SUOMI SAATANA 2015! MELU EI MUSIIKKI!

FINLAND TOUR:

1.12 Turku, Kirjakahvila
2.12 Tampere, Vastavirta-klubi
3.12 Helsinki, Oranssi
4.12 Lappeenranta, Lucky Monkees
5.12 Kouvola, Bar Downtown
6.12 Oulu, Tukikohta

I'll bring parts of the D-takt & Råpunk distro with me on the TOUR. See you on the roads and in the mosh pit. When I'm back home, mid next week, I will have plenty of catching up to do, have patience!

偏執症者 - Punkdemonium Hell. NEW song!

Oh...I forgot. We posted this new song a few days ago taken from the upcoming flexi "Punkdemonium Hell", that we will release just in time for the Suomi Saatana tour.
We'll start sell what's left via our band mail as soon as we're back. We did them mainly as a fun tour-thing. 250 made so you better act fast. Band release (PND03), mail orders here: pndftw@gmail.com

On the road...again...and again... + IMPORTANT messages!

TOTALT JÄVLA MÖRKER:
25/11 Linköping, The Crypt
26/11 Göteborg, Musikens Hus
27/11 Oslo, Blå
28/11 Arvika, Kvarteret

This past year I have been the worst at check and answer my emails. Not to speak of the past two months as I've been terribly bad! I'm well aware. My time is extremely limited which I truly felt the last few weeks. Which you all might have noticed as well. I do get all of your emails and trust me, I don't ignore you on purpose, I have simply no time to reply. My deepest apologies!
I have no idea how many times I wrote "I'll have a look tomorrow or latest the day after" and "Please have patience, mail you back asap!" the past weeks. Fuck, just shoot me already for repeating myself over and over again! I try my very best catching up, but its never enough. Always one step forward and two hundred back.

These are the facts; I still dont own a cell-phone so I have to turn on my old computer and wait for about 5min before it wakes up everytime time I'll check my mail. I don't get an email straight into my inside jacket pocket on a mobile as most other today. Latley I've also had "Computer free days/weekends". Which means that I turn it off thursday night and logging in again monday morning. A few days out of reach, so to speak.
In the past I had ALL D-takt & Råpunk stuff at home (in my apartment), which I dont have today. I have it all at "The D-beat Dungeon", and there I'm only 1-2 times/week. When I'm at the warehouse I try my very best at answering and packing as many packages as possible. But try answer +150mails, weigh tons of orders and pack +35 packages in 2-3hours. Good luck with that! ;o)

I have a day time job, play in no less then four...five...six(?) active (touring/recording/rehearsing) bands/projects, make layout stuff for all the bands (plus others), work as a sound engineer, run a label that just released six new releases + try keep up with some kind of family life on top of that. Yes, I need to cut back on a few things.

I really hate people who whine and complain about their situation, and I don't seek or ask for your pity, I only try to get you to understand what my life looks like. And I must be completely honest with you, I have questioned myself and my lifestyle last month. I love it all, but do I really have the time? Is it worth it? In one way or another, all are suffering. People have to wait several weeks for a response, I get anxious because I always behind with everything, and my family gets an absent and very confused person that is barely home. My head is a total mess, more than usually, and I'm constantly tired. And I still owe the bank 80.000sek ($8700/8200€) for a loan I took after the flood.

It's barely that I see the fun in it anymore. It's mostly just bunch of musthaves, demands and complaints. It kind of turned into a shitty job with bad working hours and no pay. The combination of that I'm very tired, current mainstream vinyl hype and people always misunderstand me and think I don't care about them just because I don't answer in a week makes me question the whole thing. Maybe it's just better to end it all?

People get annoyed if they do not get an answer within two hours, and in some cases I cant blame them. But how much I try, I don't have time with everything that should be done. I think it's a damn shame that I dont have time for my friends and to not be able answer on a more personal level than simply answering "yes/no", or a total of a record order in my emails. Fucking sucks!

Another large and very important factor in the whole situation is the current vinyl hype as I just mentioned. Record store day, major labels making money on vinyl re-issues blah blah bullshit. That plus constantly having to argue with pressing plants like Xvinylx (mail pndftw@gmail.com for further info), delayed releases and yet more...complains. It makes you just wanna closing for good and never to open again. I mean the last D&R releases I waited over EIGHT month and spent countless hours/days mailing and calling the pressing plant and various courier firms. What the fuck?!  
The prices for pressing a vinyl have gone up and the pressing plants give you much worse quality and service. Pay more for less. Bad equation if you ask me. Its like the pressing plants dont give a fuck about the DIY labels that kept them alive since the CD revolution in th 90's. Sadly, money talks.

Then we have Postnord (swedish post service). They turned totally out of control. Dont even get me started... I'm at war with everyone and everything. In any case, people who don't behave and do what they get (over) paid for.

I often point out in my emails that I have little time and that they should be patient if their package may take an extra day or two. I have to thank you all that really take it in a good way and are actually cool with it and patiently just waiting for your turn. It may take some time but I ALWAYS answer ALL mails that I get, sooner or later. It's only SPAM-mails from bands asking for a "record deal" that may take several years before I answer. Don't hold your breath while you wait, just saying.

Since I have very much to do and think about right now, and if you have not received a response within 2-3 weeks, then mail me again please. In some cases it is good with a little reminder. I dont mind at all =) But sending me 2-3 mails in a day wont help at all.
Dont get me wrong, I love getting mails and I'm really greatful for all your orders. Keep em coming.

