Finpop Inter 1

Rock
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Tigerbombs
Pepe from Tigerbombs
When and how was your band

created?
The band was a result of many years
playing music together in different
forms. Tigerbombs was finally born on
July 2001 during extremely hot studio-
jamming sessions. The band was
formed by Pepe Trouble and Kido Retro.
Where is the name of the band

coming from?
Well, there's no official explanation for
that. We thought it would be cool to
have a different story each time this was asked, but we failed. Haha. At least there's a Swedish firecracker
called Tigerskott. Actually the name Tigerbombs just created itself during the hot studio day.
What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your life / work?
Well, there's too many to be listed. From the Beatles to Entombed. We love
especially 60's and 70's cheesy pop music.
What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician in Finland?
The positive aspects are that there's not too much bands around, so there's room for everyone. There's also
a very good vibe between musicians in general.
The negative side is that there's a very small audience for indie type bands. The mainstream music is the
only way to get attention in Finland.
How could you define your style of music?

It's some kind of mixture of Japanese glam, 60's garage rock and 80's cheesy pop. The defining thing in our
music would be the Farfisa organ and sing-along melodies.
During the years how has your musical style changed?

Not that much, I think. We have sharpened the melodies a bit and tried to widen the sound palette, but the
basic building blocks still exist. Of course there are always new bits and pieces added when we get excited
by some cool band or sound.
How do explain these changes?

It's important to give moving on to retain the freshness. It would be dull to remake same thing year after year.
And then again, it's important for us to not move too far from where we started.
What are topics you treat in your songs?

Most of all there's very basic stuff found in our lyrics. Love in different forms is the most important thing. It's
an issue you can write forever and there are always things that everyone can relate to. The lyrics might
seem shallow at the first look, but there are always deeper meanings underneath.
What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why?

It keeps changing but at this time it's a song called Subtle Shaking for it is so much fun playing it live.
Do you actually prefer performing your music live or in a studio?

There are good sides in both. In studio you can really get the creative juices going and it tends to get really
exciting sometimes. You have all the options in the world. Playing live is so overwhelming adventure that
when we get on stage, it's the best thing in the world. There are also neat things regarding the exploring the
world in a tour bus with bunch of guys. It's always fun to get on the road.
During the process of making a song, what is the moment that you prefer?
It's the first glimpse of new melody, rhythm or whatever. The first moment when you know that something
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special is on it's way. Of course it is superfun to get a song finished with lyrics and all and then record it.
A stupid question but... what is among all the songs you've been listening
in your life the BEST song?
That's an impossible one to answer to. It changes daily depending on your mood. Today, for me the BEST
song would be "Everlong" by Foo Fighters. Yesterday it was "Hard to explain" by the Strokes.
What is your opinion, as a musician, regarding internet?

I think it's a great thing. You can get the word spreading fast as lightning. There are these new neat things
like Myspace that I really like a lot. There's also negative sides regarding illegal file sharing and stuff, but I
hope that people start to understand the harm they are doing to artists when using these p2p networks.
What are your projects?

We have an ongoing plan to record an album of some kind of metal. What it would be, only time will tell. But
what comes to basic Tigerbombs, Pepe Trouble and Kido Retro, this is the thing for us now. There's really no
time to concentrate on anything else. There's also three additional live-members in Tigerbombs and they
have some other projects going on ie. Tapes and Laurila. Check the links from our website.
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Phantom 409
Matti from Phantom 409
When and how was your band created?

Phantom 409 was born in April 1999. Five guys just gathered
together to play rockabilly. The first six months we played
only covers, after that we started to write own songs.
Where is the name of the band coming from?

Well, there´s a country song by Red Sovine called "Phantom
309". On the other hand, "409" means a certain type of a
motor for so called muscle cars. So, It means a certain type
of a "Phantom car".
What musicians or artists did have a major influence in

your life / work?
As a kid I listened a lot to bands like Sex Pistols, Ramones
and Damned. Lately, I´ve listened to Johnny Cash, Lee
Hazelwood and others.
What are the positive and negative aspects of being a

musician in Finland?
A positive thing is that music is quite good here, so you´ve
got a lot of competition. A Negative thing is that it´s very hard
live by music here, if you don´t happen to be a hit artist. Our
bass player, Mika, is a "pro", but he has to play in several
bands to make a living.

Just rockabilly, I guess.

Maybe it´s rougher and more punky nowadays.

We´d had quite a few lineup changes and each new member has brought his own influences into the music
we play. The current lineup seems to prefer the harder way.

Just everyday life and sometimes making fun of country and rockabilly clichés.

At the moment, it´s maybe "Billy, José and Me". It´s so moody and a little different than the other songs.

Definetely live!
The moment, when you start to feel that the song works!
A stupid question but... what is among all the songs you've been listening in your life the BEST
song?
Let´s say... "Rumble" by Link Wray.

It´s good. It has helped us quite a lot. We even found one of our ex-members through internet.
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Not much now. Taking it easy. Maybe some new songs in the near future.
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Takarivi
Jukka from Takarivi

We rehearsed and played in one party with Ville
in september 2002. With us there were drummer
Slim Salminen and bassplayer Vesa Siivola. It
was meant to be only a one gig, but Ville and I
continued to rehearse. Soon Juha and Mikko
joined us and we started to rehearse more
seriously. Juha bring tens of lyrics to our
rehearsals and we started to jam based on
Juha´s lyrics and mostly Ville´s riffs. I had some
of my old songs, and after a couple of rehearsals
we had something like twenty new own songs.

Takarivi means "Back row". Back row is the place
where all the coolest guys usually hang during their school years. We just decided to use that name when
we figured out that despite we all had a different backround there was this one thing that united us. The
name is actually quite stupid, but people seem to remember and argue about it which is good.
I have lots of influences from all decades. Very typical ones like the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Metallica, CCR,
many Finnish bands... Nothing very special here. I also listen a lot of 50´s rockń´roll and rockabilly. And
some classical too. And some new Finnish metal bands.
Positive: creative and open-minded athmosphere
Negative: unlikely to make a living out of your own music. For me it is not a big deal.

Finnish melodical rock. Our music varies from song to song so much that it is hard to categorize our band.
We have blues, rock, heavy, pop...

It has become more melodic and perhaps a little more progressive. Less heavy metal influences.

Maybe I am getting old. I like to listen to metal but not to play it any more. We are not good enough players
to play metal the way it should be played.

Love, hate, wicked stories... Juha and Ville have recently made more lyrics than I.

Susi, Karhu ja Ahma (A wolf, a bear and a wolverine). Despite being very simple bluesy kind of a song, there
has never been two similar versions played live. The song gives very much room for improvisation and it has
great athmosphere.

Live. We don´t gig often, so every gig is major happening for us and for our fans too.
I prefer the moment when the idea and athmosphere are in my head and I start to play and improvize it for
the first time.
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song?
Deep Purple: Lazy

OK for a not too well known musician. It makes it easier to have more listeners. However, piracy is not a
good thing.

Takarivi is my main project. Sometimes I gig as a troubadour.
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Nazca
Karstein from Nazca

In Oslo, autumn 97. I had just quit my old band to
concentrate on my own material. My friend Freddy
Holm helped me record a four song demo. I moved to
Finland 98 and put together a band. Been at it ever
since.

Nazca is a desert area in Peru, near Lima. It's famous
for it's geoglyphs. It also looks great typographically
and has a nice mysterious ring to it.
What musicians or artists did have a major

influence in your life / work?
Syd Barrett, Joy Division, Big Black, Godspeed You
Black Emperor, A Silver Mt.Zion, Pixies, Dead
Kennedys, Kraftwerk, Laika & the Cosmonauts
What are the positive and negative aspects of

being a musician in Finland?
Positive: Great original bands pop up all the time, meet a bunch of nice people.
Negative: To little diversity. The music scene has been shanghaied by a heavy metal mafia, making it almost
impossible for bands working in other genres to get distro, promo and gigs.

Rock. Intelligent. Dark. Melodic. Psychedelic. Political.

More diversity, better melodies, lyrics and arrangements.

Growing older and smarter. Seems like we've learned a thing or two along the way.

Media, politics, emotions, memories true and false.

A new microsong called 'negative'. It feels fresh and fun to play.

Both sides have their advantages and drawbacks. Personally I prefer concerts, but others in the band prefer
studio work.
When it all clicks together and you can't stop playing it.
song?
Impossible to answer, sorry.

A great tool. Let's hope it lasts.

Future plans are at least doing a new album, we got all the material ready.
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Magyar Posse
Harri from Magyar Posse

In 1997 we gathered some people from
previous bands, schoolmates and all around
to have a drummer, 2 keyboards, guitar and
bass. I suppose we were at a bar when we
all met together for the first time and agreed
to start playing music. In 2000 we changed
the name and the concept and started with
the thing we have now.
Where is the name of the band coming

from?
From a wine that we used to drink a lot a the
time.
What musicians or artists did have a

major influence in your life / work?
Movie soundtracks, the local scene in Pori + everything that each of us liked.
The positive thing is that the audience is very open minded, a lot of Finnish mainstream bands are actually
quite experimental. Also considering the population there are a lot good venues to play and most places
have good equipment + the staff knows how to use them. This is something that you don't notice until you go
abroad.
The bad thing is that with the kind of music that we play there no chance to make a living out of it. Not that
we would even try that. Other thing is that Finland is like an island, you always have leave the country by
boat unless you're going to Russia. That makes planning a little hard sometimes + it costs too much money.

Instrumental rock music with a soundtrack twist.

Well it hasn't changed that much, it's just that we've managed to arrange the songs better and we rely more
on less than before. We have confidence in the little things, so to say. There are also bigger differences in
the individual songs, so that we cover a wider range of feelings and such. We're starting to understand that
we have no obligation to sound like "this" or "that", we can just do as we wish. It's an obvious thing of course
but not as easy as it seems.

We've played for nine years now and things change. We've made three albums now and albums are the
biggest source of growth.

No topics. Themes, atmospheres and the entity that these make.

All songs of the upcoming "Random Avenger" album. I think we succeeded well on making it. I like every
single track on it a lot.

I like both. If you have goog gig, it kind of makes all the trouble and the bad gigs worthwhile. So you have to
have bad ones to have good ones. Live you can just play loud and it sounds all right anyway.
In the studio you have time to think things over and try all kinds of neat things. It's a whole new world to start
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recording something that you've played live for a year or so.
I always like the moment when things are almost done. When you have all the pieces that you need, you
know that, but you just don't know how to put it all together. You go to sleep thinking of one chord and what
to do with it... I just love that for some reason.
Another moment is when you hear or play a bit of song for the first time and you think to yourself "something
good will come out of this..."
song?
It is a stupid question ;) I can only say what I like at the moment:
Mark Lanegan : One way street

Shpongle : Divine moments of truth
There is more, but it's all I can think of right now.

It's great. It's good for spreading the word. Also a lot of things that I would never find from I can either buy or
download online. I use Soulseek a lot. I've found so many good things there that I would never have the time
or the money to get them from any record store. Bands or artists that I like the most I try to buy the original
CD, at least at some point. Just for support.
For us because we won't be making any money from it anyway it's good that people share it online. I can in a
way understand that major companies complain about piracy, but 22 euros for a shit CD is a lot of money.
They release Idols winners or something AND complain about record sales going down. HELLOO!!! I have
no principle against major labels, it just happens to be so that the stuff they release is not good in an any
standards. Usually they have no interest on building a long-term relationship with the artists. That's the great
thing about less-profit-oriented labels, they give the artist freedom and even they're not at their best all the
time they let them do as they wish and support that.
But when speaking of the "music industry" and people like us who are making music we are talking about
two different things. For the industry, the music and the artist are products, just as a pair of Nike sneakers or
a car. They are not making art or spiritual content, they want to make profit and the image of the artist along
with the copyrights are they key for doing it. I don't know but maybe there should be a list of labels that allow
people do share their stuff as they wish and list for those who don't. This is a tough question and it's hard to
draw the line.

There isn't time for anything else that much. I'm not saying that MP would employ us but there are things like
work and study that take a lot time. Me and Pasi (one of the two keyboard players) have a thing called
Teatteri
Moderni Kanuuna, we've made some plays and soundtrack for these. The
second album is in the making at the moment.
Other than that, just random things here and there but nothing serious. It's enough work to keep this one
thing rolling in some way.
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Nerdee
Annu from Nerdee

The history of Nerdee begins with a band
called Nerds, which was founded in high
school in the year 1995. Of that group, only
Annu is left these days. The members
changed, and the singer Emily and bass
player Riikka joined in. The music changed
more toward rock, the language into English,
and small ambitions into bigger ones. The
next addition was Nuppu on the keyboards.
Since Riikka left the group in 2004, bass had
been played by Luis.

from?
The original name Nerds came from a
costume competition that Annu won, and the
name has been edited since then from Nerds to Nerdie, and finally Nerdee. The name discribes the band,
not so much physically, but in that sense, that one doesn't have to break hotel rooms to be "rock", for us it's
an attitude thing that comes thru the music.
Everyone of us have very different individual influences and favourites artists/genres (e.g Alanis Morissette,
Pearl Jam, Opeth, Sarah McLachlan) so there is no one big influence for Nerdee. Our sound is all of our own
influences combined.
For a band singing in english it's really hard to break it bigtime. Along the way a lot of people from the finnish
music industry have told us to sing in Finnish, just becouse it would be some much easier to gain bigger
success. The music business is still very small and only very few artists can actually make a living out of it.
Most people go to a day job aswell. Small can be positive too , in that sense, that once you get in to the
business you get to know people easy and get new contact. And music industry is still very much fair play.

Nerdee is pop/rock with a edge. Our strenght is strong melodies, beautiful harmonies and a fresh sound.

We've found more our own style and sound, we've focused on what we do best: pop. We had our "wild"
hardrock period but gladly that was never recorded :)

Over ten years people change, and ofcourse the way we do music too. Even though we might sound now
more "clean", we still have that same Nerdee-sound we started with.

Basic pop-stuff: feeling and everyday things. People and things that move us somehow.

I think all of us have a different favourite. My personal favourites are Even, best song to play live and off
stage: As You Are- which was part of a Amnesty Internationals campaigne to stop violence against women.

Live! That is when you get direct response from the audience. Ofcourse it feels great when you finally get a
copy of a ready album, but playing live is what keep us going!
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Hearing it grow while working in the studio, and finally hearing the finished song playing.
song?
That is a hard one! It variates from time to time... For now i'd have to say Frou Frou - Let Go

Its a good way to promote and find new listeners to your music. There are so many people out there who
would never get to hear us if it wasnt for the internet. There is no way stopping the internet, so we just have
to make the best of it. Selling pirate CD's, that i dont approve.
What are your projects ?

Now Nerdee is writing new songs and planning the future. And also playing gigs!
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The Dance
Olli from The Dance

It happened in the spring 2004. For about six
months before that we´d had some drum and
bass rehearsals with Tero until we met the guitar
players. Soon we noticed that the chemistry
between guys was quite good and there was
even few songs to play.

If you´ve ever danced without worrying about
your moves or clothes you´re wearing, you might
have a slight idea of things that had effect in the
birth of the name.

Speaking of myself, the main influences have come from the groups with selfconfident view to what they´re
doing and what they want to say about issues surrounding them. And ability to laugh to yourself isn´t bad
thing either. I see the bandlife always through the live thing; it´s hard to explain the emotions of a good gig.
Whether you´re in stage or in audience, it´s just different but at their best, both can be indescribable
experiences. To name a few bands: The Clash, The (International) Noise Conspiracy, Division of Laura Lee,
Moneybrother, No Shame, Damn Seagulls, Evilsons, The Slackers. But this is just me. If you list together all
influences of our band, you´ll probably find a huge scale from black metal to Mozart.
The negative ones first. I think the size of population makes the feeling that the musical circles are too small,
you know the "I´ve seen this band too many times" –feeling. Although we´re a young band which has a lot to
achieve, so I can´t really complain yet. The positive side is that it´s still quite easy here to get your name. Of
course it requires hell lot of a work but in bigger cities (not to mention countries) you do that work in quiet
and only after that start hoping that someone right person could have an ear on you.

It´s energetic pop. And naturally there´s tons of definitions more than just that...something between punkrock
and Abba. Black metal for the whole family. Kajal-country. Gaypop. Seriously we´re not trying take ourselves
too seriously.

We are too young group for style changes...we´re basically trying a lot of views how to face a song, but
finally they always come out as a pop-rock ones. Main reason for that is naturally in the music we all listen.
Maybe someday it all start to change.

Most of our lyrics are about the hedonistic lifestyle that one or more of us is experiencing...but sure there is
some basic adventures of a human heart as well. In some cases these two means the same.

That have to be the brand new number, Street Corners, with its depressing mood which grows during the
song. It´s a story about how vulnerable human being can be. We´re really excited to bring it to the gigs. Our
repertoire isn´t too wide anyway, so it´s worth of celebration every time we have some new songs to play.

As I mentioned earlier, definitely live. If someone gets strong feelings out of our show, that´s the best
response you can get. In some kind of weird way, gigs are truly great way to show people that you guys
could do this too. It could be sort of encouraging gesture to them to find their thing. If it´s not music it could
be whatever as long as you stand for it. And if you´ve possibly found it and proud of it you can just dance
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along. It´s hard to explain the appeal of gigs.
I prefer the one particular point where the first version has come out and song have found its first shape. It´s
funny how this can sometimes take few months, sometimes it happens within an hour.
song?
I can´t really pick the best one, but one song that nearly blew my head was the finnish skarockers´ Monica´s
lips` "Life gone wrong". I saw them live one day and I think the melodies did the trick.

That´s a very irreplaceable announcement channel for a band and an endless source of new music as well. I
don´t use it that much, I rather visit a record store and listen some new stuff there.

I´m playing bass in the modern rock trio called Cosmobile, which is a refreshing thing aside this young men
dance club. And vice versa.
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Louna
When and how did you become a musician?
I have play music since i was 6. I took piano, fluite and guitar
lessons. At age 15 I started my first band. It was i girlband
called Woozy and we played our own pop/rocksongs. I was
the singer and guitarplayer in the band. Since that i have
continued writing songs and performing. .

your life / work?
I'm a total fan of Bob Dylan. I love his songwriting skills and
way of performing. I do like Joni Mitchell also. She has so
own style of doing music. I have a lot to learn from them. But
shortly. Its hard to tell who has the major influence in my
music. I respect all the musicians who put their soul into the
music and are honest. Thats something I cannot resist...

The positive thing is that I can use my mother language when
I write songs. The negative part is that it's hard to get the
livings out of doing music in Finland. The markets are so
small. But I don't care about it. I get living out of doing
something else.

It's singer/sonwriting music. The lyrics and melodies play the biggest part in it. It has influences of the folk
music.

I think the songs have gotten more strong. I dont know if this is the right way of saying it in english. I have
developed as a songwriter. Otherwise the music has kept the same, I think. I have had a hard time in my
personal life and that has given more into my lyrics. They have become more understanding.

I've been writing more songs and I have grown as a person.. Thats the only way of getting better.

All kind of things. Love, beeing week, doing mistakes. So many mistakes all the time. Enjoying the moments.
I try to write about everything very honestly. Many people say that my songs are very personal and I think
thats very true.

Puhu Sinun Kanssa. The melodie and the lyrics are very good. It starts ringing in your head right away.

weird guestion. I like performing. Even though I'm really scared about it. I get very nervous and restless
before a gig. It's nice to see how the people will take my music.
The moment I prefer? When the song is ready and ready to be played to the band. Then you get the feeling:
I succeeded.
song?
This is a hard one. They change every day. But the song that has had a huge impact on me is John Lee
Hookers: Dimbles. That song just gets you going. It's amazing!
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It's a good place to market yourself. I think it's almost the only way for me, because I dont have a record
label doing the marketing for me. So i like Internet. It spreads my music.

At the moment. I try to get my band to sound good. Thats the only project at the moment. Of course i keep
writing songs all the time. But I have so much else to do aswell. My studying and so on.
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Vanity Ink
Anabella and Juha from Vanity Ink

Juha Bandit: Vanity Ink was formed at the end of
2002 to have a good time with few friends. We
all had our own main bands at the time. Soon
none of us had either time nor interest for
anything else than Vanity Ink.

Juha Bandit: Vanity is for us being vain, Ink is for
body art.

Annabella: Kate Bush, Ismo Alanko, Claude from
Smack, Jim Morrison, Peer Günt, Chris Cornell,
Scott Weiland.
Juha Bandit: Every good friend, enemy and rock n´roll album ever made.
Annabella: Finland is a small country where everyone knows everybody, and what comes around goes
around in good and bad. There´s maybe too many wanna-be eyeliner bands hanging around at the
moment...wish them all good luck though!
Juha Bandit: Finland is the land of rock n´roll and I´m proud to be a part of that, although you tend to freeze
in latex at wintertime.

Annabella: Attitude, rock, punkish, fuckable, loveable...
Juha Bandit: Streetrock n´roll.

Annabella: Better and better.
Juha Bandit: Not in any way.

Annabella: Everyone in this band knows their places and so do I, therefore I don´t have to worry about things
being undone.
Juha Bandit: Everything works so much better nowadays when there are no assholes around compared to
my previous bands.

Annabella: Rock n´roll way of life. What you do, why you cry, why you love, why you hate.
Juha Bandit: The life of bandits and vagabonds.

Annabella: I am impatiently looking forward to our forthcoming album, there are some new songs I´m so in
love with! Meanwhile I enjoy playing Had Enough of Acting Nice because it´s an attitude bomb and so me.
Juha Bandit: Living a Dream because it´s been the opening song on our gigs and therefore an adrenaline
kick. Confused because it starts the medley that ends the gig and you decide to squeeze the last drop of
sweat from your body ´til the show is done and gone.

Annabella: I prefer performing live to satisfy the vanity inside of me and to rock the hell out of you. I enjoy
being in a studio as well, where I can fullfill myself by trying different variations and harmonies. And I could
keep on trying on and on and on until the boys get bored as fuck :)
Juha Bandit: I am at home when I am on stage.
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Annabella: When the song comes out of nowhere and it´s not planned in any way.
Juha Bandit: The moment when you forget you´re working on a song and you´re jumping around touching
yourself.
song?
Annabella: Weezer: Say It Ain´t So, Sublime: Santeria, Davy Vain: Push Me Over, Pretty Boy Floyd: Shut
Up, Rachel Stamp: Monster of a New Wave...
Juha Bandit: Sebastian Bach: (I´ll Never Turn My Back On) Rock n´Roll, ćause I won´t...

Annabella: I know I´m stuck to internet with all the mailing and promoting and that kind of stuff. But I never
keep it open all the time ćause I´ve got lots to do with my quality free-time and you can only guess what it
is...
Juha Bandit: I have struggled without internet as long as possible, since I prefer snail mail and writing with
Ink and feathers, says the boy who just got connected.

Annabella: I would like to get to know more about using audio equipments. And of course pushing the band
forward.
Juha Bandit: To come up with my guitarparts for the new Vanity Ink songs before my bandmates realize I´ve
been lazy.
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Bedtime acoustics
Jukka from Bedtime acoustics

We started this band with Olli in January 2002,
when I was asked to play a gig at my friend's
party. But I wanted someone to play second
guitar and I knew Olli and that he had quite
similar music taste and I asked him. We started
rehearsing and played the gig and later in that
summer Marko came along to play bass and
Kalle to play keyboards. We found Jari to play
drums after the first promo-CD Soon was
recorded.

Couple of days before our first gig I was called,
that they were going to make a poster for the
party and wanted to know the band's name. Of
course I didn't have the name and I promised to
have it the next day.
In the middle of the night I was playing guitar alone and it was quiet, only some voices from the other flats
behind the wall of my room.
And it popped in to my mind "Bedtime Acoustics". I think it's a good name.
I think everything Mark Lanegan, Luke Haines and Mark Eitzel have done. They have been in so many good
records and bands like Screaming Trees, Queens of the stone age, Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan, The
Auteurs, Black box recorder, Baader Meinhof, American Music Club. I have been listening a lot of old music
from the 60's and 70's like Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and Nick Drake and I was/am a big fan of the The Doors
and T-Rex. Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains and all that "grunge" scene were also very important to me in
my teens. Nowadays I'm listening mostly old and new "singer-songwriter" music (stoopid term, by the way). I
listen to a lot of music so the list is endless…
I think Finland is so small country that it is both good and bad.
Good is that you get to know all the musicians easily if you want to, bad thing is that even if you make a real
breakthrough here there are only a couple of towns and good places to tour around. Even if you are a big
underground name you don't sell enough records to quit your daytime job. We play quiet and quite soft music
so it's hard to find a place to play a gig, 'cause we don't want the play in rock clubs, where you can't play
quietly.

I would say folk-rock. We have lot of songs without drums, only acoustics guitars, bass, piano, violin, that
sound a bit like earlier folk side from Wilco, and then we have bluesy rock tunes with full rock band setup,
distorted electric guitars etc. well it's hard to define.
Bedtime acoustics has it's own sound, and that's important.

The songs are in a way more complex, there are more dynamics and songwriting is getting better too. And
there are a lot of new styles mixed to our music.

I think the basic reason is that I have developed as a singer, player and writer and I don't want to do the
same kind of songs all over again. And the whole band has developed a lot. There always has to be
something new so you don't get bored. Every song has to be better than the last one or you might as well
just quit.
- 19 -
I think everything, all the feelings you have from love to fear and everything that you see, read or hear that
makes you think, makes you happy or sad. Usually I think of songs as paintings. I just get some picture into
my mind and then try to put it to words somehow.

I think Disappear from the CD that comes out this year. The mood in that song is really good and there is a
great bridge there and the words are romantic, desperate and honest and fit to the music.

It depends. Sometimes it's hard to make the songs work live and it takes so much time to rehearse, and I'm
not that patient guy. We haven't played gigs as a band for a long time, cause we've been recording and
experimenting and our keyboard player moved so we are still looking for the right person. When we did our
first gigs I really loved it and I liked the feedback we got, but I don't care about that so much anymore. I just
want to make good songs and records and then play a couple of gigs to promote them.
The best moment is when for the first time you find the right chords and tempo and you have the first draft of
lyrics and you play the song with your guitar and it sounds good in your own ears. And you're excited to play
it to other guys in the band. Also a good moment is when everyone in the band have recorded their parts and
you hear the raw mix, there's always something you haven't heard live.
song?
I agree this is stupid question... well at least hard one and impossible to answer, cause there are so many
great songs in the world. I was looking through my record collection the other day to find an answer to this
and at that moment it was Day is done by Nick Drake. I love the words and the strings and his fragile voice…

I like reading record reviews and interviews from the net and finding out new bands, also many bands have
sample songs in internet and then it's easy to order a CD or LP, if you like what you hear. I never listen to
radio and rarely go to bar so it's good place to hear new songs. What I don't understand is buying
downloads, cause to me the cover art and having the record on the shelf is important. And I think it's to all
real music fans. And I don't think internet has dropped record sales. I think people who really love records
not just some hit songs from here and there buy even more music, cause they can hear more about great
bands from internet. At least that has happened to me.

As I mentioned new Bedtime Acoustics record comes out this year, working title is "field radio" and it has 11
tracks.
We are rehearsing now to play some gigs in Oulu when it comes out.
I'm writing new songs for bedtime acoustics and recording solo album.
Bedtime Acoustics is still looking for new keyboard player…
- 20 -
Komitea
Hannu from Komitea

Our band started in 1999, formed by me (Hannu
Timonen) and our singer-guitarist Heikki Sinisalo. The
band back then had a different basist and a different
drummer and only did a couple of gigs and two
recordings, the first having only one and the latter four
songs. Our recent line-up was formed in 2004 after as
our basist Ville Juutilainen joined in the summer followed
by the joining of Kalle Kirjalainen, our drummer, later that
same year.

We had a few different ideas for the band name. Heikki
came up with the name after listening to a song from
another finnish band.
What musicians or artists did have a major influence

in your life / work?
For myself heavy metal has always played a great role in my musical background. Bands like Mercyful Fate,
Iron maiden, Cradle of filth etc. influence my work. But since I am not the only one to make songs for the
band, our music is also influenced by many other artists, as our singer has a lot more diverse taste in music.
Negative things come to my mind first. The lack of training space is growing all the time and the prices go
higher. Second, the gigs start at insane hours which can be difficult, especially for artists that have long
tours.
Positive thing is that people here are really interested in music and we have a lot of good rising bands.

We play rock music that has some progressive influences and a hint of metal. Our lyrics are in finnish.

I guess it has progressed to being more heavy and mature. Mature meaning not boring but a bit more
professional.

I guess the heavy-part good be explained by our mutual interest in metal music. Also I have contributed
more to the songwriting then before and I tend to write heavier songs.

Our songs deal with the darker aspects of life. It also has stories of demons and such which I guess is partly
due to my interest in finnish art and folk stories.

For me at the moment It's probably "Tanssi pirun tanssi!" or "Puhuin kuolleen miehen kanssa" (Translated
"Dance the Devil's dance! and "I spoke to a dead man") They are both rather heavy songs the latter being
our latest addition to our setlist. They also have good lyrics and enjoyable riffs to play.

It's a completely different feeling to play in studio than playing live. Still I would have to say that I enjoy
playing live more. That's one can really enjoy the playing without having to concentrate on every single note.
And no, I don't mean that when we play live we play wrong. It's just that on stage one can really go insane.
Actually we just finnished recording our upcoming EP "Keskiyön unelma" late last night. Maybe that is also
- 21 -
why I would prefer playing live for a change.
I prefer the moment when I can play the song first time from the beginning to the end. Of course after that
the structure still changes but at least I get an idea what the song should be like.
song?
You are right, this is a stupid question. It is very hard to say actually. I guess I would have to say King
Diamond's "the Invisible guests" but then again I could name 20 other songs too.

It is a great way to make yourself known and to keep your fans informed about the bands future. It is also
easy to get to know new bands by listening clips on their website. However I do not prefer people
downloading records illegally from the internet. I also know that some finnish bands have recently released
their records free in the internet which is a great way to get people to listen.

Musically I have concentrated entirely on Komitea but I use to play in some metal projects years ago.
- 22 -
Candy Cane
Marko from Candy Cane

We started in early 1995. The line up was
different then, so was the music. More like
Hardcore Punk and Noise. We did write songs,
kind of, but they all sucked. Rehearsals were
all about jamming badly, drinking and breaking
instruments. But when Antti (CC drummer
1995 - 2005) arrived, CC started to sound like
a real band. Instead of drinking and fighting all
the time, we started to practice every day. But
that didn't last too long, except with me and
Antti. When the rest of the guys wanted to get
drunk, we moved ahead and found a bass
player & a second guitarist, and Candy Cane
went on and on and on...

From English to Finnish dictionary.
Every sound around me influence me. Sometimes even silence.
I don't think things like that. Yesterday i thought i was Swedish. Or was it Danish? Heh. I consider myself as
a world musician. And that's that.

Good question. Rock meets Klezmer meets Metal meets Jazz... The list goes on. Someone said that we
sound like a Klezmer-Punk band. So figure out.

Back in the old days we were defined as an alternative rock band, or something like that. But now we are a
mixture of everything. No limits, all is possible.

Getting bored with standard rock/indie music. Actually getting bored in everything in basic music. Music is
meant to be used in so many different ways. I wanna overdo stuff, try everything. Life is too short for reality,
you know.

Cannibalism, machines, death junkies, soap. Basic stuff in our life.

A song called Emily. It's just weird and fun to play.

I used to prefer studio. But now i'm too often in the studio. So, i have to say i prefer performing live.
When i figure out the idea where the song is going, and how it's going to be, and how can i twist it around
and so on...
song?
Yes, a stupid question.
- 23 -
Well, internet is a good thing for anykind of knowledge. You find everything from the internet. But spending
your lifetime in front a fucking computer, is a waste of talents (if you have one). You don't find real life or
experiences there. But hey, if you don't have a life. Go ahead.

There is four groups/projects i'm involved at the moment. Cahier, Body Odour, The Polkadot Sunflower Bed
Orchestra, The Romes.
Tomi plays also in Ionics, Miikka plays in Plain Fade, Raine plays...hmmm...i don't remember. But we all
have something else going on.
- 24 -
Beacon St Radiants
Dawson and Zack from Beacon St Radiants

The band started as Zach`s and Dawson`s
project in 2003. We had been friends for years,
but then we realised we had similar interests to
make music together. We started to record
song ideas with a 4-track recorder.

from?
It comes from a place called
Majakkaranta(Lighthouse Beach)in Turku. Zach
translated it into something "more" interesting
and cool sounding.

Dawson: Kurt Cobain, Noel Gallagher, Juliana
Hatfield, Jeff Tweedy and Neil Young.
Zach: Kiss, Iron Maiden, Eddie Vedder, My Morning Jacket and John Corbett from Northern Exposure.
Positive thing is that Finland is full of creative people and different styles of music and artists.
Negative aspect is that it´s hard to make a living making music, if you´re not playing radio friendly music.

Our music varies between traditional american folk/rock/country styles and more contemporary pop sound.

It has developed from just two guys playing acoustic guitars on a 4-track, to a fuller and more powerful
sound.

It´s a natural growth process, and Darwin´s law:)

The usual relationship stuff, and overall pain of being a human.

At the moment our new song´s "Your Heart" and "Stay".We think those songs show the progress we´ve
made after our first ep "First Degree Desperation".

Actually creating the song and having it work for the first time is the best feeling. But we love to play live
too...and do studio sessions...all of them are great!
Like I said finishing the songs at the first time. Also producing and putting the pieces together after recording
is mighty fine.
song?
Impossible to anwser, but Zach tries: Myrskyluodon Maija by Lasse Mårtenson..well anyway it used to make
me cry as a small boy, my mom had to turn off the radio to make me stop.
- 25 -
We´ve had great experiences about the internet. It´s easy to have people hear your music globally and make
friends who share the same taste in music..hence My Space.

Zach plays in another band called Resident 43 / www.resident43.com
- 26 -
Fillip
Chris from Fillip

I met Olli, our bassplayer, in some party four years ago.
By the end of the night, we decided to to start a rock
band. Quickly, we found the rest of the members and
started to work hard and practice daily. Since those days
the speed is only accelerating.

British band called Muse had a song on their debut
album called Fillip. This was an awesome song but even
better name for a song. Everybody agreed that this would
also be a great name for the band.

Oasis and the other great britrock bands are the greatest
influences for me. I started to get into the music quite
late, but when Oasis came around, it hit me like ton of
bricks, which made me want to start a band of my own.
Tehosekoitin and Zen Cafe have been the most influental Finnish bands, and The Sounds from Sweden and
The Killers from U.S are definitely the best bands around right now.
There's only five million people living in Finland. Therefore, musicians have to work very hard to sell records
here. Also, the country is pretty big and the distances are quite long, which makes it a bit harder to reach all
the fans around the country. Still, the audience in Finland is very active and loyal, which makes it lot easier to
jump into the bus and drive long distances to give them what they want. In Finland, the support for the
Finnish bands is great.

Energetic, Fashionable rock music with catchy choruses sung is Finnish. Our goal is the get the audience
dance on tables!

We've been trying to avoid heavy guitar sounds, and adding more 80's synth sounds, which is a perfect
combination to create an unique style. We would like to play Finnish mainstream rock and British indie rock
the way no one else is playing here. Our style of playing is now more angular and a bit simpler than it was a
couple years ago.

Experience. It takes a while for a young band to get the style together. Everyone in the band has their
influences, and it requires hard work to get the ingredients together and find the right combination to make it
work as a whole. Right now, I think we got it.

I think we are singing about being young, having fun, and partying. I don't think that's intentional, but if you
look at us, those are the things that keep us fresh and happy. That's the kind of feeling we want the audience
to feel after every show. Like us, we've been avoiding safe and "normal" life, and getting the kicks of chasing
our dreams. Somehow, we would like everyone to feel that way, at least sometimes.

"Kesä 2000" is one of my personal favourites. It's catchy and very positive song. When I first heard the song
from the album, I couldn't believe that I had actually written the song.
- 27 -
We are definitely live band. For the debut album, "Kaikki Näyttää Kauniilta" we wanted to capture the same
energy and feeling that we have when we are playing live. The whole project took at least four months, and
we couldn't wait the album to be done and get on the road again.
The best moment is the time when you give the song for the band to play. That's the first time I feel the song
was made just for Fillip.
song?
I still remember when I saw Oasis on TV with "Live Forever". Since that moment, music has been the most
important thing in my life. Now, 12 years later, the song still sounds as great as it sounded back then.

Internet was a revolution for the whole world of music, and I think that in a good way. Nowdays, people can
search information from the bands they like, look for the new bands they might like, and expand their taste of
music much easier than back in the days.

Past couple of years, I have been dedicating my time on Fillip, and developing our record company, Bianca-
Pop Music. In the future, publishing and producing other bands would be very interesting. Also, there has
been talk about building an own studio.
- 28 -
Häiriköt
Maukka from Häiriköt

The band was formed around 1990. It was put
together by our guitarist Erkko. The line-up has
changed several times over the years, but the
current line-up is the best one. That's: Erkko
(guitar & vox), Mikko (bass & backing+lead vox)
and MauMau (drums & mayhem). I played drums
in the band first time around 92 and then had a
break for several years. Now i've in the band like
3 years. The reason behind the band was to play
loud and fast punk rock.

The bands name Häiriköt means hooligans or
troublemakers. It's just a cool name for a rock
band. When the band was formed, there was a
lot of tabloid headlines that had "häiriköt" in them.
"Hooligans assaulted the elderies", "Hooligans made a scene in a airplane and passed out" and so on.
There is lot of of bands that we all like: The Ramones, Rancid, The Clash, The Misfits and so on. I personaly
love all kinds of good bands: The Germs, Circle Jerks, first Agnostic Front album, Suicide, The Jesus And
Mary Chain, Pagans, Oasis, early Stones, QOTSA, The Smiths, J. Thunders, Death In Vegas, Prml Scrm,
MBV, The Velvet Underground etc etc.
Being in a (punk)band in Finland is kinda shitty thing, 'cause when you go to a gig, you have to usually fight
for basic things: food, beer and so on. Of course those things depend who's organizator of the gig. But in the
punk circles the DIY-attitude is alive and everything usually works out pretty good. You always have a place
to crash. And then there's always this "get a real job"-attitude, which comes across sometimes. But fuck 'em,
they're just jealous. But the good side is that people are pretty passionate about the bands and music, but
you have to be pretty big band to make a living out of it. And there's only 5 million people in Finland, so the
markets are very small.

That's simple: high energy punk rock with some dark humour.

It hasn't! It's only tighter, faster and the tunes are better. The music style has been the same since day one.

I won't! See the question above.

The song topics revolve around few things: glue, girls, girls gone bad, relationships gone bad, chainsaws,
zombies, having a good time, having a bad time, low lifes, stupid people etc. And all this with some twisted
humour.

I have a quite a few favourite songs. Usually we play like 20-23 songs live, and it's all good.
But for example "Tehkää mulle lobotomia", "Mä haluun ulos tästä universumista", "Magnum 44", and from
the new record Ratkaisu(Woimasointu) there's killer tracks like "Tunteeton", "Unohda mut" "Mä en haluu olla
mä" and of course the first Häiriköt-track that i've ever written called "Me ollaan Häiriköt" Those are just
aggressive songs with cool melodies.
- 29 -
I love playing live and i love being on the road. Cruising around Finland, drinking beer, meeting people and
playing gigs with your mates is just fucking awesome. But then again, being in the studio can be fun too. For
me it's kinda boring in the end, 'cause when the drumtracks are recorded, there's not much for me to do. But
i like the process, when the songs start to build their form from primitive things.
The best moment is when you have an idea and you realize it's going to be something special. I'm a
drummer so i don't write as much as our guitarist Erkko, but on our new record "Ratkaisu" there's one song
by me called "Me ollaan Häiriköt" For me it's very easy to write melodies, but to have lyrics to match, that's a
different story.
song?
Oh fuck off, that's kinda impossible question to answer! There's so many. Right now i'm listening to The
Ramones "Outsider" and that's a hell of a tune. From the same record, "Subterranean Jungle", there's a
song called "Somebody Like Me", which pretty much sums me up.

I think internet can be a great tool for bands.

I also play drums in another finnish punk rock band called The Heartburns, which is just fuckin' awesome.
Check out the website: www.theheartburns.com Eh, then i have this project band which is more like
traditional rock (The Stones, The Who, The Velvets). We just made a record. But my main project is to keep
sane!
- 30 -
Heavenly groove
Pete from Heavenly groove

This punch of guys started to play and compose own songs in the middle of
80's . On those days the name of the band was Pennejä Taivaasta ( Pennies
From Heaven ) . We really focused to do this with huge piety and few times
the band was VERY close for having a big deal with some record companies.
However, every time something went wrong and nothing more happened.
After this long enterprising period we still wanted to play together, but now in
the front of audience so we were wondering what should we do for having
nice gigs to play. We decided to continue as a cover-band, playing only the
best songs in the world.
It appears a huge amount of cover-bands in the beginning of 90's and somehow it was obvious every of
those were playing quite "matter of course" stuff, like CCR songs, Sweet Home Alabama etc etc . . . ! We
wanted to do this somehow different and a little bit more "sophisticated" if that's the right word in this case.
We wanted to do more "groovy" stuff and because of our great and proficient singer Kimi Sjöholm we knew
we have possibilities to do that . So, we started to practice playing songs from Toto, Earth Wind & Fire,
Simply Red, Terence Trent D'Arby…

Heh , this is quite funny thing . Then we got the first gig in the pub mid-town. While we were carrying our
equipments inside, the owner of the pub was there as well . Suddenly he asked " hey guys , what's the name
of your band by the way…??". We all were freezed on our foots because while we have rehearsed our
repertoire we haven't thought this thing at all. We just stared into each others eyes until our experienced
bass player , Mr. Ari "Haba" Hemmilä told without any scrupling the band name is HEAVENLY GROOVE !
The pub owner said "all right" and then we all said "all right" as well and keep on carrying the stuff inside.
And , still after 15 years we are going with this same name which was discovered quite spontaneously.
We do not have a common inspirer with the group members. I do like myself hard-/heavy rock , Kimi likes
pop music in generally , our drummer Markku "Mäikkä" Tuomi is a huge Rolling Stones fan and also likes a
lot bluesy stuff etc etc . Keyboard player Pasi "Pännä" Lehtonen likes a lot 80's oriented aor-music like Toto .
Playing music is always nice! I guess this is the global reason why people are playing. I don't know that
much about the negative things. Of course doing gigs in Finland the distances are quite long because this
country is so long from south to north. And maybe another negative thing is the playing time is often so late
here in Finland. It's not divergent if the band started to play 01 am.

Cover band playing the greatest songs in the world from 70's to 90's. Trying to do this respecting the original
version from original artist as well as we just can.

In this band it hasn't changed. Read the previous answer. We're trying to do this as first-rate as we just can
respect the original version from original artist. Maybe during these years we might manage these song
better because of routine and the hundreds of gigs we've been made.

Like I just mentioned maybe during these years we might manage these song better because of routine and
the hundreds of gigs we've been made.

Faith , hope and love
- 31 -
Doobie Brothers song Long Train Running . It's so bloody groovy and song which brings good mood to
everyone's minds .

LIVE LIVE LIVE !
Always when you go to bed there's a riffs and melodies popping up to your mind. Then you just need to
stand up from there and write it down. Otherwise you won't remember it in the morning.
song?
Today I say Helloween : Sole Survivor …tomorrow it might be something else.

For sure there's good and bad things in this case. I think one good thing for the bands is the internet is huge
forum to market your activities. Of course, the amount on information is so nonsensical in this forum so how
to pop up from there. It's not easy.

This is my project! KILPI is my "babe"!! www.kilpi.com
Actually, this is project for us all. Kimi has bands called Lemmenkipeet and Hitmen. Mäikkä playing in almost
every band from this area which making gigs etc etc …
- 32 -
Puk
Jussi from Puk

Once upon a time... It was 1996 or 1997. I
was twenty-six and wanted to tell the world
that it had gone wrong. To put up a band
playing slightly old-fashioned indie pop in
Finnish is of course a lousy way to do that, but
I didn?t know it then. Elina was invited
because of her style of bass playing, and
backing vocals too. The drummer Aki was my
old mate from our former band Teurastamo 5
("Slaughterhouse 5" which, by the way, had
the present Boy of Scandinavia Jussi Lahtinen
as the guitarist). The next year Puk was joined
by Johnny and his squealing guitars.

from?
I wanted to write songs that meant a lot, so I had this inverse obsession to name the band with a short word
not meaning much. That?s another idea that didn?t work out. So far the different proposals have included
everything between mopeds and The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. The most correct explanation is that the
name comes from the character Puck in A Midsummer Night?s Dream by Shakespeare. You?ll understand
us, if you understand him.
Just two days ago in Helsinki Morrissey stole my heart, again! Hard to think of anyone else so soon after that
gig, it was bloody brilliant. Well, back at the 80?s not just The Smiths but also The Cure did several
impressive albums: the trilogy Seventeen Seconds, Faith and Pornography still feels like opening a huge can
of melancholy? which is why I can rarely listen to those records. Joe Strummer and The Clash still give me
strength to fight for social justice. As musical influences, I should mention also David Bowie, New Order,
Radiohead, The Trash Can Sinatras, Pulp, perhaps some albums by The Manic Street Preachers and Kent,
and so on. During the last five years I?ve fallen in love with Neil Hannon, that is to say, The Divine Comedy.
Actually, I don?t think you can call me one. Perhaps that says it all.

Indie pop with guitars in the front line and a symphony orchestra in the closet.

I don?t think there?s a huge gap between the first album Grönlanti ("Greenland", 2000) and Kadonnut
manner ("The Lost Continent", 2004). The arrangements have always contained both aggressive and gentle
tones. On the second there are not so many walls of fuzzy guitars; instead, we used all the instruments there
was in the house. In my lyrics there is more reflective and more straightforwardly societal emphasis...
perhaps so.
How do you explain these changes?

I got older, and at the same time even more sick of the world. In making the final arrangements Johnny and I
found more ways of being theatrical and megalomaniac.
What are the topics you treat in your songs?

Being sick of the world, or to be more precise, being bored with the USA, entertainment industries, stupidity
in ecological matters, and the domination people do not recognise as domination. Losing hope and holding
on. Loving someone present or not-present. Did I mention life and death?
- 33 -
I will say Grönlanti, because for me it was a knock-out of our first album, an epic and symphony-like song I
always wanted to make. Johnny?s guitar in the end is majestic, reminding me of Mick Ronson in Bowie?s
Time. We are all very keen on the song and tend to play it as the last one in the set.

There is something magical in working in studio. I like gigs as well, but we don?t do many.
While being in studio, the moment you know that the song you?re working with will turn out better than you
had ever thought.
song?
Only a liar can pretend to know the answer. In My Life by The Beatles.

At our site www.puk.fi we deliver some of our songs free of charge. As a small band with a minor indie record
label, we did that choice to get more ears to our music. As long as we are willing to pay our recordings
ourselves, i.e. mostly with the money we get from our day jobs, it?s fair enough this way. It would be a totally
different case if I was trying to make a living with my music. I don?t prefer thieves, may they be multinational
companies or selfish mp3-hunters disguised as some kind of virtuous outlaws.

Puk will publish its next album during this decade. I will get my PhD in literature published in May 2006.
- 34 -
Leningrqd Cowboys
Mauri from The Leningrad Cowboys

created?
1986, Leningrad Cowboys was originally
an english version of Sleepy Sleepers
(same players, different set and look)

coming from?
From the Soviet America.

Elvis Aaron Breshnev, Led Zeppelin,
Salvador Dali.
What are the positive and negative

aspects of being a musician in
Finland?
Positive is our huge domestic market and the long winters. Negative is the distance to the continent and the
lack of women.

Energig, exciting, sexy and scary.

It has transformed from the balalaika-boogie to the metal-electro-polka.

That is the question. I'll leave it to the university people and Interpol.

Platonic love and avoiding sex in you life before marriage. Also alcohol and women sometimes.

Hit me with your rhythm stick! It has a tender and touching melody and lyrics.

Actually we don't ever perform all together in the studio, but live, yes please!
When the big idea has landed to the studio. After that everything goes easy.
Melekkalikki makka. A hawaian christmas song, means "Merry Christmas!"

Good for interviews and good for surfing if you don't live by the ocean waves.

Conquer the album charts in all french speaking countries, including French Guyana, with our new album
"Zombie's Paradise".
- 35 -
Robincosmos
Tarmo from Robincosmos

created?
Mikko had been making some songs
and performing as RobinCosmos earlier
and asked me to produce a demo for
him. That led us gathering this group in
2003.

coming from?
I don't know. It is just a name I guess...
or a state of being. Or just a name for a state of being...
I personally consider Tori Amos the best musician ever. Other great artists: Metallica, Doors, Muse...
Finnish people tend to like humorous music... I don't know whether that's a good target for some serious
music or not. And the weather is usually bad.

Lyrical, mystical folk-rock where the 70's and 90's meet.

Not much. The style maybe more focused nowadays.

Aging and doing lots of music...

Stories from real life.

Monday Mood, because it kicks ass.

Live of course.
The moment when the whole band realizes: "This works!"
It may be the first try or it may take some time.
song?
It depends on the mood. Probably it is a song from artists listed above.

A good way to promote music, to share ideas with other musicians and to find information.

We are composing some material for our second album, playing gigs and hanging around.
- 36 -
Soul Tattoo
Jussi from Soul Tattoo

Soul Tattoo started to reherse in spring 2003. Bands
history before that can be found on our netsite:
www.soultattoo.info

Before Soul Tattoo we had with Samuli (soul tattoo
composer/guitarist) a band called Hearthill.
Sasu (drummer) and Jukkis (bass) played along the way
in that group too.
And Hearthill's forth album have a song called Soul
Tattoo. We tought that name tells a lot about us: We are
kinda guys who can't get rid of each other. Together we
are something else.
Uh, a long list... to mension a few: Charlie Feathers, Muddy Waters, Hank Williams, Billie Holiday, Nick
Cave, Bod Dylan, Jefferey Lee Pierce, Tom Waits...
Positive - It's a small country with a lot woods, lakes, summer festivals and crazy creative people.
Negative - It's too small nation to live in the marginal.

Country-Billy-City-Voo Doo Blues

It's progress, I'm always trying to find a new aspect... Guess my style it's changing to be more edgy, slow
and silent - when needed and the otherhand - furious and raw.

I'm closer to the source now.

mmmm... at latest soul tattoo album Pile Of Bones:
Metamorphose, Man or machine?
Heavenly creature or flesh and bones?
And for the surprise: Love and Death.

There are so many... in Soul Tattoo repertoire... I always fell in love with the newest ones... Jack In The Box.

At live music is a part of the show, a performance - it's a creative situation, where anything can happend, and
must happend. At studio at it's best it's kinda same. But without the audience - so... You must find the
different way to get the idea out.
In soul tattoo I'm a lyricist, so I make lyrics to Samuli's music. The best moment is when I get the glue of
what the demo version song is all about - then put me and my vocal into the song - and at the same time that
Samuli's song turns to be our song. As making my own songs, the starting moment just me and the guitar.
song?
uuhhh...
- 37 -
It's ok.

Right now I'm making weekend gigs around Finland with Soul Tattoo. And recording albums with J.Hearthill
Trinity and The Hel-Gators. Wich are my other two bands.
www.kolumbus.fi/pyros / www.hel-gators.com
- 38 -
Laurila
Janne from Laurila

In the spring of 2005 I had disbanded my old
group (Office Building) and wanted to go for a
tighter unit. I was on a singer-songwriter tour
with Tapes (=Jukka, the geetar player) and
asked him to start a band with me. He brought in
Petri (bass) and Antti (drums) and there we
were, rocking like little beasts!

It's my last name, so it's a little bit like Bon Jovi
or Dio, things like that.

So many worth a mention, but I'll give it a shot. Sonic Youth was my first true love, I love almost anything by
Bob Pollard or Guided By Voices. Hank Williams, definitely. Queens of the Stone Age rarely go wrong. As a
teenager I was hugely influenced by Radiopuhelimet, a band from my home town playing punk rock with
SOUL. 22-Pistepirkko is the greatest! I'm also very much into melodic storytelling stuff like Neutral Milk Hotel,
Mountain Goats etc. Townes Van Zandt is great, Yo La Tengo... Neil Young, Ramones and the Flaming Lips
is a great trinity. And we should never forget Lennon-McCartney, together or separately. I love great tunes, I
love great sounds!
Positive aspect is the open-minded audience not concentrated only on one type of music. But I don't like
being broke all the time, that's a bit of a bummer.

It's sentimental headbanging music. Raw, yet melodic.

Well, we're such a young band, every song redefines our style. But as a songwriter, I'm more varied and able
to express myself in a more relaxed way. I'm not ashamed to go where the fence is down.

When I started, I only wanted to make quirky punk rock. Now I just write songs as they come. Also falling in
love with country music changed me.

Sexual frustration, human tensions, growing up/old, having fun, being bored, riding trains, LOVE. Anything
life throws at me.

Tough one, but now I'd say "Number Down" from our upcoming EP. It's just so fucking GOOD! Check it out if
you get a chance!

Both, but playing live is always a blast.
Night time is the right time, but usually it's any time when you're not near any instrument.
song?
As a song it's not the best, but Sonic Youth's "Schizophrenia" changed my life when I saw it in the film "in
- 39 -
1991: The Year Punk Broke". It's the starter song and I was sold.

It's a great opportunity if you know how to use it. Think about the Arctic Monkeys!

This, my solo stuff and I also write theatre music. I also sing in a soul group, that plays Memphis-style
covers. The other boys are in the live line-up of Tigerbombs, Jukka is Tapes (his record just came out) and
Petri has a solo project called Plate.
- 40 -
The Cons
Ilkka from The Cons

It was created a half year ago, we just got the
feeling that we should creat band like this, which
would sounds like Alice in Chains.

Laku (our vocalist) invented it, it dont really have
any reasonable reason why "The Cons", it just
sounded cool =)

our major influences are Alice in Chains, Velvet
Revolver, Iggy Pop, Guns n Roses and Pearl
Jam. So there are a quite few Grunge
influences.
There are more positive things then negative. Many Underground bands like us stick together and helps
each other, gigs and shit. There is also many Band competitions, which are good thing for Underground
bands. Negative things are that you wont get that easy gigs in the "Big stages" like Tavastia in the Finland.
But there is more good sides in music business here in Finland then bad sides.

It´s energic grunge-rock, our stage image is like Red hot chili peppers have and music is like Alice in Chains.

it has`nt changed... yet=)

We just know what music fits for us.

Love. Hate, our Family lifes and shitty sides of life, but there i also hope giving lyrics on some songs.

Burning Lie, it´s brand new and it´s kind of energetic rock song with good lyrics.

Both actually =) But we are more live band. on the record you wont get the same feeling as on stage.
I like to do songs at night and maybe in a little deppression, it´s the best way to me to make song.
song?
Smashing Pumkins-Bullet with butterfly wings

It offers a lot of opportunities for musician and for bands.
- 41 -
Marble Frame
Kenneth from Marble Frame

Well the band was more or less created in 2001
- early 2002. But before that miraculous time our
vocalist/guitarist Niklas and our drummer Marc
started out (sometime in the 90's) by playing
brilliant covers of bands like Greenday and the
finnish punkband "cheeseheads"(free
translation). Later a bassplayer not worth
mentioning joined and then I joined sometime
round 2001-2002. The bassplayer was kicked
and sometime in 2003 (i think...don't count on
the dates) current bassplayer Petteri joined.
After that it's been smooth sailin'.

Well basically it's two words from the english language surgically placed one after the other. What it means is
beyond me, but I bet it rocks! Marbre Cadre in french maybe?
I have been hugely influenced by bands like Mr. Bungle, The Cooper Temple Clause, King Crimson etc...
well it's a pretty darn long list. Within the band we do mutually listen to the same bands like f.i Radiohead,
Sigur RÃ³s, The Mars Volta and so on. But each of us has his (or her, not sure if they botched Petteris sex
change) own personal taste in music. I wouldn't want to admit what artists have directly influenced our music
because I don't know who we sound like. I'll let people complain later.
What's positive? Well, first of all the underground music community produces far better music than that what
gets shipped outside our borders. Which is great because we have very talented musicians here and
fantastic bands. Sadly the finnish music industry doesn't give a shit. So the dreams of becoming something
in Finland are pretty limited.

I once defined it like this. I think it still holds today :)"everythings fine with the band who doesn't like to
categorize their music but still feels that it mostly resembles progressive, melodic rock with an edge but still
keeping calmness a factor, quirky, easylistening but hard to fully comprehend, massive, angstfilled, genuine,
feeling-based, rythmic and difficultly sculpted, sometimes bordering outside classic musical elements,
fulfiilling and warming but judgemental, lightly anarchistic and slightly activistic, but keeping the messages
crypted and giving the listeners a chance to on their own understand this self sufficiency and the band's
earthing and comforting sound.

I wouldn't say that the style has changed. It' just that we used to suck. Now we don't suck as much.

Well we just evolved from being the bubblegum you scrape off the bottom of your shoe to the gum you stick
in girls hair during art class. (That meant nothing). I don't know, I guess we just got more comfortable with
our instruments. The songwriting also is more polished than before.

For starters we have pedophilia, torture, concentration camps, ethics, history, litterature, advertisement and
so on. (I must stress that we do not support all of those topics). We also try to treat every single emotion
revolving around that magic word love.

For the time being it's a new untitled song but we'll call it "peaceful mind" at the moment. To me it's simply
- 42 -
the most beautiful song we've produced so far.

They are two very different things. I absolutely love being in the studio, but at the same time I love
performing live. I guess I don't have a preference.
The moment when it's still unfinished but you suddenly hear it for the first time and it just kicks your ass and
throws you down the stairs.
A stupid question but... what is among all the songs you've been listeningin your life the BEST song?
Damn thats hard! I'll just say "carry stress in the jaw" by Mr. Bungle. It's nice.

Love it. I sometimes trip on the download button and get nice music. No it's more complicated than that. Lets
just say that I support music spreading on the internet. To me it's just the evolved version of "hey, lend me
that Village People cassette" But yes there are some downsides, but I mainly support it.

Writing new music so that we can record our next EP. Also playing as much shows as we can. Oh yeah, I'm
editing our first music video. It should be ready soon. I have also been looking for my favourite Garfield
socks.
- 43 -
Below Me
Pete from Below Me

In 2002 by me and our second guitarist Juhani,
we met and had pretty much the same goal in
mind: to play music which has balls in it.

No comment on that :)

Every true artist who does what he or she loves
rather than being in it for the money.

Positive: A small country..
Negative: A small country, very hard to get noticed because you're definetly alone in the business and
(sadly) the main focus is radio friendly hits these days.

Mainly rock with a hint of heavy influences but still melodic.

Not that much, maybe gotten a little more aggressive, it lives a life of it's own..

I love heavy music but also other styles like funk and I try to incorporate those flavors to the music. And the
other guys bring in their influences too, and every day you feel like playing something a little different.

You need to ask that from Jani our vocalist

A new one called "Sailorman", it blends all the good aspects of our music: heaviness and melody.

Live definetly (whenever we get a change..)
When a new idea comes up and gets stuck in the head, it's also interesting to see your ideas grow. The way
we do songs is mainly between Juhani and I, me bringing most of the ideas to the table.
song?
"Can't touch this" by MC Hammer :), seriously, can't narrow it to just one.

Definetly great way to unsigned bands (like us) to promote your material. Also a great way to find new cool
bands.
- 44 -
Nosdrama
Ari from Nosdrama

It was autumn 2003 when Juhani and I decided
to create some new songs. We had a Finnish
band before, but now we wanted to make some
darker metallic English rock. We liked our
creations so much that we searched bass and
keyboard player to move the band to the next
level – playing live.

I'm not saying, but I'll give you some clues. We
are all friends of sci-fi and horror movies and
Nosdrama is a wordplay from the very dark
movie where Sigourney Weaver is an actress.

There are plenty of influences. We are all music collectors in some level. To mention some new great bands:
Tool, Opeth, Katatonia, Anathema. And older favourites are: Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Yes, King
Crimson
First of all a small population in Finland affects that there are not so many musicians who could live with their
record selling. The same thing is also in live shows. The distances are long between towns and because
there are not so many good concert places, you can't get enough good rock gigs for the full time living.
The showtimes are usually very late. To starting a concert in the midnight is quite insanity for the day job
customer. That has been a habit, which is luckily nowadays changing to the more reasonable direction.
The positive thing is that in Finland we have a lot of high level bands. The competition and a big amount of
internationally excellent musicians push people to try harder and give a great starting point extend to abroad.

We like to play long dark epic songs. The beautifully cold atmosphere is present many times in these songs
that can't be categorized to any box. The basic is in rock, which changes easily to metal and back to the
calmer landscapes.

This band is so new that the musical style is surely changing a little bit to some direction. We have just done
our debut album, but as we are composed already some new songs the tones are changing to heavier
impression. There is still lot of orchestral elements but we have heard dark metallic call very attractive.

We want to keep our minds open for the things we want to play. The honesty of the music must start from
yourself. If you are happy with it, then someone else might like it too.

Things I see all around and things I feel. For examble "Xen omm" is a very anti-war song that isn't point a
finger to any direction, but judges all kind of fascism and asks what do you fear? Then another song "The
Cradle" handles a ruminative touch of our life and our long climb to happiness.

Maybe it is "Nemo ante mortem beatus". It is our first song and it has very powerful dynamics from whisper
to scream. There is a traditional story from a king who doesn't realize that in the end the soil is home for all of
us.
- 45 -
It's always a great feeling to record music in the studio. You really don't know what kind of pieces you'll get
when you walk inside the studio. It is also a funny feeling when you realize that the songs that you have
been doing for months or even years are finally ready and it is time to move on for the new adventures.
The playing live is a very different situation. There is the battle of yourself against excitement and the feeling
you get from the adrenalin is just great. Also immediate response for the work is refreshing. I really can't say
which I prefer. Maybe doing some improvising songs on live might be fun…if we could…and had the guts ;)
Nights are working fine, the only problem is that you must not be too loud because of neighbors. Hangover
and every kind of situation when you can be surprised by your own subconscious are working fine.
Not stupid at all but very interesting. It changes all the time. In one part of my life it was Björk and Thom York
duet "I've seen it all". But let's say "Imagination", Lennon's song performed by A Perfect Circle. There is
excellent conflict between beautiful peace song and pessimistic mood.

Internet is an unbelievable source of knowledge. It gives you a change to get to know all kind of new music. I
don't courage people to download whole albums, because musicians' living depends on record selling. I for
example try some new bands and if I like them I buy the record. That's because the bits do not feel real there
are also the lyrics and album graphics.

This, Nosdrama is the only musical interest at the moment.
- 46 -
Rytmihäiriö
Ande from Rytmihäiriö

Rytmihäiriö was formed in 1988 by the
group of friends, who wanted to start a
band. Nowadays the lineup is : Otto -
Drums, Ande - Bass, Janne - Guitar, Une -
Vocals. Our drummer Otto came up with
name and everybody liked it.

Hmm, there are so many. Good music,
books, movies etc. are influencal in some
way.
There are some many...Roots of

Rytmihäiriö are in fast Hardcore and Metal
music. Nowadays the inflences are mostly
coming from various styles of metal.
What are the positive and negative

aspects of being a musician in Finland?
Nowadays it is pretty nice, we have some good venues and active music scene in general.
Cold and long winter cause some negative things, people don't go out so much, travelling and carrying
equipment in freezing cold isn't very nice..

Musically it Metal that has its roots in Hardcore.

At first our music was much more punk/hardcore oriented, during the years our sound has developed more
to the metallic direction.

Well, the lineup has changed many times, that of course affects the sound. Also our musical tastes have
changed over the years.

Lyrics are stories about less fortunate people and problems in their lifes.

There are many. "Olet surmannut miehen" is one, it just works well in the live situation.

Playing live is the reason for this whole thing. So, definitely live!
The moment when the pieces start finding their places, When the arrangement finds its final form.
song?
Hey, this is impossible to say...I'd rather not say anything, I can't really pick just one song.

It is a great way to spread information about your band. Makes the interaction easy between the band and
the audience.
- 47 -
Musical projects? Just this band, nothing else.
- 48 -
Murmansk
Olli from Murmansk

created?
This is still a pretty new thing. Me and
our guitar player Jari were sipping beers
during summer 2002 in Kallio, when the
idea emerged. Few phone calls later we
pretty much had the guys needed, but
no rehearsal space. It took something
like six months more to get one from the
outskirts of Helsinki -- an old garage
without central heating and amazingly
difficult public transportation
connections. But I guess the real
founding year is 2003, when our
drummer Sebastian joined the band.
Elisabeth replaced our first singer Lauri
in fall 2004 and I guess that's the point
when our music really started to take
form.

By checking a map you'll find a city of Murmansk from North-Western Russia, beyond The Arctic Circle.
Naturally our band has no connection whatsoever with the city... Except the rugged spirit.
For a person who's been enthusiastically listening to music for his whole life you probably could not pose
more difficult question. Certainly several 90's bands that could be categorized as "alternative", such as Nine
Inch Nails, Faith No More, The Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth and Alice In Chains, but also some
shoegazing acts such as Ride or Slowdive. I personally think that the late 70's and 80's made loads of good
music. Let's say The Smiths, Bauhaus and The Jesus and Mary Chain. I've never been into very cheerful
music. The major newer bands I've been hyping for the last years are BRMC, Interpol and The Strokes.
Right now I'm listening to The National, one of the best albums last year.
You shouldn't be asking these kind of questions, really...
I would consider that being a "musician" requires an education for this, which I don't have. And without being
a professional musician, making a living with music would be very difficult -- at least with playing indie rock in
English. Small market and it's loaded with heavy metal, you see.

