Man, the calendar is really filling up! Cool, I love to keep busy!
Overdrive: After a minor chrisis the band is back on track! We split, reformed without the old bass player, found a new bass player, and are now back on track. Gigs booked, new photos taken and rehearsal planned!
Grand Design: Was asked to join about a month ago, when the old guitarist quit. Since I actually came up with the band name, made the logo, named the first album and have laid down guest solos for three songs, it felt quite natural to accept the invitation. Great, but quite "interesting" first rehearsal due to a bad burger. Lots of gigs booken i Spain, Switzerland and Sweden. More to come!
Zoom Club: We've also managed to squeeze in a rehearsal/recording! We have a show booked in august and we need to get this vehicle moving, too!
Constancia: Finally have evenrything I need to really get down to recording guitars for the new album... except the time, due to the above. Well, if it's taken this long I guess it's better it's good and solid, than quick and dirty! It'll come together.
Locomotive Breath: Still talking about making a new album. I have thrown some song ideas at Mattias, so we'll see what happens there, too. Time (the thing I don't have) will tell!
The Encyclopedia of Swedish Hard Rock And Heavy Metal Vol 3: Now here's a beast that is really moving these days! I HAVE to get this massive monster of a book ready before summer! I'm putting a LOT of time and effort into finishing up all loose ends and leads. I just wish bands and labels would see the benefit of being and the book and understanding I have a deadline. There's a lot of stuff out there I'm missing, and if I was to buy all these records just to be able to feature the cover and write about the recording, I'd be broke long before the book release. Bands/labels: shape up and ship out! Please!!
FUZZ magazine: Yes, still constantly writing. Have several interviews that need to be written and reshaped into fine and interesting articles. There's that issue with time again...
Love: Yes, love is there, or else all of the above would be down the drain. Thanks luv :-)
tisdag 7 februari 2012
måndag 14 november 2011
Business as usual? Well, business anyway :-)
Most of my "blogging" time is devoted to my reviews blog, why I'm not that frequent here (check out: http://starkmusicreviews.blogspot.com/).
Anyway, so what's up? Well, about a month ago I was in Japan, doing some promotion for the Japanes release of Overdrive's "Angelmaker", had a great vacation, met a lot of great people, saw a lot of great things and oh yeah, me and Ozzie got married :-). It was a new experience getting married at the Swedish embassy in Tokyo. Went great!
So, what's up?
ZOOM CLUB: Recently completed the trio with and outstanding bass player/singer - Micke Hujanen! We have a shitload of songs and in great need of getting all the stuff down on "tape". Hopefull soon after new year. Have a festival gig booked for next year - a great start!
OVERDRIVE: Album recently released in Japan. Gig with Pretty Maids coming up in December.
CONSTANCIA: Started recording guitars (yes, I've been working on and off for a while, but now we're down to busines!)
VGS: Finally got an endorsement deal and I'm impatiently waiting for my new VGS guitars! One is a beautuful ravenblood (red) Les Paul shaped guitar with Evertune System and True Temperament fretting. The other is a Strat! More info to follow!
ENCYCLOPEDIA: Working like crazy, finishing Vol 3! Has to be out mid next year!
Listening to:
Jarle H Olsen - Quadrasonic
Dirty Sweet - Of Monarchs And Beggars
Federale - s/t
Anyway, so what's up? Well, about a month ago I was in Japan, doing some promotion for the Japanes release of Overdrive's "Angelmaker", had a great vacation, met a lot of great people, saw a lot of great things and oh yeah, me and Ozzie got married :-). It was a new experience getting married at the Swedish embassy in Tokyo. Went great!
So, what's up?
ZOOM CLUB: Recently completed the trio with and outstanding bass player/singer - Micke Hujanen! We have a shitload of songs and in great need of getting all the stuff down on "tape". Hopefull soon after new year. Have a festival gig booked for next year - a great start!
OVERDRIVE: Album recently released in Japan. Gig with Pretty Maids coming up in December.
CONSTANCIA: Started recording guitars (yes, I've been working on and off for a while, but now we're down to busines!)
