Interviews

Suzi catches up with Jukka and Sami of Status Minor to talk about the history of the band, what the future holds, and the all-important Eurovision question!

Suzi: So, how are you all?
Sami: Great, fantastic!

Tell me how Status Minor first began.
Sami: Hmm……We did have many songs to go, year was maybe 2004-2005 or something, but we didn't have a drummer. Then Perttu Helin joined the group, and we did two demos, made a few gigs, drunk some beer. Then Perttu moved to another town, and again we found ourselves in need of a drummer.

Where did you get your band name from?
Sami: We did search the name everywhere, even in a finnish / latin dictionary, ha ha. But I think it was the ex-bass player Marko Kolehmainen who came up with the name Status Minor.

In the Autumn of 2007, you released your first music video for 'Blinded' (which looks and sounds fantastic); who came up with the concept for the clip?
Sami: Matti Kuusniemi ( Trash video OY ) director of Blinded video and here are matti's own words: The basic idea came from a photoshoot we did with the guys back in 2006, with all the band members dressed in suits, like Reservois dogs. I thought that style was really cool for the band and so did they, so we dressed the guys up again and went on that cold roof to shoot the video. We also had a really nice young actress doing some story-shots for us (swimming in very cold water etc) special effect shots that we had the opportunity to shoot with minimun costs. Low budget was one element that we managed to hide in the post-production pretty well. I really liked the outcome of the video as did, I think all. And since that I have just finished a second music video (with a working title: "Hevimetsuri") for Status Minor, which is something completely different.

What was your experience filming the clip?
Sami: First word came in my mind was cold, really COLD!! Ok, it was early autumn and we did shoot Blinded on some roof, about 10-15 meters high. The wind was blowing from the nearest lake and there where we trying to look “cool” But hey, it was fun!!

Both the video clip and a lot of your promo photography are black and white with the band all looking sharp in suits, which is quite distinctive against the norm for progressive metal acts. What kind of image do you hope to portray?
Sami: I really don’t know. That black and white thing is classy for me. We never thought about that image thing that much and we are shooting more promotional stuff soon, we'll see about that.

What do you hope to achieve through Status Minor?
Sami: Gigs, lots of gigs and some touring.
 
I love your self-description of 'interesting Finnish metal', I think that's a
brilliant line - explain it.
Jukka: Well, what can I say? Finnish metal is self-evident. I think that our music is interesting, or at least slightly more unorthodox than your every day metal from Finland. There isn't that much "progressive" metal coming from Finland, so you might think that as an interesting thing too. Hopefully other people find it interesting too - audience's opinions are what makes or breaks the band in the end after all.

Regardless of not yet being signed to a label, you started recording an album earlier this year. How's that going?
Sami: It's going great! Time schedule is holding and if nothing goes wrong, there will be a Status Minor album in the end of the year.

How difficult is it to get something like a music video or an album off the ground with no label to back you up?
Sami: You can make a video or even an album if you want but it depends pretty much how much money you have and how good connections you have. Good connections save lots of money. 

What advice would you give other bands looking at doing the same thing?
Sami: When you don’t practice, sell your band everywhere. Fliers, posters, internet, bars... everywhere. Seriously, that’s hard work without getting pay.

When do you expect fans to be able to get a hold of your album?
Hopefully by the end of 2008 or very early 2009.

Progressive Metal appears to be taking Finland by storm - why do you think the hard rock scene is so big over there?
Jukka: I didn't know that progressive metal is taking over Finland either. If it really is, I guess it could be a nice thing to us. I think that as the first people who listened to metal and hard rock are parents now, it's becoming pretty widely accepted to be listening to heavy stuff, going to concerts and such. That doesn't explain why it's so big in Finland though, as people in all countries are gaining age at the same rate as far as I know. And I'm not that good at guessing. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Finnish metal is almost the only form of pop music that has had success around our borders. Can you name one metal band from Finland that's big in, say, Germany? Should be easy. Okay, then try to name a Finnish techno dance group that's big in Germany. At least I can't.

Do you get to gig much? What's been your most memorable moment on stage this far?
Sami: For now the important thing is the album. We have one gig in August Elorock, Keuruu Finland and maybe a few in later autumn but that's all. After the album we'll try to make a deal with some program agency.
 
And finally; would Status Minor ever be persuaded to perform on Eurovision?
Sami: Yeah, that would be awesome!! I don’t even need the monster costume!