One big Pesodent smile

Hi everyone,

The winter has come, my snake just shaded skin and my music scene just turned upside down.
Don't get me wrong it's definitely not a bad thing.
I wanted to update my blog much earlier but first I wanted to be sure about some things before sharing.

About a month ago when I was meditating it became very clear to me how much I need a manger. I known it for a long time but now it really came up to the surface.
The further I get with my music the harder it is for me to keep track of the business part: promotion, planning releases, layouts, marketing, website, getting deals, organize gigs etc, not let alone the most important of all, being an artist.

I thought about what kind of a manager would be good for me. Someone who knows the business well, who's outgoing, energetic, see me for who I am and dedicated.
A few weeks later I got a phone call from a manager being interested.
First I didn't want to get my hopes up, but a week later we had a meeting and before I knew it he became my manager.

It's the best thing that has happened in a long time.

Three years ago I jumped out of acting school to focus full time on music. I decided to give myself at least 6 years, before I would "allow" myself to consider doing it as a hobby if it nothing happens (hopefully I can go on for many more years).

I set up my own company in order to control as much as possible, especially in the beginning since the music business was so new to me.
I started applying to fonds, finding investors, found a team of a promoter, booking agent, business consultant etc.
I got the band together, the websites running, recorded songs and wrote new ones, went to stage coaching, took promo pictures, and eventually made music videos, singles etc. The list goes on.
So far it's been an amazing trip, that's been developing me as a person/artist but also teaching me a lot of valuable things about the music business.

The only problem that caused me stress many times the further I went, was that I started to feel I needed 10 more hands, twice as many hours a day and 5 more personalities in order to get everything done the right way.
People around me had very different opinions on what to do and how to act, and the only thing I could do was to follow my intuition and use my common sense.
I was constantly thinking: What is the next step? What can I do tomorrow to get closer to my goal, and what is the to-do list for 1 months, a half year and a year from now?

As soon as the management deal was confirmed, it felt like a big rock lifted from my chest. The Pepsodent smile is still wide on my face.

There will still be as much work as before, but this time I can focus more on the music and feel relaxed knowing that I have a smart guy behind me who knows how things work and who can help me to focus on the right things. It feels like the best Christmas gift of all times!

A lot of awesome things have already started to happen that I would love to write about, but I still have some things to work on before sharing. All I can say is that feel very happy and thankful.

Life rocks rights now!!!

Cheers,
Jessica

Ps. Check out my blog the end of next week

What A Coincidence

Hi everyone,

About a week ago I got a very interesting phone call from a great songwriter/producer called Jimmy Westerlund. He had heard about me through a friend who suggested that we work together.

We quickly met up for a coffee and right away got along really well. We decided to write a song together and a few days later he knocked on my door, ready to start a songwriting session I won't forget in the first place.
We had a great laugh about the fact are we're not only sharing the same initials JW but we're also born on the same day. Not let alone the fact that guy he had written the song idea with, happened to be my keyboard player Jani Hölli. Quite a coincidence.

First we were both quite sleepy. Him after driving for 5 hours and me having a heavy flu, but after a quick meal and some coffee we were fit for writing.

We didn't have a studio to go to, but my parents weren't at home so we set up a small studio in their living room.
I was so surprised how easy everything was.  It didn't take long before we got the text and melody for the first verse.
 I usually rehearse a lot before I go to the studio and sing at least 50 takes to get the best possible result. Sometimes it requires a few takes before I get into it, but not this time.

I'm not sure if it was the chilled atmosphere or the good mood, but I didn't have to sing more than a couple of times every line, before we were pleased with the result.
We kept on working until 5 am when we could barely keep our eyes open anymore.
It was one great experience and I was surprised how well the sound turned out coming from a quickly home made studio.

Rock on!

Sometimes a chilled atmosphere with great conversations and a little
bit of white wine is all you need.

