The Rasmus Are Crossing The Pond With Death Pop

As any band knows breaking out in another country takes a long time if it ever happens. The Rasmus know that first hand. In the 10 years they’ve been a band they’re full fledged rockstars in their native Finland and many other European countries, but with the exception of their hit “In The Shadows” a few years ago, the band is largely unknown in North America.

Most recently the band toured America with Lostprophets and has just released their latest album Hide From The Sun in North America. Roughly a year since it’s been released in Europe, the band is now setting their sites on conquering other countries.

“The tour is actually going really well. Better than I thought. The beginning of a tour is always a tough time. But they’ve been the most wonderful shows in a long time. It’s a big drop since we’ve been playing huge shows in Europe and on this tour we’re the first band on,” says vocalist Lauri Ylönen. “It’s a new situation and it’s something we had when we started the band in ’94. And it’s a feeling we never thought we’d have again but in Canada and America we’re nobody. It’s exciting. And I can go out in the crowd after and the reaction is spontaneous and honest. It is very strange but I like the fact that we can do it like this. I think the best way to promote yourself is to come on tour.”

With their decade long career, The Rasmus have gone through most of the same difficulties as every other band, but with their line-up intact, they’ve found a way to avoid the usual in-band issues that can cause everything from breakups to firings. With their relatively unknown status here, unlike most bands, they’re looking forward to working toward making themselves known.

“You can just look in someone’s eyes and know when you back off or to comfort. You can sense it. It’s pretty weird to know so much about someone else and it’s good to keep your secrets. I just realized how long we’ve been a band. Almost half my life. I’ve never had a real job, but it just didn’t happen overnight. The first eight years we just played in Finland, so it was really great when things started happening outside.”

While touring constantly may be a difficult life, the band finds things to occupy their time, things like writing new material and getting out and exploring the cities they’re in.

“I love touring, most of our songs are written on tour. I don’t like studios even though I own one, it’s too stressful. Touring is also different, every day it’s different cultures.”

Coming from Finland, the band keeps good company with other bands from their home country, like HIM and Apocalyptica, even going so far as having a few collaborations along the way.

“That one collaboration between Apocalyptica and HIM. There’s a lot of talk of competition with HIM. But we were on tour with them and came up with the idea that way. I think you come up with the best ideas on tour when you’re drunk. I like it better to be on tour with Finnish bands, some American bands don’t like it when you’re quiet too long on tour. Finnish bands think the same way.”

The self proclaimed “death pop” band who made up that genre after realizing they didn’t belong anywhere else take their songwriting and live show to a level that most bands didn’t think about for a long time until recently. The theatrical side of music that keeps fans entertained. And with their large catalogue of songs to pick from it’s never an easy task to pick set lists or to have an idea of what fans are expecting at concerts.

“Usually fans want to hear the songs that are on the radio but some fans dig deeper. I think live shows should have a spontaneous feeling. Our music is quite theatrical so we try to create those feelings. It’s more like a journey, there’s a beginning and an end and we also have an acoustic section.”

With the release of Hide From The Sun will hopefully come more touring and maybe a chance to get their rockstar status here as well.

- Alyssa Caplin

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