I moved down to the glorious Los Angeles area to work in the movies, armed with a film degree and the naivety of one fresh from University. Now this is not a post to complain about the absolutely impenetrable wall that is Breaking In Hollywood, but a post to tell you that, after not working on as many productions as I would have thought (like practically none), I finally got to work in one of those places where a bunch of people are tired and starving and about to cry/give it all up at any moment: a movie set.
Well, it was more like a webseries set. Well, more like a webseries location (we were just at a dude’s house), but there was a fancy camera, real lights, an HD monitor, and sandbags, which all means this was a legitimate production (especially the sandbags).
The shoot was for the webseries coming out soon, titled Loch Ness, a show about a high-school folk metal band who tries to make it happen despite various complications. I don’t know if you read that closely, but it’s a show about a FOLK METAL band, which, if you don’t know, sits extremely high on my list of things I find interesting. It also sits high on my list of things I try to convince normal people are cool.
It’s really hard sometimes.
In addition to helping out the only day I was free (the other day was an all-night shoot, which would have been followed by a full day at work. Translation = YaIdon’tthinkso), I provided the art department with some awesome photos of my fake (real?) metal one-man project (band?), Linnalapsi. Back when it was still a joke, and had lyrics like “We are ready for battle/ we are quick like wolves, our enemies slow like cattle“, I coerced convinced a bunch of friends of mine to pose as your run-of-the-mill folk metal band with access to forests and facepaint.
Early on, I told my a friend that my main goal for Linnalapsi was to get someone to play one of the technology-restricted, midi-tastic Linnalapsi songs with real instruments. I mean, sure, the main goal now is taking the metal world by storm (like why wouldn’t it be?), but for the mean time, getting some people to play a song seemed a little more doable. After years of complete obscurity, I was down to settle for anyone to even notice or mention Linnalapsi at all. So the fact that a poster for Linnalapsi is featured in Loch Ness: The Webseries is still both cool and surprising to me. Check it out:
I apparently have a gig next month.
Of course, they could totally cut the scene it’s in and re-shoot it entirely or whatever, but as far as I know, this little poster will be among the others in the scene, which is pretty damn awesome. Someone might not have covered one of my songs yet, but if my little joke band can get this far after five years, will could it possibly go in another five?
Check out some of the production pics posted below, and then be sure to follow the show’s Facebook and Twitter and Instavine and whatever new social media has been invented in the last five minutes. I have to go now and practice for my May 19th show. Does anyone know where the Valkyrie Castle is?
-Casey of movie-sets and Linnalapsi
Production Pics!
Extras, standing around, “working”.Myself and three others as extras. I hit my head on that light next to me and started bleeding. It was pretty metal.See his hand on the left? That shot is looking pret-ty nice!This is surprisingly not a band photo. Maybe “extra photos” look the same?
Linnalapsi was my very first folk metal music project and first music project overall. It was founded in late 2008 when I had made a few parody rap songs, one of which was a Viking-metal themed rap song. A few more songs were written as spoofs of Viking metal, and eventually the project grew to cover two albums as of 2012.
Linnalapsi is often comedic and spoof-heavy, although there are some more serious songs in the body of work. Since I had zero money for equipment, all of Linnalapsi’s music is generated by computer, either through MIDI sounds or electronic “re-creations” of real instruments. I will not lie and say that I don’t want to re-record all of Linnalapsi’s music someday (with some slight compositional tweaks).
Taking heavy influence from folk metal bands like Finntroll, Ensiferum, Korpiklaani, Alestorm, and early Turisas, I have tried to combine elements of folk and Viking metal (as well as punk and industrial metal) in my pieces. My lyrics are mostly in English, although a good number of songs are also in German.
My lyrics deal mostly with adventurers of days gone past, chronicling forest adventures, drinking adventures, silly mishaps, and epic battles.
To date, I have made two full-length albums, the newest being Menneisyyden Laulut, released May 18, 2012. Two EPs, each representing a subgenre of folk metal, are planned for the future with an unknown release date.
Here is a gallery of images pertaining to Linnalapsi! They are presented in chronological order. I have provided some captions to describe what was happening in each one. Enjoy!
Myself in the center with friends representing the band.
Fake band pictures are the best. Myself in center.
