Guten tag Leipzig! So, this is the final show on this tour. This thought feels at the same time very good but also very odd. You kind of get used to touring lifestyle where you don’t have to take care of your everyday business, such as doing laundry, preparing dinner, or going to the supermarket. You just search the backstage, eat something, drink something, load in, put together your stuff, check if the venue has a wlan and then just kill the time. That’s it. Every day same routine (unless the venue happens to be located near the center of the city). But that’s life on tour folks! Today the catering is better than normally. However, I don’t feel hungry at all. Same thing happens with dinner. I feel quite hollow and tired and just lay on the couch until the show. As this is the last show on the tour it will include some practical jokes during the gigs. During Omnium’s set Niilo goes and does some guest vocals on one song. Also, during the last song we start to unpack the drum kit. Kaitsu takes first one cymbal off and in the end the Jorkka has only on cymbal left to play with. We get also our fair share. At some point other band members come and tie our hair to ponytales. Markus Vanhala (from OG) comes also visit during the Killjoy and delivers a killer solo! During the piano intro of Gale Mikko from StS sings “Kiisselii, nyt maistuu kiisselii” through FOH talkback mic. It sounds really hilarious and we all burst laughing! Poor crowd. During the StS gig stakes get higher. We steal Mikko’s vocal mic during the intro. He does not even recognize it himself until Matti (bass player) notices it. We give him his mic back and everything goes on smoothly. During the second song someone wraps giant dildo on Aleksi’s keyboard stand. Poor crowd. At some point the dildo gets wrapped on Mikko’s mic. Niilo does some guest vocals on “Don’t’ fall asleep” with new, Finnish lyrical content: “Jämylle alkaa maistumaan, Kaitsulle alkaa masitumaan, Hipille alkaa maistumaan, Raiviolle ei milloinkaan”! During the Descending winter we go to each member and sprinkle snow on top of everyone’s head. And the list goes on. Poor crowd. In the end we all just end up head banging on the stage and end the final show in fury!
That’s it. People leave; we sign few posters and pack our gear. This is it. It’s good to go home and know that you gave it all. Left it all on the stage. You really need the rest and sleep. You ache for civilization, your own bed and your own toilet. You long for routine. At the same time, you want to keep on going. Travel places where you still haven’t been before. Spend one more drinking night with your buddies and never grow old. This is life on tour kids. You hate to admit that you love it, no matter what.
Ville Friman/INSOMNIUM
keskiviikko 23. joulukuuta 2009
18.12.2009 Friday
Same shit, different day. The touring routine starts to get to you eventually. It is dark but now there is also lots of snow. And it’s cold. We load in immediately, as we are late from schedule because of some car accident on the way here. There’s some white bread again but no proper food. Some kind of soup with ravioli or something?!?. Who knows. Won’t go down regardless of the effort. We open wine bottles instead. Kids, don’t try this at home. Never buy a guitar. You end up very dark place, which bears today the name of Stuttgart. The backstage is odd. The actual place is the same space as the bar but just bounded with some dark curtains from which you can see almost through. Who cares, at least we don’t. We change to our smelly stage clothes and put the show on! And the all the fatigue wears off immediately. The crowd is just amazing again! Head banging from the start to end and singing along the lyrics. We could not expect more, thank you Stuttgart, we’ll be definitely back! After the show it’s time to really get into the business. The promoter carries booze bottle after another and girl serves wine, which is made in her parents’ vineyard. Life is good, touring is good, good gigs make it worth of all the misfortune! There is only one way and it’s Das metal party!
Ville Friman/INSOMNIUM
Ville Friman/INSOMNIUM
17.12.2009 Thursday
Have you ever seen the movie called Groundhog Day? Well life on road is pretty much the same thing except more boring. Again, when I woke up it was already dark. We were driving through Berlin to K17, the venue. When I stumbled downstairs I was offered two choices: whiskey or beer. I chose the beer, or was it three. Who knows. The venue seemed nice and we had good sandwiches waiting. No WLAN, shame. We had wine, great! So we started to drink away the yesterday’s endeavors. In between we had probably the greatest meatloaf on planet. When it was time to go on playing I have to admit that I was bit drunk. However, the playing went fine surprisingly. Sorry Berlin, but I have to admit that you were bit lazy crowd. For the first time ever in Germany people were just standing and doing nothing. Come on! Luckily there were some eager metal heads in front row that made our night! After the show I went to enjoy ice cold shower and got wasted. We spent the rest of the evening in some nearby metal bar and enjoyed some good music (of ours own naturally, hah hah). The evening was sealed with doner kebab and 1 liter of absolut vodka. We’re baby bad but we don’t care!
