Category: REFLECTIONS
My Year in Rock – retrospect 2011 (part 1)
I sat down last night to write a summary of my year 2011. I was amazed to find how just one year, can feel like ten. 2011 has been a fantastic and memorable year for me.
I have travelled all over Europe, squeezing in a short visit to the States as well. I took the interviewing to a new level, by introducing video-interviews for this blog.
Speaking of the blog – it’s hard to believe that I launched it in February 2011, less than a year ago. Since then, it has established itself faster than I thought was possible.
Maybe because some readers who have followed me online since 1996 continued to follow my scribblings here, and it kind of went from there.
The past few months, I’ve ended up on Blabbermouth several times, which automatically drew a few thousand readers more than usual.
But, here’s how I remember my rockin’ year of 2011:
New Years Day 2011. I was browsing the web for info on gigs w. Gus G, who I had seen with Ozzy at Madison Square Garden in NYC a few weeks earlier. He totally blew me away. I found his MySpace-page and saw that Firewind had a gig in London only 7 days later.
FIREWIND in London – first gig of 2011
I found myself taking off to a rainy London a few days later, for the first gig of 2011. It was great, and also what started the Gus G/Ozzy/Firewind-galore of 2011, where I deliberately, and undeliberately, ended up seeing mentioned super-guitarist no less than 19 times… All of which could be followed in the separate blog Setting The World On Fire.
[Front row, Relentless Garage, London, UK – some blonde girl (=me), and a bunch of dark-haired guys…!]
TSO (Trans Siberian Orchestra) & JON OLIVA – no go
March included a few concerts, but also a planned but missed one. I was supposed to go to Zurich to see the TSO (Trans Siberian Orchestra)-gig because Jon Oliva was going to be a part of that tour, and as JOP (Jon Oliva’s Pain) hadn’t toured since the fall 2010, I wanted to see him. Was curious to see the US-phenomenon TSO at the same time, on their first tour to Europe. Due to personal issues, Jon couldn’t make it and I decided not to go either – money spent on the flight ticket went down the drain, but shit happens.BAD HABIT – the first video interview for In The Rearview Mirror
One of the best classic AOR-bands in Sweden, Bad Habit, announced a release-party and gig at Club Stairway To Heaven in Malmö. I’ve been a big fan of these guys since 1987, so I called the “band boss” Hal Marabel to set up a time for a video interview.
I’ve done TV-hosting, but video-interviews for the web was completely new to me.
My friend Henrik Hansson, former bassplayer of the band Hollywood, is good at filming and editing, so I asked him if he was in. He took it as a new challenge that he was happy to take on. Since this first “test-round” with Bad Habit, we have continued doing more and better video interviews throughout 2011.
Bad Habit kicked it all off, and they played a great gig that night, on the 11th of March 2011.
INTERVIEW HERE.
MEGADETH & SLAYER – Aarhus, Denmark
I took the day off to go to Aarhus, Denmark, a three hour long train-ride, to see Megadeth on March 21. Oh, headliners were Slayer, but I must be the only person on the planet who isn’t a huge fan of Slayer. I LOVED Megadeth’s performance, they kicked ass, had so much energy, it was just top notch. When Slayer went onstage I stayed for one song, then I had more than enough and went down to the train station to catch the night train back to work…
REVIEW HERE.
MIKE TRAMP – I remember you (interview and release party at The Rock, Copenhagen)
Only a few days after the Megadeth-gig, it was time to head back to Denmark to meet Mike Tramp, former singer of White Lion. Before the interview, I had e-mailed a photo taken at the last interview I had done with him in The tivoli in Helsingborg, Sweden, a few years before.
Funny enough, he remembered me. So, he took time to do the video interview during sound check the day of his release party for his new album “Stand Your Ground” on the 24th of March.
He is a very easy guy to interview, talks a lot, is very open and easygoing, every journalist’s dream. He is also a skilled artist and frontman, definitely enjoyed the gig later that evening.
Funny enough, I enjoyed the slightly “different” in-store gig that he did in a record store in central Copenhagen two days later, even more. More about that in the blog from that day: http://lita77777.posterous.com/in-store-gig-the-way-music-is-supposed-to-be
DORO – The Metal Queen visited Malmö
April was a pretty slow month by my standards. One of the highlights was Doro visiting Malmö on April 9, for an acclaimed concert at KB (Kulturbolaget).