Myself in center, surrounded by my fake band.
Fake band picture. Brian’s eyes are closed.
Cover of first album, “Laulu Linnalapsien”. Released February 17, 2010.
Myself playing guitar at Linnalapsi’s first (and only) live gig
Linnalapsi live! Cory knows all the words to “Hei”
“Battle Chaos” performed live for one friend.
Battle Chaos, performed live in my house
I was very excited to have four songs completed for “Menneisyyden Laulut”
Screenshot of music. This is the bridge from “In My Dreams”.
Vocals do be done in shower. The only place I can soundproof.
Soundproofing the shower to do the loud growling vocals
Recording vocals in the soundproofed shower
Interior view of the soundproofed shower.
Oy vey, mixing is a headache! This was mixing “Greedy Bastards”
Cover of “Menneisyyden Laulut”, released May 18, 2012. Photo taken by me and border drawn with Tablet/GIMP.
Passed these out for free after a Korpiklaani show here in Los Angeles
Second album shows up on websites from all over the world.
Recording tests in November 2013 for new material!
Wow, it’s been a while since I stumbled on here! I’ve been super busy with work and lots and lots and lots of projects (seriously, I have like so many). But don’t worry, I have definitely not given up on Linnalapsi. (Like, at all! I love this shit so much).
Anyway, onwards to a sort of big announcement. Over the past year, I’ve been going on about Linnalapsi’s third album, which is almost done being composed and so on and so forth. In one post, I was talking about how some of the songs were darker, more frantic in nature, and some were more Viking-like and epic. I was wondering if I could somehow work this into a concept album, and go from one spectrum of metal (dark, troll-y metal) to the other (my Viking ones). I even had a story about a group of Vikings who get lost in the woods and then eventually find their +ULFBEHR+T-bearing brothers and do Viking stuff. It would work (MAYBE)…but then I noticed that six out of the eight songs were of the dark, troll-y genre. That means only a quarter of the songs would be Viking, which means that would be super dumb. That’s not equal at all. “Oh, here’s six troll-y songs and then two epic ones just tacked on!” Like, what? So…after lots of thinking…
Seriously, LOTS
. . .I eventually reached a decision.
I’ve never really liked EPs, because I thought that those songs were always kind of like “black sheep” songs in the discography. I mean, they’re not on albums, so. . .like, what? Like, what are they? Why not just put them on the album? I’ve always been a fan of albums, and a little meh towards EPs, but after much thinking (as Mr. Cumberbatch has shown above), I’ve decided that instead of a third Linnalapsi album, I’m going to do two EPs: one that’s all dark and trolly, the other that is all Viking.
As much as I wanted to make a third ALBUM, with like 45 minutes of music and like 12 tracks or whatever, I simply could not ignore the two clashing directions of this music project. My second album is, as one reviewer put it, a “mixed bag”. I mean, on the same album, you have a dark, evil song, then a funny song, then an epic one, then a party song, and then like a what was I doing? Sure, my musical influences are from all over, but in terms of packaging things to people, it’s better to make a product consistent with itself. Not that I only see Linnalapsi as a product, HELL NAH, but I mean, it’s a lot easier to lump stuff together more cohesively. Like, here’s a scary picture for a cover with a scary picture of me and it has scary metal songs on it! Here’s a Viking picture with a Viking picture of me and It has Viking metal songs on it! My last album had a forest picture, a bunch of different styles, and no picture of me at all. . .so. . yeah.
The troll-y one will be released sooner, most def, because those songs are all…done, actually. I mean, finished being composed. Whereas the Viking one has a buncha drafts just waiting to be completed!
Don’t worry, Viking songs, I WILL get to you!
I don’t really want to give out release dates (because I’m so busy nowadays, I have no idea when I could even get around to WORKING on them, much less releasing them), but if I had to guess, I’d say late 2014 to early 2015. Stay tuned for some more Linnalapsi goodness (and trust me, it’s GOOD this time! :D Seriously!)
Hey there, Linnalapset! Been a while since I have posted on here, but do not worry, Linnalapsi is not forgotten! Quite the contrary, actually, as work on the third album continues slowly as I focus on other projects. But this is no place to talk about those, and let’s not talking about the nine-,eight-,ten- (?)-track Linnalapsi III just album yet. It’s time to take a look back on “Menneisyyden Laulut” (second Linnalapsi album, to be referenced here as ‘ML’), which I released one year ago today.
