Crimson Sun 

It's been a month already since the release of our first single of the coming second album. It feels like an eternity, just because of the sheer amount of work and things that have been happening, and because social media has the tendency of warping your sense of time. If you don't post for a few days the thing you did post just gets sucked into the void and it's just like it never existed. Unless the thing goes viral or something, which I think hasn't really happened for us yet. 

Still, the single has been well received and there has been some plays on net radios and interest from magazines. In fact, I just finished answering questions to an interview. One of the things that came up, is the subject of Crimson Sun, and the symbolism in it. I realize I didn't really open it up in the media release, let alone here, because I still wanted to keep a thin veil of mystery to it. But, I figured now would be as good a time as any. It's also perhaps time to start opening up about the general themes and the background of the second album. It's going to be a full series, many posts, so I hope you'll enjoy the ride. I think I will.

One of the reasons we decided to go with Crimson Sun and release it first was because it's themes fell quite neatly as a continuance of the last songs on our first album, thematically, but perhaps musically as well. The theme in Good People was the hypocrisy of human kind, the self-anointing of all of us who think we're good people. 

In Siouxsie on the Beach the theme was the end of the world as we know it, like it had already happened, and how we did nothing about it. To be perfectly clear, it's about climate change and destruction of nature, in which we, the good people, contribute to the most and are not doing enough about. In this I am pretty judgmental, and fully aware of that, but I do count myself into the lot, being a first world inhabitant myself. However, the point of view in both of these songs is lamentation, not that much pointing of fingers, and maybe a somewhat cynical approach. The same approach is present in Crimson Sun. 

In the verses are presented all hopes that we have for the future, all wars being ended, all pain and suffering ending, all that. It's also something many religions and cults promise will happen in the next world, or after death. Towards the end of the verse the question is raised: Why is it not so? Or the attempt to convince oneself: It must be so. And in the chorus the idea of Good People is again present in different words: We hope for a bright future, but keep blaming others for our mistakes, we bathe in the blood of scape goats, but the sun is setting already. Then of course the question comes to mind, who is this "We" the song is describing? Because surely not all people think this way?

The lyrics of Crimson Sun originate in a lengthy exchange I had with my aquaintance, a Jehovah's Wittness. This was a few years ago, before Hateful Chains was formed, at a time when I was in the process of growing out of my Christian faith and organised religion altogether. I lived alone in a new apartment as I was recently divorced, and the doorbell rang. It was them, Jehovah's wittnesses, whom I had always turned away with some excuse, or just taken their leaflets and wished them a happy day, the leaflet ending up in the bin. But now I had nothing to do and felt like I could take the challenge of debating a person from a different sect of faith than me, and enjoy the exchange. 

It turned out to be not very enjoyable, because the Jehovah's Wittnesses have a strict program for their interaction with the people they're trying to recruit and turn into followers. The person who contacted me at first never came alone, she always had another woman with her, and they basically wanted to go through a "program" of explaining their beliefs and persuading me to join. I was looking for a reason to end these programmed "bible studies" and finally it came in the form of a belief I just couldn't accept.

 Among the many wacky and distorted (at that point, in my view, distorted, because I could not yet see the oddities of my christian faith) beliefs, one was just too unjust for my taste: That communion, was not for everybody in the congregation, but only for a select group that counted themselves as one of the chosen. It was something that was against everything I had been taught about the core beliefs of Christianity and made me very angry. So, I stopped the meetings and stopped communication with these people altogether. 

After this episode I had the need to find out, what kind of belief system it actually was, that made people hold on to such strange views and go to such lengths as even refusing blood transfusions and shunning their family members. What better source of that information than the people that used to believe, but have walked away? And to say that Youtube and all of internet was full of them would be an understatement. It seems I hit a time when loads of people had decided to share the story of their "awakening" on the web at the same time. It was a gold mine, not only of information, but also inspiration.

At this time, many lyrics of the forth coming second album came into existence. Some were born out of the process of my own journey, some from the frustration and outright fury, when I found out about the serious injustices and beliefs and systems that hurt people, present in the cults I was looking into. Most of these are about the Jehovah's Wittnesses. Sometimes a song is an end product of a lengthy thought process, and seems to just pop out of nowhere, but when looking back, you understand it was there all along, brewing inside your head. And Crimson Sun is a song like that.

