Mexican Interview with Eero

A few days ago appeared in the Mexican news portal called Chillango, a short interview with Eero. He told about current plans and working progress on the The Rasmus album, and also about what will the setlist of the Mexican gigs mostly contain. Translation below taken from UnRealRasmusNews.

Building on the release of Best of 2001-2009: Mexican Tour Edition, and the next two concerts, talk to Eero, The Rasmus, who told us about the upcoming album of the band and Mexico.

Why did you decide to launch an edition of ” Best of “special for Mexico?

We asked if we wanted to release this collection in Mexico, and we decided we would do it because we will have some concerts there, and we have many fans. The suggestion came from the label and said, “Okay, let’s do it.”

Do you plan to make editions of some other country, or just here?

Only in Mexico, because, in fact, this year we have been performing more than these two coming in the city of Mexico. It is very interesting. We are now in the recording studio in Sweden, working on new material. We have ten new songs and we recorded almost half.

What do you think were your greatest influences for the creation of this new album?

That’s a good question. We have been talking about many bands and many artists when we rehearsed. We talked about Bruce Springsteen, Kings of Leon, we talked about Dubstep, something new is happening, I think it started in London, Kent and we talked about a band noventera of Sweden, who plays alternative rock.

How do you think you have evolved from Rasmus Peep to Black Roses ?

We were very young when we launched our first album at age 15. Just played with the music. We loved to sing silly songs or did not have any message in the lyrics, or anything. Slowly begin to understand the importance of the composition, and try to rehearse, write good songs. We’ve gone through several styles: funk rock, melodic pop rock, and then began to have moods darker in pop rock. Now, I know, the songs feel like they are making a positive atmosphere, lots of energy. They are happy, but somewhat melancholy. I think it’s a good mix. Is bittersweet.

Sounds like a very interesting concept …

Yes, I am very inspired by him. You want to leave the public with this new album because I want to hear what people like to hear it.

In a few weeks will be presented in the Federal District. What can fans expect from this show?

This show is like a payment for the sadness that cause people when we could not play in Mexico because of swine flu. We were also very sad because we were ready for the National Auditorium, and there were many fans excited, and that’s what they told us we had to cancel the show. That was horrible. Now we come back we want to make a better show. We want to play all the songs you love people, and play some new, at least one. Also, some of which did Lauri for your solo project. I am very happy about this because we have not had a long concert, and we will give much pleasure to be on stage. The fans in Mexico are unbelievable.

How do you prepare for a show like this?

Rehearse, and we talked our ideas about things we could do on stage. I think the most important in a show like this is a good time with people. So, we will not do things in a bad mood: want to have fun. We have incredible fans in Mexico, so we will take our time and enjoy two nights.

You have previously been in Mexico, where do you like to visit?

I remember that the city is a huge place, but the places that have stayed in my mind are many. One day we had a concert at the Estadio Azteca and sang some acoustic songs and was very beautiful: there were many people, and everyone was very excited. We also visited the pyramids of Teotihuacan, I think there is something very special there. There are places that are sacred, you know? I think in that sense is very special Teotihuacán. I remember the National Auditorium, where we touched. Once we took the Zócalo. We have very fond memories of Mexico.

And the Mexican food? Do you like?

Yes, of course. The first thing we do when we get to Mexico is to have dinner at a Mexican restaurant and order a big meal. I love that you put lemon in everything. We also like the weather. Right now we’re in Sweden, where it is cold, and it’s starting to rain at night, then it will be fantastic for us to go and enjoy a warm place for a while.

Interview with Lauri on pitcam.tv

Russia '09, Monsters of Rock Tour

After a long silence from the guys here comes a not so old interview made with Lauri in Germany in November during his visit in Berlin. The interview was made by the German TV, Pitcam TV and you can see the interview made with Lauri on the YouTube Channel of the TV here. The interview is in English.

Lauri was talking about the Best Of, about the reason he became singer, about past plans with Apocalyptica, about the duet, and at the end of the interview about the Birthday Gig they had in Suutarila High School.

