It's that time... that time of year (Vinnie Vincent where are you?). 2005 past us by like a fart in the wind and it's time for a retrospective look at some of all the things here at RockUnited.com. You will find all these "amazing" quotes and many, many, more, at our INTERVIEW section as well as other sections of this site. It's not always about the "best" or even the "funniest" moments... but merely a quick-peek at some of all the 1000's of "magical" moments during a RockUnited year. PS. Make sure to put yer smiling boots on before reading this and don't take it all too seriously... it's only rock'n'roll, you know... From all of us to all of you - a happy new year and hope to see you all in 2006. RockUnited: There's a bunch of Scandinavian's here at RockUnited and most of us enjoy to ask our "favorite" rockers about our homeland(s)... these guys have never been to Scandi-land, I believe? Finland, Finland, Finland...we love Finland.
RockUnited: Thank You! Thank You! You're much too :-)) ... ehem, let's quickly continue to our next speaker, shall we?
RockUnited: Ehem, well... it's not easy being a rock star, you know... come to think of it... it's actually quite difficult, playing the music you like, travel all over the world, the chicks, the money, the drugs, the not-knowing about Finland and Sweden, the... well, let's ask our next rocker about being in a band: "Yeah, after we've finished the long tours and gone home, you feel like you'd rather shovel shit for 16 hours a day than play in a band. Of course we've had our highlights, but it's just a part of it and the rest of it is shoveling that shit within us".
RockUnited: What the??? shovel s**t??? surely, you must have been in the wrong band, my friend... it must be more to music than this? right??? "And now you're interviewing us, which is kinda funny, 'cos in these past four years hardly anyone has interviewed us. But now we've gotten some gigs, so it looks much better now".
RockUnited: well, there you go, it had to be better than shoveling all that you-know-what, make sure to send us a bunch of gifts and lots of $$$, and we'll try to interview you next year as well [;-)]. We asked the next bloke if he had noticed that the 80's are "IN" these days with matching lyrics and everything.
"Yeah, but we won't do this. I think what we wanna do is a little more. The songs are longer, there is more music into it, there are different kind of melodies, great vocal lines, orchestral arrangements and even the lyrics have to fit to the music. So you can't make a big orchestral arrangement and say "oh, I wanna fuck this girl", it's not possible. You have to go deeper into the story and tell a story which fits to this kind of bombastic arrangement. We worked a lot with an orchestra on the new album, which is on several songs".
RockUnited: Really??? could someone please try and explain this to Gene & Paul (KISS). The 80's are back for sure and even people that played modern rock last year are now returning with their old song and dance number. "Attraction 65 was Blue Tears...just a very deep version of it....I exorcised alot of personal demons on that record...now that i've got that out of my system, I'm ready to get down to some fun, rockin' new material for Blue Tears...wait, did I say that?"
RockUnited: Yes, you did! We are going to hold you personally responsible for it as well. By the way, how did Midnight come up with that name "Midnight" anyhow? "It is the name of my soul, man. It is not the name my mother and father gave to me, okay; we have time, so…. I was in the mountains in California and I met this woman in a bar and she was telling me crazy things about myself that she could not have known actually and she goes like, your name is Midnight, right, she was a psychic of course. And she said to me: you are a psychic too and I said yes and she said to me, your spiritual name is Midnight and that makes sense, so. Is that too long for an answer, I am sorry, man, but it is the truth". RockUnited: okie-doke, that's enough of Midnight for this year though. Band names or "monikers" are difficult though, how do they come up with all those great names and what do they actually stand for?
"With the name Mind Key, we mean that all depends on the people’s mind and all the decisions are due to the choices that we are used to take in the every day life. The Key explains this idea, like a light inside us, a way out in the ocean of life. And if you noticed, this fact is quoted in the last song of “Journey..”, “Waiting For The Answer”. The name of the album, instead, is even more autobiographic and would represent our purpose to start an exciting trip in the music industry. At least, we hope it will be exciting!
"Our drummer Dave came up with the name one day when he heard that an F5 is the highest category of storm rating for a tornado on the Fujitsu scale. I guess that is how he viewed our music! For me, I think of it as a force of 5 guys jamming music together. I have been told that on a computer the F5 key is the "refresh" button, which could certainly be applicable in many ways too.
RockUnited: Hmmm... I'm desperately trying to "refresh" this page... but it's the same old crap anyhow. Here's a couple of "highlights" from the Firefest Festival in U.K. Read all about it at our "Live Report" section. Take it away fellows:
"Its been 25 years since the Bailey Brothers helped start off this famous venue, back then we were working with the Sweet and Ian Gillan etc. It was so cool to see so many old friends as this was like a flash back to the 80’s. Man we are talking rubber hot pants, low cut tops, lipstick and leather…. (but that’s enough about Danger Danger ha ha) Only joking guys...
"About why Greg Giuffria wasn't involved with the House Of Lords people: Don’t quote me on this but we also heard he had been working for almost 3 years on a business project that involved a new Casino in Mississippi. Two weeks before it was due to open The 250 million pound casino was hit by the Hurricane which levelled it to the ground. Now when you look at it that way playing keyboards in the UK may not be Greg’s top priority.
RockUnited: Did they say don't quote us??? too late.... let's get talking with the Pallas bloke instead. The writer George Orwell was a source of inspiration for the song "Invincible", or not? "Not directly, though I suppose it has echoes of "1984" about it. It has also got an element of "I am not a number, I am a free man" from the sixties TV series "The Prisoner". There are also hints of frustration at the commodification of our culture. I do not know about you but I am sick of being treated and targeted by companies and organizations wanting me to buy their products, use their services or whatever, because I fit the customer's profile. There is little private space in society anymore - and any that there is seems to be considered fair game for commercialization. Let's kill the shark, ha ha".
