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Albums Music

Adele – Adele19

{mosimage}Being barely 19 years old, Adele is one of the new sensations of the year, coming from South London.

Even at such a young age, Adele had already had time to work with Jim Abiss, Eg White or Mark Ronson, sign with the powerful XL Recordings company and support artists such as Jack Penate, Amos Lee and Devendra Banhart. After her debut album Hometown Glory, Adele features his first mainstream work: 19.

The first thing you have to notice after starting to listen to it is Adele´s incredible vocals skills. A power of nature that digs deep in your soul while listening to it. Neverthelss, as the artists recognizes, the album talks mainly about love, about a past relation with a bisexual boyfriend that could never be as good as she expected. Consequence of that is a melancholic tone that bathes every one of the 12 tracks. As my favourite ones, I would highlight Chasing Pavements, Tired or Hometown Glory.

Discover the wicked voice of Adele. I hope that being so young, she will follow the correct steps and do not get burnt in the difficult music industry. 19 will turn undoubtedly into one of the nicest surprises of 2008. 

Rate 5/5.

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Albums Music

Paganus – Paganus

{mosimage}From Hamina comes Paganus, spreading their doom metal all over Finland. 

What do Hamina, a small population in Finland, and Jerusalem, the capital or Israel, have in common? Well…at least one doom metal band called Paganus. The 5 members of the Finnish band entered the studio in 2006 to record their first album, with only 4 tracks but almost 50 minutes length, since a couple of tracks are over 11 minutes and the final one Stab runs for more than 16 minutes, and seems that they did not find much support from their native record labels (doom is not so popular genre in Finland) so they released finally with TotalRust Music, an Israelian label.

The band is composed by Manu Liira on the guitar, Teemu Muhli on the bass, Tomi Pekkola as drummer, Mikko Nenonen helping with the noise and Markus Lanki on the vocals.If you like other doom bands like Burning Witch or Neurosis, this kind of sound will ring a bell in your head. For the rest, maybe it can be too extreme. In any case, the work still smells like a young band that has a long way to mature, and more amount of tracks in future albums without abusing of running time would be more than welcome, otherwise the album gets to be too monotonous. 

Rate 2/5.

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Albums Music

When the Empire Falls – When the Empire Falls

{mosimage}A classic heavy metal style for a new band coming from Tampere. 

When the Empire Falls is a relatively new band that exploded during the last year 2007 when they won a contest for new bands that allowed them to play at Provinssirock festival in Seinäjoki. After releasing The Blood in Your Hands, the band strikes back soon again in the beginning of 2008 with their homonymous album When the Empire Falls. Lyrics in English for a project started by 2 friends: guitar players Rami Jämsä and Markus Härkönen.

For being almost a debutant band, the work is compact and mature, and surprises me the excellent skills on the vocals of Tommi Tahuanpää. Apart from that, the guys from Tampere have got a great chance to promote themselves with the opportunity of playing with the “hottest metal band in Finland nowadays”: the Euro-Teräsbetoni, in 2 gigs in Turku and Tampere. Nice classic metal tracks like When the Empire Falls, Sinner or Judgment Awaits  with powerful drums backing up the vocals, but once again the band will face the same problem: there are dozens of bands of the same style appearing in the Finnish market every year, and it is becoming very difficult to give the big step and jump from small clubs to bigger arenas.

In any case, When the Empire Falls seems to have the energy, the talent and the youth to get it, so keep a close eye on them! 

Rate: 3/5.

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Albums Music

Andre Matos – Time to Be Free

{mosimage}André Matos, ex vocalist of Angra, introduce us his first solo album. 

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razilian singer Andre Matos has undoubtedly one of the most privileged voices in the international heavy metal scene. Due to him was the great success around the world of his previous band, Angra, and the marvelous albums Holy Land and Angels Cry.Seems by the title that Matos was missing more freedom for creating the music he really wants, so nothing better like making his first solo album to show the world that he has reached the maturity as musician to take care of a whole project.

Together with him, the Mariutti brothers (ex members of Shaman where Matos also belonged) and produced by the legendary Roy Z and Sascha Paeth. We are talking about big names in the metal scene here, so that can give an idea of the ambition poured into this project. A great piano intro in Menuett that leads to a varied amount of great metal songs: from the exuberance of Rio to the balanced calm in Face the End, every song matches perfectly in a puzzle that finally gets transformed in a little piece of art of the heavy metal genre.

If you liked previous Matos ´work, surely you are going to love Time to Be Free.

Rate 4/5.  

