Category: ROCK MEMORIES

November 9, 2012

A voice…from the other side

dave lep

[click for a larger version]

This… just made me feel so aware of how fragile and elusive life is, and how little we know about what we’ve really got in this right HERE and right NOW sometimes…

I was searching for the e-mail address of a friend that I haven’t talked to in a very long time, and made a search in my Hotmail inbox.
One of the first things that popped up was a sender with his name written in capital letters: DAVE LEPARD
It was written in August 2002 – more than ten years ago now.

I opened it out of curiosity and, translated, this is what it said:

Fuck, I’m really jealous of your meetings with Baz and the boys. Damn. But I’ve had bit of luck with the Skids too because I have a few pals in NY who know Seb and the fact is, he’s listened to a record we did with my band CRASH DIET. Real fuckin’ Motley, Skid Row-kickass kind of music. Hmmm, oh well, I’m gonna copy this letter and try sending it to your other e-mail address as well… would be cool to hear from you. ///Lepardman, Uppsala

It dawned on me that it was from “the” Dave Lepard, who at the time was fronting the glam/sleaze band Crash Diet. The, at the time, unsigned band Crash Diet.

I remember finding one of their demos among my CD’s years ago, and I never realized that it might have any actual value, so I put it on eBay, thought I’d be lucky if I got ten bucks for it. I set the “Buy Now” price to $25 and thought that nobody would buy it. It took about ten minutes and it was sold! I regret selling it now, but needed the cash at the time. :-(
The demo came with a hand-written note from Dave with a short description of the band – and the cover was a photo-copied ugly thing…

Anyway, when I received that e-mail, he was just one of many who used to write to me. I guess I didn’t pay much attention. Some guy who was in some band. There are tons of them, you stop taking notice really, unless somebody really sticks out. It’s sad, but inevitable when you get lots of material from so many in a never ending stream….

I don’t know if I ever replied to Dave – maybe I did from my other e-mail that he said he was sending his mail to. Looks like he was really eager to get in touch with me.
“This guy” later became a glam-icon, a cult-figure, after his suicide in January 2006 – at the age of 25… Which means he was only 21 when he wrote that e-mail.

Crash Diet got signed by Universal in 2005 and got a big hit with “Riot In Everyone” – the first single from the debut album “Rest in sleaze“.
You will have to Google the whole story or get a short version here: http://www.allmusic.com/artist/crashdïet-mn0000756884

It just made me feel low, because it’s so sad that a talented guy with such drive and such love for music, chose to end his life – and so young. He had so much to live for.

And then I find his mail, which made me even more sad because I had almost forgotten that he tried to get in touch with me all those years ago.
His mail just popped up – like a voice from the other side. Amazing how these digital traces continue to live on even when the people who left them are gone.

He did get to enjoy his success for a short while, and that counts for something I guess.
Just becomes a reminder that the kid off the street who says he’s “in a band” might actually make a difference within his field someday, become important to a lot of people. This “kid” certainly did.

Rest in sleaze, Dave.

November 3, 2012

Meeting IRON MAIDEN – The Ed Hunter tour 1999

Found this story from September 22, 1999 that was originally on my old website. Thought it would be cool to dust it off a little as it’s time for Maiden again next year. This was also during a time when I was collecting autographs – I don’t do that anymore. But it’s a nice memory. Here it is:

“This file created 99-09-22 00.36 by Claris Home Page version 2.0”

Janet and I went to Stockholm just for the fun of it really. She was on vacation and I thought it would be fun to meet Iron Maiden’s tourmanager (who I thought would be the same guy who handled the W.A.S.P-tour – he said he’d come back in the fall with Maiden. Looks like he had a change of plans).

We went to the hotel and saw a bunch of young guys with Iron Maiden t-shirts outside. We went to the hotel bar and ordered tea, so we could sit there and relax, while we studied the activity in the lobby.

Yes, tea, because you get a whole pot which is cheap and gives you all the time in the world to just sit there. (Comment: This was during a time when hotel staff used to throw out people who were not guests..)

The first one I saw was Dave Ellefson (Megadeth), one of my teenage-crushes. Now he has short hair and looks like any guy off the street, but he still looks good.

Dave Mustaine walked out right behind him. If I had been ten years younger, I would have rushed out with the Megadeth CD-cover and asked him to sign it. But now it just didn’t seem like the right time or place for something like that. He looked like he was going someplace and I didn’t want to stall him.

Janet said that Marty Friedman was talking to the people in the reception, and Marty is one of the people I was looking forward to meeting, cause I remember him very well from an interview that I did with him and Nick Menza back in 1990.

