WE’RE NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE…

I got one thing to say to all you would be rock’n’rollers out there; be careful what you wish for because you may just get it!

The last couple of weeks before getting up on stage with the Poodles in front of the crowd at Sweden Rock Festival, I had my work cut out for me, lemme tell you! Between getting the nod from the band to become the new guitar player and getting into the rehershal room, was a measly two days. Two days to learn some 12 to 15 tracks, and I’m telling you, Pontus Nordgren is one mean guitar player. The tracks he cut for the two Poodles albums are no walk in the park.

So there I was, trying my best not appear phased by the whole situation and at the same time the band had photo shoots and press stuff lined up on top of everything. Meanwhile, I just wanted to remember how the songs went and I was thinking that these guys mean business! They play the game without hedging any bets and just push on until everything’s in place. I better up my game or else I’m gonna look like a fool.

I had to keep telling myself that I knew how to do this and that the guys had chosen me for the band for a reason, namely that I could cut the cheese better than the other guys who had tried out alongside me. I could think of no other reason.

5 minutes before I got up on that stage at Sweden Rock, that’s what I told myself. Rock’n’roll is not rocket science, the people who play it best are those who couldn’t do anything else. They are the ones who either got up on that stage to play their hearts out or else fall head-first into the gutter.

Of course, some did both, but my point is that sometimes you make things harder for yourself than they have to be. All I needed to get up on that stage was knowing that I wanted to be there. That I wanted to be there and nowhere else.

Rock’n’roll is created in the moment between guys who use that moment to create something bigger than themselves and who reach into young hearts to stir something that slumbers there and that would stay asleep were it not for the awesome power of rock’n’roll.

That’s, by the way, why I’m in the band; for the music and to be in that moment with them. No other reason.

Stay tuned.