Oikosulku

[ WWW.FINPOP.NET ]

THE FINNISH POP CULTURE PORTAL

Music
Interview : Masa from "Oikosulku"

When and how was your band created?
Our band was created in the late 90's by Masa, Rino and Toni. We played cover songs at school and our first gig was in the year 2000. When we put our band together nobody really knew how to play but I think we have learned quite good. But in late summer '01 Antti and Simo joined the band and that is actually the point when you can say that Oikosulku started to work as a band.

Where is the name of the band coming from?
Couple years ago we were going to Rino's place and the elevator stopped. Then someone of us said "This elevator got Short circuit!" (Oikosulku means in English Short circuit). Then we thought that it would be nice name to our band because we have been trying to find out some name to our band and we haven't got any.

What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your life / work?
I think that the major influences come from the late 60's and 70's. Bands like Led Zeppelin, Rolling stones, Ac/dc etc. Off course we have some "new" influences like The Hellacopters. Our influences are mainly rock'n'roll bands but it's nice to listen sometimes also different kind of music.

What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician in Finland?
How I see the situation, there are more positive than negative things. I think that when your band have been playing 20 years in Finland, I bet that you have seen every stage and every pub in Finland. But Oikosulku have been doing gigs only since the late year 2000, so we have still a lot to see. But the small size of this country is propably one of the problems in here. And records doesn't sell that much either.

How could you qualify your style of music?
Our music is energic, breathtaking and you have to see us on stage!

During the years how has your musical style evolved?
We have been on the road a quite a lot in this autumn and we haven't trained that much as usually. But some parts of our new music are gonna be more melodic and some parts more rocking!

How do explain these changes?
Those changes are not bad. It's just that we are developing as musician all the time. And that's the natural thing to happen.

What are stories/topics you tell/treat in your songs?
Our singer Rino writes all the lyrics, so he would be better guy to answer. But as far as I know about our lyrics, our songs are basicly about having fun, girls and rock'n'roll itself.

Have you ever considered the possibilty to change totally your style of
music? If so, what style of music would you choose?
No.. Maybe a bit but if we would change our style of music, it would still be rock'n'roll. But maybe a bit different kind of rock'n'roll.

What is your favorite song in your repertoire?
My favourite song is propably "Valmis milloin vaan" because it's very rocking song and it works really good at gigs.

Do you tour regularly? Do you actually prefer performing your music live or
in a studio?
We are definitely a live band and we tour as much as we can. In this November and December we have had a small break from gigs but in the next year we are going to tour a lot. From late January to April we have now almost 15 gigs and there is still more to come!

During the process of making an album, what is the moment that you prefer?
I prefer the moment when I play myself, offcourse. And that is because I like playing. But when we are in studio and I don't play myself I like to just watch television and play playstation and do things like that.

What kind of music / What artists do you currently listen?
The two last albums that I have listened are the new Backyard babies album and the first Danko Jones- album.

A stupid question but... what is, among all the songs you've been listening
in your life, the BEST song? Why?
It's impossible for me to answer that question. I listen some much music nowdays that is very hard to say what is the best band.

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?
Internet have been a good thing to our band and I think that it will help many smaller bands. There is easy to promote our band and easy to get our band on top. I don't think that internet is a threat for music. If I download some good music, I'm sure that I'm also going to buy that album!

What are your actual and future projects?
We are now training our new songs a lot. When the right song find's out, we are gonna make an new single. And as I previously said, we have tour on next year, too.
Interview by Vincent Lefrançois - 2004