With this young promising band (that time in 2007, now in 2010 they are already stars!) we mostly talked about actually how does it feel to be a young band. How they came to what they have now, about their feelings, experiences, problems and dreams of starting rock-stars. I think the interview turned to be much more interesting, than you can expect from interview with young musicians. They were honest, like their music is… So, let me introduce you – guitarist Williami and vocalist Jules.
Tell something about yourselves. Why did you start to make music? Jules: Ok, well, my story is… It’s that guy’s (he shows at Williami) fault that I was involved in a band. I was 15, it was winter, I played ice-hockey, actually, I played a lot ice-hockey…
Williami: He was a sporty guy!
Jules: I also played football, and… Well, I did a lot of sports. But then I broke my thumb of right arm. I broke it in 3 parts, and then it got cut in 2 parts, so it was pretty f*cked up. So when my thumb was in gyps, I knew Williami and we have become friends. He asked me if I would be interested to join his band as a singer…
But you haven’t sung before?
Jules: I didn’t sing like a singer, but I have always been too loud :)
Williami: And it was punk music!
Jules: The band was called “mummon potkeat”. So he asked me, and I was really excited about it, of course! Then we just went to practice room, and it got started. We tried to play Metallica “For whom the bells toll”…
Is Metallica punk?!
Williami: At least we played it punk!
Jules: Yeah, and own songs were pretty punk.
Ok, and then you understood that you want to be a great singer?
Jules: Well, it was horrible at first. But I liked it, so I went to one practice, and later on to another, and so on… So this guy is responsible for me to be in a band.
Do you do now any sports?
Jules: No!
Lucky: Only jumping on stage?
Jules: Well, yeah, on stage I do some sports. But I try to go to swim 2 times per week, when I have time.
(to Williami): Why did you decide to be a musician?
Williami: I have 2 older brothers. They both were “the guitar hero” generation, and they were both playing guitar. And I looked at older guys, and they were hanging around at the bands’ training places, but they were not actually playing, they were taking part and drinking beer so much. We were little kids with my friends, and we wanted to play, but they wouldn’t let us. I was 15 when I decided that I want to play something myself. We started the band. First it was just learning to play guitar. I have never taken any lessons, or so… It was maybe a bit earlier than him (shows to Jules), I had first chords, I understood guitar, but that’s about it, so I could say that my “career” as a musician started with him. Because I need someone to do it with me. I can’t do it by myself, it’s too hard, too many elements, and I need him to back me up. We have this chemistry.
Jules: Cool, man! (everybody laughs)
What do musicians of the band do now, except music? Do you study, or work?..
Jules: Some of us study…
Williami: I study… It’s economics. But it’s like I play rock’n’roll and I study when I can. This is my only chance to do it, even for a couple of years, and I’m doing this, and everything else is secondary. Antti (second guitarist) graduated as a nurse. Tomppa, our bassist, is currently working as a gardener. And our drummer Samuli is a sales manager in a music shop.
Jules: And I am a counselor at reception center for asylum seekers, and also for people who come here to the country for the first time and police want them, needs to find their identity, and also for departed people.
Let’s talk about your music. Did you want to make some special style or how did you come to the music you have now?
Williami: Well, the first bands we had were more like rock’n’roll. And I myself came from blues. I love blues, the old one. I guess, the reason why we sound like we do is that there are so many great styles of music around. If you pick one, you have to be the best, to be the one band, and always will be followers. There will be bands that do something that someone else did already better.
Jules: There’s only one Slayer, only one Metallica…
Williami: And as a songwriter, I was just talking about this. The new metal bands, I don’t listen to them for 2 reasons. The one is that mostly when I listen to them, I listen only to guitars, how it’s made. And then, it takes away the pleasure, when you can’t hear the whole thing. The other reason is that I don’t want start ripping off something. I don’t wanna end up with my guitar, when I think «This is good riff!» and then I’m like “Oh f*ck! This is riff from that or that CD!” We were not trying to do anything; we just did what felt good for us. We did music that sounded like us. It might be a bit confusing sometimes, but I think it’s better than doing music that someone has already done. This is my opinion about our CD, I think it sounds like us. We don’t try to do things, we just do them.
