Another year Another blog

Hello fans, minions, and other like-mindeds.
I can't believe my last post was a year and a week ago! That's just not what my nanna taught me! I am sorry, I do hope no one has been left feeling weak, dejected or immersed in the pitchy twangs of Shania Twain Syndrome. To you, I am truly sorry.

What has been happening in my world? I hear you ask with the over-exhuberance of a young child with Bieber-fever. Well my pretties; much has happened.
Allow me, if you will, to... as the "cool kids" are saying; "break it down for ya'll."

1. I turned 30.... I'm sorry, yes I said THIRTY! How does one so spritely and effervescent cope with writing a 3 in the front of the age bracket? It's tricky, and it takes time. I look forward to turning 23 again next year and we can forget this whole little situation ever took place.

2. I am now what I aptly title myself a "glorified band babysitter". This means when charming American (or whomever, really. We aren't discrimatory here... something I picked up all on my own with NO thanks to aforementioned nanna...) bands decide to tour Brisbane, I am the one charged with looking after them. I keep my eye on the clock, I boss them around when the need arises, I help them write songs about Bogans and Dumpster Diving, I feed them, entertain them, drive them around, take them surfing, introduce them to cuddly natives and the animals too (HA!), and get them to the gigs on time! Whew!! Busy busy. No sleep. But you know what, pets? I wouldn't change it for the world. I have sincerely found my place in life... if only it was more consistant than a few weeks a year.
My bands I've babysat thus far have included such delights as Relient K, Family Force 5, Leeland, Disciple, Hawk Nelson, and NewWorldSon. Paramore - I'm looking at you this October...

3. I have been practising my fine art of photography. I finally am the proud mummy of a beautiful, bouncy Canon 400D with extra zoom lens. To mark the occassion I dedicated a facebook group to my little bundle of joy: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/group.php?gid=48691017060&ref=ts please add and enforce it on your friends :)

My darling camera and I have enjoyed the treats of Sonata Arctica, Ensiferum, Family Force 5 and Hawk Nelson most recently. We do look forward to an introduction with Stryper later this week. Smile and say "cheese" boys!

Alright, alright. It is getting past your bedtime my lovely lovelies. I shall leave you here, and I do share a promise that I will return promptly to deliver exciting and potentially vacuum-bag busting news from What's Going On In My World.

Ciao xx

Stone Parade - Chase The Setting Sun

From the opening bars of the album kick-starter, My Generation, you can just imagine someone launching themselves into the air with their guitar in the studio.



Stone Parade are a Sydney-based, 5 piece rock ensemble that will delight, entertain, enthrall, and convict through powerful, thought-provoking lyrics and imagery, and a strong, melody-driven force of pure Aussie rock. The sound is pop enough to tackle the charts and Video Hits, while being rock enough to remain non-conformist. They are an enticing mix of prettiness and grunge for the ears, and a must-see for performance value.



This is the boys debut album. It is a challenging, beautiful, pounding rollercoaster ride to listen to and the very album you’ve been looking forward to having on repeat in the car. With lyrics profound and melodies catchy enough to get stuck in your head for days on end, be warned that this is very contagious for a good old-fashioned sing-a-long. I can only imagine what kind of album could proceed this.



Chase the Setting Sun blasts off with first single, “My Generation” and keeps the rock pace going into Faith And Love before giving you a breather and soaring into the moving second single, “Somebody Will Miss You”.

Vocally, the lyrics are performed with a driving force of emotion and are highly-charged with strength, angst, and a rich use of building the song up to reach a solid crescendo.



Musically, the use of strings and piano on selected tracks intertwine seamlessly with the beautiful crafting of the rock guitars and solid beats.



This album will have you enchanted from start to “Gloria”-ous finish. The journey takes you through gruff rock, to soft ballads, to power anthems, and then through to one heck of an epic rock-ballad as the Chase for The Setting Sun draws this chapter to a close.

I highly recommend getting into Stone Parade if you haven’t already done so, pick up a copy of the album, learn the words and catch them live. These guys are a band to watch; trust me, you don’t want to get left behind.

