Thomas Silver
First live act for me at Skogsröjet was Thomas Silver. He is the former guitar player off Hardcore Superstar (HCSS) 1997-2008. It was after he had left the band that HCSS took in guitarist Vic Zino (former Crazy Lixx) who later decided to stay with the band.
With that said, I had been looking forward to this gig since I found out that he was going to play at Skogsröjet.
He played songs from his solo-album that is coming out very soon and will have 11 tracks on it, including the last song that he played at Skogsröjet, which will be the first single and is called “Bury the past” and it will also be a video to that song. Not much info available about this album yet.
He played with the guys from a band called the Terrorhawks from
New Zealand / Gothenburg.
The Terrorhawks played at Skogsröjet the day after Silvers gig, Saturday, August 1.
The music sounded well live and so did his singing. It’s a heavier and a bit more serious rock sound in his music than say, HCSS. Though there was a few moments when the guys on stage didn’t seem to quite know what or how they should play, but there are also moments when they get it right. That’s when it sounds so good.
Silver also played Hardcore Superstars song “Liberation” with a little bit of “Wild Boys” also an HCSS song, and had the crowd sing along.
Silver needs to play a bit more live to get the habit of being in the front of the stage, singing and talking to the audience. He was sort of excusing his own presences as a soloartist. Something he really shouldn’t be doing. Give it maybe a year of gigs and this will be really good and for being one of the first gigs that he plays solo, it’s not bad at all.
Best moment of the show: “Bury the past”, the last song and his versions of HCSS songs.
Highly notable: Thomas Silver is serious about his music and he is a talented guitar player. This gig got me curious about his solo album and I'm looking forward to the video to "Bury the past".
If this got you curious about Thomas Silver check out his Facebook page.
☠☠☠/ 5
Electric boys
Is a Swedish band from Stockholm that was formed in the late 80’s by the singer Conny Bloom with the bass player Andy Christell. They played late 80’s – early 90’s.
Their song “All Lips n’ Hips” became a huge hit and after it’s release the band completed the line-up with Franco Santunione on guitar and Niclas Sigevall on the drums (Niclas did not play at Skogsröjet, Jolle Atlagic replaced him on drums. Jolle is from The Quill and ex-Hanoi Rocks) and they started to work on their first album “Funk o Metal Carpet Ride” 1989.
The band made big success and toured in both Europe and America.
They released their second album “Groovus Maximus” in 1992 followed by more touring which led to 50% of the band members leaving the band. The guitarist “Slim” Martin Thomander and drummer Thomas Broman entered Electric boys and they started working on some heavier music.
In 1994 they released their third album “Free wheelin?” but their following tour in Europe got cancelled and Conny and Andy decided to end the band Electric Boys after a final gig in Stockholm.
Conny Bloom went solo and later joined Ginger (former Wildheart) in Silver Ginger 5.
Conny and Andy later joined the Finnish rockers, Hanoi Rocks in 2005 and toured with them in Japan and Europe for 4 ½ years. Hanoi Rocks did their last gigs in April 2009. It was after this that Conny and Andy rejoined with Niclas Sigevall and Franco Santunione and Electric Boys played at Sweden Rock Festival 2014. Their new album “And them boys done swang” was recorded and released after some touring in April 2011.
Electric Boys are currently touring with their latest album “Starflight united”, in April 2014. The song "Desire" is great!
Their gig at Skogsröjet was a nice surprise.
They are experienced and know their crowd, have humor when they play and their music is great live and they like to play.
It shows that they enjoy what they are doing, and could take the misfortune when the power went out as they played and Conny continued to sing the whole song without power. Although some people in the crowd got annoyed, apparently Skogsröjet had the same problem last year. Electric Boys where appreciated by the audience; everybody sang along and danced to their music the whole gig thru.
Highly notable: That the guys in the band played evenly thru the whole gig, no one in the band got annoyed when the power went out. They really delivered.
Check out their website http://www.electricboys.com or follow them on twitter @TheElectricBoys or follow Conny Bloom on twitter @ConnyBloom2015.
☠☠☠☠/ 5
Electric Boys at signing.
H.E.A.T
H.E.A.T is a band from Upplands Väsby, Sweden that where formed in 2007 when the two bands "Dream" and "Trading Fate" got together.
I really like Heats music and some of my favorite songs are “It’s all about tonight”, “Breaking the Silence” and “Living on the run”all from the album "Address the Nation". If you listen to their records “Address the nation” and “Tearing down the walls” you can find more good songs. I had really been looking forward to see them perform these songs live and to see them live.
All of the live reviews about Heat that I’ve read say that they are great live and that Erik Grönwall, the singer has a great voice and lots of energy on stage. They have toured for years and played a lot of shows. I did not think I’d get disappointed.