We had a good time, and after the interview I went with him to his room and helped him call Anders Johansson (Yngwie’s former drummer) cause they lost touch and he didn’t have his number anymore. Anders was one of my friends so I just put them back in touch with eachother. Yeah, no weird business when this blonde goes to someone’s hotel room, lol! :) Felt nice to reunite two friends. (Comment: The time before Facebook….)

But anyway, I figured he wouldn’t remember me after ten years, so I didn’t even want to embarrass myself by asking.

But Janet and I needed a map anyway, so we could find Globen (where Megadeth and Maiden were playing, a huge arena) so I went to the reception and of course, ended up right behind Marty. I didn’t say anything, I just waited for my turn. Then suddenly, somebody from the “musician-party” (the way he looked and talked, I’d say he was the tour manager…) turned around and asked me, in a pretty loud voice:

– What does it say on your t-shirt?! (I had a black t-shirt that said in big, white capital letters: NEW YORK FUCKIN’ CITY)

I opened my blazer-jacket a little so he could see, and in that moment, Marty turned around. And the next thing I heard was:

– Hey! I know you!!

– Yes you do. I never thought you’d remember, I said, and still couldn’t believe that he remembered me. I looked different back then, and we’re talking about TEN long years!

– Yeah, I do..! You did an interview or something, right?

– Yes..! Wow, you REMEMBER that??

– Sure! And you know what? I remember more than that! It was a small hotel in Copenhagen or something, like the Tivoli or something and… (and then he started to describe the place).

I couldn’t believe my ears. After ten years he could even describe details – I don’t even remember people I met last week!

– So, what are you doing here? he asked.

I didn’t know what to say, because I wasn’t sure myself what I was doing there. It was just one of those things… a good band comes to town, and you can’t just sit at home and ignore it, that’s all.

So I just said that I was looking forward to seeing a good show. How the hell I was going to get in was a completely different story. It had been sold out for months, and I didn’t even have a ticket…

– Well, good to see you, I’ll see you at the show tonight then?!

– Sure, I said and wondered why I said that. I had no idea if we would get in. Globen, a huge arena, Iron Maiden, the biggest metal-attraction since Metallica, except that this was BIGGER, and I didn’t have a ticket or anyone I knew who could help me pull some strings. The way things looked, Janet and I would spend the rest of out evening in the hotel-bar waiting for something to happen.

Then the Maiden-guys started walking in and out of the elevators, and I was still wondering if I would be a pain in the butt if I just jumped out from out of nowhere and asked for an autograph, but I really WANTED their signatures! So I walked over to Steve Harris with my leather jacket and silver marker and asked him to sign it. He was waiting for his cab, so I knew it was not a good time to start a conversation.

He signed it, smiled and was very polite, I just said thanks and went back to the bar. Jannick Gers ran past us so quickly that he dropped his cap – I guess it was because the lobby was full of fans with their records and as he was in a hurry, he probably didn’t want to start signing anything and then not be able to finish – and maybe disappoint a few fans.

But now Janet and I realized that this was our last chance to try to ask somebody to help us out. When Dave Murray came out of the elevator, I asked him to sign my jacket which he did with a smile. I remember Dave as the smiling man from Donington too (except for with the incident with the Cameraman from Hell, which I’ll tell someday…). He’s easy to like, a down to earth man who seems to love his life!

Janet just walked up to him and said that the show was sold out, we didn’t have tickets and that we would have asked that other guy (W.A.S.P‘s tour manager who said he was going out with Maiden and then didn’t) but as he wasn’t there….

– I think it’s in the last minute, but I’ll try. Give me your name and I’ll see what I can do, Dave said.

She gave him our names and he left – the others in the band were already waiting for him.

And that was it… The show was about to begin, and we both thought that Dave had said “I’ll see what I can do” just to get rid of us. Most people would have done that. So we almost didn’t go. Why waste time and gas for nothing? Our plan B was to stick around till Megadeth came back to the hotel and see if we could persuade them to go out to a rock-club or something.

– But we can do both…! We can go to Globen, know for SURE that we AREN’T on the guestlist and then come back here and wait for Megadeth, I said. Janet agreed and we left.

When we came to the security-gate at Globen arena, Janet said that we were supposed to be on the guest list, and the security-guy just smiled, gave her an envelope.

– Yes! Here it is!

She looked as surprised as I did- we went to the side and opened it. There were two tickets!! DAVE, WE LOVE YOU!!! :-)

Ticket!!

