Sara Hammerzmith

The funniest thing when I’m planning tours is the fact I never start where I should. Powerwolf tour is embarking in about a month, and when sitting down today mapping out and planning my upcoming tours, I end up buying planetickets for Paris.

PARIS.

That’s in November. Like two months away. But this isn’t even anything unusual. I have a tendency to book and organize the things that are the furthest away first, for some really weird reason – like getting Sabaton tickets for next year.

And I have yet to actually book or even decide anything about my Powerwolf tour. I guess I’m a bit stuck. I don’t really like the detour to Gothenburg, and would rather prefer doing Finland, it’ll be a little bit, not a lot, but a little bit more expensive, but it’ll also be four gigs, not three. The plus side with Gothenburg, not only being cheaper is also that I’ll have four possible work days as well, and only one possible work day if I do Finland. But then again, I work literally 24/7, so it’s no harm done for me to take a week off..

Oh well. It will all come together somehow in the end. The key to everything with tourplanning is to wait and hold on. The big mistake a lot of people do when they plan tours, are that they book everything right away and then they’re done. You should wait a little. Partly wait for sales, but most importantly – wait for other tourdates of other bands. I think this tour in particular, the November one, has been changed multiple times only for the sake of additions and removals of tours. And I don’t even want to begin to talk about the US / Canada tour – right now it’ll consist of four countries, and that’s just at THIS POINT with the details not even close to done yet, although Epica in UK and France are pretty set.

All I can say is that I love my life. I love touring. and I love my bands. That is why I’m doing this. The one and only reason.

All I have to say today. Sister is really one of the best bands in the world. Seriously, thank you for existing.

// Sara

Alright. It’s been an hour or so since the news broke, and while I haven’t really managed to calm down in the slightest, I’ll try to make some sense out of this.

Today it was confirmed that Lordi is finally returning to Sweden.

It has been seven years since they last played a full headline show here in Sweden – can you imagine – they haven’t been here since DEADACHE TOUR. And now they are here.

When I saw it, it was like the whole world stopped. I started crying, hyperventilating and shrieking like a fire alarm, because my brain can’t comprehend the fact that Lordi is returning to Sweden. And it feels like… Finally. Sophie put it very well, when she told me that, I never gave up. We never gave up. We supported Lordi on every tour – we went to every imaginable country for them. I’ve been to France. To Germany. To Finland.

I went throught the nightmare trip that was Italy – I crashed my knee on the first night in Italy, and then went through the trip and the concerts jumping around on one leg, and then we got stranded in Gothenburg – it took us a total of 48 hours to get home, instead of seven. We’ve lived in an exorcist like hotelroom in Spain having nightmares all along, I’ve gone to the United Kingdom with the highest fever imaginable – all because of the love for this one little five piece monsterband from Finland. I’ve been to hell and back, and finally – they are coming home. After all this time, after all these tours, they are home. They are at home. I never gave up, and here is the pay off.

I love this band to the moon and back, and I look forward to seeing them at home, for once.

Welcome home, boys and girls.

// Sara

So, after finishing off a review for a new album, I decided it was time for me to finally get out and get into the new Lordi album, “Monstereophonic” or as I call it – “Månster-e-ju-fånict” which translates to “Monsters are really lame”. It’s all a parody, folks, don’t take it too seriously.

So basically, what I did was to put the album on my iPod and get outside, perhaps a little later than I had originally planned, and head out in the forest, just me and the iPod. There’s nothing I love more than being out in the nature, walking around, climbing around, basically being on the move, and I came to realize I pay a lot more attention to the music if I’m out, away from distraction, away from other people, just me, the music and the nature on our own.

And let me tell you something. When the SCG for “Demonarchy” started, it was just like something was changing. I’d look right into the pitch black forest and almost feel like fairies were twinkling behind the trees, like magical sparkling mushrooms would grow out of the ground, like mythical creatures would start surrounding you, the world would be glittering, while feeling the magical notes coming through the earbuds before it aggressively changes rhythm and the feeling of being unsafe would take over, looking out for werewolves and zombies.

Isn’t it amazing, how a simple instrumental track, can trigger a vivid imagination, and what sort of feelings and mood they can set? That, my friends, is the beauty of music.

// Sara