PiercingMetal Musings

New York City was going to get a little darker tonight as the legendary Helsinki Vampires returned for a killer performance at The Gramercy Theatre down in the Chelsea Area of the Big Apple. The band was celebrating the release of the album “Back In Blood” and touring in support of it with special guest openers Dommin and The Becoming. We made sure to get there nice and early to better capture the whole night in photo and commentary and should you want to learn and see more just click the logo below to be taken to our article on the main PiercingMetal.com site.

Now that you have enjoyed the concert report, please enjoy some of the after show festivity that took place as the bands friends and fans mingled with them until the dawn sent them all back to their crypts and onto the next stop on the tour.

Ronnie Sweetheart (The Throbs) & Queen Vixen (Cycle Sluts From Hell)

Among the many other creatures of the New York City night that came out to see The 69 Eyes we found Ronnie Sweetheart who sang for The Throbs and right next to him is the one and only Queen Vixen of The Cycle Sluts From Hell.  These two have been friends with the Helsinki Vampires for years and are often seen when the band comes into town to bring us music.

Filthy Diamond, Gothic Hangman & Ronnie Sweetheart

It was cool to meet Ronnie as he was a pretty awesome dude to talk to and he asked for this shot to be taken of The Gothic Hangman, and a lovely Finnish Lass who they call Filthy Diamond.  The Gothic Hangman is an artist who does some really interesting stuff which you can feast your eyes on and research a little deeper into by clicking HERE.  Just leave the light on when you do so as we are not responsible for your safety after you leave PiercingMetal HQ.   The Finnish Lass hated the brightness of my camera flash so much she borrowed the Piercing shades for a moment.  I must say that they look smashing on her.

Gia Genocide, Ronnie Sweetheart, Jyrki 69, Queen Vixen, Jussi 69

The band had finished decompressing after the show and soon came out to see their friends.  The photo above shows another friend of the band in Gia Genocide and once again Mr. Sweetheart.  We also see Jyrki 69, Queen Vixen and Jussi 69 who is always camera shy as you can see here.  Jyrki’s sporting of The Throbs t-shirt is bound to send some of his young vampire legions out to search for music from the band.  You can’t buy press like this. If you feel like entertaining your auditory sensors with some music of The Throbs to learn why they are so important to Jyrki, feel free to order a copy of their album Language of Thieves & Vagabonds. I am also sure that after seeing so many photos of ladies like Queen Vixen and Vas Kallas in these narratives of mine that you are super curious as to what in the world the Cycle Sluts From Hell were all about;  so if  you are also having a problem with some surplus cash that needs a home, perhaps you can order a copy of their sole recording Cycle Sluts from Hell and educate your brain.

Jyrki 69 & Ronnie Sweetheart

When he had the chance Mr. 69 asked me to snap this shot of him and Ronnie.  He was insistent that I had missed the logo that his own shirt prominently displayed but I told him that I would not have missed that on him and managed to do what he required of me.  Singers, there is no arguing with them…they always find ways to be right even when they are not   After snapping this one I made a quick exit and left the band to spend some quality time with their friends.  The bus would be leaving in a few hours for the next stop on the tour so they did not have a lot of time to bond.  I am sure that they will come back and I was happy to be there for them again.

Jussi 69 & Ken Pierce

Of course actually leaving takes forever when there are a bunch of people to say “ciao” to and before I did Jyrki 69 took my camera to try his own hand at being one of the Metal Photographic Scribes.  He insisted on taking a shot of drummer Jussi and me which I quickly allowed with no argument.  It’s not wise to have a conflicting opinion with the King of the Goth ‘n Roll vampires after all.

PiercingMetal.com adventured with The 69 Eyes when they came to town for an exclusive fan and media listening party at the Arrow Bar on the Lower East Side. Sink your sharpened fangs into that story HERE.

While I cannot claim to have supported The 69 Eyes since their humble beginnings some twenty years ago, I have to say that I have been a fan for more than three quarters of the time that I have been a Metal Media adventurer and photographer. I began my own support of the band with their seminal release “Blessed Be” and have continued on with each consecutive album all the way up until their latest studio recording “Angels” which was released in 2007. They released the tour for that album with the live “Hollywood Kills” recording and around this time we also saw their entire back catalog being delivered by Cleopatra Records. This fact allowed many of the fans of the band to catch up to what they might have been missing or holding back from purchasing based on pricy imports. The band is now signed in the USA to The End Records, a label that has already given us the Monster Madness of Lordi, the Symphonic Gothic Virgin Black and the ever unpredictable Unexpect, so I am sure that great things are at the ready for our favorite Goth Rockers. The band was back in the New York Groove to celebrate this new signing and to treat both media allies and fans alike to an advance listening of their latest release entitled “Back In Blood”. The advance press emails about the album lined out that the band was planning on delivering their heaviest and darkest album to date and moving steadily away from the Hollywood Glam vibe that they had recently adopted. I was afforded a little more time with the guys before the listening and bring those who might have missed the event the full scoop.

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