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Albums Music

Free Spirit – Pale Sister of Light

{mosimage}A young but superb band that is bringing melodic metal scene into a new level in Finland! 

If in 2008 I was pleasantly shocked by Brother Firetribe, this 2009 could have not started in a better way about Finnish melodic music, because Free Spirit blew me up!With no idea of what I was going to find in the album, I got literally hooked up from the first guitar riff. It sounds basically squared; well produced, with an excellent instrumental work and with the great voice Sami Alho.

In many moments of the album, the band reminds me of Blind Guardian but in a more melodic way, although there are some other times when the band gets closer to a darker tone similar to earlier HIM´s tunes. It is difficult to choose a favourite song in the album, because almost all of the 11 that compose it stand up by themselves, but I would highlight the one that gives name to the record Pale Sister of Light and the absolutely fantastic Heroes Don´t Cry. 

If you are into AOR, you are going to love this one. And if not, it is never too late to explore the melodic side of metal. Superb! 

Rating 5/5.

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Interviews Music

Interview with Mikko Viman of 45 Degree Woman

45 Degree Woman are back with a brand new album called Revival, although they were never dead. They count with one of the best live shows in Finland, they have gained step by step the heart of metal fans and they also have in the band one of the best vocalist in the actual (and very competitive) scene, Mikko Viman, who kindly answered our questions. They just need a little stronger push to break through the international charts, and we hope that their time for that is about to come!

45 Degree Woman

Thanks for being so kind to answer our questions. So the new album, Revival, is here! What can the listeners expect from it? In what ways it is similar or different to the previous 45 Degree Woman´s albums?

You´re welcome. Revival is an album about Love, Understanding, Respect and Pain. It’s filled with heavy riffs and pop melodies. The previous album was mostly about pain, now it’s more about love.

By the way, what is the story behind the name of the band?

It´s a secret. I can´t tell you anything about it. Well, I can tell you that she is a Spanish speaking lovely lady.

How did you start in the music business and when did you discover that you wanted to become a metal singer?

I started in music business about 10 years ago. In my early age, I always wanted to be a blues singer. But maybe I´m a metal singer, I don´t know. I think I´m more like a rock singer than metal singer, with blues attitude and feeling.

Your previous album How To Handle The Pain, seems to have a strong Spanish influence (my native country). You even run the bulls in Pamplona and shot a video for the single The Wait about it. How was the experience there in Pamplona, and in general in Spain?

Pamplona was a lovely place. Nice people and lot´s of sun. And I think that all you Spanish people are great!

You also used the motto “La vida sin dolor no es vida” (life without pain is no life). Is that representative of the career of your band? Have you had more painful or happier moments?

I have had definitely more happy moments than painful ones. Life is good. And love is good.

I am more like a rock singer than a metal singer, with blues attitude and feeling” –Miko Viman, vocalist of 45 Degree Woman-

Mikko Viman

You were playing together a few weeks ago with HIM, probably the most international Finnish band, in a mini tour in Finland. How did it go?

It was great! Wonderful, wonderful… Him is a lovely band to tour with.

I also know that you were in Sweden Rock, which is probably the best metal festival in Europe. Was it a good experience? Has it been the best festival where you have played so far?

I don´t know… Sweden Rock and Tuska are both great festivals.

What plans do you have for 2009?

Play in every Finnish summer festivals.

Anything you want to add for our readers?

Have a good time, all the time

Q&A with Mikko Viman

Favourite drink?

Red Wine

What has been the best Finnish band to tour with so far?

HIM

What is the craziest thing that has happened to you backstage?

Kissing deeply with a man

When you do not work with the band, what other hobbies/projects do you have?

Gym and body painting

}What is the best gig you recently saw as spectator?

Down

What situation would be scarier, to run in front of a bull or the members of the band getting free drinks all the night?

Free drinks all night

Categories
Albums Music

Marenne – The Past Prelude

{mosimage}Formed in 2007 and alter the success of their first single Pretty White Dress, it is about time to see the results of their work together with their first full length!

