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27 May, 2007 | Hello all ZOOK friends!
Spring has suddenly turned into summer which just tells how fast life goes and how slowly we can keep up with it...modern world flies by. Anyway, the band has gotten together regularly playing gigs (about ten this spring), recording songs in studio and of course rehearsing. Lot of thinking to do, what to play, how to play, where to play, when to play.. The summer is gonna be pretty easy for ZOOK because there's some breeding happening.. busy fathers, taking care of the diaper business - rock!
We have had really nice gigs this year, the last was in Virgin Oil (Helsinki) celebrating it's one year birthday on May the 18th. Very enjoyable to play to people dedicated to the band and making up a good party for good reason. Virgin Oil is needed in the centre of Helsinki, a great place to listen rock'n'roll and take it easy.
Also visits to Liberte and Nousuvesi have been rewarding. Always a good crowd and a great chance to try out new material. One day it will all be together and hopefully released on an album as well - working on it.
So, ZOOK will take it easy and enjoy the life as it comes, and hope that you'll do the same. Next time we'll play is in Treffipub, Herttoniemi on May the 30th, and after that we don't know when.. which is exiting!
So if it takes another half a year to write anything here, just believe that it is all hyperexiting for us and we'll produce a report of it asap! ENJOY THE SUMMER and go and listen tons of great music when you can. See you soon!
22 December, 2006 | Season's Greetings from ZOOK
We wish to thank you all for making the past year special and wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Hope to see you soon!
7 November, 2006 | summer`s gone....
.........but not forgotten...those of you who have followed the band from the beginning will know that this was the first song that we did with Rocka playing guitar and it has been a favourite for all four of us...however even though we had planned to put it on our first album we couldn`t get it right in the studio and so it was left for another day..........
.........at Pub Nousuvesi on saturday we played the new version that we have been working on along with four brand new tunes and a couple of Bob Dylan covers and despite some healthy cock-ups we had a great time.....it appeared to go down well with the crowd too!!! ....i have to admit it was nice to play songs from the first album and see people singing along....i think a few people knew the lyrics better than me....anyway ...no let up now the next gigs are 17th and 18th of this month... and i want to keep adding a few more new originals to the set for each gig so that by the end of the year when we play at On the Rocks we will have the material for a new album...so...back to work...git your fookin`hids doon!...
17 October, 2006 | back with the programme..... the football that is....
.....at least there is one happy camper here who is glad to be feeling the cold creeping into the bones and enjoying the pouring rain on a saturday afternoon..new football season anyone?!?!..as Mylly our treasured soundman or indeed any defender will tell you..the forwards hate the cold and the rain...sliding tackles are so much easier and a cup of steaming Bovril on the terraces....ah ..just getting nostalgic for a moment....so how are you all...are you still with us or are you pissed off that we have been shirking our duties and not keeping you informed on our zook activities...sorry about that..we are always sorry i know.. and nothing seems to change so...MUST TRY HARDER... E-
..........but..but..but.....we have at least got some work done and in the not too distant future you will be able to check out the fruits of our labour....been writing lots of new tunes which i hope you are going to like...sorry LOVE!!!! when you hear them....as you can see we have a few gigs booked so we can try things out ...so if you can make it to a show whack a note in your diary or a little flashy beepy doodaa on your phone ....alternatively be a true hippy and leave it to the chance in a million that is what´s left of your fried memory is gonna work....got that??...what?...me???..later.....
24 August, 2006 | August-September
Hello all friends of ZOOK. Here's some news of the fall, if you're interested in what's happening with ZOOK right now. First of all, the band is not playing live for the next couple of months. Time to give new songs and ideas a chance, and rehearse music with the band.
At least that was the plan till five minutes ago.. Few busy phonecalls and now it seems to be that ZOOK is playing at Virgin Oil Co., on this Friday the 25th, right in the middle of Helsinki (Perunatori, next to Vanha..). Zook is subbing for another act, whose lead singer got injured. Hope that he'll be fine quickly, but at a time ZOOK will take care of Friday night entertainment in Virgin Oil. It doesn't cost anything to get in, and it's a great club anyway, so COME THERE!! After that we will have those couple of months off..
Some events planned for Nov. and Dec., but tell you more about it later. Now the most important part is to dedicate some time for new music. All bandmembers have a lot other things to take care of too, but everyone wants to spend some time just trying out new ideas.
ZOOK had a very nice summer with some extremely nice gigs and wants to thank everybody who were involved. All you who saw us performing, thank you for being there!! The band felt really comfortable playing and the audience seemed to enjoy it. Especially the Melu-festarit in Masala, Kirkkonummi made a big difference!! The vibe with everybody involved organizing the event (for the 7th time!!) and everybody in the audience too, was just the best!! If somebody is lacking their faith in the true spirit of Finnish rockmusic, go there next year and you'll be convinced that this country is truly alive and kicking!! When creating a cultural event, the most challenging part is to offer people an experience which is extraordinary and makes you feel something strong, feeding you somehow. It's not easy to achieve, and it's not possible to create with only big money involved, but it needs great spirit and few crazy pioneers who believe in what they are doing.. So, to make it short..these girls and guys in Masala have it all settled!! THANKS A LOT!!
ZOOK also had a lot of fun in Nurmes (Freestylerock) and Jyväskylä (Ilokivi) and other places, and the whole summer has been just great. But now, I'll put this one forward that it will be on the site before xmas.. More about everything asap!! See you at Virgin Oil Co.!
21 July, 2006 | ZOOK Live outdoors (and indoors too)
Couple of active ZOOK weekends coming up shortly, possible to see the band playing in some outdoor events for you. In Karjalohja Roots Festival on Friday the 21st, we will be warming the climate before Finnish rock legend REMU is showing where the hen pisses from.. (a stupid domestic phrase with a poor translation). Anyway, ZOOK will start about seven PM, let us hear you if you end up showing up there! The next day in Masala, Kirkkonummi is Melu-festari, traditional festival with many local bands and some guests too. ZOOK has the honor to headline the event and will start playing right after 8PM. Check out the add I try to attach here..
On 4th of August we'll start the engine and drive to legendary rock club Ilokivi in Jyväskylä, where we perform with local great The Whitefish Orchestra, which is something progressive pop..and sounds good recorded, let's wait how it feels live! Thanks for guys at Ilokivi who are into organizing the night with a short notice. Friday night party it's gonna be!! After that we drive up to Nurmes (near Joensuu) Freestyle rock, where everybody can relax listening rock bands for Fri-Sat, after checking out the coolest waterskijumps in Finland ever!
That's pretty much the summergigs left for ZOOK this year. The band has taken it kind of laid back, while taking care of their families and friends too. Nice gigs so far, and couple of more to come. Also rehearsed a bit and will shed some new stuff for gigs to come. There is a plan to tour in Spain in November for couple of weeks, and we'll let you know as soon as anything is certain. Nothing really is till the set starts, but anyway, we'll tell how things proceed.
The masterplan is to get all the half-finished ideas together during the fall and perform them live and record as well, when the days get really short again. Sounds pretty distant right now, but weeks pass by SO quickly it's redicilous. Well, better enjoy the ride and make the most out of it!! All the best folks!
3 July, 2006 | ENJOY THE BEAUTIFUL SUMMER
On Friday the 7th of July, ZOOK will play at Tavastia-klubi with the band 5.15 which has organized rocking summer club there for many years already, few fridays every July. The band itself (5.15) has been around forever practically, led by the one and only Mika Järvinen since about 1985!!! The personnel have always created good jamming vibe in the spirit of 70's while Mika is leading the circus. Absolutely original and brave achievement!! So if you never heard of it, be sure to check it out as soon as possible, and now you have the best chance for it this coming Friday, ZOOK performing about 10.30 PM and 5.15 after that, about midnight. Better to be there - no excuses..
