Ok, two days have gone without much writing again. Right now we're in Porto on an early Sunday morning. The drivers are trying to find a way to the venue. They know exactly where it is, but they just can't fit a 4-metre bus through a 3-metre hole.
Friday's show was in Alicante I think. It was a big warehouse kind of building in the industrial area. The venue was basically ok. The dressing rooms, both with showers and even warm water, a big stage and everything. The attendance could have been better though. Presale was only about 60 so we were no expecting much. I'd say the final number was around 250 or 300 perhaps.
During Battlelore the roof of one of the dressing rooms collapsed. We had piled up some guitars and their cases on top of the dressing room not realizing that it really is not suitable for that. Leeni of KmD was sitting on a sofa when a guitar suddenly fell next to her. And immediately after that parts of the ceiling and more guitars. Thankfully no one got hurt. Possibly one laptop and definitely one pizza got some damage.
The problems continued during our show. About half of the show gone and Jonne tries to change his guitar but there's nothing coming out from the new one. And not from the old one either. Nothing. I tell the band to play Pellonpekko, an instrumental that we can do without Jonne. After that the guitar problem is still not sorted out but Jonne just rushes back to the stage and tells us that it's Midsummer Night, Beer Beer and we're out. That was the show. Quite short.
On Saturday I woke up in the bus and went out just to see that we're parked in some ugly underground garage. However, the garage was located right under the King's palace, so going up and walking around the area was a good idea. I went for a coffee with some KmD members and was later joined by some others as well for a city walk. Oh yeah, my girlfriend arrived too. She flew in to Madrid to see the show and hopefully me as well.
The venue was a small club that could hold maybe 400 people and since the presale was already 350 we knew that the Saturday night in Madrid would be hot. It truly was. The whole show went really smoothly and many said that this was the best of the tour so far. I guess it was then. I was feeling a bit tired though.
Now we're at the venue in the centre of Porto. Time for a breakfast at the café and then at 11 the scheduled everyday meeting of wine club at the downstairs lounge.
Venue, Batalho, at 17. Wine club did not meet in the bus. The most active members, Miikka of Falchion and myself, decided to move it outside and took Valohomo with us. We went to the river, got some local red and sat down on the beach bench. Sun was shining, people smiling and we got a bit drunk. Nice. I am a big fan of being slightly drunk. Then we decided to head back to the venue since the get-in time was at 14. We walked to the main square and saw a nice looking cathedral. And a pub. To the pub? To the cathedral? Both. First the pub. We never went to the cathedral. Now, back at the venue. Drum check going on. Boink. Boink. Boink. Boink. Boink. Boink. Boink. Boink. Boink. Boink. Boink. Boink. Boink. Boink. Boink. Boink. Boink. Boink. Boink. Boink. Boring.
In the bus, at 11 something, 60km to Bilbao. Last night was a good show. Something like 350 people turned up and were having a good party so it was really nice to be on stage. One of the backstage rooms was higher than the stage and there was a big window with a view to the stage. To the drum riser and part of the stage anyway. While Battlelore was on stage Hittis and myself gave them a small show. The show didn't include clothes. We saw the same kind of show when we were on stage. Nice. Not.
Porto is so far my favourite city on the tour. Sorry Prague, but Porto seems to be just a bit more decadent in the way that I like. I am a big fan of moving water as well. Both cities have rivers but somehow the riverbanks and hills of Porto are just more interesting. One minus to the city though: vegetable soup should not made with meat gravy. Meat is not a vegetable. well, some of us are.
Damn, it's snowing outside. Or at least there's some sort of mixture of water and ice falling down. And my throat hurts like hell. It's been like that for the past three days. Maybe the t-shirt and flipflops with no socks is not the best way to dress in the end of November.
