Winter time

Yesterday there was yet again a new record for this winter, the temperature outside was as low as 40 degrees Celsius. Luckily not in Helsinki, here it was only - 23... For us Finns normal life goes on no matter what the temperature is, we put on one more pair of long johns and an extra sweater and we are off to work. I am not saying I enjoy this coldness but there really isn´t anything I can do about it, except move somewhere else of course.

This is not Siberia, this is Helsinki.

And about moving somewhere else, we just elected a new president for Finland (congratulation Mr. Niinistö, hope to see you in the audience soon again) which always is a bit exciting at least in the beginning. And then of course Helsinki is the World Capital of Design 2012 so no way am I leaving this hip and in city at least not this year.

Today and tomorrow we are doing corporate gigs, we still can´t do our new material for the audience, it  needs more rehearsals. Last Friday at the rehearsal studio we experienced a moment of total emptiness, we sat for six hours and nothing happened, not a single good idea or inspiring thought. Luckily Linda came to see us, all tan and relaxed after two weeks in Mexico, and brought some chocolate and sparkling wine with her!

The boys in a sensitive duet.

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.

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!

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!

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

It´s time to settle down and enjoy the peace and joy of Christmas and to Thank you all for hanging out with us here on Fork backstage.  We wish you a Merry Christmas and a great start on the New Year! We will be back in business sooner than you can imagine.

Here is a picture from our last gig this year.

And here are some pictures from our Christmas party!

 Gregory.                                                                        

 Linda.                                                                            

 Jonte.                                                                      

Kasper.

 Me.                                                                            

Anna. Later on that night.

Happy Holidays!

Inspiration!

Our goal for the beginning of next year is to have time to go into the rehearsal studio and make new arrangements. Since we had a couple of non-gig-days this week we decided to start rehearsals already now. We begun by making a list of what song we would like to do, the list had up to 60 songs and I am sure there will be more after Christmas.

This is the Red list, the list of happy song. We also have a Black list, the list of more depressing but mostly very beautiful songs.

This is a face of an inspired sound wizard. In the beginning of the process when we make the arrangements Greg really can´t do anything else but listen and hope we will find something that works, then he can start doing his magic.

Here Jonte is very busy doing something very important on his phone. And Linda on her computer. Busy busy.

The bad weather hasn´t been helping us much in finding inspiration but at least Anna did her best by bringing in some colors to the rehearsals!

Yesterday we were bold enough to grab the microphones and just start singing. Since we don´t work by using sheet music the beginning is always the most difficult part for us. Neither have we decided who is the alto or the soprano, it all depends on how we want to build up the song and who has what kind of ideas. This gives us a freedom that suits us very well.

The beginning.

Nightclubs

We´ve done two nightclub gigs this week, on Saturday we were in Lovisa and on Monday in Stockholm at Kägelbanan. We really love doing these kind of gigs and even if the sound on stage isn´t the best since the monitors very seldom are made for any kind of a cappella singing it doesn´t disturb us at all. The gigs are sweaty and loud and very up-tempo and the crowd is so ready to be entertained. Since the stages usually aren´t that big we are standing very close to each other and I can see and feel how my colleagues are working hard and enjoying the moment intensely.

Lovisa is a special place for me since it is my hometown and the incredible warm welcome we got just blew me away. This must be what Bon Jovi experience when they perform in New Jersey or U2 in Dublin. What a feeling!

Here are some pictures from the Lovisa gig.

And this is backstage. Tired but Happy.