P.R trip to Brazil!

[R.J]

Wohoo...

Today I booked my trip to Sao Paolo and Curitiba in Brazil.
I will be there may 29 to june 11 to do interviews, spread the CD and meet up with drum manufacturer R.M.V and hopefully some more interresting biz contacts :Smokin:

My caretakers on this visit will be Heloisa Vidal of Brazil Music Press and Sergio Mazul from the band Semblant.

Hopefully I will have some internet access and tell Ya'll what's happening

 

[R.J]

"half" way there...at airport in Madrid with my friends San Miguel and Johnnie Walker, time is 21:00 CET flight to Sao Paulo is at 00:10 CET.

What else to do but get a bit drunk?

 

[R.J]

Aaaah!

Settled in at the Hotel, smack down in the middle of Sao Paulo

Tonight it's a pizza and beer party at some friends of Halo then we'll go to a metal pub

Tomorrow we'll go see a Pantera cover band, with members from the band Threat, clients of Halo as well. Maybe I'll do a song with them...who knows

More on that later...now shower, have a beer and relax for a bit...

 

[R.J]

Saturday 30/5:

Last night was a blast

We went to a bar called Blackmore in Sao Paulo and checked out 3 cover bands (they do have ALOT of cover bands over here, hehe).

1 was House Of Evil, King Diamond/Mercyful Fate covers. They did a really good job and the singer even had the makeup

2 was Rust In Beer, a Megadeth act...musically very good but singer sounded too good to be a Mustaine copy, hahaha...(I have a guitar pick from them, haha!)

3 was Electric Eye, a DAMN good Judas Priest act. They even pulled off Victim Of Changes...blew me away, singer was incredible...all my best to these guys

Today, as I said earlier, we go to a pub called Manifesto for a Pantera act, I'm invited to do a song with them of my choice...thinking about the fact that I'm gonna be drinking as well I might have a crack at Walk...hahaha...I know...it'¨s the easy way out but wtf??? No time to rehearse so :zombie:

We'll see...I'll let Ya'll know tomorrow how it went...or...maybe not...hahaha...

Now for some rest and listen in on some Pantera schtuff!

Saudé!



P.S
I'll put up some pics at our MySpace when I have energy

 

[R.J]

Sunday...another looong night out a a club last night...the Mefisto...very cool place.

I did get the offer to get up and do "Domination" with that Pantera cover act, Unscarred

So at about 4 am (local time, wich is CET -5) in front of a decent crowd I did my first "gig" in Brasil...hahaha

Just wish I had at least a little bit of time to rehearse it, like maybe once, hahaha :zombie:

But they did a great job and at least we all ended the song at the same time, and at that time the crowd was probably too drunk/tired to notice my "artistic liberties", hahaha...

So to the guys in Unscarred

Do caralho!
Obrigado!

The rest of the evening was nice, another Megadeth act played before Unscarred, this singer sounded more Dave-ish than the other night and then it was another mixed cover act that opened the evening...didn't really sound so good...

So, the "mandatory initial party days" are over, I think haha, and during the week I will visit RMV drums, meet up with Kiss FM radio, Roadie Crew magazine and some other magazines as well...work work work hahaha...

Too bad the weather sux, been like a cloudy swedish summer since I got here, hope for some sun so we can hit the beach at least one day

Oh...I almost forgot...the women here are very lovely...especially the "friendly" girls at the pub across the street from my hotel...hahaha...
A useful fraze would be:

"Não obrigada, eu sou sueco, não falo portugese"
(No thanks, I'm swedish, I don't speak portugese) hahaha

Then turn Your attention to the bartender and say "uma cerveja por favor" and MAYBE they'll leave You alone for about 5 minutes, hahaha

Anyway...hope to put up some photos soon, the connection here is a bit unstable so it hasn't worked so far...

Saudé!

 

[R.J]

Sunday was a rest and relaxation day at the hotel...

Didn't do ANYTHING, hahaha...

Had to get some good sleep and all that (I'm getting too old for this shit, haha)

Today monday is slow so far, sat out by the pool and had some beers, relaxing...now waiting for Halo...have no idea what she's planning today...

Well, well...as long as the sun is shining and I have beer I'm ok

 

[R.J]

Monday...another kinda slow day, went for a walk then Halo came and picked me up. We went to meet up with drummer, Edu and guitarist, Andre of Threat (Unscarred) for a few beers.
Funny place, we actually sat at a gas station drinking beer in the evening

Edu gave me some cool stuff, a Threat T-shirt, a CD and his own drumming DVD signed and dedicated.

"Obrigado" for that

Today (tuesday) I woke up late, think my body had a small fight with the Yellow fever vaccine...ack...feeling better now though...nasty shit that...

Will go hunt for food now while I wait for Halo to finish up some work, then we go and do some interviews...

Cheerio!

 

[R.J]

Tuesday didn't exactly turn out the way I planned...ack...that vaccine shit got back at me so we had to reschedule the interviews.

