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“Funk” is not actually the word to describe Sunrise Avenue, even though we had the coolest horn players on stage with us at the Big Band Theory Tour. And this song is not “funk” at all, but here we go anyway...
It was a dark night, I guess in 2012. I was fooling around with my little home studio equipment’s horn samples and I kept playing this strange horn melody. I never thought it would end up on a song some day but for some reason, I recorded a little demo all alone in the night and emptied abottle of good Italian red wine. Then later at one of the song sessions at producer Jukka Immonen’s studio when we were thinking of the songs for “Unholy Ground”, I presented my silly horn riff idea. Jukka really liked it but none of us knew what to really do with it. We made a better demo with better horn sounds and decided to try it together with the band guys at the country side studio next time we’d be there. One evening at the Petrax-studio at the farm far away from Helsinki, really late at night after a sauna session and one beer too many everyone, we decided just to play something for fun. Raul was actually still in sauna, so I took the bass, Riku his guitar and Sami was behind his drums. We were only wearing towels and well... I’m really happy in many ways nobody filmed this session. We started playing “Funkytown” together with the horn demo we had made with Jukka earlier in Helsinki. We still didn’t know what to do with it. We thought of maybe making it an intro for “Unholy Ground” album or to use the theme at the live shows in spring 2014 somehow. As a show opener maybe. Because of the horn riff / the theme, there is no real space for a traditional chorus. The song didn’t go on the album and we just decided to forget about it. I must admit that when I played the new “Unholy ground” song ideas that summer for the Universal Music people, I also played this short drunken demo at some point. The biggest of the bosses in the room that night, Mr. Tom Bohne said he likes it really much, even though he didn’t know what we should do with it. These sessions are sometimes very creative and you actually get good and helpful feedback to make the songs better. I used to hate these sessions after some bad experiences back in the days. I thought the office folks know nothing about music. Now I know better. So we had an idea everybody liked but nobody knew what to do with. Great. As we were thinking of the 2-3 new tracks for the Best of album in the spring 2014, I decided one morning that no matter what it takes, this stupid song would be solved somehow. I drove to Jukka’s studio and told him we would not rest until we have it right. We agreed that the song would not have a chorus in a typical way and we’d let the horns lead the way. We tried it in the way it’s on the album now and it actually felt great. Then we played all the parts again with the band boys but something seemed to be missing still… Already when we were recording our 2nd album PopGasm in 2010, I really tried to have Mr. Tommy Lindgren from Don Johnson Big Band feature on one of the songs. Then the collaboration was just forgotten and I guess Tommy was not that excited about the offered song either. Actually the song “Popgastic” never ended up on the album at all. Anyways. I called him again now and asked if he’d be interested. He said he’d have a listen and he'd see if something comes out. A couple of days later I saw on my iPhone screen that there’s an email from Tommy. I was sure he’d write “Sorry, I’m too busy and bla bla bla…” Nope. He had written his parts, recorded them at home and DAMN it sounded cool!! The rest you can hear on the album. I wrote the lyrics with producer Jukka and I have to say it was the hardest text writing session ever, but I try to describe what we were after there… Funkytown is not a place for nice little girls and boys. It’s a place where people go to have a little break from their lives. For example, this nice lady works at the office wearing her nice dress from Monday to Friday. On Friday evening she puts her hottest high heels and stay-up socks on and just lets it all go. She does some things she doesn’t want to think about on Monday at the office. But she needs and wants to blow off some steam. What happens in Funkytown, stays in Funkytown. At Funkytown you’re at you own risk. In other words I could have said Funkytown is THE party song. I CAN’T WAIT TO PLAY FUNKYTOWN LIVE next summer. I can’t ! Ican’t ! I can’t ! So… be careful out there. Especially if you end up in Funkytown… Muahaha… Have a cool & Funky weekend everyone! Samu PS: Check out the Funkytown lyric video on our Facebook video player athttps://www.facebook.com/sunriseavenue/app_1477485535854823?app_data=6 I wrote this song when the band was still called “Sunrise.” The year was 1998 and then it was just me and Jan Hohenthal, the other founder of Sunrise.
