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Matt Antone’s Friends (139)

• 28 Aug '10 11:23pm

  Hot Chick Headbangs with Jesus at SSMF

  Our very own blogger Jes got down ‘n dirty with the big man at the Sunset Strip Music Festival.

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• 28 Aug '10 11:20pm

  Slash Rocks It Out at SSMF

  

  SLASH played a legendary show tonight, packing the Sunset Strip with fans elbow to elbow for blocks. Sunset Strip Music Festival was Slash’s event, as he was honored on Thursday night for his contributions to the music industry.  His set started early, and featured a cover of “Barracuda” with Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas.  Fergie’s voice sounded better then usual, and Slash played close to the egde of the stage to exstatic fans.  The crowd sang along and danced into the streets with the GNR covers “Sweet Child of Mine” and “Paradise City”.  His new solo album, SLASH, is filled with collaborations with rockstars such as Lemmy, Iggy Pop, Chris Cornell, and Ozzy. It’s Slash, and he ruled, no suprise here.
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• 28 Aug '10 11:02pm

  Interview with Travie McCoy at Sunset Strip Music Festival

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• 28 Aug '10 10:59pm

  Interview with Juke Kartel at SSMF

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• 28 Aug '10 10:58pm

  Embrace The Martian of SSMF – Kid Cudi Live Review

  

  Not being a big fan of Kid Cudi before tonight, I was surprised to witness some of the songs he put down in his set. Before tonight I didn’t realize how talented Cudi was in respect to his ability to not only lay down a solid hip hop track but to actually use beats that aren’t really prevalent in today’s hip hop – besides the shitty security guards and poor sounds I’d have to say this was my favorite show of the night.

  My favorite track of the evening was “Man On The Moon” – a classic from his 2008 Mixtape A Kid Called Cudi. He involved the crowd in everything he was doing and at one point even jumped down into the press section just to give his fans an even closer look at him. Other songs he performed were “Embrace The Martian” and a new one he just wrote “Ghost”.

  All in all it was a great performance by a great entertainer and I can definitely see how he has such a large dedicated following.  To all Kid Cudi fans new and old all I can say after tonight is you’re going to have a hard time not “Embracing The Martian”.

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• 28 Aug '10 10:47pm

  Transfer at Sunset Strip Music Festival

  Well I have to imagine it is hard to hold a crowd’s attention with a verifiable rock legend in Slash playing less than 100 feet away, and hip hop star Common performing just down the street, but generic rock band Transfer did little to engage their audience.  With a small crowd, a combination of personal friends of the band, those just looking for a place to sit and those apparently unaware that Slash was playing just outside, Transfer did everything in their power to be forgettable.

  Everything from their matching white suits (looking like waiters from Wolfgang Puck) to their repetitive chord progressions seemed inclined to make the band appear average.   If they were athletes they would be the types playing not to lose as opposed to playing to win.   There stage presence was a combination of rock stars posing, followed by self conscious looks away, apparently trying to avoid eye contact with anyone in the audience (it couldn’t have been hard).

  After leaving the Key Club, I was next to the Main Stage where Slash was still in the beginning stages of his set.  It took all, but 20 seconds for me to see the clear difference between Rock Stars and pretenders.

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• 28 Aug '10 10:39pm

  Smashing Pumpkins!!

  

  They will always be phenomenal!! They blew the main stage away! Sunset Strip Music Festival 2010 gave platform to so many stellar bands and performers today, and the Smashing Pumpkins closed the main stage giving us the high we wanted.  All through middle and high school, I wanted to see SP perform, they were so edgy at the time! I was able to finally see them today and they are just as incredible now as they were then. Check out their website, if you missed them today, they are on their way to Arizona for a few shows then they are making their way up to Northern California, to Santa Barbara and Sacramento, Sept 4th and the 6th, If you’ve never seen then perform get on the chance because you need hear Billy Corgan’s voice in person it’s really quite amazing. Thank you SSMF! This photo was snapped during their sound check earlier in the day, two doses of SP!

