I’m not first to the ball here, which is a missed opportunity for me. I had the story first, but I just haven’t been able to nail the article. Now the story has already broken. I blew it. Some guy in fucking Finland beat me to it. Now I’m sitting here, with night shift people already in, still hammering out the lead. My editor will be furious. Thing is, I can’t fucking remember how to write a lead. Most important first. Well what is? Finns with music… get me something real, get me a murder or I will get one myself. Alright alright, here goes…
The third album of Finnish group Cats on Fire will be called All Blackshirts to Me. It will be released in Scandinavia on the 28th of March by Soliti through Playground, with international releases following shortly after. The group also released a song called A Few Empty Waves for free download and streaming.
Now, let’s see. What’s the character count? Oh God, let this day be over.
There is no word as of yet… as of yet, that’s me adding unneccessary words right there. Yet. Just yet. There is no word yet… well, then why am I writing, that’s not news then! Ok, some gigs coming up… in Finland. Sigh. Well, I’ll just list them, the editor can put it in one of his fucking pale, yellow boxes.
23.2.2012 London Popfest, Bull & Gate (UK) 30.3.2012 Dynamo, Turku 30.3.2012 (FI) 6.4.2012 Radio Helsinki Club, Kudes Linja , Helsinki (Album launch Show) (FI) 12.5.2012 Korjaamo, Helsinki (FI) 19.5.2012 HTDJ!, Klubi, Tampere (FI) 14.7.2012 Island In The Sun, Jurmo, Åland (FI)
Ok, one more sentence, one more sentence. Ah, the artwork. The cover photo for All Blackshirts to Me is shot and staged by Noora Isoeskeli, while the layout and type are work by Karolina Eriksson. That’s it, I’m out, done.
After some minor wrangling back and forth, Cats on Fire will play at the Bull & Gate in London on the 23rd of February. The night is part of the London Popfest, which takes place at various venues around London from the 23rd to the 26th of February. It will be our first UK gig in quite a while. Other bands playing that night are MJ Hibbett, One Happy Island and The School. Check the concert section for more details.
Cats for the Tendencias fashion mag in a Madrid café. I really tried to get the rights to use this as a promo image, but I failed. I even called Spain. No luck. Photographer was David Portela, anyhow. I hope he forgives me for this. Otherwise, it might be a good way to get in touch with him, or his lawyer.
There has been some confusion regarding who is in the group and who is not. We’ve both been confused, we and you. The last thing I read was that my friend Mattias Jansson (of Cosy Den) was the singer in Cats on fire. I felt deeply betrayed until I realized that it was the Italian blog that had the Mattiases mixed up.
Some people have also wondered about the status of Iiris and Yrjö. I wondered that myself, so I decided to try to find out. Turns out they are proper members! Well, well, what do you know? So, for now, Cats on fire is:
Mattias Björkas – acoustic guitar, vocals
Ville Hopponen – electric guitar, backing vocals
Kenneth Höglund – bass guitar
Iiris Viljanen – keyboards, backing vocals
Yrjö Ylijoki – drums
Iiris may not need an introduction here, since she’s been playing with us regularily and irregularily since 2006 or something like that. But I’ll direct you to the homepage of her trio – http://iirisviljanentrio.com/
Yrjö is a later addition, as some of you may have figured out. He has been drumming with Goodnight Monsters from Turku, but he himself is from a place near Rauma called Lappi. He runs an ecological egg farm. In his spare time, right? RIGHT?
UPDATE: The farm isn’t his yet, and it isn’t entirely ecological yet either. EU standards seem to be tough on small farms.
Hey, accept the gift, do it. It’s a song with a long history. Its origins can be traced back to a time when I must have been wearing red, furry hairmuffs. The album, which will contain this song among ten an a half others, will be out on Soliti in Finland in a couple of months. Look what they had to say about all this.
Sometimes you’d better know who your friends are
Sometimes that’s the one thing you can’t do
Once again among my fellow townsmen
After I’ve wasted most of my youth
Nothing is shaking and I
Want to have my job back
This time my sense of pride
Won’t stand in the way
I’ve lost that long ago
Takes courage to say I’ve been mistaken
I’ve been an idiot for years
Now I speak in a lower voice to blend in
I try not to dress up queer
Nothing is shaking and I
Want to have my job back
This time my sense of pride
Won’t stand in the way
I’ve lost that long ago
Nothing is shaking but the leaves on the trees
And I want some tar and feathers
No, no, nothing but the leaves on the trees
Lash me with your leather
I’ve made a fool of myself
Nothing is shaking and I
Want to have my job back
This time my sense of pride
Won’t stand in the way
I’ve lost that long ago
It was much easier this time around. I think I know why. I’ve come to realize that I’m not a talented musician or an artist. That was a persona, a mask. What I really am – and I might go as far as saying that it constitutes my true identity – is a mediocre and frustrated young footballer. I have long felt that I feel, think and react in a way that is completely inappropriate in an artistic setting. I don’t network as an artist, as I see it all as a really long and exhausting game of football, played on a muddy field, against opposition that is both faster, heavier and taller than I am. They reached puberty four years ahead of me. I believe everybody else is as high-strung and ungenerous as I am, since it’s a competition. Only when you are winning can you afford to be nice. When you are losing, you blame everybody else in the game. Yes, it’s gotten a lot easier.
The album is to be mastered next week and for once, we think what comes out of the speakers sounds even better than the versions that have been playing in our heads. Previous album have indeed sounded worse than the inner versions. You should’ve heard my inner Letters From A Voyage, amazing stuff.
After some minor wrangling back and forth, Cats on Fire will play at the Bull & Gate in London on the 23rd of February. The night is part of the London Popfest, which takes place at 
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