Brilliant :)

Sabaton spinning

Happy Birthday Blog

I just realised I started this literary vomit two years ago today, and now 2 years and 965 entries (+1 if you count this) later, here we are...

Back @ home

I was in Helsinki for few days, had the first rehearsals with the new Railio lineup. Everything went well, had great time playing with the guys. Of course it would've been good to get more than 2 rehearsals under out belt before the shows with Deep Purple this weekend, but I think well do ok. On Saturday fly to Oulu to play our first show together, should be fun!

The joys of working @ home

Sitting at home, working on the Arion album while having a sip of whiskey

I'm torn...

Between going to sleep and making it to the gym tomorrow or working on the lyrics. I guess I will prioritize and keep on working. The gym will still be there, but this one has a deadline. Gather the faithful and propose a toast, not to the epoch of indifference, but to the work morale!

2 songs done

1 edited from a previous version because some of the melodies had changed, 1 written from a scratch. Damn it's tricky to write lyrics for a ballad. Trying to tightrope on the verge of too much cheese is interesting, but still at the same time there has to be some :) At least it seems I can actually write again, which is great :)

Lets burn the midnight oil again

No, not the aussie band, lets just work really late. Arion vocal sessions are starting soon and I'm missing some lyrics still. My sweet inspiration, please don't forsake me now. Lets make some beautiful music together, I can even invite our good friend intoxication to join the party if you insist :)

Father of the Wolf

Never been really into Amon Amarth, but this new video is really good and the song rocks! Have to check out some of their other stuff later.

Amon Amarth - Father of the Wolf

2 interesting shows

Gonna be opening up for Deep Purple in Oulu and Helsinki 1.2 & 2.2 with Antti Railio Group. At least I get to see Purple live :)

To kick off another week:

Ron Jeremy on a Wrecking Ball

First show of the year.

Yeah, that's right. It's time to kick off the year of live music. Tonight it's Ex-Men featuring Antti Railio :) Also heard that we confirmed 2 interesting shows with Mr.Railio, they will most likely be announced on Monday. Stay tuned!

Programming...

Ok, here we go...

DV Mark Multiamp and 2x12 stereo cabinet. Haven't had the chance to play around with this too much yet, but it does sound pretty badass :) Huge thanks to Rune Petterson @ NordSound for hooking me up, most excellent service! I wanted a simple, versatile and portable setup for the upcoming Railio tour, and this is exactly that.

This was supposed to be "Weird thoughts"

Yeah, it was. But I'll get to that later, bear with me. I'll start from shit that doesn't matter. Only went to the gym once this week so far, still have to watch out for the shoulder, I guess I fucked it up good. Not too bad though, as it seems it's getting better.

To me most important thing: I just watched Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey, and HOLY FUCK it's good. Seriously, even if you don't give a flying fuck about Journey, watch this. When in the end they play Don't Stop Believing in Manila I cried, and I admit it. This was fucking great.

And then to less significant things: I've had shitloads of fun playing the guitar again, even though I've been explaining how I'm doing this transition from a guitar player to a songwriter. I stand by it, and I still see myself more of a writer than a player (yeah, make a joke out of that one), but as last night I was winding down, having a drink and watching Dream Theater: Live at Luna Park I found myself enjoying it, all this instrumental wanking, and thought maybe I should do that too.

So, now I'm thinking. I know I've said (and I stand by this) that I'll never do a "solo album", but I've started thinking if I should do one song, a guitar instrumental, just wanking on the fretboard. It might be fun. I still love melody and lyrics, and that is why I'll never do a guitar album, because  for me the melody is the king and nothing else matters, and especially sung melody with great lyrics, but it might still be fun to do one "guitar-wankery" song, just for the hell of it. Still with melodies of course :) What do you think?

Shred ain't dead

Last night I laid down some guitar tracks for this one metal project I was ask to participate as a "featuring artist", meaning I play a few solos etc. Also got the spark to even do some exercises and try and come up with some new ideas and licks. Playing guitar is fun again :)

Gear stuff

Yo bros and hoes, I know some of you tune in to this particular channel because I occasionally play guitar. Well, as the Antti Railio shows are about to start I decided I should update my gear a bit to accommodate the situation. So, I'll be getting some new gear hopefully already next week, I'll let you guitar geeks know what I think about the new stuff then. Stay tuned and in tune!

Learn that shit

Today I've learned to play 8 of the 11 songs on the Railio album, now my ears are too tired, have to continue tomorrow. Also, just saw that the Arion guys are going to be guests at the UMK tomorrow, here's from their facebook page:

"Tomorrow we are playing in the UMK as visiting artist. Showtime 21 o’clock GMT+2. In Finland you can see the broadcast in TV channel 2 and the fans in other countries can watch it online (hope the link works)

http://areena.yle.fi/tv/suora/tv2 "

Mr. Railio's new single & video

Halla ja Etelätuuli

I actually like this song quite a bit, it's beautiful. And of course, 

I even play something on this one :)

Lets rehearse

Received the newly mastered Antti Railio album today, sounds pretty good :) Have to start rehearsing the new songs. The shows will start in no time :)

So it goes...

Yesterday I went to the gym for the first time this year, and wouldn't you know it, I busted my right shoulder. It's most likely nothing serious, just a little tear in the muscle, but it hurts quite a bit and renders my right hand somewhat useless. Fucking annoying. Was supposed to go to the gym again today, but I think I have to skip it. I don't want to make this any worse than it already is.

Maybe I'll try and write something instead, so the day won't be totally wasted.

EDIT:

I'm well aware that this entry looks more than suspicious after the last one :)

Wankidents!

Emergency Departments Prepare for Spike in Masturbation Related Injuries Over the Silly Season

This was sort of interesting

I think the headline is actually quite misleading, as at least to me that is really not the point, but still check this out:

Imagine Making $2000 A Day From Something 

You Did 30 Years Ago… 

That's What Sting Did

Granted, I haven't checked the facts, but seems interesting.

Congrats to the Finnish Hockey Juniors

Who just won the World Championship against Finland's beloved nemesis, Sweden.  I watched the match, and that was some exciting shit right there :)

And btw, regarding my previous entry, I wasn't even totally kidding with the Hallelujah-part :) I was suffering from a serious writer's block before the Christmas. One night I sat for 6 hours straight and couldn't come up with a single line of lyrics worth a shit. I'm glad that's over :)

I did it!

I actually managed to write lyrics for an entire song tonight. Granted it's only the first draft, but I think it's already pretty good. Seems like the vacation I had actually did the trick :) Can I get a fucking "Hallelujah!"

Not much of a sports fan...

...but today I've watched Mr. Koivuranta win the Innsbruck - competition on the Four Hills Tournament, and the Finnish hockey juniors kick the living crap out of the mighty Canada on the ice hockey World Junior Championship. A good day for the Finns. Now lets see if I can write something tonight as well.

BEST.TRIP.EVER

Made it safely back home, and I have to say that was the best trip and most fun I've ever had. Gonna take a few days to recover, that's for sure. But as there's still no rest for the wicked I have to get back to the old drawing board and continue with the Arion lyrics.

Getting laid tonight

Aus Finland

Went to a bar

Still alive