Jen: Thanks for the pictures and video

A sincere "thank you" to everyone that made it out. It was a great night.. and a nice blend of old and new faces!

Jason of Flesh Electric took some awesome photos of the show. He's got them in a blog. Check em out HERE.

Frank's bud from Houston, Lupita was nice enough to post a short video clip. If you're interested, check it out on her page HERE.

A very special thanks to them for documenting and sharing pieces of the night for us.

.. next show? Stay tuned for an indepth blog about what's on the plate now.

Jen

Jen: March 4 - a tribute to 2 awesomely kickass bitches

If fate would not have worked it's magic, this band would not be what it is today.

I'm convinced that there are people in the world who "get it" and who don't. Straight up, most of the time, I don't get it. I have my moments of clarity. Ironically, Dave and I tend to surround ourselves with friends who "get it." By "it", I'm referring to the purpose in life and a constant focus of how to live daily. Those people who understand purpose are here to teach those of us who don't.

March 4^th is dedicated to two people who definitely got it.. and to all their friends & family, still on this earth, that truly live life.

I can tell a vivid account of March 4, 2002 but the details aren't what matter. It's everything that has happened afterwards and the lives that have been changed because of it.

The sceneario was this: Three very good friends were coming home from Clicks (Jesse Ortiz, Roger Trevinio and Eric Gutierrez). They had an accident. For Dave and I, the early morning was spent going to the accident to identify Jesse, making phone calls to their family members, standing vigil at the hospital to be there when Eric took his last breath. We came home, stared into Jesse's bedroom and wondered how God would let something like this happen. It was a nightmare that I don't wish on anyone.

Many hearts were broken, but many relationships on individual levels also came from this loss. I can tell countless stories, but there is one, and one only, that is directly significant to the band as it stands now.

I remember looking into Jesse's bedroom (it was adjacent to ours in our home) sometime during the days after the accident and seeing Jared and another friend, Krystal holding eachother and looking around. I'll never forget looking at them, and being speechless. We exchanged some painful emotion just with that one glance, and I turned and walked into my bedroom. At this time, I didn't know Jared. I had only seen him around here and there. I have a horrible memory and often don't connect right away, but that was our moment of connection.

I recall talking to Jesse and Eric at the table one afternoon in 2001 about why they weren't more proactive in their search for a guitarist. They told me they were going to let fate handle it. It made sense.. the music they made was ambient, fluid and soothing, all with fire. My response, and this was my "metal" mindset back then, thinking that I had the hang of all of this, was that you have to be aggressive and make things happen. Relying on fate was for "chumps". They took my advice and soon there after, they put an ad in the Edge. I made calendars for them to schedule their practices, to schedule auditions and they used them.

One guitarist came to our house that liked and instantly connected with. Dave and I were sitting in our living room when they played this guy a tape. While he improvised along, I thought, "wow, this is gonna be good." The accident happened before they ever got to jam with him again. I ran into him at the Mix weeks later (and it was pure coincidence I think I've been to the Mix only TWICE EVER). He was playing pool. I went up to him and told him of the accident and that they were gone. I didn't want them to seem like flakes who never called him back.

Over time, we saw Jared more and more when he'd play with 9^th Burden, but still really didn't know him. All of Jesse and Eric's friends put together a somewhat of a support network so we tried to see 9^th Burden when we could because of Jared and Alex. Dave and Jared connected on an individual level during 2002 when AK was dormant and he was looking to start another band. Certain things in our lives conceded and Frank and Dave joined forces again. So to make a long story short, chances are that Angerkill would not be without losing Jesse, who brought us Jared. Dave, Frank and I feel that Angerkill is the strongest it's ever been.. and we have musically surpassed anything we've ever done, on an individual and collective level. There's no way for anyone else to feel it right now but us.

I think we were both right and, combined, had the answer. You can't always MAKE things happen. Fate has to lend it's precarious hand to make something worthwhile.

We signed up for the show on March 4^th to celebrate LIFE. We want to not only honor two amazing friends, but the legacy they left behind. These guys were very supportive of us on a creative level, and still give us the inspiration we need to keep reaching new heights. This is the first Saturday since the accident this is the strongest each of us has been creatively. The show is actually a competition for a shot to perform in front of a label. Just to make this known we welcome the feedback from whoever is sitting on a panel to give it to us, but aren't playing for anyone on March 4^th but the stars above and the friends and family who have gaping holes in their hearts, and to strangers who wish to come together in the name of two beautiful lives who touched so many.

