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