O Wacken Open Air é outro grande festival europeu que começa a confirmar as bandas da edição de 2010, que acontecerá entre os dias 5 e 7 de agosto, na cidade de Wacken, Alemanha.

Veja aqui a lista das bandas confirmadas até hoje:

Arch Enemy 
Corvus Corax
Die Apokalyptischen Reiter
Edguy
Immortal
Stratovarius
The Devil’s Blood
U.D.O.

Para mais informações sobre este festival, acesse o site oficial.

Das legendäre Wacken Open Air Festival (WOA) meldet sich auch in 2010 zurück. Nachdem die begehrten X-Mas Packages schon nach 10 Stunden soldout waren, laufen nun die Vorbereitungen für das eigentliche Festival auf Hochtouren.

Im Moment läuft auch der reguläre Vorverkauf für das Weekend-Festival. Es ist zu erwarten, dass die Tickets ziemlich schnell vergriffen sein werden und sich die Fans wieder ihren Einlass auf den Ticket-Zweit-Märkten besorgen müssen. Die kleine Stadt Wacken rüstet sich auch für den Aufmarsch der Metal-Fans. Aktuelle News rund um das Festival findet man unter Wacken.com.

Die WOA Tickets kosten Original 130 EUR als Hardticket und 137,65 EUR inklusive VVK-Gebühren als Computerticket. Hier gibt es auf jeden Fall im Moment noch Tickets zum Originalpreis: Wacken Open Air 2010 Tickets zum Originalpreis

Wacken muss man einmal im Leben erlebt haben!

The opening act on what has affectionately been dubbed “the Reverend Motor Pussy Tour” has come a long way since its inception in 1996. On tour with one of the world’s most well-known bands, the Other Press caught up with Ruyter Suys and Blaine Cartwright, the charmingly vulgar husband and wife duo that is Nashville Pussy, just before their recent show at Vancouver’s Vogue Theatre.

“My parent’s first house was on Burrard and Davie,” mused the Dee Snider maned guitarist Suys. “This is the first time I’ve ever seen Granville Street without trees; it’s very fucking weird.” Indeed, a lot has changed since Suys would find the power box controlling the Christmas lights that once adorned the trees on Granville and flip the switch in July. She was 12 or 13. “I went to Lord Roberts Elementary…this is definitely my stomping grounds.”

Right at home in Vancouver, the Atlanta quartet, whose name was stolen from a Ted Nugent song, is rounded out by bassist Karen Cuda and drummer Jeremy Thompson. Vocalist and guitarist Cartwright explained: “In the intro to “Wang Dang Sweet Poontang”, Ted dedicates the song to all the Nashville Pussy and I just always thought that was a kind of crazy combination of words; and we were living in Nashville at the time…”

The bands moniker, however, unsurprisingly has garnered some negative attention. They were recently uninvited to play Disney’s famed House of Blues. “If it says ‘Nashville Pussy’ there, someone will complain,” reasoned Cartwright. “You know, they’re on their way to see Mickey Mouse and they see the word ‘pussy’ instead…the kids freak out. I think that’s it; it’s gotta be.”

“My personal theory is that mice are afraid of cats,” laughed Suys. “We’ve played it before; that’s the irony. And now they don’t want us? Both times we played, we did great. So I guess they don’t want to make money or something.”

Suys went on to explain that the whole stigma surrounding their name is immature. “I figure we’re evolved enough at this point that we should be over the word ‘pussy.’ It’s not about that…it’s just a word. It’s about rock and roll. And rock and sex are one in the same, so just get over it, you know?”

Nashville Pussy’s Myspace page describes their whiskey soaked, sex infused brand of rock and roll as sounding like “Lynyrd Skynyrd meets AC/DC high on speed in a sex motel.”

“Fried Chicken and Coffee” from their debut album, 1998’s Let Them Eat Pussy was nominated for a Grammy for Best Metal Performance. “It was some kind of fluke,” Cartwright reminisced. “It was really weird. It’s like, what the fuck? We’re nominated for a Grammy? Weird. So we went. Nashville Pussy and Celine Dion.” Nashville was narrowly beaten out by Metallica. “If we’d lost to Rage Against the Machine, I would’ve been mad.”

