Oh man, Mikkey Dee from Motörhead pulls no punches! Read what he has to say about Hammerfall:
Look at a band like Hammerfall and shit. They're going through the roof. When kids come up to me and say "Iron Maiden, they're almost as good as Hammerfall," there's something wrong, you know? I saw two kids with Iron Maiden-shirts, in Stockholm when me and Lemmy were there doing press, and I was sitting in the lobby waiting to get to the airport and I saw two eleven-year-olds with Iron Maiden t-shirts and I said, "Yeah, that's a great band you've got there" and they said, "Yeah, they're almost as good as Hammerfall, they sound exactly the same."
Then you realize there's something wrong here, you know. It's not a shit band, but it's incredible that they can hit the way they did. Anders is a great friend, and I hope to see Jens tonight. Someone told me that the Stratovarius guys are here. And the bass player, Magnus, he was the first bass player in Geisha. I fired his ass. He's an old friend since 25 years ago. So I'm glad for Magnus, and I'm glad for Anders. And Stefan is a good guy, the bald guitar player, he's good, but Joacim and Oscar, they can suck my cock. Because they really think they're god's gift to the planet, and I used to say don't shit on the ladder because you're going to climb on it on the way back. They pissed me off too much, let's say two years ago, by being rock stars. I've done this now for 22 years, around the world, and I'm no fucking rock star, I'm a normal guy, and I have a million friends around the world. They did a couple of fucking club shows and they were being the biggest rock stars you've ever seen in Gothenburg. It pissed me off because they were treating me almost the same way, and I said you should kiss my ass instead of throwing me out of the dressing room, you know? So I was pissed off. And Anders and Magnus, they had a long talk with Joacim and Oscar and said "Mikkey is really fucking pissed." So Oscar called me and he apologized and says he was so scared every time I showed up anywhere, and I said, "Oh, I'm not going to beat you up but you're still a fucking asshole." So they're like that when they see me. But I don't agree with that; I have a problem to see these fucking guys when they play one year then they're bigger than Mick Jagger. And the way they became big is by ripping off Helloween, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, even King Diamond stuff. I hear a complete rip off of some harmonies that are complete King Diamond stuff... And Helloween. And Accept. So, I mean, good luck to them, because I'm glad Magnus finally has a band, because he lived in an apartment of 27 square metres, for almost 20 years. He never had any money, he always played bass, he always stuck to his hard rock, and then he got a chance. I remember him calling me and saying, "Mikkey, I'm playing with a band called Hammerfall soon and we're going to do a tour," and I go, "Fucking great for you, Magnus." And then when Anders came into the band, he's a great drummer, that other guy was a fucking joke. So I'm happy for them. But I just can't agree on this rock star image, especially Oscar.
Read the rest of the interview with Metal Rules here. He actually talks a bit about the Scandinavian hard rock scene and dishes some dirt on W.A.S.P. and King Diamond, too.
The nominees for Norway's Alarm Awards have been announced. A sampling of the categories:
Pop: Jim Stärk, Monopot, Loch Ness Mouse, Hello Goodbye, and Thomas Dybdahl
Rock: We, JR Ewing, Gluecifer, Madrugada, and Gåte
Metal: Satyricon, Immortal, Red Harvest, Khold, and Arcturus
Live: Turbonegro, Jaga Jazzist, Gatas Parlament, JR Ewing, and Ralph Meyers & the Jack Herren Band
The Moonbabies report that they are now 3/4 of the way through recording their new album. It's scheduled for a March release on Chalksound in Europe and A Bouncing Space Recordings in the US. Here's a bit of what they had to say about it:
The new album sounds (at this point) like a hybrid between the more melodic parts of "June and Novas" and something totally colorful, new and unexplored. I definitely think we'll break some new ground with it. We started with a lot of songs and are on our way to narrowing down to twelve, or thirteen tracks. Funnily enough right now, we are working on an album of songs with no names. Unimaginary working titles like "apples" and "fear" are what we call the songs until they get finished lyrics and a real name, and it has been really hard to come up with the right titles for the this album. The best one's so far I think are "Bang goes another day" and "Fieldtrip U.S.A"... those I am proud of.
The band also finished their first ever video for the song "Over My Head". Filmed by the Swedish production company Colony and shot in Malmö, you can view it right here. (Requires Quicktime)
TSOOL is now confirmed to be entering the studio in January to work on their next record. Of course, you should have already suspected as such, but now we've got an official statement. As for their upcoming appearance on Late Night with David Letterman, frontman Ebbott had this to say:
"Being on the show will hopefully make a breakthrough easier, but you never know what effect these things have. But it's great fun!"
A Saturday Night Live appearance is apparently in the works, too. Pretty exciting!
Check out some new tunes in Real Audio from the folks at Promopop: By Heart - Catchy Music / The Leeches - World's End
Win some exclusive Motorpsycho stuff from NRK Stereo. (In Norweigan)
Recording of the new Entombed record is already beginning to wrap up. Expect a March release on Music for Nations.
Even more Entombed related news:
The band's Threeman Recording label is actually starting to get down to business. Entombed-side projects Murder Squad and The Project Hate MCMXCIX will be the first releases. There's also plans to do vinyl versions of the albums "Uprising" and "Morning Star".
Project Hate has parted ways with vocalist Mia Ståhl. That means they're looking for replacement female singer. Check their website for more details.
Washoe has apparently changed their name to Alpha Safari.
Uffe's old band Haystack has plans to do a one-off reunion gig in the near future. No date yet, but here's the band's lineup: Uffe - Guitar, vocals; Johan (Backyard Babies) - Bass; Jonas (The Maggots) - drums