ben's blog | bengranfelt.com

NEW EMAIL ADDRESS!!

2011-12-31T10:37:00.001+02:00

MY NEW EMAIL ADDRESSES!!!

STARTING THE 2.1.2012

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Ben Granfelt

Sprucefield Oy Ltd.
Sinebrychoffsgatan 13 B 16
00120 Helsingfors
FINLAND

+358 400 383 383
www.bengranfelt.com

Ben Granfelt

Sprucefield Oy Ltd.

Sinebrychoffsgatan 13 B 16

00120 Helsingfors

FINLAND

+358 400 383 383
www.bengranfelt.com

This mail address will stop working 1.1.2012. Please use my new address from now on: ben@sprucefield.fi

Ben Granfelt

Sprucefield Oy Ltd.
Sinebrychoffsgatan 13 B 16
00120 Helsingfors
FINLAND

+358 400 383 383
www.bengranfelt.com

New Album

2011-04-12T14:47:00.003+03:00

FINALLY got Protools installed on my new computers and can start working on my next solo album. I will work differently than before, Santtu Lehtiniemi and I will produce/program together and make tracks ready BEFORE we ask drummers, bass player, keyboard players, guest players to play on them. I will several guitar tracks on each song and really make this a guitar album much in the same way as my first album The Truth was. I have several songs ready and can't wait to get started... actually I'll start right now so bye, bye...

Ben Granfelt

Email address

2011-03-21T18:12:00.003+02:00

As usual I've proved to myself that my brain works on half power :-) I forgot about the email on the contact page totally! I've now tried to answer most of the mails that I found there (some 50 odd mails!). In the futere I'll check the mails once a week.

cheers,

Ben

What's up!?

2011-03-10T09:37:00.003+02:00

Sorry for neglecting this blog and site for some time.... life with Bastardos has been busy with some gigs and rehearsals. the album came out in february and charted nicely at nr.9 on Rumbas rock chart here in Finland. The feeling in the band is good and we can't wait to seriously start giging in april. Check out www.losbastardos.fi where you can listen to the whole album.

As for my own solo project, things took a left turn when my laptop died 2 weeks ago and I wasn't able to demo songs. But that should be corrected in a week or 2. I will be going to the Frankfurt Music Fair again (7-9.4) playing and hanging at the ENGL stand as usual. Hopefully I'd have 1 or 2 new songs to play there.

Micke and I are planning to reorganise this site completly with a music shop where you can download songs from my latest albums, rare live versions and new stuff as well. This will take time so be patient :-)

All the best,

Ben

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T09:41:00.002+02:00

I hope everyone will be able to enjoy a peacefull and warm Christmas with their loved ones.

It's early morning here in a cold helsinki with a LOT of snow! I'm going to clean the house and quickly slip out to the grouceristore before everything closes down. Then I'll start to relax and wind down.

Enjoy and relax, I'll be writting an end ot the year rap next week with some news...so stay tuned!

Ben

Cancelled gigs!

2010-10-12T14:36:00.002+03:00

Sorry folks about last weeks cancelled Bastardos gigs! Twist Twist hurt his foot really badly and we're hoping he will be alright asap.
Unfortunately the weekends gigs at Birdland Jazz Club have been cancelled as well, not due to us but Birdland made a double booking and there is no room for us on the bill.
The gigs the 5-6.11 at Birdland are on + we might get some more gigs there so check out the gigs page.

Music business is risky business... but what can you do?! I'm just a guitar player :-)

Cheers,

Ben

Stuff...

2010-09-29T09:08:00.003+03:00

Well, it's been awhile...
Bastardos have 2 more gigs this year and then we'll be focusing on finishing the new album. It will have some good old hard rock'n'roll stuff on it. We just need to go thru all Don Osmos song ideas and choose the right ones, I might add one or 2 and Bryn has some ideas too.

I've rehearsed with Miri and Lauri Porra and while it sounds great I seriously don't know which direction I should take for the next BG album.... I'm lost :-) We're jaming again later this week.

Bryn and I have a few projects coming up and it's always fun, we need to rehearse more songs for our upcoming gigs at the Birdland Jazz Club. More groove/soul/blues oriented stuff and it'll be nice with a change.

It's nice to give guitar lessons as well and sorry that I can't take everyone. There are some guys who I seriously wonder why they come to me ;-) .... they're already really great players!

Well' that's about it for now, Cheers everybody.

Ben

Guitar lessons anyone!?

2010-09-07T17:43:00.002+03:00

I've decided to give guitar lessons again. Sorry! No beginners!
I want to help developing your own style and your own sound, give advice on gear related questions etc.

If you're interested email me at ben@bengranfelt.com
NOTE! I live in Helsinki and have a good rehearsal room here where the lessons will be kept.

Cheers,

Ben

Los Bastardos, BGB etc.

2010-07-21T08:57:00.002+03:00

So after 4 gigs with the mighty Los bastardos and a session with Don Osmo in his studio going thru songs and ideas for the next LB album I've decided to join the band full time. It's good to be playing rock'n'roll with an attitude again :-) , the guys are great and the crew is dedicated, everything works! We're already playing 3 new songs in the set + on friday we're adding 2 older ones as well. Don Osmo is a very good band leader and I'm again after 6 years just doing what I do best, play! What a pleasure!

I've put BGB and the halfready album on hold completly! Don't know for how long but at least for a year or 2.
I will however do some gigs as a trio with Miri and a bass player (an old friend of ours, I'll post the name soon) later this year to see how that feels. It will be a little more free and jamming than BGB.... more experimental if you like... to satisfy my need to play the Stratocaster :-)
I've got some trio songs written + we'll do some stuff from previous albums that haven't been played live for at least 3-5 years and some covers from way back to the -90's. Wouldn't mind doing a live album either :-)

Granfelt/Nikku Group will do a few gigs in the autumn and we'll record an album live in the
studio with some originals and some covers as well.

It's funny how music divides my playing style and guitars... in LB it's Les Pauls and loud amps (ENGL and Naylor + big rack in stereo) and with the trio it's Strats and combos (Tube Thomsen and ENGL + small pedalboard). GNG is Les Pauls and an SG with an ENGL combo, wah and leslie pedal.
I would say that my favourite guitar is still a Strat but I can't live without a Les Paul :-)

Take it easy and check the gig page for all the bands.

Ben

El Gringo

2010-06-23T22:03:00.002+03:00

Well, when you close one door (for awhile!!) another one opens!
Just when I'd cancelled all the BGB gigs for the rest of the year Bryn Jones calls me up and asks if I want to join Los Bastardos Finlandeses ( www.losbastardos.fi ) !!??
It is very strange how things happen to me and this was probably just the right thing for now!
It's rock! It's loud! and it's a holiday from all stress! I can relax and just play and enjoy myself!
+ it's got Twist Twist Erkinharju on drums :-)
Check out the gigs for live info.

Rock Summer here I come!

Ben ( El Gringo )

Lots of things...

2010-06-21T19:22:00.002+03:00

Firs of all sorry for the long absence... and thanks for all the birthday wishes thru facebook and emails, 47 isn't that much now is it :-)

Now to the sad part. Due to the fact that I'm going thru a difficult part of my life once again... my second divorce for those who didn't know it already (thanks again for all the suportive and positive emails etc.).
I've made 2 hard desicions;
1. The new album is on hold, I can't find the energy/inspiration to finish it now. BUT I'm not giving up! I'm hoping to have it recorded during this year and mixed early next year. I am going to use guest players on the album so it will be more like a BG solo album I guess.
2. I will put BGB on hold as well after the gig in Imatra the 5.7. This means no more gigs this year in Finland or Germany, sorry but I think I need some distance from BGB to be able to continue.

I will do gigs with Granfelt/Nikku Group and duo gigs with Bryn or Igi. Also guest with Bryn Jones Huliganes here and there.
I will announce some other news next week hopefully, just give me some time.

All the best and enjoy the summer!
I will rest and spend some quality time with my kids :-)

Cheers,

Ben

Corrcted the link! And Important NEWS!

2010-04-29T11:46:00.002+03:00

Ups, clumsy me got the link to the ENGL demo wrong! Now it is correct so scroll down and check it out.

Unfortunately the new album will be put on hold untill 2011 due to my personal situation which forces me to focus on my family more at the moment. I'm also a bit lost with my musical direction and need to wtrie 3-4 more songs so that we can deliver the best possible album to you.

WE WILL do gigs in Finland and a German tour in the autumn so you can catch us live for sure!

All the best,

Ben

ENGL video and album update

2010-04-26T11:36:00.003+03:00

Hi Guys & Gals,

Here's a link to an ENGL gigmaster demo from the Frankfurt Music Messe.
The song I'm playing is called New Seven and it will be on the new album.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Byq-edKvDpY
Re. the album, we're in the middle of mixing at the moment.
I'll post more when I have more titles etc for you.

Had some really good duo gigs with Bryn last weekend at VilliWäinö!
We're playing the Aussie bar on thursday the 29.4. Should be fun again.

