A Playlist for Keir

A few weeks ago I published a post about how a Finnish rock band - The Rasmus - came to be such a huge inspiration on my writing, particularly with Keir. Although I was listening to their three latest albums at the time of writing, there were some specific songs that I feel relate more to Keir and his story than others. So while the music influenced the theme overall, I thought I'd share a few of the special songs that I would (if I could) choose as film tracks if I imagine Keir made it there. :)

Main theme - Justify. So close, so far - I'm lost in time.



Love song - Silently. Okay, so this is a track by Elliot Minor and NOT The Rasmus. So silently you will make this day so unreal and never-ending, standing on the edge believing, that this will never end.

Simply for these lines - Ghost of Love - I'm fading, I'm barely breathing, can't hold on, I'm dying, I must be bleeding, won't be long...


Secondary tracks -
Open My Eyes


Shot


Run to You


Lost and Lonely This feels like the end of time, like something bad is coming, you've been living in a world of lies...


Unaffected by Hoobastank (although this was added AFTER I'd written the book). So what should I do, but lay next to you as though I'm unaffected...



And although this has become one of the main themes for the sequel - Lost Serenity - this song sparked my confirmed devotion to the band -
Livin' in a World Without You. Something inside me called freedom came alive...


And of course the song that got me hooked into them in the first place - In the Shadows.


One for Quin - Sail Away. Remember when I swore our love was never-ending, that you and I would never die...


With all of these songs either the tone and/or the lyrics have in some way influenced the feel of Keir, or echoed a theme in the story. The concept behind the main album - Black Roses - was based on keywords such as 'martyr' and 'warrior', and the darkness of it suits Keir perfectly. And yet inside it all, there's always an element of hope. :)

Do you have a theme song for your stories? Do you listen to a particular style of music or band for your books, or more specifically for certain scenes? Or do you find it too much of a distraction?

The Rasmus - live

The 21st May 2012 now holds a special place in my heart. It's the day I finally got to see my favourite band live at last. Woo hoooooo! After missing their UK concert in 2009, I never expected them to ever come back. They aren't huge here. So as soon as their tour was announced at the start of this year and with a London stop listed, I hung on the computer waiting to buy tickets and shrieking in frustration as I saw others getting theirs early!

For those of you who don't know it already, I'm a huge, huge fan of The Rasmus. They rock! It's the one thing I will get silly over. Not all screaming throwing-my-underwear-at-the-stage-and-fainting-in-a-puddle type silly (as happened at the concert) but enough that I go a little weak at the knees when I hear them play. And not only do I love their music, but listening to it again was a part of the inspiration for Keir. I owe them big time. For helping to save my sanity and prompting me to once more put my pen to paper - or at least my fingers to the keyboard.

So how was the concert? Amazing. Fantastic. Awesome! In fact, I'll save you some time and trouble here. Just go to Thesaurus.com and type in 'fabulous'. All the words that come up will cover my feelings over watching the guys play live. :)

Sadly, my new super smart phone wasn't so super at taking photos and video, despite the fact I wasn't far from the front. My view was a smidge better than the camera shows.But here's one semi-decent shot of singer

Lauri Ylönen.

And since my recording of Justify (the song that I'd have as Keir's main theme) was so poor, here's a couple of youtube videos instead. You can't see me, but I'm in there. Somewhere. :-P

No Fear



And the song that some consider their trademark - In the Shadows. Lauri's microphone failed just before the end, but we carried on singing without him, and then all finished together. This was the one that really had everyone going! (I'm somewhere in the second 'everybody on the side' shoutout).



And one of the best thing about seeing them live? Lauri announced another tour coming up very shortly - with another stop in London. I'll be watching, I'll be waiting...

Oh, and this is me. I don't often like pictures of myself or post them - I'm not that much of an exhibitionist. But it was a nice one - for a change.

It's been a euphoric month for me. Seeing The Rasmus live. Having my first full length novel published. My short story reaching its first birthday. And celebrating 19 years of marriage. Can June match that? Only time will tell... :)

Thanks to The Rasmus

In 2004 I was heavily pregnant, suffering horrible morning sickness, and bored out of my mind. I started watching the music channels on the digital freeview since I was finding daytime tv beyond tedious. A song caught and held me, something a bit different and from a band I'd never heard of, in a style of music I'd never listened to before. The lead singer looked a bit odd, and the video seemed very surreal, but it caught and held me.

The song was In the Shadows, and the band was The Rasmus. I don't know why the song got under my skin so much, but it did. I listened to it repeatedly. I bought the album it came from - Dead Letters. Around the same time I woke up one morning with a character in my head and a name - Keir. I wrote twenty pages of story, not having written much in the five years before, despite having been an avid writer all through my teens. Then baby number two arrived, I became chronically depressed, and both music and story sank into the background.

Shift forward another five years. My three children playing happily in the garden over summer. Me, hugely overweight a year after the birth of my third child. Bored, miserable, tired. Feeling as though my identity was slipping away, aside from being a wife, a mother. Losing the person I'd been under labels that, although I was proud of them and took joy in being those things, had me wondering who and what I was any more. I needed something else. I needed my passion back.

I dug out the short story about Keir. I'd left him sitting in a dungeon, alone, dying, with no hope. Could I save him from that? And so save my own sanity? I started to write again. Once I'd started, I couldn't stop. I scribbled and typed endlessly, frenziedly. The words poured out of me. My husband thought I'd gone crazy. Maybe I did a little, but it felt so much better.

And as I wrote, I listened to music. I listened and I sang. In the years since I'd first heard In the Shadows, The Rasmus had two new albums out - Hide from the Sun and Black Roses. I LOVED them! So much of the feel in Keir is down to that music. It inspired me and kept me going. I'd found my passion again.

So Keir has come out of the shadows and into the world, and took me with him. Music carried us there, and for that I will always be grateful. I'm writing again, and I'm published. I've been to see a few bands over the last year and loved it, but now the chance has come to see The Rasmus live at last, and that is the biggest to-do on my list. I have my tickets! The past year has been an utter blast, and sometimes I have to pinch myself to believe that it's real. I'm finally the person I want to be - mother, wife, friend and author - and I couldn't be happier. :)

(Oh, and on the wildly unlikely assumption that this should ever get back to Lauri Ylönen - I apologise for saying you looked 'odd'. I should say 'distinctive'. Blame it on pregnancy hormones. :)  )