I’ve been 100% absorbed working on a song all evening. I had almost forgotten that magical feeling, when you’re creating something, and you get to watch it grow into something really cool as a result of your work. :-)
Six years ago I felt that urge to record a song, so I called the best musicians, who I knew would be perfect for that particular song, and we spent many fun but also tough hours in the studio recording the Savatage-song “Summer’s Rain“.
I’ve posted it here before, but in case you just got here for the first time, this is the song I’m talking about:
Now I got a few top-notch musicians again, some of the best at what they do, and it feels great to be working with them. It’s so inspiring to hear all their ideas and just see their energy and enthusiasm.
All the guys have been so full of cool ideas that this thing would have turned into a 20-minute Led Zeppelin or Purple type of song, to fit it all in. We had to choose the best parts.
No details yet, there will be more about this soon enough. And when this project is finished, there is more music, more songs, more upcoming projects – this “all star”-thing will continue (with additions of other people), because it’s fun and it’s a great opportunity for everybody to play with other musicians that they maybe wouldn’t have worked with otherwise.
Oh yeah, here’s another “old sin” by the way….. :-D Back in the very late 90’s I asked my “little brother” Chris Laney (multi-musician and producer at Polar Studios – where ABBA recorded their albums) for a song that had a summer-vibe to it, a mix between hard rock and summer-hit for the radio, kind of like Lita Ford’s “Kiss Me Deadly“. Just an upbeat, fun type of song.
He brought me “Ride The Future“. As the extremely busy guy that he was – and is even more now, he invited me over to his own studio, Platform studio in Stockholm in 2001, to record this inbetween his mixing of a Candlemass-record and whatever else he was up to at the time.
The thing was – I hadn’t heard the song even ONCE before recording it! So, the way we did this was that he sang it to me – line by line and then we recorded it that way…! Line by line. I didn’t even know how the song ended…! :)
As the producer he is, he also wanted me to sing in a different style than I normally do, with more of a “girlie baby-voice”, which I didn’t quite like – but… I love the song! So did the reviewers, here’s one of the reviews for this one:
“Daniela is from Sweden and her debut single song demo packs a mighty punch.
Loaded with hot guitar layers and a great singalong chorus ‘Ride The Future’ purrs along in similar style to Aina, Alyson Avenue and No Doubt and is perfect for the radio.
The song does have some modern alternative loops in the mix, thus the resemblance’s to No Doubt , but with a killer “woh, woh” Europe style chorus, and great vocals you can’t fail but to love this song, I was hooked from the first play as this song has huge crossover potential.
Honestly this is a fantastic song and I really can’t wait to hear more from the delicious Daniela in the future. Interview soon.
Nick Baldrian
Fireworks magazine, UK”
I wish I could have done the vocals at some other, better time and actually nail it. This was a super-quick recording, but I was grateful that he had time to do this for me at all. The guy is one of the best songwriters I know, music runs through his veins!
So yeah – it’s time for more on Saturday. When it’s all done, I’ll reveal the people involved and how this whole thing came about…! :-))
The times they are certainly a changin’. The record industry is struggling with poor record sales and illegal downloads, but there is one thing that they can still cash in on, something that will never go out of style: The magic of LIVE SHOWS.
No hi-tech technology in the world can ever recreate the real deal – forget the live-DVD’s, HD-YouTube, advanced sound systems, 3D or whatever stuff there’s out there – you can NEVER copy the experience and the KICK you get from a great live show.
That’s why arenas and festivals are still attracting thousands of people all over the world. Some of us have even made it our lifestyle to travel everywhere to get our “fix” of loud guitars, thundering drums and bass and fantastic musician- and showmanship. Nothing can beat the natural “high” you get from that!
The YouTube-clips can’t substitute a live show. It just gives you a hint of what you might have missed or what you’re about to experience.
So these days it’s more important than ever before to have something that impresses a crowd, to stick out and present something that separates you from the competition. Which led me to the topic “amazing showmen“….
I go to shows all-the-time, to say the least. And I go see bands/artists for different reasons. Sometimes solely because I love their music. Sometimes because they impress me with their musical skills. Sometimes because I’m simply curious – and sometimes because the artist or the band has that unique talent to get my attention and keep it for two hours straight.
