Songs Of Salvation

The Legends Of Rock 'n' Roll -first gig

2010-03-07T22:39:00.000-08:00

Last night we played the first gig with my new band , The Legends Of Rock n Roll. TLORR is a five piece band, with Janne in drums, Lepa in bass, Jari in piano, Heikki in guitar and me in vocals and guitar.

The gig took place at Kaapelitehdas, Helsinki, at Hima&sali restaurant. The Event was Helsinki vintage's afterparty.

Here's the setlist:

Folsom Prison Blues (F)
Memphis Tennesee (E)
Shake Rattle and Roll (D)

I Walk The Line (A/D/G/D/A)
Sweet Little Sixteen (D)

Keep on Knockin' (C)

C'mon Everybody (D)

Great Balls Of Fire (A)

Green Green Grass Of Home (G)

All Shook Up (Bb)
Hound Dog (C)

Heartbreak Hotel (E)

Rip it Up (A)

Blue Suede Shoes (G)

Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On (A)

Tutti Frutti (A)

encore:

Johnny B Goode (G)

At our best, it sounded great, at the worst moments it was'nt worse than a bit silly so I think we did alright. The crowd was'nt big but they were really nice and supportive, thank you for being there! Also a huge "thank you" for Big Jay who helped us out with Happy birthday and Jailhouse Rock.

Next gig within a month in Lahti. Rocknroll is forever...

strings and tilting necks

2010-02-01T22:06:00.000-08:00

new sets on both guitars; I still have some left from my previous order from USA

. Three projects up and running; Old times dance music with Carin & Blue Velvets, Rock n Roll in a still unnamed band with Janne, Heikki and a keyboard player and bassplayer I' am about to meet next sunday. And the occasional Sunday jam sessions at Veijos basement.

I'm now playing more with the Telecaster, the winter weather is not good for the acoustic guitar. I' have been adjusting the neckrods on both guitars, the cold dry air makes the tilt. And also, I been looking for amplifiers; nothing wrong with the Fender Princeton, I'ts more experimental than based on a need. I tried a Marshall combo, but that was too heavy, both soundwise and in kg's. Tonight I'm going to check a Fender Twin that belongs to Martti Henttunen, who made his musical career in the 80's with a band called the Murrmurrs.

Rockin hard at Sipoo

2009-12-06T23:44:00.000-08:00

Two sets of pure rocknroll with great musicians and appreciating crowd of bikers -can't get much better!

The line-up was Janne, drums, Heikki, guitar, Niko, Bass, yours truly vocals & guitar.

Janne is a local dude from Sipoo with a long background roots rockabilly bands. Heikki is my jamming buddy from Bar Mendocino,and Niko is a friend of his.

We cheated a bit and had one rehearsal session before the gig, which actually made some sense as we made some changes to the set list according to that.

Here' the set list. I played the first half with acoustic guitar, and the 2nd with my Candy apple red Telecaster. And, my new Shure super55 mic was also excellent, looking cool and sounding great. The overall sound was good, the music was good. The only thing that would need some improvement is the volume which had the tendency of rising every now and then. But hey, that's rocknroll.

1. set ("acoustic")
Folsom Prison Blues (F)
Memphis Tennesee (E)
Honky Tonk Women (G)

Shake Rattle and Roll (D)
Green River (H)
Lodi (G)

16 tons (Am)
Green Green Grass Of Home (E)
Dead Flowers (D)
Mystery Train (C) (Heikki)

Rockabilly Rebel (G)
All Shook Up (C)
I Will Stay (Am)

2. set ("electric")
C'mon Everybody (D)
Johnny B Goode (G)
Sweet Little Sixteen (D)

Tallahassee Lassie (D) Heikki
Crossroads (A) Heikki
I Saw Her Standing There (A)

Tutti Frutti (A)
Keep on Knockin (A)
Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On (A)

encore:
Shakin All Over (E)

new strings on Acoustic

2009-10-26T10:34:00.000-07:00

Back to Martin light, the difference between the custom lights and lights is non existing. The heavier set might be a bit easier to tune, but it might also have something to do with the fact that they are new.... Anways, after one and a half month the strings were in really bad condition; sticky, rusty, worn out. Now the sound is there again; just in time for another night out at Bar Mendocino!

The latest list of songs (as displayed on the side of my acoustic guitar), with some remarks:

2009-10-19T06:11:00.000-07:00

Työn alla
Green Green Grass Of Home
C'mon Everybody
Summertime Blues
Rockabilly Rebel

Hyvin hallussa
Folsom Prison Blues (F)
Honky Tonk Women (G)
Memphis Tennesee (E)
Shake Rattle and Roll (D)
Tutti Frutti (A)
Lodi (G)
I Will Stay (Am)

Hallussa
All Shook Up (C)
Green River (H)
Sweet Little Sixteen (D)
I Saw Her Standing There (A)
Johnny b Goode (G)
16 tons (Am)

Jotenkuten hallussa
Travellin Band (A)
Cotton Fields (E)
I Walk The Line (G)
Blue Moon Of Kentucky (C)
Keep on Knockin (A)
Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On (A)
Mystery Train (H)
That's All Right (Mama) (E)
Shakin All Over (E)

Opeteltavia
Hound Dog
Heartbreak Hotel
Jailhouse Rock
Blue Suede Shoes

Muunlaisia biisejä enempi vähempi hallussa
Dead Flowers (D)
Peaceful Easy Feeling (E)
Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay (C)
Suspicious Minds (G)
Perfect Day (E)
Feel Like Making Love (D)
Who'll Stop Rain (D)
You got to Hide Your Love Away (G)
Personal Jesus (A)

Suomalaisia
Lumi teki enkelin eteiseen (D)
Lentäjän poika (G)
Huomenta Suomi (G)

New Strings on both guitars

2009-09-05T10:15:00.001-07:00

A note to self:

Acoustic guitar has now a set of Martin Acoustic SP custom lights (011/015/023/032/042/052, )

which is just a little bit lighter than the Martin Acoustic SP Light that I had previously. I'm not even sure if I feel any difference.

My Telecaster has a set of Ernie Ball Super Slinky (009/011/016/024/032/042). I usually use heavier strings, so this is a tryout.

Both guitar s got new strings today. Acoustic guitar needs new strings more often these days, as the jam sessions at Mendocino wear them out really fast. Electric guitar is not played that often, usually only in Järvenpää where I play with a band every now and then.

Lack Of Quest at Bar Mendocino

2009-09-01T02:30:00.000-07:00

Here's a video from Bar Mendocino, showing a band called Lack Of Quest performing there last night. The other reason for taping this was the fact that I was testing my new toy HTC Hero telecommunicationUberDevice, The other the mere fact that they played really good. Great acoustic feeling, the percussions were really cool, great songs, good sounding vocals. It was also the first time ever I saw a female on stage at Bar Mendocino. Sisters, the stage is open for you too :).

The quality of the video is quite scheisse, but then again, it's better than nothing. Barely. Anyways, More video stuff from Mendocino coming any day now, stay tuned! And remember to show up every monday night, with a roots mood :).

