Interview Iconcrash, Ghost Frequency Night, Gloria, Helsinki – 01.12.07
MEM: Tell me something about the band. Who is Iconcrash?
Jaani: Okay, Jesse is the bass player. He’s in charge of bad humour while touring and manager of parties. (laughter)
Matti & Jesse: True, true.
Jaani: And Anu, she’s the keyboard player and she is really into (laughs) Japanese stuff. She heard a lot about it.
Matti: So I have noticed.
Jesse: She is into the Final Fantasy soundtracks.
Jaani: She is like a mother sometimes, but sometimes not. She is really into parties too. Party mama. (laughter) Blush. (more laughter)
And Ose, he is always lost, like now. He is the drummer. (Finnish conversation about where he might be) So he is lost and always late. But like the best drummer in the world. I am so proud to have him in the band. I heard him play for the first time ten years ago and I was like “What the fuck, this guy is so talented!” And now he plays with us, and we are extremely happy… when he is around. (laughs)
And then Matti – we haven’t actually talked about Matti’s situation yet. Is he a full member or not? He is up on trial and we were meant to talk about it when we came back from Italy. But –
Jesse: We really haven’t had the chance to talk about it. But I’m pretty sure that he will be.
(Oskari comes in)
Jaani: Okay, there he is! So this is our drummer.
(Jesse leaves to get coffee)
Jaani: But he is already in the photos, so… He is like –
Oskari: Who, me?
Jaani: No, Matti. We haven’t been talking about Matti’s situation, like, is he a full member or what?
Oskari: I think he is a full member.
Jaani: Okay, what about Anu?
Anu: Yeah.
Jaani: Okay. He is a full member. We haven’t asked Jesse, but I know Jesse likes him, so he is a full member.
Matti: Let’s have a drink now! (jumps up to the fridge. Comes back) I can’t have a drink.
MEM: How would you describe your music?
Jaani: Ose, try.
Oskari: (mouth full of chocolate) I can’t right now.
Jaani: Anu.
(Anu thinks)
Oskari: You should be the one responsible for this, questions.
Jaani: No, it’s so cool, I don’t have to do these interviews alone. I’ve done this shit too much, so…
Matti: About what? What did you ask?
MEM: How would you describe your music?
Matti: Right, I’ve been in the band like… 2 months.
Jaani: No, two minutes! (laughter)
Matti: But I’m the one responsible for this. So…
Oskari: I think that it’s getting a bit darker now. Some poppy moods, a bit…
Jaani: Poppy melodies, but it’s much harder and rougher music. We have like really, really aggressive drums, just bass with lot of buzz. And keyboards feel dreamy, dreamlike keyboards.
Matti: And we have like the most beautiful guitars, and then we have these chainsaw guitar also.
Jaani: It’s much heavier, but not like – it has nothing to do with metal. But it’s darker and harder.
Anu: It’s more melancholic, not metal or poppy.
MEM: What does the name Iconcrash actually represent? Is it something religious or breaking with religion?
Jaani: They are two words that I really like combined. I’m really into orthodox art and stuff like that. I have like a love-hate relationship with icons. I mean like religious icons, not the poppy pictures. I’ve seen the dark side and the lighter side also. We are somewhere in the middle of them. And sometimes we are crashing into the walls when we are travelling far away.
(Jesse comes back in)
Oskari: It’s weird that you say that, because the first time I was playing with you, I had this feeling that if I had to paint this kind of music, it would be something like light at the end of the tunnel.
Jaani: There is something, but you have to run to it.
Oskari: It’s a long way there.
MEM: On your MySpace we can read that you are in the studio working on the new album. How is it progressing?
Jaani: (laughs) Really slowly. Actually we’ll start from scratch next week. We have been working on the album two years already, and now we have been a year and a half in Dynasty studios. We have recorded like sixty songs and now we have gotten down to ten. So we start from scratch next week and start recording drums and bass. Now we know exactly what to do.
Oskari: We have been trying different methods to do the record.
Jaani: First it was more electronic, but then the band started to sound really big and good. So it’s a real band album. First work was just, like, me, but now it’s better.
MEM: What can people expect from it?
Jaani: (thinks for a while) We have our own expectations of course… (silence) I think it will be a big surprise for people who know Iconcrash. It’s like a whole different band, totally different songs. Of course there’s some familiar stuff.
Jesse: Because songwriters always have this certain kind of autograph. But the whole band sounds so different.
Jaani: Yeah, and all the instruments are represented better. Because now I don’t have to think about all the instruments. I have specialists to do this stuff. I just need to focus on vocals and my… bad guitars.
Matti: Which will be replayed by me. (laughter)
Jaani: So true.
MEM: So it will be a completely different style from “Nude”?
Jaani: Yeah. You can still recognize it, but…
Oskari: Yeah, it’s recognizable definitely, but…
Jaani: It’s just going forward. And the third album, I think it will something whole different, I don’t know. I hate bands that are all the time doing the same albums again, again, again. I think it sucks.
