Monday, February 1, 2016

Sonata Arctica & Winterborn: Combo week 25.1.-29.1.

Monday 25.1. - Travel & Winterborn rehersals
Got up in time for the 0800 train from Kemi to Kokkola. This weeks gonna be a bit
hellish. Spent the trainride listening to the Winterborn songs, today I’ll figure out 
the few songs I didn’t have the time to check out yet since I’ll be playing keys on
their 10th anniversary show @Tavastia, Helsinki on Thursday. Tonight we’ll have our
one and only rehersal with Winterborn, Tuesday & Wednesday will be the final
practise with Sonata Arctica before the North-American tour in February. On Thursday
morning we’ll have the visa interview for the work permit so there’ll be a lot to do this 
week. 

Anyways, as soon as I arrived Pasi picked me up and we went to the SV rehersal place where I spent my afternoon learning the WB songs. At aroud 1700 we had a band rehersal and then it was off to the studio. We checked out Pasi’s new guitar rig and then the program for the evening was just resting and watching netflix.

Tuesday 26.1. - Sonata Arctica rehersals
I spent the morning checking through the SA sounds and playing around with the WB songs a bit as well. Around noon, Tommy & Elias arrived and we had lunch before starting to play. Checked the set for the support shows, just to make sure that we don’t overplay… In the evening it was time to get a bit hammered, which of course
was nice ;-)

Wednesday 27.1. - Sonata Arctica rehersals & Travel
The morning was spent mainly just chilling, Tony arrived around noon and we proceeded to do the final run-through for the tour. After that we just hung out, did some
promo videos for some upcoming shows but they were too lame so we deleted them….and the it was time to board the train and go to bed. Tommy and I had planned
an evening meal in the restaurant but for some weird reason it was already closed. Shit.

Thursday 28.1. - getting the working visas + Winterborn@ Tavastia, Helsinki
Got up just before the train arrived in Helsinki  and then dumped our bags at
the hotel before heading to the US embassy to get our working visas. Later we
had some breakfast and lunch with Tony & Tommy before they left back home. I took
a nap in the afternoon and then it was time to do the soundcheck. A bit nervous about how I’ll remember all the stuff tonight but I’m sure it’ll go well. After the sc we had dinner 
at the venue and then went to our hotel to rest for a few minutes. The show in the evening went pretty well and I hope I get the chance to do it again sometime. Afterwards it was time for drinks, of course….

Friday 29.1. - Travel Home
Dragged myself to the train at 0930, yesterday was a really long day so I was quite exhausted. The WB guys were kind enought to drop off my keyboard to Tero so it’ll be ready for the US-tour. Nevertheless I got to spend the day in the train just resting, browsing the internet and taking a couple of naps….at 1732 I arrived back home to Kemi and a nice off-weekend with only domestic stuff to do ;-)

In case you don’t know Winterborn, I suggest you check it out…great band !!!

Next stop: I have a couple of tracks for the Winterborn album to finish but after that
it’s time to do the North-American Tour with Nightwish…..until then….

cheers,

Henkka

15 comments:

  1. The Winterborn show was AMAZING, and I still can't believe you guys only rehearsed once. The new songs sound so good, we had goosebumps all over! When is this album coming out? Have you found a label? If you're self-producing it I'll stock it 100% free of charge, I want to get it out there so bad. And the next show the first row will be full :)

    Soooo since I'm probably gonna get imported to the Seattle show again, got any particular Finnish food requests? Otherwise I'll just bring a suitcase full of bread again ;)

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    1. I haven't got the faintest idea about the release-stuff with WB, I hope it'll be out this year. A suitcase full of bread sound perfect...and the italian white was good, thanks !!

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    2. I'm happy you enjoyed it! Worth the extra weight when dragging the suitcase in the snow last month :)

      And you've got it, suicase full of bread is on...who needs clothes, anyway ;)

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    3. At little less than a full suitcase is more than enough ;-)

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  2. Have fun & see you in summer & waiting for the new stuff and tour when the time comes :)

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  3. Hi! Sorry for an unrelated question... I'm trying to learn to play gravenimage and have a hard time figuring out the chords of the harpsichord keyboard solo... Do you happen to remember the chords once the solo changes to Bm or something..? (nice blog btw!)

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    1. We're tuning down a half step so the second part goes something like. Cm, Bdim, Bdim, Cm, Ab, Fm/Ab, Gsus4, G,
      Gm, Fsus4, F ....or something, I don't have a keyboard right here ;-)

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    2. Dude thanks! I would have never found those. Was pretty sure you wouldn't have time to answer to an anonymous fan :)

      Btw I'm looking forward to hearing new Sonata stuff and live shows with the kronos. I'm sure it'll fit the sound perfect!

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  4. Hey Henkka,

    Can't wait to see you guys again this month!How long will your set be during the Nightwish shows? I love all three bands but I obviously wouldn't mind at all if you guys went a bit over on time :)Also, you don't have to spoil anything but are we in for any surprises on this run whether it be at the support shows or during the headline gigs?

    Take care and see you in a couple weeks!
    ~Tyler

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    1. The support slot is about an hour or so. We're gonna play some stuff we haven't played in a while on the NW shows and on our headlining gigs there'll be some stuff never performed in North-America ever. At least that's the plan for now ;-)

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    2. oooeeh curious which 'old/new' songs you come up with! :) I'm also very curious for the setlist for the EU tour next fall... but of course there is no saying yet what that will be since i heard you also are gonna do stuff from the upcoming album? Anyhow, the news of you guys coming back to NL made my day! Oh, and remember my mom, who actually said goodbye the last time you guys were in Eindhoven because she couldn't come to gigs anymore? Guess what, she's putting her ass in a wheelchair and will still come to the show! ;) it means the world to her that you're coming back this year again! see you in Tilburg!

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    3. Unless something weird happens we'll do stuff from the new album next fall, the album should be out around that time anyways....nice to hear about your mom, way to go !!

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  5. Good luck on the north american tour! I'm so excited for you guys and wish you all the best. Thanks Henrik for blogging, I truly appreciate the work that goes into it and it makes us, fans, feel very included. Greetings from Belgium

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