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Albums Music

Gary Louris – Vagabonds

{mosimage}It must feel funny to release your first solo album when you are 52, but once The Jayhawks disbanded after 20 years on the road, singer, songwriter and guitar player Gary Louris decided to step up and release his first solo album. (Actually, I’m writing this review on the singer’s 53rd birthday).

The last time The Jayhawks played in Finland was at Tavastia in 2004. There presented their last album, Rainy Day Music, a mostly acoustic album, that combined the best of traditional American roots music, from The Band to Crosby, Still, Nash & Young to Gram Parsons, spiced up with that characteristic pop sensibility of Louris’ compositions.

In Vagabonds, Gary Louris continues the same path: timeless American music. For producing the album, he recruited long time friend and Black Crowes’ singer Chris Robinson. The result is a laid back album with lots of acoustic guitar, pedal steel and typical songwriting and singing from Louris.

With the input of Chris Robinson, the songs some of the songs are decorated with a touch of psychedelic sounds (especially in I Wanna Get High) and an interesting gospel choir, The Laurel Canyon Family Choir, that includes among others Robinson himself, Jenny Lewis and Susanna Hoffs (yes, the same one of The Bangles).

The title track, Vagabonds, is probably the most outstanding tune. It’s a classic Louris composition as perfect as Blue or Waiting for the Sun can be.

This album might not top The Jayhawks legacy. But that’s not an easy task at all since The Jayhawks’ discography is one of the most perfect a band has made in the last twenty years. Still Vagabonds is beautiful, remarkable and relevant.

Rating 4/5 

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Albums Music

Johanna Iivanainen & Eero Koivistoisen yhtye – Lennosta kii!

{mosimage}Lennosta kii! is a joint venture between singer Johanna Iivanainen and saxophonist Eero Koivistoinen (and his band), that makes jazz versions of Finnish pop and rock classics.

 

A daring concept, since many of these songs are classics of Finnish popular music and making jazz versions of them could easily mean watering them down, but this album is made with certain confidence. No wonder: the same team made a record, called Suomalainen and having a similar concept, couple of years ago.

 

From a technical point of view, this is a fantastic record. Iivanainen is certainly a talented and versatile singer, and the musicians handle their jobs very well. It sounds like these people don’t just perform the music, they are living it.

 

In its own genre Lennosta kii! truly must be a triumphant success: this is evident from the carefully constructed arrangements and soulful performances. However, I found myself – not being much of a jazz freak – thinking this is too clean, too perfect, too devoid of mistakes, to really genuinely touch me. Of course, not every kind of music must sound like it was made a amateur punk rock band, but at times this sounds too much like music aimed at coffee tables to have a serious impact.

 

Anyhow, for jazz enthusiastic and all open-minded music lovers in general, Lennosta kii! is certainly worth checking out.

 

Rate 3/5

  

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Albums Music

Eleanoora Rosenholm – Vainajan muotokuva

{mosimage}New Finnish bands are rarely as interesting as Eleanoora Rosenholm (yes, despite the name this is a band, not a solo artist).

 

First, it is sort of Finnish alternative rock super group, the members being known from such bands as Lowlife Rock’n’roll Philosophers, Magyar Posse, Circle and Kuusumun Profeetta. Second, the fictional story behind the band (involving a serial killer called Eleanoora Rosenholm) is quite fascinating. And third, the music is very good.

 

Eleanoora Roosenholm’s leftfield synthpop is weird enough to be interesting for those who don’t care for mainstream music, but pop enough to suit those who do. The atmosphere is morbid yet treacherously captivating, just like in a good horror movie. With all the lyrics about murders and something-that-is-not-specified being wrong, Vainajan muotokuva (“portrait of the deceased”) is a somewhat brooding record, but in a good way.

 

Right from the album opener Musta ruusu, it is clear that Eleanoora Rosenholm may be playing pop music, but very different from your usual chart pop. Tracks like Ovet ja huoneet and Kodinrakennusohjeet are brilliant examples of melodic, easily accessible pop music with a sinister twist. The two instrumentals on the record also work out well in creating the atmosphere. Kiltti vai tuhma? is, in its innocence, catchiness and pop sensibility, somewhat different from the rest of the album, but that only makes the record interesting.

 

A bloodcurdling debut album from a band that certainly is quite unique in the current Finnish rock music scene. I truly hope we’ll be hearing a lot from them in the future.

 

Rate 4/5

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Concerts Music

Billy Corgan´s sick and funny blues

After splitting up in 2000, Smashing Pumpkins came back during 2007. It was about time to see one of the band´s that marked my teenage years, together with Nirvana or Guns & Roses. 

