Hey around Earth and elsewhere! IA here and a compressed summer update to let you know what’s going on (and has been going on) among us freaks.

First of all I am still trying to get the stupid smile of my face from the Beethoven Triple Concerto performance in Västerås 14th of June. I had such a wonderful time and learned so much from both rehearsals and the actual gig. The sound from the orchestra on a huge stage, orchestrated and mixed well, is breathtaking in all its richness and texture. That Ludwig guy knew what he was doing, deaf and all. (It took me a while to see the brilliant architecture of the piece. You have to live with it for some time). I had goose bumps through the entire piece.

Rehearsing Ludwig Van B…

Mucho thanks to conductor Hans Ek and the symphonietta (plus Rikard Gateau, Anna Enerothand everyone else who got the shit together) for being equipped with liberal ears and hearts. Hans managed, in his humble and professional way, to totally eliminate my serious Conductor Fear. I mean, I am after all a self-taught heavy metal bastard and here I am, having the nerve to play the sometimes damn complex Triple Concerto, written for violin, with a beefy orchestra, a real conductor (with a real baton) which has never, to my knowledge, been done on guitar before. Certainly not electric guitar, the most pagan of all instruments known to man (which we love in all its hedonism!) Super duper thank you to brother Patrik Jablonski for having the guts to contact me in the first place and for letting me drag Jonas Hellborg (who never, like myself, worked so hard on anything in his lifetime) into the event as well. Thanks a bunch also to my long-time friend Mathias Walin who actually is responsible for putting Patrik and moi in contact and who taped and shot the entire thing from start to finish.

Jablonski’s new haircut

Posing with Rikard Gateau, orchestra boss

The rehearsals were rocky at times, to say the least. I felt embarrassed every now and then but everyone was so cool and encouraging, which really helped to get rid of the Classically Trained Musician Fear (yes, more stuff I was shit-scared of before but am no more). Little by little it all fell into place. The actual concert was the true highlight in the afternoon sun. I did three goofs that I know of (one that turned into something very bluesy) and there were some bruises here and there but overall it felt pretty damn good (I might beg to differ when listening back but…) Used my new splendid 5 Watt Laney Lionheart amp to keep the volume down but still keep a sweet tone. I also, and this is amazing, people, got my first True Temperament Apple Horn (equipped with a Lundgren pick-up in the neck position). Holy Mother of God what an instrument! It took more than 400 bloody years for someone to figure out how the guitar should be built in the first place. That someone is genius Anders Thidell who worked hard together with Paul Guy to come up with the concept . I was a little afraid to use the guitar since I wasn’t sure I would get used to the twisted frets fast enough but gee… I have never come close to anything more natural ever. The guitar plays itself, plain and simple. Can’t wait to get my second one soon. (It’s in Anders’ parner’s Paul’s shop, also with a Lundgren pick-up in the neck position, but with slightly different specifications).

Lionheart at work

The Apple Horn True Temperament, the most divine of electric guitars

The Mastermind himself was at the concert and was baffled how well his invention worked with the orchestra. Intonation is everything and True Temperament is it. Basta. I am a lucky guy to work together with my dear friend Itaru Kanno, another genius, at Caparison Guitars and now Anders. To me, the easy part is to play the instrument. I know exactly nothing about it. Also glad to have my eminent guitar tech Fredrik on board. Taking care of guitars, changing strings, e t c, is the most boring thing I can think of. I believe Fredrik actually enjoy tearing the instruments apart to fix them up.

The typical Beethoven Triple Concerto encore pose…

Anyway, I would like state again what a lovely time I had together with Patrik, Hans, the orchestra and Jonas. Patrik, Jonas and I will surely perform the concerto again (and other stuff). There have already been requests from orchestras in Poland, Italy and Estonia so far. Learning something like the Triple Concerto on guitar takes forever, every page has to be deciphered, but you will carry it with you for the rest of your life. I am thinking about writing it down with tablature so you can have a go out there. It is really rewarding. We’ll see.

Since the last blog Bjorn, Chris and I did a very funny gig in Schorndorf as I taught at the Schorndorfer Gitarrentage. (Someone got photos? Forgot my camera). Thanks a bunch to everyone showing up! We had a kick ass time on stage! (Even managed to drink two full major glasses of beer on stage before the last song. I blame Chris. He tricked me. I felt the pressure from the audience. Very unlike yours truly. I don’t know what I thought of. Macho-me. Won’t happen again. I think). Had a great class in Germany as well, plenty who also will attend this year’s Freak Guitar Camp (you insane, lovely people).

