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S.T.: Hi Brother Firetribe!
First of all I want to congratulate you for your excellent new album „Heart Full Of Fire“. It´s my favourite album in 2008 so far but I can´t imagine that there will be another one
Pekka: Well thank you, glad you like it. Who knows…if God willing and the Greek don´t rise!
S.T.: I know about this boring first question, but could you please tell us something about the beginning of BFT?
Pekka: Me and Tomppa played in the same band during the 90´s and got tired of banging our heads against the wall eventually. When that band slowly faded away we decided to start writing the kind of stuff that´s closest to our heart and not give a shit whether someone likes it or not. Jason and Emppu were thrilled about the demos they heard and jumped along. Our drummer Kalle joined the band during the recordings of our debut. Initially it was just a bunch of friends hanging together and drinking beer, the songs came out as a side product to that. Then suddenly we were offered a deal and here we are.
S.T.: You are describing your sound as “Tennis Metal”, could you tell us how this term was born?
Pekka: In the beginning people were always asking what kind of music it is that we do and we thought Tennis Metal described it perfectly. It´s happy-go-bouncy kind of stuff that makes you sweat…We had launched the term already before we came up with the band name, which was a result of a very drunken revelation during one hell of a party. A mutual friend of ours suddenly translated the name of a legendary Finnish tennis pro called Veli Paloheimo. Don´t ask why. We named the band after that right there and then.
S.T.: Please tell me about the collaboration with Anette Olzon. She already was in a Melodic Band (Alyson Avenue) but does harder stuff now in Nightwish.
Pekka: She liked our debut False Metal and was willing to help us out with the background vocals when she heard that we´re starting to record the new album. Right at the last minute we took a look at the title song again and thought why not make it a duet while we´re at it. She had nothing against that and did her part perfectly. She´s a class act and I was already familiar with her previous band long before she joined Nightwish. I always thought she sounded great, like Agnetha Fältskog with balls.
S.T.: Also coming from Nightwish, do you think the name Emppu Vuorinen is a profit for BFT?
Pekka: Getting noticed in the beginning had a lot to do with the fact that he´s a part of the band. I believe they wouldn´t have signed us without his involvement. It´s only natural. I think people were really surprised when they heard the music.
S.T.: I´ve heard, that there were some problems because of the mix of the new album?
Pekka: True. The original mixer had already mixed a good deal of the album and our views on how the album should sound like just didn´t meet. He´s a great guy and a true professional, he just saw it differently. Thank God Torsti Spoof from Leverage and Jari Mikkola saved the day by mixing the whole album in no time and made it sound like a million bucks.
S.T.: Is it true that you led grow your beard until “Heart Full Of Fire” was completed? (Are there any pics?)
Pekka: Hah, yeah. Play-off beard, of course. I´ll try to find a pic if it makes you happy.
S.T.: “Heard It On The Radio” is a tribute to everybodies youth. It sounds so familiar to me and my memories when I was young. Can you please tell me about the feelings when you played this song for the first time?
Pekka: That´s what it´s about. I wrote it as a tribute to two of my best friends who I grew up with and started digging music like crazy when we were little kids. We put our first bands together and so on. We´re still in touch and nothing has changed, music still rules when it comes to our friendship.
S.T.: Do you have a main songwriter in the band or grow your songs as a teamwork?
Pekka: The basic structures always come from Tomppa and me, then it´s off to the rest of the guys who add their own parts.
S.T.: Were there any leftovers from the first album or are all tracks on “Heart Full Of Fire” newly written?
Pekka: None. We started from the scratch. It´s always a bit of a drag to go back and try to rework on something that didn´t work in the first round. I think Out Of My Head was the first one we came up with, around the same time False Metal was released.
S.T.: You made a video clip for “One Single Breath” on your debut. Are there any plans for a new video clip and which song would you use for it?
Pekka: There has been no talk of a video at this point. We´re still probably paying for the last one…If we were to do a video I would imagine it would be a single, in this case Runaways or Heart Full Of Fire.
S.T.: Where is the tennis racket on the new cover? On your debut you´ve put it in the “devil´s” hand.
Pekka: Hah, it´s not there unfortunately. The initial idea was to include the “Devil´s Daughter” girl somehow but the record company thought it was too tongue in cheek and suggested to go after the feel of those classic AOR LP covers from back in the day which turned out to be a great idea. We´re really satisfied with the cover art although it would look better on a vinyl version. CD covers have nothing on LP´s!
S.T.: You already did two cover versions, one from the Top Gun and one from the Iron Eagle II Soundtrack. What do you think about the classic 80´s Soundtracks?
Pekka: We love them. If anything, we´re always aiming to get that feel to our songs somehow. I´ve got plenty of soundtracks from the good old days, good stuff. If Rocky IV soundtrack doesn´t pump you up then I don´t know what does.
S.T.: Having your heart deep in the 80´s, what are your top 5 alltime faves (not only in soundtracks)?
Pekka: Impossible to list, there are so many…Journey´s Raised On Radio, Jovi´s Slippery When Wet, Night Ranger´s Big Life, Van Halen´s 1984 and 5150, Baton Rouge´s Shake Your Soul…the list goes on and on…all the big names from the era plus tons of more obscure bands.
S.T.: Of course I have to ask: are there any plans for touring Europe and especially Germany in the next time? The press info says there is no chance within next 2 years…
Pekka: Unfortunately we´re not able to tour right now as Nightwish and Leverage are out there, we haven´t even talked about it yet. But be assured that at some point we´ll be back on stage having a ball.
S.T.: Here´s a completely other kind of question: Can you please tell me your opinion about CD-Singles nowadays. What´s the sense of it in Rock business, I mean near to 100% are buying the whole album!?
Pekka: It would have to include plenty of interesting bonus material before I´d buy a single, to be honest.
S.T.: Did you ever expect, that this project will grow as large as it is nowadays?
Pekka: Well large is a relative thing of course but no, I would have never imagined we would make an album in the first place.
S.T.: OK, here you have the chance to spread some words to the german fans (anything you want )
Pekka: If you´re into having a good time and kicking back, check us out. And keep your beer frosty, it´s getting hot pretty soon.
S.T.: I want to thank you so much for taking the time and answering our questions. Hope to see you some day on the road.
So long, all the best from Germany and the Rockingboy webzine!!!
Stay cool…
Pekka: Thanks, the pleasure was all mine, see you somewhere down the line. Take care.
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