'We are influenced by Red Hot Chili Peppers and Metallica'

HELLO, AKI, HOW ARE YOU MAN?Hey, hello. We just arrived in Stockholm here in Sweden. It’s really good. It’s the first show of this tour. You know, we’re excited and looking forward a good time.

WELL, WE ALL KNOW ABOUT THE LITTLE TENSIONS BETWEEN SWEDES AND FINNISH GUYS REGARDING HOCKEY, ICE HOCKEY AND STUFF. SO, HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE IN SWEDEN?

Yes, there is some competition between the Swedes and the Finnish people. But we have the best hockey team, so we are fine with it. I think these Swedish guys are a bit jealous of us about that. But it’s OK. We’re neighbours and it’s cool

FIRST IMPORTANT QUESTION IS – IS THE RASMUS AN EMO BAND?

I don’t know what “emo” is. If it stands for very emotional music and thing like that, than yes, The Rasmus is emo. I actually think that bands like My Chemical Romance and stuff are more emo. I think we do like Scandinavian music – we have a lot of nature and a lot of different melancholic vibes in our music and a lot of feelings too.

So it that sense it is emo, but I don’t know. We’re not in this emo scene too much.

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THE FINISH SCENE HAS BEEN VERY FAMOUS FOR THE MELANCHOLY, AS YOU SAID, BANDS LIKE AMORPHIS AND EVEN H.I.M. TEND TO BE VERY MELANCHOLIC IN A WAY. BUT YOU KNOW, YOU STARTED THE BAND A WHILE AGO, BUT YOU’RE STILL VERY YOUNG. WHAT WERE THE FINNISH BANDS THAT INSPIRED YOU WHEN STARTING?

Well, not only Finnish bands, but also bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers and Metallica. But obviously for the band, we wanted to sing in English, we wanted to go up-road and go to your country, we want to go to the UK, we want to go to the US.

And sometimes I think we’re too blind about everything else and we have our goals set too high. We really want to reach the top.

But like you said, there is a lot of music coming from Finland. The scene there is very good and lively. So, we’re spreading the word.

ANOTHER THING THAT YOU GUYS IN FINLAND ARE FAMOUS FOR IS THAT YOU TEND TO DO THIS VERY, SAY, HEALTHY LIFESTYLE IN HARMONY WITH NATURE BUT IN THE SAME TIME YOU TEND TO DRINK A LOT. WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE ARE YOU IN THE BAND? DO YOU TEND TO GO ON THE ROCK’N ROLL WHEEL OF DESTRUCTION OR YOU GO OUT AND JOG ON THE STREETS EVERY MORNING AND STUFF?

We have those moments and we have some rock’n roll life as well. But when you go back home it is good to meet old friends and our families. So when we’re on tour, and now we’re starting a 6 week tour, we want to go out and meet people and go to bars and have local beer and local drinks and experience everything. So the tour life is quite rock’n roll. Alcoholish! But back home it is more easier.

YOU MENTIONED THIS TOUR IS GOING TO TAKE 6 WEEKS. AS FAR AS I REMEMBER THE TWO BIG TOURS THAT YOU HAVE MADE ARE THE ONE “DEAD LETTERS TOUR” IN 2003 AND THEN THE “HIDE FROM THE SUN TOUR” IN 2005. SO DID YOU PLAN SOMETHING MORE GRANDIOSE LIKE A STAGE SETTING OR SOMETHING FOR THIS ONE?

Yeah, we always we have something special for the show. The last time we had a little special acoustic set in the middle of the gig. And this time again we have something new. The stage setting is different. We have this new backdrop – the thing hanging behind us, it’s very nice. And of course we also picked some new songs from the latest album and made a nice setlist.

I think we will play a 90 minutes set, but not only the new material, but also stuff from the first album and the second album. It is going to be a lot of different feelings and vibes in the set.

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THIS LATEST RECORD OF YOURS, “BLACK ROSES”, IT IS ACTUALLY THIS WEEK THAT ON YOUR OWN WEBSITE YOU GAVE US ACCESS TO THIS NEW VIDEO, “JUSTIFY”, AND THE REACTIONS THAT WE GET HERE IN THE RADIO ARE THAT IT SOUNDS VERY MUCH LIKE DEPECHE MODE. WAS IT INTENTIONAL OR IT JUST HAPPENED?

We are huge fans of Depeche Mode and we like this kind of songs. For “Justify” we definitely wanted to have something that sounds oldish or old, and Depeche Mode is very good at that. So we had some synthesizers and some stuff like that and some loops. It just fit in that song very well. And on the other hand it could work out with acoustic guitars only but we wanted to make a very massive sound of it so we put other instruments, not just guitars and bass and drums.

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OK. IT WAS A SHORT ONE. THANK YOU FOR BEING WITH US. HAVE FUN IN STOCKHOLM TONIGHT. ONE LAST QUESTION. DO YOU KNOW WHAT “AKI” MEANS IN BULGARIAN, BUT IN CHILDISH…

No. I only know it is also a Japanese name, but for a girl. Not very nice. What does it mean in Bulgarian?

IT MEANS “SHIT”!!!

Nooo. People will be laughing at me when we come.