BLINDMANN
-
FOR AN UNSIGNED
BAND BLINDMANN HAVE ACHIEVED A LOT OF THING IN THEIR CARRIER. NOW WITH
THEIR THIRD RELEASE ARE READY TO STEP OUT FROM FINLAND AND TRY TO CONQUER
THE WORLD WITH THEIR MUSIC. PETRI LINDSTROM, ONE OF THE GUITARISTS OF THE
BAND ANSWERED TO MY QUESTIONS AND HE ALSO TALKED ABOUT HIS GREAT LOVE :
BLACK SABBATH.
1.FIRST OF ALL GIVE US A SHORT BAND
BIO AND INTRODUCE THE BAND.
-
1.Blindman was founded somewhere in
1999. With the present crew we have played since 2000, which was the year
of making the first album as well. In 2001 we recorded the second cd, "Signed"
and made the video “War of the black sun”. The project with the third album
was started in 2002 and it’ll come out in February 2003. The members of
the band are Petri Lindstrom, guitar, Pasi Manninen, drums, Jussi Virkajarvi;
vocals, Vellu Virtanen, bass and Jussi Timonen, guitar. We come from Central
Finland, most of us live nowadays in a town called Jyvaskyla.
2.GIVE US A DESCRIPTION OF YOUR MUSIC.
WHICH ARE YOUR INFLUENCES AND NAME SOME OF YOUR MOST BELOVED ALBUMS.
-
2.Crushing, tough guitar riffs and
fine melodies are our trade marks. The biggest influence is Black Sabbath
from the era when Ozzy Osbourne was the singer. My most beloved album is
probably Black Sabbath’s Greatest Hits, because it has all the best songs
and it was the first LP I ever bought. At the moment my favourite is “Seventh
coming” of Cathedral, which I listen all the time.
3.YOUR NAME SOUNDS LIKE A TYPICAL METAL
NAME. HOWEVER THE WAY YOU CHOSE IT AND HOW IT DERIVES IT'S NOT TYPICAL
AT ALL. WHAT MADE YOU CHOOSE THIS AS A MONICKER?
-
3.Our name comes from my and our drummer’s
surnames, Lindstrom and Manninen. And because our first names begin with
the letter P, we figured that two P:s make together one B, and put it in
the beginning of the name. From the third album on our name will be spelled
with two N:s, Blindmann, because we found out that there is a band with
the same name in Japan.
4.HOW MANY RELEASES DO YOU HAVE? TELL
US A FEW THINGS ABOUT THEM. ARE YOU STILL SATISFIED WITH THEM OR IS THERE
ANYTHING YOU'D LIKE TO CHANGE?
-
4.3 albums and a live recording, which
wasn’t sold, but given to only a few closest friends. The first cd, Blindman,
with 6 songs fills up the typical characteristics of our music, three of
the songs are still in our live set. “Signed” has 8 songs + an extra re-made
song. It has songs which have been made under a long period of time, some
of them we played with Manninen by the two of us in 1999, and some of them
were rehearsed a while before going to the studio in 2001. But anyway I
can say that the package is complete.
5.YOU WILL SOON RELEASE YOUR NEXT ALBUM.
CAN YOU GIVE US SOME INFO ABOUT IT (WHERE WAS IT RECORDED, HOW LONG DID
IT TAKE YOU, ABOUT THE MUSIC, ETC.)?
-
5.The third album will be called “Mind-Altering”.
It has 10 songs, all made in a year. With this album we are moving more
and more towards the 70’s, closer to our “roots”. In October 2002 we went
to a hut in the middle of darkest forest (like in the movie Evil dead…)
and began to play. For the first time we played the drums, the bass and
the guitars live to make the sound rougher, and we are satisfied with the
result. The rest of the album, vocals and some more guitars were recorded
and the album was mixed in Jyvaskyla. “Mind-Altering” will be our best
album, the future classic! I can say that I’m satisfied with all of our
albums.
6.WHAT ARE YOUR LYRICS TALKING ABOUT?
WHAT KIND OF THEMES DO YOU LIKE TO "HURT" THROUGH THEM? REAL LIFE, FANTASTY
STORIES OR SOMETHING IN BETWEEN?
