Food for thought:

When did music become unimportant?

Time to get some sleep

We're back at the cottage again. Now I'll get some sleep and when I wake up I'm going to go wild on my instrument. And after that I'll probably play some guitar :)

Train train, take me away

Yeah, I'm in a train again, on my way to Lappajärvi. This thoroughly sucks, but it's the easiest way to get there, and lets face it, a man has to work.

Tonight some setting up and tomorrow I'll continue laying down the guitar tracks so maybe, just maybe this thing could be finished at some point. Our initial thoughts were: "an acoustic album? Sounds easy enough". Well, turns out it isn't. But we'll get there, eventually.

The Avengers

Went to see it today, and it was actually pretty damn good. Brainless fun, but I was entertained so it most definitely served it's purpose. Warmly recommend it :)

No hangover.

Which is nice :) Yesterday was fun, drinking ftw :) Today I'm thinking about going to see The Avengers, and tomorrow I'll head back to Lappajärvi to continue with the acoustic-crapola :)

Yes...

...drinking is still fun :)

So...

Sweden won, good for them. And for me, as if I decide to write a song for next years competition I don't have to go to buttfuck nowhere :)

Drinking was fun yesterday, lets see if it's fun today as well.

Eurovision part III

Just to let you know, I am not going to post a lenghty rambling about the finals today. Why? For two reasons:

1. I've seen/heard most of the songs and doubt I'd have anything of interest to add.

2. I plan to get hammered, it's really hard to write coherent posts (are mine ever?) when heavily intoxicated.

So, let's get wasted tonight, shall we?

Sometimes the add...

Sometimes the add can be really misleading in describing the product

Something better:

As we, or at least I, have tonight been tormented with some really shitty music, 

let's go for some pop music that is new and great:

I love this, the song is awesome, the lyrics are good, and Adam Lambert is one helluva singer. I think I will buy this album tomorrow. Better than anything I've heard in a while, professional and well produced, yet packs some emotion and substance. Kudos!

Eurovision part II

In 3 hours. I prepared myself by buying 3 litres of wine, so I am set.

EDIT:

I have my glass of white, so here we go.


Serbia:

Sounds pretty nice. Good singer, the chorus melody is kinda cliché-ish, but it works, I like it.


F.Y.R Macedonia:

The singer is somehow off-putting, the song doesn't touch me either. The rock-thingy sounds forced. Not my cup of tea this one.


The Netherlands:

No, no, no.... What the fuck is lady Shitting Bull doing with the feathers and shit?  The apache of Amsterdam??? This demands me upping my alcohol intake immediately. BOO!!!!

Malta:

Sounds swedish again: kinda professional, definitely lame. Also kudos on such an original name, "This is the Night". I can't figure out where I would want to listen to this, as there is so much better stuff to listen to when in a club, and anywhere else this sounds sooooo stupid. Also, the girl sang like shit on her "solo break" or whatnot.

Belarus:

I lol'd when this started. The song is sooo cliché and the guys look like a boyband trying to look tougher than they are. Also the vocal harmonies are out of tune, which is kinda bad when that's the actual hook of the song :)

5 down, Serbia my definite favorite so far.

Portugal:

Interesting song, as in I have absolutely nothing to say about this. It's not bad, it's not good, it's totally mundane. Which is an accomplishment in itself.

Ukraine:

Well aren't we shiny-happy and hugging the world. The color of her voice is kinda annoying, as is her singing technique. She's not quite as good as she thinks she is, which results in trying too hard. The song is pretty boring, I don't know what is supposed to be the hook here, it's just crap.

Bulgaria:

Again music for clubbing, this one better production than the previous. The singer is a bit out of tune and shrieky though. I don't like this.

Slovenia:

This one sounds good, she sings very well. Too bad the girl singing the "ooh" part is off-tune. This might be my favorite so far, pretty melody and good singing. Coolio. Apparently the co-writer of the song also wrote the song "Molitva", which won back in the day. I like that song a lot, it deserved to win.

Croatia:

Another eurovision-power ballad, professional, yet leaves me cold. This is a solid effort, but lacks personality. Also the male dancers only look a "tad" gay :) The double-time feel was a good idea, the song actually picked up now. From 7 to 8- or so.

Sweden:

This is supposedly some kind of favorite to win. But swedes always think they are, so I wouldn't put too much weight of that :)

Oh, I've actually heard this one before, in Voice of Finland I think. She could fucking enunciate, I can't figure out the lyrics :) This staccato-vocal thing seems to be big in the dance circles now, everyone is doing it. She sings it very well live though. This is very professional though, and not in a bad way necessarily. I can't really say anything bad about this, but it doesn't blow my mind either.

More wine...

Georgia:

Love the outfit he begins with :) WTF??? It started kinda good, then it turned into disco-vaudeville-broadway-bollywood-crap, it really can't seem to decide what it wants to be. Always fun to hear singing with a very broken english. Really crappy song actually. Blah....