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• 28 Aug '10 10:35pm

  LADY SINATRA LIVE AT CAT CLUB SSMF

  

  Lady Sinatra played a packed show at the Cat Club today, with fans packed close against the tiny stage. Their genre is rock, and on the heavier side.

  Vocalist, Joseph “Bunny” Holiday, is quite the character. With a big bushy beard, and long hair he bounced around onstage screaming words into the mic. He’s not much of a singer – more like a screamer. “YOU LOOK LIKE HELLLLLL” are his choice of words, starting off the song “Girl, You’ll be a Trainwreck Soon”. When he did take short breaks from vocals, he still caught people’s attention chewing on the mic cord and sticking out his pierced tongue.

  Fun little rock n roll freakshow.
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• 28 Aug '10 10:06pm

  Steel Panther Rocks the Main Stage at SSMF

  

  LA locals Steel Panther, aka Metal Skool, rocked the main stage this afternoon at Sunset Strip Music Fest. Deemed the “Best Tribute Band in the Universe”, it’s easy to see why these guys pack the house week after week. They have a very loyal following, playing shows Sunday nights in Vegas, and every Monday on the strip.

  Dressed in their usual 80’s hair metal band outfits, they swayed back and forth singing covers ranging from GNR favorites to their version of the Backstreet Boys “I Want it That Way”. Unless you’re a total bore, it’s pretty impossible to not have fun at a Steel Panther show. I’m not a big fan of cover bands at all… Steel Panther being the only exception. The songs they cover are played note by note right on tune and right on point. They aren’t just musicians, they are actors and comedians putting on a show that will have you laughing your ass off while singing and dancing along.

  They play into the whole rock star lifestyle with chat about groupies, lots of hair and makeup touch-ups, and drunk girls dancing around taking their tops off onstage. They may be half joking, but the ladies love these guys. They write their own material too, with naughty yet hilarious lyrics and classic rock guitar riffs. These pretty boys always get the crowd excited with their dirty humor and onstage antics.

  To get a feel of what they are like, check out their music video to “Community Property”, it’s really a riot. Their latest record “Feel the Steel” is available now and they play every Monday night at the Key Club. Whether you’re a local or a tourist, their show is a must see!

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• 28 Aug '10 08:52pm

  Oh No Not Stereo!

  

  SSMF 2010- The Cat Club- Oh No Not Stereo gets cables and gear ready for their performance in the intimate bar. The space is packed tight, sound checks, girls giggle over the group of punk rockers. They open in a flash and dive right into a high energy, fist pumping, head banging number. In fact, the head banging was syncopated and matched the drummers call.  Very much a brotherhood band they really dig the the community vibe of SSMF , they expressed great gratitude for being in the SSMF festival for their second year and hope they can keep coming back.  Lead vocalist, Skyler Nielsen, introduced a new member of the group, bassist Ryan Williams. The group apparently lives just a bottles throw away from the Cat Club.  They performed a track titled Hurricane which was reminiscent of Korn vocals and Nirvana metal.  Over-all a very very high energy band, Nielsen even ran into the audience with his guitar and playedout in the audience, they rocked the house!

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• 28 Aug '10 02:07am

  Young Hearts Be Free Tonight – Nico Vega at SSMF

  Bass players need not apply.

  I caught Nico Vega at the Key Club tonight as part of the Sunset Strip Music Festival. Nico Vega managed to keep me pleasantly entranced wielding a drum kit, guitar, and an esoteric voice. Unfortunately, I missed the very beginning of the set because I was enjoying the most delicious taco truck I’ve come to know in Los Angeles. After I devoured my purple quesadilla, I caught Nico Vega in full effect. I won’t lie, Aja was all limbs, voice, and a lot of sexy. Back to the music. For a three piece, there was a serious turning out of music; very organic and animal. One highlight for me was definitely their cover of Rod Stewart’s “Young Turks.” Extremely appropriate if you make the connection.

