Bloodstock Open Air 2009 - Festival number 8

This was my first Bloodstock festival. I remember in previous years getting to the point of Bloodstock in August and being festivaled out and never going before. There's only so many festivals you can take right?
Wrong! Bring it on! I'm in swing of this now!!
So Tony Foresta (MW) flew into London for a Kerrang shoot and Ol Drake (Evile) was in London doing press so the 3 of us and Louise (Terrorizer) set off in the hire car Friday morning bright and early to get to Bloodstock.
I won't lie to you, i don't like driving hire cars. I don't like driving on the motorway, i don't like having such precious cargo or 3 rockstars, i don't like the fact that I'm personally and financially liable, i don't like the fact the car has only done 8 miles before (probably in rap lyrics)
AND i hate GPS. I'm meant to be looking at the road! And this pink road, red road, arrows going up and down etc is just annoying
Anyway, enough bitching about hire cars (this partially also stems from my first and only car i ever owned, my 1973 Fiat 126 which frequently fell apart at speeds over 60mph) after a smooth ride, picking up The Sun and The Metro on route (that had MW in) we arrive at Bloodstock, drive backstage and get everyone out. 3 hours before MW showtime. Press to do, booklets to sign, plans to make, records to break - plenty to do.
Because Municipal Waste had, onstage in Norway earlier that week at Oya festival, burnt a cardboard church onstage - http://www.dagbladet.no/2009/08/12/kultur/oyafestivalen/musikk/municipal_waste/7627076/
magazines had been asking what antics they would get up to at Bloodstock. The pressure was on. 20 mins before show time Tony decided. "Talita, you have a notepad, you're from the Guinness book of records we're gonna do a crowd surfing record attempt"
Ok win. No problem.
So the set looked like this:

Then after playing Black Ice, Tony tells the crowd how he has a special treat for them and introduces Gwendolyn... (that's me) i walk on stage with a little wave, sunglasses on, thinking "no one is gonna believe this crock of shit" Tony explains I'm there to record MW breaking the crowd surfing record attempt. I've seen record attempts before, they would have to define what crowd surfing is, explain what counts and doesn't count, and definitely have more than one person with a piece of paper and a pen to count the numbers properly.

As it is when the song kicks in, its impossible to count the numbers of legs, arms, flailing and waving and dumping themselves over the barriers. I try to keep up with ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ written all over my page on my clipboard with my marker pen. But the truth is like many of those crowd surfing attempts out there, I'm drowning! No worries. This isn't for real and my anxious, counting face is playing its part. Half way through the track Tony stops, the bass and drums keep going, he comes over to me and says "look like you're saying something to me" and i say "like what?!" and he says "SHE SAYS WE HAVE 75 MORE TO GO!!" and they kick back in. More rapid ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ scribbles.

At the end of the track when heaps of people, like lemmings, have gone over the barrier, more than the security staff could cope with, when injured, blooded Waste fans, hungry for more, had surfed their hearts out Tony comes up to me and says "How many we get?" i had been desperately trying to count my ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ and I'd got to 128. "428!!!!" Tony screams for the stage "We've broken the record!!" win. Hahahaha. Municipal Waste are fucking winners! I love them. Yes!

I scurry offstage.

Later on during the signing session Tony ended up signing kids injuries from the record attempt. One or two asked for the total crowd surfers, he pointed at me and said "Ask Gwendolyn".

I just nodded politely, and looked like i didn't speak english.

Later on mucho hanging out. All MW apart from Tony were staying the rest of the weekend too. I found a bottle of vodka courtesy of Seregon, which ended up with Louise and i coming across a game called Forkie Forkie near the fair ground rides.

With the help of my friend Dutch Frank, Louise fell in love with this game about a fork and started eulogising about how wonderful and socially aware this game was, and how she never was a team player until now. Forkie forkie convert.

The next day was mainly taken up with Evile press. Then cocktail o'clock.
I like to think I'm good at making cocktails. Even if Evile weren't so sure.

Later on we ended up in the fairground, trying to do a shoot for Terrorizer.

At some point after the Waltzers and Dodgems, Louise and Lucy Darkness passed out.

So the last day of Bloodstock.

Headbanging, more Evile press, Sabaton, and driving back to London with Mike and Ol from Evile - Louise and i entertained them all the way home by singing Madonna at the top of our voices.

Here's the Earache crew at the stall.

And one last look at Bloodstock during Turisas' set.

First Bloodstock, probably not the last! 8th Festival this summer DONE!!

Only Reading and Leeds to go!

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: