So Corona came and changed everyone’s plans. We were super fortunate in that we only had one gig set in stone, so we weren’t really affected financially. My heart goes out to the bands that were touring or going on tour when the restrictions hit, I know some people that got hit hard…
Now we’re anxiously following the news to see how the government is going to lift more restrictions. Right now the pandemic has slowed down significantly in Finland and most places have opened with some caveats. Bars are open but only until two in the morning and you can’t have more people inside than three quarters of your maximum capacity, terraces are free reign though. Also you have to provide all customers with seating, so that part poses an interesting challenge for rock gigs. We’re hoping that those restrictions get lifted and we can finally play our album release gig in September, it feels like forever since I’ve last played live. We also have another show planned for Helsinki around that time and hopefully more dates to follow so stay tuned!
In the mean time I’ve given myself a preliminary window to write the next album during the summer. Things have started out great and I almost have four songs ready. One thing that I’m incredibly excited about is that so far it’s turning out to be a concept album. I can finally tick off that box in my prog nerd bucket list. IF things go as planned, we’ll have an album’s worth of material by the fall, then we’ll arrange it together. One thing that I want to change this time around is that I want to rehearse the material together as a band before we hit the studio. Until now we’ve always pretty much recorded once the songs have been ready and everyone’s just learned their parts alone. I’m hoping this little change will make more sense in the live show department so I don’t have to go “how the hell am I supposed to play and sing THAT?!” Plus you’d think that the more you rehearse, the tighter the material.
We haven’t booked any studio time yet, but IF I can write the album in the summer and IF we can arrange it and rehearse it in the fall, then we’re hoping to hit the studio late 2020 or very early 2021. Before all that we definitely do have one new and exciting thing coming your way in September. Keep your eyes and ears primed!
I hope you all have a wonderful summer. Stay safe!
-Viljami