Music, snowmen and Kung Fu

Eric Gast rocking the buttons

Hi everyone,

Just had a small break after being on the road for almost one and a half months. After working for 20 days in the studio in Stockholm I went back to Helsinki with Eric to work on a couple of songs with Johnny Lee Michaels. The big difference between Sweden and Finland is that in Sweden they drink milk and coffee and in Finland the studio sessions tends to end with a party. Both works well!
 Eric also came to a couple of band trainings to coach the band. It's great to have him around. He is guiding me in so many ways. Not only my singing but also lyrics, stage performance, how to approach the music business and many other things. I wonder what my road would look like if I hadn't decided to go to New York to see him in person. I would probably be struggling a lot more.
After a few days in Helsinki Eric went back to the studio in Stockholm to continue working on the tracks with the other guys.
My attempt to rest went down the drain when I realized how much business stuff that had piled up on my desk. To balance it out I took some time to build a huge snowman, go and see a couple of movies and train some Kung Fu.
Now I'm back in Stockholm for a couple of days. We're recording the drums in Benny Anderssons (ABBA) studio. Tomorrow I'm gonna do some vocals before going back to Helsinki.
I have a gig coming up the 17th of March. Finally! It feels like ages since the last gig and have been starting to feel a bit restless. It's a good change from the life in the studio.

Rock on!

Jessica

Benny Anderssons studio

Working on the album

Hi everyone,


I've been in to the studio for about two weeks straight now. A lot of inside jokes and espressos. If I continue like this I will probably start bouncing off the walls soon.
I try to balance the long days with good gym sessions in the morning or evening. I'm starting to get fed up with the boring breakfast. Get me a mango and you'll be in my good books for months.
I'm working on the fourth song in two weeks now. I've been writing about brainwashed people, how we forget the kid inside of us, lies, love and also a "punch in the face" song.
Many new challenges and a lot of good lessons. Sometimes it's a bit hard when the guys  finish the melody and I gotta keep up with the lyrics. Suddenly you have 3 people waiting for you to "quickly" come up with something.
 Of course you can write something that sounds cool but I want every sentence to make sense, at least in my own brain. In order to do that i need to be connected with my feelings and my perspective of different things. With a time pressure it's not always a piece of cake, but so far so good.
There are a lot of music business related things going on as well. I have some record labels interested, which is a very good sign.

Even how great that is it also means there's a lot of business related things going on at the same time.
 I'm not gonna lie, it's doesn't exactly go hand in hand with the creative side. If I had the choise I would have left the "business woman" inside of me, back at home in the snakes cage or something.
I guess a good solution would be to write a song about it ;)


Cheers,

Jessica

Rolling up the sleeves

Hi everyone,

I had an absolutely amazing time at Midem. It went far over my expectations. I learned a lot of new very valuable things, not only about the music business but also about my position as an artist and what I need to work on.
People have been telling me I need to have a "sales speech". The thought of walking up to random people and starting to promote my "artist package" felt a bit awkward.
So I made a list of the 5 most important things about my music just to keep myself focused and avoid random babbling. Other than that I decided to go with the flow, keep a positive vibe and see what happens without trying too much.
The approach turned out to work quite well. After a couple of meetings it felt natural to talk about my music without feeling like I'm trying to sell a product (which happens to be myself). That's already weird enough as it is.
In the end I guess most people just want honesty. Aren't we all pretty tired of fake smiles?

I met a lot of really wonderful people from all around the world and went from one meeting to another. Together with my consultant we worked from early morning to late night.
It looks like I have the chance to work with some of the people I met in the future. I don't want to expect anything before it happens but I'm keeping my thumbs up!
After I got home from Midem I had about two days to pay bills, feed my snake, wash clothes etc.
I also had a few interviews that mostly had to do with the UMK competition in Finland.

Next week you'll know if I'm in or out.  Either way I want to take the opportunity to thank every single one who has been there supporting me, voting and for all the comments (also the critical ones). The positive ones make me smile the negative help me grow!

Now I'm back in Stockholm. My producer just arrived from New York and we're about roll up the sleeves and start working on my album. It's great to have him back! A lot of good laughs and great moments ahead.

Cheers,

Jessica

Ps. Here's a picture from a short movie I played a character in a while ago. If you wanna see, here's the link:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FFW884Tn8k&feature=youtu.be

Midem & 2 stitches

Hi everyone,

Back to business! I just arrived to Nice and tomorrow I'm going to MIDEM ( a large music trade fair in Cannes). 

There you can find music industry people from all around the world. The four up-coming days are gonna be filled with events and meetings. I'm really looking forward to this experience. My goal is to connect with managers, publishers and distributors but I know that even if I don't get a deal I wont go back empty handed.

Just connecting with people and gain a bigger understanding of todays music business is already valuable. Wish me good luck! I'm still fighting my jet-lag (7 hours behind) but should be back on track by tomorrow.

After 10 days of re-charging the battery I feel like a new person ready to rock again! The trip was simply amazing.

Like I mentioned in my last blog text, I need to let the little kid in me go wild every once in a while, especially if I want to maintain the creative spark. It surely did.
It didn't take more than two days before I found myself at the hospital. Typical. It was my second day of kitesurfing and I decided to follow my friend down wind to another beach.

 On the way there were pretty huge waves. Jumping off one of the waves resulted in a hard crash and the fin of the board cut a hole in my head. I think I got a slight concussion because I can't remember it so well other than bleeding and focusing on getting back to land.

