An interview with OVERHEAD by Amarokprog.net in August 2008. * * * - Hi! I'm very happy to make this interview! So, could you tell us (in some words) the story of OVERHEAD? Where do you come from? What is the story of the band? Tarmo: Early Overhead was our jamming project and it grew up to be a band afterwards. That time (late 90's) we had an urge to make very complex music. Luckily the original idea was quite quickly forgotten. Jaakko: The three of us, me, Tarmo and Janne, went to the same school in the town of Joensuu when we were young and we played in the same band as well as some school projects. Shortly before moving to Helsinki we started heading for this more versatile style of music. In Helsinki we met Alex and formed Overhead based on the direction we had taken. We wrote more material and eventually made our first album 'Zumanthum'. It was received well and we started making the second one, 'Metaepitome'. That one especially was received very well and that got us the chance to start doing concerts all around Europe. And now here we are, with a new album. - How was the meeting of the different members of OVERHEAD and what are your musical backgrounds? Tarmo: Jaakko, Janne and I had known each other for a long time. I remember the day Alex showed up.. We met him at a bus stop in the winter time. He was wearing an animal of some sort and a home-made hair-do (rasta). He didn't speak much but he sang perfectly. A few years later our first drummer moved to another town. We were just starting to record 'Metaepitome' when Alex introduced us to Ville. He really got baptised in fire as we hit the rec-button the very next day. Jaakko: As for musical education, I think Janne, Ville and Tarmo have had some, Ville in drums mostly. Me and Alex are more or less self taught. Tarmo: I took some classical piano lessons when I was young, just to see it wasn't the right thing for me. After playing the guitar for a few years I began to play keyboards in a band and later found out that the piano really was my instrument. - I suppose that music is not your principal job is it? What is your professional occupation? Jaakko: Ville does something like surface treatment and the rest of us come from the University of Technology, so it's more or less IT/computer-related things. As it seems to be for a lot of the prog-fans, I've noticed. Tarmo: We do all sorts of things for a living. I also have my own recording studio business that will hopefully buy my daily bread in a few years. - Finland is a small country but very active in the world of music (and in progressive rock and metal kind of music). It's the same situation for many Nordic countries like Sweden for example. What do you think about this situation? Jaakko: Yes I suppose Finland is active and known for its metal music. Maybe it has something to do with the nature of the people, metal comes naturally for some people. In the prog-genre there's not that much competition, it's just nice to have other good bands to do gigs with. Tarmo: I'm very happy for Finnish bands' success abroad. Of course the interesting music is in the marginal here as well. Being such a small country, we have only a handful of people at those gigs. But bands are very active and that's good! - So, do you like some other Finnish bands? Jaakko: Sure, I like for instance Tarot (metal), Wigwam (prog-rock) and Circusfolk (a gigging friend of ours). Tarmo: Yes. I like Finnish jazz bands like "Trio töykeät", "Korpi Ensemble" and "XL" for example. - What is your success in Finland now? Jaakko: We have our followers who come to the shows I'm happy to say. But there are more people in Central-Europe and we have more audience and success there. Half of our albums seem to be sold in Germany for example. But let's see what happens with the new album. - You sing in English. Is it simpler for you? Jaakko: Yes I think it's more natural for us, it's the language of rock music. And since our listeners are from all around the world, English is good because it's understood more or less everywhere. But we did record one cover song by a Finnish band Tabula Rasa for an upcoming tribute album. That song, 'Vuorellaistuja', has Finnish lyrics that are written by Alex's uncle, by the way. - What are your musical or artistic influences? Jaakko: We all have our own favourites, and some of them same, altogether a wide range of influences. I like old hard rock and prog, like Deep Purple, Rainbow, Kansas, Pink Floyd and Marillion to name a few. As a guitarist I'm influenced by guys like Satriani, Vai and Stevie Ray Vaughan..and many more. Tarmo: It has changes over time. From classical to metal and pop. From Abba to Zappa. I like pianists such as Tori Amos, Benny Andersson and Elton John, artists like Jim Morrison and James Hetfield, bands such as Muse and Mahavishnu Orchestra. Jaakko: Janne likes for example Rush and Queen I think. Ville is into maybe a bit more straight forward rock, I know he listens to AC-DC when partying :) Alex listens to a very wide range of music, all kinds of pop and rock and other types of music. Pink Floyd and The Beatles are examples of bands that all or most of us like I think. - What good albums did you listen recently? Jaakko: Lately I've been listening to quite a bit of Jethro Tull, which I never really got around listening to before. It's a great band but I don't think the other guys listen to it, even though many people think it's an influence of Overhead because of the flute and all. Tarmo: Manic Street Preachers' latest and some Tenacious D album. - 'And Were Not Here After All' is your third album. How do you feel the evolution of the band since 'Metaepitome'? Tarmo: We have played lots of gigs with this line-up and the band has become more solid. The musicians listen to each other more, rather than doing their own things with their ear-plugs on. Because of that the new album was easier to mix, for example. Jaakko: There are the recognisable elements of Overhead, like atmospheric and often melancholy parts, but we've also gone further in many paths we've experimented with before and taken some new ones and the album is even more dynamic. I'd say the song writing itself is better and more focused and the album works as a whole. Also, Ville was involved in the song writing from the beginning unlike with Metaepitome. Everyone's playing is really good and especially the vocals are even better than before, I think. Tarmo: I feel we have come a long way from Metaepitome but are still on our way to something. - It's a usual question for every progressive album I suppose, but is there a special concept in this one? Jaakko: Yes, lyrically it reflects on certain themes. I see it as a think piece about contemplating your place in life, finding your path, feeling lost and alone, yet finding that things tend to work out and kind of arriving where you belong. Of course this is just my way of seeing it and everyone can interpret it in their own way. - Could you tell us some words about each track? Jaakko: The first two tracks together form the opening epic of the album 'A Method to the Madness'. It begins the album with a calm and beautiful mood growing into something bigger and leading to the second part, which is perhaps the most adventurous track on the album. 