Some artists, you can tell, have better record collections than others. And while Erja Lyytinen has been broadly tagged as ‘blues’ since her 2002 debut album Attention!, the Finnish slide virtuoso was also raised on British prog and thrash metal, and hopes you can hear the spirit of both on this year’s Smell The Roses.
What are your thoughts now about your new album?
It’s definitely something different. I’ve never done an album like this before. I think it’s a lot more raw, edgy and honest. It’s taking the topic and putting it right in your face. At the same time, I wanted to keep the instrumentation stripped down. It’s bass, electric guitar, drums, Hammond, vocals. That’s it. No fancy keyboard shit going on.
What’s the significance of the title?
It’s literally about waking up and smelling the roses. If everybody did that, there wouldn’t be all these wars, this chaos and negativity. If we could just find the beauty in ourselves. In this time period we have more material stuff than at any point in history. And still we’re not content. It’s a reminder to myself as well – be happy about all the achievements, the things you already have.
What topics came up for you?
Stoney Creek is a very groovy Americana song, but the story is nasty. It’s like a murder-mystery about a woman who goes hiking, but then she falls. And the song doesn’t say if it’s an accident or someone pushed her. I think there’s some kind of quirky darkness inside my head. The idea behind Going To Hell is that back in the day, they said the blues was the devil’s music. So it’s like: “I’m playing my way to hell. I’m gonna go there anyway, so let’s do it!” There’s a lot of progressive elements, but it’s also this slow-blues power ballad.
You said you wanted the record to sound like bands from the seventies. Which ones?
Well, when I’m at home I always listen to vinyl. I think it’s about quality of life, having the time to listen to vinyl, because you have to get up to turn it over. But I would say, King Crimson, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and Pink Floyd of course. The end of the sixties and start of the seventies in British music. I love that sound.
How have your formative tastes fed into your music?
Blues and gospel spoke to me when I was sixteen. It was something that moved my soul. I’ve also been listening to Anthrax, Metallica and Helloween since I was twelve. In my home town there’s this heavy rock band called Tarot. The bass player and singer, Marko Hietala, used to be with Nightwish. I went to their shows too as a kid. So I have that metal attitude inside of me, and you’ll probably hear it on this album.
What are you like in the studio?
I think I’m harder to myself than to my band. We had been practising the songs on our European tour, so I think I put the worst pressure on them in the soundchecks. In the studio I just let it go, kick ass, be open and have fun.
What are your memories of appearing on The Masked Singer in Finland?
It was a fabulous four months. I wanted to be the Skeleton character and sing Metallica, Kate Bush and Jeff Buckley. But it was a very hot costume.
Smell The Roses is out now via Tuohi Records.
