It comes to an end

2014 that is, and what a ride it has been. I collaborated on 2 albums that came out this year and started working on my biggest project to date, the second Cain's Offering album, which I thought would never happen. Met many people, drank many beers, shared even more laughs. Can't really complain :)

2015 will see at least one album I'm involved with, maybe more. I'm not going to make any New Year's resolution, since I don't know what it should be. I initially though of promising myself to take it a bit easier and not work as much as I have this year, but what the hell. I'm happy when I'm busy and I love what I do, so why mess with that.

You twisted little groundhogs take it easy now, and see you next year!

Merry Christmas

May you be offended many times

Last (recording) day of the year done

We managed to get 8 songs done. The aim was to get all the lead vocals done before Christmas, but physique and fatigue got in the way. We will come back to Lappajärvi in the beginning of January to finish up the leads and then it's pretty much up to me after that (and Jens, slightly :)

Tomorrow we'll head to Joensuu to play the second-to-last show of the year with Timo, and on Saturday it's the last one @ Kitee, which all of you non-Finnish people out there might know because of Nightwish :)

It's been a helluva ride and I'm glad it goes down in a positive note, as the stuff we have been working on here sounds pretty damn good to my ears. I'll have a drink and some sleep now, take care you wonderful little fucks :)

Some indication

...of the new CO-style. Hopefully this link works.

Link

Day something

It's going ok, but we are not going to make the initial deadline I set, being that the lead vocals would be recorded before Christmas. That said we are doing fine, 8 out of 11 pretty much done. Tomorrow we can hopefully finish up the 9th one and then in the beginning of January we can wrap this shit up.

It sounds pretty good, so you'll probably gonna hate this :)

True.

Some national anthems are pretty fucking metal...

National Anthem Or Heavy Metal?

Some national anthems can apparently put even Manowar to shame :)

This is fucking brilliant :)

Hobbit Office

Of course to fully appreciate it you would need to have the UK version of "The Office", which I have. Love the series and this spoof is awesome :)

04:30

is a totally decent time to wake up for some people. I'm not one of them. Oh well, soon I'll take the bus to Helsinki-Vantaa airport and we fly to Levi with Mr.T to play 2 shows and raise some hell. On Sunday we fly back to Helsinki and on Monday it's time to get back to recording the vocals.

Seen most of these.

Hell, I've done most of these.

10 ways to hold a guitar (for beginners)

Day 6, I guess

Today we've continued with the vocals. 6th of December was not doable as we had (a great) show in Oulu. Unbelievable crowd there, kudos to you all!

It's always nice when you have something waiting for for at the hotel :)

My namesake had dressed accordingly for the Finnish Independence Day

As for the recordings, we now have 4 songs pretty much ready and 2 that are getting there. Slowly but surely this whole thing is coming together, and if I wasn't an atheist I'd thank God for that. Now I guess I have to thank Timo, and a little bit myself as well :)

Day 5

We've been working on 2 songs since I last gave an update on the recording process. Both are coming along nicely, but the flu that we both now have is kinda slowing things down. Had to skip some of the higher register parts, hopefully we can lay them down next week.

Tomorrow it's time to head to Oulu to Rock the Acoustic Metal once again, hopefully we'll be both feeling better, as Oulu is a great town that deserves a great show.

Have to get this DVD

As I told you before, Turmion Kätilöt played the best show I've seen in a long time. Now they are coming out with a live DVD, and I think I have to get it. I have a feeling it's going to be highly entertaining and a great show to watch while drinking :)

At least the sample looks and sounds great:

Turmion Kätilöt - Hades

One of my favourite Finnish bands at the moment, great music and they are fucking hilarious live while also sounding totally kick-ass.

