During my 5 days spent at Seb and Nikki’s place in Nuremberg, I didn’t do very much except reply to some e-mails, drink some good local brews and cook good food. These guys have the best kitchen ever, and I totally took advantage of it! I made them a Canadian stew with dumplings, which is something I’ve been eating regularly since I was a kid. It’s basically a carrot/potatoe/beef/onion stew that you cook slowly for a few hours, and at the end, you spoon in some uncooked dough that cooks directly into the stew. The result is this:
Sweet, sweet stew!
We had a good time with Bobby the dog also, he’s so great. I know I have posted photos of him before on this blog, but this one is pretty cute haha:
Count Bobby! He has total natural SARCOFAGO/MAYHEM-style corpse paint!
The whole point of coming back to Germany was because I wanted to go to Hell’s Pleasure, which is a small festival held in Possneck – kind of close to Berlin, but more to the east. I’ve been hearing for years about this extreme metal fest, and finally I was able to go this year before coming back to Montreal. I heard many people complain about the line-up this year, but I sincerely thing it was amazing; MORTUARY DRAPE, ANGEL WITCH, THE SKULL (ex-TROUBLE), MIDNIGHT, PROCESSION, SONNE ADAM, MORBUS CHRON, PROCLAMATION, AURA NOIR, SOLSTICE, MIASMAL, NECROWRETCH, UNHOLY, etc… A perfect mix of Heavy Metal, Doom, Black and Death! Really, I think this festival was created for me. It certainly is a reflection of my tastes!
For the first time this summer I did some camping, with some borrowed equipment from Seb and Nikki. My friend Martin from Canada was there, and also let me crash in his tent! (And so did two Romanian buddies when I couldn’t find Martin the first night, haha.) Thanks to you guys I had a killer experience. I think that camping at a festival is a million times better than sleeping in a hotel room. You can put all your newly bought acquisitions, and you can go take a nap if you need to recharge your batteries. It’s really great!
You know what else is great? You can drink beer in cars in Germany. So, on Thursday (the first day of the festival), I did my pre-drinking in Nikki’s car – and was feeling pretty good by the time I arrived at the festival ground, three hours later.
Drinking in cars rule! On top of it, whenever you stop for gas you can go pee and buy more cold beers. It’s like a traveling bar!
Unfortunately, we arrived pretty late on the first/warm up day of the festival. We got to see only half of the headlining band; MORTUARY DRAPE. We actually got lucky to catch them at all because their drummer left them only a week ago!!! They were doing the gig with a session drummer, and he really sounded good. What luck! Anyway, it was amazing to hear them play songs like “Vengeance from Beyond”, which I never thought I would witness one day. So evil, so cryptic, so Italian! It was just what I needed!
MORTUARY DRAPE in Hell’s Pleasure!
Myself with Nikki, Alex (Nikki’s boyfriend), Romanian guys, Danish and Swedish guys then partied until the sun rose… I don’t know what time we went to bed at, but I do know that I woke up with a massive bangover… pretty stupid huh, the festival is just starting. I was dehydrated as hell and was already looking like a mess. I wasn’t alone, really…
German bangovers! hehe
Cool Army van with a great MASTERS’ HAMMER flag! I still need that one!
Some drunken French dude and her friend trying his pulse haha
The first band on Saturday was Irish Death Metal newcomers ZOM! We were actually supposed to catch them playing a basement show in Dublin’s Into the Void records, but it got cancelled. So, here was my second chance! The played a surprisingly morbid set – playing horror-movie style intros for each of their songs, and incorporating them with their riffs. What I really enjoyed from them is their drummer… he was really inventive in the way he played. They just reeked of freshness! Haha! Really a great band to open the festival. I bought their demo from Iron Bonehead records, can’t wait to listen to it!
ZOM guitarist and drummer
ZOM bassist!
In between each band, I ran to the tent area to drink some cheap warm beer. I ended up doing that pretty much the whole festival! I even had a mini keg full of Czech beer, but I don’t know if we fucked it up or something – it was spraying super fast and had no bubbles! In any case, we still tried drinking a bit from it. It tasted like warm beer juice…
Andrei and Radu, my two kickass Romanian friends trying to drink from the evil Czech keg!
Next band I saw was KETZER from Germany, which play possessed Black/Thrash. They were really good and really did a ripping set, but their riffs and song structures was perhaps not original enough for my liking. Nevertheless, what they played – they played with perfection.
Ketzer! They had a really cool red fire effect going on. FIRE!
Next band was VANDERBUYST from the Netherlands. I had missed them both at KEEP IT TRUE and MUSKELROCK, but was determined not to miss them this time! I later kicked myself because I arrived only half-way through their set… and they played some really incredible JUDAS PRIEST/THIN LIZZY style Heavy Metal!
Totally late 70’s/early 80’s style metal heroes VANDERBUYST!
Coming up next was a band I’ve been looking forward to see for years… PROCESSION!! They have certainly been one of my favourite new doom metal bands in the last years, and I have followed them eagerly since their “Burn” demo (when the band was still 100% Chilean). The vocalist/guitarist and main song writer Felipe Plaza relocated to Sweden a couple years ago, where he now plays with local members. I thought their set was really great – but their bassist (which I later found out was a session bassist for this gig) was totally drunk and acting totally careless… he poured blood all over himself and half the notes he played live were wrong! It did sour the feeling of the whole band live, but I still really enjoyed their set. It was so nice to finally hear them live! Felipe has such great vocals, they totally gave me shivers throughout their gig… They also played a new song, which really kicked my ass. I can’t remember the title, I’m sorry!
PROCESSION!
Their session bassist… notice all the different types of booze he was drinking at the left haha
After them were a relatively new Israeli band called SONNE ADAM. They have actually just signed to Century Media and set to tour with legendary Death Metal band GRAVE but apparently this was their last show with the present line-up! Their excellent vocalist has decided to quit the band as they were getting too big! It’s really too bad, as they were truly brilliant. Actually, I discovered them only this summer while doing record shopping in Germany, but was instantly hooked on their dark and morbid Black/Doom sound (which is quite similar to NECROS CHRISTOS, but without the oriental ). The set was completely evil, and truly mirrored their studio recording. Check them out if you haven’t yet…
Sonne Adam at Hell’s Pleasure
Martin (my Canadian friend) with a totally serious face! This guy is super awesome, I’ve known him for more than 10 years, and we actually come from the same region. (Outaouais valley!)
Barry from Dublin and Maya from Berlin, both looking extremely happy haha
Sun was starting to set a little… next band are the famous Norwegian Black/Thrashers AURA NOIR! It’s funny, I expected them to look like NIFELHEIM or something, but they looked quite plain for what they play haha! Doesn’t really matter anyway, their set was totally fucking great! They played a lot of earlier stuff, which is their best material in my opinion.
AURA NOIR!
View of the crowd and stage with AURA NOIR playing, and the sun setting…
Some metalheads hanging out! The whole place had such a great atmosphere!
As I walked around inside the beer tent to look at band merchandise, I ended up meeting my good friend Jamie/Athenar from MIDNIGHT! I haven’t seen him for something like two years, so it was fun hanging out with him. It was nice to talk to an American too after months of being in South America, Asia and Europe! Haha! He had to go backstage to grab some MIDNIGHT tapes so I followed him, and we ended up meeting Ron Holzner who plays in THE SKULL (and was the original TROUBLE bassist)… he now plays in Chigaco doom metal band EARTHEN GRAVE. Both Athenar and Ron contributed recipes to my cookbook, so it was really cool meeting them at the same time! Ron was super awesome and down to earth, it felt really good talking to him. We were all extremely EXTREMELY excited to see the next band… ANGEL WITCH!
Athenar, myself and Ron! Two great guys and killer musicians! I look like an idiot here, but I was beyond excited for the next band.
So, together, we went in the crowd to watch ANGEL WITCH. They were absolutely mind fucking blowing, seriously, I never thought I had one day the chance to see them! They started with a song off their new album, and then played the whole S/T… Hearing songs like “Confused”, “Sorcerers”, “Baphomet” (!!!!!!!), “Atlantis”, “White Witch”, “Devil’s Tower” (!!!) and of course, “Angel Witch” was totally out of this world. They were totally amazing, and sounded just like on old recordings (ok, except for really high notes that Kevin can’t reach anymore!!!) Halfway through the set, Ron pulled me to the back of the crowd and introduced me to the rest of THE SKULL, including Eric Wagner! So, together, we sung ANGEL WITCH lyrics and headbanged our heads off. Arghhh!!
ANGEL WITCH!!!
Solo time! Those evil guitar harmonies pumped the blood in my veins…
Another photo! Myself with Ron and Eric, the voice of TROUBLE!
Afterwards was UFOMAMMUTH from Italy, which I kind of missed by talking to people here and there… they did sound really great from where I was standing though! When they finished playing, there was a big party at the beer tent, and everywhere gathered there. It was really fun, but I was starting to feel pretty tired so I didn’t go to bed too too late. I did have some time to party anyway…
Party tent! Look at all that garbage on the floor, arghh!
A drunken photo of my friend Seb as well as Luke (a funny as hell half Australian/half French bastard!!)
Next day, on Saturday Morning, I woke up fresh as a flower in Martin’s tent. We went record shopping, had some deep-fried vegetarian schnitzels (the only way we could eat vegetables was with that!) and then went off to watch the first band of the day…
MIASMAL! These Swedish bastards have been around for a few years now, and have kicked my ass since the release of their self-titled EP. They were excellent live, and delivered some high-quality old-style Death Metal with tons of nice d-beats and total morbid riffing. I really enjoyed them!
Martin and our vegetable schnitzels and hot beers!
Miasmal guitarists
Miasmal bassist and drummer!
Cool totally ripped up and abused SAXON backpatch
Next band was Swedish Heavy/Rock band HORIZONT, which I missed due to doing a bit of socializing again. It’s hard to be there for every band, all day long! I also went for a little 15-minute power nap, during ASSAULTER, arghhh! I went to hang out with some friends, and among them was Daniel from Norwegian speed metal band DEATH HAMMER. He was so funny and wasted, he kept on listening to his portable tape deck with a mix tape in it. At some point, he dropped it on the floor and it broke, and then he fixed it and was happy as ever.
Daniel, doing as close as possible as a smile! That guy was so happy to see me. He saw CAUCHEMAR twice before our on tour, although he doesn’t speak French, he knows the chorus to “Les Ailes de la Mort” perfectly!
Coming up was Swedish Death Metallers MORBUS CHRON, which I again discovered this summer, through Jerry’s label, DETEST RECORDS. The band was a total revelation, and set me straight through hell and back! They had a very original sound, while still being totally old-style cryptic doomy Death Metal, a bit like AUTOPSY. The vocalist especially was totally fucking twisted, he had a total look of disgust, but at the same time was smiling… he reminded me of Dead (ex-MORBID/MAYHEM) for some reason…
Morbus Chron, one of the best bands of the festival!
Morbus Chron vocalist!!!
Next band I saw after that was PROCLAMATION from Spain. They play total bestial Black/Death Metal, in the vein of Canadian masters BLASPHEMY and REVENGE. They were really great live, I banged my head frenetically to their violent beats and insane chaotic riffing. The band looked very cool as well! So many spikes, arghhh!
PROCLAMATION at Hell’s Pleasure!
Possessed by Black/Death!
Afterwards was NECROWRETCH, a killer Death Metal band from France. In fact, Flo, the vocalist/guitarist of SANCTUAIRE is their bassist! He is the one that had organized our gig in Lyon! They were recently signed on Century Media, and had a really demented, totally sick approach. The vocalist, especially, sounded totally insane! I love the extreme reverb he uses on his vocals. Being from France also adds a little something different to the band, they sound old-school but not necessarily Swedish-sounding or anything. A killer band, and a great performance!
