Thursday 26 January 2012

The Year of the Dragon

It´s the year of the Dragon and we are looking into the future. It is said that during the Dragon year the impossible is possible and that we want to believe!
We have been in the rehearsal studio for ten days now and lots have been done. Five new arrangements has seen the light and everybody is still alive and happy. Well, actually today the spirit wasn´t the most creative one and a scent of frustration was in the air. It felt like we had an idea but we couldn´t find the right way to make it happen. So frustrating! And when you have been singing for many hours and your voice is tired, your ears are tired, the ideas and the jokes are just bad and Kasper is threatening to suggest a Bee Gee song if that will make us more inspired, well, then it is time to stop and go home. And come back the next day with new energy.

I don´t know if you can read what it says on the voice live but this is one of the songs we have been working on. Lots of screaming from my side and I enjoy every minute of it.

Tomorrow we have a corporate gig, it would be great to try some of the new songs but it is still too early. Gotta work some more.

Monday 16 January 2012

Kings Place



Last night seven happy and tired Forkians arrived at Helsinki-Vantaa airport after having spent four great days in London!

This could be the cover picture of our next album but it isn´t. It is Fork arriving at London Gatwick airport and waiting for Linda to tell us what to do next.
We had the privilege of staying at the Finnish ambassadors residence, thank you Pekka and Liisa Huhtaniemi, at Kensington Palace Gardens (right next door to William and Kate) and the taxi driver had a very hard time believing that the hippies he was driving from the airport really had the right address. He asked us at least seven times if we were sure and do we know princess D used to live there next door and that it is a very high security area and so on. We were his first customers ever to go to an address on that street. I guess cabs usually aren´t needed around that area...

The Finnish hippies at Kensington Palace Gardens.

On Thursday we visited the Finnish Embassy to give an interview. Jonte and Linda took the chance to pre-vote in the Finnish President election since they wont be in Finland on the election day. Linda will be in Mexico on vacation, she needs some after this trip I guess...

We had a nice lunch with the people from the Embassy at the Star tavern which is known from the Great Train Robbery. Somewhere here in this room there might be millions hidden. In this picture - Linda, Tanja, Jouni, Tiina, Otto, Kasper, Jonte (what is he doing?!) Anna and Pirjo.
In the evening we went to see the Boxettes, a very good a cappella group with five hot women and a heavy beat.

On Friday we had soundcheck in the morning and in the evening it was time for us to get ready and do our thing. I was quite nervous before the gig since I knew the audience would be a very professional a cappella audience and what we do is break all the rules of traditional a cappella. I could sense in the beginning of the show that there were some question marks of What are they Doing? but when we came to Final Countdown and Jonte put on his wig it was clear that the audience had decided to like what they see. Even if they weren´t  sure what it was. It was also clear that Modern talking wasn´t such a big hit in the UK in the 80´s as it was in Finland...

On Saturday we went to see The Swingle Singers who hosted the whole a cappella festival. They were really one of the best groups I have ever seen. So spot on. Multi-grammy award winners...

On Sunday morning we were hungry and tired.

But then we had some English Breakfast and the sun was shining again.

Today in Helsinki the sun isn´t shining at all, instead it is snowy and cold outside. Tomorrow we are going back into rehearsals and I am very much looking forward to that.

Thank you LACF for having us!

Wednesday 11 January 2012

London baby!

The new year has started and we are back to work after a very nice and calm vacation. Anna was enjoying some sun in Spain, Jonte was fixing on his new home, Kasper burnt his fingers on a fondue pot but then again he saved a house from burning down, Greg had his parents from France over for a visit, Linda was working (always is) and I have been scraping off paint from a ceiling.

Monday and Tuesday we spent in the rehearsing studio. It is amazing what a bit of vacation can do to the inspiration. In two days we did two new arrangements and the jokes were better than ever.


Today we fly to London to enjoy the LACF - the London A Cappella Festival! We are doing a concert  at Kings Place on Friday the 13th (we are NOT superstitious!) and I am very much looking forward to that. This will be our first gig in London but hopefully not our last. We are also going to see other groups perform and of course mingle with all the a cappella people. Time to brush up on the a cappella vocabulary, like microphone, voice, tune, harmony.... Some of us are also really excited about Saturday afternoon when we are going to a local pub to watch a local football game. Some will focus on the game, some will focus on the local beer.

In Finland we finally got some snow. A cappella nerds going for lunch.


London, here we come!