Ville Friman/INSOMNIUM
Ville Friman/INSOMNIUM
16.12.2009 Wednesday
Ugh! Örgh! Grey buildings, grey people and grey weather, yep, I guess we are in Prague. I think the clock was somewhere noon and in a while we were in front of the gig place. I gathered my daily belongings to pack bag and hit the venue. By the way, this is the time when you can just take the morning catering anymore. White bread, cheese slices and ham slices, potato chips, soda, maybe few bananas and that’s it. No thank you, not anymore. Today is the birthday of Aleksi Munter (StS keyboard player), who has played also with Insomnium on many tours. Aleksi got message that Finland’s biggest music magazine, Soundi, had chosen all three of his bands in top three on the category of best metal album of the year (1. Ghost Brigade, 2. Swallow the Sun and 3. Insomnium). Just to celebrate this fine day we decided that it’s already time for good whiskey. Some Dalwhinnie and Glennfiddich from bus and we were ready to go. Nice. Otherwise this day was nothing special: load in, setting up the gear and building of the merch stand by Jukka. No one cared to go anywhere, we just sit there until we got probably the worst pizza ever for dinner. Then some more whiskey, beer and wine and we were ready to go. The crowd was really good again and we returned to the stage with one encore. Let the drinking begin! I don’t know how we managed to pack our stuff during the night. I think I was the Tetris master (guy fitting all the stuff to their own places) that night. I remember we were drinking in a bus after we ventured to the near by sports bar and drunk till morning. Hooray for us! We also invented new term: bussimossaus (freely translated as bus moshing). The definition follows: drunken (passed) bald man whose head stumbles on the table of the bus along the bumps on the road.
Top 3
1 Happy Hippi!
Ville Friman/INSOMNIUM
Top 3
1 Happy Hippi!
Ville Friman/INSOMNIUM
15.12.2009 Tuesday
We arrived to Bratislava around 11:30 am and had three hours to do some sightseeing on the city center. This was really good choice for a change because we hadn’t seen people for a while and got actually chance to buy some Christmas presents. It was nice sunny day even though it was pretty cold. We found our way to the city center rather easily. While most of the bunch hit some XXX shop, Aleksi and I headed to the old town. After short walk we decided to go and have a pizza in some nice looking restaurant and naturally, some nice morning beers. I was just about to call to the other guys when I saw rest of the bunch walk pass the restaurant. Next thing I saw these idiots waving to us from the entrance. One idiot will always find another! After some nice pizza and bad humor we decided to head back to the bus. Of course we did not buy any presents again. When we got to the bus we saw police writing ticket for our driver from faulty bus parking. It’s just so much easier to take the ticket because you seldom can found any parking space for a bus anywhere near the big city centers. After a while we were in Randal club and loaded in our stuff immediately. The place was bit awkward, the FOH was really bad and the backstage was about two square meters big. Great success. Also, we had one local band opening which means us bit more hassle during the first changeover. We managed to pass the time somehow shows and had pretty good chicken dinner for a change ;) The audience was really good for all of us and I decided to try to taste some alcohol after being sick and sober for over week. Man I tell you it tasted fine! We had good traditional metal party evening and everyone passed one by one happily from this night’s endeavors!
Idiots gather to listen holy word...
"Hyvää joulua Kaitsulle toivoo Haitsu!!
Raivio is so Gothic!
Ville Friman/INSOMNIUM
Idiots gather to listen holy word...
"Hyvää joulua Kaitsulle toivoo Haitsu!!
Raivio is so Gothic!
Ville Friman/INSOMNIUM
14.12.2009 Monday
I started to feel already a lot better when we arrived to the gig place (ARENA). It was already dark and the temperature had gone down to several degrees. In other words, it started to really feel like winter! We entered first to separate building to eat something before the load in. Luckily we had internet connection and time was also spent by checking news, e-mails and updating Facebook statuses. One peculiar thing with this room was that there were no radiators but the room was heated with one huge stove. Once and a while one gansta rapper looking guy entered and added some more wood. Of course the smell reminded us from Finnish sauna and thi guys heating the room in this place was bit absurd. But hey, it worked out and we had nice warm room to heat our wretched bones. It also seemed that the everlasting partying had took its toll. In other words “Simba on ainakin ihan miinuksella”.