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One guy from the organization tells me inside the Ice Hall in Helsinki that it is not possible to go down, to the area in front of the stage, since the tickets are sold out. Not true as I can see with my own eyes seconds later while sitting, since only around 2/3 of the venue´s capacity is filled with people waiting to see Smashing Pumpkins in its come back Tour.  It seems that the attraction for seeing half of the original formation (only Billy Corgan and the drummer Jimmy Chamberlin remain, since Melissa Auf der Mar and James Iha do not participate) is not enough for many old fans. It is a long time ago of the band´s peak on popularity terms, when appearing even in a Simpson´s episode… but the fire still burns. The group released recently a new album: Zeitgeist.

Undoubtedly, the Tour has Corgan as main star. The charismatic bald leader of the band jumped on stage wearing a shining silver long skirt, moving his tall body ungainly, and putting the Finnish public step by step into his pocket. At the beginning, the interaction with the audience was practically non-existent, with the band focused on playing, and Corgan must have felt surprised of the traditional coldness of the public, that behave quieter than in other countries, since he dedicated a couple of ironic sentences like “I don´t want anybody dying of excitement today here”.

But step by step, the concert started to warm up. A great help to that was listening to old great classics like Tonight, Tonight or Bullet with Butterfly Wings. The audience was eager to scream shouts of love for Corgan, and he answered effusively back, overall to the female voices…   Billy was not enjoying his best healthy day, since he recognized to be sick, coughing often between songs, and that lead to an improvised blues whose main line was “I am sick” and ended up with “I am foul”, for splashing the audience finally with the raw truth: “I am fool, but I have more money than you!”. After that, as a great special gift to compensate us, Corgan still alone on stage, played a superb acoustic version of 1979 that was probably the highlight of the night.

The band sounded well and compact in general. It was delicious to see the new bass player, Ginger Reyes, tiny and skinny, rocking with a bass that was almost of bigger size than her. A special mention for the lighting part of the show, well done and sophisticated enough to create the perfect climate in every song. Smashing Pumpkins sounded strong, sometimes even as hard as a heavy metal band, and Corgan and cia left a very good final taste in the mouths of the audience with more than 2 hours of good rock, a balanced mix of old and new material and great anthems like Drown, The Rose March, Bring the Light, the explosive Superchrist or the tender Lily (My One and Only).

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Albums Music

The Scourger – Dark Invitation to Armaggedon

{mosimage}The Finnish metal band The Scourger offers you 11 tracks of ferocious trash metal ready to rip your head clean off. 

 

Finland is better known for their gothic and power metal bands, but there is space for a wide range in the healthy Finnish metal scene. A good proof is the new work of The Scourger: Dark Invitation to Armaggedon, that turns to be one of the best surprises in European thrash music scene during the last months.

Jari Hurskainen (former Gandalf singer) is powerful and hammering in the vocals, and the good lyrics are supported by the crazy drumming of Seppo Tarvainen. This is their second studio album, and the first single: Never Bury the Hatchet, has worked very well in the Finnish charts. After having toured in 2007 with Impaled Nazarene and having appeared in the soundtrack of the Finnish movie V2: Frozen Angel, the band faces new challenges as their appearance in the Finnish Metal Expo in February, an excellent event to take the pulse of the Finnish metal industry.

A special mention for the excellent cover artwork by Joe Petagno, an internationally well known cover designer who has done previous stuff for people like Motörhead, Alice Cooper or Pink Floyd. A work that linking the concepts of the Armageddon and the devil turns, from my humble point of view, into one of the best metal covers that I have ever seen. A classy touch and stylish design for the Finnish guys ´album, that becomes an excellent and mature introduction for a work that confirms them as the freshest and most powerful alternative in the Finnish trash metal scene. Let´s see what future brings them . If you like Trash, pretty recommendable. If not, better stick to other more classic Finnish metal bands.

Rate 4/5.

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Albums Music

The Mutants – Grave Groove

{mosimage}The Finnish freaky instrumental rock quintet is back with their third studio album. Groovy sounds with a rocking approach that will make move your feet!

Grave Groove is the third studio album from the crazy party Finnish bastards, as they have been baptized in some international media, The Mutants. Nonetheless, they music is difficult to get constrained to categorization: it sounds like garage rock with African touches here and there and a certain feeling of Series B movie in the air while listening to it. In any case, better judge yourself!The point is that the rhythms are catchy.

