#martinpersner

MCC - FEBRUARY FULL MOON LIVE SESSION 2019

Earlier this month I had the awesome opportunity to fly to London to see my favorite band, MCC. It was their first show in nearly a decade, but you couldn’t tell. Both nights the atmosphere was charged with nervous and exciting energy—both the audience and the band were more than thrilled to be there. Here’s how it went down.

Saturday night I hung out at the bar for a few hours before the show. Fans began congregating by the door about an hour beforehand so we could get a good spot. Although the ticket lady almost didn’t let me in because my tickets apparently didn’t get added to the will-call list, I managed to make it to the 2nd row on stage right: directly in front of the microphone.

Quickly after the opener ended (True Moon, who was awesome and totally worth listening to), MCC ran out and helped to set up their gear.  They were all nervous but super stoked to be out there, and as soon as Martin appeared to set up his gear pedals (idk anything about music lol) the entire audience flipped out and cheered for him. His response was to lovingly shush us; “It’s a fucking line check!”

The performance itself was amazing. After the sound check they disappeared and soon ran back out with beer in their hands and smiles on their faces. The audience had great energy; everyone was really excited to be there, and for the most part pretty engaged in the set. Martin made quite a few drunken quips throughout the show. At one point his microphone stopped working and he remarked, “I’m obviously not a singer, so we have to do a lot of things to make my voice sound good, and when tech breaks down that becomes a problem.” He introduced the band, and referred to Arvid as his “Kid brother, who hasn’t played drums since he was 6, and vowed never to pick it up again.” The job of being a frontman is obviously pretty new to him, but he took it up well.

The music itself blew my socks off. Fia Kempe from The Great Discord came out every few songs to lend her voice, and it sounded amazing. She and Martin were not afraid to get up on the barrier and play in front of the crowd, which was a real treat for us at the front. My favorite song was probably Demon King. When played live the band finishes the song with a powerful, uplifting solo. Attending a Midnight Screen was also dope, as was Sway. Honestly I can’t think of a single song that I didn’t think was amazing. The biggest surprise of the night was when MCC played “Sleepy Eye June.” Martin introduced it as “the only love song (he) ever wrote… which turned out kind of dark.” They recorded it on a three piece demo, he said, and the final version will be appearing on their next album, due “2027.” That was an amazing surprise to end the night on—they even kept the voice sample from “Excalibur!”

Shortly after the show I had to run outside to grab money for merch. By the time I came back the band was hanging out at the stage signing things for fans. I first went up to Fia, who was chillin’ and told her how much I appreciate her work. Soon after I made my way to Martin, where I overheard him ask a fan, “was my set too short? I was worried about that, but I was thinking ‘if it were me, I wouldn’t want to hear myself perform for very long. Just in and out.’” Another fan urged him to go to France, and he replied that they had plans to—but they’re secret, so he can’t disclose more than that. I later heard from another fan that MCC plans to tour more in Europe later this year and, hopefully eventually, North America. When it came time for me to get my stuff signed I Introduced myself and told him I was from Seattle. He said that was cool and he loves Seattle; he also really loves Oregon, because of the Goonies.

Eventually I made it outside and hung out with some fans. I found Niels standing at a doorway and joined in on the conversation. Someone asked him if he’s going to continue playing with In Flames, and he replied that he wasn’t sure. It can be fun playing on a huge stage, he remarked, but he prefers the vibes of smaller venues. He’d like to continue playing with MCC, if he can. I told him I really liked his music, his solo stuff too, and was super stoked to see him—especially, being from Seattle, I wasn’t sure if I would ever be able to. He told me he thought Seattle was awesome, and that when he came there with Dead Soul and Ghost their friend from the area drove them around the city and he fell in love. He’d like to return one day. I asked him to sign my poster, and he pointed to a random building in the design, remarked “that’s where I live,” drew an arrow to it, and signed it. At that point another fan asked him to sign his ticket, but he kept talking to me—he poked me with their ticket!—and told me to listen to listen to an American band he likes (sorry Niels I was too drunk I totally forgot who it was). He traveled from Sweden to London to see them when he was young, and asked the band manager if he could meet the singer. He was told no, but got tickets to see them in Sweden. The singer killed himself right after that show. I probably looked at him like “wtf?” and he assured me that he isn’t planning on killing himself. Good!

