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Samu's Blog 2008 auf Englisch

Blog from 05. February 2008

Samu

New Video & EBBA Etc.

Hey all!

It´s been a while. I´ve been mostly having time off and recharging my batteries for the year 2008 and all the challenges
ahead. I must say it was really strange waking up at home so many mornings (really early afternoons ;) in a row
after all the traffic last year and it was somewhat challenging to find stuff to do. I was really restless and
a bit depressed even for the first weeks of this year but now things have started to roll smooth again.

2007 was quite a year. We performed 169 shows, released the album in many many new countries and received 8 gold and
platinum single and album awards and other trophies for the work we did together with you guys and girls. Four big
tours and all the stuff in between. Also there were some negative issues we needed to deal with and of course
those things are not nice, but still I wouldn´t change one second of all we went through.
It´s life as it is. Thank you so much for all!

Obviously many of you have heard that Janne has filed a court case against Jukka, Sami, Raul and myself. He wants our
money and also the name Sunrise Avenue away from us. It´s so sad. Our lawyers say there is no need to worry,
so I hope you could also have patience with it.
We will keep on playing shows and recording albums no matter what happens. Even with a name "Sunrise Mental Hospital."
I still hope all the fighting will not affect too much on the way we are able to work together.
Of course it´s a challenge, but somehow all this has actually brought the rest of us even closer together.
We will meet Janne and his lawyers soon and I hope we could come to some sort of a settlement
and face all this as grown-ups. I guess it would be better for all sides.
It´s the first time we are allowed to sit down together after the change.

And you are absolutely right. This thing is band´s internal stuff and should not be spoken here,
but the rumor had it that we took him to court. That´s not the way. No matter how much it hurts and how stupid all this is,
I felt like correcting it. I am not proud of myself for writing these lines.

We shot our fourth video (Choose to be me) in London last week. I must say I really like the story and how it looks.
In the clip, I am this guy doing a magic trick because this girl makes me do the stuff.
Things get really dangerous and actually something very bad might happen to me in the end.
Maybe I wrote this already before the shootings. Maybe I didn´t survive ;=)
You´ll see it soon; In Central Europe already this week and in Germany for example they play it on Wednesday right after
the evening news at 08 PM on RTL II. A British actress Jenny Evans plays the leading female role and she does it just
so amazingly well! I think we will have some things to do also with the German Big Brother show.
CTBM is the theme song and I heard we might visit the show or even the house if all goes well.

I think this video will be the last one from "On the way to wonderland" and actually we are just building a new studio
in Helsinki to start recordings of the second album. I have played many new songs together with Sami and Raul and I must
say they sound really cool. It´s funny. Everybody said as a songwriter I would have huge pressure writing the 2nd albums
tracks after the successful 1st one, but all seems to be really relaxed. I must say Raul and especially Sami have brought
a lot of great ideas to the new songs. The atmosphere seems so be right finally.
There will be shows around Europe and some are already confirmed. I hope we could confirm all the dates they
are negotiating right now but as soon as they let us know, we will update the info on our websites.
The goal is to release the album this year, but let´s see.
There are a few special tracks I´d love you folks to hear right away but lets be patient.

We came back home from Cannes, France yesterday with Jukka, Riku, Sami and Raul the Nutcracker.
Riku was there with us and as I wrote before, he will continue playing with us on live shows and let´s see with the future
plans when the 2nd album is done. Anyway. The EBBA (European Boarder Breaker Award) award
(presented for the most selling European artist outside their home country) we got was a very cool thing.
The gala itself was technically a nightmare and performing two songs has never made us angrier.
I hope they learn something from our feedback. But it was nice to hang out at the boulevards and of course avenues
(; by the Mediterranean Sea when the sun was shining and the temperature rose higher than 20 C on the afternoons.

I have started reading books. I don´t know what happened in Africa with my mom and my little brother but I suddenly
realized enjoying the relaxing effect of a great book and now I´m going through
different band / star biographies to understand my / our feelings a bit more in the entertainment world.
Maybe I am pregnant or something… The one on the loop is Stings life story. Jesus,
there´s cool stuff he did and survived from.

I hope you all have a great spring and I hope you have enough strength to make it to the summer.
It´ll come. Don´t forget to check out the new demo track we wrote with Jukka for my friend who got out of jail.
The name is "fail again" and you can find it on the Choose to be me single among the versions and some cool remixes.

May the force be with you & See U soon!

Samu


Blog from 08. February 2008

Samu

Fail again & Carnival this and carnival that...

Just so you all know, there is NO carnival of any kind in Finland at this time of the year.
In my country we study and work hard and we really don´t give a damn about partying and especially drinking.
It´s too childish for Finnish mentality, ha ;=)

Honestly I´m just jealous but anyhow... ;=)

Samu

PS: If you feel like joining a CARNIVAL, try the Finnish VAPPU (Labor day April 30th) and everyone who survives
that gets full respect from me for life.

And here are the lyrics as so many of you requested.

The day you fail again

(©Haber & Backlund 2007)

Hey man I can see you standing tall on your feet again
There were those dark days but you´re far over them
Say can you remember all the mess far behind you
They were all so sure you´d never find your way through

Feels like life for you today it´s only perfect
Seems like sorrow shame never was really there
These are the moments that you keep inside your heart to guide you then
The day you fail again

I am so sorry for the times I wasn´t by your side
But now I found faith in you again with my own eyes
Say can you see the fear in me you will fall again
And you will be left alone although you´d really need them

Feels like life for you today it´s only perfect
Seems like sorrow shame never was really there
These are the moments that you keep inside your heart to guide you then
The day you fail again



Blog from 19. February 2008

Samu

Echoes of the new studio and Moscow

We were at the ECHO awards with Jukka on Friday. We were nominated for the best international Band (something)
and the other bands fighting for the same trophy were Linkin Park (who won), Bon Jovi (!!!),
The Eagles and 30 sec to Mars. We knew we would not win but still we decided to buy black suits and shows
and stuff for that very event.

