Reflexion
The Music Sounds Real

13.07.2010

The saying “you have to be in the right place in the right time” exists in most of the human languages. And there’s no other place where it’s truer than in the music business. Look at Finland’s Reflexion – they came just a little too late to capitalize on the success of the Finnish love metal wave with bands like HIM and The 69 Eyes, and even though they enjoy serious success in their home country, they still have a hard time making it abroad. But as the Russian audience has a very special relationship with Finnish bands, Reflexion get a fair share of attention, too. A share big enough for the band to write the song “Moscow Nights” just after two visits to the city. When they came here for the third time, we figured out it’s time for a short meeting and an interview…

Back in 2005 your very first gig outside Finland was in Moscow. How has the band changed and progressed since then? How much different have you become as personalities?

Juha Kylmanen (vocals): I think, it’s hard to say how we have changed, because it has to be judged by someone else outside the band. Our lives have changed, now we have families and children, so…We have grown up. But we have also grown as a band. But still I don’t think that inside the band we became that different. And the music has always been for us like a being, like an organism. We don’t try any kinds of music, we just let it come out when it’s time for this. The style has changed, it’s like a natural development. It is not something that we planed.

Russia is still one of only two countries you play outside Finland, the other one is Germany. Why aren’t you visiting more countries? Do you have intensive dayjobs or is there any other reason?

Juha: Before this moment we haven’t visited other countries except Russia and Germany, and we have no offers yet. And yes, everybody has dayjobs.

Your records are released internationally by the label Mach XX, and it’s a very interesting company. Apart from Reflexion, there are only two other bands there, and its parent company, Out Of Line, specializes in electronic music, not in rock or metal. Why did you choose this label, and are you satisfied with the way it’s working?

Juha: The label where we are at is like a sublabel of Out of Line, which is a big label and they release many albums of many other bands. And why we are still there is simple - it’s the German label that has released all our albums. For the first album (“Out Of The Dark”, 2006) we had a different label, and that label had some deal or a sub-publishing contract with Out of Line. So it was natural that then we got the deal with Out of Line: we had the contacts, we just continued working with Out of Line.

I remember you said in Moscow that Reflexion are more of a rock band than a gothic band. Still you played at two of the biggest gothic festivals – Wave Gotik Treffen and M'era Luna. How did you like it there? Did the gothic crowd give you a warm welcome?

Juha: Well, the audience in Germany was really great! And what a surprise for us, when there were a lot of guys dressed in black in the audience. Of course it was a gothic festival, but there were a lot of bands, which were not gothic. And people liked our band, that’s the main thing for us. We didn’t feel like we some outsiders there. But I still think that we are more of a rock band, than a gothic band.

Let’s now speak about the new album “Edge”. Was it an easy or a difficult record to make? How did the work in the studio go?

Juhani Heikka (guitar): I would say that it was really easy. This time we didn’t have an outside producer. We didn’t have tough schedules, we could just go in and play. And compared to other albums it was much easier.  

The first track on the new CD is called “Morning Sickness”. How often do you have sickness in the mornings?

Juhani: Mikko has every morning. (laughs)
Mikko Uusimaa (bass): No, I am not! (everyone laughs)

How did you like working with Hiili Hiilessmaa on mixing the album?

Juhani: Great…
Juha: Yes, he is a great guy.
Ilkka Jolma (guitar): He helped us underline the best parts of our music.
Juhani: He got the point that we really wanted.

How did it happen that Tonmi Lillman (ex-Sinergy, To/Die/For) played the drums on the new record?

Juha: We were asking Tonmi to play the drums, because Reiska Pohjola, our long-term drummer, has some problems with his hand, so he decided to quit the drumming for as long as it takes him. We had to make the decision either not to make the new album or to have someone who can play on the album. I know Tonmi from my time with To/Die/For when I played with them. We are still in contact. It was pretty easy to ask him, he’s a great drummer, so I called and asked him if he was interested in playing with us. At that point we knew that he wasn’t going to stay in the band as a member, but he could play the drums on the album. And we are lucky to get Ilkka Leskela to join our band. He is an amazing guy.   

Who is a fan of The Cardigans in the band? Who brought in the idea to make a cover version of their song "Couldn't Care Less"?

Juhani: All of us.
Juha: Quite many bands like this band, and we like it too. I think this song could be on our previous album. And The Cardigans have really many good songs.
Juhani: I think also that the tempo was right, a little bit slower, and it was easier to play the riffs for that song.
Ilkka Jolma: It’s a song which it is really easy to work with, and it can express your own feelings.
Juhani: And the melody is good for Juna’s voice.
Juha: I love the lyrics and the melody. Tonmi had some good ideas for arrangements. At first we only had the idea that we would do some song by The Cardigans, and we just chose the song in the studio. We didn’t practice it with Tonmi, we just played him the album when he got to the studio playing room, and them he played it.
Juhani: Swedish women turn us on! First we covered Roxette and now The Cardigans. (everybody laughs)

Yes, two years ago you covered Roxette’s “Listen To Your Heart” for the “Twilight Child” single. Why this band and why this particular song?

Juha: This song is amazing. As a matter of fact, we played that song from the year 2000 or something, way before we made our first album.