So why did I get so disappointed with this gig? Maybe it’s because Erik seems to think it’s more fun to spit on the stage as well as himself and to rub it in his own face and hair, than focus on singing? (Disgusting!) Or is it because he thinks it’s more fun to yell out that he’s drunk? Or hand out whisky to the audience and create chaos among alcohol thirsty idiots?
Maybe he caught the highly contagious L.S.D, “Lead singer disease” because he doesn’t seems to be aware that he sings in a band, he never “leads” the band, he never really talks to the crowd or involves the crowd or take control over the gig and never shares the spotlight with any of the other guys on stage apart from when everyone leaves the stage for a drum solo. But that’s about it. Maybe they enjoy what they are doing, but I don’t enjoy watching this gig.
Erik just jumps around in weird moves, shakes his head constantly and makes (scary) weird faces to the crowd. One minute his off the stage and in the crowd and everything he does it’s a bad version of all the rock clichés ever been done.
I really hope that this was just a one-time bad event and that next time I see Heat they will be much better live, because I still like their music.
Best moment of the show: “Tearing down the walls” it’s the only time Erik focus on singing and stands still with a guitar and for a moment they are actually a band. This is the Heat I came to see and the Heat they should be. It's wonderful and Erik proves that he actually can sing.
“Living on the run” could have been nicely done live, but Erik jumps down into the crowd and takes the focus off the song, again, even if he sings the words, it doesn’t quite cut it for me.
Highly notable: Bands should not hand out alcohol to the crowd. At festivals many people are already drunk and do not need more alcohol and some people can be underage. People in the front of the stage gets squeezed when people in the back rushes to get a free drink. Do these guys think about this? No, but they should! This goes for all the bands that ever handed out alcohol to the crowd. It’s not Rock n’ Roll, it’s only stupid!
You can go their website www.heatsweden.com for more info.
Hardcore Superstar
Hardcore Superstar did as usual a great gig. They have a great connection with their fans, though some people in the crowd got a bit out of hand, especially when they picked out people to get up on the stage and have a drink with them in the song "Last call for Alcohol". I still don’t think bands should hand out drinks at gigs. But I can understand how it fits into their song and at least the people that drink here are on the stage. (Still not okay.)
They are still one of Sweden’s best live bands and are a bit everywhere on stage without having it be too much; the band shares the stage well. They also played “Liberation” like Thomas Silver did and said that a guy played the same song a bit earlier on the same stage, referring to him. I think both versions of the song sounded good at both times.
I think they could have played more songs from their latest album “HCSS” but maybe they’ll play the new songs when they go on tour, whit start from October this year with Michael Monroe and his band. Stay tuned for more info about their tour!
Best moment of the show: “Touch the Sky” and “Don’t mean shit” both from their latest album “HCSS” performed with lots of energy and singing from the crowd.
☠☠☠☠ / 5
Skid Row
I think most people know who Skid Row is. But for those who don’t know, Skid Row is a band from New Jersey, USA that where formed in the late 80’s by Rachel Bolan, bass player and the guitarist Dave Sabo. Among their hits are songs like “Youth Gone Wild”, “I Remember You” and two of my personal favorite Skid Row songs “18 and Life” and “Wasted Time”.
Since the band started they have had a few ups and downs and changed a lot of their members. In 1991 they toured with Guns n’ Roses in Europe and USA on their “Use Your Illusion tour” at the same time Skid Row released their second album “Slave to the Grind”. This was after they had toured with the first album “Skid Row” in USA, Japan and Canada 1989. It’s also from the same album that the hits “Youth Gone Wild,” “I Remember You” and “18 and Life” are from. After massive touring the guys in Skid Row needed a break and it took three years until a new album was released, in 1995 “Subhuman Race” came out.
In 1997 Skid Row and Sebastian Bach, the lead singer, went on separate paths, the band had tired of his somewhat “negative” ways and Skid Row got quiet for two more years.
1999 Skid Row had found a new singer named Johnny Solinger. The band had also been forced to find a new drummer after Rob Affuso left the band do to other projects and Charlie Mills took over the drums. He was soon replaced by Phil Varone.
Skid Row continued touring and “Thickskin” was released in 2003 followed by yet another drummer, named Dave Gara and in 2006 the album “Revolutions per Minute” came out. Dave Gara was later replaced by Rob Hammersmith, 2010.
In 2015 Skid Row and Johnny Solinger, the singer went separate ways after 14 years together. Tony Harnell took his place as the new Skid Row singer, he is known from the band TNT from Norway. Skid Row will soon hit the studio again to record the last album of the “United World Rebellion” trilogy, followed by another world tour .Their latest album “Rise of the Damnation army- United World Rebellion Chapter Two” was released in 2014.
