Hello everybody

I decided to update this diary so that you'd know, what has happened lately and what we are thinking about it as there's been a lot going on.

The songs for the Eurovision Song Contest are ready and they'll soon be broadcasted for everyone to hear at Radio Suomi. The names of our songs are Anyone Anymore and Wild and Violent. I hope that you like them. Anyone Anymore is my personal favourite and it would be great to win the whole contest with that song. Still, we still have a long way to go and therefore we will need your help, dear fans, for a few times still.

In addition to finishing the contest songs we've been in Germany for a couple of times. The first trip was a three-day promotional visit during which we gave interviews for several magazines and had some photo sessions as well. The most exciting thing was to visit music channel VIVA's very popular talk show called "Live!", which was naturally sent out live. It was the first time when we had to try to speak English instead of our dear native Finnish in a live broadcast. Eventually it went quite nicely although at first it really felt tedious. The host only spoke German and we got a simultaneous translation - with some delay - from the interpreter into our ear monitors. Because of that delay, it always took us five seconds after the host has finished his question before we were able to answer. As you know, we only know a couple of words in German. As a whole, that trip went very nicely with no extraordinary incidents. I think that a more exact diary about that trip will be published in the next issue of Suosikki magazine, most probably with some photos.

The next trip was a five-day visit to The Principal Studios, located near Munster. That place is an enormous mansion in the middle of peaceful countryside. It was so cosy a place that we could easily think of recording a whole album there. This time we only recorded one song and it was an extremely soohting experience. The mansion was so nice that it might have become our new home. For example, there's a private movie theatre with a selection of 350 movies and the music archives contained tens of thousands of songs. Of course, it was possible for us to have a jam session whenever we felt like it. The living room was about 300 square meters and it was equipped with silver screen, pool table, computers and other nice things to keep us in good mood. The recording equipment was of top quality and the crew there was very friendly. Still, I must admit that I missed our regular producer-recorder Erno Laitinen and his moustache a bit.

During that trip we greatly enjoyed all kinds of German delicacies. They do have better sausages there. Also the cheese selection was delicious as well as greasy and German wine and beer were both very tasty and nicely priced so now I believe in those stories I've heard from other travelers. At the studio they had this great service that we got to write a shopping list each day. Then Tony, who did a bit of everything at the studio, went to the store to get our groceries and we never saw any invoices. For example, we had fresh bread rolls every morning for breakfast. We thought that it was a bit too much for us because we would have been quite happy with normal bread but well, we might have gotten used to it. Still, I missed rye bread and Finnish cheese snacks. I'm a big friend of cheese snacks and I don't understand, why the German manufacturers ruin the product by adding some kind of nut flavoring.

The recording and production went really smoothly and, in our opinion, the material is very good. It was great that the producer accepted almost all of our ideas and we were allowed to adjust the guitar sounds by ourselves - and nobody had any negative comments. It felt like there wouldn't have been any producer but that we had done all the producing by ourselves.

The scariest thing took place on Thursday January 18, which was our last day in the studio. On that day there was a powerful storm going over Germany and 30 people perished. Four of them were killed on the same region, where our studio was located. R.I.P. We didn't suffer from the storm, save for one electricity shortage but still, the storm was scary enough. During daytime some of us went to the yard to watch the storm and I have never seen a storm like that in Finland. According to the news the wind occasionally reached the speed of 50m/s. In continental Finland, even the worst of the storms are in general just half of that. Anyways, it wasn't safe to stand on the yard too long, because the storm got worse all the time. In the evening when we were watching a movie together we felt the whole house shaking and there was a horrible noise because the wind extracted tiles from the roof. Sometimes it felt like there'd been a thunder just above us. Through the window we saw how the cars in the parking lot were swaying and shaking like toy cars. Fortunately, the storm calmed down for the night and just before we had to hit the road.

The day of our return was quite hard. We finished working in the studio at 1 am German time. Then we packed our personal items and went to bed. The alarms were set for 3 am. After a quick shower and getting dressed we entered the minibus and drove 1½ hours to the Düsseldorf airport. Once there, we headed for the security control and that was where my journey was about to end.

