Морнинг, дарлинг нгт френдс!!
Новостей особо нет - с двух прошедших концертов в Ваасе и Кокколе на тубе не найдено ни одного видоса, так что порадуем мы вас сегодня двумя небольшими интервьюшками с недавнего европейского тура нгт и ещё одной ссылкой на МА с тремя видосами от Ларри. Но обо всём по порядку ))
№1 We are the lucky ones that know how it is to play in front of thousands but also in smaller places
Negative – 13-01-2011
By: Elvira Visser & Sabine van Gameren
We were about to interview Negative at the Effenaar where they would play that evening. When we sat down we asked them about their day. They told us that this was the first day of their European Neon tour and that it was very early that morning around six o’clock in the morning. There were also some problems with their gear as the drum kit had left behind at the airport, so there was some stress if they were able to play tonight. Luckily for them and the fans they would play, but things could go a lot smoother.
Negative has quite some history and they had their first album released back in 2003. To discuss a little bit about that time we asked them to pick one song from their “War of Love” album that would represent Negative back in the days and to pick one song from “Neon” that represents Negative today. If Jonne Aaron had to pick a track from the first album “War of Love”, he had to pick ‘The Moment of Our Love’, “because with that song everything got started”, Jonne says. They were young and still had to learn a lot. But this track started it all. The beginning of Negative, as it was their first single and a good one as well. And it was also a difficult period because everything was new and exciting. ‘The Moment of Our Love’ clearly would describe the beginning period of Negative in a good way.
To pick a track from their “Neon” album was not so easy. After some thinking, Jonne sights and says that he cannot really pick a track from the new album. He says: “I mean I would pick different tracks when I’m in different moods. My choice would differ from day to day. I really like the whole album, it is hard to pick just one” It seems to be hard to pick a favourite of his own products. The band has been growing and developing over the years as a band and as persons. The band still have the same passion for the music they make and that is something really important to him, Jonne tells. You learn in those years to become better musicians. Negative seems quite content with where they stand right now, slightly ambitious for the future. This immediately makes us wonder what the band sees as goals they would like to achieve.
“Maybe some stadiums someday like here in Holland”, they mentioned, but soon they talk about how they love both small stages and big stadiums with many, many people. Jonne can not really chose between them because it is so different. However he thinks it is nice that they have both opportunities these days. “We are fortunate to play both, because if you would play in the same surrounding all the time it would get boring”. We discuss how it is to stand for a large crowd on a huge stage where you can run around and how it is to play in a small club where things get very intimate. “It is simple”, Jonne continues, “when you do things over and over it gets boring, change is good”.
Talking about different stages we bring up the position of support acts to discussion. Jonne does have quite some to share about this subject. Obviously the band has been a support themselves back in the days.
“We sucked back then” he says and suddenly everyone in the room seem to pay attention to his story. Ipads get paused, another one sits up straight, it is clear that these few words of Jonne sharpened their attention. “Really, we were not so good back then and well, we survived and here we are today. We are the lucky ones that know how it is to play in front of thousands but also in smaller places. That has its charm as well” he continues.
Jonne seems to remember a story of playing in a café which was far from alike the shows the band play nowadays. “Once we played somewhere in a café, and we were really bad and crappy on stage. Larry was doing something with his guitar and I am not sure what he did. I think he broke something, something did not work or something like that and he even looked at us awkward and then he just walked off the stage. Well the only one there, was the bartender and after a couple of songs he told us to – stop, please stop – so he could go home. So yeah that was a terrible performance, luckily no one saw.”When discussing the development of the band some more Antti Anatomia mentioned that on the DVD you can see a piece that resembles how they have grown over the years. “There is one really funny part where you see Larry Play the guitar and trying to get something done, you know to pull it off. But we were young and couldn’t really play that good so you see him struggle and practice. Then you hear someone saying that it will take ten years to get that song done. Then you switch over immediately and you see us playing the song 10 years later.” “still not perfect”, he mumbles, “but at least a lot better”.
