Big Announcement Coming Up On Fox Day

Babymetal have just performed two major concerts in Japan (at their old hunting ground Makuhari Messe near Tokyo, a 25,000 capacity arena) and at the end of the second night they announced that big news will be revealed on Fox Day (April 1). The announcement has been added to their YouTube channel as well and everybody is going bonkers as it would seem that they may announce a third member after years of having officially been a duo with guest dancers (called The Avengers). Two concerts have been added to coincide with the news at the PIA Arena MM in Yokohama. Fans have noted that Yokohama happens to be the area that current Avenger Momoko Okazaki (whom performed with Babymetal this weekend) has lived in since the age of three. She will turn 20 in early March. This may or may not be clues to her being the third official member of Babymetal a few weeks from now. Needless to say, the subject matter is red hot in Japan right now, and on Babymetal forums. Check out the announcement on YouTube (got to love the lore of this act). Babymetal performed the following songs this weekend: “Metal Kingdom”, “Divine Attack”, “Distortion”, “Pa Pa Ya”, “Gimme Chocolate”, “Megitsune”, “Doki Doki Morning”, “Light And Darkness”, “Monochrome”, “Headbanger”, “Ijime, Dame, Zettai”, “Road Of Resistance” and “The Legend”. So they premiered five tracks from the upcoming album. The European dates with Sabaton for their big Tour To End All Tours trek kicks off in Leeds (UK) on April 14. It would seem that Babymetal has picked a good time for big news like this.

(Top image from official platforms, with added layout)

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220 Volt Scrapbook (Retrofuture 5)

I figured it would be fun to highlight stuff from the fanzine years again and today I will add a Scrapbook type piece on Swedish rockers 220 Volt from Retrofurure 5 (published in 2012). Of course, 220 Volt is a Swedish band (they still exist) and they are from my neck of the woods (Jämtland County). I did include loads of stuff from these parts in the Retrofuture magazines and I printed 1,000 copies of which about 90% were handed out for free. If I still have copies, they are not free now but I am willing to trade for Babymetal stuff from around the world. In any case this 10 page look at the 1980s was done to highlight how fantastic it had all been. To me, 220 Volt is still the best band ever out of Sweden. Photographers are credited, writers get their due down below. Enjoy.

(My shots of said Scrapbook pages, writers include me (Helsingborgs Dagblad), Yoshiko Watanabe (Viva Rock), Annika Sundbaum-Melin (Aftonbladet), Katherine Turman (Rock Beat) and unknowns)

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Live And Dangerous

Got to love Thin Lizzy. Got the new eight CD box of “Live And Dangerous” this week and it looks great. It also sports a 56 page book (hardback), packed with memorabilia from back in the day. Also, UK publication Classic Rock has a cover story about the release and the history of it all in the current issue (310). Nice.

(My shot of said magazine and box, legendary live image by Chalkie Davies)

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Purpendicular Rocks

As I did some work on the Deep Purple Family collection this morning I noticed in a full page ad in Sweden Rock Magazine 11 2022 that the tribute band Purpendicular will conclude a five date visit to Sweden this very weekend. Purpendicular was formed as a Purple tribute act by Irish singer Robby Thomas Walsh in October 2007. Over the years the band has evolved as they have added musicians that has played with actual members from the legendary band and in recent times (the last decade actually) Purple drummer Ian Paice has been a frequent guest on short legs of tours as he has had time off from Purple. He also played on the recent Purpendicular/Ian Paice album “Human Mechanic” that was released in August (original tunes only), giving the project a vital boost. As it stands, Purpendicular can be seen as one of the top tribute bands and it is nice to see that Paice still enjoy playing in clubs just for the hell of it.

(My shot as I worked on the old collection this morning)

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ADDED INFO 2023-01-29 / These Swedish dates have been moved to September 2023.

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Good Day For The Collector In Me

Added a couple of publications to the archives yesterday, Japanese PMC 7 (from 2016) and the brand new issue of Swedish Rock´n´Roll (issue 2 2023). The PMC magazine sports a report on Babymetal that covers their international tour of 2016 (and the Tokyo Dome concerts in particular) over 24 pages with 33 images taken in London, Fuji, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, Paris, Nijmegen, Vienna, Somerset, Concord, New York and Tokyo. I love these Japanese magazines, they really go to town when they cover bands which is great for collectors. As for the Rock´n´Roll publication, it sports a nice Orianthi cover and it has a nice five page Ritchie Blackmore story about his pre-Deep Purple days in it, which is cool. They were in touch with me for that one and I did help them out in a small way with a shot of a release (The Outlaws) that they inserted in the layout. Some good stuff in this issue as usual and I like the general spirit within these pages. Needless to say, The Babymetal & the Blackmore stuff goes straight into the binders for the respective collections.

(Thank you Kalle for your help in securing these magazines – my shots of said publications)

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Speed Kings

Metallica has a new video out for a track called “Screaming Suicide” from the upcoming album “72 Seasons” and if you check it out you will notice that they pay respect to Deep Purple in an obvious way at 3:32 as Kirk Hammet launches into a bit of what Ritchie Blackmore is playing in “Speed King” from the 1970 album “In Rock”. Also, and I noticed this when they put out word about the new album a while back, that it would be released on April 14. Well, that just happens to be the birthday of Ritchie Blackmore. Could be something to it, maybe not. But we do have a second referense now…

(My shot at my place – Blackmore shot by Michael Johannson, inserted “In Rock” and “72 Seasons” covers from official platforms)

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Freedom

Babymetal dropped “Metal Kingdom” yesterday and it is a wonderful anthem. I have seen a translation of the lyrics and it is a song about freedom. Some words are in english and are there for all to hear. Su-metal is an amazing singer. What she does in this tune is outstanding. To me, she is the best of the best. The album, “The Other One”, is released on March 24. Seen here are four of the many special editions.

Raise your hands, to the Lord – Raise your voice, to the world…

Raise your sword, to the sky – Raise your fists, let´s be together…

(Babymetal shot by Kalle Thelin, covers from official platforms)

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My Living Doll

As a fan of 1960s television, I just had to check out My Living Doll (1964-1965). Here we have the great Julie Newmar in a pre-Batman (Catwoman) role, and who in their right mind can ignore that? Here she plays a robot, AF 709, that looks like a beautiful woman. She escapes the lab and Dr. Bob McDonald (played by Bob Cummings) tries to help out and naturally this ends in chaos in every episode. Shades of I Dream Of Jeannie and Bewitched. Pretty good stuff. The woke crowd would go bonkers if they saw it now. Well, it was the 1960s…

(My shot of the first DVD of two)

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Cowabunga!

Want a review? It is darned good! That is all there is to it. The size of this Peanuts Collection of Snoopy gags was bigger than I expected. “Cowabunga!” (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2013) is the first title in a series, and it comes with a flip-book animation inside! Lovely. 226 pages.

(My shot of said book)

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Commando 5611-5614

Commando 5611-5614 is out today in the UK. Just search “Commando comics” should you want to subscribe.

(Covers courtesy of Commando)

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