Well, they never even presented the whole award at the gala and all we got was 3 hours of moderating and jokes
in German, great German performances (Dj Ötzi and stuff) and we ended up eating on the floor a bit drunk
with my blond band mate ;=) Well I have to say seeing Kylie live was very nice and also the Nightwish
performance made the night worth living through. I am so fucking proud of the Nightwish guys how they
managed to pull it through after all the bull shit with changing their singer.
I think the change was a very good thing for them.

The studio is slowly getting there piece by piece. There are real construction guys working every day
and it´s so cool now that you can see the final walls already in many of the rooms.
There will be a huge painting session at the end of this month and Jukka had bought the Kitchen today.
My dad will come and help us install the stuff. It´s gonna be so great!!!!
I wish I could invite everybody to the grand opening in march before we start recording the next SA album ;=)
The next album has a project name. We call it "The Popgasm"

After getting home from Berlin on Saturday, we sat down with Jukka looking at some new songs we both have written.
I so hope it would already be March when we really get to hit the record button at put our new vintage
equipment to work for us. There are a few songs I am dying to get done. Especially "Welcome to my life",
a song I wrote some months ago. Patience patience, Doctor Haber…

We will play our first Russian shows this week in Moscow and St.Petersburg. Funny but none of us has never been
to Russia even though it´s our neighbor. They say the audiences there are really loud and cool, so well see.
At least all the arrangements seem to be taken care of very well and professionally.

After the Russian shows we will join the Big Brother gang in Germany.
I really don´t know what they have planned for us, but I hope they don´t lock us into the house. You know,
they have sex and all there. The Germans ;=) Actually they could keep Raul for a few weeks.
He has been a bad boy.,. ;=)

Keep rocking


Blog from 27. February 2008

Samu

From Russia with Love & BB Visit

I am SO DEAD!
I have slept 5 hours the last too nights and now I am finally sitting on my sofa at home (the comfortable one)
with a glass of wine. As soon as I have this thing written,
I will dive into my bed under the huge blanket and never come out.

But let´s get to the reasons of being tired….

We flew to St. Petersburg on Friday with the guys to play our very first shows in Russia ever.
We had heard that the audiences there are really cool and that they treat the bands very well so the atmosphere
was great from the take off. We also had a 2-month break with playing full shows and therefore we also had been
waiting for these shows probably more than ever before. The flight left at 6 something in the morning
and I just wasn´t able to sleep the whole night before. The same happened to Jukka and also to Karri
(Guitar tech) and Aki (Light tech) and we must have looked very presentable as we landed in Russia.
We knew there would be a huge customs mess with all the equipment we were traveling with but luckily the local
promoter had arranged a warm bus for us for the hour or something we had to wait for our guitars and stuff
to get their stamps to enter the country.

After the check we went straight to bed for two hours before the interviews with Russian MTV and others and some
meet and greet winners. You know when you only have a short nap, you´re kind of half sleep the whole evening.
Still it´s amazing how the adrenaline wakes you up before the show and it was just as great as the other
Finnish bands had told us. Very loud and they took part in singing the whole way.
It was the first show there and we really didn´t know what to expect,
but the club was full and the night was perfect for us.

The next day the wakeup was at 3pm (!!!) so that helped a little for the off day.
I went shopping with our record company guy Mikko and finally found the new lap top bag I have been looking
for for ages. We also got the Sunrise Avenue CD and track number four,
the first single was called FairyTABLE Gone Bad;=) Russian version.
We flew to Moscow late in the evening just to get a good sleep before the next show day.

The club B1 in Moscow was bigger and it was probably the coolest rock club I have ever been to.
Very cool indeed. We had a pretty busy day with interviews and meet&greets but since there were 5 guys
doing it together, it was fun. We learned how to say "I am a jumping Frog" in Russian but
I can´t write it here since I don´t know the Russian alphabets.
There had been false information in some of the tickets saying that the show time is 8 and in some tickets
it said at 9. It was quite annoying to keep the crowd waiting but what can you do. Sorry for
the delay & thanx for the patience, wasn´t our fault. We could have started much earlier.

The show was just fantastic again.
And Raul became the new leader of Volvo Russia fan club (Sorry, stupid insider).
Ouh, and after the sound check we made a quick visit to the red square. You must do that if you are in Moscow.
Actually I´m sure Moscow and also St. Petersburg are really nice in the summer.
In winter it´s quite much like Helsinki, dirty snow and stuff everywhere,
but I am so sure it´s very cool in the summer.

We were supposed to go to sleep right after the show to be fresh in Germany the next day at the Big Brother house.
Nope ;=) We had the after party of our lives at Karri´s room with the whole band and crew and even my little
brother joined us. He was there at the show with my mom. Mom went to bed. Some of the crew guys and my brother
(of course) went to the streets of Moscow in the night to buy Vodka and other drinks.
They came back with bags full of stuff and the outcome was us guys wrestling and having half serious fights.
It still hurts everywhere ;=) The walls of the room were mostly there in the morning when we left the hotel
but I am sure some sort of an invoice will follow us later on. Tuomas (Monitor tech) crashed his head through
the WALL when the battled with Aki. Boys…

So… I slept for 2 hours at the hotel in Moscow. I didn´t really have a hangover but I was so tired.
And I knew that millions of Germans would watch me on TV at the BB house. It made me sweat.

Luckily we had time for a shower when we got to Köln, but then it was pretty hectic.
We met some competition winners and media before the TV show and we did some photo sessions too.
Then they took us to the roof next to the garden area of the BB house and we performed our Schlager
"Choose to be me" for the BB guys. And then I finally entered the house…..

I was carrying two baskets full of Finnish beer and a bag full of our CD´s and shirts.
The entrance was dead dark before the "Big Brother" opened the door for me.
The inhabitants didn´t know about my visit and all I could say to present myself was yelling
"Merry Christmas" in German, of course.