There was the Fuzz Guitar Show in May where I did a Silent Guitar showcase plus an improvised jam with Andreas Öberg and Jonas as well as a couple of Art Metal tracks with Anders Johansson. Also lots of fun in all its contrast.

Anders Johansson getting off

A mini tour of five clinics in our beloved France, set up by my friends Nanou Campos and husband Thomas before that. Had a great time! In Digne there was some serious jamming with the lovely Christophe Godin and his Metal Kartoon. The MAI clinic in Nancy really turned into something as close to a gig as you can come when you are all alone on stage, playing to backing tracks. People went nuts and I loved it! Can’t wait to bring the band back to France after Land of the Freaks has been unleashed!

MAI riot!

I was a quickie in Milan to play on Guitar Day together with Paul Gilbert and several splendid Italian players recently. (Someone got photos? Send them in). A fine event. Might be back next year. Thanks a lot for your awesome support during my show, Italian friends! (Special thanks to Guglielmo Malusardi for harassing me with e-mail until I replied and agreed to come). Guitar Day was the day before the first Beethoven rehearsal in Sweden and I had a grueling travel schedule so after signing and posing for about an hour after my performance I cut it short to go back to the (very slick) hotel, practice a little Triple Concerto, laughing my ass off at a Dean Martin concert/stand-up comedy show in my mp3-player and get some sleep before getting up four in the morning, get on a plane to Copenhagen, onward to Gothenburg, have a quick birthday lunch with my family and Jonas at my house (the maestro just turned 50), get in the car and drive to the other side of Sweden and the city of Västerås. I’ll hang out more next time, I promise. (There is talk about a clinic tour in Italy in November and we hope to bring the band down as soon as we can).

Pekaboo!
(Couldn’t resist posting a few pics of Gabriel, now one year old, since I didn’t have any shots from Italy, Germany, e t c).

Next up is the Freak Guitar Camp! Ahhh, I am really looking forward to it and am gearing up each and every day. Prepare yourself, dear campers, prepare yourself…

Birthday boys

Cool birthday bathrobe from the cousins and aunts

In the midst of the camp there will be two concerts, Gothenburg (Sticky Fingers) and Stockholm (Klubben), 1st and 2nd of August, with Jonas and the fabulous V. Selvaganesh on kanjeera. You really need to see Selva in action to believe it! That tiny kanjeera is like an entire drum kit and the man is so in control it hurts. Hope to see you there!

Eklundh jr. celebrating midsummer in a party tent

Land of the Freaks! Yes, it’s coming together piece by piece and I am simply thrilled to the bone about it! It feels like we are really breaking some new ground with this one. Right now I am working with the intense violin playing of Radhakrishna on the tune Teargas Jazz, editing together his solo spots, as well as a neat violin section on a song called OK. Hope to have the mighty Selvaganesh to lay down a few kanjeera licks on a couple of tunes when he’s in Sweden for the gigs. Be patient, precious Freak Friends. All of a sudden, when you least expect it, it’ll be ready for release. We’re doing a photo shoot next week with the insanely gifted photographer Lennart Sjöberg who also has shot the cover (the nasty Estonian creature/piece of art mentioned in an earlier post). More updates soon.

Stay tuned, stay freaky. Thanks for reading.

IA

Oh well, here I find myself again on a plane going somewhere. Budapest, if I am on the right plane, then onward to Zagreb, then onward to Split, Croatia, where I will play my strange music tomorrow. It is snowing like crazy and I find it quite cozy (although not the ideal flying weather. Flight is already delayed so we’ll see what happens in Hungary).

Winter has finally reached Sweden and the Eklundh family adores it entirely. Hanging out in front of the fireplace with your nine month old son, Dean Martin on the stereo, cup of the wife’s groovy coffee and ivory storm outside is simply heaven to me. Gabriel is hypnotized by snow flakes on our long walks in the woods with Maya. Had a lovely Easter together. Hope you did too (if celebrating it at all) wherever on Earth you are.

