7.10.2007 Studio diary

A greater insanity!

Today on September 7th, 2007 at 13:00 it began. The studio sessions for Lovex's second album - or actually we were just departing for studio. We guys packed up all the instrument and amplifier equipment at the rehearsal place and then we headed again towards Helsinki and Inkfish studio. When packing, we were somewhat wondering how much more equipment we now have to take with us compared to our situation sometime more than two years ago when we left for the Inkfish studio to record songs for the first album. When it comes to me, at least, most of the money we have gained with our first album, has been spent directly on instruments and amplifiers and hopefully it can be heard on the next album in the form of improved sounds. I'm no longer contended with the sounds of Divine Insanity because of its clinically clean sounds even though it's otherwise a nice album.

The preparations for these studio sessions began already a year ago when we started writing new material - while still playing gigs. At first we didn't have enough time to write music and the work actually begun only during the summer when we sat down to decide when to go to studio and when to release the next album. Since that day this orchestra has been rehearsing and sitting in our home studios writing new music every day, except for those days when we've been on tour. The song-writing still continues because with this album we'll be in the studio for a month, then there will be gigs here and there and we'll try to record as many demos as possible before the second - and last - studio session, which will take place sometime in January-February 2008. At the moment we don't know yet the general style of the album because we've only made decisions on less than half of the songs and we have many different kinds of songs. At least I can say that our second album will be considerably different from the first one and stylistically it will present several different genres.

The writing of songs has been occasionally very difficult because there have been so many gigs and because of them we haven't have enough time to concentrate on the composing work. Only during the last couple of months the amount of gig has been cut down at our own request and it has clearly made the song-writing a lot easier. Touring is great, of course, but we've played altogether at least 170 gigs before and after the release of our debut album and it may be that there will be in total 200 of them before we can really start playing the songs from our second album. In my opinion that's far too many gigs after the release of just one album - even if we had had a tour around the world. I don't know if there is any other band in Finland with as many gigs under its belt with just one album released. Of course, we've tested some new material on gigs but we all agree that unless we now start recording a new album and refresh our setlist, we'll soon be pretty much pissed off.

9.10.2007
Back to basics: to the studio session itself. Now there's no more stress, this is absolutely fabulous. When writing music I've been under such amount of stress that I've sometimes felt self-destructive and I have had some other pretty sick ideas going on in my head. That's been quite hard for both myself and for others. The life hasn't been as smooth as it might have been and at times all the stress has made me feel so gloomy that now, when thinking back to those moments I wouldn't like to remember some of those minutes and I don't have the guts to share those moments with anyone. On the other hand, it may be that all the pain and suffering may inspire some great music but at times the price has seemed far too high. After all those dark moments it feels great and relaxing to finally be able to start recording those songs, which remind me of those obscure moments. When playing those songs I can say that I survived those bad times and now I can again enjoy the life to the fullest and I'm also stronger and a bit wiser than before.

This time it feels that the studio sessions will be more relaxed than the previous ones. Back then I sometimes felt like crying because all the anxiety involved. This time the phase of agony took place fortunately before entering the studio and now it seems that this process will lead us towards something splendid and the anxiety has been left far behind. The songs represent new and different Lovex but they still sound like us. I'm feeling great and I'm here at the studio waiting for my turn. Meanwhile Julian is banging his new, good-looking Julian Drain Custom drums, made by Kumu. The drumming sounds great and he plays well. The producer for this record is Erno Laitinen, who was the assistant producer of Divine Insanity. Now he's alone responsible for the production of this album and it seems that he nicely agrees with the band about the music. Because of that the songs are easier to record, because the band's own production-related ideas pass his filter quite easily. And yes, those 170 gigs and all those numerous hours spent in our rehearsal place have maybe made us better song-writers.

11.10.2007
Everything seems good, still. Today we should finish with the drums and then we'll start polishing the guitar and bass arrangements. We're feeling really calm compared to the times of Divine Insanity. There's no more messing around and the songs seem to be in better shape. I must admit that making music is great at those times when everything is running this smoothly. To be continued... Vivian Sin'amor

And out of the ashes it rises to a new splendor.

So it happened that the Eurovision Song Contest didn't turn out to be the success we had planned it to be. When we were there on the stage together with Hanna and Thunderstone, I was pretty sure that we had won because our performance in the “super final” had been pretty good and because we really believed in our song. When the hosts told the fact that we're only third, it was quite a shock. We were pissed off. Really.

