From Russia with Love

Hey guys! Thanks to all who came to watch our show yesterday, we had the best time!!

I'm writing this on the train to St. Petersburg, we're about to cross the border in a couple of minutes! I'm going there with an electronic music band, as part of the Close Encounters Festival that we opened yesterday with Satin Circus!

So, the show yesterday: Amazing! There were a lot more people than we expected. Maybe someone heard our radio ad, it's been playing more than 150 times this week :D Anyway, it was our biggest crowd yet! Our opening act, Samantha Schultz (check out her music on facebook!), was absolutely lovely! Her folky sound was a great contrast to our powerpop!

We were really nervous about the performance but when we got on stage it felt absolutely awesome! Although a concert hall isn't the best place for a pop concert, there are some good sides. We were able to do things we couldn't have done in a regular club or bar. First of all, the smoke machines and the lights: thanks to Sami, he really did a great job! It feels nice to be on stage when the lights are flashing in all colors and there's so much smoke that you can't see anything :D! Great job! The sound was great too: the legend himself, Matias "the Mixer", was behind the mixing table and did the best sound this concert hall has ever heard! Even though we had some technical problems (synth players out there: use hardware, not software!!) we managed to have a great show and I think everybody enjoyed it! Thanks again to you all for coming! The gig was also streamed LIVE on the internet (!!!) and we had viewers from Russia and Canada among other places! Really cool!!! 

After the gig we enjoyed a drink or two with the festival's international guests at the local bar Olotila, and then some of us went to my place for an afterparty (which isn't the best idea when your train to Russia leaves at 9 the next morning...)

So, the afterparty continued a bit longer than planned, and I wasn't in the best shape this morning. I woke up at 7, packed my synth, a saxophone, an EWI (electric wind instrument) and headed for the railway station where I met the others at 8.30. Our train was gonna leave at 9. The last few days have been very stressful, so I had completely forgotten about my passport, that had been returned to the school after my visa application. I somehow assumed that it would appear at the train station with our tour manager, but of course I was wrong. So, there I was. My train was gonna leave in a half hour, and taking a taxi to school and back would take at least 50 minutes in the morning traffic. Hmm. 

Someone took my baggage, and I ran. Faster than Forrest Gump, I might add. I ran to the subway, and was lucky to catch a train right away. I managed to avoid the worst traffic in Helsinki, and then took a taxi from the Sörnäinen station to Arabia, where my passport was. I ran in (again: faster than Forrest!) and got my passport, ran straight back to the taxi and breathed out. I was so relaxed. I had 20 minutes, and we were heading for Pasila, which should be a 10 minute drive. But then the unexpected happened. Sturenkatu had a terrible traffic jam, we stood there for five minutes and the cars moved nowhere. It didn't look good at all. Fortunately, the taxi driver was a nice guy, he knew I was late and did the only thing that could be done, however illegal it was. He drove up to the sidewalk, drove past the queue (along the sidewalk), and took a completely different route to Pasila, using small streets that I didn't even know there were! We got to Pasila at the same time the train left Helsinki, so I had five minutes to buy breakfast. What a morning.

Now we've passed the border, I didn't have to declare my instruments to the customs officers (apparently only cellos and violins are defined as real instruments here. hahaaa.) We're gonna play at a place called "The Chinese Pilot" tonight. Let's see what happens!

--

update: We just got to the Chinese Pilot, this seems like a really nice place, it'd be sooo cool to play here with SC! And I got some big news. Our gig today is gonna air at Russian TV Channel 1!!!! Crazy... This is completely improvised electronic music... We'd better play good :D I hope my soprano saxophone sounds like Kenny G today ;) And I'd better start programming some synth sounds now..

I haven't tried any smoothies yet but I will!!

see you

Axel <3

Let's Own the World Tonight!!

