To YouTube or not to YouTube – is that the question?

Was browsing through Facebook and came across this picture that a musician had posted on his page, with the comment:

“How true…People are paying to attend a concert only to show their friends (real and 01010101) they were there.”

 

 

 

First I was surprised that anyone would choose to look at it with such cynicism and negativity. Where did that come from?? I never thought of cameras at shows as some sort of self-boosting?!

I thought of it as a way to pay tribute to the artist or band you came to see. Because what you’re in fact doing, is you’re about to do PR for the band on stage and they don’t have to do anything – just do what they always do: play their music.

You want to keep the show as a memory, because now you CAN. Back in the day, you couldn’t. A video-camera was huge. Smuggling that into a concert arena took some serious skills.

I used to record some shows (just audio), because it was great listening to them afterwards, remembering the vibe at the gig, it was priceless.

And you shared with other fans, because what the hell – this is what we LIVE for!
Musicians live for PLAYING their music – the people in the crowd live for the other part of the rock’n’roll lifestyle, which is going through hell to get a ticket to a show (hello, Van-freaking-Halen), spend hard earned pay for tickets, travels, merch – all of that. 

If they get their camera up at a show to get a memory of it as a souvenir, how does that become something ugly all of a sudden?

If nobody did that, there would be no YouTube – and – newsflash all clueless musicians who think you don’t need the help of Youtube, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and all of that – you’re going to be forgotten in no time if people stop filming you – so, quit whining.

I’ve made it my thing to film every show I go to – pretty much. I see it as leaving a bit of history behind. Someday it’s going to be fun for people to watch, maybe even the bands will want to see it ten or twenty years from now. 

But frankly, I’m thinking in terms of PR. Plain and simple.

When Firewind played 2 new songs in Athens two weeks ago, I knew it would be of great interest to people all over the world. I went through HELL trying to keep my camera still while everybody around me was jumping – because I wanted it to be a fairly decent clip as it was most likely to be seen by many curious fans.
So, evidently, it’s not like people stopped having a good time at the shows – some choose to create a mosh pit and some choose to be spectators and share their experience in a different way.

I got the Firewind-video up there as soon as I could, because with a new album coming out, I knew it would be great FREE PR for the band. They don’t have to do shit. It has spread like wildfire all over the place, Russia, USA, England, all over Europe… You can never promote yourself better if you’re only going to do it yourself.

Historically the whole underground-movement with people sending tapes back and forth, live recordings, amateurish-bootlegs and godawful video-bootlegs from the old days when video cameras sucked – THAT’s was what kept many bands alive. In some cases it’s even what gave them their break to begin with.

So the more I think about it, the more it pisses me off that an artist bites the hand that feeds. Fans are doing this for a reason. And it’s not to show others where they’ve been. No band would have had a problem with fans buying their merchandise-crap to “show where they’ve been” – so why should videos or photos be the main problem?

Especially when the artists don’t usually have a problem tagging themselves in live-pics where they think they look good. Well, if you don’t want people to take pix or videos, don’t post them on your page either.

I’ve been this “documentary” paparazzi with some bands, filmed their every move. With Jon Oliva’s Pain for instance, I’m glad that I was. Some of those people are not with us anymore. Matt LaPorte died, as did producer Greg Marchak.  But they are very much alive in the videos, laughing, cracking jokes… I’m glad I have all that. You really keep that piece in time, save it for the future….

I honestly don’t get this anti-video movement. The only videos I dislike are the cellphone-videos with crappy audio. Other than that, you take it for what it is. I might be missing something here. Enlighten me, please.

 

The Atomic Playboy

One week from now – next Saturday – I’ll be back in New York City again (one of my favorite cities in the world) for the Steve Stevens & Sebastian Bach show.

I’m still trying to picture those two sharing a stage. It’s the most unusual combo I’ve heard of in years, which is why I felt that I just had to see it. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime sort of show. Both of them are great entertainers, but where they meet musically is yet to be seen and heard! :-)

My day today started out great actually, cause I got an e-mail from Steve’s wife Josie, who I’ve been in touch with regarding an interview, that confirmed I’m in. Wonderful! I am super-happy and excited about that.

He’s one of the very few people that I’ve admired for years, but still haven’t met or talked to.

In Rolling Stones, I preferred Keith Richards to Mick Jagger.
In Aerosmith I most definitely thought Joe Perry was cooler than Steven Tyler – and with Billy Idol, I just thought that Steve Stevens was the cooler guy.
Not that I don’t like Billy Idol, it’s just that the slightly mysterious guitarists are more interesting sometimes.