And what about future? Do you want to keep the same line?
Williami: No. Not mostly.
Jules: Yeah, it comes naturally, the whole development of our music. When I listen to our new material, it sounds more different, than the first album. And I am excited about it, because still it is Profane Omen, it sounds like that, we are going forward with our music, and we don’t take any kind of steps to the past. We develop all the time. I think, in the future we will sound more brutal!
Williami: We made the EP, it will be out in October, and the name “Disconnected” tells that songs are not connected, they are not wholeness, they are different songs, and we try some new stuff. The new material reflects things that happen in our lives. And that is the thing I would like our music to present to people. Songs from the first album are quite hostile. I like energetic music, but lyrics we have been doing are quite hostile, it’s really about anger and hate, and stuff like this. Mainly it’s because maybe what I have felt as writer and Jules felt writing lyrics…
Jules: I think, a lot of the years, when we were making songs for the album, were really frustrated in some ways. As a band we tried to put up demo, tried to do everything we can to make something, we put everything we had, spent time to do stuff for the band, and we did it for several years, and nothing happens. So a lot of that anger was spilt in the debut album. It feels like we needed to write that stuff for that album.
"3" color="#CCCCCC">Actually, you don’t have any specific philosophy…Both: No, no.
Williami: It’s about the situation in life. I think the new songs, that we are making, might have something hidden… I don’t wanna sound hippi, but there might be something like – it’s not all shit. And that’s what I learnt in my life during last few years – it can’t rain shit all the time. I think this will be perfect in our music next time we’ll do something. I don’t know, because I have only 2 not ready yet songs. But I feel that there’s more energy and less hatred.
Jules: More heartly hatred, in a way.
Williami: Yeah, if such a thing exists… I think, people who like sound of Profane Omen will always like us, because it’s not made up…
Jules: It’s plastic…
Williami: it’s about us and always will be, because if I don’t write a song from my point of view, then there’s no point to write. I don’t know about anything else. I don’t want to write lyrics about ancient lands and things that didn’t exist. I wanna write from my heart – what I feel. It’s about us. And I think this will carry the band musically for a long time.
The next question is about live experience, concerts. You played not only in Finland, but also in other countries, didn’t you?
Jules: Yeah, we played in Germany and Austria.
Lucky: And what are your impressions? What can you remember now?
[they laugh]
Jules: Well, from Austria we don’t remember too much, from Germany we don’t remember too much! But we have something like 10 hours of videotape from that gigs… First one, Austrian trip, we made with our friends from Spearhead… That is a long story. I met one of their friends at a festival and we started to talk that it would be cool for us to go there and Spearhead would come to Finland.
(At this point our photographer came to bus, and then the rest of the band. After procedure of introducing we continued:)
Jules: Well, where was I?
Lucky: In Austria.
Jules: In Austria, yes! We talked very-very long with that guy. We thought that it gonna be the best f*cking thing ever! And it actually happened, we did it, though that time we were pretty drunk… In Austria we were 8 or 9 days.
Williami: We were there for fun.
Jules: We had 4 gigs, and all the gigs were really cool! First gig, the first gig ever abroad, was just like “what the f*ck we are doing out of Finland?!” Everybody was excited; during the whole tour we had so much fun… And of course, the beer in Austria is very good! We were pretty drunken during the tour, too… But the best thing was that we had so much fun, and we met so many great people, we are still in contact with them. Spearhead doesn’t exist anymore, but we still contact with guys. Gigs were great, the whole atmosphere was like that… First time abroad, like young kids play shows outside Finland, - I think, that was the best thing for us. Williami can tell about Germany trip, which was in some points not that great.
Williami: I think, in both trips to Germany and Austria we were not for making promotions or stuff like this. We were just seeing stuff and having fun with new people we liked. The most simple thing of being there was that maybe I saw that we were treated very well. And that was so different from Finland, because there’s so many bands, that if you are not big, then you have to fight for a f*cking lemonade bowl for an hour with organizer. And there it was all different. Everything was arranged, and everything was so polite and friendly to us, even they didn’t know anything about us! And this is why trips were so great – we have done something that is… not here, it’s something else, and we haven’t heard, no one told us what to do, we were just 5 guys, we were young, very young, and we just had fun. And it’s amazing that nothing bad happened. We survived, and that was cool!
Jules: It was so great for demo-band to go outside Finland, and actually those gigs were really good organized. There were people at shows. One gig in Austria was in place for about 200 people, and it was full. After that show they took us to a place where we had afterparty, and they told us: ok, everything you’d like, just go to the desk and say! Everything was for free. There were a lot of people from the gig, asking a lot of questions, like “when will be your next album out?!” And we were just demo-band. We had something like 70 demos with us, and they bought everything we had. They asked autographs and stuff like that. And we thought “What the hell?! These guys are really into music and into us!” That was amazing. It was really something we have never experienced before.
That time you were managers for yourselves?
Both: Yeah, exactly!
Lucky: And now?
Williami: Still.
Jules: But something has changed.
Williami: We have Teemu, he is responsible for our gigs. And he has done a f*cking great job. And we are thankful for promotion he did for CD, and stuff like this. These things have changed, but we don’t have a manager. We make decisions, 5 guys, and I hope everyone feels that we try to be democratic with all the things, no one is a dictator, no one tells what to do. And I hope, we can keep it this way… Manager wouldn’t be bad thing, but he has to belong to the band, we can’t take someone outside who will try to control us and tell what to do. I see that we can do it ourselves, so why should we take someone extra?..
What do you think about image and behavior on stage? Do you pay any attention to how to move on stage, or music is the main?
Antti: I think, because we have grown up listening and watching Guns’n’Roses and Metallica, and stuff like that, so we have taken what we saw…
Williami: We have grown up with that rock’n’roll, heavy metal, and we tried to make these things as our own, we took influences, but we do not try to be copies. We want to feel what we have felt, when we were 15. We want to feel the same was that it’s felt then. And I guess this is why everyone in this band is a some kind of rock-star… Because we want to play! [everybody laughs] I mean, what the f*ck do you make music, if you don’t want people to listen to it?! This is the point of being on stage.
Jules: There are people relating to what you are trying to make. So this is actuall
y the best thing you can get. When you go to a gig, when you go to a show, when you go on stage, you see there some people who listen to your band, who enjoy your music. And that’s the best thing you can get. Ok, but people do not only listen to music, they also look at you.
Jules: Of course! But things that happen on stage come naturally.
Williami: Yeah, it’s not rehearsed.
Jules: I love the feeling to be there, on stage. It’s something that just happens. And I love the feeling that I can, actually, present something to the people who are there! And what happens for myself… I just sometimes loose control!.. [laughs] But in a good way. I just go inside the song that we are playing.
Williami: I have different opinion on this thing, than Jules. I can’t be totally sober on a gig, because then I feel like people are staring at me, they are seeing what I’m doing. So I shut them out. I am totally in songs. If I move during anything, it’s just because I feel like doing it when I’m playing. We were making a music video some days ago, and even we were playing real, but doing it without a feeling is f*cking stupid! I have never understood, why should you move around like an asshole, if you don’t feel like that?
Jules: Yeah, if you don’t feel anything. And you think: I have to do that, because everybody else does it.
Williami: And if I do a gig sober, I can play one, I can somehow present myself, but it’s not free, because I freeze when people stare at me. I want to shut them out. And for example I never look at the audience when I’m playing. Maybe glance or two, I want to see are there people, but I don’t take contact. It feels stupid for me. For me it’s about the playing and being there… Of course, I love the sound of an audience, and this is why I do it. But I can’t do it while I’m playing. I’m a guitarist. He is the singer [shows at Jules], he is the contact with the audience.
(to Jules): Do you think beforehand about words, what you should tell to audience?
Jules: Never! I try not to. Sometimes I thought that if I’d have a ready speech, then it would be easier between songs. But then I realize that if I’d try to put all the same speeches in same parts and try to rehearse them, then it will be just stupid. Because then you feel like you work in a factory, saying all the same stuff… Ok, some songs have the same issues that may be the part of the speech, but I never think about what I say. Sometimes I say really stupid stuff… Almost every gig!.. [everybody laughs] Sometimes people get it – ok, just talking bullshit; sometimes they are annoying, somebody writes in our guestbook – ok, really good showtime, by the way the speech during it, between songs was really stupid, blah-blah-blah… I don’t care. I am just the way I am, so…
With what band would you like to play?
Jules: There are so many… For example, lately I was listening to Mastodont, it would be really cool to play with them!
Williami: I thought the same.
Samuli: Metallica! Iron Maiden!
When do you plan to release your next album? Or no plans yet?
Jules: Well, no any particular plans. First publish EP in October. After that we gonna play club tour in Finland, for something like 15 gigs, and then we gonna take a break to make all the material ready for the second album. Nothing is sure yet. We are still searching, everything can be possible.
Do you know any Russian bands?
Jules: I know this one band called Anj.
Lucky: Have you seen them?
Jules: No, but they were playing at Finnish Metal Expo. I only know the name. Some band called… “Perestrojka”?.. Maybe punk rock band.
Have you been in Russia?
Jules: I’ve been to St.Petersburg one time. I loved this city, I think it’s really beautiful. I was studying there, I was with my schoolfriends, and we were getting to know children’s home for homeless kids. We had 3 days there and it was pretty hard, we didn’t have too much time to spend. But one day we went to a casino, and there were these huge security guys with UZI. We went inside, and they told us: ok, we need your passports… Then we went upstairs. I was watching my friend playing, because he has been working in casino, so he knows all the tricks. For me it was just amazing to see so many guys with guns… That was weird! It was weird experience from Russian nightlife. Antti has been to Russia, right?
Antti: Yeah! One time in St.Petersburg, we were there with another band called “Kill The Romance” and it was really weird. We were driving through the city, we were driving like for an hour, and we were still in the same city.
Jules: There are huge suburbs in St.Petersburg. That is weird. We traveled by metro, it goes really deep under the ground, not like Helsinki metro, that’s nothing comparing to St.Petersburg metro. It was nice experience.
Ok, and the last question. What do you expect from being musician?
Williami: Piece of mind!
Jules: My dream is to be somehow respected in what I do in music. I don’t think about anything else. I don’t care about fame, because that really doesn’t mean anything. That is just nothing. But if you are respected in what you do, and if you can do something well and people respect it, then it’s different, then you really feel that it’s something important.
Samuli: I enjoy playing and I wanna be better all the time. And it gives me great feeling, when I know what I’m doing. So I wanna be better drummer.
Antti: I don’t expect too much. Everything what I get is extra. I like to play guitar. [everybody laugh]
Tomppa: I just love playing, because to me it’s pretty much easier to express my feelings that way. I just wanna play.
Jules: Playing is what everybody wants to do. And now we are in a position that we can do it: we have shows, we have gigs, we have future plans and right now everything is in the way we actually wanted it to be.
Williami: The greatest thing in being in a rock band is that… I’m f*cking 25 years old, and I can still again be 15! This is the real thing! And I wanna enjoy every f*cking second I spend with these guys on the road. It’s something that I can look back and I can be proud of it.
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Interview done by Onni
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