In the bus near Montpellier at around 9. Throat hurts like hell and I couldn't sleep much since I can't breathe that well. Yesterday was and will remain as the worst show of the tour. It was set up in the very last minute before the tour since one other show wasn't going to happen. So, place was really small including the stage and only about 50 people turned up. Then again they were indeed "our people" which meant that playing in front of them was still nice. Except that I didn't really enjoy that so much but it definitely wasn't because of them.
The venue itself was located in an industrial area several kilometres from the city centre and it was also raining more or less the whole day, so I couldn't even go out really. Yesterday was not a good day. We even had a flat tire on the bus! At least the sun is shining right now so already the morning looks better. Today we play in Marseille and I've no idea of the presale but I trust that it will be better than yesterday. Tomorrow is Strassbourg and there the presale is already at 350. Things look a bit brighter now when we are heading back to our strong areas. The Spain/Portugal trip was still worth doing. Our first club shows down there must be done at some point. Next shows will be better advertized and sold.
Tuesday, 25 November 2008
Friday, 21 November 2008
Barcelona ja aamujurrit
Friday, back lounge of the bus aka Auschwitz, the smoking room. It's afternoon and I am drunk. I already promised earlier that I'll stop writing about the audiences, but I just can't. Last night in Barcelona the audience was singing all the melodies and lyrics and everything so loud that it almost made me cry. There still are moments when this business surprises you. The band was tight as fuck as well. It's always the same on tours. The first few shows are an on/off thing, but from day 3 or 5 on we just kick ass every night. One of the best signs of that you are doing something right is that you see the local crew enjoying the show. Last night the people working behind the bar were doing the polka dance during the show so I guess we were on to something good.
During the day we did do something else as well. We took the subway to the city centre with some of us and Rinksa of KmD and went to see for example the cathedral they can't finish. I can't spell the name correctly now so I won't do that. You'll know it anyway.
When we were back at the venue the FOH dude for Battlis and KmD was asking the directions and subway stations to go to the city as well. I guess he went, since when KmD was about to go on the stage they rushed back to the backstage asking for him. They call him and he says "Now already?" He was already on the subway on his way back so our FOH dude got them started and he arrived just as the intro was playing. I guess he did get some shit from that.
Anyway, back to the present. Guys are having a Playstation game of ice-hockey, Finland vs. Germany and I'm playing Kiss from the laptop to the bus speakers. Sun is shining and all is good. I'll continue later.
During the day we did do something else as well. We took the subway to the city centre with some of us and Rinksa of KmD and went to see for example the cathedral they can't finish. I can't spell the name correctly now so I won't do that. You'll know it anyway.
When we were back at the venue the FOH dude for Battlis and KmD was asking the directions and subway stations to go to the city as well. I guess he went, since when KmD was about to go on the stage they rushed back to the backstage asking for him. They call him and he says "Now already?" He was already on the subway on his way back so our FOH dude got them started and he arrived just as the intro was playing. I guess he did get some shit from that.
Anyway, back to the present. Guys are having a Playstation game of ice-hockey, Finland vs. Germany and I'm playing Kiss from the laptop to the bus speakers. Sun is shining and all is good. I'll continue later.
Thursday, 20 November 2008
Lyon, Niort, Barcelona
Thursday, 9.30, on our way to Barcelona. We're still in France but the mountain range and the border obviously are already in the sight. I haven't written anything for two days now. What have we been doing? Yes, Lyon. Things really didn't go the way I wrote earlier. The other bus was already at the venue when we arrived and the gear was already in. No problem there. The venue was nowhere even near the city centre or anything so we spent the day around the poker table. We've been doing that quite a lot. So far the biggest losers are Henkka and Jussi of Battlelore and Simo Kuassimo and Rinksa of KmD. And merch-Jani.
For some reason the promoter of Lyon wanted us all to play a shorter set. First bands played only maybe 35 minutes each, Battlelore 45 and we had an hour. This was the first show where we made changes to a normal set and dropped a few songs but then we also added Pellonpekko which was not in the day's set. Otherwise I'd say it was a normal evening. Except that there wasn't much warm water left when I hit the shower. If you ask me, that's the biggest disadvantage in being the headliner. What kind of a person builds a shower for a backstage and uses a boiler that has warm water for only two persons?