After some food we loaded in our gear and checked the venue in the other side of the property. Good-looking place. Maybe a bit punk but that’s nothing new on this tour, hah hah… After setting the gear we just spent time telling bad jokes etc. Before opening the doors we decided to go and set up our FX and guitars on rack. Unfortunately, my guitar was not to be found. After checking the trailer and going the place upside down few times I realized that it must have been forgotten somewhere to Italy. I was so pissed off that I could have strangled someone. While I was lying in my bunk in fever and enjoying my pneumonia other guys had carried my stuff to the venue and forgot them partly there. Of course this is very human. The conditions after the shows are sometimes really bad. There is not enough light and you are in hurry because some fucking disco will start in five minutes. But still, I was so mad…I managed to loan Harris guitar (OG) and managed to pull the gig somehow. It was horrible because I really can’t play with V-style guitar. At all. Audience was great though. After the show I was so angry that I couldn’t speak to anyone. I just packed my stuff and got out the room. It was just so shame that I could not deliver my best because I did not have proper equipment. You could think that there is not that big difference between guitars but when you play about 100 shows with the same axe and with certain string set it’s really hard to adjust to some other guitars especially in live situation.
After few hours I started to cool down a bit and was able to took it like a man instead of a whining asshole. In the end, what can you do, this is exactly how life goes sometimes. Luckily there is not that many gigs left and hopefully I will get my guitar back someday. Yet, I strongly felt that this day was not really a party day either…
Scenery from my bunk on our first stop of the day 10:00 am
Scenery from my bunk on our second stop of the day 13:00 am
Wien Arena Backstage
The stove
Hangover combined to flu = awesomeness!
Ville Friman/INSOMNIUM
After some food we loaded in our gear and checked the venue in the other side of the property. Good-looking place. Maybe a bit punk but that’s nothing new on this tour, hah hah… After setting the gear we just spent time telling bad jokes etc. Before opening the doors we decided to go and set up our FX and guitars on rack. Unfortunately, my guitar was not to be found. After checking the trailer and going the place upside down few times I realized that it must have been forgotten somewhere to Italy. I was so pissed off that I could have strangled someone. While I was lying in my bunk in fever and enjoying my pneumonia other guys had carried my stuff to the venue and forgot them partly there. Of course this is very human. The conditions after the shows are sometimes really bad. There is not enough light and you are in hurry because some fucking disco will start in five minutes. But still, I was so mad…I managed to loan Harris guitar (OG) and managed to pull the gig somehow. It was horrible because I really can’t play with V-style guitar. At all. Audience was great though. After the show I was so angry that I couldn’t speak to anyone. I just packed my stuff and got out the room. It was just so shame that I could not deliver my best because I did not have proper equipment. You could think that there is not that big difference between guitars but when you play about 100 shows with the same axe and with certain string set it’s really hard to adjust to some other guitars especially in live situation.
After few hours I started to cool down a bit and was able to took it like a man instead of a whining asshole. In the end, what can you do, this is exactly how life goes sometimes. Luckily there is not that many gigs left and hopefully I will get my guitar back someday. Yet, I strongly felt that this day was not really a party day either…
Scenery from my bunk on our first stop of the day 10:00 am
Scenery from my bunk on our second stop of the day 13:00 am
Wien Arena Backstage
The stove
Hangover combined to flu = awesomeness!
Ville Friman/INSOMNIUM
keskiviikko 16. joulukuuta 2009
13.12.2009 Sunday
Ugh. When I woke up I felt finally bit better. I hadn’t left my Bunk since Munchen and felt bit weak. That’s probably because I had not eaten anything for two days either. I noticed that we were still in Italy in some small place called Arcene. We were bit early and the promoter booked us dayrooms in hotel so we could take quick showers. The shower really came in need after all fewer and sweat. Even though it was really great to see that the antibiotics were kicking pneumonia’s ass they also had slight side effects: terrible diarrhea. I noticed this at the hotel and started to eat bit more some other medicine to keep my bowels in order. In Immodium we trust I tell you.
The Venue itself was bit odd for metal concerts. It had mirrors and white leather coaches everywhere so that the overall feeling resembled mostly Miami Vice. The temperature had gone down as well and it was starting to get bit chilly. We had some sandwiches for breakfast after I went to rest in bus while other guys built up the backline. I was feeling rather weak still so we decided that I would still rest for one more night. Big hand to Markus Vanhala for making this possible. He even learnt few more songs to set regardless of the fact that there was hardly any time. What I heard about the rest of evening was that there were not that many people there but they were really enthusiastic and the shows went great! I also heard that the bar served free drinks which where very strong. I actually noticed this myself when the army of drunken monkeys invaded the bus after midnight. From that moment the shouting went on until the morning…again.
Ville Friman/INSOMNIUM
The Venue itself was bit odd for metal concerts. It had mirrors and white leather coaches everywhere so that the overall feeling resembled mostly Miami Vice. The temperature had gone down as well and it was starting to get bit chilly. We had some sandwiches for breakfast after I went to rest in bus while other guys built up the backline. I was feeling rather weak still so we decided that I would still rest for one more night. Big hand to Markus Vanhala for making this possible. He even learnt few more songs to set regardless of the fact that there was hardly any time. What I heard about the rest of evening was that there were not that many people there but they were really enthusiastic and the shows went great! I also heard that the bar served free drinks which where very strong. I actually noticed this myself when the army of drunken monkeys invaded the bus after midnight. From that moment the shouting went on until the morning…again.