Sittin On The Dock Of The Bay

2009-08-22T22:37:00.000-07:00

Here's a performance from Nakkila, where I spent 10 days together with Elina this summer, playing music with 50 other music junkies.

This lo-fi video (thanks Elina!) shows us performing Otis Redding's classic song with acoustic guitar, cello and flute. This was a follow up project for I Will Stay which we did with the same band. Unfortunately, there is no evidence from that gig, It was one of my first ever appearances as a lead vocalist in front of an audience.

On Sittin On the Dock Of The Bay, Jenni Witick played cello, and Metti Seppälä sang and played the flute. It was cool to play with musicians who had classical background. I was really taken by the professional attitude and their enthusiastic approach to the song. The whole performance was put together in two or three reheasals and then performed in front of a jury and other musicians from the camp.

Eight things a busker needs to know before the first gig

2009-08-03T08:36:00.000-07:00

Here's a little article which I hope would help anyone who is thinking about starting a career as a busker, ie a musician (or any other kind of artist) who performs in public places suchs as streets, parks, underground stations etc. These hints are all based on my own experiences as a busker in Stockholm, Sweden, and Helsinki, Finland. Hope you find this helpful! (pic: http://www.irlandforum.de It's not me or anyone I know, just something I googled up, this place was screaming for a pic)

1. Pick up the right spot
Picking up the right spot for your performance is crucial. First of all, you want to be where the people are. Playing alone in an empty park might be a good place to practise, but if you don't have an audience you are not a busker. Second, you want to be in a place where people are comfortable. A good spot allows passers -by's to stop and enjoy your performance in a nice atmosphere. Third, you want to find a place where there is as little external noise as possible. This is of course a paradox, because people make noise. What I'm trying to say is, try to avoid places with a lot of car traffic, other sources of music etc.
If you are performing outside, take account of the weather. Sunny, shady, windy, under a roof if it's rainy, there's a million things to think about. Just make sure that spot is comfortable for you and for the public.

2. Choose the right repertoire
Make a list of the songs you are going to perform, and think about the order of the songs, and the keys you are going to play them. You dont want to waste time on stage thinking about what to play next. Only play songs that you know. Practising on stage is not polite.

3. Keep a tight eye on your belongings
Working on public places means that you get colleagues who are not always respecting your ownership to your own belongings. There are beggars, con artists, homeless people and other less lucky members of the society who will take your jacket, instrument or hard earned cash without hesitation if you leave them unguarded during your performance. Keep wallets, keys etc in your pockets. Everything you need to put down should be right in front of you or as near as possible.

4. Take contact with the audience
Playing in the streets, subway stations, parks or where ever you choose to perform is still a public performance. Talk to the audience, thank the audience for the occational applause (and their contributions), act as you would act on stage. so make sure you look good, sound good, play good, act good.

5. Use seeds
Before you start to play, always throw some odd coins and notes to the guitar case, hat or whatever you use to collect the money. That makes it clear for the audience that they are allowed to pay. I usually carry a small plastic bag in my guitar case with about 20 foreign coins and a 1 dollar bill. They look good in the bottom of the guitar case. People have a habit of throwing in anything from money to cuddly toys, cigarrettes, you name it! Appreciate everything you get, and thank the people with a smile or a nod or a thankyou, if the performance allows it. And beware of homeless people who try to sneak in and steal your hard earned cash.

6. Respect other buskers
After you found that perfect spot with a lots of generous tourists, check out that there are no colleagues nearby. If you can hear the guy playing next to you, you are too close. It's not nice for the other buskers, and it' s definitively unpleasant for the public to listen to two or more overlapping performances at the same time.

7. Is a license required?
Check out if you need a license from the police dept or from the local mob. Or prepare to move fast if anyone starts to ask any silly questions.

8. Have Fun!
Buskering is not (at least on my case) paying enough to be a profession. So, when you are out there, enjoy the experience. Love the people passing by and the music you are making!

Espa rocked (just a little bit)

2009-07-29T03:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the first time busking in Helsinki for me. Niklas was kind enough to join me, so off we went to Esplanadi, the main tourist boulevard in the middle of Helsinki. This was the first time ever we played together with Niklas, so the strategy was " I play, Niklas follows" which worked really well. Niklas is pro with his guitar, and he sure sounds like one too. It's amazing how well he picked up on all the stops and changes in the structures.

We did'nt pick a very smart spot for our performance. It was hard to get heard in the middle of the park with car's on both sides, so the contact to the public was not as close as I'm used to when playing in Stockholm. Also the sound was really thin compared to Gamla Stan, where we always played on the narrow streets between the buildings.

We did my usual set of songs,from Folsom Prison to I Saw Her Standing There, jumping over some of the heavier rock tunes. All Shook Up went from A instead of Bb, Cotton Fields sounded flat and I forgot the lyrics of the last verse of I Walk The Line. Two acoustic guitars sounded nice together, and Elle, a bass player from Nakkila went by with her bike and smiled :). It was an afternoon well spent!

Jamming @ Bar Mendocino

2009-07-28T01:35:00.000-07:00

Blasting jam session at Bar Mendocino, Helsinki, last night.

Bar Mendocino is a small rocknroots bar downtown Helsinki, with a regular jam session every monday night. Loads of great musicians, enough crowd, good sound, even instruments are available for those who dont care to bring their own.

Last night I had the priviledge to play bass with some young guys playing really nice sounding blues rock thing. One of the guys was playing lap steel guitar which added a really groovy authentic sound to the performance.

A bit later I changed the bass to my acoustic guitar, and the guys were kind enough to back me up when doing three numbers; we went through Folsom Prison Blues, Honky Tonk Women and Shake, Rattle & Roll. The musicians changed a bit during the songs, at it's best there were drums (played by a bearded guy who had the most swinging beat I've ever heard), bass, lap steel, electric guitar, piano, my acoustic guitar and vocals. Some serious jamming went on, lots of solos with piano, guitar, lap steel, great swinging beat, changing dynamics. It's always great to play with dedicated musicians, and it's kind of a thrill to step on stage with guys you never met before. I still dont know the names of any of the guys I played with yesterday, thanks for all of You!

I had a good night, the crowd seamed pleased and the other musicians did'nt throw me off stage so I guess it was a good night for all of us :). I hope to get back there soon!

Gamla Stan, with bass & amplification

2009-07-27T00:50:00.000-07:00

On the 30th of May I went to Sthlm to run Stockholm Marathon. The plan was to play some stuff on the streets the following day. I bought a 1 w belt clip Marshall amplifier a few weeks ago, and we decided to put it into test. This time Jankka played his Stratocaster through the tiny little amp. One day before my daughter Elina said that she would like to join us with a bass. Great idea, so we bought a battery operated Roland Microcube amplifier for the bass.

The day was hot, and the streets were filled with guys and girls wearing red ”stockholm Marathon 2009 Finisher” T-shirts. I had mine on as well.

Here's a videoclip from that day. Sound is not really that good on the video, but it gives some idea of what happened. Live, the Microcube gave more than enough power for the bass. The tiny Marshall sounded a bit, well tiny, but on the other hand the electric guitar gave the songs more air than dobro. Dobro still looks better.

