Lots of things...

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!

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

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

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...

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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Gigs update!

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

Cheers,

Ben

New blog...

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...

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!

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

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...

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..

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

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...

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

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!

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!!

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...

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

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..

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

Cheers,

Ben

Been a long time...

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

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

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

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!

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...

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!

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

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...

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