Ville Friman/INSOMNIUM
12.12.2009 Saturday
The day of hardships. Traffic in Rome gets to the top three of shittiest driving and traffic jams in Europe: London, Paris, Rome. Sun was already descending beyond the horizon when I got up from the bunk. It felt that we had been closing in to Rome for an eternity and more and more traffic lights and jammed intersections just kept coming. Finally we made it to the venue. With the aid of two Ron Jeremy –looking policemen and half an hour of desperate trying the driver was finally able to park the bus to the entrance.
If weather had been rather harsh last night it was surely mild now. There were palm trees growing in the garden and the overall atmosphere was totally different. No wonder, we had made our way almost a thousand clicks south last night. We loaded in and StS made the sound check.
At this point the gloomy reality caught up with me. Ville Friman had been in high fever last night, and he certainly wasn’t looking any better now. In fact, he hadn’t gotten up from the bunk even when we had loaded in, which is very uncommon for him. Due to my daytime job I have some medical expertise that can be valuable the road. I did a quick check on him, and concluded nothing less than pneumonia. He was doing poorly, had high fever despite the normal painkillers he had taken and he could barely stand up. I doped him up with a sledgehammer amount of antibiotics, some anti-inflammatory drugs and painkillers. It was obvious that he couldn’t play, so he stayed in bunk without questioning. I knew that if he would still have fever 24 hours after the first dose of antibiotics, we would have to take him to a hospital and that would be the end of the tour for him.
Despite the setbacks and hardships the tour goes on like a freight train. We had the whole of two hours before OG would hit the stage, and Markus Vanhala would be the only guy on this tour ingenious enough to be able to jump into Friman’s boots in that time. That request in that time is quite insane, but with extreme dedication and non-stop playing he was able to pick up six songs for our set. I assisted the best I could and we cut some corners wherever it was possible.
The venue wasn’t crowded at all. We had two local opening acts, but I did not hear a single note of their sets, I was too busy medicating Friman and having rehearsals with Vanhala. OG pulled a decent show despite the lack of audience, about 30 people scattered around the venue. Then a quick change-over and we hit the stage with our new line-up. Intro was already playing when Niilo tested his bass and mentioned that he has somehow a distortion in his bass tonight. It sounded weird. At the same time Vanhala noted some strange noise from his guitar cabinet. Yep, their wireless transmitters were on the same frequency. Great. Markus dashed up to stage to switch the wireless to a cable. He was ready no sooner than last second. We played set of thirty minutes and gave the best we had. Just hope for the best and prepare for the worst and then let it burn. The gig went pretty well considering the circumstances. I just couldn’t help laughing as Vanhala was nailing down the songs. That is professional.
After the show we hanged at the backstage and “enjoyed” the absence of showers. We did one interview with a Spanish magazine and the watched the rest of StS’s show. People started to enter the club in halfway of their set, but unfortunately they were not after the band. When the show ended the place turned into a gothic disco. The catch was that we had to load out immediately, and that had to happen through the audience. It was a load-out from hell. Strobo-lights, insanely loud disco music and swarming masses of dancing people didn’t make the long way of carrying the equipment any shorter. It was total chaos all the way. Everybody was pissed off. Some of us lifted their mood by entering the disco afterwards and some of us just sat in the bus with grumpy faces consuming all the booze we had left. I belonged to that grumpy unit, the Finnish way. We cursed our rotten luck and this evening to hell. I stayed awake till the buss call (4:30am) and then crawled to my bunk. Long drive ahead once again. So long Rome, we’ll be back. In some other life.
Ville Vänni/INSOMNIUM
If weather had been rather harsh last night it was surely mild now. There were palm trees growing in the garden and the overall atmosphere was totally different. No wonder, we had made our way almost a thousand clicks south last night. We loaded in and StS made the sound check.
At this point the gloomy reality caught up with me. Ville Friman had been in high fever last night, and he certainly wasn’t looking any better now. In fact, he hadn’t gotten up from the bunk even when we had loaded in, which is very uncommon for him. Due to my daytime job I have some medical expertise that can be valuable the road. I did a quick check on him, and concluded nothing less than pneumonia. He was doing poorly, had high fever despite the normal painkillers he had taken and he could barely stand up. I doped him up with a sledgehammer amount of antibiotics, some anti-inflammatory drugs and painkillers. It was obvious that he couldn’t play, so he stayed in bunk without questioning. I knew that if he would still have fever 24 hours after the first dose of antibiotics, we would have to take him to a hospital and that would be the end of the tour for him.
