We had our last breakfast together at the hotel and stuffed our bellies full to survive the long and exhausting drive home. Niilo was home-sick enough to speed the journey by hopping to a train already at 8am. I guess the urge to see his family had become unbearable, and the journey in a train would be more peaceful than in the van full of people and rotten humor. The rest of us took the ride together.
Matti drove us to Jyväskylä and our ways parted there with our resident guitar hero and light technician. Then I hopped behind the wheel and the last leg of the journey begun. It felt like purgatory, it was sleeting like a blizzard all the time and the road was slippery. But we got home safely. It was 9pm when we had unloaded the backline for the last time and returned the van to the rental office. I said goodbyes to Urski and Markus and entered home in mixed feelings. I was tired, wistful and yet happy. The successful tour is over.
My dear diary, I will go silent now. But I’ll be back. Now it’s time to become just another mortal for a while…
Ville V./INSOMNIUM
sunnuntai 9. joulukuuta 2007
1.12.07
We woke up surprisingly early and had breakfast at the ship. Being back amongst the Finns and getting breakfast with lots of families with small children around turned to be mentally more challenging than I had expected. I guess the miles on road has left its mark to the psyche… Well, we survived the breakfast and got safely back to Finland. Even though Helsinki is not our hometown it felt really good to be back in Finland, even seeing those streets and buildings made me feel warm inside.
We drove to hotel and checked in. There was a minor hassle, I had misunderstood the plans for accommodation and our light technician Impo-Masa had been left without a booked hotel room. Well, we got him booked to the same room with Niilo and I and settled in.
The three-week tour was almost over, and everyone had anticipated the homecoming. Everyone else except Niilo and I had their girlfriends there in Helsinki, so they naturally kept to themselves and entertained their better halves. I spent the day in hotel room just resting, listening to Niilo’s snoring and fooling around with laptop. At 3pm we walked over to Nosturi (the venue) and helped with the load-in. There was much to do as we loaded in and sorted all the backline and spare amps that had been traveling with us. All the carrying was done in an hour, so I just walked back to hotel and took a nap. We gathered back to Nosturi at 7pm to do a sound check and have a dinner. The dinner was excellent once again, but nothing compared to Klubben at Stockholm. That was something sensational. It has to be said that touring Europe is much nicer compared to US tour in catering-wise, on this tour we have had good and healthy dinners in almost every venue. In US it was mainly buy-outs or some fast food, which tends to get pretty disgusting pretty fast if it covers the entire diet on tour. Well, just a random observation about life on road…
Sound-check went with a routine and the stage sound was brilliant. So everything liked good for the evening. We had still few hours to kill, so we just hanged out at the back stage with StS guys and chatted about all the stuff we had been through on this tour. Everybody was content and the mood was exited for the last show.
We hit the stage at 9:40pm. The house was already full, the concert had been sold out already months before and to make the place even more packed and the guest list was enormous for tonight. I didn’t know what to expect when we hit the stage, but already during the Gale I knew that this was going to be a show to remember. The crowd was pretty wild, cheering and singing along with the lyrics through the whole set. We played Blinded by Fear with Mikko (StS) on vocals, and it worked like an axe. I.e. very well, much better than in Gothenburg. Once again we finished with Devoid of Caring, and the ending was one big bonfire, on stage and in the crowd. So this was a perfect show to finish an (almost) perfect tour. We did the change-over in a storm and then concentrated to just enjoy ourselves.
As this was the last show, few practical jokes had to be made. StS show started with a modified intro, when the guys got to stage the solemn intro changed to “Skippy the bush kangaroo” song. One of Mikko’s favorites. Suits doom metal very well. The crowd seemed to get the joke even faster than those bewildered musicians on stage… We had received a mandate from Amorphis that their show should not be fucked with. Our twisted Karelian sense of humor couldn’t obey that order, so when they did their firs encore we filled the stage with pink balloons and serpentine. I’m not sure how they took it, but at least that increased their credibility as a boy band for the rest of the set ☺
Rest of the evening was spent to a nice and relaxed after party. No MetAlParTy this time, just easy time with friends, relatives and fellow musicians. It was a nice evening, and everybody seemed to share the opinion that this had been one hell of a tour and really well working line-up of bands. We have to do this again sometime. Everybody was happy to get home and to finish this tour with such a perfect show, but still there was this wistful feeling lurking in the undertow that this group would now split and that this ride would be over.
Hotel bed soothed me to peaceful sleep at 4am. Tomorrow I will fall asleep at home…
Ville V./INSOMNIUM
Nosturi backstage
You sexy beast!
Last soundcheck on tour
Lots of knobs and slides
Amorphis stage before...
