Dauwpop and JDM Festivals! Hello, Last friday we played in France for a long while, and it was a good feeling. The festival is called JDM, and it's in a small town, which has lot of grape gardens and nice sceneries. We had a French breakfast, yummy! We enjoyed thursday's Dauwpop, actually we had lot of fun, Lauri was making jokes of the cows and cow's poo and so on... and we watched Dances with wolves, great movie, a bit long though. eero 'Neljäs sukupolvi' is a book based on Soundi music magazine's interviews with prominent Finnish musicians. The book also includes a previously unreleased, in-depth interview with Lauri Ylönen of the Rasmus. So far the book is only available in Finland. Mexican cover story Mexico's Sonika Magazine, the alternative oriented and credible magazine, did a cover story on The Rasmus their June issue. Nice!   VIDEO DIARY "SHOT" 3 February 22 Very very early wake up! And make up - everything just like the first time. The mood was pretty good when we drove to the location. The director, Sandra Marschner, works for the German company Katapult Film and she has filmed with Children of Bodum before. There was a mixed crew with German and Spanish workers, about 25 people alltogether. We started filming as soon as the first rays of sun came over the horizon. It was very beautiful. We worked hard all day with different camera positions, camera speeds and lenses. We did some scenes backwords - so Lauri had to learn the words backwords to get the lip sync right. It sounded really funny and strange! We also used the tall camera crane for some really cool wide shots, and movements. We also used the "shotmaker" - the car with the camera and camera man mounted on the back of it - filming while driving very fast towards us, or driving away in high speed.. We filmed Lauri falling backwards while he was singing. We worked really hard, and there were almost no brakes. As soon as the camera was off there was a photo shoot for a magazine or an interview happening. We spent the whole day outside in the sun, and we all got pretty burned, even though we used sun screen. At one point there was a little wild goat kid running around on the set, bleating loud as Pauli and the crew tried to catch it. No-one succeeded... We also found bones from goats close to the location. We rounded off the day with filming against a blue screen, and using a three-way mirror. It will be very interesting to see which shots will be used in the final video. All in all this was a very fun video to make, and the director and crew were great. But for the next time we'll probably want to film in a studio - where there is no rain or sand storms... We went straight from the filming to have some papas arrugadas with mojo ate a local restaurant, happy that the video finally was made!   SHOT ON iTUNES UK The new ep SHOT (UK Digital version) is now released on iTunes UK. The ep has three extra live tracks, KEEP YOUR HEART BROKEN, SHOT and LAST GENERATION (uk exclusive) (I also found it on Napster. Most likely to be on any website.)  VIDEO DIARY "SHOT" 2 February 8 Flew to Germany. February 9-19 Went on tour with HIM and Negative for 10 shows. It was fantastic! Loads of people, between 4.000 and 9.000 on every show. All shows sold out. We kicked some seriuos ass on that tour. It was also fun to spend time with HIM on the road. Their fans seemed to really like our show, too, which was a relief. February 20 Travelled Zurich - Fuerteventura. Very very tired again - played the last gig the night before. Luckily we can relax when we get to Fuerteventura. We arrived safely. But Pauli's guitar was missing when we arrived - we hope it will turn up for the shoot! February 21 Day off. We slept in and than the whole band went for a 3 hour walk along the seaside, close to Corralejo, where we had the hotel. This time the weather seems better and everything is prepared. Still waiting for Pauli's guitar....  The filming tomorrow is set in the desert, close to the mountain Tindaya. There are ancient stories about the whole spirits who live on that mountain. We went to the mountain today together with the video director Sandra and decided to climb the mountain. Then there were some ritual sarcifices made on top of the mountain, and we prayed to the holy spirits that they would give us good weather the next day. VIDEO DIARY "SHOT" February 6 Arrived to Fuerteventura. We were very tired, after the tour with HIM in Russia. The Russians really tried to show us the best of St Petersburg and Moscow. Meetings with the video crew, Eero got his hair cut by the make-up girl, and then an early dinner and off to bed.   February 7 Woke up very very early. Did make up at the hotel at 6:00. A van took us to the location. The morning was very dark and cold. When we got there, we had to wait for the weather to change. After a while it started raining. We stayed in a caravan and drank tea and coffee. The mood was a bit sullen. Lauri did some filming with a "bungee", with the camera mounted on a swing. It stopped raining and we hurried to the set to start filming the performance. It was still quite dark, the sky overcast, the clouds covering the top of the mountains. This was not the weather we expected. Just before we started filming we saw a big orange cloud approaching in the desert, and then we were hit by a sand storm. Several tents just blew away. We could not keep out eyes open. The huge camera crane swayed dangerously in the strong wind. The camera operator could not even pull the focus. It was impossible to film. We waited an hour bet then we had to decide to stop. We went back to the hotel - everyone was really sad. We hade some meetings and decided to continue two weeks later. This whole thing of course costed us and the record company a lot of money. It was the most expensivce hair cut Eero had so far anyway.   