SunriseAve ITALY

Regenbogen – Grammy – Dome – Austria from Sunrise Avenue Diary

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

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

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

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

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

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

The Dome

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

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

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

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

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

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

After it’s all done, our main job will be recording the album 2, The Popgasm. I have a very good feeling about it.

Tomorrow is also the most important Ice Hockey game of the season. My HIFK play against the BLUES at our home arena. It’s the pay offs and we really need to win. I have rented a VIP box for 15 persons to bring more support to the arena. Wish us luck ;=)

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

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