We Dance

2009-06-15T10:56:00.000-07:00

This is Niklas performing his own song, to which I made the lyrics. The instruments were recorded earlier, one solo guitar (the mad Joe Perry-like thing in the last part of the song), lead vocals and harmonies were recorded during the same night we did Folsom Prison Blues. Everything is again more or less one take. Niklas sung the lyrics and made the melody almost simultaneously when he was first reading the lyrics from a piece of paper. Awesome!

The lyrics are not very personal, it's more like ”words that have rocknroll in them” . I first got the track without any text, just a name which was ”YouRock” at that time. I built a story around that statement, with a simple idea that the singer is singing this to a girl, telling that he dont care about any other girls, because you are all I need. Hey, rock lyrics dont have to be original, they just need to sound good and deliver the eternal message of love, sex and lust.

In the first verse, we have the California Girls (thanks Beach Boys) Texas Women (My apologies to ZZ Top) Sleepless in Seattle (a movie reference there) and East side Ho's (I watched ”Borat the Movie” a few weeks ago again).

After I had received the demo track, Niklas had added an idea of a line ”We Dance” to the chorus. So we combined the original name and the new chorus to be ”We dance -and baby you rock”. Sounds good.

In the second verse the original story is already lost. The first verse did the job it was meant to. Now It's time for the singer to tell the girl how he really wants this evening to end. It starts with a reference to a joke I heard a day before from Juuso; he called sideburns with a nickname ”reisiharjat” (thighbrushes) which I found amusing. ”Flaming” Sideburns is of course a reference to a Finnish band with the same name. ”Burn, burn baby burn” is a direct rip-off from ”Disco Inferno” ( a great song by the way) and the rest is a combination of traditional rock n roll cliches in the spirits of the Beatles, Slade and AC/DC.

When recording the vocals we realized that the bridge after the second verse needed some words. We took the best sounding lines from the verses and placed them over the bridge: California girls and East side Ho's get a chance to burn one more time.

It took about five minutes to write the lyrics, and 15 to write this ”autopsy”. And it takes 3 minutes to listen to it :). That's rock n roll!

Folsom Prison Blues

2009-06-13T11:28:00.000-07:00

My all time favourite. The opener of the live set. The best Johnny Cash song ever. A real bad ass song.

This time, I did not only have a producer, but the whole thing was done in a real studio in Kulloo, Finland with Niklas, who also plays some additional guitars and the second solo on the track. This track also features my brand new 1995 Fender Telecaster, which I bought the same day this song was recorded.

It always starts with a beat. For a second we thought about doing it with real drums, but decided to use computer instead. I laid a demo track over the beat and then played an acoustic rhythm guitar (with my own Peavey), bass, (a semi-acoustic Framus from the 60's, Niklas has a wall filled with vintage guitars and basses in his studio. It's like being in a candy store) and an electric guitar (intro and rhythm through the song, played with my Telecaster through a really nice looking and great sounding Mansner amp, built by Niklas's brother.). Lead vocals took two takes, plus the first verse was re-done once.

Then the finishing touch; Niklas played in the banjo-like sologuitar, including the 2nd guitar solo. I played the first solo, and sung the harmonies. Singing the harmonies was funny, Niklas had the autotune machine on without telling me, and I was just wondering in my mind how easy it was to hit the notes :). There you go. I'ts all a big lie :)

15 minutes of editing, and the track was done! Again, I just can't tell how much I appreciated this session. To work with someone who knows his way around in the studio, is a gifted musician with great ears and has great spirits gives you an enormous boost when recording the songs you love. Thank you again, Niklas!

Shake, Rattle And Roll

2009-06-09T11:01:00.000-07:00

It all happened one glorious night in Tuusula, Finland;

Shake Rattle & Roll is one of the Elvis songs that I admire the most. I actually discovered this song just about a year or two ago. I only had the (lame) Bill Haley version in mind, but it was when I first heard the Elvis version when I realized how mean a song can be. This is BAD!

It has been a regular guest in the street music sessions since last summer. In the beginning I was playing it way too slow (sorry Robban, you was right about the tempo), but this recorded version has the right, almost insane uptempo that this song requires.

My version of Shake Rattle and Roll was recorded by the lake Tuusula, in a sauna with an acoustic guitar, one microphone and a Mac. The whole recording session was produced by Tumppi who made the magic happen. This is also the very first time when I have had the priviledge of having a real producer to assist me through a song. It was a great experience to have someone to push the buttons and keep the session going with a great, positive, finlandssvensk attitude. Not to mention the post production. This sounds almost like a real record!

It took about two hours to complete the track. Almost everything that is on the track is recorded from the first take. First, There was a beat, created by Tumppi. No real instruments, it all came from... the computer? Anyway, the humming of a slap bass, and the booming drums sound warm, real and good.

Then, I played a demo with acoustic guitar and vocals. Followed by an acoustic guitar that is heard in the background. This was not played through the whole song, but just one verse which was then copied over the track. Then the vocals. I think I had two takes on it. It took some time to get the beginning right, but finally we made it. I recall it was actually recorded separately over the rhythm track because I just could not get it in time. Lack of professionalism I guess :).

Another guitar was recorded, the one that can be heard clearly on the track. That was one take. Tumppi edited the sound later by running it through a virtual amplifier. We did backup vocals to the first verse, from where they were copied all over the track. We did some handclaps, which Tumppi then copied under the guitar solo. Guitar solo was the last thing we played in. Tumppi's Mac was running out of battery, so we only had time for one take. At first I hated this as i t sounded so corny, but after listening to this track, I find it quite amusing, very Elvis-like.

That was the session. All guitars are played with an improvised pickup made from a piece of a credit card. The whole thing was edited by Tumppi the folloving morning. He also added the snare to the track. The cover picture is taken from the window of the sauna, in the middle of night with some magical midnight sun over the lake Tuusula. Creds for photoediting goes to Elina!

Tumppi gave me an edit of the track whithout vocals and solo guitar, IF I ever feel like redoing them... I dunno. Maybe?

note to self

2009-04-25T12:25:00.000-07:00

This is what I want to do when I grow up:

Two Days Of Thunder

2009-04-12T23:05:00.000-07:00

two cool days of playing rocknroll, back in the old hoods. No pic's this time but it looked about exactly the same as in the older pictures, except that I was wearing a leather jacket in a true rocknroll rebel fashion because it was still a bit cold for outdoors performance.

I dont seem to get bored to play the same old 50 -year old rock songs. As soon as Jan kicks in the intro for Folsom Prison Blues the vibe is there. And even though Jan is constantly complaining that he would rather be playing Highway Star or Jimi Hendrix, I know that deep inside he also loves to play this stuff. At least there is no competition about the solo spots, I stick to the rhythm, Jan may do all the twanging and bending there is to do, which is not little.

We went through the usual about 20 songs (see the set list in earlier post) plus a short run of Lodi (I couldnt remember the words), Bad Moon Rising (now from A) and I Will Stay, which is also my bravure in Karaoke bar Anna K in Helsinki. And a lot of messing around with blues from E, or A. We also played a new instrumental, Hideaway (Bluesbreakers with EC) which made it's way to the set. I love the instrumentals in between then songs, gives me time to catch some breath. The audience seems to like them as well, Jan's dobro has a unique sound and it looks cool, people stop by to stare it and sometimes thay even approach and ask what it is.

