Finally the BALLS album is mixed and ready. The first "single" "Lover of the 3rd Degree" has been sent to some radio stations, so we'll see what happens. The aim is to have the album out in the fall. Listening to it now I must say it's one of the albums I'm most proud of so far. I think we managed to capture the simplicity we were after, but still with a twist. It was also both challenging and fun to play together with one of Sweden's number one guitarists - Micke "Nord" Andersson. Man, he's really got his shit together. An outstanding wonderful person and a truly amazing guitarist!
The Overdrive DVD went down the drain. The sound couldn't be saved and we refuse to make any post re-recording. We'll keep the film and use it to make some music videos to post on YouTube.
The Constancia album is also finally in the making. Michael Mueller will add his bass this weekend and David has started working on the vocals. Time for me to get the guitar work going then. Fuck, time just seem to fly... I promised some friends at work I would help out in our internal Avalon Rockstars band... which ended up in me getting all the songs and mucicians together and playing guitar. It's fun, I must admit, but i t t a k e s t i m e!! Time I don't have.
The encyclopedia is also coming along nicely. But the more information I find about "old" bands, the more NEW bands I find! I've now reached 2500 bands!! This will be a HUGE book. This time I also have to scan and re-scan ALL covers, as this one will be in colour. It's truly a labour of love.
When it comes to new stuff, I've received some really great stuff. Here it goes:
CLOUDSCAPE - Global Drama - Their best so far! GREAT album! Heavy semi-prog with great songs and hooks. Highly recommended!!
BLINDSTONE - Freedom's Calling - Danish heavy funk:sih riffsters! Killer stuff!!
BIG JIM SLADE - It's Delicious - Their fourth and best! Great riff-oriented southern oriented hard rock
HEALING SIXES - One More Friend To Ignore - Oustanding melodic southern oriented hard rock. Jason Bonham played drums on their two first albums, not on this, but the feel is still there!
onsdag 20 augusti 2008
torsdag 7 augusti 2008
Short but sweet
The headline of course refers to the Swedish summer... Found a great new beach (not really a beach as it's an old quarry) which was awesome. Burned myself nicely and read a really awesome book I can recommend if you're into the quirky type of humor of, for instance, Douglas Adams, you may love this one! The author is Christopher Moore and the book is entitled "Lamb - The Gospel According To Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal". It's totally hilarious!!
I've also spent quite a lot of time working on the new (and third) encyclopedia. Holy crap! I thought I had a pretty good view of all new stuff since my last book in 2002, but nope. There's soooo many obscure black metal bands that have had stuff released on even more obscure labels!! My estimation is there will be around 2500 bands in this one!
On the musical side of things we did a show with Overdrive on July 17, which we recorded on DVD + sound. The sound was a bit fucked up by a an ignorant sound engineer (not all his fault tho' as there were some mis-communication berween the stage manager and the sound company), but we'll see if we can use it. We've decided to go ahead and finish the Constancia album, so that's what I'm up to in the next few days.
Recently got my Orange Tiny Terror amp which is a little power pack, to say the least!
Listening recommendations:
Big Jim Slade - "It's Delicious" - Great southern-tinged ballsy hard rock
Healing Sixes - "One Less Friend To Ignore" - see above
The Muggs - "On With The Show" - The 70s revisited!
I've also spent quite a lot of time working on the new (and third) encyclopedia. Holy crap! I thought I had a pretty good view of all new stuff since my last book in 2002, but nope. There's soooo many obscure black metal bands that have had stuff released on even more obscure labels!! My estimation is there will be around 2500 bands in this one!
On the musical side of things we did a show with Overdrive on July 17, which we recorded on DVD + sound. The sound was a bit fucked up by a an ignorant sound engineer (not all his fault tho' as there were some mis-communication berween the stage manager and the sound company), but we'll see if we can use it. We've decided to go ahead and finish the Constancia album, so that's what I'm up to in the next few days.
Recently got my Orange Tiny Terror amp which is a little power pack, to say the least!
