SWEDEN ROCK FESTIVAL 'Sets Record Straight' Regarding Alleged Noise Ordinance Violations

August 31, 2009

Martin Forssman, the press manager for the Sweden Rock Festival, has dismissed as "wrong" a Swedish newspaper report that suggested the event organizers wanted to penalize several bands — including German power metallers RAGE and Swedish stoner rockers WITCHCRAFT — for playing too loudly.

Sweden's largest daily newspaper Aftonbladet reported over the weekend that the Sweden Rock Festival is being fined 250,000 SEK (around $35,000) by Swedish authorities for noise ordinance violations. According to the report, Sweden Rock is trying to avoid paying the fine and is blaming five of the acts that played the festival — RAGE, OUTLAWS, WITCHCRAFT, HYSTERICA and TRACE NINE — for violating noise laws during their performances at the event.

Forssman's statement regarding the matter reads as follows:

"I just wanted to let you know that the Aftonbladet story [the BLABBERMOUTH.NET article was] referring to is wrong. The reporter did an interview with me but misunderstood a few things and drew his own conclusions.

"First of all, the fine has not gone through yet, and it is far from certain that it will. Secondly, not all the mentioned bands were using their own sound technicians (all bands and technicians were however informed of the rules and there was measuring equipment at all the mixing towers). Naturally, whatever happens, we will not hold bands who did not bring their own sound techs responsible for those violations.

"Swedish authorities allow a 97 dB average with 110 dB peaks on events that are open to children under 13 — such as the Sweden Rock Festival. Unfortunately, measuring sound levels is not as exact as measuring speed or temperature since they are greatly affected by wind, air humidity etc. We hope this will be taken into consideration when the final decision regarding the fines is made."

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).