I live for the moment now

Two years have already passed since my last (sad and little bit angry) post. 

Many things have changed. First, my dear Mando Diao fans, Mando Diao no longer exists. But "livet går vidare", life continues.

I lived in Sweden. I had the best days of my life. All that thanks to me, my beloved partner in crime and least but not last thanks to Mando Diao, Sugarplum Fairy and Johnossi and all lovely musicians from Sweden I happened to meet during that crazy ride. 

Sometimes I google Ode to Mando Diao and just for fun look at the old post, read through this "craziness", through these insane years. I felt that reading the lines "I hate Mando Diao!" as the first post on this blog I spent so many years with would be unfair and stupid. So I felt this urge to write another post (and maybe even more, who knows). 

Because I had the time of my life. 

I remember how I walked through the Slussen tunnel, in my hands holding the new signed vinyl from The Royal Concept, heading towards Johnossi show in Radiohuset. I knew that moment "This is it! This is my life, now and here!" and I own this to Mando as well. That very moment. So I can´t hate them. I still love them. 

I remember all of you, my dearest Mando.com friends. How we sometimes continued to be friends even without Mando and how we sometimes not. 

So I sort of ends here. Some of you still have the new Mando with Björn, some might love the new Gustaf, State of Sound, Carl´s songs on Soundcloud and hey, there is new Johnossi album coming!

Shall we all meet at their roof concert in spring?  

Who knows :-)  

And I am thinking what kind of song I should put here? Which song says it all?

...and if life is just a ride it should be fun

Love, V.

Till I stop pretending

I´m old and boring. I have no dreams anymore and I hate the new Mando Diao. I hate them because they took it from me. I hate them because when I look at their old pictures, when I listen to their old songs, I feel like it all has sense again. After all. I feel alive. I want to scream and jump, I want to get lost in their music, I want to lost my fucked-up mind. I want to be alive. It´s in their picture. The feeling. 

They took it all from me. They become something funny, something plain, stupid, something shallow. I´m alone. I miss them. I miss them not. 

I blame them. It´s easier. So I keep on doing it. Blame them for it all. Because what if they just stayed the way they were? What if....? Would it be easier? 

I blame them because of that picture I see, because of what I feel when I look at it, because of it all they are not anymore, because of it all what I´m not anymore, I blame them because they are like the life, constantly changing, constantly slipping through my fingers. 

If only they could stay the same when everything else is falling apart. That is why I blame them all.

Do you know what I mean?

Stand up and take the fight

 And then, after few minutes of walking, there´s sea, wild and loud, deep down under me, screaming into the red rocks. The blue sky is slowly breaking through the grey mass of clouds, it was raining in the morning when I walked from my farm to the bus station. But not now. Now I can see the sun reflecting on the waves, white stones on the shore. 

I wanted to go here, once. I travelled to Båstad and then I planned to continue by bus and bike, up to this point where the land is ending, where there´s nothing more than sea. I didn’t do it and with time I forgot it all completely. As the time passed. 

But now I’m here, staring into the wilderness, breathing the salt and cold air. And I´d be able to miss it, the whole secret gig, just by staring into the deep on the shore, I could get lost here. And it was Mando Diao who brought me here. I had no idea, obviously. Nobody had. I didn’t want to go but I was just around the corner, just on the opposite side from Båstad and it was too tempting, it just happened and I left my quiet paradise that rainy Saturday morning to see them, again, to let them take me on this adventure, back where I once was. 

Båstad looks different in spring, the sea is calm and flat, beach smelling like seaweeds, streets are full of young people who came to see the show like me. And people know. The girl at the hostel reception immediately asks me if I’m here to see Mando. The city is theirs. 

We are supposed to meet at the train station, there are plenty of people there and we all get on the buses with secret destination and off we go. And I have the feeling that we might be going there, I slowly remember the place I wanted to see some years ago, we´re driving with the shore on our right side, up through green fields. 

Another adventure they’re taking me on without knowing, they’re saying it’s their plan but it never is, they never really know what they’re causing. 

We’re leaving the bus in the middle of the fields and we´re walking to The Place. Its called Hovs hallar. But I don’t stop at the designated point, I see the stage, but there’s something more I need to see. So I’m walking straight ahead, through the gate to the different space.  And there it is. The sea in its true version. I know they took me here same as I know they don’t know. They don’t know about me and my story, about me and this place, about my own adventure. They always somehow manage. The invisible ropes that are connecting the lives of us all. And I’m standing at this point, on this rock, watching the wild sea. There is nowhere to go. I know what that means.

