"Inside LA metal"; en dokumentär.

Den här dokumentären är något jag verkligen ser fram emot. Bob Nalbandian är ett känt namn i metalkretsarna och till sin hjälp har han Carl Alvarez, som jag lärt känna helt genom Facebook. Jag hoppas kunna få lite mer att berätta om projektet längre fram och siktar även på att styra upp en intervju med herr Nalbandian och Alvarez.

Gå in och klicka på like HÄR 

/Niclas

Foo Fighters, Rollins och Zeppelin.



Dave Grohl och hans mannar hyllar Led Zeppelin och så gör även Henry Rollins.

Läs Rollins senaste krönika HÄR

/Niclas

Exklusiv intervju med Jason Newsted!

Jag har länge haft en dröm om att få intervjua Jason. Han har legat lågt sedan han lämnade Metallica 2001 och egentligen inte gjort så mycket väsen av sig.
Nu är han tillbaka med sitt band Newsted och uppdaterar på Facebook oftare än en 15-årig tjej som fotar sig själv i spegeln. Fyra låtar har sett dagens ljus på iTunes och det ska sammanlagt bli 11 stycken, vilka även kommer att släppas på cd och vinyl för alla oss konservativa skivköpare.
Tack vare David, som jobbar med Jason, fick jag möjligheten att ringa upp honom i Kalifornien och snacka om hans nya äventyr. Frågor om Metallica skulle hållas till ett minimum, men Jason verkade själv helt ok med att snacka om sitt gamla band.
Från början blev jag tilldelad 45 minuter, men tidpunkten funkade inte och samtalet kortades till 20 minuter och en annan dag. 20 minuter går fort och jag hade massor av frågor att ställa, men alla hann jag naturligtvis inte med. Tycker dock att det löste sig ganska bra ändå.

Hey, this is Niclas from Stockholm!

Jason Newsted: Hey, this is Jason from California. What are you doing?

Staying up late. It´s 11.30 pm here.

Jason Newsted. Ah, that´s a perfect time to talk, now that you´ve had a few drinks and you´re all mellowed out it should be fine.

Exactly. I read that the Fillmore shows (with Metallica) kinda worked as a catalyst for giving this a go. In what way?

Jason Newsted: Well, it was a year and a month ago at the Fillmore shows with Metallica and Lars had called me in October of last year and told me they were gonna do that thing. They were gonna have all the bands come like Armored Saint and King Diamond and all that stuff, so that was kinda exciting. I´d get a chance to see all the crew guys, basically the family that I left. See everybody after a long time and that was exciting to me. I said I´d come and jam and play some fast songs. He asked me to pick what songs I wanted to play and I said “Let´s pick the fastest ones and do those!”. I came and we did those. You know, I didn´t really know what to expect and that was the main thing. It was an unexpected, just mass joy. I don´t even know what to say. Just an overwhelming response of joy from the fans. When I came into the building at the Fillmore, it´s like an old theater where there´s a balcony at the top and on one side of the balcony they had the VIP section and you could see all the people that were up there like the Green Day cats and people playing. King Diamond was up there and Cliff Burton´s dad. Everybody´s just hanging around and the crowd is looking up and I walked into the VIP area, just walking along with my girl and somebody saw me from the floor and they started calling out my name. I was just walking along heading to the dressing room and they start chanting and I look down and the whole crowd has turned sideways and they´re chanting and my bro says “You should go over and just wave or something! You can´t leave them hanging.”, so I walk over and I put my hand on Ray Burton´s shoulder, he was sitting in a box seat there, and I wave to the people and they just went apeshit, man. I didn´t know what to expect to begin with, but that I really didn´t expect. I had no idea it was gonna be like that. I had only been in the building for like four or five minutes, so that´s how it started. The week kinda went on from there and each night that I went up to play another song, it got crazier and crazier. I was singing like “Battery, “Die, die, die!” and they´re singing along with me just like it used to be. The energy exchange and looking right in their eyes and you know it´s the real deal and they´re so for sure genuinely happy to see each other and I´m like “Holy crap! I don´t wanna be in Metallica anymore, but this could really happen. There´s enough people out there that give a shit and I think I can make this happen.”. About two days later, Mike Gilbert from Flotsam and Jetsom called me and asked me if I could help him with some lyrics for their new album and I´m like “Sure bro, I´m open to that.”. He´s been a long time friend and we wrote a lot of cool stuff together so “What have you got, man? Send me a couple of riffs and I´ll see if I can put some words to it.”. He sent me some stuff that were pretty good, kinda Slayer sounding chunkily, old school metal things, so I gave him some lyrics and some titles and stuff and they really liked it, so they kept a couple of those. Then it was like “Well, maybe we should jam a little bit?”. We had the 30th anniversary of Metallica and the 30th anniversary of Flotsam was two months later, February 10th of this year was 30 years for Flotsam, so we did a 30th anniversary jam and a 25th anniversary for the “Doomsday” thing and it all kinda fell into the same place. So the original band gets together in Phoenix and we play two different weekends. One weekend in January and one in February. We played the “Doomsday for the deceiver” in its entirety pretty much. The original band, standing in the room facing each other and just blasting like the old days and there was a lot of power. I had forgotten how good and fast those guys really were. Really fast and really challenging. I actually had to relearn the songs that I wrote back then and challenge myself like “Dude, who in the hell came up with this? How can you remember 14 parts in 5 minutes and why would you do that? Just to prove that you can?”. (laughs) I remembered this stuff and it was challenging but fun. There´s been so much that´s happened in their lives for the last 25 years and so much in my life and we´re really on different planets and different lifestyles and accomplishments and whatever, so it didn´t really feel right for a longevity thing. It was cool for what it was, so I said I was maybe gonna try something different. I had been trading off computer stuff for a long, long time and this year I finally got an iPhone, an iPad and all this stuff. I finally gave in and in the mean time I had discovered how cool “Garage band” was and thinking I used to carry four or five cases into a hotel room with a keyboard, a recording desk, a mixing desk and a blah, blah, blah and now I have it in my pocket. I took my guitar and started making songs and it just started happening and song after song started coming. It got to the point that in August of this year, I got my guys together that are playing with me now. I wrote all the tracks on “Garage band”, gave them a disc and said “Learn these parts!” and they came back and that´s what we´re recording now. We´re in our second batch of these songs and we´re gonna share 11 total of songs over the next six months. Four in this first batch and then five in the second batch and a couple in the last. We´re gonna do it digital, exclusively on iTunes on these first ones and the next ones in March will be iTunes also and then in May with the full product, it will be CD, vinyl and all that kinda stuff. That´s roughly what happened. A long answer but that was the story and that´s what happened over one year´s time. They inspired me to say “It´s actually possible there´s enough people that are respectful enough of the work I did in all the other bands and in Metallica too.

Absolutely! If you hadn´t done those shows, do you think you´d still have done something like Newsted or would you still have been under the radar so to speak?