Swedish winter clouds

Had a ball the last week working on Land of the Freaks. Ah, it is turning out great although it takes time (due to traveling, not the actual work process itself). Soon done with going through Björn’s amazing drumming. Each track has to be checked and a few edits have to be done here and there (still extremely few due to Fryklund’s top-notch timing and overall kick ass ideas). I was a little afraid about recording the drums after the guitar. Never tried it before. Every time I listen to music done in this order there is a certain, overall un-groove, a funny vibe hard to describe. But we have Björn - the Secret Weapon, and it makes all the difference in the world. His playing has never been better! I could praise the guy forever but will now stop since he knows he can play bloody well and so do you.

Not Swedish clouds… (Split take-off )

It is soon vocal and bass time before mix (a few leads here and there as well still missing). I think we are looking at an October release if things go as planned. The artwork is well under way with great photographer Lennart Sjöberg taking pictures of the bizarre Lithuanian creature mentioned in an earlier blog. Chris is thinking about his next outrageous stage outfit for the album shots. Liner notes and thank lists are being scribbled down. Lyrics are all written. Really looking forward to sing my brains out in the near future.

Many, many notes

Also started to get seriously under the Beethoven’s Triple Concerto skin. The concert will take place outdoors in the city of Västerås, Sweden at nice place located by a lake called Lögarängen. I will perform the violin part (yes, very tricky indeed to transform to guitar), Jonas Hellborg the cello part and Patrik Jablonski will take care of the piano business. We will be joined by the town’s symphonietta. I am both shit-scared and thrilled about it. Both Jonas and I fear that the “classical timing” of the orchestra and conductor (don’t look at the baton!) will be the most dreadful thing to glue together with our “rock time” as well as the technical side of it all. Could be a nice clash… Tricky and spooky indeed but also a true challenge to perform such beautiful music together with splendid musicians. Thanks a bunch to Patrik for having the guts to contact me (and to our mutual friend Mathias Walin for providing the contact information). Happy to have Jonas on board the very last minute as well. I am battling with what gear to use. So far the Laney Lionheart amp has been the most lyrical. Christian Alsing will provide me a discreet compressor to keep the playing in place. I do not want to ruin Ludwig’s music with a heavy metal tone. On the other hand I need sustain to pull it off. Totally clean sound will sound like crap. Using wah-wah is pretty nice for some parts. We’ll see. Check it out if you are interested in seeing yours truly in a somewhat different environment. 14th of June.

Don Pardo Pimpwagon

Getting closer to Budapest. Late as hell. Still in the air and boarding on my connecting flight begins in about five minutes… Same old story. I don’t mind seeing the inside of a Hungarian hotel room as long as I make it to the clinic tomorrow evening.

Yeah! Made it to the Zagreb flight thanks to Malev air holding the plane for my late Swedish sorry ass. Very kind of you!

Now I am in Zagreb waiting for my connection to Split. Despite the odds things are going well. Will call home to check the family before getting on the third aircraft today.

Split

Arrived in the pretty city of Split where my friends Vojan Koceic and Marin Tomas were waiting for me. Vojan has really been busting his ass to make this clinic trip happen. Just getting a flight that won’t cost a year’s salary has been a nightmare for the guy but who dares wins.

Ketchup is Vegetable, Vojan style

Marin at groovy pizzeria

Right now I am back at the airport in Split about to go back home. I had an absolutely marvelous time together with Vojan and Marin. The clinic, which was the first one ever with a foreign dude, was beyond packed. People everywhere who made me glad on behalf of Vojan (and myself, of course) since he stretched out for this and took a lot of risks. I could see that he was relieved that so many fine Croatians were attending. One guy came some 500 kilometers to hear some Swedish playing. He told me The Road Less Traveled has been heard for six months, everyday. Hard core.

Croatia’s finest

Inside the castle walls

The not so enormous street

Anyway, again, my stay was simply splendid. Got to do a bit of sightseeing, trying out the local food. My wife Camilla has been in Split about ten times (her family owns a boat here and they sailed the Adriatic Sea like bastard pagans when she was a kid). The Mrs. mentioned a couple of things I needed to check out, like the castle and old parts of town. I loved it. (Bumping into tons of posters of yourself around every corner also gave the ego a nice kick in the butt, ergh) I can’t imagine when war was everywhere in former Yugoslavia. Vojan and Marin told some me some horrifying stories when the entire coast outside the city was filled with battle ships. I hope to God things cool down in Kosovo… No one wants to go there again.

Ergh?

Please do feel free to have a walk on the roof. Anytime.

This might be a used condom… or perhaps not.