All the best,

Ben

Studio message

2010-04-08T19:19:00.003+03:00

Today we finnished 3 vocal tracks which means that we got 3 instrumentals and 3 vocal tracks ready for mixing with 3 more vocal tracks to done next week when we'll also start mixing hopefully.
We've been working in Sonic Kitchen with good results and it'll be interesting to hear how the first mixes will sound.
As it looks now the album will be called "Turning Point" and the first track on the album is that track" Turning Point". We played it live 4 times now and everybody seems to like it alot.
Good old blues based rock always goes down well.
One of the instrumentals is called "Because we still can"... well, it's in the same style as "Because we can" from Kaleidoscope.
Another one is called "BG63Strat" and in one way it's my favourite because I've sort of found my love for Strats again and I used my -63 Strat on it.
More about the other tracks later.

Next week we have one gig as well (Tampere Henrys Pub) and it'll be nice to get out to play again.

Ben

Loooong post...

2010-03-23T10:13:00.004+02:00

It's been awhile, sorry for that.
Where do I begin...
We've been in the studio in Hanko for 4 days end of february and we got 9 tracks of drums, bass and keys done. A few guitar tracks were recorded but I'm redoing all the guitars in Sonic Kitchen Studios next week because I had a bit of a flu and couldn't hear the highend properly.
Miri was the true master of ceremony handling most of the recording and he draged along his old FX Custom mixingdesk and from there we went straight in to his computer ( I think he's using Cubbase or something... or protools... I know I'm using Fender or Gibson and that's about as technical as I get!). Miri also did his tracks in 1-3 takes... yeah! that's a studio pro!
We're going to record 1 or 2 more tracks at our rehearsal room + all the vocals and percussions.
Miris room is next to mine so it'll be easy since he has his complete studio up and running there.

We've also done some gigs and It's been great playing live again, good audiences and good gigs.
I think we've played about 4-5 of the new songs just to see how they go down and the respons has been very positive for sure!
I hope to have the whole album finnished mixed and mastered in early june and released (by someone !??) in september when the gigs start again.

Wishbone Ash played Helsinki on the Rocks a few weeks ago and Miri and I provided them with backline since they just flew in to do the gig. I also played 4 songs with them and I honestly think that it was abit of Finnish Rock'n'roll history when 2 Finnish guitar players are on stage with Wishbone Ash IN FINLAND :-) It was great to meet Andy & Co again, they played really well everyone enjoyed the gig.

Tomorrow I'm flying out to Frankfurt for the Musik Messe... I'll be at the ENGL stand playing 3-4 times a day from wednesday till friday evening.
looking forward to meet old friends again... and to check out some good players... + I heard that there should be a vintage guitars show as well, must leave my creditcards at home ha, ha!

That's all for now, take care and C U on the road,

Ben

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2010-03-17T13:31:00.003+02:00

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Gigs update!

2010-02-10T15:48:00.001+02:00

Made some changes on the gig page! Make sure you check dates as they seem to change a bit.

Cheers,

Ben

New blog...

2010-02-03T08:51:00.002+02:00

I just got word that this blogging system will change so this will be the last blog until the new system is up and running.

Nothing special new to report... a few new gigs on the gigs page ( Grolsch Blues Festival in Germany !).
Rehearsals start next week again with the band and I've got lyrics ready for a few songs so we'll probably try them out in Forssa and Kuopio.

Be well and check back soon for the new blog.

Cheers,

Ben

The stress of writing...

2010-01-09T10:55:00.002+02:00

Yeah, we've been recording all the practise sessions we've had lately and I've got about 8 songs 3 instrumentals and 5 ready for Bryn and me to finnish with lyrics. I get the feeling sometimes that I'll never be ready because I always ge tthe feeling that NO this is not good enough, this needs to be changed etc.

But I had a session with Bryn last night and we worked on an old song idea I've had for ages and he completly made it work when I'd already had almost thrown the the whole song in the trash bin.
He also had an old lyric that fit like a glove... this is the way it should work :-)

Since Miri is in Switzerland for a month playing we're going to have more sessions like this with Bryn and it makes me feel more secure with the new stuff. Definitely cooking now :-)

Made some updates to the gigs page as well, check it out!

Cheers,

Ben

Gigs update!

2009-12-16T10:52:00.003+02:00

More Granfelt/Nikku gigs! Check out the gigs page...

Unfortunately we have to cancel our planned German tour in march due to the illness of our booking agent Bärbel Kuhn. She is takin time off from the businees and we wish her a speedy recovery.

We are glad to inform you that we have now a new booking agent in Klaus Steigmeier / Breaking Blues. All his contact info is on the contact page.
We are looking at a TV show gig and some festivals in Germany already in may but I will let you know more as soon as I know more details.

Band rehearsals are going well, we have 9 songs now ... still no lyrics but I will meet with master lyrics provider Bryn Jones soon to get started.

I'd like to take the opportunity to thank everyone for the support 2009 and wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy 2010!

Ben

Equipment page updated

2009-12-04T08:31:00.003+02:00

Micke and I finally got the equipment page updated :-)
Check it out an enjoy!

We've been rehearsing a bit and now have 7 ideas that we're working on. Some just need lyrics and others are still being arranged musically. Don't know what kind of album it'll be this time... It's hard to define the music style we do, I always end up with so many different kind of songs... Some of the stuff sounds like Deep Purple meets Gov't mule while other is a bit more mellow. Somehow I divide them in Les Paul songs and Strat songs... if it makes sense to anyone.
Oh, and we have a new "Becausewe can" instrumental :-) we'll probably call it "We can still do it" ha, ha

Be well,

Ben

Blah, blah...

2009-11-30T09:20:00.003+02:00

Just thought I'd report on the Granfelt/Nikku gig... Igis (our singers) boat from Åland was late... almost 24 hrs!! so Tipe Johnson stepped in in the last minute and saved the gig! Thanks Tipe! It was a good and very funny gig. For those of you who don't know about us we play covers only (Allman Brotheres, Gov't Mule, Focus, Derek trucks Band, Mannfred Mans EB etc. only cool -70s guitar music...LOT'S of jamming!). Look out for more gigs next year in may.

The 2 acoustic gigs with Bryn Jones were great as usual, especially the second one :-)

I've started to play electric guitar too give more depth in the sets and we're definitely more rocking now!

And finally here's a link to some pics from our Kokkola gig with BGB taken by Rainer Frilund.

www.netikka.net%2Ffubb3%2Fbgb-2009-nov-06_kokkola%2Findex.htm

Later,

Ben

End of the year..

2009-11-19T14:01:00.002+02:00

Well, all the BGB gigs for this year are done now. I've got some gigs with Bryn Jones and this coming sunday a Granfelt / Nikku Guitar Fest gig as well.

I think we had a lot of good gigs with BGB and the band is tight so we're continuing with rehearsals for new songs. I've also booked some studio time in Hanko at Pop Motion studios ( www.popmotion.fi ) in february.

Posted some new gigs as well.

Unfortunately our German tour in March is not certain at the moment as our booker Barb Kuhn is very ill. We wish her all the best and a speedy recovery.
If possible we will try to do a few gigs at least in march over there.

That's it for now...

Ben

Wishbone Ash 40th DVD

2009-10-23T14:38:00.002+03:00

It's out now! Wishbone Ash celebrated their 40th anniversary at the Shepperd Bush Empire in may this year and I was invited to play on a couple of songs (Almighty Blues and Faith, Hope & Love which I wrote for the Bonafide album in 2001). The gig was filmed and here's a little taster, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyGyJhad ... re=channel from the DVD.

Enjoy and support this great band by buying the DVD from www.wishboneash.com

Cheers,

Ben

Home sweet home...

2009-10-13T10:28:00.004+03:00

This band is getting better and better every gig! That's a fact!
Despite my terible tooth/jaw ache episode in the middle of these dates (thank good the worst spell was during the off days!) all the gigs went better than I could have hoped for.
AND we now finally have a booker in Germany, Bärbel Kuhn http://www.life-on-stage.de/ will handle things from now on.

Met a lot of friends again and finally got to jam with Christian Tolle from Cooper Inc. who opened up for us at the last gig. Check them out, they're a suberb band. I believe Christian is putting somehting up on youtube....

I'd especially like to thank Beavis out soundguy/tourmanager... this team works so well! Hopefully we'l have lot's of gigs next year.
We're starting to rehearse new stuff next week and also demoing at the same time.

Harry and Lothar deserve a special mentioning as well, their partys are now welknown to a LOT of rock music fans, keep up the good work!

Also all the nice promoters from the clubs and you the fans/friends... C U next year!

Cheers,

Ben

Cancelled gigs

2009-09-30T20:58:00.002+03:00

I'm not happy about this but due to Imatra Woodoo going bancrupt and closeing I've had to cancel/move more gigs.
Kuopio the 24.10 will be moved to next year as will 14.11 Seinäjoki Bar 15.

I'm sorry about this but we'll be rehearsing new material instead so time is not lost in that sense.

Germany soon, can't wait to have a curry wurst and a real German beer.

Prost!

Ben

Hello!

2009-09-25T11:42:00.002+03:00

Great gigs so far! Nice to play new places in Finland too. Suisto Klubi in Hämeenlinna is a great place for live music, reminded me of some clubs in Germany. Also Shamrock Tikkurila was a nice suprise. Salo Rockin Hood was good too.

Unfortunately Woodo Imatra the 23.10 has been cancelled because of bankrupcy... (the club not us...yet ha,ha )
I'm trying to get another gig in Imatra sorted asap but check the gigs page for changes in the calender before you decide to come to a gig.

