Good morning from Canada! It's 8.30 in the morning and we just crossed the border to Canada. After about five hours of sleep I feel surprisingly fresh. Maybe it's just Pirkka-Pekka Petelius CD that is lifting the spirits. We spend almost 24 hours traveling from Tampere to New York. The pilot did two unsuccessful approaches and finally got us another runway which made us to arrive an hour late. On the positive side: we got to stay an extra hour on the plane for the same money! Immigration was basically quite easy but it took awfully long. British Airways had lost Cane's clothes as well, but we should get them delivered to one of the venues. Hopefully. Otherwise he will start smelling quite badly.
The buses were parked at the hotel few kilometers away from JFK. When we finally got all the gear we had to take an airport shuttle there. We said quick hellos to everyone and got in the buses. Swashbuckle and merch people are on our bus. Seem like nice people.
13.30 in Toronto. The gear is in the venue and we just returned from a long walk. Three Spoonmorrow guys and three of us just went out to get some drinks. We had to ask for a way twice but we finally found a liquer store. It is surprisingly difficult to find any alcohol in Canada. Or maybe it's just Ontario. Since we don't get our full rider from the venues I guess I will have a lot more to report on that subject while the tour continues.
Today's venue is The Opera House, www.theoperahousetoronto.com. Seems like a decent venue with the capacity of 825. Would be nice if the others were even close to this kind of place but I guess I'm hoping too much.
14.45. We just learned that we were after all supposed to bring our own symbals. We asked it before the tour and were under the impression that the tour organizer Rock The Nation brings them. So, Spoonmoron's Marko will kindly lend Matson hi-hat and ride and off to crash shop we go. Viuh.
16.15. The first soundcheck is done. It was long and slow as usual. And Cane's guitar was acting up. As usual. The interesting thing was to see the whole band up, sober and soundchecking in a good mood. Strange.
13.45 on Thursday. Yes, Thursday. I haven't been able to write anything for a while since my laptop has been missing. The other bus with Soonborrow and Primordial broke down and the guys have been riding on our bus and someone just moved my laptop case somewhere. And now I found it from the sofa again. We're still all in the same bus but today they should get a new one. We only had about 250 kilometres to drive today to Quebec City but since the idiot tour manager left his laptop in Montreal we have to drive that twice and we're late.
16.45 at the venue in Quebec. The network is shite. Don't know when I will be able to post this. Anyway, the two shows we've done so far have been really good. Places have been mostly full, we've played moderately well and all the venues have had showers and warm water. Can't really complain. Except that our bus is meant for twelve persons and we have 25.
Thursday 30 April 2009
Monday 27 April 2009
Ragnar Ök - a Swedish poet
I can't help it but to my ears the word Ragnarök just sounds like a name for a Swedish poet or other state-subsidised "artist". Ragnar Ök.
Anyway, in the past few days everything's gone pretty much as scheduled. The only surprise was how easy it was at the US embassy. After all the horror stories we had heard it felt more like a picnic in the park. True, the security check was tighter than at the airport, but really friendly and we were all in and out in less than an hour and today, only 24 hours after the interviews, most of us have already gotten back our passports with visas attached. Smooth, I'd say.
Back to the weekend. Once again we had to leave in the middle of the night. This time the flight was so early that there was no point going to bed since we were leaving Tampere at 2AM. To be honest I though that it was too early and that we would have to wait at the airport for hours. However, in the van Juho was checking his passport and I realized that I had left mine home. Me, the one who's always worrying about the others! Me, the perfect one! Puzzling. So, I called home before 4AM and asked Tiina to get up, find the passport and bring it to Hämeenlinna, which she did. Then we continued to Helsinki, she left back to Tampere and had a flat tire after a few kilometres. Difficult night.
We actually had three bands traveling together. Two from Tampere and one from wherever they come from. We had two Falchion guys with us and we met Kivimetsän Druidi at the airport. We flew to Frankfurt where we were two vans were waiting for us. We had something like 250 kilometres ahead of us so we prepared for the journey by stopping at Lidl to get those Breezer copies. Probably named "El-cheapo". I bought a whole box of 24 bottles. And some women complain that men don't think about their future!