 

Although being the debut album for Marenne, their musicians are far from being just beginners. Zachary Hietala and Janne Tolsa come from legendary band Tarot, while Jukka Jylli is also an experienced musician who belonged previously to bands like Mannerheim.

 

Added to all this talent together, the cherry on top of t he cake is the marvelous voice of the female singer, Marenne. It is not easy to play epic metal with a female singer and not falling into comparisons with Nightwish, but certainly Marenne, although of course is close to the style of the previously mentioned, are able also to create their own atmosphere with riffs that drink from the British rock of the 70s.

 

The album sounds great, squared, measured and beautiful. Maybe nothing extraordinarily provoking or innovative, but very composed and balanced. Every track is a delight for the fans of melodic metal, and if I have to put a “but”, I would say that it is a pity that the record has only 10 tracks (but this seems to be the trend nowadays).

All in all, a very favorable first impression and a promising future for this new super talented band!

 

Rating 4/5.

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Albums Music

The Souls – The Grand Confusion

{mosimage}Finnish record company Spinefarm seems to be determined to provide us with a bunch of great records every month. Here comes the debut full-length for these 3 Finnish souls. 

The Souls are Jani Orpana in the guitar and vocals, Antti Takalo in the bass and Toni Orpana in the drums. The trio from Kymenlaakso is stepping firmly into the Finnish music scene with a notable debut work. Spinefarm records shows once more that is able to handle excellent bands that not only play metal. With their garage rock, The Souls are a nice surprise. Their start can remind you a bit to the Swedes The Hives in Wounded Soul and certainly you can notice some influence from the actual Swedish rock, but also a bigger scope that directs to the rock of the 70s. The album becomes more introspective and slower with the pass of tracks like in the relaxing Goodbye and has a sweet reminiscence to the sound of Hendrix in songs like Motherland. The next one Harder When I come Around has nothing to envy to their Finnish colleagues Flaming Sideburns. 

The Souls are a technically skilful band and all in all, a colourful album where every song adds something to the final result. Pretty recommendable! 

Rating 4/5.

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Albums Music

Marty the Random Guy – Hooks

{mosimage}Also from Turku comes Masa Laine, aka Marty the Random Guy, featuring his new splendid debut album.

 

I have a special weakness for independent musicians who self-produce their debut albums. I have also struggled hard in life to do what I wanted, and I appreciate the effort of taking risks and releasing a record without the backing up of a big company. And if the record happens to be as good as this Hooks, then the effort is double worthy! Hooks offer a good collection of songs that wisely mix blues, folk and rock in a way that can remind you, overall in the introductory track also called Hooks, to Led Zepellin. But the album is not a hard rock album.

 

The rhythms remind you more a kind of garage-blues, dirty vocals, a man and a guitar weeping like in the touchy where the story ends, and resuming, a work that sounds fresh and spontaneous, simple but classy.

 

We know that Marty is nowadays looking for more venues to play all over Finland, so we wish him good luck and advise the promoters to give a chance to this talented artist. Audience won´t get disappointed!

 

Rating 4/5.

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Albums Music

Deathlike Silence – Saturday Night Evil

{mosimage}The band from Turku release their second full-length full of good metal…and death.

 

Founded in 2003, this relatively unknown Finnish metal band should have a better destiny from now on with their newest release. Honestly, I have not listened to their debut album, so I cannot compare, so the analysis will be centered in this present Saturday Night Evil.

 

The album, being fair, is all but original. The style will remind you from the first guitar riff to bands like Nightwish or Evanescence. But technically, it is almost flawless. The sound is compact and the vocal skills of Ms Maya are delicious to hear. The tone of the lyrics is a bit darker than in the previously mentioned bands, with the topic of death always present in the album. Honestly, I do not think that it was needed to give such a big “dark” touch to the band, because the rhythms suit better with more epic and historical lyrics, but the result in any case is acceptable, and as a nice special surprise, they delight us with a cool version of the classic from Mike Oldfield Moonlight Shadow. Otherwise, pay attention to tracks like And you Cry or the bleeding guitar riffs of Dagon, and you will not get disappointed.

