If you’ve ever seen me at a Strangecreek or Wormtown festival in the past then you know I have a knack for popping up on all sorts of stages (and sometimes camp sites) and dropping a verse or two when you least expect it. I’ve always been a fan of impromptu collaborations (heck it’s how I became an Alchemystic) and the festival scene is the perfect place for musicians to join forces (pun unintended heh).

The last few years I’ve been joining various bands on stage when I get moved by the muse and most appearances have been spur of the moment fueled freestyles. I am first and foremost a fan of music and honestly when I hear good music I want to contribute the only way I really know how and that’s through verse. (Now there is a subtle art to guesting on another artists stage respectfully but that’s a different blog. ) I’m quite lucky to be a part of a scene that is full of so many talented musicians and for some reason some of those crazy folks have actually let me jump on a mic with them unrehearsed.

This Wormtown however marks a very different approach to the collaboration formula I’ve had in the past. This year I wanted to do something special for both the fans and the musicians themselves to really make things memorable.

Sometimes freestyling just isn’t going to cut it and so I took a look at the preliminary Wormtown line-up and hand picked a number of bands that I enjoy and then gave myself a crash course in their music. I listened to online recordings of live shows (head over to www.archive.org for some great recordings of tons of bands), scoured through studio recordings and even checked out you-tube footage all in search a song that spoke to me from each band.  I didn’t know how daunting a task this was until I started but it was pretty fun to dive into the music of some of my peers. Once I found those songs that screamed “Force please rap on me” I went to task writing verses for each one.

Now that all the hard part is done I am looking forward to trying out some new material this weekend. I won’t tell you who I’m guesting with but I will say look out for the kid in the cabins and round the main stage area. Hopefully I’ll see ya there.

The one and only,

Force

Instead let’s talk about something else near and dear to me, Magic: The Gathering. First off let me give a shout out to my man Tony Lee Thomas for reigniting my passion for all things magical a few months back with an impromptu late night session of Magic at the Rock & Roll resort.

After almost 10 years since my last purchase of Magic cards I found myself once again hooked into one of the best trading card games around. Now you can’t really play Magic by yourself (except on the Duels of the Planeswalkers video game but that’s a whole nother story!) so I decided to teach Garrett how to play and even got my brother Eraun (Catalyst) back into the game.

Since then It’s been a Magic explosion and you might have even seen some of us squeezing in a few games before or after our sets at recent shows. (it’s hard to find enough free time to actually get together an play outside of shows it seems). Now the best part about the whole thing has been the reactions we have been getting while playing Magic at gigs. At first I believed that playing Magic instead of mingling with the crowds would be a little bit anti social but you would be amazed at how many folks have approached us playing to share their own Magic stories.

It’s almost like we shoot up a big flare as soon as we break out our decks because before long there is inevitably someone who comes along to share that they have either played, currently play or know someone close who plays Magic:The Gathering. Every Magic related interaction I’ve had so far has been super positive and it’s pretty cool to see how diverse the gaming community is.

With that being said I’d like to issue a general call to anyone interested in Magic. If you’ve never played a game of Magic in your life or haven’t played in a long time but would like to try it in a laid back environment we will definitely teach you. Magic can be a bit intimidating at first but once you get the basics it is pretty simple (suggested for ages 13+) pretty darn fun and quite the exercise for your brain. Oh and if you currently play Magic please feel free to bring your decks out to an Alchemystics show (or use one of ours) and join us for a few games. I’ll have my decks with me at Wormtown this weekend so stop by to say hi an maybe hop in a game.

anywho hope to see ya soon and till then game on!

The one and only,

Force

“I’m at the front of the bar by the lounge in the back
with a slut on my arm while I’m downin the ‘gnac
Got the pills in my system, floatin around
Everytime I start driftin, someone open they mouth
Yo my ear been spit licked and freestyled in
I think I’m goin def like old senile men
Only one good demo out of three thousand
(Yo I ain’t wanna rap for you anyway, so keep talkin)
Next nigga that bump me, I’ma do the Humpty
and elbow bitches, ’til everybody jump me

Unfortunately in my situation I don’t even have a buzz goin but i sure do wanna drink after a few so called performances. I have heard a good verse here or there but honestly let’s save it for when Force has a drink in hand maybe. Think the worst is I was gonna settle into a nice blog about our awesome weekend but now I gotta lock the door and loose the awesome tethering powers of J Mess. Soo all ya get this time round folks is a minor rant and I guess I’ll throw in a new verse just so ya have something fun to check out.