"We will forever miss you, Jess and Eric"

Jen (and Dave, Jared & Frank too)

Jen: Shirts are in

The shirts are back from the printer. They came out really really badass. If you're in a band and need shirts printed, drop me a message and I'll refer you to the people who did ours. (Thanks, Gordon!).

I tried to contact everyone individually - think I got to most people. The toddler and kids shirts are not back yet. We should have them early next week.

-Jen

Jen: Pre-order your AK shirt

We're taking pre-orders for shirts.  They're on sale $10 - will go up a couple of bucks after we submit the order on Friday.  Leave a comment or drop a message before this Friday, Feb. 3, with your size and we'll be sure we've got you covered. 

 

                       

Jen: Jamroom pictures

Here are some photos of our rehearsal space. It's still a work in progress. Those of you that have been will notice a huge difference! We finally finished unpacking from our move in 2000. I'm going to keep updating with blogs as I get closer to the finish line with this project.





This is what you see when you walk in the garage door. That metal entertainment unit rack holds our stereo and band supplies (paper stock, media, etc.) I won't be in here alone at night. All these pictures were taken at the same time at about 2 a.m. and the air was clear in the room.





This is a close-up of the mural on that wall. It says, "life is not lived by hours or days, but rather by the moments that we have shared and experienced with one another." Nate (of THREAT) sent us a message with that quote in it, and although he said he heard it somewhere else, it stuck with us so much we put it up for inspiration/motivation.





While standing in front of that wall, if you turn to the right, you'll see our wall of recording equipment and the amps/cabs. See how hi-tech we are? We have a Boss digital 8, but do we use it?! Nope.. we use one mic hanging from the garage door opener (which doesn't work...) plugged into a tape recorder. OK, notice those two bright spots by Dave and Jared's cabs?! Maybe I'm just a big puss... but I swear it feels like someone's in there with you when you're alone!





This is the opposite wall - the one in need of the most work still. I plan on painting it white to open up the room a bit and add some sound panels. Right now, it just houses 2 important things for us - the fridge and our dry-erase board that we use faithfully when writing. Those trunks hold every AK flyer ever made, every promo shot, every receipt for anything purchased for the band, etc. back to '98. -Jen

Jen: Baaack to work, scatterbrained bastards!

We got back to practicing Friday. Big Lu was here, then Frank's friend, Lisa, showed up to check stuff out. We warmed up to some of the regular jams for about an hour or so to condition (condition?! ha.. you should see how much beer we consumed! Damn!), then moved on to writing. There were soo many to choose from - there's a song that the guys wrote in Feb of 2004 that got left behind so we picked up on that one. Jared and I put together some wicked melodies for this song. It's unlike anything we've done because, typically, we go for the break and dynamics toward the middle/end of the song, but this one starts with a melody, the verse is then again seudo-orchestral, hits it after the first chorus, nutty verse again, again after the second chorus, and we havent even HIT the break yet. That's where we're at... and what's different this time is that the break needs to be insanely heavy with Jared harmonizing with Dave - which theyre doing already in this song. I'm liking it a lot.

SATURDAY was a trying one on the patience! Shit.. for me at least. I think for Dave too, but he's not as bad as me. My sister got here late, but it worked out because we started late. I was able to run in and throw on my bass to finish out "New Sun Rising" (which was the first song) with them. Again, we warmed up with the set and shifted gears to writing. Big Lu and Jared's buddy Jason from Flesh Electric were here to check stuff out from the start. One we started writing, it was tough to keep Jared and Frank's attention. Chris from Deadpool showed up and then forget it! FUCK... This is how things went for the next hour....

JARED: "be right back - I gotta pee."

FRANK: "you go pee with your fuckin' cell phone, Jared?!"

---pause for 5 minute long piss---

DAVE: "ok, after this part, we're going to the verse"

JARED: "whats the verse?"

-----not ONE TIME, but THREE TIMES!---------

..and here was the most frustrating part for me. For TWO HOURS.... one of us would be trying to talk and Frank is having separate conversations with Chris, then we'd agree on a part, be ready to go, and he'd say "ok, what are we doing now?" and we'd have to repeat it all over. Then again on another part, Dave, Frank and I would agree on something, Jared was noodling on his guitar, then we'd be ready to go, drumclicks, and he'd say, "ok, what are we doing now?!". The worst part of this being not that we had to waste time by repeating everything twice, but that by not listening, they weren't giving their input that we need from all right now. Try dealing with that for over an hour... most people could without bother, but.. I suppose i'm not most people!!! Eh, they gotta deal with me as much as I deal with them, I guess.

