"You shine like a star, oo-ooh"… ja, spätestens jetzt kennt sie wirklich jeder hierzulande. Denn das Lied ‚Star" von The Crash ist in der Werbung eines nur zu bekannten Internetauktionshauses zu hören. In Indie-Musik-Kreisen ist die Band aus Finnland hingegen schon länger kein Geheimtipp mehr. Bereits zwei Alben sind auf dem Markt, ein drittes namens ‚Melodrama" erscheint dieser Tage. Mit ‚Star" als Bonustrack - denn das erschien ursprünglich auf dem zweiten Album ‚Wildlife". Durch Deutschland getourt ist die damals noch dreiköpfige Band bereits als Support für die Schweden Eskobar. Das neue Album gefällt mir nicht annähernd so gut wie der Vorgänger. Da gibt es beispielsweise Keyboards, die an Van Halen"s ‚Jump" erinnern. Oder 80s Elektro - allerdings der billigen und nachmachenden Art. Ähnlichkeiten mit Melody Club, nur ohne deren Energie, schimmern durch. Auch die Stimme Teemus klingt jetzt noch merkwürdiger und quäkend; fast ein wenig albern und aufgesetzt. Teemu nahm sich Zeit, mir ein paar Fragen per e-mail zu beantworten.
Why does the listener of your new album has to "like the moon" and "old
cartoons", as it is said in the prologue?
Well, I feel that the moon is really present on this album; it"s in the lyrics
and in the mood of the songs. I mean, I just love to just watch the moon, there
is something surreal about heavenly bodies altogether. Isn"t heavenly body a
nice word? Anyway, regarding "old cartoons", I think that the feeling on "Melodrama"
reminds me of old cartoons. I even saw myself as a cartoon figure when I sang
the songs.
Do you really think that you"re "the best of the best" as you sing in the
song with the same title?
Is there any other option? Every band have to feel that way about themselves,
that is the essence of rock & roll culture.
Your voice has changed a bit since the last album. Did you change it intentionally?
Why? Did you get lessons?
I"ve never believed in singing lessons because they destroy rock singers. I
mean, yeah, you do learn to breath and form your voice correctly but it sounds
boring as hell. But I did change my voice a bit after "Wildlife", I kind of
unleashed the black woman in me. The new songs tempted me to do so.
How come your former tour keyboarder Tomi Mäkilä has become a band member?
Is he still playing with his band Since November?
It happened through the good old rite of beating him up backstage and singing
him a welcome song. That might have been one of the reasons why he still has
Since November.
Your new album shows many influences from the 80s and recent bands who adopt
that style. How come? Did you listen to much music from that time during the
process of writing and recording?
I"m an 80"s child. I believe that many people in my age group are going through
some kind of 80"s renaissance, there"s nothing new about that. But the 80"s
sounds are pretty much only in the synthesizers and not anywhere else. There
is also a strong 70"s disco and soul flavour blended in.
The last albums sounded more timeless. I"m sorry, but one gets the impression
you"re trying to catch up with the recent hype of 80s electro music…
I"ve actually never listened to contemporary music that much. We"re kind of
stuck in the preceding decades. Hence, we"re definitely not trying to ride anyone"s
tail, quite the opposite. Like I said in the previous answer, the 70"s first
disco beats and soul clichés are a lot more significant part of "Melodrama"
than any of the "so easy to spot" -80"s references. Also, if you listen to "Wildlife"
more carefully, you can hear echoes from the 80"s there too.
Your booklet looks very nice. Who did the artwork?
A real close friend of mine did the artwork and we talked about the ideas together.
The intention was to illustrate the music as well as possible. We wanted to
make it look like a fairytale book.
Do you have any favourite (English) words or phrases?
The word "Boy" sounds always great. There are enough vowels in English language
and that makes it a beautiful language.
Do you know why ebay chose especially your song "Star" for their advert?
I guess they just liked the song.
Are you happy about the ebay advert? There are lots of people who only know
of you because of it…
Well, that"s a start. For a band like The Crash it"s always hard to break from
the grey areas of mainstream and indie.
Who decided to put the song on the new album again?
It was the record company"s idea.
Have you ever bought or sold something at ebay?
No.
Is there a band or artist you"d like to collaborate with?
Bowie is always really cool.
Who is the creative head behind your videos?
Tommi Pietiläinen, the director. He has understood what The Crash is about.
There are prejudices or rumours about Finns. Does every Finn has a sauna?
Do you really go for the sauna very often? Do you need a sauna when you"re on
tour?
I read somewhere that an average Finn goes to sauna twice a week. Pretty much
every Finn has got a sauna; it"s considered to be a necessity like a bed or
a floor even.
Aktuelles Album: "Melodrama" (Warner)
Internet: www.thecrash.com
Marika Böhm