Ian is January's Fan Of The Month!
Is it ex Guns N Roses guitarist Buckethead? No, its our Fan Of The Month on Halloween!
Ian's a pretty cool dude. He supports the site and is a bigtime music fan. Therefore, we dig him. He sent me an email asking about how to become a Fan Of The Month and BAM! Here he is! For his trouble he wins a copy of Live At The Fillmore by Dredg! If you'd like to be a Future fan Of The Month, email me at anarchy@anarchymusic.net . But enough about that, Ian's got some funny answers, so go laugh at them, and learn a little about him while you at it.
Name: Ian
Age: 24
City/State: Syracuse, NY
Single?: tragically, yes
If so, what’s going to turn your head?
It's weird, sometimes I find myself attracted to really confident and charismatic girls, and other times I will become intrigued by shy, quiet girls, so there's not really a "type" of girl I gravitate toward. I do tend to prefer brunettes for some reason I have not been able to figure out yet. Also, she must not have a sense of humor. I'll do the snickering for the both of us.
Go ahead; tell us about yourself...hobbies, interests, that sort of thing:
I spend too much time listening to and thinking about music to be healthy. I'm part of a dying breed that feels compelled to own a tangible CD instead of a virtual folder full of soulless MP3's. I am constantly raiding used and discount CD stores in the hopes of unearthing buried treasure. My greatest most recent find was a Gary Numan import single for fifty cents at the Tower Records going out of business sale. They originally weren't going to give me the 50% discount on it, but I used some fast talking and sleight of hand to befuddle the cashier, and he knocked down the price to a measly quarter! Suckers!!! Ahem, I also enjoy acting, writing, and creating crappy artwork on MS Paint.
Do you have a Myspace or blog you want to plug?
I actually do not! I really don't have the time or patience to bother with any of that at this point in time. I find that the less time I spend on the Internet, the happier I am. In fact, I am seething with blinding rage at having to sit in front of a computer and answer these questions right now!
What other web sites do you go to other than this one?:
blabbermouth.net - Metal news and childish namecalling all wrapped up in one convenient package.
cmj.com - College Media Journal, which reports what college radio stations are playing all over the country. Probably the best place to discover new and exciting music online...except for Anarchy Music, of course...yeah...
muffinfilms.com - Twelve inspirational films about muffins. No, I am not joking.
Have you ever won anything from Anarchy Music?:
Yes! I won a signed copy of Songs Not To Get Married To by Reggie and the Full Effect from you. The CD is excellent and I am thinking about legally changing my name to Dave so that the autograph actually makes sense.
You know you're getting a free cd for filling out this survey, right?
As sure as I love cooking and cleaning.
Which one do you want?
Live At The Fillmore by Dredg, pretty please
It's January, did you make any new years resolutions, and how quickly did you break them?:
I made a New Year's resolution to spend less time on the Internet, and I broke it when I received an e-mail from you saying I won Fan of the Month, so pretty quickly.
What are some of your favorite bands?
Katatonia, The Gathering, Strapping Young Lad, Ministry, Fear Factory, Extol, Killing Joke, Placebo, Type O Negative, Nas, N.W.A, Kataklysm, Th' Legendary Shack*Shakers, Raunchy, The Cure, Daysend, Lilitu, Sentenced, Team Sleep, Funland, and anything else I happen to be listening to at the moment
How about some bands you can’t stand?
The Strokes and every band that has been signed as a result of their success.
What’s your best concert experience so far?
So many to choose from, but I'd have to say the most memorable one for me was when I took a five hour bus ride to New York City just to see The Gathering on their most recent tour for their latest CD, Home. It blew my mind because I had never met anyone before who loves this band as much as I do, or really even knows who the hell they are, yet there I was in a room full of people who were singing along with all of the songs, just like me. The Gathering sounded magnificent and their singer, Anneke van Giersbergen, was just a goddess to behold. They are one of the very few bands that I will just gush about to anyone who will listen. Also, one of the opening bands, Unexpect, were incredible live, and I had never even heard them before that night. I realized later that the female vocalist from Unexpect was working the merchandise table when I bought my Gathering shirt, so the shirt holds double the meaning for me now. Definitely check out both bands if you are not familiar with them.
Any cool shows or cds coming out that you're excited about?:
The Heaven and Hell tour, which is Ronnie James Dio teaming up with Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler (but not Bill Ward, I believe) from Black Sabbath to perform songs from when Dio was in the band sounds pretty cool. Dio is actually from Cortland, NY, which is about thirty minutes away from Syracuse, although I doubt they will play around here, which sucks. I'm also really anticipating the new albums from Type O Negative and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum.
What’s the music scene like in your hometown/school/whatever? Give us the scoop on where to hang and what there is to do:
Syracuse is pretty much known mostly for its massive hardcore scene. Earth Crisis was originally from here, and Hellfest used to happen here every year until 2004 when it moved to New Jersey. The band Brand New Sin is also from Syracuse, which is odd because they sound like a southern metal band yet they are from gray-every-day Central New York. Other than that, we unfortunately don't get that many bands worth seeing who pass through, which means I usually have to take a road trip to Rochester for shows, or in extreme cases, make the trek to New York City like I mentioned before. A couple of good clubs here for seeing bands are The Tundra Tavern and The Furnace, which is literally in the middle of NOWHERE and is really difficult to find if you don't already know about it. It is like some secret clubhouse for hardcore kids. A good Web site for keeping up with the Syracuse music scene is http://www.syracuseshows.com
Name one band that everyone needs to check out and why:
Katatonia!
Katatonia are my favorite band at the moment and I really believe they have the potential to appeal to just about anyone. Their music creates an incredibly dark and haunting atmosphere, but at the same time it has a sense of urgency that never lets you wallow in your emotions for long. Jonas Renkse's singing voice is nothing short of mesmerizing, and his lyrics are
so evocative that I sometimes wonder if he is telepathically spying on me and stealing events out of my life for song ideas. They are heavy enough to appeal to metal fans, but not so heavy that they will alienate rock and "alternative" fans; they're melancholy enough for people interested in goth or emo, but they are not nearly as one-dimensional as many of the bands that are stuck in those genres. Anybody who likes rock music that conjures at least thirty different feelings in you all at once needs to check out Katatonia. In fact, let me help you out:
katatonia.com - Katatonia's official Web site
myspace.com/katatonia - Katatonia's Myspace page
"My Twin" on Youtube - music video for "My Twin"
(great song, great video)
"Deliberation" on Youtube - music video for "Deliberation"
(great song, but sadly this video is kind of boring)
I can't say enough good things about Katatonia.
Thousands of people you've never met will read this, you might as well speak your mind about whatever the hell you want, silly or serious...go for it...or not:
One thing I've learned: If you think that drinking, smoking, or doing drugs is the only way that you can rebel, you are mistaken.