interview

by Hell

1-First of all, hello! Please introduce yourself to the Brazilian readers!

Hello Brazil, I’m Joni Leimu, the singer of Chaingun Operate,  a hard-boiled industrial act from radioactive Finland.

2-You are from Finland, right? How is the scene going there? Tell us some good Finnish bands people should look for

The scene in Finland isn’t that big but quite active and gets better all the time.
Good Finnish bands… well, Neuroactive is good, so is Two Witches (they were in Brazil year ago or so),  Shade Factory, Corporal Feast, AMD.. the list goes on and on. There are several dozens of bands here but only a dozen or so who have a record deal.

3-I've read that when you started with the band, you were more gothic/industrial, but now the sound is very more electronic than that. Why did this happen? What can you say about this?

Well, our early style, before we called ourselves CGO, was more like Xymox on steroids, fast but melodic. We stopped our common hobby for awhile, but reformed and started doing more aggressive and faster music, music that sounded like "a chaingun in operate".  What comes us being more electronic now, I think its quite opposite, now we have a guitar player and even a few gothic tunes as well.

4-What are Chaingun Operate's member's influences (bands, books, etc...)?

Oh boy, its hard to say anymore. In the early days we were all into cyberpunk literature but now… I don’t think cyberpunk influences us that much. The ideas come from the angst,  frustration and experiences of our everyday lives I guess.
Our musical idols were Skinny Puppy, Leæther Strip, FLA, etc, but nowadays… I speak for myself only, I don’t know what the others like… I like stuff like Download, Cubanate , Peace Love and Pittbulls, Deine Lakaien,  to name a few.

5-How is Chaingun's creation process? do you sit and create together, or alone, at home, and then join everything?

We meet only in studio nowadays to join our stuff. It can be several months till we meet and put our ideas together. ESTL does still the main programming though.

6-What about the lyrix? What are them about? Are they written after the musical part ou before?

I write the lyrics after I get a raw copy of a song. I sniff the general atmosphere and try to sense the mood of the song. When I get that, I write appropriate lyrics to that particular song. Lyrics nowadays can be about anything and nothing.  I rarely write about technology and cyberpunk anymore though, more about personal shit, darker ,more melancholic things, occult and nature, life and death, you know, the usual rubbish…

7-I see that you make a lot of concerts. A live show for electro bands is something that is sometimes very hard, because some bands can't make a "live" show, and everythings is very cold, still and boring on the stage... I've read in some places your concerts are not like that. How are your shows?

They are pervert displays of insanity.  Live shows especially for me are a chance to go little crazy on public  without getting arrested. I could say a gig is a ritual for me, it cleanses and purifies my soul ,helps me keep my sanity.
On stage Carri and ESTL beat the living jesus out of their drums (and me, if I get too close), occasionally changing to keyboards in the more mellow songs. Pjotr tortures his guitar with bleeding fingers, so that by the end of the gig, his white guitar is red with blood and without  strings.
I twist and jump frantically like I had epilepsy seizure, while screaming like someone whos souls is being torn apart.
Our gig’s  usually are quite a performance, and people remember us afterwards. Some have even said that  they have never seen a show like that outside an institution;) 

8-And what was the best one, in your opinion?

Best gig? Hmmm… Perhaps the last one here in Tampere, or perhaps the one in Aarhus, Denmark. When playing in your hometown you are more critical towards yourself because you know half of the crowd, so perhaps  its more rewarding  afterwards … On the otherhand, the people in Aarhus were absolutely great. Its hard to say. But the feeling when you have given your
all on stage and the crowd loves you….theres nothing like it, its better than sex.
…. Hmmm… sex on stage! I have to think about this idea….

9-What is Chaingun doing in this exact moment? Studio? Rehearsing? Composing?

Rehearsing? Hehe, whats that? We don’t do that, we should but we are so lazy…. At the moment we are finishing songs for the next album, ‘Apocalypse Dreadnought’ in our home studio.  It should be out…. last August? Well, perhaps we’ll get it out next January or February.

10-Tell us a little about the band's discography...

There isn’t much to tell about since we have only released one miniCD and two demotapes.

11-You have a guitarist now, right? How did this happen? Which effect the guitar made on CO sound?

Everybody things we have changed to metal/electro crossover band now that we have a guitar player, but thetas not so. Pjotr is into Dark Ambient and Gothic so his guitar sound is kind of melodic and melancholic. I think his guitar sound brings warmth in our music occasionally changing to harder if needed to.
How did Pjotr come along? Well we knew him beforehand and wanted to try how his guitar would fit into our music. The result sounded great and so we ‘signed’ him.

12-thanx a lot. Any message for the Incision readers?

Distrust, disbelieve, disobey… or whatever…

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