For the second time in a row we were booked to headline Ultima Ratio festival in Oberhausen, Germany. Turisas were also on the bill so I wouldn't have complained even if they had been the headliners. They are a tough act to follow, especially when some band members are in a condition not suitable for performing. Well, performing maybe, but definitely not playing. We had once again left Finland really early, in the middle of the night in fact, some of us bought some alcohol from the airport and were drunk as hell already when we landed in Düsseldorf, and things didn't get any easier from that on. The show sucked.
Everything else was alright though. We met lots of old friends, like Turisas guys and gal, and Kivimetsän Druidi once again. We spent the Sunday afternoon before the flight in a Mexican restaurant in the city centre of Düsseldorf, so if you leave out the show itself, it was a nice trip.
Wednesday, 12 November 2008
Paikat hellänä
On Saturday, October 25, we played in our home town. Well, at least Hittis, Juho and myself live there. We were booked to play at Hellä, a heavy metal night club, as a part of Lost In Music festival or whatever that was. I've seen some gigs at Hellä and for some reason none of them have been really big successes. This time there were four bands all together including for example Kiuas so we expected a lot more from this show, although each band had to cut their sets down to only 40 minutes.
Since this was a home town show and we were not going to do the soundcheck we had no actual plan when to arrive or anything. When I walked in some time after 21 Hittis was the only one of us in there. The backstage had only beer which I don't drink anymore, but the bands were getting other beverages from the bar with cheaper prices so the beer only policy was not a problem. The evening before the showtime went quite smoothly. Everyone arrived on time and we hit the stage as the second last band before Kiuas.
Technically the show wasn't that good. I had no decent monitor and had to share with Juho which wasn't good for either one and after two songs or so Kauno got no sound out of his stack anymore, although the preamp sound still went to FOH so the audience heard him. He just didn't hear himself. The amp, cab and the cables were alright next week at the rehearsals. Puzzling. The set itself was short and fast. We dropped some of the slower, mellow stuff and just kicked ass the whole 40 minutes. The place was really crowded as well and they were loud so it was a really good show for us. I just hope that because of the Lost In Music thing there were also some Finnish promoters who saw that on a good night we actually do kick some serious ass! Which wasn't necessarily the case next weekend...
Since this was a home town show and we were not going to do the soundcheck we had no actual plan when to arrive or anything. When I walked in some time after 21 Hittis was the only one of us in there. The backstage had only beer which I don't drink anymore, but the bands were getting other beverages from the bar with cheaper prices so the beer only policy was not a problem. The evening before the showtime went quite smoothly. Everyone arrived on time and we hit the stage as the second last band before Kiuas.
Technically the show wasn't that good. I had no decent monitor and had to share with Juho which wasn't good for either one and after two songs or so Kauno got no sound out of his stack anymore, although the preamp sound still went to FOH so the audience heard him. He just didn't hear himself. The amp, cab and the cables were alright next week at the rehearsals. Puzzling. The set itself was short and fast. We dropped some of the slower, mellow stuff and just kicked ass the whole 40 minutes. The place was really crowded as well and they were loud so it was a really good show for us. I just hope that because of the Lost In Music thing there were also some Finnish promoters who saw that on a good night we actually do kick some serious ass! Which wasn't necessarily the case next weekend...
Monday, 10 November 2008
Ookkona Oulusta
On the weekend of October 17-18 we did a large scale tour through Finland. Two shows. In Kalajoki and Oulu. Kalajoki is a small town about 130 kilometres south of Oulu and as far as I know the place is practically dead during the winter months. The town has one of the most beautiful beach areas in Finland and is therefore really crowded during the summer. The club was called Dyyni (Dune) and it was located right next to the sand dunes of the beach. We arrived quite late, a bit after 19, so I really couldn't see anything but judging by the really strong wind I'd say that we were quite close to the sea.
I felt that the club was not really our kind of place since it felt more like one of those fancier kind of night clubs, but at least the people working there were really cool already from the start. I don't think the place can be called a hotel but it did have some rooms as well. One of them was used as a backstage. Sometimes I just just can't get into the "concert mood". It's not about alcohol or anything. I just feel a bit out of my place. Kalajoki was one of those shows.
The show itself was surprisingly good. I wasn't really expecting many people to show up so the audience was a nice surprise. Not even nearly full, not even half full, but everyone was in the party mood so it wasn't bad at all. I'm writing this two weeks afterwards so I can't really remember the set list or basically any other details. If I don't do this right after a show I start forgetting details and they get mixed with memories from other shows. One thing I do remember from the show. During "Beer Beer" someone gave Jonne a pint. At one point he raised a pint up in the air but forgot that the ceiling was quite low. So he ended up breaking the pint and cutting his hand. It looked quite bad since with the beer it seemed like there was a litre of blood on the stage.
