Back but not back

So summer is through and it sure was a great one, not a very productive one though, but then they rarely are, are they? Now I'm trying to land and get used to its sudden end and throw myself into the depths of work with my music, which pace has been way too slow lately. 

Then there is this..

Four months ago I managed to get something into the flesh of the fingertip of my left hand index finger - yeah, the very worst fkin finger and place to hurt yourself in being a right-handed guitarist. After various visits to the doctors and x-raying a hand surgeon opened it up two months later and picked out something unidentified encapsulated, probably a tiny wood splinter or two. 

So I haven't been able to play guitar, at all, for four months now, and now the finger is in recovery and healing after the surgery and I’m still not able to play, at all. 

We had to put all the PM Saari Band and Järntrean (Fe3) live plans on hold then in April and I still don’t know when I will be back in action again, so though eager to book some live dates, we’ll just have to wait and see.

The motivation to work with music vanished into darkness somewhat in the beginning of all this but now I have been at it again daily for a week or two, just not playing guitar. I already had quite some guitars down on disk before this, even all the guitars on a song or two, and I'm actually mixing one of them as we speak. I will continue to record vocals now and also go through, compile all the so far recorded drums to get those songs ready for some bass recording - all with the aim that I’m able to pick up the guitar and dive in again in a month or three. Or if not, maybe have some guest guitar players to play some lead guitars on some of the tunes?

I must admit I was a bit worried that the lack of being able to play guitar might hit me worse than it did, I mean four fkin months! And fkin counting! but so far I’m pretty OK with it (or maybe rather: I am accepting the fact). The thing is I am able to do basically everything else, just not play the guitar.

Well here we go again, but hey, I love working against the wind (storm?), basically always done that in a way or another - So bring it on!

I'll be back before you fkin know it.

Peace.

/ PM

Sing me a song, you’re a singer

I've always been a great fan of singers, probably more than of guitar players, and on the top of my list you’ll find David Coverdale, Ronnie James Dio, Robert Plant, Geoff Tate, John Bush (Armored Saint, Anthrax), Brent Smith (Shinedown), Ray Gillen, Oni Logan, Mats Levén and of course Bruce Dickinson and Paul Di’Anno of Iron Maiden.

Live on stage.
Photo by Åsa Urberg.

I’ve been blessed to have worked with great singers through the years, and I have enjoyed performing and writing with or for them so much. We have Lars Gudmundsson, Jari Valentino, Per Linzander, Paul Zanichelli, Jimi Roxx, Mats Brodd and, probably the most well known, Dan Dark - all different but all very competent vocalists and frontmen.

So why the hell do I sing when I don't have even nearly the same ability doing that as when I play the guitar? And when my physics and my life obviously aren’t designed for me to sing (referring to me more or less constantly having trouble with my voice and the for singing required body parts), and when I know so many great singers?

I’ve also always had a special thing for the ones of my favourite singers who also are great guitar players, like John Sykes, Dave Meniketti, John Norum, Jerry Cantrell and Pepper Keenan, and great guitar players that maybe aren’t my absolute favourite singers like Gary Moore and Zakk Wylde and great songwriters that are also guitar players/singers like Kai Hansen and Nicke Andersson. Always been drawn to the simplicity, minimalism and the straight deliverance of thoughts and feelings when you perform what you write yourself. And mainly, I like, or rather need, the challenge, I need to push myself, I need to be striving to keep me at it, to go on - and I can assure you I’m working my ass off with my vocals of my solo stuff.

Finally back recording vocals
again after a long absence.

Well, that’s my excuse for singing and now for some news: During Christmas and New Years holidays  some sht hit me, again, I was having a nice time off skiing in the north of Sweden and I got something in my breathing system, again, it knocked me down, got fever for days,  it hit my throat, hoarse voice and so on. So that pulled me back, again, but now it seems like I’ve beaten it, I’ve been able to do my workout the last month and was up skiing again last week with no problems and this week I started to record vocals and it seems to be working. So after months of being off it seems I’m on. 

RnR.
/ PM

There's always something

After being off a roll for a year I was really back on a roll after my last post here three months ago and the studio work was all finally flowing and moving forward again, and what does life throw at me? Well, fkin sht. I got something that hit me hard, some sort of a cold or a flu, or whatever it is these days. I had a fever, low but still, for a fkin month, it hit my throat and my voice was totally blown for over two months and I couldn’t start recording the vocals that I was just about to start working with. I’m not saying that all my planned releases would’ve happened anyway, but now they definitely did not.

