Studio Diary

[Jope]

FOREWORD

A lot has changed since we last wrote here. After the "Deviation On The Road" -tour Mika Uronen decided to leave the band after 12 years of companionship. Altough the decision to continue was obvious the band was in a bit of a situation and decided to take a little time out. Jope was touring with To/Die/For, Toni joined Reversion and toured with Terry Brock and Danny Vaughn and Markus was keeping busy with Manitou and Omnium Gatherum.

Anyway Malpractice was writing, arranging and demoing new material while scouting for the new vocalist. After a long search in late summer of 2007 Malpractice recruited Aleksi Parviainen to fill in the vocal slot. Aleksi was already known to be a great vocalist and a suitable dude for the band by Toni who plays with him in Reversion.

Again with a full line-up Malpractice rehearsed and polished the material for the forthcoming album which was to be recorded at Astia-Studio in Lappeenranta and South East Sounds in Karhula during October and November.

Now as the sessions are about to begin, Malpractice is striking with full force. The band is in top notch condition and the new material really rocks, progs and kicks some serious ass! A new leaf is about to turn in the bands lenghty history and they're ready to make their best album to date. Maybe they'll have some fun on the side as well...

Here's how it went...


(somewhat translated from Toni's finnish version by Jope)

[Jope]

22.10.07

DAY 1

The red gear transporter pulls over at the side of the road driven by Jope who's just back from Russia with To/Die/For. His eyes matching the color of the car. It's time to say goodbye to Antza who was riding along in the car. Subway's that way and off you go lad! In with the drummer and the trip towards the beautiful industrial zone of Konala can begin.

Loading in the constantly growing amount of drums from Reversion's rehearsal room and then it's time to hit the road. A quick stop at Kouvola headquarters to pick up the spare bass drum pedal and pilot tracks.

As we were approaching Lappeenranta the drum artist was already feeling the "Astia-Effect" to set in. Those who have spent a lot of time at Astia-Studios know that there's some weird parallel universe or time warp or some twisted alternate reality there. We arrived at Astia and the welcome by Anssi Kippo was warm as always.

In with the gear and settling in could begin. The 700 square meter facility was already familiar from the "Deviation From The Flow" sessions. Jope headed home for the night and I set up the drum kit in the playing room and left the new skins to settle for a while. At the same time Anssi informed that the Sauna is ready. Anssi went to bed after nice "löyly" in HC-Sauna and I decided to tune up my new 5 tom kit (actually old with new components). Time went by very quickly tuning up the kit and suddenly I realized it was time for a brief visit to the kitchen and entertainment centre upstairs for a late night snack. Tomorrow it would be a day of hard work. One episode of "Police Squad" and off to bed.

5:00... whaddayaknow, Astia-Effect!


(somewhat translated from Toni's finnish version by Jope)

PS: If anyone knows what's löyly in english, please let me know...

[Jope]

23.10.07

DAY 2

Resurrection at noon. First week of the sessions is going to be drums only! Check the tuning, outstanding Astia sounds for the drums, drum-cam in position and let's rock!

"Here you are smoking!" some dude shouted in the studio yard. To my huge surprise I realized the guy was our ex-guitarist Sami Pesonen, a guy I hadn't seen in two years! Oh my goodness! I guided Samppa to the control room and started banging on drums. "Symmetry" was the first song to be recorded. Anssi behind the desk and Jope as an additional pair of ears. After a brief warm up, groove was nicely captured and the song was finished relatively quickly (actually I have no idea how long it took... Astia-effect...) FYI all you drum freaks: The snare I used on this song was Ludwig Black Beauty instead of my regular 4 1/2 inch "Whip of God" (named during the "DFTF" sessions)

Oh well. Good cigarettes, click to 196 bpm and it's thrash time! The working title for the next song used to be "Heavy". Lots of fast parts but also a very groovy middle jam in this one. Joy! Then straight to business: uber drum porn! The rockier side of the forthcoming album presented by "Platform" (within the band it's called FatPorn). In the bridge section of the song I really started to get some agony going on. Drum acrobatics with a lot of speed and dexterity but finally it's done! Ka-blooie! Let's see how I can handle it live... Snare on "Platform" is also the Ludwig. Rok!

First day and three songs in the can. That's pretty decent I might say! But it was already late so it's sauna time again followed by a late night snack and an episode of Police Squad and off to bed.


(somewhat translated from Toni's finnish version by Jope)

[Jope]

24.10.07

DAY 3

Things started with a morning (or actually afternoon) shower where I decided to begin the day with one of the key songs of the album "Maze Of Inequity". Breakfast, a few cigarrettes and I was ready to rock. Seven and a half minutes of "Maze" took me until a lot o'clock. Drum acrobatics as usual and lots of fast bass drum bursts. I gotta say at this point that this songs is going to blow out the minds of Malpractice fans!!!