In 1998 the song was very different. It was way more "country" and hilarious. The lyrics were different too. They were about a guy (me;) getting laid with all the girls and breaking all their hearts. I was even crazier those times – Big talks about all the girl-stuff and not so much action. I have never been a huge Casanova, but when I look at my pictures from those times, I’m amazed I even got any girl’s phone number. So childish and stupid I looked back then. Not that I’m actually George Clooney today either… I offered the song to producer Jukka Backlund a few times during the first two albums, but he hated it. It was just too folk/country and the lyrics were just awful. Jukka was right. I still liked something about the song idea and so in 2010 I wrote a new chorus to the song with my studio partner Aku Sinivalo and after that I had the guitar riff idea that you hear in the beginning. Now it started rocking and sounding like a good song. Still, for some reason, I didn’t play the song to the band guys or producers for another three years until we were recording our fourth album “Unholy Ground.” “I Can Break Your Heart” was one of the first songs we recorded for the album and the working title was “Brown Chicken” (because the same day we recorded it we had been watching Trace Adkins’ “Brown Chicken Brown Cow” video - Check it out on the link below). There’s something similar in the mood and we just loved his voice. I must say after all the years hiding the song in my secret “song idea box” I loved the track as soon as we hit the record button with the guys. It just rocked from the very first second and we felt we were on the right path. We didn’t even have to talk about the drumming on this song; Sami just fixed the missing details on the first take. And I’m really happy Riku happened to have the Banjos and stuff with him in studio to make the riff even more Western. We all knew the song would work super great on stage at the shows. “I Can Break Your Heart” is a story about the fact that after you have had a broken heart at least once in your life, you start behaving better and you appreciate it more when someone loves you and is there for you. You’ll have a better life when you’ve been through all that pain. It’s a song about those cool nightclub girls who pretend they’re perfect and no guy is ever good enough for them. But then some day some average neighbor boy comes and breaks their heart and they become better ladies. I feel sorry for those “Queens of city lights” but I also know they will be saved someday by some normal boy. Deep shit? Yes it is. Check out Brown Chicken – Brown Cow. He could be the big brother of The Boss Hoss dudes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzQ4qdlhurc And also check out the “I Can Break Your Heart” live version from the DVD. It’s added now on our new video player. https://udd-app.umg-cms.eu/_artists/sunrise_avenue/facebook/videoplayer/share/?track=10 Love and peace and broken hearts ;) Samu PS:I have to add that the lady speaking the life wisdoms after the guitar solo is Sharon Vaughn, the official big sister of Sunrise Avenue. She was a bit shocked and surprised when I said to her in Stockholm once “Read this text to the microphone and ask no questions…” She corrected a couple of my grammar mistakes though… I just watched “Hurtsville” live version from the amazing DVD that’s out next month, and it’s really hard to understand that this song was actually lost and forgotten for two years somewhere in Sweden. And it’s also hard to imagine, that this song was super hard to record and to produce. But I guess the more it hurts to deliver it, the better the baby is in the end.
I had my very first songwriting session in Sweden in February 2010. I was booked to make music together with two total strangers (Sharon Vaughn and Carl Björsell) somewhere in a small studio in Stockholm. I felt kind of nervous walking in and introducing myself to these folks who had written huge hits to many artists from all over the world. In 2010 Sunrise Avenue was still a one-hit-wonder with “Fairytale Gone Bad” for the bigger audience and co-write sessions with new folks was totally new to me. I’m really happy my publisher Sony/ATV selected these two writers to be the first ones. We had two days together and we wrote two songs. First day we wrote “Angels on a Rampage.” Sharon said in the morning she wants to write a huge rock ballad and we had nothing against that with Carl. Six hours after entering the room, we had written and recorded the song demo and during these six hours we also had lunch. Sometimes these sessions are super fast. Sometimes things just work out. When I woke up the second day, I felt a little ill. However, we decided to have the session anyway and see what comes out. We wrote a song about this guy who is sitting in a tour bus somewhere far away from home. About this imaginary city called “Hurtsville.” In the story, the guy is kind of sad and it hurts to be alone far away from home and I think Sharon’s idea for the song name was just genius. After writing the song, we recorded a demo with acoustic guitar, bass and vocals, but I wasn’t too sure about it because of my ill throat. Soon after Stockholm, I flew to Los Angeles to write with more and