Interviewer: This week we have Lauri for our Himoartisti-interview. Welcome!
Lauri: Thank you, thank you.

Interviewer: Lauri, your new song “She’s a Bomb” is playing on YleX and it has succeed in our Himotuimmat-list. It have had the first and second places until now. Why did you change your style to be something like this?
Lauri: It have been changing little by little. The first album was supposed to become The Rasmus-album at first, and that was it when I got the idea to start doing solo. The first album was like soft landing to this (laughs). And now this have worked itself loose from the band completely. It’s evolving into more electoric and house-like, as the newest song got the 90′s feel.

Interviewer: Yes. How much you’ve been justifying your new sound on your solo project?
Lauri: Well, I’ve got off lightly, because I avoid the justifying pretty much. It’s coming from inside, that’s the right way to start doing music. This single is not representing the whole album after all.

Interviewer: You got a lot electric sound on your solo project. How about The Rasmus, is there coming more electronics in there too?
Lauri: I don’t think so. We just made last year this song “Mysteria” and it had a little electric sound at the end. It was kind of my work, and I don’t know if that’s a good idea. Maybe it’s just better that I have these kind of two different boxes; The Rasmus and my own solo. Then I can throw my crazy ideas to solo, and Rasmus is like the real band and real work.

Interviewer: Real work?
Lauri: I mean like, solo is more like my hobby. Though I’m doing it fully. There’s no other people, who I need to ask and check if I can do like this and like that. I can do everything really spontaneously, if I got an idea, then I can just do what I feel like. It’s really nice feeling. The Rasmus has great things going on, but there’s a lot people working in there and the process is much slower.

Interviewer: And now you can decide on your own?
Lauri: Yes. Or of course we can decide for a lot of things, but…

Interviewer: But you don’t need to do compromise?
Lauri: Yes, that’s right. I don’t need to think, that the others might got embarrassed. If I’d start requiring, that I must put on my leopard-panties and jump all over the stage, it might be unpleasant to others.

Interviewer: Where did you got the idea to the music video, where you’re dressed as a woman stripper, from?
Lauri: Well, the atmosphere was really deranged from the beginning, and I though that it needs a music video like this. And one of my friends told me that the song reminds him of adult entertainment. That was something I hadn’t tried yet.

Interviewer: Right. They got quite a bomb out of you there.
Lauri: Wasn’t I hot?
Interviewer: Yes, yes. I was drooling while watching it. But hey Lauri, when we first heard this song live, the show was pretty confusing. I bet you’ve heard about it. There was three Amanda’s on the stage. Are your future shows going to be like that too?
Lauri: Not the same, but you can feel the direction I’m moving now. My solo career is still starting.

Interviewer: Tell us: “If my song is the first one in Himotuimmat-list -again-, I promise:”-
Lauri: … to do spaghetti.

Interviewer: Lauri, what do you covet right now?
Lauri: That I’d get to walk on the ice.

The audio of the whole radio show, obviously in Finnish, is available in this page.

“Do you have GOOD FOTOS of The Rasmus, Live pics, fan pics, you and your friends waiting outside the venue etc. FROM THE TOUR LAST YEAR.
We’re planning a foto gallery for the next DVD (The Rasmus Tour DVD part2)…
By sending your fotos to this address: therasmusfinland@gmail.com
you give us a permission to release the fotos on the DVD.
(If you want you can add a text “foto: *your name*” on the foto.), like on the foto below.
Thank You!”

Source

Let’s hope that those dates and the rest of the band’s Latin America tour will be scheduled as soon as possible.

In the many interviews almost nothing new has been said compared to the interview at Radio Aalto from last Friday, except for that the new solo album is still not ready and that in it the singing will have a secondary role, it’ll be like an instrument among others.

Concerning The Rasmus, Lauri confirmed more than once that in June the band will meet to start working on their new album, and they’ll also play in some summer festivals abroad (not in Finland).

Here’s the complete links of today’s interviews and articles (all in Finnish):
YleX Aamu
Radio Suomi Pop

Here and here you can watch the video interview, while hereinafter there’s the translation thanks to Annukka Ylinen.

Interviewer: Good morning, Lauri Ylönen!
Lauri: Thank you.