What is the idea behind the song “Moscow Nights”?

Juha: In the beginning it was a bit of a gothic rock song, and when I first started creating melodies for it, as a joke I sang “Moscow nights” in the chorus. It sounded good, and though we tried some other subjects too, it just fitted, and we decided to make it this way. It’s not that serious song, you know. But it’s a great song.

On every Reflexion album there is a group photo of the band on the cover. It’s a very rare thing nowadays. Is it a sort of tribute to rock bands of the 80s, who used to do it a lot?

Juha: Well, we haven’t thought about it like this. The idea was our own, we wanted just a picture. The cover of the album was basically designed by ourselves. The colors of red and white, it just felt good. And we incorporated in it our new logo with wings, it means something different. The main idea of the music on the album is to keep it simple, so the cover should be also simple.  We didn’t want some magic tricks. The way the music was recorded and mixed, it’s not a programmed album, we didn’t fix our mistakes, all the music is played as it is. Personally, I hate American-sounding bands, they have a big sound and they have everything fixed, they play like robots. There are quite many bands whose stuff is fixed with the computer, and they sound the same. There is no dynamic, they sound just too good to me.   

Vesa Ranta (drummer of Sentenced) has been your photographer for the last two albums – how do you like working with him?

Juha: One of the reasons why we chose him is because he takes simple pictures. He doesn’t fix his pictures. We wanted to have a natural one, even a bit shitty…

What do you mean by shitty? Not professional?

Juha: It’s got to be professional, but raw and down to earth, no American style. The music sounds real, and we wanted the cover to look real, and, of course, the picture had to be real. The cover is simple and clear and you can see the band there.

Now a trivial question – the name “Edge” can have a lot of meanings, and it’s also a sharp contrast to the name of your previous album, which was long and difficult to memorize: “Dead to the Past, Blind For Tomorrow”. Can you say a few words about the way you choose album titles and what meaning you want them to convey?

Juha: The meaning – well, I have just explained, it’s simplicity and rawness. It’s not polished and not sweet, we tried to get rid of this. And we wanted to sound a little bit harder, because the clock is ticking for us too. We are grown-up men now.

Once you said the you are going to make a video. Do you still have such plans?

Juha: We have a lot of plans! We wanted a video for this album, but I hope it happens with the next one. There is no metal channel on TV. Why would the label put 2,000 or even 30,000 euros for a video which will only be run in YouTube? It makes no sense. To make some kind of home video is not a good idea, it has no reason. If someone shoots us at a live concert and puts it on YouTube, it’s OK, but I don’t think YouTube is the right channel to make videos for, it’s shit. All the videos there are shit.
Juhani: That’s your personal opinion!
Juha: Well, but if you look at MTV…
Juhani: Who watches MTV nowadays? Everybody just checks out YouTube.
Juha: Well, if we have a budget, we would naturally do a video, and it will be on YouTube as well.

Who were your idols in the beginning of the band’s career? And do you have any influences now? Some parts of your new album sound a bit like Black Sabbath…

Ilkka Jolma: This band is great! I have to agree that some parts really sound like Black Sabbath. And we are quite happy that we can bring this sound to our stuff.

And what about other influences?

Mikko: Megadeth, Deep Purple.
Ilkka Jolma: W.A.S.P.
Juhani: Immortal, Deicide.
Ilkka Leskela: Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, 80s stuff.
Juha: And we play absolutely different music, and it’s good. People won’t get bored listening to us.
Juhani: I think it’s good that we listen to different music, we find inspiration there. It would have been boring if everyone had the same CDs, and would try to make music similar to the one we listen by ourselves. Everyone of us listens to different styles of music, and when we put it together, there comes Reflexion.

You have done three albums, and some of your songs have been in the charts in Finland. But in general, are you satisfied with the level of success Reflexion have? Or do you feel your band is underrated?

Juha: You have to be satisfied with whatever is coming, but it doesn’t make us cry, “I would like to have more success!” The music is not born like that. It has to be enough for us as it is. We don’t think about success.

But doesn’t it make you happy when your songs get into the charts?

Juha: Of course we like when the band moves forward. But we can’t make the music just because we want to be successful. That’s not the point.

What are your future plans? There are just two upcoming gigs listed on your website, and your latest album has been released just a while ago. So what will you do in the rest of 2010?

Juha: We have done like 15 gigs this spring and in the summer we will try to have some vacations. I think we will do more gigs in autumn. We want vacations - fishing, reading books…
Ilkka Jolma: And after that more gigs.
Juhani: More kicks (everyone laughs)

And to round off this interview, please say a few words for our readers and your fans.

Juha: Please, try to understand what we mean with our music. I do understand that some people can say that the third album is not that good as previous.
Juhani: To understand the album you need to listen it many times, and you will understand it. If you listen to it more than once, you will get the message better.  

Reflexion on the Internet: http://www.reflexionmusic.com

Special thanks to Stas “Mendor” Drozdov for arranging this interview

Interview by Victoria “Ewigkeit” Bagautdinova
Questions also compiled by Roman “Maniac” Patrashov
Photos by Olga “Omena” Dendymarchenko
April 17, 2010
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