Jason Newsted: I still would´ve continued to do what I do with my projects and my little fun stuff. I don´t really ever take that stuff too serious. This is the first thing I´ve taken seriously in a long, long time. Especially of my own projects. Of course I did Voivod seriously and all those things, but this is the first time with my own stuff. Papa Wheelie was an improv thing and we´ve done it for years and years. We did six shows last year just for fun, so that kinda lit it up a little bit, but I think my answer is that I would not be doing Newsted now if I hadn´t went to go play with Metallica. I would be doing a further Papa Wheelie thing because we recorded a whole live thing with proper mics and everything but that got put on the backburner when this thing came out. I probably would´ve followed through on that or any of the other nine projects that I have going at all times. Under the radar? Yeah, I might not be out there in the spotlight doing big stuff like I had in the past, but for my own self I´m still very, very busy and creating music all the time. I´m kinda excited about coming back into it and putting myself out there again for the exposure of the people. I´ve been away for a while on purpose, just to get myself back together. I still do my domestic life and I don´t wanna let it take over my life again. I still wanna have my balance with it, but it is something that I´m putting all my energy into now and I´m just excited to see what happens with these particular efforts and once again, in the same vein as being taken by surprise, a wonderful surprise, by the responses from the fans on the Facebook and Twitter stuff and so far from the iTunes stuff. The positive energy coming from around the globe. There was no way for me to know before and the realm that Metallica was in up until 2001 when I left, we had been taking the music to the people in every possible corner of the globe that you can and that will accept our music and then you shake their hands and look them in the eye and that´s how I know what they´re doing in that country. Now, fast forward 12 years and I can know of all these countries that I´ve never even heard of and people are able to get the music now and in all of your lifetime and my life time, the years we´ve got left, I couldn´t get CD´s to the middle of these places. Even if I walk there myself I wouldn´t be able to make it in time. The way that I push one button and share these 20 minutes of awesome metal with anybody that really cares because that´s all that really matters. I don´t wanna try to share it with anybody that doesn´t give a shit. If they like doom stuff, death metal or Taylor Swift, go ahead! There´s plenty of room for everybody. If you dig my stuff, dig my stuff and if you don´t dig it, move on! That´s all I´m asking, because I´m kinda too old to be fucking with all of the bullshit and I don´t really have to prove anything to anybody about nothing. (laughs) What do I do, really? Most Grammies of any metal bass player ever, Hall of fame. Where do you want me to go from here? So you didn´t like that song? Ok, I guess I better go work at the gas station then. (laughs)

I was listening to the four tracks on iTunes today and reading comments all over the internet and a word that kept coming up was “classic” and that there´s a classic metal feel to the songs. How would you describe the music yourself?

Jason Newsted: It is old school. My saying is you can only be old school if you´re old school, you know. You can buy a bullet belt, you can buy the tight black jeans and all those kinda things, but if you´re not old school, you´re not old school. It´s ok if you wanna be, I´ve got nothing against you, but you only can be if you are and I am. That´s what it is and that´s why I named it that because of the other music that I´ve played over time. All the diversity of the players, I don´t wanna make any confusion and I don´t want anybody to not know what´s happening. This is Newsted and it´s me and this is metal. There is no other thing that this is. This is metal! Any language that you speak around the world, you know those two words. If you like hard rock music, you know the word Newsted and you know the word metal, so that´s what I did and that´s kinda how it is now. I´m the only guy that walks the earth that was in Metallica and I´m still breathing and now I´m a fan again. I was a fan when I was in it and I´m a fan again, so I´m the only one. (laughs) I can really look at it in a really kinda crazy perspective. I think that in “Soldierhead”, some of the lyrics sounds like Hetfield on “Kill ém all”. When he was just a young man of 19 years old and that´s where his voice box had developed to, was that voice. Just that little thing like that and my voice box is young in this style of real singing. I can do the brutal stuff and I don´t have to prove that to anybody either and I´ve done that for years and I still can, but that´s not what I do in this band. In this band I sing and I´ve been developing my voice for 20 years, but I never got a chance to really sing with it. Now it´s a development and it´s a young voice and younger than I am because I´ve only been using this voice for a short time. That´s why it kinda sounds like a younger Hetfield, I think. I think it does sound like some lyrics are reminiscent of old Metallica.

How did you find the other two guys?

Jason Newsted: Yeah, I wanna talk about the other guys because it´s really important. The drummer´s name is Jesus Mendez JR and I´ve known him for at least a dozen years now. He started out as a local Metallica crew guy and we became friends then. He went on tour with Ecobrain as a drum tech and we´ve been playing music since that time, so for about 10 years we´ve been making music at the Chophouse. Mostly improvisational music but always metal and he brought in Jessie Fransworth who is the other guitar player and we´ve been playing together for about five years. They´ve been playing as a rhythm section for 10 years themselves and the three of us have been playing together for about five years. Jessie and I switch instruments back and forth. He plays some bass and I play some guitar and we switch back and forth on the record and in live performance. I do both now and I sing lead the whole time and play guitar and bass. He´s really kinda like our secret weapon. He´s had his own bands over time and he´s made his own records, underground records where he sings lead and all that kinda thing and he´s a very accomplished musician in his own right. They have enough experience in front of people and enough years playing to be professional hard working people. They only drink when we need to drink, you know what I mean? They´re not foolish and they don´t do drugs. It´s a very serious organization. I could´ve handpicked a supergroup. I could´ve picked out whatever the greatest metal player is that I wanted. I could´ve made that band and I´m sure that everybody would´ve said yes. I really doubt if I would´ve gotten any turn downs, but I don´t want people to come with their baggage. Peace to all of those guys and everything, but I don´t want that in this band and I don´t want it to be ex-member this, ex-member that or formerly from these nine bands that brings all this shit for all those bands. “Well, in our band we used to do this!”, “Well, in this band we fucking don´t!”. I don´t wanna have to deal with that thing. I mean, I´m not ashamed to say it. I´ve worked hard at what I´ve done. I wanna be the man now, I´m gonna be the man. I´m the man in this band, the king of the underdogs. (laughs) I´m the man in this band and the other guys are great musicians and equal or better players than me, but they need their chance and they deserve their chance and they´re willing to work very hard for it. They´re willing to support me as a friend and a player and that´s important. I can´t say that I´ve had that in every band that I´ve been in. That´s really, really important. We record as a three piece, but we´re gonna play live as a four piece and bring another guitar player in.

I was gonna ask you about the live thing. Any plans at all? Are you playing live this coming summer when everything is out or what´s the plan?

Jason Newsted: That is the plan right now. As you can imagine there´s quite a few agents and promoters coming out the wood work the last three days since the music got out. I am trying to make the right judgment and I think I´ve found the right people and their plans are to follow through with the songs I talked about and do some warm up shows, do some couple of special ones in the States and then do proper festival stuff for the summer, a European thing. I´ll take it to any place I possibly can take it and if they set me up with shows in the middle of wherever and as long as they´ve got power… I don´t have to do this. I mean, that´s kinda obvious. I do anything because I love it and I makes me feel alive and I do it because I wanna do it and it´s my purpose and it´s what I do best, so I just wanna try it one more time. The thing with Metallica, that we talked about at the beginning of this conversation, the catalyst of that was from that and for myself I have to give it one good shot. I have to give it one solid strong effort where I know I did my best and I tried to cover all the bases and I was honest with the fans again. All that stuff, and whatever it does is whatever it does. I do not have lofty expectations of this, I do not have any of that kinda thing. I´ve got a cool ass CD to play in my truck and it crushes. Anything after that is gravy. If people wanna buy it, if people wanna buy a t-shirt? Cool man! My boys and I made some cool music and that´s good enough for me because I don´t have to go out and sell a bunch of records to eat. I played bass on the "Black album" and I don´t think I have to say much more. I´ll be fine. (laughs)

Well, I think the world´s been waiting for Jason Newsted for a long time and it´s really cool that you´re back. I hope you one day make it back to Sweden to play a couple of shows.

Jason Newsted: Oh buddy, I gotta tell you man! Stockholm is just so good to me. Aahh, my brother… aahhh, god bless you guys! (laughs) I think you know what I mean. Just such wonderful memories of that place. For the shows too, but the people… man, just wonderful.

Good to hear. One final thing. Let´s just say that Rob Trujillo breaks his leg and they´re about to go on tour and they call you. Would you do it?

