SANTA motherfucking CRUZ!!!

Part 1

It was a Wednesday night, 19^th of February, as I went to Jack the Rooster (Tampere) with my sister, to see Santa Cruz play as the after party band for Steel Panther. As we got into the Rooster we saw Archie sit near the bar table. He turned around and greeted us with a smile and hello. He asked us were we planning on going to see the Panthers. We laughed at him and said: “No. Why bother, as we’ve seen them once before, and you rock way, way, way better.” Archie had this surprised and flattered smile on his face as he said his thank-yous to us.

As the boys were walking towards the stage we made our way to the very front of it. Johnny looked us with a funny smile, and said “Girls, we’re doing the sound check first. We’re not starting yet”. We just grinned at him and replied “It’s fine. We just don’t want to miss out on the front row”, and he laughed at us.

The show itself took its sweet time to start, but at least everyone had made their way from Pakkahuone to Jack the Rooster in time to see this firecracker show.

The Rooster was pretty much packed when the guys strutted to the stage while their terminator-intro was playing. The crowd went wild as the first beats hit the air. The show was energetic and steaming. It was what we wanted, and we totally were screaming for some adrenaline at that moment. It was super fine. I was waving my hair as big as I could, and started to feel my head was going to fall off at some point. It didn’t stop me though - I just laughed at myself how sore my neck was going to be the next morning. One of the hype points of the show was the new single “We Are The Ones To Fall”, the guys performed for us. That song is so good I can’t even put it to words. It is brilliant!

After the show Middy and Johnny came to hug us, as the guys came back to the stage to gather their gear. When they were all there, we asked Archie how was he doing. He had been sick the week before the show, and he looked really tired still. He said he was about as done as possible, and would head soon back to their hotel to get some sleep. But otherwise he was getting better all the time. When Taz was the only still on stage, tearing down his drums, he showed us a new piece of his set grinning wildly. As I know very little of drums, I can’t tell what kind of drum it was, but it was pretty neat. It was/is red and had/has the Santa Cruz logo on it. We jokefully asked him where does one get a drum like that, and he just lifted it like telling us “from here”. :D We had good laughs with him.

Part 2

At 21^st of February I and my sister made our way to see the Santa Cruz guys again. Our spring vacation was to start next Monday, so we headed to start it with a blast – a two gig trip with Santa Cruz. The first stop was at Nuclear Nightclub, Oulu.

Nuclear was a little foggy and it felt small, and as it was Friday people were seriously getting drunk during the night. We didn’t get to the front row this time, I could actually say I was in a row 2,5. Two and a half, yes, as half of the time there was this drunken lady leaning on me and pushing me back from my selected spot. It was frustrating, as she always returned no matter how hard I pushed her away. But I tried to live with it and watch the show. I have to admit, Archie seemed a lot more tired on that night. I know they had been playing in Ruka the night before, so it must have been hard on his recovery. I only hoped he could still pull of this show and the show next day.

Now it seems I’m saying the show was bad. Well it wasn’t. I just couldn’t get as much out of it as I would have liked, mainly because of the drunken lady next to me. It would have been fine, if she would just stayed making out with his man, but no. Well, one can’t have just good experiences on gigs, right? x’D

The guys put out a good, wild, crazy rock show – like only they can.

And boy did I have fun whenever I was left alone.

After the show we stayed near the stage, as all others made their way to the bar. It was nice to have my own personal space back, as the lady left. Sometime later Johnny came on the stage again and he saw us. He came straight to us and started asking how we were doing, and even thanked us for coming to see them again. We said we’re all fine, and it was our pleasure to come as their shows are always so freaking good. Then I told him I had something for the band. He asked what is it. A picture, I replied, and he looked really interested. I pulled a paper out of my folder and gave it to him. His reaction was cute. :D He twisted the paper to see the drawing better, and his facial expression was so neat. “This is awesome!” he said after a while. “You’ve got us all so right. The positions and hair and even our jeans!” he continued with a huge smile on his face. “So you can tell who is who?” I asked with certain shyness. “Sure!” he answered. “If nothing else gives it away, the jeans are perfect on it”, he continued with a little tease in his voice and me and my sister laughed at him. “C’mon, we need to show this to the guys! Now! C’mon!” He said and almost pulled us with him to see the rest of the band.

Proudly, and with laughter, Johnny showed the drawing to the guys: “Dudes, look what we got”. The rest of the band was happily surprised too. “I’ve got the sexiest pose”, Middy said and grinned. It was such a good respond, I got overwhelmed and was (if I was the type) almost blushing.  It felt really good to actually see their reactions, not only hear about it later. We were happy to leave the bar after such fun ending.

Part 3

So our trip continued the next day to Kajaani. We got to the bar (Rock House Kulma) at the very best time. Santa Cruz was just unloading their stuff from their car to the stage, and the guys greeted us happily. We went in and sat to a table on the side of the stage. We got to be there during the sound check, and the guys were funny enough to goof around and notice us. Archie was grinning to us, and played his guitar directly for us couple of times. It was pure fun listening and watching it all. We even heard “the next big hit” which the guys called “Saatana Perkele”. It was a total joke, but it was superb! After their sound check I asked will they start to play it during their gig, if we start to sing in the front row. The guys were funky enough to promise they’d do so.

At eleven O’clock we made our way to the front of the stage. When the guys returned to the bar from their hotel, they grinned at us watching us waiting for them already. Archie came to the stage to grab his guitar - but he also came to greet us. “You waiting for us already?” he asked with a smile and we gave him a positive answer. “That’s the spirit. Front row’s the best”, he added grinning wildly. “Sure is!” we replied to him, and he left us waiting – with a big smile on his face. ;)

The guys teased us (the audience) when the show was about to start. They didn’t come out on the stage, Archie and Johnny just made their guitars scream and roar from the backstage. I even got scared of the first loud scream a guitar let out. It was beautiful and I felt chills run down my back! Finally the guys walked on the stage with evil smiles on their faces – and the crowd went wild.

