Sepultura Lost & Found interview 2010

Although Brazilian SEPULTURA, is probably never going to beat the golden age with Max Cavalera behind the microphone, remaining members accompanied by the substitutes, are still making the cult name alive and worth the respect. With each album since the arrival of Derrick Green, they head higher, and the recent signing to Nuclear Blast is the best proof. I managed to catch Derrick, accompanied by his Czech girlfriend, on the festival Brutal Assault, and after well understood big apology to her, he devoted me a moment for short talk.

I can see that, as well as many others, you discovered that we have the most beautiful girls in the world. How did you two meet?

We met during a show and we have a kind, 2 years old.

That’s why you are trying to speak Czech during a show…

I’m trying to learn. But it is going slowly. My child is Czech citizen, so I have to work harder. (laugh)

How do you like the Czech audience?

I love it, and I always did, even before SEPULTURA. I played in a hard-core band and I played in Prague in 1993. I always felt, that there is a lot of passion for music. People are very open to express these feeling for music, which is something special, as it doesn’t happen everywhere. Especially for heavy music, it is a great place to play and it always has been. The festivals are usually very intense, a lot of people and a lot of appreciation, which is always incredible to play here.

I could feel it in crowd trust me. But the one show, which will always stay in my mind, was the one at Masters Of Rock festival in 2007.

Yeah, that was another incredible and massive festival; and also really cool.

Your latest album “A-Lex” was released already some time ago. How do you look at your work with certain time distance?

I’m definitely satisfied, mainly because we could see a lot of young people really getting into SEPULTURA, who never seen the old line-up. There is always a lot of controversy, as people talk about the past: “You know it’s not the same”! But, that’s what I’m saying, Yeah, It’s not the same, it is 2010! Everybody has moved on for a really long time. So, it is amazing to see a lot of young people that are really into the new songs. We can attract new fans along with keeping the old fans, which really enjoy very heavy brutal stuff that we are doing. I think we were able to grow and evolve, which is something that I always wanted to do with the band. I always knew it’s going to be hard to evolve but it was a challenge that really made us stronger. We can survive so many different things happening and I think that it kept us together; our passion and the fact that we were able to attract new fans. I’m really happy about the results, and the impact it had. We played a lot in Europe and we could see the changes, as more and more people recognized the new songs, mixed with the old ones, so it’s pretty satisfying.

What can you say about the concept of the new album?

The concept is based on the book by an Anthony Burgess, “A Clockwork Orange”. There was also a movie, which Stanley Kubrick did, but we wanted to focus on the book. Book actually has a different ending than a movie and it is naturally more detailed, more descriptive and we felt that it has a huge impact on what is happening today. It was something, that a lot of people fight for and they don’t realize it is a free will. There are a lot of things that are just forced on people in society. Propaganda has a huge influence on people, forced religion or other things that are telling people, what is good or wrong. It is up to the person to make his decisions, what is good or bad for him. I think this struggle is facing everybody, and basically everybody can relate to the story and main character, Alex. For us, it was really interesting and amazing to write on top of that, and following the book. So, the first part of the book is very violent, very open; middle is more seduced, Alex is in jail; then he gets out and everything is coming back, so it was cool to make music that goes along with the story.

As many fans heard, you got recently signed to Nuclear Blast. What does this change mean to you personally and as a band?

I think it is a big change for us. Personally, I think, it’s great, that there are labels, which want to make commitment to us and really believe in us. As a band, it’s great opportunity to show a lot of people, that we are still creating something interesting. So, it’s going to be good to do more interviews and more things when people would really know, what is happening with us. We’ve been working constantly, but it is much harder, if you have a label, which is trying, but the relationship is problematic and bankruptcy is on top of that. With Nuclear Blast I received very nice vibe that they want to bring us up, really work with us and put good ideas together. That is something what we really need for the next year and new album.

Not only me, we could all see that since you got in SEPULTURA, there was a stable progress taking place and signing to Nuclear Blast proves it.

I definitely agree. I think that live shows also help us a lot. Being able to come up stage, to show people we have the energy, and play wide variety of songs in setlist. It really helps the live show along with creating interesting and fresh album.

Where do you find after this amount time, still so much energy and passion during live shows?

I think it comes from many different things: Traveling, the excitement of being on the road, being with friends and family, and definitely the energy of the people. When you see people pumped up, this energy is transferred to the band and goes back to the audience. That’s what’s really cool about Czechs, as the energy is there from the very beginning. “Oh my god lets destroy the stage!” And it is consistent, from the very beginning to the very end, as the people are with you the whole time. You don’t see that many opportunities seeing such a crowd. That energy comes from everything around us, and our passion for so many years, of doing what we love to do. In addition, having a good crew of people around, that are there for us.

As we are talking about live shows, it’s obvious that most of the fans love the old stuff, and the show is mostly short, but do you maybe feel a bit uncomfortable that you basically have to play old songs.

I think it’s pretty common, with all bands. It takes time for people to get used to new material. But these days its interesting, as new generation is here, and they ask why we don’t play stuff from the first albums when I came to the band. We hear this a lot more, as these people never seen the old line-up. In addition we really try to play some rare songs, and there about 5-6 people enjoying it (laugh), but the others are asking for something else. I’ve been in a band for about 13 years, and there are songs, with similar age, so we are trying to put them in set, these days even more. During the full set, that we usually do, there is a chance to play a lot of new songs or the ones since I came, as people are complaining, because they want to hear the new stuff (laugh). So it’s a balancing and we really don’t have a problem playing the old songs. We actually like to dig and look for the songs that we never played before or even Andreas and Paulo didn’t play before, but it’s good to have a balance.

