Sara Hammerzmith

Bassplayers… There is nothing I am as lost about as when it comes to bassplayers. Not becasue I don’t like them, but because the whole world is so unfamiliar to me. But there is one bassplayer, one that has always been close to my heart, and he has been ever since I first became a fan of this band. Do I even need to introduce him?

Klubben, Stockholm, Sweden March 2009, Deadache tour. Photo by me.

No copyright stamp, because I fucking trust you guys. Alright, so, this man doesn’t need an introduction – you all should be more than familiar with him by now.

Like I said, being someone who’s fairly unfamiliar with anything bass, I cannot judge his skills. But seriously – raise your hands – how many of you can honestly say you don’t fucking get into when you hear “Bite it Like a Bulldog”? “Where’s the Dragon?” ? The list can be made long.

But of course, being my favorite goes beyond that. It isn’t only what he do on stage, but also what he has done for us, to us, with us, off-stage.

Like, in 2006, when I was so scared to walk to them I almost walked right into, hadn’t Kita stopped me. And how I slowly raised my eyes and eventually met his intense, green eyes looking down on me. Seriously, hadn’t Kita been there to hold me I would have passed out, out of fear.

Or fast forwarding to Italy 2013, when I was going to hug him and I couldn’t reach because he was too tall, and he started laughing at me and teased me for being short (I’m totally sure you are not as freaking tall without your boots, you sonofaaaaa).

Again, the list can be made long. But it goes to a whole new, personal level, as to why he’s my favorite, and why he’s one of my heroes.

Always and forever.

// Sara

Wow, at first it was a little hard to choose. Or, as I started typing, it still is hard to choose, but on the same time… As soon as I got this question, my mind went directly to one certain singer, and I don’t think any one of you reading are going to be surprised by my choice.

Mark Slaughter.

This is a picture I took of him at Sweden Rock 2012, I can’t be bothered to open up my MAC to photoshop a logo onto it, so don’t take it please thank you very much. Anyway, Markysan… First of all, no one, NO ONE can deny that this man has quite the voice. But most importantly, for me, is that his voice soothes me. It makes me calm. I would love to sit here and analyze in what makes him good, but I’m afraid I don’t know enough about singers and singing in general to give a good opinion rather than that I love his voice.

Oh. Right. He’s the singer of Slaughter by the way, the band that emerged when Vinnie Vincent Invasion broke up, you know, Dana and Mark continued on with Tim Kelly and Blas Elias. Bobby went on to Nelson and a numerous of other projects. Nelson’s “After The Rain” is a killer though, check it out. But now I’m getting sidetracked.

When Lordi announced in 2010 they were going to use Markysan for additional vocals on “Babez For Breakfast” I fucking flipped. I had to re-read it a hundred times, and I still didn’t believe it until I got the album in my hands and heard his voice on the album. And his appearance on Chrissy Steele’s “Magnet To Steele” still sends me shivers down my spine.

// Sara

EASY FUCKING PIECE OF CAKE.

Do I even need to write out the name of the band? Really?

Well, Obviously – Lordi.

Their career peaked around Eurovisiontimes, but has since then peaked right down. They are still going strong, smaller venues than before but still headlining. Those of you who’ve followed me for some years, knows without a doubt that this is not just a band to me, it’s my life, basically.

Thanks to this amazing bands I have met all of the most amazing people in my life. And even if I don’t know you through Lordi – we still probably know each other thanks to Lordi. Hadn’t Lordi entered my life, I wouldn’t be a metalhead. Hadn’t I been a metalhead I wouldn’t have started musicjournalism. I wouldn’t have started at Ingesunds College of Music. A lot of things that has happened in my life has directly been change, because of these monsters.

I can’t sit here and say that you all suck and that Lordi is the best thing ever and that everyone should listen to them. I do think they are a bit underrated – mostly because people makes it all about Eurovision and won’t even care about listening to gems as “Deadache” or “Scare Force One” or “The Children of the Night”. I had a guy I was interested in back in the days, who literally had only heard the big four – “Hard Rock Hallelujah”, “Devil is a Loser”, “Blood Red Sandman” and “Would You Love a Monsterman” and tried to tell me they were the most overrated band ever.

Like dude. Seriously.

So yes. Lordi. To me, the best thing ever. Thanks to Lordi I’ve seen places I never thought I would, like, all the countries and cities I’ve traveled to to see them and all… God, I practically owe my life to them. I love you Monstars, always and forever.

// Sara

The worst part about getting these kind of questions, is the fact that you have to single out a band you currently don’t listen to, and like I stated a few days ago – had you asked me only two years ago if I would be into SlipKnot, I would have laughed and asked if you were crazy.

So it feels weird to single out a band and be like “I don’t like that” because one day I may.

But if we talk only about the present and what I feel at the moment, those kind of bands would probably be like Metallica and Ghost. I can’t say either of those bands are BAD, I’ve just never gotten into them. I don’t really know why, it’s just, haven’t clicked, I guess.

So yeah. Ghost and Metallica, there you have it. By these criteria I could make this list very very long, and could probably list every single black metal band and so on, but it feels a bit easy, don’t you think?

// Sara

I had to recalculate how many times I’ve seen certain bands to make sure I got the right one, and I did.

It was actually pretty crowded – we have Steel Panther with 11 gigs, HammerFall with 12 gigs, and even Sabaton tied with Lordi on 13 gigs each. But neither of these are the band I’ve seen the most.

The band I’ve seen live the most times, 16 times,  are also the band that happens to be my very very first favorite band ever – Wig Wam.

(Fagernes, 2006)

I’ve seen them a total of 16 times, up until their breakup a few years ago. It started out as massive boom in 2006 with eight gigs, and then it has gotten fewer and fewer over the years, and the last time I saw them was actually here in Sweden, in 2010. A few years later they announced their break up. I always found it odd that they put out “Wall Street” without supporting it whatsoever.

Either way, this was actually a very good band. Like, a VERY VERY good band. Good on the albums, and phenomenal live. While I do miss them sometimes, and most importantly, all the amazing people I met through them, it feels like it was for the best in the end that they called it quits.

(Söre Osen, 2006)

Thanks for these years, Wig Wam, and thanks to all you amazing people I met – Lina, Kjersti, Kath, Nina, Hansi, Tinna and more.

// Sara
(All photos are obviously by me)