I managed to see Megadeth’s two last songs, and I love them. Had been looking forward to seeing them, but two songs were better than nothing.

When Iron Maiden walked up on stage, it was like a huge triumph-comeback! They have the best fans in the world! I looked around, and saw thousands and thousands of happy, crazy, screaming, headbanging Maiden-fans! They were in total ecstasy, and it was almost more entertaing watching the crowd than what was going on on stage! Almost… The last time I saw Iron Maiden was Donington 1992, but they were back to rock harder than ever! They were so good that I dropped my jaw. Holy shit.

Three guitars, the typical Maiden bass-sound and an absolutely fantastic Bruce! He has one hell of a set of lungs!! I even wondered if this was live or pre-recorded, but I saw it wasn’t fake. He really is one of the best vocalists around. He’s in great shape too, runs around the stage, jumps over amps like a rubberball, and owns the stage!

I got to hear some of my favorites: Phantom of the opera, Fear of the dark, Run to the hills and of course Number of the beast. It was a good mix actually, a little bit of everything from Maiden’s long musical history.

After the show, we drove back to the hotel just to leave a THANK YOU-note for Dave in the reception and also a note for Marty. Then we went to Copy, a small pub/club that played clasic heavy metal all night. I had a great time listening to old hits like Electric eye and Panama, but had to leave when the air was unbreathable in there. I can’t stand smoke, and it made me feel really sick. Besides, I was dead tired – I had only slept a few hours and driven all day. I needed rest. (Comment: This was before smoking was forbidden in public places in Sweden).

To make a long story short, I didn’t get much sleep that night for various reasons (we stayed with a friend of Janet’s who has three cats and a parakeet. The cats walked all over me during the morning and the bird screamed for all he was worth, so it was impossible to sleep). I wouldn’t have slept long even IF things had been perfect, because I felt that I had to go back to the hotel and get those missing Maiden-autographs before they left! Janet went back to bed and I drove off to new “adventures” on my own.

I went to the hotel-bar/restaurant and ordered tea. I was so tired that I was dizzy, felt sick and saw red and yellow spots before my eyes. I realized that I hadn’t eaten anything either… But then I recognized the Maiden-crew (I had seen one of them running with a fax-machine under his arm the day before) talking to the reception-ladies, so I quickly found my silver-marker and Iron Maiden promo photo that I got from EMI. Jannick came down first, but he was busy straightening out something at the reception desk, so I waited. The hotel-staff smiled at me, they recognized me from the day before.

When Jannick seemed to have solved whatever it was he had to solve and had a spare second, I asked him if he’d sign my jacket and photo.

– Suure! I’ll sign anything you put in front of me, he said and signed.

Then Dave Murray came out of the elevator with a little suitcase on wheels. He was still smiling! When he had finished talking to “his” people, I approached him, and he went:

– Hello! How are you?

– I just wanted to say thanks a lot for helping us!

– Yes, well..! It was a bit in the last minute, but it worked out okay! he said while he was signing the photo.

A guy who was apparently working with the band, walked over to me and asked what it said on my t-shirt (here we go again..!). He wondered what I was doing there (in a polite way). We talked a little, and he asked:

– Are you going to Gothenburg?

– I’m thinking about it, I said.

– Do you want me to put you on the guestlist?

– Would you..?? I asked.

– Suuure, sure! he said. Dave Murray overheard and said with a smile:

– I put her on the guest list last night..!

I wondered if that meant that I had used up my quota or something, but apparently not – the guy (let’s call him, say, Will) asked me to put down my name on a piece of paper, and I did. He asked if it was only me or if I had a friend who wanted to go. But Janet was staying in Stockholm for another day, and I didn’t know anyone in Gothenburg…

He told me that I could just relax and go get some rest or something, cause I would get all the autographs I wanted in Gothenburg. So they left with the words “see you in Gothenburg, then!” and I went to the garage to get my car. I had a long trip ahead of me to Gothenburg.

The drive to Gothenburg was a drag. I only made one stop just to be sure I’d make it to the show on time. I was tired and tried really hard to stay awake. When I finally arrived in Gothenburg, I spent the next ten minutes looking for a parking-spot. There were Iron Maiden-fans everywhere, I felt like I had just stepped out of a time-machine that had taken me back to my own “glory days” in 1983!

Now it was all happening once again, like a rerun of a popular tv-show! I envied the young, enthusiastic kids, cause I know how much THIS particular time in their lives will mean to them when they get older. Metal was everything to me when I was 14 years old! If there was a God, his name was Rob Halford, you know? I still love heavy metal, but that special “teenage feeling” is gone, naturally. Now it’s a different kind of dedication.

