Spasibo! (the only Russian word I know)

For reasons beyond our control, our show in St. Petersburg was unfortunately cancelled. Traveling to Moscow still took us through St. Pete tho, where we had a fairly uneventful evening of bland sushi. The next day we jumped on a second train to the capital. Some of you know that King has had pretty severe back problems in the past, and some of you who have had back problems yourselves know that those problems never fully go away, and that they can be horribly debilitating. A bumpy train ride tends to not be the kindest thing you can put a bad back thru, so between that and questionable circumstances regarding the St. Pete show, our arrival into Moscow wasn't the happiest occasion. 

Moods were lifted tho when we arrived at our hotel and found out that Down was staying in the same place. Sadly it was too late to try and catch the show (good thing I saw them play Copenhell!), but luckily we had a chance to say hi when they rolled back in. At that point we learned that Blackmore's Night was also in the hood, so Matt and I decided the only logical thing to do was go out and celebrate over drinks :) The only thing better than making new friends in far away lands, is finding out their hometown is not so far away from yours. I shared beers with folks from as close as New Jersey and Long Island, and even met friends of the infamous Tommy Skriver. Tommy was working back line for King Diamond back when I first got this job, and is forever a member of the KD family. Now that I know my new friends, audio extraordinaire Pete Retsey and drummer David Keith, are hanging out up in Connecticut with him, I might just have to get up there for a visit!

I took the next day to get reacquainted with the down town. I ran into a stage that was blocked off for what seemed to be a dress rehearsal, but the sounds of the opera singer backed up by a full symphony that filled the air as I wondered Red Square made my walk pretty sweet. I had been there before so I wasn't as floored as the first time, but St. Basil's Cathederal is still an awesome sight to see. I also took this day to take advantage of HappyCow.com and map out some vegetarian restaurants. Have I mentioned I love HappyCow? In general, Russia is nightmare for vegans. The cuisine is primarily meat, and while I can always find something, it's very challenging when not even the alphabet is recognizable and few people speak English. I treated myself to a meal at Fresh (I say treated because Moscow is very expensive) and it was delish! Other than that, it was the girl at Subway who knew enough English to understand "all vegetables" that got me through my visit.

Playing the show in Moscow was a blast, but there were some disappointing details. We found out that ticket prices were either high, very high, or unbelievably high, depending on the section. Not cool. While we understand that this is a business, we want fans to be able to afford to see the show! There was also an issue with merch so we had none at the venue, and I've already read about fans being bummed out they couldn't buy a tee shirt. It's a shame because we have so much fun playing the shows and want the fans to walk away feeling like they had an incredible night. Remember, to catch up on KD news you can always find out the latest HERE. I also got my butt back on the FORUM so I can keep up with what fans are saying :)

I wanted to do some more sight seeing before we left town but I caught a cold and spent much of the rest of my time there trying to sleep it off. Apparently writing down "decongestant" in Russian and showing it to the counterperson at the pharmacy won't get you anything. Overall it was cool to be back in Russia, but I'm looking forward to Finland!

Pat Bruders looking un-human and a snarling David Keith

Pete Restey

Good morning Moscow!

Look to the streets for signage in St. Pete

Welcome to Hell

After having about 2 weeks off, Copenhell was just the festival we all needed to remind us why we are out here to begin with. We played on Saturday, so Friday was my night to go rock out. I got to see In Flames, Ghost, Alice in Chains, Danzig, and make some new Danish friends. I even ran into Petie (any metal fan in the Philly area knows who I'm talking about), but unfortunately we got separated before too long. I had a great time hanging with Michael of Labrador Records, and was happy to learn the former owner of The Rock, Copenhagen's best metal bar that recently closed, has a new place opening up. Another thing I learned is that I have a Philadelphia accent. That might not seem so strange to hear until I tell you it was a Philadelphia Flyer who told me that. Yep - Oliver Lauridsen, a Denmark native playing for the Flyers, just happened to be at Copenhell and we wound up crossing paths. Too funny! Oliver is a cool guy - it was interesting to hear his perspective of Philly, and I'm excited to have someone to route for on the ice!

I arrived back at the fest on Saturday just in time for a torrential downpour. The sky opened up right before Testament, and the crew scrambled to evacuate the stage. Everyone got lucky tho and the storm passed just in time for them to play a full set. Even better than getting to see Testament play, was getting to see Gene Hoglan and spend the day with the lovely Robin Mazen! Robin does mech and production and is currently working for Testament so I got my girl to rock out with for the day :) I was also stoked to see Down, so it was a pretty damn good day overall. My only disappointment was that I wasn't able to make it in time to see Newsted. I've never met Jason but being an old Metallica fan, and following his career for a while after that, I always thought of him as a rad bassist with a good attitude. He recently came back on my radar and I was looking forward to seeing him play, and secretly thought it would be pretty badass to meet him. Alas, no such luck, but he did leave a big Happy Birthday message to King in our dressing room - only adding to my belief that he is a cool guy.

When it came time for us to play it was really cold out and I thought for sure I would be freezing the whole set. Not only was I pleasantly surprised, but it wound up being the best show of the tour for me. The metal chick in me was psyched to have members of bands I always go see in our audience. Of course, being in Copenhagen, there were a lot of friends and family there so it was awesome to have everyone around to celebrate with after.

One last highlight came at the end of the night. Gene had mentioned to me earlier that even tho he and Andy had both played on Death's Individual Thought Patterns album TWENTY years earlier, they had never met. It was finally time! I introduced the two and it was adorable to see two sweet guys I know, who also happen to be metal legends, so excited :)



It was a treat watching Ghost up close!








The late night rowdy crowd


I <3 Testament!




Down!


Down calling all friends on stage


Hank Sherman in the house!


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