From the inspiration sense, Brazilian feeling can be still felt on the albums; it is obvious for the guys, but do you personally get influenced by the local music and environment a lot?

Big influence has the fact that I live in Brazil for 11 years, which is a huge impact. Not only from music but the environment has a tendency to influence how you feel. Brazil is a mixed place with a lot of roots from a lot of people. Especially being in Sao Paulo, which is very mixed, is I think very natural to get influenced. I can feel it inside, as we in the band, by this condition, connected very well. I have also another band and it helps as well, that are all Brazilians as well. And that helps too, communicating and playing songs with them. But definitely listening to certain styles of music there, had an impact on me.

I was always wondering why did you choose to cover “Bullet The Blue Sky” from U2?

Lyrics were the main reason. U2 is a very popular band and it was very unlikely that we would cover it, so it was another reason. But lyrics are very strong and powerful. It was a challenge; I mean U2 song (laugh). I really like U2 and we wanted to show people one of the revolutionary songs, what made SEPULTURA, what it is now. We don’t have to sound exactly like those bands but they have an impact. We like to listen to various styles of music, and we are open-minded, but we wanted to do it in our own way and show what feeling we have connected to the song. Overall it was challenging and cool at the same time, as we did something totally different.

What was the idea behind the video, you running through the city and then jumping from the roof?

(laugh) I love music videos and I wanted people to think during that; is he running from something or running to something? …And jumping from the roof, it was a director’s idea (laugh). He said, there is a need for some kind of a twist to it. We wanted a simple video, which will not let you leave the screen. It is mainly open for people’s imagination and was fun to do it.

It is not that long, when Andreas surprised us, by his solo album. How do you look on aside activities overall and on what he has created?

I really love it. I also heard demos early on, so I knew the album from inside out. I think it is very healthy to get out sometimes and play with different artist because it gives you perspective. There was a main reason why I wanted to do my project, MUSICA DIABLO. We are artists and we like to play and create with other artists. I think it’s healthy, but I really like what he did. It’s totally different from SEPULTURA but I think it’s incredible and I like listening to it.

When you mentioned your side project, it would not be bad idea to introduce it to those SEPULTURA fans, which still didn’t hear about it.

It’s called MUSICA DIABLO and there is a lot of stuff on MySpace, for them to check it out. We have basically just started and made one tour in Europe. As we returned, now we have a booking agent, we have an album, and its straight thrash. It’s from the beginning to the end, a punch in a face (laugh). It’s old style classic thrash, and you really don’t have to think much about it, but it’s fun to do it, definitely live.

What are the closest plans for SEPULTURA? You mentioned an album…

Yeah, right now the plan is to finish the tour and then go back to South America, and do some shows there. Really schedule time for rehearsing and working on a new album, and try to get that done before the end of the year, to have it released next year.   

Graspop 2010 Lost & Found report

GRASPOP METAL MEETING 25. -27. 6. 2010, BELGIUM, DESSEL

This was the first big festival of my life, but unfortunatelly due to the closure of Czech magazine HardRocker and it's future plans, this report was never released. Haven't seen this piece full of incredible performances, backstage ethics and few broken dreams, in five years. Note - no edit since, of early wanna-be journalism.

Overall experience from the first big festival is always very intensive and unforgettable. This option was offered to me at the 15^th Anniversary of famous Belgiumopen-air festival, Graspop, for what I’m very grateful. This year promised again breath taking line-up and unique atmosphere, which is sharing a crowd counting up to 130,000 people.

Night arrival into festival grounds offered us a look that showed that pleasant sleeping will not be the case tonight. Masses of people were moving from large parking spaces into single giant camp. As, by the second year already, a festival complex was missing V.I.P. camp, we loyally joined the massive crowd as well. Massive reflectors, showing an unpleasant amount of dust everywhere, tents diving in sand, thousands of people around and sometimes too strict rules inside the camping site, kept us “entertained”, during the first conflict with organizers. Additional “entertainment” was served to us by never-sleeping neighbors, especially our German colleagues. It’s really surprising how much “Timmyyyyy” is still popular! ;-)

DAY ONE

During the entrance into the festival area, I first experienced the look at the incredible mass of people, which was steadily growing and the alignment of the stages which included 3 big tents (Marquee I&II and Metal Dome) and the main stage. Here was first presented REVAMP, new band of Floor Jansen, previously the front-woman of no more existing AFTER FOREVER. Presented material is compared to her previous experience pretty similar, which was for the fans, even though it was slightly heavier, basically no surprise. Floor totally naturally switching from operatic to melodic vocal, proved why her new band received such credibility. At the same time, she expressed many times honest joy, from being again on the stage, in front of the satisfied crowd.

After this show, I went for the first time in the backstage area. Through out the whole festival we found the shade, peace, quality toilets and comfort in “Artist Lounge”, where only musicians and journalists had an entrance. Place like this is on many festivals unfortunately often missing. It offers big comfort for both musicians and needed back up for journalist, waiting to take some of their free time. “Artist Lounge” also offered pleasant bar, various places to sit but also two plasma TV’s which were showing footages from the main stage and matches from the finishing battles of soccer world championship. To get additional picture: I was really blown away, from watching the singers of CANNIBAL CORPSE and OBITUARY in vigorous discussion about the current soccer games.