Vocals are non-existent in most of the album, although they count in some parts with the guest appearance of Nadi Hammouda, but there are not missed while listening to the album. Songs like Outerspace Odyssey will undoubtedly get into your mind and remain there the rest of the day. Guitars riffs are catchy and sensual, and all transmits a feeling of good old rock played in a dessert beach in some point of the Caribe. “Latino spirit” is also very present in the album, if not, pay attention to the titles of the songs:  El Matador del Diablo or CMC Carlos Muchas Cervezas, although you do not get surprised if you see that some members of the band have nicknames such as El Toro or Juan Emperor.

If you want to listen something fresh, a bit of space rock mixed in an explosive cocktail with mambo to move your hips, explore the sound of The Mutants. For me, the album is one of the nicest surprises of the beginning of 2008.

Rate 4/5

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Albums Music

Ayreon -01011001

{mosimage}Dutch musician Arjen Anthony Lucassen assembles a great metal opera in this double CD that counts with very special guests from the heavy metal scene.

 

 

 

Not a long time ago we reviewed in FREE! Magazine the awaited third part of Avantasia, and in the same line now is the turn of another of the best metal operas released in the last years: the new Ayreon ´s  CD (6th conceptual   album in total) with a title encrypted in a binary code:  O1011001.

After 10 years of the release of Into the Electric Castle, Lucassen  reaffirms that he still has a lot of creativity to show the world. And in the same way that in the Scarecrow, the list of participants involved in the project is also astonishing:  Tom S. Englund, Hansi Kursch (for whom I feel a special weakness, being a great Blind Guardian fan since my teenage years), Anneke van Giersbergen, Steve Lee or Jonas Renske are some of the big names that are lending their musical skills to the project.  

A musical tour de force where different metal styles get mixes in a harmonic way. It seems that the trend nowadays in the industry is developing towards eclecticism. A decade ago musicians were not so eager to experiment, having the feat of losing the fidelity of their audience, but it is coming a time in metal when it looks that the key to surviving is just to be able to not to stick to one single and defined style. Enjoy with exceptional pieces like River of Time or The Sixt Exctintion, where all the singers lend their voices. A must have for the lovers of good conceptual and epic metal.

Rating  5/5.

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Albums Music

The 69 Eyes – Hollywood Kills

 

 

{mosimage}The Hell-sinki vampires want your blood again, and strike back with a live album recorded at the Whisky a Go Go club. 

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irectly from Sunset Boulevard, here comes the awaited first live album of Hell-sinki gothic band The 69 Eyes: Hollywood Kills. Recorded in the legendary Californian club Go Go Club the 24th of March, 2006, during their American tour, with all the tickets sold out, The 69 Eyes appear here as a mature band that is enjoying the best time of their career, able to put a great show together, with a solid discography and the support of a huge legion of fans not only in Finland but worldwide. The fame of the band has been helped by the charisma of the singer Jyrki 69 (a voice that sounds like Elvis embedded in a gothic style body!)  together with the irreverent looks of drummer Jussi 69.

The album counts with 16 tracks plus an introduction by Ban Margera, not missing any of the songs that the fans would dream about:  hits like Lost Boys, Brandon Lee or Gothic Girl, with sharp lyrics where they never lose opportunity to promote once more their love for women (specially blondes) and rock stars attitude that have been perfectly captured in the pictures inside the booklet, taken by acclaimed rock photographer Ville Akseli, who published last year also a book: Route 69, with these and others pics taken while traveling with the band around U.S.A.An album that comes in a perfect timing for the band after having worked hard and taken risks to succeed in the international market.

The 69 Eyes is about Booze, explosive girls and dangerous rock. The vampires are coming to suck the blood of your daughters, so be sure the doors are well closed during this (ugly) Finnish winter!

Rating 4/5. 

 

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Interviews Music

A hardcore St Valentine´s Day

FREE! Magazine had the chance to make an exclusive interview with Jocke and “Adde”, singer and drummer of the Swedish rock band Hardcore Superstar, a few hours before their gig at Klubi in Tampere.


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There are many things going on around Hardcore Superstar during the last months.  Embarked nowadays in a World Tour, they released their new and fifth studio album at the end of 2007: Dreaming ´in a Casket and have suffered some drastic changes in the band formation but it seems that they do not lose the positive energy to show the world that they still believe in the greatness of their project.