 

Deathlike Silence shows once more that Finland seems to be a never ending cradle for amazing metal bands. And hopefully the trend will go on for many more years!

 

Rating 4/5.

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Features Music

Eesti goes blues

{mosimage}I met the young but experienced components of the Estonian blues band Bullfrog Brown for the first time a couple of summers ago.  We embarked together in a real road trip that summarizes the essence of Blues: a shabby car, a group of young musicians that hardly got money from the gig to pay the gasoline or buy new strings for the guitars, a dangerous and devious road that links Tartu with Tallinn and the final ecstasy of sharing stage with a truly American blues legend from the Mississipi delta: David “Honeyboy” Edwards. Impressed by their skills and guts, Bullfrog Brown is for me the best example to assert that it does not matter your origins or how big is the musical scene in your native country when there is the will to play the real music that comes from the heart. 

 

 

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ertainly, it is difficult to talk about a native Estonian Blues scene. As Andres Roots, guitarist and founder of Bullfrog Brown, tells me “The blues scene in Estonian is such that the nearest 7 days a week blues club is the Bites Blues Club in Riga, Latvia and we have no blues magazine or even a webzine in Estonia either But there is a Baltic blues scene as far as the musicians are concerned”. Still, although they are not totally focused on blues, you can enjoy the pleasure of listening good blues music from time to time in venues like “Clazz” in the heart of Old Town in Tallinn or “Illegaard” in Tartu. Being the list of top Estonian blues bands far from impressive, there are a few that remain strong: Compromise Blue, Ultima Thule or Kolumbus Kris are still a major attraction with a good bunch of followers. 

 

 

Against the lack of resources, nothing better like imagination, stubbornness and a lot of effort to promote themselves and open their music to new audiences: “Our Estonian audience is not the audience that normally considers itself a blues audience – we have people of all ages, all hairstyles, and all tastes of music, we have played in churches and even headlined the punk-oriented Soodoma Rock festival in Elva, so I'd say we enjoy a rather unique. We prefer honesty to perfection, emotion to glamour, inspiration to entertainment, and as a result, we still see the people at our shows that were coming to see us nine years ago.” explains the leader of Bullfrog Brown.

 

 

 

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Another person who knows well the Baltic blues scene is journalist Edgars Galzons, who also plays the bass in the Latvian blues band D11 Blues Band. His answer for those who think that blues scene is not in healthy shape or young people do not want to listen to blues anymore is this: “It’s always easy to say that nobody is listening to the Blues nowadays and there are not enough clubs for the Blues music in the Baltic States. Partly I can agree with this statement. But from the other hand what we (the Blues musicians) have done to popularize the Blues music? And how ready we are to accept the laws of the era of marketing and competition, including in the music? We have to find out the way,  maybe sometimes using the same means as the pop music uses, to break the stereotypes and keep the Blues alive as equal style of music in nowadays and not only the antique reptile from ages ago”. 

 

All in all, the blues scene in Estonia is far from dead. A good example is “Augustibluus”, an annual blues festival started and run by Rommy Sultangirejev in Haapsalu since 1993. As Raul Ukareda, member of Compromise Blue and considered by many as the best blues guitarist in the country plainly affirms “Augustibluus is the thing that keeps Estonian blues alive. Even though it is a very low budget festival, it always has some good foreign performers and of course is a great opportunity for local bands; on top of that it is held in a spectacular ancient castle ruins”. Although the blues scene suffered a lot at the end of the 90s with the change of many clubs into discotheques, it seems that things are a bit positive in the last 3-4 years “For about ten years, let's say from 1995 to 2005, the profession of musician was considered as a waste of time and no particularly talented young blues musicians or bands came from that period. Somehow it is getting better though. There are for example two very promising young blues guitar players from Tartu: Laur Joamets and Vilho Meier” explains Ukareda. 

 

Finland has been for decades the logic destination of many of the Estonian bands that want to expand their horizons. “I would say we are by now better integrated into the Finnish blues scene than into the Estonian one” jokes Andres Roots, an usual visitor of the Nordic neighboring country where Bullfrog Brown has an extensive list of friends The geographical distance is short and it is pretty accessible, the blues circuit is bigger, there are more blues fans and the wages are usually pretty much higher.  