We just went out to eat and leave some of my pants at a tailor (they broke, again...) then just back to hotel and crawl down in bed and fight off the effects of the vaccine.

Today wednesday I feel better again and will go meet up with Roadie Crew Magazine. Tell Ya more about that later...

For now, I'm off...

 

[R.J]

Wednesday turned out good

I did something called "Blind Ear" with Roadie Crew Mag. i.e they had me listening to a bunch of songs and I was to say what band and make comments on each song, if I liked it or not and why etc. all the ppl at RCM was great, will meet them tonight again at the Top Link anniversary party Halo is hosting.
I know...the head band (Sisters Of Mercy) sucks but the party will be nice
I'm told members of Sepultura is gonna be there too

After the interview me and Halo went to a small neighbourhood pub close to her place, a really nice one that had aaaaaall kinds of beer...tried a french(!?!?) one call St Druon...came in a "champagne" bottle but tasted really good...will check if it is available at home

After that I got back to the hotel...went up the street and practiced my portugese on those friendly ladies I told Ya'll about earlier...damn...there are noooo other pubs on this street :zombie:

Anywhoooo, I had a copy of the CD on me that I gave the bartender, that resulted in him playing the whole thing and 3 of the friendly ladies were nice enough to striptease to it now that I can get used to....

Note to self: Hire strippers for our future shows

Applications may be sent to info@rebelcollective.se and tryouts will be held in our HQ bunker, payment in beer hahahahaaaaaaaaa

HEY! A man can always dream right????

Well...now off to shower, go hunt some food and then a taxi to Manifesto and the paaaaaarty!

 

[R.J]

Internet connection failiure...but now back up!

Thursday, the party!
It was the 20th anniversary party for Top Link (booking agency) here in Brazil.
They had two bands...one was a mix of invited musicians playing a bunch of groovy covers...enjoyable indeed. Second was Sisters Of Mercy...not my cup of tea at all...

Apart from that, they had free beer and nachos all night, can't go wrong with that

I met the guys from Roadie Crew magazine again, one of the Ricardo's made a spot with me on a TV show called "Stay Heavy" then I also did a spot on "Crash TV" and met up with Nuclear Blast South America so re. PR the night was very good indeed

The "Stay Heavy" spot included an interesting story...those of You that know where I come from also knows about the infamous "Fuck You I'm From Hell" shirts that were made back in the Fantasmagoria days...

Somehow that print turned up here some years later...

A friend of mine sent a picture asking "wtf is this doing in Brazil???"

Peter Grehn (Fantasmagoria/Morgana Lefay/Lady Die) did the original print by hand and of course we never copywrited it or anything...damnit...
In -99 we toured with Lefay as support for Nevermore in Europe, we all gave the N.M guys some shirts of course.
Years later N.M were coming to play in Brazil and the magazine Roadie Crew made a report, on the cover of that issue they used a picture of Warrel Dane at the Dynamo Festival.
He was wearing our shirt...
Following that, people over here started making copies by hand as they were going to the N.M show...thus the Roadie Crew mag thought it was a fun print so they also did a hand drawn print to put on a limited number of shirts.

So...that's how a marketing idea from a small Bollnäs Metal band ended up on a shirt from the biggest metal magazine in Brazil :zombie:

They were nice enough to give me one of their shirts


Also I got another invitation to play with a coverband at Manifesto today (saturday) but it's a Black Label Society act and I have nooo chance of rehearsing any song at all so I think I'll have to decline...heh...

Guess we'll go and check 'em out nevertheless...

 

[R.J]

Friday was another day of rest...

Thursdays party took alot of energy to be honest, hahaha...

I left at closingtime (03:00) and our poor pressagent Halo was doing production there so she got out at 06:00...no need to say we both needed rest

So, just a lazy day back at the hotel, interview with TV rock was moved to monday due to some re-arranging in their studio...

Come evening Halo invited me to join her at her cousins place for a nice dinner and some beer, they served fondue. It was a nice and soft evening.

Today (saturday) we might go to check out a mall that consists of four floors (!!!) of rock and metal only! How cool is that???

Then probably Club Manifesto in the evening, as previously stated...

For now, more relaxation...

Laaaaterz!

 

[R.J]

Saturday...Halo got hung up with other stuff so the "metal mall" will have to wait...

We went to Club Manifesto in the evening, checked out three more coverbands.

1. ZZ Top coveract, they were cool...had the beards and outfits and all but the drummer could have been better, not sure but I think he had a bit too much fun before the gig, heh...

2. Black Label Society Talibans(!) The most professional band of the evening, enjoyable indeed.

3. Genitallica (Metallica of course) hmm...well...maybe they had listened to some live shit by Metallica themselves...a bit sloppy to say the least...

Got back to hotel around 6 am so sunday will be a day of R&R again...hahaha...:zombie:

 

[R.J]

Sunday...R&R...hotelroom, boring weather, audiobook and movies

Waiting to hear from my friend Sergio, he's supposed to come to S.P to visit on monday.
The trip to Curitiba got cancelled because flightprices went ballistic...