JOIN The Rasmus' Street Team! If you're a fan of the band, over 16 years old and keen to help promote The Rasmus in your area, then we're looking for you! The Rasmus' Street Team is a group of fans working together to promote the band in their local area.The Rasmus' Street Team is based at The Rasmus International Forum and works both together as a whole and in local groups on several kinds of promotional jobs. Of course the team members discuss these promotional activities within the team, so next to working for the band you might also make some (more) friends among your fellow-fans then! How to join the team? Well, there are a few requirements you have to meet in order to join, just so we know you'll make a good street teamer. You need to be age 16 or older, you must be a registered member of The Rasmus International Forum www.therasmusforum.com/, you have to have more than 50 posts on the forum and you have to be a devoted fan of the bands, of course! Please note: if you become a member of this street team, it DOES NOT mean that you will meet the band. If your reason for wanting to join this street team is meeting The Rasmus then please DO NOT sign up. Find all the info you need on http://therasmusforum.com/streetteam/ PICS FROM COLOMBIA Check out these fine images from the band's visit to Colombia on April 3 (www.therasmus.com), where they met the Colombian Street Team who brought them gifts from both themselves (like an ocarina, a bird-shaped whistle) and some Peruvian fans (like scarves). The next day the band did an acoustic performance at the Hard Rock Cafe for RadioActiva and a concert at the Palacio de Los Deportes at night! Join The Rasmus Street Team - find info here: www.therasmusforum.com/streetteam MORE PHOTOS FROM ARGENTINA   We got some more exclusive photos (see www.therasmus.com) from Argentina from Noelia, one of the lucky fans who were able to spend some time with the band during the promo and at the afterparty in Buenos Aires on March 28-29. Here is The Rasmus in the Hotel, at Radio Pop (Canal 9), arriving to Radio La 100 and the afterparty. Some crazy moments to share! Noelia is the webmaster of the Spanish section at www.therasmus.se, and she is also organizing a charity project to help school kids in Argentina.  watch the new video! The Rasmus Jukebox New single - Shot - international release date April 21st. It is released as an EP with bonus tracks (two live tracks, Keep Your Heart Broken and Shot, recorded in Germany plus an unreleased acoustic version of Open My Eyes).  New video - Shot. Filmed by the foot of the holy mountain of Tindaya on the island Fuerteventura, 100 kilometers off the coast of Morocco, the video well captures the energy of The Rasmus live performance. It is set up to look rather otherworldly, with a dramatic sky with several moons and suns, and an eerie spacy look to it. The visuals are stunning. The video was directed by Sandra Marschner/Katapult Film, who has done Children of Bodom's "In Your Face" video among others. The Rasmus is currently touring the globe, after three dates together with Metallica and other bands in South Africa, they are now in South America for a six date tour there. Then follows a stretch of summer festivals, all confirmed dates are found on www.therasmus.com. More dates will be added soon! Check out the new video at www.myspace.com/therasmus! Spread the word and the videolink on the site to your friends! Follow The Rasmus' blog Don't miss The Rasmus' tour blog on their myspace site. They write almost every day. Their own diary from the filming of the Shot video will be added day by day at www.myspace.com/therasmus. THE BAND'S PHOTOS FROM ARGENTINA Check out a funny and exclusive gallery with photos from The Rasmus' visit to Buenos Aires www.therasmus.com. We see the promotion, playing at radio stations, the masses of fans, the band playing, partying, writing autographs, getting photos taken etc etc... SANTIAGO, CHILE, APRIL 1 the concert tonight was great! great audience, a lot of fun, even our playing went ok today! we felt good. hopefully we are here again soon! eero SANTIAGO, CHILE, MARCH 31 arriving in chile! we got a warm welcome from about 100 fans in the airport yesterday evening, this time no-one lost his hair. today is for interviews and the show in the evening. trekked to the madre maria statue mountain this morning in centet of santiago de chile, that's one beautiful place. we have kind of high hopes for the rest of the tour, the response in the buenos aires show was explosive! these people have corazon calientes! in the buenos aires afterparty lauri and kimmo met a guy from our support band, who is really an activist in many fields, politics, music, society... somehow it's good to hear that some people want to stand behind an independently standing South America, without the leash of all the multinational overpower corporations... well i must say that i'm not so active in those fields, but at least i feel for the people of S. America, who deserve to be in charge of all the functions here. eero #1 AT MTV LATINO Coinciding with The Rasmus' visit to South America, we just got the news that the Sail Away video is # 1 at MTV Latino! Yippeeee! POLISH GALA PERFORMANCE The Rasmus will do a performance at the ESKA Music Awards 2006 in Lodz, Poland on April 28. The band is also nominated as "Rock Band Of The Year" at the gala. More info (in Polish) here http://muzyka.onet.pl/mr,1282904,wiadomosci.html#czytaj BUENOS AIRES, MARCH 29 first promo day in buenos aires done! we have some pretty crazy fans here, they are very emotional. yesterday we played some acoustic sets in one tv and one radio... when we were leaving, lauri almost lost half of his hair to the wild fans, when they couldn't keep their hands off him. this is a pretty new experience for us. at least