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TALISMAN - 2003 EUROPEAN TOUR DIARY!

Your exclusive tour diary from the Talisman/Jeff Scott Soto European tour!

With your host Howie 'guitarist's-rule' Simon! Guests Jeff Scott Soto and Marcel Jacob.

Howie Simon tour diary June 5, 2003
Well it's been awhile since I posted one of these and I apologize but internet access is very difficult when you are on the road in Europe.
I actually had a diary written but accidentally deleted it from Jeff Soto's computer because I don't know the Mac functions...I'm a PC guy. Anyway, since this is long I will break it down into sections.
Sweden - Talisman shows
I have come to realize that the players in Talisman are MONSTER musicians. Marcel Jacob, Fredrik Åkesson and Jamie Borger are probably 3 of the best hard rock musicians in the world...and then there's Jeff. I love that guy. Really. After 3 days of rehearsals we drove across Sweden from Stockholm to Gothenberg to play the 1st gig at a place called Sticky Fingers. The club is owned by a guy named Magnus who used to be in the band Swedish Erotica.
It was a cool place and the crowd was way into us. Afterwards, Freddie, Jamie and I partied at the club until it was light out. The next day we played the 2000 Decibel festival in Bengstfors with a lot of very heavy bands. Candlemass, Clawfinger (a personal favorite and they rocked!), Pain, and other dark bands seemed to be the flavor of the day. I have never seen more leather pants and concert t-shirts on sweaty guys in my whole life. We played a good set (and our engineer was former Talisman guitarist Pontus Norgren) but the crowd was only slightly into our set of "pussy metal".
Back at the hotel I hung out until dawn with the Candlemass guys who are WAY cool people. On the long drive back to Stockholm Marcel and his friend Jenny were not too amused with my constant barrage of comedy stylings. Oh well....fuck 'em. We got back Sunday night in time to see Freddie do a gig with his other band Krux (w/ Mats Leven on vocals). This is a doom metal act (why so unhappy guys?) and they were filming this show for a dvd. At the reception party after, it seemed like everyone in the room at one time or another had played with Yngwie Malmsteen. Oh - and I talked with Stefan Berggren from Snakes in Paradise who I had seen do a cool acoustic gig in Stockholm a few nights before.
The following Tuesday and Wednesday we did 2 shows in a row at Pub Anchor in Stockholm. It's a small place so we packed it both nights and I surprised the whole band on Tuesday by getting Pontus up to play with us. It was also a shame to see Jeff lose a bunch of money at the blackjack table in the club...but genuinely amusing nonetheless. It was also nice to meet John Leven from Europe. The following Friday we drove an hour to Eskilstuna for one more gig before leaving for England. Opening the show was 220 Volt and the place was hotter than hell. I was sweating like a blind homo at a weenie roast. We played well and I could feel the band getting tighter gig by gig. After one hour sleep we were off to England to play the GODS festival...

England - GODS Festival (Talisman and Ken Tamplin)
Oh what a party weekend I knew this was going to be! We hooked up with our friend Richard from the first part of the tour and the madness began a few hours after we arrived. We went straight to Revolution Bar where Freddie and I proceeded to each drink 19 shots of different flavored vodkas (and Freddie was drinking beer in between- psycho stuff!). I don't really remember but apparently I burned one of Richard's friends faces with my Cuban cigar...but it was an accident. Sorry about that permanent scar, M. I then somehow managed to stumble back to the hotel where I met up with Ken Tamplin (with his whole family), our drummer Glen Sobel, and bassist Tim Luce.
It was great to see some of my best friends in the middle of this whole jaunt. I am told we had an acoustic rehearsal in Ken's room and I insisted on playing even though I couldn't even spell the word "guitar" at that point. After that fiasco and insisting I would be better the next day (which I was) I hooked up with a couple of other friends and headed over to Penningtons to see some of the bands. I did stop at a small pub for another drink at this point. By the time I got to the club I have no recollection of what I said or did, but Mr. Tamplin said I told him I loved him about 1 million times. Yikes!
The following day we rehearsed again (sober) and went to the club mid - afternoon. I gotta say this wasn't quite the same as the year before when they had cameras and better catering and more people in the crowd, but still it was a pretty good turnout. The Tamplin set was decent although Ken had some equipment problems. From what I read on the noticeboard, if you like Tamplin to begin with, you would have dug our set. So I had a few hours after to rest, eat , and get ready to play with Talisman. After what seemed like an eternal Bob Catley set (I like the guy's music alot but why a leather jacket onstage when the place was like an oven?...and the fan blowing the hair has got to go) [Editor's Note - That was left over from the Royal Hunt set!], we hit the stage and rocked the house. We decided right before the encore to do an Ozzy song we had messed around with before instead of another song of ours. It was a helluva lot of fun. The party back at the hotel later was great and it was especially cool to see one Mr. Andrew McNeice looking more and more fatherly each year I see him. [Side Note - Thanks Howie, I'll have to check with you later if that's a compliment or an insult] Everyone had a blast so let's see if I can whore myself out to a different band next year to play the GODS for a third year in a row. Oh and I should mention in closing this chapter that Tony Marshall from Contagious pissed his pants.

