KVC's Battle Cry

This is a call to arms. Almost three years have passed since this band was born and almost six have passed since I moved to New York, with the intent and ideas of the band, and its songs, that would become KVC. This band is almost unrecognizable from the band it was in 2007. Words can't describe how much fun I have playing with the guys. And words can't describe how much fun we have playing in front of you all. On any given night we perform we can't please everyone, but for anyone that does love our music and set... believe me when I say that we truly take it to heart.

In the couple of years we've been a band we have worked hard and struggled. We've seen opportunities come knocking, attempted to seize and yes... have seen many slip away. More often than not, an unnamed memory of the past was the cause. We worked hard to get somewhere whilst this memory would burn bridges we worked to build and defenestrate all our efforts in a single swoop, thereby letting us be bested in competition.

As much as we wish to express scene solidarity, this is the truth: Like a lot of things, music is competitive. There are hundreds of thousands of bands in the world which brings up the question -- What makes you better and/or different? To stand out you have to play better, look better, write better... be better. Anybody that tells you any different is misinformed or lying.

I am really happy however that even as bands, scenes, fads and trends come and go... we're still here. And if it wasn't for the friends we've made along the way (YOU GUYS!!) this wouldn't be the case.

Our first show of the new year is on February 28th at Sullivan Hall. We will be selling merch for the first time. Buy a shirt or a CD. It would be much appreciated. We're not a rich band by any means... we can't reach into our parent set-up trust funds like a Williamsburg hipster to do what we love doing. Our DIY ethic, as proud of it as we are, is one built out of necessity. Some of us are also in college, which we all know is not cheap. Anytime you buy a CD or a shirt or something you're helping us record, pay for gas, not starve and just allowing us to keep doing what we love to do.

Most of all we want you to come out to our shows and have fun! Go crazy. You're at a rock show! We food off your energy, living up to the 'vampire' part of our name. You guys are the fuel that powers this beast. You are the KVC army.

-F

...

It's funny how despite your body, being rational, rejects it, but you'll keep feeding yourself something to soothe the wounded soul. Perhaps I should start making a list of sorrows that plague onself. And I do not care for anyone asking me "you emo meng?" The tortured poet finds art and solace in his or misery. Sad fact. Nothing to say of the jagged, yet fine lines of my heartwork. But as the ink in this pen runs out so has my will to sleep... and also my will to stay awake. Where does one go from here?

Serpents In The Subway or That's It! I've Had It With These Motherfucking Snakes on This Motherfucking Train!)

"Serpents In The Subway or That's It! I've Had It With These Motherfucking Snakes on This Motherfucking Train!)"

I'm in the belly of a snake
Sliding noisily through subterranean tunnels
Another slithers pasts me fastly (sic)
Shaking my own surroundings

I navigate the insides of this serpent with tired eyes
Images, trying to sell me things, adorn the walls
What a peculiar place to decorate
As if my eyes and my mind weren't tired enough

I allow this thing to devour me
Maybe twice or thrice a day
It doesn't me in by its mouth
It's a strange serpent... maybe compassionate?
Perhaps it just doesn't like to see whom it takes in

I can only hope it knows its direction
And the foul smell is perspiration and not digestive acid
And I hope it opens its walls for me
For while I am in here, I am not free.

-F

Hipsters.

Strange art and videos on the walls. Boys in flannel shirts, suspenders, distressed jeans, macho demeanor's and fedora's making out with one another. Girls with pretty faces behind ugly over sized glasses dancing to music that consists of complex arpeggios played with Atari video game noises. The irony is overwhelming.

And as I step out of this party, fueled by cheap booze, and onto the street, lined with people smoking designer cigarettes... I look for street signs. I'm certain I didn't take the L train here. This isn't Bedford Ave. Um... okay?

The hipster has spread.



A month back, following a conversation with two of my friends, I was encouraged to write a detailed essay/blog. After a party where my friends (who, God bless their hearts, know not about subcultures) got an overdose of hipsterdom, I had this casual talk. "Hipsters are spreading everywhere," an artist says. "They're not just moving into Williamsburg. They're on the 7 train and they're forming scenes in other cities in the United States." The musician says "They are like a cancer, spreading out." I disagree. Cancers are deadly and spread out from the place of origin. Hipsters are just a mere nuisance that are appearing in random places. Hipsters are more like... acne.

