Tour de Lounge/Small Places Tour

Osnabruck - Rosenhof

2008-11-25T01:50:00.000-08:00

So, there we were. In Osnabruck, the last pit stop for this part of our ever ongoing Tour de Lounge. Darkness was in more than the edge of town as we parked outside the venue Rosenhof. As we entered we were met by one of the most beautiful venues that we´ve ever played at.

I guess it must have been an old Kino or something like that and everything was most impressive. Great lights, einen gross Buhne (stage) and a totally magnificent atmosphere. The local promotor had totally understood the taste of the Hellsingers and the back room was filled with biologische produkten, nice fruit, great food and even soy milch fur die Harrietchen. We dined like queens and kings and then went downstairs to meet the crowd. It wasn´t the biggest we´ve seen but on the other hand one of the absolute best. People usually sing along with the more famous tracks (Run to the Hills, We´re not gonna take it) but in Osnabruck we were met by a choir singing together with us in more obscure hits like Seasons in the Abyss!

That definetly gave you goose bumps!

Afterwards we stumbled back to the hotel, everyone a bit wary after five hard days on the road. The only right thing to do was to order up five whiskeys from the hotel bar, I mean, we just had to have a proper tour ending?! After a while everything was feeling much better and the idea of a Tour de Club in Osnabruck started to emerge. In the end it was only Ich und der schöne Andreas that made it to the taxi. But what a dynamic duo we were!

Zuerst hatten wir Tanzen! zu der Taxifahrer gesagen and she drove us down town to a discoteque called Alando. Aber dass hatte einen grosse Schicki-Micki-gefuhl said the taxi driver and we both thought it would be a good idea to move on. In the end we found ourselves outside not less than three different clubs! We tried the first one out but then settled for the one called Happy Dayz. We really had a blast, dancing, drinking white russian and playing Tisch-Fussball against two local germans. Fuck, how we lost! Our goalie didn´t save even once, our strikers missed the ball constantly and the midfield and defense... well, I guess they we´re going for that german sausage offered outside the arena.

In our defense I have to say that this game of Table Soccer is quite unknown in Sweden while it seems to be an important part of every club in schönes Deutschland. We simply have to practise until nächste mal...

Until then, a big hooray to all the people we´ve met! This thing about touring in Germany just keeps getting better and better!
Liebe grusse,
/Kalle

Viersen - Trafostation

2008-11-24T09:14:00.000-08:00

Wir haben es gemacht! We drove through the most brutal snowstorm that we´ve ever met on the road and finally we reached Viersen. As if the snowstorm wasn´t enough there was a terrible stau which delayed us even more. Wir war ganz mude als wir nach Trafostation kam... And then, after a quick meal and a short soundcheck, we got up on stage to meet a very happy audience. Some of them had came all the way from Köln which means that they also had fought against the blizzard, just to see us! Mein gott, things like that makes you soooo grateful.

After the show we went to our gasthaus and was about to crash for the night when we got second thoughts. Shouldn´t we have just one beer down in the bar? Well, said and done - we all went down for a short chill and had no idea what was waiting for us. Down in the bar we met der Prinz und die Prinzäsin von Viersen! It was a lovely couple in their fifties that had been elected as Prince and Princess of the carnival in Viersen and they hade their carneval costumes on, which made the whole scene very funny. In Sweden there is no such things as a carneval so we were stunned by the sight of this couple and talked for a long time. Since they were equally interested in Sweden, we talked for quite a long time.

Next morning was a bit of a confusion. Johan and Harriet were very keen on a visit to the local Schwimmenhalle so they took our tour van for a quick bath. The rest of us just focused on getting some extra sleep and skipped breakfast on the gasthaus, thinking that we could find a nice café down town. The problem was that as we were waken up by the cleaning lady, we also realised that we had no money... they we´re gone with Harriet & Johanchen. Alas!