             The vibes of the first night were really mellow. Martin hung out outside and smoked but the fans left him alone; a surprising show of respect.

~round 2~

             Night two was even better! The band seemed way less nervous and more sober-- Martin even remarked to the audience, “you seem less drunk than last night. So are we.” Their sobriety was reflected in a much better sound overall. The audience, while less smashed, was still awesome. During a lull in the set a man with a thick Scottish accent remarked “Martin, I fucking love you man!” to which he replied, “I love you too!” Near the end of the set Martin’s announcement that they had one more song to play was met with an “aaaawwwwuuuuuhhhh.” He reminded everyone they’d be back. I yelled, “I’ll miss you!” and he said, “I’ll miss you too!!” It was really sweet and I literally died. At a certain point he invited fans to yell out where they were from. At the end he remarked, “you’re from all over the place! We’re from ten years ago.”

Niels was over the top all night. He started the show by standing on the barrier for a long ass time. After Dollhouse Decoration Niels wouldn’t stop playing the end notes, to which Martin remarked, “that’s Niels Nielsen for you everyone!” During the Sway solo he couldn’t get his pedal to work so he performed the entire thing on the ground, which was pretty cool. Martin kept looking over at him with a smile on his face; you could tell they’re real homies. At the end of the set when Martin was introducing Sleepy Eye June as a love song he wrote, Niels started to play the beginning of “Run To The Hills” by Iron Maiden, and Arvid helped out with the drums. Martin was like “wtf” but it was all in jest.

Soon after the set the band had to kick everyone out to close up shop. I waited around for a big and talked to some cool homies; eventually, the band all came out to talk to fans and sign stuff. Niels recognized me from the night before and asked how I was doing—I told him I was chillin, but it looks like he was going to have a fun night (he was holding a big bottle of wine and some water). Niels told me the water was just for looks, the wine is what he’s really there for. I vibe with that.

Arvid and Par were both really sweet. They genuinely tried to have conversation with all their fans. When I told Arvid I was from Seattle he remarked “Oh! You’re the person he told us about.” (which honestly holy shit that was really cool. Martin told him about a fan from Seattle??? Whaaat??) and wanted to know what it was like to live in my city. Apparently, Martin is always talking about how much he likes the Pacific Northwest and wants to visit. I told them the weed was great. They were really really nice and attentive, and I’m super stoked to see them in future shows.

When I walked up to Martin he was signing some ghost photos for some fans. He looked at an old picture of himself and remarked “Aaaahhh… that’s him, the infamous Omeega.” It was kind of sad watching him look through all these old photos of Ghost, but he seemed to enjoy it. He pointed out which shows he could remember, and his tone was nostalgic. A fan offered him some beer which he declined until the fan told him it was Polish beer; at that point his choice was to chug it. He tried his best to make quips in fans’ native languages to watch them laugh. He’s a pure bean.

When it was my turn I told him, “when I saw you last night I forgot to show you my tattoo!” and stuck my arm out for him. He replied “whoa, let me take a look at that,” and grabbed my arm. I can’t explain it any other way than he held my arm and felt my tattoo with his fingers for a bit. I kind of astral projected through the entire thing; it was surreal. He soon grabbed a sharpie and drew a smiley face into the eclipse. I’m glad he thought it was impressive! He signed my ticket and patch and gave me a hug. Martin’s a super chill dude and was really enamored by all the attention he was getting from fans.

Overall, starting this trip I didn’t know what to expect, but MCC blew me away. They’re all a great group of people and I really look forward to seeing where they go in the future.