Also couple of other events coming up to see ZOOK playing. Two outdoor festivals near Helsinki, Karjalohja Roots Festival on Friday, the 21st and Melu-festivaali in Masala, Kirkkonummi on the next day, 22nd of July. More info can be found on their webpages or here later. Then on August the 5th in Nurmes (NOT really near Helsinki!) there is Freestyle Festival for the whole weekend..also more info found here in few days. They have their own pages as well, www.hyvarila.com.
The main sentence is anyway, ENJOY THE BEAUTIFUL SUMMER the way you choose!!!
26 May, 2006 | New interview at Meteli.net
From tuesday on, it's possible to read an interview of ZOOK (given by Sami) at meteli.net, on the "haastattelut" section. Go and check it out, maybe there's some new info or at least some old from a different angle. There's also possible to give some rating of the act or something.. which is good for the band in the wonderful world of Meteli. So, please write couple of lines down about us, if you are able.
MySpace.com
We opened a site in myspace.com last week, if you are interested..it is very much under construction still but should finalized some year before 2010..Let's see, at least you can add yourself as our friend if you are familiar with the pages which truly are GREAT! If not, try five of your favourite bands and be amazed!!
Yesterday at Liberte - thank you!
Last wednesday the 24th of May was very very great feeling at Club Liberte in Kallio. Thanks to you people who came there, you made it perfect evening for us all!! The club has just re-opened couple of weeks ago and the evening was full of live acts (bands in 24locations in the city, about half of them for free!) so we couldn't really expect anything. at least not a soldout event! So, THANK YOU for coming, we played our best and all you seemed to enjoy it very well. Also the new club felt great to play on stage and the guys who set up the place were extremely happy, so come again later this year when we'll play there again. Also don't forget the sunday night jam (starting at 8PM) which has happened two times already, with a grrovy houseband and cheap sunday prices too. Let's help the place out, because the staff is wonderful and srongly musicoriented as well!
More gigs coming up
There is not too many festivals in Finland who want us to play on their event the becoming summer..or maybe the policy of our agent needs a facelift too.. Yep, we are not really happy about the situation of next summer, but still trying to work it a bit more let's see if we find anything interesting still. It is late already for that, but I guess we are anyway that last minute-type of people anyway. So check out the gigs-site every now and then, also working on getting the full list of the places we have visited already. The latest change for that side off things is, that we play on Saturday the 10th of July in a big club Virgin Oil Co. in Kaivopiha with the legendary Laika and the cosmonauts! There should be a third band also, but I'm not sure, I'll let you know here as soon as the schedule and lineup is confirmed. The pace is huge (takes about 800 people) and sounds great, according to some coplleagues. It is just been opened on the place of old LaTour, and tomorrow the one and only Hanoi Rocks is playing there their rock'n'roll show!! Go then and for sure come on the 11th, especially if you haven't seen either of the bands, Laika or us. Both will sure you of the power of the real live music with a warm straight forward attitude. See you there!!
22 May, 2006 | Club Liberte coming up!!
On the next Wednesday Zook will play in Club Liberte, great music club which re-opened in Kallio couple of weeks ago. The official opening party will take place in June, but the program is running on full speed all ready with bands playing almost every night. Totally renovated club offers good sound quality, well equipped bar and a extremely comfortable lounge with a big video screen which plays mostly music DVD's and some occasional sport events. Definately worth of attending, also because of ZOOK is playing there for the first time!! Also Liberte has a nice SundayJamNight with a cool groovy houseband going on, starting about 8PM. Go there, or should I say COME THERE ON WED, since it is a national holiday on Thursday, you don't have to worry about next morning either. Showtime about 10.30PM.
On Monday the 22nd of May, there should be an interview of ZOOK in Meteli.net-pages, check it out.
24 April, 2006 | 22.4. Flight from Saariselkä to Helsinki
Zook just survived the unbelievable Arctic Rugby Tournament in Saariselkä with really minor casualties. No prizes were won by Zook this year - maybe because the band didn't take part of the actual competition.. We concentrated in making people feel great and get the tunturi rocking around midnights on Friday and Saturday. Everybody had a lot of fun and the music did get played with good intensity. Some sports were also exercised by Zook members during the weekend. On top of the normal gigsport, loading and unloading the gear from and to various vehicles, there were some more exotic skills performed. Crosscountry skiing ( Sami for 11km ), badmington ( Rocka is the King of sulkis ), flying ( everybody travelled with Finnair ), rallyedriving ( hotel was equipped with a decent SEGA rallye game ), eating from a delicious buffet-competition, formula-one ( extremely Jason Button's fueltube-hassle was wild! ) and of course extremely fascinating RUGBY GAMES IN THE SNOW!!! Two days of intensive playing in a beautiful sunny weather in a deep snow by ten ( about ) teams from Finland and some other european countries. I guess the majority of players come originally from Australia, but lot of Finns, Italians, British and other.. Very nice vibe by the pitch and serious rugby on the field!! Also these guys obviously have a great taste for music having Zook performing for two nights in Guksi-klubi which went under a complete renovation after the weekend ( ok, it was scheduled earlier ). Good sounding venue, hopefully they will build same type of a place there for future occasions.
All together it has been a great weekend for the band, a lot of time together and even rehearsing some new material. Whole spring is going nice, waiting for next weekend's Imatra and Kouvola gigs. In Kouvola, a true rock club House Of Rock ( name tells everything ) is having its oneyear-birthday celebration on Saturday before vappu, and Zook has the honor to keep the house rocking for the evening. Come there if you are close by ( 250km is still pretty close, at least in the scale of Lappi ).
Next thing happening in the Helsinki area is a gig in Club Liberté in Kallio. The place has been around for years but next week it's being reopened by some extracool people who will host some clubs and bands regularly. Check it out immediately, don't know if their web-pages are open yet, but I'll let the blog now when I find out. So, the date for Zook is playing in Club Liberté, is Wednesday the 24th of May. BE THERE!! GOOD ROCK'N'ROLL!! NEW, REOPENED CLUB IN THE HEART OF KALLIO!! Close by Hakaniemi, on the kolmas linja, the third line. Also remember to check the gigs for the summer which we still hope to organize and confirm a few more.
Now this plane is starting the landing procedures, so I better quit the electric activities and hope the landing is succesful. Best of luck for everybody and enjoy the beautiful spring! Check the pages everynow and then, we have a strong will and some effort to adjust the site before summer to attach more photos, some critics and interwiews of the album and tour, lyrics, gig-gallery, and bunch of other features. And the most important - COME TO SEE US LIVE AND LET US KNOW THAT YOU*VE BEEN THERE! You can come and say "hi" after the gig, or you can drop couple of lines in the email adress found on the frontpage. We keep on zooking our best!
18 April, 2006 | ARCTIC RUGBY!
.....so all of a sudden this strangest of strange happenings is upon us....ZOOK will be up in the far north at the weekend to see...i do hope that we are not going to PLAY....rugby in the arctic ...literally....ok many beers down the line if we end up playing..ho ho ha ha....but i was talking to a couple of the guys last week and they were taking it seriously....welsh boys you know ...sorry i would have a beer with you but i am in training for the Arctic Rugby!!!!!!!!......and there was me thinking that the only training would be for surviving a fourteen hour coach trip with a rugby team...i.e. is the bus gonna be ok or is the rear axl gonna break under the strain of two tons of tinnies?..well anyway at least the rugby players will be sober...damn sure the spectators won`t be...and as for the band and the evening entertainment.....as they say in Wales...it`ll be a good do!...boyo!
.........again many thanks to those of you who turned up to the gigs last week...hope you got a good vibe and went home happy...we all enjoyed the gigs and that is very much down to you people!!!!.......take good care especially if you are going anywhere near 200 rugby players kicking each other around the north pole!!!!moi!moi!
