Interview - Magazine Cool!

The Rasmus The New Hit!

Three months ago, nobody or nearly nobody had heard of the Rasmus. Today, the name of this Finnish pop rock quartet is on everybody's lips, and that because of their new album - their 5th! - named Dead Letters, on which the catchy song In the shadows is. It's the next day of their "surprise-show" at Montreal that Cool! Met for you the bassist Eero, the singer Lauri, the guitarist Pauli and the drummer Aki. From Richard Legault

-Your gig last night was sold out and everybody knew the lyrics of your songs by heart. But the name of The Rasmus was unknown since the last two months. What explain your sudden popularity in North America?
Lauri: I don't really know. I believe that everything is linked to the fact that Dead Letters was released here a few week ago and that In the Shadows had been played a lot on the radio and on your TV channel Musique Plus. It's sure that it helped us a lot. We are all very surprised of the welcome that the Quebecers. Surprise but really happy.

-We begin a bit to hear from you here and we learn that you are big star in your natal country, Finland, and that Dead Letters is you 4th album…
Eero: 5th album. Dead Letters is our 5th album. Peep was released in 1996, Playboys in 1997, Hell of a tester in 1998, Into in 2001 and Dead Letters last year in Finland. It was released here not a long time ago.

-So it's very strange that we haven't heard of The Rasmus before, right?
Eero: I think that the moment is well chose to try to get big in North America. It's not that we didn't want to try before, but that was enough for us to be big in Finland and Europe. Our albums were all very good sold there and we supported a few band like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Garbage, Rancid, etc. To conquer North America wasn't wasn't necessary and it isn't yet. But that's good if it work out.

-Was it the first time you come in North America?
Lauri: Not exactly. I had made a trip in L.A, a city that I really like. By the way, we are going back soon to make the new video, for the song Guilty.
Aki: I'd never been in L.A., but I can't wait to go. This city produce so much good bands, like Race against the machine, just to name one.

-What look like the Finnish musical scene? The history want that The Rasmus had been made for the reason that it wasn't really good.
Lauri (a bit shy): the Rasmus wasn't made 'cause of that, but it's real that we wanted to create a new style, something that no Finnish people had ever heard of from now on. The musical scene there is really good but so repetitive. We wanted to do something new.

-Would you tell that In The Shadows is the bigger Hit ever in your career?
Eero: It's the song which bring us in America. So I'd say yes, we can say that…
Pauli: But this song wasn't made with the intention to make a big hit, not at all. In The Shadows was made with luck, with some melody and arrangements. That was a piece of luck. Making this song, took only a few minute. Anyway, usually it's the ones which are less hard to write which will be a big hit.

-I have heard that you had watch lots of horror movies, when you were recording the album. Is it true?
Lauri: We were searching inspiration to make this album, we decided to watch many movies, but not only horror movies. It helps us to make a cinematographic atmosphere.

-What does Dead Letters mean? Because a dead letters is a letter that had never been received by the address person. It's like if you don't want your songs to be received properly… Did I analyse a bit to far?
Lauri: I choose this title because the songs are like little notes, letters, for me. They are really personal and I wrote them for people that I don't know, the public who listen to us. So I don't know if they are received or not. Fortunatly, I hadn't received some back.

-What kind of music do you listen to right now?
Eero: I like the last song made by the Beastie Boys, Ch-Check it Out.
Lauri: I have a little "crush" for the death metal band, Children of Bottom!
Pauli: For me, it's Cypress Hill, that's kind of gothic metal.
Aki: It's Björk.

-You became Finnish stars at 16. It must have been difficult to deal with success and celebrity at this time?
Pauli: The good thing is that we had been able to make all the stupid mistakes at this time. Ten years later, we are still childish, understand me (laugh), but we had made our mistakes at the teenage time. Today, we are able to understand the stakes and not playing to be arrogant or having a big head. It's really easy to do this!

There is a little story of The Rasmus but I'm gonna post it in the "History" section.