Jason Newsted: Aahhh, it kinda depends on the circumstances. God, I haven´t been asked that before. (sighs deeply) If they were cool and they were bros. Actually, here´s the word, if they were brofessional about it and if they came as my brothers and they were professional with the meeting and they called the meeting and they´re sitting there and looking me in the eye and the managers aren´t around and we´re doing this as we used to do every fucking thing, with just us and then the managers did what we told them to do… if it was like that again and the money was crazy, then I would consider it. I would consider it, but it would be only for that thing and it would to be absolutely delegated and it would have to be these 30 shows in these 45 days for this squillion dollars, then I would say most likely I would come and crush every fucker in my sight. But it has to be that. I love those guys and I always will and I will defend them to the end of time. I don´t dig it when people talk shit about them and I don´t dig it when they put them down about certain music they didn´t like that they did or whatever. Fuck those people! As soon as the people can put out a better album than Metallica, you let me know and I´ll listen to it, but until that time, just back off! I don´t come and tell you how shitty you´re doing your accountant job or whatever, you know what I mean. I don´t like that part, but I´ll always have respect for those guys because they gave me my chance, ok. They gave me my chance and I´ll never ever forget that. Now, we´ve had our differences over time but that shit is under the bridge a long time ago. The shit that has transpired in the last 10 years of the rumors stuff and “Oh, Jason got treated so bad. Poor fucking Jason.” and everything, it´s such shit! It´s so wrong and it´s not the truth and it really bothers me. I understand that it gets sensationalized and blah, blah, blah. What I try to say man is trainloads, trainloads of joy, accomplishments and wonderful experiences and one little, tiny fucking symbol full of shit. It was joyous and victorious and accomplishing things and setting the fucking standard, you know what I mean? People go “Oh, he got treated bad and he got hazed those first couple of times.”. No shit! You think they´re just gonna let any fucker come into the biggest band in the world? Hello! And people go “Oh, he was just a fan boy that got lucky.”, but could you maybe tell me one of the 52 people that auditioned that wasn´t a Metallica fan? The 52 that tried out for bass that wasn´t a Metallica fan? If you could find one in that bunch, I´d like to meet him! But any of those people that would´ve gotten the gig would´ve been a fan too. Come around to your senses, man! They had a big thing going and they knew they had a big thing going and they just lost their great teacher and friend, the guy that taught James how to play guitar harmonies. Do I need to say more? Come on! he taught him to play the guitar shit that he does now that made the magic of all the songs. The guy was just taken away from them and they throw some other guy in some 25 days later and it´s like “Oh, yeah! Let´s just be peachy and everything and here we go!”. Come on, man! If I was in their shoes I would´ve greased me a lot more than they did. People need to really get some perspective on that.

Right. Well, my time is up Jason. Thank you so much! It´s been an honor talking to you and it´s so good to have you back!

Jason Newsted: Thanks for your help and I´ll see you around!

/Niclas

En av årets låtar.



Så mycket Type O Negative att det nästan slår över, men bara nästan. Bara någon månad innan sångaren David Gold förolyckades hade jag fått en mailintervju bekräftad. TRyvärr blev det aldrig av att jag skickade några frågor. Hade jag fått tummen ur arslet skulle det troligtvis blivit något av det sista han gjorde i intervjuväg.
R.I.P.

/Niclas

Nytt, mörkt, slamrigt, dystert with sludge on top.

Vet inget om bandet och namnet lämnar väl en del att önska, men lyssna och njut. Första spåret skramlar rejält, men sedan låter det som Opeth i sina lugnaste stunder. Dock bara i en minut eller två.  
Tackar Metal Sucks för tipset, denna eminenta sida.

Lyssna HÄR

/Niclas


Cantrell om kommande AIC.

Saxat från Grungreport:

Alice In Chains singer/guitarist Jerry Cantrell spoke about Alice In Chains’ upcoming fifth studio album in a new interview with Revolver Magazine. Cantrell said, “I don’t think you’ll be surprised by anything you hear,” he says. “It’s us.” Cantrell added that the album does have its own feel, “It’s also really unique. It’s got all the elements of any record we’ve put out, but it’s unlike any record we’ve put out. Basically it’s the next chapter in the Alice In Chains book, and it’s going to be a big one.”

Det här kommer bli bra. Det här kommer bli så förbannat bra.

/Niclas

2012 års bästa album; the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth...

När jag nu summerar 2012 inser jag att gammal är äldst, som alltid.

1. Van Halen "A different kind of truth"

Ett album jag hade väldigt höga förväntningar på och som delvis sjönk när första singeln "Tattoo" dök upp. Långsamt växte den dock och när sedan den första genomlyssningen av hela skapelsen var klar, insåg jag att Van Halen var tillbaka med besked.
De gjorde helt rätt att blanda upp mer nyskrivet material med gamla demos som härstammade från 70-talet. En fullträff.

2. Katatonia "Dead end kings"

En svensk platta med mycket kraft. Avslutande "Dead letters" skiner värre än Tool och omslaget kan vara årets snyggaste och dystraste på en och samma gång. Melankoli is da shit.

3. KISS "Monster"

Trodde jag på det här? Nej, självfallet inte. Visserligen visade föregångaren "Sonic boom" att herrarna Simmons/Stanley fortfarande kunde strama upp sig och leverera godbitar, men "Monster" visade sig bli snäppet bättre där både Thayer och Singer står för riktigt stabila insatser.

4. Soundgarden "King animal"

Grungen stal julen. Kanske inte riktigt, men att Cornell och hans medmusiker är tillbaka visade sig vara en riktigt trevlig comeback. Starka låtar, sköna riff och en Cornell som sjunger som den seattlegud han är.

 5. Rush "Clockwork angels"

"Snakes and arrows" fick mig att stundtals jubla högt och den nya given tar vid på ett bra sätt. Tänk att de gamla kanadickerna fortfarande kan.

6. Gojira "Lénfant sauvage"

Joe Duplantier är Frankrikes svar på Dave Grohl. En extremt trevlig fransos som jag intervjuat flertalet gånger de senaste åren. Nya plattan är en utmärkt fortsättning på riffen från "The way of all flesh". Vive la France!

7. Slash "Apocalyptic love"

Har tidigare inte brytt mig särskilt mycket om mannen med hatten, men här bjuder han upp till stenhård riffdans och "Standing in the sun" kan vara något av det absolut svängigaste på hela året.

8. Hellsingland Underground "Evil will prevail"

Mer sydstatsrock än hårdrock, men jädrar i min låda vilket lir! Utan tvekan något av det bästa vårt avlånga land har att erbjuda för tillfället. Dessutom ett vrålsnyggt omslag.

9. Meshuggah "Koloss"

Tunggung och ett rifforama utan slut. Sveriges mest tekniska band slår till igen och ger fansen än mer matematisk metal. Inledande "I am Colossus" är rent överjävlig i tyngd.

10. Down "IV part 1-The purple EP"

Alltid kul med en EP och när sydstaternas konungar samlar ihop sina krafter och prånglar ut nytt material låter det självfallet förträffligt. Även här ett riktigt snyggt omslag, vilket alltid ger plus i kanten i min bok.

/Niclas


Ny låt med Alice in Chains!



Have mercy sweet lord! Jerry Cantrell is da man och låter resten av plattan lika bra, kan vi nog förvänta oss en riktigt värdig uppföljare till "Black gives way to blue".

/Niclas

Grohl är överallt.



Arbetsnarkomanen Dave Grohl spelar ju trummor på kommande QOTSA och han ska nu även prodda nya plattan från Rocket From The Crypt. Dessutom ryktas det om att han ska regissera nästa video med Soundgarden.

/Niclas

Soundtrack till Grohls "Sound City".

Mycket intressanta samarbeten. Släpps 12:e mars.

Sound City – Reel to Reel Tracklisting:

1. Dave Grohl, Peter Hayes, and Robert Levon Been – Heaven and All
2. Brad Wilk, Chris Goss, Dave Grohl, and Tim Commerford – Time Slowing Down
3. Dave Grohl, Rami Jaffee, Stevie Nicks, and Taylor Hawkins – You Can’t Fix This
4. Dave Grohl, Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, Rick Springfield, and Taylor Hawkins – The Man That Never Was
5. Alain Johannes, Dave Grohl, Lee Ving, Pat Smear, and Taylor Hawkins – Your Wife Is Calling
6. Corey Taylor, Dave Grohl, Rick Nielsen, and Scott Reeder – From Can to Can’t
7. Alain Johannes, Chris Goss, Dave Grohl, and Joshua Homme – Centipede
8. Alain Johannes, Chris Goss, Dave Grohl, and Joshua Homme – A Trick With No Sleeve
 9. Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, and Pat Smear – Cut Me Some Slack
10. Dave Grohl, Jessy Greene, Jim Keltner, and Rami Jaffee – Once Upon a Time… The End
11. Dave Grohl, Joshua Homme, and Trent Reznor – Mantra

/Niclas

Nytt med Ghost!