Interviewer: So, what is it about She’s a Bomb? Your video is on the frontpage of both, our Radio Aalto Dynastia and Radio Aalto’s facebook. Is that so, it isn’t supposed to be there yet?
Lauri: Yes, that’s right. I think our lovely Nelonen did bring it out a week too early.
Interviewer: Whoops, how is that possible?
Lauri: Well, that happens.
Interviewer: But the song went on sale today, so it’s published today?
Lauri: I don’t even know anymore. I think it doesn’t matter that much.
Interviewer: I just bought it from iTunes. It wasn’t available earlier, when I tried.
Lauri: The premiere was supposed to be today, in the Voice of Finland.

Interviewer: I heard some rumors, that the video isn’t for the little ones, so that’s because it’s premiere isn’t today, in the Voice of Finland.
Lauri: Yes, there’s a little naughty atmosphere going on in that video, so that’s because it had to be published after 11 pm.
Interviewer: Lauri, when I saw that video for the first time,
Lauri: Yeah?
Interviewer: And started watching it, I felt like: “Well, okay, this seems cool, there’s this girl and a pole dancer”. After that, as smart as I am, I noticed: “Wait a minute, that’s a man performing the girl” And I started thinking right away: “Who of my drag-colleagues got this job” and felt a little bitter. “They wanted somebody else doing this task!”. And it took me so long to realize, that it was the artist himself! How did your thoughts get to this point, that you are there, dressed as a woman, and doing pole dancing?
Lauri: Yeah, it started from this that I played the song for my friend, and he said that It feels like watching porn.
Interviewer: Yesh!
Lauri: So I knew I had to make a music video like this, so I got to play some roles. That’s what I hadn’t tried yet, adult entertainment. And so now I got to play/fool around with myself, which feels a little selfish idea.
Interviewer: And so this was the first idea for the MV, not any for a long time been considered thought?
Lauri: Maybe there was this internal feel, which I wanted to bring out or something.
Interviewer: I started thinking, was this meant to be so big difference from that Lauri, who’s maybe known as a little shy, tousle-haired boy?
Lauri: Yeah well, my friend told me yesterday that “You’ve got that kind of fart-ish sense of humour, but people just don’t know about it”.
Interviewer: Okay, now they do!
*laughter*
Lauri: Yes, it shared a lot of opinions, some of these, who adore gothic-like stuff, are kind of offended about the video. They’re like “What’s happening to you?”. And some are: “Yeah, awesome!”

Interviewer: Even the song is kind of different compared to your first solo. How it has been received, what kind of comments do you get?
Lauri: Very contradictory, but mostly positive. They’re like “That’s really punk!”.
Interviewer: How was the video shootings, did you have fun?
Lauri: Yes, downright very restless funtime. We were at Umeå where lives Owe Lingvall, who with I had done some previous videos, too. And we have Amanda, this glove puppet, who shows up in these videos. We got to play with puppets again. Owe’s another +40 years old man too, so that’s a little strange way to spend your Friday-night, I guess. You know, in the dark Umeå, in Owe’s home just shooting a video and stripping for the camera.

Interviewer: How many pole dancing lessons done?
Lauri: Well, actually zero. This is the fun part, there’s actually a stand-in-actor for my “body”, that’s how much I have to confess and take back.
Interviewer: Oohh!
Lauri: Even my best friends are like: “Damn, you’ve got a nice ass!” I’m like thank you, thank you.
Interviewer: You’re doing like americans, you got a “body-double”?
Lauri: It’s so well-made, people can’t tell how is it!
Interviewer: And now you told it to them.
Lauri: Yes, the whole thing is flatten now.
Interviewer: Actually, that makes my life easier.
Lauri: I knew it, you were a little envious!
Interviewer: I really was like: “He’s taking others plots!” Secondly, if I’m living with your outputs too, I don’t have any afford to say. Revenge of live, in this situation. Lauri, you should’ve seen Jarkko’s face when he first saw this video. There was a lot going on in his head, real admiration, you fit so well for the lady’s role.
Lauri: Yes.
Interviewer: Really credible. And for the other role too, the macho one.
Lauri: Yes, that’s another groovy role, this opponent.
Interviewer: Yes. The fun part came from the fact, that I recognized you as the drag lady only after when I saw you as the macho man. After I saw the other role again I realized: “wait a minute, it’s Lauri too!”
Lauri: Now I started to feel like that we should tell people, where you can watch this video.
Interviewer: Oh, yes, as I said earlier, from Radio Aalto Dynastia and Radio Aalto facebook-pages you can find the link.
And that’s how sounds Lauri – She’s a Bomb, the album comes out in the fall. Maybe until then they can fit in some other singles. The official date of publication was today, after those leakages happened a week ago.
So, Lauri, you think that the spring has come today?
Lauri: Yes, I’ve got this annual ritual to shout out my spring shout 15.3.. And I heard that some others do that too.

