Whitesnake, Manchester and other thoughts…

Third move to another blog provider. Let’s hope I won’t get any trouble with this, and thanks to Metalpaths for the kind offer to help out when I was struggling trying to get the other blog to work.

Those of you who used to subscribe and get the updated posts directly in your e-mail (a service that was offered by Posterous) – you can do that now, as WordPress offers that service as well. :) Just scroll down a little and you’ll find the subscription button to the right.

Today is a day off. But my “to do”-list is still long, tomorrow I’m off to Manchester for the Whitesnake (Journey/Thunder) show at MEN Arena. I’m as excited as ever about that, I just don’t like that it’s a seated arena.

Everything is “seated”. I just don’t think that the floor in front of the stage at a ROCK concert should EVER be seated! I want to stand there in the front with a bunch of other maniacs and feel the PULSE, the ENERGY and just get into it. At least at a Whitesnake concert I do. You can’t get that feeling in a CHAIR. :-/

Keep the seats for the Symphony Orchestra, and give the rockers space to go wild.

Other things that are on my mind today are all the losses in our rock’n’roll extended family…

This week has been a sad one for many fans of the Doors and now also for the fans of Uriah Heep.

Ray Manzarek – founder, keyboardist/bassist of the Doors, died of cancer in Germany, Monday evening, at the age of 74. I’d say that the credit for the sound of the Doors goes to Ray. Another historic rock icon has waved farewell.

Uriah Heep‘s bassist Trevor Bolder lost his battle against cancer at the age of 62 yesterday.

English: Uriah Heep's Trevor Bolder, Live in M...

English: Uriah Heep’s Trevor Bolder, Live in Milan, 09 November 2008 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It seems that we are losing one after another now.

There’s probably going to be a lot more in the years to come. Hard rock/heavy metal was invented in the seventies, if you don’t count the bands and artists that inspired the development of it, back in the sixties.

The Black Sabbath or Deep Purple guys were young back then – in their early 20’s, and they are hitting their 60’s now, at the very least – and although 60 is not old for a rocker, it’s still an age where many are beginning to battle various health issues. Doesn’t have to be lethal but our heroes are simply not going to be around forever.

And it’s just now that this is beginning to sink in, cause we grew up with these guys, they are such a natural part in our lives. Much like parents, they’ve always been there, it’s hard to imagine the day when they won’t be, eventhough you know that that day WILL come.

Just makes you think. I’m going to as many shows as I possibly can – especially by the great legends of metal, because you never know how long you’ll have that privilege. Might be 10 more years, might be tomorrow.

Sad thoughts aside – hectic times ahead. Whitesnake in Manchester, UK tomorrow, Megadeth in Copenhagen on Saturday, Whitesnake at Wembley next  week, and then shortly after that – 4 days of metal madness at Sweden Rock festival. A week after that – Whitesnake again in Zagreb, Croatia.

But it’s the kind of “busy” that I love! See you all out there, somewhere! :)

Euro(ck)vision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest 2013 is being held in my home town Malmö, Sweden – and there’s no way you can miss it! There are giant mirror balls and purple spotlights at the train station, there are stages and official ESC-merch in the heart of Malmö, people walking around with t-shirts and bags with the slogan on them: “We are one”.…

I used to watch this so called “music contest” when I was little, it was a family thing. But back then there were only 12 countries, maybe up to 20 tops, butnow it feels like every little godforsaken mini-country wants to be a part of it, and even countries that aren’t actually in Europe. It’s lost its appeal – it did years ago.

But this year, there’s a bit of rock’n’roll involved, which makes it slightly more interesting! :)

Two Black Sabbath-guys involved in one way or another.
Ex-Sabbath singer Tony Martin shared this pic earlier this morning:

Photo: I'm gonna be supporting my friend Bonnie Tyler In her Eurovision attempt this weekend. Wish ya the best of luck Bonnie ... Go get em!!!!! .. Love ya!!!

His caption: I’m gonna be supporting my friend Bonnie Tyler In her Eurovision attempt this weekend. Wish ya the best of luck Bonnie … Go get em!!!!! .. Love ya!!!

Bonnie Tyler’s song is written by no other than Desmond Child (does he even need an introduction???) and produced by David Huff – known from the 80’s hard rock band, Giant (I loved their “I’ll See You In My Dreams” and “Believer“).

Competing for Armenia is the band Dorians, with a song written by no other than the mighty Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath).

The Dutch rock-chick Anouk is competing for Netherlands of course, with her song “Birds“. We all remember her for THIS mega-hit:

And Iceland is sending Eyþór Ingi Gunnlaugsson who’ll be singing “Ég á líf” (I am alive). He’s a singer in an Icelandic progressive rock supergroup called Todmobile.

So – on stage or behind the scenes, there are rockers everywhere, even in the seemingly dorky Eurovision Song Contest.

Maybe gives it at least a little bit of cred…! :)

The Man On The Silver Mountain….

Ronnie Dio is probably one of those people who’s been in most rockers’ lives since the word go. He left this life 3 years ago, but rock’n’roll heroes never really “die”.

I remember Ronnie as being a very kind and polite man with a great sense of humor.

[Ronnie, press conference at Sweden Rock Festival 2005]

He was just one of those people who always had TIME for everybody. I never saw him brush off people without a very good reason (I never saw him do that at all, but I would imagine that if he ever did, there would have had to be a reason).

Many years ago we had an interview scheduled with Ronnie in Malmo and the band was late. When they showed up at KB, there wasn’t even time for a proper sound check, and we had almost given up on the idea of getting an interview.

I was convinced that we could just forget about it. Ronnie walked over with a smile, said that it was very tight with his time, but if we thought we would be able to do it in 5-10 minutes, then he would be happy to do it. And then he apologized over and over again for the situation being what it was.