Anyway, Ragnarök was normal indoor festival. Probably the nicest thing was to meet Týr again. And some other old friends as well. Vegetarian food was crap. Alcohol was plenty. Weather was shit. Raining most of the time. Early back at the hotel. And then back to Finland. The most interesting thing was to see if some KmD and Falchion members will be allowed to board the plane. It was close, but hey made it. Hooray!
Otherwise everything last week went like planned. On Sunday we had a pre-listening session for a few journalist and they seemed to like what they heard. On Tuesday we had the visa interviews at the US embassy. After all the horror stories we had heard we were a bit worried about it but after all it went really smoothly. True, the security check was tighter than at the airport, but the rest was a picnic in the park. The "third degree interrogation" went like this:
- "So, you're the bass player?"
- "Yes, I am."
- "How long have you been with the band?"
- "Since the spring of 2005 so that makes... umm... four years now."
- "Ok, your visa application has been approved."
It was pretty much like that for everyone.
We spent the Tuesday afternoon in the film studio in Helsinki shooting our part for the forthcoming video. It's going to be a bit different video. You'll see.
And now it's 7:30 on Monday morning and the coffee is ready.
Anyway, in the past few days everything's gone pretty much as scheduled. The only surprise was how easy it was at the US embassy. After all the horror stories we had heard it felt more like a picnic in the park. True, the security check was tighter than at the airport, but really friendly and we were all in and out in less than an hour and today, only 24 hours after the interviews, most of us have already gotten back our passports with visas attached. Smooth, I'd say.
Back to the weekend. Once again we had to leave in the middle of the night. This time the flight was so early that there was no point going to bed since we were leaving Tampere at 2AM. To be honest I though that it was too early and that we would have to wait at the airport for hours. However, in the van Juho was checking his passport and I realized that I had left mine home. Me, the one who's always worrying about the others! Me, the perfect one! Puzzling. So, I called home before 4AM and asked Tiina to get up, find the passport and bring it to Hämeenlinna, which she did. Then we continued to Helsinki, she left back to Tampere and had a flat tire after a few kilometres. Difficult night.
We actually had three bands traveling together. Two from Tampere and one from wherever they come from. We had two Falchion guys with us and we met Kivimetsän Druidi at the airport. We flew to Frankfurt where we were two vans were waiting for us. We had something like 250 kilometres ahead of us so we prepared for the journey by stopping at Lidl to get those Breezer copies. Probably named "El-cheapo". I bought a whole box of 24 bottles. And some women complain that men don't think about their future!
Anyway, Ragnarök was normal indoor festival. Probably the nicest thing was to meet Týr again. And some other old friends as well. Vegetarian food was crap. Alcohol was plenty. Weather was shit. Raining most of the time. Early back at the hotel. And then back to Finland. The most interesting thing was to see if some KmD and Falchion members will be allowed to board the plane. It was close, but hey made it. Hooray!
Otherwise everything last week went like planned. On Sunday we had a pre-listening session for a few journalist and they seemed to like what they heard. On Tuesday we had the visa interviews at the US embassy. After all the horror stories we had heard we were a bit worried about it but after all it went really smoothly. True, the security check was tighter than at the airport, but the rest was a picnic in the park. The "third degree interrogation" went like this:
- "So, you're the bass player?"
- "Yes, I am."
- "How long have you been with the band?"
- "Since the spring of 2005 so that makes... umm... four years now."
- "Ok, your visa application has been approved."
It was pretty much like that for everyone.
We spent the Tuesday afternoon in the film studio in Helsinki shooting our part for the forthcoming video. It's going to be a bit different video. You'll see.
And now it's 7:30 on Monday morning and the coffee is ready.
Thursday 16 April 2009
Rocktower
The festival season of 2009 started last weekend. We played in Lübeck, Germany at Rocktower festival. We've been to Lübeck many times already but we've always played at Treibsand which is basically a squat or at least has been. I guess they nowadays have some sort of official status since they've started to renovate and have even built new backstage that is actually behind the stage. Wow. Rocktower took place in the concert hall right next to Treibsand and one of the organizers was actually this guy from Treibsand whose name I can't remember right now. Jens?