Interviewer: What is “spring shout” like?
Lauri: It’s just… Should I shout it now?
Interviewer: Of course!
Lauri: Just shout out of your car window, like I did with my son this morning: “AAAAH!”. People look after me: “There he goes again…”
Interviewer: Somebody told me that “Ronja the Robber’s Daughter” got comparable spring shout?
Lauri: I just said it, maybe I’ve heard that as a child, and then I just started doing it as my own thing. We can share it.
Interviewer: We’ll never know who invented it first. But spring shout, what a wonderful ritual! And now it spreads all over the world. Spring is here!
Lauri: This is where the spring starts!
Interviewer: It affects to all Finns, the fact that Ylönen does it, then we all got in our minds: Spring is here, and soon summer.

—-

Interviewer: What’s happening, I started to hear Kristiina Komulainen’s voice!
Kristiina: I’m under the table!
Interviewer: Kristiina Komulainen is here! Krisu, what are you doing here? Moi!
Kristiina: Moi! I’ve been missing you so much, and then I heard that Lauri was here and you are talking about the new video, so I’ve got one thing related to Lauri’s look. Partially for you, but mostly for Lauri himself. And a question, if I may ask?
Interviewer: We’re listening.

Kristiina: Good. It was year 2004 or 2005, and we had a Christmas party at my job. We were supposed to dress as celebrities. I dressed as Lauri Ylönen, I got my wig and feathers and I taped my breasts. I felt and looked pretty boyish, since I was learning how to act like a boy. I went straigt to my role, and after a couple of ciders it seemed even better all the time. First we had our own private party, where I of course got to be undisturbed. After it we went to a night club, and I hadn’t though this before it: Today I’m Lauri Ylönen! We went to the night club, and women freaked out completely. I think I got to live your life for a little while. In a public place, at night, in a bar!
Lauri: Did you got beaten?
Kristiina: No, but there was like ten woman chasing after me, touching, they ripped me, and I couldn’t even move alone in that night club anymore. Because I was you. I wanted to ask you: Can you even go to a bar anymore, and how does your head resist all that?
Interviewer: And do you even want to go to a bar?
Lauri: Well, when I get away from my fortress, that happens. People do identify me pretty much.
Kristiina: As a mild expression.
*laughter*
Lauri: I feel that a lot, but not all in Finland. I don’t even notice that anymore, I’m immune.
Kristiina: But how is that night club behavior, since people has took a little alcohol and such. The reaction was so violent. I was so surprised, this is it like to live as Lauri!
Interviewer: Do people attack you?
Lauri: Middle-aged women might, they’re the worst.
Interviewer: Middle-aged drunk women! They’re got no manners.
I’ve got a theory about this. Why Lauri is that kind of quiet guy, and why did people attack Kristiina so much. I bet that, when I’ve seen Lauri in a bar, he’s pretty peaceful and he doesn’t make so big deal about himself. He’s there like: “I’m here now, and I’m going to be with my friends”. But I can imagine, how Kristiina Komulainen comes in, all the feathers in her hair, there’s like a brass band around her: “NOTICE! I’M HERE!” So it could be easier to get the attention.
Kristiina: That’s true, and it could be like that, but I wanted to respect Lauri. And so I realized that I must behave well. Everything would’ve gone unglued, if I’d go to mess around, vomited all over and danced on the tables on your expense. So I behaved really well when I was you!
Interviewer: Kristiina, that’s what we all say in the morning after the restaurant evening. “I behaved SO well yesterday, this can’t be a bad thing!”
Lauri: So it wasn’t halloween?
Kristiina: No no, a Christmas party.
Lauri: That’s good, thank you.
Kristiina: At least I think I behaved well back then.
Interviewer: Don’t even try, Lauri knew your story already, Kristiina, and that’s why in his new video he’s acting your role!
Lauri: That’s right, I was just about to tell that. Good one.

