interview with Neuroactive
Have any of you played in other bands? Neuroactive was originally called Dance Macabre. It was more traditional band with guitars and drums. at the beginning of the 90’s I was also in the band called Advanced Art.
How is it that you started playing music? When I was a child I studied short while Piano, but that didn’t feel right back then. When I was 16 or 17 I bought my first synthesizer and started to learn it. I was roland D5.
What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you?
Sonja Myers did all the vocals/ vocal arrangements for the latest album.
Have you had other previous members?
First lineup was: Vesa Rainne: Vocals, Ville Brusi: Played synth and Guitars, Jarkko Tuohimaa: Synths/ Composing (Morphology/ Phonic Trace)
Second Lineup was: Kimmo Karjalainen: Vocals, Jarkko Tuohimaa: Synths/ Composing (Fiber-Optic Rhythm/ Transients)
Third Lineup was: Jarkko Tuohimaa: Synths/ Composing + Guest vocalists (N-Gin/ Antidote)
Fourth Lineup is: Sonja Myers: Vocals, Jarkko Tuohimaa: Synths/ Composing (Electra)
Did you make music even when you were young? I started make music when I was teenager.
Where are you from? I was born in New York City/ USA, but I have lived most of my life in Tampere Finland
What year did the band form? In year 1991 if I recall right.
What's your style of genre? I think Electronica or Synth-Pop might be closest styles to describe Neuroactive’s music.
What inspires you? At the moment I’m really in to the Eurorack modular thing. It’s really fun thing to experiment with.
How often and where do you reherse? I rehearse only when show is coming up. Otherwise I don’t really see point rehearsing.
How have you developed since you started with the music? Hopefully a lot:-) I think have studied a lot of skills ever since I started. Mostly do with programming DAW’s and synths. I’m professional sound designer so I work with this stuff even when I’m not making music for Neuroactive.
Do you have other interests of work outside the band? I do producing, remixing and mastering for other bands. For a past year and half I’ve been producing 2 albums for the band called N3voa.
Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? Not really.
Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? Yeah we in search of a new label. Electra was final release of A Different Drum.
What made you decide to make this music? I was listening a lot of electronic music back at 80’s. It kind of drove me in to the whole thing.
What are your songs about? Mostly about human relations. At least that’s what I tell them to do.
Who does the composing and writes the lyrics?
I do all composing.
Sonja Myers did all the lyrics for the latest album.
Do you start with the music or the lyrics? Music comes first always.
Do you compose in a certain inviroment? Yeah I do it in my own studio. I really find it hard to do any composing anywhere else. I do most of the composing in Logic. Even thou I’ve got laptops with logic I rarely try to compose outside my studio.
Have you done any covers live? No
What language do you sing in? In english
What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? This hard one…from 30 person to 600 I guess.
What ages are most of your concert attendants? Last time I played gig there was people from 20 to 50. I’m not sure about that… but what a strange question.
Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? I have changed set almost overtime I have played live.
What was your first gig like? I'm too old to remember that. I think I was really nervous back then.
What was your latest gig? Few years ago in Helsinki, Finland.
Where have you played live this year? I haven’t played this year anywhere.
What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days? I still buy CDs, but I know it’s old school. I do listen a lot of music from Spotify and YouTube too. In the end it doesn’t really matter what’s the format you listen to.
How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? At least there isn’t that much CDs at the stores anymore. That bugs me. I really would love scroll thru stacks of CDs to find something new and interesting.
What do you think of my work? It’s really great that you are doing this.
How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? That’s really hard to tell. Great that you doing it though.
Do you have any role models or idols? Kraftwerk has been really inspiring for me thru my entire life. They have changed so much how we all think music today.
Why do you think that they exist? Very hard existential question… Why do we all exist? To fall in love and to get inspired in life -I think!
Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? No. I listen to new music all the time. I really like current music. I really find for example Deadmau5 and Above and Beyond inspiring.
Do you have any new material? I’m working on new stuff. I’ve got 11 raw songs which I’m working on. Kimmo Karjalainen from past lineup sings in 2 of the new songs. I’m also planing to do remix compilation from the past songs. I’ve got plenty of those already made.
What are your web sites?
https://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/Neuroactive
How can people reach you? [email protected]
What are your plans for the future? Keep making music… and keep Neuroactive alive.