We met Jocke Berg and Magnus “Adde” Andersson, singer and drummer of the band, just some minutes before their lunch. They certainly have an outstanding presence: tall, fit and with a distinctive Swedish touch of elegance. It is 14th of February, Valentine´s Day, and I wonder if they expect to find love in the air during their visit in Tampere. “Hehehe… it is a question I will have to make to the audience later! But we have already seen a lot of beautiful girls walking around…!” the guys affirm maliciously.

They look positive, friendly and full of energy, although also hungry (it is lunch time); a hunger that goes farther than just getting the taste of food, since these guys seem to be hungry for success. Nevertheless, as Jocke explains, the name of the band (far from any porno reference) is about getting as big as possible and breaking the limits.

And all in all, how is the present world tour going on?

Jocke: It is going very well. We are very happy so far! We were before coming to Finland in Japan, Australia, England…
Adde: It was the first time for us in Australia, and that was great. Although we did not have much time for tourism or watch kangaroos.

Hardcore Superstar has always had a special relation and tight bonds with the neighboring country Finland. Apart from coming to play quite often in Finnish land, their previous drummer at the beginning was Finnish, Mika Vaino, and they counted with the collaboration of Michael Monroe in a song some years ago.

Jocke: Yeah, Hanoi Rocks are good friends. I have not listened to the new album completely. Only to some songs, and I watched the new video clip. I am happy because they sound like the old Hanoi Rocks from the eighties, and they look full of illusion again.
Adde: Yeah, I am a great fan too. I have listened to a lot of their old stuff.

The tour has been baptized as Mentally Damaged World tour 07/08, so I wonder in what state they can keep their mental health after so much traveling and all the things involving band in the recent days:

Adde: Well, every tour has its up and downs. For example, we recently had to face the loss of our guitar player, Thomas Solver.

Yeah, that has been the hottest topic around the band in the recent days. Can you explain a bit more about what happened?

Jocke: Well, he basically got tired of touring, making albums and playing gigs.
Adde: It was after our concert in London, in the tour bus. He said that he could not continue anymore.
Jocke: It is sad because we have known each other for so many years. I noticed since a couple of years that something was wrong with him, something in his eyes. I was asking him “Is everything ok, Thomas” and he always answered that “yeah, no problem”, but finally the situation exploded. But well, he has always been a kind of special guy… (As an example, Thomas had a famous fight with a Swedish journalist from Aftonbladet in New York some years ago that was hugely covered in all the Swedish press)

The band was lucky to find a quick replacement on the guitar: Vic Zino from the band Crazy Lixx, who later in the concert seemed perfectly adapted, apart from showing great skills. Just while asking about him, Vic passed by and shyly greeted us.

Jocke: It was Thomas himself who recommended us the guy. Vic was playing with his band, and Thomas said “You have to check out this guy, he is even much better than me”. So we offered Vic to join the tour and he luckily accepted. But we don´t know what will happen in the future with the guitarist position. We will have to see about it.

Adde: “People in Bilbao almost destroyed the club when they discovered that our gig was cancelled”

 

And certainly, as Adde explained, they always have some curious situations on their tours. Actually they recently had to cancel the scheduled Spanish gigs due to the illness of the singer:

Jocke: Yeah, I fell very ill, with a big pain in my throat, and I could not sing. It was very bad.
Adde: We had a lot of bad luck. The tour bus was also broken in our way to Bilbao and the air conditioning did not work properly, so it was frozen there. Jocke got very ill and we had to cancel the 3 gigs. And the people in Bilbao got crazy! They could listen to us in the venue, on the other side of a thin wall, and they thought that the reasons to cancel were others, that we were high on drugs or something like that, so they almost destroyed the place! We got scared!

Hopefully, the band will have a quick chance to compensate the Spanish fans, since they will repeat the visit to Spain pretty soon in a couple of months, adding also a fourth gig in Madrid. The expectation about their visit in the Spanish music forums is high:

Jocke:  It is something we had to do. I mean, we owe those concerts to our Spanish fans!

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The band released on November 7th their new studio album: Dreamin´in a Casket, which has been greatly welcomed by the audience. All the spirit of previous Hardcore Superstar´s albums is present there, but the sound sounds this time a bit heavier and thrasher. Although the band enjoys good popularity around the world (especially in their native Sweden), they still need to go one step farther and break the border of playing in bigger arenas.

Adde: Well, there are many bands that release only a first good album and then they get fucked up. We are more constant.
Jocke: Look at bands like Metallica, for example:  They got success step by step, releasing a chain of great albums. At the beginning not many people knew them. We aimed at something like that. But of course we try to reach at the maximum level.

