Los Angeles

Sometimes it takes me a while to get around to writing up blogs, just because so much happened in such a short space of time it takes a while to compute properly so i get some kind of perspective.
L.A. was a whirlwind of Jon Leon (White Wizzard) High Speed G.T.O. (he actually picked us up from the airport in it!!)



To beaches, pools, valleys and the hot hot sun, not to mention the crazy antics of the band i went to visit - White Wizzard, and the drinking in the Rainbow and breakfasts of more carbohydrate and sugar than a gingerbread house.



Anyway, its hard to do an 11hour flight and 8 hour time difference without getting jet lag - and the shame of the short trip to L.A. is that you try to experience everything you can but sometimes there's weights strapped to your head trying to make you horizontal as quickly as possible - that said - its still great fun to travel and always a thrill to meet bands that i work with for the first time. So i was pleased to have the chance to meet them and make the journey out there for this Kerrang piece.

So first things first - we check in to the Andaz (what was the Riot Hyatt) and then go to Rainbow bar and grill. I get very drunk on what i thought was only a couple of drinks, but combined with plane food and jet lag i was out of it.

I couldn't even contemplate a huge breakfast the next morning with Jon, Lucy and Nick. Looking at "The Stack" of "Yellow brick road" pancakes was difficult enough, let alone eating anything.

We hung out by the pool

It was on the roof top of the hotel with a fantastic panoramic view of L.A.

And i managed to get my game face back on by the time the whole band were together and ready to do the Kerrang shoot

Here's a picture Neil Visel, the photographer took of us all together where the shoot took place - just off this windy hilly road in the hills 5 minutes from the beach.

Cars were driving by and tooting or "throwing the horns" the whole time. It was quite surreal. There we were parked in a lay by after a bend in the road, with a camera, lights, the GTO, 2 trucks and a load of metal dudes. And me and Lucy, bikinis still on (under our other clothes)chlorine in my hair, fussing about with leather and studs.

After the shoot we drove 5 mins to the beach

The beach was covered in these purple things that were not avocados (as Nick first thought) they moved and pulsated and had slimey protrusions and i tried to save some of them (they were washed up). Nick stepped on one and it bled purple.

Lucy and Jesse checked out the sand crabs

Riding in a High speed GTO on the freeway is pretty fucking windy.

There's no way you can have any kind of hair decorum left. Especially after pool and beach and shoot, i don't know how these movie stars do it. You do not look glamorous in the back of a convertible on the freeway.

We went to a German eatery to do the K! interview and get a beer. I was very awake in the back of the car with the wind blowing strong and Wyatt "screamin demon" (WW singer) and Chad (WW guitarist) on either side of me chatting shit down the freeway, but when we arrived in the warm i couldn't keep my eyes open!

I didn't eat this German sausage as i fell asleep on the seat. It makes a good face though.

Early night, early morning
Breakfast at Mel's diner on Sunset Blvd. I did eat these waffles!

Milkshakes for breakfast are an indulgence. But how can you not in a diner?

We hung out at the pool - our last full day in LA - With Erik (WW guitarist) and my friend Greg Marcks ( http://www.gregmarcks.com/Greg_Marcks/INTRO.html )

I thought it would be most rude if having travelled all the way to the other side of the planet i didn't make time to see my other L.A. band Bonded by blood, especially after having waited 3 hours for them at Heathrow and they'd never shown up (as they got lost / missed flights from Budapest at the end of their last tour) and i was so worried about them! So we arranged a WW BBB K! meet up that night at a Mexican restaurant of Jon Leon's choice.

Before meeting up with Bonded by blood we rifled through a second hand store by the Mexican restaurant. Lucy got bored and had a tattoo, but i was thrilled with trying on old American second hand clothes.

Here's Me, Erik and Nick sporting some jaunty head gear.

And looking very sun burnt to boot.

I think Lucy should have got this Cher tour bomber jacket. What a winning find. Hahaha.

