FREE SPIRIT
"Mathias Jabs and Rudi Schenker blew me away..."
(Interview mit Vesa Yli-Mäenpää, Juli 2009)
Hi
Vesa. Congratulations for your new CD “Pale Sister Of Light” and thanx for
takin’ time doin’ these questions for us…
Hi
MEDAZZAROCK!! It is my pleasure!!
Please
tell us something about the members and how the band did form…
Sami
Alho (Vocals) and Pasi Koivumäki (Drums) are the original founding members and
driving force in this band. I think they have to take soon FS Tattoo, because
Free Spirit is in their blood so deep. Sami H is the bass man and he joined
little after Sami and Pasi. The Band started as a side project in 90s and they
did some demos and videos back then. For me it started summer 2006, when they
were looking for a new axe man. So i sent them an email, that here is one crazy
guitar player without a band. And after two weeks we where in rehearsals. Markku
joined the band about 8 months later. Markku and me are childhood friends, so it
was quite amazing to work with him after 17 years. The Chemistery was still
there. But Markku had other duties, so he left the band in fall 2008. But we
were very lucky guys, cos we found Marko pretty soon and he was also my friend.
Timo is Sami's little bro and he has been played all those early FS demos and in
the Pale sister of light album now. And soon we realized that the live shows
needs also a keyboarder and Timo joined in the band summer 2008.
Was
Free Spirit your first Band?
I
ve been played in a few other bands and projects over the years, doing home made
demos by myself and some gigs.
Free spirit is my first "real" band, because we do everything more pro
way.
Will
you promote the CD with a Tour?
There
are some plans, but it's too early to say anything. Here in Finland we try to
play many gigs as it is possible, because we have our day jobs.
Did
you already start writing songs for the next CD ?
Yeah,
of course we have written new material also, riffs and melodies. Even when we
where recording this album, sometimes we stuck jamming new ideas. But when we
have time to record a second album, it is very open. Now we have to focus to
promote this album the best we can and we hope we get new fans all over the
world.
What
will the next album sound like? Problably a more Metal sound?
I
think we have found the sound that we wanna take it to the next level. Sami's
style to sing is mainly that reason, why we want to stay melodic rock.
Of
course i wanna make
melodic guitar parts and riffs, too. Here from Finland comes so many Metal bands
and most are very succesfull in Europe. And how to fit in market with those who
has been there for years.
What
vocal influences does Sami (the singer) have?
I think he has many influences and he had made quite good mix up those guys. For my opinion Sami reminds me little bit Jim Morrison, Bon Jovi, Joe Elliot and Ville Valo
Do
you have any favourite bands?
There
are so many bands and it depends always on my mood. Sometimes i like to listen
to very hard heavy metal like Rammstein, Disturbed or when i have a party time i
like to listen to Ozzy With Rhandy Rhoads, Scorpions, Def Leppard, Zeppelin,
Whitesnake.
My new found is Opeth, very old Swedish band. Their new material with those
clean vocals are very good.
What
was the first and latest CD you have bought?
First
was Scorpions World wide live. My mother bought that for me, cos she was tired
of my crying....:)
Latest was Guns and roses. Axl has new style to sing and i like his melodies -
also a very good album.
What
was the first concert which you attend?
Maybe
if i remember right it was Black Sabbath in Provinssi rock, when Ozzy was back
in line up. That was first big one.
How
long does it take to realize “Pale Sister of Light” and where did you record
it?
It
took time, when you have those day jobs and only free time is your of days and
holidays. Some of the songs are very old on this album, most of vocal melodies
were okay.But the guitars needed extra melodies and more attack. And we did some
major changes and we always try to find first killer vocal melodies and then
guitars. So we re-wrote allmost every song, for example Pale sister of light,
totally different chorus, Strangers only bass line and drums are old. In
Strangers we have killer vocals, Sami managed to get those song very extra
feeling. Sami produced, recorded and mixed the whole album. He was there all the
time and taking care of quality. We recorded this album in our rehearsal room,
which is big old school. We could go there, whenever we had time.
Any
favourite track on the album and why?
For
now it is the album opener Shadow of a man. Very good arrangement, riff and
killer chorus
What
is your favourite track to play LIVE?
Far
away from heaven
Do
you prefer to play in a smaller club/bar or do you prefer the big ones like
festivals?
I
doesent matter if it's a big or a smaller venue. Personally i like those little
clubs, there is more feeling and sweat. But of course we wanna go play all those
big festivals someday and kick some asses.
