Julian Drain

27.10.2007 Turun Konserttisali, Turku

Had we found ourselves somewhere in the Finnish woods for our last interview, we are now in Turku, one of Finland´s biggest cities. Not in some old and shabby rockclub but in the city´s sophisticated concert hall, a venue that usually hosts only classical concerts and theatre performances. Somewhere in the backstage we meet a good humoured, chatty drummer who wouldn´t stop talking for the next 60 minutes.

Last time we talked was in summer 2006. More than a year has passed since then. Can you tell us what happened during that time?
Well, I finished my school this spring and I moved away from Ikaalinen to Tampere, to my own place and...mmh...what else happened???

What has happened with the band in the meanwhile?
There was the Eurovision we took part in and... now we have started to record a new album. We´ve just been to the studio and 5 songs are already done. We will record the rest of the songs in the beginning of 2008 and hopefully release the album in spring 2008. We are planning to release a single in January and will probably make a video for the song in December already.

How is the album going to sound like? Any different from the first record?
Well, it will still sound like a Lovex record but of course it will be a bit different. It´s going to be the best album we have done so far. We are still Lovex but of course we also develop our sound. We´re actually planning to make it sound more American, "americanish". But just a little bit.

Is it going to be a pop/rock record again or are you going to make it a bit harder this time?
The songs are going to be more heavier but it is difficult to say right now cause we´ve only done a few songs so far.

Who is writing the lyrics?
That´s Theon mostly.

And is there anyone who is checking the lyrics? Cause your English isn´t perfect?
Yes, someone is checking them. It is Rowan Rafferty from our booking agency.

In May you´ve been on tour in Germany. How did you like supporting a band like Lafee that didn´t quite match to a band like Lovex?
It wasn´t our decision to support her. It was the record company who arranged that for us. It was really good to be able to play in these big venues but Lafee´s fans probably weren´t the audience we had wished for.

You didn´t gain any new fans by supporting her. They were really young and not interested in a band like Lovex. Anyways, did you enjoy spending time in Germany?
Definitely. It was great to go abroad and play gigs in foreign countries, meet new people and so on. And the alcohol is so cheap in your country *smiles*

The record company didn´t want to spend too much money on you and because of that you didn´t stay in hotels but had to spend two weeks in a tourbus. Wasn´t it difficult to spend so much time with so many people on such a small space?
Actually it wasn´t. It was okay because usually Chris, our driver, drove us at night to the next city while we were sleeping. So when we woke up the next day we were already at the venue and could get out of the bus.

So sleeping there was okay? I imagine it can be disturbing when for example one of the guys snores or sleep talks.
There were no problems at all and I really liked the humming sound of the bus engine.

So you slept like a baby?
Yeah! *smiles* Only in the morning when the others got up to make themselves breakfast they woke me up cause they were so loud then and I am the one who sleeps the longest, so that was a little bit disturbing. But during the next tour we are not going to have a tourbus. Chris, the last driver, is too expensive for us. This time we go in a small van and sleep in hostels because the record company doesn´t want to spend too much money.

By the way, what happened to your tourbus? When we were in Helsinki last month, the front window and the door were broken...
I have no idea. We don´t have our own tourbus as Uniklubi and Private Line have. We always rent a bus, so it is always a different one. I think we are using something like 4 different buses. So I don´t know what happened to it.

You didn´t have an accident then?
No, we didn´t.

Were there any weird German habits you encountered? There are some Finnish habits we find strange like drinking tap water and taking off your shoes immediately when entering a house.
I didn´t know about the shoe thing but we drank a lot of bottled water. What I noticed was that you don´t have those strict age limits concerning alcohol and you can buy alcohol, high percentage Vodka for example, in a normal supermarket. That was new to me.