Jessica

Broken Wings

HI there,

I just finished the music video shootings for the up-coming single "Broken Wings". It took us 4 days in total.
The first day was everything from awesome to a nightmare. We started 8 am with make-up and I didn't get home until 5 in the morning. I thought it was going to be challenge to film with small kids but with some Angry Birds candy it went smoothly. The kids were very patient and so sweet.

The little "fan club"

I was also met by a small "fan club"of school kids, when we got to the second shooting location. Except for pulling my hair and jumping up and down in front of the camera, they were very cute 

and helpful.

The "nightmare part" started at around 7pm on a random playground in the middle of nowhere. Not only was it raining but it was very cold outside and the power kept on going off. 

I almost started to regret I had decided that my character shouldn't wear any shoes or jacket. After an hour I started shaking so badly I couldn't keep my body still or control my breathing. 

On top of that we had fire effects that were supposed to go off on a certain time in the song. It took a while to prepare them before each take and I knew I couldn't afford to mess it up because I was freezing.

It's gonna be interesting to see how it turned out. If you can't fight it you gotta turn it into your advantage, so I did my best to use the coldness as a tool to get the emotion needed for the chorus. 

After this day the rest of the days felt like a piece of cake. We were also very lucky, since two actors jumped out right before the shootings and both times we managed to find new ones half a day before the next shootings. So big thanks to Josefin Silen & Irina Tundra. You girls rocked!

 I also had the honor to get the wrestler/singer, "Starbuck", to play one of the main characters in the video. He did an absolutely amazing job.
Big thanks!

-Jessica

Starbuck & my freezing self

Brain cell damaging activity

Cold to the bone after spending some wonderful time in the water at the photo shoot

Hi there,

I think I must have lost half of my brain cells, spending 4 hours on the train, staring at myself on the laptop screen trying to pick out 10 out of 2245 promo pictures for the album. Maybe not the best way to get that energy boost before a gig. 

The internet connection was really bad and it took ages for the pictures to show.  However, with a good mood, patience and a lot of coffee I managed to go through about 700 pictures.

 The deadline for the up coming single and music video (Broken Wings), is coming up very quickly and there is a lot to do. It feels exciting, stressful, awesome and a tiny bit scary.

I have about two weeks time to master the single, pick out one picture for the single cover, find a grafic designer, register the song, get the needed codes and texts for the layout and finally send them to printing.

When it comes to the music video the story hit me as I was recording the song.  After a bunch of meetings later with the director we had the script in our hands. The song is about the pressure of the society and it's effect on people. It's something I wanted to write about for a long time and it has woken up a lot of thoughts and feelings on the way.

It's always exciting following the journey from the beginning of an idea to the final result. It also gives you a better chance to express yourself on a deeper level.

 That's also the little scary part, to take something so personal and expose it in public. I guess it would be like standing naked on the stage. It doesn't get more honest than that. People like or they don't, but usually they react.

Rock on!

Jessica

Rocking on an lung infection

HI there,

A lung infection is one of the last thing you want before a gig, especially if you have two in the same day. After being sick for 2 weeks I was still hopeful of getting well before my shows last weekend.
But the same morning I my throat was still dry, my nose was stuffed and I couldn't stop coughing.

After freaking out about it for a bit I pulled my up and decided I'm not going to let that ruin my day. There's not much to do about the situation but getting nervous and worry defenitely won't make it better.

 I decided to do the best out of the situation, stay relaxed and only focus on the message I want to deliver. Before I've also been focusing on moving around, the sound of my voice, the instruments etc. Completely ignoring those thoughts made me feel more free than ever.
My voice broke every ones in a while but luckily people didn't seem to notice.

In the end I had a lot of fun and it felt so great being up on the stage. It turned out to be a very valuable experience for me and it was another proof for me how much of the performance is based on mind power.









Rock on!

Jessica

Writers Block

Practiced a Kung-Fu kick called "Butterfly". I later realized it looked more like an attempt to stage dive in the park.

