INTERVIEW FOR SOME FRENCH ZINE 2001

1-HI EVERYONE! CAN YOU INTRODUCE THE BAND AND TELL US ABOUT IT ? (WHO DOES WHAT, WHEN, WHY AND HOW DID IT START,ETC...) WHAT DO YOU DO IN "REAL LIFE" AND WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO APART FROM MANIFESTO JUKEBOX ?

Jani: I play bass in MJ. We’ve been together for about 2 ½ years, the other guys are Antti (guitar+vocals) and Jukka (drums and lyrics). Me and Antti have played in bands for years separately and together (Sharpeville and Aurinkokerho for example), for Jukka this is the first band that is this active. We come from a pretty hardcore/anarchopunk background but we’ve always liked melodic music too and wanted to play stuff that combines the hardcore aggression with some catchy and creative guitar and vocal stuff… and in winter´98 the time was finally right for everybody. Since then we’ve recorded a bunch of stuff and played lots all over Finland and also done 4 European tours so things have been good for us!

Apart from MJ i like to play guitar (playing bass in this band is "work" ha!), i run the label Combat Rock Industry together with Endstand singer Janne, that consumes really much of my time and thoughts… i do distro, design some graphic stuff and do stuff for our website etc etc… and I spend a lot of time with my girlfriend, i like to cook and read books and zines… and i’m into tattoos and rock’n’roll and stuff like that!

Officially i’m unemployed, uneducated, blah blah… Antti has been working in a 2nd hand record&book store for a few months and Jukka works as an offset printer.

2-WHAT BANDS, PEOPLE, FANZINES, BOOKS, ETC... WERE YOU INFLUENCED BY ? (TALKING ABOUT IDEAS, MUSIC, ATTUTIDE, ETC...)

Jani: If i have to mention something simple that everyone knows it’s DC hardcore/emo/punk, i don’t know much but the feeling i get when i read stuff about the early 80s scene and listen to bands like Rites Of Spring, Embrace and others it’s really inspiring. When i first saw the book Banned In DC many many years ago it really blew me away… at that time i was in jail for not going to the army or the so called civil service (so i had a lot of spare time!) and i ordered the book from our drummer Jukka’s mailorder Fragments Of Hope – it’s funny, this was a long time before this band and i didn’t even know him then but anyway!

But yeah, i think about many things from a record label perspective and labels like Dischord and Ebullition really inspire me - they do super quality stuff, manage to sell pretty much and still stay connected to the grassroot level…

But maybe many of the people i’ve known in everyday life are really more important, every one of my friends inspires me in different ways!

3- WHAT DO YOU CALL MANIFESTO JUKEBOX'S MUSIC ? WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT LABELS ? (LIKE "POST-EMO-POWER-VIOLENCE" AND STUFF)

Jani: If someone wants to know i call it punk rock, but it doesn’t matter really - music is either good or not. We just play music and do things that we feel are the best for these 3 people.

There’s so much music coming from everywhere so maybe these labels can sometimes be useful for finding something potentially interesting – but they might also prevent you from finding something REALLY interesting!

4-YOUR "DESIRE" CD WAS RELEASED ON ACTIVE, NABATE AND COMBAT ROCK INDUSTRY. IS IT BY CHANCE AND WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR YOU ? HOW DID YOU GET IN TOUCH WITH THOSE LABELS ?

Jani: Combat Rock Industry is my own label and i want to be involved in releasing the music of bands i play in, for me the whole process from making to distributing music is art! It might not suit everybody but i like to do this stuff…

We’ve been trading records and corresponding with Nabate for years. When we wanted to do an LP with MJ we thought of dedicated labels we would want to do stuff with, Nabate was almost the only one we could think of, we asked Alain and he said he’d love to do this with us! We couldn’t believe it at first! So we agreed that we handle the pressing of the CD and he does the vinyl and then we trade them with each other. It has been good for everybody, at the moment both versions are sold out! We’ll do the same thing with our next LP too…

5-CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT FINLAND ? WHAT'S IT LIKE THERE (GOOD OR NOT?), TALKING ABOUT THE "PUNK" SCENE AND LIFE IN GENERAL ?

