Marsuli #2 [06.08.2005]
Derrida is another great new band from Finland. Their music differs a bit from avarage punk band's one and their lyrics seem to be more thoughtful than usually. So why not interview them? They have demo out, check it out. www.sweetcore.org/derrida or contact atte @ sweetcore . org.
Hi. For the beginning you could maybe tell some basic info about your band, when and why did you start Derrida? Was there something special you want to say with your band or was it just because playing music is so fun? Who are you and what do you do (in and outside the band)?
Atte: Derrida was founded to the ruins of our previous band Rainhold. Playing music has been part of our lise for so long that it is hard to define why we originally started. Juho, Ville, and I have played together from the year 1996 or 1997 so playing is such a natural thing that without it it feels like something is completely missing. I don’t know do we have anything special to say. I think music somehow represents what we are as people so it is at the same time serious but also there is a lot of humour and fun with it just like in life itself. Outside of music we do quite boring things. I graduate installer of electronics and telecommunications on next year, guitarist Petri studies chemistry, guitarist Juho studies information research, drummer Ville studies wood technology and bassist Touko is a busdriver.
I´ve heard that you took your name from a philosopher, why Derrida? In general, are you into philosophy? What kind of? Why?
Atte: Derrida is one of the most controversial thinkers of our time and leads the post modern thinking so deep that we have problems handling it. For the band it is just a name. There is no deep philosophy behind the band´s name Derrida. And yes, I am into philosophy mainly modern philosophy. 20st century was so fucked up that it had a huge impact in how we see the world. Nietzsche talked about death of god, Spengler talked about death of culture and Foucault talked about death of man. We are in deep crisis and it takes time to get something positive out from thinking.
There has been some conversation about teaching religion in schools, what is your opinion about this? Should the kids rather be taught philosophy than religion?
Atte: I think both of them are important. Religion and philosophy don’t exclude one another. But what goes to teaching I think that we should give up the Christian way of teach religion and move more to the objective direction.
Someone commented on you that “this is this high school punk, yak”. What do you think about such attitude that punk is not supposed to be anything ”intellectual” (whatever it means) but raw music, chaos and of course, The Exploited? Is it important that punk has some kind of message in it (and I´m not now meaning those slogans like “all cops are bastards”, they are not even political unless there is some further explanation, or are they?) or is just a group of chords put together with some words?
Atte: There is many kind of punk and I think that it’s a good thing. Misfits and Crass are good bands even though Misfits sings about b-class horror movies and Crass about politics. And I must say that I rather listen to good lyrical nonsense (Misfits, Ramones, Turbonegro etc.) than bad political stuff. Preaching and weak slogans make me sick. Of course it is a good thing if bands succeed to make good intellectual lyrics but I am afraid that there are just couple bands in Finland who manage to do it. Sur Rur, Radiopuhelimet are the best punk related bands which have good lyrics. Also Abduktio and Herodishonest manage to make some good texts.
In my opinion the ideology of punk (not in practise but in theory) can be condensed on two words, anarchism and DIY. What are your opinions about them? Do you feel that punk scene dislikes the elements that do not stand for these principles (although for many punks these are just words without practise), as it sometimes is blamed for?
Atte: I see anarchy as a tool not as final solution. An anarchist society is a utopia like most of the models of societies. DIY and anarchy walk hand in hand because DIY needs a kind of anarchist way of thinking to work. I don’t feel that punk scene dislikes the elements that do not stand for these principles. People who work in the grass level work hard and do their thing not for profit but for fun and benefit.
Then to your lyrics..
”What is the duty that runs over the right to live, what is the power of the masses that runs over the individual?” (Poikkeustila) To what extend, in your opinion, should the individual have the right to choose whatever s/he likes to do, even thought it would be better for the community (no matter is the community local village or the state) to choose another way? For example one could say that conscientious objectors should be punished harder because they refuse to do their duty to the society that has given them free education?
