As mentioned before we did record two songs / day over three recording days. Juhani brought some new gear, Eli brought Muffins, Eero was setting us all up, Jordan was reminding us of the latest changes in the songs and Taavi carried the pressure of performing his parts. We noticed early on in our test runs that the drum mics were super sensitive for the singing parts, even if Eli sang quietly. Since all the instruments, except the drums, went straight into the sound desk (without any sound in the room that is), and were recorded as guidelines only, Eli had to whisper / talk her parts. That sounded occasionally very spooky, but gave us some ideas for future reference… The room got quite hot on those days, but we managed our breaks well and stepped out in the fresh air every now and then. By the end of the week we had 6-10 drum tracks for each song ready-ish. Now Taavi only had to carefully listen through all of them and hand pick the best parts for the rest of the band to record onto. What a mission!

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Taavi made his way down to Poland with his bus full of drums and percussion for the Slot Arts Festival Ochestra rehearsals, while Jordan, Eli and Juhani celebrated with Eero on his wedding day. Early next morning Jordan and Eli flew down to Poland, for Jordan to catch the last two orchestra rehearsals playing the percussion. During those days hanging out at the rehearsals Eli got super inspired and started to write again! The festival was opened with their performance at almost midnight with thousands of people watching! Even though planning and set up was very chaotic, the orchestra performed well and the show was amazing! More info on Phil Shorey (more info)

For the next four days Taavi held his Drum Circle Workshops, two hours a day with a gazebo full of people, 30-50 people every day. Some came and went, but each day familiar faces kept showing up earlier and earlier – grabbing a dum or a percussion instrument and starting a rhythm, while Taavi would still drink his morning coffee. Jordan and Eli would be his helpers, handing out instruments and making sure things would run smoothly (and making more coffee). They had just as much fun as the participants. Taavi made everyone feel welcome and it was exciting to see him playfully lead each workshop and even more so how everyone enjoyed themselves.

As per usual The Bus became a hang out space for quite a few people and a place of laughter, listening to music and lots of coffee being shared.

After the drum circles and a lunch break we made our way to a Jazz Improvisation Workshop all three of us were part of. Taavi on the drums, Jordan on keys and Eli with vocals.

The amazing Kyle J. Gregory (check him out here) was leading the group, safely taking us into the abyss of improvisation, giving us tools and encouraging us on this journey. Jordan and Eli had never been a part of anything Jazz before and learned a lot! One of the other participant, Karol the Bassman, said that in the first two hours he learned more about improvisation than in his two years of music university (pop/jazz). That says a lot!

On Saturday night the improv workshop group performed in front of a venue-full of eager polish audience. It was a great night and Kyle is well remembered as an amazing teacher / mentor! Thank You Kyle for everything!

The next day we said our goodbyes and started our long drive back to Finland. We took our sweet time on the way, visiting some heavy monuments and historic places. A lot of food for thought and the songwriting kept flowing. We also got to meet some friends of Taavi and catch up with Heidi and Antto. You might remember our collab-gigs with Heidi last autumn? We started talking about some new collabs for later on this year. We arrived back to Rovaniemi a week after we took off from the Festival, but what a road-trip!

Stay tuned!