3 April, 2006 | Believe it or not....
.................................but summer really is coming! yes i know that you wake up in the morning and look out of your window and despair...koiran ilma ... i am told that is one way to describe it...well anyway the snow is on its way to hell and its time to get your ZOOK t-shirt out of the cupboard..... what? ...you haven`t got one?...get a life!!! and a t-shirt!!! ....from the lovely Laura...
...those of you that have been at the gigs have probably felt the Hollola Heatwave as the girls get down and work it out in their little black kind of clingy oh so sexy gotta get me one of those ZOOK T`s and a little dickie bird told me...and i thought i would tell you...that there are just a few left ...so if you want one Laura will be at Torvi on wednesday 12th april or you can get in touch with her via the website..
.....sizes still available:
mens 10 euros - large: 3 shirts left, small: 2 shirts left
womens 14 euros - large: 4 shirts left, medium: 1 shirt left, small: 6 shirts left
.....ok now lets all do the sundance... UUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmm
and if that doesn`t work then get your neil young bootlegs out....."strummy strum strum oh to live on sugar mountain......." see.....instant summer time.....i hate the sun anyway..just makes me hot and sweaty and bad tempered and miserable and i burn and moan and.....OI! SHUT THE FU#K UP!
27 March, 2006 | WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?
Hi everybody!! This is something new..Me (Sami) and virtuoso bassplayer Jukka are taking a new step in life. We are practising the html-language to update the blog and step by step the whole zookzone ourselves. BIGBIGBIG thanks to the great Kare, who has helped us so far with the zone - it's about time that we start to do this ourselves! So if you wonder from now on why the page looks weird or some pages have just dissapeared, you know it's those guys from the rhythmsection foolin' around with their computers. Have to say that it is not really fluent and natural way of thinking for our generation, but sure interesting to learn and practise. So, this is the first rehearsal for me and next time around easter when we play live again. Before that some nice holiday time out of the country.. Now I pass the keypad to the restless guru of html.. mr. JYLLI!!!!! Watch out all nerds, he's gonna revolutionize the whole computerbusiness soon!
Yeah man, far out t:Jylli
22 March, 2006 | EARTH TO ZOOK! CALLING EARTH TO ZOOK! ARE YOU OUT THERE?
....AH! at last! just landed and with apologies to those of you who have been wondering what has happened and why has there been no word..not so much as a dickie bird even ..lets waste not a moment longer in catching up...
.......firstly we would like to thank all of you who made the effort to come out and support the band at the gigs...Tavastia, Joensuu, Kuopio, Oulu, Tampere, Jarvenpää...we have had really good crowds and its impossible to say how good it feels when you walk onstage and the place is full and the crowd is with you...I think all of us in the band have experienced the empty club at the end of a long, freezing journey more times than we would care for so we really hope that you enjoyed the shows and that it was worth your while braving the cold to join us!...
....in between ZOOK gigs i have been running around strumming acoustic guitar up in Norway..down in the South of France (nice one Cyril)...and in Denmark.....Sami has been holed up in Hollola in ze studio...Rocka has also been in the studio...most of the time in a different one to Sami, wearing his producers hat for a change....Jukka...well its hard to tell these days....as you will have noticed Jukka has disappeared and was last sighted...allegedly...hiding behind a tree...although nobody could actually confirm seeing him!!!!!!
.....................tonight we are having ourselves a night in the pub...Treffi pub in Herttoniemi to be exact...its just opposite the metro station and we shall be starting at 2100 sharp...there is a good crowd hanging out there and they are into their live bands so if you are up for a midweek jam it should be a great night! seeyatherethen....adios............
27 February, 2006 | Beginning of March
So MARCH, MARCH.. everybody to Tavastia Club on Thursday the 2nd of MARCH!!! Zook is playing their first gig after the album release party in Semifinal in January. It is finally time to start the spring tour. Few weeks period, when all band members had some other work lined up and some even had the guts to take a holiday break.. it's about time to get back to the basics. 1-2-3-4..days to Thursday, when Tavastia is gonna be absolutely rocking with two great bands, who know what they are doing. Soul Tattoo - the other act for the night, has just released their second album "Pile Of Bones". Really a kickass psychobilly experience, and extremely powerful live band as well!
Zook ( yeah, that's us! ) is really happy to get together and jam after the break, and is waiting to see what's gonna happen to all the tunes relesased on the debut CD, when playing them live again. Nice gigs scheduled for March - April, when there is plenty of time to explore some new things with the music. Also great bands to work with too. In Joensuu and Kuopio we are playing with Stu!, and in Oulu with Morley. Both bands are really groovy and fun, making the spirit high for everybody around. So, come and check Zook live when ever possible, you'll enjoy the evening!
On Tuesday Zook is performing on a national radio station Yle Q, live. The band has been invited to the popstudio show, which is hosted by Johanna Vainiola. Some acoustic playing and a lot of talking is taking place on next Tuesday, Feb. the 28th between 12 and one o'clock daytime. So get your radios tuned by Tuesday to Yle Q station, and thursday night free for partying with us in Tavastia!
See you there!
8 February, 2006 | ZOOK GIGS !
ZOOK-yhtyeen keikkamyynti siirtyy jatkossa ohjelmatoimisto Welldonen osaaviin käsiin. Jo pitkään alalla ansioituneesti toiminut Jukka Melametsä vastaa Zookin keikkakalenterin synkronoinnista tulevan kesän osalta ja siitä edespäin. Kontaktitiedot jäljempänä tai Welldonen saitilla www.welldone.fi
From now on, Welldone agency & promotion is booking and organizing Zook's gigs. Welldone is one of the biggest and the most respected agencies in Finland, and it has been taken care of the business since the early 90's. The one and only Jukka Melametsä is working with ZOOK (and many others!) to make the schedule happening and is happy to book gigs for Zook for next summer and beyond.
Contact:
Jukka Melametsä
e-mail jukka.melametsa[at]welldone.fi
tel: +358 (0)9 8567 4322
www.welldone.fi
20 January, 2006 | ROOT CANAL RECOVERY #27....
far out man! we are in the charts!a big KIITOS! to all of you who rushed out to buy a copy..and those of you who sat in your chairs and bought a copy on the web..i can hardly believe it..had a bit of a hangover after celebrating on wednesday evening..but its true..let`s see if we can get our video shown...
....a few people have complained to me about our playing Semifinale...its too small...we won`t get in etc...well fair enough and sorry...however as Sami said in the previous blog entry..you get a better atmosphere for rock n roll in a small venue that is full rather than a large empty hall...and the other point is that it is not down to us who plays where....people who know what they are doing run these venues and when they think we can get enough people in they will book us..its as simple as that...so..honestly we are very sorry if you couldn`t get in but we always try and warn you here if its going to be packed and i hope that we will be playing bigger venues soon...although i would still love to play semifinale as well!!!!!its a great club!
15 January, 2006 | Friday the 13th...THANK YOU!!!
Zook survived Friday the 13th better than well, and would like to thank everybody that made it to Semifinal. Also those who came but couldn't get in, we thank even more, and at the same time appologize for the fact that Semi's capacity is limited. Hopefully things go well and in future we are able to play upstairs in Tavastia. One thing we ( Zook ) think, is that the evening is much better experience for everybody if there is a good crowd in a small club than same amount of people in place which is too big.. Let's see.
Anyway, the album is now out there, we did couple of private gigs ( one for everybody related to the debutalbum and other for friends in Oravanhäntä.. ) and Semifinal last week to celebrate it and now we have a small live performance break, adjusting dates for a nice springtour. I have to say that I'm so happy the band is in a great shape and mood, and just waiting for upcoming gigs!!! It is not the easiest job to fix a decent tour as an upcoming artist, but gladly people working in that business are willing to try their best at all times.
The gigs we did on the first week of Jan in Nousuvesi, Australian bar and Siilinpesä were all fantastic, thanks for everybody who showed up just few days after the new year's parties!! Very very nice indeed.
