We are on our way back home with Riku. Actually we were supposed to fly back to Helsinki yesterday but since there was a huge traffic jam on the way to the airport in Vienna, we missed our flight and had to take rooms at the airport hotel and celebrate the labor day’s eve there with a very great Douro area red wine from Portugal. Unfortunately they had no standard rooms available, so we had to take junior suites. Life sucks ;)

We started our trip on Tuesday. We did this TV show (RTL Charts show) in Cologne together with Snow Patrol, Ronan Keating & Silbermond and the whole thing was about “Women’s / Girls all time favorite songs. We were # 10!! I don’t remember how high Snow Patrol got with their “Chasing Cars” but for me it’s one of the most beautiful songs ever. I was so tired the whole day since the flight from Helsinki took off at 7 and therefore we had to wake up at 5 AM. It’s always very hard to sleep well with mornings like this. I actually went to bed the night before around 12 o’clock but I just didn’t make it with the sandman. Finally I slept 2 hours and since I had a few bad-sleep-nights before that already, I was D.E.A.D. Luckily the afternoon before the show was very easy, but as I walked to the makeup (yes, the do this powder and stuff even for guys for TV) I didn’t like how I looked in the mirror ;)

But the show & the performance went well and actually I have been a bit worried that people have forgotten about us after we have been so long away from the radios and stuff, but again I was very very very happy how the crowd took us. Thanx so much again ;) The only thing that went wrong that evening was that we got stuck in an elevator right after the show on our way to the dressing rooms. Yes it said max 6 persons and we were 7 but hey…? ;) Karri felt a bit uncomfortable since he’s a bit Claustrophobic. It gets so hot in a few minutes in such a small space and you feel that there’s no air. But it was good to lose a few kilos in the heat ;)

On Wednesday Sami & Raul & Karri (Our tech super director;) flew home and we flew to Vienna with Riku to do a few acoustic performances and a lot of interviews. And I have to mention that we saw the most beautiful Stewardess on that flight. Her name was Martina Something and it was the Austrian Airlines flight from Cologne to Vienna that morning. We sure slept almost the whole way, but she was so nice, gave us the pillows & Blankets and smiled so sweet that it made the tiredness go a bit away ;) Actually I like the stewardess uniforms in general because I think they make a woman look feminine and sure hot but The Austrian Airlines uniform is one of the coolest.

In Vienna we did a lot of radio, TV and other interviews and the second place we went to was the radio 88.6. Mr. Bernhardt Feichter, the guy doing the interview had Check Republic roots and sure we had to bet one EURO for the Check Republic - Finland ice hockey game that evening. And of course we won and now I am rich!!!! I can’t wait to be there at their station again to collect my winnings. The Finnish team has been actually pretty good this year. We have won all the games so far and seems as if we’d have a chance to fight for the medals this year. Sure it’s a long way to go but still.

It’s been surprisingly great talking about POPGASM with the journalists and the feedback on the album has been very good. Sure it’s sometimes hard to say if they just say good things about the songs having us in front of them, but I have a feeling that most of them really mean what they say. And even though some rock folks say it’s very dangerous to call the album POPgasm instead of Rockgasm (Please grow up ;), I love the name and the whole thing. I just can’t wait to have it in the ears of all of you so you folks. I am sure there’s someone who will like it ;)

But anyway… I am back home now and I don’t know why, but I am feeling extremely tired. It was probably the short sleeps the last 7 nights and also the skipped gym sessions since there was really no chance to do anything healthy on the road.

THE WHOLE STORY was released yesterday and everyone in “our organization” seems to be a bit nervous how the song will hit the single’s charts. For me the album release is the thing that will take my sleep away, but sure I hope the 1st single and its possible successful results will let the EMI folks sleep better and also to allow them continue the whole POPGASM launch with full hearts. I am sure everything will be fine in the end, it’s just exciting times now and sure it’s better to have the whole team a bit on their toes instead of them just doing their jobs with us just like with “any other band.” It’s cool how they also are just human and so fantastic how closely they work with Sunrise Avenue. We are very lucky.

Raul will come to my place soon and we will finalize all the tech stuff for the shows today. We have final on-stage-rehearsals next Monday – Wednesday and we go through the whole show 10 times to see that all the sounds and sound levels are good. I JUSRT CAN’T WAIT!!!

So be nice and enjoy the early summer and sure go get you copy of our new baby “The Whole Story”

I will have a shower now so I am fresh for Raul ;)