It was at Roskilde
festival in Denmark , summer of 98 - they were not supposed to play , the line
up was already crazy : Black Sabbath , Kraftwerk , Beastie Boys , Slayer ,
Sonic Youth , Marilyn Manson and on and
on - for some reason two bands canceled the gigs - the Verve and Echo and the
Bunnymen and..surprise , they called The Sisters of Mercy to replace
them and headline the second night - despite i was already heavily into dark
music i was still not fond of them - so i went to the stage under the tent and
they show up in the middle of an impressive amount of smoke - you could almost
see nothing , just the shadows - my understanding of english at that time was
still basic but I heard clearly Andrew Eldritch say " hello we are Echo and
the Verveman " with his typical low voice and they start straight away -
this made me laugh and then the music was amazing - at some point they play Alice , and that was the top - always in a lot of smoke and some lights - never
heard something so goth before but he was keep on repeating " we are a
rock'n'roll band " .Anyway - this gig
didn't change my life or something but for then on i become kind of obsessed
with this band wich is still one of my favourite today - Sisters of Mercy are a
band that always combine humor , irony with the most gothic music around
perhaps - a main influence for me without any doubt.
So Dark all over
Europe
Another track born from the collaboration between Silentport (Roman Rutten) and Lory Fayer, one song about dreamers and dreams; to know more let’s let them speak about that.
Roman Rutten: ''Dreams become part of reality only if we work for them. We don't have to hide our point of view behind fear. To dream is the only possibility to escape from the reality but it is also the way to change reality and to be a constructive part of a society.To make music is part of a dream. but music is the link between a dream and the attempt to find a place for it in the reality. dreaming makes the grey world colourful but only in "dreams". For me it is important to work for the reality with the impulse of dreaming.''
Lory Fayer: ''Dreamers are people often regarded with a pitiful, despising smile. But we shouldn't forget that civilization is born from one man who dreamed to own the fire of the storms, and worked to realize his dream, or that if we flight from one side to the other of our planet, it's thanks to who longed to reach the sky, to explore the world and has been able to turn his dream into reality.... Progress, art, beauty and love are nothing else than dreams come true.... And dreamers will keep on dreaming to colour the grey of the world, to make it become a better place, despite the concrete people, to fill the void of their days with their dream''.
The history of rock is
full of injustices. It’s very hard to understand why The Sound never found the
same commercial success as other wave English bands of the 80s. Maybe because
Adrian Borland didn’t have the same charm or hypnotic power of Peter Murphy,
Ian Curtis and Siouxsie or maybe because they disobeyed their label Korova
Records (WEA sub-label) that pushed them to sound more commercial. Adrian often
fell into deep depression and on April 26, 1999, he committed suicide throwing
himself into the path of an express train at Wimbledon tube station in London.
Their music touched me deeply since first listen and it was natural for me to
cover their song. “Winning”, with his overwhelming rhythm, is a song with great
emotional intensity. I used electronic sounds and synthesizers for the process
of creation. In the Spring and Summer of 2013, I recorded synths, my voice and
guitar by Rossano Fortunali in my The White Room studio in Vasto. Bass guitar
was recorded by Carlo Baldini in Montreal and it sounds very deep and powerful.
Carlo mixed and mastered the song and we were very glad with the result. Wally
Salem from The Beautiful Music, a Canadian record label, contacted us and
“Winning” took part on “There Must Be a Hole in Your Memory”, a tribute to The
Sound & Adrian Borland, release created in support of the film 'walking in the opposite direction'(facebook.com/AdrianBorlandDocumentary). “Winning” is
our tribute to the memory of Adrian Borland and The Sound. Thank you Adrian for
your wonderful music.
The world of my
past years is covered by a veil of golden silk. I remember friends, concerts,
endless summer days and lonely nights amidst the falling snow. But still, all
images in my mind are blurred by the mist of time. Sometimes I think I can just
reach out and touch these pictures, sense them and turn them back into reality.
Alas! They draw back and remain a shadow of a dream. Forever remain.
The year? The
time? It is a wet winter afternoon in 1993. I complete a practical training in
an IT company in the small German town Löbau and have just called it a day. I
try not to slip on the slick ground as I make my way to the railroad stations.
The music in my earphones ("Black Leather" by The Klinik) doesn't help much to raise my mood. In fact, I shiver
and shake, feel cold and colder.Halfway I stop,
wondering if there is something I've forgotten. Wasn't there this appointment?
Some months ago I
had met a young man at the infamous Steinhaus Club in Bautzen. It was my first
night at this club and I knew nobody except my girlfriend, and yet, I was so
impressed by the weird music they played. It was a crazy blend of early Goth
songs and assorted Punk tracks. I was not quite new to the dark music scene,
but my musical horizon was located somewhere between The Cure, Dead Can Dance and Fields Of The Nephilim.
Can you imagine
my excitement when I spent the night in this club and for the very first time
heard and danced to songs like "Sono L'Antichristo" (Diamanda Galas) or "Haus Der
Lüge" (Einstürzende Neubauten)?
Yes, it was back then when you could go to a club to get to know new music. The
arguable joys of YouTube and Facebook were still hidden somewhere in the depths
of times to come. Oh how I miss this time.When the DJ pulled
the plug in that night, a small group of black-coated folks set off to the
railroad stations. One of them, a tall, long-haired young man with a Sisters Of Mercy T-shirt, couldn't stop
singing one of the great songs of the evening: "Born In A Womb, Died In A
Tomb", he chanted, again and again.Before he left
the train in Löbau, we had exchanged addresses.
The light starts to fade and I slow down. Should I
stay or should I go? My girlfriend is not yet at home, and so I fumble for that
address in my bag. Yes, there it is.I ring. Footsteps behind the door. The
father of the young man is opening and I may enter the flat. (What a time! He
never saw me before: An odd guy in black clothes and with funny hair. Anyway,
no questions, just a slightly strange gaze. I may enter.)
What next, what
do you think? Sex and drugs and Jesus Christ? Conspiracy plans and streams of
whiskey? Think again. We listen to music, we talk and listen to music and over
again. I envy his beautiful "This Is Heresy" 12" EP – so we copy
the music to tape cassette, as well as some other extremely rare stuff. The
infinite world of music: Isn’t it a topic to talk about for ages? For the next
weeks and months we meet on a regular basis.