Tonight On the Rocks! Our home town gig :-) A couple of new songs in the set, new merch.... come along for a good party!

C U,

Ben

Long time no see!!

2009-08-17T19:02:00.004+03:00

Sorry for the long break in blog posts but hey.... summer time :-)

Anyway, BGB has done a few gigs and we're ready to start giging seriously again.

We did a festival gig up in Kauhajoki that was great...played over 2 hours, went to bed 03.30 and got up at 07.30 to drive back to Helsinki from where I took the train back to Hanko where the family was waiting for me.

Then we did the Lukather gig at House of Culture here in Helsinki which was very cool but short. It was nice to see Steve's band and to hang with them after the show. We went to Henrys Pub for the sunday Jam and were joined by Steves drummer, we did a few songs and jammed.

I recently also finally got my new racksystem from Steen Skrydstrup in Denmark.

I'm like a kid at X-mas with it, SOOOOO COOL!!!

I went down to Denamrk and meet with Steen for fjnal programming etc.

Steen is a very nice guy who not only knows his stuff but also is good friend, someone who I end up talking about things completly not related to music or gear with.

Guitar Slingers did a suprise gig for Aapo Lahti who had his suprise 40th birthday party.

Aapo works for Eastway Sound And Lightning and Guitar Slingers go way back with him and Eastway. He actually was our booker for many years. And again after the party I went to Henrys for the Jam session... :-)

Well, check out the gigs page for live shows, C U out there somewhere.

Cheers,

Ben

Holiday continues...

2009-06-18T11:29:00.002+03:00

Nothing much to report, I've been takin it easy, playing guitar and spending time with the family. Got some really cool new songs ready for rehearsals but that will happen in the autumn.

Just got confirmation that we're supporting Steve Lukather the 2.8 at the House of Culture here in Helsinki, should be a cool gig and it's definitely a nice guitar package!

Take it easy!

Ben

Wishbone Ash 40th Anniversary concert

2009-05-20T12:05:00.002+03:00

Wow and Wow again! What a gig! It was so good to hear Andy, Bob, Joe and of course Muddy play. They were super tight and sounded so good (Thanks Daniel!) So many friends in the audience and a great aftershow party...long live rock'n'roll but not the next morning ha,ha...

Check out some pics here http://www.gillyworld.com/sbme09

It was a pleasure to play 2 songs with WA and to play 3 part harmonies was ...well, you can imagine the sound on stage :-) It was all filmed for a DVD release which you all have to get !!

Thanks to Andy & CO! Jonna and I really enjoyed the evening.

BGB is taking a little break before summer and I'm off to Creete this saturday with the family.

Cheers,

Ben

Gigs, Gigs and more Gigs..

2009-05-05T21:29:00.001+03:00

Big gigs update for ya all! And there's more to come :-)

Cheers,

Ben

Been a long time...

2009-05-02T20:10:00.002+03:00

Sorry for no updates for awhile... been busy!
Great gigs with the band, it's so cool to play with these guys! It seems like we're only getting better and better :-) Jukka Oja aka Beavis our soundtech is a very important part of the team. He finally got me to try inear monitoring and I love it! Its good for the vocals and with the help of ambience microphones I can hear the audience as well.

I don't know if I mentioned anything about the Frankfurt Musik Fair but I was there for 3 days playing at the ENGL stand with Bernd Aufferman. I've been an ENGL endorser for a long time and it's always nice to meet the ENGL family so to speak. At the fair iteslf I really didn't see anything new and spectacular but I saw Steve Lukathers Band a couple of times and they were very good. Steve's a monster player and I prefer his solo stuff to the TOTO stuff.
I also saw Thomas Blug who without doubt is the best Strat player around at the moment...period! His new CD Soul & Pepper has some killer tunes and of course a monster Strat tone.
Another player I saw was Mika Tyyskä aka Mr. Fastfinger. His music is a bit more complex and he has a style maybe a little bit like Steve Vai but more musical in my opinion. He also has a more melodic style I think. Check him out here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AFXq2VspF0

Still one more gig in Mikkeli and then we'll have short break.
I will update the gig page soon with lots of gigs for the autumn and a few for the summer.

Stay cool and be well,

Ben

Frankfurt Music Fair and lost e-mail orders

2009-03-31T18:54:00.002+03:00

A busy week ahead, I'm going to the Frankfurt Music Fair to play at the ENGL stand.
I'll be there from Thursday until Saturday so come and say Hi if you're around. Should be fun again... I'll bring CDs for sale again as usual.

I'm sorry to say that I've lost some CD and T-shirt order mails.
If you haven't heard from me recently regarding your order please e-mail me again.

All the best,

Ben

For Sale

2009-03-13T08:53:00.002+02:00

Hi Guys,

I'm selling some pedals stuff...But first is my 2004 Limited edition Relic Black over sunburst Strat + case 2400 eur (picture is on the gear page).
Pedals,
Voodoo Lab Micro Vibe 130 eur
Voodoo Lab Proctavia 110 eur
Boss SD-1 80 eur
Electro Harmonix Electric Mistress II Flangeri 80 eur
Boss RT-20 Leslie pedal 150 eur

Send an email to ben@bengranfelt.com if you're interested.

Ben

Home sweet home

2009-03-03T11:01:00.004+02:00

Germany done... Rhede, Wyk Föhr and Hannover we're all really great! Especially Blues Garage in Hanover... haven't been there for 4 years, one of the most original and special clubs in Germany for sure. The band was great and Beavis and Santtu made this tour so easy. A good team makes all the difference!! thanks to ya all.
Some great stories,
In Habach I asked the promoter who had played the day before like this, "Who played yesterday?" he looked at me confused and said "...the Beatles..."
In Stuttgart John came down to the Hotel reception with a bevildered look on his face and said to the poor girl that " I know I'm a bit big but when I sat down to take a shit my butt cracked it!" meaning that the toilet seat cracked...

We're on a roll...look out Salo and Kouvola this weekend!

Here are a few links to reviews on the net,
http://www.blues-finland.com/articles/ben_granfelt_band_kaleidoscope.html
http://www.freemagazine.fi/content/view/898/152/
http://www.noise.fi/levyarvostelut/?id=9927

All the best,

Ben

Haltern rules!

2009-02-25T02:28:00.003+02:00

oh yes! Haltern rules...
Who would have thought that after the Rosenmontag which is the craziest day during Carneval here in Germany that people still would be alive after 4 days of partying... we came here on monday and partied too, John and Kasper certanly did :-) The Groovemeister tuned into Jägermaister and Kasper is now officially Jägermeister Junior :-)
Anyway, what a great audience on a hungover tuesday! Thank you SO much for a great night here in Haltern.
Many thanks go to Frank and Punk Floyd, Guni at the Schenke (venue) as well as Harry for helping out once again.

Tomorrow Hereford ... here we come!

Gute Nacht,

Ben

German tour so far...

2009-02-22T20:42:00.003+02:00

Good old Germany never fails :-) we've done 3 shows so far and it's great to be here again.

After an early wakeup on thursday at 4 o'clock we finally arrived in Wetter at around 12 o'clock. Gunter Erdmann the promoter is an old friend and we had a lot of things to talk about ... it's always easy to start a tour somewhere where you feel safe and know everybody.

We had a good but maybe slightly nervous first show... lot's of friends around, Harry & Lothar, Bernd Auffermann, Andreas Kloppmann, Christian Tolle to name a few. I was dead tired when I finally got in bed around 1.30 in the morning... didn't sleep well and was really tired when we arrived in Stuttgart LAB. This is a new venue for us and it's always exiting to see if anyone is coming :-) AND come they did!! Almost sold out and a great gig!! suddenly I wasn't tired anymore, ha, ha

Stayed up to long and didn't get enough sleep again...

Village in Habach is a special little venue in the middle of nowhere. It's like a big living room with a stage in the corner. Only real music fans come here and it's very popular and almost everyone has played here. Good gig again, some very enthusiastic fans :-) got in bed late but slept really well. Today is an offday and tomorrow is a travel day (no gig). This a much needed break for me because I almost lost my voice yesterday because of lack of sleep.

I've just had an enormous plate of pasta and some nice red wine, now I'm going to watch a movie and just relax.

By the way, the band is "hot" so don't miss a show if we're playing close to you! It's also nice to have a great crew, we get along great and laugh a lot!

Cheers,

Ben

Wow!

2009-02-10T21:21:00.004+02:00

A big thanks, to all who came to the first 2 shows, Tampere and Helsinki!!
Especially Helsinki On the Rocks was awsome!! I went to bed with a BIG smile :-)
Even though we've always had good crowds at both places now they were packed with happy faces.

We're still going to rehearse a couple of times before the German tour to fine tune the set.
I know there'll be a lot of good musician friends ( Rock Polizei ha,ha ) coming down to Wetter, the first show.
But we'll be ready :-)

Cheers,

Ben

PS. Soon we'll have merch and CDs available from the site... just give us time to get everything organised.

Kaleidoscope

2009-02-05T10:48:00.003+02:00

The new album is out now!
Support good music! Come to the gigs and buy the new album!
Today we start in Tampere... end on may 8th in Mikkeli.

Take care and C U out there,

Ben

rehearsals...