 



Ny låt med Ghost, "Secular haze", och tja, det låter väl som Ghost.

/Niclas

En snutt av kommande AIC!

Det rör sig inte om många sekunder, men det låter mästerligt.

Lyssna HÄR

/Niclas

Suomi 69!

Idag blev det ett samtal med Jyrki 69 i finska 69 Eyes. Han var lika pratglad som sist och berättade bl a om hans mest miserabla julafton någonsin, som utspelade sig på Rainbow Bar & Grill i Hollywood. Stället var tomt förutom Chris Holmes som hängde vid baren.
Igår spenderade jag några timmar tillsammans med Close-Ups Robban Becirovic. Det blidde en öl eller två och historien om tidningen. Ett mycket kul och trevligt möte.
Skål på det!

/Niclas


Braxen rör på sig.

Ett av mina absoluta svenska favoritband har börjat röra på sig och visar livstecken.

"Dåså gott folk! News at last; Vi står i begrepp att sammanställa en "best of"/"de första 15 åren" skiva, och detta i det ädlaste av format; en dubbelvinyl och ENDAST i dubbelinylformat med fyrsidig booklet, skitsnygga bilder, texter m.m. Dubbelvinylen kommer att inkludera en "ny" låt, inspelad i våras och färdigställd under hösten. Låten är en sammanslagning av två låtar från vår första inspelni ngssession våren 1998; "Bittra minnen" samt "Kommer tillbaka", aningens omarrangerad. Ett bra sätt att knyta ihop då och nu. I övrigt är vi vansinnigt nyfikna på vad av Abramiskt NI tycker borde finnas med på denna dubbelvinyl. Lista gärna här i tråden (-Tänk; "Sitta i fåtöljen med stora hörlurarna med hög volym och bläddra i asläckert dubbelomslag." VILKA låtar får vi inte missa?...). Dubbelvinylen skall släppas av Transubstance tidigt nästa år. /Dennis"

För några år sedan såg jag bandet live titt som tätt i stockholmsnatten och sedan försvann de bara. Har ni missat detta ypperliga band är det bara att ge sig ut och tjacka deras skivor. Köpa, inte ladda ner!



/Niclas

A band that is no more.



Tänk så fantastiskt bra Queensryche var när det begav sig. I dagsläget hamnar de i samma patetiska fack som LA Guns, Faster Pussycat och Great White. Band som är så långt ifrån vad de en gång var och som smör på moset dessutom finns i två upplagor.



Hittade den här pärlan som jag faktiskt inte sett tidigare. Pro shot från "Building empires tour" 1991, Detroit.
Såg bandet för första gången på den här turnén. Tyvärr var det i Köpenhamn i dagsljus som del av Monsters of Rock med Metallica, Black Crowes och AC/DC och inte i en stor arena i USA med tillhörande show.

/Niclas 

Lyssna på Eddie Vedders radioshow!

Ladda ner och lyssna på Vedders radioshow som hade premiär på Sirius XM i onsdags.

Ladda HÄR

Låtarna han spelade, via Grungereport:

Fugazi – Caustic Acrostic
Sleater Keaney – Entertain
Queens of the Stone Age – Medication
Queens of the Stone Age – Little Sister
Soundgarden – Ty Cobb
Joe Strummer (101ers) – Letsagetabitarockin
Billy Childish – Joe Strummer’s Grave
Eddie Vedder/Roger Daltrey – Naked Eye (Live in London 7/31/2012)
The Who – Any Time You Want Me (Acapella)
The Who – You Stand By Me (Acoustic)
The Evens – Mt. Pleasant
Jeff Ament – Just Like That
Clark Kent – Away From Home
Eddie Vedder/Kim Gordon – Croon Spoon
Cat Power – Free
Eddie Vedder- Untitled

/Niclas

Metallicas "Nothing else matters" utdragen till 51 minuter!



Någon har dragit ned tempot med 800% och resultatet är fascinerande. Ett helt nytt stycke musik med episka tongångar.
Lyssna och njut, om du orkar.

/Niclas

"Hit the lights" med Armored Saint och Johan Hägg!



Metal Blade Records 30-årsjubileum på House of Blues i LA. Lars och James var i publiken. Klippet filmat av min gode facebookvän Carl Alvarez. Mannen som sett alla de coola konserterna och mött alla de coola rockstjärnorna.
Du hittar honom bl a på Shockwaves/Skullsessions tillsammans med Bob Nalbandian HÄR

/Niclas

Förlorade Änglar i januari!

16:e januari på Klubben i Stockholm.

Biljetter tjackar du HÄR

/Niclas

Van Halens Lost weekend!

Två lyckliga fans story om hur de fick tillbringa två galna dagar med Van Halen i Detroit på "1984-turnén". Allt utspelade sig på MTV´s bekostnad. Tänk att den kanalen faktiskt var lite kul och intressant en gång i tiden.

Del 1 med bilder HÄR

Del 2 med bilder HÄR





/Niclas

Konsertrecension

Opeth

Södra Teatern, Stockholm 121205

Precis som alla andra gånger tidigare jag sett det här gänget så levererar de så det står härliga till. Åkerfeldt är alltid kul på det där lite torra sättet. Hans små anekdoter om snöröjning och spyor förgyller konserten och ger den en extra liten touch.
Södra Teatern är en fantastisk konsertarena och passar bandet alldeles utmärkt när de skalar  av sina låtar och spelar semiakustiskt.
Öppningen med "Heritage" och "Credence" är alldeles ljuvlig och covern på världens kortaste låt, Napalm Deaths "You suffer", drar ned stora applåder och hejarop från den hyfsat pratglada publiken.
Bäst under kvällen är den makalösa "Benighted", men även Sabbathcovern "Solitude" sitter där den ska och vi bjuds även på några svängiga introriff av "Paranoid". Avslutande "Marrow of the earth" från senaste "Heritage", som Åkerfeldt menar har delat Opethfansen i två läger, är riktigt, riktigt bra. Opeth kör sitt eget race och gör det med bravur.
Efter konserten blir det lite efterhäng backstage och Fredrik Åkesson berättar bl a att de spelat in alla de senaste gigen, både de semiakustiska och de hårda. tanken är att det ska bli något, men de skulle först lyssna igenom allt. Han var riktigt nöjd och tyckte just att de hårda gigen hade varit väldigt roliga.
Resten av den sena kvällen snackar jag Zeppelin med Bonafides Pontus Snibb och dricker Corona. 

Betyg 4/5

/Niclas


Intervju med Jamey Jasta i Hatebreed.

Nyligen gästade herr Jasta huvudstaden för lite promotionarbete. Jag slog mig ner på Warner HQ och snackade med en pratglad jänkare som inte alls visade trötthetstecken trots stor brist på sömn.
Det blev bl a snack om kommande albumet med Hatebreed, klubbscenen i 90-talets New Haven, Kirk Windsteins kärleksliv och Kingdom of Sorrow.

I wanna start off with New Haven. I think the first time I heard about the city was when Van Halen released their “Live without a net” video.

Jamey Jasta: Yeah, at the Coliseum.

You weren´t there were you?

Jamey Jasta: No, but maybe our guitar player Wayne was there? He went to a lot of shows at the Coliseum.

What was New Haven like back then whe you started out? What was the whole metal and hardcore scene like? Were there a lot of bands happening and cool clubs and stuff?

