Interview with Sammy & Ilari in Rovaniemi Finnland - English Version

(Private Line)

08.07.2006 von Diana Hartmann

Let me start with a great quote from their biography: “The title of the debut album by Private Line, ‘21st Century Pirates’, tells a whole lot about the band, their music and their attitude. They have practiced their piracy by borrowing and stealing the most essential elements from their childhood heroes and turned it into their own 21st century modern sound.” ^(*1) Said debut album is a good two years old by now and the fans are eagerly awaiting the new album, which is due out later this year. At this year’s Rovaniemirock MHQ got the opportunity meet some of the Private Line pirates for a little chat.

The sun is shining in Rovaniemi, the second day of the festival is in its early hours and I make my way to meet vocalist Sammy in the festival’s backstage area. As we sit down, Ilari, one of the guitar players, joins us and before we start with the actual interview I make the two of them fill out their shortcuts.

Ok, what most people are probably wondering about right now You’ve just released your new single ‘Broken Promised Land’ and you’ve played some new songs already in the sets recently. When do we get to hear the rest? When is the new album coming out?

Sammy: Probably at the end of September.

But you don’t have a definite date yet?

Sammy: No.

Ilari: But it’s coming

It’s coming, that’s good then. And do you know where you’re gonna release it? Like Finland only and then the rest later?

Sammy: I think it’s coming in Finland first, then for the end of the year in Japan, and hopefully in the rest of Europe. Let’s see. We’re still discussing about it with the labels, about the European deals. I hope during this year it will come out in all the European countries as well. And next year in the States, because they’re releasing ‘21^st Century Pirates’ now. And Australia, they’re releasing ‘21^st Century Pirates’ this month, so

So you’re gonna wait with the new album there a little bit, obviously

Sammy: Yeah.

Do you have a title yet?

Sammy & Ilari: It’s secret!

Okay, we have to be patient then Tell us a little bit about the new songs. I mean, I’ve heard a little bit in the gigs already

Sammy: So how did you like them?

I liked in Tampere, you were playing a song called ‘The Sindicate’. I loved that one!

Sammy: Yeah, it’s good!

And yesterday, I think the last one?

Sammy: Yeah, the last one No, it’s not gonna be on the next album. It’s our old song from an EP called ‘Six Songs Of Hellcity Trendkill’. But there was the third-last song called ‘Alive’. And the first one, it was called ‘Evel Knievel Factor’. It’s gonna be on the album.

And ‘Sindicate’, is that gonna be on there as well?

Sammy: Yeah. So, I think every song is great. It’s hard to say, how to describe it I think there’s good songs and it’s

Ilari: There are only good songs!

Okay. When you write the songs, how does your music develop? Is it like a process in the band, so everyone is involved? Or is it more or less like one or two people doing stuff?

Sammy: It depends very much. Normally, when I have some idea or something, I share it with Ilari and we’re checking it out a little bit, and then we are jamming with the band. And it depends. There’s many ways. Somehow you have to get this first feeling of it, what the song is about

And what comes first usually, the music or the lyrics?

Sammy: (laughs) Music! Every time. It’s much easier, you know? I might get the lyrics first sometimes, but In the lyrics I’m not that kind of writer, who writes all the time, always writing their stuff. I write only when I know what I’m writing about.

Ilari: It starts more like with a feeling that it will be a song. It’s not the lyrics

Sammy: It can be just a little thing, it can be even drums

Ilari: Or something you’ve picked up.

Sammy: Or some cool sound, like from a guitar. It comes and then you build it up. But we always want to get a high point there: What is it about? Why does this song have to be made? We maybe even throw away some good things, because we haven’t found the point, why this song has to be made.

But they’re all done now basically?

Sammy: The songs? Yeah, they’re recorded. I’m still doing some vocal parts and Ilari is doing some synths and stuff like that. But we’re starting to mix it up in like three weeks, so it’s gonna be finally ready in the start of August, and then we’re mastering it and stuff.

And afterwards, do you have any plans for the tour after the release? Where, apart from Finland, will it take you?