The time just stopped. The house was a lot bigger that it appears on TV and it was so bright and HOT.
I know you need a lot of light for TV production but it was hotter than I had thought.
That´s probably why they are wearing Bermuda shorts. ;=)

It was all pretty unnatural in the beginning. I mean I was the first visitor since the start of the show and obviously
the guys and girls had spent a lot of time not knowing what is happening in the world outside.
I thought of telling them that the front man of the German pop band Modern Talking is in the cover of the latest
GayMagazine, but I decided to leave mr. Dieter alone.

Anyway. They took me all over the house and I was even allowed to enter the ladies (poor side) shitty toilet.
There was no toilet seat. You just stand there on top of a hole and do your whatevers… It was so bright and so strange.
I just can´t imagine living there or even staying there for more than that half an hour. Nice experience though…

And the Night was long in Cologne too. Even though I was tired already… So now after doing band stuff for the whole day,
I will finally get my four pillows and the big blanket. Tomorrow I will go back to our studio construction
and get orders from Aku, our studio boss to "scratch this and paint that" for the rest of the week.
I hope they have made some progress with the place. I can´t wait for the recordings of the next album to start…

Good night everyone, where ever you are. Maybe I´ll have one more glass of wine…;=)



Blog from 25. March 2008

Samu

Regenbogen – Grammy – Dome – Austria

We received the Radio Regenbogen listeners’ award in Germany last week and partied ourselves to death ;=)
It was one of the coolest award shows I’ve been to and the co performers were very cool too,
Enrique Iglesias and all! For the first time we had these little head phones and we could listen to the whole show
translated. I still didn’t get all the German jokes, especially the ones the celebrity chef made, but hey,
there was so much great red wine on the table that it didn’t really bother us.
The performance was somewhat difficult and even though our crew made a really good job, it did hurt in our ears.
Hope it was ok for the guests.

We had decided to get to the hotel pretty soon after the gala, but no… ;=) I don’t remember if it was Jukka or Riku
(probably both) who’s idea it was to stay and party but the aftermath was us all sleeping for 45 minutes before
the plane took off to Finland in the morning.

Normally it wouldn’t be a problem, but the next day we were supposed to present a Grammy award for the best newcomer
band at the Finnish awards in Helsinki and as I was fitting my black suit on and looked into the mirror,
I wasn’t too proud of myself staying up all night.

The Grammies went well and actually getting the special Export Grammy surprised us big time.
The second Grammy we have for the studio decoration. You kind of forget how tired you are with all the interviews
and spotlights and the times goes by so fast with the minute schedule for the TV show.

After the award gala we had dinner with our own gang. Most of the crew, the record company and studio staff with
their spouses joined us for a nice three hours in a very nice restaurant before we hit the dance floors of Studio 51,
the after show place. Thinking about it now, I should have gone home.
I still had only 1 hour sleep the night before and the alcohol does funny tricks to you at that shape.
Anyway. The night was very nice and it was very cool to meet all the music industry colleagues from Finland.
The night ended with me rile-sliding the stairs with my ass (with my black suit still on) and flying against the
1st floor wall. It still hurts everywhere. I have huge black marks on my body and my arm still hurts.
I will never drink and party again. Until the next time…

The Dome

For the 5th time ladies and gentlemen! We played a private show for Sennheiser in Frankfurt and in the morning
we drove to Friedrichshafen (Germany) for our 5ft performance at the dome. We actually had flights booked for the morning,
but our manager cancelled them because of the storm and got a driver for us. For the ones who don’t know,
The DOME is a huge TV show in Germany. Four times a year they gather all the most interesting and biggest acts on stage,
all for one or two songs. We have performed Fairytale three times, forever yours once and now we did our latest single
Choose to be me. The production crew had built these huge strobo-light boxes for all of us,
just like we have in front of the stage on tour. It looked so cool. The dome was a bit smaller than usually,
probably because of the town size. I guess it was some 6000 viewers but I’m sure it looked BIG on TV.

Raul is usually the nice boy who goes first to sleep, but after the dome he really forced us all to join him
to the after party. Especially Riku and me we were really tired and Raul had to use all his salesman skills to get us there.
The after party was ok but way too loud, so we hung out there only for 2 hours and got back to the hotel
for a "few more" at the lobby. I guess Riku was the last one up at 730 in the morning. A few, right…

In the morning we drove to Austria to Haus im Ennstal for "the end of skiing season" outdoor festival.
It was pretty cool performing in the dark night in between the huge mountains. And the crowd was very very cool.
It made us all miss the summer festivals like hell. The only downside was that it was +1 degrees in the night
and that kind of temperature can really get to your throat. I had to run to the backstage after the stage
and try to get warm. After getting there, we realized there was no shower for us and NO toilet!
It’s a bit annoying to get away from the festival area sweaty and stinking, but the missing toilet is another thing ;=)
Nobody wet their pants, I swear!

The folks arranging the festival didn’t let us sign any autographs or take any photos with the fans for some reason.
Ok, we were really in a hurry because we only had a few hours to sleep before the ride to Saltzburg,
but for example when I got out of the back door, the security guys pushed me into the van and told me the car would
move in 10 seconds. ???? I sat there for 20 minutes with Jukka and Sami waiting.
I felt quite bad for the people standing out there with autograph books and stuff.
That never happened to us before and I must say I was a bit angry.
Sorry for all you outside and thanx for the lovely presents you sent to us through our crewmembers.

One more thing. The hotel was very cool. This castle in the mountains. A spa / golf paradise in the middle of all
the piece in the world. Well, I had that for some hours only, because the ride to the airport started already
at 6 in the morning. I slept for 2 hours. Riku, Karri and "Gorilla" Mikko stayed there for another few days.
I hope the slopes are good for them.

I slept 14 hours last night and went to gym today. I am a new man ;=) I also met a new band from Finland who asked
for Jukka’s and my help with their music and stuff. Let’s see what we can do. After the meeting I drove by our studio
construction just to see how things are proceeding. It’s all pretty much there. The roof of the main control room needs
to be built and also some little parts of lounge walls. The Air-con-pro’s will do some stuff with their pipes this week.
And the kitchen of course. The kitchen is there in the huge boxes but someone needs to put everything in place.
I am hoping my dad could help me with it next weekend. Maximum 2 weeks and it’s all there.

After it’s all done, our main job will be recording the album 2, The Popgasm. I have a very good feeling about it.
Tomorrow is also the most important Ice Hockey game of the season. My HIFK play against the BLUES at our home arena.
It’s the pay offs and we really need to win. I have rented a VIP box for 15 persons to bring more support to the arena.
Wish us luck ;=)

Aaaaaand. Yes. Our country man Kimi Räikkönen kind of lost the first race in Australia and got only one point.
There’s many more this season. Heads up!!!

PS: Karri’s (our guitar tech) hotel room destruction cost 1000 US Dollars. Bad bad crew boys… I am SOOOO innocent!



Blog from 17. April 2008

Samu

Dr. Haber calling planet Earth

Hello all. It´s been a while. I am sitting on my comfortable sofa for the last night inside this apartment
and I decided to celebrate our last moments together with the sofa by writing a new bloq.
I am getting a new sofa tomorrow. I move this one to the new studio to the singing room so the divorce will be easy
since I know we will have many moments together in the near future.

It´s been very very nice the last few months. I felt kind of frustrated after the New Year when nothing really happened.
Somehow I wanted to get things moving with the next album very fast after all the hassle last year but I think I should
have learnt that I also need real time off before I try to jump high again. I guess I was somehow afraid of facing the
feelings and all the possible pressure of the new music. As I looked at the calendars,
I realized that the last real holiday / time off I had was almost 3 years ago before I took off to Africa
with my mom and bro in Christmas.

But anyway… Nothing really happened the last weeks. I mean of course a lot has happened,
but finally I have had a lot of time for myself. Sure I have been involved in getting the studio ready (slowly & steadily)
and also decorating my new flat. Last Sunday I just realized I hadn´t seen my grandmother for some time and I spent
the whole afternoon with her. She is so cool and it´s so cool to talk to her about all the challenges of life.
It´s amazing how a lady who worked all her life in a post office carrying envelopes and never really traveled and so,
can understand the deepest challenges and highlights of a rock band. She is the coolest. She is 81 years old and again
I had to sign some albums for her friends, sweet ;=) She even came to one of the shows last year.
She liked it sure, but for her it was too loud and we still have a tiny issue with my tattoos ;=)
Also my little brother has been building his own studio with his own gang
(I wonder where the hell he gets these studio ideas from;) and I am so damn proud of him and his master plan to take
over the world someday. That´s my boy! So actually it´s pretty good to stop for a moment and have some
time for yourself to realize all the great people around you.

I was in Germany last week with Jukka, Sami, Riku and Aku from our studio.
We flew over to Cologne to see this concert of an American guitarist and his band. We had three days for shopping
eating well and it was the coolest trip in a long time. I really love the Belgium part of Cologne (Belgische…whatever...)
and we are going there next month again with Jukka to look at some apartments.
It would be a great idea to have a secret hideout there in case the Helsinki scene gets too tight.
And also there are many friends living in Köln mostly from the music industry too.
Cologne is also very much closer to everything, like Northern Italy and stuff and you could easily drive there
in a few hours. Let´s see. The prices are not that bad.

And about the studio… Well. It has taken MUCH more time and much more money than we thought.
That´s how this kind of projects usually go, I guess. There have been times when I felt it´s never gonna be ready,
but actually this morning (0830 Am, krhhhmmm!!!) I made the final check of the construction work and there are only
a few things missing form the guys doing the air-conditioning and electricity. Some parts of the kitchen are still waiting
to be installed because of this stupid water pipe that is to long for the washing machine to fit into it´s place,
but hopefully everything will be in place by the end of next week. I made a zillion phone calls again today to get all
the workers do their part fast. This Saturday we have a huge cleaning day and on Sunday we try to have the last
painting session. Then Aku (our studio "boss" ) and Jukka can start pushing the audio cables and stuff through the walls
and get the piano and drums and stuff in. Patience….;=) Not the strongest part of my personality.

While waiting for the studio to get ready for recording, we have been practicing all the new songs with Sami and Raul.
Jukka actually has not heard most of the stuff yet and what happens next, we will play all the stuff for him next week
and then we will go somewhere just him and me and we will write the necessary stuff and arrangements.
That´s how we made the first album and that is how the second one will get its birth too.
It´s pretty cool to rememorize all the nights at the studio dreaming about the world tours a few years ago,
just him and me...;=) I found one of the closest persons in my life ever then. I am actually really happy that Raul
and Sami give us the space & freedom to do the creative part. I mean of course they both have been much more creative
with the new stuff than with the first album, but still, Jukka has the final word what comes to sound,
riffs and production and we seem to work pretty great with him as a team. Everyone´s ideas can´t end up on the album
and I am very happy how this time everyone only looks forward to getting a great album done for ourselves
and the fans and not about who´s name is on the booklet. I am personally more than excited about the songs
and I can´t wait to hear them through the BIIIIG studio speakers.

Riku has been really great too. I must admit that after the tour and especially after what happened in the summer made
me want to get the new member in the band fast to somehow overcome the whole unpleasant mess for the public.
However, the studio work is the most important thing now and I also think it´s really great how Riku is being smart
with the setup and not pushing himself into the picture any more than is needed. He is doing a really great job playing
all the shows with us and doing a lot of promotion and I see no reason why he wouldn´t be with us in the future too.
We have agreed that we record the album now and if there are some parts that Jukka wants him to play,
he will join us at the studio too. Anyway, after the album "PopGasm" is done, we will have a chat about
what all the guys want. I mean we have learnt that nothing is forever. You never know if Raul, for example,
will join the belly dancing team of Finland and have a 3-year break from Sunrise. I hope that never happens
(for many reasons ;) but let´s just keep our hearts open for any stuff.
Right now it seems as if all guys are extremely happy with the roles they have and that gives me extremely
much energy and I sleep my nights well. After a glass of red wine, of course.

