onsdag 30 oktober 2013

Konsertrecension

Alter Bridge
Halestorm

Arenan, Stockholm 131029






















Uppenbarligen är det här musik som går hem i de svenska stugorna. Arenan är nästintill slutsåld och tjejer i höga klackar och urringning trängs med killar i linne och svällande muskler täckta i tribaltatueringar. En journalistvän kallade huvudbandet för ett "amerikanskt Takida" och det är förvisso till att ta i, men jag förstår vad han menar.
Halestorm agerade förband och även om musiken i sig, är föga upphetsande, går det inte att komma ifrån att Lzzy Hale har en sjuheslikes pipa och rockar hårdare än många andra. Hon är en väldigt charmant tjej med fötterna på jorden som hade passat perfekt i gamla The Runaways. 
Alter Bridge är precis som nyss nämnda band, ett gäng jag de senaste två åren intervjuat flertalet gånger. Synonymt för båda banden är att de är ytterst trevliga och lätta att ha att göra med. 
Innan giget på Arenan satt jag ned med basisten Brian som, halvt på skämt halvt på allvar, visade lite missnöje med herrarna Tremonti och Kennedys sidoaktiviteter. Intervjun kommer snart upp här.
Precis som med Halestorm, är Alter Bridge inte heller ett av undertecknads favoritband, även om senaste "Fortress" bjuder på en del trevligheter. En annan gemensam nämnare, dock mer positiv, är sången. Kennedy har även han en röst av sällan skådad kraft och verkar fullkomligt oberörd av de höga toner han pressar fram. Imponerande.
Bäst under kvällen är akustiska "Watching over you" där Lzzy Hale bjuds in som sångpartner. Jag får nog erkänna att jag rös lite under sångens gång.
Sammantaget bjöds det på habil underhållning, även om det kanske saknades en del nerv och skitighet. Det är helt enkelt lite för "clean cut", som man uttrycker sig på engelska. 

Betyg: 3/5

/Niclas
Se Def Leppard på bio.





















What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas...
I november/december kan du ge dig ut i vintermörkret, köpa lite popcorn och slå dig ned i en biosalong för att avnjuta Def Leppards kommande DVD.

Borgholm (Folkets Hus) 07/12/2013 
Boxholm (Folkets Hus) 30/11/2013 
Göteborg (Bio Roy) 02/12/2013 
Malmö (Spegeln) 16/11/2013 
Osby (Medborgarhus) 19/11/2013 
Säter (Folkets Hus) 13/12/2013 
Söråker (Folkets Hus) 21/11/2013 
Stockholm (Biografteatern Rio) 07/12/2013 
Tumba (Tumbascenen) 16/11/2013

/Niclas

lördag 26 oktober 2013

Ni missar väl inte det här?


























På lördag 2:e november blir det fullt ös medvetslös i Bryggarsalen. Dörrarna slår upp kl. 16.00 och undertecknad kommer agera konferencier under kvällen och presentera banden. 
Vi syns!

Mer info HÄR

/Niclas
Omslaget till svenska "Nothin´to lose".





















Tja, en rak översättning funkar väl, I guess...
I en bokhandel nära dig den 7:e april nästa år. 

/Niclas
KISS till Europa 2014?













Herr Stanley fick idag, via twitter, frågan om de kommer till England snart? Hans korta svar blev "Planerar nu. Förhoppningsvis i maj eller liknande."
Hans röst verkar ha återhämtat sig något, om man ska gå efter en del liveklipp från gigen i Japan. Nästa år sägs ju bjuda på ett 40-årsfirande, då debutalbumet såg dagens ljus 1974. Skulle de dessutom komma in i Rock and Roll Hall of Fame lär de göra allt för att casha in ytterligare lite dollars. Smida medans järnet är varmt, så att säga. 

/Niclas
Ny trailer för dokumentären "Inside LA metal".





Trailern är för den andra delen som omfattar åren 1982-86. Det här kommer bli hur bra som helst.

/Niclas
Ny bok om UFO.





















Den ständigt produktive Neil Daniels kommer snart ut med ännu en bok. Deh här gången handlar det om vildhjärnorna i UFO.
Boken trycks just ni i denna stund och förväntas komma ut i november lagom till julklappsinköpen. 

/Niclas

torsdag 24 oktober 2013

Konsertrecension

Y&T

Debaser Medis, Stockholm 131024

















Visserligen missade jag en del av konserten i början pga jobbåtaganden, men det råder ingen tvekan om att Y&T visade var skåpet ska stå denna sena kväll  i huvudstaden.
Menikettis röst är och förblir en av de där få rösterna som fortfarande håller. Att jämföra med exempelvis Vince Neil eller Paul Stanley. Han sätter de flesta tonerna utan större problem och lägg därtill att han spelar gura som en sann rockgud. 
Med Nymann, Vanderhule och Lang vid sin sida låter bandet otroligt tight. Egentligen är det nog frågan om de varit så här bra sedan 80-talet? 
Publiken strömmade till och fyllde upp Debaser väldigt bra, vilket givetvis också påverkade bandet. De har ju återkommit till våra breddgrader hela tiden sedan deras första gig på SRF för många år sedan. Meniketti avslöjade dessutom ikväll att bandet åter står på scen i Norje nästa år. 
Avslutningen med "Open fire" och "Forever" visade för tusende gången hur superba Y&T är och att de förtjänar att spela för fler människor. Det är en gåta hur det kom sig att de aldrig blev större på det ljuva 80-talet. De har charmen och en sjuhelsikes låtkatalog. Att kunna spela ut så höga kort konstant under en kväll, är det få band som kan. Och när man ser Opeth-Fredrik höja glaset i Menikettis ära och digga med i just "Open fire", jå då jäklar är det ett bevis på bandets ostridbara storhet, trots den lilla scenen. 

Betyg: 4/5

/Niclas

tisdag 22 oktober 2013

Courtney Love ger ut sin självbiografi.




















En gång i tiden var Courtney Love riktigt, riktigt bra. Jag håller "Live through this" som ett av 90-talets bästa album. En samling låtar av fin klass, men hon har tyvärr aldrig lyckats skapa något liknande igen.
Nu kommer Courtneys självbiografi. Det mest förvånande med den, är väl att den inte kommit ut tidigare. Hon lovar att inte hålla inne med någonting och tja, det kan säkert stämma. Två nya låtar på väg, "Wedding day" och "California", och sedan nytt album nästa år.
Boken på 400 sidor ser dagens ljus den 1:e december. 

Mer HÄR från The Guardian.

/Niclas

måndag 21 oktober 2013

Titta på PSL´s första del om In Solitude.





















PSL med Elin Unnes i spetsen har satt ihop en intervjuserie med In Solitude. 

Titta HÄR

/Niclas
Lyssna på Leslie Wests kommande album.




















Leslie West, född 1945, har mer riv i sig än många av dagens betydligt ungdomligare förmågor. Han gästas bl a av Dee Snider och Johnny Lang på nya "Still climbing", som landar på din lokala skivdisk den 28:e oktober, men redan nu kan du lyssna på hela kalaset. Utan tvekan ett album som kommer hamna ganska högt upp på min egen lista för 2013. 

Lyssna HÄR

/Niclas

söndag 20 oktober 2013

PSL bjuder på intervjuserie med In Solitude.





















När nu skivåret 2013 snart ska summeras, kommer In Solitude att hamna högt på min egen lista.
PSL bjuder nu på en intervjuserie med bandet, där det går på djupet. Premiär imorgon.

PSL HÄR

/Niclas
Intervju med Leslie West.




















