Who can you blame for your mood today?
Many, many people. Humanity in general, also.

If your friends warn you about someone, do you listen?
I'm usually the administrator of warnings!

How’s your heart lately?
Black and in overdrive.

Are you annoyed at the moment?
Incensed.

Who did you talk to on the phone last?
Don't remember.

Do you get scared easily?
No. Nothing's shocking anymore.

Who was the last person you saw that isnt related to you?
Jay. My flatmate.

Have you ever slept in a car?
Yes.

Do you have any friends whos parents will no longer let them hang out with you?
No. I'm the sensible one that doesn't drink or do drugs.

What did you do yesterday?
Work and hangout.

What is your favorite board game?
Shites and Ladders.

Do you really, truly miss someone right now?
Yes.

Are you generally a happy person?
I used to be. I'm getting more and more cynical with each wall I hit personally and professionally.

Whos in your profile picture with you?
Jay and Timmy

Are you okay with making a total fool of yourself?
I look at everything way differently than most, so define "fool".

What color shirt are you wearing?
Black

Are you wearing makeup?
No

Would you go into public looking like you do now?
In work uniform. Not by choice.

Where will you be in a hour?
Here at the flat, being a big jerk with my big jerk flatmate.

Where did your last hug take place?
On the street.

Who was the first person you talked to today?
Deegan.

What do you prefer skittles or starbursts?
Neither.

Are you a big fan of thunderstorms?
Yes.

What do you have to do tomorrow?
Hang out with my mates. There may be socialising involved.

What are your plans for tonight?
Vent.

What are you most excited for this week?
My mate's 21st.

Where have you lived throughout your life?
Cork City, Ballyclough, Mallow, Firville.

How old were you when you got your first piercing?
Ten.

Are you someone who worries too often?
Yes. I don't even know why anymore.

Are you the same person as you were at the beginning of 2008?
No. I've had a lot more shit thrown on the pile.

What do you need to do right now?
Take a week off from life, take a tent out into the woods and just stay in there, alone with my head.

What is the 11th text in your fone?
Fiona telling me about homicidal kids that hate her feet.

Right, I’ve had it up to my lobes with people going on and on about “emos” and “minis” and God knows what else to last me several lifetimes, and I’m sure most people reading this have too. And far be it from this writer to vent online, but I think it’s about time we discussed it openly.

You can’t fail to miss, in most town centres in this fair land of ours, an increasing number of vertically-challenged youngsters running around in hoodies, fringes, blah, blah, blah. It’s a well-worn furrow at this point.

Yes, they’re enough to wreck any sane person’s head, with their insistence on taking a good 80 or 90 pictures of themselves in the mirror for use on their webpages, only to post ALL OF THEM online, or their incessant doling out of hugs (at least in one accursed area of Cork City centre).

The problem lies solely with the music industry and its desperation to crank out more of what worked before, only in more modern get-up

Yes, it’s very, very easy (and tempting) to take cheap shots at a generation that appears to be succumbing to the decay of society in general (and being none the wiser to it), but before you do, maybe it’s worth considering your own teenage experience.

Chances are many people reading this were resident in a city centre growing up, where, by sheer dint of the number of people, chances are a lot of like minds are going to find each other anyway. Then again there are probably many people reading this that had no clue of counter-culture and independent ethics until a chance encounter with Nirvana, Soundgarden, or any other alt-rock acts of that whole explosion in the early 1990s. This is a key point: music and its discovery is nothing short of a wonderful, life-enhancing (-saving?), emotional and cathartic journey. All journeys start somewhere. It’s the starting point, however, that’s becoming the problem.

The problem lies not with the kidz, who, for all intents and purposes, are new souls as far as music is concerned. It’s the shit they’re fed.

Look at an issue of KERRANG! magazine and you’ll see, the majority of weeks, a tiring, and frankly trivial mix of fresh-faced pop acts, stale and cynical nu-metal leftovers and the odd token appearance by a respected/legendary band to give it credibility. This mag has always been the bible for rock youngsters, regardless as to whether or not these youngsters will admit it as adults. And while the consideration is given to the bottom line when it comes to the publication and mass distribution of a weekly magazine, the fact is KERRANG! still feature a quota of new acts to keep the content fresh.

I reckon those in charge could do more to help get the young’uns in on the act

However, the new acts they choose are almost invariably trendy, young and possessed of awe-inspiring hair. This promotion of style over substance (see at your own risk: My Passion) feeds a whole “fad” mentality which will ultimately damage rock and alternative music by trivialising it as another social-identity-cum-consumer-base.

Just look at what the kids are fed when left to their own devices: pussycore fops turned MOR kings Avenged Sevenfold, who seem to refer to their creative exploits as monetary investments in their interviews; My Chemical Romance, whose album The Black Parade was a thinly-veiled attempt at marketing sympathy to the lonely, vulnerable, bereaved and young was a heinous case of exploitation comparable to the shenanigans of the tobacco industry; not to mention Fall Out Boy, Panic at the Disco, Youmeatsix, and God knows how many other myriads of pretenders and careerists exist under the surface of the whole rotten thing.

The problem lies solely with the music industry and its desperation to crank out more of what worked before, only in more modern get-up, rather than getting behind genuinely different and soulful acts. And while that is a problem that needs solving anyway, perhaps there is one good that com

Ash's first new single from their planned campaign of A-Z releases has found its way onto the web some 20 minutes ago, via the website.

And?

It's mad.

It's absolutely as bat-fuck-insane as a rabid balloon bearing the likeness of the Marquis de Sade off his face on pills.

It's Ash, the loveable scamps from way back, the same minds that spawned Goldfinger and Oh Yeah and Wildsurf and Burn Baby Burn.

And they're playing this mad disco-electro pop.

It's insanely hooky, and between the sleazy guitar, god-awful synth beats and THAT chorus, you'll find yourself begrudgingly liking the fucker the same way you did first time you heard Supermassive Black Hole.

What else is there to be said? Let's see how the other 25 hold up!