Re-load and charge

Damn I'm longing for vacation now! The inspiration level at work has been rather low lately, it's just on a few occasions I've felt the same drive as I did during the winter or spring. Of course, the lay-off's take the edge of most things but now this is over. We had tell-day last week and the last ones had today. I haven't heard much how it went in Stockholm but apparently all my connections still have their jobs still. I'm having a meeting with my new manager this Friday. That will be interesting! 

And then it's only next week to work and then I'm off for a while. Not that it will be much rest though since we have 3 big Festivals lined up and a visit to Sandviken and say hi to Mom. 

So, the plan now is Metal Magic Festival and maybe also one Anvil show in UK, we'll see about that! Then there will be a long weekend in German with 3 days of Bang Your Head plus the Warm-Up show.

What a line-up it is at Bang Your Head... There's just like 3-4 bands I don't care all that much about (nothing I don't like at all), the rest is just AWESOME so it will be a hard one... Accept is always good but then I'm looking forward to Queensryche, Y&T & Morgana Lefay the most. And then of course Anvil, Exciter, Hirax, Death Angel, Flotsam & Jetsam and, and, and... You get the point, no use listing the whole line-up! *S*

But it shows it's holiday high-season during this time. The flights was rather ok in price and could have been VERY decent if I'd remembered to book the tickets... But Hotel and perhaps most so, the rental Car. €260 something for a Ford Ka (soap-cup on wheels) for Wed-Sun. Around KIT we paid €70 for a massive Diesel Renault SUV for Thu-Sun... But it will be worth it, it always is!!!

This morning, driving to work I listened to Y&T all the way (have 3,5h drive so I have some time to listen) and that sure is a nostalgia trip. I bought Black Tiger when I was on vacation with my parents -87 or -88 and of course listened to it countless of times. Then I filled up the collection rather quickly so it sure is a band that's been with me for many years. They've also done some of the best and craziest shows I've ever experienced. Just take the Rockland, Sala event where they played over 3 hours the first day and close to 3 hours the second day. Long sets but not boring for a second even.
I was rather disappointed when I realized I was going to miss Y&T playing in Sweden later this fall. We're at the Old Grave Fest in Bucharest then, which of course also is super and will be awesome. So it was extra fun realizing they're playing BYH!

We'll... Since I got up at 5am this morning it's bedtime!

Cheers
E

NP: Y&T - Black Tiger

 
 
 

The Sadist

That's how it has felt from the management at work the last couple of weeks since Tell-Day for the lay-off's has been pending and pending. Just to know almost every 5th person at work have to leave is hard, not knowing if being one of them is really stressful. Ok, I was never really worried for myself. I have a lot of years in Ericsson and good skills for my work but the ones I'm working with. The team is really good and it was definite some changes would come. Especially since it was communicated (although taken back for a while) that my position would belong to Stockholm instead of Borås, which mean a new manager for me but not the rest of my team...

Anyway, I still have my job and the rest would be sorted out later.

Then I'm not sure how I missed that Saint Vitus is playing at Truckstop Alaska tomorrow. Maybe since they're playing Copenhell and the assumption was that we were going to see them there. And then, deciding not to go to Copenhell it kind of slipped our minds. But at least we found out in time so now it's concert time tomorrow.

And then we're having a few weeks of Concert vacation before the real Festival Season starts. Metal Magic, Bang Your Head and then Headbangers Open Air...

The last for sure is one of the highlights of the year. Awesome people and awesome bands. Not the major Headliners but a lot of good bands anyway, and frankly, compared to the bigger Festivals there are always more bands I haven't seen before at Headbangers, which always is fun. Ok, I still think it's fun to see Motörhead and Saxon even if I've seen those bands well over 30 times each.

I'm really looking forward to see Treshold, Satan, Rock Goddess, Iron Angel, Hurlement, Stormwitch, Hexx, Hirax... Ok, it's useless to list all bands, gonna be a tough one again.