There wasn't too much time left to the departure when it was my turn to pass the metal detector. All coats, bags etc. went through the x-ray machine. The metal detector gate started beeping when I passed through it. After that, a man wearing a military-looking uniform asked me to spread my arms and examined me from head to toe with a smaller metal detector gadget. When he reached my shoes he started talking to me in German and I informed him that I only spoke English. He then asked me to remove my shoes. So I did and they put my shoes through the x-ray machine and then started examining them, all guys together. There were like 10 guys wearing uniforms - and inspecting my shoes. At one point one of them came to ask me when my flight would depart. I told him that it would be in fifteen minutes and then became a bit worried because the guy answered "Hopefully you can make it".

They had to call their boss and he came, took my shoes and carried them away. A bit later one of them came to inform me: "Come and see". Well, I followed them to watch the monitor of x-ray machine and they explained that there's something in the shoes, which they can't recognize and that's the reason why they can't allow me to pass. I looked at the picture and saw those little morsels they were talking about. At that point I realized that the sole of the shoe must be cracked and there is pebble inside the sole. It took them painfully long to check the shoes. They asked for my passport and the boarding card again and started making phone calls, every now and then checking my passport. It was only five minutes before the scheduled departure time when they returned my shoes and said "Only stones, only stones". Nothing else but little stones. Then I had to run. I was pissed off but of course relieved. Even though Germany is a nice country it's still great to return home.

When we arrived at Helsinki, our own crew was there to welcome us. We jumped into our bus and drove to the Hartwall Arena, because we were to play a gig there at NRJ Radio Awards happening. It was a nice party at the Arena and our gig went very nicely. I and Theon presented an Award for the first time in our lives so it was something nice and new. It was also our first time to participate a very official and well-organized press conference. We were sitting there behind a table with microphones in our hands and the group of reporters asked questions, one by one, and we answered them. It was nice as well and definitely the correct way to organize meetings with the press. In the end of the evening, after we had enjoyed the refreshments offered by NRJ, it was time to get back tobus and start our journey to Tampere. And then, eventually we were home, tired but happy and with lots of new experiences.

Vivian Sin'amor

We are going to Germany!!!

This piece of news is finally free to publish and it's very nice. As mentioned in the news, we signed a record deal with the German company Gun Records, owned by Sony BMG. The contract covers the whole Europe. For us the deal has been a reality since September 30, 2006, when the bosses of the company arrived at Helsinki to watch our gig at Club Ooppera. Let's go back to that day.

The day started in a very usual way when I woke up in Tampere. We were to leave for Helsinki already before noon. I was feeling a bit weak because of the previous day. In addition, we all were somewhat nervous in the morning, because for a long time we had known that very important people would come from Germany to see us live. Therefore, we now had the chance of our lifetime to either ruin it all or reach again a new level on our career.

In the morning, when I managed to drag myself to our bus, Christian a.k.a. Kike came to me and said that Marko is in the hospital. Marko is our front-of-house sound technician, who is responsible for how the band sounds to the audience. When working in that position, it is extremely important to know all the songs and the usual gig routines. When Kike told me that "Marko is in the hospital and probably can't come tonight", I panicked. I always feel stress because of everything possible. And this time, when it was about our most important gig this far and about our loyal technician not being able to make it, my heart started racing and I felt anxious and depressed.

Well, there's nothing you can do when someone keeps on fainting and isn't feeling too well. We couldn't do anything else but keep our fingers crossed wishing that the replacement sound technician would be able to do Marko's work. Marko had informed us that he would come in the evening, if possible but nothing was sure, yet.

With feelings of insecurity and fear, we started off towards Helsinki by our tour bus, "Urnos". As always, when going to Helsinki, we had our first break - to have some breakfast - in Toijala at "ABC" service station. A cup of coffee and a bread roll is a very good combination but if the previous night has been a long one, the unhealthy Finnish junk food tastes good. Despite of the delicious breakfast we felt quite tired and nervous for the rest of the journey.

When we reached Club Ooppera, the band started to prepare both mentally and physically for leaving the depths of Urnos. However, part of the band was still in the bus, when our hard-working crew had already transferred all of our backline and PA equipment from the bus to the club. We spent some moments outside the club greeting our fans, who had come there to see us and then our orchestra entered the club.