But there is one
particular event that has burned into my mind. One day he searched in his music
collection and brought a tape cassette to light that was apparently a copy of a
copy. Of course I made another copy, not really improving the sound quality
this way. When I went home on that evening, I listened to the songs on this
cassette. At first I thought my Walkman had conked out, but then I realized
that this was in fact the first song, it was a brutal track by Whitehouse. The next song changed the
mood dramatically, it was Boyd Rice and
Friends with "People". Every following song was a total surprise.
But what truly struck me down this night was a mysterious track called
"Bei Einbrechender Nacht" by the French project Les Joyaux De La Princesse. It immediately brought images of the
last days of World War II to my mind and was an overwhelming mixture of droning
synthesizers and sampled speeches from old radio broadcasts. I know, this is
quite usual today, but back in the early Nineties... it was totally new to my
ears. I can’t remember every song on this tape, but other remarkable tunes
where "Long Lankin" by Fire +
Ice, "Fall Apart" by Death
In June, "Electricity" by Blood
Axis and many, many more.
This changed my
life.
I think this
simple copy of a copy of a copy of a tape cassette gave me a first hint of the
richness of the musical cosmos. Don't get me wrong, I grew up with classical
music and fell in love with the melodies of Chopin when I was just 13 years
old. But here I had found an utterly new and fascinating universe. Up to this
point I had recorded some own music to tape cassettes, mostly influenced by
German bands like Das Ich and Goethes Erben. But I think this
particular compilation has even changed my own musical direction. So when I
finally debuted with my own project Verney
1826 on the American label "Shinto Records", I just had to credit
a lot of the influences to the aforesaid bands and artists.
More than 20
years are gone now and the times, they are a-changin'. Today I live in Berlin,
work full-time as an IT administrator and try to record new songs whenever
there is some free time. The girlfriend of 1993 has become my beloved wife in
2002, and in 1999, our son Ivo was born. (Yes, Ivo, named after this magical Cocteau Twins song, but don't tell him!).
My friend still
lives in Löbau and was a founding member of bands like Dies Natalis, Seelenthron and
Stein.
You are right,
Norbert: Back then, we thought all things would last forever. They didn't. What
about our memories? Is our remembrance just a dream of a shadow of smoke? It
isn't. The world of our early years is covered by a veil of golden silk. But
the pictures will remain in our souls forever.
***
Text contains
quotes by Fields Of The Nephilim, The
Cure, Christian Death, The Clash, The Pogues, Bob Dylan, Current 93
After the split of Endraum in 2008 Roman Ruetten started creating his solo project"Silentport”, where all his old fans can listen again his magical, evocative piano touch... “full of feelings so deep that no words can describe”... as wrote Lory Fayer, an italian poetess who loves to join her words in music, on the lirics of “The Secret Room” another song fruit of their collaboration, that with this track, in exclusive prewiew for Die Seele has brought until now four songs.
Roman composes also music for fims, mainly tv documentarym and is also working again on the reunion of OPFER DER HINGABE with Dieter Mauson and in another project whose music still has to be presented to the public, and we just tell him that for him the door of Die Seele is always opened.
All Enraum discography has recently been digitally re issued by the histrorical german label Trisol, that counts about its signed up bands Sopor Aeternus and Claire Obscure.
Slipping away like a tear
Tears shine like diamonds
raindrops on a lonely islands
a soul without guidance
behind the mask of silence
Feeling lost in a labyrinth
Floating in rivers of absinthe
asking yourself the reasons
of your quest for oblivion
Tears on the face of lovers
washing away the colours
of their old fading dreams
in a pain without screams
dark clouds on the ceilings
ice that freezes the feelings
while you are teared apart
memories haunt your heart
Tears hurting your thoughts
on a path leading to naught
far away from what you need
from what you desired indeed
fearing that nobody understands
the void you feel in your hands
people thinking that you're cold
misleaded by what lies untold
Tears hiding behind loneliness
the black curtain of hopelesness
playing a piece only for their eyes
smiles made only to disguise
Acting a performance that stuns
just to preserve your loved ones
just to don't make them fear
that you might slip away like a tear
THE MEMORY WAS REMOVED AS REQUESTED BY PAUL NASH' DANSE SOSIETY
The Flatfield is a young Finnish gothic rock band with skilled
musicians. To my mind, it is one of the most promising bands in modern goth
scene. They already have a full-length release and, considering such an
impressive beginning, it seems that soon they will show us how to “tumble over
yourself”. If you are fascinated by shamanism of Fields Of The Nephilim, innovation,
focus on sound and gravity of Swans, melodies and sentimentality of late 80’s
Cure, and want to hear something completely new and progressive, then it is a
band for you.
- Hi mates. Could you please introduce yourselves? For those whom I know
in person among you The Flatfield is by far not the first band so I’d like to
ask you to tell about your previous projects as well. Bear in mind that I love lengthy boring details so don’t hesitate to
give them for our small audience. J And please don’t be too modest talking about your
music experiences, I know some of you tend to be.
Ville: I am a singer and a song writer in the
band. I used to play synth in live performances until Risto came along. I am a
professional artist, a painter. I have played the guitar since I was 12 years
old and all my youth I thought about playing in band. In art school we had some
art/experimental music project, but it was more like stretching the boundaries
of art than playing in a band. I graduated from art school 2005 and returned to
my hometown Lahti. My friends had a group of two guitars and drums and they
asked if I could play bass? I was excited!
The band was later called Fauxmoor. Music was post-rock, post-metal,
semi-doom. We made a few gigs and recorded a very dark four-track EP in 2009. I
loved playing live, but after the EP was released the band members were slowly
separated by life and rehearsing was impossible.