I cooked it up when playing just something on a piano and waiting for my vocal student to come to class. Chorus came first, just had to write it down. And then I made a verse. Chords and melodies at the same time, all just happening so smoothly. The best part, (in my opinion) in which I put my thoughts on the Witnesses in, was the middle eight, where I describe them as carrion birds, picking the bones of the dead. Who else believes that after Armageddon, they will be the ones that survive and will build a new world, be the kings of the corpse mountains? Quite literally, really. But, of course we all wish that things were better, and that the world would some day be a blessing to all of us, not just a select few. So, the last verse is just that, a tiny hope, not much more, that it would be possible. Most of the time it's just too hard to really believe in it.

So, this was the first writing, disclosing the stories and background behind the songs we are currently recording. I'll be writing much more on the subject and the matters of faith from the perspective of one who has walked away, as it has really been a source of inspiration on songwriting and a force of change in my life.

Love, Flora

 

 Ok, so Hello, Hi, We Have Been Filming Again!

I got a flu after the spending the weekend outside filming, so I'm sitting at the couch now, listening to Penderecki's symphony (which might be the next great love of mine among the classical contemporary composers. Well, he's dead, so not so contemporary, but anyway...) (Reminds me so much of Shostakovits somehow)

So, my bathroom and all the clothes there are full of sand and they smell like smoke, and while I am ill and at home, I'll still have to get that laundry pile smaller today. And how'd that happen? Well, again I had some ambitious thoughts and ideas about a music video and decided to do the whole costume process myself, in addition to writing the basic script and performing on the video myself. Oh my, but what can you do... At least this time I chose not to sew anything.

There were several other things and items to be acquired or simply on the checklist: food, snacks, wood, petroleum, coffee, warm clothes, blankets, a boombox for audio, blankets, towels, what else? Camera, phone...

The first parts of the video were to be filmed on a beach, actually an abandoned sand pit with a beautiful clear watered pool at the bottom. There was a place for fire which we used to our advantage, and magnificent rocks and sandy walls surrounding the pit, with a forest area on the other side of the pool. It was already impressive in daylight, and by night time with some artificial lighting the pool looked absolutely magical!

 

While it was still light, all the dancers and actors participating gathered there, got info on the basic filming plan and got their clothes, which were either from their own closets or ones I had been buying from thrift stores the during the previous week. The general idea was, that there would be a group of hippie/bohemic people (except for me, I was my goth self ) around a camp fire on the beach, telling stories and having a good time. When the daylight wanes their movements and dancing becomes odd and a bit crazy, until there's a lunatic house on the beach.

The clothes I acquired were mostly cotton and wool and other natural fabrics, the reason for this was fire safety. See, although natural fibres do catch fire, they at least won't melt onto you, unlike synthetic fibres. The style was floral, hippie, bohemic, which is mostly found in summer clothing. That's why underneath these quite thin fabrics we had to wear good amounts of wool and warm clothes. I wore my black gown and underneath an underskirt, stockings, woollen socks etc... Luckily it wasn't freezing and beside the fire it was actually very cozy, although the cold did start to creep in later in the night. 

We did the group scenes around the camp fire first while there still was some daylight, from different angles and distances. Around the fire we had some blankets to sit on and also to act as emergency fire extinguishers in case somebody would actually catch fire. While it would be perhaps unlikely to catch fire simply by sitting around it, there were other people involved with a higher risk of that.

When the light had gone it was time to introduce the fire arts. There were two people, one with fire fans and the other with sticks, bois, and nunchakus. He also blew fire. It was already too dark to see anything outside the light so artificial lighting was prepared too. For that we had some really efficient led lights from Turkuaudio. With these we could light up the pool too. In these lights the fire arts were performed. They were filmed separately and combined with dancers. Even from a distance the movement and blowing fire looked awesome, up close even more impressive. I'm confident that there will be a good amount of that stuff in the video.

After group scenes and fire stuff it was time to film each individual with their crazy movement and dancing. Other than the camp fire and the fire arts we also made use of the beautiful rock structures as a background scene, which in coloured lighting looked quite enchanting. In this part I also marked some places on the dancers bodies for the animation artist's later use. What will be animated shall remain a secret for now, for it wouldn't be fun to know everything in advance, would it?