I have also been helping some new artists these months writing songs and getting deals and stuff for them and even
though you might think that would bring stress to the months you´d really need the rest, it´s completely the opposite.
We just mastered the Killer Aspect album (sounds fucking amazing) and that will be released first in Finland in the end
of this month. The radios have taken the guys very well and all seems promising.
Jukka and Aku and our new mixing guy Tony did a really good job with KA.
There are also some very interesting new Sonic Kitchen projects & Bands we will tell you folks about in the very near future.
The team is pretty good. Jukka and I write most of the music for all acts together with the bands / artists of course,
Aku, Tony and Jukka do the producing and the fifth guy Tuomi is getting used to having a new baby at home and helping
us as much as he can with everything. He is a very pro studio guitarist and he will play many of the tracks on our next one.
He already did some stuff for the first album´s acoustic versions. So even though recording PopGasm will be the main thing
for the next 6-9 months, there will be other stuff going on at the studio too. That is really good as long as the projects
are loaded with positive energy. I love it. Actually working & planning the first album and the release of some other band
helps you remember how damn lucky we are for all the sold albums and steps of success we already have taken so far.
Not everybody gets even this far and it´s good to keep that in mind.

We will play some shows in the spring-summer-autumn, but as I wrote before, the main focus will be in studio now.
Our management and bookers are slowly confirming and announcing more shows all over Europe and also probably other parts
of the world too and I guess there are already some out on the websites. Last year we played 169 shows,
this year it will be less than a hundred. Maybe even less than 50. But in 2009 I wanna do 299 and sing all the
ubrella-ella´s or what ever with you all many times ;=)

So I hope you all have a great spring and summer what ever you do. See you at the shows very soon I hope.



Blog from 28. April 2008

Samu

Eska Awards Poland

We´ve been a lot at home this year, witch has been actually very nice and there have been less than 20 trips outside Finland
since New Year. Last Thursday we flew to Warsaw, Poland to join the Eska Radio awards in Lodz,
150 Kilometers Southwest from the capital.

Last time we were in Poland, we had huge problems with transportation (you can read what happened in my earlier bloq)
and this time the EMI folks had really arranged everything great for us. As we walked out the doors of Warsaw airport,
there was a 12-meter Hummer limo waiting for us outside with all the champagne and stuff inside. Good start ;=)

I had bought a DVD quality video camera before the trip and it was very cool filming the looks of Polish countryside
people faces as we dove by with the loooong American miracle.

On Thursday evening there was only a dinner and party for all the nominees and acts of the show next day and we hang
out with Miss September and Mr.- Bass Hunter and their gangs. We drove around with another long H2 and took a closer
look at the second biggest city of the country. We nearly were arrested too by the Polish Cops but that was all
Riku´s fault ;=) No, we just crossed this huge street the wrong way and well..
I guess the behavior was not from my mom´s "ABC of life"

The next day was also very relaxed and therefore it wasn´t too bad to be a bit tired after the busy night.
The show was one of the most well organized events I have ever been to everything went on so smoothly.
And especially after receiving the award of "Best international newcomer"
we finally had forgotten al stuff and missing airplanes that hit us on the first trip. Thank you so much!!

And the weather was so so nice. It was the first real day of summer / spring this year.

So sure there was an after party on Friday night and we slept only a few hours before taking the ride to the airport.
So I woke up at 9 PM on my sofa after sleeping the whole day and realized we were able to bring the spring along from
Poland to Helsinki. It´s so nice now too.

I had a nice meal in the center in a pretty new restaurant called "Cochon" (You must try it if you are in Helsinki,
the number 1 on my list) with Mikko, the guy who sold his house for our 1st album and had a few glasses of wine.
I just woke up and it´s 3 PM. I slept so great! I have two hours to get to our old studio to have a chat with this
new band we might start working with. I will make it ;=)

Thanx for everyhting Poland and especially the lovely folks at EMI music. See U soon



Blog from 09. July 2008

Samu

Summer Touring and Studio Work

We are flying from Bucharest (Romania) to Warsaw (Poland) for a day off. We started our trip this weekend by playing
a show at the NRJ in the park festival in Berlin on Saturday. Everything seemed pretty ok that day.
I actually had slept very well before the night before the take off in Helsinki and in Berlin the weather was just amazing.
As the crew guys did the sound check and made things ready for the show at the venue, we were swimming and
exercising at the gym / pool area of the very comfortable hotel.

The stage in Berlin was built on water. Very cool with the 20 meter catwalk but the only down side was that the audience
was on the beach and in the water and they could not get close to us. They were maybe some 20 meters away at
the closest spot. You can´t really create a real contact with the crowd if you can´t see and feel them.
But the stage was really cool. I guess there are still pictures in the web at NRJ Berlin website.
They took us to the stage with a "bay watch" boat ;=)

The show was very hard. When we started playing Chose to be me as the first song, I had to take off my earphones.
The sound was so loud that I had almost tears coming from my eyes. Something just happened. Sami´s ears are still not
ok (after 2 days) and we hope he will recover. He can´t really sleep because there is this high tone playing in his head.
I had never seen Sami that angry before. Our monitor-guy missed his flight in the afternoon because the flight company
had over booked the plane (so not his fault) so he was not there at the sound check. If the audience wouldn´t have been
that good, I probably would have walked off stage after the second song. It was very painful.

But we made all 6 songs and I hope it wasn´t too bad for the crowd. These things just happen every now and then,
I guess, and there´s not much you can do about it when you´re already there with your guitar.

The police had blocked the roads to Berlin after our show when the festival was over. They estimated we´d have to wait
there at the beach for 2 hours before the cops would let us drive away. That sounded ok apart from the fact that our
wakeup was at 05:45 to get the plane to Romania. Finally after waiting some 30 minutes the cops escorted us away. Cool.

Yesterday was the very first visit to Romania for all of us. I must give 10 points to for the city of Bucharest
and the BestFest festival. Everything was perfectly organized all the way from the airport.
The airport manager / chief let us go through a diplomat route to avoid delays and the privacy and peace when driving,
at hotels and back stage was fantastic.

