Odessa Barca trip

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:56:40 -0800

I just stumbled across this on google video and decided to give it a watch. It brought back some good memories from the trip so I thought I'd post it on here as Odessa insisted on charging for it so not a lot of people saw it when it came out. This trip was the only good thing that came out of riding for that company but it was definitely worth it even if the shoes were terrible.

New Bike

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 05:03:18 -0800

I built up a new maneater yesterday and promptly learned a trick I've been trying for ages, a good omen? Anyway it feels sweet, here's the rundown:

Frame: FBM Maneater 20.5 in flat black

Forks: Odyssey Race

Stem: FBM Crown Royal

Bars: S & M Slam XLT

Grips: Animal Edwin

Wheels: Gsport Marmoset on Gsport Ribcage front and Odyssey cassette on Gsport Ribcage back

Tyres: Odyssey Path Klyte rear and Plyte front

Seat: Animal

Post: FBM Pivotal

Cranks: Odyssey Wombolts

Pedals: Odyssey Jim C

Pegs: Animal light

Chainring: Animal Sprocky Balboa

Hubguard: FBM

Weight: Pretty fuckin' light

I think that's everything, nothing modified or whatever except I cut about half an inch off each side of my bars. Thanks to Crandall, 4down and Odyssey / IMG for the parts. Hopefully should have some new Attila bits for it soon.

Acid Bath / Halloween

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:22:46 -0800

I've been feeling a little weird this week and as a backlash I've found myself listening to loads of sludge/stoner metal which is kind of different for me but I've been really liking it. So far I've been listening to a lot of Down, Acid Bath, Electric Wizard and later Celtic Frost. If anyone can recommend some more good bands then drop me a message on myspace or something and I'll check it out.

www.myspace.com/tomblyth

Me, Sandy and Tom Forster are leaving for Malaga in a couple of weeks to film a web video. Apparently it'll be covered in Ride UK too. It's gonna be my first trip since getting hurt last year so I'm just hoping I can get enough decent footage/photos out of it to justify my place on the trip. Whatever happens it'll be a welcome relief from the harsh cold conditions that have closed in on us lately and a good excuse to hang out with James Cox who's going to be there filming it and who I see far too little of. Anyway, thats it for now, here's an Acid Bath video for anyone who's curious.

Also here's some photos from the Slack BMX Halloween Party in Sheffield, all of which are by Welsh Matt I think. Slack video out at somepoint, possibly never but worth waiting for even if it is.

Human detritivores

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:09:18 -0700

I was having a conversation with someone at work the other day about Jeremy Kyle (UK's answer to Jerry Springer for those of you from the states) and how much of a exploitative, self assured, hypocritical, scavenger of human sorrow, snake bastard he is.

How anyone can sit there on their high horse, voicing their disgust at some of the countries poorest, stupidest and most ignorant people whilst simultaneously exploiting both them and their similarly ignorant, albeit more self assured, voyeuristic, hypocritical, bourgeois and pseudo-moralistic counterparts on the other side of the screen / in the audience who are actually entertained by the misery played out before them is beyond me.

I happened to mention this later to Dan Cox who then showed me the following video, wait for the baby mind reader and prepare to witness humanity at it's most vile and exploitative. Even in America this would be considered insane! Fuck you baby mind reader! fuck you very much. And you Jeremy Kyle.

P.S I did my first rail since I got hurt today, it was pondsy. That's all...

The Donn (Twice in 2 days!)

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 05:07:56 -0700

This was posted on the comeup a few weeks ago but I thought I'd post it here anyway. This is my number one Gangster The Donn shredding for his new video. You can't even imagine how insane The Donn actually is...

The Donn from The Donn on Vimeo.

I'm heading to Newcastle tonight for the premier of a video called "Charlie Don't Surf". Should be a good time, I'll let you know...

Bloglor

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:35:19 -0700

Hey up, I thought it was about time I updated this again as it's been a while and Crandall is like a big rabid dog who's hungry for blogs. Just kidding, if he was any more laid back he'd be dead.

Anyway, not too much to report, I spent a weekend in London about a month ago hanging out with Rob Hate, Marv, Benson and the other guys down there which was pretty cool despite the shitty weather. Ian Schwarz was there at the same time so it was cool to see him again too, unfortunately I didn't get any photos or anything but what you gonna do?

