Hey little fucks!

One year has passed, I've written 601 entries, 602 if you count this one. The blog has gotten 280 000+ views. Who would've actually thought I'd stick with it for a whole year? And guess what, even though a year has passed my man Gregory can still sum all this shit up for you:

Happy birthday JHYA, although that technically was already yesterday. Well, I've been sick so I haven't been quite up to this lately. Besides, who the fuck even cares. I'll drink to it the next time I feel like drinking. Which oddly enough is not today.

Word and stuff

Hi folks,

I haven't died or anything serious, just been a bit busy lately, so no funky smelling updates. Had a blast playing with Mr.T @ Seinäjoki and got stranded in Tampere afterwards. Thankfully I have great friends there, so it was actually shitloads of fun. Greetings to an old friend who has had a rough day today as well, I know you read this shit, and I know you will triumph all shit, come what may. Stay strong :)

To conclude, here's some words o wisdom:

Got some pussy tonight

Jebus Taleban!

Best. Lip Balm. Ever.

Once and again

I know at least some of you are gonna take this as a blatant self-promotion, but trust me, that is not the case here. These guys were just THAT good tonight. Made me proud to be a part of the team, so here it is for you foreigners (and Finns alike) who didn't see it. Arion fucking killed tonight:

Arion @ the UMK

P.S I know that YLE, the Finnish Broadcasting Company still got the writing credits wrong, but let's cut them some slack, they only had over a month to get it right :) And quite frankly, it doesn't matter, I was impressed and happy as a... well, a really happy thing.

Congrats Arion!

The younglings made it straight to the UMK-final, and I have to admit, they were surprisingly good :) I thought they'd be good, but not this good :)

UMK

Today Arion competes in the Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu. All the best to them, an if you my dear reader are a Finn, please try and find it in your heart to give them your vote, for within youth lies the future. Not to mention that the other songs are pure crap :)

Once again

Haven't done this in a while, so here's a picture of a beer I'm about to drink. Enjoy, and envy me :)

I had forgotten how long it takes...

...to empty your computer and start from a scratch. Took me almost 3 hours last night just to make a backup of all my files before doing the clean install. Now installing Parallels, Windows XP and Holdem Manager, maybe tonight I'll have some whiskey and play some poker, haven't played in a long time :)

Civil War

Damn, the guys who left/got kicked out of Sabaton have managed to make a pretty decent metal song, I love the chorus :) The singer sounds quite a lot like Dio and Lande, although of course not quite as good as those two heavyweights, but still a solid effort. I usually don't listen too much of this kind of stuff, but I have to admit this song is pretty damn good, especially the chorus :)

Civil War - Rome Is Falling

Sorry about this...

Computer maintenance

I think today is the day I'll format my mac and re-install the OS X from scratch. Then after the weekend I could re-install Logic and all my virtual instruments and plugins. It's just so much trouble... But it has to be done so I get everything running smoothly and can start working on new music again without everything being a total clusterfuck.

Here we go again...

I thought I wouldn't drink anything tonight, but... I had totally forgotten I promised a friend to go through an album's worth of lyrics, checking the grammar and maybe suggesting some improvements. It seems I'm doing quite a lot of this lyrics-crap nowadays, and working on lyrics = having some whiskey to get the creative juices flowing. Well, can't really complain :)

Some women are idiots...

I promised myself...

I wouldn't really comment on the new Stratovarius anymore, as I've done my part, but now I have to. Apparently CDON lists track number 6 on the new album as "Out Of The Dog" :) At first I lol'd a bit, but then I remembered that I actually wrote the damn thing with Timo, and that title -at least with the images that it evokes in me- can make me come out as the perv of the century...

Spinal Tap

I just watched "This Is Spinal Tap" again, and damn does it still reign supreme. Almost 30 years old and still pure gold. Of course everyone who has worked in the business knows that it's sometimes painfully accurate, but that just makes it even more fun to watch. Good night ya all, lick my love pump.

Guitar licks etc. update

Someone recently asked me to transcribe a part from "Morpheus in a Masquerade". Just to let you, -and everyone else who wants to learn how I played it- know, it's online now. It's actually pretty simple little riff, have fun folks! :)

Helloween

Listened through the new Helloween album today, quite a disappointment... "Waiting For The Thunder" has a nice chorus and "Straight Out Of Hell" is an ok song, and that's about it... I was really looking forward to this, but no... :(

EDIT:

I'll take it back a bit. I listened to the album again today while exercising, and it's not THAT bad. "Live Now!" and "Burning Sun" also have their moments. Still definitely not as good as I was hoping and expecting, but not a total failure either.

