Where is the name of the band coming from?
It’s an abtract name which sounds good but later we have heard that red number two also means certain color lipstick!

What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your life / work?
We all have our own favourites, but everyone in our band likes Tool, Oceansize, Mew and Faith No More.

What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician in Finland?
Nowadays it is positive that everybody knows that being a musician can be regarded as a “real” job and musicians are more appreciated than before.
Negative aspects is that being so far away from the other world makes it more expensive to make gigs abroad.

How could you define your style of music?
Progressive mainstream alternative rock.

During the years how has your musical style changed?
Towrds bigger and bigger sound. There’s no rules anymore.

How do explain these changes?
We realised how we want to sound and learned some tehniques for that.

What are topics you treat in your songs?
A finnish man in the cosmic eternity =)

What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why?
Few new songs under the working titles of “Makyoh” and “Old Grinder”

Do you actually prefer performing your music live or in a studio?
Both have good sides. It has to be a wonderful gig to have such a good vibes that you can get in the studio when you record something new and fantastic.
A good gig still beats up lazy and complicated studio work.

During the process of making a song, what is the moment that you prefer?
At the rehearsal, everybody gives their best shot and finally we create something out of everybodys reach.

A stupid question but… what is among all the songs you’ve been listening in your life the BEST song?
I don’t know the best song, but there was a time when I couldn’t listen Tori Amos’ song called “The Cooling” without crying.

What is your opinion, as a musician, regarding internet?
Excellent tool doing things - good and bad.

Do you have a website?
Yes, http://www.rednumbertwo.com

What are your projects for the band?
Recording the first full-lenght album this year.

What “image” do you have of French music?
Air and Phoenix are excellent…I don’t know any other bands from there…

Is there one French song that you prefer? If so, what song is it?
Air : Vagabond (excellent, excellent song!)

When and how was your band created?
It was originally started 1999 in Riihimäki - which is a small town about 60 kilometres up north from Helsinki - when our singer-guitarist Okko asked Tomi, guitarist as well, to kick out some jams with him. Okko had previously played in a punk band and wanted to do something different, to create beautiful pop music instead of noisy punk rock

There were some difficulties in finding a right guy to play drums and it wasn’t until late 2002 when the band really came together once the drummer Sampo joined the group. Anyway, the final spice to the soup was added in late 2004 when a tall engineer named Matti Olavi Töyli joined the band to play clarinet, saxophone and a little synth named “Nautilus”.

Where is the name of the band coming from?
It’s a bit boring answer, but it doesn’t really have any special meaning, I suppose it just sounds fascinating. Apparently it was Okko who came up with. There were some bad suggestions before, like “Justin’s Case” and “Purple Sunday” for instance.

As one can imagine, over the years many people have said that it’s too long, but we think that the name actually describes the band’s sound quite well. And who cares about people’s opinions anyway. Look how well Creedence Clearwater Revival has done ! And if you really really like to, you can always use the shorter version of our name (our CCR version) UwSSoc.

What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your life /work?
Apparently there are only three bands that we all like: Pink Floyd, The Flaming Lips and 22-Pistepirkko, but since there’s no easy way to do this, I’ll just name a bunch of good ones that most of us enjoy: The Beatles, Radiohead, The Doors, Sonic Youth, Björk, Deus, Air, Nick Drake, Jeff Buckley, Primal Scream, Johnny Cash, Talking Heads, Magenta Skycode, Rubik, Kastor, Nirvana, The Velvet Underground, Sigur Ros, David Bowie, The Cure.

What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician in Finland?
Positive: There are not too many bands, at least good ones, in Finland, so it might be comparatively easy to receive attention once things start happening. Another nice thing about the small circle is that you get to know a lot of new cool people easily when you tour with other bands etc.

Negative: There are only very few good places to play gigs. And this is important: people listen way too much heavy music, which means: 1) that there must be something wrong in our collective unconsciousness 2) summer festivals are filled with bands all dressed in black 3) people end up picking the wrong records from the record stores: instead of buying one of ours

How could you define your style of music?
Progressive pop. Art punk. Prog-rock. Folk pop. Ambient heavy indie! Emotional chill-out music. Underwater sleeping sounds. Whatever you like! We’re not indie puritans, we make music for everybody.