And of course, it's not really a Festival but a Warm-Up for a coming one... 2 Heavy 4 You reemerge after 15 years and the line-up is a killer. Of course, it include Void Moon so that makes it more fun.
The warm-up is damn good too, Hungarian Omen, Ram and Stonegriff.

But first it is midsummer, nothing planned but it will be really nice with an extra day off and to stay at home and do nothing. Ok, I have tons of things to do so it will be a busy weekend but you get the point. No travel, no concerts... Should gather some energy and sort out the vinyl shelf. I should have done that around Easter but then I was busy recording.
Speaking of the bands. We had the first Cult Of The Fox rehearsal in 3 years. I know the band was put to rest but hey, getting on offer to play live can change such a decision. So yes, we're playing the Malta Doom warm-up show with Iron Void and Hooded Priest and some more. We're kind of the odd sods in the bunch but it sure will be fun. The rehearsal went really well also and it feels good to have the privilege after just one rehearsal to be able to pick the songs we want to play rather than taking the ones we've had time to nail... We nailed more than needed so that's good!!!!

I should have some record packages coming in for the weekend too which will be good company to the cleaning activities planned for the weekend also. And, in the freezer right now I have a batch of Wolf Pale Moon Ale's which will be a nice addition to the midsummer herring (Sill is a must at midsummer) or BBQ!  

CHEERS
E

NP: HELLOWEEN - My God Given Right

 

Recordshoppers Anonymous #21

Up up and away... No, I never get tired of this. At least not when it's for fun I travel. And tonight I'm going to see Vicious Rumors which is a must on every occasion/tour they do in Europe. Unfortunately Peter has to work so I'll hang out by myself tonight.

We got the most expensive records to our collection a few days ago too. The Rose Bayonet album. Not telling what we paid for it though. Funny thing with this is that we spent a Saturday night drinking beer and clicking random bands on Metal Archives and suddenly Rose Bayonet appeared. Found the link to streem the album and we were hooked. The record almost became an obsession, a must have. Also, since both me and Peter has listened to it more than 3 times, it's mandatory to buy it! That's our rule... Easier said than done with this one though.

But it showed up on Discogs one morning and I woke up by some SMS's from Peter... SHALL WE???

Sure as hell we should. It also turned out the seller was vocalist from the band Geoff Dunn so he signed it for us before sending it. How cool is that?

Anyway, the album is a Killer and with the music and story behind it, worth every cent!

Cheers
E

Stronger than Steel

It feels like I finally starts to get warm again after last weekends Muskelrock Festival. Saturday was quite tough but of course worth the pain since there was some really cool and good bands.

Thursday we only saw Portrait and The Rods. Both very good and it was cool to see and hear Veronica Freeman sing the Dio/Sabbath stuff.

Friday started off with Tyranex who delivered as usual. Tyrant followed and they sure was the surprise of the Festival. Damn good and just a big party. One of the bands I was looking forward to see the most was Capilla Ardiente. When taliking to them before the show they'd started quite Heavy on the beer already and was discussing to start the real warm-up at hit the Whiskey. Don't know if they did but wouldn't be surprised since it was complete anarchy on stage, chaos and messy. Like a kindergarden class in a candy store but damn it sounded good!!!

After this treatment with Capilla Ardiente and Tyrant nothing felt very interesting so we watched some and spent the remains of the evening chatting away. Arriving at the hotel for an early night we met Chris and Lips and spent some time eating grilled sandwiches and watch Kill Bill... Odd ending of a great day.

And then came Saturday... Rain, cold and wind. The beer got colder halfway through and wine... Way too cold for that. Also the parking was destroyed in the rain so we had to park outside the area. But rather a walk than be stuck in the mud in the middle of the night. Peter took the wheel this time so I guess it's my turn next weekend for SRF! But Ashbury, Citron and Anvil made it worth it all. Tribulation and Horisont helped too. So it sure was a great Festival.

Next up Vicious Rumors and SRF! And then we'll see if next business trip will be in a week and a half or August...

Cheers
E