During that time I also managed to catch Floor Jansen after her bands signing session to have a short talk, while SLAYER was playing in the background. Graspop Metal Meeting offered such a strong line-up that even SLAYER played in the afternoon block. Their show was as usual, very attractive. T-shirt with their logo were flying everywhere, musicians played like crazy and naturally top hits as “Angel Of Death” and “Raining Blood” were blasting the field. In addition, a photo with Kerry King was for me a perfect fan moment.

Right after, I quickly moved to Marquee II, where U.D.O. has just started. Honestly I’ve seen him here for the first time. And for the ones, who made this mistake more than I did, I give maximum recommendation. His voice is simple incredible and although the instrumental background is rather predictable, it still has balls! It wouldn’t be a bad idea to diversify the set, by attractive songs from his solo career, however the crowd is hungry for greatest hits. Therefore “Balls To The Wall” or the current hits as “The Bogeyman” and “Dominator” were obligation.

Afterwards I experienced a dilemma: DORO or TARJA? Graspop was sometimes very uncompromising and offered such an amount of bands, that one had hard time choosing. Sometimes it had to be simply 50/50. DORO followed already for a while by Bas Maas, ex-guitarist of AFTER FOREVER, filled the tent which was previously occupied by U.D.O and she kept the fans on the same wave which U.D.O. has started. Strong lady concentrated mainly on the songs from the WARLOCK era, and she also shared with the fans, her memories of Ronnie James Dio, who meant a lot for her.

TARJA on the other hand didn’t offer such a vital and attractive show. Although Mike Teranna was doing magic behind the drums, whole band of mercenaries didn’t sound compact as you would expect and even TARJA experienced I believe better days. Set was concentrating mainly on a debut album and also expected second album “What Lies Beneath”. As a dessert we received NIGHTWISH hit “Over The Hills And Far Away” and also slightly inappropriate “Still Of The Night” from WHITESNAKE.

While enthusiasts in the first line with the AEROSMITH t-shirts were holding their positions for the main act of the day, MOTORHEAD kept them entertained. Honestly, one can watch them even for the hundredth time. Excellent band, excellent set list, which enjoyed the most, guitarist Phillip Campbell, looking at his solos. In addition, massive stage-dive broke out in the crowd, although it was formally forbidden by the organizers. Lemmy was intensively supporting it though, which kept body collectors pretty busy. No surprise, you can hear “Ace Of Spades” or “Overkill” for bunch of times, still it pulls you in.

I was never a fan of MY DYING BRIDE, but the atmosphere of their show dragged me in, in few short moments. Smoke was slowly rising higher, musicians were almost systematically but sensitively, playing strong melodies and crowd was following them in trance. The most passionate during the show, was with no doubt the singer, who was wriggling, fainting on the microphone and falling into melancholy. Cold chording was replacing aggressive marching, where crowd reacted intensively only at the end of each song, which was ended by symbolic “Thanks” or “Cheers”. …At that moment, I became one.

Time has come for totally different emotions, served by American institution and main act of the first day, AEROSMITH. Current European tour caught the band still in strong condition. Unstoppable process of ageing is present only visually, fortunately not musically. Offered set, was compared to other headliners, bit shorter, however filled with such a famous hits, that even the hard-core metal heads were pulled in by this emotional wave. Performance of Steven is still after all this years impressive. Special platform offered a band almost a promenade and additional playground for their show. One could receive slightly sad impression while looking at both Steven and Joe Perry, whose relationship seemed mostly cold, resulting in thoughts, if this could be the last tour of the band. Finally, Steven’s perfect communication with the crowd and slightly female gestures are simply part of his personality, but the fact which could never be taken away, is that, there is only one Steven Tyler.       

DAY TWO

Atmosphere of the festival was a real experience. In my personal example it meant multiply my previous experiences multiple times. Festival complex was filled by the sea of people moving from one stage to another and still basic needs were perfectly supplied. Water and toilets were available to such a level that I didn’t have to wait a single time. Refreshment was naturally very diverse and also without waiting, however from the Czech point of view, for the sake of squealing wallet. Fans were allowed only to pay by Graspop chips in the exchange rate of 2, 25€ for 1 chip. Food costed up to 5 chips, and drinks were regularly sold for 1, however in the amount of 0,2 liters. Crowd was formed mainly from the fans from Benelux, Germany and enthusiasts from all over the world, which were all pretty fine with prices.

Program at sunny noon, was served by today very popular Swedish SABATON. Their T-shirts were extremely popular product and crowd seemed more than entertained. They presented to their loyal fans series of their greatest hits and also some tasting of new album “Coat Of Arms”, naturally back up by essential effects, mainly fire. Singer Joakim Brodem was constantly entertaining fans and in the back stage, he was without no doubt, the most busy, in giving interviews.

Even younger fans received what they needed, when British BULLET FOR MY VALANTINE took over the main stage. Metalcore enhanced by catchy choruses, is today that popular, that even teenage magazines are covering steps of this British band, even though there are bunch of other similar ones. Whether it is due to their look or massive propagation, the crowd was insane. I was really glad to hear songs from the latest album “Fever”, which caught my attention the most, but naturally they pleased the crowd by even slightly older hits. Mosh-pits were a stable fun, but band let the crowd release steam also in “wall of death”, which resulted in some cases in blood drops. Somebody might condemn these activities, however when there is a need for help, everybody is available.

After we survived another period of hot temperatures, CARCASS took care of the main stage. They enjoy the reunion, already for a while, therefore their form was undeniable. Visually the most known member of the band, red-head Michael Amott, was spitting one solo after another, to the point where they had to cool us down by steams of water. I must honestly say that the watering of the crowd during these three days was extremely pleasant. Main stage, which was supported on sides, by double plasma TV’s, was always showing very professional video footages from the stage. In their case these footages included very sadistic or even disgusting videos from dissections procedures and cutting body parts, till I lost my appetite for local French fries.

