Live again (and again)

Our first gig in four years, our revival, the first one featuring Mr Mats “Moey” Öström on bass, is now behind us and it all went down beyond expectations.The place was packed, we received the best imaginable feedback and we had a total blast and it sure felt like a rebirth in many ways.

PM Saari Band Live 2023 (Photo by Åsa Urberg)

I have to admit I was a bit worried about my vocals, I mean I didn't know what was causing my voice problems the past five months, still don’t, only that my voice didn’t work as it used to do, so I didn't really know what to expect, but it worked way better than I expected. The thing is that the problem I had the first months of this year gradually disappeared and it’s pretty much ok now, but then something of a normal flu hit me and my voice was torn down again for over a month. But yeah, I believe I’m very close to where I was before all this. We did change one or two songs in the set to be on the safe side, replacing the most vocal demanding songs - I do NOT want to risk pushing it too far now.

PM Saari recording guitars at 
BeyondDimensions Central Station

The next booked live date is in Ludvika at the Open Stage Marathon 2023 on Saturday June 10th, so we’ll be back where we left off four years ago. We will hit the main outdoor stage at 14:30, so an afternoon show for us old, stressed, tired men. 

Since we had to wait and see what happened to my voice we were a bit late booking gigs for this spring/summer and kind of missed that train, but hopefully we’ll manage to get in at least some more dates, and if not there will be more after summer for sure.

As always I’m behind schedule (my utopic plan?) with the releases but I’m currently recording guitars and vocals for the next two releases, and I’m also working on the pre-production of the full length album I really, really  want to make after this. But we’ll see what life’s got in store for us. And, as always, every now and then I’ll be poking here and there in the various recording projects that are laying around, and one of these days some of these might just see the light of day.

See ya.
/ PM

Dried

All artwork and design by PM Saari

The next release out is called “Dried” and will be released under the Inagone banner. It'll be out on Friday, April 21st and it’s a single featuring the two Inagone songs “Stronger” and “Dried” that were recorded back in 2008 and that I’ve now compiled, edited and mixed. 

The music and lyrics are written by me and it’s performed by Inagone which means Per Linzander on vocals, Vesa Kallio on drums, Andreas Mallander on fretless bass and me on guitars and backing vocals. I really like the performance of this recording, there’s some pretty cool things happening there, pretty good jams and chops.

These two songs are among my all time favorites and I find them way too good to be left unreleased. I think the song “Dried” in particular is one of the best songs I’ve ever written and the funny thing is that it’s about running dry on ideas as a writer, creator or an artist and the fact is that I’ve never actually experienced that myself, never faced that problem, rather the opposite, always coming up with way too many ideas. So it’s imaginarily how I believe it would feel, how the dryness drains your energy. It’s pretty ironic that thinking and writing about this lead me to writing one of the best songs I’ve ever written. I think we might even try to put it into the PM Saari Band live set now when we'll get out in 2023.

Below you'll find some direct links to the first Inagone EP "Where It Begins" but you'll find it at all the digital music providers.

Enjoy.
/ PM

Out of voice… and motivation

In the beginning of this year something happened to my voice, when we were supposed to start rehearsing with the PM Saari Band after Christmas/new years break I discovered that about half an octave of my voice didn’t work, like at all. Just couldn't get this group of tones from my higher register out and of course it was the tones that I use the most. I tried various solutions to get it into action but realised after a month that this ain’t going to get solved anyway soon. We had some gig proposals but had to turn them down and we were also supposed to start rehearsing with Järntrean as well but we had to call that off.

PM Saari Band (me, Moey and Pata) at rehearsals
at our Beyond Dimensions Bunker.

Now it seems to be slowly getting back to normal, slowly. I’m definitely not able to do the Paul DiAnno stuff that Järntrean demands yet so that’s put on hold for a while, but when it comes to my own stuff it’s starting to work little by little, and with my own material I feel I can move a few vocal lines into another register in case some of the problem remains for longer. So it feels pretty safe that we finally have some live dates with the new PM Saari Band live line-up booked in May. More on that later.

I've been doing some voice exercises
with a phonation tube/straw. I don't
know if that's working or not but my
voice is getting better... I think.

