Au Revoir et merci Paris

Here we go again. We just played our first show in France ever. We actually played a few songs once with our producer (and keyboardist that time) Jukka only, the two of us, with a piano & guitar back in 2007, but that has been the only contact with the French crowd until now. The club La Maroquinerie is a legendary club for some 400 viewers max and you can feel the history of rock music inside its walls. I was actually surprised that the club was so full. A lot of people had come from other countries too to celebrate our first night ever in the city of love. It was the tiniest backstage ever and we didn’t even fit in with our crew to take showers after the show. Rock’n’roll!

 

Mr. Jukka Backlund, who lives in Paris now, joined us on stage tonight performing the legendary “Last trip of the FOX.” It’s this kind of a very stupid and inside-funny-story about a fox who dies and get’s saved by Jesus in the end. We used to do this in Finland back in the days and it used to be our most celebrated song on stage. So for the last time ever, Ketun Viimeinen matka… Poor Fox…

 

We went shopping and walking downtown today in Paris and it’s so cool how the spring is finally arriving in these parts of Europe already. I heard that the weather forecasts look pretty great for the next few days. Wouldn’t mind some sunny spring days. Just gotta keep warm even though my throat is fully recovered again.

 

Yesterday was a great day in Luxembourg. The club had been sold out months ago and the crowd gave us some nice rock’n’roll candy once again. I like the country very much. There’s this special feeling in the city and everyone’s super friendly. Like in the small countries they usually are. They have combined the French kitchen, German organizing skills and good international taste & mood. The backstage was probably the coolest backstage I’ve ever been to. A very cool 3-flloor loft with all facilities you can ever imagine needing.

 

My throat is finally fully ok. When it’s not fine, it’s the one and only thing I don’t like about touring. But now that my personal “horn” is fully back, it’s way easier. In the next band I’ll probably be a drummer. You can scream all night at the after parties and you don’t have to worry about your voice

 

We are driving to Bern, Switzerland now. We have first a day off tomorrow and then on Thursday we play a show for a sold out crowd at the Bierhubli (sound like a freaking saloon???;). Actually all the three shows in Switzerland are sold out already. Good job Swiss Crew!

 

As our driver Sebastien changed our bed wear yesterday, I moved to another bed. There are a few free beds in the bus in case some business folks etc. would join us on the trip. Maybe we should sell these super excusive VIP tickets to the tour including a bed in the bus + breakfast and stuff. That would cost Anyway… I tried sleeping in the back of the bus first, but that didn’t feel right. Now I am back in the front, as I have always been, on the other side of Riku. I am back home. The two worst snoring animals side by side. Poor others

 

I will dive into my “new” bed now and watch a series or two of Dexter and hopefully I fall asleep. I really wanna go downtown tomorrow. Shopping time

 

Thank you all for the great two shows again. And good night, where ever you lay your head.

 

Hugs,

 

Samu

 

PS: I am happy we have the laundry day tomorrow. All my stage clothes smell like Revlon hair conditioner. My hair stylist Jussi has told me it’s good to keep the conditioner in the hair for a long time, even over night. So of course I forgot the damn slime on my hair today. As I started sweating on stage, the taste in my mouth was sweeeeeeeeet

It’s A Mad World

I am sitting alone in the lower lounge of our bus. We just left our keyboardist Heikki at his hotel in Brussels. He is flying home tomorrow to his own band and their activities. We’re driving towards Luxembourg now for a day off. The boys are sleeping or watching a movie upstairs. I am listening to “Mad World” by Gary Jules. It’s probably the only song right now beautiful enough for my lonely moment. It’s just me and our French driver Sebastien. He’s the nicest driver ever. He lets me smoke in the front…

 

We returned on stage after resting one day in Dusseldorf on Friday. What a night. It’s a pretty hard evening when your mother, sweet 6-year old niece, friends and music industry people are visiting your show. Even thought our tour manager Manni takes care of everything (every single night) and carries them wine, juice and food, you worry a bit if they’re ok at their own area at the backstage. Mani had made a special area for “Sunrise Avenue Friends and Family” next to our backstage.