 

Aivar Oja, another veteran Estonian musician from the band Kolumbus Kris, remembers how was to tour there during the 90s, but has a more critical vision of the Estonian audience feeling identified with the blues: “In the 90s we toured a lot in Scandinavia, mostly in Finland and Sweden and a couple of times in Denmark. The biggest inspiration to play blues we got in Austin, Texas, the hometown of S.R.Vaughan and Fabulous Thundebirds, where we had a chance to live and play in 1991.I think blues is very popular in Finland, less in Sweden and Denmark. People in Estonia don`t know much about the blues-music, probably because of the Soviet times. That`s why we don`t play much blues nowadays”. 

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For most of these bands, playing is their passion, but not always the main activity that puts bread on the table: “Yeah, we have other jobs, some might even consider them “real jobs”, but looking at our 2009 concert schedule, I’ve been wondering how long we’ll be able to hang on to them…” reflects Andres from “Bullfrog Brown”, and certainly the band will be wandering around Europe extensively during the next few months: They will be releasing a new album together with English musician Steve Lury on February 13th, then they will tour in Finland, Estonia and Latvia, and on March they will visit France to play at the Festival Le Blues Autour du Zinc, apart from having scheduled concerts in Scotland with Dave Arcari and also being paying their first visit to Poland to play at the Suwalki Blues Festival.

 

No pain no gain. Even when more than once, blues musicians end up playing just on exchange of some free food and beers at the venues after extenuating trips, there is a feeling that goes far beyond the money or the recognition. Andres could not have resumed it better:  “I cannot imagine myself not playing music, even if I live to be 102 years old. Performing in public may be another matter, but making music is not just a joy, it’s an addiction, and I’m too far gone…” 

Categories
Albums Music

Eagles of Death Metal – Heart on

{mosimage}The alternative project from Josh Homme, vocalist of Queens of the Stone Age is back, featuring a third rude album of good rock & roll.

 

With Homme sitting on the drums and the collaboration of his pal Jesse Hughes, Eagles of Death Metal are back with new doses of humor and good rock & roll. You can notice that there is no pressure here to sell millions of albums around the world, and the relaxation of the project maybe is their best weapon to turn it into one of the most exciting ones of the actual rock scene. The sleazy lyrics and titles just speak by themselves: Wannabe in L.A., Now I´m a Fool or I´m Your Torpedo gives you an idea that these guys are not really talking about philosophy or politics here, going just straighter to the essence of rock.

 

Heart on is just resuming a tasty freaky delicatessen that exudes great rock and mornings of tough hangovers.

 

Rating 4/5.

 

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Albums Music

Nickelback – Dark Horse

{mosimage}After having sold 8 million copies of their previous albums, it is about time to see if the Canadians can keep up with the expectations.

 

For the sixth studio album of one of the most successful rock bands of the last decade, nothing better than investing on a sure value like producer Mutt Lange, who has worked among others with a “little” band called ACDC, to achieve a clean and quality sound.

 

What you have here is pretty simple: if you are a follower of Nickelback, you still will love this. If you hate them, this album is not going to change your mind. But certainly there are differences between Dark Horse and its predecessors.

 

The band has adopted a tougher and more “sleazy tone”, with lyrics more focused on one night stands and sex, like in the introductory Something in Your Mouth or in (the title says everything) S.E.X. There are still pretty nice mid-tempo ballads like the excellent Gotta Be Somebody or I´d Come For You, so the female audience can still count with Nickelback as one of their favorite ones, but certainly the band can find new followers among fans of bands like Deff Leppard, Mötley Crue or Aerosmith with the more mischievous tone of the new album.

 

I like this taste from the 80s that the album exhales, although the lyrics composition has decreased in quality from their previous work All The Right Reasons and sometimes they are plainly too simple, like aimed at 15 years old kids. But still, the album is catchy and Chad Kroeger is brilliant in the vocals, so I must not less than giving them a good rate.

 

Rating 4/5.