Well, anyway; I went to find out where the guestlist was, and found a security-guy right next to McDonald’s who was handing out little envelopes with interesting contents to curious and eager recipents! :-) Some of them were on the list, some of them weren’t. It’s always a gamble, cause you really never know for sure until you get there. Either he’ll say “nope, sorry, I don’t see your name here. NEXT!” or he’ll say “ah, yes…here you are!” and hand you your envelope.

I was nervous, what if I had driven all that way and I WASN’T on the list? But the minute I said my name the security-guy said “Yes, I recognize that name… I think I saw your envelope here earlier…hold on…Yup, here you go!“. Phew! I opened it up, and there was a ticket AND a VIP-pass!

I hurried inside so I could get in the front row, but when I came in, the front row was already packed. I managed to find a pretty good place eventually, and stood there watching the arena filling up with enthusiastic fans.

The guy next to me was complaining about having to “live through” Megadeth, cause he couldn’t WAIT to see Maiden, and I wished I had found a better spot, cause I really love Megadeth and it’s no fun watching a great band while surrounded by bored anti-Megadeth-people. Megadeth is a really good live-band, but this time it was obvious that they were the typical openers – bad sound, bad light… All the usual “opening-act-crap”. But who cares, the music was phenomenal -as always!

During the Megadeth-gig, the guy who had put me on the guestlist, Will, came over and asked if I was having a good time, and gave me a laminate VIP-pass. The Maiden-fan next to me stared at me, stared at the pass, stared at me again and probably wondered why the hell I had that pass… Well, I had no idea, I was just happy! :)

When Megadeth finished I asked one of the security-guys if I could get in backstage for a second to give Marty Friedman a message from a friend of his who lives in Stockholm now. I showed him my Maiden-passes and asked if they were OK for Megadeth too. He was really nice and said that there was a “meet and greet” party going on with Iron Maiden backstage, and that Megadeth had the dressing-room right next to the Iron Maiden party. I could always try and see if I could get hold of the Megadeth-guys.

– OK, thanks! Where is the backstage-entry? I asked.

– I’ll show you! he said and escorted me all the way through the different gates and security-people. I only met nice people that day, and I’m so greateful for that, cause I was too tired to get pissed off.

There was a whole bunch of people standing inside and outside the tiny dressing room backstage. The security-guy pointed at the next door and said:

– The Megadeth-guys are in there. Good luck!

Then he asked one of his colleagues something and came back:

– Apparently they’re already in there… If you’re lucky you’ll catch them before you all have to leave, cause the backstage area needs to be cleared before Iron Maiden goes onstage.

It was a madhouse back there, people everywhere, and I didn’t really have the strength (too darn tired!) to push my way in. I never managed to get to Marty.
Then Will (the guy who had helped me out all day with tickets and passes) grabbed me and went:

– Come on in! They won’t bite you! Hahaha!

First person I saw when I walked in was Adrian who was busy signing stuff, and Will just shouted:

– ADRIAN! Hey! Listen, can you stop that for a second, this girl has been waiting for two days!

I turned around to say that I hadn’t exactly been waiting for two days, but Will just smiled and put his finger over his lips as to say “ssshhhh!”.

Adrian stopped what he was doing and turned around. Will took my camera and took a photo of us, and more of less shoved everybody else out of the way so I could have my photo signed. Some things just never cease to amaze me…

Nicko made a typical Nicko-entrance, with a BIG smile and a loud voice:

– HIYA PEOPLE! HOWYADOIN´?!

…and went right to work signing autographs. Once again, I didn’t feel like being pushed and shoved, I just figured I’d wait until he was done, and THEN ask him to sign the photo. But once again, Will came to my rescue. He shouted:

– NICKO! This girl wants a photo, come on, get over here!

I felt a little bit embarrassed, cause I was being treated like a real VIP-person, while the others had to do what I always to – struggle! They were probably wondering why I got all that attention. Well, it still beats ME..!

Suddenly people started leaving. I asked one of the guys where everybody was going, and he just said that it’s SHOWTIME!

I rushed out, back to the arena and to my original spot in the front row. The Maiden-fan looked at me, but didn’t say anything. I wonder what he was thinking…! I thought to myself that if he was such a Maiden-fan, I could have gotten him autographs (I know that I would have appreciated that if I hadn’t had a pass myself) but he never said a word to me, and I thought it’d be stupid to just suggest that out of the blue, so I didn’t bother and decided to concentrate on the show.