During the years how has your musical style changed?
It has changed a lot. I would say there have been at least 4-5 different phases:

1) straight American influenced pop/rock guitar music, a bit melancholy
2) acoustic phase, stripped down folk music
3) prog-rock phase, that’s when the weird c-parts started to appear!
4) indie-rock phase, everything combined
5) NOW, underwater-indie-progressive-folk-ambient-art-punk-pop

How do you explain these changes?
Listening to too much David Bowie can do that I guess.

What are topics you treat in your songs?
That should be a question for Okko to answer, but I remember that a journalist asked this same thing once, very cleverly. He asked Okko that which word would describe his lyrics the best: underwater, sleeping or society. The obvious answer was sleeping. There’s actually a song called “Dream Song” in our first ep.

What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why?
My personal favourite is perhaps “-P” at the moment, it’s a long progressive song that evolves very slowly and once it explodes it’s almost like religious experience.

Do you actually prefer performing your music live or in a studio?
Definitely live. If you play rock music and you don’t enjoy your presence on the stage, you’re in the wrong business.

During the process of making a song, what is the moment that you prefer?
It’s the first time when everyone gets that kind of “THAT’S IT!” -feeling. It might come after 20 minutes or it might take 4 months. Some songs never get to that phase. But they are the bad ones, so they’re meaningless anyway.

A stupid question but. what is among all the songs you’ve been listening in your life the BEST song?
Life On Mars by David Bowie. Strawberry Fields Forever by The Beatles. I Was Made To Love Magic by Nick Drake. Those three came to my mind first.

What is your opinion, as a musician, regarding internet?
I absolutely love it. It has helped us a lot. Myspace is the best forum to get to know new, totally unknown bands from all over the world.

Do you have a website?
Sure. It’s www.uwssoc.net
Our Myspace is www.myspace.com/uwssoc

What are your projects for the band?
Do you mean goals? To make good music. Make people happy. See new places.
But first of all, make good and timeless records that sound good even when you’re 80.

What “image” do you have of French music?
It´s a shame to admit, the image I have is kind of stereotypical. It’s sort of like this. “Edith Piaf singing about her unlucky love in the 1950s”. But surely there are many great contemporary French bands as well, Air being the most obvious one to mention. I should get to know Phoenix as well.

Is there one French song that you prefer? If so, what song is it?
It has got to be Je Ne Regrette Rien by Edith Piaf.

When and how was your band created?

Where is the name of the band coming from?
Well we wanted a name like KISS, a name that you remember and like, and everyone wants to get naked…right?

What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your life / work?
Here it comes…..aaahhhh: KISS, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Blues Brothers, Van Halen, Black Crows, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Isaac Hayes, Rush, Bon Jovi, Goo Goo Dolls, Thin Lizzy, Billy Joel, Cheap Trick, Stevie Wonder, The Hellacopters, Alice Cooper, Backyard Babies, T.Rex, Queen, Mötley Crüe, Rainbow, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Hanoi Rocks, Sam & Dave, Def Leppard, Police, The Who, DLR, James Brown.

What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician in Finland?
Well…hmmm let me ponder………The crowds are nuts and everyone is crazy, but I guess that’s the case everywere. Ok I’ll try again, It’s great!!! The negative side: narow minded people!

How could you define your style of music?
We call it Broadway rock, and I’m proud to anounce that we are the only Broadwayrock band in the world!!! Big guitars, bigger drums, confetti, a little smoke, ripped t-shirts, lights, sweat, choir robes, megaphones and a positive mind, hip hip hurraaa!!!

During the years how has your musical style changed?
YES! we’ve found the Naked sound with this album(Let’s Get Naked… And Start A Revolution)

How do explain these changes?
Well at a point we stopped sounding Crap! and became something unexplainable!!! Now how’s that for an awnser.DAN WEEKS?

What are topics you treat in your songs?
Life basiclly and everything that comes with it, the good and the ugly.

