THE ULTIMATE FAN INTERVIEW WITH THE RASMUS VOCALIST LAURI YLONEN
This interview means more to me than any other interview I've ever done, and here's why: I always take requests from readers of this site as far as what bands they'd like for me to interview. Since day one, no band has been requested more often than The Rasmus. The band has been on tour for months now and we haven't crossed paths, but I've been waiting for the chance to give our readers the interview they've been asking for. Finally, The Rasmus returned to the states for one more show in New York before heading back home to Finland, so I called vocalist Lauri Ylonen to ask him some questions for you. Making this even more special was that all of the questions were submitted by fans of the band! I want to thank our Forum posters Amycrow and dark whisper for helping to coordinate this, and countless others for submitting questions as well. We had a limited time before the band had other events scheduled, but we squeezed in as many of your questions as possible to give you what we hope is THE fan interview with The Rasmus!! Enjoy...this one is for YOU!
Anarchy Music: Finland has given us some of the best bands of the last several years. What is it about your homeland that brings out such uniqueness and creativity?
Lauri Ylonen: If I would a few clichés I would say it's the long dark winter and it's the climate and all that. I'm sure it has something to do with people's minds. You know how people react in different times of the year. We have very strong seasons. When it's the autumn you can feel that in your bones that the winter is coming. Then when the spring comes everything comes alive again. That’s one thing, but also, What we had in school when we were younger we had quite a supportive system in school. They're were drums in every school. They're were guitars and bass so you could at least have a chance to learn any instrument.
Anarchy Music: What was it like to work with (HIM vocalist) Ville Valo and are you planning on collaborating with other artists coming up soon?
Lauri: It was a long time dream to work together because we've known each other and also Apocalyptica who actually composed the song. Me and Ville just wrote the lyrics and did the singing part. We kind of brought all three bans together from Finland. We pretty much started at the same time with these bands, which was like 10-12 years ago so it was about time to do something together. The only time we actually performed the song together was when we did this charity event for tsunami victims. That was a beautiful thing, to end the concert with singing together there. That was like a once in a lifetime experience.
Anarchy: When writing a song, where do you get your inspiration and is the songwriting process easy for you.
Lauri: It’s very common, but the more mess you have in your life it’s easier to write songs. Right now I feel extremely tired of touring. We have been pretty much touring for 16 months. Tonight is the last show , we’re going to have a long break. So, this is a beautiful feeling. I’m a little bit sick, and I’m tired but I’m still happy. All these feelings are rushing in my veins and I don’t really know what to think. That’s a very inspiring state for songwriting because you have a feeling that you’ve given your everything. You’re happy and tired and sad and glad at the same time.
Anarchy: What is your favorite song by The Rasmus and why?
Lauri: Maybe it’s a song called "Immortal". It’s on the new album. It’s a little bit different from the other tracks. At least the live version that we play is a little more cinematic than the other songs. I’d like to take after that direction more. We have this middle part that we are improvising in and you never know what's going to happen on stage at that moment. It’s one of my favorite tracks.
Anarchy: When you were a kid did you ever wait outside all day in line at a concert or buy all of a bands merchandise like your fans do with you?
Lauri: I’ve been a fan of a lot of bands and I remember I’ve been waiting for tickets at maybe 4 o clock in the morning, just standing in line catching a cold but I still get the tickets.
Anarchy: And now people are doing it for you…
Lauri: Yeah, its good. I remember I was really dedicated but not THAT crazy. They are really there for three days and I always wonder, how can they know when we are coming because it’s not like we would come just before for the show. Are they waiting for five days?
Anarchy: In your opinion what’s the best album of all time?
Lauri: (long pause) Maybe Weezer, the second album, Pinkerton. I like that album a lot.
Anarchy: Yeah, so do I.
What’s the most “rock star-ish” thing you’ve ever done?
Lauri: You mean like breaking stuff?
Anarchy: Yeah, breaking stuff, or living the high life or however people tend to think that rock stars live.
Lauri: Maybe this is a more negative thing but I feel that I’ve destroyed a lot of good friendships with my old friends. That’s like a stupid rock star move. I mean, I think it’s cool to break hotel rooms and shit in weird places and do all that stuff,. Get drunk and fight and fuck around, that’s great. But I have to say that I’ve really been an asshole to a lot of good friends of mine in Finland and I should really make it up to them. I’ve been really selfish. I’ve just lived in this bubble for too long and things happen so fast. I’m always away from home and then I come back home. Everything we talk is our band. Of course that’s an easy thing to talk about because we have so much happening, but I should ask them how they are doing.
Anarchy: There’s still time, you have a break coming.
