DECADENCE Sweden ®

Here comes the final Part III of our stories from Venezuela. If you missed the first two parts you can catch up here: Part I: Meet n’ Greet and Part II: Concert.

The concert was over and the huge adrenalin rush from the night before had eased. The day after was a day of pure chill-out. We in Decadence met in the morning for breakfast and then we headed straight for the pool! It was great to know that we had the whole day to do whatever we wanted. We stayed by the pool for a couple of hours until Roberto and Jorge from our crew arrived. We took it easy, talked and after a while we had some new plans going! Later that evening our Venezuelan Street Team would come to our hotel and hang out. Other than that we wanted to see more of Caracas during the next-coming days so we decided to head up to the mountains for one day and also see some more of the city during the other days. We also had two photoshoots planned, one for the Cancer Foundation to be done at Hard Rock Café in Caracas and the other for promo shots in a modified hotel room! Our last day in Venezuela was already reserved for the Decadence Goodbye Party at a local pub.

After so many hours of chill-out by the pool we all looked like lobsters. The Street Teamers arrived later during the evening, Hirax joined in and we had lots of fun the rest of that night!

The next day we met Jorge and he took us to some Venezuelan shopping malls – much different to what we’re used to in Europe! We were at the El Tolon mall and stayed and took some coffee and tea at Havanna Café at the mall CC San Ignacio (where the Meet n’ Greet was held before).

The following day it was mountain climbing time! Decadence, Roberto Mattey and Miztika headed up to the mountain El Avila. We travelled by car uphill as far as it was possible and then we took the final part on foot. Miztika got tired and told us to leave her behind so we went on without her. It was a real jungle up there but the air was a lot lighter than down in the valley where Caracas is. We even saw parrots flying around. Once again it was like Jurassic Park!

 
 
Then we went back to the hotel again and prepared for the Cancer Foundation photoshoot at the Hard Rock Café. It was a really cool place in the middle of a big shopping mall Sambil (the most popular mall in Venezuela) and we enjoyed posing on some shots there – well, especially the boys because they got some Hard Rock Café babes posing with them (the guy was too short for me I think so I was photographed alone hehe ).

We had one full day left in Venezuela now and it was reserved for a promo photoshoot and the Goodbye Party. Hirax had their party the day before and they travelled back home on the day of ours. It was great meeting them and we enjoyed spending time with them whenever we could during the evenings. They are a good bunch and we hope to meet them again on the road someday! So, we prepared for the photoshoot and then Miztika knocked on my hotel room door with a make-up purse. Both I and the guys looked at each other with big eyes because make-up makes us nervous but as it turned out, Miztika could be trusted She fixed our sun-burnt faces and we were ready to shoot! Rafael was the camera guy and Roberto and Leo helped out. We hardly have any band photos except for live shots so thank you Mattey for the initiative (especially Rafael Mattey for your great work)!

When we were done we sat down in the van, picked up our newly printed posters (with photos from the concert to give away) at a cool 24/7 open printer office , and headed straight to the Goodbye Party held at Las Cancelas (thank you Hellson and Maythe for preparing it all so good!). We were guided to the second floor of the pub where they had prepared a table for another signing session so we could meet everyone in person one more time.

Once again fans brought us gifts, we talked, partied and the whole evening was awesome. It was hot as hell, really crowded with Decaheads and lots of booze.

The guys were in booze heaven and Maythe (our alias “The Rum Queen”) kept it flowing. We had drinking contests, headbanging contests, millions of photos and signing pens out of ink.

The night went on, Erik got conquered by the booze but the guys wanted to party on. As I’m the one keeping the order around here I followed Erik back to the hotel and Kenneth, Jocke and Nicke went on with Jorge and the rest to keep partying.

The following day it was time for us to leave Venezuela. It was sad and the rain was pouring down. I managed to get hold of a Venezuelan plate at the airport from an Indian guy who told me “Cuidemos la pachamama por favor “. So I promised him to take care of mother earth as it apparently meant. Decadence wants to thank everyone involved in making Invasión Thrash possible (you know who you are!), especially Mattey Magazine and all our faithful fans, you made this very special to us. The photo galleries are a postponed a little bit because new photos keep coming all the time from you all! So send all your final pics this weekend. Bye for now Venezuela, see you again someday!

You all who read Venezuela Part I: Meet n’ Greet know that we in Decadence had a great time in Caracas right from the start. The day after the Meet n’ Greet it was time for our concert, our first concert in Venezuela ever. It was set on June 18, 2010 in the capital city Caracas at the venue Amfiteatro Del Hatillo. It was a coliseum shaped venue where the stage was placed below the audience, and a positive surprise for us was that it was open air!

A thing we noticed about Venezuela is that the concept of time is different from other places we are used to in the world That’s from where the name “Decadence 15 Minute Tour” came to life (credits to Jorge)! Because that’s exactly what everyone told us: “It’ll take 15 minutes to get there… In 15 minutes the ride arrives…There’s 15 minutes to sound check…” and so on! It was difficult to get used to at first but after a while we started to enjoy the fact that we didn’t need a watch. Quite relaxing actually!

We arrived quite late to the venue so we were in a rush to get ready for the sound check. We dropped off our things in the backstage and headed straight to the stage. Our and Hirax sound was engineered by one of Venezuela’s best guys in this, who we had also met the day before on the Meet n’ Greet, Marcos Antonio M Burgos, he was really good (thank you Marcos!). We only had some minutes to check the sound but the sound felt good. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a CD player there so we could not use the intro to our show causing us to make some final changes. After the sound check I went backstage to change clothes, meanwhile, people were entering the venue. It only took some minutes and we were set to go.