Aki @ NRJ Iltapäivä 09.12.2009

We could get used with not having announcements of the guys visiting NRJ Finland radio. So did this happen in case of Aki when he have visited the radio program called Iltapäivä of the Finnish NRJ Radio on Wednesday, 09.12. You can watch the video here.

Interview with Lauri on laut.de

Here‘s an interview with Lauri made by the German site laut.de. Translation made by me with Google and my kinda few German knowledge.

Now that the label contract has expired, there’s a time for the Finns to rest and refocus. Singer Lauri Ylönen talked on phone about the future plans of the band, past successes and cherished freedom.
I’ve never called anyone in Finland. How was your day today?
Very short. I spent the whole day in the studio. At this time of the year the sun sets after 3 o’clock.Then it gets pretty dark, it really sucks. But then it makes you very grateful when the spring comes and the sun comes out. It’s like many things in life. If something is very important and you lose it.
What are the future plans of The Rasmus? There will be a best of 2001-2009 compilation?
Yes, comes out this month. It goes together so a bit about the last ten years. We wanted to put a compilation to complete our record deal. And then hopefully a new, fresh beginning will come. At that time we have released a compilation, but only in Finland of the first three albums.That was the end of a chapter in the history of The Rasmus. After some great things happening, so I hope that we can conclude by this Best Of the past.
At the moment we’re in the studio, this week we take on new songs. We have our own studio in Helsinki. It’s just a good time. We have no record deal, we just jam only. We have so much fun, there are no expectations, no pressure of any kind, this is a really good feeling.
This sounds interesting. But again back to the compilation. Who chose the songs?
In fairness, we decided to put only the major singles and radio songs on it, but also some songs that were important to us. I wanted to, for example, “Immortal”, one of my favorite songs, extra-long version. And a few other songs that deserved it. on a plate with the hit songs to be, “Ghost of Love” for example. A good live song, maybe more people will know after this Best Of.
In addition, a new song with Nightwish singer Anette Olzon. A very old song that was written 10 to 15 years ago. I have always loved the melody, which has something very childlike. To this end I wrote the lyrics, they really could be sung for a child.
“We have rediscovered the music”
What does this have with the record deal all about?
The last record was the last in the contract. I do not know if we will work with the same label in future. But at the moment it just feels good to be so free.
So one can expect on their next record something completely new?
Yeah, sure. If things go as they run straight, then it will really be a surprise. But it is still too early to tell details. Things can change again when the album comes out. We often write plenty of songs and only a few are on the album at the end.
A Best Of CD is a good time to look back again. Would you do anything differently if you had the chance?
No, I do not think so. Because who does every mistake and every little thing. Some things have caused confusion and excitement, from which one has learned. Then you need to pause briefly and reflect. Not everything went well. We have lost two drummers – they are not dead (laughs) – but they have left the band. It was not easy to find, we had to substitute. But it worked every time, and new, positive things have emerged, which have abolished the negative.
Despite everything your band haven’t brake up. And hard work and a lot of touring?
Yes, we are still very enthusiastic about our band. We are now playing together 15 years and I see no reason why it shouldn’t be 15 years again. Many bands brake up, making their solo albums and maybe get together again after five years. But I would be too lonely. I was only now in Berlin at the EMA. I was sitting alone in the audience and I’ve watched the show. I thought to myself: If I was a solo artist, I would always sit alone here. At most, perhaps the people from the record company may not even like me. It’s so nice to have a band, have friends around you. They get so much out more if you can share it. Good and bad things.
For example, today. I was in the studio with Pauli, the guitarist, and we have rediscovered our music. We have listened to our recordings today and we laughed totally (laughs), we were really excited. This is the best thing you can do. You feel the music really.
“I hope that we can maintain this success”
This is a good cue. I would like to talk about music and success. What is your definition of good music?
(Thinking very long time:) Lately I’ve gone through all the songs that I have in my IPod, and I searched for songs with really strong feelings. It is very difficult to think up something like that. It sometimes takes only one or two seconds for a good melody to make an exceptional song. There is something in these notes with the chords underneath, it’s something magical. It feels good, it moves you. After that I was looking for something in the songs, no matter what kind of music.
How important is personal success? Money, fame, and these things.
Well, I like it, of course, buy nice cars, this is fun. I am glad that I can travel around the world. Even though we are not on tour now. I also like going away in private. With money you can make these things. I hope that we can maintain this success.As with “In The Shadows” going on (single from “Dead Letters”) was the highlight of our career.That was a crazy time. In so many countries it was a number one on the singles charts, this is a unique experience in life.
Would you also make music, if you wert not so successful? Playing small gigs in Finland?
Yes, I think so. I was so enthusiastic, fifteen years ago when we played our first show, then at the Christmas celebrations of our school. I had the sense to know what is a good song. We began to write our own songs. We played a few covers, for example, by Nirvana, but we were immediately focused on writing our own songs. It felt so easy. Maybe we copied a bit from here and there, but in the end we had our own songs, of which we could be proud of. Each can cover Metallica, but perform their own songs is something quite different.
Good music is always successful?
(Thinks) Normally, people find good music. But what is success? It can also be successful if it is not a million sold, if it is available free on the Internet, or something. How does one define success?
Some genres are smaller. I’ve looked around the Internet for Psychobilly-Bands. They are crazy, cool bands, many from America. They look so cool and have such a strong scene, which really makes me little jealous. Belonging to something about each individual hair is precisely fixed, as it has to be on your head, all the tattoos, I thought it was cool. It’s not commercial music, it does not sell very well. But it is still a success. But a good song will always find its way to the people.
And vice versa. If successful music always good music?
No of course not. People have different tastes, some can not tolerate some music, some may find a little bit of everything. The music reflects the personality of the people, their feelings. Some use music as a statement on the clothes they wear. They want to express something with it.