Was also glad to see Chris, the merch guy, there. I first met him on tour with Jon Oliva, then with W.A.S.P and now with Doro. He was going out on the road with Arch Enemy as well but I never met him on that tour. Always nice to meet people you know, he’s a really cool guy.
There wasn’t enough time to set up an interview with Doro, but her record company and management were nice to deal with, so hopefully it can be arranged next time she comes to this part of the world. :-)
REVIEW & VIDEO HERE.
K.K Downing left Judas Priest
April was the month when one of the legends in the world of metal, announced that he was calling it quits. K.K Downing left Judas Priest under the most strange excuses and curcumstances. I got the news on Facebook April 20th… It was just two months before their Farewell tour was supposed to start, and I for one was shocked and pissed off all at the same time. The frustration didn’t go away until I actually saw Richie Faulkner on stage with Priest, and got a chance to ask him a thing or two at the press conference at Sweden Rock. But more about that later….
Matt LaPorte – guitarist of JOP, R.I.P……
Terrible news reached me on April 21st. A friend from the band (JOP) sent me a message so that I wouldn’t have to hear about it online. Matt LaPorte, guitarist with Jon Oliva’s Pain, and an important part of the “JOP-family” that I have so often described, had passed away in his sleep.
Nobody knew at that point what had happened, his room-mate found him when he came home, nothing more was ever mentioned. It suppose that the details didn’t really matter, it was sad news. He was my age, a life ahead of him and a very talented musician.But, something positive comes out of even the most tragic situations. A tribute-concert was held for him in July, which gave his friends and bandmates a chance to get together and remember…. R.I.P Matt.
Blogs about Matt: Matt 1 — Matt 2 — Matt 3
AMARANTHE – best debut of 2011
I was sent to interview this band in Gothenburg for Sweden Rock Magazine, but the article ended up being so short and isignificant in the mag, that I decided to give them the exposure they deserved elsewhere – on YouTube.
The first time I saw them was when I went to meet up with my friend Hanneke, light tech for JOP who was out with Kamelot (or possibly with the other act on the tour, Leave’s eyes) in Gothenburg. (Mentioned HERE)
They played Trädgår’n and it’s one of the few times that an unknown opening act gets my attention. Amaranthe were amazing. I’ve never seen such perfectionism on a stage by a “debut band”. I didn’t know at the time that the members were anything but new in the business.Henrik and I drove to Copenhagen and Amager Bio on May 15th, to talk to this kick-ass band (whose debut album had pretty much just been released. I wrote a very positive review in SRM, which guitarist Olof later on mentioned had helped a lot in the initial stage of promoting the band).
I predicted a very bright future for this band, and it turns out that I was right. In a very short time, they have definitely gotten a LOT of exposure for their deathmetal pop. 2011 was Amaranthe’s year and I’m really happy to see that they have done so well. Not only are they talented, they are also damn nice people, so – thumbs up and the best of luck in 2012 too guys!
ARTICLE AND VIDEO INTERVIEW HERE.
HELIX – Brian Vollmer talks about the ups and downs of stardom
My Canadian friend Sean e-mailed me one day and asked if I would be interested in doing an interview with Canadian band Helix. They had a few things going on, so I figured why not. Just like most rockers out there, I only associate the band with “Rock You” and “Heavy Metal Love”. As it turned out, there was a lot more than that to this band. It was published in this blog May 14th and can be found HERE.
JUNE was a crazy month. That’s when the ball REALLY started rolling. So, I’ll stop right here and continue this New Year’s blog 2011 with a part 2 – stick around! :-)
PART TWO: http://lita77777.posterous.com/my-year-in-rock-retrospect-2011-part-2
Lita Ford – the first lady of metal
Christmas-party at work had one easy to remember dress-code: There had to be something RED in our outfit. Those who know me also know that when you open my closet, there’s gonna be nothing but BLACK in there. So I started digging through piles of clothes, looking for something red.
Suddenly this old, worn out, washed out, greyish t-shirt from the late 80’s fell out from somewhere. My old LITA FORD t-shirt!
I loved that one back when I found it, because it was so difficult to get hold of certain things back then, before the internet made everything so available… Lita Ford-stuff wasn’t easy to find in Sweden, and this one cost me a fortune to import. So I wore it all the time.
I was a huge fan. Lita was extremely inspiring to a young teenage female rocker. Some people thought I was “wired the wrong way” because I was walking around with a t-shirt that had a half-naked woman on it, not to mention all the posters on my wall in my teenage-room. Lita was never known for wearing a lot of clothes….!