The thing we noticed right away was once again the dedication and enthusiasm of the audience. It was amazing to hear the screams louder than us on stage so it felt really good to be there! Some technical malfunctions caused troubles for us on stage such as the drums disappearing from the stage monitors but sounding great out to the audience. Also the trigger microphone for the kick drum was busted. Unfortunately the sound tech on stage couldn’t speak English so we had a hard time to communicate this to him Other than that, the experience was above anything else and we feel that it was you as fans in the crowd that made the whole show for us. We were told to cut one song off the set list because of the time limit and the fact the show had started later than expected but after some words back and forth with the crew and the awesome support from the crowd we could play our final song anyway – and it was a great ending! Here is the set list for Decadence at Invasión Thrash – Caracas, Venezuela 2010:

1.      Discharge (Chargepoint, 2009)
2.      Claustrophobia (3rd Stage of Decay, 2006/2007/2008)
3.      Black Eternity (Decadence, 2005)
4.      3rd Stage of Decay (3rd Stage of Decay, 2006/2007/2008)
5.      Silent Weapon (For A Quiet War) (Chargepoint, 2009)
6.      Red (The Creature, 2005)
7.      Challenge (Chargepoint, 2009)
8.      Corrosion (3rd Stage of Decay, 2006/2007/2008)
9.      Invert (3rd Stage of Decay, 2006/2007/2008)
10.    Fast Forward (Chargepoint, 2009)
11.    Spirit Crusher (Death cover)
12.    Wasteland (The Creature, 2005)

To make it all even better a fan, Alfredo Ramos Malaver, threw up his custom made Decadence flag on stage! We took photos and enjoyed every moment we had left on stage in Caracas. This flag now hangs in the ceiling of our rehearsal room. Talk about a motivation when we rehearse our music!

The concert was over, it was already pitch black outside, we gave Hirax our best and it was their turn to explode on stage! We went backstage to relax, meet fans, take photos and do interviews. A great way to round off the evening. When Hirax was done and the venue was closing we all met by the vans outside and talked. The day was over and will be remembered and missed… until next time!

Stay tuned for the final Part III and the big photo gallery with all your pics. Keep sending them to us and posting them online so that they’ll make it into the gallery! You’ll hear from us soon.

We are back from Caracas, Venezuela where we have spent one of the best weeks of our lives. It’s been an amazing experience and we’ve met so many great people, new friends and all this thanks to Mattey Magazine (with Roberto, Rafael, Jorge, Miztika and Leo at the helm), one of the best, top class organizers there is.

We want to share some of the things that we experienced during our stay in Venezuela so you will be able to follow up on our stories through some blog posts like this one! Here comes Part I:  Read more... (591 words, 8 images, estimated 2:22 mins reading time)

For those of you Spanish speaking Decaheads, here is some more info about our upcoming shows with Hirax; how to get hold of tickets to the shows, how to get hold of tickets to the meet ‘n greet, venues etc. Visit our organizer Mattey Magazine’s official web and read more HERE.

Don’t miss out on these!

We are glad to announce that we will pay a new visit to the great Club Hate in Eskilstuna, Sweden on April 24, 2010. We were there in 2007 last time so it feels good to be back on their stage again. We give Kenneth Nielsen and his crew in Club Hate our full support for keeping the scene alive over there and a thanks for inviting us back! Decadence will headline the show and the other two opening bands are to be announced. Stay tuned at Club Hate! We will write in the comment of this post when we get news about this. See you there!

The rumors have been circling around for the past couple of weeks…! Now, we finally announce that Decadence is confirmed for two summer concerts in Venezuela, as co-headline with bay area Thrashers Hirax, at Invasión Thrash - proudly presented by Mattey Magazine!

Event: Invasión Thrash

Dates:
- Fri, June 18, 2010 in Caracas, Venezuela 
- Sat, June 19, 2010 in Coro, Venezuela 

Co-headline:
Decadence – Hirax

Organizer:
Mattey Magazine

Along with all the faithful fans, Mattey Magazine has been Decadence´ biggest support in Venezuelan press and we are proud and happy to come to Venezuela for the first time on Mattey’s own Invasión Thrash! Stay tuned for more news!  Read more... (125 words, 2 images, estimated 30 secs reading time)

Want a T-shirt like this?

Just before Christmas we got a new stock of our official T-shirts for our e-shop “DecadenStore”. The boxes are big, heavy and take up a lot of space so we thought a Christmas sale was a good idea. So, there you go, 35% off, find the T-shirts HERE now for € 10!  

Also have a look at our inofficial fanclub “Corrosion” at Facebook, founded by Matt Reifschneider for fans by fans. We thought it was about time that he got some credit for his great initiative where followers of Decadence can post things and keep each other updated. We in Decadence tune in there every now and then as well!  Read more... (119 words, 2 images, estimated 29 secs reading time)

The first draft of Chargepoint

This sketch as a whole did not require many changes on the theme so my idea was set from the beginning.  Read more... (311 words, 2 images, estimated 1:15 mins reading time)

Photo by: Helena Starenby

As mentioned before, there is some extra material from the music video that has not been released until now! Behold some pictures and another YouTube clip below!

Soile Siirtola, our photographer and friend was with us on the two outside locations in the national park/nature reserve Tyresta and the abandoned house in Täby Kyrkby for the recordings of our music video for “Silent Weapon (For A Quiet War)”. As always, she was busy with the camera and took pics both when she should and maybe should’ve not! Here they are anyway, linked in Soile’s ExtreMMetal.se gallery HERE. Thank you Soile!  Read more... (234 words, 2 images, estimated 56 secs reading time)