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

The pipes full of new stuff

As oh so often plans have changed and there’s been some changes in the Saari camp. The main one would be that we’re steering the live setlist into a heavier direction, it's been discussed and jammed and this is what we, my live band, feel feels right. I write different styles of music and my ambition is to record it all at some point but as things are now our ambition is to make the released material to go along, to be synchronised, with the material we play live, which obviously is the common way to go. So you can expect some heavier releases from me in the near future.

I’ve also been thinking whether it would be better to release singles and EPs instead of full length albums in the future, just to get things finished and out, but I was born an album-person so the album format is deep rooted in me. Nevertheless things have to get finished and the work of making an album feels way, way heavier than dividing it into a couple of smaller releases, which would also be much more suited for the music scene 2022. Then I did a reality check and realised I’ve got 17 (!) songs, that will be divided into six singles and EPs, that I’m working on right now, simultaneously. Now taking that into the equation it shouldn't really be a problem for me to do a full length album after this. So that’s probably what we’ll start working on next after I've finished up some of these singles and EPs, regardless of what the market or anyone says, I mean I never cared to follow trends and markets anyway.

Apart from these 17 songs I’m working on right now I have two full length albums in the pipes with all the drums recorded just waiting to get finished, all very strong and cool stuff but doesn’t fit the direction we’re heading for right now so they just have to be put on hold in favour of the material that we’ll be playing live. 

There are two two-song singles waiting to be mastered as we speak, one will be called “The Lockdown Sessions” which was recorded more or less live in the studio some while ago and the other is two songs from an old Inagone recording that I’ve brought back to life and mixed, that will be called “Dried” and will be release under the Inagone banner, so a new release shouldn’t be too far away in time. Then it might be that I'll manage to finish yet one more single at the end of 2022, or otherwise early next year and we are planning to start recording the new PM Saari full length album in the first half of 2023.

Peace.

/ PM

New EP “The Club Of Internal Admiration (A Slight Return)”

I’m proud to officially announce that my new release called “The Club For Internal Admiration (A Slight Return)” will be out on Friday April 29th. It’s a four song EP with three originals that are more or less revisited material with origins in the past, hence the “(A Sight Return)” and the fourth song being my first ever recorded cover. The music style this time around is hard rock very heavily influenced by 1980's heavy metal, into which the cover song also fits in nicely.

The first two songs “1982” and “The Club For Internal Admiration” (yes I like to abbreviate it as “CIA”) are kicking, early 1980’s heavy metal rockers with some splashes of punk and plenty of attitude. Song three called “A U” is a melodic and maybe a bit more progressive little beautiful thing.

As you might have understood I never make it easy for myself and this time I might have gone way over the top, but I chose to record a cover, my own version of a song from my absolute favourite band and from my absolute favourite and my all time most influential and important album - so no pressure here - the song I’m talking about is “Total Eclipse” (a B-side to Run To The Hills, but was supposed to be on, and should have and later also was added to, the album “The Number Of The Beast”). Above all I didn’t want to make a version similar to the original but make my own version of the song, change some of its character. I mean, what would be the point of trying to make a copy of the original, which would be destined to totally fail anyway? Certainly the hardest thing I’ve ever done, on many levels but mainly reproducing/rearranging a, according to me, perfect song and also performing it. Anyway, I hope you’ll enjoy my humble celebration and tribute to the best band and album in the world.

All the songs are recorded, arranged, produced and mixed by me. I perform all the guitars and vocals, Andreas Mallander performs the fretless bass and Patrik Idman the drums. All songs except “Total Eclipse” are written by me, “Total Eclipse” is written by Steve Harris, Dave Murray and Clive Burr. All artwork and visual design is made by me and as you might have noticed this whole EP is somewhat paying homage to the legacy of my former band Burnitude.

I put loads of time and energy into trying to get everything as I wanted on this release, even more than before, trying to get that 1970-80’s feeling with digital in the box recording and mixing and I believe I pushed my abilities and my chops in all areas even further with this one.

You'll find it everywhere on Friday 29th, some direct links are found at my new official portal at: https://www.saari.net .

Enjoy.
/ PM

Finishing new stuff, starting new stuff

Me twisting and turning some drums.

So quite a gap between posts here, even to be me, but though I’ve been working with my music quite a bit I haven’t really finished anything, so not that much to report here. I‘m kind of one who is always striving, pushing forward and also constantly coming up with new stuff, which results in me starting new projects rather than finishing the ongoing ones (and by “projects” I nowadays mean solely recordings, or releases, in my own name - so no new “bands”). So I have quite a few things I’m working on in parallel and they are all pulling stylewise into a different directions of rock, perfect for my restless soul.

The first thing that will be out is an EP that will be called “The Club For Internal Admiration (A Slight Return)” - a bit of homage-pay to the legacy of my classic now retired band Burnitude, and its core will be in the vein of classic 1980’s hard rock/heavy metal. We’ve finished the recording and I’m about to start mixing it any day now, so if it goes according to plan its release shouldn’t be many months away.

Me and Andreas Mallander at Studio A6Sound.

Following that there will be a single, two songs taken from our, more or less, live recording at Studio A6Sound earlier in 2021. It will be called “The Lockdown Sessions” and will show a bit more heavier side of my music. We’ve also been rehearsing new songs for an upcoming full length album of this heavier direction and we will start recording that one in the first half of 2022. We're all feeling it's the right way to go and are all really excited about to be going there.

Patrik Idman banging the drums.

Additionally I have a whole bunch of various singles, EPs and maybe even albums in the works, some will feature guests that I’ll be working it into shape with and I'm just going to let it all flow in parallel as we move on.

Due to the situation in the world there’s still no live dates in sight, we’re not booking anything until it’s all clear. We still rehearse quite frequently though and I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up putting out some rehearsal videos of some sort in the next future.

Until then. Peace.

/ PM

Vocal recording in The Red Room at our
Beyond Dimensions Bunker where we rehearse
and record most of the stuff.