RockUnited: hey, wait a minute... we're not the stoopid ones over here. Iron Maiden wrote the song... right??? Eddie's revenge will be horrible and slightly mechanical... the sixties??? what the heck is he talking about??? he must be some kind of dino-rocker... the sixties??? did people actually roam the earth back then??? could someone from that age of time please report back to us??? RockUnited: Do you listen back at your work to make sure you haven’t used that trick before? RockUnited: Ehem, that's enough of dirt-talk... This bloke once stated that he didn't like solo albums, why is that? In my observation solo albums have not done as well as many band albums, for instance Mick Jagger will always do well with the Rolling Stones and not as well solo, Scott Weiland, Stone Temple Pilots or Velvet Revolver.. I am content with a band situation. I’ve done solo; I hope it goes well. But, still there are many situations where it works also obviously, so…
RockUnited: OK... it's awful quiet around here right now... I wonder why??? Let's move on to the next person, any special meaning behind the title "Octane"? "Actually, no, ha ha ha… It is just the eight album. We definitely agreed on not using one of the song titles as the title of the album, so it is just the number eight, nothing fancy really.
RockUnited: How boring... we also thought the lyrics on the new Masterplan album to be a bit more simple, almost cliché kind of like then on the debut??? "Well, Jorn uses a lot of similar sounds and he kind of uses typical rock sentences like roll the dice, and that sort of stuff, but that is what he wanted. The lyrics on this album are much closer to him. I even had offered him different lyrics to sing on my two songs, but he is the guy that has to sing the stuff on stage, so.. He must feel comfortable with the lyrics."
RockUnited: There ya'go! Blame it on the Norwegian!!! and here's a note from our "Santa of the year" winner... "After all the 5 star reviews I've had lately, this one came as a breath of fresh air I can tell you... Thank God, there is always one review that makes me laugh out loud and you get the prize this time, well done!!! By the way, sorry to point it out but, you've mis spelled the Salem Hill Album title in the opening line of their review as well. so glad I can still count on a quality and care in reviewing ....I was thinking that just because any tosser can write a review on the internet these days, it might get a bit sloppy out there".
RockUnited: Dare Gay Manning, yes, any tosser can write a review and sloppy is the way to go nowadays (especially while listening to...). Ehem, did we mis-spell your name as well??? nevermind... we removed the worst cursing and obscenity from your reply, there's children out there, you know? We really enjoy the strong opening words though "after all the 5 star reviews"... "But yes, you are right in that they do reflect a heritage of British folk artists (all of which I think are quite good) and I like Dylan and REM as well... did you have to buy it to review it or did it come free?"
RockUnited: British folkmusic, Bob Dylan & REM... ARRRGGGHHHH!!!!! By the way, don't take all our words during reviews and interviews too seriously. We are mostly here to entertain (or annoy?) you, and it's supposed to be "funny" as well at times. For example, we took a cheap shot at Magnum's bassplayer while reviewing the new DVD (Livin The Dream). "You can't help to think that Barrow would probably fit better in with some nancy-pancy act such as Spandau Ballet or Duran Duran. Then again, put anyone next to Catley & Clarkin and they'll look posh and sort of out-of-place. "I agree the docu could have been longer but it was done in a bit of a rush as some best laid plans did not work out as we wanted. As for the comments?? It did make me laugh! Thanx to you the band constantly take the piss. Not too sure what you are getting at but still funny".
RockUnited: Do most people and musicians take themselves too seriously??? You betcha'... however, try telling that to these maniacs... lyrics of the year award goes to: "Banana banana banana terracotta, banana terracotta terracotta pie, banana banana banana terracotta, banana terracotta terracotta pie".
RockUnited: And the Benny Hill award of the year goes to Ozzy Osbourne as always. The Yoko Ono award to his lovely wife Sharon and wig-of-the-year to daughter Kelly. Whatever happened to Jack??? the comeback award of 2006, perhaps??? Here's someone that bemoans the lack of orginality in rock music today: "Everyone kind of sounds the same and looks the same, I mean, where are the Mick Jaggers, the David Bowies?"
RockUnited: Yep, I guess that explains why Tommy Lee recorded a solo CD that sounds exactly like any nu-breed/rock/ soft-punk MTV act of today???? With the only exception that all of those acts are 20+ years younger. So... you get to travel a lot. But how do you compare Florida to other places and countries then, the fanbase and everything ?
There's not a whole lot of heavy metal in Florida, but I really love Florida, that's where I live. It's just a nice variation to Europe, because of the beaches and everything, nice weather. I like travelling too. Sometimes it's tough when you're away from your family, but I've been very fortunate to see a lot of different countries and we went to Japan for the first time in our lives a year ago. That was a really cool experience. So it's been a great ride.
RockUnited: Well, that's it for now, make sure to check out the interview and live report section for all the words and many, many, more, interviews. We'll leave you all with the immortal words of Thomas: "There's not a whole lot of Heavy Metal in Florida". Happy New Year & hope to see you all in 2006!!! Cheers! This lame little article is the handy work of: Urban "LEGend" Wallstrom, |
"I am 3000 years old, on 29 April is my birthday and then I will become 3005! Really, man. I know I am reincarnated more than once and every time I reincarnate I start to grow spiritually. I told my parents stories that I could not have known, so…".
