Rijnswand

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Interview : Mikko and Jari from Rijnswand

When and how was your band created?
It was back in 1998 when Jari Teräsvuori (guitar) and Bamse (bass) hooked up at a party and started jamming on acoustic guitar and upright bass. Later a drummer joined the group but he was really busy so they gave me a call and I joined the band. We played as an instrumental trio for a few years until Henri Haapaniemi (vocals) joined the band in 2001.

Where is the name of the band coming from?
From a book written by Terry Pratchett. There was a wizard called Rincewind. We changed a few letters and stole the name. Shit, I´m really bad at this story, our guitar player Jari would be the one to tell this. When he was reading the book, we had a festival gig coming up and we needed a name for the band real quickly. Jari suggested Rijnswand and somehow we just stuck to it.

What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your life / work?
As kids Bamse and I were huge Metallica fans, but it is definitely not Metallica who has had a major influence on Rijnswand heh heh. Lately I have been listening to bands like Nick Cave & Bad Seeds, Morphine, A Perfect Circle, CMX and Led Zeppelin.

What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician in Finland?
If we had to make our living out of this band that would be a negative thing. Rijnswand is a serious hobby and that way it remains fun. If I have to think of negative aspects I´d say being in the band is sometimes very time-consuming. So fitting our schedules together is sometimes a pain in the ass. Pretty recently I had to deal with this one booking agent or what ever her title was. Talking to her was each time a slow suicide but sometimes you just have to deal with idiots like her in order to book a gig or two.

Writing and playing our music, playing gigs, meeting new people, seeing new places, seeing people enjoying the music etc. are the positive aspects in playing in this band. When I compare our experiences to what my foreign friends have told, it seems playing in a band is pretty okay here in Finland, not necessarily so much better, but definitely not more difficult.

How could you define your style of music?
"Music with rocks in". That´s a slogan we have been using lately. This is another steal from Terry Pratchett, by the way. Rijnswand sure is a rock band, but since the day one it has also been a mix-up of many musical styles.

During the years how has your musical style changed?
It has changed a lot from the year -98. Obviously the biggest change took place when our singer Henri joined the group. In my opinion we had reached a dead end of some sort with that instrumental trio thing. You could say this band formed when Henri joined the band. There have been sort of two different bands, pre-Rijnswand and Rijnswand hah hah. In the beginning we had to fill the songs with solos and stuff and now that we have a singer we can have more melodies and such instead.

How do explain these changes?
Some changes are made subconsciously and some consciously. Sometimes we might point out things we want to improve or change, but usually we just play and see how the music turns out. Obviously the band has improved in many ways over the years. For example I would say we play much better gigs now than we used to do in 2001. Before Henri joined Rijnswand it was only Jari who wrote songs, now we have two songs writers.

What are topics you treat in your songs?
The usual rock lyrics but also lyrics with a twist of humor and hints at social issues.

What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why?
At the moment I have to say "Nokturus". It´s brand new song, kind of poppish tune with 70´s vibe but there´s a wicked twist in the end of the song. Also Dharma Karma is my favorite of all the songs. I´d say that is one of the best songs we have written.

Do you actually prefer performing your music live or in a studio?
Live! I´m looking forward to get to studio and to start working on new songs, but I see Rijnswand more as a live band.

During the process of making a song, what is the moment that you prefer?
Arranging the songs, it´s like a puzzle that you have to put together in order to complete the song.

A stupid question but... what is among all the songs you've been listening in your life the BEST song?
Hah hah, I bet anyone dealing with music would start with the words "oh, there´s too many to choose from...". I actually thought about this a few weeks ago when I was driving and listening to the radio. As said, there´s way too many great songs to choose from but if I have to pick one I´ll say Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin. It´s a perfect rock song and the first one that popped on to my mind.

What is your opinion, as a musician, regarding internet?
For a small band like us, it´s really useful. People can find out information about our band and listen to our songs. On the other hand I also understand the record companies´ point of view, basically when people can download music for free it means less profit which means record companies are not so willing to take risks when signing new bands. As we don´t have a deal, it´s been a very good way to get our songs available for the people around the world.

What are your projects?
New EP. We will start recording new EP next month with Big L Rönkä.

What "image" do you have of French music?
I´m not so familiar with that scene. What I have heard from friends who live or have lived in Paris, there´s a lot of gigs every night, obviously because Paris is a big city. My image is that the underground scene is active, is that anywhere close to the truth?

Is there one French song that you prefer? If so, what song is it?
Not one particular song, but sometimes I listen to Francoise Hardy on lazy Sunday mornings.
Django Reinhardt! Wasn't he French? And all those jazz/blues musicians exiled from US? Great times for European diggers of those styles in the 50's and beyond.

Interview by Vincent Lefrançois - 2006