Vocalist | Rock Artist | Live Performer
Sledgehammer Graphix has done it again!
The fourth Kill Ritual album cover, ‘All Men Shall Fall’.
Coming to you Spring 2017
Produced and Engineered by Steven D. Rice and Andy LaRocque. Music recorded at Fossil Sound, San Jose, Ca. Vocals recorded at Kundalini Sound, Las Vegas, NV. Mixed and Mastered at Sonic Train Studios , Varberg, Sweden. Artwork by Jobert Mello/Sledgehammer Graphix. All songs written by Rice/Watson
We will be at the NAMM Show this Thursday thru Sunday walking around – representing! We have a special card to hand out to all fans who we run into – some free music to download! Make sure you hit us up this weekend! We will also be talking about our new upcoming album ‘All Men Shall Fall’.
You can also find these cards at the Blackstar, Dean Markley, ESP, and Godin booths.
#modtone #soulsofrock #spectraflex #deanmarkley #claytonusa #coldcockwhiskey #godinguitars #espguitars #blackstaramps #scarletrecords #tonedeaftouring #extrememanagementgroup #killritual #killritualmetal #newalbum #allmenshallfall #davidreedwatson #stevenrice #mattthompson
Steven and I will be at the NAMM Show this Thursday thru Sunday walking around – representing Kill Ritual! We have a special card to hand out to all fans who we run into – some free music to download! Make sure you hit us up this weekend! We will also be talking about our new upcoming album ‘All Men Shall Fall’.
You can also find these cards at the Blackstar, Dean Markley, ESP, and Godin booths.
#modtone #soulsofrock #spectraflex #deanmarkley #claytonusa #coldcockwhiskey #godinguitars #espguitars #blackstaramps #scarletrecords #tonedeaftouring #extrememanagementgroup #killritual #killritualmetal #newalbum #allmenshallfall #davidreedwatson #stevenrice #mattthompson
2016, numerologically, is a Nine year. What does that mean? It’s the last year of a nine-year cycle. 2+0+1+6 = 9. And with every Nine year cycle there are drastic changes, 2007 being the previous where we saw an airliner disappear, Korea testing nuclear weapons, we watched beheadings on TV… I could go on, but I’m just trying to make a point here. Every Nine Year end cycle has dramatic endings and sets us up for the ‘one’ year cycle and a new beginning.
2016 was a tough year for me. Tough, but liberating. It represents the year of finally breaking the chains of the corporate world and entering the world of the unknown.
A little over a year ago I left my job (Just over broke) as a Graphic Designer with years under my belt in advertising, into pursuing my music career 100%. It took me about 9 years to make this transition, but in the Facebook world it seemed sudden. That seed was planted when I left Florida for Boulder, Colorado. I left a relationship, a house, cars, the comforts of materialism. I started the transition from this phase to getting back to nature. Even though I still had my corporate job, and was still making ads for things I didn’t believe in… I was still propagating materialism and keeping myself in its shackles. I traded the wife, house, cars for a girlfriend, snowboards and bicycles.
But the seed was growing.
The person that propelled this catalyst of thought for change was my boss… Alex Bogusky. He quit advertising and started up his own form of advertising that was conscious. It promoted something far different than what we had been pushing all along. The Universe caught on to my questioning and thought and again pushed me further. First, my sister passing away and making me promise to do my music, and then getting laid off. I’m very stubborn, it seems. Or, I was then. It took a mighty big boot to kick me in the ass, wake me up, and move me forward.
That was 2009. I packed my stuff and moved to Los Angeles to join a band that I had never met. At that point it didn’t seem to matter. Change needed to happen if I was to become what I wanted to become.