Big numbers of fans, including me, were really looking forward to see guitar master, who calls himself SLASH. He has chosen as a vocal partner Myles Kennedy from ALTER BRIDGE, who as the only one, has on SLASH’s solo album, two songs. Both “Back From Cali” and “Starlight” sounded even better than on the album, and the other songs to which he didn’t contribute previously, were sang impressively accordingly to his talent and experiences. Somebody might felt that his vocal was positioned sometimes too high; however I must say, SLASH couldn’t find a better partner. To my big surprise, we could even hear an ALTER BRIDGE song, “Rise Today” and naturally also a GUNS N’ ROSES hits as “Sweet Child Of Mine” and “Paradise City”. During the whole time, Mr. Guitarist was having fun with the crowd, entertained him, ran through the stage and impressed us all with his play.

A quick movement took place to get to Marquee I, on time, to see PARADISE LOST. Luckily I took a place in the front row and I was really looking forward to see them. Big space luckily received their incredible latest album “Faith Divides Us, Death Unites Us”. Frontman Nick Holmes seemed slightly tired; however he proved himself well, worked hard, motivated the crowd and was banging with the microphone stand so hard that he even scared security guards under him few times. On the other hand Mr. Mackintosh had a taste. He is not hitting the guitar; his colleague takes care of that. He is not even playing the solos that much, he is debating with the guitar, slightly coquetting with her and eructating mind blowing melodies. A drum stick which felt into my hands, in the end of the show was just a peak of a wonderful show.

Whole metal Belgium lives from the reunion of local heroes, CHANNEL ZERO. Their return to the Graspop field was organized truly grandiosely by giant video and light effects, and naturally very looooong intro. Crowd was served by the greatest hits from the whole career and luckily some from my most favorite last album “Black Fuel” from 1997. On the other hand, this performance wasn’t anything ground braking and even though we take into consideration their qualities, on similar event in some other country, they would not receive such a lucrative time space.

AIRBOURNE, are already for a while entertaining audiences all over the world. For some, they are the fans of AC/DC tradition, for others, they are their close followers. One way or another, their performance has guts and incredible energy. The singer is, as everybody says, true beast. During one of the songs, he climbed on the stage construction up the roof, locked his legs and played on. Songs are really catchy, and mainly it pulls you in, so you would just enjoy this wild party.

Time has come for main star number 2, American-Brazilian SOULFLY. First line was occupied by wild youth, which reacted to each signal to get wild. Main word had naturally Max Cavalera, who surprised, not only me, how much he put on weight since the last time I saw him. He barely moved the whole time, and looked pretty swollen. Fortunately it didn’t have any effect on his singing capabilities. He left big amount of singing to the crowd as well. Audience was lost in Amazonian forest which was distorted by massive hurricane ordered by instrumental background. All members were impressive; however the main instructor of the hurricane was an incredible guitarist, Marc Rizzo. It was really unbelievable how impressively and precisely he could play. Without any doubt, all important chapters of SOULFY very covered, including “Carved Inside”, “Back To The Primitive” same as old SEPULTURA classics as “Territory” and essential “Roots Bloody Roots”.

Right after that, I went again to the backstage, where everybody was enjoying a needed drink. One could say that young and fresh music journalist realizes a lot. Life of a musician is mostly really a Sex, Drugs and Rock’n’Roll, but in some cases in a not so beautiful way. I had a chance to talk and drink with my big idol, Tom S. Englund from EVERGREY and ELUVEITIE singer Chrigel. But when a drunk ANATHEMA singer falls in front of you with a table, or high & drunk SEPULTURA bassist Paulo Jr. is barely able to sign you few booklets and has almost aggressive reactions its not such a ideal moment, as one would think. They are all humans from flesh and blood, and only few of them are worth the real respect. In addition, I truly respect a need and time for celebration and drinking, while a musician is still able to serve his main purpose: professionally entertain and play for the fans in front of the stage. This was not the Tom’s case though; whose reply on my question, if he’ll make it tomorrow was “Nope bro’!”

DAY THREE

I took a position in the first line, under the early afternoon sun, with an hour advance and solid hangover from last night, so I could see again one of my top favorite bands. 3 significant members of EVERGREY left the band recently, from various reasons, therefore I was wondering how the band and new forces will deal with it. New members surprised me by their skills and hard work, however, without any personal feelings; they didn’t reach the level of the previous line-up. Already from the start, one could see that not everything is alright. After intro a wild beginning of “Blinded” should have started, however the synchronization of all members didn’t work at the time. Tom had often that typical look in his face, when something wasn’t going on as planned, especially when he played quicker parts. In addition, I was really surprised how much his guitar was louder, than a one from, at that time more capable, co-guitarist. Even though they covered most of the playlist I would like, and even camera caught me many times, the overall show didn’t have any power and the hangover of the significant members, showed her face. My personal dissatisfaction wasn’t even saved by the two guitar picks I caught, or by the fact, that Tom threw me water, because we, as loyal fans didn’t receive this time the most significant aspect of the show, professionalism.

Compared to that, Swedish KATATONIA was a totally different story. A set, compared to the one I saw recently in Prague, was naturally shorter but more intensive as they concentrated only on the greatest hits, which brought the crowd to the boiling point. Thanks to the site of Marquee I, a show received needed cold atmosphere. Stage was just slightly changing colors and musicians dived into the performance. Jonas showed even better performance than in Prague, and proved why the tent was in this time of day, full.