Anyway the trip to Germany was just the same as so many times before this one. We did meet Ensiferum at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport since they were coming to the same festival. We had a small chat about the visa interviews at the US embassy since they've been there before. Interesting. They told us that it's totally erratic. They'll put someone through series of in-depth questions about for example his ex-boss in 1994 and then the next interview will be about the weather. It is also really possible to fail the interview like Janne, their drummer, did the first time. The reason was the terrible hangover and the smell of alcohol.
The venue was a labyrinth. The route from stage to the dressing room was up, down, left, right, here, there, all several times in random order. The venue was really good anyway. One of those real concert or conference halls with enough rooms for bands and also good showers. Quite the opposite to the forthcoming US tour with no dressing rooms and showers in maybe 3 out of 21 venues.
We spend the day hanging around the venue. We watched a part of Paul Di'Anno's set as well. I think it was quite good. I am not sure if I like the idea that he's touring the world playing old Iron Maiden songs mostly written by Steve Harris but the show was pretty good anyway. Di'Anno was actually the only show I watched. We had a signing session during the afternoon as well.
Our show itself was again decent at least. Not our best but good. Nice audience, lots of interaction, big stage to move around, etc. Although monitor sound was extremely bad, especially the bass. I tried to ask afterwards if they were feeding the clean sound to the monitors and side fills instead of the "SansAmped" sound but they said no. Should I trust them? Hmm. Oh yeah, we played yet another new song at Rocktower. An ode to the one thing that keeps the engine running and fingers oiled: vodka. The song is surprisingly titled as "Vodka". After the show we were all complaining to Matson that the song ended prematurely. At home I listened to what we had recorded and it turned out that he was the only one right!
That's about it right now. Plans for the near future:
- Friday morning at 8 something: flight to Frankfurt
- Friday at 20: signing session at Ragnarök
- Friday at 22: showtime at Ragnarök
- Saturday after: flight back to Helsinki
- Sunday afternoon/evening: prelistening session of the new album with some journalists that Nuclear Blast flies into Helsinki
- Monday: back to Tampere
- Tuesday: visa interviews at the US embassy in Helsinki
- Tuesday evening: video shooting
- etc.
Anyway the trip to Germany was just the same as so many times before this one. We did meet Ensiferum at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport since they were coming to the same festival. We had a small chat about the visa interviews at the US embassy since they've been there before. Interesting. They told us that it's totally erratic. They'll put someone through series of in-depth questions about for example his ex-boss in 1994 and then the next interview will be about the weather. It is also really possible to fail the interview like Janne, their drummer, did the first time. The reason was the terrible hangover and the smell of alcohol.
The venue was a labyrinth. The route from stage to the dressing room was up, down, left, right, here, there, all several times in random order. The venue was really good anyway. One of those real concert or conference halls with enough rooms for bands and also good showers. Quite the opposite to the forthcoming US tour with no dressing rooms and showers in maybe 3 out of 21 venues.
We spend the day hanging around the venue. We watched a part of Paul Di'Anno's set as well. I think it was quite good. I am not sure if I like the idea that he's touring the world playing old Iron Maiden songs mostly written by Steve Harris but the show was pretty good anyway. Di'Anno was actually the only show I watched. We had a signing session during the afternoon as well.
Our show itself was again decent at least. Not our best but good. Nice audience, lots of interaction, big stage to move around, etc. Although monitor sound was extremely bad, especially the bass. I tried to ask afterwards if they were feeding the clean sound to the monitors and side fills instead of the "SansAmped" sound but they said no. Should I trust them? Hmm. Oh yeah, we played yet another new song at Rocktower. An ode to the one thing that keeps the engine running and fingers oiled: vodka. The song is surprisingly titled as "Vodka". After the show we were all complaining to Matson that the song ended prematurely. At home I listened to what we had recorded and it turned out that he was the only one right!
That's about it right now. Plans for the near future:
- Friday morning at 8 something: flight to Frankfurt
- Friday at 20: signing session at Ragnarök
- Friday at 22: showtime at Ragnarök
- Saturday after: flight back to Helsinki
- Sunday afternoon/evening: prelistening session of the new album with some journalists that Nuclear Blast flies into Helsinki
- Monday: back to Tampere
- Tuesday: visa interviews at the US embassy in Helsinki
- Tuesday evening: video shooting
- etc.
