Haare
and his
Hi Ilkka, how are you doin’ these cold days? Do you enjoy doing interviews, have you done many of them in the past? What have you on your player and in your cup for this one? Is it night now …. ?
Hi, I'm fine, thanks! I enjoy doing interviews, I've only done two Haare interviews though (for Degenerate and Dilettante's digest) and I'm doing one for TeRRoR zine too. I'm having a day off, drinking my fourth mug of coffee.
When did you start with creating something related to the music, what that was and do you remember what was the definite kick-off to start such a thing?
Hmm...I think the first things were just experiments with a tape-recorder when I was a kid, 10-11 years or so. I've wanted to make music as far as I can remember. The definite kick-off was probably getting into punk, the d-i-y / anything goes-method.
I guess there were many bands and (non)musical projects you were involved since, can you mention few most important of them with some short description?
My early bands that actually did anything like gigs and/or recordings were:
Vapaa ajatus (hardcore punk, active 1988-1990.) I got kicked out in 1989, heh.
Aumgn (prog rock...and not very good) started in the early 1990's and evolved into
Platypus (later known as Plat Ypus) started as a weird noise/hardcore band in 1994 or so, influenced by Finnish legends like Deep Turtle, Circle and free/jazz stuff like Henry cow, Naked city etc. Often compared to Boredoms even though we hadn't heard them when we started. Turned into a primitive krautrock/psych/velvet underground-type thing. The final material that we recorded in 2004 was very strange indeed...and has never been released. We did some 7'Eps, a split 7'Ep with CanCanHeads, a cassette Lp ('Prima/Volta') a CDr ('Disco recorder') and one Lp ('Valis').
Haare is your main present project, right? Can you tell us something more about this one, I’d be interested in things like: when and how did Haare started, is it and always been only you? When is the best time to create new recordings for you? What instruments / garbage / electronics you like to use for Haare recordings, are there any basic ones that appear in every recording? Is there something you avoid to use, like laptop e.g.?
Haare is my main project, yes. When I moved to Lahti in 1998, Plat Ypus was already kinda “dying” as we all lived in different cities, had different projects etc. At the time I was getting into harsh noise and wanted to start my own project. The first recordings were actually done as a trio, and I later remixed them. That was how the 1st Haare cdr was born...and to this day, about five people have heard it, heh. The second CDr 'Voyager' was recorded as a duo with Ville Lilja and remixed by me. After that, most releases have been solo recordings. In live situations, Haare is me & Janne Martinkauppi (of Hinageshi bondage, Hetero skeleton etc.) and he's appeared on two releases ('Sleeping sickness' CDr and the forthcoming tape 'Exogenesis' on Rokot.) If I'm recording by myself, I usually do it early in the morning (see question 6) I mostly use various metal objects and guitar (all recordings have guitar) and sometimes a Korg synth, flutes, effects, whatever I can get my hands on, basically. I've never used a laptop for creating sounds and I doubt I ever will, I don't like it when sounds are distinctively 'digital' (I'm sure you know what I mean).
Have you ever used vocals? Or, have you ever been tempted to use them at least?
I have, but they're usually buried in the mix or maimed beyond recognition. The only decipherable vocal bit I've done is the backwards spoken word intro on “Tumult gravis at informis”.
What’s the percentage of your recorded material that ends up on final release vs. garbage can?
I think about 60% ends up on releases.
'Lysergic Trepanation' were recorded at something called 'Poltinaho defunct military base' – that sounds interesting to me, please can you tell us what is that and how that material was recorded there?
It's an old, defunct military base in my hometown. It's an artists collective now, there's a small movie theater and several artists studios. I have a room there for doing my art (painting, sculpture) and noticed that there's usually no one around early in the morning so I started recording my stuff there too.
Where was the 'Chemical witchcraft' recorded and how long it took you from the first sound ‘till the final decision 'it’s done!' ? What part of it you have pre-prepared and what was the improvisation?
Some parts of Chemical witchcraft were recorded in my old apartment and some at Poltinaho. I recorded 9 tracks that were supposed to be released on Pink skulls (subsidiary of Jewelled antler). The project was delayed more and more because of the labels problems and after two years of see-sawing with it, they finally gathered the guts to tell me that they're not going to release it after all...I think the label was already dead at this point. I told Kojo of Kult of nihilow and Mikko of Freak animal about the recordings and they were interested, so I reworked them a bit, combined some tracks and threw some away, but in the end all the good material of 'the Pink skulls sessions' was released. The 'Sacred mushroom clouds' 7'Ep material is from the same recordings too. I usually have an idea of what I want and then improvise with that idea in mind, so you could say everything is improvised. I do use graphic notation sometimes, though, but that's just a way of remembering the basic ideas.
Were you more 'nervous' or was the feeling different knowing you are recording something for the big vinyl, not the CDr for once?
