Hi-di-ho !

Just wanted to give you a November Blog, you know about things happening and stuff. Next blog will probably be all soft and full of Christmas joy. Oh boy I get sentimental around that period. First of all - Magic Pie... The recordings are comming along fine. I am going to be in the studio this week to try to finish most of my vocal parts.  Besides me there are two other lead singers Gilbert and Eirik and even though I have the main responsability we try to make it a good blend between the three of us and I think we will end up with a great CD. Based on my idea the CD is titled "The Suffering Joy". Kim ( guitarist and songwriter) and his brother Tommy had some words written already that I picked up and made into a story where we follow this guy from his birth and to his death. Much of this is inspired by the financial crisis world wide and specially in my home country Iceland. It´s about greed and doubts and how I look at life as a Suffering Joy. You know like the Bible says of how God sacrificed his son so that mankind would live forever. As in love - there is always a suffering behind every moment of joy, - you just can´t get past that. And like after a night out with some good friends you may have hangovers...a suffering joy,- indeed.  Even though I am not a religious man I think religion is such a big part of our culture and therby I tend to put some of it into my lyrics,- my hopes & doubts and my joy & sorrow. I´ll let you in on how the album starts :

What is life...and what is death? Are we just pawns in someones game of Chess? Is it all an illusion , a far forbidden dream? Is God the maker of this complexed scheme? Am I his decoy, through my suffering joy....

This intro is quite naked with just my voice and some strings behind it.  And then starts a journey that will last for seven songs and mind you some of them are really long. I am not sure if many of you will like our music but I am hopeful, and exited. The songs as they appear on the CD

1)  The Suffering Joy   2)   Prospects In Process   3)   Headlines    4)  Endless Ocean   5)  Slightly mad     6) Tired    7)  A Life´s Story
And another project in process is the music I have recorded with my swedish friends Michael and Fredrik. The final backing vocals are being done just now in Stockholm. I can´t be everywhere so that is left for other professionals over there. We have no record company behind this project so I am not sure how or when we will release it, but you will be the first to know.

Took a trip to Oslo yesterday with my old band Artch. We all went there to see Deep Purple play  and also to have a nice time together. It is so cool to go and see others perform. I really should do it more often, just wish I had the time. Well Purple was a bit of a disappointment. Mainly because my old hero Ian Gillan was not at his best - to put it mildly. But I fully understand his problems because I have the same when it comes to performing my old stuff. you know the vocal chords change as you grow older. You lose some of your high notes as well as you gain some tones at the bottom. Sometimes when I hear my first songs I hardly recognize my voice. That high and clean voice isn´t there anymore, but lucky for me,- I like my voice much better as it is today than how it was back then. Hope someone agrees he-he!

And a little secret for you... at last it looks like I am going to become a grandfather - Jippey! Hildur, my oldest daughter is pregnant  and is due to have a baby in April/May. Can you imagine how happy and proud I am because of this?! I am gonna be the luckiest grand-dad in history.And Eyrun my little one ( she is 22! ) still needs her dad around. She woke me up this morning, calling from Oslo and telling me that she left her bag on the train when she got off. So i drove downtown Fredrikstad to meet the train on the way back. I jumped into the wagon she had her seat in grabbed the bag and jumped off just in time. Made me feel like a thief and  some people were staring at this long heared wild-man rushing in and out like this.

 Yesterday my Birthday Concert from 4th of July was broadcasted in Iceland . I haven´t heard the results yet, but people tell me it was quite good. I am concidering to take the mastertapes into a studio to fix some details and maybe release a live CD next year. That would make a good memory. Sort of a goodbye to the old Eirikur and to start a new era...

I must say that the future to come is exiting. And I think 2010 is going to be a good year....expecially if we see it out together!!!  Lots of love & friendship to you all and I will send you a line before Christmas - That´s a promise...or a threat.

Eirikur