Necrowretch from France!!!
Afterwards was Epic Heavy Metal band SOLSTICE from England. To be honest, I was never a huge SOLSTICE fan but I do really enjoy their 1998 record “Dark New Age”, and they incidentally played quite a few songs from there including the amazing “Cimmerian Codex”… their stage performance was not the best and they were a bit static, but I did enjoy them quite a lot anyway. Not a huge fan of the new vocalist though!
Solstice!
My Swedish friend had a weird ruler that would turn into a star when you hit on it…
The festival toilets! The dude that was in the toilet was totally fucking drunk. It was so funny, poor guy, he fell on the ground and took about five minutes to get up… (he looked like a new born animal trying to walk for the first time) and then fell again! The girls had to help him pee I think. It was quite entertaining to see haha
The night was just getting better and better… up next, is one of my favourite bands in the world, US sleezy rock’n’roll Motörhead/Venom worshippers MIDNIGHT!!!! They are a band I have been venerating for a long time now, since I discovered their album released by Outlaw Recordings in 2005… This is the third time I see them, and they were by far better than the other times… although their early gig was quite legendary – with girls dancing and a huge inverted cross burning on stage!!! Anyway, they were really amazing, and the crowd was totally, totally wild for them. They did quite a few songs from their new album (released on HHR) as well as off their mini LP and earlier stuff. “Satanic Royalty”, “All Hail Hell”, “Unholy and Rotten”, “I Am Violator”, “Long Live Death”, “Black Rock’n’Roll”, “You Can’t Stop Steel” were played, and they even dedicated “Endless Slut” to me!!! Haha. I think they changed it to “Endless (Married) Slut” while saying the song title though. Ahahaha!!! It was too great. They were definitely the best band of the festival for me.
Athenar and Joel from MIDNIGHT! My friend Joel (ex-RAMMER) is playing guitar for the band now, I had no idea he was in the band permanently now. It was so fun seeing him as well!
Joel!
Like last time I saw them, Athenar lit his bass on fire…
And proceeded to smash it to pieces! YES!!!!!!!
Next band was THE SKULL, who consisted (if you read earlier) of Ron Holzner and Eric Wagner of TROUBLE, as well as back-up members. They were really on fire, and seriously, if you would have closed your eyes – you could think that all three early TROUBLE records were spinning live right in front of you. It sounded EXACTLY the same, the same dual guitars, the same voice (although Eric was chainsmoking the whole time!!!!!!!), the same bass patterns… it was absolutely fantastic to see them live. I definitely became a bigger fan after seeing their show!!! I had shivers throughout my body while watching them. It’s crazy how a band with religious lyrics can sound so goddamn MEAN!!! I’d love to see them again, perhaps in Montreal one day hehe
Eric and one of THE SKULL guitarists
Ron totally rocking out!
Chainsmoking Eric Wagner
Run to the Light!!!
After that, I met my friend Ronald From HORRIBLE EYES zine and we went to have some smoked sausages and beers, then went to see UNHOLY from Finland, the last band of the festival. I wasn’t familiar at all with their music, but was absolutely blown away. They played a really strange and doomy form of Black Metal, total Finnish style. They even wore strange hats, that actually kind of really fitted their sound! They really sucked me into their trance-like sound… I will be checking out their records for sure. A great way to finish the festival!!!
UNHOLY!
A shitty photo of myself and Ronald
The final after-party was then held at the beer tent, with DJing from DJ HIGH VOLTAGE. The music was pretty good, they played alot of good stuff, but no JUDAS PRIEST – arghhh! It was fun though, everyone was really drunk and excited about the killer weekend of pure metal…
Felipe from PROCESSION, Alex from BLACK OATH and Ustu from DENIAL OF GOD at the after-party! So much fun, arghhh
Some guy and Marcelo (Evil Spirit/Voces of Ultratumba prods) sandwiching a poor drunken Ustu haha
As the night went on, I noticed the crowd was thinning in the tent… until there was only a few of us, maniacs left! We ended up not sleeping at all, as by the time I figured out what time it was, it was already 8AM! The sun was up already, and so I tried to find some friends to have more beers with…
The stage at sunrise with a lone maniac on the right
Some guys that were totally still headbanging at around 8 AM!!!
I finally found the Irish quarters where all my Irish friends were installed with their tents. They were already awake and I think they were still pretty drunk. I offered some peanut butter sandwiches to my friends, but only Lorcan accepted it. He also accepted that I cover him with Seb’s beautiful purple blanket. The result was pretty funny:
Lorcan eating a peanut butter sandwich!
He then made me a sandwich with mayonnaise and something else, I don’t really remember. As you can tell by the following photo, I was pretty screwed up haha
NORTHERN SANDWICH ASSAULT!
I didn’t want to, but the party was definitely over… I just had to go and find Seb (my ride), and head back to Nuremberg with him…
People preparing to leave
Drunken guy still sleeping around 11AM. I found this quite funny because there was a bunch of old steaks that were bbq’ed from the night before, but not eaten yet… hahaha
After finding Seb, we rode back to Nuremberg, I finally took a shower (never had hair that dirty before, they felt like dusty straw!!) and then took a night bus to Paris. Over there, I met François, who came back from his 200 km Compostelle walk (in the South of France), and we had a big, well deserved nap at our friend’s Paulin’s place. In the evening, we went out to a restaurant and both had our last supper…
Our last supper at a downtown Paris bistro. I had Steak Tartare (raw beef!) and François had Daurade (white fish). The tartare was actually not that good, but the fries were absolutely DELICIOUS!!!
We then met up with my good friend Nagawika and had a few beers in the 19ième arrondissement (a Paris neighbourhood) while watching the moon disappear in a beautiful Paris cityscape…
Paulin, Nagawika, Annick and François!
Paris cityscape…
I am now in the airplane on the way back to Montreal! It’s been one hell of a ride, and although I am a bit sad this is over (and sad to leave all the friends I made in Europe and elsewhere), I am incredibly happy to see my family, friends and country again. Oh yeah, and I can’t wait to go home and listen to all of my records and start my whole life over! François is starting his job TOMORROW (!!), the day after we arrive in Montreal, and I will be off for three weeks to do some job searching, portfolio building and other stuff. To those who have followed us on our wild trip – the blog is not over yet… we will update you in a few of weeks with a little bit about our crazy life back in Canada, and how it is coping with normal life again, haha! You have all seen so many cool places around the world, I have of course to show you where we are from…
Paris to Montreal flight!
Until then, thank you to all that I have met… I will miss you so much. Please come and visit us sometime in Montreal!!!!
We arrived a few days earlier to Nakntes, which is located only a few kilometers away from Clisson (the site where Hellfest festival was going to take place for three days). Consequently, we had some time to visit a little, and do a few touristic things. Actually, we were living quite far from the center (all the cheap hotels in the area were already rented out!) so we only visited two things; the Ducs de Bretagne castle, as well as the huge central cathedral. The castle itself was nicely built in a renaissance style (I think?), but like usual – we didn’t visit the inside because it was too expensive. I still prefer old ruined medieval castles though, they have seen much more action, hehe
The outside of the Ducs de Bretagne castle. I love how they still kept the water around it!
Architecture of the castle
The cathedral itself is really huge, and was partially rebuilt a few decades ago due to a big fire destroying a big chunk of it. Luckily, its most interesting part remained… the tomb of François II, the last duke of Brittany, which features some alchemical symbols and carvings. France is cool for that, you can find symbolism hidden in many large cathedrals – including Notre Dame de Paris…
The tomb of François II
We then walked around a little… all there was really, in the center, were shops and restaurants. I did eat a really nice raspberry flavoured meringue and was tempted by another kouing amann (see previous post!) but that’s it!
The streets of Nantes
On Friday, we went straight to our guesthouse (ran by two lovely people) and then to the festival site. Our hosts were really friendly, and made a killer filling breakfast everyday!
A nice filling breakfast before a day of metal is very appreciated hehe
So anyway, our arrival at the site was pretty crazy. I’ve never experienced such a HUGE festival (112 000 people in three days) and there were metal fans and “metal cars” everywhere. Cars with band logos and graffitis, empty beers everywhere. We even spotted a guy that was completely dead drunk, and that was on the first day – at about 3PM!!!
The entrance to the site! You don’t see it very well, but the middle pillar said “Welcome to Hell” hehe
A dead drunk guy in a very lethargic pose, right in the middle of the afternoon
Right when I stepped in the festival site, I met my friend Seb – who was at our Marseille gig a few weeks earlier. He brought me a copy of SCANDANAVIAN METAL ATTACK 1 compilation, which I’ve been looking for, for a long time! He also gave me some cool old magazines as well as an ENFER mag patch!!! Killer!
Myself and Seb with my new score! Thank you Seb!
Hellfest also had a GIANT metal market, which had two really killer stalls selling cheap second hand vinyl… I went a bit crazy there, and bought almost an entire section of really good and hard to find 80’s French metal LP’s – as well as some other goodies haha
OK, half of these are not that rare, but it is still a really killer haul I think! I just wish I could listen to them arghh
Other Hellfest goodies! I even found Dying Embrace (India)’s 7″!!
First band I saw was Discharge, who I saw from the distance and didn’t pay that much attention sadly, because I was talking to a few friends from Canada that I haven’t seen in a long time. All I remember hearing was “It’s No TV Sketch” and “Society’s Victim”. Ahh well. Next band I saw was GBH, which were really fucking great!!! I never realized that much before, but hearing them live – I couldn’t believe how much VOÏVOD took influence from them for their early material!!! I was really excited when they played “City Baby Attacked By Rats”… I was even able to take a few photos from up close:
Colin Abrahall, GBH vocalist
I then saw Bill from AMULET hanging out, and took a photo of him. Don’t know what he was doing haha… check out his insane KING DIAMOND shirt!!
Bill of Amulet
In the evening, the site of Hellfest really took life. All the structures were randomly spitting fire, and there were cool light effects everywhere…
A part of the Hellfest site. The black containers you see on the right were Hellfest merchandise booths… I never saw so much merch for an event. They were selling everything from belts to glasses! Weird! (And yeah, it was raining pretty bad all day)
We even spotted Obélix!
In the evening, we went to see MEGADETH. It was the second time that I got to see them, and I didn’t really get into their show this time… really, I was just getting warmed up for the day’s ultimate band… KING DIAMOND!!!!!
Megadeth! Check out those amps! Most likely all empty inside hehe
Seeing KING DIAMOND was one hell of an event. He was only playing two gigs – Hellfest and Sweden Rock, so we were incredibly lucky to be able to see this one. It was truly incredible – everything from the stage decorations, to the acting and light effects were perfect. And what can I say about King’s voice… it was absolutely perfect. He quit smoking a few years ago, and he even surprised himself on how well he could sing apparently, haha!
At first, the stage had a big black gate, which eventually opened. At the far right is a girl who was doing really evil harmonies with King Diamond!!
It was raining quite a long during the set, but it just added more to the atmosphere… and it rinsed off the nasty sweat off of our hair hahaha
The rain during King’s set
They played some well known material, but also some very obscure stuff! They only did one MERCYFUL FATE song, “Come to the Sabbat”, but that’s alright. Some of the songs played were “The Family Ghost”, “Sleepless Nights”, “The Candle”, and “Black Horsemen” (as the encore!!)
KING! Isn’t that the coolest and most impressive stage decoration you’ve ever seen???
Hell yes!
