Kotiteollisuus @ Kellari 27.11.2009

We went to see my hometown boys in Kellari the other night in their first gig of two in Joensuu. We specifically chose the first gig, since the bands has a fairly damp reputation and as such the risk of getting a poorer performance the second night is there. It’s also a reason why we didn’t go see them for a long time, because all of the festival recordings we’ve seen of them playing have been disappointments. Luckily, like the last time we saw them they didn’t disappoint now.

We initially noticed Kotiteollisuus from their music video Rakastaa, Ei rakasta. We were working on a scale model of a house for a school project of Anna’s and from the corner of my eye I saw a very familiar scene on the TV. The beginning of the video has a view of the Kaukas pulp and paper mill. I spent my childhood and teenage years in the shadow the mill, so the views were very familiar. Ever since I’ve been a fan of their later albums (which are more melodic than their earlier work). I honestly don’t know how to describe them in English, in Finnish Äijä-rock (Real Man Rock?) is used and is an apt description. I guess a comparison to Zakk Wylde and Black Label Society when it comes to general image could come fairly close.

While their live show isn’t full of acrobatics or awesome shredding and such, Jouni has excellent rapport with the audience. He can taunt the drunks, but also pays attention to the rest of the crowd and acknowledges them well. And his eyes are incredibly lively…

Kotiteollisuus’ lighting was already familiar from their last gig in Joensuu (pictures), so I had a chance to experiment a bit more with the shots to get silhouettes and such. Considering the limited size of the stage and venue, I think I got some good ones.

The main issue that I have with their light is that there is very little white light. The spots lighting Jouni and Janne from the front are yellow and most of the backlight is red or blue. This time in processing I decided to do a lot more conversions to black and white to deal with this. In fact, Anna and I decided to change the well known Mythbusters saying “when in doubt, lubricate” to “when in doubt, grayscale.”

I only got a few shots of the drummer, Jari Sinkkonen, during the whole gig since he was mostly shrouded in smoke. Which is slightly surprising when you consider that I was at most five metres away from him.

As usual, more pictures in our gallery.