This might a golden toe of some bishop

Vojan’s lovely family!

Sailing the seas of… IA!

In the evening before the clinic I was invited to (Mr.) Zeljko, (Mrs.) Neda, Marin (the younger brother) and Bart (the dog), Vojan’s fine family, for dinner. Neda had cooked awesome food, Dalmatian style and Celgko had made me a truly lovely wooden boat in his original, innovative style. I will put it on the finest shelf in the studio. Thank you, friends. I really enjoyed it!

Time for take off to Zagreb. Got to stop. Camilla told me it had been pretty much snowing since I left Sweden. A nice contrast. Silent guitar clinic in Stockholm on Friday. Drop by if you are near. Also happy to announce I will be doing a whole pile of Freak Guitar Clinics in our beloved France the second half of April.

That’s it for now. Take care. Stay freaky.

IA

Walking around the huge Musik Messe here in Frankfurt, trying to wake up with the aid of German caffeine. About to jump up on the Laney stage in a couple of minutes.

Gee… There have been so many wonderful, intense musical meetings recently; I don’t know where to begin… I am simply overwhelmed with groovy impressions and after a short visit to Croatia next week I will stay home and try to channel all this new inspiration into music. I also desperately need to be with my precious, precious son. (I miss Gabriel like crazy).

First out was the Metal meets Brass concert with Chris, Björn and the LJO. Looking back at the video footage I can’t believe we actually pulled it off. The day before we rehearsed the music on stage, with no PA or monitors, and it felt… fragmented. The night of the performance though, everything fell into place and we all went that extra mile to make it as good as it could be.

Kudos, and then some, to the fabulous, enormously gifted Magnus Ericsson, conductor, composer and stunning saxophone player. Magnus really busted his butt and came up with simply amazing arrangements to our music. Also much, much thanks to the LJO for working hard to nail it all. I know your mouths and lips suffered dearly. We had a divine time on stage together with you fine, fine people. Would love to do it again! We are also super-grateful to everyone showing up this memorable night. The best bits and pieces will of course make it to the DVD (which is growing and growing since we never seem to be able to stop recording concerts). Everything was captured on some 48 channels and shot with a bunch of HD cams.

(Photos from the great Patrik Hellström’s sharp lens)

Uhu… So after this stunning experience there was time for yet another one. I got up at bloody four in the morning Friday the 7th and drove to Stockholm. Morgan Ågren had invited me to join an All Star Team a couple of months earlier. Featured musicians were: Morgan on drums, Mats Öberg on keyboards, Gustav Hielm on bass, Lars Hollmer on accordion and Fredrik Thordendal and myself on guitar. A pretty potent not to say unorthodox band. Morgan sent me a list of songs from the Mats/Morgan band, Frank Zappa, Lars Hollmer and Fredrik’s stuff. As the Serious Musician I am, hrm, I decided to learn the better part of it.

Meeting everyone and playing this sometimes quite complicated music at best one time from start to finish was slightly scary. There wasn’t any real chance to sink into the music and we all struggled to keep it together. But, this also has a certain charm. Lots of nerve, energy and focus. Many ways to go wrong on Hollmer’s tricky music (which I did on a song called Vill du höra mer since I had to read it on stage and didn’t see a damn thing. Shame on me). Zappa’s hairy tunes and the repertoire of Mats/Morgan and Thordendal is not exactly the easiest tunes known to man either.

Everyone were very cool though and after Indian lunch we managed to get the groove going.

The Curry Quintet

Fredrik’s dedicated sheet to Hollmervalsen

Crashed at Morgan’s house and his lovely family: Tina - the wife (and also a splendid musician), Alvin - the son and Lester - the dog. Tina had made a lovely dinner that I truly enjoyed and we all kicked back together with some tasty white wine in the evening.

Tina and Lester

Frank Zappa’s drum notation

Alvin and Morgon taking it away!

The day after we hooked up with everyone outside the rehearsal place to go to the Melloboat (Silja Line) together. Dragged all our gear on board before having some wine and food together. Mrs. Thordendal, Petra, joined us on the trip as well. Nice to meet you Petra. Our kids, their daughter Maya Thordendal (yes, same first name and spelling as the furry French creature in my house) and Gabriel looked like a perfect match (look-alikes!) and we decided to introduce them a little later in life. (Stupid parents, aren’t we?)

