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.
Tuesday, 21 October 2008
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.
Thursday, 31 July 2008
From Kuopio to Neuhaus an der Pegnitz
The original schedule for the weekend of July 25-27 was Finland, Germany and Portugal but the Portugal festival got cancelled which left us with a slightly difficult flight schedule. Anyway, on Friday it was one of the few Finnish appearances at the Rockcock-festival in Kuopio. It's about 300km from Tampere so we left at noon. Not really because we had to since our showtime was at 21.00 but some of us wanted to see Popeda at 18.00.
We arrived there around 17 and the first thing I did was that I looked up this small girl from Oulu who brought me a screw from Amfisound. On Thursday evening I was changing strings at home and when I removed A-string half of the machine head fell off. Only the string tension was keeping it together. At some point one screw had fallen off. It can't have been that long ago though since I change strings in every 4 or 6 shows. So first thing was to fix the bass and then it was time for Popeda. They are one of the more popular Finnish rock bands who started already in the mid-70's. I guess they were good. I honestly think that the band is good but the lead singer has gone worse and worse during the years. But I did watch the entire set which I almost never do at the festivals.
Our own show was at the tent on the beach. The band before us had maybe 20 people watching them. Jonne for example was really worried because of that. However, during the change over people started to gather up and when we started the tent was quite full. Not packed, but full. We did once again the normal set. Orbina made a comeback but then again we left out Keep On Galloping because Jonne forgot to put this plastic thing on his broken finger and couldn't hit the djembe anymore. We also finished with Ii Lea Voibmi for a change. We had some time to hang around the area after the show but in a couple of hours we started our journey to Helsinki-Vantaa since we had an early morning flight to Frankfurt. I tried to sleep in a van which wasn't really that easy but then again the flight went quite fast since I fell a sleep immediately and don't even remember the take-off.
We arrived Frankfurt around 10 local time and packed ourselves in a van again. Distance was only something like 300km and showtime was a 20.00 so we had plenty of time and we stopped at Thomann in Burgebrach which was almost on our route. I was able to keep myself from buying anything. I spent some time testing a 5-string Fender Jazz but didn't buy that after all. Hittavainen on the other hand bought a 5-string violin. While he was testing it the others were playing double basses although we didn't really know how to. Must've been pain for the staff.
Veldensteiner Festival took place at Veldenstein Castle in Neuhaus an der Pegnitz. I believe the exact year when it was built is unknown but some sources say that it was started in 1008 so it's quite old I'd say. The festival also included a medieval market and many of the people were dressed accordingly which I always like to see. A part of a castle is nowadays a hotel and we had one of the rooms as a dressing room/backstage.
While we were waiting our showtime we checked the area, ate something, had a few drinks and met some fans. I wasn't really checking if the whole festival was late but at least the band before us, Knorkator, played 20 minutes over their time. The change over was 30 minutes and we probably could have been able catch up with the schedule slightly but we decided not to hurry. We have always been the band who does that. Catching up the schedule and even finishing a bit earlier if things are running late. Those times are over. If the other bands or the festival don't take care of that, why should we?
The show itself was not the best from us. At least I felt it that way. Personally the reason was that we hadn't really been able to sleep well and that took away some of the fun. The audience still seemed to enjoy the show which was the main point anyway. We really should tell Paukku what songs we're going to play because we still had encore to do when he already put the outro on. Then again we don't necessarily know what we're going to play until we're actually on the stage. Maybe we should do something about this. Since the outro was already playing the audience wasn't really expecting the encore but we went out and did that anyway. I believe it was Let's Drink and Ii Lea Voibmi.
We hung around the area till the end of the evening. The idea was that we could watch Schandmaul's set but I really couldn't see them. I tried but didn't really see much. You see, I am a dwarf. Basically we ended up meeting people and signing strange things, like female asscheeks. I am not complaining. This wasn't our usual crowd since it was more medieval festival than a rock concert and probably therefore people seemed to be genuinely surprised to see the band there. I guess they are more used to the bands who don't go to meet and greet their fans.
After the festival was over we drove to our hotel in another village. They seemed to have some sort of a village festival going on and some of us still went out to see what's happening. Not much. I went bed quite soon but some of us stayed out a bit longer.
On Sunday we had a whole day to spend since our flight was at late afternoon, first to Copenhagen and then Helsinki. We arrived home in Tampere around 2 in the morning so we ended up spending awfully long time on the road for just one show in Germany. Live and learn.
Next stop: Pellavarock.
We arrived there around 17 and the first thing I did was that I looked up this small girl from Oulu who brought me a screw from Amfisound. On Thursday evening I was changing strings at home and when I removed A-string half of the machine head fell off. Only the string tension was keeping it together. At some point one screw had fallen off. It can't have been that long ago though since I change strings in every 4 or 6 shows. So first thing was to fix the bass and then it was time for Popeda. They are one of the more popular Finnish rock bands who started already in the mid-70's. I guess they were good. I honestly think that the band is good but the lead singer has gone worse and worse during the years. But I did watch the entire set which I almost never do at the festivals.
Our own show was at the tent on the beach. The band before us had maybe 20 people watching them. Jonne for example was really worried because of that. However, during the change over people started to gather up and when we started the tent was quite full. Not packed, but full. We did once again the normal set. Orbina made a comeback but then again we left out Keep On Galloping because Jonne forgot to put this plastic thing on his broken finger and couldn't hit the djembe anymore. We also finished with Ii Lea Voibmi for a change. We had some time to hang around the area after the show but in a couple of hours we started our journey to Helsinki-Vantaa since we had an early morning flight to Frankfurt. I tried to sleep in a van which wasn't really that easy but then again the flight went quite fast since I fell a sleep immediately and don't even remember the take-off.
We arrived Frankfurt around 10 local time and packed ourselves in a van again. Distance was only something like 300km and showtime was a 20.00 so we had plenty of time and we stopped at Thomann in Burgebrach which was almost on our route. I was able to keep myself from buying anything. I spent some time testing a 5-string Fender Jazz but didn't buy that after all. Hittavainen on the other hand bought a 5-string violin. While he was testing it the others were playing double basses although we didn't really know how to. Must've been pain for the staff.
Veldensteiner Festival took place at Veldenstein Castle in Neuhaus an der Pegnitz. I believe the exact year when it was built is unknown but some sources say that it was started in 1008 so it's quite old I'd say. The festival also included a medieval market and many of the people were dressed accordingly which I always like to see. A part of a castle is nowadays a hotel and we had one of the rooms as a dressing room/backstage.
While we were waiting our showtime we checked the area, ate something, had a few drinks and met some fans. I wasn't really checking if the whole festival was late but at least the band before us, Knorkator, played 20 minutes over their time. The change over was 30 minutes and we probably could have been able catch up with the schedule slightly but we decided not to hurry. We have always been the band who does that. Catching up the schedule and even finishing a bit earlier if things are running late. Those times are over. If the other bands or the festival don't take care of that, why should we?
The show itself was not the best from us. At least I felt it that way. Personally the reason was that we hadn't really been able to sleep well and that took away some of the fun. The audience still seemed to enjoy the show which was the main point anyway. We really should tell Paukku what songs we're going to play because we still had encore to do when he already put the outro on. Then again we don't necessarily know what we're going to play until we're actually on the stage. Maybe we should do something about this. Since the outro was already playing the audience wasn't really expecting the encore but we went out and did that anyway. I believe it was Let's Drink and Ii Lea Voibmi.
We hung around the area till the end of the evening. The idea was that we could watch Schandmaul's set but I really couldn't see them. I tried but didn't really see much. You see, I am a dwarf. Basically we ended up meeting people and signing strange things, like female asscheeks. I am not complaining. This wasn't our usual crowd since it was more medieval festival than a rock concert and probably therefore people seemed to be genuinely surprised to see the band there. I guess they are more used to the bands who don't go to meet and greet their fans.
After the festival was over we drove to our hotel in another village. They seemed to have some sort of a village festival going on and some of us still went out to see what's happening. Not much. I went bed quite soon but some of us stayed out a bit longer.
On Sunday we had a whole day to spend since our flight was at late afternoon, first to Copenhagen and then Helsinki. We arrived home in Tampere around 2 in the morning so we ended up spending awfully long time on the road for just one show in Germany. Live and learn.
Next stop: Pellavarock.
Thursday, 24 July 2008
On the edge
So we're late again. The bus driver was saying that he's sorry and had to sleep but we told him not to worry. We had a load-in time already quite early in the afternoon but we just called the organizer and told him that we're going to be late for about an hour and a half. No problem there.
Northeim show was a bit different show for us. Apart from the festivals we've never really played as a support band. And I don't count Paganfest either since it was like a touring festival. This time we were clearly supporting In Extremo and Die Apokalyptischen Reiter. We've met Reiter already many times but In Extremo was a new experience. We were also a bit nervous because Jonne and myself are fans of them and we had this idea that this was actually sort of a showcase thing because there's been some talk about us supporting In Extremo on several shows later this year. So we thought we should try to give a really good impression to them. Being late doesn't really help.
