Yes, entering the final stage!!

Tomorrow knob wizzard Pelle Saether will put the finishing touch on the new Mountain of Power CD! After this, it's off for mastering by King's X stringsman Ty Tabor (who also does a guest solo on "Waves"). The mixing stage has been an interesting battle of the minds between myself and label owner/co-producer Joe "The Groovedawg" Romagnola where both our patiences have been put to the test. I think we both passed pretty unharmed though ;-). The end result is what matter and the album sounds awesome!! Well, what is less to expect from such outstanding musicians (besides myself, that is :-)). The release is set to early December and it looks like we will succeed!

On another note. The rumours of me leaving Sweden Rock in all it's forms is true. I have also been banned from the message board, so if you don't see me there, you kow why. I will have nothing to do with the festival nor the magazine.

Some new discs to check out:
The Psychics - s/t - Great bluesy UK retro feel!
Sherlock Brothers - s/t - New contemporary Swedes to check out!
Point Blank - Fight On! - Still rockin'!

Recording and mixing

FINALLY - the new Mountain of Power album is slowly but safely coming together. Last week I recorded my final guitars and bass. Did it a bit differently this time. The bass was recorded with my old Peavey T40. Looks like shit but sounds awesome!! Recorded it to two channels, one line and one through a Pod. The Pod track sounds great, but the line gives you some more options. The guitars I've recorded basically with two rigs:

1. My Hughes & Kettner Trilogy head, through a THD Hotplate, through a H&K 4x12 (V30). On most occasions I also used a Xotic Effects BB PreAmp.
2. My Orange Tiny Terror head, through the same Hotplate and cab as above. usually no BB PreAmp here.

The guitars have been My Gibson Les Paul True Temperament, my Gibson Explorer 76 Re-issue and my Highway 1 Fender Strat. On the solos I've altered between/sometimes in combination, the BB PreAmp, the Toad Fuzz/Dist, Dunlop Cry Baby, Keeley Compressor and the Boss Noise Supressor NS2.
I miked the cab up with just a Sure SM57, except for a couple of tracks where I also used a big membrane mike placed in the room for ambience.

I've now received most of the guests' vocals, drums, guitars. All of them outstandingly great!! I take care of the rhythm guitars, one more solos in each song and bass.
Mixing will start in the next couple of days and will be done by Johan Blomström at Studio Sound Palace.

Here's a rundown of the guests:

Guitarists:
John Norum (Europe)

Ty Tabor (King's X)

Rusty Burns (Point Blank)

Sven Cirnski (Truth, Bad Habit)

Jay Jesse Johnson (solo)

Clas Yngström (Sky High)

Greg Martin (Rufus Huff, Kentucky HeadHunters)

Conny Bloom (Electric Boys)

Mikael Nord Andersson (Balls, Roxette)

Martin J Andersen (Blindstone)

Thomas Larsson (Glenn Hughes, Baltimoore)

JJ Marsh (Glenn Hughes)

Thomas Juneor Andersson (Kamchatka)
Kjell Sjöström (Thalamus)
Joe Romagnola (Character)

Singers:
Paul Shortino (Ruff Cutt)
Christian Rivel (Audiovision, Divinefire)
Maria Rådström (One More Time)
Jarrod England (Rufus Huff)
Cindy Weichman (Nail, Helix)
Mattias Osbäck (Locomotive Breath)
David Fremberg (Andromeda)
Conny Bloom (Electric Boys)
Clas Yngström (Sky High)
Mikael Nord Andersson (Balls, Roxette)
Pontus Snibb (Bonafide)

Drums:
Peter Svensson (Constancia, Faith)
Ed Collins (Pod)

This weekend...

We had an Overdrive band pow wow. We signed a load of CDs, decided on a set list for some shows this summer and we had a photo session with photographer Thomas Tjäder. Think we got some good shots there! Also kicked off the work on a new Overdrive website, which is loooong overdue (maybe we should change the name to that...).
Also received a new review from Stormbringer who gave "Let the metal do the talking" 4/5. Thaaank you!
Have a whole pile of stuff to review (Paul Gilbert, Whitesnake, King's X, Aggressive Chill, Disturbed, George Bellas, Tri State Corner, Alberto Rigoni, Marco Sfogli, Eric Gales) and some features to write (Michael Schenker, Robin Trower...). So much to do, so little time! Still... it's fun! The sun is finally here, meaning the garden got its fair share of attention this weekend. Planning on getting a lot of strawberries this summer :-)