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Spinguy ~ I was not sure how to begin this interview, as I did not
want to get right to the point. However, as this is not a
conversation and everything I am going to say is already printed
here, and I know from experience everyone reads all the questions
before they answer them, I can't hide anything from you.
So here it is. I'm an old man. I've heard it all. (well, almost) What
I think is, this EP of yours, Unfortunately Dead, is the most
important release in indie music since the Smiths "Hand In Glove"
single. I am quite sane, and quite serious. You should be on the
cover of every music rag there is, and people should be falling over
themselves to buy it. It is completely fucking brilliant, and I am
engrossed by it and in love with it. Were I a 20 year old woman, I'd
be clamoring to have your baby.
And I say none of that lightly. As of this moment, you are the
greatest band on the planet, in my opinion.
Do you think I went too far?
Lauri ~ By saying that we are the best band in the world? Well I am a bit surprised and honored. I know there is something special we are going through, but our work has just begun. There is new material that we are now working on and it's better than ever. It's pure and it's mind-blowing.
Spinguy ~ How much does it really matter hearing that come from me
anyway? I get the impression you guys feel that way about yourselves
already, which is part of the reason I feel the vibe as well. I don't
interpret that as arrogance, well, maybe it is, but every band needs
it in order to survive.
Lauri ~ It feels real nice 'cos you seem to know exactly what we are doing and where our roots are.
Spinguy ~ A bands image used to be very important in my day, but
pretty much now you don't associate any kind of dress with any of
todays bands. If one thinks of almost any 80's band you can instantly
imagine their clothes, Joy Division, The Cure, Flock Of Seagulls,
Depeche Mode, whoever, you can visualize it. Not today. If I think of
the Postal Service or the Leslies I don't see clothes.
You however look the part, the hair, the clothes, the safety pins on
your cuffs, the black fingernail polish. I am very proud that my
generation invented all that, but how does a kid like you come to
embrace it, and how do you know what to do, like the safety pins? Has
it all just been passed down?
Lauri ~ It's maybe something that has come through all the records we've listen to.
As you know we lie around in my flat listening to 80s vinyl recordings. The
Smiths, Joy Division, The Cure, Depeche Mode etc. It must have come from them
somehow, cos I don't watch music videos from that era. I feel the videos
break the image of a band you have drawn in you mind. I'd like to keep them
as imaginary friends of mine.
Spinguy ~ I never heard that before. I always felt seeing a band helped instill what they're about in your head. After all, if they can invent someone like you in their heads, why do they need the real you?
At what age did you realize you were into bands like Joy
Division and the Cure? Were you (are you) a social outcast? I can
relate to that....
Lauri ~ I found the genius of Ian Curtis just a few years ago. The Cure has been with me
longer, just like The Smiths too. I was born in a little town where we tried to
protect ourselves by playing music in our rooms so that we didn't have to end
up working in a factory. We had posters on the walls like every teenager does.
And we dreamt. Music has always been a gateway for me.
Spinguy ~ The band basically formed around you, correct? How long
have you been playing, and how long have you schemed to have your own
band? Did you know any of the members before hand?
Lauri ~ I got my first guitar when I was 15. Since then I've been writing songs. At
that time Kurt Cobain was a huge impression for me. There was not many kids to
play with so I played on records.I met Joel in summer 2003. He is my good friend's brother, so I asked him to
play with me. Pretty soon we found out that we had a very similar way of
approaching art.Then we met this big guy who came to us and introduced himself as Ville and said
he was into Joy Division too. He is maybe the kindest person I have ever met. We
took Heka to play lead guitars after our first guitarist dissapeared. We started
to work on material I had earlier written in the fall 2003. The first song
we got really into was "Behind The Lights", which we ended up recording later
on our debut ep.
Spinguy ~ You referred to yourselves as the Scandinavian dark hearts
in an email to me. Are many Finns like that, and is it because of the
long dark cold of winter? Having three months in the winter when
it's almost never light, and then 3 months in the summer where it's
almost never dark would make anyone punchy. Or are you guys even more
misreable than most of your countrymen?
Lauri ~ It's not the weather that makes you dark-heart. It's the world around us.
What's the weather in the world right now? It's cold and greedy, dark and
indifferent. You know what I mean. It's the actions in our world that makes
us dark-hearted. We are dreaming of something that rarely happens.
Spinguy ~ I mentioned in my reviews that while I like the first EP,
there is a marked difference between it and the second one. It sounds
musically "heavier" perhaps. The new one retains the gloom, but the
music is lighter, more effortless and as a result more engaging and
wonderful. There is no "filler" sound, there is only sound when and
where it is needed. I think that is vital and too many people try to
fill the entire canvas, that's why they fail. It has also not taken
you long to hone your sound to this razors edge. I assume you are
happy with it?
