SA:On the Road: Pictures from Ecliptica over Europe & PC Japan Tour

Hola people,

here are a bunch of pics that I took during the Ecliptica over Europe and Pariah's Child Japan Tours, 

have at it !!!

The first pizza of the tour @Helsinki-Vantaa airport.

People in line for the first show in Lille, France.

Uplifting signs on the toiletdoor in the bus ;-)

Appareantly we're playing the same size venues that KISS does...

Tommy living on the edge...

What I ate today...can't remember where though..

Meet Joonas the young hipster of the crew !!

Yeah, I was also at some part of the Berlin Wall.

The fans gave us this...nice...or maybe not ?

Bologna rooftops from the hotel.

Same place, same thing...almost.

5 people in the photobooth after lunch ;-)

In the evening I had some cheesecake in Bologna.

Backstage surprise in Budapest...as always the catering was super !!

Suomi tattoo ;-) Pic taken during the aftershow party in Budapest.

Mikko's glasses & a bad hair day doesn't really work...

Check-in Chaos in Berlin on our way to Japan.

Freaks on the plane part 1.

Freaks on the plane part 2.

Hiroshima from the air...I think...

Arrival day dinner with the boys.

First aftershow dinner in Hiroshima, a small hamburger...

..and no it wasn't for me.

At the same place...so single women or couples can go

to the bathroom...single men not so much ?

Hotel views: Hiroshima.

Meeting old friends.

...and new ones as well.

These toilets are always just as awesome as ever !!

Lunch beer, wasn't really that good.

London Tearoom, where I had the beer shown in the previous picture.

Found this in Osaka, don't know what it is.

Hotel view: Osaka

At the Osaka HRC, they remembered us from before, wonder why ?

A rare thing, Tommys Colt lighter which is old enough to

run out of gas...this never happends, you always lose the lighter 

before it runs out....

Pekka made himself a sandwich

Testing a new Roland keyboard on the train.

Hotel view: Tokyo by Night

Hotel view: Tokyo by day

Someone buy me this car, thank you !!

Car vindow pic of Tokyo.

Backstage at the last venue they had a beer vending machine ;-)

...and a pool...

...and a seaside view...

...and some trophies....

...and the time for Singapole, a new karaoke/strip bar.

I heard that some parts of Kill Bill was shot here, just

found out when we went for aftershow drinks...

...and I think this was a wall that was smashed in the movie. I

have to check that out...

A perfect way to end the tour with some Dom Perignon in the bar. A big thanks

to this gentleman who thought it would be cool to buy a bottle for me & tommy. He

was right, it was cool as hell. Thank you Japan.

cheers,

Henkka

SA:On the Road: Pariah’s Child in Japan 2015

Saturday & Sunday 16-17.5.2015 - Travel Nightmare ;-)

Got up at around 0900, found our faces and belongings from the bus

and exited at the airport in Berlin. After a really confusing check-in that took forever,

we got onto the first flight. Some 2 hours later we switched planes in Helsinki and enjoyed the next 9-10 hours watching movies, drinking and trying to sleep. Upon arrival in Tokyo two vans took us from Narita Airport to Haneda Airport which took about an hour or so, another check-in, this time a lot smoother, some food, drinks and smokes and it was off towards Hiroshima. One more hour of driving from the airport and we could finally check in to the hotel. Tried to stay awake as long as possible but just after 9 in the evening I passed out…..

Monday 18.5.2015 - Hiroshima

…only to wake up at around 0400 in the morning, it’s typical when flying east and it has happend on every single occasion I’ve been here, this is my 10th or 11th time in Japan btw. Anyways since I was up I watched the IIHF final Canada-Russia on youtube. My god what a blowout, congrats to Canada for being miles ahead of everyone else throughout the tournament. I slept for a bit after the game, actually fell asleep with the ceremonies running in the background so I missed the Russians marching out. Around 9 I went for some breakfast a couple of blocks away with some of the crew guys, bought some food & drinks for the room on the way back and spent the rest of the day, watching movies and working on e-mail stuff since I couldn’t get back to sleep. At 1600 it was time to go to the venue and figure out what we’re gonna play tonight. In Europe we did the same setlist throughout the tour since it was based around playing Ecliptica but here the promoter wanted us to do the Ecliptica-thing on the last show in Tokyo as a Japan exclusive so we’ll have to see if we know any other songs for the other shows.

