Finally!!!

I have been waiting for the day I get to write this blog for almost a half a year. And now when I finally have my MacBook open for it, I don’t know what to say…;) I’ll try anyway…

They say the second album is the hardest one for any artist. I really hope they are right. It has been one hell of 12 months building the puzzle that never seemed to get there, but now looking back at the stuff we did, I would not do anything different. Probably there are a few lessons to be learnt for the future anyway…

We had barely any pressure recording the first album in 2005. We just had the dream of a real album in stores some day and we made all the decisions together with our producer Jukka Backlund. This time it was all very different. And of course it’s great that every one in our team wants to make the best out of us, and it’s actually very special to have a team working for you as hard and passionate as they do, but the fact that you suddenly have 30 people telling you how the song should sound and what the lyrics would be, makes focusing very hard. There was also an additional challenge since Jukka (our former keyboardist-producer) decided not to be a band member any more. Finding the same “great 1st album mood” in studio seemed impossible. And… To make it even harder we decided to build our own studio. Building the place took longer than we expected and when we started recording the first tracks for POPGASM, we were already 4 months late… Well done boys, nice start ;)

We recorded almost 40 songs for PopGasm. That's a lot. And there are many versions of many of the songs since we didn’t feel good with the outcome. For example “Bad”, the song we have already played live many times, was recorded 5 times.

POPGASM

I think it’s good that we lived and grew up for three years in between the 1st and 2nd album. I must admit the 3 years were quite a roller coaster and if we had tried releasing anything earlier, it would not have been something we would have liked. We needed the time to really stop for a moment after all the good and all the challenges that came along with the career. I have a feeling that if all goes well, we’ll be able to deliver new stuff a bit faster in the future.

Anyway. We like pretty simple music, stuff almost anyone can sing along as you can hear on the first album. That goes again with most of the songs on POPGASM. And I love that. We also wanted to try new things and to really challenge ourselves. In the beginning we almost took one step too far from our roots, but as time went by we realized that we are actually steadily on the Sunrise Avenue tracks. What I really like about our music is that it’s so normal in a way and you can tell that we are just normal guys doing what we love the most. There is nothing too fancy about Sunrise Avenue. Hope you get what I mean.

Now looking at the 14 tracks on PopGasm, I am very proud of us all. It’s suddenly exactly as I dreamed. There are many songs that could be on our first album and also many new fresh surprises. And some things the critics will probably hate us for, but life is not fun if it’s too safe. For us, music is not about being credible or following the rules of a certain genre. Our job is just to entertain the people who want that from us, so we wanted to take things even more relaxed this time. We wanted to be very brave. Be prepared ;) There’s even a full 24-person string orchestra (ahhhh) and we made them also do something they probably don’t do every day ;)

The only thing that I really wanted to get better for the 2nd album, were the lyrics. Sure we come from Finland and you can’t expect us to write brilliant stuff in English like Coldplay or the Foo Fighters do (being from UK / USA), but I guess I just wanted the stories to be a bit deeper and more personal. And I think we made it. It’s still no poetry, don’t worry. Wouldn’t fit to my simple half German mouth…

So now they are all asking me if POPGASM is better than the First one…? If I ask my mom, if my little brother is better than her first son, I know she has no answer. Well, I hope she doesn’t… ;) Or try asking your girl / boyfriend if the second kiss was better than the first one. We all know there’s nothing like the first kiss, but if you kiss a bit deeper and really let go with the second one, it can be as special as the one you started with. Then it can lead to something great.

POPGASM is a better second album. Even though it sounds better (technically) than the 1st one due to better toys in studio this time, there’s still a lot of emotion and the gang feeling there all the way. The things that should be done by the book and well are definitely done so, but the things that should be relaxed and simple are so too. We had to make some of the choices 2 minutes before the deadline and that is always good. It’s just music, you don’t need fly passengers with it.

I must say I am very excited (and a bit nervous, but don’t tell anyone;) about the thought that soon many of you will be listening to what we baked with the boys. I feel confident, but of course you are all free to think and feel what you really do. We wanted to skip the thought of keeping the fans and album buyers we already got with the first one. The only thing we can and should do is to make music as well as we can and straight from the heart. Not thinking about what the world expects us to do. The ones who want to join the ride this time are all more than welcome. And the ones who want to leave the POPGASM train are free to leave. But sure I will delete them from my Facebook friends. Muahahaha - Just kidding ;)

Every day we have spent at home or in studio has made us miss you all more and more. Sure it’s nice to make music with the cool toys and the nice gang, but honestly the best moments in our lives what comes to music have been together with you all on tour. I remember my feelings playing the last song (Nasty) at the show in Luxembourg last year. The thought of that being the last show with the band really hit me hard. I mean nothing is never for sure. Especially in the music business. I remember sitting behind the stage after the show feeling like the smallest creature on the planet and only hoping you all know how thankful we really are for what you have done for us. Some of our crew guys came to us in tears after all we had been through together. That was one of the most emotional evenings in my life.

We have the best crew on the planet. Even though they force us to join all the partying. Without them we’d be total angels, now we’re only 99% ;) I really hope as many of the crew guys join us again on the POPGASM tours. Yes guys, this is a job offer for ALL OF YOU if the management hasn’t approached you yet. The salaries go down, the workload is double. And for you the tours will be sugar, alcohol and cigarette free. Start behaving like us ;)

I must also say that one of the biggest things that kept us going through the pretty hard recording process was the support from all you little angels. I really don’t know what you get from building the cool websites and fan clubs for us but I hope we get the chance to give you a little payback soon on stage with our new songs. I mean you didn’t get any news or any new music from us and you still kept on believing and standing behind us. You don’t know how much that means to us. So I hope we can see you all very soon. And I hope you are as loud as before ;)

The first single THE WHOLE STORY

Choosing the first single for any album is very hard. Why I like “The Whole Story” very much, is because it’s pretty simple and also it’s one of the last tracks we recorded. The song is an up-tempo love song, but in between the lines it’s about the feelings I had for the new album and all the pressure and lost hope I was able to feel around me every now and then on the way. Even in myself. The chorus starts:

“Wait, we can’t fall now. We can not leave all we have…”

That’s how I felt a few months ago. It’s produced by these two great guys in Gothenburg, Sweden (Nickey and Robin), who were a huge help getting POPGASM together in the end. I love the song.

I’d be bullshitting saying I am not nervous putting the 1st single out. But on the other hand I have full faith in our team, all the way from producers and mixing engineers to mastering, promotion and the business folks. And in all of you, so I actually sleep quite well. Yea right, me sleeping well…;)

I really wanted to share the moments in studio with you all the way but I must say it was all too messy and complicated to be spoken out loud. We had to use producers and stuff from the outside and I kind of had to walk over Jukka a few times and I didn’t feel good doing that all the time. Jukka is still probably the biggest reason I am living my life this way now and I can never thank him enough for what he’s done. No matter what happened, we are still very great friends and all is ok now but it wasn’t easy. The friendship was tested and we didn’t fail. That is extremely important for me. There were a hundred nights I felt like POPGASM will never happen and actually I started writing stuff for you many times, but I just felt too bad and confused to get anything descent out of myself. It’s all much better now.

But we are finally there. Our second album, POPGASM, is pretty much done and the album will be released before the summer (Mostly in May) in most of Europe. I don’t know the countries and dates yet. I guess they will start with Central Europe and Scandinavia and then move on from there, but I am sure there will be more info on that soon. All that is in the hands of the record companies and managements and they definitely know what they are doing and they are doing a great job. I personally hope that they deliver the stuff available for as many as possible and as soon as possible. Please check the local websites and stuff for the release dates and shows.

THE WHOLE STORY (1st single) will be given to radios in March and I am praying for some of them to play it. The single will be out with a few extra tracks in April (as far as I know). We have had very good feedback, but you never know. There goes my sleeping again ;)

If you want to help us getting the song played on your local stations, you can tell the radio chief that if they don’t play it, we will release Raul from his cage ;)

So this is it ladies and gentlemen!!!

See you all very soon and cross your fingers for us!

Samu and his lovely sweet heart boys



(Legal notice: Even though the blond singer is blasting about POPGASM this and POPGASM that, The record companies, agents, managements etc. do not guarantee a earthquake level POPGASM for everyone every time listening to the album. If you have problems getting your POPGASM, please call 555-GET-POPGASM.)

Финский коллектив Sunrise Avenue покорил сердца слушателей мечтательным и мелодичным хитом “Fairytale Gone Bad” – и мало кто догадывался, что у этих новичков за плечами уже около пяти лет попыток добиться успеха в родной Финляндии. Вокалист и гитарист Саму Хабер основал коллектив в 2002 году вместе с гитаристом Янне Карккиненом, чуть позже в состав группы влился и басист Рауль Руту. Барабанщики в составе группы почему-то долго не задерживались, так что вплоть до 2005 года Sunrise Avenue приходилось выступать с помощью друзей-ударников из других групп. Вакантное место было прочно занято только осенью 2005 года, когда в группу пришел ударник Сами Осала.

С самого начала ребята стремились писать песни, максимально открыто отражающие их чувства и переживания. Ориентируясь на творчество таких групп, как Bon Jovi, Foo Fighters и The Beatles, Sunrise Avenue сразу, даже собственным солнечным названием, противопоставили себя той готической мрачности и эмоциональности, что сделала столь успешными их соотечественников H.I.M и Rasmus. «Мы – просто нормальные пацаны с улицы, и наша музыка основана в первую очередь на энергии, а не на тоске и печали», говорит в интервью Саму. Поначалу, правда, никто не жаждал пускать в жизнь их энергичную и веселую музыку – два года группа обивала пороги компаний звукозаписи, и все безрезультатно. Только в 2004 году они привлекли внимание продюсера и музыканта Юкки Бакланда, который не только взялся за продвижение группы, но и вошел в ее состав в качестве клавишника.

Благодаря первым совместным записям Sunrise Avenue с Бакландом группе удалось подписать контракт с лейблом EMI для распространения в Европе. Первые синглы “All Because of You” и “Romeo” группа выпустила самостоятельно. Обе песни стали победительницами в постоянно проходящем на радиостанции YLEX конкурсе демо-записей. В родной Финляндии альбом группы “On the Way to Wonderland” вышел еще в мае 2006 года, и к тому времени, как сделавший их популярными сингл “Fairytale Gone Bad” отправился покорять Европу, дома дебютная пластинка парней уже заработала золотой статус. В течение следующего года он достиг того же статуса и в Германии, Швеции и Австрии. Летом в 2007 года коллектив покинул один из его основателей, гитарист Янне Карккинен – на официальном сайте группы причиной расставания были указаны «творческие и личные разногласия». После его ухода группа решила не брать нового музыканта в основной состав и ограничиться наймом музыкантов для выступлений – так что на данный момент в группе всего четверо участников. В январе 2008 года Sunrise Avenue получила престижную премию «Расширение границ» – этот приз, учрежденный в 2003 году, вручается тем европейским исполнителям, чьи дебютные альбомы продаются особенно хорошо за пределами их родной страны. В феврале Sunrise Avenue также выступят с концертами в Санкт-Петрбурге и Москве.