On Stage with Enochian Crescent @ Tuska 2009
If someone had told me 10 years ago that one day I’d be on stage during the biggest metal festival in the Nordic countries, playing theremin with a black metal band, I would have taken the claim with just a bit of skepticism.
Be it as it may, this was the exact situation I found myself in during the last weekend of June 2009. After Älymystö‘s previous gig I heard that Enochian Crescent is looking for someone to play theremin in one song medley and told my contact that I’d be interested. This Monday I got a call from the singer of the band, went to visit their band practice on Wednesday and on Friday I found myself packing my stuff and heading over to Nosturi for the soundcheck.
I wasn’t the only visiting artist Enochian Crescent had – there was actually enough of a crowd for a whole another band. Backstage was nicely eclectic with a mix of styles. There was me in my old suit jacket, white shirt and bow tie, Matt Dirty / DigitalFiend pinning bows on his scalp with hypodermic needles, Hellwind Inferion of Urn in a cape and damn cool makeup, plus of course the EC guys themselves.
The Gig and the Aftermath
Right before the gig I got an unexpected additional assignment. It turned out that I had to play a 2-3 minute interlude with the theremin right in middle of the gig. Performance anxiety isn’t really a big part of my personality, quite the opposite, but I have to admit that upon hearing that and looking at the crowd of drunken metalheads pumping their fists in the air gave me a moment’s pause. Impros are notoriously unreliable, you’ll never know if they’ll live or die, and the crowd was decidedly NOT ambient.
So, did I refuse? Well fuck no!
Like always, the moment’s hesitation turned fast into enthusiasm. After I got the cue (“Come to the stage after the song where I cut myself with scissors”) I headed over to the stage and had a fucking good time. The audience looked rather baffled, but kept chanting and waving their fists. Compared to our usual audiences, it was a leeetle bit different. Well, except for Latvia and the mad fuckers at Depo, maybe.
When I got back to the stage to play on the medley, I almost slipped on a pool of blood when heading for my instrument. Pig hearts had been flying through the air to the audience and back and the stage was looking nice and nasty.
After the gig I went to pick up my equipment, a lot of it splattered with blood, though only lightly. Well, except the cables that were on the floor. The stage smelled of blood and there was a heart lying next to a monitor – and I suddenly realised I was feeling kind of nostalgic about certain movie and other projects I was involved in years ago. Can’t remember the last time I had to wash pigs blood off my hands.
All in all, the night was really fun – thanks to the audience, the guys of Enochian Crescent and all the other artist guests on the stage.
Girls in Corsets, Guys in Gas Masks
Our band Älymystö has been rather quiet in the live gig front for over a year now. We’ve been doing the new album, having a major case of the second album block. Additionally everybody has had plenty of weird and new shit to deal outside of the band life, but what’s new.
We put an end to our gig hiatus on 28th of May, when we went to play in a club called Kuudes Linja, which many people consider to be the best gig club in Helsinki nowadays. This time we weren’t accompanied by the usual complement of other underground bands and DJs, but instead we shared the stage with a burlesque group called Burlesque Polaire. We also played with our full line-up, which meant that in addition to the old crew we had Lin with her cello and Mr. Eskola on the bass.
I personally had been in mid-to-high nasty flu with high fever for most of the week, but having pumped myself full of medication I didn’t have any trouble enjoying myself on the stage. Doing the gig was a real blast, especially so when the staff in the club was very friendly, the gig went well and there were plenty of people in the audience. The gig made me remember how much I had missed playing on the stage and how much I enjoy it.
Mr. Kerhohuone of Tytär was stalking the front of the stage with his video camera, which he had hidden all over the stage. So maybe – just maybe – in the future we’ll see another live video from us.
In any case, here be photos. Enjoy.
First, some photos of our practice session a week before the gig (see the full Flickr gallery)
…and here’s the gig (see the full Flickr gallery). Unfortunately we don’t yet have a permission to publish the Burlesque Polaire photos.
Remix Älymystö – Two Weeks Left
To celebrate Älymystö‘s long awaited new album we released a remix kit of one of the upcoming tracks for people to mangle. The first four remixes are in – check them out here!
Just a reminder – if you want some merch, a free pass to a gig and maybe grab a beer with us, send your remix by the end of May.
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