 

I had been waiting for the Dusseldorf show for a good nine months, ever since I heard the arena was booked. With the maximum capacity of 7.500 viewers, it’s the biggest headlining show we have ever done indoors. I actually made a bet with one girl from the audience in Dortmund last year about the show. She said it would be sold out – I said it would not sell full – and as it was packed, she won and she will get a free photo shoot with us later on the tour. That was her wish if she’d win.

 

We have played for crowds that are way bigger on festivals, but to have your own crowd that size has been a dream for me as long as I remember. Then two hours before the show time the EMI Germany people surprised us with platinum album awards. We were more than confused. We never expected that and you have no idea how it made us feel. 200.000 copies. Again. Thank you! It was quite a moment sitting there alone before “Sweet Symphony” on the catwalk thinking about life and the ten years with the band. What a night. Thank you so much once again everyone!

 

After the show we had a little celebration in the bus with friends and family. And we brought some champagne also to the fans behind the gates. Riku, Sami and Heikki even escaped downtown for a few drinks. Well deserved!

 

Today we played in Brussels. It was the very first show in Belgium with the full band. We played an acoustic show at the local radio station’s Q-music Cube last year. It was this very tiny concert for maybe 40 people. That was super cool (especially since I had the pleasure to meet the former Miss Belgium at the studio;), but we had been waiting for the chance to get on stage with “big guitars” and stuff.

 

It’s funny again how after Dusseldorf and 7.500 viewers you think it could be boring to play for the max 400. Nope. What a night again. And what a crowd! There have been a few VERY hot shows in the past but I guess the VK club in Brussels went at least close to the top. After the show there were still sweat drops falling from my pants at the backstage. Super cool. It felt like good old times rock ‘n’ roll. When this tour was being planned last year, I was hoping that when we mix bigger and smaller arenas and clubs, as we do now, it stays even more interesting and fresh for us since every night is special. And that’s exactly the way it’s been. And it’s amazing how well the people knew our songs again today and how loud they sang them with us. I hope we get to come back to the land of the Smurfs soon. Maybe they have some festivals in the summer… Maybe

 

The club tonight was in a strange and a bit scary neighborhood. We were told to keep our eyes on our bags and stuff as we left the bus in the morning. The locals said it’s a very unsafe neighborhood where we could get robbed. I hope you all got home safe too.

 

So… Tomorrow is a day off in Luxembourg. I don’t know what there is to do on Sunday (I guess everything’s closed) but we’ll figure something out. Someone mentioned something about a massage, but I’m not gonna join. I don’t like having massages. Never did. I guess I’m just gonna go downtown taking photos and just to have a look at the city. And I need some fresh air and to rest my throat. I heard the “Club Den Atelier” on Monday is already sold out. We have played two festival shows in Luxembourg and those trips have been super fun. So I guess Monday should be a fine day.

 

Thank you all so much for the great two shows again. You have made 5 guys from Finland very happy. Again.

 

Good night everyone,

 

Samu

 

PS: Thank you Heikki for the great effort on stage today and especially for your company in the bus. And all the best for My First Band. We keep our fingers crossed and we stay in touch!! Osmo is at his friend’s wedding in Finland and returns on stage with us on Monday.

 

PPS: I heard about a conflict at one of our shows between some people in the audience. As I have said before, try to be nice to each other. I know there are no real rules about who gets to the first row or who gets to go in first, but I am sure nobody needs to get hurt or insulted. It’s supposed to be a fun event and no matter if you’re there for the 10th or the first time, we hope everyone could feel safe during the whole day and our only mission is to send everyone home with a smile on after the night.

 

PPPS: “Maybe Heikki you’re too young!”

Day Off In Dusseldorf

(To get the best out of this blog, listen to My First Band’s – Salvation. It’s my favorite song from them and it just keeps playing in my head again and again. Mostly because of Heikki’s horny synth arrangement in the verses)

 

I am not allowed to speak today. Annoying. I am not too good at staying silent and actually now that the “doctor’s orders” have forced me to keep my mouth shut, I have realized how much I usually speak Poor band guys & Crew.