The show was actually way better than in Oulu. Archie didn’t look like he was tired at all. They were all full of electricity and so alive! The complete show was huge fun to watch. It was wild, raw and exciting. Check out this video!

During the show, I couldn’t help myself from wondering has Middy ever had his hair stuck to his bass. I mean, the dude’s got some hair, and he is not still at all! How the hell doesn’t his hair get tangled to his bass? I really can’t tell, but I’m happy it is flowing free. I think it would eat up some of his charisma, if he had his hair attached to his bass half the show :D I was thrilled of the nearby contact I came with Archie and Johnnys guitars. Those Les Pauls are beautiful! <3 And the sounds those guys can pull out of them – priceless! They were playing their guitars really close to my face, and I was in heavens. I can’t start to explain how good it looks when one can really handle a guitar – rocking it rough! AH! And Taz was going totally crazy behind his drums. Okay, well when doesn’t he? That’s his trade mark! :D But I mean: he really had some of the craziest facial expressions I’ve seen him pull off. And that’s a lot of crazy! I saw his drumsticks get destroyed by the wildness of the beats, and pieces flying in every direction possible :D It was totally awesome!

Right after the guys had ended singing “Let Me (Lay My Love On You)” we started to yell: “Saatana Perkele”. Al the guys looked at us funnily. But then – with Taz’ lead – they started to play that sound check hit of theirs. Archie pushed his microphone to us and let us sing it a while. The whole audience must have been wondering “Whatta Hell?” Archie laughed after we stopped singing and took his microphone back. “That was a song we played during the sound check.. and the girls heard it”, he explained to all and grinned at us again before continuing the gig to “Aiming High” :D

As the gig went on, Johnny did his thing running into the crowd to play his guitar. It looked stunning, as he went all the way to the back and – I guess – stood up on a table (As I could see him above all the people). He ripped off some amazing riffs and made the audience go “oooh!” It looked so wickedly good. Though I guess he had a little too much speed coming back. I freaked out when I saw him fall down on the stage. But in only a split second he was up again and laughing with Taz. I guess he didn’t hurt himself. Damn, was I relieved :D We had been guessing would Archie get up on the railing there was in front of us. And during the encore song, we got our answer: Yes he would. It looked ridiculously easy as he hopped on the railing to sing. He was actually right in front of my sister, who needed to take a quick step back to avoid getting hit from Archies microphone.  Never the less - it was great! I think this adds that much contact from the stage to the audience, as the performers will reach out in such ways :D

The time we spent at the bar after the gig, was awesome too. We got to laugh with Johnny on how he fell on the stage. He said the stage was much more slippery than it looked. He also added that he was fine after all. He didn’t bump his head or anything. :) Middy came to ask us which of the shows we’ve seen this week was the best. It was pretty close call between Wednesdays Jack the Rooster and Saturdays Kulma, but we soon came to conclusion: This night was by far the greatest. Middy actually agreed with us, as he said he was a little off in the Rooster. “They say one doesn’t have to practise, but I don’t actually believe them. Practise can only make you better”, he said and we honestly agree with him :)

Archie was a lot on the move but he still stopped every once in a while to joke with us. It’s funny, I actually feel like I talk with him more when he’s on the stage gathering his stuff. Should I do something about it? Though it doesn’t seem to bother him as he can (seriously) do two things at once. He was near when Middy asked us about the shows, and he came to hear the judging too. I told them the reason I didn’t like the Oulu show was the wasted lady. Archies advice for me was “Why didn’t you punch her in the face?” I laughed, and said I doubt it would have made any difference.

I asked Taz does he have any broken drumsticks I could have as a souvenir. “Yeah! All these”, he replied and brought me five broken sticks. I laughed at him. I think a whole lot often girls get flowers, but for me this was way better. A bouquet of drumsticks! Awesome! Taz came to greet us after he had finished packing up his drums. At least I thought he would stay a couple minutes then leave to do something else. But no, he stayed with us the whole evening. He was showing us some videos and we would talk about everything. It was hilarious and really nice. It was a really great thing for him to do. He is so easy to be with, and his wicked humour is ... well wicked! x’D He can really make you laugh. I told him I really appreciate how willingly they are with their fans. No one is left unnoticed. He said it’s natural. They wouldn’t be there without their fans, and they like to show all they care. They are grateful they have fans that awesome. Hearing that was something that really made my night!

We actually left the bar with Taz and Middy, and walked with them to their hotel. And we met up with Johnny and Archie who came for a smoke from inside the hotel. So as long as the guys were smoking (thank God the wind blew the smoke away from me!), we stayed there chatting with them. We even had this marvellous opportunity to hear Taz “Cheek out” some rhymes x’D It was over the top funny! And actually really well mimicked ;) After all we said our good nights and wished them merry and rocking trip to UK. They hugged us one by one, and wished to see us again as they return to Finland.

With these guys, it’s easy to notice fans are important to them. There is no show they wouldn’t take their time after to see their fans face to face and spend some time with them.  I sure hope they never lose that! From a fans point of view, it’s thrilling to know one’s worth their time. They don’t want to see their fans just from the stage. They really want to meet and greet. And that is excellent.

That actually brings me to wonder...  I’ve been told by some people, the guys of Santa Cruz are unrespectable assholes. Well, if being an asshole means you care for your fans – then this band is remarkable example. :D

Rocking out now, JAU!

-RW