So, we still had our visa cards, that would do the trick, right? But nooo, it didn´t. After several tries at different places in Viersen (we tried the Volksbank, the Gruss Gottbank and everything...) we finally got to Subways. By then our stomaches were sounding both loud and violent! I did an last effort on my finest german and Satan be praised, it worked! The lovely staff just said "-Kein problem!" as I told them that we had loads of money, just not with us. So we could order our much awaited breakfast and then just sit and wait for Johan and Harriet to return from the Schwimmehalle mit der Geld.
Thank god for the staff of Subways in Viersen for having faith in three brutally hungry swedes on tour!
/The Hungry Grinch

Dresden - Bärenzwinger

2008-11-21T16:18:00.000-08:00

Now we´ve finally been in Dresden, so what´s our opinion then? Well, hard to tell since we arrived when darkness was rocking the city to sleep. That´s always a bit sad when you´re on tour. You´re traveling between all these interesting places, meeting loads of nice people but you very seldom have the time to really get to know the cities properly.

Guess that counts as a welfare problem but anyway... Gestern laufte Ich durch Dresden und dass machte spass (yesterday I ran through the city and it was nice). A lot of mural paintings and small shops, cosy cafés and so on. And I couldn´t help but noticing quite a lot of empty houses in the part where we stayed. I don´t know if it´s just the swede in me or my interests in general that makes me so curious. Running along these empty houses makes me come up with all these plans about moving to Dresden, bringing some friends along and start up something with a swedish style in eastern Deutschland. Funny what jogging before a show can do with your mind... I felt very creative, maybe even a bit german?

The venue Bärenzwinger was nice and cosy but the weather was everything else. It actually felt like we we´re back home in Göteborg again. The rain was just pissing down, und kein regenschutz könnte dich hilfen. Of course we missed that famous horizontal breeze that comes from the Atlantic, not. The audience was spitzeklasse as always. Hellsongs und die deutsche leute seems to be a perfect union. Sollen wir vielleicht uns verheiraten? (Maybe we should get married?).

Today we´re heading for Viersen und die Trafostation. There has been a LOT of stau (traffic jam) and as if that wasn´t enough, it started to snow after an hour of driving. It´s really Frosty the Snowman that is all around us, making it a bit rough to drive the car. Let´s hope for an audience that is extremely happy and joyful, we really could need that extra energy today. I wonder if anyone will remember us from our last visit. We did the Eier-Mit-Speck Festival two years ago, it was very funny and I´m quite looking forward to meet Viersen again.

Hamburg - Uebel & Gefärlich

2008-11-21T16:12:00.000-08:00

Finally we´ve played in Hamburg, it was at the spitzeklasse (todays lesson folks, it could be translated with top notch, jolly good, bloody marvellous or simply, rååååfräscht! if you want to talk Swedish. Which you of course want, right?) venue Uebel & Gefaerlich. How come all the venues in Germany are so cool? Touring in Deutschland for a swedish band is probably much like being einen fussballprofi that is playing in the erste divisione, suddenly being bought by a team in the Bundesliga.

The audiences in Scandinavia are most often really nice too but it seems to us that people in Deutschland are extremely appreciative. And this goes for the venues too, so far we´ve been met by nothing but uttermost respect and friendliness. Gestern war kein exception. The crowd just went nuts sometimes and we were almost embaressed by the overwhelming reception, vielen dank Hamburg!

Wir haben einen theory (and no it´s not about physics or math...) that we´ve been talking about on the road. Ist es so dass Kultur is met with more respect in general in Deutschland? We get that feeling but that might be a disillusion, you know it´s always easier to see the beauty in the unknown. It would be really interesting to discuss this matter with some deutsche kulturarbeiteren/musicians.

Today we´re heading for Dresden and I´m thrilled. One of the nice volunteers from Amnesty (we´re still on the Small Places Tour, remember!) told us about the city yesterday und dass hört gut an. It seems like Dresden still has areas that are unexploited by the so called beautiful people and that is always appealing. But as a swede I would say that goes for Germany in general. If you´ll ever go to Sweden (which I strongly recommend!) you would find more conformity in the cities environments.

Dass ist gut UND schlecht. In a way it´s nice that houses are kept from falling apart, but that also means less alternatives if you´re satisfied with a lower standard (more interested in living a good but simple life than being a competitor in the ever ongoing rat race). Landlords and building companies in Sweden seem to be very interested in raising the standard as a means of raising the rent (and hey, I´m not talking about living in a little windy hut with a mud floor, that´s not the point here) and I have nothing in general against a reasonable standard, but I would like alternatives and it seems to me that there are more alternatives in Deutschland than in Sweden. Soon well find out if Dresden is as nice as we´re told.

Maschinenhaus!

