OSC goes to Finland March 20-23rd, 2009

8:37 I am getting on the train to go to Malmö to pick up the 9 person Ford Transit van and drive it back to Denmark to pick up PIB; NIck and Mogens and all our gear. We need to be on the road by 12 or so to make the ferry at 20:10 in Stockholm and to pick up Sebastian in Mjölby. The weather is beautiful and sunny but with a cold wind. IT is suppose to be down to -10C in Finland. We will see. We are excited as the Finnish crowds are great.

9:05 I arrive at Hertz but the van is not yet ready. They have to clean it and get the odometer reading. We will pick up Mattias, a friend of Sebastians on the ferry and he will join us on the trip to help out (and later play bass in Helsinki). He used to play guitar in Gostas Berlings Saga, a Stockholm band. . Amazing weather today.. I got an SMS from PIB and his bike is dead and he wants me to pick him up.

11:20 Just picked up PIB outside christiania and we are waiting for mogens. Nick is here and getting his gear ready.

The van outside waiting to be packed with gear!

12:05 We are just leaving now. It was a hard ride for mogens with all his stuff on one of these longjohn bikes all the way from Vesterbro. He is sweaty!

16:35 We are in Mjölby resting a bit. The drive has been no problem and we have been listing to a lot of cool music including ZZTOP (Mescalaro), Seid- Amongst the Flowers, Stone Oak Cosmonaut, Pothead, Taipuva Lutisuora, etc.. Everyone is a in a great mood. We have plenty of time to make it to Stockholm.

17:35 We are at a gas station filling up before heading to Finland (turns out gas is about the same price). We just heard the whole Antibalas CD- WHo is this America?. Great amazing CD. We have about 1½ hrs to the ferry or less. Seems it is around 100km or so.

22:30 We had a really meal (Tapas) with Mattias and Sebastian and some beers. Mattias does not drink or smoke or drive... damn on the later.. Anyway, very cool guy. I am very tired, some were already asleep now. I am in my own cabin with some Finnish guy. Nice. I have to avoid any snoring people or I get no sleep at all. I thought about the Sauna but in the end did not go.

March 20th

6:25 Don't think I slept at all this night. Just laid there and seem to have thoughts in my head the whole night. Ulf was very quiet. It was very quiet on the ship. I was comfortable, not sure why I feel like I did not get any sleep. IT is going to be a hard day. They are starting to clean the cabins now and have opened up the breakfast. I have a juice box and a granola bar. Small island with house surrounded by frozen sea. Sunrise

9:30 We are hanging out at a market/cofffee bar a few km from Turku. Cold and a bit windy but nice to be in Finland. We are listning to the 2nd Taipuva CD. Cool stuff and quite different from the 1st one. We will now hear the Stone the Crows BBC 1970 disc, which is amazing...

PIB and I outside the Market.

11:49.. We are sitting at the address that Juha gave us and have been in contact with Jairre, who has the key and is to let us in. JUha will get off work at 15-16 and then we will head to Hyvinkää. Anyway, It takes us an hour or something to figure out where he is and where we are and why he is not here and in the end, the address was not correct and he was at theother end of this street, which was blocked off from the end we were on..... We are tired and hungry. I need to sleep..

14:00 We have just been hanging out at Juha's. Very nice apartment and amazing record collection. I got a little rest, hope it will be enough for me. People are enjoying themselves having some joints, beers, cigs... we need some food. Heard a new Finnish band called the Cosmic Wizards Music Club. Interesting stuff.

17:45 We arrive at the Zoom Bar in Hyvinkää! Only two of the guys from Taipuva are there yet. Stage is quite small and we will be packed in on this stage for sure. We are moving the stuff around to try to best make us all fit on there. Both bands have 6 members. This place is super smoky.. I will have to go outside all the time and it is damn cold out, like -5C. The sound guy is super cool and named Johnny. THe booker is also a great guy nammed Jukka. This is a total rocker bar for sure..

18:00 Had a nice chat with the Taipuva guys (Ville, esko, etc..) and have set up the mics for recording.

Dr. Space writing in the Diary book...

18:30. Only need PIB and we will be finished with the soundcheck. I am hungry and hope we can finish in 45 min or less. We will then have to take all of my geat and mogens off the stage again and PIB will have to put his drums in the corner and reset thenm all up again as they have an electronic kit.

21:30 Taipuva just finished their soundcheck and will go get some food. They will try to start at 22:30 but it seems unlikely. It will be a very late night for sure. Everyone is in a great mood and the people are very nice. I think it will be amazing. Music has to stop at 2:30 in the morning. Bar closes at 3.

00:20 We are almost set up and Taipuva was really amazing, despite all the sound problems that they encournter, including the drums disappearing from the monitors, which with electric drums means now one can hear the drums. That must be strange... I am really feeling like a zombie and don't expect I will play that well, but you never know.. Mogens is having some problems.

1:40. We are taking a break now. That was the first set, about 55 minutes. Band needs to go smoke and have a beer. The music has given me a bit of boost and I am feeling much better now. I think we had some really cool jams in this set.

3:00 I am totally wrecked...gave it my all. The crowd was really into it here during this 2nd set and we would have played more but they needed us to stop so they could get the people out and clean up the place. Guys are loading the gear. I am just resting since I have to drive the 60km back to helsinki. Jaire and Juha are quite drunk... THey both enjoyed the show a lot. Especially Juha. Jaire seem to be talking to people most of thetime. Several members of the audience said this was the coolest concert and only band to have ever played this music in this toun. The promoter Jukka was quite blown away. We will be invited back for sure. We got 335€ from the door, which is quite good. The drive will be tough.

4:45 Finally get to sleep....