 

As I wrote in the previous blogs, I was a bit ill before the tour and as we started jumping on the stage almost every night, my throat didn’t like it too much. It’s very good that we had a day off today. I’ve been silent. What the f**ck…?

 

After the hyper night in Hamburg we didn’t want to expect too much from Utrecht Holland. Sometimes it can kind of let you down if you have a great night first and then you have an average “good show.” It doesn’t feel that great after a super treat, but yesterday was still a blast. Maybe because the club In Utrecht was so small and cool and it reminded us of the early days (I guess it was max 400 people, quite full). We were told to play only 60 minutes, but we accidentally slipped performing almost 90 minutes. Was super fun. I hope we can get back to the land of tulips soon! Special thanx to the lovely staff helping us out with laundry and stuff

 

Usually we do sports together with the crew on the off days like today. Since the whole band hasn’t totally recovered from the flu, we decided last night to have a traditional “music jury competition” (The legendary Finnish Levyraati) instead of sports. The game is quite fun. You can have as many players/judges as you want, minimum three, and each judge plays a song for the others and the others give 0-10 points. You don’t give points to your own song. And you also have to explain your points, what was good and what was bad.

 

The jury was Heikki (Key Boards, My First Band), Osmo, Sami and myself. We agreed that we would play as much new stuff to everyone as possible and here are the top three was:

 

1. Damien Rice – Amie (30 Points)
2. Amos Lee – Sympathize (29)
3. Keane – She Has No Time (28)

 

The other songs were: Galia Arad – Ooh la la, Sting – Why Should I Cry For You, Levi Stephens – I Love You, Mr Fancy Love Feat. Boy Delay – It’s Time To Celebrate, Salem Al Fakir – It’s True, Amie Winehouse – Love is a losing hand, Clark Kent  – We Will Expire, Sara Bareilles – Between The Lines, Biffy Clyro – God & Satan.

 

All songs were super great. Every one of them got more than 20 points, even Heikki’s “Mr Fancy Love feat. Boy Delay….” Jesus. Heikki is traveling with us all the way until Brussels, where he shall take over Osmos kingdom for one magic night. It’s like he’s been in the band forever. Scary

 

Tomorrow is THE day. I have waited for the show in Dusseldorf ever since I heard it was booked. First I thought the capacity (Max 7500 viewers) is a bit too much for Sunrise Avenue, but our tour agent was right. It’s almost sold out already now. Of course it will just be another show on the tour too and we don’t want to raise high expectations, especially so soon after the great experience Hamburg, but just the fact that so many people will come tomorrow to the Mitsubishi Electric Arena in the evening to see our show is amazing. We will just have fun

 

A lot of friends from Finland are coming over tomorrow too, like my mom and our “new producer Jukka” who produced Hollywood Hills & half of the new album. I can’t wait to play the song for him in front of all the people. You know these people work long long days in the studio and they don’t get to feel the live music feeling to often like we do. I’m gonna make sure there’s some cold German beer for him.

 

See you tomorrow at the biggest Sunrise Avenue club / arena show ever. It’s just amazing….

 

Love,

 

Samu

 

PS: If Riku’s tour TV’s new episodes aren’t online soon, I will take legal, physical, psychological and telepathic actions. There’s nothing like a dry joke from Riku’s mouth. I MISS THEM!!!!!!!!

The best show of my life

I am sitting in the front of our Bus next to our Driver Bastien after a hot soup and some bread. We are driving from Hamburg Germany to Utrecht, The Netherlands. I have never been this tired after a show. And I have never been this happy after the stage either.

 

What ever happened in the Sporthalle in Hamburg was the best we have ever experienced with our gang. There have been moments on the way when I have thought, “ok, this is as good as it can get” but again tonight, all the old records were topped. There was just something magic in the room I can’t understand. Hamburg has always been one of the top cities for us, but now you lovely people took us on a new level. Again.

 

I was extra nervous today also because our dear friends from My First Band were performing as the second support. I had goose bumps when they rocked on stage and it was super great how you welcomed them and their show. And they deserved every handclap! I bet you will hear from these guys in the future. Their keyboardist Heikki will play instead of “our” Osmo in Brussels.

