The Rasmus On Their Debut Australian Tour…

Rock stars in their homeland of Finland since their first album, Peep, went Gold when they were just sixteen years old, The Rasmus have built a legacy that stretches across eleven albums. The fact their have never set foot in Australia has not been lost on them or their fans. It is something that will be remedied this week.

The best bands are the ones that keep surprising you time and time again, in the most thrilling of ways. This is something that the 6x Platinum and 8x Gold-certified band have been doing since their major label debut in 2003. If you take a deep dive into their catalogue, you will hear a kaleidoscopic collage of heavy guitars set against futuristic electronics, as well as pop hooks that can find their way into the heart of the most stoic of critics. As a direct result, they’ve become Finland’s greatest musical exports, selling millions of records worldwide and winning award after award. Lauri Ylönen talks to Hi Fi Way about their first Australian tour.

Are you excited for your first Australian tour?
Yeah, it’s very exciting! It’s a pity that we haven’t been there earlier, but it’s better now than ever. I mean, it’s really great to know that we have so many fans there. Through social media we’ve been able to connect with people, but now it will be the first time playing in front of an Australian audience, and in these quite intimate, small venues, and I’m expecting it to be really good.

How hard has it been to try and get all the planets to align finally to actually make this tour happen?
Well, I think we just got a call from someone, like, would you be interested? And that’s usually how it works. We don’t want to, we can’t push ourselves too much to somebody, so it’s like… now it’s the right time.. Also, we’ve made a record deal with a label called Better Noise Music, who also have a branch in Australia, and they’re a great rock label, and I’m really looking forward to the future. It seems like a new era, a new beginning for our band since Emilia, the guitarist, joined us, well, already like three years ago, but anyway, her presence in the group and everything that happened, she solved the problems we had with the previous guy. I seems like the feeling within the band is better than in decades, and that’s a great starting point for anything. You really have to have the core healthy and feeling good, and hungry, and ready to conquer and do stuff. It’s a fun job, but it’s also hard work, spending a lot of time away from home, being in very special environments, always kind of unstable. So, you know, it’s not for everybody, but it feels like now we are in a very good place with the band, and I’m expecting that to take us very far.

Has there been lots of pressure and questions from fans here in Australia saying when, when, when, and it must be really good to be able to finally say, well, we’re coming?
Yes, very much. Some of the fans have even travelled to Europe or the States to see us all the way from Australia, so it’s finally time for us to get our asses over there. I’m excited, I’ve never been to that continent personally, so that’s really exciting. I’m expecting to have some time off to see some sights as well. It’s only a week that we’re going to be there, with three shows, so it’s busy, but I’m already connecting with people who can show me around. It’s always nice to have a local guide, someone who knows the places, especially if you only have five hours and you’re wondering what to do or what to see. That’s always the best, someone showing you a cool local spot. So I’m expecting it to be a little bit of a touristic trip for us as well.

I don’t think you’ll be needing that winter coat and beanie like you’ve got on, it’s really hot right now…
I’m inside right now and I have to wear my jacket. I’m actually in my little studio house, but it’s so cold here. I love it though, it’s really fresh. I was just walking my dog early this morning, around 7:30am, and it was so beautiful, all the snow everywhere, the trees heavy with snow, everything just so nice.

With eleven album how do you condense that down in to ninety minutes or so?
I’m actually going to meet with the band to talk about the shows and think about the setlist. Different countries, even different continents, have slightly different fanbases, and now that we’re going to play there for the first time, I think we’re going to do the best of The Rasmus or something like that. We’re also going to focus on the past, because In the Shadows, that song from twenty two years ago became a hit in Australia. So obviously we want to play songs from that era on this little tour. It’s a nice nostalgic thing for the people who’ve been following us since those times, and now finally twenty two years later, we meet. Everybody’s grown up, and it’s a nice feeling to know we were part of their teenage years and all that from long ago. So we’re going to focus on that, but this new album we’ve also been able to reach new audiences, which is nice. I don’t know what happened there, but the new album is slightly more rock and even metal‑style, with a heavier sound, and I think that’s been appealing to new listeners too. Like I said before, I think we’re in quite a good place with the band after a long career we’re still keeping it going.

