Dead Alive: Ludicra 1998-2011

2013/01/042013/07/16 Doktor Ross Sewage3 Comments

From 1999 to 2011, I was in a band called Ludicra. It was a good run with four amazingly talented people. There were a lot of good times. The ending of the band wasn’t one of those good times. The feelings left behind could make one want to forget the whole endeavor. But all good things must come to an end, timely or otherwise… except the memories. Those can live on, and with music, they can live on loudly. This is what I intended.

In this age of information, a picture is worth a thousand lines of code. So what’s a song worth? I spent the last few months compiling all the recordings I had packed away. With the help of some websites, some free programs, and some D.I.Y. production work, I completed the total archive of Ludicra’s output over it’s 13 year existence, downloadable and free to all.

Continue reading “Dead Alive: Ludicra 1998-2011” →

Gross Anatomy: High on Fire poster

2012/12/282015/02/08 Doktor Ross SewageLeave a comment

Back in August / September, Yob was coming through town. I love Yob. They were playing on my birthday and I wanted to do a poster for them. I talked with the band and they were down. A week before the event, after just starting the inks, it was pointed out to me the promoter already had a poster. Shit. I didn’t talk to the promoter. I cancelled my job and enjoyed the show anyway. A month later, my friends at Secret Serpents offered me a spot in their High on Fire tour series. Well, why fucking let that art go to waste? I requested the date for the end of the world, December 21, 2012. This is what came of it.

Like all posters I’ve worked on, I don’t make a cent… unless I sell my own copies. This is the topsy turvy economy of the gig poster world. 35 of these bad boys went down to Santa Ana, gratis, for the band to sell. My copies are on sale on my website now. The process to get from there to here took longer than expected, but I was pleased with the results.

Continue reading “Gross Anatomy: High on Fire poster” →

Choice Cuts: Building a Lazer-saw

2012/12/212015/01/31 Doktor Ross Sewage

After taking a beating for the last four or five years, Killbot wasn’t looking so hot. Getting smooshed into a trailer night after night didn’t help. While on the last tour, we talked about a making a new one. Maestro Sean McGrath took the lead on this one and cobbled together a leaner, more aggressive looking, and tougher version of the costume. When he wants to write a blog detailing how he did that, he’s welcome to. In the meantime, I threw in the LEDs and lit the bitch up, and that’s what I’m gonna talk about here.

The previous Killbot had lighting done to its head. I detailed that in a previous entry last year. When I finally saw the lazer-saw that Sean had built, my mind started whirling with ideas. Originally, he’d planned to have electroluminescent wire wrapped around it. He tried that for one show, but it wouldn’t illuminate very well. I tried working with it, and I’ve decided I hate EL wire. It’s definitely not bright enough for a lit stage and it’s a bitch to work with. I wanted to go another route.

Continue reading “Choice Cuts: Building a Lazer-saw” →

Resurrectionist: Ampeg SVT-810E

2012/12/142015/01/16 Doktor Ross Sewage10 Comments

Somewhere in the ’90s, everything became disposable and cheap. NAFTA made lives disposable and cheap. Reality shows made art disposable and cheap. Music companies made their gear disposable and cheap. I have not the inclination to make the philosophical leap as to why. What I do have is a good example of this. SLM Music, who owned the Ampeg name in the ’90s, put out the worst version of an Ampeg 8×10, the “Classic” 810E cabinet. It has eight 10″ speakers and is based on the original winning design from the ’70s. They are made so poorly with shit wood, however, they are often left to rot rather than fix. Well, I said fuck that. One of these fell into my hands, crumbling and falling apart. I brought it back to life.

When I dragged this out of the apartment from the folks who bestowed it on me, it was missing the bottom entirely. It had the prerequisite tolex rips of every punk rocker’s cab. The baffle board rocked back and forth and could bust your fingers. It was missing a speaker. I rebuilt the bottom, replaced the speaker, and the cab served me well on a few tours. When I sold my Ampeg SVT-2Pro to my bud Brian from Merdoso and formerly of Stormcrow, I offered the cab as part of the deal so long as he covered the expense of a heavy-duty restoration so I could have some fun making the monstrosity punk-proof. And fun I had.

Continue reading “Resurrectionist: Ampeg SVT-810E” →

STD Greeting Cards: You need these!

2012/12/072014/06/24 Doktor Ross SewageLeave a comment

My fiancee and I have been mulling about on a project for some time now. Probably, like, a year. Touring and stuff often gets in the way of fun stuff like this. Finally, however, I was able to make some time. It is here I am for the first time displaying our first ever joint artistic effort; STD greeting cards.

I’ve gone and screen printed four different cards, all featuring just the most adorable little animal I could draw. These are going to be sold as a set of four, bundled up all cute, and just in time for the holidays! What makes these so special, besides my amazing art and a wonderful four color screen printing job? The messages inside… each one has a different message declaring from the sender to the sendee an APOLOGY for whatever SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASE you might have given them. You had to know the idea was gonna get sick at some point, right?

Continue reading “STD Greeting Cards: You need these!” →

Sewer Bæby part 3: GCB-95 Crybaby mods

2012/11/302015/01/14 Doktor Ross Sewage1 Comment

In the last installment of this thrilling three part series, I covered the internal changes I made to my Crybaby GCB-95 wah, which became my treasured Sewer Bæby. Being that was one of my first excursions into pedal modifications, I decided to take it all the way to learn a thing or three. I wanted to muck about with the aesthetics to show pride in my work, so I learned at least one way to reskin this cat.

The best way to paint any stomp box is powder coating. That’s the process whereby particles of color are electro-magnetically applied to a metal and then cooked on to form a super protective layer of paint. That’s the way the pros do it. I’m not a pro. I didn’t have the luxury of owning a powder coating system when I did this and I imagine most people never will. Cans of paint it is.

Continue reading “Sewer Bæby part 3: GCB-95 Crybaby mods” →

Ghoulection 2012: Transmission Fifteen

2012/11/232015/01/12 Doktor Ross SewageLeave a comment

It has been an amazing year for us, but ahead is Europe in early 2013 with our “buds” and Tankcrimes label mates, Cannabis Corpse. We ended our 2012 run of shows with a real bang of a weekend. The first show on Friday, November 16th, was with Tankcrimes label mates Vitamin X. The show itself was a Tankcrimes joint. Our own “fifth member” Scott Bryan was currently working with GWAR, so this weekend we drafted Mr. Tankcrimes himself, Scotty Karate. Tankcrimes, Tankcrimes, Tankcrimes!

Some zipper heads might recognize this flyer as having been outside the Metro the same day they were paying twice as much to see the “Misfits all-star cover band featuring Jerry, only.” Ah, c’est la vie, how to compete with a legend? Well, you pack a smaller room with a bunch of numbskulls who beat the shit out of each other, that’s how.

Continue reading “Ghoulection 2012: Transmission Fifteen” →

Torture of Duty: Impaled gets Napalm Wasted

2012/11/202015/01/12 Doktor Ross Sewage1 Comment

November 12th was an epic night for metal in Oakland, California. Napalm Death and Municipal Waste bringing us a show of epic proportions.

Along with long-time metal stalwarts and former locals, Exhumed, punk legends and actual locals, Attitude Adjustment, and last and probably least, our own gang in Impaled, you’ve got a bill worth getting in line for. A big fucking line.

Continue reading “Torture of Duty: Impaled gets Napalm Wasted” →