THIS is what Lita looked like in 1983-84 when I first heard of her…. As vulgar as it gets, perfect for a rebelling teenage girl who needed a role model! :)
But I think that maybe even that was a part of my fascination for Lita – she was totally fearless. I remember in one interview she said that if she hadn’t made it in the music business, she would have become a professional callgirl.
I couldn’t believe someone would make that statement, it was so “politically incorrect”. And for me, coming from a pretty strict family, that was unheard of, so it was so damn cool that she was so open and natural, very in-your-face with her sexuality.
What I liked about it was that she was such a badass. Many female artists use sex to get more attention (as well as male artists) but most of them end up looking like bimbos and brainless idiots. Lita was never a weak bimbo. She was cool and confident. and did whatever the hell she felt like doing, and that was inspiring.
I collected everything there was with Lita. Had every expensive hard-to-get picture vinyl single and imported LP I could get my hands on. I’ve followed her career most of my life actually. Always thought she kicked ass.
Maybe I didn’t like the “Black” album that much and I didn’t know what to think about the comeback-CD “Wicked Wonderland“. It was pretty obvious that it had more to do with her husband than with Lita, but at the time I was so happy that she was back after her long isolation on a desert Caribbean island, that I probably loved it just because she had made a new album after all those years of silence.
But honestly, I haven’t listened to it after I reviewed it. However, I did read and watched all the interviews on the web.
When she played Sweden Rock Festival, I was sitting there in Jon Oliva’s dressing room, which was just across from Lita’s, and couldn’t BELIEVE she was there! Kevin, my friend from Oliva’s band, walked in and started laughing:
– Do you realize that you look like a 13-year old fan right now?!
When she played, he got me up on stage to see her, cause I didn’t have the right credentials to be on Lita’s stage, but when escorted by someone who did, it was OK.
So I stood there just going “wow“. Her show, honestly, was a major disappointment and disaster. Probably one of the worst I’ve seen on Sweden Rock. It was embarrassing at times. Later on I was told that her guitarist never made it over to Europe, so everything sounded weird when it had been rehearsed with 2 guitars. I don’t remember if she ever mentioned that when she got on stage, but she should have.
This is from the stage – we stood there drinking wine, listening to Lita, couldn’t have been better! :)
That year, I got to do an interview with Lita and I was so nervous I could DIE…! She was the LAST of my heroes that I hadn’t met or talked to. So it was a huge deal to finally get her on the phone after all those years, I was freaking out…! But she was so cool about the whole thing, she was laughing, talking like an old friend and just made me relax.
I loved her attitude and her way of thinking. Maybe that’s why I’ve always felt it was easy to relate to her. She does what she wants, she lives the way she think is right, regardless what anyone else thinks. I’m the same. Maybe I’m not as extreme as she is, but somewhere deep inside I kind of wish that I was.
Looking forward to her next album that will FINALLY be all LITA again…!
Two clips from my interview w. Lita back in 2009:
1: Lita talking about abandoning her career to go live on a desert island
2: Lita talking about how she feels about her sons seeing and hearing things she’s done in the past.
Do fans OWN their idols?
I don’t normally go back to check my uploaded Youtube videos but this one gets so many comments that I had to go and check how many people that had watched it. I hadn’t expected that it would have almost 15,000 viewers..!
Some of it has to do with what I named the video “Rob Halford attacked by fan onstage“.
I guess people were expecting aggession on stage, like some maniac beating up Rob or something. But the way I see it, it’s a different kind of attack when you pass security to run up on stage in the middle of a show to throw yourself at the artist.
Just the fact that he surprised Rob like that is a form of attack, the way I see it. Stalkers do that, and then when they’re caught, their explanation is “...but I JUST wanted to….” like they are ENTITLED TO do whatever they want. Like it’s okay to do anything to show appreciation – at any time, anywhere and in any way.
I would be scared to death if I was a celebrity and fans showed up around every corner chasing me for hugs or autographs. Cause there seems to be a common misconception that a famous person OWES something to every person who chose to buy their records or attend their gigs.
It’s that attitude that makes people go: “He didn’t ATTACK him – he just HUGGED him!”
Sure – but you don’t run onstage during a show to “just hug” someone. If you are that eager to hug your idol, wait for a better opportunity, and maybe even ASK “hey man, I love your music, is it okay to give you a hug?” That would be showing the artist respect as well.