more people and the only demo I ever got from Carl was “Angels On A Rampage.” Maybe he thought I didn’t like my voice on the other recording… After the L.A. trip I came back home to look at the new tracks with both producer Jukkas. We worked with both of them with “Out Of Style” album. They both loved “Angels on a Rampage” right away and it ended up on the album. The album was released, Hollywood Hills became a huge hit and somehow I had forgotten about this “Hurtsville” song completely. In February 2013 I had another two-day-session with Carl and Sharon again. Another success. We wrote “Unholy Ground” and “Aim For The Kill” in two days. Great Great Great. In the very end of the second studio day I was already ready to call a taxi to the airport as Carl asked us “What should we do with Hurtsville??” I was like “Hurtsville, what?” Carl plays the demo as I’m already wearing my jacket and my guitar is packed ready for the flight. Time stops and we burst into tears with Sharon. I brought the song back to Finland with me and there was no question. It should be on the album. Everyone loved it. Producing the song was super hard. We made four finalized versions (More acoustic version, old school rock’n’roll style, a stupid pop 90’s thing…) but nothing just felt right. I was personally suffering a lot with every version there was and it just didn’t feel right. Full respect to producer Jukka for listening to one more stupid idea how the song has to be. Now it’s perfect! The coolest thing is that we tried singing the lead vocals a billion times in studio in Helsinki, but it never felt as good as the original demo vocals. Finally Jukka decided to use those “sick-throat” vocals recorded in Stockholm in 2010. The same vocals that made the song disappear for years are now on the album. Check out the live version on our brand new player on our Facebook page. You all look just amazing!! Love, Samu This time, I will not begin my blog with “I’m sitting in a Finnair plane…” We’ll I kind of did it again, but not really.
We are on the way to Zurich, Switzerland to play at the European Championships of Athletics. I really don’t know what’s going on in there at the opening ceremony, but I know that we’ll do two songs. I hope we can choose them. You never know with these international TV productions. Maybe they have the whole thing planned already and they even tell me what to say in between the songs… I would NEVER obey those commands. The thing is, it’s LIVE TV broadcasted to more than 40 countries and I say what I say… Muahahahaha… What a summer it has been. And it still is. This morning was the very first time in SEVEN WEEKS it was really raining in Finland. There were a couple of thunders and a little rain from those clouds, but we have already actually been waiting for the R.A.I.N. to come wet out grounds. 2014 has been the record breaking hot summer and they say it’s still gonna be hot for some time. And it has been super warm everywhere in Europe. I just hope the planet doesn’t balance itself in the next months by throwing frozen stuff at us from the sky. But I can’t complain anyways. There are so many new exotic plants on my backyard due to the humidity and heat that I will probably soon start selling tropical trips to my square-meter rainforest. Samu-Land. Sounds cool. Children get in half price. Actually not. That place is not public and I would deeply hate anyone coming there uninvited if the intentions are stalking or whatever. Private space. Stay away! We have six summer festivals left. It has been just amazing everywhere this summer. When the sixth show in Papenburg, Germany is done we will focus on two things; 1st The new music we release in October and 2nd the Über cool classical shows we’re gonna play in Lucerne, Switzerland in early October too. The Best Of Album Yes. It’s kind of funny how fast everything has moved since 2002 when I moved back to Finland from Spain. Then I decided I would not rest for the next years until Sunrise Avenue has a record out. A lot has happened after that. I have met my band boys, a billion cool other people, played all the stages and written all these songs together with the fantastic folks. Now is the moment to put the first period in a package and to take a small break from everything. It was actually breathtaking going through the albums we’ve released when I started thinking about all the songs that are important enough to get their place on the “Best Of.” When you listen to the songs, you start remembering all the billion moments, happy, lonely, crazy, in love, out of love and style, drunk, hang over, missing home and feeling the king of the world when writing, recording and preforming these babies. There have been moments I have felt like jumping off the roof and also moments when I could have forced the leaders of Palestine and Israel to a threesome-kiss because there was so much unexplainable love inside me. And everything in between. And you need all that to write songs and to live this crazy thing. Anyways. Listening to the songs, I realized how damn lucky we are having done all these things the last years together with you. Actually the dreams we had when we were 12 came true. It’s totally different than I thought – way harder and way better. So… The