SunriseAve ITALY

Bremen – Berlin – Leipzig

I am sitting alone at the lobby bar in Neu-Isenburg (Near Frankfurt) on a day off. The rest of the guys are sleeping and getting ready for the Go-Cart race we have arranged finally for this evening. The whole band & crew & Drivers and Toby (merch man) Basty (tour manager) will join and I am already thinking about my tactical stuff. I hate losing and I must be in good shape mentally in a few hours to kick their asses.

I have been on tour before, but I must say now this is something better than ever before. All the shows have been so super wonderful. Of course when you travel a tour like this, there will always be evenings when everything does not go exactly by the book, but even these little “mistakes” haven’t taken one percentage of the feeling away. And I have seen many kinds of audiences but now you have no idea how happy you have made me / us. It is an amazing feeling when you have to fight against tears to continue the song at some part of the show. Yesterday the group hug after the show with the guys lasted for a minute. You were so super great!!!

There are 2 shows on this tour where we have extra pressure. The first one was in Berlin because our families were there. I don’t know why, but somehow you still wanna show the moms and dads & sisters that this is really a serious thing we are doing, not just fooling around and drinking beer. I was very relieved after the great show. And who the hell said folks in Berlin are too cool and that they can’t have fun??? The crowd I saw there on Friday was one of the warmest, loudest and relaxed crowds ever. It was great to play there on such a historical week.

The next extra pressure show is in Cologne. There we have our fellow countrymen “Clarkkent” supporting us and also many record company people. The challenge with these shows sometimes is that you start thinking about one person, your sister for example and how she feels about the show, and you may lose the focus. But if it went well with moms and stuff in Berlin, I am sure a few record professionals won’t make it any more difficult.

I must say our support band “Black Sheep” has been the nicest band ever to be on tour with so far. They really just do their job every night and give us the space we need. They have been a positive surprise all the way. And their show is great too. Go check it out!

But now… I will have shower and get ready for the race. Today my name is Samu Hasbermacher ;)

S

PS: Releasing the live album early next year looks good. We have recorded every show and we will keep on recording. So just remember to make some noise to make sure your hometown get’s on the album ;)

PPS: If you don’t hear about the go-cart from now on, I am sure there was a problem with my car. And it’s Karri’s & Aki’s fault. Karri said yesterday that if his race doesn’t look too good, he will concentrate on destroying my race. WTF????? This IS serious...;)

Germany – Kiel & Hamburg

Okay ;) The first two shows are behind and what can I say? I have never ever experienced anything like this. Even though the first shows of the tour are always a bit challenging with technical stuff and the song arrangements, I must give huge credit for the crew guys and everyone around us how super great things have rolled during the shows. And the audiences… I really do not know what has happened but there has been this special something in the rooms both nights. It was already there at the Finnish shows but now the whole set has been better than ever before.

Yesterday in Kiel we had the “smallest” crowd looking at the ticket presale results and we didn’t expect that much from the show. But even though they might have been able to fit a few more people in the room, the mood was just amazing. And the same today at the sold out Hamburg show at the legendary Grosse Freiheit 36 club. We still tried a few new things today, like playing “Choose to be me” after a years break and it felt so good. We have always planned to play a different set every night and I guess now we will keep the whole show more interesting by changing a thing or two every night. It’s so great that we have all the songs of the two albums to perform. Every night we need to skip some of our favorites to keep the time close to the agreed 90 minutes.

I must say I am very happy for the understanding we have gotten from the most of you for the efforts we take to stay healthy through this trip. I have felt a bit strange walking straight into the bus from the venues just waving at the ones waiting outside but the fact is, this is something we need to do. Sure we can still get sick and of course I / we have played shows before with flu, even fever, but at least we try to secure the upcoming shows. And the shows are the reason we are here.