Despite the setbacks and hardships the tour goes on like a freight train. We had the whole of two hours before OG would hit the stage, and Markus Vanhala would be the only guy on this tour ingenious enough to be able to jump into Friman’s boots in that time. That request in that time is quite insane, but with extreme dedication and non-stop playing he was able to pick up six songs for our set. I assisted the best I could and we cut some corners wherever it was possible.
The venue wasn’t crowded at all. We had two local opening acts, but I did not hear a single note of their sets, I was too busy medicating Friman and having rehearsals with Vanhala. OG pulled a decent show despite the lack of audience, about 30 people scattered around the venue. Then a quick change-over and we hit the stage with our new line-up. Intro was already playing when Niilo tested his bass and mentioned that he has somehow a distortion in his bass tonight. It sounded weird. At the same time Vanhala noted some strange noise from his guitar cabinet. Yep, their wireless transmitters were on the same frequency. Great. Markus dashed up to stage to switch the wireless to a cable. He was ready no sooner than last second. We played set of thirty minutes and gave the best we had. Just hope for the best and prepare for the worst and then let it burn. The gig went pretty well considering the circumstances. I just couldn’t help laughing as Vanhala was nailing down the songs. That is professional.
After the show we hanged at the backstage and “enjoyed” the absence of showers. We did one interview with a Spanish magazine and the watched the rest of StS’s show. People started to enter the club in halfway of their set, but unfortunately they were not after the band. When the show ended the place turned into a gothic disco. The catch was that we had to load out immediately, and that had to happen through the audience. It was a load-out from hell. Strobo-lights, insanely loud disco music and swarming masses of dancing people didn’t make the long way of carrying the equipment any shorter. It was total chaos all the way. Everybody was pissed off. Some of us lifted their mood by entering the disco afterwards and some of us just sat in the bus with grumpy faces consuming all the booze we had left. I belonged to that grumpy unit, the Finnish way. We cursed our rotten luck and this evening to hell. I stayed awake till the buss call (4:30am) and then crawled to my bunk. Long drive ahead once again. So long Rome, we’ll be back. In some other life.
Ville Vänni/INSOMNIUM
11.12.2009 Friday
I slept all the way to München. The climate had changed drastically. We had walked around in T-shirts in sunny Paris and now it sleeted in München. We loaded in and set up the gear with routine. The venue was nice and spacious, and so was the backstage. We had some vacant time so we decided to do some jogging. After being sick for a couple of days a nice little run felt good and I didn’t even mind the rain. And of course the hot shower afterwards was a great luxury.
I was surprised that the venue was literally packed with people. OG pulled a killer show and warmed up the audience really good. Then it was our turn, and off we went. It was clearly among the very best shows we’ve ever played. Sound was clear, there was a good flow in our playing and the crowd reaction was amazing. We did the be(a)st we could for those fifty minutes and finalized the show with an encore, Devoid of Caring. It’s becoming a routine for us. Our European booking agent was watching the show, and we were more than pleased to hear that he was 100% convinced about our show.
We had showers once again, chilled out at the backstage and loaded out after the curfew. The mood was high and we all felt like partying. Well, almost all, Ville Friman went to bunk straight away to get a good rest. We had the usual after show bus party, people sitting in the lounge, drinking red wine, listening to music and just talking this and that. We started our 950km drive to Rome and the party went on. We drove through a blizzard when crossing the Alps, so that added some excitement to our trip. Last recollection about that night was that I was sitting next to the driver’s seat watching the sunrise over the mountains. Pretty impressive sight. Hello Italy, here we come.
Some rum and tea to cure the tour flu...
Zukram
Jarno doing some erotic joga!
Ville Vänni/INSOMNIUM
I was surprised that the venue was literally packed with people. OG pulled a killer show and warmed up the audience really good. Then it was our turn, and off we went. It was clearly among the very best shows we’ve ever played. Sound was clear, there was a good flow in our playing and the crowd reaction was amazing. We did the be(a)st we could for those fifty minutes and finalized the show with an encore, Devoid of Caring. It’s becoming a routine for us. Our European booking agent was watching the show, and we were more than pleased to hear that he was 100% convinced about our show.
We had showers once again, chilled out at the backstage and loaded out after the curfew. The mood was high and we all felt like partying. Well, almost all, Ville Friman went to bunk straight away to get a good rest. We had the usual after show bus party, people sitting in the lounge, drinking red wine, listening to music and just talking this and that. We started our 950km drive to Rome and the party went on. We drove through a blizzard when crossing the Alps, so that added some excitement to our trip. Last recollection about that night was that I was sitting next to the driver’s seat watching the sunrise over the mountains. Pretty impressive sight. Hello Italy, here we come.