Moneywise, I didnt care to count it this time, but we got our usual coffee and muffins in the corner bar (again, see pic from last summer). The audience was as international as ever. Lots of Finns and other foreigners.

Competition was different than before, There was a group of four girls singing Accapella in the next corner, and a dude with Ozzie flag on his guitar, playing ballads. None of the usual guys were there, maybe it's still too early for them?.

Next performance could be round the 1st of May, but you'll never know.

Spring is here -time to hit the streets of Gamla Stan!

2009-04-09T00:36:00.000-07:00

There's a rumour going on that we are going to open the season tomorrow, and play live in Gamla Stan. + 13 celsius and some sunshine says the forecast, it's sounds doable.

Here's an idea for songs to play. I need to go through these and re-learn the lyrics and structures as I have'nt really been playing that much lately.

Pipeline (instr) E

Folsom Prison Blues (F)
Memphis Tennessee (E)
All Shook Up (Bb)

I Walk The Line (G)
Green River (H)
That's All Right (Mama) (E)
Shake, Rattle & Roll

Rude Mood (instr) E

Mystery Train (H)
Honky Tonk Women (G)
Cotton Fields (E)
Blue Moon Of Kentucky (C)

One After 909 (E)
Sweet Little Sixteen (C/D)
Travellin Band (A)

I Saw Her Standing There (A)
Tutti Frutti / Keep on Knockin' (A)

Let's see what happens!

The Wedding Singer & co

2008-12-18T23:23:00.001-08:00

After a few different approaches we finally ended up playing as an acoustic duo at Mari's & Johan's wedding. Jan played his Statocaster with my Fender Princeton amp, I played my ever so famous Peavey acoustic guitar and sung without amplification. Quite good, but some watts, would have made it a bit easier to get the message through... maybe next time.

We started by playing Skeppsholmen Waltz, a song composed by Jan & me for the occasion as the wedding waltz. The Happy couple manage to dance it all the way through ,and as they looked so fine, we gave them an extra verse and chorus, extending song's length to at least 3:30.

As instructed, we held on to "songs that old people can dance", and played Love Me Tender (With guest vocals from Kåre Tham) and I Will Stay, by the late great Hurriganes. (You may, If you feel like it, check my solo version of this great tearjerker. Then we went on for another five or so songs including Memphis Tennesee, That's Alright, Mama, Folsom Prison Blues, Honky Tonk Women (with help on backup vocals from a guest) and other classics from our repertoire.

Here is Skeppsholmen Waltz, congratulations for "världens bästa brudpar!" May the force be with you.

It is time for the first quizz in my blog: "From which famous song (songs) we took "influences " when we created this masterpiece? Please enter your answer to the comment box before the 31.12.2099.

A gig!

2008-11-07T08:35:00.000-08:00

Looks like we are going to take a step towards a professional career again. Mari and Johan are getting married (congratulations!) and Mari asked if we could play a few songs at their wedding reception. Of course we can.. .most propably :) Some scheduling is required, but in general we are looking forward to it.

The idea would be to do it in the same manner as we did the summer's street attacks, 100% acoustic, 2 guitars, bass, (and a drummer if Kenneth wants to join us) and vocals. According to Mari we'd play anything from 2 songs to as many we want / people want to listen which sounds like a fair deal. The only problem is that Mari wants us to play something they (the newly wed) could dance which is a bit of a problem as we can only play fast rock 'n' roll tunes. All the slow stuff was thrown out during the summer as it did not sound good outside.

Anyway this is it. We are talking about touring, 747's, Wembley, lots of cocaine, girls, girls, girls... but first we take Skeppsholmen, the 13th of Dec.

A post without pic looks boring, so here is a picture of my (almost) latest purchase: meet mr. Johnson, made in China. 85 €. Mr. Johnson resides at my Helsinki apartment, and frankly my dear, I'm not too happy with him...

Sisuradio

2008-09-25T08:53:00.000-07:00

Dear Diary,

Today (well last Saturday actually) I composed a song with Liisa and Harri and played it live on national radio in Sweden. It was really cool! Mäntysoopashow is the name of the weekly program, wihch is produced by Sisuradio channel. Nadja and Jarmo Mänty, the hosts of the show, sent me the song we made called "Elämän Selkäreppu" on a CD. Thank you so much, it was really fun to be there!
Here's the song, enjoy :)

The catch was that the listener's called in during the show and gave us words which should be included in the text. The song was supposed to be "suomirokkia", traditional Finnish rock music.

Liisa is a freelance journalist living in Stockholm wit a classical music education, and Harri is an ex member of Swedish rock group Kent, So I had the priviledge to make music with much better musicians than myself. Thanks and respect!

Greetings to Chuck Berry

2008-08-23T10:55:00.000-07:00

Another day live on stage (hmm, almost) behind us. We played duo again, Robban's bass is still not fixed. Not much respect flowing towards Jam....

The music was better than ever, we are getting more and more on control of things. It's tight, in time, in beat, in tune. The vocal harmonies worked really well today. We had some tuning issues with the guitars, Jan's dobro was getting out tune every now and then. It was tuned one whole step down, to DGCFAD, which gave some much desired bottom to the music, now that we did'nt have the bass.

We played in two different places, first on the stairs where we've been before, and the second set further down towards the south end of Västra Långgatan, in front of an art gallery. The owner came to us first when we started to play, and asked us to keep the noise down because of his customers. After two songs he came to us, placed a 20 crown note to the guitar case and said that we are not loud at all, on the contrary, and that he actually liked what we play. That was nice to hear!

Setlist was more or less the same as last time. Problematic this time was "I Saw Her Standing There" It has a tendency of getting out of hand and being messy. Better luck next time. Trouble, was better than last time, we got the modulation right thistime, but I need to learn the lyrics for the other verse as well. Really good moments with Memphis Tennesee, Folsom Prison Blues and Tutti Frutti/Keep On Knockin'. Some jamming with Up Around The Bend (from C because of Jan's tuning), Blues Brother's Theme and Stevie Ray Vaughan's Rude Mood, which gathered a good round of applause for The Blues Boy aka my main man Jan. It's a great tune, although I'm more confident than ever that we need to concentrate on original hit material from the 50's, to keep it focused and to give the listener's a tool to place us on the map. So, Heartbreak Hotel, Jailhouse Rock and Shake Rattle And Roll, here we come!

Here's a google spreadsheet with all the financial details abot the daily earnings so far. I might keep it updated in the future too. We treated ourselves today with muffins, as documented on the pic somewhere nearby. mind you, these muffins were earned by playing rock n roll music which is far from honest work... maybe that's why they taste so good!

The competition is fierce, we got accompanied by a bunch of teenagers who had different kind of earning tactiques than we. Well, honesty is never totally wrong.

Here's our view from the stage towards the audience:

Equal Dreams

2008-08-17T07:53:00.000-07:00

I was testing a new internet download store called Equal Dreams. Equal Dreams allows anyone to sell anything in their webstore. Here's the example: http://www.equaldreams.com/kimmo . So now you can buy my version of Honky Tonk Women. Sales so far are 1 copy, which I bought myself.

