Reckless Love
Bright Side of Rock

21.04.2016

A few hours before the Reckless Love gig in Moscow we slit through fans waiting on the front porch of Club Volta and found our way into the resounding hall, still empty and as though standing still for the show to begin. There at the bar we had an appointment with vocalist Olli Herman and guitarist Pepe Reckless. While we were introducing ourselves and shaking hands, the guys spotted a Turmion Kätilöt T-shirt on our photographer and immediately shared with us that this Finnish band were their hometown friends and basically heroes of the whole town of Kuopio, where Reckless Love also come from. Unfortunately, a tough interview schedule did not allow us to chat more and find out what else Kuopio can be proud of, but we had enough time to find out a bit more about other, no less valiant sons of Kuopio - Reckless Love.

Your band is about being such party heroes who like to have fun…

Pepe: Who doesn’t!

Yeah, but you manage to convey this party mood with your music. What’s your idea of a good party?

Olli: Well, of course, a Reckless Love show.
Pepe: For us, those are always the best parties, our own shows.
Olli: We’re fortunate enough to be working while we party.

So you never take it as ‘work’?

Pepe: It’s loads of work.
Olli: We get paid for traveling and we just do the show for free.
Pepe: Yeah, of course, you know, behind the scene there’s loads of work. Blood, sweat and beers.
Olli: Everything else that goes on, for me at least, everything else that belongs to touring, into making a show come together, that’s hard work. But the actual show…
Pepe: Yeah, when the show begins and starts rolling, you forget about work. It’s not work anymore, it’s just fun.
Olli: And it’s about the passion that you once had as a little kid, the passion for being on stage and doing what you love.

Then do you need to somehow get into this party mood while you’re recording your music for it to sound more cheerful? Do you create this atmosphere in a kind of artificial way?

Olli: No, there’s nothing artificial going there. I think it’s just like… It’s all the matter of interpretation. Of course you’ve gotta do it over and over again to make it better and better. But sometimes you just nail it at from the get-go. And even on the new record the outro “That’s How We Party” is actually a really impromptu acoustic thing.
Pepe: Yeah, a spontaneous session that we did.
Olli: Everybody was really having a good time and drinking port wine.

When you released your latest record “InVader”, there were quite a few comments on the Internet like, what happened to your original sound and so on. What can you say to the people who seem to like this one less than your other albums?

Olli: Listen to the previous records! (both laugh) Actually, there’s nothing that “happened”, but we decided to do something fresh and something new. And that’s how we sound.
Pepe: Yeah, it’s like picking apples from a tree when we make new songs. Oh, this is a red one! Oh, and this is a green one! We don’t plan stuff, it comes spontaneously.
Olli: The sound changes according to the song. I mean, the sound is not the same on “Hands” and not the same on “Child of The Sun”, it’s not the same on “Pretty Boy Swagger” as it is on “We Are The Weekend”.
Pepe: We don’t limit ourselves and we don’t let anybody else limit us. We just do what we want and there comes something. But I think it still sounds like Reckless Love.
Olli: Yeah, me too.
Pepe: Who knows what the next album will sound like…

You neither?

Pepe: I don’t! Nobody knows. Not yet. We just released the album and on the same day we started the tour, so we have nothing done for the next album. When we get home, then we’ll start writing.

So you can’t do that on tour, can you? You need some special framework for that, right?

Pepe: No, I think we need a small break.
Olli: And then it’s gonna come naturally again.
Pepe: Yeah, now we’re enjoying this ride.
Olli: The actual recording process of “InVader” was finished a little less than three months ago. So it’s still too fresh. I mean, you give everything, you put your heart into that one album and after that I think it takes from three to six months before you can start bouncing back from it. And after that your mind starts to develop different ideas. You don’t really get to choose what you create, it just comes out.

But you also need something that triggers those ideas, right? For example, you said that this record is influenced by the pop music of the 90s…

Olli: It’s always been a natural part of Reckless Love. I mean, even though we made a conscious choice of basically bringing it up. But then again, there’s really poppy songs on every record. You can listen to “Spirit”…
Pepe: “Hot”.
Olli: Yeah, or “Animal Attraction”, it’s filled with those, there’s plenty of songs, “Dirty Dreams” and what not. “Fantasy” is a really poppy song. And then again, on “Spirit” there’s “Edge of Our Dreams”. On the first record there’s “Beautiful Bomb” or “Back to Paradise”. I mean, if people are giving a shit about being too poppy, they’re just wrong. They haven’t listened to the first and the second, and the third album. (laughs)

Maybe it’s your secret dream to be a pop band.

Pepe: We are!
Olli: Yeah, we are a pop band.
Pepe: Every band that can sell their records is a pop band. If people buy it, it’s popular, it’s pop – as shortening for popular. I think every genre goes under it. (shows a triangle-shaped figure in the air) Pop is the first genre (top angle) and then you get different subgenres, like classic rock, black metal, but everything is pop.
Olli: And then again, one of the main influences for Reckless Love have always been Queen. They never limited themselves. When you listen to one of their classic albums like “The Works”…
Pepe: Yeah, “Radio Ga Ga”…
Olli: And “Hummer to Fall” on that same record which is definitely a hard rock song. (laughs) The world is free, don’t limit yourself. That’s bullshit.