Lauri: Yeah, it’s good to have a break now. A couple of months at least. Not to see the band members, I want to see my old friends, people I’ve known for 25 years. Their very important people because it’s something real. They put you back on the ground. They say what they think about you, not like all these so-called friends that I’ve made.
Anarchy: Regarding Dynasty, your record label, what is the criteria for selecting bands and what role do you play in it?
Lauri: Well, we have been away from home a lot, but nowadays it’s so easy to send Mp3’s or whatever. We have two guys working all the time at the record company back home and me and Pauli (Rantasalmi, The Rasmus guitarist), we are just on tour. They just send me some songs “I like this band, check this out” . Whoever contacts us gets some kind of an answer usually, because it’s still so small. We have now signed one band and it’s really doing well. It’s almost selling Gold in Finland and we have at least three more to come in the beginning of next year. It’s a cool hobby and I think we can help so many bands if they have talent. I don’t have to really do much because I know so many people who can make it happen. So, it’s not like all the pressure is on me or Pauli, it’s about knowing people and using those connections.
Anarchy: You mentioned some of the bad aspects of touring earlier, what are some of your best memories you have, whether it be on tour or actually on stage.
Lauri: Well, we’ve met some great people. We’ve had the chance to play with some great bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers. We played three shows with Metallica this year in the spring with South Africa. That whole experience of playing Africa was great because not many bands go there. We have been to so many weird places. We had two shows in India, we played in Taiwan, we played in Dubai. I can’t really name one thing. This year has so busy and so full of crazy, cool things.
Anarchy: Was there a favorite place as far as a country that you’ve been to?
Lauri: For some reason I like Argentina. We had so many days off there and that usually doesn’t happen. We just come in and play a show and leave the next day. So, we played a Latin America tour we had five days off in Argentina which was just like a holiday.
Anarchy: You’re pretty popular with the ladies, what do you think of the fact that so many of your fans are women?
Lauri: It’s cool. You can’t really choose your fans, you just thank what you get. (laughs) We have a good little growing fan base in America too, we just played about twenty shows with Lost Prophets and it was real nice to see that in almost every little hillbilly city we played there was some Rasmus fans there it was just an amazing feeling. They’ve put up some street teams and fan clubs. This is a very excited time. If things continue. Because only a couple of thousand people like us but this is such a great place that if things go big it would just be so cool.
Anarchy: With Hide from The Sun you started playing guitar on stage. What led to that decision and do you feel more comfortable on stage with a guitar?
Lauri: Well, all my life I’ve played classical guitar and I really enjoy listening to that kind of stuff At first I thought it’s so Bryan Adams to play acoustic guitar on stage, but if I think about it sound-wise I think it really gives another level to the show. I don’t like the fact that I have to concentrate on two things at the same time. I’m just a man! I can only do one thing at a time. It’s cool, we have these improvised parts in the middle of something. All of a sudden the guitar tech throws me a guitar and I can play a little bit, its cool.
Anarchy: This one might be a little tough, but describe each of your band members in one word…
Lauri: Okay
Anarchy: Don’t ask me, that’s what they wanted to know!
Lauri: (laughs) It’s pretty tough.
Pauli, the guitar player, his word would be “mastermind”. He’s got this skill where he can sort of like meditate above us and see the band a little bit from the outside, which is good sometimes. I get too blind to my own writings and sometimes it’s god to have an outside ear.
Aki (Hakala), the drummer, I’d say “worker”. He’s a hard working guy.
And Eero (Heinonen), the bass player, He’s all about this meditation. He’s been without drinking alcohol for eight years or something and he’s been doing this yoga stuff so he would be “flying carpet”.
Anarchy: What advice would you give to a young kid who’s wanting to put a band together.
Lauri: The most important thing is to find the right people around you, the band mates. Some people you can trust and you don’t feel ashamed saying anything or come up with any idea. That’s the most important thing because if you have to hold back all the time and think that it’s something embarrassing or whatever then it’s not going to work. Find the right people and the right chemistry. maybe play some cover songs. Start with something you all like. Try to get a live show somehow.
Anarchy: When I first started in this your manager and HIM were really the first people to give me a chance and so your whole family there will always mean a lot to me and I appreciate your time as well. good luck with the album and enjoy the time off.
Lauri: Cool, thank you very much. It was nice talking to you.
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I would like to thank lauri VERY MUCH for taking time out of what was a very busy day to talk to his fans at this site, and ofcourse, our friends over at DRT Entertainment, who continue to be one of, if not THE most fan interactive label in the US. Thanks to Emmy for helping to make so many fans of The Rasmus feel appreciated and cared for by the band they love! Please check out TheRasmus.com and The Rasmus on Myspace for more information about this great band.