What’s
the meaning behind the album title „Pale Sister Of Light“?
The
phrase Pale Sister of Light itself is a metaphor for the moon or the spirit of
the moon. On the title track of the album, the lead character travels into
another world to escape his everyday life. His guide through the nocturnal
streets of a city is the moon (Pale Sister of Light). The theme throughout the
album is more like of finding escape from your everyday life and finding your
true free spirit.
– Piilota lainattu teksti –
Where
do you get your influences/inspiration from?
Lyrically,
everything that comes in your mind in that right moment. Sometimes words are
awaiting for the right moment. For me, when i write guitar parts i just play and
then Sami and Pasi stop me, hey whats that, play again, and i am like what!!
Pasi is the master to catch my best riffs, excially mean ones:)
Your
favorite guitar player?
There
are so many. When i saw Scorpions on the TV, i was 12 years old. Mathias Jabs
and Rudi Schenker blew me away with their enertic style to play. They were
running across the stage like they had a sting in their ass.
Randy Rhoads, he was a master writing those melodic riffs and solos.
When
did you start learning to play guitar and what was the very first guitar you
owned?
12-13 years old when i get my first guitar. It was an acoustic Landola, which i didn't learn much. Pretty soon my dad bought me a cheap Strato copy and little amp. Mom and Dad did'nt really like when i started to play electric guitar, too much noise and i was really horrible!! But when my older cousin show me how to play Paranoid and that guitar sounded much better, when you have right notes. I played that Paranoid riff in my toilet, because echo in the toilet sounded very cool. Soon i realized how to tune guitar and how to create own riffs.
Please
tell us about the cover artwork…Who made it and and what would you say with it?
We
were shooting all day and it was last place end of the day and allmost last
picture what photographer Paulus Konttinen took us. When we all looked at that
picture, everybody said, this is the album cover!! Mikko Mäkelä, Sami andTimo
And Paulus did final work with that cover art. And they did an excelent job.
Why
come so many good metal bands from Finland? :-)
I
don't know actually. I think we have so long winter and short summer, and
musicians cannot compose so short time ;)
Can
you spend a living from your music?
Not
right now, but hopefully someday we are in that situation.
Is
there any chance to see you guys over here in Switzerland and Germany sometime?
And what about a Tour through USA?
That
would be a dream come true to tour all over the world. We have to work hard and
rock hard to a achieve that.
But it is not possible, nothing is. You have just to work really hard.
If
I will go to a show, what can I expect?
Real
rock band playing guitars and drums. We are very enertic on the stage, sweaty
rockers after the show. We always try to make something happen, try to challenge
audience to go crazy.
Tell
us any highlights or painful stories from your Tour/shows?
Every
show, what we have made in this line-up is a highlight. I think we have no
painfull story yet. But i think a painfull story would be that we are wrong
place and we are very very late at important gig.
Or gas run out in
Lapland, that would be very awesome.
If
anything would be possible. Tell us for which band you would love to do the
opening act?
For
my opinion, it would be Scorpions or Ozzy Osbourne.
Let’s
talk a bit about the music biz… What do you think personally about the whole
download-thing?
I
think when we talk about legal dowloading, that is very good for us. It is very
easy to download it from iTunes for example.
How
important is myspace for a musician really…. Your opinion?
Well
it is cheapest way to promote your music and shows. Everybody is in Myspace now,
so it is little jungle. But when you find your right ways to promote your band,
there are lots of good people. For example we have many good FS support teams
all over the world, they are spreading Free spirit music everywhere they can.
Thanks to Lisa who started those support teams in US. She is very good friend
and she gives us everyday some kick in the ass!!
When
you aren´t playing music what do you do in your spare time?
I
like to cook some grillfood, and of course i get thirsty then, so drinks will be
needed.
What
do you expect from the bands future?
That
we get Pale sister of light album stores in Europe, Japan, Usa, Australia and we
are working that right now. Then we have to find the time to make a new album,
cos we have found our style to write melodic songs, produce and record.
Of course we wanna play lots of gigs, that is best therapy for everything.
At
the end of our interview we sometimes have some kind of a game. I´ll give you
some words and you tell us what comes to your mind…
Switzerland
Shakra,
a great band from Switzerland.
Finland
Summer
Eurovision
Song Contest
Lordi
Family
You
basic rock for all this, without my family support i could not do this, thanks
to them!!
Money
Makes
me happy:)
Holiday
Makes
me really Happy!!
Well
that´s it... Any final words to our readers?
(Interview by Patrick)