Helsinki 2.9.2023
The private gig was about 30 people and there were even guys from the USA, Germany and France. The instructions were not to advertise and if even 10 more people had come there, I would have really been in trouble how to gather more people, heh! Iron Clad pulled rude power electronics sound, the songs on the surface and those in the background. The volume is still quite mild (I mean in context of what was about to come...), as those sounds only came from the one bass ampt and the vocals only from the PA, so not really quite blending in. I think they wanted that clarity, so it may have been just "artistic choise". If there is somewhat a bit lo-fi recording of this, it could very well be decent, even if live situation the elements were a bit detached depending where you stood.
The Grunt gig was more compact and noisier than the previous couple. It was known that there was going to be a long and fierce headliner set, so the choice was to make a set with a lot of events... maybe in just over 15 minutes? I'll have to check the tape. Junk metal came out damn well from the sound system. The volume was hard and it was really fun to play. This gig was also without a real soundcheck. Just quickly checking I had connected right cables to mixer before starting. So there was sometimes a bit of adjusting to devices or sounds that behaved differently. In addition, in the small claustrophobic space you really had to stand in the middle of the crowd and couldn't move anywhere, but it was even useful for the gig. One of the metal objects was not "washboard", but some sort of metal grid, perhaps to cover windows or bigger ventilation systems. It was supposed to be used at Turku show, but was forgotten in back room. Now made it first time to live gig.
The XE-ZZS collaboration gig was one of the most amazing I've ever heard. The amount of volume was so brutal. Bands own bass amps were used with "550W"-type powers, so we kind of got into such a Sunn o))) -mood that the earplugs are of course necessary, BUT, in the end, they don't help much when the sound pressure pierces all tissues. ZSS industrialnoise bass frequency rumble of pulse vibrated from testicles to eardrum, though your skull. The best parts were the XE vibes, where the bass was not non-stop, but when the high pitched upper tones were on the surface, the bassy noise crashes and rumbles came through sweetly, like abruptly breaking the sound, and not giving non-stop bodymassage. Undeniably, at times I already got the feeling that not all this volume is necessary, and it could be done with less volume... one life, one ears, you know, heh! But without a doubt, the roaring sound pressure being like a noise orgasm is great, and sometimes you just had to use your hands to protect your head and close your eyes and enjoy to utmost noise pressure!
Club Lupercalia gig
It was still early everning, so realistically could drive to center of town and be there 22:00 to reach most of noise bands of other noise gig! So it was a difficult situation to decide what to do, hang out with people or go for more noise? Well... more noise! Perhaps the choice turned out to be bad after all. Because the place was kind of terrible. Of course, there were good sides.
So, the Slogan Motto gig was a great, slightly eerie drone sound, and I felt that the set was perhaps based on the same idea that was used in previous gigs/tours? There were so many recognizable elements at the set that you got the feeling that the same sound source was playing as before? Juho Toivonen (Akti Records, Free Tala, etc) pulled a quiet and slowly developing sound that draws from the direction of "Swedish woolen socks noise", like some call it in Finland, haha... Elegant eerie piano sounds, noises and hisses and the man holding a couple of buttons intensely barely turning them, the sounds themselves being pre-recorded stuff. Good gig, but damn it sucks when you couldn't hear this under all the bar chatter! A bar full of people, of which maybe 5-10% at most who are interested in what's on stage and the rest are having shouting competition with each other and an endless stream past the stage to outside to have smoke or to the counter to get drinks.
When people laugh that gigs are organized in some dying bars in the side villages or private gigs in barns, rented rooms or whatever.., I say it is 10,000 times better. A bar corner gig is ok if there are a couple of people filling in sudoku and drinking tap-lager. Some trendy bar in the heart of Helsinki...pff... it could be that this was the last one I went to myself. I think people associate "invite show", "private show", "undisclosed location", "contact for details" -type of show with notion that there is something dubious going on. It would be better if people realize it is most often nothing dubious, but merely NOISE FOR NOISE FANS! Often with limited space, and merely logistics require you control how many could be taken in, how to be prepared that you don't need to say to long distance traveller than "sorry, we all don't fit in!". haha..
The noise crowd was there too, but everyone I talked to was more or less in the same mood that noise doesn't really get its rights here! The art exhibition was also good. Sami Hynninen and Irina Kaipio were really good, with clear and skillful pencil marks and strange subjects. There were other good ones.
At the end of the evening, Keränen made a noise. A couple of guitar cabinets to which the synthgear were connected and with his relaxed style the man pulled a rather statically rumbling harsh start to the set. For a while, loud chatter of the bar was a little bit in the background. Set was mostly aimlessly going on "a flock of chickens" -electronics and after which a quieter electronic drone started. Then the conditions hit me in the face like a wet rag. The audience roars and Keränen seems to have kind of lottery of what button does what, what sound he could get out of this, until the turns off gear and thanks. Taking into account how intense and hard the gigs were all over the weekend, we can easily estimate effect of venue / circumstances.
I personally have a strong guess that every artist on this last gig would have been significantly better under the conditions of, for example, the Friday gig. Toivonen would have been almost perfect if the seats at Friday's concert venue had been grabbed for the audience and you could have sat in complete silence - only with the sound created by the artist taking over the space.
That's what I said to Friday's organizer. It would be good to arrange such a "sitting gig". They don't have to be just auditorium events for men in suits, but for example a set in style of Toivonen would work 100% guaranteed when all the restless social life has been cleared from the situation. If clear advice is that we are here for the sound. Who wants to socialize with friends, goes outside and the rest can sit on the chairs, drink the picnic beers and listen elegant hissing and piano loops! For such evening, audio-visual combinations and slowly developing sets would be more suitable. Hopefully such gig would be done at some point! I would think that even acts like Commando 15, Haudat, Aprapat, YANA, Toivonen, and others would be in favor if the conditions. You can develop set little by little while the "noise moshpit" or the usual bar life etc. is not in front of the table. You can feel free to do it maybe in the style studio / reh place, when you don't need to immediately hit the noise climax, but can go little off route to experiment and build thing up.
