JOURNALS 2003

We started setting up drums today. I always hate this part because, as a musician, you wanna just plug in and bang out your songs...so I always have ants in my pants all day...

I think we'll have to finish getting sounds tomorrow, it looks like we're losing steam...

Our trip to the left coast was awesome...I could really get used to being out there, although I don't think I would get much done...We loved San Diego...We stayed in beautiful Coronado, CA (just outside of SD) We ate breakfast at Konos as many times as we could while we were out there! (aaahhh my friend, you came back again!) The San Diego Zoo was amazing! We also spent one day down in Tijuana, Mexico (where I was dubbed "One lucky hombre") to have my wife by my side. That was quite an experience! We spent the day shopping, it was fun. I scored a couple of mean cigars for Tim but after a while I had to get out of there, I couldn't stand to see the poor kids begging in the streets, it's horrible...

The highlight of our trip was going up to Hollywierd for the day to see a taping of the Price is Right. (It has always been my wife's dream, since she was 7 years old, to be on The Price is Right. So for our 6th wedding anniversary I actually surprised her with this trip to try to "Come on Down"). We never did make it down to Contestant's Row, but get this...after the show was over, they asked the audience to stay and be part of a "party scene" for Bob Barker's 80th Birthday Special. It was great, we ended up "partying" on stage with Bob, his beauties, the crew and even Bob's dog, Winston! During the taping, we both got a chance to talk to Bob and show him our shirts that my wife made. He was really nice to everyone. It's funny, Bob is like a Rock Star. We also had tickets to The Sharon Osbourne show but we never did make it up that day...it was too insane...run, run, run. Sorry Sharon!

October 2003
....goin' back to Cali, Cali, Cali...goin' back to Cali, Yo, I think so!
So after all the drama, I decided it's time for a little vacation with my wife
(2 tickets to San Diego please!) When we get back, we'll start working on the new Fiendz record....tentatively titled "Commit to Memory".
I'll be keeping you up to date with the rehearsals and the whole recording process as we go forward.

September 2003
Thank You all so much for all the e-mails. I really appreciate it!
Here are "the deals"...as of today, I am changing the format of my journals.
--I think you'll see what I mean.
....hmmm let's see....I think I'll entitle this one:
"Another night at the ranch for Cheeky and Blanch"...
Let me first start where I left off awhile back in my last cryptic entry....We were in the process of parting ways with our long time bass player Larry and our drummer Alan, both for very different reasons that I won't get into on here. I will just try and be as charitable as I possibly can and wish them both luck in the future. So I will be putting together a new live band, after I finish recording the new record. I have all of the songs written for the new album already so our long time producer Tim Gilles will be playing drums on the new record. If anyone knows someone who would be interested in trying out for the band, please e-mail me. I still plan on doing more Redemption dates here in the states and possibly even Europe... I'll keep you posted.

I don't think I'll be posting much on here for a while, we have a lot going on right now. I'll be in the studio most of the summer working on a new Fiendz release, therefore we won't be playing any shows this summer as originally planned. We might also come up with a new website soon, so if I don't get a chance to get on here and give you an update...

Spent the weekend in lovely Asbury Park, NJ (Yikes!) at the Skate & Surf Fest....the shows were cool...I saw a lot of old school friends I haven't seen in a long time. I thought it was a way better line up last year (The Descendents, The Get Up Kids, Piebald & Face To Face) but there were a lot of really great bands that played, Alkaline Trio, Finch, Midtown, World Inferno Friendship Society (too many to remember) Oh yeah and The Bouncing Souls were great! Our friends, Thursday, headlined the Saturday night show which was really cool.

Testing 1-2-3.....Well if you're reading this now, I must be back (haha)...I'm sorry for not posting on here for a while but I was having some major computer problems....I may have missed some of your e-mails, so anyone that has sent anything in the last month or so (and hasn't received a response yet) please try re-sending your e-mails and I will get back to you as soon as possible, I am very sorry for the inconvenience. Thanks so much to my brother, Piker and Jay (from Destroy The Plot) for getting me back up and running again....I have a few journals from when we were down that I'll put up soon...the whole site really needs to be updated...and on a side note to anyone in the New Jersey area next weekend, Black Pumpkin Records will have a table at the Skate & Surf Fest all weekend long, so come down and Say Hello, We will have lots of Fiendz Merch available including, CD's, T-Shirts, Buttons, Stickers & Funzines...Later!

Spent the weekend in the studio working on the new Brian Fitzpatrick record, I am very pleased with how it's coming out so far. Our friends from the band Thursday were also down at the studio working on their new release for Island Records, their new songs sound really good!

Our St. Paddy's Show with Brian Fitzpatrick was a good time. Thanks to everyone who came down. We're going to try and do it again next year. I start production on Brian's new record, later this month at Big Blue Meenie Studios...and from the sound of his new songs, It should be really good...
Listening to: Joe Jackson Band "Volume 4"

We're back from Ohio...what a jaunt! We had a great show in Cleveland with our friends the Unknown. Ken and the Boys were awesome! Special thanks to our whole crew that came out with us, our road trip was funny as hell!!