But I was about to go backstage once again.

I had to leave the concert for a few minutes, cause I was so hungry and thirsty that I couldn’t stand it anymore – not to mention how dead TIRED I was, and it wasn’t going to get any better…

While I was up there, getting a hot dog, somebody shouted my name:

– Daniela!! How are you?

It was one of the regulars at my rock-club Hard Break. I told him that the next band playing at Hard Break was actually an Iron Maiden cover-band called The Eddies, and he knew who they were. When he left I ate the hot dog as quickly as I could not to miss too much of the show, and headed back to the concert. On my way back, people commented on my pass – some things just never change… A girl with a pass can only mean one thing, right? :-( What a drag.

The show was amazing, really. It was heavy metal true Maiden style, performed with all the energy and enthusiasm a crazy metalhead-audience could dream of! I just wished I had more strength to jump around like the others, but I was so tired, I thought I wouldn’t make it through the show, but I had to.

When the show ended, I waited a little before I started walking towards the backstage area. I didn’t want to look like one of those who walks around like in “Wayne’s World”, you know...”look! I’ve got a pass!”.

When I first began doing this backstage-going thing, I always placed my pass somewhere visible. Nowadays I hide it if I can. It’s embarrassing, I mean, it looks like I’m showing off and people can be pretty cruel sometimes. So I waited until the arena was almost empty, then I joined the others on the stairs where we waited to be let back in to the band.

I watched the activity in the arena – the fans were almost gone, the stage was already gone and the crew was working quickly and efficiently to erase the tracks of the concert that had just taken place. It didn’t take them very long to restore the arena to its original state.

There was a guy standing next to me who also seemed to be there on his own. Most of the others seemed to be friends or knew eachother in one way or another. I actually fell asleep STANDING when suddenly I noticed that people were leaving. It was time to go inside and meet the band.

We were shown into this hospitality room, and Will, who really did everything to make sure that I was having a good time, asked me what I would like to drink. I said “a Coke”, cause I needed the caffeine badly. I was driving so I couldn’t drink anything with any alcohol in it, not even a beer (which I hate by the way..!). He said he’d bring it to me in just a minute.

There we all were, in a dressing room, waiting for the band to show up. Some were helping themselves with the refreshments, some were just nervous, some were talking, and then there was me – who was sleeping…

I realized how awful it was that I was SLEEPING and I was backstage with Iron Maiden with a laminate-pass around my neck, and there were thousands of fans out there who would have done anything to trade places with me!

But at that point, it wouldn’t have mattered if DAVID COVERDALE himself had walked in (well…maybe! :-D ), cause all I wanted to do was get the autographs I lacked so I could get in my car and drive back home where my bed was waiting for me!

Will came back with my Coke and asked me how I was doing. I said, quite truthfully that I was dead tired. In that moment, Steve Harris walked in. Once again, Will pretty much dragged him over to me so I wouldn’t have to bother going over there myself, and took a picture of us.

I was dead at that point, and Will said: “Look, here’s my key to the hotel. It’s going to take another two hours at least before we’re done here. If you want, you can freshen up, take a shower, get a nap, whatever”.

Without really thinking I said thanks and went to their hotel before Bruce had even showed up. THEN it hit me, on the way in, that maybe I was being a little bit too naive. Maybe I was expected to “pay” for the hospitality. Happened to me once before with one of David Lee Roth’s employees – dispite being honest about NOT being a groupie, he didn’t believe me and it got to a very uncomfortable situation. I didn’t want that to happen again.

Maybe Will was a genuine, nice guy, but I wasn’t going to take any chances.

So I left the key in the reception, told them to give him the key when he got back. I met Bruce in the revolving door on the way out and got the last signature I was waiting for – and left.

I never got to thank Will for his generosity and help – so if you’re reading this: Thank you!

(Note: The names of the people in this story have been altered….)

October 26, 2012

Interview nightmares!

It will be a quiet evening today. Things really happen very quickly in this fickle business…
An interview opportunity turned up only about a day ago and was supposed to take place here in Malmo this afternoon or evening.

The tour manager didn’t get back to me all day. But he finally explained why the whole thing fell through – in the last minute: The interviewee was sick and had to rest today, in order to perform scheduled duties tomorrow. An explanation and an apology is all I need. Everything OK, no prob.
Maybe sometimes it’s only a last minute excuse for something else, but that’s fine, as long as people don’t compromise my time.