Quote of the day:

"I distrust camels, and anyone else who 

can go a week without a drink"

Not Dead Yet

I had the pleasure of seeing the "Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet" documentary, and holy hell was it good! The best documentary I've ever seen. I wholeheartedly recommend everyone, and I mean EVERYONE to see it, even if you don't have a clue who Jason Becker is. It is at times a really gut-wrenching experience, even more so if you are a musician yourself, but even if you're not it will kick the living fuck out of you. Brought tears into my eyes, but at the same time it's very uplifting and so inspirational I can't even begin to describe it. The man is an absolute hero, and his family is the definition of a Family.

Really, everyone, give this one a chance. You won't regret it.

TRAILER

Quote of the day:

"We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have 

ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further"

Stratovarius once more

A lot of people have been asking me what I actually did on the new Strato album, so here goes:

Out Of The Fog
Music: Liimatainen/Kotipelto/Kupiainen
Lyrics: Kotipelto/Liimatainen

If The Story Is Over
Music: Liimatainen/Kotipelto
Lyrics: Liimatainen

I also played acoustic guitar on "If The Story Is Over", and sang backing vocals on all of the tracks. So there you have it. Go and buy it when it comes out, it really is worth it.

Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu, part 1.

Just finished watching it. Wasn't too impressed, have to admit.

I REALLY don't understand what people see or hear in that Mikael Saari-dude. The song is kinda pretty, but only kind of, and it has no hook whatsoever. Also the guy seems really annoying, and lets be honest here, he doesn't sing THAT well. He sings well enough, but not worth the praise, listening to his high register feels like someone is pushing a cheese grinder into my ear.

Diandra was blah, she sings pretty well, but the song is sooooo from the "Golden Book Of Producing an R'nB-Pop-Song For The Dummies". The only positive surprise was this Rautakoura band who did their catchy-folky-thingy. I liked it surprisingly lot.

I know I should've liked the rocker-dude, but lets face it, the song was really not very good, and his voice wasn't much to write home about either. Extra point for having Mr. Teijo Jämsä on the drums though :)

Oh yeah, there was one other positive surprise: Anssi Kela's new song. I never ever thought I'd say this (I frinking HATED his "Nummela" crap), but I actually liked something made by him. Too bad it was him singing it, but even he couldn't totally ruin what was actually a pretty damn catchy chorus :)

Well, next week we have our young metalheads performing "Lost", looking forward to that. Of course then there's also Krista Sieghailwhatever performing that god-awful song, one of the worst songs I've heard in a loooong time... Luckily I have a remote controller so I don't even have to get up to stop her from polluting my precious ears with that shit again. Once is quite enough in this case, I'd rather get AIDS than listen to that shit again. Ever.

Hipster Dave :D

Quote of the day:

"People who think they know everything are 

a great annoyance to those of us who do"

Mass Effect Trilogy

I finally finished the whole thing starting from a scratch, and I must say I was positively surprised how much was carried over from parts 1 and 2 to the last one. Wasn't even bothered that much by the ending, which has gotten a LOT of shit in the internets.

Remember I already told you so:

Stratovarius-Nemesis review

"Nemesis is the best Stratovarius album in 15 years...", I fucking told you so. The review fails to mention that aside writing and singing I actually also play some acoustic guitar on the album, but hey, can't have everything ;)

Sydänpuu

Yeah, remember that joke we did with Risto back in the day? Well, we actually booked a few days @ Tico-Tico Studio in March and will record a single. Why? Because we fucking can, that's why, now have a coke and a smile and shut the fuck up, ok? :)

I frickin' love this song

Easy Silence

I know "Not Ready To Make Nice" from the same album was the "big" song that won grammy's and shit, but I while I think that it's a very god song as well, this one is even better.

For the record, I absolutely HATE country music, or at least I did until someone played "The Dance" by Garth Brooks to me, really love that song as well. Awesome lyrics.

Hello good people

I had a great time yesterday, went out with friends -who all happened to be bartenders- you figure out the rest... :) Also, I never thought I'd play The Trooper or Breaking The Law at a wedding, but now I've done that too :)

Oulu

Slight hangover, apparently I was drinking Jaloviina with Mr. Paasikoski at Bar 45 last night. Now having coffee at my favorite bar in Oulu, Cafe Kuluma. Next we'll go to eat and then head to south and rock the Kaustinen.

Thank you a lot!

Whoever left this for me in the hotel reception, muchos appreciated!

Some things never change

It's a new year, and I'm sitting on a train on my way to play the first show of the year with Mr.T. Tired as fuck, but at least the show is in Oulu, which is always a nice city to visit. My sister is going to be there, and some friends will show up as well so I'm actually looking forward to this :)

The Return Of The King

Janne Ahonen makes his second comeback! I'm so freaking happy, I guess I'll have to go and see the Four Hills Tournament next time after all :)

Steven Seagal

apparently owns a bullet-proof kimono. That's some commitment to wear funny shit while protecting yourself from a possible assassination attempt... The man is more fun than a barrel of monkeys!

We don't get what we wan't...

We get what we need. Or so they say, but it still sucks. I never signed up for this, but shit happens. I never found a lantern, but I made a wish. The genie laughed at my face and mooned me. Again, shit happens. If he ever does that again I'll kick the living fuck out of him. He might be bigger, but I'm insane, so I'll win.

Remember, silver is for losers. I'll go for gold, as should you folks :)

Cooking with Jani, episode I

Open a beer, cook what you will whilst enjoying the beer and 

add 2 or more of the ingredients pictured underneath. Voilá!

Sounds about right :)

Hard work of a sound engineer

I guess that's how it goes nowadays :)

Days uneventful...

Today I woke up, had some coffee, did some laundry, exercised, had a shower, ate some chili-chicken-crap (managed not to post a picture of it to Instagram or Facebook, surprisingly easy in a fact...) and played some guitar (really!). Not too eventful, but haven't been bored either, so that's nice.

I was actually thinking about writing another entry or transcribing something to the "Guitar licks..."-section, but couldn't come up with anything of interest so I had to skip that.

I feel like my mojo is coming out of hibernation, feel like writing some new music for a change. That's a good sing as well. That's what I'm here for anyway :)

Yesterday was Saturday

And I stayed home and finished Mass Effect 2. What a fucking party animal... Well, on Friday it's time to get back on the horse and rock the acoustic metal in Oulu with Mr.T. Looking forward to it, Oulu is one of my favorite cities in Finland, and I know a bunch of cool people there as well.

Not a psycho, probably.

So, apparently my collective group (creative artists) has quite a little psychopathic attributes, according to psychologist Kevin Dutton. Good to know. Of course there are always exceptions...

The Jobs With Most Psychopaths

Quote of the day:

"Half of humanity has an IQ of less than 100. Facts like that tend to draw things into sharp focus quickly."

A song for friday night

When it's just you and a bottle of whiskey, here's a good one:

This Night

The Arion song , ReLoAdEd

The guys seem to have posted it themselves this time, so I guess it's ok. Here goes:

Arion - Lost

In other news, not surprisingly, Mr.Railio went through to the second round in "Voice of Finland". Way to go, proud of you man! :)

The Arion song

Has been removed from youtube, apparently because of a mixup with the name. Hopefully they can resolve the situation fast.

TV tip of the day

Yeah, I'm REALLY not big on TV, but "The Voice of Finland" starts tonight and my dear friend Mr. Antti Railio is competing today, so... :) Have to watch and root for him, even though I actually know already how it is gonna go :)

True story

It's the small things...

Went to the liquor store today and they asked for my ID, so apparently I'm not totally over the hill yet :)

Quote of the day:

"We cross our bridges when we come to them and then burn them behind us, 

with nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, 

and a presumption that once our eyes watered"

New year, new music

The year has changed, and what better way to start it than with some new stuff? So, here's this years first release that includes Yours Truly (I wrote the lyrics for this one), a song competing in "Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu", which is a competition where they search for the Finnish representative for the Eurovision Song Contest.

BTW, if you're wondering why the lyrics might be a bit different from what I usually write, there is a reason: The guy singing is very young, I think 17y or so, so my traditional angsty pseudo-poetry wouldn't really cut it there, as it would not be very believable for him to sing that kind of shit, as it requires that you've actually lived through some of the stuff to pull it off. I think the song is pretty damn good though, even I couldn't totally ruin it:)

It's a good band and I wish them all the best. So folks, if you are Finnish show your support and vote for the guys when you get the chance later this month. A vote for them is also a vote for me, you know ;) I think the song becomes available in iTunes and Spotify on 11th of this month, so later you can show your support also by buying the goddamn song :)

I really don't understand why it says "Lost in the Woods" as a title there, since that was the name of the original demo with the original lyrics, but now it's called just "Lost"... Anyway, here's there first from me for this year, enjoy :) More to follow on February :)

Arion - Lost

Traditions

We have this tradition of watching Garmisch-Partenkirchen skijump competition, in our underwear and hungover as fuck. Every year starts with that. This one is not an exception :)