Hydrogen Fuel

Hydrogen Fuel

Global warming is a threat to us all. Hydrogen fuel is one of the easy, dependable, and clean solutions to this problem. Money will have to be invested into it, but the technology is already essentially there. But why is it so unheard of? Why has there been no breakthrough in the past few years? Why does it seem that all of the world’s governments ignore the biggest threat to have strolled onto this planet?

There are many solutions to an even larger amount of problems. Almost all of us have cars. And everyone who owns a car drives it. Every car releases about 300 pounds of carbon dioxide for every full tank of gas it uses up. That’s about 6840 pounds of Co2 a year! Hydrogen releases absolutely no harmful pollutants. In Vancouver, there is a whole fleet of hydrogen buses they are hoping to use to send visitors to and fro of the winter games. So why isn’t this something we do all around the world?

The technology is available for buses. Why not adapt that technology to freighter trucks? Trains? Or even cars? Some trucks pollute as much as 150 cars. Honda has already designed and is building hydrogen cars. The Honda FCX Clarity is a fully functional Fuel Cell Electric vehicle, although only available in the Los Angeles Area, in the United States, it could be adapted to work everywhere around the world. I think it would improve everyone’s living. Life expectancy will be longer and healthier, and people will be healthier in general. The world as we know it is, in all honesty, disgusting. I think everyone agrees with me when I say that I don’t want to live in a chimney. What do we have to lose, but our home and lives?

FISH

Anberlin, Photo Essay mon

Lead singer Stephen Christian and Bassist Deon started the band SaGoh 24/7. Later on, Sean Hutson and Jason Milligan, drummer and guitarist respectively, joined the band. SaGoh 24/7 is a punk band from Winter Haven in Florida. In 1999, they released their debut album, “Servants After God’s Own Heart” under the record label Rescue Records.


In 2001 , SaGoh24/7 released their second album named “Then I Corrupt Youth”. Unfortunately, Servants After God’s Own Heart and their latter album’s sales together only amassed to 1300 copies in sales. Because of this, drummer Sean Hutson left the group and started a family. Nathan Young was quickly called in as a replacement.

Stephen Christian, Deon Rexroat, and Joseph Milligan started a side project, the early beginnings of Anberlin. This also marks the beginning of the end, for SaGoh 24/7. As the band struggled for money, they managed to hire producer, Matt Goldman to record 5 demo tracks. These 5 songs received a lot of attention from big record label companies but they decided to sign with Tooth and Nail records.

The band Anberlin was officially created in the year 2002. Out of the five original demos, three of them were selected to be reworked and added to their debut album “Blueprints for the Black Market”. The album was released in 2003 and was produced by Aaron Sprinkle. Blueprints for the Black Market ended up selling over 60 000 copies, which is a very good accomplishment for a debut album of an Indie band. This success can be accredited to their first single “readyfuels”.

Before their next album Never Take Friendship Personal, rhythm guitarist Joey Bruce was kicked from the band because he was “all about sex and drugs” according to Stephen Christian. After many failed replacements, the band agreed on Nathan Strayer to carry out the rhythm guitar. But, in 2005, Never take Friendship Personal was released. Before the album came out, Anberlin released two singles: “A Day Late” and “Paperthin Hymn”. Upon release, critics and fans alike gave favourable reviews for NTFP and peaked at #144 on the Billboard 200. This album was also produced by Aaron Sprinkle. The album sold over 150 000 copies.

In early 2007, the album “Cities” came out. Before it was released, Anberlin put the Godspeed EP on iTunes a few months before Cities came out. The 12 track album will be Aaron Sprinkle’s last album he produces for Anberlin, reached #19 on the Billboard 200 chart when it was released. It sold 34 000 in its first week of release, more than doubling the total sales of their first album. The greatly anticipated album received good reviews from critics.

Before the album was released, rhythm guitarist Nathan Strayer returned to the band he was in previously, The Mosaic. The new Rhythm guitarist, Christian McAlhaney, originally from the band Acceptance is still the rhythm guitarist. The three original band members that are still part of the group are Stephen Christian, the lead singer, Deon Rexroat, the bassist, and Nathan Young, the guitarist. They are, along with Nathan Young and Christian McAlhaney, an alternative rock band that has released four albums and one compilation, Lost Songs. Lost Songs was released November 20th 2007 after, Cities. It is full of covers, B-side, and acoustic remakes of some of their songs and a few newer songs as well.

