December 5, in a bus outside of Rios, Leeds waiting for load in time. Yesterday definitely was a good day. The show was really good. I have to admit that we haven't really been rotating all three sets. I think we did pink set only twice until it was dropped because Jonne got some throat problems and the "drum set" can only be done at the venues where there is enough room on stage for that.
Anyway, yesterday was good. I think all bands got quite good response. The place was not even nearly full, but since it is in two levels it seemed like a full venue because the upstairs was closed. Each did also a photoshoot before their shows. Someone said something about Metal Hammer but I doubt that. I think the guy was lacking a bit on the professional side.
The venue didn't lack anything though. Everything was perfect. Every dressing room that had vegetarians coming had even vegetarian sandwiches in the fridge. We had everything that is on the rider and even some extra stuff. Really nice. I'll gladly play there again.
The bus call was at 2 but the venue had to be empty by 1 so we had to spend an hour somewhere. We naturally chose the closest thing that was still open. A gay bar. They were really friendly to us and they sold cider. Suits me.
Rios, Leeds at 17. we just returned from the signing session at the local record store. I wouldn't say it was a huge success but it wasn't a spinaltapish failure either. Ok, I'd say and the people were at least nice.
Friday, 5 December 2008
Thursday, 4 December 2008
Better days
December 4, London, Carling Academy. Just got back from the town. Took the tube to Camden and back. That is a nice part of town. The venue today is brilliant. Presale is around 300 which is not that good since the capacity is 800, but during the past few weeks they've been forced to cancel 6 shows because of bad presales so I guess they are happy with our 300 since we are not cancelled.
Yesterday in Manchester then again was totally different story. The venue was shit. I got drunk and one of the management team members made a mistake and asked me "All ok?". She now knows what I think. The audience yesterday was cool though and the place was packed. Since the venue didn't have even the basics like a shower and also our bus was once again going to be repaired we spent the night in hotel. I don't complain about staying in a hotel, but I hate travelling on afternoons and arriving venues so late that you can't really go anywhere anymore.
Today IS a better day.
Yesterday in Manchester then again was totally different story. The venue was shit. I got drunk and one of the management team members made a mistake and asked me "All ok?". She now knows what I think. The audience yesterday was cool though and the place was packed. Since the venue didn't have even the basics like a shower and also our bus was once again going to be repaired we spent the night in hotel. I don't complain about staying in a hotel, but I hate travelling on afternoons and arriving venues so late that you can't really go anywhere anymore.
Today IS a better day.
Blaah Blaah part 2
December 2, England, 10.20. We should be in Glasgow right now, but we're not. We're somewhere close to Birmingham at "Authrorized Webasto dealer" trying to get the heater fixed. This is the fifth time in a year our bus breaks down. Let's not tell that to anyone. We won't get any buses anymore. My friends from Ireland are coming to see the show and actually are already in Glasgow and I'm sitting here in a garage 400km away. I didn't know it was physically possible but this situation both sucks AND blows.
Last night we played in Wolverhampton. we were supposed to play at Wulfrun Hall but because of bad presale of about 200 tickets. I wouldn't say that it's so bad but we were anyway moved to a smaller stage on the same venue. The club itself was still quite big but the stage itself was just too fucking small. They even cut down our showtimes so that Falchion played only 25 minutes and we had a luxurious 55 minutes, so we had to leave out quite a lot of our normal set. We got a good response anyway. And when the set was over they were demanding more quite loudly but there was nothing we could do. Our closing time was 22.55 and just before last two songs the time was 22.47 so I guess we filled our slot exactly.
The venue itself, Wolverhampton Civic Hall, was one of the best ones. Everything was really smooth and the dressing room even had a jacuzzi. At least some people had used that during our show. I guess it was some Battlelore members. The candy asses! Lierot!
Now there is some talk that we may have to take a train to Glasgow to get there on time. Crap.
At noon. We're moving! Whoopee! No proletarian tube ride for Jarkko!
December 3, Scotland/England, 13.30. The bus is moving again. This time towards Manchester. We also have a guest on the bus. A really small German girl that appeared at the ticket desk in Glasgow asking to get in from the guest list. well, she may have told to someone of us that she's coming but no one remembered that. We got it sorted out and she got in and we also offered her a ride to Manchester since we have an empty bed anyway because the manager aka "Julma sakemanni" is riding on the other bus.
