Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Provinssirock in Seinäjoki is one of the biggest Finnish summer rock festivals and has been going on since 1979. Likes of David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Marilyn Manson, The Prodigy, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rammstein are among its performers over the years. This year one of the main performers was none other than Softengine, fresh from their Eurovision success with Something better and release of their follow up single Yellow house . They headlined the Rumba tent dedicated for new talents. Lead singer Topi Latukka confessed before the gig they were more nervous than before Eurovision and that it is a kind of point of arrival, after Eurovision their future plans have concentrated only on this gig.  But they didn't have to worry. The leading newspaper in Finland Helsingin Sanomat headlined the feature on them "Seinäjoki ate from their hands" and wrote (freely translated): It's worth remembereing the band comes just from there, Seinäjoki. Latukka introduced their Eurovi...

Softengine has released their second single and follow up to Something better . The title is Yellow house and they already premiered it in Copenhagen's Eurovision if you happened to be present there. Is it something better? So it seems. It shot straight to #1 in iTunes! The critics and comments so far have been more than positive, and it seems the guys from Finnish countryside are in demand for bigger stages in Europe, Germany and Sweden first. Among their fans are Fredrik Kempe and Ricky Gervais.  Lead singer Topi Latukka tells it's a story of a guy who sees a person  in a yeallow house in his dream. He sets to search for the house and the person without knowing if neither of them really exists. The chains and blindfold make it particularly difficult. It's a kind of a metaphora for a dreams each and everyone  of us should chase. Never give up. Like Softengine were the past few years in the garage doing their thing and believing in it - and look at them now! Mean...

Vesa-Matti Loiri did his first ever rock festival gig at the tender age of 64 in Provinssirock, Finland's oldest, biggest and most legendary summer rock festival. He performed songs from his last mega selling albums Ivalo, Inari and Kasari , in other words acoustic versions of Finnish rock classics. This summer he will be recording a new album that features new material written especially for him by top Finnish writers. World famous Finnish director Mika Kaurismäki was there as well with his cameras. He is prepairing a documentary film of Loiri's life. Most of you foreign known him only for his not so fortunate appearance in Eurovision 1980 but in Finland he is a legend as a singer, actor and comedian. He's career started at 17 in a movie Pojat by Mikko Niskanen. Since then he has done over 60 movies and dozens of TV-shows and series. He has also done a lot of theater. As a singer he has done everything from joke albums with funny creatures like Jean-Pierre Kusela to int...