Dirty Kisses

Hey there guys and girls!

My new single "Dirty Kisses" is finally here! Check out the link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKInSXe1sBs&feature=g-all-lik

It's always both scary and excited at the same time to release a new song. After working on the song following it from the first created note, to the final version, you get immune and it gets hard to imagine what it sounds like to someone who never heard it before.
Of course the goal is always, at least for me to effect people in a good way with my music. The feeling is so awesome when someone gives you good response after you put your heart into something.
However I think it's important not only when it comes to music but anything you create in general, to be open to peoples different opinions and remember that what you create is, not you, just a small piece of your personality. Even a strong negative reaction is better than nothing at all, and unless it's full of pointless crap it might even help you to grow as an artist.

It reminds me of one of the first gigs I had in Helsinki a few years ago. It felt like it went really well and I thought it was the best gig so far, but when I got off the stage the first thing my Kung-Fu master said was "That was shit! I couldn't even hear your voice". Well, I can't say it cheered me up but I'm glad he was so honest because it taught me that I should get my own mixer in the future.
Anyhow, enough  about reactions and creations.

When I wrote the lyrics for this song, it was like putting my feelings down on paper and turn it into something productive.
The message I want to bring out is to appreciate what you have in the present moment because a moment later it turns into a memory. I could probably write a whole page about the story behind the lyrics, but I rather leave it open for the listener to interpret it the way they feel.

I'm really thankful that I had such a great team around me working on this song. So I wanna share big thanks to the Swedish producers Joakim Övrenius & Patric Jonsson and Eric Gast (additional production) for the great work! I also want to share my appreciation to however invented coffee, which without this song would have sounded different ;)


Rock on!

Jessica Wolff


Ps. If you want to buy the single online, here are some options.

http://digianttila.com/
http://kauppa.nrj.fi/
http://cmstore.fi/
http://download.mtv3.fi/

Finland Fest in Tokyo

Tokyo 24.5 - 29.5

Day 1

Finally in Japan! It's been a lot of Traveling the last week. I came home to Helsinki in the middle of the night a couple of days ago. Next day I had a band practice, a meeting and then off to Japan.
I was running around like speedy Gonzales trying to get everything packed, send the single to printing, feeding my boa snake etc. I probably forgot half of my stuff at home.
Now I'm on the bus on my way to the hotel together with my producer, some Heavy Metal dudes and some people from Music Export Finland.
I'm glad the event doesn't start until tomorrow. Otherwise the Japanese record labels would probably mistake me for a sleep walking zombie rather than a rock/pop artist.

My window view

Day 2
Fighting the jet lag

One heavy jet lag! Rise and shine. I'm so glad I bought a pair of big sunglasses a few weeks ago.
I woke up 3 am feeling weird, sick and tired but not able to sleep. After rolling around in the bed for four hours I called Eric who was awake too and we went out for a very early breakfast.
We found a bar that was closing at 8 am in the morning and there I had the strangest breakfast of my life. A clam soup with ham in it.
A few coffees later and to my big surprise I fell asleep like a baby when I got back to the hotel room.
I woke up a couple of hours before the Reception party organized by Musex.

A couple of wonderful Japanese girls I met
at the after party.

I met a lot of interesting people within the music industry, not only from Japan but also from Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland.
 Even though my body was longing for some more sleep we went to see some gigs followed by the Houko Music Night after party. The parties are usually what connects people the best.
We had a very interesting taxi experience on the way back. The taxi driver kept on babbling to me in Japanese. First I tried to explain that I didn't understand but after he kept on talking I just replied with "hai" which just made him babble even more.
I heard many Japanese use the word Hai and I think it means something like ok or yes.
Eric filmed the whole thing so I'll post it later.

One fancy bathroom.