It’s weird to think that it has been a year since I released ML, especially since it seem like it took a billion freakin’ years to come out. While the initial splash wasn’t as big as I anticipated (y’know, not getting me the top spot at Wacken and all…), I slowly began to see ML pop on random blogs and metal tracker websites from all over the world. For the first time ever, Linnalapsi was somewhere on the web where I didn’t personally put it, which is pretty damn cool (and nice for a change).
Some statistics. . .
If you know me personally, you’ll know that I am stats freak (just ask my friends about my custom-made Xbox FIFA stats that one summer…). Now and then throughout the last year, I was monitoring Linnalapsi’s “growth” throughout the web. While it didn’t grow into a massive tree or anything, here is what I found:
-In the year after the release of ML, Linnalapsi’s official website received a 280% increase in hits than the previous year, the most of which came from Germany. Besides the USA, Russia, Finland, and UK were the most frequent visitors. That’s pretty cool!
-Linnalapsi and ML have popped up on numerous metal bloggy things and forums from all over the world (even though they all say I’m from Finland, lol). According to my bandcamp site and just one other site that gives downloads numbers, ML has been downloaded 77 times. That averages out to someone downloading the album every five or so days. That’s not too hot, but remember, this is just the data from TWO of the sites. Odin only knows how many more times ML has been downloaded from all those other file-sharing sites!
-On Youtube, the ML videos have amassed a little under 2,000 views. That is nothing compared to other bands’ 9,000 or even big bands’ 40,000 (a month) views, but hey, I’ll take it.
Compared to the first album’s numbers, that is pretty impressive (there were months when this site got zero hits). With numbers like that, we can guess that about 1,000 new people learned about Linnalapsi last year. Hell, even if it’s 500 new people, that’s still 500 new people who didn’t know about you or your music a year ago. And as one of my friends said it, ‘Dude, someone is Estonia could have you on there iPod.” He was right.” SOMEONE IN ESTONIA *COULD* HAVE ME ON THEIR IPOD, and that’s a pretty encouraging thought.
Marching Ahead to Album III
Despite one nice, decent review and a couple other statements of “good work, dude”, ML was not received with much love by, well, anyone. That’s all right, though. I can see ML’s faults now: some of the song structures are repetitive, the drumwork (which I had no clue about) can be a bit boring, the synthy sounds are not desirable, and my growling (and just regular) vocals are no good. I might have known some of this before, but either wasn’t mature enough of a composer, or didn’t take Linnalapsi seriously enough to make it absolutely great. That’s all right, though, ML is the best album I could have made at that time, just as the first album, “Laulu Linnalapsien” was the best I could do at that time.
But now is now, and with each month, or riff, or song, you learn to get better at things. I feel like there is an immense quality gap between the first and second album, and I feel the same will happen again for album III. I always hear composers and musicians saying “our new album is going to be the best we’ve ever done”, and while I’ve never really believed it, I can now understand where it is coming from. Just as I was assuring you my second album would be better than the first, I can guarantee without a doubt in my mind that the upcoming Linnalapsi album will be the best one so far! Most of the songs’ demo-versions are done (or close to being done), and they’re CATCHY AS HELL. Whether it’s the evil poundings of a piano, the sinister plucking of a banjo, the roar of mischievous horns, an epic call for battle, or that tear-jerkin’ melancholic solo, Linnalapsi III will be sure to get the blood of any folk-metal fan riling. I guess what I am trying to say is that these new songs have gotten MY blood riling, and I’m excited to share them with all of you (y’know, in a billion years when they’re done).
Thanks for listening,
Oh, and if you haven’t downloaded ML yet, you can do so here!
Hello everyone, I have returned! I know that for all of you that’s either great news or the greatest news, so I’m gonna dive right in, talk about 2012 a little, give you a heads-up about all I am doing creatively this year, and go over my horoscope for 2013!