There are some absolutely amazing artists out there, on ALL levels. It doesn’t have to be well known superstars. There are people in less famous bands and in local bands that “have IT” : that spark, that natural ability to work a stage and a crowd, that makes you come back for more time and time again.
It’s not a competition and you can’t really compare musicians because they are all so different – it’s not the Olympics of Rock – but these are some of my personal favorites.
Note that this is 100% a list of people who I think are outstanding LIVE PERFORMERS (which is not necessarily the same as favorite musicians or bands)
INDIVIDUAL ARTISTS – in no particular order
David Coverdale (Whitesnake) When this man walks out on a stage – he OWNS every single person in the crowd. He has a unique quality of making every individual feel noticed and a part of the show. Although he is a larger-than-life rock star who works best on the biggest stages of the world, he always makes it feel like he’s playing just for YOU.
He mixes a sense of humor and self-distance with sex, confidence, authority and pure professionalism. Not to mention the way he moves on a stage like a rock’n’roll-emperor, using the micstand as his #1 tool. There is only one David – Coverdale be thy name. :)
Dee Snider (Twisted Sister) When he’s about to hit the stage, he’s like a missile! The man oozes of pure, raw energy and rock’n’roll, nothing and nobody comes even close…! I’m not the biggest Twisted Sister-fan in the world, I don’t even have all their records, but watching this man on stage is a kick beyond belief! He is genuine and a real punch in your face. If you could take everything that rock’n’roll is all about, and transform it into human shape – Dee Snider would be IT!
Sebastian Bach The ULTIMATE frontman. The one and only King of the Stage. The energy and the raw frenzy is beyond what I’ve seen ANY other artist produce on a stage – ever! He is the only frontman I can think of that was truly BORN to do this. If you took it away from him, he would languish, stop breathing, cease to exist. In 23 years I’ve only seen him suck ONCE. Don’t even ask how many shows I’ve seen with either Skid Row or Baz solo, but it’s more than enough to state that this guy is very unlikely to let you down if you’re looking for an action-packed show.
David Lee Roth (Van Halen) Entertainment personified. It’s enough to just mention the name David Lee Roth and people will immediately start thinking of a rock’n’roll strutter with his body as his main tool. He was THE sex-symbol back in the day, moving in a way that would make the ladies blush. He would impress us all with the martial-arts high kicks while at the same time looking like a kid in a candy store who LOVES what he does. His sense of humor is contageous, and even to this day he hasn’t lost much of all that. He’s never been the world’s greatest singer, but it’s safe to say that he’s most definitely one of the world’s greatest entertainers!
Yngwie Malmsteen The one and only ULTIMATE guitar hero – and probably the only one who turns a prolonged guitargasm into a show unlike anyone else! He was (and still is) WILD on stage! Like a super-model, he will strike 30 different poses in one minute, yet continue playing that guitar like nobody’s business. How can you do all that running and posing and headbanging and still play making it look like a piece of cake??? The man is a guitar god and a top notch live performer in every sense of the word!
Those are my Top 5 live performers, but the list goes on – and on…
Joe Elliot of Def Leppard had an amazing charisma on stage, he just caught your attention from the word go and kept it there for as long as it took. I was mesmerized the first time I saw Def Leppard. Fantastic frontman. I don’t know what happened though, because the last few times I’ve seen Def Leppard, the magic wasn’t there. I guess there’s a peak in every band’s career and a fall – sooner or later. After 30 years of kicking ass on stage, I guess they are entitled to lose the spark.
Same goes for my #1 hero Rob Halford (Judas Priest). He was never a “run-around-the-stage-like-a-marathoner” type of singer, but he had “IT”. All he had to do was stop and LOOK at his crowd and they would go freaking CRAZY! He just had what most entertainers don’t, it’s within your personality and he would make me forget that there was even a world outside whichever arena Judas Priest would be playing….
However, just like Joe Elliot, Rob Halford has lost some of his magic. I can still see it when he’s with his own band Halford, but it’s like he’s a parody of himself when he’s with Priest nowadays.
And then, there’s of course – Ozzy! There is a reason why this man has been on the top for more than 4 decades! It’s not because he’s Pavarotti, but because he has this wonderful way of truly loving what he does, just being OZZY.