We got home at about 4AM that night… all the taxis were taken so we ended up hitchhiking our way back to the village and then walking 3 kilometres to our guesthouse, in pitch black darkness. It felt like a zombie movie or something. I can just assure you that we slept like babies (baby zombies?) hahaha
The following day, we arrived just in time at the site to see one of my favourite recent bands, NECROS CHRISTOS, who right away put me in a trance (and sometimes in a headbanging frenzy!)…
Necros Christos! Check out that huge cross on the ceiling!!
Their set started with some Indian inspired music, which set the mood for the ritual. The sound wasn’t the best (the bass was quite loud from where I was standing) but I still recognized the songs very well. They played “Doom of Kali Ma”, “Impure Burials Prevail” and “Black Mass Desecration” among many others, and cut the set in two with an invigorating oriental-style piece. Really a killer band – I would love to see them in a small stage!
The crowd
Necros Christos, again
Total change of atmosphere… the next band was none other than URIAH HEEP. We were quite excited for them, and they played classics after classics! “Sunrise”, “Gypsy” and “Easy Livin'” were played – as well as newer stuff. In fact, they played a song called “Into the Wild” from their last album – which truly surprised me… it had one hell of a catchy riff in it. It’s so rare that old bands like this are still able to write good songs! I will pick up their record in the future.
Uriah Heep! At first we were very close, but the sound was muddy so we went further away (and it was much better hehe)
After this was a long wait until the next band we wanted to see (Saint Vitus!). I think we had like four hours to kill or something! We were standing beside one of the big stages when out of nowhere, we saw a shitload of people with doom metal shirts. I was wondering what was going on, until somebody told me there was a Saint Vitus signature session. It’s cool to see so many French doomsters, actually, it’s nice to see people with good taste in such a huge crowd! I quickly took a photo of the band:
Saint Vitus signature session. Didn’t get any signature, I’m not too much into that stuff anymore!
After that, we went to take a nap in a forest-y part of the site, where everyone goes to sit down. We met up with a Canadian friend and we talked a little, and then doze off. When we woke up, we were hungry – so we had some shitty “Mexican” food at one of the stalls. It was basically canned beans mixed with canned tomatoes and minced beef, shoved in a flour tortilla. Not good, but at least it filled us up! They had nicer stuff though, but we wanted to keep our money for beer and records haha
The forest-y part of the site
The two main stages with the crowd
Food stalls
Grilling meat… it was like 8 euros for a sandwich with that in it. Too much!
An hour before SAINT VITUS started playing, we parked ourselves in front of the stage with some beer, and waited. François and myself were right in front, and around us were a bunch of other fanatics – it was a really nice atmosphere! Actually, we were surrounded by the guys of FORSAKEN, as well as Charlène, a friend from Rennes (we met her when we played a gig there). Collectively, we sung each word and got shivers during Dave Chandler’s mighty solos… it was the second time I’ve seen them, and they were just as good – if not better (!!!) than last time. I think they were the second best band of the fest for me. They played “Clear Windowpane” (fuck I love that song), “Dying Inside”, “Mystic Lady”, two songs from their last album, and of course “Born Too Late”. Last time I saw the, in 2008, they played “Saint Vitus” and “Burial at Sea” – and I wish they would have played them again, but that’s what you get when you don’t have that much time. I wish they could have played 5 hours!
Wino and Mark
Dave Chandler!
Near the end, Dave jumped into the crowd and kept on playing his possessed solos… really intense guy
About an hour later was a small dilemma… I had to choose between watching ENTOMBED and THE DEVIL’S BLOOD. I chose to see both! Already the tent where ENTOMBED was playing was completely full, and I had to watch them from a distance. There was a strange guy that was probably on ecstasy, dancing weirdly at their songs. I should have filmed him, it was ridiculous! I tried to go past him to take a few photos, and I wasn’t able to go very far as the crowd was thick as hell…
Furious ENTOMBED fans!
Entombed! I wish I could also see them in a smaller, more intimate stage.
I could only catch a few songs, and the only one I recognized was “Revel in Flesh”. The sound was shit and I was tired of that dancing guy, so I went to the valley (the smallest tent on the site), where the Devil’s Blood were playing.
As I wasn’t freezing like at Muskelrock, I was able to concentrate more on the music. I felt they were very good, better than at Muskelrock. Perhaps also because I was getting more familiar with the songs (I am not a big fan of material after Come, Reap)! They played a magical set, full of songs that possessed the crowd… they did “The Time of No Time Evermore”, “Fire Burning” and of course “Christ or Cocaine”!
The Devil’s Blood
Selim Lemouchi, founding member of the cult!
The mouth!
Another view of the band…
The next day (best day of the festival), we arrived early to the festival to see one of my favorite NWOBHM bands… GIRLSCHOOL! And the best thing about it was that they were celebrating their record Hit and Run (I think they re-recorded it or something?) so they played tons of songs from there!!! They started with “Demolition”, and then went on to “C’mon Let’s Go”, “The Hunter” (my favorite GIRLSCHOOL song ever, arghhh I was so excited!!!!!), “Hit and Run”, “Watch your Step”, “Yeah Right”, “Run with the Devil” and finished with “Emergency”. They did a newer song dedicated to Dio, but 98% of the set was pure classics. I was beyond stoked!!!!
GIRLSCHOOL!!!!!
During the set, I spotted one of the coolest patch vests around – an 80’s French metal maniac vest with original patches! Check out that Sortilège back patch – and that beautiful Blasphème one on top of it… wow!!!
Can’t forget the Trust backpatch too! And what the fuck were those cows doing there??
After GIRLSCHOOL, we saw BLUE OYSTER CULT – who I actually don’t like very much…!!! Perhaps I need to spend more time with their records, but for some reason I never got into them. I still watched a few songs, but then I got some beer and went to the front of another stage to wait for PENTAGRAM.
Blue Oyster Cult!
Turns out it was an excellent idea to arrive early at the PENTAGRAM stage. Moments later, it filled up and became almost unbearably tight in there! I was really excited, because althought I’ve seen PENTAGRAM before (in 2008), I’ve never seen them with their mighty guitarist, Victor Griffin. It was beautiful to see them play together, and they played a really killer set. Not as energetic as the last time though (holy fuck was Bobby on fire that time!) but still really excellent. They played “Death Row”, “All Your Sings”, “When the Scream Come”, “Sign of the Wolf”, “Relentless” and some songs from the last album. I was expecting them to play “8” (the best track off the last record) but finally they didn’t do it. Ahh well, great set anyway! Oh yeah, they did their encore with “Wartime”, which was really a good surprise!
PENTAGRAM frontman Bobby Liebling!
Black figures on stage…
The crowd. There was even crowd surfing in there… who the hell crowd surfs at a doom metal gig??
Bobby and Victor!
Playing next was THE band I wanted to see in this festival… THE OBSESSED!
Wino and Bobby chatting a little before THE OBSESSED went on…
THE OBSESSED are not too well known nowadays, but who those that don’t know, Wino was in that band before he joined SAINT VITUS. Although I love Wino-era SAINT VITUS, I think THE OBSESSED was the best band he was in (and he played guitar too!). Their music is absolutely spiritual, and seeing them was a near-religious experience! It was really HUGE!
Wino!
The line-up was exactly the same as on The Church Within, and of course they played songs from that album (“Streetside”, “Neatz Brigade”) – but also from Lunar Womb (“Brother Blue Steel”, “Kachina”, “Hiding Mask”, “Endless Circles”… and even from the S/T!! (“The Way she Fly”, “River of Soul”) I could had stayed there and watched them play their whole discography. It was that good… and I was really, really, really deeply excited for them! I had some tears for a few songs. The only other time it happened was when I saw …Saint Vitus for the first time! (Black Magic, White Magic)…
Guy, what a great bassist!
Wino and Guy….
THE OBSESSED
After they played, my London friend Alastair (Age of Taurus, session bass for Orange Goblin, etc..) came to see me, and we chatted a little. That guy has the greatest stories, it’s always a laugh to hear him talk. He also has the greatest man hair I’ve seen… check it out!
Alastair’s hair haha
The last band of the festival was a complete joke. Originally, we had booked the tickets because BLACK SABBATH (the one and only!!) were supposed to play. Tony Iommi got cancer so they cancelled most of their dates… including this one. So now, it was OZZY AND FRIENDS instead. The “friends” were actually Geezer Butler (at least I got to see him!!!) and ….Slash and Zakk Wylde. The two guitarists I loathe the most. At the beginning, Ozzy played a bunch of solo stuff, and then went on to play BLACK SABBATH covers… it was atrocious! He kept on singing “ooohhhhhhhh” on top of riffs (you know, those annoying sing-a-long ohhhh’s that big bands always do), the “friends” weren’t even able to do proper Iommi solos. Ozzy had a voice extinction. And on top of it, it was pouring rain! Everything felt like it was rushed together at the last minute, but they had had 6 months to organize themselves!!! As a big band, KING DIAMOND was a trillion times better. At least Geezer was there and was rocking out, but still…
Ozzy and “friends”
At the end of the concert, it was really raining strongly. We were trying to hide under tents, but we kept on getting kicked out. Finally, we took a taxi home to our guesthouse, and fell into a nice, deep, rewarding slumber…
Show’s over!!
Overall, I think the festival was well organized; it had a beautiful site, lots of toilets (so important when you are drinking so much beer!) and of course… some really great bands!!! The only problem for me was that it was way too big… I’m a huge fan of small gigs – where everything is much more intimate. Here, there are people that don’t even care for metal. It was really weird to see all these people in costumes (cows, superman, mummies, etc…) I barely knew anybody and since we were only there to see a handful of bands, the waiting time was very long. We only saw a dozen bands out of more than 150!!! I don’t think I’d come back next year… I’d rather put my money aside and organize gigs closer to home hehe
Anyway, the next day, we hitchhiked our way back to Paris (we got so lucky we got to listen to Lynyrd Skynyrd, King Diamond and Yob in the car!) and stayed two nights at my friend Paulin’s place. Then, we flew to where we are now… ROMANIA! More news soon!!!
It’s been a while since the last update! As I thought, we were insanely busy with the tour, and we couldn’t post anything. Even right now, we are on the road all the time with limited access to Internet, but I got some time to write a little bit of our metal adventure…
Berlin April 12th
We arrived in Berlin from Barcelona, and took the train straight to our friend Maya’s place – who kindly hosted us for a few days before our band members came from Canada. It felt so great to be with somebody just like us! We cooked every day, and Maya brought us to visit a few things, including a squat in Berlin. My cheeks hurt, we were laughing all the time!!
The squat we went to visit! Started in the 70’s, it hosts a night club, art galleries and studios. The government wants to close it down now, but there are alot of people fighting against that!
Myself and Maya inside the squat
A gigantic bretzel… nothing tastes like the bretzels in Germany. They are the best!!!!!!!
Choco hell! Hell means “pale” in German. I had to try it haha
On Saturday night, we went to see the gig of two of my favourite bands, LORD VICAR and ORCHID. I had no idea they were playing that weekend – it was a total surprise when Maya announced it to me! Arghh!! They played at some odd venue called “White Thrash Fast Food”, which had bartenders with huge attitude problems haha
Lord Vigar hahahah
Myself and Maya again! I made her some mehendi (henna), which I brought back from Nepal
Chris and Kimi of Lord Vicar
Vocalist of Orchid
Guitarist of Orchid!
Vocalist and drummer
The bands were really good that night… I think it was one of the last show of the tour or something, and they all sounded very tight. As I have been under a rock for almost a year and a half, I hadn’t heard the new LORD VICAR, but I was very surprised by their new material! I feel it is stronger than their old material. I found myself headbanging hard for their whole set. Really strong material!! ORCHID were also absolutely brilliant. I am a big fan of their EP, and had no idea I would see them one day… haha! I had heard recently their new album – and it is a bit less catchy than the EP, but live, it was very very good. Total early Black Sabbath worship!!! I especially went mad when they played their songs “Eastern Woman” and “Capricorn”…. great vocals, great music, awesome overall band. I am a bigger fan than ever!