Lauri ~ Let's say that I am as happy as a perfectionist can be. I guess we are never
completely satisfied. The difference between our two ep's, Confessions of the night and Unfortunately
Dead is that while recording Unfortunately Dead we had a little window in our
studio. A glow of daylight. The studio where we made the Confessions of the
night was dark hole.
I try to find the simpliest possible way to tell things. Then they are most
beautiful. Several times we've come back with our arrangements to where we
started just to make everything right.
The difference between these two were also that Confessions of the night is
about people in the night. About their desires, fears and passions. It's
about their darkest hour where they are throwing themselves into lust and
repentance. Unfortunately Dead has very individual point of view. It's more about dreams
that turn into anger and frustration. In the end everything has died but one
thing, and we all know what that is, don't we?
Spinguy ~ Ummmmmm.... do we? There's only one thing on me that apparently won't die, but if I told you what it was my wife would be embarrassed.... I think you'll have to fill us in on this one. What doesn't die?
Lauri ~ I won't tell you that. You'll have to pay more attention to your copy of
Unfortunately Dead. I won't let it go this easy.
Spinguy ~ Thanks.....To continue with the above comment, songs like Joy
Divisions "Atmosphere" are simply titanic, yet it is a pretty minimal
song if you think about it. It has one powerful synth line, and one
powerful bass line, and his haunting and brilliant vocal. That's
about it. But it is the vocal that makes the magic happen. That's
where you come in. Your voice is extraordinary. I assume you know
that? At what age did you discover you could sing, and was it always
this mix of Curtis and Lydon, or did you need to work to make that
happen?
Lauri ~ My voice is the thing that makes people either love us or hate us and I am
fine with that. I think it's better to be contradictory than to be something
that makes you feel nothing.
Spinguy ~ Does the obvious comparison bother you at all?
Lauri ~ Is it really that obvious? (Ed. Note: Yes, it is) It doesn't bother me. I'm doing my thing as good
as I can and that's about it.
Spinguy ~ I wasn't anticipating that you played guitar either. I
guess I expected after hearing your voice that your entire body would
be needed to control it, kind of the way Ian Curtis used to hang on
the mike and shake like he'd die if he let go. Do you do any of your
songs without the guitar or do you play all of them? Would you
consider another guitarist to free you up to be more ....physically
creative when you sing, or is the guitar your anchor? My problem is I
have not had the fortune of seeing you play live, so I can only
imagine what goes on.....
Lauri ~ Our live events are mostly sophisticated rage that runs through our quivering
bodies. Moments are unreal. They are controlled by the bigger strength. Moments
when we become fiction. We become lost characters. My guitar keeps me as one piece, I don't know what might happen if I let it go. Didn't dare to try.
Hopefully your problem can be solved one day and you will catch us live.
Spinguy ~ Yeah, my problem. That is my problem all right...
I also noted an advert on your site trying to recruit a
keyboard player. That is dangerous water. That addition could take
you even higher in the stratosphere if done right (if that's even
possible) or it could with more ease simply ruin the works. How is
that search going and what are your plans?
Lauri ~ There is new material that definitely needs a synth. I think we have found a
right guy to do it. It is a huge work that we are going to go through when we
start to work with him. It takes time, but we are patient.
Spinguy ~ OK, this isn't a question but rather a comment and a
warning. One of the things that makes this EP simply brilliant is the
constant mis use and mis pronounciation of words. Such as singing
"Salavation, from above...." which is possibly the most brilliant
double entendre yet written in pop music. If it is intentional,
you're a fucking genius. If it's the difficulties of the english
language, then don't learn english any better. IN ANY CASE, not only
don't I want to know which it is, I advise you to NEVER tell anyone
what it is. If you get asked the question, tell them the lyrics speak
for themselves or whatever bullshit answer you want to give. (go fuck
yourself is a good answer too) Just NEVER explain this. OK? I mean
this in the strongest terms. NEVER EXPLAIN IT.
All right, lets practice. Pretend I'm some poncy journalist....OK,
some other poncy journalist....
"Lauri, was the word "Salavation" intentional or did you just mis
speak?
Lauri ~ Go fuck yourself.
Spinguy ~ Great! Boy I haven't heard that for...what time is it?