The show in Glasgow was in Cathouse again. We were there also quite exactly a year ago. The place is crap, but again we enjoyed the show very much. I think most of us agreed that this was the best show of the tour. The same thing has happened before as well. Everyone is feeling a bit miserable and down, maybe even sick during the day and thinking things like "it's not going to be good tonight" and then in the evening you find an excellent audience waiting for you and you end up playing the best show of the tour and getting a big boost to go on to a next venue.
Wine club meeting by the way starts right now. I'll write anyway. Just have to make sure not to pour the wine on the computer. I almost did that already with cider.
I'll stop now. I got tired. More wine. Yeah, as if that will cure it.
Last night we played in Wolverhampton. we were supposed to play at Wulfrun Hall but because of bad presale of about 200 tickets. I wouldn't say that it's so bad but we were anyway moved to a smaller stage on the same venue. The club itself was still quite big but the stage itself was just too fucking small. They even cut down our showtimes so that Falchion played only 25 minutes and we had a luxurious 55 minutes, so we had to leave out quite a lot of our normal set. We got a good response anyway. And when the set was over they were demanding more quite loudly but there was nothing we could do. Our closing time was 22.55 and just before last two songs the time was 22.47 so I guess we filled our slot exactly.
The venue itself, Wolverhampton Civic Hall, was one of the best ones. Everything was really smooth and the dressing room even had a jacuzzi. At least some people had used that during our show. I guess it was some Battlelore members. The candy asses! Lierot!
Now there is some talk that we may have to take a train to Glasgow to get there on time. Crap.
At noon. We're moving! Whoopee! No proletarian tube ride for Jarkko!
December 3, Scotland/England, 13.30. The bus is moving again. This time towards Manchester. We also have a guest on the bus. A really small German girl that appeared at the ticket desk in Glasgow asking to get in from the guest list. well, she may have told to someone of us that she's coming but no one remembered that. We got it sorted out and she got in and we also offered her a ride to Manchester since we have an empty bed anyway because the manager aka "Julma sakemanni" is riding on the other bus.
The show in Glasgow was in Cathouse again. We were there also quite exactly a year ago. The place is crap, but again we enjoyed the show very much. I think most of us agreed that this was the best show of the tour. The same thing has happened before as well. Everyone is feeling a bit miserable and down, maybe even sick during the day and thinking things like "it's not going to be good tonight" and then in the evening you find an excellent audience waiting for you and you end up playing the best show of the tour and getting a big boost to go on to a next venue.
Wine club meeting by the way starts right now. I'll write anyway. Just have to make sure not to pour the wine on the computer. I almost did that already with cider.
I'll stop now. I got tired. More wine. Yeah, as if that will cure it.
Monday, 1 December 2008
Hittis is awake at 9 AM!
December 1, England, 9.30. Believe it or not, I am drinking cider with Hittavainen, a man who usually gets out of bed 2 hours before showtime. The reason may be the fact that we had to get off the bus on the ferry anyway and we just haven't gone to bed again. And of course we bought some tax free cider. Now we've been listening the recording of the last night's show in Amsterdam. It is quite revealing. Hmm. Good or bad thing? Interesting at least. Yesterday wasn't the best show of the tour. Some techical difficulties through the show and a couple of clear mistakes as well. Atmosphere was good as always in the Netherlands. And in the Netherlands you can actually smell the "atmosphere"...
During the day a friend of mine took us to the record store and Matson and myself managed to buy quite a lot of stuff again. I finally found for example the 3CD box set of Phil Lynott's Grand Slam. Cool.
After the show in the bus I realised that it actually was December, so I prepared everyone a hot mug of glühwein. Nice.
Now Miikka joined us and we changed the music to Popeda again. I guess it's time to have a few more.
Oh yeah, Battlelore changed a guitarist yesterday. Jussi had to leave to work so they got replacement. we were introduced twice but I still can't remember his name. He has dreadlocks like Jussi so he's a perfect replacement! So Battlelore now has two replacements in the band. Any longer tour and the band will have no actual member with them.