What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why?
Well I like them all obviously, but I have special place in my heart for “High On Blue Love” I wrote it on my sofa when I woke up hung over from beer and viagra:) without a guitar, the melody just popped into my head.It whent to #5 in the single chart in Finland. Then I like doing Revolution live, that’s great. It whent to #4 in the charts.We shot a cool video in london for it and got arrested!

Do you actually prefer performing your music live or in a studio?
Live, that’s what a band should do.But I don’t mind the studio!

During the process of making a song, what is the moment that you prefer?
The moment? writing a good song dude! I hate forsing them out of me for hours and hours, the best ones come easily.

A stupid question but… what is among all the songs you’ve been listening in your life the BEST song?
The list is endless and changes all the time but on of the best is bohemian rhapsody by Queen, I like dancing in the moonlight by Thin Lizzy as well:)

What is your opinion, as a musician, regarding internet?
It’s great! I’m all for it!!! go go go! check out www.nakedonline.net and www.myspace.com/nakedofficial

What are your projects ?
NAKED!!! that’s all I do
What “image” do you have of French music?
Slim to none, I know that K Maro rapper dude ha haaa. But nothing else comes to mind right now!

Is there one French song that you prefer? If so, what song is it?
Edit phiaf???? She sounded awsome

When and how was your band created?

Where is the name of the band coming from?
Well that`s a long & old story. And we actually made a promise that we’d never ever tell it to anybody. But let`s just say that “Moses” alludes to lust we`re creating on our gigs and “Hazy” is for.. I guess it`s for whatever you want it to be for.

What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your life / work?
There are plenty of ´em. Just to mention a few of my own..mmphh.. Pink Floyd, the band that made my life, and Neil Young, the man that made my life! You want a list? You got it: Wesley Willis, Roky Erickson, Bruce Springsteen, Alice Cooper, Black  Sabbath, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Hellacopters, Iggy Pop, Jimi Hendrix, King Crimson, Kingston Wall, Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, MC5, Neil Young, Rolling stones, The Clash, The Doors, The Stooges, the Who, Wigwam……..There`s no end coming for that and doesn`t everything effect on everything..? So forget about it. -The greatest thing in music, from the view of a listener, is that you never stop finding good music..That´s why it`s the best hobby,I mean lifestyle, ever. And Moses Hazy is all about music diggers, Rock&Roll&Blues&Jazz&Soul&Funk&Progressive&reggae&Ska&Psychedelic…. ..So let`s just say I/we dig good music.
What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician in Finland?
I`d like to answer on this one as a musician from NORTHERN Finland.

Positive: You haven`t got many choices, there is nothing to do here but to get high with the music. And you find easily beautiful landscapes and peace & quiet `round here. Well not for long, I think, thanks for Eurocitys, IKEAS and all the others satans little helpers…

Negative: The lack of places to rock. In Northern Finland there ain`t too many bars nor other places to arrange gigs. And it`s quit long way to drive to southern cities and back, expecially for one bloody concert which you don`t even get paid, goddam.

But generally there is a lot of great music in Finland and there are many people with good responsive attitude on all that weird shit there`s made.

How could you define your style of music?
Rock. I usually leave the defining for you journalists.. But it`s a kinda Rock´n´Roll without any limits. You can hear a lot of different styles of music in it..Check out the list above!

During the years how has your musical style changed?
Well we started playing Kiss and when we wrote our first own songs for M.L.E. it was all about actionrock, but it sure has changed a lot. and here we are now.

How do explain these changes?
I usually don`t. No, One reason for sure is the instruments we have, like saxophone, trumpet & piano. The other is that we`re listening so many kinds of music. And I guess we knew from the beginning that you can´t draw any limits for this group of maniacs.

What are topics you treat in your songs?
Life. Stuff. You may find some opinions ´bout things in´em because there are opinions, `bout things. But there are also lots of meaningless stories and from each song you get on the average 15% of your daily humdrum-psychedely needed.

What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why?
It changes often depending on the last gig or if we´ve just recorded something. ´Guess right now my favourit song is..mbgh.. Play That Damn Guitar from our soon-to-be-released album The Incredible Flow Of Life Show. And the reason is that I was yesterday in studio with a couple of beauties recording female backing vocals on that one.

