Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Merry Xmas

Merry Xmas!

written on 23.12.2013
Having just put my gravlax in the refrigerator (lol), and almost all gifts shopped, with still one effective day left until Christmas; I can't help not to feel joyful and relaxed. The last few weeks were intensive to say the least, and all culminated in our gig on Barona Areena on friday 20th. I could not think of a better Christmas present than to play for a full size arena packed with people. Thank you! And thank you for this year! I think the Barona gig summed up the year 2013 pretty well. Two singles released, both ranking good on radio airplay charts, zillions of songs written, three fourths of a hounded gigs played, thousands of new fans from Finland and abroad… you name it! And it still leaves next year full of new challenges!
Chestnuts

written on 24.12.2013

So this is Christmas? Yey! I guess. All presents are packed, and I'm soon to take a shower before I leave home, and head for my cousins place. I'm a bit cold and hungry. Happy, but not overjoyed. It's just a normal day after all, this Christmas eve. And I love it that way!


I'm not over fond of the consumerism way of celebrating Christmas with tons of expensive gifts. I think it's ok for the kids… after all I can't deny how important Christmas gifts are for(/and where for me as) a child. But even when a bit grown up I can't say that a really bulls-eye personal gift wouldn't always knock me off! I just love personal gifts. The problem with them is that they are so time consuming and there's no guarantee that you will even succeed. 

And this year I think most of my gifts are pretty dull, but to compensate that fact I have tried to make the wrapping a statement instead! You see gifts packed in wonderful decorative wrapping, but when you open it, the wrapping is often destroyed! What a shame! So this year I have wrapped all of my gifts in excess rubbish (but still tried to make them look nice)!

Foam rubber, plastic film, aluminum foil, baking paper, plastic bags, old rope, toilet paper and an old shoe box.
Some of my gifts were better, like this bark boat i carved for my grandmom! I had a chunk of bark which I started randomly shaping, and soon this sailing boat motive merged from it. :) And for my dad I made some special homemade herring, which he's a fan of. I hope he likes my take on it. 

And thank you for all of the gifts we've got from you fans!!! Thanks!!!
Merry christmas y'all! 
Eat and drink too much! 
Model or not, food is "gott"! 

//Paul

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Today it's Sunday, tomorrow's Monday

Yo yo yo!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Everywhere you go. It's only 9 days until my birthday and the birthday of our savior and lord Jesus Christ. I haven't felt like this for a long time, and by this I mean progress. We still have the BIG show at Barona Arona coming up before we go on our winter holiday. And after Christmas we have to prepare for our album release and we have loads of gigs! The Norway tour with Isac Elliot and before that we're having a "six days, six shows" situation, so it ought to prepare us well! You can never get enough experience of playing live. We love it and feel pretty comfortable on stage but there's always stuff to improve on.

I'm going to Nepal for the holidays to see my parents. I've really missed them since I don't get to see them that often. It's going to be a week of godlike food, thrilling adventures and most of all good company. I'm going to go paragliding, bungee jumping and do some trekking in the mountains. I've visited Nepal once before in 2001 but a lot has changed since. Dad showed me some pictures of huge malls and modern architecture, and it looked like any other huge asian capital. Luxury boutiques right next to shacks. I'm flying via Istanbul, which probably my most visited airport in the world after Helsinki! I'll have the usual round via Burger King to the turkish ice cream kart and I'll finish the stopover with buying some Turkish Delight (that I can't eat anyway :).

The last few years I haven't really been that into Christmas. Everything felt so disappointing because I compared it to the childhood days. Now I feel much older and wiser so I started to appreciate it all again. I mean it's not like it's an amazing holiday when everything is perfect and it feels like you've never been happier. But at least it's something different! (Hopefully) You get to meet up with your parents and eat good food and just enjoy the calmness of the Christmas spirit. And not to mention Christmas music ___★, I freaking love it. 

Yesterday I had a barbershop gig! (yes, I sing in a barbershop quartet with my pals) It was fun, it's always fun to sing. Especially in an a capella quartet. The music resonating throughout your body and the overtones you get when you nail a perfect chord just is something magical! (just like Christmas;)
The gig was in Hanken's (School of Economics) renowned fraternity/sorority house Casa and when in rome....  
notice the book "Finance"

Have a great week before Christmas and don't give up! The holidays are just around the corner <3

Stay Classy dear Popsters,
-krippe ~~~ヾ(^∇^)'ー♪ ♥


ps. insane rhyming skills in the Header, right? maybe I should pursue a career in Rap music.

Monday, December 2, 2013

December!

December's here! The last month of the year, and usually also the busiest. Everybody's having their "pikkujoulu"-parties, and we just started our season with one of our own. We dressed up and went to a nice restaurant, then to our traditional celbration bar Viikinki in Espoo, and then to a pool party in Grani. This tradition started two years ago, and you can read about the first time here:

Besides lots of parties, we also have a lot of work to do this month. We're gonna take some more photos, record acoustic versions of our songs, practice a lot and write new music. The stress of this month will end with our show at Barona Areena 20.12.2013. You should definitely be there, it's gonna be so epic to do our first arena show!! Can't wait! I think it's gonna be the perfect end for a super busy and fun year.

Check out the trailer here ;)




After that gig it's family time! My sister's been in Kenya for almost three months and my parents have been traveling the world for one and a half, so I'm really looking forward to spending time with them on Christmas. We haven't had much contact, mainly because most of the places they all are at don't have internet or even cell phone network. Can't wait to hear all the stories when I see them!

but now I'm off to work, let's write some hits!

-Axel