Equal Dreams is a great concept. The UI still needs some work, but hey, so does Itunes. I really dig the idea.

Back in the streets of Gamla Stan

2008-08-10T13:06:00.000-07:00

We did a duo session yesterday with Jan; Robban could'nt make it because he's Shaking Billy -bass is in service at Jam.

Going back to playing without bass was a funny experience, the lack of rhytm and bottom was obvious. On the other hand, we were able to improvise much more with the songs, being just the two of us. But keeping in mind that we have only played a few sessions with Robban and his bass, I'm sure that we'll get that feeling with a trio too in no time. Anyways, we were able to take down the tempos and play the songs nice, easy and controlled, but still swinging and rocking the way it should. Even the normally tuff songs to sing, I Walk The Line and Cotton Fields felt good.

Moneywise we made the usual 1 cup of coffee and 25 sek (3€) each, we are still hanging to our dayjobs.... plus the usual odd foreign currency, some €'s another $ bill, we now have two of them, and 6 USSR Rubles from the 80's... how on earth can someone be carrying round that shit, still? It's been outdated for like what, 20 years now? Whatever, it fits well to our collection of useless foreign coins which we use as "seeds" in the guitar case.

We met with an interesting fellow street artist called Jerry Steele (why do all american's have such cool names.. Jerry Steele sounds like he was BORN to lead a rocknroll band...), an American whos been living in Stockholm for 19 years. He's doing spoken word on the streets, which sounds really interesting, I hope I bump to him one of these days to check it out. Heres he's website, Wordfi.com . Jerry also told us about some clubs with jams and open mic kind of evenings, I need to check all that out.

Here's the setlist from yesterday:

Pipeline (instr) E
Mystery Train (H)
Memphis Tennesee (E)
All Shook Up (Bb)
Green River (H)
Be Bob- Lula (A)
Folsom Prison Blues (F)
That's All Right (Mama) (E)
Honky Tonk Women (G)
Cotton Fields (E)
I Walk The Line (G)
Blue Moon Of Kentucky (C)
Roadhouse Blues E
Red House E
Proud Mary D
Trouble (C / D)
One After 909 (E)
Sweet Little Sixteen (C/D)
Travellin Band (A)
I Saw Her Standing There (A)
Tutti Frutti (A)
Keep on Knockin' (A)

It was premier today for two more Elvis songs, Blue Moon Of Kentucky and Trouble, and a CCR song, Travellin' Band. Blue moon went quite well, Trouble was a bit of trouble as I dont really know the words or the structure so there were a few "freejazz" moments there... but it'll be good after a few rounds.

And it was the end of the line for I Will Stay, songs in minor keys dont work in the streets. It needs to be rock'n'roll, with steady beat, and wellknown songs too.
I've been struggling with a few that I just can't make to work; Summertime Blues, C'mon Everybody, Hound dog, Great Balls Of Fire. I dont know why, but I can't make them to sound any good. Lack of skills I guess.

I dont know, maybe we should try to get a gig from a pizzeria someday, where we could play all the "crybaby" songs we know, starting from Knockin On Heavens door, Sitting On The Dock Of the bay... dont get me started here. Anyway, the setlist still needs some more classic rocknroll tunes.

Another song that starts to feel meaningless is One After 909. It originally came into the set because, for some stupid reason, I had the lyrics in my head one day when we were jamming. It's kind of cool with the bridge and the breaks, but I think that I have had enough of it, at least for a while. And, it's not a wellknown song either. Very few people know that it's .. well, who's song?

Strings

2008-08-02T11:25:00.000-07:00

Note to self; dont buy Elixir strings.

They are about 2x as expensive as the normal strings, as they are supposed to have a longer lasting sound. This might be, but I couldnt experience that as the D and G string broke down during the 1st and 2nd set I was playing with these strings. And I never break any strings, that is highly unprofessional...

The acoustic guitar now has Ernie Ball Super Slinky .11 's

Young Sweet and Innocent

2008-08-02T11:17:00.000-07:00

The vaults are opening; Me at the peak of my professional (musician)career playing bass with Kari Peitsamon Skootteri, anno 1989. Hail Hail Rock n Roll!

On pakko vatkaa:

Rock n roll ei kuole koskaan:

A-Wop-bop-a-loo-lop a-lop-bam-boo

2008-08-02T09:17:00.000-07:00

Another rainy day at Gamla Stan;

This was the first ever appearance as a trio, with Jan (dobro) and Robban (Shaking Billy Bass). Because of the weather, we played at the entrance of the Gamla Stan subway station under a small, 25m2 roof.

The sound was, as expected, phenomenal. The stand-up bass really kicks some serious ass, pumping, humming and snapping like nobodys business. And Jan's dobro, with or withour slide, makes the songs both rock and roll. Also, the vocal harmonies are beginning to be somewhat good. We still have problems in both finding and keeping the right tempo for the songs, but we'll get there. Also, the warm and moist weather caused some tuning problems, guitars where quite badly out of tune a few times.

Moneywise it's still not time to quit that dayjob; we made a total of 210 kr / 24 € in three hours. Just enough for two rounds of black coffee. The bar clerks love us, because they are always short on exchange and we pay with 1 kr coins :).

It's really cool to play in front of real people, and it always feels good when people show that they enjoy the entertainment. An interesting observation: Most of our fans are +45 women and small kids. They show openly how they feel about the music, and are also bringing in most of the cash.

Unfortunately I have no photographic evidence from today's session, but here's a few memories:

- Right when we started to play, the rain was pouring down and there was a huge crowd under the roof. Several people started to dance, and the feeling was like in a fully packed bar for quite a time. We got huge applauses, people where clapping their hands and making noise. Wonderful!

- A homeless women got really ecxited, and wanted to show her feelings. First she threw her water bottle into the guitar case where we collect the money, followed by her sunglasses, followed by a loaf of bread (!), followed by her jacket. All this accompanied with fierce dancing and handclapping.

- A homeless guy asked "Ni can väl inte spela Säkkijärven polkka"? I answered (in Finnish) "No ,probably not" and at the same time Jan started to play this finnish traditional song. The guy went crazy, sang to verses and told us his life's story standing 20 cm from our faces.

- A beautiful woman passed by in high heels just when I was singing Sweet Little 16, and the line "She's wearing high heel shoes". I went totally out of my head , forgetting the rest of the lyrics.

- It happens often that people, mostly women, start to wiggle their tails to the rhythm when passing by. I try to encourage them by shouting "shake it, baby" or something like that, if there's an opening in the lyric. Very often that is rewarded with a big smile. feels good!

- A woman came to us, put some money into the guitar case, and then started to pose in between us, kneeling in front of us and leaning agains me while her friend was taking pictures. Totally acceptable behaviour!

Here are the songs played today. As usually, we did two sets, the first one took 1:25, the second one went a bit faster, we skipped some songs and cut the tunes a bit shorter.

