Living the dream

Here I am

The Dream Becomes Reality.

Tomorrow Helsinki, on Monday Germany. Garmisch-Partenkirchen, brace yourself. It took 13 years, but we are coming.

...

Have a merry fucking Christmas

With Megadeth

Still feeling like shit...

Waiting for the show here in Kerava, should start in an hour or so. Yesterday was fun, aside the fact that I'm still very much sick. Don't think there will be much vocal harmonies tonight, as long as I can pull this off and come out alive I'll be happy.

Must be Christmas...

...because apparently I'm getting sick. Been sick on Christmas for 2 years in a row now, I guess I will be keeping up with the tradition. Today after gym I went shopping for presents, and as I hate shopping and was starting to feel under the weather already I decided to buy some whiskey for tonight. I bought the same brand I was drinking quite a bit while writing the Arion lyrics for the EP. Now 20min ago I decided to have a glass, and 2 minutes after I've poured the drink my email goes "bling", and what do you know, a new song from the Arion guys. I guess I'll be working tonight after all...

Fashion or Porn?

Fashion or Porn?

On my first try I got 1/40...

Another weekend survived

Made it safely home from our short Finnish stint with Mr.T, had shitloads of fun in Tampere and Joensuu. Next weekend we play our last shows of the year, and actually last shows in a while with Mr.T. We will most likely return in March, and we have some plans of songwriting before that, but no shows together until March. Gonna try and take it easy for a while, but of course I also have shows coming up with Mr.Railio, so I'm not going to just be sitting at home with my thumb up my ass :)

The Desolation Of Something That Isn't Quite Lord Of The Rings Even If It Wanted To...

Yeah, I did go see The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug yesterday. What did I think? Well, it was ok, even good. Lord of the Rings it ain't... It's pretty damn long with a running time of 2h40min or so, which causes the first part of the film to drag quite a bit. It looks really good, but I saw it in 3D and at some point I got really tired of butterflies and whatnot flying towards me all the time...

*SPOILERS, maybe, who the fuck cares*

I did have my issues with some parts of the actual story. For instance, these mofo-dwarves make this long-ass journey to this big-ass mountain, search for the keyhole for FIVE FUCKING MINUTES and then go "Well, fuck it, that's it"? That's some true dedication right there brother... And then there is this dwarf guy meeting this elvish lady for what, 2 times for grand total of again 5 minutes or so, going "Do you think she could've loved me?"... Come on! No way do you get that attached in that amount of time. There's suspension of belief and then there is just lazy writing... And I do know this elvish lady isn't in the actual book but was shoed in by Mr. Jackson and Co., so no need to point that out. Besides, I actually had nothing against this new character (Tauriel, I guess was her name), before that god awful scene. Sure, her motivations were thin and vague at best, but so are the ones of the others most of the time...

And of course, Evangeline Lilly is hot.

It doesn't always work...

Last night I had this great idea of going in to bed early so I would also wake up early today and have shitloads of energy and whatnot. It almost worked, I went to bed at 01:00am (which is early for me), and fell asleep almost immediately right after, at 06:00am. Oh well... Insomnia made me watch John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China again. It's still dumb as fuck, cheesy as hell, and also pretty entertaining :) Saw it a few times when I was kid and thought I'd check it out, if it still holds up. The answer is yes and no :) After that I found myself watching this program about the Top 25 feuds in WWE. I have no fucking clue how that happened...

Now I'll have some coffee and then I'll hit the gym. Later tonight I thought of maybe going to see The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, and tomorrow I'll drag my ass to Tampere where we shall do some rocking and rolling with Mr.T.

To think of it, I should've gone to Tampere already today, as Ghost are playing there tonight. Well, too much trouble. Have fun if you're going.

Well, there we go...

YouTube cancels billions of music industry video views 

after finding they were fake or 'dead'

Interesting. It's not like we all didn't know the figures were bogus anyway, just makes one wonder the true motives behind this. I'd put my money on "money", but what the fuck do I know. Just that it always seems to be about money.

EDIT:

Just have to add this, as while it's not related to the actual interesting article above, I find this hilarious. This guy has his head so far up his own ass he might actually crawl out of his own mouth at some point...