Wednesday 15 April 2009
Kouvostoliiton sankarit
So, Saturday was going to be Donington Rock Club in a small town of Kouvola. Actually, Kouvola is now the 10th biggest town in Finland with almost 90000 inhabitants. However the "real" Kouvola is still a small and ugly eastern-block-kind-of town of 30000 people. In the beginning of this year six small towns in the area joined together and are now known collectively as Kouvola. From rags to riches. Not.
The club itself is next to the towns main square that is always empty. At least it has been empty every time I've been there. My spouse used to work in Kouvola so I know what I'm talking about. No, wait. Correction. Once there was some action when a bouncer of the local bar was beating the shit out of their client. He deserved it, no doubt. As a matter of fact, Donington is located in the downstairs of that same bar. At least they had an elevator so the load-in wasn't too bad.
I still have to go back a few hours. Already on Friday we had decided to go eat something nice when we leave the hotel at noon on Saturday. Risuparta, the monitor tech, knew a good place close to Järvenpää at Haarajoki or something like that. The place was an old gas station and the yard was full of old tractors and other machinery. The place was quite nice in fact. Food was good as well. When I first went to ask if they had anything vegetarian on the menu the reply was just blank stare but after all they did prepare a good vegetarian pasta meal. I had noticed that there was a biker theme in the place and for example the chef was easy to imagine riding a Harley. Another man arrived to help him and looked like that as well. Since I have no problems with people being bikers, shoe salesmen or Jehova's witnesses I didn't realize that there was anything wrong until someone from Tankard said that they don't like the place because the people there are nazis. They were right. The guys were actually wearing these white power shirts under their vests so the place really wasn't that good after all. Note to self: avoid.
Back to the venue. Donington was the smallest of the three in every sense. Venue, stage, backstage. I guess the audience was maybe the same size as in Tampere but since the venue was smaller it seemed to be perhaps fuller. Falchion opened the evening. This was the first time I saw them with their new guitarist Toni "Tökäri" Tieaho who will actually be joining us as a guitar tech during the summer festivals. The audience didn't really warm for them. The place was still half empty as well.
At one point when planning this tour we decided that we will headline the Kouvola gig since Tankard must leave for the airport soon after the show. That would have caused us some extra problems since our gear was traveling with them so basically they wouldn't be able to leave before we had finished and the gear loaded in the car anyway so we changed the original plan and decided that Tankard will headline after all. Then we realized that the daylights saving time thing will happen that night and will steal another hour from the travel time to the airport. So we finally just decided that both Falchion and us will do really short sets so that Tankard will have at least 75 minutes. Falchion also started really early, soon after the doors were opened so that didn't really help them to get much audience.
So, we did a short set of about 45 minutes I think. The place or least the floor in front the stage was packed and we had a good show. Not perfect but good standard show. Someone throw an empty glass to the stage and the latter part of the show I had to stand mostly still since I was barefoot as usual and didn't really want any glass in my feet. The audience seemed a bit disappointed to the short set but Tankard saved the day I think. They once again did a solid set and I don't think no one in the audience was that disappointed anymore.
Afterwards it was time for a quick load out and driving 200km to Tampere on a really slippery roads. I hadn't really slept enough during the past few days. The three sleeping drunken musicians at the backseat didn't really provide much entertainment to keep me awake but luckily Risuparta stayed awake on the front seat. At least the guys had been drinking beer and we had to stop every now and then so I could also step out to get some freezing air on my face. After I had dropped everyone off I was home at 6 in the morning. A warm bed comes in handy in times like that.
The club itself is next to the towns main square that is always empty. At least it has been empty every time I've been there. My spouse used to work in Kouvola so I know what I'm talking about. No, wait. Correction. Once there was some action when a bouncer of the local bar was beating the shit out of their client. He deserved it, no doubt. As a matter of fact, Donington is located in the downstairs of that same bar. At least they had an elevator so the load-in wasn't too bad.