On Saturday around noon we got up, packed our gear and headed to Oulu. The first stop was for breakfast at a gas station in Pyhäjoki. It seems that the further north or east you go, the more difficult it is to get vegetarian food. Well, at least I managed to send a really ugly "Greetings from Pyhäjoki" postcard to the lady. C'mon. Why would anyone put a picture a town's office building on a postcard if the building is just a concrete block from the 1980's?
We arrived in Oulu well on time since the distance was only 130 kilometres or so. Teatria is not really that far from the city centre but I really don't know Oulu at all and the weather wasn't that good either so I ended up spending the afternoon at Teatria backstage getting bored. Teatria gig was like a first gathering of the Finnish Fire tour since three and a half of the four bands were present, missing only two Falchion members. It was nice meeting for example the Druidi guys and a gal again. The last time I met her was in St Petersburg, Russia and I don't think she was with Druidi at that point yet. Or was she? Does it matter? No.
Anyway, the gig itself was brilliant. Certain members slept the whole day and were in a great condition for a change. The Oulu audience was just as good as the last time. There must be something in their water. Or maybe it's the alcohol. Either way, once again we had a really good show in Oulu. Except for the small problem of stage falling apart in the middle of the show. Apparently they had torn down and rebuilt the stage for some reason and had done something differently this time. In the middle of the show I stepped on nothing. Suddenly a 10-centimetre gap had appeared in the centre stage and it was growing. I tried to catch to stage managers attention but at first he just pointed to Risuparta because he thought there's something wrong with the equipment. Finally I managed to point out the hole in the floor and they pushed the stage back together and tightened some straps which was nice. I mean, Jonne has fallen from the stage a few times, but never actually through the stage.
The show was over quite early so we headed to our hotel in the city centre and spent a couple of hours in the local metal bar with some Druidi and Battlelore members. Nice. I'm sure we'll get to do more that during the next four weeks.
The Sunday was shit. Crappy weather and you have to drive all the way from Oulu to Tampere. Oh well. It was a good trip.
I felt that the club was not really our kind of place since it felt more like one of those fancier kind of night clubs, but at least the people working there were really cool already from the start. I don't think the place can be called a hotel but it did have some rooms as well. One of them was used as a backstage. Sometimes I just just can't get into the "concert mood". It's not about alcohol or anything. I just feel a bit out of my place. Kalajoki was one of those shows.
The show itself was surprisingly good. I wasn't really expecting many people to show up so the audience was a nice surprise. Not even nearly full, not even half full, but everyone was in the party mood so it wasn't bad at all. I'm writing this two weeks afterwards so I can't really remember the set list or basically any other details. If I don't do this right after a show I start forgetting details and they get mixed with memories from other shows. One thing I do remember from the show. During "Beer Beer" someone gave Jonne a pint. At one point he raised a pint up in the air but forgot that the ceiling was quite low. So he ended up breaking the pint and cutting his hand. It looked quite bad since with the beer it seemed like there was a litre of blood on the stage.
On Saturday around noon we got up, packed our gear and headed to Oulu. The first stop was for breakfast at a gas station in Pyhäjoki. It seems that the further north or east you go, the more difficult it is to get vegetarian food. Well, at least I managed to send a really ugly "Greetings from Pyhäjoki" postcard to the lady. C'mon. Why would anyone put a picture a town's office building on a postcard if the building is just a concrete block from the 1980's?
We arrived in Oulu well on time since the distance was only 130 kilometres or so. Teatria is not really that far from the city centre but I really don't know Oulu at all and the weather wasn't that good either so I ended up spending the afternoon at Teatria backstage getting bored. Teatria gig was like a first gathering of the Finnish Fire tour since three and a half of the four bands were present, missing only two Falchion members. It was nice meeting for example the Druidi guys and a gal again. The last time I met her was in St Petersburg, Russia and I don't think she was with Druidi at that point yet. Or was she? Does it matter? No.
Anyway, the gig itself was brilliant. Certain members slept the whole day and were in a great condition for a change. The Oulu audience was just as good as the last time. There must be something in their water. Or maybe it's the alcohol. Either way, once again we had a really good show in Oulu. Except for the small problem of stage falling apart in the middle of the show. Apparently they had torn down and rebuilt the stage for some reason and had done something differently this time. In the middle of the show I stepped on nothing. Suddenly a 10-centimetre gap had appeared in the centre stage and it was growing. I tried to catch to stage managers attention but at first he just pointed to Risuparta because he thought there's something wrong with the equipment. Finally I managed to point out the hole in the floor and they pushed the stage back together and tightened some straps which was nice. I mean, Jonne has fallen from the stage a few times, but never actually through the stage.
The show was over quite early so we headed to our hotel in the city centre and spent a couple of hours in the local metal bar with some Druidi and Battlelore members. Nice. I'm sure we'll get to do more that during the next four weeks.
The Sunday was shit. Crappy weather and you have to drive all the way from Oulu to Tampere. Oh well. It was a good trip.