Sammy: Yeah, of course we start from Finland, when it’s gonna be released in Finland. So we’re starting in September. I think there’s already some dates confirmed. And then it all depends on the European release. But I hope and I think that we’re going to the States, maybe during this year or in the beginning of next year. And again to Japan to play the new songs. And to the US to play more like ‘21^st Century Pirates’.

Ilari: Then we have to go to Italy

Sammy: Have to go (laughter)

That bad? ;)

Ilari: I wish I had a great answer! (more laughter)

Sammy: Yeah, we’re going there, because there’s already such a huge fan base and the records are out there. It all depends on the new deal, because Germany is quite a huge market. And we definitely want to break through there. But it’s better to go there with the album out, you know. So people can go and buy your album.

Yeah, that’s true! So, did you all grow up with musical influences? Like, when you were little?

Ilari: Yes, pretty much. We have the same switch gone wrong in our heads. (laughs)

So you started playing any instruments very early?

Sammy: I started when I was 11.

Ilari: I started when I was 9, I think

That’s actually pretty late, considering

Ilari: I had a big fight with my parents, to get my first synthesizer. I probably spent two years with the guitar and then I was like: ‘I want a synthesizer, please buy this fucking synthesizer for me!’ (Sammy laughs) It was not like with some parents: ‘Here’s a violin. I know you don’t want to but you have to play!’

Sammy: Yeah, we didn’t have that. In our family, my father had played the cello when he was younger, but I didn’t play when I was young. In our family, it was my sister, who was a teenager that wanted to listen to Rock’n’Roll when I was younger, and I was listening to all her records. Maybe she’s the one to blame that I’m now in a band! (laughs)

Okay. Can you describe everyone in the band with one word?

Sammy: One? One is a little bit short

Well, okay, then take two, three or four

Ilari: Everyone in the band?

Everyone, yeah.

Sammy: Spit is a punk with full heart. Jack is

Ilari: He’s a rock star!

Sammy: A rock star with full passion. And Eliaz is like in the wrong planet right now. (laughter)

Ilari: (points at Sammy) He’s the ultimate visionary, you know?

Sammy: (points at Ilari) And he is the multi-instrumentalist.

Ilari: I’m the nerd (laughs)

Okay, and how well do you guys get along actually? Have you been friends since you were little?

Sammy: Yeah, we’ve been friends since I’ve known Ilari from maybe ‘96 or something.

Ilari: Yeah, something like that.

Sammy: Like 10 years. And Eliaz I’ve known since I was seven years old. He was at the same school, in a different class, and we got to know each other better when I was a teenager, like 15 or 16. And Spit, that was maybe since the same year I met you (points at Ilari). But we met him when he was playing in some sick band and it was just mad, they don’t remember any of their gigs, you know? (laughter) Actually, they were very good sometimes, and on this day we went there together, we were like: ‘We have to get that one!’ And Jack I’ve known since 2001 or something like that. So he’s the freshman

So he’s the baby?

Sammy: Yeah! (laughs) But I think it’s kind of a brotherhood in this level. I think we’re all happy with each other, pretty much

Ilari: It’s just become like a family, you know?

Sammy: It is like the same goal for everyone: they want to build the band. If someone is the asshole one day, he can be nice the other day. It’s like a brotherhood or something. They fight, and they are friends still.

Okay. Finnish bands are getting more and more popular outside of Finland these days. There are a lot of requests everywhere and I’m just going by Germany now.

Ilari: Yeah, I noticed this.

Why do you think that is?

Sammy: Why?

Yeah! Trick question;)

Sammy: Don’t know (laughs)

Ilari: I think, of course you have to say it, HIM has done a lot. Like some 15 years ago, or earlier, no-one knew Finland – where is that? But because of HIM people know that from here we have many, many talented musicians coming. And over here it’s never been so easy to live with music. You have to be really good if you want to make it.

Sammy: One thing is, there hasn’t been so much pressure from the business side of the music.