Looking back, there have been a few interviews from hell. Artists that have only answered “yes” or “no” to everything, artists that got drunk, turned the interview into a circus, trashed the bar before passing out, artists who have flirted instead of doing their job, and well, a little bit of everything. ;P

Not only the artists, the people around them can be quite a pain in the ass too.

The first time I experienced it was back in 1990 when Alice Cooper was in Malmo and was staying at the SAS Royal Hotel. I had an interview scheduled and had booked a photographer as this was supposed to be a center spread. A professional photographer who charges by the hour. You don’t want to waste his time.

Alice’s assistant called me three or four times that day telling me that it WAS okay with the photo-session, then it wasn’t okay, then it was…and then it wasn’t.

I kept calling the photographer yes-no-yes-no... It was embarrassing and annoying. It all ended with this: I wasn’t allowed to bring a photographer, but was welcome to do the interview on my own.

Thank god I brought my own little simple camera – and then asked the assistant to take a pic of Alice and me. It wasn’t a good shot, but it’s the ONLY one from THAT particular meeting. I’ll never forget the drama though!

[Alice Cooper in his hotel room at SAS Radisson, 1990]

A similar thing happened with Blackie Lawless (W.A.S.P) in the beginning of 2000 when W.A.S.P played in Malmo. My cellphone kept ringing off the hook that day. Blackie would do the interview. Blackie was not going to do the interview. Blackie WAS going to…. oh, geeez! The last thing I heard was that Blackie was fine with doing the interview and I was welcome to the venue at five o’clock or whatever it was, right after sound check.

I got there, set up my recorder, prepared my questions… I looked up, and in walks… Stet Howland (the drummer)!??

They sent STET to do the interview instead of Blackie – cause “the man” had decided to go and TAKE A NAP on the bus…. *sigh* Don’t get me wrong, Stet is a funny and a nice guy, but you want to know who you will be talking to BEFORE you get there.

Or Pete Steele – Type O Negative (RIP) he acted like a rock star diva at first. He did the interview alright, and it was a really good and interesting one by the way, but then he suddenly decided that he didn’t want to do the photo session. And the photographer was already on her way to the venue with all her studio equipment…!

But then, when she started taking pics of the other guys in the band, Pete got curious and walked over to check it out. He ended up getting so into it that it took hours before the photo session was done! Killer, killer photos! Wish I had a few of them….

Then there was Ville Valo, HIM-frontman. The first interview I did with him, he was great. Interesting conversation, very polite and all that… The SECOND time, maybe one or two years later, his attitude sucked..!

When I got there, Ville and the drummer were…not exactly sitting, more hanging, in their chairs looking bored before I had even as much as said hello. Oh, lovely… Didn’t matter what I asked, they just didn’t want to talk. Instead, they would give deliberately stupid answers or laugh at eachother’s jokes.

I was pissed off. We both have a job to do, why waste my time if they weren’t going to do theirs?! Got even worse when the photographer tried to take a pic of Ville. He had some beanie on his head that he had pulled so far down his face that his eyes barely showed.

She asked if he could remove it. His response was: “No!” So she asked if he could maybe lift it up slightly. He went: “No” then she asked if he could maybe look up a bit at least. He barely felt like doing that. She managed to take one – maybe two pics before he just got up and walked out of the room! WTF?!

Oh and by the way – I didn’t write a word about HIM after that. Total waste of time.

[Ville from the first interview, maybe a year earlier. Nice guy, good interview. Things can certainly change quickly]

Shortly thereafter, same venue – interview scheduled with German band Helloween. The guy I was about to interview was at the venue, but didn’t show until 2 hours too late. His excuse? He had to “take a shower”…. Must be the cleanest rock star in the business…

Mike Monroe – oh my god. This is a long story but the “worst” one yet. :) The photographer and I were working on a book project in collaboration with Sweden Rock Magazine many years ago, and Mike Monroe and Andy McCoy were to be featured in the book.

The photo session was supposed to take place at Savoy hotel – photographer had managed to negotiate an hour in a very old and cool part of this hotel’s restaurant, before they opened that day. When Mike didn’t show, I went to the hotel down the street to find out what was going on.

It didn’t take so long for Mike to come downstairs but…when he realized that there was a photo shoot involved (that was the most important part of the whole interview!) he disappeared back to his room, stating that in THAT case, he needed to fix his makeup.