The Fredrik Thordendal Boarding Session

Gustav in trance

The beauty and the beast, sort of

Melloboat crazies

We are very focused…

We are very relaxed…

The gig was quite surreal. Quite surreal. Morgan, Mats and Gustav started out with a pile of intense Mats/Morgan songs (and very well so) before Fredrik and I walked on stage to play En Schizofrens Dagbok and Watch Me Pleasure, both M/M compositions. Fredrik walked out and I did Paltsug before Lars Hollmer entered the stage for Nationsjazz, Pas du Valse, Idealfamiljen and Vill Du Höra Mer. Zappa time. Village of the Sun, Echidna’s Arf (of You) and Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing? Hollmer out, Fredrik back for Sol Niger Within with some lovely low-end guitar in Bb (the Apple Horn HGS worked great, way tuned down). We then wrapped it up with Boeves Vals and Hollmervalsen. A nice contrast to have Lars Hollmer re-entering the stage with his accordion as the Sol Niger Within inferno faded out into nothing. Encore was The Black Page 1 & 2 (which I didn’t play well. It might have had something to do it was five in the morning by then). Mikael Åkerfelt from Opeth and Steven Wilson from Porcupine Tree stood by the guitar side of the stage throughout the gig, among many other potent musician. Film critic and living dictionary Ronny Svensson was the host of the evening. A nice guy stuffed with so much details about music and movies, it hurts. He knows it all. Morgan, Ronny and I did a TV shoot the day after where I praised, for no reason at all, Swedish writer and friend Zac O’Yeah (had been to the bathroom with a copy of the Tandoori Moose, a detective satire set in a future, Asian Gothenburg). If you haven’t read anything with Zac: do. He rules. A league of his own. (From one thing to the other…)

Zac O’ Yeah, Mahatma and Me

Tried desperately to get a beer and something to eat after the show, but it was early morning so we had to settle for a can of Lapin Kulta and cheese sandwich from the information desk.

Hand made Mats/Morgan shirt

The day after we just chilled. Hung out with Fredrik, Petra, Morgan, Gustav and Mattias Eklund. Yes, Mattias and Mattias (me) finally got to meet after years of (both of us) replying to tons of e-mails and forum posts that were either a) ‘No, I am not Mattias IA Eklundh, the guitar maniac’ or b) ‘No, I am not the Drum Kit from Hell Mattias that plays Synth Axe on the Sol Niger Within album’. Mattias was truly a nice guy and is boss of all things sound at Toontrack. Their stuff is really top notch in every aspect. Check it out if you haven’t already. Nice to meet you Mr. Eklund.

The Real Mattias Eklund, damn it

Watching the gig

Like little kids we watched the gig on my laptop in Fredrik and Petra’s cabin over some wine and Champagne. Some things were better than expected, mostly in an unplanned, unexpected artistic kind of way. Some things were worse. But the overall feel was cool. It could have gone much worse and collapsed totally, considering the kind of music performed at the ungodly hour.

Talking to Ronny

Petra the Enlightened

Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt and a tired freak

Fredrik and iPod (with splendid music beginning on M)

I’d like to thank everyone involved and express my gratitude to Mats and Morgan for thinking of yours truly when it came to putting together the band. I had a great time, all the time. Let’s do it again later this year, shall we? (There is some talk about a show in Stockholm with the same line-up in the fall. Stay tuned). (For the interested I will join Mats, Morgan and Gustav at club Nefertiti in Gothenburg the 11th of April for a couple of tunes).

(Live photos by Johan Mauritzson)

Headed home and spent time with the family. Serious baby-swimming that both Gabriel and his daddy adored. God, I love that little man…

Oh, beloved Son with thy stunning eyes

Jumped on a plane to Frankfurt and the monstrous Musik Messe. Played like a maniac at the Laney booth and signed my brains out each and every day.

Two incredible musical meetings happened while in Germany.

The mighty Selvaganesh and a Swede

Jonas (Hellborg) had flown in the one and only V. Selvaganesh (Remember Shakti, Art Metal) to the Messe to play with him for Warwick. Needless to say we were bound to play together. The Art Metal Trio in a new shape. Selvaganesh is nothing but a legend and an icon. He is easily the leading man in the world of percussion. So totally in control of his instrument he can squeeze sounds out of his kanjeera you wouldn’t believe. It’s an entire drum kit in a single drum, played with one hand. Divine… It was truly an honor to meet the man for the first time (although we made a record together).