Among the last scenes to be filmed was the craziest group dancing, the group passed out in the sand and one fearless actress walking into the pool of October temperature water with her clothes on. Not me, I couldn't, but she is an extreme model after all, so she had the guts. She told me it wasn't even the coldest water she's been into. After her stunt we got her quickly into some dry clothes and filmed the final scenes with a slight hurry, because the cameraman was actually getting a bit cold, as was the driver, who didn't join us at the fire side...

After the final shot it was time to wrap things up, find all the missing stuff in the pitch black dark with the help of the led lights, extinguish the fire with care and pack everything in the cars. Most people had a ride of their own and we took the fire artists and their equipment (quite smelly at this point!) in our car and went to sit in a pub for a while before going to sleep...

I humbly wish to thank everyone that participated and helped us to realize the filming of this first part of our music video, whether you were on the video itself or working in the background. This couldn't have been done without you!

Your's truly, Flora

 

 Summer gigging

It's already been a week into September! Oh well, time flies, it seems. The summer has been quite hasty because when the covid situation seemed better, all the places opened up and gigs just kept coming! That is, other than Hateful Chains. I've done Disco gigs, sixties rock -cover gigs, all kinds of stuff...and was working full time until the end of July. 

So, time hasn't been on my side. But it has all become easier since I started working halftime at the theater. The other half of the time has been consumed by independent work at my workspace, where I first and foremost create Hateful Chains merchandise and my own designs, but also do other work, and then gigging and practicing.

We had one seriously fun gig trip with Hateful Chains this summer, and that was at Seinäjoki, north from our home town Turku. We rented a van to fit all the gear in. Of course, we still don't have a tour bus. Maybe it would be useful if there was an actual tour at some point. Thumbs up!

The gig was arranged by an acquaintance of mine, who has a Ramstein cover band called Rumstein. It was a kind of a collaboration. The place was a genuine rock cave, with even covid directions given with an attitude. Being a cave, they still had a pro doing the mixing. Nice for a change not having to do everything yourself. That means we had to wait for quite a while, before Rumstein were ready with their soundcheck. Hanging out at the hotel, then.

Backstage

By the time we were ready with our's there were already people oozing in. Audience! And yeah, at summer gigs there's audience, the kind that just want dance, just want to hear their favourite songs and are there just for the drinks and partying. The ones that are interested in new stuff, the genuine music lovers, they are usually early. And it warmed my heart to see so many of them there!

                              

On stage again!

The set was perfect. I mean, it wen't so smoothly, we had such fun, and it was over way too soon. I could have played another one right away! Which was a really good sign for me personally, but also gave a hint where this group is heading, if everything runs our way. After such a high and rush there was so much energy left, and it couldn't have been a better timing for Rumstein to play!

And I mean, they nailed it! They had quite a long set, but since Ramstein is practically heavy-lover's party music, at least here it is, it didn't feel long at all. They had the lights, the smoke, the stage dramatics, a clown who didn't actually play, but whose role was to be the clown. Everything thought out to make a great show. I think Rumstein is quite ready to play Ramstein for bigger audiences. It was just a great, great party!

                             

Backstage with Rumstein

                              

And after that we partied some more. And continued at the hotel. And the next day we gathered the gear and started our slow descent southwards. Party continued. Every stop was long. And music went on and on. It's a kind of freedom, not healthy in the long run and definitely not for every gig trip. But every once in a while very enjoyable. And we had a great driver to take us there and back, Heidi, whose been helping us around in many other ways too! Many thanks!

 Aside from gigging, we've been preparing for the recordings of our second album. I've finished as many pre-demos as possible and we've been trying out the songs at the rehearsal room. We'll be doing a cover of a Finnish song and a new one of our own, the first single of the future second album! I really can't wait to start hyping about that! But I'll still get into that in the next part, just to keep you on your toes...

Until next time, Flora

New Album Out Now!

It's oddly satisfying to say that out loud and to write it down. The album Invite was finally out on May 7th, and it makes me so proud and happy! This process has finally come to it's goal, we have reached an important milestone on our journey. The plant we have nurtured is blooming. But it has not yet come to it's full fruition and there's still much to be done to realize it's full potential and to make it heard by as many ears as possible. 