Atte: I think that an individual should never give up for the right to choose. When we think of Nazis and Albert Eichmann we can see what harm it can make if people just do their “duty” without thinking about the consequences. Eichmann was responsible for death of millions of people but only thing he really did was following orders and signing papers. To the question of conscientious objectors: If your parents ask you to kill your neighbour would you do it? After all they had fed you, raised you and so on… That kind of thinking doesn’t make sense. People are responsible for their community but we have to remember that the community is always the group of individuals. Poikkeustila asks if there are values that are larger than life. That is the main point. After all in my point of view the society, the state or so on is just a group of people and there can be no value that is more important than those people.
In your song ”Valon Ristiriita” you deal with nihilism, which, in my opinions, seems to be in trend in punk scene at the moment. What thoughts does nihilism bring into your mind? How could we get rid of it, or do we even have to?
Atte: Nihilism for me is kind of basic situation so the idea of “Valon Ristiriita” is to look outside of that nihilism and think about what it looks like. Yes, it is a trend in hardcore lyrics and it was a bit challenging to write lyrics towards the nihilism without sounding naïve. Nihilistic thinking is usually a kind of escape because it is so easy to say that we are going to hell and there is nothing that can stop us. And that is the truth if you think that way, it is easy to believe in that. It is much harder to face yourself at your weakest moments. But nihilism has also a positive side. When we get to the point of nihilism where we have to again review our values and move forward. So nowadays I don’t see nihilism as the end but as a beginning.
Does “Kasvu” tell about alcoholism as a way to escapism? It is clear that many people use alcohol to get away from this world, its pressures, for a moment. In your opinion, is this natural or a sign of some kind of “weakness”? Do you use alcohol or other drugs yourselves?
Atte: Kasvu is based on my own experiences so I can’t be judging anyone for using or not using alcohol. And yes, in Derrida we all drink sometimes more, sometimes less, usually more. I am right now having a break with drinking till the year 2006. Kasvu is actually telling about growing up. The idea is that no matter how bad your experiences are they can be worth it. It’s a song about situation where every door seems to be closed and the only way out of it is death and the only way to handle things is booze. Of course that is a stupid way of thinking because even if you can’t see those doors they are still there. Alcohol is a two bladed sword. It can be a good party drink but when you are depressed it turns it´s back on you. You need it to escape to reality but when reality comes with hangover it seems even worse.
“Religion or an ism, one eye and one truth, if this is light, I want to wander in darkness” (Sokeat Mantrat) Do you find some positive aspects in religion or in some isms, could individual benefit from them or do they just lead into being blind? Do you think we all are just waiting for some ideology that fits our mind well, and then become a numb that just repeats same mantras (no matter if they are about capitalism, communism or
anarchism) and believe in dogmas? Is this “we are good, those people are evil” –attitude part of the human nature or could we free ourselves from it someway?
Atte: That line is taken out of context but that ok. The chorus of Sokeat Mantrat goes “More mantras to their minds that believe, but never want to understand”. Of course there are positive aspects in religion or in some isms. And yes, people can find individual benefit from them. But there are isms and isms and religious thinking and religious thinking. For example if we think about the religious thinking of Soren Kierkegaard or Leo Tolstoi and then the religious thinking of a normal church believer we get the picture. Also if we think about the narrow mind of a religious fundamentalist and about those who really try to find the truth through theology we see that we are not talking about the same thing. In Sokeat Mantrat there is also a line “Blind faith, a trust for destroyed mystery”. Kierkegaard says that God is something that we can never explain with logical sense. It is a mystery which has something to do with faith not with knowing. When the dead corner in religion is moved away we are in dangerous situation. Authority gets to the picture and that is where things are going to hell. When we talk about ism it is ok that we have isms. Isms help the way we define things. It is easier to talk for example about the term of anarchism or communism than talk about those things without terms. But isms are only words for ways of thinking. We live in a post-modern world or should I say post-post-modern and everything is so fragment that I see that the times of great isms are over. Or I don’t know is it over. The terror attack of September 11th and things that have happened after that may create global us-and-them-situations or they may have already been created. In political rhetoric “We are good, those people are evil” is something that can be easy to stick with. It is an easy way of controlling masses because everyone wants to stand against Evil. I don’t know if it is a part of our nature because for example I don’t think that way. Evil is something that we talk often but it is also a term that is defined too rarely.
