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Lordi’s new costumes – a run down

Posted in Uncategorized with tags lordi on July 31, 2016 by Sara Hammerzmith

A couple of days ago Lordi FINALLY posted the full images of their costumes and masks for us all to have a better look at the new costumes, so, finally, I feel a bit more confident about giving you my two coins of what I think of them.

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So, let’s start off with Mr Amen, only because he’s the first chronologically when uploading the photos.

First and foremost, I’m glad to see he got some bandages again! He’s really very on and off with those – some era’s he’s drowning in them, other eras he barely has any, but this era, it’s like, the perfect amount in a way. They are not everywhere, but still there, giving you some heads up that he’s actually a mummy and not some random zombie monster.

I like the decomposed flesh a lot as well – it’s getting gorier, even though it’s less blood. The mask… Well, I must admit I’m not a that big of a fan of his face. It’s very Get Heavy-ish, and personally, Get Heavy is my least favorite look of him, but the effects are pretty cool. However, I must agree with Sophie on one thing – his eyes. I, we, know that he’s sort of like, opening his eyes a lot in this picture, but its also about how the mask has been sculptured. I guess we’ll see more of it once it goes live and everything.

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Next up is Miss Hella, and now, now we are fucking talking alright. Excuse the french. First thing I noticed though, is that for every era it seems she gets less and less clothing, but seriously, this costume is nothing but mad! The naughty, burned school-girl meets Barbie and the 80’s, in a perfect mix. I love that she’s so feminine, but still a bit… sexy, you know? It feels like the wrong word to use, but on the same time, I don’t know what else.

And the face…. someone commented that she looks like a dead Pamela Anderson, and I can almost agree on that! She looks stunning though. And, personally, I’m excited and thrilled as hell that she’s going back, well, halfway anyway, to blonde. I was soooo gutted when she went black, so when I saw the blonde I was literally squealing. And the purple highlights are amazing. I love the fact that Hella always goes big when she changes. You never know what to expect from her.

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Here we go! The first thing.. am I the only one, or is he, Mana, as well as Hella, losing clothes? Either way, I love this look. I almost want to say it’s my favorite of all of his, but I don’t dare to just yet. But seriously, that cloth with the symbols on… and not to mention, Fleshy Bessy! The spider! The spider he has on his chest, or more in his chest. This is amazing. And oh, the fly on the belt… These details you know!

As for the face… and hair.. the first thing we all said was that he looks a lot like Awa, the previous keyboard player. Especially the “Demonarchy” side of the face. But aside that, the mask looks really great, and I’m glad his hair is down again. It seems everything went right with this fella!

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And the big L. First of all. DAMN THOSE SHOES! The grins! Holy shit, if that isn’t intimdating, I don’t know what is (as far as Lordi goes). And I love that the silver boot still got some of the brown around the teeth… aside that… it’s pretty… It’s not a lot going on. If you compare it to earlier costumes of his, this one is very toned down. But you wanna know something? I love that. I love that it’s so “simple” in a way, and that’s more all about him rather than flashy costume pieces. And I love that the belt-skirt-thingy has this glittery touch to it. I love everything that glitters, you know?

The mask is probably the best one he’s had so far. I can’t really put my finger on exactly what it is, but I always felt that occasionally, his masks just became a lot of holes and not a lot of soul (oh that rhymes) but, now it’s like the perfect mix of the holy gory side, and still a more… Arockalypse kind of side, I guess. I don’t know how to put it better! But, I love it.

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Say hello to Mr Ice-Cream! With strawberry topping! The first thing Sophie said to me when she saw this was that he looked like one of those duo-flavoured ice creams. And he really does, or well, the mask anyone. Jokes aside, this is OX for those of you who may not know – Looks absolutely incredible. Seriously, this is his best mask today, damn. Intimidating! And, for once, they gave him reasonable horns. Amazing.

And it just gets better when you look at the whole costume. Lepard skin, going all 80’s on the one side, and being clad in sewn together human skin on the other side… and the face on the crotch cloth.. Absolutely everything went right with this costume, I guess this is really my favorite of this era. I can’t stop looking at it!

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So, with all of that said, I guess I can easily say that OX is my favorite, tightly followed by Hella, and Amen being my least favorite. But they all look really cool, it feels like a promising era. Now we just await the album.

// Sara
(All images in this blog belongs to Lordi)

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PART FIVE: Tuska Open Air, Helsinki, Finland 1-3/7 2016

Posted in Finland, Travels, Uncategorized with tags helsinki, lordi, weird antiques on July 26, 2016 by Sara Hammerzmith

So, I think in all honesty we woke up a little later than we should have. We had made some epic plans for today – Lordi exhibition! So, we were supposed to meet Sophie and Marianne at the Kamppi square around, well, some time, but we decided to postpone it a little bit because you know, we are lazy as hell. But, eventually did we make it out there, and it was a nice day you know. Sun was shining, really warm, me and Sophie wearing the exact same Lordi shirt… you know, normal things.

We were supposed to go to McDonalds, but Marianne asked to go to this Finnish burgerplace called Hesburger instead, and you know, sure, why not? So, we went there, enjoyed a nice brunch with a lot of talking and laughing and planning and what not. After that, the “epic” journey to Weird Antiques started.

The place was a little bit off, or well, actually, the thing is, we decided to walk there. It is probably easier and more convenient to go to subway, but we figured “why not?”. So after a long walk, we finally made it to the place, and we were… very reluctant and hesitant at first. For some reason we were a group of super shy people. We forced Nathan to go first seeing he was the only guy, and after some waiting and more awkwardness we found the owner who let us in to the exhibition.

And let me tell you something about Lordi exhibitions. When you walk into it, at first you get taken aback. A little petrified, because of all the mannequins. And then, the next stage is joy. You feel the adrenaline and joy fill up in your heart, feeling it pound a little faster when all the things and people-less costumes you love so much and dearly are there. And then the excitement and mischiviousness comes. When you start giggling at everything and nothing. You are literally entering a world were it is a hundred percent Lordi and no one can take it away from you, and no one can touch you in this state of bliss.

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Unlike the exhibition in Savonlinna, you could actually walk straight up to the costumes, touch them if you wanted to. We were very, VERY reluctant at first like.. oh my god, we don’t wanna break them, you know? But I guess that at some point we’d accidently hit one thombstone one too many times so as the hours passed by, we simply didn’t care anymore and that’s when face-swaps and goofyness enters. If Lordi only knew.

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The exhibition consisted of three “rooms” – first room was more of a big room with two sections – first section consisting of a stage with a lot of random costumes, Mana seated (!) and some extra goodies. Paintings and thombstones. Second part of the room had all of Mr Lordis costumes – The Arockalypse and – Get Heavy in one line, as well as a few other costumes, the most noteable one being Otus’ costume being on display. A lot of random small things – Amen’s guitar case, Amen’s guitar, the Rock Police gear, some more paintings.