20 minutes before the show, there were maybe a 100 viewers in front of the stage and I was a bit disappointed.
Of course when you go to a new country for the first time this can happen and you must still give everything you
got on stage. But sure it´s nicer to play for more folks. The area got packed full before we started and it was a very
nice and enjoyable show for us. Hope for the listeners too. You all seemed happy.

We will definitely get back to Romania soon. Everybody was nice, the weather was 10+ and at the festival things went
as smoothly as on the big ones in Germany. The only thing that we missed was Mr. Dracula, but I am sure he also clapped
his hands inside his scary castle on the mountains in Fairytale Gone Bad.
I hope our sound guys played it loud enough for him.

So…. Now we are flying to Warsaw and we will drive to Bydgoszcz (250 Kilometers) to play a show there tomorrow at the
Junior athletics world championships at the Bydgoszcz stadium. Today we will have a day off and we´ll probably
go shopping and I´d also like to go jogging or to gym after all the driving and flights.
It´s a strange show tomorrow. We first play 2 songs and then they shoot some fireworks and stuff.
After that we perform another half an hour for the stadium. Last time we were in Poland we drove around
with a 12-meter Hummer limousine. Let´s see what´s our ride this time.

Greetings from Studio

Our "Sonic Kitchen Studio" is ready. There just some decoration stuff missing but it´s fully operational and we have
started working with PopGasm with full speed now.
There are so many moving parts and all the equipment and it´s just fantastic that there were no bad surprises.
The recording rooms were built brilliant (that´s what the professionals say) and seems as if the sound recorded,
produced and mixed there will be great.

We have pretty much selected the songs for the album and it looks really good. It´ll be a lot of works for sure but
I am very confident that the next baby "PopGasm" will be in stores in January 2009.
It´s also great how the producing teamwork is still healthy between Jukka and myself even though we have been
playing together now for a few years. I mean there could be a problem with authority,
but no. He is the guy with the magic and I am very blessed having my songs produced and co-written by such great pro.
Without him, I´d still be selling timeshare in Spain dreaming about being on these stages…

So as soon as we get home on Wednesday, we´ll hit the "Rec" button again and get a few steps closer to our PopGasm again.

I hope you all are enjoying your summer as much as we are.



Blog from 23. July 2008

Samu

Greetings from studio II

I am sitting here at our studio on the big black leather sofa of the big control room. Sami is next to me.
Today we are recording percussions and the man with the congas and stuff is Mr. Mamba. Sami knows the guy from his past.
Mamba had asked Sami to replace him in a band called Giant Räbät for one show afew months ago.
He has a van full of different drums and percussions and my Goooooooood it sounds great.
Right now they´re playing shakers and congas to a song called "Something sweet.
Mamba also had performed at the Pori Jazz festival last weekend. I was there with Sami, Jukka,
Karri and some other well-behaving music folks enjoying the beats and the groove.
We stayed at Jukka´s mother´s birthplace at "Mouhijärvi" for the weekend with the guys and some friends.
That was relaxing. Swimming naked is obviously good for your mental health ;)

We wrote "something sweet" with Jukka a few days ago and actually we even wrote the lyrics together.
It´s about bedroom stuff, but in the nice way…;) There are more than 20 songs that we´re working with and I could name
many of the 98 % sure songs of the album but this one is the first 100 % album track. I love it.
It´s great how the tracks are finally taking steps towards the final production. I am losing my sleep every night
with the lyrics. Of course Jukka helps me with them, but it´s my job at the end of the day.

There have been days I have been really stressed out with the album. It´s more work than I remembered.
But today it feels all great. Me and my twisted mind ;) I guess all these feelings of not being good enough to make
it happen and feeling amateur etc is just a necessary part of giving birth to something great.
I would not skip one second of all this…

This is all for now. Home you are feeling great too.



Blog from 01. August 2008

Samu

Latvia - London - Helsinki

Dear Diary

Monday, July 28

Whatta week! We just got home last night from Latvia I´m already flying to London. Bysu guy ;=)

We are in London until Thursday with Jukka and our stylist Tarja shopping clothes for the PopGasm album cover photo
shoot and also we have a few meetings with our publisher and some other folks. Then on Wednesday we go see the Kylie
Minogue show, we are both signed to EMI so we are invited by them. The only worry is that what if Kylie wants to get
married with me immediately and move to Helsinki and make all the babies with me. I mean yes, she has the best ass
on this planet but really, where do we fit all her shoes… I will just have to say no.
(And Kylie if you´re reading this, I´m sorry about going through our relationship here in public...)

We were in Latvia in Liepaja playing at the B-fest on Saturday. Whatta party!!!! Even though we had to start
the show 50 minutes late because of the Russian band before us played way too long and there were some tech problems,
the mood on stage was awesome. It´s always a bit uncomfortable to go to new countries because you never know if you
will have an audience or not. Usually there is someone there. This time there definitely were enough folks.
The stage was built on the beach and there was also a descent catwalk. I love catwalks.

My friend Kimmo (the guy I wrote "The day you fail again" about) was there too with his 3 golf mates.
It was the first time he saw our show outside Finland. They are on this Baltian golf trip but even they were smart
enough to have Sunday free ;=) We didn´t sleep at all that night. And thanx for everyone who joined us at Kimmo´s
suite after the show. I heard they could fix the Jacuzzi…

So we´re landing soon and tonight there´s only the challenge of getting to the center and finding the hotel.
I don´t know London THAT much, but Jukka´s been here a zillion times. I will let him guide me…

Part II

Thursday, July 31

We are somewhere above Amsterdam on our way back home. The trip was very great. Feels like I have been on holiday.
The weather was just awesome and the locals say you don´t get that every time in London. And so where the shops.
We all have the biggest Rimowa suitcases and they were half empty on the way there.
This morning I had to sit on mine to get it closed. But if the stuff you push into your bags is from All Saints,
Urban Outfitters, Top man and all the cool design stores, you should not complain.
I think we went a bit over budget, but I will explain something at the record company.