I still have to go back a few hours. Already on Friday we had decided to go eat something nice when we leave the hotel at noon on Saturday. Risuparta, the monitor tech, knew a good place close to Järvenpää at Haarajoki or something like that. The place was an old gas station and the yard was full of old tractors and other machinery. The place was quite nice in fact. Food was good as well. When I first went to ask if they had anything vegetarian on the menu the reply was just blank stare but after all they did prepare a good vegetarian pasta meal. I had noticed that there was a biker theme in the place and for example the chef was easy to imagine riding a Harley. Another man arrived to help him and looked like that as well. Since I have no problems with people being bikers, shoe salesmen or Jehova's witnesses I didn't realize that there was anything wrong until someone from Tankard said that they don't like the place because the people there are nazis. They were right. The guys were actually wearing these white power shirts under their vests so the place really wasn't that good after all. Note to self: avoid.
Back to the venue. Donington was the smallest of the three in every sense. Venue, stage, backstage. I guess the audience was maybe the same size as in Tampere but since the venue was smaller it seemed to be perhaps fuller. Falchion opened the evening. This was the first time I saw them with their new guitarist Toni "Tökäri" Tieaho who will actually be joining us as a guitar tech during the summer festivals. The audience didn't really warm for them. The place was still half empty as well.
At one point when planning this tour we decided that we will headline the Kouvola gig since Tankard must leave for the airport soon after the show. That would have caused us some extra problems since our gear was traveling with them so basically they wouldn't be able to leave before we had finished and the gear loaded in the car anyway so we changed the original plan and decided that Tankard will headline after all. Then we realized that the daylights saving time thing will happen that night and will steal another hour from the travel time to the airport. So we finally just decided that both Falchion and us will do really short sets so that Tankard will have at least 75 minutes. Falchion also started really early, soon after the doors were opened so that didn't really help them to get much audience.
So, we did a short set of about 45 minutes I think. The place or least the floor in front the stage was packed and we had a good show. Not perfect but good standard show. Someone throw an empty glass to the stage and the latter part of the show I had to stand mostly still since I was barefoot as usual and didn't really want any glass in my feet. The audience seemed a bit disappointed to the short set but Tankard saved the day I think. They once again did a solid set and I don't think no one in the audience was that disappointed anymore.
Afterwards it was time for a quick load out and driving 200km to Tampere on a really slippery roads. I hadn't really slept enough during the past few days. The three sleeping drunken musicians at the backseat didn't really provide much entertainment to keep me awake but luckily Risuparta stayed awake on the front seat. At least the guys had been drinking beer and we had to stop every now and then so I could also step out to get some freezing air on my face. After I had dropped everyone off I was home at 6 in the morning. A warm bed comes in handy in times like that.
Thursday 9 April 2009
Hämäläisten talossa
So, Friday afternoon and off to Tavastia. I was driving. I gathered the locals meaning Hittis, Juho and Matson from Tampere and Pirkkala and drove to Valkeakoski to pick up Kauno. We stopped to get something to eat and drink in Hämeenlinna. Some beer was included. Not for me though, I was driving. We arrived to Tavastia well on time and like so often we had nothing to do. Tankard guys were hanging around and getting drunk at the backstage. Some of us joined them. Matson and myself went out for shopping and I managed to find a really ugly Hurriganes t-shirt for 4,99€ and the new Eläkeläiset EP for 6,99€.
We did a soundcheck after Tankard. We started it as 5-piece since Jonne hadn't arrived yet. He did arrive during the soundcheck. By the way, I've started to wonder why the hell are we nowadays so slow with everything. Soundchecks, change overs, whatever. We should do something about that. Definitely.
Anyway I am writing this almost two weeks after the shows so I can't be expected to remember everything. At least not in the correct order. At least I remember something. Like that while we were just hanging around at the backstage I heard an old Ne Luumäet song through the wall. At first I though that "oh, they are still rehearsing here" but when I saw the lead singer Joey Luumäki eating dinner at the same time with us I realized that he's actually playing at Semifinal, a club in the same building. It was of course not Ne Luumäet but Joey Luumäki & Tappajatomaatit. I used to be a big fan of Ne Luumäet back when they were still active. I had to go and check when was their show time but unfortunately it was mostly the same as ours.
Third band on bill was Entwine. Definitely not that suitable opener for Tankard or us. And they are even bigger name in Finland than either of us. Anyway, Entwine was there for reason. I guess it is safe to say this already. They were there to play a show to our manager so that he could decide whether he wants to add them to his roster or not. I don't know how that went though. I actually watched their show which I almost never do, as you all know. I guess they were good. Not my type of stuff. Aksu, our producer and their drummer, was ill and had a terrible fever of almost 39C. He did a marvelous job.