Interviewer: But which one of them?
Lauri, you’re going to perform tonight at the Voice of Finland, what kind of show we’re getting? What kind of character you’re playing there?
Lauri: I’m not going to tell that, but it’s not going to be an ordinary show either.
Interviewer: Sounds good!
Lauri: Yes.

Interviewer: Wait, I’m trying to find… This morning, I got a friend request from a strange direction; A facebook community called “TheRasmus Paraguay”. Of course I accepted that, and went straight to their page, and first there was a picture of me, Jarkko and Anna, and the text here says: “Este es el Link del programa que transmitira la entrevista con Lauri mañana a las 8:30 (hora de Finlandia), no estoy segura si lo podremos ver online, pero despues seguro suben la entrevista!”. As translated it’s: “Lauri Ylönen at Finnish radio for an interview, everybody listen!” Holy shit, in Paraguay! *laughter* This happened last time too, when…
Lauri: Give me the globe, please.
Interviewer: …Fans from South-America contacted us.
Lauri: Yeah, they are pretty active there, it’s like night in there right now.
Interviewer: Your fans are really active and really accurate!
Lauri: Yes, they are. Actually we are going in there with The Rasmus at April.
Interviewer: You’re going in there, so what does that mean?
Lauri: Doing some gigs.
Interviewer: They are listening to us in Paraguay right now. Annika, you can speak Spanish. Send them some greetings.
Annika: ¡Hola Paraguay!
*laughter*
Interviewer: Thank you. Good that we have you, Annika, we could’ve never said that without you.

Annika: Yes, but Lauri, you just came back from Los Angeles this week, why were you in there?
Lauri: I was shooting another music video.
Annika: Well, how’s that going to be?
Lauri: We’ll see, we’ll see, they’re now working on it so it will be done sometime soon.

Interviewer: It’s funny how when you started doing your album like this, in the future people will be like: “Oh okay, what’s next?”
Lauri: Yes. I’ve got to do better every time.
Annika: Is there going to be more characters?
Lauri: Umm, I’m not gonna tell.
Interviewer: The question was like: “Is there going to be Putous (a Finnish television program) by Lauri Ylönen?”
Lauri: I’ve been thinking the same, maybe I’ve been watching to it too much. And now I like to put on some fake moustaches and such.

Interviewer: Okay. Let’s take the last question here. Before this next solo album there was album with the band, and before it there was your first solo album. I remember how the feeling was at the beginning of The Rasmus: “We’re friends forever!”. As Dee Snider was telling that Twisted Sister’s never going to break up. And btw, year after that, it did broke up. Anyway, how has it changed? Solo album, band album, solo album, what’s your relationship to the band? The Rasmus is still going strong?
Lauri: Yes, definitely. Actually, in the summer we’re going to start doing new songs, so this is kind of overlapped.

Interviewer: Is it changing, are you like “It’s just a job”? I remember how some band told a little cynical way that “it’s just a job, nothing else”.
Lauri: It’s a little different, with the band it’s settled down more than doing solo, which hasn’t been settle down at all. It feels restful to know that there’s some clear thing to do, when we’re gathering in June to do new Rasmus-songs. We have our visions and a few gigs.

Interviewer: Is this solo like you’re more free to do whatever you want, whenever you want?
Lauri: Yes, it’s really spontaneous project. If I got something on my mind today, tomorrow it can be done already.

Interviewer: Okay! And we can’t do nothing but wait, and enjoy it when something’s happening and you’re bringing us some new stuff. And today starting 8 pm at Nelonen we’re waiting to see what kind of show you have for us about She’s a Bomb in the Voice of Finland.
Lauri: Yes.
Interviewer: Lauri Ylönen, thank you!
Lauri: Thank you!

And here’s the performance of She’s a Bomb at The Voice of Finland.

The music video of the single instead will be premiered Sunday the 17th of March at midnight on the Finnish tv channel Nelonen, while it’ll be available on the singer’s YouTube channel from Monday the 18th at 8.00am (Finnish time).
In the video Lauri will be seen in “disturbing roles”.

At the moment the singer is in Los Angeles to record the, likely, music video for the second single that will be took from his solo album.

Both the music video and the album’s artwork are the result of the collaboration of the band with the company Musuta, and in this page on their website you can read the concept behind both works.

Owe Lingvall already directed both music videos took from Lauri’s first solo album, released in 2011, besides two videos for The Rasmus.