Kanye West claims he's risking his life like a 'police officer or a soldier in war' 

because he could slip while dancing onstage

Bitch, please...

This might sadly be pretty accurate...

Gym, songwriting and children's songs

Hey folks, not much has happened recently, been staying home, exercising and doing some songwriting. Just finished a demo of a new song today, have actually been kinda productive lately.

In other news, YLE, the Finnish Broadcasting Company has released the stuff we worked on with Timo during the fall, and if you didn't know it already, it's children's songs! :) We did two songs for this thing, I was mainly involved with the song "Supersankarikerho", but also helped out a bit with the other one. You can find and download the songs for free, legally, from HERE, at least in Finland.

FYI, I don't play guitar on these songs, I was involved in the writing/arranging part and recorded the demos, I don't know who plays on these :)

Just one pic

Here's one pic I found of Saturday's show with Railio, just blatantly copied from somewhere. Sue me motherfuckers :)

EDIT:

Found another:

Photos by Leena Ikonen (I think... can't be sure :)

Back in action Ms. Jackson

Yep, still alive. You know you had a heavy weekend when it takes 2 days to recover. On Tuesday night I kick myself up and recorded the remaining solos for the Railio album, on Wednesday I went to the gym, finalised one demo song and sent it forward, recorded some guest solos for one metal project and started working on a new song. Today I went to the gym again and continued with the new song. Also played some GTA V tonight after my ears got tired.

Now I'm not sure if to have a drink or not to have a drink... Tomorrow is the Independence Day, so...

Lets Party!

Now we go, best party of the year has just started. See you all later. Here's a soundcheck pic and Antti from yesterday so you can look at him and masturbate :)

Lets Party!

Now we go, best party of the year has just started. See you all later. Here's a soundcheck pic and Antti from yesterday so you can look at him and masturbate :)

Les Paul has never looked so small...

On my way to Lappeenranta

Kouvola railway station. Beer to fic the hangover. Gonna be a great night :)

Sorry for the hiatus

It's just that there hasn't been much to write about. Been going to the gym and trying to relax for a change, that's not really interesting for you guys to read about anyway so I won't burden you with that crap.

Yesterday I recorded a few solos for the upcoming Railio album, so that's pretty much done. Just some ad libs to one outro and that's it. Tomorrow I'll travel to Lappeenranta to play a show with Antti & The Boys, and on Sunday I'll attend a party. That's right, a party.

I'll leave you folks with yet another lesson in Finnish, as I find it funny:

Funny stuff

Watch two old men dramatically re-enact a YouTube comment girl fight

Made it to Hämeenlinna

Herr's my plan for tonight:

Work & off-night combined

Sitting on a train again, for a change. Tonight we play a private show with Mr. T and later tonight I will go and see Stratovarius live @ Hämeenlinna. Might be fun :)

Lets get some sleep

Been working on the song we wrote with Timo while at Lappajärvi, and it's starting to sound really good. Feels nice to work on some melodic metal for a change, haven't written a song like this in ages. Beautiful melodies, heavy guitar riffs, double kick beats... Basically everything a growing kid needs :)

But it's getting late, and as I'm planning on hitting the gym tomorrow before continuing on some songwriting I think I should hit the hay and get some sleep. C U!

Unpaid commercial

The new Arion MCD "New Dawn" will be out soon.

Order yours now.

Well said...

Whitey Explains to a TV Producer Why His Music Isn’t Free…

Lappa & Järvi

Today we played a show @ school in Lappajärvi, doing some youth work and showing kids how they might end up if they don't study hard. After that we went to the gym, had a sauna and then worked on a song. It's nowhere near ready yet, but it has some decent ideas. Now I think I'll have a drink and then head to bed. It was a long weekend and I can still feel it...

Greetings & stuff

Let's play some shows

Tonight Nokia, tomorrow Vaasa.

Booze review II

Kinda like Jägermeister, but with more liquorice taste, and it doesn't kick back quite as hard as Jäger when you down a shot. Warmly recommend it.

Greetings from the studio

We're done, I laid down rhythm tracks for 4 songs + some additional stuff, still have 2 solos to record but those I'll do at home. Had a blast :)

It's a troll...

Give it to me...

You, yeah, you... Fuck you!

Done for the day, tomorrow it's bye bye Kemi for now.

Done with the school for a month now, have to come back here around the middle of December. Today we continued the lyrics-stuff with Mr. Salo, very interesting stuff. After that I got back to my sister's place, went through the songs I'm supposed to record tomorrow, changed the strings and did some basic guitar maintenance. Now I think I'll just chill and early tomorrow I'll have to catch a train and drag my sweet ass and dwindling guitar talent to Kokkola to lay down some guitar tracks. Gonna be a long day again, but hey, most of them are nowadays.

Jenna...

Jenna Jameson returns

Oh god, I sincerely hope this is not going to be another "The Phantom Menace" disaster. I don't need the disappointment...

Still alive and back in Kemi

4 days and 2 shows in Levi. Flew there on Wednesday, which was our day off. Played shows on Thursday and Friday, and stayed there with my beloved little sister for Saturday as well. The shows were ok and Saturday with my Sis was shitloads of fun.

Winter Wonderland

Weird shit. Who would've thought the guy dancing and singing
there in his yellow pants was actually our FOH the night before...

Winter Wonderland part II.

Went to see Anna Puu on Saturday, it was decent.

Now in Kemi, 2 days of lyrics workshops with Mr. Heikki Salo, had one today and another one tomorrow. On Wednesday I'm supposed to head to Kokkola to record some guitar tracks. Which reminds me, should probably do some practising as well... :)

Those pesky DJ's

DJ talks about his work as if it has artistic merit

In other news, I have a hangover. Tell you more about it later.

Aaaaand I'm off again.

Tomorrow I have an early flight to catch, have to leave home at 05:10. Gotta love this job sometimes. I got to stay home all of 2 days after the last stint I did, and now I'll be travelling around Finland for 2 weeks straight again. Shows with Mr. T, 2 days of school, one day at the studio laying down guitar tracks, more shows with Mr. T and then a few days of songwriting @ Lappajärvi. After that I get to go home for 2 days and then it's time to do a show with Timo again...

Ah, screw this, I'll have a drink, do some packing and try to catch at least few hours of sleep before I have to get going again. Take care fuckers.

An interesting article:

The 13 Most Insidious, Pervasive Lies of the Modern Music Industry…

Gay, again

Imam : "Only Gay men play musical instruments"

Damn, here I've been, warm for the female form, and all this time I've actually been gay. Praise fucking Allah this moron came around to tell me how things really are.

Got a new shirt

Love the picture:

Shitloads of fun.

That's what yesterday was. It was nice playing with Antti & The Boys, and even nicer drinking dubious amounts of alcohol with my mates. I guess now I don't have to do that again in a while :) Should head home, I have 3 days off and then I'll be flying to northern Finland with Mr.T. Before that I need to rehearse a few songs, as I'll have a studio session coming up as well, and I have no time to rehearse after these few days.

Let's Party

New Arion single

The new Arion single "Seven" is out now, and I think it turned out pretty damn good. Here's some sources for it, there might be more but I'm too lazy to go find the links :)

iTunes

Spotify

Tired @ the hotel

Just checked out from the hotel, having some coffee and going through my emails for the day. Having some scheduling issues regarding one studio session, as there was some kind of mixup and now I should make it there earlier than we agreed on. This poses a slight problem for me, as my schedule is pretty damn tight already, but we'll try and figure this out today.

Yesterday was fun, doing the Syksyn Sävel show and hanging out with lots of cool people. Today was supposed to be free, but it looks like it's going to take majority of the day to arrange everything for the next few weeks. Tomorrow we have an acoustic show with Timo, and on Saturday we play a show with Antti. Sunday is still wide open, do I get to go home or do I go to the studio to lay down some guitar tracks? Time will tell...

Yesterday's performance @ Syksyn Sävel

Don't know if the link works outside Finland, 

or how long it'll be up, but here it is anyway.

Greetings from Syksyn Sävel

Just waiting for the live broadcast that starts in 2h15min...

Back in Helsinki

Just flew in a few hours ago from Kemi. Had 2 very nice and informative days at school with Mr. Esa Nieminen. Now it's time to catch some shuteye, tomorrow will be a long day.

Faster...

Worlds Fastest Guitar Player...

Brilliant... Just... Brilliant...

Back in Kemi, again x 1 000

11h on a train makes you question things, like why the fuck am I doing this to myself. Rakkaudesta lajiin...

Fast...

Fastest Guitarist in the World

Impressive. I don't know if this has much to do with music anymore, but the technical aspect of it is impressive indeed.

Here we go again...

Sitting on a bus, on my way to Helsinki to meet my BFF. Gonna have a guys' night in with him and my godson. Will also leave some stuff I'll be needing next week at his place so I don't have to drag it all across Finland, as I have school Monday and Tuesday. We have a songwriting clinic with Mr. Esa Nieminen, ought to be interesting.

On Tuesday after school I have to catch a flight back to Helsinki, as I need to be there on Wednesday. Then it's Thursday off, Friday a show with Timo and Saturday a show with Antti. Busy week, but hey, I'm not complaining.

Regarding the previous

Apparently they changed their minds:

Facebook removes beheading video, 

updates violent images standards

Dumbfounded...

So, apparently Facebook things beheading people is totally fine and dandy, but fully exposed female breast is a big no-no... Did FB just convert into islam or what the fuck? :)

Facebook lets beheading clips return to social network

"The US firm confirmed it now believed its users should be free to watch and condemn such videos."

But not be free to post or view a picture of a breast? Logic takes a serious hit here, once and again... And don't get me wrong here, I am strongly against censorship myself, and I do acknowledge that Facebook is a company and therefore allowed (or at least should be allowed) to decide its own rules, within the bounds of legislation of course. But seriously...Boobs vs beheading???

In other news, yesterday I went to the gym, and wrote a new song.

A Lesson

As you know, sometimes I take upon myself to educate my less fortunate readers. So, in keeping with that tradition, here's a crash course in Finnish for my non-Finnish speaking readers. Enjoy and get enlightened:

Finnish Language Guide: Swears

Saturday night's alright for fighting

...or maybe not. Not much into that. Might have a drink later tonight though, been surprisingly sober for surprisingly long. If I continue like this I might not get to go to hell when I eventually kick the bucket.

This has been quite a good week so far, I've gone to the gym twice and jogging twice, and now in an hour or so (it's 11:40 as I write this) I'll hit the gym for one last time this week. Tomorrow might be hangover-day and I hear it's not good for you to exercise while suffering the repercussions of last nights indulgences :)

Been also writing some new songs, I had again a while where I didn't write much, but now I'm back at it again and writing feels good. So, in conclusion, everything fine here :)

And BTW, while I have been going to the gym lately you little muppets needn't worry, I'm still way more like this:

Might be playback...

As a friend of mine wrote:

 "This might be playback... Not 100% sure."

Ookey folks.

So, I decided to have some wine today, so let's say it's 3 times drinking this month. Had a great week though, 7 days, 3 days jogging and 3 days at the gym. Not too bad in my books. Also, talked with a producer this week and booked a session for November. Gonna go and lay down some guitar tracks :)

Today is a good day to try new things:

The International Day for Failure

Steve's got a point

Steve Lukather talks about shit & stuff

Ikea or death?

Funny little game:

Ikea or death?

I made a deal with myself

I'll only allow myself to drink alcohol twice (2 times) for the remainder of the month, and try to exercise regularly. Lets see what happens :)

Some Arion

Guys have just put out a sample from the upcoming EP, I don't know how long this will be up so enjoy it while you can :) I think it turned out pretty damn good and I am proud that I got to be a part of it:

Arion - Seven (sample)

Busy fuckin' beaver

So, I haven't been writing a lot here lately, and for that apologise to you, my dear readers. The thing is, it's been really fucking hectic. I counted and during September I go to be at home a grand total of 5 days. Been running all over Finland, playing shows, studying, writing new material.

This last weekend was a blast. We played two "concert hall" shows with Timo, and although I was kinda iffy about the whole idea at first it actually proved out to be quite fun, not at all as bad and uncomfortable as I thought it would be. Here's a few pics from Tampere-talo. Unfortunately I don't have any from the actual show, but what the hell, you can see the premise from these.

After the show at Tampere it was mostly the usual antics, hanging out with friends, having some drinks etc. Even had quite an insane afterparty at my friends hotel room, including a Borat-swimsuit and 100kg men trying to do pole dancing on a pole that was clearly not meant for guys that size :)  Thanks guys, had a blast and a shitload of laughs!