And here’s another article where it says that Lauri have been voted as the most handsome guy at the Linnan Juhlat, Finnish Independence Day Celebrations.

Sonic Seducer December 2009/January 2010

Big thanks to Jessica who have translated to us the article that have appeared in the new issue of Sonic Seducer in Germany. Scans will come soon for the recent articles from Orkus, Rockoon and this one too.

The Rasmus
School’s not out
What do you do in Singapore?
Well, we’re sitting here together and write new songs. Our guitarist is living here for 2 years. A nice place to live, very different to Finland. Pauli likes the beach and at the same time he has the advantages of a large city. It always takes a long time to write new songs, you can’t do it over night. In the future we’d like to release albums faster and more often so that everything’s a bit more recent. Just as my favourite band Weezer that somehow manages to release a new album every year. We have so many songs, why shouldn’t we release them faster and more often. Especially today as the multimedia world has changed so much, people buy more songs or singles than albums.

By your standards you didn’t tour so much for this disc, why?
That’s true, earlier there often have been 6 gigs per week. But this year we took some days off in summer. We just wanted to spend time with our families, with our children.

15 years of The Rasmus – to celebrate that, there will be a Best Of, a new single and…
… a very special concert, that is to say in a gym of our old school Suutarila in Helsinki, where we had our first gig in 1994 at Christmas. Unfortunately you can’t buy tickets, only 300 people fit into the hall and that will mainly be friends and old class mates. Hopefully there will also be someone who hated us back then and still doesn’t like us today – that would be fun! It was also fun when I spoke to the principal of the school. I found the number on the internet, so I called him and said: hello, here is Lauri Ylönen, we would like to play a concert in the school. He answered: Is that a joke? And I had to convince him for a long while that it’s really me.

What would you also want The Rasmus to happen in the next 15 years? Do you think that you’re still here in 2024?
The last days we talked more about the future and the past, about what and where we want to be, than wrote songs. I can’t see any reason why we shouldn’t still be there in 15 years. We just noticed that we want to make an album that is very much back to basic again. The experience to work with Desmond Child was right and important for us, also very informative, but now we just want to get started without much planning and so much money, and look what we will get out of it. Today you can also make a good album on the computer at home.

