So this is tour stories from the third chapther of the book I was talking about.
On the road again!
”Things started happening really fast for us before our first album was even out yet. We got the chance to play in Lepakko with Dimmu Borgir. Their album Enthrone Darkness Thriumphant had just come out in 1997, and they were getting really big, the venue was sold out. And suddenly we were there too, and the audience was full of black metal dudes, Dimmu fans. It was totally a big chance for us and I was so fucking nervous.
We really had no business going to the backstage, so we went to our practice room that we had in the basement of Lepakko. We practiced there a little bit even before the show, thinking about the future. Our show was maybe six songs, and right after the first song we got a really big applause. Someone digged it, someone flipped us off. Basic stuff.”
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”I think in general the venues are a lot better than they were in 1998, but in some countries you still get the kind of vibe that the locals don't really give a fuck. It feels like we're just interrupting their chilling. Some are the kind of lazy fucks that don't care about anything and once again the tour manager has to run around yelling at people.
In the southern Europe it sometimes is like that, and also in the southern america, they start having siesta in the middle of the day. At first they're all helping around building the stage, but suddenly people disappear somewhere and when our crew goes to ask what's going on they just laugh and don't care. Our ways of working are really different.”
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”On our first tour we had more food than I had seen in many years. Of course in the beginning you get the impression that everything is for free, but in reality you have to pay for it later.
But we got good food and drinks, we hadn't, or at least I hadn't, eaten proper meals in a long time. It usually went like this: Me and Alexander would spend the entire day in Lepakko, and then count our money and buy bread and sausages together. It was enough for the whole day, and I would eat that way still, haha. Money at that time was needed in other important things, like cigarettes, coffee and beer.”
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”Our first tour abroad was I guess in the beginning of march, 1998. With us there were Hypocrisy, Covenant and Benediction, which was the headliner, which, in my opinion was maybe a little strange because obviously Hypocrisy was the biggest act at the time.
No one had head from us at all, Nuclear Blast had just licensed out first album, and it was just an album among other albums. But we managed to get a lot of good attention there. It was again a place to really show our potential, when the venues were full of people and we had maybe a half an hour time to play.
We didn't really know much about touring because it really was our first proper tour, and the average age in the band was 17-18. So the first tours were about learning. Every night I would watch all the bands play their set, studying their performance; How to stand on stage, what to say in between songs, all kinds of things... So it was kind of like a studying trip. And then, when you learn the basic things, you can start to build your own stage presence. And we didn't even have any money, so all I had in there was my guitar and the cord.”
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”I remember how the other bands were super nice to us, especially Hypocrisy and Peter Tägtgren, who would always come up to us, helping and making sure everything is alright. He was a good guy like that, and I guess he saw potential in us or something... I didn't really get to see the Benediction guys very much, but they treated us well. But we weren't really expecting much either, it was more like staying out of the way and doing our thing. Of course we hung out and drunk beer with the other bands after the shows, but we didn't get any help from their crew now that I think of it later.”
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”On that first proper tour we received help from the Dimmu guys and Tägtgren too. For example that one time a string of my guitar snapped during a show. I was such a beginner, it had never happened to me before, I didn't know how to handle that kind of situation, so I panicked. We didn't have techs and I only had that one guitar, so what was I supposed to do? I ran backstage and asked if anyone could help me, and that's when Astennu, the guitarist of Dimmu, and also then Covenant, said; ”Take it easy, man. Just go back to stage and sing as long as you need, I'll change the string for you and bring the guitar to you on stage!” Fucking amazing!
And one time my guitar cord broke, and it was the only one that I had managed to buy with my little amounts of money. The techs didn't give a shit, they probably weren't even there then. So Tägtgren walked past, just came up to me in the middle of a song, took the cord, replaced it with a working one, and ran away. I was just like; What the fuck happened? How do such cool rockstars exist? It's part of my personality; not wanting to be a dickhead, but experiences like that truly inspired me to always be as nice and helpful towards opening acts as possible on tour nowadays.”
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”Of course at first we did van tours in Finland, but luckily we were successful abroad too very quickly and got away from here. After the first album things started happening so well, that we could afford to tour in a proper bus. But in a bus, where there were three bands at the same time. It wasn't a problem having so many guys in one bus, we would get drunk, play metal and think no one would ever die.
And I must add, at the time we didn't know shit about the rules of touring, for example that you're supposed to choose your own bunk and then use the same one throughout the entire tour. We thought anyone could just lie down wherever. So, on the first night of one of our first tours we went to whatever bunks we wanted to, and we got some negative feedback... I was just like ”Fine, I can sleep on the floor”, I was used to that anyway, but luckily one helpful female singer offered a place for me to sleep next to her... But I'll leave it at that. Thanks to her though, for letting me have a bed to sleep in.”
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”There are millions of memorable bus parties, and as I have often said, I think the best ones are the ones that you can't remember. But at least that was absolutely great, when the legendary drummer Hellhammer, who aso plays in Covenant and Mayhem -who is an absolute sweetheart when he's sober- turns completely unpredictable and wants to do arm wrestling when he drinks hard liquors. And if he lost, he would beat you up right away, but it was always a good laugh anyway.
One time me and Alexander, and I guess Jaska was a party hard kind of a guy at the time, were persuaded to arm wrestle Hellhammer and Peter Tägtgren at 5 am. When Hellhammer opened a Vodka bottle saying; ”You guys are not true northerners if you won't stay and drink with me”, of course we had to stay. There we sat drinking warm vodka and armwrestling. ”
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”Of course there are other kinds of people too. It was maybe in 2001, when I was left behind on the Tokyo airport, when we were going to the venue. Back then people didn't have cellphones that worked abroad like they do now, and of course mine was dead and I couldn't remember anyone's number. The only number that I could remember was Anssi Kippo's number. (The owner of Astia studios). It was maybe 4 am in finland when I called Kippo, who luckily woke up. And at the time me and Anssi hadn't seen eachother in a couple of years, I think. I explained the situation to him, and asked him to call Spinefarm's Tuula Rossi, who then could call someone, who could call someone...
I don't know how I was left behind, but I think it's the tourmanager's job to count the guys to see if they're all present before leaving. The guys had left in two vans, probably both assuming I was in the other van... So there I was on the airport waiting for several hours, I bought beer and cigarettes, sat on the bus stop and waited. Finally our drunk tour manager showed up and I was so fucking pissed off. It was a one and a half hour drive from the airport to the hotel and I didn't have any credit cards or any info about the hotel, so I was stuck.
The other time I was left behing was when we were touring in Germany. Me and Shakma and our sound guy at the time were still awake at like, six am when the bus stopped to get fuel. We left the bus without telling anyone just to buy some shit at the gas station because at that time we had some money even. I had a hundred euros in my back pocket, but no shoes and we were somewhere in the middle of Europe, where it wasn't exactly very warm.
We tried to call everyone, but obviously everyone was sleeping and the phones were on silent, no one had the driver's phone number either. So what else could we do besides buying beer and sausages. Also we bought me these working gloves and duct tape, which we used to make me shoes. Like a duck's feet!
Luckily Jaska noticed his phone screen flashing -like about an hour after they left. Jaska got up and told the driver and we heard him swearing in the background in german. They came back to pick us up and the driver was really angry.
I could say that even though all of us have had loads of fun on those tours, I don't think it's very smart to drink as much alcohol as COB did ten years ago. I don't know... But at least if you leave the bus, tell the driver and at least put your shoes on.”
