Whoa...

Holy f*ck!

As I'm typing this, Hurricane Sandy is just about to hit the Atlantic City seaboard. With a size covering a swath of land that goes from North Carolina up to James Bay, and west all the way to the Great Lakes, this beast is one of the baddest storm ever recorded, and it's about to hit one of the most populated area on the planet. May the Force be with us.

o7

OOOPS !!!

I sort of managed to skip the Friday video! My post-show week was a bit crazy and this is a parental duty weekend so yeah. For the last sortie with the drumline it's looking like we'll be doing a percussion meet, kind of like the one I went to last year that allowed me to meet these fine people. Something tells me this meet will be popular because we put a huge dent on the music scene last week and now a lot of people who didn't or couldn't come to the show want to see the Rockline in action. We shall not disappoint!

On the EVE front, I am back to pretty much full activity. It was slower starting than I thought after the show because I was totally brain-dead but towards the end of the week I finally got some The PvP with my buddy Havegun Willtravel. He was in a Rifter trolling some F.E.R.A.L. guys in Gallente Low-sec when I hooked up with him. We fleeted up, and when I got ready to engage he called the "warp to me" and told me to hit the Rupture. OK, warp drive active! Being in a Hurricane this was easily done, along with a Harpy and a Rifter for good measure. Three kills in a single pass. Man than felt good! Gun had to take a phone call which gave the enemy a chance to upship, so when we engaged again they did so with three 'Canes and a Drake, and a shit-ton of ECM drones. Ah well, all in good fun! I also lost another 'Cane later in another engagement, this time to a Pilgrim giving an awesome warp-in on me. And more ECM drones. Yeah, these guys love 'em!

So now I can finally say it, I'm back. And not giving a flying fuck about losses is awesome. May the gods of The PvP rejoice at all the pretty 'splosions I intend to give 'em :))

Fly hard, die harder!

o7

"Arabesque", by Wishmaster's Alexis Serré and The Rockline

Yeah. We rock. >:)

A Night To Remember!

Wishmaster, The Rockline and the Diplomates horn line

After seven months of regular practice, and pretty hardcore at that in the last month, The Wishmaster OES 2012 event may now be a thing of the past, but the memories from this most awesome day will remain forever. Even though we had to work hard the entire day from 8AM up until show time, it was great to do so in the comfort given to rock stars. And as we had planned, the effect of having the marriage of Drum Corps and Metal was absolutely devastating. From the opening punches of Scaretale to the gigantic finale of Ghost Love Score, everything was dead-on with the precision of an atom clock. And the power... ZOMG the power! Having my already ridiculously powerful bass drum miked and hearing it assaulting the venue's walls was a truly awesome feeling. I would definitely do this again! It put a serious time constraint on my schedule but with results like this I'd be stupid not to do it again.

And hey, I can say I've realized one of my dreams: I am now part of a top-flight drumline that played the equivalent of FOUR Drum Corps shows in one evening. And wait till you see the drum feature! I'm waiting for a good video of it to come out, and I'm sure it will, to post it here. The house had already been brought down by the two opening bands, Opened Fist (tribute to System Of A Down) and Alcoholica (tribute to Metallica) so what we did was blow the remains of the house clear across Ste-Catherine street :))

And now I can go back to a somewhat regular schedule. The Rockline will be taking a well-deserved break and we'll see where it goes after. I've heard that we may skip 2013 for the big event because Wishmaster is also going on hiatus after a 25+ show summer tour, guitarist Tony Batal becoming a dad to a little girl, and drummer Alexis Serré's girlfriend expecting a baby soon™. But I'm keeping my eyes and ears open. In any case if there's a gig for the Rockline (without necessarily 45 minutes of drumline parts to learn), director & instructor Jacques Charbonneau has my number and he knows he can count on me on the bass line.

In the word that has become the Rockline slogan, it was totally SDEMMEY !!!

o7

I'm on bass #4 this time, stretching my neck to see the drum major!

The crowd, with EVE MTL pilots Ilinane and Cartboard Box up front and center :)

Meet La Drumline Rockline! Yours truly is on the far left.

Edit for Facebook users: Here's links to all of Quebec Metal's photos...