The next show was in Niort, still in France. The venue was underground in the old renovated dungeons that someone said are originally from the 12th century. It was really beutiful venue. The only problem was that it smelled like a cellar. And that the buses could not stay there for the evening.
Once all was set and the poker played me and the light tech Valohomo went to see the city which turned out to be quite nice. Seemed like a really old town. A castle, few gothic churches, canal, wine store. We were sitting on a park bench drinking cider and thinking about returning to the venue when a beautiful girl walked to us and asked us to join her. We of course agreed. We didn't have to pay for her company or anything which was nice. That was of course Kaisa of Battlelore. We spend a bit longer on the town with her and got back to the venue at dinner time.
The show was a bit strange. It started a bit slowly but the audience got into it quite fast after all. Strangest thing was that they behaved like the Japanese audince: a big dancing party during the songs but totally quiet in between. Really strange. And then there was a girl with huge boobs right in front of the stage and
during Northern Fall I was just thinking about those twins and missed the chorus until Juho tapped me on the shoulder and woke me up. Funny in a not funny way.
Now I am at the backstage in sunny Barcelona. We just got back from the beach. Quite nice since I heard that there's already a few inches of snow in Tampere. As Nelson Muntz would say: "Haa haa!"
For some reason the promoter of Lyon wanted us all to play a shorter set. First bands played only maybe 35 minutes each, Battlelore 45 and we had an hour. This was the first show where we made changes to a normal set and dropped a few songs but then we also added Pellonpekko which was not in the day's set. Otherwise I'd say it was a normal evening. Except that there wasn't much warm water left when I hit the shower. If you ask me, that's the biggest disadvantage in being the headliner. What kind of a person builds a shower for a backstage and uses a boiler that has warm water for only two persons?
The next show was in Niort, still in France. The venue was underground in the old renovated dungeons that someone said are originally from the 12th century. It was really beutiful venue. The only problem was that it smelled like a cellar. And that the buses could not stay there for the evening.
Once all was set and the poker played me and the light tech Valohomo went to see the city which turned out to be quite nice. Seemed like a really old town. A castle, few gothic churches, canal, wine store. We were sitting on a park bench drinking cider and thinking about returning to the venue when a beautiful girl walked to us and asked us to join her. We of course agreed. We didn't have to pay for her company or anything which was nice. That was of course Kaisa of Battlelore. We spend a bit longer on the town with her and got back to the venue at dinner time.
The show was a bit strange. It started a bit slowly but the audience got into it quite fast after all. Strangest thing was that they behaved like the Japanese audince: a big dancing party during the songs but totally quiet in between. Really strange. And then there was a girl with huge boobs right in front of the stage and
during Northern Fall I was just thinking about those twins and missed the chorus until Juho tapped me on the shoulder and woke me up. Funny in a not funny way.
Now I am at the backstage in sunny Barcelona. We just got back from the beach. Quite nice since I heard that there's already a few inches of snow in Tampere. As Nelson Muntz would say: "Haa haa!"
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
Zagreb, Milan, French highway
Monday, November 17, 11.00, Italian highway. Yesterday in Zagreb we had the greatest audience ever. 900 screaming and jumping Croatians. Most violent looking pit I've ever seen. Every band was greeted like that. Amazing.
We played a pretty good show too. It was the fourth show so we were back in to the "white set". We have three different coloured set lists you see. I really liked how we did the first five songs. Not much pauses or breaks, one songs ends, next one starts.
The venue was the same as last time, Boogaloo, basically a decent venue. This time they however had changed it so that there was no shower or even a separate toilet at the backstage. We had to use the public toilet and they had a shuttle service to a hotel where they had a room with a shower reserved for us. And they have signed the production rider that specifically says that there has to be a toilet and a shower for us. Well, maybe they fulfilled that clause that way. But it wasn't good anyway.