Jani: I like it here, i’m not planning moving anywhere! In some way i feel i belong here, it’s not a matter of choice, i’ve built my life here during all these years… i’d like to travel more though, especially during the winter. You propably know it’s very cold and dark here at the Arctic Circle… and it’s true! It’s quite depressing and i’m not even into any outdoor sports like skiing or ice skating! Not even snowboarding…

Generally speaking life here is pretty easy. The society tolerates pretty different things and the benefits are good, it’s quite easy to be unemployed and concentrate on white trash things like the punk scene! No, but seriously… i try to take advantage of these possibilities and build something of my own and maybe also be a part of some bigger movement towards… err, a more equal world?!

I like the scene here. There are lots of different people, styles and music on the same forum and the overall feeling is good. This is a small country so pretty much everyone knows everyone and gets along with each other. In most european countries we’ve toured in, the divisions between different scenes and people are bigger – there are more people so they can all choose their company. In one way it is surely good and fun and maybe i’d like it too, but it’s not necessarily always a good thing…

6-MELODIOUS STUFF IS NOT VEY POPULAR IN THE DIY-PUNK-SCENE. WHY DO YOU THINK ? DO YOU THINK MUSIC HAS TO BE AGGRESSIVE TO BE SUBVERSIVE ?

Jani: Aggressive doesn’t necessarily equal subversive at all! Plain expression of aggression is not very interesting to me, and it has been done to death and even very extreme music is now mainstream, at least in Finland, the promised land of heavy metal and high suicide rates! The real beauty and challenge for me is in expressing also other emotions than hate and frustration…

I don’t understand why the DIY punk scene is often so one-dimensional… just like any other youth entertainment culture! Sure, punk is music for frustrated outsiders and in one way that’s how it should be – but really for me, music should express other feelings too. Also lyrics of DIY punk bands are often quite boring, just slogans that are stating the obvious… sure they might be "right" but for me, it’s cool to leave at least some room for the imagination…

7-YOU ONCE QUOTED IN AN INTERVIEW THE WORDS OF EMBRACE: "EMOTIONS ARE NOTHING BUT POLITICS". CAN YOU EXPLAIN THAT ?

Jani: Some old twat has once said that personal is political… and i still believe that! Simple as that… we the individuals combined are the society. The way we act and live our lives really affect our surroundings, it’s as simple as that!

I’m sure there are many good books written about these things but it should all be pretty simple actually, this is just common sense to me!

8-YOUR LYRICS ARE QUITE HARD TO UNDERSTAND. CAN YOU EXPLAIN QUICKLY WHAT ARE THE SONGS "OUR NEW LENINS" AND "DESIRE" ALL ABOUT ?

Jani: "Lenins" is basically about all abuse of power, although it speaks of the similarity of the former Soviet Union and the new European Union as an example… "Desire" is about… well, desire - although the lyrics are pretty dark there’s surely (at least a bit!) hope and faith behind the song! This is a very personal song, like all our songs but this one is not necessarily as politically motivated as many of the others… or maybe it is, if "Your emotions are nothing but politics" ha!

9-DO YOU HAVE HOPES AND DREAMS ? DO YOU FEEL LIKE "WAITING FOR SOMETHING" ?

Jani: Sure i have some hopes and dreams but living in the present is pretty exciting too! If i live my life the way i want today, it’s pretty certain tomorrow will be OK too…

I am actively working towards some goals i’ve set for myself and i’d like to see some of my dreams come true… some of them are pretty specific, like i’d like to be able to make living by doing something really important not just selling myself to some big corporations (OK, this could mean living off the label for example), and generally gain more control about my life and surroundings, learning new stuff, being able to help other people when they most need it…

10-THANX FOR GIVING SOME TIME TO THESE FRENCH PAGES, DO YOU HAVE ANYTING TO ADD ? ANY GOOD-LAUGH JOKES ?

Jani: We want to thank you Lionel for giving us this opportunity to speak… and best wishes to all of you reading this, hope to see you, we’ll tour France again sooner or later and we will rock you hard! Meanwhile, communication is strongly encouraged, our address is MJ, PL 813, 13501 HML, Finland. The email is manifestojukebox@hotmail.com and the homepage can be found at www.fireinsidemusic.com/manifestojukebox

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