The follow-up to 2005’s Get Some, From Hell to Texas was recorded in Willie Nelson’s home studio. “There was a great vibe there,” remembered Cartwright. “I wrote a bunch of great lyrics, staring at all these framed Willie Nelson album covers on this wall. I smoked out of Willie’s bong that he’s got in his office and had a bottle of wine and I just sat there and wrote and felt like Willie was staring at me. That was great! That was my office for about a week. Smoking a bong, listening to tunes—I’m at work man, leave me alone!”

“He sets a high bar…and we had to reach up to get the drinks,” joked Suys. “It was just far enough out of Austin that it was really tranquil. It had these beautiful rolling hills and it was just a gorgeous place to be.”

The lag between albums is due to the bands gruelling tour schedule; not to mention the member’s other commitments. “Blaine’s in a band called Nine Pound Hammer,” said Suys. “And our bass player, [Karen’s] band just broke up; Hemi Cuda. So we’re basically playing music all the time and it’s really hard to get all that stuff scheduled.”

You can’t rush a masterpiece as Cartwright explained. “I want to make sure each one’s really good before I put it out, ‘cause if it’s not, it’d bug me. If I heard a song, and I didn’t like it, then I’d go, ‘oh man, I wish we hadn’t put this shit out…I wish we’d put out something better.’ So I usually wait until I get inspired.”

Luckily, Nashville’s fifth studio album is anything but rushed, the Southern fried punkabilly is catchy as hell, showcasing Suys mastery of her SG and the tight knit unit’s comfort with their sound and each other. Toronto’s own Danko Jones even appears on the track “I’m So High.”

In August 2008, Nashville Pussy destroyed the True Metal Stage at the world’s largest metal festival, Wacken Open Air in Wacken, Germany. Suys remarkably climbed the side of the stage, and like a woman possessed she hung there, high above the crowd, guitar dangling from behind her unplugged. “I beat the kid from Airbourne to it too,” giggled Suys. “He did it later. He didn’t climb up as high. I went all the way to the fucking top! What was funny is that I made it about three quarters of the way up and then my guitar cord came unplugged and I was like, fuck it; I’m up here already, show’s over, I may as well go to the top.”

“It’s a total natural progression,” Suys says of Nashville’s intense live performance. “It’s not like ‘Ruyter, make sure you climb the thing.’ ‘What the fuck is she doing up there?’ There’s nothing conscious about what we do at all. It’s a very organic thing. I think it comes from doing this over and over again. You have to come up with new ways to entertain yourself.”

“Sometimes we don’t even have room to move,” reveals Cartwright. “We have to set up in front of Motorhead and the Rev; so climbing’s the only option.”

If Cartwright has his way, Nashville Pussy will be back across Canada by the spring. He reflected on his tour mates. “A tour this good is hard to find. I like playing big tours like this; it’s more like a rock and roll circus. A three ring circus… we’re the littlest of rings I guess, but it’s still fucking great.”

“We’re the first freakshow,” Suys added of the unbelievable rock and roll caravan.

When asked if Nashville Pussy had any plans to record with either Motorhead or the Reverend Horton Heat, there was a resounding “hell yeah!” from the hard rocking pair.

“Lemmy and I have talked about writing a song together,” revealed Cartwright. “I told him to write me a song; it just hasn’t happened yet. Lemmy was supposed to sing on the new record, but we couldn’t hook the studio thing up. I think he’d been drinking and there was no land line at the studio, so he had to call on a cell phone. We recorded it and we did every trick in the book to make it work and it just sounded like some guy on a cell phone. He was in England at the time too. We tried, but it just didn’t happen. It was funny though.”

Any hopes of a b-side? “I don’t think he was even good enough,” laughed Cartwright. “I don’t even think it exists anymore.”

-Kristina Mameli, The Other Press – Douglas College (also BCIT Journalism Alumni)

Another day, another discovery. This time it’s a small video with parts of their performance.

Enjoy!

The performance starts at about 1.20.

