As some of you may already know, the first chapter in the story of SoP ended a few days ago, and the remaining members will go on to new adventures without me, Alejandro and Arjen. I’m proud to have been lucky enough to be part of SoP, and will always remember the amazing time we had together and all the new friends I made. I’ll miss my SoP family, and wish all of them every success and fulfillment. May SoP’s future shows be FLASH FREE and full of exuberant-but-well-behaved bananas waving at the appropriate places!

Some readers may be wondering what led to my decision to leave the band. Warning: I am about to WHINE.

My reasons are multi-faceted, but the upshot is that I have been unwell since the autumn, to the point that it has had severe consequences for my private life. There is no way for me to get well while still maintaining the kind of time/energy/availability commitment that “SoP Mark II” will require. Leaving was a tough decision to make, but hey, doing “more of the same” and expecting a different result just doesn’t work. Mirabile f’n dictu. (That’s Latin for duh!)

What makes it particularly difficult is that in many ways, SoP has been one of the few fulfilling activities I’ve had on my plate over the past couple of years. The evil stressors have come from “real life,” not from the band, just to make that abundantly clear.

So for anyone who is wondering what my “plans” are, here goes: until I am feeling well again, my main priority will be getting my private life sorted out and eliminating (or learning to deal more effectively with) the stressors that put me here in the first place.

Unfortunately, one of the most frustrating symptoms is a perpetual state of crushing fatigue that is not relieved by sleep. Unless I’d experienced it myself, I wouldn’t have believed that it were possible to be so tired. So please be patient if I owe you an email or snail mail. I am working through the backlog as fast as I can. If I’ve forgotten something important, now is a great time for those gentle reminders

I’ll still be playing guitar and working on music when the inspiration strikes, and posting the odd cheeky video. Maybe even with TAB. Warbride still needs to be finished, and there are some other plans in the works, so hopefully this confounded tiredness and brain fog will ease soon so that I can get my darned computer fixed and, with luck, start feeling inspired and productive again.

Thanks for indulging me in a bit of self-centered whining. And to those of you who have come to see us at our shows — your support and enthusiasm has meant the world to me over the past year. Thank you.

Pinkie respect m/
Lori

BTW, Robbo, if you are reading: THANK YOU for the package and the nice note! There’s nothing like naughty chocolate to cheer a girl up

The following dates/venues are confirmed:

18 Jan, The Rock / Copenhagen (DK)

19 Jan, Nosturi / Helsinki (FI)

21 Jan, Biebob / Turnhout (BE)

25 Jan, Lucky & Co. / Rijssen (NL)

26 Jan, Bibelot / Dordrecht (NL)

02 Feb, The Dome / London (UK) Moved to 04 Feb

03 Feb, (Venue TBA) / Rotherham or Sheffield (UK)

04 Feb, The Boston Music Room / London (UK)

Update: Cool – we’re going to Finland! There are (STILL) a couple more gigs in the works; I’ll post more news as soon as I have it.

Update 2: Apparently there is some confusion about the Feb 3 UK city/venue. Last I heard, there was a chance it would be moved to Sheffield, but it still wasn’t 100% certain.

Update 3: Thank goodness I have YOU ALL to let me know when the gigs are Jan 25, Rijssen!

Update 4: CRS have organized a gig for us in London on 4 Feb.

Yours truly was lucky enough to get to do two solos for the project, one of which you can hear on “Into the Fire” “Out of the Darkness” (currently up on Myspace). I don’t play through the whole song; it will be funny to see if any of you can tell where I start and stop

Mountain of Power is slated for a November 2006 release on Grooveyard records. Here is the track info and list of musicians who contributed.

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MOUNTAIN OF POWER info:

Janne Stark – Lead/rhythm guitars and bass

Guests singers:
Björn Lodin (Baltimoore)
David Fremberg (Andromeda, Space Odyssey)
Roger Holegård (Neon Rose)
Dan Swanö (Edge Of Sanity, Bloodbath, Nightingale)
Pelle Saether (Zeelion, Zello)
Mattias Osbäck (Locomotive Breath)
Mick Andersson (Cloudscape, Planet Alliance)
Chris Catena (solo, Teenage Rampage)
Micke “Nord” Andersson (Nord, Roxette)
“Boner” (The Bones)

Guest bassists:
Nalle “Grizzly” PÃ¥hlsson (Treat)
Marten Andersson (Lizzy Borden, Legacy)
Björn Englén (Bleed, Quiet Riot, Alannah Myles etc)

Guest guitarists:
Jonas Hansson (Silver Mountain, JHB)
Tommy Denander (Radioactive, solo)
Thomas Larsson (solo, Glenn Hughes)
Sven Cirnski (Bad Habit, Pete Sandberg)
Micke “Nord” Andersson (Nord, Roxette)
Lori Linstruth (Stream Of Passion, Warbride)
Emil Fredholm (Plankton, Fortune)
Christian Neppenström (Plankton)
Jocke Sandberg (Aces High)
Joe Romagnola (Character)

Guest drummers:
Anders Johansson (HammerFall, Yngwie)
Peter Svensson (Faith, Mercy)

Tracklist:
1. Out of The Darkness (Moxy) [LL solo]
2. Black Train (Montrose)
3. Love Rock (Neon Rose)
4. In For The Kill (Budgie)
5. One Of A Kind (Wireless)
6. Crazy (Stray Dog)
7. Uncle Ned (Point Blank)
8. Let That Lizard Loose (Goddo)
9. Tomorrow Or Yesterday (Samson)
10. Dreams Of Milk & Honey (Mountain)
11. Fantasy (Captain Beyond)
12. Black Magic (Marcus)
13. Sitting By The Pool (Derringer)
14. Mountain Of Power (original instrumental) [LL solo]
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