After the gig, we kept on drinking a little with the guys of Lord Vicar and some friends. The beer was pretty expensive but I got a bit tipsy anyway hehe
Myself with Arsenij, one of the promoters of our Berlin gig
Kimi with Maya! Kimi is stealing my beer on the head trick!
Kimi got jealous of Maya’s henna so I made him one too haha
After the gig, Arsenij, François and I went for some curry wurst, the most typical dish of Berlin. Basically, it’s a sausage topped with Ketchup and then covered in curry powder. Good stuff, especially after drinking some amounts of beer!
Two plates of curry wursts and mayonnaise fries!
The next day, the Lord Vicar vocalist and bassist went to Maya’s home for some maple syrup French toast, which yours truly prepared! I made a whole loaf haha, it was so good!
Sitting around the table for breakfast
Then, Maya pulled out her crazy Latvian drink, which she prepared with her father. It’s a drink made with pomegranate, booze and loads of garlic, which you drink to boost your immune system. Perfect for hangovers! I thought it tastes really good, but the guys didn’t really think so haha
Chris sniffing the drink… haha
In the evening, we made Maya a nice Poutine Italienne to thank her for her hospitality. It was made using fresh mozzarella (soaking in its own juice!) and it turned out to be the best home-made poutine I’ve made so far!!
Maya, François and myself eating Poutine Italienne
The next day, we went to get Pat and Jo at the Berlin airport. Nothing bad happened haha, so step one accomplished!
Jo (left) and Pat (right) added to Cauchemar! Jo will play bass live, and Pat is our drummer.
We stayed together for a week in an apartment in the area of Kreuzberg in Berlin. It’s located near the old border of East Germany, and every day we had to walk there to go to our rehearsal room.
Jo and Pat walking to the rehearsal room
François and Pat in front of the Berlin Wall
A view of Berlin
Some cool bridge between East and West Germany
CAUCHEMAR Berlin flyer
The first band of the night, SERPENT – an evil NWOBHM worship band was quite good, they totally had the right attitude and good riffs! Perhaps I would drop the corpse paint, but beside that, they ruled!
EVIL SPIRIT, who played second, was our promoter Marcelo’s band where he plays drums and does vocals (at the same time!) They are really cryptic, slow and evil doomy death metal. They had no bassist also, just another guitarist – which was plugged in the bass amp! Their sound was very unique and watching them was like taking a trip to down below… really cool band!
Unfortunately, I don’t have ANY photos of the gig in Berlin because the card I used was corrupted… but I can tell you that it went very very well! We were tight as hell due to rehearsing alot, and the atmosphere was absolutely perfect! About 35 people showed up, but the place (Blackland bar) was small and totally perfect for us. KILLER show!
The next day, we went to Köpi, a punk squat, where ACTIVE MINDS and SATANIC MALFUNCTIONS were playing. The guys hogged the foosball table for a while.. haha
Pat and Marcelo, the second promoter of the Berlin gig
Heavy Metal foosball with Marcelo!
ACTIVE MINDS! Couldn’t take too many photos, it’s prohibited in squats!
We stopped at Fleischerei Domke, a local totally typical German restaurant, where we had kapernklopse and schnitzel (fried battered pork). It was really good, the meatballs were in some kind of vinegar sauce, which tasted very different from anything we’ve had! The schnitzel was paired with some apple-soaked red cabbage. SO GOOD!
Kapernklopse
Schnitzel
Nuremberg April 24th
Nurnberg CAUCHEMAR flyer
We drove to the promoter of our gig in Nuremberg (Seb Engelhart)’s place in a little village near Nuremberg. He had a huge house and hosted us for three days. It felt good to have a home again!!!
Seb’s village, which looks absolutely totally German
Bobby, Seb’s dog! What a cutie!
Cooking with Seb – I think we are making some Indian food here
Nikki, who is living with Seb, made us a “spatzel” dish, which are some kind of German egg noodles. She put cheese in the middle, and covered the whole thing with caramelized onions!!
Enjoying our spatzels in the warm weather! Nikki is on the left. I love this girl!!!
We went to visit Nuremberg, which is an absolutely charming old medieval town. Seb took us to the castle, as well as the beer vaults in the underbelly of the city…
A downtown market selling white German asparagus
Yummy Nuremberg sausages
The entrance to the fortified city
Jo hanging out with Bobby
The first thing we visited was the beer vaults, which was constructed in the middle ages. It was meant to keep the beer colder (10 celcius) and to help with the fermentation process. I was amazed at how much trouble they went through for their beer! No wonder it is so sacred to Germans! They also had WWII emergency escape passages in there, which were really creepy looking…
Emergency WWII passages
Jo inside the beer vaults
Some liquid used in beer making
Barley
A modern machine to brew beer
Hops!
The city itself was absolutely gorgeous, and had really cool old style buildings. Apparently, most of the buildings were reconstructed due to being bombed in the second world war…
A really cool looking building in Nuremberg
Part of the Nuremberg castle
View of the city from the castle
Cool emblem on a door
CAUCHEMAR in front of the castle
Myself in front of a really cool morbid sculpture
In the evening, we went to the venue, which was located in some sort of cool DIY venue. COSMIC WASTELAND, a band from the next town, opened for us. They were really heavy, and had three guitarists – including a guy from Black Thrashers HELLISH CROSSFIRE. Our own show went pretty good too, some guy in the front was banging his head like crazy the whole time!!! We also never sold as much merch in a smaller show as in Nuremberg. The people there are fucking die-hards!!
A group picture! François was gone for a walk, so he’s not in the photo haha
One of the best beers I’ve drank! And not just because it’s written “Hell” on it!!
CAUCHEMAR!
The next day, we got to tastes some amazing sausages that Seb fetched in his home town. The best were smoked until they became very dark… so good, eaten with beer and dipped in mustard and horseradish sauce!!!!! Ohh man!!! We also had a BBQ with some regular sausages and more stuff!
KILLER sausages. I would kill for more of these!
Goodbye BBQ!
Keep it True festival April 27th
Keep it True flyer!
For years, it was my dream to go to Keep it True. When I found out we were going to tour Europe with CAUCHEMAR, I contacted Oliver (the organizer) and saw if he was interested in having us play… but thought we were going to have no luck haha. Turns out Oli already knew us and actually had thought about bringing us to Keep it True!!! The line-up was fully booked, but Oli told me if a band cancels, we’d replace them… and so a band DID cancel and we were on the bill! For me, this was absolutely exciting, as not only I’d get to that legendary festival, but I’d play it too!!!!! Wow! Located two hours from Nuremberg, in the German countryside, Keep it True festival can be described in one word… OVERWHELMING!!! Everything was insane; the choice of bands (OZ! WITCH CROSS!), the people, the metal market (imagine seeing tons of records you’d never think of seeing in your life… ) and the beer (sooooo much of it haha). It was really crazy, and I wish it could have lasted a full week because there were so many things going on at the same time!
So we played first band of the festival, at 12:30 exactly… to be honest, it was kind of weird to play so early because it doesn’t really seem fitting with our style of metal, but we did our best and had a good crowd reaction I think!! It was also very strange to play in front of something like 1500 people, on such a big stage!!!
CAUCHEMAR on the Keep it True stage!
The CAUCHEMAR backstage at Keep it True
Right after us came PORTRAIT, a Swedish heavy metal band with an evil vibe. I really love them (especially the first album!!!!), and it was really killer to see them live.
PORTRAIT live at Keep it True
Afterwards was WITCH CROSS, a Danish metal band from the 80’s. Their only album “Fit for Fight” is a total classic, and they really ripped live – even with a new singer! They also did new songs, which sounded really good.
WITCH CROSS
A few bands later was OZ, one of my favourite Swedish metal bands. They played all my favourite songs, like Turn the Cross Upside Down!!!! They were ok, I don’t remember why exactly, but they didn’t impress me as much as WITCH CROSS.
OZ
Myself and Richard, the PORTRAIT guitarist during the OZ set! What a nice guy!
A bit later on was American eccentric doomy heavy metal band THE LORD WEIRD SLOUGH FEG, which I half missed due to too much socializing! I wanted to get a beer outside, and ended up talking to a million people, which really sucks because they were one of the bands I wanted to see the most. That’s what I meant earlier for having too many things to do at the same time! Too many good bands and good people, and not enough time! I still managed to catch a song or two, and it sounded really great. They also played a cover of Diamonds and Rust!!! So good!!!!!!
Lord Weird Slough Feg
The last band I watched that night was Canadian metal band SWORD. They are not that well known in Canada (they used to be pretty big in the 80’s, but not anymore) – but they really kicked ass live! Seems like everyone was there to see them…
SWORD! It felt good to talk to them after the gig
I watched a little bit of PSYCHOTIC WALTZ and didn’t really enjoy them, so I went back to the backstage where the fun was at! I drank and headbanged with Ole from DEADBANGERS fanzine, all the guys from PORTRAIT (I seem to recall fighting the bassist!), SWORD and WITCH CROSS… who were all very nice.
Waking up the next day was difficult, but we made it in time for the first band…
“Filth Hounds of Ottawa”; Jo making a graffiti on Maya’s car in the morning before the gig
…VULTURE! I think this band was my discovery of Keep it True festival. They are from the states and they play really killer metal influenced by HEAVY LOAD and GOTHAM CITY (they even did a cover of them!). Really great band, and great guys all around!
VULTURE
A bit later was SENTINEL BEAST, which had all their original members. They were really really killer as well, and the vocalist (who also sings in DETENTE) did a great job of fronting the band! A really great addition to the fest!
I then took a break and went to do a bit of record shopping. As I said earlier, Keep it True fest is like a record heaven… (or should I say hell? It’s frustrating not to be able to buy everything!) I spent a good 400 euros on records, which I then shipped to Canada. Unfortunately, some prices were quite high, but some others were total deals!
Reiner of metaleros distro – he’s a dedicated German South American metal maniac and distributes tons of metal from all over the world!
Digging through the endless record bins
Then was WHIPLASH, the American Thrash metal band – who I have been fan of for years… I was standing in front the whole time, and they really played well!!!!! I was going totally insane! Unfortunately, the vocalist looked like a total idiot (with skull beads on his goatee, and his red neck hat) but I closed my eyes and let the powerful riffs sink in…
Didn’t take too many photos of ‘em, I wonder why! Haha
During WHIPLASH!
A few bands later was one of my favourite bands – ANVIL!!!!!!! I haven’t seen them since Heavy MTL in 2008, and since then they changed their bassist. I think the new guy is from San Francisco, he played in a pretty well known band but I totally forgot who. Their dynamics did not change at all, and they sounded great as usual! Perhaps they did a few too many solos though, I wish they’d play more songs instead!
ANVIL live at Keep it True
François and myself with Robb Reiner and Lips of ANVIL!!!
Finally, one of the highlights of the festival for me was the NWOBHM special, which had ROXCALIBUR band members with different vocalists (and sometimes band members as well). They played Seven Days of Splendour of JAMESON RAID with Terry Dark & Peter Green, Flying High of HOLLOW GROUND with Glen Coates, Death or Glory AND Heavy Metal Mania of HOLOCAUST with John Mortimer (holy shit did I become insane for that one!), Let it Loose by SAVAGE (with Andy Dawson and Chris Bradley), a couple of SAXON covers and MAIDEN songs with Dennis Stratton and Tom Gattis!) A totally glorious moment for me!!
