Interview with Lauri and Pauli [Finland]

Rasmus won’t thump on their place. The bands third album Hell of a tester is more clearer than the earliers, which flirts maturely with entertainment and other big worlds music styles. Should the hairyhaed rockers start to take seriously the gold records grabbing band? Over a year ago Rasmus was having a holiday, after the recording of the Playboys album, in London and they predicted to Rumbas Harri Palomäki, that the next album might become really funky. Now the new album Hell Of A Tester is ready, but it seems it isn’t as funky as they thought it could’ve been.

Lauri: Not necessarily so funk content, but otherwise quite funky. At least the new album doesn’t sound traditionally with big feelings made finnis rock album. Cracked rock section is cut down radically compared to last album and the final outcome sounds cosmopolitic cool.
Lauri: The heavy riffs have been given a ride. Now when I heard, that Playboys sold gold, I listened it through and it did came this feeling that many things would’ve been made differently theese days.
Pauli: Playboys is much more heavier album, it’s really gloomy album. There is lots of cracked guitar, especially if you compare it to the first album where was that Finland -type of funk guitar. In this new one there is more melodies in each song.

In Hell of a tester Rasmus’ entertainment-and soulfunk elements are pushing up even more. According to men the albums line is reflecting most of all the orchestras own latest music likings. Mostly on Lauris and Paulis turntables has been rolling rap, which you can’t find on the album. The albums name comes from Bobby Womacks Across the 110th street- song. This song can be heard in Jackie Brown-movie.
Lauri: 110th street is a Hell Of A Tester. We have digged it a lot. And when you change it a bit it becomes Hello Fat Ester.
Pauli: It describes very well this whole picture. It’s always said that the third album is difficult, though this one hasn’t been so far too difficult. You never know, what that difficult means, is the sales or the hearing the final problem.
Lauri: Same way the songs were born like before. Maybe we had to stuff them through a bit harder critic. We have started to aim so high.

Exercise music
Rasmus is aiming high, but so far the band has coped well. If we play a game and we are heading to the year 2050, when Rasmus is enjoying well deserved retiring days and rock ‘n’roll dollars under Hawaii palm trees, then what song from the new album is most often played on the radio?
Pauli: Well Liquid is a different song.
Lauri: It’s hard to say, when we haven’t even made up the next single. We were thinking that, if we could do it so, that we’d take our friends to this jury. We have discussed this before, but now we’d have an opportunity for that. You can’t decide yoursef, what’d be the best single choice. Everyone has their own favorites. First single release Liquid is the albums Stairway To Heaven. For the peaceful song is mixed strings, saxophone and acoustic guitar. More moving stuff represents second song Dirty Moose, which hysteric funkistic spirit flows pretty close to Red Hot Chili Peppers’ starting times energism.
Pauli: I think there is also older affect than The Chili Peppers. It is pretty tough song. One of the albums most facinating songs is strong emotioned Man in The Street. The song points strongly to the 70′s and to black american ghettos.
Pauli: There is this nightly feeling, and that’s what we were trying to capture in the song. Synthesizers and violins are undeniably pretty 70′s. The last song Tempo would fit perfectly to an 1970′s exercise tapes background.
Lauri: It would be so great, if you could get it into one. Jane Fonda would exercise with the music, left, right, left.
Pauli: Suddenly I started to want to make this older disco. I made demos , where was louped beat, a violin sound from old synthesizer and great feeling.
Lauri: Originally it left from we having these garden party jams, where the houseband would play stuff like that and the gang could just dance it whole night.
Pauli: Basically I started to make songs based on that idea. Expressly that kind of backgroun music to a party, where it should be played quietly, so that people could talk. That’s why the song is probably so long, it’s just that kind that you don’t have to listen to it necessarily. There are lots of nice different things, that you can listen to, but it works well as background music.

Self assertive attitude
Together with the pary music there are more sad notes. Even though Rasmus is a happy band from their image, it draws subjects from depressinon too.
Lauri: There is not so much depressions, but in few songs there is so genuine depression, than what I had at the moment and it has been told as well as it have been able to describe. If we had a good feeling, then we played with good feeling. The band is attitudely pretty far from the finnish folk myth, that “art is borned only other leg in the grave and as depressed as possible”.
Pauli: I think, that most songs I like, are made with a good feeling.
Lauri: Well in this album City Of The Dead was played very annoyed and it may be heard in it.
All together Rasmus worked in a studio a month, until all the 11 songs were recorded. The albums total duration is less than 40 minutes.
Pauli: It was just because we left out few songs. We wanted to invest a lot on quality. Now we have feeling that there are no complement songs. Some may think that Tempo is a complement song, but I think it goes well in the line.
The band produced the record mostly theirselves. Even though the band has been signed on a big record company, the strings are still in their own hands.
Lauri: We still didn’t dare to give someone outsider our children. Oh f*ck, how I said it, but somehow it felt, that we have made the songs, we know how to handle them. Maybe it is made in some way in this annoying “we know everything” attitude, but at least it is our very own thing till the end.