  Throw your hands up…

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• 28 Aug '10 02:04am

  The Outline LIVE at Cat Club at SSMF

  

  LA locals The Outline played a crisp, radio friendly set at Cat Club tonight. Lead vocalist, Graham Fink, sang surprisingly clearly, making sure everyone in the audience heard exactly what he had to say. With an expressive stage presence and a strong voice, he led the crowd through an energetic set. Drummer, TJ McDonnell, went wild while banging the shit out of the drums in his super disco-chic outfit. Graham and TJ stole the show with their energy, while Max St. John played a steady but catchy bass line.

  These clean cut hipsters played a set filled with songs that everyone in the family can sing along to. The fashionistas hopped around onstage with a sound similar to the Killers and Arctic Monkeys. Nothing too crazy at this show, just good clean fun.

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• 28 Aug '10 02:02am

  Unwritten Law at the Sunset Strip Music Festival

  

  Leather bound, Mohawks, and beer laden, the crowd cheered for Unwritten Law as they walked out on stage. Scott Russo, vocals, swivels his hips to the beat of the music as he sings his lungs out.   It was so awesome when they sang a brand new song from their up coming album Swan that comes out in January.

  Towards the end of the night, Scott played a slow, acoustic rendition of For The Rest Of My Life where people locked arms and swayed and many held lighters in the air. The crowd went crazy, moshing and singing along when the band sang their hit song Save Me. I have to admit, I was also dancing and singing along!  I did not realize just how fantastic Unwritten Law are live.

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• 28 Aug '10 01:38am

  FILTER in Photos from the Sunset Strip Music Festival

  

  Photo Credit: Jorge Ramirez

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• 28 Aug '10 01:15am

  Sunset Strip Music Festival – What Have You Done To Me

  *Written to the sounds of “Rock ‘n Roll Hoochie Koo”

  Straight from our headquarters at the Andaz West Hollywood formerly known as the Riot House/Riot Hyatt, we at LP33.tv have been bringing coverage of the Sunset Strip Music Festival, but this is about me.  Making the rounds from venue to venue and hitting red carpets thus far this weekend; its been a great weekend and with a lineup of interviews coming today with Cisco Adler, Travie McCoy, Juke Kartel, and Neon Trees its only getting better.

  Putting something together in retrospect by definition means to:

  Noun: contemplation of the past; a survey of past time, events,etc.

  I’ll attempt to do that, probably poorly, but thus far I’ve been able to speak to Neon Trees, Olivia Munn, Lemmy, Filter, P.O.D. and others, and have been ignored by Slash, that werewolf dude from True Blood and 2 girls from The Hills.

  One of the things I can say is the people that know the whole deal and know the game were all about participating and gave me/us some of the best moments we’ve had thus far.  Then there were those, other than Slash (a legend and can do what he wants) that just kept moving (to each their own though), but I’d feel they would find the opportunity ripe to plug.  Anyway onto the positive.

  It was great to see The Strip pushing it to the limit, so many people from all walks, just enjoying music.  That is what the strip is about.  One of the bands summed it up best, “the strip has what other places take a whole city to accomplish: 6+ classic venues dedicated to music.”  That to me sums up what this weekend has been about, lovin’ it.

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• 28 Aug '10 01:04am

  P.O.D at Sunset Strip Music Festival

  

  P.O.D. at the Whiskey, and the crowd is shoulder to shoulder packed. Everyone is a standing replica of the lead singer. The Pearl drum kit at the ready and the Orange amps standing proud on stage.  I’m lucky enough to be sitting in the V.I.P section sitting back , relaxing with a perfect view of the stage, beer in hand and watching the crowd.  It isn’t said but there is definitely a shared emotion in the room, everyone is thinking the same thing – Crowd Surf Potential.

  The sound check starts and the deep booming bass tones are ricocheting off the walls  and tension is building as the crowd are in serious anticipation for their rock gods to enter the stage.  Suddenly the stage goes pitch black and the rumbling of excitement growls over the crowd like a dark sweeping cloud. The notorious driving bass starts pummeling through your veins and as the music kicks in you realize how powerful this band are live.