I always have had this kind of a “stay-away-from-flu” stress on tour. It’s really hard to do anything when the fever gets you, but singing is just something you really can’t do if the throat does not work. And with the sweating on stage, it’s really not smart to do it when you are ill. You can get really sick. We tried to get the swine flu shots in Finland, but we are not important enough to get it yet. And I agree, the babies and people who have permanent deceases are in the risk group number one and therefore they should get it first. I knew some of you would not understand our decision. We are all selfish. Just like me trying to stay away from the flu. I can have it in January if it needs to come. But that’s enough about negative stuff ;)

Tomorrow is the first day off. Usually I feel great knowing there is a little break after a few shows, but right now I would give a lot to get on stage tomorrow. It has been so great. But anyway… We will do our Girya-training with Sami tomorrow at the hotel and after that we have a little camera meeting. We are 4 guys REALLY into shooting photos and we need to share experiences. Osmo just bought the same Nikon d90 that Karri (our stage boss) and I have and our tour manager Basty has his Canon set with him. Very “rock credible” I know, but it’s fun ;)

We are also trying to arrange a carting car race for tomorrow evening for the whole gang. There is a place in Bremen where you first do a warm-up for 20 minutes, then the qualifying and then the 20-minute race. I am SO going to be in top 3. I guess Aki is my worst enemy, not because he’s experienced. Just because he hates losing. Just like me. Boys with toys ;)

Some of the guys also want to spend their night in the bus instead of the hotel. I know after a few more days everyone will respect the privacy of the hotel room instead of the bus, but now it’s too early. It’s amazing how much space you have in this 2-floor bus with 10 guys.

There’s always food in the bus when we drive to the next town. This time we asked for healthy food like soups and salads for the night, but it really is not enough after the shows. Last night I could not sleep well because I was hungry and today our crew asked how long they’d have to eat the “rabbit shit.” I guess we will tell our tour manager tomorrow to arrange some pasta, wok or Chinese food for the rest of the nights if possible. We had to stop tonight at this gas station to get sandwiches because our stomachs were making this “hungry sounds.”

I will take my blanket and my pillow now and get to the front lounge upstairs with Riku. We will watch the “Death Proof” movie even though I have seen it already. But it’s just so good. I can recommend it warmly for everyone. Rose McGowan went above Scarlet Johanson on my “Top 10” list after that movie. Such a neighbor girl ;)

Good night everyone and thank you so very much for the wonderful two nights. You have made us / me feel more than happy. These events are the reason I really wanna give my life to this up ‘n’ down circus. I love you all right now. I hope Thursday comes soon….;)

Samu

PS: Raul measured his show “exercise” today with a calorie / pulse meter and he burned 780 calories in Hamburg!!

PPS:I finally met one of my biggest Ice Hockey idols ever, Mr. Jere Karalahti yesterday. He is THE defenseman of all times and has given me Goosebumps at the Helsinki IFK games a hundred times. He was at the Kiel show with my other ice hockey idol-friend Mr. Kimmo Kuhta. They both play for the Hamburg Freezers this season. Imekää kaikki jormaa, Jere on äijä!

On Da Road! from Samu's Diary

Yeeehoooo!!! Here we are in a double-decker bus with the boys. We are driving from Frankfurt to Kiel for the tour start and only Karri, Aki and me are awake even though the night is still young on our scale. Nobody feels like having a drink, everybody is just waiting for the shows and now they’re recharging batteries in their beds. That’s good. I must say I have been waiting for this moment for a very long time. Sure it’s nice to be in the radio and on Video channels and all, but live shows and especially touring is the reason I do this at all. I heard the tickets have sold very well everywhere, so we will have a good bunch of people in every town. Some are even sold out already. And that means if you people are as great & loud as you have been before – we will have loads of fun!!!!

We are playing shows all over Germany, Austria and Switzerland first and then there are a few one-off shows in a few countries and even we don’t know yet where the trip will take us until we get home. There are still a few new countries and cities our management is trying to set things up for a show before the Christmas. I have the same bed I had on the tour 2007. Ok, sure it’s not even the same bus, this one is brand new, but when I put my things on the shelf next to by bed at the sleeping department, I felt like coming home.