Day 3
Sprayed in the face

A jet lag + after party is not the best combination if you wanna feel like a piece of sunshine next morning. I certainly didn't. I guess one reason is because I woke up around 3am. I rolled around in the bed for a couple of hours and when I was finally falling asleep again the toilet suddenly started to make a very loud wheezing noise.
Half asleep I got up to try to do something about it. Next to the toilet seat were a lot of random buttons (in Japanese). I took a shot and pressed one of them, which certainly didn't help.
 What happens is that a plastic stick comes out of the toilet and sprays water right in my face. Good morning Jessica!! I feeling like an idiot but the whole situation was so random I couldn't do anything but laugh. It reminded me of Mr. Bean.
I thought I was done with the whole getting sprayed in the face thing, but believe it or not an hour later the same kind of thing happened but in public.
I went to have breakfast with Eric and with the meal they served me mayonnaise in two small weird plastic boxes attached to each other.
There was an image showing "break it in half". So I did, but the wrong way around so instead of getting it on my meal I got a wonderful mayonnaise mustache. I should have gotten paid for entertaining the restaurant guests. Not only was I the only blonde person but I was also wearing my Onepiece.
They probably thought I was from a different planet. Another good morning laugh.

Other than these two random situations the day went pretty smoothly. I went to see a beautiful Japanese garden in Tokyo before going to the "Metal Attack" show later in the evening. It was a four hour dose of Heavy Metal by both Finnish and Japanese bands. The audience went crazy!
After the show I went to a sushi restaurant with a guy from King Records. It was a great meeting and the sushi was probably the best I ever had. Tomorrow we're meeting again at an music business event.

For some reason some people call Eric
"egg". I'm not sure where the inside joke comes from
but he also has a blog with that name
 http://fmeggblog.blogspot.com/
Long story short, he felt very at home when he found
these eggman signs.

A beautiful park in Tokyo

The audience went crazy

It wouldn't take it's eye off me

Day 4
 Meet the Labels

I met a lot of very interesting people today. I had random meetings for 6 hours. It was quite intense. I came to this place where they have tables for each company and the whole day through people from different labels came to visit and if they were interested they would come to your table for a meeting.
I met a lot of distributors, promoters, labels etc. Looking good!
It also turned out that Chip, the base player from Enuff Znuff who is a good friend with my Eric had suggested that we contact his friend Ryo at King Records. Eric thought it would be good to talk with the guy I met at Midem first since he is also working for King Records and we were meeting up with him anyways. It turned out that it was the same person, I just didn't know his nickname was Ryo. What a small world.
We had a good laugh about it called Chip during our meeting. Except for us waking him up he was very happy to talk with his old friends.
After the meetings we went to an amazing restaurant with Eric friend who happened to be in Tokyo. He has been working as a camera man for Eric when they were filming a documentary about how music can help people get through rough times. For instance they went into the war zone in Burma and lived with the soldiers in the jungle and interviewed them and recorded some of their music.
There were some other people joining us at the restaurant as well and I met a very successful artist from Korea. We exchanged our music and talked about working together in the future.
I got back after 1 am in the morning and had the option to go to sleep or have a beer with the guys from the band called "Swallow the Sun". I chose to go for a beer.

I had a really good time and the guys were great. We got back to the hotel around 3 am and I realized it's no point to go to sleep since I would have to wake up 3 hours later to catch the flight. I took an ice cold shower and drank a lot of coffee and water in order to stay awake.
The weirdest thing is that at some point between 2-4 am there was an earthquake (5,2 on the richter scale) and I didn't notice a thing. I still don't know how it's possible, according to people the whole building was shaking.

After a long trip I finally got back to Finland. That night I slept like a baby.

It looks so much cooler in Japanese

Having some Sake with some guys from "Swallow the Sun"
The bar tender put this weird pearl hat on my head.

Went to a seminar and learn a lot about
the Japanese music market.

