6/2/12: Gothenburg, Sweden. Fucking Epic!!!
Back in ’08 I think it was, a group of travelers showed up at my house that were friends of an old roommate I lived with in Berkeley, CA. They were from the Gothenburg/Malmo/Stockholm areas in Sweden. I was immediately charmed by their genuine good nature and their interest in my housemates and our ways of life. Ever since our meeting up, we have had a connection that is constantly evolving. At my house, we have the Swedish connection that is enriching our way of life for all parties involved. Obviously, one aspect is our mutual interests in hardcore/punk/metal. Vicious Irene from Gothenburg stayed at my place for a while and had a mini tour in the Bay Area, and it was kick ass to have them play and hang out with us. An all-female hardcore band, Vicious Irene have been rocking it, at least to my knowledge, for about three or four years, and have different side projects happening now. The drummer, Maria, is in a band called Contorture with the brutal vocalist for Agrimonia, and we play with them tonight!
When Agrimonia played in Berkeley/Oakland, I was blown away by their unique crushing music, and wished at the time that Embers could play with them, and my dream came true and even better than I dreamed of! When Embers decided to tour in Europe this time, I emailed Claudio from Iconoclast records and asked if we could play with them, and he made it happen!
We played in a rehearsal studio / show place that bands rent from the city. It was a relatively small, intimate space with equally intimate locals, in the way that they treated us so fucking well! They had a DIY dollhouse with a crate of records in it, the smallest crate ever with 1″ metal LPs in it.
We hauled all of our gear, backpacks and Iconoclast’s vast record and T-shirt distribution up 6 flights of stairs, we had some deeelish grub and grog, and soon afterwards the show started off with this amazing Swedish d-beat crust band, Insidious Process. Frida, the vocalist, really stood out to me. Her blood-curdling vocals really made the hair on the back of my head and neck stand up, and she commanded your attention with the pummeling hardcore as her wings and her graceful, martial movements and all up in your face screaming! UGGHH! Agrimonia played next, and if you’re familiar with their intense crust metal, seeing them live brings you so much closer to their dark contemplative wicked spellbound epicness! Playing after them could have felt intimidating, however it was actually uplifting and gave me inspirational strength to play our set. Our audience refused to let us walk away without playing more than our set list, and they got what they wanted!
We had to get up at fucking 7 am after crashing at 2am and when we got up, Frida and Kalle were there to make breakfast and helped to drag all of our crap back down to the parking lot. They were above and beyond, so much repect to them!
It was an honor to be among the Gothenburg people and their music. One thing that I have learned about them, besides their obvious passion for their music, is that they have heart and soul that makes me feel connected like family! Also, I see there an active presence of strong woman in the scene, and it’s so vital to make this happen. So much respect goes out to the Gothenburg crew! May our paths cross many times in the near future…
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