i got a wild hair up my ass and called my mom and told her i was sick of it and felt abandoned during a delicate time in my life, and it was probably one of the main reasons why i had become a drunk, emotionless asshole. she said she was surprised to hear from me and surprised to hear that i cared. we're not perfect now, but we call each other once or twice a week, and even sent letters to each other. this might not seem like much, but after fifteen years, it's really uplifting and emotional to have your family call you just to see what's up.

    the next thing i can think of is that i learned to say "sure, why not?". I had been living in chattanooga for three years and i really loved it. i worked with my friends, i could tour without fear of losing my job, and there was a giant crew of punks in town my age and they all played fucking fantastic music. i think at one time there were twenty bands comprised of 35-50 year old punks and i think every damn one of them was mind blowing. i also worked with penguins! i held them, played with them, fed them, painted with them, made sure their babies were safe, and i loved every minute of it. i'm getting off track, so i'll generalize by saying that i was very happy there. well, one day i was just minding my own business with jesse jane in mendocino. she had, for almost a year, tried to get me to talk to a luthier in town that was a friend of her family. i often entertained the idea, a far cry from building a giant bass out of a dozen tin cans and a handrail, but still something i thought i could grasp onto. fuck that though, right? i'm finally happy, and i'm in THREE BANDS! besides, i really hate change. i really do. most of it is really completely pointless, and most of it is completely pointless. well, one thing led to another, and i said "sure, why not?" and i up and met the dude and we hit it off pretty well and even shot the shit for a few hours (and i don't really do that). it's not something i can make happen all the time. (i'm still a grump) but whenever i catch myself about to say "no" for no good reason, i make myself say "sure, why not?".

    the third thing i can think of is that i'm a luthier apprentice living in a barn in the woods.

    #4. i found out way too late in my life that i like ANTISEEN and PENTAGRAM. i had written ANTISEEN off about 50 years ago after deciding (i can't remember why) that they were just racist rednecks and assholes. recently i found an ANTISEEN 7" at a thrift store, and since it was a sub pop single, i thought i would sell it to some dumb shit head. that dumb shit head isn't going to get my ANTISEEN record, he doesn't deserve it. if it weren't for a documentary i accidentally watched on the singer of PENTAGRAM, i wouldn't know, or even care to know, anything about them. i have never seen or heard an album. never heard anyone even talk about them. i vaguely remember seeing their patches on some metal dudes jackets. the documentary was moving (i heard it made mike wilson's mom cry) and i instantly fell in love with the music.

    #5 them DICKS reissues are pretty fucking great.

    #6 sometime this year, without even making a decision about it, i just stopped drinking like a god damn maniac every day. don't get me wrong, if you show up on the porch of the barn with some whiskey, we're going to scare off the local sasquatch population, but i just don't feel like doing it all the time any more.

     #7 that HICKEY record is real nice.

     #8 i actually recorded some solos, and it wasn't nearly as terrible an experience as i thought it might be.
 
     #9 ya'll heard them NIGHTMARE BOYZZZ records yet?

    #10 TBIAPB final tour. i will call it the catalyst of closures. jesus fucking christ!