Promotion and live shows, that is, but unfortunately we can only start planning for live shows here in Finland, and that's a big maybe too. All depends on how the summer will turn out. But we'll start planning and booking as much as we can! Hopefully it will work out and we can play somewhere, that's all I can say. When the borders open in Europe, it's time to start planning for that too...

Promotion has been going on before and after release, most of all in Germany. I'm glad, really glad, that there is the boost from the record label. And I mean it's a big help! So far there's been several interviews, including Sonic Seducer, Imperiumi, and NEGAtief. Thank you for all of them, for including us in their releases!

You can find Sonic Seducer May issue in here:

https://www.sonic-seducer.de/index.php/de/aktuelle-ausgabe/die-aktuelle-ausgabe

 And Imperiumi in here:

https://www.impe.fi/imptv/1

What has kind surprised me with the interviews especially, is the interest in the cover art. I didn't really expect that, but it has been quite pleasant as a creator to explain the origins of the art. The phenomenon which usually happens when you release art/music is that the audience makes connections and assumptions about it that you didn't have in mind originally, and didn't expect, but when brought to your attention, you see your creations in a new light. Like when you're compared to a band you didn't have in mind, for example. To me it's refreshing and interesting. Of course the audience could interpret your art in a way that frustrates you, not like you intended. Eldritch comes to mind, somehow. But once the music is out, it's not in your full control anymore. I remain interested and eager to see what people will finally make out of Invite.

There's also been radioplay in various German underground music channels, like I mentioned in the previous post. The song they mostly played was Siouxsie on the Beach, which is also something I didn't expect in the sense that it's not our rockiest song. But, of course, I named it after Siouxsie, which in itself  bares much cultural weight in the Goth scene, and it's perhaps our easiest song, most radio  friendly, so to speak. Maybe relatable as well? On a metal based radio show perhaps a different song would work, like She Smiles? But yeah, it's been great to follow the shows and podcasts and to hear your song played!

Before the release date we also received our own copies from Germany, two hundred neatly packed Hateful Chains cd:s. They came to our local store which handles packages as well. Having only an approximate estimate what kind of space two hundred would take, we went with bikes. This is the result:

                                                 

But we were able to get them safely to the secret location where we'll keep them buried under all the junk. Kidding, of course the purpose is to sell them. Mostly in connection of live-shows, but otherwise as well. There were several pre-orders form early birds already, and to pack them safely for posting we  first had to get some padded envelopes. Luckily they came quite fast and the pre-orders have been sent. Thank you all for ordering! 

I also found that there are several record stores in Finland that sell our album, so there's actually a quite good distribution in our area. For Europe I cannot tell for sure, really, but with a quick googling I found a German and an Italian store that sell it. In Finland you can find our album at least in Levykauppa Äx. 

So it seems our little debut album has had a nice covering around Europe among alternative music magazines, radios etc. And now you can find the album in multiple places. So, go and get it!

Love, Flora

                                        

  Some Setbacks...

Of course, I spoke too early and there's been a delay in the release of our album. Oh well, can't help it in anyway, this pandemic keeps f---ing everything up. It should be in a week or at least in April. So let's hope so. The album has been printed, I hear, so it shouldn't be long until we have our own copies in our hands...

I've been posting stuff about the songs to keep the buzz alive somehow. For now it seems a little quiet, but I'll have to make some noise again, when we have the album. And we agreed to release the music video in connection to the actual album release. Can't wait to show it to y'all!

There's been a few online radio shows that have played our songs, and I even got to make a little jingle for one of them. Thank you Flyflew Radio, Flatlines Radio and Radio Hazzard of Darkness, for noting and giving us some air time! I've also done an interview, about that later then... This pre-promotion has mostly happened in Germany, which is of course, the home of Danse Macabre Records as well. 

While waiting for the release I thought I'd give you guys a glimpse to the album cover process. Here are some of the other options, which were not bad, but in the end the one chosen was the most original in all our opinions. That is, the band. In the end, though, I was the one who made the final decision on the cover picture and the album title.