It took FOREVER for him to get back and the clock was ticking… the location wouldn’t be available for much longer. Once he got there and did the shoot – he did a brilliant job I can’t say anything about that. He was an absolute pro in that respect. But then, before leaving, he climbed into an antique grandfather clock from the early 1800’s, causing us to get banned from the hotel because of it…

He and Andy wanted to eat “before the interivew” and asked if there was good Indian food somewhere nearby. There was only ONE, and a pretty expensive one, since it’s right in the tourist district… Neither me or the photographer had counted on anything like that, and we were both pretty much broke.

[Don’t take these guys to a restaurant if you’re short on cash…]

I ordered a soda. Mike and Andy (and Mike’s girlfriend) ordered starters, entrees, dessert, drinks –everything on the menu, well, not far from it. The table was FULL of plates and glasses. The interview? Well…. He said “ask whatever...” while eating, so it was an unusual scenario but he wasn’t really in the mood for an intrerview and I got some stupid or very short answers. Funny, cause I had spoken w. Mike the year before and THEN he had been really cool.

Anyway… Suddenly, Mike takes his napkin, wipes his mouth, gets up and says: “Thanks! Bye!”

Andy and the girlfriend followed him, left the restaurant…and left us with the bill! That bill was as long as my ARM! We didn’t have money for representation and this had not been in the plans at all.

The magazine, of course, didn’t want to pay for it, the record company said they had nothing to do with that and the management said they knew nothing about a restaurant visit. So, we emptied our pockets and used our credit cards to the last penny we had. And the interview hadn’t even been worth it….

Oh – and I’ve STILL got that receipt as a souvenir!

Interviews don’t always turn out as planned. But I guess that if they did, I wouldn’t have all this stuff to look back on – in the rearview mirror. ;)

July 16, 2012

Bang Your Head festival 2012 – recap

Bang Your Head-weekend in Balingen, Germany, is over. It’s been two interesting days. Part one has been published in the Firewind-blog here.

It’s not every day that you see Venom in the catering or Cronos walking around in his stage outfit in broad daylight (or have the dressing room across from the ladies room for that matter).

Swedish sleaze/glammers Crash Diet were like glued to their chairs in the backstage area all day on Friday. The only time they moved was when it started pissing down in the evening, and theyhad to move inside. After that, they didn’t move from the catering tent until god knows when. When I left after Venom on Friday night, they were still sitting there.

I forgot that Elize Ryd from Amaranthe was with Kamelot. She walked into the catering as well, right after Kamelot finished their set, being very particular with what was on the menu and what she could eat. :)

Another piece of entertainment was seeing a few half-naked musicians both days when going to and from the ladies room (not my fault it was in the dressing room area, lol…!).

Some guys who were working at the indoors-stage were staying at the same hotel as Anett and me and one morning, at breakfast I heard them talking, in German (I can pick up on a lot of German as long as they don’t speak too fast or at the same time). One guy was somewhat upset about what had taken place the night before.

– I couldn’t believe it…! Four girls in the front row called EXODUS singer to come over, and when he went there, ALL FOUR of them FLASHED their tits in his face! What the fuck! This is a THRASH-concert, it’s not a fuckin’ STEEL PANTHER-show!

I don’t think I’ve ever heard a guy complain about chicks flashing their boobs, but this guy certainly didn’t like it, lol! :-)

I could enjoy listening to a “private show” on the stage right after Firewind, when Armored Saint‘s singer John Bush was warming up. Usually you hear singers warm up with scales, but he was singing at the top of his lungs, as if he was already on stage. Pretty cool. :)

Walked into the indoors arena on Friday afternoon, as they had signing sessions there during the day. Arch Enemy had a looooong line of fans standing in line to meet “Barbie of death” Angela Gossow and the guys.

Some fans were so taken by the situation that they just stood there like paralyzed staring at Angela and wouldn’t move. There were cameras and people everywhere. I left, couldn’t see much but could establish that the band was as popular off stage as onstage. :)

When Thin Lizzy hit the stage, it was raining again. The festivals this year have been haunted by bad weather. Ricky Warwick walked out on the runway, fearless of the rain and stated: Here’s the deal. YOU get wet – WE get wet! He stood by his word.

It was guitarist Damon Johnson‘s birthday that day and he looked like a happy kid in a candy store when looking out over the crowd. :-) Excellent show!

[Birthday child]

Went to the VIP tent after Thin Lizzy because the rain kept getting worse. But shortly after there was a loud bang and it was the beginning of Venom’s show. The rain was really pissing down at this point. When I came to the stage I was surprised – it was almost empty. I could easily walk to the front of the stage. There were fireworks and fire and god knows what else in Venom’s show but… the crowds were gone.

DAY 2. (Axxis, Primal Fear, Primordial, Sabaton, Gotthard, Pain)……….. coming up.