2008-11-19T08:28:00.000-08:00

Berlin - Maschinenhaus

So, we´ve done our first proper show in Berlin (the other ones must be filed under the showcase headline). Maschinenhaus was filled to the last seat yesterday (or last stand, there we´re no seats...) and the audience was great. It actually felt a bit like coming home. We we´re so pleased with the last tour and felt so welcomed by every audience that we have quite high expectations on this second german tour.

This time we´ve grown into almost eine kleine Family. Not only have we brought one of the coolest sound cats from Göteborg with us (Eja), but we also have one of the friendliest house owners in Ale (Andreas). The latter one is taking care of the merch sales and also driving the tour bus. And so far, it hasn´t been towed away...

Yesterday was spent on a really spitzeklasse hostel, Five Skulls Hostel. Du muss dass aussehen (check it out!) als du nach Berlin kommt! The man who is running the place/hostel has a really nice lounge/bar/kafé at Krossenerstrasse in Friedrichshain. Mit einem ganz tolles ofen, Kino am Freitag und Wii-meisterschaft am Samstags (a nice open oven, cinema on Fridays and if you don´t get the last part of the sentence, go to Berlin and find out for heavens sake ;)

Heute regnet es, buuuh, schlimm! The rain is piss pouring down on the road to Hamburg and in a way we should feel very comfortable with that (it rains a LOT in Göteborg in November) but I think we all miss that lovely atlantic breeze that comes horizontally... Making it practically impossible to hold your umbrella in a useful position. Actually making the use of umbrellas totally impossible at all, of course you have to miss that?!

I had the honour of being host for a screening of a very interesting music documentary last friday. It´s called Sounds of Silence and very much worth checking out (it give you a bit of perspective, as it´s about the situation for pop/rock/rap musicians in Iran today). Anyway, the director visited the screening and as he was as charming as his movie was interesting, I invited him to the Hellsongs show in Göteborg last saturday. Afterwards we all went out and I can tell you that he was everything but amazed by the climate... He´s been living in Hamburg for many years but that obviously hasn´t made enough of a sailor of him, to master the eerie west coast climate of our hometown...

Heute abend - Uebel und Gefärlich! We very much look forward to this first visit to Hamburg and we´ve heard so much about this U & G. Is it really as fab as the rumour says?! Tomorrow we´ll know, and hey, you can check out the show as it is streamed live. Watch it through the link on our MySpace, www.myspace.com/hellsongs

Berlin again!

2008-11-18T12:45:00.000-08:00

Finally, we´re in Berlin once again. Dass macht immer sehr spass (and for you not into the german language I will try to translate the german parts this time, but maybe not always). Sehr spass means something like quite nice (and now, remember todays lesson for the rest of your lives!). Anyway, as always when we hit Berlin, some of our luggage gets lost. This time was no exception and right now Johan is waiting for his luggage to arrive. It´s supposed to be in Berlin but it hasn´t arrived to Maschinenhaus yet... Fxxk those worthless airlines.

Coming to Berlin today felt like coming back to Göteborg (in November that is). It was rainy and grey... but still, you´re lucky who live in Berlin since the wind is not blowing horizontal like it´s doing in our dearly beloved hometown.

Jetzt muss Ich stop and do my warm up. 20 minutes left and then we´ll hit the Buhne!
bis gleich,
/Kalle

Hellsongs at Popkomm, walking the red carpet!

2008-11-05T05:59:00.000-08:00

Harriet and Johan, walking the walk, talking the talk...

Augsburg und final des TdL/SPT

2008-10-18T02:10:00.000-07:00

Gestern spielten wir auf die Kantine in Augsburg, ein sehr schönes venue. It was an former military base that was turned into a cultural camp with both a restaurant, a theatre and then of course the Kantine. The latter was actually two clubs in one, we played in die Schwimmehalle upstairs and downstairs was the Hells Club. Everything was designed with wit, originality and passion which made me once again think about the sad fact, that there are way too few places in Sweden that could match the Kantine.

I´ll publish some photos from the Kantine when I get home. The battery of my camera finally gave up yesterday and therefore I´m unable to publish right now. Jetzt sitze Ich in das lobby von unser hotel in Augsburg. Wir haben ein ganzes suite and I can tell you people, that is not something that your dear Hellsingers sint bekannt von! I was very enthusiastic about it when we got back from die Kantine so I had to document everything with the video cam (it might also have been a factor that I tried out two or three of the local beers..?). Als unser show gestern war die letzte von dieses tour kriegte Ich einen schweriges Partyfieber aber dabei war Ich ganz allein. Harrietchen und Johan sollte ganz fruh aufstehen, nicht nach das flugzeug spåt sein, so die war nicht so intressiert in einen bierchen trinken.

