I have a bunch of old posters in storage and I have begun to investigate just what it is that I have. I had totally forgotten about this massive Whitesnake “Slite It In” in-store poster from 1984. I have decided to save this one for posterity, it deserves to be on full display. Nice little project.
To be continued…
(My shot of said poster)
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BABYMETAL
Singer Corey Taylor (Slipknot, Stone Sour) has a new video out for a song called “CMFT Must Be Stopped”. It features several high profile people in little cameos (including Rob Halford and Marilyn Manson), and Su-metal and Moametal of Babymetal are in it too. For a band that has yet to be accepted by certain rock & metal publications, Babymetal sure has some good friends out there. The editors that exclude Babymetal are just unbelievably set in their ways. Well Babymetal have friends in high places and it is pretty cool that they are an underground thing, rising with the support of the people (and more than a fair share of fellow artists).
DEEP PURPLE
In 10 days we have the new Deep Purple album “Whoosh!” and the hype is huge. At least in Europe. The magazine covers keeps on coming. I guess they have many fans who are in charge of these publications, but they have also produced some really good music with the current lineup (that has been going now since 2001). They have always been a working band and every now and then what they do hits a nerve and I think we may be looking at that right now. It feels good that they are in high demand.
LEAVES´EYES
Leaves´Eyes will have a new album out called “The Last Viking” on October 23. Really looking forward to that.
ATOMIC BITCHWAX
You have got to love a band with a name like this. Formed in 1992 they did not release music until 1999 but they have seven albums out now and number eight will see official release on August 8 (thus competing with Deep Purple – hey, why not buy both?). There has been a few member changes over the years and two of the guys in the current band has been in Monster Magnet. The new record “Scorpio” has a pretty decent cover too.
(My shot of Purple ad in Sweden Rock Magazine 7 2020, plus screenshot of Babymetal from the Corey Taylor video)
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Bought the new issue of Swedish crossword publication Krysset Special (3 2020). Nice Agnetha Fältskog cover from the ABBA days. Every now and then she pops up on a magazine cover. Pencil included, so this is obviously a holiday friendly issue for people on the move. Cover shot by Sjöberg Bild.
Bravo.
(My shot of said publication)
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State sanctioned piracy. Everybody was at it, especially when the stakes were high. And in the early 1700s Sweden had enemies hell bent on the destruction of The Swedish Empire. Lars Gathenhielm was hand-picked by the Swedish King to raise hell and that he did. And when he died, his wife took over and continued the tradition as tragedy descended over the land. Sounds good? You better believe it. Movies could be made from this stuff. But at least we have a book, “Lasse i Gatan” (Historiska Media, 2006) by author Lars Ericson Wolke.
Exciting stuff.
(My shot of said book)
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Built this Junkers Ju 87B Stuka from Heller in 1:24 30 years ago and it has survived two major moves. It never really had a place to be seen though but I spotted the perfect table for it recently and now it sits nicely as an exhibition of sorts in the biggest room in the house. It is pretty detailed and I built it so that you can see the engine on one side etc. Biggest project I ever took on.
If you have got it, flaunt it.
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Picked up this album today and boy did I have a surprise coming. What you see here is the Rick Wakeman (& The English Rock Ensemble) “The Red Planet” Limited Edition (1,000 copies, numbered – I got number 454) Double LP in Red Vinyl. And it was signed by Rick Wakeman! That I did not expect. Did not see that coming. Made my day though.
I had noticed on YouTube that this edition was coming out, and as a Vinyl buff I just loved the Pop Up Gatefold Sleeve. Had to have this one. A lot of thought has gone into this presentation, including a wonderful and very detailed booklet with loads of NASA images etc. I am now ordering the CD/DVD version.
Good day.
(My shots of said release)
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When I first saw the cover of ”London Calling” by The Clash back in 1979 I knew immediately that it was a nod to Elvis Presley and his first album back in 1956. They had basically created a tribute cover. That is one of the reasons why I love the Babymetalized cover ”Japan Calling” by Shawn Fulford (aka ”futon”) so much, as it is a tribute to the spirit of rock´n´roll in general (in my opinion). The image of Su-metal is just spot on. Absolutely brilliant.
Clash – ”London Calling” Babymetalized
”The Babymetalized “London Calling” cover was about my fourth or fifth. You can tell it is an early one as I had not settled on putting my signature “futon” in a typewriter font yet). I saw the picture of Su screaming during ”Headbanger” and it was perfect. I had difficulty finding the correct font (there is none that I could find) so I used this, which is close. It is an early effort but I think it came out great” (Shawn Fulford, aka ”futon”).