The live performance of a song on Wacken has been uploaded to their youtube account! I haven’t seen this myself, just found it and want to share!

edit: Nappa’s english is cute :p

The four dudes of Thai Rockband Retrospect are breaking down the borders for the first time since their start. They’re on the bill of the next Wacken Open Air in Germany. Nothing special? Well, consider the fact it’s their first trip to the continent, the festival attracts about 70.000 guests and it has been sold out ever since november last year. Are they up for succes? A quick/small recap of their career so far, so even the people who don’t know them can easily get to know them.

Retrospect is a band residing in Bangkok, Thailand. Ever since their start in 2000, the boys – or guys – from Retrospect have been able to astonish people with their own Retrorian style. (Retrorian is also the name of their fanclub and the song Yes Sir! is kind of their fanclub chant :p) Their first EP called For Your Ears Only got released through ScreamLab Records in the summer of 2003. It immediately gave attention to the young band and an English Demo called For Your Ears Anytime was a fact. Not that much later they got signed by Genie Records, a GMM Grammy subsidiary and one of the leading Thai record Labels, and were able to put out their first full-length Unleashed in 2007. Their first DVD: The First Concert, showed the boys in their natural habitat and showed a lot of their talent by letting them do duets and featurings with other Genie stars as Da Endorphine and Tao from Sweet Mullet

More recently, in July 2008, came the follow up to their debut: Rise and in December of the same year they released their second DVD/VCD of the new tour called Rise Now! They easily end up in the Thai charts with their music-videos and singles and often stand out in-between the more Pop-orientated Thai culture. Retrospect took Thailand by storm and will not rest before the rest of the world has heard of them. Like I said before, they’re booked for the giant Rock-festival Wacken Open Air in Germany and so their popularity outside Thailand can only start to increase. (They’re playing on the 31st of July, second day of Wacken between Tristania and Mago de Oz on the Party Stage)

Thailand is multicultural. Pop, Rock and Rap easiy go together and are incorporated in the same song. Retrospect tries grabbing the best things out of every genre and put them together at their live shows. Either classical VieTrio, beatboxing Chin Chinawuth or pop rocking Da Endorphine are easily mixed into Retrospect’s harder music.In their latest DVD they even featured one of their youngest fans: Poom, screaming along with Singer Nap’s screams. That said, Nap’s screams are sure to give everyone goosebumps and the vocal parts are easy to sing along to. Now all we have to do left is study Thai and get to know what they’re actually singing about.

Members:
Chanattha Saisila/Nappa (Vocals)
Nopawach Gajajiva/Bom (Bass)
Tanapol Srikanjana/Not (Guitar)
Suttipan Sangyut/Birth (Drums)

For fans: Underoath, Alesana, blessthefall, Sweet Mullet Recommended: Raeng kub kluen en Pror wa ruk Discography: For Your Ears only (2003) For Your Ears Anytime (2003), Unleashed (2007), Rise (2008)
LastFM
Myspace
Youtube
Buy: eThaiCD

Next are some snippets of earlier work, DVD’s and of course the little Retrorian kid. Enjoy and don’t forget to go and watch them if you’re going Wacken this year! (BTW, could it be possible they intended to go to Germany because some German fans showed up on a Thai concert?)

Retrospect has posted another video on their youtube account. For the people who hope to see some footage (Except for like a few seconds in the beginning), I have to disappoint you. It’s just a 7min interview (in thai) about Wacken I suppose. Can anyone translate? :p

Although we’ve been making an awful lot of fuss about GACKT’s solo activities turning a whopping 10 this year– GACKT isn’t the only one who should be getting a clap on the back. Celebration should also rain upon the shoulders of popular Jrock group D’espairsRay.

Their anniversary will fall on September 9th, and to mark the occasion, D’espairsRay will hold a free live event at Shibuya- AX in Tokyo.

For anyone lucky enough to be in Tokyo to be able to celebrate with the band and other fans, the event will be (as mentioned) at SHIBUYA-AX in Tokyo, Japan, on Sept. 9th, 2009. Numbered tickets will be released after 12:00 PM on the day of the performance. Time: Opens at 18:09 (6:09)/ Performance begins at 19:09 (7:09) PM. Please arrive at the venue at 17:30 (5:30) to assemble and collect tickets. SHIBUYA-AX can accommodate 1500+ people, but get your tickets asap, because this will get filled up fast.

To commemorate their ten years of activity, D’espairsRay will also release a new single, FINAL CALL.

D'espairsRay

Started up September 9th, 1999 in Tokyo, D’espairsRay is: HIZUMI (vo), Karyu (gt), ZERO (ba), and TSUKASA (dr). D’espairsRay kicked off as an indie Visual Kei band that started with limited pressings of singles and EP releases– releasing batches in numbers as few as 1,000, it was inevitable that the industrial-rock /Visual band would sell out immediately. And so they did. Following the release of the EP Terrors, the band gained popularity, enabling them to move out of the local/indie scene and move onto the path of international success.

2002-2004 brought about the release of several more EPs, and several singles, including the extremely popular single Garnet (2003), which hit the top of the indies-charts. In 2004 they made their first international appearances with performances in Berlin and Paris– which was the beginning of a generous international career to complement their ever-growing Japanese fandom.

2005 brought the release of their first live dvd, Murder Day Live, which was quickly followed up by their first full-length album, Coll: set. In January, 2006, the album was released internationally– and the band held its hand, touring in Europe and North America, appearing in a total of 9 countries and astounding an accumulative 15,000 foreign fans. In August of 2006 they became the first Japanese band to perform at the Wacken Open Air– one of the largest metal fests in Europe. In 2007 D’espairsRay performed at the J-Rock Revolution event in Los Angeles, California, as well as the rock festivals TUSKA OPEN AIR and RUISROCK in Finland. They participated in the ROCKSTAR TASTE OF CHAOS TOUR (2008 was the first year to introduce Japanese artists), alongside Visual bands MUCC and The Underneath.

Along with 12 singles and 3 EPs, D’espairsRay’s discography includes 3 full-length albums: Coll:set (June 29th, 05), Mirror (April 11th, 07), and Redeemer (March 11, 09).

Although, as in the case of most Jrock bands, it would be a disservice to the band to slap them into one or another musical genre, one could say they fit most comfortably into the industrial/hard-rock, metal, and occassionally screamo facets of Jrock. Their image and style dances on the outer edge of Visual Kei, seemingly unwilling to commit. But that’s fine by us– you won’t find communist Visualists here!

Vocalist HIZUMI has that classic Jrocker voice that we just can’t get enough of– but his dedication to hardcore and desire to scream his bold vocal-chords seemingly to shreds keeps the sound up and out in the open. Their music is unique and bold, combining garage-y, grungy guitar riffs with eerie underlying melodies that come together in a conglomeration of wicked heavy Jrock….well, I dunno, Jrock.

From what you can see watching the videos (yup, I’m making bristly remarks relating to my geographical disabilities), they deliver a strong, passionate performance and all the members have distinct, cool (in an angry, make-me-care sort of way) style and brooding charisma.

Yup– they’re hardcore (for a Jrock band), but even so– they know how to play the heavy and work the screamo so that they remain very accessible even to people who don’t prefer an ear-bleed every time they put their headphones on. If you haven’t checked out D’espairsRay yet, then I highly recommend you do so now. If you’re coming to this now as a long-standing fan, then pull out your collection and get listening! No better time to reconnect with a favorite band than at their ten-year mark. After all, for Jrockers, they’re just getting started.

I’ll leave you now with their spooky video for the latest album title song, Redeemer. Do not watch right before bed. This is Gacktpause, over and out.

D’espairsRay Official Website (Japanese, English)

D’espairsRay Official MySpace (Japanese, English)

It’s been nearly a month since Thai Rockers from Retrospect performed on the big Wacken Festival in Germany, and still we can’t really find any footage of the concert. I’m trying my best to show you things, but they’re not making it easy for me.

The guys of Retrospect, however, are releasing things little by little, and I hope that we won’t have to wait very long anymore before we’re able to seen footage of their European Debut!

A picture of some concert footage I haven’t been able to find

And another one of those Wacken pictures:

Bring Me The Horizon played after Retrospect but it seems like they did meet backstage. Care to go on tour together?

(And can I honestly say that Nappa and Birth are small? Cause I know for a fact that Oli Sykes isn’t tall either. Oh well. Asians.)

It’s only a big picture though, but it is something!

And This was their setlist!

01.แค่นิยาย/Tales
02.ความฝันของเรา/Kwam fun kong rao
03.ขอ/Kor
04.เปลือก/Pluek
05.ลุกขึ้นสู้/Look kuen soo
06.Yes Sir! (Wacken Version)
07.คนบนฟ้า/Khon bon fah
08.พรุ่งนี้ไม่สำคัญ/Tomorrow isn’t important
09.เพราะว่ารัก/Pror wa ruk
10.ไม่มีเธอ/Mai mee ter
——————
ENCORE
——————
total : 55 minutes

What could the wacken version possibly be? I hope that they played the Run in their Encore. At least those lucky bastards at Wacken got Pror Wa Ruk, Yes Sir! and Mai Mee Ter. I’m filled with envy.

After these whole two weeks of searching the net, finding absolutely no footage of their Wacken performance, I came across some comments and noticed the band has made quite some impact.

People calling Retrospect their highlight – knowing there were over 200 bands on the festival site – and saying they have to come to England – or any other place in the world – and tour. As well as comments on Last.fm Stating they should tour the world together with label-mates Sweet Mullet. Now all we are wondering about is: why won’t they?

I also couldn’t keep myself from posting this thingy. It looked like they had some fun, will it mean they’ll do anything to return?

Few online comments:

heu guys from the uk, bristol
i really love your music and all my friends do tooo
we really want you to tour the UK
I think the excitmentg of dir en grey touring with kerrang your get the same or even more respect will be amazing to seee you guys
cheeers
john xxxxx

——

Greetings from Berlin
Silke

——

Best gig I..ve seen on W:O:A ! Respect, Retrospect harhar!
Best Regards, Mark and Hatedotcom

——

W:O:A was great!
Jan

Thai Rockband Retrospect’s trip to Wacken is over and I’m here to tell you something.

Bummer. As far as I’m concerned the guys of Retrospect did great on this year’s Wacken festival. Though I have to admit I wasn’t even there, I haven’t found any clips on the internet and I’m just biased. For now I’ve only seemed to be able to find a little note. It’s just them talking in some not-understandable Thai and I believe greeting and thanking the European audience.

You can expect more when I find it as I’m willing to spread some Retrospect-love!

Wenn es nach dem Landesministerium für Soziales, Gesundheit, Familie, Jugend und Senioren geht, soll auf dem diesjährigen Wacken Open Air nicht geküsst werden. Begründung? Schweinegrippe! Man habe aber genug antivirale Medikamente bereitgestellt, sollte sich die Schweinegrippe, quasi im Schweinsgallopp, ausbreiten. Weitere Hygienetipps für Metalheads sind:

- keine engen Begrüßungsrituale (Umarmen, Wangeküssen, Handschütteln)

- Bierflaschen nicht rumreichen

- sollte man sich krank fühlen, ist es ratsam, unverzüglich Sanitätseinrichtungen aufzusuchen

Des Weiteren gibt es Isolationsräume. Eine Sache jedoch finde ich äußerst seltsam: Darf ich auf dem Wacken meine Vodkaflasche rumreichen? Schweinegrippe auf dem Wacken Open Air… Ich verkneife mir jetzt einfach mal jedweden Kommentar (als Opeth – Fan sollte ich das vielleicht auch).

Es ist wieder soweit: Das Wacken Open Air startet erneut und jeder Bewohner aus der Umgebung weiß was das heißt:

Keine verfügbaren Taxen, übervolle Züge und Sonderzüge, Am Flughafen Hamburg ein “schwarzes” Meer

Ich bin natürlich nicht dabei, aber die Eindrücke nur schon von vor einem Jahr, als ich zu dieser Zeit in meiner Heimat Itzehoe war, hab dafür noch umso deutlich vor mir Ich wollte genau am letzten Tag des Wacken Open Air’s wieder in die Schweiz fliegen. Und weil ich ja weiß, dass dann keine Taxen mehr zu kriegen sind, hatte ich extra einen Tag vorher bei dem Taxiunternehmen angerufen und mir einen Wagen zum Flughafen reserviert. Als ich dann am nächsten Tag wartete und wartete und wartete und schließlich dort anrief, tja, da hatte man mich in dem Streß total “vergessen” – super Kundschaftsbetreuung…. Naja, ich bekam dann noch einen Wagen und kam auch püntklich an. Auf dem Weg fuhren wir am Bahnhof in Itzehoe vorbei und das war echt eindrücklich zu sehen: hunderte von schwarz gekleideten Metalfans….überall….am Flughafen dann das gleich Bild: vor den Sicherheitskontrollen standen fast ausschließlich “schwarze” Reihen – und wie ich so mitbekam von wirklich überall aus der Welt: Amerika, Schweden, Italien usw…

Naja, nun ist es wieder soweit und dieses Jahr werde ich außer über die Medien nicht viel davon mitbekommen

Wen es interessiert, hier ist der Artikel

Bei mir ist heute morgen der Putzwahn ausgebrochen, ich konnte einfach nicht widerstehen, alles musste abgewischt und sortiert werden. Nun mache ich gerade ein Mittagspause, ein Stückchen Butterkuchen hab ich mir wohl verdient:).

Obwohl das Wetter gestern Abend nicht sooo toll war, hat es uns in den Stadtpark verschlagen. Mit ein bisschen Rum, Cola und einer Plastiktüte zum drauf sitzen bewaffnet, haben wir uns ein schönes Plätzchen am See gesucht. Wenn wir vorher gewusst hätten, dass Lady Gaga gestern Abend im Stadtpark spielte, hätten wir uns natürlich schon eher getroffen. Wer lässt sich schon umsonst Beschallung von Lady Gaga entgehen?! Haha. Wir hatten aber andere Pop(p)- Unterhaltung, wenn ihr versteht, was ich meine. Sex im Freien ist für viele wohl immer noch ein unwiderstehlicher Reiz. Näher will ich mich dazu an dieser Stelle auch gar nicht äußern:-P.

Ui, nachher geht’s ab zu IKEA. Diesmal werde ich jedoch vorsorgen, und eine äußerst detallierte Einkaufsliste schreiben, sonst wird dieses verdammt Einrichtungshaus mich noch in den Ruin treiben. Hoffentlich kann ich mich an die Liste halten.

Am Wochenende können wir, hier im Norden, wiedereinmal die alljährliche Völkerwanderung aller Metal-Fans weltweit erleben. Ich kenne viele Leute, die jedes Jahr dabei sind, und immer wieder völlig begeistert sind, aber selber würde ich mir das nicht antun. Ich steh zwar auf Festivals, aber Wacken ist, meiner Meinung nach, noch einmal ne Nummer für sich. Ich glaub, so’n Harter bin ich dann doch wieder nicht.

Für diejenigen, die da ähnlich drauf sind, ist die nun folgende Werbung vielleicht interessant. Vom 13.- 15. August findet in Hembüttel das “Dithmarscher Rockfestival 2009” statt (auf den Link klicken für nähere Infos!). Dieses kleine, aber durchaus rockige Festival ist zwar noch nicht so bekannt, aber die Deerns und Jongs aus dem hohen Norden sind ja bekanntermaßen gute Feierer, deshalb ist die Stimmung auf dem DRF eigentlich immer top. Ich war bisher zwei Mal dort und beide Male waren großartig. Wenn ich es zeitlich einrichten kann, werde ich dieses Jahr natürlich auch wieder dabei sein, selbst wenn ich einige Bands (z.B. One Fine Day, Itchy Poopzkid) schon gesehen habe, und andere (z.B. Revolverheld) gar nicht sehen möchte, lohnt es sich. Es macht einfach Spaß. Besonders, wenn das Wetter mitspielt, welches diesen Sommer ja bekanntlich für alle (schlechten) Späße zu haben ist.