This is a photograph of a plastic mask, which I then altered. We thought of Hollow Place as the album title, but decided on Invite in the end...

This one is a painting by a close person of mine, in it's original colouring. 

Maybe it could be used some day?

And this one is a negative of that same picture, actually pretty nice this way too

This is a photograph of a beach and I just made it red. It's ok, but didn't make it to the top three.

And this is the final version of the cover we chose. 

In the end, we went through with a cover full of cows. Luckily weird cows, slightly melting, maybe tears in their eyes or something. The cow is from a painting of mine. The original is red characters on blue, so for this idea I detached the characters, multiplied the cows and turned the background red too. The other characters are in the cover material too, so you'll see them once you have the album in your hands. 

I describe quite simply what I did with the pictures to make the cover, but the truth is that it took a long time, first the process of choosing the right one, then the actual making of the cover, the booklet, the back of the cd- case, and the cd itself. I was lucky to have help. Two people, who have done lay out and editing like this before, and pro ones actually. Alone I wouldn't have been able to get the material into the right printing format and all that. I have some experience in graphic design, but this was honestly a deep end for me. 

After all the trouble I went through I have decided that the next album cover is probably going to be black and white. With candles, probably... And yes, we are already working on that. There are still some things to be done with this one, to get it out there to be seen etc. But I have written new songs during all this time it took us to finish this album. So there is enough material to fill two albums. Which is awesome!

Yours in darkness, Flora

A Week Before Release

Next Friday is the set release date of our first album, Invite. Everything seems to be in order now.

There is, however, some bad news too: Both drummer and bassist are recovering from injuries that prevent them from playing for a while. So, even if we could have a release party, we would not be able to play live. And we can't anyway, because next couple of weeks strict restrictions will come in place. This is of course because of the pandemic, and it's been getting worse in our area. It's as bad as in the capital city. The restrictions prohibit gatherings larger than six people even now, so any kind of real party is impossible. 

It's actually kind of sad that we can't really celebrate our first release properly, but I guess many bands are in the same situation now. Let's just hope next summer will be better and that gradually life will come back and live music will be possible again. Luckily, we have something planned for the release date, and that is the music video for the song Invite Me In.

Part of that video was of course included in our introduction video. The whole video will be much more than the snippet and I have a feeling it's going to be quite enjoyable. Hopefully you'll enjoy it too!

Here's some sneaky peakies from the editing sessions, which we did together with Videoketju's Pasi, who has helped us before with our videos. 

Either I'm not too happy with the results, or just making a face...

Green witch or Sheschreck?

Now that the album itself is ready, I've had time to start working on merchandise. I plan to use the themes of the album, but alter it slightly so I can print it myself with one colour. That is, white on black fabric. Let's see how it works out. I'd like to do something else than the regular T-shirt with the print, which you can get form a manufacturer very cheap. I dislike the idea of doing merchandise in the easiest and cheapest possible way, which is why I intend to do it the hard way, myself. But, since design is my other profession, I trust it's going to work out. I'll post about it's progress later.

I'm currently posting something about every song from the album on our social media channels, so keep your eyes peeled for those. And wait just a couple of more days for the album itself! It's been so nice to see all the anticipation so far, a genuine thanks for all the attention! We can't wait to be there, a band with a released debut album! Because as you know, that's only the start of it all...

Love and kindness to you all

Flora

 The Creation of a First Album

It's been a rough couple of months, but light can be seen on the other side. Now that the journey is almost over and done, it's time to share the story.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we approached a record label in hopes of some kind of a deal. Since we've tried several times already, we didn't expect too much. Most of the labels just didn't answer at all, and when some did, the deal they offered was too risky for us or they wanted changes to be made that I just didn't want to do. I've told you about one case previously in this blog, happened two years ago. So, when the positive answer came and they wanted to do video meetings and everything, we were honestly quite positively surprised.

The record label we approached and finally made a deal with is Danse Macabre Records, a German record label focused on Goth and dark music. It was formed by the members of the band Das Ich, and has operated already since the 90's. It's actually quite thrilling to be able to together with people with such an experience. There's a real possibility that this is going somewhere. 