(Classic Rock Calendar: December 1979)
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Swedish rockers Avatar is to release a new album called “Hunter Gatherer” on August 7. In a major interview about all things Avatar in the current issue of Sweden Rock Magazine (7 2020, Phil Lynott cover), singer Johannes Eckerström is asked about the 2019 American Tour as openers for Babymetal by the author (David Noaksson). In fact, it opens up the conversation, and this in a publication that has so far never had a story on Babymetal (I know, I dived into the back issues when I discovered Babymetal in 2017). In any case, I will quote a short segment in the interview here.
David / Last year Avatar opened for Babymetal on their US Tour. How was that?
Johannes / – “Very pleasant and very different. Babymetal are not a band in the way that I view a band to be. I once attended a Cirque du Solei show in Las Vegas, and that is Babymetal. When I first heard “Gimme Chocolate!!” I thought “Naw… But yes… No… But why not?” and then “OK then”. One thing I noticed is how diverse their audience is. People are coming in that enjoy Japanese culture like anime and games. I think a lot of people learn about metal because of them”.
There is more but I do not want to rip David off. Buy the magazine. I wrote for this publication in the early days when it was called Bright Eyes. Gave them highly exclusive interviews with David Coverdale (cover story), Joe Lynn Turner etc for free, just to support them. Well they made it and they are still here 20 years later. I did offer to write a piece on Babymetal (again, free of charge to support them, or both) in 2017, but they never got back to me. Kudos to David for bringing them up in this conversation, breaking new ground in doing so.
As for Avatar, I think they have a good thing going and now is the time to support them.
(My shot of said publication – Lynott cover shot by George Bodnar – and Babymetal ad)
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Good day today as I could add yet another Babymetal The One Box on import from Japan (The One being the Fan Club) to the ever growing collection. I bought it from a top notch seller on eBay (sunny-japan) through a good friend of mine (Hello Kalle) and it took five days to arrive from half across the globe. This is my sixth The One Box, and they are always superb in every way. They are certainly not cheap, but this is Babymetal history unveiling before your eyes. Nothing out there beats them right now.
What you get is 14 songs (on both DVD & CD) taken from four shows in Japan in November 2019 (two captured at the Saitama Super Arena and two from Osaka jo-Hall), “Future Metal”, “Da Da Dance”, “Gimme Chocolate!!”, “Elevator Girl”, “Shanti Shanti Shanti”, “Starlight”, “Kagerou”, “Distortion”, “Megitsune”, “Pa Pa Ya!!”, “Karate”, “Road Of Resistance”, “Shine” and “Arkadia”. The final track looks amazing – they certainly present one hell of a show (as always). Then there is the photo book (this one with shots by Taku Fujii), and they are always quite amazing. All in all, money well spent. By the way, “Christmas In July” is an Elvis thing, sounds good too.
(My shots of said box – Thank you sunny-japan & Kalle)
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I saw the Iron Maiden documentary “Flight 666” recently and it was good to see the band rock. I enjoyed it a lot. Sweden was one of the first countries to embrace Iron Maiden and the support for the band has been pretty strong all along. Maybe it took a dip during the Blaze Bayley era, but that period was a general low for rock in general for reasons that has nothing to do with music. The reputation has been fully restored since then, and nobody can deny that they are one of the flagships of this particular culture. The love for this band in Sweden has manifested itself in many ways over the years, but I think the book “Scream For Me Sweden! – Iron Maiden i Sverige” (Zoot Förlag, 2004) by author Henrik Nyquist stands out. The idea here is obviously to sum up everything that has gone down over the years in these parts in great detail, and this is successfully accomplished. I saw the band on June 5 1983 in Stockholm and interviewed opening act Rock Goddess backstage before the gig. Bruce Dickinson popped in and said Hello to everybody. My friend photographer Michael Johansson took a snapshot at that moment and it is in this book. So is a facsimile of my review of the concert that was published in newspaper Helsningborgs Dagblad. And it was a great show. They proved that they had a lot to give and the audience was super loud and with them on this mission 100%. I witnessed the beginning of a love affair between a British band and my country. If you want all the details, this is the book for you. Cover shot by Stefan Nilsson. 212 pages.
(My shot of said book)
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trinkelbonker 