Ilari: Yeah, it’s not all mainstream. If you’re thinking of all the stuff, it’s something that sounds Finnish

Sammy: We had plenty of time to waste in a garage, to play, you know? There wasn’t anything else to do. Even in the first years in the nineties, like ’91 and ‘92, when we were teenagers, there were no summer jobs or anything in Finland. It was like bankruptcy in the fucking whole country. And there was nothing to do, just waste your time with your friends and play. And I think it’s really important to have this, to

Ilari: You build up your stuff and you don’t think about the mainstream.

So you would say that growing up in Finland had quite a big influence on what you’re doing now?

Sammy: Yeah, I think so.

Ilari: Yeah.

Sammy: Definitely. If I’d been in like London, or even in Stockholm, where there’s like a little bit bigger scenes and stuff abroad, maybe I’ve had had the chance to do stuff earlier, the things I’m doing. But I think I wouldn’t be ready for that, you know

Okay. Last year you had the honour of supporting bands like Mötley Crüe and Alice Cooper at the Finland shows. That must have been really great for you guys

Sammy: Actually, we were supporting Alice Cooper in Italy.

Ilari: Yeah, in Italy.

Italy? Not Finland? Oh! (author’s note: ooops!;)

Sammy: Hanoi Rocks were supporting them in Finland. I was there for the gig, I was invited by Ryan Roxie, the guitar player of Alice Cooper. But we played support in Italy.

Okay. And are there any other ‘huge’ artists you’d like to play with?

Sammy: We played with D.A.D. from Denmark. It’s one of our favourites. And I think we were like teenagers! (laughter) The whole tour. And afterwards we were like: ‘Waaah, I didn’t speak with them so much what the fuck?!’ It has been my favourite band since I was like 14 or something. And it was so amazing that they invited us. ‘We want this band, Private Line from Finland, to support us in the Scandinavian tour.’

Ilari: Yeah! I don’t want to push it, but they contacted us! ‘Would you like to please?’ And we were like: ‘YES!

Wow, that’s cool! So, but did you actually meet them, like any of the others, like Alice Cooper?

Sammy: The other guys, but not Alice. I think he was really pissed off with the Italian organizer then.

Ilari: Yeah, I have to tell you the story about this thing backstage. So, we got to backstage and we didn’t see any crew anywhere so we thought: ‘It has to be this one’. There were these portable walls, four of them, and some cookies on the table. Ok, this must be our backstage. Then we were sitting all there and then this one guy is coming in: ‘Hey, move your asses, this is Alice Cooper’s backstage!’ (laughter) It was like: ‘What the fuck?! What are you doing? You can’t treat him like this!’

Sammy: We were on the other side of those removable walls and we heard that Alice was quite pissed off. He was hitting the wall with his walking stick, or how do you say it Like: ‘Aaaargh!’ (laughter) But I met him afterwards in Finland, when they were playing. I was checking the gig and met him there, so he was calmed down then. (more laughter)

Okay. I’ve only seen you two times so far. The first time was in Tampere a few weeks back

Sammy: In Yo talo?

Yeah! And then yesterday here, obviously. Those were pretty much contrasting shows in terms of audience. So how important is it for you to ‘feed’ from the audience? Do you prefer the bigger festival gigs, or?

Sammy: The club gigs are awesome, when there are some people! (laughs) I don’t know what happened in Yo talo.

Ilari: You know, usually Tampere has always been sold out. I don’t know what happened with that one.

Sammy: We were playing in Klubi many times and it has been packed many times. I don’t know what’s wrong with that Yo talo. (laughs)

There was an age limit, I think

Sammy: That is also in Klubi normally. Only next week there isn’t when we’re playing there, it’s part of the Tammerfest. But normally there is an age limit.

Ilari: I think in Tampere there’s always been much more people, despite the age limit. I think we even made a record there in this Klubi, with the audience.

Sammy: I don’t know

Ilari: Yeah, I think we’ve done that. The biggest audience ever. It was last year.

Sammy: But yesterday, it was like I think those festivals are of course different. But I like them both, they’re very different. And yesterday was quite okay. I was a little blacked-out when I fell down (laughter)

But you’re okay now?

Sammy: Yeah

Ilari: He has a nice bruise on his ass! (laughs)

Okay, when you’re on tour, is there anything specific you hate?

