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I have an announcement to make that hasn’t come easy to me and has taken months for a final decision to be made but after today this will be the last blog post I make.
Thats right I have decided to end this blog starting today. I have been going over this decision for months and on Monday (May 21st) I went to see The Rasmus live and knew that, that would be the deal breaker in my final decision. If I’m brutally honest, for almost 2 years now I have slowly been distancing myself from the band, and basically growing up. I still love The Rasmus in my own way, they’ve been a part of my life for 8 years and I will never turn my back on them completely but for me the excitement and thrill of the band and their music was over for me years ago. I started this blog as a way to try and get my spark back over the band but it never happened and I honestly didn’t think the blog would become so popular and that I’d keep it up for this long. I’m so proud of it but I can’t continue it if I don’t have the passion or patience to sit and make it the best it can be.
This blog began life as BlackRosesForum which I started with my fellow wifey and then it was re-incarnated in to The UnReal Rasmus News and began to expand through the world of Facebook, Twitter, DeviantArt and lately Tumblr. I’ve seen so many passionate fans keep up with the blog and always asking me questions about the band. Some even thinking I am the band and I cannot stress how much I’m NOT, this was always a fan page and nothing more. To see this blog have over 100 views a day has always been a privilege and to reach a maximum of 50,000 views in under 2 years is something I always be proud of. I started to realise my excitement with the band was truly over was when the band pushed back their plans to make another album and suddenly release Lauri’s solo album. There was no desire to listen to New World and to this day I’ve never listened to it. When the guys finally decided to make their latest album the excitement was still gone for me. I reluctantly bought it but I’ve only listened to it about 3 times and I still can’t get in to it as much as I’d hoped I would.
When I went to the London gig last week it was actually very surreal, it was like going back in time and being stuck in a strange time warp. Myself and my wifey honestly didn’t think we’d end up feeling as nostalgic as we did hearing The Rasmus play their classic songs like No Fear, Time To Burn, Guilty, Falling and In The Shadows, but we did. Even the new songs sounded better live than on CD, but I think thats as far as it goes for us. Gigs only and seeing a band that actually bought us together as best friends. But there is a dark side to all this, I feel the fandom itself can be very bitchy (through the fans), and I was hoping this would stop the older everyone got, but it hasn’t. To me it’s like trying to get one up on another fan, almost like a score sheet at how many times you can meet the band and get the information first. Throughout my 8 years of loving the band, it’s all I’ve ever seen, don’t get me wrong though, I’ve had some excellent memories with The Rasmus.
I’ve had the honour of meeting the guys on a number of occasions throughout my 8 year hardcore fandom and had many photos taken with them. I’ve travelled to the furthest reaches of Finland just to see them play a gig when they weren’t about in the UK and on top of it all, I’ve met some amazing people who I will always call a family. But now that I’m well in to my 20’s I’m discovering more outside of this band, not only in myself but in the world of music, film, travel and life in general. There is so much more out there than just one band and it’s amazing. I will always cherish the memories I’ve made and always laugh back at them. As for the blog I’ll keep it open for a few weeks and then it will be gone along with the Facebook page, Twitter account and Tumblr page. Of course if The Rasmus come back to the UK again I’m sure I’ll be at the gig partying away somewhere at the back with my wifey. But thats as far as it goes for me. So I shall just end this long post with two words…
(Source: facebook.com)
Here is a nice interview from andy.artmagazine with Aki and Lauri whilst the band are on tour and currently in Vienna for a gig.
Since today’s Mother’s Day I’m going to ask you what’s the best advice you mother gave you?
Aki: Behave!! (laughs) That’s a really good one!
Lauri: I think I’m still my moms’ boy. I still have quite close contact to my parents, even though we’re travelling, you know. It’s good to keep in touch with you family, I think it’s very important. Especially in this job it’s so crazy you know, you have fans, and all the fame and hype. And you know when I come home, I go to the same place where I was born and my mother still lives there. So everything is kind of like the same. So it’s a good for your inner balance.
What’s the most challenging aspect on being in the entertainment business?