Tavastia was not full but it was still a totally different story than YO-talo. Maybe 300-400 people perhaps. So we had a brilliant audience but the band wasn't really up to a par. To put it mildly, I guess the company of the beer drinking monster called Tankard wasn't doing us any good. Depending on who you ask, one of us either stage dived or fell from the stage. I'd say fell. The show went on though...
We were booked to spend the night in a hotel in Järvenpää, courtesy of "sadanpäämies, herra isoherra, orankutanki, keskitysleirin komentaja" Savijärvi. That's 40 kilometres from Helsinki so I honestly didn't drink that evening since I had to drive. Some of us woke up early enough for the hotel breakfast. Apart from Andy, Tankard did not. However, when we were leaving around noon, herra isoherra Savijärvi arranged them a late breakfast and even played some barrel organ. Talk about service!
Destination: Donington, Kouvola
We did a soundcheck after Tankard. We started it as 5-piece since Jonne hadn't arrived yet. He did arrive during the soundcheck. By the way, I've started to wonder why the hell are we nowadays so slow with everything. Soundchecks, change overs, whatever. We should do something about that. Definitely.
Anyway I am writing this almost two weeks after the shows so I can't be expected to remember everything. At least not in the correct order. At least I remember something. Like that while we were just hanging around at the backstage I heard an old Ne Luumäet song through the wall. At first I though that "oh, they are still rehearsing here" but when I saw the lead singer Joey Luumäki eating dinner at the same time with us I realized that he's actually playing at Semifinal, a club in the same building. It was of course not Ne Luumäet but Joey Luumäki & Tappajatomaatit. I used to be a big fan of Ne Luumäet back when they were still active. I had to go and check when was their show time but unfortunately it was mostly the same as ours.
Third band on bill was Entwine. Definitely not that suitable opener for Tankard or us. And they are even bigger name in Finland than either of us. Anyway, Entwine was there for reason. I guess it is safe to say this already. They were there to play a show to our manager so that he could decide whether he wants to add them to his roster or not. I don't know how that went though. I actually watched their show which I almost never do, as you all know. I guess they were good. Not my type of stuff. Aksu, our producer and their drummer, was ill and had a terrible fever of almost 39C. He did a marvelous job.
Tavastia was not full but it was still a totally different story than YO-talo. Maybe 300-400 people perhaps. So we had a brilliant audience but the band wasn't really up to a par. To put it mildly, I guess the company of the beer drinking monster called Tankard wasn't doing us any good. Depending on who you ask, one of us either stage dived or fell from the stage. I'd say fell. The show went on though...
We were booked to spend the night in a hotel in Järvenpää, courtesy of "sadanpäämies, herra isoherra, orankutanki, keskitysleirin komentaja" Savijärvi. That's 40 kilometres from Helsinki so I honestly didn't drink that evening since I had to drive. Some of us woke up early enough for the hotel breakfast. Apart from Andy, Tankard did not. However, when we were leaving around noon, herra isoherra Savijärvi arranged them a late breakfast and even played some barrel organ. Talk about service!
Destination: Donington, Kouvola
Friday 3 April 2009
Yo!
Last weekend we did a small Finnish tour called "Kaljamaailmankiertue" with the German beermetallers Tankard. I had no idea what to expect from them since I had no idea about the music or the people. First of all they turned out to be some of nicest people we've met. I guess 25+ years in the business rounds off the rough edges.
Anyway, the first show was at YO-talo right here in Tampere on Thursday 26th. Tankard arrived to Helsinki around noon and our driver/soundtech/whatever Paukku was there to pick them and drive them to a hotel in Tampere. I did a normal day at work went home and walked a while later to YO-talo just to see that there's nothing I can do, so i just sat there drank a bit. I had the idea that I'd take Tankard to a local brewery/pub Plevna to get some local stuff, like "Plevnan Stout" or something but in the end we were running so late that once they had arrived to the venue and finished their soundcheck there wasn't much time to go anywhere anymore. So we ended up drinking at the venue. Since I don't drink the beer that much I went with vodka.
