Its Been So Long
You knew when I came to Stockholm, it wouldn’t take too long for me to be throwing a crazy party or putting on a show. That’s what I do. After casing the joint for a few months, making some friends, and meeting some music contacts, I hear from my friends The Black Halos, that they are having trouble getting a Stockholm show for their Scandinavian tour. How can that be? They are so great. I decide to take this on as a challenge – not only to promote my first rock show in Stockholm, but also to test out my ability to pull off such an event, as a newbie in a foreign land.
First of all, I get a lot of questions about my life in Stockholm. The music scene is pretty vibrant, and Sweden is the third largest exporter of music in the world. Most people know pop bands such as ABBA, Ace of Bass, and The Cardigans. In the last decade or so rock acts like Backyard Babies, Hellacopters, and The Hives have also gotten a lot of attention. The music scene seems to center around Stockholm as the most internationally connected city in Sweden, but Malmö and Göteborg (Gothenburg) have a fair amount of bands as well, with lots of little scenes scattered all the way up to the Arctic Circle. The rock club with the most consistent lineup of live bands and club nights is Debaser, where I hang out a few times a month.
When I first came to Sweden, I only knew one person I had any real contact with – Joy, whom I met at a Wildhearts gig the year before. Coolgrrrl Sabine introduced me to an ex-pat living in Sweden, Dave Champion, who is well connected to Debaser and The Hellacopters, among other bands he’s worked with. Dave and I got along instantly and became fast friends. He introduced me to many other people in the music scene, as that is the way you meet people in Stockholm. There is a saying that once you make friends with a Swede, you have made a friend for life. That’s because I have found they are not into casual acquaintances, and it takes a while for them to open up to new people.
My first few shows were kind of strange – I would go out with Joy or by myself and though most people under the age of 40 speak perfect English in Sweden, it’s not the language they prefer to socialize in. So, not speaking any Swedish, I could not just go and start talking to people. They are a bit leery of strangers, and it’s better to have someone introduce you. All my friends back home were asking me if the Swedish guys were HOT, and had I met anyone. The only guys who would approach me were crazy drunk at like 2 or 3 am when you DON’T want them to talk to you. My first few months were pretty lonely – I had Dave and Joy to hang with, but no boys wanted to deal with me. The only boys I met were ones I already knew that come through on tour! Dave thought it was funny. He said, “I love it! Everyone is terrified of you!” I know that I am a little loud, and do things like dance by myself in a bar and wear a lot of bling, which no Swede would ever do. Slowly but surely, people warmed up to me, and I started to make some other friends. It took a few months, but I started to have a steadily growing social life.
Of course, that is not enough for me. I am used to ruling my home scene. I looked to get deeper into the scene and promoting parties, DJ-ing, or doing other stuff. I met a concert promoter at a bar, Ed O’Neill of Neighbourhood Threat promotions, who had already heard of me and my band. Ed has been living in Sweden nearly 10 years, but he’s American, so that’s why he just started talking to me out of the blue! We talked about me DJ-ing a party, and I even got an offer to DJ from a girl named Linda who ran the punk rock party at Debaser. I started to get the itch again. Then when my good friend Adam of the Black Halos said they were coming to Sweden, but were having trouble getting a show in Stockholm, I thought this was my big chance.
I called Debaser, but had trouble getting the booker on the phone, as he never returned my calls- I’m sure he had never heard of me or The Black Halos. I enlisted the help of Ed O’Neill, as he has experience, and he turned me onto a new venue that was looking to get live shows. We met with the manager, who told me the venue was co-owned by one of the members of Europe (remember “The Final Countdown” from the 80s?) It was all ages, as they had no liquor license. I made the deal – I would pay the venue 10% of the door plus the soundman, and pay for catering and beer for the bands. Sounded easy as we shook hands.
I also got some good local support bands. One was the female-fronted Starlet Suicide, whom I had heard before from a comp given to me by Wildhearts fan Dom, The Dark Lord of Barnet. They are fun neo-glam and I liked them before they were even suggested. I got their contact info from local scene guy and member of Maryslim, Urrke, who I also made friends with through Texas Terri and other mutual friends. Both bands signed on to take whatever was left over from the door, minus Black Halos guarantee and expenses. Maryslim have a good local draw and there were even some people coming from Kiruna, near the Arctic Circle, to see them.
Next, I have to promote the show. There is a rock and roll message board called www.helgon.se, but of course, all the threads are in Swedish. I posted the show there and asked Ed to help me. I posted a link to the Black Halos music so people could check it out- I figured if they hear it they will like it! I hire a guy to put up posters. I get local graphic artist and Maggots front man Måns to make me a flyer, which I tried to make like a party by calling it “Kitty Kowalski’s Coney Island Freak Show”. This way, I thought if people were interested in the music I was DJ-ing and the flyer, they might come for the bands too if they didn’t know them already. I leave full-color handbills at the venue, and hand them out every time I go out. I started to realize that promoting an unknown band in Stockholm is very difficult, as most people only want to see bands they already know.
