Plain Fade

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Music
Interview : Juho from Plain Fade

When and how was your band created?
In 1997 the three of us started Plain Fade during the teenage angst years in Lamminpää, a suburb of Tampere, Finland. Other members came along few years ago. We have all been friends in the childhood way before the band.

Where is the name of the band coming from?
It just came. The name contacted us before we did.

What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your life / work?
I think in general we respect honest and uncompromising artists with some kind of independent nature. To mention some, we admire a wide range of artists from King Crimson to Matmos, from Vesa-Matti Loiri to Darkthrone. From Mozart to Ligeti...

What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician in Finland?
Finnish culture is original. The nature and the traditions are very unique and inspiring, I think. The underground scene is also vivid. Then on the other hand we are a small country and located very far north so building contacts and organising events can be sometimes a bit tricky.

How could you define your style of music?
It is hard. We play dramatic-mellow-symphonic-punk-hymn-anthems.

During the years how has your musical style changed?
The style has developed quite naturally during the years alongside our personal growth. Which is nowhere to be seen;)

How do explain these changes?
I think we have a certain will to experiment with new ideas and go to a new direction every now and then. And like I mentioned, we change, Our music is a portrait of us and the world that surround us.

What are topics you treat in your songs?
The state of an silent individual, large topics in the small things, life and death and right and wrong. And something else, like Simo Lignell, the man behind the Länsitori-supermarket at Tesoma. I mean who runs the place. So he is not literally "behind" the market. Or maybe he is. Occasionally.

What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why?
They are all our deeply loved,precious children.

Do you actually prefer performing your music live or in a studio?
When everything works, the live situation is the best place to be.

A stupid question but... what is among all the songs you've been listening in your life the BEST song?
It might be the traditional Finnish folk song Suojelusenkeli (Guardian angel) performed by Tapio Rautavaara, not Lovex.

What is your opinion, as a musician, regarding internet?
It is all in all in communicating today and I think internet has tremendous opportunities. If you mean the illegal downloading and such- I think people have the responsibility to think on their own behalf. Downloading illegal, free mp3's from the internet is stealing. It is a crime. Period. Buying albums from the record store, ordering them online or buying mp3's online makes it possible that musicians can continue their work in the future as well.

What are your projects?
Our bassist Juho plays in Fume www.fumeband.com and guitarist Miikka in Candy Cane www.candycane.tk I occasionally compose music to some independent theatres

What "image" do you have of French music?
You have a bagel on one hand and a glass of wine on the other and proper,
stylish outfit and you sing tiny lullabies and walk down the Champs-Elysee
in the afternoon sun, don't you?

Is there one French song that you prefer? If so, what song is it?
We tend to jam together the theme from Ravel's Bolero. So I think that's it.

Interview by Vincent Lefrançois - 2006