    

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Albums Music

Pintandwefall – Hong Kong, Baby

{mosimage}The follow up album to Wow, what was that, baby? just hit the streets the 21st of January

 

The followers of these young four energetic girls have not had to wait for long, after their debut work in 2007, for the release of the second studio album. The girls from Helsinki offer a collection of 11 tracks full of mischief, light lyrics, fun and garage rock riffs. The beginning of the album caught me a bit cold, but soon the music warmed me up with the second splendid Beef Rice or the enjoyable Angus.

 

Pintandwefall brings you all what you can expect from a young band, some fun and tracks that can be easily listened at whatever party with your friends. For those who are expecting a deeper and more philosophical work here, this is probably not your album.

 

Not a bad effort, but I would like to see how their style develops in a few years when the label of “young promising female rock band” does not work the same to attract listeners.

 

Rating 3/5.

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Albums Music

Damn Seagulls – Hunting Season

{mosimage}If there is a band that definitely defines the trendy “Fullsteam” Finnish sound, that is Damn Seagulls. They come big and strong as the bears in the album cover.

 

 

I must confess that I never felt the urge to check on the sound of Damn Seagulls…until now. I thought that all the heat around them was a bit out of proportion, more like a well orchestrated marketing campaign. But I was wrong and this Hunting Season is a good proof of it. Since the first second I started to listen to it, I realized this guys really rock, (and my opinion was promptly backed up by my girlfriend who asserted from the other room that she liked that band I was listening…who am I to contradict her?)

 

Sarcasm out, the point is that the band sounds good, compact and with ideas. Maybe they do not count with the best singer in Finland, maybe the artwork of the CD is not the best you can watch at during the last months, but there is some kind of special magic in their compositions that get you hooked. Great lyrics like in Novus Ordo Mundi, Dead Pigeons  or Gone by the Dawn (my favorite one), for putting a few examples, will make you play the CD once and again.

 

Damn Seagulls have one more follower from now on. Pretty recommendable and enjoyable album!

 

Rating 4/5.

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Albums Music

Entwine – Painstained

{mosimage}It is already 10 years since the first album release by the Finnish band, and they come back stronger than ever with their sixth studio album!

 

 

Painstained is probably the best Finnish rock-metal album that I have listened to in the last month. You can really notice there the hand of “magician” producer Hiili Hiilesmaa, the man behind the sound in albums of huge bands like Sentenced, Apocalyptica, HIM or the Portuguese Moonspell.

 

Hiilesmaa have made possible that Entwine runs away from the more classic brutal sound that usually Spinefarm´s bands have, achieving a very well balanced and squared album that can really hit the mainstream audience. Mika Tauriainen´s vocal skills are superb and songs like Soul Sacrifice, Strife, Lost in My Denial or Greed of Mankind are instant classics.

 

Let’s see how 2009 goes for the Finnish metatheads, because they certainly deserve bigger international attention. For the moment, you have the chance to check them out live very soon in the Spinefeast 2009 that will take place 29th-30th of January.

 

Rating 4/5

 

Related articles:

 

Interview with Mika Tauriainen:

 

http://www.freemagazine.fi/content/view/899/152/

 

Categories
Albums Music

Hanna Pakarinen – Love in a Million Shades

{mosimage}The Finnish singer, who became very famous in her native country after representing it in the Eurovision song contest in Helsinki a few years ago, release her fourth studio album.

 

  

I think that Hanna was unfairly voted in the Eurovision song contest. Maybe she did not perform an amazing act to win, but she is still a singer with excellent vocal skills, like she shows once more in this new record filled with pop and soft rock and the unavoidable ballads.

 

With a sound that drinks from the 80s, Hanna offers a collection (not a big collection though, only 9 tracks) of easy-listening songs, where we could highlight the introductory Almost Real or the more rocking single Shout it Loud.

 

I still believe that the weak point is that the album is aimed mainly at a young female audience. Most of male listeners will find it too “soft” for rock and too cheesy for pop, although you can always use it to create a romantic atmosphere with candles and wine in a snowy winter night with some special company close to you.