-
6.In the first two cd:s all the lyrics
were just fantasy stories and especially in the first cd the lyrics were
“heavy”, but then I realized that it wasn’t really my thing. Most of the
lyrics in “Mind-Altering” are also just stories, but there are some things
and thoughts from the real life. There aren’t any special messages in most
of the stories, but in some of the new songs there might be a few, something
like “no use for wars”. (Answer: Jussi Virkajarvi)
7.HOW DID YOU FEEL WHEN YOU SAW THAT
YOUR SONG "WAR OF THE BLACK SUN" WAS "DEMO OF THE WEEK" AND WHEN THE VIDEO
CLIP FOR THIS TACK WAS "VIDEO OF THE WEEK" AS WELL?
-
7.It was quite a surprise. The radio
was on, but I was doing something else. Then I heard something familiar,
the reporter was talking on our song. I heard him talking about us, and
then he turned on the volume and “War of the black sun” came out. It was
great, after all it was our first album. The thing with the video of the
week was great as well, of course you are flattered when you get some acknowledgement
of what you are doing.
8.CAN YOU DESCRIBE US THE VIDEO CLIP?
WHAT DOES IT SHOW? IF YOU HAD THE MONEY TO MAKE AN EXPENSIVE VIDEO CLIP,
WHAT CHANGES WOULD YOU MAKE?
-
8.Very simple, about a man, fear, madness
and loss. A happy story… What would I change? Maybe the editing tools.
(Answer: Jussi Timonen.)
9.HAVE YOU SENT YOUR DEMOS TO LABELS?
ARE YOU GENERALLY SATISFIED BY THE FEEDBACK YOU GET FROM THE METALLERS
AND PRESS?
-
9.The first two albums were sent to
several labels, but the third will probably be sent to only a couple of
labels. Earlier our albums were sent to only a few Finnish magazines and
the reviews have been good. The third one we are going to send more to
the foreign magazines, ezines and radio stations. We have already received
quite a few requests to send it for reviews, and there will be a couple
of interviews, as well.
10.WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO A FAN TO CONVINCE
HIM BUY YOUR ALBUM INSTEAD OF ANOTHER RELEASE?
-
10.I’m sure it would convince him/her,
if I played the album and he/she would hear the first sounds. If this was
not enough, talking wouldn’t help.
11.HAVE YOU DONE ANY LIVE SHOWS? DO
YOU LIKE PERFORMING LIVE? DO YOU REMEMBER HOW IT WAS THE FIRST TIME YOU
WERE ON STAGE?
-
11.We have been doing some gigs, and
it is always fun. For the first time we have now a person who sells us,
so hopefully we’ll get some more gigs. The first gig we had was in 2000
in our old home town, Keuruu.
12.WHICH IS THE BIGGEST DREAM YOU WANT
TO MAKE TRUE THROUGH YOUR MUSIC?
-
12.It would be great to be able to
earn one’s living by doing music, so that you wouldn’t have to work anywhere
else.
13.HOW DO YOU IMAGINE A WORLD WITHOUT
MUSIC TO BE? IN THAT CASE WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
-
13.It’s hard to imagine, when you have
played for 22 years and listened to the music even before that. But if
there wasn’t any music, I would probably be drawing paintings with angst,
dark colours and gloomy atmosphere. The cover of the first album of Black
Sabbath is by the way the greatest cover I know.
14.WHICH HISTORICAL PERSONALITY WOULD
YOU LIKE TO BE FOR A DAY AND WHY?
-
14.I’d like to be one of the great
classic composers, Beethoven maybe. He was one of the greatest masters
of his own time.
15.WHICH IS MAN'S BIGGEST TEMPTATION?
16.THANK YOU! HAVE I FORGOTTEN TO ASK
YOU ANYTHING AND YOU'D LIKE TO MENTION?
-
16.Thanks for the interview. I guess
that was all for now. All the questions except the 6th and the 8th are
answered by Petri Lindstrom. We would appreciate if you could let us know
when the interview is ready to be read in your ezine. If you could send
us your version of the interview, we would like to put it in our site,
too. Best regards Blindmann
CHRISTINE PARASTATIDOY