The other weekend we shot the video to our first single, Entertainment. It was both difficult and fun, and many other things at the same time, but more about that later. For the video I created a crossword puzzle – just one of these random ideas I sometimes have – and while building it I realized something. The clue was ‘We are nothing without’ and the answer was ‘Friends’.

Playing in a small DIY band like ours is a lot about finding people to work with, building trust and developing a network of people. Being an introvert, I don’t have the social skills or inclination to be a “networker” so it typically happens either by accident or out of necessity. Surprisingly, it has become one of the things I really enjoy in this whole “band experience”, and I wanted to use this blog post to recognize the amazing people we have worked with.

The most obvious need for a recording band is someone to help with the recording and production process. We learnt a ton while making our 2020 debut album with the incredible Hiili Hiilesmaa. When planning our 2021 EP, we felt that we wanted to do the producer work ourselves and see how much we’ve learnt and evolved. Honestly and obviously, there was a fiscal consideration involved too. While our new EP is totally self-produced – and we are quite proud of how it turned out – we could not have gotten anything done without the masterful help of sound and mixing engineer Markus Heinonen from Saarni Music. He is also super nice and fun to work with and has a healthy obsession for music. The final touches on the EP are made by mastering engineer and sound shaper Juho Karenko from CBH Recordings. Mastering has been a challenge to us in the past, so this time we spent quite a lot of time on evaluating options and selecting the approach. Juho’s work stood out in being loud and heavy, but still balanced and authentic. I think you’ll hear how Markus and Juho helped us sound louder and heavier than before.

Photographers are another common “tribe” that bands work with. We know a few amazing photographers and are more than happy to recommend guys like Mikko Linsiö, John Tackman and Miika Hildén for any photo project. This time Mr Mikko Linsiö ended up taking our promo pics during our video shoot and they turned out amazing. Mikko never seizes to produce amazing shots. In the not-so-distant future I also hope you’ll see the results of another collaboration with one of these visual artists…

The artwork for our 2020 album was done by Mikko Jäppinen. I still think those drawings are amazing and perfectly capture what we were going for. This time I ended up asking a friend and drummer from another band I’ve played with to create the cover art for the EP. Mr Tuomo Heiti did the impossible and produced artwork that is 1) of a different style than we have used before, 2) a perfect match for what we are going for, and 3) amazingly good. As usual, we are also getting visual all-around help from Dino Stén, who is always there for us when we need it. Check out the cool white beer can design on the Cheap Beer ale we just announced!

In addition to these 3 core areas, we also obviously connect with people on things like promotion, PR, gigs, etc. I could write several chapters praising people like Riikka (insightful views on music PR in general), Lasse G. and the Cremator (radio DJs who for some reason like our stuff), Jaakko (PR advice and work), Toni and Miika at Barley & Bait (high quality drinks and a place to hang out in), and countless of colleagues from other bands who have the same interests and desires, and are eager to share experiences. Not to mention Camilla from Wood’n’Sound, whom we virtually ran into by a coincidence. Our original video recording plans were cancelled due to unfortunate events, but Camilla offered us a stage to shoot our video on and we were able to get stuff done on time. This is what it’s all about in this scene.

Last, but most definitely not least, there are those closest to us, who may not be experts in audio engineering or music promotion, but they support us in the ways they can. Like Martina and Ylva doing some amazingly creative camera work for our first video. We owe you guys big time. And essentially all those around us who tolerate and support our noisy and costly habit of playing in a small, DIY, non-profit rock band. 

Thank you. 

Rock on.

Lasse / Flush 3rd September 2021