Interviews

Poets of the Fall are a hard rock band made up of members from varying musical backgrounds and tastes. Here, they have managed to successfully merge all their genres into one very impressive sound. From their start on the Max Payne 2 game soundtrack to a 3^rd album debuting on the Finnish Album Charts at Number 1 after only a week of sales; I had the pleasure of chatting with lead singer Mark Saaresto about the bands successes.

Suzi: How are you guys going?

Mark: Good, we're good, thanks.

Tell me how a rock singer,a jazz guitarist and an "industrial-machine-trance-man" all came together in 2003 to create Poets of the Fall?

By a lucky coincidence. We were recording the Late Goodbye single and Captain was there to produce it. We asked him to join the band, since we worked so well together. That was that.

Mark, Ollie and Captain are "Poets of the Fall" but are joined onstage for live performances with Jake on guitar, Jani on bass and Jari on drums. Why not make Poets of the Fall a permanent 6-piece band?

These days we are a six piece act already, it's just taken time to get here from the point where we started. And since we began as a three piece act, it's sort of stuck.

Your debut single "Late Goodbye" actually came about because you were approached to write a song for the Max Payne 2 game. Tell me how that came about?

Well, Sam Lake, the scriptwriter for Max Payne, and myself we're driving in a car, and talking about how it would be cool if we could collaborate at some point. Three weeks later Sam called me up and said he'd talked to the guys at Remedy, and they all thought it a cool idea that I should write a song for Max Payne. I was pretty stunned, I remember, cos the whole idea was just something we threw out there, to maybe be realized, maybe not. That it would come to fruition so soon, caught me by surprise. Anyhow, I wrote Late Goodbye that night, in my flat on the kitchen floor, with a crappy old guitar. The song went through all the proper channels around the world, got approved by those involved and in the end ended up on the game soundtrack.

The title track from your sophomore album "Carnival of Rust" was the 2nd biggest hit of 2006 in Finland, coming in behind Lordi's "Hard Rock Hallelujah". That must have been a very proud moment for you. How did it feel when you heard how well your song had done for the year?

It was a total surprise. We went like:" Say what?" Nonetheless, it was a happy surprise. It still feels great.

The live photography you guys have on your MySpace page is fantastic! How did you find your photographer?

She found us. We are just the grateful recipients. Check out some of the stuff she's shot during the past few years at http://www.poetsofthefall.com/photogallery/live/

I've observed on most of your photos, some very intense comments from female admirers. How do comments like these effect you? And also, for those of you with significant others, how do your partners react to that kind of overt attention you get from the ladies?

Ha ha, we think it's important for people to have an outlet for their views and opinions. For us it's music, for someone else it may be our photos. I think we've been around long enough to be able to put things in the proper perspective. I hope.

On the topic of comments, there are a lot of fan comments on your YouTube videos asking if you guys are Christian. It is refreshing in today's music scene to find a good band with good messages. So, what is the moral standpoint of Poets of the Fall?

We feel everyone can do something to make the world a more decent place. All it takes is some consideration for others without forgetting yourself. Most of us have a choice to do the right thing many times over in a day. We just try to make that choice to the best of our ability.

Your latest album "Revolution Roulette" was released earlier this year and debuted at number 1 on the official Finnish album charts after it's first week of sales! What did you do to celebrate?

By remembering to feel the exhilaration and gratefulness we experienced. I'm sure we toasted with some sodas too. Other than that, we probably drove happily back to work after hearing the good news. What you have to understand is, we're just a bunch of goofy, laid back guys who do what we love. We're not the archetypical black leather clad, sunglass sporting, rockstars, who pop a few of these and shoot up a few of those to have a 24/7 party with hot chicks and Harleys. We love a good laugh, music and our worn out t-shirts and the day we can go out without shaving. So our celebration probably isn't the sot of fireworks you'd expect.

And the final, all important question - would Poets of the Fall ever be persuaded to perform at Eurovision?

Who knows...

Suzi Pike