It´s almost funny when I think of it. Seven years ago and now, here at the end of the land. We were walking side by side, they were little bit ahead of me, not really turning back and I was hurrying, thinking I might lost the track if I slow down, I didn’t actually trying to catch them, I just wanted to have them in sigh, let them lead me. To places I would never visited, to friendships I would never had, to dreams I was too scared to even think about. 

Life is an exact summary of coincidences, one Czech writer wrote once and I’m realizing that my life has been the exact summary of Mando Diao concerts and the coincidences within it. All the turnings my life took and the sense and mistakes and all the rubbish around. 

Now I came to this point and I have nothing, just like seven years ago when I saw them for the first time. But this time, there is no path they can show me. It’s all up to me. From now on.

When I’m coming back, the show is starting. Two guys in black are entering the stage. Gustaf and Björn. And there’s everything. All those years and some more. The pain. The lost. The great betray. That fucking love. All songs mixed together, all those realities. They said we would sail on the boat, out from the reality and never coming back, there is the smell of the sea and sun on the break of the day, the old songs, the old hopes and the road our lives took without us wanting it. 

I can see it, they too are different. They too must have thought that it would be different; they too are crashed by this huge machine called life. As it seems to me. We all dance and scream and some in the first row, they’ve been with them all along the way, maybe even more years than me and some got lost, those I used to know, fans that used to love them so much, they just stopped and forgot and there are some for the first time, perhaps, and some just simply curious about this band and maybe it’s just me who see this old songs floating above us like worn out toys, so beautiful yet sad and lonely. 

And I don’t really know. I’m not really sure. If I understood. I have a theory of my own, but it so many times proved me wrong. Maybe it was just another gig of that special band that used to mean so much, maybe it was just one Saturday, one trip in spring, no big deal.  

But maybe we left on that boat and we´ll never coming back.

Maybe the land is really ending at those cliffs and maybe it’s time.

Time to go in a separate ways. Time to fight.

Time to jump.

This is one story. My own. What about the rest? Where would You be if your path never ever crossed with Mando Diao? 

Full Moon

You know that feeling when suddenly one song from your favourite band that doesn´t exist anymore starts playing and you instantly turn into completely different mood than you were before and you out of nowhere have this urge feeling to write something on your blog you almost forgot about, this strong necessity to say it ALL, to describe all those feelings, fears and memories. And then, the song stops, cause that is what songs usually do, they stop, just so unexpectedly like they began, anyway the song stops playing and this high feeling is suddenly gone (forever) and all you actually have is emptiness. Cause you actually don´t feel like writing anymore. Certainly not to that blog noone cares about. And you absolutely don´t want to write (again) some heartbreaking feelings that will be missunderstood (again) and you don´t want to (really don´t want to) read some impressive comments from someone who knows everything better.
So you just lie on your bed again, so tired (after work, broken dreams and after that pityfull realization you actually don´t have anything to say to anybody) and listen to some other music until it happend again, like a stroke, some other song from the same band, that one that made you once act like crazy, that one that gave you days of what life means, that one that doesn´t exist anymore and this time you grab the computer before it fades away and you actually REALLY write something. Something completely different that you wanted. And you don´t care.
Cause lately you felt to the ground. Cause lately it seems like the song always ends too soon. Cause lately you just keep asking: What the fuck was the fucking point? Cause lately you lost the track of yourself completely and cause lately you fear that that guy who was singing if you still believe in magic doesn´t believe in it anymore. And you´re scared (so scared) that you actually don´t believe in it either.
And then the song ends again.
And you´re just tired from the work. From meeting all those horrible people.

And you still don´t know a shit about it all.

And life´s still beautiful.

Day One

Well, this one´s for You.

If we scream and shout

From the last Infruset concert in Borlänge. The trailer to the bigger and whole concert movie that is hopefully coming soon.
And it´s one year now since we saw the Infruset movie in the cinemas, you remember?

They are like a hurricane

It’s an English pub, dark English pub. And there are some heavy metal bands that are going to play tonight. I’m here because of LES GORDONS. The band I fell in love with few months ago. Now they are finally back in Stockholm.

I’ve seen lots of bands live in my life. It was just a few of them that made me feel alive for a while. It was Mando Diao and Sugarplum Fairy for sure. It was The Royal Concept sometimes. It was Johnossi, of course. And it was Les Gordons which is something I wouldn’t expect. Not from a new young band.

Their performance was impressive, rough, breathtaking. I felt like I was time traveller and suddenly appeared down in the past watching one of the early Mando Diao shows. One of those I missed and I always wanted to see. I felt like I got the chance. Not with the Mando Diao themselves, but with Les Gordons.

