Why not write another book?

Well, that's the question I came up with after having a meeting with my publisher last week. I'm in the middle of working on my new, third, encyclopedia of Swedish hard rock & heavy metal. We had a very fruitful meeting where we set up all the criterias for the new book.

1. It will contain all bands from the first two books, updated, completed, corrected and all bands I've missed out, plus all the new entries. All in all over 2500 bands!
2. We also decided this time it will be in all colour! I mean, with all these wonderful colourful covers, it just has to be in colour!
3. All bands that are "related" or "on the edge" will be presented in a simpler way, still with members, home town and discography, but only relevant releases and no bio. This will weed out a lot of bands verging on punk, pop, progg or whatever.
4. It will contain a listening companion, like Premium Publishing's other releases, a 4 CD long box.

We also decided on a deadline - the book is to be finished in December for an early 2010 release.

My aim was also to have a short "history of Swedish hard rock" in the book, but after a little consideration and thinking about what I wanted to include... it became a separate book. I am working on this one simoltaneously and it will contain:

1. The history of the Swedish hard rock, from the first careful steps in the late 60s, through the growing 70s, the hair metal 80s, the death metal and alternative 90s to today.
2. Interviews with high profile musicians, managers, journalists, labels.
3. Excerpts from interviews I've done myself since the 80s.
4. Unpublished photos and fun information.

The aim is for this book to be released also in 2010.

Listening to:
1. LION'S SHARE - "Dark Hours" - just put it on right now, so we'll see :-)
2. PUGH ROGEFELDT & RAINROCK - "Bolla & Rulla" - Hard rock? Hmmm...
3. THIRD EYE - "Hardware" - Great funk 'o metal feat Stevie Salas, Bootsy Collins and Buddy Miles.

Japan - here we come!

Around this time next week, I and my fiancée are on a plane to Narita, Japan. After having been to the US (San Fransisco and New York) three years in a row we figured it was time for something different. I've always been interested and fascinated by Japan, ever since I ordered my first Lazy, Bow Wow and Flied Egg albums from Heavy Sound Records. Then when we (Locomotive Breath) finally got a deal with Avex Records in 1997 we figured there may be a chance to get our asses over there. Didn't happen. So, when planning our vacation my fiancée suggested Japan. Great idea! The trip was quite affordable and so are the hotels (about same, even a bit cheaper, than New York). Fortunately we have some friends to help guide us in this mysterious country (Thanks in advance to Naoko Furuhashi, Mitsuhiro Nishida and Yasu Fuji).

Our (Overdrive's) Japanese label Soundholic has set up some interviews while I'm there (Burrn!!, Captain Wada) which will be great. My friends Mitsuhiro and Yasu have promised to find us some nice record stores in Yokohama and Osaka. The only concern may be overweight, but there's always the option of posting some of the purchases back home.

Last weekend I spent in Stockholm with Micke "Nord" Andersson and his lovely wife and author Karin Alvtegen. Mikael and I are writing songs for his forthcoming solo album. We managed to get five songs roughly demoed and stylewise we ended up somewhere between early Aerosmith, AC/DC and Robin Trower with a twist. Writing with Mikael is highly rewarding!

The Constancia album is now mastered and ready, we're just waiting for some input from the label on which song to use as bonus track, plus we still have some band pics to finish up.

New recommendable stuff I'm listening to:
ELECTRIC MARY - "Down To The Bone" - Thanks to Joe "The Groovayard Dawg" Romagnola for puttint me onto this gem!!
ROGOSONIC - "Leave The World Alone" - Great riffing Americans!
TY TABOR - "Balance" - What can I say? Ty rules as always!!
COLDSPELL - "Infinite Stargaze" - One of the best releases so far this year!