So, enjoy the "Root Canal Recovery", we are very proud of it and I can't wait to hear what everybody thinks of it! Hopefully we'll be able to go to studio to record some more music, but first a lot of gigs and writing more songs and breathing some fresh air between. Remember to tell all your friends, relatives, friends at work and in school, neighbours, colleagues, personal trainers, staff in local stores, people you know abroad and in outer space..that Zook is THE band everyone should check out!
Visit regularly the zookzone also, we try to list some nice reviews of the album, some photos and some bootlegs on the goodies page more regularly. Bryn's lyrics ( at least some of them ) are to be found from there also.
Thank you to people in Radio Helsinki for playing lot of Zook also, especially Njassa who we had a lot of fun with, visiting "Rauha" last wednesday. So, ZZZOOOOOOOOOOOOKKKKKKKK everybody then!!
14 January, 2006 | New Goodies...
...will be available on Monday, January 16th!
12 January, 2006 | ROOT CANAL RECOVERY....
....THE ALBUM IS IN THE SHOPS!!!!!!.....so do yourselves a favour and get down to your local record shop and buy a copy...or two... FREE RECORD SHOPS....ANTILLA.....TUNNELIN LEVY......KELTAINEN WHATSISNAME NEXT DOOR TO TAVASTIA.... basically any shop worth its salt will be happy to sell you one and at this point we have to let you in on a little secret.......
........ plenty of you came to our gigs in the last week asking if you could buy the cd there and then but we were not selling them on the gigs because we need you to buy them from the shops....there is not much going on at this time of year in the music scene.... and there is just a small chance that we could get in the chart...which would then make it possible to get the CHEMISTRY video on telly etc etc...
............BONESHAKER is no. 10 on the Radio Helsinki playlist and CHEMISTRY is no. 24 so please phone in and request some ZOOK or tell your record shop what you think of the cd... i.e. that you love it.....all the positive feedback helps now...seems like we will be on YLE Q pop studio on tuesday 28th february.....
.............tomorrow night is the Semifinale gig which should be a sellout...the previous two have been.....JOHNNY KENYA will be spreading the love and warming up for us ...check him out he is great and then we will start around 11 ish.....hope you can make it.......
30 December, 2005 | BEST WISHES FOR THE NEW YEAR...
....from all of us..take care and take it easy or if your preference is to take the bull by the horns and paint the town red..God bless you and all who sail in you! As we mentioned yesterday we have another gig added for next week ...on wednesdy.....at the OUTBACK AUSTRALIAN BAR ...which is on the second floor at EATZ restaurant...there will be a 2 euro wardrobe charge but that`s it ..beer is reasonably priced and the boys working there ..Bejay,Peter,and crew know how to enjoy themselves and get the party going...so....by wednesday you should all have recovered from the festivities and be up for starting again....show will start about 10.30 so try and get there a bit early for a couple of drinks and get warmed up...meanwhile i am off to cook curry..HAPPY NEW YEAR!
29 December, 2005 | OutBack Australian Bar next Wednesday
Just booked a new gig with a little short notice. Hope you can make it to the OutBack Australian Bar (Kaisaniemenkatu 2, 2nd floor) next Wednesday, January 4.
Meanwhile, we wish you a HAPPY NEW YEAR!
17 December, 2005 | One Year of Blagging.... I mean Blogging!
....so here it is Merry Christmas, everybody`s having fun listening to Slade when they should be listening to ZOOK!!!! ...SO ....get yourselves down to the gig at Soopelli and let`s get festive ...its also near as dammit two years since our first gig so we have good reason to celebrate if you don`t.
..who needs a reason?...well sometimes it helps...for instance when you remember that you are supposed to be waiting in for mother-in-law/auntie flo/long lost relative living without running water..... to bring your xmas socks/pants/cake ..just tell them...they will be ok...they will take comfort in the fact, actually they will feel quite relieved, to know you joined in the Christmas spirit and helped poor musicians stay off the street...never mind those you can see rolling around in the gutter on the way home...everybody needs a friend...its good to share...so come along and get the band well and truly loaded.....
p.s. Guitar Hero....Good Mate....Top Bloke...Monsieur Ben Granfelt will be joining us for a jam so...REPEAT AFTER ME... that`s five(5) shots for the band please mate ....Ta!
14 December, 2005 | ZOOK T-SHIRTS
We just found out that the commercial exploitation of the ZOOK phenomenon has begun! There are totally unofficial but very good looking black ZOOK T-SHIRTS available on the Web. You should also be able to purchase them on some of the upcoming gigs. A sure way to get one before christmas is to buy one next Saturday at Soopeli.
Support the girls and get one today!
10 December, 2005 | www.kururecords.com
Kuru Records-site has opened in www.kururecords.com. There you can find news and information of Zook's recordings. Check it out!!
Some new dates in the gigs-page, and working hard to make the schedule work for an interesting spring tour! In January, when the album is gonna be released, Zook is trying to organize a miniature tour around all the small clubs and pubs around Helsinki area, so just contact us in gigs@zookzone.net, if you have some great ideas we didn't think about yet..
5 December, 2005 | CHRISTMAS GIG
hi there zookers and zookettes and what a wonderful monday morning it is..cold and wet ..just like home!..... well warm your hearts with the news that we are going to play one more gig this year in Helsinki...it will be on saturday 17th december at Pub Soopeli in City-käyttava and we are looking forward to a great night...a few surprises will be in store and i hope that you are going to enjoy the show...the usual time...11 pm start... get there early....
22 November, 2005 | Album Release Date
...is January 11. The album release gig is on Friday the 13th at Semifinal. Oi! Oi!
18 November, 2005 | ...REPORTING TO BASE.....
not a great deal to report though...just thought i would say hi and thanks to those of you who turned up to lahti and tampere ....and even if you didn`t make it ...hi anyway!
...seems that things are pretty much wrapped up with the cd so start saving your pennies for january...exciting times ahead...meanwhile a very short rest before the festivities begin...HA!
30 October, 2005 | ..in addition to...
...the summary of Zook playing in Musiikki&Media should be mentioned big thanks to MUSEX organization (MusicExportFinland) who invited a lot of very interesting guests to Tampere last weekend and succeeded in hosting as well! Foreign musicbiz people were very well represented in the audience of those about 30 showcase performances happening during the weekend. Some of them attended also Zook gig, and let's see if it will lead to anything.. Thanks to everyone at Musex!!
Also happy to inform that on upcoming Wednesday we are supporting the legendary Finnish group Rock'n'roll Band at Tavastia! Come there and do come early because the music is starting right after nine already.
Also if it is not mentioned on the page earlier the "Chemistry" video is finished and looking good! More news about that when it will be shown somewhere public, so far only promotional use, but we'll find a way to show it, because it is GREAT, with also great performance by Suho and Martha..
24 October, 2005 | Thanks to Musiikki&Media...
... and especially Paapan Kapakka in Tampere for great vibe and cozy feeling! Zook played there last Saturday (Oct 22nd) and made a lot of new friends, including the other performers at the same venue Morley from Oulu and Poppa Joe from Röykkä. Good music for great audience. Also some nice and interesting contacts for the future to take care of Zook's music being heard as wide as possible both live and recorded. The other gig earlier last week was very educating and pleasant for Zook as well. Playing at Welldone's birthday party in Tavastia on Monday taught the band a lot and hopefully gave the listeners something to think about as well. Also hoping that Welldone and especially mr.Mela is capable of creating a working symbiosis with the audience, live music venues and the band in near future..
Now waiting for upcoming Saturday in Juttutupa,Hakaniemi ( set starts at 9PM!! ) and working on cover of the album and some other details. Also go and check out biisi.fi in the web, where is now possible to download Zook single Chemistry. Guys at "biisi" are doing good job delivering music for people with the best possible digital quality and their catalog growing rapidly. More Zook in "biisi" as soon as possible too.