Laney had arranged a set at the Agora stage for me and I was so happy to be able to present Jonas and Selvaganesh. We pretty much decided what to play when the curtain was opened and although goofs here and there it was loads of fun. Jonas and Selvaganesh played like they were on fire (judging from the smoke in the photos, they weren’t far from it). The subwoofer frequencies the kanjeera can produce are ridiculous. Selvaganesh tried hard to show the Germans how to count South Indian style. I was simply floored all the way. (After the first song and major screw up I strongly felt to do only the tihai, reduction structure part again. It would have annoyed the hell out of me for a long time otherwise).

We trashed versions of Who Would You Like to Be, Savitri and Leal Souvenir before walking off. So privileged to play with all these gifted musicians and fine human beings. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I would also like to say thank you.

Jonas, Selvaganesh and TM Stevens

Jonas and Bill Lawrence

(Live photos by Per Sviggum and Benny Kahrs).

The Andy Timmons Band

Bumped into our friends of the Andy Timmons band, Andy, Mike and Dan who are on tour in Europe. Tiptop to see you! The tour we did together in Spain a bunch of years back was hilarious. We’d love to tour together again. Andy is going to play on Land of the Freaks on a song called Clean it Up. If we can synch our calendars he might be coming to the camp as well. We’ll see… Nothing is certain.

Kiko and moi

You know you have to get your shit together when guys like Kiko Loureiro (nice to meet again, Kiko), Greg Koch and Vinnie Moore are standing watching you playing in the booth. Oscar and Stefan from Hammerfall dropped by but they are Swedish and I can scream at them to get the fuck out in our native language. It helps. Always have to focus when fellow musicians listen carefully to what you do. Tricky.

Tried to disturb Yngwie Malmsteen’s signing as much as possible with harmonic minor scales. Apparently he was asking behind his security guards who the hell was playing. Mission accomplished.

Gus G and a pagan

Bumped into Gus G, more fellow Swedes; Kee Marcello and Tommy Denander. Mr. Fastfinger was at the show and we will definitely do something together for the next Freak Guitar album.

Got to have a quick chat with my hero John McLaughlin again. Gave John a copy of the Art Metal album. John rules. I love what he is doing and always have.

Next to the improvised Art Metal Trio gig, the coolest thing that happened on the fair was jamming in the Toontrack booth. Fredrik sent me a text message from Sweden that Mattias was at the fair as well. I found the booth and listened to stunning drummer Nir Z, groovy Israelean session cat living in New York, demonstrating their fine product together with Eklund who took care of the binary business (Macintosh, huh?) Mattias asked me to bring an amp to jam and needless to say, I did. We took it away to the crowd’s (and our) amusement. Mattias said he really wanted to introduce me to yet another awesome drummer by the name of David Haynes (Prince). Now, if you haven’t heard about him before, he is not your average guy. At all. He is playing drums on an old (used to have one myself) Alesis HR16 drum machine, using the Toontrack drum samples of course. Holy shit, that was some intergalactic playing. David, Nir and I fired away in a looooong improvisation in both straight and odd meter. Mattias filmed it all and I hope to make it available here or on YouTube. You got to see Haynes in action. Loads, loads of fun. Thank you gentlemen. Loved it.

Now I sit in Wurzburg, waiting (and waiting and waiting) for the confused but funny Charly to pick me up. Charly is responsible for a mini-mini festival thing here that Mörgbl, featuring the kick ass Christophe Godin on guitar, and myself guest. The French (Mörgbl that is) left this morning after last night’s concert and I will do a solo performance this afternoon before heading home.

Alright. That’s it for now. Again, to all my new (and old) musical brothers from near and far, thank you sooo much.

Tuesday soon. Baby-swimming. You know where to find me.

IA

Waiting in a looong line, much too early in the morning (as usual), at Gothenburg airport. Brussels airlines just cancelled the flight to, well, Brussels and therefore messing up my connecting flight to Athens. At this point I haven’t got a clue what’s going to happen but I am pretty sure I will make it to my clinic(s) safe and sound. Got lots of time so it should be OK. I don’t mind staying in whatever hotel at whatever city if needed to. It’s part of the job and I always carry with me a shitload of work to take care of. The weather has been something of a joke here in Sweden recently but the plane not flying is not doing so due to ‘technical circumstances’ (probably lost a wing) and not the harsh storm.