Matti: But you got to love AC/DC.
Jaani: But we already have AC/DC.
Matti: Yeah, that’s true.
MEM: Where do you get inspiration for your songs?
Jaani: The lyrics? They are going through the stuff I experienced, years ago when I was more into the dark side. I didn’t realise what was going on then, but now I’m older and I hope wiser, so I am analysing it at the moment. It’s pretty religious. The first album was about the you-and-me stuff. Interesting, but I’ve done it already, so now I’m going deeper, in the spiritual world.
MEM: Do you have a favourite song to play live?
Jaani: I think each of us has something different, we have our own favourites. Jesse, what’s your favourite?
Jesse: Something light. Faith is one of my favourites.
Matti: My favourite song is also Faith.
Anu: It’s one of my favourites also.
Jesse: It’s really nice to play live.
Matti: It’s perfect. First it’s so melancholic with harmonic vocals, and in the end it’s like fucking chaos, you know. So cool to play.
Jaani: It’s my favourite also actually. (laughter) Ose, what’s your favourite song on stage?
Oskari: I don’t know, they’re all my favourites in a way. There’s the challenge to get in the mood for each song. I like the Anniki as well because there’s lot of challenge –
Jaani: Anniki is Faith.
Oskari: But Fifa is also nice.
Jaani: That is Between Light and Nowhere, the title of that song.
Oskari: Oh yeah, I’m using the ‘word-names’.
MEM: Do you have a lyric you are particularly proud of?
Jaani: (mouth full of chocolate) The lyrics aren’t ready yet, so… they will change. They are like 80 % ready. I don’t know.
MEM: Like you mentioned in the beginning of the interview, you have played a couple of gigs in Italy recently. How did the shows go?
Jaani: Really good. It was like a band school for us. Working with the new line-up. It was really cool.
Matti: We had so much fun there. Jesse was the manager of the parties. (Affirmative sounds from the others) He worked so hard. The party section was arranged properly. (laughter) And the gigs were also outraged. The Italian audience was great, they were all like “We want to hear your music.” It was pleasant to play for them. It was a good experience for us as a group, I think.
MEM: Is playing abroad a lot different from playing in Finland?
Jaani: Yeah, it was much more relaxed somehow.
Matti: But the sound checks are as slow as in here. So… everything was just fine.
Jaani: I liked more those kind of tours. I feel so much more relaxed.
MEM: That were all my questions. Thank you for your time.
Iconcrash: Oh, thank you.
Jaani: Have some chocolate!
***
Interview by Heidi van de Vreken
Copyright: MadEyedMoose.com
MEM: Tell me something about the band. Who is Iconcrash?
Jaani: Okay, Jesse is the bass player. He’s in charge of bad humour while touring and manager of parties. (laughter)
Matti & Jesse: True, true.
Jaani: And Anu, she’s the keyboard player and she is really into (laughs) Japanese stuff. She heard a lot about it.
Matti: So I have noticed.
Jesse: She is into the Final Fantasy soundtracks.
Jaani: She is like a mother sometimes, but sometimes not. She is really into parties too. Party mama. (laughter) Blush. (more laughter)
And Ose, he is always lost, like now. He is the drummer. (Finnish conversation about where he might be) So he is lost and always late. But like the best drummer in the world. I am so proud to have him in the band. I heard him play for the first time ten years ago and I was like “What the fuck, this guy is so talented!” And now he plays with us, and we are extremely happy… when he is around. (laughs)
And then Matti – we haven’t actually talked about Matti’s situation yet. Is he a full member or not? He is up on trial and we were meant to talk about it when we came back from Italy. But –
Jesse: We really haven’t had the chance to talk about it. But I’m pretty sure that he will be.
(Oskari comes in)
Jaani: Okay, there he is! So this is our drummer.
(Jesse leaves to get coffee)
Jaani: But he is already in the photos, so… He is like –
Oskari: Who, me?
Jaani: No, Matti. We haven’t been talking about Matti’s situation, like, is he a full member or what?
Oskari: I think he is a full member.
Jaani: Okay, what about Anu?
Anu: Yeah.
Jaani: Okay. He is a full member. We haven’t asked Jesse, but I know Jesse likes him, so he is a full member.
Matti: Let’s have a drink now! (jumps up to the fridge. Comes back) I can’t have a drink.
MEM: How would you describe your music?
Jaani: Ose, try.
Oskari: (mouth full of chocolate) I can’t right now.
Jaani: Anu.
(Anu thinks)
Oskari: You should be the one responsible for this, questions.
Jaani: No, it’s so cool, I don’t have to do these interviews alone. I’ve done this shit too much, so…
Matti: About what? What did you ask?
MEM: How would you describe your music?
Matti: Right, I’ve been in the band like… 2 months.
Jaani: No, two minutes! (laughter)
Matti: But I’m the one responsible for this. So…
Oskari: I think that it’s getting a bit darker now. Some poppy moods, a bit…
Jaani: Poppy melodies, but it’s much harder and rougher music. We have like really, really aggressive drums, just bass with lot of buzz. And keyboards feel dreamy, dreamlike keyboards.
