Kometa

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Interview : Olavi from Kometa

When and how was your band created?
The roots of Kometa go back all the way in mid-90´s when drummer Kinnunen and Guitarist/Vocalist Vänttinen, I, met. We have played together since then and the bassist Laakkonen joined the group in late 1999. The name Kometa came up also that time.

Where is the name of the band coming from?
I like the sound of it. It´s simple, looks and sounds good. I saw it in a finnish-russian phrase book as a reminder of the letters that mean the same in cyrillic and western languages. So basically it´s russian and means "comet". And when a comet hits the surface it´s sure a blast!

What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your life / work?
For me Kurt Cobain was the guy who changed my world. Before that the cool things were bands like Kiss or Motley Crue but I was a brat then. After Nirvana I found out every kind of great bands I haven´t heard before. Like Melvins. Also finnish bands like Radiopuhelimet or HC Andersen or Deep Turtle which are really original and tight bands. After that I´ve found some great older bands like Captain Beefheart, Velvet Underground or Shocking Blue for example.

What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician in Finland?
The one thing that matters and mattered is the long winter. I´m not into winter sports so it was much nicer to spend time in rehearsal place practising. Nowadays it looks like there are only positive things. Finland seems to be exotic around the world and people are focusing on finnish music a bit more than couple decades ago.

How could you define your style of music?
It´s damn good, really! If you like Nirvana, Melvins, QOTSA, No Means No, Black Sabbath or Beatles you might like us. Or not.

During the years how has your musical style changed?
Not so much actually. There has always been this similar mood in Kometas music. Guitar-driven tight songs with tough drumming. And we have varieties in our music. We don´t play only one song as most of the bands seems to do these days.

What are topics you treat in your songs?
When I write lyrics they seem to end up to be some kind of stories. But I don´t know if anyone else understands or can follow them. Then there are some very loose and let-go kind of things. And I always try to find good-sounding phrases. I try to find my point of view and I spend some time making the lyrics. For example, we got a song "I got hit by a train" which is based on a fact that in Holland I really almost got hit by a train. But I wrote a song about a train that is carrying "17 hundered tons of pure loving" because the train let me live.

What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why?
The newest ones are usually nicest to play.

Do you actually prefer performing your music live or in a studio?
I like both. And they are amazingly different things even though they have the same goal, to make the music sound and feel as good as possible. But all 3 of us has been studying recording and stuff so we also do some tricks in studio. But the basic idea of "Like a Light Bulb" was to record the live sound of us and then add things here and there. Important thing in recording is to keep the sound alive. I don´t like most of modern recordings ´cause they sound dead. Music doesn´t have to be "perfect" if you know what I mean.

During the process of making a song, what is the moment that you prefer?
The moment when I bring some riffs or ideas to the rest of the group and we start to try it. If the bits come together and it start to sound good. Thet´s great feeling. It´s magic.

A stupid question but... what is among all the songs you've been listening in your life the BEST song?
For couple of years it´s been Captain Beefhearts "when I see a mommy I feel like a mummy" from Shiny Beast. Especially If I listen to it drunk, it sends strong shivers down my spine. Also all Beatles recordings after and including Revolver.

What is your opinion, as a musician, regarding internet?
It´s good way to promote your music. But I´m a bit worried what happens to albums. I don´t load or listen MP3´s a lot and I prefer buying an album. But things change.

What are your projects?
I also play in a band called Cleaning Women as does our drummer too. It´s a band which plays electronical-sounding music with self-made cleaning instruments.

What "image" do you have of French music?
Young art students playing shitty artsy electro in an art gallery and all groovy rock is dead. Of course I´m kidding but what is there?

Is there one French song that you prefer? If so, what song is it?
The whole Serge Gainsbourgs Histoire De Melody Nelson album is great!

Interview by Vincent Lefrançois - 2006