Indie rock with a dark undertone.

In the beginning we were leaning a bit on the heavier side, but later on the music was shaped to its current
form. As an example, a lot of references was made to Kyuss that time...

Changing vocals from male to female had of course a lot of effect. Maybe it was also because Jari was doing
most of the song-writing in the very beginning, and he's into heavier music than I am. Or maybe we've just
grown soft over the last two years. Go figure.

Elisabeth makes the lyrics, so there's naturally a strong female perspective in the texts. If I'd have to guess
three topics, I'd say relationships/love, bitterness and mental disorders. She probably would not agree with
- 49 -
me on this... To be honest, I have no real clue what is she singing about.

My favourite song is always the newest one. There's no point in taking steps back, or is there? Current
project name of the newest song we are crafting is "Murmansk".. The song has great guitar tunes by Jari,
and I guess it will be an instrumental. Our most shoegazing kind of track to date.

Live, most definitely. Playing your stuff live is the biggest reason to do this.
The moment when all pieces just 'click' in their places and we all realise that this is good. If you get goose
bumps while playing a new son, you know that you're heading in the right direction.
song?
I refer what was said before. You shouldn't ask these kind of questions! By quickly shooting from the hip, the
first song that crosses my mind is Interpol's Leif Eriksson.

One of the most important marketing channels, and certainly the most important for smaller bands like us.
About piracy, well, that is a two-edged sword -- the losses (if such exist) with record sales is compensated
when more people show up to see the gigs. So there is a swift of income, the loosing party being the record
company. Personally, I'd be almost taken if our stuff would be pirated, at least at this point... If someone likes
the music enough, he/she will buy a real album. But of course, stealing is not right and the decision what is
freely distributed should not be made by the consumer.

Just this. I think it is better to concentrate and focus the creativity in one project instead of several.
- 50 -
F.A.R.O
Sari from Faro

The first of us started to play in the same band
around the year 2000, and there have been a
few major changes. Jussi is our third (or fourth,
or fifth, depending on who you count) bassist,
he was the last to join our gang during the
winter 2005.

from?
Presently, our name is F.A.R.O, and we
changed it from mere Faro when we learned
that there's a heavy metal band in Germany by
the same name. We're still trying to invent the
best possible name to fit the acronym... We
didn't want to abandon Faro completely, since it came to us through a long process. Faro in Spanish and
Portuguese means 'a lighthouse'
Since there are five quite different personalities in the band, the musical influences are varied. Out of that
myriad, I could mention for example Toto, Kuha., Absoluuttinen Nollapiste, Jimi Hendrix, and other rock
culture classics.
Since we're not (yet) a household name in Finnish pop culture, it's difficult to say anything about Finland in
specific. The positive side of being a musician is naturally the chance to convey your emotions to other
people through writing and performing your own songs; the negative, because we're not professionals, might
be fitting five lives full of work and activities around the band (not the other way around...)

This is difficult. Umm.. Intelligent funk-influenced pop-rock with a twist? That depends so much on the song,
you'll have to make the decision for yourself.

Most of the changes can be traced to the change rate of people in the band. In the beginning there was
some gospel influence, but that vanished, and was replaced by a heavier rock mood, growling guitars
etcetera. Since losing our second guitarist and gaining a keyboard player, the sound is lighter, but the
melodics and structures seem more complex. And hey, we're just starting out, I don't even know what we'll
sound like in 10 years time.

There are moody pieces about sweet love and harsh pieces about dysfunctional relationships and then some
about finding who you really are. It's easy to write about what you know best.

Each of us has their own favorite. Usually it's "the new song", or whatever we're working on just then.

Live, definitely. Practicing and rehearsing, even recording, is all fine and dandy, but that all aims for the one
moment when you get on stage and start pouring the music onto the audience. And when they enjoy the
hard work we've put into it, you just can't beat that.
- 51 -
After we've put the parts together, after there's a melody and lyrics to match, and the first time we run
through the song and it rocks - no matter who played what wrong and if it still needs tweaking, if we got
through til the end without stopping, it's awesome. That's the moment when the song is born.
song?
Besides our songs, you mean? Well... I would think it safe to say that if you look at the material from the
bands that have influenced us, you'll find a lot of good candidates for that one special song. Then again, the
goodness of a song depends on so many things that it's impossible to name just one song for all eternity.

At this point of our musical career, the internet is pretty much our primary means of distribution. Without a
record deal, we don't have to worry about piracy or other matters yet, and any download is good download
so far. Personally, I do think that the musicians that make music as a dayjob should get paid fair for their art,
and piracy constitutes as stealing that paycheck.

Besides F.A.R.O, our band members take part in such musical projects as The Ride, Costa Del Soul, and
Sexaginta. Getting an academic degree can also be seen as a project, right?
- 52 -
Fork
Mia from Fork

Fork was created in March1996 when four
people met over a cup of tea.

from?
Fork was the best name out of many bad
suggestions. Maybe it has got something with a
tuningfork to do..

U2 and Robbie Williams as an example. Any
artist with a great sense of show.
What are the positive and negative aspects

of being a musician in Finland?
The positive is that we support each other, the negative side is the economy situation. it is very hard to
make any money in this business in Finland.

We sing a cappella but we feel a lot closer to any rockband than to a traditional a cappellagroup.

We have became more brave in the repertoare, and are not afraid of challenges.

After several years of rehearsing we have developed both our voices and the technique.

We pick our songs out of their style, not the lyrics.

U2:s Beautiful day because it is a great challenge to make it sound good in an a cappellaversion.

Live.
When one of the members find the ultimate voice for a song.
song?
Bohemian rhapsody.

It is a good why to communicate with the rest of the world and getting information on what is going on.
MWhat are your projects?

Making a new record and touring outside Finland.
- 53 -
Lady Escape
Teemu from Ladyescape

The band has been together since summer 2004. First Joona (bass) and Mikko (guitar) asked Teemu
(guitar/singing) to sing in their Radiohead-influenced project and Teemu said yes immediatly. Couple of
weeks later Ilari (drums) was found from a bar and finally Seidi joined the group early fall -04.

The band's name comes from an unsuccessful attempt to get laid in Ilosaarirock 2004, the same place where
the whole band was invented. Mikko and a friend of ours, Antti, did not succeed and everybody else found it
quite funny. The ladies had escaped.
We all have been listening to alot of different types of music since little kids, so naming only a couple
influences would not be fair to the others. But let's try it anyway . Our common favourites : Elliott Smith,
Sielun Veljet, Moving Units , Refused , Lemonator , Downstairs , El Niklas, and The New Creation .
Positive : Places like Semifinal .
Negative : Places like Factory .

I'm so tired of genres . Mikko said it best couple of days ago when he said : Moving units meets Qotsa . And
The New Creation ! (the new creation was my add) .

As a member of Lady Escape I have learned how to write songs (phew,finally) . But if Lady E. does not count
, I've come a long way from guns n roses to jose gonzales . It has been everything else but Cradle of filth .

I don't know how to explain these types of things . Don't they just happen ? Began to listen to better music,
wanted to be one Jeff Tweedy myself , found the best co-workers you can find without placing
advertisements to a local music-magazine .

The usual: "baby please come" , "baby please don't go" , "leave baby,please". Burning down houses ,
puke,rattle and drive-by. Storytelling, now with 30% truth included.

Today my favourite is "Pair of sneakers" . We don't play it no more,though. It reminds me of the old rehearsal
space of ours.
- 54 -
Two different things . Playing live is more chaotic . Playing in studio is more inspiring . Both ways are as
great.
When the lyrics start to fit the melody . Usually they dont.
song?
Oh fudge ... one song... I'll have to say that "The Infanta" by The Decemberists really knocked me off my feet
when I first heard it.

Best way to see what's hot and what is not. On the other hand it makes listening to music all disposable.

I think I'll keep up the good work and A-A-a-a Staying alive,staying alive .
- 55 -
Emmi
I started to play quitar when I was about 14 years
old, and made my first `good` demo at the age of
18.

As a teenager, I listened to Nirvana, Sepultura and
many other bands, but the first female rocker who
really gave me a boost was Alanis with her album
"Jagged little pill"...

Finland is a very small country... that can work for
or against you depending on your situation.

Pop / rock most would say... I`d say it`s changing all
the time.
During the years how has your musical style

changed?
It's leaning more towards rock now... a bit
simplifyed perhaps.

Well I was 14 when I wrote my first songs... I'm few
years older now, and have had the good fortune to
work with professionals who have encouraged me
to go to the direction that I feel is mostly my
territory.

My life in general... fustrations, relationships, nature, just about anything really!

We made a new version of the song no nothing with my new band. It has not been recorded yet, but we are
planning it... It`s really a fun song to perform live. And a song called "if I had" is also different.

Hard to say. When your doing a live gig, you have that straight feedback from the audience which can be
great. In the studio it`s just you and the producer trying to do the best possible tracks you can. I like them
both.
In the studio, I like doing the finall vocals... althoug it can be very fustrating as well... :) When I first start
writing, I like it when the story starts to fall in to place...
song?
I have absolutely no idea... there are so many great songs out there !

I hate computers... We don`t get allong ! But the fact that I do like is that if I find a new artist I can look
him/her up from the internet in a matter of seconds.
- 56 -
I`m working on new songs all the time (sometimes more... sometimes less) and I have a band in the making
as a side project.
- 57 -
Kometa
Olavi from Kometa

created?
The roots of Kometa go back all the way
in mid-90´s when drummer Kinnunen
and Guitarist/Vocalist Vänttinen, I, met.
We have played together since then and
the bassist Laakkonen joined the group
in late 1999. The name Kometa came
up also that time.

coming from?
I like the sound of it. It´s simple, looks and sounds good. I saw it in a finnish-russian phrase book as a
reminder of the letters that mean the same in cyrillic and western languages. So basically it´s russian and
means "comet". And when a comet hits the surface it´s sure a blast!
For me Kurt Cobain was the guy who changed my world. Before that the cool things were bands like Kiss or
Motley Crue but I was a brat then. After Nirvana I found out every kind of great bands I haven´t heard before.
Like Melvins. Also finnish bands like Radiopuhelimet or HC Andersen or Deep Turtle which are really original
and tight bands. After that I´ve found some great older bands like Captain Beefheart, Velvet Underground or
Shocking Blue for example.
The one thing that matters and mattered is the long winter. I´m not into winter sports so it was much nicer to
spend time in rehearsal place practising. Nowadays it looks like there are only positive things. Finland seems
to be exotic around the world and people are focusing on finnish music a bit more than couple decades ago.

It´s damn good, really! If you like Nirvana, Melvins, QOTSA, No Means No, Black Sabbath or Beatles you
might like us. Or not.

Not so much actually. There has always been this similar mood in Kometas music. Guitar-driven tight songs
with tough drumming. And we have varieties in our music. We don´t play only one song as most of the bands
seems to do these days.

When I write lyrics they seem to end up to be some kind of stories. But I don´t know if anyone else
understands or can follow them. Then there are some very loose and let-go kind of things. And I always try
to find good-sounding phrases. I try to find my point of view and I spend some time making the lyrics. For
example, we got a song "I got hit by a train" which is based on a fact that in Holland I really almost got hit by
a train. But I wrote a song about a train that is carrying "17 hundered tons of pure loving" because the train
let me live.

The newest ones are usually nicest to play.

I like both. And they are amazingly different things even though they have the same goal, to make the music
sound and feel as good as possible. But all 3 of us has been studying recording and stuff so we also do
some tricks in studio. But the basic idea of "Like a Light Bulb" was to record the live sound of us and then
add things here and there. Important thing in recording is to keep the sound alive. I don´t like most of modern
recordings ćause they sound dead. Music doesn´t have to be "perfect" if you know what I mean.
- 58 -
The moment when I bring some riffs or ideas to the rest of the group and we start to try it. If the bits come
together and it start to sound good. Thet´s great feeling. It´s magic.
song?
For couple of years it´s been Captain Beefhearts "when I see a mommy I feel like a mummy" from Shiny
Beast. Especially If I listen to it drunk, it sends strong shivers down my spine. Also all Beatles recordings
after and including Revolver.

It´s good way to promote your music. But I´m a bit worried what happens to albums. I don´t load or listen
MP3´s a lot and I prefer buying an album. But things change.

I also play in a band called Cleaning Women as does our drummer too. It´s a band which plays electronical-
sounding music with self-made cleaning instruments.
- 59 -
Heartbreak stereo
Antte from Heartbreak Stereo
Heartbreak Stereo was created in late 2004.
Affo and I was looking for a new bassist. We
wanted a new start for our band, fresh songs
and a new sound. We heard that another local
band also had some lineup issues so we pretty
much just asked Robin from that band to join
us. And here we are.. having fun, writing songs,
playing shows.

from?
The band name is just something I came up
with and I think it's pretty cool. Heartbreaking
songs blasting out of your stereo speakers
when slamming on our records! Something like
that maybe.

I didn't really have a clue what I was doing musically (playing guitar, "singing") until I got into listening to punk
rock in the early 90ees, so I'll probably have to name Tim Armstrong of Rancid, Lookout bands as well as
Epitaph bands. That music really made me feel alive and like part of something.. you know.. like I found what
I had somehow been searching for. Boston punk bands has also given me a lot of inspiration and ideas for
sound and song struction.
A positive aspect got to be that you can play any kind of music you want and people still show some kind of
respect, as long as your band doesn't totally suck of course. The most negative thing about the music scene
is that people don't dance or show that they like a show unless they're drunk as hell. So this means that all
shows you do on a Monday or Tuesday might probably won't be the best show. Another negative thing is
that the Finnish punkscene is pretty small that you keep on playing the same cities twice a month. But the
rest of Europe is just around the corner which is another positive thing.

Well it definantly falls into the punk rock genre. It's energetic and really makes you want to kick something to
pieces or just shout along.Instead of just writing a three chord song we through in some catchy riffs and a 4th
or 5th chord to make it stand out more.

I'd say to the better in all ways. With Heartbreak Stereo it's easier than ever to write songs as we all agree on
what sound good and what sounds like shit. I used to write more pop punk music but that got boring and it
really never did anything to me.. We just really needed to scream louder, play faster and sweat more to really
feel and get everything possible out of us musically and mentally.

I mostly write out of boredom and desperation - how I'm not really living the life I'm dreaming of. I write a lot
of songs about my friends and other people that inspires me, or about people in my life who I really hate and
couldn't care less for. So I guess I mostly write about people in my life.

I think the newest song is always the best song. Cause if you write a song that is worse than the your
previous songs than you might as well skip it. We want to improve in song writing, not taking steps
backwards and maybe a step forward again with another new song.
- 60 -
I love playing live more than anything cause that is when we improve the most as a band. On stage is the
only place on earth that really feel secure. I can say and do whatever I please.. Studios are cool too.
I like it all, from getting an idea in my head to writing down some lyrics. But the moment I like the best is
when we finally make it through the hole song with the band and it sounds good to all of us.
song?
Yeah that is a stupid question. And this was a stupid answer.

It's great for rising bands like ourselves. It's easier than ever to spread music to people over the world an
also to the right kind of people which is important. Yeah I like internet.

For the moment we're just playing shows and writing songs and getting better. We're gonna do some kind of
release this summer, maybe a split or an EP. We've also begun working on our first European tour for next
winter.
- 61 -
Mamba
Tero from Mamba

First there was just a bunch of guys from Pori, Finland. We liked to play
together and I already had some songs written so those first steps were
quite easy to take.

Frankly it doesn't mean anything. Former producer Jaakko Salo invented
it. Originally the band was named Terveisiä Päiväntasaajalta but Mr. Salo
thought it's way too long and complicated. He was right.
What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your life /

work?
The Beatles and Elvis of course. They had the attitude and the music still
has. Later Junnu Vainio and Repe Helismaa. Both Finnish songwriters wrote excellent lyrics, more like poet
I'd like to say.
This is a small country so you've seen all the clubs, pubs and concert halls pretty soon. I've been touring
over 20 years so there's not so many new places to conquire. The media is pretty narrow-minded and
concentrated mostly to rock music.

Pop. It just pop. I'm only interested in hits, good melodies ja lyrics. My mission is to reach average joe with
easy-going songs.

Not much, believe me. Now we have better arrangements in music and professional musicians in band but
the music is more or less the same.

Well, maybe there's still a bit of ambition left.

There's many favourites on the set but maybe Tennissukat kirjahyllyssä is the best. It's strange and fast and
tells a story of a guy who is panicing of meet his girlfriend. Totally nonsense but I'm proud of the lyrics.

Performing in small clubs is more for us.
When lyrics are done the song is ready.
song?
There's MANY of them. Sometimes I feel Billy Joel has wrote it or Sir Elton John or John Lennon. OK, let's
say 10cc - Dreadlock Holiday. Or Van Morrison - Summertime in England.

I'm addicted to net, let's face it. Internet is a great invention and has made the world smaller.

Now I'm writing new songs to Mamba's next release (AUG 2006). At the same time I run a indie record
company Free Agent Records (http://www.freeagentrecords.fi/). Our next release will be Teemu Mattsson
debut. We released Jukka Eskola's debut last year. It has been a great fun to push those albums forward.
- 62 -
Feiled
Antti from Feiled

I started the band in 2000-2001 with my childhood friend Henkka. We just had a good time playing and
making songs.

We tried to make up a name for the band and it was too hard for our shitty brains!=) We drank ourselfs to a
near-death condition and the following morning I had the band name on my lips. I just misspelled it. On the
paper it looks cool being an anagram of itself.
It´s constantly changing. The ones who have stayed are Jeff Buckley and Elliot Smith.
It´s hard to survive by only doing music and writing songs even if you have a record deal. There´s also too
much band who sound the same. That´s something we try do break with the next record. Positive thing is
that you have to be serious if you want to make it so the "bad fruits" wither and die away!=)

On the first album it was more 80´s and melancholic rock. Now it sounds like FEILED! And I mean it!=)

A lot. I´ve tried to grow on every aspect. as a songwriter, player, singer and a human being.

It´s what life´s all about. change. You just try to do everything a little better every day!

On the first album it was all about love.=) Now i´ve been writing about religion, my father(R.I.P), My misuse
of alcohol etc.. oh and LOVE!=)

Honestly, I don´t know anymore. Maybe a new song called "delirium clouds", the lyrics are so close.

I like both. They are so different that you can´t really compare. Different energies and feelings.
Every moment´s okay if it´s peace and quiet.
song?
- 63 -
Jeff Buckleys "Lover you should´ve come over!

It´s amazing what you can accomplish with it. The whole world is on your feet if you want to!=)

Songwriting!
- 64 -
Montevideo
Sam from Montevideo

In 2000, my previous band The Pansies broke
up. So I hooked up with drummer Tommi and
life-long friend, bass-player Joakim. At first,
we were just playing for fun - however,
became more focused as keyboardist Aleksi
and guitarist Michael joined in. By 2001 we
had adapted the name Montevideo and played
our first gig.

from?
As I'm sure all readers are aware, Montevideo
is the capital of Uruguay. We have quite
honestly nothing whatsoever to do with the
city - nor the rest of South America for that
matter. I remember when we were thinking of a name for the band, and started to think about geographical
names: Montevideo was by far the most enchanting suggestion. I think we just really like the way it sounds,
and as it happens a couple of us are working with moving images, so the 'video' context is also somehow
relevant. Of course, as time has passed, we have developed a certain interest in the city, and are certainly
hoping to visit there soon. I've heard that there's a great indie rock bar in Montevideo, so perhaps we could
perform there.
All five of us obviously have our personal influences, but as a songwriter I've been impressed and
undoubtedly influenced by such people as Nick Drake, Neil Young, Jeff Buckley, John Lennon,
Simon&Garfunkel and Van Morrison. Examples of contemporary playlist toppers could be: Sufjan Stevens,
Rogue Wave, Teenage Fanclub, Turin Brakes, Ed Harcourt, I Am Kloot, and current favourite Sébastien
Schuller.
I think both aspects are in principal the same everywhere in the world, except for the fact that coming from a
country like Finland I feel priviledged to be able to make music, and also being capable of supporting myself
financially. These two might not yet completely meet each other, but I wish in the future they might. Finnish
musicians are quite often complaining about their circumstances, but I think we have quite a lot to be happy
about - such as a pretty vibrant independent music scene. I think if one has talent, vision and passion it's
quite easy to establish oneself here, at least to some extent. It's not particularily hard to get gigs for example.
Making it abroad is of course another thing, but I don't think it's really any easier for - let's say a French band.
A lot of it comes down to perfect timing in the end - and of course, luck.

Singer-songwriter based, well-orchestrated, emotional pop music.

I suppose the same happens with anyone who makes music consistently: influences become less obvious. I
hope we're going towards an own, recognizeable sound. For me, both music I make and music I listen to,
have become more personal as time goes by. I've noticed I'm also paying more attention to lyrics.

In my previous band, The Pansies, I was responsible for composing but I barely wrote any lyrics, as they
were the responsibility of co-vocalist Mia. With Montevideo one of the biggest challenges for me has been
learning to express myself lyrically, too. That's actually one of the reasons it took so long for us to finish our
debut album 'Come Clean', finally released in April 2006.
- 65 -
Many themes reflect personal observations and events from real life. A carrying theme for the album is
struggling to find one's true self, and one's place in the world.

At the moment I enjoy the album's title track 'Come Clean' the most. It represents the relief I'm feeling to be
finally releasing this album. The album-making process was long, and there were many significant changes
in the lives of everyone in the band. I think we're all happy, relieved, and eager to start work on our next
album.

I've always loved performing live, I remember enjoying it ever since a child, when I played my first ever
composition in front of the class with a recorder. I must have been 7 or so. I like working in the studio, too,
and I'm enchanted by what you can achieve with creative use of technology. But I'm sometimes a bit worried
about not losing some of the uniqueness and warmth of a performance.
The way I compose music is very intuitive - I cannot break it down to a systematic procedure. So I'd have to
say the best moment is that surprising and exhilarating moment when I realise that something of a jam or an
idea has transformed itself into a song. And usually at a later stage, when I come up with the right lyric, there
is another great moment when the original feeling and mood meet up with the logic and wit of the lyric to
complete the song.
song?
Not a stupid question at all! For me there's only one answer to this one - 'Imagine' by John Lennon. I know
I'm one in a million to pick this song, but I believe the world would (really, really!) be a better place should
there be more of us.

Internet has been vital for me, both as a music fan and musician, in discovering information and making
contacts. Of course there are downsides to it as well, but I believe I wouldn't be answering thesed questions
if there wasn't the internet... recently I also bumped into a South-American indiepop site that had a small
article on our band. These things happen all the time. It's great that so many more people who share similar
interests can find each other more directly.

Heh, I have too many! I'm working as a film director, so some might say that music is my project. But for me
music has always been, and will always remain, closest to my heart of all the things that I do. Other projects
include working on animation and design. I love cooking and travelling, too. I can also reveal a future project:
next summer I intend to train my skills in gardening!
- 66 -
Misty Shade of green
Niklas from Misty Shade of Green

Misty Shade of Green was born in 1999. It was
the outcome of a need to express viewpoints
musically and to take a stand for human and
environmental rights. I just felt the time was right
for us, so Misty was just something that had to
be.

The name came up just like that with no apparent
reason at all. I think I was in the grocery store at
that moment... But at that time we were Misty
Psychedelic Shade of Green, but that was
changed after a year or so.

We have to start with The Beatles ofcourse,
especially John Lennon and his political phase.
Jimi Hendrix, King Crimson, Led Zeppelin have
had a major influence on what we are musically.
But most of the sixties San Fransisco scene,
British 60's and 70's rock, blues and avantgarde
culture has left the trace in us, though we were
born a decade or two later.

Well, the pros are that the scenes are wery small,
so you can puch thru more easily than if the
competition would be very tough. The downside is
that for example record companies in this country
don't have clue of what rock is today. They launch
a bunch of housbroken lollipopbands they call
rock or metal, but comes out as slightly amusing products of capitalism. I mean where's the revolution that
should come with rock. So the real interest in art and rock comes very much in second hand here. But that's
not a big downside anyway, you get to do you're thing here and you get to speak out your poin of view
loudly.

It all comes down to rock.

It hasn't really changed so much I think, it has developed. And since Misty has a very wide range of shades,
nuances it's very hard to talk about changes. I'd say we're in a constant movement.

We take a lot of strong stands. Political, humanitarian and environmental. Casualties of war has lately been a
topic that we have strongly taken stands against. The situation in Iraq is a reason for this I'd say, but it's a
topic that there's never too much noise about. One casualty is one too many is my statement. The
government talks about peace but prepares for war, what a great hypocrisy.

It's either "Dreamland" or "How do you sleep at night" at the moment, in the other hand i like evry song we
do, otherwise I wouldn't do it. But Dreamland is a very personal and intimate song, while How do you sleep
- 67 -
at night has such a strong message given in a such a brutal and realistic way. Nothing is covered up.

Live Live Live, that's when you communicate with the world around you. When we go to the studio we do it
live anyway, organic rock you know. It's the only way we know how to do it.
It just comes. Sometimes straightly as a result of something that has happened and sometimes just a story
that needs to be told.
song?
Well... I have thought about that sometimes... It's a very hard one and cannot really be given an honestly
anwser, but I'd say... The End by The Beatles.

As long as you use it in a constructive way it's super tool to reach the world.

For the moment.... changing the world to a slightly better place.
- 68 -
Lame Duck
Antti from Lame Duck

Well, it all started at the end of 2003 when I
and Mika got to know each other. We had talks
of forming a band together and finally decided
to give it a try. Mika knew Pete and he joined
the forces in January 2004 and we've had the
same line-up ever since. We all had some
previous projects before Lame Duck so things
started rolling pretty easily.

from?
I actually came up with that name before we
even began playing together and it just stuck
on us. It's a political term that I'm not going to
explain now, and it can also mean something
like "a hopeless case" which probably suits us better. But it's just a name. No deep philosophy behind it.
Kelly Clarkson, Jessica Simpson...oh, you mean real musicians? Let's see...well, there are so many. I'm
mostly influenced by the early 90's Californian punk bands like Green Day, Crimpshrine, Mr. T Experience,
NOFX, etc...and one of my favorite bands at the moment is Rise Against. But I have a quite broad taste in
music, I like the Beatles and Queen and stuff like that too. Recently I've been listening to these classic punk
rock bands like the Clash, Ramones and Stiff Little Fingers. I guess everything I listen to influences me in
some ways.
Playing music is what I've always wanted to do, so even though there are not many positive things in being a
musician in Finland I still wouldn't like to do anything else. One of the most negative aspects in Finnish music
scene is the size of it. Finland is a small country and besides the Internet there aren't really any channels
through which underground bands could get some recognition. The same crappy songs are played over and
over on the radio and there aren't too many places where new bands could play live shows. Music industry is
very inbred everywhere in the world but in Finland that's really obvious.

Nerdcore!=) No, I hate being put under some categories 'cause they're usually too narrow. I guess most
people would define our music as melodic pop-punk but for me punk is more of an attitude than a music
style. So I'd say we're simply a rock band playing energetic songs with punk attitude. Trends come and go
but we just want to play good music, doesn't matter if it's punk or not.

I think our band has evolved quite a lot since the day we started out. We were just one of these poppy punk
bands that are dime a dozen nowadays. I'm not saying we couldn't still be more original but we now have
more variety and diversity in our songs, like more variation in tempo, and bells and violins included, and stuff
like that. Also lyrically the new songs are a bit darker and in some ways more emotional.

First of all, we've learned how to play our instruments, at least to some extent. But honestly, I think it's quite
natural for a band to evolve in time. At first influences are usually pretty obvious and as time goes by you'll
find more and more your own distinctive way. That's what's happened to us and is still happening. I don't
want us to be the 6000th band to write the same songs over and over again. It'd be extremely boring. I have
a quite clear vision in which direction I want to steer our band, but it changes almost every day. I try to keep
my mind as open as possible. We'll see what happens next.
- 69 -
Alien invasion, bladder infections, pillow fight casualties...you know, basic stuff. No, just kidding...For me
lyrics are actually one of the most important things in a song so I put a lot of work and thought into them. I
mostly write about things I feel or see around me. It's not always nice and pretty but you have to be honest
with yourself. That's the only way. Recently I've gotten more and more aware of what's going on in the world.
I don't consider Lame Duck as a highly political band but on the other hand, when you think about the state
of the world today, how can you not be political? We have a few politically charged tunes and I believe we're
going to continue that way in the future too.

It depends. Every song has been my favorite at some point, but at the moment it's probably a song called
Ex-big Thing. It's a little slower and more melancholic song with nice violins on it but it's still a quite powerful
tune. I like the lyrics a lot. They're pretty metaphorical and every person can interpret them in his/her own
way. That song really brought something new to Lame Duck.

I like them both but definitely prefer performing live. It's such an adrenaline rush and it's always fun to see
the crowd's reaction to our songs. It's a totally different world than a clinical recording studio. Our studio was
such a confined space that when three or more men were there at the same time, things got fairly sweaty.
And believe me, not in any erotic way. Maybe we should hire a girl for our band...
It's a mind blowing experience from beginning to end. Well, to be honest with you, it's sometimes a little
frustrating 'cause I'm a sort of perfectionist, especially when it comes to lyrics. But when all the pieces come
together it's an amazing feeling. Also, the initial enthusiasm when you get some great idea, find a riff or
rhythm, is something I can't describe. If you can maintain that enthusiasm till the end you know you've done
a good job.
song?
Wow, that IS a stupid question! No, just impossible to answer to. I can't name just one. I could possibly tell
you my all time top 20 but trying to put them in some order wouldn't make any sense.

The Internet is a good source for many things, if you know what I mean...But frankly, it's by far the best
medium for underground artists to promote their music. I don't think anyone would know Lame Duck if there
wasn't the Internet. Of course, there are two sides to every coin. I can see why some record companies and
even artists are against the Internet but I really don't think that file sharing is as big of a problem as some of
them claim. For example, I've found many new bands on the Internet that I would've never find otherwise and
later on I've ended up buying their albums. I also believe that any real fan of some artist will rather buy a
whole album than just download lousy mp3 versions of the songs. At least that's what I do. I want to get the
whole package; it's not only about the songs but also the cover art and things like that. I think every artist has
the right to get the respect and rewards they deserve but in my opinion the brand new copyright law here in
Finland is really an all-time low and doesn't help anyone. This one blonde minister, or is she blond
anymore...? well, whatever. She's messed so many things up that as far as I'm concerned she can kiss my
a$$.

I'm trying to learn how to understand women but I don't think I'll ever figure them out. Musically Lame Duck is
my full-time project, our bassist Mika bangs the drums in another band and Pete has his hands full of all
kinds of music-related projects. He's actually recorded and mixed both of our previous EPs.
- 70 -
Moto
Kalle from Moto

Moto was born on august 2004, when I moved back to Turku from Helsinki. I had
some songs and wanted to make a new band. In the same time band called
Limonadi Elohopea was breaking up. I went to talk to these guys, my old friends
if they wanted to come and try some of my songs and after two rehearsals it was
there.

I saw firm called Motowash in Italy and thought that's a good name for the band,
but somehow we decided to make shorter so then there was Moto.
Norman Blake, Gene Simmons, J. Mascis, Thurston Moore, Andy Warhol, Ramones, Stray Cats, Demented
Are Go, Curtis Mayfield, MC5, Corduroy, Ben Folds, Beatles.
Negative: There's only five million people in Finland.
Positive: There's only five million people, but still so many great bands. It's easy to get to know everyone and
make good contacts. It makes it easier to help and get help in this difficult business.

Garagesoulbossasolution

With Moto it hasn't really yet, but I've learned to be more open to find something new.

It's the age. It's easier to keep your ears open and forgive some mistakes to some artists. Like Bruce
Springsteen Born In The U.S.A album is a bit sad if you compare it to his first album. So I can forgive him for
Born In The U.S.A. and just listen to his old stuff, what I couldn't do when I was younger.

Trouble of life.

Bossa, it has the spirit what makes you smile, dance and talk to the girls.

Definitely live.
When the new songs starts to work with the whole band.
song?
The Beatles, Don't Let Me Down

Easy to settle rehearsals with the band.

I do have other art projects like short film, painting and metal arts.
- 71 -
Oka
Ville from Oka

It all began in autumn 1998 as a side project with
two friends of mine, Markus and Pekka, who played
in a band called Waydown at the time. Well, a lot
has changed from those days and Oka has evolved
into something different than it was in the beginning.

I think it reflects our purpose to create touching
music that includes somewhat "thorny" elements.
Oka is Finnish for thorn.

The Beatles was the first big thing for me when I
was about 6 or 7 years old. Their music sounded so
fascinating that I thought it would be cool to become
musician someday. Teenage years I was of course
into heavy metal, but ever since high school I've been listening to just whatever music that moves me
regardless of genre. Depeche Mode and Skinny Puppy have probably influenced me the most in last 10
years or so.
I don't consider myself as "real" musician since I have non-musical day job. But if I were, I would need to
work really hard to make a living. That might, however, be common problem with musicians around the world
no matter what country they are living in. Positive about Finland is that domestic music is still highly
appreciated here even when globalization seems to drive the music charts and radio stations homogeneous
everywhere.

It's mostly quite mellow pop/rock. We are big fans of so-called perfect pop songs but sometimes we like to
break the rules a bit to make it more interesting for us, and hopefully for our listeners too.

We started as semi-acoustic trio with male singer. Then we moved on towards bigger mode of expression,
meaning electric guitars and drums. Recent change took place 2-3 years ago when the prevailing line-up got
strengthened by keyboard player and female singer.

I can't. Things just happened.

People may interpret the lyrics in different ways but to me our songs are often about loneliness or being
afraid of loneliness.

Kelkanvetäjä. It's an epic song that sort of summarizes my attitude towards life: You must keep on doing
what you do despite of all the difficulties you might face on the way.

Definitely live, it's more exciting.
When you get that feeling of inspiration and you start working on some idea or sketch hoping that it will
develop into a great song.
- 72 -
song?
Today it's Destroy Everything You Touch by Ladytron. I don't know what tomorrow brings along…

For small bands like us, it's really important channel to introduce our music to the public. I believe that
Internet will replace old-fashioned record stores in the future.

We are about to release our first full-length record now. It's been a lot of work since we have done it
independently. Next we are looking for playing some concerts and starting to work on new material.
- 73 -
Naama
Sebastian from Naama

created?
In 1998, when Mikko and I started to
play our favourite songs for fun.
Something like Nirvana, Metallica etc.
Beer was heavily included... Mikko was
on drums and I screamed without any
PA and playd the guitar parts. It was
great fun tough. Nowdays Mikko is the
lead singer...lead singer. Teemu came
in with his great bass sometime in 1999
I think, and Simppa started to bang the
cans in late 2004 replacing the former
drummer.

coming from?
It's a finnish word meaning face. In a
kind of ugly tone. We wanted it to be
something grotesque. And when it
comes to faces, very few are pretty ones.
Nirvana, Kent, Metallica. For me.
If one stays as underground band as we, there's no big problems. Nor there are any benefits though.

Depressed pop/rock, with a soul of a clown. Sometimes there's heavier parts, sometimes just clean pop. The
lyrics are in finnish.

Maybe nowdays it has a bit poppier way of bringing the hopeless words in the air. Not so much distortion in
the guitars.

We all grow old and get overbored. I don't really know.

Unhappy love. Strange clans of darkness. Hangover hallucinations.

Just now I really dig the two tunes we recorded in march 2006. "Tyyntä" (means: serene or calm, you know
the surface of ocean in a calm morning) and "Muuttolintu" (wich tells about that sometimes the "moving
birds" do not return). We are putting these songs on our site http://www.naama.tk soon, when the mixing
and mastering is completed. Make sure to listen them.

I personally like the recording sessions a bit more, but it's also great fun to play live. Maybe I'm a bit shy,
when it comes to our own tunes.
The recording. Then i really know what I'm doing. When I start to compose it's a bit different situation. I don't
really know where the songs are coming out from. I just crab my guitar and try to hum a bit... Sometimes
- 74 -
there's a song, sometimes not.
song?
Yes.. You're right. It's a stupid question. Well... The Doors - Riders on the storm.

It's a great gift to all the unsigned bands like Naama. It's a great way to bring your songs to the reach of
audience.

Just Naama. We all have "ordinary" daytime jobs to do, so there's really no time for other projects.
Sometimes I do jam with other bands, but thats just for killing time and having fun ...and beer.
- 75 -
Kevin
Ville from Kevin

Well, Kevin started foolin' around together some time in
the late 1990's in our former hometown of Tampere.
For quite some time we only had a great idea about
what we could eventually do coz we all had priorities in
other bands..but then it all changed. After our first gig
we dumped ALL songs that we had and started writing
new ones. Talk about healthy self-criticism... We
basically forced our bassist Finn to join the band.
Bands can be formed that way, too.

It's nobody in particular. But somehow at the start the
name really looked and sounded like the music we
were playing. Now it's just a name. It's funny though
that in a lot of tv shows, if there's a character called
Kevin he's bound to be somehow seedy... not so nice.

Oh boy...at the start we were inspired by The Velvet
Underground, Beach Boys, Spacemen 3, Stereolab, Sebadoh, Ride, The Stone Roses...those names will
never disappear but we have since evolved such a great deal that a book could be written about our current
influences.
Positive: a pretty good vibe within the music circles, I should say. No crippling rivalry between anybody.
Somehow over here people develop original ways of doing stuff coz there's no pressure from record
industry's side to become another Kent or Franz Ferdinand. People have the courage to do crazy stuff. Like
ZZ Top meets Kraftwerk-like boogie electro! Also, the government are slowly getting a grasp of rock music
as something to export.
Negative: Basically all the aforementioned have a downside to them as well. It's really hard to get record
execs from abroad to come and see your gig. It basically never happens. And big record companies here are
very conservative. They're rarely bold enough to sign anybody really special. Of course there are exceptions
to the rule. And radio's crap like anywhere else. They're so afraid of doing anything that might cause a bump
in the listener rates.

Kevin play passionate 60-70's style rock with a strong psychedelic edge. Actually now that we're just
finishing the making of our second album I've realized there's one band I feel certain kinship with: The
Soundtrack Of Our Lives. I'm not ashamed to admit that.

It's become a lot more robust in a way. Bigger, bolder, in a way more arrogant. Today there isn't much that
we could not do, whereas before, say, guitar solos were pretty much off limits. Not only because we didn't
have the skills but because we were a little bit strained by a certain style. We're much more free to express
ourselves.

Well, I partly answered this one in the last question. But of course the music you listen to affects you as well.
If you're willing to accept it.

Failure. Trying to be a better human being. Passion. Among other things.
- 76 -
Now that we're in the studio it seems to change each day. The new ones are faves, naturally. There's a song
called The World Outside The Window that has a dark and merciless vibe. It's also some of the heaviest stuff
we've ever done. And most psychedelic...

We enjoy both very much. Gigs are good coz we get to - pardon my French - kick some serious ass. And
seeing people enjoy the music in flesh is most rewarding. Studio work has a lot of advantages as well: We
enjoy arranging and playing with sounds, taking each particular sound as far as possible. And I just love
singing in the studio. But the overall performance feels better live coz you can just let go and rock. In the
studio you're always under a certain amount of pressure.
Well, I tend to write songs with a pretty clear idea of the sound and feeling I want to achieve. And getting it
just right together with the band is nice. Also, when we play a song live for the first time and it goes right and
people dig it, that's one of the key moments.
song?
Come on, you can't ask that! But I can mention some songs that I recall listening to over and over and over
again during the past year: Couldn't I Just Tell You by Todd Rundgren, Wichita Lineman by Glen Campbell,
Care Of Cell 44 by The Zombies, September Gurls by Big Star, Edith And The Kingpin by Joni Mitchell...also
Waiting For The Man by The Velvet Underground coz we did a couple of gigs playing V.U.

We've definitely profitted from the net. For bands based in such far-flung places as Finland it works really
well if you wanna make friends with other bands. Regarding the newer, negative side of the internet, I have
to say I'm still in the place of my career that I haven't suffered from folks taking advantage of my music and
not paying. Not yet. And as a consumer, to be honest, I'm such a music addict that I need my daily dose of
new stuff. If you know what I mean...

When I get some time off Kevin I'll make a solo album. I already have a few songs recorded and quite a few
waiting in the drawer.
- 77 -
Rijnswand
Mikko and Jari from Rijnswand

It was back in 1998 when Jari Teräsvuori
(guitar) and Bamse (bass) hooked up at a
party and started jamming on acoustic guitar
and upright bass. Later a drummer joined
the group but he was really busy so they
gave me a call and I joined the band. We
played as an instrumental trio for a few years
until Henri Haapaniemi (vocals) joined the
band in 2001.

from?
From a book written by Terry Pratchett.
There was a wizard called Rincewind. We
changed a few letters and stole the name.
Shit, I´m really bad at this story, our guitar player Jari would be the one to tell this. When he was reading the
book, we had a festival gig coming up and we needed a name for the band real quickly. Jari suggested
Rijnswand and somehow we just stuck to it.
As kids Bamse and I were huge Metallica fans, but it is definitely not Metallica who has had a major influence
on Rijnswand heh heh. Lately I have been listening to bands like Nick Cave & Bad Seeds, Morphine, A
Perfect Circle, CMX and Led Zeppelin.
If we had to make our living out of this band that would be a negative thing. Rijnswand is a serious hobby
and that way it remains fun. If I have to think of negative aspects I´d say being in the band is sometimes very
time-consuming. So fitting our schedules together is sometimes a pain in the ass. Pretty recently I had to
deal with this one booking agent or what ever her title was. Talking to her was each time a slow suicide but
sometimes you just have to deal with idiots like her in order to book a gig or two.
Writing and playing our music, playing gigs, meeting new people, seeing new places, seeing people enjoying
the music etc. are the positive aspects in playing in this band. When I compare our experiences to what my
foreign friends have told, it seems playing in a band is pretty okay here in Finland, not necessarily so much
better, but definitely not more difficult.

"Music with rocks in". That´s a slogan we have been using lately. This is another steal from Terry Pratchett,
by the way. Rijnswand sure is a rock band, but since the day one it has also been a mix-up of many musical
styles.

It has changed a lot from the year -98. Obviously the biggest change took place when our singer Henri joined
the group. In my opinion we had reached a dead end of some sort with that instrumental trio thing. You could
say this band formed when Henri joined the band. There have been sort of two different bands, pre-
Rijnswand and Rijnswand hah hah. In the beginning we had to fill the songs with solos and stuff and now
that we have a singer we can have more melodies and such instead.

Some changes are made subconsciously and some consciously. Sometimes we might point out things we
want to improve or change, but usually we just play and see how the music turns out. Obviously the band
has improved in many ways over the years. For example I would say we play much better gigs now than we
used to do in 2001. Before Henri joined Rijnswand it was only Jari who wrote songs, now we have two songs
writers.
- 78 -
The usual rock lyrics but also lyrics with a twist of humor and hints at social issues.

At the moment I have to say "Nokturus". It´s brand new song, kind of poppish tune with 70´s vibe but there´s
a wicked twist in the end of the song. Also Dharma Karma is my favorite of all the songs. I´d say that is one
of the best songs we have written.

Live! I´m looking forward to get to studio and to start working on new songs, but I see Rijnswand more as a
live band.
Arranging the songs, it´s like a puzzle that you have to put together in order to complete the song.
song?
Hah hah, I bet anyone dealing with music would start with the words "oh, there´s too many to choose
from...". I actually thought about this a few weeks ago when I was driving and listening to the radio. As said,
there´s way too many great songs to choose from but if I have to pick one I´ll say Stairway to Heaven by Led
Zeppelin. It´s a perfect rock song and the first one that popped on to my mind.

For a small band like us, it´s really useful. People can find out information about our band and listen to our
songs. On the other hand I also understand the record companies´ point of view, basically when people can
download music for free it means less profit which means record companies are not so willing to take risks
when signing new bands. As we don´t have a deal, it´s been a very good way to get our songs available for
the people around the world.

New EP. We will start recording new EP next month with Big L Rönkä.
- 79 -
Plain Dust
Axel from Plain Dust

The original line-up started playing back in 2002

You tell us... we've kind of forgot where it came from, but
that's our name. Some names just stick and this one is
ours.

your life / work?
In general we owe a great deal of thanks to all kinds of
different bands depending on which band member you
ask. But most of us have listened or are currently into
bands like: Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, Nirvana,
Green Day, System of a Down and Muse.

The positive thing about being a musician in Finland is the
fact that the weather is pretty bad most of the year and
there's no better way to pass time than to play music.
However the small size of Finland kind of limits your
possibilities in terms of different venues to play or in terms
of limited record sales.

Aaah, a musician's favourite question. Well, we were once
described in the media as a dynamic post-grunge band. When music journalists or bands run out of original
genres to put music in they put words together that have something to do with music and bingo... a new
definition/genre. Rock 'n roll just doesn't describe anything well enough anymore. But it feels quite good to
describe yourself as dynamic and to be grunge isn't all that bad either.

The bands that we are inspired by and we listened to and still listen to influenced us a lot when we started
out playing together. But naturally we have developed from the times when we played Green Day and
Radiohead covers. The development of a band really starts when you start playing and creating your own
songs. And the style of your own songs are naturally very similar to the covers you've played but the
elements that you come up with later are the things that define the band. The elements that make a band
"dynamic" can only come after practice.

The fact that a band has several independent members that create music also means that the members also
contribute with their own ideas. And, in time, you learn to know what fits together and how to create songs
that fits everyone's individual style of playing. The creative process of a band is what changes your collective
style of playing.

Feelings mostly I guess. Frej writes all of his own lyrics so all of the titles and topics of the songs are his
ideas and reflects his thoughts.

The faourite song at any given time usually depends on if we have just written something new and exciting
which leads to the fact that the newest song is usually the favourite one. Of course we also have individual
favourites that each member likes to play the most but it's not that some of us hate to play a song just
because it's not their personal favourite. Really intense songs are a lot of fun to play live, but you can't deny
- 80 -
that but there's nothing wrong with slower songs either.

It's a lot of fun to be in the studio depending on the fact if you have enough time and don't get stuck on
anything, which can be easier said than done.
But the real thrill of playing in a band really lies in playing live and actually having someone watching that
appreciates your music. The possibility of positively surprise someone with your music or playing to your
devoted fans is equally rewarding.
So I guess the answer to the question " Live or studio?" is definitely live.
You can't beat a good riff or a good drumbeat that gets things rolling. Once you've got things rolling and
everyone starts thinking about their own contributions to the new song and that's where the fun starts. The
fine tuning and thorough thinking about the structure is also fun but nothing beats the original thrill.
A stupid question but... what is among all the songs you've been listening to in your life the BEST
song?
Well, it is a stupid question, but unfortunately I can't even give you a stupid answer. It's just not possible to
give you even one song at the moment that I like most of all. There's just too many...

The internet is the best way as either a new and upcoming band or established band to be able to get
information out to the fans and listeners. You can access anything from anywhere the only thing you have to
do is to find it first.
That's why it's good to have different webpages that inform about music in general or that are devoted to
certain types of music. For me as a musician and a listener of music the internet is invaluable and it would be
difficult to imagine the musicindustry without it now.

Just to keep going forward, record and write new material. In the future we really hope thet we get to play
gigs outside of Finland. There are no current plans for anything other than to play gigs here in Finland and
the material that we have now into shape and record it.
Sounds easy doesn't it?
We don't have any plans to write a theme-album or write a rock-opera or anything like that, although that
might be interesting. But we definetly have to get paid well to do that.
- 81 -
The Sugarrush
Our band was created the moment the three of
us were born, unfortunately we didn't find each
other until a bit later, but from there on, it was
clear we had been brought to this world to
ROCK...

There IS a story behind it, but let's just say that
we are called The Sugarrush 'cause we are
sweet and hyper...

Ooh, the dreaded question about the
influences... When questioned that, we like to
refer to our Holy Trinity: The Posies, Weezer and Teenage Fanclub. Of course there are a LOT of other
bands/artists we like and who have influenced us...
Well, the question is kind of misleading, 'cause I think none of us think of ourselves as MUSICIANS, we're
rockers, and there's a big difference... But on to the actual question, positive aspects, hmm... Well I guess
the "scene" if you could call it that it pretty small and tight-knit, it's easy to know everybody involved. The
most negative aspect is that we are so darn few and widely spread in this country of ours, there aren't that
many places to play and if you happen exist outside the current mainstream, the audience you'll reach isn't
too big.

By taking the easy way out and saying: Power-Pop. Loud guitars, sweet melodies, lots of sweat and rocking
on stage...

...changed? I don't think our style has changed a bit! OK, nowadays we may write the occasional song that is
almost four minutes long, as opposed to the usual two-to-thre minute ones, I guess that counts as a slight
change in style.

...or the lack thereof? Plain stupidity, I think, combined with the fact that this is the only way we CAN play.
We're rockers, not musicians, mind you!

Umm... Girls?

That's a tough one, it kind of depends on the situation... At the moment I think my personal favorite is a not-
yet-recorded newish ditty called "Yeah" in lack of a better title. (And no, it's not an Usher cover)

They're totally differen't kinds of beasts, gigs and studiosessions, and I don't actually prefer one over the
other. Studio is great fun, getting to play around with different instruments and overdubs and occasionally
singing in tune... But live gigs, rocking out with sweat and saliva flying and having an audience respond to
what you do is equally great.
That magical first time when the three of us play a new song and it just CLICKS. Getting the arrangement
right, singing the right harmony lines, everythings just falls into place during those magical moments.
- 82 -
song?
Not a stupid question, but impossible to answer! Today I'd like to say "Be My Baby" by The Ronettes, but as
it's only MY favorite, and the other two would probably kill me if tey saw that printed, I'll go with "Please
Return It" by The Posies

Here we go again, you calling me a musician... Internet can be great for smaller bands like ourselves to
network and gain new fans in places we've never been, via MySpace etc., and I think we haven't seen nearly
all the potential the Internet can have in that kind of activities. On the other hand, the reason the Internet has
a bad name in the music industry, P2P- networks and piracy, I dislike. They contribute to smaller bands not
getting record deals, not getting airplay because they haven't got record deals etc. etc. Stealing somebody's
work is stealing somebody's work, whether they work as musicians, plumbers or car salesmen...

Our projects? We're preparing our third full-length album, it's supposed to be recorded during spring/summer
and then there's our first ever trip to England, where we'll play the International Pop Overthrow- festival in
Liverpool. That's as far as we've got it planned...
- 83 -
Stella
Marja from Stella

Our band found its present form in the year 2002.
Janne -guitar and keybords, Heikki -guitar and
Turbo -bass had a band called Clarke and they
played britpop but when Janne got interested in
writing lyrics in finnish they had to and wanted to
find a new style. They started looking for a singer
and invited me to "rehearse" a song with them.
Little did I know that it was an audition! Luckily
they liked me and I got the job. Our drummer,
Matti, had written a note and put it on the wall in a
bar in Joensuu and the note said: Drummer
looking for a band. Janne called him and that´s
how Matti came into our lives.

The name Stella is a girls name. It´s just a name
that Janne and heikki liked...there´s no strory
behind it. We think Stella is catchy and sticks in
mind.

We are five people and all of us have different influences and idols. To name a few bands all of us like and
admire: Kent and The Cardigans from Sweden and Coldplay, U2...
Being a musician in Finland is hard if you want to make a living. The market in Finland is just so small
because the whole country is so small. There are very few people who make a living just by being a rockstar
in Finland, almost everyone, including of course us need to work or study at the same time to be able to pay
rent. Positive things in being a musician Finland are numerous! It´s great, it´s fun, you get to travel and
perform and you get to do what you love to do with a bunch of friends!

This is hard...hmmm..we play poprock music with finnish lyrics. In our music you can hear that we like Kent
with a touch of country. Our sound world is in touch with time, fresh you might say, but honest. We make
music we enjoy ourselves!

There is no dramatic change. The style is pretty much the same but with time we have become more
courageous. Our new album is more dynamical than the first one. Soft and tender bits in songs are just that
and when we rock we actually rock.

Development is natural. With time we have simply become better at what we do. we´ve been training and
developing both individually and as a group.

Our topics are thoughts of life, relationships and surviving everyday life. The lyrics are sometimes rough but
easy to relate to and find comfort in. Hope is always present in our songs!

At this point my favorite song is song number 9 on our new album and it´s called Lumottu (=enchated or
something...) The reason is that its a pretty song with a good flow and it´s also one of our newest songs so
- 84 -
I´m not sick and tired of it yet! :)

Absolutely live! We enjoy performing very much and work hard in trying to be better both at playing and at
performing. The guys in our band, especially Janne and Heikki are strange characters because they enjoy
also being in the studio and they always have some project going on in there!
I become a part of the process when Janne has lyrics and melodies to offer to me. The guys have been
composing and I always enjoy the part when we are at rehearsels and playing the new song for the first time
and noticing that hey, this could actually become a song!
song?
Not a stupid one, just a VERY VERY hard one. There are SO many good songs, but if I have to name only
one I would say...hmmm...Walk by Blind Melon.

Everything that is legal is fine by me. Internet has actually been a great help for us as a band. before we had
a record deal we put our demos online on a finnish site called mikseri.net and gained a lot of listeners some
of whom still are listening to our band. We also have put a lot of effort in our own website and people seem
to have liked the fact that everything you need to know about our band is easy to find on our site
www.stellankoti.net
As regards to piratism I don´t even want to go there. of course it´s wrong and everybody knows that.

Janne and Heikki have some additional projects, playing and producing but Stella is of course number one
for them and for all of us.
- 85 -
Space Bar
Passi from Space Bar

Space Bar's first rehearsals was in
December 1998, first we played mostly
cover songs (Smashing Pumpkins, Stone
Roses,Duran Duran, Simon&Garfunkel
etc.). First real own song was "Mouth" in
summer 1999. First demo, including 3
songs, was made in May 2000. Fall 2000
we made our first gig in "Jyrki hit challenge"-
competition. and surprise, surprise: Third
place ( 500 bands had sent demos ) since
then there has been a lot of line-up
changes, Dean-era with female vocalist
2002-2005, and now back under Space Bar-
name Jussi Saxlin is back as a singer. Few
other previous members also joined the band. Lot of changes, lots of songs. Current lineup get together a
month ago. And it sounds great.

First it was a joke, we were doing some recordings in studio and always pressed the spacebar of computer
to stop or start recordings. Hey, Space Bar! This could be funny name? Later we have to decide the name
and we thought that Space Bar describes just what we were: Large and spacious guitar sounds, lyrics out of
space, and some of us spent lot of time in bars. And we use a lot of sci-fi movie-like keyboards and modern
drum loops. So Space is for machine part and Bar is for the rock'n'roll part.
I have always tried to make timeless songs and combine many different styles. I think influences start back in
60's continuing to nowadays: The Beatles, The Who, Thin Lizzy, Cheap Trick, The Cure, Duran Duran,
Depeche Mode, Def Leppard, Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Paradise Lost, Muse. Those are the
bands I can admit to have influence in my music. But major influence is still my old band Jumalainen
Näytelmä ("Divine comedy" in english, or divina commedia) there are lot of similarities in JN and Space Bar
music. I wrote music for both bands, so it is unavoidable...
Finland is small country and there are not so many people to buy records, possibility to get a record deal is
tough job. We still keep trying. Positive is that people here are open-minded and always looking for a new
bands, so we might have a chance to get through.

Space Bar's music is combination of melodic pop tunes and catchy choruses, played with intensive rock style
and electro spices. Lyrics are sometimes gloomy but I thing there is still lots of hope, weird humor and
maybe there is also a little insight too. Space Bar plays ATTITUDE POP.

I don't thing it has change a lot. Maybe at a Dean-era we tried to sound heavier and play like a hard rock
band, which were are not. Now we are back in lighter and wider scale but still big sound, forgetting the
screaming female-vocalist and action rock tunes.

There have been so many line-up changes and everyone brings something own with him/her – which is just
fine. I don't have so specific vision how the band should sound. I write the music and lyrics but it is the band
what makes the final cut.

Incompleteness, acceptance, tolerance, pain and suffer, loneliness and depression, obsessions and anger,
- 86 -
love and hate, faith and joy, fame and its consequences, just a few to mention. I just wrote about invisible
man - and oh my man, it's a sad and relieving song.

Huh, difficult question. It might be my first ever written English lyric "Perfect", just because it's the first. Or
one of the latest, called "Everworld". I really can't say because it varies and almost every song is important in
its own special way.

In studio I like the process when song develops and changes. But I prefer performing live. There I can feel
the sound in my stomach, also to get through the stage fright is very educating experiment.
There are also many moments that make songwriting TO-LIVE-FOR process. First is the moment you play
the guitar and play something new and then it just happens. Then there is lot of work and playing, and
playing is always nice.... Second great moment is when you have taught the song to the rest of the band and
we have played the song fully through. Best part is absolutely when you hear your song first time in radio. I
have had chance to experience it few times, I'd like to experience it many times in the future.
song?
It's not a stupid question, answer may change. Now I think it is The Beatles song "Day in a life". There is just
everything in one song, whole life in four minutes.

For a band like Space Bar internet is very important way to get known. And because it is very difficult to get a
record deal in Finland it is best way to distribute our music to anyone who wants to hear it. Just download,
for free. Our website www.thespacebar.net contains Radio Silence- demo (10 songs).

Major project is now to make new demo recordings with current line-up during spring 2006 and then we try to
get a record deal and sell platinum. Ha ha.... Or if you mean band members other musical projects, there are
lots of other "projects" or even jobs in music business. Jussi Saxlin, the singer and guitarist, also plays bass
in Irina's band. Irina is now very famous in Finland, their new single is at third place in Finnish charts and
they have a lot of gigs and that's why Space Bar have so little time to play right now. Our guest starring
keyboard player Tapsa Louhimo also plays in a band called Garbo. Their latest record hit the stores about
year ago and they are doing some gigs too. Our drummer Arto Ojala, bassist Kristian Porthan and myself
have a band project called Hämärä (in English it is maybe "Dusk" or "Twilight") and we play old "Jumalainen
Näytelmä"- songs. Singer in Hämärä is Johanna Rossi, my girlfriend. So there are many projects going on
with members of Space Bar.
- 87 -
Pukka
Lauri from Pukka

created?
I was on a long trip in Canada&US on
the summer of 2001 while the former
band of Kalle and mine, Kitten was
buried. I met Kalle immediately at the
airport in London, and we spent a
couple of days with our friend's house
there. Pukka's beginning can be told
quite exactly... Kalle was suggesting a
new beginning/band while i was at first a
little skeptic and wanted to have a break
from the band business. However, in a
cafe we found a common note and
through the window i saw a big sign
PUKKA. Jari and Sami were "waiting" in
Finland with the former drummer Paavo.
Daithi joined us last October.

...yeah, from the window. In London they sell lots of Pukka pies, but the name has some roots in Jamaica,
where the meaning is "good, genuine". Not a bad choice taken by a co-incidence?
Impossible to answer. I dont know if "your" is plural or not in the question, but our age group is on the range
of 12 years so by that you can figure out something - what "strange, alternative, punkish" music were hot on
years 1980-1992...hmmmm...
As many say, Finland is quite much a country for "a one thing at a time". The culture for underground music
is really, REALLY small, and in Helsinki also. At the moment the big thing still seems to be gothic rock and so
called hair rock from the 80's. We try not to care of those issues. People smell good music, and sometime
even hear it.

"extremely progressive karaoke-punkrock" as a gentleman in Lahti described it.

Kalle, Paavo and I from Kitten had pretty much a "basis" or a firm ground where to start building our cottage.
I think Sami's role has gone all the time more important as he started to take more responsibility after the
very beginning. That is heard in the music. Now, I think Jari & Daithi will be the new Lennon/McCartney of
Finland, when talking about the rhytm squad. Krhm.

...umm, i think i just did.

Romance, failed romance, lease, argentinians...

It changes all the time. Currently perhaps, "Snowman". Main reason the above mentioned
Lennon/McCartney of the Finnish drum/bass players, but the guitars that sound like Snowwhite's seven
dwarfes on mushrooms while cutting trees give a special effect to it, can't refuse. "Nowadays", that's in the
internet, is another.
- 88 -
6-0 for Live when the atmosphere and real "Magic" is there! Studio when not. ;)
The whole "Tetris", i'd say. Making songs is like Tetris. You can't stop the pieces from falling down (a
reflection of an artists' DRIVE to make music), and with the band you just concentrate on moving the new
piece to right or left. Usually left.
song?
Yeah...

Bipolar. It changed the whole thing, started a new "era" really. Posters, leaflets, radiostations and magazines
still play their important part, but now internet is AMONG them. The negative end of the bipolar, the kids,
especially the youngest, and SOME of them, have GROWN to a world where it's totally ok to steal. Thou
shall not take... read the Bible, kids ;)
- 89 -
Sister Manik
Pinja from Sister Manik

We started in december 2000. A few of us had
playd together several years before, so we
decided to create something we really like.

from?
I could tell different kinds of stories of how
we've been in the middle of the woods all of our
childhood and how terrible life is, but honestly...
Our name comes from nowhere. I think!
We have a dear friend who is also our

manager. He got the idea. Don't ask me what's
in his mind. Probably our name decribes it well.
=)
Almost everything between the music I like and don't like. I've always loved Ozzy, Whitesnake, Tina Turner,
Kiss, Iron Maiden, Mötley Crüe, Dio, Madonna, Wham and a few Finnish artists... and Mozart, Vivaldi, I could
go on forever!
Positive is that Finland is a small country. If we're going to a gig the trip is not that long. Everything here is
quite near, in comparison to USA for example.
Positive is that you can walk in the streets without a bodyguard even if you're a big star. Hope we can keep it
that way.
This smallness is also a negative thing. Towns are small, so there are few gigplaces for our kind of music.
Not enough people!
The thruth is that about 5 people decide what you can hear on the radio. That's not fair. Listeners can always
make a request. That's good, but it's a different thing if anyone will listen to it. Unfortunately there are a lot of
negative things, but it doesn't matter. We just don't care!

Lots of chords, words, voices, keys, drums, guitar, bass, pvc-trousers, make-up, emotion, bright lights,
rocking - hard - and laughing at ourselves.

We were very dark and melancholic when we started.
Maybe we've been in the cold weather for too long 'cause we don't get cold so easily anymore. I mean, good
mood is better than eternal melancholy and sad things can be said from a positive point of view.

Me, myself and my panties.. which I don't wear =)

The Look is definitely the best, because our version of the song pleases me much.
Our own songs -Maybe all in a different order. Depends on the mood I'm in.
- 90 -
Live is always live. You can't compare them.
The moment is when I fall into my own personal world. I can't hear or see anything else. Everything is so
real, but at the same time so unreal. It's kind of a trance, but without any drugs.
song?
Hmmm...I can't name the one, but there are few songs which are so good I could die and be reborn while
listening.
Those are: Still of the night/Whitesnake, Mama I'm coming home/Ozzy Ozbourne, Show must go on/Queen,
Don't talk to strangers/Dio and New Year's day/U2.

Internet is both good an' bad. Good is that everything is available right now. In two seconds you can find
amazing things. Webradios, messenger, interviews, bandsites, instruments manuals, instruments on sale
and so on.
The bad thing is that anybody can do what ever they want. Too often it costs too much, like children who've
lost their childhood somehow. That's sad! I'm saying this because as a musician I'm worried about these kind
of things too.
And then there's piratism. Internet makes it very easy. Few people seem to respect the music enough to buy
it. In their opinions CDs cost too much. If I've made a song how can anybody think that it's always free? I
have to eat too and pay my rent too. Maybe we should ask those who do it if they pay their plumber? It's the
same thing, paying for the work that's done.

We're waiting for our album "Read My Lips" to be release 17.5. Before that we'll release our second
radiosingle "Calling My Name", the first one was "A Bit Too Restless". Promotion has been centred on
Finland. The album will be released exclusively here as well, for now.
- 91 -
Replika
Tommi from Replika

In January 2000. We had been friends since kids and
playing English language rock in a garage together earlier
so it was quite natural to form a band. After that the line-
up has gone through a few guitar player changes but still
there are 4 original members in our band.

I don't recall it very well, but I guess we had some
suggestions by the members of the band and Replika
seemed to be somehow suitable name.
There are hundreds of bands and artists that the boys in our band like so it's hard to name some certain
bands. First common major musical influence for Replika must have been Kent from Sweden, sometimes we
were named as a Finnish Kent J Since then we have changed quite much.
+ Definitely open air gigs on nice and warm summer days. The band and the audience are at their best then.
- Small markets, geographically long distances, low salaries for semi-unknown band like us. Luckily this is
only part-time job for us so we don't feed us with the band.

Stylish pop/rock with Finnish lyrics and catchy tunes. We have also been told several times that we are
probably the most Swedish sounding band in Finland..

The basics are the same, but of course we have become more skilful musicians so it's easier to sound what
you are willing to sound..

It must be the development as musicians and the influence of the new bands we are listening to. And we are
getting old and tired, too.

The topics vary but mostly they are stories about the girls.

"Tulenarkaa" from our forthcoming EP. It's a Franz Ferdinand-like modern pop sing-a-long with a killer guitar
hook.

Live, no doubt about it. Playing live is mostly fun while the recording days in a studio are hard work, even
though you usually sound better in a studio environment.
It's the moment when the new song is played through nicely and with no bigger mistakes for the first time in
our training room.
song?
Bobby Womack's Across 110th street. Not our style but should be considered as a perfect song..