OK, now I'm going to contradict myself. On the song
"Precious Things" you pay an obvious respect to Joy Division with the
lyrics "to the celebration where love will tear us
apart. ONLY, when you sing it you don't say that, you say "love
will take us part". You know, I don't even want to know. I'm happy
just enjoying it. So instead is it safe to say Joy Division is one of
if not your favorite bands? Are there any bands today you respect?
Lauri ~ First about the lyrics. I'm really pleased that you have given our lyrics that
much attention. I like to put little things that have been important to me at some point of my
life into my own work. That is not the only loan in our work but the most
obvious one. My tribute to my heroes. From today's artists I'm into I Am
Kloot. They are brilliant. They are dark and melancholic. Listen to the
album's closing song "Same deep water as me" and you'll get the point.
Interpol is good too.
Spinguy ~ To be fair Interpol is not as awful as I have been slamming them when discussing you recently, however I think they are not nearly as good as everyone makes out. I don't really like them.
The not talking bit goes along with the tradition of Factory
era bands, which you have so much in common with. Will you also be
keeping to their design ethinc on your future releases, sort of a
hopeless wash of nothing? Nothing was ever truer than you can tell a
Factory album sleeve from across the room instantly.
Lauri ~ I'm not good with the album sleeves, so I let my friends do them. I am never
confident with anything. Less suffering when I'm not doing them. Joy Division has best sleeves probably ever. You know the cover of Atmosphere? Their sleeves are very unique.
Spinguy ~ Although I do like the cover of the first EP a lot. Again,
it's someone dressed perfecty from my youth. Scrunched
oversized socks with colored chuck sneakers, ripped blue jeans, a
waist sash, the obligatory black and white striped shirt, (with thumb
holes cut in it no less) a black jacket and over sized ear rings.
It's perfect to the T, and could literally have come off an old
Blondie album. Who is this girl Merri and is that what the scene in
Helsinki is like? God, it warms my cockells.....
Lauri ~ We found this empty flat in the heart of the city, Helsinki. I thought it would
be perfect for the cover with Merri standing on it with a little of Debbie
Harri's punk attitude from the late 70's. Letting herself fall into the
arms of the night, in all its sweetness and cruelness. I think I should tell you this because it has been asked from me for several times: Yes, she has a boy friend.
Spinguy ~ Thanks for the tip but I'm already married and not remotely near Helsinki. I wasn't rating my chances....
You have one sort of strange visual in your lead guitarist
Heka. He's sort of short (especially when standing next to Ville) and
doesn't immediately look like your typical guitar God. But apprently
he is. I can hear his light touch that you speak of, but you also say
on stage he is like a man drowning in deep water, but fighting for
his life. What do you mean by that, or do we just have to see it
firsthand?
Lauri ~ Like I said earlier, the things happening on the stage don't feel like we had
a full control on them. Heka plays his decayed guitars with a very fragile touch.
That fighting for life is a combination of what you see and hear in our shows.
Spinguy ~ Playing live is something you guys apparently really enjoy.
Is your band even better live? Would I need to have a paramedic
standing by? At this point I'm ready to just mail you a camera, have
someone tape a gig with it and mail it back to me....
Lauri ~ They are beatiful events I think and we are probably 100% better live than on
record. Send me your camera, but I can't promise there is a gig on the tape
when you get it back.
Spinguy ~ Then what's going to...wait, I don't wanna know that either..
Have you done any songwriting work for a full length album
yet? Have you thought about a title either?
Lauri ~ We've been working on many songs and we do have material ready for the full
length. I prefer to do a shorter kind of album with probably a max of 10
songs. Probably even 9 songs would do. One thing I can promise to you is
that it is going to be very dark. Of course there are moments where we are
coming into the light.
The titles are something I can't spit out yet. I'm still learning to
pronounce them correctly, you know. : )
I like the idea of splitting the album in two halves. Like you can do with
people too. The good side and the evil side. Which side do you think will contain
more songs?
Spinguy ~ I think you're transposing evil with misfortune and melancholy. They are not the same thing. I think what you mean is happiness and sadness. Evil always walks with misfortune, but misfortune usually visits us without evil. She brings melancholy instead. I think what we really should be curious about is not which part contains more, but which one wins in the end? Who wins in the end Lauri, happiness or sadness?
Lauri ~ I hadn't thought about this question from that point of view. I meant
more of an eternal fight between good and evil. Like ying and yang, everyone has
two sides. Like no one is all good or evil. That gives us states of mind like
sadness. And like I said, the fight is eternal, I can't see the ending. And
when it comes to the album I can't answer you yet. Especially when we are not
even started working on it. I'll be much wiser about it when the album is
ready. Ask me about it then, please.
