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'!

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!