So, keep on checking the "zone" for latest news and come to see us live when possible, Saturday in Juttis for example!!
17 October, 2005 | New Zook Images
Check out the new press images taken by Kie von Herzen on the Press page.
17 October, 2005 | Latest News
The intense period of making the first Zook album is now pretty much ending because last Friday we completed the first mastering session. Only some small adjustments left to make after few days of rest for ears and the whole brain.. Thanks to very talented and fine Svante at Chartmakers, the songs sound as they should - alive and rocking! Still lot to be done for the actual album, coverart and such, but the most important - MUSIC - is sounding great!!!
Big step for the band! Now after those stressfull but enjoyable hours of mixing and making 500'000 decisions a day, Zook has a lot of energy to share with the audience and each other.
Tonight we play in private housewarming party of Welldone agency in Tavastia with some other interesting bands who are in early stage of their careers. Very pleasant event and lot of colleagues and old friends who will see Zook the first time! Zook's good friend Jonna (Kosonen) is playing there too with her kickass heavyrock group Jonna's problem which I'm looking forward to see among other great newcomers. Jukka Melametsä ("Mela") of Welldone is gonna help us out in booking a lot of nice gigs for next year, which is really great news too.
Next Saturday, Oct the 22nd, we are playing in Paapan Kapakka, Tampere, so if you are around - please come! Should be free event starting at 6PM, four bands playing half an hour set each as a showcase for Musiikki&Media event. Zook is on at 7PM, so check it out and cheer a lot!
5 October, 2005 | back to the future......
...so finally to bring you back up to date and looking forward to the gig on saturday...........after the video / photo session we had a week off before our friend Ben Granfelt and his beautiful bride Jonna were married......Rocka and i played some old blues and soul tunes at the reception and we would like to wish them all the best ....Sami got a bit of sunshine...Jukka was trimming his beard... and then we all met up at Munkka Studios to finish the recordings.....
Jukka Puurula was the enginner for this session...he was Don Huonot`s bass player i believe ...i hope i have spelt his name right because it has been brought to my attention that in my last blog when i tried to explain "vadelma"...raspberry...i spelt it "vädelma"...voi ei! anteeksi...puhun suomea persesta!...
...anyway our thanks to Jukka ...he worked really hard for us and we got the recording finished without any real problems..it was mainly a question of giving ourselves some options for mixing...which we then got into the following week at Hip Studios with Illu Herkmann..
..as Rocka said "mixing is hell" ..by far my least favourite part of making music.....
..for starters everybody hears things differently ...everybody has different taste...and by the time you have listened to the same song over and over you can`t hear what`s going on anyway! ...HOWEVER...Illu and Sami finally finished on monday evening and I will take this chance to thank them both because its a huge job and they worked really hard ...now we can take a small break from it ....freshen the ears a bit ...before listening to what we have done...meanwhile we get to kick out the jams at Soopelli on friday night...11 pm start but if you are coming ..get in for 10 cos its usually packed...its gonna be great to play a gig again!
29 September, 2005 | Smile please........
.......so........ whilst we went home and listened to what we had done at Soundtrack we had a date with the make-up girl on wednesday 7 september...we shot a video for "Chemistry"
.....i had no idea what to expect when i turned up at the basement on Lönnröninkatu? which is occupied by Vädelma..which means raspberry for those of you who are not fluent in the finn lingo... a music/arts co-op here in helsinki...
..a cool place full of paintings..sculptures ..music studios and god knows what else ..it was very laid back and a great backdrop for our video and photos..a thoroughly pleasant chap named Sökö was directing the whole kabosh and i loved his theme ....an exotic blonde played by the ravishing Martha "More" Highh and her date played by Suho return from a night out in Helsinki to Suho`s den where he gains full marks in effort trying to seduce her whilst singing "Chemistry"...discreetly backed by Zook jamming behind his curtains........ those of you familiar with the scene here in Helsinki probably already know Suho and if you look closely i think you may know Martha too!!........ Pasi Takkula was the camera man and Nea was production assistant..........many thanks to all of you involved....Lisa too.....above all it was really enjoyable ...and to that end ..a special mention to Sökö who always seemed to have a smile on his face.........as yet i am not sure where or when you can see it but we will keep you posted...
..a quick curry later we were back underground with Kie von Hertzen who was charged with the formidable task of trying to get a decent photo of us....no small feat!!.... by now we were pretty buggered and i have to admit i was wondering if it was possible..well stone me if the fella didn`t score a hat trick in injury time to send the boys home happy...hopefully we can get some on here soon....judging from our record so far...probably not too soon.... but hey! Kie ...thankyou...
26 September, 2005 | ....mixing it ......
good morning campers and sorry for not having kept you more up to date with our recording but here is a bit of what has been happening....back on monday 22 august we started at Soundtrack studio in Pitajänmäki ...Olli was once again engineering the whole session and allowing us to record completely live....it is so rare to find someone with the facility i.e. a great sounding big room and the confidence and know how to let the band just get on with it...we really appreciate the freedom we had....however needless to say ..not everything went to plan...
we thought we would start off with "Payday" and "Summer`s Gone" ..two of our oldest tunes that in theory we could play in our sleep....ha!....i don`t know if it was nerves or something in the water..whatever ...but i could not sing payday and then one thing follows another...that is the disadvantage of trying to get one great ´take`...anyway...we finally got through those two songs and then managed " Horses" and "Boneshaker" ....both of them were quick ..first or second take...so at the end of day one although it had been a rough start we had managed to get done what we had set out to do and went home on a bit of a high after the last two songs...
if monday was a rough start...tuesday we were flying...we managed nine songs... and whilst not all of them were as good as they seemed at the time.. i believe that we got some great material down on tape..or whatever it goes down on these days...it was a rocking day! .."The Chase", "Timbuktoo", "Buckshot", "Root Canal Recovery", "Fine" ....this kind of thing......
that left us with some time to experiment a little on the wednesday...some things worked better than others but we left Soundtrack with good tracks and some options for our album....
...................ok i have to run again ...coz we are mixing this week but there is plenty more to tell so i will continue later.......hey hey moi moi!
21 September, 2005 | STILL ALIVE AND WELL!...
....and holed up in Munkka studio...it seems that the recording is going well although there is a pretty hectic schedule running....photos and a video have also been shot during a break from recording.....and i am going to have to run now or else i will be late for the studio...loads to tell ...will write a decent piece telling whats up next week while the mixing takes place....cheers...
18 August, 2005 | Oh yeah, time to update the news
On Saturday Zook will play in Swengi, Järvenpää. Come and check it out - the band has worked on getting all the original tunes together before the recordings of the first album.
The session which is happening next week, tells us how the album will basically sound like. Sure there is gonna be some overdubbing and mixing of course, but definately next week is very important and exiting!
During September Zook will shoot a video (!) and finish the album which is gonna be released right after new year's.
On Oct-Dec there is couple of gigs to see which you will find from the "gigs" page. Working on few more, but let's see.. Anyway, those which are happening for sure, are listed there as soon as possible.
Hopefully you did see one of our gigs this summer - We thought they were all great! We recieved some warm feedback especially from the people who saw us in the Faces festival. What a pitty that the whole festival is kind of forgotten from the reviews of summer happenings by the biggest music papers. I thought Faces 2005 was absolutely fantastic happening!! Hope to be there next year.
If you like to send us some feedback of the gigs or so, please do. The adress is gigs@zookzone.net, and we will try to answer as actively as possible. You can try in Finnish also, but English is preferred language on this page as you have already noticed. Keep in touch!!!
28 July, 2005 | Summer's gone...great!
What a beautiful summer!! Lot of great music being performed all around Finland pretty much every day.. Weather has shown it's best also, or maybe I have been just lucky with my choises for location. Experienced Sodankylä FilmFestival, Kaustinen, Tuska, Tammerfest, and lot of peaceful countryside on top of great Zook gigs earlier this summer in Vääksy and Puistoblues. Absolutely great happenings with nice program and good people!