The club turned out to be a nicer place than we had assumed it to be and that cheered us up a bit. The "stage" seemed to be a difficult one because it was bordered in the front and in the back by sofas, which took away a great deal of the stage's depth. Because of this we made a somewhat extraordinary decision: Our Julian a.k.a. Juke and his drums were placed so that Juke had to sit on the sofa instead of the normal drum seat. The sofa was quite low so Juke was given an additional piece of foam plastic to sit on. It may sound tedious but fortunately it didn't seem to affect his playing.

After having seen the stage, we found our way to the backstage. It was comfortable in size and the refreshments were what we had asked for. I think that the restaurant manager is the guy, who won the reality show "Baari" on SubTV, and he seemed to be a genuinely nice guy. He took good care of us and thanks to him, we definitely started to feel a bit better.

At soundcheck we noticed that the PA equipment, which we had rented for this gig, was really worth its price. The sound was clearly better than what the slightly less expensive equipment, which we normally use, is able to produce. Because there were no problems at the soundcheck, we started to feel more optimistic. After finishing the delicious pizzas we went backstage to get ready for the night's show.

The excitement kept on growing, everybody was silent and the atmosphere wasn't at all relaxed. It was obvious - no matter whom you looked at - that tonight's show was something else than a standard gig. We tried to kill the time by eating, drinking and struggled to maintain the conversation but with no success: we were all too nervous. Fortunately we got some good news: our front-of-house sound technician Marko arrived. He wasn't feeling too well and had fainted again a few times during the day, which added to our nervousness. If he fainted during the gig, there would be some problems.

Before the gig began, Jakke Lindberg, the boss of our producing company came to meet us. He said that the German visitors had arrived and that they were going to come to the backstage after the gig to tell their opinion. I was sick of excitement. My hands were shaking and the heartbeat was out of control. It was about 20 minutes to the gig, when we started putting on the ear monitors and had the final, calming moments of inhaling before the gig.

When it was the time to leave the backstage, our nervousness was out of this world. Our monitor sound technician Mike came to accompany us from the backstage to the stage. We saw that there was a nice amount of audience and they seemed to be in a good mood. Still, the excitement was unbearable until the first song began. All the nervousness vanished immediately, when the first chords were played and we were really having fun. The gig went on nicely, the singing was good, the playing was good and our mood was definitely very good.

The only negative thing was the small size of the stage, and because of that we couldn't jump or run around as much as we would have wanted to do but anyways, it was great to play there. At some point of the gig playing became even more enjoyable, because I spotted the German bosses in the audience and they seemed to be fully enjoying the show. Then the gig was over and we played the safe and familiar Guardian Angel as an encore. The club was about to explode because of the great energy, which radiated between us and the audience. Huge thanks to the audience for making this gig so splendid. I think that it was probably one of our best gigs we had played by that day.

After the gig we hurried to the backstage to rest a little, to wipe off some of the sweat and to enjoy the refreshments. It didn't take long for the Germans to come to the backstage together with the CEOs of our Finnish record companies (EMI and Bullhead) and the export manager. When Wolfgang Funk, the president of GUN Records entered the room, he looked very serious and his first words were "You suck!" For a second everybody was very quiet - but when Wolfgang burst in laughter, we realized that he had only been joking. Then they nearly drowned us with superlatives, they praised us and we were just listening to them and each of us was smiling very widely indeed. The Germans told us how much they had enjoyed our gig, how much they enjoy our album and that they were ready to sign a major record deal with us.

Wolfgang shared his stories about seeing HIM eight years ago playing at Tavastia for hardly 25 people. But already then he was completely sure about the band and wanted to sign them. That's what happened and I believe that you know the rest of the story... Wolfgang said that he's maybe even more certain about us than what he was about HIM back then. He promised that one day our band will be at least as big a name as HIM is now and that he's willing to do everything possible (and impossible) so that we could be a big success. Those words are meant to be taken seriously because we know that this man was the one, who has made in addition to HIM also Bullet for my Valentine and Within Temptation "big names". We spent a couple of hours discussing how much they'd be willing to invest in us and how to kick off the things in the rest of Europe. He invited us to visit his villa in Ibiza and we will remember that invitation. I don't think that Mr. Funk completely understood what he did but everything will be clear, sooner or later.

