Report from Sweden Rock festival – Day 1

Sweden Rock Festival – day one. It was supposed to be a slow start but I somehow managed to make things difficult for myself as usual. :-)

Drove up to the festival, went to the accreditation booth and as I stood in line waiting for my passes, I felt like something was missing. Then it dawned on me. The MOST IMPORTANT thing – my camera bag, with the cameras, batteries, recorder, memory cards…. ALL that stuff…was still at the office! I forgot it there when I left in a hurry.

Panic! I called the office, my colleague was still there, thank god. She said she would bring it, so tomorrow morning, 6 am, I need to go and get it. And there I was thinking I would get some sleep?! Yeah right. :)) I might as well get used to this. I have two more days of not sleeping ahead of me.

Anyway, the ONLY reason I went to the festival today was the Joan Jett press-conference. Everything else I’ve already seen or could live without. Met camera-guy Henrik at the accreditation and a few minutes later my friend Mari. She was the one who saved me in the end, by lending me her camera. I could film Joan’s press conference. Unfortunately, it looks like I need some kind of software to see and convert the files, so that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Just took a walk around the area – pics below.

Saw Crash Diet, or 20 minutes of their set, but I was starving so I left. Mari and Henrik left, they’re coming back tomorrow, so I was alone and went to the backstage area to see if I would see any familiar faces. Sure enough – photographer Rickard who’s been working for Aftonbladet for a long time, was there. I see him once a year at the festival but it’s always nice to chat. And “Dr AOR” Johan was of course there as well.

I noticed that Joan’s press conference would probably be VERY popular so I sacrificed Black Veil Brides that I had wanted to see, and stayed in the press-tent to secure my spot. Sat there for about an hour. When the press conference was about to begin, we were told that Joan would be late cause her flight had been delayed. By then it was packed in there! But when they announced that “she’s just now leaving the hotel and should be here in 30 minutes” many left because Hardcore Superstar were about to play, or some other band….

I almost fell asleep in my chair, it’s so boring to have to wait. But it was worth it – she was COOL. I don’t know why, but I always thought Joan was this badass tough angry woman who disliked the press. But she answered politely and most of all, she took all questions seriously and showed everyone respect. I liked her. I think she charmed everyone there. :-)

[Joan Jett and her boys!]

Once I get the video-files working, I’ll post it on here.

I need sleep, will be back tomorrow – THAT will be a crazzzy day….

Off to Sweden Rock Festival 2011!

And so – FINALLY – the madness begins!

Sweden Rock Festival, day one, tomorrow. :-) It will be a slow start, but count on getting loads of pics and videos the coming few days.

Tomorrow’s schedule:

  1. Crash Diet
  2. Black Veil Brides
  3. Joan Jett press-conference
  4. Hardcore Superstar

It will be a lot more on Thursday, actually I think that Thursday will be the craziest day of this year’s festival…:

THURSDAY

  1. Duff McCagan
  2. Accept press-conference
  3. Joan Jett
  4. Queensryche
  5. The Cult
  6. Accept
  7. Saxon
  8. Judas Priest press-conference
  9. Judas Priest

FRIDAY

  1. Mr Big
  2. Steelheart
  3. Iced Earth
  4. Stryper press-conference
  5. Rob Zombie press-conference
  6. Rob Zombie
  7. Whitesnake

SATURDAY

  1. The Hooters
  2. Lee Aaron
  3. Lee Aaron press-conference
  4. Styx
  5. Thin Lizzy
  6. Black Label Society (but probably skipping that…)
  7. OZZY!

And probably one or two surprises, who knows…! ;-) It will be tough, very little sleep, walking and more walkin all day long, expensive food, crowds, drunks, porta pottys without toilet-paper and all that usual stuff, but for some reason, I still love this festival.

I’m off to Sweden Rock Festival 2011!

 

SWEDEN ROCK FESTIVAL – MEMORIES #2

Like I said in the last Sweden Rock Memories-post, there is a LOT more where that came from.
I found a whole bunch of photos and videos that I thought I’d share with you.