Italy - Talisman shows
The fact that the guy who was picking us up at the airport in Rome was a few hours late should have told us what the whole rest of this part of the tour was going to be like. Upon arriving at the hotel, Jeff and I discover that Glenn Hughes is right in the room next to us. Anyone who knows me knows I am the biggest fan of Hughes in the world so this was an awesome thing for me, except IT WAS THE WORST FUCKING HOTEL IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!
The train through Rome was literally...LITERALLY on the other side of our bedroom window. I could reach out and touch it..and it ran the whole night about every 20 minutes. And imnmediately upon turning on the shower the entire room and part of the outside hallway were flooded.
In the morning Glenn was upset that he had no sleep because of this and we all had to perform that night at the Frontiers Records showcase (also featuring Royal Hunt). After a pain in the ass 4 hour soundcheck we all switched hotels.
The show was hot and sweaty and the crowd was way into us. We drank a bunch of Grappa onstage and proceeded to get wrecked. As Glenn Hughes and his guitarist JJ Marsh hit the stage to do an acoustic set, they had all kinds of technical problems. Glenn got pissed and slammed down his acoustic bass but Marcel came out of the dressing room and lent him his own bass. Thank God.
I do gotta say it's great to play a gig opening for your hero although Jeff totally makes fun of me for this. If it were Freddie Mercury I guess it would be a different story. We wound up partying with JJ Marsh later that night and he is one cool brotha!... What we realized about gigs in Italy is that no one ever seems to be in charge.
People just kind of stand around smoking cigarrettes and drinking warm beer and no one ever tells the band what is supposed to happen. Whatever. We had a day off so Jeff and I did the tourist-y crap like see the Colisseum and all the other ruins which is cool but after awhile you realize it's just a bunch of old run down buildings (ghetto anyone?)
I'm kidding. Lots of hot chicks walking the streets of Rome though...gotta like those sites! Jeff and I switched hotels again and the Swedish contingent also stayed at a different place that wound up having construction going on starting at 7:00 am. They were not happy, but since Freddie is a big heavy metal fan I think he liked the sound of the chain saws. The next night we did a short appearance at a small club in Rome that turned into a cool jam session with a bunch of local musicians. A good time except again nobody knew who was in charge or what was supposed to happen. So then we flew to Milan...
This gig was so hot (and no air conditioning or ice in the drinks, of course) that all 5 of us could wring out buckets of sweat from our shirts after the show. Fun gig and I actually stayed sober after this one (sorry to disappoint). The last 2 shows in Italy were Alessandra and Turin. These were smaller places each with a cool vibe.
The former (Mephisto Rock Cafe) having a very cool view from the front door and a super deep well inside the bar that was kind of freaky to stare down into. Good crowds but as usual alot of standing around with our thumbs up our asses not knowing what's going on beforehand. It was good to see my buddy Roberto who brought me some bootleg cds- THANKS! Oh ...and Marcel forgot about me and drove off and left me stranded at the hotel for a few hours. He needs to stop doing those heavy drugs.
It was an intersting time here in this country but for the future- ANYONE ORGANIZING CONCERTS IN ITALY SHOULD REALIZE HOTELS SHOULD NOT BE NEXT TO TRAINS OR CONSTRUCTION SITES! AND PLEASE HAVE A SET SCHEDULE SO THE BANDS KNOW WHAT TO DO! Communication is a lovely word.... One last note...our plane home from Milan to London to Stockholm (AFTER we boarded) was delayed 3 freekin' hours! We had no sleep from the night before to get to the airport on time and then this happens. So of course we missed the London to Stockholm flight and had to sit in Heathrow airport for 5 and a half hours! For some reason I want to blame Italy for this.... Next up- the days waiting to play Sweden Rock Festival!