One of the fine features of GUN Records is that they don't want to be an enormous label with far too many artists. GUN Records prefers to have a limited amount of artists on their list so that they can fully support each and every artist of theirs. They don't want to sign bands just for to have them. Instead, they want to have artists with enough potential to grow to be huge. That is why it is confusing, surprising and flattering that Wolfgang counts us in that group. Let's hope that Wolfgang's instinct is still in its prime and we'll see what is going to happen. The band feels ready for some serious action. After all, this is one of those big steps that have been in our minds and plans from the very beginning of the band.

We're now living really exciting times and it is thanks to you, our fans, who have brought us to this position, where we are now. Hopefully you will follow us on our journey. Lovex thanks. See you again.

Vivian Sin'amor

Somewhere across the sea

We were entertaining people as well as ourselves on M/S Silja Europa 18. -
20.10.2006. It was such a special journey that we will remember it for a long time.
We spent all the three days on the ship and each night we played a gig in the same
place at the same time. The best part was that there was no carrying or installing.
It was enough that we made it on the stage at the right time and that left us enough
time for different activities like maintaining our fluid balance, gambling, playing
in the ball pit, gluttony and other such things.

Our orchestra had a chance to eat in the "messroom", which is the place where the
ship's crew has their meals and they have a continuous, free of charge service 24/7.
That's like a dream for us because we're as hungry as the seagulls. I believe that I
ate there about five times per day. That's a real treat because usually, when on
tour, we can eat only twice a day and so irregular way of eating isn't good for the
body. Normally we eat at the daytime coffee and bread rolls at some service station
and then in the evening we eat whatever the venue, where we are playing, has to
offer. Very often it's nothing too delicious.

The first of the three gigs was the 100th gig with this band member combination and
accordingly, the gig was a very special one. For once we had really been thinking,
which songs to play on the night's gig. Well, we had several "extra features", for
example we had a longish jam session with solos, a humorous heavy version of the
Silja Line theme music and a completely new song with a working title "Till we die".
The next time, when we will play it live is going to be when the tour for our next
album begins.The Silja Line theme was so funny to play that we decided to play it
also on the following two gigs. The gigs went well and also otherwise we were really
enjoying ourselves having good time with fire fart styled humor and the parties
lasted until the morning. Everybody was feeling happy and on the gigs it was really
visible - and the audience was very happy as well. We had The Voice TV's video
camera with us and they're now showing every now and then some clips we shot during
the cruise. We had to censor more than half of the material because of its
sensitivity but hopefully something funny remained to be aired. In case you're
interested, watch The Voice TV. Vivian Sin'amor

Good day, dear people

I don't like it if the band hasn't got enough time for its fans. Now I feel humble
because I've just realized the fact that if the band is yearning for a big,
worldwide success and if they want to have as much influence on the way the things
are done as we do, then there's simply not enough time to take care of those things
that were once taken for granted like writing messages on the forum, answering
emails, letters and messages sent through the IRC-gallery. And I know, it sucks.

At the moment the situation with the band is such that we're working hard to be able
to go abroad and at the same time we should efficiently try to produce new material
for our next album. Personally this feels quite stressful. The pressure is coming in
from all the directions. We should write songs for the new album, we should
constantly be on tour, we should continuously do some promotion, we should make new
music videos, we should have the new promo pictures done and we should plan and
organize everything by ourselves as far as possible and we should have time to
answer the questions on the forum, the emails, the letters and all other similar
messages, which our band may receive a 1000 pieces on the best of the days. And I
should find time to write in this diary, I should attend to the lessons at the music
institute and in addition to all this, I should somehow manage to maintain my
personal relationships.

I'm not complaining. I really like the fact that there is work but some people don't
understand - let alone believe - that we do all what we can for these things. They
start complaining that we no longer care about our fans and that there's piss in our
heads etc. That really pisses me off, because they're so wrong. It's only that a
person can't be in several places at the same time. That is why I would ask for some
understanding from our fans. After all, the most important thing for us is that we
are able to create good music also in the future. I hope you all agree.


