I would like to be a child again [Germany]

He thinks groupies are silly, likes to go camping and really loves to be told the truth by Ville Valo from HIM. The Rasmus singer Lauri Ylönen(26) told us a few more cranky facts.
For some The Rasmus are merely “these guys with the crow feathers in their hair”, for the others they are the hotteste Finland export since Kimi Räikkönen and Nokia mobiles. And they deserve that title. Their album “Dead Letters”, which sold over 1,5million times worldwide, their song “In The Shadows” was in the top 10 in 11 countries. Now the new album “Hide From The Sun” has been released – reason enough to meet The Rasmus singer Lauri for a little chat…

It’s only just become quiet around you guys, and then the next Rasmus album is already in the shops: why don’t you take a break and rest on your success for a while?
(laughs) ‘Cause breaks are boring! Really! We guys are real workaholics. We can’t do without music and none of us is able to keep still for a few months. That’s why it was clear from the beginning that we’ll continue. That it went so fast – we didn’t expect that either.

How big is the pressure to have to write another hit like “In The Shadows”?
We don’t create any pressure ourselves and we don’t let anybody put any pressure on us. Of course we want to be successful. But most important, we want to make music. If the people like it – even better.

Your mates Eero, Aki, Pauli and you, you’ve been a band for ten years. Didn’t you ever have problems or wanted to give up the whole thing?
Oh yes! We had this thought very often. But somehow we always managed to snatch up again. It’s like in the U2-Song “With or without you” – we can’t live with nor without each other.

Apart from your band, Ville Valo from HIM and Bam Magera (“Viva la Bam”) belong to your best friends. What is the thing you like about them most?
That they are honest. Those two don’t mince matters and just tell me their opinion. I’ve often played songs to Ville and asked him for his opinion. He is a hard judge. If I’m lucky he says: “Good.” But often he just says: “Shit!” Then I know: Ok Lauri, you need to work on this song. I appreciate friends that are frank and honest with each other. It’s hard to find that. Especially in the so-called “media business”.

You sound rather shirty when you talk about the media business. But don’t you think that it has helped you a lot? Without press, maybe nobody would know you save for the Finnish…
Yes, that’s true. We are thankful for all this. But I would just wish for a bit more loyality in this business. That would be great.

Do you sometimes regret that you didn’t have a proper childhood because you started to make music professionally so early? With 14 it started in the garage. With 16 then you debuted with Rasmus…
No. I chose this way myself. Nobody forced me to do it. But sometimes I wish I could, as an adult, be as crazy as a little child. I mean without people calling you completely crazy at once. This light-heartedness, not having to care about anything, that’s what I miss really much.

You call yourself a workaholic. But sometimes you surely need a bit of peace? What do you do, when you have time for yourself?
Read, write songs or chill out with friends. Most of all I like to go camping. I need that at least once a year to come down from all this stress.

Are there any girls with you when you’re camping?
(laughs) I bet you want to know now if I sleep alone in my tent, don’t you?

Yes, exactly! Tell us a bit about the life of a rock star these days?
Sex, drugs, rock’n'roll! No, all crap. I sleep alone. And if your next question should be if I have a girlfriend – I’ll give you the answer beforehand: I don’t have a girlfriend. And to tell the truth, I’m quite happy about that.

Ok, no girlfriend then. But surely there are a lot of girls who’d like to start something with you?
Yes, I guess. But what does that help me? I have my own kind of requirements. And up to now, unfortunately, there was nothing up my way that would have fit. And by the way: The most girls that adore me or want me are nothing else but groupies. And I really don’t want to have them in my family. I’ll rather have a bit more of a look around…

As we’re on the subject anyway. What was the worst thing you’ve experienced regarding groupies?
Nothing special. But the usual is bad enough. We get these worn slips and bras with the phone numbers thrown on stage nearly every concert. Sometimes that is really disgusting. I’d rather not go into detail there…

When one hears all this – is it hard for you to get to know normal girls?
You can say that loud. In Finland every girl knows me. And if I get spoken to on a party in a club by a girl, then its mostly with the words: “Ey, aren’t you the guy with the feathers in his hair?” Great, isn’t it? Then I’m really pissed off getting to know that girl more.

Well, you don’t really make it easy. How would you propose to get to know youself?
(laughs) Good question. Hmm, I’d give out myself a beer and ask me if I was keen on going somewhere where it’s easy to have a little chat. That would be a nice start, wouldn’t it?

Sounds nice, but not really ingenious.
It isn’t. I know. But at least it wouldn’t be a silly speech. One gets humble.

There’s one question we can’t avoid now. What kind of girl do you like?
She has to be able to make me laugh.

Oh lord, that alone is quite a hard task…
(laughs) Yeah, yeah, make fun of me. No, really: she should be funny, be intelligent and her appearance should be natural. Looks are the least important. She definitely doesn’t need to have a model figure or something like that. I think other things are much more important. She should have charisma and be a great person, who’s not playing any tricks on me.

At the end one more sincere question. Where do you see yourself in 20 years? Could you imagine to give up music some day and become a normal family father with a totally normal job?
No, a normal job – there is no way I could imagine that for myself! I want to have a wife and children sometime later, but at the moment I am doing music. And what comes up my street tomorrow – I’ll start thinking about it when it comes.

Three things that only few know about Lauri…
1. Lauri has complexes because of his height (1,69m) and therefore likes to wear shoes with high heels. His favourite shoes are from New Rock and cost about 170€.
2. Lauri doesn’t own a driving license. And because he hates public transport, he moves around Helsinki only with his bicycle.
3. Lauri collects and wears all wristbands he is given by fans: “That is my thank you to our fans! I think it’s great when I can make them happy this way!”

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