KIA

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Interview : Joonas from KIA

When and how was your band created?
Kia formed in the spring of 2001. Our first lead guitarist Sami and me had been playing together in a band at school but it didn't really go anywhere so we asked our friend Matti to help us put together a demo with him on bass and drums. He'd always liked the songs we were messing around with at school so he was into the idea but added his personal touch to the whole thing and brought another friend of his, Karza along to play drums. When Sami left to study abroad another friend of ours, Tuukka was drafted in as first guitarist before we played our first gig in the fall of 2001.

Where is the name of the band coming from?
I think it was me just browsing through my almanac in a library when I was supposed to be studying for some maths exam or whatnot. I just ended up looking through a list of finnish girl's names instead and stumbled upon Kia. I thought it was a beautiful name and immediately suggested it to the guys and they thought it was a cool name too, so there you go I guess. Nothing to do with the Kia Car Company obviously, I mean who seriously names their car after the abbreviation for Killed In Action; sort of paints a gruesome picture of the car you're driving, doesn't it? Haha...

What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your life / work?
Loads, but the first person to make me pick up a guitar and try and write songs as cool as his was Noel Gallagher of Oasis. That doesn't really reflect in the music of Kia though, I think far more significant songwriting influences would have to be nowadays people like Billy Corgan of the Smashing pumpkins, Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters and Billy Gould of Faith no more. I'm actually influenced a lot by the people I play in a band with, too. It's important for me to keep an open mind and try out new things and the guys I'm in a band with add a lot to the mix. They all got their personal musical preferences and I love to try and combine those a little in my songwriting.

What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician in Finland?
Haha, where to start... Well, for starters, everyone we've met on the road and on gigs have been nothing but cool to us, it's always been a blast to do gigs and a bit of touring, there's always a definite positive vibe going on when we're out to play a gig. There's always plenty of negative aspects too of course, one in Finland's case being money which is the primary thing every finnish musician I know moans about too. But I don't really mind about the money as right now music's not my primary source of income. The first thing that springs to mind here is rather that there is a definite lack of chance for a lot of bands, especially in musical genres that are not the most hip at the moment.
It's really really difficult for a band to get a good gig for example where there's actually people other than your closest friends attending. It takes a lot of hard work and endurance but that still necessarily won't get you any further. In Finland the frustration when trying to accomplish your dream can easily wear you down and make you want to quit.

How could you define your style of music?
I always like to think we make music for the common man, people like you and me. We don't wear costumes on stage, we're not trying to be trendy. We're just out there to make music everyone can enjoy without prejudices. Stylewise I think Kia is a cocktail of 90's music ingredients. There's a bit of Stone temple pilots, a bit of Foo fighters... I don't know, it's just when I listen to 90's stuff there's this certain vibe of confidence and humour that I'm trying to pin down here. I guess we're a bit more cheery than the average finnish singing band, too. It's very difficul trying to define your own style, I guess you have to hear it to believe it, haha...

During the years how has your musical style changed? /How do explain these changes?
The major shift in our musical style I think was when Tuukka joined as lead guitarist. He's more of a rocker than Sami, and is always churning out these ultracool rock riffs. When he joined something in my head just clicked and I went "Aaah, this is where it's gotta go". Before we used to just play through our songs paying more attention to vocal and guitar harmonies but nowadays it's a bit more edgy, there's less chord sequences and more pure riffage. It's taken us a while to get our own sound down as well, but recently we've finally started to get it right I think. There's more of our own uniqueness in the music now.

What are topics you treat in your songs?
The good ole cliche of singing about life and love works fine for me too I guess. But I'm more of an observationist as a lyricist, I don't really sing about myself but more about things that move me in general, that I care about. I'm virtually unable to write a downright lovesong, too. I rather write about different complications in relationships, those are things I find interesting. "I love you" is a line I can't imagine myself writing. What rhymes with that? Absolutely next to nothing...Eerrm...