Above all Les Gordons are full of energy, passion and self-confidence. Deathly combination. They simply get you. I believe in them. They have it. Like Mando Diao. They are going to be big.

You want to be part of it? Don’t miss the chance, be there right from the start. See the whole story.

You know how? Join the Official Street Team of Les Gordons. To begin with like the page and get in touch with me. Together we’ll make this ride worth it!

Link here: https://www.facebook.com/officialstreetteamlesgordons

I followed Music

It feels little bit unreal when I think of it. Like most of the things over the past year. As it seems I was in Borlänge yesterday. There were no Peace&Love festival. And it wasn´t exactly summer. I didn´ t travel back to the Czech Republic as I used to do. I just got on a train and went home. To Stockholm. But that doesn´t matter, that is not what is it all about. 

It´s about one concert. One concert in Folkets park, over there where I saw The Vaccines or Carl Norén playing once. Everything seemed to be so small, the whole park, the whole Borlänge. Small and quiet. And there was me. Small and insignificant, unable to change it, we all were. Just powerless against that huge mistake. As always. 

Cause there were suppouse to play Sugarplum Fairy that day. And they didn´t. 

Cause there were one moment, one instant when everything was absolutely wrong and I just couldn´t bare it. The whole picture was broken. There were Viktor and Carl Norén singing Sweet Jackie. There were Gustaf and the band Mando Diao. It was in Borlänge on Athena stage. And I knew that this is not the way it should be. I shouldn´t be there. They should´t be singing that song on that stage with Mando Diao. They shouldn´t be there at all. It was surreal and absurd picture saying me that maybe there was no sence in anything after all. That the dreams are fake. It wasn´t sadness, it was all just too unbelievable to me. Like most of the things over the past year. 

I heard one stupid song when I went to the station the other day. To the train that took me from Borlänge. From that city where it all started for me once.

So there was this song. I don´t really know the lyrics but she sung something like: "You´re the reason why I´m here." And she was true. 

Cause Mando Diao, if I never ever got to know you I woudn´t live in Sweden. I woudn´t got to know the other bands. The other people. The people who now means so much, so much it´s almost hard to breath. I woudn´t have written what i wrote. I woudn´t dream the same dreams. My life would have been completely, absolutely different, on different place, with different story. My whole past. Maybe my whole future. That pain. That sadness would be different. All that happienes. The sense. The point. Me. I would have been diffrent person. 

And in that moment, while you were playing Sweet Jackie I wasn´t really sure if it is right. But it must be, don´t you think?

Cause it must have been the year 2008 or something and I was stading on the bus stop, listening to "You Don´t Understand Me" and there is this line saying: But I will always be the one who holds you in the end... and I thought it was true. Is it?

Popovic

Love this photo.

Welcome home

And you know what? Because I´m in a good mood today, probably because it´s friday, maybe because I listened to some Mando on my way from work... who knows.... Here it goes. The whole Croatian show from 2012. So great, so Mando, so f-word crazy. 

Encore

Something awesome is happening right now. Let´s not talk about it too much, just not to scare it and let it dissapear. 

On 31th of August, Mando Diao and Sugarplum Fairy will be playing in Borlänge... have you heard of it?? I hope I will see you there! Oh I almost forget, the concert is sold out, BUT there will be another one. Go and get a ticket (or two... or more..) Link HERE.

At the meantime I´d like to remember one concert in Stockholm. It happened at Skansen. Mando Diao played another show from their Infruset Tour. However not only Infruset... as an encore we could hear Dance With Somebody! Kind of interesting combination but nevertheless absolutely powerfull. Makes me think again... how much I miss Mando Diao without Infruset. No matter how lovely it is. 

 

They are simply very famous right now. They also turned into completely different band. And that´s actually what they do all the time. Like a chameleón. Do you remember Unplugged times? Or Give Me Fire concerts with those background singers? Or do you remember Mando Diao from Never Seen The Light Of Day? There are lots of stories... Can´t wait for the next chapter.

 

 ....

When summer hits the Stockholm ski

Haven´t listened to this song for a while. But I remember like it was yesterday the feeling it gave me. Go and listen to it right now, it still works!

Raining in paradise

Lazy Sunday afternoon. Few months without Mando Diao. They are certainly working on their new english album. They are playing shows with Infruset still. And there was a release of GOLD version of Infruset recently. You can watch the new cute video for the new song Säv, Säv... They also played at Skansen on the Swedish National Day and they met the king:) 

You can check the whole summer tour under this link. 

But there is something else I wanna tell you. About today. About Sunday afternoon that begins with sun...

