2012

So, 2012 is crawling to it's grave, the 3rd from the sun has managed yet another orbit, and against all odds I'm still here. Was it a good year? Well, not really, but it sure was different. It was a year when the highs were high and the lows were REALLY LOW. But it's over and done for now, and tonight I'm not gonna dwell on it. I'll end it in a high note, party my ass off with my BFF and welcome the night, and welcome 2013.

May it be better to all of us. Have fun and be safe dudes and dudettes, see you next year!

Yours Truly, signing off

I'm sure I have this condition:

Old-school awesomeness

Kicking it back old-school with my BFF today :)

Yet another Christmas survived...

Didn't even have that hard time, and actually it seems I had been a very good boy this year, as I got a lot of presents as well. I have a hard time receiving presents, it makes me uncomfortable and I always tell people not to get me anything. That said, I really did like what I got this year.

On 22nd I went out in Kemi with my BFF, and that was fricking hilarious, haven't had that good time in a long time. On 25th we had our annual "Christmas party for adults" as well, and that was something alright. One guy broke his ankle, and at least 3 of the girls had puked the morning after. Good times:) Today I've tried to earn some "good brother" points and have been cleaning the yard from snow and hooking up TV and DVD for my goddaughter.

Tomorrow I'll ride to Helsinki with my BFF, that's gonna take forever. Hopefully the weather will be better than today, as today it has been snowing all-the-fucking-time... We'll see.

Your Village Idiot, signing out...

A message for Christmas

Merry fucking Christmas

... and all that jazz. Have fun, be safe, and *insert a random platitude here, just pick one*

Some pics from last night

Aimonfire was definitely on fire :)

It never...

It never seizes to amaze me how low some people will go. Had a great time yesterday, now it's ruined. Thanks a fucking lot. Some people really should be anally raped with a cactus. Or a pineapple.

Most appropriate

I find it very appropriate that they decide to give me a hotel room that has this picture on the door:

More of winterwonder

-27C

This was good

Only the colour changes

Again @ the Helsinki-Vantaa airport, this time having a dark Stallhagen.

The Hobbit

I actually went to see this already a couple of days ago, but didn't have the time to comment on it. I went to the theater feeling a bit sceptic, as the reviews I had read were not that positive, actually this movie has gotten quite a beating, and unjustly in my opinion. I liked it, a lot. I thought it was everything it was supposed to be. Sure, it's loooong, but I'm fine with that. Sure, it's a bit childish compared to "Lord of the Rings", but so is the source material, "The Hobbit" -the book- is more of a children's book really. Sure, the tone of the movie changes drastically a few times, but so fucking what?

I was entertained for the whole 2h50min or so, I thought it looked great (I saw the 2D version as 3D tends to give me headaches), and you know what was the best part of this movie? I didn't have to watch Elijah Wood make THE SAME FUCKING FACE FOR THREE HOURS! Also, Orlando Bloom is not in it, which is a huge plus as well. And it has Martin Freeman, who I've liked a lot ever since I saw him in the original "The Office", good casting there.

I didn't think the first act -which plays out more like a comedy- was that great, but it wasn't bad, and when it got going it got really good, and as I said, looked great. Granted, I'm a bit of a geek for this shit and really loved "Lord of the Rings" movies and the book, and have also read "The Hobbit", "Silmarillion" and "Unfinished Tales", so maybe I'm a bit biased. Nevertheless, I liked it and recommend it to everyone. Go see it.

Sauna+Beers=Life ain't so shitty after all

In Helsinki. Just came from sauna, having a few beers. Tomorrow we'll fly to Lapland with Mr.T and have our  "Christmas Party", then on Thursday and Friday we play some shows, and on Saturday I'll head to Kemi to spend the Christmas with my family.

Instagram

CAN SELL ALL YOUR PICTURES OF FOOD!!!! SHOCKHORROR!!!!

In all seriousness, I don't use that crap myself, but if you do you might want to give this a read here. I've always spoken for intellectual property (for obvious reasons), and if I used Instagram I'd probably find the change in their policy more than little disturbing.

Retards

So, apparently Mass Effect, a science fiction RPG set in the far far future where you are trying to save the galaxy and every living thing from a total annihilation and extermination by the Reapers, is somehow responsible for the school shooting in the US of A.  That's really funny, because I've been playing those extensively for a week now, and also spent weeks on them before, and I've never had any urge to grab a gun and go shoot some school kids. Only in America, fucking retards...

I'm with Jim on this one

Finished ME1

Yeah, sacrificed Kaidan, romanced Liara and saved the council. Now I think it's time to install Mass Effect 2 and let the story continue...

Everyone and their bitch...

...are having a Christmas party, kinda annoying but kinda entertaining. A lot of drunken people out and about :)

Santa

Last night Santa Claus gave me a condom. I guess I know what I'm getting for Christmas...