Do you actually prefer performing your music live or in a studio?
Absolutely Live! I think that rock`and´roll albums should be mostly promotion to invite people to the gigs. And our studiowork haven`t started working as good as the liveperformances.

During the process of making a song, what is the moment that you prefer?
Of course the moment when you for the first time think that the song is done now; And you see that it`s good. It could be alone with guitar as you finish the lyrics or with the whole band when everything just clicks. And when ever the basic form of the song changes to something totally different.

A stupid question but… what is among all the songs you’ve been listening in your life the BEST song?
I really can`t answer seriously to this one.. So I just say Wesley Willis´ Arnold Swartcgchzenegger (how do you spell it anyway?).. Which is actually a great song. And there ain`t no stupid questions, just stupid answers. And you can bet  your testicles I`m full of ´em.

What is your opinion, as a musician, regarding internet?
It`s a great thing for young unknown bands like us to spread their music all around the world. Of course in some cases it takes away the support from the artist but it`s the blues of today, isn`t it? `Cause in the end Internet is not half as bad thief compered to what record companies have been and still are. And it`s gigs you should get paid for…And I really can`t feel too bad for Metallica.

What are your projects ?
Like I told we´re now finnishing our debyt album and before the summer we`re about to start recording our next album which is kind of a re-recorded collection from our EP´s. And we´ve been planning a summer holiday by the Kuivajoki (Dry River) after June filled with gigs. The holiday includes the recording sessions of our third album, a country/roots-stylish LP, in an old countryhouse. and for sure, gigs gigs gigs and more gigs. So we`re a bit busy with the “Mo´s Trilogy 2006″, as you see.

What “image” do you have of French music?
Few years ago I was spending some time in some smalltown near Brest and cruising `round western parts of France with my local friends. they had a great reggae-band Makaks Mekaniks, don`t know if I spell it right. And I also heard many great funky ska-bands there, I guess it`s quite popular in France..? Ceux Qui Marchent Debut (?) was also great band live and on record. I saw so many great gigs but remember not as many names of bands.. But of course Edith Piaf, Serge Gainsbourg, Francois Corneloup and Bela  Fleck & Flecktones etc..etc.. Also we`ve had one great half frenchman playing with us, Marc “fast finger”
Gondallier De Tugny, who played banjo in one of our EP´s.

Is there one French song that you prefer? If so, what song is it?
Makas Mekaniks: Aualpe tout la nére (?)
C´est bon, comme ça.

When and how was your band created?

Where is the name of the band coming from?
Dive is about looking inside of ourselves, about the things we’re keeping under the surface.

What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your life / work?
Joy Division, Depeche Mode, The Smiths and Kate Bush are main influences for myself. The boys are into Ride, Swervedriver and other noisy indie hulabaloo.

What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician in Finland?
We are in the great position because we have found the right people to work with. They are hard working and they believe in the same things that we do. It took time but now we are mainly happy.

How could you define your style of music?
Today I would call it sophisticated new wave. Tomorrow something else.

During the years how has your musical style changed?
When we starded, our music was more or less punk music. I still love the attitude that punk bands have and it?s good to see them live. But I like to do more melodic stuff and songs that touches our audience. In the beginning it was just rage.

How do explain these changes?
It’s the way we always wanted to go, but we didn?t first know how. Now it’s all here. It feels very nice.

What are topics you treat in your songs?
They are mostly sad love songs. We are now working on new tunes that are much happier. But even in our darkest songs there is a glow of light somewhere.

What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why?
Probably some of the new ones; Apart or Shiver. They just work so well. Songs you can dance to.

Do you actually prefer performing your music live or in a studio?
I’ll choose gigs. We are blessed to have such a lovely audience every night. I can’t see doing this without playing gigs to our fans. I love to talk with them after the shows as well.

During the process of making a song, what is the moment that you prefer?
I prefer the beginning and the end. In the beginning I?m alone with the song and it takes me to another places. I’ll always try to cacht a certain mood to each song. Then we try the song with the boys and if and when it starts to work, it is incredibly touching.

A stupid question but… what is among all the songs you’ve been listening in your life the BEST song?
It must be Kate Bush with Hounds Of Love. I love the mood and the intensity on Kate’s vocals.