Tuesday 19.5.2015- Travel / Off-day

Woke up in the morning just in time for the NYR-TBL game and then it was time to head to the trainstation and towards Osaka. Went out and grabbed some food with Elias and Tommy and then we had to take a nap since we’re still totally jet-lagged. In the evening the whole band hit the HRC for a late night dinner and some of us checked out RockRock later on.

Wednesday 20.5.2015- Osaka

Slept for most of the day and in the afternoon we headed towards the venue and our soundcheck.Mr Shimizu from Roland showed up and brought a nice little keyboard for us to play around with. The show itself was quite ok, in the end Pasi decided to switch my sounds (it was an accident) during the solo in Don’t Say A Word so I totally dropped off…kinda funny but at that moment I wasn’t too happy about it. Later on the guys went out to dinner but I headed to bed, too tired to go anywhere. I think I’ll need a few days to get the sleeping pattern right.

Thursday 21.5.2015- Nagoya

Got up in time for the Rangers hockey game, actually I did wake up a couple of hours earlier. Did some work on the computer….and then watched NYR lose, actually I missed the last 10 minutes since we had to leave for Nagoya. I played a bit with the Roland keyboard that was lent to me for these few days, in the train…and one hour later we were at the hotel. Tried to get some sleep but ended up watching some Rush clips on youtube…well…can’t belive I’m still jet-lagged…guess I’m getting old. Anyways upon arrival at the venue I realized that everyone else is also quite tired so…by the time we were on, I somehow managed to wake up and I think this was the best show on this Japan Tour so far. We’ve been changing setlists every night since the last Tokyo show will be a japan exclusive Ecliptica-show, we might as well have some fun with the rest of the shows and keep it interesting. After the show we went to Outback for dinner and then it was time to hit the sack. I’m sure we’ll party in Tokyo at some point but for now, sleep is the priority.

Friday 22.5.2015- Tokyo

Woke up at around 0430, fuck…gotta try to take a nap later. Spent the morning on the computer…again. Seems the business side of things never ends….anyways by 0800 I was starving so I decided to go out and buy some breakfast. Which I did, successfully ;-) Some noodle soup, sandwiches and apple juice…as well as some smokes since I’d run out. At 0900 I started to enjoy the Ducks-Blackhawks game and at 1100 I was down and leaving the hotel towards Tokyo and our two last shows on this Japan Tour. At the hotel we met up with fellow Finnish bastards for a short while and then headed towards our rooms for a bit of r & r. Elias had to go and do some guitar magazine stuff though….poor dude. Well at the venue I got to try out the Roland JD-XA which isn’t even released yet…I think I was the first finnish dude to have that chance, on top of all it’s a killer synth. Anyways, our guys from the label showed up as well as a whole bunch of other people that we work with. The show itself was hot as hell and the place was totally packed, which of course was really nice.Afterwards we took the easy way out and went to HRC for dinner. A small patrol of gung-ho type of dudes hit the bars afterwards but eventually gave up and got back to the hotel to get some sleep.

Saturday 23.5.2015- Tokyo no2

Stayed in my room for the most part of the day. The crew did a line-check at the festival that we’re headlining tonight but we didn’t do any soundcheck. The rest of the boys did go out walking and shopping and whatnot, all in smaller groups doing different things….since this is my 10th or 11th time in Tokyo, I just wasn’t up for it. At around 1700 we left for the venue and what was to be our last show on this Japan Tour…and what a show it was, gotta be happy with an ending like that for the tour. Afterwards there was some time to party before the morning and going home. Of course there was ;-)

Sunday 24.5.2015- Travel Home

Felt kinda…hmmm…how should one say ? Hungover/drunk in the morning but there was plenty of time to sleep in the plane. It took us about 90min to drive over to Narita and then after the usual amount of hassle we boarded the aircraft. I watched a couple of movies and slept probably like 4-5 hours or so which is pretty good. Well in Helsinki we said goodbye to some of the guys and enjoyed the 6+ hours of waiting before the late night flight home to Kemi. Actually Tommy, Punky & I went to the nearby shopping mall Jumbo and did some last minute shopping as well as dinner. In the end we all got home ok and now we have around 2 weeks off before the festival season starts. Until then…cheers & beers and thank you all !!!!

cheers,

Henkka

btw may Rangers win game 7 tomorrow night !!!...and yes yes, pictures are coming later, maybe early next week...

