MyGrain pour l'album "Signs Of Existence"

1. Hi and thank you for according me some of your time to answer this interview. So one year and a half after the release of your first album, the new one called "Signs Of Existence" is already there, always on Spinefarm Records. But before talking about it, I had some questions about this last year. First, I wondered what has happened to the band after the release of "Orbit Dance"?

[Resistor] Hello! Well after the first album came out we just played as many gigs as we could here in Finland and tried to promote the band in every way we could think of. The response for the album was definitely more positive than negative and we still think the album is a killer.

[Eve] Yep, there's no reason to be embarassed of something you've done in the past. Orbit Dance is a portrait of myGRAIN in the year of 2006 and we're still proud of what we accomplished back then. What is great in making music is that you can always go forward and you never shouldn't put a limit on what you can achieve. You can always demand more and more from yourself!


2. I really appreciated this first album but I didn't have the chance to see you live. How were the reactions of the public on these songs? Is there a song in particular that you appreciated to play on scene?

[Resistor] We did something like 30 gigs with "Orbit Dance" and the live response was mainly good. Playing live is what this is all about. I think the first albums best live songs are W.I.F, Hollowgram, Misery Assembly Line and Downfall.

[Eve] Darkbound is also a song that is really fun to play live and the audience also seems to demand us to play that. When it comes to playing live, I couldn't ever find a better way to spend my life than touring. Even all the time that we've spent sitting in a tourbus or waiting the soundchecks to happen has been a blast and of course all of this culminates in the live performance. Let alone all the awesome people we have met on the road – including the fans, fellow bands, gigbookers, technicians... We would lack so many dear memories if we wouldn't have this opportunity to tour. When it comes to the audience's response, it was good even after Orbit Dance but now as we've toured after the release of Signs, the reactions have topped all of our expectations. The next big step for us would be touring abroad and we're doing our best in achieving this dream in the near future. Unfortunately, it's the money that counts in these things. If it was cheaper, we would have done that a long time ago.


3. When I interviewed you for the release of "Orbit Dance", you told me your next album would be more personal and that we could really feel YOUR style. So what has changed in your music between these 2 albums to your mind?

[Resistor] I think the first album gave some sort of basics to our sound/music and we just continued from where we were left with "Orbit Dance". One reason why the album sounds a little bit different, is because it was written so differently than the first album and surely everyone has grown into the band... all the gigs we have played and stuff. But I think that we're much more closer to the myGRAIN sound than ever.

[Eve] We have grown together as a band during these four years and as we now know each other better, it is easier to bring your own ideas for other bandmembers to listen. You're not embarassed to say or do anything, hehe. And as the basics for our sound have already been set on Orbit Dance, it was easier to do more experiments with both the sounds and the riffs. We're more confident and don't care that much what the others say, if we ever have cared about that anyway... What's the most important thing in making music is that you're content with your own work. If you get fans by doing what you like, it's a big bonus which makes it all even more great.


4. What can we expect from these "Signs Of Existence"? Do you have a favourite song?

[Resistor] Ten killer tracks, melodic, but still asskicking tunes. I think may fave songs are “Asphyxiated and Inflammable” and the last song "Final Frontier".

[Eve] It's really hard to pick only one favourite song, it changes all the time. But I would say that “Final Frontier” is a song that's most interesting, cause it's something we've never done before. And the middle part is a great one for dance moves, hahaha!


5. To be honest, when I first listened to this new album, I was a bit disappointed. I found that there were too much clean vocals and not enough violent parts compared to "Orbit Dance". But after some time, I finally found it very coherent, more mature, with a pessimistic and futuristic atmosphere. Did you particularly work hard on this atmosphere in order to immerse the listener into the album?

[Resistor] When we started to write new song, we just tried to make the songs even better than in "Orbit Dance". The main idea is that even though some songs may be a little bit softer, they will still kick some ass and we can play them live. So we didn't think about what people will say, we just wrote the songs together and worked on the songs as long as we were perfectly happy with them. I'm really proud of what we accomplished with this new stuff. But yeah, we knew that this album will be a little bit harder to open up, you know and it may take some time, but that's not a bad thing at all.

[Eve] What I've learned as a heavy consumer of music, is that it's not necessarily a good thing if an album opens up right away. The best albums I have in my cd shelf are the ones that have required many times of listening before I have understood anything about them. They aren't worn out that easily. What is great with Signs is that there are so many different elements and tricks that you may not notice right away, but you can always find something new when you listen to it.


6. How do you proceed to compose your songs? Is there a main compositor who comes with the riffs or is it mainly a group work?

[Resistor] This album has been written together in our shitty rehearsal room in Helsinki. Everyone has put their own ideas on the songs and the album's been written together, from the start to the end. So there isn't any main songwriters or so on. I think this style of writing the new material worked really well for this album and we're really happy about it.

[Eve] It's not indeed easy to write the songs this way but it's definitely more fun. And surely the songs aren't made from the same ingredients. Let's take a look at for example “Translucent Dreams” or “Asphyxiated and Inflammable” that both started from a keyboard riff and “This Perfect Chaos” or “Psychonaut” whose basics lie in the guitars. Quite different songs, aren't they? And that's what it's all about, variation. We didn't have it that much on the first album. It's what makes Signs a bit harder to listen to at first but the listener's patience will be rewarded in the end.