Forgotten Grace has been on hiatus as we parted ways with our drummer but stuff's been pretty busy behind the scenes auditioning a new drummer and stuff like that. More news on that later...

I filmed a line at the park today for a little skatepark web vid Joe Cox is making. It's the first time I've filmed anything since I got hurt so it felt pretty good. I spent the rest of the day trying to learn step through footjams but still haven't done one... Bleak. For some reason I have a real issue with these fiddly tricks that everyone else finds dead easy, I have the same problem with footjam whips.

I dunno, I also listened to Death Magnetic for the second time today and found it wasn't quite as bad as I remembered. Certainly not as bad as St. Anger but sadly no better than Load/Reload. It's funny how people are in denial though, claiming that they're back on form. Just keep telling yourselves that and it'll all be ok.

It seems like if Metallica just stopped listening to record industry people and performance coaches and sales demographics they might be able to make another good record but I strongly doubt it will ever happen. Not unless they forget everything they learned in the 90's anyway. What I don't understand is how James Hetfield went from writing these amazing, profound lyrics to spooging out the crap he does now, "My life style determines my death style", "Invisible kid" What the hell is that?! Ah well there's still 83 to 88 era Metallica so it's not such a problem.

On a totally seperate note I wanna say get well soon to Mike Aitken, I've never met the dude or anything but it sucks to get hurt like that and lumbered with medical bills, especially when you have a young family to support. If you can spare some change to help out then head over to the 50/50 website, there's a link on the home page somewhere.

Sorry for the lack of interesting news but hell, my life's just not that exciting. In a bit...

Back in the saddle!

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:42:04 -0700

So after 10 months of knee trouble I'm finally allowed to ride again just as I turn 25. My knee's still not 100% so I'm taking it pretty easy for now but it feels really good to be out on the bike rolling around doing airs down the park and stuff like that.

My hair's got pretty long during the down time and it's making things a bit difficult while riding so I've been trying some different solutions to keep it out of my eyes, so far all of which look ridiculous (Check the bandana in the photo for proof). Hopefully it'll get better as it gets longer... Wishful thinking.

In other news I'm no longer delivering pizzas, my bro has taken over and I'm back in Sheffield working as a postman (finally!) and living on my friend Matt's floor (Thanks dude), so far so good.

So far I've been riding a borrowed S and M with huge FBM stickers crudely plastered on it while I wait for my frame to arrive, any day now I imagine...

I've also got sucked into the TV show Dexter which although all cheesy and American at times, I find pretty entertaining.

In Forgotten Grace related news, we're recording a new demo in the next few weeks (professionally this time) and we've also been asked to play a set for red tv on sky 186 (in the UK) so keep an eye out for that...

I still do not have a picture of King Diamond...

I Fucking Love King Diamond

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 16:19:58 -0700

I asked Crandall to draw me a picture of King Diamond after I had gone a little crazy delivering pizzas all night, I hope he comes through so I can post it here. He may not, it was a pretty unreasonable demand in fairness but we'll see.

Sorry it's been a long time since I last updated (Like anyone noticed...), I don't have a camera and it seems pointless updating without pictures.

Anyway, I took a job delivering pizzas with my bodyguard The Don so that's taken up a fair amount of time. I'm also working in an office during the afternoons which totally sucks balls as although I'm allowed to listen to music this dude Will keeps turning mine off and making me listen to either Incubus, Rage Against The Machine, Tenacious D or some other bullshit. The other day he told me Black Sabbath were shit shortly before admitting to never listening to any, I found this troubling.

It's not for long though as next month I'm finally allowed to become a postman which I hope will be much better. This means that next month I'll be moving back to Sheffield at which point I'll also be able to start riding again, kickass!

In other news, Forgotten Grace got endorsed by Krank amps and some guitar monkeys had to pose with them for pictures. Sam is the most strung out dude on the planet... The amps kick ass by the way!