SA:On the Road: Ecliptica over Europe 2015 29.4.-15.5.

Wednesday 29.4.2015 - Flying out

Kemi-Helsinki and then Helsinki-Brussels and with the layovers it took the whole day, of course it did ;-) In the evening we were picked up by the bus and our support band Freedom Call from the airport. Had a bunch of beers to get the tour started on a proper note.

Thursday 30.4.2015 - Lille, France

The first day of the tour starts with a hangover, of course, how else ? Always a bit of a hassle to set up the stuff for the first time, etc etc but by the time we go on , everything is working properly and we get to play the entire Ecliptica album for the first time ever. The order of the songs feels a bit weird since we usually build our setlists differently but

I’m sure we get used to it in a few shows. All in all a good tourstart and it’ll only get better from here.

Friday 1.5.2015 - London, UK 

We had to get up at 0500 to get off the bus at the ferry which of course is nice, especially if you get to bed at 0430. Tonights show is sold out, which is really great !! We spent the afternoon doing interviews and soon enough it was showtime. We did some editing to the backing tracks before the show…with the result that most of the stuff was all fucked up so this show went on more or less without any digital help ;-) Luckily we know our shit so we had a good time and it all panned out in the end.

Saturday 2.5. Eindhoven, The Netherlands

We got to enjoy the ferry once again, this time I didn’t go to sleep until afterwards, at like 7 in the morning or something. Easier this way and for the rest of the tour we get to sleep, which is always appreciated. Today we had the comfort of one of the better backstages on this tour, nice venue, good food and we managed to figure out the hassle with the computer as well. The show was allright and we’re starting to get used to the setlist by now. Afterwards we left at around 0600 in the morning so there was plenty of time to hang around….Jamie from Anathema popped in for a beer, hadn’t seen the dude in like 10 years or so…awesome to meet again and what a great guy !!

Sunday 3.5. Utrecht, The Netherlands

The 2nd Sold Out show so far on this tour. The venue was only one year old so naturally everything was top notch. Spent the afternoon chilling and eventually we also could watch Finland play against Denmark in the Ice-Hockey World Championship. We had to hit the stage just after the second goal from Finland. A few days ago we checked out a bit of the game against US but it was also cut short since we had to go onstage. Maybe we’ll be able to watch some more games later on….

Monday 4.5. - Day off, Hamburg, Germany

Went for breakfast at our ”usual” place close to the railwaystation. The breakfast was so nice that I had to take a nap afterwards. Later on I had a couple of beers with Larry & John (our driver) before heading out to eat with the boys. We missed the Finland-Norway game but appeareantly they did just fine without us. If you ever need to check out the best burgers in the world then I’d suggest The Bird in Hamburg. Truly amazing and I’m not even really a burger kinda guy…or maybe I am… Anyways I had to take Pekka out to town in the evening because we were bored. Great idea ;-)

Tuesday 5.5.- Hamburg, Germany

Markthalle for the xxx time, as usual it was a lack of oxygen on the stage that was the biggest issue…and even that wasn’t too bad. Our agent showed up as well so it was nice to have a solid gig and enjoy ourselves. Afterwards we couldn’t leave before after 6 in the morning because of the drivers break but I was too tired to ”get it on”. Well asleep before the bus left and had a really good nights sleep.

Wednesday 6.5. Aschaffenburg, Germany

The only drop and go on this tour. That means that the bus can’t park in front of the venue so you have to take all your shit with you in the morning and spend the day walking around or at the venue. I went for the latter but since my brother showed up it went by rather quickly. We’ve been here before a couple of times and as remembered it was one hot gig and a loud crowd. We did have a great time and will probably come back again, that’s how this works ;-) Afterwards we had to leave more or less straight away…I took another ”off” night with the partying, just having a few with Tommy and Elias before heading to bed and towards Berlin.

Thursday 7.5. Berlin, Germany

I just realized that I haven’t seen the Berlin wall despite being here quite a few times and now we found out that there was a piece of it just around 200m from the venue so we went to check it out. It looked like a wall. The dinner today was a buy out so we hit the close by sports bar, decent food, no problem here. Our show was also quite allright and the fans seemed to enjoy it so all is well, jumped on the bus and headed for Bochum.