Jamey Jasta: There was. Even before I started going to shows, my sister had gone to a couple of concerts. She was more into the 80´s stuff. She would go to Toad´s Place and one time she went to see like Ratt or something like that. I started going to shows around 1990 – 1991. There was The Moon and they had the Melvins, Biohazard, Type O Negative and The Exploited. I saw a lot of great shows there like The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Fugazi and that was a cool club. Then we had the Urban Jungle which became the Tune Inn and they hosted a lot of great shows like Snapcase, Refused, Napalm Death and Machine Head. A lot of great shows there. We had The Palace and I saw Danzig there and Slayer, White Zombie and Testament or it was Slayer, White Zombie and Alice in Chains. One of those, so we had a lot of good stuff. Pantera played at the Coliseum and that was one of the goals I never really fulfilled and a tear came to my eye when they blew it up and demolished. I used to go see the New Haven Nighthawks play with my dad. We lost the hockey team and we lost The Whalers too. Rage Against The Machine played there. At Toad´s Place I saw Bad Brains with Chuck Moseley from Faith No More sang. HR didn´t show up and Chuck Moseley was there singing and the place went crazy. I don´t even think people knew. The guys got dreadlocks and he´s jumping around like HR. Then The Misfits and GWAR. I saw GWAR like twice a year.

Cool. What was it that made you go more for the metal and hardcore scene?

Jamey Jasta: A lot of the bands that were doing it, especially locally, I thought “Well, if they can do it, I can do it.” and I liked the camaraderie. The whole thing about the New Haven scene was that, there was a poppy, almost R.E.M. kinda scene and indie college rock and those people promoted shows. Then there was the punk scene with bands like Big Mistake and then there was the Ska scene with bands like Spring Heeled Jack. It was a very eclectic music kinda area, all of Connecticut. Then there was the hardcore stuff. It was like little pockets of hardcore bands all over Connecticut, which would come to New Haven and play and it was easy. This was at a time where you could still rent a hall or rent a club and it was pretty easy to throw a show, as long as you had a couple of hundred bucks. There was a place called Barbican (?) that I used to rent out. There was a bar and it could hold 150 people and it was like 200 bucks to rent. You sell a couple of bags of weed and you´ve got a show. (laughs). We´d tell all of our friends and go around town and pass out flyers. We had a good little network. I remember this drummer, a guy called Pete McNeil, I remember the first time at Kinko´s I saw him making flyers. He was in a band called Blind Justice and they were a heavy type of band, but this was at the time when Red Hot Chilli Peppers were getting big and the 24-7 Spyz, so they had a bit of that in their sound. But I saw how many kids were going to their shows and it was a lot more kids than what would go to a small hardcore show and I thought “Man, this guy works hard.”. He was passing out flyers and he ended up playing drums for that band Cake. Later on I saw him and I was like “Because of you I started my hustle with going to Kinko´s and making flyers and cutting them into four.” and he was like “Really?”. They were like a promotion machine and it gave me hope to go out and convince people to come see your band and if they liked it, you hoped you´d build a following and maybe get a record deal. That was cool.

Different times.

Jamey Jasta: Much different times. People go “The internet leveled the playing field.” And I go “How?”. Now people go “Oh, there´s no more underground because the internet leveled the playing field.” Like any band can just get their video featured on You Tube. It´s no leveled playing field. It´s no different than MTV. The marketing, the dollars gets you the exposure, gets you the hits. It´s interesting because people really do believe that they´re gonna randomly get their video featured or people gonna randomly stumble onto their Facebook and get likes. Now you gotta pay to get the likes, so now you gotta really go back. I think it´s gotta go back to where you hit the street with the flyers, “Oh, Slayer´s playing? Good, there´s a line of a 1000 people.” and you go make a 1000 fuckin´ photo copies. I´ll do it! I´ll still do that because I´m not above doing that, you know. I´m realistic, that you gotta get out there and do the work.

Your last name and the band Jasta 14? I googled it and it´s a German WWI plane.

Jamey Jasta: Yeah! The bass player Greg Burns, in the band Red Sparowes, he started that band and I joined and that´s how it became my nickname, just because that´s what people called me around town. They kinda threw me out of the band or whatever. I think at the time I said that I left, but this is like 20 years ago. They went on with another singer and they put out a seven inch. I was only on the demo, which I think is out there. When I put out the first “Under the knife” demo, I said that even if people called me that and everywhere I was known as that, “I don´t wanna do this. I´m gonna use my real last name.” because like I said, I was kinda thrown out of the group and was a little bit bitter. So I put my real last name on the “Under the knife” cassette and we sold 10.000 cassettes and then people called Information and I was staying at my grandfather´s at the time and the phone would ring in the middle of the night and it was like “Yeah, let me speak to Jasta!”. When Hatebreed first started, that demo tape gave us a big buzz and we opened for Machine Head, Napalm Death, Cro-Mags, Sick of it all… I mean, we were playing a lot of shows and when the popularity grew you wanna book a show or you wanna do a ´zine interview or a little mini tour, how do you get a hold of somebody? You look it up in the phone book and Information, so my grandfather was getting bombarded with calls and I said “I´m gonna go back. I´m gonna use my nickname.” and it stuck. I mean, people can obviously just do a quick google search and realize it´s a stage name. Sometime people will book a hotel room or a flight and I gotta make sure that they don´t book it under that, so I´m not stuck in a hotel and they won´t give me the fuckin´ room. I do have an ID actually that says (Jasta) from my MTV days. Luckily. One time before 9-11, somebody booked a flight under that name and I was able to get on the flight because I had a business card, but that would never happen post 9-11 and I almost missed that flight.

The new album then, where did the title come from?

Jamey Jasta: I wanted to have a title similar to “Satisfaction is the death of desire” which is like where it poses a question and people go “What is that?”. It makes you think and sparks a thought. There was a couple of different things that kinda inspired, all of which were something unfortunate and someone we know who had gotten sentenced to eight years in jail. It was a situation that probably could have been avoided, but there´s two sides to every story and for better or worse, it´s someone we know and it´s a shame because it could have been avoided and we don´t get into situations like this because we have music. I thought “Thank God music came into our lives when it did!” because it was all like divine intervention. Same thing with my daughter. I was leaving to go on tour with Agnostic Front in Europe and got to the airport and we basically imploded as a band, we broke up. I think we fired the drummer or the drummer quit and then our guitar player got into a fight with our old guitar player. None of these guys are in the band anymore. I went home and my father had just moved in with his girlfriend and they didn´t even have furniture yet and I went to their place. They were like “What are you doing here? You´re supposed to be in Europe.” and I just said “We broke up. We´re not going to Europe.” And they said “Are you kidding me? This is a huge opportunity.”. I said “It just wasn´t meant to be.” And then the phone rang and my girlfriend was like “I gotta talk to you!”. She came over and she was crying and I knew something was up and she said “I´m pregnant.”. So it was good that I didn´t go to Europe, so I was there to kinda deal with the situation and then I had to tell my family and my father said “You gotta move out!”. The shit hit the fan. I was 20 and I had this band that was falling apart and that became the purpose. I started thinking about all these little things and it might have inspired the title. It´s like, some people they find something that they love. I know a guy who´s an engineer and it´s his lifeblood. He loves his work and loves doing it. It´s like a spiritual process for him with all his engineering and I can see that when you find it can be like almost a spiritual experience or a divine intervention pointing you in the right direction. We bounced around other titles but that one just kinda… because I already had the song I just felt that it was gonna work.

Do you ever get… what do you say… blocked, coming up with titles?

Jamey Jasta: Yeah and sometimes you wanna just, I don´t wanna say dumb it down, but you wanna simplify it so that it´s as palatable, as discernible as possible so people really get it. “Perserverance” was like “Fuck it, people will say it´s generic, but that´s what I wanna call the record.” And I think at the time we couldn´t agree on the title so we were like “Yeah, that´s fine. One word. Put it on a t-shirt, put in on a CD, it´s fine!”, but it worked because of what we had been through when we toured for four years and had problems and one guitar player, God rest his soul, he´s not with us anymore, but he was going through a lot of problems at that time and it worked for that title. Then with “Rise of brutality”, which was a real hardcore, crossover record, so we wanted it to be like… the world was in such a fucked up place post 9-11 and heavy music was in a good spot because people need an outlet, so that´s a snapshot of that time. Maybe not the best record title, but it´s a good snapshot of that time. With “Supremacy” it was like deconstructionism, let´s take the word back. Supremacy over anxiety or depression or inner demons. “Why do all the racists get to use that word? Let´s take it back!”. But now with this, let´s spark more of a thought.