Marcel Jacob Tour Diary
Well, it's been a long time coming, but I have had my hands full trying to make things work for the band as well as trying to have some sort of life at the same time, having just met a Jenny...there are of course too many impressions to mention, but I will share some....

First of all Howie. I never met him before he came to Sweden, and the very first thing that struck me was how much he reminded me of Jason Bieler (Saigon Kick, was doing guitar for us way back) the joking, the face, the interests...all booze and the ladies...he was exactly as good as I hoped in the rehearsals and has been in the shows, outside of that, well- he's a guitarplayer ;-)!
Freddie and Howie hit it off well, you should have seen them play Metallica songs together in the rehearsals- happy little Metal Kids with new toys! About the drinking though- Howie has a little bit to prove to a Swede in that department, he couldn't hold down a "Birger's" (can only be found at Grey Goose in Stockholm, tastes like a mix of Underberg/Jägermeister/Grappa/airplane fuel ) and he was grinning badly while trying Grappa on stage in Turin the other night...

The shows have been very consistent from the point of view of the band, except for the one we did in Alessandria the other night, we were just too tired after the sweatbath in Milano the night before- definitely over 35 C in that room. One funny observation we were doing a festival called 2000 decibel before the Gods, it was mostly death/doom/rap metal, and we didn't go over well at all...same band at the Gods, totally opposite reaction...at one festival we were like a bad breath of air from the attic, at the other one it seemed we were the fresh wind blowing out some dust and cobwebs...

No respect at the Gods. I knew Bob Catley was going to go over his scheduled time. He was too busy picking imaginary apples ( or reaching for lyrics as someone joked ) to look at his watch...I had already told everyone I could find that seemed to be in charge that for every five minutes Catley went over his allotted time, we would cut a song from our set. In the end we only took out two or three instead of the seven if we'd kept to my threat.

Going to Italy was a bit of a scary prospect. I told my guys not to have too high expectations, due to the language barrier, the culture (they don't seem to grasp the concept of organisation down there...), and the standards of stages/venues and equipment. Even so, when reality hit them like a bad pizza in the face, they were having some difficulties....
Me I was laughing about pretty much everything the whole week- one of the two exceptions being told I couldn't place an order in the bar at one place, and when I asked why I was treated like a jewish retard in Nazi Germany- and Fredrik seemed able to do the same.
The Americans- if we had recorded all their complaints during the week and played it back to them now I'm sure they wouldn't believe their ears. But still everyone has performed exceedingly well during the shows despite the difficulties, so I'm very proud to have been associated with each and every one of them.
One guy who certainly didn't enjoy Italy and the Frontiers Showcase in Rome was Glenn Hughes. I was wondering about how the show would go for him already early in the day when he was waking us up yelling at his guitar player, JJ Marsh. The thing was, JJ had hooked up with us the night before, and he seemed to be very happy in our company, because he drank more than he probably would have otherwise, he was smoking despite his claims he'd quit, and had no problem when the suggestion came up 3 in the morning that maybe they should go to the Colosseum and check it out, JJ+Fredrik+JJ's friend.
Two hours later they started remembering that they didn't remember the name of the hotel or how to get back...6:30 Freddie woke me up getting back to the room. So, naturally JJ wasn't all that easy to get out of bed at noon -))! The only ones that came to was me, Freddie, and Jamie, who were laughing at Glenn's "this is no holiday camp!" and "I don't know why I've put up with this guy for 7 years!". Later at the show Glenn made a soundcheck that left the people working sound a little confused, and when things weren't the same when his show was on, he freaked and threw the rented acoustic bass on the floor...and started yelling for me!
I had no idea how to help him other than give him my bass, which I knew didn't go well with the amp the club provided (I use weird gear) so I was giving it to him gingerly to say the least -))...but Glenn and JJ did a wonderful performance despite Glenn's unhappiness, the audience certainly felt that way about them, hope the guy realised this when he stopped fuming the next day (or week ;-)...).

I haven't mentioned Jeff much, have I ? Well, he's my brother and a great guy, and he's been great all shows, I'm sure he's made a long lasting impression on everyone who's seen us. He certainly deserves doing better than Talisman ;)...He does have this touring thing down, and he's very busy doing his things- meeting friends, talking on the phone, making DVD's out of video films, making phone calls, losing money at the black jack tables, making phone calls, getting drunk, talking on the phone, you get the picture- so he doesn't get into much trouble other than facing the phone bills...

