Ringhold has not written here much lately so we decided to gather some bits and pieces to round things up about’23. For us January merged quietly into the new year while heating the stove, keeping warm and well with our daughter Ulla, dog Suusi and cat Kiska. At one point I finished a series of three short videos of our BSA moto rides (that were featured in the music video for Latest News). I had used only shorter bits of each ride in the music video and for some time I had been thinking about presenting the full rides as separate video postcards. Completing this idea I think could have been the first Ringhold kind of thing in’23. Later in spring we went on two weekend tours to Poland and Germany. In Poznan we played together with poet and musician Adam Majdecki Janicki and his Psychedelic Mayhem band. We had heard about him and when Ringhold got an opportunity to play in Poznan we were also lucky to play together at the Dragon Social Club. It was great and we are looking forward to repeating this special occasion again in the future. In April we also for the first time toured by car in Germany. After touring with buses and other public transportation during the last couple of years we wanted to try it out. We flew into Hamburg airport, took a car and headed on for a weekend tour. Touring by car felt luxurious compared to having to stress about strikes making us miss our connections or waking up at 4am to get the bus from Poznan to Krakow. Because yes, Ringhod is besides creating music it’s own producer, manager, driver + anything else an urgency might call for. It was very cool to go by car and of course we took small roads. Later on came the big spring and we fell into our garden. The garden in warm times is a great comfort but also constantly so demanding. It is hard to stay on beat but we try – garlic from one’s own garden in autumn has got its irreplaceable charms. Big hot summer passed watering plants and keeping cozy in the shade. The Nordic summer is short and while it lasts it pulls you in and blinds you with promises of eternity. So we take the most of it before cooler and damper realities start lurking around. In the beginning of August Ringhold went on tour with Latvian guitarist Edgars Rubenis. We played in Viljandi, Cesis and Tartu. It turned out a very nice road trip along the small roads of Latvia and Estonia. Yep small roads are always a thing. 🙂 In August we also played at the Elektrikirik Festival that is held at the Viru-Nigula Church and gathers an eclectic line-up of musicians. By the time cooler and damper realities step in we start spending more time inside our small house. We are working on new music and getting to know better the old ones. In December we played three concerts in three towns located by the Baltic Sea – Riga, Stockholm and Liepaja. This tour had a very special vibe to us as we were returning to venues we had played at before and this is always really nice. Reconnecting with familiar audiences is kind of like growing together. And fast forward to now that I have written this short memo looking back at this and that Ringhold’23.
