Erno “Euge” Valovirta is a Finnish multitalent but mostly known from his awesome guitar work in bands such as Cyhra, Shining, Red Wolf, Godsplague, Suburban Tribe, Drive and of course his solo work. His solo album “Easy Does It” was released in 2018. Here is “Ten Questions” by Euge Valovirta!
What made you want to become a musician?
Ice hockey was and still is a huge passion for me and I played it seriously on a national level up until I was 20 or something. I still play but only on “beer league” -level 🙂
Well anyway; we had a really good & inspiring music teacher in junior high school and she taught us to play drums, guitar, bass & keyboards on a very basic level. At first I got really interested in playing drums and that was my main instrument first. Our teacher let me use the music room after school hours and I practiced drums alone there a few times a week. After my parents refused to buy me a drum set the teacher said that “why don’t you give a shot to a guitar ‘cos you seem to have a talent for that too”. And so I did and haven’t looked back 🙂
How would you describe your music?
Guitar oriented rock & metal 😀
If you could change anything about the music industry, what would it be?
The ratio of time spent on work to compensation received could be slightly better 🙂
What is the saddest song you’ve ever heard?
Oh that’s a hard one. Jeff Buckley’s ‘Hallelujah’ is the first that comes to mind and his story is really sad too.
What is your best music related memory?
Probably when my Uncle played me Bruce Springsteen the first time from his record collection when I was a little kid. I still remember that moment vividly. The Boss is still the number one for me.
What is the most useless talent you have?
Everything is useful if you know how to use it the right way 😉
What’s the best piece of advice another musician ever gave you?
“Remember that the people you meet going up on your career will be the same people you’ll meet when you’re going down. And that happens to everyone eventually”. That was my friend Michael Monroe. Awesome guy with a big heart.
Has there been one particular moment in your musical career that you’re most proud of?
I don’t know if ‘proud’ is the right word for this but this came to mind the first. We were playing somewhere in England with Cyhra a few years ago and there was this young gentleman in a wheel chair with his father. They were on my side of the stage the whole show and directly after the show I got off the stage and went to talk with them and gave the kid the setlist and the pick I used on the show and he was so excited that he could hardly say a word.
I met them again on our next UK tour and chatted with them again after the show. A few months after that show his father wrote to us that his son had died and thanked me & all of us since we had brought a lot of joy to his sons life, and to him & the whole family too. It obviously made us very sad and I don’t know if ‘proud’ is the right word but knowing that I had brought joy to this brave kids & his family’s life, made me feel better. And I guess kinda proud of myself too.
What would you be doing right now, if it wasn’t for your music career?
Probably would play ice hockey on a professional level. Well I’m actually starting to be a bit old for that but something related to ice hockey anyway I think.
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
Me & my wife are very happy living here in Switzerland and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else now. Well maybe in Lapland but maybe someday 🙂
Euge Valovirta in internet
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