Not only did this put a halt to all the live plans but all of my plans were thoroughly shaken, I mean I didn’t know what had happened or even if it would ever be ok again, actually still don’t. Such a heavy halt sure affects ones motivation as well, at least it did for me, and due to this I haven’t been too productive until recently when I've somewhat got back in track working on all the studio stuff I’ve got going on again.

The next release should’ve been out a while ago, it has been mastered and ready just waiting for quite some while, but even that was affected by this halt, but it’s now on its way. It’ll be out in three weeks, April 21st, it’s called “Dried” and is two songs that will be released under the Inagone banner, because they are Inagone songs, even though they probably are as much mine as all the PM Saari songs. More on that closer.

See you soon.

/ PM

The Lockdown Sessions

So finally (seems I’m using that word quite a lot, but can’t help feeling like that quite a lot) the release of new music is around the corner and it’s the single “The Lockdown Sessions” that will be out on Friday January 20th. It’s two songs that were recorded more or less live at Studio A6sound in Stockholm during the pandemic lockdowns, with additional tracking at my Beyond Dimensions Studio. It’s the first release featuring a new heavier direction in which we’ll be going live with the PM Saari Band.

It features two not that new songs, one of them is called “Where’s My Bones?” and has lived through many reincarnations through the years, in a number of bands like Inagone and B.L.O.W (I believe I wrote it originally for B.L.O.W). It’s all written by me and the cool thing is that through the 3-4 bands that’s been playing it live the arrangement and the structure of the song has remained pretty much, if not exactly the same, even though each band has arranged it from scratch at rehearsals - so I guess this must be the perfect arrangement for it. The other song is also written by me and has its history in the band Straight Eight Diablo (S8D).

On this one I have Mr Patric Idman on the drums (who was with me in Straight Eight Diablo) and Andreas Mallander on fretless bass (who was with me in Inagone), so tying it all together here. The guitars and vocals are performed by me and it’s produced and mixed by me. The recording was engineered by Arvid and Felix at A6sound and additional recording by me and it was mastered through Abbey Road Red/CloudBounce. 

It sure was loads of fun in the studio doing it all the old (real?) way, but of course I’ve been running the new way for so long by now that it was inevitable to finish it up in that manner. Original cover photo by Robin Idman and the cover design and photo treatment by me.

Enjoy.

/ PM

Back in the saddle again

PM at rehearsals at the
Beyond Dimensions Bunker.

Along with all the studio work that I’m pretty deep into right now we’re spending all the time we can get down rehearsing in the bunker, testing and rearranging songs for a new liveset featuring the heavier material. When it comes to playing live I want to stick with the format of the three-piece band, or powertrio if you will, I want to keep the lineup uncomplicated, keep plenty of room for improvisation. Beside getting the chops and the grooves together, and me playing guitar and singing at the same time, there’s also some amount of work involved in rearranging the recorded material to work in a three-piece situation. Then put into the equation that time is a very exclusive thing in all of our lives, which is also one of the reasons I prefer going for as few personnel involved in the live band as is possibly possible (or very close to impossible).

PM and Moey back in
the Burnitude days.

Then some news, some personnel changes, Andreas “Drake” Mallander has stepped away from the PM Saari Band (my live band), so he’s out and in is my way back bass compadre Mats “Moey” Öström adding new dimensions to the low end in our new heavier sound. We’ve rehearsed some and it all fits in very well and we’re all very excited and looking forward to bringing it all out live on stage in 2023. Mr Mallander and I will however continue to work together in other parts of my music projects and endeavours, as for instance Järntrean, with whom we’ll be out gigging again in 2023 after a two year hiatus.

So there’s been some pushbacks in the Saari Camp, but it feels like we’re back in the saddle again after a little restart. We also missed the christmas train and the early release deadlines now before the holidays but the next release, the single “The Lockdown Sessions”, will be out in mid january 2023. It will be shortly followed by a single featuring two old Inagone songs that I’ve finished up and mixed, it will however be released as Inagone. Then later in the spring there will be an EP, a “Slight Return”-release, a sort of part two of the “Club For Internal Admiration”-release, but heavier.

See ya.

/ PM