Tuesday, 21 October 2008
Aika on Lahden
On Saturday, October 11, we played at Finlandia Club in Lahti, Jonne's current home town. The venue is part of Sibelius-talo concert hall, so the backstage area for example was quite luxurious with sauna and everything. The pre-sale was around 200 tickets and then a few dozen Jonne's relatives on a guest list so we knew that there was going to be people.
We were supposed to be there at the venue really early. Paukku sent a message on Friday that we're leaving Tampere at 10. The idea was that the venue was reserved for us from the noon on and we were going to set up the stage props for the forthcoming tour and rehearse the tour set two or three times so that for example the light guy Tony will know what's going on. Well, I've seen how things work at every venue and I knew that there's nothing happening at noon and decided that there's no way I'm going to get up that early. I decided to drive to Lahti myself. We left home around 1 and when we arrived there was still nothing for the band to do. Finally it was time for the soundcheck and we had time to play maybe four songs! I could have left home at 17 and still be there on time. Bollocks. The support band arrived too. It was nice to see Metsatöll again. Really nice blokes. And at least three of them know how to drink as well.
The show itself was really good. As most people know we've never had much following in Finland so we are kind of used to a slightly lamer response when compared to practically any other country. However, the show in Lahti was different. The place wasn't full, I believe they sold around 300 tickets when the capacity is 600, but it was a really good and loud audience so it was really nice to be on the stage. The only major change was that we put Jonne in the back of the stage on the drum riser during "Orbina" and "Kipumylly". I guess we'll be doing that every time there is enough room on the riser. We also dropped "Keep On Galloping" from the set but I don't think we added anything.
After the show we went to sauna for a while. Metsatöll had already started. I really wanted to have a few drinks but I couldn't since I was driving and my girlfriend won't drive my car. When I am rich enough I will take a taxi to every show.
We were supposed to be there at the venue really early. Paukku sent a message on Friday that we're leaving Tampere at 10. The idea was that the venue was reserved for us from the noon on and we were going to set up the stage props for the forthcoming tour and rehearse the tour set two or three times so that for example the light guy Tony will know what's going on. Well, I've seen how things work at every venue and I knew that there's nothing happening at noon and decided that there's no way I'm going to get up that early. I decided to drive to Lahti myself. We left home around 1 and when we arrived there was still nothing for the band to do. Finally it was time for the soundcheck and we had time to play maybe four songs! I could have left home at 17 and still be there on time. Bollocks. The support band arrived too. It was nice to see Metsatöll again. Really nice blokes. And at least three of them know how to drink as well.
The show itself was really good. As most people know we've never had much following in Finland so we are kind of used to a slightly lamer response when compared to practically any other country. However, the show in Lahti was different. The place wasn't full, I believe they sold around 300 tickets when the capacity is 600, but it was a really good and loud audience so it was really nice to be on the stage. The only major change was that we put Jonne in the back of the stage on the drum riser during "Orbina" and "Kipumylly". I guess we'll be doing that every time there is enough room on the riser. We also dropped "Keep On Galloping" from the set but I don't think we added anything.
After the show we went to sauna for a while. Metsatöll had already started. I really wanted to have a few drinks but I couldn't since I was driving and my girlfriend won't drive my car. When I am rich enough I will take a taxi to every show.
Friday, 10 October 2008
In The Army Now
Yeah yeah, I know. I missed a few shows from the blog. Quit whining. Since the last update we've done only four shows or so. The first one was a headlining set at the indoor festival in Oostende, Belgium. There were some remarkable things. The day was too long and some band members were way past the best performing condition. That combined with the concrete tube where all the drum hits echoed around a few times made it probably the worst show we did during the entire summer. We did meet an old friend Stijn, the monitor tech from Paganfest, which was nice. We also met other old friends My Dying Bride who were on their way to Tilburg I believe. Since Finnair lost my bass I needed a replacement and was going to borrow theirs but they didn't arrive in time so I ended up borrowing a bass from one of the previous bands. Anyway, the promoter was getting a bit worried at the backstage about the bass situation and I finally told him that MDB will be there and I'll use theirs. The guy looked like he received an electric shock.
- "What? Who?"
- "My Dying Bride."
- "Why?"
- "Well, they are coming to meet us anyway and they have a suitable bass."
- "So you know them? Really?"
- "Yep."
The guy literally started shaking. "Oh my god. Oh my god. My Dying Bride. Korpiklaani. Oh my god. Both my favourite bands will be here. Oh my god."
Aaanyway, that's pretty much all I'm going to say about that show. Except that "Pine Woods" did a comeback to the set and was a total mess.
The next show was a festival in Raismes, Northern France. This time we arrived a day earlier and spent an evening as guests of the promoter at the festival.