Soo, I went down to the reception to get me some information about the possibilities of taking a train from Augsburg to Munchen. There I met one of the most service minded clerks that I´ve ever met. He and his friend gave me all the information I could possibly need and they were also quite interested in the situation in Sweden. So wir haben viel von Schweden gesprochen und Ich habe nur (naaah, aber meistens!) deutsch sprechen. So toll! Dieses tour habe Ich viel von meine alte Lehrerinnen in deutsch denken und I am very thankful today for all the effort they put into us kids, trying to give us the foundation vor einen Spitzeknowledge in german grammar.

Viele deutschen wörter kommen zuruck als man so viel sprechen und Ich bin schon ganz begeistert zu zuruck kommen. Nur einen Monat und dann kommen wir nach die nördlicher Stätten!

Finally, all of you that has helped us, watched us, talked to us and made us feel welcome along the way - SPITZEKLASSE!!! We´ve always felt quite appreciated no matter which country we´ve been touring in but I have to say that we´re extremely impressed by the german fans. Sie haben blooody nett sein!
Auf Wiedersehen,
/Kalle

Wien - cancelled...

2008-10-17T08:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we were supposed to play in Wien but we had to cancel. Dass tut uns ganz leid! This has never ever happened before and we´re awfully sorry about this. Sometimes you just don´t have a choice and we didn´t have that yesterday. The state of Harriet was so bad in Munchen that it was no good going to Wien, that would have made everything even worse and that would have been like walking in the wrong direction.

Instead we spent our day in Munchen and did our best to recover. Einen besuch am schönes Michaelibad macht ganz spass. I swam for almost a kilometer, Harriet sat in the pool with relaxing bubbles and Johan tried out die Rutschbahne. After that we just hung out a while at our room and went for dinner at an italian place. We thought of going to the cinema but the dubbing in german made us change our minds. I think it will work soon though, just some more practise and then I´ll hit the german cinemas.

Today has been a really soft day. Wir haben sooo lange geschlafen and then we took a stroll on the street outside the hotel. Harriet and me visited a very funny store with a lot of, let´s say peculiar, underware. Harriet bought her boyfriend a present and I can´t wait to see him wear it!

Some hour ago we arrived in Augsburg und die Leute hier sind wie nett als immer in Deutschland. Kantine is a extremely nice place, give it a visit if you have the chance. I think we´ll really rock the shit out of Augsburg this evening.
Lounge metal in the night!

Bavaria...

2008-10-16T10:56:00.001-07:00

The heart of Bavaria (Bayern!) is of course Munchen and that is where we are now. We were booked for a truly great venue yesterday, the 59:1 and great it was indeed. But the time before entering the stage was, well, let´s say it was an interesting evening. Poor Harriet started to feel ill already as we were passing the swiss border and nearly had to throw up in das Auto.

It did not get better als wir nach Munchen kam. When we arrived to the venue she was nothing more than a human wreck mit uberschweriges Kopfschmertzen! The local promoter and her staff did an excellent work and within the blink of an eye they managed to offer our kleine Sängerin both a nice massage, some delicious catering and above all, 100 percent of their sympathy. Johan and me did a short and efficient soundcheck and then we all rushed away to the hotel where the massage was booked. 45 minuten später kam so ein unglucklich mädchen raus and we talked about maybe cancelling the show. After thinking through everything Harriet said that she could manage to do the show, maybe a bit shorter than usual. Later on she did this with glance and I would say that during the circumstances, well - veni, vidi, vici!

But the story doesn´t end here, oh no! Wann wir von Hotel nach die 59:1 fahren sollte, ein kleines Deja Vue, kein Auto in die Strasse!!!!! We didn´t believe our eyes, NOT AGAIN! Ich habe mit eine Munchener gesprochen und sie hat mir erzählt dass die Polizei oft Autos abgeschossen an diese Strasse. Fuck, here we go again...
In the rush we had missed that you couldn´t park exactly there, and I would say that we were inside the hotel for a maximum of one hour. That obviously didn´t stop the police in Munich to tow it away. Soo, two times in two day has the tour van been towed away! That must be some kind of record? None of us has ever experienced this before and now it has happened twice - Iiieehah!

