With four number one albums under their collective belt in their homeland, Finish siblings Von Hertzen Brothers are now making strides in the UK - and earlier this month wrapped up a tour as support to The Wildhearts.
Some of you might have caught the band soak the innards of The Craufurd Arms with their eclectic, locked-in live show late last year, when they toured in support of their current album Nine Lives. The long-player takes the listener from the prog side to the epic on a delicious, aural journey - the perfect mix of the heavy and the sweet.
Before heading to Japan in mid-May, Von Hertzen Brothers will play The Great Escape festival in Brighton, with the following shows:
May 9 Brighton, UK, Concorde 2
May 10 Brighton, UK, Dome Studio
www.totalmk.co.uk asked frontman Mikko what moves him musically...
The song that first awakened your musical senses
>Must have been a lullaby our parents used to sing for us when putting us to sleep
Physical or digital - how do you take your music?
> Honestly, I don't care as long as the song is good and the quality is good enough
The first time you thought 'Music - this is the job for me'
> Early teens. Took a while to make it happen though. Still feeling like a beginner
Your best on stage memory
> Hard to pick one, Maybe it was the fourth gig with VHB. That evening I had the revelation that maybe we didn't suck too bad and there might be something in us
And the worst gig you've ever done?
> The first gig with VHB back in the year 2000. Open air gig, I had never before performed as a singer of a rock outfit. Horridly humiliating experience
What made you take up the guitar?
> After writing songs for the first first VHB album, we realised I needed to sing most of the songs if we ever were to perform.
The songs were arranged for two or more guitars, so I had to rise up for the task. Originally my instrument was drums
Which one song by another artist do you wish you'd written
> Tough one. Let's say Dream Brother by Jeff Buckley
And one - by yourself - which holds special significance
> The Willing Victim (from our third album, Love Remains the Same)
If you could step into the shoes of another musician, living or dead, who would it be an what would you do?
> I would love to be Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan for a day. I've always been interested in huge personalities that have a strong spiritual side to them.
I'd like to know whether it was for real or just a show
Are there any current musical influences you might look to?
> Honestly, I don't have much time to look anywhere except the road ahead. Very rarely do I get excited about any new stuff. Music is one of the most important things in my life, but I'm not really interested in music.
I'm a dull person. I like silence. You know what I mean? Maybe not...oh, well
Any genre of music that you just cant stand
Yeah, I can't stand Black Metal, Death Metal, and the sorts...and most of the commercial rap crap makes me want to puke
Finally, for those yet to check it out, plug Nine Lives
> Well, it pretty well crystallises what our music is about. A culmination of 12 years of treading this path.
We ended up choosing nine songs that are very different from each other. Consequently, it has everything from bad ass heavy riffin' to floating feather-like effortlessly in the air.
I guess it's a journey from the inner shades towards bright light. According to many, it's a trip worth taking.
Watch the video for Coming Home here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PySdLVbuG3Y
Which one song by another artist do you wish you'd written
> Tough one. Let's say Dream Brother by Jeff Buckley
And one - by yourself - which holds special significance
> The Willing Victim (from our third album, Love Remains the Same)
If you could step into the shoes of another musician, living or dead, who would it be an what would you do?
> I would love to be Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan for a day. I've always been interested in huge personalities that have a strong spiritual side to them.
I'd like to know whether it was for real or just a show
Are there any current musical influences you might look to?
> Honestly, I don't have much time to look anywhere except the road ahead. Very rarely do I get excited about any new stuff. Music is one of the most important things in my life, but I'm not really interested in music.
I'm a dull person. I like silence. You know what I mean? Maybe not...oh, well
Any genre of music that you just cant stand
Yeah, I can't stand Black Metal, Death Metal, and the sorts...and most of the commercial rap crap makes me want to puke
Finally, for those yet to check it out, plug Nine Lives
> Well, it pretty well crystallises what our music is about. A culmination of 12 years of treading this path.
We ended up choosing nine songs that are very different from each other. Consequently, it has everything from bad ass heavy riffin' to floating feather-like effortlessly in the air.
I guess it's a journey from the inner shades towards bright light. According to many, it's a trip worth taking.
Watch the video for Coming Home here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PySdLVbuG3Y