Jocke:  “We are brave in all what we do”

 

And actually, one great feature is that overall; they are honest in what they do. As an example, they released the single Bastards, that got a huge success in Sweden, but they decided not to include it in the final album. A brave decision:

Adde: Yeah, it sold a lot in Sweden. But then we had more songs that were fitting better in the record, and we preferred to have those in the album and left Bastards just as a single.
Jocke: Well, we are brave in all what we do!

While waiting for the bigger international recognition, 2007 was a great year for Hardcore Superstar, at least in Swedish territory: they were voted the best rock band of the year, and they opened the show for Aerosmith at Sweden Rock Festival.

Jocke: That was an amazing experience! We are big fans of Aerosmith. And we were sharing the backstage area: just Aerosmith and Hardcore Superstar there!
Adde: Yeah, they transformed the area into their lounge. They had a lot of stuff, but we had our own masseur there. While I was relaxed, having a massage, Tom Hamilton passed by and exclaimed “Why have we not thought about this!” I was talking to him for a while. They knew our work and there were even rumors that we could continue opening for them during the rest of the tour, but then unfortunately it did not happen in the end. A real pity because it would have been an excellent promotion for us. I think it was Got and Mule who did it.

And after this intensive winter tour, what are your plans for the future. Do you already have scheduled any summer festival?

Jocke: Yes, sure. We are going to do summer festivals. We will even go to China for a couple of festivals there. It will be obviously our first time there.

While waiting for future visits of the Swedish when the sun is shining in Finland (they probably will come back soon to a couple of summer festivals here), we enjoy their gig at Klubi later that night. Good vibes, with Jocke acting as a solid front man and Vic perfectly integrated on the guitar. A lot of young female audience in the first rows that knew the lyrics of every one of the songs, and as the final gift for the audience to end the show, their killing hit: We do not Celebrate Sundays. Fortunately, they celebrate St. Valentine´s, and they showed once more their love for Finland with huge doses of great sleazy rock.

 

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Interviews Music

Satan goes techno

Forget the metal and hard rock for a while, the indie and electronic scene in Finland is getting popular. I Was A Teenage Satan Worshipper is one of its representative best. Behind that twisted name hides the project of Pasi Viitanen, who drifted from a heavy metal adolescence to noisy electronic indie songs. This Friday the band presents live its new album in Tampere and Pasi tells about it in FREE!

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What is your approach to music? How did you start making music together?

In the beginning IWATSW was an imaginary band, a one man project. I made up two characters who were in the band and put some songs in the internet for the people to download, and they liked it! I guess at that point only few knew it was a fake band. It was supposed to be a some kind of an art project but  then there turned up to be some offers for gigs. I thought: damn it – why not,  and asked two of my pals with me. First there were three of us, later also a drummer came in.

You have a very original band name, so i cannot help this question. How did you come up with IWATSW?

It refers to the 50’s B-movie names like I Was a Teenage Werewolf etc. It is also a tribute to my own heavy metal past, the time when I was 15 and my parents were slightly concerned when I decorated my room with black bin bags. My band mates do have very similar memoirs of their own teenage time.

Could you tell our readers a little bit about the new album?

It is called The Lemonade Ocean. It is very noisy and melodic and it has various of different styles in it. There is guitar oriented indie pop songs as well as very electronic songs. While it's a mad mixture of different genres, it's still sounding the same band all the time. I’m quite excited of it.

How is it different from your previous albums?

The former record, called Whatevernights, was very focused on a one particular concept and the first EP, called Bees & Honey, were bit more like a single collection. The new record is somewhere between these two. This time I wanted the concept to be much more loose and I wanted to let my imagination explore freely.

The first single, OMG Techno Chicks, sounds very oriented to electronic? How will these sounds be reflected in your concerts?

We have a sampler and synths on stage and our drummer is playing with a click. Playing with the machine is fun, it feels like there is a movie going on and we are playing on it. It has a certain irreversibility in it.

What is / Where is The Lemonade Ocean?

It is a mental place which turns up when you’re drunk on afternoon and you’re head is full of great ideas you will regret the day after. It’s that when it’s 33•C and you’re drifting around with people you don’t know.

The stereotype says that Finland is a heavy metal country, how do you think your music fits in Finland?

We fit in fine. We have a song called ”Heavy Metal Nation”, by the way,  and it’s of the subject. Metal music reflects the Finnish mentality. Though I do not like it, It does not disturb me, it is just an eurodance of the decade.