...and ended up with hail and terrible rain. We were at Kungsträdgården to see RixFM festival and Mando Diao played two songs for us. Snigelns Visa and Strövtåg...And no matter the rain we stood there and watch them singing like it was completely normal Sunday afternoon. 

And they are still looking good and they are still making great music and I´m grateful for that. And that´s pretty much all.

Viktor & Jonas & Samuel

I bet you´ve already heard about it. Samuel Giers the former drummer from Mando Diao is starting a new band. And he´s not alone in it. Actually there are two more guys. Both from Sugarplum Fairy. One of them is Viktor and the second is Jonas. The band´s name is VIKTOR & THE BLOOD. You should check their page or twitter or what so ever. 

Their first single called "Kicks out on a Saturday night" is about to be released! So hurry up! Write the date 22th April somewhere!
Plus there´s gonna be debut EP soon, 29th April. 
And that is not all. There´s more. TOUR dates.

10 Maj Göteborg - @ Sticky Fingers
17 Maj Stockholm - @ Debaser Medis
23 Maj Malmö - @ Debaser
29 Maj Helsinki - @ Semifinal

It´s definitely exciting and I´m looking forward to hear/see/know more.

Les Gordons - Born ready

Another part of the "Introducing new bands" series. This time I'm proudly presenting the Special edition including an exclusive interview with the band!

The Swedish group Les Gordons is coming from Örebro to take over not only Sweden. The band consist of Jonatan Renström - lead vocals and guitars, Albert Björliden playing bass, Andreas Persson - keys, guitarist Carl Ragnemyr and drummer David Runebjörk. 

The band is about to release their debut album  "I'm gonna leave this town", you can watch their official video for the single "She's Like A Hurricane" here plus read a really interesting interview made with the band!

ENJOY!

 

What was the very first moment when you realized that you wanted to start a band?

Well, the moment when I decided that I was going to be a rockstar was when I saw The Strokes' video to their song Last Nite. Before that I only listened to hiphop and Michael Jackson. That opened up my eyes for rock and I found a lot of music through that.

A few years later me and Albert, who had a similar experience with Ramones, decided to start a band. We later found Andreas, Carl and David along the road.

 

What is your biggest dream, what would you like to achieve with your music?

Our ultimate goal is to be as big as possible and always gain new grounds. If our music could mean as much to people like some bands do to us we have succeded. If we influence someone in any way that's a good thing. We would rather have someone hating us than don't care at all.   

Which artists inspire you as a band? 

Our strength is that we come from quite different musicial backgrounds but we share the same idea of what Les Gordons is. Some bands and artists that inspire us are The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Doors, The Kinks, Oasis, The Strokes, Blur, Håkan Hellström, Mando Diao, Broder Daniel, The View, The Libertines and so on. But we listen to a lot of music that isn't similar to our sound.  

Who writes the songs & lyrics? What’s your inspiration? 

Jonatan is the one that writes the songs but we arrange them together. The songs are not political but always important. They could be about anything but often they encourage you to think for yourself and to go your own way. Some songs are stories and others are just a point of view or a feeling. 

Do you think it’s an advantage to be Swedish when you want to start a band? Why (not)?

Yes, it definitely is, for a lot of reasons. First of all, Sweden is a country that spend a lot of money on culture so it's very easy to start a band in Sweden. You will easily get a rehearsal room and access to a studio. Second, there's a lot of good bands from Sweden so that makes kids intrested in music and new bands are formed. Just like with sports. A lot of swedes got intressed in football only because of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. and third, Sweden is cold and dark most of the year and that makes people creative. 

What are your plans right now? When can we expect some more songs to be released? 

2013 is the year of Les Gordons. We have just recorded our debut album and we will release it this year. We are also planning a tour in Europe. 

Do you think you are ready to face the crowds of screaming fans who are waiting to adore you deeply? 

We were born ready. The question is, are you? 

Oh I bet we're ready, aren't we?! 

Don't forget to check their official band page here and LIKE their facebook page as well. Next gig is set to 5th June in Uppsala, Sweden. Be there! 

And HUGE thanks goes to Les Gordons for the interview!!!

Touch new ground

"Sometimes I miss you so much I can hardly stand it"... well yeah. This not happens that often, but right now...I miss you. It´s because I know so much about you and you mean a lot. I´ve just checked one band´s page, one band´s I recently started to adore, and I realize: "Man, I don´t know anything about these guys!" But more important is that I don´t even want to discover anything. Maybe I´m too old or too lazy or just it´s not possible to love another band that much like I love you. Give you everything. No, I don´t want to. I will just listen to the music. I don´t wanna know all those details about anyone else than you, Mando Diao. 

