…air attack on Finland – day one: the first assault
…after having finished my work on the SAILOR MAN video last night it was time to pack my suitcases, because I was about to fly to HELSINKI today where I was invited by my TURBOJUGEND ST. PAULI brother PRINCASS OF POWER, better known as JÜRGEN DE RAVENOUS, President of TURBOJUGEND KYRKSLÄTT. A few days earlier he had sent me a perfect plan for the upcoming days. Everything was prepared and I was able to remain relaxed and calm when I was boarding my plane.
The first surprise unfortunately did not quite work out. My plane was 20 minutes early and so I had to approach JYRKI (his real name) from behind instead of – as he planned – coming directly at him and the sign he had especially created for me. But this little “faux-pas” did not harm our joy and happiness at all.
We drove to KIRKKONUMMI which is approximately 30km away from HELSINKI where JYRKI is living with his wife ANA LUMINA. She is a member of TURBOJUGEND KYRKSLÄTT as well. This chapter was founded in 2005 and consists of 11 members today. KYRKSLÄTT is the Swedish name for the city of KIRKKONUMMI. The city carrying two names is based on the fact that in this part of Finland both languages, Finnish and Swedish, happen to be the official languages. Because of that, even all the street signs are in two languages.
After having moved into my guest room we went back to HELSINKI. JYRKI’s band FINAL ASSAULT had a concert scheduled there which was supposed to be the fringe event for the first FACE THE JUGEND stop in Finland.
The BAR LOOSE is a cool place. It is considered the best small rock venue in HELSINKI and there is a very good cooperation with TURBOJUGEND FINLAND. The upper floor is decorated beautifully with lovely attention to detail with plenty of pictures from the history of music and the basement contains a pretty cool concert room.
FINAL ASSAULT consists of Jänö – vocals, Asa – guitar, Jurg – guitar, Tuomas – bass and Anttu – drums. They are all really nice people. They did their soundcheck and then we went out to eat something. On the way to the restaurant I learned that on the one hand drinking alcohol on the streets is forbidden in HELSINKI but on the other hand it is allowed in the park. Therefore, everyone always meets up in the park to have a few drinks in a comfortable atmosphere which indeed looks a bit funny.
When we came back from the restaurant there was still plenty of time, so I took a few pictures of the gentlemen. In case anybody wonders about the baseball bat on the pictures: “It’s a perfect weapon against zombies.” This is what the band said.
The crowds entered the venue little by little and there were a lot of JUGENDLICHE. Unfortunately, it was very dark inside (as it should be in a concert venue) so that I was not able to take a lot of pictures. So I focused completely on the concert and it really was something. Before the concert, I had only known the band’s vinyl-single “King of Shame” which went pretty much into the metal direction, but what I got to listen to here was simply mind-blowing. The band themselves like to refer to their music as Oldschool thrash/hardcore/punk/kill/fuck/die and that was exactly what they offered to their crowd. My mood increasingly got better and it was great fun watching FINAL ASSAULT play.
During the show, ENKIMANKI from TURBOJUGEND KIRKKONUMMI was allowed on stage for one song which he clearly enjoyed and mastered perfectly.
FINAL ASSAULT was founded in 2008. The band’s name was chosen by the founding members because they all had spent quite a few years in the music business and thus have gained a lot of experience not only in that department but also in their lives and since they are not the youngest anymore they thought that this would be their last chance to play such an extreme kind of music. The band is also, in fact, their FINAL ASSAULT. They have released 2 albums so far: “Final Assault” and “Dead by Dawn”. In addition to that, they have released another single and were part of the OMEGA MOTHERFUCKERS COMPILATION. I can only recommend their records to you but I really have to say that they have such a great and raw power when they are performing live that the records hardly do them justice. So in case you get the chance to see FINAL ASSAULT live, do it. Otherwise you can order their records HERE.
After the concert was over, the bar’s basement emptied out pretty quickly. Time to talk to a few JUGENDLICHE. I did not really know where and what to take pictures of and so we started with the easiest thing: the group picture. Unfortunately, a few guys missed it because they were upstairs. Afterwards we took the sticker pictures and – since the background with a young IGGY POP turned out to be such a gem – a few JUGENDLICHE did some extra posing for the camera.
One after another left the location for BAR BASE including ourselves. We met LE TRASH from TURBOJUGEND LÄPÄL KÄNNIS (which means something like “Joke & Drunk”) on our way. The first thing she told me was that there is a bar in the tower on the left and that people always have sex in the restrooms. Uh-huh…and what do you do/drink?
The BAR BASE happens to be the headquarters of TURBOJUGEND FINLAND and the setting of numerous legendary evenings which take place there all the time. If you order a drink while wearing a Kutte you actually get a discount. At this point, I would like to point out that the Finns pay for everything with their ATM cards. To be precise: even when they buy a candy bar at a kiosk they pay for it with their card. This turned out to be a bit unusual for me since I love cash so dearly.
There was a lot of action going on in the bar and a few more JUGENDLICHE joined us. LE PRINCESS of TURBOJUGEND LÄPÄL KÄNNIS told me directly she did not want to have her picture taken that day because she was way too drunk. But she still wanted to take a picture together with the afore-mentioned LE TRASH. In the following, you can see a few more pictures before everything vanished in the mists.
The mists were coming from MIKKO MISCHIEF’s e-cigarette and covered his President GENERALLISSMUS MONGO of TURBOJUGEND JÄRVENPÄÄ.
Our evening ended here. On our way back home we gave ENKIMANKI a ride. His TURBOJUGEND KIRKKONUMMI was founded in 2008. At that time they did not know that there was already an existing chapter in their city because they had barely attended any TURBOJUGEND events. So that is why the city which carries two names happens to have one chapter per name. Both chapters are close friends nowadays.
After having dropped ENKIMANKI off we did a little sightseeing tour around KIRKKONUMMI at night because JYRKI wanted to make clear that really nothing is up in that city although it has almost 40.000 inhabitants.
The first day came to an end and I have to say that the kick-off here in Finland could not have been any better. I am already feeling obliged to JYRKI and ANNETTE (her real name). Tomorrow I am heading to KOTKA, but for now: good night.
Ahoi! from the road
Miroslav aka Sir Polariot
If you like to support FACE THE JUGEND, you can order these pictures in the SUPPORT SHOP. Please don´t steal the pictures.
Translation: Ananas Astra | Turbojugend Main Offender