Interviews

Their recent album ”A Place Called Bad” represents their vision in its purest form – for the very first time.

”Since the beginning we’ve always been able to release anything under the moniker and still sound like The League. When people have asked about our direction, I’ve been able to say that we play whatever the hell we want. I think there’s true richness in there if a band can have ten stylistically different songs in various soundings and tempos and still sound like no-one else but themselves. We’ve made four records now, and in the long term only the songs that are nice to play have made their way onto the live set. We just noticed what kind of tunes suit the band, and I can tell you that the songs in questions are not in the vein of ”Ozymandias”. At first I wanted to build long and concise albums, and the first one – containing tracks from a very long time period – was basically a solo album. The core of rock’n’roll was beginning to form on the second one, Utopia A.D. – many songs of which are still played live, but with different arrangements. People usually forget that the ”Doomsday Sun” EP was recorded in the same sessions as ”Ichor”, although it was finished only a half year later. But there was the same rockin’ spirit as we have now. So rock’n’roll and the other stuff have slept in the same bed, right from the start.”

Yeah, the new one doesn’t make any amends towards beauty or mystic melodies. Instead, it’s straightforward, dirty and extensively uncompromising. But let’s go a year back, when the air was full of rumours about the final break-up of The League.

“It seems that the minister of information might have slipped, but – mainly because of the geographical scattering of personnel – we definitely had some ideas about docking. Had that been the case, I would have formed a new band. But perhaps it was a half-baked idea, because musically the new group would’ve been in the same vein. Also, we had worked for The League actively since 97. So basically Maike just talked me over. This band is like an extension of my personality, and I have every right to use the name. It’s fucked to separate ways, but there were never large-scale conflicts. A little bit of communication problems, that’s all. However, I’m eagerly awaiting what the ex-members make of their new band, The Pervorators. Having formed it, they did just the right thing. What else would one make than music? Hobbies are ok, but it’s not the same thing if music is a way of living. Once I tried to give it up when I left Sentenced. There won’t be another, Jarva states matter-of-factly.”

Forming the new line-up came about when Jarva moved south and bumped into Heavy Hiltunen, known also as the bassist of Lullacry.

“Well, the changes of personnel haven’t affected our music that much, it’s the same old shit all over. Me and Heavy had had a talk few years back, and had noticed that we had very similar views. Moreover, I knew he’s one hell of an axeman. So when Maike moved to Helsinki, we had already messed about for a couple of months. There were moments, though, when nothing seemed to work. All the tunes were ready and the studio booked, but the band was missing. Hell, we northern asses don’t go anywhere or know anyone. So it was Heavy who grabbed the bassist and drummer from some metalexpo or something. We’re so antisocial that we don’t achieve shit! But the new dudes are awesome, the mood in our training sessions is unbelievable. And while there have been some remarks about Heavy’s Lullacry-connections, it’s not the same thing to be Lullacry’s bass player than The Black League’s guitarist. Heavy is one of the songwriters also, and if you take for example “Same Ol’ Fuckery”, there’s nothing similar with schlager metal.”

When the opening track “Same Ol’ Fuckery” starts, one gets almost an impulse to throw the table on its side and start dodging bullets.

“Yep, there’s some outlaw business going, but for one, it’s not a colt on the sleeve but an old Russian revolver that my friend’s father took from a dead officer in Jatkosota. This is not some Texas-rock, as we’re in and from Finland. But of course the influences from southern rock can be heard in me and Maike’s way of writing – and life in general. If I’ve had the money to buy a 150-euro Stetson, I’m sure as hell going to wear it. The song itself is actually quite different from the overall style of the album. But it’s the video track too, in order to make clear what our stances are nowadays.”

“The word came directly from Hunter S. Thompson’s book. What can I say, it’s just a genius way of raping the language. A joyous hymn for the possibility of taking a language and making it fit your own needs. “A Place Called Bad” is a term that an Australian band Beasts of Bourbon had in their lyrics. It fits my life like a glove. My time in Helsinki has been so chaotic and hectic at times that I’ve come to think that my own head is quite a bad place.”