Witch Cross in Scandinavia – Part Two: At Muskelrock, Sweden

Photo: Sofia Jonsson/Festivalphoto.net

Photo: Niklas Gustavsson

Straight after the show in Hillerød, Denmark, we raced to catch the ferry that would take us across the water to Helsingborg in Sweden, where we would sleep at Paul’s house before driving to Muskelrock the following day. We awoke to summer sunshine, much to my joy and amazement, and began cataloging and organizing our merch for the show. Merch plays a massive role in a band such as ours.

Lars proudly holding the new album!

Paul ‘models’ our limited edition giant WITCH CROSS patch!

It’s a vital source of immediate income, necessary to keep the band on the road. With albums being pirated so freely on the net now, it’s even more important to bands as their recorded earnings dwindle.Speaking of albums, we’d received our first shipment of the new CD ‘Axe to Grind’ from our record company Hells Headbangers the day before, so we were stoked to be able to have it available to the fans a full month before its official release!

The journey to the festival site took just under three hours, and during that time the weather changed from good to bad, and back again…

As we pulled off the main road into Tyrolen, threading our way between the tent town that had sprung up around it, the grey clouds threatened. Tyrolen, used to be some random Tyrolean-themed Entertainment park, situated near the Swedish village of Alvesta, west of the town of Vaxjo,and the guys that run Muskelrock bought the land, everything in it, and turned it into a successful and fun festival, now in its fifth year. The slightly shabby buildings and faded murals of its former glory provide the perfect backdrop to a Metal Festival.

Photo: Sofia Jonsson/Festivalphoto.net

The rain teased….depositing a light shower every now and then, but never making good on its threat of a full-on downpour, much to the delight of the festival-goers!  There was a superb array of bands on over the weekend. Two in particular stood out to me, but for entirely different reasons! Firstly, Barbarion, who seemed to hail from Australia, though I couldn’t be sure….they took to the stage like a herd of medieval superheroes…not the most svelte of bands, it bothered them not one bit, as we were treated to a magnificent stagewear display of studded leather braces, codpieces, togas, loin cloths, Centurion Helmets, Sporrans and Kilts. By the time they had the crowd singing “chop, chop, chop” and lamenting the demise of “Mildred, my favourite wife” I was pretty sure they weren’t taking themselves too seriously. Suffice to say, my jaw was on the floor for most of their set.

Barbarion: Better wrap up warm, lads!

Secondly, there was Death Hawks. Hailing from Finland, these guys really surprised me. Guitarist Mike Koch and I had retired to the indoor venue for a drink and a bite to eat as these guys took the stage. What followed was some truly original music…superb grooves, almost ambient metal infused with the blues, just an absolute pleasure to let wash over you. I enjoyed these guys very much indeed.

Photo: Sofia Jonsson/Festivalphoto.net

Jan, myself and Paul relaxing post-gig

Photo: Jonas Eklind

When we took the stage early on the Saturday Evening, the welcome from the crowd was overwhelming. I often write about how metal fans are the best in the world, but it bears repeating. I personally felt such a vibe off the crowd that night. They sang every word on the sings they knew, and cheered the ones they didn’t…”Demon in the Mirror” as a result of the promo video finding more and more favour with them as they become familiar with it. I was pretty spent after our exertions in Hillerød the night before, but fans like these lift you up. There is no alternative. Half-measures is not an option. You give them everything because they inspire you to, and they deserve nothing less.  Muskelrock, quite simply, Rocked!

Those amazing metal fans…

Photo: Niklas Gustavsson

Kev Moore

Witch Cross live at Metal Magic V – Part 2

Here’s a few more shots from our gig at Metal Magic V in Fredericia, Denmark at the weekend. Hoping to really ramp things up in 2013 with a new album and more dates!

We were really encouraged by the fan reaction to the new song we’ve introduced to the show – ‘Demon in the Mirror’, and we’re hoping to put another couple of new ones in soon.

Don’t forget to check out THE WITCH CROSS WEBSITE for all the latest news, photos and merchandise!

Kev Moore

Hertals Rocks!

Herentals town centre - Parking at a Premium.....

Just back from a festival in Herentals, Belgium, a lovely little town with a Fairy-tale feel about 40k east of Antwerp. The festival drops a syllable from the town’s name for some reason. Go figure. Probably influenced by ‘textspeak’. Because we were taking quite a bit of kit, we opted to approach this as a ‘road trip’, and so I flew over to the UK to join the rest of the lads from BC Sweet and we took Marc’s van and drove down through the Channel tunnel.

Coffee break and van re-pack after selling the bricks of Heroin (kidding)

We had a bit of fun on the way, just like the old days, with an exhaust splitting in two courtesy of an unmarked speed bump near Tunbridge Wells (thank you, local council) and had a couple of stops en route, deciding to risk getting to our destination and getting it repaired there, which proved to be the best solution. When we arrived in Herentals, we found the whole town in the grip of a local fair, and access to the Hotel was nigh on impossible, so we parked as near as we could and lugged everything by hand over there between the fairground rides and beignet stands, before collapsing into bed to grab a few hours kip before the show.

We were due onstage at 1 a.m. , directly after The Boomtown Rats, who, even without the presence of a certain Mr. Geldof, played a great set, and a particularly interesting version of “I don’t like Mondays”. As it happened the show was running late and we were still belting it out as 3 a.m. was fast approaching!  I think it’s the latest I’ve been on a stage since I ‘earned my spurs’ playing in clubs in Denmark back in the 70’s!

As we were preparing to go on, the sky was treating us to a spectacular light show – forked lighting ripping across a thunder-laden backdrop. The vicious tail-end of Hurricane Katia was caressing the city of Antwerp, and looked or all the world as if it was going to rain on our parade, but mercifully, she grumbled her way Northwards, shaking her bad-tempered petticoats elsewhere.

These kind of shows are our bread and butter, and if they are successful, it’s usually in spite of themselves. By that I mean, all possible obstacles are stacked against you – the lateness of the hour, the lack of sleep, the long hours of travel, the unfamiliarity of the crew and the equipment. This makes it all the sweeter when you get out there and rock, and we did.  I was very happy with the show, and we even managed about four hours sleep and a (relatively) leisurely breakfast before hitting the road and heading back to the tunnel.

band meeting

A big thanks to the people of Herentals for making us feel so welcome – it was a great weekend!

L-R: Kev, Mike, Marc, Pete

Onstage photos by

Sascha Staginski

Kev Moore