We have maintained often-updated web pages since the beginning because it's the easiest way to share and
- 92 -
promote music for the band at our level. With the help of the internet we have also made contacts to different
bands that we have later played gigs with. At the moment we are creating new pages, so our pages
www.replika.fi are very simplified now.

Currently we are arranging and training new songs and in September we are going to release the first official
EP followed by a tiny tour.
- 93 -
Zero Nine
Kepa from Zero Nine
When and how was Zero Nine created?

The band was created originally 1979 by the group of friends just
for having some action. Well – and we really needed that cause
we are coming from the small village of Kuusamo in northeast
Finland.

The idea came from the bus sign in Stockholm..if I`m serious..
Nobody remembers
What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your

life / work?
Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple etc.

The aspects are same as everywhere – its great to be a musician...

Freestyle hard rock with no chains.

Looking from the inside changes has not been big at all..listen to our new collection you can find the answer
there.

Sex, drugs an` R & R.
What is your favourite song in your repertoire and why?

Tango del Dolor. It`s a perfect hard rock song with good melodies and feelings.

Live is what this is all about.
During the process of making a song or an album, what is the moment that you prefer?
First time you put the headphones on after getting the first copy to your hands is the ultimate moment. I can
sure you the volyme is more than normal people can stand.
song?
Don`t wanna name only one song. The list is long – world is full of good music

Though I`m representing the old school I wellcoming the Internet.
What are your plans for the near future?

Writing songs for the new album at the moment.
- 94 -
Sonic Roots
Sonic from Sonic Roots

Summer 2004 i bump in to Henry in helsinki (kallio)
and i asked if he had time to do few songs in studio
with me, i needed singer and Henry was interested
right away. A week later we went in to studio 303
and recorded 3 songs like 50% improvisation. At the
time Henry was more concentrate at singing in
SPIHA, our project was on hold about 10mounths till
summer 2005 when we started to look a drummer.
In short notice Henry spotted drummer called
BJÖRN AGAIN ELECTRIC he liked the music and
our co-operation started.
One month after that SPIHA broke up and we
started to play more seriously.. then we had big
problem with our former bass player mr. T.BOUND
cause he SUCKED BIG TIME... so we decided to
fire him A.S.A.P. After firing T.BOUND we had little
difficuties to found right kind of guy to play bass, in couple of weeks after a 2 candidates STACY GODDARD
showd up and here we are now !!

The name SONIC ROOTS has a huge intercommunication with misic it self. The name just flash in to my
head in september 2005, i wrote SMS to Henry about the name and he aswered back: Sonic Roots souds
good....
For me, Zakk Wylde, Stevie Ray, Hendrix, Gallaher, 80`s Metallica, Black Sabbath, Alice in Chains and
Pantera
Positive: People goes Grazy in our gigs..
Negative: Cold winters and the money is not so good.

MetallingRock???

Not so much, maybe little lightened...

I don"t explain stuff

Real life in mysterious way.

Sound of my mind......cause it kicks the hell out of me.

In some cases Yess!!
When song is played out with the guys and it really works.
- 95 -
Its really helps the fans to get information of bands, but it has allso bad impact to the record selling markets.

Rock on…
- 96 -
Skin Deep
Anton from Skin Deep

In the late summer of 2003. The drummer
back then asked me and bass player Micci if
we would like to form a band the three of us.
We didn't decide on any specific plan, except
that the style would be "rock" and that we
would work on our own songs if we come up
with any.

from?
We had a piece of paper taped on the wall at
the rehearsal place were we would write down
suggestions for the band name. Somebody
had written down the word "Deep" and I added
the word "Skin" to it. Our songs have mostly
been more of the superficial kind, so we
thought "Skin Deep" would describe our band
well as it is easy to remeber too.
I was a huge Kiss fan as a child (our bass player Micci is even more so). I was completely blown away by the
totalness of their thing; their catchy songs, makeup & clothing, their impressive stageshow with huge
pyrotechnic effects and stuff like that. They were the spark that made me pickup the guitar at the age of 12.
When I grew older there came others; Led Zeppelin for instance. If you go further than the obvious greatness
of this band it is the incorporation of folk and ethnic music influences - while still maintaining that intense,
emotional attitude - that really sets this band apart from other rock bands of that time.
I also love U2, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and a lesser known band called
Hedningarna. Easy, relaxed vocal jazz is also great at times.
Okay: first I have to remind you that I have absolutely no idea how it is like to be a musician somewhere
else. The small size of the country of course is a fact that comes to mind first as a limiting factor.
Opportunities can be scarce. Even for very good musiscians it can be difficult to make a living out of music.

Rock. Quite traditional old-time rock that is a "little rough on the edges" in a punky way. That describes what
we do. Since we have chosen mostly a cover-oriented direction we can't honestly claim to have any unique
style.

I think that I have come to realize that simple is often better. As for my personal taste that varies from time to
time. Coming to think of it I enjoy anything with a piano more and more nowadays.

When you are young and enthusiastic you think that you can re-invent music. When you're older you are
content with small stylistic nuances and come to accept the small habits and tendencies that make you
sound you.

The usual, most typical rock'n roll topics ;-)
- 97 -
I get tired of all of them once in a while. We have 35-40 songs to choose from and rotation keeps them fresh.
Perhaps "It's My Life" by Gene Simmons can be mentioned as one of my favourites.

They are both interesting, but in different ways of course. Both recording and performing are unique events
every time. The thing I like about performing is the interactive nature of the event and the energic vibe, the
atmospehere of exitement and anticipation.
Recording on the other hand is more like exploring new territory: when things go well it is a pleasure in
discovery. For instance you find your self playing harmonica or bottle-neck guitar - though you had no
intention to do so :)
The moment when you feel that finally all the pieces have fallen in place and that you honestly feel that you
can consider it a finished piece of work.
song?
This is a tough one. There are so many good songs that it is impossible to answer that. Mabe "Hats off to
Roy Harper" by Led Zeppelin :-)

It enables possibilities for starting bands that didn't exist before the internet. Both in terms of creating
contacts over vast distances, distributing new music and promoting gigs etc. Email and especially a web-
based calendar has been a great help in daily organizing and communication between band members in our
band.
If you are interested on my stance on "internet piracy" I could go for hours on that topic alone. To keep a long
story short:
a) In my opinion, the recording industry should have by their own initiative tried to find ways to distribute legal
music over the internet. This should have happened long before Napster and Kazaa and likes, and without
the awful, cumbersome DRM copy protection systems.
In my opnion, the industry gave unauthorized internet distribution an advantage situation for perhaps
decades to come by not offering any practical, top-quality - and legal - alternative, and they are now reaping
the results of their reluctant attitude. The likes of iTunes is a first step, yes, but like proper, physical records
adequate digital files shouldn't contain so called "copy protection". The irony is that the crap they are
offerening is quality-wise even inferior to the copies distributed without authorization, let alone the real boxed
package with physical media, cover art, booklets etc.
b) they should have given their customers the benefit of doubt and instead educated them on the issue of
royalties and immaterial rights for artists and producers. The witch-hunt tactics they chosen instead have
backfired for the advocates of rights of immaterial work. People are not dumb nor do they enjoy exploiting
others work for free, but since consumers are often given the impression that they are regarded as criminals
by default it is a stretch to try to convince the public that the industry is in fact acting with good intentions.

I'm the tenor in a nine man disco cover band. I also gather all ideas of my own on tape and the computer.
That is mostly unfinished songs with a guitar riff, two or three parts of a song with some melody I am
humming on top of it.
The problem is however, that being a family man and having a day time job it is difficult to really find the time
to really work on that material. I'm also a very modest talent-wise in writing lyrics, so I could use some
outside help there.
- 98 -
Scandinavian Music Group
Joel from Scandinavian Music Group

Our band was a direct off-shoot of our previous
project Ultra Bra, which grew to be possibly the
most decade-defining musical phenomenon of
the nineties in Finland. When the 12-piece Ultra
Bra decided that it was time to quit, there were
four of us who felt the need to put together
another kind of a rock group.

from?
We are fully aware that Finland does not
belong to Scandinavia, nor do we sing in
English, so it is just nonsensical play with
words. I have always been of the opinion that
rock bands should be name like you were 13
years old and coming up with something "cool",
rehearsing in your dad's garage. then fighting
the rest of your career trying to overcome the stupidity of that "cool" name.
Sonic Youth would unquestionably be the band after which I knew I had to be a musician. I'd been listening
to a lot of heavy metal in all of it's myriad forms, but always sensed there was something a little too comical
about it to be doing it grown up and for real (I still do, though, play in a fairly successful Iron Maiden tribute
band, and yes, it's still comical).
In recent years some huge influences have been Johnny Cash, John Frusciante, Brian Eno, Aphex Twin,
Underworld and a lot of other electronic artists, Sufjan Stevens right now is the artist I'm completely
immersed in.
There's not a lot of star culture, I guess that counts as both a negative and positive thing. On the other hand
the times i've gotten a limo ride have been way too few and far between, but seriously thinking, it brings the
musicians and the audiences a lot closer to each other. You get direct feedback and you are more likely to
be respected as an equal - instead of a feared and distant icon.

We're mellowing out all the time, lot of folk influences with this latest record. I grew completely and utterly
disillusioned with heavy metal and rock as a form of rebellion and alternative culture. the musical climate in
Finland has gotten so dark, pretentious and serious it's like the 80's without the fun. That is the mainstream
right now, so I guess we might be reacting to that in some ways. Finland undoubtedly exports the best heavy
metal in the world right now, but that's just not us.
I guess were trying to find the most direct ways of expressing love and beauty without ending up schmaltzy.

I think we started off not far removed from bands like Garbage or Muse, with a very modern and hard drive -
based approach to rock. We threw in trip hop and played around with a lot of musical directions. It was pretty
stadium sized. the second album was pretty non-stadium, more of a love letter to Sonic Youth, Stereolab,
Philip Glass and all things alternative.
Then, instead of emulating other bands or following set directions we just decided to listen to what the songs
themselves wanted to be. Also, the songs I wrote were easily the most direct ones, so there was a lot of
stripping down of "musical armor".

Old age, receding hairline, liwer levels of testosterone - it's a slow death after you're born isn't it? Seriously, i
- 99 -
have no idea. I think a true confidence has started to emerge after all the chest banging of the past.

Definitely love and friendship, but also death has crept in there somewhere. Terhi is a very impressionist
lyricist, so the settings and surroundings are often described to establish a mood. Lot of nature has crept in
lately instead of urban settings. Most often it's not symbolic in the sense of, i don't know, a fox symbolizing
deceit and cunning, it's more about trying to recreate the atmosphere of a certain situation in itself, without
any overbearing symbolism. One of the working titles for this album could be translated to "Every song is
about love", and it's pretty much true with this record, but also, I think, of art in general. I'm not talking about
Hollywood happily-everafters, but the need to connect with others.

Right now it could be "Katu päättyy aurinkoon" which kind of sums up things that are different about this
album. it's a slow paced cinematic folk waltz with huge lyrics about, well, life itself. I like how sometimes
Terhi writtes lyrics that are impossible to reduce to catch phrases and headlines. This is definitely one of
those.

I just came back from one of the most incredible gigs we have ever done, so I'd be inclined to say live. But
it's a question not dissimilar to "Do you like giving speeches or making them?" - one half is very much
redundant without the other.
The difference is between creating something and then recreating and reinterpreting it. One is for forever,
the other is tied in the moment.
When i know somebody else will love it - which can happen early on strumming some chords. For me there
is no "doing things for yourself", like art for artist's sake. it's always the moment when I know somebody else
will "get it", that I've made a connection.
song?
Quite simply, right now, it is Sufjan Stevens' "For The Widows In Paradise, For The Fatherless In Ypsilanti".
It seems to be a sort of a consolation for the underprivileged dwellers of these two cities, written from Jesus'
perspective - I can't be sure about this. Four chords to it, two banjos, a piano and a trumpet and it's the most
breath taking piece oif art I know of.

Love it, absolutely. Internet and file sharing does represent some problems regarding, like, getting paid for
your efforts, but so what? It means due to financial difficulties the major labels will streamline many
artistically interesting projects the hell out of their catalogue, but it also gives these projects a direct outlet
and channel for their music.
I think a new kind of fandom or fan based loyalty is emerging, where the music consumers download
anything left right and centre to get a taste of things, then make a point of legally downloading the stuff they
like the best and want to "vote for" or "sponsor" - or they buy a shirt, go to a gig or buy a cd, whatever. The
internet is like a huge library, basically.

the fourth SMG album definitely, also i've taken tentative steps into producing some stuff outside SMG but
I'm not talking about that yet.
- 100 -
The Flaming Sideburn
Jay from The Flaming Sideburns

"You want an exact answer? Weeeell, I believe it
was in front of Tavastia club here in Helsinki
sometime in the summer of 1994. That's when me
and Ski started to talk about forming a band
together. Unfortunately I was just about to move
out of the country so it took almost one year
before we had the line-up together and really
started rehearsing. The first show was in the end
of 1995."

"At first we were planning to call ourselves Los
Cyclones but then our guitar player at the time,
Vilunki 3000, came up with this logo for us. It's a
photo of Elvis with his sideburns flamin'. We had to name ourselves in order to fit the name with our logo!"
"I could probably namedrop something like 17 000 names so I better try to make this short. Let me think...
yeah, Little Richard. He's the originator, the original rock'n'roll madman. That's where it really began. He's
been an influence to everyone, they just don't realise it!"
"Well, it's easier to get a top ten hit! But making it to top ten doesn't make you a millionaire, far from it.
Y'know, it's such a small country only a few artists will be financially successful. A lot of bands play because
of their love to the music, not because they wanna get rich. And that's good. That's a big difference
compared to, let's say, America. Over there a lot of bands are just aiming for that billion dollar record deal."

"We play rock'n'roll, we play punk, we play garage, we play soul, we play country and you know, lot's of other
stuff. Most of the times we try to combine it all. You can call it whatever you want."

"Not too drastically but naturally it has. In the beginning we were more directly influenced by the Sonics and
all that 60's garage rock. Now we try create something more of our own."

"You have to keep movin' forward. We wouldn't be here if we would have kept on repeating only one trick,
y'know we've been around for more than ten years. Our line-up still includes four of the original members but
we have also had four different guitar players during the years. They've all been pretty different so that has
had a natural impact to the sound."

"Usually they are drawn from our own experiences. Life, love and leavin'! That's the only way of doing lyrics I
know of."

"There's no one right answer to this one. It changes all the time. Quite often the favorites tend to be the
brand new songs... until you get tired of them, that is! So, at the moment I'd say it's a tune called "You Can
Count Me Out". Or I don't even know whether it's gonna be called that! Those are the lyrics I wrote for it, we'll
see if they stick. The song's like a trainwreck of Motown and AC/DC and the Stooges."

"Me personally like playing live and I think I share the opinion with most of my band mates, if not them all.
Anyway, that's how we started, as a live band and that's what we do the best. Studio came into the picture
- 101 -
later on and we are still trying to get adjusted to working there."
"Once it's finished, in the can and it sounds like the best piece of music ever done. Up until that point it's
more or less hard work... but it can be rewarding in the end."
song?
"Today I say, let me think... Roky Erickson's Starry Eyes. Ask me again tomorrow and I'll give you a different
answer... but it's very likely that it's one of Roky's songs.

"Yeah well... the people are worried about illegal downloading and to some degree I'm sure there's some
reason to be worried. But that's really a bigger problem for the record labels. For a band in our situation
internet is just a good way to spread the disease. I think of it more as a radio, a radio with a lot of good music
available. When I was a kid I was taping songs from the radio and if I really liked them I ended up buying the
record once I got money. And then went to concert and bought a t-shirt! I believe internet is working the
same way."

"There'll be a new compilation called Back to the Grave coming out in May and in June we are gonna get
back to the studio to record a brand new album. That should come out next Fall and after that we'll head for
a tour."
- 102 -
Pore
Jussi from Pore

We started in 1994. Our bass player Pasi and
Drummer Pete, who are brothers and have
therefore played together all their lives, needed a
guitar player and asked me (Jussi) to join them.
The current line up with singer and guitarist Miikka
has been working since 2002.

The name Pore is an anagram of the last name of
the two brothers who formed the band. We like to
play with words and wanted a short and simple
name.
As a teenager when I started playing I used to listen a lot of guitar based rock like Metallica, Iron Maiden,
Yngwie Malmsteen and Led Zeppelin, and I think that Led Zeppelin and Metallica were the most influential in
those early days. Later on I stated to get into pop artists like Kate Bush, Joni Mitchell, Suzanne Vega and
Paul Simon. I also learned to listen Rush, which is Pasi's and Pete's all time favourite band. Nowadays I
listen and enjoy all kinds of music that I find meaningful in some way.
I suppose that the negative aspects are related to the fact that there are only about five million people living
here, so the local market for professionally produced music is quite small. On the other hand there are lots of
talented semi-professional musicians and bands doing what ever kind of music they want, which I think is
valuable and very positive.
Also I think that our few internationally known bands like HIM, The Rasmus, Nightwish and Children of
Bodom have opened some doors for other bands too. And the Finnish education system is also very good,
giving chances to study classical music, jazz and pop/rock at a very high level.

Our music is guitar based melodic rock and pop music. Vocals, two guitars with bass and drums.

We have moved from progressive and hard riff-rock to a bit softer and warmer direction. Today we tend to
process and analyze our stuff more than we used to do when we started in 1994. Back then we had plenty of
ideas and we wanted to use all of them, today we try to find one good idea and take the most out of it.

We are twelve years older now than when we started. We have changed and the world has changed and all
this shows in the things we do. I think it's only a natural process and would like to see it as progress.

I think that the main topics are person's relationships to other people and the world.

I'll choose one of the four songs that can be downloaded from our homepage and it's called "Stronger than
you thought". I think it quite well gives the idea of our music in general, it has some nice dynamics and hooks
and it's fun to play.

Well, I think that our band really exists when we get together and play. The few recording sessions that
we've had so far have pretty much been attempts to capture that live feeling. If we had our own studio or
permanent access to some decent recording equipment the situation might be totally different.
- 103 -
I like the moment when all the pieces seem to fall in to the right places. Sometimes it happens during the
song writing, sometimes it happens when the band begins to work on a new song, and sadly with some
songs it doesn't happen at all.
song?
This is not a stupid question at all, the best song ever has got to be "Let there be rock" by AC/DC.

I think that internet offers many possibilities for musicians. This can be something really practical like trading
equipment with other musicians or reading articles about music or other topics which give you new ideas and
make you do some thinking. Or for a band it can basically be a relatively low cost channel to promote
yourself.
We've had our homepages since 1998 and we have tried to actively use the internet as a tool to promote our
music and I think it has worked quite well for us. For example I wouldn't be giving this interview without the
internet.
But of course there is also the difficult question about copyrights and piracy that has to be dealt with
somehow. In my opinion services like Apple's iTunes and Microsoft's MSN Music are steps to right direction,
as they offer a legal channel to buy music files.
I'm also a great admirer of Mr Robert Fripp and I like the way he and he's company Discipline Global Mobile
use the internet to promote and sell music directly to the consumers.

I don't personally have any other musical projects besides Pore. With the band we are working on two new
songs by Pasi the bass player.
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Terho
Kai from Terho

Terho was founded in December 1998. I had just
finished my military service when we, a bunch of
friends, decided to play together again, first time
with this line-up. We wrote five songs very fast and
after five or six days we recorded them in our
rehearsal place. We sent four of them as a demo
to a Finnish radio station called Radiomafia and
three weeks after Terho was born, it got air play in
a demo-show. After that we decided to continue
making music and have continued ever since.

I guess I'm the one to blame for the name 'Terho'.
It is a finnish boy's name, but it also means
'acorn'. I have always liked words with several
meanings and somehow I thought that 'Terho'
would be an ideal name for a pop band, short and catchy, not too serious, as we didn't want to take
ourselves too seriously.
Well, we all went to high school in the 90's, so naturally music from that decade still plays a big role in our
lives. First it was Guns N' Roses, Nirvana and grunge, later came along finnish rock music like Ismo Alanko,
Yup and CMX and brit-pop bands like Suede, Oasis and Radiohead. Some of us were even listening to Iron
Maiden and Metallica and most horrifying stories tell, that some madmen even enjoyed some Slayer. But
that's something I don't even dare to remember. Later on, we discovered older stuff as well: Beatles, Doors,
Bowie etc. I guess we are a bunch of music lovers with wide spectre of musical influences. Latest BIG
discovery in the field of music has been swedish The Soundtrack of Our Lives, which simply is one of the
greatest bands on earth.
I think that music is a very nice hobby in Finland. If we had to make a living out of it, for, let's say, 30 years, I
think that we simply wouldn't have the guts.

Ambitious rock music with a loving attitude towards songs. We also love different sounds of different electric
guitars! We are quite guitar maniacs, but we still put melody in front of the skill.

I think that our songs have become more mature. During the first years we had many quite funny songs in
our repertoire. Nowadays, we still have kept a certain humouristic aspect, but it is maybe more hidden. It is
more in the music, the arrangements and, in some cases, in the lyrics. Sometimes our humour has not
reached the people as we had wished, so we have described ourselves as "a band with the worst sense of
humour in the world."

I think it's the natural development, that you can't fight against. Growing older, become more boring.

Lately we have been thinking that there should be no forbidden topic in our songs. I think that skilled writer
can write a pop song on about nearly everything in the universe. I think that's a thought to hold on to.

Right now it might be our "space song", which might get the name "Solaris". The song isn't completely ready
yet, but it is very convincing nevertheless. It's different, and it has a certain sputnik-feeling, despite quite dark
- 105 -
lyrics.

We prefer live. No album in the world could compete to a fantastic live show. The feeling is so much stronger
live.
For me it is the initial inspiration, when the lock to the song opens. Often it is a good chord progression, or a
good line in the lyrics, a feeling that you can do almost everything with the song (even if you couldn't).
song?
It is impossible to name just one. It has so much to do with the mood and, for example, the time of the year.
It might be something from The Beatles, Bowie or The doors, but it might as well be "Smells like teen spirit"
or "Animal Nitrate" because they happened to shake my world in my wildest youth. I simply can't name one
song.

I think that it's best that could have happened to a music lover. Radios and TV have nowadays lost their
status as a channel for new interesting music. They try to play music that sells and doesn't annoy anybody
and the result is some kind of 24-hour commercial break. I've been waiting for the time, when people are sick
to death of this mumbo jumbo. I guess I have to wait quite a long time, although there are few signs of things
getting better.

With Terho we are right now finishing our gigantic debut album project. After that we are going to play some
gigs. We all also have at least thoughts of musical side projects, but Terho is still the main thing. Our
drummer plays drums in a pop band that performs songs in english. Our singer plays bass in a 80's
orientated party band and our bass-player plays rock n' roll in english in other band, they are also making an
album. Our guitarist has his own prog-project and I myself have lately thought of playing simpler indie-rock
as a side project.
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The Scanditones
Teenu & Tuomas from The Scanditones

The Scanditones was founded in 2002. There
was five guys around how wanted to make
good music. Actually three of us (Antti,
Tuomas, Teemu) used to play in this punk
rock band for years together. After this
project was done we wanted to try something
different. Tuomas had some new songs
coming up which needed keyboards and
other kind of touch. So Mika came to play the
keyboards and Henkka became the new
drummer.

from?
I guess somebody just came up with the name and that's pretty much it.
All the guys have pretty different taste of music. However we all like distortion guitars :) Well, Depeche Mode,
David Bowie, Beatles, Slayer and Hellacopters are some of the bands we like.
The negative side is the marketing area is quite small and the volumes could be a bit higher. Positive thing is
that the record companies are putting more effort to exporting Finnish bands to international markets. Hmm...
and maybe making music in Finland you get more unique sound in your music than in other areas of Europe.

This is the hardest one... It's rock music with some strong guitars and beautiful melodies. But there are some
pop and electro here and there as well.

The songs are more versatile than before. We try to explore and find always some new elements to our
songs. We don't follow any specific style or rules. If the song sounds good we go with that.

The band keeps developing all the time and the music follows.

Everything between grave and the solar system... There's no specific topic really. ...relationships of course,
all kind of things that keep happening around us all, serious things too. BUT definitely no politics. We leave
all that to the others.

Teemu: "Let It Go" 'cos it rolls on nicely.
Tuomas: I really like this one song called "Without name". It's a very very dark slow tempo song and it has a
nice flow in it. Actually we are recording it at this very minute.

Both actually. They are very different processes. In the studio you can play around and try all kind of things.
On the stage you live in that moment and give everything you have for the audience.
When the song is ready and everything has found its place and it's late when you finally get into the nearest
bar and lift the first(?) pint on your lips... That's one of the greatest moments!
- 107 -
song?
Teemu: I think that Pink Floyd`s "High Hopes" is one of the great ones.
Tuomas: I must say two; Lennon's "Instant Karma" and Depeche Mode's "Enjoy The Silence". (well, at least
today)

If it goes by copyrights and laws, it's very alright. It's a jungle that has to find some kind of balance between
the consumers and the artists.

If you mean other bands, we get a lot of laughs from playing some cover songs with our musician friends.
But the main project at the time is recording our new album at the very moment!
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Roihu
Kelju from Roihu

In 2002 we decided to form a band that would play
honest and straight forward type of rock'n'roll. We
knew each other from previous band projects so it was
pretty easy to know that we would work nicely as a
team. We tried out a couple of second guitarist until we
realized that we don't need one - we sound a lot better
with a clear trio sound.

It doesn't really have story to tell. We just figured out
some names that would in somehow sound like our
music and in the other hand would not categorize us
too much.

We get a lot of different kind of influences from various
artists and music styles, but I think that the main focus
is in the history of rock'n'roll. When we started the
band we had just realized the greatness of bands like
AC/DC or The Ramones or why not Melrose or
Hurriganes in Finland. Then there's the whole 90's
nordic rock'n'roll or actionrock scene with The
Hellacopters and Gluecifer and let's not forget
punkrock with Social Distortion and that sort of stuff.
The positive thing is the freedom of being yourself and being able to express your feelings with your music.
The negative side is the fact that we have only 5 million people here so you really don't have a much of
change of making a living out of this kind of marginal music. when you sing in finish I mean. The radio
channels are boring as hell with their one-sided playlists because of the marginal audience.

I think it's aggressive rock'n'roll. Someone might call it punkrock and that's true too.

Sure, I mean when your skills get better, you kind naturally change your songs to be more challenging to
your self and have a lot of more options were to go with them. We started to play simple rock'n'roll but today
we mix up pieces from rock'n'roll, hardcore, punk or even soul. What ever we think is passionate, honest and
sounds good.

First of all, like I said, you get better as a musician. Second of all, you grew up: you start to like music that
you didn't understand when you were younger and so on. It's all natural and a part of a lifetime learning
process.

First of all individualism - the freedom of being your selves - is one my favorite topics. I also like to sing about
the issue of living today and not thinking about the next morning all the time. When we started we kind of
decided that Roihu will not do love songs because it's an issue that has been written out so many times. I
mean there's a lot more to life than all that "I miss you baby" -stuff, even thought of course that's important
too.
- 109 -
This is a hard one. It's really difficult to say because my opinion changes all the time. Because I'm the one
who composes most of the songs, I kind of have a new favorite every day. That's why my today's favorite
isn't even in our live repertoire yet. From our older stuff you should check out songs like "Kruunu" or
"Perjantai 13." - you can actually download them from our website www.roihu.com.

We'll I think that rock'n'roll is all about live performing. It doesn't ever sound as good, when it's recorded and
it probably never will. I mean the intensity of a band sweating there asses of and giving everything to the
music is something that you really can't get from anywhere else. This doesn't mean that I don't like being in
the studio - I love it. I think it's always a great challenge and it's wonderful to hear your own music from the
speakers. I also love producing and recording - I even have my own studio.
There really aren't any particular moments to mention. The songs make them selves - kind of just pop out.
So I don't do songs in that meaning. But when I think of it, of course the greatest moment is when you hear
the whole band playing the song.
song?
Not a stupid question, but a really, really hard one. I can mention one song that really made a difference in
my life and that is a Norwegian band Gluecifer performing "I Got a War". That's pretty much the song that
made us form Roihu and also the song that made me interested of everything about rock'n'roll.

Well it helps when promoting your band and it makes informing your fans a lot easier. I mean I can still
remember the times when you had to listen to the radio or read magazines to find out when your favorite
band is coming to perform in your city. In the matter copyright issues or illegal downloading it's pretty much
50/50 good or bad: It's bad when I see kids listening to their favorite band from a CD-R (or iPod etc.) and not
even thinking about supporting them in any financial way, but it's also damn good when I hear that people
have found new kind music styles to listen - styles that the commercial radios don't play or you can't here
anywhere else. It's not a thing that I'm worried about, but of course making music costs a lot of money and I
think musicians should be rewarded from that in some way. Buy the albums you like ok?

Well if we talk about music, besides Roihu I have another band project called the Bloody Mosquitos and we
should be recording something shortly. I have also recorded a few demo songs on my own as a solo project
- I play all the instruments and even record the stuff myself. We'll see when I'll ready to release something
with that. I also do some recording to other bands on my studio occasionally and work as a live sound
engineer when needed.
- 110 -
Jermaine
Pete from Jermaine

Jermaine was founded approximately two years
ago. The Petes and Tuomasstarted jamming
together back in 2003, but when Antti joined the
band in the beginning of 2004, Jermaine became a
real band.

There's nothing special in the name. We wanted a
short name, which would both look and sound
good. By the way, Michael Jackson has a younger
brother called Jermaine :)

I think the reason for forming Jermaine in the first
place was us to have a band, which we could steer into any direction we wanted. I remember that back in
2003 we listened a lot of stuff like At The Drive-In and Glassjaw which were and still are big influences, but I
don't think that either of them can be spotted out directly from Jermaine's music today.
The positive aspect is that it's quite easy to have your music heard around the country, thanks to free mp3's
and various webzines. I think that because of the success of bands such as Disco Ensemble and Lapko, the
Finnish mainstream audience has become interested in alternative and indie music. The downside is that
due to the small population, the scene is really small. You can tour your ass off, but at some point you won't
gain any new listeners. That's why Finnish bands, especially punk rock groups, head to Europe relatively
soon. I remember that in the end of last millenium, if you ever dreamed of success in the States or UK,
everyone would've thought you were out of your mind. Now we have HIM, Nightwish and The Rasmus,
which finally are putting Finland in the map of music industry.

"Emotional rock". I know that the word "emo" has a bad echo nowadays, but it's still the best adjective to
describe Jermaine. Our songs aren't about break-ups or stabbing your heart with rusty knife, though. There
are other emotions besides crying in your room while writing poems about how everything is black, you
know. We're a bunch nice guys who are happy with our lives. That's what we try to express in our music;
Gratitude and optimism.

Comparing to our first demo, our new material is more compact and dynamic. We try to write as different
songs as possible, because our sound is so recognizable. If we wrote only catchy pop-punk tunes, we would
bore even ourselves.

We have become more and more aware of our strengths and weaknesses. We are very self-critical, and that
drives us crazy every now and then, but that is the only way for us to operate. When we write new songs,
there has to be something special in each song. If not, then you'll find it in the trash can of our rehearsal
space.

I, as the writer, can honestly say that I don't have a clear vision or dogma, by which I write the lyrics. I try to
use lot of symbols, and be as non-direct as possible, but there's no solid theme the lyrics are based on.
Usually the titles point out the "message" or "key" in each song.

Well, I dare to speak on behalf of the whole band when I say that our upcoming new single, "The Snipers" is
- 111 -
a song we're all very proud of. It combines solid bass line with aerial guitars and it has a catchy chorus, too :)

Live, definetly. By the time we enter the studio, the songs are already in their final form, so there's no
creative point of view or anything like that. When playing these songs live, there's more room to mess with
them. I'm looking forward
to work with our producer, Antto Tuomainen, in the studio. I know he has strong opinions and visions and
hope he'll get the best of us.
The moment we all smile at the same time and realize we've done a good job. After that, we usually head to
local fast-food restaurant to congratulate ourselves.
What is among all the songs you've been listening in your life the BEST song?
I can't really say. There is one though, which makes me shiver everytime I hear it. It's "When One Eight
Becomes Two Zeros" by Glassjaw. Absolutely amazing.

I really don't see the downside. People say that because of the mp3's and p2p -filesharing, people stop
buying records, but it's the other way round. Last year, in Europe and the US music industry made bigger
profits than anyone could have imagined. The thing I don't like, or should I say, don't understand, is iTunes or
any other webservice, which people use to BUY mp3's, though. To me, mp3's are teasers or lookalikes of the
real record, I would never pay for lousy mp3's. For a small independent band, portals such as PureVolume
and MySpace are irreplaceable, and for example, if we didn't have the internet, we wouldn't be doing this
interview.

You mean besides Jermaine? I work on my solo stuff, which is a singer-songwriter kinda thing. I have lots of
good songs, but I don't know if I'll ever do anything with them. Antti plays guitar in a metalcore band called
Blood in our Hands, but as far as I'm concerned, Pete V. and Tuomas don't have any side projects.
- 112 -
The Jade
Wille from The Jade

I joined in The JADE in May and Sirpa in July 2004. Pekko
and Jann have been playing in various bands together over
the years and in 2004 they were looking for a singer to form a
the ultimate rock band. They had an add on the internet and I
replied. My only condition was that they had to be committed
to this since I do not wanna fool around in a band just for the
good times sake. We want to rule the world. Period.

Jann came up with the name that just sounded cool and the
rest of us just looked at each other, we nodded and said:
YES!

your life / work?
I think we all have our different influences but in general level
we all like The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Hanoi Rocks, Guns
'n' Roses and so on. My individual big influences have been
Kiss, U2, Madonna, Alice Cooper, The Cure, just to name
few. I love many kinds of music but the bands that I listen to,
gotta have a certain attitude. Garth Brooks? Haven't seen any
attitude in his work. I mean it's not enough, you're not a cool
and interesting guy just if you sing: "I love you darling" in a
song. Music business is filled with uninteresting characters
with zero charisma and still people buy their albums because
they don't know better.

The old joke is: "The artist always pays". By that I mean the
artist is the last person in the food chain that gets paid in this business but that is how it is everywhere. We
still do the most important work, creating the music. Positive thing is that Finnish music scene is getting a
worldwide recognition for the first time ever. Nowadays Finnish bands have a serious chance and potential to
come out of the shadows and break it commercially all over the world. Negative aspect is that in Finland
people don't encourage each other and you really have to believe in yourself to overcome all the bad shit
that people throw at your face. Really talented musicians sometimes are not discovered by record
companies because it is "who you know that gets you through". So you need connections and lots of them.

We play rock music with loud guitars and the rest of the definition is up to you.

We are rather a new band still so a lot has not changed. We are trying to create a bit harder and edgier
sound, I think.

Our first EP is very good. In the future we still want to have more punch, sweat and rawness into it.

About what bugs you in the night, the overall shit that fucks your brain day and night, love in life and why we
hate to live in it. At best, humans are so fucking average. Evolved species, yeah right. We look at the world
with lots of criticism.
- 113 -
Ouch, this is difficult. Ok, I will say: The Flame, since I wrote it mostly. It really depends on the mood, for
example Bitter Life is great too. No, forget what I just said, I love them all.

Live, probably. I mean studio is great too if what comes out of there is good. There are good sides in both of
them. It is like, in studio you are working and live performance is the celebration of the songs. Studio and live
performances beats regular jobs always!
The best moment is when all the pieces come together and you realize that the song is ready. Or, when you
discover a brilliant new melody and you go: This is the best I have ever made! Many times it is not the best
song you made but it's still rewarding.
song?
Ok, I am gonna give you a stupid answer: Go To Hell, by Alice Cooper.

Internet can bring people together from all over the world and it's a great channel for bands to promote their
stuff. So here it comes, my shameless promotion, check The JADE website: http://www.thejadenet.com The
illegal downloading is also a problem and there are massive amounts of untrustworthy information on the
internet. You have to be careful what to believe.

We are now in a recording process. Next weekend I'm singing the vocals to our new songs which sound
really hot! We're trying to find a suitable record company/distributor for our new music. Few big companies
have already been interested but we are now taking offers. If somebody doesn't understand The JADE's
excellence, it's their misfortune and not ours. And if you dislike me or my music and you show it to me, it's
also fine. I love to fuck with people that fuck with me and still you and I are entitled to own opinions. Our first
EP can be bought from www.Recordoffice.net. Go and get yours.
- 114 -
Varjo
Antti from Varjo

created?
Varjo was formed in early 1996 by
Henry Waldén and Antti Lautala
(myself). I had an idea of forming a
gothic rock/post punk band. But there
wasn't many people around at that time
who was into that kind of music. It was
very unpopular to like that kind of music
in early/mid-90's in Finland. Henry was
a friend of mine from the school days.
We used to go to same school when we
were kids in Heinola; a little village near
Lahti. I found out that he was into that
kind of music too, but couldn't play any
instrument. I had 2 electric guitars, I lent
another to him. So he could practice
playing. There was also another guy
called Jussi who was our mutual friend and played bass with us in the beginning, but there was still a major
problem. No matter how hard we tried we couldn't find a drummer. It was the hardest part for us, because we
wanted a drummer who could play tribal tom-tom beats. All the drummers we knew, didn't have a slightest
idea what the hell was that. They were into mainstream music of that day and tribal drumming was
something they haven't even heard about. So we bought a drum machine Yamaha RX5 and programmed all
our song into it. That's how it all started.

Henry Waldén came up with a name Varjo. We were considering some other names too, but they were very
stupid and Varjo sounded best. Varjo means as a shadow in English. We thought it was a good name to a
gloomy band.
There are many artists and bands who have a major influence in my life and in my work. To name a few,
maybe the biggest musical influence in my life is Glenn Danzig, he exploded my mind when I was 12 years
old. That happened in the late 80's, the first time I heard The Misfits. After that nothing was how it used to be.
From that day started my fanatical collecting for the stuff by Misfits, Samhain and Danzig. Especially The
Misfits (the original one, NOT the 90's re-union version) and Samhain are huge influences to me as a person
and as a mucisian. Glenn Danzig's bands influences are not so clearly heard from Varjo's music, but they
haunt there in the background. There's a lot of other bands and artists who are in a way or another a major
influences into Varjo's music too. To list a few of those important acts: The Cure, Cocteau Twins, Brian Eno,
Slowdive, Durutti Column, Southern Death Cult / Death Cult / (early) The Cult, The Church, Bauhaus, The
Stooges, Danse Society, Joy Division, Amebix, Killing Joke, Monster Movie, The Smiths, Danse Society, The
Chameleons.and many more.
The negative aspect is that it's very hard to play in a band as a job in Finland. There's only the most popular
ones who really get payed that much of playing gigs that they don't have to go to daily work. It's very usual
that people who play in a band are in daily jobs somewhere else and in the weekends play gigs with the
band.
A positive aspect in as being as Finish "musician" is that this is so small

country that if you play marginal music as we do. There's not much competitioners. We are quite alone
playing this kind of music in finish and in Finland. Nowadays there's only one goth group in Tampere, who
sings in Finish too. It's called Suruaika. In the 80's there where more bands who played that kind of stuff in
finish and made records, but even then there wasn't many.
- 115 -
We play music that is influenced by 80's gothic rock/post punk movement mixed with Brian Eno's
atmospheric landscapes and ethereal guitars and thundering tribal beats.

In the beginning we were more noise oriented. We used small 20 watts Gorilla amps turned to max and firing
hellish feedback. We wanted to achieve a total wall of noise like The Jesus And Mary Chain had in their LP
"Psychocandy." All that hosted with raging tribal beats by the drum machine and tuneless vocals. Nowadays,
we have a living and breathing drummer and I've been told that I have learned to sing. Our guitars are also
more echoed now and we use feedback fire as an effect not the whole thing anymore.

We have grown old and boring, har-har! No, all the shocking elements doesn't make any sense when it
becomes a standard. You have to look for new challenges. When we started and now the most important
thing is still that you've got to have good songs. If you don't have, the production doesn't save it. You can't
bake a blueberrypie from shit. Today, Varjo is more interested in creating different atmospheres. Ethereal,
minimalistic soundlandscapes.

Lyrics in our songs reflects the atmospheres in our songs and we use vocals as an instrument. Not like
traditional storytelling way. Lyrics might be abstract, hypnotic repeatings or just another layers of melody. We
don't use singing as a leading instrument in our music. I'd like to think that for exsample French people could
listen to our music, like I can listen Cocteau Twins. They used to sing in language that Elizabeth Fraser had
created by herself. It distantly sounded like English but wasn't. It just sounded good and they used her voice
as an instrument for melodies. Of course the words were very clear to Elisabeth, but listeners didn't
understand what she was singing. I'd like think that our music could be universal as theirs are.
These moods and melodies we handle in our songs are universal and there are no language barriers. We
sing in finish and that could be quite exotic too.
Our music operates in the same ways like ambient music. We build atmospheres. All the instruments are
equal and all of them concentrate in the atmosphere of the song.

It various, but now my favourite Varjo song is "Vaellamme rakkauden soilla." It is from our new album
"Muistijälkiä." I think it represent very well what kind of music Varjo plays and I think it's one of the best
songs we have written so far!

I like both ways. I think recording new songs in the studio is highly inspiring. All the pieces of puzzle finally
finds their places and you can be part of it. It's very stressing, but at the same time totally satisfying. Playing
live is a very different vibe. It's more about performance, not just playing. At the best concerts you lose a
sense of time and space. That's how it should be all the times, but it's very hard because in every song you
have to dive into these moods, which can be very extreme.
It's a fantastic feeling when you have made a song at home and then go to rehearsals. The first time when
you play the song through and all the guys know what are their places in the song. It's a great feeling to hear
the song that has haunted in your head. Similar feeling is the moment when you mix a new song in a studio
and you make the final changes and hear that all the things just click. It's finally ready and kicks ass! That's
fantastic.
song?
There are so many songs I could call the best song. It's absolutely impossible to just name one. So, I'll
mention couple of songs which I could call the best. Slowdive's cover version of Syd Barrett's "Golden Hair."
Durutti Column's "Never known", Brian Eno's "An Ending (ascent), The Cure's "The Figurehead", The
Church's "Under the milky way". I could go on with this list forever. But anyway here's few songs I think are
worth of listening.
- 116 -
I think internet is kind of a revolution. It's so much easier to get in contact to people all over the world. It's
also an easy way of hearing new music in a good and bad way. It can be a good way of promoting your
band, but it can also be ripping off. If people just download music to their computers for free and don't buy
records. As an artist I think the music is much more than just a mp3 at your computer. I think the record and
sleeves and all the songs there is, is the complete thing and that should be taken as a piece of art. Not as an
icon in your desktop.

We have just finished our new album's tour. Next we are going to concentrate in writing new songs and
practicing them.
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Rendez-vous
Rendez-Vous was created by juffi (the king) and
Kilmister (Kimmo) at halloween 2002, They had
talked about forming a band sooner but halloween
was the first time possible to have first rehersals and
they recorded the song "viime yönä" at Kilmisters
home studio..The drummers have changed along the
way were on our third now..Juffi & Kimmo had Iwor
along next who brought his old friend Fabio along on
keyboards and our drummer came in the band
last..Tommy had played with Iwor on other bands
and came to rendez-vous march 2005...

It's actually taken from our singers (amongst others)
favourite band's "Tehosekoitin" album cover (Rock n' roll monster movie show)..The word just looked cool
and we did'nt have better ideas..:)
Juffi: Tehosekoitin, Mötley crue, pyhät nuket, destination X, etc.
Kimmo: Guns n' roses and many finnish old school punk bands
Fabio: White shit, väliliha girls and all other tribute bands
Tommy: Kingston wall,pohja + tieteen kuvalehti
Iwor: D.A.D, Nick cave, Thee aerodynamics, Alice Cooper and The Lords Of The New Church..Amongst
others
Positives are that finland is very popular now on the music bizzz but that doesen't actually help us very
much, we singing in finnish and so on...I think that may be the negative side..Nobody really understands
finnish in other countries do they?

Glampunkrock.can't think of a better word for it. You try.

More to the punk.

we don't like whimpy songs.

Kill, sex and feeling sick..

"Mua ällöttää" & "antaa palaa", their the songs that tell most about our attitude to music.

live is best!!!! we have fun in the studio too wondering about wheres Tommy but on gigs it's even more fun!:)
Kimmos best songs come in one day prosess but Juffi and Iwor prefer making songs together tired or
hyperactive.
song?
Right now? hard question.. Iwor says "kikkelinpoistoblues", nobody else responds...
- 118 -
Easy to do things and get them done much quicker than without..

Well, the first record is the biggest now, and everything around it: music videos, interview etc.
- 119 -
Scaramangas
We have known each other since we were
teenagers from school.We all shared similar
taste in music and got together as a band.

We took the name Scaramangas from Francisco
Scaramanga who is the arch villain in The Man
With The Golden Gun. I guess we were into
James Bond at the time. We had songtitles like
Pussy Galore and Honey Rider too.

At the beginning it was bands like Radiohead
and Smashing Pumpkins. After that we listened
to popbands like Supergrass and Jellyfish. We started to find The Scaramangas sound when we got more
into The Doors, Beatles, and a quite unknown Swedish band called Theo's Act.
We´re pretty isolated up here in Finland and there's alot of water surrounding us. This means that it is more
difficult for us to go abroad to play shows and it also means that all the great bands that play shows in
Sweden don't necessarely come here. But that can hopefully be turned in to a positive thing, now we have to
make greater music so we can fill the void.

Alternative Lounge meets psychedelic rock.

It is more mature and experimental these days. We used to play quite happy popsongs but grew a bit tired of
that.

Well our music tastes evolve and we just try to do music that we like at that moment. The current "thing" can
last for a short while or it can stay with us forever. We are constantly trying to make better music and not
care too much about what we have done before or what people might expect from us. We just want to make
good music.

We are trying to keep the lyrics on a more abstract level. Sometimes it is just playing with words and finding
something that sounds musical regardless of the meaning. The next album will probably have dirty and
perverse lyrics

Probably Even Cole. It was concieved on such an early stage in our carrier and yet turned out to be a long
time favourite. It still has all the elements that we enjoy in a song. It has a certain Scaramangas vibe.

To use the words of a famous finnish icon... 50/60. We enjoy playing good shows and being creative in the
studio. The ideal would of course be to find a good balance between the two. It can be equally rewarding if
all works out well and frustrating if it doesn't.
We use recording as part of the composing process. This means that sometimes a song can be finished on a
demo before the band knows how to play it. The best moment is of course when we play it together and you
realize that everything works out even better than you expected.
- 120 -
song?
Jeppe: My opinion keeps changing every week or so but I think Glen Campbells Wichita Lineman takes just
a close victory over Nancy Sinatras and Lee Hazelwoods Summer Wine
Joonas: I used to have a ritual that on every new years eve i'd put on a
song. And the song that i've played three times is Smashing Pumpkins - 1979
Kim: Nickelback - How you remind me
Matias: Serge Gainsbourg, Bonnie and Clyde
Marvin: Russian Hill by Jellyfish is one of my all time favourites and There is a light that never goes out by
The Smiths probably one of the best pop songs written.

Well a lot of people have found our music via the internet and that is great. The internet is like water you
can't survive without it.

At the moment we are rehearsing and arranging tracks for our second album. Hopefully the launch of that
album will get us abroad and play some show. it would be really nice to get to tour europe.
- 121 -
Rattus
Jake from Rattus

created?
Me and VP, the drummer, started to
play together at 1978. We started with
covers songs of punk bands like The
Damned and Sex Pistols. After playing
some weeks we asked Tomppa to join
the band and first he was not very
interested of the thought. Then we
asked him to come and listen our
playing and we played The Damned´s
New Rose to him. Right away he told us
that he would join the band.

coming from?
It comes from the album of The
Strangles, Rattus Norveigicus. We took the first word Rattus Which is latin and means a rat.
First there was The Damned, Sex Pistols, The Stranglers, The Clash, Stiff little fingers and so on. When we
heard the band called Discharge we found our spirit from HC punkrock.
Our kind of band cannot live only for music. There is not enought crowd for buying records or come to see
gigs. Good point is cos of that we can do the music we want to and we don´t have to think of our living. We
couldn´t live with our music. So we have the money for living somewhere else and our music we can do as
we want to.

Nowadays it is Punk/HC punk with metal aspects.

First we played punk rock. Then we found Hc punk and after few years we turned to play metal. That didn´t
go very well and we split after 10 years playing. After 13 years we formed again and went back to punk and
hc punk.

It was kind of process which we wanted to do. We thought it would be stupid to play year after year only one
style of music.

Anti war, Anti violence, respecting the life, respecting a person, freedom and we want to kick business´s,
which goes over sense, ass.

There is not any song which goes over some other. I think the new songs we recorded latelty are very fun to
play to all of us.

The best way to make our songs alive and lots of power in them is when we play them live.
When i have got the lyrics ready for the song and found out that the music and lyrics fits well together.
- 122 -
song?
Yeah, heh heh... I have to say two: Led Zeppelin -Black Dog and The Sex Pistols -Bodies. There are about
hundred of more for to say.

I can see lots of theats with internet. In the end could be that it costs more troubles than helps the life itself.

There is a new released album of Rattus. We are doing new songs at the moment hoping we could go to
studio next year for to record them.
- 123 -
Poets of the fall
Mark from Poets Of The Fall

created?
It was one of those sweltering hot days
you don't want to spend in the
suffocating heat of a poorly
airconditioned car. Nonetheless, our
guitarist Olli and myself we're sitting in
such a vehicle, planning what we want
to do with our lives. We wrote down a
list of things we wanted to do musically.
later on we've come to think of that day,
when speaking of the birth of Poets of
the Fall. This was in May 2002

coming from?
It derives from the idea that two
opposing concepts both give meaning to
the other and together they may create an entirely new concept. There is the appealing idea of beauty and
the possibly equally fascinating idea of ugliness or decay, which when put together create an understanding
of what's valuable and what's less so... get it? It's a four word phrase that can give you a topic for long hours
of contemplation... Also we all like the mood the name sets for the music we write...
Uh, a load of them, Pink Floyd, Steve Vai, Metallica, the whole Seattle grunge thing, classical composers,
thank you very much... Live, Madonna, Tori Amos... even Def Leppard in the Hysteria days, and of course
U2 has had great influence on us... does that answer your question... I'd also like to thank Bill Watterson for
the Calvin & Hobbes comics. After reading them I was ok with myself, since I knew I wasn't the only six year
old in the world... ha ha ha...
It's a small market.

It's Hybrid Clash... which means it's got loads of melody, spiced with punkmetal and ballad pepper with a
dash ethnic sounds...

I think our tastes have broadened while simultaneously we've become more selective with what we actually
like to hear. This has also influenced our own writing.

I believe that has a lot to do with working with music... like, say, a chef wouldn't want to eat just any load of
crap on a plate, the same goes with us with music.

I tend to focus a lot on things that seem to be very common problems everywhere. I talk about love, about
being humane and finding the right angle of looking at things to find solutions, I try to give hope and
sometimes I'll state the obvious just so people wouldn't forget it, and of course there are always those who'll
hear it from me for the first time.

That varies daily, it's all really up to how I feel at any given time. From the first album, Signs of Life, I'd say
it's a song called Shallow and from the new album, Carnival of Rust, there are such songs as Desire, Roses
and Delicious, which are fun laid back songs to sing.
- 124 -
Both have their perks. In the studio I like it because I get to hear the tone of voice you're singing in and the
music you're singing to a lot better than in any live concert, but the live situation has a completely different
set of perks, the energy, the atmosphere, the audience to name but a few.
The very beginning, when the song seems to well up from the depths of my soul, new and striking. Then
there's the completion, when if successful, I'll hear exactly what I've meant when I wrote the song.
song?
No such thing as a stupid question, but neither is there's such a thing as the best song... I can name great
songs that have meant a lot to me, some still do...

The internet has it's uses. It's a good tool for spreading the word of music as well as it's good for any other
similar "mission" if you will... of course, if you're referring to piracy on the net... that sucks.

Right now getting the new album finished takes precedence over any and all of my projects... so I suppose
that's my project... although I'm looking to find a nice, warm little place somewhere in the south of France to
spend the cold cold winter months, and maybe do some hang gliding.
- 125 -
Rainbowcrash
Tommi from Rainbowcrash
created?
We have played together since we were
kids. Me And Teemu started to play
Nirvana covers in the early 90's. The
story why the three of us started to play
together was kinda strange. In 1998, Me
and Teemu were offered a big arena
sized gig in Kuopio and we needed a
bass player. That's how Markus joined
the group. The band was called
Operation spirit back then. I think
Rainbowcrash was formed somewhere
during year 2000. Last two years have
been the most busiest and musically
creative, definetely.

coming from?
Our former bandmate, Heikki, came up
with that one day. Don't know the philosophy behind that :) Maybe it got something to do with the crash of
promises or dreams...
Well, we all lived our teenage years in the early 90's so the influences from that period can't be denied. To
me, the biggest influences have been early 90's Seattle rock bands. As a trio, we all have very different kinda
influences which is cool thing when you are in a band. Allways three different perspective on things...
The road of a musician is very rocky here. We are short on venues where to play. Only few clubs per city
here so it's quite hard to get gigs, especially for the smaller bands like us. Another negative thing is the radio
stations which are very commercial. Therefore it's hard to get your songs on air.

We are melodic alternative rock. We like to paint pictures with our music.

I think it's getting more melodic and experimental. We are very openminded what comes to producing songs
and trying new instruments. In the early years, we considered ourselves only as a loud guitar-rock band but
nowadays we have cellos, sax, samplers, keyboards and whatever that suits to the mood of the song.

Listening to all kinds of music has opened our eyes, probably. The world is full of awesome instruments and
worth trying. And when you grow older, you start to see things with new eyes.

Most are about people and their lives. There's so much interesting stories out there waiting for the
songwriter...Some songs are just about the mood I have during the songwriting.

Tricky question because they all are very personal and important to me. And the favorite song changes from
time to time. Maybe new song called "Dead orchestra" from coming EP is my favorite now. The song is about
the orchestra of sinking ship, playing the concert 'till the end despite of certain death. We managed to catch
right mood to the song.
- 126 -
Live, for sure. The people in the audience is the reason why we are doing this. You see their reaction to our
music immediately
I usually sit in my room, playing and suddenly something useful comes out. I have no special moment or
mood when writing songs. Some songs have written after long jam together. That's always great feeling to
write songs by jamming together.
song?
Nutshell by Alice in Chains. There's some magigal in it...

In my opinion, internet should be considered as a great opportunity for musicians. Arctic monkeys from
England is great example how you successfull you can get by sharing your music in internet.
- 127 -
Silvio
Ilmari from Silvio
Silvio is originally a traditional teenage garageband. Jyrki and I
created it together with Mikko Toiviainen (no longer a band
member) in 1996 when I was 16 and Jyrki was 13. We played
straight rock music influenced by especially Nirvana.

There was a boy called Silvio in the hood where our band trained.
He had a funny voice that made an impact on us so we decided to
name the band after him after Verneri (my brother) had joined the
group.

life / work?
I can speak only for myself. The two big names are Nirvana and
Radiohead. However nowadays I could mention a few more: Tom
Waits, Jeff Buckley, Björk, Rufus Wainwright, Tys Tys and such
impressionists as Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy and Erik Satie
which may have influenced more than a lot in the actualmusical
compositions.

Well it's hard for me to say because I don't consider myself as a musician even if I earn a little with playing
and composing. I actually made a decision at the age of 18 that I would never become a musician. But at
least I can say that Finland is quite isolated from the rest of the Europe and the markets are very small here
so if you want to make your living here with music you will have to play various kinds of music (which is both
positive and negative).

Eventhough I don't especially like the word "art", I still would call Silvio's music "art-rock" because it propably
gives a rough image of the music.

Well, let's say that we started as an elctric guitar rock band and now we use more widely both acoustic and
electric elements. One essential change and a determinate element was that Antti took the double bass
instead of the electric bass.
However what's more important the "attitude" of the music has changed. In the beginning the music and the
lyrics were mainly anxious and the band took itself maybe too seriously. Nowadays we tend to have more
variety in the attitude. We like to tell stories and play with roles. We sometimes like to "be serious" but not to
"take ourselves too seriously". You can still hear a lot of anxiety in our music but we don't like to have the
tone of claiming anyone. And the anxiety is just one shade in the moods of our songs eventhough there are
not much songs "in major" in Silvio's compositions.

We got older.

The frequent topics are self esteem, the relationship of a parent and a child, uncertainty, fear, one's personal
picture of the world, disappointment and so on.

At the time "The Goats Are Gnawing". - Well, it's the newest and it's great. We made it together with Jyrki
and we haven't recorded it yet but I am looking forward to it. I actually like very much of our own music but I
hear it so much that i tend to like the new songs most and get bored to the old ones.
- 128 -
I really like both and can't put them in order. Sorry!
Usually there comes a certain point where you find the idea. And then you play it and if it works you usually
go wild and play it again and again. It's very similar to the feeling when you get into someone else's song.
You want to hear
it over and over again.
song?
I can answer only to the question: "What currently feels to be the ALL TIME best song?" And the answer
could now be: "I Will (Radiohead, from the album "Hail To The Thief")" It is a very simple, short and singable
song but it makes me feel as I was a 600-year-old calm but sad oracle who owns the greatest wisdom of life.

I'll have to say it again: "I don't consider myself as a musician." But as a band member and a songwriter I see
the internet as a road (someone else figured out this metaphor). You can use the roads for bringing food to
people and you can use the road to drive over people. It is not the roads fault. The hazards are vast but so
are the possibilities.
Concidering selling records I think for the bands like Silvio internet is a gift. Maybe the major labels fear it,
maybe not. I really don't know because I use internet mainly for writing mail.

Silvio is the project for me. I also like to make children's music with "Kalapojat". For earning some cash to
pay the rent I play in various bands.
- 129 -
Willycranes
Billy Hill from Willycranes
created?
The bunch of loons that was to become
Willycranes started in 1994 by Dixon,
The Rev. and me under the name Spud
because we were bored I guess.
In 1999 we changed the name to

Willycranes for some reason and
Cohones joined us in the summer of
2000 to make the line-up complete.

coming from?
I actually don't remember but I think it
had something to do with the movie
''Free Willy'' in which they lifted Willy
with cranes... or not, I really don't know...
The biggest influence of all comes from bands like The Ramones, Motörhead and AC/DC because they
made me see that good rock 'n' roll is not complicated.
Also every band who do what they do with a smile on their face, bands like Supersuckers, Dropkick Murphy's
and Turbonegro gives me inspiration .
One big positive aspect is the fans, Finland has great rock 'n' roll fans who really knows how to get down.
The negative aspect for us islanders (The Aland Islands) is the time consuming and costly distance to the
mainland.

It's been called a lot of things, but I think punk 'n' roll is closest to the truth.

It hasn't changed a lot actually and I hope it never will. We have made our own brew of musical styles that
we really dig, so why would we change? There's a lot of bands that loses the things that made them good in
the first place when they change and ''evolve''.

Anything and everything, from house paint to China Town, from rockets to relations, anything goes.

They're all my favorite songs, if a song loses our affection it's off the list!

Live! Even when we record in the studio we do as much as possible live.
Making the final adjustments and hear them become Willycranes songs during rehearsal with the boys is
always a treat.
song?
Today I'd have to go with ''Riff Raff'' with AC/DC, but ask me again tomorrow and it's most certainly a
completely different song.
- 130 -
Internet is a great tool for spreading information easy and fast to a lot of people. When it comes to the
downloading issue...I don't know, maybe I'm an old fashioned country boy but to me it's with music as it is
with booze you either make it yourself or you buy it.
On the other hand I don't think that people who download illegally do it out of cheapness, they're just lazy
and the laziness of the world is a bigger problem then illegal downloads.

Right now we're in the middle of recording our third album and that takes up most of our time at the moment.
- 131 -
Soulstab
Juho and Pekka from Soulstab

Soulstab was formed in 1999 by guitarists Matti Rautala
and Pekka Muurinen. Basic idea was write good songs
with attitude. Along the way we have gone through couple
of line up changes, but now we are sure that this is the
final line-up for Soulstab.

It kinda represents our music. Music stabbing your soul.

70's rock, Motown sound, AC/DC, Elvis, Hendrix, 80's
heavy bands.

Being a metal band would be a lot of easier here! We are
in a way the only band in Finland playing the kind of music
we play. Also Finland is a small country and in that sense
with our music our real markets would be abroad.

Rock with soul of blues. Tom Jones meets The Rolling
Stones in Detroit. Or in a nutshell: soul n' roll.

changed?
We starded as a garage rock band. Along the way the songs have become more soulful and melodic.

It was actually quite natural change. We all grew a bit tired to the garage rock kind of music and at the same
time our current singer Mikko Lagerkrans joined the band. His strong and dark voice worked much better in
the kind of songs we play nowdays.

Women in good, bad and worse

It chances every moment..

Live gigs are our passion. We are definately a live band. But studio work is ok too.
Getting it together with the whole band. Arranging the song and making it sound like Soulstab. Each band
member brings his own flavour to the song.
song?
Kirka's R.O.C.K.

It is very good way to promote your band, and get to know the other underground bands as well. And also for
a smaller band it is actually the only good way the promote and distribute your music.
- 132 -
At the moment Soulstab is the main project of each of us. We are eagerly trying to get a record deal at the
moment. So, "Hi!" to all French record labels and if you are in need of an unique and extremely motivated
band, please do contact us.
- 133 -
Valerian
Olli from Valerian
created?
I had an ad in a local music magazine
looking for other musicians, Tipi
contacted me and we started jamming
together. That´s how it all began, in the
winter of 1997. Toni hooked up with us a
couple of months later and Janne & Matti
joined the band right after the turn of the
new millenium.
So we´ve been around for 9 years now.

from?
I had a song that I showed to Tipi, it was
called "Valerian moon", he didn´t really
like the tune but he figured Valerian
would a great name for a band.
Well, I grew up listening the usual stuff kids listened back in the day when I was young, bands like AC/DC,
W.A.S.P, Guns N´Roses, Iron Maiden, Van Halen, Kiss, that sorta thing. Later on I started to find the 60´s
and the 70´s, you know, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Doors. Nowadays I don´t really
listen to that much music, radio occasionally. And Tori Amos, she´s absolutely great!
A decade ago it was a bad thing to come from Finland, today it seems like it´s Finland people are keeping
their eyes on. For example a lot of people have contacted us from the USA telling us they can´t find any
decent rockbands back home and they really are digging acts coming from Finland. I guess we keep it "pure"
here, whatever that means. But it´s really hard to say what´s positive and negative, a musician as a
profession is a tough job in itself.

Usually I don´t define it, it´s not my job to name it. It´s a job for the people who have to categorize different
things in order to make life easier for the rest of the gang. Valerian is melodic rock but that doesn´t really
explain a thing, now does it?

Well, when we started out we were pretty pop with a twist of rock in it. Today we are rock with a twist of pop
in it.

It just sort of happened. Of course, in 1999, 2000, the "old-school" rock and the 80´s hair-band sound started
to come back, and also the metal scene is very lively in Finland, those things must have affected us also and
when you hear something played a lot on the radio, later on it starts coming back to you when you write
songs. Whether you want it or not.

Loneliness, love, what´s going on with the world, murder, to not give up even if things seem bad, modern
society and its twisted phenomena. Among other things:)

There are a lot of our songs I love, "Homesick" is great to do live. "Never bring me down" has great lyrics.
New songs for the upcoming album are all my favorites!
- 134 -
Well, it depends: sometimes it´s great to play live and sometimes you absolutely hate it. Other times it´s
great to get back to the studio but sometimes the studio work is so frustrating, you need to be in top shape in
studio. On stage, if you´re feeling great and the athmosphere is good, you can get away with certain things,
like not singing in key from time to time:)
When I´m just starting out, I got a few chords and maybe a guitar intro and I start to really work them. It´s like
a journey with a destination unknown to me. It´s a sort of an adventure, what happens next, what are the
lyrics all about, where is this stuff coming from. I think at that moment I´m the most creative. Later on it´s just
mathematics and figuring out where to find the proper sound, really.
song?
Yeah, that really is a stupid question!!:) No..let me think...there are so many great songs but here´s few:
"Sympathy for the devil" by The Rolling Stones, "Welcome to the jungle" by Guns N´Roses, "I´m the walrus"
by The Beatles.

It´s a good tool to introduce new music, I think, but, like the saying goes, I guess it´s a good servant but a
bad master.

My projects? I have none, if you mean music. Valerian is a life-time project! My other projects outside music
is saving for a new bicycle, aiming for better playing in my table-tennis, trying to improve my cooking skills
and trying to be more in balance with myself, with the nature and all things around me.
- 135 -
So Called Plan
created?
So Called Plan started up in 2003, when
previously in bands, like LongBall Pride
and Sidewalk played Eero Saarikoski
(vocals, guitar), Ville Asp (drums.
vocals), Joni Saarinen (bass) and Jussi
Bang (guitar) got to know each other
and started to make music together.
In 2005, the band´s guitarist Jussi had
to start focusing more on his future
career, which resulted in him leaving the
band. Fortunately So Called Plan found
a new guitar player very soon, when an
old friend Sauli Sipilä joined the group.

coming from?
It just sounded cool. we didn´t actually spend much time with thinking the bands name..
The list would be endless so let´s just say a few: nofx, bad religion, propagandhi, good riddance, green day,
alkaline trio, nirvana, deftones, blink 182….
There´s nothing negative in being a musician cause it´s something that we have dreamed about since we
were kids.