Next live act for Zook is happening in Forssa's Tyykiblues on upcoming Friday and the next day in Faces Festival taking place in Billnäs or Pohja or Fiskars, however you want to put it. Hope you can make it there, the band is in great mood waiting for you..
Zook's plans for the next fall are pretty much ensured, which means completing the recordings of the first album in August-September, so the album will see daylight right after new year's celebration. That means less gigs for the fall than last year, but we promise to make it up in spring 2006! Still trying to fix dates this year for couple of cities like Turku and Jyväskylä where we still haven't got a chance to play.
Plenty of work with making everything happen, especially the way we would like it to happen.. Working on picking the right songs for the recordings of the album and lot of things.. One thing is this web page, and especially the goodies.. We have a lot of recordings from our gigs, and it is just our lazy asses that still offer you only versions from the early days of Zook to listen. And the photos.. It's not new year's but I ( Sami ) promise that before it is my nameday ( 20.8. ) something has happened on that section.
Anyway, come and see us as soon as possible and tell all your friends to come too! Check this page regularly also for upcoming gigs and info. Trying to get some news about the state of recordingprocess as it starts to roll..hopefully smooth, very interesting indeed!!
5 July, 2005 | LEONID KRAVITZKY.....
Sami and Rocka and maybe Jukka..not sure...and a bunch of you are off watching Lenny strut his thing in town so i thought i may as well say `ello to the rest of you...not that i am a sad lonely bastard or anything...you know...oooh Wouldn it be nice to get on with your neighbours...nah nah ..
..just a little bit about the weekend....we finally did the gig in Vääksy on the pier...we were supposed to be on a boat but rough weather waters favoured the safer option!!!...man!!
a local band called Frisbee Firma kicked off..nice fellas... good jamming sorta psychadelic vibe and energetic performance and we did our bit..so to speak...the rain held off and we rocked the jetty..gently..whilst the crowd got rightgheously pissed in the sun...and Rocka laughed all night...
.... some good humoured soul offered us life jackets to do the gig on the boat..so it was a night when you had to laugh...... and to the lady who proffesses " i am ready" during "i just wanna make love to you"....Jukka reckons we have you on tape ...aha..aha...
..anyway muchas bazookas later we were on our way home and stopped in at Puistoblues Yano klubi where we caught the end of the Flaming Sideburns set...wow...Leonardo de Krav had better be good........well he is inne......doh!.....i know i know.. we all love Len..but seeing a great band in a good club.... its hard to beat..
....lucky lads that we were... the following night we opened up for Liekki...strangely ..because everyone had told me that they were a very Finnish band..i found them quite English sounding ...a bit of the old Genesis or something ..i dunno..obviously the bloke is singing in the fin lingo and i no comprenez but i found myself getting into it...bloody hippy...they was ace mate....we had a great night....those of you that saw us ..hope you enjoyed it ..... and if you didn`t....then what on earth are you reading this nonsense for....bugger off and get a life!!
....... see you all at the next Lenny Kravitz gig........
21 June, 2005 | ...summer in the city!....well, what`s wrong with winter?
a quick line .... the boys would like to wish you all Yippee Juhannus!.. hoping the sun shines on you wherever you are and may the festival goers and sauna bathers enjoy the best summer of love!
........and if you are sitting at home on your own with no friends waiting for the long dark winter ....fear not..it wont be long till the old bugger is coming around again.. and actually.... i cannot wait...all these poxy mosquitoes can go to hell with the hay fever and so can sunburn and part time party people - put on a pullover and whack a couple of winter warmers down your neck ...gimme -35 degrees and 24 hours of darkness any time...summertime...bollocks mate..you can`t beat a wet windy winter`s morning.... falling arse over elbow as you walk out of your front door.... freezing your nuts off as you scrape the ice off your windscreen and dig the snow out from under the wheels...that comforting feeling of your long johns disappearing up your sweaty hairy backside...or better still ...forget to put your long johns on and take a walk down to the market where the wind is so fresh that it burns the hairs off your bum....people pay good money for that kind of treatment these days...wax my bum crack...you`re having a laugh ....men in thongs ...see...all this summer nonsense...frollicking on the beach....its not right!
6 June, 2005 | Munkan Puistorock
We played in the legendary Puistorock yesterday and had a nice relaxed Sunday despite the heavy rain warning hanging on top of us all the day. Not a drop came down while we performed. Present was a lot of good people who came for the music and we did our best. Thanks for the Munkka staff who have been putting the event up for upcoming bands to play live and get their act together.
In June we are gonna take it easy and rehearse a little, waiting for couple of gigs in the beginning of July. Friday the 1st we're gonna play in Vääksy, near Lahti, an outside event with a beautiful view I heard. Saturday night we will rock the house in a Puistoblues club Yano, Järvenpää. Also great Finnish band Liekki is there, so should be absolutely a great night in the club, after the main concert of Puistoblues. Looking forward to the whole summer!!!
4 June, 2005 | Club Uniq Cancelled
The June 29 gig at Club Uniq has been cancelled/postponed.
20 May, 2005 | OPEN THE F&%¤#!"G BAR!
The gig was cancelled last night because.....because the bar was shut...what the f#%¤? Sincere apologies to anyone who made the effort to go to the "gig" and found out the hard way...there was not much that we could do other than stick the message up on the site and we hope that people realise it was out of our hands..
On a brighter note it was a great night at Calypso (wed 18 may)...the people there had worked really hard promoting the gig ...shit... they opened the bar and everything....there was a fine crowd and it was feeling good to be back on stage with the band.
Tonight we are in Soopelli in City-Käyttava. Hope I have spelt that even half correct....and we are really looking forward to it...they have also been working hard improving the stage and I think its a cracking little pub venue now...Last time they were full just after 10 o clock so if you are coming..get there early ...show time is 11 o clock...and yes ..i checked ...they are also looking forward to it and THE BAR WILL BE OPEN...Praise the Lord..
20 May, 2005 | First Images
There are now a few images taken by Kirppu Penttilä on the spring tour at the "Goodies" page.
19 May, 2005 | Tonight's Porvoo Gig Cancelled!!!
Last minute info from Porvoo: The venue is closed. Unfortunately we did not receive any prior information about the cancellation. We're sorry for all the people who might learn this the same way we did at the door of an empty restaurant.
6 May, 2005 | Gigs Updated
Added some new gigs and a new "press" section.
18 Apr, 2005 | what's going on
just listening this great album of Marvin Gaye ( What's going on ) for maybe the 1'000'000th time and feeling fine somewhere in northern Finland. Playing some non-ZOOK-gigs with good people but it's not the same.. I'm so happy we've made this Zook-thing happening, because it really is a band. The gigs we did in feb-march went really well, teaching us a bunch of new things and hopefully giving people some.. We had a lot of fun! And what's going on now? Everybody's working here and there (and everywhere) playing music fortunately. Looking forward to the Zook gigs in the middle of May and also planning the summer for Zook. Also trying to get some new tunes to work out and planning for some more recording dates to get closer of having the first Zook album recorded before the year ends. Let's see..
Just wanna say couple of words more about the spring tour we had. First of all thanks to everybody who came to see us and made some noise in the audience, it felt really good! Lot of people I had seen many times earlier too, hopefully we can give you something that keeps you coming back again and again. Megasuperhyperthanks to Mylly and Aki who seem to form our staff, Mylly being a true pro soundengineer who can survive in all kind of surroundings and make it work for everybody. Tons of positive feedback from the audience, not from any speakers.. Thanks Aki of being a total crazy music freak who has been with us all the way and helping out more than anybody could ask for. Also Kirppu deserves respect and thankyous from the band, helping us out with the increasing sales of the Chemistry-single and travelling with us all around.