Living in the studio

Hi there!
I had an absolutely wonderful trip in Nice. It was very needed for re-charging my batteries. I went there together with three of my girl friends I've known since I was a kid. I also realized it was the first time since I was studying theatre three years ago, that I spent so much time together with a bunch of girls.
Most of my friends and people I work with are men, but the few girl friends I have are really close. Part from the shopping I had a great time.
When I got back I had a lot of work to do. My laptop mouse stopped working while I was in Nice so there was a bunch of stuff I couldn't get done. I could really feel reality biting when I came home.
 I had 24 hours to get everything set before picking up my producer from the airport the day after I got back. Back to business!
We started with a meeting the morning after he arrived and to my big surprise he gave me FM OnePiece. (FM is the charity he created).

Me and Eric Gast going to band practice

Within a minute after I took a picture of it at band practice, Thomas Adams (the guy who came up with the OnePiece concept) contacted Eric and told him he was in Helsinki for a day.
What a weird coincidence.
 Every time Eric has been around we've always randomly met the OnePiece guy. The first time at the launch party in Helsinki. The second time at party in Stockholm and now in Helsinki again.
After the band practice still wearing my Onepiece we went to say hi to Thomas late in the evening and didn't get to bed until late in the night.

 

My new FM OnePiece.

  We had a very early flight to the studio in Stockholm. I had only slept 2 hours but didn't mind since I wasn't supposed to do any vocals. We just had to go through the last adjustments for the up-coming single before mastering it.

Early breakfast at the airport

Straight from the airport I went to see my singing coach before joining the rest in the studio. I got very surprised when they told me that I should re-sing the chorus for another song I thought I was already done with.
When I go to the studio to do vocals I prefer to be prepared, warm up, sleep well, having my mind set etc. My body and voice were completely shut for the traveling and lack of sleep, but shit happens. 

I had to try at least, which turned out to be a good decision. After many takes I managed to find the energy and feeling I needed to nail the chorus.

Outside of the studio with my producers and an awesome
background vocalist.

Eric Gast & Patric Jonsson

                                                      

The next day we got few hours before taking the train to Malmö 4 hours away from Stockholm. Some of my old songs were recorded more than two years ago and in the need of an update in order to fit in with the rest of the songs on the album.

Johan Bejerholm in Worldstudios

 It was really nice coming back to World Studios and see my old producer Johan Bejerholm. He is one funny guy that always makes me laugh.

I thought re-sining some vocals for the old songs would be an easy task since I sang them hundreds of times. It actually turned out to be the opposite.

 Being brainwashed and deaf to your own songs it's hard to find a new spark and feeling in it.

When I'm performing with it's different though, then I can always get the emotions and energy from the audience and the adrenaline kick of being on the stage.

However, nothing is impossible. There's always a way even how stuck you feel with a song. It's just a matter of being stubborn and find the right way to approach it. Sometimes I need to move around a lot, do some boxing, try to go into a character or just have a very clear picture of what and who I'm singing it to.

The chorus that I had to re-sing in Stockholm is a good example. I felt stuck because I didn't have the energy but than I imagine that someone had just stabbed me with a knife and going into that feeling gave me the right vibe for the song. It might sound weird but these kind of "acting tools" effect both the voice and emotions a lot.  If one image doesn't work I just move on to the next one until I find the what feels right. At least it works for me.

Rock on!

Jessica Wolff

Creative artist & busy business woman

Hi there,
Let me introduce my "new boyfriend" on the picture above. I brought it home a couple of days ago and I think I'm in love. I realize that riding a motorbike is something that makes me feel completely satisfied and happy. It's a strange combination between relaxation and adrenaline, where it's only me the road and my thoughts. The most random things tend to pop up in my head when I drive almost like meditation. It's also great singing when driving. You don't annoy the neighbors and you can hear your voice really well with the helmet, almost like being in the studio.

Honda CB1000R

Besides letting the child in me loose on the bike I've been working like a "red-bull ant" the last few weeks switching roles between the busy business woman and the creative artist.
 It's not always a piece of cake to combine the two of them.
 Sometimes what would be good for the business is not what's in your heart but at the same time you need money to make music in order to follow your heart. Confusing, right?
 I realized the best way for me is to keep an open minded approach and extend my boundaries but be careful not to cross any limits or do things I can't stand behind. It's not always a dance on roses but than again challenges is what makes you grow, and definitely worth it.