Don't get me wrong, I never got angry because I was in a good mood, but it was a def. frustrating. I have always been known to be anal when it comes to practice, studio, shit like that. The perfect practice to me would be with nobody there, unless they vowed silence (sorry, Chris!!!!!), turn off your cell phones or at LEAST don't answer it so we don't need to sit and wait for conversation to cease before we can proceed, beer (which we do without fail), swift breaks, and, most importantly, FOCUS. Despite all that happened during practice, we accomplished so much and got to the end of the song. Imagine what we could have done had we been on task!

I gotta give it up to Frank this time, though. He was really sweet. I worked super hard to create our practice space (which I must say really really kicks ass and was worth every minute of work) and left a dumb little comment on here that they must bring beer and chinese candy for that. Frank actually bought me a special 6 of Dos X and a bag of Chinese candy!! Jared even pitched in for beer (normal for most, rare for him! Like finding a pond in the dessert...) So I give it up to Frank for being thoughtful... and "thanks for letting your pockets finally breathe a little, Jared!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

...now if only they hadn't drank all the beer he bought me... assholes.

I'm makin' jamroom rules and it's NOT gonna be pretty!!

Jen

Frank: Thank You AK Friends & My Two Cents

Wow....

This is coming kinda late...only because i've been recouping and Dave, Jen, and Big Fukin' Lou have been cleaning up our jam space. More on that later....But first:

Our most heartfelt thanks to Threat, Brotherhood, Course Of Ruin, and Lokey.

And ultimatley...the fans! Ya'll are the fucking best in the world. No doubt about it...hands down....Thank you very much from the bottom of our hearts.

Moving on:

We were so thankful to have such a great lineup at our Comeback show. And all of the bands kicked so much ass.

If you were ask Nate from Threat...he'd probably argue with ya. They had a pretty crappy mix. I don't know what the hell it was. They kept getting feedback from hell. But if you block that shit out....they fucking put on a great show. Nate knows how to get down on that bass. Keep it up!

Brotherhood: Man...those guys are a new breed of Metal all together. I remember when Dave use to be jammin' with Protein Shake, and Course of Faith. Compared to now...shit.....Dave knew what to go after. He went with his heartfelt desire...and it's working. They put on a great show. I was simply blown away. It's really sad that they aren't signed yet. They deserve to be the next Metal act out of San Antonio. No joke.

Course Of Ruin: Fuckin' Walter never ceases to amaze me either. They have so much stage presence. Too bad Shaun was actin' a gimp though! Just kidding bro! It was actually kinda cool to see Shaun all 'gimped' out and still headbangin' and shit. But anyway...C.O.R.'s set was powerful and still amazing. They are so tight...so full of pick ups, stops, and great accents. I love these guys and i can't wait to jam with them again in March.

Lokey: Before they went on, Jon came up to me and said, " Dude, it's a whole new set. All the jams are new...please tell me what you think!" Well fuckin' A' brother...i was blown away again for the 4th time that night. And ya'll were the last one to do it to me! The new songs are indeed heavier and more aggresive. Err! That's the way it should be MoFo!

Then we had our interview with The Scene. Jen and Gonzo are the fuckin' best. Jen is the shit...Gonzo is the shit, and i'm happy to say that Angerkill totally endorses their show, what they do for the music scene, and because they believe in us. Jen told me something after the interview that totally blew my mind. I simply told her that i was extremely happy for giving us the chance to be on the program. Her response was "No, Thank You!". I was kinda thrown off by that. Then she went to say that they wanted us on the program. And that the music scene has been waiting for our return. I was like, "huh? NO fuckin' way....". That totally made my night. Anyway...without going into too much detail...Jen, Gonzo, and The Scene are making us feel totally welcomed back.

And it just feels right. Like everything is where it's supposed to be.

So....we took a week off from practice. We had been goin' at it hard since October...Nothing big...nobody needed 'mind rest' or anything like that. Trust...we coulda kept going the monday after the show. But like i stated above...Dave, Jen, and B.F.L., (Big Fuckin' Lou...goddamn....why didn't i just type that shit out....i ended up typing it out anyway. Now i've spent more time just trying to explain what B.F.L. was...or is.....whatever....bleh!) are making our practice space cleaner and adding more ambiance. I can't wait to get in there!

That's it for now!!!!!!!!!!! See you motherfuckers later!!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Frank Diaz de Leon