Spinguy ~ I sent people I know clips but sadly I got the same
response everywhere, that you sound like Interpol. I think that's an
insult as Interpol sound like shit, and nothing like you guys do. I
swear people just hear, they don't really listen. I assume you
are still in the market for a label? If I can't find you one, I'll
put it out myself. Luke at Popsicle says he's ready for your fame. He
says he has a blanket ready to catch all the silver and gold
pieces....
Lauri ~ Thank you, you sweethearts : ) (Ed: Note - I'm the sweetheart, Luke is that rarest of birds, the English Capitalist. Actually, that's probably a misnomer too. They all like money, they just like pretending they don't.)
Tell them to put the cover of Rolling Stone magazine aside for Dive.
Spinguy ~ I'll get right on that.....
It says on your website you live on coffee and red wine. From your frame, it looks it. You look to be about 95 pounds dripping wet. I know what swedes are known for, meatballs, lingonberries,
salted kippers etc... but what kind of foods do Finns eat? I have a
vague memory of Jonas from Starlet telling me he used to love to get
off the boat at Helsinki for the Pizza....
Lauri ~ I drink black coffee til noon and then I'll eat something I can
drink red wine with. Then I'll continue with coffee again. I won't sleep
well anyway, so it doesn't matter.
Spinguy ~ We're trying to learn something about your culture here dark heart. Fine, you survive on coffee and misery, but what do the rest of the people in Helsinki eat? What is traditional fare?
I tried to look it up and discovered this. The population of Finland
is one one millionth of the total world population, but you guys
drink 2% of all the worlds coffee. What the hell is the fascination?
For the record I hate coffee and never drink it, which is just as
well as you Finns aren't leaving me any... What's wrong with Sahti
anyway? Or Kilju?
Lauri ~ Finns have different dishes of fish and loads of meat and we eat those with
potatoes. I think our kitchen is very similar with Swedish one. We only use
less sugar. After all Helsinki has mixed influences from central Europe and
Asia but I don't eat that much traditional food. I think the traditional
dishes are enjoyed more in the rest of Finland, also traditional beverages like
sahti and kilju are more popular outside Helsinki. I prefer red wine. And when
it comes to coffee it's true that we are heavy users.
Spinguy ~ So what's your brand cowboy, Gevalia, Juhla-Mokka, Kulta
Katriina or Presidentti?
Lauri ~ Something cheap and dark.
Spinguy ~ Wow, you guys use mustard in toothpaste tubes. That is
weird.
Lauri ~ We have loads of weird things going on here. Mustard in a tube is nothing compared
to them.
Spinguy ~ I also discovered you have "taboos" and the biggest one is
speaking in public, especially if it is bad news or
unhappiness. It just isn't done. WOW, are you breaking that one....
Is there no conversation on Finnish streets?
Lauri ~ We'll keep it all under the surface until we get full and things begin to
fall apart.
Spinguy ~ Do you like to play Afrikan tähti? (while drinking coffee
and listening to joy division of course)
Lauri ~ No I don't.
Spinguy ~ OK, well that was a joke.
Do you think Dive will become bigger than that other Finnish super group, the Leningrad
Cowboys?
Lauri ~ We may become a five piece, but not a hundred and five piece.
Spinguy ~ So what is it that you want? Do you want the fame, do you
want to be recognized as a great band, or do you want both?
Lauri ~ We want to get our music heard. We want to get people to realize that love
matters. We want the fame and we want to get out of here. Somewhere where
it's not this cold all the time.
Spinguy ~ My daughter wants to know what your favorite colour is too.
I think the grown ups know already..... it matches your mood, right?
Lauri ~ Tell you daughter my favourite colour is pink. All my guitar picks are pink. I
hated blue when I was a boy.
Spinguy ~ Wow, that came out of left field...
Are you really a dark heart? I think just miserable. But
you know like I said before, perhaps it's best to not give too much
away. Image is everything, isn't it?
Lauri ~ I'm definitely a dark-heart. I just can't help it. I was born with it.
Spinguy ~ That should do it. Thanks for your time. Now remember, I
have stuck both my neck on the block, AND put an enormous weight of
expectation around yours. I didn't mean to, but I think you are
capable of delivering upon it. No go out there and prove me for the
genius wot I am. Make the girls faint, the boys cry and the critics
eat their words. Explain nothing, and take no prisoners.
Are you ready?
Lauri ~ I'm ready. Lets go for the hearts.
Spinguy ~ While he's doing that, you should head to the Popsicle Shop, the only place in North America where you can get your own copy, and get it while you can!
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