During the day a friend of mine took us to the record store and Matson and myself managed to buy quite a lot of stuff again. I finally found for example the 3CD box set of Phil Lynott's Grand Slam. Cool.
After the show in the bus I realised that it actually was December, so I prepared everyone a hot mug of glühwein. Nice.
Now Miikka joined us and we changed the music to Popeda again. I guess it's time to have a few more.
Oh yeah, Battlelore changed a guitarist yesterday. Jussi had to leave to work so they got replacement. we were introduced twice but I still can't remember his name. He has dreadlocks like Jussi so he's a perfect replacement! So Battlelore now has two replacements in the band. Any longer tour and the band will have no actual member with them.
Sunday, 30 November 2008
Bochum, Vosselaar, Amsterdam
Good morning! Yesterday was brilliant. The show was really good but the gothic party afterwards was just pure brilliance. Not for all perhaps but at least for some. It's 11 in the morning, I just came downstairs and found drum tech Antsa sleeping on the floor with his face on the couch. Funny. The venue was converted to one huge gothic party after our show. We perhaps didn't fit the crowd that well but at least we were drunk and had the first official bassist meeting of the tour. They had built some metal cages where people could go and dance. we were all there. The bassists I mean. I hope someone took pictures.
Our show was nice. We're getting tighter and tighter all the time. That's good. Again we'll be at our best when the tour ends. We have been forced to change the set list rotation already a few times. The "drum set" including the songs Jonne is on djembe can not be done at all venues with smaller stages so it has been skipped a few times. Then again we did that set yesterday and added Crows Bring The Spring from another set just because it is such a nice song to play and we were on the mood for that.
Wine club meeting starts now. Bye.
Some truck park near Amsterdam at 11. No other club member up so I have time to write something. Melkweg, the venue for today, is really nice. The only drawback is that it's located in the city centre and we can't park the buses there. Get in time is at 1 so we're basically just waiting for that. And it's snowing. No long walks today, I guess. The bus is really crowded as well, since we have a film crew joining us for a couple of days.
Yesterday's venue was once again Biebop in Vosselaar. We've been there a few times before and managed to sold it out alone so we were definitely packing it yesterday as well. I have mixed feelings about the venue. The atmosphere and audience are always brilliant, but technically the venue sucks. First of all you can get to the backstage only through the stage. The backstage smells really bad and it's hard for me to breathe in there. You are not allowed to shit in the toilet backstage since it will block it. From the shower you could only get water that was described as "the coldest in the world." Which of course suited well the fact that we caked Matson after the show. It was his birthday and it seemed approriate to cake him. After the last song during the band introduction Jonne hit a cake in his face. Maybe cake was too big or his face too small but anyway some of the cake missed his face and hit both monitor desks, ours and the venues. Either of the Monitorihomo's was not that delighted.
We are about to start filming some parts for their movie now. I'll go.
Our show was nice. We're getting tighter and tighter all the time. That's good. Again we'll be at our best when the tour ends. We have been forced to change the set list rotation already a few times. The "drum set" including the songs Jonne is on djembe can not be done at all venues with smaller stages so it has been skipped a few times. Then again we did that set yesterday and added Crows Bring The Spring from another set just because it is such a nice song to play and we were on the mood for that.
Wine club meeting starts now. Bye.
Some truck park near Amsterdam at 11. No other club member up so I have time to write something. Melkweg, the venue for today, is really nice. The only drawback is that it's located in the city centre and we can't park the buses there. Get in time is at 1 so we're basically just waiting for that. And it's snowing. No long walks today, I guess. The bus is really crowded as well, since we have a film crew joining us for a couple of days.
Yesterday's venue was once again Biebop in Vosselaar. We've been there a few times before and managed to sold it out alone so we were definitely packing it yesterday as well. I have mixed feelings about the venue. The atmosphere and audience are always brilliant, but technically the venue sucks. First of all you can get to the backstage only through the stage. The backstage smells really bad and it's hard for me to breathe in there. You are not allowed to shit in the toilet backstage since it will block it. From the shower you could only get water that was described as "the coldest in the world." Which of course suited well the fact that we caked Matson after the show. It was his birthday and it seemed approriate to cake him. After the last song during the band introduction Jonne hit a cake in his face. Maybe cake was too big or his face too small but anyway some of the cake missed his face and hit both monitor desks, ours and the venues. Either of the Monitorihomo's was not that delighted.