Pipeline (instr) E

Kimmo:
Mystery Train (H)
Memphis Tennesee E
All Shook Up Bb
Green River (H)

Robban:
Be Bob- Lula
Folsom Prison Blues (E/F)
That's All Right (Mama) E

Kimmo:
Honky Tonk Women G
Cotton Fields E
I Walk The Line (G)

Jan:
Roadhouse Blues E
Red House E
Proud Mary D

Kimmo:
I Will Stay Am
One After 909 E
Sweet Little Sixteen C

Robban:
Get Rhythm F
This Tear Will Never Dry Hm
Bales Of Cocaine C

Kimmo:
I Saw Her Standing There A
Tutti Frutti (A)
Keep on Knockin' (A)

Looking forward to next time....

Blackbird

2008-07-28T12:03:00.001-07:00

Here's a summer project... Maybe I learn it, maybe I dont.

Popkollo

2008-07-28T11:53:00.001-07:00

For the 2nd year in row, my younger daughter went to Popkollo, a ten day long rock music workshop for teenage girls. She liked it there, and so did all the other girls as well. The girls performed two songs in the closing party, Living in America and an own composition called No One Wants To Be Hold:

Rock This Town

2008-07-26T08:52:00.000-07:00

30 degrees Celsius, 2 bottles of Maxim sport drink, one stand- up bass, one guitar and two mean rocknrollers; that's what it takes to make Stockholm rock it's shirt off.

Robert played his debut on the streets of Gamla Stan, Jan was out of town so it was duo performance again. The combination of a guitar and bass sounded very different than when we had two guitars. Much more rhythm, but the lack of solo guitar was obvious. We were forced to cut the songs much shorter, and there was not as much room for improvisation, extra verses and such with just me playing the rhythm guitar.

Here are the songs we played today. We went through the songs for maybe three times. It was also hard to keep the tempos, every song was trying to speed up, we need to be careful with that in the future:

Pipeline (instr) E
Mystery Train (H)
Memphis Tennesee E
All Shook Up Bb
Green River (H)
Honky Tonk Women G
Cotton Fields E
I Walk The Line (F)
Be Bob- Lula
Folsom Prison Blues (E/F)
That's All Right (Mama) E
I Will Stay Am
One After 909 E
Sweet Little Sixteen C
I Saw Her Standing There A

First time ever, I counted the money. we made 326 sek (34 €) and about 4 € in three hours. Dont quit that dayjob of yours yet, bluesboy....

Here's some video from today.

Next performance is scheduled for next Saturday, stay tuned! then, hopefully the whole trio will perform.

100% Acoustic, definitely

2008-07-21T14:04:00.000-07:00

We played a session with Robban today, I great guy who plays rockin stand-up bass. -Sounded great. I hope he joins us on a street session next saturday. We got a divine sound out from the instruments when we play totally unamplified, Just the slapping and humming of the bass, Jan's Dobro's metallic clang, and my acoustic guitar plus vocals. The balance between the instruments and the sound is unbelievably natural. Hope to get more of this!

Green River

2008-07-20T04:45:00.000-07:00

Green River went into our Street Music set last week. This CCR song has been a favourite of mine for like 30 years, but I never bothered to learn how to play it, until now. The opening riff is a true rocker, and the text has some really beautiful pictures in it, like "Let me take you down where cool waters flow..." just what you wan to hear on a hot summer day.

There's this funny change in chords, the original is in E, with A and -surprise -C as the other chords. I was home alone yesterday, and decided to make a fast production out of it. My version is in the key of B with G and E as the other chords. Being not the worlds best singer, it seems to be essential to find the right key for the songs. the ones that usually seem to work best for me are E and H. I almost always seem to have hard time singing songs in the keys of C and G.

To make this took about 5 hours. It was recorded with Cubase, in my living room, with a cheap Skype headset as a microphone.

First, I fixed the drum track. It's taken from ZZ Top's Gimme All Your Lovin. The tempo was a bit too slow, so, I clipped some small pieces out from one bar, between every sound, and made it faster that way. Then I copied that one bar over a track and voila, there I had like 5 minutes worth of perfect sounding drumming, steadily in beat.

Next step was to lay down a demo track, with acoustic guitar and song. This track is not included in the final production. One take.

Then, I played the acoustic guitar again, just strumming the chords. One take.

Then bass. Played through my Fender Princeton guitar amp, clean channel, straight eq, microphone in front of the amp, like 50 cm away from the speakers. Two takes. First take was crappy, because I tried to play too much. The best bass lines (at least in this kind of music) are always as simple as possible. The one here is just a straight base tone / 5th on one and three, throughout the whole song. Sounds great.

Solo guitar. Played with my Squier Stratocaster, through the same Fender amp. Some distortion, some reverb, with the "upper(bass)" mic on on the guitar. Took two runs on the lead guitar, and then played the solo in the middle to a separate track.

Vocals. Did four takes, from which the second and third were best. percussions. A "frog", a funny thing my daughter bought from Bangkok airport, which makes the funny noise in the beginning and the end, and throughout the song, in (near) sync with the snare. And the "Banana", a shaker that's there to give some air to the high end, in sync with hi-hat.

Piano, one take. A real big black Kawai acoustic piano, slightly out of tune, I did some goofin around, playing the chords from the higher range.

Backup vocals. Did one take on the whole song, singin the lot from E.

Then, I started to mix it down. I 'm recording with a normal PC laptop and with a standard soundcard, so there is a lot of delay in my recordings. Every track I record is more or less out of time. Sometimes it's so little you can hardly hear it, sometimes it's like half a beat. So the trick is to move the whole track a bit leftwards on the mixing grid, immediately after it was played in, and then fine tune it under the mix.

First drums and percussions. Drums were already done. The frog and banana tracks were cut into time. I'm not putting them exactly into grid, I just see to that they are somewhere nearby the right place. It feels that it gives the recording some life, the drums being quite machinelike. Frog got some rewerb in it, shaker's eq is cutting low frequencies off.

Then bass. Fixing the very few timing problems, (I am a good bass player) and adding some chorus to the sound, and a compressor. done.

Acoustic guitar. a touch of phaser, little bit of reverb and it's done. Acoustic guitar is panned 75% to the right.

Lead guitar. I used mostly the take #2, and replaced a few bad licks from the first take. Some minor timing issues were also fixed. No effects, this is just as it came out from the amp. Panned 75% to left.

Solo guitar. Need no work, as it was perfectly played and sounded great. There's a few tunes that COULD have been fixed, but then again, real is real...

Piano. Fixed some timing issues, cut away a few bad notes. No effects. Panned 87% to right.

Vocals. This is a cut and paste from takes 1-3. Also, some timing issues were fixed inside the phrases. Theres a compressor, some chorus and a short analog delay. The volume is adjusted to phrase by phrase.

Backup vocals. Tried to make it fit, but it did not so I scraped the track.

Cymbals. Added two more tracks, one panned 100% left and the other one right. Copied the sound of a cymbal (taken from Mixcrafts sound library) over the track to some strategic spots.

Fixing the beginning and the end. Cutting out the extra drumbeats from the beginning, cutting out unnecessary "silent" parts from vocals and lead guitars. Cutting and pasting the frog sounds to beginning and to end with fade-in and fade-out.