All the respect to the winners but we still strongly believe in our song. But you can't always win and that's something we obviously can't tolerate. Consequently, six deeply depressed and gloomy-looking guys ran to our monitor technician Mike's room to grieve together over the defeat. There were also people from the record company, technicians, loved ones and friends. You might think that such a company would be a noisy one but there was a silence of a grave until we started searching for a special bottle, which Mike had prepared for us - be it for victory or loss. To give you an idea about the contents of the bottle I could say that a huge amount of Fisherman's Friend breath mints had been needed.

We sipped that delicious drink and little by little everyone started to relax. People started to make little jokes about the defeat and sarcastic comments on the overall competition, with an appropriately bitter tone. And as always, we survive even the most difficult circumstances with self-irony and humor. We spent the rest of the night at Hotel Caribia partying, getting to know all kinds of people and during the night many more or less confusing things took place. As an example of confusing things I could mention the 60's-styled rock dance movements on the dance floor, which I and Sammy so perfectly mastered... It was such an outrageous act that there were people as well as other obstacles falling over... Well, the rest of the things are such that they can't be mentioned in public and those "less confusing" facts aren't of interest to anyone.

We celebrated like winners through the night and even in the morning some of us were sitting in a taxi together with a legendary character of Finnish music business searching for some illegal underground pub. It was a night to remember and definitely lots of fun. Thanks to all those people, who partied with us and especially to Thunderstone guys, who were very funny and nice to party with.

In the morning, that is around 14:00, we climbed into the bus and started slowly driving back home. It had been quite a journey, because we had arrived at Turku directly from the student cruise, which wasn't the easiest one. The morning was quite hard. Because of what happened the night before, we weren't in the best possible mood. We felt depressed and definitely still pissed off. The drive back home was spent in a gloomy mood eating junk food and swearing because of the voting results. The fact is that rockstars just can't understand, why their song doesn't win even though it's definitely the best. Well, of course the reason is that everybody doesn't have so good a taste when it comes to music, as we do…

Then it was Wednesday and 16.2. and I was to travel to Germany with Theon to promote our Divine Insanity album, which was released there on the very same day. We had our promoter Inka from EMI Finland with us. She shot plenty of video material during the trip to be used for all kinds of purposes in the future. We flew to Berlin in the morning, visited Sony/BMG office to make a couple of phone interviews and a few other interviews as well. I can say about the German interviewers that they want to know a lot more about one's private issues than the Finnish reporters. It's really annoying when they cross that certain border of politeness and start asking too personal questions. Sometimes they get so personal that I can't help laughing at certain questions and I’m, like, "how can anybody ask such a thing?". For example, "What's your favorite thing when having sex?". Is there really somebody who wants to know that? I do like interviews and they're usually lots of fun but sometimes I just can't understand why some people are so curious about my private life.

There were lots going on in Berlin. We went to visit a show of StarFM, which is one of the biggest rock radio stations in Germany. In front of the door there was a horde of German fans and it was nice to see them there. We went upstairs to the studio and while walking in the corridor we heard a rumor that Stone Sour would also be interviewed in the program, just prior to us. Stone Sour, that’s the new band of Slipknot's leading man, Corey Taylor. We were, like, "What?". "Are they really here?".

Once we entered the studio there was Corey Taylor himself standing right in front of us. We really respect him for his vocal talent. I didn't know what to do. Theon casually introduced himself shaking hands and when it was my turn, I just said hi. He patted my shoulder and told us to have fun, before exiting the studio. It felt quite unreal to meet such a famous star like that, completely by accident.

The best was yet to come. While we were talking to the host of the radio show, it turned out that Stone Sour would play a gig in Berlin the very night. We asked our record company for help and they managed to get our names on the guestlist of the gig. We were really excited, had a huge smile on our faces and had a very relaxed and nice interview session with StarFM and really enjoyed ourselves. Thank you, StarFM.

After the radio interview we heard that never before StarFM had hosted a guest with such a huge amount of fans waiting in the lobby as we did have. That was very nice to hear because they have been visited by lots of famous artists. In the lobby we wrote autographs and chatted with the fans. It was nice to see that we really have German fans and now we’re even more eager to start our tour in Germany.

We returned to the hotel and then headed for the nearby steak restaurant to enjoy delicious food and some wine. With our stomachs full, it was time to move on to see the show. Stone Sour gave quite a performance and even though the sounds were a bit trashy, I was very happy to see the gig. Corey was a real showman even though he wasn’t in perfect health. Thank you, Stone Sour. After the gig we went back to the hotel, had a little nightcap and then we went to bed.

After a nice night the next morning rarely is too good. Especially, when you must wake up at six o’clock. We had a shower, enjoyed the breakfast and felt ready to continue the promotional work. Our next stop was the airport because we were to fly to Munich. This time there were no problems at the security check and we soon landed in Munich and took a taxi to our hotel. The taxi drove past the home arena of FC Bayern München. The stadium is enormous and a really amazing sight because of its massive structures. If you visit Munich, I recommend that you check out that building.