It´s melodic punk-rock with influences of metal, rock and pop music.

It´s still heavily influenced with punk-rock but we´ve started mix the basic "punk formula" with infuences of
metal etc.

We´ve played punk rock about ten years in various bands so it´s natural to try something new. we already
have a lot of new ideas for the next album.

Songs are about the feelings and the things we´ve experienced in our lives. For example love, hate, sorrow
and joy…

It´s impossible to answer..

Definitely live. studiosessions are always nerve wrecking cause the time is limited. but when the songs are
recorded it´s very rewarding.
The whole process of composing the songs is very fun. that´s when you forget everything else..
song?
Not so stupid question but impossible to answer.
- 136 -
what the hell is "internet"

Drink, sleep, play music and try to stay alive...
- 137 -
The Props
Antti from The Props

Me and Mikko started as a duo in year 2000. It took a
while to gather a full band and to obtain a good
rehearsal place. We found our drummer Jukka via the
Internet and later on Jukka's buddy Jari joined in.

There's nothing mystical about it. We just decided that
it should be a traditional The (insert name here)s -type
of a name. The Props is also easy to pronounce for a
Finnish person.

We all have rather different backgrounds and different tastes in music in our band. When Mikko and I started
we decided to make songs that sounded a bit like Fountains of Wayne, Teenage Fanclub and Weezer.
But those aren't the only bands we like or take influences from. We listen to lots of different stuff, from death
metal to alt-country...
Here's a time for a reality check. You most likely can't make a living with playing this kind of music in Finland.
We have a small population here, so you have to really be big if you want live just by making music.
But I see that as positive thing in a sense that now we can concentrate on making just the music we like. We
don't have to think: "Will this make the charts?". We don't have to compromise. The downside is that we also
have to have a "normal" job besides music.

Pop songs played with a rock attitude. You might call it powerpop, but I think we are slightly more
melancholic than most powerpop bands.

Not much. Maybe our sound has become a bit deeper, a bit more band-oriented.

I think it's pretty natural, considering that we started playing just with two guitars. When we started playing
our songs with a full band the songs evolved to a bit rockier direction.

Mostly stories about heartaches, twisted relationships and failures in the field of love. But sometimes even
the loser gets the girl.

I think I like Manic Minor the most. It's a song that is very energetic but also very melodic. You always start to
sweat when you play that song.

Live, definitely. You need to feel the wall of sound, the sweat and the energy.
The moment you realise that this song really works. In some cases you know it instantly but sometimes it
may take while to arrange the song properly.
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song?
Motorcycle Emptiness by Manic Street Preachers.

It's a nice way for new band to distribute one's music. You can also find cool information and rumours from
the Internet. But illegal downloading is a serious threat to music industry.

We have various little side-projects and some of us play in other bands as well. But speaking of my projects,
I play old-school heavy metal in Steel Tormentor. Me and Jari are also planning to form a hardcore-
punkband called Moshing Mormon Muslims. We are serious as hell.
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The knob
Tapani from The Knob
The band was formed in Summer 2001, I (Tapani, LEad
singer and guitar player) heard that Jami (The bass
player) was thinking about forming a FinnishPunk band,
so i called Jami and said that i want to be in that band!
Since i had some history with my "older" band in this kind
of music style. Then we called Jonne (the drummer) who
Jami knew and he also joined the band. Them i knew
Tuomo (the backing vocals singer and Guitar) and called
him. I knew Tuomo from my childhood, and i knew he
played guitar. So then we went to our rehearsalplace and
started playing, then we decided to sing in english! it
seemed easier, actually in the first rehearsals we made
this song RUBBERDUCK which is actually included as
re-make in our first full lenght album that came last year
called "Something for nobody" So that is where the
journey began!

The name of the band was called LOWERCASE at first,
but then we knew that there was already bands called that. (There was like 10000000 bands called
LOWERCASE already :D ) so we just picked up a English-Finnish Dictionary, and started to put our finger to
it and then we found this word KNOB so we decided to use that. It means like DoorKNOB or in some cases
you can use it as word Head=KNOB...but then after few years we actually heard that in England´s England it
is sometimes used word for a mans...krhm...well you know...KNOB...lets say private parts :D. But we just
thought that Whattahell! it doesnt matter, the main reason we thought it means like a doorKNOB and...WE
ARE A PUNK BAND! but when you see us play or hear our music, it is like someone hits you in the head
with THE KNOB!
Well personally i like all kinds of music from ABBA to ZEPPELIN but major influences for The Knob would
probably be The Offspring (i have always been a huge fan) then bands like, Nofx, Pulley, Blink182, Green
Day, LAgwagon, Millencolin...punk bands from the "nineties" that are still going on strong! but of course there
is influences from the new punk wawe also! We like to use lots of different punk styles and combine them to
a one THE KNOB sound.
Well positive things...hmm...well it is always cool to play Shows here! it is nice to hear that people like your
music. It is always nice to have honest feedback about your work. And Live situations are usually the cool
ways to get it, the people are jumping and singing and having fun! But the negative aspects would be that
Finland is pretty small country, so there is not so much places to play shows, and it is harder to find a record
label and contacts to foreign countries. But overall the underground scene is so intense that this kind of
music goes from hand to hand. But hopefully we can someday tour all over Europe! and maybe other
countries also.

I would say it is like Melodic Pop Punk with some Skatepunk angles. Sounds pretty long, so lets say Melodic
Punk. Bands like Nofx, Lagwagon, Blink182, Green Day, Offspring combined to one!

At first we thought to sing in FINNISH as i mentioned earlier, but then we decided in the first rehearsals to
start to sing in English...but the style, well not that much, we have gotten better players, and better in writing
music. But there is still songs from the early years we play live, like for example POOPYPANTS is song that
people like, it is very silly song with silly words but there is a message hidden to it. Well people like this song,
and it is one of the FIRST songs we have made. But i`D say that we have got better during the years and we
have chabged the song style from happyPopPunk to MelodicPopPunk so the older songs were more like
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"happier tunes" and new ones are faster and more "minor chord" songs. But of course there is always the
Roots to the older stuff, and in the next album there will be also the happier songs, but also the more serious
and sadder songs.

I`d say that we have developed during the years, and the songs we made have gotten harder and
harder...we just pushed ourselves to the limit and then over it and got better as singers and players...just
natural evolution :D

I usually write the lyrics, they are not a part of my personal life or anything, they are more like a part of other
peoples personal lives. The lyrics are usually "little stories" of different people. There is positive songs of
growing up, meeting the world, having fun with your friends, but then there is also some serious stories of the
world situation, anti-war songs, anti-racist songs, and also stories of normal people struggling with their
personal lives, maybe you can find yourself in some song and hopefully the music helps you struglling trough
your problems and thinking the possible ways to make it better. The album is full of everything, it is like a full
scale of stories from pure hate to plain happiness!

Each song is a favorite. And people also like all of our stuff. But if i have to recommend our style to someone
who hasnt herad us yet, id say he should listen these 3 songs. FOOL it is like a pop/punk styled song with
nice groove, then there is NEMESIS it is like Offspring styled more FASTER and INTENSE song, and then
there is BORN TO LOSE, BOUND TO NOOSE, which is more serious lyrics and kind of a sad song of one`s
life story...

Both ways! the studio is cool because you can record nes stuff to play live! when you have released your
new songs then it is always nice to play them live. It is cool to look at people when they jump around and
have fun and like the music! We have nice amount of shows all over the finland, and even though it is hard to
get them here, we have managed to create an underground fan base and every place we play seems to
have few that know the music and they recommend it to their friends etc...that brings more people to the
show and it is always nice to pley to people!
During the process of making a songs, what is the moment that you prefer?
hmm.this is a tough one...i would have to say that there is two moments, the one is when the songs are
"ready" and you have the lyrics ready and you start to påractice them and play them more as SONGS not
just practicing the playing, but practicing the FULL SONG. And start to work with different ideas for vocals
and drumlines etc...the other bets part is when you get that CD from the pressing and it is FINALLY READY!
and you put it to your cd player and listen it for the first time! Of course after that there comes the part when
you get to hear what the people think of it.
song?
Oh My God! That`s not stupid, it is just SO HARD! THERE IS SO MANY! as i mentioned before i like all
music...but i am kind of a METAL HEAD myself and i have another band also,called CELESTY (it is Fantasy
Power Metal http://www.celesty.net ) so i would have to say that one of the most important songs in my life is
Ace`s High from IRON MAIDEN that is the main reason i started to play guitar, i hear that song first time
when i was like 4 years old and i started to play guitar when i was 12. But other songs that have meant a lot
to me are OFFSPRING songs...ALL OF THEM...and then there is a very beautiful metal ballad from
MANOWAR called Heart of steel. That is the song that will play in my funeral.

well it is a dificult situation. I kind of support the music download for little bands like us, the internet has
meant a lot to us and lots of people have found us there, and there is internet succes stories like Arctic
Monkeys whose music was on internet at first and now they sell MILLIONS, so it is a huge help for smaller
bands to come bigger. And i personally think that if you are a FAN of the band, you will buy the album. That
is what i do! For example i got the latest Lagwagon album from my friend some time ago, and i didn`t know it
at first, but when he brought it to me i noticed that it was a burned cd. So i listened to it for few days, but after
i got my paycheck at the end of the month i bought the album! because if i like the band i will buy the record,
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also my friend bought the album and threw the burned cd away!
So how should i put this...the internet listening and downloading is ok, just to find out that DO YOU LIKE
THE BAND, BUT if you like the band and want to support them in the future, YOU SHOULD BUY THE
ALBUM! but then there is of course the illegal printings of CD`S and the mass production piracy which
SUCKS because it is just a way to make money for criminal purposes like drug sales etc.

Well music is my project, hahahaha!! but Jami (our bass player) has a band that plays Finnish Melancoly
Rock, Jonne (the drummer) and Tuomo (the 2:nd guitar/singer) have sometimes some projects. And i have
another band called CELESTY, as i mentioned before, it is a Fantasy Metal band, and we have also made 2
full lenght albums. And we are going to record the third one this summer. So i have 2 active bands. But it is
always nice to play in different projects, but i`d say that Knob takes some time, so there is not always time for
everything :D
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The Blossoms
Aki from The Blossoms
Olli and Wesa got the idea in 1992, then lost it
and found it again with Aki, Jussi and Jarkko in
2003. That´s when five os us got together - more
or less by coincidence.

It comes from the hippiedreams of 90´s. Dreams
died long ago, but the name lives on. And it´s a
good name for number of reasons: It´s easy to
remember, it reminds you of summer...

Mano Negra, Duran Duran, Donna Summer, Pet
Shop Boys, Run DMC to name a few. It was also
important from the scratch to remember which
bands we hated: REM, Live, Oasis...

It´s dancemusic. We don´t care where we take
the influences for different songs as long as the
result is danceble.

We´ve become less serious. So the music is much more relaxed and happy. Also we´ve learned not to be
afraid. We are not afraid to do what we want to do. We are not afraid to be ridiculous. We are not afraid to be
laughed at. On the other hand we´ve also become much more angry. Hate is coming through our music too
nowadays.

It´s about growing up. Getting tired of acting cool or wise or adult. Life´s too short to be serious, depressed or
a heavymetaldigger.

Summer, girls & boys, redwine.

Love me for a while. It reminds me of summer, dancing and Take That.

People like us more live than on the record, but I think studiowork is actually bit more exiting than
liveperforming.
There´s not a process that I could see happening with each song. Songs come in a different situations from
different places in a different forms. It´s always a suprise. It´s always very pleasing. It´s a joy from the start till
the end.
song?
If I would be honest I´d say Johnny Cash performing ´Lucky old sun´ but I ain´t gonna be honest. So I say:
Duran Duran ´The Reflex´.

It brings more good than bad. I don´t feel sorry for the big recordcompanies. But I´m sure I´d feel different if
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Blossoms would be working for one.

Just got first album ready. Now we want to start another one.
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Overhead
Jaakko from Overhead
The three of us, me, Tarmo (piano) and Janne
(bass) had played in the same band when we
lived in Joensuu in Eastern Finland. We got
together one summer day and started writing
and jamming new music just for fun at that point.
We liked the results and when we moved to
Helsinki-area to study, we wanted to continue
that project. After finding a drummer and Alex as
our singer was Overhead finally formed.

At one point when we were yet unnamed, we
needed a name fast for a certain thing and the
name Overhead just popped from
somewhere..or went over our heads.
We all have our own favourites, and some that we all like. I like for example Deep Purple, Sabbath and Pink
Floyd. As a guitarist Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and Stevie Ray Vaughan were big influences for me. Also for
example Angelo Badalamenti is a composer that I really like.
Well Finland isn't a very big country population-wise. And as we are an artistic rather than a commercial
band, there are somewhat limited possibilities in some ways.

It's melodic, emotional and thematic progressive rock, that varies from gentle ambient atmospheres via more
traditional rock to heavier moments. Our purpose is to make unbounded, artistically satisfying music that is
worthy to the listener.

I guess you could say that the compositions and the playing has matured as we have. We have become
more confident to try, explore and realize different musical ideas and take them to their extremes.

We've advanced in composing and gained more and more experience and certainty in playing together.

Our singer and lyricist Alex can give more specific answers. But they deal with humanity, mostly from the
point of view of the individual, but also the other way around. They include thoughts and troubles of a human
mind and wonderings of the realities and illusions of life.

I like performing the title track 'Metaepitome' as it is very versatile and you get to play different kinds of
musical styles. Also many people seem to like the song very much.

Playing live is very much fun, you feel very energetic and happy and the audience gives you good vibes. But
playing in studio can also be fun, as you're creating something new and interesting.
Coming up with a new idea and hearing that it works very well, whether in the composing or recording state.
And hearing as each of us deliver our contributions and great new ideas and then hearing the finished song
for the first time.
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song?
So many songs have had an effect or moved me for different reasons. To name a few, live versions of
Sabbath's Heaven and Hell and Rainbow's Catch the Rainbow are really big for me.

For us it is very very important, it helps getting contacts, visibility, and communicating with people all around
the world. It certainly makes piracy easy but more importantly helps us in spreading our music and
knowledge of the band all around.

Currently we have started working on our third album and are composing and demoing songs for it. We will
play in Germany and Belgium in May and are very much looking forward to that.
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Pikku kukka
Emilia from Pikku Kukka
created?
Pikku Kukka was born in January 2002.
Me and Lotta were spending the
evening in a pub in Kouvola. For some
reason we had got fed up with all the
noise and angst that almost every band
produces. We wanted to do something
different: make music that doesn't tell
sad stories or make you cry and above
all isn't noisy! At that time we played in a
band called Womb, which was an all-girl
rock group. That didn't satisfy our needs
and we wanted to do something
completely different from anything we had done before. So we started to make songs together and recorded
them by ourselves. After a while we wanted to try the songs out with a band and it sounded quite good!

We decided to name our project Pikku Kukka, because we didn't want our name to be in any way mysterious
or artistic. We wanted something naive, kind and a bit simple minded.
Me and Lotta write all the songs for Pikku Kukka and quite often we compile both of our ideas and a fine
song is born. I'm influenced by powerful female artists such as PJ Harvey, but I don't think it affects my own
songwriting. Our music is so different from hers. Most of all I'm interested in different kinds of melodies and
creating harmonies between them. I like music that's not too straightforward: there should always be
something going on below the surface. We both also like Finnish composers such as Chydenius and
Merikanto.
In Finland it's quite easy to get contacts with people in the music business, because the scene really isn't
that big. Still it's hard to get your songs played for example in the radio because of the playlists. Luckily there
are still a few playlist-free radio stations. Also the gig culture is a bit odd: even on Monday evenings it is hard
to make people understand that our gig starts at nine o'clock in the evening! Everyone comes in late
because they're used to bands starting to play before midnight. If we can do anything about it, we'll definately
start playing early.

Our style is that we don't have one. When I or Lotta bring a song to the rehearsal no-one knows what comes
out of it. We always work songs up as a band and if we feel like it, we'll make it a bossa nova or bluegrass or
waltz. So style is optional but always dashing!

Though Pikku Kukka is only a toddler, we have gone through some changes in our style. First of all, the
principle we had at first: no drums, no electric guitars and so on, was soon cast aside. We found out that we
didn't want to whisper out our words, we wanted to shout and laugh! So that was it then, a musical volte-
face.

I guess we didn't know at first what we wanted. First we even planned that we wouldn't do gigs at all! Now
that's the best we know! We also didn't know yet how great we would sound with a real band.

Usually our songs tell about us. We get our ideas from ourselves and our feelings. They might not be stories,
just a few lines maybe. Sometimes we don't even care about the lines but it's all about a few words. One
single word can be important, there is a bit of a punster in both of us. That's one of the reasons we write our
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songs in finnish. We just couldn't do the same job in english.

I love them all of course! When performing live it's always fun to make people dance to our disco beat, but I
also like to let our voices lead the way in the more ethereal songs.

We're at our best when performing live, though rehearsing is fun and it's always rewarding to work in a
studio. I love to be on stage and play and sing, it always feels that our show ends too quickly. I've heard that
we're also fun to watch!
The first moment when I start to hear a melody in my head with all the instruments. That's when I know there
is a good song trying to get out. If I just sit down and start forcing a song it won't work. Quite often a song
starts to play in my head at school, so I have created a way to write the melodies down with different kinds of
dots and curves.
song?
That's just impossible to say, I enjoy different things in different compositions. For example, there is
something in classical music that moves me the way pop music never does. Right now I'd tell you to listen to
one classic and one pop tune: Vivaldi's Nulla in mundo pax sincera, because I think it's breathtakingly
beautiful and Matti Johannes Koivu's Automiesten rahat, because Koivu is a wonderful songwriter and I love
his voice.

For new arrival bands internet is a great way to make yourself known. There are many forums where you can
leave your band information and some music clips. Also all the online magazines are a way to get
recognition. Of course there are the negative things also, all the bittorrent-loading programs and such, but as
a novice band member I find the internet a fine place to start promoting yourself.

We've been working with Pikku Kukka's second ep and it should be available in the end of March. Now we're
hoping to get a lot of gigs for the spring and summer. I'm already planning some new recordings with visiting
musicians, but right now we're concentrating in rehearsing new songs and getting the band in good shape for
gigs.
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Ultranoir
Anton from Ultranoir
UltraNoir started with a classic formula: being
frustrated the music around, being frustrated the
things around, being frustrated of no-one staying
aloud of such frustrations. This happened in early
2000, the current frontline started gathering during
the autumn 2003

UltraNoir was thought as a name for era of 20th
century turning into 21st; blind seeking for
comfortable numbness whlist it is almost too late to
build up another day.

From pop music Manic Street Preachers, Suicide
and Public image ltd are the only interesting ones.
Cure, Joy Div. etc. have done fine tunes, ofcourse,
but they don't represent anything that innovative anymore. Aren't every band in NME into "post-punk" today?
The only positive is that no-one is censoring what you're doing. Negative things are countless list, but let's
say people here are stuck with braindead hairdo-hard rock and Finnish record companies are totally
unwilling to try anything brave. Finland is always three years delayed.

We say post-punk, because it says nothing. You see, playing emotional music with political aspects drives
you into a vast gab where you are too punk for pop, too disco to punk, too rock to electro.

The songs have shortened and grown more bitter. Getting simplier and more straight-forward is leading us
more electronical yet more punkish. UltraNoir is growing like a person between ages of 18 and 25.

Maybe too much has happened and sleeping is impossible. The more you move, the more you see and the
more you know... it's about getting more misantrophic yet humanitarian.

To put it into short form: Inequality and the fascist atmosphere embracing western world. Endless stretching
between despair and hope. And beneath the remains there is a broken part called heart.

The next one we will write. But from the ones already done "No human detected", it crawled up itself, it really
captures a certain sensation almost perfectly. As it best music or words must come, they aren't built up.

Live, absolutely. Music has been here always, studios are abomination. Wishing to be able touring endlessly
The need to make the song, when you think that song with that context must exist. It's a moment when you
feel yourself somehow needed -no matter it's probably illusion.
song?
That is a good question, actually. From all, let's say "True faith" by New Order, it is passionate enough to
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make five years old dance and cry (been there, done that)

It has put music business into trouble and that is good.

With Jan we have Kuilu UK, then I'm also as a bassist in Cherry Stained. HS is something like finnish
substite for Suicide and Einstürzende neubauten
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Pestida
Jari from Pestida
In a sense it started already sometime in 1995 through a
need to create music for the poems that I was writing.
However, Pestida as a band was formed in 2000, and
since then it has gone through numerous line-up
changes. The current line-up, which finally feels like the
right one, dates from 2005.

Heh, originally it comes from a symbol-laden dream I had
sometime in 2000, where it was a name of a person. In
addition to this , and the fact that I like the sound of it, the
reason for calling this band Pestida is that it is (and will
hopely always remain) a name meaning exclusively this
particular band, because it doesn't mean anything else
(except in Indonesia).

When I started out grunge was the big thing, so I'd have
to say bands like Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins etc.
- but also britpop. Particularly I guess Billy Corgan's
songwriting has always impressed me. And then there's
Radiohead and so on, but influences change all the time.
On the other hand, the other members of the band have
at times very different taste in music, and this is what
makes things interesting.
In a small country where there is almost an oversupply of bands, it's not easy to get gigs, let alone make a
living with music. On the other hand, because of this, the overwhelming majority of the bands are not "in it for
the money", and thus many find the courage to try to do something interesting instead of playing it safe.

The term "alternative" doesn't really mean anything anymore, and grunge is kind of gone too. I used to call it
melancholic grungepop, but nowadays you could add a few modifiers to that and call it quirky, sometimes
bordering on progressive, melancholic grungepop.

It started out as early 1990s riff-based grunge, from that went to more pop-oriented and lyrical alternative
pop/rock, and finally started to add the riffs and rhythmical explorations to the pop songs. Nowadays we
experiment a lot, and the present rhythm section brings in quirky rhythmical patterns which we incorporate
into melodic pop songs. But really the song is the thing, we do whatever the song seems to require.

Learning over time, and the need to experiment so that we won't end up writing the same song over and over
again, like so many do.
What are the topics you treat in your songs?

It ranges from introspective, impressionistic, symbolistic, sometimes even abstract poetry to human
relationships and social phenomena. As far as the more usual subjects of human relationships, love etc. go,
one of my objectives is to bring a bit of magical realism into the way they are written about. My worst fear is
that someday I'll realise I've written nothing more than the usual "Oh baby I love you so" and "Oh baby why
did you have to leave me" -songs that most pop/rock songs in the end are. There are a lot of people in our
songs, and quite often the characters have real-life counterparts, but the songs have not really been written
to talk about, or to criticise how those people behave, but to explore the phenomena behind such behaviour
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on a more general level.
Ultimately, I like to leave space for the interpretation of the listener, because that is what kind of songs I like
myself.

This changes all the time, the most recent songs are usually always the favourites because there is
something new and challenging in them, as our songs tend to be very different from each other. Right now
it's probably a song called "After the Structure" because of it's abstract lyrics, soothing melody, and the fact
that it's still kind of "under construction" and damn difficult to play cleanly with it's rhythmical shifts.

There's always the excitement of performing live that you want to return to where it's all about the spur of the
moment, whereas when you record, you can shape the songs and decide what kind of a permanent mark
you want to leave. So it's really both, one compliments the other.
It varies, it can be the lyrical inspiration when you come up with an idea, or just a few lines of lyrics and start
working on the whole. Or it can be the moment when the lyrics and the music suddenly "fit" together even
though when you started it seemed like there was no way to combine the two. Or, and nowadays this is quite
often the case as the band has become a tight unit capable of creative cooperation, it can be a moment
when a jam suddenly evolves into a complete song and it just all makes sense.
song?
That's a really hard one, and again I'd have to say it varies depending on the day, time of the day, your
mood, etc. But I'll just say that "Soma" by Smashing Pumpkins is one brilliant song.

As far as I'm concerned, it's a great way of spreading awareness of your band, and it's a media through
which I've discovered some great bands. I understand that if you strive to make a living with the music, it can
be a two-edged sword, but as far as our kind of music and our philosophy of making it goes, it's a great
media.

Currently we are working on recording some new material and looking to play some gigs in Helsinki and
possibly also in some other cities in Finland during the late spring and summer.
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Sick Nancy
Johnny from Sick Nancy
Somewhere in mid 90's i met a very drunk girl in a bar. She
was claiming to be a great guitar player, so she became to
be our vocalist...??? I found few more guys for the band
and that was a starting point. After that, many changes in
members, but now it looks fine.

People, at least Americans are weird enough to love serial
killers like Lillian Axe and Molly Hatchet, so Sick Nancy is
one more to that "list". Actually, it comes from the lyrics on one of ouf songs, but the main idea is the same.
I guess all of them. For example: Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Neil Young, Dream Theater, Spock's Beard,
Iron Maiden... you name it. And of course our parents.
Finland is small country. So, the circle around music business is small also.
That could be a positive or a negative thing.

Stadium-rock, with little spices from punk and progressive rock.

From progressive punkrock to more listener friendly stuff.

Aging.

uhh... from groupsex to radio that wants to destroy itself.... Everything!

Push. It's always a last song in live performances and really fun to play. After that you're so exhausted, that
playing is impossible... A FAST one.

Both. At the moment in studio, but we're waiting for summer gigs.
Making lyrics. Always a blast!
song?
There's so many...The Who - Baba O'Riley?

For small bands, great place. For big one's, a pain in the A.

Currently we're making a new album and frist Sick Nancy video, called My Medicine.
Side projects "Arrowfly" and "Freaks United" are in .... slow motion.
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Verner
Toni from Verner
I started singing and writing lyrics about four
years ago. When I started I did songs for my
lyrics by myself. the music that i did was not so
good or "rich" so I thought that It would be better
to try and find some real musicians to do the
difficult job like composing and playing the music.
I wanted to focus to the lyrics and singing. So I
put a application to the internet to find players.
And I found them. It didn`t take so long when we
had the whole band together.

It is my grand father`s name. I haven`t met him
because he died when my father was ten. I heard
that he liked to play violin and he wanted that
some of his children would become singer. That
didn`t happen so I think I will do that and at the
same time honor his memory.
I like Atomic Swing, The Flaming Sideburns, The Soundtrack Of Our Lives, The Doors and some finnish
bands like Tehosekoitin. I don`t want to copy them but if you hear the influence of those bands in our music
it`s okay.
We have only 5 million people here so there aren`t so many record buyers or listeners. It`s hard to make a
living out of that, but it also means that it`s easier to get to the top.

I would call it rock music. But usually I hear that it is finnish rock or finnrock (Suomirokkia). It is hard to say in
english but we have a word to define rock played in finnish. The word is kind of old fashion and I don`t like it
because we do something new. I would say that we do it in our language but it`s something people would
call universal rock music. I know that it does sound so new but that is the point. I want it to be timeless too.

When we started we played songs that I had made. Now we have our own songs, the real Verner songs and
I think that finally we have found our way. We have found that Timeless Universal Rock Music.

When five people go and do music and there is no certain leader, the influences of each one of us put
together creates something new. When we don`t force it, it will come.

What it is like when you are young person in Finland. We have good social care here and everything is fine.
So everything can`t be fine. That is what it is all about. What a hell I am doing here? Why I don`t have to do
anything if I don`t want? Why it`s so easy? And of course the usual stuff people fall in love and divorce and
blaa blaa blaa.

Usually the favourite song is the song that we have just made. The newest is the best.

I like to perform live. That`s the idea of playing music. The studio is something you have to do to promote
your music. But if I could earn my living just by performing live it would be great.
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The moment when you have a brand new song. Just when the whole consept is clear. You can perform it but
every time it`s something different. That is the best part.
song?
Back Door Man performed by the Doors.

Well, first we had a radio and then we had a television. Now we have the internet. It is the way to present the
stuff you do. If there is internet we use it. If there wouldn`t be internet we would find some other way.

I don`t know if I understand the question? Our project is to be the number one finnish band of all times.
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KIA
Joonas from KIA
Kia formed in the spring of 2001. Our first lead guitarist
Sami and me had been playing together in a band at
school but it didn't really go anywhere so we asked our
friend Matti to help us put together a demo with him on
bass and drums. He'd always liked the songs we were
messing around with at school so he was into the idea
but added his personal touch to the whole thing and
brought another friend of his, Karza along to play
drums. When Sami left to study abroad another friend
of ours, Tuukka was drafted in as first guitarist before
we played our first gig in the fall of 2001.

I think it was me just browsing through my almanac in a
library when I was supposed to be studying for some
maths exam or whatnot. I just ended up looking through a list of finnish girl's names instead and stumbled
upon Kia. I thought it was a beautiful name and immediately suggested it to the guys and they thought it was
a cool name too, so there you go I guess. Nothing to do with the Kia Car Company obviously, I mean who
seriously names their car after the abbreviation for Killed In Action; sort of paints a gruesome picture of the
car you're driving, doesn't it? Haha...
Loads, but the first person to make me pick up a guitar and try and write songs as cool as his was Noel
Gallagher of Oasis. That doesn't really reflect in the music of Kia though, I think far more significant
songwriting influences would have to be nowadays people like Billy Corgan of the Smashing pumpkins, Dave
Grohl from the Foo Fighters and Billy Gould of Faith no more. I'm actually influenced a lot by the people I
play in a band with, too. It's important for me to keep an open mind and try out new things and the guys I'm in
a band with add a lot to the mix. They all got their personal musical preferences and I love to try and
combine those a little in my songwriting.
Haha, where to start... Well, for starters, everyone we've met on the road and on gigs have been nothing but
cool to us, it's always been a blast to do gigs and a bit of touring, there's always a definite positive vibe going
on when we're out to play a gig. There's always plenty of negative aspects too of course, one in Finland's
case being money which is the primary thing every finnish musician I know moans about too. But I don't
really mind about the money as right now music's not my primary source of income. The first thing that
springs to mind here is rather that there is a definite lack of chance for a lot of bands, especially in musical
genres that are not the most hip at the moment.
It's really really difficult for a band to get a good gig for example where there's actually people other than your
closest friends attending. It takes a lot of hard work and endurance but that still necessarily won't get you any
further. In Finland the frustration when trying to accomplish your dream can easily wear you down and make
you want to quit.

I always like to think we make music for the common man, people like you and me. We don't wear costumes
on stage, we're not trying to be trendy. We're just out there to make music everyone can enjoy without
prejudices. Stylewise I think Kia is a cocktail of 90's music ingredients. There's a bit of Stone temple pilots, a
bit of Foo fighters... I don't know, it's just when I listen to 90's stuff there's this certain vibe of confidence and
humour that I'm trying to pin down here. I guess we're a bit more cheery than the average finnish singing
band, too. It's very difficul trying to define your own style, I guess you have to hear it to believe it, haha...
During the years how has your musical style changed? /How do explain these changes?
The major shift in our musical style I think was when Tuukka joined as lead guitarist. He's more of a rocker
than Sami, and is always churning out these ultracool rock riffs. When he joined something in my head just
clicked and I went "Aaah, this is where it's gotta go". Before we used to just play through our songs paying
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more attention to vocal and guitar harmonies but nowadays it's a bit more edgy, there's less chord
sequences and more pure riffage. It's taken us a while to get our own sound down as well, but recently we've
finally started to get it right I think. There's more of our own uniqueness in the music now.

The good ole cliche of singing about life and love works fine for me too I guess. But I'm more of an
observationist as a lyricist, I don't really sing about myself but more about things that move me in general,
that I care about. I'm virtually unable to write a downright lovesong, too. I rather write about different
complications in relationships, those are things I find interesting. "I love you" is a line I can't imagine myself
writing. What rhymes with that? Absolutely next to nothing...Eerrm...

Good question. I guess it would have to be a new song we've been working on at rehearsals called
"Harlekiini". It's just a 4 minute tour-de-force rock song with a nice catchy chorus and otherwise edgy riffage.
It's just the joy of playing through a song sweating like a pig trying to get the notes right and after the last
note has been played bursting out laughing with the rest of the guys at the sheer madness of the song. Good
stress reliever, too!

Definitely live. We've always been a live band in my head. It's surprisingly difficult to catch the energy we've
got live onto tape when we're in the studio. With our new demo "Vuotaa" I think we've come pretty close to
catching that energy, but that's probably because we got our live mixing "professor" Kiffe to record and
produce it. He just seemed to know the buttons in need of pushing when it came to getting it done properly in
the studio.
There's plenty. The writing in itself just ends up being a total blur to me afterwards, but just sitting on the
edge of the sofa messing about on the guitar and then suddenly there's something there that immediately
fires up the immagination. It's one of the greatest feelings in the world when that happens. Usually I then
rush to the computer to record it so I won't forget it and maybe put a bit of an arrangement together. Still I
think the best feeling has to be when we really get a song down at rehearsals with the guys. When
everything just finally falls into place and it takes up a life of it's own. I don't like keeping songs to myself
really, I put them all out there. If the guys turn it down I'll forget about it or try and make something else out of
it.
song?
Not a stupid question at all, just a very very very difficult one! I don't think I can restrict myself to one though;
I'll go with Porcupine tree's "Collapse the light into Earth", Filter's "I'm not the only one" and because I don't
want to come across as too much of a softy I'll go with the Foo fighters' "Wattershed". There's probably 10
that would still make that list, but hey, what can you do?

The popular saying from musicians regarding this issue is probably "It's both a blessing and a curse". I don't
know, I've only found it useful til date. It's great for discovering new bands and that sort of stuff, it also brings
the artist closer to the listener which I personally think is nice, but I understand why certain artists like to keep
a bit of "mystery" to their music and their doings.
Downloading is a huge issue with musicians when it comes to the internet, but I guess I'm kinda old school
the way that when I hear a good tune I go to my local record store and buy it and don't download it. But I
think downloading is definitely something that's come here to stay and instead of trying to fine all "illegal"
downloaders I think it would be more useful to try and add more value to the legal downloads, like adding
artwork, lyrics etc to the downloadable music file. The technology is there, the rest is pure laziness. The big
music business seems to have a bit of a snobbish attitude towards the listener as it thinks it can dictate our
music preferences when it should be the other way round. But I guess the music business is at a sort of
crossroads, although I don't think it's all that dramatic as it's led out to be. Some good moves have to be
made on the industry's side and it'll fall right back into place again. They've been stale and stagnant for long
enough I think.

We've just finished shooting a video for our new promo single "Vuotaa" and I hope it's gonna be up soon on
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our myspace-account at http://myspace.com/kiainfo . Furthermore we're probably going to start recording our
debut album later this year and are currently searching for labels interested in publishing us and that sort of
jazz. You're also more than welcome to check out our website http://kia.salaisuus.fi for further updates on
projects and stuff like that!
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Takuumiehet
Pablo from Takuumiehet
10 years ago with my work mate

From the russian children's book by Eduard
Uspenski

Basicly all the goood & personal musicians from
the "roots" genre ( blues,soul,country...etc.. )

We make rock music for children with this band &
we are one of the best bands in Finland...but still
there's not enough gigs...

All the spices from afroamerican
genre...blues,rock,soul,texmex,doop woop...etc...

changed?
It's been more professional few last years...main thing is that the musicians are professional

Natural proggress

Hard to tell anything....

There are so many...but if i have to choose one: "polkupyörän sain" (original "you ain't nothin' but fine" old
cajun classic)
mainly we make all our songs

Playing live is of course good cause you'll get feedback right away
when you know that words & music match really well together
song?
From the other artists...? this is difficult...but anyway...Free : Wishing Well"

No comments

Band called "Rank Bull"...we're playing in the night clubs etc...music for adults
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The Slideshaker
Jani from The Slideshaker
We were friends already and been playing
together for awhile and it was around 2001 when
we picked up the name Slideshaker for us and
that's about it.

We picked it up from the magazine article about
some old blues cat. I really can't remember what
it meant exactly but it was something like playing
blues is basically sliding and shaking.

There are so many bands and artists that have
influenced us but to name a few: Rolling Stones,
Sly The Family Stone, ***** Galore, Ike Tina Turner, CCR, R.L. Burnside, The Velvet Underground...
I would say that for the size of Finland there are a lot of people who like rock 'n' roll music but negative thing
is that you really can't make it here if you are in a underground band. Magazines, radios and festivals are
very much oriented by mainstream music.

We play rock 'n' roll that's very much influenced by American roots music. We are more toward the 60's and
early 70's rock 'n' roll than rock 'n' roll of today. Many people say that we are a bluespunk band but I really
don't get that. I think it's very misleading to say that…

I think our music is much more versatile nowadays. In early days we had this punk style of playing but now
we are much more relaxed. We like all kindsa music so I think it's just natural that our music is developing.

When you're young you create those stupid limits or rules to fallow but when you grow older you got much
more perspective and you just do what you feel like.

I think it's not very wise to explain lyrics because it's better to leave it to listener to figure them out. Then
maybe they can relate to them somehow. Basically our lyrics deal our own experiences including universal
themes like love, death, happines and despair so it's not hard to relate to them. There's always some
signifigance in our lyrics if you look under the surface.

I really like "Better Version Of You" because it's one of those songs that you like to play live but also listen at
home. But I think my favourite Slideshaker song is "Bad Moon" but it's so new it's not even recorded yet.

Like most rock bands we prefer playing live. We really enjoy studio working also but we are definitely a live
band.
I think the best moment is when you realize that this song is going to be great. It's usually after the first time
we've played it through.
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I think this is impossible question to answer but I'll try. Well… It's a tie between "Jumping Jack Flash" by
Rolling Stones and "Like a Rolling Stone" by Bob Dylan. Or maybe "Blizkrieg Bop" by Ramones…

The next "project" for us is mini tour with Sweatmaster in April. We have nine gigs in Germany, The
Netherlands and Denmark. Check out the dates at www.slideshaker.com
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Teräsbetoni
Jarkko from Teräsbetoni
Well, I think it was a spring of 2003 when we first talked
together about music and what kind of stuff we all would
like to do. Then, after few talks, we saw what we had to
play Heavy Metal and sing in finnish, 'cause there was
no such band in Finland at the time. We thought that the
idea was fresh and the songs we soon wrote sounded
fresh, too. That's how it all started.

I really don't know. It was V.Rantanen who came up with
the idea and we all said: "Yes, that's a great name." It
describes our music well, too. Don't you think?

I can only answer for myself. I have always been into heavy rock music with lots of different influences from
other styles, like blues, funk, classical and pop. So, my influences come from Deep Purple, Rainbow, Dio,
Black Sabbath, Glenn Hughes, Manowar and Whitesnake. I also love Electric Light Orchestra with big choirs
and large arrangements - it's pretty heavy stuff when you get it right. Vangelis is one of my favourites, too
'cause his music is different and yet very listenable, passionate and sentimental. ...There are so many artists
that I could mention! Music is life and life is music.
A good question! I think many times the positive and negative sides are the same. Finland is a small country,
so lots of musicians can't be famous or/and succesful, which is a shame. In larger countries underground
bands can be very succeful in certain groups and that is often pretty good situation already. Here in Finland
you have to be almost everybody's favourite before you can say that your job pays back something. We are
lucky in this case. Our albus has sold platinum and our gigs are often sold out. So, because Finland is a
small country, you could say that we are doing well, ha! 32 000 sold albums in France wouldn't be that big I
guess?
Also the finnish circle of musicians and music field generally is pretty small. You meet the same faces in
summer festivals and happenings etc. You could say, that it's a good thing to know people but easily these
people start working together and they close new faces out from the circle. It's good to see that few new
small record labels are doing well here, though.
There are not too many good places to play in, 'cause Finland is packed with small towns that have small
population and no rock clubs. Rock music seems to be new thing here even today! Finland used to have a
big tradition of "lavatanssi" - which had nothing to do with rock music, but with dance music like tango, walz
etc. Those "lavatanssi" places used to be big and popular but that tradiotion is almost dead I think.
...Phew! This question is big. I think we'll move on to the next!

We play tradiotional Heavy Metal. We trust in the simplicity and power - and of course in our selves. We're
also trying to bring the songs back. Nowadays there's so much music without a song inside, if you know what
I mean. It's easy to produce music-like sounds today but writing good songs has never been and never will
be easy.

Well, we're soon going to studio to record our second album. We like our style, but I think the new record will
be more versatile. More little references to different styles like eastern scales and anthemic might.
Our first album was the introduction to our world with tight riffs and powerful and punchy choruses. The
second will be more musical but yet strong.
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I think every musician wants to bring something new into their music every now and then. There are no
dramatic changes coming but our expression will sound wider. Finnish people want strong Metal music and
we will give it to them.

The first album contained songs about our music, our attitude and our world. It also had stories of vengeance
and honouring the people who have fallen during the battle. I would like to see some of our songs very
allegoric. For example Metallisydän tells about a warrior who is watching in fire and the sky and thinking
about the loneliness and weakness in him. I see that the song tells about winning yourself. I have received
lots of thanks from different kind of people. They have told me, that Metallisydän gave them power to carry
on in their weak moments. That's the best compliment I can ever have of my songs.
The second album will... well, we'll see!

I really love them all. Each song has a place in the palette. MetallisydÃ¤n is one my most ambitious
compositions, so it has a special place in my heart.

They're so different things. In the studio you try to find the best possible performance to make the whole
sound great. Playing live is playing together with the band to the audience. I think playing live is the REAL
thing, so you have to love it to be a real musician. But I also love the modern studio work. It gives you many
possibilties and a chance to polish up your arrangements. I have grown up listening records, so it's a big part
of this whole scene!
I love the moment of discovering something new. While composing a new song you just might come up with
this "Whoa! This is it!". You can find the same feeling while playing your instrument or just during the live
perfomance. I also like making the demos. I like to make them well in my small home"studio". That is the last
phase when I can invent something new to the song.
song?
I can't tell for sure. I have always loved Deep Puple's Burn. It is a perfect song and a perfect performance.
Rainbow's Gates Of Babylon is wonderful, too. ...Damn. So much great music, but those songs I heard when
my ears were fresh and I those I will always remember.

It's a great way to make your music known among the people. Our band gained benefit from the Internet. On
the other hand every band has their site online today, so it's getting harder and harder to get anything from it.
Anyway, Internet is good.

I've done music a long time under my own name as J.Ahola. I have never gained too much success, but I
believe that day might still come. I also have a band called Cosmic Spell. My time is short because of
Teräsbetoni nowadays, though. I also did one record with Dreamtale.
Check these out: www.jahola.com www.cosmicspell.tk and www.dreamtale.net
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The Rasmus
Lauri from The Rasmus
We started -94 as a high school band playing
metallica, nirvana, etc. we rehearsed in pauli's
parent's basement. we also had about 5 songs
of our own. we worked together putting up
posters on the walls to collect money to record
our first cd-demo. by accident we got the song
on the radio and people went crazy at the gigs.
Where the name of the band is coming from?

The name The Rasmus doesn't really mean
anything to us. we just though it looks cool and
it's original.

I've always loved Weezer and right now the best band is Muse. i also admire Björk because she's always
gone her own way but still kept her mind open for new cool things. a good attitude and life style.
What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician / singer (in Finland)?
First of all i'm very happy to be able to live and get along with just playing in this band. i never had to work in
a hamburger restaurant and i'm very proud of that. the negative side is that same thoughtless fans disturb
my private life by camping just outside my front door.
What are stories/topics you tell/treat in your songs?

On this album the lyrics are more like apologies, confessions or cry-outs for help. each song is like a letter to
someone. that's why the name of the album is Dead Letters.

It's really hard to say and it keeps changing all the time. at the moment it's Funeral Song from the up coming
album. it is very personal almost too personal.

I enjoy both very much because they differ so much from each other. but still nothing beats live gigs, touring
and travelling with our wicked live crew. the live situation is more spontaneous, that makes it more exiting.
A stupid question but... what is among all the songs you've been listening in your life the best song?
Why?
"A Goog Life" - Weezer, Pinkerton. it just IS! ( a good guestion i think)
During the process of making an album, what is the moment that you prefer?
Myself i really enjoy the lunch breaks, but to be honest i think the best thing is to travel to another country for
5 weeks with my best friends, live in the same flat, stink, laugh and just play rock 12 hours a day.
The Rasmus is really famous and appreciated in Finland, does it mean that you're not affraid any
more of the reaction of the public when you release a new album?
Releasing a new album is always very exiting cause we never know how people will react to it. kill me if i'm
wrong but i think every band needs an audience.

Myself i'd rather buy a real cd with a real cover and get the whole package as it was meant to be. buying
albums also allows the artist to do their next album. so buy or die!
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Apocalyptica
Eicca from Apocalyptica

1993 summer in one music camp. We played
already stuff like Jimi Hendrix in one cello
ensemble (Total Cello Ensemble) and wanted
to try our favourite-metal music.

Shostakovits, Metallica, Sepultura,
Rostropovits (cellist), Prokovjev, so mainly
metal and Russian classical music.
What are the positive and negative aspects

of being a musician / singer (in Finland)?
Positive: Finland has a great musical scene
and freedom to try new things.
Negative: market is very small for domestic
bands.
How could you qualify your style of music?

It is impossible...;-) It is Apocalyptica music,
"cello-rock" with influences of all kind of music
styles. Especially nowadays...
Have you ever considered the possibility to change totally your style of music? If so, what style of
music would you choose?
Actually I think the new album Reflections is already new direction. We don't want to be only "metal"-band,
we like so many different styles of music.

Emotions of my normal daily life. Good and bad moments, difficulties of being a human being...;)

I like the new songs most at the moment but from the old repertoaire I
like mostly Pray, Inquisition Symphony and Hall of mountain king. Pray has so strong apmosphere, IS is so
full of power, and HOMK... is funny...
Do you tour regularly? Do you actually prefer performing your music live or in a studio?
We need both, studiowork and live shows. Good balance... Studiowork is somehow more creative in a
certain way, live shows are propably more fun.
All moments.
Why?
You can find new things and ideas in every moment of the studio process.
What kind of music / What artists do you currently listen?

Shostakovits, finnish rock
Shostakovits symphony nro 11. It is part of me somehow.
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Unleagal copying is UNLEAGAL!!!!
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Mokoma
Br. Kuisma from Mokoma

Mokoma was founded by band leader/singer/songwriter
Marko in 1997 when he realized that he can do songs of
his own. He also found out that he's able to sing too.
Previously Marko had played guitar in several bands, but
never had the opportunity to be the artistical leader, as
he is now in Mokoma. He was also pretty much fed up
with the band-democracy issues, and thus wanted to
have a "solo project" where he can act as a dictator and
could control the musical goals etc. Other members of
the band have joined the band during it's 5 year history,
and nowadays we are actually getting back to the
democratic way of making music :-) We all contribute in
creation process, but Marko still does the majority of
music and 100% of texts, since he is THE MAN.
Was the choice to become professional difficult to make?

We aren't actually professional musicians. Semi-professional, I would say, since we have civil
profesions/studying etc going on too... Anyways, you don't choose to be musician, music chooses you, so
there isn't too much you can do about it, can you :-)
80% of us is born in the 70's so we were in our teens in mid to late 80's.
That means that music of that era meant lot to us, since we were eagerly looking to be influenced. We all
found heavy metal -music mid 80's (WASP, KISS etc) and the we grew up with faster and more aggressive
genre of metal, thrash metal. Bands like Anthrax, Slayer, Metallica and Kreator were a huge bands for us
back then. In early 90's we pretty much listended to extreme death-metal acts such as Entombed, Sepultura,
Napalm Death etc... In 90's some of us went a bit "grunge" for a while and listened to Soundgarden, Alice In
Chains, Rage Against The Machine etc... We also have listened to Finnish underground acts such as early
work by CMX, YUP, Kauko Röyhkä etc. That gives us the touch to Finnish melancholy. That totals Mokoma.
Positive thing is that our "fans" are Finns. Negative thing is that you need to travel a lot to go gigs.

We play Heavy Metal sung in Finnish.
I don't think so. There is no substitution to Heavy Metal. Personally I could do electronic music that has
aggressive elements in it, like... well let's say Prodigy.

Our songs revolv around humanity, they have intertextual references to "The Big Book", but we don't
consider us to be very religious. Humane, perhaps, at least some of us. I personally am against humanity!
*laughing a lot to this "funny" joke*

We all like our new unreleased material, which is a big step towards more heavier and metallier approach. I
would say song "Takatalvi" is our favourite. It is about a weird time of year in Finland when sun is shining,
nature is blooming and everyone thinks that summer is here, and next morning you get a snow blizzard and -
20C which kills pretty much everything, including people's good spirits :-) The music is in honour of late 80's
thrash metal, furious outburst of loud speeding heavy metal guitars and fast drumming.
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We have gigs occasionally, not too many at the moment... We like to record music in studio but the live gigs
are definitely the most rewarding thing is this kind of music business.
The best moments are in the reheasal room when wre are composing news songs and everyone gets for
example the same arrangement idea to the song.
Then we really feel that when we work together our band is stronger that the individuals themselves!

Like said earlier, the biggest influeneces are from the late 80's tharsh metal, and that's what we listen
nowadays too! Swedish/Gothenburgian melodic death metal is also a big thing now. A would also like to
mention brilliant nutcakes from Umeå, Sweden, the band called Meshuggah.
A very good question and very easy to answer. Slayer: "Angel Of Death". That song pretty much defined the
thrash metal genre in 1986. Fast & furious music, two guitars, fast drumming, high pitch screaming... It made
a huge impact on early teen kid who is trying to understand what happening out there. Been on that road
since then. Beautiful song :-)

We are a marginal rock band, which means that we don't propser from album selling. The best thing that can
happen to us is that people _hear_ our music and comes to see our shows. We also understand the record
company's prespective who do their business with album selling. They want to have their investments (studio
time, promotion, etc..) back with profits. That enables them to release more music. If they don't get their
money, our band and similar are the first to get sacked.
Do you use computers or home studios during the process of making an album or a song?
Yes we do. We record with Pro Tools -system in studio, and we also make some demo tapes in home
studios. The technology is nowadays so good that you can make decent quality demo tapes very easily.
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CMX
Janne from CMX

In Tornio, Northern Finland, on Good Friday 1985. Three teenagers totally
fed up with playing pop and rock music decided to form a hard-core band.
A very odd hard-core band with a combination of Discharge, Black
Sabbath, Rush, Lappish joik and jazz is born. And we must not forget
another influence: Terveet Kädet, a very remarkable punk band from
Tornio.
Where the name of your band is coming from?

Cloaca MaXima.
What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your life /

work?
Loads. From Sex Pistols to Judas Priest to Yes and Genesis.
What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician /

singer (in Finland)?
Positive: You don't have to get a proper job.
Negative: You probably have to get a proper job anyhow.

Qualify? I am not sure I understand the question but simply: I wouldn't.
Have you ever considered the possibility to change totally your style
of music? If so, what style of music would you choose?
Well, our 'style' has probably changed considerably from the beginning
but to us it's always been more natural growth than anything
premeditated.

You'd have to ask our lyricist Yrjänä, I don't want to bring my own
interpretations to the fore. Or to quote Yrjänä's old line: 'Our songs tell
about the relationships between a child and a parent, a man and a
woman, an individual and a society, mankind and universe'. Or something
like that.

Currently (it changes every so often) probably the title track from our new album 'Isohaara'. We're on tour in
Finland right now and it's a great song to play live. It's very satisfying to hear the audience to take the role of
the children's choir that we have on the album.
This is our first tour in four years. When I am in the studio, I miss playing live. Not that we're on tour, I
sometimes miss the comfort of the studio sofa.
The last two albums we've basically written and rehearsed in the studio and the best part is the beginning
when the songs really start to take shape. The writing, arranging and multitracking layers of sound on to
tape, or hard disk on this case. I normally won't interfere with the mixing. Normally!

Last week: the new Coldplay album, Nick Drake's first, System of a Down, Led Zeppelin, Marillion and some
Finnish music (Kotiteollisuus, Ismo Alanko).
Right now: Queens of the Stone age: Songs for the deaf
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What are your actual and future projects?
I've been messing with some Black Sabbath songs with a few friends. We'll see what happens with that. But
other than that, trying to enjoy the current tour with CMX. It's been great so far. Sold out venues, great
audiences and too much alcohol.
Why?
Huh! One cannot really answer a question like that. One song is the best because it's the most moving, the
other because it kicks some serious ass and so on... And emotions fluctuate.

I love the Internet. I use email almost every day and it's given our band an excellent way to communicate
with our fans - even though our fans sometimes don't like it so much!
But when it comes to distribution of music, there's the problem. As long as there's no convenient means to
distribute music legally, online piracy will prevail. And once people get used to getting stuff free (by
STEALING!), it's very difficult to get them to pay for things. But I hope that there will be some kind of solution
before all bands (especially in Finland, a small music industry nation is the most vulnerable) have to stop and
get a proper job. A tough issue, but it's up to the music listener to make the decision. NO ONE distributes
his/her mp3-files by mistake!
But one thing I am very suspicious about: the copy protection on cd's.
There's always going to be ways to crack protection and there's always a cracker who prides in cracking the
code.
I am hopeful though. There'll be a change for the better. For everyone, not just for the artist but for the fan as
well.
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Nightwish
In 1996 Tuomas was playing in some other groups and
he felt that he qould like to have a project band which
plays a little bit different kind of music. That's when the
idea of Nightwish was born. He made some acoustic
songs and at the end of 1996 those songs were
recorded. In that time band was Tuomas - keyboards,
Tarja - vocals and Emppu - acoustic guitar. That was the
very first demo and the demo was called Nightwish -
demo named after one song of the demo. When Tuomas
heard the result he wanted to add drums, bass and
electric guitar in his music and that's when band
Nightwish got started.
Where the name of the band is coming from?

The name comes from the very first demo. In that demo
there was a song called Nightwish.

I have always admired the working of Mike Portnoy.
When I was starting to play in bands in age of 16 the
biggest influence was definately Jörg Michael
(Stratovarius). Nowadays I take influences from many
different kind of music and actually I don't listen to heavy / metal -music that much anumore, so the
influences come from very different kind of music than we play.
Positive is definately the silence. That might sound odd but it's very nice to come from a tour (which often are
opposite of silence) and go to the cottage and just relax and listen to the silence. But negative aspect is
definately envy. We come from a very small town and after we got success we have heard and saw many
things that would had rather left unseen / unheard.

This is always the most difficult part. Well, maybe in last album it could be defined as MovieMetal.
No. I'm definately always be playing music which has some heavy / metal elements. No jazz, no pop no
reggae,... Of course there is many ways to play music which has heavy / metal element so propably I'll play
some bands which are very different to Nightwish but there will always be this thin line which defines the
music.

Tuomas would be right person to answer this but I guess he writes about common things like lust, fantasies,
love, anger, loss, etc. He write lyrics that people can understand in the way they want.

It changes all the time but in this moment Beauty Of The Beast. This song was very good when heard it from
the album, but we were very sceptical about how it would work live. But after we played it first time it became
my favourite song to play live. I guess the reason is that there is so much emotion in that song. And the
many different part of it makes it very interesting for the listener.
I definately prefer playing live. Before this year I actually hated playing in studio buut little by little I've learned
to enjoy it and last week when I recorded a one project I actually had much fun. Nowadays we don't tour that
much because of Tarjas studies. We just came back from 2,5 month world tour and there will be some time
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until next real tour.
Hearing the final version for the very first time. We always gather with my friends in some place to listen to
the new album and to celebrate. It's so nice to hear the songs mixed because it makes the song what it is.
For the first time you can hear all the instrument in perfect balance and for the first time you'll get the whole
picture of the song.

Too many to mention but a few examples:
Celine Dion, HIM, Linkin Park

I play in band called Sethian. They will release debut album in next March from Spinefarm (same company
as ours). It's really good music and it was very nice to record it. I guess the music could be defined so that
melt Dio, QueensRÿche and HIM together and you'll get Sethian.
Why?
Very difficult question!!! Very difficult question!!! One of the best is song called Gift from Kyyria (Finnish
band).

I think internet should be guarded much better. Because distributing mp3's is illegal they should simply
punish those people who do it.
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Pool
POOL was founded in 1995 by three ambitious
young guys living in the city of Joensuu, Finland.
The decision was made in a warm summer night
in a fishing trip at the lake of Pielinen... Years
has passed and now 2002 there's two of those
guys remaining with three newer guys forming
together POOL.
Was the choice to become professional

difficult to make?
Professional....hmmm....well semi-professional
maybe... We all do have other things in life, two
of us still waiting for graduating from university
and three of us have got quite proper jobs, but
fortunately all in music business. So the
"worklife" doesn't interfere the "pro"-
musicianism(?) too much.
As a band we couldn't name many or even one particular influence, but individually the scale of
music/bands/artists we listen to varies quite dramatically from "softer" rock like Oasis and Kent(SWE) to
much heavier combos like Megadeth. Personally my interest for music and making
music came from the 70's-80's monsterrockers Kiss, Iron Maiden and others. But of course, it is as
impossible to find even hints of Maiden in our music as it is impossible for me to speak French(bad one,
sorry!). But seriously, I could mention one really important band for me and that is the Smashing Pumpkins.
The music is also much closer to ours...
Well, first of all we have a GREAT country to tour, beautiful cities, great rock-clubs in almost every bigger city
with great audiences everywhere, really passionate ones. No doubt, the audiences are great in any country,
but of course we think our own crowds are the best. So the touring is VERY rewarding.
Second, the national radio stations play a lot of domestic material, not just the hit music from the charts, but
also upcoming talents too, who wouldn't get any airplay if there were only these so-called commercial-
stations (which we also naturally have quite a few, who play only the chart-shit(sorry... no... I'm not sorry!))
like Britney, Christina...you know what I mean!).
Speaking for ourselves it is good to be a musician in Finland.

This is always the hardest question, ALWAYS!!! We can't categorize our own music. For us it is just us and
our music. But what others have said and what we have heard, we "ROCK like hell" (so it has gotta be rock).
We sound like "Kent(swe) meets HIM(fin)", that is sad melancholly with tighter and heavier grip (so we gotta
be a little bit heavy too, but not too
heavy). So maybe it is just pure rock but a little bit heavier than the
mainstream one.
Our band's music have been referred to almost 30 (yes, we HAVE counted all of them from our reviews)
different artists or bands from Alice in Chains to Bon Jovi and from the Smashin Pumpkins to Kent during
these years. Well, everyone can make their own definitions...
Yeah, sure, of course, why not... how about hip-hop... that would be quite fun(-ny). In fact there's a rap-
project going on that includes two of our guys. Can't wait to hear that!

Usually and mostly they are from our real life or from the life of our lyricist. Of course there are these
relationshipwrecks, but also from any other life's aspect that bothers you or is reflecting somehow on that
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particular day of writing lyrics. Then there are these fictional lyrics, that tells a story, which isn't true for us but
definitely real for many or at least possible. A lot of the lyrics are quite dark and many times maybe too hard
to understand(thanks to Hannu, our singer/writer)), but my opinion is that we have to put our listeners to think
what could be happening around you and those things are not always easy to handle. Also the lyrics can't be
too "easy" to understand, 'cause I want to leave some things open for different minds to fill those voids with
their own imagination and also leave some things behind riddles for those different minds to solve'em.

Well, first of all I think we all have our own favourites and let me
say it is incredibly hard to mention just one... But anyways, my favourites
are the new ones that we haven't been recorded yet and there's plenty of those diamonds! But so far the
favourite one could be....well I dunno, let's say "When nothing can be saved". It shows the softer side of our
rock, but also has this heavier grip too.
We tour regularly, yes. And of course mostly then, when we got something new to perform. Next spring we
are going to Russia for the first time for a week. Now that'll be an adventure...
And do we prefer playing live or in the studio???

You've gotta to be kidding me...
Maybe the time when those songs we have been rehearsed for so long are getting the form in the tape that
was in our heads before the recordings.
That's the moment when we get together and say to each other "congratulations, we have done it again!"
'Cause we don't want to leave anything middle ground.

Currently in my cd-player is the latest Papa Roach and 51 Koodia, a fresh new Finnish act!

Putting new songs together for upcoming release (whenever it is in
the near future) and waiting for the trip to Russia, with all respect I hope we survive...mostly individually
(vodka...).
Why?
Well, I go way back with that Megadeth-stuff, so I would have to say...Symphony Of Destruction by them!

We`re unsigned right now and we`ve been seriously thinking about releasing an EP on our website, it`s true
that our copyrights are not protected properly if do that but...at the end of the day we just want people to hear
our music.
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Manboy
As Manboy the band started in 1998. We had known each other for years and
played together for a few times.
All sorts of music have of course influenced our writing and working. We all have
listened to so many different styles of music that it would be basically impossible
to point out just one artist or music style. To mention some: Pink Floyd,
Radiohead, The Cure...
What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician / singer (in
Finland)?
Well...positive aspects are yet to come. The main problem is the money, the
market is small so naturally the incomes are rather small. And then there is
always the fact that the style of music that we represent is not the most popular in
Finland. Hope to release stuff and tour abroad as soon as possible.

British rock. But it´s very hard to try to describe your own music. For us it’s just music, nothing more.
We don´t think about these things really. We just wright music we like, without the boundry of genres.

There are no specific themes or topics that we always right about. Basically the lyrics are just the feelings
and thoughts of the righter.

We already have so many unreleased songs that the songs of the first album are pretty much forgotten at
this point. No one has even heard our new favourite songs yet.
No, we only tour when necessary. Usually after the release of an album. We enjoy both studio and live
situations, though they both have their compromises.
During the process of making an album, what is the moment that you prefer? Why?
Well... the basic recording phase is usually pretty tiring and demands a lot of concentration. Everything after
that is great. That’s when you really get to be creative in a totally different way than for example during the
rehearsal and writing process.

Lali Puna, Sparklehorse, Mum, Interpol, Sigur Ros, Velvet Underground, Mogwai.. Stuff like that... post rock,
you might say.
Why?
Completely impossible to answer.

This hasn’t actually touched us and so we don’t have a strong opinion about this.
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KMA
Jaakko from KMA

Two years ago I (guitarist) had an idea with my brother Harto
(bassist) of creating a band. I met Oze (drummer) in one
summer festival and he was interested to join us; we had a trio.
We practised few months like crazy, and had one singer with for
a while . When we were going to make a demo tape we met Toni
(ex-MC of the band). He joined us and two weeks after the demo
was made, we got a deal from Univesral Music.

Why?
It was actually really natural thing for me, because playing has
been the most important thing for my hole life. Making music is
what I have always wanted to do for living.

life / work?
I have listened lot of different styles of music since kid. I have
kinda roots/blues background, and there are lot of bands &
artists in different genres that are important to me. To name a
few: The Beatles, Deftones, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Faith no more,
Refused.

musician / singer (in Finland)?
Finland has pretty small music markets, it´s kinda "familiar" here.
But because of that record companies can´t / won´t take
financial risks in signing new more altenative bands instead of
some easy-listen-bubblegum-pop. That makes our music scene to stay still, which sucks.

It´s difficult because we mix pretty much different things, and we also have different types of songs. But
mainly it´s rocking metal, no nu-metal since we have no rap anymore!
Well it´s totally possible, our next album can be electro folk 74 minutes. But seriously, we just play what it
feels good at one particular moment and try to capture that.

It depends what our singer Miska has to tell. We are not a political band or anything, we mainly sing in things
like ,er, love and sorrow.

It changes with time, but now for me it´s our brand new song called Käärmeenpesä (Snakepit).
Both have good sides, and I like em both. I like to be precise in studio and to try all different things.
Gigging is having fun and losing presure that you get when you wrote music.
The moment when it feels that now we have all the material to record,and it´s time for studio.

Hardcore, trash, metal...bands like Killswtch Engage, The Haunted, Slayer.
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Right now we are writing new songs. We have no schedual on that, we just try to make good songs.
Why?
Hmmm tricky question...I quess it could be The beatles Strowberry fields forever. Song that couldn´t manage
into studio album.

For new bands it´s really good place to spread their music worldwide. I don´t have a straight oppinion on this,
but I guess places like Napster just take some bucks from Britney Spears and her record companies vollets.
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Sonata Arctica
Tony Kakko from Sonata Arctica
When and how did you decide to become a

musician / singer?
I was maybe 3 years old or so when I already knew what
I´d love to do. It was a dream.
But I didn´t really do that much to achieve this dream, I
just kind of drifted in this.
I was first asked to play keys into this very different kind
of band from what SA is. Then the guitarist of that band
formed what later became Sonata Arctica and he asked
me to join as a singer.
Was this choice difficult to make?

No. Easy intrument to start with but maybe the most
difficult to really master.
It was only a hobby until few years ago.

When I was younger the biggest thing was Queen, then I
found Midnight Oil and few other not metal acts.
Stratovarius was the one band that got me into metal
music. You can say that Sonata would not be here
without Stratovarius.
What are the positive and negative aspects of being

a musician / singer (in Finland)?
In Finland? Well, hard question. For us living in such a northern part of Finland (Kemi) is negative in sense
that we have to travel usually more than 8 hours to get on some venue here in Finland. There are few closer
ones as well, but most of the places are in south. That´s really annoying. Long distances. Then you just wait
to get your soundcheck done, then wait for a show and play for 1,5 hours and then wait to get some sleep,
sleep a bit, then travel to the next venue or back home. Positive? There´s no business like show business!
Generally this profession allows you to pretty much do what you want. Lot of free time, unless you´re writing
all the music like I am...

Our music is melodicmetal, that´s what I always prefer saying when this is asked(often!).
I pretty much love all music, not all extremes though, but there´s good music in every genre. Sonata won´t
change, there´s no chance for that. It should another band. I´d love to try my wings on some pop music.