Day 3

Fuck, I feel like I'm coming down with a flu, and I'm not the only one. This would be a fucking perfect timing to get sick, because there is not a lot riding on this session... We are 3/11 now. Had to struggle quite a bit today, but in the end it was worth it, sounds GREAT :)

Quote of the day:

"It's very difficult to play the guitar, 

if you don't know how to play the guitar"

-Jens Johansson

Hail Satan

Day 2

2 songs down, now a break and some food. Maybe start on another song later tonight. Rocking the fucking metal :)

First one down

Tonight we started on the lead vocals for the upcoming album, and now we have the first song in the bag, so to speak. only 10 more to go :)

December

Tomorrow it starts

Last night was shitloads of fun, went to see these two strapping young lads:

Mr. Vanhala and Mr. Stenberg did a great show and even played one of my all-time favorite songs, High Hopes by Pink Floyd. After the show we drank many beers. Today we drove to Lappajärvi with Timo and tomorrow it's time to start laying down some (hopefully) epic vocal tracks :)

Bounces have been bounced

Finally, I must say. Took a break last night, as Mr.Vanhala called and asked if I'd go see Amorphis with him. Which I did. We put on our drinking glasses and many a beer met their demise.

Amorphis was actually surprisingly good live, and it was great to hear them play some older stuff as well, such as this:

Drowned Maid

Tonight Mr. Vanhala is doing an acoustic show with Mr. Anssi Stenberg, I'll go there and once again drink many beers. Tomorrow it's time to drag my ass to Lappajärvi, the epic Cain's Offering vocal sessions are about to start :)

Bouncing tracks...

...is mind-numbingly boring...

Writing lyrics...

...is pain and pleasure entwined. When it works out it feels great, but when you struggle you feel like the shittiest, most talentless fuckhead in the world. I've experienced both of those feelings during these few nights, repeatedly, like a fucking roller coaster.

Well, inspiration/perspiration and all that jazz... I'll get back to my shit, we are starting with the lead vocals next Tuesday, I have the lyrics for 6 songs pretty much done, 5 to go.

Again, it's funny because it's true...

Things guitarists say in the studio

Aaaaand...

Things drummers say in the studio

Recommend also the other videos, funny shit :)

Some answers

So, Cain’s Offering 2.0, so to speak. We all know (well, we who care) that it’s me and Timo and Hurtsi. So who else?

Jens and Jonas.

That is Jens Johansson, and I expect you all to know who he is by now, so no introduction required.

And Jonas, as in Jonas Kuhlberg on bass. I’ve been playing with him for years, and actually he was my first choice for the first CO album as well, but back then we could not make it happen. Not that I have anything against Jukka, he did a GREAT job with the first album and he is a fucking great guy.

Sorry for my hiatus on this blog, but I’ve been shit busy, and I guess you all know why. The album is coming along nice, we now have drums and bass recorded, and fuck do they sound good. I did the demos with a drum machine and me playing the bass, and I must say having actual kick-ass musicians play the songs makes a fucking difference…

I’m at the stage 5 now, so this might actually work :)

And before anyone starts whining about the changes in the lineup, please wait until you hear the results. I think it’s going to be worth all this and the 6-year (by the time the album is out) wait. You can whine then if you feel the need to.

I’ll get back to writing lyrics now, here’s a video from the bass sessions to hold you over :)

Cain's Offering Bass Recordings 2014

Stay posted, or get wasted, or both...

One of the best song titles in a long time :)

Who says rock n' roll is not dangerous anymore?

AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd on New Zealand murder plot charge

Back at home for a change

Got a new laptop earlier this week, now sitting here working on the Cain-lyrics. On Friday it's time to hit the road again, and I guess it will be another 2-week stint before I get to come home. Friday and Saturday shows with Timo, and on Monday we begin the bass recordings. Then it's again Friday and Saturday shows and after that we will start with the lead vocals. Shitloads of work at the moment, but I don't mind :)

Mystic Blackoustic

Tonight at Rauma

Ebola

Indeed...