What a Beautiful Monday! Just 'cause it's dark and cold here in Finland doesn't mean you can't make the most out of it. My suggestion is you lift your gluteus maximus, crawl trough the mounds of snow surrounding you, and come to our gig at the Close Encounters Helsinki - St. Petersburg Festival! I guarantee you a spectacle unseen on any previous Satin Circus gig. What I also guarantee you is a feeling of sincere happiness, childish lightness and total fun! I mean, I swear its already spring outside when you leave the concert hall!! In fact, I promise we are gonna phone our "soon to be - newly elected president of Finland, Pekka Haavisto"  to change the name of this country to "Funland"!!!

https://www.facebook.com/events/307493382626058/

Our lovely "warm-up act" Samatha Shultz is totally mesmerizing! Shipped all the way from North-America with her folk guitar. And! Close Encounters is a big festival so why not check out what else there is to it! 

http://www.closeencounters.fi/

We have recorded an epic radio-ad for the festival that features a short sample of our song "What Do You Say"! Keep your ears open on Metro FM (95,2 FM in Helsinki). I'm not speaking in the ad, which is a shame. But I only have myself to blame, sleeping late that morning! =(

Those who have been on our two last gigs might have fallen victim for one of our most catchy songs! You've constantly found yourselves humming that melody, not really knowing where it's from…yeah? But, now its here! 

It's to 100% our own product, and thanks to Olli for putting so much love and care to the mix! =D 

"Own the World Tonight"
At:

http://www.facebook.com/satincircus or
http://soundcloud.com/satincircus/own-the-world-tonight

PS
And about your last post Krippe…fail! It was me who started with the abbreviations. =-/ Not that Smoothie Sipping Snob.

//Paul

Gigs and stuff

It's your favorite Social Joe again! It's snowing in Helsinki as I write this, but don't worry, the summer is on its way :) Meanwhile here's a little update on what's going on in the life of Satin Circus. 

Last Friday we had a gig together with an another artist called Judy at Nosturin Alakerta in Helsinki. Once again it was so nice that so many people came. It's especially great to see some of the same faces showing up gig after gig! The amount of love and effort we put into this band can sometimes feel almost overwhelming, so it's really heartwarming to see that this band means a lot to other people too. It really means the world to us! Thank you so much! <3

Here's a little summary video from the gig. Enjoy! 

(Thanks to Andy!!)

Our next gig will be the opening show for the Close Encounters -festival (Arabiankatu 2, 30.1.2012 klo 19). It's going to be our biggest show so far, so see you there! More info here http://www.facebook.com/events/307493382626058/.

The last few weeks have been busy in many ways. Here's an update on what's going on behind the scenes at the moment:

Right now we're in talks with one of the best pop-producers in Finland. He has showed some interest in starting to work with us, and if all goes as planned we'll start recording at his studio during the spring. The plan is to do 3-4 songs that would be ready for publishing and then start making contacts with European record labels. We've also talked about the possibility of getting one internationally claimed producer on board to the project. It really feels like this could be our change to make it big, so needless to say we're more than anxious to see how this turns out! We'll keep you posted.

As we mentioned before, we had a meeting with Music Export Finland, the company that's helping Finnish bands and artists to get to the international market. The meeting went super well: they showed that they believe in us, and I think these guys are going to be worth gold once the big wheels start to roll ;)

We've also finished recording one of our songs with the producer Matias "the Mixer" Koskimies, it will hit the radios sometime soon, and if you listen to Metro FM you just might hear an ad with our music and Krippe's voice. So keep your ears open. :) 

Btw. Krippe is convinced that every band should have a name for their fans. He came up with the name "Popsters". I think it's cool and something I could call myself :D This is just an idea, so let us know what you think!