Steve is in my opinion one of those underrated guitar heroes. When you talk about guitar heroes, people will start listing guys like Yngwie, Paul Gilbert, Joe Satriani and people like that. I even remember an interview with a modern guitar hero, who shall remain nameless, being asked about what he thought about a few selected guitarists. He didn’t even know who Steve Stevens was. Embarrassing.

Maybe Steve didn’t get the credit he fully deserves because he was dismissed as a poser. A guitarist friend of mine was going to pick out a Billy Idol song a few years ago and started with great enthusiasm, saying it would be a piece of cake. After a while he gave up. It was a lot harder than it sounded. 

Anyway, mr Stevens absolutely rocks, and I am very happy about the good interview-news and most of all, hearing whatever he’s got up his sleeve this time, bringing in mr Bach to help out! Should be memorable!

 

MIKE MONROE – straight in your face

 

Time for another look in The Rearview Mirror. 
Back in 2003 I did a phone interview with Hanoi Rocks-frontman Mike Monroe. I wish every rock star was as honest, openhearted and totally in your face as Mike was. At least THAT evening, he was a journalist’s dream.

When my photographer friend and I met him (and Hanoi-guitarist Andy McCoy) in Malmo a few years later, he was everybody’s nightmare. But that story is too long to tell here, so I’ll save that for another day. Let’s just say that he owes us about 100 bucks for Indian food!

Anyhooo…. In this interview, he talked about everything and anything: Drugs, alcohol and groupies. Overcoming personal tragedies. Religion. Movies and actors. Computers and TV. Fear. Cooking. Biographies. Marilyn Manson…and a bunch of other things. 

Still editing some of those clips, phone interviews tend to be a bit “scratchy” so, I’ll add them one by one. If you like Mike Monroe – keep checking back. Enjoy!

MIKE MONROE ON MÖTLEY CRÜE & “THE DIRT”: 
“That’s a bunch of horseshit!”

MIKE_MONROE_PHONER_-_TheDirt.mp3
Listen on Posterous


MIKE MONROE ON THE ROCKSTAR-MYTH: 
 “They cheat on their wives and then they go onstage and sing about how their baby left them….

What the fuck do you expect when you’re screwing around like banshees!”

MIKE_MONROE_PHONER_-_RockStarPigs.mp3
Listen on Posterous


MIKE ON COPING WITH PERSONAL TRAGEDIES:

“If you can find one friend, one person who you can totally trust, who knows you as well as anybody can know you – then you’re really lucky.”

MIKE_MONROE_PHONER_2_-CopingWTragedies.mp3
Listen on Posterous

MIKE’S BEST BEAUTY-TIP! ;-)

MIKE_MONROE_PHONER_2_-_BeautyTip.mp3
Listen on Posterous

 

…last but not least – Mike (and Axl) kicking some ass in Dead, Jail or Rock’n’roll!

 

http://www.facebook.com/InTheRearviewMirror 

Van Halen ticket-hell!

So…. the Van Halen presale-tickets went on sale today. My GOD…. I didn’t realize what a MESS it is to get hold of tickets to the big arena-shows in the US. Oh, boy.

Here in Europe, or in Sweden at least, it’s plain and simple. A release date is announced. On that day and that time, it’s the law of the jungle that applies – whoever comes first grabs the best tickets.
And when it’s sold out – it¨s sold out. But you can, of course, always buy them unbelievably overpriced somewhere online at any time before the show. Even on the day of the show. So – you never have to panic. It’s all cool and it’s fair.

In the US it’s a freaking nightmare trying to figure out who gets what.
You get all these different “exclusive pre-sales”, all of them starting on different dates, different time zones, you need passwords and special links. Then of course, to make things even more confusing, there are the various VIP-packages and whatever else…..

It stressed me out so much I almost lost it. I REALLY – and I mean R-E-A-L-L-Y wanted a GOOD ticket to one of the Van Halen-shows (in this case the Madison Square Garden-show).
If I’m going to get on a plane and travel across the Atlantic, I really don’t feel like sitting in the nosebleed-section, thank you very much.

When the first tickets went on sale today, it turned out it was just for American Express-holders. I didn’t realize that. I can’t recall seeing that information anywhere before – cause if I had known, I would have asked around to see if anyone HAD an American Express that I could use for this.

