Malestrum
Malestrum were undoubtedly Hamilton's greatest Swedish heavy metal band. All five members travelled from Europe in the late 1990's to play at a promised stadium concert in Hamilton. Upon arriving however, the gig fell through and all five members were stranded in the town with no way to get back to Sweden. They accepted a slot at a performance cafe held at the The Meteor and from that gig onwards, where the lead singer set fire to his toy guitar, Malestrum's legend status in Hamilton was assured.
Consisting of vocalist/lyricist/visionary Wolfgang Ach, Slor Amslat on lead guitar, Lars (Lars) Larsen on lead guitar (sometimes referred to as Laas Von Trapp for copyright reasons), Rufus Niechmeier on lead bass and Lager Oonst on lead drums, the band played consistently throughout the year whipping audiences into frenzied mashing with their catch cry “We vill rock you till Venesday" and songs such as Let there be Malestrum, Blue metal, Rock your arse off baby and the political Smash the state.
The band headed back to Sweden in 1999, but during a stopover in the Pacific islands, most members lost their tickets and some remain there till this day. Unfortunately, there remain no recordings of their work, but some video does exist, which may be released at some time. Ach is now heavily involved in the "wordless poetry" movement, Niechmeier runs a small cocktail bar in the islands, Amslat has released a number of "teach yourself lead metal rock lead guitar" DVDs, Larsen is now a Linguistics professor and is presently writing a Swedish heavy metal dictionary and Oonst is the drummer in a heavy metal band in Hamilton.
Line up
Though the above might describe the story of Malestrum according to the band, rumour has it the actual line up was comparatively mundane, consisting of five locals. The band members remained in character for all performances and interviews.
The above "Line-up" section is disputed by Malestrum.
