finnbands: How came that you were picked as support act for Negative in Germany? For sure, you live in the same city, have the same record company in Finland and caused by this you probably know each other for quite some time. But is this really everything or is there more to tell?
Janne: We are lovers.
finnbands: What were your expectations before you started this tour? Do you have had a certain imagination of the German audience?
Kimmo: Well... NGT have a lot of girl fans so I guess I was expecting to see a female-dominated audience, which turned out to be true. As for other expectations, I spent a few moments wondering how we'd feel after the tour was over because we love to drink while we're on the road, hehe.
finnbands: And did you get disappointed in those expectations? Is there anything you would like to complain now that the tour lies some days behind - anything you would do different the next time?
Kimmo: No complaints, really. It was fucking cool all the way through, I'm too grateful for the opportunity to complain about some minor bullshit here & there. Hopefully we'll work ourselves up to a bigger level where we have our own headlining shows; drums on a riser, big lights and 3000 beers backstage.
finnbands: Jann Wilde & Rose Avenue used to be the support act for Negative on their last tour in Germany. How is it for you to be compared to a band that played such a different kind of music?
Kimmo: Well why not, at least there are differencies to talk about, like you said. We don't have enough feathers and makeup & shit, and they don't mosh enough, ahhahaa.
finnbands: We saw those pics of you sleeping in a pretty colourful hostel and there was a lot of pink and weird stuff in that room. All in all it looked kind of psychedelic... Have you been aware of this before or have you choosen your hostels by accident?
Kimmo: Umm... the hostel stuff was totally random, at times too much so, but it worked out well in the end.
Janne: It was a pretty cool, real hippie traveller hangout in Dresden... the other places were lamer.
finnbands: The weather was great while you were in Germany (and since you have left itīs pretty bad). Were you prepared for that late summer or has someone gotten a sunburn?
Kimmo: I think I caught some rays in Karlsruhe, it was a beautiful day and I fell asleep in the park in the middle of the town.
finnbands: In your tour diary we saw that you have to drive on your own in a van (which was not Lisko - Were was Lisko and why did she have to stay at home?) while Negative use to have this luxury nightliner. So at least one of you guys had to stay sober to care about the others and get them save into the next city. How has been decided who of you has to accept this role for the night? And do all of you have a drivers licence?
Kimmo: We solved this problem by hiring our good friend Simo Siementäjä (drummer of the Bitterlicks) to drive our van. Otherwise the tour would not have
been possible, of course. We couldn't find enough roadie tape to patch Lisko together so she had to stay home. Once again, heartfelt thanks to Simo for driving us 5 drunken idiots around Germany!
finnbands: Men donīt dare to ask for the right way. So how many times have you driven into the wrong way?
Janne: Well, we had The Lady Of The Navigator System tell us where to go turn by turn, she's pretty reliable though we did get lost in Karlsruhe once... dunno what got into her.
finnbands: Some Finnish musicians left on their own in Germany... Donīt take that personal but it sounds a little bit chaotic. Did you have had any problems concerning your organisation or did everything went well and without major problems?
Janne: We're pretty reliable guys after all. Taking care of getting from one place to the other is no problem... the tour organization was very pro, so we just had to show up in the right place at the right time and the food was on the table... biggest problems were probably the few moments we were running out of cigarettes.
finnbands: Now we want to know the funny and embarrassing background storys that better should be kept secret and never see the light of day again. You have written something about Olli dressed in drag and Luca passing out in the bath tub? Are there any other strange happenings you are willing to talk about?
Janne: That's just your basic party behavior. We've already spilled our guts in our Myspace blog, I think that's about as far as we're willing to go. Shit happens all the time, but let's just say that we avoided most pitfalls on this tour.
finnbands: If weīre right, this has been your longest tour so far. How was it to be on the road for more than a week? The guys of Negative seemed to have mixed feelings when we asked them about the end of the tour. What about you - are you sad that the tour is over now?
