TIME TO ROCK 2023 - Strom (Spotlight Blog)

Rich “The Meister” Dillon here for CGCM Rock Radio and I was recently on location in Knislinge, Sweden at Time To Rock Festival 2023. And what an overall incredible event it was! Throughout that weekend there were a veritable crapton of great acts gracing stages. But a few of the bands stood out to me over and above the already highly established bar. In my Spotlight series, I’ll go into more detail about certain gig sets than I did in my daily wrap-up blogs. All of the Time To Rock coverage can be found here: Time To Rock 2023 – Complete Coverage.

Sometimes a band gets its claws sunk deep into your skin. Often going from zero expectations to incredible surprise and delight as they impress you more and more. This next band is one exactly like that!

Strom and The Meister

My history with Strom does not go very far back. They are after all a new band as well having formed only less than three years ago. I received the album promo from the record label and TBH, basically dismissed it. I didn’t know what it was nor a thing about Strom. Simply recognizing it as a Swedish band and based on the name, assumed it would be in the Swedish language. Rarely do I love a band when I can’t understand the lyrical content. This, of course, was a huge mistake on my part. But to be fair, I also get inundated with promos and new music. I can’t possibly listen to everything, so I am forced to cherry-pick.

And so we now come to my weekly (when I’m not traveling) radio/video livestream which broadcasts on the CGCM Rock Radio station as well as simultaneously on MixCloud. The show is live to air and I take requests from listeners via the MixCloud chatroom. Over a few weeks, I had two different listeners (Brian and Nathan) requesting Strom and more than once each! The song “Ta Mig Tillbaks” seemed to be the chosen representative. I loved it on the first listen! Before long I was also selecting “Katapult” to feature in other shows in following weeks. I was all in on Strom, cursing my epic fail from the get-go!

SRF

Now fully in the Strom camp, they marked high on my list to see on stage while attending Sweden Rock Festival 2023. What a show! I was mesmerized and blown away by how good they were. And I couldn’t even understand one damn word! You can read more on the SRF set through my blog: STROM – Sweden Rock 2023 (Blog)

Now my anticipation level was registering in lofty heights for Strom at Time To Rock! Would they uphold the already tough legacy I had formulated in my head? Would I love them just as much? Or would the novelty all wear off?

Time To Rock Gets A Jolt

Unfortunately with the schedule here at Time To Rock, there were some direct time clashes. Hey, this always happens at multi-stage events backed up by a ridiculously strong lineup. Here Strom was up against NWOBHM band Diamond Head. With the same scheduled start time, photographers were allotted the first 3 songs at Ticketmaster (mid-sized stage) and the songs numbered 4, 5, and 6 over at the small stage, Rocknytt.

Now, I love NWOBHM and every band from it. This was also my first time to photograph Diamond Head. But after only 2.7 songs in the photo pit for Diamond Head, I raced over to Strom! And make no mistake, I’m an old, fat guy and the only time I run is if I’ve done something wrong and someone’s chasing me! But I was excited for Strom! As their band name translates from Swedish to English they infused a massive jolt of electricity into Time To Rock.

Into The Pit!

Arriving with the last half of song #3 ending, the photographers flooded the pit. Coupled with the thumping high energy of the musical creations, Strom was a bundle of compressed energy on stage. Like a coiled spring when the tension releases! Such fun to photograph. The guitarist with the mustache danced around with flare. The other’s blonde hair flew. The bassist holding down the low end. The drummer smashing the skins. And I clicked away!

But the singer was once again so emotive. Maybe even more so this time or it was just that I was much closer and could see better. At one point near the end of song six, he flew out off stage and onto the barrier. The crowd loved every second of it and I was in prime spot to click away. He then returned to the stage and collapsed to the floor. The song ended and I actually felt tired and spent after that display. Exhausted after the high-energy punch of Strom‘s music and performance. The photographers drifted to stage left to exit the pit. The security waved us back in! Either there had been a miscount in the songs or we were allowed four. No fucking problem!

Strom vs. Diamond Head

I had no regrets about leaving Diamond Head early to experience this! I love NWOBHM and I love Diamond Head. But holy fuck Strom is a helluva live experience and I might even love them more. And I can’t understand a word of it! Such a flurry of motion from both guitarists, the blonde one playing for the camera perhaps. He kept leaning down to face into the large stage fan. In doing this his blond locks feathered and fanned out floating around. Hopefully, I got some good shots of his 80s music video impressions as I clicked away.

I remained in the crowd after photo time, a bit regretful that I’d even chosen to go to Diamond Head at all! Had I not I’d have been able to get more Strom. My head bobbed fast and furious, my foot thumping the ground, I made up lyrics and just mimicked noises to the songs. I also noticed that each of the three mics across the stage had a different colour “clown nose” on them. Orange, yellow, and purple/mauve….I wonder if there is any specific significance to that?

Ta Mig Tillbaks!

What a show….again! This band might be even better on a small stage such as this. The crowd and the band feeding off each other’s energy. Were they the show of Time To Rock Festival? Maybe, just maybe they were. Definitely in the top three for me! I do hope Strom keeps this band alive and has new music in the works. But for now, “Ta Mig Tillbaks” (Take Me Back)!

BUY: Strom Music

STROM OFFICIAL WEBSITE / FACEBOOK

TIME TO ROCK OFFICIAL WEBSITE / FACEBOOK

Follow along with all of my coverage here: Time To Rock Festival 2023 Full Coverage page.

Cheers,