After various things all ended up to the point where he was cancelling our appearance unless Jonne apologizes from him. And after all Jonne wasn't even the one to blame! Anyway we got it sorted out and did our set which was a lot better than in Belgium. The biggest change in the set was the opener. We started with "Kantaiso" which was it's live debut. "Pine Woods" was still in the set and a lot better than a week before. "Kantaiso" didn't really seem to work as an opener though. It seemed like the show really started with the second song "Wooden Pints". Nice show anyway.
The next show was a bit unordinary one. First of all it was set up really fast, just about a week in advance and the venue was going to be Vekaranjärvi military base (Spinal Tap anyone?). It was a conscripts' demobilization party. I personally felt already from the beginning that it wasn't going to be that spectacular and it really wasn't. We did it as well as possible anyway and there was basically nothing wrong with the show itself except the fact that the audience was basically just sitting in their tables. Only a few brave soldiers got up to dance during the last half of the show. Maybe the lack of alcohol and women was keeping them a bit quiet and the show really wasn't a party we've been used to.
The PA was provided by a local company and the sound tech of Kivimetsän Druidi who we toured with was with them. He wasn't doing anything, he only came to see us. Nice.
We did some small changes to the set. We decided to open with "Wooden Pints" again and moved "Kantaiso" to the second slot. We also dropped the djembe songs "Kipumylly" and "Keep On Galloping" from the set because we thought that they really wouldn't work in that environment.
Finally it was time for our first trip across the Atlantic. We were booked to headline "The Age Of Darkness" festival in Calgary, Canada. The trip was going to be heavy. Leaving at 3 in Friday morning to Helsinki-Vantaa, fly to Frankfurt then wait for three hours and fly 10 hours to Calgary and arrive at almost the same time Friday afternoon as we left Frankfurt. Tuomas aka Risuparta aka Risis aka Saatanan Risuparta had already left on a separate flight a few hours before. I watched "Mars Attacks!" and some sitcoms but mostly just slept during the flight.
We were picked up from the airport and taken to a really fancy downtown hotel Sheraton Suites, right next to French Maid, the titty bar. Whoopee! Some of us went immediately to sleep but I had the idea of trying to stay up until it was a bedtime in Canada. I thought that I'd be able to handle the jet lag easier that way. Of course I ended up drinking with Paukku, Risuparta and the organizer's crew in their room. I slept in a bed but as far as I know Paukku slept on the couch and Risis slept on their balcony under the table. Giving a good first impression is really important in this business!
On Saturday we were scheduled to get to the venue at 14. Manager, "julma sakemanni", was also arriving around noon. I spend most of the morning in the bed and the Irish pub downstairs drinking Strongbow with Risis. We had each received $50 for food from the promoter but we found better use for that. Cider. French Maid was also an option but it lost a competition. First things first. There's always a chance to see tits but getting decent cider can be really difficult.
The venue was called MacEwan Hall Ballroom located at the campus area of University of Calgary. I think the locals called it just "MacHall". There was nothing wrong with the venue, quite nice actually. The dressing room area was a bit too small for the number of bands involved but it was ok. We've seen worse. We did a soundcheck and since our show time was at 23 we decided to head back to the hotel. Strongbow time! At this point the pub stuff already recognized us so we basically didn't really have to order much.
- "More cider for you guys?"
- "Yes, please."
- "Should I open a tab for you?"
- "Yes, please."
Matte the evil German had stayed at the venue to take care of our merchandise. He was quite soon back at the pub with us since everything was sold out. The doors opened at 18 and according to him at 19:07 everything was gone!
We arrived to the venue finally some time after 21 and basically just waited for the show time. We met a couple of fans though. One young female was dressed exactly as our Vaari on our album covers, including the horns on her head!
The show was really good from us and the audience was brilliant. Finally we have to believe all the things that for example Ensiferum guys told us about the Canadian audience. Loud. We did basically the same set as at Vekaranjärvi. We were originally of course going to do the djembe songs as well but we were stupid enough to leave djembe home. We didn't pack it for Vekaranjärvi and since we didn't even unload the car between the shows we just forgot the drum. I think we added one or two songs though. What were they? Can't really remember. I don't thing we did Beer Beer at Vekaranjärvi but we certainly did that in Calgary.
The real action of the trip started at the hotel. All the bands and the promoter's crew were staying on the same floor. We were of course the last band to arrive to the hotel, everyone else had already been there for a while. Jonne and myself were the first ones in and we went to the check the room where all the noise was coming from. The local crew's room was packed with people. Bands, fans, whoever. I opened a wine bottle, went to the balcony to get some air and tasted the wine. The next thing I see is a hotel security officer telling everybody to leave the room and the hotel since we had been evicted because of all the complaints about the noise. So I just get out to the corridor and see all those people packed there. I walked to our room, went in and went immediately to bed and pretended to be sleeping. Quite soon I can hear a security person walking around the room and telling someone that "it's all quiet here, only someone sleeping." A bit later I hear Matte arriving and starting to argue with the staff about our eviction since we actually were not the ones causing all the trouble. Hittavainen did a good job helping him, since he had been smoking downstairs and arrived with his bag after every other band was already thrown out. "See that, our band is just arriving!" After a while we actually got the permission to stay, which was nice. Now I could finally get out of the bed and take off my shoes and pants!