I've been getting a lot of slack for not updating this thing enough lately....I'm sorry but we've been very busy working up the new songs. So anyway, tomorrow night we return to Cleveland, Ohio to play with our long-time friends The Unknown @ The Imperial Music Fest. We can't wait...We hit the main stage @ 9:30 PM...See Ya!

The Whiskey show the other night with Brian Fitzpatrick was really good. Brian & his band have certainly come a long way since I first met him many years ago. I'm really psyched about the new songs that he kicked out with because I'll be producing his new record beginning later next month. We are also playing with "Fitz" and his band at the Underpass (The Underpants) in Elmwood Park NJ, next month for a St. Patty's Bash!

Last night's show at The Loop Lounge was very cool...Thanks to everyone that came down and spent their Valentines Day with us! It was a very special show for the band... as it turns out, last night was actually 15 years to the day since the first time we ever played The Loop Lounge, I think it was one of our first "real" local gigs. It was a benefit for the National Heart Association that Montclair State College was putting on. So it felt very surreal playing some of those old songs there last night. We all had a really great time. On a side note, there was a really great band that opened the show and they are certainly worth mentioning. They are called Denial and they're from Cincinnati Ohio. Their set really blew me away, they were great! The guys in the band were really cool too. We're hoping to hook up with them again on one of our trips thru the Mid West.

We have just added a "Fiendz Merchandise" page, which for the time being, only consists of our CDs. (We will eventually be expanding this section but we just threw this up due to a lot of recent e-mails that I've been receiving about how to mail order Redemption).

We've been busy rehearsing a bunch of the songs that people have requested from the web site and we've also been working on some new songs. We have about 5 or 6 new ones that we have been concentrating on and when they're finished, we'll start to work up the next bunch. We are tentatively scheduled to go in to the studio this summer to start our next record with Tim Gilles. (The main complaint that I have heard is that people don't want to wait another 4 years for the next Fiendz record, and so we're not going to let that happen).

Just thought I'd mention that I really like that new song that's out by Audioslave called "Like A Stone"....

Finally coming out of the fog I was in for days...Our trip to France was killer. (My wife came along with me this time because she always regretted that she didn't go with me the first time I went to Midem...so this was her first trip to Europe). It was definitely a "working vacation" for both of us. Our feet were so bad by the end of each day that we were referring to them as "stumps" (haha). Overall, it was an amazing experience for both of us. After Midem had ended, we drove to Italy! (less than 2 hr drive). My wife had what she called the best lasagna she had ever eaten! That was my first time in Italy too. It was beautiful. We just ran & ran & ran--trying to get in as much Euro time as possible. That's why we are so wiped out. Upon our return we flew in just in time to get our things together and go to the show (with Dave Smalley) & aside from a few "technical difficulties", I thought we played pretty good considering the fact that I was on 2 hours of sleep. After we played, Dave Smalley actually approached me and told me how much he enjoyed our set--I was blown away! He really liked our vocals a lot. He actually couldn't believe that we were still around after all these years because he had remembered us but didn't think it could possibly be the same Fiendz he was thinking about. I reminded him of the first time I met him at City Gardens when he sang for ALL & also that we had played with him on the first Down By Law tour. We talked for a while, he's a really nice guy!

Dave played solo. His set was made up of songs from Down by Law, Dag Nasty & Traditional Irish Drinking Songs. I thought it was really cool. My favorites were "Under Your Influence" and a cover of the Who song "The Kids are Alright". It would've been cool to hear him play one of the songs he wrote for ALL (oh well.)

Bon Jour!...I'm back from France...too much to write at this time....I need more sleep....I'm still on Euro time & the late show last night didn't help any (I returned from France right before having to do the show with Dave Smalley last night)

...I just wanted to get on here real quick to say that, I'm leaving for France today, so I won't be posting on here or checking e-mail until I get back. If you are here in Jersey, I hope to see you ALL next Thursday, January 23rd, @ Connections in Clifton when we play with Dave Smalley. It should be fun!...Later!

We played a couple of cool shows this week. Thanks to Brian Fitzpatrick for coming down and hanging out with us (out in the sticks of Jersey) at Obsessions (Depressions).

I have a lot of shows "in the works" that I'll be putting up when I return from France.

Happy New Year!

Looks like 2003 is already off to a good start as I will, once again, be going to "Midem" in Cannes, France later this month. For those of you who have never heard of Midem, it's a huge music convention held every year where the music industry gathers from all over the world to meet and discuss licensing, distribution, touring, etc. I hopefully will be finishing up a deal to finally bring the Fiendz out to Europe!!!

I can't wait to go back to France, it's so awesome out there.....Oh, and did I mention that there is a McDonald's across the street from the Midem Convention Center that sells "McBeer" and even better yet, the old-school Mickey D's apple pies!!

(The crusty fried ones--Yum!) Now we're talkin...

Listening to: Finch "What It Is To Burn"