Adamantra Gloria 23.5.2009

Oujeahh!

All gather up around the bonfire (or shake the mouse), for the storyteller has just finished his ale, and after a dragon-like burp is ready to share the events with You, friends and foes alike!

First, thank you goes to everyone who attended the show!

Hopefully liked it, there`s more to come!

So, this was one of those D-Days for Adamantra as we finally could celebrate the hard and frustrating battle been won. In this battle, the tricky little bloody bastard A-team succeeded in luring an innocent victim down the cave, just to be sliced in pieces by some slimy, hairy progpowermetal! This victim turned out to be SOF and it`s minion Poison Pill. Actually, the gruesome A-team started to like its prey so much, that instead of simply cooking it naturell it decided to give the prey some chances to get back to sunlight to spread the adulations towards it`s former master.

NOTE! This was a double-layered story. Find the Thruth. Search in yourself. Find what lies above and below (hmm, ceiling, carpet?). No, there`s no way you can find the secrets of this text just by playing it slowly backwards (?!). HINT! Use your ancient wisdom in order to understand, that in this case the hunter and the hunted MIGHT have been changing places...hmm...riddles in the dark...clever...or not..

However, these are the things a band have to consider when inking a deal with a record label, but fortunately in our case, things have gone extremely smoothly (like fresh Guinness down the hatch), and it truly is nice to see that the business isn`t that rotten, eventhough there has been sights of that to be seen elsewhere during the years. Yes, this is a great thing for us, but the road is long indeed and this is just the beginning. Let`s say, the shoelaces are tightened so the journey begins. May the Gods of time signatures be with us..:)

After the Intro, Panu`s and Jukka`s little hide and seek-moment(?!), and me finally finding the Play-button(WTF?!) the hardest steel claws begun to attack the audience from the stage as the oceans-moving Beyond Disillusions was released in the air. There was some inspiration flowing near since the original notes and beats were (ahem intentionally of course) occationally replaced by some futuristic arrangements. We decided not to use the same method next time, but isn`t it a commonly accepted fact, that 2 or 3 mistakes is bad but aaaall above that is progressive...?

The stage was maybe biggest this far, and with the cordless systems, A-stringboys were able to take the whole platform in use. We could get used to this! The sound policy was good at least for myself, the mixer/trigger-alliance again prevails, I had to check regularly that the vibrations at my feet were not caused by those hundred hazelnuts rolling out from my trousers and all the way off the drumraiser yijeaahhh!!:)) Maybe the guy behind the mixer saw it coming and for safety reasons, muted the bass drums from PA during Ungiven. That is so,so unforgivable.. Well for me it was no big deal since I heard all the shit via mixer anyway.

We had the same sonic menu tonight as with previous gigs, it seems to be the right one for us all,

two arsekickers, Shattered and The Oracle as the last ones WILL make it clear for everyone that this band have at least two near-perfect songs, right?;) Gotta put some video stuff as proof ladies and gents..

The other bands Soulcage and the headliner Amberian Dawn were nice suppliments for this event, neither one were so much different from our material so it was kinda compact set of bands this time, I myself missed the former one almost completely, for my bestial lust for sandwich and beer prevented me from moving nowhere else than to the entrance hall to greet the friends. And what I meant by missing -almost- the whole Soulcage gig meant that I was still creeping and crouching behind the raiser (in quest of salvaging my beloved walkers) when their intro begun...

Assumably every member of A-team was witnessing the Amberian Dawn opera-metal, the crowds were many and lots of people to talk with, so the night aviated on with darkened wings, going ever faster...or maybe it was the "yhdentähdenperhejallu" which was needed since the beer we brought with us, now tasted so lame. Also the champagne was left in Alko.