they told me to slow down the flow,
but ya still couldn’t catch it without the proper recptacle
vessel or other form of containment.
get ghost on these beats ya better call Peter Venkman
Bust em. I’m thankful for the fans that I’ve got
but off the record need more record sales Machevellian plots
like maybe i should fake my own death
move in with Pac and drop 6 consecutive discs
cause B.I.G. told me yer nobody till somebody offs ya
awefully awesome while alive posthumously monstrous
zombie apocalypse looking for brains
dead serious apparently ahead of the game.
get it? If the shoe fits rock em
talk a lot of shit like septic engineers at a conference.
dominate the air waves, Catalyst  my accomplice
like Conan at the salon all I’m saying is pompous (pomp us) ”

anywho more about The Alchemystics travels next time-

The one and only,

Force

hijinks at Northfire

So since not everyone has been along with us for the whole ride, one of the things I’ve wanted to do for a bit is just take a retrospective look at the origins of some of our songs. It’s been a fun experience for me to look back on this work and you can expect me to share a few of these stories with you guys over the next few weeks. In fact if anyone has any specific questions about any of our songs feel free to send em my way. I’m always intrigued by what folks want to know about our music and how it is created. Once all of the song stories are done you can find the finished tales posted up on our website.

Looking to the future you can expect a bunch more material from the Alchemystics camp a lot sooner. We’re already in the process of working on a remix and dub album that is gonna blow people’s minds. If that isn’t enough to whet your appetite then get ready for the upcoming mixtape from my brother Catalyst and yours truly. We’re still trying to come up with a name for this Force/Catalyst project but I’ve been having some fun writing for this mixtape. Expect a few tracks to be available in the next month or so. I also have a catalog of video footage you wouldn’t believe so hopefully we can start getting some of those vids edited a bit for you to check out. (there are some particularly hilarious moments from Strange Creek 2009). Speaking of videos if anyone has any aweseome footage of the band laying around please send it our way. heck the footage doesn’t even have to be awesome (but really how could it not be eh?)  We do have a new album coming out and I’m sure a special copy could make it your way if you help us out. (how’s that for subtlety?) 2011 is shaping up to be a pretty powerful year for the Alchemystics and I’m glad you guys get to enjoy it with us.

the one and only,

Force

Well so yet another whirlwind weekend down. Sometimes I even amaze myself with how much I pack into such a small amout of time. I’ve been feeling a lil under the weather for a bit now since I’ve just been pushing myself pretty hard and I admit I was a lil nervous about making it through another long weekend. Thursday feb 10th the Alchemystics went back to The Wobbly Barn up in Killington. We’ve been hitting the ski resort scene for quite some time now and although I pretty much love playing them all, The Wobbly Barn has to be hands down some of the best hospitality in the circuit. First off as a musician (aka starving artist) you sort of get used to a certain quality of food offered by venues on the road and sometimes you just accept it an realize a lil crappy food is better than none. I will always remember playing a college orientation recently and the “free food” offered at the event consisted solely of chicken fingers and mozzarella sticks (which I guess was pretty damn good when I was actually in school). The Wobbly Barn however is a beacon of hope amidst the bleak choices on the road. I mean there really is nothing like a nice top sirloin or grilled salmon with a banging salad bar to get you ready to rock a crowd. The band menu there is soo good that Demse has even been tempted to start a food blog on the road because of his experiences there (D is quite the person to please in general but even moreso when it comes to food.). Now unfortunately thursdays aren’t the busiest nights at the barn and a lil bit of a promo hiccup meant the night was pretty slow but it did leave plenty of time to explore the decor and Demse stumbled upon a promo pic of Garrett in one of his first bands on the wall.

look at Garrett gettin his Lennnon on!

Normally a few adult beverages would help me make it through such a night, but since I was feeling sick that wasn’t much of an option and things actually ended much sooner than we were expecting.

We decided not to crash at the band house they provide (another of the awesome amenities there) and head on back to our neck of the woods since pretty much everyone had something to do that Friday. Luckily our gig that night was right in town at the Eleven’s. Although the turnout was a little light I actually had a blast. Some friends from Primate Fiasco, and almost the whole crew of Danny Pease and the Regulators came out to show some love along with a bunch of fans an fam I haven’t seen in a long time. I finally got a chance to check out Love in Stockholm live and I really was feeling their energy. In true Alchemystics fashion we had a few surprise collabs with the L.I.S. horns and I personally think me and my bro Catalyst killed the freestyle we did that night (least it rocked in my head). Despite a whole lot of temptation I actually managed to keep the celebrating to a manageable minumum and even left the after party at a reasonable time (which was good since we had a double header the next day).