It was great fun in Los Angeles the other week. Hooked up with friends from near and far and played my so-so funky music for Laney amps at NAMM Show.

Had a meeting with dear friend Itaru Kanno of Caparison Guitars regarding the new Apple Horn model, which might turn into two models at the same time (or variations, I should say). More about this later on.

Met brother Ron, a.k.a Bumblefoot, and wife Jen. Ron is a fabulous human being and will participate on a couple of tracks on the next Freak Guitar album. More about this later on.

Did a fun video shoot and interview with Guitar Player’s Jude Gould at the Hilton, wiping off my greasy fingers on a 26 000 $ Eddie Van Halen replica Strat. More about this la…

(Really nice of the people at Disneyland to make this discreet IA sign).

Simon Fraser Clark, my ever so trusty Laney compadre, and I drove for MI in Hollywood where I had something called Open Counseling, which I enjoyed very much. Begun doing my stuff in a regular room but it was too crowded so we moved to a bigger classroom halfway through the nastiness. Thanks to the backing band for trying out a bunch of odd meter tunes, thanks to everyone showing up and thanks to Beth Marlis for being a cool person. Had a ball! Will be back!

Simon the Dude!

Not really Arch Enemies…

Satch in action

Arch Enemy’s Sharlee (or Petter as I know him) and myself went with Laney brothers Simon and Leo to see Joe Satriani and guests (Paul Gilbert, Marty Friedman and others) at Long Beach, celebrating the 20th anniversary of his Surfing with the Alien album. We stuffed ourselves with fattening cheese balls and beer before the gig but decided to go back to Anaheim and a wild hotel party after a while. Joe was great but it was just too much damn guitar for one day… Bumped into Guthrie Govan whom I hope to bring to this year’s Freak Guitar Camp. I then after yet another beer decided to call it a day and headed back for my lovely Hyatt suite. Thank God for Laney and the hotels they book. Top notch.

Cheese balls…

Sharlee and cheese balls…

Yours truly and Guthrie Govan

Strolled around Orange County with my video camera every spare minute. Tried to cash a check at a local liquor store and found myself in the midst of a payday-fuck-you-give-me-my-money-drama. It ended well and someone was given their doe, slightly less upset. People look at me like I am a moron when shooting funny signs, palms, traffic and myself. They might be right.

Uhuh…

Oh, the Brussels airline staff, whom I felt truly sorry for since their passengers behave like assholes, found a groovy SAS flight for me via Copenhagen to Greece. As the pragmatic guy I am, this is usually how it turns out: better. Even got time to get me a decent coffee before boarding.

Talked a bit to my friend Andreas Öberg at NAMM. Andreas will do a bit of playing on the forthcoming Freak Guitar release as well. He’s really a stunning player and a good guy.

Someone playing the Apple Horn HGS in the Caparison booth

Hellborg Amps indeed!

Ocean’s Eleven, the original one, with the beloved Dean Martin

Jonas and Mahavishnu drummer Danny Gottlieb

Now I am looking out over Bulgaria. Serious mountains. Beautiful. Listening to rehearsals of the Big Band Metal concert in Linköping soon. Hilarious versions of There’s no Money in Jazz, Midsummer Night in Hell in my earphones. Make sure you go if you got opportunity. Also begun practicing the tons of material I am playing with the Mats-Morgan All Star Team the weekend after Linköping on the Mellotron boat. It’ll be tons of fun (if I’ll survive the experience).

The concert at the Royal Palace in Stockholm has been postponed a year, most likely to September 2009. The reason for this is simply: time. There isn’t enough to prepare the score. Land of the Freaks is my number one priority, after that Freak Guitar and the live DVD. I also want to spend as much time with Gabriel in between travels and the recording frenzy. Speaking of the beloved Son, who is growing and growing, he did his own version of Nirvana’s Nevermind cover the other week. Behold my amphibian first-born.

Oh, my Son, my Son

Next Saturday Gabriel is going to his first birthday party when Björn’s Sindre is celebrating his first year on Planet Earth. Time flies… (time, time, time).

Checked in at my cozy and slick hotel here in Athens. Stylianos, the guy to ‘blame’ for me being here, picked me up at the airport. We then picked up Theodore Ziras, a splendid local player, who showed us to the hotel. Will grab some water and perhaps a sandwich and shoot some video of the city before working a little getting video files in synch to the music. This is the really boring part when it comes to making video but it has to be done so… No use to wait.