I Was A Teenage Satan Worshipper

Friday 29.2
Album release party – Klubi, Tampere


Tour

7.03. Gloria, Helsinki15.03. Bar 68, Jyväskylä
22.03. Semifinal, Helsinki
28.03. Dynamo, Turku
03.04. Klubi, Tampere
04.04. Klubi, Turku
05.04. Virgin Oil, Helsinki
10.04. Bar Kino, Pori
11.04. Amarillo, Vaasa
12.04. Rytmikorjaamo, Seinäjoki
16.04. Henry´s Pub, Kuopio
17.04. 45 Special, Oulu
18.04. Seurahuone, Kokkola

www.iwatsw.com
www.myspace.com/teensatanists

Categories
Interviews Music

A touch of sexy death metal

FREE! Magazine has access to all areas! This time, we entered the backstage at Jäähalli in Tampere to meet Andreas “Whiplasher” Bernardotte, singer of Swedish metal sensation Deathstars.

I have an appointment with the singer of the new Swedish sensation in death metal scene: Deathstars. An interview scheduled early in the evening, since the band is the first of the three that will appear on stage at Jäähalli. The heading band is legendary American Nu Metal Korn. Actually, it is so early that I find difficulties even in getting inside the venue. Finally, I am able to contact the tour manager, and meet “Whiplasher” in a tiny room close to the showers of the Sport Hall. The singer looks tired, probably consequences of a hangover after a party night in Helsinki. Deathstars played in the mythical club Tavastia the previous day, heading the show there. Quite different from what we can enjoy in Tampere, since the tight schedule let them time to play hardly six or seven songs. In any case, Andreas is a very interesting character, who has traveled and worked all around the world, and conversation turns to interest him specially when focused on topics not directly related to music business

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You were playing yesterday at Tavastia in Helsinki. How was the gig there?
It was great! It was really fun!

In most of the tour dates you are playing with Korn. But there at Tavastia yesterday you were heading, so I suppose that it was a great feeling. Were you playing much longer there?

Yeah, with Korn we play 7 songs and with our gigs we play 15 or 16. It is a bit different, but you get the best from both of it. You get club gigs and also the arenas, so it is a good variation.

How has been the tour so far in general?
Very, very, good! Absolutely fantastic! It is very surprising the reaction of Korn´s fans, that we get the response that we do.  It has been good like hell!

How did it happen that you got involved in this tour with them? Did they choose you?
Yeah, Jonathan Davids really likes Deathstars, so he called and invited us to come and join them on tour.

Any special venue that you remember during the tour?
Together with Korn we had a gig somewhere in England, I think it was in Plymouth, with 4000 people and they pretty much knew every song, because we are quite big in the UK. There were a lot of people; we had never played there before, and it was really nice.

And in Finland, had you played before here?
Yes, we played before in Tuska and Ruisrock summer festivals last summer.

 “As long as in Deathstars we don´t know what the fuck is going on, it is perfect!”

You are pretty big in Sweden, but looks like your previous company, Universal, did not promote you well enough in the international scene. Do you feel that things are getting balanced now with international promotion in this tour?

Yes, of course!  This is perfect for us! It is a big promotion. We were in a mainstream label and they really did not know where we came from, so they did not know how to promote it. Nuclear Blast is maybe better in that way. But still, we have just started. Termination Bliss is just the second album, it feels like the first album for us, and the band is starting to “increase”.

You come from underground Swedish metal, being former members of bands like Swordmaster or Dissection. And your sound evolved to what you call “Death glam”. How did this change of style come up?

I don´t know really… We never really said that “this is how we should do it”. As long as we feel stimulated by it, and we feel entertained by it. As long as we don´t know what the fuck is going on, it is perfect! We are just idiots! It is all about ourselves, about “us” in the band. We don´t keep updated with new bands, it is very internal matter. It is more like a rollercoaster ride. It is just crash, bum, and bang!. Darkness, chaos, party… and then let´s see what happens. That´s it.

Your second album Termination Bliss was darker and with topics like pain and death much more present than in the first one Synthetic Generation. I know that your guitar player went through a lot of personal problems. Do you use music as a catharsis?

I think that sounds so pretentious to say that, but yes. It is of course what you reflect upon. You write music to understand yourself, and you write music to understand others. You reflect about things, but in the end you do not get any answers, but well, it helps.

During that album, so many people died around us and a lot of break ups. It was tough, that it reflects that time. It has been a couple of years since we did that album, and now I can really look back and see it better.

I heard that you have been working on the new album during last months.