2009-02-02T15:48:00.002+02:00

Yes, we're rehearsing again for 3 days before the first gig in Tampere...
Joni is back from Thailand where he spent 4 weeks! Bastard! :-)
We have 15 songs in the set...or at least that's the plan with a total of 7 new songs + an oldie or two that we haven't played for awhile.
All smiles in the room and it's great to go out again...

I just wish I would have a better brain 'cos there are so many friggin lyrics to remember :-)

The album will be out on wednesday and we'll have it + t-shirts etc. for sale at the gigs.

Cheers, and C U soon,

Ben

Stuff...

2009-01-13T18:09:00.002+02:00

Yesterday I got some nice news...

Ben Granfelt was voted the most interesting guest and the best teacher at Kitaraklubi. Kitaraklubi is a Finnish multimedia TV program on MTV MAX in cooperation with Blue Media, Guitar Fan Magazine and Rockway music school online introducing 20 (mainly) Finnish guitarists. Unfortunately the article is only in Finnish, http://www.kitaraklubi.fi/news.php?nid=27

Today I updated the gigs page...still more gigs to come...

Nothing special happening in january... I'm going thru my guitars, amps and pedalboards to decide what to use on the upcoming gigs. I will have a new pedalboard in Germany and possibly a rack here in Finland.

Be well and C U in february,

Ben

Merry Christmas and Happy 2009

2008-12-23T15:02:00.002+02:00

Another year done... it's hard to understand how fast time flies!

Eat well and be happy. I would like to thank a lot of people here for their help during 2008 but you all know who you are so I'll just think of you instead and raise a glass of nice single malt and say Cheers!

Merry Christmas and CU in 2009!

Ben

Kitaraklubi MTV3

2008-12-08T19:08:00.002+02:00

I'm this weeks guest at MTV3 MAX Kitaraklubi hosted by Marsi Nyman.
The program airs Tuesday (Dec 9) 20.30 on MTV3 MAX. Reruns are on Wednesday at 19.30 and on Saturday at 21.00.
Don't miss it!

Cheers,

Ben

Abu Dhabi etc

2008-12-03T16:25:00.003+02:00

Wow, what a way to end the year for BGB!!!

Abu Dhabi was a blast! Great gig! Super weather! Nice people + 2 days off in Dubai with our good friends Ari and Ihab who took SOOOOO good care of us :-) 7 star treatment all the way!

All the art work is done for the album and in january we'll put up some songs on my

space and here. The Finnish release is the first week of February and the releaseparty gig is at On the Rocks friday the 6th.

Guitar Slingers have a few gigs here and I've got some acoustic gigs with Bryn othervise I'm taking it easy...

Talk to ya soon!

Ben

End of the year + new album

2008-11-14T23:30:00.002+02:00

The Finnish dates for this year are now done. The last three were really good! Especially Seinäjoki which sort of has become one of my favourite gigs. Närpes was also a nice suprise.
Miri, John and Kasper are doing a great job and I'm very confident with the band at the moment, everything just feels good..we have exellent jams and the songs work so well :-)
We have one more show for this year... the Abu Dhabi Jazz Festival... that's going to be a super great way to end the year!

The new album is mixed and mastered. It's going to be called "Kaleidoscope". I wrote so many different kinds of music for this album and I think if you'd look at my music thru a kaleidoscope this is what you'd get... it's all me but somehow different you know :-)
The track listing is as follows,
1. Julie ( a rocker, Go'vt Purple if you like he,he)
2. Because we can (an instrumental answer to the question "Why do you guys play songs with out lyrics and singing?)
3. Dead in the water ( a cover of the David Gray song, i'm very pleased with it!)
4. Soul searching (an instrumental "prelude" to "This soul of Mine")
5. This Soul of Mine ( BGB goes P.Floyd)
6. You ain't got nothing on me ( a tounge in cheek rocker, the lyrics are very much about me)
7. Bright lights and Dreams ( Stely Dan feel on this one but the chorus is kind of AOR)
8. Make up my mind with my heart ( a bluesy slow shuffle, has become a live favourite already)
9. Lia ( a short instrumental dedicated to my daughter)
10. What comes around goes around ( a different kind of ballad, really pleased with this one)
11. Suburban Blues Jam ( an instrumental live jam in the studio... great vibe!)

We will put up some songs on the myspace site in january and the album will be ou in Finland the first week in february and Germany about the same time.

We'll do a few shows here in Finland before we start the German tour the 13th of february.

More later, be cool!

Ben

Yo!

2008-10-21T09:45:00.002+03:00

We're taking a weeks break in between gigs originally to finnish the album but since everything is already recorded I'm spending time with the kids and Johns gone fishing...Miri's busy with Paul Oxley's Unit and Kasper is recording some heavy metal stuff.

Pete Knuutinen sound enginer supreme did the first part of the tour but he's commited to do IDOLS from now on until it ends... he wasn't happy about it :-) Thanks Pete, always a pleasure to have you with us!!

Jukka "Beavis" Oja is coming home from some tour in Germany just in time to continue with us at On the Rocks the 30th. He is also doing Guitar Slingers and is a cool guy who yet doesn't play golf ( like Pete he,he ).

As I said the album is now 80% ready only mixing of 3 songs remain and then the mastering.
Once the mastering is done I'll write a little describtion about the songs.

All the best and C U out there,

Ben

New gig 31.10 Nevada, Porvoo

2008-10-14T14:31:00.002+03:00

Hi everybody,

Some good news for a change.... we got a gig in Porvoo, good old Nevada. BGB has played here many times before and it's a great place.

Also everything execpt 1 vocal is done with the new album. I'm very pleased with it... it will be strange to wait until february to have it out. We're already playing 3-4 songs of it live.

Take care,

Ben

Another cancellation...!!!

2008-10-07T20:44:00.002+03:00

This business sucks! I'm very tired of booking all gigs myself...I'm supposed to be able to write music and practice with the band or even by myself and not sit in my office talking to clubs, promoters etc.
I just heard that Karjaa, Affes the 31.10 is cancelled...this is the 4th cancellation for this tour. What is most disturbing is that it's not up to us but business simply isn't good enough for clubs and they can't afford to have bands playing anymore.
With the economy being what it is and everything loosing value (execpt vintage guitars ha,ha!) one must admit that these are hard time for anyone.

Well, the only good thing is that the new album is coming along great!! Now if I only can afford to pay the studio bills :-)

People of Tammisaari! Get off you butt and come to No:1 on Friday and listen to a great band!!
No:1 is one of the best clubs in this country and it's a shame that we will be the last live band there for a long time... SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ROCK'N'ROLL CLUB!!

Cheers,

Ben

18.10 Kajaani Balls Cancelled !!

2008-09-16T16:17:00.002+03:00

Unfortunately the promoter of the club Balls has "gone missing" with the result that the gig the 18.10 in Kajaani is now cancelled.
This is a shame since I haven't played ther for a long time. I apologize to some of you who already emailed me about this gig.

We're entering the studio again tomorrow for the next 4 songs... we've rehearsed and are eager to hear the results!

C U

Ben

Acoustic gigs with Bryn Jones

2008-09-09T20:22:00.002+03:00

We're doing a few gigs with Bryn again (check the dates on the gigs page).
We just did the first of four at Fanny goes to Hollywood...playing from 20.00 untill 23.00 nonstop!! well, I had to take 2 piss breaks...
Bryn knows so many songs and it's always a blast playing with him, please come and enjoy an acoustic evening with a glass of wine or a few beers, you won't regret it :-)

Cheers,

Ben

Radio Rock

2008-09-09T12:24:00.002+03:00

This week I'm the guesting DJ at Radio Rock here in Helsinki and every day at 15.15 and 17.40 they will play my comments + a song I've chosen.

Ben

We're back...

2008-09-04T09:45:00.004+03:00

Thanks to Mickes magic the Blog works again!
We rehearsed 3 new songs yesterday and I'm very happy with the band at the moment. Can't wait to record them and hear what you think of the new stuff when the new album comes out next year!

Here's a link to something pretty cool!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma2UrUfEFQU
3 young guys doing instrumental rock and they play E.G.O !
The guitar player Arne is only 12 years old!!!

Well, I need to start writting more lyrics...

C U Guys later,

Ben

Meatloaf etc.

2008-07-30T17:06:00.002+03:00

Now it's 100% sure that Guitar Slingers is the warmup band the 11.8 at the Hartwall Arena here in Helsinki. The headliner is of course Meatloaf... it's also Petri Auers birthday so we'll have some extra fun I'm sure.Don't miss it since who knows when and if Meatloaf will tour again...

The gig at Kotkan Meripäivät was nice even though it was sunday. Good practise for the 11th.

I've updated the gigs page with more BGB gigs + we have been invited to perform at the Abu Dhabi International Jazz Festival in November...now that's an honour! It's the same organiser who did the Dubai Jazz Fest. So I guess we did well there :-)

Alright... that's it for now C U!

Ben

Back in business

2008-07-18T21:47:00.002+03:00

After a very rare and wonderful vacation I'm back again. Batterys recharged and ready to ROCK!
Yesterday I had an as always funny,cool gig with Bryn Jones in Hanko.
Playing with Bryn is a real joy! He knows so many songs and where as I might not know them it leaves a lot of room for me to add things that I think might suit the song. We should definitely do more gigs together!