Some rum and tea to cure the tour flu...
Zukram
Jarno doing some erotic joga!
Ville Vänni/INSOMNIUM
perjantai 11. joulukuuta 2009
10.12.2009 Thursday
The maintenance day, once again. I had had a bizarre night sleeping in hotel bed. I have gotten so used to my waving bunk bed that this felt almost unnatural. I just kept waking up all the time wondering where I was. Hot showers, hot meals and plenty of sleep had still recharged my batteries.
We were supposed to do the laundry during the day off, but by fucking up the schedules we had found our dirty clothes to be locked in the bus and the driver was in other hotel sleeping. Now he was on his heels again, so it was the optimal time window for the task. I had already hunted down a nice coin-operated laundry service down the close by alley. We washed and dried our reeking clothes and had breakfast at local café. Then checking out of the hotel, back to the tour bus and then to the venue (which was literally next to the parked tour bus). We had coffee and loaded in with the help of local stage-hands. They were helpful and the venue had good premises, so it looked good again. Some of us are still in flu and spent the most of the day just sleeping and resting. I’m ok,, so I had a walk and did my usual gear maintenance. I have developed some kind of a routine to keep my gear and myself functional on the road. Here is how it works for me:
1. Clean guitar after every show, and always wear sweatbands to avoid excess dirt on chrome hardware. Change strings and wireless transmitter’s battery after every three or four hours of playing live.
2. Set up your own gear to make sure it is up and running the way it’s supposed to be. If in any doubt, check and double-check it. Always line-check before going to stage. Pack your own gear after show to know everything is in place. This part can also be done by a trusted guitar technician, but since we are touring with low budgets we have none. So it’s DIY all the way.
3. Have a spare guitar ready for every show. Have spare parts or replacement options for every possible piece of equipment. Be ready to cut corners and improvise if there is a technical breakdown. We have four amps on this road, so you can always borrow a spare one if your own is broken. You don’t have to have double of every item but you have to make sure beforehand that there is enough backline for the back-up gear on the road.
4. Make effort to pack the trailer decently. Bumpy roads will claim their victims, no matter how smooth the driver is. Bear in mind that everything that is not secured in hard cases will eventually break up. In 2006 the backline company didn’t issue us hard cases for the guitar heads, so we broke three amps in ten days. It means trouble.
5. Take good care of your personal health and hygiene and put some effort to it. Every venue does not have a shower, so sometimes you have to improvise or tolerate a couple of days without.
6. We’re all pouring sweat on the stage, so the clothes get wet. Hang them to dry whenever possible. You won’t get them dry under these conditions, but damp is better than soaking wet.
7. Have a stock of socks, underwear and shirts for at least ten days without laundry. Do laundry whenever there is a chance to do so.
8. Do not bitch and moan. Better bands have toured in worse conditions. Be prepared but have fun, ‘cause that’s what this is all about.
Well, then back to our day in Paris. Afternoon was comprised of maintenance, chilling out and enjoying the French catering. Absolutely nothing to complain about it. Then the venue opened and people swarmed in. I anticipated this to be good show from the crowd reaction OG had. They blasted a fierce set and got a really good response. So did we on our turn. Audience was full on from the first note, and we kept going till Devoid of Caring as an encore. She sound was brilliant and we really enjoyed our time on the stage. Niilo was still recovering from his flu, but somehow he managed to find the energy to growl and subdue all the way through.
After the show I had a strange experience of taking an ice cold shower in total darkness. So there is some room for improvement in those shower facilities I guess :) Some of us took that ride, some of us naturally skipped it. Then the basic load out, bus call and on we went to Munich. The drive is going to be long, so I stayed up for a while. No partying this night, just the usual chit-chat and few beers. Crawl to bunk, close the curtains, lights out. Goodbye France.
Sukram did some sightseeiing while the others were sick...(Sorry about lack of photos for few days. there will be plenty of more once I get well, T: Ville F./INSOMNIUM)
Ville Vänni/INSOMNIUM
We were supposed to do the laundry during the day off, but by fucking up the schedules we had found our dirty clothes to be locked in the bus and the driver was in other hotel sleeping. Now he was on his heels again, so it was the optimal time window for the task. I had already hunted down a nice coin-operated laundry service down the close by alley. We washed and dried our reeking clothes and had breakfast at local café. Then checking out of the hotel, back to the tour bus and then to the venue (which was literally next to the parked tour bus). We had coffee and loaded in with the help of local stage-hands. They were helpful and the venue had good premises, so it looked good again. Some of us are still in flu and spent the most of the day just sleeping and resting. I’m ok,, so I had a walk and did my usual gear maintenance. I have developed some kind of a routine to keep my gear and myself functional on the road. Here is how it works for me:
1. Clean guitar after every show, and always wear sweatbands to avoid excess dirt on chrome hardware. Change strings and wireless transmitter’s battery after every three or four hours of playing live.
