Goodbye…..and Hello !!!

Endings & Beginnings:

Since our album is basically done, still missing the mastering but whatta hell. I think it's time for me to close this blog….but don't ya worry, I'll be starting here:

thegreathankhunt.blogspot.com

…just after New Year, 2014. Instead of doing these official tour blog of this tour and official making of that album…I'll keep the above adress for all my bullshit…easier that way. Still no need to panic, I'll be writing about the finishing of the SA album, videoshoot, rehersals and naturally updates from the road will also be there as usual. I'll also write about other stuff than SA, my other bands etc…but will try to keep clear headings so those of you who don't want to read about other topics than SA can do just that.

There's a lot more to come, I have a bunch of ideas…let's see how this goes. I'm also gonna try the google adsense thing to get some beer money, let me know if it's too annoying and I might just delete the whole thing.

That's all for now, enjoy the New Year Celebrations…or don't.

See you in a few days,
cheers,
Hank

PS.Did I mention that the album sounds absolutely amazing ? Well it does :-)

Happy Holidays

Finally it's time to turn off the working mode for a few days and enjoy the holidays, I hope you all can have some days off as well and get rested before a new year kicks in. More stuff about the album, singles, videos and of course more tourdates will be announced early next year. Have a good one.

cheers,
Henkka

Ps. I was under the impression that the album name and cover would be revealed before christmas, appeareantly this is not the case and I misunderstood this for some reason. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

Done with the mixing of the album 12.2.2013 !!

Jiihaa, we just got done with all the little bells and whistles and the mixing is done ! As for now we still have some work to do to prepare for the shows etc but in a week or so we can start enjoying the christmas holiday. I’ll be back posting stuff from the mastering which will be in early January.

More info, like the album title, cover, videos & singles and all that will be coming out soon,piece by piece until the album will finally see the light of day in March 2014. As usual, we’re very pleased with the results and I’m sure you’ll be too. In only a little over 6 weeks we’ll be out playing our 15th anniversary shows and you’ll get to hear at least one of the new songs as well as some stuff that we’ve never played live before along with our ”hits”, we’ll of course will also bring back some songs that we haven’t played for awhile now…… I’m really pumped about the setlist ;-)

All the best, enjoy your holiday season and we’ll be back in January unless something comes up.

cheers,

Henkka

Still working on it ;-) 4.12.2013

The mixing is coming along, not done yet but getting there. Last weekend Pasi went to Helsinki to record some guest performances for a couple of the songs. I’m still doing the some keyboard fixes but we’re really close with this one. I’m sure we’ll be done in a couple of weeks by the latest….and then it’s time for a Christmas break. Actually not quite since I have to do some programming and learn the songs for the upcoming shows. Since there’s gonna be some new stuff and some that we haven’t played I don’t want to leave it all for January, which in addition to the band rehersals and shows is kinda swamped with  mastering of the album and videoshooting and whatnot. Anyway, there’s not much I can reveal about the record at the moment and trying to describe the music with words is bound to fail anyways. It seems that the first single of the album will be out in January 2014, or at least we’re trying to make it happend ;-) My overall feel about these bunch of songs is that we’re back doing melodic metal as opposed to Stones Grow Her Name which was our hard rock adventure. Alrighty, gonna have some breakfast and play some keyboards….because…why not ?

cheers,

Henkka

What’s goin on ? 25.11.2013

So at the moment we’re knee deep in organizing the upcoming tours. Production matters, new t-shirts, getting the crew together and whatnot. In the meantime Pasi is mixing the album and sending stuff for us to check out…and it’s coming along quite well. Of the stuff that I’ve heard it’s sounds fucking awesome. Still to do is plan the videoshoot, we’re doing two videos this time and as soon as those songs are mixed we’ll start working on that. I got some minor keyboard fixes to do later this week as soon as my piano gets sent back home but otherwise 99% of the recordings are done….still missing a guestplayer that will be done on Friday. The album title & cover will be released before Christmas and the album will actually be out already at the end of March and not April as originally planned.

By now our 15th anniversary tour has been announced and at the moment it’s only in Finland and Latin-America. In April the World Tour for the actual album will start so I don’t think we have too much time to do these anniversary things after that but you never know.

Anyways, all is good in Sonata land, thanks for all the comments about the setlist I think we get a pretty good idea about what you want. We’re not gonna do a poll of any kind, at least not for these shows but it might be an interesting idea for the future….

cheers,

Henkka

There won't be too many updates this year, since there's not much happening. In the beginning of 2014 we'll have a listening session, rehersals, mastering, videoshoot and whatnot so I'll be sure to check in from those as well. I'll get back when the album is mixed.

Studio week no.7:

Thursday & Friday 14.11.-15.11.

So, it was time for me to do the last of the recordings. Morning train to Kokkola as usual and after Pasi picked me up it was time to eat. I managed to get my stuff done quite fast. I did the unisono for the first single, fixxed some ”beer” playing on another unisono that Elias had written for another song and finished one solo that I had basically ready in my head already so it wasn’t that hard. I also played a couple of versions of piano for the ”epic” song since I wasn’t satisfied with my earlier track….Then it was time to pack up my gear and make back-up copies of all my stuff. Gather some dirty clothes and uneaten noodles and whatnot. I even tried to drink some of Elias left-behind redwine so it wouldn’t get old ;- ) The next morning my Dad and my brother picked me up and we drove towards the north…

At the moment we’re done with everything except for some backing vocals for a couple of songs, I’m sure Tony will get ’em done this week. Pasi already started mixing and I’m sure we’ll get to hear some stuff within the next few days. The rest of the year will be spent working on other projects as well as deciding the setlists (any suggestions?) for the 15th anniversary shows. I then have to program the sounds, get my gear in order and learn to play the stuff as well as the new songs. So, there will be plenty of work even if we’re at home. Also the tourplanning for next year will take up some time since we’ll be going to be on the road until 2015 at least.

Anyways, I’ll let you know when the mixing is done…until then…

cheers,

Henkka

Some notes about studio week 6

During this week I was at home, working on a bunch of "office" stuff, meaning e-mails, spreadsheets and phonecalls. Oh how I love the music business ;-)

Meanwhile in the studio the bass tracks were laid down, the acoustic guitars and some backing vocals. The groundwork for the mixing has also been done so still missing a few additions/corrections here & there but we're getting close. Sometime next week I still have to go to the studio to add a couple of solos and get my M3 module as well as safety copies of all my stuff, to take with me back home in case we'll do some late fixes....which we always do.

I'll check in next week when I've been to the studio and packed up my keys etc. Until then, remain calm...all is well and this will turn out great.

cheers,

Henkka

PS. Whoever sent me the link to download some bootleg stuff from us, thanks ! However if you want your message published, please re-send it wihtout the link (since I can't edit comments, only approve them or not). Your private link "just for us" is not so private if I post it online..... ok ?