On Sunday we had to check out at noon but we were leaving at around 18 so we had plenty of time to do whatever we wanted. I went to see the city centre. I even went up the Calgary Tower http://www.calgarytower.com/ and then walked around the parks and the city streets. Honestly, there wasn't much to see there. Just a normal city.
At the airport we had probably the smoothest check-in ever even though their belt for excessive luggage wasn't working at first. So far Calgary airport and Air Canada are on top of my carrier list. The flight back to Frankfurt went really easily. I started to watch "Interview With the Vampire" but after maybe 15 minutes pressed pause and decided to take a nap. It was a seven-hour nap. I was home finally around 20.30 Monday evening. I left around 3.30 Friday morning so it was almost 4 full days for just one show. This is again one of those moments when you have to ask if this is all worth it. Yes, it is.
- "What? Who?"
- "My Dying Bride."
- "Why?"
- "Well, they are coming to meet us anyway and they have a suitable bass."
- "So you know them? Really?"
- "Yep."
The guy literally started shaking. "Oh my god. Oh my god. My Dying Bride. Korpiklaani. Oh my god. Both my favourite bands will be here. Oh my god."
Aaanyway, that's pretty much all I'm going to say about that show. Except that "Pine Woods" did a comeback to the set and was a total mess.
The next show was a festival in Raismes, Northern France. This time we arrived a day earlier and spent an evening as guests of the promoter at the festival.
After various things all ended up to the point where he was cancelling our appearance unless Jonne apologizes from him. And after all Jonne wasn't even the one to blame! Anyway we got it sorted out and did our set which was a lot better than in Belgium. The biggest change in the set was the opener. We started with "Kantaiso" which was it's live debut. "Pine Woods" was still in the set and a lot better than a week before. "Kantaiso" didn't really seem to work as an opener though. It seemed like the show really started with the second song "Wooden Pints". Nice show anyway.
The next show was a bit unordinary one. First of all it was set up really fast, just about a week in advance and the venue was going to be Vekaranjärvi military base (Spinal Tap anyone?). It was a conscripts' demobilization party. I personally felt already from the beginning that it wasn't going to be that spectacular and it really wasn't. We did it as well as possible anyway and there was basically nothing wrong with the show itself except the fact that the audience was basically just sitting in their tables. Only a few brave soldiers got up to dance during the last half of the show. Maybe the lack of alcohol and women was keeping them a bit quiet and the show really wasn't a party we've been used to.
The PA was provided by a local company and the sound tech of Kivimetsän Druidi who we toured with was with them. He wasn't doing anything, he only came to see us. Nice.
We did some small changes to the set. We decided to open with "Wooden Pints" again and moved "Kantaiso" to the second slot. We also dropped the djembe songs "Kipumylly" and "Keep On Galloping" from the set because we thought that they really wouldn't work in that environment.
Finally it was time for our first trip across the Atlantic. We were booked to headline "The Age Of Darkness" festival in Calgary, Canada. The trip was going to be heavy. Leaving at 3 in Friday morning to Helsinki-Vantaa, fly to Frankfurt then wait for three hours and fly 10 hours to Calgary and arrive at almost the same time Friday afternoon as we left Frankfurt. Tuomas aka Risuparta aka Risis aka Saatanan Risuparta had already left on a separate flight a few hours before. I watched "Mars Attacks!" and some sitcoms but mostly just slept during the flight.
We were picked up from the airport and taken to a really fancy downtown hotel Sheraton Suites, right next to French Maid, the titty bar. Whoopee! Some of us went immediately to sleep but I had the idea of trying to stay up until it was a bedtime in Canada. I thought that I'd be able to handle the jet lag easier that way. Of course I ended up drinking with Paukku, Risuparta and the organizer's crew in their room. I slept in a bed but as far as I know Paukku slept on the couch and Risis slept on their balcony under the table. Giving a good first impression is really important in this business!
On Saturday we were scheduled to get to the venue at 14. Manager, "julma sakemanni", was also arriving around noon. I spend most of the morning in the bed and the Irish pub downstairs drinking Strongbow with Risis. We had each received $50 for food from the promoter but we found better use for that. Cider. French Maid was also an option but it lost a competition. First things first. There's always a chance to see tits but getting decent cider can be really difficult.
The venue was called MacEwan Hall Ballroom located at the campus area of University of Calgary. I think the locals called it just "MacHall". There was nothing wrong with the venue, quite nice actually. The dressing room area was a bit too small for the number of bands involved but it was ok. We've seen worse. We did a soundcheck and since our show time was at 23 we decided to head back to the hotel. Strongbow time! At this point the pub stuff already recognized us so we basically didn't really have to order much.