 

The album is basically offering what you expect, no more no less, but it would be nice to see Hanna in the future rocking a bit wilder.

 

Rating 3/5

  

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Interviews Music

Chasing the opportunities of tomorrow – Interview with Finnish band Automatic Eye

Pete and Heikki are the core of Automatic Eye, a band that is growing steadily fast in the Finnish and international music scene. They recently won the Award to the new best act of 2008 by Ylex-radio and have participated last week-end at the Eurosonic festival in Holland. And opposite to the Finnish stereotype, they run away from depressing feelings and fake humbleness to offer just tones of good vibe. Pete attended the questions of FREE! and both guys answered a short Q&A where you can discover more about their music, their drinking beer habits or the opinion after kissing another man.

Automatic Eye

Hello Pete and thanks for being so kind to answer the questions. So can you tell us a bit more about how you started playing music, and how you got to know each other?

No problem! We had been playing in several small bands before Automatic Eye, and actually we met each other from a mutual group we played for a really short while. We decided to establish this band and here we are now, happier than ever!

You both are the core of Automatic Eye, but do you usually play with the same musicians (at MySpace appear TommyGun, Y and Niko) or do you change them often?

We’ve been playing with the same guys for about 1, 5 years. They are like band members for us, there’s no need to change them.

How would you describe in a couple of sentences to the readers what they can expect when listening to your debut album Don’t let the past come between you and your happiness?

Songs with catchy melodies, I could say that chorus is our god and I believe I’m not typing a wrong answer with that sentence. The album is not too “Finnish”; with this I mean the dark melancholy style we usually have here. On our debut we try to explore the positive and the “happier” side of the music and hopefully succeeding with that.

It is weird, we are Finnish but not too humble" -Pete from Automatic Eye-

And about the title of the album, do you feel often trapped by your past actions?

Yeah, used to. The album is an escape from thinking about the past things you’ve done in your life. It’s so easy to spend your energy worrying about yesterday rather than seeing all the opportunities of tomorrow.

You have recently won the prize for “New Act of 2008” given by Ylex-Radio. Were you expecting that your first album was going to be so well received?

It’s always a really big honor to receive a prize that is a result of a vote; feels really great to be recognized with something like that. The first album has given us a lot of opportunities by so far and hopefully we’ll get more in the near future as well. I could say that we expected some kind of success with the album, (yeah it’s weird, we’re Finnish but not too humble) and here we are pretty well reaching our goals.

You are playing this week in The Netherlands at the big Eurosonic festival that gathers many new bands from all over Europe. Is just another gig more for you, or do you think that could give you much more media attention and promotion? (And in case you answer this after participating at the festival, just let us know what your impressions about it are)

The Eurosonic-festival is a great opportunity for us. We’re gonna play a kick ass-show there and hopefully we’ll receive more gigs and other attention with our performance in there. The guys with suits are responsible for all the other stuff.

If I am not mistaken, you have played abroad before, in Japan in 2006. How was the chance to go there? How was the Japanese audience?

I lived in Tokyo for a year and got to know the local scene a bit. We were asked to play on a small indoor-festival in there and of course we went. It was an amazing show, audience was fantastic and the whole trip there was fantastic.

Finland seems to live on a golden age for heavy metal bands, but also indie pop-rock seems to be in a very good moment. It seems that every one of three young guys plays an instrument in a band. Are you happy with the actual situation, or do you think that there is too much competence for a relatively small market as the Finnish music market is?

I don’t see a problem in the Finnish music scene for new bands. There’s always a niche for new bands if they’re interesting enough. And if the Finnish scene gets too small, there’s a world out there waiting!

Anything you want to add for the readers?

Yeah, help yourself during the dark winter and download our first single “Away From Sunshine” for free!  http://www.last.fm/music/Automatic+Eye

FREE! Q&A with Pete and Heikki

Pete:

Favorite bands?

Jimmy Eat World, Anberlin, Fall Out Boy, Quietdrive, and Eve6 to mention a few

Favorite concert you have recently watched?