In the afternoon, I was really looking forward to see KILLSWITCH ENGAGE which I also didn’t have a chance to see before. Not only teenagers came to see this icon of metal-core genre. A singer, Howard Jonas wasn’t showing such a performance that I would expect, however it was still an incredible experience. The band took care of everything else and threw the whole crowd into a washing machine. The coolest guy on stage was with no doubt guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz. He is big showman, and apart from few funny conversations with the singer, he was entertaining the crowd by himself. He was provoking, motivating, playing with water and running on the stage as a small kid. However when he removed his “mask”, he truly thanked, as one of the few, the fans for the chance of being here. He also, in the name of the whole band, made a tribute to DIO, while waving to him up there in the sky, by their legendary cover of “Holy Diver”.

Guys from KATATONIA changed into even darker clothes and took their position in the Marquee I again, now accompanied by Mikael Åkerfeldt. BLOODBATH itself is for these artists very useful tool how to share their passion for 90’s Swedish death metal. In the back, guys from KATATONIA were creating deadly atmosphere and in the front Mikael was passionately roaring. He had to share 3 times with the crowd, that he is drunk, however on his performance it had no, or even better effect and their played very attractive set.

On the same place, actively touring AMON AMARTH, presented themselves and performed their typical show, full of popular hits. However at the end of the show, they faced the loss of sound. Technicians were doing what they could; musicians were having fun with the crowd, however it was soon obvious, that this is the end. We could see big dissatisfaction in the face of frontman, but the crowd reacted incredibly, by massive clapping to ensure the band, that the overall performance was more than satisfying.

Time has come for the third headliner and the final band of the festival, KISS. Everybody saw them already probably, but that “first” time is always very intensive. Such an amount of effects, screens, lights, fun and specific cheesiness at the same time, is simply unique. Same as SOUFLY before, the American cult extended its set and played everything that a crowd might wish. Whole show was naturally practiced till the last detail, same as communication with the crowd, but with each song they had additional ace in a pocket. No matter if it were flying platforms, firing guitars or traditional flying, Kiss performed such a show, which was expected from them. Fires and perfect projections were obvious. Even the performances of each member satisfied the crowd. Especially surprising were the singing capabilities of Gene Simmons. On the other hand you could feel in the case of Paul Stanley, missing that highest level of performance, which he is regularly capable of. One way or another, it was amazing show, worth the end of the festival. Goodbye and icing on the cake, of the biggest festival I ever experienced, was served by the giant fireworks. Hope to see you next year again Graspop.                         

Top 50 tunes for gym

It's amazing to come back to your gym after 2 weeks and see, they love the playlist you made them and play it from back to front day by day.

Here are some the tunes that will blast your motivation, kill your fat asses and boost your wannabe muscles...

Evergrey - Broken Wings
Sonic Syndicate - Burn This City
Exilia - Coincidence
Audrey Horne - Redemption Blues
Killer Be Killed - Wings Of Feather And Wax

Bullet For My Valentine - Your Betrayal
Soilwork - Rejection Role
Era For a Moment - Strength
All Ends - Walk Away
Wovenwar - All Rise

Exit Ten - Technically Alive
Soilwork - As We Speak
Clutch - Crucial Velocity
Exit Ten - Curtain Call
Mastodon - The Motherload

Alice In Chains - Would
Sonic Syndicate - Denied
Five Finger Death Punch - The Pride
P.O.D. - Babylon For Murderer
Amaranthe - Hunger

Amaranthe - 1.000.000 Lightyears
Crucified Barbara - Sex Action
Drowning Pool - Tear Away
Bullet For My Valentine - The Last Fight
Sonic Syndicate - Turn It Up

Trivium - Anthem (We Are The Fire)
All Ends - Still Believe
Exilia - Stop Playing God
All Ends - Apologize
Killswitch Engage - In Due Time

Killswitch Engage - Reckoning
Audrey Horne - Threshold
All Ends - Wasting Life
Evergrey - Blinded
Adrenaline Mob - Come Undone

Killswitch Engage - Starting Over
Ill Nino - How Can I Live
Adema - Until Now
Amaranthe - Mechanical Illusion
Exit Ten - Reveal Yourself

Amaranthe - Call Out My Name
Periphery - Captain On
Eluveitie - Quath The Raven
Trivium - Can't Tear Us Apart
Halford - Cyber World

Era For a Moment - The Fire
Evergrey - These Scars
Ill Nino - Unframed
Adema - Pain Inside
P.O.D. - Sleeping Awake

Plus full albums:
Alter Bridge - Whole Discography

Rise Against - Appeal To Reason

Hell on Sonisphere Madrid 2012

It was very tempting to visit one of the biggest music festival events of 2012, headlined by legendary Metallica, reunited Soundgarden and others including Slayer, Limp Bizkit and The Offspring. One of the headliners were also Evanescence, who promised me and my long term friend, who just came to visit me in Barcelona, an interview. Promise of VIP experience, was fulfilled in the end, but a vacation turned into sandy hell, endless hours of arranging and few broken dreams.

