Recordshoppers Anonymous #4

Or maybe it's only shoppers anonymous this time!!! The Passat started to fall to pieces a while ago. And I realized the emission control system was in two pieces to start with so the car sounds like a Harley around 1500rpm. Then the clutch was getting stuck, to fix that two cylinders in the gear system needed to be changed. And then the back breaks, rust and, and, and...

So getting back from Headbangers Open Air the hunt for a new car started!!! My (and Peter's) final choise was a brand new Blue KIA Ceed_SW. Almost as big as the Passat but still to a quite fair price. A Diesel too and enviromental classified so it is Tax Free for 5 years. That's nice!
At first we were looking ant a Huyndai but the seller messed up really bad so it didn't felt right to give him the trust. They had a car that could have been suitable, a year old. The car was out on cleaning when we got there so he promised to call me back the next day. First that took 2½ days for him to call back and then he's actually surprised when I ask the price of the car, if winter tyres was included, milage etc... It is black he said... Year right, only enthusiests and idots buy shiny black cars...

But the KIA felt all right and all things around was smooth too so of Friday I get to pick it up!!!! Gonna be fun! And now maybe we can to Trollhättan to see Where Angels Suffer on Saturday too.

But the real shopping was in Malmö!!! It has been great catches shopping for records in Malmö lately. No exception this time. Of course, completely out of budget but hey, I can always make cheap lunches and live on "knäckebröd" util the next paycheck arrives... *s* Who can really resist a Warlord LP "Deliver Us", original at a really fair price! Then some Vinne Moore, Rough Cutt (really good one by the way), Joe Lynn Turner and Tygers Of Pan Tang and more got to follow me home!!! Also, the Picture 7" was about €2-3/each. that's crazy!!!


Another one I ordered a while ago was the fan edition of Ken Hensley's "Blood On The Highway"... What a box!!! CD, DVD, T-shirt, guitar pick, letter, photo... That's very cool!

And to justify all the expensive LP's (ok, not more expensive than CD's) we finally took the time to look for a new vinyl player... My old one had some problems with the connections and the sound was always on and off. It wasn't really easy to find a suitable one though. Either they were VERY cheap and fully automatic (no chance to listen to one song over and over and that I can't not have) or very mych Hi-Fi and butt ugly. The one we settled for was all manual, Lenco.

It really sounded SHIT to start with. Peter tried all ways possible to get the sound even and adjust everything possible. Then just changing from AUX in to CD in and everything got perfect... Too strong signal for the AUX in... well done, Peter!!! The CD worked fine in the AUX so I guess it will be a little confusing before I get used to the new settings. But it's GREAT to have a vinylplayer that I don't need to stroke and pet to get to work.

Now I'm waiting for a delivery from TPL Records, some really nice vinyls in that one too!!!

Cheers

E

NP: Warlord - Deliver Us

Word of Truth

So, everything went according to plan!!! Cult Of The Fox "A Vow Of Vengeance" was released through Metlbound records the weekend of Headbangers Open Air Festival... We held a slightly improvised releaseparty in our camp (which I missed the most of since I was away amusing my self in the photo-pit for Striker) and it was quite a turn up. People seem to enjoy the album too which is cool. It still doesn't feel real, that it's an official release and is being promoted and getting reviews and stuff. The record is available through Metalbound records, Hellion Records and a few more places but of course also through the band's page Cult Of The Fox homepage together with T-shirts and more.

The response has actually been very good both when it comes to comments about the music and sound in general and also the grades. (like 8/10 or 9/12, 11/15) I don't think anyone of us in the band expected that. Of course we are satisfied with the result but the music press isn't normally that kind...
Also, we're out of our batch now so I really hope we're getting more soon. That too is very cool!!!

Friday we had a gig in Malmö. It was the Malmö City Festival so there was a lot of events around the city. This was a small indipendent stage a bit off from the Festival and it looked quite bad when we arrived. Just 10-15 people present and most seemed to be there for the band playing before us. We had about the same number when we started but it only took a few minutes for the place to fill up a little bit at least, in the end it was a quite decent crowd. So that was fun!!!

What's next? Not much but the inspiration to write material for a future album sure is there. We have started rehearsing some ideas and it sound really cool... But a few more gigs sure would be nice!!!

Cheers

E

NP: Communic - The Bottom Deep

What I did on my vacation

Yep, I did listen som to Ian Gillan too!!! That double LP sure is a nice collection. "New Orleans", "Mutually Assured Destruction" and "Unchain Your Brain" are fantastic along with a lot of other tracks of course.

