During this summer, I’ve been on the road with a different band every weekend, but this weekend it was time for some repeat offenders since I was heading to Simerock in Rovaniemi with Enochian Crescent. Well before Sime they had a gig in Oulu on Friday, so once again we loaded the van on previous night since the trip would take some time. And to be honest, it took a bit longer than I expected, soo many stops… Well we weren’t in too much hurry since we left early enough. They had a special acoustic gig before the main event. The acoustic gig was almost like a religious experience, the band played jamming type of intro while the audience came to the venue and the first people sat on the floor infront of the band, and the place was lit with candles. Cool versions, although without drums, I hope they’ll use drums next time. The Profane Omen guys showed me how cool stuff you can put out acousticly from your electronic songs. After the acoustic set there was a break and around midnight the band returned with a solid set, the place was packed. Good performance. And there was a sauna at the backstage, always a big plus. The sleeping place wasn’t that luxurious… I mean usually I’ve been at hotels when I have been in Oulu, this time we had a “cabin” at the local camping ground. Well a cabin is too good word for it, I call it a box with couple of military style two storied beds. No toilet. Oh well…

The following morning we headed towards Rovaniemi and Simerock. First thing we did was go check out the sleeping place, they were cabins also, but I’ve been couple of times in Simerock and the cabins have always been luxurious, and this time was no different! Awesome. You really feel like royal at Simerock. We had some freetime and once agreed that we would leave to the festival site in like 45minutes, what to do… Hey, the stove of the sauna is a quick stove which is heated the moment you open it, so a sauna time! Yeah, couple of us had a quick sauna before we left to the festival area. Once we got our passes and driving permits a nice worker lady came to show us the way to the regular backstage where we could park our van. Well there was somekind of misinformation since the first two places where she instructed us, some other workers didn’t allow us to park there, but luckily third time was the charm and we got the van parked. Of to get something to eat. The meals at Simerock have always been great, I took some meat with potatoes. Really good meat once again. Soon after the meal it was time to move the van towards the stage, the one weird thing about Simerock, this and last year, is that in order to get to the backstages, you have to drive through the audience, well the surroundigs of the festivals don’t allow different entrances, a small nuisance. Enochian Crescent’s stage was on top of water and there was only small path leading to it and you couldn’t get the van near the stage so we had to carry the stuff quite a way. Just wondering how one drives a bus there since there was this one quite narrow gate and drunken people around you…

The gig went quite well, but since there was only one access point to the stage, I couldn’t get pics from behind the stage since I didn’t want to disrupt the show by going through the stage, heh. Also the security dude guarding the entrance, a small bridge, was bit off his game since he first didn’t want to let the drum tech pass the bridge (NONE SHALL PASS). The band also had pyros on this gig, they were a nice addition to the show, but in my opinnion they could have used them more often. But pyros cost… Still I would have loved to see some long duration fire showers and stuff like that :D

As I said, the stage was built on top of water, so after we packed the van, it was time for swim! Damn cold water at first but when you swam there for a time it didn’t feel that cold anymore. One can truly stage dive at Simerock! Then it was time to head to the luxury cabins for some after party sauna drinking action. The next morning, after we managed to get everyone to the van it was time to head back to Helsinki. I know this really nice eating place at Pihtipudas called Takkatupa. So we stopped there to get something to eat, they have really good food there. So no need to eat at home this evening. Over all the drive back home was quite long, it took me 15 hours from Rovaniemi to my home, I think this is bit too much, one starts to see stuff that isn’t there…

Oh well, I hope the next time I go to Rovaniemi there are atleast on gig on our way and one on the way coming back from there…

This something different, Miljoonarock is mostly known for being arranged by the rich dude known Vesa Keskinen and he has mainly just some pop / rock type of bands playing there. So when I was going with Kivimetsän Druidi to that particular event I was bit, well worried might be the right word. So the festival was on Friday, we loaded the van on Thursday evening and left quite early on Friday morning. All in all quite uneventfull trip, which is always nice. So soon we arrived at our hotel, which was located in Ähtäri, that was bit weird since the festival itself was in Tuuri which is 20km from Ähtäri. Oh well, we all had single rooms and since we had to wait the sound guy there was some free time, so when the hotel was next to a lake, I went for a swim, naked of course!

When the mixing man finally arrived we started our way to the festival site, well just then my GPS thingy broke, but luckily I just had to follow the road number 18, so it wasn’t too hard to follow the old school way, reading road signs :D The festival was held right next to the famous Tuurin Kyläkauppa which is owned by this Keskinen fellow. Everyone was really nice at the festival, we got guided to the food trailer since we wanted to eat something, since we were there so early and the backstages weren’t ready yet. This has to be the best food in ages! I mean lots of different types of meats, fish and stuff like that, best meat ever! And everything: eat as much as you like, awesome! Also the food trailer had the regular drinks, but also beer and stuff, and they also were with the instruction of Drink as much as you like!!! Crazy. After the meal I took some coffee and noticed these huuge buns with the coffee, awesome.