Recently the band has been nomination for best album of the year by a Finnish Newspaper. We asked Jonne what he thought about Negative’s chances to win. Jonne didn’t think he was going to win because Jenni Vartiainen had already won, she had sold so many records this year. He was thinking very hard to name the best Finnish album in his eyes, but he could not pick one album. Simply said Negative’s Neon was the best album of 2010, according to Jonne.
Let’s get back to how this one has been created. Jonne gets his inspiration from his everyday life, himself and his friends around him. Writing is a way of getting things off his chest. He starts telling about how he had a rough time after the second album. People had put a lot of pressure on him about the new album and he had to find a way to deal with all the fame. He tells us that it was hard back in those days to find a way to cope with that situation. “There was so much happening at the same time and I needed a way to deal with it, to get it off my chest. There were times when I was laying on my bed, sometimes a little drunk even, and I was surrounded by papers and things that came into my mind, scribblings and ideas. However I could not always read it, so since then I actually use my computer to write.”
For Neon Rain, the idea came when they were in America. Jonne says: “When watching a movie you get the ending credits page, where everyone is mentioned who worked on the film. Neon Rain is something like that. Also we wanted to honour Pink Floyd somewhere on the album. Musically because his music is great.” Negative have recorded their album in the USA. The band talks all very positive about their trip there and it seems like they still look back on it with much pleasures as their eyes start shining when the subject comes to it. Jonne tells he went there first to write some lyrics. Soon the rest of the band would come too.
“I knew I needed to get the guys over to be part of this as well” he tells. And Jonne and Antti continue about their experiences. It was great to be there and the area where we were was really nice. “You know when you feel good and you are with guys that have the same passion to make great music”, Jonne says, “well that is a great feeling.” They explain us how a positive surrounding can lead to great recording sessions. That it is very important to find a producer that understand what you want with the album, to share the same things that are important for a recording. When the guys seem to get very cheerful and enthusiastic about their experience during the recordings and they start the tell us how they experienced it the tour manager comes in to tell us that we have to end the interview. Something we both noticed is that the guys are very passionate about what they are doing and they seem to enjoy every aspect of it, whether they would play for 60 of 6000 fans.
Source/Источник
№2 We brought all the ideas we had at the moment and we were just jamming’ them and recording was on all the time, it was really nice. Plenty of coffee and good ideas and long days
NEGATIVE (Jonne Aaron & Larry Love)
Interview & photo: Ivana Sataić (ivana@venia-mag.net)
I remember back in time when Negative has released their second album „Sweet & Deceitful“ in the interview intro I wrote that ‘the newest sensation from Finland comes from Tampere’, town where in the same time we talked to the singer Jonne Aaron. In the years that has passed Negative has released three more albums of which the latest “Neon” which they promote now all over Europe last year and has grown into the band that is much more than a sensation that comes from one of industrial centers in the southern part of Finland. Negative is today melancholically emotional rock band to whose work I’m as a person that follow them from their first steps truly proud and which confidently walk the path of their success and also the band on which in the years that are still coming should count. Of the album “Neon”, European tour but also so personal issues we touched along to Venia-Mag I talked to the singer and the lead author in the band Jonne Aaron and guitar player Larry Love in Budapest.
VENIA: First I want to ask you about your latest album “Neon” which is released in the middle of 2010. What are impressions now when the album came to life also in a concert form?
JONNE: Actually, we’ve been rehearsing pretty much before we went to studio with this one, as always. So the live form for those songs we discovered pretty fast. But I believe every album and we’ve done five so far, I don’t know if you knew it….
VENIA: Yes, of course.
JONNE: Every album is kind of theme of that era when it was recorded so I believe this is something unique.
VENIA: And now when you play these songs in front of the audience, what are reactions?