Since the men's toilet was really crowded and not really clean I used the ladies' toilet. When I got out there was perhaps 20 teenage girls wanting to take pictures with me. Felt a bit strange. Photo session in the ladies room.
Now we're soon going to stop at the gas station. I hope their toilet is good.
Tuesday around 11, French highway, 60km to Lyon. Yes, the toilet was good. And we got some breakfast and after that opened a bottle of red with Cane and soon Miikka (Falchion) and Tony (lights) joined and we emptied two bottles quite fast. Nice morning that was.
The venue in Milan, Alcatraz, was great. It usually serves as a huge disco/rave/whatever hall but it has some live rock shows as well. It's one of those places where you can drive a bus in for loading. 013 in Tilburg is the same. It's quite hand when the gear comes right next to stage on rubber wheels.
We had plenty of time again and we went to city centre where the only interesting thing is Duomo, the cathedral. This was not my opinion, but our guide's who's originally from Rome and has lived in Milan for a few weeks only... Duomo was nice definitely. I even went in and didn't get struck by a lightning. The old market hall thing was nice too. It wasn't really a market hall in a modern sense. Just beautiful old buildings with fancy shops and restaurants and roof covered streets between them. And old wall paintings.
It was monday so the program started earlier. Doors opened at 18 and first band was on at 18.25. Our scheduled show time was 21.45. Of course in Italy that changed already in the beginning and Falchion started at 18.45 and others then accordingly.
I think I should quit talking about the audiences since I can only use the cliché phrases like "best audience ever" or "wild and loud". I'll just mention that the choir singing started from the first note of Wooden Pints and didn't end until the last note of Ii Lea Voibmi.
Backstage curfew was at 1.15 so we had plenty of time to stay in and get drunk. That's what we did and continued outside. The other bus left earlier but we continued with our people.
Now I heard from our driver that since the other bus is longer than this it can't park next to the today's venue so once we get there we give them a call and the other bus will come and we have to quickly unload it because it will block the whole street. I have to go and prepare myself for that. That means that I will have to go and hide myself upstairs.
We played a pretty good show too. It was the fourth show so we were back in to the "white set". We have three different coloured set lists you see. I really liked how we did the first five songs. Not much pauses or breaks, one songs ends, next one starts.
The venue was the same as last time, Boogaloo, basically a decent venue. This time they however had changed it so that there was no shower or even a separate toilet at the backstage. We had to use the public toilet and they had a shuttle service to a hotel where they had a room with a shower reserved for us. And they have signed the production rider that specifically says that there has to be a toilet and a shower for us. Well, maybe they fulfilled that clause that way. But it wasn't good anyway.
Since the men's toilet was really crowded and not really clean I used the ladies' toilet. When I got out there was perhaps 20 teenage girls wanting to take pictures with me. Felt a bit strange. Photo session in the ladies room.
Now we're soon going to stop at the gas station. I hope their toilet is good.
Tuesday around 11, French highway, 60km to Lyon. Yes, the toilet was good. And we got some breakfast and after that opened a bottle of red with Cane and soon Miikka (Falchion) and Tony (lights) joined and we emptied two bottles quite fast. Nice morning that was.
The venue in Milan, Alcatraz, was great. It usually serves as a huge disco/rave/whatever hall but it has some live rock shows as well. It's one of those places where you can drive a bus in for loading. 013 in Tilburg is the same. It's quite hand when the gear comes right next to stage on rubber wheels.
We had plenty of time again and we went to city centre where the only interesting thing is Duomo, the cathedral. This was not my opinion, but our guide's who's originally from Rome and has lived in Milan for a few weeks only... Duomo was nice definitely. I even went in and didn't get struck by a lightning. The old market hall thing was nice too. It wasn't really a market hall in a modern sense. Just beautiful old buildings with fancy shops and restaurants and roof covered streets between them. And old wall paintings.