In Semifinal in March the 27th and a day before in Oravanhäntä, we had a pleasure of having special guest Jonna ( Kosonen ) singing with us few songs. Total respect for her and thanks for making us look good for few minutes.. Seriously, she is absolutely great singer and sure rocking! Gonna see her band Johnson to play at Semifinal next Tuesday the 19th.
This is it for me now, writing in enlish is a great exercise and important for Bryn also, because he still can't read finnish really, which I don't blame him for. My laptop changed Marvin Gaye to the Beatles which is just singing "In My Life". In my life happens a lot of nice things at the moment and Zook is one of them! Happy to write to this page, trying to do it more often too. Take care and enjoy spring! Kuoppis
12 Apr, 2005 | END OF TOUR HANGOVER!!!
..... finally recovery is well and truly under way although a persistent flu bug that was screwing with us throughout the tour has hampered proceedings...so sorry that there has not been any news lately...actually we have spent some time underground editing a film of the semifinal gig...nothing official but a nice bootleg.. so I think we are going to get something onto the goodies page from that...good to be back on our feet again ...be good!
25 Mar, 2005 | Jonna/The Johnson
Just got back from the load out at Semifinal and there were a couple more things that I wanted to say...those of you that were there last night or the night before in Oravanhanta were treated to Jonna Kosonen jamming with us...we would like to thank her and wish her all the best with her new band... The Johnson...who play Semifinal on 19 April..its a full-on hard rocking band so get along if you can...
.....and one more date for the calendar...ZOOK will play at Soopelli, Helsinki on Friday 20 May ..they have done a bit of work in the pub and now the stage is looking good..looking forward to trying it out...see you there...
25 Mar, 2005 | Happy Easter!
Many thanks to everyone for last night, and sorry to those of you that came along but could not get in...without wishing to rub it in, we had a great time. The crowd was up for it.... people were out to enjoy themselves...and I think the smiles on our faces onstage said a lot more than I can express here....
Hope to get some photos from the tour up on the site soon and apparently we have a few nice bootlegs so Jukka will be busy organizing the archives!! And so on to Tammisaari...looking forward to going to the seaside on sunday, where we shall play at Santa Fe and enjoy a few end of tour sherberts....looks like spring is here so summer and the festival season is just around the corner...we are still hoping to get into a few more festivals and more gigs are coming up so keep checking the site to find out what`s up.
...Happy Easter to you all!
16 Mar, 2005 | GOODIE GOODIE!
As promised, efforts are being made to come up with the goods and so we have a couple of tracks from last year`s february gig in Torvi, Lahti. For those of you interested in a little bit of trivia, this was actually our first gig in public so it seems a fitting way to kickstart the goodies page for real. There was one gig prior to the Torvi show..a private party..and I do believe there could be some material from that gig buried somewhere...If anyone has any good photos or bootlegs from our gigs please let us know or get us a copy so we can keep the goodies page rolling. Looking forward to Semifinal next Thursday.. BRING YOUR MATES - LETS PACK THE PLACE!!
15 Mar, 2005 | Weekend OFF!
Oi!Oi! A rare friday and saturday night off, and very nice it was too...a big curry on saturday night..barbeque on sunday (in Finland???!!!!) ...we thought we would have had gigs but they did not work out so after a cool Friday night in Porvoo we got to chill out! Many thanks to all of you who made it to Torvi or Nevada last week... hope you enjoyed it - we did!
A few new dates added on the gigs page including our first festival in Forssa ...we are chasing a few festival gigs but if anyone knows of a good small festival which might be up our street let us know with an email... I know there are loads of festivals in Finland but I don`t know much about many of them!
Before I go, a few people have mentioned the Goodies Page and I should apologize for us being A LITTLE SLOW AND DISORGANIZED with regards to getting the goodies on the go! Please stick with us and I promise its going to be sorted soon as.....
Alrighty.. time for a beer while the stun shill signs!!!! Moi!Moi!
08 Mar, 2005 | Review of the Kuopio gig [in Finnish]
Savon Sanomat, March 6. Written by Simo Reunamäki
Henry’s Pub täyttyy pikkuhiljaa rastapäistä, muusikoista ja muuten vähän omituisemman näköisistä ihmisistä, Kingston Wallin fanit eivät halua missata tilaisuutta nähdä edes kahta kolmasosaa kulttibändistä. Kyseessähän ovat basisti Jukka Jylli ja Sami Kuoppamäki, jotka ovat Kingston Wallin jälkeen soittaneet useissa projektiluontoisissa kokoonpanoissa, mutta ovat vasta nyt päätyneet samaan bändiin. Kieltämättä ilmassa oli pientä epävarmuuden tuntua, että millaistahan musiikkia sieltä nyt tulee, ja moni ajatteli tämänkin poppoon olevan joku projektiviritys.
Toisinpa kävi. Bändi aloittaa settinsä instrumentaalilla, ja yllätys on melkoinen: Zook on oikea bändi, ei mikään projektikyhäys vaan ihan oikea bändi. Ja he soittavat rokkia. Funkkaavaa, bluesahtavaa ja ennen kaikkea, rehellistä rokkia. Laulaja Bryn Jonesin tullessa lavalle positiiviset yllätykset jatkavat tulvimistaan, symppikseksi osoittautuva Jones ottaa yleisön haltuunsa, ja hänen uskomaton käheä lauluääni pitää ihmiset otteessaan aina viimeiseen biisiin asti. Mutta ne biisit! Hendrix, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin puristettuna yhteen pakettiin. Puhumattakaan aina läsnä olevasta bluesista. Ja jos bändin rytmiryhmä koostuu Sami Kuoppamäestä ja Jukka Jyllistä, ei bändi voi olla groovaamatta. Biisit potkivat ja hönkivät energiaa saaden kaikkein pahimmassakin laskuhumalassa olevat tyypit tanssimaan musiikin tahtiin.
Soittajien virtuositeettiakin tuodaan sopivasti esille illan aikana, Kuoppiksen pitkä rumpusoolo setin puolessavälissä pudotti leukoja yleisössä, ja ihmiset pudistelivat päätään sillä he eivät uskoneet että joku tästä maailmasta tuleva pystyy soittamaan tuolla tavalla. Myös Jylli osoitti olevansa kykenevä taitaviin bassosooloihin, joita olisi ehkä voinut olla enemmänkin, ainakin pari yleisön päihtyneempään osastoon kuuluvaa katsojaa osoittivat halunsa kuulla bassosoolon melko kovaäänisesti, kunnes tuopit tyhjenivät. Bändin kitaristi Rocka Merilahti ei soittanut teknisesti vaikeita juttuja, vaan osoitti tyylitajua ja mielikuvituksellisuutta, ja teknisesti vaikeat juoksutukset olisivat olleet antikliimakseja.
”Kingston Wallin jälkeen päädyimme kaikki soittamaan monissa eri projektiluontoisissa yhtyeissä, ja tuntuu hyvältä vihdoinkin löytää porukka, joka tuntuu oikealta bändiltä, ja jossa ennen muuta on mukava soittaa”, Sami Kuoppamäki kertoo keikan jälkitunnelmissa. Kun Bryn Jones kertoo rakastavansa eniten sitä tunnetta, kun bändi onnistuu saamaan kosketuksen yleisöönsä, niin eihän tätä yhtyettä voi olla rakastamatta.
Zookin uunituore single Chemistry löytyy hyvin varustetuista levykaupoista, ja sitä voi ostaa myös bändin keikoilta.
01 Mar, 2005 | Squirrel skin square
A beautiful morning and I am feeling good. The gigs in Lappeenranta, Siilitie and Salo went really well. As a band we enjoyed the music and spending time together but also it was a fantastic feeling to see so many people coming to the gigs and getting into it. We sold a load of cd`s which is great because ....well, because that`s the idea! And we have booked a warm up gig the night before Semifinal.... It will be the first time ZOOK has played for the good people of Espoo, in a cosy Rock n Roll bar called Oravanhäntä...in.....Oravanhäntä...the address: Oravannahkatori 3, which translates to SQUIRREL SKIN SQUARE 3 .... try saying that on the way home after six pints!!!!