Jay: I play the guitar in the band, I’m also
heavily involved in song writing and arrangement as well as general
‘management’ of the band. I’ve played the guitar for ages, at some point of
time I also studies a bit of classical and jazz guitar, but I consider myself
as a goth/punk guitarist. My first band was a punk band Smiles influenced by
Dead Kennedys, The Exploited, The Damned etc. We played one epic gig and broke
up soon after that due to musical disagreement (really!). Two band members
formed legendary Finnish punk-pop band Karkkiautomaatti. Our Hungarian singer
later became a priest, an anarchist one.I formed an art-goth band Flow soon after
Smiles disbanded. Flow had a drum machine, violin and saxophone – I sang in the
band at that time. We played etheric dark music and played quite many gigs as
well, one to remember was with Finnish post-punk legend Shadowplay. We never
actually disbanded, but the band gradually faded away as members, including
myself moved for studies etc.I first ran to Jaska when we were looking a
drummer to Lore, the band that I put up with my long time friend Mika Grön.
Lore was influenced by goth and progressive music (because of Mika). Musical
cooperation with Mika came to the end quite soon because we had to do too many
compromises while writing songs. I got to know Juha at the time I was playing
for a while in the Shadow Dance and eventually we got along so well that we
decided to have a band of our own. It all started with Brien (see Juha’s
answer), that band was a nucleus of Cairn. As Juha said, we never split up – we
just…you know.
Juha: I´m Juha Juntunen, and I play bass in The
Flatfield. I had my first bands when I was at secondary school, and we were
making some kind of punk, doing covers of Ramones and some Finnish punk bands,
although when we learned to play little bit better we started to write our own
songs. One of my first bands already played “Rain” by the Cult as a cover version,
so my roots in this kind of post punk/goth music go quite deep, even as playing
music, not just listening to it goes. I played my first gig at tender age of
fifteen, and I still think it´s one of the best gigs I have ever personally
done. Sadly my teenage bands didn´t lead to anything, maybe I wasn´t yet
determined and patient enough, and I already wanted to make some kind of post
punk, goth or indie-rock, and it was quite difficult to find musicians who
wanted to make same kind of music, cause almost everyone capable to play an
instrument was into hard-rock or metal.My first more serious band was The Shadow
Dance, and I was part of that band 1995 – 97. The Shadow Dance was old school
goth with female vocals and drum machine. I made quite few gigs with that band,
and made few studio sessions with it. Actually first time when I played in
studio was on The Shadow Dance track “Temple”. “Temple” was released on “The
Goth Box” compilation cd, which still is quite well known compilation, and of
course it felt really funny when the first ever notes you played in the studio
were on the same compilation side by side with legends like Bauhaus, The
Damned, The Chameleons, Play Dead, Alien Sex Fiend, Christian Death and
Patricia Morrison. They really were the first notes that I ever played in the
studio, cause I was really nervous going for the first time, so I was so well
rehearsed that I nailed the whole bass line completely at the first take. I
remember recording bass tracks for an ep, but that didn´t come out from that
session, because the other members didn´t get they parts done. They recorded
and released an ep later, but I was already gone. I got fed up, cause the line
up in that band was always quite unstable, and it took ages to get anything
done. After I left I played all the bass parts for them to tape, and they used
them for couple of gigs. It felt bit weird when I was once sitting on a club,
having a beer, my previous band was on stage and I was hearing my own playing
coming from a sampler machine. I already got to know Jay and Jaska when I was
playing with the Shadow Dance.After that I started my first real musical
collaboration with Jay and Jaska, which was in 1997. First we had an American
singer called Brien Ferguson. It started first quite well, we did Brien´s songs
and made few things together, but we parted ways due to musical differences.
That was really like that literally, I remember Brien saying that he wanted us
to play from major scales when we wanted to do minors. Say maybe that says
something about Americans and Europeans, Americans are happy people and we are
miserable bastards. Then we asked Anna Pienimäki from Jay´s and Jaskas previous
band Lore to join, and then Cairn was born. It was really good band, still sort
of my favorite band of all the bands I´ve ever played in. Our music was sort of
poppy stadium goth. Actually one British guy told me at the time that it was
like equal mix of The Cure, early U2, Cocteau Twins and The Cranberries with
good tunes. Not a bad definition at all. We made few really good gigs, couple
of decent studio sessions but never got anything released officially. I think
it was few years to early for Finland. We never officially split up. We more
like faded away. I think we played our last gig and last rehearsal in early
2000.Then friend of mine Heidi Pulkkinen (I think
she still is member of Two Witches), asked me to play bass in her new band,
which was called Covay. Musical style was once again goth. Most of the members
in that band were female, so it was quite different to play with that group
compared to bands that in most of the members are male. I heard, learned and
saw many things which I don´t dare to mention and even didn´t wanted to know or
see. Still, quite important thing it that band was that I quite soon became the
main song writer in that band, and even though I had written songs and tunes
and riffs before, this was the first time that I was totally in charge of bands
musical direction. That band started to crumble when our first drummer had to
move to Germany, then we had really hard time getting another one. Last nail in
the coffin was when Heidi also immigrated to Germany. I had few try-outs with bands after that, but
nothing really interesting and permanent became of that. We had few odd
rehearsal sessions with Jay and Jaska, and when we met with Jay in social
events we always talked that someday we are going to have again band together.
In the spring 2011 Jay rang to me in the middle of really boring party, and
asked me to join the Flatfield, and the rest is history.Along with the Flatfield I was playing in Neu
Zaum 2011-2014, made three videos, studio material worth of mini album and one
gig supporting 69 Eyes with them. I left the band due to personal differences.
Jaska: I play drums in The Flatfield. The most
important musical influence for me is Cocteau Twins. Other bands worth
mentioning are The Cure, The House of Love, The Smiths, The Mission, Talk Talk,
Killing Joke, Japan, Simple Minds, U2 and Siouxsie and The Banshees.
Risto Juntunen: I play synth in the Flatfield.
I have been really interested about music and playing in bands from very early
age. I share quite a lot same musical influences with the other members of the
band. I started to learn play guitar properly at the age of 13 and had my first
bands when I was in secondary school. We played cover songs of various punk
bands and started to write songs and played various school parties. I played
with various guys during upper secondary school and couple gigs. After that I
started my studies and I didn´t play for many years. I started to play again
with my friends while living in my hometown Oulu. We did one gig and musical
style was some kind mixture between post-metal, post-rock and doom metal. We
rehearsed and played quite a lot together back then.In autumn 2011 I moved from Oulu to Helsinki
after graduating and was asked to join band called Neu Zaum to play
keyboards. Before that I had been
playing mainly bass, guitar and little bit of keyboards. As Juha mentioned we
made three videos, studio material worth of mini album and one gig supporting
69 Eyes with Neu Zaum. I left the band same time with Juha due to personal
differences.I joined The Flatfield in spring 2014 just
before Passionless was released. There were some discussion about the joining
the band before, but when they asked me to join it wasn´t a difficult decision
to make. I´m also involved in one
project as well at the moment and hopefully something will come out in the near
future.