- "More cider for you guys?"
- "Yes, please."
- "Should I open a tab for you?"
- "Yes, please."
Matte the evil German had stayed at the venue to take care of our merchandise. He was quite soon back at the pub with us since everything was sold out. The doors opened at 18 and according to him at 19:07 everything was gone!
We arrived to the venue finally some time after 21 and basically just waited for the show time. We met a couple of fans though. One young female was dressed exactly as our Vaari on our album covers, including the horns on her head!
The show was really good from us and the audience was brilliant. Finally we have to believe all the things that for example Ensiferum guys told us about the Canadian audience. Loud. We did basically the same set as at Vekaranjärvi. We were originally of course going to do the djembe songs as well but we were stupid enough to leave djembe home. We didn't pack it for Vekaranjärvi and since we didn't even unload the car between the shows we just forgot the drum. I think we added one or two songs though. What were they? Can't really remember. I don't thing we did Beer Beer at Vekaranjärvi but we certainly did that in Calgary.
The real action of the trip started at the hotel. All the bands and the promoter's crew were staying on the same floor. We were of course the last band to arrive to the hotel, everyone else had already been there for a while. Jonne and myself were the first ones in and we went to the check the room where all the noise was coming from. The local crew's room was packed with people. Bands, fans, whoever. I opened a wine bottle, went to the balcony to get some air and tasted the wine. The next thing I see is a hotel security officer telling everybody to leave the room and the hotel since we had been evicted because of all the complaints about the noise. So I just get out to the corridor and see all those people packed there. I walked to our room, went in and went immediately to bed and pretended to be sleeping. Quite soon I can hear a security person walking around the room and telling someone that "it's all quiet here, only someone sleeping." A bit later I hear Matte arriving and starting to argue with the staff about our eviction since we actually were not the ones causing all the trouble. Hittavainen did a good job helping him, since he had been smoking downstairs and arrived with his bag after every other band was already thrown out. "See that, our band is just arriving!" After a while we actually got the permission to stay, which was nice. Now I could finally get out of the bed and take off my shoes and pants!
On Sunday we had to check out at noon but we were leaving at around 18 so we had plenty of time to do whatever we wanted. I went to see the city centre. I even went up the Calgary Tower http://www.calgarytower.com/ and then walked around the parks and the city streets. Honestly, there wasn't much to see there. Just a normal city.
At the airport we had probably the smoothest check-in ever even though their belt for excessive luggage wasn't working at first. So far Calgary airport and Air Canada are on top of my carrier list. The flight back to Frankfurt went really easily. I started to watch "Interview With the Vampire" but after maybe 15 minutes pressed pause and decided to take a nap. It was a seven-hour nap. I was home finally around 20.30 Monday evening. I left around 3.30 Friday morning so it was almost 4 full days for just one show. This is again one of those moments when you have to ask if this is all worth it. Yes, it is.
Thursday, 28 August 2008
Vielä on pesää jäljellä
The summer is about to end. You know that because the festival bookings are getting fever and fever. And from the calendar too. I am not absolutely sure but I think Summer Breeze and Lowlands were the last open air festivals this year so the summer is officially over. We had a pretty shitty schedule since we were flying from Helsinki-Vantaa really early on Friday morning which meant that we had to leave around 2 in the night. Nö sleep at all. Both me and and Jonne were by the way at the Motörhead show where they recorded their Nö Sleep At All live album. The show was brilliant, the album sucked then and still does. Aaaanyway, really early at the airport on Friday. We had some new lighter guitar cases and for the first time in some time we were way under our weight limit.
We were in Frankfurt a bit before the bus. We had a meeting at McDonalds. Why don't they have veggie burgers? They should. And the same goes to Burger King. The bus arrived. The best tour bus we've ever had. Really cool double decker with two lounges, two TV/Stereo/DVD-systems and everything. Really nice. Looks like we're doing the Finnish Fire tour with the same bus which is more than fine with me.
I really have to admit that my memories from Summer Breeze are a bit vague. I do remember the area and the show but the rest is a bit blurry. I remember some people though, like Emmi from Enska with whom I was watching Eluveitie and drinking her vodka. It's so nice that she's finally old enough to buy that herself. Then I remember later meeting Eluveitie people at the backstage including the two new members. I also remember talking to them. No idea what though. Probably insulted them: "You'll never be able to replace the Kirder brothers!" or something like that. And then there was this German female bassist we've met several times through the years. I think she was with Pain at some point. And I believe I have a picture of her boobs. At least they look like hers.
I remember that at one point of the night Cane and myself were telling Jonne that "No, we can't do a TV interview now, we're way too drunk for that", but Jonne just said that "C'mon, it will be even better like that!" Next morning when I wake up in the bus on our way to the next festival I check my messages and see that there's a message from Matte, the manager: "TV interview @ 21.30. Press tent." Paukku was also awake at that point and we had a small conversation:
- "Oh, we must have missed that one."