It’s very safe to say that the last quarter of 2012 was a complete bust. Well, not totally. I did start a really cool job with lots of chill people, so that was positive! Having no internet for a month was a drag, trying to get it fixed was a drag, having your eight-year old computer break while trying to fix it was a drag, and then having my friend’s “it’s-so-bad-I-don’t-want-it” laptop break completely was a drag too. Like, Jesus. Luckily I was able to squeeze out my Nano before they both died completely, but still, reverting back to 1991 was a pretty hard thing to do.
Beside these technological troubles, I moved during the Holidays, which is the absolute worst idea in the history of time. Do not do this, ever. Working so hard made me feel like a real Scrooge, what with not being much in the Christmas spirit and all. Much to my surprise, I didn’t even get around to watch A Garfield Christmas (see…this is why I NEED Internet), but at least I snagged an Advent Calendar and a Santa Claus is Comin’ To Town DVD right before Christmas.
Fuck yea!
But anyway, enough bitching about old equipment breaking down and living in the 1990’s and having to move heavy objects on my days off. It’s a new year! And with that new year, it’s time to give you a taste of what you can expect from me.
CREATIVE PLAN: 2013
There’s a couple people I am associated with who seem to be creative workhorses. Every other day, they seem to be developing or releasing something. Some have written like a billion scripts and made 100 videos. Others connect with local artists and collaborate on stuff. I would love to be as prolific as them, but seem to come out with (a lot) less work. This could be attributed that I want everything to be PERFECT, that I feel I have to do everything myself, my whole “let creative works simmer for as long as they need to, man” mentality, or just plain laziness. Either way, you’re not gonna get much from Factory Poma this year (at least not that I can foresee).
Another diagnosis for this creative slow-cooking could be that I absolutely hate editing and tweaking. I can’t stand it.It’s so damn boring. And everyone who edits stuff wants money for it. (How dare they?!) Since I am too frugal (cheap) to pay them, I have to edit things myself, which turns me into Mr. Unreachable when my unpolished projects come calling. I’d much rather write something new than edit and tweak something else, but alas, no one’s gonna read an unpolished book on my shelf, nor the five other ones I would write after that. I considered taking this year off of creating things, and having an “edit” year, where all I do is make my stuff nice and shiny. I doubt that will happen (especially since FAWM, Scriptfrenzy, and NANO are happening again. . .), but we’ll see.
WRITING
As I just stated, editing is so damn annoying. While I have some new ideas cooking around for what I want to write this year, I’m hard-pressed to get “A Distant Horn”, the first part of a fantasy comedy trilogy, polished and self-published with the release date of NOVEMBER 1. That’s right, people, “A DISTANT HORN” coming out November 1, 2013. I even told my roommate that he was to keep me on track about it, so…I hope he remembers. I have no idea when the other two parts would come out, because by that time I’ll probably have another billion projects. Just saying, “A Distant Horn” coming out in November! I really need to get someone to draw the cover. Hmm. . .
Yes, definitely need a better cover..
And oh yea, maybe I’ll keep that Bond countdown going.
MUSIC
Oh, music. You’re so much harder to make than just writing shit. If you’re looking for a Linnalapsi release this year, don’t hold your breath. These babies take about two years to come out, and seeing as I released one last year in May, you’ll have to wait til May 2014 for the next folk metal installment. I’m just going to polish the songs I have now, fuck around with the recording process, and cross my fingers that it will turn some more heads than the last album did. I don’t want to get TOO into the details of what I’m doing with album III (I can explain all that later in another post), but yea, most likely, no Linnalapsi this year.
On another note, I probably will do another Fadenfreude album, which will all be composed during the month of February for February Album Writing Month. If everything goes to plan, it will be released probably in the following months and put up for free (and have some awesome songs on it). The Fadenfreude album I released last year, “Die Bäckerei ist geschlossen“, has actually grown on me this past year, so maybe I’ll take this next one a little more seriously (or at least draw a more attention-grabbing cover).
So, Linnalapsi, no, Fadenfreude, yes.
FILM/VIDEO
Oh, my first love. It’s amazing how you can’t make film or video without a good HD camera or equipment or a good editing program or ANYTHING. I’m blessed to choose hobbies that are so fucking expensive, so in the downtime, Ralph and I have been developing ideas for our two little projects: Grape-Flavored Waterslides: Season 2 and our horror comedy feature Die-Ing Pan. We have a bunch of episodes planned for GFW: Season 2 and would plan to release on once a week (or something) for a number of weeks (we haven’t decided how long the season is yet). Once we get a camera (or borrow one), we’ll start shooting away, but for now, all the episodes are on the starting line, ready to run. I would most likely expect these around the end of summer or Winter if they end up getting off the ground at all.