Det är inte varje dag man får möjlighet att tala med någon som faktiskt spelade på Woodstock. Leslie West har hängt med ett bra tag nu och trots en kropp som börjat protestera, West fick amputera ena benet för några år sedan, så bänder han fortfarande strängarna och är nu aktuell med ett nytt soloalbum, "Still climbing".
Titeln syftar naturligtvis på Mountains debutalbum "Climbing" från 1970. Hans nya giv osar riktigt tung blues som snuddar hårdrocken på sina ställen och bjuder även på gästinhopp av exempelvis Mark Tremonti och Dee Snider.
Jag ringde upp en ganska rosslig Leslie och pratade om lite allt möjligt.

43 years later and you´re “still climbing”? 

Leslie: Yeah, that´s why we named it that. My brother came up with it and I´m trying to climb a little higher, but it´s a little more difficult now with one leg. (laughs)

It´s a really heavy album. 

Leslie: We wanted to step up the production and me and my co producer did it all here on the east coast and when we were done, we send it to Mike Fraser in Vancouver and he´s an incredible mixer. He´s done Metallica, Joe Satriani, AC/DC and everybody. He did a great job! It was a different approach to have somebody mix it that wasn´t involved in the day to day recording of the album. I really loved the way it came out.

All these people on it, like Dee Snider, Mark Tremonti, Johnny Lang and Johnny Winter, are they guys you´ve known for a long time? 

Leslie: Well, I´ve known Mark Tremonti for several years. His brother produced one of my videos, “The sound and the story” and I knew Mark would be perfect to play a solo with me. His style is very different and he did such a great job on that. As fast as he plays, he´s still very clean and melodic and I was thrilled how that came out. Johnny Winter I´ve known for a long, long time. We toured together all of last summer and I played a cut on his album and I asked if he would play on mine and the song “Busted, disgusted or dead” was right up his alley, so that worked out really cool.

Was it done in the studio or did you just do it the e-mail way? 

Leslie: Johnny Lang was in the studio with me here in New Jersey and Dee Snider was in the studio too. Mark Tremonti I sent the files. With Johnny Winter, my co producer went out to Connecticut to record him actually doing. When I did the cover of “When a man loves a woman” with Johnny Lang, we were just a foot away from each other, playing in the control room. It was really great.

What´s your take on the record industry these days, having been part of it for so long? Nobody´s selling records anymore, but on the other hand it´s a lot easier to get your music out there. 

Leslie: It is. I have no idea what the state of the music business is. Somehow the music´s getting out. There´s different vehicles and different venues and there are no more Tower Records or HMV. I think people miss going to record stores and browsing through albums and so on. The good thing about this album is that we´re releasing it on vinyl, so you get the best of both worlds.

I read that you quit smoking and drinking a few years back? 

Leslie: I never drank! I never was a drinker, no. I stopped smoking. I stopped smoking weed and cigarettes as it was one of the reasons I lost my leg. It helped my voice a little.

Losing a leg must´ve been quite a wakeup call and realizing how fragile life is? 

Leslie: Let me tell you! Three years ago in June it happened. I was in Mississippi and we were gonna do a concert at the Hard Rock and I never got to do it because I had to go to the hospital. They put me in a coma for four days and my wife actually saved my life. She actually wrote quite a few lyrics on the album. She made them wake me up because they told her that if they didn´t remove my leg, I was gonna die. They woke me up and I was so high from the medication that I didn´t know what she said to me. It was like “Yeah, do whatever you gotta do!”. I´m sure that if I had been fully awake like I am now, I probably would´ve said “What?”. She saved my life. I don´t know if I could´ve done what she did.

A thing like that, did it give you a different approach to your songs? 

Leslie: Nah, there´s one song on the album that I especially felt close to, “Tales of woe”. I had a rough two years and I heard the title somewhere. One of the guys I work with came up with the lyrics and it talks about the story. I even say it in one line, “Don´t pretend to know me when you haven´t got a clue… when you´ve never walked a mile in my shoe”. It´s a sad song, but it´s one of my favorites.

You collaborated with Clutch back in 2001. How did that come about? 

Leslie: A friend of mine, an engineer, introduced us and they were on Atlantic Records. They´re a jam band and sit around and jam and try to make songs from the jams. Atlantic needed a single, so they called me and me and Neil Fallon worked on a song and I really enjoyed that experience. I wish we would´ve continued on, but they´re still on the road and I saw them a year ago when they were opening for Zakk Wylde. We have the same manager, Zakk and me, and I went to the show and saw Clutch and said hello to them. It was a great experience working with them.

You should do something with Zakk Wylde! 

Leslie: Yeah, we did the DVD “The sound and the story”. We played together and talked for 20 minutes and so on. It´s really funny, but at the same time it´s supposed to be a guitar instruction video, but it´s more than that. We got to play together in Chicago. He sort of tells people I´m his father and he calls me dad. (laughs) I say “Look man, I want proof! I want dna!”.

You´ve been doing this for so long. Way back in the beginning, what was it that got you into music? 

Leslie: Originally when I was a little kid, it was Elvis Presley. When I really started electric guitar and I first heard John Mayall´s Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton on it, it was what really got me hooked. It was off and running from there. Cream and then Hendrix and then Felix Pappalardi produced my first group, The Vagrants and then all of a sudden when I saw “Disraeli gears” and that he produced it, I was like “Wait a minute! It´s the same guy?”. We got together and we formed Mountain. The more things change, the more they stay the same, I think.

What do you remember from writing the song “Mississippi queen”? 

Leslie: Corky Lang, my drummer, he was putting songs together for “Climbing”. He came over to my apartment in New York City we came up with the riff and the chords and the melody and we had a song. We went into the studio and when Felix told me “Count it off!”, he used the cowbell and now it´s the very famous cowbell.

Did you feel back then that it might be a song that could become a hit? 

Leslie: No, I think I was too young to think that way. We needed songs and the song came out really good and we were happy. It made sense. It was the perfect song for radio, 2 minutes and 20 some odd seconds and in those days they wanted to have a lot of commercials and play short songs, so that worked out. I do know it was too heavy for a lot of stations over here. They only played it at midnight to six am and not during the day. They played stuff like Santana so the housewives could clean the house fast to that music. It made it in spite of it.

It´s been covered a lot. Do you have a favorite cover version of it? 

Leslie: The one I did with Ozzy was great. I went to his house to do that one. I also know that the Beastie Boys sampled it in one of their songs, “Looking down the barrel of a gun”. A lot of groups has sampled this particular song, “Long red”, that I put on the new album. A new version of it. If you look up the song on Wikipedia, it´s a map of how many groups have sampled it. It´s one of the most sampled hip hop songs of all time. From Jay Z and Kanye West to NAS, Depeche Mode and Lana Del Rey. Tons of people. Who knew in ´69 when I wrote it, that it was to be a hip hop song? There was no hip hop. I don´t know what the fuck it was! Anyway, they seem to have taken to it. It´s great and I look at the platinum albums on my wall. It´s great!

How does it work these days? Do they need permission to use it? 

Leslie: Yeah, they have to go through my publishing and get the permission from Universal and it depends on how much from the song they sample. Like Kanye West, he used the song and wrote two songs with it. Jay Z used it in “99 problems” and also used the Billy Squier song “The big beat” and Rick Rubin put them together and it´s amazing how many people took different parts of the song. Lana Del Rey took my voice from a live version we did at the Fillmore East.

Through the years that must´ve generated quite a lot of money? 

Leslie: It was pretty good. Especially when I didn´t expect it. There are some groups that never got clearance. Lana Del Rey we just found out never got it cleared and she sold between three and four million copies. Now Sony has to work out a settlement with Universal for it.

I have to ask, what do you remember from playing Woodstock? 

Leslie: Everybody says they were there and they think they were there. I was there. (laughs) It was quite the experience, man. I´ve never seen anything like it and never will again. Four years ago in August, I got married on stage and we did the 40th anniversary. They built a beautiful new amphitheater where the original stage was and people were in shock. You can see the Leslie West wedding on You Tube. When the justice of the peace asked if there were any witnesses, you heard some 25.000 people scream “Yeah!”. It was quite an experience going back there and getting married. And I´m never gonna forget the first time. It was great!

