Time To Rock Day 2 – Saturday
Friday night in our caravan went quite well with a couple of cold beers that my friend had brought with him. But OMG, I forgot! You think I’d know this by now with the amount of times I visit Sweden! What we failed to do was close the shades on the sunroof in the camper. And as a result, I woke up to it being bright and birds chirping away. But as I said, I forgot. I looked at the clock to find it was 4:30am! It gets light quite early this time of year in Sweden. 4:30am and you’d almost think it was noon! FFS, we only went to bed at around 2am🤣. Blankets pulled over the heads and it was back to sleep.
A much more human time for the next awakening and a light breakfast in the house with coffee was a perfect start to the day. The homeowners, who we have rented the caravan situated on their drive from, are absolutely lovely folk! We enjoyed chatting and laughing all overshadowed with the excitement of the festival.
The festival gates swing open about 30 minutes before the first band hits the stage and so I was in fairly sharp to time. Meeting my peer press folks in the tent it was a lovely little chat as we prepared for the day. Even though I was in the park in plenty of time, I lingered in the press area and chose not to visit Gabba on the Pirate Stage.
The first band of the day for me was Vypera. I have the album back home and so was anticipating the first live set for me. A young lady came up to me remembering me from Muskelrock saying it was her brother’s band. Well, that’s cool. Quite young guys, but they had an energy about them and it was an enjoyable set.
Lion’s Share kicked off the largest stage, Rock Kommander next. Having followed the band for a while and playing their music on CGCM Rock Radio, this was another highly anticipated set. It was good and I certainly enjoyed the show, but I did feel that the band and especially the singer himself could have exhibited a better stage presence. There wasn’t a ton of stage action. I don’t mean that as an offence, just my observation and opinion.
(Side note: a lot of folks are shocked when they find I come from Canada. Why is their question? Well, already two great bands today that I’ll never see in Toronto. That’s why!)
I decided it was time for the inaugural fish of Time To Rock! I do love Casey’s Fish and Chips stand and was so happy to see them here this year. In fact, the festival organizers responded to a poll they put up on their FB page asking about festival food. They then took in the comments and made changes to their selection of stalls and products on offer. Fantastic how Time To Rock really does consider the festival goer’s opinions and wishes!
British punk band Anti-Nowhere League drew me to their stage for the first three songs. With the Falcon Stage and the Pirate Stage having exactly conflicting stage run times, the photogs got songs 1, 2, and 3 at Falcon and the songs 4, 5, and 6 at Pirate. Anti-Nowhere displayed a fierce energy and the piss and vinegar “f the world” attitude that you would expect from a UK punk band.
Exiting the Falcon photo pit, it was a brisk walk across the grounds and up the small incline to the Pirate stage for Junkyard Drive. If it’s a 5 minute walk you’ve done something wrong. That’s the beauty of Time To Rock, everything is close. I seriously think that Junkyard Drive get better every time I see them. And that’s a few times now. Their straight out not too frilly hard rock is great stuff! The band are fire to watch on stage with expressive facial displays galore. And I stayed the entire set! Awesome band that you should catch.
Are you counting up now how many bands I’ve seen today, at least in part, that I won’t get in Canada? Four. So far, it’s four! Or every damn one so far! Stopping into the press tent quickly for a new memory card, I was back out on the scene and over to Rock Kommander.
Japanese band Murasaki took stage in their first time in Sweden. Apparently, I’m told that Murasaki means purple if that info is correct. Which would also explain the Deep Purple-ish stylings of the music. But I like much of Deep Purple. I did not like much of Murasaki. To me, it was way to progressive with the songs not really going anywhere. And the stage show was lacking energy. In fact, I thought from the photo pit that even a couple of the band members looked bored on stage! Not for me, but I was clearly in the minority with a sea of people stage-front and little Japanese flags fluttering in the air! While it wasn’t for me, definitely beyond a cool experience for many and a first for band and Sweden.
Hiding in the press tent passing the time with some of my peers, I was back out again for the next two bands. Down on Falcon it was USA’s The Rods featuring Dio‘s cousin (you can really see the resemblance). My friend from France is a huge fan and since I’m in contact with their publicist, I hoped to assist him in meeting them later. My three songs photo allowance then took me over to Pirate Rock to see what Bite Me was.
And wow, was I quite pleasantly surprised. Bite Me was a quartet of young ladies! I do like rockin’ female musicians! The music I heard seemed quite good as well. It is difficult to concentrate on the songs while you’re photographing as your attention is focused on the camera. I did notice that it seemed the ladies were using the same instruments as Anti-Nowhere League implying a connection there. I’ll definitely be looking for their albums upon return home.
I might be considered a bad Canadian, but I’m not massive on Unleash The Archers. Even so, off to photograph it was! I was immediately captured by the sheer power of Brittney Slayes‘s vocals. OMG, such strength and tone from the young lady! And the riffs also took a strong hold on me as well. Lots of hair flying and stage activity created a fun photography environment. Maybe, just maybe I was finally getting on the Unleash The Archers train. Anders will be so very happy (the Swedish guy’s fave band). I watched a good portion of the set before retiring to the press tent.
Some time later one of my peer photographers Erika alerted me that The Rods‘ publicist was searching for me. And so I rushed off to try and catch her and the band at their already complete signing session. Along the way, I ran into Johan, son of the folks we were staying with. It was our first meeting and while great to finally meet in person, it meant I missed the publicist.
I have never seen The 69 Eyes live before, but I do quite enjoy their music, especially the track “Black Orchid” as well as last year’s album release. I imagine they might be a bit of an eclectic taste. Maybe not. To me, there’s a sort of doomy funk to them. My buddy describes them as “Vocals like Billy Idol“. Which I can also see. Well, hear. In any case I was looking forward to this set. Down in the photo pit, I readied myself as the band took stage amid a thick cloud of smoke. Damn, I hate fog machines for photos. And to top it off the stage lighting was also not amazing and coupled with the haze made me struggle with captures. Oh well, the tunes were great even if the photos are not.
She caught me! The publicist hunted me down in the press tent as I huddled in my sweater with a coffee to warm my hands as much as my insides. It was a little chilly. Anyway, I was escorted backstage to meet The Rods and take a few photos of them in front of a Time To Rock banner. I couldn’t resist jumping in for a quick pic of me with the band as well! Fantastic guys and keep a watch out for an interview with The Rods by one of the CGCM Rock Radio team coming soon.
While in the backstage area, I bumped into Poul Martin Nielsen from Witchcross! Another great band! Lovely to see him again as we’ve known each other a little bit and met when I caught Witchcross live in Belgium. Hey, Time To Rock….Witchcross might be a great fit for next year’s lineup :). Poul was here today as a part of the Pretty Maids entourage and I didn’t keep him too long as I headed back out to switch camera cards ready to do my best with Pretty Maids on stage next.
Pretty Maids is one of my favourite bands. They never hit over here on this side of the pond so to speak. Many folks here have never heard of them. I’ve had the pleasure to see them many times now and they never disappoint. With singer Ronnie Atkins having stage 4 cancer and guitarist Ken Hammer a mild stoke recently I was so happy to see the band get back out on stages. They are only doing a few select dates to my knowledge including another stint on the Monsters Of Rock Cruise in 2025.
So happy and excited I was down in the pit. They started out with the intro to “Mother Of All Lies” and then into the song proper. Now, as I’ve said before, when you’re down in the pit capturing your fave band, you don’t focus on the music. No matter how well you know it, it slides to the back of your mind as you focus through the viewfinder. I knew it was “Mother Of All Lies” as I clicked away, but what I didn’t notice was the sound issues. Folks were talking about it afterwards. Maybe I just had my blinders on, so happy the boys were back? In any case, the sound issues were eventually ironed out and the band handled the entire thing with professionalism. I didn’t care, PM was back on stage!
To me, the gig was hammering right along! That is until Ronnie quipped about the weather and lack of rain. Immediately after the words left his mouth and flowed into the mic to reach our ears through the PA system, it started to rain. Great time to play “Yellow Rain“….lol. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed Pretty Maids and hope there are many more shows to come!
Raven was up next for me on the smallest stage, Pirate. Riding on the high of the PM set, I watched from the crowd for the first three songs. (*We are not allowed into the photo pit until songs 4, 5 and 6 at this stage). This actually worked out really well given that “Destroy All Monsters” and “Hell Patrol” were the first two songs out of the gate. Raven‘s raw energy always amazes me. Those guys are just animals on stage and so very fun to watch. There are no hockey helmets in these days though….lol.
Jumping into the pit for song 4, my camera decided to stay on the shelf. “C’mon, you bastard…..what’s going on here?“. It seemed to be a memory card malfunction and it wouldn’t save any shots. Naturally, a good photographer is prepared and has brought many memory cards to the festival. A good photographer also carries them with him and doesn’t leave them in an equipment bag back in the press tent. I am not a good photographer…lol. So no Raven photos, but a great set up until waves of exhaustion poured over me and it was time to sneak out back to the caravan.
On the way out coming from the furthest stage, Pirate, I crossed paths with the Falcon Stage. Now I knew there was a band closing out this stage at the same conflicting time as Raven. But I’d not really heard Joddla Med Siv🤷🏻♂️. I breezed by them at SRF a couple years back. I was shocked at the crowd for them. Don’t get the music…….at all! Probably would help if I understood it. I was shocked again walking past Falcon Stage tonight. I’m sorry, it must be the language barrier, but I just don’t get it. I mean I don’t even like the music, so it has to be more than language. I guess I have to be Swedish………any Swedish ladies out there need a husband? 🙂
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Cheers,
The Meister
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