Human relations usually. There are some other topics as well. I don´t have this thing I always write about. I
draw a lot of ideas from movies and well, movies can handle pretty much anything. So do I. But for me it´s
easy to write about one sided love. Happy love is not inspiring to me.

Own song? I don´t know. One of the slower ones I think.
I like studio more. I get to spend my nights home when recording here in Tico-Tico Studio and I love being
home. Touring is sometimes nice, usually after a long studio sessions. We tour IMO too long a time with
each album and too loosely. The ideal thing would be touring 6 months and have 20 shows a month and
then end it there and start with the next album. Nowadays we have 3-4 shows in 2 weeks, or less, but we
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tour more than a year with one album. I hate that.

I don´t listen to music, really. While driving car I listen though. Senteced´s "Cold White Light" is an excellent
album, Nightwish´s "Century Child" kicks ass.

We enter studio now on monday to record our 3rd album. So that´s my life for next 6 months or more. Then
touring.
Why?
I don´t have one. There so much beautiful music in the world that if I named one now, I´d remember another
even greater song in a minute.

The quality is too good on the songs in internet. In would be ok if the songs were on quite a bad quality, then
it would work as promotion. But now you can get album quality stuff from there for free. That sucks big time.
If I got a saying, it would not exist. More negative things that positive ones. Naturally more people know us
for sure, but I´m sure we lose more than gain from it. When you do something for a living, you´d rather get
what is rightfully yours. Wouldn´t you?
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Dreamtale
Dreamtale was born in 1999, when our guitarist Rami
Keränen broke-up with his previous band. He started
gathering some musicians around him and finally this
band become Dreamtale. Rami is also the only original
member of the band.
Was the choice to become professional difficult to

make? Why?
Well I think it to be a little boys dream to be a rock star,
or even professional musician, but if I had known all the
difficulties involved being a metal musician I think I'd
reconsider my choice of career. Nevertheless I enjoy
being a musician, I love working in studio and I like
meeting new people, which you do a lot when your a
musician.

Well, personally Kai Hansen (ex-Helloween now GammaRay) has made huge impact in my life as a guitar
player and a songwriter. I also listen a lot of classical music, Chopín being my favourite composer.
Positive aspect is definately the fact that in Finland metal music is a very big phenomenon, metal bands can
enter finnish charts as number 1. And metal bands sell quite well in Finland. Audience is also great. Negative
side is that you can't make too good living in Finland by being a musician, unless you play "humppa" or other
dancemusic (I don't mean techno or that kind of dance music, but these more traditional dances like waltz
etc.). The money you get from the record sales and gigs is far too little to support you financially.

We play melodic heavy metal. Some people call our music power metal,
which is also fine with us.
If have considered it sometimes, but I think I never leave metal music. I can do other projects from time to
time, but I always come back to metal sooner or later. I love playing folk music, especially irish. I also enjoy
medieval/early reneissance music a lot...

Nature preservation and society critisism is among them, I also am an escapistic person, so I often write
fantasy stories also. But I always have something to say, even when I write these fantasy lyrics, I tend to
include moral in the story.

I personally like Dreamland and Farewell... a lot. Dreamland is little more simpler than usual Dreamtale song
that's why it has some appeal in it. Farewell... is also very different from our usual material, that's why it stays
in my mind a little bit longer than the rest of the songs. But I like every song on the album also...
Well it's quite different to work in a studio than to play to live audience. I love both of them. In studio you can
do the songs in a way you have always wanted to do them, if you want to have 13 guitars on a song, you can
do it in a studio. But in live performances the adrenaline what you get from playing for people is intoxinating.
I love performing to audience. Unfortunately at the moment we are unable to do live performances due the
fact that we have a new singer who has to learn to songs before we can tour.
During the process of making an album, what is the stage that you prefer? Why?
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You can't beat that feeling when you hear the songs first time mixed and mastered. The album is ready and
you can hear the complete versions of the songs finally. It is something that makes it worth while.

I am now in middle of a classical music period, I have spend few days now listening Edward Grieg and J. S.
Bach, I have also listened some older Quuensÿche albums lately.

Dreamtale is my primary projest, but I'm also having this metal band which sings in finnnish, we play this
sword and fantasy type of metal with that band...
Why?
Helloween - How many tears. It is amazing song, I would have wanted to write it. Structurally it's ingenious
and lyrically very adept for a Helloween song. You'll have to listen it to know what I mean.

Well for us internet promotion has done a lot good, but I sometimes it really annoys me to find our album
freely downloadable. People should know their responsibility, it is not nice to work without salary. If the band
willingly distributes their material in the web, then it's ok, but if someone else does it without the permission
of the performing band, then I don't approve it.
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Flylow Organization
Luke & Wilson from Flylow Organization

FlyLow Organization was officially formed in
april of 2001. That was the first time when the
band played a concert with a current lineup and
with a current "fun loving" attitude. The singers
Luke and Wilson met a year before in a jazz-
pop choir and they came up with an idea of
rock band with two lead vocalists.
Where the name of the band is coming

from?
The prototype of FlyLow Organization was a
called FLO. When it occurred to us that there
were at least one thousand similarily named
bands we decided to "longen" the name
instead of shortening it. The highspeed
lifestyles of FlyLow Organization boys resulted
of choosing this particular longening out of
many as in Finnish language the term Matalalento (FlyLow) refers to a lifestyle full of action.
All the band members have their own influences. While the bassist Mikey and the singer/guitarist Wilson
have been heavily influenced by the grunge bands like Pearl Jam, the singer/guitarist Luke trendily names
Kiss and Mötley Crüe as his nostalgic all time favourites. The drummer Jayrock is a product of mixed liking of
aggressive hardcore metal and electronical music. Currently the songwriting of the two singers has been
influenced by Bon Jovi style AOR hit music, Coldplay and modern rock music.
It is pretty easy to get your voice heard in a small country like Finland, altough there are pretty many people
trying to make it in music business. Unfortunately the trends in Finnish music scene have been following the
U.S. trends and pretty seldomly something really original comes through. Sometimes it feels that in order to
certain bands to make a breakthrough in Finland they have to find some ground outside Finland first. This is
especially the case with the bands that sing in english, for example Hanoi Rocks had to move to Sweden in
order to have a chance with their music.
Naturally when a band makes new music it constantly goes through style changes. These changes can be
really clear and total to the members of the band, but to a outside listener they may just seem to be small
adjustments. FlyLow Organization will most probably stay as a rock band as long as it lasts, but Luke and
Wilson have their "therapy electronic music project" DonkiKonki to let out their creative overpressure.

Everyday stories are the most common subject of FlyLow Organization songs. Probably the most common
topic is different mental states from love to fear and to joy. We always try to put a bit of our soul in the lyrics,
so they don't come out hollow.

The answer to this probably changes from member to member and from day to day. There are days when
the more energetic songs are nicer and days when smooth and mellow tunes caress your ear better. Most of
the time the more recent material is more interesting, but this is not a definite rule.
Studiosessions are nice because they always make the songs even more ready than before and they are
needed to get our music to the ears of faraway listeners. Still the live performances are where FlyLow
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Organization excels and being up on stage in a spotlight is one of the biggest reasons for us to keep on
playing. We've been touring regularily with another Finnish band Defuse on SuperGrunge-tour and wish to
extend our tour also to foreign countries.
Luke: The first studioday, when everything is possible and the expectations are high. There is just so much
positive energy in the air that it is amazing.
Wilson: Those magical moments when things don´t go as planned, for example a wrong note or a mistake in
the right place that takes the song to a whole new level.
Why?
Beating of the mothers heart just after birth, soft whisper of a beloved one in your ear and a roaring of a
crowd after a successfull concert. It´s more about the feeling that the song can create in your soul, than one
particular piece of music.

As the question itself stated internet is a two bladed knife. It is amazingly effective way to get your voice
heard in the larger sense but also poses as a threat for the commercial music as we know it. The problem is
that in order to make a living from music the artist requires a certain amount of compensation (mainly money)
from his work and if people feel that they are allowed to use the music without this compensation the
musicians need to find other means to support themselves. This will definitely have an effect on the way how
the music is done in the future.
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Alamaailman Vasarat
Jarno from Alamaailman Vasarat
Alamaailman Vasarat was founded spring 1997. I
had just bought soprano sax and wanted to play it
right away, in a band. My old friend Teemu
Hänninen (drummer) liked the idea and together
we formed the core which expanded to quartet
with Miikka Huttunen (pump organ, piano) and
Marko Manninen (cello).
Trombone player Erno Haukkala joined a year
later and latest addition, Tuukka Helminen (cello)
joined the band last year.
Were is the name of the band coming from?

Years ago, me and Marko were playing in Helsinki
subway for a quick cash during our unemployment
days. We called ourselves Alamaailman Vasarat
("Hammers of the underworld"). Our music was
sort of medievalish folk, with me on the flute and
Marko bowing the cello. It seemed like a good idea
to borrow the name from this long forgotten duo
and continue the tradition in a new form.
I don't know about the others, but I listen to all kinds of music, although I try to stay away from too complex
or "artsy" stuff these days. From heavy metal to film scores to Madonna, anything goes.
Well, it's hard to make ends meet here as a musician or composer so it's almost necessary to do something
else on the side. If you're ready to accept that, there's no pressure to satisfy anyone but yourself and that's
the real key to create interesting music.

If you mean how to describe our music, I would say Alamaailman Vasarat are a weird combination of fictional
world music and some heavy metal, jazz and klezmer elements. No simple way to put it, really.
Probably something like Bryan Adams plays, he's so cool and all-American.
Seriously speaking, our style is in constant evolution anyway so there's no need to actually think about it.

We try to approach our music in a visual way and often make up stories as we arrange songs. It's almost like
scoring imaginary short films and writing the drama at the same time. Sometimes the title of the song is the
catalyst, but usually it's the melodies and music styles which inspire the story behind the song. But what the
stories actually are, that's what you'll have to figure out yourself.

My favourite song is currently "Vasaraasialainen" ("Vasar-Asian") from our new album Käärmelautakunta. It's
so simple and almost naive, but at the same time very fresh sounding and catchy.
We do some twenty gigs per year, some of them abroad. Live concerts are always very intensive and we're
surely at home on stage, but there's also some magic in the studio work. It's hard to say which one to prefer
over the other.
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Why?
I think the finest moment is when the little details shape the song in a way you never expected. I'm not
necessarily referring to improvisation but more how the notes are played, sometimes nicely out of tune, off-
rhythm or dynamically interesting. That's when you know you're doing something unique and personal, never
to be repeated exactly the same way again.

Moloko's new album is very good and Tom Waits seems to crawl back into cd player even on a sunny day.
Deadbolt is also the all time favourite as well as some old film scores and C64 music.
Why?
It must be Bryan Adam's Summer of '69. You can't beat that song, ever.

I think internet is the best medium for bands like Alamaailman Vasarat because there's no cheaper way to
market and promote your music. Copyright is a problematic issue and probably always will but so far we
haven't had any bad experiences.
- 185 -
Rapture
Aleksi Ahokas from Rapture
When and how did you decide to become a musician /

singer?
The story is stupid. When I was a kid I saw slash and
thought he was bass player. I knew nothing about guitars
or basses. I got in to playing bass and felt it was my
instrument. Later guitar came along and now days I sing a
lot too.

I think it chose me. Really, it's everything to me and
nowdays it takes all of my time and money. Now days it's
more composing and using instruments as tools.
What got me started was Black Sabbath, Gnr, Metallica... Later I got into Death- and Black metal, Gorefest
etc. But for me the most important releases have been about 97 anathema, katatonia, my dying bride & Type
o negative.
Well I think other things in Finland are still well. So that it helps. Finnish metal is highly praised in other
countries. What I don´t like is the competition and envy of bands. Many bands aim for perfect radio hit or
something. You can really notice that the arrangements of songs sound the same. And the comparison to
other bands or musicans.

My personal? I tend to use the riffs I can get feelings from. You know? The riffs I think other would feel same
as me when I hear 'em. Longing, anxious, restless, impatient... Right now I am a little stuck with one melodie
that I use in lots of song so you can really recognize my songs or playing.
Not totally. I hope it never happens. Ofcourse my music is constantly progressing/changing and I have lots of
bands so I get to play lot of different styles. But only to take one of 'em, it would have to be something
completely new. As people say everything has been done, they are wrong in a way. The world is full of
rythyms and sounds. Many players have just been slaved by the music theory. It doesent matter if some
style has been used before, music belongs to everybody.

My personal words are of longing and regret. Lots of em are about cheating and betrayal. Raptures songs
can be described by the cd titles "Futile" & "Songs for the withering".

From Rapture? I guess it has to be some of the new cd, "The Vast" I guess. The reason is quite obvious ;)
Well we have to see after these first gigs are over. We have new line up but all of us have experience of
studios & live performances. The last work in studio were painless of the same reason.

My current playlists and favourites are not metal at all. Sigur Ros, Björk, Radiohead, The Gathering, P4P,
Queens Of The Stone Age, Nick Drake, Smack...

*Sighs* I have made 3 lps this year with 3 different bands so it's pretty much just stress, mixing & mastering.
- 186 -
Calendar still looks merciful for rest of the year, but it'll look much different in next month, I'm sure.
Why?
Im sure we all sometimes comment that "this is the best song ever". It's impossible to answer, but this year
I've listened The Cure's "Disintegration" a 1000 times for sure!

It's great. Mp3.com and everything. Napsters and everything... In my case it has just increased cd buying. I
have heard bands I would never have found without internet. I am not sure about piratism. I really don't care
much about labels loosing their money becouse they don't care much about bands but the money. I feel
music belongs to everyone as I said. Ofcourse it's right in my oppinion to buy cds. And I buy the cds I like. I
just feel the band should get the most of the money.
- 187 -
Velvetcut
When and how did you decide to become a
musician / singer?
Well, it came naturally. I remember when I first saw
Twisted sister's "We're not gonna take it" on TV and I
was stuned. I was really young and I wanted to wear
Twisted sister T-shirt all the time.. I wasn't very tall kid,
so it looked just like a skirt on me. After that came KISS,
W.A.S.P., IRON MAIDEN and all the normal stuff.. I
formed my first band when I was 10 years old. I have
been in different bands, but it took a long time to put all
the pieces to its right place.

When music has got you so tight, it isn't that big decision
to make. I've always wanted to create music that I love
and hopefully someone else as well. It's real challenging
to try to make a progress in all areas all the time. But that
is my goal. So, at the moment it's quite hard to think
about not being in the music industry at all. Hopefully I have a chance to continue my work with music as
long as possible.
I have had so many favourites over these years, but rationally thinking maybe I woudn't be here without my
early favourites like KISS and TWISTED SISTER. It a cliche to say, but that's the way it is. After few years I
got really hooked with METALLICA. James Hetfield is a great composer. In the beginning of 90's I was really
into "Grunge" movement and bands like ALICE IN CHAINS, NIRVANA, PEARL JAM, STONE TEMPLE
PILOTS. Basicly I'm still a big fan of those bands. In the past years the biggest things for me has been bands
like NINE INCH NAILS and RADIOHEAD. Trent Reznor is a genious and RADIOHEAD's OK computer has
been almost like a bible to me. Well, I quess I have to mention also HIM, that I consider one of the best
things that has happened in the Finnish music industry.
Music is way of life for me. Making music is like my privat room where to escape from the outside world. It's a
possiblity to create something new with your mind and emotions.A secret friend that you share everything.
Sometimes I may succeed in my work and the feeling is fantastic. I may come up with the song I really like
and would like to the whole world to hear it. Of course the world don't always agree with me. That's the shitty
part. Sometimes you have put your heart and mind into something and people come to you and tell this is
total crap. And sometimes you can tell that they have already judged you before hearing a thing. But I think
Finland isn't an exception in this.

Emotional and catchy deeper rock/metal... Some people have called it 21st century metalgrunge.
You'll never know;) I try to listen to music without prejudice, so I like several kind of acts. My CD collection
includes all kind of acts from Tori Amos to Slipknot, from Black Sabbath to Sigur Ros. My roots are in rock
and metal but I'm always willing to try something new as an artist. As long as it comes from the heart it's
Okay.
I have also planned a totally new way of making music, but that's very ambitious project. If that will one day
come to reality, quess that would be the new music style I chose. It just don't have a name yet:)

Usually lyrics comes from my life. They are emotion I have to put on the paper. I write them away from my
mind. Sometimes lyrics are just fictional, and I tell things in sarcastic way. Sarcasm is quite common thing in
my lyrics in general. Sometimes lyrics are just sentences from my mind and they become pretty chaotic.
- 188 -
At the moment it may be the song called "Dominoes".. It will be introduced first time on our web site
(www.velvetcut.com) next week.. Of course you get tired of old songs and new ones seems the best, but I
really like Dominoes because of its unik nature.. It's warm, melodic and catchy but is still rocks and has lot of
edge.. And that's what Velvetcut is mainly about. Combination of warm and edgy elements. Our goal is to
create the own sound and "Dominoes" are pretty close to what we are searching for. That warms me a lot.
Our band is quite young, so we haven't done any bigger tours yet. I hope we will one day tour in Central
Europe and enjoy the magic atmosphere of Paris.. Maybe it will be in tittle of our album then;)
Studio and playing live are two worlds... Music is like a empty painting when you come to a studio.
Sometimes you find all the right colours and the feeling is fantastic.. Sometime you seem to be lost and
nothing satisfies you. In general I love to be in studio. I'm quite a perfectionist what comes to my music, so
sometimes it costs me all my fingernails.. But after good studio session I'm mister smile. After founding the
final shape for the song in studio, it's pleasure to play them live. The feedback from the songs comes right
away, so after good gig feeling is great. Other hand if the sounds are bad or we have to play to the walls, it
doesn't make me feel very comfortable.

The latest CD I bought is SILVERCHAIRs Diorama. I've been listening to lot of Rammstein and I saw them
live on last November and this summer. Their visual show are awesome.. SYSTEM OF A DOWNs Toxicity is
also interesting album. I also like to listen music that are well produced. And I don't mean Bon Jovi or Def
Leppard by that. I bought PAPA ROACHes new album, because I really like the sound that Brendan O' Brien
does.

Hopefully we will start the recording of our debut album in Fall. We are starting to have enough good songs
for a strong album. I writing songs quite slowly, but try to make sure that everyone is good enough. Today
we'll finishing the mixing of "Dominoes".
Why?
There are lot of good songs, but if I had to name just one, probably it would be "Smells like teen spirit". Not
very clever answer, but NIRVANA charged the course of whole music industry with that song. Kurt was
genious writing simple songs with those same chords that had been used million times before. He managed
to do something new and unik with it and with his amazing warm voice. And could you honestly say that the
song doesn't rock?

Like in all other things there are always two sides of the coin.. For a newcomer internet is effective way to
promote a band to a larger audience. Sometimes the results and specially financal results are shown after
the first release, after people have had a chance to get to know the band through internet. Usually for free.
People don't invest their money so easily on artist, they don't know much about. Usually they have heard
only one song, and wouldn't like to buy an album based on that. Internet is a good way to get better picture
from a band. Sometimes you may download the whole album for free and thats the difficult part of this
question. Some people hear the album and want to go and buy it. And maybe buy all the bands records after
that. Internet has serve the band. I mean without internet this guy/girl wouldn't buy record at all. On the other
hand some people stop buying records based on they can get them free from internet.. Which group are
bigger? I honestly don't know, but at the moment I'm willing to let people download clips from our music for
free. Maybe we'll put the whole songs also to our web site...
We'll see..
- 189 -
Ben Granfelt
When and how did you decide to become a musician /
singer?
When I was 11 I started playing and I started singing about
20 years later

No, I knew from the start that the guitar would be my "thing"
in life

your life / work?
In my youth it was Dr.Feelgood,Mud,Status Quo and later
on Deep Purple,Rainbow,Gary Moore etc.

Positive= I'm doing what I always wanted to do,
negative+being away from home so much ( I'm not playing
in Finland so mutch any more)

Guitar rock with good melodies... maybe?
No ! I'm all the time pendling between rock,blues and pop

Mostly my own feelings about life ,love and what's happening around me

My first instrumental song "Power of Passion" and maybe "Going Home" or "Picture perfect reality"
Yes , I tour a lot with Wishbone Ash and I try to sneak in some gigs with my own band here and there. I
definitely prefer playing live

Michael Landau, Seal,Kings X, Kansas

A tour of the US and the UK with Wishbone Ash and recording demos for my new album
Why?
There are so many BEST songs that it's impossible to answer with out leaving something good out... I need
a best song for every week !

I don't really think about it, it's not my headache
- 190 -
Alliance
I formed Alliance way back in 1999 with
Anssi Nummi, the another guitar player in a
band back then. I called it a day with my
previous band and suddenly ran to Anssi
who has just returned to Finland from
Austin, Texas. We knew each others
because of some band projects in the past
and we thought that we should finally put
up a real band together.
We were located in Helsinki and we are still
located in Helsinki minus Anssi who moved
to Vancouver, Canada after our first CD
and tour way back in 2000. Since then he
has been replaced by guitarist Tomi
Sundström.

I'm still not so sure about the level of our professionalism. :) Of course it has meant a lot of work to got to the
point we are now.
I grew up listening to the bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Kiss to name a few. Now I listen to lots of
different bands and artists but I'm always been into the 80's style melodic rock, hard rock and heavy metal.
I think that it's quite easy to be a heavy metal musician here because that music style is very popular in
Finland. In the other hand, it's sometimes hard to get attention to your band because there's so many metal
bands around here.

It's driving, melodic heavy metal with some hard rock influences in it. There's lots of catchy choruses and
tasteful guitar leads by Tomi.
I don't think that Alliance's style would ever change very radically. If I released my own album some day It'd
probably be more progressive metal or rock. At the moment I consentrate on Alliance 100%.

It varies quite a lot. The older songs are about someone leaving someone, someone falling in love with
someone, someone driving a car on the highway and other "original" topics.
One of the new songs I've written is about the dark side of the information society.

My favourite song is "When It Is Over". It's got perfect melody line and guitar riffs to my taste. I'm also happy
with the lyrics. I'm not happy with all the lyrics I've written.
We tour quite regulary. The latest dates we played this summer were in Helsinki. At the moment we are
taking a break from touring and heading into studio later this autumn. I think it's cool to get into the studio
again but I enjoy the gigs as well.
It's the songwriting. For me it's the main reason to be in a band. I got lots of ideas and I also think that those
ideas are good enough to gain people's interest. I'm always very curious to find out what pepole think about
our music.
- 191 -
The latest album by Red Hot Chili Peppers has been in powerplay in my stereo. I'm also very much into the
older material by Jethro Tull. "Broadsword And The Beast" is great album. I've listened a lot to Yngwie J.
Malmsteens CD's lately. The new album "Attack" is great!

There's many. The new Alliance single "Sleep With One Eye Open" will hit the streets soon. Then we go to
the studio to record some more songs and hopefully return to the stages at the end of this year.
Why?
This is impossible to answer. Ten years ago I'd probably have named some Iron Maiden song but now I have
way too large archive to choose. Yesterday it was "Ship Of Fools" from Yngwie J. Malmsteen's new album.
Today it will probably be something else.

I think that internet is very good channel to promote your music. No copyright problems with me yet.
- 192 -
Apezone
K. Popp from Apezone

Mr. K. Popp: The story of Apezone started in the spring
of the year 1997. We first got the idea for the band with
Bengt Boy the bass player, when we realized that we
both wanted to start creating music that would combine
heavy metal with groovy elements from funk and hip hop.
We were in that sence lucky from the beginning that all
the musicians in the band were already friends and
shared the same ambitions and interests.

Mr. K. Popp: As a musician my first real influences came
from the British heavy metal -70´s and -80´s from bands like Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden etc. Later as a
song writer in the 1990´s grunge and hip hop stood out more and more.Especially bands like Soundgarden,
Alice in Chains, Public Enemy, Beastie Boys, Cypress Hill shook my world big time. There influences can in
some ways still be quite distinctinely heard in our music.We don´t anyhow see our music being strictly based
on any specific bands or styles but we have very open-minded and versatile approach to making music in
general.
Mr. K. Popp: In Finland the first positive aspect that comes to mind is that live gigs are guite easy to get,
even for small and guite unknown alternative bands but at the same time the venues , audiences and
demand for obvious reasons remain guite modest. The general atmosphere amongst musicians is relatively
supportive and here in Finland are a lot of good unknown bands but the possibility of major breakthrough is
very limited due to tough competition and the fact that the finnish record companies tend to stay on the safe
side and follow the commercial trends of the USA and the hit lists in general., and often several years
behind. However, this situation has recently slightly changed, thanks to the commercial breaktroughs of a
few Finnish bands like HIM and Bom Funk MC´s.

Mr. K. Popp: As mentioned above our music is an open-minded crossover of various styles of music. I often
say when Iám asked this guestion that our music is somewhere between Black Sabbath and Beastie Boys,
We let the listener decide.
Mr. K. Popp: Once again, we are not strictly committed to any style of music, we might sometimes in our live
performances even slip into reggae jam sessions, to tell one example. But if we were to change the style
completely, I can only say that the change would be guite radical, something totally different.

Mr. K. Popp:Well, the topics and emotions in our songs are maxim to another. On one hand the lyrics are up-
to-date depictions and obversations of the world as we see it from our male perspectives or then they might
reach out to absurd, even perverted fictive imaginative mind flow tales of not so ordinery events.

Mr. K. Popp: As far every musician, I think, it´s almost impossible to lift one song over another. Some more
energetic songs are nicer to play live, some work better in other conditions. And of course the new songs are
interesting to play live cuz then see how the audience respond to them.
Mr. K. Popp: We definitely enjoy more playing live and We play gigs regularly. We have toured in Finland all
bigger cities and rock venues, but We haven´t however reached the stadium arena level yet.
- 193 -
Mr. K. Popp: When it comes to play in the studio, to be a bit sarcastic, the best phase is when the album is
ready. For critical musician as ourselves, playing in the studio can sometimas be painfull but somehow it is
also rewarding.

Mr. K. Popp: Currently, there are no mainstream bands that would have struck out, the last album I´ve
purchased was latest Red Hot Chili Peppers album. So I mainly still listen to my old favourites mentioned
above.

Mr. K. Popp: At the moment We are mostly concertrating in promoting our new single and starting to play
more gigs again, after short creative break.
Why?
Mr. K. Popp: Again, this is impossible, My opinion is that good music is good music and bad music is bad, no
matter if it´s folk or heavy metal.

Mr. K. Popp: Our experience is that the internet is a good media expecially for new bands to reach new
audience and in our case this has proved to be rather successful. Of course in a larger scale this cannot be
very produtive and it can turn against the musicians themselves. As long as music stays an artistic ambition
and a hobby internet is a good thing but naturally if one should make a living out of music, it becomes a
different thing altogether and commercial aspects have to be thought more carefully. By the way people
check us in the internet in www.apezone.net
Mr. K. Popp: We are our own producers, We have our own studio equipment which gives us the possibility to
experiment more and without any strict time tables. Computers are a natural part of studio processes these
days, also for us.
- 194 -
Aeroflop
Me(Rami,vox) and Matte(guitar) were listening to
something very cool music on a nice cloudy summer day
and we just decided to wrote something beautiful and
something that wasn't on the charts at the
time.Something that was arrogantly rocknroll but at the
same time sensitively pretty.Then we gathered the guys
and started a band. Our first rehearsal with the whole
band was in May 2001.
Was the choice to become professional difficult to

make? Why?
Well I wouldn't say that we are professional.Maybe
someday we will be.
We have our daily jobs and school at the same time as we are playing in AEROFLOP.So we are not
professional.
Well, musically our basic influences are Brittish or European, but rarely anything American. I think American
music (of course there are exceptions like Smashing pumpkins,Foo Fighters,RATM or the Strokes etc...) is
pretty sugared and it's usually too poppy too, not always the music but the attitude is pretty poppy.
Recently I have been listening to Pink Floyd,Led Zeppelin,The Verve,Coldplay and the Beatles.But those are
not all the bands that have inspired us, if I would have to count them all, my head would explode. Let's just
say that there's a lot of good music and a lot of shit.We dig the good ones and try to make ours the best.
Well it's positive that I can do what I want and I can express my feelings and share my thoughts with people.
I think all of our band agree with that statement.
It's pretty negative if people labels us assholes or if they make rumors or treats us and adores us just like we
are somekind of gods..But we haven't noticed anything like that so that's not a problem yet and hopefully it
will never be.
Also touring in other countries is much more harder to organize and it really is a negative thing. The venues
are also pretty small usually in Finland, but that just makes our concerts more intimate and that's the way we
want it to be. So we see the small venues as a positive thing.

Well I think our music is basically melodic britrock.
Well we've thought about it, yeah.But in fact we would like to be only a band that is constantly improving and
changing their style just a little bit. For example now I'm pretty excited about progressive rock and music that
is made with samplers and machines. So our musical interests can be heard from our music. An example of
a good band that grows musically all the time is Radiohead. In that way Radiohead is also among our
greatest influences but you can't really find anything similar between us and Radiohead. It's just a good
band.They've got the vibe.

Well our songs usually tells only about my feelings in this world and the way I think of the things around
me.So they are pretty personal lyrics but they usually consists a good and sometimes hidden message about
my God or about my faith, 'cos I consider it as a good and important thing to tell. Our lyrics are also pretty
surrealistic poems..At least some of them are.I don't write anything that doesn't interest me and I don't write if
I don't feel like writing. So in that way my lyrics comes just naturally when I've been inspired by something.

Now it is the Revival song but in fact we haven't played it live yet..So then my answer would be Afraid of
living.It is good live rocknroll with good guitars and good lyrics.
- 195 -
Live is better.We don't actually tour but we do a few gigs in a month.Yeah, usually two gigs in a month or
so.Touring in some part of Europe is still in our dreams, but maybe it will come true someday in the near
future.
Maybe when everything is done.It's so great when you feel how all the stress falls down on the floor as you
hear the first chords of the first song on the album.I like it when it's all done and you hear your very own CD
from your own stereo.But in fact we haven't made any official records except our 8-track demo yet! So our
stress about a full length album is just in the near future.

Well I listen to very different music.From hardcore to old jazz. I like very honest lyrics and music that is
unpredictable or melodic or both.

In the near future we are planning to make a full length album. And to make few gigs around Finland. We are
just getting things started and we like to keep our eyes open to different opportunities. The album is the
biggest thing we are looking forward to but everything is still a big question (?) mark concerning the
recording of the album and studios and financial business and stuff like that. We'll see what happens in the
future.
Why?
Hard question. Not stupid, but hard. Maybe A Day in the life by the Beatles or the complete Wall-album by
Pink Floyd. Instant Karma is also a fine masterpiece and Queen has some good tunes also. So I just have to
pick A Day in the life, but tomorrow it will be different again.=)

Internet is a good thing, but I think that everyone should see us live first and then just decide their opinion
about our band.
But Internet has opened many doors so I'm not against it. And for the starting bands Internet is very good
media, but only if you know how to use it wisely. If somebody steals something from us, like songs or a name
or anything, then he won't get anything from us. That's the way we see it.
- 196 -
Velcra
Velcra was born in late 1999. Me and OD found
each other to be the perfect musical partners, so
we started to write songs together.
Was the choice to become professional

difficult to make? Why?
Well, no. It's the meaning of life, right?

Musically open minded artists, regardless of
their musical style. Obviously there are certain
artists that have had a huge influence in us such
as Nine Inch Nails, System Of A Down, Senser,
Manhole, Björk, Skunk Anansie.
What are the positive and negative aspects of anything in general? Every trade has their ups and downs.
Our attitude is that if something bugs us, then we are gonna do something about it. It is important that we
know what we want, otherwise we are just going with the flow, and the flow usually goes nowhere.

Well, we started off as an industrial band, and I still regard our music as that. Basically the underlining idea is
the combination of rock and electronic music.
The style takes shape somewhere along the way. Some of it is conscious, some of it is not. It is important for
us to keep our music fresh and interesting, so it is possible, even probable, that over the years our music will
evolve. Where it will go, I couldn't say yet. Hopefully to some interesting unexplored way.

In this album the underlying theme is the freedom to think independently and overcoming the personal
barriers, which are mostly in our own head, in order to achieve that freedom.

That is like asking a mother who is her favourite child. :) Each one of the songs is a piece of my life and is
special to me in its own way.
Yes we do. We stopped gigging while working on the album, but now that the album is finished we are hitting
the road again.
Working in the studio is one thing and gigging is another and I enjoy doing both. Studio work is about paying
attention to detail and creating an entity that works on an album. On stage it is about energy, enjoying the
moment and creating a party where everybody is having a good time.
Making the album was a long and sometimes very tiring process, but at the same time very rewarding. I
suppose the best moment is to hear the finished tracks and be happy with what we did and realise how
much we learned during that long process.

I really love a new band called The Streets. The album is called Original Pirate Material. It has a witty
attitude.
- 197 -
We are currently touring Finland and will probably be touring more during the following months. We are
currently shooting a video for Can't Stop Fighting and the album is out sometime in October. That is all I
know for now, the future will show the rest.
I wonder how many songs I have heard in my life.? Quite a few. I don't have an all time favourite. Many
songs have inpired me and I see no point in trying to put them in any order.

Internet is a great place to find alternative music and interesting bands. The medium is still living its early
days, which means that it is poorly organised and poorly utilised. Internet is often seen as a threat, but I think
that it could be used for everyone's advantage. If there were good usable sites, where you can find a wide
variety of music, it could work as an alternative channel, alongside the traditional radio, tv and press for
example. Sites like mp3.com give an idea of what I mean. It allows people to easily find new and interesting
bands as well as signed artists, without offending anyones copyrights.
- 198 -
Stigma
1996. Accidently few friends decided to form a band.

Beatles. Radiohead. Pearl Jam. Doors. And few finnish
groups or artists.
What are the positive and negative aspects of being

a musician / singer (in Finland)?
Positive: Markets are so small that economy does not
run the business as much as in other countries for
example usa or great britain.
Negative: Because the markets are small, there´s not so
much money. You can´t make a living out of music very easily.

Hard rock.
Have you ever considered the possibility to change totally your style of music?
No.

Everything between heaven and hell.

At the moment i have one favourite song, which is called "jäljet" in finnish, just because it´s a new song and
fresh.
Yes we tour now and then. I definitely like performing live.
When the work is done, because then you can relax and enjoy.

Like i told before Pearl Jam, Radiohead, Portishead...

A new single.
Smells like teen spirit (Nirvana), because it changed th eworld of rock`n`roll.

Piracy sucks. It is stealing. Fake no more. If artists get paid, it´s ok.
- 199 -
Impaled Nazarene
We formed in November 1990 as our old band
Mutilation split-up. Mutilation was not getting
anywhere and there were other Mutilations
popping up everywhere so me and my brother
decided to carry on with a new band name and
new members.
Where the name of your band is coming

from?
To make long, boring story short: I kinda took it
from Ellen Datlow book of vampire tales.
Basically the idea was that Jesus was not
crucified but impaled because he was a
vampire.
Sodom, Venom, Kreator, Violent Force, Exciter, Extreme Noise Terror, Suicidal tendencies, D.R.I., S.O.D.,
Driller Kller etc etc
The most negative aspect is definitely taxation of musicians, it is ridiculous to say the least. Secondly, we do
not get any support from goverment at all, only popular "music" gets loads of money...and the biggest joke is
that they are all signed with major labels who already have money!!! If you are an underground band, you
have to survive by your own!! As for positive things...I don´t know what could be positive to be a musician
here.

Nuclear metal. You take black, death, thrash metal and mix it with crust punk and hc = nuclear metal.
Never. If we would want to change our style, we would split-up and start a new band. I just wanna play
metal, nothing else.

Sexual perversions, Satan, violence, hatred against religions/people, alcohol, you name it, we got it!

There are lots of them actually. If you need one, I would say Wrath Of The Goat, lyrically!!! It sums up my life
in 1998-2000 perfectly. It was shit.
Both are nice but I prefer touring/playing shows. You got to meet people, see new places, eat/drink local
food/booze. We do nowdays more one-off shows, thanks to the fact that most of us are working "normal"
jobs beside the band. We are finally having a real European tour in December, 15 shows in 7 countries,
including 3 shows in France. See www.impnaz.com for details.
When you have the master cd burned!!
Why?
Because the ***** is ready and you know that all the hard work has paid off.

I am very much into new Driller Killer cd, it is absolutely brilliant crust/metal shit!!! Apart from that, new
Halford and new Nile has been on my stereos lately.
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I am also member of Obscene Eulogy, two Canadian blokes and me. It is extreme black/death metal, our
debut album is out on 31st of October on Baphomet records. I am heading for studio on November to lay
down the vox on the 2nd album. As for Impaled Nazarene, we are rehearsing new shit (and rehearsing for
the tour as well). We are heading for thye Astia studio on March 2003!!!
Why?
It is definitely Venom´s Witching Hour. It changed my life!!!

I am not really fond of the fact that you can download our album three months before its street date on the
net, that is just utter bullshit. But, it hepls booking the shows, staying in touch with fans/promoters etc etc. It
is love/hate relationship!
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Waltari
Kärsty from Waltari

Three guys in Helsinki, March ´86, Kärtsy, Jari and
the original drummer Sale, bored from the Finnish
music scene, wanted to form a band which would be
different from all the other bands! The guys had
many different musical ideas, and they wanted to
form a band where they could be able to share and
reflect all their different ideas!

From nothing really. It was very spontanious (like
most of the things in our band!). It´s just the last
name of one famous Finnish writer from 40´s.We had
our first gig and got no name, and were forced to pick
up something very quickly. We were not satisfied with
it at that time, but decided to leave it like that in the
end because everybody seemed to like it. Later we
heard its an old langobardian word meaning KING.
There has been/will always be some heroes in all times. When we started yer 86 we listened lot acts like PIL
and Cult, indie/hard rock kinda stuff, nowadays I enjoy most the acts like Rammstein, Clawfinger, Linkin
Park, latest Madonna...we listen to radio pretty much and we/I like most of todays hits. F.e.Destiny´s Child is
great.
Positive aspect is sure freedom of my own work and that you have no dying rhythm in your life.
Negative aspect is that you have no decent "pay-day" in month and you´ll never know which will happen
tomorrow.This is a very hard job, being an artist.

Rock band.The ultimate cross-over version.
Of course we could change that, why not, who denies.This is the creative work! But sure we wouldn´t think
these things beforehand.Some kind of rock music we would still always play in some level.I personally would
like to play some day 100%electronic music.

Normal people´s (like me!) too narrowminded wiev for living!! (shortly). Of course I normally reflect the
experiences I have had in my own life, but mostly they are more feelings, inner thoughts, than stories, I don´t
consider myself as a storyteller and/or any kinda sing-a-songwriter.I take lyrically everything which moves in
the air...

It changes every year. At the moment it is Your Nature Is Wild from So Fine album. One of my all time
favourites is Purify Yourself in Space Avenue.And Every Bad Day from the last one I usually enjoy...
I prefer both. They are two totally different worlds. Studio is the place where you try to create something
immortal, and to play live is to achieve one single immortal experience which is just here and now in a VERY
intensive way, but gone after the moment. We love performing, and always tour after the new album as
much as we are able.
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There is no specific moment: Like in our every day life, any moment can turn out to be surprising or special.

Making the new album for W (starting very soon actually), and then as a side project I make music for a very
succesful computer game called Max Payne
I really can´t say best, but maybe the most remarkable one i can try to find.....Maybe Beatles´s Helter Skelter
and Revolution 9 from The White Double album: They totally blew my head off when I was 3 years old, and
really....for good. They showed the total, even scaring, intensity, what music/rock band can create in a young
boy´s mind.

I´m not afraid of copyright systems. Somebody has to pay the music anyway which has been created for the
internet.When there won´t be any music around then it starts to be time to worry of thes things.
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Azure
Mikko Pöllä from Azure

The idea of Azure was created by two guitar players, Mikko
Holma and Tommi Raivio, who wanted to have a metal band.
Severi Seppänen was persuaded into playing drums after
days of severe torture. I, a bassist, was the last one to join in.
This was in the autumn of 1995.

Upon creating their metal band, Mikko (Holma) and Tommi
were thinking profoundly about some subjects, such as the
sky-blue in the blue sky. Then they looked it up from a
dictionary that said "azure". This both looked and sounded like
the name of their band. Later on, Ilkka Juopperi designed a killer logo.
There are many musicians and artists that have influenced us. If I would have to name just one single band
that has had a major influence on all of us, I would name Iron Maiden.
For a metal musician in Finland, the positive aspect must be the marginal, yet existing, group of metal
listeners. For any musician in Finland, the relatively small population means a relatively small potential
audience. This is a negative aspect with a certain touch of positivity in it.

"Ghost metal". This has been the definition from the beginning. There are no strict guidelines to playing
"ghost metal". And we like to mess around.
Change totally? No. But we have considered many changes. For example, we have thought about having
some singing alongside the murmurring. There are many directions that the members of the band are taking
the band. Until now, we have chosen to put out "a compromised compilation" of our views. We are currently
expanding our musical minds, so you could expect a lot of things, maybe anything.

Whatever that affects us emotionally or makes us think. Our songs have always dealt with contemporary
subjects and situations, such as hangovers. The lyrics to our songs present these topics, sometimes
explicitly, sometimes implicitly. There may be some sarcasm, too.

If our audience likes a song, I can't dislike it. A successful rock'n'roll-song makes an arse move. "Life Is
Something" is something that is very personal for me, and I'm going through an emotional hell, when letting
out the words, which is nice.
We don't actually tour. But we do play live, whenever we feel like it and get a chance to do so. I prefer
performing our music live. No alcoholic intoxication compares to the orgasmic euphoria I get on stage.
I like the sessions in which we try things out and "write songs". When recording, things don't always work out
as they should, and then I get frustrated. I love the moment, when everything is recorded, and can't be
changed anymore. It just is there, with all the failures and mistakes that make it our personal output.

Currently, My Dying Bride, Fantômas, Queens Of The Stone Age, Ludwig Van Beethoven, The Beatles, and
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pretty much everything else, as well, according to my moods.
This is not a stupid question, but a tough question that makes me poo-poo into my pants. Always.

I see the Internet more as an opportunity than a threat. I understand that more established bands and artists
may see it more as a threat.
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Kilpi
Pete Kilpi from Kilpi

Apprx two years ago I went to the bank for
taking a loan enough to purhase required
equipments to build up a home studio. Then I
finally had a opportunity to compose songs in
the way I wanted.
After that when I made some music ready I

called to my old friend Taage and asked if he
could come and sing the vocal parts. Then we
noticed the results were so intersting we
decided to continue composing more songs
and when we had demos enough we
contacted to rest of the guys we have in KILPI
band and they all were very enthused to join
this team .
Shortly this was the start.
First we released a cd-single from the song

"Nerokasta Ikävää" and for our luck it raised
to the playlists in YleX station ( www.ylex.fi ) and as well in Radio SuomiPop ( www.radiosuomipop.fi ). The
song was in quite a heavy rotation in both of these stations and after that we feel it was time to record a full
album.
And the KILPI album "Sähkönsinistä Sinfoniaa" came out in the beginning of June 2003 The album
raised immediatily to the official Finnish Top40 album chart and stayed there four weeks .

My name is Pete Kilpi so . . .
There's too many to mention . But as a rule the influence are coming from the hard/heavyrock bands from
80's. Judas Priest, Accept, TNT, Iron Maiden , Dokken , Queensryche, ...
Never thought about this thing. Only thing at the moment which popped to my mind is in practise level when
bands are touring in Finland , the distances are quite huge because Finland is so long from south to north .

80's oriented hard/heavyrock in Finnish. ( not metal ! )
I haven't considered.

Dare to be individual with own thoughts and opinions.

It changes all the time. I guess at the moment it's Antakaa Aikaa .
After the gigs we have made we are absolutely better on stage . Now we are going to make a tour during Oct
- Nov and visit in all the bigger cities in Finland and I guess we'll do that again on spring time . The some
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festivals on the summer 2004....after this I think we are quite willing to perform in a studio again ;-)
I prefer to arrange songs by myself in my home studio . As well it's nice to record the first vocals into the
songs .
Why?
...because then you finally hear the song with it's moods and feelings.

I don't listen music much . Daytime at work I listen normal "hitradio" stuff with no pity .
Dokken - The Hunter . . . I think
Why?
...for my ears it's just complete . Beautiful guitar riffin' intro , so nice song melodies and harmonies , smooth
and enjoyable guitar solo by George Lynch.

You're right . Actually I don't know what is my opinion . I haven't had time to think about this . And I guess
now I will think this a little bit different way than earlier because we have released the album...I'll come back
later to this issue ;-)
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Tarot
Zachary from Tarot
There was so many different metal bands, put up
together by me and Marco before Tarot and actually the
band called Purgatory was the original Tarot. Lineup was
Marco, Pecu, I and Harri Veteli. That was 1984. Harri left
the band by personal reasons until we got our first record
deal.
Later our second guitarist Mako.H. who played first two
albums decided to left the band because we didn't went
along very well anymore. In same year 1987 we met
Janne Tolsa in some gig and we ask him to join the band.
I think rest is history.

Late in the year 1985 we got our first record deal and the
record company asked us to change our name to
something easier to pronounce for Finnish people and in
some drinking session we ended up with the name Tarot.
Nothing special in that.

We all prefer so called old school metal bands like Deep
Purple, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, etc. You can find
our roots straight from there.

We always have had great metal bands in Finland, but
not enough professional people to do all these things
around the bands, we have been on our own. Today it is different, Universal and Spinefarm/King Foo
entertainment are very good examples of it. Finnish metal scene is so small that normal people ignore it,
they are listening only folk or dance artists, that's pity.

Now you ask me difficult question, maybe it is this NWOBHM(new wave of British heavy metal).
We all stand for the heavy metal and I hope we don't ever have to play nothing else for the living.

If you need specific answers you have to ask them from Marco, he makes our lyrics. Lots of songs tells about
sci-fi mixed in some mystic stories and dark side of human mind and some of the lyrics are personal, or so I
have understood. That's all I know.

I think it is Do you wanna live forever from the album To live forever. That was the album where Janne
played keys first time in our band and with that song everything locked up together so greatly.
We are touring as much as it is possible in Finland and if I know correctly everybody likes more playing live.
Studio work is always very stressing and sometimes even frustrating, you will never know how the new
songs are doing when record is out.
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Composing the songs are hardest part, but when you have done the finishing touch, you can listen the whole
song and start to dig it. Normally after studio sessions you have to take some distance to the albums, but
with this Suffer our pleasures album the whole band loved the album straight after finishing it.

As I said before we listen older stuff mostly, alright there's so much great new bands, but it is really hard to
find a time to listen them. Normally Judas Priest's Painkiller do the job.
I can't say only a one song, but there's couple of the best of the best, Deep Purple's Burn, Black Sabbath's
Heaven and hell, Rainbow's Kill the king, they all have the elements what good metal song have to have ,
great melodies, solos, lyrics and rage, what more you can need?

In my opinion internet is great help for the bands like us, with bigger bands this pirate shit is bad surely, but
in our case it really doesn't matter.
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Bloodpit
Matthau from Bloodpit

Bloodpit was based in 1999 by Paavo Pekkonen and myself and
we played our first gig in the same year.

It is just a name and doesn´t actually have any profound
meaning... it´s just a stupid name but there are so many stupid
band names in the world so I think we fit in.

life / work?
Lots of bands like Popeda (from Finland), Metallica, Guns N´
Roses, Stone Temple Pilots, Kiss, Nirvana, The Beatles etc. Today my heroes are Mick Jagger, Gene
Simmons etc.
Of course it´s a great thing being a musician and having fans and one of the greatest things is playing alive
and making people enjoy. Actually there are no negative things in being a musician you know.

Simply life.

They´re all great. No song is better than the other.
Well, we´ve done now about 100 gigs and we have a tiny tour to do soon in Finland.
But we have also recorded three EPs.
Actually I don´t like being in studio at all... it´s so goddamn steril.

I really don´t know.
Why?
The best song?... It really is a difficult question. I like "Rocket Queen" by Guns N´ Roses.

It´s a great thing because when you have no gigs (for example) the thing goes on in the internet.
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Spiha
Bomber from Spiha

We formed Spiha in autumn 1998. Excactly 5 years ago. First
there where Me, Daemon and the singer Henry. There were some
others but they slowly faded away. After our first show, newyear
1999 we got a record-deal. We signed to R.I.P. Metamorhposis
records from Espoo, Finland. Ville Maila who was the manager
saw our show and was blown away. The record is very hard to
get because it was released just before the recordcompany
disolved. So when then gigged for a couple of years had a lot of
line-up changes. Fortunately we managed to form a working team
and the record "Egoreactor" was soon reality.Also lowfrequency
records got very interested in us.

For many people Spiha means: Spiritual Hallucination others have said that it is Satans people of hell´s
abyss:))). To be honest, you can read spiha if you turn the BYRDS logo upsidedown.
There´s a lot of influences, because we are six in the band. ac/dc, maiden, beatles, doors, alice in chains,
alice cooper, venom, stones, jeff buckley.. and to not forget the bluesy stuff, Hooker, Otis Redding.
The winter is very long here in Finland. About half the year. At that time its good to spend a lot of time writing
songs, rehearsing and arranging them. Its very cold outside and not much to do. So there´s one positve
thing. Also its a pleasure to do some gigs during the winter.
The negative side is being poor and starving.

Spiha is just a mixture of old and new bands. You can hear the personal favourites of everybody in Spiha.
We just try to make good music.
We are constantly influenced by different music. At the moment I listen to a lot of old blues stuff, the new
type o negative is amazing. Bootsy Collins kicks too.Back in the 80´s I hated The Smiths. But know its a
different sound in the bell. Maybe we could be the most clumsiest disco act ever.

There are no big issues in our songs. The lyrics have to rhyme and go well with the songs. The lyrics are
very straight forward stories about our lives.

Personally I like, altamont, egoreactor, if I fall. They are all nice to play. We play all of our songs live. Next
week we´re gonna make new songs for the next album. Were going to play a couple of new songs during our
Finnish tour in september. Just to get them right.
Both are very different environments. Impossible to compare the studio and the livestage. Except you have
to perform very good in both of them. It was a pleasure to record our new album and also it has been a blast
playing them live. We get better every time we enter the studio or the stage.
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Diablo
Marko from Diablo
The roots of Diablo go back to 1987 when I met Rainer in Kalajoki
(our home town on the west coast of Finland). We started to play
together since the musical interests seemed to be the same. At
that time we played thrash-metal. After many years of rehearsing
and a couple of changes in the crew the style of Diablo developed
to what it is currently. The first album
Elegance In Black was recorded and released in 2000. On that
album we had Timo Kemppainen in drums. The latest change in
the crew happened then after Elegance In Black session. Heikki Malmberg replaced Timo. Currently we are
satisfied with the band and there's definitely no need to change the players.

There was a gang called Diablos in Hill Street Blues which is an old TV series from the 80's...
I started to listen to metal at the age of 10 (in the early 80's). The first influences came from bands like Iron
Maiden. Then speed and thrash metal changed totally my understanding of good music. Bands like
Sepultura, Metallica, Slayer and Testament were among the favourites. I listened also some death metal
bands. The only good bands from that scene were actually
Death and Pestilence.
To be honest, I don't know any positive things… Negative things in being a musician in finland is at least that
the market is so small that it's hard to make your living out of playing this kind of music.

I don't know any of the categories in metal that would describe Diablo's music well. It's not thrash and not nu-
metal… In my opinion Diablo plays modern and yet melodic stuff.
We've always played the kind of music that we've wanted. We haven't had to compromise on anything that is
related to the style of music we play. The purpose is not to try to play the music that is IN. We want to be
honest to ourselves and play the music that we like. So the answer is definitely NO.

Well, this is a hard one. The lyrics come out from subconsciousness.
Basically, they are about everyday life. It's described in a sarcastic way though. The lyrics shouldn't be taken
literally…

There are many of them… My personal favourites are Icon of Flesh and Creatures of Deception. They work
on stage.
Do you tour regularly?

We haven't done any tours yet.

We definitely like to perform live. That's why we do this. Actually, I think Diablo is famous for the energetic
live show that we manage to put on every time we walk on stage.
The best moment is, of course, when you work at home with guitar and PC and realize that you've just
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composed a good song.
Why?
The feeling is hard to describe. You'd just want everybody the hear the song immediately…

I don't buy or listen a lot of music nowadays. When I have a moment I prefer to sit down with my guitar and
try to make some new stuff. The bands that are currently on my playlist are Soilwork, Paradise Lost and
Korn.
Why?
This is TOO DIFFICULT. There are too many good songs. It's impossible to try
to put them in order.

Well, for Diablo it's only a good thing because our records are not distributed outside Finland. It would be
shame if people outside Finland didn't have any chance in trying to get hold of our albums. Of course, I
understand more famous artists because they loose a lot of money…
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Five Fifteen
Mika from Five Fifteen

When we were schoolmates at the end of the 80's

The Who has an album called "Quadrophenia" and
there's the song called "5.15." Later we started to use the
letters "FIVE FIFTEEN"

The Who, old Bowie...ahhh I have more than 5000
records so this is...Life itself. Most of the artists who have
survived longer than 20 years in this business are usually
also very good ones...No "one hit wonders"...

I suppose the same like everywhere else..."It's along way
to the top, if you wanna rock'n roll" The most of the time
in these days there's no time to concentrate to the
playing itself because everything else (managing,
bookings, negotations, promoting, etc...) takes the time.
There's no sense to play music as a profession if you
really don't wanna do it, long hours and very stressing.
Kids, there's always other chances... I think that's the
same everywhere??

"Classic Rock"
NO

What happens all around, flashbacks,the slogans from the fly on the wall. Sometimes personal messages to
my friends and enemies...

It's not in our repertoire right now because the other band members don't like it...hah !...Perhaps "The
prostitute" from our previous album, the one of the few songs that I have written about myself...Is there more
boring than the songwriter who sings about himself?
Yes we do tour regularly, some of the songs are nicer to play live and the others...I prefer the studioversions
When it's over and done

Right now there's Motorhead on my cd-player. Before that Lucinda Williams
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrghhhhhh. Monty Python "Always look on the bright side of life" If you have heard
that, you understand.
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Copyrights as a songwriter are very important to me. As a matter of fact they are my biggest incomes...So I
really wanna keep copyright control rights in order.
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The 69 Eyes
Jyrki from The 69 Eyes

We're such an old skool rock band that we simply met at a rock
bar, shared the interest to the same music, girls and partying!
And then just one Friday evening we gathered to a small
rehearsal place to jam along with some beers ... the band was
like a good excuse to party together. And in a way the same
parties still continue...

A friend of mine was starting an underground band in New York
but eventually she never did but had only the name which I took:
The 69 Eyes ... it sounds cool and exciting, could be from a horror
movie or a porno clip, it's just perfect for a rock'n'roll band!
So many things: from Elvis Presley to The Doors to Billy Idol to Marilyn Manson, from Hugo Pratt to Neil
Gaiman, from Jacques Tati to The Wachowski Brothers.
Ten years ago I think it felt like Finland was too far from the international music markets but these days it
feels like Finland is the most interesting place for the new bands to come! Helsinki is "THE rock city" these
days. It's a great advantage be from Finland these days, also music is really appreciated here in Finland too,
so no negative aspects these days.

It's Gothic Rock which means that it's very melodic and even sometimes romantic in the melancholic way but
it's still ROCKS!
Over the years the style of our band has developed from snotty glam punk to this more mature sound but in
the end I would call our style as Rock ... it's played with 2 guitars, bass and drums with a Rock'n'Roll attitude.
That's The 69 Eyes. We can add some new flavours but in the end we'll always be Rock. Somewhere else I
visited last year on KWAN's (the most famous Finnish hip-hop group) album, that was cool!

I try to write lyrics with some sense of hope, even the world and the current situation sometimes might be
dark, these always the bright side if you look at from the right angle!

I think I've succeeded pretty well with "Brandon Lee", there's certain magic in the lyrics and also in the music.
Also I'm still very satisfied with the opening lines of "Dance d'Amour"
I wanted to write the opening line which would be both really cool and everybody who knows the song would
also know: "Your lips shine like Paris"...I still love it!
We've been touring for "Paris Kills" the album ever since May 2002 till now, in the end of August 2003, both
in Finland and other countries from the Central Europe to Russia. To perform live is a social happening and
you travel and meet people and finally see how your music affects people, to make music in a studio is a
very lonely situation and pretty much I walk alone by the sea thinking of the lyrics etc. It's like first work, then
party... I love both as much!
I'm also involved not only creating the theme of the current record but also the graphical design ... that's
always exciting.
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Also the process of writing the lyrics, despite it's a VERY lonely part, is something really magical.

I listen a lot of different music all the time, from rock I've been recently listening to Jeffrey Lee Pierce (Gun
Club vocalist), Brian Setzer, ZZ Top, The Latebirds, the new Jane's Addiction cd, Billy Idol, Plastic Gator
Machine (ex-Circus Of Power) etc. From other stuff I've been enjoying Miles Davis, Angelique Kidjo, Alfa
Blondy, Bob Marley etc.
Why?
Maybe The Doors' "Light My Fire" because it has something magical which brings back my childhood
feelings and also some mystic, sounding like the voice of Jim Morrison knows something more than anyone
else. Almost for the same reason "Flesh For Fantasy" by Billy Idol, it brings me back the 80's and gives a
promise of the future...

Like always, too much knowledge also brings the pain! Internet also can make you a star in one night and
destroy the next. In a good way it's a powerful tool for a band but I think you shouldn't give it too much power
... the music comes first anyways!
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Oikosulku
Masa from Oikosulku

Our band was created in the late 90's by Masa, Rino and Toni.
We played cover songs at school and our first gig was in the year
2000. When we put our band together nobody really knew how to
play but I think we have learned quite good. But in late summer
'01 Antti and Simo joined the band and that is actually the point
when you can say that Oikosulku started to work as a band.

Couple years ago we were going to Rino's place and the elevator
stopped. Then someone of us said "This elevator got Short
circuit!" (Oikosulku means in English Short circuit). Then we
thought that it would be nice name to our band because we have
been trying to find out some name to our band and we haven't got any.
I think that the major influences come from the late 60's and 70's. Bands like Led Zeppelin, Rolling stones,
Ac/dc etc. Off course we have some "new" influences like The Hellacopters. Our influences are mainly
rock'n'roll bands but it's nice to listen sometimes also different kind of music.
How I see the situation, there are more positive than negative things. I think that when your band have been
playing 20 years in Finland, I bet that you have seen every stage and every pub in Finland. But Oikosulku
have been doing gigs only since the late year 2000, so we have still a lot to see. But the small size of this
country is propably one of the problems in here. And records doesn't sell that much either.

Our music is energic, breathtaking and you have to see us on stage!
During the years how has your musical style evolved?

We have been on the road a quite a lot in this autumn and we haven't trained that much as usually. But
some parts of our new music are gonna be more melodic and some parts more rocking!

Those changes are not bad. It's just that we are developing as musician all the time. And that's the natural
thing to happen.

Our singer Rino writes all the lyrics, so he would be better guy to answer. But as far as I know about our
lyrics, our songs are basicly about having fun, girls and rock'n'roll itself.
Have you ever considered the possibility to change totally your style of
music? If so, what style of music would you choose?
No.. Maybe a bit but if we would change our style of music, it would still be rock'n'roll. But maybe a bit
different kind of rock'n'roll.
What is your favourite song in your repertoire?

My favourite song is propably "Valmis milloin vaan" because it's very rocking song and it works really good at
gigs.
Do you tour regularly? Do you actually prefer performing your music live or
in a studio?
We are definitely a live band and we tour as much as we can. In this November and December we have had
a small break from gigs but in the next year we are going to tour a lot. From late January to April we have
now almost 15 gigs and there is still more to come!
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I prefer the moment when I play myself, offcourse. And that is because I like playing. But when we are in
studio and I don't play myself I like to just watch television and play playstation and do things like that.

The two last albums that I have listened are the new Backyard babies album and the first Danko Jones-
album.
A stupid question but... what is, among all the songs you've been listening
in your life, the best song? Why?
It's impossible for me to answer that question. I listen some much music nowdays that is very hard to say
what is the best band.

Internet have been a good thing to our band and I think that it will help many smaller bands. There is easy to
promote our band and easy to get our band on top. I don't think that internet is a threat for music. If I
download some good music, I'm sure that I'm also going to buy that album!
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Turun Romantiikka
Pete from Turun Romantiikka
Pete (guitar, vocals): Rami (vocals, guitar) and I were discussing
about the Finnish music scene and realised that there are no
bands here who have something to say. So we decided to be that
band. Niko (drums) and Mickan (bass) were found easily and we
were ready to provoke Finnish music industry, media and
audience.

Pete: Turku is our hometown and the name of the band is Turku
Romantic Movement in English. Turun romantiikka used to be the
name of this literal, political and cultural movement in the early
19th century Finland. It also refers to all bands whose names
have a city in them, for example Hanoi Rocks and New York Dolls.
Pete: Different members of the band have different influences. Hanoi Rocks hit me like a bomb when I was
about seven years old but there are also many other groups. I think people like to compare us to the Clash
and Manic Street Preachers because of our political and critical lyrics.
Pete: Being able to play music, make records and have a few people who like to listen to our music is always
positive. In Finland you just can't make a living out of it.

Pete: Modern guitar oriented rock that has some elements from the 60´s and the 70´s. We are one of the
very few bands in Finland that write critical lyrics about society instead of writing about girls and boys and
fast cars.

Pete: On our first album Ajatus on kapinaa (Thinking is rebellion) we used to play some kind of action punk
rock and underline these provocative slogans in our lyrics. Second album Metamorfoosi (Metamorphosis) is
big, more sophisticated and pop. It proves our musical growth.

Pete: There is no point in doing the same album twice, so we aimed to do a very different album than the first
one. We have also grown as musicians and songwriters. I think our development has been very natural.

Pete: Metamorfoosi album dives deep into the human mind and makes notes about culture and society
around us from an individual point of view. Our topics are important and we always take the poor people's
side.
Pete: Not totally, but we have already done some pretty big changes. Who knows what kind of an album will
the next one be?

Pete: My personal favourite is probably Dilemma from Metamorfoosi. It's an aggressive song with a sing-
along-chorus and it always wins the audience on its side.
Pete: Both are lots of fun, but I love the interaction with a good audience, even though it sounds like a big
cliché. I don't think we have actually ever toured, but we do all the gigs we get and there is always more
demand after an album release.
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Pete: When the drums and the bass are recorded and we start doing the guitars, the keys and later the
vocals. That's when you start to realise which direction the song is going after all. I also like doing the demos
before the actual studio time.

Pete: Lou Reed's NYC Man, Iggy Pop's Skull Ring, CMX's (a great Finnish band) Aion.
A stupid question but... what is, among all the songs you've been listening in your life, the best
song? Why?
Pete: Impossible to say but at the moment in the middle of the Finnish winter I really like Iggy's Perverts in
the Sun. It always makes me feel good. "Perverts in the sun, perving everyone."

Pete: We are still such a small underground band that I'm just happy if people listen to our music. I used to
copy cassettes when I was a kid, because you just can't afford to buy all your favourite albums. I also believe
that if you really like some band, you will buy the original album from the record store. Internet is full of
possibilities but they haven't found all the right ways yet to make use of those possibilities.
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Bad Machine
Masa from Bad Machine
Bad Machine has been together since 1999.

Don't know exactly. What I know is when we started
there was no other band named Bad Machine, so we
decided to keep this name...

All the good ones... Jimi Hendrix, Beatles, Stooges,
Radio Birdman, Ruts, Bob Dylan, ZEKE, Motörhead.
There's no genre rule in my life. Good music is good
music.
Nowadays I feel we have get over of all negative aspects, so everything's cool down here...

Nowadays we play faster.

We get lot inspiration from Zeke and Motörhead. That's why.

How to survive through the hard life and have fun at the same time.
We won't change this "style", even if it's not popular. It's a matter of fact.

All the songs! If we don't like some song 100%, we drop it off from list...
Do you tour regularly? Do you prefer performing your music live or in a studio?
Yes! We tour nowadays as much as possible. Like this year 2004, we have already played about 40 shows
at U.S/ West-coast, Germany, Belgium and of course Finland....We book more shows all the time. There's no
point to do releases if you don't play live!!!
Best moment is when I have done my vocals and stuff. Then I can start serious drinking, you know!

Mostly punk rock, but also world music or any good stuff. Last release from Joe Strummer and Johnny Cash
(R.I.P). It touches me deep.
song?
Hawkwind/ Spirit of the age. Listen to it. Doesn't need more explanation.

I need internet in my work, but it's full of shit.
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ChinaCat
Mertsa from ChinaCat

It started out in 2000 as a humor project. We had a large group of friends who all
wanted to do something; we had four drummers, a percussionist, a couple of
roadies, a dancing girl, a manager and stuff like that. The "band's" name was
tToileTt. I was one of the few who actually knew how to play an instrument, so I
was a vocalist/guitarist right from the start. At some point I started to write actual
songs for the band and things got too serious for most of the people involved, ha
ha. Mikki, who had been a percussionist, a guitar player and a drummer, became
our bassist and Anna, a very good friend of mine and our "roadie", started to play
the drums the day she joined the band. Or vice versa. Then there was just the
three of us. Suddenly I realized we actually had a band instead of a stupid (yet
entertaining) humor project.