Being late was not really a problem after all because when we finally arrived In Extremo was still doing their soundcheck so basically everything was running late anyway. The venue was Waldbühne which is a really nice open air amphitheatre built in the 1930's. We walked in and In Extremo singer waved for "hello" from the stage. Nice gesture. We didn't really much to do so we got our keys to the nearby hotel which we were using as a dressing room. At one point I wanted to get a new In Extremo hoodie and went with Jonne to check their merchandise. I asked if the support band will get any discount and they gave Jonne and myself hoodies for free. Nice discount.
It was really interesting to do the soundcheck since we could see all the stuff that In Extremo has on the stage, pyros, flame throwers etc. Smoking was NOT allowed on stage and this time even Hittavainen agreed on that! We were wise this time and moved my rack to the center of the stage and eventually I had no wireless problems this time.
Our show was surprisingly good considering the fact that we were sort of an extra band on the bill and the audience apart from a few members was clearly there only for In Extremo. We played a good solid set and got some movement in the audience so it was a good show. Reiter played next and were really entertaining as usual. I think their vocalist is among the best performers there is. Great show. Next was the headliners. They were nice enough to pose for pictures and everything before the show. I was taking a picture of the others and accidentally stepped on their drummers feet. Sorry. Once again they were really good. I've seen them a few times already but this was the first time after Summer Breeze 2005 when I actually had time to see the entire show. Both bands should actually be bigger internationally but I guess the German language is a problem with some people. Rammstein managed to get huge internationally and they sing in German. Why not In Extremo? Finnish festivals - book them. Tuska 2009?
After the show when I was already getting quite drunk I actually had a small chat with In Extremo singer "Das letzte Einhorn". Seemed like a nice bloke and the fact that he was still talking to us was a good sign I guess! At one point he actually said that he had heard that we are going to do some shows together later this year so maybe he knows more than we do. There was also a person from the local radio trying to do some kind of an interview with him and us as well, but I don't think he really got much out of it.
That was the mini tour. Next morning we were already flying back to Finland. Now we've heard that the shows with In Extremo are "almost 100% sure" so it's going to be an interesting end of the year for us.
"Today your love, tomorrow the world." No, that wasn't right. Tomorrow: Kuopio.
Northeim show was a bit different show for us. Apart from the festivals we've never really played as a support band. And I don't count Paganfest either since it was like a touring festival. This time we were clearly supporting In Extremo and Die Apokalyptischen Reiter. We've met Reiter already many times but In Extremo was a new experience. We were also a bit nervous because Jonne and myself are fans of them and we had this idea that this was actually sort of a showcase thing because there's been some talk about us supporting In Extremo on several shows later this year. So we thought we should try to give a really good impression to them. Being late doesn't really help.
Being late was not really a problem after all because when we finally arrived In Extremo was still doing their soundcheck so basically everything was running late anyway. The venue was Waldbühne which is a really nice open air amphitheatre built in the 1930's. We walked in and In Extremo singer waved for "hello" from the stage. Nice gesture. We didn't really much to do so we got our keys to the nearby hotel which we were using as a dressing room. At one point I wanted to get a new In Extremo hoodie and went with Jonne to check their merchandise. I asked if the support band will get any discount and they gave Jonne and myself hoodies for free. Nice discount.
It was really interesting to do the soundcheck since we could see all the stuff that In Extremo has on the stage, pyros, flame throwers etc. Smoking was NOT allowed on stage and this time even Hittavainen agreed on that! We were wise this time and moved my rack to the center of the stage and eventually I had no wireless problems this time.
Our show was surprisingly good considering the fact that we were sort of an extra band on the bill and the audience apart from a few members was clearly there only for In Extremo. We played a good solid set and got some movement in the audience so it was a good show. Reiter played next and were really entertaining as usual. I think their vocalist is among the best performers there is. Great show. Next was the headliners. They were nice enough to pose for pictures and everything before the show. I was taking a picture of the others and accidentally stepped on their drummers feet. Sorry. Once again they were really good. I've seen them a few times already but this was the first time after Summer Breeze 2005 when I actually had time to see the entire show. Both bands should actually be bigger internationally but I guess the German language is a problem with some people. Rammstein managed to get huge internationally and they sing in German. Why not In Extremo? Finnish festivals - book them. Tuska 2009?
After the show when I was already getting quite drunk I actually had a small chat with In Extremo singer "Das letzte Einhorn". Seemed like a nice bloke and the fact that he was still talking to us was a good sign I guess! At one point he actually said that he had heard that we are going to do some shows together later this year so maybe he knows more than we do. There was also a person from the local radio trying to do some kind of an interview with him and us as well, but I don't think he really got much out of it.
That was the mini tour. Next morning we were already flying back to Finland. Now we've heard that the shows with In Extremo are "almost 100% sure" so it's going to be an interesting end of the year for us.
"Today your love, tomorrow the world." No, that wasn't right. Tomorrow: Kuopio.
