NEGATIVE
Stuttgart 2005

(Photo by Nauska)

"We are not the new Hanoi Rocks"

Jonne: For what magazine is this interview?
Suiciderock: It`s for suiciderock.com, sounds worse than it is.
Jonne: It represents what we are doing.

Suiciderock: Who is responsible for the lyrics?
Jonne: Me mostly. You know it is like my diary and stuff like that. I write my feelings down and it get's you better options. You get some old grannys to ask. You know it's this whole band thing. I'm able to write about my feelings and that's really great. It helps me to move on. It's about what I'm gone through.

Suiciderock: Is there something special that inspired you for your current album or is it like your diary as well?
Jonne: Of course when you listening to our first album, "War of Love", there are a lot of songs between, you know I wrote the first song when I was 15 / 16 years old, this was in 1997 and the last song I wrote for the album was by the end of 2002. So there is a long time between the timing I wrote those songs. But for the second album all the songs are more strong. There was a more stronger red line that went through the songs. We got signed by gpfam records, we went to the studio for the very first time and we started to record our first album. This was like havin a party, drinking and stuff like that. And we didn't think about that the album will gonna be in the stores some day. It was like ok now we got a deal and now we get the money, just spend some time in the studio. It was a total catastrophe regarding the first album. For example Slammer got his name as there is a amadeus near the studio, where we were recording. He was drinking a lot of tequila slammers during the recording sessions and that's where the name comes from. But for the second album we knew much more about working in the studio. It was more professional. Maybe you can hear that from the album. But for the next album we´ll get back to our roots.

Suiciderock: Ok, so you go on drinking?
Jonne: Yeah, that's more rock'n roll (everybody was laughing after Jonne said this).

Suiciderock: Hopefully the album doesn't suffer from it...
Jonne: You know it was a total catastrophe. When our first single came out we did a lot of gigs in Finland, that's how people got to know us. Our fanbase started to grow. Our first single came out and it went to number one in Finland and we were really surprised. But we had some kind of "underground fanbase" already. Than we released our first album, "War of Love" and it gaint position 4 or something like that. And everything started to get bigger and higher and higher and we were like, ok what the fuck is happening over here? This is still like a hobby for us. There are a lot of bands which are playing for living but we are living for playing. It's more like a lifestyle. Of course there is a lot of stress. Nowadays there are a lot of people working around us and we have a lot of responsibility but I think it's great that anyone of us hasn't changed. It's getting wilder and stronger.

Suiciderock: So what was it like when you realised that your single has made it to number one?
Jonne: Because of that we were able to do a more extended tour in Finland. We got signed by a booking company. Before that we made the gigs by ourselfs and it helped us a lot. My big brother is the manager. First he was kind of a helping hand for the band. He got some money for the posters and stuff like that and now he`s our manager. It's nice. When the new single claimed to number one the media was talking about the "new Hanoi Rocks".

Suiciderock: Your hairs are blond, so maybe that's why they compare you to Michael Monroe.
Jonne: I have to say that we are not the new Hanoi Rocks. Of course Michael is one of my heroes and Christus likes the style of Andy but the rest of the band doesn't like Hanoi Rocks at all. For example Antti is a very big fan of Metallica and Larry is very much into Aerosmith or The Doors and Snack, he loves Pink Floyd and Jay is a fan of Nirvana. You know this is how the typical Finnish people think. When there is something new they start to compare like for e.g this is a little bit like Bon Jovi or almost like Bon Jovi.

Suiciderock: The press in general compares you to somebody else.
Jonne: Yeah. After our first album was out some people thought that we are going to split out and that we are a big one hit wonder. But we are here to stay!

Suiciderock: You mentoined that your brother is your manager nowadays. Is it better to have somebody from your family beeing your manager or somebody from outside?
Jonne: Before we got signed by Roadrunner records there were some other labels and some other manager from outside of Finland but it's better to keep it like it is from the beginning. Tommy protected us so good from the music industry. How can I say? He knows us very well and we don`t have to pretend anything. I hate pretending, it's like, this is what we are, we are crazy mother f***ers. So he won't get scared. I think we want to keep it this way. Why should we change our manager if everything's going well?