At this point all the music had been recorded, except for some bass tracks and we were at the stage of the final producing, mixing and mastering. We sent one song for a mastering and with it our own testmaster to Waudio Mastering, where Good People was mastered before. Surprisingly we got very positive feedback, that actually nothing much needed to be done with the song, and our test master was quite near the result we were looking for. That is why we made the decision to do the final masters ourselves. And I'm saying "we" all the time, but most of the work and tweeking was done by Kimmo, of course, and he has done a huge job to find the result that satisfies the ears of all the band members and some others' too!

While recording the songs and doing test mixes and masters, we have also used the ears of  our friends, especially those audiophiles who have a wide taste and experience in different genres, to make sure we're not doing this just in our own safe bubble. They have given valuable advice and critique, and we have tried to make sure to take heed and use what helps us in this. All these people are mentioned in the up coming albums thanks, but I just want to say it here too, that we are very thankful for all the help and advice we have received during the process.

With the record label we went through some negotiations, just to make sure we knew and understood what we were getting into, and to understand what kind of process would take place to make this album a reality. When everything was clear, we signed the papers and had a deal. 

On the day of signing we were actually filming a music video. We had this idea for some time already, but decided to complete it so we could release it in connection of the album. The idea was to make a "live" video, just us playing the song in a club environment or something. How this happened is actually a story in itself: When we arranged the Monsters of Turku last Halloween, our drummers partner met a woman who works at a local night club, Apollo. So when we were wondering about where we should shoot, she just went and asked that woman if we could come and shoot at Apollo! So they said yes, and we had a very nice location for our video. On top of that, very nice lights too, because they were handled by the Apollo light engineer. Forever thankful for this too! We were also asked to make an introduction video by the record label, so we thought, why not kill two birds with one stone, and use the music video material in the introduction too.

For the music video I made skirts for the boys. Yes. I have formed a co-op during last summer and we have rented a big hall as our work space. So I used the space to my advantage and made some black, long skirts for Kimmo and Ikke. Ankle length, with d-rings on the side, which you unfortunately can't see very well on the video, because their instruments are in the way. Too bad. However, these skirts are just the start and the very first prototypes of the things I want to do for HC. I've got all sorts of plans for merchandise. But they'll have to wait until the album itself is finished. 

So, we had signed, shot material for a music video and an introduction, and it was about time to make the covers. You see, of course I wanted to do that myself, too. It was a creative process in itself and I enjoyed it very much. When I started, the ideas started flowing. I had ideas with painted stuff, and more photographic ideas. All of these had to be tested and tried. I used GIMP program for everything, which is a free image manipulation program. In the end I had like ten different ideas which I presented to band members. They then chose the best ones, which I then proceeded to experiment with further.

At the end of this process I had the cover image, but still a lot of work needed to be done: the texts and images for the cd booklet, back cover etc...The final layout in other words. With this I needed help, and luckily there was a colleague in the co-op, who could do just that. I couldn't have finished the work without his help, so he has my sincere gratitude. 

The graphics process wasn't the only process going on, there was also the finalizing of the masters and getting them into a form which can be handled by the printing place. And then there's the digital versions. In the middle of this I wrote a media release, a kind of an info package about the album for media use. This was sent to all kinds of places, magazines, influencers etc. We also edited the music video and shot and edited the introduction video with the help of our friend, who has helped us before in our video experiments. Thank you for that! It took several evening sessions to get the material into the shape we wanted, but I think the result is worth that time. 

During all this, which alone would be enough time to be a day job in itself, I've also worked full time, as each one of us has in fact. I've been working in the local theater since the summer, as a seamstress and om top of that been active in forming the co-op and getting it to function. You can imagine, that all of this has not left too much time for making music and has quite honestly taken much energy. This is why I intend to focus on the co-op and making music when the job at the theater ends this summer. But of course, a steady day job has been very useful and much appreciated in these times when you can't be sure of anything. I'm thankful for having had a job during the pandemic, when all gigging and all events with audience in general have been very limited. And obviously, the creation of an album does cost money.

Now that all of the aspects of the process are completed, that is, everything is sent and all last minute changes and urgent emergencies have been taken care of, I feel quite relieved, and daring even to feel a little excited already. This is finally happening! Now it's time to focus on advertising and shouting about this everywhere we can: Our first album will be out on April 2nd 2021!!