VGS: Finally got an endorsement deal and I'm impatiently waiting for my new VGS guitars! One is a beautuful ravenblood (red) Les Paul shaped guitar with Evertune System and True Temperament fretting. The other is a Strat! More info to follow!
ENCYCLOPEDIA: Working like crazy, finishing Vol 3! Has to be out mid next year!
Listening to:
Jarle H Olsen - Quadrasonic
Dirty Sweet - Of Monarchs And Beggars
Federale - s/t
tisdag 16 augusti 2011
To quote Johnny Rotten...
"I'm a lazy sod"... well, maybe not lazy, but occupied with all other things. So, whats's up?
Well, first of all, just got back after a great weekend at a new and highly interesting hard rock festival called Rock Out Wild in northern town Sorsele (or rather, 15 kilometers outside, by the foot of a ski slope). What a scenery! Great bands, great people, great weather and no mosquitos!
Endorsement
If all goes as planned I will have my ultimate guitar made for me! I can't wait to tell you more about it when all is settled! It will be a KILLER guitar, I assure you!
Music
We just did the last gig in a while with Overdrive, at the Hasslö Festival. Short set, but great fun! We have some stuff booked in the fall together with Pretty Maids, but it's quiet for some months now. I'm quite anxious to get going on the new Constancia, but I'm waiting for some files to come roaring my way. We've also started working on some new Locomotive Breath material. This time it's actually leaning more towards good old hard edged southern rock! We'll see! I've recorded some guest solos for Grand Design's new album, a demo track from Peter Espinoza (Nasty Idols), Thalamus and Chris Catena. I'm still experimenting with recording with IR (Impulse Responses) which is really interesting!
The Encyclopedia
F***ing hell! Every time I turn my back a new bunch of bands pop out of the woodwork! I'll never get this thing finished if you don't all take a break! I'm so trying to get this brick finished before new year for a release early next year, and, even though I'm starting to, I still haven't lost hope!
FUZZ Magazine
Finally!! The next issue will feature my new Spotlight page, where I pick out six new promising guitarists/bands. It will also be featured on the new and updated website with links and all! The first column will feature people like: Mike Mills (Toehider), Curt Anderson, Alex Ehrsam, Tommy Johansson (Reinxeed) and Kjell Bergendahl (Thalamus).
New music
I've started CD trading with an old friend again and got some great stuff, plus found some new interesting acts as well:
TADDY PORTER - s/t - Killer retro/southernish hard rock
KAMCHATKA - Bury Your Roots - Killer fourth release from Swedish power trio
ASSAILANT - Wicked Dream - Quite angry, but still melodic Swedes
THE WHEEL - s/t - New good retro rockers
WORK OF ART - In Progress - Great second release from these Swedish melodic rockers
All for now, over and out!
Janne
Well, first of all, just got back after a great weekend at a new and highly interesting hard rock festival called Rock Out Wild in northern town Sorsele (or rather, 15 kilometers outside, by the foot of a ski slope). What a scenery! Great bands, great people, great weather and no mosquitos!
Endorsement
If all goes as planned I will have my ultimate guitar made for me! I can't wait to tell you more about it when all is settled! It will be a KILLER guitar, I assure you!
Music
We just did the last gig in a while with Overdrive, at the Hasslö Festival. Short set, but great fun! We have some stuff booked in the fall together with Pretty Maids, but it's quiet for some months now. I'm quite anxious to get going on the new Constancia, but I'm waiting for some files to come roaring my way. We've also started working on some new Locomotive Breath material. This time it's actually leaning more towards good old hard edged southern rock! We'll see! I've recorded some guest solos for Grand Design's new album, a demo track from Peter Espinoza (Nasty Idols), Thalamus and Chris Catena. I'm still experimenting with recording with IR (Impulse Responses) which is really interesting!
The Encyclopedia
F***ing hell! Every time I turn my back a new bunch of bands pop out of the woodwork! I'll never get this thing finished if you don't all take a break! I'm so trying to get this brick finished before new year for a release early next year, and, even though I'm starting to, I still haven't lost hope!