HOLOCAUST’s John Mortimer!
During the end of the second day, people were getting seriously beaten up. As my first European metal festival experience, I can understand how actually hard it is to get through one of these…
People passing out on a table outside the festival… notice the gigantic beers waiting for them haha
Florian Grill from Germany, myself, Callae from California, Jo, Maya from Germany, and VULTURE members partying!
And then, after a few hours of partying, we went to bed still totally intoxicated… not only by beer, but by a killer weekend of real, pure metal!
The battlefield in the morning…
Leipzig/Halle April 30th / May 1th
Leipzig CAUCHEMAR flyer
My friends Birger and Paul from BLACK SALVATION organized two gigs in the North of Germany, with their own band for both shows. They play hypnotic, psychedelic doomy heavy rock which totally crushed both nights.
The Leipzig gig was located in a strange venue, which had fur all over the walls. The sound was quite good, and there were quite alot of people that showed up that night! We also had our own beer distributing machine haha… kind of dangerous!
BLACK SALVATION live in Leipzig
There are no pictures of us, because I didn’t give my camera to anyone that night. We also didn’t get to explore the city too much – but that’s ok! We need to rest sometimes hehe
Halle CAUCHEMAR flyer
Next day, we went to Halle, which is about 30 minutes from Leipzig. I thought nobody was going to show up because not only it is a middle of the week concert – we had also played in Leipzig the day before…! But surprisingly, about 40 people showed up… mostly for BLACK SALVATION but many of them stayed for CAUCHEMAR. This gig was really great for us – there was some kind of crazy atmosphere in the air!
Some beautiful German building in Halle. The town was so nice!
Yummy potato salad – part of the catering for the Halle show. I wish I had some more right now!
CAUCHEMAR live in Halle
François in Halle!
The show was weird, as people were sitting down directly on the floor, like a bunch of hippies haha! But it was really cool.
The next day, we flew to Copenagen, Denmark, for our first Scandanavian experience…
On the way there, we met two guys from Quebec that were also going to the same festival! It was pretty unreal! I’ve seen their band, Phosphorus, play before in Montreal.
Copenhagen May 3rd
Heavy Days in Doomtown flyer
We were lucky enough to get on Heavy Days in Doomtown, a new doom/sludge/stoner festival that was going on in Denmark! The line-up was absolutely crazy, with bands like BLACK OATH, BURNING SAVIORS, COFFINS, DEVIL, GRIFTEGÅRD, JEX THOTH, PILGRIM, SOLSTICE, etc… Unfortunately, we were playing on the opening day, which only had four bands playing. It was such a torture, because we really wanted to see the whole thing – especially GRIFTEGÅRD!!!!! I guess we’ll have to come back another year. Anyway, the whole thing was really cool and well organized. The food was killer, the bands were great, the atmosphere was heavy as hell and the weather was nice and warm. I really didn’t want to leave… but we had to play London the next day.
Preparing the stage for the weekend!
Some amazing vegan food we got served before the gig.
CAUCHEMAR live in Copenhagen – Photo by Thomas Thorgaard Iversen
CAUCHEMAR in Copenhagen – Photo by Brian Berg
Myself! Fronting CAUCHEMAR in Copenhagen (Heavy Days in Doomtown). Photo by Brian Berg.
The two bands that played after us were really great! The following band was called Burning Saviors – and they play nice Swedish style doomy-heavy rock.
Burning Saviors guitarist
But the surprise of the night was Denmark’s own MOONLESS. I had never heard them before and live, they were incredible. They played really powerful doom with some stoner influences…
MOONLESS vocalist, live at Heavy Days in Doomtown. Doesn’t he look like Athenar of MIDNIGHT?
We then went to bed (staying at Ungdomshuset!) at the small hours of the morning, slept three hours, and then got up to fly to London…
London
May 4th
London flyer
The first cool thing we saw in London at our arrival!!
I have been to London before, in 2008, to see PAGAN ALTAR, WARNING and LAMP OF THOTH live. This time, we stayed four full days, and were able to explore many things – as well as play a gig of course!
CAUCHEMAR and AMULET live at the Old Blue Last!
The first band that opened was called VILLAIN. They were really crazy JUDAS PRIEST-style metal with a very entertaining singer that was a cross between Phil Lynott and King Diamond! I think everyone in the venue was surprised about them – they were truly excellent.
VILLAIN at the Old Blue Last in London
Afterwards was the truly mindblowing heavy metal band AMULET – who were doing their debut show in London. One of their guitarists, Marek, is also the promoter of this gig (thank you so much for everything!). I had heard their killer demo, “Cut the Crap”, several months ago, and was totally looking forward to seeing them… I wasn’t dissapointed! These guys CRUSHED!
AMULET! Such a great band!!!!!!
And here is a tiny clip that I got to film… the camera kept on blurring (I think there was too much sweat in the air or something!), so I stopped.
There are no CAUCHEMAR photos this time, but it was absolute magic!!
François and Marek inside the London Underground
The first thing I wanted to do in London was to eat Yorkshire pudding again. As it was Sunday, it was the perfect time to indulge in this greasy tentation. We went to a reputable pub and had a killer meal of Sunday roast and Yorkshire pudding! Unfortunately, I had better before (everything was a bit cold!!) but it was still very satisfying.
Sunday roast!! A very traditional British-style meal…
We then went to visit a few things, among them – the Abney Park cemetery. It’s an old beaten up graveyard like you see in horror movies. A really cool place!
François walking in Abney Park
We also visited the Huntarian Museum – which shows a part of John Hunter (a famous British surgeon who lived from 1728 to 1793)’s personal collection. I had visited it last time when I was in London, but wanted to take François there… beware, it is absolutely morbid and gruesome… but so fascinating!
Inside the museum
A part of a kid’s face
Pickled quintuplet fetuses
A fetus in his amiotic bag… what’s crazy is that it’s from the late 1700’s and it’s still in such good condition!
The foot of a chinese lady that was forced to wear tiny shoes
A snake skeleton!!!!!
The skeleton of the extinct Dodo bird
The amputation tools of the surgeon
We then visited my friends Terry and Alan from PAGAN ALTAR at their home in Gravesend, Kent (about an hour away by train from London).
Terry and Alan at Terry and Lynn’s place
Patrick with Belle, Terry and Lynn’s cute puppy
Lynn with a very oddly-named Ale bottle!
They gave us a visit of their newly built studio, which they will use to record their upcoming album – “Never Quite Dead”:
PAGAN ALTAR’s studio!
Mixing board
Pat testing out the Pagan Altar drums
The guys then took us to a 15th century pub, which was once the favorite drinking place of Charles Dickens!
The Olde Leather Bottle pub! At the beginning, it was a hotel stop for carriages and stuff. It looks like the architect had a few too many beers though, don’t you think?
Inside the pub… it looked so old school!
Myself and François… I’m drinking DOOM BAR beer! Yeah!
Excellent plate of Fish and Chips taken at The Olde Leather Bottle!
On the other side of the pub was… surprise! An old church, as well as a graveyard! This place was so amazing!! I just couldn’t resist wanting to take photos with the guys there…
Myself, Terry and Alan in front of the old church
Rocking the cemetery
Apart from that, we went to visit an old friend of mine, Miya Higashi, whom I haven’t seen in something like 13 years! She stayed at my place in Canada when I was young, to be in a French-speaking environment – and exchange cultural differences with me! She was staying in London with her husband, so they invited us for a nice Japanese-style dinner.
François, myself and Miya – who wore the tour shirt we gave her on top of her dress!
A layered sushi-style salad! Instead of rolling the sushi one by one, you can also serve it that way. It was really good!
Stew made with “Oden”
Serving up Mochi cakes for tea!
It was really cool to see Miya again, after so many years!!! Since she lived very close to the Abbey Road studio, we also went there before leaving for the night…
Crossing the very famous road – like on the Beatles cover!
The entrance to Abbey Road studios!!!! Can you believe PAGAN ALTAR once recorded a 7″ there?
After London, we flew to Leipzig – stayed one night there, and then drove to our next destination…
Bruxelles, Belgium May 11th
Bruxelles CAUCHEMAR flyer
Organized by Jerry of DETEST records, our only Belgium gig was a total success! Tons of people showed up, and were really into it. OK, the owner of the bar tried to strangle our drummer, and our set was cut a bit short, but the gig was really fun haha.
Nice beers that we tasted at Jerry’s place!
Probably my favorite Belgium brew!!
We also went to visit a little bit the old city (a Unesco heritage site!) before we played…
Myself in front of the “hotel de ville”
Some really cool building
A shop selling chocolates and pastries…
We didn’t have much time, so I had to eat fries while visiting the famous Manneken Pis. Total Belgium cliché photo haha
The local band that opened for us was called TROUBLE AGENCY. Their drummer was one of the promoters of the gig, and they play thrash metal/crossover!
Trouble Agency live in DNA, Belgium
No photos of the band once again, but it doesn’t matter – the show really kicked ass! Valenciennes, France May 12th
Long Live Metal! Festival
This gig is the first one that we play in the land of our ancestors, France!! It is also very special as it is partly because of this one that we decided to set up a tour in Europe. Organized annually by the guys of Emanes Metal records, the Long Live Metal!!! festival is a small one-day fest that features only total quality bands. This year, there was GAE BOLGA, BOTTLE DOOM LAZY BAND, WARHAMMER and a bunch of others!! The cool thing about this one is that the gig itself was located… on a boat! It was a really insane feeling to play on the water…
La péniche Igelrock
On the deck with a view of the river
Some highlights for me were the Belgium speed metal band GAE BOLGA, whom I had no idea about! They are on Emanes Metal records, and definately need to be heard if you don’t know them already!
Gae Bolga
Also, The Bottle Doom Lazy band played – whom I’ve known for a long long time. I always wondered why they were called that way – until I saw them live… the vocalist always has a bottle in his hands! It’s almost his instrument! Haha… They were great, probably my favorite band of the fest.
The Bottle Doom Lazy Band!!
Our own set was ok, I feel it wasn’t as solid as the night before (perhaps we were a bit tired) but still, it was cool and people actually sung along!!
CAUCHEMAR! Merci Laurent pour la photo!
And the gig finished with German cult band WARHAMMER, who did a killer set in front of maybe 20 people! Where did everyone go? So weird!!!
WARHAMMER!!!!!
Paris May 13th
Paris CAUCHEMAR flyer
I was almost certain this gig was not going to be too popular, since it happened on a Sunday… turns out it was the best one! The venue is tiny but it was absolutely packed with doomsters from all over Paris (the event was called “Doom Over Paris!”). What made this show truly special for me is that NORTHWINDS were playing – a French doom metal band who have been around for a long time (and whom François and myself love immensely!).
The first band that saw was FUNERALIUM, which is doomy Black Metal. They were really excellent, I had never heard them before but I was pretty blown away. Good stuff, nice melodies and dark and evil atmosphere…
Funeralium live at Doom Over Paris
After this was NORTHWINDS, who played a nice 1 hour set (or more? I’m not sure!) They were really good, and played some older songs, as well as brand new ones. Killer band, killer guys, I had so much fun with them!!!!
NORTHWINDS
NORTHWINDS guitarist
François, myself and three of the NORTHWIND guys after their gig!
After them was CHILDREN OF DOOM, whom I’ve known for quite a while also! They play doomy punk/metal, which really got the crowd going. I really enjoyed what I could see of their set!!
CHILDREN OF DOOM live in Paris
There are no pictures of CAUCHEMAR but a video someone sent me, with three of our songs. The last one, D’Encre et de Sang, is actually a new one, which has never been recorded before! It will be on our full-length:
We had a day off afterwards, so we went for a nice picnic in Paris’ largest park. We met up with my friend Nagawika, who did the awesome cartoon drawings in Morbid Tales #6 as well as Hellbent for Cooking!