I believe it is a quite well known fact that "china cat" is a type of heroin. This does
not mean we are somehow glorifying drug use or anything like that. It is just a
powerful metaphor. I want our music to get people high. Oh yeah, and it's
stunning how much "ChinaCat" sounds like "Spinal Tap".
The Guns N' Roses are our mutual favourite. I've been listening to them for approximately 66,6% of my life
so you bet they have had an influence on me. It's very hard to say which artists have had an influence on my
work but if I must name a few bands we share some elements with, I usually say KISS, AC/DC and the
Stooges. I also believe that Motörhead has had a certain influence on us, but maybe that's just because I'm a
huge fan of Lemmy's. I would also like to thank our guardian angels (or demons?!) for all the help and effort
that has totally had an influence on everything.
Well, Finland is such a small country that you just can't be a huge star here. Which is both positive and
negative, I think. Positive because it's good to keep your feet on the ground and live a pretty normal life.
Negative because of financial issues, just like everywhere else, I guess.

Let's put it this way: KISS, Smack, AC/DC, Stooges and Motörhead are the food, my mind is the stomach,
my hands are the intestinal tract, my guitar is the rectum, and the music that comes out - that's the shit.

I don't think our musical style has evolved much during these few years but
I guess it was slightly more garage-ish in the beginning.

Well, first of all, two of the members had practically never played before when they joined the band, so
everything had to be done as simply as possible. And in the beginning we had to write songs for our first
show - we had one or two songs of our own, one or two songs by other groups and then I had to make a
couple more. At that point it was just important to have some songs to play. Nowadays I have no such hurry.
Second of all, the more I listen to different kinds of music, the more I have musical sources of inspiration in
my use. But we are going to remain a rock band, that's the thing we have in our blood.

I'm mostly inspired by hate, lust, revenge and personal weakness. In the beginning we - Mikki and I - wrote
lyrics because I had to have something to sing, but nowadays I only write about my own life. It's like therapy,
I often just write down things I would like to say to someone but I can't. Basically it's just stuff about getting
loose, getting laid and going out. And the trouble that sometimes evolves from such action...
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No. If we want to make some other kind of music, we do it somewhere else. ChinaCat is a rock band. The
end of subject.

I guess I most enjoy doing cover songs. It's a fun way to show respect to other bands. We've done Run
Rabbit Run by Smack every now and then, for example. There was this one show that was a real success,
the place was crowded and all the people were dancing and yelling and having so much fun.
Then we played that song as an encore and suddenly some old fart came on stage singing "bye bye baby,
bye bye Smack". After the show he came to me and kept saying how great it was that we did the song. Then
he introduced himself to me and it turned out the guy was Cheri - the original bass player of Smack. That
was pretty cool.
We don't tour regularly, we just play a show whenever we're lucky enough to get one. I prefer performing our
music live and I believe the whole band agrees: we have horrible, traumatic studio experiences. OK, we also
have some horrible live experiences... Anyway, we pretty much hate going to the studio. When you go on
stage you just give it a shot, but when you go to the studio you really have to concentrate and give it a million
shots if that's what it takes to make it sound good enough. And if you don't, you know you'll be sorry later.
We haven't made any albums yet, but when it comes to making demo tapes, I prefer the moment when the
whole thing is ready and you can hear that you haven't seen all the trouble for nothing.

Mostly I've been listening to 80's basic thrash and speed metal like Slayer, Metallica and Stone. And of
course I've been listening to the king of Finnish schlager, Irwin Goodman. Le roi est mort, vive le roi!
song? Why?
There are a lot of great songs but if I only get to name one, it is definitely "Search And Destroy" by Iggy & the
Stooges. It just sounds so perfect to me. Every chord, every note, every word.

Internet can be a lot of help, but I think it has become perhaps a bit too important. It is good for basically
every band to have the same chance to promote themselves over the internet, especially now that the
smaller bands in Finland can be seen rarely in magazines and practically never on TV. But I think people find
bands without websites generally uninteresting or at least difficult to follow. That's stupid. I dislike the fact
that a website has become a "must" for every band. I'm old school and I just want to point out that the Led
Zeppelin didn't need the internet, neither did KISS or AC/DC or any of the bands I have grown up listening to.
I just hope that it is still possible for a band to rise without the astonishing power of the World Wide Web.
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Demonbaboons
Slatva from Demonbaboons

Me (Slatva/guitar) and Dace (vocals) started writing some
songs at the autumn of 2000 and we recorded a demo
around Christmas 2000.
Back then we were called the Ladies & Gentlemen.
Around autumn 2001 we started playing as a "real" band.
At that time there were six of us which has now
decreased to four.

The name Ladies & Gentlemen came from nowhere and
after two years of playing with so stupid name we
decided to change it to even worse. So now we are
called Demonbaboons. Maybe Demonbaboons is more
characteristic to our music, because we sound like a
baboon with rabies.

Ahh, there's so many... This would take all day.

Positive: there aren't any.
Negative: no rehearsal space, not enough decent live
clubs, etc.

Rock music. You decide. Go to
www.demonbaboons.cjb.net and listen.

Well, in the beginning we had lots of different styles of songs. Like one song could be pure punk rock while
the next could be soul song or r'n'b and the next metal.
But nowadays I think we have found our own style. Which is punkish rock with some hip hop vocals. And
some noise. And some funk. And some metal. And some.....

I don't. It's just what has happened.

Daily life, world, poverty, jobs, boozing, Daces cat...
We don't think too much of that kind of stuff. It tends to change itself all the time.

Usually the best song is probably the newest one, because you haven't got bored playing it. So my answer is
a song called Quick and easy, it simply kicks ass.
We have never toured. We have played way too little live shows, because it's really hard to get gigs at
decent clubs in Finland if you are rather unknown band which we are. But I prefer performing live.
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Heh, we haven't made any albums only three demos. But I like the phase when everything is recorded and
you can add effects, additional instrument and the whole post producing is interesting.

Hmm... Nothing in paticular... All kind of stuff. Deep Turtles Turekele! Some Arabic stuff.
song?
Stupid questions get no answer.

Internet is great. Hail to the Internet.
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Jerkem
Lappe from Jerkem

Jerkem was born in the summer of 2000. Some
of us had played together earlier but that's when
we took on the name, and more importantly
that's when Nicklas joined the group. This was a
watershed for us. It was the first time all of us in
the band had a mutual goal – to make it in the
world of rock'n'roll.

JJ's middle name is Jerker, so that's the inspiration behind this somewhat peculiar name. Of course, Jerkem
can also mean "jerk em"! Now, I probably don't have to explain the meaning of that.
What musicians or artist did have a major influence in your life/work?

Skidrow, Hanoi Rocks, Guns & Roses, Mötley Crue, Thunder and well, the list is endless.
The one positive aspect is that there hasn't been a Finnish ''Beatles'' yet. So we can still be the first one's to
achieve the ultimate stardom. The negative aspect is that the markets over here are relatively small, and if
you sing in English you're competing with every big name coming from the U.K and U.S.

Melodic hard rock. When writing songs, my collaborator and I always go for choruses. We're always trying to
find that right hook. Something that would stick in people's minds.

I think we've evolved in many ways. Our songs have gotten better – better melodies, better lyrics. All of us
have improved as musicians. Upon O.J.'s arrival, about two years ago, we were finally finding ourselves
musically. Having him on board really completed the chemistry. In retrospect, it's clear that he was the
missing link.

As I said, we finally have the right line-up and songs that, in my opinion, are out of this world. The Jerkem
family is already bigger than the sum of its members. There's no reason why it shouldn't continue to grow.

Love and soul search. The best songs are about love, hate, nightmares…you know…things that we can all
identify with.
No! Our style is who we are.

At the moment, "Painless". It has got a great chorus, and it's a lot of fun to perform because it's a monster
played live. It's got a nice lyric to it as well. You know, the Angel of Death coming for you like in a nightmare.
Do you tour regularly? Do you prefer preformig your music live or in a studio?
We do gigs regularly. We like to play live but we like being in the studio as well. Working in a recording studio
gives you more control over the final product because especially nowadays, you can have countless retakes.
I like working on harmonies and my guitar solos. I don't like playing stuff "off the cuff". My solos are always
planned out.
In that process, there really isn't a moment that I don't enjoy. But perhaps the most magical moment is when
you're listening back to what you've accomplished in the studio. The true spirit of Jerkem coming through the
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loudspeakers of my BMW always turns me on.
What kind of music / what artist do you currently listen?

At the moment, Hanoi Rocks, Whitesnake, Mötley Crue, Creed and David Bowie. Tomorrow, who knows.
Maybe, it'll be Gary Glitter (A JOKE!). No, seriously, if it has balls and sex appeal, it's my kind of stuff. I'm not
that interested in music that's too arty, even though I like Pet Sounds and some of the far-out stuff of the
sixties.
A stupid question but… what is, among all songs you've been listening in your life, the best song?
Impossible to say but "Until I Get You" by Hanoi rocks is definitely in my top-five. If you listen to that song,,
you'll know why - the lyrics, the melody…everything. It makes you laugh, it makes you cry and…well, it just
totally does it for me. To use an expression from the sixties – it blows my mind.

Internet is not my bag, baby (get the reference?). I like to buy my CDs, so I have the liner notes and all that
jazz. But I suppose, it does work for promotional purposes. Take our homepage, for example. It's a nice add
and a great source for information. For our fans, it's a cool and quick way to find out about upcoming gigs.
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Deep insight
Joachim from Deep insight

The band was formed in November 2001 by
Johannes Ylinen (guitars) and Jukka Nikunen
(Vocals). It was originally meant to be an
acoustic project by ended up getting an
drummer, Petri Aittoniemi, and a bass player,
Kaj Kiviniemi. This line-up recorded a demo and
did one show before Petri decided to leave and i
jumped in to fill his place on the drums. We
rehearsed and recorded our first EP entitled
"Julia", which was released in the summer of
2002. We toured with this ep in Finland for a
year and at the same time wrote new material for
a new album. In the summer of 2003 we
released our debut full length album entitled
"Ivory Tower". We toured in finland and europe with this one several times. Now we have new material and
will record a new yet untitled album that will be released in the fall of 2004. We will also tour in the fall after
the release.

Two words: Deep and Insight. Basically from that we should not judge things by the way the seem to be at
first sight, but look deeper - "don't judge a book by it's cover".
A negative and positive aspect is that everyone who's anyone in the music business knows each other. A
negative aspect is that it's hard to make music for a living in Finland unless you break the international
barrier like The Rasmus and HIM have done.

Emo.

Well first it was pretty basic melodic rock. Now as we have a new bass player (who is a guitarist originally),
he has been "composing" songs and has brought a whole new style of music into our band. Our guitarist still
composes most of the riffs and melodies, but our music is now more experimental and rhytmic nowadays, i
would say.

A desire to make original music i guess, and the change of bass player.

Mostly just personal issues like relationships and experiences in life.
Have you ever considered the possibility to change totally your style of music? If so,
Umm, not really, but if we did it would be true Norwegian black metal !

My personal favourite would have to be an "old" one from our Ivory Tower album, the song's called "Last
Rememberance". It's one of the first song we made after Julia EP and we've played it almost on every show,
but i still love to play it...
We tour every now and then, probably a bit more now as we get the new cd out. I prefer to play live, because
im not the greatest musician so my minor mistakes can be forgiven and totally hidden when playd live, in the
studio you can't do that - you have to be precise, just need to practise a bit harder and more. =D
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The moment when you're sweating and tired at band practise trying to figure out how to fit the bass drum in
with the bass line or thinking out an perfect intro/chorus/verse for a song. I also like the moment when you
get the final product printed and you're wrapping up the plastic off the cd.

I listen to all kinds of music, right now i'm fascinated by older bands such as Led Zeppelin, Rush and Deep
Purple. I listen to a lot of Tool, one of my favourite bands. I also like bands like Dredg, P.O.D (the older
material), Rage Against The Machine and Céline Dion. Bands that the other members listen to are bands
such as Katatonia, Kent, Incubus, Foo Fighters, Cave-In, Anathema and so on... all of these bands mixed is
what we play.
song?
Oh, that's a tough one for sure! There's so many songs i could mention, but if i had to choose ONE I would
have to say "Creed" by a band called Petra. This was the first song i heard of this band when i was about 9-
10 years old, and ever since i've been a fan of the band and their ex-drummer Louie Weaver, who is my first
real drummer influence.
What is your opnion, as a musician, regarding internet?

Well, if you're an small starting band i don't see anything negative about it. You can easily promote your
band by making a website and upload your songs for people to listen. But for musicians who make music for
a living and actually are dependent on record sales, while people download the music for free. I think that's
just wrong. I honestly don't think they (the music industry) can ever stop this, like when they shut down
napster, everyone knew there'd be a new one - and so there was...
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Kerho
Singer / guitarist Pauliina and drummer Sasu met in
London spring 2002. They started playing together,
writing songs and recorded first Kerho demo there.

After considering names to describe the bands music
best we came up with Kerho. It is dynamic, short and
sharp with a twist of innocence.

All good rock bands. Some to mention, Kiss, Sex Pistols,
AC/DC, Ramones, Foo Fighters and Hurriganes.
The music market is small so it's maybe easier for a band to break through but since the industry is so small
there is maybe no as much money to put in to the bands as elsewhere. Being a Finnish singing band makes
the market even more limited.

Energetic, positive, wild hard-rock.

We have been together only 2 years so can't really say yet...

Relationships.
Probably it's not possible to totally change; it wouldn't be the same band anymore. But changes inside the
genre of rock'n'roll maybe…

A song called Paul Stanley. Because he is a great man.
We would like to have gigs regularly. Our band might be even better live than in studio.
When it's ready.

All kind of rock'n'roll.
song?
AC/DC "Back in black". It rocks.

Not sure. On the other hand, it makes things easier and possible for anyone, on the other hand it's such a
complex world... It's somehow beyond my understanding.
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Extaasi
Make from Extaasi
Band was created at spring 1995. We used to
play in different band earlier, just for fun. Then
two guys from the former band decided to set up
a new band that would do things more seriously.
They asked two other guys to join the band, and
after few changes in the line-up, the EXTAASI
band was created. During the years the line-up
has changed totally, and nowadays only the
singer has been in the band since the beginning.

Band name was chosen just because it just
sounded good, and it sounds familiar for
everyone, even if the person hasn't heard the
band earlier. The name comes from the state of
mind, 'ecstasy'. Some people think that the
name means the drug, but it isn't. Actually the
drug was unknown those days in Finland, and
the band member's hasn't even heard about it
then.
Personally for me, it's mostly the punk bands in the 80's that have been influencing mostly in my life and my
way to make music, even though we aren't playing punk anymore. I think that mostly bands like The
Exploited, Sex Pistols, and several finnish punk bands like Appendix, Lama, etc. have been affecting mostly
at the beginning. But nowadays there are finnish bands like Kotiteollisuus that has a major influence in the
current sound.
There aren't so many places in Finland where you could arrange gigs for alternative bands. You don't have
chance to play gigs as much as you would like to. And also the record labels don't make deals with new
bands so easily. Positive aspect is that it's quite easy and cheap to do it yourself. You could always release
your own records for your own label with quite small amount of money.

Today the music is some kind of metallic, hard rock, I think.

When we started, the music was quite punkrock, but during the year's, when the line-up has changed and
also the music taste of the members, we started to get more and more metal sound into our music. We
always had the metal sound in our music, but during the last two year's, the punk sound has been deposed,
and the basic sound is darker than earlier.

I think I already said this in the last question, the music taste and line-up has changed during the years. The
last change in the line-up, when the new guitarist came in the band, we decided to do more changes, and we
abandoned most of the old songs and decided to do new ones to replace them.

Our lyrics are quite gloomy, and they are mostly related to death or depression. But we do handle all kinds of
small misfortunes and dark side of human life.
Actually we just did. Well, not totally, but it was quite big change anyway.
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It's the title song of our latest ep, called 'Kiveen kirjoitettu'. It just has the right kind of aggressive and
crushing drive in that song.
Yes, we are trying to, but we do usually accept almost all gigs that there is available. Usually we have two or
three small tours during the year, and some occasional gigs besides. We prefer playing the music live,
because when we make new songs, we usually play it live before the songs are recorded. Our music works
the best in live situation, and in studio we are trying to catch the live energy and emotion.
Usually when all tracks have been recorded and the songs are starting to get the final form and starts to
sound like it should be. And of course when everything is ready and you can have the real record into your
hands.

Currently I'm listening mostly Kotiteollisuus, Evanescence, Nightwish, etc. Not so much punkrock anymore,
but old punkrock classics are still spinning occasionally.
song?
What a question! There is so many great songs in the world that it's impossible to name one.

Internet has helped many underground artists a lot. It's much easier to get contacts and promote your music
and events in the internet.
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Copter
Tommi from Copter

Me, Auski and Jape have been playing since we were little
kids, but Copter found its present form in 1995 when Mikko
joined the band as the lead singer. Nothing much happened
during the first few years. We were mostly playing for our
own amusement (!) and did very few public appearances.
Since those days things have changed considerably.

It's just a name, no hidden meaning behind it. Copter is the
shorter version of the original name "Angry Copter Alien".
The name "Copter" just felt snappy. The name has nothing
to do with Hellacopters.

your life / work?
We all have our own idols and influential bands, but to
name a few artist that we all like... Radiohead, Muse,
Suede, Kent, Coldplay and Smashing Pumpkins. It
depends on the listener whether he or she hears those
influences in our music.

One good thing is that there's respect also for non-
mainstream bands. Since there isn't that much musicians and potential listeners in Finland, positive feedback
about band travels fast. As a negative thing I'd mention small markets, which are probably even
oversupplied, that is, even though Finnish population is small, there might be dozens of bands playing in the
same genre and "competing" for the same audience.

A mix of British rock, pop, Scandinavian melancholy and big guitars. Uncompelled, which makes our music
to stand out in a positive way. Catchy songs filled with emotions.

In the beginning of time there was heavy metal :) As playing skills grew, we tried something that could be
categorized to progressive rock of the 90s. After Mikko joined the band, style polished to grunge and has
evolved to this present form. We haven't forgotten where we came from though (Iron Maiden still rules!)

It's only natural that things you like and your ambition changes over time. On the other hand, our composing
method has also affected our way to play and express our music. We've adopted our way to perform music
during last few years and it has proven to be working.

This is something that Mikko should answer, since he writes most of our lyrics. Anyways, what I have
understood is that songs are about human relationships and ordinary peoples' lives. He just has his own way
of writing things.
No, not really. But if we had to, it would probably be heavy metal =)

I think we all have our own favourite, but currently I like our rather new song called "Tin Can" the most. "Tin
Can" is one of the first songs that had piano in it (in a central role) and as a composition it's one of those that
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has everything in right place.
Not regularly, we do touring at our own pace. Touring is tedious and we don't want to stress about that too
much. Touring in Finland isn't that glamorous (long distances, small towns), so we have to be careful not to
get burn-out or otherwise lose interest to playing. This doesn't mean that we didn't like playing live, we do,
but studio work has its spirit which is
irreplacable.
We haven't done a full album yet, but being in a recording studio is always nice. The coolest thing during the
recording might be when a song is starting to get some flesh on the bones. Then you are starting to get the
picture how it's going to sound when it's ready. The best thing in general in a studio is the time spent with the
rest of the band. At times things turn really crazy!

Lately I've been listening to a Finnish band called Ultramariini, The Cardigans and Weeping Willows.
song?
This is really tough question! Hard to tell what's the single best one, but surely one of the best is Street Spirit
by Radiohead. Maybe.

A very good medium. For smaller bands it's a very good (and perhaps the only) channel for distributing
music. We've got lots of fans solely because of the Internet and it's really rewarding to get feedback from
them. I almost want to rant about how recording companies are not taking advantage of the potential Internet
is giving them, but that's probably not the subject of this interview :)
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Cold colours
We started as the Cure covers band in 2001. We
only played The Cure songs written before 1980,
or was it -81... It was just for fun. We all knew
each other from before and we just decided to
start a band. After a year we got frustrated in
playing covers and started composing our own
material.

Cold Colours was supposedly the working title of
The Cure song 'Primary'.

Jutta: At the beginning our main influence was
The cure but nowadays I would say Bauhaus,
Siouxie and the Banshees, Cranes & Joy
Division.
Sami: I would consider the small market for music sung in English a negative aspect. Positive aspects... are
there any? People are generally supportive towards new groups.. as long as they don't have to support the
bands financially.

Jutta: Well we play dark rock with influences of post punk. Almost minimalistic music with blue melodies and
cold creepy sounds.
Sanna: postpunkgaragegothpoprock'n'roll.

Jutta: Well we have tried to get rid of that illusion of being a goth band.
Sanna: The songs got wilder and more schitzophrenic.

Sanna: We don't want our gigs sound like funeral parties. Dark punk rock attitude suits us better.

Sami: They are about frightening things such as big nations bombing others back to stone age just because
they can, about stupidity of people. Basically about anything that seems to be wrong in the world or that feels
worth writing about.
Sanna: My songs are mostly about personal inability to communicate with people. Whether they are total
strangers or dear friends. Real communication between any two persons is never truly possible.
Jutta: No we haven't discussed about that. I would choose grunge... or reggae.
Sami: Then I would probably want to play something like glam rock... or something quiet with acoustic
instruments.
Sanna: I would switch to punk rock or perhaps to a solo career as a singer-songwriter pianist. When I'm 40 I
will start composing film scores.
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Jutta: Haunting bells...or actually it depends which day you ask.
Sami: All the songs in which I get to play loud (all the songs?).
Sanna: All the songs in which I get to play.
Jutta: Live, definitely. Music is something beetween people, a type of interaction. the same songs can
change completely depending of the situation, atmosphere, audience...
Sami: I get better kicks out of playing live, but working in a studio is inspiring in another way.
Sanna: Live. Studios can be really frustrating places. Though sometimes also inspiring.
Sami: The best part in recording is when you get to experiment with different things and when something
really good comes out of it.
Sanna: I prefer the moment when the first version of a song is taped in and you hear the song for the first
time as a listener.

Jutta: Dead Kennedys, Dandy Warholds, Manu Chao, 22-pistepirkko....
Sami: Miyuki Nakajima, The Yellow Monkey, Tulenkantajat, Wu-Tang Clan
Sanna: Tom Waits, Dead Can Dance, Dead Kennedys, Musta Paraati, Air, Magyar Posse, Finnish children's
songs...
song?
Sami: Gary Moore "Over the Hills and Far Away"
Sanna: Right at the moment A-ha's "Take On Me", because it's the song playing in my mind right now. "take
on meeeeeeeeeeeeee..." If you ask me five minutes later it will be something else. Obviously.

Sami: It's a good medium to spread your music. I encourage people to download our songs as much as they
can and send them to their friends and relatives.
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Laika and the Cosmonauts
Matti from Laika and the Cosmonauts
The idea of Laika & the Cosmonauts was basically born by the
bar of the famous Helsinki rock club, Tavastia, where Janne and
myself accidentally met through a mutual friend. Mikko was a long
time buddy of Janne`s and Tom and I had played together in a
party band in the mid 80`s and have been friends since then.
The quartet played the first practise session together in October
1987.

Janne and Mikko had a short-lived avantgardist instro-surf cover
band in the mid 80`s called Pluto and the Astronauts.
As the new band (L&TC) emerged we decided to pay tribute to the `prototype` of the band (Pluto et al) and
to jump over the Berlin wall at the same time. This equation naturally produced the name Laika & the
Cosmonauts
All of the Laikas have always listened to a wide spectre of music ranging from Classical to Country, from
Funk via Folk to Film music, from Ska to Soul, from Roots to Reggae, from Polka to Punk, from Latin to
Lederhosen, etc....
Significant early influence to the Laika-world came from The Ventures, Joe Meek, Dick Dale The Surfaris,
The Pyramids etc....
Positive: The Finnish music scene in general has quite a supportive atmosphere for personal styles and
sounds.
Negative: The domestic market is very small, as there are only five million Finns, with a strange language of
our own, which no-one else speaks.
Of course, if You`re an instrumental band, You do not have to worry about any language barriers! :)

Melodic instrumental rock with furious and atmospheric visual vibes.

The songs are, since a couple of albums, all original. Our song-writing has improved both melodically and
harmonically and is now better reflecting many of the different muscial styles we like, while we still sound like
ourselves.

Age and experience combined with a continuos enthusiasm for trying to improve and create new things.

Since we write and play instrumental music and have no lyrics, I guess the songs reflect different moods,
emotions, inner rhythmic impulses and visual landscapes.
No.

Again, I can`t speak here for all of us, but I don`t have a particular all-time favourite. It changes from day to
day. The preferences also vary depending on wheter you`re listening to the recorded songs or playing live.
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We have just finished a two year studio period during which we did not preform live very much.
Now that the new album, Local Warming, is ready and will be released on January 16th in Finland and
January 13th in the US and Canada, we expect to escalate the frequency of touring and live performances in
general. We`d also love to be able to finally tour in France and Spain.
To me composing and making the home demos is normally the most spiritual and elevating part of the
process. When we move further to band practises and demo sessions, all becomes more social and public,
but it can be a lot fun during the energetic and creative days (there are usually some slower and difficult days
too, but you just ave to endure through them, it`s all part of the process) The actual recording sessions vary
from fun and explosive to desperate and tedious.
When the album finally is in the mixing and mastering phase, I tend to become quite excited about the new
`baby`. The creative stress - in good and bad - won`t ease until the very day the album comes out of the
òwen` and is in my hand.

Quite a lot of jazz (50-60`s) , some etno music, some Frank Zappa, vintage hillbilly music and country,
Anglo-American singer-songwriters.
Why?
It`s not a stupid question. For me it`s just an impossible one. :)

No matter, what the medium, the authors`rights should be respected and protected.
While the Internet opens up new possibilites, it has become a great challenge to the entire music community.
Most people seem to agree, that it`s wrong to steal or plagiate an industrial patent, but when it comes to an
immaterial piece of art, too many people stop thinking. They don`t see it as the end product of someone`s
intellectual work.
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Disco Ensemble
Mika from Disco Ensemble
Our guitarist and drummer have played together since they were
ten years old, when they got their first instruments. I joined them
in 2000, when their old singer decided to leave. Along the years
we have had several bass-players but our current one looks like
he's gonna stick with us.

As I wasn't yet in the band while it got it's strange name, i'm not
really even sure why we are called Disco Ensemble. We were
called just "Disco." before, but a few years ago another band
called "disco" showed up in Finland and we didn't wanted to be
mixed up with these sissies, so we added "ensemble" to the end of our name. It really is a confusing name,
but weird enough for people to remember it.
I believe a lot of influence and inspiration comes from unrecognizable sources. Many artists and bands or
songs affect us, though we won't really notice it. I guess everything i've ever listened to affects the way I
create music. My biggest influences propably come from the stuff I listened when I first started singing and
playing in bands, early skate-punk and hardcore bands like NOFX or Refused.
Positive? Maybe the long and depressing winter gives us inspiration for energetic music?
Negative aspects are definitively the music culture that is really mainstream-oriented and smaller
underground bands don't have any chances on getting their music heard in the media. You can't really make
a living with punk-rock in Finland.

I wouldn't want to tie our music inside a certain genre, cause we have different sides in our music, and
labeling a band is always a bit boring. But if I had to explain our music to someone who hasn't ever heard it, I
guess I would say we play emo-punk-rock.

Along the years we have developed our sound to a more accessible punk rock, from the weird progressive
metal that it used to be.

We are getting old and tolerant :) No, really our music just evolves naturally, we've never been so conscious
about it.

I'd like to leave my lyrics open, so that the listener can create his own picture of what the song is about.
Generally I like lyrics with a real meaning and signifigance as long as their not too obvious or literate. I like to
play with metaphors and sing about my own feelings. Even politics can be poetic...
Not really, I think loud rock will always be compelling to me. I love the aesthetics of a simple rock band. But I
do make noise/ambient music with my Windows Media-player and a cassette deck :)

I like our song "Zombies" best, cause it's a great song to play live and the lyrics have caught something
special.
We are definitively a live band. Performing for an audience is the most rewarding point of being in a band.
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We have been touring Finland pretty much and finally this January we're heading up to Europe for a three-
week tour.It's going to be dangerous...
I guess getting your songs caught on tape.Hearing the final results is propably the best moment in the studio.
Personally I don't like to sing alone in a booth and we have always been in a terrible hurry recording, so the
process itself is painful, but getting it done is great.

Recently I've listened a lot of Sonic Youth for some reason.Interpol and The Mars Volta have been playing in
my apartment lately too...
song? Why?
Impossible question. Jesus. Black Sabbath's "Paranoid"? ha ha ha ha ...I really don't know.Propably some
Guns'n'Roses song. They always bring back good memories of being young and unaware of the evil world
around us...ha ha!

In Finland for example a small band has to promote and give out their songs in the internet, cause that's the
only way anyone will be hearing their songs. So it is an important channel for marginal-music.But as far as
downloading and burning music on cd-r's go, I think it's bad to download an indie-artist, cause they really
need the money from the record sales to keep doing their thing. But I dont really think anyone gets hurt if you
burn a Metallica album from the net. So it really has both good and bad sides to it.
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Audacity
Audacity was created in 1999 by Ismo Mömmö and Heikki
Lesonen. At the first the meaning was to just jam and have fun,
but at the time being music just started to sound so damn good...
So, maybe the thing is that Audacity created itself.

Our English friend Emma suggested the name "Palefaced
Audacity" and we took the first part off, because the shorter form
looked better.

life / work?
70 90's punk rock, pop, rock and hardrock like Sex Pistols,
Smack, The Cult, Guns 'n' Roses, Billy Idol and that kind of bands, who know how to have a good time and
get that feeling to audience too. Nothing too serious, but done with big heart and honesty.
Small markets to this kind of music and record companies don't have enough courage to sign bands of this
genre. Hard to get gigs and get paid of it too, which is the major problem to arrange gigs in other cities. But
still it is positive, that finnish music has it's own kind of vibe, that separates it from the other countries. So we
hope labels would find the courage that artists do posses.

Heh, it's kind of glam rock without make-up hahaha... Mean 'n' dirty street rock I would call it.
If so, what style of music would you choose?
Nope! We didn't choose our style of music, it just was our "drug of choice". Of course everyone of us have
it's own favourite bands from reggae to metal and if someone want to play reggae, then it would be a
separate band project. Oh yes, we could take some influences from other styles, but nothing more.

Every song has it's own story of course. We are not to educate people, every listener can make their own
opinions about the lyrics, but the subjects come from ordinary life.

It depends of the mood that we're on, sometimes the harder bits, sometimes the mellow ones. Every song is
a favourite.
Not really, because we're an unsigned band and it would be too expensive to do so. Still there are plans, but
nothing solid yet. Of course studio and live have both good sides, we kick ass no matter where we are.
When you find something by accident, improvisation. When the mood and atmosphere is right, then you just
have grab it and BANG!

Too many to mention, five guys=100 favourite artists and styles. It's not about the style, it's about the vibe.
This is easy, Suspicious Minds by Elvis Presley, the king still rules.

Internet is the best thing ever happened to artists and when thinking about copyrights etc. record companies
would take all the money anyway, so who cares.
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Employee of The Month
Tommi from Employee of The Month
We've had quite a few changes in line-up, so it's a bit
tricky. Originally Ville and I formed the band in late 1999.
The project was put on ice for more than a year at some
point, due to people moving across Finland. We dug it up
again in late 2001. It was not until the end of 2003 that
the current trio was formed.

It's an old idea of mine that somehow grew on the band.
Basically it's a statement against the results-oriented thinking currently infecting minds and causing amazing
amounts of stress for the working man. The name also has an ironic, introspective air about it, so it suits the
lyrics as well.
For my part, it was probably listening to Jeff Beck and Prince that actually got me playing in the first place,
but my biggest influences must be Rush, Soundgarden, David Sylvian and Uriah Heep, albeit it's still bloody
hard to name just a few. All three of us enjoy music from many different genres.
There ain't that many gigs to play. That's a definite downside. Every time we have managed to land a gig, the
reception has been warm. Finnish rock-audiences are always excellent.

It's an original blend of rock with progressive elements thrown in for good measure, as I always say. We
keep our songs concise and edgy.

When we started out, we were a lot more stoner- and metal-oriented than now. When we reformed, the metal
turned into up-tempo rock. Now, most of the stoner has been washed away (though some remains) and
progressive elements have been introduced. Nowadays we're also capable to mellow out a bit. Well at least
for a few minutes per gig.

Evolution? Maturing? Alterations in line-up? Changes in musical ambitions? Hard to say... really. It all just
worked out that way.

I tend to write lyrics with a certain ironic aspect to them. Most of our songs deal with topics like human
nature, relationships, society and communication.
We already have changed a lot, but totally? Nah, can't say that we have. If we would, we would most likely
play a mixture of progressive metal, opera and flamenco (who wouldn't!?)...or just go pop like everybody else
(well not everybody).

Personally, my favourite song has got to be "Vigas". I think it's the best arrangement we've made and I think
the hooks turned out great. Besides, it's probably one of the most challenging songs we play. We all like
challenges, don't we?
We haven't had the chance to do a proper tour yet, but we will - eventually. We're all really into playing live. It
can give quite a rush if everything works out and the audience is enjoying the gig. On the other hand, I
consider myself bit of a gear-head, and perhaps (slightly) prefer working in a studio. It unleashes more
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creative options.
The fulfilling closure when we are listening to the final mix. Can't beat that feeling, no sir!

Recently I have been indulging myself in the works of Lee Morgan, but I also have listened to a lot of
Police, Mars Volta, The Haunted and Meshuggah.
song?
There are no such things as stupid questions, only stupid questionnaires. But as for the best song
ever...hmm...if was really pressured into giving an answer, I might say Jacob's Ladder by Rush, 'cause of the
vast amounts of great ideas, the wonderful musicianship and the incredible analog synth-sounds in it.
Though, most probably my answer would vary depending on the day I was having. Tomorrow I might say
Michael Jackson's Beat It-or I might not.

It's a mixed blessing, at best. As an optimist, I want to believe that people actually buy the music that they
really like. I know I do.
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Tähtitarha
Teemu from Tähtitarha
The band was founded in 1998. I was looking for players just to
try out my new songs, just to check out how they would work.
First I found Toni, he seemed to have same opinions about music
and other stuff, he had another band too then, so I stealed their
bassplayer and drummer too. Only in our first rehearsals we
found out that the songs worked, and the group worked too.
Since then I have played with Toni and bassplayer Kari, then Antti
came to drums and Sami to play rhythmguitar, so I could just
focus on singing on stage.

It´s pretty much an ironic name. If you try to translate it to english,
it could be something like "starincorporated". It can`t be translated
to one word, in finnish it`s something like "a group of stars", and when you see stars on the sky at night, it`s
also "Tähtitarha".
I`m interested in producing too, in fact we produced our first single by ourselves with Miitri Aaltonen. It´s
called "jäljet" and it´s coming out this month via Universal music.
I respect artists that have varied their career and can do many kinds of songs and styles, but you can
always hear something in common between the songs. Strong personalities like Bowie and Trent Reznor for
example.
Markets are quite small, so you can`t sell millions of records here, or tour for months.
But on our top album lists 50 per cent of the artists are Finnish, so that is good.
Finland is such a small country that if you do good music, you don´t have to promote your band and records
so much than maybe elsewhere in order to become known. But there are always same rules in the music-
business.. you can never know what people will think , you just have to write songs and hope they`ll like
them. It´s positive that so many Finnish band have made international careers these days. There are a lot of
good bands here.

Our music includes elements of pop,hardrock, a little bit of metal and goth-music. Good melodies are always
important to us.
Not with this band now, but I like singer/songwriter kind of music too, so maybe a Jeff Buckley -kind of
project would be nice someday. But I like also industrial and metal, so maybe that would be nice too, some
day.. There are so many music styles that could be nice to work with someday. But at this moment I´m happy
with what we are doing.

I have to answer "Jäljet", because it´s our first single-release.
We haven`t toured so much yet, only about ten, twenty gigs a year, but we have a short eight gig tour with
Nerdee, Beats and styles and Dallas superstars this month, We will tour the biggest cities in Finland.
Hopefully we can do more gigs next year.
I like studiowork a lot, but you can vary songs live and different audiences and moods have always different
effects on us. So I prefer playing live.
During the process of making an album or a single, what is the moment that you prefer?
We haven´t made an album yet, but we have studio experience with our earlier bands and demo/
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singlesessions with Tähtitarha.. Well, maybe the best part is when you`re listening to the song in studio, it`s
almost ready, you finish up your work and notice that it sounds just like you thought it should sound.
When you sit at home and a new song is ready, that can be the most exciting feeling too.

I listen to all kinds of music and I have favourites in almost every category, as well blues as metal.. u2 is
great, Muse.. depeche mode, radiohead and nineties seattle bands.. finnish bands like Him, Kotiteollisuus...
system of a down.. Ask me tomorrow and the list will be different again, there are great bands and songs
everywhere.
Impossible to say, I really can`t . I hope that i haven`t heard it yet:).

Internet is a good medium, but piratism and copyright law questions are big problems. Kids will soon wonder
why they should buy a record cause they can always load it somewhere for free. They start to think that
music belongs
to everybody for free. People don´t often understand that there´s not so much difference between stealing
something from the shop and loading all music for free. But there are also a lot of good sides in new
technology.
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Lumo
Our band was created four years ago. Ile (bass) and Toni
(guitar) had been playing in various bands together and
they decided to form a "real band" that would get a record
deal and not just play cover songs in a garage.
Toni and I were room mates in the same school and as we

discovered that we had a similar taste in music and that I
could sing a little, Toni invited me to be the singer in their
new band.
We played as a quartet for a couple or months but we

found out soon that we wanted a thicker guitar sound.
Most of our favourite bands had also two guitarists. Jani
(drums) knew Heze from a previous band they`d been in
together and so finally we had a line-up that could play the
kind of
music we liked.

If I had to choose one band that has had a major influence
throughout my life it would be The Beatles. That`s the only
band I`ve not gotten tired of. They just have superior pop-
melodies. Radiohead was also a major influence when we
started Lumo. I love the OK Computer-album and I know
Toni does too. But I guess we have slightly moved away
from those slow and melancholy type of songs...I know the 80`s heavy metal bands that we listened to when
we were teenagers have also influenced us, even though we don`t always want to admit that...:)
Hmm...Are there any positive? Only kidding. I like touring. Especially in the summer when the weather is nice
and warm. You get to meet interesting people and see the country.
The negative aspects I guess are the same as they are everywhere in the world. You have to be really
successful before you earn any money by music. So most musicians have day-jobs which means you really
have no spare time and that influences your social life a lot. But I`m not complaining, this is what I want to
do! :)

In finnish it`s called suomirokki which translates roughly to Finnish rock. This means a certain type of rock
that has finnish lyrics.
Not really. We have sometimes joked around of doing some songs in english. Maybe we would choose the
type of music we listened to as kids, Heavy Metal!

The lyrics are mainly about relationships. The startings and the endings of relationships and everything that
falls in between. We have some songs that have more "serious" lyrics but mainly we are known as a fun-
loving band.

My personal favourite is a song called Juhlat. I like it`s melody and it`s always fun to play live. I guess I like it
also because it`s quite personal to me.
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We tour quite regularly, although right now we are having a break from touring.
They both have their good sides. I like the interaction between the band and the audience when playing live
but on the other hand you can also have some really magical moments in the studio. Anyway, a good
response from an audience gives one of the best feelings I can think of so I
guess I prefer performing live.
I like recording vocals. Then I can hear the base of the song that the rest of the guys have built and just sing
on it. But the ultimate moment is when you hear the song for the first time after it has been mixed and
mastered. That`s the moment when you face the truth, have you succeeded
in making a good song.

I´m listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers` latest album. I´ve also found again my Pink Floyd albums. I know
it`s quite different music from Lumo.
It´s not a stupid question, just a hard one. The best song changes almost everyday and depends on my
mood. Maybe it`s something from The Beatles or U2 or Radiohead or...I`m sorry I really can`t say!

I have quite mixed feelings about it. But I`m not pro or anti on this subject. I know there are mp3s of our
music on the internet. On the other hand it gives many people who normally wouldn`t buy our records the
opportunity to listen to our music and maybe we have even gained some extra fans because of mp3s. But on
the other hand people who download mp3s are eating off record industry`s money. I know the industry is
going through tough times at the moment and there`s going to be some changes.
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Amorhpis
Esa from Amorhpis
Band was created 1990 by Jan and me at
Helsinki.
Were is the name of the band coming

from?
The name of the band comes from a word
AMORPHOUS which means no actual
shape of form, it represents band sound
very well expecially these days.

When we started the influences were quite much bands like Slayer, Entombed, Morbid Angel...
I have huge respect not only these bands but also to Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Hendrix.
I like Finland so there's no negative aspects here but temperature, people get stupid on winter time but that's
quite allright. Perhaps Finland is not the most well known country musicwise but I really don't care.

Psychedelic shiit with strong attitude and passion for music.
Nope. Well you are probably the first one who doesn't compare our old albums to previous ones, they are
quite different.

Lyrics are quite dark minded, you can imagine to live half a year in freezing conditions without sunlight, that's
what our lyrics are all about.

I like Summer's End, I think the title says it all and besides that there's great feeling in the song.
Yes we do, I like both.
Mixing, that's when you really start to hear results.

Soundtrack Of Our Lives, Black Sabbath, Porcupine Tree, Slayer...
Why?
Jimi Hendrix version from All Along The Watchtower because Jimi was King.

I compare MP3's as C-cassettes in 80's, I mean if you really like the album you buy it as well
even if you have got it from net. Web is great form of promoting new music so I have other things to worry
than people who download music.
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Battlelore
Jyri from Battlelore
Battlelore was founded in 1999 when I, Jyri
Vahvanen, decided to quit his other band projects
where he was involved and started to create his
own kind of metal music which is based to Mr.
J.R.R.Tolkien's writings about fantasy world called
Middle-earth. It was and still is a true passion to
metal music and Tolkien's poetry. We just put those
two things together.

When you look at Middle-earth's history, you will
find it very violent and full of battle's, fighting and
tragedy. That combined "Folklore" results a very
descriptive name for us, Battlelore.
I can't speak behalf of all of us, but personally my (Jyri) major influences are the bands like Rammstein,
Runemagick, Rhapsody, Kotiteollisuus etc. I could continue the list forever but the one man who inspire me
most is Mr.Tolkien.
Positive aspects are that this is a really small country, so if you make the so called break-through as a
musician, then everybody knows you and then of course it's easier to get gigs, publicity etc. but the negative
thing is that you really can't do this for living. You have to have some other job 'cause the circles are so small
in Finland that you can't do your living by just being a musician.

Our style comes from the genre of metal music. People call our music "Gothic/doom/deathmetal" etc. but we
prefer the Fantasy Metal. I don't actually care that what people calls us 'cause it's a very thin line between
the different genres. Anyway our music is very bombastic, epic and melodic metal.
I play and listen a lot of different kind of music and I love to play songs
from here and there. But as long as Battlelore exists, we play metal.

All of our songs are highly influenced by Tolkien's writings and
medieval fantasy. So all of them
are based on our view of Tolkien's world and writings.

There are many songs which I love and we just released our second
album so it's much more nicer to play songs from that new album
'cause you have played the old ones so much already. I believe that
my favourite song at the moment is "Sons of Riddermark" but it
changes almost every day. It's all about the mood I have.
Do you tour regularly? Do you actually prefer performing your

music live or in a studio?
We don't tour very regularly. We do occasional gigs time after time and
sometimes we do a bigger tours but it's not very regular. Those both
have their own good and bad sides.
When you are in the studio, the stress is much bigger and you have to
be very focused all the time, but when you get something finished, the
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feeling is just amazing!
Touring and live playing is always great fun and definetily what we want to do, but the waiting when the show
starts is really pressing.
The greatest moment in studio is when you here the final result and you are satisfied to it. Then you know
that you have created something what really affect in your mind and hopefully it affect in somebody else too.

I listen a lot of different kind of music as I already mention. A lot of old school black/death metal, industrial,
meditation music, stoner rock, progressive rock, power metal etc.
My music taste is very versatile.
This question is impossible to answer but just to mention one song from my endless list I prefer a song
"Valtakunta" from the Finnish metal band called "Kotiteollisuus" because the feeling when you hear it is
incredible!
You heart starts bouncing and you just want to bang your head. It's very simple song but it really has its
feeling.

Internet is a great invention but because it is so 'open' and popular, you can't avoid the negative things what
comes with every good thing. Internet is a great place to make people know your art, but I just hate mp3 rip-
offs!
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Pop
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Aknestik
Kai from Aknestik
The band was originally a therapeutic interlude from more serious band projects back in Haukipudas in
northern Finland in the 80's. After a couple of years we started to pursue Aknestik full-on.

It was initially one of those extremely funny inside jokes, it had some sort of a fallic reference. I personally
thought we should change the name after our second gig, but our singer insisted on "Aknestik", we were "too
well-known" in his view. Two private gigs with maybe a total of 50 people who had seen us. So, now in
hindsight it is obvious that Jukka was absolutely right. We were huge.
Personally speaking, hundreds of different artists. U2, The Lemonheads, Kent to name three. But as a band
we were inspired by the work ethic of the Finnish new wave movement and mainly British guitar-driven pop
of the 80's.
If you operate in Finnish it is evident you are in very limited market. And sometimes the equipment gets
snowed in during our fierce winters.

Qualify? To reach a certain level? Brilliant question. But I know what you mean- I'd say we are Finnish guitar
pop.
When we first started playing we would have wanted to play heavy metal. Unfortunately we were far too
limited musicians to even consider it seriously. So, I'd say melodic heavy metal, big hair, tight pants, mouths
wide open- like The Scorpions or Whitesnake or Def Leppard in 1987.

Relationships. Our first albums had a strong environmental twist to them. There is not very much violence,
mayhem or cybertechnology going on in our songs. Quite comforting, brilliant lyrics which people can relate
to.

It varies. A mother loves all her children.

Well, as of now we do not tour at all. I prefer recording, but some of us prefer the live event. I dislike touring,
I don't like hangovers.
The moment when you can hear or imagine what the song will sound like, when the main pieces fall into
place. It is something quite surreal, which you can only hear it in your head. Quite often the end result is
nothing like you imagined, but so what?

I've been revisiting many 70's singer/songwriters: Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Carole King
U2:The Unforgettable Fire. It just lifted me up and I never came down again. It changed my life.

There are a lot of positive things about the net as it slaps the big record companies in the face. However, it is
alarming that many people do not realise they are doing something wrong when they download mp3s or burn
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cds. Downloading is alright by me as long as you still buy albums. I still believe that the person with the most
records is the coolest guy.
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Creamstar
Kalle from Creamstar
The pre-historical version of the band was created by the late-adolescent Teemu, Tuukka and Eero back in
the good old nineties. The music at that time was a perverse mixture of progressive funk, rock and
psychedelic lyrics.
Since Hannah joined, the music has growned a bit simpler and calmer and maybe a bit more melodic. I
joined the band about 3 years ago and the band's average IQ has fallen dramatically ever since..

It actually originates in the french language. The phrase: Creme de la creme (probably misspelled) with a
touch of pure Hollywood starshine!! No, seriously, we just wanted to come as close as possible to the
fantastic finnish band called The Crash on all sort of band-lists.
What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your life/work?

It would be completely wrong and shameful to play in a pop-band and not mention The Beatles...though it's
quite obvious..Our taste in music within the band varies quite a lot; Tuukka (the drummer) likes jazz and
black music in general, Eero (bass) is a simple music lover with a special taste for Zappa, Teemu (guitar)
listens to anything that's trendy, Hannah loves singer/songwriter-stuff and I myself listen to the radio.
One of the good sides (call me naive) is that to me it seems like there is a kind of sincerety about the
musicmaking here. Maybe it's because there really is'nt that much money to make in the finnish music
scene.
Which also is the negative aspect...at least one of them.

I'm not sure I understand the question right, but if it means how i'd characterize our style, I would have to
quote a nice newspaperman, who said we sound a bit like "Ajetaan me Tandemilla" with a touch of slavic
melancholy.
I think we're too lazy for that.

Since we live up north, where the evils of the world seem so distant, we mainly sing about the only problems
we have; Love, loneliness and getting throwed through glass-doors.

Mine, for the moment, is "Out of here". The guitar-riff in the beginning makes my hair stand on end..
There are two sides to every story..At the moment, I would love nothing more than to tour with the band,
preferably the world and maybe beyond..But of course, the comforts of a studio like Petrax (silence, sauna
and sound) are enough to make one think about retiring from the concert circles.
Since we'we only made one album so far, I would have to say: When I got the finished album in my hand,
finally!!!!
Why?
I guess I'm an egomaniac.

I listen quite a lot to finnish bands at the moment. Bands like Cosmo Jones Beat Machine, Sweatmaster and
such.
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Why?
It's not a stupid question but an incredibly hard one...impossible even. But I'll boldly answer, with the risk of
being ridiculed: Jethro Tull: "The cold wind to Walhalla." It's got everything. No, seriously, it just brings me
such memories and feelings, non of which actually have so much to do with the music in itself, that I can't
listen to it objectively. Therefore it must be the best song I've ever heard.

The internet, like the globalisation in general, has its down- and upsides. What would be greater than all of
us getting united in a feast of free music and love and so on...but still, I want to get some compensation for
all the work I've done, call me a materialist...I think it should be up to the band or artist in question to deside
whether or not he/she/it wants to let the material be spread at no cost...Maybe Microsoft could organize this
copyright problem, since it's widely responsible for unleashing the mighty monster of internet.
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Ultrasport
Juho from Ultrasport
Sami and I formed the band in the spring of year 2000 'cause we though there wasn't enough music that we
liked in the world. Sami knew Samuli from school they went together... and we met Olli when we played a gig
on a club he's organizing (Marsu on Paras). We needed a drummer and he was willing.

That was Samuli's idea, he came up with that one one day... It really makes no sense at all, though there
was an extreme sports show on Eurosport in the eighties with that name. And no, we're really not into sports,
except when there are cute girls involved.
Velvet Underground, Simon and Garfunkel, Belle and Sebastian, 22-Pistepirkko, Rob Hubbard(definitely!),
Bad Religion (not kidding here...) and Yo La Tengo. To name a few... It's actually quite hard to tell where all
our melodic and aesthetic ideas originate, but prementioned artists definitely have influenced to what we
perceive as "good" music.
A very small music market makes it hard for indie musicians to get signed at all. The upside is that you really
don't have to worry about "selling out", there's no one to "sell out" to... :) But seriously, it's quite hard to be an
indie musician in Finland 'cause the scene is so small, the audiences are really small and there are only a
very few labels that even try to publish indie records. But then again you don't really have to worry about
pleasing the mainstream people, you got your friends, loved ones and the indie enthusiasts who'll come to
your shows and buy your cd-r's. Having said that, I really think the Finnish indie scene is currently VERY
lively with really good bands like Sister Flo, Bridget, Rollstons and Harry Hunks writing magnificent songs
and playing really inspired gigs and more people getting into indie pop again.

Short, quiet, melancholic indie pop songs played by lively amateurs. :)
Definitely Goth Metal. ;) Finnish goth-metal bands seem to be doing very well in Germany at the moment...
must be something worth trying... :)

Lost love. Unattainable love. Lack of love. And the impossibility of doing good. :)

Must be Ballgames at the moment. It's fast, funny, melodic and I'm not singing on it. :)

Not regularly, no, but we do try to play gigs whenever that's possible.
The only problem is that there's just a few venues in Finland for indie bands. We would love to play gigs
abroad but the problem at the moment is that we don't have any contacts who could arrange gigs abroad.
Maybe someday we do, I hope.

I definitely prefer live shows to anything, it's just amazing how much fun you can have onstage on a good
night. And even the bad nights are fun enough! :)
We've only made two EP's so far, so I don't know about making an album, but I really like arranging the
songs. The part where the song is still fresh and we're not sure how it's going to end up. Then someone
comes up with some great idea how the song should sound like, that's my favourite part.
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At the moment it's all old Bad Religion, Commodore 64 game tunes and 70's disco for me.
Why?
It's not a stupid question... but quite impossible to answer. I'd say it's Wichita Lineman by Glenn Campbell,
that song always makes me feel like a better person than I really am. Or then it's The Magnetic Fields'
Luckiest Guy on The Lower East Side, it has the same effect on me.

I really think the p2p-programs are the new radio! I use them all the time to get my hands on interesting new
music. I like the idea that I can listen to the songs on the album before buying it (before going to the music
store, that is), and the MP3's are quite convenient when you can't find some album anymore... I personally
don't think the indie crowd will stop paying for their music and I really don't give a rats ass about what hapens
to major labels and their artists. I sincerely think people are willing to support artists they really love...
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Firevision
Mikko & Arttu from Firevision
Firevision was created about two years ago when Mikko and I (Arttu) decided to start making music together.
We found that our co-operation went well and was very successful, and since then we've worked with the
Firevision-album, which is now ready.
Was the choice to become professional difficult to make? Why?

The choice wasn't in any ways a difficult one to make, because right from the start we had the best
imaginable associates to start building Firevision with. The record company has done it's job very well, also
our manager (Maurice Hawkesworth), and because of these interactions we've received and accepted
several work offers of all kind regarding remixing, recording, production, etc.
We both have a long history with music, and we've played in different bands before nobody even had a clue
of Firevision. Music has been a great part of our lives from early teenage years. In the Firevision- sound you
can hear a lot of 80's influence, which we combine with our own vision of music to make great songs. That's
why it's quite hard to point out major influences, because there are just so many great bands, that have
helped us to discover our musical identity.

Our style of music can be described as synth-pop with influences of electro and 80's pop. Personally I'm not
a fan of qualifying music in different categories, I just listen to whatever bands and songs I like. We're both
very open-minded when it comes to listening records.
At least not yet we have not considered to choose differently, because we simply love the stuff we're doing
now. But we've been planning to make a metal track for old times sake and just for fun! So maybe something
in that direction might be the answer if we'd ever decide to switch styles…

Most of our songs and lyrics speak about love in different ways. You know, broken hearts, wild romances
and those things that love makes you do. But in some songs we've tried to find a different view on things, for
example the song "Music Lover" tells about love towards music.

They all are. But if I'd have to point out one song, it would be "On My Own" because it has a special smooth
feel to it and is amazing to do live.
We've done gigs in Finland during the summer and we're planning to throw a tour in here after the album has
been released later this year. Both performing music live and being in studio are great fun. Making music
should be fun, we always try not to take things too seriously. But still we're very dedicated and work hard,
because we believe that without hard work it's almost impossible to achieve anything at all.
I'd say it's the actual making of the songs. Usually it happens like this: Mikko comes to our studio with a
massive idea and we start developing it to a finished song (which usually takes all night, because we're too
excited to quit). But I also very much preferred our mixing sessions at Petrax studio, which is one of the
leading studios here in Finland, because it just was so nice to work in a fully professional studio with truly
professional people.

As already mentioned earlier we both like to listen to music of all kind. For example I know that Mikko went
crazy for The Strokes and is listening their latest album all the time…
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In my opinion there are both good and bad things with music in the internet. It's great to be able to get your
music out in the open, so that everyone's free to listen to it. And it's also very useful to be able to find
information about new and interesting bands. It is also nice to be able to listen album previews before
making the actual decision whether to buy or not. But for the more famous artists I think it can be very
frustrating that your songs are spreading in the internet for free. If you download an album you like and don't
bother to buy it, it's in way like stealing from the artist you love. I think the least you can do, is that if you
prefer an artist then go buy his/her record. By doing so you're supporting the artist and giving him/her a kind
compliment of the work he/she has done.
Yes, very much. We have our own studio here in our hometown, Vaasa, where we have put together the
whole album. Only the final mixing of the album and mastering process we're done elsewhere. Computers
we're involved in the process from the beginning to the end. Computers form a great deal of the process of
making our record, and I think nowadays they are, or at least should be, every musicians helpful associate.
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Lemonator
Midsummer -94, by the fire on an island in front of Helsinki. We decided we'll form a band that's loud,
melodic and has a lot of beautiful vocals. Sort of like The Posies. Preferably fast songs. The first time we
actually played was sometime in early -95.

It's comes from a lyric in one of our early songs where we needed the word "lemon-aid" to rhyme with
"refrigerator". We sang it "lemon-aid-eer". I think Ripa picked it from there and said there's a great band
name.
Basically anything that's good. The Posies was the biggest inspiration for this band, but I mostly get inspired
by the old music: Beatles, Beach Boys, Tom Waits, Neil Young, Nick Drake, Elvis Costello, Stevie Wonder,
Big Star, Zombies, Left Banke, Jellyfish, anything from Jamaika, Motown... the list is endless.
The bad thing is that the market is so small. It's hard to make a living as a musician in this country. Even the
most succesfull struggle once in a while. Also, it's a long way if you want to make it internationally. The good
thing is that people do this for the love of music, not because they're gonna be millionaire pop-stars.
Everything's very real and honest - and the people are friendly and supportive to one another.

Melodic, melancholic but uplifting pop-rock for the people who like their music with a lot of emotion, and are
not afraid to feel. Very song-oriented.
Not this band. I'd love to do very quiet music, which I'm sure I one day will. Also, music for the films is
something that interests me, then again that's something we can do with the band.

Mainly it's just about the human being and the difficulties in living with one another - in relationship. I'm not
into mixing politics and pop. All the best songs in the world are love songs. There are other subjects as well,
mainly to do with people abusing themselves, others and substances.

Probably "I don't want to live forever". It's just such a powerful song, the band is great and the lyrics are very
close to me. It's about a dear friend of mine who died of an overdose.
We tour after every album. We've done about 200 gigs so far. I like both, the studio and touring. You need
both if you want to stay sane and get better at what you do.
When the album is finished. That's just the most purifying experience I know. It's happy, sad, exciting,
thrilling, you're full of expectations, very proud... all this and more at the same time. You can't believe it's
actually there. Can't wait for everyone to hear it!

Lately I've mainly listened to all the 60's garage/psykedelia bands. Both of the Nuggets 4cd box sets are
good sources to find a lot of interesting bands. My current favourites are The Sonics, The Remains and
Sagittarius. I've also been listening to a lot of Bob Dylan and Rolling Stones. I'm also in a band that basically
only plays Cheap Trick, so I've listened to a lot that as well. Of the new stuff I've loved the Tom Waits
albums, Paul Westerberg and Flaming Lips. And the latest Elvis Costello. I must also mention the 4 cd
Jellyfish box that just came out, it's wonderful.
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Why?
I have to name two: Caroline No by the Beach Boys and Nature Boy as Nat King Cole's version. They are
both simply beautiful, the lyrics are perfect. Every time I hear these songs, my world stops.

For a band like us, no million seller, it's probably more of an opportunity than a threat. I definitely think that
the copyright thing should be sorted out because if this gets out of hands, the first bands to suffer are the
small and interesting ones. They are the first to be dropped from the labels if shit hits the fan. People don't
always realize that a lot of the money coming in from Madonna records goes to new and interesting acts. As
soon as that income decreases, we all know the concequenses - it's not Madonna that's going to be
dropped.
Also, I don't support anything criminal. But the net is definitely very, very intersting with all the possibilities.
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The Latebirds
We were born in Helsinki, Finland circa 1999. The Latebirds started out as singer/songwriter Markus
Nordenstreng's backing band but decided to become a proper band while recording an album named
'Fortune Cookies'. The band is still looking for a label to put this album out. Meanwhile, they've been touring
in the USA and Scandinavia plus recording more material (they have material for almost 3 albums while
writing this!).

Latebird is the opposite to earlybird - most of the guys in the band are always running late, you see!
Elvis, The Beatles, the Stones, the Byrds, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, The Ramones, MC5, the Replacements,
Bruce Springsteen, Hank Williams, Gram Parsons, Stax soul music, Tom Petty, the Jayhawks, Uncle Tupelo,
The Eels, Wilco..
The posite ones:
-Finland is full of undiscovered talent, great music+great people, most of whom suffer from manic-depressive
symptoms. These features just happen to inspire me, along with the cold dark winters, heavy drinking and
crazy summers. Also, since Finnish people don't really spend much money on buying records playing music
isn't really a way of getting rich. Thus musicians in Finland really make music for the love of it instead of
wanting to become rich+famous.
The negative sides:

-Playing music for a living in Finland is more or less impossible since records don't sell here. In Norway, for
instance, people buy 3 times as many albums as Finns do, yet there are a million less Norwegians out there!
Also, the same things that inspire me about Finland, tend to depress me as well!

Classic pop music with hints of soul, country+punk.
Not really -- I don't have any doubts about our music..

Love, the loss of love, loneliness, life in general. I just wrote a song about text-messages (mobile phones) so
there really are no rules to songwriting in my opinion. I think you can touch as many subjects as you like as
long as they mean something to you. That's something you can't fake
to the listener.

Hmm.. There's a song called U+I on our record that I like a lot. Also, we have so many new songs that are
just absolutely brilliant!!
I like the best of both of worlds, but nothing beats playing a great gig. We haven't played in a while because
we're waiting for somebody to put the album out..
Finishing a song! There's nothing like the feeling of listening to something you've just created.
Why?
It's kinda like watching a baby being born -- amazing experience!

I really love the new Beck album -- it's amazing. Also, I just rediscovered 2 Bob Dylan albums, Oh Mercy and
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Time Out Of Mind. They are just brilliant.

My personal goal is to be happy! But as for the band, I think nothing couldn't make us happier than getting
our album 'Fortune Cookies' out and continuing to tour+record. As I mentioned earlier, we have more or less
material ready for 3 albums in all.
Why?
Right now I'd say it's The Band's 'Whispering Pines'. Why? Because it's so damn beautiful, makes me cry
everytime I hear it!

I'm not afraid of it, yet I hope the copyright side gets worked out somehow. It's kinda funny that the people
who are more scared of the internet than the artists happen to be the biggest record-labels in the world. The
same companies have been robbing artists for years, creating the fastfood-line-of-music which people now
prefer to snap for free as mp3s from on the Internet. My question for the labels is: How can you blame these
people? Maybe you should look yourself in the mirror sometimes..
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The Crash
In 1991 we met in school. Everyone immediately agreed on the evil plan for world domination.

Nowhere. It's just a crashing name. Or then, it could also suggest that we fancy JG Ballard's critics
concerning modern days; we want to offer something real and warm instead of the over polarized status quo
(and I don't mean the band).
Ziggy era David Bowie is the strongest influence in my work. Happily, he's not the only one but everything
else comes second best. Good bands are: Smashing Pumpkins, The Beatles, The Kinks, The Rolling
Stones, Air, Sigur Ros, Phoenix, U2 and Eppu Normaali.
What's positive about Finland is that the music circles seem quite genuine. People are into music for the
music and not for the money -'cause there is none. Negative side is that there is really no income. This is a
two edged sword.

Excellent scheisse.
I think music evolving all the time. It's essential for boosting the creativity. I've even written some jazzy things
recently, but I don't think they'll end up in our album.

Love and gadgets. I tend to write boyish contemporary folklore.

It varies all the time. I do love "Oh what a night" because I think it captures the moment before the first kiss.
So pure, so innocent.
I prefer studio but live is good too. In studio you try to achieve something that lasts forever and on a gig you
try the opposite; when you're performing live you are aware of the fact that the performance passes you by if
you don't give 110%.
The brief moment when I suddenly hear the music like I hadn't ever heard music before; as whole. No
distortion to tiny little professional fragments, just the music, THE SONG.

Aimee Mann. Leonard Cohen.
Life On Mars by David Bowie. It's a perfect song.

Quite pessimistic. I'm afraid that especially now we musicians and songwriters are loosing more than what
we are gaining from the Internet. Good side is that it's easier to be in touch with fans.
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Anssi Kela
When and how did you decide to become a musician / singer?
Since I was a child I always had a feeling, that when I´ll grow up, I´ll be a musician of some sort. Both my
parents were professional musicians so threre were always music in the house when I grew up. I couldn´t
think of anything else to do, so I don´t think that I actually had a choice! It was either music or sitting home
watching tv...

I have been very lucky to become a professional musician, because I´ve actually never studied music. I was
always just doing my own thing; playing my own music with a band. I really don´t know anything about the
theoretical side of music and I can´t read music. So it was pretty much all or nothing. If I wasn´t going to
make it with my own music, I´d propably had to find some other profession.
In recent years my main motivation has come from three sources: Neil Young is really my biggest hero and
has been a huge influence in my music. (I don´t know if one can actually hear that, but there is always some
Neil in my songs...) Bruce Springsteen has also influenced a great deal. Especially at the lyrical side -
listening to Springsteen´s lyrics has sparked many of my songs. Third major influence has been the work of
Raymond Carver, an american short story writer and poet. I´m in many ways a disciple of Carver´s and my
lyrics represent a same kind of "ragged realism".
Propably it´s the same things that in every other country as well. Finland has of course a very small
population, being a nation of only a six millions, so the music business is pretty small also. There is no
Hollywood -style glamour; no red carpets and limousines (and no big money...). But at the same time Finland
is actually geographically quite big so when you go touring, the distances can be pretty long. A lot of sitting in
the tourbus...
I´ve been very succesful here in Finland so lot of people keep asking me if I´d like to change my lyrics to
english and have a go at different countries. But I´m very happy where I am right now. Finland is small, but
it´s enough for me!