Rock the week

So, this has been a rocking week. The drums for the next Cain's Offering album are done and I have spent the whole week here at Lappajärvi with Timo and Jens, and we even managed to write two new songs. Not to mention had shitloads of fun doing that :) Actually the other one of the songs is so good it's a shame we didn't write it earlier so it could've been on the CO album. Well, if Strato doesn't use it you'll here it on the third Cain album that will hit the stores around 2021 :)

Tomorrow it's time to hit the road again to play the shows in Pori and Rauma. Still no rest for the wicked, but who cares when you're having this much fun doing what you do for work :)

CO drum recordings

Are done :)

Picture from the Studio57 facebook page.

Heavy metal bootcamp

Arrived to Lappajärvi last night, now we are going to spend a few days writing some metal music with Timo and Jens. Ought to be shitloads of fun :)

Today it starts

A new level

You know you've taken it to the next level when you get your own burger :)

Status update, or something like that

Lying here in bed, waiting for our show in Vantaa, which will start in 55min. Tomorrow Vuokatti.

Hurtsi sent me a message earlier today, he is healthy enough to play and we will start the drum sessions on Monday. 

Good morning to you all

I guess I'm kind of a cliché...

Writing lyrics in the middle of the night while sipping some red wine, I mean come on... Fucking pseudo-poetic bullshit :) In other, kinda related news, I finished the first actual lyrics for the album, so it's 1/11.

This is pretty much my method as well:

South Park on music production

A Slight delay...

Yes, unfortunately we've had to postpone the CO drum recordings a little bit. We were supposed to start laying down the drum tracks this Monday, but as fate would have it, Hurtsi got sick. It's flu and if it's the same strain that I had it is a bitch. He did send me a message today saying that he's starting to feel a bit better today though, and he is hoping we can begin the drum session during the weekend. Fingers crossed for that!

So, I did it

I updated the age there so you people can stop whining about it and shut the fuck up.

Quote of the day:

From David Gilmour in a recent Pink Floyd interview. This really stuck with me:

"People have very different attitudes to the way they work and we can become very judgmental and think someone is not quite pulling his weight enough, without realising that theirs is a different weight to pull"

This is both brilliant and disturbing...

...and do you know why? Because I had to fucking check if this is real or not. I guess the title of this post kinda gives it away already, but still, we live in a world where I have to actually wonder these things.

Butt Covers For Your Cat and Dog 

Can Reduce Pet Homosexuality by 43%

Last bounce

Took me 2 days to bounce the backing tracks for Hurtsi's drum session, this is the last one. Damn was that boring... Now everything is set to start the recordings next monday. I think I've deserved a beer tonight.

Viski

Aluehallintovirasto kielsi viski-sanan käytön yksityisissä blogeissa

Viski, viski, viski, viski, viski, viski, viski, viski, viski, viski, viski, viski, viski, viski, viski, viski, viski, viski, viski, viski, viski, viski, viski...

Whiskey, whiskey, whiskey, whiskey, whiskey, whiskey, whiskey, whiskey, whiskey, whiskey, whiskey, whiskey, whiskey, whiskey, whiskey...

I'm not gonna bother to translate the article and the point behind this, if any of you Finns there have the energy, feel free.

This is such a weird country sometimes...

It's true

Dear Folks and Folkettes

Sorry again for the longer-than-intended hiatus, it's been pretty busy here in Janiland. On Friday we flew to northern Finland to do (probably) the last Railio show for this year, on Saturday I flew back home and we had a pretty big party and got pretty damn hammered with a bunch of friends. Took me 2 days to fully recover from that, I guess my party stamina is not what it used to be. Must be the age kicking in.

But now to the stuff that you -hopefully- find more interesting: The drum recordings are drawing closer every day, I guess it's now 11 days and the recordings for the second Cain's Offering album officially start. This means that I have to spend pretty much every waking hour that I'm at home working on the material, but I am pretty happy with it already. I think it's stronger and much more coherent than the stuff on the first album (though even I have to admit that there were some truly great moments on the first one).

