The vocalist of Finnish sensational all girl band exclusively on Tangra

They were pretty big in their native Finland even before, but now, with their brand new album 'A Way Away' to be released through Nuclear Blast on 26 June,В INDICAВ are surely conquering new territories.

A bloody good reason to talk with their lead singer.

an interview conducted by Vassil Varbanov

WE ARE NOW LISTENING TO ‘PRECIOUS DARK’ - THIS SONG REMINDS ME IN A WAY TO MIKE OLDFIELD & MAGGIE REILLY’S ‘MOONLIGHT SHADOW’…
Really??? I ‘ve never heard anything like that before. I like the song you are talking about so this is great.

I MEAN IT REMINDS ME NOT BECAUSE OF THE MUSIC, BUT THERE IS SOMETHING IN THE VIBE….
OK, but that’s cool, because I love the vibe in that song.

THEY CALL YOU JONSU, BUT THIS IS NOT YOUR REAL NAME, RIGHT? IT’S JOHANNA…
Oh yeah. I don’t know why they have always called me Jonsu. I think it’s a pretty bad name, but what can I do?

WHY BAD? DOES IT MEAN ANYTHING SPECIFIC IN FINNISH?
No, it doesn’t mean anything and it doesn’t sound good, but the whole of my life they have called me Jonsu so I just had to accept it.

SO YOU WERE NAMED JOHANNA AFTER SOMEONE, OR IT WAS JUST A GOOD IDEA OF YOUR PARENTS?
I can tell you a secret. My real real first real name is Lena. It was the name of my mother, so…that’s how it came. But nobody knows it but you.

OK, IT WILL STAY BETWEEN YOU AND ME. LET’S TALK ABOUT THE ALBUM NOW – IT’S FAR FROM BEING YOUR FIRST ONE, BUT THIS IS PROBABLY THE ONE THAT PEOPLE ARE NOW TALKING ABOUT. IS THIS BECAUSE THE RECORD LABEL IS PUTTING MORE MONEY BEHIND YOU THAN THE LABELS OF THE PREVIOUS RECORDS?
Well, this is the first album we did in English because we have done five albums in Finnish. So we naturally haven’t done outside of the country so far, but this new one is in English…

WELL, FAIR ENOUGH…HA HA HA…
Yeah, ha ha ha, I don’t know why they don’t like Finnish so much, ha ha ha,. It’s a nice language but people seem not to take Finnish songs so much abroad.

THE DICISION TO FINALLY MAKE AN ALBUM IN ENGLISH – WAS IT PERSONALY YOURS OR IT CAME OUT OF THE RECORD COMPANY?
The decision was madeВ in our band, but you know, when we started, about nine years ago, I was composing songs in English and in Finnish, then Finnish caught more natural. But we knew we were going to do an English album someday.

And why we did it now? Because when Tuomas Holopainen from Nightwish asked if we would come on the Scandinavian tour in 2007 and then the European tour with them in 2009.
So there started I big interest abroad and they started to request some lyrics the fans understand, so that’s why it’s happening now.

WELL, NIGHTWISH ARE PROBABLY THE MOST FAMOUS BAND COME OUT OF YOUR COUNTRY THESE DAYS…
Aha?

AND THEY HAVE TO OF THE GUYS THERE WHO ARE KEEN IN PRODUCING OTHER BANDS ALBUMS – MARCO HIETALA DID SOME AMOPRHIS STUFF, BUT YOU CHOOSE TO WORK WITH TUOMAS HOLOPAINEN …WHY? YOU THINK HE’S BETTER?
No no no. The thing is that during the tour we just started to talk about our music and it was Tuomas who told me he has been a fan of INDICA since the beginning and that he has many good ideas about the music.

We somehow shared similar feelings about the music. We never talked about that with Marco, so…

WELL, SINCE YOU ARE SUCH GOOD FRIENDS AND COLLEGUES WITH TUOMAS, WHY DIDN’T HE THINK OF YOU REPLACING TARJA INSTEAD OF ANNETE OLZON?
Oh, it wasn’t even an option. I have never even talked about it with Tuomas, but anyway he knew I have my own band and it would be impossible, so we’ve never even talked about it.

BECAUSE YOU ARE SIMPLY PLANNING TO GET EVEN BIGGER THAN NIGHTIWSH?
No, ha ha ha. Tuomas and I, we are both composers and composers need their own band. I don’t know what could have happened with the mixture Indica and Nightwish. We both like to compose and maybe it would be a fight, ha ha ha..

INDICA INDICA IS AN ALL GIRL BAND, PLEASE TELL US, WHO OF THE OTHER FOUR GILRS THERE IS YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Oh, I love all the girls, but I’ve known Heini (bass player) the longest time – we started the band with her, so she ends up being one of my best friends since I was like about seven years old.

SO WHAT’S NEXT FOR INDICA? I BELIEVE YOU ARE GOING TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE FESTIVAL SEASON THIS SUMMER? ARE YOU PLANNING ANOTHER TOUR WITH NIGHTWISH?
I think Nightwish won’t be touring for a while.

YEAH YEAH, BECAUSE THE SINGER IS PREGNANT, WE HEARD THAT…
Yes, and they are doing the new album also and will enter the studio end of this year or something. We are going to tour in autumn, but unfortunately I can’t give you any clear details.

And we are going to do some festivals in Europe in late summer and some in Finland too. The next one will be in Germany – Gothic Treffen and then Rock am Ring and Rock am Park.

TALKING WITH YOU ON THE TELEPHONE RIGHT NOW, YOU SOUND LIKE BEING A VERY HAPPY AND RADIANT PERSON, BUT ARE YOU?
Oh, thank you! I am a little bit nervous now as my schedule today was pretty awful. One of my friend’s grandma died and I had to travel fast to Helsinki. Now I am driving and doing the interview at the same time and this is a bit challenging. But yeah, I am a pretty positive person usually. I love people and I love living so yeah – you are right!

WELL, BESIDES LISTENING TO MY HYPNOTIC VOICE RIGHT NOW, WHAT ELSE ARE YOU LISTENING TO WHILE DRIVING?
Right now, there is nothing on, but usually I am listening to The Beatles, Arcade Fire, Beach House and Pink Floyd – these are my driving favorites. At least now.

OUT OF ALL THE SONGS IN THE NEW RECORD, WHICH IS THE ONE YOU ARE MOSTLY PROUD OF?
One of my favorite songs on the album is the last one – ‘Eerie Eden’. I am a really slow person and always love the slow and moody songs. And I love the orchestration we did with Pip Williams – it was a great experience.

OK, THANKS FOR THAT ONE…
Thank you. I can tell you a funny story. Four years ago with the girls we went on a holiday in Bulgaria. It’s a beautiful country and we hope to comeback there soon.

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