What is your opinion, as a musician, regarding internet?
As we are an indieband from Finland it?s a nice way to promote our music. That’s why we have fans in the States and UK. And who knows maybe in France too!

What are your projects ?
I’ll try to make Dive as good as I can. That’s my project.

What “image” do you have of French music?
I’ll have to admit that I don?t know french music that much. I read sometime ago the biography of Edith Piaf.

Is there one French song that you prefer? If so, what song is it?
Any of Edith Piaf’s songs. Perhaps “L’hymne à l’Amour”. We used to listen to it with my father when I was a kid.

When and how was your band created?

Where is the name of the band coming from?
We picked up it from ZZ Top’s song “Francine”

What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your life / work?
Bands like Stray Cats,Dr.Feelgood,Melrose,Hearthill,Living End,Housemartins,Sweet,Slade, There are so many good Rock/Punk/Pop bands…

What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician in Finland?
Positive: In Finland we have our own way to do music which is totally different to other countries
Negative: Finland is too far from the Middle Europe…

How could you define your style of music?
Rock’n'Roll!!

During the years how has your musical style changed?
We started as a rockabilly band but after two albums our style has gone tougher and tougher and now it’s straight Rock’n'Roll with some good pop melodies

How do explain these changes?
Our music went very naturally to that direction, I don’t know why. Maybe because we like to mix different music styles together. Now you can find for example Punkpop,Rockabilly,R’n'B,Grunge, Psychobilly and Ska in our music

What are topics you treat in your songs?
Love is number 1 and then there are also some more serious texts about pollution,politics,Reality TV-shows…

What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why?
It varies, but now it’s “Goodbye forever”. It’s just a perfect Rock-song with killer riff and catchy chorus.

Do you actually prefer performing your music live or in a studio?
Live is 1000 times better than studio.

During the process of making a song, what is the moment that you prefer?
The best moment is when I’ve done it ready and we first time play it together. Especially if it works great…

A stupid question but… what is among all the songs you’ve been listening in your life the BEST song?
This is too difficult…

What is your opinion, as a musician, regarding internet?
It’s a good way to introduce a band to a great amount of people at the same time.

What are your projects ?
No projects at the time, but I think we’ll put up a Rockabilly band some day with our guitarist Antti ….

What “image” do you have of French music?
I know nothing about French music, sorry! Last summer I was in France 3 weeks with my family but French music didn’t get my interest. Mainly there was only foreign Pop playin’ on the radio. This summer I will travel to France again, so I’ll have to check out some French music this time.

Is there one French song that you prefer? If so, what song is it?
hmm..Edith Piaf have some good songs…

Where is the name of the band coming from?
We found the word Stalwart to very cool english adjective. It has a nice vibe in it. Not too common and has a feeling of power.

What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your life / work?
There has been loads of artists that clearly have been influential. Obviously the Pori Jazz festival in our hometown drew early on to acquire many varied eclectic tastes. Later on the finnish label Bad Vugum’s roster had quite an impact. First Radiopuhelimet, then hometown-heroes Deep Turtle and Circle were inspirational in making own music and getting acclaimed and recognized.

What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician in Finland?
It’s hard to make ends meet unless you’re on “superstar” on finnish level. Market is very small for bands making music outside top-40 idiom.

How could you define your style of music?
Pounding hard-driving repetitive riff-instrumentalism with some avantgardish spices. Occasional vocal antics and ventures into outer space.

During the years how has your musical style changed?
I think the upcoming material will be less in the metallic vein but more melodic and danceable. Also some unexpected stuff will be launched.

How do explain these changes?
Less overdriven sounds attract me more these days. Change is welcome. Music made with other group called Lee Miller is very hard and aggressive. Stalwart will take a step into mellower world.

What are topics you treat in your songs?
Just about anything. And the instrumental songs give room to create your own lyrics in your mind which is the best.

What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why?
I think the track called ´Layered ironies´ has overall best feel in it. It has gentle cinematic parts and contrasting strong furious soundscapes. It’s an epitome of Stalwart sound.

Do you actually prefer performing your music live or in a studio?
These days I definitely like more working in studio. I have played a lot live shows with other groups and Stalwart’s main objective has been to make music without stress of long tours. Though Stalwart has done few gigs succesfully .