I've been asked a lot about my writing process, how I write songs. While that is way too large and difficult question for me to answer, mainly because I have no set way or formula of how I approach writing, I can now shed some light into what I've been doing now for few days and will continue to do until next Tuesday. I guess I could call it polishing the songs.

What I do is this: I have all the demos on all of my computers and also on my phone. I listen to them pretty much daily, especially when I'm travelling and can't really do anything else productive. Not to listen to how great they sound, but to find flaws and weak spots. If I start to feel like something is out of place or doesn't work in a certain part of a song I will write it down somewhere so I will remember it when I get back to my work computer where I have my stuff set up. Because lets face it, if I don't write it down I'm not going to remember half of it when I'll actually have a chance to work on them.

This way I will have all my previous thoughts and ideas always memorised. It might be that I find a certain melody dull, want to change a chord or a harmony or a drumbeat, or maybe I feel that some part of a song is not quite up to par with the rest of the song and the song loses momentum because on this. I've now gone through 2 songs in the last 2 days, and I have to say the songs sound a lot better now than they did before I made those changes.

In a fact, I'm going to wrap this up now, take a glass of whiskey and listen through all the songs, while making notes about everything I think is not quite right yet. Tomorrow I will wake up, make some coffee and then start fixing the things that bother me, it's that simple.

Take care dicks and dickettes, see you around :)

Some stuff:

Article in Iltalehti, in Finnish and mostly about Stratovarius, but covers some ground on writing as well, and has a picture featuring yours truly without the controversial facial hair.

Interview about Cain's Offering, featuring me and Hurtsi. Also has a short interview with Arion.

Demo vocals

This is how it looks like when an idiot is recording demo vocals to girly metalsongs. Managed to sing 2 songs today.

Oh yeah...

...also booked a studio for the Cain's Offering bass recordings today, it's all still on folks :)

No cigar...

Today I recorded a guitar solo using this guitar:

Still didn't sound like Tolkki...

Here I am again...

I don't think you even need to guess where:

Looks like the Autumn is finally here. I don't really mind, in Finland we have, or at least used to have, these things called the four seasons. This fucking flu is driving me insane thought, it's now going on for 3 weeks+. I could do without already.

Last night we recorded some of Timo's vocals for this project we are both "featured" in. Now I should have some coffee, maybe smoke a cigarette and then do the final edits for those vocal tracks. Then I could record some CO demo vocals and later tonight I think we will continue with this other project. So, here we are, again...

Testify!

Bibleman!

Always a pleasure

Once again it was nice checking in to a hotel in Oulu:

Thank you, whoever you are :)

I so want this shirt :)

Can also be considered "Quote of the day" :)

Quote of the day

Apparently it didn't take me that long.

So, the new instalment of me talking crap about guitar playing is online. This time I talk (write) about the pentatonic scale (...aaaand most of my guitar playing readers just puked....) and how to expand on the boxes etc. Trust me fellow players, it isn't as boring as it sounds.

You can find it 

HERE

So, have fun and use a metronome:)

Starting to feel better

Which is nice, as we have shows on Friday and Saturday with Timo. Still not even close to 100%, but feeling way better than the last week or so.

I've also done something I haven't done in a while here: I'm preparing another article regarding guitar playing. Been doing some notation and tablatures for you guitar playing readers out there, I try to get the article online during this week, or at least ASAP. Stay tuned :)

Not quite the start I was hoping for...

Well, my 34th year as a habitant of this planet has begun, and unfortunately not as well as I had hoped. Meaning that I've caught a TERRIBLE flu, haven't really gotten out of the couch now in two days. Sore throat, high fever and a lot of snot. I know, sounds charming.

Actually it is kinda fitting time to get sick, as this is one of the few free weeks I will have during the rest of the year, of course one has to spend it inside four walls. God forbid I could do anything that would be actually nice or fun...