One more show to go before a break, and it should be a good one- the Sweden Rock festival- we'll let you know what was like!"

Howie Simon tour diary May 13, 2003
Have you ever been in a freaky religious cult? After a weekend at the Queen Fan Club Convention, I feel like I have.
We rehearsed at Hefty's (tour manager for Queen tribute band Queen Rocks who opened for us last week) house for 2 days leading up to this convention. Just 2 days to get ready to perform 38 Queen songs in front of the hardest people to impress - the actual fans waiting for the 2nd coming of Freddie Mercury.
Gary, Alex and I were totally new to this material...but Jeff is actually one of them, so he was ready to go. The rehearsals were stressful as you can imagine, but on the day before we left for Wales things actually started to sound good. We get down there, and it's nothing but Queen, Queen, Queen 24 hours a day. In the hotel lobby, in the convention area, on the tv in the hotel rooms, on everybody's t-shirts, the topic of every conversation...you get the idea.
They had Queen aerobics classes, a tug of war contest set to Queen music, and a giant dance floor with people dancing to you know what. I was dying to get a "Queen Sucks" t-shirt just to be a goof, but I didn't have time.
Anyway...the gig was surreal with about 2000 people thinking we were the real Queen. We actually sounded huge in this place and we were all totally stoked after the show about our performance. The cool thing about the convention is that it is a massive weekend long party..so we drank 'til dawn after the show and signed a ton of autographs and met tons of people. The next day we were scheduled to do nothing but relax (and of course drink more) but the concert organizers asked us to perform an acoustic performance so we scrambled to throw together a 45 minute set of acoustic Queen. I convinced Jeff to throw in a few other covers so we also did Talisman's version of "Crazy" (Seal), The Doobie Brothers' "Long Train Running" which I sang, and "Since You've Been Gone" which Jeff and I co-sang. We decided to build a cool stage set for this, so we constructed a bar ONSTAGE and Hefty decked himself out in a tuxedo and served drinks to us the whole time we played...all for the audience to see!
We also had Richard Mace (our tour co-ordinator) and his buddy Pete onstage doing backup vocals. It was amazing to see and the audience loved it...especially since it was so spur of the moment. All in all with the weirdness aside (and ignoring the fact that the room I shared with Gary smelled like 4 month old pork mixed with a dead Chinese orphan) it was an amazing experience.
So the next morning (after visiting with a friend who came down to the convention...man there are hot chicks in Lowton) and having had 1 hour sleep, Hefty drove the 4 of us to London's Heathrow airport where Jeff and I said our goodbyes to Alex and Gary (I miss them already) and made our way to Stockholm...
Ah Stockholm, Sweden...dark and dreary just like you want it. We got picked up by Talisman bassist Marcel Jacob and he took us to the apartment he rented for Jeff and I paid for by a wonderful gambling addiction. Here I sit in the lobby of this apartment typing this diary after a Monday night out in Stockholm at The Hard Rock Cafe and Pub Anchor, where we will play 2 gigs next week. We met the rest of the Talisman guys (Freddie and Jamie) and also hung out with former guitarist Pontus Norgren, who is now mixing sound for every metal band that ever played an E chord.
A smell side note- on the way back to the apartment, Jeff and I broke up a fight inside a 7-11 where an old guy stabbed a drunk long haired dude with a screw driver and then proceeded to beat him relentlessly over the head with a metal napkin holder. We saw lots of blood and broken glass (just like any good Cannibal Corpse song would have). More about the rehearsals soon....

Howie Simon tour diary May 7, 2003
Holy crap London has alot of hot chicks! I hated to leave but we had to get to Southampton for the first gig at "The Brook". The stage at this place was cool...very high up but there was also a balcony looking down at the band. The show wasn't too bad for being the first and having had only one rehearsal. A couple of minor tuning problems on my part (it's a Bb, Gary) and a few snags here and there but the general vibe onstage was good. Afterward we signed a bunch of posters and cds. I always love that ego stroke! There was one girl there who kept grabbing my hair...but she had teeth like a rotting corpse so I did my best to avoid her. On to Liverpool...

