Russia Welcomes Babymetal

The much anticipated European Tour of Babymetal kicks off in Stockholm on Monday (as you all know, I will be there), and it ends about a month from now with dates in Russia (St. Petersburg on February 28 and Moscow on March 1). And here we have Su-metal and Moametal on the cover of Metal publication Dark City over there. It will be very interesting to see what kind of press that Babymetal gets while in Sweden. So far, very little, but we shall see if they get any reviews. At the end of the day, any press is good press. Best scenario is TV or the major newspapers. Babymetal is very much underground here. Sweden Rock Magazine has completely ignored them and the general public is pretty much unaware of their existence. We shall see if this all changes in 2020.

Good to see that Russia is on the ball though!

(Image shows part of the Dark City cover)

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Deep Purple Forever Auction

I noticed that a seller in Pennsylvania (USA) sold 25 issues of my old fanzine DEEP PURPLE FOREVER for 110 dollars on eBay the other day. 32 was printed all in all. The very first issue is the most popular on auction sites. You may have to sell your kidney to get that one.

(Seen here is DPF #3 – Ian Gillan cover shot by Michael Johansson)

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Man Cave Update (Disco Led)

Bought a Disco Led from Swedish company Star Trading, basically to check it out. Turned out to have a rather nice effect in the dark. It sort of rotates so you have constant movement. I placed it down in the music room/library and I have a few snapshots for you to see here.

(My images)

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The Countdown Is On

One week to go. Looking forward to seeing Babymetal in Stockholm on February 3, the first ever concert in Sweden and also the first of the European Tour. First report can be expected on February 4 on this blog.

(Image is official)

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Where Is My Guitar?

I love rock biographies and especially if it is related to the Deep Purple family. Paice Ashton Lord and Whitesnake is part of that and so I knew that I would enjoy reading “Where Is My Guitar? – An Inside Story Of British Rock And Roll” (4th Estate, 2019) by Bernie Marsden, whom has been in both. I read the book that Micky Moody put out a while back so this a second glimpse into the early classic Purple tinted years of Whitesnake. And loads more of course. A good read indeed. One song of his has meant more than all the rest, as he was given a BMI Music Award in 2016 recognising 4,000,000 radio plays of “Here I Go Again”. Not too shabby. I saw a YouTube clip a while back in which Bernie surprised the hell out of some fans across the UK that had pre-ordered the book as he drove across the country and delivered them himself. Imagine the surprise, having Bernie at your door. I think that pretty much shows you right there what kind of a guy we are looking at here.

(My shot of said book)

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Talk of the day (Tony Iommi, Babymetal, Jorn)

TONY IOMMI

Black Sabbath legend Tony Iommi will visit Stockholm on May 15 at the venue Lilla Cirkus (capacity 800), but not for a concert this time but for a conversation about his life. Tickets are on sale now.

BABYMETAL

The two East Meets West concerts in Japan are over and they performed two completely different sets (with both the Japanese Kami Band as well as the American, plus all three Avengers/guest dancers). At the end of the second show it was revealed that they will celebrate the 10th Anniversary on October 10 in Japan and that more details will be revealed on Fox Day (April 1). A new Blu-ray/DVD called “Live At The Forum” will be released on May 13, hopefully worldwide this time but who knows (this is the band that did not release “Live At Wembley” and “Live At Tokyo Dome” outside of Japan). But this time the timing for the Festival season in Europe is pretty much spot on, so it really ought to see official release over here as well.

JORN

Norwegian singer Jorn Lande has a new Jorn album out called “Heavy Rock Radio II – Executing The Classics”. The first radio album was phenomenal and this looks like a winner too, as evidenced by the new video for the Russ Ballard song “Winning”.

(My shot of Tony Iommi)

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Big Sabaton/Babymetal Collaboration Unveiled

Babymetal performed a few hours ago at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba (Greater Tokyo Area in Japan) and when they did the song “Oh! MAJINAI” Sabaton singer Joakim Brodén suddenly popped up not only in the Babymetal lore before the song on big screens, but then he was up there backing the girls up for the entire song. Not in person on the spot, but pre-filmed for the show. I predict that “Oh! MAJINAI” will be the next official video from Babymetal, with images from this show over the studio version from “Metal Galaxy”. Hell, we could have it inside a week, which has happened before. And the European Tour kicks off in Stockholm on February 3. Su-metal has said that she loves this song, and the presence of Joakim in a Babymetal video will be a big thing in the Metal community. Hell, they even send up the naysayers in the lore before the song. Brilliant!

I hope to have a brand new interview with Joakim on this blog soon.

(Image shot by Tallee Savage, used with permission from the Sabaton camp)

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Nice Artomus Friendship Press

Glad to see that my old friend Staffan Eriksson is getting some well deserved press for his Artomus Friendship album “A Day Of Celebration”. Newspaper LT (in Jämtland County) presented a full spread today, authored by journalist Helena Lindh. Another friend, Jens Ganman (see January 22 post on him) also got a full page. What a wonderful day.

You can read my interview with Staffan on November 10 on this blog.

(Image shows LT article)

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Commando 5299-5302

Commando 5299-5302 is out today in the UK. Just search “Commando comics” should you want to subscribe.

(Covers courtesy of Commando)

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Jens Ganman is the Swede of 2019

Proud to see that my friend Jens Ganman has been voted Swede of 2019 by News Magazine Fokus, a highly prestigious honor indeed. He is a journalist, author, song writer and an absolute fearless voice in a society that has largely been silenced by political correctness. I think it is fair to say that certain parts of our establishment is very unhappy about his work. His weapon of choice is often satire, backed up by facts that mainstream media do not want to touch. Jens is a very brave man and this reward is well deserved. He was published in my final issue of RETROFUTURE a few years ago (the subject matter was our freedoms). He has always been a very busy guy and here we are. The 2020s belongs to people like him.

(My shot from an outdoors debate in Östersund about five years ago)

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