The thing is that I’m not a person who’s sick or who rests, I can’t do that, so it always takes its time for me to recover, to heal. I have however played a lot of guitar, just jamming away, which I really normally don’t have time to do nowadays and when the hardest hit had laid off after a month or so I started working in the studio again, even though recording vocals was now off the schedule there’s always plenty to do. This might have saved my sanity for sure. 

For over two months I wasn’t able to rehearse or work out, which are two really essential requirements for me to function, but now I’ve started to work out a bit which is so important for me (my dopamine flow needs that push) and I’ve also started the work to get my voice back into full force action again. We’ve started rehearsing the acoustic stuff I’ve got going on with Mr Mallander and we’ve also thrown in some rehearsals jamming some exciting stuff with the PM Saari Band so I guess it's going forward.

Thinking about it, of course life did throw me back, there’s always something isn’t there? That's what it does, breaks the flow, pulls you back, balance it up, that’s what makes it such a good fight, right? Well it won't stop me, nothin will and I hope I’ll be able to start recording some vocals in early 2025, so I can finish some new stuff and put it out.

Y'all have the greatest holidays, I most certainly will, and take care. See you in 2025, in one way or another, in one condition or another

Peace.
/ PM

Time flies

Me at my work desk at Beyond Dimensions Central Station.

So pretty long between posts here, simply because not that much to report. I’m working with music pretty
much every day, more or less, but am not really finishing anything to the point of putting it out. We’ve been rehearsing frequently with my solo band and also doing a few live dates every now and then, and the recording is a constant ongoing thing.

I’ve come to realize how much I love to launch a new project, how easy it is for me. I have no problem writing songs and arranging them, and I simply can’t stop it, it just pours out of me. I do put the brakes on every now and then, when it’s overflowing, but I can only hold it back for so long and out it pours again. Then it all needs to be recorded, and in some cases rehearsed, then all the recordings and takes need to be compiled and arranged, then mixed, mastered and released - and by this I’ve already started and thrown myself into a new, or probably a couple of new projects. So that is my biggest daily fight, aside from the constant war against time. But it really feels like it’s really time to finish some stuff and put it out.

Me and the boys rehearsing at the
Beyond Dimensions Bunker.

Well another summer is through and we finished ours with a really great PM Saari Band gig where we were asked to play a bit longer set and we threw in some interpretations of some really cool covers, a really great and fun night indeed. Now I feel it’s really time to try to gear up and try to work focused and implement the plan and I believe there's a fair chance that there might be a single out in what’s left of 2024.

I’m also trying to intensify my social media presence, trying to keep up the frequency of posting and trying to get out some videos (marketing á la 2024), but this ain’t easy for an old school (or just old?) fogey like myself. For instance, as much as I love playing in front of an audience I’ve come to realise I really hate playing in front of a camera, but I do love challenges, so bring it on! Feel free to join my online endeavors at my official social sites below.

Peace.
/ PM

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pmsaari

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pmsaari/

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pmsaari

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Threads: https://www.threads.net/@pmsaari

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/pmburner

PM Saari Band live at the Stubborn MC autumn party 2024.

Rollin’ on

For me it was just a few days’ switch from summer to winter, so no fall here, and the good thing would be that I won’t work on the house anymore and can now put more time into the studio work. Need to get myself to do it though.

Me and Mr Idman have been down in the Red Room a couple of rounds working with drums and we’ve recorded a handful of songs that I’m going to start working on any day now. As always I have a lot of songs that I’m working with, just how I like it it and it suits my restless mind, but the downside is that I at some point I have to finish some of it too. Of all the material I’m working on in the studio I probably should’ve released some a long time ago, but I simply haven’t got myself to the point of finishing anything yet.

Though I’m constantly working on a full length album, or actually more than one, it's taking, and I'm letting it, take its time to get finished but.there will be a couple singles/EPs out next year, just as planned yet a bit delayed.

We’ve been rehearsing quite frequently with my live powertrio the last months and we’ve had a couple of totally awesome gigs, loads of fun and the live band feels pretty much together by now, and yeah, we’re having a great time so hopefully we’ll manage to schedule some more live dates soon. Special thanks to Magnus Hultman and Thomas Henkel and all you showing up at the shows and giving us such amazing feedback. 

My long time sidekick Mr Andreas Mallander and I are experimenting on a new branch of PM Saari music that hopefully sees the light somewhere in 2024, and hopefully so will some other collaborations I have going on.

Until the release of new music here’s a Spotify playlist of some of what I’ve done so far, an all PM Saari playlist.

Enjoy.
/ PM