But that’s one thing many fans are lacking. Respect for the artists they say that they love.
The “hug attack” is just one of those things.
Another example is something that happened here in Sweden these past two days. Very non-rock’n’roll singer Rihanna cancelled two major sold-out shows due to exhaustion. The fans didn’t react with any concern for her whatsoever. All they could talk about was how pissed off they were because they had been “looking forward to this the past 9 months”.
If they are such big fans that they have been looking forward to her show for so long – wouldn’t that also mean that they ‘care, even the SLIGHTEST about Rihanna and her health status??
The girl is 23 years old and has a crazy schedule, so crazy that she collapsed. Yet nobody questions that. She is a moneymaker – in this business you’re in one day and out the next. So she needs to work her ass off to make big $$$$ for everyone involved – for as long as she can. Nobody gives a shit about HER. People care about her as long as she can entertain them. When she can’t – they don’t give a rat’s ass. She’ll be out in the cold.
I read an interview with Lady Gaga who said that she sleeps 3 hours a night, there’s just too much work to do. For someone in her position, I can imagine. That’s insane.
Britney Spears totally lost it – she was pressured beyond belief, chased like an animal. And when she went nuts, nobody would come to her defense, it was as if people just loved watching her misery.
The backside of being famous. You are only good as long as you can GIVE people something, as long as they can TAKE something from you.
When Ian Gillan visited Copenhagen many years ago, there were a bunch of fans in the hotel lobby. Some of them had brought their WHOLE RECORD COLLECTION that they wanted him to sign! Imagine everything from his Jesus Christ Superstar-days to Deep Purple, to his solo-stuff, Black Sabbath, whatever… tons of shit! He had no choice. If he had said no, that fan would immediately go and tell everyone that Ian Gillan is a selfish stuck-up rockstar who doesn’t care about his fans.
So Ian sat there, for god knows how long, and signed this guy’s freaking STACK of old LP’s. I stood there wondering what that guy was thinking. Did it ever, even for a few seconds, occur to him that MAYBE (just maybe) it MIGHT be too much for Ian to sign ALL those records? Did he ever stop and think “Maybe I should just bring my 5 favorite albums and ask him to sign them…”???
Probably not.
Same thing back in 1991 when Skid Row played in Gothenburg and were staying at Radisson Park Avenue Hotel. Rob Affuso and Snake Sabo were sitting in the hotel restaurant having dinner. A bunch of guys saw them there and were about to walk over there and ask for autographs.
I stopped them and said that maybe they could wait a little, the guys were in the middle of EATING “give them a break guys – they will have to pass you on their way out anyway, why not just wait a few?”
They stopped, as if they hadn’t even thought about that. Duh?! Rob and Snake could finish their dinner without being interrupted by selfish fans.
It’s cool to love a celebrity and his/her/their music, but what people seem to forget is that a celebrity is also a regular person. Give them space – show them some respect, shouldn’t be too much to ask?
I’m sure the Greek Rob Halford-fan didn’t intend to hurt Rob, but the fact is that he did perform a kind of attack by making the choice he made. To me, that was not okay. But to many of the people who commented on the video, it was no biggie. “He just wanted to….“.
Just like stalkers who are sleeping outside their idols’ house or calling them or their parents around the clock. I’m sure their explanation would start the same way “I JUST wanted to….”.
Wrong. Think again.
Just BELIEVE
Tommy Clufetos from Ozzy‘s band Twittered about an interview he had done that was on Youtube. Went to check it out. It just put a smile on my face – the guy seems to truly love what he does, he’s down to earth and thankful for what he’s got.
It’s that sincerety and love for music and the business that he’s a part of, that I get so inspired by. I love that quality in his band-pal Gus G as well. Basically, anyone who has that love and passion for music, dispite the ups and downs they’ve been through, gets my attention and “horns up”. :-)Rob Halford said it when I did my first interview with him on the Painkiller tour – “I live, breath, eat, sleep heavy metal – you’ve got to give everything when you make your music”. I guess that’s also the reason why musicians never seem to grow old. There is no AGE when you talk about musicians, and I think it’s because they are doing that they want to do.