Ville: At the time Fauxmoor was sinking (2010),
I was on my way to Helsinki by train. I am a hardcore reader, and once again I
was reading in restaurant cart. A fine looking gentleman in a Spaghetti-suit
came up to me and asked what I was reading? Book was Gavin Braddleys "Goth
Chick". I did not need any company. I just wanted to read by myself, but
for sake of good manners we started a formal talk about music. I was stunned.
Came out that this guy was a former guitarist of several gothic and post-punk
bands and we liked the very same bands: Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy, The Fields
of Nephilim etc. This doctor was Jay Ravine. Later on he asked if we could try
to make some music? I tough that I really don´t have time for this, but I had
some bass lines and drum sequences in my Groove box just waiting for guitarist,
so I said: let’s try. We ended up in the Fauxmoor´s rehearsal room in a meat fridge
of the old slaughterhouse with Bass, guitar, groove box and synth. I loved the
sound of Jay’s over-effected guitar-noise. Collaboration was natural and
progress was easy. The music sounded too good to be left in a drawer. In few
months we made a few songs. I wanted to play bass, but Jay encouraged me to
sing and told me that he knew drummer and bass player. My only concern was that
could a drummer play fast hi-hat accurately enough? How little I knew! Juha and Jaska were
invited for a shakedown. Once again I was amazed. These three guys played so
well together. They were highly skilled and they knew instantly what I wanted
from the music. I didn’t have to explain why the music had to be dark, sad,
bizarre and gloomy. I remember when we
asked if Juha wanted to join the band he said; yes, this is Goth enough for me
;-)Songs that I had dreamed about came alive. Soon we noticed some problems in
live performances when I played synth and sang at the same time. Since the Risto (synth) joined the line-up
the band has bloomed at stage as well. Nowadays Risto has an important role in
the band´s in terms of management and music. I am a true atheist, but I
seriously think that some old mystic god put that guy in that train to answer
my silent prayers.
Jay: I got to know Ville in train. While sharing a table in a restaurant car for
a few times we noticed that we share very similar taste when it comes to music,
literature and stuff. It, however, took us a while before we decided to form a
band. From the very beginning it was obvious that we wanted to find a new angle
to gothic and post-punk and at the same time respect the tradition of the
genre. This has, in a way, been a guiding light of the band ever since the
first rehearsals. We started the band as a two-man project, but soon we come to
the conclusion that in order to create real, vibrating and organic band, we
would need more guys or girls. I have to admit that it was not a hard job to
persuade Juha and Jaska to hop on board. The line-up of the band was completed
only when Risto ‘The Cantor’ joined the band. His input has been very valuable
and in my opinion this line-up ideal for the band.
Juha: Jay and Ville started the band earlier,
on my behalf I can say that I joined in spring of 2011. I think that at the start
we were progressing quite fast, we made our first (and only) demo session as
early as May 2011. But then we started to have few hiccups, Jaska broke his
wrists. We had our first rehearsal place in Lahti, which is 100 kilometres away
from Helsinki. That was quite difficult at least for me. When we had our
rehearsal place in Lahti we had rehearsals on Sunday mornings, and I can say
that Sunday morning is no creative time for me, so I can now say that I really
couldn´t give my best creative input in those circumstances. Then we moved our
rehearsal place to Helsinki, and things started to turn for better quite
rapidly. We had our first proper studio session for Black Lips and Long
Raincoats compilation album, our first proper gigs and studio sessions which lead
to Passionless – album. And I think that our band got to new level when my
brother Risto joined the line-up in spring 2014, because then Ville could
concentrate in singing and performing during our live shows, and of course
Risto took in his own artistic input. And I also think it looked bit naff on
stage when singer was playing keyboards, bit too much like California in
1970´s. At least I think that the spirits are high now, we are looking forward
to the upcoming gigs and making the second album.
Jaska: I heard that Jay had founded a new band
with Ville. They had already made a few songs with a drum-machine, and he sent
those demos to me. We decided to try how my drum-playing would fit to these new
songs and it worked really well - I
joined the band in 2011.
Risto: I think spirit is really strong
nowadays. The chemistry between band members is really good. We take this band
seriously, but not too seriously. In my opinion every member of the band
havesame goals and what they want to achieve and do with the band. All the band
members are on the same page of the book regarding the band.
-
The Flatfield is a
good name for a band, which sounds right for your music and seems obvious for a
goth project (which is not bad at all). Like any other listener I could give it
an interpretation but I’m interested in your own explanation, which motives
made you choose this name.
Ville: There was a repeated nightmare in my
childhood where I was alone in the middle of a flat field. Emptiness surrounded
by abstract fear. No one to help me. No way to go home.I like to think that The
Flatfield is name of that horrid place.Hills, ridges and lakes characterize my
hometown Lahti. In the year 2000 I studied art in small town of Liminka about
30 km from the city of Oulu. The landscape in Northern Finland is totally flat
– a field after a field. I though that
this kind of a landscape is the most depressing that can exist. There is
nothing to get inspired of. At that time I did not think it as a name of a
band, but when we started to figure out the name for the band, I thought that
this is what our music is all about: depression, loneliness and decay. The
Flatfield is of course a reference to most inspiring song of Bauhaus: In the
flat-field.
Jay: I’m sure you’ve done the right
interpretation. Everyone affiliated with the gothic or post-punk scene knows
the Bauhaus classic In the Flat-field, so we wanted the name of the band to
give a clear signal what the band is about.
Juha: It is always difficult to get name for a
band, and it has always been like that for all of the bands I´ve been in. I
remember with Cairn that we had our first gig booked, we didn´t have a name and
we had to have name given to the organiser in two days, so I looked into the
dictionary and came up with Cairn. On my behalf I think name The Flatfield is
an homage and a nod towards a band that has inspired us a lot. I think Bauhaus
has always been much more important and influential band that they have been
credited for. And even the coolest of band names can have stupid stories behind
them. You could imagine that people behind the name Velvet Underground were as
geniuses as they were as musicians as they invented their bands name. But no,
they took it from some kind of cheap sadomasochistic porn book.