Paulin from “Plus que des Mots” zine, Nagawika and Pat… FRENCH INVASION!!
Chartres/Rennes May 16th
From Paris, we took a detour to the famous cathedral of Chartres, to be able to see its two mysterious vierges noires (black madonnas). We’ve been wanting to do a small pilgrimage, because as some of you know, we named our EP after them! Also, the cathedral itself was so big that I couldn’t take a proper picture of it…
On the way to Chartres… (btw, Orléans is the name of the Ottawa suburb where I come from!)
A glimpse of the cathedral from outside
The famous labyrinth inside
“Notre-Dame-du-Pilier”, a vierge noire located inside the main church
We got just in time to visit the crypt, where was located “Notre-Dame-Sous-Terre”, a very ancient vierge noire. Unfortunately, the original was burnt down during the French revolution. The original statue is said to be an antique statue of Isis sculpted before the birth of Christ! This crypt is also the largest of all French crypts. You can find there ruins from the foundation, which dates from Gallo-roman times (4th century AD!) There was also a well, which the Romans used to drown and kill people (1st century AD!!!).
Notre-Dame-Sous-Terre copy
Into the crypt…
Old medieval mural
Ceiling of the crypt. Apparently, a dark blue color with stars was often painted on the ceiling of crypts in French churches
Afterwards, we drove to Rennes, where the promoters of our gig were waiting for us… with a killer couscous dinner cooking on the stove for everyone!! We were so hungry, we devoured the thing like we never had eaten before… and it was so good! The next morning, we made some nice Britanny black wheat crêpes (they call ‘em galettes here!) It took a while to figure out how to make them, but they turned out tasting pretty good.
Pat with the Rhoazon Underground guys trying to figure out the art of making crêpes
I figured it out! More eggs in the batter… and ALOT of patience!
Adding eggs, ham and cheese and letting it cook directly in the crêpes
Afterwards, our friends took us to visit Rennes, which was absolutely beautiful. It kept many old houses, which are surprisingly still standing up!
Pat walking around Rennes
Row of old houses with the particular Britanny architectural style
Myself in front of the old castle walls or something!
I also bought a nice rich Kouing Amann, which is a specialty of the region. You make it by putting as much butter and sugar as possible, until it is completely saturated. The result is a juicy caramel cake, full of fatty goodness!
A Kouing Amann, the master of desserts!
Rennes CAUCHEMAR flyer
The gig was held at a place called “Mondo Bizarro”, which is a cult venue for punk and metal bands. There were only two bands, ourselves and CHILDREN OF DOOM – who I got to watch properly this time! The band ripped through a set of total rock’n’roll doominess and left us wanting for more! Argh! They were really good and have total stage presence, especially Tetard – the vocalist/guitarist! Just look at his face!!!
CHILDREN OF DOOM live at Mondo Bizarro
No photos of us, but instead, this beautiful drunken picture of some of the promoters crew and ourselves! You can see our CD as well as the first issue of our doom metal fanzine, Les Templiers!
Group photo! I wonder what that guy is doing to that poor banana peel…
Afterwards, we had a huge after party, which lasted until the moon faded! Bonneuil-Matours, Poitou, France May 17th
Now, we are heading to my friends Shaxul and Nath’s place close to Poitiers, the capital of the Poitou region. This place is very special for us, because not only my direct ancestors from France came from that region, but also because Shaxul and Nath are good friends of us (we had visited them in the past) – and we were very happy to see them again!!
We arrived at their home, dropped our bags, and right away we left to explore the area. They brought us to an insane necropolis in the village of Civaux, which features hundreds of opened sarcophagi. According to a very old legend, after the victorious battle of Clovis’ Franks over the Visigoths of Alaric 1st that took place here, a multitude of sarcophagi rained down to collect the remains of the warriors killed in combat… but actually, the sarcophagi were just part of a giant cemetery, and they date from the 6th and the 8th century.
Some sarcophagi with the foundations of an old church
Myself and Jo at the entrance of the old church
Myself as a corpse
A broken cross
Jo within the sarcophagi… behind is a nuclear reactor!!!
We then went to visit the medieval city of Chauvigny, which has three castles! Everything was closed as it was a public holiday, but we could still enjoy the medieval ruins…
One of the castles
Ruins of another one of the castles
the local Church
It was getting late, so we returned to Shaxul and Nath’s place – where a nice meal was waiting for us… By the way, these guys have a gîte, a kind of bed and breakfast hotel where you can stay and soak in the French countryside, while having some great food and visit interesting places around! Check out information at www.legionofdeathrecords.com. Here are some photos of the beautiful house:
The dinner table
Nath cooking in the kitchen
Our 3-hour-long meal consisted of local specialities; we had mojhettes (white beans who are grown in the region), a ratatouille (vegetable stew) made from vegetables grown in Nath’s garden, as well as a nice heart warming pork stew! She also made a pentagram cake, which had some kind of digestive herb inside. For dessert, we had walnut and raisin stuffed apples. So amazing!
Mojhettes
Pork stew
Pentagram cake
Thank you Shaxul and Nath for the hospitality! You guys are the best, arghhh! We would have stayed longer, but we had to go to our next destination…
Toulouse, France May 18th
Toulouse CAUCHEMAR flyer
On the way to Toulouse, we saw a little sign that was announcing a Dolmen (a megalithic structure) that was right in the countryside. We decided to stop and explore a little bit…
Ourselves in front of the dolmen
The Dolmen was obviously not touristic, and was just located in the middle of a field. What I found interesting is that there was traces of burnt wood, as well as flower offerings at its step!
Flower offerings at the dolmen…
We arrived in Toulouse in the middle of the day, and went to a store to pick up more tour shirts. We were sold out of larges and x-larges, so we had more made! In the store was a flyer for our gig:
Cauchemar live at Animata Muscaria!
Before the gig, I met my friend Laurent Lignon who took me to visit a few things around the venue:
The old hospital, which hosted the sick from the Plague (Black Death) in the middle ages
The river, which flows through Toulouse…
Back to the gig, we had some awesome food prepared by our dear promoter and friend, J-F Sisquellas (désolée pour la tarte aux oignons!) and then the first band started playing… it was NUIT NOIRE, who first started as total Black Metal, but then started adding pop and punk elements to their songs… quite interesting, and quite creepy really! Their session drummer is from MELKHEBRE.
NUIT NOIRE! Their first show in something like three years!
After them was a band called The Grand Astoria (Russian psychedelic rock), and then we played! The venue itself was so cryptic looking (we were in a cave), and everything around us reflected our lyrics… it really gave another meaning to our songs…
CAUCHEMAR in the Toulouse cave!
The setlist!
CAUCHEMAR again
Some people were actually doing crowd surfing during our set! In that tiny cave!
Magie Rouge!!!!
We slept at J-F Sisquellas’ home that night, in the morning, we went to Notre-Dame-de-la-Daurade, a church which also has a very very ancient vierge noire.
The front of the church
A wall inside the church
Another really cryptic wall
Unfortunately, the vierge noire there was dressed in some designer clothing – which looked totally ridiculous. At least they kept the triangular shape…
Vierge de la Daurade
Thank you J-F for your great help and hospitality!!!!!! Torreilles, France May 19th
Torreilles CAUCHEMAR flyer
Torreilles is located in the pyrénées – the mountainous South of France close to Spain. The town itself is quite small (3000 people) but the gig attracted something like 80 people! Of course, some traveled from nearby towns, but it was still really impressive! It was organized by the Pyrenean metalheads crew, particularly by Patrice Rohée. The venue itself was really cool and cozy, it was a small French-style pub located right in the middle of town…
A sign in the middle of town announcing the concert!!!
Metal invasion in Torreilles!
Part of the catering… local ham, and mousse de canard… yummm
Two bands played with us – one was called LOL (for real!) and the other one was OCD. They both are female fronted heavy metal bands! Incredible! And OCD played an extra long set… covering the entire SORTILEGE EP! I was really going insane for that!!!
OCD!
François at the merch table
No photos of us, but you guys know what we look like playing live by now… haha
The next day, we were invited for a killer meal of Catalan-style lentils, and artichoke. The lentils were so good, they were cooked slowly with some smoked fatty pork and ribs (it had a nice smokey flavour, a little bit like French-canadian beans!) and the steamed artichoke was eaten by biting out flesh from every leaf (which was dipped in vinegar and oil). It sounds weird when I try to explain it, but it was an absolute revelation for me! I shall be making those at home!
The plate of lentils and artichoke
The table
Patrice, his wife and his daughter with the CAUCHEMAR guys! We are about to crush a “broyé Poitevin”, which is a souvenir we brought back from Nath and Shaxul.
Barcelona, Spain/Marseille, France May 20th / May 21th
Barcelona CAUCHEMAR flyer
On Sunday May 20th, we rushed from Toulouse to Barcelona, which took something like 5 hours to reach. Salva, our promoter and friend, welcomed us with a nice meal and some beers! A band called Oniphagus opened for us – I really enjoyed them, they played doomy Death metal which sounded very cryptic! Unfortunately, it was really shitty weather, so it seems that not too many people came to the gig because of that. I also forgot to take photos that night, I don’t understand why! I only have a photo of this:
CAUCHEMAR live in Barcelona flyer, totally soaked by the rain!!
Marseille CAUCHEMAR flyer
The next day, we drove up north to Marseille, the second biggest city in France after Paris. It did smell like that too, haha, as soon as we opened the doors of the car – piss stench crawled into our nostrils! We were so rushed, I wasn’t thinking of taking pictures of that day either. All I took of the city is this one:
The view of the Marseille port, from the car window! Weather was so shitty then haha
Before the gig, I met my good friend Sebastian, who took me record hunting at Saber Tooth records. I found a few LP’s, like the first HIGH POWER… really great shop and great owner too! I took a photo with him!
Stryker and myself with the first pressing of the SORTILÈGE EP! Unfortunately for me, it was 90 euros… and I couldn’t afford that! Argh!
Not that many came out that night (Marseille on a rainy monday night is not very popular for going out) but there was surprisingly enough people to fill up the place, which was really cool! Haha! I wish I took photos once again of the gig, but I didn’t… argh! Lyon, France
May 22nd
Lyon CAUCHEMAR flyer
We are now driving to the third biggest city of France, Lyon – where we will play our last French gig! Located near beautiful mountains, Lyon is a very cultural city full of music and record shops. I wish we had the time to explore a little bit, but when we arrived – everything was closed! In any case, we played in the basement of a venue called Le Moko, which is located in a cave. It always feels good to play in really cryptic places like that…. it’s the total opposite than playing at Keep it True for example! Anyway, we had the chance to be booked by Flo of SANCTUAIRE/NECROWRETCH (it was the first time he put on a show) and thus we were able to play with his band, SANCTUAIRE!!! It’s old style heavy metal with French vocals. Just the type we love! They were really great, I especially liked what Flo was saying between the songs… You got to see them to understand!
The landscape you see from Flo’s window in the countryside near Lyon
Sanctuaire – Flo and his guitarist
Another view of the band
Sanctuaire guitar attack!
I also met a few friends of mine, Eve and Azmoth (Forgotten Wisdom prods!), and it was really nice talking to them in real life hahaha
Myself with Eve and Azmoth
Now, onward to Switzerland…
Lausanne, Switzerland
May 23nd
Lausanne CAUCHEMAR flyer
We arrived pretty early to Switzerland. Everything went well while driving there, although it cost a fortune to pay to use the highways! Doesn’t matter too much anyway, the sceneries were so beautiful!!! The venue, Base Bar, was actually a place run by a French-Canadian and his Swiss girlfriend. It was a nice and clean bar, and kind of reminded me of some bar that would be in Gatineau (those coming from my region will understand!) They even had Molson Canadian for sale, haha, it was so strange! Apparently, they also sell poutine from time to time. Man, I am craving that dish so much now, I think it will be the first meal I have when I come back home.
