Urban Life

Puplicity cirkus around The Rasmus is spinning faster than ever. Lauri Ylönen is one of the most followed rockstars in Europe.

The Rasmus singer Lauri Ylönen is spending a rare day off in Stockholm. Trasher hoodie turns out to be too hot, because our neighbour country is bathing in hot sunshine. Ship terrace's corner spot fits fine for Ylönen because the Finnish musician is easily recognized in our western neighbour. Swedish coolness disappears every now and then and Lauri gets to sign autographs in streets, stores and restaurants.

"Of course it boosts your ego when four thousand fans screams band's name for minutes," Lauri admits. "I secrectly dreamed of that kind of situation when I quit school and began to be full-time musician. The attention is quite stressful on the other hand. You just don't have the energy to be receiving and happy all the time." "I have learned over the years where I can go and where I cannot go." Lauri continues. "In Helsinki people are used to our faces but for instance in southern Europe the situation gets out of hand easily. Sometimes the fans are too hot blooded and want to take a piece of their favorite artist. No matter what it takes."

The Rasmus' dreams came true along Dead Letters which sold 1,5 copies. At the moment the band is working with their Hide From The Sun album in Stockholm, that is released in September. The upcoming album should rise the Finnish band into the "mega series".

Lauri's kindness, naturality and humbleness is suprising. The musician has belonged to the group of most followed rock stars for years but still his feet have stayed on the ground tightly. Many more lighter headed would have gone mad in the same kind of situation, because the cirkus around The Rasmus is unbelievable. One fan has bought Lauri a star from the sky. Lauri's face or The Rasmus logo can be found tattooed from several fans' shoulders. People sell pieces of stickers that have The Rasmus footprints. Some German fans have started a religious sect called lauriism.
Mikael Nord Andersson, who has worked with The Rasmus for years, reminds of the dangers of popularity. "Success is a hard drug. People adore the artist and he can suddenly feel he's the center of the world. The feeling can also turn out to be some kind of paranoia; why are they approaching me and what they want from me. The Rasmus is mentally very strong band. You can find amazing talent and hidden resources. I don't remember to have ever worked with as motivated band as they are." After a while Andersson adds that 1,5 million sold albums is really good accomplishment these days. Dead Letters would have sold several times more without illegal Internet sharing and piracy. But times change and you just have to adjust.

Billboard's news about Rasmus being the band to sell most records in Europe outside of their home country in 2004, tells about their success. Dead Letters have been awarded with eight golden, six platinum and one double platinum records. The Rasmus received gold record from India, where the limit for gold is 20,000 sold copies. From a country with over billion inhabitants. You can just guess how many indian owns illegal copy of Dead Letters. "Of course we have to make incredibly good follower for the album," Lauri says. "We have managed to turn the high expections into a positive thing. We have kind of developed a "us against the others" attitude. We want to show the success wasn't just a coincidence." History of pop music knows many examples of bands that have quit because of success, but Lauri doesn't lie when he tells about the good chemistry in band. The musicians are still best friends and even an outsider doesn't get bored in their company. Pauli Rantasalmi, who writes the music with Lauri for the album, remember an interview where basist Eero Heinonen told the reporter about their "manager Teppo Vesterinen" with neutral look on his face. Journalist's reaction remains a mystery. Did he understand Heinonen's joke or can you find a sentence from the story that the bass artist doesn't know even his own manager's name.

The talented band's success brings many odd twists. Lauri remembers their first visit in Mexico. "We got to know Mexico City's local indians who took us to secret and holy caves under ancient pyramids. We invited the same guys to our gig and finally they got on stage before us. I was a bit worried how the people would react. Well, the crowd digged them a lot! That was really great." The Rasmus has also picked some good advices from Nightwish's End Of Innocence dvd. "Nightwish's Tuomas Holopainen tells good stories about success. You can relate them easily. Every now and then you realize I have gone through the same things several times." Kummeli-dvd's have also been played many times. The Rasmus played on their first gig ever a song Hän-Mies that was familiar from the series. Ylönen met his idols a little later. "We were supporting Juustopäät in YO-talo in Tampere years ago. At some point the Kummeli dudes ran up to the backstage drunk as hell, they felt huge stars back then. You just looked and thought there the guys are alive in front of me!" HIM's Ville Valo belongs to Lauri's circle of friends and has given many handy tips. Lauri tells he's excited about HIM's next album. "Album's possible huge success in norther America would be something. When a Finnish band gets successfull in USA, they get intereted in other Finnish bands too in a whole different way."

Ylönen lifts his sunglasses and asks if he has dark bags under his eyes. The man has spent sleepless nigts in the studio and writing songs. Last night's tiredness had to step back because of a bar night. Lauri has a reason to celebrate, record company's representatives fron German had been excited about the Finns' new songs. The Rasmus' idea is to make a challenging album. Sometimes the band plays stuff that sounds a bit like Nine Inch Nails or Iron Maiden, but in a second they change back to a intimate duet Murhaballadi. Murhaballadi sounds like Nick Cave's classic songs. "We also made a song about preconceptions," Lauri tells. "Hundreds of years ago the witches were burned but today there are same things happening. Visionars and dissidents are locked up in institutions or they are dropped out from society. People are afraid of new views." Lauri who is drinking perry cider tells he has written most of the songs in Stockholm. "The gloomy apartment hotel is a great place to produce texts. Writing is part of classical urban life; I go and buy red wine from the store and start to think good subjects. And start spending ink."

thanks to Yennay