After the show I spoke a lot to the Muncheners and they were all very friendly and enthusiastic. What is it with these german audiences? Is it something in the air that makes everyone so nice and happy? I guess you could say that these last days on the tour has been days filled with trouble but that doesn´t really matter to me. I´m kind of tired right now since it was a late night yesterday (not because of any partying, but we had to pick up unser Auto von Knast/Jail) but I would be happy to go on for some more days. Ich mag dieses leben und Ich habe so viele nette Leute getroffen. Wir fahren von ein Stadt nach die anderen und manchmal tut es mir leid dass man nicht mehr zu sehen können. Aber trotzdem finde Ich dieses tour und diese Ländern ganz toll!

Der Schweiz!

2008-10-16T10:50:00.000-07:00

Oh, I thought I´d never say this but thank god for the EU! Gestern war ein ganz komisches Tag fur uns. Wir kam nach the Swiss border and were stopped by the Grenzshutz. A man, or no, more like a He-Man, ein Kapitän des Grenzschutz, came up to us with a powerful moustache and a grim face.

- Passports and driver license please! His voice was pretty much like the one I imagine that the Phantom has (you know that comic character that lives in Bengali and has a wolf as a dog?). Ok, here we go, everyone doing their best to look very friendly and sweet (which is not a big effort when you´re a Hellsinger). When he got two swedish passports and two swedish driver licenses he immediately (with that ultimate and top notch border patrol feeling) sensed that something was wrong, deeply and madly wrong! He once again said (but this time with an even harsher voice) - PASSPORTS, I NEED THREE PASSPORTS!

Dann habe Ich in meine beste deutsch gesagen, - Tut mir leid, aber Ich habe nur mein drivers lice... -WHYYYY!!! He shouted and looked at me with a very böse swiss face. Ich habe dann gesagt dass Ich mein Passe in Göteborg vergessen haben und that we had done everything to get it to Stuttgart but it hadn´t arrived in time. You could easily say that he was everything BUT pleased with this and he disappeared into his Wolfs den.

After some minutes he came back and stated the following phrase, - Sie beide sind welkommen in Schweiz, aber du muss zuruck fahren! Ok, how did he think that such a plan would be possible? Should I then just go out of the car and then Johan and Harriet would continue into Schweiz like nothing had happened..? I looked at him with the bluest eyes of Scandinavia and added a bit of tremolo in my voice when I asked him, - Are you sure? Is there no possib... -OF COURSE I´M SURE! Switzerland is NOT a part of the EU and you don´t have a passport, therefore you cannot enter here!

Ok I thought, one last attempt! And with the friendliest smile that the world has ever seen, looking like Gods own little lamb, I whispered with roses in my throat, - But you know this drivers license is all I´ve got and I´m so, so, sorry that I forgot my passport. It was extremely stupid of me and I really do know that Schweiz is not a part of the EU, you just get so used with using your drivers license when you travel in Germany. And we have a show tonight in Zurich, after that we´ll just go back again so we´ll only be in Scweiz for one day, promise!

Somehow it seemed to work because he mumbled something and went away again. When he returned the Swiss gods must have blessed me (or him?) because all of a sudden it was possible to enter Switzerland if I went to the German Grenzschutz and got myself a temporary passport. Phew, the show in Zurich was saved!

The rest of the day was very nice. We checked in at a most peculiar hotel which didn´t have two rooms looking the same and after the soundcheck we went to a most premium vegetarian restaurant - I think it was called Hiltl. My, oh My - nach eine halbe Stunde satzen drei very stuffed and happy swedes ins Restaurant. Vielleich das beste vegetarische Kuche des ganze Europa? We were sooo pleased.

Some hours later we got on stage at the Mascotte. Die Publik war noch einmal sehr nett but surprisingly enough a lot of people smoked indoors. This feels a bit stone age to us, being used to the non smoking attitude that rules northern Europe nowadays. Trotzdem haben wir ein gutes Moment and the show was good. There was this really cool opening act, Evelina Trouble, singing songs only accompanied by her own bassplaying and afterwards Karaoke from Hell entered the stage. Ein ganz tolles idee. Sie spielten heavy metal-, punk- und rocksongs und die Buhne war frei so wer dass wunscht könnte ein song mit die Band singen.

