Saturday Oct 31st (Halloween)

11:50 I managed to get the earplugs to really block out the sound last night so I did not hear the snorning ones much at all and got maybe 5 hrs sleep. Yeah... Everyone is sort of awake now except Sebastian and Mogens. Everyone was really satisfied with the gig. I hope the recording sounds good. All the bands were really cool last night. I think I liked Temples better than This is Sirius.

13:00 Nick is back sleeping but everyone else has got up and had a shower and are in a great mood. I just got a message from Santtu that the sound people will be there at 18. He will arrive around 19 or so. We plan to leave here around 15:30. Juba and I are going for a walk in the area around here and into the small forest near by.

Nice area...

15:47 We are on our way now. Everyone seems pretty fresh. I am still really tired. We are listening toLeonard Cohen. Never really heard him before. I am really hungry.. had some rye bread with cheese, a tomato, granola bar and some juice but that is all since dinner yesterday evening.

Sunset on the way to Helsinki

17:25 We are lost in Helsinki. Driving around for the last 20 mins.. We will have to call Santtu to help us find the way. Seems the directions using the Michelin site are not very accurate.

20:41 Mikko and Sami from Hidria Spacefolk were sitting in the bar when we arrived. So cool to see them. They have to go talk to the guy who will do the editing of the film for their DVD but will come back for the gig later. Our soundcheck was pretty long and the drums did not arrive until like 19. One of my extension bars died and it seems there are not extras anywhere, so no blacklight and not Yamaha CS-10 tonight. Mogens, Juba and I went out for some chinese food. Had the Kung Pa chicken and it was really good. NOt that greasy. Fuck.. I have to stay awake for another 12 hrs and drive to Turku after the gig tonight. I am not looking forward to this. I hope that the TL guys will not start too late. 10:00. They are setting up to do a multitrack recording. This should be interesting. I hope it turns out well.

22:30 TL are playing and sound amazing. They are a super cool band. The place is like half full now as well and it seems more and more are coming all the time. I can't wait to play now.

Ville from Taipuva L..

02:00 I am not that happy that we had to stop playing at 01:00. I was told 01:30. We only got to play like 75 mins as it took a long time to change the stage out and Esko, the keyboard player has a big set up and he just left and went to smoke and did not come back for like 20 mins. Not cool. Anyway, the crowd was amazing. Both mogens and I had a bad synth night. He had not signal from his nord modular when the show started and had to get help from the sound guy. I was on the floor in front of the stage as there was no room for me and was blasted from sebastians guitar and the PA so it was really hard to hear myself. The rest of the band was sounding killer. We freaked them out a bit my starting with a country number! We played with Taneli, the drummer from Taipuva. He was very good but not really our style. He changes the rhythm and beat too often and this throws people around. Still a very good drummer. Jukka suited us better, I think. The view of the gig was really mixed. Mattias and Nick thought it was better than Lahti, while the rest did not agree....

Set List:

1. Space Intro 4:23
2. Lepakkomies Country Shuffle
3. Sliding Away 9:14
4. Our Finnish Friends 12:21
5. Mogens, the new manager at Hesburger 14:09
6. It doesn't taste like Plastic 12:34
7. Jaire's birthday Jam 16:39
8. Batman leaves the Cave 5:04

Sunday November 1st, 2009

02:15 We are leaving Helsinki for Turku. The mood about the gig is very mixed. Mattias thought it was better than in Lahti. Both me and Mogens had sound problems and it was not a good gig for us. I felt like the guitar players were really great. I thought that the Taipuva drummer was pretty good but he did not have the groove or energy of Jukka. He is more a prog drummer, perhaps too many ideas. Nick loved playing with him and had a good connection. Funny. We have to hear the recording. We listen to Fela Kuti in the van. Good driving music for me.

04:00 We are at some all night market and burger place about 50km from Turku. I am dead tired but we decided it was best to eat a meal now and then we can just crash when we get to the boat. I am doing the driving and Juba and Sebastian are keeping me awake. We are in a bit of a funny and strange mood. Joking a lot and laughing. The food at this Hesburger place was not that good. We hang out here until about 5 in the morning.

Us at Hesburger 4 in the morning...

5:30 We have arrived at the ferry. We were listening to the Corky Laing Stick It audio book CD. Very cool stuff. What an amazing life this guy has had as a drummer. Got two gold records for Woodstock and he did not even play there! He did the overdubs of the drums on Ten Years After, Going Home as the drum tracks were messed up and Mountain also got a gold record. He joined them after. Funny. It sucks to have to sit here in the cold. Everyone but me is asleep. I can’t sleep.

8:15 We got on the boat quite fast and are going to sleep now. Finally. I am in a room with Mattias and Sebastian, who do not snore.

14:35 I was awaken by this fucking pop music at 13. Like everyone else. We managed to get it turned off but that was it, I lay in bed here until I decide to go take a sauna.

15:10 Sauna was amazing and no one else was there. Now I will go try to lay down until my alarm goes off at 16:45.

16:30 (15:30) Sebastian and I got up to go eat at the tapas bar. We found all the other guys sitting in a window table near the tapas bar. Some people are more fresh that others but everyone is in a good mood and had a really good feeling about the tour. Everyone except for Nick gets some tapas. They were really good. Salmon (smoked), shrimp, salad, asparagus wrapped in prosciutto. Yum… I did not have a beer as I did not want to get too tired as I had a long drive after we drop Sebastian off in Mjölby.

18:30 We have just been hanging out and talking,. We listened to a bit of the Helsinki recording and it sounds pretty good. My synths are a bit loud at times but a very clear mix. Mattias and I went up for some fresh air and checked out the Stockholm archipelago as we slowly moved into the Stockholm area. It was very beautiful and fresh outside. Not as cold as in Finland.

19:30 We dropped Mattias off and all his things and are hitting the road. He gave me a copy of this bands new CD. It is officially released on Nov 10th. They are called Makaldoma. We will for sure here this right away. Sebastian is driving to Mjölby. Not we are in for the long haul…..

21:45 We have dropped Sebastian off and now I am driving. We have been listening to the Makaladoma. Very cool stuff with cello, violin, guitar, bass, a bit of keyboards, drums. All instrumental with a lot of different styles. Cool stuff for sure. Very creative. We also heard Uzma, their 3rd CD. Nick also wanted to hear some more Pothead so we heard Fairground again. Sebastian and I had a long talk about living out in the forest and becoming more or less self sufficient with water, electricity, etc.. He can live very cheap as he has his own well and they use like 1000kr a month in electricity. They pay a fee for garbage, septic tank, and electricity but nothing else. I guess property tax also. I really want to have a smart house in the forest and make a studio there.

01:00 We are taking a breakout outside Helsingborg. I am getting very tired now. Not so far to go. 90km or so.

02:15 We arrive at Dragens Hule. WOW… Finally. I am totally beat. We unload all of nick and Mogens stuff and say bye to Nick as he will stay there and then Mogens and I head to my place to unload my stuff. He will take the train to Christianshavn and then grab a cab home.

02:45 Finally in bed……….long trip…