Sad news: The music world mourns the loss of Ray Manzarek (74), founding Member and keyboarder of The Doors, White Zombie drummer Phil Buerstatte (44) and Uriah Heep bassist Trevor Bolder (63). R.I.P.!
German Hardrockers BERSERKER will donate 18.000€ to the Berlin cancer charity for children on May 25. November 2011 BERSERKER front man Schröder was diagnosed with cancer, now he is cancer-free. In 2012 the band collected money for this charity at their concerts and will also continue to do so in the future. Slayer´s Jeff Hanneman is dead: he passed away at about 11AM on May 2nd near his Southern California home because of liver failure due to an infection after a spider bite. R.I.P. Jeff!
The Siberian Jay music video "I´m Holding" featuring Mikko Sirén from Apocalyptica on drums - we reported about the videoshoot in our "1h with" Special - can be watched here: http://youtu.be/C-hSNurZVcs
After the holidays are over, during which I sat together with my family and some good food, sang some Christmas carols, assembled some Playmobil parts for my cousins and sadly, had to stay in bed sick over New Year´s, it was finally time for the first gig of 2011. The Dynamo in Zürich came up with some very special guests – Negative from Finland. So, off we go but, how could it be any different, after two and a half weeks without snow, today of all days it has to snow again and everything is completely white.
Only today I received an email confirmation that the interview with the band would definitely happen. 5:30 pm at the Dynamo, which meant that I had to be in the train by 4pm. Stress galore, pack everything, don´t forget anything, off to the car, get to the station without sliding right off the road and be in the train on time. Inside of the Dynamo club many fans, mostly female ones, of course, already waited for the band. The interview with Jonne will be posted on STALKER shortly, for now let´s check the band´s live qualities.
MAXXWELL
Five Swiss men hailing from Bern open the evening. Actually, it is said that people from Bern are rather slow but this is definitely not true for Maxxwell. The moment they hit the stage, they rock out and show what they can do with their instruments and their throats. The band is in good spirit and obviously has a lot fun playing tonight. They deliver a solid show that is fun to watch and even the Negative fans are happy, which is indeed a great achievement. As a support band it´s generally very hard to get people to like you and this is especially true when those people are die-hard fans of the main act. But Maxxwell prevailed.
http://www.maxxwell.ch/
NEGATIVE
A very mixed (ranging from teenager to adult) and mostly female crowd waited patiently for their heroes. But then all hell broke loose when one after the other stepped onto the stage. Ear-shattering screams fill the room. Cheerful and with a big grin in their faces, the guys get down to work and send everyone into rapture. Every song gets the crowd going. They play a great set consisting of both new and old songs and they really give their all, tonight they play with heart and soul. With his refreshing and charming attitude, singer Jonne easily captures the fans´ hearts and convinces vocally, despite a nasty throat infection. At some point he asks the girls in front of him to stretch out their arms and indicates that he wants to jump. Crowdsurfing, baby. Shortly after landing safely, a girl caresses his cheek. The other ladies, who still carry him, hold very tightly onto him. That´s how he remains, no moving forward or back. Like glued to them, he hangs in there for several minutes. But help is coming his way. From the stage, the tourmanager grabs his pants and pulls him with all her power to get him back onstage. Finally, the girls seem to wake up from their dream and help to get him back where he belongs. Still on his way back, many somehow manage to grope him wherever it´s possible. What a show! But unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and so Negative say their goodbyes and leave only very satisfied people behind. As a farewell present, they give a few white roses to some lucky ladies, what a sweet gesture.
