Somewhere in Småland (Sweden)
summer of 2016
1985, I was in high school
That´s how old I am
And I had the guts to listen to strange bands
that nobody else liked
Like Witchfynd and Metallica
Year after year -
1980s - 1990s - 2000 - 2010 -
there´s always been fantastic bands,
who's been carrying the torch forward.
And you've always had to defend them.
They were YOUR band.
They were OUR band!
And OUR band, thats Helvetes Port!
The reports state that they are armed -
dangerous, and capable of understanding only one language
Heavy metal!
The best festival in the world, end of story
The best festival in the world
It's the perfect location, a super cosy area -
everybody is nice
it feels like a sanctuary
My name is Jacob Hector
I'm the chairman of Tyrolens Vänner -
who run this old park
I'm responsible for Muskelrock, booking all the bands
I worked as tourmanager for Bullet for many years
We traveled around to many European festivals
There are many good festivals, but they all miss something.
They don't succeed all the way
And when we then accidentally bought this place
that just popped up at the internet
We felt that, now it's time to start this -
The worlds cosiest heavy metal festival
Here's the entry to our paradise Tyrolen
We'd never heard of Tyrolen before
But we fell in love with it when we jumped over the fence -
and saw the paintings and -
felt the mood that's here.
A magical feeling when entering.
To the right is the Venice-stage.
Where bands like Bill Haley and -
Sven-Ingvars played during the 60's
Now you can see bands like Metalucifer and Satan
Initially the festival was supposed to be called -
Heroes of Swedish heavy metal
It was supposed to only be Swedish bands that played
But then we thought that -
we should book some international artists
So then we wanted someone that's never been to Sweden -
and had a kult fanbase.
So then there's Thor, an old youth hero of mine.
Musclerock is a good name, and we took that from Thor
- since he calls his music for musclerock.
Scene shirt
ok, where do we go, do you know?
This is were we parked with Tribulation.
It's a class reunion.
or, you know, you meet friends you never see and...
It's like a youth recreation center for grownups.
A trans-national youth recreation center -
for hardrockers and 70's larpers.
That's it!
plus alcohol!
Whats up?
I've been drinking red bull on an empty stomach,
so I'm like
It's always pleasant to be here.
And everybody knows that it's always nice.
It struck me when I started going here,
It's always a feeling of - nothing bad can happen.
Sure, someone gets too drunk and hits someone, but...
You leave your beer in the tent -
and your instruments in an unlocked car.
It's no stress.
There's never any fuss.
The bands and visitors are all in on it.
For a heavy festival it's pretty soft.
Yeah, everybody's kind.
The fifth year they didn't even -
reveal any bands prior to opening
They kept it a secret, was it 2013?
So everybody that comes here -
comes because they know it's going to be good.
In the first year there were a lot of friends pitching in.
Bands we knew from the time touring with Bullet.
Bands like;</font>
All these young Swedish heavy metal bands.
to broaden it.
So it's not only classic heavy metal.
It's often when you -
put something different in the mix -
it comes out the best.
I'm also nervous because I just bought like -
If I'm bad, I can't blame it on my gear.
Can't blame it on new expensive gear
I'll be that bad music student with an -
expensive guitar who can't play
You don't need to be famous to play here -
bands that just released a demo has played here.
It's a humble recognition to play here
And it's a seal of approval from a great booker
It's not flavour of the month,
You've reached a level of quality.
It's a stamp of approval
So, yeah, it's sort of a big deal
Unknown bands for the average Joe,
But everybody who comes here will like it.
I hope.
It's cool,
for an underground heavy metal band -
it's the best place to play.
Muskelrock and Live Evil.
It's the best festival in Europe for this kind of music
Always very good bands, and good line-ups
It all fits well togheter
No mainstream floor filler just to sell tickets
It's just good music all the way
Should I book some big band to -
pull like 2000 visitors extra
I think it'll just be crowded and messy
Is the line box connected to the bass guitar?
I play through it so it should be
ok, there it is
I would like more vocals in my monitor
Better?
This is good
How old were you when Iron Maiden released their first?
I wasn't old...
There was a new
There was a new wave, when...
Enforcer released...
People like, got out of their internet cave,
not sitting at Metal Archives and finding old demos,
They started bands instead
We ain't born in the time where this music was made
But, the music made today just ain't good
Rarely
Theres a lot of new young bands -
playing good music
This festival is full of them
It's the best music,
People don't like the new,
Except for new bands,
playing like the old ones
Ain't all music retro?