Now I'm actually having a few days off, yesterday I even went to the movies to see "Sel8nne", a documentary about Teemu Selänne, a Finnish ice hockey player. Too bad it wasn't all that great, but at least I can say I've gone to the movies to see a documentary.

Today I bought a pair of indoor sneakers and tomorrow after my virtual school session I'm planning to hit the gym and go swimming. Sounds frightening, but maybe I can pull it off :)

Let's Tampere

Yesterday we played our first "concert", and it was surprisingly ok. Tonight it's Tampere-talo. Early show and shitloads of friends coming, lets see how this will end. Judging by the guys attending I'd say we'll get hammered after the show :)

Kemi once and again and once more

Arrived last night. The show in Kerava was shitloads of fun. Wasn't really expecting that, but it's nice to have positive surprises every once in a while. We drove to Tampere after the show, I checked into the hotel around 04:30am, slept until 13:00 and at 15:00 I took the train to Kemi.

This morning I went to do a radio interview with one of the representatives from my school, talking about the studies and songwriting and stuff. After that it was 6 hours of studying and now I've been working on some home assignments. Tomorrow I have to be there again at 09:00, should really try and get some decent shuteye tonight, I've been sleeping way too little lately and am starting to feel it.

It also seems like the Autumn has finally arrived, it's been running late for a while now...

Autumn leaves, a pic I took during my "meditational walk"

Got to stay at home all of 3 days

Today it's again time to hit the road. Tonight we shall rock in Kerava and tomorrow I'll head up north again, have to be a nice little schoolboy on Monday. Next week we will play our first concert hall shows with Mr.T, kinda nervous about that. Maybe we'll even have an extra rehearsals for that shit :) We've already rehearsed some new material for those, but dedicating a few extra hours to getting ours shit together is never a bad idea :)

I'm back

Had a blast during our mini "Lapland-tour", all three shows were shitloads of fun. A Big thanks to all the people who attended, there were a lot of you, and a gigantic thanks to the phenomenal staff at Bar Ihku Levi, Amarillo Rovaniemi and Ramona Kemi. Slight sleep deprivation ensued, but hey, one can rest when one is dead... On Saturday we actually went first playing disc golf with Timo, and later picked up Risto and went playing actual golf.

Atop the Levitunturi

Pictures really don't do justice to how it looked

Can't go to Lapland without seeing some reindeers, obligatory pic.

In search of the perfect swing

Levi...

... is awesome ! A huge big thanks goes to Bar Ihku staff for their general awesomeness!

Thanks a bunch

For everyone who posted their congrats. A little older, none the wiser.

It has been a long weekend

Been working like a dog...

Off to work

Time to hit the road, gonna be a looong week, but whatevs, I like what I do. Lets beer great!

BTW, I found a song that could, and probably should, be the theme song for this blog. The lyrics are a bit juvenile and "teen angst", aside from "I hate you - That's an understatement" , which is a great line :), but then again, this blog is juvenile and angsty as well, so it's only fitting. So here's a great sendoff to your weekend, sincerely from me to you:

100 Ways to Hate

Lets get busy

So, today I've gone to buy some (guitar) strings, picks etc. Changed strings and played through the Railio set just to remind myself how the songs go, after all it has been over 2 months since I played with the guys the last time. Also learned to play Mr. Railio's upcoming single, we are after all shooting a video for it on Sunday, so it might be a good idea to be able to at least fake playing it :) After that I went jogging, which might've not been that great of an idea considering that last week I had quite a lot of issues with my left foot. Just felt like going, so...

Tomorrow I'll head to Seinäjoki and after that it's pretty hectic for a week or so:

  6.9   Railio rehearsals @ Seinäjoki
  7.9   Show w/Railio @ Vaasa
  8.9   Railio video shoot @ Seinäjoki, travel to Kemi by night
  9.9   School @ Tornio
10.9   School @ Tornio
11.9   Travel to Levi with Timo
12.9   Show w/Timo @ Levi
13.9   Show w/Timo @ Rovaniemi
14.9   Show w/Timo @ Kemi
15.9   Travel day...

Well, at least I'm not going to be bored...

Careful what you wish for

Yah, pretty much...