best moments of Sunrise Avenue 2006-2014 will be released with some new songs in October. That package makes me and us extremely proud. And that package would not be as it is without you. It’s just amazing what we have done together. Thank you Sunrise Avenue goes Classical We have so many violins and cellos in the songs and I have been dying for a chance to play many of our songs with a full classical orchestra. Radio Pilatus from Lucerne, Switzerland asked us a year ago if we’d be interested in performing together with their gang and we didn’t have to think about that for too long. The thing is, now there are tens of people on stage with us, so much more than at the Big band Theory Tour, and making all this work has taken time. Lucerne is one of the coolest cities in the world and we could not figure out a better little town for this little project. I know that there are not too many tickets left, so move fast if you don’t wanna miss the fun. The Voice Of Germany Season 4 I am so happy I decided to do one more year. I thought about it for quite long in the spring when they asked me. It was super fun last season too, sure, but it was also pretty much work and also since I still don’t speak German, it’s exhausting sitting there when you don’t understand a thing the others talk. I am still so bored with the reporters who think they’re funny and say “Aber hey, wir können das Interview auf Deutsch machen, klar?” even though they have been told I just can’t talk about album production or life issues in German. I wish I could, But I can’t… But I must say my German is better now. Much better than last year. Of course I worked with it and watched movies in German and stuff (Ostwind movie is so cool;). Last season I really had two weeks to study before the blind auditions started. Now I had one year & two weeks. Now it kind ofworks. I loved doing the show with Max, Nena and BossHoss boys, but I must say this time the whole thing has been three times more fun and energetic. They selected very good people on the red chairs and now the battle is FULLY ON! Don’t miss it. I guess it starts in October. I would love to tell you some stuff that has happened there and I’d happily tell you about a couple of great singers but I can’t. They will shoot me if I talk. Not really shoot, but yell really loud. And I’d have to pay them A LOT. Unfair… So…. Big love everyone and remember to support the Finnish athletes at the games. If Tero Pitkämäki doesn’t get at least a bronze medal, you can call me “Ostwind” for a week. Hugs everyone, Samu #youcannneverbeready #funkytown #nothingisover The summer festival season is on now and WOW what a weekend we just had! It was super nice getting back on stage with the guys after a break and we couldn’t have done it in a more colorful way.
We started our summer tour in Tussling, Germany last Thursday. Everything was prepared well and we were super ready. In the morning as we arrived at the cool castle venue, I jumped off stage in my morning coma and twisted my ankle pretty bad. I was feeling a bit depressed as I didn’t know if I was gonna be able to make it through the show, but luckily the First Aid ladies took good care of me and gave me some pain killers and toys to keep my feet in one piece. The crew guys even had a bar chair for me, in case my foot would not be ok to stand with. Imagine sitting and singing there on that huge stage for the whole 90 minutes… But it went ok with the body parts too. It’s actually always funny how you forget your “broken bones” and illness on stage when the adrenaline hits you. After the show I was hurting like hell as soon as I “woke up” from the dream we had on stage. On stage you kind of forget everything else, even your pain and sorrows. The first show was ok. It seems as if it’s always hard to be relaxed with the first performance after a break no matter how much you prepare yourself. The crowd was superb and all but we could have done a better and more relaxed job. Good start anyway. After Tussling we had a day off in sunny Vienna but on Saturday there was even more action for us. We had been waiting for the biggest Austrian festival show at Nova Rock for months and as we started our show, it felt as if it’s going to be the best night ever. Actually the first songs went like in a dream but then the whole stage system crashed down. It felt a bit strange playing “Lifesaver” and the sound in our ears was superb but the audience just kept on showing us these sings that something was wrong. The problem was that the music didn’t play to them at all. Tiny problem ;) Even with that 10-minute technical break, the Nova Rock show was a blast and it kind of promised us the festival set would start working better and better. These technical breakdown moments are very annoying on stage while they happen, but afterwards they make you feel like survivors together with our crew who glue the pieces together in super short time. Usually at least my guitar works so I could sing something small with the crowd while the boys fix the cables and stuff, but now the whole thing went down, actually for the first time ever. It felt so stupid, but there’s not much we can do. After our own show, I also performed one song with my childhood idol, Mr David Hasselhoff. What