We had the chance to speak to the guys just before their show at the Effenaar in Eindhoven. It was a lot of fun so we hope you enjoy this page!
First of all, congratulations on the new album, it's really great! And also the shows you have been playing so far were really great, thank you so much! So how did it feel to get back on tour after the break and present all the new stuff to the fans for the first time?
Lauri: Replies something in Finnish, pretending to be serious.
Everybody laughs. Pauli comes in a bit late and is greeted.
Lauri: Picks up voice-recorder. Pauli, how do you feel to be back on tour? Points recorder at Pauli.
Pauli: Oh yeah! OHHH YEAHHH!!!
Everybody laughs.
Aki: Puts recorder in front of him. Of course it felt nice and it's always nice to like, think about the set list, what songs do we play and…
But were you like, nervous? With the new songs, you never played them before…
Aki: More like, excited!
That's good!
Aki: Yeah it's nice! I think the show last night was one of the best so far, now the songs are getting there.
Is there anything in particular memorable from the gigs you have done so far on this tour? Like, did something strange or weird or something funny happen?
Eero: I met one girl who said that she's been our fan since she heard the first album, Peep, which was released in '96. And then I asked her "How old are you?" and she said "I'm 18!" so she's been a fan for ten years since she was like eight years old.
Lauri: Yeah and Eero has surprised us almost every night with some local song. Laughs. So you never know what is gonna happen with Eero.
The whole forum is really excited about that actually! Like "What are they gonna play tonight, will they do this, will they do that?"…
Aki: Yeah, I feel the same! Wurst und Bier was my favourite!
Everybody laughs.
So this time on the European tour you have the same support band almost everywhere, is there a particular reason why you don't play with local bands this time?
Aki: We have some local bands, in Spain and the UK…
Lauri: Deep Insight play 16 shows with us. And erm, yeah, what other bands do we have..?
Aki: Puts on a Spanish accent. Estirpe…
Eero: Not very many people asked for it… And Deep Insight was the best.
So no Swans Of Avon?
Lauri: Ah, Dirk's band! Dirk is coming to see the show… We have a couple of new guys in the crew. We have Kimmo the new guitar tech and Looloo the tour manager. So we have a woman in the bus now.
Aki: We have to behave…
That must be difficult…
Lauri: She's spanking us…
Oh that's nice…
Aki: Yeah!
Lauri: We are her slaves…
Okay, so we just heard the news about next year's plans with HIM and Negative for in February, are there any more gigs planned?
Aki: Yeah, that will be a great tour, huge venues.
But it is just Germany and..?
Aki: Yeah, in German speaking areas so far.
Lauri: There might be some other places but it's not yet confirmed.
Aki: Would be nice to play Helsinki! We have some plans to go to Latin America and maybe Canada, but nothing is really confirmed.
Recently you choose to end the set with slower songs like Funeral Song and Don't Let Go instead of the more up-tempo songs like In My Life. Is there a particular reason for that or do you just feel like it?
Lauri: Don't Let Go is the last song on the new album, so…
Aki: There is this kind of feeling, good feeling, good mood when you listen to this song. And actually we have this erm… Sibelius, which is the ending song of the show and that's kind of, massive…
Eero: But it's not Sibelius.
Everybody laughs.
Aki: Who is it?
Eero: It's Italian. Albinoni, Adagio.
Aki: Oh okay! I haven't heard it but once we had it in Finland so I thought it was Sibelius.
Lauri: Anyway, Don't Let Go is a song that you can play like, forever, in the end.
The fans really enjoy the acoustic sets in the gigs. Is there any chance you might plan to record an acoustic CD or DVD? Like an entire gig and then just release it?
Lauri: I don't know, I think the maximum limit for the acoustics is pretty much like three or four songs…
So maybe like, something extra on a CD?
Aki: Yeah, we recorded a few songs acoustically, but we don't know if they will be released.
Ah, because there's lots of fans asking about that because they like it a lot!
Lauri: Do you have any ideas what songs you would like to hear acoustically?
Chill… It was on the set list yesterday but you didn't play it…
Aki: Yeah it depends what people want, that is kind of interactive.
I was thinking like, a little bit from all albums? Because we never thought that old songs like Ice and Funky Jam would work acoustically but they were really great…
Aki: We played them in Finland!
Yes! A lot of people actually were requesting that and talking about it. And now, moving on to videos… There has been a little bit of confusion about the Sail Away video and the story behind it. How does it fit with the song, could you explain?
Lauri: There is no connection to the lyrics this time…
Okay… And when it comes to making a video how much influence do you actually have? Do the directors just come with the full idea and you say yes or no or..?
Aki: Usually we get a lot of scripts and then we just pick up the best and then we discuss it with the guy.
But you can have your own input as well?
Aki: Yeah, of course.
There was an interview with Image magazine earlier this year and either Lauri or Pauli mentioned a song called Mur-… erm… I knew I was gonna screw that up..! Murhaballadi. And it was a working title, or at least they wrote that it was. Is that actually on the album?
Lauri: No, it is not. It was just an idea that's been kind of erm, cooking.
Okay… Well, enough with the boring questions?
Yeah, I think so too… Drops the rest of the questions on the list for time reasons.
Holds up name cards. Maybe you remember these?
Lauri: Yeah!
Aki: That is funny! I just saw the pictures on the website!
Who sleeps longest in the morning?
Who showers the least?
Who is the moodiest of you guys?
Who has the highest phone bill?
Who misses Dirk the most (apart from us)?
Who eats the most sweets?
Pauli wasn't ready yet, so another one then…
Who exercises most?
Who really is a vegetarian?
Who writes the most post cards when on tour?
Who secretly reads the International Forum?
The guys claim none of them reads Fan Fiction, so all you writers can be relieved!
Who spends the most time per day in front of a mirror?
Who snores?
Who plays the most practical jokes on the others?
Who does the most stupid things when drunk?
And now we have one more thing…
Holds five song cards up to Lauri. There are five songs on these, could you pull two and explain the lyrics of those songs?
Lauri: Pulls two cards.
Aki: What is it..?
Lauri: Don't Let Go… And… Trigger. Hey… Pouts a little. Don't wanna do that one…
Everybody laughs.
Lauri: Tries to switch cards. Gimme that!
Laughs and pulls back the cards. Aherm! We put that one in on purpose…
Lauri: Alright! Don't Let Go is sort of based on a dream… And also it's about finding the right people in your life and around you, because if one of them is lying or cheating on you there's a missing link and you shouldn't have those in your life. So erm, kind of based on reality also. I like to find people around me that I can be, hmn, like long-term relationships, like, so you kind of get to know these people better and better. I don't like to have people changing around me too much.
So and, Trigger… I have to try to remember… Laughs. I haven't heard the song since we recorded it. I just have to go through the lyrics… It's erm, somehow like a love song, or… Thinks for a while. So it's erm… I just think that erm, it's basically about love like, how it changes in one day or something, what ever happens. I think people give up a bit too easily if they have a relationship and they're like, you know… They have some arguments or what ever, they disagree about things and they like, throw it all away too easily. And actually maybe they should take a little breath and not see each other for some time and then they can think about it. But if they you know, the next day they go and fuck someone else, then it's kind of been poisoned, then there is no return maybe. But, this is like erm, people should respect more what they have if they have a relationship and have met someone special.
Okay, thank you very much.
Temos pavadinimas: Interview with The Rasmus 
Antr. 02 16, 2010 3:21 pm
