SunriseAve ITALY

Last words of Year 2007 from Sunrise Avenue Diary

Hey all,

I'm sitting at home on my sofa; the most comfortable sofa on the planet and it's only three more days before I start my Christmas holidays. It's been pretty hard to relax after the tour, post stress I guess. Once restless - always restless.

The year 2007 was one hell of a year for us. We played 169 shows, I had 105 flights and there were very high mountaintops and deep valleys on the way here. It's all part of the game. We reached many of our dreams, traveled to many new countries and experienced the coolest audiences ever all over Europe. I've cried tears of happiness and also tears of pain and to be honest, I wouldn't skip a drop or one second of it.

In January we will get keys to our brand new studio in the Center of Helsinki with Jukka and his producing partner Aku. I'm very happy we will have a place where we can start recording our next album in January with all the time we need. If all goes well, the album will be released in 2008. It all depends on how much we need to travel to new continents. I have a good feeling about the whole thing and at least so far there's no pressure with song writing and stuff even though the first album did so well.

Jukka will be responsible for producing the album and therefore he might not join us for all the shows and activities from January to July. It's up to him and the schedules. The album comes first now. We have decided together with him that he will stay as a full member of the band. In the summer he decided to leave the band after the European tour 2007, but since everything has been much better internally, he asked for a permission to stay. This might mean you folks have been too nice to him ;=) I am personally very happy he's in. The songs on CD or on stage would not sound near the same without his master skills. And his big blonde hair…;=)

Mr. Riku "Räjähde" will also be performing with us next year too. Let's see if he will become a full member in the band too some day. We will have many long chats about his role in the future. We received very much positive feedback about him and we must admit we all like the guy very much, but there's no rush to make any fast decisions now. Let's make the album first and see where we are and what everybody feels when it's done. Thank you all for taking Riku so well and friendly on the tour. I was personally very very nervous. The situation was very difficult for all of us and for you listeners, fans and supporters too.

I hope the way we have handled you has shown how much we value your support everywhere we go. The feeling in my heart is a mixture of love, thankfulness and also pride having the best and craziest people clapping their hands in the audience night after night and establishing the coolest support websites and stuff. I know the fact that I myself or Sunrise Avenue as a band wouldn't be anything like this without you and your efforts.

So once again... It's been one hell of a year and there are no words to express how thankful we are for all of you. I hope you all have a great Christmas with your loved ones and let's keep on rocking in 2008 ;=) Jeeeeeeeeeeeee

Thank you & Merry Christmas & Happy New year 2008!

Samu