First touch to the real world outside the studio was taken during dinner when Anssi and I watched "Funny 10 o'clock News" where the the news anchors made weird pauses and every topic seemed made up. Or was it the real news affected by the Astia-effect? Anyway we cracked up on the entertainment center couch.

After dinner it was time to start working on "Deadline". My hands were alredy very sore but on with the show with attitude. The bridge section of the song was once again some serious drum porn. Jope pushed me and I overreacted...

Score for the day was two songs but it took some 14 hours of work to get them done. Crippled drummer dragged himself upstairs to get some midnight snack (or was it breakfast?) One episode of Police Squad and off to bed at 6:00. Lights out in nanoseconds...


(somewhat translated from Toni's finnish version by Jope)

[Jope]

25.10.07

DAY 4

We started the day with a hike to the supermarket with Anssi. Vegetarian lasagna was on special offer. Excellent! We headed back to the studio and Anssi went to the control room to set things up while I stayed upstairs to have some breakfast and get in the mood.

Task for the day was 8 minutes 30 seconds of instrumental twists and turns under the title of "Triangular". This song is one of the undisputable highlights of the album and as far as drums are concerned one of the most difficult to play. My hands were chopped and sliced from yesterday but away with the pain. Now we rock!

At this point I have to take back some of my previous statements. THIS is where the drum porn begins! It took the whole day to get "Triangular" done but it was well worth it. I was totally getting everything out of the kit and myself. The song even has a short drum solo, dammit! I think we have just captured the best drum track I've ever played!

Sauna and dinner at 5:00. One episode of Police Squad, writing the studio diary (to get things remembered and placed on the right days was a bit hard...) Cigarrettes and off to bed at 7:00. Astia-effect at its best but well worth it!


(somewhat translated from Toni's finnish version by Jope)

[Jope]

26.10.07

DAY 5

Up at 2 in the afternoon. Friday was originally scheduled for editing but we still had one more song to nail. My hands were still, pardon my french, totally fucking sore. So when Anssi started editing I stayed at the entertainment center recovering and psyching myself for the final stretch. Every possible aid was needed. Put on my Rush tour-shirt, Black Beauty between my legs (it's the snare if you remember...) and it's time to rock out for the last time in these sessions.

The final song was 11 minute epic called "Fragments". Versatile and pleasantly varying song was once again real joy to play! The song is very much influenced by progrock and I got to do long snare rolls and nice tom fills which are always nice. In the middle section there's some cool polyrhythmics going on...

So now all the drums are recorded and it's time to get down into some serious business. 30 minutes after the last hit on the drums our whole fellowship was sitting at the table in the local stripjoint enjoying whiskey cokes. That's how to do it, rock! After a nice night out at the bars we packed a few taxi's with nice people and headed back to the studio. Drinking 'till daylight and that's it. Nothing special happened 'coz we're decent citizens.


(somewhat translated from Toni's finnish version by Jope)

[Jope]

27.10.07

DAY 6

Edit day. While Anssi was finalizing the drum tracks Jope and I headed for the market to refill our liquid storage. We bought some Leijona (lion booze), Karhu (bear beer) and other hilarious animal related products.

Braintrust gathering at the EC (entertainment center from now on) and let's get on with the "meeting". From time to time we popped by at the control room to see and hear how the editing is proceeding. On this album the overall feel is going to be much more natural, rock and more organic than on the previous one. The band is going to sound pretty much the same as we do live. Editing is going to be very minimal this time around. Grrreat, me likes!

When Anssi finished working for the day we transferred our athletic bodies to the HC-sauna. After that Anssi went to sleep and Malpractice duo returned to EC to continue the drin..err "meeting". While not being silly we threw some ideas around concerning the artwork for the album and we also tried to analyze the Astia-effect which makes you lose sense of time and place. "Beermuda Triangle" indeed. I guess I went to bed at 8:00.


(somewhat translated from Toni's finnish version by Jope)

[Jope]

28.10.07

DAY 7

Day off. As Jope headed home I stayed at the studio to record drums for two songs for the band called "Rock". Now we play rock so it went down to drinking whiskey... Astia-effect!


(somewhat translated from Toni's finnish version by Jope)

[Jope]

29.10.07

DAY 8

Day off. Travel to Helsinki to see Rush! Even though I had seen Rush once before in Stockholm and my expectations were high, this show caught me by surprise. Rush in Finland for the first time (!), excellent set list, sound, light show, atmosphere and the most important: the band was in excellent condition. I was moved. The best gig I have ever seen. Period.

