02-08-2007 Tunes of Dawn

Support: Electric Monk; Venue: Factory,  Helsinki(Finland)
By: Nina Mende

Factory is probably the tiniest club I’ve ever been to and should be called garage rather than factory. the stage is so little, the light was super bad and the sound…. and the club just seemed to be the home of chaos itself… a really dirty little punk club…
The bartender looked like on drugs and it was just not the best club to play at. But there was one thing in that club that I liked: One wall had a blue Winnie Pooh on it, really cute. Anyways, the main act that night made the best out of it: Tunes of Dawn. They were on a little Helsinki tour and that was the only date I managed to go to. Unfortunately.
I was there for the soundcheck already. It was interesting to see somebody doing a soundcheck at Factory, almost nobody bothers to do one there. It was also interesting to see how Tunes of Dawn managed to put all their gear on that little stage, building a keyboard stand out of empty beer boxes and actually getting a nice sound out of the old and nasty equipment there. You really had to be creative there.

The first band playing that night was electric monk from Finland, a band that seemed to be locally known. Electric consists of four guys from Helsinki – Finland between 21 and 24, so far they have spent their lives hanging around in cheap bars and shady apartments. With nothing to lose and nothing else to look for in the future, they are turning all their left-over energy into creating music that makes you move to the rhythm of life itself. They really looked like a typical metal band but sounded more like blues, reggae and sometimes even jazz.
A very interesting sound and band I couldn’t quite make my mind up about. But it was lots of fun. Many people were dancing and the club was full. The audience was singing along to almost all the energetic songs, cheering for encore and just had a great time and that was not only because they drank enough alcohol.

After about an hour and around midnight electric monk were done playing and Tunes of Dawn, a gothic rock band from Berlin, could start. There were not as many people as before anymore, but it was weekdays… Many people had to work the next day and had to leave early because of that. But the people who still were there really enjoyed the performance. I was really amazed. Their songs are very melancholic with thoughtful lyrics which are sang  to you by the dark voice of Hagen, the singer. The melodies of the keyboard give the songs a special touch that makes you drift away in a dark flowered garden in a dreamland far beyond life and death. Some times you could hear some influence of Type O Negative. They did a really great show and I recommend them to everybody who likes German Goth Rock or good music in general. They liked Finland and Finland seemed to like them, so they plan on being back in Helsinki some time next year.

Links:
Tunes of Dawn Official
Tunes of Dawn Myspace
Electric Monk Official
Electric Monk Myspace