During the process of making a song, what is the moment that you prefer?
I think the moment when you have finished it in the studio and realize you have hit something unexpected and new. You can get amazing kicks out of that.

A stupid question but… what is among all the songs you’ve been listening in your life the BEST song?
Oui, c’est une question ridicule! No comments!

What is your opinion, as a musician, regarding internet?
It’s an amazing way for small bands to get their music across the globe and get contacts. Benefits are enormous. Downsides of course exist but they are mostly problems of bigger corporations.

What are your projects ?
The previously mentioned Lee Miller, a band with NYC-based musician/writer Jordan N. Mamone and amazing drummer Janne Peltomäki. We have made one album ‘The Futility of Language’ and it’s very rocking, male-ish and aggressive stuff. Hotguitars is a duo of japnoise formed by sound guru T-mu Korpipää and me. Our latest release ‘Hierarkia’ came via my own small record label called Karkia Mistika. It was a collaboration with a finnish poet Santtu Puukka. Very otherwordly electronic stuff with poetic ranting above it. Hotguitars’ next album will be out later this spring on BV2 Produktions. It has some cool guests such as Father Metro (Don Johnson Big Band), Custom Drummer (Aavikko, Circle) and famed classical violinist Pekka Kuusisto. It’s our catchiest release to date. Some new relases due out via Karkia Mistika- label soon.

What “image” do you have of French music?
I like Serge Gainbourg and France Gall very much. I think I should dig deeper into the french music. Please send me music. I once played in Paris with Circle. Unfortunately didn’t have time to catch any French bands since I was sleeping in the hotel with a flu. Romantic…

Is there one French song that you prefer? If so, what song is it?
It would be ‘Poupee de cire, poupee de son’ performed by France Gall.It’s amazing, nostalgic and chic. Brings warm memories of childhood.

When and how was your band created?

Where is the name of the band coming from?
Everyone brought their own ideas and Lucy was Driving sounded the best. We all enjoyed the idea of having a band name with a sentence. Also a name Lucy appealed somehow. Overall we thought it was original and had a nice little twist in it.

What musicians or artist did have a major influence in your life/work?
All band members have their own influences and it would be difficult to name just one. For example to me the music of The Beatles and Weezer have meant a lot through the years but it doesn’t mean that we’re automatically trying to copy their ideas into our music.

What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician in Finland?
It’s hard to make a living in Finland just by playing rock music. When you sing in English you’re competing with all the world superstars so it’s a bit harder for you and your music to get noticed. It’s a shame cause many Finnish rock groups don’t get as much attention as they would deserve! But then again the people who come to shows are really into it and you get a wonderful audience to play to!

How could you define your style of music?
It’s rrrock! It’s hard to define our style more accurately. Sometimes the image you have may vary depending on who you ask! Roughly can be said that our sound is based on rough guitars and beautiful melodies.

During the years how has your musical style changed?
The basic idea of our music has remained the same but lately we’ve been getting even more courageous with our songs. Our sound and performing has gone rougher and more energetic. In my opinion, it has made our live performances more enjoyable.

How do explain these changes?
Maybe it’s not that much about changing as evolving. The idea of what we are and what we want to do has simply become much clearer during the years.

What are the topics you treat in your songs?
You could say that our songs treat all the aspects of human life and emotions. Even love is not forbidden subject in our songs! We try to put something in our lyrics that people can relate to. If you can find something you connect with, then we have succeeded. Otherwise you just have to listen more carefully!

What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why?
Right now I get the most kicks from our debut single Anything Goes.

Do you actually prefer performing your music live or in a studio?
The best thing for a rock musician is to play live. No questions there!

During the process of making a song, what is the moment that you prefer?
Hmm… The greatest moment is probably when playing a new song for the first time together with the band and getting that feeling that there’s something special going on.

A stupid question but… what is among all the songs you’ve been listening in your life the BEST song?
I have known so many great songs in my life it wouldn’t be fair to just name one.