During a summer of 2012, I was just finalizing my marketing master studies in Barcelona and enjoying each top class music shows of Catalan metropolis. Visits of Goran Bregović, Arctic Monkeys, Loreena Mckennitt, Guano Apes or the festivals as Sónar or Primavera Sound were accompanied by a Sonisphere fest in Madrid, which I really couldn’t miss. I had many visits in Barcelona during an early summer season, as the weather was sunny 24/7. Plus I managed to finalize my studies asap, to enjoy this season fully with my friends. Madrid’s festival was planned during a visit of my long term friend from my hometown Ostrava and enthusiast photographer, Renáta Pindurová. Our poor student asses were saved by my long term partners Pirate Smile, an agency, who was at that time handling, next to many others, a promotion for Dark New Day - side band of Evanescence’s drummer, Will Hunt. As we just recently did a front cover interview for Muzikus magazine (interview in Czech), we have arranged two guest list passes for me and my friend, hard-core Evanescence fan, in order to finalize the interview. We also wanted to give Evanescence an adequate space in our festival report, for Czech Rock&Pop magazine.

Day 1 

Route to Madrid

As a form of transportation we have chosen a plane, which was quicker and surprisingly cheaper than a train. Plus we had just a hand luggage, so we relied on the duty free shop, for a fancy 1l dose of Ballantine's. Since we were really looking forward to our VIP experience, I ordered a water, with two cups on the board, to test the scotch. Stewardess was not happy about it, so she asked me to finish my glass asap. Next to that, captain just informed us, we will be landing shortly. I was used to traditionally endless flights, so there were my planning skills, right there. Renáta underestimated her plane skills, so I had to finish also hers, plus I didn’t pour a small glass. Thank you Vueling, for a lovely landing, with a full mouth of whisky. We all hear a lot about Spanish effectiveness, but a route from a plane to city train, was smooth as a local wine. Edge of Madrid’s Getafe, where the festival was situated, was an industrial ghost town, with few locked up houses and a single “restaurant”. However we were not worried about that, since we will be dining backstage, right? We could see the main stage right away from a distance, behind two campsites. So we went straight to festival’s office, located between campsites, to get our passes and build our tent before we get in. So, I went to the lovely lady behind the desk and said “Hola” in my mui practicado Spanish, with Italian accent and showed her our passports. She was looking around for about a minute, looked at me and said: “I don’t have your names!”

If I received a penny, for how many times something like this happened to me. Nevermind, we sat down and I wrote a sms and an e-mail to my contact at Pirate Smile. It was still an afternoon, so I thought we could settle this down quick. As nothing happened for thirty minutes, I called and we arranged with Peter that Dark New Day’s management will help us. We were starving, thirsty and I had a limited internet credit, so we went all the way back to the restaurant to refresh ourselves and check e-mails, before we go back to sit in the sand and wait. When we got back to our spots next to the office, I went back to exchange few more calls, sms massages and e-mails for over two, or three hours and still nothing was solved. Renáta was deadly bored, I was really pissed off and just when we were sitting on a sandy ground, a snake has just passed around us! We arrived during an afternoon, in order to settle everything down and have few hours time before Limp Bizkit would come at 20.45h. I was just in the middle of writing an e-mail, when I just heard Fred Durst coming on the stage. Right after them, around 22.30h were supposed to play The Offspring, who were also supposed to give me an interview, during a set of Limp Bizkit. But guess what, I could get in, and unfortunately, neither my contact at Sony Spain, who arranged the interview, couldn’t help us, as the guestlist spots were limited. At that point we realized what the issue was. Each band has a VIP guestlist, but it works only on the day, the band plays. Nobody knew that upfront, so just when The Offspring started their set, we have decided, after nearly six hours of crap, to buy one day ticket. We did it in orded to see the end of the Friday’s line up and enter a camp site to have a place to sleep. Both of us said goodbye to 60 euro and I ensured Renáta, tomorrow it will be all limousines. ;D

After we built our tent and had few well deserved shots, we went to finally enjoy the festival. The Offspring were just finalizing their set, so we reminded ourselves of the primary school days. Unfortunately, without much of an energy from the guys up on the stage. By the time, they finished British doom institution Paradise Lost, still had few songs left, so we stayed with them. Luckily last few songs were Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us, from their amazing eponymous album and a traditional Say Just Words, in the end. Before we went to take a spot in the audience, to see the Friday’s headliner, we went to grab a beer. After a coupon exchange, our cheap Czech beer asses were kicked in the face by the price. 8 euro for a one liter* beer. *Hint - 1l in Sonisphere Madrid, means 0,75l. Grunge legend Soundgarden were just on the wave of their reunion and there was no doubt, what to see next. But to be honest, I experienced Chris Cornell lately in a plenty crappy singing days, therefore I was really happy to see him and the guys truly animalistic. After the show we went to grab another wanna-be one liter beer, before a Machine Head show. I don’t know where they all get that energy to party all day, but after few songs with a mosh-pit behind my back, I went to watch the show from a distance. Performance was amazing, but the whole day was a piece of shit, so we went for few more shots and let’s dream about those limousines...

Day 2 

Salvation?

When we woke up, we could finally enjoy all those breads and salami we brought for a fancy dining. Festival's office was not opened until early afternoon, so we went to see Getafe’s finest city edge and grab a lunch at our old friends. Office opened around three o’clock, so we came there to give it another try after all that fighting yesterday. I went with my classical “Hola” and hoped for nothing else than a good news. Señorita looked at me and said: “Hola, nice to see you again, but I’m afraid, I still don’t have you on my list. After checking my mails, with no support and few more discussions with the office, we realized where the issue was today. Evanescence were the only band, from the whole line-up, who didn’t provide organizers their guest list. Guess what, we were the only people on the Evanescence guestlist. There was nothing else to do, rather than wait for the band to arrive, so the organizers could remind their management for their list. When they told us that Evanescence have arrived, we finally hoped our shitty experience was over. Unfortunately, for another hour or two, nothing has changed. Here was the missing Spanish effectiveness, plus my hidden package of patience took a plane home. So I stood in front of the promoters desk and refused to leave and stop looking at them, until one of them sends bloody Maria to remind their lazy asses, we are waiting here for ages. Swear to god, I didn’t move my look for at least half and hour. I had nowhere else to go and there was no more f*cking waiting from us for anything. After that half an hour she returned with a news that she caught their management and she gave us our passes instantly.