It took me 6 visits to London to start really liking the place. Of course it´s good to have music business
contacts and Jukka´s ex there who take us to places so we don´t only walk around Oxford street.
I remember in school when I was 16 or so, I never liked the girls who fell in love with London.
I found them wanna-be trendy idiots, but now I understand. There is this something when you really dive
into the beat of the streets. And the guys are just great looking. We were in the worst 5% with Jukka…;)
And the area of Brick Lane is just awesome. A bit like the best and most mixed places in Barcelona.

So 3 points for weather, 3 for shops 2 for great night sleeps and finally the last 2 points
(total 10, on scale 1-10) come from the restaurants. Amazing dining. No matter if you got to Soho and just pick
any Italian, or just stay near Bond Street, anywhere you eat, the food is just fantastic.
I had the best Thai food ever yesterday and I nearly killed myself eating too much.

So we´ll be home around 7 in the evening and tomorrow we fly to Hannover Germany in the morning.
Great to sleep in my own bed for one night. There is some kind of a festival in Oydensee something and it´s great
to get on stage after a week of shopping and doing business stuff.

Next week will be only PopGasm. We will finalize 6 first songs with Jukka. Well, not finalize but make them ready
and done enough so we can start thinking about the first single. The video project starts next month…;)
Jeeeeeee ;) The album and the songs sound very good… so far…

And there is a photo shoot on the 5th of August (next week!!) for the album cover. We have a great idea what
comes to the graphics and stuff and all looks good.
I slept so great in London. Actually that has happened for the last weeks. Maybe the stress level of giving birth
to the album is lower and lower as we get further with the production.

Tarja is sitting between us and she saw me looking at her chocolate cookie for 15 minutes clearly desiring it.
She gave it to me if Jukka and I´d promise we wouldn´t make any stupid jokes on the rest of the flight.
She´s had enough of Jukka & Samu for this week ;)

Jukka is a bloody goat ass…. Muahahahaha ;)

If you ever fly to Finland from the west and the weather is clear, just take a look down before you get on the main land.
The archipelago around Åland (the little island between Finland and Sweden, belonging to us!!) is like nowhere else.
It is breath taking.

So, enjoy your summer days. I will visit my Mom, Sister, Her husband and their little daughter Kaisa.
I bought a little pair of princess-style crocs for Kaisa and I hope they fit.
She is the sweetest girl on the planet and she will have a sister or brother soon,
this week I hope. My sister is getting way to big. I wrote one song about Kaisa for PopGasm.
It´s called "Dream like a child" and it seems as if it will be one of the chosen tracks.

Home sweet home… I am sitting on my balcony and it´s very warm and nice. Hyvä Suomi!!



Blog from 24. August 2008

Samu

Trip to Slovakia & Switzerland & Home

I don´t know what the hell is wrong with me, but I slept really well last night. Usually before these trips I get a little
stress the evening before, because my daily rhythm is what it is and the 6 or 7 o´clock wake-up is not one of
my normal routines. And especially since life´s been pretty hectic the last weeks,
there hasn´t really been a break between recording and being Jukka´s slut in studio and traveling all over to play shows.
Still even though you might get tired sometimes, I think it´s great to have all these shows to get away from the studio
every now and then to get some fresh air.

Yesterday was supposed to be a day for production at the studio just like Monday and Tuesday. To ensure the great working
conditions, I went out with Aki (our light designer / operator) the night before and we got really wasted.
He had been home at 6.30 and I guess I had ended up to my place around the same time.
So my head was hurting already as I dragged myself to the studio after midday. When I walked in,
the guys told me that the monitors had broken down in the main recording room
(where we were supposed to work that day with Jukka) and nobody knew why.
So the first 4 hours we just tried to find the reason so I would know what I have to buy or order to replace
the broken / damaged parts.

It was also a shame the machines broke yesterday because we were supposed to start doing the recordings and production
of the new Clark Kent songs in the second room. There´s only 2 songs fully done ready so far and we need some 10 more for
their album to be released in January. The band is so amazing and the guys are very very great!
I am thinking of having them support us in Europe as they get their album out first. Maybe next year…

I´ve been looking at all the new artwork stuff for PopGasm and man it´s hard to chose ;)
There seems to be a lot of talented and creative folks around Europe who have brilliant ideas… Let´s see.

I must say I am very happy with how the things are working inside the band right now and also with the management and stuff.
For the very first time everything is being done professionally and everybody is given the space and freedom to do their job.
No matter if it´s playing the bass, producing the album or negotiating a deal.
I really still don´t understand how we are able to work with the album without panic about sales figures or dead lines
and without pressure of delivering hits. I am sure as the release date gets closer,
I will shit in my pants a million times, but it´s great that all is so calm and relaxed now.
It helps being open-minded with the Ideas. Actually even the producing process is pretty much left for Jukka.
First we have selected the songs from all our Ideas and now I just mostly sit by him and enjoy the master´s work.
He just might ask me what I think about this and that idea, usually he doesn´t ;)
I must say he is just one fucking blond genius! I can´t wait to sing the final vocals to the songs as soon as we get
the new German Neumann U47 microphone for me. Aku (Our Sonic Kitchen MD) had ordered it from somewhere, Munich I guess.
It´s a very special mic built in Germany in the 1940´s and the sound is better than with anything else.
For my throat at least. I will pay anything for it but I hope Aku is smart when buying it for me what comes to the prices.

There have also been a lot of new toys for us and for our inspiration. The latest toy I got is the hand made acoustic
baritone guitar built by Mr. Loef, the Finnish guitar builder pro who has sold us 8 of his master pieces already.
The sound is almost as low as bass but it´s a guitar. Sounds deep baby!
I can´t wait to see on which song we will use it for.