You might be thinking that this is quite a harsh thing to say, and I'll agree. It's a rather mean remark. After all, what have hipsters ever done to me? Well... what does acne do to a person? A person who sprouts a few pimples here and there has no REAL significant change. Hell, even a "pizza-face", is still the same person when he/she hits puberty.. just with bad complexion. However... acne is annoying and so are hipsters. They are an irritating breakout waiting to overload with pus, to be pricked with a sterile needle.



"Let them be 'bra', the problem is you. You're the one agitated by the people just living their lives."
Well with all due respect 'bra', go find your way to Dante's 8th circle of Hell.

The hipster en masse bothers me little, just like acne. It only affects the aesthetics of a face/place.

But what is the hipster? An apathetic individual residing in a gentrified neighborhood, whilst encompassing elements of punk, indie and other subcultures, while not eschewing any of the ideologies associated with them. Imagine a person wearing a keffiyeh, while sipping on a caramel macchiato at Starbucks. He or she thrives on irony and being "hip." If you know about something cool (or "deck", which I've been told is no longer a terminology used): a band, an issue, anything said hipster was raving about a week ago... it is no longer cool. Some love the hipster, consider them avant-garde. Others loathe it. Most just don't understand it.



Because this is what's so "hip" now you have these young ones, who have very little to believe in the first place, decide they want to be like these pretentious Williamsburg pricks. Who can blame them? They want to get laid, and talk about how bad their PBR hangovers are, while shopping at American Apparel. "But PBR is cheap and I totally dig the working class pride in it!" Well I'm sure the working class isn't so proud of you. "But American Apparel doesn't use sweat shop labor!" Have you ever been to a sweat shop? Do you even know that the textiles industry in third world countries, like Bangladesh, account for more than 3/4's of their export income. On top of that the industry now employs more than 3 million workers, 90% of whom are women, in Bangladesh alone, giving them a better future than to be raped at home by abusive husbands. I'm not saying life is perfect, but seriously... do some research before you open that one sided I-just-moved-to-the-city-but-i'm-already-such-a-city-slicking-liberal-tard trap. As neighborhoods gentrify, and the meaning of "urban" is lost, I can't help but get a little angered at the fact even though your parents can afford to pay for your $1000 a month studio apartment, the family (YES FAMILY) that used to live there cannot.

You know what I take it back. Hipsters aren't acne. We don't need Clearasil for hipsters. Hipsters are more like small pox. And the only way we got rid of that was eradicating it completely.

-F

Traumatizing photos from Gaza...

These pictures are on a French website, chronicling the devastation, carnage and death in Gaza, as a result of Israel's attacks. However, I must warn everyone that this is not for the faint of heart or stomach.

http://portail.islamboutique.fr/gaza2008/

So while Israeli lobbyists have their way with our government and our media... this is what a day in the life of a Palestinian is in Gaza right now.

Just think about it.

-F

So who else is denouncing Israel's activities in Gaza?

"Israel likes to portray itself as an island of democracy in a sea of authoritarianism. Yet Israel has never in its entire history done anything to promote democracy on the Arab side and has done a great deal to undermine it. Israel has a long history of secret collaboration with reactionary Arab regimes to suppress Palestinian nationalism. Despite all the handicaps, the Palestinian people succeeded in building the only genuine democracy in the Arab world with the possible exception of Lebanon. In January 2006, free and fair elections for the Legislative Council of the Palestinian Authority brought to power a Hamas-led government. Israel, however, refused to recognise the democratically elected government, claiming that Hamas is purely and simply a terrorist organisation." -Avi Shlaim

SOURCE: The Guardian

“Look at the conditions in Gaza: more and more, it resembles a big concentration camp.” - Cardinal Renato Martino

SOURCE: NY Times

“Today U.S. tax dollars, U.S. jets and U.S. helicopters provided to Israel are enabling the slaughter in Gaza. The Administration enables Israel to press forward with the attack against defenseless civilians; blocks efforts promoting a cease-fire at the UN; and refuses to make Israel comply with conditions that arms shipments not be used for aggression. Israel is going to receive $30 billion in a ten-year period for military assistance, without having to abide by any humanitarian principles, international laws or standards of basic human decency. Wake up America.” - Dennis Kucinich

SOURCE

The porn industry seeks bailout

But the industry leaders said the issue is a nation in need. "People are too depressed to be sexually active," Flynt said in the statement. "This is very unhealthy as a nation. Americans can do without cars and such but they cannot do without sex."

SOURCE

I agree. Any takers?

-F

NOTE: Turns out this was just a joke by Larry Flynt and that dude from Girls Gone Wild. READ: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/01/07/campbell.brown.porn.bailout/index.html#cnnSTCText