I am

the narcoleptic insomniac

The new Stratovarius album

At first I thought I wouldn't comment on this before it comes out, but as there is NO harm I can do by just commenting on it -especially considering what I have to say about it- and everyone probably knows that I've heard it already so I'll share some thoughts. What do I think about it:

I think it's the best album they've done since "Infinite", maybe even better than that. Hard to say really, but it is REALLY good. Someone asked about my favorite tracks from the album, I've had a chance to listen to it through a few times now and my favorite tracks -in no particular order- are "Nemesis", "If The Story Is Over" and "Halcyon Days".

Why am I writing this? No, I'm not bragging because I got to hear it before everyone else, it's because it really is a great album and I hope, no, I command you all to go and buy it when it comes out. Really, in my opinion, it is that good.

Now I'll get back to my drinking, it's great to have some time off :)

EDIT:

No, this is not a paid advertisement :)

Christmas came early this year

Been working my ass off lately, now the two projects that I was involved in are finished, at least for my part, and I also have some time off, so I bought myself a christmas present. Don't be surprised if you don't hear from me in a while :)

I fucking love it...

...when I wake up just to notice that I'm out of coffee and have to then head out to buy some. It's fucking awesome...

Finally

Made it home, opened a lonkero. Maybe I'll survive.

Travelling...

Sitting on a bus, been travelling for 10h now. Gotta love the distances in Finland. I was kinda thinking of staying relatively sober this week, but now I'm tired and pissed and stuff, and could really use a drink. Or ten.

In a winter-fucking-wonderland

Gotta love my new hat as well :)

Quote of the day:

"I've got tears coming out of my head"

Really...

"Daisy of Love", oh my fucking god. Accidentally saw the ending of one episode, and a dude actually said that... "Tears coming out of my head"... The man speaks so eloquently, he obviously has a way with words. Fucking LOL :)

Greetings from Lapland

@ the airport

Stallhagen @ Helsinki- Vantaa airport.

Never started

Some wine...

Been having some wine and watching the Independence Day reception, not too vigorously though. Also heard a mix of the song I wrote the lyrics for, and it sounds pretty good. You guys will get to hear it late December/early January. 

Tomorrow I'll hit the road with Mr.T again. Friday we play in Tikkurila, and on Saturday we fly to northern Finland to rock Pyhä. Ought to be fun :)

Independence day

EDIT: I originally had the Finnish flag here, but this one is funnier :)

I don't...

Funniest shit ever

Went to a bar to drink, this drunkard who's so wated he wouldn't even know his name comes to me and says:"You know how you look like? You are too nice" Usually people think I'm an asshole, maybe I should just socialize with drunks:)

Just because

Just because you're lame on a Saturday doesn't mean you have to be boring on a Tuesday. Had a good work week last week, now one can wind down a bit. Have no fear, beer is here.

Found one picture from Friday:

Party like a rockstar

I spent my Saturday night alone, played some Playstation, had one (1) glass of whiskey and watched "Groundhog Day" (which I like a lot btw). I'm such a party animal...

Yeay!

I did manage to get an adapter already for tonight, and also I just finished the lyrics. Finally. Also heard a rough mix of the song where they have already sang the choruses, and damn, I like it! :) Now I'm going to reward myself with a glass of whiskey and then I'm going to play some Playstation. What a wild Saturday :)

Awesome...

Should finalize the lyrics I've been working on as they start recording the vocals today, but...

Last night I apparently broke the power adapter of my mac, so now I can't even turn it on. So, I'm sitting on a train and trying to work on the lyrics with my iPhone, and even if I do like this device a lot, everyone who has tried knows that it's REALLY not for word processing... FML...

A great show

Had a fucking blast, great band! Here's the setlist:

Todays venue

Good morning Tampere

I'm tired as fuck, but have to get into our tourbus and head to Kuopio where we are playing tonight. Had rehearsals on Wednesday, and it was shitloads of fun. It's great to play with a lineup like this, I have high hopes for the evening!

Stil working on the effin' lyrics.

It's all pretty much there, just polishing the shit up and trying to make it better. Tomorrow I'll go to Tampere to rehearse, should be sleeping already but there are deadlines to meet. Oh well, I guess I can still work on this on Thursday when I have some free time, I think the deadline is Friday. Remind me again why I agreed to do this?

 

About writing and drinking:

Here's some food for thought:

First of all, how I came to think about this: I was working on the lyrics I promised to write, with a deadline of 2 days. I've been drinking some whiskey and trying to get the words appear on the screen in a right order. At some point I posted on Facebook, saying something along the lines of "I'm not a poet, but thankfully there's whiskey". Later I started thinking that my mother is going to see that when she wakes up, her son was drunk at 03:30am on a monday night, drinking whiskey... She'll probably be proud... But here's the thing:

I really don't think anyone who has never had to try and write something, to create something out of nothing, can understand this fully. When I'm a bit intoxicated my mind works in a different way. I write most -probably all- of the music I write totally sober. I don't need any help with that, I hear the things in my head and that's it. But when it's time to write some lyrics it's a different story all together. I'm really not a poet nor a writer, although I have a decent command of the language (well, languages, both English and Finnish). I can get some ideas down sober as well, but to really let things flow and to let your mind associate things in a manner that is not that "natural" to you, it really helps to numb your brain down a bit with a substance of your choice, which in my case is alcohol. I don't really fully understand why it works, but it does, and I KNOW that I'm not the only one. You guys really think Samuel Coleridge was sober when he wrote "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" or "Kubla Khan"? Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to compare myself to him or any other well known author, just trying to make a point here.

But why the fuck do I bother actually. Bill said it all already and better than I could:

Aaaand

...I finished the first version of the lyrics. Now I'll have a smoke and a drink and wait for some comments from the producer, in case there's something we need to change. Whiskey always does the trick! :)

So fucking tired...

Got hardly any sleep last night, slept maybe an hour or so and I have definitely been feeling it today. No rest for the wicked though, I'll have to continue working on those lyrics now. Surprisingly enough I got something done already last night, while sober (!). Today I've been feeling so crappy I decided to play it safe and went to buy some whiskey, just to be sure that I can actually finish and polish those lyrics tonight. Haven't had any yet though, but I'm guessing soon is the time to bathe my wretched soul in a soothing stream of liquid creativity.

Another weekend left behind.

And it was a good one. Played two shows, had shitloads of fun, met some nice people, and even got some presents. I guess I haven't been that naughty this year after all :)

On Wednesday I'll head back to Tampere to rehearse with the guys for the show in Kuopio. And as I apparently thought that having two days off before that would've been way too good of an idea I agreed tonight to write lyrics for one song...

"Hi, are you busy this week?"

"Yes, pretty much. Why?"

"Could you write lyrics for this one song?"

"Yeah, sure..."

They need the lyrics on Friday, I'll be busy from Wednesday on, so basically I have tomorrow and Tuesday to write that stuff. Well, if I don't get anything on paper (or in this case on screen) tomorrow I'll just go and buy a bottle of whiskey and get hammered on Tuesday. It worked the three last times I had to write lyrics, so I'm pretty sure it'll work now as well. But I'll try to be adventurous first and see if I can write anything worth a damn without the liquid inspiration. Hopefully it'll work out :)

Why???

Practising

I'm learning some songs that we're gonna do next week when we play live with a whole band (Me, Timo + some other guys) in Kuopio Ice Hall. Damn some songs are great! I can't just sit down and play, I'm jumping around, rocking out. It's a good thing no one can see this :) And I've only had one beer, so it's not that either, some songs just do that to you :)

Looper

I went to see "Looper", I have to say I liked it better than "Skyfall" for instance. It was surprisingly dark and gritty. I was expecting something a bit lighter, more of a "popcorn scifi" movie. It really wasn't, but it was very good. Warmly recommend it.

Here's something I REALLY want to see:

Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet

Another monday

Not in a million years...

Ok, now I've officially seen (almost) it all: I just received an email from Jens Johansson where he quotes a Justin Bieber song (really, I shit you not). This has to be the year the world ends :D

Help wanted

I brought these drinks to help me get some sleep, but then I got too tired to finish them all. If you want to come and help me drinking them please dial 555-FUCK-ME.

This was a good weekend

Two shows, both good. Tonight was Parikkala, which was quite a question mark before the show as it's a small town where we have never been before, but it rocked pretty damn hard. Sometimes this is a nice profession. Sometimes.

Yesterday was Jyväskylä, which has always been good for us, and it was this time as well. Only thing that bugged me and actually pissed me off happened before the show. A friend of mine called me as he was in Jyväskylä as well, singing with one other band. I hadn't seen him in years, I think in five years at least, and Timo, who also knows the guy, hadn't seen him in few years either. This friend, the mighty Taage Laiho who sang the "Divinity" album by Altaria when I was still in the band as well, came then to meet us at the bar adjoined to the hotel. We got to sit down and talk and catch up for the whole of five minutes or so before some drunken guys decided they should join us. They were fans and shit, but really, when we say that we haven't seen in years it should give you a clue to maybe give us some space and just let us sit together for a while and catch up. No such luck... It was still great seeing him, if only for a while before it all went to hell.

I just wish that people had the courtesy to give some space and time when it's clear that the moment is special. I know this sounds like I'm again whining about being recognised and shit, but it's not. I've made my peace with that, it's just that we really would've liked to have some more time without drunken dudes interrupting us every ten seconds.

Anywho, good times. It's good to be me these days. I'll enjoy some chardonnay now and leave you guys to it. Stay sexy :)

Here's to...