Do you think that the next album will have a poppy sound like “Black Roses”?
Every time I said something about that we got an absolutely different one out of it. We wrote a song that has heavy 80s disco vibes but also that can change and suddenly be totally different. We try to take the song as it is and to not think about any style. You just look what the song needs and try to make an individual out of it. Later we think about how everything fits together. I don’t want to have a theme for this album, I try to avoid that. Last time everything was planned very detailed, I don’t want to repeat that.

Also the feathers are there again, on the cover of the Best Of and the cover of the single “October & April” (release 13 Nov) that you have recorded with Nightwish’s Anette Olzon.
We wanted to have a cover that represents the last decade. I think this image especially reminds of this time. But I also have my feathers here in Singapore and had them long before “In The Shadows”, they just were white back then. Actually, the song is 12 years old. We drank much wine and had fun to write a parody of all of these boy band songs. We imagined this picture of us, like in the pouring rain, the shirts wet and open, on our knees and looking up to the sky – it was much fun! I didn’t know Anette before, I never met her personally. So I called the keyboarder of Nightwish and asked whether I could ask Anette to sing a duet with me. That felt very weird, as if you’d call the father of a girl (giggles). But he was very enthusiastic and immediately contacted her, she possibly is a fan of The Rasmus and even sang songs of us with her cover band earlier. I only saw her at the video shooting in Helsinki. But we phoned very much and she is this type of person with which you can easily get along and about whom you believe you know her for a long time.

Such a Best Of often has the bitter aftertaste of the expiration of the contract…
Yes, that’s true; “Black Roses” was the last disc for Playground/Universal. And with that, this chapter is completed. I hope that we will soon open a new, interesting chapter. But I want to take my time concerning new contracts and new bondings. First I’ll write new songs and then I’ll think about the deals.

Rockoon no.01 December 2009/January, February 2010

In the new issue of Rockoon! Germany there is a nice article with Lauri. Thanks to Jessica here is the English translation and also a few pictures of how the article looks like . Pictures: 1 2 3

„15 years ago we were jumping wildly on stage and because of that rather hurt ourselves than playing music…”

Rockoon: With your “Best Of” release you celebrate 15 years of The Rasmus. How may we imagine Lauri as an erstwhile schoolboy?
Lauri Ylönen: Oh, this question absolutely fits well, as I’ve just rummaged through a lot of old childhood photos in the house of my mum. A magazine needs some old pictures for the school concert that we do on our anniversary, and I found some old school photos as well. We had these year books that include pictures of the whole class and I had another crazy haircut in nearly every photo. (laughs)
But I very often wore a Metallica shirt, this was possibly kind of constant. In our clique we often did crazy things, the eye-catching styling was just one part of it. But I have to point out that all of us were quite good pupils. That didn’t fit together for most of the teachers. In our leisure time we mostly went snowboarding and skateboarding – there wasn’t anything as good as this for us.

R: Did you have to give up on these sports activities for The Rasmus?
LY: At least I had to constrict it. But if there’s the possibility, we risk going snowboarding or skateboarding. Last summer I was just skateboarding again and badly dislocated my shoulder right there. Great, right? Something like that never happened to me the years before.

R: You lived your entire life in Helsinki. Have you been happy not to grow up in the Finnish loneliness?
LY: It depends. When I still lived with my parents, we stayed outside of Helsinki, and there it was very calm. But I can clearly remember how cool we felt when me and our bassist Eero Heinonen moved into our first flat in the city of Helsinki. The flat was just one room, barely 20 square metres, and had no shower and no toilet. There was just a bathroom on the corridor for the whole level. But that didn’t matter to us most of the time and we just used the sink to pee. I know, quite disgusting, but we were 17 and it didn’t matter to us at all. (laughs) However, we’ve been the coolest kids by far, as we were the first who moved from home. So there often were parties… a very chaotic time.

R: Easy to imagine in this situation. Have you always liked living in Finland? Also before you could visit the whole world because of The Rasmus?
LY: Actually yes. It’s right that I learned to appreciate Finland more since I travelled that much but I always liked this country. I love the clearly definable seasons. In summer you can go skateboarding and when summer is fading slightly you can look forward to snowboarding. I like long winter evenings when it’s dawning at 3 o’clock but also enjoy the long summer days when the sun almost doesn’t disappear.
Los Angeles for example where it’s almost the same weather every day I’d go mad. Of course, as teenagers, we wanted to get out of Finland and went to London to party regularly. But as exciting as it was – here is the most beautiful place.