Since we are talking about booze now, I brought you a "traditional" present from Germany *smiles and fumbles in her bag, gets out turquoise glitter ballerinas and offers them to Juke who seems a little shocked but then gets out the 0,7l bottle of Jägermeister and hands it over*
This is really great. Thanks a lot! I wanted to buy a bottle of Jägermeister or something like that on the ferry cause it was so cheap in the duty free shop but I couldn´t because the age limit is 20 and they had saved my age on the ferry card which you have to show when buying something.

Oooh. Poor boy *everyone laughing* Couldn´t one of the others buy the booze for you?
You can only buy a limited amount of high percentage alcohol per person. It is 1 ½ litres so the others couldn´t buy anything for me. But next year I will turn 20 and then I can buy it, too *smiles happily*

When we went back to Finland the following night we went to the duty free shop, too to get rid off our Swedish Crowns and we were a little bit shocked to see all the Finnish and Swedish people storming into the shop and grabbing whatever alcohol was near. So the cliché is true and you all really are alcoholics?
*laughs* Yes, we are!

In 10 days you are coming to tour in Germany again. Are you looking forward to that? Is there anything special planned for the shows?
We´ve been thinking about doing some special numbers but we don´t know about it yet. Nothing has been decided so far. We don´t have the time to practice any special songs because we spend the whole week in the studio.

With "special numbers" you mean songs, don´t you? So you are not planning to have any special effects like fire for example as other bands do?
No, I think we are just playing our show and do new songs or something like that.

How about the support bands? Can you tell us anything about them?
here is a band called Manzana who is from Tampere, too but they play some kind of metal music. Not so sure. But I know the drummer. His name is Heikki and he also plays drums in a Finnish band called Diablo. It is always nice to play gigs with bands that you know.

And what about the other band?
I don´t know them very well. I think they are a gothic band from Ireland.

WTF?!
*laughs* Well, maybe not from Ireland but from some place you wouldn´t expect. I don´t know. You have to check it on the internet!

If we go back to the beginning of the band, you were very young when you joined, the others rather old compared to your age. Weren´t you a bit scared of those "old people"? Did you want to play with guys so much older than you?
Of course there was the age question but we decided to give it a try and they let me play with them for two months. We realised that it would work out despite the age and I stayed in the band and here I am still.

So the others didn´t have a problem with a teenager in their band?
No, they didn´t. We just fit together and now they are old while I am still young *grins*

And your parents didn´t have anything against you playing with older guys? Weren´t they worried that they could be a bad influence on you?
No, my parents have always been very supportive. My brother is 7 years older than me and he had been in bands before so it wasn´t a problem when I started doing music, too. For example he already played those K-18 venues which I was too young for, so it wasn´t a new thing to my parents when Lovex went there, too. Almost everyone in my family is doing music, too so it was a natural thing for me to do it, too.

Are your parents still coming to see your gigs?
Yes sure. If the gig is not too far away from where they live and if we don´t play at something like 2 in the morning, they come and see the gigs.

What made you choose to play drums? Was it because your older brother played drums and you wanted to be like him?
Well yes. There had been drums around our house so I just started to play with them.

Did your brother teach you?
He showed me the basics but I had to figure out the rest by myself.

Did you go to music school?
When I was 10 I went to music school for one year but then I quit.

Can you read notes?
Mmh kinda. I went back to music school *laughs* when I was 15 and learned to read them them but I am not so good. I can read them but I am very slow *pretends to be sitting over a sheet with scales* and I don´t play after notes but after what I think is right and sounds good. It´s not my thing. If you tell me to play a certain note, I probably can´t do it *laughs*

You also play the guitar. Are you good at it?
Yes. Actually I am pretty good! *smiles happily*

Are you also composing songs yourself?
I´ve just composed a song for our new record. Theon and I sat together. He did the lyrics and I wrote the music with the guitar. We played it to our producer and he said it is very good so hopefully it will make it to the new album.

It should be cause now we all want to hear it and you would earn more money.
Yes, we will see about that.

If you record that song, are you also going to play the guitar parts?
No, I will do the drums and one of the guitarists will do the guitars. We´re not changing our places but my guitar parts won´t change.