Driving through Switzerland
Inside Base Bar
Molson Canadian! Not a good beer, but pretty funny to see on the other side of the world!!!
A Death Metal band called CALCINED opened for us. It’s actually the vocalist, Flo, that helped me get this gig by suggesting me Base Bar. The band was perhaps a bit too brutal death for my taste, but live – they were really cool! And they did a CELTIC FROST – Dethroned Emperor cover!!! It was quite amazing to see Flo sing too, he acted like a demented psychotic killer, which fit perfectly with the music. Haha!
CALCINED!
And we played a great set that night… it did help alot that the sound on stage was fantastic!!!
CAUCHEMAR live in Lausanne, Switzerland!
Genoa/Bologna, Italy May 24th / May 25th
We finally got a day off, so we decided to do a dream pilgrimage to one of our favourite labels… Black Widow records in Genoa, Italy! But before I start anything, driving from Switzerland to Italy had one hell of a scenery…
The Alps mountains… so incredible. The air was really nice and pure there!!
Arriving in Genoa… I wish we had more than a few hours to explore the city!
Jo in front of a Black Widow sign
Pino and Massimo welcomed us with opened arms, and had us listen to many great records. They were so passionate about the music, and told us many fascinating stories. Massimo sold me his BLACK HOLE LP (original press, totally mint condition!) and I spent about 300 euros of stuff there haha… so many good records. I wish I had a photo to show you! Thank you for everything guys!
Italian Doom Metal section
The album that started it all… and my matching tattoo!
The guys of Black Widow with François and myself… and the Black Hole – Land of Mystery LP! It was my dream for many years to get it… I’m so happy I finally got a copy!!!
We had to leave pretty quickly unfortunately, as we had to drive again many hours to Bologna, Italy, where Marziona (our friend and promoter) was waiting for us with lasagna! Mmmm!
Myself and Marziona! I had met her a few years ago in Montreal. She’s so funny and great, we had an awesome time together!!!!!!
Marziona knows how much I love food, so she brought me to this really typical Italian restaurant. The owners are from the south, so they really make it nice and oily (olive oil, of course!) We had a huge feast that had something like 8 different dishes!
One of the dishes… ravioli with ragu sauce. Actually, ragu is what we call “bolognese” sauce here… it’s the specialty of the city!
Our table after the meal… we were so stuffed, we all wanted to go take a nap haha
Of course, we had to do a little bit of sight-seeing; so we walked around the streets of Bologna. We had some coffee, visited the famous two towers (which were built by rich families…) and looked at windows full of yummy food:
The Bologna two towers! One of them is smaller because the family building it ran out of money!!
Some fresh home-made pasta you could buy in a store
Some happy looking pig head on display!!!
Buffalina, my HUGE Italian food discovery. This is actually mozarella cheese made with buffalo milk! It’s SO GOOD because the outside is kind of hard and the inside melts in your mouth. I would eat some everyday if I could… hope I can find some in Canada!
Some beautiful looking cakes in a shop window
I was especially impressed with this gigantic zucchini, which comes from Sicily (the south). It tasted very good too!!!!
Bologna CAUCHEMAR flyer
The gig itself was located in a squat place called Atlantide. We played with two other bands, Marziona’s BOLT THROWER style band called AXIS OF DESOLATION. They were really killer! My favourite band of the night for sure! Marziona really knows how to kick the shit of her drums haha, I rarely saw any drummer play so hard!!! Yeah!!!
Italian food catering! It doesn’t look like much on this photo, but I can assure you it was absolutely delicious. Especially the olive oil potatoes and the black bean stew!
Axis of Desolation! Sorry, that is the best photo I have, arghh
We then played our full set, in front of something like 15 people! For some reason, everyone was sitting outside. It’s not like it was nice outside or anything. I think people were more there to talk or something. I don’t mind though, I got totally possessed by the music once again…
CAUCHEMAR live in Bologna – Photo by Marziona (thank you!)
CAUCHEMAR live in Bologna – Photo by Marziona
CAUCHEMAR live in Bologna – Photo by Marziona
Then was EMBERS, a Crust band with some black metal elements from the states. They played a good set, which had total a total US black metal vibe – bringing forth images of forests and stuff.. haha, it’s hard to describe, but it was interesting!
EMBERS live in Bologna
Group photo with Paolo/Astofi from CHILDREN OF TECHNOLOGY! Thanks for coming to the gig!!
Bergamo, Italy May 26th
Bergamo CAUCHEMAR flyer
This is a funny picture of Jo behind a gigantic glue stick. It was taken in a supermarket in Bergamo. Why the hell would kids want to be taken in photo in a glue stick anyway? So weird!
Located very close to Milan, Bergamo is an old medieval town, with lots of interesting history… unfortunately, we played in the lower town, so we didn’t see any of that. Haha! We played at this pizzeria place (how fitting!) with one of my favorite metal bands right now… BLACK OATH! I was beyond excited to be able to see them…
My pre-show meal… a really really tasty pizza made with buffalo mozzarella, as well as a 1-liter beer! Incredible!!!!! I did finish both off, yes!
BLACK OATH getting ready for their gig…
BLACK OATH live in Bergamo
BLACK OATH live in Bergamo
Paul of BLACK OATH!!
They really played a powerful set, easily one of the best bands we’ve played with on this tour. I had goosebumps when they played the song “Black Oath”…. especially the part where Alex sings “In this temple of rituals… darkness is calling my name!” haha. So good. They also played a new song that sounds absolutely promising… this was the last show because their next album. I am really really looking forward to it.
Eve (who travelled all the way from Lyon!!!), Jo as well as Pat after the gig…
Myself with Alex and Paul of BLACK OATH after the gig
The following day, we drove something like 9 hours to Nuremberg, Germany – and crashed at Seb and Nikki’s place once again. They made a bbq and we had a really good time!!! I turned 26 years old at midnight, and Nikki made me some really killer wild berry cupcakes to celebrate. Seb made me a white russian, which was a bit powerful hehe!
Seb!!! Cheers for letting me stay at your place again!
Myself, Nikki and one of the very tasty cupcakes
The cupcakes with killer white chocolate frosting!
The next day, we drove 5 hours to Berlin, and then took the bus to Copenhagen. It was was a pretty crappy birthday, haha, because of the stress of traveling and everything… but I tried my best to enjoy the most of it! And we were on a boat for two hours, which was really cool!
Jo and François on the deck of the ferry going to Copenhagen
Totally impressed by this gigantic jar of Nutella in the ferry’s shop
Some very strange scandanavian candies (??)
Jo as a Swedish viking haha
Myself downing a bottle of nice Italian wine on my birthday, at the sunset on a boat… ok, it wasn’t THAT bad haha
Copenhagen May 29th – May 31st
So, you wonder why we went to Copenhagen again? It’s because we had a few days off before going to Muskelrock, and it’s only about 3 hours driving from there. We also had free accomodation at the Copenhagen Youth House so it was perfect for us! We finally had time to do sightseeing and we actually did ALOT of things in two days! We visited some nice buildings in the middle of town, we took a walk through a really cool cemetary, ate some patries, did some record shopping, went swimming at the olympic pool, visited the national museum, and the squatted town of Christiania…
Some nice building in the middle of town
Other really cool Danish-style buildings
The Prince’s palace… or something like that
A street in Copenhagen
Outside of Denmark, we call their pastries “danishes”, and I am a huge fan of them. In one day, I think we had three of them! Haha, they were so good. Filled with all kinds of jams and custards… yummy
Some yummy danishes
So perfect! Hey it was also François’ birthday on the 30th, so it was part of his birthday cake hahaha
The Copenhagen cemetary was really cool also, full of Scandanavian tombs and crosses…
Really nice looking tomb in the Copenhagen cemetary
An old wooden cross
This one had runes on it!!!!!!
This was the most fascinating one… it had a oroboros at the top, and a lamp at the bottom!!
We went to Michael Denner of MERCYFUL FATE’s record shop (Beat-Bop), but unfortunately he wasn’t there! I still bought a few things though… really cool shop!
Beat Bop, Copenhagen
Inside Beat Bop
François with the original sleeve of SCORPIONS’ Virgin Killer! We didn’t buy it, too expensive haha
The visit to the museum was really fascinating also… it was really cool to see the history of vikings and the arrival of Christianity in Denmark. I really enjoyed reading about the old beliefs; sacrifices of swords, the chariot of the sun and the burying of the dead in tree trunks, etc. Really interesting!
Old Viking swords
A really ancient corpse in a tree trunk
An old Viking gravestone! Doesn’t it look like the one from the cemetary up there?
And finally, we went to the squatted town of Christiania. It was an old abandonned military base back in the 60’s or something, until the youngsters jumped the fences and took hold of the houses there. Now, the place is not even considered to be in the European Union! It has its own laws and is totally different from the rest of Copenhagen. It looks like a gigantic garden with markets and stuff. You even see drug dealers selling pot and hash in the open! Really interesting and strange phenomenon… it’s forbidden to take photos, so I could only show you the entrance to that place… it needs to be visited if you are in the area!
The entrance to Christiania, Copenhagen, Denmark
Muskelrock May 31st – June 2nd
Muskelrock!!!!!!
Sign on the road to Alvesta… the most metal of towns, DIÖ!!!!
Some open sandwiches myself and François made ourselves with “gravlax” salmon!!
Muskelrock has to be one of the best European festivals of the year. As you can see on the flyer, it features incredible bands like GRIM REAPER, HELL, PICTURE, ENFORCER and THE DEVIL’S BLOOD! What an incredible line-up!! And it is located in the middle of nowhere, Sweden, on an old carnival site from the 70’s.
Some kind of festival game where you could win records! Isn’t that awesome?
The festival site at night
On Thursday, the main band I wanted to see was HIGH SPIRITS from the states. They play some upbeat Heavy Metal that has total roots in KISS and early 80’s HM. Their gig was great, and the frontman was very expressive in everything he did!
High Spirits! Don’t you think the background looks like a HEAVY LOAD album cover?
Friday afternoon was the best band of the festival for me… GRIM REAPER! Or should I say Steve Grimmet and friends? Haha, it doesn’t matter, because their set was absolutely amazing. And on top of it, it was raining (and cold as hell) – but as soon as GRIM REAPER started playing, the sun came out and the temperature rose! It was actually the warmest hour of the whole festival. They played so fucking well, and even did a Dio cover – “Don’t Talk to Strangers!” I guess Dio did a deal with the horned one to bring forth that sun… hehe
Grim Reaper! SOOOO GOOD!!!!!!!
It was so hot that people took off their clothes! I noticed two Manilla Road tattoos… these guys were complete die-hards!
My Finnish friend Immu’s new tattoo, which he also wanted to show me. Really nice huh?
A little further on was some… wrestling! Of course, as the festival is called Muskelrock, they have wrestling every year. It was really entertaining… in fact, it was the first time I ever witnessed wrestling live! Almost every wrestler had a punk or a metal edge, which really added to the whole thing. My favourite teams were the clown vs the black metal warrior and the friendly fighters.
Clown guy vs black metal guy. Forgot their real stage names!
The not-so friendly fighters. Nice old-school suits haha
It was getting colder and colder… and it wouldn’t stop raining. In fact, my feet were wet and cold for the whole day. Not fun at all! Anyway, M-PIRE OF EVIL (or should I say VENOM?) came on stage right after the wrestling match. They had a few technical difficulties but really, they were great! Their own songs were not very good – way too nu-metalish for my tastes, but they did many VENOM songs… like Countess Bathory, In League with Satan, Black Metal, Witching Hour, Die Hard… so nice to hear all of that… especially Witching Hour! ARGHHH!!!!!!
M-Pire of Evil… Mantas is on the left
Rain soaked crowd
It’s hard to be 666% metal with umbrellas hahaha!
Myself and Felipe of PROCESSION… he’s representing Chilean wine! …Oh, and notice that beautiful umbrella at the back hahahahaha
A few bands after was the theatrical NWOBHM band HELL, which played a really great set… They were probably the tightest band of the night. To be honest, I’m not a 100% sold yet with their approach, but it certainly a good time!!!!
HELL, with the vocalist whipping himself! It’s only theatre though hehe
Felipe and Barry from Ireland doing air drumming!
Afterwards was The Wounded Kinds, who played hypnotic sounding doom metal. Their female vocalist really sounded like she was underwater, and it gave a really cool atmosphere to their set. I quite enjoyed seeing them… and especially since they were playing indoors! We could finally get warm and dry!
The Wounded Kings
The last band I watched on Friday was RAVEN. Oh man, they were absolutely incredible… and very very very entertaining! They were grinding their guitars together, throwing themselves from one place to another… I’ve never seen an old band being so fucking energetic before. I am really happy I got to see them live! Oh yeah, and their drummer was Joe Hasselvander who played in PENTAGRAM!
RAVEN!!!!!!!
I unfortunately left right after RAVEN. I couldn’t take it anymore, I was really not prepared for that cold, and my toes were about to fall off… so I went to our guest house to rest. We were playing first band the day after anyway, so I had to be in good shape! That night, it took me a good hour to warm up in my bed. I should have taken a hot shower or something… arghhh!
So like I mentioned, we played first – at 2PM on Saturday at Muskelrock. It was the last date of our crazy 20-date European tour! Our set was really good I think, and many people crawled out of their sleeping bag to see us. I think we also had a good reaction from people…! It was hard to get in the mood at such an early time of the day, but I eventually became possessed by the songs like usual… hehe
CAUCHEMAR live at Muskelrock! Thanks for the photos, Emma!
CAUCHEMAR again… check out the laser that François is shooting from his guitar! Hahahaha
Crowd shot… my very tall friend Immu is staring at us!
I watched a little bit of VANDERBUYST as well as BLACK TRIP… both bands were fantastic… and now I can celebrate the end of the tour!!!! Woohoo!! I walked around, and took a few photos of some people:
Swedish metal van. The van itself looks like something to “shag” in with the red carpet and all haha
François and some Italian maniacs (half of Hands of Orlac as well as Josef)
Myself holding some Swedish snus, as well as Marie from Copenhagen
Pat with Laura from Italy
Jo, who is absolutely freezing and looks like he’s going to rob a bank
Barry and Chris from Sweden
Jo and Laura from Spain… they had matching FOAD’s!
Two beautiful Iron Maidens!
Later on in the day was the dutch metal band PICTURE, who were good! I only know “Metal Ears”, and they played many songs from that album… they sounded pretty much exactly like on record. People were really into it.
PICTURE! The guy on the bottom is non other than Tyrant of NIFELHEIM!!!
A few bands later was POKOLGÉP, a speed/thrash metal band from Hungary. It was one of their rare shows outside their country, and they really ripped live! They totally had an eastern European vibe though, clapping their hands together, and playing a ballad (which didn’t get much crowd reaction haha). It was freezing cold, but totally worth seeing!
Gép gép! Pokolgép!
The crowd!!!
My Portuguese friend Luis headbanging for Pokolgép
Maniacs pure!
Another view of the growing crowd…
Right after was ENFORCER, whom I know since their 7”. In fact, that 7” is my favourite material, and they played “Mistress of Evil” from it! It was so fucking good! The whole set was great actually, they were extremely tight and had great stage presence. My friend Ian from CAULDRON was there – and he went absolutely crazy during their set. He ran backstage, and threw himself right on the crowd from the stage! It’s a pretty huge leap to not fall on the metal gate!!!
ENFORCER!!!!
A little bit later was MANILLA ROAD… I was looking forward to see them for years actually, and they played totally classic songs like Open the Gates, Flaming Metal System, Mystification, Necropolis, Witches’ Brew, etc… arghhhh!!!! But yeah, the vocalist had a really bad stage presence, and it was really too bad that Mark Shelton wasn’t doing more vocals. He sounded so great and magical!!! I still enjoyed their set tremendously. People around me as well, wow, there was one hell of an ambiance during their set!
MANILLA ROAD
Last band I saw was THE DEVIL’S BLOOD, whom I last saw in 2008, opening for PENTAGRAM in NYC. I was sick as hell back then, on heavy sinus pills, but I remember their show to be absolutely mind blowing! My expectations were thus very high – too high I think. Their show was very good, and got me into a trance for a while, and, perhaps it was because of the insane cold, but my mind was drifting to other places. I am not a big fan of their newer material either, which didn’t help! But at the end of the set, they played some stuff from Come Reap and the demo, which really got me going! They also played tons of 15-minute+ solos, which sounded really crazy live with the three guitarists…
THE DEVILS BLOOD
We then rode to the guesthouse, really happy about the whole festival. If I wouldn’t live on the other side of the planet, it’s for sure that I would come back here. It was a really great event, ran by amazing people!!!
The damage on the camping grounds, the following morning…
So overall, the tour went very well… but we are tired as hell haha, and we are glad to be back with just the backpacks! Thank you to everyone that came out, and especially to the promoters and bands that we played with… cheers!!!!
A map of our tour around Europe!!
Right now, we have actually arrived in Dublin, Ireland, where we will spend a full week! It is really nice so far, and Irish people are insanely friendly. Can’t wait to explore the city and metal scene… arghhh! Afterwards, we will be attending the Hell fest in France. The line-up is beyond amazing this year! See you around!!!
Hot water anywhere! 1 euro wines! 24-hour electricity! No stray dogs! We finally arrived in Europe, after visiting four airports (Kathmandu, New Delhi, Doha, Barcelona) and taken three flights. We’ve been in Europe before, but not in Spain… it was interesting to visit this country after being in South America for so long – and seeing where many customs and dishes came from. It was also very useful to be able to speak to people in Spanish, even though they have a totally different accent from what we were used to.
François and myself stayed in a hostel for three days, and then we were joined by my parents who flew from Montreal. We then moved to a beautiful (but tiny!) apartment very near Gaudì (modernist architect who lived in the late nineteenth century/early twentieth century)’s chef d’oeuvre, Sagrada Familia Templo. It was my parents’ first time in the old continent, and they were really awed by everything!!! They also brought me my dear Panasonic Lumix GF1 which I had lost in India (I ordered a new one and had it delivered to their home in Canada). I am stoked to be able to take nice photos again!!
So, in Barcelona, we had a fully equipped kitchen and we made many yummy lunches and dinners… after being in Asia for so long, and in countries where cheese and cold cuts are a huge luxury, it was nice to be able to indulge in such unhealthy delights. And we did, almost every day, haha.
One of our decadent dinners. You can see here some nice Spanish olives, a plate of brie and Catalan cheeses (including one hell of a yummy goat cheese), as well as a plate of Iberian ham and chorizo. SO GOOD
Like I mentioned earlier, our apartment was very close to the Sagrada Familia, so naturally, we visited it first. We got up early to enter – and it’s a good thing we did, because the line-ups to get in were disastrous a few hours later…
The Sagrada Familia templo. Our apartment was just a street away from here!!
Details of the “melting” facade
Other details of more modern “Gaudì” style sculptures. Notice the magic triangle, with each lines calculating 33 – the age of Christ at his death!
In this basilica, everything is highly symbolic. I haven’t read too deeply about it, but you certainly feel the magic when setting foot inside.
Heart of the Sagrada Familia with a parachuting Jesus
Other side, with a big rosette stained glass
The insane geometrical designs on the ceiling
You are bewitched!!!!
A huge seashell as a holy water stand
A choir... it sounded super awesome! The guy controlled the voices like he was playing notes on a guitar neck!
We took an elevator that went up one of the towers, where we had an amazing view of the city and different details of the church. You could parts that were still being constructed… apparently, the project should be completed in 2026!
François and my mom, Ginette, looking at the city from the basilica’s tower
The view!
Close-up of the workers tools and stuff
Our neighborhood
We got the chance to see the church bells, or should I say, the speakers! I don’t understand why such a cool looking church has fake bells. Come on Gaudì! He’s probably rolling in his tomb right now.
The Sagrada Familia “bells”
We came back in the evening and took a few photos. The church totally took a different look in the night… it looked like it came from outer space or something:
My favourite model, François, in front of Sagrada Familia
The basilica from far, with all its nightly colors. Beautiful isn’t it?
Like good foodies, we also tried some yummy tapas, which are a Spanish speciality. Tapas are little “snack”-like portions of food, which you take in large quantities for a full meal. We had many, many, many of ‘em:
Patatas bravas! Some of our favourite tapas, and probably the most common dish you’ll see on restaurant menus. They are potatoes with a cayenne pepper sauce + aioli (olive oil/garlic sauce). These ones were to die for...
Goose foie with shrimp and papaya salad
Iberic ham with tomato bread (another one of my favourites!)
Tortilla de patatas, a Spanish omelette filled with potatoes
Meatballs and local tiny peppers
Seafood salad
Fried squid
Myself and my mom also went for a cooking course, where we learned to make fried spring onion with romanesco sauce, salmonrejo soup, pan con tomate, seafood and artichoke paella and Catalan cream. It was really fun, but confusing at times because a few recipes had to be done at the same time… ok, I admit we also drank quite alot of wine, hehe.
Yummy Spanish wine
Mixing bread with grated tomates to make Salmonrejo soup (kind of like a thick gaspacho)
The result; you serve it with ham and hard boiled eggs
Making Catalan cream
Burning the sinners
My mom making pan con tomates – you need to take some nice sliced bread, toast it, slightly rub garlic, then rub a tomato half until all the flesh is on the bread... and then finally, you drip extra-virgin olive oil. The result is heavenly, holy shit!
Spring onion with romanesco sauce
Our gigantic paella
We also visited the famous touristy street Las Ramblas… the street itself is quite boring but what’s interesting is the beautiful boqueria St-Josep, a huge market with nice exotic fruits, charcuterie, cheeses, wines, olive oil, olives, and tons more. It’s a paradise for food maniacs like me, but also a hell when you are as broke as myself! Haha!
Las Ramblas
The market
You can taste some food on site, or take some home to cook in the kitchen:
A taste of Catalunya on a stick!
A leg of cured Iberic ham... that stuff is expensive as hell
A display of Catalan cheeses! We tried the “queso cabra cabretes” and it was soooooo delicious
Creepy fish head
Creepy sheep heads... check out the teeth!
Exciting fruit display
Emu and ostrich eggs
You want chiles? You’ve got chiles!
Around was a Palace that Gaudì constructed… I think it was one of his earliest projects. We didn’t visit inside unfortunately, but I did take a photo of the really cool facade:
Palau Guëll
We also walked near Plaza Catalunya and relaxed near some nice fountains and sculptures.
My parents in Barcelona
A few days later, we went to the gothic neighbourhood (barri Gòtic) – the old side of Barcelona. It was quite beautiful, but I was expecting everything to look much older. Perhaps I was awaiting for too much, or everything was renovated or something. Anyway, it still had some really cool things – like the gothic cathedral for example – which was started in 1298.