We've been touring a lot and little by little this has become a sort of a routine
and that's merely a good thing. It means that if we think that a gig was a bad one,
the audience doesn't necessarily agree, they may even say that the gig was
excellent. There have been so many gigs that it seems that the 100th gig with this
band member combination will be on 18.10.2006 on M/S Silja Europa. We'll see,
whether there is going to be some special stuff. The most important gig this far
will be on 30.09.2006 in Helsinki at Club Ooppera, because big bosses from the land
of beer and sausages will be there. Hopefully we'll see all of you there partying
and cheering until the ceiling explodes.

That's it. In the future I'll try to write here more often.

P.S. Check out our MySpace site http://www.myspace.com/lovexmusicfinland that has
just been opened. There will be all sorts of material as soon as possible. Vivian Sin'amor

News 29.3.2006

Tsau Folks!

I thought I’d tell a bit about how the band’s doing, for those of you who are interested.

The beginning of this year has been a bit of a whirl since Guardian Angel started getting radio play. We’ve played about twenty gigs, given a lot of interviews and thousands and thousands of kilometres sitting in the tour bus are behind us. Also I’ve got to say that our new Net Site is online. It’s been fun but also tough and all sorts of other funny stuff have happened. .

It’s been terrific to see that we’ve been getting more and more fans all the time and the fans have been at all our gigs and been great. When GA rose to the top of the charts we didn’t, as a band, get really so excited about it because it had been pretty much forecast that after our first single did so well then it would do well too. When it was still no 1 after the second week we started to say, ” What about that then?” and walk around with great grins on our faces. Then things started going so fast that I’ve had trouble keeping up. We had to be everywhere and so much was happening and I wasn’t taking it all in. Just sitting there and taking my belt in a notch and watching the scenery going past and hoping that we wouldn’t hit a tree and all the fun would end.

Things are going well abroad as well. The video has been running on MTV North and the song should be getting radio airtime soon. Also Germany and Japan may soon be in our sights. We’re getting more and more gigs all the time, which is great because it’s the best thing about all of this and the main reason we do it at all.

The gigs have all gone well so far even though we’ve all had flu and stomach bugs etc. It was really cool that when we played Helsinki’s On the Rocks and The Student House in Tampere, although not many fans were expected, at both concerts there were good crowds who dug our music and had fun. S yet we’ve had no bad feedback from the gigs at all. Maybe it’s just too soon to say.=) Last week may have been the toughest I’ve had as a musician. We played four gigs and did the Huuma TV programme and I had a stomach bug at the beginning of the week. Friday night I didn’t sleep because I got home from the Harjava gig at 7:00 in the morning and just had time to grab a shower before heading for Helsinki and then straight after the job there it was off to Alavude for another gig. It was heavy going but I did learn that when planning the schedule, we need to leave some time for sleeping, so that we’ve got the energy to party.

The record has done well in the charts and people seem to dig it and that’s warmed the cockles of our hearts. It’s also been terrific to see that so many people like so many songs from the album. What’s come from the critics was mostly what we expected; that it’s total shit and other prejudice. Very little has been centred on the music, more the peripheral stuff, like our name or image. But anyway, if the critics had liked us then something would have been wrong. They slam nearly all the music which we dig.

The new web pages are now on-line, as some of you may have noticed. There have been a huge amount of visitors and there have been so many messages left that handling the visitors ’ book has really got out of hand. It’s great that people dig the site but it would be better if things were kept sensible as they were on the old site. Smart and sensible remarks have dropped in number hugely compared to the amount of daftness and an over-use of <3>

Anyway, enough of this rambling on. I’ll let you know if anything else of note happens or if there’s any information of interest when I can. Watch out for seagulls!!!

Vivian Sin’amor

Divine Insanity – Third and Last Studio Session.

Hi, so as you’ve already noticed the album, at this stage of proceedings, is called Divine Insanity.

In our case it won’t necessarily be the final name, because it may be that we might change our minds many times before the finishing tape. Divine Insanity is though at the moment the most suitable name. In Finnish it’s Taivaallinen Hulluus. The level incorporates all our craziness and youthful enthusiasm and after these recording sessions we’ve felt that the final step into madness wasn’t so far away. And Divine Insanity to us, means love. Heavenly craziness, that’s love. And we all love this record like it was our own baby. It is after all our first born, and we’ve all been working for it for years, even if it does sound like a cliché.