This weekend I have 2 gigs, the first one is with Niklas Roström cover band MILK at Apollo nightclub in Helsinki. Their guitarist couldn't make it so they gave me a call. I've never been there before and I have NEVER played a lot of the songs we're going to do...it'll be intresting and fun to help them out.

The other one is at On the Rocks on sunday. We're billed as Ben Granfelt & Friends but it's basically BGB + Tipe Johnson and Jarmo Nikku. We're going to do 4 new songs and some BGB stuff +a nice bunch of good old stuff with Tipe and Jarmo. Come along for some good classic Rock!

In August I'll finnish the last to songs that need vocals and then we'll mix them before we start with the next bunch of songs... can't hardly wait!
I thought the new album would be more blues rock but i'm in such a good mood and happy at the moment that the newer songs are reflecting that and not exactly blues :-)

Well, gotta go C U out there...

Ben

Summertime!

2008-06-17T20:52:00.003+03:00

It was great again to do a couple of shows with Kasper in the band!
Tampere and especially Aulanko Blues were really good. Jamming IS SO much fun!
We just finnished another 2 days in the studio as well and now have 5 songs ( + 1 long introduction) ready for the new album.

Fightsport Magazine in Finland has an interview in their latest issue.
Fuzz Magazine from Sweden has a gig rig page with my gear and I'll do an interview later.

Did an update on the gig page check it out! We had to cancel the Granfelt / Nillu gig but I'll do the same date (20.7) with BGB playing 5-7 own songs (3-4 new ones!!) and then Tipe and Jarmo will come up and we'll do a bunch of cool covers...it's party time!!!

Ah... my vacation starts on thursday!! I'll be gone for 2 1/2 weeks.

C U later alligator,

Ben

Good Afternoon...

2008-05-25T18:23:00.002+03:00

After a dissapointing Formula 1 race in Monaco I've decided to do a few updates...

I'm doing 3 ENGL clincs for DLX Music in HElsinki, Kuopio and Tampere next week. I'll mainly be demoing the Invader 100 amp but also playing with backing tracks 4-5 songs. Come along!

Guitar Slingers will most surely support Meatloaf at Jäähalli in Helsinki the 11.8. Meatloafs management has approved it and we're just working out technical details but that'll be a fun gig.

That's it...

Ben

myspace

2008-05-22T19:50:00.002+03:00

Just a quick note to say tat www.myspace.com/theguitarslingers is up and running thanks to Jukka Oja. Check it out1

Ben

Good Morning

2008-05-15T09:46:00.002+03:00

Guitar Slingers, I forgot how good this band can sound :-) Everyone had a smile on their face when we rehearsed yesterday. We've included a couple of songs never played by this lineup before and it will be great to do some gigs again.
IMPORTANT NOTE! The Guitar Slingers Kotkan Meripäivät gig has been rescheduled to sunday the 27.7 at 14.00!! Bring your family along it'll be a great day in the sun...hopefully we'll have some sunshine!?

I'm going back to bed to catch a little sleep before I head out to back my gear for the gigs...

ZZZZ,

Ben

Life!

2008-05-04T08:34:00.002+03:00

Life is great ! My wife Jonna gave birth to our daughter april 30th. 4310gr and 52 cm. All is well in the family...Jim is confused but that was expected.

We've been in the studio and have 2 songs completly ready + 1 missing vocals.

I'm taking a little break from BGB to be with the family and then do few Guitar Slingers gigs.

BGB start work again in June with a couple of gigs and more studio sessions.

Be well, I am!

Ben

Yes!!!

2008-04-06T20:07:00.002+03:00

Well, the first whole gig with Kasper went really good! He's in for sure! can't wait for more gigs but first more rehearsals, new songs and studio.

By the way, here's a link to a review of Sum of Memories http://grooveyardrecords.com/bengranfeltband.html
Can't really ask for anything more in a review, can you?

New photos from Germany up as well later today, check them out!

Ben

Howdy,

2008-04-01T10:18:00.002+03:00

The GTR tour is done... I almost wish it would go on since we had a great time. I'd like to thank Jartse, Pepe, Pekka, Juuso, Anssi and Miri + of course Riku our soundguy... Well done! I know I got some new friends 'cos I sold out all my cds :-)

This upcoming saturday BGB will play the first gig with Kasper Mårtenson as a full band member! We're rehearsing new stuff and for those who come down to the Texas Bar&Grill we'll play at least 4 songs that haven't been played live before!
After the weekend we'll be in Miri's studio recording the first 2-3 new songs.

Why a keyboard player in BGB you might ask? ...well, I want more textures and also I don't want to have to fill up every little space with guitar sounds. All the new songs I've written will have keyboards and Kasper is an obvious choise since he has played with us on various jams before + he's a very relaxed nice guy.

Last sunday I saw Tommy Emanuel here in Helsinki.... what a player! Unbelivable chops but he knows when to use them and when not. He played a lot of beautiful originals and ended the concert with a fantastic version of Imagine...I was in tears! Honestly! If you like great music check him out.

That's it for now...I have to learn new lyrics for the rehearsals tomorrow.

C U

Ben

Good Morning,

2008-03-06T07:56:00.002+02:00

It's 7.40 in the morning and I've just dressed Jim and sent him and Jonna off to daycare / work.
Very rock'n'roll indeed :-)
Yesterday I did a recording for a TV show called Guitar Club.It is hosted by the very talented Marsi Nyman, 45 mins of only guitars and equipment + a 1 take live performance of my version of Cocaine with Anssi Nykänen on drums and Harri Rantanen on bass (we couldn't do another take because on union rules with lunch breaks etc.). The show with about 20 chapters will start in the autumn on the MTV MAX channel here in Finland. Before me they did a chapter with Varre Vartianen on guitar...incidently the house band and Marsi are members in Varres Husband band ... they we're so good I almost went home :-) seriously!!

Later today we rehearse with the GTR Tour band in Tampere and the first show is on saturday in Kokkola. I'm sure it'll be a cool tour!

Ok, gotta run to the train...

C U out there,

Ben

Home sweet home...

2008-02-26T11:58:00.002+02:00

Dubai was great! Got the flu but that's alright, it was worth it :-)
It looks like we'll go back later this year...more about that asap.
John and Anssi were great! Good Laughs!
Getting ready for the GTR gigs,

C U

Ben

Hello from Dubai

2008-02-22T17:49:00.002+02:00

Life is grand sometimes :-) Things are good in Dubai... we had a great gig yesterday and the audience really dug us. at first I was afraid they would walk away because of the stage volume (which wasnt loud at all!) but NO! a great succes indeed!
Anssi Nykanen on drums... well, he is a bit crazy in a positive way and what a drummer! He took the house down with his drum solo.
We also had a little 30 min jam with Lori from Canada who played before us, what a great singer! Thank God I only had to play guitar.
People are very friendly here and try to do the best they can to make us feel good.
We met a lot of Finns after the gig who wanted to show us around and they knew everywater hole in the town.
Next gig on sunday, cant wait :-)

C U

Ben

Thanks...

2008-02-19T11:30:00.000+02:00

We had a great time in Germany and the 3 last gigs were really good with very good crowds. This week Dubai and then hopefully in to the studio to record the first 3-4 new songs.
Here are a couple of links to pictures from the tour.
http://i2pm.zenfolio.com/p451107949/
http://www.accu-becher.de/Ben/

Cheers and Danke schön!

Ben, Miri and John (Mr. Mummelman)

Guten Tag...

2008-02-15T18:05:00.002+02:00

We're back in Wetter after two days on the road (Hereford and Reinheim). It was great to get out and play live again, the new songs are getting familiar to us and they have gotten great comments from the fans.

Colin from the UK came over to Hereford and brought us some cds to listen to in the van, thanks.
Christian Tolle came by earlier during reheasals and played some of his new stuff for us...what a killer player! He also gave us a copy of the new Steve Lukather cd which sounded very good too. DON'T WORRY! I'M BUYING A LEGAL CD AS SOON AS IT'S OUT :-)

I've only got working titles for the new songs we play live, and they are Julie (heavy early -70s stuff), Suck it up! (Heavy funk) and Mr.Johnson (an instrumental tribute to Eric Johnson).The rest of the new ones we'll be working on in Helsinki in march. A lot of the new one's will have keyboards because they feel like they need them...to get a -70's vibe you know he,he

I'm looking forward to tonights gig because we rehearsed here and the crew here is so nice so we'll try to play our best... better hide that Jaegermaester bottle Miri and John :-)

I've got some news about Guitar Slingers that I'll post when I get home next week.

Rock on!

Ben

Ben

Greetings from Germany!

2008-02-12T15:31:00.000+02:00

Here we are in Wetter and our third day of rehearsals for new songs. So far we've recorded ruogh demos of 9 songs. Some are not more than jams and some we will play live already tomorrow!
We are rehearsing at Live Earth Music Hall here in Wetter and we couldn't hope for better hospitality. Gunther and his team are taking very good care of us indeed :-)
We will actually play here on friday so it'll be nice to play some of the stuff we've been torturing them with "for real".
Gunther is putting his final touch to his new studio and it looks really good with very nice equipment and good rooms etc.

