Editing Malestrum

[[image:Malestrum.jpg|right|thumb|(front, left to right) Lager Oonst, Slor Amslat, Laas von Trapp, Rufus Niechmeier and (rear) Wolfgang Ach]]
Malestrum were undoubtedly Hamilton's greatest Swedish heavy metal band. All five members travelled from Europe in the late 1990s 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 [[Dean Ballinger|Wolfgang Ach]], [[Rob Talsma|Slor Amslat]] on lead guitar, [[Justin Harris|Lars (Lars) Larsen]] on lead guitar (sometimes referred to as Laas Von Trapp for copyright reasons), [[Aaron Watkinson|Rufus Niechmeier]] on lead bass and [[Greg Page|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.
[[image:MalestrumII.jpg|right|300px|thumb|City Weekend article on "Malestrum"]]
==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.
[[category:bands]]