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Golden since the beginning [Serbia]

In the middle of 2003. four young Finns broke into the scene and found their place at the tops of the lists. Every music station, every music magazine, everyone was talking about the newbie – The Rasmus. As if nobody had known them before, in spite of the fact that the band has been existed for 10 years.
Pauli (guitar), Eero (bass), Lauri (vocals) and Aki (drums) started as a school band in 1994. and released their first album in 1996. achieving first golden and then platinum circulation.
It was the time when many new bands appeared and the time of the creation of hard rock scene that gave many world-famous names: Nightwish, Stratovarius, HIM, Sonata Arctica, Amorphis, Children Of Bodom…
The second The Rasmus’ album, “Playboys” (1997) becomes golden in a very short period of time. “Hellofatester” (1998), their 3rd album, brings the first great hit “Liquid” which is proclaimed as the best song of the year. They record and mix their compilation, “Hellofacollection” (2001), in Sweden and in the same year they release their next album, “Into” with single “F-F-F-Falling” which keeps the 1st place for 3 months on top-lists and which is sold in double platinum circulation. The Rasmus finish the year with thrice crown, the best album, the greatest hit and the title band of the year.
The Rasmus were ready to cross the borders. They play with HIM and Roxette in Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Latvia, Italy…
Last year, they released their album “Dead Letters”. It was recorded in Sweden with the same team that also worked on previous very successful album, “Into”. The first hit single from this album opens them a door to all European music Medias.

Here is what they have to say about it:
Pauli: We know every Finnish city and we had a great time on tours. It is time to get out and explore the world. We’ve been making music for 9 years and our dreams come true now.

I believe that you’ve realized your dreams because you were supporting band on HIM’s tour and now you can go in Europe by yourselves.
Pauli: Tour with HIM was OK. They’ve got a similar style, they’re also playing rock with catchy songs and melodies. It only differs because their lyrics are hopeless and darker than ours. I think we’re happier, at least in our lyrics.

Is it for real, observing the lyrics from the last album?
Lauri: All the lyrics I write relate to something that happened to me. The lyrics from “Dead Letters” present some kind of a letter collection that express request, gratitude or excuse to someone. This album is darker than what we used to do before, that’s true.

During the last year, you were proving what an excellent band you are. Lauri indisputably attracts lots of attention?
Pauli: Lauri has found his frontman role and he plays it very well. That’s OK, every band has to have its frontman and Lauri loves that role. There are only few bands where all members are famous. Lauri is our singer and he’s surely in a middle of attention.

How do you fight against groupies?
Eero: I’ve got no experience with them and I don’t want it.
Pauli: Me neither, but I know that Lauri likes those experiences.
Lauri: Of course! (laughter)
Eero: We’re simply concentrating on our show and performance. It doesn’t matter whether we’re famous or not, we only want to make good music and a good show.

You made two different videos for single “In The Shadows”. That’s unusual.
Eero: The first version has many scenes from a film where “In The Shadows” as its soundtrack belongs. Since the film was shown only in Finland, it would be senseless to use it abroad. The video would be illogical so we made a new one.

The video for the second single, “First Day Of My life”, was shot on Speedway track in Germany. Did you drive a bit?
Pauli: We had lots of fun. The location is really really cool. Simple but with a style. You can see us standing in the middle of the pool. Too bad, we didn’t have any time for driving. That would have been a great temptation.

Bruce Dickinson, the singer of Iron Maiden, said last summer that Helsinki was world’s capital of metal music. It seems that Helsinki is very creative city for the rock music.
Pauli: Helsinki’s music scene has become a world famous one. Musicians know each other and help each other. There are many rock bands in Helsinki. People in here prefer some kind of alternative music to the mainstream. They want to make something special, to experiment. That’s wonderful. Finland is country where you can make music that you want. That’s why Finland becomes exporter of good bands with their own style.

Something for the end.
Eero: In music business, at one side, there are people who want to become famous and earn money, on the other side – there are people like we are, people who want to make good music. We’ve been working hard to become what we are today.

Written by Miloš Ristic

June 2004
Magazine: Huper
Translation by: F-F-F-Fan
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The Rasmus Hellofasite is the italian portal & fan club entirely dedicated to the finnish rockband of The Rasmus.
Online since the 30th of January 2005 and accurately updated, in this website it's possible to find all the important things to know about the band: all the latest official news, exclusives, the fully discography with all the different editions of all the albums and singles, all the lyrics and much more ...read more »

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