The night we got into Liverpool we actually drove over to Maxime's in Wigan to just hang out and have some drinks. It was like walking into 1988 all over again, since all you see are mulletts and bad clothes (I guess me included). It's still very strange for me to see people dancing to Krokus and Y&T songs. I did get so trashed that I wound up dancing with a wicked hot brunette girl...and I sure hope that's not caught on camera anywhere since I don't dance. We also met and hung out with Tony Marshall from CONTAGIOUS who is a way cool guy, and I want to thank him for letting me use his amp for this leg of the tour.

The club in Liverpool "The Cavern" is the place where the Beatles (pronounced Bea'les) got their start. It's 3 stories below ground and looks like an actual old cavern. The opening band was a great Queen tribute band called Queen Rocks and they are scheduled to play with us on the next 2 gigs and help us out with equipment. The place was packed, sweaty and rockin' and our band was tighter than a virgin. Afterward, we hung out in town at a place called REVOLUTION BAR that has every flavor of vodka imaginable (yes, even chocolate). Liverpool is a serious party town with bars and more bars and drunks everywhere including the hallways of our hotel. I definitely need to come back here again. Next up - Dudley.

The venue "The Robin" looked just like a typical East Coast USA rock club with a big stage and a high ceiling and there were quite a few people here. The audience was a little weird though in that they would applaud real loud after a song and then immediately get deathly quiet. During the show our drummer Alex accidentally kicked out the power cable to my amp during my guitar solo. Don't worry though folks, since that night while he was sleeping I beat him with a pillow case full of soap bars. He will never do it again. Afterwards more autographs and photos with the fans...they never seem to realize what a loser I actually am in day to day life...and none of you reading this better tell them. The final gig in this part of our tour was in Bristol at "The Bierkeller". The crowd was a little more thin than we had hoped since this was a weeknight after a holiday weekend...but man did Jeff sing his balls off! It's always great to hear him when he is in "the zone" and tonight he showed why he's one of the best in the world. We also had Queen Rocks get up onstage with us during the encore. These guys have been great to us, especially their manager Frank (Hefty!) When we were done, our tour manager Richard Mace's buddy Pete started doling out the vodka to everyone and the end of the night is a blur. Next up- The Queen Fan Club Convention...

Howie Simon tour diary 4/30/03
Well here I am in an internet cafe in London writing this 1st journal entry.
The flight over was pretty easy. I flew here alone since Jeff Soto was already over here performing with the SAS (Spike's All Stars) band, and Gary Schutt (bass) and Alex Papa (drums) live in Florida and flew here direct from Miami.
I was on Virgin Atlantic Airlines and got to sit in the top level of a double decker plane. WAY COOL! Also I had a super hot chick sitting next to me but wouldn't give me the time of day. That bitch.
After knocking back about 10 vodka and OJ's I got to London in time to see Jeff film a TV pilot with SAS and I hung out with fellow LA guy Eric Singer who was pretty cool. Turns out we know alot of the same people back home. Also got to meet Neil Murray which was a thrill since I love old Whitesnake.
Anyway, we had a whole day of rehearsals and tomorrow night is the 1st gig. I will definitely have more stories once the madness begins tomorrow (and hopefully photos too!). Stay tuned....

[I'd like to add to this entry....I got the following tip from Phil in the UK: "We went to the filming of the TV show last night and Eric was playing drums for Roger Taylor, with Neil Murray on bass. It was funny watching some of the older Queen fans in the crowd as Jeff Scott Soto went totally OTT on 'Tie Your Mother Down', he made Steve Tyler look like Christopher Reeve. Howie couldn't get out of bed for the show, he'd had 10 vodkas on the flight..."
Shame Howie, shame...couldn't even get out of bed....we'll see what he's got to say for himself next update.]

Live Pics! Click for Jeff Scott Soto and band live in UK. Pics thanks to Tony Marshall.