Soo after a brief nap we were back at it again this time playing a benefit at the First Churches for the Nonotuck Community school. Now a few things should be noted here. First is the fact that the show was at 10 in the morning. Second is that lil kids sure do run around a whole lot. Third, the show was at 10 in the morning. Needless to say it was most certainly an interesting set from the Alchemystics but everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves. I got the chance to hang out with some friends from babyworld (not really a place but just how I like to refer to all of the new folks I’ve met through my daddy endeavors. ) and then headed out to beantown for an adventure with 2 Scoops (Jay).

Now I knew going into this one that the night was going to be a long one, but it’s been quite a while since I really went out and raged so I was game. We had a few hours to kill before our show at the Church in Boston (I know two churches in one day right!) so we chilled over at a friend of Jay’s. 2 things of note happened between our arrival in Boston and the time when we finally made it to the club. The first was I checked out Parks and Recreation for the first time (pretty funny I must say) and the second is I think I witnessed one of the best hustle moments in years. There was a dude in the T stop selling cds with a vengeance. He not only had dual headphones to let 2 people check his disc out at once, but also a sales pitch that put my former U.S. Pirg an H.R.C. days to shame. Oh an if that wasn’t enough he even broke out his secret weapon, the freestyle (you pick the topic!!). Let’s just say that this guy’s salesmanship greatly outweighed his ability to make music.I was really hoping he would make his way over to me but the train came right before he had a chance to pounce (freestyle battle anyone?) Anywho we made it to The Church and after a serious game of equipment tetris (5 bands in one small room) I sat down for a much needed ale and some grub. I have to say that looks can be quite deceiving because I never would have pegged the Church as a place with a pretty dope menu. Some notables included a braised lamb shank with goat cheese polenta, a burrata cheese fondue, and the buttermilk fried chicken sliders w/ cucumber and red onion (my choice for the night). After a couple more brews, a lil quality time with an old high school friend (yay Jess!), and an onslaught of awesome western MA music it was time for the Alchemystics to hit the stage.  Time was certainly against us but we managed to squeeze as much action in our short set as possible, including a guest appearance from Black Buddha from the Problemaddicts. All in all it was a stellar night of music. Much love to Pete and Hear Now Live for promoting the show and a special shout to Rising Tribe, Wolfman Conspiracy, Trailer 44 house band, and D.P.R. for bringing much flava in your ears (sorry I tend to listen to old school hip hop when I’m sick.. makes me feel comforted heh). The Trailer guys brought along a film and camera crew so expect some footage from the night sometime in the near future.

Soooo of course after the show is the afterparty but this time before the afterparty it was off to the hotel lobby.

Who can resist a hotel with soo much to offer!

What was supposed to be a quick herbal appreciation connection on our party journey turned into a pretty long layover. It seems somehow one of the ladies joining us got lost in a cab and then passed out in said cab (Which is pretty amazing since we were only a few blocks away from the club on foot) so we had to wait till she could be retrieved. After more minutes and puffs than I can remember, we were finally ready to head to what Scoops called a “ballin dubstep party”. By the time we called the cops had already arrived an drove most of the people away however. At this point we were not going to be stopped so after flagging down two cabs to fit everyone we headed off to get our party on. Unfortunately when we got close to the destination me and my cohorts couldn’t remember if we were going to ashford terrace or ashford st. In order to solve this dilemna (and save a tiny bit o money) we did what any bright person would do and got off in the between both areas. Normally in this age of smart phones and gps we shouldn’t have had a problem but of course in the process of trying to get our bearings both my iphone and my friend’s droid died. Luckily not only did I have an emergency Red Stripe on me for such an occasion but I was once a trained junior ranger back in d.c. so with my superior urban wilderness skills we were finally able to make it to the party. Needless to say by the time we made it to the spot there were less than a handful of people left (excluding those folks strewn about the house passed out) but we were just happy to have reached our destinaton. Everyone who was left at the party was awfully nice tho and it was good to actually get a chance to chill and hang with some new fans. After a bit of mingling and the realization that we had to leave Boston in less than 3 hours we headed back to our crashing point to catch a brief nap. Somehow Scoops was able to rouse himself from slumber (I sometimes think that guy is a robot cuz he just keeps goin) and drive us all the way back to western MA with very little help from me or his co-pilot Noka.

(end scene….)

Hmmm now looking back at this recap I think it’s not so hard to see why I ended up getting fully sick after all of that. I wish I could say that I really learned something about overexerting myself from all of that, but I’d only be kidding us all. Well you can catch us in a few days up in Saratoga springs opening up for Giant panda guerrilla dub squad at the Putnam Den.Hopefully by then i’ll be back to at least 80%.

