Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Sergey of Sunstroke project send greetings to all readers!

Just kidding. The Norwegian entrants Mørland & Debrah Scarlett are the most wonderful ones, far from monsters even if they transform as such on stage in a magnificient way. Just check out their performance tonight (and vote, vote, vote!) Meanwhile here they are speaking words of wishdom and sending their greetings to you. Enjoy!

Robert took his bike and went to meet Valentina Monetta yesterday and we had a chance to talk to her once again. This time we do a lot of name dropping, she tells how the swing version was born, something very personal, her hobbies and background and who would she like to sing for San Marino next year? And what's Calabria to do with it all? And in the case of victory? Here: Hello Valentina again and thank you for this interview! With the song Crisalide you come closer to your true self in singing, and a couple of nights ago you gave a concert in San Marino party singing in a very jazzy way. Who are your musical idols? I have many, I don't have just one above the others. I love soul, jazz, black music but growing I'm revalutating the sing-songwriters, especially in Italian music. And the music of the 1960's and 1970's. And names like Mina, Patty Pravo, Milva, Ornella Vanoni... all these artists that have combined jazz and bossa style with the Italian styl...

Blogilkar's Bicycling recorter Robert had a quickie with Israeli Moran Mazor yesterday. Find out who she is and who she thinks should go for Israel next year and what are her favorite Israeli Eurovision songs. And if she wasn't a singer, what would she be and why? And why the song is in Hebrew only? And who is her backing singer?! Thank you for your time. What made you take part in Kdam, the Israeli selection? And did you think you had a chance to win it? Actually Eurovision is a childhood dream of mine, and I wanted to show the whole of Europe what I'm made of. And Kdam is the first step so when I was asked to take part I immediately said Yes! But not in my wildest dreams was I thinking to win it, so it was a pleasent surprise! Who do you think was your biggest competitor in Kdam? Ron Weinreich, he's so talented and had a great song. If he had won I would have been very happy, too. You sing the whole song in Hebrew, why did you decide to do so? Because...

Gor Sujyan, the lead singer of Armenian Dorians is the next one interviewed by the Bicycling reporter Robert in Malmö 2013 Eurovision. He tells - with the help of his lovely translater back up - how the band end up to Eurovision 2013 instead of 2012, how Black Sabbath Tony Iommi reacted when he heard his song was to be in Eurovision, how popular they actually are and how they ended up in Dubai. How about nature and its state? Is he a bit of a nomad? What's he got to do with apricot stone? And what surprising act he proposes for next year? Read it here: Thank you Gor for this interview. You were internally chosen by the Armenian TV. Why do you think they chose you? You perhaps know that Dorians offered to participate already in 2012 Eurovision that was held in Azerbaijan. We even had a song and a video prepaired but as you know for political reasons Armenia didn't participate in the end. After that TV kept us in mind and this year decided to ask us to do it. And we gl...

Hungarian hipster popstar Alex Márta aka ByeAlex is the next one being interviewed by the Bicycling reporter Robert in Malmö 2013. Alex might be a man of few words but certainly he is a very interesting personality. Tattoos. Philosophy. Music. Metal band. Book. Gym. Is he too pop? What about humanity? And guess what? He's Eurovision virgin! Thank you Alex for this interview. Why ByeAlex? There's really no answer to that.  I used to say "pa" all the time which some find very annoying, so somehow it became ByeAlex... So you like to be annoying at times? Yes! Ha ha How long have you been using this name? 1,5 years... So that's also how long you have been in the music business.....? I always liked music. At 16 I started making music but not very seriously. I started taking it seriously only in the past five years or so. I started making electronic music, metal... and the ByeAlex project is about 1,5 years old. My real job is journalist, used to ...

Here we go! Next act to get the Bicycling reporter Robert's in depth treatment are the Latvian boys of PeR. They talk beatbox, spanking, their continuous presence in the Latvian selection, jazzy songs in Eurovision, how sporty can you be if you only read about it and watch it? And how fast driver Edmunds really is? How about the dive? What's the main idea behind their act? And they drop names for next year like if they have given it a serious thought! Read it here: (Ralph is doing most of the talk unless marked) PeR! Here we go. Ralph is the blond one and Edmunds is the dark one, right? Yes! Could you describe the style of music you play and explain the name of the band.... Our music style is basicly everything with beat box. Even if we have a fast song like Here we go in Eurovision it doesn't mean all our songs are like that. We have released our debut album and there are different songs in it; some of them are alternative, some ore indie, afrobeat, pop. We...

Blogilkar's Flying reporter Robert who has turned into Bicycling reporter for the Malmö 2013 experience has sat with Eyþór Ingi representing Iceland this morning. His song has proved to be a real evergreen that is sung in weddings and funerals alike, by kids and elderly, even choirs. Who is this guy from fishing village getting married this summer? And who would he want for his country for Eurovision 2014? Find it out here: Thank you  Eyþór Ingi for this interview. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself? I come from Dalvik, a little fishing village in north of Iceland. I used to work with my dad in a little fishing boat when I was younger. His intention was maybe that you'd become a fisherman yourself? No, not at all. I have had only one wish since I was like 6 years or so, to be a singer or an actor.  Where did this come from? I don't really know! But in my family we have always been singing, my grandfather is a great tenor and he also loved to a...

After Iina, Krista and Diandra also Elina takes time out of her busy schedule ahead of the live gigs in Circus to have answer some questions by yours truly. She's also the very first one of the UMK artists to have published an official music video for her entry He's not my man , here . And don't forget to vote for her in mu poll here -> You have studied music a lot, even in Denmark. Can yoou tell us a bit more about it? Yes, I studied in Århus as an exchange student! That was one the best years I ever had. What kind of musical productions and collaborations have you done already? I’ve done some very interesting productions, The Orkestra for example! I have one girl-band called the3ees , and we’ve been doing gigs together for more than six years now. I also sing backing vocals for some singers, for example to singer-songwriter called Linda . As you can see; I love to do many styles of music! (: How did you start writing songs and do you remember your ...

Otso Koskelo is dancing all around the universe with his band Lucy Was Driving in UMK 2013. He landed in the life after Helsinki 2007 long enough to answer some questions by yours truly. Are they Eurovision fans? Did the champagne run out when Lordi won? And what has Atomic Spa to do with it all? Read it all here: All you Lucys are 34-year-old. What have you been doing until now? You have released one album and participated in some talent contests before, haven't you? We all had been in other bands already before Lucy Was Driving was put together eight years ago. So it has been a long journey for us to get this far. We did release our self-titled debut album in 2010 and are about to release the second album later this year. Before that we did few promotional CD:s and, of course, we tried to send them everywhere we could. Back in 2005 one of the songs got to semifinals of MTV Nordic's international competition but this didn't include any live shows so I...

Last Panda's lead singer and songwriter Henry Ossian took a moment to answer some questions by yours truly. Did you know the pandas tried their luck already last year in UMK and how did that end? And what was he doing when Lordi rocked Athens? Find it all here. And don't forget to vote for them in my poll on the right hand side of this page! How did you get the name Last Panda? It was 2007 when the journey of Last Panda begun. I was at the back stage of Bar 45Special, which is a legendary gig place in Oulu, Finland. The walls of the small back stage room are full of hand written messages, band names, stickers you name it. I decided that if I ever started a band it should have a name that matters. And then it hit me: Last Panda. I guess it’s my way to say that look around you what’s happening in the world. You have been playing together since school, right? How did you get started and has the line up been the same ever since? Actually only original members ...