The 69 Eyes live video footage, shot by me

Here's a video I took from the recent 69 Eyes gig in Brisbane, Australia.. Gothic Girl

The 69 Eyes, June 19th 2009, Brisbane Australia

To see Jyrki 69 perform live, one could be forgiven for not being able to decide if what they were witnessing was more Bowie or more Alice Cooper; I’d probably say more like the lovechild of Elvira and Duran Duran but it’s a hard call.

The thing that’s easiest to notice with this band is that they are pretty damn good. Somewhere lost on the road between Guns N Roses and The Cure; The 69 Eyes seem to be the embodiment of “Goth N Roll”, a term penned with these guys in mind.

With the entrance of drummer, Jussi 69 strutting onto stage and wrangling the crowd into a manic exhuberance, it was all hardcore, gloomy, leather-clad deliciousness from then on. With a setlist of some of the hottest tracks spanning the group’s 20 odd year career there was not a moment of downtime for the crowd to catch their breath as hit after hit was thrust out with as much enthusiasm as vocalist Jyrki’s pelvis.





With the crew of “Helsinki Vampires” to back him up, Jyrki channelled the stage presence and charisma of Elvis with more than a hint of the rock legend’s quintessential snarl. The band were tight and on form showing how rock is supposed to be done and hopefully teaching a few of the youngsters a couple of tips along the way.





Crowd favourites: “Gothic Girl”, “Perfect Skin”, “Feel Berlin”, and tribute to the late actor “Brandon Lee” all rocked hard. I had to tip my hat to the lads; it’s not an easy thing to animate a venue full of goths and emos, but it was done with seemingly little effort.

I have to point out, as a photographer, these guys are such a delight to capture on film. Guitarist Timo-Timo is a natural born poser who didn’t put a foot wrong and seemed to be in constant awarness of my camera (and loved it!), and of course Jyrki 69 always had a pout or dirrty snarl ready at hand, not to mention the arsenal of leather and chains that never go awry on the old digicam!





So, for this particular show being only the 2nd gig for the band in Australia ever, and judging by the reaction of its audience; I think The 69 Eyes are well on their way to absolute world domination.


-Suzi Pike

I always seem to post videos!

This is a rough vid I found on You Tube but it's my lovely friends from Fatis Valour playing my favouritest song of theirs and I wanted to share it with you so you can listen before the album comes out :)



When I can film a version live myself I'll repost it instead, so forgive the dodginess... I may be able to have one for u as soon as this weekend as the lads are playing at The Princess Theatre on Saturday... if you are a Brissy local you should go check them out, and save a big wolf-whistle for opening act Andy Taylor!

ahhhh excuse me

how did I not know Tarja Turunen had a cutie brother with a killer voice?!!!

OK, I've been a bit quiet on here of late... so allow me if you will to fill u in on what the heck I've been doing the last month! Firstly, I have been approached by a Polish website dedicated to Finnish music to translate my Lovex interview into Polish! Yippeee, I've gone GLOBAL!! I'll post the link when it's all been done :)

Secondly, I turned a year older (but by my books, I tell people I'm a few years younger than I am, so no one really knows the truth at all). So this year's birthday theme was Viking - keeping in the Scandanavian Metal side of things. It was tonnes of fun and my darling friends seemed to all get into it. We had viking bounty to steal from each other, massive battles, loud Viking rock, horns and fire!



OK, also this last weekend was Easterfest.. Now, for those of you unwisened in the ways of Australian Music Festivals, this is the massive Christian Music Fest. And it ROCKED!! We were soo cold and it rained the place to a muddy slippery-slide of chaos, but it was great.

(The Big Top under a thin blanket of soft fog on Sunday night)

Highlights for me were all my friends: Father Abraham (for lovers of Hardcore)singing Our God Is An Awesome God http://www.myspace.com/fatherabrahammetal The Smart are always good fun for lovers of electro/pop/rock http://www.myspace.com/thesmartmusic Fatis Valour are consistantly awesome, but my highlight was Jarryd stuffing up the verses for one song - which just made the crowd cheer louder! http://www.myspace.com/fatisvalour and Ellington's confetti canons - 3mins 40 approx



ALSO; my friends at Free Spirit have put me in charge of a new myspace for them: http://www.myspace.com/freespiritaustralia so if you aren't a "friend" yet, please add me/them :)

I think that brings us up to date roughly on the fun stuff I've been up to.

Peace out xox