Too hard to choose.. Muse in Malaysia, Jimmy Eat World & Anberlin & Ellegarden in Japan…

Is there any Finnish band you would love to share stage with?

Apulanta

And any Finnish band you would hate to share stage with?

No matter the genre if the people in the band are great. Hate to share the stage with bands that are assholes.

Automatic Eye

When you are not working on your music, what hobbies do you enjoy?

Scuba diving, Football

Who drinks more beer of the 2 of you?

This is a tough one. I guess that in the end we can’t remember. Someone has to come to judge some weekend!

What is the craziest thing you have done being drunk?

I’m a bit exhibitionist… like to be naked in various places. Yeah, one more thing with almost quoting Katy Perry’s words: “I kissed a man but I didn’t like it”

What is the most embarrassing thing that happened to you backstage?

Rather not tell that…

If you have to choose, do you prefer spending time in a bar or in a summer cottage?

I would take the bar to the summer cottage

Heikki:

Favorite bands?

Rock, Pop, Punk.. Bands like Hellacopters, Bon Jovi, Anberlin, Foo Fighters and Hardcore Superstar.

Favorite concert you have recently watched?

Bon Jovi at Stadium, Helsinki or Foo Fighters at Provinssirock

Is there any Finnish band you would love to share stage with?

Yep, White Flame. These guys can party!

And any Finnish band you would hate to share stage with?

Everybody has their own style, so no.

When you are not working on your music, what hobbies do you enjoy?

Partying, ice hockey, football and writing. But everywhere I go music is always there with me.

Who drinks more beer of the 2 of you?

I think we are both pretty talented on that one. But I think Pete wins, cause I usually lose my memory after 14-15 beers. Sad thing.

What is the craziest thing you have done being drunk?

I thought I was telling jokes with Bob Marley in Spain. But it made more sense when I was drunk.

What is the most embarrassing thing that happened to you backstage?

There was some sound-technician and me. The rest is history…

If you have to choose, do you prefer spending time in a bar or in a summer cottage?

Make a guess… Yes, ten points. Bar – Cause every day is a happy day at Molly Malone’s.

Photos taken from the band´s official MySpace website.

For more information visit:

www.automaticeye.com

Categories
Interviews Music

Sami sends you dirty greetings

Dirty Fingernails released one of the best Finnish indie-pop albums of 2008, Greetings from Finsbury Park, N4, a great achievement taking into account that it is their debut work. And they did it from abroad. Brother/sister Sami and Paivi decided a couple of years ago that they have had enough of the coldness of Kajaani, and moved to London to pursue their dreams. Sami eagerly attended my questions and the result is one of the funniest interviews you have never had the chance to read at FREE! Magazine… Enjoy it!

Hello Sami and thanks a lot for answering our questions. So you moved from Kajaani to London a few years ago together with your sister. If you are so kind, explain to us a bit more the reasons for this change of location and what your expectations with this decision were?

You can kinda blame it all on the EU; as it’s become so easy to move between different European countries now, it’s really difficult for someone like me who’s into rock & art & going out to find reasons for living in someplace like Kajaani. I’m not sure what it’s like now though I can’t imagine it’s changed all that much. It’s not even a band or a career thing or anything. It’s just: do you wanna live someplace where there’s no jobs and it’s darker and colder than a penguin’s arse or do you wanna go to London and party? Paivi moved to London a few years after me and then we finally hooked up properly with the band thing about 3 years ago now.

How is a typical day of your life in London? What are the best and the worst things of living there?

This is one of the most over-used quotes of all time but Dr. Johnson said that “if you’re bored of London, you’re bored of life.” There’s always something happening but obviously you also got to go out and seek it out a little bit and be creative and active and open-minded. But you have to be those things anywhere. My ideal day in London is: wake up late, head down to Rooz (our rehearsal studio) work on new stuff, head round the corner for a couple of drinks after and maybe check out a band or club with friends. A nightmare day is: wake up early, it’s cold, damp, have to do something all day you don’t enjoy doing, stand on packed trains, crying babies everywhere, automated announcements, noise. A typical day is somewhere between those two scenarios

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So if I am walking around London and I pass by Finsbury Park, N4 (the title of the band’s debut album), will you be for real the ones greeting me there at the door?

