Ethel Suspense

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Interview : Tomi from Ethel Suspense

When and how was your band created?
Ethel Suspense was founded in 1998 by Julle and I for the single purpose of playing good music. Or to be more precise, playing ONE gig of good music and recording ONE demo full of good music.

We accomplished our two goals, and decided to go on hiatus for an undecided period of time. During the break I moved to London for three years to study, and Julle also studied in the UK for a year. When both of us found our way back to Finland and Helsinki, we thought that why not, and decided to regroup with a new line-up and intention of playing a few more good gigs and record some more music.

Where is the name of the band coming from?
It's taken from a sketch that appeared at Velipuolikuu, a Finnish comedy show. We were having an after-party at my place and thought that it would be a funny name. We've had to explain ourselves ever since.

What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your life / work?
All of us listen to lots of different music, but three bands have had a big influence on our music; Teenage Fanclub, Jayhawks and Wilco.

What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician in Finland?
The positive aspect is that everyone seems to be quite down to earth. Big stars don't fit in in such a small place. The negative side is that indie music or marginal music in general tends to attract small audiences, and there could be a few more clubs that want to have indie-bands playing.

How could you define your style of music?
It's guitar-driven pop with beautiful melodies and lots of harmonies. Some critics have said that we play alt-country.

During the years how has your musical style changed?
When we first started we were more power-pop but now we're perhaps more pop than power. We also have a female keyboardist now, and that gives us more opportunities to do different things with the songs.

How do explain these changes?
I think the changes in our own music reflect the changes in the music that we listen to. When I hear a great song, I always want to pick up my guitar.

What are topics you treat in your songs?
I think most of our songs deal with relationships from different angles. But then again, 99 percent of pop songs tend to do so.

What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why?
At the moment its probably a new song called Untitled. It's got a nice feel to it, a good verse and a good chorus and that pretty much makes it for me.

Do you actually prefer performing your music live or in a studio?
When your in a studio, its always a great feeling when you hear a song starting to take shape. You can also do a lot more than you could when playing live, but then again playing live is a lot of fun also. So I really can't say which I prefer more. Sorry.

During the process of making a song, what is the moment that you prefer?
The moment when everyone manages to get on the same wave-length, and everything falls into place. At that point, all you can do is smile.

A stupid question but... what is among all the songs you've been listening in your life the BEST song?
It's impossible to answer that question, because my favourite song changes all the time. I find a new best song almost every day.

What is your opinion, as a musician, regarding internet?
Internet is a great opportunity for smaller bands like us to get our music heard. One good example is MySpace. We for example have 4-5 songs there for people to download and comment on. And I've found a lot of great new bands there, so internet -for me at least- is only a good thing. For Metallica though it might be another issue.

What are your projects?
We are planning to record some new songs, maybe put out a record at some point and play some more gigs.

What "image" do you have of French music?
To be honest, my knowledge of present day French music is quite limited, which is a shame because some bands that I have heard sound very interesting. It would be nice to hear some more french music, so if anyone has a good band in mind, let me know too!

Is there one French song that you prefer? If so, what song is it?
For saving Grace by Cheap Star. I heard it on their site at Myspace, and liked it a lot, as well as their other songs.

Interview by Vincent Lefrançois - 2006