2. Set up your own gear to make sure it is up and running the way it’s supposed to be. If in any doubt, check and double-check it. Always line-check before going to stage. Pack your own gear after show to know everything is in place. This part can also be done by a trusted guitar technician, but since we are touring with low budgets we have none. So it’s DIY all the way.
3. Have a spare guitar ready for every show. Have spare parts or replacement options for every possible piece of equipment. Be ready to cut corners and improvise if there is a technical breakdown. We have four amps on this road, so you can always borrow a spare one if your own is broken. You don’t have to have double of every item but you have to make sure beforehand that there is enough backline for the back-up gear on the road.
4. Make effort to pack the trailer decently. Bumpy roads will claim their victims, no matter how smooth the driver is. Bear in mind that everything that is not secured in hard cases will eventually break up. In 2006 the backline company didn’t issue us hard cases for the guitar heads, so we broke three amps in ten days. It means trouble.
5. Take good care of your personal health and hygiene and put some effort to it. Every venue does not have a shower, so sometimes you have to improvise or tolerate a couple of days without.
6. We’re all pouring sweat on the stage, so the clothes get wet. Hang them to dry whenever possible. You won’t get them dry under these conditions, but damp is better than soaking wet.
7. Have a stock of socks, underwear and shirts for at least ten days without laundry. Do laundry whenever there is a chance to do so.
8. Do not bitch and moan. Better bands have toured in worse conditions. Be prepared but have fun, ‘cause that’s what this is all about.
Well, then back to our day in Paris. Afternoon was comprised of maintenance, chilling out and enjoying the French catering. Absolutely nothing to complain about it. Then the venue opened and people swarmed in. I anticipated this to be good show from the crowd reaction OG had. They blasted a fierce set and got a really good response. So did we on our turn. Audience was full on from the first note, and we kept going till Devoid of Caring as an encore. She sound was brilliant and we really enjoyed our time on the stage. Niilo was still recovering from his flu, but somehow he managed to find the energy to growl and subdue all the way through.
After the show I had a strange experience of taking an ice cold shower in total darkness. So there is some room for improvement in those shower facilities I guess :) Some of us took that ride, some of us naturally skipped it. Then the basic load out, bus call and on we went to Munich. The drive is going to be long, so I stayed up for a while. No partying this night, just the usual chit-chat and few beers. Crawl to bunk, close the curtains, lights out. Goodbye France.
Sukram did some sightseeiing while the others were sick...(Sorry about lack of photos for few days. there will be plenty of more once I get well, T: Ville F./INSOMNIUM)
Ville Vänni/INSOMNIUM
9.12.2009 Wednesday
The day off in Paris. Nothing to report, just laying low. Believe it if you want to.
8.12.2009 Tuesday
We had had “rough seas” crossing the English Canal last night and the insane party went on even through France. I was still feeling dizzy when I woke up some time in the afternoon. We were already parked to the front of the venue in Amersfoort and people were loading into the venue. The venue was classy – good backstage and stage, good catering, hot showers and toilets. We set up the gear and did the usual checks in easy-going fashion. Then we spent just few hours of hanging out and killing the hangover. I did one interview with Markus for a local metal magazine and then we just went on with our recovery.
We hit the stage when we were supposed to. Niilo was having a bad flu, so the expectations were not that high. Somehow we still managed to pull off a good show, especially me, Markus and Aleksi enjoyed our time on stage. The sound was clear and audience seemed to accept us very well - we got the people to hail us with hands sin the air. Last time we played in Holland in 2006 with Satyricon, and then there was just a heavy stench of weed on the air. This show kicked some ass, so we will be back some day.
We had showers and some wine as StS played their set. Now was their turn to have technical problems. Apparently the audience was disobeying the indoor smoking prohibition. Fire alarm went off during the encore killing all the electricity from the stage. Well, they eventually got the hall aired and encores went on.
We loaded out in an undisciplined fashion and hanged out for a couple of hours. Hangover had turned to high spirits hence the 18 liters of red wine we had bought from the ferry last night. We hit the road for Paris and party went on in the bus as usual. After a couple of hours we had covered two thirds of the night’s mileage and the sun was already flaring the horizon. For the first time we reached a mutual decision to hit than bunks rather than pass out, and so the party was over. Hello Paris, here we come!
