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PRIVATE LINE
"A Rock`n Roll Show with full Volume"
Suiciderock: You are already well-known in Finland. But could you be that nice and give us a little introduction of the band for all those people who don`t know you yet? What should people know about Private Line? Illy: Well, we are the best band in the world and I just can`t imagine why you haven`t heard about us before. There is something wrong with you. Eliaz: There is nobody except us. *everbody laughs* Sammy: Yeah, so do your research and try to find some music of us. Spit: Listen and learn. Suiciderock: When did you start with the band? Sammy: It was in the mid 90's. We were all living in Jyväskylä, a town in the middle of Finland. I started to play with Eliaz in 1996, than I met Spit and Illy in 1998 or something like that. At this time we did some demos and played some gigs, but we also had some other bands besides that. In 2002 we found out that we are all living in Helsinki. We had a little break before. It was about one or two years, where we didn`t play that much. But when we were living in the same city, it was easier for us as a band. Some day I met Jack in some bar. I asked him to join us and so he did. So here we are. So you can say that we started with this line-up in 2002. Suiciderock: Did you start just for fun or was your intention to get something serious out of this band? Illy: Both. Sammy: It was pretty hard to make a "big game" out of the whole thing in a town like Jyväskylä. We played in some local bars here in Finland, but there were no record companies or booking agents. So it was much more harder to do it from there than to do it from Helsinki. We sent out our demos and got some good feedback and so we believed in us. We always believed in ourselves. That's why we are still doing it. *laughs* Suiciderock: Let’s talk about traditions. How does a typical Christmas day look like in Finland? Eliaz: Usually there is some snow except this year. Sammy: In the past we had a big party on christmas like "Christmas for homeless people", but nowadays we have homes and stuff. Illy: They have girlfriends,... Sammy: But when we lived together we had good parties. It is just about relaxing... Eliaz: ...being at home and it is more familyorientated. Spit: No drinking, just eating. Sammy: Some drinks of course. Spit: Yeah coffee and stuff. Sammy: Many people follow the tradition to go to the cementary, but that`s not possible for me 'cause it's too far away. Jyväskylä is about 300km from Helsinki. Last christmas I went to my fathers place. Maybe this is a little bit nicer during christmas time, because you have always snow. In Helsinki you always have this shit coming from the sky. Illy: It looks like Russia in a way. Suiciderock: What did you get for Christmas? Sammy: Nothing. I was not nice last year. Eliaz: I got this cool cigarette box. Wait I show it to you. And I also got a phone. Sammy: My sister bought me this voucher in the value of 1000 Euro, so I can take my family on holiday. That was a really nice present. I think that christmas is more for children. Of course, it is nice to buy some presents for your friends, but I didn`t. I`m broke anyway. Spit: So you have to steal it. Suiciderock: What was the weirdest present you found under the christmas tree? Eliaz: I bought this weird gecco. Suiciderock: A living or a dead one? Eliaz: It was dead. Sammy: I bought this poker game for our tourbus, so we can play that on our tourbus. Suiciderock: You’ve just released your new record „Evel Knievel Factor“. First of all who had the idea for this unique name? Is there a deeper story behind the name? Sammy: The expression "Evel Knievel" comes from the States. He is a legend, a dare devil, a biker who does extreme things. He is jumping over canions and cliffs. Actually he didn`t make it so often. He crashed very often. But he is still very popular. Illy: And he is still alive. Sammy: Yeah. People got more interested when he crashed down. They were more exited to see wether he crashes down or not. That`s kind of a Rock`n Roll thing. "Evel Knievel Factor" means for us that people come to see you no matter if you will make it or not. So it's important that you believe in yourself. Things can go very well and on the other hand you can fail, but you have to believe in yourself. That was the situation when we made this album. I was producing it together with the guys and we also had to believe in ourselves even if it goes wrong. Spit: Or we crash. Sammy: We were working for so many days and so many weeks and we kept on learning everything around the recordings. It was our "Evel Knievel Factor" and we had to believe in ourselves. Suiciderock: About the roles in your band. Who is responsible for the songwriting? Sammy: All of us, but I think mainly me and