We are about to start filming some parts for their movie now. I'll go.
Friday, 28 November 2008
Erfurt, Bochum
Catering area at Matrix, Bochum on Friday evening. Just had some dinner and a couple of those cheap German
Bacardi Breezer copies. We were out again with Kaisa. Like we did yesterday as well. I feel quite happy about meeting her and getting a new friend. Yesterday's nicest thing was perhaps the long walk with her again. We also had a mission. we had to find her an antenna for the wireless receiver and quite suprisingly we actually found a really professional music gear shop and got one. The city centre was really nice as well with of course the normal German Christmas market. We even stopped there for some glühwein which was nice.
Yesterday's show was a success as a show but there could have been more people. Then again next time we are in Erfurt there definitely will be more people since the presale for that show is already around 2000. Although I have to admit that the reason may be In Extremo who we are supporting...
The drive here wasn't that long so we arrived quite early and some of us had time to do strange things. Bus driver for Battlis and KmD for example bought himself a monocycle and managed to cut his hand falling on a parking lot. Sorry, I'll stop now. Not on the writing mood.
Bacardi Breezer copies. We were out again with Kaisa. Like we did yesterday as well. I feel quite happy about meeting her and getting a new friend. Yesterday's nicest thing was perhaps the long walk with her again. We also had a mission. we had to find her an antenna for the wireless receiver and quite suprisingly we actually found a really professional music gear shop and got one. The city centre was really nice as well with of course the normal German Christmas market. We even stopped there for some glühwein which was nice.
Yesterday's show was a success as a show but there could have been more people. Then again next time we are in Erfurt there definitely will be more people since the presale for that show is already around 2000. Although I have to admit that the reason may be In Extremo who we are supporting...
The drive here wasn't that long so we arrived quite early and some of us had time to do strange things. Bus driver for Battlis and KmD for example bought himself a monocycle and managed to cut his hand falling on a parking lot. Sorry, I'll stop now. Not on the writing mood.
Thursday, 27 November 2008
Blaah blaah whatever
Backstage in Erfurt on Thursday I think. Again a couple of days without writing anything. Marseille gig was not actually in Marseille but something like 25 kilometres from there. The place was maybe some suburbs or a different town entirely. Doesn't really matter. The venue was one of the nice ones. It could have been fuller though. However even the small crowd in there really made the security to work for their money. One song gone and the fences can't hold the audience back anymore. They start falling and people start running with tools and extra fences and reinforcing the fence. It was again a good solid show from us.
Personally the really important thing for that day was that I went out for a 3-hour walk with Kaisa of Battlelore. We spoke so much about everything possible and at least I think that we seem to be quite alike as persons and with our opinions on different topics. We spoke about the boy/girlfriends, politics, religion, just everything. That indeed was really nice.
The next day in Strasbourg we went out again. This time we had also a really strange couple with us, Cane and merch-Jani. They never go out. Never. The old city centre and cathedral were really beautiful. Maybe they have overdone some Christmas decorations though...
We played also a really good set last night. One little mistake happened though. We forgot to wake Hittis. We were all dressed up for stage when I realized that FUCK! We're missing one. We woke him up 15 minutes before the show time. It was not an easy show for him. For the rest of the band it was brilliant. An excellent venue full of excellent people.
It's getting close to showtime now. I'll go now.
Personally the really important thing for that day was that I went out for a 3-hour walk with Kaisa of Battlelore. We spoke so much about everything possible and at least I think that we seem to be quite alike as persons and with our opinions on different topics. We spoke about the boy/girlfriends, politics, religion, just everything. That indeed was really nice.
The next day in Strasbourg we went out again. This time we had also a really strange couple with us, Cane and merch-Jani. They never go out. Never. The old city centre and cathedral were really beautiful. Maybe they have overdone some Christmas decorations though...
We played also a really good set last night. One little mistake happened though. We forgot to wake Hittis. We were all dressed up for stage when I realized that FUCK! We're missing one. We woke him up 15 minutes before the show time. It was not an easy show for him. For the rest of the band it was brilliant. An excellent venue full of excellent people.
It's getting close to showtime now. I'll go now.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)