Risto: I do get bored, I get bored in the flat
field...
-
In 2014 you recorded your first 7-song album and released it on your own. I
cannot but admit that our Russian gang likes it really much. How difficult was
recording it? How do you evaluate the result of your efforts yourselves? Were
you inspired by the listeners feedback?
Ville:
How difficult was recording it?
Playing
instruments was easy. These guys can play. Putting the sound and atmosphere to
right place took more time. I had a clear vision how the record should feel,
but we had to test what this feeling would sound like? Like in painting you add
things on canvas and ponder how will it affect to other elements of this
painting. Sometimes you take things away, some time you add more until you
reach the climax and you now the painting is ready. Antti Lindell is an excellent
recorder and mixer. He comprehended our ideas and had no problem with our
progressive, experimental, back and forth working style.
How do you evaluate the result of your efforts
yourselves?
Many
songs on Passionless album based on my planted seed. The band made the plant
grow and Antti Lindell made them bloom. So it is the result of flourishing
collaboration and I am very proud of it.
Were you inspired by the listeners feedback?
Music for
me is seeking and making art, not entertainment. Art comes from independence.
So, no feedback was heard during the recordings. Artist idea and the needs of
audience does not always come across. You need to search answers from inside.
This is the chance that you have to take to be an independent artist. Now that the record is out, I am very happy
and inspired that the feedback has been very supportive. This is the reward for
an artist.
Jay: The
recording process itself was quite easy. We found a right guy to work with,
Antti Lindell, and we also had a quite clear image on the soundscape of the
album. We decided to use electric drum pads in order to have more variety in
drums. We wasted a lot of time and energy working on drum sounds, and it was
far more harder job than we thought in the first place. In the next album, which
is due to be released in late-2015 or early-2016 we will use an acoustic drum
set. Otherwise, I would say that I’m, and I suppose that the others are as
well, pretty happy with the result, the album is an image of our first phase.
Now, I would say that we have a bit more elaborated idea about the different
dimensions of our material.
Juha: To me it
was fairly easy and painless. We did backing tracks quite rapidly, maybe just
in two days. We first planned to do an ep, but when the sessions went on so smoothly
I think it was me who suggested why don´t we do an album with the same effort.
We had one really good song “Praise” in the can, which we could use for the
album, Ville, Jay and Antti Lindell just remixed it. Ville and Jay did the
biggest work with the album with loads of overdubs, mixing it and adding nice
effects. I think I was present in the mixing just for one day. It is actually
quite funny that Risto was also present in the mixing phase for one day even he
didn´t back then belong to the band. Maybe we should have credited him in the
album cover for bad vibes. Antti Lindell, who recorded and engineered the
album, was really good, supportive, experimental and professional. We also
thought really hard of the running order of the songs.I like the album a lot, and I think that the name
“Passionless” is sort of a clever title for that album. I was stunned when I
first time heard the album as a cd from my home stereo, because it sounded so
good. I´m really proud of that album, and I hope that it would stand the test
of time. My personal favorites are “Silence”, “The Witch”, “Passionless” and
“Praise”. I think the song “Passionless” is an perfect example how sometimes
songs create life of their own, and they turn into something almost opposite to
that they were originally intended to. “Passionless” started as a light, catchy
song, reminding little bit of Japan (the band not the country”), but in later
rehearsals and especially in studio it mutated into this murky, grungy monster
of a song. It actually reminds me of Alice in Chains, and they have definitely
never been any musical influence at least to me.It has been of course nice that so many people have
liked it. Album has got reasonable amount of airplay in various radio stations.
Our friend Oscar Terramortis has been distributing the album through his label,
and he told us that with The Flatfield he had his first customer from New
Caledonia, so it is amazing how you can reach people from the other side of the
world.
Jaska: In my
opinion it was hard to choose songs for the album, as we had to leave out a few
good songs. For me the recording started off well with a song that was quite
painless for me, Eternal. The recording of the next six songs for the album was
a little bit more challenging because we had limited time.
Risto: I was
not in the band when they recorded it. I was positively surprised when I heard
the recorded material for the first time when The Flatfield was recording the
album. Of course I knew that it would be really good material, because I have
heard the previous bands like Shadow Dance and Cairn from the guys and liked
those band really much.
-
Let’s talk about lyrics. I have to ask this question because CD has no leaflet
with lyrics and my English isn’t so good to understand everything. Tell me what
are these songs about and what were they inspired by?
Ville: In general the lyrics
follow the usual path: tragic love, depression, funeral, death, vampire, mystic
forces, witch, existential agony, suicide, etc. After all, we are a gothic
band.
Precisely:
Silence:
is about feelings in a relationship that has come to the state where is no
longer communication. Last words of the song are: Your silence is violence.
The
Witch: is about medieval love that gets no response. Revenge of a broken heart
and framing a girl to a witch.
Passionless:
is about a wake and a funeral.
New time:
is about laconic toughs of modern age. It is distantly inspired by Fritz Lang´s
movie: Metropolis
Shore: is
about agony from one sided love and toughs of suicide.
Eternal:
is about vampires. Problem of the eternal life.
You
feel the hunger, but you're dead inside. Your soul is burning but your body is
alive. Your hope is bleeding and you are ready to die, but your body is doomed
to eternal life
Praise:
is inspired by quote of Timothy Leary
Throughout human history, as our species has faced the frightening,
terrorizing fact that we do not know who we are, or where we are going in this
ocean of chaos, it has been the authorities -- the political, the religious,
the educational authorities --- who attempted to comfort us by giving us order,
rules, regulations, informing -- forming in our minds -- their view of reality.
To think for yourself you must question authority and learn how to put yourself
in a state of vulnerable open-mindedness, chaotic, confused vulnerability to
inform yourself.
TIMOTHY LEARY, How to Operate Your Brain
Jay: Ville is
our mad poet!
Juha: Lyrics
are Ville´s cup of tea, he can answer for them. I only want to say that maybe
because I´m so much of an anglophile English has always been the language of
music for me, I couldn´t imagine playing in the band that would sing in
Finnish.