It was monday so the program started earlier. Doors opened at 18 and first band was on at 18.25. Our scheduled show time was 21.45. Of course in Italy that changed already in the beginning and Falchion started at 18.45 and others then accordingly.
I think I should quit talking about the audiences since I can only use the cliché phrases like "best audience ever" or "wild and loud". I'll just mention that the choir singing started from the first note of Wooden Pints and didn't end until the last note of Ii Lea Voibmi.
Backstage curfew was at 1.15 so we had plenty of time to stay in and get drunk. That's what we did and continued outside. The other bus left earlier but we continued with our people.
Now I heard from our driver that since the other bus is longer than this it can't park next to the today's venue so once we get there we give them a call and the other bus will come and we have to quickly unload it because it will block the whole street. I have to go and prepare myself for that. That means that I will have to go and hide myself upstairs.
Sunday, 16 November 2008
Praha, Zagreb
Parking lot in Prague around noon. First things first: We kicked some serious ass yesterday in Glauchau. Really, it was the best show in a really long time. We were tight as a virgin pussy. The audience was singing along with us and everyone in the building enjoyed it. Great. We did Northern Fall for the first time ever and Crows Bring The Spring for the first time in a few years. There were two women in front singing that song so that you could really see that they were hard core fans. That really felt good.
Now we are in Prague at a hotel parking lot. We can't drive to venue with the bus so we'll have a shuttle service to take us and the gear there. I guess it's because there's no parking space for buses. I expect quite a lot from tonight's show. Presale has been quite remarkable and we're once again working with Pragokonzert which means that everything will be perfect and beyond. Hmm. What's going on. I can smell the Sweet Leaf...
Gas station in Austria, morning of November 16th. We are on our way to Zagreb, Croatia. Yesterday was a great day. The venue was quite close to the city centre so about ten of us went for a walk. There was almost the entire Battlelore, three of us and even a Falchion guitarist Miikka. The idea was to just see the beautiful city and maybe grab a beer or two. And we were stupid. Some of us didn't have the local money so we stopped at the exchange office and just changed some cash not realizing that the exchange office was taking almost 5 euros for every action. So when four of us exchanged 10 or 20 euros all separately we ended up paying them 20 euros! Idiot tourists!
The old city centre was great though. Really beautiful. Although it still didn't get my "Favourite European City Award", Paris is just so hard to beat. Maybe with more time Prague could win... Anyway, a funny thing was that people were dropping off from our group and in the end it was only me and the two Battlelore singers. We stayed in the city till about 17 or so when it was already getting dark and all the city lights were starting to go on and city became even more beautiful if possible. When we were finally walking back towards the venue Kaisa received an SMS saying that they're doing a soundcheck right now. I guess they just did an instrumental soundcheck. We on the other hand didn't do a soundcheck and probably won't in the future either.
In the end the attendance was around 800 and the place was packed and hot and steamy as a Finnish sauna. Every band got a really good response from the crowd and were having a really good time. And Kaisa was also able to sing again which was really good news. Our show was really good. We weren't as tight as the day before but the audience was perfect. Last night two new songs got their live debut: Ali jäisten vetten and Nuolet nomalan. They went rather well except that Nuolet nomalan sounded a bit off-key. After the show we came to the conclusion that it was a violin that was really out of tune.
That's about it for now. It's becoming more difficult to type since the bus is moving again.
Boogaloo, Zagreb at 20.00: Just posting this, no time to write more.
Now we are in Prague at a hotel parking lot. We can't drive to venue with the bus so we'll have a shuttle service to take us and the gear there. I guess it's because there's no parking space for buses. I expect quite a lot from tonight's show. Presale has been quite remarkable and we're once again working with Pragokonzert which means that everything will be perfect and beyond. Hmm. What's going on. I can smell the Sweet Leaf...