What is your opinion, as a musician, regarding internet?
Internet has created an equal opportunity for musicians all around the world to get their music heard. Ideally it offers the possibility to listeners truly determine what they want to hear instead of big multinational companies telling them that instead - how does this idea work in practice is a whole different question though… And moreover one has to remember that although via internet it’s much easier to get your music published than before, it’s still as hard as ever to make it sound good.

What are your projects?
During the summer Lucy was Driving is heading to studio to record our second single. It’s going to be hot. So be prepared!

What “image” do you have of French music?
You don’t get to hear that much French music in Finland. I would imagine that’s because most French artists sing in French. And that is also my excuse for the lack of knowledge in this particular subject…

Is there one French song that you prefer? If so, what song is it?
Hmmm… Because this is the last question I should come up with something witty. But unfortunately I can’t name one.

When and how was your band created?

Where is the name of the band coming from?
There is no special story behind the name. We just sat down for thinking (and drinking), and by the time our livers refused to filter any more alcohol we had come up with the name Dramatuner. You know.
..And on the seventh day band members ended their work which they had made and suffered enormous hangover.

What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your life / work?
Kingston Wall was the first big thing for me. It has been delightful notice over the years that their compositions are actually really good. Another major influence is Porcupine Tree, for example In Absentia album is something so perfect, musically as well as sound wise. Steven Wilson has done amazing things also as producer, like on Opeth’s Deliverance. Camel and Opeth are also major influencers; their composition and arrangement are amazing, and somehow in same way. I guess Mr. Åkerfeldt has listened his fare share of Camel. Tool’s approach to music, especially on rhythmic sector, has been and still is very influential and Frank Zappa has show that anything is possible in music. Gordian Knot’s contrapuntal compositions are top of the line in this category, but they don’t quite fit into the influences category as I haven’t have heart to start rationalizing them. I’m probably afraid that it might somehow ruin the magical feeling of the songs.

What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician in Finland?
I don’t consider myself as musician, but perhaps positive side could be that here is plenty of good music to take influences from and the atmosphere is good for melancholic moods. Flip side of the coin is the fact that only very few musicians can perform original and interesting music, and gain financial profit from it. The volume of buying customers is just too small, and most of the support, especially financial, is directed to bands that fit directly to today’s popular mainstream. I can’t see the advantage in this kind of behavior, it just tends to create depressing clones of existing bands, clones with really short lifecycle.

How could you define your style of music?
Hmm, this is a hard one, and actually quite a problem for us. I guess Dramatuner is playing progressive rock of some sort, but from my point of view the definition of our music style is similar to that strange force that drags the shower curtain against innocent washer; unfortunately undefined so far.

During the years how has your musical style changed?
Maybe it has become bit more complex, but also more unanimous at the same time. As self-confident as it may sound, I think we have developed as songwriters, but then again the whole process of writing and arranging a song is much more time consuming for us nowadays, in some cases almost ad nausea.

How do explain these changes?
There is probably also a rational explanation for this, but perhaps learned something on a way. At least we have developed a bit as players. Nowadays we don’t have to skip any ideas or parts due the fact that we can’t play them. This gives more freedom to compose quite bizarre riffs and odd time rhythms. Mainly these changes can be explained by the way our listening
conventions have changed, and they have.

What are topics you treat in your songs?
Well, Veikko is the responsible over this, but I think our songs usually describe a mental life of slightly melancholic person, or sometimes they are just painting a snapshot of mysterious moment produced by twisted imagination. Sometimes words are created to be just “subtitles for the composed music”, something that might sound meaningless without the audio context.

What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why?
At the moment my favorite is Signal. Somehow it sounds really straightforward even though it’s pretty complex. It’s also pleasant piece to play, with some unorthodox ingredients like the soloing trumpet.

Do you actually prefer performing your music live or in a studio?
My experiences from studio aren’t that delightful, so I must say live. Rewarding aspect performing live is also the expressions on people’s faces when they fall into the atmosphere of the song.

During the process of making a song, what is the moment that you prefer?
The final “fine tuning” part. This the moment when players are familiar with all the different parts of the song, as it has already been compiled couple of times, but final form have stayed unresolved. It’s the moment when wildest ideas usually prove to be the best ones.

