Sonata Arctica: On the road: North-America part one 18.2.-23.3.2016

Day 1 - Thursday 18.2. -Travel Day

Due to some cancellations we had to drive to Oulu and

fly from there instead of Kemi, in order to make it to the

JFK bound flight from Helsinki in time. So at around 0400

in the morning we jumped on the bus which took us to

the Oulu airport. A one hour flight later we were in Helsinki,

and headed for the Lounge we the NW guys were already

hanging out. Our flight to JFK was of course late but we

enjoyed some drinks and at some point we finally got

on the plane and towards USA. From JFK we headed to the 

airport hotel where pizza and beer was waiting for us ;-)

Day 2 - Friday 19.2. - Sayreville through

Day 35 Wednesday 23.3. Tampa

Since I didn’t get started on this blog until now (24.3.) It’s gonna be impossible

to remember everything that happened during our trek with Nightwish. I’ll try to

be more active from our headlining part of the tour (days 36-48). Be that as it

may here are some of the highlights as I remember them:

It felt great to be back on stage after several months with no Sonata activity, at

least not any musical stuff. We played 26 shows with NW and a lot of them

were sold out as well. One show got cancelled due to illness. It was a bit weird at the beginning to play for only 45min, since we’re used to doing headlining show clocking in at around 90min or more.Anyways, it was a lot of fun, drinks great talks with the guys and a lot of stunning magic from Troy. 

In Minnesota our own Tommy arranged so that we could go a check out the Florida Panthers - Minnesota Wild game during our off-day. We also got to

check out their locker room etc which was really interesting. One of the Finnish players Mikael Granlund came to our show the next day which of course was really exciting as

well.

In Reno our friends from back home flew out, partied with us on the off-day and enjoyed the show the next day as well. I also bought a pair of cowboy boots, which

I’ve been trying to do for a few years now….finally I found the right ones ;-)

In Anaheim we spent the day driving up to the mountains around L.A. with Ville

Juurikkala to take our new promopics. From the stuff we previewed, these are

going to be awesome !!

In Oklahoma we were falsely accused of shitting on the wall of the venue, which was

a really weird episode.

and of course we had to hit the French Quarters in New Orleans, which ended up

being a surprisingly laid-back bar hopping trip. Maybe we’re getting old ?

On an off-day in Panama City Beach, Pasi, me & Mikko our FOH went walking for around 15km on the beach, had the best burger on this tour and got sunburn…

I think the total driving on this tour so far has been around 10,000 miles so some

16000km…just something that crossed my mind ;-)

The Shows have been going really well, some small hiccups here and there but

nothing major…as far as I can remember. Tero accidentally dropped my keytar at

some point so we had to order a new one just in case it’ll completely break down.

Well that’s about it so far, I’ll upload some pics at some point. A big thank you

for Nightwish and their crew. Love you guys !!!

cheers,

Henkka

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

Sonata Arctica: Back at Work

Tuesday 12.1.2016

So after almost 4 months of not getting together as a band, it was time to 

return to work and get ready for the Nightwish tour and start looking at

new music as well. On Tuesday we all (except for Tony) went to the

Studio57 once again to set up our stuff as well as figure out our new

monitoring system, which will be used on this US tour. At around noon we

arrived and started out by having lunch ;-) The rest of the day was spent

catching up and setting up the gear etc….and of course having a few beers,

quite a few in fact….

Wednesday 13.1.2016

We finished the setup and played through some songs, hanged out and talked about

this upcoming year and what kind of schedule we’d try to set for everything…and

of course spent the evening watching crap on youtube ;-)

Thursday 14.1.2016

As soon as Tony arrived we went out for lunch and then proceeded to planning the

setlist and rehearse for the rest of the day. It sounded surprisingly good. We managed

to play through most of the songs that we’ll be playing on the next tour.

Friday 15.1.2016

Just got up in the morning and talked a bit about the upcoming weeks, re-scheduling some stuff etc…and then it was time to leave for the train and head home. It’s great to be back after doing a bunch of other stuff this fall….

cheers,

Henkka

Jake @ the local music store in Kokkola !!

What I ate in 2016 part 1 !!

Making breakfast ;-)

What I ate in 2016 part 2 !!

My Korg Kronos entering the SA realm....

New gear, the Mackie DL32R ...how does this work again ? ;-)

Secret Rule: Shooting the music video in Amsterdam, Holland

Sunday 27.12.2015 Travel Day Kemi-Helsinki

So, the Secret Rule guys & gal asked me to be a part of their music video

for the upcoming album which I played the keyboards on….and I thought why not ?

This is gonna be a real quick one for me, I just get to Amsterdam for a few hours and

when we’re done I’ll fly back home. First up is the lovely trainride from Kemi to Helsinki starting at around 1600 and I’ll be at the airport at around 0100. I naturally spent the time in the train working or at least tried to, I blame the poor internet connection for ending up drinking in the restaurant car…

Monday 28.12.2015 Travel Helsinki-Amsterdam-Helsinki + Music Video Shoot

After doing a small detour in the Helsinki nightlife, I ended up at the airport, took a nap,

checked in, took another nap and ended up on the plane…sleeping. When i arrived in Amsterdam everything was back to ok ;-) The SR guys picked me up and we went for the venue where we shot the video….and took some promo pics as well. After a

good day at work, I was brought back to the Shiphol airport and made my way towards

Helsinki and later on back home.

Tuesday 29.12.2015 Travel Day

I managed to sleep for a couple of hours at the aiport before my train(s) left at

around 0546….a couple of trainchanges later I was home at just before 1400

in the afternoon. A really quick trip but it was fun.

Bottle Message 7.12.2015

Hola peeps, let’s see what’s going on:

Silent Voices & E.Vil finished the tour as you probably already

saw. Some shirts are still available at the official SA fanclub

store: http://sonataarcticafanclub.com/shop

Klingenberg Syndrome 2 : Still finishing up the stuff as well

as working on the cover etc… 

Winterborn: Some more songs have been popping in , still

no clue about when it’ll be out. Might do a show or two with

them next year though ;-)

Secret Rule: Yeah, I didn’t join another band, no worries….

…however I did play keyboards for their upcoming album.

A bunch of great songs and it was a lot of fun to work on this

thing. It should be out sometime next year, check it out.

Here’s some more info about the band: http://www.secretrule.it/

Freeride: I’m also playing some organ on a track by my friends

band, it should also be out next year. Totally different from what

I usually do, this is a blues band. Check it out: 

https://www.reverbnation.com/freeriderock

I think that’s all for now, looking forward to have a short Christmas

break once I get these things done…and in January 2016 the Sonata

Arctica mayhem is starting again. Meanwhile enjoy our Christmas single:

http://sonataarctica.info/news

cheers,

Henkka