The Rasmus’ First Louder Than Life: Touring the US and Dreams of Collaborating with Alice Cooper

0:04 Hey, you're listening to The Adventure of Spider-Man on W4CY Radio. This is the Pipe Man here on The Adventure of Spider-Man W4CY Radio, and I'm here with. Lowry from the Erasmus Band. Nice. Here at... Louder than life man. Oh, it's a big deal for me I gotta say I'm from Finland and this is the first time we get. To play this awesome festival. I'm so excited Oh my god around the area all day all morning like smiling. Oh This is a and I don't think we have anything as big as this in Europe.

0:47 See I love hearing stuff like that because I also like I do all the festivals in the States by do festivals in Europe the UK And Europe has always been to us. Whoa, those are the best festivals. And then to you guys, you come over here. Whoa, these are the best festivals. It's so cool. Maybe it's some exotic angle that we find here. But it's just like, I just talked to these British guys and they said like, I've never been on a festival where there's an amusement park too. I know, right? What don't they have here? It is pretty wild because originally when we first moved to this venue, they just had the normal like Ferris wheel in here. But then last year, they decided to combine forces with the amusement park. And that is so cool to be able to do both.

1:34 Yeah, I mean, it's a dream for these customers, people who show up here. It's like, I mean, besides the heat, maybe. That's pretty bad. But I talked to someone and she was like, I'm going to see 100 bands in five days. I have made myself a very tight schedule. See, I love people like that, though. Because there's so many people out there that, like, bitch and complain if, like, one band drops off the list. Oh, that's the only reason I was going to the festival. Like, then don't go to a festival. Go to their concert. That's the whole idea of a festival is to get to check out a crapload of bands and find the bands you love that you never heard of before. Exactly.

2:16 That's the beauty of it. I agree. So what led you to Louder Than Life? How did this happen all the way from Finland? Well, we've been around for a long time with my bands and never had really success in the States before. We're sort of getting started. We've played a couple of tours here, but it's been kind of small, supporting someone. And now we signed with a US label recently, Better Noise Music. I love them. Yeah, and it feels like a good home for us. We are starting to work the US market now more, and now we're actually on a tour, our. First headlining tour at the moment. Nice. Yesterday we played in this tiniest little place in Flint.

2:59 Nice. And it was such a sweaty, insane, like, party gig. And today we get to play this festival, and it's really, it feels like a new beginning for our band, even though we've been. Around for a long time. I love that. To start a market over and, like, building the fan base one by one, and it's really awesome to be here. And the record label really makes a difference. Who you're with, and Better Noise takes such good care of their bands, like, So I think that's pretty cool you're with them now. Yeah, it feels like a good place to be. I like the other bands they have. Also, they don't sign like crazy, like hundreds of bands every year. I mean, they pretty much have like 12 releases a year, and they really focus on them.

3:44 So I'm excited about the future. That's how they can give the focus to you as an artist. Because if you're in too many bands, how can you really do them help? You know, they really care about what happens to the artists. And that's important. You know, it's kind of like they always say, happy wife, happy life. I say, happy artist, happy career. You know? Yeah, true. So tell us who you would like to tour with that you've never toured with. Wow. Well, like. When we started to break through in Europe a long time ago, we came up with bands like Linkin Park and like Papa Roach. And I would love to make a tour with them. That's like the biggest league. But anyway, it would be awesome to be touring with Linkin Park, for example. I think it would be a great match. But, you know, like then again, next to our dressing room is Alice Cooper's alice's dressing room and we actually have played a tour with him in russia nice yeah together we did like five shows or something so i'm waiting to see him again and you know i.

5:03 Was like fuck i have to do a song with. Him right do it i mean that would be awesome because like i consider him being some kind of a father figure for me because i had his poster on my wall with all his makeup and shit you know when i was 10 years old And he was my idol and I somehow feel like. I walked his steps in a way. I also worked with some of the producers and songwriters like Desmond Child who wrote his song Poison, for example. So we have this connection. So I was like, damn, that would be awesome to make a song with him. See, and he never ages, right? Yeah. Oh, my God. He is an empire, I guess. It is unbelievable. And, you know, basically, it's so funny because I just saw him. I did me a press for a show of his recently. That wasn't a festival, one of his shows. And I'm just like, man, you're right.

5:58 It's like he is a vampire because he does not age. He still has great energy, great show. Like, I'm in awe. Because, you know, everybody wants to live this hard life and get to that point. Yeah. And still be that way. You know? Yeah. So, tell us what else you got going on after Louder Than Life. Well, we're going to continue our tour in the States for three more weeks. We're ending up in Los Angeles at like mid-October. And then we have three weeks in Latin America. Bigger shows than... here and it's gonna be exciting and then we have a little break when we try to do the next album december january and then february march a european tour two months nice yeah and that's about it for this album it's it's a wrap so i love busy.

6:52 I love it one story good or bad in your whole musical career what's the one that sticks out in your mind. Most well now that i mentioned Alice Cooper. That's my people. It was like, you know, it was a weird feeling to meet him. And honestly, I was first like... I don't want to meet him because I don't want to ruin that image I have. You don't want to meet your idols, right? Yeah, don't kill your idols. Just keep them distant. And then I was talking with him and he was like, you know, I'm a shopaholic. I have 600 pairs of jeans at home. I was like, don't tell me that shit. I don't want to know.

7:34 Tell me about the snake and the top hat, dude. Don't do this to me. That's wild. But, you know, he is really, like, he's, I think he's the pioneers of those mask bands who live a personal life. He's doing golf and whatnot, you know, and then he's back to being Alice. It's a character. I mean, I'm also that split personality, you know. Me too. I have that very private person in me, and then I have this guy who can talk and talk and talk and sing and fucking go mad. So it's like. I kind of say for myself, like, I'm an extreme extrovert and a loner at the same time. Right. You know, because even at the same time, sometimes you're both, like, you're probably up on stage. People think you're an extrovert because you're up there, but you're probably in your own world in a zone, you know?

8:24 Oh, yeah. And people, I think they don't realize that, like. Artists aren't really extroverts. This is like a bubble I always step into when I go to be. In the band. And then I'm here in this unreal world. Exactly, right? Unreal dimension. So if music was not an option, now what's your passion? Well, I have a few. Well, I'm a big fan of architecture. I was looking at that while we're talking. That roof. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I have passion for boring stuff like that. Architecture has been something for me always. I've designed houses. I've built tons of houses in my life. And that's been like a side story. I even had my own TV show about it in Finland.

9:14 Nice. Yeah, but. you know it's good to have some other things to do like because I feel like I love the music most but then I always run out of like that creative juice at some point and I need to do something else so also other thing I do is gardening sounds nice not rock and roll but it's fucking awesome I love it really brings zen and like peacefulness to to me and like again what i said about that like uh other person in me maybe that guy is like in the garden just like yeah right levitating i. Bet you when you go on tour when you get off tour the way you chill out from tour is gardening isn't it Yeah.

10:00 Well, I have a home in a countryside and we have animals, we have chickens and stuff like that. So it's really the opposite of this touring crazy madness. Well, it's kind of like me. I go on tour and I do media coverage at music festivals all over the world. And then when I get home... I'll get on my paddleboard. I'll go way out in the ocean and just lie on the paddleboard away from the world. Sounds awesome. You know? And it's, again, that zen. It's like just getting away from it. That doesn't mean I'll love it while I'm here. But as you know, sometimes you need that time to just chill out. Totally. Absolutely. Anything else you want to tell the listeners we haven't covered yet?

10:44 Well, thanks for having me here. I mean, we're working the American market today. After being in the band for decades already, it feels awesome. I hope everybody can join us on this tour. We still have plenty of shows coming. I just wish to meet as many people as possible and make new friends. Well, I hope they all check you out because not only is your music badass, but you're a true human. Thank you. And I think people need to see that. Because sometimes they look at musicians and they get an opinion because you're playing this role up on stage. I want them to know the real person. Because really, all artists are just another human being. They just happen to be doing that. And I think people don't realize it.

11:36 They look at it a different way. But you're the same as the rest of us. But better at what you do. Because I couldn't do what you do. Well, all the same. There you go. I love it. Well, I love that you're here at Lighter Than Life, and thanks for being on The Adventures of Pipe Man. Thank you. Thank you for listening to The Adventures of Pipe Man on W4CY Radio.