So, once again we have reached the last day of the year, a year which for me meant a lot of changes in my concert line-up, so at least I got to perform with many different people. Let's see what 2016 will bring in this respect. The past few days I started work on a new song, recording tracks, hour by hour, though I think it will be a little while yet before the work is done. We shall see, we shall see.
2015 was the year when politicians here started talking in public about bombing Muslim civilians in Syria and taking wedding rings from refugees when they arrive here, and I live in Denmark, supposedly one of the richest nations in the world. Just goes to show that money doesn't buy you neither happiness nor integrity, morals or just simple common sense, and that good old William was right when assuming something is rotten in the state of Denmark. I find it very hard to understand this level of intolerance and I find fear-mongering downright disgusting. Which is why, despite obvious idiocy, I don't fear the new year. We may be older but no wiser, as the song goes, but there is a story of Laurie Anderson doing an interview with John Cage and, after some beating around the bush, she asked him if things are getting better or worse, to which Cage replied things are getting better, it just happens so slowly, so we do not notice. There's a Yoda moment for you. And after all, having grown up in the shadow of the Berlin Wall and the threat of all-out nuclear holocaust, maybe it's reassuring people are, after all, just shooting off New Year's rockets. What I'm trying to say - get rid of the fear and we'll be rid of intolerance. Then perhaps we can move on to other urgent issues like finding a cure for cancer or taking sustainable energy to the next level.
Concerts kept me busy the past months and more so than usually since I've been working with new live constellations which meant a lot of extra work, basically, starting off with Nakkefestival's twentieth anniversary, performing alongside electronica band 180°Virvar, bringing Giedo Primo on synths and Swedes Andreas Innocentius Wandegren and Sandy Lamashtu Mattsson of Morlocks on synth and guitar and guest vocals respectively. The concert itself proved a bit of a challenge due to somewhat interesting weather conditions - they had to cut power on our big stage for safety reasons before we began setting up our gear and just a minute or two later lightning struck the other stage, frying a few lamps. During the concert we - and our synthesizers - had to dodge occasional drops of water slipping through the stage roof, well, that and a hole in the floor. What they call rock'n'roll, I take it. Yet lots of people showed up and the rain even stopped - sort of - so we were rather fortunate and grateful.
For the next concerts, including Golem Night at Studenterhuset in Odense for Spoken Word Festival, alongside horror writers from H. Harksen Productions, and then our outdoor performance to mark the combined forty years anniversary of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Odense International Film Festival, I brought a brand new team consisting of Mie Jakobsen on synth and Kathrine Rasmussen on cello which was lots of fun. A concert at Deep in Malmö early autumn saw The Quartermaster and Andreas Innocentius Wandegren back on bass and synth/guitar, then back to Mie Jakobsen and Kathrine Rasmussen again for Tribute Halloween in Copenhagen, together with Neotek, Neoh, and Modern Boys, focusing on Halloween and horror-themed material such as the Rocky Horror renditions again, my book soundtrack Pix, and the first live performance of my Goblin rendition, Suspiria. Another concert in Copenhagen followed, alongside electronica acts Nattefrost and Electric Enemy, on the day of the sad terrorist attacks in Paris, the whole thing slightly surreal since we were playing Krudttønden, a venue which, earlier this year, was attacked by a terrorist - while we were busy performing alongside The Frozen Autumn at Klubb Död in Stockholm. Then the annual Klub Golem concert for our nine years anniversary, together with French post-punk duo Kas Product, before rounding off the concert year 2015 with a gig at Studenterhuset here in Odense, bringing Miss Black and Miss White aka Lærke Kruse on bass and Mie Jakobsen on synth. This time even with a new and reliable smoke machine - nothing will stop us now!
So, we're but two months into 2015 and so far Edgar Froese of Tangerine Dream, Steve Strange of Visage, and Mr. Spock himself, Leonard Nimoy, have died. And just a couple of days ago I witnessed, with my very own eyes - if only you could see what I have seen with your eyes - Kraftwerk live make a major fuck-up during Radioaktivität. Nothing is certain and the future looks like an endangered species these days.
Speaking of nothing is certain, I was in Stockholm doing a concert together with Italian The Frozen Autumn at Klub Dödd when we received news of the terror attacks in Copenhagen. Extra surreal that the concert venue Krudttønden, of all places, was attacked, a venue I have played and where I have a concert coming up again later this year. We'd had a busy weekend, Golem Friday and then straight to Stockholm, no sleep on my part, Saturday, arriving at the venue at the same time as Alison Moyet of Yazoo fame, who was doing a concert there as well. So we had a little chat and yours truly had to write autographs and pose for photos - I suspect Moyet's fans must have thought I was some leftover eighties phenomenon. All in all a weekend of ups and downs, Steve Strange passing and the terror killings in Copenhagen mixed with wonderful concert evenings in both Odense and Stockholm, meeting new friends. The Klub Dödd Swedes were very kind and we had a great time there, and also The Frozen Autumn turned out to be very lovely people, albeit with somewhat strange hotel habits.