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TWO WITCHES
"If you wanna loose your money, get yourself a band"
Suiciderock: First of all can you tell us a bit about Two Witches? Jyrki: That`s the question I hate the most. Maybe because I found the band twenty years ago. Twenty years are such a long time. We have been touring for so long, we have released so many records and we have been to so many places. We went through so many line-up changes. It is really hard to put twenty years in a couple of minutes, or in a few hours or days. But I try. I created the band twenty years ago with my ex-girlfriend, who plays in Lacrimosa nowadays. At this time she was still living here in Finland. Than one year later we released our first album 7", two years after that we did our first European Tour. Since that we have been touring all the time. Within this time you could see people coming and going. It is a pretty hard job anyway, if you don't see any money like it was in our case. In 1993 Anne and I split. She went to Switzerland for Lacrimosa and I remaind the main man for the band. Since she left, I have been the only orginal member of the band. At moment our line-up consits of a bass player, a guitar-player and a guy who is doing the wire, he is keeping the whole life show thing on. We released a compilation or an album almost every year. The reason for that is that we have never been in a big label and when you`re signed to a small label, you have to make different contracts with all the countries. On our tours we have been in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, every European country. Suiciderock: You said twenty years are a long time, but could you name the three or four most important steps in your career so far? Jyrki: The first 7" of course, the change from the demo band to a real band, than another important step was when Anne left the band and the first time we went to South America. It simply something else. Since that we were only touring in Europe and people there almost act the same. We went to Brazil for the first time, we felt like the Beatles. Everybody knew us there, we were simply hanging out in the street for example and people were screaming for us. It was something totally different! I think this are the most important moments in my career so far. Suiciderock: Why did you become a musician? Jyrki: My rootes can be found in the theater. I always felt very comfortable on stage. I was acting in the theater and I was on television before. I always knew that this is something I really like and now I´m sitting here twenty years later and I still think to keep the band alive is the main reason and to play as many concerts as possible. For me personally the records are not that important. Of course, you have to make records as otherwhise you won`t get concerts either. But touring is the main reason. You should know I`m coming from a poor family so I first got the chance to go abroad with the band. When I was younger it was totally impossible to travel all over the world with my own money. I have been in Sweden before I found Two Witches, but since the band exist I have been in 25 different countries. Suiciderock: Does your band name have a special meaning and who invented it? Jyrki: I know that in English speaking countries the word "witch" stands for being female. But in the Finnish language and culture most of the witches have been male. It`s said that most of this witches have been criminal and so they had an easy excuse to kill them. Furthermore I felt that the name fits perfectly, because this is our thing and something completely different. In the very early days of the band there were only Anne and me and we wanted to keep the name. And for me it is still something special after all this years. Because we had two girls in the band later on people always had this picture of two girls being Two Witches in their minds. Suiciderock: What inspires you for your songwriting or for your music? Any special heroes to mention? Jyrki: I think that the inspiration comes from life itself. Of course, we had kind of idols when we started like Christine Death, David Bowie, Bauhaus, The Mission, those early 80's gothic band. But we have always been pretty far away from our idols. I think nowadays I have met all of my heroes from this time and I noticed that this guys are actually the same kind of people like me. I still enjoy their music, I still like them, but I can`t idealise like I did back than. We don´t have any influences of other bands in our music nowadays. We have found our own style. Suiciderock: Who is responsible for the songwriting? Is it a common project? Jyrki: It depends. Due to the fact that the people have been coming and going the writers for the lyrics changed. I have written lyrics basically out of the reason that I have to sing those songs. At the moment my solo guitarist does the composing and some friends have been in an "on and off relationship" with Two Witches. Sometimes they helped us on stage and sometimes in the studio. Suiciderock: So many successful bands coming from Finland. Can you explain that success? Jyrki: No. There have been many good bands all these years, but even if the bands were good in the late 70's and 80's the managers have been unable. They were not on the same level as the bands. Even if the bands were given a chance their managers couldn`t sell them. There were some bands who went pretty far even if they didn`t have the same background. For examply Waltari, they were pretty original and good. There was always Finnish punk and hardcore it was a really big thing in the early 80's. We simply didn`t have any good managers except Seppo Vesterinen, who brought Hanoi Rocks on the American market. Hanoi Rocks still were an underground thing comparing to HIM and The Rasmus. Seppo was the only one, who was able to open the doors for this band in the 80's. Nowadays we have more managers who are able to do this. Maybe that`s the reason for the great success at the moment. Suiciderock: What kind of advice would you give to a young band? Jyrki: It's said "If you wanna loose your money, get yourself a band". I would say don't dream about this Rock'n Roll thing, just do it. If you really want something, just do it your way. If you`re lucky you will make it and if not the whole thing could end after just one concert. But don't dream it, be it. Suiciderock: What can people expect from your life shows? Jyrki: We have always been a life band. We always wanted to be on stage. At most of the shows we use a fire show. I think it`s worth to be seen. Suiciderock: Let's talk about tradtitions. How did you spent your christmas? Jyrki: This year I had two off-days. So I was just watching some movies at home. On christmas day I visited my parents and the rest of the time I was just relaxing without doing anything else. Suiciderock: What was the most stupid New Year's resolution you ever made? Jyrki: I don`t promise anything. I`m pretty satisfied the way how it is. Suiciderock: What are your future plans for the band? Jyrki: We are celebrating our 20 years anniversary this year. We tour as much as we can. We have a couple of very good contacts, so we can go to countries like Portugal and Austria. We haven't been there for a long time. We will do our first real tour in Russia and Ukrainia. That`s really interesting 'cause I don`t know what to expect.I only have been to St.Petersburgh so far.
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