Suddenly everybody treated us differently. We could use different access and could go practically anywhere. We could also finally see the areas that unlawfully banned for us the day before. First of all, we saw Children Of Bodom on the smaller stage in the middle of their set, so we convinced the security guard to let us take pics, even after traditional first-three songs period. After that it was finally the area behind the main stage. Dutch Within Temptation were getting ready for their sympho-gothic setlist, while we were finally enjoying the look on the crowd covered around the gear. 

Audience was even crazier, when the Slayer came on stage. Gary Holt was fully enjoying his new role as an Slayer guitarist and the crown went absolutely mental during Raining Blood. Right after the show we headed into the backstage to check on the Evanescence interview.

As soon we got in, we were searching for Evanescence room in the crazy backstage maze. When we found it, we saw the bastard, who was guilty for all our troubles. It was one, hell of a fat SOAB, who was just in the middle of counting a pile of Euros. I was just imagining how I will beat the sh*t out of him, when I realized all of our sacrifice, will be ruined by a single punch. Therefore I introduced ourselves and asked for conditions. He said that the band hasn’t arrived yet, and we should come back in a hour. Metallica was supposed to start soon, so we thought to check the entrance to the backstage and a restaurant. The second we came out, Metallica boys were coming out as well. I couldn’t believe, what I was just seeing. Next to two of us and few people from a local crew, there was absolutelly nobody, except all stars musicians hanging around. When the Lars, Kirk, James and Robert were coming us, group of security guards created a corridor for them and starting to push “lower line-up” bands out of the way. Suddenly you could see one of the Mastodon guitarists waving to Kirk and starting to lean his hand for a grab. Kirk really tried over a security gorilla, but he didn’t manage. They took them to a small closed area next to the entrance, for a private signing session. I was just standing next a curtain supposedly leading to it. When I slowly opened it, I was stopped right away by a giant security dude. Trust me, If I had opened that curtain even slightly faster, my jaw would have been separated into puzzle. Last thing we wanted to try before Metallica’s show was a restaurant. We weren’t thinking about food the whole day, so we entered the restaurant and while we were reaching for plates, we realized a long hair metal dude was counting his meal coupons. Bad luck. Let’s go for Metallica at least.

People were insane. The area was absolutely packed and they were even standing on the portable toilets. They were singing every single song, plus a band prepared a proper Sonisphere screen show for the fans. We enjoyed the show for a while, but somewhere, close towards the end of Master Of Puppets we had go to the backstage, straight towards our old friend. When we arrived, the whole band just went for the interview with the festival TV and we were instructed to wait. While we waited two tour managers met.

A: Hey Jimmy, haven’t seen you for a while, how you doin’?

B: I’m taking care of Metallica on their tour right now.

A: I heard, congrats. I’m looking after over Slayer this summer.

B: That’s also nice. Enjoy, see you soon.

Most of those guys are just paid professionals and switch bands every year. No wonder our cream cake buddy didn’t do anything on time. He doesn’t have much of an interest on the success of the band. He did his job. Timing was rather South European, but he simply didn’t care. While we were waiting, I saw Kerry King, Slayer’s guitarist right next me, so I asked him for a quick pic. 

Thirty seconds after that I met this young dude with a strong British accent, who was desperately looking for a redbull. As I had one extra, I gave it to him. He was happy as hell and I realized later that day it was one of the guys from Enter Shikari. Evanescence have just returned from their interview and met with their personal security guard who gave them their all access passes. Well threw it on them. While he was still laughing as a redneck, band went to their two separate rooms (Amy solo) and we kept waiting.

Suddenly Amy comes out and yells:

“Jennifer, where the f*ck is my dress!!?” and slams the door.

Three minutes later:

“Is there a toilet paper, in this bloody house?” and slams a door for a second time. No time for pics and greetings here.

As nothing was happening for another thirty minutes and fatso, saw me waiting, I knocked on band’s door myself. I introduced ourselves and asked for a short meeting as planned a long time ago. Will let us in and asked right away: “Sure, come in. Where have you been all this time? I’m waiting for you.” I replied “Long story, man” and asked few things to finalize our interview. Right after we all took few pics, we were offered two signed copies of a latest Dark New Day album (great piece btw) and a pack of Evanescence drum sticks and guitar picks, signed on sight. 

When we said goodbye to each other, I went to the both lovely gentlemen of the day, El Bastardo and Retardo to kindly ask to meet with Amy, for two or three questions, in order to finalize front cover and get an autograph. He replied right away: “Amy doesn’t do anything, two hours before the show” and lead me out of the office. I returned right away to quickly, but nicely ask him, as we both came all the way from Czech Republic, for thirty seconds and we are out. He gave me a proper Tarzan face and said loudly: “No!” When I returned to my friend, I didn’t know how to explain it and tell her, we are not meeting her idol. We talked for another few minutes and then I took her booklets and returned in again. “Listen to me, I got a girl here, who traveled over half a Europe to meet her idol. We went through some tough times here and all I’m asking is a photo and an autograph.” He stood up, went right next to me and yelled: “No”. From that moment he made sure, I couldn’t even reach the door myself. So we went out and finished all my mini shot bottles of whisky.

