Something New for 2011

Dear friends,

We have something pretty exciting to share with you in 2011.

In final months of this year, we've been hard at work recording new songs. There are altogether five of them coming up, and we're very proud of them...

...and you'll be getting it all for free!

Next year, on every first day of each month - from January to May - we'll post a new, downloadable song on our website:

January 2011

"Don't Look"

         *

February 2011

"Ocean Sky"

         *

March 2011

"Waste No Words"

         *

April 2011

"Faster"

         *

May 2011

"Wake Up One Night"

And that's not all - to accompany each release, we'll also cover the songs here on our blog, detailing their origins, writing and recording. We've had a great time making this music, and would love to let you in on how it came about.

Furthermore, late Spring / early Summer 2011 will mark the first time we play this music live! There are announcements on the way about our upcoming shows for 2011, but so far we can tell this: They will be played in Helsinki, and you won't want to miss them.

So, see you all in 2011 - enjoy the last few days of this year, and check back soon on our site for a new years gift!

~ Markus

* * *

Sestina, part III

Sestina

(sĕ-stē'nə) 

n.

1. A verse form first used by the Provençal troubadours, consisting of six six-line stanzas and a three-line envoy.

2. The collective name for a group of three rock'n'roll astronauts from Helsinki, Finland

* * *

And now, for the grand finale in the history of our little musical troupe. (Parts I and II can be found here and here)

In our most recent little fling together as a band, we didn't get much done in terms of new music - however, what it did do was provide us with enough of inspiration and momentum to get the thing going again.

So how did the band eventually get back together? The honest (and hopelessly clichéd) answer is: It all happened very naturally. Jaakko had just split with a band of his (April), whereas I had a kind of a lull with my other projects. Pekka, on the other hand, had recently been talking a lot about resurrecting the band and writing new stuff together. However, both Tommis were out: T. Forsström was simply too busy to even consider another project, and T. Raivio seemed to be done with playing loud music altogether.

* * *

Another time, another band - the future members of
Sestina are clueless about what lays ahead (and still are)

With the three of us left, eventually Jaakko, Pekka and myself got together at Jaakko's Helsinki rehearsal space (again around Christmas time), and started working on some sketches I had. This time, the pieces fell into place very easily. At our first rehearsal as a three-piece, we put together and recorded three skeletons of songs, and there were many more on the way.


This new music didn't sound at all like anything we'd made before. First of all - as a kind of a leftover from my strange experimental ideas for Sestina - our guitar tunings went from dropped to ridiculously low. If you tune a bass guitar with standard strings down to A flat, you get some very strange sounds, my friend. Colliding with this abrasive, hulking soundscape, there were clear vocals, melodies and harmonies placed front and center. The stark contrast was fascinating for us - it was like experimental pop tunes played with the rhythm section of a doom band.

We all felt we were on to something, so new rehearse times were quickly booked after the holidays. What I did learn the last time around was the value of doing things the old-fashioned way: Write some riffs and ideas, play them with a band, write some more, play some more. Write together as a band as much as comes naturally. Write words. Just get on with it. All the thinking and great concepts in the world can't replace that.

* * *

So in about six months, again very NATURALLY (yech), our direction was beginning to take shape. For myself, what was most inspiring was to witness things taking a life of their own - I'd never imagined music like this, it just started coming out from the speakers once we got into a room, turned up the volume and pummeled away as a band.


Since none of us had played this kind of music and in this way before, I think all of us had to kind of re-invent our styles as players. This is where things get scary and exciting at the same time: Once you pretty much discard your whole bag of tricks as a musician, and start making new tools from scratch, you'll have to get used to sounding like complete crap - a fresh beginner - for quite some time. However, once you start to get the hang of it, you'll discover you have a voice you've never had before.


For me as a guitarist, with this new version of Sestina, I found myself often trying to almost keep in the background compared to what I was used to. It would've been easy to take the heavy metal route and grind out distorted power chords to match the rhythm section. Instead, I tried to use guitar as a more ethereal instrument, using the upper range and effects to create space and harmonies rather than just going for maximum sound pressure. Shoegazing with Black Sabbath.


This was brought about by what Jaakko and Pekka were coming up with. As I noticed the bass and drums locking more and more tightly together with each passing band practice, sounding increasingly better, I stopped bringing in guitar riffs, and instead presented ideas for bass lines, drum beats and vocal lines. Once the rhythm section discover the song, I fit the guitars in. Guitar parts are still often the last thing to happen to a Sestina song.

* * *

As great as things were going, our collective sound still felt it was lacking something. I had some ideas for piano arrangements for a couple of songs, and many song parts felt like the sound should be expanded further. Make no bones about it: We still wanted synths!


Since by the beginning of 2009 we happened to be recording two of our new songs, "Devil May Care" and "Rose in Dreams", and there were already a lot of keyboard arrangements being thrown about. However, even though Jaakko is excellent with the keys as well, we needed a creative pianist to bring some life into the songs.


I asked Marja Teittinen, the keyboardist of the current line-up of Oka, if she would be interested in recording some additional parts, and fortunately she said yes. Eventually Marja ended up being a huge presence in the finished recordings, bringing some amazing stuff to the table. We did ask her to join as a full-time member, and rehearsed as a four-piece for a couple of times, but unfortunately due to time constraints she had to step aside...

* * *

So that's pretty much where we are today. A trio, wondering the possibility of adding additional member, very much still in search of what this band and this music are all about. With each passing song we write I feel we're getting closer, but in many ways I don't even want to arrive. This has turned out to be so much fun I want to keep on looking, writing as many good tunes as possible in the process, without any kind of hurry.


After all, isn't the journey supposed to be the main thing?

~ Markus

* * *

Music ingested while writing:

PMMP - Veden Varaan

Nirvana - In Utero

Radiohead - Airbag/How am I Driving? 

Kashmir - No Balance Palace

Sestina - Don't Look (work draft)

* * *

Sestina, part II

Sestina

(sĕ-stē'nə) 

n.

1. A verse form first used by the Provençal troubadours, consisting of six six-line stanzas and a three-line envoy.

2. A name for a band, if used, is bound to sooner or later result to copious indulgence in artsy stuff

* * *

So...let us continue, from part one, our glorious saga of blown fuses and ringing ears.


Since Sestina never really broke up, I always had this nagging sensation that something was about to happen with the band - I just never knew what or when. I still held close contact with most of the band members, and often we talked about doing something. It felt there was a lot of untapped potential with this group - however, the right time and opportunity for an outlet seemed to evade us. So we waited. And waited.

* * *

Surprisingly, this state of non-activity lasted for a better part of half a decade - a long time to hold out hope after such a short-lived project. During this period, I dabbled with different concepts for the band. I couldn't maintain interest for the straight-forward 1-2-3-4 rock song for very long, so a lot of my ideas started getting a bit...out there. At one point, during a bout of depression, I was even intent on turning the band into an 6-8 piece enseble of two standing drummers, cellist, violinist, guitarist and bassist, screamer and singer, performing a fully arranged musical mass written in english and latin about carnality. Not kidding. I even wrote a lot of it, and it's still hidden away in my hard drive. Lord help us if I some day end up bringing out some of that stuff. Would've loved to see the guys faces at our band practice, though.

* * *

Yours truly way back when, trying his damndenest
to make Sestina into an art school project

I gradually did regain my senses - and more importantly, my health. While embarking on an enlightening journey of self-discovery known as "pulling ones head out of own ass", I realized that I had perhaps taken a completely wrong approach: Sestina didn't need any high concept, just a group of passionate, motivated people united in the task of creating something awesome. After all, in the past all the best stuff I've been involved with were always group efforts - there may have been songs that someone wrote, but if the songs were elevated from good to great, it happened because of a collaborative effort.


So instead of trying to come up with "the perfect approach", I started making actual phone calls to actual band members. Pekka, Jaakko and Tommi were still very much into it, so the core group was there. It (finally) dawned on me too that three guitarists was a silly idea, so to wash away the distorted mush we opted to bring in some new blood. We called up Tommi Forsström, an old friend of ours and an all-around great guy, to join in cooking up something new with us. And this time, we wanted synths!


Tommi (F) was interested, but as usual, also very busy. So we didn't make any grand plans for the band, but just listened to a lot of different songs by different bands, and brainstormed together what kind of music would be original and fun to make. Our first (and only) band practice with this line-up was both Tommi (R) on guitar, Jaakko on synths & synth-bass, and Tommi (F) on drums - Pekka couldn't be there on that day. We worked on a song sketch I'd made; what we went for was trying to discover something new and inspiring, but it all felt a bit like grasping at straws. This wasn't a band, but the most basic building blocks of a band attempting to become organized. We didn't even know what instruments each of us was going to play.

* * *

Who knows, it could have become something amazing. But in the end, the thing fell apart because individual members just didn't have enough time for a project that needed a lot of love and attention to even find a direction.

It looked like another long hiatus for Sestina was looming on the horizon. But this time, it fortunately didn't prove to be as long.

...but more on that on part 3.

~ Markus

* * *

Some music tactfully tasted and unceremoniously spat out during the writing of this blog:

Killing Joke - Absolute Dissent

Sestina - scetches for a musical mass (see above)

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses, October Rust, World Coming Down

Kyuss - Blues for the Red Sun

Mew - Frengers etc.

* * *

Sestina, Part I

Sestina

(sĕ-stē'nə) 

n.

1. A verse form first used by the Provençal troubadours, consisting of six six-line stanzas and a three-line envoy.

2. A Finnish rock band that decided a girly name was the way to go

* * *

Dear friends,

You're reading the first blog contribution in the world of Sestina (the band). To start things off, I shall introduce you to the on/off -history of our dear little musical group.

You see, this isn't a project that got started yesterday; actually, Sestina has existed for almost a decade now as a ghost project, existing in varying degrees of activity in the sidelines of our other, "more important" bands.

At first, Sestina wasn't much more than a small bunch of songs and riffs I banged out for the fun of it. I had just returned to Finland after a short period of living in San Francisco, trying to find a footing in the big world with another band (also including Sestina drummer Pekka). Not much success in becoming Masters of the Known Universe, but I did come back with huge amounts of inspiration and ideas for a lot of music EXCEPT rock'n'roll (up until that point my chosen form of self expression).

I was really fed up to the teeth with the whole "loud guitars and a backbeat" -approach, which practically anyone could do, but almost no-one (including myself) seemed to be able to pull off with any degree of originality. However, eventually I did get the SERIOUS ART (:p) out of my system, and found myself longing for simple pleasures in life, such as hitting a power chord in front of a cranked Marshall stack set to bowel-emptying volume pressure levels.

Therefore, it didn't surprise me much when I found myself writing a lot of very meat-and-potatoes riffs and rock songs. Having The Foo Fighters' "The Colour and the Shape" and Helmet's "Aftertaste" in heavy rotation at the time pretty much dictated the genre - simple, straightforward power pop / heavy rock.

I wrote maybe five complete songs just for fun, after which I realized I really wanted to play them with a band. So, on to the next phase: Getting a band together.

* * *

Finding a drummer was a no-brainer - me and Pekka Ollila had grown up together as kids and as musicians, and he's just one of those people I completely get along with and can communicate with in a very immediate way - a big benefit for being in a band together. Plus, he's a great drummer.

Coming in to fill the ranks were my friends Jaakko Pulkki (bass) and Tommi Raivio (guitar). Both had been in a band called Jonah Eyes Open (previously Benefit), which I unabashedly loved, so I really wanted to play with them. Fortunately both of the guys said yes, so the backbone for Sestina was set.

After my dry, artsy spell, I had a craving for a wall of distorted guitar noise. As a result, the songs had quite big arrangements - not for one, for two, but for three guitarists. Pekka, Jaakko and Tommi rolled their collective eyes at this excess, but fortunately let me indulge myself.

So we persuaded one more friend to come along: Heikki Rita from Funktion A.D. and Circus of Flesh. However, pretty soon after joining Heikki had to step down due to personal reasons, so to fill in for him we invited Mikko Raita, who would later work with us behind the mixing table.

* * *

So the band was together, but we didn't have any great plans - save for playing live and recording some tunes. So in the spirit of fun, that's what we did: We booked a show in Semifinal, Helsinki around Christmas time, and some studio time after New Years.

The show was a blast, and we recorded altogether seven songs in Helsinki's Seawolf Studios. It all happened very fast, and soon after we found ourselves with a pretty nice EP in hand, that none of us seemed particularly motivated to take anywhere.

At that point it just felt that the band had run that particular course, so we all went on to do other things - Jaakko did his Splitside / Radar -project, I concentrated on Nuria and Oka with Pekka, and the rest, I think, took a break from band activities altogether.

Ok, that's it for now. Next part coming soon: Reactivating the band, and rediscovering SERIOUS ART!

~ Markus

* * *

Music voraciously consumed while writing this blog:

Electric Wizard - "Black Masses"

Hurts - "Happiness"

Foo Fighters - "The Colour and the Shape"

Carcass - "Heartwork"

Richard Shindell

Sleep - "Dopesmoker"

Depeche Mode - "Sounds of the Universe"

* * *