Eventually we got our backstage rooms, two of them were at the local OnnenTähti-hotel, which is located at the end of the large shopping mall. The nice reception person said that we were going to get a suite also so we would fit. Well I wanted to relax a bit and took the key to the “normal” room, well when I opened the door I thought did I accidentally took the suite keys?! It was so big and luxurious, the room. A knock on the next door and god damn, there it was, the great Tower Suite! Insane! Relaxed a bit until it was time to load the gear to the stage, at the same time the backstage near the stage opened, it was built in a bus which was atleast twice as wide in the middle than a normal bus. It had great ammount of food and drinks in it, niiice.

I took some pics from the gig and also Vesa Keskinen, the man behind it all, was at the photo pit enjoing the show! Classy dude! I was particulary impressed with the sounds, quite massive. Nice festival gig all in all. A quick load of the van and moment to chill at the backstage. Then back to the hotel to some after party, nice. I must say that Vesa Keskinen is a rare guy, he does whatever he wants with his wealth, got to respect!

Tuska, been there every year since 2000, so this was my 11th time at the festival, man time just flies… Well I started my Tuska(tuska is finnish for pain) already on Thursday and went to see the two pre-clubs. First to Tavastia to film the Embreach show and couple of pictures from Amberian Dawn. Was cool to see friends there, but I was in a hurry, quickly to Virgin Oil to catch the final bands there meaning Crimfall, Ghoul Patrol and The Black League. Luckily there was not too much hurry so I could catch my breath at the backstage. Lots of pics, the shows were solid, but still I would enjoy a bit more if Crimfall would have a keyboard player :D Also during tHe Black League show Tanel Jarva showed us that he surely is a Rock Star :D

Well a quick sleep and on Friday morning it was time for the main event of Tuska, the festival itself, I was there with Barren Earth, so quick gear pick up and eventually we were at the festival site around 11 in the morning. Lots of free time for me, so it ment lots of coffee drinking. The show was good, took lots of pictures , but I would enjoy the music more if they’d just drop the opeth type of stuff, since I don’t really like opeth :D After the show, some stuff went back to the rehearsal place. I came back to shoot the Swallow the Sun concert on video and after that some BE stuff to Nosturi for the next days Shining / Arthemesia / Totalselfhatred show.

Rest of the evening went on quite easily, talking with friends and witnessin the Ziltoid show, off to bed early. On saturday morning I went to pick up the drums for Shining and after that it was freeeee time at Tuska. Haven’t had Free Time at Tuska in maybe 6 years or something, huh. And well I took the time and spend it in booze ofcourse, as we tend to do here in Finland (side note, don’t you just hate it when people on international message forums make a habit of  pointing out which country they are from, especially the/we finnish assholes “hey look at me, I like this hockey club and I’m from Finland!!!”) Okay, well I was quite hammered at Saturday, booze and tits. Always a nice combination. I somehow managed to get to Nosturi for the Shining show, but I have no idea how I got there, or how I got myself in to the venue, since I only remember getting my backstage pass when I left the venue, I was in really bad condition and luckily friends of mine took me home, haha

Sunday went easily, couple of beers, and I must admit that Cannibal Corpse gave the best gig during the whole festival! Man that was intense and some killer songs, goody. After the festival me and couple of friends went to On the Rocks to “take one beer” and you know the drill, it never is just one beer. Also one of us was so excited about the band, Rust, that was playing at On the Rocks that one head banged his head on the monitor, got a nice bleeding wound and had to go to hospital to get sewn back together. And this time I wasn’t the one! :D

Third straight weekend of festivals. Unfortunately I managed to break my back on Friday, so the trip to Nummirock would be painful, I was going there with Enochian Crescent and we would leave early on Saturday. So a one night festival weekend for us. We loaded the van already on friday evening, well the band guys did that since it was painful for me to move. Quite uneventful journey, first we checked in to the hotel in Kauhajoki, it was a nice suprise that every room had a sauna! Goody, so it would mean a sauna party after the festival. But I got to mention, that last year I was at Helmin Kortteeri, which is a really nice bead & breakfest type of accommodtion in Kauhajoki and beside sauna they also had a hot tub there, how awesome is that?! But then the band guys didn’t use those facilities, so we, the two headed film crew, had the whole sauna and hottub for ourselves. That was greaaaat! But enough of last year :D

So after the hotel chekc out on our way to the festival area, Enochian Crescent was going to play on the small stage and since the “backstage” was small also, we had to wait until the previous band ends their set, loads their van and gets out of the way. Luckily it didn’t take too long. The boys set up the gear on stage while I was wandering around the festival area, met lots of friends there, also it helped my back to “open” a bit, since I was going to take pictures of EC, whatever the cost! Well when the show started I rushed to the photo pit, well not at first since the media photographers were there first and the photo pit was really, really small. Got some great photos and in the rush I didn’t even notice my back problems, after the show my legs were quite numb and when I sat down my back started to hurt again. Oh well. The guys loaded the van and I went to the festival camp ground to meet some old friends. Lots of bus driver to bus driver talks at one camp, the others hearing it, well maybe they heard too much bus talk, or not, atleast we had fun, haha.

I also had to help the Sotajumala guys during the evening, since they had a broken start engine in their van, they tried to get it working but for some reason they couldn’t get it started from a push. Luckily I was witnessing the situation and I loaned my helping hand, quick query about the van and then of we went, Sotis guys pushing and with my magic touch I was able to start the van on the first try, heh. Well after the last band stopped we went back to the hotel and after some sauna partying it was time to get some sleep. Next morning, again an uneventful drive back to Helsinki. Good trip.