Hola,
Scandinavia is the best. I went over to Sweden to perform with the Nomads at the Hultsfred 2001 Festival and had a ball. It was an honor to be asked, as the gig was the 20th year anniversary of the Nomads. They are a superb band and fine fellows and were gracious hosts. They also brought over Jello Biafra, "Handsome" Dick Manitoba and Ross "the Boss", from the Dictators and Chris Bailey from the Saints, to join in on the Nomads party. The set was like a review with each of the guests doing a song or two and I was honored to close the show with a house-shaking version of KOTJ. I don't get an opportunity to play for 10,000 kids every day so I made the most of it. It was fun to hear the whole crowd getting on the good foot. It was a hoot.
The festival itself is one of Europe's longest running annual music events. For 17 years now the small town of Hultsfred in southern Sweden, is taken over for a week each spring by music fans from all over Sweden and Europe. They seem to have a much better attitude about rock festivals in Europe. The older generation accepts that young folks like to do these kinds of things and the young people, in turn, don't tear shit up. What a concept! People drank their share of alcohol and, I assume took their share of drugs but somehow they just kept the lid on things. As an American with a background in extremely bad behavior I find all this civilized behavior curious. How do they do this? Why can't we manage it here in the land of the free and the home of the brave?
Queens of the Stone Age, Iggy, Manic Street Preachers, Rocket from the Crypt, Nashville Pussy, Aimee Mann, J. Mascis & the Fog, (with my man, Mike Watt), OutKast and many others were there along with the hugely popular Hellacopters.
I heard a very cool rapper back in the hip-hop tent called Sage Francis. He was a white, bearded, rhyming, rapping manic. Free styling and goofing with (not on) the crowd and generally showing what real entertainment is all about. He was sharp minded and the fans were digging it. He wasn't insulting their, or my, intelligence. His raps were smart and inventive. Good Stuff. I'd like to learn more about him.
It was non-stop bands all day and night for three days and a good time was had by all.
After the festival I went down to Stockholm with the Hellacopters and recorded two songs with them. A new original song we co-wrote and a cover of the MC5's "Gotta Keep Moving" for the album that will accompany the release of the MC5 documentary film "A True Testimonial" next year. The Hellacopters cut a roaring version of the tune and I really enjoyed working with them. They remind me, a bit, of myself when I was their age.
The trip left me a little sick, what with the jet lag and sleep depravation and the flying petri dish that airplanes are, so I was down for the count for a week or so but I'm good now.
Song writing has been at the front of my activities lately and it's something that I love doing. Writing has become a real love of mine and the more I do it, the more I enjoy the process. Both prose and lyric writing have been flowing lately. I'm happiest when I'm writing. If I don't do it, I start to get a little funky, attitude-wise.
Brian Howes from the Vancouver band DDT, came into town and we wrote for a couple of days. We got one good song out of it. Tony Fate, of the Bellrays, and I have been burning the midnight pro tools. I think we've come up with some interesting stuff. The songs we are writing are a little strange and that's a good thing. I never know where these efforts will end up and I don't need to know. I try to stay out of the results. I also have been exploring the world of techno/electronica. You just can't leave a guy in a room with all these noise making machines and not expect something strange to come out of it. Hmmm.
Funny you don't hear about the evil napster too much these days. What a load of horseshit that was. All the greedheads crying bloody murder because the think they might not be able to make the payments on their new Bentleys or what ever the hell they do with all their money. From what I can see, what's happened is the major labels (and their pimps the RIAA), have won gigantic cash awards from the courts from the dot comers and I will bet a dollar on a dime that not one red cent has found it's way into the hands of any songwriter or band. No one likes to get ripped off but look who ends up with the money: the big multinational corporations. Same as it ever was. Napster and all the other file sharer's are not the enemy. They never were. All those folks that were downloading their favorite music weren't doing it to get rich. They did it because they dig the music. You want to rattle the captains of industry? Get them where they live. Get them where their hearts reside: in their market share. Threaten their money streams and they will scream from the rooftops about artist's rights and the sanctity of copyright protection but what their really whining about is the possibility of losing profits. I say possibility because no one has yet proved that they lost money, not labels, artists, publishers, and no one has lost a dime. And in the age old, tried and tested way that big business operates, they have managed to turn a perceived threat into even more profit. The whole episode gives me gas.
Speaking of big business and crass commercialism, MuscleTone Records is up and rolling with our first release (actually, our second after Beyond Cyber-Punk). Mad For the Racket, the record I made with Brian James & Co. is set for a fall street date. We will open a special page here on the web site for it and will have all the info there. Stay tuned. All in all, life is good today and I have much to be grateful for. I wish you all well.
Thanks for tuning in.
Wayne.
