Then there was none...

And that goes for the megabit on our fiber broadband connection today... ARGH! Everything has been so slow today it's very frustrating to do anything. Ok, editing pictures of course doesn't require internet access but when I'm sending them in I need it. 
Still feel the buzz from the Symphony X show, damn that was good. I must admit I was a bit disappointed though that there was no photo pit at Pumpehuset. It all turned out ok in the end but it was impossible to get to some of the guys up on stage so the series of pictures isn't as varied as they normally are. Got the report and pics sent in after a lot of curse-words and a some freak-outs.

Next up is one more Exodus / Lost Society show. That will be fun since it was really good in Gothenburg. Of course I need to go to both when I have the opportunity. And there sure are a lot of things coming that I want to go to. 

This one for example, Ragnarökkr Metal Apocalypse

Winterhawk I missed in Greece, Satan's Host and Leather Leone I've only seen ones. And Leather was with the special show at KIT for Sledge/Leather so it really is a first. It's not that expensive to fly to Chicago either... Just the days off work that's the issue.
I also would like to see Metal Church and Riot V. They both play in Switzerland but that clashes with the above event. Metal Church plays in Hamburg which is very convenient and close... We'll see about that!

Then Muskelrock of course. And I REALLY hope it will be warmer than last year. It wasn't really fun to hang out and wait for Anvil to play the Headline slot on Saturday then...

Diamond Head, KAT, Neon Rose, Rock Goddess, Vardis (since they rocked hard at UTH), Tysondog and maybe most Salem. So it's a quite good year now also... Need to book the hotel though because there's no chance in hell I'll be camping ever again at that Festival.

And when Sweden Rock Festival announced that Michael Schenker will do a special show including 3 vocalist and one of them being Robin McCauley I have to go, or go somewhere else that thing happens. 
But for the big major Festivals it is Copenhell that's the deal. Takes about an hour to drive one way which it's worth instead of tryint to get on one of the busses back to city. Just have to see Black Sabbath once at least and the rest isn't bad either.

Metal Magic is tradition and it's damn much fun to hang out there. Also, the line-up is very good. There're some really good artists. Uli Jon Roth, Manilla Road...

In the same way Headbangers Open Air is tradition but I hope we won't end up neighbors with the Modern Talking fans again this year. Why go to a Metal Festival and play 80's pop hits all night???

Alcatraz Metal festival is always fun then... And, and, and.. Helloween is playing in Knislinge this year so I guess it will be another visit to that festival, at least on the day they're playing. 
And for the fall...

One I would really like to go to is the Frost & Fire Festival. It's a damn good line-up.

Malta Doom, Old Grave Fest... We'll see what happens with those based on all other things happening. I love going to both but it's the line-up that matters.

And the line-up of this one is purely fantastic... Sure need to get that one into the schedule also;

So I guess the last one is a must! And it shouldn't collide with any other Festival at least... But I'm sure there are other concerts and shows that will mess up the schedule. Vicious Rumors should get their new album out soon and that I have to go and see if they come for some gigs...

So many bands and so little time! What to do, what to do?

Cheers
E

NP: Symphony X - Paradise Lost

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Vacation's over

Even if it has been a few hectic weeks it sure has been fun ones also. I actually get tired just by thinking about the schedule. Starting off with visiting my mom in Sandviken for a few days. Got home for a quick repack and off to Metal Magic. Sunday after the Festival we visited Peter's grandma and after that Peter dropped me off at the Malmö station so I could go home and do some laundry while he drove to Uddevalla and Gothenburg to pick up the Exciter shirts and the originals for the cover for the upcoming Void Moon album.
Monday we had a quite calm day, tuesday was rehearsal with both Void Moon and Cult Of The Fox which lasted for about 6 hours in total. Wednesday we left very early for Bang Your Head. After Destruction on the last day of the Festival we drove straight to the Airport to catch the flight to Stockholm and Ac/Dc. Home monday and off for Markus BBQ party. Got home after midnight and started to prepare the food for HOA. I've realized that Pulled Pork is great Festival food. Tuesday morning we picked up Nina at the station, went out to the cat-shelter to meet Lillof and Maddox. Then the final festival shopping, home and pack before the rest of the guys arrived and the Headbangers team was complete. Then the Festival and now straight back to work...  Sure need vacation from my vacation!
But yes, it has been good weeks with many really good gigs. I like that! And Tomorrow Death Angel and Flotsam & Jetsam plays at Sticky Fingers! Gonna be awesome! Both has been great at BYH & HOA!