Listening recommendations:
Big Jim Slade - "It's Delicious" - Great southern-tinged ballsy hard rock
Healing Sixes - "One Less Friend To Ignore" - see above
The Muggs - "On With The Show" - The 70s revisited!
måndag 7 juli 2008
OVERDRIVE live DVD
This weekend we started rehearsing for the OVERDRIVE live-DVD which we will record at our show at the Baltic Sea Festival Thursday July 17 at the Karlshamn square main stage. We'll mix old and new tracks to try to please both old and new fans. Some of the tracks you'll hear are: Back On The Hunt, Overdrive, Dream Away, Fight To The Finish, Gravy Train, Bring Me To Submission, Deceived etc. There will be some nice surprises on stage, too.
I also finished the BALLS cover this weekend and it should be ready to send in a day or two. It's not the common metal/hard rock cover so I hope it will be well received. The album may speak for itself though ;-).
I also finished the BALLS cover this weekend and it should be ready to send in a day or two. It's not the common metal/hard rock cover so I hope it will be well received. The album may speak for itself though ;-).
torsdag 3 juli 2008
Mixed and ready!
The last couple of days we've been putting the final mixing touch on the new BALLS album. We also had a photo session in Falun (Fotograf Heléne) and funnily enough this was the first time the entire band were together. It's interesting that in this day and age you can write, record and mix an album without the band members even meeting. Anyway, it was quite a drive for me from Mörrum, 680 km to Björn's studio in Rättvik. I only took 6,5 hours (incl lunch, gas refill and peeing) and with a nice pile of CDs in the car it went smooth. The car I find being one of the best places to listen to music. On this trip I brought some good old Jethro Tull, Judas Priest, Kansas and Rory Gallagher mixed with some new stuff by Volbeat, Kursk and Grand Magus.
Right now I'm waiting for the download of the final mix of the album to finish. It sounded great in the studio :-)
Roger, over and out!
Listening to: "Nightcap" by Jethro Tull
Right now I'm waiting for the download of the final mix of the album to finish. It sounded great in the studio :-)
Roger, over and out!
Listening to: "Nightcap" by Jethro Tull
onsdag 18 juni 2008
Arrow Rock Festival
Recently returned from my first ever visit to Arrow Rock Festival. Quite a line-up this year indeed! They managed to in one day squeeze in a bunch of my favourite bands! Here's a quick run down of the trip.
Friday 20.25 - took a flight from Växjö (Smaland) airport to Weeze (Dusseldorf), 40 minutes delay, but the bus waited for us. Took us to the centre of Nijmegen (pronounced Nischmechen), and a quick cab ride to the nice Scandic Sanadorm hotel. Saturday was just a lazy day. Late breakfast, a walk in the neighbourhood (went slightly lost), back to the hotel, took a cab to the city centre. Saturday market. Found some CDs and DVDs at great prices. We were told there was a Hard Rock Café (we collect them), but how much we searched we couldn't find it. Finally found out there was none. The cab driver had probably meant the Backstage Rock Cafe (great music!). Cab back to the hotel and then we went to their great big Spa with 7-8 different pools, saunas etc. Niiice! Quite a lot of rebuilding going on there however, so some things were closed.
Sunday - festival day! Late breakfast and then we went to the site. Very smooth entry. Two guest passes each (one from Sweden Rock and one from the great Doug Aldrich), only needed one though :-). Got our wrist band and in we went. Strange scenario by the main stage. They had a special closed off area 15 meters in front of the stage only for "de luxe passes", guests and press! Hmm... They also have special tokens you have to buy as you can't buy food or drinks with money at the area. Nice idea, but fuck was it expensive!!! 2.30 Euro for a small glass of water!! Fuck me!! 4.50 Euro for half a grilled chicken!! Wow!
REO Speedwagon - Highly impressed! Only saw some of their set at Sweden Rock last year, but this was brilliant! I truly love "Back On The Road Again", which we used to cover back in the Paradize days. Great performance, lots of heavier stuff!