Well, when I started those recordings, I was making a CDr, heh. I think the release I've worked the most on was 'The Temple', as it was a leap to the more psychedelic style from the screeching harsh noise of my early releases. It was supposed to come out on vinyl first, and I took a lot of time 'polishing' that one. The same thing happened with the forthcoming 'Meditations' Lp, it was planned to be released on Foxglove as a CDr but when Kojo heard it, he wanted to release it on vinyl...so I made 'Ceremony' for Foxglove instead.
I know you are doing something for / with Bastard Noise. Please can you tel us something more about this… what is it, when it will be released, how did you get into this one … ?
I've been in contact with Eric Wood, on and off since 1999 or so, and he asked me to submit some raw materials for Bastard Noise to work on. The results will be on 'Our earth's blood vol.4', which features quite a few artists. I don't know when it will be out, though. I haven't been in touch with EW lately, but they had some info on it on the Bastard noise myspace.
Isn’t this your very first colaboration / split with other band? Other noise artists (BN e.g.) did more splits and colabs. than their solo releases ... isn’t it atractive for you or is it too hard to find other artists that would go with you?
Actually no, I did a split with Gelsomina a couple of years ago and a collab tape with Culver last year. I would like to do more. There's been some talk about a Haare / Uton split or collab too.
Most of your old releases were very limited, and are probably sold out for long time. Was it done on purpose to keep it more interesting, I mean in a way they were done with personal touch on each one, which is impossible with higher presses, or was it just because you thought 42 copies is quite enough for such a noise? Or is it label’s business? …. Also, would you like to see a repress of any of your older releases?
With 42 you're probably referring to 'Skull worship?' That was just the first edition, all in all I've sold about 100 copies of that. It was just that I have a friend who works at a print shop and prints whatever I need made in color and he just happened to print 42 of those...so the first edition was 42 copies, heh. If I release something on my own label, I usually keep them in print for as long as someone wants them (though don't expect more copies of the early stuff.) I've been thinking of making a small reprint of 'Skull worship' and 'Omega womb' as people still ask for those. If something is limited, it's usually the label's decision, for example the 3'CD on Hammasratas label being ltd to 50. I'd love to have all my CDrs and tapes repressed on vinyl, but esp. that Hammasratas 3'CD and the 3'CD on Chondritic sound. They'd make a nice Lp. And of course the ten year anniversary of Haare is this year, a 'Complete works' box set would be nice...if someone's interested in releasing one, contact me, heh. By the way, 'The Temple' is supposed to be reissued on vinyl this year, if At war with false noise manages to stay in business.
What do you think about the free download of sold out stuff? With artwork enclosed, so people can make their own CDr? Or is that too ‘liberal’ for you?
If were talking 'illegal' blog-sharing etc, it's ok with me as long as the stuff really is sold out/hard to find. I think it's great that some bands/artists share their long gone releases via their own websites/weblabels. I haven't done any 'web releases' just because I keep hoping I'll get at least some of my cdr's and tapes reissued on vinyl some day...
I like your covers: 'Satanic Freakout', 'Omega Womb' , 'Trauma', 'Lysergic Trepanation' ... all great! They smell 70’s psych, drugs and rituals to me ... Is it you who’s doing them? If yes, what’s the inspiration for you here?
Yes, I've done all the covers myself (except the forthcoming 'Exogenesis'-tape which was done by Gaendaal of Wraiths) I love old psych, prog, and experimental music and especially the cover art. '70´s Psych, drugs and rituals' is pretty much a perfect description of what I' doing with Haare. I was very happy when I read the review of 'Chemical witchcraft' at plaguehaus.com and it said, among other things, 'This album sounds like it could’ve been recorded by some crazy krauts 30 years ago.'
Please, this could be inspirative, can you name 3-4 the most important, influential 'noise' projects for you, with a short explanation why, what exactly is so special on them?
Even though I don't consider Haare to be 'harsh noise' per se anymore, I'll list my harsh noise favorites:
The New Blockaders – I think they shaped noise to what it is now. 'Changez les blockeurs' is a great album, and I'm sure it changed the way a lot of Japanese artists make their noises. (Noticed how Merzbow became A LOT harsher after 1982? The same year that 'Changez' was released...)
Incapacitants – Purest noise. True rock & roll!
Merzbow - His whole life is his art, such true dedication is very rare. Also, I think our views on noise are quite similar in a way; he's a huge prog rock/psych fan and has the same '70's feeling' in some of his noise and artwork.
Airway – 'Live at Lace' is a perfect album. They were way ahead of their time, and to me they represent a total freedom of sound.