It´s gotta be cool to be part of something that legendary? 

Leslie: Yeah, I was lucky and the reason we got on the show to begin with, was Jimi Hendrix´agent. He was our agent and got us on the show. Besides being good, you gotta be lucky.

/Niclas

lördag 19 oktober 2013

Intervju med Ted Nugent.





















Mannen, myten, konceptet. Ted Nugent är inte den som håller tillbaka utan håller sin fana högt i alla väder. Han är en vapenförespråkare av rang, älskar allt som har med jakt att göra och anser att liberalerna har kört hans vackra USA i botten.
Jag bestämde redan innan samtalet att jag inte skulle ge mig in i någon politisk debatt med the Motor City madman. Han skulle få prata fritt och säga vad han ville, vilket kanske inte var helt politiskt korrekt, men väldigt underhållande. Vi står väldigt långt ifrån varandra politiskt sett, men det finns också en del saker han säger som inte är fullständigt uppåt väggarna.
Nedan följer vårt långa samtal om allt och lite till.

What are your feelings about Detroit these days? It having filed for bankruptcy and what not. 

Ted: My feelings about Detroit start with just an exploding positive love of my roots. The most powerful, emotional, spirited relationship with my origins. The music power of Detroit. The friendly neighborliness. The love and pride of ownership. The pride of one’s property and the pride of one´s patriotism and geography. It was all positive and absolutely the best place in the world to be born and raised, until the liberal Democrats came in. If you examine the history of Detroit, as soon as the liberal Democrats came in and started brainwashing people, that instead of being the best that you can be, you can go ahead and not give a damn. And instead of producing the best of your abilities, you can go ahead and not just give a damn and that´s of course why it is now bankrupt. I go back to Detroit every year. I moved to Texas 12 years ago, but I will always be the Motor city madman and I will always be a Detroit boy. Thank god that Kid Rock, Eminem and Jack White keep that music spirit that Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels created, Motown, the mighty funk brothers and certainly all my friends from Bob Seger, the MC5, The Rationals, Brownsville Station and certainly the mighty Grand Funk Railroad. So many incredible bands and of course Kid Rock keeps that high energy rock and roll alive. Those positive memories are overwhelming and I also have to admit that there is a recipe for destruction and there is a recipe for suicide and it can be found tragically, heartbreakingly and it hurts me to have to say this, but it can now be found as the agenda of our president. The president and the liberal Democrats are trying to do to America what they did to Detroit. That´s why there´s a battle going on here and that´s why there´s a line drawn in the sand. Detroit takes on a much larger ramification than just one city and one state and one region. It really is an indicator whether America will sacrifice and dedicate that work ethic that made Detroit the most productive epic center of the world or they will follow the suicide path of liberal Democrats and not just care anymore and go bankrupt. Let me finalize that by saying that in 2013 I had the greatest concert of my life in Detroit, so the energy and the love of the music and that spirit of being the best you can be, it´s still alive and well in Detroit and in Michigan, but unfortunately the city itself is a manifestation of a cultural abandonment and spiritual abandonment and economic abandonment. I´m glad that it exists, but it´s a tragedy that it must exist. But it´s important, just like the Nazis were important, we have to be reminded of how stupid and evil and rotten people can be, so that we can fight to not be stupid, evil and rotten again.

Do you think there´s hope for Detroit to come back and be a vibrant, big city again? 

Ted: Well, I believe there is hope. I have a song called “I still believe” and it actually talks about Detroit, “I was born in that Detroit town, heart and soul of America. I have seen her ups and downs, mostly down with Obama. I still believe, I believe in America.”. I believe that what I saw in the audience this last summer in Detroit, is that they´re alive and well and unstoppable. I believe that the geography is a gift from god. Do you know that the Detroit river is the number one walleye and small mouth bass fishery in the world? It´s cleaner than it´s been in over a hundred years. We know that man is capable of idiotic destructiveness, but also capable herculean, miraculous quality redemption. I really believe that if the pimps and the whores and the welfare brats and all of those in elective office that represent them and the Barack Obamas and the mayor Coleman Youngs, get the hell out of our way and we boat them the hell out of office, then yes, America can come back when it remembers that being the best that you can be is the only way for the American dream.

On your Facebook there´s been this ad for “Ted Nugent for president!”. How serious is that? 


Ted: Well, if you talk to the people that are asking me to run, they´re damn serious, because they know that if America operated like the Nugent family, it would once again be the greatest quality of life in the world. Again, it´s about putting your heart and soul into to being the best that you can be. Being as productive as possible of taking good care of yourself so you don´t get sick and you don´t need health care, so that you only need health care when you experience tragedy beyond your control. Not because of your decisions and choices, to be irresponsible and idiotic. So yes, it´s serious. I will never close the door on the possibility because everybody would agree that the most enjoyable presidential debates in the world, would be anybody against me. I would eat them alive because I´m addicted to logic and I don´t play politically correct denial, stupidity games. I will eat them alive! I don´t know if you ever googled what I did to Piers Morgan?

I watched it yesterday, actually. 

Ted: Yeah, and if you try and debate me on black and white issues, on good over evil issues, on right over wrong issues, I´ll just rip your head clean off. But I´ll do it like a gentleman.

You´ve got a new live album coming out, but when can we expect a new studio album? 

Ted: We´re going into the studio in February and March. I´ve got a whole bunch of killer new, fun, rock and roll, outrageous musically adventurous songs and we´re going into the studio to capture these sons of bitches. It´s gonna be a stone cold motherfucker! (laughs)

Is it just ideas and riffs so far? Any titles? 

Ted: A bunch of songs are completely done, but I know they will still develop once we get into the studio and start jamming our balls off. Most of them are riffs and theme concepts. I´ve actually got two or three monster instrumentals. I´ve got all kinds of titles, but I´m gonna hold back until the day we´re done. I think we both must admit Niclas, that I have come up with the greatest song titles and the greatest album titles in the history of the human race. Nobody else has a “Stranglehold” or a “Cat scratch fever” or a “Free for all” or al “Ultra live ballistic rock”! (laughs)

Where did you get the title “Ultralive ballisticrock” from? 

Ted: Oh, it´s part of my stream of conscious. Everything we do is ultra. My guitar tone is ultra unbelievable, my band is ultra tight, we are ultra alive every night and the intensity and the music is just indescribable and the audiences are ultra crazed. I do a lot of shooting and I think a lot of things in life can be measured in ballistics. I think my music has a certain fire power to it.

What was it that made you pick that one show (Penn´s Peak, Pennsylvania) for the live album? Was there something special to it? 

Ted: First of all, every night we do is special. Literally every night is a stone cold motherfucker. We´ve never done a bad concert in our lives. Our worst concert is a motherfucker! We just cannot stumble between Mick, Greg and Derek and all my musicians over the years. These guys love the music, they love the songs and the energy, the attitude and the spirit and how can you not? We were offered a film from this television network AXS and I knew that the Penn´s Peak venue was perfect. All my audiences are at least 50% deer hunters, but Penn´s Peak are 100% deer hunters, so I knew just the fire power and the garlic and butter content would be at an all time high. When you say someone is a killer musician, well, mine are actually killers. (laughs) I´m a real killer musician! When they wanted to film this I said “Yes, but we have to own the footage, because I know it´s gonna be a motherfucker! I know it´s gonna be a historical moment and we have to release it as a live DVD.”. We remixed and mastered and inserted all kinds of fun elements. We
didn´t rerecord anything, we just remixed it and that´s what´s on the DVD.

There´s a lot of bands these days, releasing old live concerts they´ve dug up, like KISS and Iron Maiden. Any plans on doing that? Stuff you´ve got archived? 