FUZZ Magazine
Finally!! The next issue will feature my new Spotlight page, where I pick out six new promising guitarists/bands. It will also be featured on the new and updated website with links and all! The first column will feature people like: Mike Mills (Toehider), Curt Anderson, Alex Ehrsam, Tommy Johansson (Reinxeed) and Kjell Bergendahl (Thalamus).
New music
I've started CD trading with an old friend again and got some great stuff, plus found some new interesting acts as well:
TADDY PORTER - s/t - Killer retro/southernish hard rock
KAMCHATKA - Bury Your Roots - Killer fourth release from Swedish power trio
ASSAILANT - Wicked Dream - Quite angry, but still melodic Swedes
THE WHEEL - s/t - New good retro rockers
WORK OF ART - In Progress - Great second release from these Swedish melodic rockers
All for now, over and out!
Janne
måndag 30 maj 2011
Impulse response, canned cabs and lots of choises!!
I'm going through some type of digital (sort of) revelation! I've been meaning to dig into this world before, but haven't really got around to it until now. Mainly because a good friend, Mikael Nord Andersson, really gave me all the details on HOW to actually do it! I did have all the equipment already, just needed some softwares and the almighty impolse responses.
So, what's it all about? Well, what I can do now is basically to run my amp heads through a THD Hotplate (a big resistor), straight into my MBox and use speaker simulation.
The speaker simulation is achieved through a digital reverb LAConvolver, TL Space etc. where I can load in an impulse response (which is basically a short wav-file of a recording of the characteristics of a certain speaker). I purchased the BigBox from RedWirez (really cheap!!), which contains in the neightbourhood of 40 000 different sound combinations to choose from!
The sound combiantions, based on real speaker cabs, features: Cab+speaker+mike+mike placement.
For instance - ONE of the sounds would be Marshall 1960's cab + upper right speaker + SM57 mike + 2" from the cone.
It DOES sound and react like a real speaker which is just great! This way I can record using my own amp and pedals and after I have recorded I have the possibility of changing cab if I want a diffent angle. I can also split the signal, record through two amps and use different speaker, such as one close SM57 and one distant Royer to get a nice blend of sounds.
I can also easily take the stuff with me to any studio with ProTools without having to bring the somewhat bulky 4x12 cab.
No latency, play with the sound, possibility to alter the speaker afterwards, record "quiet". A new world just opened!!
So, what's it all about? Well, what I can do now is basically to run my amp heads through a THD Hotplate (a big resistor), straight into my MBox and use speaker simulation.
The speaker simulation is achieved through a digital reverb LAConvolver, TL Space etc. where I can load in an impulse response (which is basically a short wav-file of a recording of the characteristics of a certain speaker). I purchased the BigBox from RedWirez (really cheap!!), which contains in the neightbourhood of 40 000 different sound combinations to choose from!
The sound combiantions, based on real speaker cabs, features: Cab+speaker+mike+mike placement.
For instance - ONE of the sounds would be Marshall 1960's cab + upper right speaker + SM57 mike + 2" from the cone.
It DOES sound and react like a real speaker which is just great! This way I can record using my own amp and pedals and after I have recorded I have the possibility of changing cab if I want a diffent angle. I can also split the signal, record through two amps and use different speaker, such as one close SM57 and one distant Royer to get a nice blend of sounds.
I can also easily take the stuff with me to any studio with ProTools without having to bring the somewhat bulky 4x12 cab.
No latency, play with the sound, possibility to alter the speaker afterwards, record "quiet". A new world just opened!!
torsdag 5 maj 2011
News
Been a while, sorry. Been a bit busy, you know. Anyway, a lot of stuff has happened.
Overdrive - the vinyl "The Angelmaker's Daughter" has been released and is already almost sold out! We just recorded a new song, "New Beginning (Arata Na Stato)" for a Lion Music Japan benefit compilation. It was mixed by Pelle Saether last week.
Locomotive Breath - It's been awfully quiet, but also we have recorded a new track for the Lion Music Japan benefit compilation. Recorded the drums last weekend, guitars and bass two days ago, vocals yesterday and it will be mixed by Johan Blomström tonight. Title: "Rise Up".
Zoom Club - Working on new songs, planning a recording session.
Constancia - Still working on guitar arrangements for the second album!