Let’s talk about the final recording sessions. For our part they started on week 43. Tuesday 25.10, when we were working of the finishing touches of the work we’d done in the previous sessions. That is some backing vocals and guitars. The songs were Bullet for the pain, Remorse, Divine insanity and Die a little more...The last used to be Lovex Story. They came out well and we’re satisfied.

We started on the last songs during week 44, 31.10.2005. They were; Wounds, Halfway, O how the mighty fall, On the Sidelines and Sleeptight. We also recorded a special version of Guardian Angel Christian worked the recording equipment for this one and it should be an add-on for the Guardian Angel single.

Of these song only Wounds has been played at the earlier gigs. The others are all new songs and might, for some people, prove to have some surprising content for Lovex songs but we wanted the album to be varied and for that reason all these new songs have been included.

These sessions went pretty much the same as the last. First drums and bass and then the rest. This time we noticed that we’ve developed a bit, as the work went in the can noticeably more smoothly than in previous sessions. The drums and bass took three days and then it was time for me to lay down my guitar sounds. This time the drums and bass went so quickly that it brought problems when we started on the guitars. We hadn’t expected to be starting the guitars that week and we hadn’t brought the amplifiers. Luckily there was a solution. In the studios at the same time were Suburban Tribe and their guitarist Roope had rented a Mesaboogie rectifier and Marshal MF amps and speakers. Well, I thought I’d try my luck and called Roope asking him if I could borrow the equipment. He’s a cool guy and his answer was yes, providing I also got permission from the rental company. Backline rentals agreed and by now I was really excited.because these Marshal and Megaboogie amps have never been bad.

So on Thursday morning I was twiddling knobs and testing the amps. The end result was that I was missing my own Line 6 amp and Marshall Special speaker cabinet and disappointed in this really expensive rental gear. Both amps had, at least for my taste, too metallic sounds, which I’m sure suits down tuned heavy metal like a duck to water but I like a rockier sound. In the end we recorded using the Mesaboogie, my own Esp LTD ec-1000 Deluxe guitar and some pedals that our producer Tertsi had scraped up from somewhere. The end result came out ok but a lot of time got wasted in the process.

Suburban’s singer, Ville Tuomi was here that week recording a lot of vocal parts and we shared a lot of jokes with him. We really dug him and thought that he was a terrific guy. You’ve got to be impressed that every day when he came into the dtudio, he had a pack of beers with him. The real rock credibiltythat the big boys talk about I guess. I, on the other hand, stayed dry every day…. At least until the sun went down

Friday was mixing day and we had a gig at the Turku Palace. It was fun and we managed to clear our heads a bit. At this stage in the album recording process the whole gang was feeling spiritually drained and so tired that our heads were in danger of splitting. So it was good that for the last three weeks, studio time was limited to four days per week due to gigs and video shoots.

Week.45.7.-11.11.2005

All the days started early and finnished late. This week we did Sammy’s and my guitar parts, Christian's synths and Theon’s vocals….nothing special, hard graft and concentration on the songs. On Wednesday we were all in the studio deciding what clothes we should wear for next Wednesday’s video-shoot. So we were arranging/planning the video and recording the album at the same time. Heavy going. There wasn’t a day, when after the studio I felt like going out.. I went straight back to the hotel and watched TV. while lying in bed. Even Dead or Alive 3 had lost its edge and there was no joy playing it. I practised with the axe a bit and the sauna got used a lot but I was tired and the bed’s warmth was more and more tempting.

The weeks most relieving moment was perhaps when Production Chief Gabi Hakanen dropped by the studio and said”damn, but it looks as if we’re going to get the album out nearly on time.” This sounded especially good because there had been (to our minds perhaps excessive) pressure from the record company to get the album finished and at least a couple of songs had been a bit rushed. Now it seems that the record will be released on schedule…. That is 15.2.2006.

On Friday we played the Sokos Hotel in Lahti and we really relaxed and had fun.

Vko.46. 14-.18.11.2005

Jep, this was an interesting week. Monday and Tuesday we recorded vocals, synths and crowning the cake was Sammy and Christians’ joint solo for Halfway. They’d been putting this together for a long time and had it so that we were all happy with it. I don’t know why but all week I’d been close to tears. Any time things didn’t go right I’d had wet cheeks. It felt strange and a bit stupid when my own psyche was in such poor shape that if I put too many sweeteners in my coffee by mistake then I’d burst into tears. It was frustrating and embarrasing. The stress had made me over-sensitive. I tend to stress out when things go badly and now, going through by far the most important experience in my musical career, it felt like I might flip out.

Well anyway...We were recording for three days this week and then there was the video shoot and on Friday the pix for Mix magazine, updating this diary and promotion pictures and then back to Helsinki for the sound check and a gig.

The week was full of action and it was refreshing to do the video, because for us it was new and interesting. Bloody tough day it was and Friday my neck was still stiff after the amount of hair shaking we had to do but it was totally different from the recording and was interesting. Months had been spent on planning the video and it felt good to be eventually filming it. Theon still needed to be filmed but even so. Fortunately, the recordings were just about a day short of being ready. On Thursday we listened through the songs and we were able to say that we’d made a damn good record and that we were really satisfied. We’re still a little nervous thinking about the finished article and how it will come out and have we managed to get the tracks in the right order and how will people react to it and I mean the fans not the critics because we can already guess what they’re going to say.

Week.47.23.11.2005

So this is our last week recording and there was just Wednesday left in Inkfish. We recorded Sleeptight completely and the backing vocals for some other songs. We’ll still have to do a lit of guitar work for Sleeptight because we feel it needs some more grit. The day was relaxed and went fast and Sleeptight came out as it should. We’ve decided that it will be the final song on the album. It sort of brings together the whole package and the backing vocals for all the other songs and then says goodnight. And the sound gives it all. It’s just acoustics and vocals. I hope that it’s the last song on the album and that the song brings some sort of closure. The song brings a great sense of peace and contentment and after hearing it it’s good to put your head on the pillow and go to sleep. But yeah, pulling the album together has been tough, mind numbing and time consuming but also great fun and above all extremely rewarding. .

We’ve come a long way since we first set foot in Inkfish. With Christian and had a meeting with the producers and the recording company but it now feels as if the road has been well worth taking. We’re really very pleased with the record. Hopefully you will like it and enjoy it for a long time into the future. See ya!!!

Sleeptight
Vivian Sin’amor

Divine Insanity – second studio session

Tuesday 13.09.05, 17:25

Hi. Monday, yesterday that is, we started recording a long play piece in the familiar Inkfish studio with our producer duo Tertsi and Erno. The alarm clock woke me in Tampere at 05:45. After a quick breakfast and loading the gear in the car, we got moving. Vivian and I on the way to Helsinki again. About 8:30 we were in the Inkfish yard and carted the equipment into the sound studio. Then it was setting up the drums, tuning them and getting the microphones in place before lunch. Then we got down to recording the demo. The time was then around 1:0. During this session we’d planned to record 4 songs: Divine insanity, Bullet for the pain, Remorse and Lovex story. Then we thought about how to improve the songs. I’ve got to warn you that they’ve changed a bit, but definitely in a better direction. Now, sit down and listen. I’ve come to the conclusion that Lovex Story should be renamed. (Think about it…Lovex Story..Not good!) Apologies to those of you who had already got used to the name. (I’ll reveal the new name when it’s been confirmed.) So, when the the songs had been jointly arranged we finnished the day there. Recording the drums tomorrow.

Hi. Tuesday, today, the alarm rang at 07:45. We awoke in the Ava Hotel and went down for breakfast in time to be at Inkfish for at 9:00. Pretty quickly we got started recording Divine Insanity. At the start we tried out a few different ride (cymbal) variations. This took some time but when we were satisfied, the recording got well under way. When Divine. Was done we listened to Bullet for the press demo and thought the drum arrangements through. Then it was time to eat. Right after lunch we finished recording Bullet and went through more of the “previously known as” Lovex Story arrangements and then ended the day there. I’ve got to say that I really dig some of the new progressive drum arrangements for Bullet! You’ll see! Tomorrow we’ve planned to record Love story and Remorse. After that I’m out of here and headed for home. Bye!

T: Julian

Wed.14.09.05 13:00

Hi. Today I woke, after a lousy night, at 07:50. Brushed my teeth, had breakfast and went to Inkfish. We recoded the drums for Remorse and then put the finishing touches on the arrangement for Love Story. It came out well! Then I played the song’s drum part. It came really easily and quickly. So now the drums for all the songs are ready and my job is done. Everybody’s eating now and I’m leaving as soon as this diary is ready. They’ve planned to start recording the bass for one song today and continue them tomorrow. Then the guitar parts etc. this time around it’s been ok here. More peaceful than the last time around. Sammy got his guitar demo done and left already yesterday to get back to school. I’ll do the same today. The guys are wrecked:D Jup. Time to eat and then to go. Maybe one of us will continue this. Tsau.

T: Julian

28.9.2005

I thought I too would tell you something about the 12-23.9.2005 studio sessions. After the drums had been recorded and edited, we started recording the bass. Our usual style is to get Jason and Julian, to put down the beat and rhythm. When that’s ok we start on the trimmings. That for us means the guitars, keyboards and singing.

The mornings started nearly every day at 8:00. Really disgustingly fucking early. Normal musicians can’t live at that time in the morning. Or at least I can’t. .. The days were long and hard but otherwise quite rewarding. Fortunately our producers, Erska and Terska have a good sense of humour,(they need it with us) and are easy to get along with. They understand our really bad gay jokes and other types of comedy. Erska (Erno Laitinen), had, since our last time here, grown this great 70’s John Holmes style moustache and the first time we saw him none of us could keep a straight face. The facial growth kept us in jokes for whole two weeks. Shame none of us thought to take a photo of him. Tertsi (Teropekka Virtanen,).was full of strange terms and his delivery of these always came out of the blue and had us laughing so hard that we cried. A good example is when we were recording Remorse and Sammy was playing the solo. Right in the middle, Sammy played a great screech and Tertsi immediately, “that sounds just like the mewl of a small, janteva, feline of some kind.” All we could do was be amazed at his verbal gifts

Well, that’s enough about the producers. For the second recording session, I Theon and Christian were there the whole time and Sammy for Monday and Tuesday. So Sammy recorded the guitar at the beginning of the week and Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday was when we spent the whole days on the guitars, synthesizers and vocals. Before playing anything we went through together who would be playing what and when and also any new ideas which came up. Then we each in turn played the sounds through and when we had them right they went into the can. Nothing is in its final form yet but in November we’ll put the finishing touches to it all and get the album finally in the can.

The days in the studio passed in listening, playing, and at least for myself, in continually running new ideas through my head and wondering if we were always doing things in the best way etc. It’s heavy going when your brain’s working in overtime all the time. We were also telling a lot of jokes, smoking a lot of ciggies, enjoying the fare from lunch restaurant 91.1 or the mudflap pizzas from the local Alepa shop. A lot of coffee went down as well. Last Thursday, at the end of the day, Theon and I gave an interview to STT. We were pretty tired but it must have gone ok because the interview was published in a few local papers, Metro among others. On Friday at midday we did the Favourite interview and photo session. Fortunately it didn’t interrupt the recording as Christian kept busy with the keyboards. In the smaller recording area on the other side of the studios, were A.W.Yrjänä and their producer Rake, wrapping up CMX’s new record. When he hadn’t talked to us for the first couple of days, I wondered if things had gone to his head but after a while we got chatting at the coffee table and he turned out to be a fun and laid back guy. It was probably just that he’s Finnish and Finnish guys are often a little shy and quiet. Things are going well for CMX and their “difficult” 11^th album=D.

The studio days ended at about half past five and then we headed off to the shops and from there back to the hotel, which was close to the studio. For the first week we had a great six person suite, with its own kitchen and two bathrooms. The second week we moved to a far more crowded place for four. The evenings went playing x-box, watching movies, drinking, going to the sauna and relaxing. One evening we spent with our producers and our manager/boss/ father figure, Jakke Lindberg, at an Indian restaurant enjoying the delicious food and drinks…. Usually we were so tired that we didn’t go out at all. Watching the Life for Children concert on the TV. When Uniplug received a platinum award for their album and Crazy Frog excited the kids, I lost all my faith in the music business. I nearly cried. But then I’m like that, so damn serious about the music world. Sad huh? . Sorry, I didn’t mean any disrespect to Uniplug. I believe they really deserve their success.

Well, that’s about it then. I can’t keep up this bullshit for ever. More about the next studio sessions when they happen, probably November. See ya!!!

Yours: Vivian Sin’amor