Gas station in Austria, morning of November 16th. We are on our way to Zagreb, Croatia. Yesterday was a great day. The venue was quite close to the city centre so about ten of us went for a walk. There was almost the entire Battlelore, three of us and even a Falchion guitarist Miikka. The idea was to just see the beautiful city and maybe grab a beer or two. And we were stupid. Some of us didn't have the local money so we stopped at the exchange office and just changed some cash not realizing that the exchange office was taking almost 5 euros for every action. So when four of us exchanged 10 or 20 euros all separately we ended up paying them 20 euros! Idiot tourists!
The old city centre was great though. Really beautiful. Although it still didn't get my "Favourite European City Award", Paris is just so hard to beat. Maybe with more time Prague could win... Anyway, a funny thing was that people were dropping off from our group and in the end it was only me and the two Battlelore singers. We stayed in the city till about 17 or so when it was already getting dark and all the city lights were starting to go on and city became even more beautiful if possible. When we were finally walking back towards the venue Kaisa received an SMS saying that they're doing a soundcheck right now. I guess they just did an instrumental soundcheck. We on the other hand didn't do a soundcheck and probably won't in the future either.
In the end the attendance was around 800 and the place was packed and hot and steamy as a Finnish sauna. Every band got a really good response from the crowd and were having a really good time. And Kaisa was also able to sing again which was really good news. Our show was really good. We weren't as tight as the day before but the audience was perfect. Last night two new songs got their live debut: Ali jäisten vetten and Nuolet nomalan. They went rather well except that Nuolet nomalan sounded a bit off-key. After the show we came to the conclusion that it was a violin that was really out of tune.
That's about it for now. It's becoming more difficult to type since the bus is moving again.
Boogaloo, Zagreb at 20.00: Just posting this, no time to write more.
Friday, 14 November 2008
First date
Around noon of 14.11. at the back lounge of the bus. The first show was yesterday in Giessen. Everything was more or less a bit of a mess since everything was still searching for it's right place. I guess all bands did at least a decent show. Ours was just a bit too long, not really because of too many songs, but too long pauses between them! We'll fix that today. The audience seemed to like the show anyway. The party mood was on even though it was Thursday. Oh, yeah. My preamp is broken again. Take my word of advice. SansAmp PSA is NOT for live use. The digital stuff just can't handle the physical stress. It's a brilliant preamp, but don't take it out from your home. They keep saying that many people use it in their live setup, but that just can't be true. Unless they get new preamp every day.
Today we've been sorting out the transportation and actually managed to fit all our gear into the two buses we have and were able to leave the trailer entirely. Now I guess we're getting closer to the next town Glauchau and someone will take me shopping for new a preamp. I'll get back to that later.
Backstage around 15. No chance of getting a new preamp. So we'll just sit here and watch Pluto cartoons and try to organize something for Prague.
Today we've been sorting out the transportation and actually managed to fit all our gear into the two buses we have and were able to leave the trailer entirely. Now I guess we're getting closer to the next town Glauchau and someone will take me shopping for new a preamp. I'll get back to that later.
Backstage around 15. No chance of getting a new preamp. So we'll just sit here and watch Pluto cartoons and try to organize something for Prague.
Wednesday, 12 November 2008
Tulta munille!
So, tomorrow we start a tour with Battlelore, Kivimetsän Druidi and Falchion. Our gear and crew left yesterday and we will fly to Germany tomorrow morning. We've rehearsed some material that has never been played live and some old material will make a comeback to the set, so if you saw us during the summer you can still come and be surprised. We'll be rotating three different set lists so you can even come on two or three consecutive nights and you'll hear different sets every night! In fact, if you want to hear all the songs from the tour you will HAVE to come on three consecutive nights!
I will try to update this blog as often as possible. It depends a lot on if there's a WLAN available or not. See you.
I will try to update this blog as often as possible. It depends a lot on if there's a WLAN available or not. See you.
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