The gig in Haltern last friday was a very nice suprise also. Good stage, good PA, nice big crowd and of course Frank and his band Punk Floyd did a very good jobb as support and had done a great jobb with promotion ...many old Wishbone fans in the audience too!

Well, my ears have rested enough ...back to rehearsals :-)

C U

Ben

On the road again...

2008-02-07T10:19:00.000+02:00

Tomorrow we leave for Hamburg where we're staying for 1 night before the first gig. We'll probably visit Down Town Blues Club for dinner and some drinks :-)
We've rehearsed only once due to everyones busy schedules but the feeling is there and hopefully the almighty muscle memory will take care of the rest he,he...

C U out there...

Ben

Welcome!

2008-01-27T22:07:00.000+02:00

Hope you like the new design! Micke has done a great jobb as usual. There is still a lot of info to come but the basics are here, surf around and enjoy.The equipment page is coming along again...check it out!

2008 started with 3 Granfelt / Nikku Gigs. I or, I must say we were SO positively suprised by the turn out on the gigs!! Thanks a lot for coming! There will be more gigs during the summer and in the autumn for sure.

I've had plenty of time to spend with my family and Jim (now 1 year and 9 months) witnessed his first soundcheck last week wednesday. He had his own Ukulele in bag with him and created quite a show when he strapped it on and played(!?) along when we checked the levels etc. Way to go Jimi boy!

I've also had time to train more BJJ and beyond any of my expectations I was awarded the brown belt by our Brazilian master Alexandre Paiva in December. Today writting this I'm sitting here with a pulled muscle in my back... I'm getting old ha,ha...

It'll be a pleasure to go on the road with Miri and Johnny again in February, we'll have some time to rehearse new songs and hopefully some new old stuff as well.

That's about it for now, cheers!

Ben

PS. Thanks for all the nice comments, sms and emails about the TV Documentary :-)

End of the year!

2007-12-17T12:28:00.000+02:00

Thanks for a great year everyone! We had about 73 gigs this year and we ended at On the Rocks with a great gig! Thanks to Kasper, Bryn and Igi for helping out. We were really ON, + we had a great crowd!

Some news;

I was recently awarded the Golden Emma Guitarist of the year Award by the Sounds Society.
It was a great honour to receive it an I'm very proud of it!

The TV Documentary will be aired on the 2.1.08 at 20.25 on FST5 and then again the 6.1.08 at 13.15 if I remember correctly.

We will close the webpage execpt for the BLOG for the rest of the year since we are redesigning it. Sorry for that but it will hopefully be much better :-) We're hoping to have it back up and running during the first week of january.

I'd like to thank Miri and John for the best gigs I've done! This is truly a great band! Next year will be spent writting and recording a new studio album. We will do some dates in Germany but mainly take it easy and consentrate on the recordings.

The Granfelt/Nikku Guitar Fest. will do some gigs in january, the 12th at Texas Outback Bar&Grill (formerly known as Eats!) and the 23rd at Herys pub Helsinki. We will have new songs in the set and even some new originals !

Oh, and little Jim will have a little sister in may :-) I'm the happiest man alive!

Merry X-mas and Happy 2008 to all!

Ben

more news...

2007-11-23T13:46:00.001+02:00

Issue 4 of the Finnish GuitarFan magazine has an interview + gear special with me. Altogether 8 pages !

Ben

Hello again,

2007-11-20T09:48:00.000+02:00

Well, it's been awhile since my last blog...sorry!
I caught the flu staight after the tour and still had tons of things to do...

Anyway, the tour went well and I'd like to thank Miri, John, Mattes, Ralf, Britta and Saxon for making it easy and smooth.The last show at Charly's was recorded and I thought it was a really good show so we'll probably release some of it in some form sooner or later.

On a very sad note I would like to send my condolenses to Rosi Papes family and friends.
Rosi was supposed to do the merch on this tour but on the same day we started she was taken to hospital and when we got home I got the sad news that she had passed away after a long fight with cancer. Rosi was a kind , funny and always smiling person who has helped BGB out in many ways. Rest in Peace Rosi! You will be missed!

We do have some good news too. BGB will be back in Germany in early february and then at the end of February we'll go to Dubai for the Dubai Jazz festival theme week! That'll be great!

I will also be part of the GTR Tour 2008 in Finland (march-april). This tour features 3 guitar players with a house band. This year it's Jartse Tuominen (also the organiser), Pepe Ahlqvist and me.

Things to do ;
All BGB and GTR dates will be up on the gig page asap.
The TV documentary will be aired on TV2 FST early january, I should get the exact date soon.
I have tons of pictures that I need to put up once I figure out how to do it :-)

We've got 5 gigs in Finland before we take a short break AND we have some T-shirts left. Tour shirts, Ringer shirts and Girlie shirts ONLY 15 euros!.
On the Rocks the 7th of december will once again feature Kasper Mårtenson on keyboards and possibly 1 or 2 guest singers.

Take care and all the best,

Ben

Greetings from Saltzburg!

2007-10-23T12:36:00.000+03:00

Great show last night and a very nice venue too! The last time I was here was 10 years ago with the Guitar Slingers :-) ... memories, memories ha,ha
We've had some very nice shows but unforunately also some bad luck with a couple of shows...snowy wheater and the no smoking ban seem to affect some clubs very hard with loosing half their clientel. I guess it will take some time to ge the people back in to the clubs, I just hope they don' t have to close before that... it's a tough business!
On www.youtube.com you can find some new live clips taken by our good friend Reinhard.

John is fitting in (on?) like a tight glove and we're having a great time.
being on the road is great but sometimes the journeys really take their toll (1800 km in the last 3 days!!).

Random stuff that's happening ....,

John was in high spirits when he found out that one of the venues (Village in Habach) was the set for a legendery German XXX movie that he's got on VHS.... he's now looking for the dvd version with bonus material :-)

We have a chance to record the last show on this tour for (yet) another live album. I think that unless we're dead tired we'll do it for historys sake.

I've had a bit of time in the hotel rooms and can happily say that I have 8 song ideas ready for the next album... It's great when inspiration flows ha,ha!

Still many dates left , come and join us!

all the best,

Ben

Tour going well!

2007-10-16T17:16:00.000+03:00

4 gigs on the German tour behind and we're on a roll! Execpt for Neustadt the nubers have been very good with Föhr being one hell of a party! check out this link for pictures http://www.flickr.com/photos/photomanufactury/sets/72157602439150265/

I'm at home writing this while Miri and John are enjoying the 3 off days in Hamburg.
Tomorrow I'm flying out to continue with 10 dates in row, see ya all out there!

Cheers,

Ben

Gringos Locos

2007-09-26T09:31:00.000+03:00

Well, ahemm.... check this out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OfOAMQWiAA
Judge for your self bu it was fun to see:-) Tht's me with the black guitar and Miri behind the drums.

Ben

Great gigs!

2007-09-24T09:35:00.000+03:00

We had some really good gigs last weekend! Kokkola and Seinäjoki were especially good! The band is ON!
I realize I posted the wrong date for the Liberte´gig here below earlier.It is the 27.9 and due to Miris prior commitments we'll start 21.30! Spread the word and get your pals up and out from that couch! Fot those who goes to work the next day, you'll be in bed by 23.30 latest so come on out!

Cheers,

Ben

My Space

2007-09-18T13:30:00.000+03:00

Forgot to say that www.myspace.com/bengranfeltband has a couple of soundclips from the new album and I'll try to update the blog there as well...now that I remember the pass word.

Ben

Yahoooo....

2007-09-18T10:39:00.000+03:00

The gigs so far have been great! John is fitting in very well and I couldn't be happier :-) Many new faces in the audience! Thanks for coming!
Please note that Club Liberte´ (gig the 26.9) has done what a lot of clubs should do!!! Showtime 21.00 !!!!

Also the 17.10 has a new venue, it's is called Painthouse in Dortmund.

We're rocking!

Ben

PS. It seems to be incredible hard to get any media interest in BGB so if anyone knows someone in the press please help out! Or use the internet by posting on music forums etc. contact radio stations to request BGB songs, interviews .

Gettin' ready...

2007-08-28T20:09:00.000+03:00

Well, the Granfelt / Nikku guitar Fest. gigs are done now and AGAIN I must say, What a band!
Tipe guesting on vocals did a great jobb as did Tommi Rautianen who subbed on 2 gigs. We're talking about recording and more gigs in january so stay tuned!

BGB is getting ready for action! Check out TV2 Betina S the 3rd of september, we'll play 2-3 songs live and I'll tell some stories about the new album etc.
AND you'll also see and hear the new bass player !!!
We've rehearsed 3 times already and I am VERY pleased so far, a few new arrangements and 3 new songs in the set. We'll be doing a "rehearsal" gig at Boothill in Helsinki the 7.9 before we start the tour.

Can't wait to get out there again!

Ben

Here we go again...

2007-08-17T13:20:00.000+03:00

Alright, back after a relaxing week in the hot zone of Tunis and ready to rock...
Todays Lahti Jazz Tori is the last gig with Anssi Växby on bass and I'd like to thank him for being there, playing well and sampling some whiskeys with me :-)
Tomorrow for the Bakers show Ako Kiski will jump in for a one of before we start rehearsing with our new bass player next week... You'll get his name in september before the tour starts here in Finland. We are scheduled to appear on TV2 in the program Betina S. the 3rd of September and the album will be out the 5th.