When we came out, Metallica’s army was just finalizing packaging their insane stage. In order to make the whole time-schedule smoother, Evanescence went on stage, while they were still packing the screens. We enjoyed the view from a side for a while and then Renáta went to take few pics from a first line, while I was checking the show with Fear Factory’s guitarist. 

After the show we finally went to grab sth to eat. Sh*tty and expensive kebab is a solution, when you didn’t eat for a most of the day. As we were still not hungry, we went to see Fear Factory’s show, which was delayed and started somewhere around 3 or 4am. Renáta was taking pics, while I enjoyed my solo stalker look from a side, as most of the musicians who usually stand there, went to sleep. And that’s what we also did in the middle of the Fear Factory show, as this day was nothing easier, than the day before it.

This was truly of the biggest event’s I ever attended, but the price was truly big. All I can say, it was worth remembering. Over the years, I tend to think sometimes, that I should have asked Will, or go straight towards the door and knock. I might have saved this way one music dream, but it has to be broken one day. Mine was broken at Graspop 2010, but that’s just another story… 

How Zakk Wylde ditched us

Doing an interview with Zakk Wylde (Ozzy, Black Label Society) over phone, ended up to be one of the best interviews I ever did. It ended up on the front cover of Muzikus magazine, I received few fan mails and I was really looking forward to meet Zakk personally during his show in Prague. I wanted to give him one copy of the magazine, get another signed, but the evening didn't go according to a plan.

OZZAKK Wild

I'm an insane Ozzy fan since I was a kid and therefore I chase down all his musicians whenever I can. One of the first interviews I did was with Gus G. right after he joined Ozzy at Řípfest in Czech Republic. I desperately wanted to meet the prince of darkness, who was just few meters away from me locked inside, but I was simply not allowed. Hopefully, I will manage until he dies. Next was Adam Wakeman, followed by Jake E Lee, therefore with Zakk I managed to finalize all his crucial guitarists, who are still alive. RIP Randy. Interview with Zakk over phone was hell of a fun. You could use all the journalism rules you learn, but with him, you just need to keep a casual system of questions and just keep the bar talk going. We started with a bullshit talk on Marshall's 50th anniversary show in London's Wembley Arena and moved on a gear, which is always a good starter, especially with a musician, like him. We also got to a topic how his guitars were stolen and later found by his fans in random pawn shops all over the states. Later we discussed Black Label Society's new album, his departure from Ozzy and naturally his new lifestyle without any drinking. Since it's a Czech magazine, we also remembered how they threw a TV with Ozzy from a Prague's hotel and dealing with it for weeks with hotel's management. When he announced a show in Prague, we simply couldn't miss it.

I couldn't miss it, not for being a Black Label Society fan, but I really wanted to finally meet Zakk. Plus a buddy of mine with his older cousin, both big fans, joined me. As usual, I wanted to ensure the meeting with Zakk in advance, but local organizer couldn't promise anything and we left it, to deal with it on site, after the show. Well packed Roxy club enjoyed the show, but even though I respect his band and skills, I was full of his playing and pinch harmonics after few songs. Therefore I rather relied on the beer and waited for the show to be over asap. Right after the last piece from the bonus songs at the end of the show, I moved to the meeting point at the upper part of the club, next to a security guard somewhere between the club's balcony and bathrooms. Musicians have their dressing room, right behind the security guard, where they also have a shortcut for the stage. When the local organizer came back from the backstage to check Zakk, he mentioned, star of the night is not meeting anyone and if I want to give him anything, he will deliver it personally. Naturally I protested and reminded him how many people were involved to get him on the front cover, and all I want is to shake hand, give him a copy and get one signed. He went to check it again, but came with a same statement, but with a message from Zakk, he will go out in a hour or two, to meet few fans on the way back to the tourbus, in front of the venue.

  
As this was the only chance for few upcoming years, plus the guys are big fans, we waited and once again relayed on the lofely Czech beer. We sat on the corner, with a view on the venue and enjoyed many jokes on the passing tourists, homeless drunks, wanna-be-secret drug dealers and diehard fans standing right at the door of the venue waiting for Zakk. Nearly two hours have passed, when most of the gear was packed and the security was buzzing in the front, which meant guys will be leaving soon. We finished our drinks and stood somewhere between tourbus and a venue's door. We did it right on time, as the security guards started to bring metal fences from the inside and created a corridor on the way from the venue to the tourbus. You rarely see this, as there were only few fans still waiting with all of their booklets, but even rarely you see that he went to the tourbus right away, with a quick gesture: "I will come back right away". We couldn't even make a move behind the fences, as the security jerk, with a double digit IQ and a hard core fan of Sparta Prague looked at us, showed us few of his fancy teeth and said: "I like to break hands"! VIP was still not coming out. When few of us "yelled" in a friendly way: "Hey man, come on!", I was instructed by one teenage girl to shut up, as such a musician deserves to do whatever he wants. I didn't have to say anything, as she was instructed to shut up herself, by all the others, as they waited nearly three hours, with all of their fan collectibles.

Yes, you are guessing right, soon after that, the tour bus driver turned the key and they all left. Me and my buddies, we were pissed, especially for waiting that long, but imagine the people that are really big fans, they brought all of their collectibles and counted every minute in order to see their idol. Every musician is alive only because of his fans. He screwed few of the most loyal ones...
The front cover copy above is a message from all fans, who waited for Zakk that night...