The shootings will take place in February and March between Los Angeles, Canary Islands and Sweden; in the shootings will be involved also Allen Morgan as producer, part of DreamDay Media too with Owe Lingvall and author of some remixes in the special edition of Lauri’s first solo album.

When you play in acoustic you look like The Eagles in Hotel California…I’m joking, but I think your acoustic covers are very cool. Why don’t you organize an acoustic tour?
Lauri: We have played an acoustic tour in Germany in Hard Rock Cafes in 2008, actually we have good memories of that. It was really nice to play only acoustic because think it’s really relaxed and we can talk with the audience more, it’s more interactive than play loud all the time. There is possible we’ll do it one day and it’s also more spontaneous and it’s more careless, not a bad idea.

Why don’t you play keyboards in the acoustic part of the gigs like in 2004?
Lauri: Actually we thought about that for this tour but frist of all I didn’t have the right keyboard, I have the big one, it’s like 25 kilos and I don’t want to carry it (laughs). It’s different if we would do an acoustic tour one day and I’ve visions already now to play like Tori Amos type of versions of “No Fear”, really like moody versions of the rock songs, it’d be great.
Aki: He’s a really good piano player, I like his style, you should do that (talking to Lauri).

Has your music increased finnish music scene?
Aki: Absolutely, we have a really widely music scene in Finland, we had a lot of good bands like Apocalyptica, HIM and Sunrise Avenue. Also the school system is supporting band and there’s drums and guitars in every school and you can try different instruments.

Maybe that’s why there’s so good bands, for example here it Italy there isn’t something like that.
Aki: But you play football, we play music, because when there’s a lot of snow and we stay inside and we should do something that you can actually do.
Lauri: And Dead Letters is the most sold album ever in history in Finland and the most sold Finnish album worldwide, definately it takes Finnish music out and people are interested first about our band and then they Google “The Rasmus” and it cames out other bands; it was also been helpful for us to be touring with HIM back in the days, get some support from them and get started.

Why the first title of the last album was “Kissa ja Hiiri”?
Lauri: Actually we had a riff guitar and it sounded like a cat that was running after a mouse so it’s called “Kissa ja Hiiri”.
Aki: I think we did a big mistake because we chose “The Rasmus” as the album’s title, it should be “The Rasmus Kissa ja Hiiri”.
Lauri: Yeah, it should be, and secretly it is.
Aki: And don’t tell anybody!

The gig’s setlist of this tour is almost always the same, why don’t you play more different songs?
Aki: We only play the songs we like.
Lauri: We try to play at least one song different every night.

Why “Mysteria”-sound is more like Lauri’s solo album than The Rasmus’ style?
Lauri: It sounds because it has the techno ending, but it’s just one single song, not the new The Rasmus’ style or anything, we just wanted to make a song like that and we’ll see how we continue from here.
We are thinkin to have a little break next year, but also at the same time it’s nice to be on this tour, we’ve been talking about the next album a little bit like what should it be and kind of getting into the mood and maybe it’ll take two years before it’s out or even more. We are quite critical about what we put out so we might have written 35 songs and then 10 comes out, but usually those ideas stay in the back of our minds and maybe become something else later and maybe it’s not the right time for them to be on the album. Sometimes the songs develops in more than 10 years.

Last April with “The Rasmus” release you said many times that you wouldn’t wait too much time between one album’s release and another, so why now you’ve decided to take a break?
Aki: In the beginning of next year we’ll do some gigs in Latin America and next autumn Lauri will release his second solo album so it’s natural to have a break with The Rasmus and also we need to do the songs, we cannot do the songs and record them on tour, so it’s good to have a break a little time off.
Lauri: Yes, because if we say that we’re available we’d be requested for gigs and there won’t be focus to writing new material, it’s better to pull it off and come back with the new album and a new tour.

In every album there’s at least one song that talks about hope for the future, do you really think there’s some kind of light at the end of the tunnel?
Lauri: Of course, we’re quite optimistic dudes.
Aki: We’re really positive guys, sometimes looks not so positive but we’ve a really good sense of humor and in the end we’re extremely positive guys.
Lauri: I think we talk about all kind of tragical things and sing about them and really get deep into them, but somehow deep inside we think we can overcome on this things.

Interview made the 16th of November in behalf of the Italian portal www.italiainmusica.com