I made a test just to see what kind of seats I would get, and got one on the floor, 5th row… that I couldn’t buy..!. My temper got the best of me at that point.

A few hours later, Live Nation finally revealed the password for THEIR presale (sigh…) So, I went back to Ticketmaster, ready to purchase one of THOSE tix…. Nope. Presale on Friday – when I’ll be on a PLANE all day on my way to ATHENS, Greece for the Firewind-show! Gah!!

And then, the day after THAT – tickets for “the general public”…..

Seriously, what’s the deal?? Why not just get those tickets on sale and get it over with! Thousands of anxious fans out there are DYING to get their hands on those tickets, why all these meaningless “VIP” this and VIP-that -games?!

You know that even the so called “VIP”-seats are going to suck, because the REAL good seats are already reserved for the “important” people. I’ve never been front row at any arena-show in the USA except for the VH1 Rock Honors show in Las Vegas in 2006 – because I was “TV-audience”, chosen by VH1.

 I’ll never forget my very first concert-experience in the States (big arena-show). It was AC/DC playing at the Knickerbocker Arena in Albany, NY (I think it’s called the Pepsi arena nowadays). I was looking forward to standing in front of Angus jumping and screaming my guts out. You know, the way it’s supposed to be at a rock concert.

When I walked into the arena that night, I thought it was a joke. There were CHAIRS on the floor, in front of the stage….. WTF?! I wasn’t there to see the London Philharmonic Orchestra, I was there to see a ROCK BAND.

Over here, there are no chairs in front of the stage at rock-shows. I guess it’s a matter of reserving the “Best seats in the house” for celebrities, girlfriends, friends, radio stations, journalists, whoever. As a FAN you never get a chance at those really good seats – forget it. You’re lucky if you end up on the 5th row – and of course you’ll have to pay two months worth of rent for the ticket.

Very frustrating for someone like me who’s used to getting good tickets simply by being prepared: Logged in, links and everything else that I need, my credit card and all that in my hand…. That’s how I got a ticket for the Golden Circle for the Black Sabbath concert in Malmo this summer (if it happens, now with the shocking news we heard yesterday…. who cares about the show, I hope Tony gets well). I got the best spot in the house all over Europe all summer to see Ozzy for instance!

And then you get all this crap as soon as you want to see a band you love in the US.

American Express, Live Nation, passwords, codes, special links, different sales-dates, Facebook-pages (“Like”, “RSVP”, share to get a presale code…!) VIP-packages blah blah – and in the end, you’ll end up with nothing. A seat somewhere way UP or way in the BACK. Take a pick.

Am I pissed off? You bet I am. I think the system blows. It would be a lot easier for everybody if we all could go to a great show under the same circumstances. 

But maybe that’s just me…

Tony Iommi facing a demon

I was on the train, on my way home from work….pulled out my cell to check my e-mail. Went on Facebook and saw a message left by Neil Murray:

Wishing Jon Lord and Tony Iommi all the strength and luck needed to fight cancer. Here’s hoping for a return to full health and many more years of creativity!

It’s strange how the world just stops for a moment. You think you got it wrong, so you read it again. Cancer? Not again…! Suddenly all the worst scenarios start going through your head.

You get scared – because what’s always been there in your life, solid as a rock – are your metal heroes. And Tony Iommi is a legend. Without him we wouldn’t be listening to this music, you probably wouldn’t be reading this blog and I certainly wouldn’t be writing it. The people who are playing the music we all love, wouldn’t have known it existed unless Tony and a few other dudes had invented it….

People like that are immortal. I always thought that Dio was one of those people who would be around forever and ever, because it felt that way. Those that have always been there are kind of like family. You expect them to be well and live forever. In a way I guess they do.

Well, those are only the first moments when all the WORST case scenarios run through your head. You stop to take things for granted for a second, it just shakes you up a little bit.

Even legends get sick. 

It reminds you that they are human, after all.

I texted my friend in Australia who’s a huge Iommi-fan and he was stunned and a bit shocked too. But, once you shake that fear and start thinking positively and realistically you realize that there’s no reason to freak out.

Tony’s lymphoma has been detected early with good cure rates. And this is a very determined man. I think and believe that he will be just fine.
Jon Lord was diagnosed with cancer too recently and he’s doing okay. Cancer can be cured, it’s no longer a death sentence.

We should all send our love and positive thoughts to Tony and the support he needs for a speedy recovery. He’ll get through this a winner. 

Get well soon Tony!