Too bad but nothing we could do...

Ah, well...back to the book...

 

[R.J]

Monday...rapid changes...

I'll be jumping a bus to Curitiba tonight to meet up with Sergio there...geez...
my head feels like a tennisball...hahaha...well, at least I'll be out of Halos hair for a few days, she's been working hard for me, cannot thank her enough for all the fun and help

I will meet up with her again on thursday going to the airport.
One last service for obnoxious swedish drummer, hahaha...

Hopefully all goes well and I'll be having internet at the hotel in Curitiba so I can goof off in here some more before going home...if it's a good connection maybe I can even upload some pics...

Will also do some interviews and stuff in Curitiba courtesy of Sergio...

C-Ya'll from there...I guess...:zombie:

 

[R.J]

"tuesday"

Just arrived in Curitiba, 7 hrs on a bus...hmm...swedish long distance busses has got alot to learn...trip was actually nice, comfy seats and plenty of room...

Now settled at hotel, will catch some z's then we have a packed schedule for the rest of the tuesday...

Gnight Ya'll!

 

[R.J]

Still tuesday...long day this

Had a good day so far, went for lunch at a steakhouse, yummm...
Did interview with 91 ROCK wich is THE rock/metal radio in south Brazil.
Went sightseeing Curitiba and checked out Sergio's club Opera 1...really cool place...we will definetly play there

I got more gifts Semblant shirts andCD, CD's from Hillbilly Rawhide, Sacred Death, Noxeterna, 2 Curitiba souvenir shirts, fridge magnets, 2 bottles of wine, 2 bottles of Cachaca (brazilian schnaps) this in addition to what I got from Halo earlier, Queensryche CD's/DVD's, Bang Your Head DVD (with lil' ol' me on it, hehe) Special Iron Maiden Crew shirt, a Garfield mascot, Evans shirt, the Roadie Crew "Fuck You..." shirt and magz, will make me get another bag to get it all home

Tonight we head off to a pub too meet up with some friends of Sergio for dinner and beers. Will also meet the promotor of "Psycho Carneval", Vlad from Sick Sick Sinners, it's THE psycho/rockabilly fest in Brazil, takes place in february.
They invited Punchdrunk Armadillos, a small project involving me, Cletus and friends of ours...we'll give You more info on that later
Basically a short vacation with a gig

Well...now off again...saudé!

 

[R.J]

Wednesday...

Yesterday evening was cool, we had a good talk with Vlad about maybe bringing Punchdrunk Armadillos over here too for that "Psycho Carneval" we'll talk more, we have plenty of time for that...then we met up with Bruno, a friend of Sergio for a late dinner...the best meat sandwich EVER! Waldo's was the place

Today is the last day in Curitiba, sad but true, we have some more interviews to do and we'll go check out some more of the city...
In the evening Sergio has an event at Opera 1, it's called "Hard Fuckin' Fest" and there will be 5 coverbands playing stuff from bands such as
Kiss, Mr.Big, Guns n' Roses, Twisted Sister, Vixen, Ratt, Great White, Whitesnake, Scorpions, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Europe, Skidrow, Cinderella, Motley Crue and Poison among some others...
A night of "back-to-the-80's-hairmetal" so to speak, hahaha...will probably be alot of fun.

We'll see if Sergio and I will join up with some band to have some fun too...

For now I'm off to get ready before Sergio picks me up...

Laaaterzzz!

 

[R.J]

Saturday...

Returned home yesterday, friday around 17:00 CET after about 30hrs travelling (including 8hrs bus from Curitiba to São Paulo directly after the party on wed. night...) I "died" at around 20:00 here and I just woke up now at 15:00...hahaha...

Final night in Curitiba was excellent, party was fun fun fun...girls dancing on the bar and the bands were all quite good

Still a bit worn out from travel so I'll upload pictures a bit later...

I can't thank Halo enough for all the help during my stay in São Paulo and to my friend Sergio in Curitiba, huge thanks and too bad about the short time...
Next time I hope all of us in the band will be there to do some shows and stay a bit longer

Well...now Haze sent a text inviting me for beer and BBQ...damn...can't really turn that down so...I'm off!

I'm in love with Brazil!
Hope to be back soooooon!

 

[R.J]

My final thoughts on this trip...

Again...

I am in awe...

The hospitality, the friendship, the experiences, the people...

How...to find words...

I'm just so happy that I had the chance and opportunity...

Missed out on the visit to R.M.V and TV Rock due to the rapid changes of "plans" but there will be another day...

All things considered it was a productive and fun trip.

Emptiness is a word stuck in my mind as leaving...

I miss Ya'll!

 

[R.J]

Ah!

Finally got some pictures up.

They are available for Your viewing pleasure at

http://www.myspace.com/rebelcollective

And if You haven't added us yet...DO IT!