...

You'd better take my advice:
Just like you stick a piece of tape
On every chord and microphone
You better stick on yourself
Before they claim you as their own

(Don Lennon)

Venue update

I made a little "survey" concerning last year's venues, and not surprisingly, it turned out that the Gula Villan in Haninge was very popular. Even more so than Lasse i Parken, where we had a very enjoyable evening in 2009. So for 2010, I've now decided to have the Friday some 19 kilometres from Stockholm city, and not just the Saturday. And - if all goes as planned, there will also be some pretty exciting things happening outside of the house itself this time around... more about this later!

I am happy to have Thorells Syndrom involved anyway - the Sunday is looking to be completely ace with their help. And, as you know, Landet is always great. So, preliminarily, here's what it all looks like:

Torsdag: Landet
Fredag: Gula Villan, Haninge*
Lördag: Gula Villan, Haninge*
Söndag: Southside's top floor/Southside's bottom floor*/Southside's outside tables (mini soundsystem?!)*

* to be completely confirmed, but is now preliminarily booked!

Some kind words

Micke from the esteemed Stockholm indie night Klubb King Kong has written a very nice piece looking back at the 2009 festival and forward to the 2010 one. Read it here (in Swedish, but there are also ace photos to view).

Culkin and White Town set to play!

CULKIN



In the fall of 2008, Culkin played their very first gig and they chose to do it at Cosy Den. I'm still very proud of that. The four members hail from Uppsala and Haninge and have previously played in bands like KVLR, Jenniferever and Starmarket. It's therefore quite inevitable that they play what we like to call indie rock - in the best way that I could possibly mean it. Avi from itsatrap.com wrote this a while ago: "Don't let this sound die, people! It's not retro, it's just good." And I cannot stop seconding that. Expect great tunes with thick layers of guitars over them from one of the untrendiest and finest bands in Sweden.




WHITE TOWN (England)



I think it's been a while since I told you the story, so here we go. Large parts of our planet were blown away by Your woman (1997, still holding the record for debut cd single sales in the UK). Some of us bought the album Women in technology, too. But I was fortunate enough to buy the Swedish fanzine En Garde back in 2004. It featured an interview with White Town, and I sent Jyoti Mishra an e-mail. Since then, he has been over no less than five times to play at Cosy Den, and also in places like Halmstad and Turku. White Town has existed for over 20 years now, and although his fan base may not be millions anymore, there's been fantastic songs and albums released for all this time.

First acts confirmed!

THE JUST JOANS (Scotland)



Someone on Last Fm wrote that this bunch are "the twee Arab Strap". It's perhaps not the most accurate thing I've ever read, but it does say something, I guess. This band was my biggest crush in 2009, not just music-wise. I travelled to Nottingham mostly to see them play, and to try to talk them into coming to Sweden. Um, at least it was what made me actually press that "purchase ticket" button. Absolutely remarkable songs about despair, joy, life in Motherwell and... heartache. This will probably be the band's first ever trip outside of the UK, too. (Oh, and if you'd like to set up a gig nearby, just get in touch!)




STELLA ROCKET



I saw this band by chance in November. And I completely missed the whole hype that surrounded the band around 2004 when they released their debut album. Missing out on stuff is good sometimes. And there are definitely good things happening randomly - I fell in love with the band that night, and if someone asked me, I'd describe them as a blend of Scarlet's Well and Heikki or perhaps Rough Bunnies. Stella Rocket are also an incredible live act, incredible enough for me to fall for them from the very first chords of the gig.