What do you think about patriotism? Here in Finland there seems to be a lot of people who wear shirts with a “Finnish Lion” in front (or in worst cases in front, in back and on both sides..), what, in your opinion, could be the reasons for such a patriotism?
Atte: People who are into patriotism are usually narrow-minded rednecks so usually they are just boring. There is a big change going on and I think that people are worried about their identity. Again it’s a question of one kind of globalisation. Jobs are moving to the foreign countries and there is talk about big changes that goes for military. We are no more just citizens of Finland. We are citizens of EU and Europe and that could be hard to swallow if you still think the oldfashioned rightwing -way. This reminds me of when I talked with my little brother. I said that I consider myself as a citizen of the world. Everything effects everything and so on. My little brother listened to me and said that he considers himself as a citizen of Summa (Summa is a little village in Hamina where my parents live). He said that he is not a citizen of the World, not a citizen of Europe and not a citizen of Finland, but a citizen of “Summa city”. On his comment there was a good sense of sarcasm but you probably get the point.
You released your demo as cdr…why not for example on tape (or as mp3)? Do you have some special favourite format (cd, vinyl, tape)?
Atte: We released our demo as a cdr because it is just the easiest format to get out and to sell. Tapes are nice but they are getting expensive and there is a problem in selling the tapes because not so many people have cassette players anymore. Cdr was cheap and easy to copy. The idea of the demo was only to get the band´s name out and get some gigs so we didn’t even think about other formats than cdr. I have my favourite format and it is 12” vinyl.
What are your influences? At least to my ears your music did sound a bit original (but I´m not familiar with all the subgenres, hah). Could you name some bands that have influenced you the most? Oh, and I´d like to hear your favourite authors also (I guess you read a lot, right?) ?
Atte: Influeces… I was afraid that you ask that. Old school heavy metal is our roots so I guess that kind of music have the deepest impact. Iron Maiden was the band where it all started big time in my early age and it is a band that I still listen today so it is hard to ignore. Metallica was the biggest influential band for Juho and Ville when they were young. Another influence from heavy rock is punk and hardcore with a quite large scale. It is quite hard to name just few names. Enstand, Minor Threat and Outlast were and still are important names for Juho and Ville. I started my punk career by listening Terveet Kädet so that is also influential. I and Petri used to listen lot of raw black metal when we were young. Bands like Ulver, Dark Throne, Emperor, Ved Buens Ende and so on can be mentioned. Newer bands like Wolfbrigade, Tragedy, Catharsis and so on have an impact in our music. Also Finnish hardcore like Unkind, Herodishonest and Rytmihäiriö have had some sort of impact on us. We all have quite large music taste so talking about influences can be hard.
Atte, you run a distro/label called Sweetcore… Where does the name Sweetcore come from? In this distro, you have pretty wide section of different music styles, have you got some special feedback because of it? Are people ordering much records from different genres? And finally, do you think that many of us who listen mainly punk are narrow minded in what comes to music, and do not even want to try different genres?
Atte: The idea of Sweetcore records is to sell and release stuff that pleasures my music taste. The name Sweetcore comes from the idea that under the same label are the core-side (hardcore, grind etc.) and the softer side (avant-garde, folk etc.). I haven’t got any special feedback on things related to Sweetcore. Those few people who order records, order them from different genres. I really don’t care much about guys that do not even want to try different genres. They don’t know what they are missing but that is not my problem.
Ok. I’m tired and I don’t find anything to ask anymore… So please say something wise to end this interview, and tell about your future plans…
Atte: I leave wise words to wise men. Our future plans are to play as many gigs as we can and to release something during next year. We have a new bass player Touko Renko who plays also in Divisive and Riot Patrol so the line-up is finally full. Things are going well and so on. Buy our demo and come see us live.