Beware:

Tonight, in Jyväskylä

Behold the mighty Jallukallo!

Forecast:

Yngwie

So, apparently the new Yngwie album is going to have a song called "Turbo Amadeus". I'm yet to decide if that is ridiculous or awesome :)

Little things...

Turning Japanese

Still a good day

Even the show was good, most awesome and successful day. Not perfect, as there is always something left to hope for and nothing is ever perfect, but still pretty damn good.

A Good day

Went to see my BFF, got excellent food, coffee, cognac, beer and cookies. Most excellent day. Now off to rock Kaarina with Mr.T.

Rapture

I'm pretty sure this would be 100% accurate:

Quote of the day:

"Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, 

but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life"

And he prevails

Playing a show a tad bit after 17:00, in a concert hall, to a sober audience while being totally sober myself as well was intriguing, but definitely not as bad as I had thought :)

And no, I do not get hammered before the show, I usually have a drink or two to deal with my performance anxiety. Almost 15 years on the stage and still I get nervous sometimes :) Then again, I remember reading that Eddie Van Halen played drunk for 20+ years and was scared shitless when he had to go on stage sober for the first time, so I guess I'm doing quite well my issues still :)

Top of the morning to ya laddies

Yeah, didn't sleep too well for some reason. Tonight we play this private happening-thingy with Mr.T. Really not feeling it, but when am I ever feeling any show when I wake up in the morning... I have this chronic tendency of complaining always the night before the show/tour and in the morning when I have to leave that it's gonna suck and I don't want to do it and all that jazz. Don't really know why, since by now I already know that when I actually get to it it's gonna be totally fine (few exceptions aside). Maybe I'm just a pathetic whiner who has to complain about everything. Like now complaining about the fact that I complain... :)

Well, tomorrow and Saturday are again normal shows, ought to be fun and stuff.

Election...

Monday...

Skyfall

Went to see it today. It was totally ok, but I wasn't blown away. Not a movie to end all movies, but I didn't get too bored either despite it being quite a lenghty one. Never been a bit fan of the franchise anyway, so I guess I wasn't really a part of the target audience either.

I've been waving too

You can stand under my umbrella...

If you want to look like a retard, just like me:

Indeed

Pearl Harbor

Yeah, it's on tv as I write this. God I hate this bullshit, but to it's credit I have to say that it has one of Mr.Zimmers most beautiful songs in it: Tennessee

Death to all but metal

Hollow ween

Have to admit...

Using a cross-trainer while watching Will&Grace felt a tad bit gay...

Problem

I think they over-simplify the coffee, but the point is still valid:

More guitar stuff

I added transcriptions of the interlude of "My Queen of Winter" and the sweeping part of my first Young Guitar demonstration on the "Guitar Exercises..."-page, in case you're into that kind of stuff :)

Movember

Fuck it, it's stupid. Not doing it.

Kamelot

Anyone else find it funny that the new Kamelot singer looks and sounds VERY much like Roy Khan? Don't get me wrong, Karevik is a very good singer (liked him already in Seventh Wonder, though that band isn't really my thing) and probably a perfect fit, and "Sacrimony" is an ok song as well, I just had to double-check myself if Roy had returned... :)

EDIT:

FWIW, I always thought Khan was better with Conception, which was at one point one of my favorite bands. Actually, when Kamelot opened up for SA in Paris back in the day I went to their dressing room  and got all my Conception albums signed by Mr.Khan, which was pretty funny :) He is one of 3 people I've ever asked for autograph, the other 2 being D.C. Cooper and Bruce Dickinson. Such a fucking fanboy :)

I couldn't decide if I should include "Roll the Fire", which was the first track I ever heard from them (and an awesome song, especially those big intervals in the chorus that blew my mind back in the day) or "Gethsemane", which is one of my favorite songs, so I'll include them both. Fuck it :)

Roll the Fire

Gethsemane

Update for guitarists:

Hey dudes and dudettes,

I realised I hadn't updated the "Guitar Licks..." page in a while, so I transcribed the intro of "Dawn of Solace" for you, as it can pretty much be used as an example and an exercise in alternate picking. Have fun! :)

Yes, we do.

Do intelligent people drink more alcohol?

Fucking fuck...

How to kill a classic...

It's a simulation

So, apparently we all live in The Matrix

Train, again.

Sitting in a train, no hangover :) Yesterdays show in kuopio was, in a word, awesome. Lots of really loud people, shitloads of fun! A big "thank you" to everyone who attended, hope to see you again soon!

The aching of the head...

On our way to play a show, yesterday. Today we are a bit more conventional and take a car.

No he didn't

On another note, I'm getting tired of Bieber jokes. I don't think I've heard one song from the start to finish, and I don't think I will. Fuck "him" and fuck you.