Suiciderock:  „Fight as One” is the bands 7^th studio album… It was released in 2009 and contains all in all 11 tracks. What can you tell us about the album?
Jasse:  In my opinion “Fight as One” reflexes exactly what the band is. It has been a while since it`s release and I should start to write some new material for the next album. I have to admit that I had some difficulties when it comes to that. I have already written a couple of new tracks but I don`t know if they will end up to be on the next album. It is very hard to create something new after we`ve released “Fight as One” cause I somehow feel that I don`t have anything to add. It`s not easy to write something new when the foregoing album pretty much stands for all you are as a band. But don`t worry, there will be something, I have some ideas in my mind for the next one. Of course, the new album has to be slightly different comparing to our current one. But that`s a natural process. At least for it has to be a bit different. I don`t know if the listeners will hear any difference in the end but for me it is important. It doesn`t make any sense to write the same album again.

Suiciderock: You also had a line-up change when the album was done…
Jasse: Yeah, actually we had two line up changes. Our drummer left as well as our guitar player. But luckily we found a new drummer quite soon. My very good friend Saska replaced the former guy on the drums. We have known each other since ever, we are friends since we were little kids. Saska lived in London for a while before he came to join us and we didn`t play together for about 20 years. Our old drummer was more that kind of straight and slower playing guy which was not bad at all but I knew that Saska is that kind of a fast player and he is a typical rock`n roller, that gave me the impulse to write the songs for “Fight as One”. He kind of delivered the tools I needed for to write the music. The songs are quite simple but we are very pleased with that album. I think that it is by far the best album we have done during our career. It`s an 11 tracks package that perfectly fits.

Suiciderock: “Fight as One” got some really nice reviews. That not only from the Finnish media but also from Germany, Netherlands,… It was also said to be “the best album of your career”. Would you agree?
Jasse:  That`s quite something to achieve. I mean if you consider that we have been around since 20 years now. As I said I`m very very pleased. We have done good albums within this 20 years as well but “Fight as One” is also in my opinion our best so far. Now I have the pressure to write and album that is even better than that. Come on that`s what I call pressure.

Suiciderock: The album was produced by you in collaboration with Sammy Aaltonen from Private Line. Was it easy for you to produce your won record?
Jasse: Our last two albums have been released via Bad Habbit Records. Was it easy to produce it ourselves? Well we worked together with some producers for our earlier albums but I have to say that I have always had my hands in those decisions and actions as well. That means the producers we have worked with have mainly been responsible for the overall sound like how the guitar or the drums sound and they took care of the mixing of course however they haven`t been involved in the concept of the album or the arranging of the songs. So it didn`t differ that much when we produced the last two albums on our own. Sami was more like the outside ear taking care how the whole thing sounds and that kind of stuff. Sami was kind of a back up for me. If I wasn`t that sure about something I could always get back to him and ask for his opinion. It was great to work with him.

Suiciderock: You have produced most of your records yourself with the help of various producers. E.g. “Drugster” by Janne Joutsenniemi, „Stardom is here“ by Hiili Hiilesmaa, “Uncensored Teenage Hardcore” by Mikko Karmila. Is it hard for you to give the production completely out of your hands?
Jasse: Well it kind of is yes. There was nothing wrong with this co-operations. I could always work with them again. Our last album for example was mixed by T.T. Oksala who passed away some time ago and Janne Vuori, who was the FOH engineer of HIM for many years. It was nice to work with those guys. Hiili is a great producer, he is more into the feeling when it comes to work on an album. He gets you to try all different kinds of stuff while recording. I liked that very much. Sami has just build up a new studio so I doubt that we are going anywhere else when we start to work on the next album because we don`t actually need any other producer from outside. We feel quite comfortable there so there is no need for big changes.

Suiciderock: I read that the second track on the album , “Medicine Train” was written in less than 30 minutes, is that correct?
Jasse: That`s absolutely correct. I mean when we are talking about the lyrics. The music took some more time. The lyrics for that song just came out of my head and all I had to do is to grab a pen and a piece of paper and write it down. There was even one verse too much so we had to shorten the song. Maybe this is going to be on the next album than. Who knows. But it was also pretty easy to write the music for the song as well. All in all the whole song came together pretty naturally and easy. “Medicine Train” is one of my favourite tracks.

Suiciderock: How do you deal with the song writing? How writes all the songs?
Jasse: Usually I do. I have written all the lyrics except maybe some riffs here and there. Our guitar player Lauri has written something on our former album and the guitar player before Lauri has also written something but mostly it`s me who write the songs.

Suiciderock: Line up changes always cost lots of nerves and precious time. You had a few of this uncomfortable changes. What happened  and how is the band doing nowadays?
Jasse: Well, we play Rock´n Roll since 20 years now so considering that fact I think we didn`t have that many line-up changes within our career. *smiles* Ok let me see, we have changed our drummer three times. But this doesn`t really count I`d say as our original first drummer is the big brother of Saska so it kind of stays in the family…
Suiciderock: Well, than we make it as 2 ½ drummer…
Jasse: That`s good, yeah. At least it is the same blood that runs through their veins.

