Is the world ready? [Sweden]

I was just sitting here wondering how the guys in The Rasmus are doing. How did things go in India? And why did they go there? When I call, Eero answers.

Hi! What are you doing?
- I’m just packing up after the last trip. The house is full of bags. And I’m going to fix something to eat. I was thinking hamburgers.

Where have you been?
- In Japan. Everything feels great! The album is selling and our international career is starting to kick off.

Speaking about international. You have been in India as well.
- That was something completely new! They don’t have the same rock culture like we do. But they are very curious and open to everything new. We got invited there by a guy who we work with and everyone in the band was very curious about going there.

It is not so common for artists from the west to perform in India, right?
- No, it’s like us, and that guy from Canada you know, (Eero starts to sing) I’ll do everything for you, he has been there and played as well.

Eh…(honestly I have no idea who he is talking about. So I pretend). Oh right, him.. Okay, so how was the audience?
- People who came there weren’t there to listen to the new trend but went there to have fun, enjoyed each other’s company and checked out what we were all about. It was really a fantastic trip.

And the music…
- We played the same songs as we usually do, but we had added an acoustic part and I knew about an old Indian song, sort of like a folksong. Everyone got really surprised when we played that.

Despite you being unknown in India, you have sold 20.000 records there. What do they listen to besides The Rasmus?
- Bhangra, modern folkmusic which is sung in Hindu and with a lot of percussion.

Everyone I know that has been to India got struck with a sort of “damn, we live very good in the west” vibe. Do you recognise that?
- A lot of people are extremely poor and many tourists get shocked. At the airport in New Delhi I saw an Englishman run towards one of the guards. He took out a lot of money, put it all in the hands of the guard and said: “I’m panicking, can’t stay here, give this to a good person, to someone who needs it more than me.” And he went back home again.

You are about to tour in South Africa and Latin America, that’s a lot of travelling. How does that work?
- You get pretty tired. Back and forth, and we never stay so long that you’re able to establish something that feels like “home”. Luckily we are very good friends, everyone speaks Finnish and we are on the same wave length. So wherever we go it almost feels like home.

You have just done a Sci-Fi video for Shot on the Canary Islands. What is the song about?
- Friendship, trust and love. I think that Lauri wrote it for a girl actually. A special girl. But sometimes he says that it’s about us in the band. His friends.

And he wouldn’t tell you which girl it’s about?
- I haven’t asked him actually. Sometimes I wonder where he gets his inspiration from and then I ask him straight out: “Where did you get that from?” On the other hand I often think that the music is the most important thing, it hits you first.

Bhangra: Indian folkmusic from Punjab with influences from both pop, techno and rap. Today a big part of the bhangra music is produced in England and exported to India. Some of the biggest artist in bhangra are Panjabi and Jazzy B.

The Rasmus
Members: Eero Heinonen bass, Lauri Ylönen vocals, Aki Hakala drums and Pauli Rantasalmi guitar.
Formed: In Helsinki 1995
Country: Finland
Breakthrough: 2003 with In the Shadows.
Right now: The single Shot from the latest album Hide From the Sun (2005) has just been released. There are also plans for a big launch in the USA this fall.

- We want to tour in the US but it’s a huge market and it requires a lot of work. We would love to do a tour as an opening act with a band that fits us. That is somewhere on the borderline between melodious rock and grunge. (Eero)

By: Anna Kind

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