Suiciderock: What does a typical tourday for Negative look like?
Jonne: A lot of interviews, a lot of promotion, interviews for different kind of radiostations, magazines or websites and tv stations. First you eat breakfast after that the interviews follow and than the soundcheck. I usually like when the day starts with some action. That's nice, I'm not complaining because I like to meet new people and to see different cultures. It won't get you frustrated. Showtime is maybe around 9 or 10 pm.

Suiciderock: How long are you playing? One our?
Jonne: More than one hour, one hour and 20. I think tonight we are going to play a longer setlist.

Suiciderock: You change the setlist for every gig?
Jonne: Yeah, you know there are a lot of fans following us everywhere so we wanna give something special for them.

Suiciderock: Do you decide it on stage or before which songs you are going to play?
Jonne: Before. We used to try that after our first album but it was a chaos. I wanted to play "Naive" and they wanted to play "The Moment of our love" and someone wanted to play "Last Hero" and someone else wanted to play a ballad. That was like a cat fight on the stage. Maybe it is a good idea to write the setlist before the show.

Suiciderock: Do you still remember your first musical memory?
Jonne: My father listened to a lot of bands  from Finland, The Beatles maybe also Elvis Presley. Probably some Elvis song. What was my earlies memory? Yeah it was at the kindergarten. We used to sing this song. ( than Jonne started to sing this song for us and it went like: "Sataa sataa,... bilie bilie bong..." for all Non-Fins you can compare the text with the old song "Raindrops are falling on my head").

Suiciderock: Is there any celebrity you want to work with? Doesn`t matter, dead or alive?
Jonne: This is the hardest question ever made. There are so many of them.

Suiciderock: Maybe you can name two?
Jonne: Freddy Mercury and Kurt Cobain and maybe Kylie. She can shake her ass.

Suiciderock: And some living persons?
Jonne: Hmmm, at the moment Sebastian from Cathedral and Steven Tylor. That would be great.

Suicidrock: Which cd do you put on when you come home from a really bussy tour to relax?
Jonne: I don`t like to listen to music so much when I'm on tour. The other guys are having a party downstairs on the tourbus. This bus changes into a nightclub with wheels after every show.

We got kindly interrupted by Silvi, the nice promogirl of the guys for a short Pizza order...

Jonne:... I like to be on my own

Suiciderock: But you also like to party?
Jonne: Of course. But I'm having so much parties when we are not on tour. I party with my friends, we are drinking sometimes a bit too much. But on tour I can't drink so much because of my througt. But they can handle that. It`s fine for me because I'm not so addicted to alcohol. It's nice to drink when you are in a good company or you celerbrate something but the problem is that I hate hangovers. I got a so terrible hangover... When I drink too much I lose my voice. I like to spend some time alone. This here is kind of a meeting room. We sit here and talk about all the things happen. Actually there is no time to chill out. We are always talking about what's going on and what's next, what went wrong and all that stuff. It's like working 24 hours. But it's lifestyle you know? I love music, I love Rock'n Roll.

Suiciderock: What was the most embarrassing situation you`ve ever been in?
Jonne: I dont wanna tell that. There happend a lot of things all the time. But I won't tell the most embarrassing one.

Suiciderock: It must have been really bad than?
Jonne: ... I had sex for the first time. I was 13 years old. We were having a party and all my friends were like "You should do that, you should do that". I was like " I don't want to, I don't want to". I didn't know anything about the whole thing, how it's gonna happen and so on. I don't have so great memories about that. I think my real first time was when I turned 15. It happend with my first love. It was really romantic and perfect.

Suiciderock: Does she think so, too?
Jonne: *laughs*, I hope so. It's also embarrissing when you forget the lyrics or you drop your microphone into the audience.

Suiciderock: But that happens to a lifeband...
Jonne: Yeah sure.

Suiciderock: What about your futureplans?
Jonne: We are going to be the biggest, the smelliest, ugliest and at the same time the most beautiful band, the loudest. I hope we are still alive and that we stay togehter and that we are able to stay honest to ourselfs.

Suiciderock: Thank you very much.
Jonne: I thank you.

After the Interview Jonne also told us that Negative will go to the studio after the tour is finished and that the next album of the band are expected to hit the stores probably in autumn 2006.