Gotthard - Have seen then so many times now we decided to explore the VIP area instead.
Journey - Man, this was beyond my expectations! They sounded awesome!! Close your eyes and it's all Perry again! Great choise of songs, even though they really rushed through it without any talk inbetween songs.
Twisted Sister - Despite Dee's flight being 6 hours late and he had to be flown by chopper to the festival, they were only 10 minutes late. No make-up and all rock n roll! Didn't see them, only heard.
Def Leppard - Man Joe hasn't got much of a voice left. A bit disappointing. Didn't see much f them.
Kansas - Awesome!!! They may not be fun to watch, but man do they play great! Great choise of songs, too!! Will see them again in Malmö tonight!
Whitesnake - They rocked!! Coverdale's voice wasn't really there, but musically it was great!
Motörhead - Didn't see them. Seen them probably 10 times before.
Kiss - What a show! I'm no big fan of the band, but I have seen them twise before (1980 and on thye Animalize tour). What a circus, but man was it fun to watch! Two hours of classic songs, pyro, pyro, more pyro, flying Gene and Paul, flying drum raiser, shooting guitar, you name it!
Monday we took a quick trip to the center for some light shopping and lunch before heading home. A great festival indeed.
Friday 20.25 - took a flight from Växjö (Smaland) airport to Weeze (Dusseldorf), 40 minutes delay, but the bus waited for us. Took us to the centre of Nijmegen (pronounced Nischmechen), and a quick cab ride to the nice Scandic Sanadorm hotel. Saturday was just a lazy day. Late breakfast, a walk in the neighbourhood (went slightly lost), back to the hotel, took a cab to the city centre. Saturday market. Found some CDs and DVDs at great prices. We were told there was a Hard Rock Café (we collect them), but how much we searched we couldn't find it. Finally found out there was none. The cab driver had probably meant the Backstage Rock Cafe (great music!). Cab back to the hotel and then we went to their great big Spa with 7-8 different pools, saunas etc. Niiice! Quite a lot of rebuilding going on there however, so some things were closed.
Sunday - festival day! Late breakfast and then we went to the site. Very smooth entry. Two guest passes each (one from Sweden Rock and one from the great Doug Aldrich), only needed one though :-). Got our wrist band and in we went. Strange scenario by the main stage. They had a special closed off area 15 meters in front of the stage only for "de luxe passes", guests and press! Hmm... They also have special tokens you have to buy as you can't buy food or drinks with money at the area. Nice idea, but fuck was it expensive!!! 2.30 Euro for a small glass of water!! Fuck me!! 4.50 Euro for half a grilled chicken!! Wow!
REO Speedwagon - Highly impressed! Only saw some of their set at Sweden Rock last year, but this was brilliant! I truly love "Back On The Road Again", which we used to cover back in the Paradize days. Great performance, lots of heavier stuff!
Gotthard - Have seen then so many times now we decided to explore the VIP area instead.
Journey - Man, this was beyond my expectations! They sounded awesome!! Close your eyes and it's all Perry again! Great choise of songs, even though they really rushed through it without any talk inbetween songs.
Twisted Sister - Despite Dee's flight being 6 hours late and he had to be flown by chopper to the festival, they were only 10 minutes late. No make-up and all rock n roll! Didn't see them, only heard.
Def Leppard - Man Joe hasn't got much of a voice left. A bit disappointing. Didn't see much f them.
Kansas - Awesome!!! They may not be fun to watch, but man do they play great! Great choise of songs, too!! Will see them again in Malmö tonight!
Whitesnake - They rocked!! Coverdale's voice wasn't really there, but musically it was great!
Motörhead - Didn't see them. Seen them probably 10 times before.
Kiss - What a show! I'm no big fan of the band, but I have seen them twise before (1980 and on thye Animalize tour). What a circus, but man was it fun to watch! Two hours of classic songs, pyro, pyro, more pyro, flying Gene and Paul, flying drum raiser, shooting guitar, you name it!
