Tagged: Sebastian Bach
Jani Lane – why….? R.I.P
I’ve been “on the road” most of the week and not had much of a chance to post anything of any substance – and suddenly there are so many things to write about, not only my own impressions of the week. So, I will leave the Ozzy-shows for now and just focus on the news that have shocked the world of rock the past few days.
Another rocker down, taken by the Demon Alcohol – Jani Lane (Warrant). Died alone in a hotel room, found with a bottle of vodka and undisclosed pills…. The death of a rock star? What really IS a “rock star” I wonder?Jani hasn’t been a “star” since the heydays of Warrant. For the most part, people have been making fun of him, just like they still do with for instance Poison or other “uncool” bands. It’s not until they’re not around anymore, that suddenly all the mockers and bullies start crying about how terrible it is that a person died way before his time.
Yes it is a tragedy. But how much did people really care while he was still alive?! It’s beginning to bug me, how hypocritical some people can be. They jump on a bandwagon, start sharing memories, when they didn’t really care at all while the person was still alive and breathing.I’m not going to sit here and pretend like I haven’t said some pretty bad things about some “stars” over the years. Some of it has been my job – cause believe it or not, ever since I got started as a 18-year old in the world of tabloids and music mags that are trying to sell extra copies on sensationalism, we’ve been encouraged to be mean. It’s “better reading”, we’ve been told.
It’s more entertaining, people want filth. They want what’s shocking. They want the dirt. Being a good person sticking to your morals doesn’t sell newspapers or magazines. So you do what you’re told at the expense of somebody who…”deserves it”, because he or she was stupid enough to become famous.My point is that we’re all a part of the problem, and maybe it’s time that we all looked in the mirror and started asking ourselves if we really like what’s looking back at us.
Sebastian Bach posted something that the readers of Blabbermouth have commented on as “not being written by Baz” because “he doesn’t have that vocabulary”. What difference does it make – it’s very well written and he’s got a good point. Here’s Sebastian’s post:
People have been asking me about Jani Lane & I really don’t know what to say. Picturing him by himself in a Comfort Inn in Woodland Hills with a bottle of vodka & a bottle of pills is so typical of what a rock musicians life actually is. It is a life marked by extremes. Extreme attention from people you don’t know, while all the work & travel takes you away from those you actually do know.
Playing to thousands of people & then going back to your hotel room & shutting the door. When the door shuts… the quiet is the exact opposite of the volume of the concert. The solitude of the empty hotel room becomes the diametric parallel of the adulation of strangers. For some, the bottle of vodka or whatever becomes a friend that is always there for you while others come & go.
Yes I have felt these emotions myself. If you see me going head over heels over a girl, it’s because all I have ever wanted is to have a girl to love & share my life with, & for the one I love to be with me wherever I’m at, travel with me to distant locales & stay in nice kick ass hotel suites & have fun & sing & dance & see the world. But so far this is a fantasy. Just like Jani, I spend most of my time alone in a hotel room dreaming of a girl I love who is somewhere else. I bet Jani Lane felt exactly what I feel. How could he not?
I remember decades ago being invited to Janis house for a barbeque, which we went to. But Jani didn’t show up. So I spent the afternoon with Janis dad cooking burgers & steaks & having a wonderful day with his family.
My condolences to his family & especially Janis children who now only have memories of their dad to hold on to. That is truly heartbreaking.
Let this be yet another lesson to tell someone some kind words sometimes… before it’s too late… while they are still alive. I can guarantee Jani Lane would not have anticipated everyone coming out of the woodwork extolling the life & times of Jani Lane. Which is why he probably died alone. In a hotel room. With his only real friend…that killed him in the end.
I think it’s very well written… Drugs and alcohol are to blame for so much misery. But let’s not forget that even the “lonely musicians” DO have people around them who care, but who are just not being let in – who are not being allowed to care.
I’ve dealt with addicts as well, and it’s very, very hard, it drains you. They don’t realize what their actions are doing to other people. I could think of a million things but the bottom line is that being the friend of an addict requires a lot of strength. Sometimes you feel like you want to give up, yet you don’t because you CARE… Don’t expect to get a thank you for sticking through the worst of times, because in the mind of an addict, they are alone – even if they do have people who want nothing more than to be there for them through thick and thin. The parents of Amy Winehouse said the same thing – they tried everything, but they couldn’t get through to their daughter.
Jani Lane had children. He was loved.
His death is a tragedy, just like the loss of so many others who have lost their lives to drugs and alcohol. But in all of this, maybe it will also make people stop for a second and think.