What did you want to ‘invade’ with your new record?

Olli: Your ears and your brain.
Pepe: Your soul! (both laugh)

Yeah, it’s such a mighty title…

Olli: I think that’s one the coolest album titles ever!
Pepe: Yeah, when we came up with “InVader” we were like, fuck, has anybody done this? We googled it and we were like, no one has released an album called “Invader”?! What the fuck! We have to do it fast before somebody else does it!

Do you have any other ambitions to be the first ones in something else?

Pepe: Musically, I think. This album sounds like nothing before.

Do you mind if we discuss something that is more about Olli? It’s about your side project The Local Band (supergroup with Olli on vocals, Alexi Laiho of Children of Bodom on guitar, Jussi 69 of The 69 Eyes on drums, and Archie Cruz of Santa Cruz on bass – ed.).

Olli: Fun project! It’s not a side project. We do one show per year, so it’s not really a side project.

And I assume it’s all about covering some songs for your own pleasure, right? Well, how do you choose the songs you cover?

Olli: It’s Jussi and Alexi. I don’t get to choose. Actually I don’t even wanna choose. It’s part of the fun for me. Jussi and Alexi just suggest a cover and I just tell them if I can pull it off, if I feel like I can pull it off, and basically they haven’t even suggested something that was remotely beyond my reach. Somebody might disagree with that when they listen to those live recordings. (laughs) But okay, that’s just a fun project. And the idea is not to rehearse at all. We just go in there and have fun with them. We just jam out.

Don’t other members of Reckless Love feel a bit jealous?

Olli: Why?
Pepe: No!

Don’t you want to take part in that fun?

Pepe: Yeah, I have! I’ve been in the audience. It’s even more fun in the audience! (Both laugh)
Olli: (to Pepe) I think you can come on stage on the next live show because we’re doing a show there on the same day with Reckless Love…
Pepe: Ah, cool! Why not!
Olli: If you’re already there, why not join us.
Pepe: But yeah, Reckless Love comes first, The Local Band never collides with Reckless Love. So why would I give a shit if Olli has fun during the downtime of Reckless Love?
Olli: And it’s the same thing vice versa. If Pepe comes up with a side project or fun project, why not? I would love to go and see that. He’s the best guitarist that I know, I would pay for a ticket.
Pepe: And he’s playing with Alexi! He knows the shit! (Olli laughs)

Judging by your promo photo shoots and live shows, you seem to be quite a sporty band. How do you guys maintain the physical shape you’re in?

Olli: We don’t! (laughs)
Pepe: We play one and a half hours every night, we sweat on stage. Actually there’s this dude in Finland that took some calorie counter while playing a one and a half hour rock show. And it was like 1,500 calories that he burnt. So it was like a proper workout. But yeah, we go to the gym, we run, we do stuff.
Olli: It’s my hobby to do sports. I like sports. All kinds of sports. What I wouldn’t like to do… I can’t even think of such a sport… In winter time I like hockey. In Finland it’s called ‘pipolätkä’, it’s like ‘a beanie hat hockey’, you don’t wear a helmet, you don’t have any right kind of equipment.

Is it dangerous?

Olli: Yeah, it is, but you don’t really play aggressively, it’s just for fun. You go and play a mock game just for fun. It’s good exercise. I do some running, go to the gym every now and then. So it’s just time off from music. I get my mind off from music when I do sports.
Pepe: Sport is the best therapy. When you have something on your mind, if you go running for 15 km, everything’s worked out.
Olli: It’s my second favorite pastime.

Is there anything that can spoil your time on tour?

Pepe: A flu! If you’re not well, that’s no good.
Olli: Yeah, for a singer that’s the worst. I’d rather have a broken leg when on tour than flu. Actually on this tour I’ve had the flu…
Pepe: Yeah, everyone got that flu but it’s the worst thing for Olli as a singer…
Olli: You have to strain your voice every night. We don’t really get rest.
Pepe: Yeah, as a guitarist you can take it a little bit easier. But a singer has to use his voice every night.
Olli: But it’s getting better now… A week ago I was really wrecked.
Pepe: But still all the shows were good.
Olli: Yeah, somehow I managed, you know… Every evening I found the energy for that hour and a half on stage. And with painkillers, of course, I got the fever down. But that was nasty.

Sure, but not that nasty for such cheerful guys like you. How can you be so positive and optimistic about things? Can you recommend any method?

Pepe: Be naïve. Blue-eyed.
Olli: I’d say that’s a conscious choice. You can choose to be like that.
Pepe: Yeah, I think so too. (sings a song by Monty Python) “Always look on the bright side of life…” (snaps his fingers and whistles) There’s nothing more to it, actually.
Olli: If you’re really stressed out, put on some good music and forget about it. Just forget about it! (both laugh)

Reckless Love on the Internet: http://www.recklesslove.com

Special thanks to Marina Lapkina (Eventation) for arranging this interview

Interview by Ksenia Artamonova
Photos by Natalia Reshetnikova
April 3, 2016
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