Quote of the day: “Jumalauta kun mie alan täyttämään sanaristikoita niin silloin pölisee! Mie keksin uusia kieliä! Ja jos joku kysyy miksi tähän tulee tämmöistä niin sanon, että se nyt vaan on niin!” –Nekro-Sukram aka Druid Sniffers
Ville Vänni/INSOMNIUM
We hit the stage when we were supposed to. Niilo was having a bad flu, so the expectations were not that high. Somehow we still managed to pull off a good show, especially me, Markus and Aleksi enjoyed our time on stage. The sound was clear and audience seemed to accept us very well - we got the people to hail us with hands sin the air. Last time we played in Holland in 2006 with Satyricon, and then there was just a heavy stench of weed on the air. This show kicked some ass, so we will be back some day.
We had showers and some wine as StS played their set. Now was their turn to have technical problems. Apparently the audience was disobeying the indoor smoking prohibition. Fire alarm went off during the encore killing all the electricity from the stage. Well, they eventually got the hall aired and encores went on.
We loaded out in an undisciplined fashion and hanged out for a couple of hours. Hangover had turned to high spirits hence the 18 liters of red wine we had bought from the ferry last night. We hit the road for Paris and party went on in the bus as usual. After a couple of hours we had covered two thirds of the night’s mileage and the sun was already flaring the horizon. For the first time we reached a mutual decision to hit than bunks rather than pass out, and so the party was over. Hello Paris, here we come!
Quote of the day: “Jumalauta kun mie alan täyttämään sanaristikoita niin silloin pölisee! Mie keksin uusia kieliä! Ja jos joku kysyy miksi tähän tulee tämmöistä niin sanon, että se nyt vaan on niin!” –Nekro-Sukram aka Druid Sniffers
Ville Vänni/INSOMNIUM
7.12.2009 Monday
When I woke up we were driving already in London area and finding our way to Camden Underworld. It took still about one hour to get there to just see that we could not par anywhere. After on hour we were back and find a place for the bus finally. We loaded in our gears immediately as people were pretty anxious to get to see all the shops and sights in Camden. Niilo was starting to feel bit sick and we only visited comic book shop nearby. I finally found the complete series of From Hell and returned happy to the venue. Luckily we had working Internet connection and we spent time before the doors by reading and writing emails and checking some news. We were also lucky to get few boxes of lost merchandise to the venue so that we had actually something to sell for the fans. Time before our show went past pretty quickly and when we hit the stage we instantly knew that this gig would be awesome. And yes, it really was what we anticipated. The crowd was just really great and we really gave our all again. After the show I just went to the shower just to notice that there was no warm water left. Well, you only have to use a bit your imagination and vision that it is Finnish summer and you are just about to go to swim; pretty much the same thing. After the show we went to mingle and see some of the great audience. We also met people from the Candlelight who kindly provided us some nice shot of fine liquor. This meant only one thing: Das Metal Party! And one hell of a party it was and continued far to the next morning. We crossed the sea with ferry and naturally refilled our booze supplies along the way. We also had to search for Mikko’s passport for 1 hour before getting through the customs. In the end everything went fine and we found the missing object under the mattress of Mikko’s bunk. I think Toni from OG and me were the last ones up and we witnessed one of the most beautiful sunrises on this trip. This of course led to some deep shit conversation about the wonders of the nature and other related stuff. Nevertheless, we were both quite amazed and went finally sleep very happy.
The picture tells it all...
Mr. Tour manager and kaimaani
Ville Friman/INSOMNIUM
The picture tells it all...
Mr. Tour manager and kaimaani
Ville Friman/INSOMNIUM
tiistai 8. joulukuuta 2009
6.12.2009 Sunday
I woke up Nottingham time X. We went to some sightseeing and had traditional English breakfast at the local Turkish café. Of course I had to finish few ciders first even to get out of the bunk. All I could see was grey buildings, trash and abandoned human belongings. And the stench of piss loomed heavily on us. I knew that this day would be pretty hard for us and I think the touring really started to feel in our wretched bones. Anyway, that’s the life on tour boys and girls! After getting some food we hit the venue called Seven which was quite small place. You had to do the load in to the second floor through small corridor. And yes, the smell of piss hanged still upon us. I mean, is it really so hard to actually make decent toilet facilities in England? Really, I can honestly say that the situation in UK is even worse than in Russia…It really get to your nerves when you can not take dump because there is no toilet seat even talking about some paper to wipe your sorry ass…And of course, there’s no warm water to wash your hands and very seldom showers. The show itself was pretty fucking good, thank you all the crazy people out there! But man, it was so hot on stage that I probably lost few liters of water just by sweating. Anyway, it was really great show and we gave our all for you guys there! After the gig I was so tired that I just went directly to my bunk and decided to sleep over this otherwise gloomy day. Roger for that!
Ville Friman/INSOMNIUM
Ville Friman/INSOMNIUM
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