So our last night in L.A. we met up at a Mexican restaurant, 2 bands together. Some lady in the loos wanted to know if there was anyone famous at our table. She told me she'd once slept with Jimi Hendrix. She looked about 70. Maybe she had.

Again, i was feeling the jet lag and lovely Jon Leon dropped me off for a cat nap whilst the others went off to Chad's to drink.

1.30am they picked me up from the hotel and we went to Rainbow bar and grill again - as BBB are so young (some of them are only 19) we couldn't all get in and it shut at 2am anyway! So stupidity continued on the streets!

One of the best moments of the trip. I have no idea who defaced that poster. Ahem. But that band wear wigs to do pastiche metal to people who want to pigeon hole longhairs. Nuff said.

The real metal bands - like White Wizzard are where it's at! Fuck off Steel Panther!

The next morning Lucy and I had breakfast with Eric off Hollywood Blvd and then got attacked by some Hollywood Blvd characters (i HATE horror movies hence my facial expression below!!)

Then the long flight back home to London.

Big thanks for White Wizzard for making us feel so welcome!

Here's the Kerrang article in print:

Cauldron and Bonded by blood hit the UK

Ughhh i've done it again
Alcohol and total lack of sleep and loads of Heavy metal!


Awesome!


Cauldron arrived in the UK yesterday with Bonded by blood and they've just left on tour this morning. We partied pretty much all night, including going to see SSS at the Underworld.
check out the photos on www.earache.tumblr.com


I was so stoked to see both these bands, when you work with people closely who are a long way away and you only see periodically - and whats more you like them as people. Its always a pleasure to see them again.

Hence why i ended up with 2 bands, 2 drivers and Lucy staying in my flat last night. I think, I think, i may have surpassed my headbanger record count for staying in my flat. Winner.

I also got to see some of my favourite ladies last night - Olivia, Lucy, Phoebe and Louise.
Double winner.

Now i gotta get some rest.

Hammerfest day 2 and the return

Day 2 was gonna be busy. Although Evile played Friday night, their press was all Saturday afternoon, and Gama Bomb were due to arrive and play Saturday too, and do their press.

From previous experience, when Gama Bomb and Evile get together, or more to the point, Mike Evile and Gama Bomb, there's an uncontrollable chaotic love fest, where interviews will then go out the window... so one of the things i knew i would have to do, like when you have 2 naughty kids is keep them seperated until the work is done. Bless 'em.

So Lucy and i took a shift on the stall when we woke up. Here's the lovely Earache stall - stuck in the arcade where you couldn't bring alcohol in... (it moved later during the day - thanks security!)

I went to pick up Gama Bomb at the gate at 1pm. They mostly travel by public transport, even when on tour. Which i think is pretty awesome. And crazy.

Stupidly i'd arranged all the press for Gama Bomb and Evile to happen at the same time with the same change overs. Actually, i'm not sure if it was stupid or clever, cause i surely wasn't going to manage to do two seperate loads and better to get it all out the way. But it meant a lot of running about, which is... normal i spose.

I left Lucy on the stall with the dudes and took care of it. Both Evile and Gama Bomb are great to work with i'm really lucky to work with bands who (sometimes) listen to what i say, work hard, have great answers, and are a whole bunch of fun. Which is exactly what happened when i tried to get them to do interviews in a kids playground, multi storey ballpark. :-O Thrash bands all over the place, ball fights, obstacle course races in between BBC rock show interviews. Great stuff. Matt Drake decided that if Evile ever make it big he's going to build a ballpark in his house. Or alternatively make it a business if Evile don't work. Ballparks for adults.

Its such a shame we didn't get some of that Evile vs. Gama Bomb in a ballpark tomfoolery on tape.

