Well you have to start somewhere if you want to write something and I started by typing a title, utilising the good old ”first thing that springs to mind”-method. I like the sound and feel of ”flummox”, it wouldn’t be out of place as a name for a hostile extra-terrestrial being invading the Earth in a low budget science fiction movie made in the 50’s (”Flummox wreaked merciless havoc with the death rays of his flying saucer, only to land afterwards in a parking lot and enslave the surviving remains of mankind for all eternity!”). As for ”oubliette”, you can’t go wrong with such a gliding-off-the-tongue word probably no one knows the meaning of these days without looking it up. It’s a totally fiendish innovation of supposedly French origin (explained here) but fiendishness of this calibre must have required at least some consultation from Satan himself. And the reason why Sinisthra is mentioned is because the process of finishing our album seems to drag on and on. We’re still not ready to pass it on for mixing because some vocal tracks need to be revisited and maybe altered and more guitar needs to be added. All this happens in an infuriatingly leisurely pace, as always. We’ve been at it for 11 months now and several months still lie ahead before it’s done. Highly frustrating, but can’t be helped. When you operate outside a proper studio things take a lot more time.

So that’s the title neatly summed up and explained away. I’ve been meaning to write about the incident when Sinisthra startlingly played a live gig a few weeks ago but haven’t really got around to doing so. Maybe I’ll do it now. And because by now it’s already lifted from The Chest Of Unsure Memories Embellished By Time, it’s best presented under a subtitle I introduced earlier this year with so-far-very-unsuccessful plans to make it a regular feature.

HAZILY REMEMBERED ROCK’N ROLL MOMENTS part 2

In the course of a small-time rock band sources of instant reward are scarce and far between, and getting scarcer and harder to come by as you grow older and music no longer is the absolute central point of your life. Practically the only way to get a bigger rush without unnnecessary delay these days is to play a gig to a receptive and responsive audience, and this we did on 15th of May in our hometown Lohja, in a club called Lojo, to a little over 100 people. The last time we played live was on July 2005 so I honestly didn’t know what to expect and was even a bit unsure of my own capabilities and whether I still was able to do it. We rehearsed moderately but not enough to take the unsureness away. In rehearsals, sometimes the music happened and sometimes it didn’t as it always has been the case with Sinisthra.

The soundcheck had been the usual unsoothing blur of noise but once we actually walked on stage at midnight and started doing it, all the doubts were wiped away, the monster reared its’ head and roared and after that it was out of our hands. The adrenaline and the music took over and it was fierce, sweaty, breathless, mind numbing and also vaguely dictated from above. The songs guided us onward and there was no need to try and remember the structures and durations, everything flowed and the tremendous energy held us tightly until suddenly the last song was over, much sooner than anticipated and we staggered off the stage to gasp for air in the backstage and listen to the audience demand more. We’ve never been very prone to playing encores (and usually there’s been no need for encores either) but now it would have been appropriate, had we not already played every song we’d rehearsed.

So it could be said that we performed to the general satisfaction of many of the spectators, and it also could be said that this was maybe our best gig ever. It was good to know that the machine is still in a perfect working and bone-grinding order and with a little oiling can be unleashed upon people unapologetically. A lot of faith was restored and we will play more live dates once the album finally gets released.

Here’s a favourable review of the gig, courtesy of Lady Enslain. Her extensive gallery of live pics can be viewed here. Some pictures taken by Henni here, and below some live footage shot by her.

Here’s some live pictures by Tina Solda, who also shot several hundred promopics of us before the gig, a tiny portion of which might even be usable. When you put six people, all with views of varying degrees of hostility towards appearing in a photograph, in front of a camera, magic isn’t the only thing needed if the desired result is even a handful of decent shots. I don’t know what is needed so I’m not much help. Probably anti-attitude missiles and serious grasp of mind-control techniques. Or a lot of alcohol. We mostly relied on quantity before quality, pure chance and the hope that the incentive of the “humbler you pose the sooner it’s over” will be enough to get us through. We also cunningly avoided falling victim to mass hysteria and uncontrolled giggling by choosing a photographer who is not someone we associate with on a daily basis. In the past we’ve had our photos taken by close enough friends to make us abandon all good manners and decency, ending up with hundreds of shots of assorted grimacing faces and very often at least one person missing from the picture or looking like a complete dork. This time we made the effort and dared not succumb into the most infantile behaviour we’re capable of. So thank you Tina for the best Sinisthra photos ever!