The Rasmus: first Finland, now the world [USA]

Wednesday July 21, 2004 @ 01:30 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff
by Shannon Whibbs

The Rasmus have been successful in their native country of Finland, and in many parts of Europe for several years. But now they’re just beginning to crack Canada and the U.S. Starting from square one across the ocean is hard but exciting for this band who incorporate rock, pop and touches of goth into their high-energy sound. Don’t be fooled by lead singer Lauri Ylönen, though. Under the feathers, tattoos and eyeliner, he’s just a dude who wants to play rock ‘n’ roll and avoid a “real” job like the rest of us suckers.

The Rasmus
ChartAttack: You guys have been a pretty big musical force in Europe for several years now. How does it feel to come to North America and playing small clubs again?
Lauri Ylönen: I see it as kind of a positive thing because we’ve been playing music for 10 years now and done five albums. We’ve always been trying to break out of Finland and it’s been kind of a dream for us. Now it’s finally happening with the fifth album and I think that we have learned so much in the 10 years we’ve been together. If I look back now, even five years back, it wasn’t really there. It’s not our native language. I can speak English – I mean, I’ve learned to speak English a little better now.

How did you write songs when your English wasn’t very good?
Of course we read English in school, because we have all the idols, like American bands and English bands. The English is perfect, with the guitars and the sound and the rhythm of the language. There’s more rhythm. The Finnish language is kind of consey [sic] like, there’s a lot of “Euhhhh, bleeah, beeeh” these kinds of syllables. But there’s some really good bands in Finland that sing in Finnish. It’s kind of a new wave of rock band and metal band who sing Finnish, which is kind of cool.

What’s the deal with all the crow imagery, anyway? It’s in your videos, your songs, your hair.
The crows are kind of gloomy animals because you can’t really tell what they are thinking. And I have a nickname – I’ve had it like, five years, they call me The Bird, which in Finnish is Lintu.

The album is called Dead Letters and you’ve described each song as being a “dead letter” to someone. Did you have this concept in mind from the start, or did it take shape as you wrote the album?
It was there all the time in the back of my mind. I wanted to write something a bit more personal this time. I was thinking about my life quite much, being the age of 24-25, like, is this thing that I want to do for the rest of my life? And I said, “Hell yeah!” It’s become kind of like a lifestyle for us, being a band. I don’t have any experience working or being in school – I quit my school when I was 17 because I wanted to play guitar.

That’s pretty young to get started. How has your sound changed over the years?
In the beginning, it was more like skate-punk and I was also rapping, so it sounded more like Red Hot Chili Peppers, but nowadays I’ve kind of fallen in love with melancholy and these kind of sad melodies. There was a theme on this album that I wanted to write about – things that really hurt inside of me. It’s a little more serious for this one.

Yet at the same time, there’s a real fist-pumping, stadium-rock quality to your sound. Were you also influenced by those kinds of bands?
We have lots of influences from the ’80s. First bands that I discovered big-time were Guns N’ Roses, Skid Row, Motley Crue and all these hair bands.

Do you ever listen to Bon Jovi?
No.

I don’t want to insult you, but there’s a part in “Guilty” that reminds me of “Livin’ On A Prayer.”
That’s a great song! I don’t know why, but it’s somehow, always the music, big choruses and kind of great and powerful, and it’s good because I was so bored! Life after the grunge thing, everyone was trying to be very small and kind of humble and sorry on stage and that’s not the way it should be.

Big messy rock ‘n’ roll?
Yeah, I think if you go on a stage, you’re allowed to be a rock star. That’s what people want to see. That’s what I want to see.

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