 

Thank you all for the presents and stuff Riku and the crew guys brought to us after the show. Special thanx to little 13-year old Fiona for the huge box of chocolates. We ate them all and now we’ll sleep like babies

 

Tomorrow we’ll have a different night and a smaller crowd in The Netherlands but I bet it will be fun. Actually I have been waiting for the moment we finally get to the “new Sunrise Avenue countries” too. I really must sleep long tonight and to rest my throat to be able to do my job tomorrow. I even had to take some cortisone today to make it through the night. I know it’s not good in the long run.

 

Anyways…. I know I have done a lot of bad things in my life, but there must have been some good things in between too since I am allowed to experience this kind of feelings with the best guys on the planet.

 

Thank you all so much. You made these five guys from Finland very happy tonight!

 

Big Love,

 

Samu & Boys

Petitie online!!!

Doriti sa avem un concert  Sunrise Avenue in Romania??? Foarte bine va rog sa semnati aceasta petitie si poate chiar se adevereste!!!

Petitie online

On The Road Again!

Braunschweig, Leipzig, Rostock (Germany)

 

Nice. Very nice!!!

 

I’m laying on my Hotel Bed her in Hamburg, Germany and my nose is running a bit but I don’t feel sick at all. Maybe this will go away with good sleep tonight. I have had this weak feeling all the first three tour days, but luckily the feeling on stage has been great. After two and a half months break, we continued our tour again last Friday and it has been just amazing!!!

 

In Braunschweig on Friday we had a full-hassle-day with the crew guys. A lot of new arrangements to the new songs had to be rehearsed on stage. And we also needed to do that together with the sound guys and Timo(lightning operator) to make them aware of the new details. We also had to give some time on stage for our support Jim Kroft band, since it was also the first show with this setup for them. They seem like nice guys.

 

Even the first show in Braunschweig was amazing. Usually the 1st and the 3rd show on the tour are very challenging. On the first night you are still “on holiday” and you just overdo the things. Happens to everyone, I guess. The second show always goes better as your system realizes the tour has started. The third show is always the great challenge. Last night before the show we decided with the guys that we’ll break the curse this time and with your help, we did. Was super fun!

 

All three evenings have been so great with you all and we can’t wait to continue the journey tomorrow in Hamburg. The day tomorrow is very special also because our friends from My First Band from Finland will play as the first band of the evening. I hope they play my favorite song “1 2 3 4 Fight For The Money”. Make sure you arrive in time tomorrow so you don’t miss them. The boys must be freaking excited

 

Riku is lying next to me in his bed editing some videos we have recorded during the first days and I hope we can see some tour TV episodes soon.

 

I will close my eyes now for a while and before the dinner we have together with the crew and staff; I will go shopping in the city a bit. I hope the city of Hamburg is not as messed up with the crazy Carnival’s “Great Monday” as Cologne is, for example. I don’t get the costume tradition… I like the October Fest more. Mostly because of the girls and their national outfits.

 

Thank you all for the very great tour start and see you again tomorrow in Hamburg.

 

Love,

 

Samu

 

PS: I just love the Design Hotels hotel chain! Check them out where ever you go!

www.designhotels.com

 

PPS: Our favorite ice hockey team Helsinki IFK have won 9 games in a row now. Tomorrow they have a chance to extend the trend again. Keep your fingers crossed. My guess for the final result is Saipa-HIFK 1-4 in case someone wants to make bets online One of our key players has been our new German goalkeeper Mr. Dennis “Dena” Endras. 

Sunrise Avenue live beats

WATCH HERE

Sunrise Avenue 10 years!

10 years ago, on Feb 14th 2002, I sat in bar Memphis in Helsinki with my dear friends Sami Heinänen (our bass player that time) and Jan Hohenthal (guitarist) and we decided to change the band name from Sunrise to Sunrise Avenue. After that Sami designed the “street sign” logo for the band, the one you still see being used on our websites, booklets and stuff. Our dreams seemed pretty big back then and even I could not have imagined everything that happened after that meeting.

