Antti Väärälä (Finland) Interview – Thanks for Asking!

Antti Väärälä (Finland) Interview – Thanks for Asking! – by Liam Sweeny.

RRX: With the exception of singing, everyone has an instrument, an inanimate object that has the distinction of being a lifelong friend. Smooth or temperamental, these objects have a character. So pick someone to answer, can you tell us something special about what you play, your technique, your instrument?

AV: My first electric guitar, a sunburst Ibanez Artist from 1982. This was a random purchase by my parents at a remote music store in a small town. It was a birthday present, I was 15 or 16. I’ve had that guitar for almost 30 years now and it’s still the best I’ve played. I can stay away from the instrument for months, or even years and it always feels like going home when I strap it on.

RRX: Every artist’s first song is a milestone. But so is the latest song. Describe the first song/album you recorded, and also the latest song/album you recorded; what are the differences?

AV: My first real recording was back in the early 00’s. I was self-learning the software and simple recording techniques. I recorded the vocals through a god-awful stock talk mic that was packed with the PC. In the end it actually gave the vocals a unique lo-fi quality. The drums were played live on a cheap Casio, hah! The album had 7 tracks and included a cover of Helmet’s Driving Nowhere, which was a very important song for me in my teens. My latest single Complication was recorded with way better gear but interestingly it carries some of the same other-worldly qualities as my first recordings from 20 years ago. Maybe it’s because I still don’t know what the hell I’m doing, haha…

RRX: Like songs, every artist has a unique feeling about their first show. What was your first show like? Was it your best show? If not, what was your best show like?

AV: My first show was a funny one. Me and a few friends absolutely loved Fire by Jimi Hendrix, and especially the Kingston Wall version. Can’t remember how but we ended up playing it at our school’s spring fete. Our drummer was extremely anxious and actually stopped the song twice before we could get to the end. I saw a video camera in the audience and I would pay good money to see the recording!

RRX: What historical era would you like to visit if the sole purpose was to put together a Battle of the Bands? How would you set it up?

AV: I would go back to the summer of 1993. My festival would have these 5 bands, each on top of their game, each with awesome albums under their belts and coming up with more great music.

1. Failure
2. Rollins Band
3. Helmet
4. Primus
5. Faith No More

As an extremely cool bonus I would have Bill Hicks host the stage!

RRX: My singer punched my drummer out. Memorable moment, though nothing to brag about. But we have these things that, when summing up your endeavor, an incident comes to mind. What do you got?

AV: I had this punk band, a four-piece. We had an important show and we were excited to push our new material. Well, one of us didn’t care and decided to show up wasted AF, guitar and gear magically still intact. To top things off, he had a “friend” join us backstage and they disappeared into the bathroom. I’m not sure which substances were consumed there but the results were ridiculous and catastrophic. Our guitar player actually passed out on stage after a few songs. I grabbed the guitar from him, and we pushed on without him. He crawled backstage and was later kicked out from the band!

RRX: Part of learning to be a musician is to fall in love with a song, an album, and hammer away at your instrument until you can play that whole thing. What was that song for you? Was there a hardest part?

AV: Megadeth’s Skin O My Teeth was a big song for the decade-old me. I distinctly remember endlessly rocking out to the song, pretending to play the song on an old acoustic. And I got the itch: what if I could actually play the song for real? Skip ahead a few years and I started to get the riffs down. I still think Megadeth is the peak of precise rhythm guitar playing and getting even some of those parts down makes a huge impact in practically any starting guitarist’s learning process.

More from Liam Sweeny…