Brocas Helm at the Headbanger’s Open Air, 2004
The Wizard’s Viewpoint


Ye that read these following words…. Herein lies the tale of the Helm at the HOA. Yea, once again did the far flung land of Germany feel the footsteps of Brocas Helm, and mighty were the doings of all; bands and fans alike.

This journal will ramble in and out of time and events, as they occur to me – it’s just too much damn trouble to organize everything perfectly. And now, on with it.

So, as begins all our trips, we venture to the airport, are subdued to (nearly) strip searches (well, the wizard, anyway, he has a bad attitude). Our suitcases weigh a ton, because we have packed them as full as possible of the new cd (a few clothes around the edges, and stuff like that too… it’s nice to have clean socks now and then).

Our precious weapons of war are taken by the baggage handlers (gorillas), who thereupon rate their performance by the amount of damage they can inflict. (of course, we must sign releases that say the airline is not responsible for damages.)

Still, they fail yet again this year, only causing harm to the casings of the electric swords of metal… thus, after the grueling 14 hours of flight, knees around eardrums, we arrive will all our parts basically intact. German customs is a breeze, and indeed, someone is awaiting our arrival (late though it is.)

Hirax has arrived (also late) at the same time as us, so there isn’t enough room in the bus for everyone – half of Hirax graciously waits at the airport for the second trip, and we move on down the line to the land of HOA.

Once again, both from the air and from the auto, we can see that Germany is laid out much differently from America – there is a lot of farmland, with towns interspersed about the land (in comparison to America, where sometimes you can’t tell where one city ends, and another begins, especially in the LA area.) Jack postulates that this is why the food is fresher there.

There’s a trailer available for our use, backstage. This makes Bob happy, he was worried about sleeping in a tent (it rained on and off all weekend). Even better, it has a key, so we can leave the equipment there without worrying about it all the time.

Where the hell did I put my notes? – I wrote them on the backs of flyers at the show, to jog my memory when I did this writeup.

Ok, found them. Now I just need to figure out what they mean. Very cryptic. Let’s see – Hellion, Eloy, Misako. Um. Snoring bastard. Ok, that’s Bob, easy one.

That bastard snored every night. That he slept.

And I mean like an asthmatic rhinocerous. I’ve never heard volume like that.

One night, I though I heard gunfire. But it was him.

Now, the nights he didn’t sleep – he talked. Or sang. Sang me his new songs, for the next record. While I thought I was going to sleep.

Jack heard them down the hall of the hotel (in Hamburg, where we went after the festival.) Fortunately, almost no one was on the same floor with us.

The final night I tried to sleep, Bob and Jack discussed every financial and recording move of the band, past, present and future. Took about 6 hours, you know, between midnight and 6 am. “Why don’t you bastards go to Jack’s room to talk about this shit?” Hell if I know. If I wasn’t so tired, I would have gotten up and gone there to sleep. (of course, they would have followed me.)

Let’s see, Hellion etc. So, Friday morning, we go in to the Hellion store, sign stuff, hang out. I go through the junk bin and pick up 3 used Eloy albums, for $2 each. Worth about 20 each, over here. I also saw a Misako Honjoh cd set, covering 4 albums, of which I only have 3… meant to ask about it, maybe pick it up, but didn’t get around to it. (Stunning covers on her albums, by the way.)

Speaking of stunning, did I mention the Hamburg prostitutes? No? Well, later, then. I’ll get around to it.

Page two
Page three
Page four
Page five
Battleroar
Bloodstained
The other bands
The People of HOA