Sammy: Waiting early mornings going home (laughs)

Ilari: Sound checks!

Sammy: No no, we don’t hate them. But you know, when you’re on tour you can be in the tour bus for like six hours. Then you have to wait two hours, then you have two hours to get yourself ready for the gig, and then the gig is one hour. So there’s so many hours just to wait for the gig, and then afterwards sometimes there’s this empty feeling, like ‘Oh shit, what the fuck happened?’ And then doing the same thing again. So you don’t have anything else to do than getting wasted afterwards. (laughs) And then I even have some family and stuff, so it’s sometimes harder to be on the road in a long time. But it’s a different world, and it’s a world I grew up with. I don’t mind. I have to have that, otherwise I’d go crazy. But I am! (laughter)

Okay, so playing gigs makes up for it basically

Sammy & Ilari: Yeah

Okay, I’ve seen you’re all quite active on your own forum, posting a lot

Sammy: Yeah, I think we’re quite active, just me, Ilari and Jack. Spit and Eliaz not so much. Eliaz is more like into Text TV. Do you know? Do you have that?

Yeah, not the Finnish one though

Sammy: The old-school way

Ilari: You know, you press the button and get to the sites, a bit like internet (laughs)

Sammy: So we were thinking, we have to have our own Text TV site that Eliaz moderates. (laughter)

Ilari: I think we’d actually be the first band in the world to do that

Yeah, probably!

Sammy: Like: ‘Private Line – look at that Text TV site!’ (laughter) That would be great

Yeah, that would be good promotion (laughs) So, seeing that you’re on the forum a lot, do you also visit fan sites?

Sammy: Yeah, of course!

Ilari: Of course. It’s so great that people do fan sites. For us it’s of course like free advertisement. It’s an honour to us that people are so much into our music, that they are working their time doing that stuff

Okay, and what about reviews? Like fan reviews, press reviews? Do you actually read that, or don’t you just bother with that?

Sammy: Sometimes, yeah.

Ilari: If we can. But sometimes there are just too many of it. Usually, of course, we like to know

Sammy: The main thing is that we wouldn’t have a chance to do this music even without those fans. So we’re doing it for them, for the people who listen to us.

Yeah, you know, but sometimes it can be like you know you played a good show and then the press comes: ‘it sucked’. Do you care then? If you know for yourselves that it was good

Sammy: Actually, I know always when it’s good and when it gets good reviews, and when it sucks, and then it sucks.

Ilari: Yeah, then you’ll know it yourself.

Sammy: You have a kind of feeling for that. Even if there was nothing wrong or something. But there’s some feeling you get, that it wasn’t the right mood. The mood is the most important thing, I think even most for the singer. It’s like getting the right mood and getting feedback from the audience.

Ilari: It’s even more important than these technical things. The mood is much more important. If I play a wrong note it doesn’t matter, if only the mood is right.

Yeah, but I think that even makes the gig

Sammy: Special, yeah. It shouldn’t be like a robot all the time.

Ilari: Yeah, that’s Rock’n’Roll. You never know what happens.

Sammy: I think all that is quite special. I think we have some standard, and it’s not bad. We have quite a good standard.

Ilari: Yeah, we have some funny things, like we are thinking with the same brain at the same time. We can do stuff like that just for fun, we can fool around with the music. That’s Rock’n’Roll

Yeah, that’s right. I really enjoyed the show last night!

Sammy: Thanks!

We continue with some small talk about Eurovision, about Lordi and Santa (obligatory, since we are in Rovaniemi) and about how important it is to eat apples ;) Then the other guitar player Jack, who in the meantime had sat down nearby, is ordered to interrupt his afternoon drinking session for a little while to come over and fill out his shortcut too. My meeting with the charming pirates soon comes to an end and Sammy is giving me a little message for the fans on the way:

‘We are coming to Germany, definitely. But we don’t know when’

Okay, so we’re waiting! ;)

Thank you to Sammy and to Mira from Sam Agency for making the interview happen, and another big thank you goes to Sammy, Ilari and Jack for taking their time to patiently answer all the questions.

Info: http://www.privatelineweb.com

^(*1) source: www.samagency.fi