I read an interview recently where you were quoted as describing the new album as “All pit, no shit.”. Where did that come from, because it has spread all over the internet now?

Jamey Jasta: We just needed a catchphrase. Yeah, now people are trying to claim it, like Dez from Devildriver “You got that from me!” and I was like “What?”. Actually, there´s a band, Sum 41 and they have a record called “All killer, no filler” and I was like “That´s great!” and this is our version of that. It´s perfect. But you need a catchphrase, like for every record we have ads and posters that will be some sort of catchphrase that is not the title, but it´s representative of it. That´s what I´ve been using as the hashtag on my Twitter. Now that we´ve released one song, we backed it up with the product so now people go “Ok, I get it.”. But that´s like my least favorite song on the record so I think we´re in a good spot. If people like that, I think they´ll really enjoy everything else. But going back to the title, we could´ve called the record “Nothing scars me” or “Honor never dies” or “Put it to the torch”. All of those would´ve been perfectly fine titles, but this is the one that will spark the most conversations and get people an idea with what we´re going for.

Nuclear Blast then? What made you go German?

Jamey Jasta: Honestly, everything with Testament and Kreator. If you put out a great record, I don´t wanna say it doesn´t matter what logo you have on the back of it, but it does matter what people you have. The chain is only as strong as its weakest link, I really believe that. When “Rise of brutality” came out they fired everybody. I joked around that there was like tumbleweed flying around every office. I was so hands on with that record and back then I had an assistant, a guy named Jay. He helped me tremendously on that one. He did the artwork at the very last minute. We had no graphics department, so he did everything. We said “We need a poster for retail!” and I said “Well, who do you have?” and they literally put the Hatebreed logo and they put the title in Impact font and I go “Wow, this is your art department?” and they went “Well, everybody´s fired.”. That was the poster and people went “Really, that´s your poster for the album? It´s just the logo on a black background.”. I tried to tell people with Universal because people were telling us “Oh, you´re on a major label. It´s gonna be cool. It´s gonna be radio rock and you´re gonna sell out.” And I´m like “We do everything! We´re the label. There´s nobody there. Basically we´re giving them something to distribute.”. They were more of a distributor than a label, so with Nuclear Blast, they´re picking up where Roadrunner and E1 left off with the last two records. Look what they built for Testament and Kreator? It´s very impressive. Think about it! Testament charted higher than some Roadrunner records and that´s a big deal. I mean, they made a great record.

I gotta sk about Kingdom of Sorrow because I love those two albums.

Jamey Jasta: Oh, cool! Thank you.

I really love the artwork for both of them.

Jamey Jasta: Yeah, Meran (Karanitant)! I really wanted Meran to do the artwork for this one. I´m not really into the knights and swords and stuff, but the artwork for those two albums are so powerful. Jamey Jasta: Yeah, that´s our Dark rider, our mascot. Meran is a great guy! He did the artwork for “Supremacy”, which is probably our most tattooed artwork. We see that everywhere, multiple times per night people have that as a chest piece or a back piece. He´s just a great artist. He had so many other good pieces that we wanted to use. We actually did a limited edition cover for the last record, because he had just so much good stuff. When me and Kirk decided on naming the band and everything… because at first when it was just a project it was like Hatebar or Crowbreed, but when we decided to name the band we just went “Let´s just go so metal!”, even if we don´t necessarily sound super metal, let´s just have the art and everything be metal. Like Manowar or something like that. Once we changed the colors and made it dark, it kinda became our own thing.

Well, it´s way more metal than Manowar.

Jamey Jasta: (laughs) Yeah! I felt that for Kingdom of Sorrow we needed really good art because I wanted it to be an experience because it´s a place. When we named the band we said “Let this be a destination where it´s not something you´re gonna listen to every day, but it´s a project and a place where we´re going to to express this other kinda side of our musical creativity.”. With Meran I used to get so excited to go look at his art. I try to tell people that you gotta support artists that you really like because it gives you enjoyment, it really does. I look at old Megadeth records and go “This is awesome!” and you don´t know why, but it´s just awesome. You don´t know why it gives you that charge, but we all kinda have the similar reaction.

Definitely. I remember that sometimes you actually bought a record just because the artwork was so cool.

Jamey Jasta: Absolutely. Yeah for sure.

I remember buying Rough Cutt´s second album “Wants you” just because the cover was so cool with a limo and a hot chick.

Jamey Jasta: “Trick or treat” the soundtrack which was also the Fastway record, I think they rereleased it as a record and it was a badass cover and I bought that. It wasn´t a bad record, there were some gems on it. Gene Simmons was in the movie and Skippy from “Family ties” and I think they also released it as their studio album. I also bought the first White Zombie album and Nirvana´s “Bleach” and “Bleach” I returned. (laughs) I brought it back used and I traded it in. I only liked like one song. And White Zombie, I love that record.

He´s playing here next week.

Jamey Jasta: Yeah, my friend is tour managing. That´s a wild show. We´ve toured with him and he´s awesome. I got him on Headbanger´s Ball and shot the breeze with him and John 5. Actually, I think Zeuss, who co-produced this record, is working with John 5. I was talking with Zeuss on Skype and John 5 was in the background.

Kingdom of Sorrow then? Do you have any new stuff or plans for a new album?

Jamey Jasta: I have stuff kinda kicking around, but… are you facebook friends with Kirk?

Nope.

Jamey Jasta: Well, how do I say this… Kirk is madly in love right now and if you were Facebook friends you would see a multitude of posts. We have a saying in the States where we go PDA. It stands for Public Display of Affection and my new nickname for him is Pablo PDA and I break his balls about it. “Why don´t you write a fuckin´ riff? Get off Facebook and write some riffs!”. On the last record it was probably like 70-30 me and he probably doesn´t want me saying it, but he wrote some great stuff too. Until I get him in the studio and sit him down, it´s hard to get him to… like I can never get him to e-mail me a riff. That would never happen, so I don´t know. It´s gonna be a while and the Down EP, those guys worked hard and it´s a killer and I´m happy for them and they´re going out on tour with Warbeast doing the west coast and then Down is going to South America in April. We´re doing Soundwave because what are you gonna say. “You wanna go on tour with Metallica and Slayer?”, you can´t say no so we have to do that with Kingdom of Sorrow. Kirk you can tell he´s in Down mode. He´s already worried about when we´re gonna rehearse and he´s freaking out because it´s gonna be a big crowd and he´s freaking out about the long flight. I`ll go right from Australia to Hammerfest in the UK and it´s Hatebreed till 2014. We have offers and we have some record deals on the table. I haven´t spoken to my attorney about it at length, but I told Kirk and at some point we are gonna have to address it. But he should do a Crowbar record! For me it would be selfish if a Kingdom of Sorrow record came out again before a Crowbar album. As a fan I´d much rather have a Crowbar record because then I don´t have to work on it. (laughs) I listened back to “Sonic excess” the other day and man, that´s a sick record! He´s so talented and he´s got so much great stuff but he downplays it and goes “Oh, riffs are a dime a dozen.” And I´m like “Yeah, but you´ve written some of the best riffs ever and they´re not a dime a dozen, they´re legendary riffs.”.

Next Crowbar album might be a love album then?

Jamey Jasta: It could be. (laughs) He´s got like 5400 people on there and 200 are probably his family and friends and 5000 are fans and they´re probably all wondering like me. I´m sure they´re happy he´s in love it´s just a little stick in the butt. (laughs)

What about Hatebreed coming to Sweden?

