Interview: Lasse Kurki (Lemonator)
Lemonator! What a name! What a band! It makes me happy just to say it. The band's fifth album "At the presence is great beauty" is just that - a perfectly gorgeous pop gem. Who knew that Finland would be capable of producing something so remarkable? Beware Swedes - your so-called pop monopoly is at risk!
Who is Lemonator and where exactly are you from?
Lemonator are four guys from Helsinki, Finland, who always begins their muscal journey from the very source of the matter, the song. Without a great song, there is nothing. In that sense we are very old fashioned. The band was formed in 1994, first gig was in 1996 and the first album came out in 1997. "At the presence of great beauty" is our 5th album and came out in April this year.
Where did the name of the band come from?
The name is a result of a funny coincidence in writing. In one of our songs there was a line that ended with the word "refrigerator" and I needed to rhyme the word "Lemon-aid" with it, so I sang "Lemon-aid-eer" just to make it fit. Then Ripa, our guitar player, picked it from there as our band name.
One of things I like best about "At the presence..." is the production. Who are some of your favorite producers and what is it about each of that makes them special to you?
I'm a great fan of Brian Wilson, but also all of the 60's music. I guess that's the main source for everything for me. Of the current producers I really admire Jon Brion, David Friedmann, Nigel Godrich, Mitchell Froom and George Drakoulias, to name a few. They seem to find the essential in all music and are adventurous with it as well.
I love Jon Brion's instrumentation, and melodies he comes up with in the arrangements. Godrich has this amazing sound in his production. Mitchell Froom is crazy and has a great ear for weird sounds, just as Mr. Friedmann does. George Drakoulias also has the talent to bring out the best in any band he produces, which is a beautiful thing for a producer.
But I'm also a huge fan of film music, so I'm hugely influenced by the makings of Ennio Morricone, Henry Mancini and John Barry.
[ed note: I also asked Lasse why he didn't mention Jason Falkner as that seemed like another obvious choice to me. He replied that he didn't want to go too crazy with names and echoed my opinion that Falkner's album with Brion as The Grays ("Ro-Sham-Bo") is one of the greatest powerpop albums ever made. I know it's not Scandinavian, but it's well-worth tracking down a copy - it truly is a masterpiece.]
Finland isn't well-known for its pop music. Do think this is unfair or do you think there really aren't that many good Finnish pop bands?
Well, I wouldn't call it unfair. I guess we haven't had our big break yet. HIM, Rasmus and Lordi are doing great, plus we have other good bands happening all over the world, but I think we need something truly great and innovative, yet commercial, to get the attention towards our county's music scene as a whole. But to be honest, I think we have a lot of really good bands, but not nearly as many great ones that we'd need to get the recognition worldwide. But we're getting there! It'll be interesting to see what happens to The Crash and Von Hertzen Brothers with their releases abroad.
Does anyone in the band have any embarassing tattoos? Can you tell me about it? If not, what's the worst tattoo you have ever seen?
Wow, that's an interesting question. I think there is only one tattoo in our band and it's Ripa's smiling sun tattoo, that is pretty cool.
As far as embarrassing tattoos go, I've seen many, but I felt really sorry for this young girl who in late 90's had tattooed this really awful Finnish teen band's name on her left hand. I'd be suprised if she hasn't put something else on top of it by now.
What was the last film you saw? How was it?
Robert Altman's latest "A Prairie Home Companion". It was pretty funny and a little weird. Altman is one of my favourite directors and whenever he comes out with a new film I go see it immediately. This one isn't his best, but I would give it 8 out of 10 points. The same evening I also went to see "I'm your man" which is a movie about Leonard Cohen - it was beautiful!
What's one artist/album you really like that you think might surprise people?
I like pretty much anything if there's heart in it, so I don't know what would surprise people. You might not hear it in our music but I'm a big fan of old blues: Howling Wolf, Lightinin' Hopkins, Blind Willie Johnson etc. I think it's the best music in the world, so pure and beautiful. Of the more embararrasing stuff (to some), I'd have to name 80's hard rock. I collect the old vinyls and have a load of them. The best songs in that genre are just amazing in their naivety and pure craziness - I love it! Fun to sing along with the boys while having a drink or two.
Finally, what's the future look like for Lemonator?
It seems we'll be going to studio to work on the next album - unless some great manager will take us under his/her wings and makes Lemonator huge worldwide.