Matti: And we have like the most beautiful guitars, and then we have these chainsaw guitar also.
Jaani: It’s much heavier, but not like – it has nothing to do with metal. But it’s darker and harder.
Anu: It’s more melancholic, not metal or poppy.
MEM: What does the name Iconcrash actually represent? Is it something religious or breaking with religion?
Jaani: They are two words that I really like combined. I’m really into orthodox art and stuff like that. I have like a love-hate relationship with icons. I mean like religious icons, not the poppy pictures. I’ve seen the dark side and the lighter side also. We are somewhere in the middle of them. And sometimes we are crashing into the walls when we are travelling far away.
(Jesse comes back in)
Oskari: It’s weird that you say that, because the first time I was playing with you, I had this feeling that if I had to paint this kind of music, it would be something like light at the end of the tunnel.
Jaani: There is something, but you have to run to it.
Oskari: It’s a long way there.
MEM: On your MySpace we can read that you are in the studio working on the new album. How is it progressing?
Jaani: (laughs) Really slowly. Actually we’ll start from scratch next week. We have been working on the album two years already, and now we have been a year and a half in Dynasty studios. We have recorded like sixty songs and now we have gotten down to ten. So we start from scratch next week and start recording drums and bass. Now we know exactly what to do.
Oskari: We have been trying different methods to do the record.
Jaani: First it was more electronic, but then the band started to sound really big and good. So it’s a real band album. First work was just, like, me, but now it’s better.
MEM: What can people expect from it?
Jaani: (thinks for a while) We have our own expectations of course… (silence) I think it will be a big surprise for people who know Iconcrash. It’s like a whole different band, totally different songs. Of course there’s some familiar stuff.
Jesse: Because songwriters always have this certain kind of autograph. But the whole band sounds so different.
Jaani: Yeah, and all the instruments are represented better. Because now I don’t have to think about all the instruments. I have specialists to do this stuff. I just need to focus on vocals and my… bad guitars.
Matti: Which will be replayed by me. (laughter)
Jaani: So true.
MEM: So it will be a completely different style from “Nude”?
Jaani: Yeah. You can still recognize it, but…
Oskari: Yeah, it’s recognizable definitely, but…
Jaani: It’s just going forward. And the third album, I think it will something whole different, I don’t know. I hate bands that are all the time doing the same albums again, again, again. I think it sucks.
Matti: But you got to love AC/DC.
Jaani: But we already have AC/DC.
Matti: Yeah, that’s true.
MEM: Where do you get inspiration for your songs?
Jaani: The lyrics? They are going through the stuff I experienced, years ago when I was more into the dark side. I didn’t realise what was going on then, but now I’m older and I hope wiser, so I am analysing it at the moment. It’s pretty religious. The first album was about the you-and-me stuff. Interesting, but I’ve done it already, so now I’m going deeper, in the spiritual world.
MEM: Do you have a favourite song to play live?
Jaani: I think each of us has something different, we have our own favourites. Jesse, what’s your favourite?
Jesse: Something light. Faith is one of my favourites.
Matti: My favourite song is also Faith.
Anu: It’s one of my favourites also.
Jesse: It’s really nice to play live.
Matti: It’s perfect. First it’s so melancholic with harmonic vocals, and in the end it’s like fucking chaos, you know. So cool to play.
Jaani: It’s my favourite also actually. (laughter) Ose, what’s your favourite song on stage?
Oskari: I don’t know, they’re all my favourites in a way. There’s the challenge to get in the mood for each song. I like the Anniki as well because there’s lot of challenge –
Jaani: Anniki is Faith.
Oskari: But Fifa is also nice.
Jaani: That is Between Light and Nowhere, the title of that song.
Oskari: Oh yeah, I’m using the ‘word-names’.
MEM: Do you have a lyric you are particularly proud of?
Jaani: (mouth full of chocolate) The lyrics aren’t ready yet, so… they will change. They are like 80 % ready. I don’t know.
MEM: Like you mentioned in the beginning of the interview, you have played a couple of gigs in Italy recently. How did the shows go?
Jaani: Really good. It was like a band school for us. Working with the new line-up. It was really cool.
Matti: We had so much fun there. Jesse was the manager of the parties. (Affirmative sounds from the others) He worked so hard. The party section was arranged properly. (laughter) And the gigs were also outraged. The Italian audience was great, they were all like “We want to hear your music.” It was pleasant to play for them. It was a good experience for us as a group, I think.
MEM: Is playing abroad a lot different from playing in Finland?
Jaani: Yeah, it was much more relaxed somehow.
Matti: But the sound checks are as slow as in here. So… everything was just fine.
Jaani: I liked more those kind of tours. I feel so much more relaxed.
MEM: That were all my questions. Thank you for your time.
Iconcrash: Oh, thank you.
Jaani: Have some chocolate!
***
Interview by Heidi van de Vreken
Copyright: MadEyedMoose.com