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In the last room was, again, a lot of the costumes, Hella’s scarbie box, the entire set up from “Deadache” tour, Dark Floors props and some old goodies. The chainsaws, the old Monsterican Dream set up, Blood Red Sandman bed, Hella’s baby stroller… A lot of things! We had the exhibition all to ourselves, which made it even better!

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We had a fantastic time at the exhibition, and after about three hours it was time for us to leave. We heard some shoutings out from the store, but didn’t think so much about it. Then I saw this guy spraying something and it was about the time when we saw the store owner grab a baseball bat and chase after the guy that we realized that this was actually a robbery.

Very, very quickly did we turn around and hurried back into the backroom, all the way back behind the “Dr Sin” autopsy table to hide. And you know… Things are really getting out of control when you hear yourself asking “Ok, so what Lordi props within reach are good weapons in case he comes in here?”.

It’s a surreal… surreal feeling, I tell you. We stayed in there for a while before we thought it was safe to go out. Sophie is starting to cough a little bit, but I didn’t think much about it. Then I started coughing and I didn’t think too much about it either – I’ve been crawling around on the floors, who knows how much dust and latex pieces I have in my throat! I figured I’d take a deep breath to clear the throat a bit, which would turn out to be the biggest mistake.

As I inhaled I felt my throat complete clogging up and getting difficulties to breathe. About this time, I notice Sophies coughing has gotten worse, and both Marianne and Nathan are coughing. Nathan rushed for us to get out of there, as he noted that every person who was in the store was, just like we, coughing really badly.

Once outside, we learn that it had indeed been a robbery, but gladly, the robber hadn’t gotten away with anything. The police arrived shortly thereafter, and we left our testimonies and then, when we checked so the storeowner was okay and everything, we left the scene. Nathan said afterwards; “First time in Helsinki and I’m already known by the police!”

Well, Welcome to Helsinki Nathan!

TO BE CONTINUED

// Sara

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PART THREE: Tuska Open Air, Helsinki, Finland 1-3/7 2016

Posted in Concerts, Finland, Uncategorized with tags lordi, the arockalypse, tuska open air on July 23, 2016 by Sara Hammerzmith

It was a surreal and almost dreamlike moment when the castle started to make its way onto RadioRock stage. It was… I had a hard time grasping that what was to come next was indeed Lordi and not some other band with a huge set up. That is how long it’s been since Lordi used a stage like this, this big. Nostalgia is really just the first name on the feeling on this.

As we watched the poor crew set up the stage (poor crew as in having every ones eyes on them) we talked and chatted and were just you know, basically getting ourselves excited for the gig. Discussed the castle layout. Discussing how the hell Lordi was even going to fit on stage… and then we noticed it. Awa’s and Kita’s masks on the drumset and keyboard. It was… a bittersweet? Would that be the right word? It was a strange and emotional feeling seeing the masks of the ex-members, the Arockalypse masks, on top of that, from the ex members on stage. Jesus Christ, this show was really about to become an emotional rollercoaster.

And then… before we knew it… Ralph Ruiz gets on stage, lipsynching to “SCG3”. Hearing them open with “SCG3” instead of “ETA” was the weirdest and most surreal thing ever… and when the drums started, pyro starting and everything launches us into “Bringing Back The Balls To Rock”… I can’t even. I can’t even describe how surreal and odd it was. And then when this chanting starts… “Get Heavy… Get Heavy...” It’s like, is this real? Is this fanta-sea? Who knows. “The Kids Who Wanna Play With The Dead” was next on the list, followed by mine… well, not my favorite I guess, “Biomechanic Man”.

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And it’s after this Nathan grabs my arm and looks at me with big eyes. I’m just staring at him like “what the fuck man?” and he just looks at me and goes “Do you hear it?!” and I’m just there like “No???” and he’s like “THE CHAINS; THE CHAINS!!!” And I’m still confused before it hits me.

“Pet The Destroyer”.

You see, all the day, all up to the showstart, we had talked about how “Pet The Destroyer” would probably be cut from the setlist because of lack of Kita, which was really sad, seeing I had gotten soooo pumped for this song, and in all honesty, it’s really one of Lordi’s best songs. So, with that said, we were all very very convinced that “Pet The Destroyer” wouldn’t in any sort of way happening.

Until it actually did.

I… I’m trying to find the words. The words when the realization hit that they are indeed playing that song. All I can say for sure is that it was the best moment of the show, and that I am forever grateful they played it, after all.

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“Rock The Hell Outta You” was the next song on the list, followed by OX’s repeating the old trick on beating up the poor person with the baby before “Blood Red Sandman”. I’m pretty sure it’s about here some time where OX’s fires off his bazooka and are, well, basically an inch or so away from blowing Amen’s head off.

“It Snows In Hell” was the next song and for the first time ever Sophie has joined in to do the upside down thing. Just as hilarious as always, really.

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“Who’s Your Daddy?” was up next, followed by “They Only Come Out at Night” before they left the stage and Amen came back, and this time through the castle doors. How majestic isn’t that! He came out, did his thing, and “Devil is a Loser” was a go. They followed up by “Would You Love A Monsterman?” and wrapped up the whole set with “Hard Rock Hallelujah”.

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First of all. Can we all appreciate the sound of silence? Now my heart awakes to the sound of silence…. and what I mean with this is, Mr Lordi not talking between the songs. I love the sound of silence. More songs got to be played that way. And you know what was even better? Did you hear that? The sound of NO “Sincerely With Love”! That silence I enjoy even more than the talking thing.

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But aside that… reliving this set… this stage setup… It was magical. And the most magical moment was in “Hard Rock Hallelujah” when Nathan puts his arms around me and we have Sophie in front of us jumping together in a clan. Because one thing is clear – Without “Hard Rock Halleujah”, us three would not be here together. We wouldn’t even know each other. It’s hard to grasp sometimes.

After this amazing show we tried to collect ourselves and headed back into the central of Helsinki.

TO BE CONTINUED

// Sara

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Sweden Rock: The Aftermaths

Posted in Concerts, Music, Uncategorized with tags amaranthe, lordi, Sweden Rock on June 26, 2016 by Sara Hammerzmith

Wow. So I’ve fallen out of shape of blogging quite a lot. It’s been three weeks now. I’m quite frankly sorry for that, and I don’t really have a good excuse for any of it. I’ll just hope I’ll be able to pick it up a notch starting from here.

So basically, this is going to be a short and quick little blog about Sweden Rock. It’s been a few weeks since the fest really, and I… haven’t had any inspiration to write anything, so this will become what it will become really.

Todays fest has been… a big mixture of emotions, I guess you could say. It’s been by far the weirdest festival I’ve ever been to on many levels and because of everything that happened, but it’s also been euphoric.

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I’ve been up earlier than I have ever been on Sweden Rock because of Epica and Lordi’s early play times, I’ve always been up longer than ever because of Avantasia. I have never in my life spent so much time on the campgrounds as I did on Sweden Rock this year, and for the first of possibly ever I got to practice my intense engineering skills when rebuilding a dying party tent about ten times before letting it die.

