Vapaapudotus

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Interview : Make from "Vapaapudotus"

When and how was your band created?
I got together with Pekka about four years ago, when we arranged a couple of hip-hop club nights. Our first performances consisted mostly of freestyle rapping (improvising) and some party songs, but we soon found out that we could write more serious material as well.

What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your life / work?
It's hard to point out any artist in particular, it's much easier to name a place and an era: east coast of United States, years between 1993 and 1999. I consider them as the golden years of hip-hop and it was also the time I was most enthusiastic about it.
I also have to give credit to Fintelligens for starting the new wave of Finnish hip-hop few years ago. At first I was sceptical about writing in Finnish, but they convinced me of our language's possibilities.

What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician / singer (in Finland)?
It's possible to get nation-wide attention even without a huge marketing budget. The community spirit among musicians is great and it's easy to see that people are truly doing it for the love of music and not for the money.
Nearly all negative aspects are somehow money-related. Only the most successful artists can support themselves financially with record sales, promotors can't afford to pay the artists enough, everything from transportation to equipment is expensive… the list goes on. Music will never be more than just a hobby for me, so fortunately the negative sides don't bother me so much.

How could you qualify your style of music?
Finnish hip-hop with mellow beats and sharp lyrics.

Have you ever considered the possibilty to change totally your style of music?
If so, what style of music would you choose?
Me and our third member Aki secretly dream about playing heart-breaking emotional rock with two acoustic guitars. There's only a minor obstacle: neither of us can sing or play the guitar. I'm also sure that Pekka would hate our music and label it as "hippie crap".

What are stories/topics you tell/treat in your songs?
It's important that every song has a subject, we want our music to be more than just punchlines and word play. Yet there is no one special theme: the same EP can contain a road trip party song as well as a serious song about the artists' responsibility to stand behind their words. We are simple guys telling simple stories about how we feel about different things.

What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why?
My favourite song keeps changing from time to time. At the moment it's "25 tuntia" (25 hours), a bit melancholic song about how our day jobs take up too much time from our friends and loved ones. It works great as a gig's last song.

Do you tour regularly? Do you actually prefer performing your music live or in a studio?
We have about 10 to 20 gigs each year. I enjoy recording and writing sessions very much, but nothing beats the boost you get from seeing live audiences that know your songs and love them.

During the process of making an album, what is the moment that you prefer?
The exact moment I'm at the post office ready to send the master copy of the album to the record press. The last few days of recording are always very stressful because we tend to leave things to the last minute, so the sense of relief is just great when the album is finally finished and out of our hands.

What kind of music / What artists do you currently listen?
Lately my WinAMP's playlist has been occupied by artists such as Tulenkantajat, Mew, Dashboard Confessional, Chino XL, Talib Kweli, The Ark and Looptroop to name a few. And as anyone can tell, it's impossible to group these bands under any particular style of music.

A stupid question but... what is among all the songs you've been listening in your life the BEST song?
Common Sense's hip-hop classic "I Used To Love H.E.R.", because the song is very beautiful and the lyrics are just brilliant. I keep wondering why hip-hop songs that reminisce the past times always turn out so good?

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?
As a musician: it's a irreplaceable channel for us to get new audiences and stay in touch with older ones. It's also the only way for new fans to get their hands on our older material, because the CD's are sold out. Of course it feels bad to know that even the new songs are been
distributed illegally and that affects our personal economy. The artists deserve to get paid from their hard work.
As a music consumer: it has expanded my musical taste a lot. I have found many excellent bands by first listening to their (unfortunately illegal) MP3's at home and then buying the CD. I would buy many times more music if it was possible directly on the Internet: for me the content is more important than the package.

What are your actual and future projects?
We have released four EP's so far, so I guess now is finally the time for the first full-length Vapaapudotus LP. I also enjoy producing beats and remixes to other artists, so I hope that in the future there's more time for cooperations as well.
Interview by Vincent Lefrançois / 2003