R: Quite soon after forming the band you decided to quit school for The Rasmus. Was it a hard decision?
LY: Absolutely, it was a really hard one! At that time I was at an eminently respectable music school which only accepts a few number of applicants. Of course my parents had a big expectation of a career there but it didn’t work out as good as before. We already had a certain popularity here in Finland, often played concerts and already went gold the first time. More often I was tired and couldn’t concentrate in school and finally drew the consequences. I would have regretted it if I wouldn’t have done that, as I felt that we could have success with our band. And I was right after all. Fortunately I could also convince my parents, otherwise it would have been difficult. But as my dad always dreamt of his own band it wasn’t so hard.

R: And how did you get used to the life of a professional musician? If you actually can get used to it…
LY: No one of us is a real professional musician. Therefore all of us are too untalented. (laughs) We combine happiness, having fun playing together and this energy that we have. We still respect this thing very much and are happy that we can go through this together as a band. On the one hand it’s better to share the success, on the other hand you can bear reverses easier together. Well, you can’t learn to play in a rock band.

R: Did you have another career aspiration in school?
LY: No, I felt sure that I’d do something with music. After all I was at a music school. I always wanted to play in a band because music already gave me a lot of strength as a listener. Perhaps it’s even my parents’ fault that I quit school, as they were the ones who sent me to piano lessons.

R: Despite of the high expectations, was it a good thing when you created your first band?
LY: Yeah – although first we just played cover versions of Nirvana and Metallica. This was good but not the real deal. This began when we wrote our first own songs…

R: What was the first song you wrote?
LY: It was Myself. Back then I was 15 and the chorus just says “I can’t be myself”, on the one hand the typical “teenager fear” thing, on the other hand I felt exactly like that when I was 15. By the way, we will play this song at our anniversary concert in the gym of our old school. It’s a weird feeling to practice, I was a very different person back then.

R: How did you get the idea of playing a concert in the same gym in which you had your first gig?
LY: I got the idea one day because I just found it fit well to play there after all these years where everything began. So I called the principal which was weird enough, because 15 years ago there wouldn’t have been anyone who I didn’t like to call as much as him. (laughs) First he didn’t want to believe me that it’s really me who’s calling but finally I could convince him. It’ll be fun – we invited some of the audience of that time and will also play one or two very old songs. I just hope that then the show will be better. 15 years ago we were jumping wildly on stage and because of that rather hurt ourselves than playing music…

R: The latest “Best Of” disc and this school concert are a good reason to look back at your career. Which parts stand out the most for you?
LY: A very important event happened not long after we formed the band: we could be the support act of Red Hot Chili Peppers and could perform in front of thousands of people. After this concert we felt sure that we wanted to do this for the rest of our lives. And after a few years in which we were successful in Finland, it went on with In The Shadows. This song was the most important event in our career…

R: … and one of the most successful songs of the Finnish history of music. How did you find out about the fact that In The Shadows hit the charts worldwide?
LY: That was totally chaotic and happened so fast. The song was released worldwide at the same time and made an impact. Earlier we were happy about a good chart position for days and called everyone for hours, with In The Shadows we just got many short text messages: number one in Germany, Poland, wherever. We couldn’t keep up, especially as we were on tour at that time and had to manage not to lose our footing. Of course this is relatively difficult when you’re told about 15 minutes before the gig that the single was selling one million times by that time. That was just beyond our imagination. Today I wish that I could live through this another time so that I can enjoy it more intensive.

R: In spite of everything you managed not to lose your footings and are characterised by a lack of scandals. Or do you just hide them too clever?
LY: It’s possible that we’re just absolutely boring. No, actually I was very careful concerning my private life and I am shy by nature. However, I don’t need to make a big deal out of myself in the media like some Finnish, popular people do. I like to leave that to the persons who need it.