  Fists are stabbing the air above the heads of the adoring fans and the front man is reaching out to touch as many of his fans as possible, showering them with his appreciation and inviting them to join in with him throughout the track and at one point throwing some lucky fan his hat.

  Even though to an untrained ear the songs seems pretty similar and repetitive in style but the second that guitar riff strikes up from Youth of the Nation, the crowd starts screaming and the little space that was left is now closed up and it gets harder to breath. ‘We are we arrrrrre, the youth of the nation’ is echod throughout the entire room. Rockers, emos, scene kids, rappers, gangsters, sluts, whores, cougars alike are all sharing the same thought – this rocks. POD are still live and kicking, with amazing stage presence, confidence and the ability to command a crowd in the way they do is a real treat to see. Beware however, they all need to invest in a good belt, those pants are so low your grandmother would be having a heart attack. Watch out for the mosh pit  – its pretty ruthless but who cares? Its POD!

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• 28 Aug '10 12:22am

  Red Circle Underground at Viper, SSMF

  

  Photo Credit: Anthony Ferrara

  The first thing that stands out as Red Circle Underground starts their set, is how many instruments they have on stage. Rolling six members deep, they are not your typical band. With two or three vocalists per song, three guitars, a drum kit, bongos, harmonica, tambourine and a keyboard, everyone is busy on stage. Their style is a mixture of several different genres, ranging from alternative rock, to blues. Their songs are fast paced, giving the audience a feel good, toe tapping rock show.

  All the members of RCU are extremely multi-talented, not only sticking to one instrument but constantly switching back and forth. Ali, the female vocalist, rocks on the guitar while singing, later switching off to bang on the bongos. With so much going on onstage, it would be easy for the sounds to clash, but everything harmonizes amazingly well together. RCU rocks beyond their years, with every song bringing a new sound with different instruments being used.

  “Ode to Jim” was my favorite song in their set. Dylan Grey starts out the song heavy on the harmonica, leading into a sexy duet with Ali and Jonah. In no way is this a slow sappy love song. Kevin sets a quick pace with the drums, and Ali’s voice leaves you coming back for more.

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• 27 Aug '10 11:59pm

  Kix Hits The House Of Blues For SSMF

  The House of Blues was home to another great rock show tonight.  With Black Mambooza and L.A. Nookie opening immediately I knew it was going to be a good show. Black Mambooza brought something different to the table – with a little bit of country mixed with some heavy rock it had the crowd getting warmed up quickly for the headliners. Dressed in their country attire Black Mambooza brought some hard rock I was not expecting to the table.

  L.A. Nookie was another band I was surprised by – not knowing much about them before I arrived at the HOB I was surprised to see just how much they involved the crowd in the show. Headed by a chick who definitely knows how to rock – they kept the house on their feet with great guitar riffs and even better break downs.

  Kix once again stole the show. They were simply put – amazing. They not only had the show rocking but had the entire staff watching their show. Kix is a one of a kind band and like they said “this music is back!” – I’ve never seen a packed show all head banging at the exact same time as I did tonight. Kix has their own unique style and with songs like “I’ve Got The Itch” they definitely brought it to the table tonight.

  Check the pictures to see what you missed out on!

  Black Mambooza:

  

  

  L.A. Nookie:

  

  

  Kix:

  

  

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• 27 Aug '10 11:50pm

  Olivia Munn Gets Stripped at SSMF

  Drool.

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• 27 Aug '10 11:36pm

  The Eagle 6 Airsoft Has Landed

  

  I've been a Marui fan ever since they introduced the Airsoft AEG that really opened the doors for the wide adoption of airsoft outside of Japan. While I still reminisce those days running up and down the grassy parts of our university campus with my MGC Calico which was one of the most extremely fun airsoft guns before AEGs were introduced, I was tossed between JAC and MGC models. But when these companies suffered when Japan went into recession by the mid-1990s, Tokyo Marui went to save airsoft by their decision to go manufacturing AEGs. So for some time, I went Marui until some manufacturers outside Japan started coming out with their airsoft guns and producing more variety then Marui without deviating from the standards set by the Japanese company.