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We’ve for the first time ever been down to the beach in Norje and chased each other around with seaweed. It’s been a time for new friendship and old, it’s been the time for mishaps such as missing out on Sabaton’s signing session (gladly, I was actually watching Lita Ford and then Foreigner, so at least I was doing something important!) or forgetting your camera in the camp for Epica, but I also got to meet Lita Ford which is… I can’t even put words to it. I’ve gotten to meet one of my biggest role models and heroes in life, and I don’t even know how to put words to it. Lita Ford, what a woman.

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I’ve seen so many good things. Amaranthe as the opener of the fest for me… I witnessed Queen together with good friends I only see when they tour with their band, I’ve seen Sabaton perform “The Lost Battalion” for the first time, I got to witness our fanclub’s logo as the backdrop for “Karolinens Bön”. I’ve screamed my heart out to songs like “I wanna know what love is” and “Jukebox Hero”. I’ve witnessed the epicness that is Avantasia – which also holds the discovery of the festival. I’ve witnessed my friend participate in championships in air-guitar, I’ve seen Twisted Sister say goodbye… I saw Sixx AM tear things apart… I’ve witnessed Finntroll… I don’t even know where to start or end anymore. Epica… I can’t even tell you, not even begin to tell you how much I love this band. Simone, what a godess. I also beat my own record – this year I came home with 22 albums and five vinyls, what a record!

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And Lordi… First and foremost, seeing Lordi again on Swedish soil was extremely…. odd. It was weird. As someone who’s seen them more abroad and made it a bit of a sport and see how many countries I can see them in, it was weird seeing them at home. And at Sweden Rock. I can honestly admit, I never thought I’d see Lordi at Sweden Rock. But here it was. And… what makes it even more special is the fact that they played “My Heaven is Your Hell”. That particular song was my first ever favorite Lordi song (before “Deadache” and “Hate at First Sight” came along.) And… it was… At first, I couldn’t even connect what song they were playing because I’ve only heard it once live before, but then… I just stood there. It was like the world disappeared under my feet.

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We’re here. At the best festival in the world. With the best band in the world. And they are playing the best song they ever made.

What could possibly be better?

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// Sara

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Lordi @ Concorde 2, Brighton, United Kingdom 6/4 – 15

Posted in Concerts, Music, Uncategorized with tags hollywood groupies, lordi on April 6, 2015 by Sara Hammerzmith

Alright! So, early morning, rise and shine and guess what – I WAS FEELING BETTER! One cup of peppermint tea (suggest by Curt, you’re the man!) and a few candies later, I was a good as new. Almost at least. But just in case, I decided to wear something very simple – plain black jeans and my Hollywood Groupies tee. Just in case. Didn’t wanna get more sick or trigger the fever or anything.

Said and done, we headed down towards Concorde. According to the maps, it wasn’t supposed to be all too far off from the hotel, basically just a stroll.

A stroll by the beach. My oh my.

So, ok, I may not have seen ALL of Brighton, mostly just the surrondings around the Pier, since that’s where we lived and where the concertarena was located, but DAMN IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. I could just stay and look at the scenery all day, which we also could once we got to the arena which was located just across from the beach.

So yeah. Eventually we found the arena, and the first thing I did was to head over to the Marine Center or what it is called – to get some breakfast/lunch/dinner. We decided to go one and one to keep the spots and oh my god… walking along the beach was absolutely amazing. It’s fucking beautiful I even texted Antoine to tell him we needed to go back here. Like, soon. So gorgeous.

Anyway, there isn’t much to say about my little walk over to the Marine centre, more than that I was very surprised to see an angry shopper at Subway over having to pay more than she thought a certain sub was worth. And actually, what makes me the most sad about this, is that the sub wasn’t for her, but for her child. And like… it must have been so heartbreaking for him, getting a sub and then his mother like ruins it only because some other Subway in some other town charges less… As if he wasn’t worth it… And here’s where my issues sometimes lies. I always get too into things.

Anyway. After said incident, I went back to see that our precious NATHAN had arrived! You know, the guy we met and befriended in Southampton? I fucking love that guy, just gonna say that upfront here. They also had another guy with them, so as Michelle and Nathan took off to buy some food I stayed behind with him and we talked about everything and nothing. Some of the guys in Dirty Passion came out and held us company, and a little later Nathan and Michelle finally returned. Oh did I mention.

Ace from Hollywood Groupies came out to talk to us, and that’s when we decided to hand over our gifts to them. He was VERY surprised and couldn’t really believe it, and he made the whole band coming over and they were REALLY REALLY surprised! I was a little shocked, I must admit! They gave us a a few things in return and took a picture with us, and thanked so much for it. I told them that them existing is the reason, but jesus! I’m glad we made them happy.

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(Pic belongs to Hollywood Groupies)

While we were at it, we also handed over Dirty Passions gifts to Nasty who had just come out to hang out a little bit. So basically that’s what we did – more or less. Catching up on things, talking, laughing, waiting… What else is there to do when you’re in line?

OH RIGHT. I have to tell you this. We asked the merchguy from Dirty Passion if he could send Lordi or someone from Lordi out in order to pick up their gifts, and he said he would. They never came, so we figured they were busy until our fourth friend alarmed us Mr Lordi was out talking to some fans. And we didn’t really mean to interrupt, but we just wanted to get our baggage off, so what did we do?

Of course, we put on “God of Thunder” on a speaker, and displayed his favorite candy like in a store. We stood like that for a good while before he saw us… and seriously, this is the best thing ever. When he saw the chocolate bar, his jaw dropped and he excused him from the other guys and RAN OVER to us, and Michelle, of course, backed away as he came closer so basically, they ended up having a little cat-rat chase over chocolate, HAHAHA. It was the funniest thing I’ve seen in QUITE a while. We gave him his gift and let him get back to whatever he was doing.

However, as we also had gifts for the rest of the band, we got a little stressed the closer to the opening hours it came, so we asked Nasty if he could be so kind to put our bags with gifts in their merchbooth for us to pick up later. Kindly enough, he agreed to do this! Thank you!

The opening came, and we got inside this tiny little venue that is Concorde and I went and picked up a bottle water (just in case) and then we went waiting for the show. For this night, Hollywood Groupies was going to be the opener.

So basically, they went on stage. And it was just as awesome as the last two times we’ve seen them – like really, I cannot express to you guys how happy I am they ended up on tour with Lordi, I had given up hopes on ever seeing this band!

In the middle of this, I feel someone putting an arm around me. My first instinct is to tell the person off, but as I took a quick glance I just thought “Ah, it’s Dirty Passions merchguy, no worries” But wait. No it wasn’t. Took a second look.

It was Amen.

IT WAS FUCKING AMEN.

Both me and Michelle got wide eyed and he just stood there and grinned. We gave him a hug and it turns out he just wanted to come out to say Hi as he didn’t catch us before opening hours. What the hell just happened?!

And right after this, Hollywood Groupies dedicated “Pretty Bitch” to us.

What a good start on the night, don’t you think?

After their amazing set, and seriously, shout out to Kelly for playing with an injured finger – badass as fuck, and left the stage for Dirty Passion. It was bittersweet knowing this was the last time we saw them (for this time at least). I don’t have any pictures of neither Groupie nor Passion, because my camera just wouldn’t cooperate.

Anyway. A little after this, Dirty Passion went on stage and delivered the same energetic show as always. It was kinda heartbreaking, that for the same reasons as with the Groupies, this would be the very last time for a long time we’d see them. They delivered a good show, and left us good and warmed up before Lordi.

Ace from the Groupies had asked us to save him a spot for Lordi, so he came down right before the show started to join us, and before we knew it, “Estimated Time of Arrival” started and the show was a go.

I’m not really sure what to write about the show. I’ve written about the same show about four times now, and it’s hard to find the words. So I’ll sum it up very quickly. They had cut Hella’s keys short (no baby carriage), they had mixtured a bit with “Hell Sent in the Clowns” and all in all – this is probably the… not the best gig I have seen. To put it mildly, this goes on the bottom of the best gigs I’ve ever seen. See where I’m going with this? I never really knew what a not so good show was, but now I do. Still though, it was amazing seeing them live, regardless of performance. Shit happens, you know?

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But, much love to Amen for showing us so much love, and I’m personally so fucking impressed on how synchronized we are with the band. On the live version of “Blood Red Sandman” we were not a second to late nor too early, we started headbanging at the exact moment as they started playing. Sometimes you are just that synchronized, you know? And we barely got the chance to lay down properly in “It Snows In Hell” before we felt water showering over us. Thanks Mr Lordi, I love you too. And it was pretty magical during “Would You Love A Monsterman” when the Groupies joined us in the crowd. Aside us, there wasn’t much movement in the crowd.

After the show they pretty much drowned us in stuff, and Nathan managed to score me a pick from Amen and a drumstick from Mana for himself. We hit up the merchstand, where we said a last good bye to all the guys in Dirty Passion, picked up our stuff and gave Jaqueline her little gift for being a precious to us, and also bought some last gig merchandise before going outside to wait by the tourbus.

So here’s the deal. We could see in the dressing room, not a lot, but a little, and we noticed Mana took his shirt off. And I told Nathan that HE should be the one staring in the window, because I always make jokes like that, so he turned to it and started waving and said “So what, I’m just gonna be here like Hi and lik..” and then he looked down and went away continuing with “.. and just because of that Mana looked straight at me”.

HAHAHHAHA. Seriously, it’s hard to describe for you now afterwards, but it was so fucking hilarious! HAHAHAHA. Oh my god. BEST FRIENDS FOREVER, that’s what these people are. I can’t wait to see Nathan again some day. Fucking amazing person.

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Unfortunately, Nathan had to leave. It was hard to say goodbye to him, and I seriously didn’t want to let him go. Almost started crying there on the spot, but I saved that for later.

After a little while, he actually ran back to us to tell us Mana had come out, so we got one last hug before leaving for good. And with that said, Mana came around. So we gave him his gift, which considered of certain requested items, and he got pretty happy. He hung around a bit to chat before going on the tourbus. After him, Hella came, and we gave her bag to requested items as well and had a quick chat with her, mainly about her pregnancy. And then the man of the hour came, so to speak.

Amen! Woohoo! He to hug us and said a lot, A LOT of sweet things I won’t bring up here – I know certain Lordi fans are stalking this blog, and to not feed the anger, but it melted my heart. He put his bag away right in the door of the tourbus, brought us some beverages and finally, we could give him his gift. He had requested getting postcards with royals on them, but sadly, we didn’t find any, so I got an idea – we should give him the Royal Gossip magazine, DAM.

And I tell you… he laughed. We laughed. He laughed. So HARD. SO FUCKING HARD for SO LONG HAHAHAHA. Oh my god. I love his laughter, and this was just beyond amazing. Of course he had some other things in his giftbag, but I’m really glad he had a bit of humor HAHAHA. OX came by too, and we gave him his gift.

We stood around for a long time with Amen talking about bands, about my hair, about the tour, about airplanes about everything and nothing really, for a good hour or so before Mr Lordi came out (he was the last person) and they had to leave. First Mr Lordi came up to us and asked us if he got us better with the spit this time, which, like I said, he did. We said good bye to the guys one last time and even waved the tourbus as it set off. Oh, we said good bye to Jaqueline as well.

When we were about to start walking, we saw the Groupies caravann drive by, so we waved them off too, and they stopped. We were a little surprised, but they popped out and asked if we wanted a ride. And sure why not? So we got on the caravann and got a ride back to the hotel and a last time chat with the band. Apparently, the easter eggs was the nicest thing anyone had done for them this entire tour, which is so sad. But I’m really glad we could make their day. They dropped us off by the hotel and we said good bye to them one last time before going in to our hotel and pass out on the beds.

This tour, and particularly this gig, was the best thing I have done in my entire life. I owe it all to Hollywood Groupies + crew, Dirty Passion + crew, Lordi + crew, Nathan and Michelle. Thank you guys, you are awesome.

// Sara

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Lordi @ Sala But, Madrid, Spain 19/3 -15

Posted in Concerts, Music, Uncategorized with tags dirty passion, hollywood groupies, lordi, metal on March 19, 2015 by Sara Hammerzmith

Alrighty righty! The day was here, the big massive, explosive day. LORDI at Sala But in Madrid!

First of all, we had planned to wake up REAL early to start preparing for tonights show, but knowing us, this did of course not happen.. The thing is, we planned to hit up my dear friend Marina for lunch around noon, so we were in quite a hurry. One hour late, and a few subways later we were finally at Marina’s place for some italian food and lots of laughing and talking.

The clock got closer and closer to opening hours, and since we planned to queue a little bit outside the doors before they opened we eventually headed over to the arena. Much to our surprise, considering it being a Thursday, there were already a lot of people there. Or a lot and a lot… Might be an exaggeration, but quite a few. But you know, what to do? We sat down as usual and started the long wait, which involved nothing but teasing each other, poking each other and staring at people. And hiding under flags. It was raining, so what do you do? Hide under your flag.

Right on time at 19 they finally let us in in the arena, and since had to clear the guestlist before entering, all the spots in the frontrow were taken, much to our dismay. But fear not! We found an awesome place to put our stuff and to “live”, in a corner of the bar on a level, so we could see REALLY well.

The first thing we did actually was to attatch the flag to our bracelets, so we didn’t need to hold it the whole time, as well as finding somewhere nice to hang it. Our dear friend Marina arrived at the venue as well, and obviously found us very easily.

The first thing we did actually, before all of this was to hit up the merch. Not sure if I told you all, but I’m a fan of both Dirty Passion and Hollywood Groupies since before, so sure as hell were I to spend a lot of money on this particular show. The first thing I went to was Dirty Passion’s corner and of course, asked if the merchdude spoke Swedish, which he did so we ended up talking a bit about the tour and all. Lordi’s merchlady joined in as well, and after a bit of talking I left the place with three DP records and two Lordi shirts and then it was Michelle’s turn. But this time I came along, and we got complimented on our flag and hair, LOVE IT.

A little while later it was finally time for Dirty Passion to hit the stage! I’ve been following these guys for some time now, so do you guys understand how freaking happy I was to hear they were touring with Lordi?! It blows my mind.

The boys delivered a really good show. Energetic and on top, and the audience was.. maybe not so much with them, which sucked, but how many can it have been there, a 100? Not sure if it’s even that much! A fun thing that happened though was when the bassplayer, Nasty, was to introduce a song and first pointed out our flag. Top moment!

Eventually, they left the stage the wait started for Hollywood Groupies! While waiting, two guys approached us after the show and asked if they could have a picture with us and the flag. Of course they could! During DP the merchlady had taken a picture of us as well, we were getting mighty popular, haha.

And before we knew it, Hollywood Groupies entered the stage.

Just as with Dirty Passion, this is a band that I have followed for some time. A very long time. My hopes to ever see them was fairly low, but then they announced their tour with Lordi and I couldn’t even believe it when I saw it. TWO great supportbands? When does that even happen?! Now, apparently.

And JESUS CHRIST were they good! Energetic, onward and thanks to the very charismatic singer, they got the crowd with them for this one. I was so happy to see them again, and I don’t even know what more to add. AMAZING.

After this, the looong wait for Lordi began. I might as well say it right here. We had planned to wear a certain type of clothes, and we had A LOT of shit planned, but since we couldn’t do the frontrow, we decided to dismiss the mission, and took off the complete outfit, and scaled down to something simple. The anticipation was high and then, before we knew it… Estimated Time of Arrival began.

The band entered the stage and ripped the show open with “Nailed by The Hammer of Frankenstein” and the arena basically exploded, and so did we. Damn, I’ve missed my monsters so much I can’t even believe it. The continued on with “This is Heavy Metal” and then the ever so loved “Hard Rock Halleujah”. Our swedish flag flied high with pride, so to say.

mana1spanien

After this, it was time for my personal favorite – as you all know – “Deadache”. “Deadache” has been my all time favorite song ever since it came out. So seeing it being back on this tour is just pure amazement. I love it.

After this little encounter, it was time for Hella’s little moment. The babycarriage wheeled out and the baby eventually hit the mother. Last time we saw this, we were standing so far on Amen’s side we didn’t really see the moment too well, but standing very far on OX’s side allowed us to see the whole thing. LOVED IT. How many times can one say that?

“Hell Sent in the Clowns” was the next song on the list, with the cute little clowns roaming the stage… no okay. I’m scared of clowns, but these ones are just hilarious. “Blood Red Sandman” was next on the list before it was time for Mana to show off his skills as a reverend.

As you might remember, Mana’s solo contains of him controlling a demon, before he riffs off an amazing drumsolo, first just drumming around and later adding the glow-in-the-dark drumsticks. Fucking epic. I know what Michelle wanna do with those drumsticks. After this, the band came back and continued on their set with “Give Your Life For Rock n Roll” and “Don’t Let My Mother Know”. Seriously, the last one mentioned is one of my FAVORITE Lordi songs ever, and seeing them playing this song lives just… it melts me, you know? Ah god. This tour setlist is so fucking good, it blows my mind.

After “Don’t Let” it was time for OX to have his little moment, this time without his sound effects. I blame the venue for this, the stage was REALLY small! I kid you not. The band barely fit.

“How To Slice A Whore”, which is AMAZING live was the next song on the list and it was as awesome as ever, what can you even say? “It Snows in Hell”… well, as you guys knows, we always hang upside down for this song, and this time, since we weren’t in the front row, we had to work it out some other way.

So what we did was, there was some tables (since this was like a disco) and we brought to the front and sat on them and leaned over upside down. See people, there are solutions for everything!

“The Riff” was the next to be executed followed by “Sincerely With Love”. And here’s the deal people. I know Lordi asks us to flip them the finger, but I can’t. I cannot, and I will not do that. Instead, we shape a heart with our hands and says “Love you assholes”. Peace and love is the key and blah blah, and I cannot show the people I love the finger. Sorry.

lordi1spain

Normally, it would be time for “Man Skin Boots” by now, but for some mysterious reason, this was cut. Instead, they went directly to Amen’s little moment with him being this mighty pharao, and I love it. THIS is the way Amen should have always done it! Right after the continued on with “Not The Nicest Guy” before wrapping up the whole thing with “Devil is A Loser” Yup, that’s right party people. No “Sir, Mr Presideath Sir!”. To my BIG surprise, this song is perfect live. But I guess you can’t have everything.

They left the stage, only to shortly return to the sweet tones that is “SCG7: Arm Your Doors” and kicked it off with “Scare Force One”. Have I told you enough how much I love this song? Not? Well, I’ll just say it again. I LOVE THIS SONG SO MUCH. GOD. It’s perfect. Fuck. My night was basically made.

“Who’s Your Daddy” and “Would You Love A Monsterman” finished off this amazing gig and the monsters thanked for tonight and left the stage.

And now, the hurry began. Since we had managed to spread our shit all over the place, we had to collect our shit real quick and hurry for the backstage entrance. We weren’t sure where to go and what to do, but after talking to some crew-members, we found our spot. And before we knew it, the monsters arrived and we were the fist ones to enter.

And this is probably the weirdest meet&greet I have like, ever done. So basically what happened was that we were thrown in, took a picture and then got thrown out. Gladly, we managed to give Hella our little gift, which was basically a pack of chocolate saying Congratulations and a card with greetings.

After this, we headed over to the merchstand in order to pick up some Hollywood Groupies merchandise and also to have a little chat with Dirty Passion. We kinda had the Amaranthe situation all over, because as I stood waiting for HG to sign, I turned to Nasty and this is basically how it went:

Me: Hej!
Nasty: Hello!
Me: Är det bra? (Everything good?)
Nasty: Ja det…. Hallå de pratar Svenska! (Yeah it’s… Oh my god, they are swedish!)

So basically, we ended up talking with them quite a bit and even taking a few photos as they signed our flag and our CD’s before we were pushed out of the arena. Basically, this was a very, very, very good night.

After we got out we headed over to McDonalds for a late night snack and one last “dinner” with Marina before we parted ways at the subway. It hurt quite a bit to know you aren’t gonna see her in a while, but what can you do? I’ll miss her heaps!

With that said, we got on the midnight train going anywhe… to Anton Martin and went to bed far too late….