This one, for instance, is a classic…! It’s from Sweden Rock Festival 2006.
Venom had just finished their set and they had actually left the stage maybe 10-15 minutes before this was filmed. THIS Venom-fan apparently never even noticed that. He was TOTALLY into his headbanging, whether or not it was accompanied by the soothing sounds of…Venom:

Or this – Skid Row were doing a spontaneous photo-shoot outside the press-tent. They were actually posing for the photographer when I walked by and Scotti just walked out of the group-shot cause he was so happy to see me…! :-)
These guys are really like old friends, we “grew up together”. I met them for the first time in 1989, we were all in our early 20’s and our careers had just begun. I love them, the most wonderful guys one could imagine:

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Rachel Bolan on stage before the show:

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So what else have we got here….  On stage during Lita Ford’s set. Jon Oliva’s Pain played that year, I think it was 2009, and their dressing rooms were right next to Lita’s.

Since JOP’s bassplayer Kevin is a good friend, he knows that I am a HUGE Lita-fan (well, check out the URL for this blog “lita77777” – guess where the “lita” part comes from ;-)). So, he just grabbed me by the hand and pretty much dragged me up on stage during her show.

There I was, as close as I’ll ever be during a Lita Ford-concert. :) Thank you Kevin, one of those things that will definitely stay in my memory for a long time! :)

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Matt LaPorte (R.I.P…) Oliva’s lead guitarist wating for showtime and Kevin Rothney (bass) walking up on (Festival-)stage:

Kevin behind the stage, about to go up there and rock people’s asses off:

Jon Oliva’s tour manager Anett on the stage during early sound check:

And why not a few clips from some of the press conferences…. there is just so much more, I need to find all that stuff – press conferences with Ronnie Dio, Sebastian Bach, Heart…. Every band that’s ever had a press conference at Sweden Rock Festival… Well, pretty much. It’s all here somewhere.

Judas Priest-short clip from 2008:

Blackie Lawless (W.A.S.P):

 

And just some random photos of artists, fans, stage area, backstage area and just other…stuff!
Guest pass (for Alice Cooper), typical Sweden Rock fans, Spike (Quireboys), Suzi Quatro, backstage-bar, stage (Heaven and Hell), Meatloaf, Nightwish, Wilson-sisters of Heart, Judas Priest, Dio, Sebastian Bach, Rudy Sarzo…

And a few snapshots from the camping-, food-, and merch areas taken by my friend Beatrice in 2005 (I think, might have been 2004):

SWEDEN ROCK FESTIVAL – MEMORIES

Only a few days before the madness begins again: Sweden Rock Festival.
Sweden Rock is HOME to me. I’ve been there every single year for the past 17 years.

I remember the first festival I went to, that was in 1994. Back then, it was a small event in the city of Karlshamn and it was only a weekend-festival. But it was nice because we didn’t really have any other hard rock festivals in Sweden back in those days.

[My pass from 1995, can’t find the one from 1994…Note that the festival used to be called “Karlshamn Rock Festival”]P1020487.jpg

Things have changed since then. They have REALLY changed. In 1994 there was no Sweden Rock Magazine and the festival was called Karlshamn Rock Festival. As far as I remember, it wasn’t a big deal to anyone back then – not like today when you have people from all over the world showing up at the camping days before the festival begins.

In 1995 I was there to talk to Black Sabbath, and had a great talk with Cozy Powell and Tony Martin at the hotel in Karlshamn (the audio file from that interview has already been published in this blog). Cozy was great, he was joking all the time and when I think about Cozy I just see a man with a big smile.

[Just my luck! The ONE photo I’ve got of Cozy and me, and of course I had to blink!]

Had dinner with Tony Martin in the hotel restaurant as fans were interrupting every five minutes. I was a huge Martin-fan, and I was really glad that he took time to talk for a while that day. It’s different asking questions for a magazine and asking questions as a fan, he took time for both and I was really grateful for that.
There was always a good vibe at the hotel those first few years. All the artists were staying there and fans usually knew about it, but it was still a relaxed and fun atmosphere.

[Tony Martin (Black Sabbath) in hotel lobby 1995]

Well, years went by and the festival just grew. I have great memories from every single year, I could probably write a book – but this is as close as it gets to being a book. :)

It went from being over just a weekend to being 3 days…to 4 days… Of course it moved from Karlshamn to “the middle of nowhere” a field in Norje Boke – Solvesborg, Blekinge, Sweden.

Nowadays it’s the biggest festival (or one of them) in Sweden, bands from all over the world know about it, fans from all over the world are coming to attend the 4 days of metal madness.