Check out the introduction while waiting:

Hateful Chains Introduction - YouTube

Love, Flora

Influences Part II

I've written a lot about my earlier influences but there's still a lot to cover. When I realised there was a separate music genre called Goth, I of course set out to find out what it is. And that's where I found Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure, Joy Division, The Sisters of Mercy, all the oldies but goldies, and then there were the classics of the Nineties Goth genres, Fields of the Nephilim, London After Midnight etc. I could write about them but you'll just get bored, 'cause of course you know about them already. But I'll write a little something about how they have influenced this band. Hopefully you'll enjoy that, and have enjoyed part one too!

Goth Subculture has suffered from the mix-up with metal, industrial, emo and the likes, those other equally valuable subcultures that have taken some influences from Gothic aesthetics and elements, but are not the same. Especially in the nineties and later, the confusion with other genres was prevalent. At this time the media did it's part by getting infatuated with the whole phenomenon, which seems to happen every once in a while. Often you would read stuff about Goth people in magazines, or see a news piece made of them on TV etc, but what the genre actually contained was never discussed in depth. Usually they would just tell that these people listened to "heavy and gloomy" music. That, in retrospect, doesn't make much sense, when you consider the roots of the whole subculture. But what could you expect from media who concentrate on the looks, rather than content?

This, I think, is the reason I too had no real knowledge of what Goth actually is. During high school I was more immersed in Metal and in college kept on, adding Saviour Machine and Virgin Black to the list. I even sang a Cure-song (yes, it was Friday I'm in Love) when there was a concert for parents, having no idea about the connection of this band to the looks and people I kept seeing in the media. It wasn't until later, when I had already started my classical singing in conservatoire that I really started searching information about Goth. What prompted me into doing that I cannot say for sure, but it was one of the early symptoms of my transition back to my self, which I will probably dive into later in this blog. But by simply searching online I stumbled across all the early post-punk acts and the bands that came to describe Goth music as we know it.

When I first heard Siouxsie and the Banshees, I knew that this was my stuff, my music. Juju was and perhaps still is, one of my favourite album from them, but it's really hard to choose between that and Tinderbox. The way Siouxsie Sioux used her voice was just, well, striking. Compared to the other similar sounding and mostly later bands like X-mal Deutchland for instance, their music was also just better produced and made as a whole. Well, they did evolve into a "dynamic pop-group", as I've read somewhere, and it wasn't only the proto-goth sounds and her singing that made me fall in love. Equally important and what made a lasting impact on my own musical thinking, was that they were such chameleons and made every album slightly different. And in every one of their album you can find very different songs. It's Siouxsie's voice that unites everything. I've let that fact also console me in the moments I feel like a song I made is too odd.

Sisters of Mercy came later for me. It was the power, the coolness, let's say masculinity or something, that told me, this is Rock. When I first heard the Sisters, I understood where 69 Eyes took it's influence and singing style. The power came from the harmonies, and arrangements, I think. It's the major chords that don't sound happy, but dangerous, powerful, even menacing. The use of acoustic guitars was a wow for me. Dr avalanche might have annoyed me at first, but I soon got used to the groove and as it turns out, drum machine has been part of the Goth aesthetics ever since. Some of the first songs I wrote were made after the fashion of Sisters of Mercy. They have actually grown on me more in recent years and my appreciation has solidified. Their music and style is quite unique, something not many achieve.

The Sisters of course led me to The Mission. They took their use of acoustic guitars a step further and you could hear the roots of the early Sisters too, no explanation needed here. This band actually sounds very Pop-Rock to me, but is still considered as one of the Goth tradition. But yeah, this kind of music was big in the eighties. Later I also found Ghost Dance, which was a spin-off from Skeletal Family, who actually toured with the Sisters. All of these bands, including The Damned and the likes, represent to me the more poppy branch of Goth Rock, and it could be argued, that they are not that Goth, but that would take us into a whole another discussion. Let's not do it here. Now, the one truly Goth/Pop-group, or a band that really transitioned from Goth or Post Punk to Pop, would be The Cure.

