So last night Roxie 77 played a gig in my home town! :)
Of course I was there and so was Anna and her parents. We both do quite a lot of promotion for these guys because they truly deserve a bigger audience. Their music is best when you hear it live. It ended up being a pretty intimate gig with a small audience but the guys rocked the stage like always! I had a few drinks and danced along to some of their old and some of their new tracks. (New album is planned to be recorded very soon...)
We all stuck around while they packed down all of their instruments, but around midnight Anna and her parents unfortunately had to go home. So we went backstage so they could say good bye. Me and the guys thought of checking out the band Lillasyster on the other stage, but there was this really drunk guy who kept coming backstage, flirting with me and stalking Anton like crazy. And so since the security was so bad, the guys were afraid to leave the backstage area in case someone got in and stole their gear. Which is totally understandable. So we just ended up sitting in a room backstage, but the guys interesting conversations were enough entertainment for me :P
The club was closing so we went to the other building and just hung out with the guys from Lillasyster while all of the other guests were leaving. It was such a calm and nice evening. I think we were all kind of tired. Plus I had been up really early since I had school that morning. Around 2:30 we packed up (or well, I carried one thing... lol) all of their stuff into Ryan's car and my sister helped us with giving half of the band a lift back to their hotel.
Now I am just really looking forward to going to Uppsala in a week to see Ryan's guitar clinic. That'll of course be a completely different thing to experience than a regular gig and apparently the music store expects a big crowd. But Ryan is as humble as always and won't expect anything in advance which I think is a clever thing to do :) Take life as it comes...
Since it has been over two weeks since I came home from London I thought it's about time to sum it all up, haha! To start off I'd just like to explain that I am not the kind of person who usually travels all over the world just to see a band. It really has to be worth the effort and I always stay a couple of days longer so that I can at least experience some parts of the undiscovered city. The reason why I went to Paris was because that night was a huge deal. As a glam/sleaze rocker it was a dream come true to see Blackrain and Crashdiet play on the same night. And I only went to London because it was Blackrain's first tour there. It's very rare that they have gigs outside of France so of course I took the opportunity to see them again. Besides, they aren't just a band that I admire anymore. I have gotten to know them a bit better and they are really great guys. Me and my friends always have fun with them whenever we meet up!
The trip to London was really great. Me and Charlotte stayed at a Bed & Breakfast which was located right in the middle of Piccadilly Circus and all it's beautiful buildings! Charlotte's friend Lulu also stayed at the same B&B. She and Charlotte are both Swedes but ran around and trashed London in the 90's with all of their friends. It was one of the best things about this trip, that I got to meet all of her friends who are in their forties now. They entertained me for hours and hours about all the mischeivous things they did in the good old days. It was awesome!
On our first night we talked to the guys in Blackrain who were also on their way to London. And so we decided to meet up at a small bar called Garlic & Shots. My favourite French sisters Nat and Allie also joined a bit later. We honestly didn't think we would do anything special this evening than to just catch up, but pretty much everyone walked out of there pretty damn wasted. We turned that tiny little place into a freaking rock show!! The bartender (a Swedish girl funny enough) played Blackrain's music out loud and we all sang along. New guests that were coming in stopped and looked at us in shock before slowly making their way inside, haha. They probably weren't used to seeing their local bar being turned upside down.
Despite having such a good time we ended up going home quite early. And Lord knows I want to see the video that the guys shot of Swan on their way back to the hotel. He was sooo wasted and couldn't remember anything of our party the next day :P
Personally I'll never forget Swan's excellent performance of this Swedish classic, hahaha....
The next day we mostly walked around in the city and slowly got ready for the evening. Luckily me and Charlotte are very much alike in that way. We don't like to rush around and get ready in the last minute. We take the time to enjoy it and talk about every little thing we can think of, haha. It's pretty amazing that we get along this great considering that the only times we have met has been on a three day trip to Paris and on a four day trip to London. You know you like a person when you can live in the same room for that long without wanting to kill one another ;)
Before the gig we sat at a bar close by and talked to more of Charlotte's friends. Our friends Lou and Alma also joined to take part of the evening. Blackrain showed up after a while and I've got to say they looked darn fresh considering how last night had turned out, haha. But it was all good. And even though there weren't a lot of people at the gig, they got a great response and I had a blaaaast dancing around in front of the stage.
I am so easily affected by alcohol though that only a few drinks will make me go a little nuts. But that's what is so great about not drinking too often! You can have SO much fun and still remember everything afterwards.