He might have changed his style onstage through the years, but the past years he’s been better than ever. I would pay for ten more shows just to see that sincere SMILE and his boyish enthusiasm when he hoses the crowd with that firehose, or sticks his head in a bucket of ice-cold water like a mischievous kid. There’s something liberating about Ozzy and his total disregard of rules for men “his age”. He doesn’t give a fuck and we love him for it!
Watch this and try NOT to smile! :-))
Speaking of Ozzy automatically leads me to another, fairly new, aquaintance and favorite performer: Gus G (guitarist w. Ozzy & Firewind, in case you’ve managed to miss it)
I was stuck after the first time I saw him with Ozzy. He walks onstage and becomes a true old-school Rock Star! He owns the stage in a very natural sort of way, with a charisma that few “new” musicians possess. This guitar wiz handles Madison Square Garden just as well as the smallest, tiniest little dark club in the middle of nowhere. The posing, the hair-fan, the guitar-hero moves all that stuff makes Gus a true arena-entertainer.
Another kick-ass live-performer is Kevin Rothney (Circle II Circle, JOP) who played bass with Jon Oliva’s Pain on the 2006-2010 tours, when I saw the band countless times. Jon Oliva might be the songwriting genious, but Kevin was the one who brought rock’n’roll to the live performances of JOP.
There was nothing he wouldn’t do to give the crowd a good live-experience, I remember him even getting injured a few times in the process. He could be sick as a dog, yet when it was time to get onstage, he would rock till he dropped, sometimes literally. I’ve always been impressed with Kevin. When you see musicians like that, you realize that the music business is all about being in the right place at the right time, there are amazing showmen (and -women) out there that don’t get the recognition they deserve.
Moving on to a more local level, where singer Andy Pierce (Nasty Idols) without question, makes it to my list of favorite performers. It was his natural talent as a frontman that made me notice the band in the first place – 25 freaking years ago! He was a real rock star before people even knew it and he will be till they have to roll him out on stage in a wheel chair!
Then, of course, there are the BANDS that create live-magic on stage (not just individual musicians, but as a whole)……..
AC/DC – the ultimate live band! Wherever they go, there will be PHAR-TEY!
Skid Row (1989-1995) PURE energy, if you weren’t fortunate enough to experience it, words or videos can never do this band justice….!
Steel Panther . the best of all worlds! You’re having a good time from the word go, they sound good, they look good, they are funny and great musicians, what’s not to like?! I LOVE this band!
Iron Maiden – Oh, boy! If you ever wondered what a real LIVE experience IS, go see Iron Maiden!
Def Leppard (-2006) God knows how many gigs they’ve played in their lifetime, obviously they were the BEST at what they did for many, many years.
Quireboys (London Quireboys) – I still regard their show at Pumpehuset in Copenhagen, 1990 as one of the BEST live gigs I’ve seen in my life!
There was something magic about this band that is hard to describe, but it was as genuine as it gets, I remember us all leaving the club that night with sweat running down our smiling faces and sore muscles from all the jumping. Absolutely unbelievable.
Mötley Crüe – THE number one live act for two decades. They had all the props, the party songs, the cool glittery stage outfits, bombs, fireworks, glitter, strippers, Nikki Sixx…! The WORKS. Then something happened – I haven’t seen them do one decent gig after 1999. But when they were good – they were the BEST.
I went to Thessaloniki, Greece a few weeks ago to see Firewind and get a chat with guitarwiz Gus G. As it happens, it was the 25th time in 1,5 years that I saw mr G live onstage with either Ozzy or Firewind.
Oddly enough, it’s not because I’m the world’s greatest or craziest Firewind-fan, but because they are out touring all the time which is perfect for someone like me who needs a good excuse to get on the first flight to… anywhere…! During 2011 I established that Firewind is the perfect live-band. Not ONCE have I seen them suck, not once have they had a “bad day”, they always deliver. So, I keep coming back.
So yeah – here I was again, in Thessaloniki, trying to endure the crazy heat.
The interview had originally been vaguely scheduled for “around 2-ish”, as the band was supposed to have an early sound check. But when Panagotis (a colleague from Greek site Metalpaths.com) and I arrived at two o’clock, the place was dead. We found Elias, the guy who’s handling Firewind’s business in Greece, who had us know that the band wouldn’t show up until around 6 at the earliest.
That left us with 4 hours to kill. I was MELTING in that Greek heat, so Panagotis and his friend Alexander took me to some nice cafes nearby where we spent the afternoon talking about music.