- Social Joe <3

Christmas Vacation

Since everyone's had a great vacation and your day/night rhythm is messed up I think it's only appropriate that I'm posting a tad bit late! So you've probably guessed (or not) that it's me, krippe! I had a wonderful vacation. If I'd have to describe it in three words, they would have to be boardgames, gyoza, blueberry shots and WoW. That was four... So, the comic question of the day is; how was your vacation? (please comment in the section belowww)

Furthermore, we had an excellent meeting with Music Export Finland. They promised to help us with conquering the world! The next stop is Estonia, yay! The land of fun fun fun! We'll keep you posted (:

This Friday, Friday the 13th, we're playing a sensational gig for you in Nosturin Alakerta! It's such a cool venue and it's going to be stellar! As the cherry on top of the Satin Circus Smoothie (or SCS as Axel would say, he appears to be obsessed with abbreviations [and smoothies]! :) you'll have the opportunity to hear Judy! Check her out HERE! Be there or be... just be there!

We're also working on some new material. Can't wait to play it for you! It sounds fantastic, fresh and fabulous. (There you go Axel, FFF) Thanks for reading and hopefully you've had a wonderful holiday and managed to keep your resolutions so far. FYI, I've kept mine. That's 'cos I didn't make any!

Last but not least, as a preview for those who can't wait for friday I give you this video from our last gig!



See you next week -krippe ~~~ヾ(＾∇＾)'ー♪

New York

Hi! SCSSSSP here (Satin Circus's Smoothie-Sippin' Synth and Sax player...)

As we said before, we're having a break from the Satin Circus life now for a while, but that doesn't stop us from blogging! Every Monday (or sometimes Tuesday due to time difference), till death do us part!

So, what I've been doing is pretty much cooler than what the other guys have been doing, so that's why I'm writing this. I'm currently in New York City, the coolest place in the world! I'm sure Krippe's gonna tell you that Tokyo is a
thousand times cooler but he's just wrong! Haha maybe not, when we've played gigs in both we'll rate them afterwards and come to a perfect solution.

I spent the flight programming synth sounds on my iPad, on softwares called AniMoog and Korg iMs 20. The Animoog's made by Moog, the best synth manufacturer in the world, and for 10€ you get better sounds than most 1000€ digital synths. The iMs 20 is based on the Korg Ms 20, a 3000€ analog synth, that I actually got to try at our last studio session with Matias. After trying the real thing, I finally learned to use the synth, and the iPad version is surprisingly good!

But back to NYC. There's just something about this place, and I could show you thousands of pictures of Times Square and tell you it's not the same as when you really see it, hear it, feel it. But that's just stupid. Cause it's never gonna be the same. The only place in the world where bookstores can play Sinatra followed by Jay Z and then Miles Davis or freejazz from the 60's.. It's also the only place where there is a McDonalds in the middle of a cloth store..

When I was walking down fifth avenue sippin' on my Starbucks Caramel Mocha at 7 am and feeling the city waking up, I was more of an urban adventurer than our city kid Social Joe ever will be. Punavuori is like Wisteria Lane compared to this ;)

New Yorkers walk. There's no such thing as a real coffee cup, it's all take away, the coffee, the food, the beer.... People might be stressed out and they might be working 20 hour days, but that doesn't stop them from being nice and polite. I guess all the stupid Americans are stuck in Texas or something, cause I was very disappointed to learn that even all the taxi drivers seemed to know a lot about Finland, so we couldn't tell them about polar bears on the streets and such things :( Everybody's got the NY feeling and positive attitude, from the foreign Hot Dog sellers downtown and the hipsters of Brooklyn to the stock brokers on Wall Street and the real-life Serena van der Woodsens on the Upper East Side. And I know our number 1 fan Naomi will be dying of jealousy when she hears that I ran into Ed Westwick (Chuck Bass) on Brooklyn Bridge. Haha NY 1-Tokyo 0!

New Years' on Times Square would also have included Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga, but I was at a cool bar in the Village, and they were playing music produced by guys we soon might be working with!

Anyway, if you wanna see pictures of New York, you can google it. If you wanna know what it's like, go there.