JONNE: Great! Great reactions! Especially if you think on Neon we have fastest song ever like ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ with this fast tempo and reactions have been great and definitely with the slower ones as well.
LARRY: Yeah, I agree. Many people already know that song. It’s kind of a new sound for Negative and it works really well live.
JONNE: And it’s a good opening song for the shows as well. Even though it’s not single yet but probably at some point could be. Let’s see. But it still works like hell, you know.
*everybody laughs*
VENIA: And where is better to play in Finland or outside of Finland?
Oooooh, there’s many sides of it. When you’re on your homefield it’s different. It can be really awesome, it can be really good and there is a lot of positive things, but to me personally, we’ve been around quite long now, over 10 years as a touring band so to me it’s more exciting, and I believe other guys agree as well, to play outside of Finland because we are able to see new people, new venues, new cultures and, you know, everything is fresh and new and that’s the only thing beside of searching some new sounds, for example, to new album. Those two things keep it fresh. And you’re haunting great melodies, it’s all about excitement. But when you’re touring in Finland… we’ve seen those places so many times already. So I rather choose touring outside of Finland.
LARRY: Yes. That’s why we decided to sing in English.
JONNE: Because of that. To get out.
LARRY: We wanted to go up road like for our first album already we went to Japan.
JONNE: We didn’t have any money back in childhood; we were so poor, everybody. *laugh* So we decided to form a band and started to do it in English so we have a little chance to travel.
*everybody laughs*
LARRY: Because in Finland there is bands that play like 25 years and they’re singing in Finnish and they can do tour in only one month, that’s enough to tour in the whole Finland, their space is…….
VENIA: Limited in a way.
LARRY: Yeah!
VENIA: And how it goes if you compare the audience. I’m always surprised in Finland people are so friendly and calm, you don’t need to fight for your position in front of the stage while, for example, here in Hungary it can be really tough and raw.
JONNE: For some reason since our first shows it’s been pretty chaotic. It seems like, especially young people; they took us literally right from the start. So we got to get used to that, it’s hard to say. It seems everywhere we’re going as a band and whenever the magic is happening on the stage it seems like people are… we are connected with them. Do you know what I mean?
VENIA: Yeah, I get the picture.
JONNE: So… it’s that kind of thing that is going on.
VENIA: You notice the people in front of you?
JONNE: Yes, every time. You’re trying to build up that tune to pick up the audience into the right level, right frequency. That’s the thing. There are no differences. Maybe in Japan people are listening a bit more carefully. And in those countries, for example yesterday in Czech Republic, when you tell them ‘let’s get wild’ they get wild but otherwise I think they don’t speak that good English, they don’t understand me on the stage. So you have to keep it simple like: let me hear you, I love you. They have to understand the certain, important things.
LARRY: In Finland, you were talking about that fighting thing…. I think people are shyer in Finland and they don’t wanna fight until they’re drunk. So if you go to see some band and people are really crazy and want to fight they are really drunk.
JONNE: Exactly.
VENIA: Let’s say few more words of „Neon“. What can you tell of the process of writting songs and how would you introduce it to potential audience?
JONNE: We tried a little bit different things. For example I went to L.A. to do some co-writing for two songs, ‘End Of The Line’ and ‘Jealous Sky’, some background. It was kind of discovery adventure to me. I wanted to find some new sides in me as writer to pull them out of me. So I wanted do to some co-writing and before that we spent many weeks at rehearsal place with Larry and Mr. Snack, our keyboard player, just three of us. We brought all the ideas we had at the moment and we were just jamming’ them and recording was on all the time, it was really nice. Plenty of coffee and good ideas and long days. So the writing process was different in a way that most of the time in studio when the music was already there and arrangements and production there were still some missing lyrics so I was working really hard for that. I really had to pull it out of me. I don’t know. We’re just putting notes after notes and trying to find some nice voices of them and catch the atmosphere and that’s important. It is music and it should be fine.
VENIA: It’s obvious that the album is very personal….
