Burn Your Ears webzine conducted an interviewwith vocalist Anders Fridén of Swedish metallers IN FLAMES on November 26, 2011 in Hamburg, Germany. You can now watch the entire 23-minute chat below. Source: Blabbermouth.net
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IRON MAIDEN vocalist Bruce Dickinson, who is a licensed commercial pilot, has set up a state-of the-art Boeing 737 flight simulator at London’s Heathrow Airport and is holding training sessions for members of the Iron Maiden Fan Club.
Footage from some of this month’s training sessions can now be seen below.
In a press release that was issued last month, Bruce commented, “I can’t wait to sit in the simulator with fans and share the buzz of what it is really like to fly a modern passenger jet such as Flight 666 and all the challenges that entails.”
Bruce Dickinson has a huge passion for flying — so much so that he is a commercial airline captain and a talented originator — devising an ingenious method of converting a Boeing 757 to allow him, the band, their crew and tons of equipment to tour three times around the world in their customised plane “Ed Force One”, call sign “Flight 666”.
Not content with just entertaining fans on the ground, Bruce then instigated a series of highly acclaimed “Bruce Air Flight 666” excursions, filling the plane with fans and personally flying them to and from various IRON MAIDEN concerts around Europe.
Dickinson told CNN.com in a 2007 interview, “Aviation’s been kicking around my family for as long as I can remember; my uncle was in the RAF. But I always thought I was too stupid. I was useless at maths and majored in history at university, so I thought history majors don’t become pilots, let alone rock stars. And then our drummer learned to fly so I said if a drummer can learn to fly then anyone can.”
He added, “I never dreamed I would end up flying an airliner. I ended up flying IRON MAIDEN around on tour in a little eight-seat, pressurized, twin-engine plane. Basically we were flying round all the world’s major airports, flew across the Atlantic and back, which was quite an adventure. At the end I thought I really want to fly something bigger, but I can’t afford it — I can’t buy my own 707. If I’m going to do that I have to get a job.”
On how the thrill of piloting a 757 compares to taking to the stage with MAIDEN:
“It’s a different kind of buzz. Obviously you aren’t leaping around the flight deck yelling and screaming, but you have to manage situations… Flying at 35,000 feet is an internal thing, really. Whereas 35,000 people, that’s just showing off.”
On whether he will be hanging up his leopard-skin spandex forever:
“I could never contemplate giving up music. I have to say I’ve always been interested in planes, the only difference is I started to fly the darn things 15 years ago. I don’t see why I should give up either of them. People say ‘Why do you need a second job?’ I say ‘Why do you need to breathe?'”
Source: Blabbermouth.net
Swedish melodic death metal band ENGEL has issued the following:
Hey there!
We got some awesome news for you guys!
This Thursday (15th) we will be a part of “Musikhjälpen” wich is a fundraiser program on Swedish TV and radio. We will play two songs live and hang around with some awesome people. We enter the so called “glass cage” 21:45 CET and we start play 22:45 CET. You can not miss this!
For more information, head to “Musikhjälpens” homepage: http://sverigesradio.se/sida/default.aspx?programid=3946. You can also watch the livestream and listen to the live stream on this site. So don’t be late and don’t forget, this Thursday (15th) 9:45!!
// ENGEL
For more information, please visit: http://engelpropaganda.com
PATRICIA THOMAS Management has issued the following:
Perhaps until now better known as The Sculptor whose extraordinary work graced the stage and album covers for bands such as MAYHEM, Spacebrain is set to launch the debut album from his band SUCHTHAUS with a show at his own music venue the Spacebunker in Oslo, Norway, on the 17th December. Whilst the event is a celebration of the release of “The Dark Side and the Bright Side”, it also marks the closure of the unique venue itself, where the audiences mingled and the bands played amongst Spacebrain’s sculptures. Spacebrain himself has now confirmed that he no longer intends to continue with his sculpting, but will instead concentrate on his music and SUCHTHAUS, so this will probably be the last time that his sculptures and stage sets are on display together in one place.
The 14-track album, which comes in at just over 72 minutes in length and is released on Spacebrain’s own label Rollabigone Records on the 17th December, has all the trademarks of Spacebrain’s perspective as a visual artist. He is insistent that the band is given no genre label, and that the tracks bear no names so that the listeners come to them with no preconceptions and can form their own opinions. SUCHTHAUS itself is formed of the nucleus of Spacebrain and Fruen, with a fluid line up that varies as the fancy takes them, whilst the list of guests on the album is as eclectic as the band itself with, amongst others, SKITLIV and former MAYHEM frontman Maniac, MAYHEM drummer Jan Axel Blomberg , CURRENT 93’s DavidTibet, Ingvar Magnusson of SKITLIV, Fredrik A. Juell of BURNING RUBBER and BERSERK BASTARDS, and Sibob Jawara who has sung the world-over but has never used a microphone before recording with SUCHTHAUS. It is certainly worth noting that this will be the first time that Maniac and Blomberg appear together on an album since the vocalist quit MAYHEM several years ago. As to which tracks feature which guests, well, the band prefers it if the listeners reach their own conclusions.