Finding the balance between the instruments is hard, but somehow they seem to find there places during the process. My main concern is the volume of vocals, it's really difficult to decide the right level.

Then mastering, There's a compressor and master limiter on it. That's it. This is how it sounds. Enjoy!

Commercial break; Strings And Beyond

2008-07-16T01:23:00.000-07:00

I ordered some strings for my guitar from USA, www.stringsandbeyond.com: 10 sets of Martin MSP2X00 SP Marquis (light .12 and medium .13) were $5,99 a piece , Shipping was €$14.95, so the total price for me per set was $7,49 , which equals to 44,85 SEK or 4,7 €., which is about half the price compared to the local street price. Strings and Beyond was also nice enough to mark the value of the shipment to €20, so it came through customs without any hassle, directly into my mailbox in 14 days. SAB worked very professionally, everything from order confirmation mail to shipping confirmation to packaging was top quality. Not to mention the set of three SAB picks, personal note and a sticker that were included in the shipment. I am a happy customer!

Rock n Roll All Day Long

2008-07-13T11:12:00.000-07:00

Another day in Gamla Stan. Some new songs in the set today: Green River (CCR), Mystery Train (Elvis), Cotton Fields (CCR). Especially Green River felt really good. Some songs saw their last performance today, out from the set went Peaceful Easy Feeling and Sitting on The Dock of the Bay, and also Do You Wanna Dance. Peaceful Easy Feeling is just too hard to sing with a lot of long high notes, it always sounds so out of tune that it makes me blush. Sitting on The Dock Of The Bay sounds great home alone, but does not rockthe way it should on the street. Do You Wanna Dance, we never really found any groove to it, so it's time for it to go. First time in the official set list were also Proud Mary and Roadhouse Blues, both sang by Jan. Out from the various jams came Red House (Jimi Hendrix) and RocknRoll (Led Zeppelin). Both of which will make it to the official set list next time.

Here's today's set:

Folsom Prison Blues
Memphis Tennesee
Honky Tonk Women
Mystery Train (H)
That's All Right (Mama)
All Shook Up
Green River (H)
Proud Mary
I Fought The Law
Sweet Little Sixteen
Cotton Fields
I Walk The Line (F)
One After 909
Do You Wanna Dance (D)
Sitting On The Dock Of the bay (D)
Roadhouse Blues
Peaceful Easy Feeling
I Saw Her Standing There
I Will Stay

This time we went further up Väster Långgatan into Gamla Stan, and found a perfect spot. We played in front of a map store (which was closed because it was Sunday). The street was very narrow which made the sound really good. Moneywise it was probably also the best day ever, although we still haven bothered to count what we get. Anyway, last time we got a $ bill, which is pictured here. The highlight of our career! We seem to play for an international audience, as twe receive Euros, Norwegian and Danish crowns and one cuddly toy, on top of the usual swedish crowns.

We had some discussions about adding amplification, mainly for Jan's dobro, which we would like hear more. A simple belt clip Marshall 1 w amp would probably help the situation a lot. We also discussed about recording the songs as we are doing them now, as a document of this phase of our career. And, that we try to find a stand -up bass player to back up the songs and bring more rhytm to the sound. Anyone?

Street Music Gamla Stan

2008-07-05T22:37:00.000-07:00

Here's an evidence from yesterdays session on Väster Långgatan in Gamla Stan, Stockholm. This was maybe the fourth time we were out playing the streets of Stockholm, and it sure is fun.

It feels very relaxed, some people smile when passing by, some stop and listen for a while, some even give us money, just enough to pay for a cup of coffee in the nearby cafeteria. Here's the songs we played, approximately:

Folsom Prison Blues
Memphis Tennesee
Honky Tonk Women
That's All Right (Mama)
All Shook Up
I Fought The Law
Sweet Little Sixteen
I Walk The Line
One After 909
Do You Wanna Dance
Sitting On The Dock Of the bay
Peaceful Easy Feeling
I Saw Her Standing There
I Will Stay
Who'll stop the rain
Suspicious Minds
Proud Mary

The rockers seem to work better outdoors, ballads dont get the attention that easily. So we have dropped most of the slow songs from the set. Also, I m having some trouble singing Personal Jesus, as I realized once that if you dont know the original song, you'd propably think that it's a religious song and we are there to praise the lord... which would be incorrect.

Dancing In The Street!

2008-06-07T12:37:00.000-07:00

Great day! We were supposed to do some usual guitar playing with Jankka this morning, but since it was a beautiful day and Jankka did'nt have the keys, we decided to play outside in the park instead. After a 10 minute session in the empty park we decided that's it's time, and moved our asses to Drottningsgatan, central of Stockholm, notorious for the constant flow of (Finnish) tourists. We played for 2 hours, between 9 am and 11 am, and it was great fun. About 10 people were kind enough to throw some money into the guitar case, while we were doing the usual Folsom Prison Blues, Honky Tonk Women, All Shook Up, etc. Just enough money to pay for the bottles of water and a cup of coffee afterwards... At 11 am I was totally exhausted. Singing outdoors without a microphone takes much more power than one would think of... And we are going back there, next week latest, if the weather is good!

Edit:
Here's Jankka's view to the same event.

Incredible Jens

2008-05-17T07:59:00.000-07:00

Is the name of the virtual orchestra lead by Jan. Incredible Jens has released one album, called Amonpolis I, which is available via Jamendo.

As far as I know, the members of the ”band” have never played these songs together, it's a pure virtual gig. I collaborated on the project by playing bass on one of the tracks, Metsä. The recording was really interesting; I got the a raw mix MP3 from jan (without bass and vocals) plus 2 lines of instructions (play straight, play loud or something like that :)) and the structure and chords for the song. I took one listen to the track ,and then played the bass line in. First take was a bit out of time, so I took another take, which was perfect. I then sent the Waw -file with bass back to Jan. The whole process took maybe 10 minutes. Then, a few weeks later the albmu was ready, and i heard the song completely for the first time.
It's a nice rock song, take a listen here.

Love Me Tender

2008-04-27T06:47:00.000-07:00

Another Elvis song.

This was a fun song to make. Fast simple production with two guitars & bass, guitar solo & vocals. The whole thing took maybe 2 hours to record. The vocals were sung with very low volume, so I was struggling with it quite lot to make it hearable. I m not totally satisified with the results though, there's a lot of compression and reverb ,which makes it sound a bit.. unreal. Anyway it's been on my hard disc now for a month or so ,and I feel no need to work with the sound anymore, so I guess it's time to let it go....

Love Me Tender is one of the ultimate love ballads in the history of rock, a beautiful, simple song. I hope I did'nt ruin it for anyone...

About Song Of Salvation

2008-04-19T07:25:00.000-07:00

Lauri asked me why I started this blog. Good question!

Notebook
Making these recordings and digging good music is my dear hobby. Therefore, the first reason for this blogs existence is to be my notebook. I wanted to have a place where my recordings are in somekind of an order, and a blog seems to be a good tool for that.