As I mentioned in my last text  have a single release coming up in June and there's a lot to be done. The song still needs to be mixed and mastered and the cover need to be done.
 Last week my consultant pointed out that in order to get it done in time I would have to do the photo shoot before the end of this week. After my heart almost dropped down to my stomach because of the sudden time pressure I gathered my thoughts and started to make some phone calls.
Organizing a photo shoot usually takes a lot of time and planning ahead unless you just want to take a random picture and happen to have a friend who can quickly make the graphic design. Well that wasn't my case.
Last week I spent a lot of time trying to figure out my option of photographers, make-up artists, the style, concept etc.
 After spending three days on the phone I finally got a good team gathered for a meeting yesterday (one day before the photo session) to go through the concept ideas I sent them two days earlier.
I was really lucky with how the schedules connected and got Ville Juurikkala to take the photos. He is an absolutely amazing photographer.
So today I've been running around like Speedy Gonzales, starting the morning with a great meeting with my booking agents, promoters etc, going to Kung-Fu, getting the hair done, picking up the outfit and rest of the stuff i needed, then make-up, and finally going to the studio.

It was really easy to work with Ville and I think the result is going to be just what I'm looking for. The stylist Jenni Ahtiainen and make-up artist Tea Turunen were also there and did a great job. Everyone seemed to be on the same page with the concept.
What a great day. Now it's time to relax. I just finished packing my bags and tomorrow I'm off for a weeks vacation to re-load my batteries before my producer Eric Gast comes to Finland to work with me.
I'm more or less gonna live in different studios between the 14.5-8.6th. I realized that I haven't marked a single day for relaxation in that period of time, so that loaded battery is gonna be needed.
Here are some pics for you guys!

Rock on!

Jessica

Straight from Kung-Fu to
Cime Beauty House 

The make-up is done, ready to go

A little piece from the photo shoot

Waking up from my winter sleep

Hi there,

The spring is in the air! I had a couple of weeks of "spring tiredness" which is quite common especially here in Finland. We're like bears waking up from our winter sleep when the spring comes. Now the energy drops and writers block are finally disappearing and I feel a strong new inspiration kicking in.
The other great thing about the spring is that the motorbike season starts. It's been quite a while since I've been on the bike and it's quite frustrating to see the bikers out there without driving myself.
However, my season will start next Saturday.
Today when I was at Bikeworld I completely fell in love with this beautiful bike. It was like it started to talk with me as soon as I stepped into the shop!
 To be sure I don't get ahead of myself, which the adrenaline junkie in me tends to do, I'll start by going through the basic stuff with a motorbike teacher to brush up my memory. I gotta make sure to stay in one piece if I want the album to come out. I can't wait!

Honda CB1000R

 Other than that it's been a lot going on. Except for gigs, singing, stunts and Kung-Fu I have to get the album done and release a single before the summer. So there's been a lot of work and more to come.
When things are hectic it also shows by the way I dress or the look of my hairstyle. If I look like a troll and go to the shop in my Kung-Fu pants, it's a sign of a busy lifestyle.
Last Saturday I bumped into my hairdresser at an event in Helsinki. It took her about 2 seconds to pull out the brush & hairspray from her bag and starting to fix the mess on my head. So a couple of days later I decided to visit Cime Beauty House.

Before

And after

I also had a gig in Helsinki a couple of weeks ago where I got to try the "in ear"- system for the first time. It reminded me of singing in the studio where you get the music directly into your ears instead of listening to the monitors.

 It felt a bit weird but once I get used to it, it will be much easier in the future. Here's a video clip for you to check out. (The sound quality is unfortunately not so great... )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-GJHMO58qM

Rock on!

Jessica Wolff

Ps. Check out this painting that a fan sent to me all the way from Germany!