JONNE: It is. And it’s because it was recorded in L.A. because I had to put more focus on the lyrics. Our producers didn’t let me that easily as usually in Finland. With previous albums our producers were pretty much more like sound-wise producers. They were just recording our vision and T.T. Oksala with our second album brought a lot of great ideas for different things about production but this time they were really pushing me. They said: it’s not enough, it sounds ridiculous, you can’t do it like this, and you can do it better. Just do it, make it better, better, better, better. And I was thinking: ‘What the fuck? Nothing’s enough!’ In the end I brought three or four different kind of verses for ‘Kiss Of Hope’, for example. In the end we ended up with the first one, the first impression was the best one. I don’t know, maybe it was much deeper journey than ever before. And in the way there is a huge positive force in the album. Huge positive vibe on it even though we are Negative, you know?
*everybody laughs* Lot of hope. ‘Kiss Of Hope’ is the song that represents the whole process pretty well, how it was for us. It was the new start, the turning point in Negative’ career. We were just signed with Warner Music, big label, and we had a new start. We are pretty lucky if you think about that because bands usually do two or three albums in their career and then disappear. We are taught motherfuckers.
*everybody laughs*
VENIA: I want to ask you about the song „Blood On Blood“ because when I think of the album I think that one is, thanks to the lyrics, one of the strongest.
JONNE: Really?
VENIA: Yes. As it touches the theme of time that is passing. Are you often regret because you can’t turn back the time and if you could would you change many things?
JONNE: Every mistake has a meaning to exist and to show up. So I think without doing any mistakes you wouldn’t be able to process yourself as a human being. And the whole life is… this journey is like learning about the environment around you and how to deal with yourself and enjoy your life. That’s the most important thing. But of course, for example, things back in 2006 when we were fucked up, everybody, literally, less or more in the band and we were touring quite a lot and it was a nerve breaking year for all of us in a way so if I would take it back I would take us to Hawaii or some vacation and do nothing. I would say stop touring and do whatever you like and take your time.
LARRY: We’ve been pushing so hard all the time and there wasn’t one day when we weren’t thinking negative in our band.
JONNE: Yeah, in some way.
LARRY: In some perspective it was always in our heads.
VENIA: More or less it’s always in the head.
JONNE: Yes. Merchandise-album-touring-new songs and then againg touring you have to think about. But, you know, in the end it’s all about believe in yourself, believe in what you’re doing and stay honest to that. Believe in nobody but us. It’s just… it’s the combination of different persons in the band and it can go crazy.
VENIA: Few minutes ago we were talking of your songs as positive songs. Some people would say your songs are melancholic.
JONNE: Yes, they are. And I love melancholic music. We all do I believe.
VENIA: Are you personally melancholic as your songs or in your music you just reflect the melancholic side of you?
JONNE: Yes, I was really depressed as a teenager. I had a lot of dark thoughts in my mind back in those days. Kurt Cobain was like god to me and I was thinking: ‘what if I do the same and shoot my brain off’. But I kind of enjoyed that kind of things. After I discover playing guitar because the music had such a huge force, it was like salvation to me because I was thinking all those thoughts and then put them into guitar and let them out of me. It’s sensitivity, something you have to value as a writer. And yet sometimes after writing many songs and dealing with the new album process you get depressed little bit. It’s like when a female is giving a birth to a child they get depressed. I feel the same sometimes. I feel like haven’t energy to do do anything and I’m just worthless in this world. It’s like a putting the cell phone to a charger, I also have to give myself some time to recover.
LARRY: If you give everything for a record you feel empty for a while.
JONNE: Kind of a burn out. But it’s not that…. I don’t know. I like to spend many weeks at home and don’t like to see anybody. *laugh* It’s kind of sad, at least we have a great album.
VENIA: *laugh* Actually I think it’s great you can afford that!
JONNE: *laugh* Yeah! To be in paradise, sleep and watch some films.