Well, it is what it is and I will just have to play with these cards I've been dealt. Hopefully this shit will turn to better soon, as this is REALLY fucking annoying.

Quote of the day:

"I always wanted to be somebody, 

but now I realize  I should have been more specific"

Mystic metalmen?

That's one way of putting it :)

We are one short

Just finished the song I started working on yesterday, turned out better than I expected :) Now I'll just try to write one more and it's a wrap :)

Almost not a day goes by...

Today I was struggling a bit. Woke up in a decent time, went running and after that I tried to write. Nothing happened, nothing. I just couldn't come up with anything. Of course this was probably because I was trying to force it. We have still been missing one certain kind of song that is needed for the album, and as these kind of songs really don't come that naturally to me I think I was pushing it too hard. Then I took a break and did something totally unrelated, came back at 22:00 and at 23:00 I had the intro, riff, verse and chorus written. Which is nice, I thought I would really have to fight with this one, but no. So, I'd say there's 11&1/2 songs written. I'm pretty much aiming for 13, then I think I should be set. No use to write 20 songs if only 10-12 are going to be on the album anyway.

I actually discussed this with Timo at some point when we were writing something together. We don't really write any "filler" songs, and for one reason and one reason only: If it doesn't sound good enough and interesting enough after a try or two then we just move on and leave it behind. No use in wasting time writing something that is going to be at best "ok".  Just move on and try to write something that is interesting enough and touches a nerve somewhere.

I am actually really excited to see what will come out of this album. I of course think the songs sound great already as demos, but then again I am totally biased and disqualified to judge them since they are mine. Every parent thinks their children are special, which is bullshit :)

R.I.P Jimi Jamison.

IMO one of the best, most solid voices in rock has passed away. Well, the choir invisible just got a lot better again...

SURVIVOR Singer JIMI JAMISON Dead At 63

"In the darkest night

Rising like a spire

In the burning heart

The unmistakeable fire"

Burning Heart

Fuckin' word!

September

No need to wake me up when it ends, I'm planning to be pretty much awake. I still have approx one and a half months to finish up the writing for the new CO album. Of course there's some shows and other stuff to do as well, but so far it looks (and sounds) pretty damn good.

On Friday we play @ Jyväskylä with Timo and on Saturday it's time to rock Vantaa once again. Feel free to join us if you feel like it :)

Kinda regarding my previous post :)

If less is more...

I wholeheartedly agree:)

Where we are at:

Well folks, as some of you might have already read from the new Cain's Offering facebook page, things are progressing. I have 11 songs written at the moment, we have a title (and a pretty fucking kick-ass title track IMO) for the album, and for the first time we can give you an actual date: On the 20th of October Hurtsi will enter the studio to beat the shit out of his kit and lay down the drum tracks for the upcoming album.

I have to say I'm actually kinda excited at the moment, there's still some to to write and polish the songs but already there's some pretty damn cool stuff. I'm especially fond of the title track of the album. Just finished it a few days ago, and it hits pretty hard right from the beginning. As Hurtsi said to me, "This is a pretty strong contender to be the all-time best CO song":)

That's how you do it!

Gotta love this guy :)

Some Billionaires Play Golf. Broadcom Founder Henry Nicholas Preferred Drug Fueled Hooker Orgies In His Private Sex Dungeon.

I mean, who wouldn't want that?

And then there was instrumental.

Yep, the first, or actually the second version of the instrumental is now done. Sounds pretty cool to me :)

It's out

"Last of Us" by Arion I mean. Go and buy it so I can buy beer with my royalties :) They also had an ingenious add in a Finnish music magazine, if you understand Finnish check this out, the part written by Masahiro Eto was just translated with a google translator and they put it in the add as it was. Fucking brilliant and hilarious, my favorite line of course being "Jani Liimatainen alkuperäinen Sonata täysi varmuuskopio kannalta lyrics entisestään" :D

@home and going strong

Today I did a nine hour day re-working one song we wrote with Timo, and it was 9 hours well spent. It sounds way better now. It's pretty different from everything we've done so far but sounds damn good nevertheless. Now I'm having a drink and going through all the songs we have so far for the next album and pondering one thing: Should there be an instrumental song, like "Gather the Faithful" was on the debut album? Not sure yet.