Lauri: Well, I think it’s just to keep your own head together. So many times it feels like there’s a lof of people who want to give you advices how to handle things, especially on our new album it was important that we make the decisions as a band.
Aki: The bigger you get, the more you have to deal with things that don’t have anything to do with music. We love to play music and the main focus should be on the music, not our personal life or anything else.
What do you prefer: touring or recording in the studio?
Lauri: I like both! You know in the studio you can be a total nerd and try all the stuff on the computers and whatever. In the live situation we’re not able to do all that, so it’s nice to be more raw and simple. There’s also a different energy in the studio.
Aki: Travelling is great, beeing on tour and meeting people. We see different cultures. Both things are interesting and different. We enjoy everything.
Besides music, what’s your greatest passion in life?
Lauri: For me it would be architecture. I’ve been kind of self studying the last couple of years and designed my own house, which we just started to build.ng to Lauri and Aki whilst the band are on tour in Vienna for a gig.
Who was your biggest influence in becoming an artist?
Aki: My biggest influence was MTV and the bands in the 80ies. When I was a kid I had a lot of energy, and I kind of wanted to be a part of what they [the bands on MTV] were having and to have a band was my dream, so I’m living it now. Bands like Nirvana and Guns n Roses are still big for me.
Lauri: For me it’s kind of the same. My first real concert was Guns n Roses and Skid Row playing together. I was twelve years old and my sister took me to see the show. I was blown away of the energy.
Aki: My fist CD was from Jimmy Hendrix. It felt like that that’s the thing I want to be part of one day.
Let’s talk about today’s music. Adam Lambert is quite a big star in Finland. What do you think about his music?
Lauri: He’s hanging out with this Finnish guy. He’s a very good singer, one of the best male singers of the moment, but I don’t listen to his stuff only what I hear from the radio.
What’s your opinion on casting shows like American Idol in general?
Lauri: I don’t know how many [shows] we have going on right now. “Voice of Finnland”, “Fame Factory”, “X Factor” etc. It’s nice to watch but I don’t know if it’s the right way to create stars. It’s such a short period of time, they have like a year to prove that they’re good or something.
I like things that have time to grow in a natural environment before they become something big.
Would you be interested to be one of the judges on a show like that?
Lauri: I’ve been one a couple of times. I hate it! But it was the only way to get to play at those shows ourselves. You know, I don’t like that. These people on the shows are very fragile, they all have their own feelings and ideas about what’s good and what’s not and if I say something it maybe has a bigger effect than I think it has. I might change the way they’ve been doing things, just because I said something stupid.
How long are you going to stay in Vienna?
Lauri: We’re leaving tonight. At first we’re playing the gig and then we’re going to have an after party. It’s gonna be here right after the concert.
How do you deal with Social Media?
Aki: It’s not easy, because we’re quite of an old band, but we do have a facebook page with almost 400.000 people there. Yesterday I had this idea that we should have a chat for like 30 minutes with our fans since we have fans all over the world, like Japan or Mexico. Sometimes I post some photos of concerts so that the fans can see what we’re doing.
If your in the UK and can’t get hold of the new album, then don’t worry. At the sold out London gig (May 21st) you will be able to purchase the album.
(No credit cards, cash only)
Here is a video The Rasmus shot whilst in the studio and Japan!
The Rasmus have been confirmed to perform at Finland’s biggest festival this year, Ruisrock on July 6th!
The band haven’t performed at this festival for quite a few years so it’s good to see them going back to the bigger festivals, they will be playing next to some huge artists such as PMMP, Pulp, Snoop Dogg, Disco Ensemble, Apulanta and many more. The guys will be performing on Friday 6th July. You can buy tickets through the official Ruisrock Festival website.
Just to let everyone know that from tomorrow (April 29th) until Wednesday (May 2nd) I won’t be online.
I’m going on a short holiday to visit to visit my fellow wifey and see a small film called The Avengers, I don’t suppose any of you have heard it? I’ve been waiting two years for this film, anyway I will be seeing at a local Imax theatre. So anything related to The Rasmus will be on the back burner until later next week, possibly next weekend.
See you all soon!
