Interview with Eero and Pauli [Czech Republic]

Lately you could read at our website a review from the gig of The Rasmus at Senec Fest in Slovakia. This quadripartite band will appear on this year’s festival Love Planet in Prague. Before the show in Slovakia, the two members of the band, guitar player Pauli and bass player Eero, save their time and chat with me not only about their shows but also about the yoga, mentality of Finns and about separation from their families.

You are in Slovakia for the first time. What do you know about this country?
Pauli: Well, once I drove across the Slovakia. It was 11 years ago. I know that Slovakia was connected with the Czech Republic. I know the Czech Republic way more better, I was there on holiday few times and we even had a gig there so we know the basic facts.

What are you gonna play tonight? What about your gigs? How do they look like?
Pauli: When we perform we have good feeling and we enjoy it very much. We mostly play songs form the last album “Hide from teh sun” and hit songs from “Dead Letters”. Usually our gigs take 90-100 minutes and we want to share the good mood, which we feel when we perform, to the audience.

Tonight you’re performing at a festival, but for example in November last year you played a really great gig in club Roxy in Prague. What do you prefer? Clubs or festivals?
Eero: The gig in Roxy was really great, we have had a great feeling from it and also the audience was great. But those festivals are nice too. I think that tonight’s show will be very good too. We like to play at festivals because our music will be heard by people who won’t come just for our show. Maybe they come because of some act before us and then they say “let’s wait and listen even The Rasmus”. In this the festivals are great. Sometimes people only know the name of the band but don’t know their songs. On the top of it when we play a good show, they might go and buy our album. This is a very good way of amking new fans.
Pauli: Essentially we can’t say what is better. The feeling is totally different. Performing outside, especially in the summer is really amazing and intimate.
Eero: But playing in the club has its magic too. Somehow we are closer to our fans, moreover during the gigs in clubs we play special acoustic part what is impossible on some festival due to the time shedule.

I think The Rasmus with HIM and Apocalyptica are the three main finnish artists who make Finland famous. What does it feel like? Do you feel like stars?
Eero: I’d say that important are also Nightwish right now.
Pauli: IT’s really hard to believe it. Finns are really shy. For Finns is really difficult to take compliments.

And why? Don’t you believe it when people tell you?
Pauli: I don’t know, it’s inside of us! We don’t know what to do with it when a foreigner says “You are beautiful!” or “You are really great!”.
Eero: It’s in the character of Finns. For example when you visit a finnish family, they keep on telling you how modestly they live, that they didn’t clean the house and so on. One could think that there is some danger and he/she shouldn’t go there but when you enter there, then everything is on it’s place – clean house, everything is fine. And then when you tell them that they have nice house, then they you can see suspicion in their faces and they simply don’t know what to say. But we are just like that…

Finland is a beautiful country and I think Finnish language is very interesting and it sounds very lovely. Have you ever tried to record a song in Finnish?
Pauli: No, even though we have two songs in Finnish and we usually play one of them during the gig, but it’s not a song which we would compose. It’s more like a joke, it’s like a sweet love song.

You already work on your new songs. Your last album was released last autumn, when its sibling will be born?
Eero: First we wanna finish this tour, we are on the road for too long. Now we’re concentrating on performing and we try to enjoy the summer. When this will be done, we will have time to do something new for sure.

Many artists say that it’s nice to write new songs during the tour, they have great ideas then. What about you? Do you need a rest for your music?
Pauli: It’s very different. But I think that we all deserve a rest after the tour and then we will write new songs with new energy.

Today you arrived from Romania to Slovakia by bus. Why? You rather go by bus or you are afraid of airoplanes?
Eero: No but we have had a gig in Budapest where we have arrived by airoplane from Helsinki but it was easier to go by bus to Romania and back here. But tomorrow we’re gonna fly from Vienna to Helsinki.
Pauli: And have a few days off. And then back to Hungary and to the Czech Republic.

It’s really very demanding, when actually this tour ends?
Pauli: Even we don’t know. Right now they told us new tour dates. Even though it will be specified later but it looks like we will be touring until November.

And when it all ends, you’re leave for holiday, no? How do you relax?
Pauli: Everyone has different plans. Me, during relaxing, I don’t do anything just chill, on the other hand Eero do meditation.
Eero: Yes, that’s true, I do meditation. My hobby is yoga for few years already. Even now, during the tour, I do meditation every morning for 15 minutes. It gives me a lot.

How your families/girlfriends think about your touring?
Pauli: My parents support me and girlfriend too. For Eero it’s worse, he has his own family.
Eero: I’m married and have a family, but it all goes fine. You know, when you love somebody, it doesn’t matter where you are. This feeling and longing for the one who you love is in my case so strong that it gives me the energy for the whole time when I’m away from my family.

Acording to what you have said you have lots of work ahead of you for this summer. I hope that everything will go on like you want and I wish you ll good luck.
Eero: Yeah, thank you very much, I hope we will see you in Prague.

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