KOTKAN MERIPÄIVÄT

25.07 2008 KOTKA, FINLAND

Kotkan Meripäivät is not such a festival where you can see too many metal or hard rock bands but sometimes the deviation approves all rules and this year the legendary Scorpions were headlining this three day festival. Scorpions are still continuing to tour support for bands latest release HUMANITY VOL 1, which came out over a year ago. In fact it was less than two months since Scorps last time played in Finland when they co -headlining Sauna Open Air -festival in Tampere but almost sold out audience in Kotka proved that there’s a huge demand for Scorpions in Finland.

REVIEW AND PICTURES BY MARKO SYRJÄLÄ

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JEFF PILSON

INTERVIEW BY MARKO SYRJÄLÄ AND JARNO HUOVILA

LIVE PICTURES BY MARKO SYRJÄLÄ

Jeff Pilson, having replaced Juan Croucier in the ranks of DOKKEN after the recording of their debut album BREAKING THE CHAINS in 1983, will always be best remembered as an irreplaceable part of the band’s classic lineup, together with Don Dokken, George Lynch and Mick Brown. Infused with his songwriting talent and stage presence DOKKEN began their ascent towards the top of the rock world. Over the next couple of years they released a string of platinum selling albums, TOOTH AND NAIL in 1984, UNDER LOCK AND KEY the following year and finally BACK FOR THE ATTACK in 1987. At the height of their success, however, the band split up due to internal struggles, while still putting out the live album BEAST FROM THE EAST in 1988. A reunion of the classic lineup finally took place in 1994 and resulted in two albums, DYSFUNCTIONAL and SHADOWLIFE. After George Lynch’s final exit, Jeff stuck around for one more album, ERASE THE SLATE, before opting to follow suit. In addition to DOKKEN, Jeff has toured and recorded three studio albums with DIO: STRANGE HIGHWAYS in 1993, ANGRY MACHINES in 1996 and most recently MASTER OF THE MOON in 2004. He has also cut albums together with THE MCAULEY SCHENKER GROUP, LYNCH/PILSON, WAR & PEACE and FOREIGNER to mention a few. In 2001 he appeared and recorded as a member of the fictional heavy metal band STEEL DRAGON in the movie ROCKSTAR. In this interview Jeff Pilson shares the ups and downs of his career with these groups and more…

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THERUPY is the name of the new Kottak album that’s out in stores now. Kottak is named after the bandleader and frontman James Kottak but the band went earlier under the name Krunk and with the new bandname there were a few line-up changes going on so when opportunity showed up I took it and interviewed James Kottak about his band and new album.

Interviewed by: Anders Sandvall

Thanks to Lars Chriss at Escapi Music Group for setting up the interview

Promo pictures provided by Escapi Music Group

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SCORPIONS

5.9 2004 Ice Hall, Helsinki FINLAND

Review and photos by Marko Syrjala

In the 80′s, the Scorpions were definitely one of the biggest bands in the hard rock world. They were playing for sold out audiences everywhere in the world and they also sold millions of records. However, during the nineties things started to go wrong for Scorpions. After a few experimental and commercially unsuccessful albums they now finally returned back to their musical roots with new brilliant UNBREAKABLE album.

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