The lighter: Opened Fist

The dynamite: Alcoholica

The explosion: Wishmaster


Edit #2: Concert review !!!

Friday's Electric Lunch Hour - French Boy Edition

As busy as fuck as I am less than 48 hours from the event that's taken over my entire life, I just had to post this Friday's video. I guess some French kid decided he had enough of the "white flag" thing. He picked up a guitar, and now he's on a mission to utterly destroy your brains!

For those interested, on Monday when I log back in EVE it will be as an active player. I hear can-flipping is interesting these days... >:)

If you're not flying with the volume at 11, you're not flying.

o7

The last straight

You may have noticed I skipped the Friday video post. Sorry about that but as the meme says, shit just got real. The fruit of the drumline's labor is in sight with only seven days to go before showtime and until the final punch is hit next Saturday night that's where all my energy will be focused.

And on Sunday afternoon whenever my body decides to wake up, I will have to sacrifice a few ships to The PvP gods.

Flying safe sucks ass; just don't do it.

o7

Low-key?

I think not! If you see this thing in orbit around you, know that you are already royally screwed sideways into next sunday. I humbly introduce to you my new toy...

You want this, don't you...

Fly sneaky

o7

Friday's Electric Lunch Hour - Rockline Edition

Yes I know. The sound is bad, we can't hear Anissa really well, etc. But still, this is an idea of what to expect at the Wishmaster OES 2012 event. Yours truly is on the 32 inch monster bass drum nicknamed "The Beast". It will be awesome :)

Enjoy!

o7

Attack of the Little Black Dots

Not even two and a half weeks to go until The Big Show, and it totally feels like it. Over the next two weeks we will have two ensemble rehearsals, two sectionals (at least for us in the bass line) and the general with everybody involved, which means Wishmaster, The Rockline, the dance troop, the circus troop, and the Diplomates horn line. A lot of my spare time is spent listening to the six Nightwish tunes over and over, playing my parts whenever I can, and for our drum feature I also have some steps to memorize to make sure I don't ram someone when show time comes. Yeah, after the show is done it's gonna be great to take a break from music and start the pew-pew antics in EVE.

I will also get my baptism of fire in Airsoft. All summer long I was seeing the invites for various games from my buddy Moogy over at Taktik Airsoft and most of the time it was conflicting with either my rehearsal or my parenting schedules. Not having to memorize an entire binder full of little black dots will free up a lot of time, but I do have some basic gear I need to acquire before I even think of going to an Airsoft game. For starters I need the obligatory protection gear and some cheap clothes I won't mind getting dirty; I intend to play Airsoft the way I play Quake, which means I'll run a lot, fall a lot, die a lot, etc. I've been told there's always room for suicidal nutcases like me in Airsoft teams and I intend not to disappoint! I'm also working towards the purchase of my Umarex H&K G36cv replica and all the gadgets surrounding it, which means batteries and charger, spare mags, maybe a red/green dot sight and tactical grip, and of course a carrying case or bag; one does not simply walk around with an assault rifle replica! After I have the basics I'll start looking at better and more practical gear but there will be no pressure and no rush. In any case, I can't wait to play a live-action First-Person Shooter :)

On the EVE front the arrival of the colder weather will mean more activity. Cartboard Box and I will start stoking the fire of his corp, Chez Stan. The main purpose will be The PvP but we're not sure which kind of The PvP yet. Will it be Null-sec based? Will we go into Faction Warfare? Will we do wardecs? Will we go full pirate? It's all up in the air right now. On my side I've been logging in sporadically these days to keep in touch with the game, but I haven't had the chance for say a full evening of EVE since the end of my vacation. This will be dealt with as soon as the show is done. I've taken the Monday and Tuesday following the show off because I know the post-show adrenaline high will make me go to bed late on Sunday morning, giving me self-induced jet-lag. What will follow the show will be two days of Sweet Fuck-All, or in gamer terms, a 48h gaming session. I will definitely paint killboards red, with both kills and losses :)

Anyway, 16 days to go before the show and excitement is reading high on the OMFG-meter. It's a lot of work but I can't wait to hit the stage and get it done!

Fly loud

o7