I would say I´m a traditional singer/songwriter with some modern sounds. I have very strong roots in
american singer/songwriter -tradition, building from early delta-blues singers like Charlie Patton and Robert
Johnson as well as early country artists such as Jimmy Rodgers and Hank Williams. I feel that I´m a part of
that tradition - only doing it with my own language and with a finnish cultural viewpoint.
I started playing and doing my own songs back in 1986. Since then I´ve tried out many different styles in
music. I´ve played heavy metal, funk, reggae, punk, ska, blues... You name it - Ì´ve played it! I think this is a
very healthy way for any young musician to develope and find own style and own way of expressing himself.
You try out different styles and as you mature as musician you can blend all these influences to make
something which is unique. I don´t know if you can hear any of those styles I mentioned in my music today,
but it´s all there - it´s useful information which I can always go back to when I´m searching for inspiration. But
to finally answer your question: no, I haven´t really thought about changing my style. It took me years to find
out where I´m good at and now I´m sticking to it!

I really like to tell stories in my songs! I like simple lyrics that are about something. At some point I got tired of
listening to lyrics which I didn´t understand. There are a lot of songs where the lyrics are very beautiful and
poetic, but when you actually start to think about them, you don´t know what the hell these songs are all
about! I´m a simple man and if I don´t understand what I hear, I remain untouched. I believe that the most
touching songs are the ones where you can put yourself in singers position and reflect your own life. So I try
to make that kind of songs: I write about everyday things; like walking a dog or driving around with your
friends. These are very simple things, but they are common to us all and therefore everyone can identify to
them.
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I guess it´s a song called Nummela, because it´s so personal. It´s really my life story, wrapped in five
minutes... My childhood, the wild things I did growing up, the death of my father, meeting my wife, getting
married - it´s all there, so it´s a very special song to me.
During the last 16 months I´ve toured quite much doing more than 200 shows. Now I´m having a break from
touring and preparing my next album. I like both; the work in the studio and performing my music live. These
are two very different worlds but I enjoy both of them.
One of the best things is of course the moment when you see your album for the first time at the shelfs of a
recordstore. The making of an album is usually quite long and sometimes painful process and there are
moments when you tend to loose your faith thinking, that this record will never be finished!
But I also like those magical moments in the studio when something totally unexpected happens and it
sounds really good!

Of course Bruce Springsteen´s new album... (It´s excellent, by the way!) I also really like a couple of songs
on System of a Down´s Toxicity so I´ve been listening to that as well.

Right now I´m healing my left wrist, which got hurt a couple of weeks ago in an accident during a karting race
(my hobby...) As soon as I´m able to play guitar again, I´ll continue working with my next album which is due
next spring.
Why?
Really an impossible question to answer! The favourites always keeps changing, but right now I would say
that Bruce Springsteen´s River is the greatest song of all times!

It has two sides. On the other hand it´s great because it allows artists to contact with an audience you
normally wouldn´t come across. For example: I´ve had some contacts from Germany where people have
downloaded my music and liked it. You can´t buy my albums in Germany so it´s nice to know that my music
is spreading - even if the language sounds strange!
The problem is when people stop buying records ćause they can get them free from the internet. If this
keeps happening, one day there won´t be any more music to download!
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Egotrippi
Back in the 80's me, our singer Mikki and our former drummer Osku had a trash metal band called Vibration
that sort of started this whole thing. We quit playing in the beginning of the 90's. I guess we all just grew tired
of playing aggressive music. It wasn't really in our hearts anymore.
I wanted something completely different. So I started writing lyrics in finnish and trying to broaden my
songwriting as much as possible.
Me and a couple of guys from school, Thomas and Skele, started to try out the songs in our school's
bombshell. Soon Mikki and Osku started to get interested and joined the band.
We rehearsed and wrote songs for about two years. Our bassplayer Aakku joined the band a couple of
months before our first live show in the fall of 1993.
We made demos and did gigs as much as possible and got our record contract in 1994. Our debut album
was released in 1995

I don't think of myself as being a professional. Professionals get paid, don't they? Just kidding. No, it was
more like an accident really. It just kind of got to the point where there was no time for anything else. It was
like that for about five years. I now actually work as a freelance graphic designer on the side. I didn't want to
write music and do gigs just to get the bills paid. There has got to be heart and soul when we do it.
There are too many to mention really. I suppose I could name artists like Elvis, the Beatles and Dylan just
because they have had such an impact on almost everyone else I admire. I have a really wide taste in music.
You could say I admire anyone who does his/her own thing regardless of what other people may say.
I can't really think of anything positive.
For example when you're an artist singing in finnish you can only sell a quite small amount of records even if
you're succesful.
There is no hope of ever getting your video to show on MTV and right now there are no programs on finnish
tv that show music videos.
For a rock group there are not that many venues to play in. You have toured the whole country in one or two
months (and that includes the pizzerias).
For artists that sing in english the chances are not that good either. The record industry are only now getting
some sort of contacts around the world and that is largely because of the work of independent labels, but it is
still small potatos. Also I think the record companys are too focused on the so called "hit music", I suppose it
is always going to be up to the small indie labels to do the ground work for "good music" that will last a little
bit longer than six months. I would love to see a finnish band that would actually have some artistic value
make it big.
So why do I still do it? I suppose it is a calling.

Pop/Rock sung in finnish. I don't want to categorize it more than that.
No. The music I make is such a big part of who I am. I couldn't change that and I would't even want to.

I try to keep a positive view of things when I write. There has always got to be some sort of light whatever the
topic is. There are too many songwriters dwelling in misery already.
I don't want to be a part of that.

I don't have a favourite song right now. There are times when I'm particularly fond of some song, but it
changes daily.
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We usually tour regularly but now we've had this break that has lasted for more than a year and it is going to
last until the next album is finished. I don't compare touring and studiowork
I love them both.
When the album is finished and we have a party. I still haven't made an album that I didn't love at the time
and the feeling of making something good as a band is such a natural high.
It requires very hard work and tempers usually fly but if the result is good, it is worth it. Our aim has always
been to make our best album yet and I think we have succeeded everytime.

I've been listening to a lot of Beatles and Wings lately. Oh yes and Blondie. I just got their whole catalog. J.
Karjalainen (finnish singer/songwriter) has also visited my cd-player a lot.

We're currently working on our fifth studio album and it is the most important thing at the moment. We have
put so much blood, sweat and tears in it that I can't think of anything else at the moment. We still have to
write and record some songs.
Why?
That question is far too hard to answer. Sorry.

I think the internet is a great thing. I don't consider it as a threat at all. I don't see people stop buying records
just because you can get them as mp3:s.
I think we should consider the opprtunities it gives more than focusing on the negative. I have found great
bands and artists through the net and went and bought their albums.
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Lapinlahden linnut
Heikki from Lapinlahden linnut
We started playing in the street back in 1983. There were not very many streetmusicians or peformers at that
time. I Think there was one french guy, he was a mimer and couple other performers
Most of us were involved at Helsingin ylioppilasteatteri, and maybe the reason we started the band, because
we were dissopointed to theatre as an artform, and we wanted to try something different.No this is robish, I
really don´t know why. We never had any plans, all we wanted to have was few coins from the street to get
some money for the beer.
The Band, Frank Zappa, Bob Dylan, CCR, Sibelius, Buster Keaton etc..
Summer and winter

Finnish rock and comedy. Hah hah
We are constantly fighting about our style. I don´t even know what style are we playing. Maybe there´s no
style at all.

We are on the side of small people, we hate this new modern, unhuman, so called democracy in Finland
which is like mirror of USA.

Impossible to answer
We have been touring regularly almost 20 years, that´s why we are taking a little break from and we are now
consentrating on new album. Personally, I like both, studio and live performing. In studio you are creating
something complitely new, and on stage you are sharing the same experience with some people you have
never met before. That´s great.
I think I don´t have any perticular moments. Maybe the end, when you get the new breadwarm album to your
home and you play it to your wife. Then you never play it after that.

Red hot chilli pepers, Starsailor

New album and maybe I could buy a new car. Can somebody lend me some money?I pay back.
Why?
There are many songs which I could say. I name one. Loudon Wainright: Red guitar.
It´s an honest song.

I dont´t want to give my copyrights away, because in Finland it is big part of your income. After that it would
not be possible to create new music. It´s my job, if don´t get paid for it, I have to change jobs.
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Suurlähettiläät
Jussu from Suurlähettiläät
Our band developed during the late 80´s. Three of us had been playing together for a couple of years and
the rest joined little by little. We played our first gig as ´Suurlahettilaat´ sometime in -89
I personally have always been a big fan of David Bowie, but I´ve always listened loads of all kind of music.
I´ve never really cared who or what band is playing as long as I like the song.
Well, the most positive aspect is that I´m now doing the thing I always wanted to do when I was a kid. The
travelling is not that hard inside Finland and I imagine the music business is not that rough as elsewhere.
The negative side is of course that we are working in a small business in a small country and nobody else
understands our language. Thus, it´s surely not very lucrative in anyway even for me as a song writer. So,
it´s hard work with not that much money.

I guess it is rock/pop music with influences from soul, funk, and even bossa nova from time to times.
Yes. I´ve actually written some songs that are totally different from Suurlahettilaat in other project I work on
whenever I have time to. It´s called ´Taxi´ and these songs are in english. Nothing have been published yet,
but I hope other people will hear of it sometime.

Most of the songs are about different aspects of ordinary life like, of course, love in it´s various states,
friendship, happiness, sadness..you name it.

it has always been impossible to name one. At the moment I do enjoy performing a song called ´Rahat on
loppu, muttta myydaan volvo´, roughly translated, ´There´s no money left, but let´s sell the volvo´. It´s a
bossa influented song about toughness of life told in warm, gentle way.
Yes, we tour regularly, making the total of approximately 80 gigs per year. Playing live is the greatest thing I
know of, not counting sex, of course.
To listen the song fresh from the mixing table and knowing that you really don´t hear anything that should be
fixed or changed and feeling totally shure and confident about the song. That´s it. It does not happen often,
though.

My current favourite is a norwegian acoustic duo called `the Kings of convenience´. Their album`Quiet is the
new loud´ is best I´ve heard for a long time.

At the moment we are writing songs for our next Suurlahettilaat album. It should be in the shops next march.
Also, the Taxi project will go forward, I hope, in the near future.
Why?
Tough question. First that I can think of is `Space Oddity` by David Bowie. It´s just so great song. It has it all.

It is great that anybody can have his/her music disseminated there, but you should also be able to prevent
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your music from free downloading there, if you want to. It´s a powerful media and it´s getting bigger all the
time. I think in the future music business is even less about making albums than making just individual songs
and then selling them. More and more via the internet.
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Jore Marjaranta
I quess I've always had a dream of becoming a musician, as long as I can remember, but my career as a
professional musician started in 1987.

No, it wasn't difficult at all. It was was a chance for me to make the dream come true, and start earning my
living by by being a musician, so of course I took the chance.
The most important musical influences go back to the 1970's and 80's. Most importantly it maybe was the
singers, not bands that affected me. I admire such singers as Freddie Mercury, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel
and Don Henley, and basically all male tenor singers with a good voice.
On the positive side I could list that currently Finnish music has a strong postion in Finland, equal to foreign
music. Finnish bands make excellent music and are very professional. Music is like any other form of art,
which requires a lot of creative work. However, being a musician does not necessarily always pay off. It
would help us a lot if there were 10 million people more in Finland! Also, due to long distances in this
country, we must travel a lot and this travelling is even harder during the cold winter months.

Finnish pop/rock, with a British flavour.
During the past 14 years, I have changed my style of music quite a number of times. I've been the lead
singer of the Leningrad Cowboys group, and Guitar Slingers and Albert Järvinen band. Changing a style or
or renewal is always good for you, I think. The future is uncertain, but I hope to be able to find something
new again when it feels like it.

My songs tell of the same things that about 99% of the songs in the world: love, losing love and aspiration of
something new.

Of my own songs my current favourite is "Miten pelko lähtee". It has been my greatest hit ever, and has
helped mee enormously to proceed with my career.
I enjoy touring very much. I've been touring all this year, and will continue till the end of October, after which I
will take a break and make a new record.
The moment when all the songs have been recorded and I know that from my part the record is finished, that
is my favourite moment.

In addition to the French ones I mentioned earlier, I've been recently listening to the new album by Coldplay.
Also the latest albums by Kent and Travis have been my recent favourites.

A new single will be out in January, and it will be in the soundtrack of a new Finnish film called "Pahat pojat".
The new album is expected to be out in April.
Why?
When I was a young boy I used to practise singing by singing along the various artists while listening to their
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recordings. The most important song for me was the Bohemian Rhapsody by the Queen, because it was so
challenging.

I do not like the idea of people getting music free, knowing that the artists have devoted a lot of time and
money for making the music. You can't just walk into a shop and take whatever you like, either. However, I
khow that this problem is hard to control. Otherwise the Internet is an extremely important source of
information. You can for example get loads of information about bands by visiting their homepages.
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Guava
Jari from Guava
Our bass player Juhana formed a band called "Mundane" in 1996 with his friends from school.
they soon changed the name to Guava. I was playing in other bands at that time, but saw them live and
really liked them. later on they asked me to join. Juhana played guitar and sang

Its a fruit from south america. I hate the name, but since a lot of people know it, there´s no point changing it...
Robert Pollard from Guided by Voices and Rivers Cuomo from Weezer
Well since this is a small and narrow minded country, you can´t make your living doing what you like in music

Its Power pop
Yes I have, something like Elbow.. beats and really relaxed mood but still a structure of pop songs or some
sort of metal... I was a metal kid

Stuff i think about and go through...

I´d say one song called "vapaa kuitenkaan" that we haven´t released yet, a song about individuality
Usually after a release, there are some gigs, but now we´re just wating to make the next album
I prefer studio, cause there are more possibilites and you can always try
again
Recording songs is like delivering babies.. (as cliché as it sounds) but when you see them grow and getting
flesh on their bones... weird.. :)

Elbow.. and I just discovered REM
I can´t name one and they keep changing, but a recent song would be "you´re the storm" by Gardigans,
cause its sort of "our song" for me and my girlfriend

Its a problem that won´t go away.. and I´m tired of the subject, sorry... its kinda cool cause it take music back
to the people like robin hood, but I´m part of the industry, so...
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Zoo 42
The year was 1994. We started to play on our litle home village Noormarkku, near Pori. Everybody knew
each other from the school and there wasn`t too many musicians so we ended up playing together and form
a band. From the first tune the idea was to play our own songs instead of cover versions. We started to play
gigs and got our source of inspiration from bands like Guns n`roses, old black sabbath, U2 and Nirvana.
There were no intention to become anythig or to get anywhere, The idea was just to have fun.

The name comes from idea of a couple, male and female, both in a world that is a zoo for them!
World is just a big zoo for humans..got it?!..we felt like we need a name that dosen`t close us to any genre-
prison, under this name we can be musically whatever!
First real influence to me was Guns n`roses. "You could be mine" was THE SONG and that is why I started
to play the guitar and compose my own songs. I realised pretty soon that I`m not going to be Slash no matter
how hard I`d try Soon after this I found U2. There we`re something seriously cool about Edges delayed
guitars and melodies. Still is! Next big thing after these bands was Nirvana. One thing that I learned from this
band was that you don`t have to say ***** in order to sound hard! That was a very important lesson to me.
Negative…taxes! I have no experience of other countries so I can`t compare..Second negative thing is that
this country is quite small, so there really isn`t too many gig places. After some time you will find yourself
playing in the same place again! Positive side of being a musician in Finland is that there`s a lot summertime
festivals, a lot of opportunities to do gigs.

Our music is Pop/Rock based music spiced with finnish longing. Allthought, we`re not despered or sad all the
time it tends to come up in our music. I think we sound like if U2 and Paradise Lost were put together and
they would perform a song..!
I haven`t considered, but if ..I would choose to do music for other artists like Madonna or Laura Pausini. I
actually think that some of my songs would fit them. The music would be somethig between Prodigy and
Italian ballads!

My topics are usually love and relationships with longing or without it. I`m sure there would be plenty of
topics to write about, I just get the best kicks about these. I don`t want to write songs about something that I
absolutely know nothing! Stories about old castles, dragons and knights are not for me!

My favourite...at the moment I`m really satisfied to our set list. I don`t think that some songs are somehow
less favourite than others, If that was the case I would not perform them!
We do gigs but we can`t really say we`ve toured yet. We`re absolutely a live band! Live gigs are the reason
to our exsistance. We don`t hate to be in studio, it`s cool to see how songs take their final form and become
what they are, but on gigs there is allways ready songs, all you have to do is just play them and kick ass!
I prefer the first time when I hear the song when it`s ready. It`s all there, the work that you`ve done. It`s a
relief, it`s somehow more "official" when it`s recorded. You can`t change anything after it, so you can move
on and start to shape the next song.
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Lately I`ve been listening to Q.O.T.S.A, Weeping Willows, Hellacopters, Cardicans, Coldplay and U2. I tend
to listen a lot of music, it dosen`t matter what genre they represent. All good songs are good songs for me!
Why?
It has to be Guns n`roses "You could be mine" couse that`s the reason why I started to play, but I have to
mention that right now I think a live version of "Please" from U2 is the greatest song on earth. Edges killer
guitars, Bonos lyrics, Adams bass and Larrys drums…the whole package just works! Plus the big ideology
behind it. These two are both best songs for me!

I think litle bands like us don`t mind at all about this threat. But I do underestand that It`s different when
things get heavy and recordcompany is on your back if the record doesn`t sell inaf! Then there is no money
to do the next album and the band gets all the shit. So, I buy my records, partly becouse I want the whole
package with it`s cover art, but what everybody else does is their business.
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Bridget
Janne from Bridget
When started playing together with Jamie (drums) somewhere 'round mid 90's with punch of different people.
Dino (bass) and Saku (git) came along later, sometime before the end of the last century. Four of us have
been "Bridget" ever since. We've always been friends first and after that band mates, if you know what I
mean. We'd see each other and hang around anyway, even if we weren't playing music together. It's just
something that happened: Hey, are we a Band? Nah! Really?

Well it could be seen as a kind of a feminist shout out for the girls. Like "we're with you, not against you". It's
a man's world and even what I just said sounds patronizing. Or maybe the name just looks and sounds good.
I've always been a music fan more than a musician. I grew up in the 80's listening heavy metal like most kids
did at the time. My first LP was Destroyer by KISS, and I still think it's one of the best albums ever. Late 80's,
early 90's I heard Bad Religion for the first time wich was a real eye opener: simple, short songs with DIY
punk attitude and great melodies. So that kind of directed me from heavy rock towards more pop, song
oriented music where I've been ever since.
Like I said before, I don't really consider myself as a musician. I write songs and play them with my friends
and that's it. We'll one thing that comes to mind is the lack of rehearsal rooms. There isn't really gov.
sponsored rehearsal space at all in Finland, so you have to find and do everything yourself. Especially for
the young bands it's often difficult to find a place and to pay the rent from their weekly pocket money.

Indie pop. If (and when) it has to bee labelled that's it.
We're not musicians enough to make that kind of choises. We just play what come's naturally. I know that's a
cliché but we've proved it to be true: we've tried some different styles but we always end up sounding like us.
What can you do?

Just basic (but always important) stuff like frindship, love, lonelines etc. I don't usually tell stories. I just try to
capture some moment, feeling or atmosphere as seen from my personel point of view.

Well we have bunch of new songs that are so fun to play. They are not completyly ready yet and they are
evolving and devoloping each time we play them, so that's a fun proces. To name a few I'd say
"Champagne", "I've Never Been In Spain" and "DJ's".
We're actually pretty lazy considering playing live shows. We should do that more often to push the band
forward musically. But somehow our musical ambitions lay purely in songs and not in technical virtuosity. It's
always fun to play live, especially because we do it so rarely, but working in a studio is great too. They are
two completely different worlds so you can't really compare them.
In a studio we usually have the song and most of the arrangements ready in our minds. Still we are open for
new ideas and experimenting. So I guess inventing new tricks for old songs during the recording process,
the kinds of that really turn the piece into something different, unexpected and much better is unbelievably
rewarding.

The new Red Carpet (from Helsinki) album "Halfway" is awesome. And Weakerthans from Canada is just
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unbelievable, great tunes, beatiful lyrics, what more can you ask?
Being a life long music fan I can't answer that. I'm about to flip just thinking about the question. But anyway
one of the greatest songs this year, especially lyrically is "Plea From A Cat Named Virtute" by the
Weakerthans. It's written from a cat's perspective to it's owner, and being a room mate of two cat's myself,
that song really made an impression.

I think internet is great. It has helped us an enabled some projects that otherwise would have been
impossible. We can and have reached people from Asia, Australia, Asia etc. That would be otherwise
impossible for an indie band of our scale.
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Miljoonasade
Heikki Salo from Miljoonasade
My band, called Miljoonasade, was created in 1983 and our first single was published in 1986. It was called
"To my Childhood hero" and was telling about Juri Gagarin. We were young students in the University of
Jyväskylä .

Our name "Miljoonasade" means heavy rain (rain of millions). It was my father in law who said that to me in
1983. It was a very dry summer and everything was dying because of dryness. He said: If rain comes now,
it´s a rain of millions!
I like the 70´s. Slade , Sweet, T.Rex, Bowie. Black Sabbath, Uriah heep.
I like writing lyrics. People in Finland respect high level lyrics.
Negative is that Filnland is so small country. You never get money enouhg to live in peace and you have to
work hard. But you can live as a songwriter.

Lyric oriented pop/rock music
I do it all the time. I have also a band for the children and then I have a band called "SaloRantala Soi" with
Iiro Rantala (jazz pianist, Trio Töykeät). Our music style is cabaree songs and comic songs. I also play
alone.

I have made about 500 lyrics so topics are quite different. I really like to tell a storie which have a start, a
middle and an end.

Nowadays it´s "Muurahainen taivaassa" (Ant in heaven) which is a story about a blind little girl who´s
standing on a christmas shop window, and her father is telling about things on the other side of the glass.
So, this is a new one and I think it will be succesfull.
Do you tour regularly? Do you actually prefer performing your music live or
in a studio?
I try to tour less and less. I´ve seen those bars and hotels in Finland. But I like live because I can meet my
audience.
First writing in peace at home. Then moments in studio where you can hear musicians play. we have so
many good musicians here in Finland.

I mostly listen to radio. Everything. More Finnish music than outbroads.
I can´t say that. There´s so many. Hooks, you know?

I use internet nowadays every time I write lyrics. I google about topics of a song and so on. I´m working with
my own personal homesights.
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Deadbabes
Lasse from Deadbabes
I´d have to go back in time to remember exactly how it all got started. Been doing everything with music so
many years. Been singing in so many bands before this one that it´s impossible to even remember all of
them. Deadbabes has been my biggest and only dream for all that time. Main reason why we´ve been doing
this only a year and a half is that it seemed almost impossible to find THE guys to play with. You know I
really hate these kind of musicians who are like: "Yeah...let´s play rockń´roll, let´s do it like -Motley or
Gń´R." ANd I can tell you that this country is full of that kind of crew. There´s nothing wrong with Motley
Crue or Gń´R (they used to inspire me a lot back in days) but I prefer do something which hasn´t been
already done. Thats why we are here...And I´m not saying we´re that unique, and it´s not even our goal, but
we´re trying to create something which sounds like us. Which sounds like Deadbabes.

Well, we had our very first gig and we haven´t got a name...This organizer called me and asked our name for
the flyers and stuff, and I was like..."oh yeah...well..um..." (at the same time I was listening Alice Cooper´s
song called "Dead babies" Then he spell it wrong in flyers and posters and we thought "Deadbabes" looked
more cool. So we decided to use that one until some better name comes around. Now we´ve been doing
about 50 gigs using that name so I think we´d better stuck in that one. After all name is just a name and it
loses it´s meaning after you see or hear it once or twice...
Whitout my father who used to listen Alice Cooper when I was 4 or 5 years old or something, I think I´d never
fell in love with rock music. There´s something magical in AC`s 70´s records. But mr. Cooper hasn´t inspired
Deadbabes music so much. As a singer and performer I think I´ve been inluenced more by David Gahan,
Bono, Ian Astbury (the Cult) and maybe little bit Elvis Presley the king.
Positives first...there is not so many of them. After all it only depends on what you do and what you want to
do. I think finnish mainstream music scene is very, very pervert. Big less-talented red necks who sing old
favourites, sell like hell. And then, mostly because of format radio stations, there´s more and more worse
artists and bands, who are trying to sound like something which is done in US or somwhere else about 3-
4years ago. It´s very frightening... And then negatives...It´s very difficult to get airplay or anything else, even
gigs in festivals if you´re not in a major record label. Then other little thing which pisses me off a bit is that
there are no managers in Finland. Well there´s few who have some kind of connections to outside Finland,
but others have none. So they´re worth of nothing.
So we are looking for a Manager or management outside Finland right now. If you know any, let us know...

Well this is always difficult. You hear your own music so different than others. I would say we are doing dark
and mellow sounds of love and lust. Kind of dark pop. There´s little gothic influences and then there´s a pop.
So let´s call it dark pop.
I´ve done it once or twice in my old bands. I tried to change their ways into something what we are doing
right now. But it was all useless... Of course you have to develope your music and yourself all the time. And
inprove your songs and only try to make them much better than ones you´ve already done. I´m looking
forward to combine styles and sounds and improve myself that way. Of course whatever we´ll do it always
has to sound Deadbabes.

"Lost in a dark" but you´re only able to hear it live before our upcoming album. It´s definately in it when it
comes out in April 2004.Songs thet we´ve already released I prefer "Lullaby". I don´t know why but it just
represents almost everything what we are in right now musically. Very good
song to play live too.
We are perfoming live almost every weekend and after our debut ep "the Drug" was released we even did a
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little tour. Touring and performing live is the only thing why I´m making music. Of course we are trying to put
together the best dark pop album ever. But all the things which come along with touring are THE things that
keeps me going on and keeps me alive too. But for how long...I don´t know..guess I party far too hard when
touring.
Best moment is, of course, the moment when you´re holding new album in your hands. Everything before
that is just work, work and work..but I love it and I couldn´t live without it.
Why?
Because mainly the whole process just gives us grey hair and makes us fight with each other. But that´s
life...

Mostly the Cure and Nick Cave nowdays. But I just purchased Outkast´s new album yesterday after listening
it from internet. I really liked it even I`m not a big fan of hip hop. But I love rhythms and I love to listen
different kind of music even we are making this darkpop-thing. Sometimes you get inspiration when you
listen happy stuff...then you just make your own music sound unhappy. Strange...
There´s no stupid questions... Oh, I can´t name you one ćause I listen so many different styles and bands.
You can´t compare for example Depeche Mode and Outkast, or The Cure and Madonna. There´s load of
good songs when you just open up your ears and mind...

For bands like us it´s a bless. But for bands like Korn it´s a curse. I think the whole music business will
change because of this. And it sure has to...Otherwise there´s going to be only shit loads of one hit wonders
and Britney-kind of products without anythin pure and real in a music. And it will kill the music itself.
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Verenpisara
Santeri from Verenpisara
The band was created at year 01 when signing a record deal with BMG Finland. I had been working with our
singer Rami Raski creating music to his poems since year 99. We started just with piano and vocals playing
very artistical and teatherical music. One point I started to arrange our music more rockier direction and
pretty soon after that we got that record deal.

My girlfriend invented it. We tried to find a perfect name to fit the mood of the music and the lyrics. Raskis
poems are based on mistakes in love-relationships between two people in good and bad sometimes theres
is also very psychedelic poems with fiction inside.
The music is pretty hard rocking so we wanted to have both sides the moody and emotional side and still
pretty hard and bitter. The "tip of blood" seemed to be a right choice.
I have always been exited about Led Zeppelin and David Bowie, I also like Finnish artist Vesa Matti Loiris
albums from 70s when he was singing the famous folk poets Eino Leinos poems. I´ve always liked the early
80s heavy rock a lot too.
Negative side: It´s hard to make a living in such a small country and Finnish people are always very
suspicious about everything, so it might take some time to get respect as a musician or as a band.
Positive side: It´s such a small scene here in Finland, so you can easily get to know a lot of people working
with music, and if you have a some talent to make music and you are ready to really work hard with it, it
should not be impossible to try to make it somehow as a musician.

Sensitive Concrete! The music between 70s rock and progressive stuff with artistic poem-singing stuff with
lots of hard rock influences. We also have some ethnic infulences.
Well we have made 2 albums and we are still doing the basic work (trying to find the big audience and play a
lot of shows) with this band so it´s not a time or a place to think about changing style of music. Maybe we
could explore a little bit to ambience music directions such as Portishead. Maybe use more keyboards too.

There is lots of poems to do with ups and downs (mostly downers) in a love-relationships. There is lots of
bitter and dark lyrics. Sometimes Rami is spitting out all hate, jealousy, accusation stuff in his poems,
sometimes he gets romantic too, but not that often.
There is also some self judging poems and some others. The last album Happosadetta is more we-oriented
in a lyrical side than the first one and it covers a lot of themes (uppers and downers) from a "normal"
relationships.

It could be "Galleria" from the new album. I like the acoustic Zeppelin kind of feeling. and the growing of the
song till the end is great!

We try to tour regularily, but we still have to sell more albums to make a tour the the whole Finland, but at
this point we are going furher up north than never before!

I think the gigs are the best thing in musicians life, I don´t like studio work that much, it´s more like a day-time
job kind of thing when you are working on a album in the studio.
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I like the moment when I get the single or the album to my own hand and I can put it in my CD shell. I think
it´s a ending point to one srtessfull period and after that the fun part with all the gigs (and hopefully tours)
start!

I used to listen to a Finnish band called Liekki a prog-band. Couple of days age I listened Hellacopters By
the grace of god and some other promo CDs. Now I´m waiting to get Iron Maidens newest album. I listened
the new Radiohead album thru couple of times last month.
David Bowie: Space oddity.
I don´t know why, maybe because it such a good song and the idea of the lyrics is great! I was 7 years old
when my big-sister played it all day long, I was playing some small war scenario in my room and got exited
about that song for rest of my life.

I think internet is a great way to promote the albums especially for unsigned bands. I´m not sure how it will
turn out, will the big record companies be able to take under their control the freestyling of the internet or
not? It´s a problem which is so open at this point, it is impossible to say anything. To a copyright issue all I
can say is that I worked to get our CD not-copy-protected. We thought ćause we are a pretty new band so
far we´ll need all promotion we can get, even the pirate/mp3 sharing promotion.
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All Stars
Aksu Blackrider from All Stars
It started almost 10 years ago, as Aksu Blackrider (that's me) met his future wife Mary Christmas. We
decided to do music together. Mary was one hell of a singer, and I am one hell of a guy.

One of the early tracks had a sentence saying "don't look up to the sky, all stars are here in the ground". The
song is called "Let's have a party" and it can be heard in our debut album "I've seen you all before". Sooner
or later we realized that it's one of the worst band names ever, but who cares?
It is definitely the music that I heard when I was a little kid listening to the stuff that was listened at home by
my parents: that would be music by M.A. Numminen, Piirpauke, 60's pop/rock etc. Everything that had a bit
of an obscure and weird touch to it affected me the most. The situation has been the same ever since.
I don't recommend this business to anybody. It sucks ass deeply. The only positive thing is band called
Negative, but it's not too positive thing either.

We steal material from here and there, claim that it's our own stuff and take all the credits. We love delay and
reverb, and try to hide the clumsiness with which we play our instruments behind massive effects.
Sometimes (and more often nowadays) we turn the whole scenario upside down. We just do easy and
catchy pop tunes with three chords.

It's coming closer to earth all the time. Once it was a necessity to put all kind of tricks to one song and
mislead the listeners as much as possible. That was supposed to be fun and stylish. Now we have realized
that it's not only fun, but also childish and amateurish. To be serious, it is easier to include catches and
ambushes to a song than not to do things that way.

We are getting old and dull. The music is a mirror of us as persons. We are honest until the very end.

Honestly, I don't know or care much. Mostly the lyrics are developed around certain sentence or slogan. The
end result rarely does have any connection to the first idea of the lyrics. Or it does indeed, but the connection
is rather tenuous to the public.
Our music changes all the time from one song to another. We cover pretty much all the music known to
mankind: we have reggae, heavy, pop, progressive and jazzy tunes. If we are about to change the music
completely, we'd need to change the line-up of All Stars, or get rid of all of us and let Mary Christmas
perform these songs with acoustic guitar alone.
That would mean certain change in the sound. The music changes only as we change. It does change all the
time because we are lost in the music business, and we are lost as human beings. We are the driving in the
lost highway of pop music. We are different every day. Yesterday I spotted our drummer wearing a wig and a
Mussolini-mask.
In my dreams I play with big orchestra behind us. You can spot a grand piano and a kettledrum on the stage.
What is your favourite song in your repertoire?

I would choose Gö-Star. This song is rather new. We did it right after Gösta Sundqvist, a Finnish musician
died. The song has the most simple sound and touch to the whole thing, and playing this song has affected a
lot to all the things that we do in the band. We owe a lot to Leevi and the Leavings, that was Gösta's band.
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We don't do that much gigs. It is not possible at the time as most of us are working or studying. I would like
to play a bit more often, but to bigger audiences in more professional stages. Well, who wouldn't? To me All
Stars is a band that should play in bigger stages, so that we could fulfill our dreams that were mentioned in
the earlier answer.
The best moment is to realize that something good has just happened with the song. Something that has just
been recorded kinda saves and justifies the whole song.

I have 200 vinyls at home that I haven't listened yet. I don't allow myself to buy more music before I have
listened to that stuff. Those vinyls mostly include music from 60's and 70's.
song?
What a stupid question indeed!! I choose California dreamin` by the Mama's and the Papas. It has all in it:
nice composition, great lyrics performed by an excellent band. The vocals are rather amazing, and so are the
harmonies on the background.

It's the best thing happened to music for a little while. It's a great channel to spread the word. MP3 is
definitely the best format after vinyls. To hell with CD's.
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J. Karjalainen
When and how did you decide to become a musician?
In 1980 I just wanted to make a single record as a keepsake for myself and here we are! I didn´t decide
anything.Things just happened.
Maybe the old country bluesmen like Robert Johnson and Mississippi John Hurt. As a teenager I listened to
old recordings and tried to learn how to play guitar. J.J. Cale was another great influence.
Positive: A guy like me can hit the top of the charts.
Negative: -

My music is a mix of styles I like. Blues, Rockń´roll, Folk , Country , Soul, Funky, New Orleans stuff. Plus
finnish words. That makes The J. Karjalainen -style.

Not very much. The music is mainly the same as I started. The words have changed a little.

Im not a teenager anymore.
Sometimes I´ve tried, but it always sounds the same! Music is like hand writing. You can`t change it, not
even if you want to.
I don´t think about any styles when I`m playing or making new songs. I just do everything that sounds good
to me.

I do as most of the blues and country musicians usually do. I sing about my own life. Sometimes I tell fairy
tales.

"Villejä lupiineja" is the song I`m never tired to play. It sounds good to me night after night.

Nowadays I´m doing some 50 gigs per year.

I like it live. I really enjoy touring with my band, the great Electric Sauna.
During the process of making an album or a song, what is the moment that you prefer?
Maybe the greatest moment in the songwriting process is to come up with a good text idea which suits the
music. The music comes very naturally to me. The right words are harder to find.

I´m learning to play 5-string banjo. This summer I´ve listened to a lot of american folk music. Old timers such
as Tommy Jarrell, Clarence Ashley and Dock Boggs.
A stupid question but... what is among all the songs you've been listeningin your life the best song?
I´ve heard hundreds of the world's best songs in my life.

I know that I should make a speech against piracy here, but I´m not in that mood right now.
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Eläkeläiset
Onni from Eläkeläiset
The band was created/invented 1993 while we were playing with our "main" band Kumikameli at Lapua,
which is a small patriotic hillbilly town in western Finland. After Kumikameli gig we were drinking heavily and
later tried to "jam" but were too drunk to play anything else than blues or humppa.
Blues is shit so played humppa. First song we tried was Kiss song "Rock'n roll all-night (party everyday)". We
noticed that it sounded very funny so played some more and more and more... First gig was in Provinssirock
festival the same year.

The name Eläkeläiset means Retired people in English and humppa is traditional old peoples dance so that's
where the name comes from. Simple as hell!
Of course old Finnish humppa-artists like Humppatyttö Berit, Humppaveikot, Pispalan laulava pystytukka
Pauli Räsänen and Solistiyhtye Suomi, but many modern punk, ska, heavy and speed metal bands have
influenced us too. That's where the energy, power, speed and attitude come from. We're the fastest
humppaband in the universe, or should we say humppaverse.
There are no positive aspects of being a musician in Finland, at least when you're a humppa musician. The
backrooms are cold and dirty, no food except potatoes, 1 bottle of warm beer / musician and the money's no
good.

It's at least excellent!

Our style evolved in 10 minutes. Nothing has changed since our first session! We're still loud, stupid and
drunk.

Why repair something that's not broken. You can't improve a perfect product!

We sing about life of elderly people in Finland. Bingo, war memories and scars, alcohol, old women and men
not having sex, humppa parties, power of humppa and death.
No, not really. This style suits us perfectly. If we we're forced to change our style of music, probably we
would play heavy metal or reggae.

There's so many, but now I would say that's "Jääkärihumppa" from our first album "Humppakäräjät". Or
"Hump" from our album "Werbung baby". They have good dance beat and extremely absurd lyrics.
We don't play so much in Finland anymore. The stadiums here are so small.
We tour twice a year in Europe, mainly in Germany, Austria, Holland and nowadays in Switzerland too.
Personally I like playing live, you play 2 hours and then you can go home or hotel to drink and party. In
studio you have to struggle for days and days, that's boring...
When the album reaches the top of album charts!
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There's five guys in the band and I don't know exactly what the other listen but we do have some common
favourites like Kiss, Kraftwerk, Aarne Tenkanen, Simo Salminen, Jaakko Teppo, Children of Bodom, Tarot,
Ramones, Motörhead, Die Komedie Harmonisten, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, SOD, Rammstein...
song?
My all-time favourite might be old "Kiss" song "Going blind" or "Mutkattomat" song "Jätkän humppa" or
"B52's" song "Rock lobster".

Internet is a wonderful invention! Despite that it's filled with useless garbage and all the junk mail etc.
problems it an amazing tool. We are a coverband so we can find lot's of lyrics, tabs etc. for our cover
versions. The band members live in several cities all over the Finland, one lives even in Belgium, so the
cheapest and fastest way to communicate is via email. Some bands complain that their music is stolen and
distributed freely in internet, but personally I don't give a shit. I've found many excellent new artists from net,
downloaded few songs and if they were good, bought the record...
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Elliot
Antti from Elliot
Elliot was created year 1997 in a small factory town (in the west coast of Finland) called Raahe. A group of
friends just started to play for fun. There wasn't much else to do in that town at that time so we just played
and played. We borrowed guitars and stuff. Somehow we felt what we were doing was important straight
from the beginning.

I had a guitar amplifier called Trace Elliot. It never worked. I think the name stuck on us from that sad little
machine.
We all like so different kind of music that it isn't easy to say. One reporter said that we are illegitimate child of
U2 and Radiohead. Maybe there's some truth in that.
Finland is so small country that it isn't too hard to stand out as a potential newcomer. Maybe that's the most
positive part in Finland's music scene. On the other hand musicians are not as respected as they should be
in here. It comes out in everything. But it seems that we are slowly learning the possibilities of music industry
in global markets and I hope that will ease our work in local scenes too in near future.

We don't. It's not our job.

Of course you drift musically to new places as you play as a group for a couple of years. It keeps you going.
We think that our best work is still in front of us. Not far but still. Maybe in a year or two we'll see what we can
and really want to do. We feel that our debut "The Sparkling Hour" sounds too clean. It doesn't reflect our live
sound as well as it could. So we know well what to do next.

We have had some changes in our group during the last years. That of course always effects strongly in to
the sound and the style. But we are still searching our selves from the music and I think we might soon find
something.

Hope and doubt… and universal love of course. ;)
Our style comes out pretty naturally. We don't much think that kind of things.

It's a new song called Let Your Wind Blow. We are just recording it and soon we'll start the video shootings
on it. It is really hopeful and energic song. One of those that just arrive without any complications or hard
work.
Yes we tour. We prefer performing live. It's hard to capture all the sound in studio. It would be really nice to
play in France. It's one of our dreams.
I think we prefer the moment when it's finished and we can play it out to the people.

I personally like to listen about movie music. Big sound walls with out lyrics. So I'm able to figure out my own
little stories on it.
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song?
I can't say. It depends of feelings. U2's "One" is one of my favourites.

People are stealing our money thru it! Seriously speaking I think the net is a good thing. We don't do this for
money. Of course the illegal sharing of music effects on music industry. At last we all suffer of it. Record
companies are no longer able to produce interesting underground stuff because they are struggling of their
lives.
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Cosmobile
Tuomas from Cosmobile
The band started in 1996. The three of us had been jamming together for a while and then we just decided to
form a real band. We had known eachother for about ten years already, went to the same class in school
and stuff like that.

It's just a combination of two words, "cosmos" and "mobile".
Well, there's a whole bunch of them! I try to keep my ears open to every direction, listening everything from
electronica to world music, from the 50's to today's new music. But if you think of Cosmobile, there are some
bands that have perhaps had more influence on our sound than others. I used to listen to bands like Fugazi
and Karate a lot a few years back. I guess that affected to what we did at that time, although we've always
been quite melodic. Recently, I've been listening to more danceable stuff, the early postpunk bands like
Liquid Liquid and Talking Heads for example, and some African popular music.
The good thing about the Finnish scene being so small is that it's pretty easy to get to know everyone and
get yourself heard, at least in the underground scene. The negative thing is that Finland is so small that there
are only the few big cities where you can have shows and find people who will be interested in this type of
music. You can tour for a week or two and that'll be it.

Some people say that our songs differ from each other a lot. I guess that's the good and bad thing about us.
Our musical line is quite loose. It's always been like that. Anyway, we are rock, we are melodic and we try to
make the kind of songs that need to be listened to a few times before you know what's going on. Not the
disposable hit stuff you hear on the radio all day.

Certainly. In the beginning we had this sort of grunge pop thing. And we've had a lot of other things after that.
A bit of garage rock, a bit of emo, a bit of indiepop, a bit of lo-fi aesthetics, a bit of post rock. But nothing that
would really define our stuff thoroughly.

I guess it's just that I don't want to write the same song twice. I think every band has to evolve and change to
make the whole thing interesting for themselves and for the others too.

Personal issues and general issues, but most of all just complete nonsense. I think I'm just beginning to learn
to write lyrics. Or maybe I never will.
Hmm. Maybe it would be best to start another band in that case. I'd love to have at least 20 projects going on
at the same time, but I guess it's a matter of time and energy.

I think as a songwriter, your favourite song should be the most recent song you wrote. If you don't like it that
much, perhaps you should write another one.
We used to tour regularly. Now we're having a break. I like them both, although I've never been fully
comfertable in studio.
Well. I guess it should be the moment when you have the whole thing ready. But I think then you should feel
fully satisfied with it and I'm not sure if I've had that kind of feeling ever.
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Well, as I said I try to listen to as many types of music as I can. I've been listening to different world musics a
lot recently. And the danceable stuff of the postpunk era, the wonderful "New York Noise" compilation from
Soul Jazz for example.
song?
Argh! Too difficult to decide. There are so many good songs out there.

Internet is great! I see it as a huge library, where you can find all the information and music that you're
interested to know about and hear. And if you like the music you hear, you can go and buy the record.
Libraries are not illegal, why should internet be?
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Lullacry
Sami from Lullacry
It was year 1997 when first Lullacry line-up got together. Lullacry has always been Helsinki- based band. We
had played five years before that with Sauli Kivilahti but the first Lullacry demo was came out in 1998. Since
that we we´ve changed line-up couple of times but now it seems to be strong enough to conquer the world,
hahhaa.

Bacically, the name doesn´t have any meaning. It´s just taken from the word "lullaby" and turned around a
bit. "Song of crying" is an excellent way to figure it out.
Bacically, 70´s and 80´s heavy rock, I think. I´ve always been a big fan of bands like Kiss, Wasp, Black
Sabbath, Cult, Motley Crue and so on. When it comes to guitarists that have influenced me, I would mention
THE Zakk Wylde, Steve Vai, Tony Iommi just to name couple cool six-string ( or seven like Vai).
You can get all the coolest chicks.. hahaha. Positive aspects are definitely that you can make lots of friends
when you are "hanging in the scene". Negative aspect is that you can´t make hardly any money by being a
musician, but that´s not a big thing If you just love what you do.

Catchy and melodical heavy rock music with fantastic female vocals.
We haven´t considered that, but If it would be A MUST, I would like to play some really heavy music like
Haunted, Soilwork or Entombed (all Swedish bands, shit, hahaha) or on the other hand one of the biggest
challenge would be to write a perfect pop song.

Bacically all the songs are about life and death. Love, hate, joy and sorrow.

It depends. After album is ready I like the songs that succeed well (Every Single Day) and in live situtation I
love to play songs that rock your heart out, you know.(Alright Tonight). Bacically I love all my songs. They
are my babies.
I love both. maybe 60 % for the live. We haven´t toured in Europe so much yet, but hopefully in the near
future!! After every album we´ve made a big Finnish tour. Also we have done some festivals f.ex. in Italy and
USA.
Getting the Master CD on my hands is definitely the most enjoyable moment, but in general I have to admit
that I love every second when creating music. Sometimes it can be very frustrating but you have to turn that
negative energy to positive. And if that won´t help, then just go out and have a beer (or ten), haha.

Charon, The Cult, Heaven & Hell, Garbage are the latest bands I´ve been listening. I try to go out and check
bands live. I love to do that! Latest band I´ve seen are Opeth, Charon, Meshuggah, Machine Men, Impaled
Nazarene. I must say that the best live gig I´ve ever seen is when Monster Magnet was in Tavastia in 1995
after their superb Dopes To Infinity- album!!!!
Why?
Tough question, almost impossible to answer.. It can be Alice in Chains´s "Down In A Hole", Madonna´s
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"Live To Tell" or, Pride & Glory´s "Horse Called War" or some Black Sabbath or..or..or..or ***** this!!! It´s
"Heaven´s on Fire" by the almighty KISS!! or it can be... hahahaha.

Lots of things have changed since 1992 when we started to make demos. Nowadays internet gives an
opportunity to young bands to spread their name and music easily and it´s a very good thing! But when it
comes to professional ( not us, hahaha) musicians it can be bad because of piratism. Anyway I think it´s very
good way to communicate with your fans etc.
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XL
Jarmo from XL
Arttu (vibes) and I ran into each other around 1991 and became musical soulmates. All the four original
members of XL studied at the Sibelius Academy Jazz Department in the early nineties.

We wanted to create visual and emotional music togehter, to paint a big picture. XL is the size of our heart
and mind.
Wide variety: The music on Tim Burton and David Lynch films for sure. Also Sibelius, Pekka Pohjola, The
Police, DJ Shadow, Kent, Steps ahead, Mozart, the projects of Dave Grohl, early Genesis, the more
experimental side of U2. The career of Radiohead has also been an inspiration to follow. The result of these
"arty" yet at the same time mainstream influences is hopefully
unique.
Our (mainly) instrumental music has international potential on marginal scenes. We have some sort of cult
following in Finland and are happy to make albums and tour mainly here, but it would also be a thrill to
perform more outside Finland.

Audio fairytales, instrumental soundtrack, art rock, contemporary music. I wish the word progressive did not
have such an ugly sound to it in musical vocabulary. The titles of our latest albums SURREAL and VISUAL
also give you a hint.
Every album and composition we have recorded has had some sort of theme or dogma to make it somehow
unique. The result may not have been obvious, but we have experimented with electronics, orchestral
arrangements, riffs, ambient music and just about anything we are interested in. Since we have freedom, we
want to use it. We still want to maintain certain "XL esthetics" in whatever we do. To be honest, I do not know
the next step yet.

Nothing so surprising. Beauty, love, longing, fairytales, views, memories, fear, respect, to name a few. Since
we hardly use lyrics we leave things open to the listener, though we certainly want to make a statement and
touch peoples hearts and imagination.

To me it is "Kärlekstörst" by Arttu. The name is swedish and means "thirst for love". I wish I could write
something so beautiful and fragile myself.
Studio is great place to document our growth as a band and the albums will last basically forever, but we all
love doing concerts. The atmosphere is so concentrated, yet full of energy. We actually played in Paris in
1998 and it was magic. We hope to do it again some time. Tomi is our manager when it comes to gigs and
he has become very good at it!
I enjoy composing, but it is also great to bring the material to the other guys to hear and play. What I
REALLY like is to record little colorful details and effects just before mixing to create this other level of
sounds underneath the songs. We created such layers with Arttu on our latest VISUAL-album in a more
acoustic and experimental way than ever before.

Pepe Deluxe, Steve Reich, Weather Report, Kraftwerk, Jeff Beck, Nick Drake, Queen, Foo Fighters, Suba,
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Wes Montgomery, Beach boys. You name it!
"Runaway boys" by Stray Cats. It is the reason I picked up guitar, formed my first band and started writing
music. It's even better than "Love Supreme" by John Coltrane! Listen to "Glam" on VISUAL and you will find
nice preference.

I find myself harrassed by all the information around me. So and so many thousands of records and bands +
all the commercial bull shit. E-mail is actually a great way to be in touch on business matters and the net
gives you all the facts if you can find what you are looking for. I still try to concentrate on my music and the
people around me. That cannot be replaced by any modern invention. I want to touch on deeper level, be
honest and maintain being ambitious and innocently curious about life and art. Corny, but true.
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Kitkerät Neitsyet
Leena from Kitkerät Neitsyet
A group of us, Vappu, Eveliina, Leena and Katariina (left since) prepared some cover songs for a party in 97.
When we were looking for suitable numbers to perform, we ended up making a couple of songs of our own.
People asked to hear the new made songs, and the whole thing got out of hand. The year after we had a
version of our band together (Herzu, Juha, Markus and Perza, left since) and had our first official gig on
vappu-eve, 1st of May, at Tampere student house.

In Carelian tradition there is a song about a blond maiden (=neitsyt, also virgin) and a brown maiden... and
obviously their third sister, the Bitter Maiden / Virgin who never got the attentions she deserved. At the time
we were going through texts that were ranked out of Kanteletar because of their frankness and felt our songs
would mainly be about women's lives.
Vappu, Herzu, Antti, and Markus have been writing our songs, and we are burning to hear the songs coming
up from Juha and Ruttu. We all have a different set of favourite music. This brings us to a musical cocktail of
styles. Obviously, as children our ears bathed in the music of 70's and early 80's with all the pop and political
flavours there were.
When it comes to lyrics, bards such as Mikko Perkoila have set us a path to follow.
For our generation it's definitely a plus that we have been able to follow a certain education in music, and
that it's relatively easy, cheap and popular to have music as a hobby. When it comes to breaking through, it's
probably easier to get heard in a small community. As for negative aspects, it would be quite a challenge to
make ends meet as a professional musician.

It is all about women, men, love and daily pains cooked in an ironical sauce and put into a cabaret. The style
is optional.

From the four women, four men group the group has grown by two. Since we got drums with Tuomas and
keyboard with Antti, our music has naturally grown to a less acoustic style. A fifth singer, Anna, with her
diamond high pitch notes has allowed us to work even more on arrangements. And of course the fact that
we've now been making music together for some 7 years makes things go on smoother. There have actually
been seen some written music in rehearsals lately.

The lyrics are the cornerstone of our songs. The self-ironic feminist approach is a filter to pass through
personal and social dilemmas and to see the absurdity of daily lives. A lot of the songs tell a story about a
moment in a life of an invented person, and these tales tend to be lengthy.
Well, since the style isn't fixed we do it all the time. If Markus, our guitarist got to decide, it would be all heavy
metal, our basist Herzu would make it all latino. Thank god for democracy.

It would be difficult to end a gig without "Humppa Fatale", a three chord wonder of twelve stanzas rhyming,
every single one of them, pappada pappa pappada pappa pappada pappa daa. Now there's for a hit.
The wonderful lyrics and beautiful music were put together with all the girls in the band with the idea of using
insolent exaggeration when knitting up the life of the poor heroine of the song. Afterwards it has become
clear that every word is true. Scary.
Touring and performing is the whole point of the show. Since it's more about lyrics and great atmosphere
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than sounds polished to their purest perfection, the gigs are definitely the most rewarding part of the process.
And it is absurd but hilarious to spend time with these fellows.
Regularity is not a word to use in context of the Bitter Virgins. Well yes, we do practice quite regularly, but
our gigs come following their own flow. That means there may be a couple of months with all week-ends and
some week nights booked in a row and then nothing for a long time. That does suite us most of the time,
since everybody in the band has their daily professions to pull through.
Personally, I love most the moment when a new song is first played to a live audience. Next best is the
moment when it is introduced to the band and it only starts to take form. Making an album takes enormously
time and effort, but nevertheless it is lovely to spend time with your friends in the studio and be totally
immersed in the process. It's everything around studio time that is totally nerve wracking.

There must be at least 10 different answers to this question.
song?
This question remains open ended by its impossibility. So many songs have so much power that it is out of
reach to pick one.

On a theoretical level there is the serious risk on copyright involved. On daily routines it is by far the best way
of keeping a herd this big somewhat informed about what is supposed to happen. Once we finally got our
homepages opened www.kitkeratneitsyet.fi it has been utterly rewarding to get comments from people who
came to our gigs. So, it is at least a wonderful tool for vanity.
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Jazz
- 300 -
U Street All Stars
Timo from U Street All Stars
Band was created during the late 2000 on the jam-sessions, which were held weekly in a loft in U-
Street(Uudenmaankatu= a street in a center of Helsinki).

For me it wasn´t difficult. I was inspired seriously about the music in highschool and after that it was the only
choise for me.
I´ve listened lot´s of 50-60 jazz. I think that major influences are coming from that era. Great masters like
Charlie Parker, Miles Davis(and his different bands which all included great musicians), Sonny Rollins,
Cannonball Adderley, John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Stanley Turrentine.
I also like a lot oldschool funk- and soulmusic, artist like James Brown, Stewie Wonder, Maceo Parker.. just a
pick few names.
Finland is such a small country that it´s very difficult to make a living as a jazzmusician. There isn´t too many
jazzclubs and not so much audience for jazz. So as a freelance-musician you have to do all kinds of gigs and
play all kinds of styles. If you don´t have problem with that, you can work a lot. I quess the average wege
level is also little bit higher than in the mid-europe in general.

The music of U-Street All Stars is heavy swinging jazz with lot of energy. The roots of our music are coming
from 50- and 60-jazz, but we´re giving it the 21st-century spirit.
Totally no, but I quess that I won´t be playing or making music at the same way after 10 years. I hope there
will be some progress also in a style.

Because our music is instrumental, the meaning of the stories is not so important as in vocalmusic. But
defenetely there is some stories behind some tunes. For example tune called "Surma-Travels" is named
after London trip, which me and our altosaxplayer Markus did.

I can´t really give answer for that, each song has it own good thing that I like.
Yes. Prefer doing it live in front of the audience.
Our album "Helsinki Session" was made so that we played 8 gigs tour and after that went straight to studio.
For us it was the best way to do it. Tunes were in good shape after tour and we succeeded to record some
live-feel to album.
When ever I have time for listening it´s some old jazz or soul recording. Can´t really give any names, try to
keep my ears open for the new stuff as well.
That´s really impossible question for me to answer. For me it´s been always difficult to put songs in order.
Music is not a race...

Copyrights should be the same in internet as in the normal market. It´s probable that the meaning of internet
will get bigger and bigger. Still I liked to buy my music from the real shop on the future too.
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Not for making music. In a process of mixing and editing an album only.
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Ahava
Mia Simanainen from Ahava
Ahava was put together when rehearsing for our first concert in March 1999.
I collected the musicians.

After beginning to study singing and music, it has been quite clear to me to become a professional singer
and musician. Of course there must be enough talent and courage behind that choice.. basically, I always
thought I will manage.
There are so many different influences and they have varied from time to time. First, I think, it was mainly
classical music that inspired me, then some pop singers and as I became more familiar with jazz I first
listened to Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Keith Jarrett.
Same than almost everywhere if you represent "minority music". In Finland we just don't have enough people
to listen to different styles of jazz and new music. In others, music-making can happen at very intimate
stages, which is nice.

Today's music inspired by jazz, Finnish folk and other ethnic styles.
Improvisation. Timeless stories, symbolism. Classical dynamics, modern harmonies, breathing rhythm. Some
would say shortly: nordic jazz, I could say: Finnish jazz.
There is no possibility for that, because I am creating music which reflects my own personality -it's not easily
changeable. But I love e.g. soul music which is very different from my own style.

The stories are often symbolic expressions, almost dream-like stories and visions about nature and people
(and other living forms in fairytales).

To me there is not a favourite song forever, it depends on the situation, time and place. Any song from my
repertoire (cd) could be the favourite one.
I love to work in a studio and I love to perform. the possibilities for both are rare. So I would not say I tour
regularly but as often as possible.
I love every moment, it really is a dream coming true, when I have a possibility to sing, perform and record
my own music.

Many styles from jazz to classical music. Like nancy Wilson, Joni mitchell, Betty Carter, Keith Jarrett, Chet
Baker, David Liebman, Maurice Ravel, Rachmaninov etc.etc.

Arranging a tour for Ahava, recording with an a cappella jazz vocal group and to perform Ahava music with a
small chamber-orchestra.
There is not such as the best song. But ten years ago I would have named Keith Jarrett's My Song to be
probably the best. Today it could be a Vince Mendoza-arrangement of Maurice Ravel's Pavane recorded by
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the WDR orchestra, solos played by David Liebman and Charlie Mariano!

Well, I just hope it could give more than take. I am not much interested in computers and the possibilites of
the internet, but still hope that somebody would find the website of Fiasko Records and Ahava,
www.fiaskorecords.com, and perhaps would listen to the tracks of Ahava and then order a cd via internet or
book us to perform at a festival somewhere and so on.
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Rinneradio
Tapani Rinne from Rinneradio
When I was a teenager, it just happened. I had been playing saxophone in school bands and also studying
clarinet at concervatoire. So, it was a natural decision. Sometimes, I think, it might be cooler to be a singer,
but on the other hand, I love instrumental music.

No, music was the most important thing in my life. Though I had a girl friend... (who is my wife now...).
There are so many: Rolling Stones, Weather Report, Mozart, Aretha Frankling, Jan Garbarek, Massive
Attack, Björk, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Sibelius, Joni Mitchell, Johnny Cash, Underworld... and
hundreds of others, too many to mention in an interview.
Positive: Beautiful nature , even in Helsinki.
If you are good - have a name and reputation, at least - you have great possibilities to get grants. That helps
you to consentrade in your own work.
Negative: Because of small population, the market in Finland is very limited. Record sales are low and so on.

This is difficult: Dance and Visions. Techno Jazz. Instrumental music, you can dance to it, you can listen to it.
Well, I just do what I have to do - musically. And I hope that my music is changing and developing all the
time, little by little. But I would not choose the opera music, never.

Everything that surrounds me. For me, music is allways political and music reflects it´s time. There is much
power in music, especially in instrumental music. And every listener sees and feels it in his own way.

It depends, every day is different...
When I´m touring I miss working in the studio. When I´m working in the studio I miss playing live. It´s difficult
to reach the balance.

The scale is very wide, let´s say... Dusty Springfield, Leftfield, Michael Oldfield... It depends on what kind of
mood I´m in.

Making a new album, playing new material live. This normal thing. But it´s interesting and it keeps me going.
Why?
It must be something from Massive Attack because they make so powerful and emotional songs. Tear Drops
or Risington or Unfinished...?

It is a good medium to deliver music. But on the same time, it is important to solve the problems concerning
the distribution of music via internet. Artists still need the money that belongs to them.
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Jenny Robson
I have always known that I would become a musician but to become a jazzmusician hit me in college when I
heard some jazz recordings. Then I knew that jazz is my music and that voice would be my main instrument.
There are so many, but to mention few: Herbie Hancock, Sarah Vaughan, Keith Jarret, Wayne Shorter, Miles
Davis, Carmen McRae, Chick Corea, Cannonball Adderley, Nancy Wilson.
There aren't that many jazz clubs to play in. But then again because the scene is pretty small, if you're active
you get gigs quite easily.

This is always a difficult question but it's a mixture of jazz and funk and soul music.

In the beginning I tried to compose more mainstream-like jazz but now I feel that the funkier touch is more
me. I like to try different polyrhythmic ideas...I need to feel the strong rhythm inside. I think that also my
knowledge in harmony has gone further. But I'm always looking for some new ideas and maybe after a year
my music might sound totally different. I have written some compositions that won't be possible to play with
my own band (Jenny Robson Band) because they are stylistically totally different. But maybe some day with
another project..
I hope I will never get stuck in one thing only. I hope when I'm 75 and still grooving I will be energetic and
open to new ideas and new styles.

Well I have studied jazz for 7 years in Sibelius academia jazz department so that has something to do with
my knowledge of jazz music but also It's part of growing up I guess :) Now I'm more aware of my own likes
and dislikes and I can really stand behind what I do...
I have an a cappella jazz group where I sing and that music is totally different. The group is called
JimJamMurMur and it is a group of four top Finnish jazz singers and our main thing is vocal improvisation. It
has more ethereal sounds and free-improvisational parts too. It is the total opposite of my own bands music.
I like all kinds of styles and music and if I get an idea of something new I just do a new project with new
musicians and see where it goes. That's the fun part of being a musician.

Of course it's mainly about my own experiences in life and relationships. I think earlier I wrote more sad
songs but now I want to write more happier songs.

Mystical Ride (a new composition). It is a funky bossa and the refrain goes in 7/4. I really enjoy the groove
that my band gets when we play it and the lyrics are encouraging "...enjoy life's mystical ride.."

No.

Definitely LIVE. I love the instant feed back and that kicks me even further when performing live. It is really
difficult to get the same energy in the studio. Maybe next album could be a live recording...
Actually the best moment is when I take my new song to the band rehearsals and I get to hear how it sounds
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with whole band. It always sounds better because the musicians are so good. Then I feel that I've done
something. It is really awarding.

Carmen McRae (jazz), Me'Shell Ndegeocello (groovy pop), Erykah Badu, Betty Carter (jazz), Miles Davis
(jazz), Bill Evans (jazz pianist)...and many many more. There are several different artists each day that I
want to listen to.
This is really impossible to answer. I love many songs because of many reasons.. Some songs have great
lyrics and some songs have great melodies and harmonies...so I can't say one particular.

Internet is one of the best ways to get in touch with the audience and I have had a lot of good experience
from it. But I do wish that people would have stronger sense of conscience in these copyright issues.
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Soul
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Huba
Tuomas from Huba
Our band was formed in the summer 2001. I started up with the pianist Tuomo Prättälä and saxophonist
Janne Huttunen, with whom I had been working earlier. Rests of the people to join were mainly their
musician friends and colleagues. First I wanted to have a little combo, but we ended up with a nonet or
sometimes even a tentet (the wonderful percussionist Zarkus Poussa often plays on our gigs).

'Huba' means fun, and it's a very corny name. I wanted a very corny and short name to make it easy to
remember.
In the genre we are involved with (soul-funk) my greatest idols are Sly Stone and Curtis Mayfield. In the
broader area of Afro-American music I love Miles Davis, Nina Simone, Muddy Waters, Ray Charles, Aretha
Franklin, Leon Thomas and many others. Outside the Afro-American genre I've been influenced by a lot of
stuff, maybe not always as far as making music is concerned, but when you slowly start understanding
something new, it always fills you with the feeling of wonder and inspiration. Indian classical music was such
a revelation to me, also the music of the great American modern composer Steve Reich. It also took a long
time for me to understand the beauty of a 'simple song' (there's a Sly Stone hit called Sing a Simple Song.)
For a long time I always wanted to hear something very original, but now days I can appreciate the beauty of
simplicity. My wife recently introduced me to the music of Cat Stevens; his stuff is a great example of
crystallized simplicity.
I don't consider myself a professional musician, so I might not be the right person to answer this. There are
lots of wonderful musicians in Finland, and I'm proud that there are such musicians playing in Huba. There's
a vibrant musical scene going on (positive) but it's quite small (negative).

It is modern soul with a strong retro-influence.

It's a constant search for simplicity while introducing some original idea.

Well, it's an ongoing process, feels like the right way to go to.

The themes are either spiritual (Natural High, Whose Got the Nerve, Midwife) lamentations of the present
state of affairs around us (Mary, Brave & Strong) and plain let's dance sort of songs (Vagabond Jive, My
Sweet Beef is my Song).
No, I don't think we would go that far, but it would be fun to do some Finnish tangos with the band some
day... There's a possibility that we could start taking more modern black music influences in our music,
though, hip-hop mainly. But to me jazz, soul and hip-hop are pretty much the same stuff.

I'm quite happy with the song 'Mary', because it sounds a bit like Curtis Mayfield, but the words are from the
poet William Blake and as far as the composition goes, I haven't taken anything from him, it's an original
composition, just kind of homage to his style. I really don't understand the kind of attitude, that when you
have a band who digs Bob Marley for example, that they will in cold blood just steal some bass lines from his
songs. That's lazy!
We've had some really nice gigs lately, the Funky Elephant-festival and Kerava-jazz the other Friday. Live
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performance is ideal for our kind of music, in the studio it's a challenge to get that live feeling.
When you've just finished a song and you're satisfied with it. That lasts for about a week and afterwards it
starts to sound worse and worse... 'Why did I do it like this, why didn't I...?'

