Interview with Eero and Lauri [France]

Thanks to the hit “In The Shadows”, it seems that you have achieved success and that you’ll be international stars.
Lauri: That’s right. We are pleased by the way things are going on. It’s been nearly 10 years that we have started. “Dead letters” is already our fifth album. We were not really desperate about being known outside of Scandinavia but the success of ITS is a good reward for all our efforts.

You talk about success, but it’s more a tornado.
Eero: Indeed, and the only explanation I have is that it’s because of that single. With its disco rythm, its catchy side, its rock riffs, it pleased the public more than we could ever imagine.

Are all the songs with Dead Letters written as letters?
Lauri: Yes. InThe Shadows is written to an imaginary teenager, maybe me, who is trying to find his real personality. He asks himself questions that he can’t answer. Well, this is a situation that most of the teenager have been living. It’s still very fresh in my mind, even if I’m in my twenties.
The Rasmus members are now living that passage from teenage to adult age.

Did becoming a professional musician require sacrifices?
Lauri: Life is full of times when you have to make choices. It’s been several years that we haven’t been living like everybody else. We had to make decisions. We don’t know yet if they are good or bad. When at 17, I decided to give up school to make music full time, it was not easy. It has been completely radical. At the beginning, my family was not very pleased with that. But when they saw the energy I was putting to succeed, and then the first sucess, they started encouraging me. I think it was important that I made my own independent choices. It’s easier to go on after.

What’s the Finnish part of your music?
Eero: I think that it’s the melancholic part that you can find in lots of our songs. It’s a tradition in Finnish songs. We talk about the persons we miss. The subjects are often a but sad. We like what’s romantic.
Lauri: Sometimes we talk about Finland in our songs, “Northen lights” for example (a particular light in the North of Europe). On the album cover, these are forests. It’s really characteristic of your home. We live in harmony with the nature. Within 10 minutes, you can find yourself walking in the woods. It’s quiet, it’s beautiful. Unique.

When you’re on tour, are you homesick?
Eero: It depends. Most of the times, things go on so quickly that we don’t have time to think. Before this serie of gigs, I took time to walk on the frozen lakes. There was a superb dusk. Everything was covered with snow. For sure, we haven’t found these kind of landscapes during our recent holiday in Australia where it’s summer and where we spent time surfing.
Lauri: What I find it hard in this job, that is great, is to be so often so far away from home. Last year, we were on the road for more than 200 days. It’s getting more and more difficult to keep in touch with your old mates or even your family.

Any other bad effects of that still growing success?
Eero: The more exposed you get, the more people wanna know about any aspects of your life. It’s always like this. But honestly, we don’t care if people write silly things about us. We know who we are and we know our qualities and bad qualities.
Lauri: It’s true that we have decided all together not to say anything about our private lives. If someone I don’t know wants to know personal stuff about me, well just read my lyrics. I know that a lot of artists say that, but frankly, it’s better that way.

Are you aware of the fact that you’re not like the others people anymore.
Lauri: Not really, because we think we haven’t changed since we started. I think, maybe I’m wrong, that our fans like our music first, or just enjoy spend a good time at our gigs.

You seem to forget that lots of girls are mad of your beautiful eyes.
Lauri: Maybe, but it won’t change my life anyway.

You say that “Funeral song” is too personal.
Lauri: Let me explain to you. Once in my life, I really behaved like the worst bastard. I played with a girl’s feelings. I was dumping her, then I accepted to see her again, just to dump her again. I realised I was really bad, that I hurt her a lot. So I wrote this song as a punishment that I give to myself each time I sing it. It gives me a big shame, but I deserve it.

Share this article:

Tweet

Current&next releases

Latest news

© 2005-2004 The Rasmus Hellofasite | the Italian portal about The Rasmus | All rights reserved
This website is published under a Creative Commons Licence. It's strictly forbidden any unauthorized
reproduction partial or total of the layout and/or the contents.