Kimmo: It was nothing but great, it just feels so good to be totally removed from your normal life and just concentrate on music and having fun.
finnbands: When are you going to come back to Germany? As headliner maybe? And who do you want to be your support act then?
Janne: We'd love to return the favor of taking some of our friends in great local bands with us once we get to headline in Germany... but I think we'll be doing at least one more support tour before we're ready to do it on our own.
finnbands: Your album "Sleepwalkers" has now been released in Germany as well. How are the responses so far?
Janne: The reviews have been pretty good in general. And the tour was a success so let's see what happens next.
finnbands: Something easy concerning the tour to end the topic:
- best venue?
Janne: Zeche in Bochum was the coolest club.
- coolest audience?
Janne: Glauchau for being so loud and nuts... maybe it was some kinda Saturday night fever.
- best city / best sight?
Janne: In Berlin, with two totally wasted gay junkies having oral sex in a park right in the city centre at noon. That was pretty exotic.
- worst "I never wanted to get to know that"-experience?
Janne: It would be too easy to say spotting the aforementioned wild couple... so I won't. No bad mental scars from the trip, at least not for me.
finnbands: Now we want to go further back in time and talk about this yearīs Tammerfest.
We missed some parts of your gig due to some unknown reasons and a spontaneously loss of our memory...but at least we know that it was a great day...seen with some distance, nowadays. We are of the opinion that your gig was too early on that day (this fact makes the loss of our memory even more scary). Are you going to play later next year as one of the bigger main acts maybe?
Janne: If the fuckers want us there, for sure. This year's venue did suck though.
finnbands: It seems that a lot of bands from Tampere broke up shortly after Tammerfest (e.g. Bloodpit, Jann Wilde & Rose Avenue (now partly conjuncted again) and there were rumours about a break-up of The Bitterlicks as well). Is there a curse lying over the Tammerfest or what were possible reasons? Can you - as insider persons living in Tampere - offer us any informations? And Niina wants to know whether you are planning your break-up for the next Tammerfest? ;)
Janne: I don't think we'll be breaking up anytime too soon, though we hate each others' guts on steady intervals. It's the power of the long journey together that keeps us together, all the years hard work that we have put into this that we don't want to see as being spent in vain which would be the case if the band died because of some stupid argument or stuff like that. But of course things and people change so who the fuck knows. We're not making promises, except that we'll try our best to keep our heads screwed on straight... and I think we're pretty down-to-earth guys when it comes to that. As for the other bands you mentioned, I guess they had their personal reasons, some good and some not so. The only curse of Tammerfest that I know of is the inevitable three-day hangover you get from being there.
finnbands: Your video for "Whenever you say you love me" looks a little bit like a self-made home video, what is pretty cool. So who of you had the idea to make it this way?
Janne: The idea came from the director. We got some scripts from other people too, which were basically the same old shit you see in every other low budget vid, you know, a dude/chick walks solemnly on the streets, the leaves fall, the main character spots a dude/chick, their eyes meet, they meet/don't meet, the band plays on, the leaves fall in slow motion... you know, clichéd crap. We we're getting pretty desperate until Ari & Sasu, the director and the editor respectively, came up and said, you know guys, how about we make it raw, how about we make a real fuck-you video... and that was about it. It's stupid, it's weird and that's the way we like it.
finnbands: And the last question: Will there be a second single release out of "Sleepwalkers" within the next time?
Janne: At the moment, I don't think so. The singles market is pretty dead in Finland these days, the stores don't support the format so they don't sell and vice versa. So it's promo or radio singles maybe, if anything. If the German label is willing to put something out then we're happy, but we don't care about singles that much. All the best stuff is on the album anyway, go get it!
finnbands: Thanks for your attention and for taking the time to answer all of those questions.
Janne: Tack så mycket.
pictures
dayeleven.com
08.10.2007
Interview by anna & niina Đ finnbands.com