a guy and what a great show he and his team made. It amazed me how well the Austrians know his songs. Not just “looking for freedom” that we sang. David kind of forgot to tell the crowd who’s gonna join him on stage and it was funny how everyone seemed to stare at me on stage wondering, “who the hell is that blonde guy?” My ego can take it ;) After Nova Rock we drove to one of our favorite German festivals, the Hessentag near Frankfurt. I must admit we had a HUGE party in the buss together with the My First Band boys and as I woke up at the hotel in Frankfurt, I wasn’t too sure I could do my job that well on stage that night. But sometimes a slight hangover can also be good for the shows. It makes you feel sensitive and that’s good for performing music. It’s just my throat that bothers me if I have been screaming Hasselhoff songs until the morning. The Hessentag show showed us that our live monster is alive. It was probably one of the Top 3 festival experiences I have ever had in my whole life and everything just seemed to work perfect. The show got a little better and it’s amazing how it also becomes a bit longer when we are not panicking on stage with starting the next song and doing the speeches in between etc. So promising sings for the rest of the summer. So seems to me that we need a couple of concerts to get the system running properly. The “old diesel engines” need time… The same happened with the spring tour too. For me the tour was far the coolest and greatest of all times, but in Zurich at the first evening, we were not as good as we could be. After Hessentag I flew home for one day and now I’m in Norway writing songs together with the World Idol winner Norwegian Kurt Nilsen. He’s a very nice guy and anyways I don’t mind being here. When I left Helsinki this morning, it was +9 and raining. Here the sun has been shining the whole day and it’s super hot. Well, I’m inside sitting in a studio, but anyhow… Looks nice through a window. Tomorrow after the studio session, I will fly to Austria or Germany (can’t remember where) and I’ll wait for the rest of the band there overnight. The boys will pick me up on Friday and we’ll drive off to the next shows. My ankle is better and seems as if it can handle even jumping now. Strong boys come from my country… I’m not feeling too great somehow. I hope it’s just travel sickness or lack of sleep. I can almost sleep 12 hours tonight, so I bet tomorrow is a better day. I heard there’s a pretty evil summer flu going around right now. But I bet I will be a new man tomorrow after sleeping in this mountain air and eating their super healthy salmon today. Anyways. Thank you all for the super weekend in Germany and Austria last weekend and see you all very soon. Good night everyone, Samu PS: In case you have a Sunrise Avenue tattoo, a band logo, song name or anything that clearly has something to do with us, feel free to join our art work stuff through our website within the next few weeks. http://sunriseave.com/specials/tattoo-2014/index.php?lang=en Toget the best out of this blog, listen to the legendary Sabrina’s hit “Boys boysBoys” from the 80’s. Why?
1st because it’s summer nowand the dude sings “summer time love” in the song. 2nd because our brother band“My First Band” who released their international debut album yesterday somehowremind me of Sabrina… They do! Checkout the Sabrina video on YouTube or somewhere. It’s hilarious. I had her posteron my wall when I was one meter shorter. I can still remember going to bed andsaying “Good night Sabrina…” It’s funny how I seem to start many of my blogs with the words “I’m sitting in aplane to…” and here I go again. We are flying to Zurich, Switzerland with theboys for this Happy Day- TV show. I don’t know much about it, but our job willbe performing some music, so I guess we’ll be fine. And since we know ourfavorite Swiss music industry dude Mr. Carlo Pozzi with his ever smiling facewill be waiting for us at the airport, nothing can go wrong tonight. It’salways super cool going to the land of cheese, chocolate and private banking. The spring has been super cool and relaxing after the tour. After the ridiculouslybusy last year, it has felt amazing just being mostly free of all duties. Youreally need this sometimes. I counted that I had more than 200(!!) travel dayslast year. If on top of that you write, record and produce and promote andalbum, it’s no wonder I started looking like a grandmother near Christmas.Nothing against grandmothers, though. The last month I’ve been around Europepretty much just enjoying different leisure stuff and songwriting and I havealso spent time in my little garden. Yes, it’s one of the coolest things to doon a sunny day. By now it’s been mostly about simple plants, flowers and trees,but in the summer I will get into herbs and little vegetables too. On a warmevening it’s just amazing to sit on the terrace with a glass of good wine andjust listen to the watering system do its job on the green stuff. And the smellof wet grass. Mmmmm… I wonder how my little plants survive without me for onenight now…? Hahahahha ;) Summer’shere and the festival season is near. It feels super good. Especially afterwe’ve had a break with the guys now and we haven’t seen each other in ages, itfeels