Copter

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Interview : Tommi from "Copter"

When and how was your band created?
Me, Auski and Jape have been playing since we were little kids, but Copter found its present form in 1995 when Mikko joined the band as the lead singer. Nothing much happened during the first few years. We were mostly playing for our own amusement(!) and did very few public appereances. Since those days things have changed considerably.

Where is the name of the band coming from?
It's just a name, no hidden meaning behind it. Copter is the shorter version of the original name "Angry Copter Alien". The name "Copter" just felt snappy. The name has nothing to do with Hellacopters.

What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your life / work?
We all have our own idols and influental bands, but to name a few artist that we all like... Radiohead, Muse, Suede, Kent, Coldplay and Smashing Pumpkins. It depends on the listener whether he or she hears those influences in our music.

What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician in Finland?
One good thing is that there's respect also for non-mainstream bands. Since there isn't that much musicians and potential listeners in Finland, positive feedback about band travels fast. As a negative thing I'd mention small markets, which are probably even oversupplied, that is, even though Finnish population is small, there might be dozens of bands playing in the same genre and "competing" for the same audience.

How could you qualify your style of music?
A mix of brittish rock, pop, scandinavian melancholy and big guitars. Uncompelled, which makes our music to stand out in a positive way. Catchy songs filled with emotions.

During the years how has your musical style evolved?
In the beginning of time there was heavy metal :) As playing skills grew, we tried something that could be categorized to progressive rock of the 90s. After Mikko joined the band, style polished to grunge and has evolved to this present form. We haven't forgot where we came from though (Iron Maiden still rules!)

How do explain these changes?
It's only natural that things you like and your ambition changes over time. On the other hand, our composing method has also affected our way to play and express our music. We've adopted our way to perform music during last few years and it has proven to be working.

What are stories/topics you tell/treat in your songs?
This is something that Mikko should answer, since he writes most of our lyrics. Anyways, what I have understood is that songs are about human relationships and ordinary peoples' lives. He just has his own way of writing things.

Have you ever considered the possibilty to change totally your style of music?
No, not really. But if we had to, it would probably be heavy metal =)

What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why?
I think we all have our own favourite, but currently I like our rather new song called "Tin Can" the most. "Tin Can" is one of the first songs that had piano in it (in a central role) and as a composition it's one of those that has everything in right place.

Do you tour regularly? Do you prefer performing your music live or in a studio?
Not regularly, we do touring at our own pace. Touring is tedious and we don't want to stress about that too much. Touring in Finland isn't that glamorous (long distances, small towns), so we have to be careful not to get burn-out or otherwise lose interest to playing. This doesn't mean that we didn't like playing live, we do, but studio work has its spirit which is
irreplacable.

During the process of making an album, what is the moment that you prefer?
We haven't done a full album yet, but being in a recording studio is always nice. The coolest thing during the recording might be when a song is starting to get some flesh on the bones. Then you are starting to get the picture how it's going to sound when it's ready. The best thing in general in a studio is the time spent with the rest of the band. At times things turn really crazy!

What kind of music / What artists do you currently listen?
Lately I've been listening to a Finnish band called Ultramariini, The Cardigans and Weeping Willows.

A stupid question but... what is, among all the songs you've been listening in your life, the BEST song?
This is really tough question! Hard to tell what's the single best one, but surely one of the best is Street Spirit by Radiohead. Maybe.

What is your opinion, as a musician, regarding internet?
A very good medium. For smaller bands it's a very good (and perhaps the only) channel for distributing music. We've got lots of fans solely because of the Internet and it's really rewarding to get feedback from them. I almost want to rant about how recording companies are not taking advantage of the potential Internet is giving them, but that's probably not the subject of this interview :)

What are your actual and future projects?
To make new songs. A short term plan is to record demo versions of the new songs during the summer. Since "In Their Cold Eyes" EP we've composed a bunch of good songs, so of course we are eager to record those. We've put lots more keyboards (=piano, synthesizers) into our music and it adds something to our sound that hasn't been there before. In the longer term, we'll go to the studio to record these songs, hopefully that happens during next autumn. If everything goes as planned we'll have new songs later this year for all of you who like high quality pop and rock music.
Interview by Vincent Lefrançois - 2004