Tour dates:
May 16 - Gothenburg Sticky Fingers
May 17 - Bengstfors, Sweden
May 20 - Stockholm, Sweden (Pub Anchor)
May 21 - Stockholm, Sweden (Pub Anchor)
May 23 - Eskilstuna Blå
May 25 - Bradford, England (God's Festival)
May 27 - Rome Blackout www.blackoutrockclub.com
May 29 - Party with Talisman "Radio Londra Cafe" Rome
May 30 - Milano "Indians Saloon"
May 31 - Lu Monferrato (Alessandria) "Mephisto Rock Cafe"
June 1 - Torino "Mc Ryan's"
June 6 - TBA
June 8 - Sölvesborg Sweden Rock Festival
August 7 Lokerse Feesten Festival

Talisman Cats & Dogs

Frontiers Records FRCD146

Track Listing

· Skin On Skin
· Break It Down
· In Make Believe
· Love Will Come Again
· Outta My Way
· Friends To Stranger
· Sorry
· Trapped
· M.O.M.
· Wherever, Whenever, Whatever
· Lost In Wasteland
· Hell In Paradise

Album Details

· Produced By: Marcel Jacob &
· Jeff Scott Soto
· Running Time: 45.17
· Release Date: May 12
· Released: EU
· Genre: Hard Rock
· WebLink: Talisman
· LabelLink: Frontiers

Artist Bio

Line-up: Jeff Scott Soto: voice; Marcel Jacob: bass; Fredrik Åkesson: guitars; Jamie Borger: drums

TALISMAN started out more or less as the brainchild of bass player extraordinaire Marcel Jacob. He previously played with bands like RISING FORCE, NORUM, POWER and has let his bass do the talking on albums by the likes of THE JOHANSSON BROTHERS, MELDRUM, EYES and THOMAS VIKSTRÖM. He met singer Jeff Scott Soto during his days in RISING FORCE in the early nineties.

Before Marcel and Jeff Scott Soto found each other, Marcel recorded some demos with various singers such as Thomas Vikström (CANDLEMASS), Chris Lancelot (GRACE) and Göran Edman (YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, NORUM, MADISON, GLORY). On the first album TALISMAN was not really a band but more a Marcel/Jeff project + friends. Guitars were played by Christopher Ståhl (POWER) and Mats Lindfors (NORUM, GRAND SLAM), keyboards by Mats Olausson (MALMSTEEN, GLORY) and additional drums by Peter Hermansson (220 VOLT, NORUM). The album was recorded for Electra, but the label went bust before the release and the master was bought by Vinyl Mania who released it on the Airplay label.

On live gigs the band featured Jason Bieler on guitar (SAIGON KICK), ex. YALE BATE/TOTEMdrummer/ singer Jacob "Jake Samuels" Samuelsson (later in JEKYLL ‘N HYDE/MIDNIGHT SUN) and Thomas Vikström on keyboards. When TALISMAN signed to Dino (later re-named Empire) they bought the master and re-issued the debut on CD with six live tracks as bonus.

In 1992 Matti Alfonzetti returned from England after having recorded with JAGGED EDGE. He then joined forces with Marcel Jacob and new TALISMAN guitarist Fredrik Åkesson (ex. ONE CENT, later SOUTHPAW). They recorded a great demo also containing the song Angel.
The other tracks turned up on the Genesis album, where Soto became a firm member of the band. On that album, as well as on the debut Marcel plays bass and drums with Jake Samuels which was in and out of the band in a few months time. On the following live-album “Five Out Of Five” the line-up was completed with exTREAT-skinsman Jamie Borger and the band went on to record their most successful releases to date: the two Humanimal albums. Real classical pieces of melodic - well played - hard rock with a twist.

The SEAL cover Crazy, in a version far more interesting than the original, can be found on the follow up album Life. After the release of Life Fredrik left as he wanted to go in a heavier direction which can be heard on his solo-project SOUTHPAW.

Fredrik was temporarily replaced by American guitarist Brian Young (BEAU NASTY). But the band finally decided to take a hiatus and Marcel and Jeff recorded two albums under the monicker HUMAN CLAY, where Yngwie Malmsteen played lead guitar on one track. TALISMAN finally found their way back, reinforced with former GREAT KING RAT/JEKYLL ‘N HYDE stringsman Pontus Norgren. The album Truth was however a pretty weak effort and after the album the band officially split, but did some gigs in the summer of 2001. Jeff, Pontus and Marcel later joined forces with drummer Thomas Broman (GREAT KING RAT) and took the name HUMANIMAL. The band released their outstanding debut in 2002: an album in the vein and class of classic TALISMAN albums such as Genesis or Humanimal.

A TALISMAN live-album was recorded at the Sweden Rock Festival in 2001. In 2002 HUMANIMAL split, please meet... TALISMAN with the return of the old friend Fredrik Åkesson on guitars. The band was soon signed by Frontiers Records. 2003 now sees the release of another soon to be classic album by TALISMAN: "Cats And Dogs"!