  I almost went out of Tokyo Marui's orbit, as I dabled in Hong Kong, China, and Taiwanese airsoft guns, as far as I can remember, I didn't use Tokyo Marui for about two years, only left with one M4A1 AEG which was crying to be replaced. I never thought of Tokyo Marui raising the bar in airsoft innovation.

  Then in 2007, Tokyo Marui introduced to the airsoft world their new generation AEGs, featuring their shoot and recoil engine. While many airsoft makers have tried their hands on having an electric blowback, or a recoil effect, only Tokyo Marui have managed to achieve both at the same time. The other manufacturers only achieve this by going the gas blowback way. With their AK line-up and the M4 series, then followed by the G36 series this year, my appreciation for TM rose again, and I started having most of my airsoft guns made up Marui products.

  Tokyo Marui looks like that it can't do anything wrong...

  ...which left me with a problem: the lack of spare parts or upgrade parts for the new generation AEG. The only thing attempted by third party manufacturers are some bits and bobs, the only thing very significant for me is the Pro-Arms magazine adaptor for the M4 AEG which allows me to use the standard TM M4 magazines, allowing backwards compatibility.  But any more parts, improvements? It's been quite a while to hear someone doing such things, and it was surprising that there's someone in my own backyard, meaning in the UK. Richard Young of Eagle6 Airsoft Ltd. took some time to correspond with us and he explained that he is doing some innovations on the new gen TM, focusing on the SOPMOD.

  Being a TM M4 SOPMOD user myself, he has gotten my attention and my questions regarding to improving the AEG were satisfactorily answered by Richard. I am curious more about trying out his products in the near future, but as he is still has a long list of of customers waiting for his products and operating small scale, I might as well fall in line for now.

  The important thing is, learning more about Eagle6 Airsoft.

  Popular Airsoft: Richard, can you tell us about yourself like how you started Airsoft and what you do off the skirmish field?

  Richard: I’ve been Airsofting for over 5 years now, but to be honest it doesn’t feel that long. Long story short I got invited to a private Skirmish with some mates at a local golf course called Eagles (hence the team name). We would play in the evenings after it closed from about 8pm til midnight, sometimes with flood lights on some times without. We often look back on it now and can’t believe the ranges we used to play at, and all of us were running with upgraded guns, we’d have been better off playing with dummy knifes than AEGs.

  To be honest I was more interested in playing golf than Airsoft at the time but Airsoft has a habit of taking over your life in a very short period of time. As a team I think we’ve all been pretty obsessed since, once we made the leap to proper skirmish sites we never looked back. We did try the small scale private skirmish again recently but with our upgraded guns and the close ranges it didn’t hold quite the same challenge any more now that we had experienced Skirmish and Milsim Airsoft.

  At present I spend my days trying to balance gun repairs, making batteries for SOPMODs, my day job which is pretty boring servicing charity sweet boxes for the Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity, studying for an engineering degree at the Open University, designing and making internal AEG parts, running in the evenings, and trying to maintain my ten pin bowling 200 points a game league average! It’s tough life but somebody has to do it.

  Can you give us a short story on how Eagle 6 came about and its history?

  Well as mentioned the team name came about from when we used to play Airsoft at a golf course called Eagle’s. It was our team mate Charlie whose father owned the Golf Club that introduced us to Airsoft. He had a bit of an Xbox fetish at the time with Rainbow 6 and after “a lot of thought” we came up with E6...Genius!

  A few years later when I brought my SOPMOD, shortly after it was released. I wanted to upgrade the power but at the time there was nothing in the way of upgrades around. So after some thought I decided to expand my love of Gun Mechanics/upgrading and set about solving this issue, and to be honest it was the most fun I could have...Sad hey? So because of my own desire to upgrade my SOPMOD I found myself in a small niche to look into upgrades for the whole TM recoil series. After some thought and forum chatter my desire’s matured into developing products to help other SOPMOD owners and find solutions to eventual issues.

