interview with A.R.G.
Have any of you played in other bands? Jari: I have played in Corpset and right now I am playing as a “therapy project” bass in a band named Pyre of Hypocrisy.
How is it that you started playing music? Jari: Well i started playing as a kid in school, violin, cello, trumpet and other staff, first I started to play bass and after that I turned to guitar. Music has been important to me always, and it will be close to my heart till I die.
What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you?
Jari: I play guitar and I am 48 years old.
Have you had other previous members? Jari: We had 2 singers in the beginning, Tepa and Aku Raaska. Our first drummer was Pasi Takkula, RIP.
Did you make music even when you were young? Jari: I started playing in a band as 15 years old, I don remember when I did my first song, I guess I was 16 years old.
Where are you from? Jari: From northern-eastern Finland, Kuusamo.
What year did the band form? Jari: 1986
What's your style of genre? Jari: reindeermetal, trashmetal.
What inspires you? Jari: Everything good, bad and ugly.
How often and where do you reherse? Jari: I personally reherse every day, as a band we reherse when its nessesery, upcoming gig or studio and so on. When we were younger and we all lived in same town we reh about 2-3 / week.
How have you developed since you started with the music?
Jari: I guess we are better players and when years go by we have learned to do things in a better way as composing and so on….. Do you have other interests of work outside the band?
Jari: I like sports, at this moment I work as Pt. I all so do guit.tec work now and then.
Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? Jari: Offcorse, but at this moment weself sign our gigs and stuff corse at this moment we are having “season off from gigs” = new songs….
Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? Jari: Maybe, in these days you can release your music by yourself so it´s not so important that you have middlehands in your way. Offcorse if someone offers a good deal we´ll take it!
What made you decide to make this music? Jari: Passion for metal.
Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? Jari: I do the composing with Vesa, Tepa makes lyrics to my songs.
Do you start with the music or the lyrics? Jari: Ill do the music first.
Do you compose in a certain inviroment? Jari: I compose when I get “that feeling”. Usually I have riffs in my head every day, its hard to put em in a some kind of form so you remember thouse earworms what teases you all day and night.
Have you done any covers live? Jari: yeah, Death, Sodom, Neil young, Exploited, Celtic Frost…..
What language do you sing in? Jari: English.
What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? Jari: 30-1500. I guess.
What ages are most of your concert attendants? Jari: I guess from 20-60.
Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? Jari: Usually we do a set and then we change the list if necessary.
Do you have a regular place you play live often? Jari: No.
What was your first gig like? Jari: Circus act. We had 2 dance girls and 2 singers. Gig started as a intro of Knight Rider tv-show (david hasselhoff!)
What was your latest gig? Jari: We played in Tampere, Speed & Thrash attack.
Have you had to cancel a gig? Jari: No. even once our drummer was in Kuusamo as we were in Rovaniemi having a gig, so we take a spareman drummer from Sacred Crusifix ( Janne Kela, the man) and do the gig. I guess Pasi forget that we had a gig. J
Where have you played live this year? Jari: In tampere, as I said we are composing new songs so we don’t have a rush to do gigs right now.
Where do you plan to gig the comming year? Jari: everywhere I hope.
When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? Jari: We started to sell t-shirts in the beginning. Right now we don’t have much to sell cos the gig break, patches and little stuff. Merch update has to do when start to do gigs. you can check out the situation for example from facebook or official site.
Where can people buy your merchandise? Jari: Gigs and online as I said above.
What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days? Jari: Well in these days everything has to be easy and fast so the music industry have ansered the call. I like to buy records. Streaming and rip off is shit, but what can you do? Release all your new stuff in a c-casette mode?
How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? Jari: Offcorse. These days band is a product, and company´s rip every penny out of it.
What do you think of my work? Jari: Any publicity is good and your work is to lift things to people´s consciousness.
How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? Jari: I dont! J
Do you have any role models or idols? Jari: I like good guitar players, there are a lot of them but I don’t do worshipping.
Why do you think that they exist? Jari: They are humans ( I guess) and the live and they die in this planet ( I guess).
Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? Jari: I don’t know, something new is good to hear cos you wake up and think “ you can do things that way too” and thouse old bands have showed tha way to do things so it´s kind of mix…for me.
What advice would you give other bands or artists? Jari: Do what you like.
How do you get psyched for a gig? Jari: By dying 6 h in a backstage waiting the gig.
Do you have any new material? Jari: We have 5-6 songs under work right now, 2-3 songs more to come so in studio next summer. That´s the plan.
What are your web sites?
https://www.reindeermetal.org/index.html
https://www.facebook.com/AncientRottenGraveguards/
How can people reach? Jari: by sending a message via messenger, facebook or e-mail
What are your plans for the future? Jari: To do a new album, a video and after that gigs if everything goes right.
Do you have something to add? Jari: Keep on thrashing and support livemusic, go to gigs!