I knew some songs beforehand, but I really dove into this band at the same time as Siouxsie came into my life. The one album for me was, and still is, Disintegration. It was such an emotional ride and an inspiration. When I read somewhere Robert Smith created this music during his crisis of turning 30 and feeling he hadn't achieved anything worthwhile, it was a kicker for me. At the same time I was composing my first orchestral work and I had the same crisis going on. 

Another inspiration about Robert Smith and The Cure was their song style, namely, that there are always many instrument layers while the song itself can be quite simple. I tried this technique in our song, Siouxsie on the Beach, and I dare say it will stay in my toolbox, since it's such a useful and effective tool. 

It was of course a huge thing to see this band live in Helsinki 2016, and hear all of those very dear songs performed in front of my eyes by the very people who created them. And Robert Smith's voice still sounded so good! They played almost everything from Disintegration, except the one darkest and saddest song. I also enjoyed their warm up band, Twilight Sad. What was food for thought for me afterwards, is the way Robert and the other band members were still true to their identity, looks and all. It tells me it's something more than just keeping up the appearances of a rock musician. Something to strive for, I'd say.

This brings me to the last band I want to discuss. It's not maybe such a huge influence, like these other pioneers I've mentioned, but it's something that created a connection, and is important for that reason. Our guitarist has always been a huge AC/DC fan and it was one of those identity forming bands for him. When we started to make music together it was hard to find something that would bring us on the same page, which is really important, if you are going to trust the production of your songs to someone

But there was one band that connects eightie's goth vibes and rough rock sounds. The one that started out as The Southern Death Cult and who later changed into The Cult and turned their music into energetic rock. Our guitarist had found this band through AC/DC, I stumbled across them in my searches about "Goth". It's a band that evolved from an identity to another. To us, it's a bridge from one world to another, the page we found our ways to from different parts of the book. 

Now this is already such a mountain for you to read, that I'm afraid you just skipped here. So I will continue in part three. Because there's the Un-Goth confession to make. Until next time then!

Hypnosis

 Another day shooting video

We are now in the process of tweaking the final masters of the songs that will be on the first album, soon to be released. We listen in the car, through home stereo, everywhere and then do some tweaking here and there. All the recording is done, all the tracks are there. The order is almost set, it might go through some slight change, but the big picture is there.

I had a nice two weeks off from work, which has continued during Corona-time, and I spent that time creating the album cover. I used several photographs and paintings and created a bunch of images with image manipulation software. (not PS, although quite similar) It was nice to get into the flow state when the ideas started coming, and when I got the first not-so-good ideas out of the way. The band voted for the best three, and these will go into further processing and finally one image will be chosen to be the cover. I can't share them here, as the work is still in process, but I will as soon as I can.

Last weekend we gathered together to shoot video material. We want to make another music video, this time a "live" one, like Siouxsie's Israel. Our drummer's partner was really helpful in finding a location. She had a contact to a local night club, Apollo and she just called and asked, if we can shoot there, since it's empty now anyway. And it happened. There was personnel helping us with the lights and sound and we also had smoke. It was such a nice feeling to just do your job while other people handle the stuff you're not the expert of. 

We had the same photographer to handle the shooting as before. This time we did the "directing" ourselves and had a simple list of all the takes and parts of the song that we needed. After everything had been saved on camera, there was of course time for funny stuff and tomfoolery. I think we'll do the editing ourselves, as soon as possible, to get it out as soon as possible of course!

To get some variation in the takes we changed clothes, just the guitarist and bassist, though. I made them black skirts, with metal d-rings on the side. Long skirts, ankle length. It was actually the guitarist's idea, and I said ok, I'll do it! The model was quite simple but it still took me one day to finish both, because the machine I used was a monster to be tamed. But how ever difficult the making of them was, they looked really good on the men! 

I wore my band vest, which I DIY:ed out of a thrift store find. Messy hair, regular make up. And killer boots with red leather and strings...

After shooting we went to dinner. I had a good glass of wine, which I felt I needed after all the jumping in very high heels and trying to give it all. Exhausting, but so enjoyable! Another kind of flow. 

So, it's a promise that there will be lots of interesting video material on the way! Thanks to all people who helped us shoot and organize everything, that is! I'll keep you all posted about the video and other news. Because there are some interesting things happening in the near future...