Collaboration.
I enjoy playing with other musician, I would like to have other people to help me out with my tracks, and I would like make guest appearances on other people's projects. We are also currently looking for a Stockholm based bass player, drummer and a keyboard player to join our little rocknroll duo. More about it here

Feedback.
I do these recordings for my own amusement, but, since they are done, It is nice to hear feedback from people who listened and liked them (or are polite enough to lie to me that they liked them).

Professional interest.
I work with music industry, and with web 2.0 tools, and I see this also as great case study of my own. What do you need to be able market yourself as a musician? A laptop, some software, Internet connection and that's it... so this is a ”practice what you preach” case for me.

Girls, Girls, Girls!
Well, that's why I started to play the guitar in the first place, 30 years ago. Ladies LOVE guys who play guitar :)

That's alright, mr Presley

2008-04-19T07:04:00.000-07:00

I tried to lay down a rhytm track to this song a couple of times with the usual method, first a demo wih acoustic guitar and vocals, then redo the acoustic, add bass, percussions, solo guitar and finally re-do the vocals. I somehow never seemed to get it work, it never captured the spirit or the groove of the song.

This time I took a different approach; Here's a raw edit of the first stage of the project. This is first take, just vocals and acoustic guitar, one microphone, no overdubs. Sound is a bit compressed, and theres some reverb to give it a bit of space, but otherwise it's all natural, live stuff.

This is going to be the final lead vocal, I am going to try to add some bass, percussions and guitars to it , maybe even backup vocals, if I can maintain the groove. But this rocks, dont you think?

Shine A light

2008-04-19T06:56:00.000-07:00

An awesome film about the Rolling Stones performing live in a small theatre in NY. (The official website is here ) This is by far one of the best rock movies I 'e ever seen, but I seriously doubt how much it would entertain people who are not into The Stones and their songs. First of all, the set list contains mostly songs that are not so wellknown, focus on the Miss You album from mid 80's. Secondly, they (sometimes) play so bad, carelessly, out of tune, out of time that it's really unbelievable. Thirdly, the sound is mixed to follow the camera, so when Keef is in the picture, strumming some weird stuff totally unrelated to the song, you'll hear it, painfully loud. To me, the feeling of the film is not ”see how the Stones perform on stage”, but ”join the Stones on stage” The chaos, the very strange and raw sound, the lights in your eyes, the sweat... it all very ,very real... I see some versions of Rolling Stones songs going down to my hard disc in the near future :) You Got The Silver, Brown Sugar... lets see what happens!

Elvis is Alive & Kicking

2008-04-12T03:39:00.000-07:00

Kicking my butt, that would be.

All Shook Up is the first of the many Elvis songs I enjoy playing that ended up to be "released". As usually it was more like the song picked me than the other way round. All Shook Up sounded nice while playing it with Jan, so I thought I'd give it a try. I also wanted to do a rocker for a change, and see if I can make a song groove when recording it alone, instrument by instrument.

First take of this song was much slower, jazzier, but it never really took off. So after some advice from my main producer Tumppi & fellow guitarist Jan, I decided to follow the original version's tempo and tune. The tempo is now 160 bpm, and I am introducing real percussion instruments for the first time, please welcome the "egg" (the crackling noises somewhere there). The backing vocals took a long time to do, I sang most of them in the bathroom. Not because of the great echo or anything, but because I was so embarrased that someone would have heard me doing "wwaaaaaaawahwah" alone in a silent living room... There's 6 different backup vocal tracks on the recording, from the total of 12 which makes this my heaviest production of all times :).

I just realised that, at this point, I have covered Elvis, Beatles and Rolling Stones. Way to go! These three are in many ways the cornerstones of my musical background, so it feels like a good start!

here's the original... Elvis HAS some real magic in his voice:

Ganes

2008-04-12T00:28:00.000-07:00

Hurriganes was one of the reasons I never made it to law school. My life started to bend to the wrong track the first time I heard the "Roadrunner" album when I was about 8 or 9 years old. Here's my respect to the (late) Cisse & Albert & of course Remu who's still rocking. I MUST add that I had the priviledge of drinking whiskey with Albert a few months before he died in 1989 or so, at the Hotel Pasila in Helsinki. He was very cool and distant in his Boss -suit and dark glasses...

There's a lot of Hurriganes songs that I would like to do, but this one came out first. I love the text and the guitar theme that was obviously nicked from Needles & Pins (if that came out first?).

The production is a standard lead vocal, 2 (or maybe 3? ) backing vocals, rhythm guitar and bass. The lead guitar (less the actual solo) was played on a saturday night when I was quite drunk, and very creative :). The whole thing (as everything else so far) was recorded with a 2 € Skype headset as a microphone :) Talking about pro equipment...

The cover picture is created by my daughter. The beard is real, I had it for three weeks and then could'nt take the itch anymore... looked kinda cool though.

Here's the original, for those (?) who are not familiar with this Finnish rock n roll sensation from the 70's

And one more, a live version that sounds awful, but looks ... 70's.

The Real Deal

2008-04-12T00:11:00.000-07:00

I finally got the courage to play my stuff to other people, and sent a copy of Honky Tonk Women to Tumppi, who kindly told me that it was'nt all bad. I have been bothering him with my recordings ever since :). Anyway and for that reason, this is the first song I went public with. (Means that I uploaded it to Youtube and shared the link to a few friends. 150 views up to date. I AM famous!). So, Tumppi is the one to blame.

I have been playin Honky Tonk Women for ages, and since I never learned how to make it sound the way Keef plays it, I just play it as a simple country-rock song. The Stones themself made a funny version of the song to Let It Bleed album too, that's part of my excuse.

I still like the sound of this. Nice and soft, laidback feeling here. It's the first time I ever did any vocal harmonies, with some help and advice from Tumppi, thanks again!

More Experiments

2008-04-12T00:01:00.000-07:00

The second one from the archives is my take on Chuck Berry's Sweet little Sixteen. The vocals are from a demo track, I tried to sing it again a few times but could never quite catch it. This is so far the only track I have finalized that has drums on it. I find it very hard to play with the machines, they never seem to sound quite right, they do not rock... Anyway, I am quite happy with the way they sound on this one, specially together with the bass. The drums are taken from Mixcrafts library, added with a few fills and accents. The rest is just me playing two electric guitars and a bass over the acoustic guitar / vocal demo.

First Evidence

2008-04-11T23:13:00.001-07:00

Just for my own amusement, I have been playing guitar in my living room ever since I quit my "preofessional career" as a bass player in 1989. Sometime in November-December 2007 I started to experiment with studio software called Mixcraft, and before I knew it, I started to record my own versions of my old favourite songs. That's what this blog is about.

The oldest recording that I have spared is a version of a Beatles song, You Got To Hide Your Love Away. If i remember correctly, I picked it because a) it's a great song, and b) the original is a vocal/guitar arrangement (which it is actually not, now that I checked the original...). I played it a couple of times with my fellow guitarist Jan , and it kinda felt good so I recorded it. Now, this is not a great performance, I'm just putting here as a reference. The whole thing is out of tune and out of time, and the sound is not that hot either. But for the sake of historical truth, here it is:

This is probably NOT a good idea, but here's the original if you need to wash your ears after that one...