I have also today updated the gigs page with the German tourdates + 1 more gig in Helsinki the 15.9 at the Boot Hill Pub.
We now have a total of 4 gigs in Helsinki during sept-oct. Why? you may ask. Well, I think taht all these gigs are in different parts of Helsinki and it's about time I put my name back on the map (of Helsinki that is!). In december we'll play On the Rocks again which of course is the big gig for us here.

Be well, and C U out there!

Ben

Youtube video clips

2007-08-02T22:24:00.000+03:00

I just got a message from our friend Reinhard in Germany that he has put up some video clips from the march 2007 tour on Youtube.com type in ben granfelt band and they should show up.

Tomorrow we'll be back in Germany for 3 more festival dates and then I'm off on a holiday to Tunis with my family, Yeah Baby!

C U

Ben

Gig change and other news

2007-07-25T11:35:00.000+03:00

Hi everyone,

The 4th of august has a new venue and town due to a wedding booking...
The new venue is,
Kulturbahnhof
Bahnhofstr.14
53947 Nettersheim/Eifel

I received the master for "Notes from the Road" today and it sounds good. I will inform you about the exact release date soon.

The gigs at Burg Hertzberg and Live Earth Music HAll went really well and we had a great time...can't wait to get back to Germany in august :-)
Tomorrow we're in Tampere and then Helsinki with Granfelt / Nikku Guitar Festival. Don't miss these gigs if you're in town ... we're on fire :-)

C U

Ben

I'm back!

2007-07-01T12:58:00.000+03:00

Hi Guys and Gals,

The new album is finnished and has been sent to Germany for mastering, artwork etc.
The title will be "Notes from the Road", complete track listing is as follows,
1. Going Home 2007
2. Notruf Theme (instr.)
3. Can't wait another day
4. Cocaine
5. The long road home (instr.)
6. Intro Jam (live)
7. Check up from the neck up (live)
8. Falling of a drunken Horse (live)
9. Bridge of dreams (live)
10. All I want to be (live)
11. Giong Home (live)

It will be released in Germany and Finland early September.
I've put up new tour dates for Finland so check them out and come along with your friends for a good time. I will also announce the new bass player in time for the release. During the summer Anssi Vexby and Ako Kiiski will help out on bass duties.
The German tour dates in October-November will be up later.

Yesterday the Granfelt / Nikku guitar fest. played at Swengi in Järvenpää for the Puisto Blues festival. I apologize for not informing about this gig! I simply forgot! The house was packed and we had a good time. There are more gigs to come, check the gigs page!

For the US fans who write to me I'd like to say Thanks for the kind words but unfortunately at the moment there are no gigs planned. HOWEVER "The Sum of Memories" will be out on Grooveyard Records over there. http://www.grooveyardrecords.com/ has a lot of interesting guitars stuff so check it out.

Also at some point in the future my 3 first albums will be rereleased with a few bonus tracks. We just have to find the right time to do it.It would be nice to make a double cd with new artwork and booklet...

That's it for now, enjoy the summer and C U out there!

Ben

Studio report

2007-05-10T15:36:00.000+03:00

Hello,

Miri and I just finnished mixing 6 live tracks from the 2006 Ashcon show for the upcoming album. The tracks are Intro Jam, Check up from the neck up, Falling off a drunken Horse, Bridge of dreams, All I want to be and Going Home.
Next we're going to record 5 studio tracks and if everything goes well then the release will be in september for Finland and Europe just in time for the next tours in Finland and Germany.

I also added a few gigs again to the gigs page, check them out!

Ben

Quick update!

2007-05-04T11:15:00.000+03:00

Hi all,

Tonight I'm playing with Coverfreaks at On the Rocks! I forgot to mention this earlier Sorry! It'll be a good night of rock'n'roll!
Also updated the Gig page today + ther'll be more shows coming so stay tuned and get ready.

Ben

Hello again

2007-05-02T11:21:00.000+03:00

Hello again...long time no text! Sorry!

The last weeks have been quite hectic! We (my family) moved into a new appartment and as you all know packing, moving and unpacking is very stressfull. On top of this we had the funeral of my favourite Aunt who passed away very suddenly. On a positive side Jims doing great and I can't believe that he already 1 year old! He's walking around in our new home trying to hide my cds and chew up the TV remote, what a little prince :-)

Harri has decided to step down from the bassplayer role due to too much work with other acts. We're friends and I totally understand him + he already did a gig with us after leaving :-). This gig was the Silja Rock cruise and as Miri couldn't do this gig we had Anssi Nykänen on drums... a lot of fun was had and the gig was great!

On the subject of bassplayers, Ako Kiiski will do the gigs in Rovaniemi at the end of May and Anssi Vexby will do all the summer dates.
I'm hoping to get Anssi, Ako and Harri to play on the forth coming album since they are all great players... We're going to do 5 studiotracks and then mix 6 live tracks from ASHCON 2006.
The release is sometime in September.
I will have a serious chat with Miri regarding a new bassplayer...or maybe we should call ourselves Ben Granfelt Duo + bass player he,he
If anyone is interested or has any suggestions re. bass players drop me a mail at sprucefield@bengranfelt.com

We had a meeting with Jarmo Nikku and I will book some gigs for the summer with the Granfelt/Nikku Guitar Fest.This will be a cool summer... I mean a warm cool summer with nice gigs!
I will update some more BGB gigs also during this week so check the gigpage later on.

Cheers,

Ben

Hello again!

2007-04-12T20:41:00.000+03:00

Well, we're back from Germany in one piece and happy with a nice tour!
Janne Rajala proved to be a very good bass player and great singer...he probably knew some of the songs better than I did in the beginning :-)
We met a lot of new friends and a lot of old ones too and I would very much like to thank all the hardcore fans who came to several shows!
I think Miri probably enjoyed this tour the most 'cos he was having some weiswein schorle both before and after the gigs ...chatted to all the young girls (not many around our gigs he,he) and generally was smiling all the time!

Here's a small diary of the tour...

Winterbach was the first gig and probably the wildest and biggest crowd who took us completly by suprise! We we're a bit like cows out in the fields for the first time during spring :-) Great venue and atmosphere! I was so taken by the response of the crowd that i forgot to ask for more level on my monitors and ended up straining my voice a bit.
Munich, I was warned that Germany was playing football in an impotrant game and there for the crowd was quite small but they loved it anyway and so did we. Strange venue since the stage was in the middle of the room !? Horst Langer from ENGL came to meet me and we checked and talked amps for a long time.He is the man behind the sound! It was really nice to meet after a long time.
Bad Saulgau, a small Pubish venue nicely packed with a good crowd and we jammed more than earlier. I had a few drinks after the show...

Herford. We've played here before and the stage is very good sounding but I was having problems with my voice again. Very good catering! But too much food :-)
Frankfurt. This was a hectic day because I was playing at the ENGL stand at the Music Fair during the day and then hurrying up to soundcheck,dinner etc. Benny Törnroos+crew came from Finland to film for the upcoming TV documentary. We had a nice Thai dinner before the show VERY HOT! Janne was on fire!
I think we played a very good gig and the visiting Finns showed Germany how to drink beer!
Hamburg. This is my favourite city to play and the gig was really one of the best I've done in a long time. Superb crowd, superb sound... Benny was still around to film and I think they got some nice stuff here.
Schwerin. Very nice venue but problems with the PA and I was really pushing it with the vocals... close to loosing my voice completly. Thank God for Harry who brought some ginger which I eat and drank for 2-4 days to survive! Can't fault the crowd 'cos they loved it!
Uslar. back to the railwaystation :-) A very good venue with nice lights and PA / Stage. I was a bit tired but enjoyed playing a lot.
Unna, what a nice suprise! It was the promoter Franks birthday and his venue was superb! A good crowd and many new fans! We'll be back here for sure! I really enjoed this one.
Reinheim. When I walked in I thought ...oh no! We had a shitty sound check and though it would be a bad gig BUT never say never! A nice gig came out of nowhere and gone were all the bad vibes! Miri and Janne managed to drink themselves quite drunk with the bartender (who was female of course!) a lot of laughs and a good time at the end.
Wetter. We spent a day off here first and then the gig the next day. Actually we stayd in the next small town which was about as dead as a town can get during easterfriday... thank God Bernd Aufferman came to visit us and brought a sixpack + some vine! He told us interesting stories about his touring days in 69' in a submarine ???
The actual gig in Wetter was very nice and again I must thank the hardcore fans who follow us a round! Also met Christian Tolle who wrote a nice article about me in Guitar & Bass magazine. I might buy his guitar...if he sells it !?
Bad Ennbach. A town in the middle of ? With a great club? Yes sir! What a nice way to end the tour! Friends around, a good stage ...what more do you need? I though we were suberb :-)

Miri, Janne, Ralf Neumann, Hypertensions Irene and Christian, Rosie, Mattis...
Thanks my friends for making this tour possible!

We got some more festival dates in germany Coming up so stay tuned and check in every now and then.

Ben

New Forum!

2007-04-02T17:42:00.000+03:00

Hi again,
we're going fast now! We've created a new forum (on another server) - which hopefully won't be infested with spammers ;)

To ensure that there will be nothing bad transfered, I am sorry to say the old accounts and posts will be unusable (atleast for the time being). So please, signup for the new forum and let's make a new spam-free start!