A-team has seemingly lost it`s understanding of Time, or then Alko should be open 24/7... No Bollinger, no Havana, no pus.. okay, the night went ok, it was nice to see AD with two shredders nowadays, classical melodies with beautiful interpretation and solid drumworks etc. Guys were crazy enough to start deloading the backline in the night, while in front of the stage me and Jukka were swaying with "yhdentähdenperhejallu" in hand, giving great advice of course;). No, we were not assholes, we kindly handed the bottle to AD-guys, and the liquid tension experiment was a success hehee.. From this day forward, every AD song is hereby 20bpm faster, like it or not!:)

When it was time to get out of Gloria, we headed to a certain Bevarian-style restaurant to get some additional nutrition. Once again the clock leaped to some fucked-up time since they didn`t have any food to serve us! C´mon, it was 2:30 am and the kitchen is already closed!?:) Well, that very tasty wheat bear saved the situation for a while, though it was hard because of the crappy tekno/trance/jungle shit or whatever....

So the days of Gloria were over and it was time to get healed so the next day`s heaving wouldn`t be so painful.

Is it really exactly one or two...?




Teknoa saatana!!

Once again, a big thank you goes to all you who attended the show. Now get back to order some more Revival!

With gory and glory,
Mikko

Adamantra Donington Porvoo 18.4.2009

It was time to hit the Porvoo again, let`s say that the last time we visited here during the Fall ”the hall wasn`t filled to the top”, so we knew that there was a chance to make that Adamantra-record of a bigger audience.. The crowds weren`t amassed this time either, there has to be something wrong with the band...No, it must be the city...:) Heard by a local guy that the weekends are actually the worst dates to play, since major part of the rocking students get the heck out of Porvoo during this time. So maybe we should aim for the weekdays form now on. But as a musician, you don`t wanna stop thinking about these things because the fun of it all makes it always worth the travel! And so it was this time again.

Though there wasn`t lots of people, the ones there really made it and raised the roof with all the available hands, or at least I was hearing when the bolts upstairs were giving up eh.. I like it when there`s enough time to set things up and have a decent soundcheck, but this one was rather overtimed action over there. Unknown mixing equipment with two bands to check makes a time consuming results, so Tacere was able to start their female-fronted drama-metal assault not until 11.00 pm so it meant some night time action for us Ada-boys. And I`m not talking of something romantic stuff with our girlfriends, but some hard labour after the gig since there was no accommodation reserved this time, after all Porvoo is pretty close to Helsinki so the traveling itself wouldn`t take much time.

Tacere was quite potential with their new singer and keyboard player, but Adamantra played the best gig we`ve had this far, at least for myself. The recent gigs really have some effect on the playing, hope to get back on stage asap!
Not much time for drinking, or at least for me since I was doomed to be the driver this time.:(

Until next time, check out the video clip of the gig!

Mikko

Adamantra S-OSIS 11.4.2009

We had some great expectations towards this day, since rumours told that our headliner Machinae Supremacy had managed to put up some great gigs on their ongoing tour in Finland. When we arrived to S-Osis the swedes were already there, very cool guys, seemingly happy for the success here this far. We roughly just heaved the A-stuff on the stage and went back to our hotel to get some sleep, food, beer and shower. Got back in the scene when it was time to raise the drumkit from nothing, well nowadays it`s guite fast action since the “x marks the spot” on the carpet, so you just have to drop the rack on it`s position and start putting symbal stands etc. to it .Again the rack shows it`s advantages, 15-20 min and the set is ready (excluding hangover days when it takes double time). As I got out of the way the other guys could start their things, amplifiers on top of each other and some other bodybuilding action. Panu`s new Framus amp sounds damn good, though everything hasn`t even been done yet to get the very best out of it!

Doing the necessary.

Power. Steel. Metal. Brimstone. Peace.

The quest for the Sword of Infinity accomplished. Beware, for the Cosmos is about to faaaall...

As we were to be the first (worst?) band to play tonight, we therefore did the sound check after the two other bands. There are two positive things in playing as the first band; firstly, you have your gear ready after the check so there`s no hassling with anything, unless you happen to pull out some plugs in the middle...;). Secondly, after the gig there`s more time to search for drinks in the backstage, and make use of them fast. Okay, there was lots of people right from the start (MS really is surprisingly big in here), can`t remember the exact numbers but the place was nearly sold out. And it really seemed to be that way, the crowd was near the stage and listening closely what this new progmetal-group had to offer. We offered them our semi-complicated yet catchy material, and they seemed to take it. We just have to wait for the debut album to spread all over the land, so people start knowing the songs and can from that on bang their heads with us in 3/4, 5/4 and 7/8 time signatures hahhah!