July 1, 2012

GRASPOP METAL MEETING 2012 – MEGADETH memories and reviews (Part 3)

So…. I love Megadeth. Both Vera and Rob were giggling a bit at my teenage-happy face. I was really looking forward to the show and yeah I admit that I was almost terrified at the thought of bumping into Dave Mustaine somewhere back there. After all this time working in the music biz, I’m not easily impressed by “rock stars” anymore, and most bands are on a totally different level nowadays.

Very few still make me feel like a nervous, stoked teenager…!
Megadeth and Whitesnake (what a combo by the way…lol!) are two bands that I still have a lot of respect for.

[From WAY back when I was hanging with Megadeth because former guitarist Marty Friedman was a super-great guy who also happened to be friends with Anders Johansson (former Yngwie-drummer) who in turn happened to be a friend of mine also….:-) So he would get me passes and stuff, very kind person. Maybe I’ll write about those “old” Megadeth-memories some other time! :-)

(Hanging around Megadeth’s stage hours before they showed up)

People around us were working, so the breaks inbetween bands were slightly boring at times. While I was sitting there, overlooking Megadeth’s drumset – somebody got up there and started playing. First I thought it was a roadie or something – but when I took a closer look, it was Shawn Drover himself. He smiled and left. A few minutes later, I bump into Chris Broderick who’s also smiling, warming up right behind the Megadeth backdrop.

(Chris warming up minutes before they hit the stage)

I asked Ellefson’s tech where I could stand so that I wouldn’t be in anyone’s way, cause I saw that people had been told not to stand here or there because the sound-guy needed to see what was going on on stage. I just wanted to enjoy the show without being told to move. “If you stand over there you’ll be good”, he said and pointed at a spot right behind the sound-guy.

Just as I was adjusting my camera – Dave Mustaine suddenly walks right out on stage. I’m glad the camera was on so I didn’t miss anything…!

And the show was….? Well, for me it was freaking great, but it’s the last time I’m ON the stage during a Megadeth concert. There’s something about being in a crazy crowd that’s going insane – that feels right when it comes to Megadeth. Standing there, civilized without as much as sweating, felt kind of snobby and not-so-rock’n’roll.

As much as I realize the privilege of being so close to the band up on stage, it’s still not the way a show is supposed to be experienced.

I love everything about Megadeth – they sound brilliant, and the angry Mustaine-vocals make every syllable believable. I kept hearing from people what a “dick” he supposedly is and that’s something I’ve heard as long as I can remember. There’s always been people disliking him. Not saying that they’re wrong, I don’t know him personally to state otherwise, but if he hadn’t been arrogant, his music wouldn’t have been what it is. It’s the anger and the arrogance that does it.

And maybe I simply LIKE people with an attitude problem. :-)
Back in 1999 I went to Vegas to see Megadeth at The Joint (Hard Rock Hotel). and some chick tried to impress Dave by flashing her boobs. Dave just looked at her, being anything BUT impressed, and said: “You know… if you water them, they might grow.” OUCH! :-)) See, I likethat kind of sarcasm, call me crazy. ;)

The guy doesn’t give a rats ass about anything, I think that most people secretly admire people like that.

So anyway – “the new” Megadeth is better than ever. I used to think they were boring live, but that has changed in the past few years. I don’t know what happened, maybe it’s the chemistry between the current band members, cause it works really well.

But again, watching Megadeth from the side of the stage might be a privilege and I know that – but it’s not the ideal place to actually experience a gig. You’re supposed to be in the mosh pit with a few thousand other maniacs, getting all your aggressions out, getting your ass kicked, sweating and jumping and – all that.

Last year I took the day off to go see Megadeth in Aarhus, Denmark. It was amazing – there was all that aggression in the music that got your adrenaline pumping – it gave you strength and it was like some sort of mental cleansing.

Even at Graspop I was filled with that feeling, but in a less physical sort of way. Any band that can bring out emotions like that, is worth following.

After the show, I met Vera behind the backdrop – and she started laughing. “My god, Daniela, you look like a happy child!” I guess I must have had that “holy shiit they rule!“-face and yes I was definitely happy. Can’t wait to see them again.

MEGADETH photo album on the FB-page: www.facebook.com/intherearviewmirror

A few of the highlights:

Ooooh – myyy – goood! :)))

One of my absolute favorite Megadeth-songs, great lyrics. The filming is terrible but I was trying to actually watch the band without the camera being in the way – and record at the same time. Didn’t work out so well :-D