Martin Axenrot, drummer from Opeth.
Martin “Axe” Axenrot from Opeth handled the drums used during the concert – and of course he did it excellently. His drum solo during the number “Gigue” received a standing ovation during the concert.
Having played with Swedish prog-metal band Opeth since 2005, joining full time the year after, Axe is one of those drummers which combines excellent technique, great skill and speed, with jazz leanings, providing that wonderful flair that no pure “speed drummer” or “power drummer” comes close to. Come to think of it, Jon Lord himself played with another drummer which fits this description nicely during the largest part of his career.
Last year (2014), Axe was named “best prog drummer in the World” by Rhythm Magazine after an extensive poll.
Martin Axenrot’s private life played an important role in his involvement in this concert. His significant other, Nathalie Lorichs, has a father, Christer, who befriended Jon Lord probably while Jon still was in Whitesnake, if I’ve understood things correctly (and since Christer will be reading this, we’ll quickly have it fixed if I’m mistaken).
So Nathalie probably has been raised with Jon’s music as a backdrop. She was asked to do background vocals for the concert in Trondheim in 2007. For the 2010 concert, she was invited to do the main vocals on several numbers. More about that – and photos of Nathalie singing – later. (So sorry, Christer, I’m afraid I didn’t take any photos of you!)
It was via Nathalie’s participation that Martin Axenrot and Martín Méndez from Opeth got involved with this concert – and from reports I’ve had, both of them were very keen and humbled to be given the chance to work with the legendary Jon Lord.
A cropped, colour version of this photo, which I posted to Flickr after the concert, can be seen here.
All Material: © Copyright Trond J. Strøm. All Rights Reserved.
No usage without my written consent. Links to the blog and blogs posts on social media etc are of course OK, but stealing the photos without permission is not.