Yeah, we have been recording in New York, but I think we will continue recording after the tour. I don´t know if it will be in Sweden or anywhere else. Nightmare (their guitar player) has been living in NY for quite a while and he is producing all the stuff, so it was practical for us to go there and work in the studio there.

Is the new album going to be “lighter” than the previous one?

No, no. It is going to be very dark. This band takes care of your dark side! So I guess that it is a bit more outgoing, straightforward, but also more “Deathstars”, feeling the progress we have done. It is difficult to talk about something that is not completely finished.

Why is Bone, the drummer, not coming with you on this tour?

Because he had to take care of his kid, his son. He said 1 year ago that he could not follow us during January-February, whatever we would be doing. It is nothing bigger than that, it is just for this tour. It is nice to have Adrian stepping in. He is a great drummer.

Your music, although being death metal, has a “sexy touch” that attracts to a lot of female fans. It comes to my mind, now here in Finland, the reference to H.I.M. that also uses a strong link between death, pain and love. What is your opinion about them?

I can´t really say that I have, because I never listened to HIM. It would be stupid to say something about it, but it seems to be very successful. Maybe a bit too soft music for me to listen to, but I respect them, of course. We played with them in a festival, but I did not get to see them. It was EXIT festival in Serbia, a huge commercial festival there with people like Pet Shop Boys and Billy Idol, not a metal festival.

I know you have worked as a journalist also. What did you exactly do?

I was working in the Middle East. Writing about every day situation, writing chronicles for TV4 in Sweden and filming for the news.  I am still a TV producer, but now it is getting harder and harder to fit that in, because of the band. But it is interesting, I love telling stories. I happened to work in Kosovo, in Albania, in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Turkey…I have also worked in documentaries about the Maoris, been in Tonga, and also in the Atlas mountains. I was in Moscow doing a documentary about new rich people 3 months ago.

How do you feel about that? 

You have seen a lot of hard situations happening in the world, and you are also in this rock world that can become sometimes very superficial.

Do you have a different perspective?

Yeah, I think we are spoiled, to have it like this. It is not something in the band, it is nothing really, and you do not challenge yourself that much. I have a lot of respect for people who do not have it so easy. But walking on the stage… I think that maybe people have too much respect for musicians. Then again, music is an international phenomena, it helps. What I mean is that waking up on stage every night is not like working in a grocery´s shop in Jerusalem. You do not have to put so much effort in it. Music is very important, so as long as people gain something from it, it is important. Hopefully we do something right in the end… For me it would be nice to combine those jobs more, but for now it is tough.

-We get lost for some minutes talking about Russia, the censorship in Scandinavian countries, the double moral here, and our love for Estonia and Estonian women (Andreas´s girlfriend happens to be Swedish from Estonian family)- Russia and particularly its capital Moscow seems to hypnotize him:

There is a lot of about Moscow and Russia in the new album; a lot of about conflict. The place symbolizes very well the state of mind of the band, the scenarios there. Russia is portrayed as “the bad boy of the world”, but that makes it interesting. It is so complex…I was hanging out with this young girl. She was 16 years old and she had 2 limo cars, her own driver, her own hummer vehicle, you could not see the road from the back seat because there was a huge flat screen there all over, and her name in diamonds and pink leather seats. Just going from one saloon to the other and partying… It was very weird. It is another world!

Sounds totally crazy!

Moscow is fantastic. I would love to live there, but my girlfriend does not want too. Maybe I should break up with her and start a relation with a Russian…

But your home city Stockholm is quite nice too. I have been there several times and I love it!

Yeah, it is very nice. I just moved back there from London. I have been living in London. But I think I will move back to London in the future.  Stockholm is very beautiful. I have a lot of friends in London. When being on tour is not so important where I live, as far as my girlfriend is ok with it. I am away for 2 months and then coming back and then leaving again…

“My future project after the tour is to practice sex as much as I can”

I know that you are a great Kiss fan. Actually your nickname: “Whiplasher” comes from a Kiss ´song, doesn´t it?

Yes, it is true. Kiss is the best!  They are so big! They represent so much! I think I worked extra when I was 6 years old to buy Kiss albums. I had everything when I was 7. They are the reason also why we started to use make-up on stage.

What are your future projects when the tour is over?

I am going to practice sex as much as I can. I want to get as possibly can get. That is the main thing. And then we have to focus on the album and trying to get that just perfect as soon as possible.

Do you have any confirmed release date?

It was supposed to be released on May but we don´t know now. We will see. I don´t know how the summer festivals and the next tour will look like.


For more information visit:

www.deathstars.net