Hi there,

I've been trying to come up with a good interesting subject to write about for a week now. I've been at home in a heavy flu, which should be a good mode for blog writing. I thought the subject would just naturally pop up in my head sooner or later. Well it still hasn't, so I guess I'll have to write about writers-block.

It happens to me every once in a while, especially when I'm dealing with "office stuff" and tricky contracts. Business stuff and song writing simply don't go hand in hand.
Since I've released everything myself It basically makes me my own record label. Which also makes me responsible of everything else besides the actual singing. It's good and bad to be your own boss. You need more than a lot of discipline to make it work, which can be exhausting sometimes. But on the other hand you have all the control and can choose which direction you want to go. It was scary in the beginning since I'm so new (3 years) to the business side of music.
 I've made a lot of mistakes on the way but that's the way to learn, and I don't think I would learn the same things on a school bench.

You often hear people talking about artists as "products". It's really sad, but it's also the raw truth.
It felt like a slap in the face when my consultant told me 3 years ago that I better start seeing it that way and get used to the thought.

That's where it gets weird. I'm responsible of selling a product which happens to be myself. That's quite mind twisting sometimes. So, I've come to the conclusion that it's better to just "be", keep your feet on the ground and do what feels right and keep focused.
If I'll think too much about that stuff I will most likely get a writers block. ;)

Rock on!

Jessica Wolff

Hi everyone,

Sunday, two weeks ago I got a message from a guy asking if I wanted to do a promo gig the following Wednesday. The gig would be 4 hours away from Helsinki at a big rally event with a lot of people and they wanted me to be the main act.
I've never been asked to do a gig only 2,5 days before and I told the guy it might not be possible to get the band together with such a short notice.
After calling around it turned out that half of my band members were abroad. However, I was dealing with a very stubborn guy who insisted that I make it work.
If someone's working hard to give me a gig I don't want to be the one giving up.
The following Monday became one hectic day. I made about a million phone calls and by the end of the night I finally found a keyboard guy who was ready to learn the songs in one day. I also got a base player who ended up taking an 8h train ride from the north of Finland just to do the gig.

Unfortunately we didn't have any time to rehears. Normally this would have made me a bit nervous but somehow everything came so fast I couldn't afford, and didn't have time to stress about it.

After a 4 hour drive we arrived to the place and started to get ready for soundcheck. Their schedule was late and someone told me we would have to skip the whole soundcheck.
I thought it couldn't get worse: New guys, no rehearsal and no soundcheck, great.  Luckily one of the organizers realized it wasn't such a brilliant idea to let the band play without having any idea about the sound, so he managed to arranged some more time for us.

 It turned out that this guy who got me the gig had recommended me and some other bands to the arrangers. He had asked them to pick their top 3 but instead they had put my name 3 times. He tried to explain they need at least one back up but they insisted that I was the only option.
 No wonder why the guy had been so stubborn, at some point I even thought it was a bit weird that he tried so hard. Anyhow, I can't complain, it was a big compliment that made my day.

After the soundcheck I still didn't feel any sort of nervosity and it almost started to worry me. Of the times I've been nervous before a gig this should have been the worst.
 I thought maybe it would hit me like a rock in the stomach right before I go on stage like a couple of times before.
However,  stressing about not stressing is probably the most stupid reason to stress, so I decided to keep my calm vibe and if the nervosity hits, it hits.
Well, for some reason it never happened and it actually turned out to be one of my best gigs. At least I had a lot of fun on stage and think I was a bit all over the place. The keyboard guy and base player were both fantastic and the audience like it.
Sometimes it's good to just throw yourself out there without being prepared and just trust the situation.

After the gig we got a really good response and after a long night I got home at about 5 am in the morning.

The next gig will be the 8th of September in Tampere in Särkänniemi. I will have two gigs the same day. If you're around that area I hope to see you in the audience!

Rock on!

Jessica