The next challenge I encounter is the venue manager, who will not confirm the details of our deal. I call him. He asks what he wants me to confirm. I go through it again and he says no problem. I ask him to put it in writing. He calls me a week before the show and tells me that the one venue is not ready as they are doing construction, so he is moving the show to the big venue. I ask him if this changes the terms of our deal, and he says no. I remind him about the sound technician he promised to provide and all the other details, and he says it’s fine.
The day before the show, I go to the venue to leave more flyers and make sure the posters are in place. The kitchen knows nothing about the catering or the beer that was promised, so I go over the details and the number of people, with them. The day of the show, I get a call from the manager at 1:30 in the afternoon. The guy that owns the sound system for the large room wants 3000 kroner (about $400), or we cannot use it. I remind him how he said the terms of the deal would not change. It crosses my mind to cancel the show, but The Black Halos are already on their way and I want to see them. I can’t do this to my friends! So I give the manager the money, and say “this had BETTER include a sound man”. He says that it does. I remind him about the food and beer. He acts as though he has never heard this before. I tell him once again, the terms of the deal – he is to provide a soundman, food and beer for the bands. I am starting to get really nervous. I tell them I’ll be at the venue at about 7 to deal with the bands and set up the backstage area.
My phone starts ringing at 5:30. How fast can I get there? The bands are loading in and don’t know what’s going on. There’s no soundman, no one knows about sound check, etc. These are ALL things I went over about 5 times with the manager. Luckily, Ed O’Neill comes to my rescue. He gets to the venue early and sorts everything out. He brings in a soundman. By the time I get there, the Black Halos are setting up to sound check. The manager is totally confused and tells me that he hired a backline because he didn’t know if we had equipment, and then expected me to pay for it. I told him that I asked him only to do four things, and so far he has done NONE of the, except something I didn’t. Anyone who has dealt with me knows how anal I am and can guess what state I’m in. Also, since Ed has called in his own soundman, I have to pay him as well. Ed saved the show, but it is adding up to a lot, so I decide just to lump it, have fun and think of it as throwing a party with one of my favorite bands playing!
NOW comes the fun part! I get to see the band and catch up with them before sound check. I am also really excited because my boyfriend Peter came from London for the show and I want him to meet Adam. It was like my big brother checking him out to make sure he’s OK for him little sister. Billy Hopeless is always entertaining and fun, and he starts to dance around singing Kiss, as Peter is a really big Kiss fan. I say hi to Jay, and Rob, who says that he has a Maryslim CD so he knows of the band already. It’s really a great bill and a great show, aside from all the pre-show chaos. I do not tell them of the drama, as I want them just to ROCK and have a great show.
Many of my new friends came – Eva and Anette of The Voladoras, Jocke of The Nomads and Gearclub at Debaser, Tomas aka Reverend Tom, who is a great DJ and music fan, and Tomo, bass player of The Heart Attacks, who did the door for us. The flyer said admission price was “80 bananas” slang for kroner (about $10). One girl brought a bag of 80 banana candy, so I let her in free! Starlet Suicide brought a lot of people, and were fun glam rock with bratty girl vocals. I hadn’t see hair that high in a long time, but the Hanoi Rocks glam look is alive and well in Scandinavia.
Urrke’s band Maryslim is straight-ahead rock and roll, with lots of rock riffs and stage antics – guitar player on his knees, rock posturing and bravado. They were a perfect warm-up for The Black Halos. The Black Halos ripped out their set, blazing through tracks from their latest album “Alive Without Control.” That’s a pretty accurate title – the songs are like letting a rabid pit bull off a leash, and frontman Billy Hopeless is always without control, entertaining and unpredictable. They gained many new fans and some people even said that the volume was way too loud. After the show, I settle up with everybody, and bring the party back to my house. We’re joined by Urrke and have the boys go to the familiar 7-Eleven to buy some beer. After weeks of planning, last minute trials and tribulations and a wacky beginning to the night, I am glad we are back at my place partying- I need a drink!!!
People ask me all the time after Coney Island High closed, why don’t I do another club. Every time I promote a show, I know why. It’s kind of like getting drunk and throwing up. You wake up the next day vowing never to do it again. Weeks go by, the bad memory fades, and you do it again. It was no different with the Black Halos show, but well worth it as the 45 minutes they were on stage were fantastic, seeing the other bands Starlet Suicide and Maryslim was great, and hanging with my good friends erased any bad experiences dealing with dodgy venue managers and show logistics.
It was a great experience, but exhausting. So like getting drunk, I said I’d never do it again, but just you wait. I’ll get the itch soon. Stockholm has not heard the last of me yet.
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