Had a great Greek salad with Theodore and Mátè Bodor, a fine, young Hungarian player who won an online contest. The grand prize was to come to Athens and open my show. Theodore will play too. First time I got ‘opening acts’ for a clinic (if memory serves me right), but it’ll be cool.

Oh Lord…

Next day. Theodore, Mátè and myself did a bit of sightseeing. Needed to see Acropolis, of course, and it was bloody stunning. Truly a place for Gods (and dogs which I felt an urge to bring back to Sweden). Strolled around the city and enjoyed a lot. Thanks to Theo the Dude for dragging us around.

The clinic was lots of fun! Happy, dedicated people from near and far. Questions were asked and answers were given, if somewhat cheesy. Signed and posed for photos afterwards before hooking up with my friend Eddy to go to a club called Architecture (but in Greek which is… hrm, Greek to me).
At the place we checked out most likely what was the best sounding cover band I ever saw over a glass of wine. Eddy then drove me to the hotel where I watched the most recent edits before calling a (great) day.

Stylianos picked me up and got to the airport where I met Mike the Lesbian (great song title. Might use it). Mike is from Lesbos (or Lesvos as the sensitive call it), a Greek island, and therefore a Lesbian. Mike is a tiptop guy and owns a whole bunch of movie theaters in Athens. We talked about this and that on the domestic flight to Kavala.

In Kavala Kostas from Nemesis guitar school met us. Kostas is a very nice guy too and we all had stunning, and I mean stunning, lunch together with Kostas’ wife (Elena was it?) Stayed at a lovely hotel with a magnificent view over the city.

Theo and Mátè

A typical Greek cloud

Kavala downtown

Kostas the Demon of Lunch

Did a promo thing for Kostas’ school before the clinic. Met Tollis who was a long time fan. Tollis gave me two really interesting CDs and a ‘Happy Martian’ shirt that was super cool. Thanks Tollis!

Tollis the Man

Very cool venue

Had a lovely time on stage in the packed tobacco factory where the clinic was held. Thanks for making it the most crowded clinic in Kavala ever! Very appreciated. Kostas did his best to translate my bull and there were questions asked every now and then. Two million Sony Cybershot cameras (as usual) in the audience so I would surprised if my shit doesn’t’t show up in two million different angles on YouTube, ergh (which I don’t mind. You are what you is: good/bad, tight/sloppy, well-rested/tired).

Very Greek Mattias IA Eklundh poster

Did quite a lot of signing afterwards. Fine people from Thessaloniki had showed up, among them Swedes and Germans. A very cool guitarist called Kosta tried my Apple Horn, using his right hand’s nails as picks and creating a different sound. Tiptop!

Mike the Lesbian

Had me a glass of Metaxa before going to bed. Thank you, fine people of Greece for making me feel so welcome in your country! I will be back with the band as soon as I can!

About to board the plane to Munich right now. Tomorrow I will be back in basement working on Land of the Freaks. Freak Guitar Camp registration also begins this week! Make sure you don’t wait too long with signing up if you intend to go. It’s going to be packed.

Thank you for reading. Take care, friends.

IA

Greetings dear Freak Friends and a truly Happy 2008 to all of you! Hope the holidays
were as tiptop as they possibly could be. In the Freak HQs we spent time recording the
drums for Land of the Freaks, and had a blast doing so. Björn, the ever so splendid
Björn, played like it was a matter of life and death. It was just for me to sit back
and enjoy the show… Amazing. Not only did he nail the twelve brand new FK tunes, he
also was gently forced to play a bunch of stuff for my forthcoming Freak Guitar
release + Christer’s entire Eaglestrike album (which took about two hours to get down,
since that drummer of ours is from another planet, we think).

The sound, in all its unorthodox miking and combination of all kinds of kits, is also
beyond great. As I’ve written before, easily the best we’ve had so far. Natural, well,
tuned drums played well, nothing quite like it.

Coffee is good… Coffee is good…

We recorded in a room next to our rehearsal facility, owned by Johan Reivén (also
drummer), who spent much time getting it right before it was time to let the red light
shine.

Now the equipment is back in my basement where the rest of Land of the Freaks will be
completed, including mix with Roberto Laghi as soon as we’re done. I am so shit-happy
with this release and I can’t wait for you to hear it. More news soon.