Puk

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Music
Interview : Jussi from Puk

When and how was your band created?
Once upon a time... It was 1996 or 1997. I was twenty-six and wanted to tell the world that it had gone wrong. To put up a band playing slightly old-fashioned indie pop in Finnish is of course a lousy way to do that, but I didn?t know it then. Elina was invited because of her style of bass playing, and backing vocals too. The drummer Aki was my old mate from our former band Teurastamo 5 ("Slaughterhouse 5" which, by the way, had the present Boy of Scandinavia Jussi Lahtinen as the guitarist). The next year Puk was joined by Johnny and his squealing guitars.

Where is the name of the band coming from?
I wanted to write songs that meant a lot, so I had this inverse obsession to name the band with a short word not meaning much. That?s another idea that didn?t work out. So far the different proposals have included everything between mopeds and The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. The most correct explanation is that the name comes from the character Puck in A Midsummer Night?s Dream by Shakespeare. You?ll understand us, if you understand him.

What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your life / work?
Just two days ago in Helsinki Morrissey stole my heart, again! Hard to think of anyone else so soon after that gig, it was bloody brilliant. Well, back at the 80?s not just The Smiths but also The Cure did several impressive albums: the trilogy Seventeen Seconds, Faith and Pornography still feels like opening a huge can of melancholy? which is why I can rarely listen to those records. Joe Strummer and The Clash still give me strength to fight for social justice. As musical influences, I should mention also David Bowie, New Order, Radiohead, The Trash Can Sinatras, Pulp, perhaps some albums by The Manic Street Preachers and Kent, and so on. During the last five years I?ve fallen in love with Neil Hannon, that is to say, The Divine Comedy.

What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician in Finland?
Actually, I don?t think you can call me one. Perhaps that says it all.

How could you define your style of music?
Indie pop with guitars in the front line and a symphony orchestra in the closet.

During the years how has your musical style changed?
I don?t think there?s a huge gap between the first album Grönlanti ("Greenland", 2000) and Kadonnut manner ("The Lost Continent", 2004). The arrangements have always contained both aggressive and gentle tones. On the second there are not so many walls of fuzzy guitars; instead, we used all the instruments there was in the house. In my lyrics there is more reflective and more straightforwardly societal emphasis... perhaps so.

How do you explain these changes?
I got older, and at the same time even more sick of the world. In making the final arrangements Johnny and I found more ways of being theatrical and megalomaniac.

What are the topics you treat in your songs?
Being sick of the world, or to be more precise, being bored with the USA, entertainment industries, stupidity in ecological matters, and the domination people do not recognise as domination. Losing hope and holding on. Loving someone present or not-present. Did I mention life and death?

What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why?
I will say Grönlanti, because for me it was a knock-out of our first album, an epic and symphony-like song I always wanted to make. Johnny?s guitar in the end is majestic, reminding me of Mick Ronson in Bowie?s Time. We are all very keen on the song and tend to play it as the last one in the set.

Do you actually prefer performing your music live or in a studio?
There is something magical in working in studio. I like gigs as well, but we don?t do many.

During the process of making a song, what is the moment that you prefer?
While being in studio, the moment you know that the song you?re working with will turn out better than you had ever thought.

A stupid question but... what is among all the songs you've been listening in your life the BEST song?
Only a liar can pretend to know the answer. In My Life by The Beatles.

What is your opinion, as a musician, regarding internet?
At our site www.puk.fi we deliver some of our songs free of charge. As a small band with a minor indie record label, we did that choice to get more ears to our music. As long as we are willing to pay our recordings ourselves, i.e. mostly with the money we get from our day jobs, it?s fair enough this way. It would be a totally different case if I was trying to make a living with my music. I don?t prefer thieves, may they be multinational companies or selfish mp3-hunters disguised as some kind of virtuous outlaws.

What are your projects?
Puk will publish its next album during this decade. I will get my PhD in literature published in May 2006.

What "image" do you have of French music?
I recall merely some classic composers. Yet I should get familiar with Gainsbourg! There?s some world music and a punk band whose name I have forgotten... and some ethereal pop bands? I?m afraid my musical imagination has been severely colonised by the British!

Is there one French song that you prefer? If so, what song is it?
Not exactly. And if I had to name one it would be a Brel song performed by Scott Walker...

Interview by Vincent Lefrançois - 2006