We visited another radio station, NRJ München, did an interview and then it was time to visit the headquarters of Bravo music magazine. It’s the biggest European magazine for youngsters with emphasis on music and entertainment. They sell an amazing number of copies and naturally their office is enormous, too. Bravo magazine has existed around 50 years and has a central role when it comes to promoting fresh names in Central Europe. It happened with the Beatles and it happened with HIM.

At the Bravo headquarters we had a photo shoot and did some interviews but the best thing was when the editor-in-chief spent time with us, offered refreshments and introduced us to all those 50 employees. He also showed us pictures where he’s posing together with “small” stars like Michael Jackson, Bon Jovi, Tina Turner, Slash etc. And he also told us very interesting anecdotes about the meetings he had had with Michael Jackson. I must admit that I was a bit jealous, when he kept on talking about Jackson, Oasis - and especially when I was looking at the photo where he’s together with Slash. After all, Slash is my biggest idol ever. It was a real compliment that a man in such an important position was flexible with his agenda and had both time and interest to entertain us during our visit. Thank you, all people at Bravo magazine.

We spent the rest of the day at the hotel doing interviews for different magazines, Metal Hammer, for example. In between the interviews we had dinner and after the last interview we remained in the restaurant and enjoyed those quality drinks, which Munich region offers. The evening just fled and we were naturally pretty tired after a working day of thirteen hours.

In the morning, it was again wake-up at six, a fast drive (200km/h) to the airport and boarding on our flight to Helsinki. We had some hours of rest at Helsinki airport before taking the plane to Oulu, reaching the bus and starting the journey towards Kemi and Levi, where we were to perform next but that’s a different story.

Vivian Sin'amor

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

Interview Como Back to school lehti 9/2005

- How did Lovex come about?
The band was started in the spring of 2002. We were just a loose bunch of friends who wanted to get together and play some Mood Metal. The members changed and gradually the music changed from just mood-metal, nut then in March 2004 we found the final make-up of the band and it happened. The sun had just set when Lovex was born and burst metaphorically from the cave. The light was confusing but pleasing to the newborn and it was clear that Lovex would not live in others shadows. With 6 noisy heads and a manly body Lovex hardly differed from the other newborn but little did they know, who thought that it would soon cease its playing and its sounds as it grew older. The 6 headed smiler was born to be a rock star. That is the story of Lovexes birth in a nutshell then

- Have you studied music or are you self-taught? Sammy and Jason have briefly been in some band school but I don’t know if you could count that. Five of us are petty much self-taught apart from a few guitar or drum lessons from friends. Christian, our specialist in keyboards, on the other hand, has been studying music for about 15 years and at the moment is studying music technology. We have all played different instruments for nearly ten years, though.

- Who or what are Lovexes musical inspirations?
There haven’t been any clear influences. Of course, there have been bands which we have all liked a bit but we’ve all got quite distinct musical tastes and finding any particular role models is impossible. Our musical tastes only come together in Lovex. That’s why it’s such a fine band. When there are so many different points of view and we are all producing the songs then we don’t get stuck in any musical ruts. It all sounds like us of course but some pieces may be orchestral film music style or perhaps real nock your socks off rock/metal.

- What’s Lovexes main aim at the moment?
To become the worlds biggest rock band…..wink, wink….

Then, if you could give brief answer to these questions, we could get a clear picture of the band.

- Who are you?
Vivian Sin’amor (Guitarist)

- What do you listen to for inspiration?
From heavy to classical. All “good” music goes.

- What’s the best film you’ve ever seen?
Without the slightest doubt, The Lord of the Rings, Return of the King; extended version.

-Who are you?
Julian Drain (Drummer)
- What do you listen to for inspiration?
Incubus is my favourite
- What’s the best film you’ve ever seen?
The Godfather trilogy.

- Who are you?
Jason (Bassist)
- What do you listen to for inspiration?
At the moment; Used, System of a down, Enya and film music

- What’s the best film you’ve ever seen?
Fifth Element is the best, but lately Star Wars episode 3.

- Who are you?
Theon a.k.a. The terror, Laid back juicy lips (singer)

- What do you listen to for inspiration?
I don’t get inspiration from other sources. I hear enough sounds in my own head

- What’s the best film you’ve ever seen?

Titanic (yeah right!), really, Avain pakoon and Austin Powers.Strong soundtracks.yeah!

- Who are you?
Sammy Black (guitarist)

- What do you listen to for inspiration?
Finnish metal bands., Entwine, Nightwish and Cob, for example. I’ve been playing Joe Satrian’s and 3Doors Down’s albums a lot..

- What’s the best film you’ve ever seen?
Lately it’s got to be Phone Booth

- Who are you?
Christian

- What do you listen to for inspiration?
Hans Zimmer and film music in general.

- What’s the best film you’ve ever seen?
The Rock

Interview for Fani 8/2005 Magazine

- What’s the story behind Lovex? Did you have any other names for the band?

Vivian: The story behind the Lovex name is quite simple. It came from our first songs. Right in the beginning most of our songs were about lost love and Lovex is those two words, ex and love. The biggest reason for the name is that it’s really annoying and sticks in your head. Some people love it and some hate it, which in our opinion is a good thing. The world’s best and crappiest name for a band.

- Bands get very different levels of recording contracts. What’s the story behind yours?

Vivian: We just pooled all of our money and made a great demo and it landed in the right peoples hands and that was about it. It was rare though for a band to get a contract from their first demo, but when we’d finished it we had a huge amount of confidence that it was hot and that it would be strange if something didn’t budge. The reason that our first demo was so good and we got a contract from it, is that we had all played in many other bands before. All the guys have been playing at peast10 years and our keyboard player, Christian, has played in various academys for over 15 years.

- How would you describe your music to someone who hasn’t heard it yet?

Vivian: Varied symphonic rock; or Rock symphonies...or ultimate 80’s love rock. It’s really hard trying to categorise it, because some of the songs are pure orchestral film soundtrack style and others are hard rock/metal tracks. Big sounds and beautiful melodys. Super Rock.

- When is your debut album out? What sort of material will we hear on it. Is it very varied?

Vivian: We’re hoping to have the album on the streets for the beginning of 2006. The record will be a compilation of hardrock,mood metal and film/symphony music. Machine music and some things with a whiff of the 80’s. The final choice of songs for the album hasn’t yet been finalised. All the time there are new options but the main idea is to put together a diverse mix, but of course that big sound full of rock made with real feeling and cool melodies is the main theme.

- How is your music conceived? Do you have any specific methods?

Vivian: Usually what happens is that someone has got a song roughly ready and we listen through it and then the group works out what everyone should be playing. Then we get down to putting it together. Theo plays a leading role but of course the others give their opinions too. Sometimes we’re just jamming and a song comes through.

- What about the lyrics? Where do they come from?
Vivian: for me what happens is that I’ve had some sort of idea where I’ve got the feeling for the piece and then just scribbled it down with the flow, then looked to see how it can be put into a usable form.

Theon: Things happen to us all but perhaps more to me. On Sunday mornings I just put down my feelings about them on paper

. – Are the lyrics based more on real life or your imaginations?

Vivian: Some of it’s true and written from the heart but yeah, some of it’s the product pure imagination.

Theon: It’s just not possible to use only our own experiences to write the lyrics. What happens is that you use what’s happened to you as a base and embellish it a bit.

- What’s your message to your listeners?
Theon: Your not alone…It all comes down on us all.

- Now you’ve had time to digest your gigs. Have you found any theme or other memorable happening, or happenings…?
Theon: We just had to break something, so a bunch of us smashed up a barstool in the Kaivohuone restaurants back room for about half an hour. It broke.
Vivian: Yeah, and in that frame of mind it really was fun…

- What’s the best show you’ve seen another band put on? And why?

Theon: Darkness really took my soul. A perfect entertainment!

Vivian: Metallica 18.11.1996...Their first big icehall gig and oh boy! It was a great show.

- What bands are your all-time favourite bands?

Theon: Queen. So many other good bands at some time or other wig out and produce some real bullshit, so that’s gotta be my answer.
Vivian: Guns’n Roses. For the same reasons...all of their songs are terrific..

-And have you found any interesting new bands lately?

Theon: Just recently I’ve been listening to some heavier stuff. Kill switch Engage and Soilwork really kick ass!
Vivian: The first new band to come to my mind is Crashdiet. It’s a great orchestra. There aren’t really any more that I could honestly give a 10 to.

- Which Finnish bands are most to your taste?

Theon: Disco Ensemble, Paskalataus. In Finland, (mainly Tampere) there’s some really good ”underground music. It pays to go the gigs!
Vivian: Hei...that Paskalataus is hot: Other good home-grown bands are HIM, The Rasmus, Uniklubi, Maija Vilkkumaa, Disco Ensemble and yeah, Sentenced was good until they broke up. Oh, and Entwined new album is good stuff. ,

- How often do you visit your own web site forum?

24/7. Or at least once a day, or nearly every day.

- What is Lovexe's objective?
To become the worlds biggest rock band! And to find me a beautiful wife. (Theon).

Here are 8/2005 Favourite Web slave Theon’s Funnies

TOP 13 songs for the selfconfidence booster.

1. Survivor: Eye of the Tiger
-2 sharp left hooks, raw egg down your throat and your ready for the ring again.

2. Daze: Superhero Lover
-Best ever name for a song and easy to take in this “ carefully thought out” song’s message. WARNING: it doesn’t bear listening to too often.

3.Britney Spears: Oops... I Did It Again
-Looking at my beautiful features in the mirror, my athletic body and my impeccable sense of style, I can only say “Oops…I did it again!”

4. Kenny Loggins: Danger Zone
-Top Gun offers 80’s rock. What would I do if I could be Maverick for just a day?

5. Sepi Kumpulainen: Mighty Man
-Sepi has written in his memoirs what all Finnish men think about themselves after a few brews

6. AC/DC: Thunder
-this is what I’ve named one of my body parts…… my right bicep.

7. Bee Gees: Stayin' alive
-New York dance moves that humble us..

8. Judas Priest: Turbo Lover
-The second best ever name for a song. Raising wonder and awe in every true lovin’ machine.

9.Matti Nykanen: Only a Hill Man Can Know It
-Our Masa is just a misunderstood genius!

10. Hot Chocolate: You sexy Thing
-To the best of my knowledge this timeless masterpiece is about me.

11. Abba: Dancing Queen Terrible song! But sometime my feminine side just takes over.

12. Twisted Sister: I Wanna Rock
-so that you won’t immediately forget in what’s name this revolutionary bit of music has been created..

13. Right Said Fred: I'm Too Sexy
-A rough diamond from these long time musicians which every time I hear it, remind me why people stop and stare at me on the street.

Yours, Theon

Promotion Shots 26.5.2005

My mobile alarm went off at 5:10 in Jason’s place in Tampere, and after a couple of dozes I got myself up. Then Sammy called and said that he’d pick up Chris and Theo first, then come and get us, ( Viivi had gone on to Helsinki ahead). After popping in to the Nekala Esso to buy some fuel and take-away coffees, about 6am Sammy’s new Ascona was heading for Helsinki. We stopped once for a ciggie at a motorway rest and arrived about 8:30.

We were met in a small office by two stylists (one we’d maybe seen on MTV3’s Model School program) and our photographer Alexi and his assistant. After a while we had our hair styling done. I was the first prepared for the shoot and while the road to beauty can be a difficult one, with the help of the professionals everything went well:) During this time the rest of the band were scoffing “delicious” meatball rollsJ Don’t need to buy them again. The whole group went one by one to make-up and about halfway through this process Alexi, his assistant and I left for the shoot site. We took a short break for a ham roll at a service station and then kept on going to the selected spot, a bit of forest in Kirkkonummi, about 30 kilometres west of Helsinki. It was around 1 o clock ….

The photographic pair then started setting up the equipment and after 20 mins. Bullhead’s Jakke arrived. We chatted a while and the subject of the day’s filming requisite, nearly every boy and girls dream, a Hummer. One of those funny/strange cars. Its whereabouts were uncertain. The car rental agency had said that the car was on its way but when asked again said that it was still in the garage under a dust-sheet. Super, but after half an hours frantic phone calls from Jakke, the car was supposed to be on its way again. A horn sounded and the made-up and the make-up artists arrived. The time was somewhere between 3 and 4 pm when we started getting changed for the shoot and they once again touched up our hair and make-up.

There was no sign of the Hummer and everything was ready. The weather looked a bit uncertain so we decided to begin the shoot. Just then the Hummer showed up and then, right after the first photograph, it started to rain. Fuck. The cameras were packed up and we all sheltered in the cars. There we sat and wondered. With the make-up people and the camera pros and the special effect, the whole day was incredibly expensive and it was impossible to postpone till another day. But things have a way of sorting themselves out and after half an hour the rain gradually stopped and we able to continue the session!

Again hair and make-up, the smoke machine working and the Hummer in place and the photography commenced. I sat on the Hummer’s roof and they started to take pictures as fast as possible and they came out great! The cover for the Bleeding single was one of the first shots taken. It was cloudy and spitting with rain and we never new if it would start pouring again. When it didn’t start raining properly again we tried out some different camera angles and all that. The, as the weather was still reasonable we decided to pack up the gear and change location

Another break for a roll and then we changed to another spot. The side of the road somewhere where there was a bus stop. I remember we took a few more pics with the Hummer, and then they got some shots of it leaving. Next Alexi told us to lie down in the middle of the road and we did what we were told and it was funJ but I doubt that any usable pictures came out of it.

We went back to Alexi’s studio and he took some individual portraits of us all. It must have been 9:00 but it was still another 2 hrs.until all the shots were taken. Then we looked through some of the day’s pictures and Alexi showed us what it’s possible to do with Photoshop. Tired but happy we piled back into Sammy’s Ascona and headed back to Tampere. One stop at the services so our driver didn’t fall asleep …. Some continued from Tampere to Hämeenkyrö and I went on to Ikaali. I was home at 3:00.

Today I got the single cover by e-mail and I’ve got to say that it looks damn cool! This‘ll bring Finland’s music world to its knees! J

.

Julian Drain

Divine Insanity – First Studio Session

Divine Insanity – First Studio Session

28.02.2005, 12:13:

Well then. My day started at Theon's at 5.30 when the radio-alarm switched on and Radio City came blasting out so that we could make it in time to the Inkfish Studio at 9:30 After 3 or 4 hour sleep, we watched the prize giving ceremony for the Oscars, then called the others to make sure that they were up and moving. Apart from Christiana and us the others would have all overslept, so we were having problems sticking to the schedule from the start:D Only 45 minutes late we had the essential gear and the band packed into 2 cars and heading for Helsinki,,,,,,

(to be continued)

Julian

28.02.2005, 13:45:

Ok, ..I’ve come to this pc after doing the drum check and we had a pretty damn good sound right from the off! :D but this is where I left you. Something strange had happened (especially for Lovex). We were on time when we arrived at the studios, 15 mins ahead of schedule even! We went together to see what sort of place the studio was, the fetched all the stuff from the cars the set up the drums and the rest of the band headed off to check out the hotel. I stayed with the technician and Bullhead’s Boss. Then about 12:30 we started the drum sound check, which lasted about an hour, and then the others came back and now it’s time to get something to eat! Yep. I'll be back :P

After eating we came back and demoed Guardian Angel in one take. Then we agreed to do some of it again differently. Then started the recording for the drumming on Guardian Angel. There was a little stress when we had to play the new revision we’d agreed but it went well and after a few takes we had it in the can and it sounded great..! Then we left for the hotel etc…:)

Julian

1.3.2005, 10:40:

Up at 8.30 today and after a decent breakfast we made it to Inkfish by 10. Now the boys are jamming with the acoustic guitars and I’m here writing this diary and soon we should start the demo for Bleeding and work it out and then get the drums down and so it goes on.!:D

Julian

01.03.2005, 16:08:

Well, the same as last time, now we had to do the demos J I should say that” this time we edited the drums for Guardia Angel” but in fact we reworked Bleeding and now and it’s really going the right way! More “hit potential”. When we had the arrangement pretty much agreed we played a few pieces through and then went to get some pizza.. Then we finished recording Bleeding and headed for the hotel. The band has the rest of the day free and tomorrow we’ve got the bass to record and should get started with the guitars. Maybe Thursday we can do the synths and guitar sounds and Friday the vocals. Yeah, whatever! Let’s keep it real. :P

Julian

02.03.2005, 12:45:

Right then. This song has gone pretty much the same as the previous ones. Breakfast at the hotel and Jason and I made for the studios at 10. First we listened to the edited drums for Bleeding and a few pieces from the new 51code. Then we tried a few bass options and decided on Jason’s own Ibanez. The others started to get everything ready for recording so that we were waiting for Jason to finish the bass work but I couldn’t interrupt a genius at work! Enough of that then. . When the bass was ready we stated to wind up the guitar sounds and maybe something got recorded…we’ll seeJ

Julian

02.03.2005, 14:25:

Now the bass for Guardian Angel is ready and it sounds good! There was some fine tuning to be done because on Monday we re-arranged some pieces so radically that the base lines had to be totally reworked, but all seems ok now. We started recording the bass for Bleeding and chucked out all the non essential crowd from the control room. So, Theon and Christian left for the city centre Jason and Vivian are in the control room and I’ve no idea where Sammy is:D …get back to you….

Julian

04.03.2005, 17:17:

Hija, I didn’t get around to writing much yesterday, when nothing much happened. My part was finished on Tuesday.. but how did yesterday go then (?) J 10 am as normal, we were all at the studio. Most of the day went recording the guitars,and the rest of it trying out different synth sounds. Today Christian and Theo arrived about 9ish and first Christian recorded some synth sounds then Theo started singing and now Bleeding is ready and Guardian Angel is on the final straight. .The band, except for me and Theo, just left for the Cumulus Hotel and in the evening they’re going to the Cable Factory for Kiss FM’s anniversary party. Theon will be leaving when the vocals are ok and I’ll be catching a train for Tampere and Jani’s place in an hour. It’s got pretty tiring in the studio towards the end of the week, especially the days when I haven’t been playing. Next week the last of the guitar and synth parts and the backing vocals. Then there’s the mixing and mastering. Later we’ll record the b-side for our first single. Jup, my job here is done, so thanks to the band, Inkfish, Ava Hotel and Alepa ! J During the week at the studio Lovex managed two songs nearly completely finished and emptied over 150 bottles of different shapes, sizes and flavours.:D That’s it then , seeya…

with <3>

12.3.2005

Helloh=)

I thought I’d write something too, when when apart from Julian, no one else has been doing much. The situation now is that on 15.3. Christian and I will be in the studio together and at the end of the day everything should be ready to master the first two singles

The first week, Thursday 3.3 we recorded the guitars. We worked on the mikes and then tried a few different guitars. By the end of it we’d used 4 different guitars, 3 Les Pauls and 1 Stratocaster. I think Sammy played it all on his own Steve Vai Jem.

After we’d tinkered with the sounds for a few hours we got down to the playing. We recorded guitars on Thursday 3.3 and Monday 7.3 and got it in the can. Some it went down real easy and some was a bit harder. The new arrangements gave us the most problems because we hadn’t had a chance to practice them at all before getting into the studio but it was all worth while. Some of the new work-ups changed the whole framework of the songs and there are some great new killer riffs. You’ll hear them =) but I can already say that they are the best stuff we’ve ever done. Thanks to the producer who made us produce the new riffs and who really got the best from us.

The second week went fairly easily. Just a mild concussion when Christian ‘s and my head hit the asphalt after a night out on Wednesday. With Theo’s help I made it from the Maria Hospital back to the Hotel about 9:30. Christian got back a little earlier. I had to stay for observation because of the concussion. The stupid head causes pain to the whole body. No more about that.

During week 2 we played all the guitar pieces and the synth sections and also did a lot of mixing. The mixing took a lot of time when sometimes just the vocals were on 30 tracks. But oh boy what a sound we got, just what we wanted, big and beautiful. Some critics will say that we’ve over produced our music, but what can we do if we really dig this finely finished sound.

Of the hotel evenings, the sauna and Dead or alive 3 were in heavy use and I bet that if we had a Dead or alive tournament with any other band, we’d crush them. We played so much that all the worlds’ 15 strike combo hyper killers became well known =)

See ya!!!

Yours: Vivian Sin’amor

The Chamber Rocks!

Chamber rock 5.11.2004

Been looking forward to this gig for months. Day by day the vibes began to rise. Chamber Rock was starting to feel like the next milestone in Lovexes history. The only thing to bring us down a bit was the lack of practice. The month before Chamber was spent in the studio, working on our web site and handling other Lovex stuff. We just didn’t find any time for practice.

Chamber rock –day started busy like most other gig days in Lovexes calendar. Out of bed and straight to the shower. We were due to leave from Vivian’s place for the sound check at 5. This time it would be better to be there on time and change the almost calling card style of being fashionably. Girls can get away with it but hair-dos and make-up don’t cut it now.

Unbeleivable but true, both Theo and Christian were both at Vivians by 3 and the others were on the way to Ikaali. We rocked and got the rest of the stuff loaded in the car and then we were away...

At the Ikaali health club there were loyal fans waiting when we turned into the car park. We were told that some of them had been waiting since 4.

Anyway, when we got into the hall I glanced at my watch and it was already 5. And what did the place look like? At least the stage had been put up. So, as is usual in the rock business – there was a terrible rush first and then waiting and then a hurry again. A never ending circle.

Half an hour later we were able to begin the sound check. Drums, bass, guitars and vocals set up one at a time and then we played through Guardian Angel. For Uniklubi/Bitch So Sweet, Janne sings harmony so we set up two mikes.

Around half past seven we left to Jason’s to prepare for the evening, and on the way we popped in the Sihi-drinkshop. We had a few hours time to relax a bit and we managed to revive our spikes with a bit of hair lacquer. Twister got popular with the gang. Watch you eyes with the spikes guys.

Once again a taxi-van took us to the gig. The whole schedule saw running late and we didn’t see T.A: P, Essential and Bitch so Sweet. Now it was our turn to rule the stage!

While paying the Intro the screaming and applause started reaching the stage. Wounds exploded into every corner of the hall. Lovex was the last band on stage but the fans were right with us even though they were clearly tired. There were a few mistakes on the playing side and the tempo was a little fast, but like Theon says, the speed covers the mistakes

Problems with the Timetable brought some disappointments for Lovex and the fans. Halfway through the set we got the bad news that the entertainment license was expiring and that there would only be time for two more songs. After a quick conference on stage we decided to play Guardian Angel and Bleeding for an encore. This meant that our hit Heart of Stone and I Try didn’t get played at all.

After the gig we had some mixed feelings. Happily signing some autographs dissolved any negative thoughts. There were a good crowd of kids trying to get some ink on paper. When the masses thinned out, we decided to go to the after show party at Jason’s place.

Twister, pizza and slowly sobering up brought the usual philosophising and people at about half past 5 people started wending their weary way home through the night.

Good Night Ikaalinen

-the court poet

Studio Diary Lovex "Story" EP recording

Studio sessions, October 2004

First studio day, Monday 4.10:

An early morning start. At the studio for 10 and started laying down the synth track. Then we started on the drums. When many snare, tom-tom and cymbal options had been tested and the set had been re-miked a couple of times we took a break. Then the drum recording began. We took the songs in turn; Heart of stone, Guardian angel, Lovex story and Wounds. After a few initial problems recording went pretty well. A few coffee and listening breaks broke up almost constant playing and by 2300 this drummer boy was utterly shattered…we nearly gave up for the day and left Wounds until Tuesday. A last wild push and we laid it down and it came out really well. The studio session which had caused the most apprehension was over. Actually, there was still more to do and the Ep recordings stretched over 2 more weeks because our producer, Jari Latomaa, wanted to take real care, as he thought the band had such potential.. There was so much material that we were unable to record it all with care in the time we had the studio reserved and the EP was a couple of weeks late. But then, good things are worth waiting for.

Second studio day, Tuesday 5.10:

Around 11 to12ish we were back in the studio and started to listen to the previous days drum recordings with wide-open ears and it still sounded really good. Then the bands singer, Theo, sang the demo songs, each recorded in one take. They sounded really good, even though it was just an hour after waking and without warming up. D Just like it made some difference in the end. DD.anyway,after a couple of hours and a coffee pot of setting up we started recording Vivian’s Les Paul riffs. All the songs got a really strong rocking rythm backing. After take-away pizzas Jason B started the bass sessions. The bass lines came off really well and the songs recordings went fast except for Guardian Angel where practically the whole bass score was re-written. The end result was a slew of earthshakin’ bass tracks! :) Around 9 we got Sammy Black set up and recorded another set of real kickin’ guitar backing tracks. Sammy’s tracks got done fast, with 1-3 takes per song! When all the rhythm tracks were in the can, we stared to record the lead and solos and nearly got them all ready. Only the clean acoustic guitar parts were still to do. We got out of the studio about 2am. I crashed over at Sammy’s for a whole 4 hrs before leaving on the 7:30 bus for home, a shower and fresh to my studies!:DD

So, that’s the school day over and from the text you can guess that I’m more than a little tired, but this got written as promised! The recording continues at the beginning of next week. I’ll keep you posted on the studio sessions and anything else of interest!

Peace & Love
Julian Drain

JeeJee Rocks!!!

The Music Bar Jeejee gig didn’t generate high hopes. It was on the worst possible day, a Thursday, and with the over 18 age limit some of our more active audience couldn’t get in. There were still caterpillars in my stomach. The long awaited Promo-pics got taken before the gig.

For a sleepy head the day started far too early. About midday started make-up and styling. Faces matt, eyes rock and roll and hair with attitude. After a few hours and some mild nervous breakdowns we were ready for the camera’s demanding eye. The time table was tight and we were late.

Sound check was ahead and we were getting hot (Vivian almost literally), when sleeves rolled, we shifted the instruments and gear from the training pad. Our driver had obviously been watching the rallies and our tyres screeched on route to the gig. At last we got set up and started the soundcheck.

Doing the sound check brought sweat to our brows and we had to call for make-up again. In a cloud of powder the caterpillars became fully grown butterflies until the lighting got sorted and we were each bathed in a spotlight. The butterflies disappeared and we started to get the vibes.

At 23.45 we got down to it. Rock and roll therapy. The punters moved from the bar closer to the stage and the brave ones found their way to the front row. Old and new fans joined as the music shook their bodies. The show exceeded our expectations and all our fears proved to be groundless.

We were feeling high after the gig went so well. It was time to sit and sample some of Jeejee’s offerings and pose for pictures with the fans.

The evening didn’t end at the Jeejee though. A taksi van took our group, (read stoned group) to Emma’s, the Tammela burger kiosk and finally back to the flat, to ponder the real power of music and to eagerly await the future.

- Court Poet