Wednesday, 23 July 2008
Evolution
So we are in Milan. Oh no we're not. We're lost. Just a little though. We're close. The promoters send a guide car to drive in front of our bus and we find to the area. It was a park-like place with one big stage and dressing rooms built behind it from these container things. Nothing spectacular but definitely ok. Especially ok when we realized that the dressing rooms were air-conditioned. Cool! Literally.
We were once again playing quite early in the afternoon. I think we were the fourth band of the festival so we didn't really have much time to waste since we were late already. The crew started to get our stuff in immediately and the driver parked the bus and went to sleep in the hotel. We started to get ready for show which meant basically a few drinks. At one point during the band before us it sounded like the audience was singing "Kooooorpiklaaaani." I heard it again a bit later and went closer to listen. Indeed the audience was singing our name. Kind of cool but not so nice for the other band.
The show was like the others before it. No big changes in anything. The audience was small but at least all of them were really into the show so it was still really nice. Once again I had a wireless problem but this time I realized the reason behind all the problems I've had lately. For some reason my wireless transmitter has lost it's range. It should work well for 100 metres but nowadays the bigger festival stages are too much for it. When I realized that I just moved closer to the receiver and stayed there for the rest of the show. I should get a new transmitter before next weekend's shows. I hope that solves it. If not it's back to square one.
After the show we had a photo shoot for Italian Metal Hammer and we also did a couple interviews with the local media. One of the interviewers was quite annoying though. He seemed to demand that we should BE everything that the bands has ever sung ABOUT. Whatever it was that we had done was wrong according to him. If a metal band sings about rape, torture and murder, does he also demand that they should go and kill someone before they are allowed to do that? What a wanker.
The bus driver had said that we will leave at 2 in the morning so we had plenty of time. We did the usual. Met friends and got drunk. Sonata Arctica was there and so was already familiar Evergrey so we had plenty of people to drink with. I tried to watch some bands as well but as usual I was not so interested in any of them. Probably the funniest thing of the evening happened during the headliner's set. Whenever they, Cavalera Conspiracy, had a break between the songs I could still hear the audience singing. "Kooooorpiklaaaani! Kooooorpiklaaaani!"
After midnight the festival was basically already over for the day and the organizers were trying to get us out from the area. I think we were the last ones to leave. We really had nowhere to go yet, so we were just hanging around the festival area and meeting old and new friends. At 2 we started our journey to Northeim, Germany. I had been counting earlier that it was too late but the driver had to sleep, so there was nothing that we could do. The tour continues. 920km to go.
We were once again playing quite early in the afternoon. I think we were the fourth band of the festival so we didn't really have much time to waste since we were late already. The crew started to get our stuff in immediately and the driver parked the bus and went to sleep in the hotel. We started to get ready for show which meant basically a few drinks. At one point during the band before us it sounded like the audience was singing "Kooooorpiklaaaani." I heard it again a bit later and went closer to listen. Indeed the audience was singing our name. Kind of cool but not so nice for the other band.
The show was like the others before it. No big changes in anything. The audience was small but at least all of them were really into the show so it was still really nice. Once again I had a wireless problem but this time I realized the reason behind all the problems I've had lately. For some reason my wireless transmitter has lost it's range. It should work well for 100 metres but nowadays the bigger festival stages are too much for it. When I realized that I just moved closer to the receiver and stayed there for the rest of the show. I should get a new transmitter before next weekend's shows. I hope that solves it. If not it's back to square one.
After the show we had a photo shoot for Italian Metal Hammer and we also did a couple interviews with the local media. One of the interviewers was quite annoying though. He seemed to demand that we should BE everything that the bands has ever sung ABOUT. Whatever it was that we had done was wrong according to him. If a metal band sings about rape, torture and murder, does he also demand that they should go and kill someone before they are allowed to do that? What a wanker.
The bus driver had said that we will leave at 2 in the morning so we had plenty of time. We did the usual. Met friends and got drunk. Sonata Arctica was there and so was already familiar Evergrey so we had plenty of people to drink with. I tried to watch some bands as well but as usual I was not so interested in any of them. Probably the funniest thing of the evening happened during the headliner's set. Whenever they, Cavalera Conspiracy, had a break between the songs I could still hear the audience singing. "Kooooorpiklaaaani! Kooooorpiklaaaani!"
After midnight the festival was basically already over for the day and the organizers were trying to get us out from the area. I think we were the last ones to leave. We really had nowhere to go yet, so we were just hanging around the festival area and meeting old and new friends. At 2 we started our journey to Northeim, Germany. I had been counting earlier that it was too late but the driver had to sleep, so there was nothing that we could do. The tour continues. 920km to go.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)