Make it ten

You know what I mean :) One more song done, I'm on a roll here:) Tomorrow it's time to head back home, but the writing will continue there. Still no rest for the wicked.

BTW, last night we watched 300: Rise of an Empire with Mr.T, awful, AWFUL movie. Dumbest shit I've seen in a long time.

Lappajärvi, once and again and once more

The two shows we did with Timo last weekend were brilliant, thank you everyone who attended. Today I've been working my ass off on a song we started to write with Timo a few months ago, and I'm happy to say that we now have 9 songs for the next CO album :)

Now sauna and a beer, I've deserved it.

One more down :)

One more song written for the next Cain-album. At the moment I have 8 sure songs and 2 on the "maybe" pile. We are getting there :)

Tomorrow it's time to head back to Lappajärvi again, writing and rehearsing with Mr.T and on Friday it's time to head up north and play a fantastically acoustic rock show in my beloved Kemi, that's always fun :) Saturday is an acoustic festival in Oulu and after that it's back to writing again.

Road dog

So, for the last weekend I was working as a guitartech for Stratovarius. Their regular guy couldn't make it so they called me, and as it was something I had never done before I thought it was something one should try, if only for shits and giggles and to be able to add that to my CV :) Now I'm richer for the experience and appreciate guitartechs more than I did before. It's insanely hard and stressful job, but also kinda fun :) Of course on Saturday I managed to bust my face open, but these things happen and it wasn't anything serious.

Some pics of my latest ventures, for your viewing "pleasure" :

"Be our guitartech they said.. It'll be fun they said..."

There will be blood

We are the roadcrew

A guitartech from hell

My vantage point during the show

A private show

Could be worse:

More of the same and something new

I've made it back home once again. Took a little trip around Finland, met some friends and had a show with Mr. Railio on Friday.

Two stooges on their way to Rauma.

On Saturday I attended a wedding, two friends of mine tied the know and got each other. We played 3 songs during the ceremony and later on the "wedding waltz" (which was not waltz) with Antti. It was very beautiful and I had a blast. Congrats to the happy couple once more, may you live in health and happiness forever after.

Yesterday I just took it easy, was asked to go boating with some of the Omnium Gatherum-guys, but unfortunately I was too tired after the weekend, would've probably been a blast. Today I've gone jogging and now I could see if I can actually write something. Tomorrow I plan to do pretty much the same thing and on Thursday it's time to hit the road again. Going to try something I've never done before, ought to be interesting :)

BTW, I just saw this, and I lol'd :)

Friends

Yeah yeah, I know...

... none of you folks give a flying fuck about wonderful beer philosophy like the previous post, so here's something that you guys (hopefully) are looking for when you tune into my station, so to speak:

So yeah, it's going pretty well. Seven songs are pretty much done, music-wise that is. These all mostly working titles so don't expect to see these song titles on the album (except two), but at least this damn train is moving forward :) There's 4 more songs on the "maybe" pile, and I'm planning to use all the free time I have in my hands until the beginning of September on writing, so I should have a pretty good pile of songs to choose from when we begin the recordings.

BTW, brothers Hurula - that being our "little" drummerboy Hurtsi and his brother - have set up a Facebook page, which is pretty much as official a page as it gets at this point, so if you feel like checking it out and showing your support you can find it

HERE

Don't expect me to post much there, I'm not that active in Facebook anyway, but I think Hurtsi might be posting some funny anecdotes from time to time :) 

So, there you have it, this is where we're at, at the moment. I'll keep you posted, when I have something to share and feel like it and am sober enough :)

Yes indeed:

"Live life with katkero in your beer - not bitterness in your heart"

We've all had those days...

