Tuesday, January 31, 2012

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

1 comment:

  1. Your gig yesterday was fantastic you guys were wonderful! Can't get this ridiculous grin off my face! Good luck tonight I'm sure you will be fabulous!

    ReplyDelete