By Benny Ryll

Gigs, stunts, snakes and party!

Hi everyone,

I just came from a TV show (Yle Fem) where I went with my snake Squishy. We were talking about snake phobia. Squishy did a great job! Here's a link where you can watch it. You'll see me and Squishy in about half of the video (it's in Swedish).
Jessica & Squishy (0:46)
The last two weeks have been great. About a week ago I had two gigs. The first one was an acoustic gig at Indiedays's fashion show in Helsinki. It was the first time I performed only with my guitarist and baseplayer. It felt great being back on the stage again after being in the studio for so long!

Acoustic gig at Indiedays's fashion show

The following day we drove to Turku to do a gig after the GBOB competition (Global Battle Of The Bands).
Besides the great bands that were competing there were also artists like Jyrki 69, Dj Amara, Kim Herold, Tidjan and Esko Eerikäinen.
The event was sponsored by Jägermesiter which left us all a bit tired the day after.
On the stage it was a bit tricky to hear myself but other than that the gig went well.

Performing in Turku after the GBOB competition

The following weekdays were filled with stunt, Kung-Fu and getting ready for the next weekend.
 On Friday the 23.3 I went to Opaque Buffs single/music video release where I played the main character. I was a bit nervous since I wasn't sure if my acting had turned out well or not.
When we filmed the music video I had just gone through a very rough working period and felt really tired. I got the manuscript a couple of days before and never had time to really dig into the character I was playing.
When I act I normally do a lot of pre-work on the character to figure out what sort of personality, where the character comes from, where she is heading, what is her strongest drive and will etc.


 When you have that info and dig into it, it's much easier to understand how the character reacts in different situation and the feelings on the film set comes naturally.
We had a really tight schedule and the shots were taken in a random order so I instead of having a clear picture in my head of what I was doing I just had to improvise a lot and jump from one feeling to another. I did have a lot of fun though,  it was a nice challenge and I definitely learned a lot of new things, so I can't complain.
The video turned out well and the band was great! Too bad I couldn't stay and party with the guys since I had to perform the following day.
Sinderella - Opaque Buff  (Here's a link to the music video)

The next day I quickly packed my bags and drove to Kimito ( a town on the country side a couple of hours away from Helsinki).
The show called "Cirkus Ankdamm" is a theatre/circus performance with a bunch of known artists from Finland with different talents. It was a combination of acting, singing, Beat-Boxing, Breakdancing, stand-up comedy, acrobatics and stunts.

Lägg till bildtext

My main thing was acrobatics, stunts, a little bit of singing but also rapping with a Beat Boxer. I'm not completely sure why they wanted me to do that and it felt a bit ironic especially since the well known rapper Redrama was performing right before me. But I sure had a lot of fun!
I also broke my personal record in walking on my hands. In the end of my acrobatic performance I was supposed to walk on my hands and then get interrupted by one of the other artists.
Something went wrong in the communication and the guy who was supposed to come in fairly early waited for what seemed like ages.

A little bit of stretching before the show

I didn't have another choise but just keep on walking even though my my arms where cramping and it felt like my eyes would pop out any second. Luckily I didn't fall and the guy finally
came in to interrupt me. What a great work out!

The "never ending" hand stand

Throwing the circus director on the floor

I also got to "beat up" the circus director after he made fun of my Kung-Fu on the stage. The first show it went pretty well but the second one we had the following day was a bit of a mess. 

He is quite tall and I was supposed to throw him on the floor over my shoulder. I forgot to go down (to make the fall less painful) and you could hear a big "booom" when he hit the floor. I hope we're still friends...

Now I have some packing to do and tomorrow I'm going to Stockholm to record some songs.

Rock on!

Jessica

The final song "Vårt Tid, Vårt Land" with Janne Grönros,
 Krista Siegfrieds, Redrama, Lill-Fill (Beat Box), M.A Numminen and Tony & Rony (Breakdance)

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