Here I am, in the Swedish mountains, drinking a glass of wine, listening to Joan Jett on the radio and ready to celebrate Christmas, and I think that it’s time to summon the year that has passed. (The next post will be my top albums of the year!)
Well, the year 2015 ended really awful with the death of Lemmy, and the new year of 2016 started with the death of David Bowie… But luckily the year of 2016 got a lot better in the end!
This was the year where I got my first face-to-face interviews (a huge thanx to Incarnit, Sparzanza and The Generals for doing this!)! That was really really fucking awesome! Unfortunately, I’ve only published one of those interviews yet, but the interview with The Generals will appear on the website BEFORE new year! Anyway, these interviews also got me doing three interviews via phone and Skype. The bands I interviewed over the phone were Knogjärn, Billion Dollar Babies and an singer by the name of Papa Dee. I will publish them ASAP!
The Generals & Peps
Actually, if it hadn’t been for Hednar in The Generals, I don’t think that I would have done some face-to-face interviews this year, or maybe ever! He was the first to ask me if I would like to meet in person, instead of doing an e-mail interview. So Hednar, I owe you one!
That interview weekend in Karlstad also got me back in touch with my old friend Andreas. That was a really great weekend! Oh, btw… I also caught the Sparzanza 20-year anniversary show in Karlstad that weekend. As I said – amazing weekend!!
Incarnit and Jimmie
And thanks to the interview with Incarnit (here) I made a new great friend in Jimmie – the manager of Incarnit. He owes me an interview, but we’ll get it done eventually. And he also got me a ticket to the festival Metallsvenskan. Turned out it was the last year for that festival, so it was in the nick of time! And whilst being there I got to see Incarnit, Knogjärn and Danko Jones live! A great evening.
D-A-D
In May me and my brother Marthin took the Bandit Rock Cruise. Turned out that it was only two bands playing, but hey! We got to spend 24 hours on the sea together and watch a really great show with D-A-D, performing the entire “No fuel left for the pilgrims”-album! And we got one hell of a night!
So, what else happened this year? Well, I traveled to Gothenburg with my brother Christian and we saw Iron Maiden at Ullevi Stadium together with 60 000 others!
Waiting for Iron Maiden!
And of course, Opeth as a special guest! In a wonderful Swedish summer evening I got to see my two favorite bands! It was an almost a magical night, the only thing that bothered me was that, right now I’m fed up with big arena shows. Even on the big screen, the boys in Maiden looked small and tiny! It was an amazing show, and an amazing night, but it will take some time before I go to the next “big” concert.
Mårten! (stole the image from facebook)
In the autumn I also got the opportunity to promote one of my best friends as his
band released an EP. And that was the band Tüstnad. Felt very privileged that I got the chance to hear the album first and being able to help a friend to reach out with his music. Thanks Mårten!
During the autumn, I manage to go to two more shows. The first of those two is really not metal, but in some way, in the spirit – I think it’s some kind of metal… It was a show that I never had experienced, totally different and yet so familiar… And that was the band Wintergatan. Made famous with the marble machine (and that’s why I went in the first place), but the band and the show was so much more than that. Martin Molin is a true genius that build amazing instruments and excellent musicians that really do MUSIC! Fan-fucking-tastic!
This year’s last show took place in Stockholm. I went with my friend Simon and saw the Danish band “Pretty Maids”. A band 
that Simon introduced me to in the late -80s! The music is kind of good (a bit too nice for my taste), but I was really impressed with the singer Ronnie Atkins. I think he is like 52 years old today, but man… what a voice! Actually, one of the best voices of metal today!
So, that’s the start of me summarize of the year 2016. There is a part two, kind of… Where I will summarize the music of 2016. This was only my metal year and experiences. It’s been an amazing year for me and it has really got me to take the next step in covering metal music. Now I’m not afraid to do interviews or reviews any more… REALLY looking forward to 2017…
Have a great Christmas everybody!!
\m/ Peps
And as a X-mas gift to you all; here’s some music from my 2016 (be sure not miss at the very bottom, the Spotify playlist where they list my very most played songs during 2016):
The Generals: “One Eye Red”:
INCARNIT: “I Am Chaos”:
Pretty Maids: “Kingmaker”:
D-A-D: “Bad Craziness”:
Knogjärn: “Nej nu Jävlar! (inspired of Fucking Hostile)”
And finally, my most played songs on Spotify the year 2016:
If you’re looking for some great new music, be sure to check out our interviews– and reviews sections!