Fast forward to 2016…
As I mentioned above I had left my job and entered a world that is completely unstable. A world where I was not going to get a weekly paycheck. A world where I was going to have to hustle to make things happen. But I wouldn’t change it for the world. I am fortunate to have somebody in my life who believes in me. Someone who believes that what is in your soul is much more important than what is in your pocket. Yes, there are times where I freak the fuck out. Times that I’m unstable and miserable. Times where I just want to say fuck it and go back to the comforts of a stable job. I do not take for granted the choice that I have made… and as time goes by there are more and more people around me to support this thought. Thank you.
Tonight I get to sing a few songs at the Hard Rock Cafe before they tear it down. Another ending of a chapter. One of the songs I will be singing means a lot to me. Call it; the closing of another chapter and the beginning of a new one. The song ‘Be Yourself’ by Audioslave could not be more perfect of a song for my closure of this chapter. It lets me know that no matter how scary this year has been, I am being myself… or as I like to say, ‘Be’ing, not ‘do’ing.
So.. in summary, I’d like to say this to you…
Start planting that seed. Watch it grow. It will take cultivating, but don’t ever walk away from it. There will be times where you don’t want to do it. There will be times that you will, in fact, walk away… but all in all… that seed will still be growing. And one day it will be unavoidable and then you will finally say fuck it. You will make it happen. Because, you contributing who you are, is WAY more important than saving up for ‘someday’. Because ‘someday’ might never come.
Happy New Year! Follow your dreams!
David Reed Watson
Whatever you celebrate, and however you celebrate it, the most important part of the holiday season is this; it is mean’t to bring us together.
Back in WWI (1914) battle actually stopped on Christmas Day, where a truce was made by the troops in their trenches. They bravely climbed out to greet each other. History talks about them getting back in their trenches to resume fighting, but this is not the true story… these men who had made that temporary peace had to be rotated out because they couldn’t consciously resume the fighting after meeting, sharing, laughing, seeing pictures of their ‘enemies’ families, etc. It became personal afterwards. Humanity was introduced. It was no longer an ‘enemy’ with no face.
It’s much easier for us to find a common enemy to hate when we don’t personally know them. We would never kill a loved one, neighbor or friend in all good consciousness. Would we?
This past election has caused a rift between people, such a rift as I have never seen in my short moment on this planet. It’s been a giant soundbite of hate and discontent. Blame has been thrown around like an old pillow in a childish pillow fight. Is this who we really are? Are we really just savages who have been suppressing our true feelings all along? I hope not.
We could learn much from this, and our past, if we choose to or we can continue ignoring it as we have. I believe that we, inside are kind and loving by nature. We learn hate. We learn fear. We learn animosity, distain and loathing. These are not inherent traits. We know this because when you look at a baby you see nothing but love.
You don’t look at that baby and say to yourself, “When he grows up he is going to be Hitler.”
No… you look at that baby and wish it the best on it’s journey. You hope for the best.
The next time you look at your ‘enemy’, that person or persons that your quickly jump to the other sidewalk to avoid… see that baby, and most of all see yourself as a baby. Start looking back at what made you so afraid. I’m betting that if you did this, soon enough, compassion will start to flood throughout your being and 2017 will have a much different outlook than it did before you started looking at the perfection of who you are.
Peace and Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Las Posadas, Eid-al-Adha, Diwali, Winters Solstice and Saturnalia!
David Reed Watson
P.S.
You might find this an interesting read…
WWI: The 1914 Christmas Truce
When I first starting studying energy work, one of the first things I studied was the Yin and the Yang. I had seen the symbols many times and had a good amount of knowledge of it, but what I didn’t know was its relationship to the flow. The way energy works is a flowing motion, you can’t receive energy completely without giving it away. Let’s say that you are financially bankrupt… it’s probably because you’ve got a problem with giving. A statement like, “I don’t have enough to give”, is telling the Universe that you don’t have enough which in turn it agree’s with you and therefore… you don’t have enough. I encourage you to listen to Abraham-Hicks and the Law of Attraction to delve deeper into this concept.
