Interview Suomirocks

Hallie Ven 22 Fév - 23:28

SR - Ok, so the first question has to be why did you feel Jann Wilde & Rose Avenue needed to end... why didn't you and Tender continue as JWRA, and why the name change?

JW - It was a drastic thing to happen although it was just an end of one period really. Usually many bands just change their line-up but we also decided to change half of the name too. It's not a secret that we were growing apart from each other both musically and personally. JWRA was a great period but sometimes you have to destroy everything and take few steps backwards to get forward.

SR - Introduce us to the band members of the Neon Comets...who they are, what do they do, and where have they come from?

JW - The bass player is Dean Martini (sic). We played together in 2004 and we were meant to form a band together but he moved to Ireland and I joined in Rose Avenue. He is a really talented musician and it's really great to hear him doing his superful bass lines. Robin Savage is the guitarist. He was recruited through an advertisement. There are lots of good guitar players in Tampere but most of them can only play rock or heavy. Robin surprised us by playing everything from funk to blues and he even can make a false note sound jazz...boards we have Kaide who has formerly played in a Finnish band called Varjo which is one of my favourites. Kaide was supposed to join JWRA but instead he became one of the Neon Comets. Kaide's last name Palmer came from an in-joke. "We have three new members. Emerson, Lake and Palmer." Ehehehe.

SR - And of course, why are they called the Neon Comets?

JW - Some say that Bill Haley and His Comets were the first famous rock'n'roll band. We decided that then we must be the last one! We wanted our name to sound like a modern space-age cartoon version of and old rock'n'roll band. Like "Zelvis Lazer and the Galaxy Pirates..." Oh that was terrible. Old trick anyway: Something new, something old, something borrowed and ummm, something neon.

SR - What's going to make JWNC stand out from other Tampere and Finnish bands? And what are your views on the current Tampere music scene?

JW - I think it's much harder and harder to compare us to any other Finnish band so it's quite easy to stand out. We are still very pop rather than rock and we have breathtaking stage show. We are colourful and our music styles varies from 50s rock'n'roll to disco, funk, new wave, post-punk, glam rock, art pop...It's still very LOVE/HATE. All the rockers drink Jack Daniels but we prefer cider and babycham.

SR - You've already recorded demos and are now doing the debut album. The relationship with Hype seems to have been a bit up and down, is that all sorted now and when will the album be released?

JW - Yeah, we have done some demos already which are great and we will do more of them because there are lots of creative feelings in the air. This time we will spend more time to finish the results no matter how long it will take. Tokio Okei was a good album but it wasn't ready. There are also some plans to release a very limited edition single before we concentrate on the album.

SR - Can you give us any info about the new songs? Will they be similar to JWRA musically and lyrically?

JW - Well, the funny thing is that most of the JWRA's songs were written before JWRA like Boys Out Of New York which was released as demo as far back as 2004. The new material consists some songs I have written before JWRA and some songs written during the existence of JWRA and some totally new songs I have written recently! So there will be lots of similarities as well as difference's!

SR - Any sneak preview info for us on album titles, song names, lyrics etc yet?

JW - There are some tunes we played live with JWRA but never recorded like Baby Said Yeah, The Mockinbird (formerly knows as The Sun) and other songs that you can find from youtube.com. I won't reveal anything about the song titles because I might change their name twenty times a day, heh. Lyrics are both funny and tragic. Lots of dark humour as usually. There are songs about transvestism, parties, being sad, being glad, about girls, about boys. There are always some drops of blood in our champagne.

SR - Have you approached how you write the songs differently because of any new style and different band members to work with? How much input do the new guys have in the songwriting process?

JW - My songwriting methods are still quite the same. I write the basics at home but this time the whole band is taking more part on arrangements so the music is more tasteful and complete. I'm not playing guitar anymore so it's much easier to concentrate on vocals. You can hear it very well because I won't cut the note to strum a chord. Robin will strum it for me and I can shake my ass and have a yeah yeah.

SR - You're already putting gigs in the diary... will you be playing any JWRA songs or will it only be new songs?

JW - Certainly. We will do those little gigs just to have a little break and introduce the new band. Dracula rises from the cellar. We will play some new songs and some old songs. I think it would be really nasty not to play songs like Boys Out Of New York, Lover Lover Lover and Rock'n'Roll Dreams...I still stand behind those shlagers.

SR - And any cover versions planned?

JW - There are some great tunes we have discussed about. It's very important to play some covers because they give you a new perspective about songwriting and performing. It's a challenge to make someone else's song work and still there are many who says it doesn't work. It's the name of the game.

SR - Can we still expect sequinned catsuits?

JW - Oh dear, maybe in the future but not this time. I don't wanna repeat myself but let's see Smile

Mummy knitted me a wonderful slipover and I promised to wear it so...

SR - You've already got support pages springing up in lots of different countries despite no-one hearing the music yet. How does it make you feel knowing all these people are already supporting you?

JW - It's really a big honour that people are believing in us. It has been very delightful to notice how so many people have supported us through the hard times. Thank you.

SR - We guess any plans for playing outside Finland may be some way off yet? Any chance of you going on tour with other Hype bands as you did before?

JW - The future will tell you. We are doing hard work because we want to play everywhere. Whatever it will take to keep on your dreams.

SR - When are you going to write your soddin' website blogs in English as well as Finnish?!

JW - If you translate my blogs in English they won't work. I use much wordplay, strange sentences and jokes that only work in Finnish. But this time we will do some special blogs in english too so no worries!

SR - And traditionally the last question for SuomiRocks.com... Have you been to moominworld and who's your favourite moomin?!

JW - I have heard that people who have been there won't come back alive. I'm a bit afraid of those big white creatures. The moomin books are great but my all-time favourite is Nils Holgersson.