7. You also told me in 2006 that "Signs Of Existence" was an idea of title and it finally seems that you decided to keep this one. What does it mean to you? Could you tell us more about the lyrics of the album?

[Eve] “Signs of Existence” as a title has two meanings. First of all, it's a statement that we're back, stronger than ever even though it's been two years since our last album. As a matter of fact I've never understood why should you be making albums every year. Isn't it the quality that counts? Anyways... the second meaning of the title lies in a space theme that covers up the whole lyrical concept of the album. So the lyrics are stories of everyday life and a person's thoughts about the meaning of life and where is his place in this big picture... but all of this is veiled in a space and cyber theme.


8. On this one, there are some guest appearances by Jules Näveri (Profane Omen), Mika Ikonen (Ablaze In Hatred), Antti Hyyrynen (Stam1na) and Christine Sten. How did you get the idea to invite all these persons on your record? How spent the collaboration with them?

[Eve] Well, although Tommy is a very skilled vocalist and can sing stuff from many different kind of growls to brightest of clean vocals, we wanted variation not only in the music but also vocals. All of the guys (and a gal) were our friends already and they all are different kind of singers so it was really easy to ask them to join the recordings. The collaboration proceeded as fluently as you can imagine. They are all pros and it didn't take long as they understood what we had in our minds concerning their appearances. Surely we gave them the freedom to express their own ideas as well. I'm sure we will have some guests on the third album also. Actually we've already asked a couple of guys and they've said yes, hehe! You can't be too early with these things...


9. Is there a tour planed to promote this new album?

[Resistor] Actually we're half way of our Finnish tour at the moment and the response has been beyond expected. We're really suprised about that. And as said before, hopefully we get a opportunity to play abroad as soon as possible. Thumbs up for that.


10. A little word about the artwork which really corresponds to the album: who designed it and did you give him/her any idea or direction to work?

[Resistor] The album cover is made by our friend Timo Honkanen / Death-illustrated. He made also the first albums "Orbit Dance" cover.

[Eve] The idea started from the album title and a space theme we had in mind. At first we would have wanted a crop circle with our logo in it on the back of the cover but it turned out to be a bit different. In the end we didn't want to restrict him any way – we just wanted and evil looking space ship in the cover, haha! We knew we could trust this guy and he did a really good job, again. The only thing that is unfortunate with the cover is that the cd factory fucked up with the colours and the result is a bit too dark. Oh yeah, there is also a misprint in the song list, hahaha! “This Perfect Chaos” lacks the letter “H” so it reads “caos”. Way to go over there!!! Well, now the song is spelled as “CAOS” in our setlist, for eternity I guess. Maybe it will be a collector's rarity some day...


11. What are you listening to these days? Any good album to share?

[Resistor] I mainly listen to metal, but I also listen to so many different music styles. Lately the most popular CD's in my player have been Turbonegro, Katatonia, Alice in Chains, Dimmu Borgir, Machine Head, Stam1na etc.

[Eve] At the very moment I'm listening to Kiuas' brand new album “The New Dark Age”. The other albums that have been in a heavy rotation lately are Moonsorrow's EP Tulimyrsky (will be released in the spring), Ghost Brigade's Guided by Fire, Stam1na's Raja and Trollfest's Brakebein. I have also gone through some of my old grunge favourites like Soundgarden's Superunknown as well as the Finnish death/doom act Swallow the Sun's second album. The latest band that I've become a huge fan is definitely Moonsorrow. We toured with them in the winter of 2007 and I totally fell in love with the band back then. I could listen to their albums Kivenkantaja or Verisäkeet easily every day without getting bored, hehe.


12. To conclude, here is THE question: each time I see a picture of the band, I think about Eve who had to live with 5 guys. How does she manage to survive?

[Resistor] Well we have the same hobbies inside / outside the band so she is doing fine.

[Eve] Hehe, can you imagine what would the hobbies be? 8-) I have never had any problems in being a part of a group of guys – I've always been the only girl in all of my bands and most of my friends are males anyway. It may require a certain kind of character to be able to manage but I don't usually even think about my gender when I'm with the band. You just have to cope with the fact that you can't demand some kind of special treatment cause you're a woman and I wouldn't even like to have that! It wouldn't have anything to do with equality and besides, I prefer to be one of the guys, not a princess or so (although I just got playfully named as a tour princess last weekend, hahaha!). Well, actually the only thing that is different from us is that I can't change my clothes in the same dressing room as the others, hehe. And I can't take my shirt off on the stage if it gets too hot! I like the same stupid humour as the rest of the band and the guys have always treated me with the same kind of respect as they treat anyone else. There has never been any kind of underestimating from anyone, in our band or the bands we have collaborated with. I'm sure it's the attitude and character that counts, not your gender.


13. Thank you again for the interview and I hope to see you in France one day. The last words are for you!

[Resistor] Thank you very much for the interview and I truly hope that we get to play some shows in the future to all the metalheads in France.

[Eve] He said it. Stay heaaaaavy! ;-)