Interviews

VERENN INTERVIEW(JUSSI/MIKKO)

1.05.2006.Oulu,Finland

 1.Your former band was called The Drama?

    Band was active for 6 years!Why did you split up?

 

 JUSSI: We had all moved to different directions from our

 homecity, and things went on all quite

 slowly after that. Then the whole band just slowly slipped apart.

 It was great time though and we never had any fights or such. I

 also believe that after so many

 hard years of training without any real achievements, we all just

 wanted to try something new, to get a fresh start.

 

 MIKKO: There was never any big decision of burying The Drama, but

 as we all started with new band projects, that's just how things

 went. Funnily enough, some people have said that Verenn sounds a

 lot like The Drama grown to its full potential - well, two thirds

 the same lineup, so perhaps it's no wonder. But still, Verenn is a

 totally different concept.

 

 2.After spliting up with The Drama,you've started to  work on idea

   about new band under the name Verenn!

    What encouraged you to go on with creating music? What was your

    inspiration?

 

JUSSI: I've always been keen on music someway. Before The Drama I

composed tracker based music on computer, but organic band music

was something I really wanted to do.

I started to feel that combining machines with real

instruments might work out for me - inspired by industrial bands whose sound

I loved so much, bands such as Nine Inch Nails. Back then studio

equipment was still quite expensive for a student, but from my

computer music oriented

background I managed to do some quite neat sounding stuff combining

organic guitars with effects and machines and that encouraged me to

try out even more.

 

Then on the other hand, The Drama was pop-rock band, so from the

scratch it was clear to me that I wanted to do something more close

to metal. Also in my former bands I composed very little songs so I was full of ideas

which I wanted to try out, starting Verenn as a solo project gave

me a chance to try out

whatever I wanted without thinking about the dynamics and style of

a whole band. I had plenty of time to think and find out what I

wanted the music to come out and what sounded like Verenn now

sounds - I did not want to start copying influences from the bands

I idolized and I wanted Verenn to have its own unique sound.

 

3.Your first work with Verenn was just instrumental music.

   Later,when you decided to add male vocals,you had

   several problems with finding the proper vocalist.

   Are you satisfied with Mikko's work in Verenn?

 

JUSSI: I am very satisfied indeed! First of all when I noticed that

the music might actually become something good, I started looking

for a vocalist. I had

couple of male and even one female vocalist before Mikko came in.

But none seemed to work even though they all were pretty good

technically; but most importantly, there was no emotion I hoped and

wanted for Verenn's music. World is full of good singers but being

good does not mean that you can breathe the life into music.

 

When we made our first demo with Mikko, I was very pleased - first

of all he creates incredible lyrics that are simple on the first

impression but have incredible amount of nyanses and meaning when

you dive deeper into them. Also Mikko does not have that kind of a

metal background that it would have sounded like the other rock/

metal bands - that was a problem

with some vocalists I was considering before him. The melodies he

creates enrich the music overall and have a huge impact to Verenn's

overall sound - making it perhaps more pop and that was a

combination I loved from the beginning. He also has pretty unique

sound in his voice, at least I haven't heard a vocalist that would

remind me about Mikko's sound. So I'm very pleased.

 

MIKKO: For me, everything started out as a simple project, helping

out an old friend. Actually, I believe that in the first place we

talked about me writing only lyrics for Verenn, since I have always

been a lyric enthusiast, a bit of a poet... But then we went

fishing together one summer night and the idea grew to it's peak,

that I would also write the vocal melodies and sing as well, and

decided to record the first demo and see how things work. So I

started as a sidekick, but very soon I fell in love with the band

and it became my precious passion as well. The chemistry between me

and Jussi works seamlessly, it's almost magic how smoothly the song

writing process works - every . You can't hope for much more from

being in band!

 

4.Verenn is getting bigger and it's getting more and more

   attention!Are you satisfied with your previous releases?

   Can you compare them with your debut album,which

   is about to be released in May?

 

JUSSI: Yes, it's interesting how things have been going on. Matara

Music is a small label and it can't compete in the same range as

major labels do. We

have also been very lucky so far - obviously the honesty in our

music pays off. I might be a bit naive about this, but I have

always believe that people find

and like good music that is done from the bottom of ones heart.

 

What comes to previous releases and The Game album, the music has

grown a bit by itself. First Verenn demo was more grunge and pop influenced,

while Awake EP had more machines and metal influences. The album is

somewhere between those

but it's much more mature in every way. I'm not ashamed of what we

have done before, previous demo and EP represent our music in that

era and it is natural that bands sound and music grows.

 

MIKKO: And in Verenn's case, I actually think the evolution has

been quite rapid. Of course we put a lot more time and effort in

making the album than the previous recordings, so the outcome is

much more refined. But I'm never wholly satisfied with any release

afterwards...

 

5.Interesting to mention is that Verenn and Maplesnow,

  joined it's forces in 2005.,and started an independent

  record label Matara Music.

  Why did you decided to start an independent record label?

  Was that your earlier wish,or you couldn't find a proper label for Verenn?

 

JUSSI: Basicly it just happened by itself. We never sent our

Verenn's demo to any label - we did not look for a record deal, and

published the songs over the internet.

