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With just a couple of albums released, Lovex is certainly fighting hard to find their own place in the heart of Finnish and foreign rock fans. Last year they were very close to represent Finland in the Eurovision finals, and now they are scoring high in the charts with their new album Pretend or Surrender. Not mentioning the sex appeal of the vocalist Theon among the young female audience
Lovex has just finished their gig at Tammerfest, and while Apulanta is getting ready to assault the stage, I head to the backstage to have a talk with the guys from Tampere. What started as a quick meeting for a short interview turned into a funny long night spending time with them; people down to earth who enjoy the same things that the rest of the young people: to sit in a park sipping a beer, a good conversation and watching the concerts of the other bands. I sit now with Theon, the vocalist, Jason, the bass player and Sammy, one of the guitarists, who kindly answered the questions, but during the next few hours I will have the chance to chat with all the members of the band.
Hello guys. Thanks for your time after the concert. How was the gig?
Theon: It was pretty fine. Tampere is our hometown is it is always nice to play here. There were quite a lot of people.
I made this same question to Jonne of Negative: How is to live in Tampere?
Theon: Well, I was born here and lived here ever since so, I don t know much about other places but…well, it is not the biggest city but it is not a small one in Finland. Winters are pretty much the same all around Finland, cold and sometimes even the summers are quite cold. But I think that Tampere is one of the best places in Finland, definitely.
Can you explain a bit more how was the beginnings and formation of Lovex?
Theon: Actually Sammy, Jason and Vivian were the founders of the band. It was in 2001 and then Christian, Julian and me joined the band a few years later.
Sammy: I knew Theon before and I asked him to join the band. Actually I did not know Christian before he joined the band and Julian was a friend’s friend’s little brother.
What can you tell us of your new album Pretend or Surrender, compared to your previous one Divine Insanity?
Theon: Well, I think our new album sounds a bit more confident and a bit more diverse, maybe a bit heavier than the one before. Guitar sounds are rougher. Everything has gone forward.
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You have also a new video for the song Turn, which is a bit a kind of mix between Sin City and Kill Bill s concepts. How did the idea come up?
Theon: We wanted to make a different kind of video, where we do not only appear playing the instruments and the whole theme of Sin City was already present in the artwork of the CD cover so we extrapolated to the video.
In your music there is a clear influence of the rock from the 80s and you also released in a single a cover of Runaway from Bon Jovi. Why that song?
Sammy: Well, we had played that song like in 100 gigs. I think that is the one song that we all liked back there, but we have played it so many times that it does not feel the same anymore.
Jason: Yes, we had played the song so many times that we thought it would deserved to be recorded live and release it with the single.
You were in Japan a couple of months ago. How was the experience in the Asian country?
Theon: It was an amazing experience there!
Sammy: So different culture!
Jason: When we have been in Germany or Austria, you still feel identified with the European stuff, but Japan and Asia… it is a whole different.
Theon: We had 2 good gigs there, and a couple of nights out. We had a whole free day for ourselves to visit Tokyo.
Sammy: Quite different from Finland, that you do not find so many people here, and so many million inhabitants in Tokyo!
About your visits to play in Germany and Austria, do you use it as a kind of “key” to conquer other markets in Europe?
Theon: Well, we have nothing against other countries, but certainly there we have many fans and the media help to promote a lot, like Viva channel for example. There has been some discussion about playing and promoting more in other countries like Mexico or Spain
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A great part of your audience is young female teenagers. Are you afraid that you can get this label of “rock band for teenagers”?
Theon: Not really. We do the kind of music we like. Of course we have many young girls in the audience but also more adult people. We basically do music for whoever wants to listen to it.
Sammy: For example in the concerts in Germany audience was a bit older than here in Finland.
Last year you were very close to represent Finland in the Eurovision contest. At the end you ended up in third position after Hanna Pakarinen and Thunderstorm. Now, 1 year after that happened, how do you feel about it?
Jason: Well, we are still angry at it…hehehe. Well, honestly, it was disappointing. Of course it would have been very good for promotion that is what we were looking for. But well, even though things worked well, and some minutes after we knew we had not won we just thought “well, we have not won, so what the fuck!!!” So we just grabbed some bottles and drank and had a good time and forgot about it.
Anything you want to add for our readers?
Jason: Well, the first single Take a Shot was the most played song in Finland for several weeks. We are quite proud of that.
And the “official interview” ended up, but not the night with the guys. One invitation to one beer leads to another… and well. The story continues as many Finnish stories go on: with a hangover next day. But I want to thank the guys for a good evening of music and fun, and especially to Jason who was very friendly with Finnish and foreign fans whenever they approached to talk to him and to Mika (the official mobile phones and booze provider of the band). Lovex have got one more Spanish fan from now on!
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