The only thing that was a bit sad was that we were so tired afterwards that we didn´t manage to see the Human Beat Box. He was a very nice bloke with a classical background and he sang all sorts of songs just by himself. It´s probably a great live act and I hope that I will get a chance to see him some day.

Stuttgart

2008-10-14T11:24:00.000-07:00

Right now I´m sitting in the tour van and we we´re just checked by the german police. Suddenly this guy came up to our car and wanted to see our driving licenses and passports. I was a bit uncomfortable with this since Ich meine Passe vergessen habe... but everything was just in order. He told us that they´re just checking rented cars since they are often stolen.

This was our second encounter with the german police today! Heute habe nehmlich nicht so gut angefangen. Als Ich nach unser Auto gehen sollte habe Ich kein Auto gefunden!?! I had to go inside again and ask the others - didn´t we park the car just outside the hotel yesterday? They looked at me, nodded and then we all were a bit worried since there obviously was no car outside.

Ich habe dann mit den Rezeptionist gesprochen und sie haben uns alles erklaren. The Police had towed away our car during the night since we had parked it at einen Ausfahrt and that is of course not allowed. Sooo, what to do? Well, the clerk at the Hostel called the Police and then we got information about where the car was parked and after that it was just for me to take a ride with the Stuttgart U- und S-Bahn. Alle Leute sind immer so nett wann Ich ihnen frage von die Weg, wie man Karten kaufen und so weiter - vielen dank Deutschland!

We´re very close to the Swiss border now and everyone is happy since our bellies are stuffed with the german road food. I tried einen Schwabisches Specialität out, at least I think so. It was called Spetzle or something like that and it was really nice. The only trouble that remains unsolved today is me still not having a passport... We´re keeping our thumbs crossed, hoping that the Swiss Grenzschuss will just ignore us!

The show yesterday then? Well, you might think that I´m a big liar but it was once again an extremely positive and listening audience. We´re so impressed by the german audiences, always paying attention and really enjoying the live shows. We met a lot of nice people in Stuttgart (Hi Ollie and the rest of you!) and we really look forward to come back.
Tschuss!

Köln - die Werkstatt

2008-10-13T14:51:00.000-07:00

Gestern haben wir am die Werkstatt gespielen und dass macht sehr, sehr spass. Check out the some nice pictures here (thanks Florian!), http://www.fotozelle.com/blog/

Noch einmal war die Leute behind the scene ganz nett. So far we´ve been treated like the champions of Lounge Metal that we actually are and that is more than nice. It seems like the club managers seem to think and act with the slogan that we just read in their minds, "Was anderen nennt Sauber, wir nenne Selbstverständlich".

It also seems like the german audience really focus on the show. I guess we´re much more used to the scandinavian style where people sometimes are pissed drunk on a friday/saturday evening. This often means that ein oder zwei junge Herren (warum ist es immer die Herren?) sprichen viel zu laut und denkst dass alle andere find their thoughts totally unique and amazing (which of course rarely is the case...). So, gestern war wie ein Stuck von Himmel mit einen Publik dass mit uns so schön mit uns gesangen und Hände klappen hatten. We did two encores and that hasn´t happened in quite a long time.

Heute habe wir eine Pause von unser everyday-go-jogging-in-the-morning-routine. Even Sporty Spice has to have a day off once in a while. Instead we took einen Schlafenmorgen and then went for a most delicious breakfast at the Café Orlando in Köln. They served THE frustuck of the tour so far, I can really recommend it.

The owner of the place hatte einmals in Schweden gewesen. He was a bit disappointed. After reading so viel von Bullerbyn, Pippi Langstrumpf und alle die andere Karaktären von Astrid Lindgrens kam er in Schock als er in Stockholm war. He realised that there is something called criminality and suburbs in Sweden as well. Oh, really - hey there Einstein!

To all of you who hasn´t been in Sweden, wir sind wie alle andere Leute (vielleich ein bisschen hubscher ;) Some of us are really nice (like that nice lounge metal band from Gothenburg, think they´re called Hellsongs..?), some are idiots, some are rich, some are poor, da gibts nationalkonservative parteien, da gibts criminals, muslims, christians and ökofaschisten.