But it's still embarrassing, and funny as hell :)

Guitar Fails

One more for the books

So, Arion's debut album "Last Of Us" has been officially released today in Japan, that means that I can add one more album to my discography :) If there are any sons or daughters of rising sun reading go and buy it, it rocks.

Yesterday I went jogging for 8,5km, came home and had a shower. Just when I was about to start writing again Mr.Vanhala of Insomnium/Omnium Gatherum fame called me and asked if I'd like to go out and have some coffee with him. So, we went and had a coffee... And three beers. Came home and was too tired to work, but I did eventually manage to write one bridge.

Today I went running as well, but I met my limit: +31celsius is too hot for me to run anymore. I did 5,5km and had to walk the last kilometre as I was fucking exhausted. After that it's been the same old same old, shower - food- work. The songs are progressing and I am still on schedule.

Now I think I shall reward myself with a glass of whiskey for one more album released and one that's still on the works but shaping up nicely. Have a good one!

Working, I guess

Today I woke up pretty early, had some coffee and went jogging. It was pretty sweaty stuff, considering it was +27 celsius and sun was shining from a clear blue sky. After the mandatory shower I went to buy some new strings (for the guitar, not for me) and opted eating out since I felt too lazy to cook anything. Changed the strings and after that it was 8 straight ours of writing and recording.

I was listening to what I did and at first I got a bit bummed out since I noticed that there are basically 2 songs within that one song, but then I saw the silver lining: I actually wrote the basis for 2 songs instead of one. The verses were just way too beautiful to be wasted in a powermetal song and the metal song kinda lost some of it's momentum because the verses were so different. Tomorrow I'll continue working on both.

One more song written...

...maybe I can actually pull this off. At least the spirits are high (and not on drugs) :)

BTW, anybody else been following this King Diamond/Hal Patino feud? If you haven't I strongly suggest you do, it's funny shit. Remember to make some popcorn.

It was horrible...

Here we are

Local venue, local dude and our FOH Jackson. Let's Lorn n' Korv!

Day @ home

Made it back last night, had great shows with Antti and with Timo, a meeting with a record label and all sorts of shenanigans. Tomorrow it's time to hit the road again with the Railio-band.

Oh yeah, I also got this:

A few days at home...

...have now come and gone, but it's been nice. For instance today I sang some demo vocals and after that I went jogging. Sun was shining and all that jazz. Tomorrow it's time to head to Seinäjoki to play that funky music with white boy Railio. Fucking Tangomarkkinat, the whole city is messed up. Too many people for my taste, but what the fuck, it's a show among others...

On monday we play with Timo in Helsinki and after that I can hopefully get back to writing.

Day off @ Lappajärvi

As McDonalds says, I'm loving it :)

Almost nervous :)

Two hours until showtime and my "comeback" with Timo :)

Almost nervous :)

Two hours until showtime and my "comeback" with Timo :)

Throwback Friday

Yeah, I know it doesn't really rhyme, but who gives a fuck. As tomorrow we will be re-united on stage with Mr. T, here's a blast from the past:

This is the very first time we met, circa 1998-1999 in Oulu, on the "Destiny" tour. I was 18 years old and got a fan picture :) Who would've known what would follow :)

Update of sorts:

Yeah, I know you don't give a shit about my "funny" anecdotes or pictures, so here's something someone somewhere might actually be interested in: Today I've talked with Timo and Hurtsi, and it might actually be that we could get the next CO album recorded earlier than I initially thought. Also, the songwriting has been going pretty still, so everything is possible :)

On Saturday I'll play my first acoustic show with Timo in three months or so, waiting for that as well :)

Me neither

I don't listen to prayers either, although I do listen to a lot of other stuff besides metal. 

Then again, I've always been a bit more open-minded than Jesus :)