-Micke

ps. the forum-link is in the upper right corner, if you didn't know....

Forum & Spam

2007-04-02T11:49:00.000+03:00

Hi guys & gals,
due to excessive spamming and miss use of our forum here at bengranfelt.com - I have taken the decision to pull down the whole thing. As we couldn't stop the whole spam thing and make everything as secure as it should be - I feel this is the only choice we have.

But do not worry - we will be back soon (hopefully still before easter) with another solution to the forum (possibly outsourced protection)!

-Micke, your webmaster

Shameless self promotion...

2007-03-08T22:05:00.000+02:00

Hi guys,

Please feel free to vote:
http://guitarfanclub.fi/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=63

Thanks,
Ben

Howdy Folks!

2007-03-06T19:45:00.000+02:00

So, today we had the first rehearsals for the German tour...and this time bass duties will be handled by Janne Rajala since Harri is busy with prior commitments (what a great band name by the way!). Janne played thru all the songs making only 3-4 mistakes so I'm happy to say that it'll be a pleasure to play with him. As he also sings everything will go very smoothly. And we'll have 2-3 songs which we haven't played in Germany before in the set.

Last weekend I went to see Hanoi Rocks for the first time and I must say it was a fun evening. Andy McCoy and I share the same "local" bar and he's a character for sure! Thanks for the backstage pass! Later in the evening I met Kride Meurman who is in Finland's Idols finals. We've known each other for some years and he says he's a fan...well, the way he sings I'm a fan!Kride is very talented and I hope he'll win. It would be nice to have a decent ...sorry! Great rock singer who isn't a child/newbie win this time! Good luck Kride!

Today Muddy Manninen came buy to check out some of my amps for the Wishbone Ash recording session at Miris studio starting next week. Andy Powell got my Guild acoustic for the songwriting sessions so it's kinda cool to be able to help the guys.

I've again added a gig in Germany and there'll be a few gigs in Finland for the summer as well.
I also hope we'll have 3-4 gigs with the Granfelt / Nikku Guitar fest.
Stay tuned!

Ben

Granfelt / Nikku Guitar Fest.

2007-01-31T17:42:00.000+02:00

What a great suprise! I wasn't sure what the reaction would be at the gig but never did I expect this! We would like to thank everyone who came and were so into it!
WE WERE INTO IT TOO!! So much that we're going to try and record a cd during the summer..and do more gigs too!

BGB is getting ready to face arctic hell! The gigs we have coming up in Rovaniemi and Oulu are the first up there in 5-6 years! We're rehearsing some stuff we haven't played in a long time so it'll be interesting for sure.

more later....

PS.The German gigs will be up on the Gigis page soon!

Gigs updated etc. !

2007-01-18T00:16:00.000+02:00

I updated the gigs page with the upcoming gigs here in Finland and hopefully next week I'll put up most of the upcoming German dates as well.

Yesterday I met up with producer Benny Tornroos who is going to make a 55min documentary about me for FST Television. Most filming will be done in feb-march. More about it later.

I will also get the protools tracks from the BGB performance at Ashcon in Chesterfield. We will choose 5-7 tracks for a release hopefully later this year.

DON'T FORGET THE GRANFELT / NIKKU GUITAR FEST. DATES!!

Over and out, goodnight,

Ben

Last blog 2006

2006-12-27T12:26:00.000+02:00

Hiya!

Back again....Christmas is behind and all the food is eaten etc. I hope you all had a peacful vacation.
The gig at Semifinal went really well and it was great to have Bryn and Tipe singing songs that I've done with them before but never with Miri and Harri. Kasper was great on the keys and will definitely play with us again in the future.
If I remember correctly the set list went like this,
1.Check up from the neck up
2.Falling off a drunken horse
3.Confession time
4.P.P.R
5.The Hunter (Bryn)
6.Cortez the Killer (Bryn)
7.Shapes of things (Bryn)
8.Home
9.We play the game
10.P.O.P
11.Riding Free
12. Wishing well (Tipe)
13. Fly like an eagle (Tipe)
14. Voyager (Tipe)
15. Rock'n roll hoochie coo (Tipe)
16. All I want to be
17. Chechered flag
18. Hush
Encore Highway star (Tipe)

With the jams and everything we played for a total of two hours.I have some video footage that will be posted soon as well.

Now I'll sit down and relax until January 18th, when I go on tour with Jarmo Nikku, Miri Miettinen, Jari Heino and Igi Kosanowitc. We're touring as Granfelt / Nikku Guitar Fest. I hope it will be as much fun as Semifinal was! Mostly covers like Allman Brothers, Dereck Trucks Band, Gov'tMule etc. :-)
The tour dates for Granfelt / Nikku Guitar Fest. are (January)
18th Jazzbar (Jyväskylä)
19th London Pub (Mikkeli)
20th Old Cock (Lappeenranta)
25th Henry's Pub (Tampere)
26th On the Rock's (Helsinki)
27th No:1 (Tammisaari)

BGB will do some gigs in Northern Finland mid February and another German tour at the end of March. Dates will be posted soon.

I'd like to thank Miri, Harri, Pete and new recruit Jukka "Beavis" Oja for a great year. I think we took a serious step forward and 2007 can only be better!
Thanks also to Micke Kanervo, Ralf & Co at KBN, Pasi Kuusjarvi at Dex Viihde, Christian & Irene at Hypertension Music, Anne & Marjut at Bonnier Amigo.
Most of all thanks to YOU! for coming to the shows and supporting us. All your great comments and emails mean a lot to us.

I wish you all a great beginning to the new year!
C U out there!

Ben

2006-12-21T21:04:00.000+02:00

Well, tonights the last gig of 2006!

We've rehearsed 2 days with Kasper M?rtenson (keyboards). Bryn jones and Tipe Johnson came in and did their songs once so we sort of know what we're doing :-)
I feel that this will be a very special gig since it was very interesting to have keyboards on so many songs...I like it sooo much!
I don't need to tell anyone how much I like Bryns and Tipes singing...they're both about as good as you can get as a singer, honest!

I'll be back hopefully tomorrow with a gig report!

Cheers,

Ben

Calling all browsers!

2006-12-14T13:31:00.000+02:00

Hi to all from behind the code...
... we are testing a guestbook now as an addition for the forum. So please, when and if you have the time, go over to http://www.bengranfelt.com/guestbook and leave a message - and let's see how it holds up!

-Micke

2006-12-04T10:52:00.000+02:00

Back home!

After a week of playing with my son, sorting out business stuff and getting used to being home I'm back at the blog.

We had a good tour and the future looks good too! We'll be back in Germany in March so stay tuned for new dates soon.
We met a lot of nice people and played at new venues, thanks to everyone especially the new promotors!

Here's a link to some funky pschycedelic pictures from Bretten http://www.altes-rathaus-bretten.de/20.0.html
More pictures will be up soon and I will also put up reviews etc soon.

A BIG thank you to Miri and Harri who in my opinion played better than ever before! It is very enjoyable to see and hear their solo spots develop to something special everynight. As a band I think we are in top form now so I can't wait to do the next gigs here in Finland soon.

C U all,

Ben

PS. thanks also for all the mails, keep them coming because they mean a lot to us!

Germany part II

2006-11-22T12:19:00.001+02:00

Guten Morgen,

So, the last 5 gigs are coming up now and we are still alive!
So far it's been a pleasure and we've meet many new friends.
Hamburg was great as was Föhr and Melle Buer. The TV filming of the Hamburg gig will be aired in january/february and I will inform you about the date later on.

We are also getting the first record reviews now and they are all GREAT!! I will try to put them up here when I get home. Also Guitar magazine here in Germany has a 2 page feature. I did an equipment special with my friend Christian Tolle for Guitar & Bass Magazine which will be out in january I think.

That's it for now, we're heading out to Wezlar and one of our favourite clubs Francis now.

Later....

Ben

FINALLY!

2006-11-20T09:34:00.000+02:00

The forum has been updated, pruned, scrubbed, cleaned and wiped!
Unfortunately some of you, dear users, may have been affected by this and have to register again - but by doing this massive cleanout I hope we have now acheived a higher security on our board. We will be monitoring the board extra closely fora few weeks to see if we are safe (well, as safe as you can be on the web) from spammers - so here I ask of your help, if you see some suspect behaviour please email me directly at micke[a]bengranfelt.com and I'll look into it a.s.a.p!

Also - to ensure each and everyone's own security, I would recomend you to update your profile and change atleast your password!

br, Micke

Live from Germany

2006-11-13T13:37:00.000+02:00

Hi to all,

Here we are in rainy Hamburg after 4 gigs here in Germany. We have 2 off days now and then we'll play here at the Down Town Blues cafe which is a very nice venue.This show will also be filmed by HH1 and we will get the material for our own use (a DVD with different concerts at some point !)
So far we've had a good time and the attendence has been doubled at the 2 "old" venues that we did last year so things are looking good.
Ralf "Papa" Neumann is taking care of us and whatching that drinking is kept to a minimum...he,he he doesn't know that he is dealing with proffessionals!

Ok, I'm getting ready for my Jiu-jitsu training here in Hamburg... I'll be back with more tour stuff and pics later this week.

C U

Ben