This man had ein sehr interesantes theori about the development in Sweden. According to him we had a great society during the long reign des Socialdemokratisches partei aber dann sind wir auch too positive gegen immigranten. Mit die kam der kriminalität since many of them were poorly educated and with no money. Thereby also more often involved in criminal activities.

I wasn´t that impressed by his theory and tried to tell him that criminality existed in Sweden long before the birth of the swedish SPD... Of course, I really do prefer to live a life where I don´t have to lock my door, my bike or whatever but if I have chosen to live in a city, that will probably not be the case in the closest future. The reasons behind this are too many to discuss here but let´s agree on one thing. It has nothing at all to do with immigrants!

In Schweden haben wir das organisation "Kein Mensch Illegal" supported and will most probably keep doing that. Borders is a phenomena made up by mankind, often by rulers of the past. It´s a very effective tool for hiding unjustices in society while focusing on national differences that are mostly equally made up. Borders have been changing throughout history and will continue doing so as long as we´re stuck in this national pattern of thinking.

One thing is for sure, Lounge Metal knows no borders!

And... speaking about borders. Tomorrow we´ll cross the Swiss border and I still haven´t got my passport that was sent down to me (I totally forgot that der Schweiz isn´t a part of the EU). If it still hasn´t arrived tomorrow... well, I´ll just start practising that crash course in sweet schwytzerdeutsch and try all the best with my naive, blonde and swedish charm!

Thumbs crossed.

Weinheim!

2008-10-12T11:19:00.000-07:00

Café Central was the place to be yesterday. This seems actually to be too good to be true and if all venues in Deutschland are like the ones in Ahlen and Weinheim, well - we´re in Heaven. The audience at Café Central was as friendly and positive as in Ahlen and we even found some friends of Amnesty afterwards, nice indeed.

The only bad thing about the show at Weinheim war dass both Kalle und Johan seine Buhnekleider in Ahlen vergessen hatten... Aber dass ging gut anyway and I guess it´s totally impossible to fail mit einen Publikum wie in Weinheim. Wir kommen gern zuruck!

Dieses morgen - noch einen jogging tour aber dieses mal nächst zum die fields of barley in Weinheim. Vielleicht ein bisschen schneller heute?!

Right after breakfast we left for Köln and tried desperately to find out how to get back Johans and Kalles clothes. It seemed like it was possible to use the magic of Gunther and the gas pedal of the tour van to rush between Weinheim - Köln - Ahlen and the Köln back again. What don´t you do to get back your stage outfit?! But then, after an intensive hunt with the most effective tool today (the cell phone of course...) we got in touch with one of those working at the Shuhfabrik. At first we thought that it might be an idea to just put our clothes on a bus between Ahlen and Köln but Felix (the hero of the day!) offered us an even better alternative. He and two of his friends just took the car to Köln, coming to the show tonight. Sooo nett!

Jetzt sind wir in Köln. Johan und Kalle took a stroll in central Köln zu der Dom sehen, ganz riesengross! Quite soon it´s up to the audience of die Werkstatt to show that they´re as charming as the folks in Ahlen und Weinheim. We´ll give the gun as usual!

Hail to the Shuhfabrik!

2008-10-11T10:27:00.000-07:00

Ahlen, Ahlen, Ahlen - wie ein ganz nett Stadt! Gestern war ganz toll und ein grossartiges start von unser Tour de Lounge/Small Places Tour. What a audience and what a venue!

We were treated very professional by the local crew and when the show began... well, the Ahlen audience seemed to be very pleased to put it mildly. We did what we usually do, trying our best to reach out to everyone, but sometimes the audience is more receptive and this was indeed the case yesterday.

Wir waren auch ganz impressed by the story behind the Shuhfabrik. The house was supposed to be tore down totally some years ago, but some local heros occupied it. Thanks to that Ahlen seems to have a thriving Kulturhaus!

Dieses morgen saw all the three members of Hellsongs on a jogging tour durch central Ahlen. We´ve tried to come up with a theme for each tour und Ich glaube dass fitness is the theme for this one. Doesn´t sound that rock´n´roll you say? Probably not, if the idea of being in a band is about getting drunk and just play around. The idea of Hellsongs is to give as much as possible to every audience there is and that is a work as hard as any else. At most places you´re considered to have problems with alcohol if you show up drunk at work. In the music business you might rise an eyebrow or two but nothing more.