Ted: Well, I had not thought of that until you asked me that question, because I´m in the middle of hunting season here so I´m on 100% predator mode. I just wrapped up the greatest tour of my life, so the music is always in me. I played some guitar licks this morning that were just unbelievable. They´re gonna make unbelievable songs. The point is that music is a force to reckon with every day of my life and as you ask me that question, I realize that David Krebs still has possession of the entire Cal Jam (Cal Jam II March 18 1978) concert on film. If that´s not released, I´m gonna have to go hurt somebody! I´m sure it´s magic, I´m sure it´s special and I think the reason that these artists are releasing all this old stuff, is because it´s fascinating.


Absolutely fascinating to music lovers everywhere and because you have inspired me Niclas, I´m gonna make that happen! And god knows what else there is?

Fans really love that stuff! It´s fun to watch things from the 70´s or 80´s. 

Ted: Yeah, absolutely! They´re magic moments and some of it may not be so good, like I saw some early footage of Nirvana and there are magic moments and there are embarrassing moments, but even the embarrassing moments has a musical power to it that identifies the adventurousness of musicians that were not afraid to stumble and were not afraid to smash something that is musically wrong, but spirit and energy wise and attitude wise, it´s something special.

You´ve written a lot of books, but you haven´t written your autobiography yet, right? 

Ted: I´m writing that now. It´s called “Stranglehold” and it´s gonna scare the shit out of everybody!

How far into it are you? 

Ted: Considering I´m barely getting warmed up… god help us all! 65 years clean and sober with an erection 23 hours day, something´s gotta give! (laughs) I have a real clear memory of the outrage and believe me, no one has the faintest idea about the incredible joys and adventure and outrage and funny shit that´s gone on in my life. We´re talking about a guy who´s done 6500 fucking concerts and everyone of them sheer delirium with so many beautiful girls in my vapor trail. So many wonderful friends and so many defiant moments of scaring the shit out of hippie journalists. I mean, you literally have to wear diapers when you read it, because you will piss your pants laughing so hard! I have perfected over my lifetime, how to handle idiots, with the idiots not even knowing they´re being handled. I´ve gotta write this book. What a bunch of killer memories! I´ve been in touch lately a lot with my original band, the Lourdes, from Detroit in 1959/1960. John Drake (vocalist) is writing his own memoirs and we´ve been reminiscing about stuff. We can hardly talk because we´re laughing so fucking hard. Tom Noel (drums) and John Finley (guitar) passed away a couple of years ago and I haven´t talked to Pete Primm (bass) in probably 40 years and nobody can find him. There´s some really great memories and great lessons to be had and I gotta tell you, I´ve come out smelling like a rose because of my discipline and my hunting upbringing and the love of my family and the dedication of great musicians who have become great friends. It´s quite a story!

Are you looking at a 2014 release? 

Ted: “Stranglehold” won´t come out until 2015 because I´m taking 2015 off. I have 9 children and 11 grand children and I promised them that I would not tour that year and just go do stuff with them. In 2014 I will be releasing a book called “Ted Nugent bulletproof” on my politics and again I reference to the Piers Morgan interview and there´s thousands like it. People have attempted to debate me and ended up with shit on their face, because the truth is the truth and if you defy the truth, I´ll take so much evidence and shove it up your ass, you´ll look like the idiot Piers is. My stand on life´s issues is bulletproof. They´re all bulletproof. I don´t have any hunches, I don´t have any guesses, I don´t have any presumptions and I don´t have any opinions about facts, logic and history. Facts, logic and history are facts, logic and history and you can say what you want about them, but they´re still what they are. That´s what all of my politics are based on and it doesn´t just mean guns and hunting. It has to do with everything from welfare, education reform and the whole Democrat demolition derby and what they did to Detroit, they´ll do to the whole fucking world if you´ll le them and I won´t let them. That book will come out next year with the new record. Maybe the record should be called “Bullteproof”?

Your way of talking and being well read, where does that come from? 

Ted: Well, it has to do with my overall attentiveness in life, which goes right to my upbringing. I never met a journalist who understood what I´m about to tell you, Niclas. Here´s your chance to shine above the world! The discipline of archery, bow hunting and marksmanship manifests itself in the discipline for intelligent and meaningful proper choices in life. I f you attempt to kill a herbivore with a sharp stick, god created the herbivore to not allow you to kill it with a sharp stick. You have to be a bad motherfucker and you have to be so tuned in, you have to aspire to and accomplish a higher level of awareness that one will then apply to musical communication, choices in life, no drugs and no alcohol… my clear thinking and clear articulation is a result of being clean and sober because I want to pay attention. When I jam with musicians I don´t wanna be like Eddie Van Halen, stumbling and drooling and fucking up. I want to listen to what BB King is playing and I want to find the spirit of that music and pivot upon it… I´ve been honored and humbled and privileged to jam with the greatest musicians in the world, like Eddie Van Halen, Billy Gibbons, BB King, Jimi Hendrix, Rick Derringer, Steve Winwood. Just the list of my drummers alone, carmine Appice, Tommy Clufetos, Tommy Aldridge, Mick Brown, Denny Carmassi, are you kidding me? These are the greatest musicians that have ever lived! Why would I want to reduce my level of awareness and miss out on some of that, because you will? If you´re stoned or drunk, if you don´t get good sleep or if you have a bad diet, you will not be able to pick up on the energy levels or the information that I can! I always say, I never went to college, I was too busy learning shit! What I´ve learned is the human experience and I´m able to reasonably grasp and project that lesson and I think that´s why I´m so convincing because I have unlimited evidence to support what I say.

Do you think your father being a military man had something to do with it too? 

Ted: Yes, the pretty bastard! (laughs) My brothers and sister and I still talk about it and we get a good chuckle out of it. He was hardcore. You might wanna google Chesty Puller! He was the most disciplinary hardcore ass clinching marine that ever lived. My dad wasn´t in the marines, he was in the army, but he was a drill sergeant and he kicked our ass. A great interview would be with my children, Niclas, and with my musicians and get their perspective on Ted Nugent. You know why the music is so good and unstoppable? Discipline! You know why my kids are so healthy and courteous? Discipline! Case closed. I´m the cockiest motherfucker you´ll ever meet, but I´m not cocky enough to think I know better than the truth!

On another note, what are your thoughts about Sweden? You´ve been here a couple of times. 

Ted: Well, just like Detroit, it starts very positive. It´s where my blood comes from, where my mother was born, in Stockholm, Sweden. My mother passed away many years ago, but her sister Nancy still lives and she went back… I can´t remember… I have a book here because she put together a beautiful book of my Swedish heritage and the village where the Johansens came from. I can tell you that my grandpa Henning Johansen really laid down the work ethic that was alive and well in Detroit when I was born there. It was alive and well in the spirit of Swedish workers. He was a carpenter, dedicated to his craft and I´m very proud to say that probably half of the Chicago skyline is a direct result of Henning Johansen. He worked and worked and my mom and dad worked and worked and my brothers and sister and I work and work and my kids and I work and work, so that´s a great, great bloodline. From my personal visits I can say that I love the people, but I might be a little bit spoiled because the people I meet are there because they love my music. I get to relate to and meet clearly the best Swedes in the world and the best Swedes in the world obviously love my music. I love the food, I love the culture. I know you have a great hunting heritage.

Have you ever had the chance to go hunting here? 

Ted: No, I haven´t but I would love to some day. It´s a great heritage there. Your moose population, or elk as you call it, is at an all time high.

One final thing. Way in the future when mr Ted Nugent passes away, what will it say on your grave stone? 