Die-ing Pan, our murdering frying pan movie, is still in the development phase, but don’t worry! We have a production schedule on our fridge, so nothing can stop us now. We plan to start writing the movie on March 1 and have at least the first draft by April 30 (I could do this for Scriptfrenzy, eh?) We’ve set aside the whole summer for location scouting and finding actors (friends) and plan to start shooting in the Winter. Our projected release date is Winter 2014 because hey, movies take a long time to make, bro. And yes, we did film a teaser before we even started writing the script, but doesn’t that make us edgy?
HOROSCOPE
This picture is lame
Now that that’s out of the way, I can get to my favorite part of these little annual updates: My yearly horoscope. What will 2013 have in store for the Ram this year? My commentary provided in parenthesis:
2013 Horoscope (as provided by Cafeastrology.com)
~begin~
Your Aries 2013 Horoscope points to areas of life that are destined to expand and grow. (Sounds promising).
Until June 25, 2013, your communications continue to increase and expand. Your ability and desire to express yourself is greater now, and your personal interests grow. (Who’s writing this shit?) Good fortune with vehicles, transportation, through siblings, and with the communications industry can be experienced during this cycle that started in June 2012. (What positive cycle? The last part of 2012 sucked).
Potential negatives: Taking on too many daily activities (better stay home from work!), communications (what is that anyway?), new interests (how is that negative?), and learning endeavors or studies can be a problem now. Don’t overload your plate. (Ooh, I’ll keep that in mind). The more excessive tendencies of this transit are more likely to be experienced from January to March 2013.
However, for the most part, you are likely to enjoy more opportunities through your communications (“communications”?) and contact with others during this cycle in 2013. You could make new friends and feel more connected or part of a group this year. (Ok…) You might find that you travel less or not at all, and that you are busier locally, in the first half of 2013 while Jupiter is in Gemini. Your thinking is more upbeat, positive, and forward-looking, (upbeat and positive?) and so is the way you express yourself. In fact, this is an excellent time for improving your communication (there we go again with “communication”) skills and your general attitude or mindset. There can be opportunities through meetings, courses, teaching, and connections made in the neighborhood or through siblings. You are a great storyteller and teacher during this period. (Finally something I wanna hear!)
From June 25th onward, your inner world, family life, domestic activities, and domestic arrangements begin to expand and grow. Relations with family can be more pleasant and supportive. (That’ll be nice) You might move to a new home, likely a bigger one, or expand real estate holdings (Yea, I have a lot of those…). Family itself can expand, or there might be an addition to your home. (What? Who?) Some might take on a roommate for example, or bring more friends to their home. Entertaining in the home can be emphasized, if that is something that makes you happy. (Only if there’s beer). Otherwise, you can experience a stronger sense of peace and privacy in your home life. Generally speaking, more positive energy is brought to your domestic world, and long-standing problems with family might be put to bed. Do be careful about overextending yourself with home improvements (no problem there), or larger accommodations that cost more (no problem there again). Your personal life tends to overshadow your professional life or material activities during this cycle.
On a more psychological level, you might increase your confidence in yourself and feelings of security during this period. (Yay!)
Some of you could become closer with in-laws during this period. (What? I didn’t know I was married yet.) Some Aries might welcome friends from overseas into their homes. (Hmm..)
Potential negatives: Excessive money spent on home improvement, too much emphasis on the home to the point that other areas of your life suffer, or some unwillingness to expand your horizons (I’m an INFP, I never expand my horizons). Avoiding or escaping responsibilities is more possible in August and September. However, July and December bring stronger energy for enjoying the most positive effects of this transit. (What? This is so vague) For the most part, you are likely to feel emotionally secure and supported during this cycle. This is a time of nest-feathering. (Of what?)
This influence is with you until July 2014.
(What a shitty horoscope! What did that even say?)
~end~
Well, there you have it, folks. What would you want to see released this year?
Casey Poma 