really great getting on the summer stages together. We have a perfectmixture of different shows this summer and it goes on for four months, untilSeptermber. And since we played a shorter tour this spring due to the biggerarenas, we haven’t played that many shows with the new songs yet. So theydefinitely still feel super fresh. We have only the final rehearsal left withRaul, Riku, Sami and Osmo next week and then we’re good to go. I still can’t getover the tour in February. It was just something super amazing and you have noidea how thankful we are to every one of you making it possible. I’ve had sweetdreams of those moments when you sang the songs with us… Two years ago keyboardist Heikki, who used to replace Osmo acouple of times at ourshows, came to me with a couple of questions regarding their band and thechallenges they had. We had a coffee at café Ursula in Helsinki and listened tosome of their tracks. They had released two albums already but nothing hadreally happened and he asked for help. After listeningto the new songs they hadand especially after being at their album releaseshow in 2012 at Tavastia inHelsinki, I fell in love with the band. Our managers Mikko and Anne and myself put our heads together and decided to helpthe boys out with our network. We introduced them to International agents,publishers and record labels and most of all to the Sunrise Avenue crowd.Actually after the first show they supported in Hamburgat the Hamburg SportHalle in 2011, I was convinced. They boys seemed to be humble but they surerocked the stage too. Good combination. That was when I decided to start theproject with them and to help them in any way I can. I have been super lucky inlife with my own career and opportunities and that luck should be spreadforward to good people too, if possible. A lot has happened in a couple of years and the boys have atiny internationalnetwork behind them now. Yesterday they released their first international albumand I am very very proud of it. We all know how these things go. It’s extremelyhard breaking new acts and the odds and chances are what they are. But checkthe music out anyways. The My First band boys are also supporting SunriseAvenue many times this summer so there’s a good chance seeing them live too. The top two things I HATE about My First Band: 1. Anttisings too high. Way higher than me. My ego doesn’t like it. 2. Keyboardist Heikki wasn’t in such good shape when we met. It was a mistake taking him to the kettle-bell sessions and introducing him the gym stuff. Those arms. The top two things I LIKE about My First Band: 1. Juho,Heikki K. and Mikko used to play in one of Finland’s biggest bands, PMMP for years. I was at their shows many times and I always thought Juho looks so coolwith his bass. So, now he sold me his PMMP bass, A Fender Precision Bass fromthe 70’s. That was my glory moment. I have been cheering in their crowd in 1st row staring at thatinstrument. Now it’s mine. MINE!!! 2. Probablyeven better than getting the legendary PMMP bass is that guitarist Mikko reallyliked the LONG UNDERPANTS I brought him from Barcelona. Enough said. TheVoice Of Germany pre-recordings start late in the summer too. I will have toset a few dates with my German teacher, Dirk again. I must have forgotten mostof my already poor German while just watering my plants and fooling around.Maybe I should speak German to my flowers; it’s still the language of love...People speak to their plants, don’t they? Anyways. I have a feeling the secondseason of the voice for me will be even more enjoyable, since I already know abit what’s gonna happen. And even though I miss Max, BossiHossi and Nenaalready, it’s cool to meet new people. The voice won’t take as much time thisyear either so there will be time for other musical activities. I like how mylife looks like for the next seven months. So…Rest well everyone and recharge your batteries for the summer. It’s just gonnabe a couple of months of sunshine, festivals and other fun stuff and we bettermake the best out of it. No pressure…;) Love,hugs and happiness! Can’twait to see you all soon, HapaHaber PS:Now, don’t forget Sabrina and her Video. It was always a mess here when we used to travel through
Copenhagen to different European destinations in the past. The whole airport was under construction and there were no cool shops, restaurants and cafes and I used to hate this place. I once even slept one night at the airport floor in 2007. We had been in Milan, Italy at this TV show and we were supposed to fly to Helsinki via Copenhagen. Landing in Copenhagen was very hard due to a snowstorm and they told us as soon as we landed and got to the gate that we’d have to spend our night in the City. As all the flights were cancelled and there were a lot of passengers looking for a place to sleep, all the hotels were fully booked and we had nowhere to go. The problem was that there was a show next day in Finland and we weren’t just able to take a taxi downtown for a couple of days to enjoy our time. So we had a couple of beers in the night with the guys and the next morning I woke up on the airport floor as this little Swedish girl was standing next to me with her family asking for an autograph. That was one of the rock star moments