Contraband Candy News

Date: 12th July 2010

Contraband Candy at Metalcamp 2010

That was some party! Metalcamp surely has to go down as one of the best smaller metal festivals on the European circuit and Metalcamp 2010 was an absolute stormer! Some fantastic acts and truly a feast of metal for everyone. Bands like Immortal, Soulfly, Exodus, Behemoth and Obituary on the main stage ensured a decent level of brutality, whilst there were some amazing newer bands tearing up the second stage - Kalmah and The Devil's Blood come straight to mind, but loads of others too.

We're gonna upload some pics now to give y'all an idea of what you missed! Metalcamp 2010

Think YOU could run a metal festival - or at least work for one? Well coming up, we'll be editing a short piece from Metalcamp festival organiser Ana! She gives you the low-down, the do's and don'ts and the sort of skills you need to get the job done. More news on this soon...

Date: 30th May 2010

Trigger The Bloodshed New Video!

Hey take a look at this video - Contraband Candy guy MAtt Gytrash was part of the team that made this awesome baby.



Don't forget if YOUR band wants a kick-ass video for a realistic price, get over to David K at Shash Media and sort something out now!

Date: 19th April 2010

Inferno 2010

Well, in spite of not officially attending Inferno as Contraband Candy, Gytrash decided to go and party anyway and ended up having an amazing time and catching some truly awesome shows, including a spectacular performance from Mayhem, featuring a special Spacebrain-designed stage set and the crucifixion of Attila! There was even an on-stage appearance by Messiah, the very first singer in the band from the mid '80's.

Other stuff watched and appreciated were rising stars Faustcoven and Gravdal, currently on tour with Gorgoroth and Keep Of Kalessin, Ragnarok, Belphegor and an impressive show by Marduk, which featured a stunning live rendition of 'Accuser' by Alan 'Nemtheanga' Averill of Primordial. The mighty Ihsahn blew everyone away with a truly world class performance on the Friday. Taake were suitably dark and menacing on the Saturday, and excellent shows by the Kovenant and Death Angel rounded up a memorable 4 days.

Gytrash was also asked by IMC organiser Anders Odden to produce a small video to highlight the Black Metal Bus Sightseeing Tour which can be viewed here.

Date: 30th March 2010

Trigger The Bloodshed video shoot

On Thursday 25th and Friday 26th of March, Shash Media shot the video for brutal Death metal act Trigger The Bloodshed at Three Mills Studios in East London.

I went along to help out on day one during which the band went through the performance part of the track "The Soulful Dead" from the forthcoming album.

Typically, everything ran late, as they tend to do where a lot of stuff needs hefting in and out and people need to interact, so we weren't ready to go until mid afternoon... The stage set was huge! There were guys whose job it was to wet down the floor before each run through, and we had to do this again and again and again, to make sure there was enough material and that everyone was covered all of the time in wide, medium close-up and close-up.

Fortunately there were supplies of snacks and a small amount of beer fetched at regular intervals to refuel band and crew alike. It was going to be a long day!

Director and lead camera dude David Kenny of Shash Media did all of the hand-held stuff, whilst I manned the tripod camera to make sure all the wide and MCL shots were covered.

For the geeks reading this the cameras used were Sony HDR FX1000s with wide angle lenses. Pretty cool cameras. We had a Panasonic on hand to to grab any interesting general views that could come in useful.

Day one finally ended at 11pm, after which I had to drive back to Bath. I was rather tired by then to say the least, but I got home safely.

On day two, another location was used and the 'concept' part of the video was shot. This involved abandoned people in forgotten institutions and a general creepy overtone of human decay and degeneration... at least that's what I'm told was happening! We'll wait to find out when the edit is finished.

To get some idea of what went on, check out photographer Ali Johnson's great photos from the two days of the shoot.

Thanks David at Shash for letting me help out and the band too for a great day...

Cheers,

MAtt Gytrash

Date: 23 March 2010

Contraband Candy at Inferno

We are getting very excited here at Contraband Candy HQ. The Inferno Festival in Oslo is only a couple of months away now, so already we a making plans and lining up some great interviews.

We'll tell you more as soon as details are confirmed. In the meantime, why not visit the Inferno Festival website for the latest information?

Date: 23rdJanuary 2010

Keep Of Kalessin in final of Norway's Eurovision Song selection competition!

Norwegian extreme metal veterans KEEP OF KALESSIN are competing in the national Eurovision Song Contest called "Melodi Grand Prix". The band took first place in the first semifinal that aired earlier tonight (Friday, January 8) on NRK1 in Norway. The top two artists chosen by viewers via SMS - including KEEP OF KALESSIN - will take part in the grand final held at the Spektrum, Oslo on February 6. The third- and fourth-place artists will get another new chance to compete in a new TV show called "The Last Chance" where the top 2 artists will also go the final.

KEEP OF KALESSIN performed a song called "The Dragontower", which was originally written for the group's next album but had to be shortened from 5:20 minutes to 3:00 minutes for the performance. The full, unedited track will, of course, appear on the upcoming KEEP OF KALESSIN CD.

Commented mainman Obsidian C. (real name: Arnt Gronbech): "We're excited to have been picked out from about 1,000 Norwegian contributors to Melodi Grand Prix 2010. The feedback on the song is amazing so far and we hope that we can have a chance to be the first-ever extreme metal band in the norwegian Melodi Grand Prix final."

There are 21 participating artists and eight finalists. The winner of the final in February will be the one to represent Norway at the international Eurovision Song Contest 2010.