Tell us a little about your band.
We are The Spyro, fresh finnish indie tunes from arctic latitudes. We have been playing together about two years and there are five of us in the band. Hape and Antti are the guitar players, Toni plays bass, Simo beats drums and Olli is the singer. Helsinki is our homebase and we train and mastermind the world domination from Fakiiri Audio studio.
How did the band start out?
Toni: A friend of mine who was going to be our lead singer, called me and asked if I wanted to join their little project. I was instantly excited although I hadn't played in bands for a long time so I took my bass back from the pawnshop and joined the band.
Simo: To make it short: Hape put the band together through some ads on the Internet, so none of us actually knew each other before joining the band. Writing songs and touring together for a few years has made us become such a tight group that everybody thinks we've been friends forever.
For someone listening to your band for the first time, how would you describe your music?
Olli: If Franz Ferdinand and Smashing Pumpkins would make babies and the baby was feed with genetically modified food from US and radioactive milk from Russia along with fish´n ships and Irn-bru he´d become something like The Spyro. Usually we just give people a sticker of our band and "Spyrofied"- stamp in the forehead and wish them good luck, have a go!
Who would you say are your biggest influences?
Olli: Its hard to say the biggest, because we all have our own greatest inspirers. Usually we answer to this question by giving our own selections, but it´s also hard to mention one.
Simo: Loads of great bands come from Britain... so at least the British rock scene has been a big influence on us.
Toni: I guess I'm influenced by a twisted mixture of music from three different decades. I grew up listening bands like Wasp, Twisted Sister, Iron Maiden and such until grunge hit me like a sledgehammer in the 90s'. Heavy metal has always been a big part of my life although lately I've been listening to a lot of bands like The Killers, Arctic Monkeys, Klaxons etc.
Antti: Well I have to say that my biggest influences comes from scandinavian melancholy music. Also lately I've been listening to lots of different styles of music so I find interesting things everywhere.
If there was a soundtrack about your life, what artists/songs would feature on it?
Olli: Sometimes it feels like "Despite of my rage I am still just a rat in a cage", like Billy Corgan said it in the Smashing Pumpkins song and some days are beautiful and hopeful like Nina Perssons voice in the songs of the Cardigans but eventually you will find out that theres "No Distance Left To Run"
Do you have a process when it comes to writing a particular song?
Olli: Hape does most of the composing. First he records his ideas in his studio and then I do the lyrics and melodies for vocals and after that the whole band participates in the arranging process. Toni and I have also done some composing. Simo is the "techno-guru" when it comes to the introtapes.
What are your plans for the future? Touring plans?
Olli: This summer we will do some festivals in Finland and also club gigs. In June we'll do a little European tour mainly on the Baltic countries. In August we´ll tour with an Aussie band called Chasing Gravity in Finland, Estonia and maybe some other countries too. We have also recorded some demo versions of our new songs and now we are planning to record them with our producer Jyri Riikonen. Some day it would be fantastic to play in the UK.
What should people take away from your music?
Let it loose, unleash you hair and Get Spyrofied!
Briefly describe your best gig.
Olli: So far I think our best gigs have been in Estonia and Latvia last October. In Estonian, a little town called Valga, the audience went totally crazy when we started to play! In Liepaja, Latvia the venue was brilliant with a giant motorised black cock on the wall and while we were playing encore the stage was full of dancing people. Also, our first gig abroad in Reeperbahn, Hamburg and Ammerock festival gig in Estonia are still putting a smile on my face.
Have you been amazed by the reaction to your music in Finland?
Olli: Not really, as you must know metal music is the new finnish folk music ;) Indie rock is not the biggest thing, but there are a few good bands in Finland and we have had good reviews from musiczines and devoted people have been attending our gigs. Haven't seen any nude knockers in the audience yet, so the aim can still be set higher =)
