NEW DRUMS!!

Finally got them and this is all I have to say:

New Investment!

After I've exhausted all literature on my new investment, I figure I'll post my excitement on here. I just put down a deposit on a new set of drums and I'm psyched as hell. Check out these beautiful fucking things:


















Now, these are just the style, this picture is of some other person's set of the same brand and model. I think it gives you a better feel for the product than the subjective photo shoots on the websites.

They're Gretsch Catalina Club Mod series drums.

Specs:
20x20 kick
13x6 snare
12x8 rack tom
14x12 floor tom
all with offset lugs

Can't wait to pay them off and finally fucking hit them.

Bayside - Shudder

Hands down, the best album of 2008. If you've been paying attention to Bayside and its seamless transitions from record to record, you'll be able to appreciate this album as the next appropriate step— which is always and only the first step to a great album. Next is to actually play the part of being matured from your last effort. The Long Island natives have produced the absolute perfect followup to last year's amazing "Walking Wounded". Coming a long way as songwriters and musicians, Shudder boasts some very throughtful lyrics and instrumentation as heard on songs like "Moceanu", "I Think I'll Be OK", and "I Can't Go On".
Bayside also touts their ability to write a catchy and upbeat pop song from here and there with their single, "No One Understands".
The most appropriate thing about the record has to be the bits and pieces that you can hear of Bayside's past. The straightforward tracks like "The Ghost of St. Valentine", "What and What Not", and "Have Fun Storming the Castle" ring true to the qualities that many fans heard when they first fell in love with this Gold Record selling group that has persevered through the tragedy and heartache of losing a fellow bandmater and friend John "Beatz" Hoolahan to a fatal van accident in October of 2005.
The disc also accommodates an obscure ode to aviator, industrialist, and film maker Howard Hughes titled "Howard" with lyrics like, "Howard you're a ten but, I'm not sure this ends well."

I give this album an absolutely solid rating of 9.3 out of 10.

Bayside's "Shudder" is out everywhere on Victory Records Tuesday, September 30th, 2008.

Beer 101: India Pale Ale

Beer 101 - India Pale Ale By: Brad Beneski, Penn State University

The IPA, or India Pale Ale, is the fastest growing style of beer in the United States. Defined by its generous amounts of hop presence and alcohol content, the style was initially made this way to survive caustic travels from Great Britain to troops who were in serious need of a beer run. The style has created fanatics, called Hopheads, who could very well be responsible for the more recent envelope-pushing that has sparked the even more popular styles of Double and Triple IPAs; with— you guessed it— even more hops and alcohol. So the next time you sit down to tackle the bitter beast that is known as the IPA, it’s best you stay tuned and find out just exactly why the style was created and why it continues to be put on a beer pedestal.

History of The IPA
Before the advent of refrigeration and pasteurization—a process of heating liquids to kill bacteria and other variables that would lead to spoilage, British brewers had their work cut out for them to create a beer that would be able to take long voyages to their traveling soldiers. After shipping away beer to soldiers only for it to wind up spoiled and sour, they soon discovered that hops weren’t only useful for flavor and aroma but they were also a natural preservative. And with the combination of hops and alcohol came a very hostile environment for the likes of bacteria and other beer-souring agents. This recipe, credited to English brewer George Hodgson, would eventually go on to be known as the India Pale Ale since breweries could finally ship their product to both soldiers and customers in the then British Empire of India.

Rise of The Hopheads
Though the term also carries the negative connotations of drug use, a Hopshead is also a person whose taste in beer revolves around the end result of those infamous bitter flowers called hops. While Hopheads can get their fix from beer styles such as barleywines, pale ales, and any other brew with a noticeable hop presence, the IPA is hands down the safe haven for those described as Hopheads. In the entire science of beer, most of us are also concerned with just exactly how alcoholic a beer may be. Thus we would refer to the beer’s ABV, or alcohol by volume. While any self-respecting Hophead goes straight to the IBUs that a beer contains. An IBU, or international bitterness unit, is an accurate indication of just how hoppy a beer will be. While the typical IPA ranges from 40 IBUs and up, some of the more aggressive IPAs can reach into the 200 IBUs zone— however, after a beer exceeds 100 IBUs, the human taste threshold becomes a little hazy and you end up not really even tasting anything beyond that. So, to any prospective Hopheads out there— the next time you sit down to enjoy some cold good ones, ask for the highest IBU that the bar carries. Depending on the type of bar it is— beer bars and sports bars tend to differ in beer knowledge— you’ll either get an odd look or a tall glass of a tasty hopbomb.

The Modern IPA
While the IPA gained its birth from our neighbors across the pond, today’s American brewers are really keeping this style true to its origins. Most modern English IPAs can be more comparable to session bitters and sometimes being of the lager family. Luckily, the good old US-of-A is keeping it real— real hoppy.

The IPA is a go-to style for any US brewery worth their weight in yeast. More breweries have at least one IPA on their roster and some having upwards to five different IPA recipes on hand, there is no doubt that this style and way of drinking is becoming the next trend in beer. Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales, out of Rehoboth and Milton, Delaware, both champion and innovate the style with their continually hopped line of IPAs. Ranging from 60 to 120, the brewery uses the numbers to describe, not only IBUs, but also minutes. In their 60 Minute IPA, they continually add hops to the boiling wort—which is unfermented beer— for the entire 60 minutes that the beer is cooking. This is done in contrast to how most breweries would apply hops to their beer, which is traditionally a dash here and a dash there. In search of the holy grail of hoppy beers, DFH also provides such a trophy in their seasonal offering of 120 Minute IPA. Clocking in at 21% ABV and 120 IBUs— a guaranteed memorable experience for Hopheads and craft beer lovers alike.

Brad’s Top 10 IPAs

Bell’s Hopslam Ale
Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA
Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye
Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA
Bell’s Two Hearted Ale
Victory Hop Devil Ale
Stone Ruination IPA
Smuttynose Finest Kind IPA
Clipper City “Heavy Seas” Loose Cannon Hop3 Ale
Green Flash West Coat IPA

Originally from Boosh Magazine [booshmagazine.com]

Written by yours truly, Brad Beneski— resident beer geek