Jamey Jasta: We really wanna get a main stage slot at Metaltown. That would be big for us. Playing the tent was awesome. That meant the world to us. We all got on stage and it was awesome because we played at the same time as In Flames and we were like why “Why would they put us against In Flames, one of the biggest exports of Sweden in the last 15 years?”, but we still had a pretty good crowd. It was awesome!

Alright. Thanks Jamey!

/Niclas

AC/DC ut på turné 2013?

Ja, ska man tro de rykten som nu cirkulerar efter en intervju så ger sig bandet ut på en ny runda nästa år och dessutom med ett nytt album i bagaget.

"Triple M have broken some very exciting news this morning. It’s looking like 2013 is going to be one of the greatest years in Aussie live music history. Now with everything else we’ve got to look forward to, we now have an AC/DC tour on our hands. Word came through during an interview with James Young, who owns Melbourne’s iconic Cherry Bar and is very much involved with the Acca Dacca inner circle, exposing him to all sorts of great news, including that they will be touring in support of a new album to commemorate the big 40. As Young explained to Triple M: “Alberts, the record company that AC/DC have been signed to for 39 years, have confirmed that AC/DC will be touring behind a brand new album next year”. So yes, it has only been 2 years since they toured, but when you think about it from this angle, that now we will be able to see Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blink 182, Metallica and ACDC all in the same year, then it’s just totally awesome!"

 /Niclas

Paradise Lost III på SVT!



Själv har jag inte sett den och kommer därför att bänka mig framför dumburken på måndag 10/12 kl. 22.30 för att se sista delen i serien om The West Memphis Three.
Gör du det också!

/Niclas

Sweet hallelujah, AIC are back in business!

Saxat från Grungereport:

"Guitar World is reporting that Alice In Chains have finished recording their new album, the band’s fifth and the followup to 2009′s hit Black Gives Way to Blue. Cantrell said, “It’s like having to deal with the sophomore jinx for the second time in our career.” Cantrell also stated that he believes the new album holds up to anything they’ve done in their career. AIC began writing their new album in 2011 but had a setback when Jerry Cantrell needed surgery on his left shoulder. After Cantrell healed, the band got back to work this year with producer Nick Raskulinecz and engineer Paul Figueroa.
The album is expected to be released in the first quarter of 2013, with AIC already announcing some festival performances."

/Niclas

Nytt i brevlådan!

Så landade då den här lilla bortglömda pärlan i brevlådan. Uncle Sam finns, så vitt jag vet, inte längre. Det här var debuten och den såg dagens ljus 1987. Slutet närmade sig så sakta för neonljusen och glittret i Hollywood. Guns N´Roses was the new black och Uncle Sam nådde tyvärr aldrig ut till någon större publik.
Polaren köpte plattan, troligtvis på Skiv City i Helsingborg, efter att ha läst en kortare artikel i husbibeln Kerrang. Dessutom var det originalutgåvan med det ocensurerade omslaget, så lyckan var total för två 16-åriga killar som klottrade ner sina skolböcker med citat som "Born to lose" och Live fast die young".
Idag hade man givetvis aldrig kunna ge ut en skiva med ett omslag som visar ett välansat sköte och tur är kanske det, vem vet? Det här är "Smell the glove" upphöjt till tio, om ni förstår vad jag menar?
Hur låter det då? Jo, det svänger ganska bra. Här finns influenser från The Misfits, Alice Cooper och och allsköns rockandrollpunk. Med andra ord en perfekt partyplatta.
Det visade sig även att denna återutgivning bjuder på två bonusspår i form av "Steppin´ stone" och "Train kept a´rollin".
87, 87 var har du tagit vägen nu!



/Niclas

Oh Henry my Henry!

Henry sitter i Chicago och minns gamla spelningar och inser att turnén snart är slut.

Henry HÄR

/Niclas


Ny svensk bok om KISS!

Blir förhoppningsvis intressant, men jag undrar verkligen vad som kan tillkomma vad gäller tidigare ej känd info? Linnaeus skriver bra i SRM och hade ju nyligen en lång artikel om Gene Simmons i tidningen, som dock inte tillförde mycket nytt i min mening. Detta kan ju dock bero på att jag är en liten nörd vad gäller info om bandet.
Ser att det är samma bokförlag som gav ut Tengners bok om Yngwie. A rising star in the book business perhaps?

"Pressrelease: År 2013 markerar 40-årsjubileumet av Kiss födelse. Detta legendariska rockband är i dag större än någonsin, inte minst i Sverige där de alltid haft en trogen publik. Deras svängiga och melodiösa hårdrock, i kombination med smink och en fantastisk scenshow gjorde dem till varje ny generations hjältar. Bandet har sålt mer än 100 miljoner skivor sedan starten. För första gången på 25 år kommer det nu en svensk biografi över bandet. ”Kiss – Den osminkade sanningen” är en av de mest detaljerade och ärliga levnadsteckningarna som har gjorts om det mytomspunna bandet. Här ryms både succéer, bottennapp och inre maktstrider. Upplev Kiss som du aldrig trodde var möjligt! Carl Linnaeus ger en underhållande och målande beskrivning av Kisslegenden. Samtidigt är han inte rädd för att med ett kritiskt öga analysera bandet och lägga korten på bordet. Kiss historia är rik på skrönor. Detta är dock den osminkade sanningen. Författaren Carl Linnaeus, känd för sina ingående omslagsartiklar i bland annat Sweden Rock Magazine, har följt bandet under lång tid och lagt ned ett enormt researcharbete. Linnaeus är en av Sveriges ledande musikskribenter och har genom åren intervjuat bandets medlemmar otaliga gånger. Han har exklusivt för boken pratat med ex-medlemmar, producenter, managers och omslagsmakare. Även barndomsvänner, syskon och ex-fruar till medlemmarna har intervjuats för att ge en så omfattande redogörelse som möjligt över Kiss färgsprakande och långa karriär."

Du kan förhandsbeställa boken på Ginza HÄR

/Niclas

Intervju med Steve Vai.

För några dagar sedan spelade Steve Vai på Berns i Stockholm och jag fick åter ett snack med honom. I ett medeltidaliknande rum inne på det klassiska stället slog jag mig ned i soffan bredvid gitarrguden. Det luktade starkt av rörelse, vilket passade bra med tanke på hans spirituella sida.
Vid ett tillfälle skakade väggarna ordentligt och herr Vai frågade snabbt om vi drabbas av jordbävningar i Sverige? Jag lugnade honom och vi kunde snabbt konstatera att det var några barn som härjade runt i rummet bredvid.
Samtalet kom bl a handla om hans vegetariska leverne, mörkret innan solodebuten och hans kärlek till Frank Zappa.

I read in an interview recently where you said that being a vegetarian also had an effect on your music. In what way?

Steve Vai: Well, whenever you change something in your life, you can notice a change in your life and before I became a vegetarian… and I don´t promote anything and I don´t criticize anybody for what they eat, I don´t care. Everybody has to find what´s right for them. Before I became a vegetarian I was always sick and I used to get what they call these hereditary migraines. It was real bad and I would throw up like once a month and my digestion was just bad and I was in a very heavy frame of mind. I read this yoga book, “The complete illustrated book of yoga” and it talked about vegetarianism and it just resonated with me. I used to eat a lot of meat and I never really felt totally comfortable and when I stopped everything changed for me. I never got another headache and it´s 30 years ago. If I did it wasn´t because one of those migraines. They just went away and I can count on one hand the amount of times I´ve thrown up in 30 years and I never get the runs anymore unless I go to Mexico. For me, meat has a very hard effect on the body and it excites the passions and anger and all these things and when I stopped eating meat I just felt clearer in my mind and cleaner. Anything you do like that, have an effect on the work that you do that´s creative.

Was it a hard transition? Do you ever look at a steak and go “Wow, that would be real nice!”?