...And after.
No Sori!
All's well that ends well!
We drove to hotel and checked in. There was a minor hassle, I had misunderstood the plans for accommodation and our light technician Impo-Masa had been left without a booked hotel room. Well, we got him booked to the same room with Niilo and I and settled in.
The three-week tour was almost over, and everyone had anticipated the homecoming. Everyone else except Niilo and I had their girlfriends there in Helsinki, so they naturally kept to themselves and entertained their better halves. I spent the day in hotel room just resting, listening to Niilo’s snoring and fooling around with laptop. At 3pm we walked over to Nosturi (the venue) and helped with the load-in. There was much to do as we loaded in and sorted all the backline and spare amps that had been traveling with us. All the carrying was done in an hour, so I just walked back to hotel and took a nap. We gathered back to Nosturi at 7pm to do a sound check and have a dinner. The dinner was excellent once again, but nothing compared to Klubben at Stockholm. That was something sensational. It has to be said that touring Europe is much nicer compared to US tour in catering-wise, on this tour we have had good and healthy dinners in almost every venue. In US it was mainly buy-outs or some fast food, which tends to get pretty disgusting pretty fast if it covers the entire diet on tour. Well, just a random observation about life on road…
Sound-check went with a routine and the stage sound was brilliant. So everything liked good for the evening. We had still few hours to kill, so we just hanged out at the back stage with StS guys and chatted about all the stuff we had been through on this tour. Everybody was content and the mood was exited for the last show.
We hit the stage at 9:40pm. The house was already full, the concert had been sold out already months before and to make the place even more packed and the guest list was enormous for tonight. I didn’t know what to expect when we hit the stage, but already during the Gale I knew that this was going to be a show to remember. The crowd was pretty wild, cheering and singing along with the lyrics through the whole set. We played Blinded by Fear with Mikko (StS) on vocals, and it worked like an axe. I.e. very well, much better than in Gothenburg. Once again we finished with Devoid of Caring, and the ending was one big bonfire, on stage and in the crowd. So this was a perfect show to finish an (almost) perfect tour. We did the change-over in a storm and then concentrated to just enjoy ourselves.
As this was the last show, few practical jokes had to be made. StS show started with a modified intro, when the guys got to stage the solemn intro changed to “Skippy the bush kangaroo” song. One of Mikko’s favorites. Suits doom metal very well. The crowd seemed to get the joke even faster than those bewildered musicians on stage… We had received a mandate from Amorphis that their show should not be fucked with. Our twisted Karelian sense of humor couldn’t obey that order, so when they did their firs encore we filled the stage with pink balloons and serpentine. I’m not sure how they took it, but at least that increased their credibility as a boy band for the rest of the set ☺
Rest of the evening was spent to a nice and relaxed after party. No MetAlParTy this time, just easy time with friends, relatives and fellow musicians. It was a nice evening, and everybody seemed to share the opinion that this had been one hell of a tour and really well working line-up of bands. We have to do this again sometime. Everybody was happy to get home and to finish this tour with such a perfect show, but still there was this wistful feeling lurking in the undertow that this group would now split and that this ride would be over.
Hotel bed soothed me to peaceful sleep at 4am. Tomorrow I will fall asleep at home…
Ville V./INSOMNIUM
Nosturi backstage
You sexy beast!
Last soundcheck on tour
Lots of knobs and slides
Amorphis stage before...
...And after.
No Sori!
All's well that ends well!
30.11.07
It’s a day off, again. Or actually a traveling day, to be more specific. We did some walking, shopping and tourist stuff in Stockholm. Late afternoon we boarded “Silja Marinade”, our overnight ferry to Helsinki. The name of the ship may give a subtle hint about the program on board. Details shall not be documented.
Ville V./INSOMNIUM
Entering Jallu Marinade
Some taxfree shopping
And Hauki time!
"mikä on vihree ja haisee merilevältä?"
Kunnon kulli!
In textmarker we trust
Childish, but children likes to play!
Taidehomo
Ay Cowabunga!
Wearing eye glasses makes you look more intelligent
Mr Pacman!
Ville V./INSOMNIUM
Entering Jallu Marinade
Some taxfree shopping
And Hauki time!
"mikä on vihree ja haisee merilevältä?"
Kunnon kulli!
In textmarker we trust
Childish, but children likes to play!
Taidehomo
Ay Cowabunga!