A stupid question but… what is among all the songs you’ve been listening in your life the BEST song?
Hmm, it’s pretty hard to pinpoint only one, but I guess it could be Opeth’s Deliverance. This song is just pure magic. One of the fascinating things about this song is that it takes approximately 9 minutes until songs title is sang and at that point there is nothing left to be added, just one of the best instrumental outros ever. This song has also made me question the common misbelieve that there is only one Satan/Devil/Whatever. Sounds to me like there are two tightly co-operating fellows performing their task..

What is your opinion, as a musician, regarding internet?
I think it’s excellent channel for information, even though the amount of information is confusing. What comes to piracy, at least I tend to actually buy the records I really like, even though I would have already downloaded it from the Internet. I guess the battle against piracy is already lost.

What are your projects ?
Be finally able to finish all the loose songs that have been hanging around for too long time now. And of course throw a gig or two. Perhaps to figure out the definition for our music style..

What “image” do you have of French music?
Earlier my image of French music was based on Jordy and Jet’aime, but luckily our bass player Heikki, who has lived in France for decade or so, has guided me bit deeper to this sector and made bands like Lofofora and Shout familiar. Worth mentioning might be also that our drummer Antti claims to be big S.A.S. De L’Argilière fan.

When and how was your band created?

We accomplished our two goals, and decided to go on hiatus for an undecided period of time. During the break I moved to London for three years to study, and Julle also studied in the UK for a year. When both of us found our way back to Finland and Helsinki, we thought that why not, and decided to regroup with a new line-up and intention of playing a few more good gigs and record some more music.

Where is the name of the band coming from?
It’s taken from a sketch that appeared at Velipuolikuu, a Finnish comedy show. We were having an after-party at my place and thought that it would be a funny name. We’ve had to explain ourselves ever since.

What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your life / work?
All of us listen to lots of different music, but three bands have had a big influence on our music; Teenage Fanclub, Jayhawks and Wilco.

What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician in Finland?
The positive aspect is that everyone seems to be quite down to earth. Big stars don’t fit in in such a small place. The negative side is that indie music or marginal music in general tends to attract small audiences, and there could be a few more clubs that want to have indie-bands playing.

How could you define your style of music?
It’s guitar-driven pop with beautiful melodies and lots of harmonies. Some critics have said that we play alt-country.

During the years how has your musical style changed?
When we first started we were more power-pop but now we’re perhaps more pop than power. We also have a female keyboardist now, and that gives us more opportunities to do different things with the songs.

How do explain these changes?
I think the changes in our own music reflect the changes in the music that we listen to. When I hear a great song, I always want to pick up my guitar.

What are topics you treat in your songs?
I think most of our songs deal with relationships from different angles. But then again, 99 percent of pop songs tend to do so.

What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why?
At the moment its probably a new song called Untitled. It’s got a nice feel to it, a good verse and a good chorus and that pretty much makes it for me.

Do you actually prefer performing your music live or in a studio?
When your in a studio, its always a great feeling when you hear a song starting to take shape. You can also do a lot more than you could when playing live, but then again playing live is a lot of fun also. So I really can’t say which I prefer more. Sorry.

During the process of making a song, what is the moment that you prefer?
The moment when everyone manages to get on the same wave-length, and everything falls into place. At that point, all you can do is smile.

A stupid question but… what is among all the songs you’ve been listening in your life the BEST song?
It’s impossible to answer that question, because my favourite song changes all the time. I find a new best song almost every day.

What is your opinion, as a musician, regarding internet?
Internet is a great opportunity for smaller bands like us to get our music heard. One good example is MySpace. We for example have 4-5 songs there for people to download and comment on. And I’ve found a lot of great new bands there, so internet -for me at least- is only a good thing. For Metallica though it might be another issue.

What are your projects?
We are planning to record some new songs, maybe put out a record at some point and play some more gigs.

What “image” do you have of French music?
To be honest, my knowledge of present day French music is quite limited, which is a shame because some bands that I have heard sound very interesting. It would be nice to hear some more french music, so if anyone has a good band in mind, let me know too!

Is there one French song that you prefer? If so, what song is it?
For saving Grace by Cheap Star. I heard it on their site at Myspace, and liked it a lot, as well as their other songs.