Interview with Eero, Lauri and Pauli [Turkey]

The Rasmus, whose hit “In The Shadows” has taken off really big across europe, used the time allocated to them at the festival to full advantage. The finnish quartet were expected to appear on stage in the image we are accustomed to seeing in their videos, and fans were surprised to them appear in normal, everyday clothing! their performance on stage ensured that they were the stars of the festival. The band began with “First Day Of My Life” and “Guilty”, and the audience by now was fully in the swing of things! They played some of their older songs, among them “F-f-f-falling”, “Still Standing”, “Time To Burn” and “Not Like The Other Girls” were really well received. The most outstanding performance was, without a doubt, “In The Shadows”. The audience accompanied the band throughout this song, and this was a memorable moment of the festival, and really worth watching!
The interview with the guys is by dogu yucel and zeynep okyay.
Backstage we met the bassist, Eero, and the guitarist, Pauli. We really wanted to talk to Lauri, but his irritating manager had him doing some radio reportage. we asked Eero and Pauli questions, and at the end of the interview, we asked Lauri a couple of things.

Interviewer: this is your first time in turkey. Have you been able to see istanbul?
Pauli: not yet. we’ll have time tomorrow, though. I like the atmosphere of the city. it’s not very western.

Interviewer: like in Europe, “In The Shadows” was a huge hit in turkey.did you expect the song to be such a big hit?
Pauli: no. Our previous album was a success in finland. We wanted to produce an album on a par at least with that. We didn’t think it would get so big.

Interviewer: why did you do 3 videos for “In The Shadows”?
Pauli: the first was for the soundtrack of the film “bad boys” in finland. The second was for the german market. The americans wanted a different one.

Interviewer: your first 5 albums are known well in finland. “Dead Letters” was the breakthrough album for europe. What was the secret of “Dead Letters”?
Pauli: we weren’t that good in our previous albums. We began when we were young; 15,16 years old. This album is good because we have improved.

Interviewer: over time you have tried several music styles. We have read that before “Dead Letters” you released an album in the same genre as “Linkin Park” and “Korn”. Could you tell us a bit about the musical history of The Rasmus?
Pauli: we started out with”skate-punk”.the songs were very fast. They weren’t serious and they were for fun. In our second album we had songs full of metal riffs. We have tried many different styles. Now we are doing melancholic rock, and our song lyrics are deep and melancholic.

Interviewer: could we say that your sound is similar now to “him” and their style “love metal”?
Eero: no. I prefer to say “dramatic rock”.

Interviewer: you are often compared to “him”. your manager is also the same.what do you think; is there a connection between the two bands?
Pauli: I think that “him” is one of the most successful bands finland has produced. We don’t know them well personally, though. Their way of telling a story is different; their music portrays a world of fairytales and speculative stories. We are more realistic. Our song lyrics are about our real experiences.

Interviewer: hi, Lauri! a couple of questions for you!
While creating the “sound” of The Rasmus, which musicians influence you the most?
Lauri: at the moment I am influenced by songwriters such as leonard cohen. Writing lyrics in a poetic way makes it easier for a melody to appear. Also, I am sometimes inspired by a film I watch, or a book I read.

Interviewer: I’ve heard that you are a big fan of Björk. Have you ever met?
Lauri: yes, I am one of her biggest fans. I haven’t met her, one day I would like to. Actually, I would like to do a song with her.

Interviewer: you have a tattoo of her on your arm.
Lauri: yes, on my left arm.

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