 

The first ten years have been just amazing. We have been to so many countries, met so many great people working in the industry and have had super much fun with the best fans and music lovers in the world. Personally I would not change one second of the journey so far.

 

If my oven would be bigger, I’d bake a cake for every one of you, but since the size does matter this time too, you all must just imagine the delicious birthday cake we’d bake to you with the boys.

 

To celebrate our big day & year, we decided to put up a little photo competition for you. The rules and stuff are explained on our website at http://sunriseave.com/photocontest.php

 

Remember to be creative with the shots. The pictures can be old or new. The band members don’t need to be in the pic. Maybe you just climb on top of Mount Everest and take a few Sunrise Avenuestickers with you. (We can’t guarantee the glue holds in 8+ kilometers Or maybe you tattoo the SA-logo on your friends face when he passes out at a party. No… Don’t do that Or maybe you paint you neighbor’s lama in SA colors and teach him to look “stage cool.” Everyone’s neighbor has a lama, right?

 

Anyway… Good luck everyone! We will post a few SA stickers with every order from the fan shop and you can also buy them at the merchandise desk on tour starting this Friday. We might even give some for free. The stickers look great even on a Finnish Police car. TESTED!

 

Thank you all so much for the first ten years. We hope there will be at least ten more to come with you all.

 

Love you all,

 

Samu, Raul, Sami, Riku & the gang

Movie theater experience

We came back yesterday from Bochum, Germany where we saw our show from Berlin last year. The one that’s gonna be released on DVD & Live CD in March this year. It was the first time ever we just sat and watched the show as the folks in the crowd usually do and well… it was interesting to see us on stage But very great!!! It was also the first session out in the public with the guys after the holidays and we were really excited to get in touch with you all after a long break. There were a few mistakes that happened that evening and we wanted to clear a few things in case someone was unhappy.

 

The DVD extras

 

They were supposed to show the DVD extras after the actual concert. I don’t know who switched the lights on straight after the concert part, but even the director was a bit angry at the failure since “half of the product” wasn’t shown on screen. I guess this happened in all the theaters? We are totally sorry for this and since many of you paid for the extra parts too, we will upload it somewhere available for everyone. We will tell you later where and when you can find the link. Soon anyway.

 

I am downloading the extras as I write this letter, so even I haven’t still seen what’s it gonna be

 

The two cinema rooms in Bochum

 

I understood that the idea in Bochum was that everyone will watch the DVD +  all the extras together with us. I don’t know whose idea it was to book another cinema but this was a surprise to us too. Probably they had sold more tickets than they had estimated and therefore the second room. We received some emails from fans & people who were disappointed for sitting in a different room than the band. We didn’t know about such arrangement before we sat in the cinema number 2.

 

The band and also EMI music Germany were a client at the event. The whole event with all details was planned and organized by the cinema chain and the ABC network.

 

In case you feel that you have paid for something you didn’t get, you unfortunately need to contact the UCI cinema organization or their ticket providers.

 

Anyhow, I must say that we had a very fantastic evening together with you all and this whole project has been very much fun together with ABC networks and the UCI cinemas.

 

I will get back to the tour rehearsals now. I can’t wait to hit the road with the boys next week.

 

See you soon and apologies on our behalf too in case someone got unhappy.

 

Samu & Boys

Back in Business!!

We decided a few years ago that we’d have the whole January off every year to recharge the batteries for the upcoming year’s challenges. Since we really can’t have many weeks off in the summer like most of the people because of the festivals and stuff, the winter is the only time we can be away for a while. Until this winter, we have been busy every January and the full month holiday hasn’t been possible. For example, last year I needed to be at home mastering and finalizing the first single “Hollywood Hills” and I couldn’t escape to the tropical paradise. This year it worked out and we really had a chance to switch our brains on stand-by for the whole month.

 

It’s just amazing what happened last year. I remember having a pretty good feeling about the new album and the whole setup, but honestly looking back at it now, it went better than I dreamed. Before the album, many of the music industry people saw us as a band who had their hit back in 2007 with “Fairytale Gone Bad” and there was no coming back. There were a lot of folks even in our team who said the first single “Hollywood Hills” is not strong or good enough, but I and we just felt that’s the way to go.

 

I cannot thank you all enough for fighting and enjoying the trip together with us and making our story continue. I told the industry people about our loyal fans when they doubted our chances. I wasn’t wrong about you. Thank you so much. Again

 

We all came back to Finland on January the 20th for the Finnish Grammy awards. I am happy we did, because out of the four nominations, we won the best Export Grammy. So great! It’s the second Export Grammy already for Sunrise Avenue. Thank You!

 

Yesterday we had the first band rehearsals for the upcoming tour. We all had some new ideas on how to do some things in a new fresh way compared to the tour 2011. The tour last year was super amazing and we still don’t know how much we should change the things we do on stage, but at least little details need to be a bit different just to make it interesting and fresh for us on stage. And to you too, of course.

 

The tour will be pretty cool. There are huge arenas, like in Hamburg 5000 capacity and Dusseldorf 7500, but in Brussels 600 and in Paris only 450. Honestly, this will keep the trip interesting for us too. We will be forced to do things in a different way almost every night. I guess in the smaller places we will take some influences from the acoustic tour to the set to keep it intimate. We can’t make the same moves and stuff on stage because otherwise I will hit Raul’s cute face with my guitar.

 

The live CD and DVD will be out in March and I just approved them a few minutes ago. It sounds amazing! I also made a little video using the mastered live version of “Out Of Tune” recorded in Vienna, Austria using two of our friends (Jenni &Marion) tour photos. The song is just a little taster of the stuff coming up. I love it! Jesse’s mixing never fails!

 

Tomorrow we’ll go to Bochum, Germany for a Movie theater event, where they’ll show the DVD stuff from Berlin last year. I was very ill that night but it’s amazing how great it actually looks and sounds. I guess there will be tens of cities where they show the concert tomorrow and I understood we’d watch the show in the cinema together with some fans and friends. Cool!

 

In Bochum we’ll also have a meeting about the summer / autumn 2012 with our European live agent. The calendar looks very very nice so far and I think they’ll announce new dates one by one according to the deal they have made with the festivals. There were a few very nice surprise shows in the festival calendar when I arrived from Thailand after the holiday and looked at the summer plan. New cities and new countries. And also some all-time-favorites where we really wanna go again.

 

So… I’ll go to gym now to get my body in the tour-sweating mood again. After a month of lying on the beach & eating mom’s Christmas food it’s not too easy, but I must say the resting period was very much needed and I am full of energy again.

 

I have a good feeling about the upcoming tour and the year 2012. The ticket sales have been amazing again. Even in the biggest arena in Dusseldorf we have sold over 6000 tickets already. I remember I made this bet about the final sales with one local lady after the show in Dortmund and we’ll see who wins I told her we would NOT sell out Dusseldorf, but we’ll see. I actually don’t remember what I promised her if she wins. I am sure she’ll contact me in case she was right

 

So… off to gym now. It’s such a beautiful winter in Helsinki again this year. It just keeps snowing and snowing and the air is so bright and beautiful. Like a Disney movie winter. And now it’s not too cold either any more. Last week it was minus 24 and that we don’t like. Now it’s -3 and lost of snow. The sun is shining. Me like

 

 

Hugs & Rok you soon,

 

Samu

 

PS. We have brought many Finnish bands on tour to support us in the past (Poets Of The Fall, Cark Kent, Flamboy, Etc.). This time in Hamburg the guys of “My First Band” from Helsinki are gonna give their best to you as the first band of the evening, so make sure you come to the arena in time. Their keyboard player Heikki will replace Osmo on one of the evenings on tour when Osmo has some strange solo career duties. I saw their show in Helsinki at Tavastia Club last year and I loved it. Good luck MFB guys

 

PPS: We have a very special guest on stage in Paris, as Jukka Backlund, our trusted producer and former band member will join us on stage. Jukka lives in Paris now and we had to use the opportunity taking him on board since we visit the city of love for the first time with the full band. Please treat the well-behaving-gentleman with silky gloves