Mr. Horrible Gelatinous Blob

Nije Alhemija. Ovo je nesto, kasne osamdesete, a najpre ce biti pocetak devedesetih. I kao sto rekoh, mnoooooooooogo vise mi se dopadaju ovi Sultani od onih sa Alhemije.

Tokom bombardovanja je na TV Politika prikazan njihov koncert na nekom stadionu. Mark sa onom narandzastom dzitrom. Zakacio sam "Sultane" u nekoj super-ultra-extended verziji, nikad bolje izvodjenje nisam cuo i video. Ima li ko pojma, koji je koncert u pitanju? Koji stadion, koje godine? Nije Live AID, to imam. Valjda nije "On the Night", kol'ko se secam, ono je bilo po danu...

Evo dela intervjua sa Tomasom, koji se odnosi na set listu... How did you choose the setlist for the concert? Must have been a lot of thinking to make the final decision. Oh, we definitely thought about the fact that The Black Halo is our recent album. We wanted to make sure that we covered a lot of stuff from that. The other thing was that for the old songs we wanted to include ones that added more to the visual of the show. Songs like “Nights of Arabia” and the “Elizabeth Trilogy” added a lot of the visual side of the DVD. We were able to be more theatrical with those kind of songs. That’s kind of how we approached picking the setlist. Of course, we could have added another half hour, but the set is 90 minutes, which is a good concert for us. That’s normally what we’re playing. But, there’s no songs from the first three albums ... No, but we don’t play any songs at all from the first two albums anymore. Roy doesn’t want to do it. And from Siége Perilous we talked about doing one song from this album, but the majority of the fanbase basically from the last three records. And to play a song from Siége Perilous when we can only play 15 or so songs it didn’t make any sense. That record for most of us, we’re not totally happy with, because of the mixture of the songwriting and everything. As for the setlist, I’m very happy with that. We can’t put everybody’s favorite songs on the setlist, because then it would be four hours long. (Laughs) What is the song that you enjoy playing live the most? Like now it’s for sure “March of Mephisto”. That song is euphoric and the fans go completely nuts when we play that song. That’s definitely the highlight of the night. Second to that maybe is your favorite Kamelot song “Don’t You Cry,” because it’s more intimate. It’s kind of like the Yin and Yang of those two songs. And are there any songs that you don’t enjoy playing that much anymore? Not really ... Nights of Arabia was getting that way, but we didn’t play that song recently, so now I can play that again for another two years. (Laughs) I know that Roy has specific songs that he doesn’t want to do. He’s not much into the fast songs. That’s not his favorite style of Kamelot songs. He’s more into songs like “Karma.” More groovy and midtempo stuff.

Deo itervjua sa Douglasom Aldrichom: Tell us something about how Reb Beach ended up being in Whitesnake.When I talk to him some few years ago, he said he did an audition for Whitesnake. He was then was waiting for a call from David but because he never got he decided to call his old friend Don Dokken and said that he would like to rejoin Dokken. Then suddenly David called him and ask if would still like to join Whitesnake because someone else had just changed his mind and didn't want to participate new Whitesnake line up. Reb agreed and then he was in... Yeah that’s pretty much how it happened… Was it possibly John Sykes who he was talking about then? No, it was Warren DeMartini. In the begining. David and I discussed Reb and Warren. I thought since Warren had worked with David previously, that would be cool. But Warren had other commitments. Reb was the perfect choice. He and I have very different style and it works out well together. I didnt know all his work, just the MTV Winger songs I guess. But he was obviously a great player. I talked with Reb in the early stages and I asked what do you think? He was really excited, he was happy to do whatever in the band. Whitesnake has been a twin lead guitar band mostly, so we figured out who would play various parts over the phone. We kind of split up stuff so the parts that suited my style I did and if there was something I wasn't sure, we tried it and whoever seemed more comfortable with it we just did it like that, and it's just been working out good you know, everything's cool. And Reb's a great guy, he's really just a good hearted guy and I think our styles are different enough, it's not like having two of the same guitarist.

Sad ga pretera! A branis Riblju Corbu koju je zakonom trebalo zabraniti najkasnije 1990.

Slusam danas ovaj novi CD i kad je naisla "The Deeper The Love", podsetih se jednog praistorijskog dogadjaja, pa cu da ga iskoristim za jos jedan monolog. Davna, pradavna vremena. Vojska koja odavno ne postoji, u drzavi koja, takodje, odavno ne postoji. Rana zora, ja svezepromovisani "kaplar", odlucujem da maltretiram vojnike spotovima sa video-kasete koju sam doneo na odsluzenje vojnog roka. Cak jedan (!) od prisutnih vojnika je pozitivno reagovao! Nakon nekog vremena ulazi u ucionicu stariji vodnik Djordjevic Dragoslav i zatice vojnike koji sede i kunjaju, a na TV-u spot "The Deeper The Love" od Whitesnake. Petnaestak sekundi stoji totalno ukocen, pogleda uprtog u Tawny Kitaen, a zatim se obraca najblizem vojniku, i dalje ne skidajuci pogled sa ekrana: "E, ovo je picka, Jankovicu... a ne ti!" Svi prisutni popadase u nesvest od smeha.

Noiseov CD, najobicniji. Coveri su kao na LP-ju, spisak pesama kao na LP-ju, a onda kad slusas, odjednom uleti "Judas". Ako nekom trebaju ti stari "Keeperi" nek mi se javi. Sad su mi visak, posto imam ove nove.

Nemacka himna, a mene je njen pocetak oduvek asocirao na pocetak "Boze pravde". I cim je Ritchie krenuo sa tim, ja poceo da pevam...

Svidja mi se sto su konacno "Judas" spojili sa njim. Ranije sam imao "Keeper I" gde je ta pesma bila ubacena pre "Future World". Nikako joj nije bilo mesto na tom albumu, pa jos na sredini. Ovako je bas dobro.

Dok je Elisa bila tu, trudio sam se i trudio da ih slusam, al' dzabe. Kad je dosao tip umesto nje, daleko mi vise leze. Npr. veoma mi se dopada "Before the Duel" sa albuma "Beyond the Sea". "Halloween" je verovatno jedina pesma koju moram da preskocim kad slusam "Keepers of Jericho"!

Nakon pomenutog koncerta u Becu, pokusali su da prosvercuju Ritchieja u koferu za bubanj, ali su ga nanjusili pandurski psi, pa je priveden.

Da vratim i ovu temu na prvu stranu. Stigose mi DVD-ovi "Live In Munich 1977" i "Live Between The Eyes - The Final Cut". Odusevljen sam!!! Booklet onog prvog je kilometarski. Ritchie je na gostovanju u Becu, koje je prethodilo ovom koncertu, zavrsio u zatvoru. Polomio je vilicu jednom od redara koji je maltretirao publiku! Zbog toga je koncert pomeren za jedan dan i na svu srecu, ipak su ga snimili. Ono maltretiranje gitare na kraju... brrrrrr... A vrhunac mi je ono ubacivanje u "Still I'm Sad" Betovenove IX i "Boze pravde".

Potpuno smo na istoj talasnoj duzini! U bookletu dvojke, Weiki je pomenuo da mu se mnogo vise dopada kako zvuci prvi Keeper i da je Noise napravio gresku sto je sutnuo Tommyja Hansena, a ostavio samo Newtona da odradi mix. Meni se od Weikathovih stvari najvise dopada "Eagle Fly Free", a ona je postojala u vreme prvog Keepera, samo ne u toj verziji koja je kasnije snimljena. Nisu bili zadovoljni tadasnjom, pa nije usla na prvi album. Prokomentarisao je cinjenicu da je i na dvojci najprihvacenija bila Kai Hansenova "I Want Out". Rekao je da mu se ta stvar nikada nije posebno dopadala, ali posto je dobro prosla kod publike, uvek su je rado svirali. I na kraju je pomenuo da su pokusavali da ubede Kaija da ostane u bendu, ali nije bilo nikakve sanse. "Da je ostao, 'Pink Bubbles...' bi bio mnogo bolji album." Bas je otkrio toplu vodu...

Nabavih i Keepere, ova expanded izdanja. U intervjuu sa Weikathom (u bookletu) sam procitao da je on tako malo doprineo na prvom Keeperu zato sto se oporavljao od nervnog sloma! Nisam imao pojma za taj podatak. Valjda je zato to fenomenalan album!

Sa Tomijevim solom na bubnjevima je, to je poenta. A i lepo pise na omotu. Dok sam gledao spisak pesama na Amazonu, pitao sam se sta znaci CitR bonus, kad vec postoji i na regularnom izdanju.

Moram da se pohvalim i da vratim temu na prvu stranu. Stigao mi je danas novi CD, digipack ltd. sa Amazona. Nisam jos stigao do bonusa "Crying In The Rain". Videcemo u cemu je poenta sa njom.

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Evo delova jednog starog intervjua sa Arjenom, povodom izlaska Star One, a dotice se i Ayreona. Verovatno ce ti biti zanimljivo da procitas. Kostas: Why is “Space Metal” a STAR ONE release and not an AYREON release? Arjen: Because AYREON is more varied, while STAR ONE is more metal oriented. In AYREON I have many influences. For instance, pop music, because I grew up in the 60s, with BEATLES, and in the 70s I was influenced by PINK FLOYD, all the prog stuff and also all the hard rock stuff, like DEEP PURPLE and LED ZEPPELIN, and I love a lot of the folk stuff and I love electronic bands, like TANGERINE DREAM and all these styles are always on AYREON. It’s always a big story that I make myself, like a rock opera, and this album is just the metal side of AYREON. It is a part of AYREON, but for an AYREON album, it would have to be more varied, more styles and more singers and more musicians and, of course, my own story. Kostas: Yes, but there is a topic around the songs of the album. Arjen: There is a concept. The concept is that all the separate songs are based on space movies. The movies had to be set in space. But that’s just a concept. There is no ongoing story throughout the album. Kostas: So, how did you came up with the idea of writing an album whose songs refer to your favorite sci-fi movies? Arjen: For one, I have always been a huge sci-fi fan. The first time I saw Star Trek on TV I was like: “Wow! That’s it!” I really like sci-fi and I have seen a lot of movies in my years. So, I was doing this metal album and I knew it wasn’t going to be AYREON, so I didn’t want to make up one of my own stories. So I thought, the easiest thing would be if I just based the lyrics on sci-fi movies, because that’s the thing I know the best. And it was a good reason to buy a DVD-player (laughter). I thought it would be easy to base the lyrics on sci-fi movies, but in fact it was really hard. Much harder than I thought. You just can’t copy the movie, you can’t just say: “Here comes Darth Vader and he says: ‘Luke I am your father’” or “Yoda says: ‘You have the Force Luke’” (laughter). You can’t do that. You have to stay away from the original characters and you cannot use names or quotes from a film. So that was hard, to make the lyrics are trying to give my view of how I see the movie. Kostas: Why not use quotes from a movie? Arjen: Because for one I don’t think that this is interesting; that people should go and see the movie and secondly, of course, the copyrights, won’t permit that. I am sure that Mr. George Lucas won’t be so happy when I quote stuff from his movies. But on the other hand I think it would be a bit cheap. Just quote things from the movie. To make it more mysterious. People are not sure what song is which movie and that have to find out. Keep it a bit mysterious. Kostas: So, you have Alien, you have Star Trek, Star Wars and other sci-fi movies passed into your songs. Which one of those is your favorite? Arjen: I love Alien, the first episode. It was really really great. Great actors and it was a very ‘real’ film. Kostas: Very dark. Arjen: Yeah, very dark. I love that and I love the Gigger, the artwork and the actors. Everything about that movie was great. I think that must be my favorite, but, on the other hand, ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ was the first. It was so great! It was like RUSH! RUSH were the first to do that kind of music. There are many bands who sound like RUSH or even pay better than RUSH, but still RUSH is the original. That’s the way I feel about ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’. That’s the original, that’s when it all started, although when you see the movie now, it’s like 3 hours of nothing. I think there is only half an hour of dialog in the movie. But it’s the tension. When the movie is over, it leaves you with a lot of question. It’s not like when you see an action sci-fi ‘Total Recall’, which is nice for 2 hours but then the movie is over and that’s it. But with ‘2001…’, you think about it afterwards. I like that. Kostas: You also wrote a song about ‘Dune’. Did you base it on the original film or the remake? Arjen: I haven’t seen the new version yet. Some people told me it was good, some people told me it was not so good. Kostas: I have seen both the original and the remake and I didn’t like it. It was not such a big deal for a 5-hour movie. Arjen: Nobody liked the original, the one David Lynch did, but I loved it. Kostas: Same here. Arjen: It looked so great and it was really dark at times. I thought it was a great movie. And most people said it was so hard to understand but it wasn’t. When I go to a James Bond movie, sometimes I don’t understand what it is about (laughter). But I did understand ‘Dune’, so that’s strange. Kostas: There is also a second CD in the special edition of “Space Metal”. Since I don’t have it can you give me some info about it? Arjen: That’s too bad you don’t have it. It’s really special. It’s not just leftovers. It’s a really special CD, I think. Mainly of course because I have the “Hawkwind Medley” there. I was a huge HAWKWIND fan and I have always tried to get Dave Brock on AYREON but he never said yes. And now I finally managed to get him and I think… no, I’m sure, I’m the first one who’s ever succeeded in having him guest on an album and he is 60 now. I’m so proud of that. He did such a great job and he loved what I did, with the HAWKWIND songs and I am very proud about that. Inside Out told me: “Let’s do an extra CD with some extra stuff”. Then I had 2 songs that I thought they didn’t fit the other songs on the “Space Metal” album. I didn’t want them on the original album, so we could put them on the bonus CD. Then I thought that 3 songs won’t be enough, because people are going to pay extra money for this double-CD. Let’s do some extra stuff, let’s do some cover versions, because I’ve got no more songs of my own. And of course, the cover versions had to be set in space and the first thing you come up with is (Arjen sings): “Ground control to major Tom” (laughter). This is one of the first space songs ever made and it’s a great song. So I made my own version of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” and I made it very different from the original. That’s was good. I like a cover when it is really different from the original. I made it very spacey, because the original is quite acoustic. I am proud of that. Kostas: I like covers from metal bands when they are not based on another metal band, but on a non-metal band or artist. Arjen: I agree. Or a simple pop song put it into metal. I think you should do something weird with the cover. And this Bowie version is weird, because it is all soft and suddenly in the middle there are heavy guitars, just for a few seconds. Kostas: I have to check it out, since I haven’t listened to it (yet). Arjen: it’s a shame. You should. Try to get it. And then there is a hidden track, which is really funny. I don’t know if you remember DONOVAN from the 60s. Do you remember him? He was a hippy. Kostas: Well, I can’t remember him since I wasn’t existing not even in the dreams of my parents. (laughter) Arjen: (laughter) Well, he is a hippy dude from the 60s and once he made a song about how astronauts shit in space (great laughter). And this song is called “Intergalactic Laxity” and I did a cover version for fun. Just with an acoustic guitar, I sat in front of the mike and I thought: “What the hell?” and I started recording it. (laughter) The guys from Inside Out thought it was too strange and I told them to put it on as a hidden track. So, it’s the 7th track. And number 6 is “Spaced-Out” with different vocals. And then is “Starchild” and it has a prologic mix. But that’s already outdated because, nowadays, everybody is going on 5.1 or DTS, but it’s nice nevertheless. Kostas: You released STAR ONE with another label (Inside Out). Why was that? Aren’t you satisfied with Transmission Records anymore? Arjen: The moment I started working on the STAR ONE album I thought I wanted to do something different. I really felt like working with different people. I think I’ve already made about 10 albums for Transmission and I felt it was time to approach another company. And strangely enough, another company approached me. I went to a progressive festival or gig, and Inside Out came to me and said they knew I was doing an album and we’ll really like to have it. So, I invited them to my studio and they listened to it. And they loved it. Kostas: Of course they did! Arjen: Well, you never know (laughter). They heard it and they really loved it and they wanted to have it. I’m really glad I made this decision, because they are working great for me and have no problems. They do great promotion. The booklet is really expensive but they didn’t mind. So far it is going very well. Kostas: How did you came up with the idea of starting AYREON in the first place, making rock operas, something nobody had ever done before? Arjen: It was done in the 60s, the album “Jesus Christ Superstar” and I have always loved this album. Kostas: Yeah, but this wasn’t a full-time band. Arjen: No, it was like me. 2 guys, Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, one guy wrote the lyrics, one guy made the music with lots of guests musicians like DEEP PURPLE’s Ian Gillan and I was always so impressed by this album. It was such a great album. I’ve always wanted to do something like that. But then, I didn’t realize I could do it. I got to be in a hard rock band with a crazy singer throwing beer over his face and raping women on stage (laughter) and of course, that doesn’t allow you to do a rock opera or something serious. In VENGEANCE it was mostly all fun and rock ‘n’ roll on stage and the moment I stopped with VENGEANCE I felt I wanted to do my own thing. I want to do all the styles that I like. I like THE BEATLES, I like PINK FLOYD, I like EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER, I like URIAH HEEP, DEEP PURPLE and all this stuff. I want to throw all these influences with my own style and make an album, make it a rock opera, make my own story, with a lot of singers. Already when I was first working on this I was thinking that nobody would be interested in this. Who’s going to want to listen to all these styles? But I didn’t mind. I had made so many albums and I am not proud of any of them and want to be proud of one album. Kostas: You weren’t proud about any of them? Arjen: Certain songs. But definitely not whole albums. There is not one album before AYREON that I say: “Yeah, this album is great”. A certain songs are ok, but then there are silly songs like “Rock ‘n’ Roll Shower” or “She Is The Woman” (laughter), these really silly songs that you write for a live show. But there were some great songs in VENGEANCE like “Arabia”. But when I look back at the AYREON album I am 100% behind them. There is not one song or part that I think I should have done it differently, because that’s 100% me. And when you are in a band you are always compromising. You are compromising with the other musicians, you compromise to the record company, to the fans… And when I stopped compromising and started doing my own thing, strangely enough, people started being interested in me and I’m selling 10 times more than I did with VENGEANCE who toured the world for 9 years. And indeed, when I finished the AYREON album, no one was interested. All the record companies were like: “Hey man, go away! What? Progressive rock opera in the 90s? You must be crazy! We are listening to NIRVANA right here you know” (laughter), which is great too, I liked that too, but that’s another story. I thought it was great. It took me a year to get a record deal for AYREON but finally I got a record deal in Japan and there was some crazy guy in Holland who believed in it. To my amazement the album started selling. At first 2.000 then 4.000 and the 8 and then 12 and then 20 and then 30 and I was like: “HUH?! What’s happening?!” (laughter) I really didn’t understand. Kostas: So, is there anything you haven’t done and you would like to? Arjen: There are some musicians I would like to work with. And they are getting older and older so I should be quick or they’re dead (laughter). I would love to work with Ronnie James Dio for instance and Alice Cooper and David Gilmore. And I am just going to keep trying. Kostas: You are trying to get in contact with them and they don’t answer back or is it something else? Arjen: I have spoken to Dio and I gave him the album and he knew about me and he said he would love to do it and he gave me his email address. I have sent him 4 or 5 emails and in each email I offer him more money (laughter). Maybe that’s crazy because he’s waiting for another year and the price would go up. I haven’t heard from him back. And Alice Cooper is my childhood hero. I grew up with him and he is so funny, his lyrics are great and I had the chance to meet him a couple of times, but what do you say to this guy? “Hey, I’m a big fan, I have all your albums”. He hears that 10 times a day maybe. And I am so afraid that I would be disappointed. Imagine if he has a bad mood or something and say: “Hey, fuck off man, I’m busy”. But I had some journalists give him AYREON albums so I’m sure he knows about it but I haven’t heard from him yet. And David Gilmore, I actually spoke with him, because I interviewed him for a magazine and he’s clearly not interested. He was very polite and he took the album and said: “Yeah, I will listen to it” but I could see on his face that he is not anymore interested in music. Kostas: In music generally? Arjen: Yeah, because I asked him about a new PINK FLOYD album and he told me that he is working on songs now and then. So, I’m sure I’m not going to get David Gilmore. It’s not his kind of music. He hates prog. He said that if that puts him in a category with bands like YES or GENESIS, then he doesn’t want to be there (e.n.: isn’t he .already in such a category?:-|) Kostas: There is a story with you and Bruce Dickinson. Can you give me some info about that? Arjen: The STAR ONE album was originally going to be a Bruce Dickinson solo album. As you know, he sang on my last AYREON album, and he really loved that. He really loved the song and he wanted to work together. So he asked me whether we could do an album together. I was busy working on STAR ONE and I thought that maybe Bruce is interested, so I sent him the songs and he loved it. He said: “This is great! I want to make a concept album with you, which must be somewhere around the middle of HAWKWIND and DEEP PURPLE”. After listening to the songs he told he would start writing the lyrics for the first 4 songs. And then I couldn’t keep my mouth shut and I told a couple of fans about it. Well, the next day it was all over the Internet and Bruce’s manager got to read it and he was really angry. So he told me that it was very unprofessional of me to talk about it and he cancelled the whole project. Kostas: Why was it unprofessional? Everybody knows that musicians tend to write albums, so talking about a cooperation isn’t anything really bad. Instead it would be a good advertisement. Arjen: I think he had planned the whole year for Bruce. He has to do this with MAIDEN and then he will do this and then he will do that and so on. But the strange thing is that they never told me to keep it quiet. They never said: “Don’t talk about it”. What do you do if you are busy for half a year working on an album that Bruce is going to sing on it? You can’t keep quiet about that (laughter). Kostas: You are a workaholic? Arjen: Definitely! When I am on vacation, I miss my guitar. I could bring my guitar. We’ll see. Interview by Konstantinos “BattleRageR” Vasilakos

