Lauri doesn't get your choice... "Gothic? We?? That's strange!!!"

That was convenient: recently The Rasmus-singer Lauri came to Amsterdam to tell about their new CD that will be released in September. And because his band stood very high in your list of Gothic-bands, we decided to catch him for a little chat...

The new single from The Rasmus No fear will be released at the end of August.

Lauri wished to stay a little longer in Amsterdam than that one day for interviews and promotion for their new CD Hide From The Sun. "I thought I had planned it very well", he smiles. "Yesterday morning I had some interviews in London and I arranged it to leave early there, so we could spend the whole evening in Amsterdam. But then our flight got cancelled... There was some hard storm, I heard. Eventually we took a flight later, but by the time we arrived here, it was very late so I jumped right into my bed..."

HK: "Didn't you see anything of the city?"
Lauri: "Well, I have made a short walk here... We have been here before, and I have been to some nice spots here by the Kanal next to the hotel. But I really wanted to go out last night and eh... maybe smoke, or something? Haha!!"

HK: "We are making a gothic-special for Hitkrant, and in the reactions of our appeal your name has been mentioned many times..."
Lauri: "Really? How strange, haha !! I really wouldn't call our band gothic..."

HK: "But hasn't your band been called 'gothic' for many more times then ?"
Lauri: "Yes, to be honest, our band has been called that way very often. And probably we have some elements – our music has a dark side. But I see our band as melodic rock."

HK: "Why do you think many people see your band as a gothic-band?"
Lauri: "That probably has something to do with what kind of clothes I wear and how I look. And our music is at some point a little melancholic, of course. But for the rest... no I can't really find the connection."

HK: "Which bands do you see as gothic-bands?"
Lauri: "I think The Sisters Of Mercy; Gothic-music is very often electronical music, it are not necessarely rock bands. The Cure, for example, is also a pioneer, although they do have some happier songs. But I'm afraid there's a darker side in those songs too..."

HK: "Do you know Within Temptation? Do you think they're gothic?"
Lauri: "I know them, yes – I just saw them on a festival. I can imagine people call them gothic, because if you look at their show, they have a decor with a castle and everything. That's something I like about them, because most bands usually don't do that anymore. Earlier you had Iron Maiden, they had amazing decors and a creapy scary beast on stage. Now that's a trend too: if you wear an Iron Maiden-shirt you're 'hip'. Now you can buy a Mötorhead-shirt anywhere. I wonder if everyone who buys a shirt like that, has ever heard their music. But anyway, if people get a good feeling by wearing a shirt like that, it's fine with me!!"

HK: "Years ago you were a very different band, and you were blonde, and the succes came when you changed your looks into black ones, right?"
Lauri: "When we started our band I was only 15 or 16 years old, and I think I've tried every haircolor at least once. Every week another style, haha!! Our music didn't really have an identity: we were experimenting with everything. Our first album sounded like there were 5 bands playing on it; it was like a collection-cd!! We could choose every kind of music then, and it was innocent and pure. I miss that sometimes; now we are very serious and we have to think up theme's for the album and stuff. I like that too, because you can be very artistic, but we can never go back like how it used to be..."

HK: "Was it an intentional choice to make your hair black and wear only black clothes?"
Lauri: "Yes. During the third album everything fell apart. The drummer left – he wanted too many vacations and we were getting a little pissed of that. There had to happen something, because it really went wrong with the band. My position is very important, so I thought: I can't afford it to let the band go under, because it will take me with it. Then we got a new drummer and a new record company... Our old record company had already decided for us that in the future we'd only sing in Finnish, haha!! No way!! Our new drummer Aki joined the band in 1999, and at that point a lot changed. We took a break of two years and the music changed damatically. We dropped all the funk - and hiphop-elements."

HK: "Talking about Finland: the musicbusiness is really exploding there, isn't it? With hot bands like HIM and Nightwish?"
Lauri: "Right, and you have Apocalyptica, those guys with the cello's. They are on our album too, by the way. The music-circles are pretty small and most bands are about ten years old now, so you come across each other very often. We are all pretty good friends now. Yes, Ville, the singer from HIM, and I have done a duet on the Apocalyptica-cd, Three bands cooporating – that's really cool. A real Finnish chat, because the director was also a Fin."

HK: "Are HIM and Nightwish according to you gothic-bands?"
Lauri: "At least a lot more than we are, yes!! Especially Nightwish. But I don't really know what makes a band a gothic-band... It's the whole appearence, I think. Tarja Turunen, the singer, is a kinda Gothic-Queen – nobody will deny that. She has a fantasy-thing around her. The combinate opera with metal, a kind of beauty & the beast-story."

HK: "Do you have many fans who look like gothics?"
Lauri: "Yes, we seem to attract shem. But we have many other fans as well. There is a group girls... women actually, from The Netherlands, and they follow us everywhere. Somehow they apparently found out I'm staying here today, because last morning they were waiting in the lobby of this hotel. But they look very normal – absolutely not gothic. But once more, we appeal those fans too, but I think the gothic-look is just a trend at the moment."

thanks to Dagmar