And me, well… it feels like coming home. I love Sweden Rock Festival, it’s just everything that I love:
I get to see my favorite bands over a few days, I meet friends, bands, colleagues – people I don’t usually see unless it’s Sweden Rock (photographers, record company people, management people, people working for the festival…). It’s metal in its most compact form, everything in one place. Music 24/7 – I’m in heaven.

Sure, you get tired, your feet are aching, you don’t get enough sleep, food is freaking expensive, and there are drunk assholes every here and there… but even with all that, it’s still worth it. :)

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Partying with Dio’s band at Karlshamn hotel…. not sure what year it was, but they were truly having a good time!

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I could probably pick at least one band or artist from every year 1994-2010 that I have some kind of memories from. So, there would be a lot.

One of the first things that comes to mind was the year when Rob Halford and his own band Halford headlined the festival. I had been at the hotel hanging with the band the night before. Well, I had actually been hanging in the bar alone, thinking that I couldn’t/wouldn’t disturb the guys who were sitting at a table pretty much right behind me.

But one of them recognized me from a few months back when I had been at a meet-and-greet thing and invited me to come and sit at their table. They were wild, the manager left his credit card and asked them to pay for his drink because he needed to get some sleep. Needless to say, that credit card ended up being used for more than just ONE drink…! :)

In the morning, I saw said manager in the lobby, upset because he had missed the shuttle that drives artists and crew to the festival site. The next shuttle was due in about an hour and he needed to get to the festival area asap. I just told him that I was driving down there anyway so he was welcome to join me if he didn’t mind riding in the small Renault that I had back then. He had no problem with that, so off we went. 

Man, that man could TALK! He went on and on about everything that had to do with Rob and I thought to myself that if I had been one of those sensation-seeking journalists, that would have been perfect! However, what’s off the record IS off the record as far as I’m concerned. I guess my morals won’t get me far in this business. Others are willing to cash in on anything, as long as they are exposing others.

[Rob Halford, backstage about an hour before he hit the stage with HALFORD, 2002]

 When we got to the festival, he wanted me to take him all the way to Rob’s dressing-room. I told him I couldn’t go there because I didn’t have a car pass. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of this!” he said.

Sure enough, when we got to the first gate, the security guy stopped the car and I opened the window. Halford’s manager leaned over me and looked at the guy going: “Do you know who I am? I am Rob Halford’s manager. She is taking me to the dressing rooms, okay?”

The guy didn’t question anything – he just nodded and opened the gate. It was like Open Sesame all the way through, and next thing I know, I’m parked right outside Rob’s dressing room…

Manager walks off, comes back with a laminate that he gives me. I was welcome to walk around freely. When I checked, I saw that he gave me the best pass you can get – the artist pass. Works everywhere. I could have walked up on stage if I wanted to.

Then there was the year that Sebastian Bach was supposed to play. Those of you who know me, also know that Sebastian is an old friend. That year, I had Kevin from Jon Oliva’s Pain visiting me and since he and Baz are both from Canada, pretty much from around the same area, I figured they would probably hit it off. Either they would become great friends or they would hate eachother’s guts. I wasn’t sure which, but we drove to the festival early that morning to make it on time.

While we were still on the motorway I get a text from my friend at the production office, who informed me that Sebastian had cancelled. He was stuck at the airport, wouldn’t make it on time. So… this is a pass for a meeting that never happened. I had met Baz a few years before when he played Sweden Rock, but this was such a bummer…. another “classic” Sweden Rock memory.

I guess I could go on and on…. there is a lot more... I’m sure there will be more stories here whenever I take a walk down Memory Lane again.
But for now, all I can say is that I can’t wait to see all those great bands – and meet new and old friends for a Rock’n’roll Extravaganza de Luxe!

The mysterious Blackie Lawless tape

For most of my interviews and press conferences, I at least have a clue where and when it is from.

But I found THIS Blackie Lawless press conference on an unmarked cassette and quite honestly, I don’t recognize any of the things Blackie Lawless is talking about there. I don’t know WHERE it is, WHEN it was recorded or anything. A total mystery. I’m sure I will find more interviews like that. I used to just record interviews, use them for a transcript and then forget about them. I didn’t always write the necessary info on the tapes…. :(

Here’s a 30-minute treat for all you W.A.S.P-fans out there, maybe you guys can figure out where/when this is from. :)

BLACKIE_LAWLESS_PRESS_CONFERENCE.mp3
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