Anyway, press done with 45mins to go before Evile and Gama Bomb's signing session, we headed to the canteen (bleugh), as i hadn't eaten all day, Gama Bomb needed to eat early because they were playing that night and all of us had been working press for nearly 4 hours. Also, strangely, the signing session was inside the canteen. I didn't realise this at first and thought that the queue outside was for the greasy fish n chips. But no! It was for Sepultura and our friend the amateur photographer Derrek (just kiddin he never took any photos and we were drunk and crazy and whatever anyway...-see Day 1 - Hey Derrek!). So anyway, we got some food and tried to eat quick in time for the signings. As Sepultura fans disappeared and Evile fans started arriving people wanted Matt to sign whilst he was eating so Lucy and i had to step in (Lucy was back with me now - yes guuurl!)

Then there was some mix up with Saxon's times for signing and they wanted Gama Bomb and Evile to wait, but i'd made them work all afternoon, and GB were due to play that evening, and they hadn't had a chance to enjoy the festival at all, so i made them sign on some tables down the side of the canteen to get it done, whilst Saxon were up the back. There weren't that many Saxon fans anyway, because the times had changed no one knew - people were there for Evile and GB - lots of them! Lovely job.

So after the signing i went back to the stall for a while, fully intending to stay on the stall until later on. By this point the stall had moved to by the main stage. After an hour of selling merch, Skindred came on and i just had to run and dance for a while. Lucy! This is what your poor arse needs, come down and shake it! We met Alice and girls in the pit and i bounced around for a while. I love Skindred. I always have maximum respect for 1) Someone who can start a good-time party 2) Frontmen that control the crowd like that 3) Frontmen who can spin a yarn

And i think Benji is fucking awesome.

We'd started drinking by now, and Skindred put me in a great mood. Benji came down to the stall to hang out for a while and we had a good chat, about the time i woke him up at 5am to do an interview for Totalrock (sorry Benji), Uxfest, music in the UK, and what he thinks about Earache, and how he kept saying to me that he has huge respect for Digby for investing so much money in his talent and spotting it early on. I like it when artists stay friends with Earache and appreciate what we do, heaven knows there's enough shit talking.

I also realise that with time opinions change, and with hindsight and perspective shows reasons and actions to be valid. So big up Benji, totally straight up and awesome. And i still owe him so much for sending Uxfest out with the bang it deserved at Islington Academy in '06.

So time for Gama Bomb! Second stage about 10pm. I love Gama Bomb's attitude. I love Philly's wit. And i love the fact those dudes are so cheeky. I think they're a really great band, and even though the sound was a bit shitty on the second stage, they played a storming set, and Philly is always worth while, oh and Joe's hair, because he's worth it too. Fuckin awesome.

I think i was a few drinks in by now, time to find Wolf, who i was REALLY looking forward to, having not seen them since the Municipal Waste / The Haunted tour 2 years ago. Axeman has been a regular contributor to my radio show on Monday nights and i love the new album Ravenous, so i was suitably excited.

We watched Saxon - with Doro.... (ok, not with her at all, but by her. But all hail Doro, we love you) Then Wolf (following Saxon!!!)

Lucy and i ended up on stage dancing our (injured in Lucy's case) butts off, and singing Voooodddooooooo as loud as we could.

The rest of the night was crazy, and Wolf lived up to their partying reputation. I was going between the Wolf party and the Gama Bomb party until about 5am. It was so funny. I believe i met an aeronautical engineer called Kevin would is responsable for the skin being scraped off the back of my knuckles whilst he was trying to give me £20 for some beers i had brought to the party. They weren't mine. I was giving out Matt's beer. The Aeronautical engineer didn't understand this.

At some point after that i headed to the beach for the sunrise with the remains of some booze.

All i know is that when i got in at 8am, Lucy was asleep. I out partied Lucy. Yes. Winner.

HAMMERFEST! What an awesome fucking weekend!!

And here's Lucy and i trying to be awake enough to get home, giggling all the way. (partly because i had ruined my sneakers and went home in sandals with socks. Yes. i did that. winner.)

1st Festival of the year. Result=awesome.

1 down, 8 to go.

Metaaal! Buenos Aires! Dead fingers!