This day was one of the best days in my life. So was this trip to Spain. But, with all that being said, tomorrow lead for new adventures – getting back to Norway and Steel Panther

// Sara

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Our leader’s heart is made of gold

Posted in Music, Tankar och funderingar, Uncategorized with tags Frankfurt, HammerFall, lordi, serious black on February 7, 2015 by Sara Hammerzmith

So, it’s hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that just mere two days ago, I was in Frankfurt, Germany enjoying six amazing live shows. Serious Black, Orden Ogan, HammerFall, SinHeresY, Palace and Lordi.

And not only that. But this could possibly the best trip that I have ever done. That I have ever been on. Together with my two best, and most pathetic I might add, friends, going to the scared land of Metal (yes, Germany is because you guys get all the concerts!) to catch some of the best bands in the entire world live.

I still can’t comprehend what happened during HammerFall – how Stefan literally locked eyes with me, stuck with me for the majority of the gig and made sure I got a pick after the show. Like, since when did this happen? Or Serious Black, where do I even begin with these amazing people? Down to earth friendly kind of people. People are seriously missing out on something fantastic.

And then we have the monstars. The best band in this world, that award will always go to Lordi. I don’t want to know how much money I have spent on this band, but I sure as hell know that it’s worth it. It’s worth it, for everytime we’re there and raising our Swedish flag with pride, most certainly during “Hard Rock Hallelujah” and “Would You Love A Monsterman” because yes, we would love a monster. Or would, we do.

Some people don’t get it. Why we do it. Who the hell travels to Frankfurt, to catch the opening act of a show? Who travels to Frankfurt to see some stupid Eurovision band? Well. I can only say one thing.

Passion. It’s the passion for music, the love for music that drives us. The long days outside the venues, despite the minus degrees. It’s the moments when a bunch of Lordi fans stands together in a pile to keep warm, it’s the moment when you sit outside the doors at Neue Stadthalle and people ask you if you are really there all the way from Sweden.

It’s about the adrenaline rush that hits you when the doors open and it’s a game of life and death to hit the first row. It’s about the moment when Mana hits the drums after the keyboard to set off “Blood Red Sandman”. It’s the moments when you are all there singing “Ooooh Ooooh Ohhh HAMMERFALL!”. When you come home and see that the amazing people you met want to stay in touch with you.

And you know everything was worth it, when you get home and find these kind of messages waiting for you.

AmenTwitter

Our leader’s heart is made of gold. It sure as hell is.

I can’t wait to get on the road again. I seriously can’t.

// Sara

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Lordi @ Batschkapp, Frankfurt, Germany 5/2 -15

Posted in Concerts, Music, Thiz Izz Djermani, Uncategorized with tags Amen, lordi, OX, Scare Force One on February 6, 2015 by Sara Hammerzmith

Alright folkens! HammerFall and Serious Black and all was epic, but after sleeping waaay to short, it was time for us to prepare for Tour Force One! We started the day off real lazily, sleeping in as much as we could and took a quick shopping trip before getting ready for tonights show.

Paula and Michelle decided to crash my outfit picture this time, and it’s good enough. Not a whole lot has changed but the shirt and the necklaces, hahaha.

So, first we stopped by at the station to pick up some crepes before heading for the subway, or UBAHN that would take us to Batschkapp. We arrived a little later than we had for HammerFall, and at first we ended up completely off, but after some help we found the right destination. And then began the waiting.

We arrived around 17, and…. seriously. IT WAS FREEZING. Like ok, what did I expect, it’s winter time and everything, BUT JESUS CHRIST? I almost froze to death? I even ended up bothering a friend so much because I was close to freezing to death. God. A few more fans came and after a while we started a little penguin farm. About half an hour before doors, they opened the gates and we RAN.

And like, I couldn’t feel my legs. I know I was moving, but I didn’t feel my legs. I was practically flying. Must have looked like it, considering that my Swedish Lordi flag was flying in the air on the same time. After half an hour or so they opened the door and we ran for our lives inside the arena. We managed to score spots on Amen’s side, which I never really complain about!

We started off to take turns at the merchtable and the bathroom, and I end up buying one of the new Scare Force One shirts. I had some starting plans for the shirt that I have now ditched, so I’m not sitting with an oversized shirt. But I think I know what I want to do with it. Gladly.

After waiting for a little while, SinHerseY entered the stage. I hadn’t checked out any of the support bands for this part of the tour, since I wasn’t really planning to catch any of the gigs, but I must say I really liked this one!

sinhersey

Uh yeah. My camera doesn’t work with me. I’m sorry about all the sloppy pictures, but I really don’t know what to do about it for now! Right after Sinheresy got off stage we hit the merchstand to pick up one of their albums. Had to wait a little for the band, or, the singer to come down and we had a short chat with her and got the CD signed before dashing back to the front row.

Or well… dashing and dashing… Just as on HammerFall, it wasn’t ANY pressure! All people stood pretty casually a little here and there, so no troubles getting in and out. We even took an extra bathroom break, just because we could, you know.

While waiting for Palace we decided to do an upgraded version of The Mumblers and recorded our first song, which is “Nailed by the Hammer of Frankenstein”. If this recording ever will surface, I do not know, but we had fun. Until Michelle put her cold hands on Paulas neck. Uuughhhh.

So, without further notice, I might just say that Palace started playing. It’s kinda fun, Daniel told me when we were waiting for them that he recognized them from somewhere but didn’t know where, and I felt the same. I am certain I haven’t seen this band before, yet I too recognized them from somewhere.

This was also a band I was fairly unfamiliar with, and I was maybe not AS impressed as I was with Sinheresy, but it was a good show nonetheless!

Palace

So, interesting thing number two. Daniel was the only one seemingly to go hardcore for Palace, so naturally, the singer/guitarist came and gave him a pick, and then gave him a second one which Daniel passed onto me. He then leaned in and told me that the vocalist had said “give this one to your girlfriend”.

Uh. What? Hahahahaha. Love it! (Before hate: This is nothing against Daniel, he’s amazing as hell. It’s just fun considering I had known him for less than 24 hours) Oh. Well, okay sure why not. Still curios as to how he thought we were a couple, as far as I’m concerned he hadn’t even seen us talking to each other… Oh well!

——- SPOILER ALERT. SPOILERS FROM LORDIS SHOW WILL FOLLOW——–

So. With Palace leaving the stage, the anticipation in the room rose. Like, real high. Even for me. Now, soon, soon, soon! And sure enough, a little after 22 “God of Thunder” started echoing in the speakers. And ALL Lordi fans knows what this means.

Next thing we know, a flight attendant comes out and “Estimated Time of Arrival” starts playing as she demonstrates the safety routines. Or perhaps the killing routines. I really didn’t know how to interpret it.

She leaves the stage, the band enters and fires everything off with “Nailed By the Hammer of Frankenstein”. This song really cuts it as an opener! The band was on fire, we were on fire, crowd…. not so much to my surprise! A little better than HammerFall, but far from approved.