Unhappy, bitter people age faster. But those that have the fire within them, they stay young forever. I saw a few new pics of David Coverdale and thought that this guy certainly doesn’t care about botox and face lifts – but the thing is…. eventhough David’s face shows the signs of aging, his presence doesn’t. I was thinking the same thing years ago, that he may be looking older, but he ages gracefully and he is young and vibrant because the enthusiastic young man David still lives in that same body – and when he talks or takes the stage – it’s unmistakable.
When you love something that much, when you are a creative person who can lose yourself in your music to the point where you forget about the world around you – it keeps you young.
And did it ever occur to you that if you put a “regular” man age 60 next to a rocker age 60 – you will see ONE major difference…. One of them will still have his HAIR. And it most likely won’t be the “regular dude”.
Maybe the strength lies in the hair, just like the story of Samson and Delilah, but seriously, I think that the secret for a long and happy life – is to love what you do, appreciate what you’ve got, be passionate and creative and live life to its fullest.
I admire and respect people who do and most importantly, I love being around people who have that fire within them, because it inspires me on an everyday basis. Thank god for those who BELIEVE….!
Ozzy is still alive
Words seen on Twitter last night: R.I.P Ozzy Osbourne…
I started shaking when I saw that. I could litterally feel the cut to my heart, the shock that felt like it slapped me in the face!
You should never believe shit you read on the internet without questioning it, but even if it hadn’t been true – this time – just seeing the words was horrifying.
It couldn’t be true, but what it if was? When Gary Moore passed recently, I couldn’t believe it either.
First there was only one source sharing the news and I chose to believe that it was just some sort of sick hoax. But it didn’t take long before it was confirmed from other, more trustworthy sources and it dawned on us all that yet another one of our heroes had left us.
This is what’s happening now, and we will see more of it in the years to come.
Our idols, who are like family to those of us who grew up with their music, are leaving this earth one by one. They get older, die of illness, accidents or age.
Ozzy, with his 62 years of age and anything but healthy background, would definitely be one of those who ought to be at risk.
The anxiety that I felt during the thirty minutes that I spent checking Twitter and other sources for possible more info…was ridiculous. I had to get peace of mind, find out for sure what was true and what wasn’t.
Thank god Sharon Osbourne had something to share on Twitter during that time, that had NOTHING to do with the macabre “news”. I could finally relax.
But I was still sick to my stomach. I felt physically upset for the rest of the evening and ended up going to bed early.
Minutes after Sharon’s Twitter-message, I heard back from the person who had gone out with the macabre “news”:
– HAHA! April fools!!
What – the………
I was so PISSED OFF…!!! I have never been angry with this person before, ever. Never thought I’d even have a reason to, but I was so mad that I couldn’t even talk.
If I could have hit something or someone in that very moment….
What the F****!!!!!???
What the hell is wrong with people?! That is just so fucking retarded! Not funny by any means, in any way, for any reason. I had to leave the computer for a few just to try to calm down, cause I was so upset.
Nowadays I realize how precious those “last moments” are with our heroes.
Didn’t we all think that Dio – the Man on the Silver Mountain, the King of Rock’n’Roll, would live forever? Don’t they all feel immortal?
I cried all day when I heard the news that he lost his battle against cancer.I will always remember when I heard it, where I was and how I felt that day. It was such a shock.
I almost started crying on the train the other day when “The Last in Line” started playing in my iPod. We will never hear Ronnie sing for us live again.
The only thing that’s left of him is his legacy, the songs he gave us.
It just breaks my heart.
[Me and Ronnie, Malmo, Radisson Hotel, late 90’s]
The worst thing I can imagine, would be seeing the words “R.I.P Rob Halford” on Twitter, at any time. I can’t even get into it. It’s just so strange how these people are a huge part of your life and your whole identity in a way.
It’s not easy realizing that they are not immortal, they will all die in the coming 20, 30 years…Remember how fast 20 years passed…? It was only 20 years ago that Skid Row released “Slave To The Grind” for instance. I still remember that very clearly.
My point is that eventhough we feel that the legends will go on for all time and eternity – they won’t. This is a time we should treasure and not take for granted.
People are shaking their heads when i say how many shows and festivals I will be going to this summer. But when Judas Priest announced this tour as their “Epitath“-tour (whether or not it’s true…) I didn’t want to miss a minute of it.
And Ozzy is Ozzy. Period.
I love these people and their music, it pisses me off when I see tasteless jokes, I’m still mad, what the f***, I don’t even see the funny part in that “April fools”-crap from yesterday.
Or maybe I’m just too sensitive..??
IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR 