According to Playground Music Scandinavia’s site, The Rasmus is the artists of the week on the German music download site mp3.de . There is also a very short video with Lauri.

Thanks for Oana, here are two pictures from the Photoshoots from the Suutarila High School:
Picture 1 and Picture 2

So here’s a quite old article from the beginning of this year with Eero and Aki…you can find here some pictures of the article: 1 2 3 4

Godfathers of the Children Clinics
The Rasmus as best Finnish band
The Rasmus’s Aki and Eero are about to begin a worldwide tour soon.
The Rasmus is the band of the year.
1. Aki and Eero: This is a very great surprise! Finland has very good and tough bands that were mostly present here in the competition, so the winning feels even better. Our supporters were pretty active and voted for us.
2. Aki: The disk was published. When i hold it for the first time in my hands, it was kind of a moment like for a little boy at Christmas. It’s more and more exciting year after year. Will always be a great feeling at every new beginning.
Eero: I made for the album a documentary, which ended on a special edition of the disk. It was a quite new experience, but also a really good one. Probably will continue with something similar.
Aki: When i first saw the documentary i was a little horrified, but on the other hand i was proud of all of us, because it was a pretty good thing for all of us after all these years. The Rasmus will be 15 years old next year, it is a long life for a band.
Aki and Eero: We have now begun a kind of massive tour, that we have done before too. Like let’s go to Finland at the end of January, and then will be back at home sometimes around April. It’s been on our minds like this a lot of times, like how it would be to be away from home so long.
4. Eero: I might have promised to use the Internet. It’s kind of vice, being all the time on Facebook. The tour-bus has Internet too, where supposedly was nice to learn things.
Aki: It is kind of an egoistic job, and i could promise that i will try and be more considerate towards other people, when i’m not supposed to show a figure of myself.
5. Aki ja Eero: Thinking about the welfare of the people in our country i think the “Godfathers of Children’s Clinic” is a good idea. The subject is a basic one, but it’s good.

Here’s a video YleX uploaded with Eero doing an interview with two members of Paramore before their gig in Helsinki. Below the video the text says that Eero is a kind of hard-core fan of the american band. The interview is in English.

Furthermore thanks to Jessica here comes an article from Orkus no.12/01 December 2009/ January 2010. Pictures and translation was made by Jessica. Picture 1 and Picture 2. Please if you take the pictures and the translation don’t forget to credit the person who have done the work to us. Thank You!

„First, I called Tuomas Holopainen as if he was the father and me the guy who wants to ask for his daughter’s hand.”

Then they say something about In The Shadows etc., there’s nothing that we don’t already know.

Lauri Ylönen: Hi, right now I’m in Singapore at the airport and have to kill two hours until my flight to Helsinki will arrive.

Orkus: What did you do in Singapore?
LY: I visited our guitarist to work at new songs for the new album. He’s living there for over a year and has a family by now. It was a wonderful creative time, first of all because we did very much with his native friends and have learnt very much about the culture. But now I really look forward to Finland – these trips open my mind for the beauty of my home country.

O: Is it actually something special for you to visit foreign countries? After all, you have already visited over 60 countries with The Rasmus.
LY: Again and again it’s an adventure. Not least because I absolutely dislike flying! (laughs) No, I really don’t like these “iron birds”. Apart from that I love to travel, especially when I can visit places again of which I know that I liked them. For example, I always look forward to being in Milan. I already know then where I’ll drink a coffee.

O: Which country or which city appealed you the most? Was it something such exotic as India?
LY: India absolutely left its mark, that’s clear. However, I can’t say that I felt really comfortable there. For any reason, I couldn’t relax. I think that was because of the wide difference we encountered. We lived in an unbelievably luxurious seven-star hotel, but when we left it, there was an unimaginable poverty. Indeed, our concert in India was very emotional but I prefer the more calm places. I found Iceland, e. g., breathtaking beautiful.

O: You became 30 years old this year. In which way did this age change your point of view concerning The Rasmus?
LY: Of course very much, I’m not the same person anymore which I was when I was 20. I lived absolutely different when The Rasmus started off internationally, and although I dislike this word, I definitely became more mature, which is for sure also related to the fact that I have a son by now. But in many things I’m still a child, otherwise I wouldn’t play in a rock band. You just have to look at me now: I’m wearing an expensive suit which could be of a business man, but I have this really weird haircut. (laughs)

O: The international success mentioned earlier began 2003 with In The Shadows on a grand scale. Many bands develop something like a love-hate relationship to their most successful track. Is it the same with you?
LY: Well, I never hated this track. Of course sometimes it’s getting on my nerves that people are imitating me with the beginning of the song on the street but you have to live with it. The way I see it is like that: without this song I wouldn’t be in Singapore now, without this song many things wouldn’t have happened.

O: It’s only right that this track is the first on your Best Of 2001 – 2009. Which thoughts crossed your mind when you did this look back at your music?
LY: I instinctively had to think about how many video clips we made in all these years. I remembered all the exhausting and funny shots which we did in Cuba, in the USA, Sweden or Finland. These were really exhausting years! So many unbelievable things happened that we couldn’t do everything some offered us. E. g. at that time, we couldn’t fly to New Zealand although In The Shadows was also there number one in the charts. On the one hand it’s a pity but on the other hand we can still catch it up.

O: With October & April there’s also a new song – a wintry melancholic duet with the Nightwish vocalist Anette Olzon. Why did you choose her?
LY: At any rate I wanted to have a singer of a Finnish band and as right now, Nightwish is Finland’s biggest band, the choice was easy. First, I called Tuomas Holopainen as if he was the father and me the guy who wants to ask for his daughter’s hand. (laughs)

O: There haven’t been other candidates?
LY: Well, actually yes. You have to know that the song already existed a few years ago and that time I wanted to have Tarja Turunen for that duet. But at that time her problems with Nightwish possibly began, so she turned me down. I was rather disappointed, so the song was put off for quite a while. It’s really weird that it now worked out with the next Nightwish singer but also quite funny.

O: Perhaps Tarja would have been a bit too much for this song.
LY: By now I think the same and am very happy about the fact that I worked with Anette. (sings just like a proof some shrill Nightwish beats) No, Tarja’s voice would definitely have been too bombastic for this song (laughs).

O: Was it difficult to get into a romantic atmosphere which is required for this sad love song?
LY: Absolutely no problem! This song has an unbelievable beautiful atmosphere into which you can delve immediately. The story of October who is eternally in love with April but cannot have her is a popular lullaby for children in Finland. We absolutely wanted to keep this magical, dreamy character and because of that we set value on this atmosphere lost in reverie. Even if we finally got a real “murder ballad”.

Here is the performance from the Dome in a HQ version, the version that have been aired on the German TV, RTL II.

The guys and Anette have been at the Ne Salmiset, a TV Show in Finland, which was aired yesterday on MTV3. Here and here you can find the interviews they have made and here you can hear the LIVE version of October & April.

In the next part of YleX videos we can hear Eero and Lauri talking about Sail Away, the song was born around a camp-fire, and they wanted to make a classical song, but then it turned out to be a really nice rock ballad.

Here’s a video made a while ago with Aki and Lauri at Voice TV where they talk about meeting with Alice Cooper and the Scorpions, about the compilation album and Aki joining the band, about the Black Roses demos that sounded better than some of the ready songs from the album.

As you know the book of 32 pages is a limited edition of 2000 copies only worldwide. Playground Music Scandinavia have uploaded a preview of how the book looks like to their Flickr account and you can take a look at them here.

Moreover the guys were invited to the Ne Salmiset at the MTV3 with Anette where they gave interview and also performed LIVE October and April. The show will be aired on the Finnish TV Channel MTV3 on 28.11 and hopefully some media will be uploaded here, to the site of the program.

Today the youngest member of the band joined the team of those of 30 years old guys! Eero is having his 30th birthday today (27/11). We would like to wish him a very happy birthday and all the best that he can ever wish for. Hope that he spends an amazing time with his friends and family.

So…

Hyvää Syntymäpäivää Eero ja Paljon Onnea!!!

Here are some more articles/videos from and about the gig the guys did on Monday 23.11 to celebrate 15 years of being in the music business.

Two videos from IltaLehti: 1 (with Rakkauslaulu sung by two fans Mari and Miku) and 2 (footages from the gig and interview with Lauri).

There is one article from Yle.fi here, which basically tells a short history of the band that in 1994 the band started with their first gig in the school, then still having the name of Anttila. They had two songs of their own and five cover songs which they have played.
Now they returned and they started their gig with the same song as 15 years before, Myself, Lauri telling it is because it’s hard to “be myself”.
Then he talks about the fact that Suutarila High School give a support (and does now too) for those aiming for musical life, they even had two drum-kits.
Eero tells how they were driven by the desire to achieve something and had a burning desire to play music, so at first they did it just because of hobby, but after a while it turned to something more serious.
at the end you can see the data everyone writes about that they had sold over 1.5 million albums of Dead Letters and they own the title for the best-selling Finnish song of all time (guess it’s ITS).
It also has some pictures taken by Yle.
Another article that have appeared on this issue was on the site of mtv3.fi, which tells about that the school was a good place for inspiration and they have spent a lot of their time practicing there after the lessons. And that they have also used the school radio to promote their very first songs.

Also this post have been updated and new gallery links have been added.

As stated in this post, Eero and Lauri have been on Monday (23.11) morning at the YleX Radio and did a small interview about the anniversary gig, compilation album and many other things. The site of the radio is being update continuously and here are some of the videos they have posted up.

In the first video they talked about the compilation album that was released today worldwide. They talk about their first appearance in YleX radio, about the tracklist of the compilation album (the fact that they have picked up more like the singles and those songs that have been hits),about their future plans (they have already been in studio and recorded some demos, but they still have a lot to work).
In the second video they talk about how the song No Fear was born and that they have did Hide From The Sun so soon after Dead Letters because there was a pressure on them to make it. Pauli have come up with the riffs and the demo of the song and then they have developed it more.
In the third video Lauri is telling the story about how October and April was born as a parody song of boy-bands and that he first called Tuomas to ask for Anette’s phone number and then called her, she found it a nice idea. They have talked about everything only through the phone, but they first met only when they made the video for the song.

Here comes some pictures and videos from the gig. As soon as more will appear THIS POST will be UPDATED!

Pictures from the gig: 1; Official Gallery on IRC-Galleria ; Pictures by Voice.fi ; Pictures by Yle;

Videos are available on this account on YouTube by Rafaelinux and audio by thierrocker, members of the International The Rasmus Forum. Thank You to both of them!

There are also some other video interviews available on the site of Nelonen.fi and on YleX.fi since yesterday Eero and Lauri have been doing interview for the radio about the compilation album that is released tomorrow worldwide. They talk about their first appearance in YleX radio, about the tracklist of the compilation album (the fact that they have picked up more like the singles and those songs that have been hits),about their future plans (they have already been in studio and recorded some demos, but they still have a lot to work).
Here is also one picture from the photo-shoot they have  done yesterday in their former high school.

The guys have finished their anniversary gig about half an hour ago. They moved the small crowd from the Gym Hall of the Suutarila High School from Helsinki, Finland. Though the setlist was pretty short, barely reaching an hour, they have managed to cover the same era they did with their compilation album which will be released on the 25th November, on Wednesday. The setlist was the following: Myself; F-f-f-falling ; Ghost of love; Chill; Livin’ in world without you; In my life; No fear; First Day of My Life; Liquid; In The Shadows; Guilty; Rakkauslaulu; Sail Away.

Before the gig they have appeared a few articles with Lauri, and some with both Lauri and Eero. The one appearing first on the site of mtv3.fi claims there will be a longer interview available on their site tomorrow (24.11) and some footages from the gig. The second article presents some facts from Lauri’s past (his changing of hair color, he’s dad and his partner is PMMP’s Paula Vesala with who he has a one and half year old boy). There is also a video on the site of IltaSanomat with the guys doing photoshoots.

As soon as more media will be available from the gig we will let you know in due time .