Tonight we are off to Myyrmäki..I think that is how you spell it ...I must apologise for my diabolical Finnish...anyway Bar Luna is the venue and I think this is the third time we have been there. Last time was a Saturday and we had a great crowd so hopefully people are up for it on a tuesday!!??!! Aurinko paistaa ja kaikki on hyvin...take it easy.
24 Feb, 2005 | Greetings from Lappeenranta/Chemistry single
Harvinaista kyllä, koko ZOOK on läppärin kulmilla samaan aikaan ja kaikilla on hetki aikaa ottaa iisisti. Ei tarvi vaihtaa kieliä tai juosta baaritiskillä tai soitella puhelimella. Kaikilla on vatsat täynnä hyvää ruokaa ja tuoppi naaman edessä. Päätimme kirjailla yhteisen tervehdyksen Lappeeenrannasta zookzone-sivulle.
Minä, Kuoppis, toimin kirjurina ja yritän nyhtää jätkilltä jotain järkevää kommenttia. Ensimmäisenä hiillostan komppipariani Jukkaa. Siis; "Jukkka, mitä olet aina halunnut sanoa maailmalle, etkä ole vielä uskaltanut avata suutasi?" Mr.Jylli:" Gibsonin passot on parempia kun Fenderin.." Nojoo, ehkä tuota tietoa tähdellisempää tietää on se, että Jukka sai puoli tuntia sitten pystypokeripelissä VIISI VITOSTA!!! Kova meno, paitsi että panos oli 20 senttiä, niin voitto oli vaatimattomat 10 euroa. No, juhlatunnelma täällä L:rannassa nousi kuitenkin entisestään. Illan keikka alkaa tossa klo 23:n aikaan eli reilu tunnin kuluttua.
Now I will chancge to english which means maybe five times slower writing. We have decided to have all information in english, so Bryn and other non-finnish speakers would't get frustrated. Naturally next victim for a comment is gonna be BRYN! So: Bryn, what the hell is up?? "Eating orange and scooping jaloviina with coffee" says the big guy with a low voice. "Trying to avoid the flu" is his motto for the rest of the week. He is very happy because we are having a great week with five gigs in a row! We did OnTheRocks on tuesday and Kirkkonummi Rock'n'roll Cafe on wednesday and they both had really excellent crowds. The whole band is really feelin' up because of the nice events and also the news that we play on the blues festival in Forssa in the end of July (29th, I think).
Rocka's time to add his view. Actually I'm gonna pass this machine to him so he can take over the typing and I fetch a tuoppi! So Rocka: "What a ff....k?!?!??
I'm so happy to do five performances this week! I feel myself stronger after every gig. Hopefully we get a good dancing front row tonight! That's where I get the power!
I want to thank you. respect.
That was Rocka's warm comment. Now it's time to finish this and get ready for the gig! I personally want to say that it's great to work with ZOOK and play this music for people!
Chemistry single
We have also released the "Chemistry" single which we hope to create some buzz so we get people to check us out live and things more rolling. The single is in all the radiostations this week and we hope to get some airrplay.. Also it is pretty well represented in major music stores. In Helsinki you can find it in Fennica and Stockmann for example.. Just go and ask the store if you like to get it, it's also great for ZOOK if somebody is asking about it.. Hopefully get to finish recording first ZOOK album one day!
So, thanks for reading this, and please mail us some thoughts about the band!! See you around!
The ZOOOOKKKK
22 Feb, 2005 | Spring Tour on the Road
Started our spring tour from Henry's pub Tampere last weekend, and it felt soooo nice to play again live to people. We tried some new things and songs we haven't played in our set earlier, which felt really good. Also new thing was the soundman Mylly, who we booked for most of our gigs in few months. Hopefully he enjoys the band as well - at least he did great sound for us...
09 Feb, 2005 | The First Goodies!
Just added the first Goodies! Two cover songs recorded live at Järvenpää 2004. Hope you like them!
05 Feb, 2005 | Greetings from Camp ZOOK,
Sam the Man is back in town...get your knickers down!...as Phil Lynott used to say...Sami is back and rehearsals have begun for the tour..great to see him again, sporting a splendid beard... not quite up to Jukka`s standard but giving Mr.Welshman plenty to think about!
Anyway the new songs are coming on well and we hope you like them....stating the bloody obvious...the single CHEMISTRY is now in our sweaty hands, so shake the change out of your old fruit jar and buy a copy at the gigs...we do have a distribution deal so it will be in shops ...let you know more i.e. which shops when we can.
Those of you around Kirkkonummi please note the gig has moved, AGAIN, to wednesday 23rd february so hope you can make it and finally apologies for the delay in getting the GOODIES page up and running but I do believe we will have it licked very shortly...
24 Jan, 2005 | #ZOOK at IRCnet
We just received information about a new IRC channel #ZOOK at IRCnet. The discussion seems to be in Finnish. Go check it out!
21 Jan, 2005 | New Web Site
Once we heard that hundreds of people are visiting zookzone.net every month, we wanted to add some colour to your life by introducing a new web site which hopefully will provide you with more relevant content.
First, there is the Blog, this page. This is where we try to keep you posted about what's going on. Then we added some background information about the band and the band members (The rest will be added later). Last, but definitely not least, there is the new Goodies page, where we are going to put on some interesting recordings and images you are guaranteed to find nowhere else. The idea is to have the Goodies changing every now and then. The first goodies, three songs performed live at Lähiradio, should be added next week.
Please send us feedback via e-mail to let us know what you think and what else you would like to see here.
20 Jan, 2005 | Top of the morning to you,
just a quick one to keep you up to date with what`s going on...well, assuming you cannot be too excited about wallpaper or anything else re. DIY...... we have written and are rehearsing a few new songs which we hope to be playing on the forthcoming tour....to which a few more dates have been added and hopefully a couple more will be confirmed shortly.
Sami will be back from his winter break soon so we will get his verdict on the new songs...the single "CHEMISTRY" is in the factory and the designs for the expanded website are coming along well.. don`t forget to e-mail us your ideas...its always good to hear from you! Anyway, a ladder, a bucket of paste and several rolls of wallpaper have got my name on `em....Adios
05 Jan, 2005 | Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to you all, and let`s hope its a good one!
We are looking forward to our Spring Tour and now all the festivities are over we can concentrate on getting ready. We plan to release a single, a song called "CHEMISTRY", to coincide with the gigs. It was recorded at Soundtrack Studios with Olli Kykkänen taking care of engineering and mixing, and Mitja in charge of production. Muchos gracias amigos!
It was a particularly enjoyable session since Olli was happy to let us record playing live.. So the whole track is one take and I think you can hear that energy in the song. Altogether we put seven songs down and also a couple of acoustic tunes which we may use somehow so we are really happy. That´s about it for the moment. Once again ...best wishes, seeya later.
17 Dec, 2004 | Merry Christmas!
Hello to all you bazookas and welcome to zookzone!...its time to wish you all a Merry Christmas and thank you for a great year!
we have had a busy first twelve months...plenty of gigs and time spent writing and rehearsing...we have even managed to record a few new tunes...but more of that later...we are aiming to develop the web site to bring you more news and information on the band...so any ideas or requests...please e-mail us... ...Now,go cook that turkey!!!!
Dec 17, 2004 | Uuge's Radio Show on Christmas Day
On Christmas Day you should tune your radio to 95,2 MHz /HTV 104,0 MHz ...Radio Helsinki ...and Uuge Kojola will blow your Christmas hangover away with a ton of great music which, we're told by one of Santa`s most reliable little helpers should include a festive treat from ZOOK! Oi!Oi!
