Last days on tour

Check out what happened behind the scenes!

Last days of the tour

Time for sightseeing! After the gig in Pune, we had a couple of days off.

We started by going to the Gate Of India in Mumbai.

 I've never seen so many people before except for at the Summer Sonic Festival in Japan.

Not long after I arrived I got blessed by a monk, who left a red dot in my forehead and forgot to tell me that the free willing donation is compulsory. 

Me and my band were the only white people around and became clear targets for beggars and salesmen. 

I had been advised not to hand out cash but it's really hard to ignore when so little can do so much. But helping one person often resulted in 10 more showing up each time.

 One complication is not knowing where and how the money is used. Unfortunately it can be very organized and before you know it you get completely ripped off.  

It would be great if they had some sort of food market coupons you could buy at the airport and hand them out instead of cash. Then you'd know it would be used in the right way.

We took the ferry to the Elephant Caves, an island full of very old temples.

There I got kissed by a wild cow who happened to walk next to me on the road. 

The temples in the caves were outstanding and brought me one step deeper into a part of the Indian culture and history.

 

Not long after we arrived I realized that I was a part of the tourist attraction being the only white, blonde girl.

Someone wanted to take a picture, which quickly turned into a chain reaction and suddenly I was surrounded by a big group of people. It got quite intimidating when someone took a strong grip of my arm and pulled me back when I tried to leave. 

Luckily it was solved with a smile and a wave rather than a Kung fu punch and I made back in time for the last ferry. 

I travelled quite a lot but never experienced anything similar. Im glad I made them smile though....

 Almost half of the next day was spent in the hotel waiting for the drivers, since we couldn't break the big language barrier and kept on misunderstanding each other. 

We were getting pretty used to it though and at least we got a good chance to charge up a bit. The second misunderstand occurred in the evening when we realized there were no plane tickets or hotel booked for us for the next day. No biggy, it got organized except for.....

2:30 am and my alarm clock went off. Rise and shine!

When I looked in the mirror I saw something that reminded me more of a trashcan than my face.

A quick cold shower and off we went to Hyderabad.

I think it was the third time we stood on the wrong side of the security check when the boarding started and once again we almost missed the flight.

Going through security as a woman in India is a luxury.

There's a separate line and about 75% shorter than the mens line. 

When I got to Hard Rock Cafe I had 4 interviews lined up which really surprised me thinking I already did the last one. My experience with media in India has been way over my expectations with more interviews than planned and super friendly reporters.

The show itself went under the name "Renegade".

I started by dropping the mic stand on the pedal board after accidentally punching my guitarist in the middle of a move, If people weren't paying attention, they did now!

After 2 songs my patience with the slippery floor ran out and I threw my boots off and performed the rest show bare feet.

Even if the crowd was a bit smaller than at the other venues the audience was still great and radiated a lot of positive energy and I left the venue with a warm feeling in the chest.

It was a bit of a slap in the face to wake up next morning to realize it was the day of the last show. 

Another flight and we stepped out in Delhi bringing us a tiny bit closer to the cold Finnish climate waiting for us ones we get back home. 

One of the weirdest buildings I've ever seen

As I tried to soak up as much of the city as I could, in the taxi on the way to the hotel, I saw a big group bullies beating up their school mate. 

So extremely frustrating watching something like that without being able to effect it in any way!! 

 I really hope that kid is ok....bad bad bullies!!!

After a quick nap we headed to hard rock for sound check and before I knew it the spotlight went on and I stepped on the stage for the last time this trip.

I think show in Delhi was one of the best ones so far. The vibe between the band members was on top and the energy increased through out the gig.

After the show I hang out with the fans and met a very sad young gentleman who had waited for the show for a month, driven 50 km and missed the whole thing. To lighten up the day we took him back stage, had a few drinks and have him a t-shirt. Better late than never! 

Over all it has been one of the best musical experiences I've had and the Indian audience is so easy to connect with!!! Thank you guys!!! 

Before putting a dot to this text I want to share my gratitude to Shatadru Sarkar and Times Music, 

Hard Rock Cafe, Music Finland and my bandmembers - love you guys!

Rock on

Jessica 

Ps. Let me introduce my team

Gonzo Zombrero (Guitar)

Cheri Martin (Bass)

ist (guitar)

Sebastian Lindqvist (guitar)

Jarno Vanhanen (drums)

Arto Kitula (Sound engineer)

Alexis Pierret (Camera man, video editor)

Other videos and pics

With Mihir Joshi on the MJ Show - Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Gonzo and his killer look 

 Little girl on the street

Food market in Mumbai 

Elevator capture

Mumbai

Me and mr Drummer 

Hard Rock Cafe - Pune 

On the road

Children at Elephant Caves

Mumbai train station

Sweating with style

Hey guys,

Nope, I'm not dead or hiding underground. I've been trying to write this text about 4 times in the last two weeks.
 I think I've never had so many things on the plate before.  If I start to talk about the carrots it's not gonna satisfied anyone, but if I write about the whole menu people are gonna get so full they'll fall asleep.
 Besides, after writing about jumping from an airplane and getting my tooth punched off, who the hell cares about carrots.