Scandinavia is the best. I went over to Sweden to perform with the Nomads at the Hultsfred 2001 Festival and had a ball. It was an honor to be asked, as the gig was the 20th year anniversary of the Nomads. They are a superb band and fine fellows and were gracious hosts. They also brought over Jello Biafra, "Handsome" Dick Manitoba and Ross "the Boss", from the Dictators and Chris Bailey from the Saints, to join in on the Nomads party. The set was like a review with each of the guests doing a song or two and I was honored to close the show with a house-shaking version of KOTJ. I don't get an opportunity to play for 10,000 kids every day so I made the most of it. It was fun to hear the whole crowd getting on the good foot. It was a hoot.
The festival itself is one of Europe's longest running annual music events. For 17 years now the small town of Hultsfred in southern Sweden, is taken over for a week each spring by music fans from all over Sweden and Europe. They seem to have a much better attitude about rock festivals in Europe. The older generation accepts that young folks like to do these kinds of things and the young people, in turn, don't tear shit up. What a concept! People drank their share of alcohol and, I assume took their share of drugs but somehow they just kept the lid on things. As an American with a background in extremely bad behavior I find all this civilized behavior curious. How do they do this? Why can't we manage it here in the land of the free and the home of the brave?
Queens of the Stone Age, Iggy, Manic Street Preachers, Rocket from the Crypt, Nashville Pussy, Aimee Mann, J. Mascis & the Fog, (with my man, Mike Watt), OutKast and many others were there along with the hugely popular Hellacopters.
I heard a very cool rapper back in the hip-hop tent called Sage Francis. He was a white, bearded, rhyming, rapping manic. Free styling and goofing with (not on) the crowd and generally showing what real entertainment is all about. He was sharp minded and the fans were digging it. He wasn't insulting their, or my, intelligence. His raps were smart and inventive. Good Stuff. I'd like to learn more about him.
It was non-stop bands all day and night for three days and a good time was had by all.
After the festival I went down to Stockholm with the Hellacopters and recorded two songs with them. A new original song we co-wrote and a cover of the MC5's "Gotta Keep Moving" for the album that will accompany the release of the MC5 documentary film "A True Testimonial" next year. The Hellacopters cut a roaring version of the tune and I really enjoyed working with them. They remind me, a bit, of myself when I was their age.
The trip left me a little sick, what with the jet lag and sleep depravation and the flying petri dish that airplanes are, so I was down for the count for a week or so but I'm good now.
Song writing has been at the front of my activities lately and it's something that I love doing. Writing has become a real love of mine and the more I do it, the more I enjoy the process. Both prose and lyric writing have been flowing lately. I'm happiest when I'm writing. If I don't do it, I start to get a little funky, attitude-wise.
Brian Howes from the Vancouver band DDT, came into town and we wrote for a couple of days. We got one good song out of it. Tony Fate, of the Bellrays, and I have been burning the midnight pro tools. I think we've come up with some interesting stuff. The songs we are writing are a little strange and that's a good thing. I never know where these efforts will end up and I don't need to know. I try to stay out of the results. I also have been exploring the world of techno/electronica. You just can't leave a guy in a room with all these noise making machines and not expect something strange to come out of it. Hmmm.
Funny you don't hear about the evil napster too much these days. What a load of horseshit that was. All the greedheads crying bloody murder because the think they might not be able to make the payments on their new Bentleys or what ever the hell they do with all their money. From what I can see, what's happened is the major labels (and their pimps the RIAA), have won gigantic cash awards from the courts from the dot comers and I will bet a dollar on a dime that not one red cent has found it's way into the hands of any songwriter or band. No one likes to get ripped off but look who ends up with the money: the big multinational corporations. Same as it ever was. Napster and all the other file sharer's are not the enemy. They never were. All those folks that were downloading their favorite music weren't doing it to get rich. They did it because they dig the music. You want to rattle the captains of industry? Get them where they live. Get them where their hearts reside: in their market share. Threaten their money streams and they will scream from the rooftops about artist's rights and the sanctity of copyright protection but what their really whining about is the possibility of losing profits. I say possibility because no one has yet proved that they lost money, not labels, artists, publishers, and no one has lost a dime. And in the age old, tried and tested way that big business operates, they have managed to turn a perceived threat into even more profit. The whole episode gives me gas.
Speaking of big business and crass commercialism, MuscleTone Records is up and rolling with our first release (actually, our second after Beyond Cyber-Punk). Mad For the Racket, the record I made with Brian James & Co. is set for a fall street date. We will open a special page here on the web site for it and will have all the info there. Stay tuned. All in all, life is good today and I have much to be grateful for. I wish you all well.
Thanks for tuning in.
Wayne.
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