So it actually feels good to be on a more regular schedule again now. Took the opportunity to start reading a new book. Finished The Dirt before the vacation started and according to the notes on the cover the Kee Marcello book should be even more crazy, hard to believe that though... We'll see!

Cheers
E

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

 

Heavy Metal

I really feel like going to a concert now! Feels like it ages ago since I last saw a band live. Anvil played in Trollhättan just over a month ago so it's not so bad...

It looks like it will be a good year fot Metal though. Good line-up's at most Festivals and a hell lot of them! KEEP IT TRUE, HEADBANGERS OPEN AIR, METAL MAGIC, BANG YOUR HEAD, UP THE HAMMERS... Have to see Vicious Rumors also when they come to Europe next time. I'm really looking forward to see SANCTUARY also!
Last but not least, the next Void Moon album should see them light of day during the year too...

Cheers
E

Back in business

Summer's over back to Class... As SLINGBLADE sang. But not back to Class for me, back in the office. I of course had a bit of a problem to sleep last night but it wasn't too bad to be back. Everything went very slow though. Guess it will be better in a few days.

But it was a nice vacation. Rather busy though, as usual... First a few short days at home before I made a trip to Sandviken for a few days, then back home to repack and head of for Headbangers Open Air and some more events in Germany, back home again and prepare for a Void Moon rehearsal and clean the house. Then I had a week in the house just messing around. Peter and David was recording new songs for their new project with Jacques B and I supported with food. Felt very good to play in the kitchen, ran out of good lunch and dinner ideas after a while though. 

Of course, a lot of time has been spent out on the porch and the cute little cat has been hanging around almost all days. Guess it wasn't the best to leave a cushion out, which of course became very popular instantly. But who could take it away when being met by this;

The cat just looks too comfortable and cozy.

I also got myself a new computer. First since the old ones really can't handle the heavy files from the camera nor the new software I need to support my Canon EOS 5 MkIII as well as the 50D. Got some tips from Jonas what to get and that worked fine, easy to order and the Inet shop in Malmö was a good one, friendly staff. It took a while to set it up and of course the Adobe page for ordering a Creative Cloud subscription was down the first day. When I got Photoshop and Lightroom installed everything worked fine with all raw files! YEY!!!! 
But... My huge monitor which has been so good with the old computer didn't really work with my new, resolution is absolutely not enough so I still can't edit the pictures. I have checked out one and will order it so I can pick it up this coming weekend (or have it shipped home, we'll see). Then I should be ready to go!!!

It's been fun being out with the camera these days too. Fullmoon out, but it's hard to get good pictures of it. Got some nice ones with my phone though and a bit of editing it looks very cool. Speaking about photos. Peter's and David's new band also needed photos and we took a walk around Höör shooting band pics in the middle of the night, parts of the Cemetary is always popular. Wonder what the locals really think! They didn't seem too scared though, more curious. One guy stuck around for a while but his dog was terrified of the guys. Another rather drunk lady also stopped by and that was the funnies English accent I've ever heard, Swinglish really in Helsingborg accent.

And it shows that the summer are heading towards fall... Spiders are coming in!

 

Not the biggest we've had but still rather impressive. They will get fatter during the winter though. Apart from Spiders, the whole porch has been infested with snails, both the killer ones, regular and the ones with a house. They crunch rather much when being stepped on. Not intentionally of course but they're everywhere.

Well, I'm aiming for an early evening tonight! Better take care of the last tasks before it's time to sleep.

Cheers

E

NP: ASTRAL DOORS -  Notes from the Shadows