COSMIC DOOM BLACK METAL
Not much progress during the last couple of weeks: Been working on some new ideas that did not yet form into full songs - too many ideas, not enough time and patience to really work them out. Still haven’t found a label for the new album - this search is getting annoying. And meanwhile my old label became insolvent, so the old album currently lacks distribution and I need to find a new distribution too now. Things could run a bit smoother I suppose…
As for the cool things: I finally met my long time favourite band in person! And some more rehearsals are scheduled for this weekend.
Nonexistence live
Been thinking a lot about performig the new songs live lately. Now back from my first rehearsal in ten years! Played with my old mate Wolfgang along to a quickly created playback track with keys and lead guitars and we had great fun! Let’s see how this evolves as we proceed. Especially when the songs get more difficult than the two we started with today. Should start thinking about finding more session members too.
TEN YEARS AGO
How time flies: Today it’s been already ten years since I’ve played my last live gig with my last real band. This means that next week it’s been ten years since I’ve left that band in order to pursue my own creative visions instead of those of other people. This also means that it’s been about ten years since Nonexistence slowly took shape. Altough at that time there was no such name yet at all. Just emptiness. And an urge.
I still recall this immense feeling of freedom on my way home, which fortunately instantly overwhelmed the initial frustrated impulsive thought of giving up music completely. But that is something I simply can’t do. Although there were a few times when I wished I could.
So I decided to be responsible for every single aspect of my art from then on, purchased some recording gear and started to work on a few songs I’ve already had written, partly on my own, partly within some other discontinued band projects, and began to shape them the way I wanted to. Many new ideas were following and very slowly the basic sound concept of Nonexistence was developed.
It took me really a lot of time and effort to figure out how to properly handle the software, not to mention the production aspect: You just can’t have eight different Guitar tracks at the same time and expect to get a distinct part that rocks like hell (same goes for Keyboard layers). Unless of course your understanding of “rock like hell” is a crappy sound that insults good taste and hurts your ears. Which wasn’t my primary aspiration, otherwise I could have continued to play raw Black Metal and play it even rawer. What I obviously didn’t.
But I’m digressing… I just wanted to commemorate the day with an old picture from one of my last concerts. Yeah, I was pretty evil those days, wasn’t I?
TUOMAS SAUKKONEN AWARDED MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR AT FINNISH METAL EXPO
I knew this guy is awesome, but obviously he is even more awesome than just awesome: When last weekend at the Finnish Metal Expo the winners of the Finnish Metal Awards were announced, Tuomas was awarded as Musician Of The Year 2011! For the second time in a row! Isn’t this awesome? Hell yeah man!
I am very happy for him and can not stress too much how grateful and proud I am that Nonexistence is supported by this dude. It’s so … yeah, awesome!
Congrats bro! You rule! 
PICK YOUR PICK!
And another fistful of Jim Dunlop Guitar Picks has been delivered today (those in the background), raising the count now to a variety of about 50 Picks, all different in size, material and gauge. WTF!? How am I supposed to find the perfect Pick among such a huge and confusing selection? And how was I able to use only one kind of Pick (a Jim Dunlop Nylon Standard .73) in all those years between 1994 and 2010? Cause actually it’s quite fun to experience the different behaviour and sound of all these Picks! Guess I discovered my preference for hard picks since the last studio session and the advise of Tuomas in this regards. Thanks for that Big T!
Currently I’m into sharp tips and hard material, also it was quite a surprise for me to find out that those tiny Jazz Picks nicely support Black Metal speedpicking! Who would have expected that? Certainly not me.
Equipment shopping frenzy continued
Next round of studio equipment upgrade: Purchased Toontracks “EZ Drummer” and its “Metalheads” extension today. Now looking forward to some fat sounding drums already during the preproduction!
WEAPON OF CHOICE
My terrific Amfisound Baritone “Halti” Guitar, forged in Finland according to my specifications. 20 years after starting to play the Electric Guitar I finally got my own custom shop instrument, tailored to my personal needs and preferences. Hell yeah, this is really awesome! Thanks Tomi, excellent job!
Amfisound Halti Custom Baritone:
Les Paul Shape
28” Scale
Mahogany Body
Maple Top
3-piece Maple Neck
2-way Adjustable Trussrod
Ebony Fingerboard
Set-lock Construction
Graphite Saddle
PRS Adjustable Stoptail
22 Jumbo Frets
Lundgren Pickups Humbuckers
Hipshot Locking Tuners
Neutrik Locking Jack
Master Volume
5-way Switch
Mother of Peal Inlays
Cream Bindings
High Gloss Black Colour
Promo submission time
Finally sending out a couple of promo packages to some record labels. Am I old fashioned for rather preferring hard copy CDs sent via snail mail to electronic submissions? The “real” packages simply appear nicer to me than a cryptic download link. Ah, whatever. As long as I get some positive feedback, of course.
So if you read this and have received a promo package of mine, be kind and drop me a nice line, will you? ;-) You other people are invited as well: Wish me luck!
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New equipment season
Can you believe it? My new guitar has just arrived! HELL YEAH MOTHERFUCKER!!!
She looks incredibly amazing and will be checked out for the first time in only a few hours. Awesome!
In addition to my new guitar I decided to get a new recording system too and ordered a laptop this week. Due to the tracking system at UPS, I can see that it has left China and Korea in the meanwhile and is currently travelling through Kazakhstan. Well, it’s a long way down to Antarctica.
Oh, and yesterday I’ve also purchased Cubase 6. As the software itself is not too useful without the laptop, I’ve looked into the tutorial videos for a start, and they seemed very promising.
So be prepared, the work on the next album is about to begin!
What, you’re still waiting to finally hear the last album? Yeah, I can imagine. I’m working on that and will soon start to contact some record labels. One step at a time. Unless you’re a centipede. Which I’m obviously not. But you’ve figured that out already, didn’t you?
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Awesome! My new guitar will be shipped this weekend! :-) Here’s Tomi from Amfisound presenting it! Yeeeeeeeeeah!
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While eagerly waiting for my new Amfisound Baritone Guitar to arrive (which allegedly is a matter of only a few days), I’ve stocked up on guitar picks. Yeah, I’m into Jim Dunlop Picks, as you can see, and got myself a nice assortment of different materials and gauges. So let’s find out which one of these picks is the perfect tool for my new setup!
Winter solstice
Winter solstice: Finally darkness is prevailing! Oh, and BTW: T - 366 days to apocalypse ;-)
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“NIHIL” available for free listening!
The entire album „NIHIL“ is now available for free listening in the Music section! In case you like it, you are gladly invited and encouraged to purchase your own copy of the album in order to cherish the enormous amount of work it took me to create it. Your support is very much appreciated! Thanks! :-)
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Nonexistence - Ekpyrosis Suicide
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