these people are not afraid to touch you... in finland the standard of personal space is a bit different, but i don't complain... The concert today must be a good one, you can feel it in the climate between the band and the fans. we rehearsed some acoustic versions of some songs on monday, and even though we haven't been performing many of those before, they came out surprisingly well. also, we did some interviews with some very professional journalists, one of them even interviewed kurt cobain here in buenos aires in 1993... that brought me many memories back... nirvana is still is one of my biggest favorites, and i feel that kurt was a very exceptional person, very straightforward, very honest, very frustrated, which probably killed him, too... well, we're up for a great show today, and maybe some tango after... eero 1ST TIME IN ARGENTINA NOW..... hello, last couple of days in cape town: lauri and aki with a few crew members went diving in a cage to see great white sharks from a close distance, i saw some video footage that was quite scary, those sharks are big and they look angry... myself, i was learning to surf as it seems i do every day now when i have the possibility. when arriving in c.t. we met one local pro surfer, stacey guy, who then the next day already was guiding me in the atlantic waves for a day. cape town must be one of our favorite places on earth... last friday some of us went to cape point, where the atlantic and the indian oceans meet... bizarre that the indian ocean can be 4-5 degrees warmer, just a mere 15 km away from the atlantic. we also visited the famous table mountain, which really is as beautiful as people tell you. we've got some great pictures from there that you will see a bit later... on saturday we played a great slot between simple plan and seether (remedy is my fav song at the moment), and it was just great... my english is not proper enough to tell how much we've enjoyed the whole touring festival thing. in the evening we also met james hetfield and lars ulrich, took photos and all that... great memories from s.a. ... ok, now we'll see how all of south america will take us, our first time in argentina, we're jet lagged and excited... eero   MORE ON THE DOCUMENTRY We got a first hand eye-witness report from the preview of The Rasmus Documentary last week. A devoted fan of the band's, Rikka Nyman from Helsinki is also appearing in the film. We asked her how she liked the documentary: What did you think about the documentary? I think it was great. It was something that, I think, has been waited among the fans for some time already. A genuine story about how the band got in the position they are today, and most of all, how they are nowadays when their fame is getting bigger all the time. What was the best thing with it? I can't just say one best thing so I have to say few things that really made me like it. One of the things was the genuine feeling in it. You were somehow able to sense how the guys were doing this thing with 100and that they were totally comfortable in the interview situations. The athmosphere in the film was relaxed. The other thing was how the documentary showed things from the band's early days that at least most of the fans haven't seen yet. For example having Janne in the document too, telling his side of the story why he left the band in -99 and how he saw the situation. Also the genuine feeling in the clips from backstage etc. was really lovely and made the document special. How would you describe it, what would other fans expect to see in it? I would describe it in someway like this. The document actually shows how The Rasmus has been able to receive the good and the bad sides of that all the time growing fame of theirs. There you can see the side of the band that you don't often see on media, the genuine, relaxed guys that still have fun with each other even during a long tour. The documentary also tells you the history, plus some new information about the beginning even though you might have been thinking you've heard it all so many times. Really worth watching! How did you like seeing yourself in the film? Before seeing the document I was really prepared for the worst. I had been told what kind of clip there would be in the document but still I didn't really know what to expect. I must admit that I was ashamed and scared about it already in advance. But I have to say it wasn't as bad as I feared. And I must thank the people who were in charge of what will be on the document for making it that good. They really knew what they were doing. But of course seeing yourself on a document like that feels always weird when you aren't used to it. Thank you, Rikka!

CAPE TOWN MARCH 22ND (Myspace message)

arrived to cape town today, first impressions were... this is an amazingly scenic place, great waterfront views, sunsets, mountains, blue skies... and we have high hopes for the concert here, it's said to be sold out, the capacity is some 25 000 (that's a guess). the concert in durban was great, everyone had a good feeling throughout the gig, people were responsive and the general mood was just right. today i made a short visit to the indian ocean once before we left to the airport. also, metallica put up a great show yesterday, they were happy with the show themselves, and it was just a blow off... the whole crowd just went crazy for them. it's delightful to see your teenage favourites still coming up with a great show. we had lot of fun. their set included all the old hits that we wanted to hear. very nostalgic feelings for us...

tomorrow we gonna try out the atlantic ocean, some of us will go for a shark-cage-dive, myself, i'm heading for the surf, some go for a city sightseeing. in the afternoon we plan to visit the table mountain overlooking cape town... great!

eero

pics by timo isoaho