-
In my opinion, The Flatfield mixes
influences of such genres like post rock or even sludge with goth rock, which
makes it possible to draw parallels between you and Swans, for example. I also
often think of Fields Of The Nephilim because of your heavy sound, mid tempo and
melody patterns. But all these assumptions could be not well-grounded, because
the case of your band is unique. Which
bands would you like to be compared with? Please open up, I know you are music fans and collectors, and every
music lovers has such oddities.
Ville: In my opinion the greatest
artistic innovations and experiments in music were made in 1979-1984 in UK.
But, I don´t live in the 80´s and contemporary art is always bound in it´s own
time. This is why I am open to add some flavors of our time. I think that art
happens between the viewer or listener and the artwork. Experience is based on
what you know. I don’t mind that my influences have been experienced. I love
dark progressive music like Swans, Isis, Cult of Luna and Mogwai. I often paint
listening Portishead, Kraftwerk, Lady Tron or In the Nursery. But from gothic
scene the most inspiring bands and their records are Dead Can Dance: Dead Can
Dance, Dance Society: Heaven is waiting and Seduction, Southern Dead Cult:
singles, Cure: Pornography and Bauhaus: In the Flat Field. I want us to be a
part of post-punk tradition and gothic scene.
I think it is good that we have a couple of purists in our band to keep
me in line.
Jay: Our idea
was not to repeat everything that has been done dozens of time within the
gothic sphere – there are enough Sisters Of Mercry, The Cure, Fields Of The
Nephilim copy cats our there. We are surely influenced by those bands as well,
and were proud of that, but still, having in mind that all of us has followed
‘popular’ music, and gothic/post punk scene in particular, for a quite a few
years our influences come from the great variety of bands. In my case, you can
take a look at Juha’s list and add a few 90’s goth bands, like The Wake, Love
Like Blood or Merry Thoughts as well as bands like Type O Negative, Slowdive or
Cranes, just to mention a few. I also would say that we’ve been influenced
musically, but not ideologically, by some (black) metal bands like Celtic Frost
or Nachtmystium. In conclusion, yes, there are influence and elements sourcing
from punk, hc, indie or shoegaze, and that’s exactly the idea.
Juha: This is
the easiest and most difficult question to answer. I have been actively
listening to music since I was nine years old, and I had my first turntable and
first vinyl when I was fourteen. My first love in music was punk, and I found
Finnish post punk legends Musta Paraati on early age as well. I have around
3000 records if I count all my vinyl and cds together, so I listen to lot of
different kinds of music. But I got to say that my main love in music is post
punk, goth and British indie. For me best band in the world is Joy Division,
and the best rock band in the world is the Clash.For me personally music has kind of two different
categories, there are bands that I listen to a lot and they also inspire me as
a musician, they give me feeling that this kind of music that I want to do,
these are the feeling that I want to express.
And then there is music that I might listen to, but it doesn´t give me
this creative impulse. Bands that have definitely inspired me as a musician are
Joy Division, The Cure, The Cult, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus, Virgin
Prunes, Cocteau Twins, The Smiths, early U2, The Clash, The Ruts, Japan, The
Specials, Peyr, The Stone Roses, Dead Kennedys, Musta Paraati, Dead Can Dance,
Amebix, Ride, Sisters of Mercy, Fields of the Nephilim, Hanoi Rocks, Christian
Death, David Bowie, the list is endless. As a bass player my main influences
are Peter Hook, Simon Gallup, Paul Simonon and of course the great Mick Karn. I
think that Finnish Sami Yaffa, who was in Hanoi Rocks and has played with New
York Dolls is a world class bass player.If I think about The Flatfield I would like us to be
at least some kind of minor footnote in this big tradition of some kind of
alternative, experimental and dark music tradition that started in late sixties
with Velvet Underground, the Stooges and maybe even the Doors, continued in
early seventies with Nico´s solo albums and Lou Reed’s solo work, started to
flourish in late seventies with post punk, turned into goth and indie in early
and mid-eighties, evolved to shoe gaze in turn of the eighties to nineties and
have lived in different forms ever since.We sort of set some kind of ground rule when we
started, that we are a post punk/goth band with some outside influences. I
think that you can definitely find hints of shoe gaze and indie in our music.
For me genres like post rock and sludge are totally meaningless, but I think
they have influenced some other members of the band.
Risto: Yes,
Fields Of The Nephilim, because of quite heavy sound, tempo and melodies. Joy
Division because we have catchy bass-lines. As Jay mentioned before our idea is
not to repeat everything that has been done dozens of time .There are
influences from different genres because I and other members listen many other
different genres than goth or post punk. I share interest for example 80´s ska
and HC punk with Juha. We both like Madness, The Specials, Selecter, Discharge,
Kaaos and Terveet Kädet. With Ville I share interest to post rock and post
metal like Mogwai, Godspeed You Black Emperor! and ISIS. Jay and I share
interest to some black metal bands. There are also some shoegaze and indie
influences in The Flatfield like My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Cocteau Twins and
The Cure.
-
Next question is a bit weird. Finnish goth, punk and post punk scenes are
pretty active, seems that independent music has never had tough time in your
country. And talking in general, a nation which has a population of 5 million
people contributed to the international indie scene ten times more than, say,
your south-eastern neighbor (which is Russia I mean). High quality and original
ideas are natural for your scene, and even an English-speaking Finnish band
sounds just as good as an old British or contemporary Canadian or American
band. At the same time, it still sounds as a Finnish band. Here is a question
about your self-identification in the contemporary cultural space, not an
ethnic complacency (which seems to me a sign of degeneration) – do you feel
that The Flatfield is a
Finnish band in spirit? How is current Finnish reality represented
in your music?
Ville: In Europe, the classic art
ideals have been left to past and contemporary art forms has been evolving
freely for more than a hundred years. Today in Finland in art you can disgrace
any subject or political and religious authority with no sanctions. This gives
freedom to creativity. But to answer your question: Life is suffering and
suffering is global. Therefore I think we are global band and that's why we for
instance sing in English. We are Finnish so we are not qualified to say whether
there is a Finnish flavour or not. I leave that to the judges.
