Ciao!

I get intrigued when bands from abroad play over here in certain venues. The week before these shows I had plenty of time to catch up with some new music while spending a lot of time on buses. My previous touch with Italian music lied on the heavy and doomy riffs of such bands like Grime (who I just saw recently) and The Secret. This time around all the way from Milan came LineOut who reminded me a bit of Rise Against's old days with just a different lyrical approach so completely opposite to what I've heard coming from the mentioned country. Sounded like could be fun live for sure.

12.5. Lepakkomies, Helsinki & 13.5. Vastavirta, Tampere

ONE HIDDEN FRAME

I had completely mixed up One Hidden Frame with another Finnish band who I also know just by name, but who are bit more out there, so OHF's humble stance caught me by surprise. I don't think these guys even once mentioned who they are during the gig in Helsinki. Lead singer did tell that he had caught high fever just the day of the first show, shiit! I wouldn't have noticed unless he had mentioned so hats off  to him and mad respect for powering through the shows.
I had a quick listen what Spotify had to offer and the band didn't bring either strong yay or nay feelings in me. Definitely way better live and made me think these guys should open for Rise Against the next time they tour over here. One Hidden Frame has the sort of melodic sound I'm sure it's more appreciated outside Finland's borders. Some of the a bit more heavier songs placed towards the end of the set stood out more, check the video clip at the end of this post for one them. Even when this wasn't the start of a new music related love story, I would not mind to catch these guys again fever-free to witness their full potential.

JAAKKO & JAY
The headliner for the tour was Jaakko & Jay who are frantic duo who just beat it, beat it, beaat iiit -tempo times twenty when it comes to the live setting and while tuning, talks to and connects with the audience quite a lot. I've seen them before and my conclusion back then was: boring. First impression is not always everything so this line up got a smiley face reception. In Helsinki people close to stage were having a blast. Quite quickly my plan to stay as long as possible changed to I'll save some money if I just walk to the bus station since I just couldn't pick anything to hang on to while J&J played and the initial thought in my mind was just simply NO.
In Tampere I really tried to stay longer but could only last for first two songs near the stage. Rest of the bus waiting time I spent on the couch and thought if something comes up that's more interesting than my book then fine. One song did make me pay attention again. The one that I can't obviously name but it followed the lil' thank you speech to the audience for coming along to check out the four band line up. I could not take any credit this time since I woke up when Jätä Jämät started (not intentional but many gigs + work + no sleep= pass out danger). Seen them recently so no biggie. I can easily list several things I appreciate about Jakko & Jay, just not a single thing I enjoy to the level that it would make sense for me to listen, or deliberately go see them again.

LINEOUT

I want to end this post in a high note saving the favorite one last. I hadn't heard of LineOut before and quite honestly the combination of the words skate & punk is not what lures me in the same way compared to eg hardcore punk when checking out random events and how the bands are described as. But behold! I was immediately hooked by how damn catchy tunes the whole nine song long album Guardians of Punk Rock was full of and when accompanied with vocals that fit this style of music spot on = thumbs up all the way. Soon I noticed that my grande plan to check out heaps of new music turned into mostly just playing this one record on repeat, oops.

What still matters more in my books is how a band is live and LineOut didn't disappoint. They had a friend known from bands Jet Market and Thousand Oaks (two more Italian bands I now know of!) filling in for their actually drummer. The sets were all about Guardians of Punk Rock songs. What at the end won me over was that at first you might think the songs are just some party tunes but nope. My favorites that I got to hear both nights, Blasphemies, Whole Nation and Four Dragons with the rad "mosh friendly" heavier part, don't really scream party to you. Don't let the catchiness fool ya. After the first gig that had a quite a nice turn out for a weekday, I messaged my friend how likable the band had been and it was nice to do it all over again. No point analyzing which show was the fave one as just simply put I enjoyed myself both nights discovering a new band to listen to. LineOut seems to be quite active on the touring front so just maybe we'll see again and next time I will actually know some lyrics and not just think I know some. haha. -kilu ✌ //YYKAAHOOVEE//

cheerio!

LineOut

Jaakko & Jay

One Hidden Frame

+all involved

One Hidden Frame @ Tampere

LineOut  - Blasphemies @ Tampere

psst! the following night around 2 am when walking back home from yet another gig I noticed a guy wearing a LineOut shirt, mental high five to you stranger!