But for the first time in my life I've been out of office withou anything at all planned. Normally I take the days off to go to Festivals and concerts but this year I took one more week to just be home and relax. That was needed, also it has been awesome to spend time with Peter just being in the flat and being lazy.
Headbangers Open Air was planned since long and that was another great Festival... The Cult Of The Fox album "A Vow Of Vengeance" was ready in time so we could hold the releasefest as planned.


Of course I did plan to do a lot of things which didn't happen. But at least we've kept ourselves quite active. Cleaning a little, fixing a little here and there and then also been out walking in the woods. It is great to be able to do that. Ok, the weather hasn't been all nice, it has been raining some too but it could absolutely have been worse.

One thing we've been talking about the whole year we've been living in Borås was to take a roadtrip to check out the neighbourhood a little. I didn't do much of that in Gävle but I know there are a lot of things to see so I really wanted to start checking things out around here. I read about the Hedared Stave Church, a tiny wooden church from the 16:th century, the only one still standing in Sweden. The ones time hasn't destroyed the Satanic Terrorists has burned down even if that is more common in Norway.

The tiny wooden church was located just a few 100 m from the main road. I didn't know what to expect at all but it sure was smaller that I thought. We had just entered the area for the church when a person comes running with a huge key. Apparently it was his job was to show off the church. It was nice and cozy inside, but very cramped. The paintings very primitive and party intact from when the church was new.

Even if I'm not religious at all I'm fascinated by the church buildings and the history behind them as well as the history in the religion. So is Peter so it was a nice day checking this one out.

Next stop was Tämta Church Ruin, googling it the only ting found was the bus stop right next to it. But it seems to have been anpther very old church. There's an about 30 cm high wall where the outer wall used to be together with some very old graves. According to the memory stone the church was torn down in 1865.

The trip between the Stave Church and Tämta was an adventure of it's own. We checked the map and it should be a road straight over the woods. Said and done, we took some notes and headed out. The roads was actually a lot better than I ever expected them to be. We missed one turn in the small village of Vänga though and took a spontanious stop at the Vänga Church, which was quite modern, dated 1904 I think. Another memory stone makred the place of the altar from the old church which was torn down when the new one was built.

These two places was what we had planned to visit. First because suggested sight seeings found on internet was very limited, then because we didn't have time tp search for more. Going back towards Borås we passed a sign saying Mölarps Kvarn together with the sign for something to check out. We took a turn and it showed to be an old mill renovated to its original shape. Very pretty.

At the same place there was a makred path in the woods where one more of the suggested sightseeings was tagged. Kröklings Hage which wasn't more than an open field. But around it there was a lot more to see. I think I need to go back there again some day when I have read a little more about it.

For example, a little bit into the woods there was a quite intact cist grave. The story said it to be a grave for a king. The thing that bugs me a little is that there are so much of this around Gävle but I hardly never went to see anything. Me and Peter just took one trip to Uppsala Old Church and checked that one out together with all the tombs around it. At that time we also checked out the Dome and found a sculpture similar to the "gräv" (in swedish half räv (fox) and half grip (griffin) = gräv)

The little forest walk turned into a safari. Apart from all evil mosquitos, flies and bumblebees we also saw lizards and a slowworm (which also is a type of lizard of course) and frogs. Most of them too shy to put up with the picture taking though.

Of course it was just nice to be out in the nature. It doesn't happen that often these days. I'm not sure why since I have the opportuity right outside my front door. Perhaps it has to do with the name of the pather. The murder-path my co-workers says...

After an exciting day it was nice to just sit and ejoy the afternoon sun out on the balcony. Nope, no rain from the south this time. We've actually been using the garden furnitures a lot so I'm really happy I got them when I did!!!

Good food is synonymous with vacation. Peter decided on burgers. I'm not complaining since he's a Master Chef when it comes to fixing the burger meat!!! No exception this time, the liquid smoke made them the best ever!!!

Tomorrow it's time to go back to the office again, at least for me. Peter has another week and take one guess if I'm jealous of him. I didn't see the need for it since these days is a lot more than I use to have off each year. But ok, I have (or we have) Malta to look forward too. And even earlier than that, Alcatraz Metal Festival and a couple of Vicious Rumors & Helstar gigs!!!

Cheers

E

NP: Manilla Road - Playground Of The Damned