Feels like the circle is back at its very beggining. When I started with Mando Diao I only listened to the music, without faces. Then I discovered that unique page mandodiao.com and the obssesion started. Now I´m back. Back with the music. No faces. Or at least no details. No craziness. Travelling throught whole Europe for a concert. Nope. 

But now I miss you. Just because of all of that I mentioned before. Because of all of that I won´t have with any other band. That´s why I miss you now. But I can stand it. 

Let´s have some fun

Some of us know

Infruset Turné 2013 - Stockholm

You have it, Mando Diao. From all those bands I love you´re the only one who really have it. That thing I can´t name. It´s not that the other bands are less important or worse. Not at all. Sometimes on the contrary. It´s that feeling. So powerfull. Lifechanging. Yes, maybe I´m exagerating a little bit cause your brothers´ band, Gustaf, they have something very similar too. However still... there´s something I feel and see and hear once in a while on your concert, Mando Diao, that I´ve never felt or saw or heard before or any other concert I´ve been to. Maybe you understand maybe not... 

So now I´m floating in the air, Mando Diao. Floating on your music and I wonder how´s  possible that those guys I don´t know from the country which is not my homecountry in the language that is not my mother tounge are singing about place I love, where I grew up and when I want to return one day. How´s that possible? Have they ever been there? Do they know me? So far far away and so close. Those melodies... it´s in there, for sure. 

Stockholm. Älskade hemstad. Tack. 

Infruset Turné 2013 - Norrköping

I went there quite skeptical. And I was tired. My very first day in my new home. Stockholm. And the Infruset tour has just started. First there was a concert in Visby, then Norrköping, my destination. Another hour in the train, the dawn slowly coming outside the train windows. I’m thinking about the coincidence. The first thing I do in my new life is Mando Diao concert. It´s even more suitable because they were one of the reasons why I felt in love with Sweden. So now I’m here, heading Norrköping and my first official concert of MD singing in Swedish. The first time when I will hear ALL the songs from Infruset album. 

There´s no need to hurry, seats in the first row are certain; I bought my tickets already in December. And I’m not really excited. They don’t make me nervous these days. 

The concert takes place in a wonderful concert hall close to a river, the whole event makes impression of some theatrical performance or something completely different, definitely not Mando Diao concert. Where are all those girls waiting to be able to be in the first row? Where are all those young girls anyway? There are plenty of older people, dressed very fine and I’m feeling weird in my jeans and a T-shirt.

I see Carlos selling some merchandise and I buy good-looking magazine called simply Infruset Turné 2013 and after quick look I discover long interview with the band, photos and an article about Fröding. The magazine looks and smells good. (I´m not going to eat it, though...)

The whole feeling is very different from all my previous Mando Diao experiences. There were small venues, huge open air concerts, acoustic sessions played in music stores, unplugged, plugged... but never something like this. It feels certainly weird. Most of the guests are going to see Mando Diao for the first time, I suppose. What it will be like for them? And for me? 

It’s been a while since this band is not the same for me anymore. They started something I can’t stand and like, they changed a lot. I don’t even listen to the whole Swedish album anymore. I guess I’m more like the fan of the first episode of the series called Mando Diao. Ode to Ochrasy times, that’s what makes me shake every time I listen to it. I don’t adore Give Me Fire album and I deeply hate Caligola. But still. They are...Mando Diao. The reason, my answer for so many questions. They are still present. That’s why I’m here tonight. In Norrköping. However I’m not going to freak out because of them anymore. I’m more curious than excited like I used to be. 

I sit into the first row and wait. Prepared for everything. Then it happens. It got me from the first second, indeed. It’s little bit like theatrical act. It’s a game. And I love that it’s in Swedish, my new language I’m living with. During the first songs I still feel distracted because of the Caligola impression. It’s in the way Gustaf and Björn move, sing, act. It’s in them, the whole Caligola thing. I see it and feel it and I’m not sure if it’s appropriate in this Infruset situation. However then comes I Ungdomen. And I got lost. I cry and I forget everything else. I only hear the music and words. With Strövtåg i Hembygden and Snigelns Visa comes back memories. To Munich show when we heard Snigelns Visa at the soundcheck for the first time. Memories and thoughts. They made me smile, cry and even dance in the end. They gave me the answer. How did they do it again, for god’s sake?

When I’m leaving the venue I don’t feel empty like I used to feel after their show. I don’t feel high on music. But I feel I liked it. I feel I’m happy I was there. And most important of all... I feel I’m doing the right thing with my life, here in Sweden. I didn’t ask them and they didn’t tell me anything with proper words but it was there. It’s always there, Mando Diao. In your music. That’s probably why I will always like you.