  Eventually I worked with a high quality producer here in the UK to make proper high quality AEG springs. I spent a lot of time in the shop designing these on their computer programs while working with their team to produce the range we have today. It wasn’t all plain sailing though as several of the first batches had to be thrown away as they just didn’t meet the standard. And each time a batch was ready I’d have to drive an hour to pick up the springs then drive an hour back to begin testing. This really became a labour of love and if it wasn’t for the guys on the forums who needed these springs I may have gone back to playing golf! Truth be told, despite the miles and the effort I enjoyed every part of it, designing a product and seeing it come to life to provide something which players needed and where genuinely grateful for. That’s how Eagel6Airsoft Ltd came about, a small idea backed by the support of the “SOPMOD Community” on Arnies and ASCUK (RIP).

  And because of the support we opened up the online shop (www.eagle6airsoft.co.uk) so we could sell our own parts in conjunction with other quality producers.

  Why Tokyo Marui as a brand that you are focusing on?

  For me there are two brands that I idolise, Tokyo Marui and Laylax. From a design and manufacturing point of view Laylax produce some of the most amazing stuff; it’s so accurate and such high quality. They set the standard others should aim to, and to be honest working for Laylax would be my perfect job, having that kind of equipment at hand, and that kind of freedom to have an idea and produce it in a short period of time is perfection.

  As for Tokyo Marui they have got mass production and quality control down to an art form. They seem to be able to produce hundreds of thousands of parts yet rarely fail, their reliability is very impressive! In my opinion TM are hands down the best gun producer out there and people can argue all they like but I know I'm not alone in my thinking. Tokyo Marui invented the AEG as we know it, the hop unit and every single aftermarket upgrade part is made to TM specs, not Classic Army or Jing Gong or CYMA, but TM, something many airsofters simply don’t know as they are so new to the hobby.

  For you to be able to "mod" this much, I assume you have a very good background in this field. Can you tell us more about this?

  To be totally honest not as much experience as you might think. I’ve been skirmishing for over 5 years and have been upgrading and tuning AEGs and AEPs for nearly the same. For me the internals are the fascination, the complex moving parts more so than the externals. To me practicality and ergonomics have to be paramount over looks. I had the usual “Airsoft Tech” education, working on mine and my team mates' guns, etc.

  It was basically down to the poor supply of replacement and upgrade parts for certain gearboxes that I started to produce my own and source from outside the UK. I also find Gun Mechanics a real challenge when a problem needs solving and a prime example of this is my TM USP AEP. I wanted more FPS from it and basically I was told it wasn’t possible to reach 300fps. A custom E6 spring, new cylinder and a PDI barrel later I hit my mark. And a year on it's still kicking out a consistent 285-290 fps, I love proving people wrong.

  

  What is the most challenging thing when you do custom work on the new generation Tokyo Marui AEGs, especially the shoot and recoil engine?

  Well, I guess it’s more time consuming than challenging. Taking it apart over and over and over for testing is the biggest pain. Don’t get me wrong, the gearbox is so easy to disassemble compared to version 2 gearboxes but the stock pipe is so fiddly and if you don’t align it properly you could mess up the threads. Custom batteries are also very time consuming but at the end of the day Im just so grateful to be in this position and provide a product players want. It’s a real honour.

  How many products have you released and what are in the pipeline?

  So far we only have 3 readily available products:

  • AEG spring for recoil shock series M90 (315-330) depending on upgrades
  • AEG spring for recoil shock series M100 (330-350) depending on upgrades
  • AEP M80 upgrade spring (250-300) “depending on upgrades and air seals”

  

  

  We also offer a custom 7.4v 3000mah lipo battery pack service for the SOPMOD series AEG, where we can create a lipo battery pack which is still a "quick change" but offers almost twice as much playing time. Unfortunately these can take up to 2 weeks to create and I have a waiting list as long as my arm! We can also upgrade standard packs to 9.6v or even wire lipo batteries directly via deans connectors removing the quick change system completely. It’s all about giving the player the choice because people like to be different.