He left his contact e-mail and offered to answer any questions that we still might have at a better time. He kept his promise.

Most artists would have told us that they couldn’t do it, and left it at that. Ronnie chose to find a solution, eventhough he really didn’t have to.

Years before that, I was at SAS Radisson Hotel in Malmö with some friends, and Ronnie came out of the elevator. I guess we all must have looked like a swarm of flies when we all tried to get an autograph before he left. He smiled, didn’t act stressed or annoyed at all, he just enjoyed meeting people. Always time for a kind word and for a photo or whatever it was people wanted.

Nobody is perfect and I’m sure that Ronnie wasn’t a ”perfect” person either, but I’ve only ever seen him as a kind and very professional man. On stage he always blew me away. He made everything look so easy. When he moved, it was as if he was walking on little clouds or something, he was just a very unique artist in every sense of the word.

I remember the day he passed, I was in Croatia and had very limited access to the Internet, and it was too expensive to call somebody in Sweden.
It was such a shock when I got the news, felt like a family member was gone. I couldn’t believe it, was so low all day and the worst part was that I had nobody to talk to about it.

My dad is great, but he knows nothing about music and you can’t explain to someone who’s not a part of this whole rock’n’roll lifestyle how it feels and why. To him, it would just be ”some artist” so why would that affect me at all. Basically, I couldn’t vent it anywhere. I got a text from a friend over in the States, I remember that much. It just said something like ”I’m so sad”, he felt the same way – as did the whole heavy metal community all over the planet.

It was a sad day. The King of Rock’n’Roll, The Man On The Silver Mountain, lost his battle against ”the dragon” – cancer.

But people like Ronnie never really cease to exist. They live on in the hearts of millions of people all over the world. I’m sure he’s up there having a great time with all the other greats who left us to join the band in the sky….

The day that changed everything

Found my old (handwritten) diary from 1988…

And read the entry I wrote the day I was recruited to write about heavy metal for one of the biggest newspapers in Sweden. I was just a teenager, this thing was so HUGE to me!

The day that changed everything

DECEMBER 14, 1988

This is unreal. Everything is like a dream, and I’m waiting to wake up from it. For years I’ve been dreaming about this, and now that it’s happening, I just don’t get it. I’m shocked, to say the least. And all I did was WRITE LETTERS!

Now… my own column/page every Friday, my own mailbox, free records, free concerts and interviews that I’m getting paid to do. Yes, I’m getting paid for something that I would happily have done anyway, it’s insane!

There must be a catch somewhere. I mean, here I am, a nobody from out of nowhere, ending up at one of Sweden’s main newspapers where it’s basically IMPOSSIBLE to get in… and I get my own… I can’t believe it, it can’t be real.

I wonder how long it’s gonna take until I fully comprehend this, before I understand how much this actually means.

When they called, I thought that I might go with them and interview Europe, as that is closest on the concert schedule. Only THAT would have been incredible, I never even thought beyond that! And NOW…!

I went there today on my lunch break, dead nervous and aware that it was a question of life and death. If I screw this up, I might as well go and jump into the canal. But Magnus, whatshis name, at work, read my stuff and said “I think you’re a good writer!” 

The next step was a byline-photo. The editor called someone on the fast line: “Get a photographer over here NOW, I need one right away. We have a nice young lady here who’s gonna be writing about hard rock for us.”
Holy shit, photo too…

I got 500 kr for the article. And I will get my own letterbox in the newsroom. They will be paying my phone bills from now on. And I’m having dinner with them on Monday.

I was dazed, just said thanks and left to go get a burger, fries and a Coke. The old bitchy woman was being rude as usual, but I didn’t bitch back because I was in a good mood. I called my mom from the phone booth to tell her the news. And then I told everybody at work.

On my way home, on the bus, I was blasting Yngwie really loud on my freestyle. Two metal dudes were sitting right behind me, and I thought to myself “Just you wait, soon you’ll recognize me”…

[This is what we called a “freestyle” back in those days!]


When I got home, I told them everything, and Renata (my sister) made a funny card for me.

Everybody in my German class was really happy for me.
Well… I need to get some sleep and clear my head…”

[The drawing my little sister made for me when she heard about the news :)]

If they only knew, at Kvällsposten, how their decision to take a chance and hire a teenage girl who was fresh out of senior high school, would change her whole life!

I was 18 when all this went down, was one of those kids who lived for rock’n’roll, loved it beyond anything – and I got THIS opportunity….

And here I am today,  25 years later, still loving this life as much as I ever did. The only difference is that now I know what I’m doing. :-) Back then I had to make a lot of mistakes before I learned how this business works.

Now, I’m a part of it, and have been my whole adult life.

I’m just so grateful for that. I love my life, I always have. Some people have a mission, a calling in life, and this is what I always wanted to do and what I was blessed enough to get the opportunity to do. Many people have the dream but are not as lucky. I’m more than thankful, that’s for sure.
It’s been a long journey, and it’s far from over yet. :-)

It just felt kind of touching for me personally, to see where it all began and how I felt about it the very day that it happened. And to see who has been supporting me all these years, and the new people that are joining me along the way. It’s humbling and flattering and I can only say thank you for reading! :)

[One of the early articles, when Painkiller came out, and I got to talk to KK Downing… I remember he called one day and I wasn’t home, so he had to speak with my mother – and she left a message on the kitchen table with his number in Spain, saying “Call Kay Kay Dawning at this number”. Lol!]

Where on earth….??

Not that it’s a big deal maybe – but how – and WHY – are all the “likes” and tweets and Google+-shares GONE on every post, all of a sudden?!

These blog-platforms are great in many ways, but it’s horribly frustrating when things dont work the way they’re supposed to. :-((