Illy. Illy: We were working a lot together for this album. We always get this idea of a song when we put it through kind of a meat grinder and than we see what comes out of this. Sammy: But all of us were included in the working process. Of course, you can see the credits in the booklet. We had some co-writers on the album as well. There were this Swedish guys who helped us a bit. Our Swedish publishing company asked us if we would be interested in trying to have some co-writers on the album. So we said why not. Some of the songs were really great. I think we had a vision about every song who was co-written. I think we have included some spices with this idea. Suiciderock: Who had the idea for the cover? Why are you wearing black and white? Illy: Because everybody else wears black. Sammy: Yeah that was one reason. Our first album "21st Century Pirates" came out in 2004 in Finland. After that we realised that there have been so many new Rock`n Roll bands that looked pretty much the same.We wanted to choose something special for the cover. So we were once again believing in ourselves and so we said we can wear whatever we want to. And that Rock`n Roll doesn`t necessarily mean that you have to be dressed in black leather. Illy: Let's see how many bands will start to wear white dresses now. Sammy: Our fans were really surprised about that. They asked us if this would be our new style and stuff like that. We said common it is just for the promotion pictures, it doesn`t mean that we are wearing white underpants every morning. Suiciderock: You don`t? ;) Sammy: Wait I have to have a look. Illy: Just white socks. Suiciderock: On your last album „21st Century Pirates“ Nikki Sixx... Sammy: No. Who told you that? But we were supporting Brides of Destruction, Nikki`s band when he had a break with Mötley Crue and we supported Mötley Crue as well for two gigs when they played in Finland. But no he didn`t take part in the album. Spit: Have you heard it from Nikki Sixx? Suiciderock: The new album was released also in Japan some days ago (20.12.06). Any plans to tour over there? All: Yeah of course. Sammy: But let's see how the album turns out there. Last May we played one gig in Japan. We played in Tokyo and it was great. But let's see how the people react on the album. We got some good reviews on the album and we had some interviews, but let`s see what the future brings. We have two albums out there now. It's better to tour there when you have two albums out than with only one. Suiciderock: How do you deal with bad critics? Sammy: We don`t have to. Eliaz: We never get bad critics. Sammy: We don`t care about those. Illy: If we know where it comes from we kill the guy. Suiciderock: For the song „Broken Promised Land“, which was also your first music video, was shot in Las Vegas. What was the time in the US like for you? All: We had fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun. Sammy: The desert was amazing, but I was expecting a little bit more of the thing. But it was enough for our director and our producer. Spit: We were just gambling there. Eliaz: Yeah and we lost all our money. Suiciderock: The clip was inspired by the movie „Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas“. Who's idea was it? Sammy: It is just a simple idea for a video that fits very well to the song. Suiciderock: Do you have a hand on the story of the clip or does someone else decide that for you? Sammy: Actually we are the ones to choose it. We get different suggestions of different producers and we decide that we´ll take this and that we won't take that and we also make up our minds. And sometimes somebody tells us you have to do it that way and we are just too dumb and so we believe in him. *smiles* Suiciderock: For all those who don`t know the film. Can you explain the story in short words? Sammy: No. You simply have to watch the film by yourself. Watch it from the net or something, but if I would explain the story of the film to you, it would not make so much sense. Spit: It's not like the Top Gun movie. Eliaz: It's like a spinal tap in Las Vegas. Suiciderock: You played a couple of gigs here in Finland in November and December. How did the audience react when they heard the new songs? Eliaz: I think the response was good. Sammy: The new songs reached the crowd very well. Eliaz: At least there were some people in the audience. *laughs* Sammy: I think the audience was a couple of years older. I think with "21st Century Pirates" we had more young girls at our shows, which is nice. But with the new album we also had this hairy guys, you know this kind of Rock`n Roll guys, who listen to Rock`n Roll since the 50's or whatever. I think we have a wider audience nowadays. Illy: There was this pretty mean looking guy at our last gig. He had to use crutches and he was trying to get my girl. *everbody