Aight enough rambling. Time to throw away a few hours trying to relearn some websites I was just getting the grasp of before they decided to implement a bunch of changes (boy do I have some choice words about that whole situation but that’s for another time i suppose).

Till next time

the one and only,

Force

It’s been a long time since I’ve done a blog for The Alchemystics and well alot has changed since those days. Sooo for those of you just joining the movement in progress let’s start with introductions.

Hi! My name is Force, hopefully you’ve heard of me. (sorry couldn’t resist the shine eye girl quote). Anywho I’m the guy from the Alchemystics with a penchant for wordplay who prolly raps a lil bit faster than you can catch. Apparently I don’t believe in free time so I also pull double duty as a founding member of the hip hop group the Problemaddicts on
top of being a full time dad to my 13 month old daughter (psssh who needs sleep?). Yuup that’s me in a nutshell (or at least in a twitter era 140 character friendly form). Throw in a healthy love of comics, poetry and gaming and you’ve got most of the highlights. In future blogs we can get a lil more intimately aquainted but I think that should catch you all up for the time being. Oh wait I almost forgot I also work the bar, the door and do booking for Bishop’s lounge in Northampton, MA. In fact that’s where you can find me typing this here blog.(too bad we don’t have wi-fi or else I could post it as well.hint hint bishops…)

Anywho I have been wanting to jump back into the blogosphere for a bit but as you can imagine my time management has been a little crazy over the last year or so. I mean I still can’t believe it’s February of 2011 and I’ve been a hip hop pop for over a year. We’ve had a pretty spectacular run of recent shows and we’ll be trying to post up some pics and vids soon, but last weekend’s show at Tammany Hall was just what I needed to break the blog break.  We’ve been playing in worcester for years now and it really does feel like a second home to me. In fact the second real show I ever played with The Alchemystics was opening for Fear Nuttin Band in Worcester.  We’ve had some ups and downs certainly but that comes with the territory. Anyone remember when the Lucky Dog had that indoor monsoon (pretty unlucky I’d say) and we dragged our equipment over to Creegan’s and put together a make-shift show just cause we wanted to play?

This Tammany show was one of my favorite times in Worcester so far. I was fortunate enough to have a few of my oldest friends from college drive out from NY and Bridgeport to come spend the weekend. I always feel a little guitly when friends come to visit on the weekends because it means they often end up at my shows fending for themselves while I’m on stage. Despite that fact I love having my old friends be a part of my new life even if only briefly. As I was sitting in Tammany Hall playing spades with my friends (Trauma (James), Warner and Kieran) and folks began to fill up the venue it struck me how blessed I am to be surrounded by so many amazing people. The crowd that night was a good cross section of friends and family I have made over the last few years touring with the Alchemystics. There were folks from Wormtown, WPI, the Pittsfield crew, plus Jackie F, Carrie and Nate, Bobby and fam,and so many more. I wish I could have spent more time with everyone there but the bottom line is I had a great night, partied hard and I realized how much you guys all mean to me. I’m not just talking about the people who have followed us throughout the years (tho you do hold a special place in my heart) but every single fan of the band is important.  It’s great to be able to look out into the crowd and feel so connected. 2011 is looking to be one of the biggest years we have ever had and we would not have been able to get this far without your support. So I guess the moral of the story is I love you guys and thanks for giving that love right back. I’m very grateful for the chance to share with you all and you certainly help me to move forward with my craft.

Now I promise that every blog won’t be this sappy, but I just had to let ya know how I feel. Well before I go I have to give a nod to Mr. Sawyer for setting up this new blog system. Hopefully some of my Alchemystics compatriots will take advantage as well, but at least expect a few fun behind the scenes looks from yours truly from here on out. Oh and if
you aren’t a friend already hit the Alchemystics up on our facebook page and even add yours truly.

the one and only,

Force

Oh and since it’s black history month and well it is just so fitting. Here is a poem from one of my favorite authors, Countee Cullen. Enjoy.

Yet Do I Marvel

I doubt not God is good, well-meaning,
kind,
And did He stoop to quibble could tell why
The little buried mole continues blind,
Why flesh that mirrors
Him must some day die,
Make plain the reason tortured
Tantalus Is baited by the fickle fruit,
declare
If merely brute caprice dooms Sisyphus
To struggle up a never-ending stair.

Inscrutable His ways are, and immune
To catechism by a mind too strewn
With petty cares to slightly understand
What awful brain compels His awful hand.
Yet do I marvel at this curious thing:
To make a poet black, and bid him sing!

p.p.s Just so ya don’t think i’m too serious. check out this link to hip hop dx’s 50 Worst Photo fails. I laughed so hard at number 20 that my daughter thought something was wrong with me.

peace

-Garrett