As promised – more from the Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden)-interview that I did at Monsters of Rock – Donington back in 1992.

The interview that I got cause Bruce accidentally spilled coffee (or tea, I don’t remember for sure anymore) over me. One of those more unusual situations that I won’t ever forget. :-)

In this segment, he mentions that he thought “Somewhere In Time” was the weakest Iron Maiden-album that he wouldn’t have released if it had been up to him. He also mentions Skid Row as good competition on the Donington bill, but adds…. well, you’ll have to listen for yourself.

And someday I will tell you the story about “The Cameraman from Hell” that was supposed to film the interview I was doing with Iron Maiden the next day – for the TV-show “RockShow” that he was the host of to begin with – but he forgot to charge the battery….and also forgot that the outlets in the UK are different from the Swedish. My god.

It created the most awkward situation, right in front of Iron Maiden whose facial expressions I’ll never forget.

Next time…! :)

A stress coach visited us at work yesterday for a “stress workshop”. The idea was to teach us how to get more out of life, cause if you’re happy, you don’t get stressed or burnt out as easily. The more I listened to him, the more I realized that… I’ve got all that stuff down already.

He said that people get so focused on the wrong things (=work, work, work with something that doesn’t fulfill them), that they forget what they truly love or want out of life. That in turn creates resentment and bitterness and next thing you know, you worry yourself sick, literally.

Music is my salvation and it always has been. There is a “soundtrack” for every mood or situation in life. The first time I ever felt jealousy for instance – I must have been maybe nine of ten, I sat in my room feeling sorry for myself, listening to John Lennon’s “Jealous Guy” over and over again. There was a lot of boo-hooing, sobbing and fuck the world-ing. But I felt a LOT better after I got it all out. Complete cleansing of the soul. Perfect. That’s the way music works, better than any shrink.

Determination needs Judas Priest’s “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’“.
Anger calls for Manowar’s “Kill With Power” (die! die! oh, yeah).
Love makes me want to listen to anything by Whitesnake, cause listening to the sexiest voice in the business makes you walk on little pink fluffy clouds! I still laugh at the story told by a male friend of mine who said that when he needed a little bit of help to,,,uh, score, he would put on some Whitesnake and it always got the girl in the mood. Nice trick, and from what I heard, it worked pretty well too. :)

Music is everything.

I’ve been planning my own summer festival tour for months and even just planning it gets me in a good mood. Some people laugh and call me crazy. But the only reason why anyone would think of it as crazy, is because it’s not a norm, it’s not a standard to do what you REALLY want to do.
So what if I see the same band half a dozen times? It’s about taking the chance to experience a good show as much as you can, because you don’t know when you’ll get the opportunity next time.

Too many people are afraid of what others are gonna think. They restrain from doing things they would like to do, and put up boundries that aren’t really there. Because the truth is – you can do pretty much anything you want to do. Just do it.
I don’t care what people think – this is my life and I’m the only one who can decide what’s right for me and makes me happy.

Life is limited. We don’t live forever, eventhough things might feel limitless sometimes. Thinking too far ahead, forgetting about the NOW means that you will let your whole life pass you by while you’re waiting for your dreams to come true “someday“. There IS no “someday”. This is your moment, your chance. This is what you’ve got. Go out there and get what you want out of life.

As Janis Joplin already established back in 1967 – tomorrow never happens – it’s all the same fuckin’ day, man. You’ve gotta call that life. Four months later, she was gone.

As biased as I may sound sometimes, it all really comes down to one thing – music is my greatest love in life and I want to live that life as much as I can. It wasn’t my destiny make it as a singer and travel the world singing for big crowds. I decided to accept that instead of chasing a dream that woudn’t come true. Now, I’m travelling all over the world to see those who ARE privileged to play for a living. The chosen few. And I get my kicks that way, I’m loving every second of it!

[It wasn’t in the stars for me to “make it”, but people generally like my version of this old Savatage-classic. The sweet, kind comments puts a big smile on my face! :-D]

I know that I will be tired, hungry, thirsty, pissed off at all the drunk jerks, the assholes, I will be crushed against the barricades and get bruises all over, my feet will hurt from all the standing and walking, I will be freezing my butt off during chilly nights at the summer festivals, or get burned in the sun during the day.

And I’m sure I’ll get a bucket of ice-cold water in my face when Ozzy does his thing, or get hosed down with foam or whatever the hell it is (is it only me who has my mind in the gutter, but doesn’t it look like people are basically covered in… uhm…a kind of “bodily fluid”…??).
And it’s ALL going to be so worth it, because when the music starts playing, you don’t care about anyting else than THAT moment. It’s pure magic.

I was talking to a friend the other day, who isn’t into the whole music-thing, and I told her how I thought people were stupid for getting themselves piss-drunk at festivals that the had paid big bucks for, and then they end up passing out somewhere, missing the whole thing!

She looked sceptical and asked: “Haven’t you ever had as much as a glass of wine before a concert…? You know, just to party a little, have fun?”

I told her, truthfully, that there is no drug in the world that can make me feel as “high” as a good song, a good performer, a good concert – or all of the above. So, that glass of wine would just be a waste of time and money. I don’t need it.

So, going back to that stress-coach I mentioned before… He kept talking about people wasting their lives doing things they didn’t like to do. He wanted everyone who felt that they didn’t get what they wanted out of life, to make a 5-year plan of what they wanted their lives to be like.

What was their idea of a perfect life – the GOOD life? It’s different for everybody.

I didn’t need to think about it. And I’m doing it right now. I’m living it.

I will have visited 8 countries in 3 months this summer.
I will have seen Ozzy 6 times.
Judas Priest 4 times.
Whitesnake 3 times.
Firewind 3 times.

And a BUNCH of other bands that I love! Mr Big – Megadeth, Styx, Skin, it will be better than Christmas! :-))

Call me crazy, but at least I am a very happy “crazy” person. :-) I can live with that. :)

This is part of my summer:

THE METAL GODS JUDAS PRIEST:
SwedenRock 2008, I’m rocking 3:02! ;)

THE GREEK GREAT GUS-ITARIST GUS G:
First gig I went to this year and look where it got me! It’s all Gus’ fault. :)

 

THE SEXIEST VOICE IN ROCK – DAVID COVERDALE – WHITESNAKE

Singing the sexiest song ever, phew…! ;P Get the new album Forevermore!