Bridget

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Interview : Janne from "Bridget"

When and how was your band created?
When started playing together with Jamie (drums) somewhere 'round mid 90's with punch of different people. Dino (bass) and Saku (git) came along later, sometime before the end of the last century. Four of us have been "Bridget" ever since. We've always been friends first and after that band mates, if you know what I mean. We'd see each other and hang around anyway, even if we weren't playing music together. It's just something that happened: Hey, are we a Band? Nah! Really?

Were is the name of the band coming from?
Well it could be seen as a kind of a feminist shout out for the girls. Like "we're with you, not against you". It's a man's world and even what I just said sounds patronizing. Or maybe the name just looks and sounds good.

What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your life / work?
I've always been a music fan more than a musician. I grew up in the 80's listening heavy metal like most kids did at the time. My first LP was Destroyer by KISS, and I still think it's one of the best albums ever. Late 80's, early 90's I heard Bad Religion for the first time wich was a real eye opener: simple, short songs with DIY punk attitude and great melodies. So that kind of directed me from heavy rock towards more pop, song oriented music where I've been ever since.

What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician / singer (in Finland)?
Like I said before, I don't really consider myself as a musician. I write songs and play them with my friends and that's it. We'll one thing that comes to mind is the lack of rehearsal rooms. There isn't really gov. sponsored rehearsal space at all in Finland, so you have to find and do everything yourself. Especially for the young bands it's often difficult to find a place and to pay the rent from their weekly pocket money.

How could you qualify your style of music?
Indie pop. If (and when) it has to bee labelled that's it.

Have you ever considered the possibilty to change totally your style of music? If so, what style of music would you choose?
We're not musicians enough to make that kind of choises. We just play what come's naturally. I know that's a cliché but we've proved it to be true: we've tried some different styles but we always end up sounding like us. What can you do?

What are stories/topics you tell/treat in your songs?
Just basic (but always important) stuff like frindship, love, lonelines etc. I don't usually tell stories. I just try to capture some moment, feeling or atmosphere as seen from my personel point of view.

What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why?
Well we have bunch of new songs that are so fun to play. They are not completyly ready yet and they are evolving and devoloping each time we play them, so that's a fun proces. To name a few I'd say "Champagne", "I've Never Been In Spain" and "DJ's".

Do you tour regularly? Do you actually prefer performing your music live or in a studio?
We're actually pretty lazy considering playing live shows. We should do that more often to push the band forward musically. But somehow our musical ambitions lay purely in songs and not in technical virtuosity. It's always fun to play live, especially because we do it so rarely, but working in a studio is great too. They are two completely different worlds so you can't really compare them.

During the process of making an album, what is the moment that you prefer?
In a studio we usually have the song and most of the arrangements ready in our minds. Still we are open for new ideas and experimenting. So I guess inventing new tricks for old songs during the recording process, the kinds of that really turn the piece into something different, unexpected and much better is unbelievably rewarding.

What kind of music / What artists do you currently listen?
The new Red Carpet (from Helsinki) album "Halfway" is awesome. And Weakerthans from Canada is just unbelievable, great tunes, beatiful lyrics, what more can you ask?

A stupid question but... what is among all the songs you've been listening in your life the BEST song?
Being a life long music fan I can't answer that. I'm about to flip just thinking about the question. But anyway one of the greatest songs this year, especially lyrically is "Plea From A Cat Named Virtute" by the Weakerthans. It's written from a cat's perspective to it's owner, and being a room mate of two cat's myself, that song really made an impression.

Internet is something interesting for musicians because it gives them the opportunity to touch a larger audience but it is also a threat for them (regarding the copyrights). What is your opinion regarding this medium?
I think internet is great. It has helped us an enabled some projects that otherwise would have been impossible. We can and have reached people from Asia, Australia, Asia etc. That would be otherwise impossible for an indie band of our scale.

What are your actual and future projects?
We'll we're just about to star recording our first album that should be out sometime next spring. Also a new label from New York, Secret Crush Records is about to release a cool compilation cd featuring Bridget. But currently our main project is the recording of an album, and when it's done we'll go out and play for people!
Interview by Vincent Lefrançois / 2003