Is playing guitar something you would like to do in a band? Or are you just a drummer who sticks to his drums?
I´m having a little project with my big brother where I am playing guitar but I cannot tell more about it now because it is going to happen at some point in the next 5 years but not now and might not be released at all.

You have drums that were made especially for you. Is it okay for you when you play gigs with other bands and they use your drums? Or are you like "they are mine, use your own!" ?
No, it is okay for me if they use my drums. It is easier because it takes a lot of time to build them up. On the ferry Antti from Uniklubi and Elias from Private Line used my drums. But it weren´t my drums altogether. For example they used their own snare drums and they changed the cover with the band logo.

Is it okay for you to use other drummer´s drums or do you prefer your own?
I prefer my own! But I have played on other people´s drums, for example on Lacu´s drums who is the drummer of Hanoi Rocks.

Did you play a gig with Hanoi Rocks?
No we didn´t. It was this "Rock against the Drugs" thing in Pakkahuone last year. Lacu was in the house band so I used his drums.

Mentioning "Rock against the Drugs", do you think that bands are some kind of role models for their fans?
Mmh. Well I think that maybe young fans orientate themselves on a band, for example their styling.

There was this interview in a German magazine in which Vivian said it would be okay to smoke Cannabis and some fans were pissed off because you shouldn´t make such statements when you play in a band that a lot of young people listen to.
I didn´t know about that and it is not my personal opinion. I am against all kinds of drugs and I didn´t know that Vivian said something like that but of course it is not the best combination together with playing "Rock against the Drugs".

Today we talked to a friend who has the opinion that Finnish drummers suck because they use wooden drumsticks instead of metal drumsticks. What do you think about that?
I´m only using wooden drumsticks. If I used metal ones I would just break my drums and my hands. My brother had these black metal sticks and I tried them out once but the sound is different and the sticks are not good in my opinion. I would never use them and I have never seen any drummer who is using them. I am hitting my drums really hard and with metal sticks I would just break them.

You´re hitting your drums hard? Did you ever hurt yourself? I have heard about drummers breaking their wrist because of that.
No. Sometimes my wrists are hurting and my left hand is hurting *waves left hand* but nothing serious. So, well, I think that almost everyone plays with regular wooden sticks. I don´t know where your friend´s information comes from.

It is just her opinion. No information...
Does he or she play drums?

No.
Haha okay, that explains it.

Drumsticks are really useful cause on the ferry we opened a bottle of wine with a drumstick.
Yeah, you can use them in other ways, too.

So, you finished school. Are you going to university some day?
Mmh maybe I... haven´t thought about following my studies but maybe in the university of Tampere. That is the only possibility actually cause I can´t go study in some place else. That would be too hard. Studying in Ikaalinen, where I lived, is 50 kilometres from Tampere. That was pretty hard and I wouldn´t do that again.

And what would you like to study?
Weeeell,...mmmh...maybeee. I don´t know. Well, it is like some,... not teaching but something like that. Not a teacher but working with young people. I don´t know what it is in English.

Some social work?
Yeah, something like that. Or maybe something totally different. Like study English or something but I don´t know. Let´s see when I get myself into university in the first place.

How about the military or social service you will have to do?
Yeah well, let´s see. I am really not too excited to go there and do my duties in there. I moved it forward. My friends went this spring, no, this summer. They started in the army and some are starting in the beginning of 2008 but I...how do you say it, I moved it to the following summer but I am going to move them even further.

But do you have to go to army or can you do social service instead?
I can do what I want to do actually.

And what would you like to do?
Mmh, well actually in Finland the social working is now 13 months and the shortest time in the army is like 6 months but I think it is going to shorten a little the social works, like 9 months so if that´s going to happen maybe that will be my choice then but I don´t see what is coming up there and I don´t go there for 13 months if I don´t have to.