What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why?
Good question. I guess it would have to be a new song we've been working on at rehearsals called "Harlekiini". It's just a 4 minute tour-de-force rock song with a nice catchy chorus and otherwise edgy riffage. It's just the joy of playing through a song sweating like a pig trying to get the notes right and after the last note has been played bursting out laughing with the rest of the guys at the sheer madness of the song. Good stress reliever, too!

Do you actually prefer performing your music live or in a studio?
Definitely live. We've always been a live band in my head. It's surprisingly difficult to catch the energy we've got live onto tape when we're in the studio. With our new demo "Vuotaa" I think we've come pretty close to catching that energy, but that's probably because we got our live mixing "professor" Kiffe to record and produce it. He just seemed to know the buttons in need of pushing when it came to getting it done properly in the studio.

During the process of making a song, what is the moment that you prefer?
There's plenty. The writing in itself just ends up being a total blur to me afterwards, but just sitting on the edge of the sofa messing about on the guitar and then suddenly there's something there that immediately fires up the immagination. It's one of the greatest feelings in the world when that happens. Usually I then rush to the computer to record it so I won't forget it and maybe put a bit of an arrangement together. Still I think the best feeling has to be when we really get a song down at rehearsals with the guys. When everything just finally falls into place and it takes up a life of it's own. I don't like keeping songs to myself really, I put them all out there. If the guys turn it down I'll forget about it or try and make something else out of it.

A stupid question but... what is among all the songs you've been listening in your life the BEST song?
Not a stupid question at all, just a very very very difficult one! I don't think I can restrict myself to one though; I'll go with Porcupine tree's "Collapse the light into Earth", Filter's "I'm not the only one" and because I don't want to come across as too much of a softy I'll go with the Foo fighters' "Wattershed". There's probably 10 that would still make that list, but hey, what can you do?

What is your opinion, as a musician, regarding internet?
The popular saying from musicians regarding this issue is probably "It's both a blessing and a curse". I don't know, I've only found it useful til date. It's great for discovering new bands and that sort of stuff, it also brings the artist closer to the listener which I personally think is nice, but I understand why certain artists like to keep a bit of "mystery" to their music and their doings.
Downloading is a huge issue with musicians when it comes to the internet, but I guess I'm kinda old school the way that when I hear a good tune I go to my local record store and buy it and don't download it. But I think downloading is definitely something that's come here to stay and instead of trying to fine all "illegal" downloaders I think it would be more useful to try and add more value to the legal downloads, like adding artwork, lyrics etc to the downloadable music file. The technology is there, the rest is pure laziness. The big music business seems to have a bit of a snobbish attitude towards the listener as it thinks it can dictate our music preferences when it should be the other way round. But I guess the music business is at a sort of crossroads, although I don't think it's all that dramatic as it's led out to be. Some good moves have to be made on the industry's side and it'll fall right back into place again. They've been stale and stagnant for long enough I think.

What are your projects?
We've just finished shooting a video for our new promo single "Vuotaa" and I hope it's gonna be up soon on our myspace-account at http://myspace.com/kiainfo . Furthermore we're probably going to start recording our debut album later this year and are currently searching for labels interested in publishing us and that sort of jazz. You're also more than welcome to check out our website http://kia.salaisuus.fi for further updates on projects and stuff like that!

What "image" do you have of French music?
The first word that springs to mind is "chanson" quite understandably I suppose. French music oozes sensuality and love if you're asking me. Right now I've got a picture of Patricia Kaas in my mind singing in her lovely deep register. If you don't mind me saying it, I'm quite liking that image of french music in my head right now! But I've always liked the music of Chopin, too. I think he brought an interesting special ingredient to the classical world.

Is there one French song that you prefer? If so, what song is it?
There's this particular french song that's been haunting me for ages, I believe it's called "Quand il pleut". Could someone tell me who the song is written by, I'd be more than greatful! Now, if memory serves, I remember liking the groove of it. I think I heard it when I was visiting Paris a few years back, I had a nice time there by the way, very impressive city!

Interview by Vincent Lefrançois - 2006