In the music world there are a lot of opinions and comments about how to present yourself, what to say and how to be. Many times I've heard that you should always try to give out a picture that everything is going just great and smoothly, even when it's not.

 I understand the point. Who wants to be portrayed as a sad, grumpy person with a negative energy?
Well, in my case I gotta take the risk coz sugar coding things has never been a skill of mine.
 Trying to say I had an awesome day when I actually feel like I just stepped out of a trash can, just doesn't work and will only lead to a very superficial and boring text.  However, there are many ways to  step out of a trash can, why not do it with style?

The last weeks have been like an insane marathon race. Between band rehearsals I've been trying to check off all the business related things from the to-do list, in order to give myself as much time as possible to focus only on the music before the album release.

 There are so many categories as well as people to deal with at the same time, I'd need to put my head in a bucket of ice not to over heat my brain cells.
With other words, it hasn't been an easy ride, but then again, it's not supposed to.
 It's like my Kung-Fu master says about my jump kicks. You gotta go down in order to go up.
 I rather sweat and bleed a little bit for a total excitement, than look back a few years from now and remember my first album like something simple and smooth.

The more stressful the environment is, the more tools you need to balance yourself and recognize what you need.
A year ago, I still didn't trust that a few hours of rest or other activity between the tasks will make you more productive. Now I'm finally starting to learn.  It's like muscles. Without working out, you won't get stronger but without rest your muscles won't grow.

Rock it!

- Jessica

Rehearsing with the guys is like a big reward after a day of hard work

Shooting action fights a couple of hours
every once in a while is one of my favorite ways to keep balanced.

Ps. There are some absolutely awesome news on the way, just need the big guys to confirm some things first ;)

Renegade release

Hi everyone!

There is no limit for how excited I am!

The last 2 weeks have been completely insane trying to get all the last pieces of the puzzle together for the deadline of the album.

Right before the last days of working I got a new song sent to me that we decided to put on the album. I ended up singing the last vocals one day before the final mastering. Talk about playing with the deadline.

I could never have imagined how much work it is with the graphic design for an album, not let alone going through ever second of your songs until your half deaf.

At least 5 times I gave the thumbs up and confirmed, just to find another mistake right after or find something in the song that still needed adjustment.

Releasing an album has been one of my goals ever since I started with music and after working on it for so long It feels crazy to finally have the final result.

I hope I will come to experience this feeling many more times.

Now that there's no more work left it's time to roll up the sleeves for the actual release.

The gig will be the 2.5 in Tavastia in Helsinki. I really hope to see you there!

Rock on!

-Jessica Wolff

Skydiving to the studio

Hey everyone,

I started writing this text already 3 times. There is so much to tell and I've been trying to figure out how to avoid turning it into a book. To continue where I left off, here's what happened after I got punched in the face last New Years.

Before going to the studio in LA I stopped by San Diego for a few days to catch up with Kerry, an old friend of mine I hadn't seen for 6 years.
 This friendship is one of the most random and amazing ones I have with a crazy story behind it that is worth sharing, so I decided to write separately about it at the end of this blog text.

We started our reunion by celebrating together with some of Kerrys circus friends and I didn't get to bed until 5 in the morning. 2 hours later he wakes me up and the next thing I know we're jumping out of a plane.

Time to wake up!

Skydiving has been on my bucket list for years now, and it felt so cool to actually do it. We went up 3000 meter and the fall lasted for about a minute before the instructor released the parachute. I always thought it would be the adrenaline rush of all time but it turned out to be much more relaxing and "dreamy" than I could ever imagine.

And it was good! Best hangover cure ever

On my way to LA with Kerry. 

I didn't have many days together with my friend Kerry, but before continuing to LA I went to see his circus/ horse show which is by far one of the best shows I've ever seen. Check it out:

After sleeping in a rocking boat, on random couches and floors, it felt like a dream to sleep in a hotel bed when I got to LA. I spent about 80% of my time at the Hollywood Boulevard, if not in the studio then at  the hotel or somewhere in between. I was surprised how open minded and weird the place was.
LA is like a big jungle. One day you chill with the monkeys and the next day with the elephants. It's quite a mix of different cultures and there's plenty of room to be yourself.

Working with Jimmy Westerlund was an amazing experience I'll never forget. It's a long story behind the decision to re-produce my songs before releasing the album. If you want to know what led to that, check out the link to one of my earlier blog texts.

http://jessicawolffonline.blogspot.fi/2012/12/behind-scenes.html

Ready to role up the sleeves.

 It was a big step for me to burn down the house I had built for so long, to build a new one. It's a risky move but I had to follow my intuition.
The first day was the biggest challenge. It felt weird singing to new backgrounds and I got such a block I even forgot the lyrics. The process of letting go from something old and completely renew yourself can be quite scary and confusing.
Instead of just throwing myself into it as I normally do, I got stuck in a cloud of over analyzing and wondering if I really had made the right decision. If I would have kept those thoughts inside, the result would have been completely different. So I spoke out everything on my mind which resulted in me and Jimmy bumping heads like two little kids. Verbal punches in the face followed by a hand shake.
 It never happened before but I'm glad it did. There's a saying: "You need to test the strength to know it's potential".

