The Rasmus: In an interview with woodZ! [Germany]

They composed their songs on an acoustic guitar and this way create “the basics for a good song”. woodZ’s author Kai Rachel talked to The Rasmus about their new album.

3 years went by since your last album. You have been on tour for a long time, how is life on the road?
Lauri: It is a crazy life. So many things happen. No day is like the other one. After the concerts we are still invited to aftershow-parties. There is many temptation. It is a pleasant life , but also exhausting and it gets you tired very quickly. After the last album we have done probably too much , we were a little burnt out and therefore we took some more time for making the new album.

Do you write your new songs while being on tour?
Eero: Yes, we do as well. We wrote the songs of our last album on tour, while this time we were on hiatus before writing new songs. We wanted to think more precisely what the new record should be about.
Lauri: But it is funny indeed, what you all can do directly at a pc-laptop nowadays. You do not need a perfect equipped studio anymore. You can work with new ideas already in the tourbus, backstage or in the hotelroom. We did so and you can hear on our new album, because there we included many of these sythie elements of our first demos.

How did the new songs of the album come alive ( come to being)?
Lauri: Some ideas are about 10 years old. “10 Black Roses” for instance. Originaly I wrote the song for classical guitar and now it became the refrain to the song, it only took its time until it got its place in our music. But most of the songs were written last year. For two and a half weeks we were on a little Greek island, there we had the chance to write songs , in a great surrounding – on the edge of the cliffs – with great weather, good food and good wine.

You created your very own The Rasmus music-style. Are there other bands in Helsinki who also have this powerful sound like you’ve got?
Lauri: That’s right, we created our own sound and we really wanted to keep it. We have a different producer. This time we worked with Desmond Child, and the only thing we were worrying about was, that he could change something of our style , that he could “americanize” us. But we found out that he is a fan of those Scandinavian vibes, which we have got in our music. These he wanted to point out even more, and he was really successful in doing so.

You compose your songs on an acoustic guitar. Do you already got the final arrangement when you compose?
Lauri: No, not really. With this we are just open to where the song finally shall lead to. A rocksong, a pop- or an electrosong. With the acoustic guitar we are just creating the basics for a good song.

The final arrangement really takes place in the studio then?
Eero: Yes, with the songs we go into the studio and try out how we could arrange the songs. Sometimes without drums, sometimes without bass, then with synthesizer-sound or with different effects concerning the voice … that is a very interesting, a way of playing but creative work.

What’s new with “Black Roses” – or is the well-known The Rasmus-sound like in “In The Shadows” expecting us?
Eero: It is a typical TR album. Again this time we attached great importance to melodies. We simply like these catchy guitar-riffs and the clear rhythms. That is “the real us” and we are not going to part from that. But some of it sounds maybe more like a popsong, the arrangements are more electronic, but not as hard and rough anymore like the album before.

Which music do you listen to?
Lauri: We like Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Rage against the Machine, Muse or Guns ‘N Roses. We just watched a documentary about Jimi Hendrix, when he played in Sweden in 1969. It‘s cool to see those artists and you still can learn from them.
Aki: We are big fans of Metallica. We like the new stuff by them. It sounds as if they return back to where they have started from. They make long songs with complicated arrangements and that sounds really good. They still have energy, although meanwhile they are about 50 years old.

Where do you take from the inspiration for your songs?
Lauri: That varies, it can be a spontaneous mood or an experience, a memory / remembrance from past times. Making an album can be compared to a diary. We already made seven albums and with each of them we share particular own special experiences.

Who was the current hit Livin’ In A World Without You written for?
Lauri: It is not written for anyone special, but a song for everybody who maybe has been confronted with a tragic situation and has to deal / to cope with it. It points out that you shall leave the bad things behind and look ahead ( look forward ). Actually it is a very positive song, even if it seems to be a negative one.

Are your songs autobiographic?
Lauri: Of course we always treat many private things in our songs , so that we can present them in a honest way on stage when performing , but we are also influenced by what is happening around us. That reflects in our songs as well.

Do you also work with other songwriters?
Lauri: Yes, we worked with Desmond Child on the new album. He is an excellent songwriter and producer with great visions. From the very beginning we had the same ideas. He taught us a real lot. This working together gave us courage for the future. Desmond showed us that we are actually only at the beginning of our career, because all that he told us and the advices he gave make us humble and hungry at the same time to that what is ahead of us / is waiting for us.

Where do you live when you are not in the studio or on tour?
Aki: Except from our guitarist, Pauli, who has setteled down in Singapore we all live in Helsinki. Living there is great and it is a calm town, close to the Baltic Sea, nevertheless there is a lot going on.

Talking about Finns, they are supposed to be those who do not talk much. Is that true and how is it for you, being on an interview-tour and always having to answer the same questions?
Eero: Yes, that’s true, the Finns do not like to talk and at the beginning ( of our career) we were hardly being interviewed. But meanwhile we learnt and if we would be so shy , we couldn´t exist as a band at all.
Lauri: …and we know that we have many fans in Germany who want to know what is going on with The Rasmus.. We sure want to give them these information . But still it is always a funny situation to be in an interview , because you have to talk about very private things, when you want to promote your own music. But we also do not want to tell too much about our songs , because otherwise they lose their secret, that should be kept always.

What is your education as a musician?
Eero: sometime we all started to learn at a school how to play our instruments but then we went on and developed.
Aki: Of course you need a basic knowledge of music, but at music-highschool you do not learn about personality, but do those things that others also do. I did not want to do that anymore. My dream was to play in a band and that is like learning by doing.
Eero: To play in a band doesn’t only mean to play your instrument right but also how to deal with the situation and your band-colleagues.

In Finland there is not only Hard Rock but also a special music-style: the Finnish Tango. What do you think of it?
Lauri: We grew up with it, those are our Schlager. Songs that we listened to as a kid.
Aki: …also The Rasmus have something in common with the Finnish tango: this often sad and melancholic mood, which the Finnish music transfers. That’s in our blood. Plus we have treated the tango-rhythm in one of our own songs, in :”In My Life”.

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