I remember seeing a homeless person with a sign on the side of the road, the sign saying, ‘Help. Please. Need food.’ There were many times where I would try to avoid eye contact, afraid that they would approach me and then I’d lie and say that I had nothing to give.One of my many mentors in my life took me aside many years ago when I lived in Florida, and told me… I should give to that person on the street because they are asking. I was like, “But they’re bums! They should get a job!” My mentor looked at me and said, “It doesn’t matter what their circumstances are… you just give, you give because what you are telling the Universe is that you have enough to give.”
Recently, a bunch of friends of mine and I went and gave away to the homeless here in Las Vegas. We drove around giving, giving, giving until we had no more to give. Our friend that orchestrated this is abundant. Why is she abundant? Because either knowingly or subconsciously she understands the Yin and the Yang. She knows that it feels good, and she knows that even if it brought just a smile to someone for only a moment it was worth all the money in the world.
You see, once you get into this frame of mind, the mindset of, ‘having enough to give’, it becomes easier and easier to give, regardless of what the other persons circumstance may be. Once this becomes habit you’ll be surprised at how much you actually have! I have a stash of quarters, dollars, etc. in the car for things like this. Once you start doing this more and more, for one, you won’t have anxiety every time you come to a stop sign, and secondly, you’ll feel amazing! You’ll be grateful that you have enough, that you’re blessed with enough to actually give.
It’s hard to get into that mindset when you are stuck though, I know, it happens more often than not to me as well. With Reiki, I often give sessions away from time to time because I am trying to get the energy moving in myself. I know that I am receiving because I am giving and it ends up showing up in my life. But, like I said, I do get stuck at times. Times when bills need to be paid and I don’t have two nickels to scratch together. I’ll start focusing on what I don’t have… but all this is doing is stopping the flow dead in its tracks.
What do I do when this happens? Fortunately, I’ve had a lot of training and know the signs when they come along, or someone close to me will remind me. They’ll tell me to go exercise, meditate or go give a Free Reiki Session. So, for me it’s usually short-lived. But what about someone who doesn’t have all of this kind of training? Maybe it’s you reading this blog right now? What you can start to do is this… when it’s happening, write it down.
Write down what you are feeling
What are you feeling when bills come in the mail that you can’t pay? Start noticing these feelings. When you receive a bill is your automatic reaction to say, ‘Oh No! I can’t pay this now!’ Start noticing the patterns. Start noticing when you say things like, ‘I wish I had the money for that.’ or ‘Only rich people have things like that’, or the big one….
Money is the root of all evil
Well, let me enlighten you to this fact… The translation from the Bible was lost in translation. The actual translation is, ‘The LOVE of Money is the root of all evil’. Just think of money as energy that needs to be exchanged. Once you start training yourself with this kind of mindset you’ll start noticing how things just sort of happen in your life.
When you start saying, ‘Yes’ instead of ‘No’ the flow of energy starts moving through you with greater ease.
Like the Yin and Yang. The positive and the negative. You can’t have one without the other. It’s impossible. Recognize this and just…
Give it Away… Now!
This blog can also be read every month in Sin City Presents
Hey gang it’s been awhile since we laid down an official update!
Good news; no one died, became a Jehovah Witness or joined a Satanic Cult (yet)! We’ve actually been recording the follow up to our last CD Karma Machine and are about 80-90% there. Luckily we were able to enlist the talents of none other than Matt Thompson from King Diamond to lay down the drums tracks for the CD and as expected it’s pretty goddamn awesome. Of course he’s not joining the band as he has bigger fish to fry, but it was nice to have some talent of his caliber involved.
11 tunes’ in the bag and again we’ll hit up Andy LaRocque and Sonic Train for the mix and mastering. The CD went down as a trio this time with Matt on drums as mentioned, David Reed Watson on vocals and Steven D. Rice on all guitars, bass, etc. as well as engineering/producing the recordings. Song titles and all the usual press/promo BS at a later date as we get it done. Expect an early 2017 release with the usual tour dates etc. to follow up is in the works. Rock!
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