Yesterday we performed at the World champion boxing title game again. We did the same thing a few years ago when the Russian Gigant Mr. Nikolai Valuev won his game against his American challenger, but this time the luck was not on Nikolai’s side. We performed “Not again” as he walked into the ring and we were told some 100.000.000 people were watching. I didn’t have the best hair day, but I can blame the huge Russian fighter for getting my hair up the wrong way. We stood 1 meter from him before getting on stage. And he had his (Scary!!) hood & gloves on. You just think “what if I look him in the eyes in the wrong way…” Honestly, he seemed like a very nice and friendly guy, but when someone is the world champion in boxing and is 212 tall and weights 120+, you better not annoy him right before his big performance. And they gave me a photo pass right next to the ring. Got some pretty cool shots ;)

Anyway. Tomorrow is the 1st day of this tour for us all. It will mean long sound checks and probably double times checking many things just so everything goes right in the evening for you people. We still have a few new things to go through with the guys at the rehearsals. We have played many shows in Finland and we learnt that some parts could have even more energy, stuff and action. We will also get the first touch with the “Black Sheep” girls. They are the band supporting us through the tour and at least I haven’t heard one single song so far. Hope they’re good ;) Sure we will have our dear friends “Clark Kent” from Finland with us on stage in Köln. But that is still a bit too far away now. My thoughts are in tomorrow ;)

We have been advised by our management and high-level doctors to avoid any unnecessary contacts with big groups because of the swine flu. And we have decided to follow that advice. We don’t want to make a big thing out of it, but sure this is something we need to look at seriously. This means that we will not be able to join people before or after the shows as we normally do. The reason we are on the road are the shows and we need to make sure that we stay as healthy as possible. And also make sure that we can do our best every night for the people who have paid the tickets and traveled to the venues for us. If one of the band members would get sick, we would have to cancel all the shows for a week or so. At the worst case. We will not take that risk and we will make no exceptions here. We hope you all understand that we can’t take time off from this now if we get ill, the dates are booked. It’s also for your safety. The less people get infected, the better it is.

I will sink into my “´home for the next weeks “ now and watch one episode of “24” and fall asleep. Tomorrow I have a short Girya-training with Sami at 12 and after that I am married with my guitar for the rest of the day. I can’t tell you how happy I am to be right here right now with these guys.

Rock you soon ;)

MISSIONE POPGASM IN ITALIA part 1

Ciao Ragazzi,

eccoci qui per presentarvi il nuovo concorso del nostro fan club.

Come tutti sapete, “Popgasm” il nuovo album della band non è ancora stato pubblicato in Italia.

E’ arrivato il momento di “combattere” per la buona musica e per i nostri ragazzi.

Il primo passo è qui nel nostro concorso “POPGASM IN ITALIA part 1”.

Siete tutti invitati a partecipare inviandoci entro e non oltre il 26 ottobre un banner promozionale creato da voi. Il banner dovrà essere formato JPG o GIF in una risoluzione di 72 dpi max 150 dpi.

Con esso potete apporre una piccola frase che faccia capire lo spirito della band.

Il vincitore vedrà pubblicato sul sito del fan club, nei link allegati, e nelle mail che il fan club invierà poi alle radio, il proprio banner e la propria eventuale frase.

In più il vincitore riceverà un piccolo attestato davvero speciale firmato e decorato da Mr Samu Haber in persona.

Ora tocca  a voi , fateci pervenire i vostri lavoro e per qualsiasi domanda rimango a vostra disposizione. La nostra mail è sempre sunriseavenueitaly@libero.it

ATTENZIONE: QUESTO CONTEST è APERTO ESCLUSIVAMENTE AI MEMBRI DEL FAN CLUB ITALIANO.

A presto

Sunrise Avenue Italian Fan club

A TUTTI I FAN ITALIANI!

Ciao Ragazzi!!

Rieccoci nuovamente con una nuova idea del fan club italiano dei Sunrise Avenue.

A breve ripartirà il tour europeo della band. Vi propongo qui di seguito la nostra nuova idea:

Inviateci una vostra mail – lettera, che vorreste far leggere alla band, in più se volete, foto modificate da voi della band e perché no anche vostre foto! Il tutto verrà recapitato direttamente ai ragazzi della band!

Non perdete questa occasione! Inviateci tutti i vostri pensieri, proposte, disegni, foto a questa stessa mail sunriseavenueitaly@libero.it entro e non oltre il 21 ottobre 2009.

Ricordate di porre la vostra firma su tutto quello che ci invierete!

Se preferite scriverci in italiano, le vostre mail verranno tradotte poi in inglese, ma potete inviarci anche voi scritti in inglese e in finlandese! ;))

ATTENZIONE: PER PARTECIPARE BISOGNA ESSERE ISCRITTI AL FAN CLUB!

A presto

Sunrise Avenue Italian Fan club