Young veterans
Most finnish bands are, during their third album, more or less middle aged gig rollers, but Rasmus guys are gradually getting close to the twenty years. When I ask the guys whether they are getting this veteran feeling, “not at all” they answer all together. Preferably Lauri and Pauli want to emphasize things, they’ve learned during the years.
Lauri: Maybe you start to respect some stuff, that we have been able to do so far. A little we can look this thing as an outsider. But otherwise everything is as they used to be. Maybe we have learned a little how to make songs.

Despite of the bands succes many rockers seem to think Rasmus as a teenband, whose music they don’t even have strength to listen. Is two gold albums enough big credit, so that hairy rock guys would accept Rasmus among them.
Lauri: I really don’t think so.
Pauli: Somehow we are just that kinda band, what people don’t take seriously.
Lauri: On the other hand, mostly it feels like, what the f*ck it matters. In our opinion we have so good rivet; we sell lots of records and we are promoting ourselves. For many people we are always seventeen years old. You can’t change it and it’s no worth of feeling sorry. Maybe the bands male fans are little by little taking the band as their own. At least the band hasn’t had to avoid the flying bottles lately, which points to that the guys in the audience won’t get nervous because the girls dig the band. Interrupted flying bottle in the Kaivopuisto’s gig, the summer before last, has been the last one for now.
Pauli: Now it has been like, all the guys have been digging surprisingly lot.
Lauri: Among Liquid there have come older rockers to say that: hey guys, you can actually play.

How much Rasmus follows finnish music field from the audience?
Lauri: Of course it interests, but it is so little, that I don’t have strength to follow it daily. It’s enough when you hear the news once in a couple of weeks, nothing changes so much. Of course, if the bands start to go abroad, it becomes interesting.
Pauli: I’m irritated that I do follow what bands are on top and what is their publicity grade, but I listen to so less their music, cause I don’t listen to radio or watch TV. I have been trying to go to their gigs and see their spirit. Actual little Rasmus’ the guys won’t admit bumping. Many young groups have been followed their example, but the men theirselves are taking it pretty carefully.
Lauri: You don’t dare to say. Nowdays it is fashionable to try to invent by force that own thing and many goes excessive by combinating all styles. But I have heard about many bands that play our music.

Coca Cola
At the time the last album was released, there was strongly this issue of Rasmus’ sponsor deal with a big american soft drink corporation. At the Corona bars table sitting Pauli is now drinkin the rival Cola firms sugar juice and tells the contract fallen through a year ago. It also brought some problems.
Pauli: Of course there was a lot critic. It was so mainstream thing and we were lot on the media because of it. But we can’t ashame of it, it felt good at that time.
Lauri: You can’t ashame it. Like all, we did it with the first feeling. When we had the chance we used it. We saved the money of it. If we someday go to abroad, we can afford to stay in a motel or something. In a sence of that it was really profitable job, but I have had regretful moments, when you have seen yourself about in 900 buss station grimacing. In a sence there was a bit greedom, but generally I hate after wisdom. At this moment there are no new sponsorships planned.

On the other hand Rasmus’ can’t name any firm, whose advertises they wouldn’t want to be.
Pauli: We would never advertise Neumann, but luckily he’s not a firm.
Lauri: He’s an institution. During the last album some circles got irritated of the bands performing non-rocking kinda way in females magazines. Men took it as “any publicity is good publicity” -attetude.
Pauli: We really don’t mind, if there is a story written about us in the females magazines. Girls and boys of our age won’t buy them and I don’t think that it would cause any damage to our career.

The band’s next step forward would be going to abroad. The idea has been taking form in their heads, but nothing concrete has happened.
Pauli: I have been thinking that it could be our export trump, when we are still so young. Some Hansons are so young that I don’t think they make their songs by theirselves. We are real band, that way it might work.
Lauri: You can go to quick gig to Europe, if you want, but I don’t know if it’s so sensable, there should be at least a few gig consecutively.

Before taking over the Europe, Rasmus is touring in home- Finland. On Friday 13th started tour lasts to the end of the year. Eagerly waiting to get to the road, Rasmus’ don’t experience the darkness of March, sleetstorm and between chilly cities driving tour buss any bad combonation. If depression attacs in Nivala’s Esso, there is a medicine for that.
Lauri: Then we just get really drunk and throw big parties. After 25 gigs more experienced, the band is finally allowed to spend Christmas.

So what does Rasmus wishes from Santa Claus?
Pauli: Money, haha. Seriously speaking we would take our video to MTV’s playlist.

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