  

  Our next project which we are working in will be a CNC Heavy Recoil Weight for the TM M4 SOPMOD. This idea will probably get pinched by some big company after writing this but I’ll still be going through with it. I’ve CAD designed the model and the prototypes being created as we speak. This will be at least a 50% increase of weight over the standard weight block thus the extra weight will give more sensation of recoil. We have also created recoil springs which are 100% stronger to return the weight block faster as timing is an issue with the recoil system. We’re having a play and once we’re happy we’ll tell the masses.

  

  After the recoil weight, I’m looking at a 400 fps spring for the guys wanting to run TM M4 SOPMODs as DMR rifles and hopefully a range of normal AEG springs. We have the process in place to make quality springs for the recoil series so why not try normal AEGs?

  Are you intending to do full time on this? Or still waiting for some angel investor to help you get into full production?

  I would love to be able to leave my current job and put all my time into making Airsoft parts but at the moment it’s just not realistic. I’m happy balancing the job, Eagle6Airsoft and the engineering degree until E6 is big enough to need me full time. I never saw this as a money-making scheme but it has developed into a real business and if I could sell stuff for no profit I would but I want to raise money for milling machines, lathes, further factory production runs, and new stock flowing into the shop. I won’t lie to you, the thought of someone investing some cash or outsourcing my designs to other manufacturers to see them come to life has crossed my mind several times. I have a million ideas floating around my head for which I can design but that’s as far as I can physically take them at the moment. As much as I would love to see my ideas come to life immediately I think I’ll enjoy it more going it alone. It’s a mountain to climb for sure but I look forward to the challenge!

  Other Airsoft brands you are thinking of working on soon?

  I’ll be sticking to Tokyo Marui as my main brand, but I’ll be branching out to their whole Next Gen Recoil Range.  The same goes for the AEP series and their whole range. As well as Tokyo marui’s normal AEG range.  Since most companies make their guns as close to TM’s specifications as they can it’s easier to make stuff for TM, then odds are it will fit every other brand too.

  What is your favourite Airsoft gun in terms of realism?

  Realism, realism, realism the holy grail of Airsoft Guns, that’s a toughie. In my heart, I still feel the next gen recoil series from TM provide a great balance of performance and realism. I’ve used GBB’s and I’ll be totally honest, “I don’t get it”. Sure they are realistic but for our climate they just aren’t practical enough yet. Sure given time somebody will release a GBB that has it all but until then the EBB with recoil Engine takes the prize.

  If there's no dream Airsoft gun on the market, what do you envision about Airsoft guns in the future should be?

  I agree there’s no perfect gun; I sold all my guns before the SOPMOD was released out of frustration from a mechanic's point of view. The Systema PTW has the best technology without question, but an inconsistent stock hop unit and the price tag put me off. When the TM SOPMOD was released if offered PTW like features but at half the price and for a long time I was torn between the two. For me the future of AEGs has to start in the gearbox and needs to replicate what Systema have done with the Revolution. The inclusion of an electronic trigger system is a true breakthrough. The idea that a gearbox can start and stop in the same place every time is ideal. So what? Systema Revolution internal mechanics with TM SOPMOD features...sounds about right. And as for the outside, I’ll leave that to someone like VFC or Inokatsu.

  Anything you want to share to our readers about modding or upgrading Airsoft guns?

  How about a rule I live by: “Don’t just replace parts, if it broke, why did it break?” Yeah sure the part might be defective but usually it’s a part incompatibility with the rest of the gearbox or something’s not aligned right. There’s a lot more to Airsoft mechanics than just replacing parts with “stronger more expensive” parts. All I’m saying is give it some thought and think outside the box, I know I do.

  Cheers Guys, happy skirmishing!

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