Turkey:

The singing is less than impressive here, and again with the fucked up english. Song sounds like The Fiddler on the Roof eating kebab... Not much to say here, this is just plain bad.

Estonia:

Wow, and actual song for a change... One of the better singers today, nice sound and some rock edge on the high end of the range as well. If only this song had a killer chorus. It doesn't...

Slovakia:

Wow, this starts well. This is almost fucking metal :) Decent singer, a bit off-tune though, kinda shouting at times. Refreshing to hear a rock song, would be even better if it was a great rock song. Now it's just, well, ok. I wouldn't buy the album. But he definitely has the 80's hair metal-thing down. The more aggressive screaming parts sound actually good, the song as a whole doesn't really work thought. Damn...

Norway:

Oh nice, what a pretty boy... Too bad he can't sing, at all. WAY out of tune. The song is crap, I've heard shit like this done better a million times. Btw, hands up if someone thinks this song and performance reminds you of Norway? Yeah, didn't think so... Blaaaaah....

Bosnia & Herzegovina:

A girl and a piano, nice. Sounds pretty, not very catchy though. I can't really grasp the song, what is the chorus? What is the hook? 

Lithuania:

Is wearing a blindfold while singing a song "Love is Blind" underlining it a bit too much? I think so:) He sings well though, although his accent is kinda funny. The song really doesn't do much for me though. The guy is trying to pull of somekind of Michael Jackson shit as well, might want to skip that next time.

All in all I think tuesdays semifinal had way better songs, this really didn't do much for me. I think Sweden is a safe bet for the finals, and I hope Slovenia goes through as well. Other than that, I don't fucking care, this was kinda boring. 

EDIT2:

The number before the results had a really interesting idea, but man, Dima Bilan was soooo out of tune! Molitva is still a great song, love it :) Rybak's song is still catchy as well, but he too sounds waaaay off-tune. They're not competing so couldn't they just do this playback so we'd all have more fun? The version of the German winner sounded really interesting with the azeri-instruments, never liked the song too much though. But why the fuck is Waterloo here? I mean it's a good song, but the rest are somewhat recent winners. I don't get it...

Not sure...

Fuck you PETA

PETA wants to change the name of Jägermeister

(Link in german)

You people have such problems. Why won't you just fuck off already...

Eurovision

It has come to my attention that the first semifinal of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 is tonight, starting right about now. I guess I should watch it, although it still kinda bums the living fuck out of me. No fun to watch it alone and sober (can't drink, still sick. Or technically I of course could, but I won't). I haven't even heard the Finnish song that competes tonight. If you can call it Finnish, as it's sung in swedish I think. Might as well sing in Urdu or whatnot. But whateva, I see if I can gather the energy to sit through that shit.

EDIT:

OMFG... This reminds me why I usually drink while watching. They're fucking horrible! So far Iceland and Albania have been pretty good, rest crap, and Greece made me want to start cutting myself. Let's kick them out not only of Euro, but also from the globe. Of course swedes had their fingers in that song as well, and not in a good way. Let's get rid of Sweden as well, as that was borderline crime against humanity...

EDIT2:

Well, now I've heard the Finnish song. Surprisingly, not half bad song, totally ok. Unfortunately it was in swedish and also the girl was not great singer (not bad, just not great, what would've been a requirement for that kind of song) and also had about zero charisma. I'd say we won't see her in the final.

EDIT3:

So, I actually managed to sit it through and saw them all. About the rest: Denmark had a nice song, wouldn't change the channel if I heard it on the radio. Also Hungary had a decent pop song, no objections. About the Russian grannies that everyone seems to be crazy about: Sorry, didn't like it AT ALL. It's just a gimmick with some old farts, I don't want to see or listen to that, it wasn't good musically, nor funny enough to enjoy. First I thought it's just the cynical dark fuckhead emo-me that can't bear anything that lighthearted, but then again I thought Jedward was pretty funny again, just like last year. The guys can't really sing and their dancing is pretty awkward at best, but the good mood there is really catchy, made me smile a bit. So maybe it's not just me being a dick, maybe I'm actually on to something there.

Well, there you have it. I hope Iceland, Albania and Denmark make it, don't really care about the others, except I hope that Greece really bombs hard. That song rubbed me so the wrong way it's not even real...

EDIT4:

Got all 3 and Hungary as a bonus, nice as I probably watch the final on saturday. But then again so did Greece, so I have to be fucking drunk to manage it...

Now they're fucking telling me...

New study links loud music to drug use and unprotected sex...

Once again something that could've been brought to my attention YESTERDAY...

Never make plans

As they always go to hell. I had some nice ones for this weekend, well, turns out I got sick and had to scrap them all. Also it was fucking awesome having to play a show while being totally under the weather. Well, I'm still alive, though I feel like shit.

Good thing is I have a free week, which is welcome after a month of pretty hectic times. In a week I go back to Lappajärvi to continue with the acoustic album, have to really bust my ass then, so I hope I'll be 100% functional by then.

Being sick really doesn't suit me, as I suck at resting. This fucking blows.

Hockey

Sportsmen

We had a pleasure of going to see the ice hockey WC at the Hartwall arena. The game, Finland vs. USA, was no doubt a classic (for you who don't follow, Finland scored the winning goal 8.8 seconds before the end of the game and won 3-2.) We were guests of Nordicbet and having former Miss Finland ask you if you would like to have another drink while you're watching an epic hockey game was certainly a night to remember :)

Went drinking afterwards, now I have a hangover. You know the gist by now...

Dear diary...

It's me again,

been really busy during the weekend, and now I'm back in Helsinki. Tomorrow me and Mr.T will venture forth to rock Joensuu.

Had a superb weekend, played two shows out of which one was a really special case featuring me, Timo, Jens, Jari and Teijo. Was great to play with this lineup, awesome players, I felt honored.

Then I stayed in Kemi for two days, as sunday was Mother's Day (yes, I bought mine some flowers) and I had 2 interviews booked for monday.

Today I took the train from Kemi to Helsinki (8h30min, thank you very much), and I was already sure this day would suck ass big time. Not quite so. Spent the trip catching up on some series I have been too busy to follow lately, arrived to helsinki around 20:00. Then me and Timo had a very good discussion with one record label regarding the acoustic album and after that we went jogging for an hour. Just came from sauna, relaxed, tired and happy. This week looks very promising indeed :)

Hiya fuckers

Took me a while to post again. Been drunk, hungover, rehearsing, drunk, hungover and rehearsing, in that order. I've had shitloads of fun though. Here's a video one of my dear friends shot:

Let's born to rock!

For the record, I have a terrible hangover in the video :)

Slight hannover

Feeling funky, head is aching. More friends arrive today, that means most likely more drinking. Not feeling it at the moment, but I know I will later.

Nature photo of the day:

Spring is here

Quote of the day:

"If you're playing a poker game and you look around the table and can't tell who the sucker is, it's you."

Still alive and feeling fine

Today has been a good one so far. Woke up not feeling too tired, had coffee and breakfast, recorded one song, watched ice hockey, went jogging for 8km and had a sauna. Now one well deserved beer and then I'll start recording Timo's vocals.

I still have tomorrow day to record, then first one of our guests arrive, after that it might be a lost cause to record anything, but then again I think we'll have some other stuff to do :)

Quote of the day:

“Here is my final point...About drugs, about alcohol, about pornography...What business is it of yours what I do, read, buy, see, or take into my body as long as I do not harm another human being on this planet? And for those who are having a little moral dilemma in your head about how to answer that question, I'll answer it for you. NONE of your fucking business. Take that to the bank, cash it, and go fucking on a vacation out of my life.”

A sign:

You know you've been in the woods for too long when:

A) You realize you have not shaved in 2 weeks and have a beard
B) You haven't seen a member of the opposite sex in 2 weeks
C) You go out for a smoke, there are two bunnies in the yard and you just say "Hi"
D) All of the above

Up&date

Yo you, you and you.

Small update: Wrote a new part to an old song yesterday and recorded guitar and lead vocals to it. Today I've finished recording one song, having some coffee now and then I'll head back to our Batcave and try to lay down another one. Then I could start drinking...

Spring:

It's spring and I've been in Lappajärvi for 2 weeks...

Bill is still the fucking man

Revenge, the ultimate motivator.

Word...

Strings...

This session takes its toll...

I LOL'd

Always remember to exercise caution when choosing which musician to sleep with. 

He/she could -after all- be just a bass player...

Goodnight

The best is yet to come...

Went for a walk...

*

*

*

*

This would be funny if it wouldn't be so damn sad

That's sadly pretty much where the music industry is heading at the moment, 

if it's not already there. 

Well, time to get back to recording so people can have some more shit to download for free.

Goodnight little groundhogs

This was a decent day. Got some shit done, some technical crap happened again but I'm too tired to explain it. We have a solution already so we decided to call it a day and fix it tomorrow. Instead we had a glass of wine and watched American:The Bill Hicks Story , which I highly recommend to everyone. I also recommend that before watching it you check out one on his standup shows, you can probably find them online, but support his family and the foundation and buy the damn dvd's, ok?

I started writing a blog entry about Bill Hicks about 2 months ago, but I don't think I finished it so I probably didn't publish it either. I'm too tired to dwell in too deep on the subject now, might some other time, but I'll leave you with this: He is my favorite standup comedian of all time, a man who took a long hard road from a comedian to a quasi-preacher, almost a prophet I would say. He was great, no, better than great, and he died far too young. I think he would've had a lot to say still, and I for one would've liked to hear and see what he would've become. I think it's worth your while to check his shit out, a thinking man's comedian so to speak.

Damn I'm tired

But I have recorded guitars for two songs today, and also recorded some of Timo's vocals. Later we went jogging and then had a sauna, so now I'm tired as hell. We'll try to do a bit more vocals today, but no pressure as the day has already been quite good.

Well, back to work...

Nature photo of the day;

The ice is finally leaving Lappajärvi

This is what recording acoustic guitar is like: