WHEN THE WAY IS LOST IN ITSELF


Sometimes imaginations appear to be
more or less like living beings.
Sometimes a man gets carried away,
when he should be having his X.X.X.X.
Sometimes thoughts come to life
and cause trouble to those who try to think.
Sometimes works of art become
like warning signs for the world.
Sometimes an unprepared soul has to deal
with things he is incapable of understanding.
Sometimes the curses of today's world
make us unable to see anything.
Sometimes our cities are full of bad spirits
and meaningless, terrible noises.
Sometimes the neighbours know that something
is happening, but they don't know what it is.
Sometimes there's bullshit all around you
and you can't say if it's your own or somebody else's.
Sometimes there's a wound to be healed,
but what is this in and out of love?


”24 hours, boys!” said Bon Jovi's manager. I used to watch their Breakout video at least once a week in the summer of 2003. It was one of my sources of inspiration for the new lyrics. And I'm telling the truth when I say that this OG thing was a lucky chance to re-visit "the cold wastelands of youth". To say a few words left unspoken while doing a few things left undone. The final scene was shot up with no trace of blood, shot down with no blaze of glory. That's the way it was meant to be. No real guns were used and the leather jacket I wore belongs to an old band mate (I sold mine in the nineties already). It seems I was identified as "the front man", as if it was me who's driving the band wagon. But things were much more interesting. And they remained as such from the beginning of this journey to the end. I think very few people actually realized all of this. And honestly, I don't think anyone is that interested..... I had nothing to do with the ”metal scene”, and I didn't listen to that kind of music anymore (which doesn't mean that I disliked the people or the genre, I just wasn't part of it – apart from being the singer of this band). I believe this was part of a greater "omnium-gatherum" that simply happens if and when it is to happen. No practice or preaching will help you to get the letters / moves right. And I was one of those ”troubled minds”, but I had a good time. We succeeded beyond all expectations. I'd like to remind you there were none. What happened between me and the rest of OG during the years 2000-2006 was like a closed circle. And it needed to be done. These things had a reason to take place. Everything was left open for the band and their new singer to go on a new cycle of their own. For my part this was like a cause riding to shoot the rebel. Or was it a law reaching out (for the ”outlaw”)? Maybe it was a lamb dressed in wolfskin, looking for a honeymoon with the real thing. That must have hurt. In any case, it seems that our strange kind of gathering delivered the goods and people enjoyed from ”all of that jiving around”. And I didn't ask for this five year side trail they gave me, but I loved it all the more and nonetheless. So I still raise my cup for Markus, Janne, Harri and Jarmo for picking me up from a certain dead end station back in October-November 2000. Thank you!



There were a few coincidences along the way. Some good, others bad and ugly. Oh I wonder what happened with the Years In Waste thank you list. Important names are missing, because of a mystical error taking place during the copy/paste sessions. For example, I thanked Minni V. ”for grounding my spirits”. But she had told me she does not want her name to be on the list. Her wish came true. And there was this encounter with serpent eyes and viper’s tongue. I had never seen a snake in the wild, but in early August 2004, when Markus was discussing the possibility of changing our band name, a viper crawled between my legs while I was sittin’ in the sun (though not counting my money as I had none), drinking coffee and reading. I was alone at my grandfather’s cabin in the middle of nowhere. The snake had raised its head and was ready to bite, hissing like the letter itself. But then it crawled away in peace and quiet. Markus had finally convinced the Nukes we would change Omnium Gatherum to Iron Cobra, when they backed off. Let’s Fin(n)ish the game with a quote from my sketch book, dating from 2003: ”after having a serious discussion with the band’s guardian angel, we decided that there is no more room for another fuck you and die hard nihilistic death metal band. I’ll sing about Life, Love and Light” (two of these words have been marked with X.X.X.X in the lyrics). The note was written long ago, for this nostalgy page, but was taken out..... Another note (2005), bringing to light an other kind of way in / out, was found from The Book of Tongues (”Kielet”), where many of the lines for City Red Light and the rest of those ”Woodbine Garden” songs were first written: Vanhala said in an interview that it is good I don’t write lyrics about ”the devil, suicide and corpses”. On YIW, the main themes are many, but the devil, suicide and the dead are certainly mentioned. A friend told me in 2006, that when one plays heavier music, the crosses will turn upside down, eventually. To what extent metal is the Devil’s music or not, well, you know…. My cows are in the ditch, as the old Finnish saying goes, more or less literally translated. Read the lyrics and listen to the music. The players did a fine job, after all. And of taking things seriously, oh dear, the note below was written for the press in early May 2006:
"Nuclear Blast showed us the red light, just as we had predicted already a year ago. Then Spinefarm did the same thing: 'the music is good, the vocals are bad.' Honestly, my role in this band never was anything else than doing a favour for a friend, and from a certain point of view it started to look like this favour had served its purpose. Markus and I had a plan back in Spring 2000; to make a little DM side project, and for me it was solely for the sake of those bygone days that smelled like teen spirit. This little project was not to be related to OG stuff in any way until I received a phonecall from him late October the same year. The band needed a vocalist for their next gig and possibly for the next demo, too. I promised to be on the gig and think about the demo. My other (then anonymous) band had just ‘released’ some magic to the world, called Pathvvays (418) & The Flowery March. After a year of pseudos and near psychoses OG managed to get a real record deal which gave us a good laugh while signing it - the damn deal was two sides long, the text was big enough for one’s blind grandmother to read it. They promised us 50 per cent of all the income! I wonder where all that money went. I also wonder why every time we were in the studio I quit the band at least once. Maybe I just can’t make up my mind. But with Spirits this was due to 'a complete failure'. After I’d done my share I swore I would fuck off right away. I don’t know what happened that morning and I don’t know where the hell did that ugly voice come from (it was one of those things that can’t be repeated). My purpose had been to rip off my teen age idols but instead I ended up doing something completely different. The album was loved and hated like real life. And I still hear people saying SAAL is OG’s best effort so far. Then with Years In Waste (Fall Grave Silence was never an option, it was just a working title) I 'succeeded.' For the first time ever I walked out of the studio and smiled. What happened during the mixing process was another thing. Almost all of my cleaner vocals were taken out and they left only this monotone raspy throat mixed down to earth and ground level, which has become the OG trademark. We almost ended up having an old-fashioned fist fight with Markus. But I used to believe in Amor Fati and sometimes I still get a feeling like that. This was the way it was supposed to go. No one would have wanted to hear Tom Waits on a Melo Death album, right? Or wrong. I thought of quitting the band last November, but I always had those famous second thoughts. Let the OG crew decide, I’ll do my part as long as necessary. The rehearsal Demo / Promo 2006 we recorded in January includes five songs, and they have a new kind of spirit in them, but at the same time reminding you of Steal The Light era OG atmospheres. I had decided that OG are no longer a small band, and now we will cut the crap and begin to do some serious business. (Un)fortunately, my will has always been going to a different direction than what the rest of OG have had in mind. This could either be a very good thing or a very bad thing, because of the constant conflict in the air. Depending on who is in charge, it usually leads to 'something'. But whether it is good or bad, well… And don’t tell me they are also matters of taste! From February until now OG crew have been in a state of uncertainty, and I made it clear to them that it is just as ok for me to be in the band or to be out of it. Over half of the next album was ready, so it would have been rational to stay for a while at least. But it is Markus et al who pull the strings, and I’m just crossing my fingers here… let them decide. And so they have. It was all just a little “karhunpalvelus” as we say it in Finnish and as I have been saying over and over again. Exactly coinciding with my departure from OG is the ‘releasing’ of my other band’s magic called The Sleeping Gold. The reason why I am so shamelessly advertising this is that most of the OG themes are directly related to this other Work I have been doing since 1993-4. This Melo DM thing was a nostalgy trip for me ever since the beginning (and I made it clear all the time). Those who are interested in my lyrics may find something worth reading in TYM, and the four different records (including the new unofficial demo Ride The Horse of Soul) I made with OG can be seen as a continuation and a side trail of this other Work. To those of you who think I’m bad I can now give a sense of relief and hope to hear from Omnium Gatherum something they always wanted. To those of you who think I’m not that bad I can say that maybe I chose the right way to leave. Which means that I didn’t. So whatever the case, my hands are clean. But no hard feelings, even though it’s a cliché. It was the true will of us all, I don’t hate Fati showing itself this way."
THE SUMMER OF LOVE HAS BEGUN
(a note paper written in the summer of 2002)
And in the city where I lived my fucking youth
I wasn't allowed to go drinking in the park
'Cause they all fucking hated me
I got boots nice and broken
I'm back on my feet again
And here I am like a crooked little lamb
The leather is black and smells like teen spirit
But nowadays my hair is longer than thine
(And I'm no longer in love with you)
And the night is still
And it's still a broken night
An hour of doom when the city's aflame
To walk (on) these streets
The night is still broken to pieces
With bottles everywhere, and let's.....
And the writhing's all the same
'Cause I got the guts we all hate
Trying not to hate the guts we have