the meeting.

i was seventeen when i first met thomas. we stood in line for another lousy meal in the school cafeteia as i noticed this loud and cocky young man wearing a machine head t-shirt from the burn my eyes album. i absolutely loved that album (the only machine head album i ever really loved). and as we stand there i see some black ink on his t-shirt. fuck, i thought and had to ask:
- "don't tell me you've met them?"
thomas turns around, looks at me without blinking, making a face or anything and says:
- "i drank beer with 'em too."
i was envious as hell!
it was the beginning of a thirteen year long friendship. and from that day on we used to talk at recess and lunch breaks. i had my metal band called southgate and thomas had his arise (nope, not the famous arise. and after being spelled wrong on a compilation album we kept the misspelling and were named arize before arise released their debut) and shared a common interest in bands such as deftones, tool, korn, fear fctory and sepultura but also in eighties pop music such as depeche mode, ultravox and duran duran. thomas was a bit too loud and wild for me, i was used to geekier frieds, but his self confidence created a fascination i could not rub off.
in my other band i was the only songwriter, as i'd been in all my other bands before as well. so when thomas asked me to join arise and fill the vacant bass spot i quickly accepted his request. i was happy as hell to be playing in a band with so many good writers and innovative musicians. the first year was real good fun. erik (thyselius, now in scarpoint) banged the shit out of his drums. he tried using those drumsticks made of metal but kept breaking those too. he had a china cymbal that, after a year of beating, looked like the wu tang clan w logo. no joke! richard (dahlberg, now in construcdead) was the stiffest guitarist i'd ever seen. if he looked up from his hands to watch the rest of the band, it was enough to give him a stiff neck. but man could he play! i never play solos and never have, i'm a rythm guitar guy, so i was very impressed by richard's skills in both rythm and lead. thomas, he had the lungs from hell. that tiny chest he used to have (wheigting in at 65 kilos back in '96) had an enormous roar louder that anything i'd ever heard. still today when he yells, it hurts my ears. normal pepole yelling are annoying at the most, thomas hurts your ears. anyhow, i tried to keep up with the guys but soon it stood clear that i wasn't really that into metal anymore. so i left. i thought the band would carry on without me but soon they split up instead. after six months of rest from music and just talk about a new direction, thomas and i started lingua together with patrik. this was in july 2000 and that story is a whole other story in itself.
but inbetween bands we've done so much more. accoustic, trance, trip hop and what not to explore all we could in music. we used to take long walks (or drive far with the car as soon as thomas got his licence) and dream about a five record deal with sony. i can't remember how many times we've been drunk together and helped each other out of situations or gotten one another in them. we were kids when we met and grew up together. and now we're men with families, still in the same band, making music better than ever. thirteen years of music, friendship and good memories. for that i am thankful. it don't get much better than that.

//misha.