After all this background I was a bit hesitant for what I was about to see when Skid Row entered the Tube Stage at Skogsröjet. From the very first moment they came out on the stage they had a grip around the crowd that didn’t when loose until the guys had left the stage. Tony Harnell has a great voice and it doesn’t feel like he’s new in the band at all, he more is Skid Row. All the guys in the band work well together and have a nice chemistry between them. Tony is calm and sings Skid Rows songs secure and with confidence. Their music doesn’t feel old though their music is well-known to a lot of people and most of their songs have been played since the late 80’s. The crowd still loves it and sings along from the first to the last note. It’s a nice concert with a great band that is perfect for Skogsröjets crowd.
Best moment of the show: Tony starts to speak to the crowd and asks if we remember when we were young and bought our first records then he brings us down the memory lane of those special moments, and then they started to play “Youth gone Wild”. It seems that this was the first record to a lot of people in the crowd. Great moment!
Highly notable: At the gig Skid Row thanked the crowd and the people that made it possible for them to still have their music as a living.
☠☠☠☠/ 5
Something to check out: Skid Row has re-recorded “18 and Life” with Tony Harnell and you can download it for free at www.skidrow.com. Don’t wait, you won’t get disappointed! They also got twitter, so go and check that out @OfficialSkidRow!
Europe
It was a nice surprise that one of Skogsröjets biggest acts started of with “War of Kings” which is a great song from their latest album, with the same title, instead of an oldie.
This pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the concert being a perfect mix of old and new from Europe.
Europe puts on a really great show and the whole band works as a unit and they are performing their songs with a great amount off joy. It’s the same amount of energy on stage when they play their old hits like “Rock the night” and “Carrie” as when they play more modern stuff like “Last look at Eden”.
Joey Tempest joke around with the crowd and the whole band are alive. Joey is calm, knows what he is doing, has a great stage experience and clearly the band loves the music that they are playing. Together with the band he owned the stage. This is midnight
in the middle of the forest with only ten degrees (Yea, this is how cold it can be in Sweden at the end of July…) and John Norum is slightly bothered by a bat during the show but still they perform as if nothing had happened.
Europe has mastered the three C’s, cool, calm and collected.
This was a great show and if you get the chance, go and see them! Among other gigs they will play at Gröna Lund in Stockholm September 25.
Best moment of the show: “Last look at Eden” and “The final Countdown” because it’s such a familiar song for so many.
Highly notable: voices around in the crowd seemed to be a bit surprised by how great show this was and how good Joeys voice still is. The only down side is that it is a bit too late because it´s so cold.
Check out Europe’s latest album “War of Kings” 2015 or “Bag of Bones” 2012 or “Last look at Eden” 2009.
“Last look at Eden” is one of my favorite Europe songs along with “Rock the night”. You can follow them on twitter @europetheband or go to their website www.europetheband.com
☠☠☠☠☠ / 5
Setlist:
War of kings
Hole in my pocket
Superstitious
Scream of anger
Last look at Eden
Carrie
Firebox
Sign of the times
Nothin’ to Ya
Ready or not
Guitar solo
Girl from Lebanon
Let the good times Rock
Rock the night
Days of Rock n’ Roll
The Final Countdown
There is a reason to my absence lately, and it’s called bad Wifi connection, I sincerely dislike bad internet connections. 
5 Star Grave is a heavy metal band from Cuneo, Italy. The band was formed in 2005 by Thierry Bertone, the guitarist and Gabriele Lingua the drummer and after a few months’ time the rest of the band members came along, Alessandro Blengino on guitar, Hervè De Zulian on synth, Claudio Ravinale the singer and Andrea Minolfi on the bass and vocals. In 2006 the band released their first EP ”The Zero Hour” named after the band’s name “Ground Zero” at that time. In 2007 they changed the band name to “5 Star Grave” and the year after that, in 2008 they recorded their first full length album “Corpse Breed Syndrome”, the album was like the others self-produced. 
Fun fact: the name ”Close Quarters” comes from when some of the guys lived very close together in quarter and that the cover of the latest album is inspired by the famous nunnery in Vadstena. 
Close Quarters will follow the release of their new album with a tour that will visit several cities in Sweden and you can find more info about that on their website www.qlosequarters.se or on their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CloseQuarters. 
First live act for me at Skogsröjet was Thomas Silver. He is the former guitar player off Hardcore Superstar (HCSS) 1997-2008. It was after he had left the band that HCSS took in guitarist Vic Zino (former Crazy Lixx) who later decided to stay with the band. 
It shows that they enjoy what they are doing, and could take the misfortune when the power went out as they played and Conny continued to sing the whole song without power. Although some people in the crowd got annoyed, apparently Skogsröjet had the same problem last year. Electric Boys where appreciated by the audience; everybody sang along and danced to their music the whole gig thru. 
Hardcore Superstar did as usual a great gig. They have a great connection with their fans, though some people in the crowd got a bit out of hand, especially when they picked out people to get up on the stage and have a drink with them in the song "Last call for Alcohol". I still don’t think bands should hand out drinks at gigs. But I can understand how it fits into their song and at least the people that drink here are on the stage. (Still not okay.)
