SunriseAve ITALY

Dr. Haber calling planet Earth : SA Diary

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

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

But anyway… Nothing really happened the last weeks. I mean of course a lot has happened, but finally I have had a lot of time for myself. Sure I have been involved in getting the studio ready (slowly & steadily) and also decorating my new flat. Last Sunday I just realized I hadn't seen my grandmother for some time and I spent the whole afternoon with her. She is so cool and it's so cool to talk to her about all the challenges of life. It's amazing how a lady who worked all her life in a post office carrying envelopes and never really traveled and so, can understand the deepest challenges and highlights of a rock band. She is the coolest. She is 81 years old and again I had to sign some albums for her friends, sweet ;=) She even came to one of the shows last year. She liked it sure, but for her it was too loud and we still have a tiny issue with my tattoos ;=) Also my little brother has been building his own studio with his own gang (I wonder where the hell he gets these studio ideas from;) and I am so damn proud of him and his master plan to take over the world someday. That's my boy! So actually it's pretty good to stop for a moment and have some time for yourself to realize all the great people around you.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Samu