Have you heard much about Australian audiences?
They said there will be a barbecue there and crocodiles! I don’t really know what to expect! I’m expecting people to be really excited, because for many of them it’s been a long wait. That always helps build up a great show. Same thing with us, there can only be a first time once, and that kind of magical moment when we finally meet these people will create a great show, I’m sure. We also have these little meet‑and‑greets, and we’re quite easy going guys, so we’re easily approachable. People come to talk to us, and I’m hoping to meet many people personally off the stage as well, just to feel the vibe. It’s going to be a good trip, I’m really excited.

Do you think this will set a good foundation to return even sooner next time?
That’s what I’m hoping for. This is hopefully just the beginning of something, and I really wish that we could also tour Australia more and even go to New Zealand. That would be fantastic. Since it’s far away, you really have to plan your trip, that’s another dimension to going there and organising everything. But Australia has been the last missing piece of this puzzle, and a big one, so I’m hoping this will be just the beginning of a great future with you guys.

What’s on your list of places to go to when you’re here?
I was googling, and I also talked to a friend who knew some places. The nature is beautiful, and I found this place called the Three Sisters, the mountain formation, and I thought it would be so nice to go hiking. I love exploring nature, it’s always been a big deal for me. But then I saw it was forty something degrees and thought, okay, maybe not the best idea. We have limited time, so I don’t know, but I’d still like to see some of the nature, at least. Even just the classic tourist spots, like seeing Uluru, if that’s possible. It’s good to start with those legendary places. I’d also love to see the Opera House. I’m a big fan of architecture, I’ve kind of self‑studied it for years, buying books and all that. It’s another passion of mine. I remember being really young when I first saw the Sydney Opera House and thinking, wow, what is that? You can have a building like that? It’s always been inspiring to me, so I’d love to see it in person. Of course, I want to try different foods, any local dishes or drinks. I don’t really have a list of things, I’m just going to go with the flow. If I meet someone, it’s nice to ask, okay, what should we do? What should we see? We have four hours, let’s go! And then see where they take us. I know what I’d show my friends if they came to Finland for a short visit, so it’s the same idea.

With the new album Weirdo, have you been happy with how that’s been received by fans since it’s come out?
The whole title of the album, Weirdo, has been a word in my life for as long as I can remember. When I was a teenager, I was called a weirdo, and it was more of an insult, but I’ve always had my own special looks and ways, and I just kept going like that. I never cared what people said about me, and now, after all these years, I still feel like I’m the same guy I was back then. I’m really proud that I stood my ground, never changed for anyone else, and was a fighter in that sense. That’s really the concept of the album, just be yourself. Trust yourself, and don’t care what people say. It might sound childish, but it still makes sense to me, and I think even older people like me feel that way. I want to bring back the word weirdo in a positive light, because it’s cool to be yourself, and it’s cool to be a little strange.

There’s some really great collaborations on the album. How did some of those come about?
There’s one with Nico from the Finnish band Blind Channel, and we’re good friends. Finland is a small nation, so everyone knows everyone, I have everybody’s phone number. It was easy to say, “Hey, why don’t you hop in and do a feature?” That one came about really spontaneously while we were working in a studio in Finland with a guy who has recorded with them.

The other feature, with Lee Jennings from the American band The Funeral Portrait, happened because we have a mutual friend in the States. She thought our bands had something similar, maybe an emo vibe, or that kind of weirdo, strange energy in the lyrics. They even had a song called Stay Weird, which was very close to our lyric. I thought, wow, this is meant to be, I have to meet these guys and we all immediately clicked with him.

It was one of those nice things a friend can do, bringing people together. They ended up supporting us on the European tour for almost two months, and we also played some shows with them in the States last year. It’s nice to make new friends through music and feel that connection. I’ve been following them when they’re touring and thinking, these are my brothers doing the same thing, grinding, playing shows on the other side of the world. And sometimes our tours collide somewhere, we get to hang out, it’s cool.

Does it get you thinking about future collaborations?
I think collaborations are a fairly new thing for us. It didn’t used to be so common. When we started the band, I was always a bit envious of the hip‑hop guys featuring on each other’s songs. I thought it was cool, coming at a song or a lyric from another angle and giving it a different twist. So I’m sure we’ll always be thinking about future collaborations.

Right now we don’t have anything planned. We’re in the phase where we’re touring this album, and hopefully we’ll be on the road until Christmas. It all goes in cycles, first you write the songs, then you record them, then you do the interviews, then the shows, and then you repeat the whole thing again. And now we’re in that last chapter of the cycle.

Interview By Rob Lyon

Catch The Rasmus on the following dates, tickets from The Phoenix…