finnbands: This is your last show in Germany tonight. I hope you enjoyed it here.
Ville: So far, ja, very much, very much.
finnbands: Looking backward which was the best one?
Ville: Best place?
finnbands: Yes.
Ville: ... We haven't played in Hamburg yet. We don't know the actual answer but, well... All the shows with Blindside have been great. We had an own show in Crailsheim and it was really special. It was in a small club with maybe about 200 people. It was just crazy, I loved it. We love it when it goes insane...
Johannes: Funk show!
finnbands: You were in LA. How was that?
Ville: LA was good. Sunny, and it is nice. The show was actually better that we thought it. It was a showcase show, so... There were these four people with a tie and they were sitting with folded arms and *plays one of these people saying "The drummer is not really good!", "The drummer must cut his hair!"* But there were excellent people there, so it was good.
Johannes: Yes, it was a good show. And we had a nice time for one and a half weeks there. We went a little bit earlier to have holidays.
Ville: Yeah, we were there just 6 days. It it were good six days!
finnbands: So, where do you like to spend your holidays? Away from the other band members and all this music stuff?
Ville: If I think about holiday... whenever I get a lot of time, a lot of money at the same time: I go hiking somewhere. Maybe in Norway or Scotland, I love that.
finnbands: ...more solitude?
Ville: Solitude?
finnbands: Euh, being alone...
Ville: Yeah!
Johannes: When I have a holiday I never go with the band. Never.
Ville: We're spending so much time together that you really... Like if you have a long tour and after that you have a holiday you get really fed up with the faces because we're sitting in this small bus and you're always like this close *sits nearly on Johannes' lap*. So when you see this face and the other side you get tired of it. You get tired of the faces. It's good to have a little time-off.
finnbands: Do you see great differences between the audiences in different countries?
Ville: Well... I think the people... There is a difference when people first get to know the band. You can see the differences between the countries how open they are and how open they are not. But when they get in the band and when they really want to see the show and when they really want to come to the shows, I don't see a big difference when people enjoy the shows. The band is in a good mood, the audience is in a good mood and there isn't a big difference.
finnbands: If you were able to play a tour with another band. Which band would that be?
Ville: We're playing with them right now.
finnbands: Really? Okay...
Ville: Yes.
Johannes: It's one of our favorite bands ever. Blindside. They're really cool. Also it would be nice to play with, äh, Fallout Boy, My Chemical Romance... Big bands touring Europe or anywhere but you know, this is a dream come true for us.
Ville: And we like metal bands and hardcore bands. But we're not playing hardcore or metall, so those wishes will not come true.
Johannes: Rise against.*laughs*
Ville: Ja, Rise against... I can't agree with that!
finnbands: What inspires you while writing a song?
Ville: What inspires...? *dances to the drumsolo that can be heard in the "background"*
Johannes: Rhythm?
Ville: Rhythm. The Beat. No, I think when you leave your everyday-life you get emotions and it is just coming from somewhere. And of course if you listen to a lot of music, it doesn't really matter what kind of music you're listening to because after a while you get something stuck in your head and when the time goes by kind of changes in your head. It is not the way it was in the beginning but the way you are in the band and there are changes in it... So the music you hear and emotions, I guess. It's really hard to say.
Johannes: When I basically have the feeling that I actually don't think of anything, I have a really open mind and I don't think anything then I take my guitar and then come the best things ever. But if I have too much to think in my head I'm not doing anything. The moment when I don't think anything, when I come from the work and I have an open mind for everything I take my guitar that's the best. I love it. It's not many times maybe once in two month but then comes the good stuff I think.
Ville: Yes, he is a little bit wired. It can be like one year not a single song and then like two days "Hey guys, I have 21 new songs for you! Let's take them out."
finnbands: Could you imagine to cover songs?
Ville: Coversongs...?
Johannes: Savage Garden! To The Moon & Back. *singing together*
Ville: It's a really naive song but it might work as a rock song.
Johannes: Or the song... Ahm... *sings* Sweet dreams are made of these...
Ville: Ah, ja. I don't know. What song is that?
finnbands: Eurythmics.
Ville: Huh? Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams. We haven't done covers but... Oh and some Iron Maiden songs, they have a good noice or Britney Spears or something. ;-)
finnbands: I wanna hear that!
