TESTING..TESTING..IS THIS THING ON?
An introduction of my myself and tribute to my friend Brandon.
CHECK CHECK- 1312 — there we go. Hello there, my name is Dylan. I was born and raised in Fresno, California and have been involved in music in one way or another since I was 10 years old. Some of you locally may only know me as Record Ghoul or some white dude who plays records at Goldsteins in Tower District.
But like most online personas, that’s a small portion of who I am, or really I should say, the small portion of what I have chosen to share.
Really, I am only starting this substack to yap about music I like, but music has also touched alot of different areas of my life and i will probably share how those two things connect as well.
I wanted to use this first substack post to talk about my good friend Brandon who i lost a few years ago to suicide. June 7th was his birthday, and if im not mistaken he would have been 40 years old. When i was a kid, my older brother use to work at Guitar Center in the drum shop. I would go and park my ass there during summer and play drums, talk to all the people who worked there and generally be a nuisance.
Brandon worked there, and i spent alot of time talking about life, music, politics etc. Our conversations were always loud and full of shit talking, since we were both extremely passionate and opinionated. Truthfully, he’s one of the few people I have met that could hold his own in a debate about music with me because he was extremly intelligent and educated about music in general, being a musician.
Brandon is my friend who is responsible for having introduced me to artists like Sage Francis, The Used, Sounds of Animals Fighting & Underoath. Thats a crazy ass range of arists, i know… For years, this fucking guy had the little drum patch intro from ‘Sea Lion” by Sage Francis as his text tone and it would drive me crazy! All the artists mentioned above, are still some of my favorite and i cant help but remember my friend when i hear them.
June is Mens Mental Health Awareness Month, and having lost my someone i seen as my brother to suicide makes it all more important to let you know that if you are goin through something personal, suicide is never the answer. There is always someone who cares and will miss you — always. I wish i could have helped my friend, but i honor him every year on his birthday by playing some songs from albums he introduced me to. Its the very least i can do.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading. Play Sea Lion loud as fuck for your boy & i promise not everything i share on here will be a bummer.
Ill share more stuff soon. See ya then.
(PLAY) Sea Lion by Sage Francis