Ja sam ih gled'o na Sajmistu, turneja "Ujed za dusu". Nakon toga samo na grupnim svirkama. Npr. "30 godina R'n'R u YU", takodje na Sajmistu. Svirali su nekoliko pesama, medju kojima je "Kad sam bio mlad". U, jebote, vrhunske li stvari... K'o da nemaju stotinak boljih. A Dzindzerov solo i prelaz na "Kad padne noc", bili su isti tada i pet godina kasnije za srpsku Novu godinu na Trgu. Da, dopada mi se sto je "Prica o ljubavi..." bas gitaroski album. Do pre par godina nisam imao pojma da su K2 otpevale back vokale na toj ploci. Mada, ko je producent, nista neobicno. A potpisane su sa "Hammersmith sisters".

Bas sam na njega mislio, covek je visok dva metra. Ono "najveci" je Brankov fazon. A, sad, da se porede ti albumi, nema sanse. Razlog je jedan jedini. Rajko Kojic! Kako je taj umeo da nafiluje pesmu, pa to je haos. Sta se posle desilo? Dzindzer je odlican gitarista, ali kakav je kompozitor? Na "Istini" i Boze pomozi, ali vec sledeci album... "Jedan covek"! Sto je pesma, do moga. Cuturu, pa zatim Ilketa, necu ni da pominjem. Nisu zasluzili. Rajkov maxi "Ne budi me bez razloga" je pojam za sve sto je Corba radila tokom poslednjih 20 godina.Imam sve ploce zakljucno sa "Ujedom za dusu", mada je i to previse. Ono nakon toga ne bih uzeo u ruke ni pod pretnjom streljanjem. "Nisam komunista", "Hocu, majko, hocu...", pa one narodnjacke 1 i 2... Tragedija. Jebiga, opet sam poceo da se gubim, izvinjavam se.

A "najveci domaci rock novinar" ih je u "Rock Express"-u hvalio kako svaki novi album sve vise lici onima sa pocetka karijere.

Bas poeticno zvuci ona komunikacija sa publikom, na norveskom.

Upravo slusam "Live on Earth" CD, nakon duze pauze. Mnooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooogo mi se vise svidja od "Live in the Real World". Zbog izbora pesama, naravno.

Nemoj da brines, mogu!

U ponedeljak su ga bukvalno svi oko mene ispljuvali i jedva cekali da ode sa bine.