Last check of the fretboard, no significant burn marks to be found yet...

Manipulated picture. The audience is removed in order to get the band in sight :) Actually there was people, but at this point just analyzing from afar what the hell happens on the stage. Once the Adamantra-engine got running at full speed the audience were sucked in yeah!

After us, Simulacrum played some interesting complex prog, a mixture of Dream Theater and Rush. Very talented young guys! Because of some technical problems they started their gig a bit delayed, so the tight schedule naturally forced them to leave a song or two from their list. Finally, Machinae Supremacy started their straight-on-going songs. Crowds really liked it so it was a good finale for the evening. After Adamantra-gig the beer bottles were going empty faster and faster so at the end it was time to get some more by stopping in the bar next to our hotel. For my joy I found out that Panu was a whisky connoisseur so I was enlightened by some basic facts about single malt- and blended whisky. Being an entry-level rum fan (Havana Club 7 years dominates) it`s nice to get familiar with another element of booze. Whisky seems to have that same deep, mysterious vibe in it, like it downright invited to explore the secrets in itself...:) (Thanks to the series Band of Brothers, I from now on will always have a bottle of VAT69 on the shelf ).

Master <-> apprentice. Amidst sharing deep, emotional, touching musical thoughts, I was privileged to be lectured of the differences between single malt and blended whisky.

Fortunately there was one available at the shelf so the night wasn`t ruined at all :)

So after some beer and whisky it was time to give up and get some sleep. The next day started with a minor hangover. Shower, “korjaussarja” and some rolled pizza woke the engines up. Finally we were able to pack the bags and head back home. Nice minitour indeed, if these three days were filled with minor set backs, troubles with the time schedules, accusations, laughing and some more laughing, what would a whole month on the road do to us innocent, jolly musicians? I think we certainly would like to know! ;)

"More is more" fits for everything, not only Prog metal!

See you at the front,
Mikko

Adamantra Grönan 10.4.2009

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

Semifinal 9.4.2009

When we finally arrived at the scene with our gear (yes, this time we had to go back to our training lair only once!That`s PROGress I`d say), Reversion guys were already finishing up with their share of the stuff so it was time for us to heave our amps etc. on the stage. Everything seemed to work out fine as we settled down to wait for the audience. Due to Easter-time the show was to begin a bit earlier than normal, Reversion at 9 pm and Adamantra somewhere around 10. Not a bad thing, considering that we had to pack our bags pretty soon after the gig since there was no time to do that the next day. West Coast was waiting and we had to get to Hanko tomorrow quite early.

Upstairs at Tavastia, Hanoi Rocks were glam-rocking the hell out in their farewell show, maybe stealing and preventing couple metalheads from joining our audience. But hell, HR has come a long way, so we will forgive this mostrous, evil act of "make-up yet cool posing over super-quality progressive metal" (read:Reversion) :)) So, eventhough the crowds weren`t massed for us, we gave it all we had and took it as a valuable experience for the times to come. That new song from our coming 2. album will kick some serious arse and thus works perfectly as the last song! As for myself, playing mr. Paananen`s symmetrical drumset didn`t give me that much creeps anymore, since it was the third time already so I didn`t have that "survive or perish"-feeling, but was able to play with a bit more ease the trickiest parts of our songs.

To sum the whole thing, it was nice again to join forces with R-team who provived excellent musicianship, innovative drum- and guitar stuff etc. We shall meet again! It was also nice to play with Vili again (he is filling the Risto`s slot for a couple of gigs), years have gone since we two played in the same band. He is a pro at the stage and off the stage as well. I filled my samurai-horse with A-stuff and headed to charge my batteries, the other guys (except Tumppi and Vili) went to have a couple "ölberi".

With honour and stainless steel,
Mikko