*everybody laughs*
VENIA: Cool. But when it comes to music it also comes to music idols. You often mention Guns N’Roses and Aerosmith as your idols.
JONNE: Of course.
VENIA: So, as I managed to see both bands in last 6 months I need to ask you….
JONNE: You? Oh my God, where? Here?
VENIA: No, not here.
JONNE: In the States?
VENIA: No. I’ve seen Aerosmith in Italy and Guns N’Roses were playing in Croatia so it was more than natural move to go.
JONNE: Oh my God, you’re lucky!
VENIA: Yeah! So, both bands are, I can say, in the great, even top form, despite of the age…
JONNE: And years behind them….
VENIA: Yes. So…
JONNE: When you mentioned those bands… we’re trying to kind of make honor to those kind of bands. But in the same time we’re trying to bring it to 2011, you know.
VENIA: I guess I know as that was actually my question.
*everybody laughs*
JONNE: So, that’s the thing with Negative. We’re making honor to old school rock bands.
VENIA: What attracted you to those bands?
JONNE: I remember when I saw Axl Rose doing his performing in a sold-out Paris stadium. On TV, actually. I had it on tape and I was watching it over and over. I was 12 years old and I saw him doing his show and I got the feeling there is something about that. Something happened in my life.
LARRY: Some kind of strange feeling… *laugh*
JONNE: Yeah, I got like a message from somewhere: this is what I’m gonna do and I must do it. And when you’re on that journey you don’t realize it happened already, you know what I mean?
VENIA: Sometimes you need to stop to realize.
JONNE: Exactly. You need to stop and look around as you just don’t realize those things, you just try to bring it in and live in the moment.
VENIA: I need to ask you about these L.A. things, when we mentioned Guns’ and the scene itself. What is, after all music and movie stories that arrived from L.A. still interesting and inspiring in the Mecca of show business?
JONNE: I don’t know. To them maybe Scandinavia. Maybe Scandinavian bands are bringing there something that they don’t have there. Maybe it’s the melancholy.
VENIA: Probably. As there are so many bands in the same genre as, for example, Mötley Crüe.
JONNE: They have a lot of cock-rock. But we aren’t representing the cock-rock literally. We are more like sensitive, beautiful melodies mixed with the rock guitars. We are more like intense. I think. It’s hard to say.
LARRY: There was a long period in time when there wasn’t Finnish act going up road. There was Hanoi Rocks in the 80′s and then came HIM in the 90′s and that has been more international with Finnish bands and I think it’s a natural step to go to US where are the best studios and where the whole rock’n'roll scene is happening and coming from. So maybe it’s next step for Finnish music industry to try to do something there.
JONNE: And of course if you’re touring… for example, we’ve been touring now in Europe a lot and we love it. We’ve been in Asia but we’ve never tour in US yet. So some day it’s obviously some kind of a goal and achievement when we gonna get there. Some day. But we don’t have to rush. You know, we have a great audience here and there are a lot of things to do here.
LARRY: It’s never-ending parade.
JONNE, VENIA: Yeah! *laugh*
JONNE: You’ve said it. *laugh*
VENIA: Is there any message you’d like to send to people in Croatia who would read this interview?
JONNE: It’s nice to come around once again. I think it is a third or fourth time for us to be here and each time you get surprised by the feedback you get from the audience and that’s something. That gives the reason to come closer to you over and over again. Try to make your life comfortable and enjoy good music and good live shows.
LARRY: Keep it real and believe in yourself. And live in the moment. Come to our concert and live in the moment.
JONNE: Join us on Facebook. *everybody laugh* Stay Negative!
Source/Источник
ПЕРЕВОД интервьюшек в комментах.
И в завершение ссылка на видосы с фейсбука Ларри - возвращение парней домой из Москвы, пожелание доброго утра от Ларри перед его поездкой в Ваасу и, так сказать, очередной "репорт фром зе роуд".
Наслаждайтесь