The genre is old
The genre is old
There's been this kind of music -
since the early 80s
I love old music,
I love the 80s
So, for me it's all good
The best
It feels like you need teen spirit,
some youth attitude to -
make the music sound right
Some of the old heros can't do it
It's like, when you reach a certain age -
you can't make good music
In this time-era, we can -
re-discover so much
And it ain't many, doing this style
about thousandvisitors,
It's not a big festival,
a bunch of geeks, loving what they do
at the curch next to Muskelrock
It's a dark age,
It's a dark age,
As said in the lyrics
We must realise that we are fooled,
If God is a perfectionist -
with these high demands
claiming that we should be perfect
Then I rather be a sinner
or even a satanist
I'm going to be in a documentary
I'm going to be in a documentary
Muskelrock, that's Tyrolen
Can I answer the phone?
A typical Muskelrocker is -
someone who's shitty and has -
Lemmy-shorts and listens to Agent Steel
or someone with a fringe and flared jeans
At least a vest and patches,
the amount of patches differs,
One patch, like me, a back patch
or a lot of patches
and some short shorts
thats very Muskelrock to me
everybody
Everybody likes the same music
everybody is here for the same thing
To meet all your friends
people you don't meet that often
Everybody comes here,
to muskelrock
Everything,
Everything
The genre, the people
It's a cohesion in the group
you feel like home
and the music can speak for itself
just listen
I see Maiden around the world -
and I come here
And coming here is like coming home
True
This "True" is a difficult question
It should come from your heart
>and not be an image you use
If you put on a pair of fur-undies
it's because it rocks -
not because it's a thing
At Sweden Rock for example
There's a lot of "sunday-rockers" -
But here, it's real rockers
"True" is when you know -
who produced the fifth Metallica album -
which car Steve Harris drives
and If you don't know these things -
then you ain't allowed to like heavy metal
something stupid someone invented
some people might come here dressed up
to fit in
and then there's those who always -
look like this
If you listen to heavy metal -
then you should have long hair
you should be able to see it's a hardrocker
on a distance you should see -
That's a hardrocker
you need a leather jacket -
long hair and -
an unsteady step
I have a lot of thoughts about True-
and not True
But I don't care that much
I like what I like -
I like whoever I like
I don't give a damn
All
Everything is better than modern metal
The definitions differ -
You can be true to yourself -
not be ashamed about -
the music you listen to, or -
how you want to look or be
You relate to a sort of frame
The visuals are important
Just look at the classic bands -
you have a framework to relate to -
in the different styles
Many love Iron Maiden -
and that's fine -
but I don't,
but I don't wanna take any crap -
for not liking Iron Maiden that much
To be True is to listen to what you want
Just fuck what the others think
and just have a great time
This is going to be good
But it looks like rain is coming
Is that good for us, cause people -
seek cover, or is it bad, cause people -
rather stay in their tents?
You don't want to just stay in your tent
or, it depends if you're pro life or -
a fucking nerd
do we start five sharp?
Many say that it's a hippie feeling here
But from the start this was something -
very Swedish
almost anti-hippie
A Swedish folkpark
Maybe now when it's so torn down -
it feels more hippie
The scenery looks a little like -
a childrens' book
it's supposed to be Venice.
The fluorescent colors -
makes a nice effect at night
I think it fits even Nifelheim
The hardest music you can find
When we found this it was boarded up
So we opened it up with screwdrivers
Made us a door and crawled inside
Then we entered to find this-
magical roof
Which is sort of the heart of the park
Here laid the art forger Sven Truedson -
on his back
on a scaffolding, and painted
for several months
some of them where drawn fast,
like this one
looks like he has a heel for a hand
but these are done better
sometimes I just lie down on the floor -
just to look at the bizarre pictures
A monkey liking a mans forehead
some thougt this was a place of sin
and not a place to go to
This wall was coverwd in wainscoting
but we found an old photo -
which showed us that there's a painting here
so we started to break it down -
board after board -
until we saw this hand -
then we knew, that this is -
the home of Heavy Metal
thanks
Thank you! Damn good to be here!
Never experienced something like this
A big step from our last gig -
in Uppsala, that gig was fun -
just to play, but this -
this was really fun
All these people who showed up
Really good support from everyone
They sang singalong
I've only played in instrumental bands -
so it was exotic with the singalong
I was moved
we didn't know what to do in the start -
had a lot of vague ideas
The heroes of Swedish heavy metal -
that idea came, cause it would be cheap,
and easy, and there's a lot of good Swedish bands
so, we wouldn't need to look abroad
But, it all has just spun out of control
It's funny with musclerock cause -
Its funny with musclerock cause -
we're all a bunch of weaklings
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