So I may have mentioned I've been on the look out for South American metal culture since I got here, and today I found it! Success! I haven't been lucky enough to get to a show, but I found "Metal mania" in the Luxor mall in the centre of BA and I achieved a 5 thick pyramid belt and an Anal Vomit tshirt for French which I think is possibly the most rad South American Black metal tshirt I've ever seen. It has the whole package, boobs, decapitation, angry south american, gore, spikes... Everything.
Anyway, I skipped the fact the I met up with Ryan (the American from Chicago) at the Buquebus terminal (for ferries to Uruguay) and we got our tickets for tomorrow (exciting) then we went and got lunch in a posh restaurant, I had a proper big steak and it was yum.
Then we went and I had a HUGE ice cream and as we were walking down the really busy hot street I saw LUXOR.
You may remember this is what the guy in La Boca with the Guns n Roses tattoos recommended me for metal stuff and I couldn't find it on any map.
Well I found it now! Yes! 5 row pyramid belt! Yes! Anal Vomit tshirt! I nearly bought a Nuclear Assault tshirt, but they weren't that cheap so I didn't. Success BA metal public! I had a discussion with the dude in the shop about South American black metal, and he told me (in spanish) that I don't look like I should like this music.
I said Gracias.
I left the metal massive (no gigs on whilst I'm here, Morbid Angel were here on the 5th March and I wasn't here yet, and Iron Maiden play on 24th here when I'm gone)
And it began to pour down... For about 20minutes. Then Ryan left to go and rehearse for his arty gig and I walked from the Obelisk all along the Avenue Corrientes for maybe 2/3hours I walked. Stopping in shops, getting sore feet, drinking water and walking. Through the posh part the poor part, back into the posh bit, and then I came across SantaMaria shop with Tarot reading. That place was calling to me from across the street, I had to go in. It was stocked full of idols, Mary, Jesus, Buddha, Oxior(sp?), Germaniat (sp?), Gauchito (sp?) And Muerte!!!
The dude in the shop was a bit suspicious of me at first, then I asked about Tarot reading and he told me it has to be booked in advance (in spanish) then I picked up some Muerte stuff, and he asked me in Spanish "why muerte? Its dangerous!" And I couldn't explain in spanish. Then he said come with me (and let me tell you this shop is reminiscent of the shop where the Gremlins were bought from) and he goes to this cabinet and crouches down and points to some skeleton carvings that look quite expensive, then tells me they're human bones. This is a femur bone he says, this is a shoulder, and these are fingers. How awesome! I didn't know if I was allowed to transport human bones home though, so I didn't spend my money on human bones. But I still think that's abit fucking cool.

Metal, muerte and dead people's fingers. Great!
And it was sunny! Bonus!

~ I'm on the move - this was sent from my GooseBerry® ~

Preparations for BA!

I made a resolution that in 2009 - the year i turn 29 - i would get out on adventures and stay positive. The world is huge and full of such interesting stuff. Its easy to get bogged down with work and London, the music scene is kinda insular and blinkered sometimes and the truth is that there is a lot more to the world than heavy metal!!! Although every time i'm away from the rock scene i find myself impatient to jump back into the grit and the dirt sometimes you need to see the opposites in order to appreciate it truely.
Its also exciting to see what the music culture is like in different countries and different cities. In my job i'm always trying to understand what bands work in different countries and why. Why is there this demographic? why is there this interest in this certain type of music/style/politics in this particular place? Its like a puzzle where i try to put everything together and compare it with the metal scene in the UK, and generally not come to any particular conclusions - but it's fun for a while anyway!
So i'm 3 days away from my first trip out of Europe this year, where i'm going to visit my old friend Chloe in Buenos Aires. I've prepared by watching Evita. Travel insurance, check.
Unfortuately i'm on antibiotics, but that's not gonna stop the fun. I need to work out what to pack. And i've sorted out this blog so i should be able to post updates from my phone on my travels. Hopefully.
So hasta luego! South America here i come!