Ted: Fuck You! (laughs) It´ll say “Hey you, fuck you!”. (laughs) People with a good brain, a good soul and education, and a great sense of humor, will love that. And they know that only the guilty need to feel guilty. (laughs) I don´t know. “Here lies one bad motherfucker and he took thousands with him.”, because I will be going into battle and will kill thousands of the enemy before they get me. There are so many things about me and especially in the world of political correctness and the hatred that exists is a real tragedy. The hatred that manifests itself against me for just standing up for what I believe in, and what I believe in is irrefutably the right thing and that is being productive and being the best that you can be, caring about your fellow man, caring about the environment, being involved with all the charities you possibly can, putting your heart and soul into your craft, raising your family right to be positive and productive… these are the things that people hate me for. This is a phenomenon and this is truly gonna go down in history as the dumbest society. Americans in this time will be identified in the history books as the dumbest species that ever lived, because they had it all and they gave it away for slavery, for dependency and I will be noted as a warrior for independence, self evident truth, logic and being the best that you can be. I have no qualms and I don´t take any of the hatred personally. It just breaks my heart that such ignorance and rotten, evil hatred does exist and they´re winning in America right now. I will not back down. I´m staying ahead of the curve and I think the liberal Democrats hate me more than they hate anybody and I couldn´t be more proud. I look at it this way, Niclas! I´m a black Jew at a Nazi clan rally. I´ll be blacker and more Jewish just to piss them off. God bless you! Give my love to your family and everybody over there and thank everybody for their support of my music!

/Niclas
KISS intar Japan!



Det låter faktiskt inte så illa om Stanley som på tidigare konserter under den här turnén. 

/Niclas

fredag 18 oktober 2013

Siewert Öholm skriver förord i bok om hårdrock.



























Nu har det väl ändå gått för långt, eller?

Pressrelease från Bokfabriken:

"Vi är MYCKET glada över att kunna vidarebefordra denna nyhet för alla hårdrocksfans: Pocketutgåvan av Melker Becker och Mattias Lindeblads klassiker "Hårdrock - Rundgång, nitar och nackspärr" kommer innehålla ett sensationellt och exklusivt förord signerat hårdrockens fiende nr 1 – SIEWERT ÖHOLM – som berättar om när han 1984 försökte skrämma slag på Sveriges föräldrar med bandet W.A.S.P. i sitt debattprogram Svar Direkt."

/Niclas

torsdag 17 oktober 2013

Nu är snart boken "KISS i Sverige" här!

















I denna stund trycks detta mästerverk. De bilder som finns ute på boken bådar om något helt fantastiskt. Jag hade nöjet att åter snacka lite med Johan Falk i samband med KISS-föreläsningen i Helsingborg förra lördagen. Att höra Johan prata om sin bok gjorde mig bara ännu mer nyfiken på det färdiga resultatet. 
Johan och Roney Lundell kommer båda att finnas på Rockmässan i Malmö den 26:e oktober, då de säljer och signerar boken. 

HÄR är några fler bilder från tryckeriet.

/Niclas

måndag 14 oktober 2013

Ny låt med A Perfect Circle!












Bandet är på gång med en samlingsplatta, men kommer även inkludera ett nytt spår, "By and down". En väldigt lugn skapelse.

Lyssna HÄR

/Niclas

lördag 12 oktober 2013

Summering av en föreläsning.












Först och främst får jag erkänna min stollighet. Det är inte alla som avverkar 120 mil tur och retur för att lyssna på ett föredrag om KISS i två timmar. Min gissning är att jag var den som åkte längst av de 100 personer som bevittnade denna ganska unika tillställning, signerad Bergdahl/Linnaeus. 
Herr Bergdahl går ofta under benämningen orakel i KISS-kretsar. Han tillhör den där lilla skaran fans som sett och lyssnat mer på allt förknippat med KISS, än vad någon annan levande själ gjort. Han har ett bootlegbibliotek av storlek grand delux och har kommit så långt upp i tradinghierarkin att han fått möjlighet att komma över saker vi andra dödliga bara kan drömma om. 
Hans vapendragare för dagen, herr Linnaeus, gav tidigare i år ut den formidabla boken "KISS - den osminkade sanningen". En mycket läsvärd biografi om de sminkade hjältarna och har du ännu ej införskaffat boken, föreslår jag att du skriver upp den på önskelistan inför jul.

Denna vackra höstdag i Helsingborg, bjöds det på en föreläsning av rang. Jag har varit på otaliga genom jobbet och ingen har varit så här underhållande eller givit mig samma behållning.
Bergdahl berättade väldigt inlevelsefullt om hur New York var detta år 1973. En ruffig plats där man varnade turister från att åka tunnelbana. Kriminaliteten grönskade och staden var allmänt nedsliten. Detta undrets år var föreläsningens fokus. Året då KISS såg dagens ljus. 


Vi fick ta del av underbara ljudklipp, så som en hyfsat otight "Firehouse" från bandets replokal på 10 East 23rd Street. Rått och lite slirigt, men fullkomligt magiskt att fä höra. Dessutom i förvånade bra ljudkvalitet. Från mastertapen till KISS gig på Academy of Music 31 januari 1973 bjöds det på "Black diamond" med tillhörande stillbilder. Även här en väldigt bra ljudkvalitet jämfört med den version som cirkulerar. 
Bergdahl lyckades verkligen utmärkt med att berätta historien om det där första året. Det blev levandegjort på ett nytt sätt och man inser än en gång hur otroligt annorlunda KISS var när de brakade loss på de små scenerna runt omkring i New York. Vägen från Wicked Lester fram till att det vita sminket blev verklighet. Replokalerna och mötena med Bill Aucoin och Sean Delaney, där den sistnämnde benämns som den femte medlemmen av Bergdahl. Allt sammanlänkades i berättelsen.

När historieförtäljandet var klart tog författarsamtalet med Linnaeus över. Bra historier om nörderi. Bl a hur de båda kunde diskutera en bild i Carls bok, som visar ett avsminkat KISS med Vinnie backstage. Är bilden från "Creatures of the night" eller "Lick it up"? Om detta tvista dessa två lärda. Själv gissar jag på "Lick it up", pga det armband man ser på Eric Carrs ena handled. 
Linnaeus berättade intressant om arbetet med boken och Bergdahl förde samtalet framåt med bra frågor. 
Som avslutning bjöds det på ett unikt filmklipp. Två kvällar på klubben The Coventry filmades. Den andra kvällen kom ut på "KISSology", men första kvällen filmades också. Nu fick vi ta del av ett klipp och allt jag kan säga  äratt det där klippet var värt alla bensinpengar. Dessutom blev det även ett litet filmcollage med blandat godis från de tidiga åren. Flertalet 8mm-klipp och detta till ljudet av den för mig bortglömda pärlan "Journey of a 1000 years" från urusla "Psycho circus". 

/Niclas

torsdag 10 oktober 2013

Q&A med författaren Neil Daniels.















Neil spottar ur sig böcker i en hejdundrande takt och är just nu aktuell med sin bok om Pantera. Men det är inte allt. Han har även skrivit en fiktiv historia om bandet The Druids och har nya böcker på gång om bl a UFO och ZZ Top.
Jag tyckte att några frågor var på sin plats. Neil svarade i stil med en mindre uppsats bara några timmar efter att frågorna damp ner i hans inbox.

So, what´s going on in the world of Neil Daniels? 

At the minute I’m working on the final stages of a biography of UFO with the editor/publisher of Soundcheck Books. We’ve selected the photos and proof read the book and it’s almost ready for the printers before its Nov publication. I’m also doing press for my Pantera book in time for its UK publishing date at the end of October. It’s been out in the States for a month and has had some excellent reviews, which I’m very pleased with.

Tell us a bit about your Pantera book! 

