Hanko,sweet Hanko. Of Adamantra I was the veteran at playing at Grönan, the previous two gigs there in OM line-up brings me funny memories, maybe the reason being the quite generous amounts of beverages at the back stage! Also the local people had something to do with that, but that`s a different story..
For me this was a very special day, as being drummer for both band meant that tonight I really got to play my ass off, no more need for whining “Why oh why there wasn`t any more songs to play eeehh”. A healthy dose of 2+ hrs of metal per day might keep the doctor away...at least because of the steamy, smelly t-shirt! I still have to get the licence to play without a shirt from Tumppi, I think he kinda fears to see my hairy Cro-Magnon chest :))
So, once we got all the necessary gear loaded at 3 pm (2 hrs late because of some electrical issues) it was time to invade Hanko. Like previously mentioned, I was driving the nippon-horse and Jukkis was acting as an air-infesting DJ. Tumppi was driving the german juggernaut-panzer with the rest of the guys Was it at 5 pm when we arrived at Grönan. Soundcheck and food followed, putting up the gear was nice and easy for me because there was no need to change any cymbals nor drums. Maybe this could be done again in the near future...or not.Well, why not. As always, when a bigger drumset is to be put on a rather small stage everyone seems to become worried about their own area and the lack of it. But the truth is that if a drummer is using a rack (I do) the space needed is significally smaller when compared to normal stands, if you think about the space on the floor. The cords stay out of the way and don`t make the bandmembers get entangled in some giant spaghetti around their legs! Not that it wouldn`t be nice to watch though haha..
Is it really the worldwide economy crisis that seems to keep people away from these kind of happenings, but it was a little disappoinment that there wasn`t that much people like back in the previous times. Of course this was Easter and everybody were propably eating mämmi and buthering the sheep in the backyard, but this particular place had a reputation that this given day had been very great last year. And yes, there was people and noisy people indeed so it truly was a great gig after all! Adamantra started the metal festivities, it was clearly better performance than the one yesterday. There seems to be progressive humans among us, we still have hope!
Besides giving a double gig, this day brings with it a another special thing for me, a secret weapon to a metal drummer; bassdrum triggers! Long have I waited for these. Long have I yearned for righteousness. Behind is the disappoinment for the bassdrum sound during rehearsals and live situation alike. It is a remarkable change as I now am able to completely choose the hearing level via mixer and thus get better control over my playing. I highly recommend every drummer to at least try the system. Okay maybe it`s not the most natural way of picking a sound but IMO you should have that “snap” in your BD sound if you play some fast stuff.
Olympos Mons acted the way a host band should do; bold, beautiful and loud. At first I thought I would die tonight but at the end found out that this was funnier than ever! Towards the end I got a bit tired but that didn`t matter as Jukkis was helping me by keeping the beer equilibrium on the stage at perfect level. That`s teamwork man! Ian was shouting the crowd and succeeded in the mission. Only minor technical problems during OM gig, otherwise great evening for both bands. Once the music stopped it was time to get the real deal going on, so it was “kippis ja vitusti kaljaa koneeseen!”.There has to be some kind of magic in that place because AGAIN I had couple mystical thick hair in my mouth right after the gig..is it because of the swedish-speaking area or what, I dunno...;) We still had to crush the gates of Turku pretty early the next day for the S-Osis gig, so we got ourselves only semi-drunk. Unfortunately.Still regretting. We are very grateful for Jukka`s mother-in-law, and our court fotographier Heidi for lodging us five sweaty, farting red pigs in their house. And sori Panu “the un-sleeper” for the horror-like smell and sound in the darkness hahaa..
As the sun arose, so did we. Well a bit later but who cares, the battle of yesterday was hard yet victorious, hence the needed healing time. The morning went on pretty smoothly while having a breakfest of the champions, provided by the incarnation of hospitality,
Heidi`s mother. The (highly intellectual ahem) conversation floated from the healthy doses of eggs per day to understanding of human beings`s natural capasity of digesting different kinds of “new-age” groceries, meaning namely grain and similar stuff which Man`s bowel is not yet got accustomed to digest well enough. Some 8000 or so years of cultivation isn`t that long period in Man`s recorded time on Earth.You know. When compared to grain, fish, meat and mushrooms have stayed a way much longer time on the menu of the forest. That`s propably the reason why people tend to have more often grain- than other allergies. Of course the reason might also be the excessive use of higly effective detergents which kinda “kill” the resident`s natural defence system over allergies. There`s some official research results telling the same story.
While eating, it is always nice to talk about digestion and the natural results that come with it. Did you know what was the time limit for a Wehrmacht soldier to do the “big thing”? According to Tumppi`s information, the whistle was blown at 20 sec and it was time to get back to killing business. I wonder, how short the time might have been in the Soviet Army...? OUCH! So, after this informative, yet nice and cozy moment in the morning, it was time to get dressed (?!) and leave for Turku.
Tulta ja tappuraa,
Mikko