Friday 8.5. Bochum, Germany

Last time we had an off-day here after the show, and made a hell of a party as well. Nevertheless this time around we didn’t. After the setup we enjoyed a great dinner, rested on the couch and the usual hanging out before a show kinda things. The show was pretty much in line with the last time, in the sense that it was hot as hell and the place was packed ;-) Tommy managed to stop playing during Kingdom for a heart, just after the intro and that kinda confused us all…anyways, sometimes funny things like these happend ;-) Afterwards we didn’t have too much time to hang around before it was time to leave. Life on the road, it ain’t for everyone.

Saturday 9.5. Pratteln, Switzerland

I think this was my 9th or 10th time here and as always the food is excellent, the local crew are great and everything is just fantastic ;-) This time around we had more people than last time and all in all this was a really great day. Yesterday we got some booze called Killepiltsch so in the morning (=my morning which is basically around 2 or 3 in the afternoon here on the road)….I felt it a bit but by showtime it was of course long gone. A great night indeed…and then it was off towards Bologna and the 2nd & last off-day on this short European Trek.

Sunday 10.5. - Day off, Bologna, Italy

Mother’s Day, and Sunday, and off day. Well, this was more or less hamburger day for me (for some reason). Started the day (afternoon) by going to a MC D with some of the crew guys and tested the 1955 burger which was kinda ok. Afterwards we took a pic in a photobooth….which I’ll update later. After that me & Pekka my room mate took a nap, after all we’d been awake for almost 5 hours already ;-) Woke up around 9 in the evenin g and went to the local steak house for another burger…after that we had a few drinks at the hotel bar before heading out to do some sight-seeing in the city center but that’s another story.

Monday 11.5. Bologna, Italy

In the afternoon we took a cab from the hotel to the venue and started to enjoy the long and hot day. Something was a bit off with the AC in the bus so there was no chance to take a nap in the afternoon because it was just too fucking hot. The line to the venue went by the buses and we had to walk past that everytime we needed to go to the catering area or to the bus, tried to take stops and sign stuff etc whenever there wasn’t too many people there at the same time, after all we had some interviews and a bunch of other things to take care of….so some got lucky and some didn’t, unfortunately that’s how it goes sometimes. We did sign a buch of stuff after the show as well. Anyways, just watching Twilight Force having a blast on stage with the amazing Italian crowd, I knew that we were going to have a blast and as always Italy didn’t fail. Thank you very much this was amazing…and on top of all this was our first time in Bologna…or at least my first time. After the show we met up with our buddies from Trick or Treat and Alex from Labyrinth & Vision Divine also showed up. It was nice to catch up over a few beers before heading out towards Munich.

Tuesday 12.5. Munich, Germany

A nice sunny day and it was nice to get back to Munich. Before soundcheck I  played a couple of games of NHL14 with the Twilight Force guys…got my ass kicked btw. I have to remember to get a rematch or two before the tour is over. The show in Munich was quite hot with not too much oxygen on stage, before the show we watched some hockey, which of course always is nice. Afterwards we had a few and headed towards Budapest.

Wednesday 13.5. Budapest, Hungary

NIce surprise tonight that the venue is actually outdoors, so it’s more like a festival. Tony’s voice was a bit down so we asked Christian from Twilight Force to help out and sing Kingdom for a heart which he did and it went great !!! Afterwards we of course had some Palinka (which I always say, never again) and eventually got ourselves into the bus and on the way towards Poland.

Thursday 14.5. Cracow, Poland

Slept almost all day, just got up for breakfast & soundcheck and then back to bed. Tonight show was a lot of fun but unfortunately Tony’s voice is not there, it’s really weird since he’s no sick otherwise. Christian helped us out again on several parts / songs and we pulled through….at the backstage we had a disco for awhile since we found out there was a stereo system.

Friday 15.5. Warsaw, Poland

Tony went to the doctor this morning and was forbidden to sing. We decided to do a meet & greet anyway but this truly sucks ass. According to the specialist he’s not supposed to strain his voice at all so….let’s see how things are when we get to Japan but right now the mood is not really the best. This was about it for the European Tour, 

and tomorrow we’ll fly straight to Japan. I’ll upload the pics in a separate post.

cheers,

Henkka