New review and other stuff

Part 60

It's freezing cold October night outside. I am listening Thousand Watt Stares debut album, and it is a killer! If you have not checked them out yet, you should. Whether I'm writing this blog early in the morning or late in the night, it always feels like it's happening in the dark :-)

We had a busy week rehearsing new songs; they seem to be falling out of me at the moment. But that is a great complain to have. I talked about this bit before, but it's been on our minds this week. One of our main goals at the moment is to record an album, but there are little obstacle on the way called money:-D. This is a problem we share with most bands. The valuable information we gained from the interviews on this blog with into the void records and Trackmix studios has given us a very clear idea what it would take to record the album on our own. At the same time we are still contemplating weather we'll do it our selves, or try to go after the all so magical record deal with some underground label. As Darragh O'Laoghaire pointed out in his interview two weeks ago, if we do record and release the album on our own, we would pretty much limit our sales to live concerts. So yeah lot to think about. At the same time we have new songs coming out all the time and the band sound is evolving the more we play. Our debut E.P that came out in March, and still available for a free download from our website, is now about seven months old, and we would very much like to bring out some new material. So at the moment we are playing with the idea of either recording a single or another E.P. Both of these would be possible for us to do pretty fast. It has been a while since we brought any new music and we'd hate to keep you guys waiting ;-) So we'll keep you posted on this.

We got a very nice review at the open-mic blog at: http://the-open-mic.com/blog/2011/10/weekly-feature-jp-kallio/ I'll include the review here, but do check out the blog and we'd love to see some comments there as well :-)

“Weekly Feature: JPKALLIO.COM 17 October The feature this week on the-open-mic is JPKALLIO.COM with every body dies on the homepage. Play it Loud! The first words you see when you pick up JPKALLIO.COM’s first EP. Sentiments that compliments exactly what the boys from Poland and Finland are about straightforward Punk. First things first: the song. Everybody dies is a clear example of what three guys with a love of punk can do. With a lull just as the intro begins it really sets up the songs strong rift which continues throughout the entire song. This pause between rifts also helps to create a build up effect throughout each break in verse, which always builds to the strong drumming we see in all the bands music. The Bass seems mellow and then very deep at times, which always brings with it the strength and deepness presented in the songs lyrics. All of which is again brought home by the bands impressive guitar playing. The crisp and clear lyrics really show just how well polished an act JPKALLIO.COM really is. With a slightly dark undertone in both the lyrics along with the music one can instantly find themselves listening to the lyrics and connecting with the band. They really demonstrate the no nonsense punk that has stood the test of time from the Sex Pistols to the Offspring and now to JPKALLIO.COM. If you haven’t already checked out JPKALLIO.COM do it now and be sure to watch there video for everybody dies. -Dave Murphy” The Open Mic

I think it has something to do with the fact that I write blog, but when we get featured in other blogs, it always gets me bit exited. I mean most of the music press is run by money, but the blogs are where the real new music can be found :-)

Don't forget that JPKALLIO.COM will be tonight, 19th of October in the Sweeney's on Dame Street as part of the Juke box slot, organized by our friends Music Medium Live. The night is packed with great music, and Sweeney's is always a good night. Hope to see you there tonight.

And just before we finish, some more news just of the press. JPKALLIO.COM will be doing a late night gig in the Sweeney's again this Saturday the 22nd of October as well. We'll be taking to the stage just past midnight and rocking a full one hour set!

So that's all for now, come back for more next week.

J.P.

On a shoestring project part 42

  So it is the morning of our concert in Whelan's, upstairs that is, and we really hope to see you there. It's 8pm doors and music starts 9pm sharp. And as I mentioned before, there is a 11 a clock curfew, so all you people working the next day will make it for the last bus, dart or luas :-)

  And that’s enough advertising ;-). As you can imagine we have been busy rehearsing for the gig, and while doing this we realised that even after leaving out the tracks from our first E.P. We have more than enough material for a full album. But even more so, it sounds like a collection of songs that would work together as an album. Now obviously this was always some thing we were aiming for, but at the same time, the time needs to be right. There is no point recording an albums worth of songs just for the sake of doing it. All of us in the band love our music, we live and breathe it. We message each others YouTube clips of cool new bands we find and when ever we get together it never takes long before we start to talk about some new band one of us heard, or a new album some one got. And we have very old school approach to music. We still like albums, as a collection of songs that together becomes something more. Listening to some inspiring music is very important part of being a musician. It is very easy to take music as a granted these days, with it being available all over the internet by a click of a button. But most of us know it was not always like this. I remember a good family friend giving me a birthday gift of a cassette player when I was four or five, I think. Before this my parents did not have any way of playing music in the house. Although there always seemed to be a guitar around ;-) My dad used to drive trucks all around Europe and I remember the car stereos in the trucks being a great excitement to me. But when on that birthday I got my first cassette player and a cassette (it was Boney M...) it gave me freedom. Freedom to listen to music when I wanted and by god did I make the most out of this freedom and I must say my mother was very understanding ;-). The same family friend also introduced me to Lou Reed. Then my uncle had a collection of vinyl records. Everything about them fascinated me. The covers, the art work. There was Stray Cats and Motorhead, the two that stood out to me. And I am sure the guitars on those albums did start a life time fascination for the instrument. But still today when I hear a great album, it gets me exited. For example at the moment I can't stop listening to Social Distortions new album, a real genuine collection of songs that just works together so well. This is what I would love to achieve. To make an album that would have that same effect on people. Good album gets you hooked. You listen to it non stop for a long time and when you finally had enough, give it a rest. But when you come back to it, it just lights up something inside again. I do know music has a very different effect on every person. And I would very much like to hear what it means to you? Is it just something to dance to? Or something you just listen when you turn on your car radio? Or are you as obsessed about it as we are? And what do you expect from a good album? Or do you only listen to single songs? Leave us comments here or on Facebook and share your musical story :-)
  We got loads of more Radio play this week, this is the list so far:-)

Punk Britannia

Punk Rock Demonstration

King Kong Radio 2xm

Pluto Radio

v103rock

Music world radio

4a4a-fm

Radioi

Off The Chart Radio

Radio Arcadia - Toronto

LG73.ca

Monorock Radio

Radio Quebec

Ragnar Rokk Radio

  It is half past midnight when I write this, and I need to be up for rehearsals in the morning so it's time to get some shuteye. But before I go and drift away, let me just say something I don't say often enough: Thank you for reading this blog :-) It started as only a small blog, bit of a hobby for me, but 42 weeks later, the blog and everything around it including JPKALLIO.COM genuinely has had a big impact on me, and to my delight we are getting more and more hits every week :-) Thank you people and stay tuned, we are only getting warmed up!

J.P.