Roihu

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Interview : Kelju from Roihu

When and how was your band created?
In 2002 we decided to form a band that would play honest and straight forward type of rock'n'roll. We knew each other from previous band projects so it was pretty easy to know that we would work nicely as a team. We tried out a couple of second guitarist until we realized that we don't need one - we sound a lot better with a clear trio sound.

Where is the name of the band coming from?
It doesn't really have story to tell. We just figured out some names that would in somehow sound like our music and in the other hand would not categorize us too much.

What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your life / work?
We get a lot of different kind of influences from various artists and music styles, but I think that the main focus is in the history of rock'n'roll. When we started the band we had just realized the greatness of bands like AC/DC or The Ramones or why not Melrose or Hurriganes in Finland. Then there's the whole 90's nordic rock'n'roll or actionrock scene with The Hellacopters and Gluecifer and let's not forget punkrock with Social Distortion and that sort of stuff.

What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician in Finland?
The positive thing is the freedom of being yourself and being able to express your feelings with your music. The negative side is the fact that we have only 5 million people here so you really don't have a much of change of making a living out of this kind of marginal music. when you sing in finish I mean. The radio channels are boring as hell with their one-sided playlists because of the marginal audience.

How could you define your style of music?
I think it's aggressive rock'n'roll. Someone might call it punkrock and that's true too.

During the years how has your musical style changed?
Sure, I mean when your skills get better, you kind naturally change your songs to be more challenging to your self and have a lot of more options were to go with them. We started to play simple rock'n'roll but today we mix up pieces from rock'n'roll, hardcore, punk or even soul. What ever we think is passionate, honest and sounds good.

How do explain these changes?
First of all, like I said, you get better as a musician. Second of all, you grew up: you start to like music that you didn't understand when you were younger and so on. It's all natural and a part of a lifetime learning process.

What are topics you treat in your songs?
First of all individualism - the freedom of being your selves - is one my favorite topics. I also like to sing about the issue of living today and not thinking about the next morning all the time. When we started we kind of decided that Roihu will not do love songs because it's an issue that has been written out so many times. I mean there's a lot more to life than all that "I miss you baby" -stuff, even thought of course that's important too.

What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why?
This is a hard one. It's really difficult to say because my opinion changes all the time. Because I'm the one who composes most of the songs, I kind of have a new favorite every day. That's why my today's favorite isn't even in our live repertoire yet. From our older stuff you should check out songs like "Kruunu" or "Perjantai 13." - you can actually download them from our website www.roihu.com.

Do you actually prefer performing your music live or in a studio?
We'll I think that rock'n'roll is all about live performing. It doesn't ever sound as good, when it's recorded and it probably never will. I mean the intensity of a band sweating there asses of and giving everything to the music is something that you really can't get from anywhere else. This doesn't mean that I don't like being in the studio - I love it. I think it's always a great challenge and it's wonderful to hear your own music from the speakers. I also love producing and recording - I even have my own studio.

During the process of making a song, what is the moment that you prefer?
There really aren't any particular moments to mention. The songs make them selves - kind of just pop out. So I don't do songs in that meaning. But when I think of it, of course the greatest moment is when you hear the whole band playing the song.

A stupid question but... what is among all the songs you've been listening in your life the BEST song?
Not a stupid question, but a really, really hard one. I can mention one song that really made a difference in my life and that is a Norwegian band Gluecifer performing "I Got a War". That's pretty much the song that made us form Roihu and also the song that made me interested of everything about rock'n'roll.

What is your opinion, as a musician, regarding internet?
Well it helps when promoting your band and it makes informing your fans a lot easier. I mean I can still remember the times when you had to listen to the radio or read magazines to find out when your favorite band is coming to perform in your city. In the matter copyright issues or illegal downloading it's pretty much 50/50 good or bad: It's bad when I see kids listening to their favorite band from a CD-R (or iPod etc.) and not even thinking about supporting them in any financial way, but it's also damn good when I hear that people have found new kind music styles to listen - styles that the commercial radios don't play or you can't here anywhere else. It's not a thing that I'm worried about, but of course making music costs a lot of money and I think musicians should be rewarded from that in some way. Buy the albums you like ok?

What are your projects?
Well if we talk about music, besides Roihu I have another band project called the Bloody Mosquitos and we should be recording something shortly. I have also recorded a few demo songs on my own as a solo project - I play all the instruments and even record the stuff myself. We'll see when I'll ready to release something with that. I also do some recording to other bands on my studio occasionally and work as a live sound engineer when needed.

What "image" do you have of French music?
I don't really have one! Which is kind of weird, because I've studied the French language for like 8 years or something? So Je parle un peu francais but don't know nothing about French music.

Is there one French song that you prefer? If so, what song is it?
I don't even know (or remember to know) any French songs so no I don't have one. Any recommendations? Write them to our guestbook at www.roihu.com

Interview by Vincent Lefrançois - 2006