Yes it’s all true!!..after 6 years of silence in the tundra, the mutant boogie men are back stirring up trouble in that ol’ deep frozen backyard!!
Oh great! someone woke up the bear..
New record out soon’ish, vinyl release date slightly delayed until 27.2.2015.
Sure worth the wait coz it’s extraordinary crunchy!..or as Chiéf in command Mistika puts it:
Possibly the most intense and stripped down tight boogie package of them all and two Beefheart cover songs entering the Cosmonian universe sure doesn’t hurt either. (Jyrki Laiho aka the Chiéf)
Pre-listen to a couple of their songs here and read the rural interview made with tundra stars Pekka and Pentti.
Only one thing left to say..BOOGIE TILL YOU DROP DEAD!!!!!
First record in some 6 years, what happened to you all and why a new album now?
Pentti: We live in different cities, so we can’t just meet up and practice a few times a week like most bands. This combined with human limitations makes a few years seem like a fart in space.
Pekka: When we started the band all of us were living in the same city. We’ve just been busy doing other stuff but we really missed boogieing together and now it seemed to be the right time for all of us to do it. Mutant-boogie on big time!
You still driven by negrospiritualization in a eurostyle kinda way?
Pentti: Sure
Pekka: Hah! I know we’ve always had weird album names. Eurostyle was a name of the font that we used on the cover of our first album. It was a stupid inside joke that we all went along with. Negrospiritualized was a homage to afro-american rhythm music. So maybe now we’re skunkadelicatessed; stinky and well fed.
What are your expectations to this new album ‘Skunkadelicatess’?
Pekka: We already got a record deal abroad and have plenty of gigs coming in Finland so most of our expectations are already fulfilled.
You guys grew older in age at least, what has changed if anything since the debut and up to this upcoming album?
Pekka: We are all busier now. We’ve learned to play better together. I hope that we’re more organized nowadays, but I’m not 100% sure about that.
The new album will be released on Karkia Mistika, did you bribe Jyrki or did Jyrki bribe you?
Pekka: No bribes were delivered. It was love at first sight we met.
Pentti: Jyrki offered to release this already years ago.
Since you wrote everything worth knowing in your band biography (http://www.cosmojonesbeatmachine.fi/info/), there is no reason to continue asking about the band so lets go personal!
What are you doing in life when not playing music?
Pekka: I’d wish to tell you that besides doing music I work as a private eye and an international adventurer but our normal day-to-day life is not that poetic. When not making music I try to avoid other people. I enjoy being alone recording stuff, reading, watching movies, doing sports and drinking. Marko is raising a family and works as a chef, JP is a postman and Teemu is an artist.
Pentti: I’m doing a noise project called UMPIO http://www.umpio.com/manifest focusing on metal junks and craptacular electronix. I work in logistics to pay the bills.
As a child what did you dream of becoming as a grown-up?
Pekka: Old and wise. Didn’t get to be that wiser.
Name one thing that really annoys you?
Pekka: I don’t get annoyed easily. Tight schedules are something I don’t enjoy too much.
Most creative thing you have ever done?
Pekka: My son, Julius.
Worst trouble you ever got yourself into?
Pekka: Growing up in the backwoods of Finland in a small village called Varpaisjärvi where the population nowadays is less than two thousand was not that rosy. There were several occasions where local boneheads and drunkards wanted to beat me up or shoot me with a shotgun. I got strangled, kicked, I woke up in strange places with only hostile people around me. Those were the odd times and some pretty strange days.
Wildest adventure ever experienced?
Pekka: I try to avoid wild adventures. I had enough of those when I was a teenager and I don’t want to reminisce it that much.
Fave city in Finland and why?
Pekka: Tampere. It’s the city where I live at the moment. It’s not too crowded here but at the same time quite easy to disappear here compared to a place like Varpaisjärvi. It’s not a metropolis and it’s not hard to find nature nearby. There are also plenty of original musicians doing interesting stuff.
Fave city outside Finland and why?
Pekka: Tallinn. I don’t really travel as a tourist. Tallinn is quite close and it’s only a two hour ferry ride from Helsinki to Tallinn. Culturally it’s different compared to Finland but at the same time it feels instantly familiar. Plenty of old architecture and buildings have more or less survived there. We’ve performed there many times and I already miss the place. Been away too long. Attention to our booking agent!
Best venue you ever played in?
Pekka: Of the recent venues we’ve played at the Gearfest in Denmark must be probably the best. It’s an outdoor festival at the countryside in a village called Vordingborg. The audience there were really receptive to our mutant blues and we met plenty of crazy and beautiful people there. Some bizarre places includes the M/S Stubnitz boat in Rostock, Germany and the Bari Airport in Italy where we performed next to airplanes taking off.
What is the silliest thing you have ever thought about during an on stage performance?
Pentti: “wait…. what song is this… aaarrrggghhh”
Pekka: I try to be concentrated on music and lyrics while I perform. Rarely your mind wanders off to things like “what will I buy in the grocery store tomorrow”.
Name 3 bands you are listening to right now?
Pentti: Curtis Roads, Lubomyr Melnyk, Haare
Pekka: The Soul Stirrers, The Coasters and The Impressions.
I guess everyone gets mindblown a few times during a lifetime, what has managed to mindblow you so far?
Pentti: The music of Cardiacs and nearly dying in a car crash.
Pekka: Watching a rare live footage of a giant squid on a nature documentary called Monster Squid. I also got my mind blown couple of years ago when I found out the intoxicating secrets of swimming in a hole in the ice.
Label info: Karkia Mistika Records http://hahmot.net
All rights to official band photos: Pekka Pirttikangas/CJBM http://www.cosmojonesbeatmachine.fi