Photos: Alissa Ordabai
We wanted to go and try to find some bar to throw an after party. So me and my gang of girls waited for the guys to pack up all of their stuff. Fuuuck it was cold!! I just hugged Nat and Allie that hold time to keep somewhat warm. Unfortunately it was much tougher than we had thought to find an open bar on a Monday night in London. After walking around for like an hour (which explains the horrific cold I got) we ended up at some random bar which was alright. But by that time I wasn't really drunk anymore and just felt like going to bed and sleep. I stayed for an hour though since everyone else were having such a good time. We did actually walk down the street to see if we could find another bar after that. But when we didn't have any luck we all went on our seperate ways...
Let's just say that after two days of partying our assess off, me and Charlotte were pretty much stranded in our hotel bed the whole next day, haha.
Bad City is a Chicago-based band that released their album Welcome to the wasteland in 2010. The singer of Casablanca, Anders Ljung, recommended this band tonight when he visited the Bandit Rock Radio. He said it was a band that made a bad decision when it came to choosing a record label. Obviously they released this amazing record and didn't get enough credit for it. I have got to say I am blown away by their music. I want others to hear it too! I want this band to make it! So please give these guys a chance and if you like what you hear, then spread the word! Spread it to the world...
So. I have found this guy online who has several quite popular YouTube channels. And I haven't felt like I could relate to someone as much as I have in the last couple of days when I have been going through his videos. His real name is Greg but his nickname is Onision. I am posting these videos today because they made such a strong impact on me. A couple of weeks ago (and now and then) I went through a hard time where I felt like no one wanted to be around me, that everything I did was wrong, that there was just something strange going on and I had no idea why. I felt like the black sheep in my family as well in my circle of friends. I had no idea what to do. I only wish that I had found Greg's videos sooner so that I wouldn't have felt so damn alone at that time. But now I know they exist in case it ever happens again...
In this video Greg talks about this brutally difficult feeling of not knowing why you are so lonely. It's hard just knowing that something is making it hard for people to like you or want to hang out with you. Sometimes you need to stick up for yourself and for what you believe in, which is what I had done a few weeks ago. And I guess that is what Greg had done too. But for some reason we were dragged down in the dirt for it. People didn't speak up about it, they just disappeared. When I felt like I had done what I thought was right, they probably thought something else. But I hate not speaking up when something is wrong. It's not easy going against your friends and their believes. But sometimes you've just got to be true to yourself.
And here is the feeling of it all. Emptiness. And hate. You can't function without your friends and loved ones. You feel disgusted wth yourself, but you don't know why. And you start questioning everything.
And there is that part about relationships. When something goes wrong and you end up looking like an insane person. The only difference is that most of us don't film it and post it up on YouTube. But I am so happy that Greg did this because it made me realize that I am not the only one who has these crazy moments. Those moments where I wonder if I'll ever stop obsessing and be okay again. But it is just like he says. If you get into a relationship in the wrong way from the beginning, then this is what ends up happening. And it's so stupid because it would make perfect sense to just say "You know what, this person is really bad for me, let's move on with life". But how can you move on when you miss them SO much? So much that you even consider contacting them to say you're sorry and take back everything that you said, even though you deep down inside stand for every single word.
In whatever situation you may be in, you always end up questioning yourself. Maybe that is the point though? Maybe the point is to break down those walls you have built around your heart to protect yourself and start to realize that YOU may be the problem? I guess this has both a good side and a really bad one. It's good to learn from your mistakes and be aware of who you are as a person, but this thought can turn into self loading. Which it did for me a couple of weeks ago. I honestly asked one of my best friends "Am I the one who is fucked up? Seriously. I must be an insane, psychopathic person to act like this.". She told me that it was nonsense but I didn't let go of that thought for some time.
Am I an addict? I don't like those moments when I am being called "desperate" by some people just because I want someone to love, who loves me back. And when I don't go for every guy I like, then I am suddenly "picky". Well yeah. Of course I am. How could you not be picky about finding someone to spend at least a couple of years with? Why would you just throw yourself into something that probably won't last more than a month? Do you know how many heartbreaks that is in a year?
"I don't want to be one of those people who only looks at the positives and forgets all of the negative, when the negative is so overwhelming. As long as I remember, I won't go back." - Onision
I am almost two months behind on this. But tonight I discovered this fantastic video!!! Walk Off The Earth is a five-piece music phenomena that are just too good to ignore. Check out this brilliant 5-people-playing-one-guitar interpretation of Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know". Impressed? Of course you are.
When we were in the UK, my friends Alma and Lou took the opportunity to interview Swan. This was the day after the gig so most people in our gang were on their way home. And some did like Me and Charlotte... crashed in our hotel room. Two days of partying was all we could take :P
The ladies did a great job so I suggest you take a look!