Commenting on his decision to move away from sculpting to concentrate of music, Spacebrain had this to say “I’d reached the point where it was becoming impractical for me to continue to work with the metal and other heavy materials that I was using for my sculptures. First of all I’m not as young as I used to be, and the work was physically very taxing, and secondly and probably more importantly, finding premises in Oslo that could house the size of work that I was producing had become virtually impossible. With the building that houses the Spacebunker due for demolition, it was the right time for me to change direction. After all, music and performance has always been an integral part of what I do, and art is art, whatever form it takes, so it’s not as big a leap as it might at first appear”.
“SUCHTHAUS” he continues “is a reflection of our own musical preferences and you can’t therefore squeeze it into some particular genre. Every track on “The Dark Side and the Bright Side” has its own individual character – the atmosphere changing with our mood and the amount of drugs and alcohol we consume while we’re making the sounds, and varies from the very dark to the very bright. Most tracks are an experiment with sounds, and we start each one with no plan or idea of where the piece will lead us. Some tracks are made as a one man project; others have 7-8 contributors. The best way to describe what we do is that instead of making visual sculptures, we try to make sound sculptures, although we do visualize them with the help of videos”. More information about SUCHTHAUS can be found at http://www.myspace.com/suchthaus
The SoundCloud player, at http://soundcloud.com/suchthaus contains four tracks from SUCHTHAUS’ “The Dark Side and the Bright Side”.
Below you can see the official video teaser for “The Dark Side and the Bright Side”
For more information, please visit:
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/suchthaus
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suchthausofficial
SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/suchthaus
Band Contact and Booking: rene@spacebrain.no
Band Management: http://patriciathomasmanagement.com
US melodic death metal two piece THE NEOLOGIST has just announced that in addition to recording their sophomore album The Promise of Eternal Separation, they will also be recording an entire SOILWORK tribute album. To get the party started, they will be having a guest drummer who is well known throughout the metal community for their first release from the album, “Shadowchild”. The mystery drummer has not been revealed yet, but stay posted for the official announcement.
THE NEOLOGIST is coming off the release of their debut album The 26 Letters of Your Universe which the band has been giving away for free via their Bandcamp site (http://theneologist.bandcamp.com). Fans can also download all of their covers on their album IN FLAMES We Trust: Volume I which is also on the Bandcamp site. The follow up album, The Promise of Eternal Separation, is set to be released in early 2012, and just like their first album, the band is giving away the entire album for free. A sampler of the album can be heard on their YouTube page (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtppE-7P7jk&list=UUqCualetdCQK2eLxMyEbgKw&feature=plcp)
In addition, THE NEOLOGIST wants to engage fans and let them choose which SOILWORK songs they will cover on the new album. You can leave a message on their website with your thoughts on which songs they should cover (www.theneologist.net).
IRON MAIDEN’s Bruce Dickinson, JETHRO TULL frontman Ian Anderson and Justin Hayward of the MOODY BLUES performed for the first time together under the name Canterbury Rocks At Christmas, on Saturday, December 10th at the Canterbury Cathedral Nave in Kent, England in support of The Canterbury Gift, which raises funds for the ongoing renovation work on the cathedral.
Video footage from the event can be seen below:
The Canterbury Cathedral Appeal was launched to protect and enhance Canterbury Cathedral’s future as a religious, heritage and cultural centre. Every five years the cathedral carries out a major structural review. The last so-called Quinquennial made it very clear that a combination of centuries of weathering, pollution and constant use had taken its toll on the building and there were some serious problems at Canterbury Cathedral that needed urgent action.
Much of the cathedral’s stonework is damaged and crumbling, the roofs are leaking and much of the stained glass is badly corroded. It is thought that if action is not taken now, the rate of decay and damage being inflicted on the building will increase dramatically with potentially disastrous results, including closure of large sections of the cathedral in order to guarantee the safety of the million plus worshippers, pilgrims and tourists who visit the cathedral every year.
Ian Anderson spoke of the importance of supporting Canterbury Cathedral recently: “If our generation and the future generations don’t do it, then it will be lost,” he said. “There is a real parallel regarding the preservation of our great buildings, and the greater sense of conserving our world. We need a huge change of thinking about the stewardship of our planet and all it contains, both natural and man-made. Canterbury Cathedral is a place for life today. But it is also a place for the future and, whether you are a Christian or not, it is a place which should remain forever close to our hearts.”
Source: Bravewords.com
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 