To sum up and finish this post; after these four dates (see above), I'll be home just for ONE day to repack before I leave again. Another week on the desolate roads in Finland with 偏執症者 awaits. See tour dates here. 
Which means I will have very limited and poor access to internet and answering mails/orders coming weeks. Distro/shop will be closed until Dec. 10. Help me spread the message and word. Please have patience, I'll mail you back asap! Haha.  

As always, mail me as much as you want but be prepared that it might take a little while before you get an answer.
I aim to have an empty inbox in late December, for I will take a well-deserved break from everything for at least two months starting 2016-01-01.

Ain't music fun?
 
Soundtrack: De Lyckliga Kompisarna - Bara tiden är ny

On the road...again. Desperat + Mob 47 Live!

Over 14 months since the last time. Exciting to see how this will end. But first 6h drive to Stockholm.

Soundtrack: Meanwhile - The road to hell

Absolut/偏執症者 (Paranoid) - Split 12" (US), 2x7" (EUR).

 2x7" on Crucificados/Phobia (Europe).

12" on Brain Solvent Propaganda/Beach Impediment (Usa).

I've been really busy and scatter-brained lately, so I totally forgot and missed to post the flyers for this great looking and sounding piece of split with Absolut. Cover art by Sugi. Mail the labels (see links above) for prices, order and further info. D&R don't have any copies in stock. Both versions comes with gatefold cover + reg/ltd editions.

Soundtrack: Horna - Hengen Tulet

Cover of the month (pt. 11) - Too old too cold

Darkthrone are a band that probably most people know about from their early years as the unchallenged primitive (unholy) black metal masters. At that very moment when you heard "In the shadow of the horns" for the first time, just being one of the rawest song to ever come out of your speakers, is an experience that most of us won't easily forget, or perhaps ever will experience again.

That combined with the cold and dark feeling that lies within both the music and lyrics as well as the album covers is something that has captivated countless of people and spawned thousands of clones trying to recreate the same feeling and atmosphere. But, as we all know, none of them have ever been able to create something that comes even close to the original, which is a subject that the lyrics of this song that we've chosen supposedly deals with.
Constantly being copied and imitated over and over again must be quite frustrating, which probably could be one of the reasons for them to abandon their past and going into new directions and new paths with "The Cult is Alive", and the four albums that have followed. The total respectlessness for what other people might think and want them to do is something that isn't very common these days. And the fuck-off-we-do-what-we-want punk attitude gives them a respect that few other bands deserve.

I wasn't really convinced the first time I heard "The Cult is Alive". I felt it lacked everything that I listened to during this period. Everyone was talking about this 'punk album of the year' while I only wanted to have another "A Blaze In The Northern Sky"-kind of new album, and where quite disappointed on what I heard. Like almost everyone else. Some of their die hard fans even declared the band dead. At the same time, what's the point and the fun of recording the same record again?
Little did I know that I would rank this album as one of my absolute favorites only a year later, and maybe even one of the most influential albums in my songwriting today. Big words, I know, but it has been extremely important in my own musical development in how I write songs which lies between the genres of punk and (black/speed/thrash) metal.

The turning point came a few month later when I was on tour together with the very same guy who played the record for me the first time. We have this rule in our tour van, the driver choose the music to be played. He was driving and "The Cult of Goliath" was blasting from the speakers. I don't know what it was due, if I was more easily accessible or just in a different state of mind, but this time I heard its true greatness. There and then I started to build up the relationship with the band that I have today. I really can't blame them because they broadened their horizons and tried something new. Instead I would say I am grateful.

I totally lost interest in metal and its subgenre when I found punk in the 90s. I listened only at a handful records with elements of hard rock and metal.  I even sold parts of my old record collection, which I regret today, and gave all my dedication to everything that had to do with punk. "The Cult is Alive" kind of opened the gates again, so it meant a lot in many different ways.
I have also as long as I can remember been inspired by headstrong honest people with strong opinions and great integrity. I don't know Fenriz in person, but I would still say that he possesses all these qualities. Making Darkthrone even more credible and genuine in my opinion.

For me it was quite impossible to choose only one song to record since I could've recorded each and every song from that album. That's why it took us months, and countless times of listening to the record, before we agreed to record either "Atomic coming" or "Too old too cold". Even "Graveyard slut" was a potential song. We gave "Too old..." a few attempts but as late as in the studio I suggest that we would replace it against "Shut up". You could see Henrik's patience and hope that this project would soon be over just vanished. He looked so sick and tired that I thought he would just leave the band and go home to never come back again. And so came the next setback, shall we play it like the original or in d-beat? Fuck. It ended up that we recorded two versions. Hehe.

Another band, also hailing from Norway, that we talked alot about recording a cover of was Aura Noir. Three songs worth mentioning are "Conqueror", "Iron night/Torment storm" and "Unleash the demon". Damn, why didn't we? What I love most about both bands, besides the killer riffage and intensity, is that Nocturno Culto and Apollyon sounds totally fucking unsympathetic. A great quality in these kinds of contexts.
"Too old too cold" was not the only suggestion by Darkthrone but also "Unholy black metal", "Hiking metal punks", "I am the graves of the 80s", "Over fjell og gjennom torner", "Raised on rock" (again), "Canadian metal", "A blaze in the northern sky" and "I am the working class". To name drop a few.

Punk, metal or punk-metal, who gives a fuck? When it comes down to it, we're just three hellish rock'n roll freaks. Come on you fuckers!