The Encyclopedia Of Swedish Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Vol III - Continuously working on it! The plan is to be ready by July. Not sure if I can do it, but I will sure try!
FUZZ Magazine - Done a bunch of interesting interviews lately with Doug Aldrich, Mick Box, Evergrey, Ghost etc.
So, spring is here, life is good!
Overdrive - the vinyl "The Angelmaker's Daughter" has been released and is already almost sold out! We just recorded a new song, "New Beginning (Arata Na Stato)" for a Lion Music Japan benefit compilation. It was mixed by Pelle Saether last week.
Locomotive Breath - It's been awfully quiet, but also we have recorded a new track for the Lion Music Japan benefit compilation. Recorded the drums last weekend, guitars and bass two days ago, vocals yesterday and it will be mixed by Johan Blomström tonight. Title: "Rise Up".
Zoom Club - Working on new songs, planning a recording session.
Constancia - Still working on guitar arrangements for the second album!
The Encyclopedia Of Swedish Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Vol III - Continuously working on it! The plan is to be ready by July. Not sure if I can do it, but I will sure try!
FUZZ Magazine - Done a bunch of interesting interviews lately with Doug Aldrich, Mick Box, Evergrey, Ghost etc.
So, spring is here, life is good!
fredag 21 januari 2011
New album released... and up/downloaded
Today the new OVERDRIVE album "Angelmaker" is released on Lion Music!! The reviews have been outstanding so far!
However... I get kinda sad and frustrated. A couple of days ago I did a web search to see if there were any reviews up. What did I find? Two pages of links to download the album!!
It's so incredibly fucking frustrating to put months and months of work and effort into an album just to have a bunch of cheapskates upload your work for everyone to download, even before it's available!! It's fellow JOURNALISTS (or whatever the hell they are) that do it, which is even more frustrating! People you trust by giving them access to the album prior to its releas to listen and review! It feels like the utter treachery when people you trust stab you in the back by putting the album up on torrents and download sites. Why the fuck should I bother to put a lot of my own money and effort into making an album, when some people just piss on my work by stealing it? It it wasn't for the love of music I'd get out of this fast! But, even though I love what I do, it doesn't mean I want to pay to do it!
PLEASE, support the bands and musicians that put their time, heart and money into giving you great music by PAYING for their work and effort!! No matter what your defense may be, in the long term it IS KILLING music!
Listening to (purchased music):
INTO THE PRESENCE - s/t - Awesome melodic hard rock
URIAH HEEP - Very 'Eavy... Very 'Umble - Classic!!
VOODOO SIX - Fluke? - New awesome heavies!!
GHOST - Opvs Eponymvs - Blue Öyster Cult meets Demon!
However... I get kinda sad and frustrated. A couple of days ago I did a web search to see if there were any reviews up. What did I find? Two pages of links to download the album!!
It's so incredibly fucking frustrating to put months and months of work and effort into an album just to have a bunch of cheapskates upload your work for everyone to download, even before it's available!! It's fellow JOURNALISTS (or whatever the hell they are) that do it, which is even more frustrating! People you trust by giving them access to the album prior to its releas to listen and review! It feels like the utter treachery when people you trust stab you in the back by putting the album up on torrents and download sites. Why the fuck should I bother to put a lot of my own money and effort into making an album, when some people just piss on my work by stealing it? It it wasn't for the love of music I'd get out of this fast! But, even though I love what I do, it doesn't mean I want to pay to do it!
PLEASE, support the bands and musicians that put their time, heart and money into giving you great music by PAYING for their work and effort!! No matter what your defense may be, in the long term it IS KILLING music!
Listening to (purchased music):
INTO THE PRESENCE - s/t - Awesome melodic hard rock
URIAH HEEP - Very 'Eavy... Very 'Umble - Classic!!
VOODOO SIX - Fluke? - New awesome heavies!!
GHOST - Opvs Eponymvs - Blue Öyster Cult meets Demon!
onsdag 1 december 2010
Toehider - Toehider @ Progfest Brisbane - 14th Aug 2009
Toehider from Australia, featuring Swedish drummer Rickard Evensand. This band is absolutely brilliant!!! Check them out!!!
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