Monday we took a quick trip to the center for some light shopping and lunch before heading home. A great festival indeed.
tisdag 10 juni 2008
Back in action
Haven't been posting for a while, but now I'm back in business. First of all the Sweden Rock festival:
DERRINGER - Holy crap!!!! These guys still mean business! Derringer - Johnson - Aaronson - Appice. These names stand for pure 70s power! Outstanding show! Great to hear some of the stuff sung and written by Danny, too, like "One Eyed Jack" and "Driving Sideways".
COHEED & CAMBRIA - What a band! They sound as good live as on CD. Highly musically entertaining!
TRIUMPH - OK, the stage show was a little shaky, but man did they sound good! Welcome back guys!
BLACK STONE CHERRY - A bunch of young, humble and very nice Kentucky guys that really knew how to get down and boogie! Killer southern groovy riff rock!
MUSTASCH - These guys sure know how to rock heavy and steady. Reliable live act!
JOE SATRIANI - Outstanding show! The best I've seen him do!
H.E.A.T. - Highly promising young Swedish AOR band that showed they deliver the goods live, too!
There's more of course: Tesla, Ace Frehley, Hensley/Lawton, Birthcontrol, Whitesnake, Fourever, BÖC, Saxon and some more.
We also had a new LOCOMOTIVE BREATH track featured on the compilation CD "Sweden Rock Festival CD 2008" entitled "Fill Your Head With Rock".
My computer is finally working! This week I'll be finishing up the last solos for the BALLS album, and it will be on its way!
DERRINGER - Holy crap!!!! These guys still mean business! Derringer - Johnson - Aaronson - Appice. These names stand for pure 70s power! Outstanding show! Great to hear some of the stuff sung and written by Danny, too, like "One Eyed Jack" and "Driving Sideways".
COHEED & CAMBRIA - What a band! They sound as good live as on CD. Highly musically entertaining!
TRIUMPH - OK, the stage show was a little shaky, but man did they sound good! Welcome back guys!
BLACK STONE CHERRY - A bunch of young, humble and very nice Kentucky guys that really knew how to get down and boogie! Killer southern groovy riff rock!
MUSTASCH - These guys sure know how to rock heavy and steady. Reliable live act!
JOE SATRIANI - Outstanding show! The best I've seen him do!
H.E.A.T. - Highly promising young Swedish AOR band that showed they deliver the goods live, too!
There's more of course: Tesla, Ace Frehley, Hensley/Lawton, Birthcontrol, Whitesnake, Fourever, BÖC, Saxon and some more.
We also had a new LOCOMOTIVE BREATH track featured on the compilation CD "Sweden Rock Festival CD 2008" entitled "Fill Your Head With Rock".
My computer is finally working! This week I'll be finishing up the last solos for the BALLS album, and it will be on its way!
tisdag 13 maj 2008
Geeeeeetars!!
Was in Göteborg at the annual FUZZ Guitar Show last weekend. Nice! Should've brought a big bag of money! As I'm endoresed by ESP and Hughes & Kettner I checked out their booth and found a new series of cheapy guitars. Vintage was the brand, most parts were Wilkinson and the single coil on their Strat sounded great! The guitar felt really solid, easy played and great! Need one of those I guess. Also checked out Mattias Ia Eklundh at his seminar and he was just as crazy as usual. He's the kinda guy that, when he spots you, he makes sure everyone knows you're there. This time is was me, Anders Johansson and Jonas Hellborg that became his target. He's hilarious, though, and such an amazing guitar player! Also ran into Christian Alsing who gave me his CD "The Last Robot" - a great piece of music indeed, released in 2005 already. Met a lot of nice people and saw a lot of nice guitars!
New recommendable pieces of music:
Ben Granfelt Band - The Sum Of Memories
Caroline's Spine - Captured
Opeth - Watershed
New recommendable pieces of music:
Ben Granfelt Band - The Sum Of Memories
Caroline's Spine - Captured
Opeth - Watershed
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