We did our first trip to Albania last weekend. None of us had ever been there before. We also had a day off there before
the show and since the temperature was +37 and the sun was shining, there were no problems arranging activities.
We met this Finnish guy Timo who is building some kind of recycling facility / junkyard for the locals.
Timo took us to the local hot spots and worked as our "extra security" guy (drinking all the booze ;) at the festival.
The crowd was nice, not too big but nice.
The live concert culture seems to be a bit different there than in Central Europe for example,
I mean the stage had a grass floor and the crash barriers were replaced with local police forces.
If someone got too close to the mic stand, the police removed him or her or just pushed them back.
So there was a show for us too ;)

And one thing I must say about the folks after the show. I have never seen anyone behaving that well towards the artists
at a signing session. They have arranged a table next to the stage at the VIP area where we could sit and have a few drinks
after the show. It was more than 30 degrees during our show so the cold beer sounded more than great. We were a bit worried
how it would work with all the hundreds of people at the VIP, children and all. I mean if you´d do that in Finland,
they would not leave you alone for one second. These folks were very polite,
took their picture and / or autograph and walked away. I mean it´s very nice to meet fans and people after the shows,
but mostly there are a few persons among them who want to have all the attention for them selves.
Most are just great, actually fun. But in Albania they all behaved like programmed and we have never had a signing
session as relaxed as that.

The local bosses didn´t allow the local promotion girls (+ one guy) party with our crew and us and sure that made
Aki & Karri upset. We gave them their favorite pizza to cheer them up.

And the bus broke on the mountains from Tirana (capital) to Vlora. We had cold beer, no panic. Raul, Jukka, Karri,
MP and the guys were fighting about these special microphone techniques (MS technique) for hours.
The argument was whether the sound is real stereo or not. I filmed all the 3-hour philosophy with my DVD cam
and I will release the greatest moments smart mouth battle someway someday. Nobody won.

They are serving coffee now in the plane……(just a second, I will be right back)

But anyhow….We are on our way to Slovakia now and we are performing at the Budzogan Festival in Zilina.
I have never been to Slovakia and all I know about the country is some Ice Hockey players (Miroslav Satan above all!)
and this one of the top 10 things about my "job" to get to see new places.
They say the party after the show is great so we will have to have an extra eye on our crewmembers,
especially Karri and Aki. If only they could behave as mature as us band members… Especially Jukka and myself.

From Slovakia we fly to Zurich in the afternoon to have a day off there. Shopping, Shopping, Shopping!
Or did we go directly to Gampel, don´t remember. I will so go jogging or to gym… If we don´t party too much today…
We perform at the Gampel Open Air on Saturday. The only time I was SURE I would die was on stage in Switzerland.
We had been in Spain for a week with Jukka, Aki, Karri, Mikko from the management and Aku from Sonic Kitchen.
The trip was not a gym trip at all and I remember flying directly to the festival from our little Mediterranean
swimming pool. I was so sick and the hang over was something so bad. Anyway, they had built the stage towards
the sun and as our stage time was around 5 PM,
the sun shone on stage with full power and I was barely able to stand on my feet.

After the second song as Karri was bringing me a new guitar, I had to give him also my shirt.
I usually don´t like to do that but there I had no choice. And after the third song I had to take the rest off.
Was nice to play the full 60 minute set wearing only sneakers and underwear after drinking
and partying for a week in Spain… It didn´t look pretty.
Sorry for all the families who´s children still can´t make it without professional help.

So I hope the stage is not as hot as back then, but now I have been sitting in studio
and I even went to gym once this week so I should be fine.

We will start planning our little movie project with Karri now before they start
landing and tell us to put our MacBooks away….

On the way to Switzerland…

The show was just great! They had built the stage inside this huge wooden house on the mountain.
The sound was better than ever on stage and the only thing I was a bit worried about was when I jumped off the stage,
I really couldn´t see how high the stage is. Didn´t get hurt…;)
The crowd was very nice and lovely and after the show we finally got to meet both the local fan club
and also the polish fan club teams. Wonder why they all bring us alcohol…;)
Those little sweet girls ;) Even though we don´t drink that much…

The party was hard so I must sleep now until the plane lands in Prague… I am dead. Jukka´s fault.

Still writing….(At studio)

There was really no time to post this before so I am sitting here at the studio with Jukka and one little nameless
studio assistant and we have our hands on PopGasm. Jukka and me having our little hands on our little baby popgasm…;)
Sounds hetero!

Anyway. The show in Gampel SUI was just great. It´s very cool how the Swiss arrange their festivals.
Everything always works like a Swiss clock and the artist can just relax before and after the show and do the best
they can on stage. And they were loud again, just the way we like them ;)

We all got ill on the way home. I actually felt it in my throat already on stage on Saturday,
but now it really hit at least Jukka and myself a bit. The truth is, we haven´t had one single day off with him
for the last month at least and I don´t know if it´s the way of the body to fight back.
I really hope we are in good shape next weekend again in Germany.
It´s one of the last festivals of the summer and you don´t wanna drive the stage 80 % power because being ill.
I need to do my Destiny jumps!
One thing that makes me feel a bit better with my running nose is the stuff coming out of the speakers…;)
I can´t wait to get this stuff to all of you.

I will go home and sleep 12 hours now. Maybe that helps. C U All Soon,

von Doctor



Blog from 17. September 2008

Samu

Hi Guys & Girls

So... The shows & festivals are over for 2008 and we will let the hair grow now and spend all available time in studio.
It was one hell of a summer with a lot of sweat, rock & roll and there is no words to describe how great it was and how
fantastic you were all the way.
Last week we had the pleasure to receive our platinum awards for over 200.000 sold albums in Germany.
As we don’t have the chance to hug you all for this success(200.000 hugs would be a world record so we do it next time
just for the Guinness Book ;), we do it this way: thank you so much for being on our side during the last two years.
We all had the best time of our lives and hope and believe that this will continue in 2009 with all of you. And 2010.
And 2011. And and and....

Just a "tiny" detail for those who might be interested. Riku is now a full 101 % member of the gang,
so give him a warm welcome.
Actually I had the feeling that you already did this from the very first day he was on stage with us! He fits perfectly
into our bunch of "extremely well behaving" guys from my country, so that’s maybe not a big surprise.
He is so nice. I know that when I enter the rehearsal room tomorrow for our morning PopGasm rehearsals at 11:12
(12 minutes late...), he will have a warm cup of coffee there waiting for me. What more could you ask for....?

So, back to the studio now (we have one hell of a popgastic challenge here;) – and see you all soon!

Doctor Haber
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