And if you go to the army, do you have to shave your hair?
Yeah... *scared look on his face*

You don´t want that?
It would be fun to do some mess-up with my hair, to do something really odd before cutting it all off but I wouldn´t like to cut my hair.

Are you going to let it grow longer?
Well, I don´t know. I just talked to my…the person who cuts my hair and I am going to cut them a little in the next month but not too much I think. Let´s see what I wanna do then.

So do you know what you want or do you just say to the hairdresser "just do something"?
Yeah...

And then you´re surprised when you look into the mirror...
She has a good taste so I just do what she wants. She asks how much I want to get cut but I really trust her opinion, good work so far.

You´ve signed a record deal with Japan. Are you going there anytime soon?
I don´t think in the near future but I think we must go there some day but I haven´t heard anything from there. Like, how many albums have we sold or anything. I heard that there was some TV campaign going on but that´s all. That´s all I heard.

So you already released the album over there?
Yeah.

Don´t you need to to do more promotion then?
Well, there was the TV campaign. I hope they´re doing their job but I heard that the release of an album isn´t such a big thing in Japan. You just release it and then you are going to promote it step by step a little but we didn´t go on number 1 I think. Maybe we didn´t enter the charts at all *laughs* I don´t know anything. Theon has done a couple of interviews with the phone but that´s all and I don´t know what is going on in there.

Are you excited about going there?
Yeah, really excited. If I get to go there for free I am happy.

Is there any club where you haven´t played yet or any event where you would like to play?
Tavastia Club in Finland is one of the most famous ones.

But it is not that nice there actually
I haven´t been there yet...

NO?!
No! That´s like the one place where we haven´t been playing so far but hopefully we will make it there. It´s funny, we´ve played like 3 times in Hartwall Arena, the big icehall in Helsinki, but not one time in the rockclub Tavastia.

But Tavastia is K-18. It would be difficult for Lovex to fill it with people.
Yes! Maybe when we release the next album we will get the chance. We played in Nosturi but it is a little different.

The age limit is K-15 there, isn´t it?
Yes but the upper deck is K-18. Now we are going to play in Lutakko in Jyväskylä which is famous for a club that we haven´t been playing before so that´s nice.

Do you have any have any special things you are doing with the band before you go on stage like...I don´t know, hugging each other?
Not actually. I just warm up a little.

With the whole band I meant. Cause there are bands who do things like forming a circle and praying...
No, nothing like that. We have this in-ear monitoring system so we tape each other´s backs. That´s all we do *laughs*

Whose back are you taping?
Well, *laughs* actually Jason´s back but I can tape my own back so I just help Jason out.

He can´t tape his own back?
I think he could but I just use one piece of tape and he uses like four pieces, because I just sit there and the wire doesn´t move too much but I help him out and there are some pairs.

That leads to the next question. What do you think about Fan Fictions? Do you know what they are?
Yeah I know but I haven´t been reading them.

But you know, most of them are "slash", so it´s like you being gay with another bandmember.
Yeah, I heard that´s how it goes.

Is that something that bothers you?
Well, not actually. I haven´t read one in a year so...

So you have read any?
Yeah. Maybe when we opened our first forum... so there I was seeing what is going on. It is really odd but it doesn´t bother me because I don´t read them.

You should *laughs*
Aaah I don´t know. Maybe it is better if I just leave them be.

So you don´t have a problem with them? Because there are bands who don´t like these kinds of stories.
I understand that it maybe bothers the readers but I am not one of the readers.

What do you think about gay people adopting children?
Well...*thinks hard* I don´t have any problems with that but… I don´t have any strong opinions about that. If they can look after the child it is a good thing and if they can do it okay, then it is not a problem but there are some difficulties about that.

Now that you are more popular with the band there are a lot of private pictures of you on the internet as well. Is that something you don´t like? For example there were school graduation photos or pictures from a class trip to Denmark. When your friends are publishing a photo, the fans copy them immediately and put them on their websites.
I didn´t know about all of these pics but being in a band, I don´t have that much privacy anymore so that´s what comes up with the band but I prefer not having too many private pictures of me on the net but I can´t help it. That´s how it goes. It doesn´t bother me too much.

Imagine you weren´t born a boy but a girl. What would your life be like now? Would you also do music? Or what do you think you would be doing now?
Mmh it is really hard to say. I think in some way I would do music. Almost everyone in my family is musical so there are many musical influences in my family and my relatives. At least I would be listening to a lot of music which I do now, too *grins*. Maybe I would be playing in a band. It is hard to say. Maybe not playing drums in a rock´n´ roll band *laughs* but you never know. There aren´t too many girls in a band in Ikaalinen so that would be really hard.

But don´t you also mix bands? If you were a girl, hadn´t Lovex taken you into the band? Did they search for a boy? Or would they also take a girl?
Well, if I think about it...If I was a 16 year old girl playing drums in Lovex, I think they wouldn´t be too happy in the first place. That would be pretty odd I think. *everybody laughing*

And if you were a girl, who of Lovex would you fancy?
*thinks* well...mmmh...I don´t know. I don´t wanna answer. *laughs*

You are the youngest of 4 children. Are you spoilt?
No, I don´t think so.

No special treatments?
No. Maybe the parents weren´t too tough on me because there were three siblings before me testing them up so my parents were used to that but I don´t see I have been spoilt in a way.

What about body art like piercings or tattoos? Is that something you would consider for yourself?
Mmh, I am not going to have a tattoo or a piercing. About 2 years ago I wanted a ring in here *grabs the right side of his lower lip*

Oh God!
Yeah, but well, that was like over 2 years ago.

Why didn´t you get it back then?
Actually my father said that I can´t have it. He said he would take it off.

Are you happy about that now?
I don´t know. Maybe it would have been funny if I had tens of piercings in my face but now I am happy I don´t have that. I didn´t take it these days and I am not going to take it, so maybe it is good thing he didn´t let me, but it is hard to say.

Now I will tell you two words and you have to choose one out of them.

Vanilla or Chocolate?
Chocolate.

Tv or Internet?
Internet.

Blue or red?
*thinks a while cause he can´t decide* Red.

Summer or winter?
Summer.

Top or Bottom?
Mmh...Bottom.

Finnish beer or German beer?
Finnish beer.

Really?
I don´t know. It´s like...in every city in Germany that you go, there are different beers. The Beck´s is, I think, the only beer that is in every city so...

No, there´s also others!
Yeah but the one I know. In every backstage there are different beers. Some are really good and others..well they haven´t really been bad but…

Have you tried those that are mixed with coke or lemonade?
Yeah. I have *pulls a funny face* They´re funny.

You don´t like them?
I can drink a bottle or two but it´s not my great fave.

You sometimes come to the forum to answer the questions of the Finnish fans but you never answer the questions of the foreign fans and there are many fans who are upset about that.
Is there like a similar topic?

Yeah, in the English subforum, there is "questions to Julian"!
*laughs* Oh! I didn´t know that. That´s why. So I´ll come and answer the questions. Sorry.

Now we want to hear you saying something in German!
Oooohmmmmmm...well...what can I say? I know some numbers and…

Swearwords?
Ah well, Scheiße of course.

But hey, you can pronounce the German "sch"!
*looks like wtf do you want of me*

Many Finnish people cannot say the "sch" *everybody makes "sch" sounds*. They say "Seiße" instead of "Scheiße"
Aah! Schschschschsch. That´s odd. I didn´t know that. Well, what can I say. I can ask "Wo ist mein Riser?" and eins, zwei, drei, vier and I know... and is 232 something like Zweihundertdreiundzwanzig?

*laughing* something like that, 223. You have to switch the numbers.
Ah yeah, well, it was close! But I don´t know anything. I cannot say anything that would help me up in Germany. A few words.

We´re done with the interview.
Oh, there were so many questions. Thanks for that!

Thanks for doing the interview!

back to Interviews