Muutes, I had the Malpractice drum tracks in my pocket for the whole gig. I hope some of the magic we experienced at the gig was caught on those tracks. Jope, Toni and Markus of the Malpractice delegation witnessed the show. After the show I headed for the Nightlife in Kallio and home to sleep. What a great day.


(somewhat translated from Toni's finnish version by Jope)

[Jope]

30.10.07

DAY 9

Day off. Phone lines burning red taking care of band business and preparing to move the sessions to Karhula for the guitar and bass sessions. First symptoms of the "Härkönen & Vilenius" -syndrome. Also a little hangover.

Elsewhere Anssi does editing for the last drum tracks...


("Härkönen & Vilenius" -syndrome: Two guys in a Finnish tv-show who always have too many projects going on and have a terrible panic to get things done and still everything gets fucked up.)


(somewhat translated from Toni's finnish version by Jope)

[Jope]

31.10.07

DAY 10

Malpractice camp moved towards Karhula to South East Sounds Studios to record guitars and bass. Jope picked me up at the bus station with his station wagon packed with guitar gear. After a few moments of searching we found the studio which was located in an old water pumping facility. Our recording engineer Teemu Aalto was already waiting for us. Markus came along and we shipped in both guitarists gear.

South East Sounds facility is a bit more modest compared to Astia but as long as things rock, who needs a jacuzzi anyway... Two sets of guitar equipment in the playing room and quite a scientific approach to setting up the microphones. After a few experimentations the right combinations were found and the right sounds were captured quite easily.

Because the night was young, yours truly sat down in the producers chair and the other half of the producer duo Jope begun laying down guitar tracks for "Symmetry". The song was finished pretty quickly.

Score for the first day was great sounds for both guitars and Jope's basic guitars for one song. Nice! Jope went home to Kouvola and the rest of us went to Markus' place in Kotka. We watched Led Zeppelin and Whitesnake live videos for a while and then it was good night.


(somewhat translated from Toni's finnish version by Jope)

[Jope]

01.11.07

DAY 11

We started the day by visiting East-Germany -style grocery store in the neighborhood. Not much to shop there... 10 km ride to the studio and start working. Markus laid down his guitars to "Symmetry" very quickly. A good start for the day.

Jope arrived just in time. Out of the car and into the fire. First target was still nameless "Heavy" where old thrash-man (not Teräsmies*) got to bang out heavy riffs from the bottom of his heart. Since he was already warmed up and in the groove he laid down guitars for "Platform" as well.

Samppa Pesonen visited studio again. This time with his son. He's still the only "outsider" who has heard the fruits of the session.

So the second guitar day is successfully (or so we thought...) finished. A few Frank Zappa videos at Markus' place and then rock-a-bye baby.

*Teräsmies = Superman (damn hard to translate Finnish inside jokes...)


(somewhat translated from Toni's finnish version by Jope)

[Jope]

02.11.07

DAY 12

What a beautiful morning... Stressed out producer/drummer was able to get luxurious three hours of sleep while previous sleep depravation was still on my back. I really felt like that as well. Hangover without booze.

We began the day at the studio with Markus' (nicknamed Junior) guitars to "Heavy". Since our new vocalist Aleksi is a tad younger than Markus we had to rename Markus as Junior Senior.

Then it started to happen. First we realized that there was some technical problems in Jope's guitars on "Platform". Next we received a SMS which told us that we had lost our rehearsal room in Kouvola which we shared with To/Die/For. Fukken great! "Härkönen & Vilenius" -syndrome at it's peak... Well, luckily Markus' guitars to "Platform" went down outstandingly.

Yours truly caught the last bus to Helsinki while Jope stayed behind to re-record his parts to "Platform". Jope had re-done his parts with fury in just 1 1/2 hours and this time there was no technical problems. The song turned out even more tighter than his previous effort. Better this way.

I jumped out of the bus in Kallio, Helsinki and already there was people with arms and legs spread against the police car. Ei o kodin voittanutta! (There´s no place like home!) I had two options for this Friday night. Either I could go home and get rid of my sleep depravation or go to a huge party at my friend's place. I chose the party (Translators note: Really?!? Didn't see that one coming...) I went to bed at 2 in the afternoon on Saturday.


(somewhat translated from Toni's finnish version by Jope)

[Jope]

03.11.07

DAY 13

Day off. Band members taking time off in various directions. I finally got rid of my sleep depravation.


(somewhat translated from Toni's finnish version by Jope)

[Jope]

04.11.07

DAY 14

Day off. Resting and figuring out schedules for Monday. At Astia-Studios Anssi is spending his day off by editing the last drum tracks. What a noble man.


(somewhat translated from Toni's finnish version by Jope)