Jay: Wow,
what a question. Majority of the music
produced in Finland, just
like in most
countries, is crap. It’s aimed for mass consumption of entertainment without particular artistic ambitions or goals. I
however tend to think that there always have been innovative and bold bands and
musicians with their own ideas also in Finland. One of my favourite Finnish
band of that kind is Noitalinna Huraa! In
my opinion, today there are still bands and artists that have some kind of
in-built and deliberate, sometimes even exaggerated Finnishness in their music.
At the same time Finnish music has become internationalized in many ways. For
us, at least from my perspective, being a Finnish band is a side issue. I think
that the music of the Flatfield is an expression of creativity of five
individuals sharing similar musical taste and goals. The Finnishness of our
music, if there is such an element in it, is therefore, latent and accidental
only. Gothic culture is at the very margins of the main-stream of Finnish
popular culture, which means that its natural for our band to identify with
gothic scene and tradition in general, not only with its Finnish expression.
Juha: Because
I´m trained historian maybe I have to say few things about Finnish musical
history. Finland has had quite original own pop/rock-culture since at least
late 1960´s. Domestic music has always been popular, many bands have been
singing in our native language and domestic music has always sold well. In the
late seventies punk was huge thing in Finland, and some pop music historians
have said that when you compare it to population/sales ratio first wave of punk
was most popular outside of UK in Finland. But almost all of those bands sang
in Finnish, and weren’t known except for die hard collectors outside of
Finland. Even the second wave punk did well, and band like Dead Kennedys had
it´s first album in Finnish national top ten when it came out. That is some
come of achievement for album as radical as “Fresh Fruit for Rotting
Vegetables”, because albums sold really well in early eighties. Finnish post
punk band Musta Paraati was for brief period most popular band in the country.
And Finland has always had quite good alternative music scene.
On the other hand, our population is very small, and
it very difficult to make a living as musician. For that reason there are very
few mainstream bands that are kind of professional musicians, and many
alternative bands whose members are students are people who have jobs, and are
part-time musicians. So quite often careers are short, sales are poor and very
few of the 1980 legends made it to their second album.
When I think about my personal tastes and influences
in music, most of them come from the British Isles, from England, Ireland,
Scotland or Wales. But I´m a Finn, so of course my surroundings come out in
music which I have some kind of creative role in. I think the clichés like cold
climate, dark winter and constant rain affect our mood. I´m not always that
unhappy person, but I could imagine myself or our band making happy r&b
party music. One thing that I don’t like in Finnish music scene, is this total
dominance of metal and stupid hardrock, I just can’t stand it.
Risto: Finnish reality is represented in way that our music
quite dark, heavy and gloomy and the lyrics aren´t uplifting. Finnish people
are quite often seen as silent, depressed not extrovert people etc. and during
the winter the sun won´t shine almost at all and it´s cold and dark.
- Those among you whom I know personally are people of intellectual
labour (using approach of class differentiation upholders). I think your music
receives an impression that you are well-educated, at the least. Here is a question,
does your band have any kind of concept behind it? Have you considered making
projects with the band (like albums or live shows) devoted to some particular
concept?
Jay: I think
we don’t have any particular concept, in a strict sense of the word, behind the
band, but we consider the band to be part of the continuum of the gothic and
post-punk tradition - in musical terms mainly, but in also in aesthetics. In
the future we surely will enrich the communication between the music, lyrics as
narratives and the visual experience by creating a coherent wholeness in the
live show.
Juha: I have an
academic degree, but I don’t come from academic family background, so I think
there´s some kind of difference in there, even though I have education I don’t
have any kind of privileged background. I don´t think that we have any kind of
manifesto, agenda or concept, as a whole, other members might disagree.
Definitely we would love to do more visuals and create some kind of concepts in
our live shows, but it´s matter or financial resources and venue capacities. I
think that most of the albums which are meant to be music, not commercial
products have usually some kind of loose concept, and doesn´t have to
traditional concept album like most of the Pink Floyds albums. I think that
albums like “Unknown Pleasures”, “Closer”, “London Calling”, “Arise” and “Meat
is Murder” for example have some kind of loose concept or theme.
Ville: As
I said, making music is art for me and therefor it is intellectual challenge. I
believe that art education has given me tools to work with creativity. I also
come from the family of stage actors, so drama is in my veins. I agree with Juha, that there is no manifesto
as a band, but to cherish the musical and visual tradition of post-punk and gothic
rock. There is lot of ideas in my mind for the live show and individual songs
but they are yet to come. But, once
again, I have a feeling about our upcoming record, I can almost hear it.
Jaska: For me
it has always been about playing drums and listening to music, nothing more
really.
-
During the band’s existence your songs were featured in two compilations
(international LET'S PETER OUT compilation with a Scandinavian orientation, and
BLACK LIPS AND LONG RAINCOATS featuring national scene). What do you think of
your participation in these projects and these compilations in itself as
listeners?
Ville: I would like to thank Oscar
Terramortis, Sir Henrik, Jyrki Witch and Antti Lautala for helping us in many
ways and opening doors for us as a new band. Art is a dialog. It does not live
if no-one won’t witness it.
Jay: These
both projects, like all compilations etc., are important for us, particularly,
as you mentioned, they are designed for different audience. The Flatfield also
appears on the compilation This is Gothic Rock Vol. I by
Gothic Music Records as well as the Italian compilation Voices of Mislealia Vol. 1 by Mislealia Recods.
Juha: Song for
BLACK LIPS AND LONG RAINCOATS was sort of our first proper studio effort, and
it was about to be our first release. But it took longer to release that it was
first expected, so our own album and LETS PETER OUT came out earlier. But
people who have compiled and made the BLACK LIPS AND LONG RAINCOATS have done
really good job, all praise to them. I think compilations are great calling
cards, bit like releasing singles used to be. With LETS PETER OUT it was nice
that it was Scandinavian based, but there were also bands from USA, so I music
was probably heard little bit over there as well. Oscar Terramortis was kind
enough to ask as to one of his This Is Gothic Rock compilations, so we are in
there as well, there is also one Italian compilation coming out with us in it.
We are planning that when we are making our next album
we are going to record couple of extra numbers, which we can give as exclusive
song to compilations. It´s bit dull to give songs that already exist as an
album track.