Great jump, bad landing

The beach I got back to after crashing

My friend took me to the hospital and a couple of stitches later I was up and running. I must have damaged a nerv or something because I didn't feel any pain and half of my head is still numb. Hopefully I get the feeling back soon. It's feels weird to brush my hair.

After a days break, I was back on the water. My friend tried to teach me how to do a back flip trick. 

After a lot of crashing and flying like super man through the air, I finally managed to do the trick the last day of kitesurfing.

It was an amazing feeling of excitment and adrenaline! 

Practicing the back roll

 I got so stoked I forgot about my kite for a second and dropped it in the water.

Unfortuantely I was very far out and the wind was light so I couldn't get it back up again. The kite was pulling me further out and the nearest beach was filled with rocks.
The situation looked a bit tricky and a very looong swim and a rescue later, the sand under my feet felt better than ever. However, it was totally worth it! I reached my goal, learned a lot of lessons and the dinner&drink afterwards tasted insainly good.

This trip was just what I needed and I'm gonna bring inspiration from my new experiences back to the studio. I'll be working on my album from the 4th-28th of February. I can't wait to get started again. Working with Eric Gast, is just amazing!

Cheers,

Jessica 

Ps.

Another wound to my collection.
Got my finger stuck in a car door. 

Eric Gast is coming back

Hi everyone,

I've been cleaning and packing for what feels like days now. After working with my producer, Eric Gast, for 25 days in a row, 10-14 hours/day, there hasn't been much room for anything else.

After being inside of the creative "work bubble", reality felt like a punch in the face when I got home.
A big pile of things like going through mails, paying bills, washing clothes, vacuuming, getting guinea pigs for my snake etc. was kindly waiting for me.
I also had music video shootings the next three following days. I had promised my friends to play this character in their music video.
I usually take time to prepare before I do any kind of acting but this time I didn't get the chance.

 It was another nice but intense challenge. We had a very tight schedule, quickly going from one shot to another so all I could do was to go with the flow and try to manipulate myself to feel certain things. There wasn't much room for analyzing whether it worked or not.
 I think the result from my part is either gonna be good or terrible.  In any case, I learned something new.

Now my bags are packed, the snake is fed and the flat is cleaned. I'm going back to Sweden to do some stage coaching and studio work for a few days. Then I will have some time off, go crazy and let the child in me go wild before I go to Midem (the world's largest music industry trade fair).
Check it out on: www.midem.com


 As much as I love what I do, a little break wouldn't harm. It takes about three days for me to get out of the working mode.
It's not until you're able to put your daily life a side that the mind can truly relax. That's when magic starts to happen. When your body absorbs everything you've learned, gain energy and inspiration for the next round.

I also just got the wonderful news that Eric is coming back two days after I get home for another 25 day session, so I'm definitely gonna need a full charged battery.

Last time I let the child in me run wild, I ended up in this palm tree

Cheers,

Jessica

Riding the wave

Hi everyone,

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. I almost missed the whole Christmas concept this year and if it wasn't for my stubborn parents I would probably have stayed in Helsinki to work on the album.
 I'm glad I didn't. I just had the first couple of days of after working for 6 weeks. It really made me realize how important rest is for a good result.
Now I'm heading back to Helsinki. Tomorrow the work continues with Eric Gast. We will focus on a ballad that's written by the guitarist in my band.
There's a lot to come next month and I'm trying to prepare as well as I can to make everything work. I think I never had a crazies schedule than the one I have had the last two months and it's getting even crazier.
The album work continues,  a lot of paper work, finding sponsors, distributors, publishers, rehearsing new songs with the band, Finnish lessons, Midem in Cann, acting in a music video, Kung Fu etc.
One of the most important things is the UMK competition. It's gonna be really interesting to see what happens next.
They're going to pick out the 12 artists who will continue in the competition in January. I don't want to "say hi before I cross the bridge", but it looks promising since I'm top 2 on the list.
I still can't believe how it happened. I'm used to work at least a week on a song before I go to the studio and this one I had about 20 minutes to learn before we started recording.  All I can do is being thankful and work my butt of to get as far as I can with it.
If you want to help me stay as a top 2, please vote (you can vote more than once), share the link with your friends and post it on our Facebook wall. I would appreciate it a lot.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X_mHhi-nSQ
http://satumaa.yle.fi/umk/kilpailijat-2012/jessica-wolff-better



Cheers,

Jessica


Ps. Here are some random pictures from Johnny Lee Michaels studio.

From studio to studio

Getting ready for the Christmas party

Hi there,

Eric Gast who is producing my album was supposed to fly back to New York today. Instead he extended his trip until New Years,  so we can finish one or two tracks before he goes back.
We've been working about 12-14 hour/day for the past two weeks, in three different studios.
 The days are floating by and it's hard to keep track of time while working inside the "the bubble of creativity".
It reminds me of when I once jumped of a cliff into the the sea. The jump itself wasn't so bad but to get up was the tricky part. I had to climb a slippery,6m long rope, while the waves smashed me to the side of the cliff.
My body was shot and normally wouldn't have had the strength to go on but I had no choise if I wanted to stay alive, so the adrenaline gave me the strength I needed.
It's the same with my album, the music keeps me going. To have Eric here working with me is a once in a life time chance.

 Besides the lack of sleep I've been laughing and smiling a lot. I had an awesome weekend starting by a small Christmas party and a great session in the studio with Johnny Lee Michaels and Eric.

Cheers,

Jessica

Eric The Producer, Squishy The Snake and Santas New Helper

Ps. Here's something random I did with my stunt friends a couple of weeks ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uJbjBOK_lo&feature=youtu.be