Ville: No, the cover song is like you really have to pick something cool because there are a lot of covers. And when you do a cover it has to be done really cute because you have to make a sort of better version of it or a lot different version of it. So you have to be really careful because we don't wanna do a bad cover. There are a lot of options. We actually made a poll in our forum that we asked the people what songs we could make and I think one Alice Cooper song won it. I don't remember the song anymore, I don't know. So... We should do it again. We're running out of ideas.
finnbands: Are there any strange or funny things to tell from the life as a musician? I mean, of course there are but something you really remember all day...?
Johannes: There are so many funny things... Once we left Jukka in a gas station for one hour.
Ville: Yeah, we were just driving and then it was "Is... Is everybody in? *looks around* Where is Jukka?" And he was not really there. We left him in the gas station. Did he call?
Johannes: Yeeeah, I don't know. Well actually I did: "Where are you?" -"I'm in the gas station!"
Ville: "What are you doing there?" -"Euhm, kind of waiting for you guys."
It's really fun to be on tour. There are a lot of small things but you...
Johannes: ...you don't remember them. Even so they're funny at that moment.
Ville: I remember one thing when you fall off the stage in Glasgow.
Johannes: Yeah, that was really fun. -.-
Ville: :-) Yeah, the stage was about 2 meters high and then there were something like really steep steps in front of it. We were playing "Superficial" and he was playing the solo and then he usally goes on the knees and so he went on his knees but it was really dark and the nights were not on at that moment and he didn't see there were stairs right there so he just... fall two meters down.
Johannes: Yes, I've played the whole show but after it I went to hospital.
Ville: But it was really funny because I had the guitar cabin right next to me and I didn't wear glasses or contactlinses and I didn't see anything just that Johannes disappeared somewhere out of my side and I heard the sound *bumm bumm bumm* on every step. That was crazy.
finnbands: Do you like to talk with your fans after concerts and giving autographs or is this an annoying part of the job as musician?
Johannes: It is nice to talk with the fans of course after the concert. But if some fans are getting too itching if they really stuck on you all the time and asking "Would our band do a really good support for your band next time?" and all the time the same things. Then it gets really annoying. But basically I love to talk to the people who love our music and I want to know why they love it. *laughs* I really do! It's nice to have fans.
Ville: And the fact is that when you go to the shows it's not like... Usually you think about it that way when you play a lot of shows. You just go on stage and play one more show but for us it's more like... for example Hamburg, Berlin, in every bigger or smaller town in Germany you have every single day great bands playing there. For you guys the Deep Insight show is one show among the others so it means a lot to us that people actually come to our shows and see the band play. The thing that we're together in there... There are a lot of bands who keep the distance to their fans, who are playing the cool rockstars "I don't talk to them!" They wanna keep the mistery image or something. I don't give a shit about that. Because basically you're together in the same room and you're having fun at the same time. So I think it's more natural when you actually talk to the people you are seeing. Some of the fans are coming to every single show so it would be totally unnatural not to talk to them.
Johannes: There wouldn't be any point to tour if there wouldn't be any people to talk with after the concerts like "Heh, nice to see you and so on!".
Ville: Yeah, and it's normal. You're dealing with people. You're dealing with human beings, you know.
Johannes: I understand if there is a band on the level like The Rasmus or HIM when there are thousand fans outside waiting...
Ville: Yeah, you can't talk to all of them.
Johannes: It's easier to go to the bus or hotel. But on this size it's of course.
Ville: Yeah and you have to live in the moment. Right now we have no problem, whenever we can talk to people we always talk. It's just natural.
Johannes: And of course it would be always nice to talk but sometimes it might be not possible and then you can get stuck for three hours to writing autographs.
Ville: And three hours is still okay. But if you got a level like imagine like Metallica playing in a stadion show for hundretthousand people... They do that for two weeks. *writes autographes on his hand*
finnbands: Your third album was released in Finland last year. Do you have plans for the next release already?
Johannes: We have plans with this album already. We would like to release it here but our record company in Finland want to do that with a smaller lable cause they want so many options and now we are just waiting for better deals and the next album... We gonna do it quite sure.