Once we got back to Mylos, the venue, I was beginning to think that the interview was unofficially off. Elias was busy, was running back and forth, didn’t look like there would be time for an interview. Panagotis laughed and informed me that this was “the Greek way” – plans were subject for improvisation.
Turns out he was right. :) Suddenly Elias waved to us to come in, and shortly thereafter we were joined by the Guitar hero with a capital G.
Instead of focusing only on the new album – which a majority of interviewers already do (if they’re not asking about his playing and gear, of course) I chose to focus on something that I’ve often thought would be interesting to know: How touring artists cope with different things that have to do with the actual TRAVELING.
Gus has seen “the road” from both sides – he’s been enjoying the comfort of private jets and luxurious hotels as well as squeezed himself into a tight bunk on a bus. The perfect guy to ask about The Art of Traveling. So – here you go…GUS G:
Tripped over a padded envelope in my hall when I came home the other day. It was the new NASTY IDOLS CD. :-)
I love getting REAL CD’s, there’s still something special about holding an actual, physical product in your hand – especially nowadays when labels are saving $$ and keep sending you links to digital albums that you can’t even download to your own PC and listen to in your phone or car – but ONLY on their special online players. It sucks. I want to choose WHERE and WHEN I want to listen to new music. Anyway – Nasty Idols. Old aquaintance to say the least. :)
I’ve followed this band for 25 years. The first time I saw them was August 15, 1987 in a park here in Malmo. They headlined a music festival, and they were still unsigned. After that show, I did everything to get hold of a demo cassette or anything at all with this band, cause their live performance totally blew me away!
Back then, there was no internet (can you even REMEMBER that there ever WAS a time with no internet??). I had to go to the LIBRARY and ask a librarian to help me go through newspaper archives to get any info about Nasty Idols. The first lead was to journalist Maria Francke who had reviewed one of their demos. I wrote to her – and she sent me that Nasty Idols demo-cassette as a gift. I was super happy about that.
(One of the very first songs by the unsigned Nasty Idols – they had a different guitarist back then, they upgraded the band with Peter Espinoza later)
Inside that cassette, there was an address and a phone number to “Andy Capone” that the singer called himself – who later became Andy Pierce. :) Well – this is all a very long story but I remember their days before they were signed. They did everything themselves, this band was a marketing-machine!
Bassist Dick Qwarfort was a graphic designer and would make professional looking logos, covers, press-kits…. When they released their single “Don’t Walk From Love“, it was also out of their own pockets from beginning to end, and they would personally go to the record stores in town and ask them to sell it. I remember seeing it at Åhléns in the center of Malmö for instance, right on the counter where you had to go to pay for your purchases. I’m sure that helped them quite a bit on their way.
I used to call the local radio station MCB requesting their songs or asking them to bring in Nasty Idols to be interviewed live on the air and shit like that. I was still in high school, and it’s funny when I think about it, because Nasty Idols’ career and mine took off around the same time, basically – in 1988.
I got my first job writing for Kvällsposten, they got their first record deal. We’ve walked on parallel paths ever since.
To make a very long story short – here we are, 25 years later. :-) And listening to the new album makes me remember once again WHY I’ve liked this band for so long. They kick ass – plain and simple.
They have a unique talent to write catchy songs that stick like glue already after the first listen. Andy’s vocals adds to the badboy attitude that they’re selling and they have basically always delivered the goods. Maybe I wasn’t a big fan of the “Vicious“-album but even that was a great album, just wasn’t my cup of tea at the time. Looking back you see things in a different perspective though.
The new album “Kalifornia” is rougher and tougher than it’s been in a while. Bands always say that, but it’s very clear from the very first riffs. Andy’s voice is different, he’s chosen to sing in a different style than usual, but I still can’t quite figure out what I think he sounds like now. Definitely cool but not the “usual Nasty”.
[My name was on the very first Nasty Idols CD “Gigolos on Parole” – and here it is again. Nice when bands don’t forget the people who have supported them for years, very much appreciated. :)]
Slightly darker, heavier, raunchier. But still American style sleaze. If you’re into that, you’ll love it. My favorite up to date was “Boys town“, their last album.
But I have a feeling that this will be a new favorite to add to the collection. :-) I’ll probably be sitting here till my hair goes gray, headbanging to Nasty Idols. Some bands just never go out of style!
IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR 