A message for Dimmu Borgir: Snow is white

Dimmu Borgir vocalist Shagrath either doesn’t know the color of snow, or is trying to convey a subtle anti-racist statement in a metaphor. Here’s what he answers in a recent interview:

Chicago Tribune: What is it about Norway that allows so many black metal bands to flourish?

Shagrath: Mainly it’s a way of thinking. It could be environment. We live in a very dark country where we have a lot of snow. It’s a small country but a lot of bands are able to think outside the box, and not be copycats.

Read full interview here.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but if you live in a country with a lot of snow, isn’t the country technically ‘light’? I mean think about it, snow is white, a lot of snow means a lot of white. Where does the ‘dark’ part come in?

K.K. gives the O.K.

K.K. Downing, of Judas Priest, is ready to go on tour. A message on his official site goes a little something like this:

“It seems that the time has come for us to put the touring wheels in motion for our next world tour in 2011! It’s funny but these days around – about this time – I can’t help but reflect on the past when we had to load the touring van ourselves. Sometimes in the ice and snow, being afraid that we would get frostbites on our fingers and not be able to play the gig!“

Read full post here, although it goes on and on and on forever.

Can’t musicians just announce something without making it a mini-biography? Jesus. If I had a band, you know what my updates would sound like? “Tour. 2011. Bye” or in case I’m feeling ‘ranty,’ I’d make it a bit longer… “Tour in 2011. Goodbye.”

If any band needs a badass PR guy, let me know.

Deep Purple's first manager passes away

Deep Purple‘s first manager, Tony Edwards (pictured above, far left), passed away at the age of 78.

“It was without doubt Tony‘s love of spotting an opportunity which sparked life into the embryonic contacts between musicians which evolved into Deep Purple, and which he and business partner John Coletta (who died in 2006) sunk money into for a couple of years until the breakthrough album In Rock justified the faith of all concerned.” – Simon Robinson

Read the full thing here.

R.I.P. Tony Edwards.

It is said that without Tony, there would be no Deep Purple. And we all know without Deep Purple, a lot of other bands wouldn’t have existed.

HEMIX

Scandinavian “Love Metal” band, HIM, have announced an official remix album of Screamworks: Love In Theory and Practice, will be released December 7th and titled SWRMXS.

Great news for those that loved it the first time round. You’ll soon be able to buy the same album all over again! Or if you’re like me, you can have the pleasure of not buying it all over again. HIM are full of imagination.

Yngwie likes Guitar Hero

Yngwie Malmsteen loves Guitar Hero and Rock Band… In fact, those games made him pick up the guitar in the first place, as he points out in this interview with “Invisible Oranges”

Invisible Oranges: What do you think of video games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band?

Yngwie: Well, I was originally very skeptical. But it actually turned out to be a great thing because it introduced kids to rock and guitar. Guitar was kind of dead in the ’90s. It’s not a bad thing. It actually turned out to be a really good thing.

Read full interview here.

Okay, so he didn’t pick up the guitar because of the games, I was making stuff up exaggerating for the sake of journalism. Newspapers do it all the time, so why can’t I? We make fun of these games but we do agree that they brought ‘guitar playing’ to the masses, so that’s definitely a good thing. I never expected Yngwie to approve of them, by the way. I thought the only things he liked were lasagnas and real guitars.

You live and learn I guess, huh?