Ville: It's gonna be a blast.
Johannes: And then we hope again that it might be released allover. And those are the tricky things you can't know what's gonna happen.
Ville: We have people that work for us, we have a record lable, we have a manager and we have... we don't care about that. I mean of course we care but that is the stuff which isn't under control for us. So we just go on tour and play good shows and we just make as good songs as possible. We do our best! If that's not enough, than is not enough...
finnbands: Did you play in former bands before?
Johannes: In bands before? Yes, we have played. Both of us. Ville has played in a band called, ähm... What was the name? "Leading Nowhere"
Ville: Actually I sing to some point but I realized it is not good.
Johannes: I've played in a trashmetal band called Trishagion.
Ville: Before I joined Deep Insight I used to play in a garage poging hardcore band so this was actually the first pure rock band.
Johannes: It is actually the first band for us. The other bands have more been like a hobby.
Ville: Yes. This is on a different level. We take this seriously.
finnbands: Today is the Father's Day. Do you know that?
Johannes: Is it? Father's Day? Is it also in Finland?
finnbands: That's my question. Do you know this ritual?
Ville: Oh no, we had a Mother's Day but Father's Day is in the fall I guess.
finnbands: Yes! And here it is today and the people walk through the city or parks drinking a lot of alcohol.
Johannes: That's great. Maybe they come to our show!
Ville: You mean all people or fathers?
finnbands: No, everybody.
Ville: Okay... Everybody with the fathers??
finnbands: Yes! Sometimes... :-)
Ville: Otherwise it wouldn't make a point that it is a Father's Day. Like Family fathers... Weird!
finnbands: It's more the day for those that are not fathers yet because the father's have to be with their children today. *grins*
Ville: Yeah, disgusting. But why do they keep Mother's or Father's Day so close to each other?
Pause: No one knows an answere...
Ville: Okay. Well I'm not the one who asks the questions.
finnbands: Do you have any rituals before you go on stage?
Ville: Yes we take a moment before the show... Every time we go on stage we wanna have a really silent moment just 3 of us or even 4 or all of the crew because when we're on tour we are one big family. If there is anything that is bothering us or anything wrong between... like chemical problems between the members, we take that moment and deal everything because we don't wanna go on the stage in a bad mood. If there are any problems we just solve them and we just pray befor the show and relax and have a moment so. It's cool. We just take some time. And to stretch! Like this... *makes gym practices*
finnbands: Do you visit a lot of concerts in your free time?
Johannes: Visit other concerts?
Ville: Like to see other bands?
Johannes: Sometimes. I just saw Hanoi Rocks one of the most legendary finnish bands ever with Michael Monroe... They were cool, very good!
Ville: I just went to see two of my favorite bands: Killswitch Engage and Raised Fist from Sweden. You know Raised Fist? You have to check them out! They are crazy! It has been one of my favorite bands forever. It was really nice. I get to know them when I was 18 and haven't seen them. This was the first time ever. They played some old songs and... just perfect! So: Ja! Sometimes... It depends. Just good bands!
finnbands: Do their performances influence your own show?
Ville: Yeah!
Johannes: Ah, they are *points to Blindside*. I watched Blindside for our first show with them in Berlin and I was like "Yeah I wanna do those things!". It changes all the time, it changes when you see bands. It didn't really happen when we played with The Rasmus but sometimes it changes when it's a punkband or a hardcore band 'cause there are the cool things to do.
Ville: Well, I have to say that of course it influences the show. When I was a teenager and they were the first time in Finland and I saw them play and so far I was always.. That was the first time I saw a drummer who is not going like this... But I saw a drummer who was going like *throws his arms around*... like with the whole head and meaning every single hit. So that drummer is fabulous. It's been influencing me a lot. So: They do! That was a long answere... :-)
finnbands: Okay, actually that's it! If you have any words for the German fans left...
Johannes: Thank you for coming to our shows! It really means to us.
Ville: *pause* Hah-hah-hah-hah.
*everybody's laughing*
Johannes: Yeah, he thinks the same!
Ville: Same! Same! :-)
finnbands: Thanks!
Ville & Johannes: Thank you too!
Deep Insight
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May 2007
Interview by Niina & scandia © finnbands.com