Ha ha! Hey, if you give us a call we will be! And we’ll take you for a little drink at our local! Otherwise, there’ll probably just be the alcoholics & crack addicts that normally hang around near the station

What are your feelings when you come back to visit or play in Finland? Does anything change about your perception of the country and the people now that you live abroad?

We were shocked by the violence man! Some dude got the crap kicked out of him at one of our shows. And a couple of days before that we were in Helsinki and Charlie (our drummer) was cleaning out the car when a guy nonchalantly walked up to a car about 50 feet from ours and smashed a brick through the side window! It could’ve easily been our car had Charlie not been down there. I also witnessed a very well known rock guitarist (who shall remain nameless) necking other people’s leftover drinks at a rock pub. You definitely forget how keen some people in Finland are for alcohol when you’re away for a while!

It seems that for being a debut album, the record caught very fast the attention of audience and media, for example you appeared in the cover of the magazine Rumba. How was that, were you well known already before? Is it about the good marketing of Poko Records, o just simply happened?

Well, it’s probably a combination of a lot of facts: obviously the label have been working hard to push us to the media. Also, our album was the first release on the new imprint Northern Swing so I think that gave it an extra lift as well. And maybe it was an interesting story for the media to pick up on. After all, they do have a certain number of pages to fill week after week and most bands are just so excruciatingly boring that I wasn’t surprised when people wanted to write about us.

Please resume with your own words what people can expect of this Greetings from Finsbury Park N,4.

It’s what it says on the tin: it’s a bunch of songs that we got together in a flat in Finsbury Park and we’ve sent it out to the world as a bit of a greeting to introduce ourselves. It’s poppy songs about stuff I think about wandering around the streets of London Town

It surprised me a bit that you cited at your website early 69 Eyes as a major influence. Difficult to link the “Helsinki vampires” with an indie pop band living in London…

Ha ha! I’m a rock dude at heart! When I was a kid those guys were more of a straight up rock band than what they’re doing now. When I was 12 or 13 I was mad for 69 Eyes. I even sent for their fan club and after what seemed like an eternity (but I imagine was actually more like 3 weeks), they sent me back a photocopied lyric sheet to go with their album, some fliers for their shows in Helsinki and a ticket stub from the New York subway!

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How is to play with your sister, is it easier to play with a relative, or when there is a fight, does it become more “personal” or “touchy”?

I’m not really a laid back guy at all so I can quite easily get personal & touchy with anyone! It’s easy with Paivi, she works hard and I appreciate that. We’ve got a common goal and we’re working to achieve that.

How are the sales of the album working so far, are you having a good feedback?

It’s all good. To be honest, when we started recording the album we weren’t really thinking in terms of it being released or anything like that. We were basically just having fun and trying to be creative and trying to get something together. I love the fact that if people want it, they can now quite easily go out and get it and we don’t have to do the admin either. We’re privileged in that way as a lot of bands have to run their own online shops and I don’t think I could be bothered with any of that. But yeah, money is power and the more records you sell the more stuff you can do so obviously we’re hoping for the album to do well.

I see that mostly you have been touring around England or Finland. Are there future plans to expand your concerts to other countries in the near future?

We should be going to Italy in March so already looking forward to that! We’re happy to go and play anywhere but obviously it makes sense to play in the U.K. where we live and in Finland where the album is currently out.

Anything you want to add for our readers?

All the best for 2009 and don’t forget to stick it to the man every once in a while!

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FREE! Q&A with Sami from Dirty Fingernails

Name and Age?

The Salo

Favorite hobbies?

Been doing a bit of roller skating recently.

Best band you have seen on live recently?

Favours for Sailors

Best band you have shared stage with?

With this band, let’s say: Robots in Disguise

What is your biggest musical sin?

Dude, all of it!

If it would not be in London, where would you like to live?

Somewhere sunny. Hawaii

Your favorite word or sentence in Finnish?

Jos et veikkaa et voi voittaa. You gotta be in it to win it!

Photos by Tina Korhonen.