Bedtime Acoustics

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Interview : Jukka from Bedtime acoustics

When and how was your band created?
We started this band with Olli in January 2002, when I was asked to play a gig at my friend's party. But I wanted someone to play second guitar and I knew Olli and that he had quite similar music taste and I asked him. We started rehearsing and played the gig and later in that summer Marko came along to play bass and Kalle to play keyboards. We found Jari to play drums after the first promo-CD Soon was recorded.

Where is the name of the band coming from?
Couple of days before our first gig I was called, that they were going to make a poster for the party and wanted to know the band's name. Of course I didn't have the name and I promised to have it the next day.
In the middle of the night I was playing guitar alone and it was quiet, only some voices from the other flats behind the wall of my room.
And it popped in to my mind "Bedtime Acoustics". I think it's a good name.

What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your life / work?
I think everything Mark Lanegan, Luke Haines and Mark Eitzel have done. They have been in so many good records and bands like Screaming Trees, Queens of the stone age, Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan, The Auteurs, Black box recorder, Baader Meinhof, American Music Club. I have been listening a lot of old music from the 60's and 70's like Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and Nick Drake and I was/am a big fan of the The Doors and T-Rex. Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains and all that "grunge" scene were also very important to me in my teens. Nowadays I'm listening mostly old and new "singer-songwriter" music (stoopid term, by the way). I listen to a lot of music so the list is endless…

What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician in Finland?
I think Finland is so small country that it is both good and bad.
Good is that you get to know all the musicians easily if you want to, bad thing is that even if you make a real breakthrough here there are only a couple of towns and good places to tour around. Even if you are a big underground name you don't sell enough records to quit your daytime job. We play quiet and quite soft music so it's hard to find a place to play a gig, 'cause we don't want the play in rock clubs, where you can't play quietly.

How could you define your style of music?
I would say folk-rock. We have lot of songs without drums, only acoustics guitars, bass, piano, violin, that sound a bit like earlier folk side from Wilco, and then we have bluesy rock tunes with full rock band setup, distorted electric guitars etc. well it's hard to define.
Bedtime acoustics has it's own sound, and that's important.

During the years how has your musical style changed?
The songs are in a way more complex, there are more dynamics and songwriting is getting better too. And there are a lot of new styles mixed to our music.

How do explain these changes?
I think the basic reason is that I have developed as a singer, player and writer and I don't want to do the same kind of songs all over again. And the whole band has developed a lot. There always has to be something new so you don't get bored. Every song has to be better than the last one or you might as well just quit.

What are topics you treat in your songs?
I think everything, all the feelings you have from love to fear and everything that you see, read or hear that makes you think, makes you happy or sad. Usually I think of songs as paintings. I just get some picture into my mind and then try to put it to words somehow.

What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why?
I think Disappear from the CD that comes out this year. The mood in that song is really good and there is a great bridge there and the words are romantic, desperate and honest and fit to the music.

Do you actually prefer performing your music live or in a studio?
It depends. Sometimes it's hard to make the songs work live and it takes so much time to rehearse, and I'm not that patient guy. We haven't played gigs as a band for a long time, cause we've been recording and experimenting and our keyboard player moved so we are still looking for the right person. When we did our first gigs I really loved it and I liked the feedback we got, but I don't care about that so much anymore. I just want to make good songs and records and then play a couple of gigs to promote them.

During the process of making a song, what is the moment that you prefer?
The best moment is when for the first time you find the right chords and tempo and you have the first draft of lyrics and you play the song with your guitar and it sounds good in your own ears. And you're excited to play it to other guys in the band. Also a good moment is when everyone in the band have recorded their parts and you hear the raw mix, there's always something you haven't heard live.

A stupid question but... what is among all the songs you've been listening in your life the BEST song?
I agree this is stupid question... well at least hard one and impossible to answer, cause there are so many great songs in the world. I was looking through my record collection the other day to find an answer to this and at that moment it was Day is done by Nick Drake. I love the words and the strings and his fragile voice…

What is your opinion, as a musician, regarding internet?
I like reading record reviews and interviews from the net and finding out new bands, also many bands have sample songs in internet and then it's easy to order a CD or LP, if you like what you hear. I never listen to radio and rarely go to bar so it's good place to hear new songs. What I don't understand is buying downloads, cause to me the cover art and having the record on the shelf is important. And I think it's to all real music fans. And I don't think internet has dropped record sales. I think people who really love records not just some hit songs from here and there buy even more music, cause they can hear more about great bands from internet. At least that has happened to me.

What are your projects?
As I mentioned new Bedtime Acoustics record comes out this year, working title is "field radio" and it has 11 tracks.
We are rehearsing now to play some gigs in Oulu when it comes out.
I'm writing new songs for bedtime acoustics and recording solo album.
Bedtime Acoustics is still looking for new keyboard player…

What "image" do you have of French music?
I haven't listened that much French music, but what comes to my mind from those words are: Good French art movie soundtracks, instrumental music, Air, Serge Gainsbourg, Tindersticks singing some songs in French, McGarrigle sisters singing French songs, Scott Walker sings Jacques Brel and a Black Box Recorder song "French Rock and Roll".

Is there one French song that you prefer? If so, what song is it?
This maybe is a silly answer, but I have always loved Je T'Aime Moi Non Plus by Serge Gainsbourg, even when I was child. It's catchy and sexy. And I think the best French record I have is Histoire de Melody Nelson from Serge also. I have to start listening to more French music

Interview by Vincent Lefrançois - 2006