Risto: We also
participated to This Gothic Rock vol. 1 compilation. From Let´s Peter Out I
found really good new bands for me like
Cemetery, Hemgraven and Metro Cult. It´s was really pleasure to see and hear
that there are really good bands out there nowadays. For Black Lips and Long
Raincoats it´s really nice to hear unreleased material for the older Finnish
bands like Kuudes Tunti and Psyyke and for newer Finnish band like Silent
Scream.
-
You’ve had gigs in several towns in Finland. Have you had some special
experiences during your live shows? What are you plans for future gigs?
Ville: I love to make some drama
in live shows and audience likes it too. I think there is more to come in that
side.
Jay: We’ve
had great experiences in Finland. The scene in Finland is relatively small but
quite active, and I’m looking forward to play again at Lumous Gothic Festival
in Tampere in summer. We also have some plans to play a couple of gigs abroad,
already this year, if things get along smoothly.
Juha:
Appearance in Lumous Festival in Tampere has been our highlight this far. I had
never before been properly in Tampere, so it was nice to spend weekend in
there, record release party in Kalma Club in Helsinki was really nice too. Gig
in Oulu was, how could I describe it, interesting. But the crowd in there was
lovely too. We played in Deadly Beat Club in Helsinki in January, February we played
Tampere again. I´d like to do as many gigs as possible, of course in reasonable
places. And of course go to overseas as well.
Risto: I have only played couple gigs with The
Flatfield so far. Response from the audience has been really positive. We are concentrating
to finish and record a new material for the forth coming album and do some gigs
between rehearsals and studio. There are also some plans to do gigs outside of
Finland during this year.
-
Last two years there’s been large interest in gloomy sound in punk audience,
and a lot of good bands have appeared all around the world. Do you follow
current music trends? Which modern bands do you like, if any?
Ville: Most of "good
vibe" music feels artificial. Many bands have understood this. I can´t stand
funk, glad pop or any feel-good music. It feels empty and I can´t identify my
self in that scene. Deep inside we all are sad, as we know that all things are
impermanent and life is slow fading. It is harder to face your inner demons and
share these feelings with other people. Great art comes from great suffering.
Often artist dies by it´s own hand because of this suffering. There is lot of
professional people who do good sounding music in theory, but yet you don´t
feel anything. The heart and soul is missing. The art is missing? I feel that dark feelings are more real than
passing joy. I give credit to all rock-, metal-, electrical-, rap- or pop
music, bands, and artists who have found the same things that I was looking
for. There is a need for comforting knowledge that some body somewhere feels
the same.
Jay: Yes, I
think all of us, at least to some extent, follow what’s going on in
gothic&post-punk today. I, however,
have to admit that I might not be the most active in this respect. But I could mention two bands Horror Vacui
and Vojvoda that impressed me a lot quite recently.
Juha: Not as
much that I would like to. I have to make more effort to keep in with, well
modern age, like Ville says it in our lyrics. From contemporary mainstream
bands which are recording for big independents or major labels I like The
Horrors, Iceage, The Skints, The Savages and The Warpaint, from the underground
scene I really like Spanish band Belgrado. I listened a lot to Finnish band
Kuudes Silmä, when their album came out. Oscar has some interesting stuff in
his label, and some of the bands in LETS PETER OUT were also quite good. It´s
one of the best feelings in the world when you find a new, contemporary band,
and you listen to it for the first time ever on vinyl or on cd, not from the
internet. I still regularly buy good music papers, and I try to find new bands.
Actually when I had this period that I wasn’t in the band I had more time to
listen to music. Every Friday after work I went to record store, I bought
couple of records, then some beer and listened to them and drank. It is much
healthier to be in a band, because you have to be sober to make the rehearsals.
Jaska: I
personally enjoy bands like White Lies and Slowdive model 2014.
Risto: My daily
job and The Flatfield and other music project takes most of my time. I listen
music a quite lot and from various different genres. Unfortunately I don´t have
enough time to find out new bands nowadays as I would like to. As Juha said
it´s amazing feeling when you hear new band you have found for the first time
on the vinyl, cd or tape. For modern
bands I like for example Belgrado, Cemetery, Salome´s Dance. I also like Silent
Scream, Kuudes Silmä and Masquerade from Finnish scene.
- A most important question. As far as I know you are working on a new
full-length album. How soon can we wait its release? Any other details?
Ville: I don´t
give timelines to art project´s. It could come a barrier for creativity. It is
ready when it´s ready. All I can say that it will be our best album ever!
Jay: You’re
right, most of the songs are already written. We’ll record the album during the
summer and it will be released by the end of the year – this is at least the
rough schedule for now.
Juha: We have
quite a lot of good material already written, we just have to think which ones
we want to put to the album. And I think that we also want to make one or two
songs which are particularly written for the album. I think that we are going
to start the pre-production, meaning that we are starting to choose the songs
after this weekend’s gig. I hope that it will come out this year, 2015. Ideal
situation would to have it released at Lumous in July, but I think that is too
optimistic. My opinion is that this album is going to be more sort of song oriented,
but I might be wrong, there are 4 other people in the band, and they maybe want
to take it to some other direction. To us making an album is a sort of process,
and many things can change and turn almost upside down in the studio.
Risto: We are
concentrating and finishing our new material after our gigs and hopefully head
for the studio during the spring. Some of the new material is similar to
Passionless, but there are some material that takes The Flatfield towards
different direction than Passionless was. I look forward to entering to studio
and experimenting with the new material. There are some ideas and plans for the
new album, but we´ll see what direction things will evolve.
-
And could you please write some final words, whatever you find appropriate.
Ville: Feel
free to contact us in Facebook. Communication is very important to us. And
check my personal website www.villeraty.com. There has said to be a connection
between my paintings and music.
Jay: Cheers
to all our friends in Russia. We’d love to play for the Russian audience. Hope
to see you soon!
Juha: Hello to
all our Russian fans, and to all the other people who are reading this. I hope that we can someday come to Russia and
play for you.
Risto: Cheers to
all our friends in Russia (especially to
Vadim, Pavel and Artem). Hopefully we can sort some gigs in Russia for our
fans!
interview by Vadim Barsov