of my life so far. I was still a bit drunk and I felt like a homeless dude who smells like shit. I didn’t have a toothbrush. I’m a great example for the youth… I haven’t been to the airport for a couple years and wow it was cool now. The “under construction” signs are gone and it’s all ready and beautiful. I think Copenhagen just topped my favorite airport, Helsinki. I ended up shopping my ass off those 90 minutes now. Congratulations Denmark! Why the hell am I actually writing so much about a damn airport… Mr. Haber’s Trip advisor. Ok, to the point… A lot has happened after the tour. It’s been mostly about promoting the new single “Little Bit Love” and joining different award shows. I even had our former keyboard player / Producer Jukka with me at the TV shows playing the piano because Osmo wasn’t able to come. Osmo is just so damn busy with all his other projects. With Jukka you can NEVER go to sleep without drinking two bottles of wine. And it’s always worth it. Was actually great fun. I have missed Jukka since he’s been living in Cologne, Las Vegas and Paris Now. Every time I call him, he is in a different country. Today we’re traveling with my band mates again. We are performing in some TV show in Cologne and on Saturday we will play a small acoustic school concert somewhere in Germany. Meanwhile it’s been so cool being at home and actually having time for myself the last month. I was even able to set up a little birthday get together. I usually suck with that. And thank you everyone for the great presents you had also sent me. Sweet <3 I wasn’t able to invite you al because I wasn’t able to bake a cake big enough…;) I also love how the year 2014 looks in the calendar now. The spring will be pretty easy, just a couple promotion activities and mostly just enjoying life and writing songs when ever I feel like it. The summer festival schedule looks great too. There’s a lot but it’s not too packed. We have these little “Sunrise Avenue Festivals” too this summer and I really like that. We still don’t know all the bands we will invite to play at those evenings with us, but we’ll see. I guess My First Band will join for some of them at least. And maybe we find something even newer and cool from Finland. You never know… And then in late summer I will jump on my red chair again at the Voice Of Germany. I thought about The Voice for quite some time after they offered me the job again, but in the end I just felt like I had to do it one more time. Last year with all the craziness was so hard and busy; I don’t actually remember much of it. I think this time I will definitely enjoy the Voice even more and I will know better what to do with the talents since everything is not new to me. Even though last year was busy, I still value the Voice Experience as one of the coolest in my life so far. So maybe now it’ll be a bit more relaxed and smooth since I don’t have to spend time with album production and song writing the same time. And learning German will be easier too since I have more time for it. I will still speak completely wrong, but maybe a can learn a couple more words to help me communicate with the talents & folks. It’s not a language show, it’s a damn TV show where they sing mostly in English. One more season! I’m so excited ;) Now that Nena and BossiHossi decided to leave the game (I think that is smart after three seasons), I really hope Max stays in the game with me. In the autumn there are also some very cool things planned for Sunrise Avenue, but we and I’ll let you know about that stuff as soon as it’s all confirmed. Some of our childhood perversions and dreams will be fulfilled ;) I really hope it all works out – looks good. Now we’re getting musically dead serious… I never wrote the blog after the last show of the tour in Vienna. The party was just too hard and lasted for days…;) After the promotion for “Unholy Ground” and the Voice ended in late 2013, I had been daily connected to the live production for the tour we had. Even on my winter holidays. There were huge storms and threats around the production and the whole tour and we even had to change the major team twice to make it work for you in the arenas. But it worked out and rocked like hell! So… I must say the biggest thanx to you all for making the unbelievable great three weeks happen for us. We’ve been through the ups and downs during the last ten years with the band and we’ve seen almost all of it. Those ten shows were far the best thing that I have ever experienced with my pants on and it was far the best experience I have had on stage ever. The DVD filming and recording in Hamburg O2 worked out perfect too and that will be one damn cool package. I guess it’ll be out in early autumn. So… Be nice everyone and work and study hard. There’s still some months until we hit the summer time. But when we do, we will have fun together. As always. We have 50 Kilometers to the destination so I’ll close my eyes for a moment. It’s a school concert we play in a local high school today. They have won our show in some kind of a contest. Back to school. I was never too got at it. Big love all and huge hugs everyone, Samu |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
März 2016
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