Finally, today I went to hang out with the dudes in Cottingham Cycles, (who have had my back since day one, have been running since 1984!, and whom you should support by buying products from them, you can even buy online at www.cottinghamcyclecentre.co.uk) where for the first time ever somebody asked for my autograph haha. I went such a bright shade of red you would have thought the dude asked to suck my dick! (No Homo? God forbid anyone questions my internet masculinity) He was a cool kid anyway, I didn't catch his name but he and his mates were from Bridlington and were Psyched.

That's all for now, I have a new Exodus on the way and will post pictures when it arrives. Take care and check out King Diamond playing air guitar on that thigh bone mic stand...

Shotgun Stories

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 05:28:57 -0700

I watched this film with my brother last night called Shotgun Stories that Ben Nichols from Lucero did the music for. I'd never heard of it before but it was awesome, 2 families of brothers at war in Arkensas after the death of their father. You should check it out if you haven't seen it.

I'm unemployed again after I got offered a job as a postman only to be told (after i'd quit my other job) that they couldn't let me do it because of my knee operation. So now I have to wait for my surgeon to write them a letter to say that I'm fit before I can start. So now I've been out of work for a month with no money, thanks guys.

On top of that the council owes me a load of money that they are trying not to give me for housing benefits while I couldn't work after my op. It doesn't seem to me like giving a taxpayer a little help with his rent while he's incapacitated should be such a big problem for them (it is their job after all) but they have still managed to spend 4 months fucking it up, all the while telling me they were gonna fix it, before the other day telling me that they had cancelled my claim and if I didn't like it I should write a letter of appeal. Thank you Sheffield city council, totally fucking incompetent.

Meanwhile I have to move out at the end of the month and i have nowhere to move to and no money to put a deposit down. I swear I'm cursed...

Sam's Birthday Jam

Thu, 29 May 2008 06:00:22 -0700

If you're from Hull or nearby then make sure you get to the ringside on monday (2nd June) for Sam's birthday jam. Forgotten Grace is playing as well as our friends in Revenance and Introrectalgestation so it should be a blast.

RIP Chuck Shuldiner

Sun, 25 May 2008 09:51:28 -0700

Death are one of my favourite bands, they were one of the pioneers of the Death Metal genre, lending it it's name, as well as one of the most progressive bands of their time. Anyone who is a fan of the band will know that Chuck Shuldiner, the vocalist/guitarist was the driving force behind the band (and the only constant member). Chuck died in 2001 a victim of both a brain tumour and the American health care system which refused to treat him. Although he had insurance, the company refused to pay for vital surgery as it was the second time he had been diagnosed and his insurance had only been taken out after an operation to remove a previous tumour. He was 32 when he died, his birthday would have been last week on May 13th. RIP Chuck.

Seconds

Sat, 10 May 2008 16:36:18 -0700

As well as playing in Forgotten Grace, my little brother Adam has an instrumental project called seconds that you should check out if you're into Godspeed, Mogwai and other ambient atmospheric music. Partly because it's really good, but mostly because he's a good dude. He's got CD's for sale right now so give him a listen at www.myspace.com/secondsonline and get yourself a copy if you like what you hear. In other news, I'm half way through my recovery time and summer seems to be in full effect here so things are looking up...

Norweigan Black Metal...

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 11:00:17 -0700

...Is fucked up. This is Gorgoroth. Also, check out these photos: http://www.peterbeste.com/bm.html

Emperor

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 12:36:34 -0700

I found this the other day whilst looking for videos of the band Emperor. I thought it was pretty funny...

Outbreak Style

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:13:39 -0700

I watched the film Braindead at the weekend, in which a woman gets bitten by a Sumatran Rat Monkey and turns into a zombie, before going on to infect the whole town and eventually turning into a giant zombie rat monkey. Naturally then, I took the first oppertunity I could to get bitten by a monkey. My friend Chris's mum keeps Pygmy Marmosets and he reluctantly let me in their enclosure for a while on the understanding that they would probably attack me and he wasn't gonna come and help me if they did. Anyway, I get in there and after a few minutes Spike, the dominant male, ran up my leg and perched on my shoulder for a bit, we were buds for a while and it was pretty cool but then he turned on me. First he showed me his wrinkly little balls, then pissed on me a little, then he bit me right on the jugular haha. It was pretty cool.

Tom Blyth