Well, some might say that they perform better with some beers in the belly. My humble opinion is that the equation is as false as the medieval belief that you become a better driver after one or two beers. But hey, it´s not up to me to decide for others aber Ich finde dass ein bisschen lustig. One thing is for sure, you´ll never catch us drunk on stage, I´d much rather have that bierchen mit euch alle afterwards!

Jetzt sitzen wir ins Auto, und fahren auf Autobahn ist nicht ein problem, thanks to Gunther of course. That is the newest member of the Hellsongs family, a premium GPS and without Gunther we probably would have been completely lost. Sometimes you just got to praise the technical advances being made in this world of confusion. Go Gunther Go!

Nach Ahlen!

2008-10-10T11:03:00.000-07:00

Soo, die tour in Deutschland hat angefangen! Wir sind jetzt in Ahlen am Shuhfabrik. Als sie can see on the picture, it is a most beautiful place! Wir können nur Traumen, einen so schön Kulturhaus in Göteborg haben.

Yesterday we were walking the red carpet on one of THE hottest places in Berlin. The cameras were flashing and we met some nice english blokes (if you´re into club/dance music, you should check them out) called Devils Gun. In a way it was fun to do the Popkomm but to be honest, wir schwimmen ganz besser in das Wasser von Ahlen (gibts da uberhaupt ein See in die nähe von Ahlen?).

Today I think the Hellsongs tour van broke a record. It´s of course about speed and what else can you do but blame the Autobahn..? Nach eine Stunde bist du ganz verruckt and catch yourself driving like bloody old Schumacher. Vielleicht war es the soul of Rudi that entered the Hellsongs van today? Hmm, I prefer to be in diabolic dialouge with the sould of great Ronnie James (Stand up and Shout!) and remember - Speed Kills, Lounge Metal thrills!

In Berlin!

2008-10-09T01:51:00.000-07:00

Ciao,

Endlich, Ich bin in Berlin! This blog will be written in a subtle mix of english and deutsch, but we´re all europeans so that will not cause any problems, right? I arrived ganz early this morning (06.15) at Berlin Hauptbahnhof. Must say that the Berlin Night Express worked out very well. In Taxi habe mit dem Taxifahrer das wetter von Berlin gesprochen und er sagt mir dass es manchmals ist sehr kallt hier. Stimmt? Compared to the climate of Göteborg I find it a bit warmer and without that sometimes so ice cold Atlantic breeze. Huh!

Das erste Drama habe Ich already taken part in. After having a very early and looong breakfast, I finally got to check in on the room. As I was waiting for a music reporter to show up, I thought that it would be a good idea to go down to the reception to check once again for her/him. Being the Sporty Spice in the band I thought that the stairs would be a great idea, totally missing the warning signs on the door...

Ich hatte die emergency stairs benutzen! Alas! I went down all the stairs (our room is on the 5th floor) and found only an emergency door with a big red button that said - Auf Not!

Scheisse... I went up again and tried to open the door to the first floor from the inside, which of course wasn´t possible. Then I tried to knock on the door (it had a big window so I could see through it) but noone where around). Finally, kein option left but to go down again and push that big horrible red button, gasp! As soon as I pushed it the alarm started, weeoo, weeo...

My brain immediately started to figure out different alternatives, maybe nobody saw me? I could just pretend totally innocent! But after some seconds, the more mature thoughts took over and I realised it was just to go inside the hotel again, telling the truth. Lucky for me the alarm wasn´t connected to the Great Berlin Firesquad, phew, but they had heard it in the reception. The clerk was very nice to me and just laughed when he heard the story.

Soo, todays lesson - take a proper look at the messages on the door to the stairs before going Sporty Action Spice!

Preparations

2008-10-02T03:20:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

We´re right now preparing for our first german tour. That means following:

1. Buying a monster of a GPS. The german roads are little known to the common citizen in Gothenburg.

2. Picking up the probably astonishing new bags, made just in time for this tour. The first one to buy one of them will most likely be a german fan!

3. Figuring out how many t-shirts you´ll need for a german tour.

4. Deciding that three of those nice Amnesty "Small Places Tour-tees" is the answer to point 3.

I guess we´ll meet you all quite soon. We´re thrilled!

bis dann,

/Hellsongs