Then suddenly couple of A&R offices showed some interest

towards us, and we started to recieve positive feedback on forums.

At the time we were already making the Awake EP, so we just started

to talk about putting up our own label because we noticed that we

had all kinds of professional skills in the two bands. The main

reason that made things roll was the we really wanted to do the

things in our way, without anyone telling us what to do or how to

look. Of course thinking it financially, it was crazy - but we

never started to do things because of the money. Music is everything.

 

MIKKO: Jussi and I had talked about producing our debut album

ourselves, and when I realised how much talent and professional

know-how from all required fields - business administration, trade,

record engineering, marketing, photography, Web design, graphic

design etc - we had in our close friends network, I suggested this

move to the guys of Maplesnow. The company was grounded as any

business, with same initial planning and risk mapping and so on,

but it has also been clear from the start Matara Music does not aim

to become an ordinary record label among others. It's also a

collective of artists who wish to make a statement against mass-

produced entertainment that so much prevails also the music market

today - we do not seek for one-hit wonders to make money for Matara

Music, but hopefully we can sustain a steady development that

allows Matara's bands to evolve over the years. We could sign a

band thinking, "their fourth album will probably be astounding!" So

we wish to maintain our do-it-yourself attitude, to help as many

promising artists with the right attitude as we can, and to make

interesting music with high standard production. That's it, pure

and simple. As Jussi said, we believe honesty and authenticity pays

off, if not in money, then at least in that we can feel happy and

proud about ourselves.

 

6.As far as I know,Verenn has 2 band members at the moment.

   Which line-up you'll choose for live performances?

 

JUSSI: We have gathered a line-up for gigs and so far it seems to

be very promising. I don't want to tell names yet before things are

certain, but I can

tell you that we have guitarist, drummer and a keyboard player to

support the live performance. Having live keyboards is especially

important to me personally,

because we have pianos and synths in many songs on the

album - and I'm old fashioned what it comes to playback tapes on a

live situation. What's the point in that?

If I want to see a band live I also want them to

play live, I think it's ridiculous when four guys play live in a

basic setup and then

suddenly huge orchestra strings come out of nowhere.

 

Anyway, I'm very enthustiac with the live thing, since from the

first sessions we had the songs have gained new dimensions. That's

another thing I respect in live

playing, that songs are not top-notch trained where you play them

excatly the same way they are featured on the album - a little

variation makes it more interesting!

 

MIKKO: Yeah, and as I see it, it would be next to impossible to

even aim at the album sound live, considering the way things are

done in the studio. Actually, I believe the live setting will bring

out the best of Verenn, because of the energy the songs have can flow

more freely! When I go see a band live, I don't wish for

technically impeccable performance, but for real spirit and energy,

the band loving their own songs and having fun with them, even

making mistakes. In this digital age, that's the whole point of

doing live gigs, to bring out the flesh and blood. That's what

we're aiming for as well.

 

7.After release of debut album,are there any plans for

    release in other countries?

 

JUSSI: Things are really open with this issue yet. It's hard to

find a reliable distributor in indie scene, and what comes to major

distributors their first

question will most likely be "What's the position of your album in

the Finnish chart?". For certain the album will be available over

the internet, but where

will it be physically on a record stores shelf, we do not yet know.

Working on it, open to offers.

 

8.Finland is full of many summer festivals!Do you have any

  plans to perform on some of them?

 

JUSSI: Originally we intented to release the album in March because

of this issue - to have enough time to arrange the live gigs for

summer but unfortunately this did not happen.

We've been in contact with some

promotors, but the fact is that most festivals have already booked

their artists and before

the album is out it's very hard to get gigs at this time. So

Verenn's live performances will more or less likely to be focused

towards the fall.

 

MIKKO: The Finnish summer is so damn short! We are also working

with Maplesnow's debut album during the summer, and the calendars

just fill up so quickly. But I'm still hopeful to get on stage at

least once or twice... We'll make a festival of our own on the

backyard if that's what it takes!

 

9.Which bands do you prefear?Which bands influences you the most?

   (international/finnish)

 

JUSSI: There are so many of those.. Basicly we listen to all kinds

of music, although I'd prefer metal the most. I like bands like

Katatonia, Moonspell and

Anathema, bands which have so much intensity and emotion in their

music. Now I'm also listening a lot for new Eternal Tears of Sorrow

album "Before the Bleeding Sun" and

Neil Young's productions from the early 70's. And

from Finnish bands Sentenced has always been the number one to me,

I play them a lot from time to time.

 

MIKKO: Yeah, not much point in listing all that have influenced at

any point of musical career, but a quick look at my favourites at

the time: Tori Amos, Muse, Radiohead, Anekdoten, Katatonia,

Soilwork, Disco Ensemble, Mew, Kent...

 

10.Message for fans in Croatia!?

 

JUSSI: Greetings, hope you enjoyed this interview with Natalija!

Check out the new album in May - hopefully we have a chance to play

some gigs in Croatia someday! Until that, keep rocking!

 

MIKKO: Cherish your mental weapons.

 

Thank you for the time which you gave to write an answers for this

interview!

 

JUSSI & MIKKO: Thank you!