Wearing eye glasses makes you look more intelligent
Mr Pacman!
lauantai 8. joulukuuta 2007
29.11.07
We arrived to Stockholm at 7 am. Markus drove the most of the journey, and I did the rest when he got sleepy. We had no problems with finding our hotel, and just a minor hassle to check in that early. We were staying in a hotel ship in Södermalm. I had been there before, so I knew we could get there early in the morning. The accommodation was cheap and in a good location, but not very luxurious. That didn’t matter. All we needed was a bed or bunk to sleep in and a shower. I had one last vile task before I could get rest. That was finding a parking place for our van. I drove around for 45 minutes in the morning rush of Stockholm, finding nothing within walking distance to park to. Then I lost my nerve, drove back to the hotel and parked just in front of it to the peer. That was illegal place of course, but at that time I couldn’t care less. I needed sleep.
After six hours of sound sleep I was ready for death metal again. We drove to the venue and loaded in. Once again we had our own backstage, and there was absolutely nothing to improve in the facilities there. Well, maybe the lack of a wireless internet was a minus, but that doesn’t count as everything else was just the way one could possibly want.
The stage was pretty small (or narrow at least), so we had to be creative when we tried to fit all our backline there. My amp and effect rack ended to be beside the stage on an improvised stack. But it worked well and speeded the changeover, so there’s nothing to complain. We did the sound check and enjoyed a luxurious dinner at the catering facilities. One of the best meals I have ever eaten, anywhere.
We played a good show and enjoyed our time on stage. Seemingly the audience enjoyed their time too, so maybe the Swedes aren’t that tough to conquer after all… We just had a bad night in Gothenburg. Every band played good shows, and the general mood was very pleasant at the backstage premises. This night felt almost like the ending of the whole tour, because this was the last show abroad and playing in Helsinki would be almost like home. Amorphis guys would be literally at home after this one. So everybody were in a party mood, cheering to each other. We loaded out at 1am in a semi-chaotic order. Then the whole three-band group boarded Amorphis night liner and we headed to downtown. There was a bar called Anchor that fit our purposes. We invaded the whole bar and had our home going party there. The last recollections of that evening are an evening snack at hamburger bar and a taxi drive back to our floating hotel. This had been very pleasant night: there was a general feeling of brotherhood and happiness amongst these gloomy Finnish musicians.
Ville V./INSOMNIUM
Rainy Stockholm 7 am
Rainy Stockholm 7:10 am
Humble accomodation
Klubben
Drum tech 1.
Drum tech 2.
Swedish welcome!
Own backstage again, cool!
World of Urski
Kingdom of Matti
Setting up the gear
continues...
Almost ready
Starting to get philosophical...
beer...
Not bad at all...
White version of Eddie Murphy (if you only could hear the laugh...)
Tomi "koippari" Koivusaari
Pause
Blood on the dance floor in the anchor bar!
Yep, well done Niilo and Matti!
End of the mEtal ParTY!
Our humble love nest!
After six hours of sound sleep I was ready for death metal again. We drove to the venue and loaded in. Once again we had our own backstage, and there was absolutely nothing to improve in the facilities there. Well, maybe the lack of a wireless internet was a minus, but that doesn’t count as everything else was just the way one could possibly want.
The stage was pretty small (or narrow at least), so we had to be creative when we tried to fit all our backline there. My amp and effect rack ended to be beside the stage on an improvised stack. But it worked well and speeded the changeover, so there’s nothing to complain. We did the sound check and enjoyed a luxurious dinner at the catering facilities. One of the best meals I have ever eaten, anywhere.
We played a good show and enjoyed our time on stage. Seemingly the audience enjoyed their time too, so maybe the Swedes aren’t that tough to conquer after all… We just had a bad night in Gothenburg. Every band played good shows, and the general mood was very pleasant at the backstage premises. This night felt almost like the ending of the whole tour, because this was the last show abroad and playing in Helsinki would be almost like home. Amorphis guys would be literally at home after this one. So everybody were in a party mood, cheering to each other. We loaded out at 1am in a semi-chaotic order. Then the whole three-band group boarded Amorphis night liner and we headed to downtown. There was a bar called Anchor that fit our purposes. We invaded the whole bar and had our home going party there. The last recollections of that evening are an evening snack at hamburger bar and a taxi drive back to our floating hotel. This had been very pleasant night: there was a general feeling of brotherhood and happiness amongst these gloomy Finnish musicians.
Ville V./INSOMNIUM
Rainy Stockholm 7 am
Rainy Stockholm 7:10 am
Humble accomodation
Klubben
Drum tech 1.
Drum tech 2.
Swedish welcome!
Own backstage again, cool!
World of Urski
Kingdom of Matti
Setting up the gear
continues...
Almost ready
Starting to get philosophical...
beer...
Not bad at all...
White version of Eddie Murphy (if you only could hear the laugh...)
Tomi "koippari" Koivusaari
Pause
Blood on the dance floor in the anchor bar!
Yep, well done Niilo and Matti!
End of the mEtal ParTY!
Our humble love nest!
28.11.07
We slept till noon and checked out of the hotel. Weather was quite hopeless, it was pouring water and freezing cold. We were forced to have breakfast once again in Mac Donald’s (the only place nearby we could find) and then hit the road for Oslo. The four-hour drive went smoothly despite the horrifying weather. We had some awkward moments with Norwegian road tolls, Matti was not sure if we needed to pay them so we just stormed through the “autopass” gate. Another peril awaited us in Oslo, GPS proved to be mostly useless there. I think the GPS map database is obsolete, the whole city was one big construction work and the directions the GPS gave led to nowhere. Well, we made it to the venue after some hard-headed navigating and couple of U-turns.
The venue turned to be a huge place with several stages. Kent was playing on the biggest stage, and there were already people on queue to get there on the street. We were situated to a smaller venue, which was still more than enough to host our crowd, capacity approximately 500 people. We loaded in and enjoyed the catering. This time we even had our own backstage, which was nice. Time ran quickly just by doing sound check and getting online to take care of some practical things, like hotel bookings etc.
Last night had been pretty lame and we knew that the presales for this show were quite low too, so we had no expectations whatsoever when we hit the stage. It was a pleasant surprise to notice that the whole front row consisted of metal heads wearing Insomnium shirts and hoodies. The crowd wasn’t one of the biggest on this tour, but the response was really good and we had great time playing on stage. Despite the low expectations and presales this turned to be very good evening for us, playing-wise and also in merchandise sales.
We spent the after-show time having dinner at local pizza place and just hanging out at the backstage. We met the boss of Tabu Records (he is a good mate with our label manager) and had a good talk with him about touring and building up name and reputation in this genre. We came to realize once again that we are doing pretty well with our music, and in this genre nothing comes for free.
I can’t tell if these ramblings on this diary confirm or even support this, but we are pretty fucking serious with our music and willing to push forward. Being serious with music doesn’t mean that we would have to be too serious about ourselves. That is obvious when you look the pictures on this blog ☺ Anyway, I enjoy my time with this group more than anything. And I’m proud of our determination, and ability to tolerate the road dog life just by making good laughs of it.
We loaded out little past midnight. It was still raining. Then we hit the road for Stockholm: 550 km of narrow winding roads in dark, misty and rainy weather. No MetAlParTy tonight.
Ville V./INSOMNIUM
Foggy Norway
Moss = Mosh in norwegian?
yep
We're on
Great venue!
From outside
Metal-Matti!
Breakfast
Own backstage
Queue to the Kent concert...
Live1
Live2
Live3
Live4
Midnight snack, nothing for Jämy!
The venue turned to be a huge place with several stages. Kent was playing on the biggest stage, and there were already people on queue to get there on the street. We were situated to a smaller venue, which was still more than enough to host our crowd, capacity approximately 500 people. We loaded in and enjoyed the catering. This time we even had our own backstage, which was nice. Time ran quickly just by doing sound check and getting online to take care of some practical things, like hotel bookings etc.
Last night had been pretty lame and we knew that the presales for this show were quite low too, so we had no expectations whatsoever when we hit the stage. It was a pleasant surprise to notice that the whole front row consisted of metal heads wearing Insomnium shirts and hoodies. The crowd wasn’t one of the biggest on this tour, but the response was really good and we had great time playing on stage. Despite the low expectations and presales this turned to be very good evening for us, playing-wise and also in merchandise sales.
We spent the after-show time having dinner at local pizza place and just hanging out at the backstage. We met the boss of Tabu Records (he is a good mate with our label manager) and had a good talk with him about touring and building up name and reputation in this genre. We came to realize once again that we are doing pretty well with our music, and in this genre nothing comes for free.
I can’t tell if these ramblings on this diary confirm or even support this, but we are pretty fucking serious with our music and willing to push forward. Being serious with music doesn’t mean that we would have to be too serious about ourselves. That is obvious when you look the pictures on this blog ☺ Anyway, I enjoy my time with this group more than anything. And I’m proud of our determination, and ability to tolerate the road dog life just by making good laughs of it.
We loaded out little past midnight. It was still raining. Then we hit the road for Stockholm: 550 km of narrow winding roads in dark, misty and rainy weather. No MetAlParTy tonight.
Ville V./INSOMNIUM
Foggy Norway
Moss = Mosh in norwegian?
yep
We're on
Great venue!
From outside
Metal-Matti!
Breakfast
Own backstage
Queue to the Kent concert...
Live1
Live2
Live3
Live4
Midnight snack, nothing for Jämy!
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