Steve Vai: Absolutely not. It was a very easy transition, but like I say, it´s a personal choice and I´m not one of these guys that tells people what to do, but as a matter of fact there was a big period of my life where I couldn´t sit at a table if someone was eating meat. It became extraordinarily repulsive. I ate meat three times a day before, but I didn´t see meat as a food. It was a mental thing. I saw it as slaughtered flesh and it was very difficult. It doesn´t bother me now and I don´t think about it. If I think about it, it trips me out, but if I smell somebody cooking ribs barbecue, my mouth starts watering. Just like a Pavlovian reaction. (laughs)

Right. A day like this when you come into a new town, I guess there´s a lot of down time so do you sit around playing the guitar while you wait for the show? Do you practice and stuff like that?

Steve Vai: No. The day is really broken in two segments and I enjoy each segment and whichever segment I´m in, that´s what I´m focusing on. I wake up and when I sleep on the bus, I slepp for eight or nine hours which is absolutely unheard of when I´m at home. If I get six hours when I´m home, that´s beautiful, but when you´re on the bus you just sleep as long as you want and you sleep good. When I wake up I have a couple of hours to do whatever I want and I usually go out around the town or I write some music or answer some e-mails or something like that. Then my day really starts at 3 when I start press. Press is an hour and when I´m doing press I´m not focusing on the gig or walking around town and it can be enjoyable and then from 4-5 it´s usually the EVO premium package which I really enjoy because there are people there that have a deep investment in music and I can be much more personal and they as interesting questions. Then from 5-6 or more, is soundcheck and I don´t even need to do soundcheck but I like doing soundcheck because we always write something. We jam something and I record it. I have hundreds of recordings from all the tours and sometimes they turn into songs, so that´s a fun moment. I just like playing with the band. Then after that it´s the prep for the gig and we usually get about an hour or an hour and a half and that´s where I don´t see anybody except the band and I have a little ritual. I exercise a little bit and then there´s a little meditation to get psyched for the show and then there´s a period where I play. I practice and just warm up. You can´t play too much before a gig because the gig is like going to war with your hands and I have to really balance how much I play before the show. You can sit in your bedroom and practice for eight hours a day, but one hour on stage is very different. Then there´s the show and I always put the same focus into it as all the other elements of the day. Then after show is really fantastic. We do a little meet and greet with some people. One of my favorite parts of the day is after the show and the meet and greet when we roll on the bus as a family. We´re very close and it´s really nice. The bus is like our home and we´re like a little travelling town, like a travelling house. We all really love and respect each other and we have a great time. We do stupid things like eat chocolate, drink tea and watch a movie. It´s great.

Do you ever get nervous before a gig?

Steve Vai: I used to, but that was always because I was projecting into the future and wondering what´s gonna go wrong and what happens if I get out there and something happens? In the matter of years that I´ve been touring virtually everything has happened. (laughs) You just deal with it. There´s parts of me that used to think “People are not gonna like it. I don´t know why they´re coming and they just wanna criticize me and compare me to everybody else. “. So you start thinking about that ahead of time or even when you´re on the stage and it changes your whole ability to express. But that was in the past. Now I just get really excited and I think about “I can´t wait to play this song.” and even when I´m playing this one song and I know what the next song is, I get excited about playing that song. Each song is an opportunity to kinda like hone my craft, so it´s good.

As an artist with all the stuff you´ve recorded, all the songs you´ve written, are there songs you get tired of playing?

Steve Vai: Well, if I find myself getting bored of playing something, there´s a lot of things I go to, to remember. A, "You should be really fucking grateful Vai that you can play the guitar and there are people out there that are not bored with this song and it´s your responsibility to play the song the best you can and you´re never gonna get another chance like this.". When I said that, sure I have more shows coming up, but when you waste that moment. The way you feel about something is a product of the way you choose to think about it. Yes, you can cultivate a frame of mind of boredom, but then, how good are you gonna play? But if you just find thoughts that cultivate a frame of mind of gratitude and excitement, then that´s what you´re gonna feel. For some people it might be hard at first to do that and you gotta give yourself some lip service and I had to do that because I used to get so nervous and so freaked out. Look, I´m a highly criticized guitar player and a lot of people will come to the shows and compare it to the other guy they saw. A tiny part of me still feels that way, but I´ve just become fearless because I realized that I have the right to express myself musically any way I want and the only thing that screws people up is fear. And what people feel when they watch you perform, whether it´s me or anybody, they feel your confidence and your confidence in what you´re doing is the thing that gives them the experience they´re gonna walk away with. I really, really feel great when I play some of those songs that I have to play over and over. I focus on what the melody means to me. Like when I play a song called “Frank”. I wrote it in respect of Frank Zappa and it doesn´t sound like Zappa´s music at all, but there was a side to Frank that I really loved deeply, almost like a father so when I play that song I think about him and I think about that feeling that I had for him. He was such an interesting and unique and wonderful guy and whenever I would go to the house, which was all the time, before I left I felt kinda high. That´s what I think about when I play that song and I get to go there and when you go there you bring the other people.

Right. Cool. Another thing from way back, what are your thoughts today of the album “Flex-Able”? Do you go back and listen to your old records?

Steve Vai: Yeah I do. Whenever you do something creative and we all do it, it´s like a little snap shot of who you were at that time. When I listen to “Flex-Able” I just think of this very innocent, naïve, passionate kid that loved corky and bizarre things. I wrote those songs and recorded them so me and a small group of my friends would have something to laugh at. I never expected to release it and it represented a time that life was really easy. I had just gotten over of a deep depression. I was like 20 or 21 and in a really bad frame of mind. When I started working on “Flex-Able”, I had a tremendous amount of music because that´s all I did all day. Write and record, write and record all day. Some of it was extremely dark. Like dark in ways like… people think of dark and they think of death metal or black metal and it was nothing like that. It was really from a dark frame of mind and then I had to change. I went through a metamorphosis and my whole attitude and outlook changed. I started to find happiness and I started to find satisfaction, equilibrium and I started to write this different kind of music that just made me feel funny and silly and lighthearted. I had a choice of what I was gonna do and I knew that wherever you go with your mind, you perpetuate your own reality and if I would´ve kept on to that dark stuff, I think I would have ended up dead. As a matter of fact I´m sure because I almost got there. “Flex-Able” was a catharsis. It was a young man metamorphosising and just expressing these things, so when I listen to it I feel really good. I mean, it´s silly and corky and some people just don´t get it, but that´s ok.

Cool story. Last thing. I read that you really like Fredrik from Meshuggah. What is it that makes him good?

Steve Vai: He´s organically brilliant. Rhythm makes us feel a certain way and I´ve always liked rhythmic situations that make me feel a different way. He´s capable of creating these emotional rhythmic environments that have an effect on your inner drummer, your inner rhythm and I like it. It scratches and itch that nothing else gets to. On top of all that, the way he´s playing is just totally unique. He´s a unique player and I don´t believe he thinks of conventional music theory the way most people do and that´s one of the reasons he comes up with what he comes up with. It´s pure organic feel and he´s searching for things that feel good to him and feel natural to him and make him feel a particular way. Then he´s got this beautiful musical environment of these other musicians around him that resonate with him on it and they create this brand of music that is very different and very unique. You hear more of it these days and sometimes trends forget who the godfathers are, but that guy is a godfather.

Ok. Do you listen to Opeth?

Steve Vai: Oh yeah, I´ve got all the Opeth stuff.

He´s another great guitar player.

Steve Vai: Yeah, he´s another great player. There´s this whole subculture of metal that… you know, I get a lot of it from my son Julian because he´s really into all this stuff. He´s into very progressive hardcore shit. There´s a big difference between outrageous dark music for the sake of it and really beautifully organic musical darkness. You know Animals As Leaders? I like some of his stuff too and you can tell that they listened to Meshuggah and took it into a different direction. I don´t know if you´ve heard Fredrik´s solo records?

Actually I haven´t.

Steve Vai: Holy mackerel! It´s really powerful and brilliant shit and he can play his ass off.

Ok, I´ll check it out. Thanks Steve!

Steve Vai: Thank you.

/Niclas