My inspiration for Haare comes more from psychedelic, progressive, avant garde / experimental and ethnic music these days. I remember Kawabata of Acid mothers temple saying that he started AMT because he was always reading about 'mindblowing' psychedelic albums and when he heard them he was almost always disappointed as they 'weren't psychedelic enough'; that's kind of my point too. And to add to that, I think that Haare is less 'sunshine and flowers' and more like 'bad trip'-kind of psych...though in the end, Haare is 'positive' music to me.
Have you ever stole … ok, used some sounds or loop from other artist into your music? What do you think about this?
I have done that, but those sounds too are maimed beyond recognition. As long as you're not using stuff as it is (like the time Nothingistrue used a Grunt track as his own, just adding vocals...), I think sampling / looping is ok. I mean, if Steven Stapleton didn't sample other artists / bands there'd be way less Nurse with wound material...same goes for Merzbow and countless others.
OK, except for Haare I think I have only heard one more project of yours – Gunswamp. Will you continue with this or was that just one time project? Whose idea it was? That first track is bloody awesome, second sounds also good but a bit 'too ordinary' to me, what do you think about the ‘Redneck ritual musick' yourself?
I used to be a driver for a Finnish rock band called 'Black audio', and got their guitarist Arttu Tolonen interested in noisier stuff. He wanted to start a project with me and Gunswamp was born. There are plans of recording a second album. I'm happy with 'Redneck ritual musick', even though I had no part in putting the final version together. We just recorded two improvised sessions so I only played the bass and baritone guitar parts for it. It's a fun project cause not only is Arttu a great guy, he is also a professional musician, so our ways of doing things are rather different...when he's playing with me, he has to 'unlearn' his 'correct' and 'musical' ways of doing things all the time.
I know you also did some art exhibitions in the past, I've read about one called 'Extempore, o mores', it was described as 'Visual and audial noise' ... can you explain a bit? Have you organized more happenings of this kind? Are you working on some visual art projects now?
I am a visual artist by education (or as Martin of Shift / Unrest would say 'a fookin aaartist', heh) so I have exhibitions every now & then. 'Extempore, o mores' was a series of lucky coincidences; I had been doing these 'post-apocalyptic' paintings and some sculptures for about a year or so, thinking that I'll exhibit them 'some day'. Then a friend of mine told me that a gallery in Helsinki had a cancellation and they're giving a two week slot for free to anyone who wants it...I contacted them and got it. The audial noise-part of the exhibition was an mp3 disc containing about 9 hours of my noise playing in the gallery on constant rotation. The paintings are 'visual noise', collages made mostly of found and recycled materials. The only things I bought for them were some paint and glue. I paint all the time, and I do most of my paintings this way, I very rarely buy frames or canvas or stuff like that. There's lots of wood and cardboard available in trash cans for free. (The idea of 'apocalyptic painting' is that you can find all the necessary material even in a deserted, Chernobyl-style ghost town.) I'm a member of an artists group called 'Kultainen timantti' ('The Golden diamond') and currently we're working on a book about our work.
Is Helsinki / Finland good country for this kind of culture, are there places to organize such an events, people to come there, other bands/projects involved? Do you use to play / perform live often?
I think it's good, but of course it could be better. There are places for gigs in almost all bigger cities, and people come to gigs. Some people in Helsinki seem to have a weird 'everything is shit until proven otherwise'-attitude, which I don't like, but outside Helsinki things are good. The noise scene in Finland is small but enthusiastic, and for example the Freak animal festival (with IRM, Shift, Haare and Keränen) in Lahti was awesome, the place had a capacity of 140 and was sold out. That was also the best Haare gig this far. I play live whenever someone asks me to, but I don't actively look for gigs. When recording, you have total control and can re-do things if something goes wrong, but at gigs something almost always goes wrong and there's usually nothing you can do about it...so with Haare and Gunswamp I prefer recordings. Though when I'm playing a gig with Steel Mammoth, I can just let go...the bass parts are rather simple, we all make mistakes and there's room for some improvisation...the 'nuclear barbarian power attitude' makes up for lack of musical skills and we just 'rock!' (I'd put a laughing smiley here if I could.)
What are your nearest plans with Haare and other projects, are you working on something right now?
As for Haare, a cassette for the new Kult of nihilow tape series is almost done (I just have to finish the artwork), I think that will be out next. 'Meditations' lp should be out before summer, co-released by Kult of nihilow and Freak animal. I have some ideas for another Haare release but I don't know who'll release it and in what format yet...Small doses offered to release a Haare cdr so maybe it'll be them.
As to other projects:
Steel Mammoth: a small tour in Finland, possibly a new album
Gunswamp: A new album, possibly some gigs
Gravebird: the debut album is at the printers now...and if we find a second guitarist we'll probably start practicing for gigs. There has been some talk about a possible UK gig, but nothing certain yet.
Final comments:
Thanks for the interview! Hope the 'Meditations' lp will be out soon so I can bring you a copy to Tilburg in April! Destroy fascism, Love forever. Best, IV/Haare