- "What do you mean?! You did the interview. Jonne, Cane and yourself."
- "Really? I have no recollection of that."
- "No wonder, you were a bit drunk. All of you. Luckily I have some video material from that."
- "Great."
It appears that there happened quite a lot of things during the interview. Not exactly the interview though. I was talking most of the time to someone else, Cane passed out during the interview but Jonne did his best with the interviewer. Or so I heard. And it only went downhill from there. You'll get to see the video when all persons involved are dead and gone. And with the life style like this, it won't take that long.
On Saturday we were playing in the Netherlands at Lowlands festival. I had not checked anything about that festival before and it really surprised me with it's size. It was a really big festival with several stages which were all in tents of different sizes. It was also nicely diverse. There were many different musical styles represented which was really nice for a change after all the metal festivals. That doesn't really mean that I watched them but still. At least it was a nice change to maybe get some new fans since the main portion of the crowd was definitely not metal crowd. I think we did that. We did a good solid show with no big problems. The tent was full, not packed though. It looked like there indeed was quite many people who probably saw us for the first time and they seemed to enjoy the show as well as the more familiar people, so I guess it did some good to us.
After the show we once again had plenty of time do whatever we wanted. It included alcohol. I had a lot of fun with the bus driver and Hittis during and after the dinner since they were serving free alcohol and we started using the straws as weapons, meaning that we were blowing pieces of napkins through them. The floor was covered with the paper mass when we left.
During the evening I went to see only two bands, Nightwish and Sex Pistols. I think I watched maybe three songs from Nightwish until I understood that I honestly really don't like their music. Later it was time for Sex Pistols. I went to see them from the beginning and ended up waiting an extra 25 minutes since they just decided to let people wait. I was a bit skeptical about the whole thing. They finally started and four songs was enough for me. Tired, uninspired, boring. Good sound though. They released one album in 1977. Nothing more. 31 years ago. It is a good solid rock album. But still. They are touring around the world playing the entire album and a few covers. I guess they are still doing "The Great Rock'n'roll Swindle".
I guess that was basically our summer. Now we have a few one-offs to do and then another tour starting on November 13. See you then!
We were in Frankfurt a bit before the bus. We had a meeting at McDonalds. Why don't they have veggie burgers? They should. And the same goes to Burger King. The bus arrived. The best tour bus we've ever had. Really cool double decker with two lounges, two TV/Stereo/DVD-systems and everything. Really nice. Looks like we're doing the Finnish Fire tour with the same bus which is more than fine with me.
I really have to admit that my memories from Summer Breeze are a bit vague. I do remember the area and the show but the rest is a bit blurry. I remember some people though, like Emmi from Enska with whom I was watching Eluveitie and drinking her vodka. It's so nice that she's finally old enough to buy that herself. Then I remember later meeting Eluveitie people at the backstage including the two new members. I also remember talking to them. No idea what though. Probably insulted them: "You'll never be able to replace the Kirder brothers!" or something like that. And then there was this German female bassist we've met several times through the years. I think she was with Pain at some point. And I believe I have a picture of her boobs. At least they look like hers.
I remember that at one point of the night Cane and myself were telling Jonne that "No, we can't do a TV interview now, we're way too drunk for that", but Jonne just said that "C'mon, it will be even better like that!" Next morning when I wake up in the bus on our way to the next festival I check my messages and see that there's a message from Matte, the manager: "TV interview @ 21.30. Press tent." Paukku was also awake at that point and we had a small conversation:
- "Oh, we must have missed that one."
- "What do you mean?! You did the interview. Jonne, Cane and yourself."
- "Really? I have no recollection of that."
- "No wonder, you were a bit drunk. All of you. Luckily I have some video material from that."
- "Great."
It appears that there happened quite a lot of things during the interview. Not exactly the interview though. I was talking most of the time to someone else, Cane passed out during the interview but Jonne did his best with the interviewer. Or so I heard. And it only went downhill from there. You'll get to see the video when all persons involved are dead and gone. And with the life style like this, it won't take that long.
On Saturday we were playing in the Netherlands at Lowlands festival. I had not checked anything about that festival before and it really surprised me with it's size. It was a really big festival with several stages which were all in tents of different sizes. It was also nicely diverse. There were many different musical styles represented which was really nice for a change after all the metal festivals. That doesn't really mean that I watched them but still. At least it was a nice change to maybe get some new fans since the main portion of the crowd was definitely not metal crowd. I think we did that. We did a good solid show with no big problems. The tent was full, not packed though. It looked like there indeed was quite many people who probably saw us for the first time and they seemed to enjoy the show as well as the more familiar people, so I guess it did some good to us.