'Time Can Stay' was one of the first songs written, and we have already played it live quite a many times. 'Lost Inside' is another essential epic also beginning calmly and growing into heavier parts. A very emotional song featuring a lot of great melodies, originally born from jamming. 'Entropy' is a faster tempo rock song and the last one to be written. Very nice groove, chorus and solos I think. 'A Captain On The Shore' closes the album with a kind of dreamy and ethereal mood. Features a female quest vocalist Petra Oksa, which is a nice addition. - How would you define the music of OVERHEAD and so, the music of the new album? Tarmo: Adventurous - laid back, melancholic - energetic, fragile - strong. It's about contrasts. Jaakko: It is versatile rock music without any commercial or other kind of limitations. It mixes many classic rock and prog influences with our own fresh ideas. It's ambitious music played well, concentrating on building atmospheres and kicking butt. - This album lasts less than fifty minutes. It's short if we compare it to some productions now. Do you think, like Steven Wilson, that its a good thing to keep concentration all along the album? Tarmo: Sure! If you don't have anything to say, don't speak. I think it's good to leave people yearning for more. In my opinion modern albums are too long and too loud. Listening (not just playing a CD on the background) to a modern 74 min CD makes you numb. Jaakko: Yes we want to keep the listener's concentration all along the way. We wanted to make the album an interesting entirety, not just fill the CD with unnecessary stuff. And actually some good material was left out because it didn't fit the mood of the album. I agree, some modern albums tend to be a bit too long. - 'The Sun' is a very short track, less than 2 minutes, and very different from the other songs. It seems to be a transition isn't it? Tarmo: Correct! The album was recorded in two different sessions, sounding slightly different so we wanted to divide the album into two pieces. Jaakko: We made and thought about the album kind of like an LP with an A- and a B-side. The Sun is a transition between the two sides, which are a little different musically and kind of lyrically as well. It's different yes, but yet you might find the theme familiar from elsewhere on the album... Tarmo: It's like an interval in a theatre. The first act has just ended dramatically and then there's a sad troubadour playing in the lobby while people pass by to have a cup of coffee. - I think on this album, all the instruments have the same importance. My feeling is that the first albums were more dominated by the guitar. Do you have the same feeling about that? Tarmo: I think that the songs are different, so they led us to use different kinds of arrangements. Anyhow, it wasn't planned and I haven't even thought about it that way. As mentioned, we have grown as a band and we are able to do more mature arrangements now. Jaakko: Yes all the instruments in this band are equally important, and that's a good thing, it doesn't get narrow-minded. No decisions were made of having more or less of any instrument. There might actually be more guitar tracks than before, but perhaps they are more subtle and maybe there are more keyboards as well. For instance 'A Captain On The Shore' is a more keyboard driven song and 'Entropy' is a more guitar driven song. - How was the writing process? Jaakko: Long but fruitful. We write the songs all together. Someone brings an idea or we come up with something on the fly and start jamming and playing with it. This often leads to new ideas and we then eventually have a basic structure for a song, which we then start to arrange more carefully. There's always some room for improvisation and the final form takes shape only when we record. Tarmo: Metaepitome was already composed when Ville joined the band. This was the first time he was able to participate in composing from the beginning. That made a huge difference in the result. - And the recording? The sound is even better! Did you work with a professional of sound? Tarmo: No. We did it ourselves. I'm learning to make my living out of sound engineering. That may have helped. For the first time we used a professional mastering engineer as well. Jaakko: Yes the sound is fantastic I agree. That's all thanks to Tarmo, he recorded and mixed the album, he is a great recording engineer now. And we had better equipment and everyone just plays so well since we've grown to be a tight unit. We recorded and mixed the album in our rehearsal room. - Have you received some reactions on the album? Jaakko: We haven't spread the album too much yet since it's not yet released. But everyone who has heard it has given very positive feedback, which is great of course. I have high hopes for it. - Which musicians would you work with? Tarmo: Any good musician, with whom we can get our chemistries to match. For the next album I'm hoping to get real strings and brass instead of mellotron or synth. ...if we just have the time and money. - Let's get back to 2007. So, you came in France, in Versailles, last year. It was a small audience but the people really like your work (so, I was in) and was very happy of the show. How did you feel about the concert and what do you think about French people? Jaakko: It was a great concert. Fabulous to play in such an awesome environment and the audience was very enthusiastic. We even had quite many people coming from Finland for the show and to see Versailles, so it felt very nice to play. All the people we've met during our touring in France have been very very nice and it's great fun to play there. Tarmo: Versailles was such a magnificent place and people were so nice! We really enjoyed the hospitality and the atmosphere in the concert. Definitely an evening we would love to live again. - Are you thinking about a new concert in France or about a tour in Europe to promote this new album? Jaakko: Yes we will come back to Central-Europe in 2009 hopefully including France at some point as well. It's being planned and I can't yet say more specifically when. But we look much forward to touring there again. - What are your projects now? Jaakko: We're waiting for the album to get pressed and hit the shops. We're looking to start the promotion and planning gigs in Finland and elsewhere. - Do you have some last words for the readers? Jaakko: We hope many people buy the CD and that they like it! Also come see us when we come near you to play and a big thank you to all the people who have come to our shows so far! Tarmo: Thank you for reading this far and see you at the concerts! * * * www.overhead-band.com www.myspace.com/overheadband