Suiciderock: What is the feeling within the current line-up? Everybody happy with that or do you expect some changes in the future again?
Jasse: No, no all good. I mean you never know. None knows what could happen in the future. I can`t change anything if some of the guys decide to quit playing but so far we are happy and kicking. I have to say that none ever got kicked our from Hybrid Children. All of them have decided on their own that they want to leave. It was everybody`s free will to quit.

Suiciderock: So no hard feelings so to say…
Jasse: No. It was a bit strange when Timo TV, our guitar player left. One day he came to tell us that he suddenly has decided to move to Peru. He explained that he needs some kind of change in his life and that`s what he`s going to do. So he left to do some voluntary work there. I really appreciate what he did back than. Timo left so quickly and surprisingly that we were left in some kind of vacuum situation. We wanted to play gigs, we had new material ready but we didn`t really know what to do. Should we try to find someone else? Should we wait that Timo might come back or whatever. After a while we met Lauri, we went out to the bars, we played some stuff together and suddenly we noticed that he is in the band. He started as kind of a substitute guitarist for our first gigs without Timo but it turned out that he really fits to Hybrid Children and so he became a fix member of the band. It was a bit difficult when Timo came back from Peru after one year. But he understood that we took another guitar player and nowadays he is doing a completely different thing. He lives in Tampere and is working at some college there. He was happy with his decision and so were we.

Suiciderock: It feels like you have been around ever since. Hybrid Children has been part of the main force in the Finnish rock scene since 1991. You can celebrate your 20^th anniversary. How would you summarize this time? Your Highlights?
Jasse: No, we haven`t been around that long, you are just too young. *smiles* This band is the highlight of my entire life. This exactly what I want to do. This is my passion. But when we are talking about the highlights of the band career it must definitely have been our gig we`ve played together with the Wild Hearts in Japan. That was back in 1997. I have been and I still am a very big fan of this band so this was a honour to play the same stage with them.

Suiciderock: You have been influenced by Social Distortion. Any other all time favourites?
Jasse: I have to refer back to the Wild Hearts again. When I heard them the very first time I was kind of surprised that there is a band out there playing the same kind of music we do. They have the same metallic guitars and the same kind of style we have. It was amazing to know that there is a band that does almost exactly the same as we do. You can smell the Rock`n Roll when they play. You can find all the traditional Rock stuff and all the basic influences I had. I love them, they are a awesome band. Also if I have to name one band who`s CD I would take to the grave with me are The Sex Pistols.

Suiciderock: Nowadays you can see many young bands split up after a very short period of playing together. What is your recipe of success? What makes Hybrid Children last?
Jasse: I don`t kow. Though the guys in the band have changed every now and than we always had a good vibe within the band. When we choose someone to play with us we didn’t only check his playing skills but also his personal attitude. I`m not a very skill full guy myself. This comes from the punk attitude. The music doesn`t sound over perfect. You know? It`s not only all about playing life. Performing life makes maybe 1% of your band life that rest happens apart form the stage. It has always been very important that the chemistry within the band suits. Maybe that`s our recipe.

Suiciderock: The band is from Helsinki but originally you have been born somewhere in the countryside. What was it like for you to move to Helsinki?
Jasse: I`m a real country boy. It was quite difficult when you lived in the countryside and you have been into rock´n roll for example. When I was a little kid it was really hard growing up and to show that you are into rock n roll. You could be beaten up for that. Luckily this has changed a bit nowadays. But of course it is totally different when you come to one of the big cities and especially here in Helsinki no one really cares about the way you are dressed or whatever. It was a natural step to move to Helsinki. I lived about 80 km from here. That might not sound that far but it is very far away if you consider the attitude of the people. It`s nice to visit my old home village but when I think that I should life there again freaks me out. It`s always nice to come back to the city.

Suiciderock: What is your advice to a young band?
Jasse: Do I really have to answer this question? I have to be honest the best advice for most of this new bands is to quit or at least to take a closer look in the mirror and ask themselves if this is really what they want to do. Many of this new bands start the whole thing because of wrong reasons. They want to get all the fame, girls or they simply think that it is a cool thing to be in a band. It is a cool thing if you have the right attitude. But for those who really like to play should go for it because it is the only thing to keep it going. Play play play. Try to be yourself, not to listen to anyone else that much. Don`t do it just to see your face on some TV screen. Keep it honest and be yourself. Keep it going and original. Of course, you can always take your influences from some other band but try to make your own package out of it.

Suiciderock: Your future plans?
Jasse: To make an even better album than the last one. Or at least a bit different. I don`t know when it comes out. I shouldn`t say that but I hope that we start to record it next year. We are growing older so maybe that why it takes a bit more time. When we started it was so easy to get influences from somewhere and to write something but as we grew older there are not so many bands I`m into anymore. I go back to my old times favourite maybe I can take some inspiration from them again. Time will tell…

 

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