On the 30th of September in the year 2008, their newest album “New Surrender” was released. After signing with major label company Universal Republic Records on August 16th 2007, Anberlin now had a new producer, Neal Avron, the same producer from such bands as Fall Out Boy and Yellowcard. The band was afraid that this new producer would send them in the wrong direction, but the final product tells otherwise. New Surrender hit #13 on the Billboard 200 and received very good criticism. The album has 12 tracks that end with one of their famous, perfect endings. Misearbile Visu (Ex Malo Bonum) is a six and a half minute twin of (*Fin) from their album Cities. Upon the first week the album was released, it had already sold more than 36 000 copies.

Stephen Christian is the main lyricist along with Joseph Milligan. Christian said in an interview that “The first CD (Blueprints for the Black Market) was childish in the manner that it was Man vs. World in the lyrics. The second (Never Take Friendship Personal) was Man Vs. Man. Cities is more adult in the manner that it's Man vs. Self." As Anberlin evolved, their lyrics and image became more and more mature. New Surrender is, in my opinion, one of their most lyrically complex pieces up to date. Songs like “Younglife” make me want to stay 17 for the rest of my life.

“First time staying out all night.
Last time that we got away with lies.
I can hear it in the back of my mind.
Over and over again.”

In 2010 you can expect a new album to hit the shelves. It is expected in September of this year according to Stephen Christian. He says that the new album might be called “A Go”. The drummer Nathan Young says that it will sound “less poppy" and "darker". Anberlin had many stories as to how they got their name, Anberlin. Christian explains many different ways that they got their name. One of the stories is that they hit a dog, and the dog’s name was Anberlin. But the real story was, according to the band “There are several stories that have circulated on the internet, but the actual story is when I was in college my favorite band was Radiohead; on one of their songs off the record Kid A there is a background noise on the song "Everything in Its Right Place" (about 2 minutes 31 seconds into the song). While Thom (Yorke) is singing try to say I always thought the backgr ound noise sounded like Anberlin, I always thought that Anberlin would have been a great band name and well ... it was/is.”

Video of the week

As you might have heard, there is a new feature to my blog. I like to call it the Video of the week. These videos are picked by me, but any suggestion would be helpful I.e. you. I will update the video of the week once a week (duh), every friday (not so duh). The first entry to this new feature is the group Big D and the Kids Table. Shining On is the 3rd track on their album Strictly Rude. Leave comments on what you feel about the videos that are chosen, why you think they are cool/uncool, or just say whatever. Thanks (:

Keep it real, man.
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FISH

Awol One

I’ve been following this rapper since the approximately the beginning of the summer. Have you ever heard of Awol One? He’s one of my favourite underground rappers. He’s got fresh beats and clean flow. I’m a little upset that he’s not as well known as I wished. His joint work with daddykev on the souldoubt album, which is in my opinion, his best work up to date. My favourite songs being rhythm and Agony. The lyrics to his songs are so deep and meaningful it almost hurts. Downside is, you’ll never find it lying around in HMV, not even in the back or anywhere near the store. You’ll have to look online. A definite good buy though. 9/10 thumbs up.


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FISH

Entry Post

Welcome to my blog. This blog is totally about music and everything that is music. Updates on some of the underground music scenes every week with videos, pictures, links, and a bunch of random things to do.

There are many genres of music out there, but everyone has their genre of choice. Here are a few of mine. I listen to Ska, Punk, Rock/Hard Rock, Death/Heavy/Black Metal, Electronic, and some rap. If there's a song that you really like and you'd want to share it, feel free to post it in the comments. I'm always open to new music.

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FISH

Good News, Bad Views

Broadway Calls. They probably don’t sound familiar, but to me, they are one of the best punk bands out there. Over the summer of 2009, they released a killer album. Good Views, Bad News. If my ears could cry, they would cry of joy. Their preceding and first album, which is self-titled, was pretty good for a debut album but seemed lacking. Their newer album isn’t holding anything back. The vocals have improved and their sound has changed ever so slightly. They have improved in every area they could. Their 11 track disc is a bit short but what they lack in length, they double in quality. From beginning to end, the album is jam-packed with catchy lyrics, solid drums and complex bass licks only compliment the punk-pop guitar riffs. Definitely a good buy but maybe a little hard to find.

Rock on!
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FISH