laughs* Suiciderock: But you don't prefer the hairy guys than the good looking women? Sammy: I think we take them all. It's nice to have a different type of audience. It's nice to know that so many different people like our music and what we do. Suiciderock: How do you get prepared for a show? Do you have any special rituals before entering the stage? Sammy: We try to relax a bit and we try to think about the show. Illy: We just go through the show. Eliaz: We don`t kill any chicken or something like that. Sammy: Actually we are on our own. We are seperated. One member is in this corner and the other one is somewhere else. Suiciderock: What can people expect from your life shows and why should they spent their last money on your concert tickets? Sammy: Our lifeshows are full of energy. We play loud music, a wild rock show is expecting you. I think it is simply a Rock`n Roll show with full volume. Illy: Yeah everything can happen. Sammy: I think every gig is different. Noone knows what to expect. Suiciderock: What is the most embarrissing thing that ever happened to you whilst being on stage? Sammy: It had to do with my pants. First there was only a little hole. I got burned by a cigarette somehow. When I moved to do my amazing jumps *laughs* I heard this strange noise… Suiciderock: Was it on the back? Sammy: You could see my jewelleries… Eliaz: The audience had fun. Suiciderock: Did you wear any underware? Sammy: No, I never do. Ok at least not on stage. Suiciderock: And the best show ever? Illy: It is always the next show that comes up. Sammy: There have been so many. I think we played one of the best shows in Barcelona. We played in that club with about 500 people inside. The album wasn`t released over there at this time. The show was sold out, the audience knew all the lyrics and stuff like that. It was overwhelming. Illy: Tokyo wasn`t bad as well. Sammy: It is always something special when you get to play somewhere you haven`t been before. You don`t know what to expect and you just check out what`s gonna happen. When it turns out like it was the case in Barcelona it is just an amazing feeling. Suiciderock: Are there any plans to tour in Germany? Sammy: Yes, as soon as the album is out there. Illy: We are working on that all the time. Sammy: I think we will play there pretty soon. So maybe you don`t have to wait for so long anymore. Suiciderock: The change of the year mostly leads to New Years solutions, like stop smoking and stuff like that. Did you make any promises to yourself? Sammy: Yeah I tried to stop smoking. No cigarettes for me this year. No I smoke sometimes but I`m not so much into that. So I try to smoke as less I can and I try to be a good person of course. Suiciderock: A lot of finnish bands are successfully in Europe nowadays. What do you think is the reason for this? Eliaz: Finnish guys are simply great. Illy: It`s always been pretty hard and tough for finnish bands. After HIM and Nightwish so many bands made their way. So the people noticed the guys from this “strange” northern country are good musicians. Sammy: There are only five million people living in Finland and it is really hard to make your living with music. You have to be very popular and you always have to give your best to be able to live from that. In my opinion there have been many good bands through all the years but now people get interested in them. The Finnish have always been more rocky compared to the Swedish. Sweden always stands for pop and Finland stands for Rockmusic. Suiciderock: Who made up your band name? I heard it comes from some sex numbers in newspapers. Sammy. This happened ages ago. We were searching for a good name for the band and I was reading different kinds of newspapers. So I came about some adult advertisement “dial this number…” Spit: Did you call that line? *laughs* Suiciderock: If you had to pick one word to describe every member of Private Line, which word would you pick? Eliaz: (points to Spit) He is my best friend. And so they are. They are all my best friends. Illy: The same for me. Spit: Ich habe keine Ahnung (I have no clue). Sammy: Well, they are very good players, very good musicians and good friends of course. Suiciderock: What does 2007 hold for Private Line? Spit: We want to go to Germany. And I want to feel Berlin. Questions out of the question box: Illy: What would you prefer, to be deaf or blind? Answer: I think I would rather be blind. I have seen so much. Sammy: Me too. Eliaz: Sex or Rock`n Roll? Answer: maybe sex is to overrated, so I choose Rock`n Roll. Spit: Roll on or deodorant spray? Answer: Spray. Because you can inflame it. Sammy: Tell us three things against hangover? Answer: Beer, Vodka and Wine. Don't forget to check out the Photogallery for pix of the interview!
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