Currently in the middle of their UK/European tour in support of new record Ultraviolet, we caught up with Poets Of The Fall vocalist Marko Saaresto to hear their top tips and stories from the road.
Favourite thing about touring:
That’s got to be the actual playing and singing. The interaction with the audience, when everyone’s got chills and the feeling’s through the roof. Also we have quite a bit of time to spend talking about anything and everything with the band and crew as we’re travelling from one place to the next. That’s usually a very laid back and fun time. And one more thing, it’s the going home after being on tour for so long. Home is precious, even more so, when you spent so much of your time away.
Least favourite thing about touring:
Flying and all the relevant airport rigmarole that goes with it. Especially on the long flights. I can’t help but feel a bit canned the whole time, so not my favourite pass time. Although on those flights they usually have a pretty good selection of movies to watch, so that almost makes it okay.
Five essentials for the road:
You gotta bring comfortable clothes, your personal entertainment system, and whether it’s your laptop, pad or smartphone, don’t forget the charger. Earplugs are also essential, for when you need your time out. And for us there’ll be no show without the in-ear monitors. So there’s five, but the essentials list is actually much longer.
Your favourite way to pass the time:
After making merry, we all love sleeping. The days are usually long and packed with activity, so you have to reboot your system every now and then. So yeah, sleeping is real good. Other favourites are watching movies, and the meandering conversations with fellow band members that can go on till the wee hours.
“The Most”
Memorable moment:
First time in the UK, of course! We played the Underworld in Camden, London. The line went around the block and we had to be sneaked in through the back in disguise.
Hilarious moment:
This one time our guitarist was late for the tour bus, as we were leaving for the next city. So we rang him up and asked what the hold up was. He answered with groggy voice, which told us he’d been sleeping and just woke up to answer the call. He told us he’d gotten a ride to the next place during the night and was already there, so no worries. Okay, fine by us, so we left. Two minutes later the phone rang again, and he called us back going: “Oh no, I was still half asleep when I answered the call, I’m actually still here, where are you? Give me ten minutes. I’m on my way.”
Embarrassing moment:
We once went on stage ready to do our thing with the intro blaring and the crowd cheering, and we went: “one, two, three, four…” and nothing. Not a bleep from the PA. We had to get off stage, waving and smiling, to go backstage with a huge question mark hanging over our heads. Turns out it was just a minor technical issue, which the crew fixed in minutes, but it took us a lot of effort to pick the shattered pieces of our self respect from the dust. But out we went in front of the forty thousand people or so, and had a super time with the crowd.
Outrageous moment:
That must’ve been when I went to give autographs front of stage after a show in India. The fans were so enthusiastic, it didn’t take very long before they literally climbed on top of me and surrounded me, so that there was this wigwam of people all over me. The security freaked out and started throwing people off the cluster to get me out. Meanwhile on the inside of this human dome, I was doing fine, laughing it away, giving autographs at a machine gun rate.
Drunken moment:
Just one word. Gelsenkirchen. Do you know how it is when youth first finds the novelty of getting drunk and the ensuing lean on me so I’ll lean on you, and together we’ll sing, real loud and off key, and find our way back home. That was the case with Gelsenkirchen, the after party of the Rockavaria Festival a couple of years back.
Rewarding moment:
What pops to my head right now as we’re starting out the new tour and Ultraviolet is just out, and now it’s topping charts and climbing on new ones. All the lovely people are flocking to see the shows and they know the lyrics and they roariously sing along. That’s all super rewarding.
Poets Of The Fall‘s new album Ultraviolet is out now, available to purchase HERE.
See Poets Of The Fall live at one of the remaining tour dates:
October
Fri 12th – GLASGOW – Garage
Sat 13th – NOTTINGHAM – Rescue Rooms
Sun 14th – MANCHESTER – Club Academy
Wed 24th – FRANKFURT – Batschkapp
Thu 25th – BERLIN – Columbia Theater
Fri 26th – MUNICH – Backstage Halle
Sat 27th – HAMBURG – Grunspan
Sun 28th – COLOGNE – Kantine