If you don't let your thoughts out, the only thing that will happened is that they're constantly in the back of your head which is a perfect way to kill the creativity.

Next day we knew 10 times more about each other and from there it only went upwards. It didn't take long before we were rocking in the studio and I was surprised that I didn't have to do more than a few takes on each song before we had it.

A day off at Universal studios

Jebran Jouni, one of the coolest people in LA
who became a close friend. Besides his amazing personality
he is one kick ass designer who made clothes for many big stars.
Check out his work and you'll know what I mean:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Skkin-USA/117755524965601?fref=ts

After one month of traveling it was finally time to go home, but before that, I went to France to go to the music fair Midem.
It was four days of running from one meeting to another and going to all these gigs and parties. I've never struggled so much with a jet-lag before and must have consumed half of the coffee storage in France.

View from the Nordic Pavilion at Midem

The biggest reason why I went there was because of a guy from the Japanese record label "King Records" whom I connected with the year before. He got interested in my music and to make sure he didn't forget about me, I went to "Finland Fest" in Tokyo last May, thanks to the support of Music Finland.
I almost choked on my sashimi when he told me he wanted to release my album in Japan.
For a half year the deal has been under progress and a few months ago it was decided that the album release would be the 10th of April in Japan 2 weeks before the release in Finland the 24th. I still couldn't break the news before I was completely sure and I've been dying of anticipation not to know.


At Midem I finally met him again for dinner and we had a meeting that resulted in a bottle of Champagne. He told me that it's now official in Japan, the promotion has already started and we could break the news in Finland. I had to hold on to the chair not to fly through the roof! Three years ago I wrote "release your album in Japan" on my goal list. It's been hanging on my wall ever since and now it's actually happening! Yiiiiiihaaaaa!!!!

Outside of the restaurant after the happy news

Signing photos for the Japanese label

Rock on!

- Jessica Wolff

Ps. Wanna hear the story about the most random friendship? Check out the text below.



How I met Kerry

When I was 13 years old, I joined my dad on one of his business trips to Orlando in Florida.
Kerry was working for Universal studios as a joggler back then and had jumped over the fence to use the swimming pool at the hotel.
It all started with him wondering what language I was speaking with my friend. We talked for about an hour and the next day I left. We didn't have much contact except for emails every once in a while during the years.
6 years later I felt restless and decided it was time for an adventure. I wanted to go far away and for some reason I picked USA. Since I was on my own I decided to go and visit some people I knew. Kerry was one of them. My family and friends were quite upset with me. All they saw was a 19 year old girl visiting a 6 year older guy she only met for one hour, who could be a rapist, psycho or whatever.
However, I had a strong feeling he was just as cool as the first time I met him and trusted my intuition once again.
After spending a week in Virginia I took a flight to Florida where Kerry would pick me up. It wasn't until I sat on the plane that I started to freak out. What if my intuition is wrong? What if my family and friends are right? What if he really is some sort of psycho? How can I really know?

With these thoughts in the back of my head I got off the plane and found Kerry at the baggage claim.  I felt very alert on everything that went on around me.
Once we got into the car I asked him if we're going to his place. " No, actually I'm homeless" was the answer. Great.. 1-0 to the family.
It didn't exactly make me feel calm but I decided to keep my head up. After driving for a while Kerry suddenly stopped the car. I looked around and realized we were in the middle of nowhere next to a closed petrol station. Why would anyone randomly stop there?
The alarm clocks in my head turned on and before I even had the time to think of a possible escape route, a half naked man with make up on bumped against my window yelling at me to let him in.
Before I had time to react, Kerry opened my door from the inside and the guy jumped over me to the back seat. " Go go! A crazy ex-boyfiend is chasing me with a chair"!

My thoughts were spinning like a roller coaster. Instead of freaking out I decided to take it easy and try to figure out what the hell was going on.

It turned out that Michael, the half naked with make up on, was a close friend to Kerry, and had promised that we could crash there for the night. The reason why Kerry was homeless is because the job he does. He's a stunt man, joggler, horseback trick rider, musician and acrobat and always travels from one show to another.
Michael however, was playing the Aladdin character in a musical, that's why he was wearing make up.  Straight after the musical he had promised to go to his friends place to do a strip show at a birthday party. Suddenly an angry ex-boyfriend had turned up and started chasing him with a chair so he didn't have time to put his t-shirt back on and decided to run instead of fight.
 He had asked Kerry to pick him up at the petrol station which explain why we randomly stopped. Kerry was so busy talking about other things so he forgot to explain to me what the plan was.

I had a good laugh when the pieces of puzzle came together and decided that once I get a strong intuition about something I'm gonna stick to it.
Instead of staying in Florida we did a lot of random things. We went up to Wisconsin where we stayed at a horse farm and almost every night we found a new place to stay.
Some people you just know that you can trust from the first time you meet them. If you call them in 20 years it will still be the same. Those friendships are rare but once you find them you better keep them.