They continued on with “This is Heavy Metal”, WITH THE RETURN OF THE METAL DUDE, and “Hard Rock Hallelujah” before it was time for one of the highlights of the whole show.

“Deadache“.

So, as most of you people may or may not know, “Deadache” is my number one Lordi song of all times. I cannot tell you how much I love this song, or why I love this song, but if you go through my archive, I have written about this particular song many, many times stating how much I love it.

And they haven’t played this song since the “Deadache” tour. And I never really thought it would make a return. Like ever. Because it felt like I was the only one who actually wanted it back. But when I saw that tour teasing video… I just lost it. Just as much as I lost it when they played the song live. It was BEYOND amazing. Although my eyes hurt a bit when Mr L pointed the flashlights RIGHT INTO your eyes…

lordi1

After “Deadache” it was time for Hella to have her little moment, and not only did she play her beautiful little song, but she also had some effects. There was a baby trolly (?) rolling out and a clueless woman strolling about, checking on the little baby that OF COURSE was haunted and started to pull her into the wagon. I remember I actually hesitated to look, because I figured there’d pop up SOMETHING yet I didn’t know what, when or how. But there it was.

“Hell Sent in The Clowns” was next, with those amazingly cute clowns who just ruin about everything. “Blood Red Sandman” made it’s entrance before it was time for Mana to have his little moment.

Alright, so what happened is that this lady comes in with a skull lying on a table with a cloth of some kind. Mana put the piece of fabric over the skull, and then the skull starts acting very haunted and flying around, aalllmost out of control. After getting the skull back into it’s place, he fired off a VERY impressing drumsolo. Yes, for me, it was.

After the drumsolo it was time for “Give Your Life For Rock n Roll” before the big surprise of the night would happen.

Ok, so it wasn’t that much of a surprise for me, since I had read the setlist beforehand, but still.

“Don’t Let My Mother Know”.

A single B-side. WHO HAD EVER THOUGHT WE WOULD HEAR THIS LIVE? I SURE AS HELL DIDN’T. Was epic, BEYOND FUCKING EPIC. Jesus Christ, I could kill someone! Or no, on the contrary, this is what STOPPED ME from killing someone. The epicness, my god.

And it doesn’t stop there. After “Don’t Let My Mother Know”, it was time for OX’s little moment, and he sure as hell got a raise! He used to do Kalma’s old thing, but now he has his own. So what they did is that they brought out this trolley with a guy inside it, called “OX’s Special Soundbox” or something like that, who was tied up. They gave OX a lug wrench, and while he was playing the bass, he stopped every once in a while to beat the dude up. Moans. Moans. And then, after beating him quite a good, he digged into him. Opened him up and dragged out his insides.

The dude kept pulling out his insides as OX kept giving us some fierce basstones.

“How To Slice A Whore” was next on the list, and this one had been upgraded quite the bit too! On the releasegig, he had done the same thing as he had in “Dr Sin”, but this time he actually CHOPPED and SLICED The corpse on the table instead, and of course ate it’s insides. I’m never going to be okay with seeing that. Like. Ever.

Our paradesong was next on the list, “It Snows in Hell”. As usual we turned around and hung upside down. But there was a catch. For this tour, they have started to have white foam dropping from the roof. It was…. “amazing” getting your throat filled with that. But you know – it’s worth it. Considering that Amen seemed to thrive off it. Us hanging upside down, that is.

“The Riff” was next on the list, followed closely by “Sincerely with Love”. You all know my *love* feelings about the latter one, but I can forgive it. Like come one, “Deadache” makes up for everything.

The next surprise, or perhaps, AWESOMENESS that was on the list is “Man Skin Boots”. I fucking love the song, obviously, it’s from Deadache. And this song is like… PERFECT live. And yeah. Sometimes I relate to it a bit. You have been warned.

AFTER Man Skin, it was time for Amen to have his little moment. What started out pretty small, as him standing on the side playing “Amen’s Lament To Ra II” soon escalated to the great Pharaos curse as he stepped up on a Pharao grave and had (fake)fire burning next to him as he kept showing us what a guitar god he can be. For the first time ever I really got that Pharao / ancient Egypt feeling from him. It was like being down in the thombs in The Sims 3, yet this was for real. RAD And EPIC as hell.

This tour is just so fucking amazing. I don’t even get it. I mean, I know “Scare Force One” is an amazing album, but I couldn’t imagine how amazing the tour would turn out. They really, UPGRADED themselves.

Right after Amen’s solo enters what I believe is one of Amen’s favorite songs, “Not The Nicest Guy”. The song was followed by “Sir, Mr Presideath Sir!” which… See.

I didn’t care much for the song on the album. It’s good, it’s decent, but perhaps not the best. HOWEVER – this song is like 200 times better live. And it serves a fucking purpose you know? “WE ALL KNOW WHAT WE’VE BEEN TOLD – OUR LEADERS HEART IS MADE OF GOLD”. It was MADE for live shows. I fucking love it.

lordi3

Amen came up front and did his normal routine. One devil horn, two devil horn, going up, going to the sides, going down, cross your arms…. “Devil is a Loser”. Seriously, this song gets me going like fucking crazy, yet I had to see a LITTLE more from the rest of the crowd. Seriously, what is the point? Come on people! Energy!

They left the stage, only to allow “SCG7” to start and to fire up the Scare Force One and would later return to fire of “Scare Force One”. The best song on the album with the same title. Jesus christ, this song gets me GOING you don’t even understand. Of course, I think you all can notice the similarities between this one and Deadache, and yes, that’s why I love it. I’m so glad they play this live. It’s AHHH. Can’t even describe the feeling to you!

“Who’s Your Daddy” was next. If I didn’t have a slayer neck already, this is when I got it, My god, why do you always get so pumped in this one? Who the hell knows!

“Would You Love A Monsterman?” was the very very last song of the whole night, and there is something special jumping with your friends and raising the Swedish Lordi flag high with pride. We love our monsters, and we’d go, and HAVE GONE the distance for them. Any time, any day. YES. We do love our monstermen and woman.

They said thanks and good bye and walked off the stage for good. Alright so, look. The band, they were on fire. They were fucking KILLING it. It’s a SHAME that the audience doesn’t pay the same respect. I mean… come on. Show a little appreciation!

And you know.. The concert was awesome. Being there with friends was awesome. But what was even more awesome was the crewmember, who, without hesitation, walked straight up to me and handed me Amen’s setlist. Like, I didn’t even have to ask or whatever, he just went straight up. It’s a bit deja-vuish from Wednesday, haha.

We hung around a little bit to catch our breathes, drink a little and pick up some last minute merchandise before going out in the cold Frankfurt night again and head home to the hotel. We picked up some night food on the way home and then just sat in the hotel room and talked about everything Lordi for hours.

Until Michelle fell asleep of course, because then we obviously put toiletpaper all over her face (what else would we do?) before drifting off to a very fulfilling sleep….

Thanks, Lordi. Thank you so much.