My thoughts right now are all over the place. I wasn’t a fan or Warrant and I didn’t know Jani. But I am concerned about what his death symbolises, as it’s not the first and unfortunately, not the last. How many more will have to lose their lives before the stupid rock’n’roll lifestyle becomes UNCOOL? People still think it’s “cool” to get piss drunk on a regular basis, because it’s “rock’n’roll”. It’s NOT. It’s more rock’n’roll to have the balls and the character to say no.Some get high on various substances that they THINK they are in control of. They’re not. If they were, they wouldn’t need them – at all.
Maybe Jani had “a few drinks” because he needed to “relax”. Little did he know that it would end this way. My thoughts go out to his friends and family… And I hope his death, and the loss of many before him, will not be in vain.
Just random stuff on a rainy evening
Funny summer – it’s keeps raining and raining. I just picked up my “summer read” – a book which was actually sent to me months ago, but with this crazy tempo travelling back and forth, there was no time to even THINK about reading. It’s Neil Daniel’s “Don’t Stop Believin’ – The Untold Story of JOURNEY”.
This guy has written so many rock biographies, is so dedicated to what he does. I should know because I was in touch with him back and forth, like so many others, when he was working on the Judas Priest biography “Defenders of the Faith“.
It wouldn’t surprise me if I ended up calling it “Don’t stop readin’“. :-)
Perfect for a rainy evening. And what goes better with a rock biography than a nice glass of rock’n’roll WINE?Bought two bottles of Sweden Rock’s special edition red wine. Okay, I admit – I bought it because it’s a cool bottle. But I got a whole box of Lemmy’s Motörhead-wine and THAT tasted great!
Speaking of nothing by the way, I just saw the pick I got from Glenn Tipton at the Manchester show, lol…! I forgot about that, haven’t cared at all about that sort of stuff for years. I used to collect those picks but it was more fun to own all this stuff back in the “good old days” because it was really a sport getting one. NOW you can find anything you want on eBay, and it kind of kills the fun. It’s not a challenge anymore and without the challenge, owning one of those “trophies” doesn’t mean much these days.
But he put this right in my hand, like priests are handing out altar bread at a communion! Guess it’s not far from it – after all, it IS a kind of “Priest”. :-))
More “by the ways”… There will be a GUITAR HERO EXTRAVAGANZAAAA for me in October! Two of the shows I’m seeing over there is Firewind with their guitar-wizard Gus G, and the day after that – also in NYC, THE guitar-god of guitar-gods, the one, only and ULTIMATE super-guitarist YNGWIE MALMSTEEN is playing in NYC. After that, I can go home happy. :-))
I noticed that Yngwie and Firewind are on tour in the States at the same time (October) but never crossing paths until the END of their tours. Hmmm, funny idea suddenly crosses my mind – guitar duel Yngwie and Gus somewhere in L.A maybe? Wouldn’t that be damn cool. Then again, I hope not, for purely selfish reasons because I wouldn’t be able to go. Blah.
Oh, and another thing. An old friend is coming to my home town in October. Sebastian Bach. Yeah, the crazy mothertrucker who everybody has an opinion of (myself included) but I’ll never forget how much fun I had with Skid Row back in the early 90’s! And we’ve known eachother for 22 years now, to be exact. We met last year at “Rock Weekend” in Soderhamn, WAY up north in Sweden. But it wasn’t easy with the logistics or the planning that day, so the texting back and forth with his tour manager ended up costing me quite a bit. But it’s worth it, because Baz is the most unpredictable person I’ve met in my whole life – good or bad, depending on how you choose to look at it. :-) You can never be sure of ANYTHING when it comes to Sebastian, because he is as “in the moment” as you can possibly get. You can try making plans, but be sure that they will change with short notice. Guess that’s the beauty of dealing with Sebastian, he never gets boring. :-) You can call him everything and anything in the book, but never boring. He’ll be a guest at the Swedish Rock Exhibition in October 1 & 2 here in Malmo.
Other guests will be Crazy Lixx and Nasty Idols (also old friends from way back). If you understand Swedish, or want to put Google Translator to the test, go ahead and visit the info page:
http://www.rockmassan.se/ Well, time for some reading before going to bed.
Roxette are playing a free concert in Copenhagen tomorrow but with this crazy rain, I doubt I’ll want to go. Would be been nice to see them though, especially since it’s free. And then – High Voltage festival in London this weekend. I still hope I can go, but it doesn’t look like it right now. Unless some miracle solves the problem for me.
And I belive in miracles. Never stop believin’. :-)
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:
Rachel Bolan on stage before the show:
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! :)
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.
[My pass from 1995, can’t find the one from 1994…Note that the festival used to be called “Karlshamn Rock Festival”]
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!]
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. :)
Partying with Dio’s band at Karlshamn hotel…. not sure what year it was, but they were truly having a good time!
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!
IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR 