Out Cold Scandinavian/Russian Tour 2004 Part 3

SCANDINAVIAN / RUSSIAN TOUR JOURNAL

<< Back to Part Two (Norway, Denmark, Sweden)

FINLAND

24 Aug -- Rovaniemi. Just arrived at the club a while ago, unloaded, and had something to eat. The Hero Dishonest guys picked us up at the bus station in Haparanda. From there we drove northeast to our most northerly destination of the tour, on the very Arctic Circle itself! We play in a couple hours. Right now I'm just hanging out at our merch table. The club here is kinda strange. It's a bar, I guess, but it feels more like a really cozy coffee shop. Even now, in the full-raging summertime, it feels like we're bunkered in against the cold outside. Actually, the weather is very crisp up here. More like late-September/early-October. Very pleasant. My kinda weather. I shudder to think of this place in the winter.

Barely past the border, the landscape becomes distinctly Finnish

A good omen!

Outside Karhu Baari, Rovaniemi

25 Aug -- In the van on the drive south to Oulu. We just left Jussi's parents' summer cottage in Tervola, where we hung out for awhile in the beautiful weather and ate lunch around a fire in what I can only describe as a "barbecue gazebo". Jussi is the drummer of Hero Dishonest, by the way. Mikey and I also took a sauna along with Jussi and Mikko (HD's guitarist). Definitely an interesting experience, sitting there butt naked with 3 other guys sweating like a stuck pig. I think I might've actually sweated more in there than I do playing our set! Now I feel I've finally had a true Finnish experience. Now if I could just find some cloudberry wine I'd really be happy. The show last night in Rovaniemi turned out really good in spite of the fact we hardly got any money and didn't sell a single piece of merchandise. Hero Dishonest were fucking great. They're gonna be a really fun band to tour with for the next 5 days. Rene somehow managed to walk in just before we played. We played really well and the people really seemed to like it. We did 4 fucking encores! I don't think that's ever happened to us before. After the show we stayed at a rehearsal space of some local bands, right across the way from the KKK supermarket (they were having a white sale, so we stocked up on sheets). Since it seemed most of the people wanted to hang out and drink and stay up, Mikko and us ducked into a quiet side room to go to sleep right away. However, one by one, people came ambling in and before long the room was wall-to-wall people snoring and wheezing like some gigantic respiratory mostrosity. I didn't really get any sleep as my earplugs were in my suitcase, buried and inaccessible in the van. Somehow, though, we made it through the night and woke up early enough for a quick visit to the actual Arctic Circle itself, which was really cool (no pun intended).

Hero Dishonest at Karhu Baari	Out Cold at Karhu Baari
The KKK-Mart	The Arctic Circle	The summer cottage respite

26 Aug -- In the van driving out of Oulu. The show last night was fucking awesome. One of the best shows we've ever played. The sound was by far the best so far of the tour and so was the club. Normally I don't really like bar shows, but this place was just so fucking cool. This show was part of the Oulu Music Video Festival so in between the bands they pulled down this big screen in front of the stage and showed videos. It was just Hero Dishonest and us again and both of us played really well and got great crowd responses. Fuck, just a great, great show. We even sold a decent amount of merch. Thanks to Jani for making some of the best food of the tour for us to eat at his home before the gig. I requested Hero Dishonest to play one of my favorite songs of theirs: Ambition To Smile, which currently isn't in their set. They said they'd learn it for the US tour if we played Skinned Alive. Unfortunately, Deuce and Mikey don't know it. Maybe we can rehearse it at our soundchecks or something. Last night was the last night with Rene. I guess 5 Out Cold gigs were enough for him. I guess he's going down to Turku for some shows down there. Funny thing, though....as we're driving around looking for the club, we see him stumbling about the streets like a vagabond. We pulled over and picked his ass up. This guy's like a haunt or something. It's actually gonna be kinda strange not seeing him anymore. Tonight's show is in Jyväskylä, hometown of Matti Nykänen, the national child-ski-jump-champ-gone-bad. Quite an infamous character here in Finland. We've been following his "adventures" in the tabloids while we've been here. Mikey's becoming quite a fan of his. Latest news is that he has stabbed someone and is probably going to jail. Looks like it's gonna be another great day.

Outside 45 Special, Oulu	Selling the merch: it's a dirty job but somebody has to do it	Hero Dishonest at 45 Special
Out Cold at 45 Special			Jussi & Pentti kickin' it backstage	Deuce with Rene just before he deserted us, the fuck

More photos from 45 Special, Oulu
Still more photos from 45 Special!

27 Aug -- Sitting in the club in Lahti where we are to play tonight. Last night's gig in Jyväskylä was in this huge metal club called Lutakko. We played with 2 metal bands: Pitfiend (a Finnish band) and 50 Caliber (UKHC, yo!). We're playing with them both again tonight. Hero Dishonest gave us a treat last night and played their Joy Division cover (Warsaw). Sounded great, as did the rest of their set. Our set went well also and we got a decent response. Better than I anticipated considering the overwhelming "metalness" of the whole place. We stayed at some local punker's place and got a really good night's sleep. Sometime last night Mikey and Deuce were fucking around and Deuce ended up punching Mikey really hard and fucked up his hand. He tried to see a doctor both here and back in Jyväskylä, but didn't have any luck. Apparently, unless it's an emergency situation, it's impossible to be seen by a doctor here. Fucked up. All day we've been kicking around ideas about how Deuce can avoid playing guitar until he can get checked out, but nothing seems possible besides just not playing altogether, so I think he's just gonna play and hope for the best. I really hope it's OK. It would suck beyond belief to have to cancel the rest of the Finnish shows and Russia over this. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Mark just told me he thinks he's getting sick. Fuck, that's all we need.

Hero Dishonest at Lutakko

Out Cold at Lutakko

Forced, prolonged closeness has yielded horrifying results

28 Aug -- In the van on the road to Tampere. Last night's gig in Lahti turned out OK. There were tons of people and we got paid well. Deuce got through the whole set and claims today that his hand is OK. That's promising. Had a bit of hard time with the set last night. I had a brainfart and couldn't remember how to start It Went Bang so we just skipped it. Embarrassing. Also, we didn't use Jussi's drums. We used some house set they had there which were rather weak sounding and not miced so I had to play extra hard to get a somewhat decent sound out of them. Plus it was hotter than usual which just made everything worse. Mikey had trouble with his amp also. Despite all this crap it was still a good show somehow. Afterwards, we went to Helsinki (where Hero Dishonest live) to spend the night. Mark, Pentti (HD's new singer), and I stayed with Mikko, and Mikey and Deuce stayed with Jussi. Mikko and his girlfriend made us a fantastic breakfast and we got to shower in their very rustic, but nice, bathhouse. Everything is going good. The only thing that concerns me is that people seem to be getting sick, especially Mikko, who appears to have a full-blown cold. I guess if I got sick at this point it wouldn't be too disasterous as we only have a week left or so, but the Russian leg is going to be very grueling and will require all our physical and mental resources so that would be bad timing. I'm really hoping our luck holds out and we manage to avoid catching anything. Seems unlikely, though, being in such close quarters so much. I guess we'll be lucky enough if Deuce's hand holds out and we just get through Russia OK. We've been hearing such horror stories about the Russian authorities trying to extort money out of people, confiscating and sometimes even destroying passports. We're all quite nervous about it, but HD have been there 3 times and say it should be OK. Still, perhaps they treat Americans different than Finns. I don't know. Not much use in speculation. We'll just play it as cool as possible and hope for the best.

Outside Torvi, Lahti	Mark in front of a statue of the Great General Mannerheim	Wild in the streets... of Lahti!!!	Hero Dishonest get flashed
Hero Dishonest at Torvi	Out Cold at Torvi

More photos from Torvi, Lahti

29 Aug -- Sitting in Mikko's apartment. Last night's gig in Tampere was at this weird place called Laterna. It looked like an old, turn-of-the-century style hotel and the room we played in looked more suited to ballroom dancing rather than a hardcore punk show. Very strange. After we set everything up at the club we went to a wedding of some punker types. I don't remember who, but there were a ton of people there, lots of good food and beer, and Selfish played a set. We hung out there for a few hours before returning to the club. Seemed like everyone from the wedding ended up at the show. Great crowd. The original opening band, Kyklooppien Sukupuutto, had to cancel, so a new band, Frivolvol, ended up opening instead. Good, really complex hardcore that reminded me of Die Kreuzen a little. HD played another scorching set. They're a hard band to follow. Our set went well, or so I'm told. As usual I was oblivious to what was going on with the audience, but the other guys said it was probably the best gig of the tour so far. I had no idea. I had a bit of a problem with the sound. My monitors were too loud. I kept asking to have them turned down but my requests seem to fall on deaf ears, so about two-thirds of the way through our set I had to take matters into my own hands. I tried to just unplug the damn thing but I couldn't manage to do it fast enough so I just ended up flipping it over. The sound was much better after that. We ended up doing 3 fucking encores. Some people were calling for a 4th but we felt 3 was enough. Great fucking show. These Finnish shows have ended up being even better than I had hoped. Definitely the best leg of the tour so far. Tonight's show in Helsinki, our last in Finland, promises to be a real event. 7 bands, all of them good from what I'm told, plus a low entrance fee. They've really been promoting it all weekend at some kind of skating convention or something. Should be really good. The only catch is it's a Sunday night. I think it was originally supposed to be on a Friday but they moved it to today so that we could play, which was really cool of them. Last night a handful of us drove back to Helsinki in Mikko's car. The rest stayed in Tampere. We didn't end up getting back here until almost 6:00, so we're pretty fucking tired. We gotta try to rest well today, though, because once we leave for Russia, our schedule is so tight and the distances so long that we're gonna be almost constantly on the move. Still keeping my fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly there. We've arranged to have a couple of the guys in HD pick us up at the train station in Helsinki when we return from Russia and drive us to the airport. That will enable us to leave some of our stuff which we don't absolutely need here in Finland and get it before we go home. The less we have to lug around Russia the better! Especially our valuables. It's a beautiful day outside. Gotta be sure to enjoy some of it before going to the show!

As we all regroup to leave for Tampere, a poor, destitute soul, aspiring to the musical heights of Matti delays our departure	The scene outside at the punk wedding	Selfish performing at the wedding	Outside Laterna, Tampere
Hero Dishonest at Laterna		Out Cold at Laterna

30 Aug -- On the bus to St. Petersburg. We just left the bus station. The weather is really shitty and depressing. Somehow appropriate and "tone-setting" for our destination. Yesterday, before going to the show, we enjoyed the nice weather by eating lunch outside in Mikko's yard. We also got the opportunity to visit an amusement park in Helsinki which I didn't even know existed. It was kinda lame by American standards but still fun. The club, Stellastar, was a really big, professional club. Possibly the nicest venue we've ever played. The only thing missing was a backstage, which I found strange. Kalle, a friend from our previous visit here 4 years ago, came by while we were setting up and soundchecking. It was really nice to see him again and shoot the shit. Really nice guy. In honor of HD, we tried rehearsing Skinned Alive during soundcheck. Luckily, Mikey and Deuce are really familiar with the song so we were able to get it down right away. A ton of peple turned out for the gig, especially considering it was a Sunday night. HD played a chaotic final show. They didn't seem too happy with their performance, but I thought they were great. We played well also. The crowd was great (or so I'm told). Mikey took the opportunity to shout "Free Matti!" to the ample crowd. We did 3 encores. Great show to cap off our Finnish leg. Finland was amazing. Leaps and bounds better than the last time we were here. HD were so fucking great to tour with. I'm so glad they decided to play these shows with us. At first they weren't going to because of their upcoming 7-week UK/US tour, for which they leave in about a week. I'm really looking forward to seeing them in the States. We're setting up a show for them somewhere in Massachusetts. We'll also get to see everyone again (except Pentti) when we return from Russia. They're driving us from the train station to the airport, which is super-convenient for us. Fuck, I'm tired. We got in really late last night and woke up really early. We should be able to get some rest on this trip, though. It's like 10 hours or something. Miraculously, none of us have gotten sick yet. Unbelievable. Everyone's nervous about this Russian leg. I don't blame them. So am I. I think it'll be OK, though, if we just keep our wits about us. Farewell my beloved Scandinavia, hello Mother Russia!

Enjoying the nice weather, Mark & I explore some of the trails through the woods around Mikko's house	Dining al fresco in Mikko's yard	Having some fun at the amusement park		Selfish at Stella Star
Hero Dishonest at Stella Star	Out Cold at Stella Star		With Kalle, a friend from our previous visit to Helsinki	Who says Finnish is a difficult language?!?

Forward to Part Four (Russia) >>