// Sara

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When All Lights Fail

Posted in Music, Uncategorized with tags favorite, go west, lordi, metal, music, pop, rock, songs, tatu, tnt on January 18, 2015 by Sara Hammerzmith

I have pondered for a few hours what to blog about, as most of my day has been consumed by school assignments I really don’t know what to write about. So I thought I’d give you a little share of some of my favorite songs, Alright? Alright.

So, I will put these songs up in no particular order, just as I come to think of them.

First of all, “Don’t Be Afraid of Your Dreams” by Go West. I’ve already written about this before I believe, in the 30 Days song challenge. I consider this my all time favorite song. Mostly because it’s pretty perfect as it is, but on the same time, it inspires me. And I discovered this song at a time when I needed it the most, and despite being the soundtrack for a slasher movie, it just… means so much to me. The music makes me happy because it’s that PERFECT 80’s kind of pop that you can’t even replicate these days, that just pumps me, those beats hello? The keys?

But on top of that… the lyrics. THEY inspire me. THEY make me strong, helps me let go of some of my anxieties as it goes and… yeah I don’t know what else I can say about this song. It’s just amazing. And important. So important.

Next song is “Intuition” by TNT. I’m sort of starting to notice a pattern here – both songs are about not being afraid to do what you want and keep fighting for what you want. And this is basically what my life is about, so no wonder really. But aside that, this is probably, to me, the most ultimate 80’s rock anthem. I don’t think TNT ever really got the success they truly deserve, which breaks my heart. The melody-line in this one just… It just puts me in a happy place. This is the kind of song I put on when I’m really down, or need to make a decision. Hearing Tony Harnell going “One decision” in my ear kind of you know… sets me off. To achieve things.

Can’t make an entry like this and not include Lordi now, can I? “Deadache” by Lordi. This is also a song I can relate to so much, since I also keep the skin of my mothers face… no just joking. “And loneliness – it makes nights endless” has sort of become my tagline in everything and anything. I should probably have it written on a vest if I ever get one. This is an easy-peasy song, 80’s kind of vibe to it (do you sense a pattern here?) but it’s the chorus – the “big” chorus, especially the last one with the pitch change that just… How do you even describe the feeling, you know that one where it feels like your whole inside is about to jump out because you are so excited and happy? That’s what “Deadache” do to me.

“Days Gone By” by Slaughter. Ahh Slaughter… how much don’t I love this band. I usually consider it my number one band, but on the later years they have fallen down to third place as I started to judge bands a little more on how much I can “interact” with them – like, how close they are and such. Lordi gets closer because I have more memories with them. And so on. I waited up until 2012 before I managed to catch the lovey-doveys live, and it was one of the best days of my life. I couldn’t even BELIEVE it. Slaughter. In Sweden? Like really?

Anyway. “Days Gone By”…. first of all, this song is so beautiful. The melody line, the simpleness of it leaving Mark and his amazing voice to do the work just ahhh. And the song… well. Sometimes it feels like I have lost a lot, friends, and what not, because of time slipping out of my hands. I especially think about one person, I’m not going to mention her on here though. So yeah.

Last song I’ll bring up for this time is “All About Us” by t.A.T.u. So, all of you who were surprised – raise your hands. Interesting fact, this, still to this day, marks my MOST PLAYED SONG of ALL TIMES. This was before LastFM days though, so no technical record of it, but I remember it having 888 plays on my iTunes before the computer died. And no other song has reached that far since. t.A.T.u and I go waaay back, many, many years. They are one of my favorite duos (alongside Go West and Lili & Susie) and particularly this song.

I remember the video terrified me like hell when I was younger, when it was new, and I saw it. But what I love so much about it, is the friendship. The fucking strength of friendship. They are fighting, but despite that Jelena turns around to come get Julia after the dude is doing major shit business. That, is friendship that doesn’t die. And those are the kind of friendships I strive to have, and well, I do have them with a close amounts of friends, for example, Jennie whom I’ve had ENDLESS of fights with, someone I’ve stopped talking to for YEARS and yet we always found our way back to each other. Because it’s all about us.

Wow. So this turned out to become a lot more personal and emotional than I had actually planned this blog entry to be, but I guess it just allowed you all to get to know me a little more and my priorities in life. You should always pay attention to what songs people like the most – they can tell you so much more about the person than you ever knew.

// Sara

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Hell’s Kitchen Box – Lordi

Posted in CDs, Uncategorized with tags lordi on November 11, 2014 by Sara Hammerzmith

SO PEOPLE PEOPLE PEOPLE.

FIRST OF ALL – SLIGHT SPOILER ALERT

After months of waiting (I preordered this thing in September) and some more waiting, and trying, and hoping, and lost patience and a few angermanagements lessons later, the box is finally here! AT LAST! See, I was working this morning at a store, and on the way home I got the text message I could pick it up at the post office, so naturally that’s the first things I do.

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God, the anticipation when opening this was beyond what anyone could believe. I had been a little anxious about this one, since it had only said “Scare Force One CD” on the order, and not the fanbox. But it was all in vain, obviously, as this couldn’t possibly be anything but the fanbox!

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THIS WAS THE CONTENT PEOPLE. And yes – When I saw that the limited edition of “Zombilation” was available as well I could not miss the oppurtunity! So, that leaves only Scarchives being the missing piece in my collection.

So.. the fanbox. Where do I begin! First of all, the box is fucking amazing. It’s basically a lunchbox, with all these details on all the sides! The box alone is so beautiful I might cry. Maybe it’s the long waiting and all, but damn.

But then… when opening the box… The first thing I came across was the sheet with Hella’c Cupcakes. YUM! I’m going to try to bake them as soon as possible, and then I’ll tell you what I thought.

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The second thing was the apron. And MY GOD PEOPLES. This apron is so much more beautiful in real life than it was on the picture! Love it. It will sure as hell be used A LOT!

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The next thing in the box was the CD. And you know, I was a little bummed it being a digipack, since I prefer jewelcase above anything, BUT. This one intrigued me. It wasn’t made out of the papery thing other digipacks are made it, but rather some hard plastics. I’ve been sitting for hours just caressing it and being fascinated with it. Way to go!

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Beneath the CD awaited the poster. It was perhaps a little bit smaller than I had expected it to be, HOWEVER – I did not see the double side thing coming! Really like the fact we got like two posters in one.

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And after that, one of the thing I was most excited for, was the illustrated lyrics! It’s basically a comic book that illustrates all the lyrics as their own stories. I sat for a good hour or so going through the whole thing, and I LOVED IT! So worth it.

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The last thing in the box is the certificate of Authencity, which much to my joy turned out to be not just aplain certificate, but also more like a postcard of Lordi. Nice.

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Overall, I’m beyond satisfied with this box. I do really think we got a lot of good things for that little money, and I’ve even found myself going back and forth the whole day toying with it.

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My Lordishelf feels somewhat more complete now. Ahh.

Welcome home, Hell’s Kitchen Box.

// Sara

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