As I said earlier my wife just introduced me to the music of Cat Stevens. Wonderful stuff. Otherwise the play
list in our house is as follows: Bob Marley's greatest hits, Sly & the Family Stone: There's a riot going on &
Fresh, Aretha Franklin: Amazing Grace, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Indian devotional music, Vesa-Matti Loiri
(Finnish actor and singer).
song?
Aargh! Hard... the best song... it has to be a song that has moved me more than any other song, all other
things (melody, harmony, lyrics etc...) are irrelevant at the end of the day. I can't name one, I have to do a
top 5. And still, world is flooding with fantastic songs.
1) Mr. Bojangles (especially when sang by Nina Simone) - I get cold shivers just writing the name of this
song.
2) Silent Night, Holy Night - it's a Song with a HUGE S. The melody is so simple, yet there's no other melody
like this one, it's a very moving melody, not even corrupted by all the abuse of commercials and such.
3) Bob Marley: No Woman No Cry. This is a song that everybody seems to understand somehow. (Though
some think it means that no woman equals no crying).
4) Sly Stone: Sing a Simple Song. They use the word genius very lightly, but I think Sly Stone if anybody was
a genius. This is pure vitality and mirth.
5) Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: Allah Hu - This song means God Is. One gets quite convinced.

Well, it's a great source of information for one thing. As for downloading music without paying anything to the
artists and composers, well, it's not really fair, is it?
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Hip-hop
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Giant Robot
Giant Robot started in the mid-90s, going through various names before settling on Giant Robot. It was just
three or four people jamming on simple hip hop riffs for 15 minutes at a time. Three of the original members
are still in the band: Petro, Tuomas & Aleksi. It used to be a loose collective with anything from 8 to 15
members...nowadays it's more of a band with 6 members and a couple of satellites.

Well, Giant Robot is not a professional band in that we do not make any money from it, as of yet. The
decision to be serious about it was never one that was made consciously. Things just evolved to the point
we're at now. Serious music made for the sake if making music. It isn't a job. We all have other things we do
to support ourselves.
Me personally...I started playing guitar because of the blues (Muddy Waters, Hound Dog Taylor, Albert
Collins, etc). Punk bands like Bad Brains, Clash, Black Flag were a major thing. Funkadelic/Parliament was
an important discovery, as was Public Enemy and, through them, hip hop in general. I also like a lot of older
country music, stuff like Tom Waits...this list could go on forever.
Positive: due to the relatively small and isolated nature of the market, musicians here tend to make music for
reasons other than a desire for stardom. We have no real rockstars. Maybe a few people will pretend, but
they are full of shit.
Negative: Making a living playing music is hard, which means that you can't concentrate on it as much as
you'd like.

I couldn't really. We take elements of hip hop, dub, electro, r'n'b, space rock, etc. and meld them together.
We don't consider anything in Giant Robot. We let the music take its course. We convey it. I do other things
that interest me in other bands, as does everyone else in Giant Robot. Robot is a very organic process.

It varies. The last album, as a whole, dealt with spaces (both time and location based) that are out of the
ordinary. Like a weekend. It's a hiccup in the continuum of the mundane. Geographically, this is represented
by airports. Everyone there is going somewhere else, either away from their normal life or back towards it.
And for some people this movement represents normalcy. Rock festivals embody this idea in terms of both
time and space.
The last album deals with the life cycle of a relationship within this frame. If you take out the first song, the
rest of them tell a cohesive story.

The song Superweekend. I think there we have managed to bring together all our varied influences in a very
elegant manner. It takes the dub esthetic and applies it in a different context. Simple, effective and epic.
We don't tour much, though we like playing live. In the future we will try to play out more.
Those moments after 0200 when everyone is tired enough to free associate and just try crazy stuff.

To the embarrassment and consternation of my bandmates I have listened to mostly 1970s butt rock this
summer:) Allman Brothers, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, James Gang...also some newer stoner
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bands like Queens Of The Stone Age and Unida, a Finnish band called Sunride, some doom metal bands
like Electric Wizard and Reverend Bizarre.
So lots of heavy guitars.

We are trying to get Superweekend released outside Finland. We'd like to do another tour of Europe at some
point (we did one in September/October 2000).
We are going back into the studio early next year. Beofre that we'll do some demo recordings.
Why?
I think this changes a lot. Right now I'd say it's Billie jean by Michael Jackson:)

I don't see the Internet as a threat. We have lots of mp3s at the site. I don't think that mp3s have hurt our
sales. In fact, I think in the heyday of Napster, record sales were growing at the considerable pace of 12% a
year. I used to use Napster to check out songs before going to buy the record. And I still buy more vinyl than
cd. The object d'art thing is very attractive...
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Don Johnson Big Band
There was never really a moment when we decided to "start a band". We met each other in the mid-to-late
90's, in high school and later through our studies, and just started making music together for fun. It was
something new to all of us and something we enjoyed. So there was no intention to "become professional" or
get into the music business -- just individual songs, one after another, that needed our attention. And
eventually there were enough for a whole album.
We proceeded to produce the album -- "Support de Microphones", a nice French name which can easily be
misread as a kind of slogan in English as well -- ourselves, from start to finish, hoping to cover the expenses
and sell maybe half of the first 500 copies to our friends. And their friends. And our families. And their
friends. We even found the courage to walk into some small record stores in Helsinki to ask them if they
would consider selling the album. Then, somehow, word slowly began to spread, and those same five record
stores called asking for five more copies. Ten more. Twenty more.
Now, a little over two years later, the album has sold close to 10,000 copies, and we've played close to a
hundred gigs all over Finland. So I guess now we have a band even though we never decided to start one.

I think we still consider ourselves "semi-professional", because all four of us have our studies or day jobs to
tend to. But despite this, the realisation that we have a growing audience interested in what we do, and that
making music and playing gigs and giving interviews requires more and more time and effort -- all this took
some getting used to. And what's difficult about making music professionally is that it is easy to lose sight of
the most important thing: the fun of it all. Playing music should never become routine. But so far, that hasn't
been a big problem for us. And as long as we love doing what we do, playing together and having fun doing
it, I think people will enjoy our music as well.
A great variety. We all have some similar tastes and some very different tastes in music. In terms of jazz or
classical music or hip hop, most of us can probably agree on some artists -- be it Miles Davis or John
Coltrane, Dmitri Shostakovich or Claude Debussy, The Roots or Gangstarr. But that's about it. We could go
on with a list of a hundred artists or bands varying from country to jazz, pop to hip hop, reggae to heavy
metal, blues to dub etc. etc.
But we all love Dire Straits. And ZZ Top.
It's hard to make any comparisons with other countries, because we only know what it's like in Finland. On
the positive side, it's a small country, and even completely unknown or marginal bands can "break through"
and find an audience for their music. On the negative side, it's a small country, and it has its limits. There are
only so many clubs in a country of this size, and within a couple of years it's easy to get the feeling you've
seen them all. But for us it's definitely been a good place to grow. As people and as a band.

Any one definition is either too narrow, or alternatively just as good as all the rest. We have been called "a
progressive hip hop band" that plays "electronic music with real live instruments". But you can really call it
hip hop, dub, jazz, electro, house, blues... take a pick. :)
Teppo Mäkynen, who is a fantastic drummer and a good friend of the band, recently called our style "special
music". So I guess record stores will just have to put us in the "special music" section.
We encourage people to listen and come up with their own definition.
All four of us would probably choose a different one and start our own bands. Then we could get back
together again when we're 60 years old and play country.
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Anything at all, I hope. All stories are worth telling, no matter how small or insignificant. Some songs have a
kind of vague social message, and they can be seen very generally as defending human values over
material values. Some stories are distinctly "urban tales", or just random thoughts about what living in
Helsinki feels like.
A lot of songs don't have a story or theme, because they are all about word play, about form and not content.
On the first album, most of the writing consists of scattered images and thoughts with no clear aim. For me,
song writing has been more about sparking thoughts or images or emotions in the listener than it has been
about storytelling. In the future, we hope to be able to tell more stories too.

It's almost impossible to compare the two, but personally I do prefer playing live. There's very little that
compares to the intense feeling of pleasure after a great live show. But playing live is more about instant
gratification -- powerful, intense, and beautiful for about two hours, and then it's over -- whereas making
music in the studio can be a very long and sometimes painful process that requires a lot of determination
and patience.
Maybe the phase in which a song is just beginning to find its final form and everybody is coming up with
crazy new ideas. Things happen fast, and different ideas are tried one after another. When that spontaneity
eventually fades out during the night, we're usually left with the most boring and certainly the hardest part:
going through the recorded tracks and trying to decide what to leave out from the final mix.

We plan to play some more live shows in late September and in early October. After that, all our focus will be
on our second album which will be released next spring.

From our perspective, the Internet is mostly a convenient way to communicate with people. We've had great
discussions with fans about past shows, music in general, and just about everything. The Internet also
serves as a good medium for exchanging bits of music.
On a more general level, like most technology, it only offers you tools. The way those tools are being used is
another issue altogether. The copyright issues that have risen due to the birth of peer-to-peer application
infrastructures like Napster are of course an important topic of discussion, but the truth is that people have
made illegal copies of music performances for their own use for a long time -- be it cassettes, cd's, minidiscs
or mp3. You can't really blame the technology for all the different ways it can be used.
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Beats and Style
Dj Control from Beats and Style
We're not a real band in the traditional sense. Beats and Styles is a project of two producers / DJs (DJ Alimo
and DJ Control). DJ Alimo started promoting underground drum'n'bass events and clubs in Helsinki in the
mid-90's. Me (DJ Control) was also playing at these parties and I hooked up with Alimo and started to work
in the promotion as well.
In 2000 we started to produce music together, though both of us had been doing it since the early 90's. After
releasing some underground 12'' material from UK dance labels, we wanted to get the drum'n'bass sound to
the radio airwaves in Finland. So, we did the first drum'n'bass with Finnish vocals on it. We got the whole
project signed to BMG Finland and we released it as Alimo&Control. The album got a really good response
and a lot of airplay in the radio.

What happened during the process of making the first Alimo&Control album, we started to include different
styles to the drum'n'bass and eventually started to play around with the traditional drum'n'bass format.
Eventually the album turned out to something, that you couldn't call drum'n'bass anymore - but not any other
music either. A new form of breaking the boundaries was born. We started to call it beats'n'styles.
At the same time as we were doing the debute Alimo&Control album we were also doing a weekly radioshow
on Groove FM, a weekly mini-tv show on ATV (Helsinki's local tv network) and a lot of big raves - we called
all of these Beats and Styles.
So when we started to do our new album for the international market, we started to think that maybe it would
be a good idea to call the band also Beats and Styles!
There's too many to list them all, but here's a few: Bob Marley, Afrika Bambaataa, King Tubby, Lee Perry,
Marvin Gaye... and about a million others!
Good thing is that it's not so difficult to get your stuff out there and distributed. It's still relatively easy to get in
touch with the labels etc.
Bad thing is that because you're from Finland, it's 10 times harder to try to break through internationally than
it would be if you were for example from Sweden.

It's eclectic music made to make you dance. It's combining different beats with different styles - varying from
dancehall, reggae to hip hop, house and even drum'n'bass.
With us this question is little bit irrelevant, since we're changing our style every five minutes. We just make
music out of inspiration and not thinking too much about the genre we'd have to follow - it's our own music
style after all, and we can do whatever we like!

Our music is quite positive in general, so it's about the beautiful things in life, taking a grip of your life, love
between a man and a woman and of course just simple party energy!

There's plenty of good stuff, at the moment there's a very good dancehall roller called "Dr. Johnny" with MC
Slarta John (Basement Jaxx) and that's a track that I like to play out a lot nowadays.
Both sides are good. We're in the studio all the time, making new music, creating new vibes. It's performing
when we really get to see the interaction with the people. But I think that in 20 years time I'll still be making
music in the studio, but I'm not so sure if I'll still go play out...
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The best part is definately the part when we get an idea for a new song and we start working it. It's like we're
on fire. The best times are when we get the whole thing together really fast and all the blocks just seem to go
into the right places automatically - you know, we'll get the idea, make the rhythms, the melodies and the
harmonies, get the groove and get some good vocals on it.... even though the song still is going to go
through a lot of production, it's still great to hear your idea taking form on the spot.

A lot of Soca and reggae. There's actually one french-based artist called Sugar Daddy, who's track "Sweet
soca music" is really good...
Why?
Too many to mention. There's just some songs that give you some emotinal vibes. Usually it's not so much
about the song, but also about the memories that I get when I hear it. And I'm not talking about just ballads
or anything, it can be a really hard minimalistic drum'n'bass tune as well!

At this moment we're on a transition phase. The future will be that the regular ready CD format is going to
suffer very much or even vanish in the future. People will buy the listening right for the music from the
internet and download it to some player-applications such a keychain with a memory card etc. So after a few
years (5-10) the situation will cool down and the standards should be around.
There will always be certain amount of illegal production etc., but i think that the musicians will (at least on
the long run) be abled to get their living out of making music.
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Jonny Bro
I always wanted to become a musician but I really didn't decide that. Everything just happend.
First I just played guitar. After that I got into computers and made some tracks with it just for me. Then I
started to copy tracks for my friends. Then one day I got change to make a remix for Giant Robot (they were
signed on hawaii sounds / spinefarm back then). Now I'm producing for biggest hip hop -names in Finland
and made also some tracks with Rza from Wu-Tang Clan, Tha Liks, Freestyle and so on. Everything just
happend step by step. I also got my own Silver Club Studio now.
Three biggest got to be: Liam Howlett (from Prodigy), DJ Shadow and The Rza. Then comes DJ Krush, DJ
Muggs, OutKast, Fatboy Slim and so on..
Positive is the music itself. Negative is that Finland is so small country that you gotta be almost the biggest
star if you wanna eat and get paid. That's why I gonna go abroad with my shit. Sad thing is also those jelous
mafuckas who don't even listen music. They just talk shit of you and your music.

Nah.. I don't do that. I just do what I do and let people decide. But I think if you ask people they would say it
got to do something with hip hop.
I change my style all the time. Not that big changes tho but you always gotta go forward with your music.
Otherwise you and listeners get bored. It's nothing to me to make a punk record. Actually that's one things
that I wanna do someday.

With my own solo shit it's mainly istrumental but when I'm rapping with my crew "Urbaanilegenda" it's all
wordplay combined with real life experiences and imagenary world.

You can't pick your favourite child. Others get pissed, ya know ;) And if would pick one it is definetly some
track of my yet unreleased album.
Yeah I got gigs all the time with different people. I'm doing my own gigs, Ezkimo gigs, Skandaali gigs,
Urbaanilegenda gigs etc.. Right now we're goin to RDN-Tour in Finland. Over 14 gigs.
It's the moment when the whole world fades from your mind and only thing you got there is that track you're
working with. That is a beautiful thing.

Recently I've listened "Muggs - Dust", "Dido - No angel", "DJ Krush - The message at the depth",
"Gravediggaz - 6 feet deep" and "Adam F - Colours". I would love to have more time to listen music but that's
what you get when you try to make living out of music.
Why?
Can't say the best. I would sit right here straight 24 hours listening dope songs and still I couldn't decide. But
one song that moved me a lot recently is "The Last Emperor featuring Too Poetic & Esthero - One Life".
That's one of the last songs Too Poetic did before he succumb to cancer.
Rest in peace, Too Poetic.
"Staying healthy comes first, look at me, things could be worst".
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That really got me drop some of my deadly habits.

It's all good as long it's for promoting artists. If you download something from internet and like it, make sure
you buy it also!
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Ritarikunta
Chyde from Ritarikunta
I guess we started as a group sometime around the year 1999 -2000. We (at least most of us) first met
around '97 in a legendary club in Turku called Funky Kitchen. I was one of the resident DJ's there, and
Hopee was a regular guest on the open mic -sessions.

There really isn't any really interesting stories behind the name "Ritarikunta".
I think it was first thought of by a guy known as Olavi Vola who was working with us in the early days, but
never really recorded as a member of RK.
The word "ritari" (a knight in english) has so many different meanings in people's minds.. I think it was always
fascinating to us playin' with the thought of "knights in shining armors" saving ladies and being nobel and
stuff, while in reality everyone knows that knights have been amongst the most notorious rapists and killers
of civilians in the history of mankind. Anyway, we would like to be the knights fighting for the "right cause",
never mind how ironic that might sound.
That'd be a long list. Of course, there are the pioneering names in hiphop like KRS ONE, Gangstarr, PE...
Outkast, Snoop's earlier (and the latest) work, Masta Ace, Just Ice, Artifacts, AG&Showbiz, Del... Myself and
Hopee have been hardcore hiphop -fans for the most part of our lives, while Jesse for example has a history
of playing instruments even in heavy-metal bands, as well as having listened to reggae at a very young age.
I was also introduced to the sounds of reggae just a few years after I got into hiphop, and the last years have
brought a lot of reggae back in to my life again. I guess black music in general is the main influence in our
work, because hiphop itself is a melting pot of different rhythms and sounds, most of them from the african-
american background. Our last album had a strong dub-feeling to several of it's songs also.
It's both positive and negative thing to have a fairly small music-industry. Although a few names have had
their "breaks" outside Finland in the last few years, the business can just barely be called "business" here.
The average finnish person buys about 1 record a year, and since we are nation of 5000 000, the sales can't
get too high.
Of course this leads to a situation where it's difficult to get a record-deal, but at the same time it works for the
artist's freedom of expression. It's not very common in Finland to have record -companies dictating their
artists style and so on..
Also if you have a contract with the finnish copyright -organisation TEOSTO, and get your material played on
major radio/TV -stations, you're pretty sure to get your share of the money also. There are problems to that
also, and many of the upcoming hiphop -artists for instance have not made a contract with TEOSTO, since
you won't get anything from them when your music is played by more independent radio -stations for
example.

Hiphop. We're rhyming in finnish, but the music is has influences from all over.
No, I've never really thought of that.. But it wouldn't sound bad to me to do a reggae -record, or even try
something like blues or folk... Well, maybe not those in the very near future anyway...

We are trying to discuss things (problems) that are not dealt with properly by politics and mainstream -media
for example. (Well, that could mean anything in the world...)
I guess we are just trying to talk about stuff we ourselves are living with. Our own things, our own language,
to our own audience. We're not trying to appeal to a middle -aged car -salesman for example. It's great if he
can get something out of our stuff, but we are not trying to reach everybody.

I think it's "Lepposasti vaa" (take it easy, just chill... something like that in english). It's a down-tempo song
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with a dub -feeling, and the lyrics are about the ridiculous hassle we are living with nowadays. Everyone's in
a hurry to nowhere. You just have to run like hell all the time. No, we don't think you do.
We usually start the gigs with this song, like trying to calm the audience down, and at the same time getting
them introduced to our sound, and inviting them to a relaxed dance.
We do some gigs a month. It suits us well, as we all have quite a lot of other things goin' on in lives also,
which is nice. But I guess all of us love performing live, yes. There's so much feeling there every time, and
especially when you get to improvise a little, performing variations of the material. And a good hiphop -jam is
always worth a travel of 500miles...
I think it's every moment I get a line working. So to me it's during the writing of the lyrics. The birth of a single
line that is working properly may feel better than the completion of a whole album.

Since I'm writing record -rewiews, I get a lot of records sent to me weekly. At the same time I'm in love with
DJ'ing, and with vinyl. So it's very hard to name any particular records but... The King Geedorah -album by
MF Doom, Tre Hardsons new album, J-Boogie's Dubtronic Science, older material by Wayne Wonder... a lot
of good upcoming finnish hiphop also. Some swedish stuff.
Why?
can NOT name just one. These are some:
Massive Attack: Unfinished Sympathy (the whole feeling, the sound)
Bob Marley&The Wailers: Redemption song (lyrics, Bob's vocal sound)
The Clash: Straight to hell (lyrics mostly)
Barry White: Can't get enough of your love
Funkdoobiest: Lost in thought

In a country like Finland, where people live far from each other, internet as a channel to get your stuff heard
by like-minded people is just great. It also enables people to be in touch with each other despite the long
distances. I'm currently working on several projects with emcees all aroud the country via e-mail. When it
comes to the copyright -aspect, it's just something we have to deal with. For the music itself it's nothing but
positive to get heard by as many people as possible.
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Hamara
I have been making music with a computer since early 90's. It burst into flames when at the same time when
finnish hiphop made its second coming such as Fintelligence in late 90's.
Broad scale of musicians have had influence on my music like Cypress Hill, Run D.MC.
Also all the 80's heavy metal bands for example Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Wasp.
What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician / singer (in
Finland)?
Finland was pretty distant place before Internet for independent musician to publish music. So www enabled
artist to reach wider audience and also be influenced by other artist.

I consider my music as a coctail between rap and heroic metal music. I liked the combination of hiphops
urban down to earth approuch and heavy´s high flying, mystical aspect.
As I told before I´m a big fan of old school metal music, so I´d probably make some sort of move towards
fantasy metal with vxxxn edge.

My main idea with my lyrics is that everything was more interesting in the old times. Todays world is too
predictable and plain to write interesting stories. There is plenty of learning in history of legends. Finnish
mythology is full of material.

I think it is "Salaliitto". I like the mystical background and its perfect rythm and rhyme. Big up for my man
Maanvaiva and Antistara! "Salaliito" is all the things Hamara represents.
At the time, I am a "studioartist" and I prefer having a total control of my music hence I perform rarely live.
During the process of making an album or a song, what is the moment that you
prefer?
When the idea of the song evolves to its perfect form.

Currently I´m consuming music with metal influence. Todays rap-music is not my cup of tea with its static
backgrounds. Cypress Hill can still rock on.
"Kiss the ground" by Ben Dover

Hamara would not be without the Internet!
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Skandaali
That's a funny thing, because I never actually decided to become a musician. That is, before I already was
one. I was introduced to hiphop, thanks to my friends, when I was 13 years old. My interest in it grew all the
time, I started studying the culture and writing lyrics.
Then suddenly many many years later, music was the only thing I was doing.
Many Finnish artists that I used to listen to in my childhood, such as Mikko Perkoila, Juice Leskinen, Tuomari
Nurmio and Martti Syrjä. Back then I didn't know anything about hiphop, but those artists affected my ways of
thinking and what I considered as art and lyricism.
Later on, when I got into hiphop, artists that have had the most influence on my life and my work (which I
consider being the same) are Cypress Hill, Busta Rhymes, Eminem, Pharoahe Monch, Young Zee, Big Pun
and the list goes on. It's impossible to mention all of them here.
Well I don't know whether it's a positive or a negative thing, but Finland is so small, that it's easy to become
known here. There are a lot of negative aspects, first one being the radio stations. We only have a few
stations here, and they all compete for the same audience, playing the same pop songs in a heavy rotation.
Censorship is ridiculously strict and the piracy is a big problem too, especially with hiphop. Also because of
the small population, artists performing in finnish language can't sell a lot of units if they aren't totally
mainstream.

This is a hard one. A part of it is definitely humour music, a part of it is battle rap. I'd define my music as
narcissistic serious humour music.
To be honest I've never even thought of the possibility of changing my music. This is me right here and how I
do it best. Of course my music is changing by itself by time, but I'd never change my style on purpose.

I talk about stuff that I experience or that interests me; one night stands, partying, hiphop, mcing,
depression... There's also quite a lot of criticism against the society and world that we live in.

It would be "Ei Kiinnosta" (translated something like "Couldn't care less"). That's the most typical feeling for
me. That track is basically about people who talk to me or about me, that have heard my songs or seen me
on TV, not actually knowing me as a person at all. The title is
my answer. So many people are nowadays more interested about what other people think of them, than
what they think of themselves. Forget about that, just do your thing.
I'm also working on our Rockin' Da North project and the tour is just starting. Including my solo plus RDN
gigs, I'm propably gonna have about 2 or 3 gigs per week until the end of the year. I love being on stage, but
I also like recording at the studio. Depends a lot on the mood. At the studio I get to create and chill, and on
the stage I get to let the steams out.
Whether it's the making of a song or an album, the best moment is, when you've finished it and feel that the
result is perfect. After some time when you've performed it dozens of times or heard the tracks from the
radio, you start thinkin' which parts could have been better etc.

Mostly hiphop, but sometimes I put on the radio to hear some pop shit to piss myself off. Lately I've been
listening to 50 cent, Killa Mike, Outkast, Ghostface killa, Jay-Z, Extended F@m, C-rayz walz, Cannibal Ox
and some good finnish hiphop like Toinen Kanava and Urbaanilegenda.
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Why?
I can't say what song would be the best ever. I listen to a lot of different types of hiphop to fit my moods.
Some songs are perfect for some moment, but don't work at all in a different situation. Well, I'll just say one
of my favourites... Eminem's "Criminal" is dope.

It's nice that we can do this interview via Email for example, but mostly I see the internet as a negative thing.
The net is filled with mp3's and I've heard of people, that have never bought a single album from a store,
havin millions of songs on their computer.
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Yavis
I had toyed with the idea since I was a kid. I played a bit of piano, guitar and drums when i was younger but
for 13 years dancing was always my main intrest. In 1994 I started street dance lessons and got acquianted
with hiphop culture. Four years later I quit dancing and being fascinated with rhythm, picked up MCing.
What musicians or artists have had a major influence in your life/work?

I get influenced by several sources simulteneously, and they vary a great deal from time to time-
for instance I can get inspiration from the concoction of the poetry of Maya Angelou the ideas of Tom Wolfe,
Rai-music and Bollywood movies. Then I just try to put them all together in my mind and see what comes
out. I think all art supports and feeds oneanother.
positive: In my case there wasn't that much competition so it was relatively easy to come out.
Also the audience that comes to see gigs doesn't change a lot so you have to think of new ways to keep
them interested in your show.
negative: The country is so big so it's hard to reach out to people of the otherside of the country with out
touring extensively.

It's melodic hiphop. I like to blend singing with rap to make it more musical..It's difficult to grab and maintain
peoples attention with english rap these days since theres so many finnish opponents out there.
Have you considered changing your style of music?

No, not as of yet, thought i have dreamed of a band. It would give more depth to my show and music and
there could be more interaction.
What are the stories /topics you treat in your songs?

I've noticed that on this ep most of the songs reflect my feelings about music and life around it in quite a .in
an anguished way - a subject (unfortunately?) quite common in hiphop. I am aiming to grasp more universal
topics in the future.
What is your favourite song in your repetoire and why?

Crimes of Passion because the singer Afrodite and I gradually weave our vocals together to make the song
grow. It's a song you really can feel in you gut while performing.
Do you tour regularly? Do you prefer performing your music live or in the studio?
In the past 3 years I've had about 1-5 gigs per month concentrating in the southern part of the country.
Do you prefer performing your music live or in the studio?

I prefer studio work, and the whole creative process in which a song is created and in which it evolves.
During the process of making an album or a song what is the moment that you prefer?
We have a great production team and we have a great deal of laughs. Gigs stress me far too much, theres
practically no margin for mistakes and i cant relax the way i can in the studio.
What kind of music/artist do you currently listen to?

At the moment in interested in "ethnic" hiphop- bands that take advantage of their own cultural and musical
background in their music- like Orishas or Outlandish.
What is your favourite song of all time?

I cant pick just one favourite but one song that has always touched me is Simon&Garfunkel -Bridge over
Troubled Water.

I think that the internet is a excellent medium especially for underground artists.What comes to artists on a
record label it gets trickier. For artits with major promotion, exposure on the internet surely eats at their actual
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sales. but for artists like me, who dont have that much media exposure the internet has more significant
promotional value. Especially within the hiphop genre where artist might have several sideprojects it's a great
way to promote those.
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Sere
I started making demos in 1998, and was the first to release a finnish-only rap EP (Edustaa edustaa, 1998)
and the first to release a full lenght finnish hiphop-album (Omin sanoin, 2000).
Where is your name coming from?

Seremoniamestari = Master of ceremony, but I changed it to my nickname Sere, because there are so many
mcs around nowadays!
Too many to mention, so here's just a few: James Brown, Rakim, and early Sting (Bring On The Night live!).
Positive: a chance to let someone else pay for your hobby.
Negative: a very little market. I have a dayjob, which is not so bad after all.

Thinking man's rap with funky flavor.
No. It would't be my music anymore.
But I'd love to do a whistling album a la Roger Whittaker!

Maybe "Se ei oo minä" (= "It ain't me"), from my latest album. It's a furious double-time bounce track. Fun to
perform, and a display of skill.
I do about 20-25 gigs a year. That's enough for a working father of a little baby!
You really can't compare rapping in the studio and doing it live. I like both.
A good, rare question! It must be the moment I hear a fat delicious beat (that is meant for me) for a first time!
Another great moment is to hear your own new album from start to finish in the mastering room. You realise
it's all been worthwile and it's a priviledge to have talented people working with you.

Jazz, funk and 70's disco (not Boney M if you know what I mean...), some house and progressive rock. A lot
of rap. Very little regular rock or pop.
Why?
Living Colour: "This Is The Life". I listen to it maybe twice a year and cry every time.

It's a tool that can be used for many purposes. I have benefited from it, especially in my early days. On the
other hand it allows rumors and crappy material to spread.
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Vapaapudotus
Make from Vapaapudotus
I got together with Pekka about four years ago, when we arranged a couple of hip-hop club nights. Our first
performances consisted mostly of freestyle rapping (improvising) and some party songs, but we soon found
out that we could write more serious material as well.
It's hard to point out any artist in particular, it's much easier to name a place and an era: east coast of United
States, years between 1993 and 1999. I consider them as the golden years of hip-hop and it was also the
time I was most enthusiastic about it.
I also have to give credit to Fintelligens for starting the new wave of Finnish hip-hop few years ago. At first I
was sceptical about writing in Finnish, but they convinced me of our language's possibilities.
It's possible to get nation-wide attention even without a huge marketing budget. The community spirit among
musicians is great and it's easy to see that people are truly doing it for the love of music and not for the
money.
Nearly all negative aspects are somehow money-related. Only the most successful artists can support
themselves financially with record sales, promotors can't afford to pay the artists enough, everything from
transportation to equipment is expensive… the list goes on. Music will never be more than just a hobby for
me, so fortunately the negative sides don't bother me so much.

Finnish hip-hop with mellow beats and sharp lyrics.
Me and our third member Aki secretly dream about playing heart-breaking emotional rock with two acoustic
guitars. There's only a minor obstacle: neither of us can sing or play the guitar. I'm also sure that Pekka
would hate our music and label it as "hippie crap".

It's important that every song has a subject, we want our music to be more than just punchlines and word
play. Yet there is no one special theme: the same EP can contain a road trip party song as well as a serious
song about the artists' responsibility to stand behind their words. We are simple guys telling simple stories
about how we feel about different things.

My favourite song keeps changing from time to time. At the moment it's "25 tuntia" (25 hours), a bit
melancholic song about how our day jobs take up too much time from our friends and loved ones. It works
great as a gig's last song.
We have about 10 to 20 gigs each year. I enjoy recording and writing sessions very much, but nothing beats
the boost you get from seeing live audiences that know your songs and love them.
The exact moment I'm at the post office ready to send the master copy of the album to the record press. The
last few days of recording are always very stressful because we tend to leave things to the last minute, so
the sense of relief is just great when the album is finally finished and out of our hands.

Lately my WinAMP's playlist has been occupied by artists such as Tulenkantajat, Mew, Dashboard
Confessional, Chino XL, Talib Kweli, The Ark and Looptroop to name a few. And as anyone can tell, it's
impossible to group these bands under any particular style of music.
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Common Sense's hip-hop classic "I Used To Love H.E.R.", because the song is very beautiful and the lyrics
are just brilliant. I keep wondering why hip-hop songs that reminisce the past times always turn out so good?

As a musician: it's a irreplaceable channel for us to get new audiences and stay in touch with older ones. It's
also the only way for new fans to get their hands on our older material, because the CD's are sold out. Of
course it feels bad to know that even the new songs are been
distributed illegally and that affects our personal economy. The artists deserve to get paid from their hard
work.
As a music consumer: it has expanded my musical taste a lot. I have found many excellent bands by first
listening to their (unfortunately illegal) MP3's at home and then buying the CD. I would buy many times more
music if it was possible directly on the Internet: for me the content is more important than the package.
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Redrama
when I was 10 years old I wanted to learn to play the guitar.I started doing that and later got into jazz and
funk(all sorts of black) music. when I heard Nas, mobb deep, epmd's first albums I just knew I wanted to
write lyrics and rhyme.So Hip Hop was the definte artform for me
Nas, Mobb Deep, DITC, the fugees, epmd, redman, scientist, Bob marley.etc..
There's a positive scene here, lot of alternative stuff going on.people aren't that caught up in mainstream
formats of making music.In general there's a lot of original artists/ musician here.One negative thing is that
cause of the long, cold and dark winters some people tend to write very depressing music.

Hip Hop/ reggae
I want to keep my music changing and growing all the time.If i once decide to totally change it there's allways
gonna be a hip hop feel to it.

Most of it's based on my own life and experiances. What I see , hear and feel basically. I also talk about
social problems like racism and injustice.

A day at a time cus I think that anybody anywhere in the world can relate with the song and I like the
versatilty of fast/slow singing and rapping.
I love being on stage but my favourite place in the world is the studio. The feeling I get when I write songs is
hard to top.
When it all comes toghether.
When my rhymes and beat just click.

A lot of reggae stuff like Buju Banton, Sizzla ,Capleton etc..Hip Hop's been mostly Talib Kweli, Pharoahe
Monch, Dilated peoples, madlib,Redman's Muddy Waters.
Mobb Deeps shook ones.I just love the dark feel of it. I havent lived the same life but you just feel the heart
and soul in the song.

For me it's positive that basically anybody anywhere can get there music out to anybody anywhere.
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Avoliitto
Nyric from Avoliitto
Avoliitto was created on the spring of the year 2001. Our first song 'Onnellinen ihminen' (Happy human) was
realesed throughout our website avoliitto.net on 1st of June 2001.
You can say that Avoliitto´s creater is Dj Huiske. He invited me, MC Vaisu and some other musicans to
create this 'musical collective', which idea was to bee free from forms and copyrights and costs. Me and most
of the other guys have played together ealier in the same band, so it was quite natural that Dj Huiske asked
us to play music with him.

Avoliitto is a finnish word and it means 'living together but not married'. Our name describes the basic idea of
the band: all the songs are about me and my boyfriend MC Vaisu. The lyrics tell everything about our happy
(and sometimes not so happy..!) life together,how we are moving together,how we went to Playa de Las
Americas, how I cheated and so on.
If you translate Avoliitto straight to english the meaning is 'open union'. This describes our form, there are no
srtict form for our band - players come and go, we have visitors in our recording.
I cannot name any artist which have made a major influnece in my work in Avoliitto. Sometimes I might take
some influences from artists which Dj Huiske asks me to listen before the recordings. For example when we
were recording 'Petos' (Cheatment) Dj Huiske played some Destiny´s Child to me and told me that I should
sound like them. I asked which of them and he told me smiling 'every of them'. You can go an listen to that
song and tell me how I managed!
Finland is so damn small. That means less listeners, but also less competition.

Dj Huiske likes to call our music HIP POP - it is something between hiphop and pop. Avoliitto´s music is not
so serious, there are lot of humour, sarcasm and messages in the lyrics. For example in the song
'Ghettoperse' (The Ghetto Ass) Mc Vaisu is rapping about Nyric´s ass and how he really likes it. Nyric is
answering to him that the purpose of ass should be producing pee and shit so could you please stop
admiring my ass!
It would be nice to do some acoustic popular music for a little bit older target group. Something like our only
acoustic song Se oikea. Maby we have to start a side project...

All of our song are about me and my boyfriend Vaisu or they somehow relates to us. Songs are about good
and bad thing in a relationship and I think everybody can recognize something familiar from the lyrics...

It is very hard to pick only one song, mayby it is Tupaantulijaiset or Petos.

We had this 'dogma rules' and one important point was that Avoliitto doesn´t do gigs. We don´t actually even
rehearse - we are only recording. Now we are reconsidering the rules and at the moment we don´t have any
rules. It might be possible that we are doing some gigs in the summer. Actually we were asked to play in a
very big finnish festivals and it might be that we cannot say no to them. The opportunity is too big... You can
check the situation from our
website www.avoliitto.net
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Maybe the moment when you have managed to get something very difficult in, the feeling is then 'yes yes
yes!', I managed to do that thoug it seemed to be impossible. I love recording!

One of the Avoliitto´s main idea is to free music. It is good for us that we can promote your music freely in the
Internet. Of course this doesn´t mean that We don´t care about the copyrights, we are serious about the
problems with Internet and copyrights. But at the moment we are taking advantage of the Internet.
Everything we do is free from costs, the songs are realesed only in the Internet. You can download our
music freely, our purpose is notto sell anything.
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Guava
Jari from Guava
Our bass player Juhana formed a band called "Mundane" in 1996 with his friends from school.
they soon changed the name to Guava. I was playing in other bands at that time, but saw them live and
really liked them. later on they asked me to join. Juhana played guitar and sang

Its a fruit from south america. I hate the name, but since a lot of people know it, there´s no point changing it...
Robert Pollard from Guided by Voices and Rivers Cuomo from Weezer
Well since this is a small and narrow minded country, you can´t make your living doing what you like in music

Its Power pop
Yes I have, something like Elbow.. beats and really relaxed mood but still a structure of pop songs or some
sort of metal... I was a metal kid

Stuff i think about and go through...

I´d say one song called "vapaa kuitenkaan" that we haven´t released yet, a song about individuality
Usually after a release, there are some gigs, but now we´re just wating to make the next album
I prefer studio, cause there are more possibilites and you can always try
again
Recording songs is like delivering babies.. (as cliché as it sounds) but when you see them grow and getting
flesh on their bones... weird.. :)

Elbow.. and I just discovered REM
I can´t name one and they keep changing, but a recent song would be "you´re the storm" by Gardigans,
cause its sort of "our song" for me and my girlfriend

Its a problem that won´t go away.. and I´m tired of the subject, sorry... its kinda cool cause it take music back
to the people like robin hood, but I´m part of the industry, so...
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Kylmä Rinki
äNTee from Kylmä Rinki
I think it was 1994 when we first met, although it took years before we started to make
music together. Kylmä Rinki was formed in 2002 so it's a very fresh project. We have listened hiphop-music
for years now, but our first own tracks were made only last year. Writing has always acted a big role in my
life, but for me this is the first music-project I'm involved in. Boxi has been playing various instruments during
years, but for him also this is the first more serious music-project.

Many people think that the name Kylmä Rinki is coming from HBO's hit tv-series Oz (which is translated
Kylmä Rinki in finnish). I'm not sure how many exactly even knows that kylmä rinki (free translation: cold
circle) is old (but not very common) term in finnish language. It is used to describe a kinky situation. "When
they pointed at me I had a cold circle around my ***hole", or something like that. We decided to take the
name because it is raw enough, it can mean many different things, and most of all it is easy to remember.
I have to say that we listen so much different kind of music that it's impossible to pick just a few influences,
but here are some: 2Pac, Bob Marley, Lenny Kravitz, Pharrell Williams, Timbaland, The Neptunes,
Looptroop, Ritarikunta, Jukkapoika and so on. I think music is everywhere and it has a continuous effect on
you. When we hear something interesting it can give us an idea or a vision. Some ideas can be used
afterwards in our own tracks.
I'm not sure if we consider ourselves real musicians, but generally we've been quite happy so far. Perhaps
because we've just started our own band and everything is quite new and fascinating for us. We don't have a
record deal. That gives us a total freedom of doing music exactly the way we want to, and when we want to.
We enjoy that! We can express ourselves with no limits. But there is also the other side of the coin. If we had
a record deal it would make many things easier. I think those things would be mainly non-musical, for
example the marketing of new album. But in the near future we have to decide whether we try to get a record
deal or not. Then there is ofcourse the everlasting money problem, and especially the lack of it. It would be
nice if some day you could do music for living! At the moment it's not possible. I have my studies, and Boxi
has his own things. Those things set a certain limit to our music making.

Our style of making music is quite adventurous. I think we sometimes try such things in our songs that most
of the other artists would never even consider trying. Sometimes when you listen the crazier things
afterwards you think that "oh my god, what were we thinking". Usually in positive way. Although we have
more serious songs (and I would like to write more of those), it's still mainly about chillin and drinking beer.
We are both quite easygoing guys.
For me it's all about hiphop. One reason could be that I don't consider myself a very good singer. Boxi (who
is also our producer) is a very good singer so he has more options when it comes to different music styles.
He has also been in theater projects, and he really enjoys acting. One great thing about modern hiphop is
that you can combine it with different music styles, and that's something we have tried to do.

Again it's hard to pick one song. But if we had to, we would probably go for Laiskottaa (Feeling Lazy) from
our newest album. It's also a nice song to perform live.
Definitely live! There's no competition between live music and studio music. We try to do as many gigs as we
can, but at the moment we do only one or two gigs per month. We would like to do more.
We enjoy the whole process, but the best moment is when you hold the finished album in your hands.
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Why?
When you have finished the album you can lay back for a while. The biggest part of the job is therefore done.
We've noticed that when the album is finished you have to take a little distance from your songs. It takes
some time until you are ready to listen those songs again.

I've been listening swedish hiphop group Looptroop a lot recently. Boxi currently listens Jukkapoika &
Kompostikopla and Nirvana.
Why?
Hard to say because there are too many good songs. One of the best for me is 2Pac's America's Most
Wanted featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg because it was one of the first songs that really hit me. I still enjoy that
song.

This is a dilemma that cannot be fully solved. I think that records are too expensive nowadays, so it's quite
obvious that people try to get them as cheap as they can. If the labels won't reduce the prices they cannot
fight against piratism. I don't mind if someone copies our songs or shares them through the Internet until he
starts to sell them.
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Kemmuru
Jodarock and Askim from Kemmuru
AKSIM: We're 2 ordinary guys from different corners of Finland. I'm from Tikkakoski (which is near
Jyväskylä) and Jodarok from Joensuu. We met few years back in Jyväskylä where I held this open-air hiphop
event called Main Ingredient. Jodarok came thru blazing with amazing drunken freestyles !
JODAROK: We kept in touch afterwards and the group was finally formed 2
years ago after both of us had moved to Helsinki.

AKSIM: Kids can't say "kenguru" (kangaroo), so they say Kemmuru.
JODAROK: it's a funny name and it could be almost any language
AKSIM: I remember Hector, Sielun Veljet, Tuula Amberla and Mikko Perkoila from my childhood. Plus
various communist ("taistolais") tunes. When I was 7, I listened to pimppi-heavy: KISS, WASP, Quiet Riot
and Twisted Sister. After that came 60's rock'n'roll.
The first touch i got in hiphop was in '91 when a friend gave me tapes of Public Enemy, N.W.A., Cube and
T. I was 13. Then in few years came others like Dre, The Roots, Gangstarr, Pharcyde, Del, Wu, 2Pac, Jeru.
The usual dope ones. Later I played bass in a school band and got some soul & jazz influence from the other
guys. Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" to mention a good soul record.
JODAROK: The early nineties hiphop had a big infiluence in my life, and even more so in my music. I was a
12 year old kid, trying to be so "HIPHOP"... my songwriting gets alot of influences ranging from rock or punk
thru murder-country to irish music. I have no idea if you can hear that or not, but that's the stuff I like.
AKSIM: U know Finland is nowadays known for it's information technology. Our generation has had a
computer home since 80's. So I think that's why Finns have now blown up in electronic music across the
Europe. As you might know, our electronic music has been exported a lot since the audience in Finland is
too marginal (or the record industry too conservative.) The idea of exporting Finnish rap sounds difficult,
because of the language. Haven't tried it yet though !
JODAROK: Finland's music scene being small is good in some ways and, ofcourse, bad in others. It's good,
cause it's easy to get recognition for dope music, then again the recognition you get doesn't fill up stadiums
or even pay rent . . . but then again it doesn't matter that much cause we got such great social security !
no?haha.

AKSIM: Hip hop with heart and balls.
JODAROK: Plus blood and guts and sweat and tears, couple of tokes, couple of beers!
JODAROK: I've been meddling with different stuff a bit, trying to sing and varying my rap styles alot. My new
music would propably be some folkrocksouletc.., and it would sound like shit. Very bad.
AKSIM: I've reached the conclusion that I shouldn't try any other. This is what I do best. I've tried to make
instrumental music but everytime I make a beat I start writing to it. I was a rapper first, so rap comes first.

AKSIM: We try hard to find other topics than the usual "im-a-starving-but-independent-artist". Trying to
maintain balance between the positive and the negative. But it's so much easier to ***** about everything.
JODAROK: The songs We've made are about everyday life, streetlevel type of
things, then there's the obvious "hiphopboombap, you and your momma can't rap" type of songs and alot of
songs about women cause they drive me insane and i love them for it.

AKSIM: Elämä Laittaa Saiffaa ( free translation: "life puts you to a test").. when we made that one, it was
some instant shit.. we made the beat, wrote couple of lines back and forth plus the hook and recorded that
shit straight up. Plus the song's simple and honest.
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JODAROK: Yeah, that one's great! My other favourite is "Häslää Soolona" (Solo Hustlin'), but it's not mixed
yet.

JODAROCK: We've haven't had too many gigs together yet. I'm sure that every performance will teach us
how to be a better performer and how to improvise our set without looking confused. I hate doing the same
thing over so that's why improvisation is vital.
JODAROK: We perform as much as we can, hopefully more after our album is out. I do a lot of shows with
different collectives cause it's easier for me to travel and perform for no money than Aksim, who's a Family
Guy.

AKSIM: Recording is fun when it's easy and fast. Some vocals sound good
right away, they just fit into the beat. But some need mixing and first you can't tell are they good or not.
JODAROK: I prefer performing live. Recording is a drag, it's fun for a while but I have a very little interest in
mixing songs and tweeking sounds. On stage, with a good audience, you don't need to have any energy, you
can borrow from them and give back a good show.
JODAROK: When a song is finally done! we do everything by ourselves so the point when something is
ready and it sounds good, you know hours/days of work was worth it. Other than that writing the lyrics is the
best.
AKSIM: I like making the beats, of course. 'Cause I can do anything I wanna do. I just make a lot and some
end up to our songs. After that starts the work. I think the best moments are when I have a dope beat made
and when we have a whole song made.

AKSIM: I love all kinds of live music events and I think that's where other genres are usually more interesting
than hiphop. I listen to all sorts of electronic music and hip-hop from gangsta rap to stupid-but-funky Slum
Village. Finnish oldies from Kaseva, Hector and Vesa-Matti Loiri are
beautiful. I've also found some gems from Russian and Estonian 70's music. And Jose Feliciano, cause
there's no better voice in the world.
JODAROK: I listen to all types of music from many different genres, The Pogues first 3 albums, Popes, Mike
Ness, Waits, Mac Mall, UGK, Too Short, Atmosphere, Sage Francis, Millie Jackson, Minnie Riperton, Janis,
King Tubby, Parliament and so on and so on.
AKSIM: Hector's 'Ei Mittään (Työttömän arkiviisu)' A song I remember my dad singing when I was a kid. He
had a job though.
JODAROK: " Pair of brown eyes" great song, great lyrics, luv itluvit! Oh and it's by the Pogues, ofcourse.

AKSIM: I think it (internet) does good for upcoming artists and forgotten old artists that an average cd
consumer would never come across. The cd prices in Finland are too high so I think it should do good for
them too. But artists shouldn't pay for it.
JODAROK: if by threat you mean MP3's, that's just greedy overblown companies getting what they've asked
for. I don't see how a guy like James Hetfield is going to go bankrupt and has to move under a bridge
because of people sharing their songs. It might do harm to the companies, maybe they'll cut expenses from
promotion and stop force feeding their music to people!
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Fonaatio
Hex from Fonaatio
It was 3.9.2001 when we created our band. That was a dream that I wanted to make true since I was born.
Rap was the thing that felt most real for me so we started simply with my, Heikki mäntylä´s, rap, Mikko
Lahtinen´s bass and Mikko Koskela`s drumm´s. Layter we got Jukka Nisula to play the bass and Tatu
Henttonen to play synths. at the same time Lahtinen moved to guitar.

From dictionary... how ironic! We got the band working allright and we needed a name.
Fonaatio (=making sound) was a good name and we took it.
What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your work / life?
First rap that I owned was Hedpe and I still love the band. They have their own sound and that is someting
I´m trying to atcieve in my music, my own sound. So I would have to say hedpe has the gratest influence to
my work.

Music from the utmost limit of rap. There is a litle rapture influence in some of the songs and others are
spiced with reggae or funk. Few of our song are slow and peacefully while some are fast and ruf.

My lyrics has allways somekind of connection to my life. Some are easy to connect, others are not. When I´m
writing a song I allways try to make it so that everyone can adapt oneself whit it.

It depend´s of the day and the feeling. Our new song called "Hyvä Paha" (Good Bad) is now the first on my
list cos it rocks!
We make a gig now and then but nothing regual. Ofcourse studio recorded music sounds usualy little betre,
but Playing music live beats everything.
Having my own great album in my own hands and thinking everything that it took to make the album. And the
feeling you have when you get a great idea to a new song and you get it working.
oh no... impossible to say just one best song. But to name a few:
Busta Rhymes, Method Man, Redman - Simon says (Remix)
Metallica - Master of puppets
Cypress Hill - Tequila sunrice
Hedpe - Tired of sleeping
2pac - california love
Wyclef Jean - Gone Till November

Well, We have our own webpages at http:\\www.fonaatio.cjb.net and I like the idea that anyone can get to
know to us from there. But at that point when someone sells our record downloaded from internet to his own
proffits I´m beginning to be mad. That is why we have few song´s in our webpages that can be downloaded
for free.
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World
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Värttinä
Lassi from Värttinä
The first version of Varttina was born in 1983. It was a small group of girls singing and playing kanetele in
Raakkyla, in Finnish Karelia. Next year 2003 will be our 20th anniversary.

No it was not because it was natural step to make to become professional.
Some original members dropped out but the serious musicians stayed on and formed the "new" Varttina in
1989.
Well, every player that is or has been involved in Varttina. We have a great relationship, musically and
socially, so we all influence each other.
Fiddlers that have influenced me are Ruthie Dornfelt from USA and Arto Jarvela from Finland's JPP group.
The most negative thing is that there is such a small audience for folk music, but that also offers lots of
challenges which keep the work interesting. Fortunately, we have many concerts abroad and many fans who
seem to appreciate and understand our music.

I think my fiddle playing is rather percussive and strongly rhythmical. I have influences mainly from
Scandinavian folk music and some from Irish and old time music. Varttina music is a style of our own
invention. Elements from Finnish Karelia, in fact the deepest roots of our music is from there. But there are
also elements from other worldly musics, for example, Irish, Balkan, American. What we do, though, when
we compose and arrange, is to approach new songs in an organic way. I mean that we do not consciously
try to add different foreign sounding elements to make a kind of fusion. On the contrary, these things are so
deep within us already that they slip out naturally. Consequently, we think our music sounds genuine and
honest, which of course, is the only way we want to operate.
We haven't thought about that, I think there isn't any reason for that. Our music progresses naturally anyway,
so that each album sounds different than the previous and hopefully better. We make conscious effort to let
the music develop and progress from natural evolution of the band's chemistry.
So far, we are entirely confident that we have succeeded. We hope the fans and listeners can hear that in
the music.

Many songs are based on old runo poems and songs, some deal with women's matters and stories, for
example marriage, loneliness etc. But others, for example Kirsi's "Aijo" is more profound, about a crazy old
forest man who casts a spell on a snake who has bitten him. There is a spiritual link between these old style
songs and the new ones that we hope to illustrate when we make new albums. Past and present can have
similar issues.

I particularly enjoy Linnun Mieli because the story gives a cozy feeling, the melody is great and it really
grooves, rhythmically. Bit there are so many more. One thing I like about Varttina is that our songs are of so
many varied styles but all seem to fit together.
We do tours and concerts yes... Personally, I prefer playing in front of live audience better than in studio. I
think the other band members agree.
However, after we finish making a new album, we all are very happy with the results. Especially in the case
of our next album entitled iki, which was the most exciting recording sessions we have ever done. We are
extremely proud of the new album.
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When a new tune is finally ready after a long process and the arrangement works
in the best way, that is the moment.
Why?
Because of the organic process in arranging. We all contribute and shape new songs together from the
beginning. It is the only way we want to work and it is very rewarding for us as friends and musical
colleagues.

We all listen to many kinds of music: rock, pop, folk, Finnish folk music and pop music, worldly folk musics
from all over. Jazz, modern music, dance music. I think this adds extra dimensions to our collaboration in
playing and arranging together.
Why?
Sorry but I can't answer that. There are so many.

The internet world is still at the beginning of its journey so we just have to wait and see, but I believe it will be
a marvelous thing after the little problems like the copyrights are solved. At least it enables us to be in closer
contact with our fans.
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Gjallarhorn
Jenny from Gjallarhorn
In 1994 in Vasa, Finland. Our former viola player and I gathered to play a few tunes together with a
didgeplayer. First of all we had so many tunes incomman that we played the whole night, and secondly we
just knew then that the didge was a perfect, powerful and acoustic drone for the nordic tunes (which were
based on drones to start with).

From the nordic mythology, the Edda. It is a horn blown in by the gods when they had thing to tell to the
human world.
I listened a lot to fusion jazz, world music and music from diffeent ethnic cultures in my teens, such as Björn
J:son Lindh (swedish fusion jazz flutist), Various Ale Möller projects and recordings (swedish folk fusion
guru) and Norwegian traditonal music as well as Balkan music. Important influences are the old archaive
recordings with people wh lived a hundred years ago.
The positive aspect is that people can understand what we sing about, and that we have a good income
level, compared to musicians in i.e. the States, where musicians don't get payed very well. The negative
aspect is that we are so few people here, only 5 million, so the market is not big eough to support tours all
year around, most festivals take place in the summer. That's why we tour the rest of the year abroad. Also
there are so few people from other nationalities here that peolpe in the country side are not used to world
music, but they love it when they finally hear it.

Nordic old tonality with world music arrangements and improvisational elements
No, the concept is ideal for us and it supports the tunes and works very well on both big and small stages. If I
would do a solo project, I would combine jazz with the Nordic sound, they use the same modes a lot.

Mythical ballads about beings of nature, nordic epic stories from the folk tales and mythology and heroic
ballads.

Chere Ella has a very dramatic melody, and then Vallevan is nice tio sing, with all ornaments.
Yes we tour regulary, almost all the time.We are off to Usa and then Holland next, but we have a break from
November and onwards. Live and studio are totally different, I love to meet the audience and the music has
a different feeling live. In the studio on the other hand we get inspration from creating all the sound
landscapes and patterns, a very creative side of the work.
All of it, from planning the songs, the layout and the recording. It is a circle closed, not separate bits and
pieces.

Salif Keitas newest album, and a hungarian jazz band called Besho drom. Then I have some 200 tunes on
my desk from the music archaive that I should play through for research...
Why?
it changes depending on what goes on...can't tell. What I can tell though, is that all of the best songs for me,
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is when the musician in question is honest and clear and you can hear that it is music, not only produced
sound material. There is a blind fiddler from Cap Verde called Travadinha, have a listen, he's pretty much
him self.

We get most bookings through internet and sell cd's as well, so that's great. Our songs are not in full quality
on the web, and most of our listeners want quality and a whole package anyway, so there has not been any
trouble for us with this. Our biggest problem in Finland is probably that in Russia almost all cds are illegally
printed, because no one can afford a normal cd, so they just come to Finland and buy one copy of everything
and make a big dirty production of it.
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Electronic
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Ceebrolistics
We started doing music in 1990, and took on our current name in 1995.

It was natural to do what we had been doing for the whole conscious part of our lives. putting out is
something we do.
In our early years it was purely underground hiphop, in the likes of living legends, eclipse427, blackalicious
and the project blowed mc's , and atmospheric jazz in the style of ecm. little by little the influences have been
drifting more and more to the electronic direction. and more and more experimental stuff like warp and berlin
dub artists.
Finland is small. which is both good and not-so-good. it's easy to be the
dopest.

Electronictechdubambientclichop. undergroundtango.
We're planning to do a hardcore dubmetal album after this one.

Strife. suru.

Every song should work. that's what we're heading for.
They're fundamentally different. (for us) our own music works best in the studio, that's where we get closest
to the feeling intended. on some occations the live situations become something breathtakingly deep. this
has a lot to do with the audience, see we don't let our audience go easy. but when it works, it feels
overwhealming.
The first time you're holding your new vinyl... then again... making a record is a process with both good and
frustrating moments. both have-to-be's.

Pole, rhythm and sound, radiohead, björk, rothko, panamerican, kemmuru, ceebros, anticon, nonce, jaydee,
jimi hendrix, mum, vladislav delay, sfc, kapasiteettiyksikkö, el debarge, dj vadim, nuera, kimmo pohjonen,
damon albarn, evil stöö, tyylit takasin, vähäset äänet, keskuskadunkulma, coldplay, musiq soulchild,
quasimoto, mf doom, tunnel rats, augustus pablo, portishead, kuusumun profeetta, dave lindholm, davo
isotaagi, g.litter, didier sound spectrum, timmion artists, timsi, ii and ss, rdn, ttc, godspeed you black
emperor, sibelius, william devaughn, dj assault, will freaky-ass smitf, aza and the mothafukas, ***** hippies,
op:l bastards, annie, burnt friedman, nook, matala.
just to mention the ones we remembered.

Our album, ö. our untitled album after that. and the new murmur-stuff.

We have been lazy with this one.
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Helsinki Nuspirit
Me and Dj Ender started trying to produce dancefloor tracks together in late 1998 and soon asked musician
friends for sessions at our project studio. We wanted to produce stuff that would combine modern production
with top notch musicians that can be found in Helsinki. There has always been very strong jazz tradition
around here... Dj Lil Tony (the owner of the number one club in Finland, Kerma) joined a bit later on and
introduced me to Kim Rantala aka Kasio who again knows basically all the musicians in Helsinki area.
When we got some of the best musicians involved and me as the principle producer had some experience of
producing music, things started evolving to sort of the next level. Instead of tracks for djs, our focus moved
into composing actual songs and finding new ways of combining samples/programming with live
instrumentation.
I'm the only non-dj in the core group of five. Furthermore two of the members also run clubs in Helsinki. Lil
Tony has Kerma and Kasio runs a club called Mocambo. Kerma is one the best clubs for eclectic dancefloor
music (every name dj of the scene has visited it) and Mocambo a rather new place with interesting live act
guests (Azymuth, Marcos Valle played there this
summer). The fifth core member is Dj Eppu.

It was invented by me to reflect the idea behind the group. To expose the top class musicianship to the rest
of the world that can be found here. To produce the sort of music that has not been done here too much...
but scene is getting better, so it's kinda starting to happen here.
50ies-60ies modern jazz (miles, art blakey, freddie hubbard, gil evans) and soul from the same era. I'm also
a huge fan of Astor Piazzola. We've been asked to do a remix of one of his songs for Milan Music / BMG. It
is a great honour for us.
The contemporaries in Europe I would name Nitin Sawhney, Herbert, Hefner, Basic Channel as inspiration.
In the US I really admire the quality of production&sound of likes of D'angelo, Philadelphia sound like Roots
or Jill Scott. Then we all love also the Detroit techno thing, I just heard Recloose's new album and it was
proper stuff.
Positive is the open minded athmosphere. We can collaborate with all the best artists/musicians, also the
older generation (including Eero Koivistoinen, Olli Ahvenlahti etc.).
Negative might be the fact that the scene is still quite small. We'll it's a small country... especially good
singers for what we do is quite hard to find in Finland.

NSH is trying to explore new ways of producing modern music that is to be loved by people... not just
charted/played by djs. For me it's all the time more and more about making good music than something just
for the clubs. It can be sometimes something you could call house but I would say less and less really... I
hate strict music scenes and try to stay open minded and just find ways to produce good music.
Of course there are a lot of jazz influences in our music...
As for the technological side of things... samplers have been around since 1980's. Then, in the beginning the
newly discovered postmodern way of producing music was very fresh and opened up a whole new world.
These days there's not much totally new to discover in production purely based on samples and
programming. The next level for us is to find fresh ways of combining electronic elements with live
intrumentation. There is a lot to discover still in this field. Also for the live band set this is very interesting and
challenging at the same time. It's not easy to combine jazz musicianship with samplers&sequencers in a way
that the musicians do not
feel their hands are a bit tied.
Of course the approach we have has very much to do with new technology. Still, I would say that what
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makes this special is the top quality musicians together with a fresh way of producing. Not the technology as
such. We're lucky to be able to work with some of the best musicians (for example the drummer, Teppo
Mäkynen (also part of a Blue Note recording band etcetc.) is
the number one jazz drummer in the country) you can find in Finland. I don't think this is usually the case
concerning so called "electronica" artists around. That's why we can really consider ourselves lucky here.
We do not consciously support one specific style of music. Basically just try to follow our heart... I guess our
musical basis will sustain in 50-70ies afroamerican music combined with more european flavors like string
sections and such. I mean, your artistic style is not just a simple choice or a selection. It just happens. And
your lucky if it does, as it is very rare to find contemporary artists with actually own established and unique
style.

Our first album does not really have any specific lyrical theme. Our lyrics are mostly written by guest
vocalists so they basically reflect their feelings and the ideas our music has given them...

'Honest'
First I love Nicole's voice and her unique style of singing. I think the track really backs her up in a good way.
The sort of rootsy soul kind of elements like the jazzy horn arrangements and the rhodes&strings they really
serve their purpose well in the background. And I think this one is maybe one of the best compositions on
the album.
'Seis por ocho'

If I had to choose only 2 tracks then this would be my second pick. I think the track now has the kind of form
it was meant to have. I love it because it such a simple track as such but has very emotional edge to it. It
was really composed in a traditional way by me and Kasio the keyboard-player sitting one evening down and
just getting to it. The only idea we had initially was to write something for 6/8 time signature (and that's what
seis por ocho means in spanish) We did this originally for the JCR ep but that one had more electronic
elements on it. The album version is almost totally live and for this sort of track I think that's the natural outfit.
The guy playing the fluegel horn, Jukka Eskola, is also one the best musicians you find in Finland. And even
though his playing is already quite mature he is still quite young... I bet he's going to be a big name some
day. This track is on Gilles Peterson's coming World Wide compilation 2 on Talkin' Loud.
Of course for musicians playing live is ultimately what this thing is all about. Sharing. Getting instant
interaction with your audience. The feeling a good gig can give you is really something that can never be
achieved by recording music in a studio... definitely...
We will do a scandinavian tour + a tour in Finland in January. In February we'll do a full UK tour. Then after
that hopefully a tour in central europe... maybe around spring USA and next summer as many festivals as
possible.
The moment I walked out from the mastering studio, Metropolis in London and knew that it's all there. Finally.
For me, it was a hard process and in the end there were a lot of challenges...

A lot of Astor Piazzola, Eero Koivistoinen's new album "Utu" (jazz versions of Finnish folksongs), new Fertile
Ground album, Coldplay, electronic contemporaries include Herbert and some new scandinavian stuff
I cannot pick one song, but I would definitely pick Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" album. That's just taking things
to a level, people hardly ever achieve. It's not like jazz music to me first and foremost, but just good music
that touches even those who do not usually enjoy instrumental jazz and such stuff... He is concentrating and
focusing on producing interesting sounds, notes and melodies with his trumpet instead of trying to be a
masterful instrumentalist. The thing I hate about most contemporary jazz music coming out... Miles just got it
- he knew how to combine improvisation and pre-written arrangements in such a perfect way... like european
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and afroamerican traditions meeting. Yeh, Miles is my star. The first one for me, and I guess he will always
be that.

Well this is such a question that I could write a novel about... so, I'll just express my opinion very shortly.
Internet is hardly a threat in my opinion. The studies that took place on napster when it still existed showed
that actually heavy users of Napster actually bought more cds after they
started using napster... so internet is more about promotion as such.
Heavy copying of cds with home cd-burners is another thing. I guess that has
seriously diminished cd sales worldwide... more than mp3s really...
We have our own project studio with computer based recording system... with
small protools and such. But we mix the final version in bigger commercial
studios... and record some bigger session such as strings.
- 348 -

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Rock

When and how was your band

Where is the name of the band

How could you define your style of music?

During the years how has your musical style changed?

How do explain these changes?

What are topics you treat in your songs?

What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why?

Do you actually prefer performing your music live or in a studio?

What is your opinion, as a musician, regarding internet?

What are your projects?

When and how was your band created?

Where is the name of the band coming from?

What musicians or artists did have a major influence in

What are the positive and negative aspects of being a

How could you define your style of music?

During the years how has your musical style changed?

How do explain these changes?

What are topics you treat in your songs?

What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why?

Do you actually prefer performing your music live or in a studio?

What is your opinion, as a musician, regarding internet?

What are your projects?

When and how was your band created?

Where is the name of the band coming from?

How could you define your style of music?

During the years how has your musical style changed?

How do explain these changes?

What are topics you treat in your songs?

What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why?

Do you actually prefer performing your music live or in a studio?

What is your opinion, as a musician, regarding internet?

What are your projects?

When and how was your band created?

Where is the name of the band coming from?

What musicians or artists did have a major

What are the positive and negative aspects of

How could you define your style of music?

During the years how has your musical style changed?

How do explain these changes?

What are topics you treat in your songs?

What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why?

Do you actually prefer performing your music live or in a studio?

What is your opinion, as a musician, regarding internet?

What are your projects?

When and how was your band created?

Where is the name of the band coming

What musicians or artists did have a

How could you define your style of music?

During the years how has your musical style changed?

How do explain these changes?

What are topics you treat in your songs?

What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why?

Do you actually prefer performing your music live or in a studio?

Mark Lanegan : One way street

There is more, but it's all I can think of right now.

What is your opinion, as a musician, regarding internet?

What are your projects?

When and how was your band created?

Where is the name of the band coming

How could you define your style of music?

During the years how has your musical style changed?

How do explain these changes?