There’s a bunch of metal bands that have been and continue to be hugely successful yet we’ve not seen a major biography of them. Pantera are one of those bands. I love them. In terms of making the book it took a year – about 6 months of research and interviews and then 6 months to get the book into shape. First I started with a chorology of the band’s history and then I build the research into it and the word count subsequently grows to the 80,000 that it was contracted for. It then took several months in post production with edits, proofs etc. Thankfully a majority of people are on Facebook so when it came to tracking folks down for interviews it wasn’t too band. That’s the modern world, I guess. Some friends from childhood didn’t reply to my messages but many did. I also got in touch with some producers and record label people; some refused my requests for interviews, others didn’t. That happens especially with a band whose history is as

complicated as Pantera’s. Some interviews were done by email; many were done on the phone.
Stuart Taylor, Dime’s best buddy, was a massive help. I also spoke with ex singers Terry Glaze, Donny Hart and Dave Peacock and they were great. If you look at the band from Cowboys from Hell onwards you see a short body of work that is vital to the progression and growth of modern American metal. They made a huge splash on the scene and throughout the 1990´s with Slayer. They were the two bands that kept the flag flying for metal. Dime was also an incredibly gifted guitarist and obviously became one of the greatest in metal. Before Cowboys they made fun party pop metal. Don’t forget they were just kids self releasing their own music. Their live shows went down a storm and they were hugely popular on the Texas club scene. Dime – then known as Diamond Darrell – proved his worth very early on. Anselmo is certainly a complex man with a difficult past. I’m looking forward to reading his book. He’s a fascinating individual. I didn’t speak to any members of the band but rather ex members, producers, roadies, friends. I think it gives the book an objective slant. As for the split, it takes two to tango. I think everyone had their own part to play but of course everyone has their own side of the story. The second Down album killed it for the band – Rex and Anselmo were concentrating on Down and Pantera was coming to an end. It was a nasty break up but most band break ups usually are. But I don’t think one individual can be blamed.


You recently released a novel, "It´s my life". What´s the story behind that one? 

I wrote it a while back for a bit of fun and when I started to work on Createspace books I saw the perfect opportunity to release it. It looks pretty cool. Here’s the premise:
This fictional rock memoir tells the story of Johnny Cannon, an Alice Cooper tribute singer who was once in a band called The Druids, one of the most exciting and distinctive bands of the hair metal era. They released two albums (The Flight Of The Druids and Kingdome Come) and toured the UK, Europe, America and Japan. Vividly recalled and explicitly written, this “mock rock memoir” is filled with hilarious anecdotes, candid diary entries and is also a handy historical document of a bygone era. Hair metal was big business in the eighties until grunge exploded and consequently it became universally derided and a “thing of the past.” Many bands lost their record deals, folded or suffered constant line-up changes and were reduced to playing in tiny clubs. Johnny Cannon was there and he can tell you everything. Johnny Cannon tells the history of The Druids and the hair metal genre from the early eighties to 1991 when everything changed. "It’s My Life (Stories Of Excess By A Former 80´s Rock Star Turned Tribute Singer)" is Britain’s answer to Motley Crue’s hugely successful autobiography "The Dirt".

How did you get into writing books in the first place? 

In terms of the books, well, I had an idea (Judas Priest biography) that was commercial and pitched it to a few publishers. Omnibus Press were keen and a few months later the contracts were signed. It’s progressed from there really. After I finished the Judas Priest book (but before it was published) I got in touch with Martin Roach at Independent Music Press about something else. He said he had an idea that might interest me. After he looked at what I had written he decided that I would be good for the project in question. When he told me his idea was for a book on Robert Plant, I knew it was a strong commercial idea that would require a lot of work but at the same time it was something that had never been done before so it wouldn’t be a case of re-hashing previous Led Zeppelin books. Plus, Judas Priest and Plant both come from the West Midlands so their history is connected. It was also a chance to work with IMP, a much respected music publishers. Since then I’ve done books on Journey, Bon Jovi, Metallica, Iron Maiden, You Me At Six, Linkin Park and two further books on Judas Priest as well as a stack of print on demand anthologies.

What was it like having your first book published? 

"Defenders Of The Faith – The Story Of Judas Priest" was my first book and it’s not a bad title. I’d like to go back and beef up the latter years with more detail, though. I don’t think the early years of the band had been written about in such detail before so I’m quite pleased by that. It’s got some fantastic photos and a huge appendices of timelines, tour dates, discographies and the feedback was pretty good. I could easily criticize every one of my books. I later worked with Al Atkins on his autobiography and published a small book on British Steel. I never would have managed writing three books on the Metal Gods.

What have you learned along the way since that first book of yours came out? 

Build up contacts, stay friendly with people and keep organized. Plan ahead, meet deadlines and deliver good copy.

Which of your books are you the most proud of so far? 

I’m very pleased with my Pantera biog, even if everyone hates it (laughs.) Seriously, though, it’s my best book and the reviews so far have been very positive. I’m also very happy with my up-coming UFO biog which covers the band’s entire history. Hopefully, my books are getting better. I’m not a great writer like Mick Wall but I’ve gotten better over the years with more experience.

Of all the rockers you´ve interviewed, tell us about three really fun ones! 

Sammy Hagar was great as was the late great Ronnie James Dio (RIP). True gents! I remember I interviewed Kevin DuBrow (RIP) too and he was a lot of fun, as was Don Dokken. I’ve spoken to Biff Byford a couple of times and Doro too and they’re both great.

Which major rock star was your first interview and what do you remember about it? 

My first interview was a phoner with Glenn Tipton for around 15 minutes and he was great – very friendly and talkative. I’ve never actually had a bad interview.

You and Joel McIver seem extremely productive. How much do you generally work during a week when writing a book? Please tell us about the writing process! 

I have a day job – I work at a high school and get the 12 weeks holidays so I have a lot of free time to work on books plus I don’t really write for magazines or websites anymore and focus all my attention on books. Either I have an idea that I pitch to a publisher or they ask me. I’ve got a book out of UFO before Christmas which was the publisher’s idea. I’m really pleased with it. It covers the band’s entire history. It’s being typeset right now. I’ve also got books out on ZZ Top, Bon Jovi and an origins book on a huge British metal band due in the next sixth months as well as Createspace books that I work on in between the commercial stuff. Keeps me busy!

What book projects do you have planned? 

In terms of commercial biogs I’ve got the Pantera book out and after that my UFO bio if due in Nov and my ZZ Top book shortly before Christmas. Next year I have a book out on Bon Jovi’s "Slippery When Wet" and a book on the first four Iron Maiden albums. I’ve also got a bunch of Createspace books out – these are good quality paperbacks. My "Rock N Roll Sinners" trilogy features hundreds of interviews with rock writers from Mick Wall to Dave Ling, Dave Reynolds, Mark Day, Sylvie Simmons, Derek Oliver and Malcom Dome et al. Check out my blog for details.

What makes a good writer and a good interviewer? 

Be friendly, do your research and don’t interrupt them – allow them to talk. It should be like a good conversation. Build a rapport.

Anything else you wanna plug? Feel free! 

The music and publishing industries were too slow to react to the digital age as it’s called and now they’re fucked. That’s partly why I’ve gone down the Createspace route. It fills in the gaps between the commercial books. I’m on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter and Linkedin and I also have a website band a blog. It’s very time consuming but it’s good press. However, there’s only so many hours in a day. Comic book writer Warren Ellis can move between commercial comics and indie stuff as well as trying out new self-publishing ventures, and that’s kind of what I’m trying with my little rock/metal books. I’m pleased with my stack of Createspace books so far. There are definitely more to come. I’ve actually just released six books via Createspace which as many people might know is Amazon’s print on demand company. AOR Chronicles and Rock & Metal Chronicles are hefty 400+ page books featuring dozens of reviews of albums mostly released over the past decade or so during the time I’ve been a writer. Hard Rock Rebels is basically my two Rock N Roll Mercenaries books (out of print) together in one 476 page book with bonus interviews. It features dozens of interviews I’ve done with members of Maiden, Priest, Queensryche, Van Halen, and many more. AOR features the “lighter” albums I’ve reviewed over the past decade and Rock & Metal features the heavier stuff and Hard Rock Rebels is a massive 476 page book that features all the interviews I’ve done for magazines. It doesn’t include the countless more interviews I’ve done for my book work, though. Maybe I’ll put those in print some other day. I’ve wrote all the reviews and I’ve got many more to include in future books. I then published a fictional rock ’n’ roll memoir about an ‘80s hair metal band and republished my two "All Pens Blazing" titles as "Rock N Roll Sinners" Volumes I and II while the third volume features entirely new and exclusive interviews. As a trilogy, the books will feature almost 200 interviews with rock scribes. I’ve set up a page on my blog neildanielsbooks.wordpress.com which will detail all my Createspace books. Thanks for taking time to do this interview and I hope fans like my books. I’m on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Tumblr and I also have a blog neildanielsbooks.wordpress.com. I’d love to hear from readers. So yeah, I’ve had 18 books published with titles on Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Journey and Metallica as well as AC/DC and Bon Jovi et al. I’ve got commercial biogs out this year on Pantera, UFO, Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet and ZZ Top with a book on the first four Iron Maiden albums out next year. It’s pretty exciting. I’m not quite as prolific as Martin Popoff or Dave Thompson but it’s not a race and I admire those guys immensely. I like to move between the self-published stuff which fills in the gaps between the commercial releases.
Visit me at neildanielsbooks.wordpress.com and neildanielsbooks.tumblr.com.