Tampere is not a good place to play during the weekdays. I don't know exactly why it is so, but it's really difficult to get people to go to a live show during the week. Maybe it's the nature of an old industrial town. Some people still go to a real work at 7 in the morning. This day wasn't any different. Only a handful of people showed up. A friend of mine who runs a record shop here in Tampere told me yesterday how it was strange that you couldn't get any presale tickets for that show. Their shop for example had presale tickets for the next show in Helsinki but not for Tampere. He said that it was something why some people living a bit further away stayed at home: "It's gonna be full anyway and we can't get in." Or maybe the combination of Tankard and Korpiklaani just wasn't interesting enough.
Third band opening the show was called Nation Despair. I guess they are from Tampere or close at least. They had a shit job playing to a small audience mostly sitting at the tables. For us it was a different story. The audience had moved to the front of the stage and we felt really comfortable there. It didn't feel like a half empty club since the stage front was full of people dancing and shouting. We did a good show too despite the fact that this was the first show in almost three months. We did one song from the new album as well. So YO-talo was the live debut of "Erämaan ärjy."
I had a full pint of vodka-orange juice on stage with me. Mixed maybe half and half. After the show I did a new one. And another one. After we had loaded our gear the lady and myself went to metal bar Hellä with a friend. I don't remember much. I think I was falling asleep at the table. We left home and stopped for a veggie burger. I think I was sleeping there as well.
Friday was supposed to be a normal working day for me. However, I didn't wake up. I don't know if I got up to shut off the alarm clock or not but I woke up at around 10.30 when Juho called and asked me when we are leaving to Helsinki. How do I know. I have to go to work. I got to the office around 11. Then left again at 14.30. I was very productive the whole 3 and half hours.
Destination: Tavastia, Helsinki.
Anyway, the first show was at YO-talo right here in Tampere on Thursday 26th. Tankard arrived to Helsinki around noon and our driver/soundtech/whatever Paukku was there to pick them and drive them to a hotel in Tampere. I did a normal day at work went home and walked a while later to YO-talo just to see that there's nothing I can do, so i just sat there drank a bit. I had the idea that I'd take Tankard to a local brewery/pub Plevna to get some local stuff, like "Plevnan Stout" or something but in the end we were running so late that once they had arrived to the venue and finished their soundcheck there wasn't much time to go anywhere anymore. So we ended up drinking at the venue. Since I don't drink the beer that much I went with vodka.
Tampere is not a good place to play during the weekdays. I don't know exactly why it is so, but it's really difficult to get people to go to a live show during the week. Maybe it's the nature of an old industrial town. Some people still go to a real work at 7 in the morning. This day wasn't any different. Only a handful of people showed up. A friend of mine who runs a record shop here in Tampere told me yesterday how it was strange that you couldn't get any presale tickets for that show. Their shop for example had presale tickets for the next show in Helsinki but not for Tampere. He said that it was something why some people living a bit further away stayed at home: "It's gonna be full anyway and we can't get in." Or maybe the combination of Tankard and Korpiklaani just wasn't interesting enough.
Third band opening the show was called Nation Despair. I guess they are from Tampere or close at least. They had a shit job playing to a small audience mostly sitting at the tables. For us it was a different story. The audience had moved to the front of the stage and we felt really comfortable there. It didn't feel like a half empty club since the stage front was full of people dancing and shouting. We did a good show too despite the fact that this was the first show in almost three months. We did one song from the new album as well. So YO-talo was the live debut of "Erämaan ärjy."
I had a full pint of vodka-orange juice on stage with me. Mixed maybe half and half. After the show I did a new one. And another one. After we had loaded our gear the lady and myself went to metal bar Hellä with a friend. I don't remember much. I think I was falling asleep at the table. We left home and stopped for a veggie burger. I think I was sleeping there as well.
Friday was supposed to be a normal working day for me. However, I didn't wake up. I don't know if I got up to shut off the alarm clock or not but I woke up at around 10.30 when Juho called and asked me when we are leaving to Helsinki. How do I know. I have to go to work. I got to the office around 11. Then left again at 14.30. I was very productive the whole 3 and half hours.
Destination: Tavastia, Helsinki.
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