Bottle Message15.8.2014

SA: At the moment we’ve finished the re-recording of Ecliptica and it should be out during this fall…in couple of months would be my guess. Our book (unfortunately only in Finnish for the moment) will be out at the end of September. Other than that we’re about to embark on our North-American leg of the Pariah’s Child World Tour, which will be a long one, lasting 7 weeks during which we’ll play 34 shows (if I didn’t count them wrong).

SV: Made a music video from one of the songs of ’Reveal the Change’ which is currently being finished so it should be out any day now. We’re also recording some stuff and will probably put it out within the next few months (not a full lenght album though). We’re also constantly working on getting some club dates in our calendar but it’s a bit tricky at the moment…once again due to the SA touring schedule.

WB:…album still in the making and I’m basically just playing keys to songs as I get them so…just wanted you to know that it’s still happening…

…also I played a solo on this: Etherna: Forgotten Beholder (etherna.net) , a friend of mine Alex from Vision Divine & Labyrith asked me to do it so why not ;-) Cool album with some good song on it…check it out !!!

KS:..the 2nd solo album is still under construction, just sent the songs to our drummer so he can check ’em out. I’d guess this will see the light of day next spring because of the hectic SA touring schedule.

So that’s about it regarding what’s goin on right now. I’ll post updates of individual things as they happend and of course next up will be posts from the SA tour in North-America….maybe even with pictures… 

see you on the road !

cheers,

Henkka

SA:On the Road:Festivals ’14:Porispere (..and the summer’s gone)

Friday 8.8.2014-Porispere, Pori, Finland

Our hopefully last train ride for a loong time started at 0746 from Kemi. Not that I mind the train but somehow I’ve gotten enough of it during this summer. Around 7 hours later we arrived at Tampere where everybody met and jumped on the bus with the gear etc to go to Pori and the last festival this summer. Since I was tired (when am I not) I spent the drive sleeping in my bunk and listening to Bigelfs Into the Maelstrom (spellcheck anyone ?). A quick check-in to the hotel and a shower before we went to the festival. Then in started to get interesting. Stam1na a superb heavy metal band from Finland and friends of ours were playing but their keyboardist was sick. Hmmm…so they asked me to join them for one song and I was like Hell Yeah !! I spent a bit more than an hour programming the sound and learning the song (which I hadn’t heard before) you can probably imagine the anxiety level before going on stage…. Anyway I think it went well, all things considered. Here’s the song as an original:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfEsi1SgVCg

..and here’s the live version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8b0OxznS2mM

Thanks dudes for trusting me and letting me be a part of your amazing show !!!

…after that it was time to focus on our own show. Since this was the last one of the festivals, we were all in a energized mood and the show went really well, some minor things aside. In X-marks the spot I started to play the gospel organ lick in the ”jesus” part of the song and out came a sound more suitable for Van Halens Jump, The Final Countown or something else. At first I thought that my SV-1 had somehow erased my sounds from its memory but when I asked Tero the magical question during the next song…Is this my keyboard ? His response was, no….didn’t anyone tell ya ? (..and yeah it’a actually his job to tell me… :-( ) With the new piece of info I managed to program the doors organ for Blood as well as the different piano sound for Love, in between some of the songs…I doubt anyone noticed….the rest of the show was a smooth ride. Afterwards…surprise surprice…drinks ;-) It was nice to celebrate the end of our summer shows together and later at the hotel we were joined by some of the guys from Santa Cruz…briefly met the Reckless Love guys as well and they were also happy with their gig ;-)

Saturday 9.8.2014 Travel Day

I got up in time for breakfast, yay me !! And at 0900 the bus left for Tampere where we switched for the beloved train and a whopping 7 hours of enjoyment ;-) 

This summer was awesome, thank you all for showing up and sharing it with us !! Now we only have to get the Ecliptica re-make done and our working visas for the US and then it’s time to rock North-America. See ya all in a bit but for now…

cheers,

Henkka

SA:On the Road:Festivals ’14:Dolni Vitkovice-Open Air

Friday 1.8.2014-Travel Day

Being that we live up north, we once again got to enjoy the nice lack of connecting flights….nevertheless so did the rest of the whole bunch so we all got down to Helsinki on Friday evening and stayed the night at the airport hotel.  We did however have the time to hook up with our dear friend Mr.Hukari for some beers, which was of course very much fun. We also managed to do the check in so we didn’t have to worry about the gear the next morning….and sleep a bit longer ;-)

Saturday 2.8.2014-Dolni Open Air, Ostrava, Czech Republic

A nice day ahead, first a flight from Helsinki to Warsaw and then another to Katowice, from there we’ll take a van for two hours to Ostrava where the festival is…throw in a signing session and the show, we’ll be lucky if we get an hour at the hotel to relax. Well I didn’t get into this business to get some sleep and rest so whatever, let’s go !!! The first flight was easy, I slept most of it. During our changeover we had some lunch, and I did order a sandwich which was really crap, Tony also made the same mistake but I think the other dudes were pretty much happy with their food. Anyways, the second flight was a bit less than an hour and soon enough we were sitting in the van on the way to Ostrava. When we arrived it took some time to find the hotel, old gps or something but it wasn’t too bad. We had dinner straight away, rested a bit and went to the festival which was around 5min away. The festival site was actually the same place we played last year with Silent Voices :-) A signing session and then a meet and greet…then some waiting and it was showtime. Somehow I had miscalulated our playing time so we added a couple of songs to the setlist just before we went on. After the show we watched W.A.S.P for a couple of songs before heading to the hotel….which at this hour was closer to 45 min away ??? What the hell, really ?  The problem with finding the hotel was finally solved when our vandriver asked a taxi to drive there and followed the cab. Appeareantly our crew van which left straight after the show also had the same problem…if you ever organize a festival it might be a good idea to make sure your drivers know their way from the hotel to festival and BACK ;-) Other than that no bitching here, the show went great and we had a good time once again….

Sunday 3.8.2014-Travel Day

Got up at around 0930 and at 1000 we left for the airport and a couple of flights with a 5 hour changeover in Warsaw. This time we actually found a place with good food at the airport and oh how the ride went much better after that. Of course our first flight was late and our second one as well but a few hours here or there doesn’t matter when you have the time. In the middle of the night we arrived in Helsinki and went to the hotel to sleep.

Monday 4.8.2014-Travel Morning

Up in the morning and the flight back home. Had to take a nap to recover from this weekend. Now we only have one more festival in Pori, Finland before the summer is over for us…and then a whopping 3 weeks off (without shows, not without work, mind you..) before we head for the 7 week North-American Tour.

cheers,

Henkka