/Niclas

onsdag 9 oktober 2013

Marilyn Manson ser ut som Napoleon Dynamite. 



































Kanske inte fullt ut, men lite, eller? Hur som helst, Manson spelar in ett avnitt för serien "Eastbound and down". Han medverkade nyligen också i fullständigt briljanta "Californication" med David Duchovny. 

/Niclas

tisdag 8 oktober 2013

Vad händer?





















Idag damp ovanstående saker ned i brevlådan. Neil Daniels bok om Pantera, Brian Mays "Star fleet" på vinyl och Giuffrias debut på CD. Mycket trevligt!
På intervjufronten finns det en del att transkribera. När Trivium var i stan snackade jag med Matt Heafy för SRM, men tog även ett snack med Corey. Jag har även ringt upp och snackat med en rosslig Leslie West, en otroligt rolig men galen Ted Nugent och en extremt pratglad Rob Cavestany i Death Angel. Efterhand kommer dessa små snack att dyka upp här. 
På torsdag ska jag snacka med en annan Rob, nämligen Rob Dukes, sångare i Exodus och Generation Kill.
Ett möte med Joacim Cans var inbokat nästa vecka, men tyvärr blir jag tvungen att jobba och får skjuta på det. 
I senaste SRM har jag intervjuat Myles kennedy och Mark Tremonti  från Alter Bridge och i kommande nummer bjuds det på ett kortare snack med Matt Heafy i Trivium. Ut och köp blaskan, vetja!
Nu på fredag åker jag ner till hemlandet Skåne, för att under lördagen besöka Helsingborgs stadsbibliotek och lyssna på ett föredrag om KISS signerat oraklet Alex Bergdahl. Det blir nörderi på hög nivå om bandets allra första stapplande steg och Alex utlovar ljud och filmklipp som ingen sett tidigare. Därefter blir det ett författarsamtal med Carl Linneaus om bl a hans bok "KISS - den osminkade sanningen". Sammalagt ca 120 mil tur och retur för två timmar snack om mitt gamla favoritband. Självfallet blir det en rapport från föredraget. 

/Niclas

söndag 6 oktober 2013

Nya böcker från Martin Popoff!




















Båda böckerna kommer ut i november och som alltid när det gäller Popoff, kan du förvänta dig tonvis med intressanta bilder, memorabilia och djuplodande skrift. 

/Niclas
Bläddra i boken "KISS i Sverige"!




















Det här kommer bli en fantastisk bok! Just nu trycks den och kommer sedan att finnas tillgänglig i slutet av oktober. Redan nu kan du förboka och du kan även se flera uppslag från den.

Förboka och bläddra HÄR

/Niclas
Intervju med Michael Monroe.





















Finlands störste rockhjälte besökte nyligen Stockholm för lite press. Hans senaste giv "Horns and halos" har fått överlag lysande kritik och belönades nyligen med guldskiva i Finland.
Michael ger alltid ett väldigt positivt intryck. En pratglad finne med mycket humor och som absolut inte tar sig själv på så stort allvar.
Jag satt ner med honom på Scandic Malmen och vi snackade bl a om nya plattan, men även om hans saxofonspelande och hans gamle partner in crime, Andy McCoy.

The title, ”Horns and halos” makes me think of those old cartoons where the character´s got the devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other one. 

Michael: Yeah, for sure. Everybody has them. It was just a great title because it covers everything, yin and yang, black and white, angels and devils, light and darkness. Dregen suggested it and I thought “Nobody´s ever used that before. That´s genius!”. I thought of it as the name for the album right away, but then I thought that maybe it was sort of religious, but as it turned out when all the rest of the songs came together, Steve brought it up again after we´d thought about all these different titles. He said “I think I´ve got it! How about horns and halos?”. So at first I thought it was too obvious to consider or too religious, but when you think about it, the album has songs like “Eighteen angels”, “Soul surrender” and “Ritual”. Stuff like that with a kinda religious connotations.

Are you a spiritual person? 

Michael: There is some of it of course, but not in a religious sense. Religion to me is just another government. The church is a government and they wanna keep people ignorant so they can control them and that´s the way government acts. I know there´s a god force behind all this, but you believe what you wanna believe. I just know it, but it´s certainly not a god like the church describes it, one that punishes people. Only people punish people, so nobody has to burn. That´s what the lyrics say.

The album´s been a huge success. Number one in Finland. When your making an album, is that something you can get a sense of? That you really have something going here? 

Michael: Well, for this record we just decided to write some music and see what came out of it. We´ve been touring a lot the last couple of years and writing songs over a period of time, like a year or so. Whenever the band was in the same place. Someone lives in New York, another one in Amsterdam, Dregen in Stockholm and me in Finland, so whenever we were gonna tour, we booked some extra days before and after the tours, to write some stuff and play some demos. Before the American tour, we went to Steve´s rehearsal place in New York for four or five days. Wrote some ideas and laid down some demos and after the tour, we finished at the Whisky A Go Go in LA and then we had four days in a studio there. Eventually the album started shaping up and I love being self contained as a band. That´s how the songs came about and we chose the songs we thought were best suited as a whole. I think we did pretty good.

Having a band with members spread all over the place, does that have anything to do with yourself having lived in different cities and countries? 

Michael: Yeah, I´ve made friends all over the world and I lived in New York for ten years. I´ve gotten to meet some great people along the way. These guys, I´m very happy to have in my band. It´s really rare and doesn´t happen often. You have to give to get and receive. Of course I could stubbornly try and do everything by myself, but I think the end result is better when you have more people involved. A collaboration is more fun and I know what I can do on my own. It´s more fun and productive with other people´s ideas. You have to have perspective on everything. As long as you have a clear perspective on the whole picture… like if someone has a better lyric than I have. On this album I had lyrics written and Steve had some too. I said “Steve, let me see what you´ve got?” and his concept was better than what I had. It´s wrong to think that just because my name is on the album, I have to write all the songs. I allow a lot of space for the band to flourish and evolve and they really came through. I love walking into the rehearsal space and having the guys jamming on a riff that is almost already a song. I love it! No egos involved, that´s the first thing. These guys have no egos and there´s no egos getting in the way. I´m an exception to the rule I guess, as a singer, because I don´t have much of an ego. (laughs)

When you´re working on an album, are you the kinda guy that records a whole lotta stuff and then picks from that? 

Michael: I don´t have the luxury of doing that. I mean, these days you can record almost anywhere. We did a lot of pre production ourselves before we went into the studio to actually record the album. We recorded it in Stockholm in two and a half weeks altogether, but before that we had some stuff from the demos we did… we had decided pretty much what songs we were gonna do before we went into the studio. The last song on the album, “Hands are tied”, was not gonna be on the record. It was like a jam, but then there was a song called “Happy never after” and a song called “Don´t block the sun”, which didn´t end up on the album. In the end I decided that “Hands are tied” was the kind a jam not any band can do. “Happy never after” is a good song. It´s a safe rocker and the kinda thing I´ve done before, so this one was different for me, so we ended up putting that one as the last song. We had two or three songs where we had a pretty clear idea of what the songs were gonna be like, before we went into the studio. I like doing it that way, because I don´t like to muck about too much in the studio. I like to be well prepared before we go in and then capture the performance of the band. I think we succeeded on this album. Better than we have on many records before it. It was like, keep it simple and not too many overdubs. Like on the song “Horns and halos” when Dregen goes into the solo, there´s no overdubbed guitars. It´s just him, Steve playing the rhythm and bass and drums. Then Steve joins him in the solo and there´s only bass and drums in the background. I always wanted to have that simplicity.

Do you look at this album as your best one so far, or one of the best ones? 

Michael: I think it´s one of the best for sure. It´s hard to compare albums with other albums, because it´s a different time and they´re all different in their own way. This one is definitely its own entity in itself and so was the last one, “Sensory overdrive” but there was no point in trying to recreate that and playing it safe and writing another one like that. No way! Quite the opposite. We decided to not have any pressure and just write some music and see what came out of it. The further we went, the better it felt. There was a lot of enthusiasm and creativity flowing and a really positive kinda vibe, so it just happened naturally.

Looking back on your career, are there albums you feel you´d like to have been able to redo? 

Michael: I would like to not have done the Jerusalem Slim album at all. I wish that one would´ve been stopped when I tried to stop it. It was the worst thing that happened to me. But positively thinking, my favorite albums from my solo career are “Demolition 23”. That album was great and I love that one. “Not fakin´ it” was great and it still stands the test of time and then I would have to say “Sensory overdrive” and “Horns and halos”. Of course there´s always something you can do better, but you evolve and that´s what I try to do. That´s what keeps me hungry and I try to get better at what I do. I´ll never be good enough and that´s what´s keeps me going. There are several records where you could have done something better, but there´s no dress rehearsal. It´s live, one take and that´s all! The best you can with the knowledge you have at the time. You can´t change the past. Whatever is gone is gone. The most important thing to me is that I have retained my integrity and I never sold out. I never took the easy way out, quite the opposite. My stubbornness made things more difficult for myself some times. (laughs) But rather that than selling out. I can feel good about my career knowing that I´ve stayed true to myself.

And you also learn from the things that didn´t work out, like Jerusalem Slim for instance. 

Michael: Yeah. After that I did the “Demolition 23” album. Everything went wrong with the “Jerusalem Slim” album. Everything possible went wrong. The wrong producer and the guitar player turned around and wanted to go totally the other way after we had agreed on a certain style. After the disaster was over I was almost a million dollars in the hole. Since it was my record and my deal, I owed Polygram close to a million. It cost $700.000 or something. I tried to stop it after a couple of hundred thousand. Then after that, I got to choose my own producer. I wanted Little Steven to produce “Jerusalem Slim” and even “”Not fakin´it”, but the label wouldn´t allow it because they couldn´t control him and he wasn´t the flavor of the month, or whatever. He´s only produced minor acts like Bruce Springsteen. (laughs) Then finally after this whole thing, and it took me about a year to get off the label, I was free to choose the producer and the band and I decided on Little Steven. We put the band together and Steven was my best friend in the world during those years and Sami Yaffa was my partner in crime. With that record we did everything right in every possible way. I learned from my mistake and then did the perfect rock and roll record and something to feel proud about and good about for the rest of my life.

What made you pick up the saxophone in the first place? 

Michael: I just thought it was part of the rock and roll sound, like Little Richard. I actually took flute lessons, classical flute, for a year. When I was five my mother made me take piano lessons. My grandfather was a cello player and he played some sax at the jazz clubs just for fun. I just wanted to see what it was like. I bought a sax from a second hand store. It was in really bad shape and it was hard to play and when I got my first real one, it was so easy to play and I thought “Well, I´m not as bad as I thought I was.”. It was something different and it added some color to the sound. You put on a sax once in a while. Not every singer does that.

A saxophone can be really cheesy in a way and on the other hand it can be a lot of rock and roll. 

Michael: To me it was the rock and roll sound. Little Richard songs. I started playing along to stuff like that and The Coasters. The sound in the 50´s, the Wanderer… and Clarence Clemons had that sound and he was also a big influence on me. That´s my style. I think I´m a better harp player than sax player. I haven´t practiced for a while. This album has one song with a sax solo, “Hands are tied” and “Eighteen angels” has a horn section with a baritone in the bottom and three tenors. To me, it´s one of my trademarks and one of my specialties. It´s a great heritage. My great grandfather was oboe player and he took lessons in musical theory from Sibelius. They wrote letters to each other and he had an oboe that belonged to Sibelius. It´s a musical family, even though my grandfather told my mother “Get a real job and then you can play as much as you like!”. My mother played the piano and she worked at the radio. I didn´t take that advice. I left home when I was 17 and came to the streets of Stockholm. “I started out with nothing and still got most of it left.” (laughs) Whoever said that, it´s a pretty genius line. I figured I´d make a living with this band. I didn´t have an apartment. I had nothing more than a cardboard box and a suitcase and a rock band. Still, it was one of my happiest times. I had nothing to lose and no worries, carefree and wild. We just wanted to conquer the world.

It takes a special kind of courage and a certain type of person to do such a thing at a young age? Most of us just go for what is “safe”. 

Michael: Yeah! I never felt safe going the safe way. I felt more insecure not knowing what was out there. I had been safe up till then and that made me insecure. Emotional ties to your family is another thing. I was the youngest of three kids. I have two older brothers and my mother definitely didn´t wanna let me go at 17. Legally, she could have stopped me with the cops, but I said “If you call the cops, you´ll never see me again!”. But of course it was hard for me too and it certainly was no piece of cake for my family. My parents got divorced when I was really young and I grew up with my mother and my grandmother and my brothers, but I just left and I knew that was the right thing to do. I had to go check it out and had I not done that, I would´ve regretted it for the rest of my life. I had to try that path and I had a feeling that it was something special. I had a band that I knew I could make a living off. I didn´t want much and I never asked for much. It´s all about the attitude. We all get certain cards dealt to us and you play your hand and sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand. (laughs)

What are your plans for touring now? 

Michael: Hopefully we´ll be touring as much as possible. We´ve got some dates in England and some in Finland. There are some dates in the States coming up and South America is in the works. Sweden for sure. Early next year, I think. We´ll be touring with the “Horns and halos” album for the next year or two. Hopefully more people will catch on. I can see that people like this kinda rock and roll. You don´t hear it every day and when people hear it they love it.

Final thing. Are you still in touch with Andy McCoy? 

Michael: Final is the word! (laughs) No, we´re not in touch because we have no reason to. I haven´t actually heard from him since the last farewell show with Hanoi Rocks. We did a tour in the UK and Japan. We did eight shows in six days in 2009 and the last one was recorded and taped. A two hour show. I was proud I got through it. The last couple of days I couldn´t talk much, but of course they recorded the last one. (laughs) But no overdubs, it was what it was. Since then, I haven´t seen Andy. Good luck to him! He´s doing his thing and I´m doing my thing. It was good as long as it lasted. It ran its course. I was ready to keep going and commit to it for the rest of my life, but it just got to a point where it wasn´t going any further and it wasn´t that much fun. It was best to leave it alone and put Hanoi Rocks to bed, finally and permanently, with its integrity intact and without any shit slinging in the press or publicly. Just in a cool way and honorably discharged. (laughs) I´m happy with the band I have now. I love it! There´s a saying; “There´s a wanker in every anchor.”(?). There´s always one difficult guy, but this band has no wankers. (laughs) Every person is just really sweet and nice and there´s no mental problems. It´s a pleasure working with everybody.

/Niclas