After the show we once again had plenty of time do whatever we wanted. It included alcohol. I had a lot of fun with the bus driver and Hittis during and after the dinner since they were serving free alcohol and we started using the straws as weapons, meaning that we were blowing pieces of napkins through them. The floor was covered with the paper mass when we left.
During the evening I went to see only two bands, Nightwish and Sex Pistols. I think I watched maybe three songs from Nightwish until I understood that I honestly really don't like their music. Later it was time for Sex Pistols. I went to see them from the beginning and ended up waiting an extra 25 minutes since they just decided to let people wait. I was a bit skeptical about the whole thing. They finally started and four songs was enough for me. Tired, uninspired, boring. Good sound though. They released one album in 1977. Nothing more. 31 years ago. It is a good solid rock album. But still. They are touring around the world playing the entire album and a few covers. I guess they are still doing "The Great Rock'n'roll Swindle".
I guess that was basically our summer. Now we have a few one-offs to do and then another tour starting on November 13. See you then!
Thursday, 14 August 2008
Pellavarock and rehearsals
Pellavarock, Lammi, Finland. Nice little one-day festival at the lake side. Last time we played there was in 2005 and from there we left for our first although short European tour which included Summerbreeze festival as well. Three years later it happens again, first Pellavarock and a week later Summerbreeze. Coincidence? Yes.
Anyway, I drove to Pellavarock myself. It's only about an hour drive from my home and we left around 14.30 which felt a bit strange since we were supposed to play in like three hours or so and it didn't feel like a festival at all. It was nice to meet some Finnish friends for a change, like Janne from Rytmihäiriö/Moonsorrow and the festival guys. The festival itself had two stages, we were on the small one. The basic idea was that there were no big gaps between the bands. When one band finishes the other one starts on another stage. This also meant that the change over times were really long. I think we had something like 1 hour 20 minutes or so. And still we manage to be ready just in the last minute. That wasn't entirely our fault though. There seemed to be quite a lot wrong on the stage and for example the bass setup which usually is the fastest took really long. And we didn't have our own stage guys either. Paukku was giving a hard time for the festival crew and the stage tech got so pissed off that he walked off the stage. FOH tech brought him back and together they managed to get the stage done.
We played our normal set once again. No changes whatsoever. From the stage I noticed some familiar faces in the front row. Of course there were the "local guys" as usual but also some old friends from Italy and UK which was a nice surprise. I hope they had a good time in Finland. After the show we spent a while sitting at the backstage but quite soon left and drove back home. So nothing spectacular in this festival trip.
We've been playing basically the same set from the Paganfest till now. Only small changes every now and then, mostly when we have had to adapt to shorter sets. However we've been talking about changing the set a bit and it's finally happening. We've been rehearsing quite well in the past few weeks. I guess we're going to continue with the same set through the festival season but later this year there's going to be some changes. We've been rehearsing four songs that have never been on the set list and three songs that haven't been there for a while. One of them is so old that Juho and myself have never played that live. Oooooh, the excitement!
Anyway, we're leaving tomorrow morning at 2 to Germany again. Maybe I should get drunk today. Paukku can pick me up from a bar. Hmm. Interesting.
Anyway, I drove to Pellavarock myself. It's only about an hour drive from my home and we left around 14.30 which felt a bit strange since we were supposed to play in like three hours or so and it didn't feel like a festival at all. It was nice to meet some Finnish friends for a change, like Janne from Rytmihäiriö/Moonsorrow and the festival guys. The festival itself had two stages, we were on the small one. The basic idea was that there were no big gaps between the bands. When one band finishes the other one starts on another stage. This also meant that the change over times were really long. I think we had something like 1 hour 20 minutes or so. And still we manage to be ready just in the last minute. That wasn't entirely our fault though. There seemed to be quite a lot wrong on the stage and for example the bass setup which usually is the fastest took really long. And we didn't have our own stage guys either. Paukku was giving a hard time for the festival crew and the stage tech got so pissed off that he walked off the stage. FOH tech brought him back and together they managed to get the stage done.
We played our normal set once again. No changes whatsoever. From the stage I noticed some familiar faces in the front row. Of course there were the "local guys" as usual but also some old friends from Italy and UK which was a nice surprise. I hope they had a good time in Finland. After the show we spent a while sitting at the backstage but quite soon left and drove back home. So nothing spectacular in this festival trip.
We've been playing basically the same set from the Paganfest till now. Only small changes every now and then, mostly when we have had to adapt to shorter sets. However we've been talking about changing the set a bit and it's finally happening. We've been rehearsing quite well in the past few weeks. I guess we're going to continue with the same set through the festival season but later this year there's going to be some changes. We've been rehearsing four songs that have never been on the set list and three songs that haven't been there for a while. One of them is so old that Juho and myself have never played that live. Oooooh, the excitement!
Anyway, we're leaving tomorrow morning at 2 to Germany again. Maybe I should get drunk today. Paukku can pick me up from a bar. Hmm. Interesting.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)