Mikael Salo & Juho Jokimies
Thy Row
J: Hi and thanks for having us, it's always a pleasure! We are doing great, even though it's been a really busy summer with all the new single releases and getting ready with the album release. But yeah, at least it's not boring!
J: It's all a rollercoaster with different waves and everything. It has been really challenging to try to get anything organized during these times. With the album release we are faced with strict restrictions and unfortunately, we had to yet again cancel a show and we won't be able to have an album release show. But just a week ago we were able to arrange a proper album release party for the release day in a bar in Helsinki, Finland. The bar is called "Beaver Bar"!
J: I'm afraid that the virus is not going anywhere for a while. So at least for now with the current restrictions, we should just try to live as normal a life as possible. Get the vaccines people and stay safe.
J: Actually me and Mikael, we are the newest members of Thy Row. The other guys had already started some years ago jamming at our rehearsal place and writing guitar riffs and so on. Our guitar player Jussi got the idea of Thy Row quite early on, somewhere around 2015, but we really think that 2017 is the year this band was formed, when Mikael joined our group and we started to record those first singles.
J: It's been a tough path to travel but it has also brought us plenty of fortunes, as you mentioned. Now as we look back in time, we can really be proud of ourselves and the work we have done. As an independent artist, it takes a whole lot of effort to get all the pieces in right order. We have always demanded the best quality for our music, video, promo pictures, merch - everything. Everyone knows that quality requires money, so we really hope that people will buy our album and come to see our shows!
M: My priority promotion-wise is always the band (from my 4 bands) that is having a new release at the time. I think the key for me has been able to do it is the amazing work my bandmates have done! Doing all tasks in each band would be a nightmare haha
J: Rockshots Records have been an amazing companion for us. We are really grateful to be on their roster. We both knew that promotion is the biggest matter where they can help us out and that is something we can both benefit from.
J: The artwork is something that we really thought about for a good time. "Unchained", for us, tells a story of letting go of all the expectations and pressure that society demands from us - you have to be pretty, you have to behave, you have to get a good job and so on. It reflects the idea to lose that pretty mask and just be yourself. The Japanese mask is just something that we really like aesthetically. And I think that we kind of look like that.
J: I would say that the songs on this album connect to each other through the stories in the lyrics (and behind them). They tell stories from real life, from the lives of our bandmates and also from the lives of our close ones. We let the other bands sing about spaceships and dragons.
J: Since "Unchained" is a collection of early years of Thy Row, there are several influences to hear. Some of the songs were written before the band was whole and some just before we got to the studio. But nevertheless, we love these songs and we've grown with them as a band. I'm sure that with the next album we're going to hear more of the "finished" Thy Row sound and style.
M: I think the musical foundation has always come from our guitarists Ville and Jusa, since they provide the raw instrumental ideas that we build the songs from together. Jusa has always been inspired by a bit more rock 'n roll direction (Stevie Ray Vaughan, Guns 'N Roses to name a few) and Ville has a more of a metal background (Metallica, Pantera etc.) I provide the lyrics and the melodies on top, we arrange everything at the rehearsal place and that's the basic recipe for the Thy Row sound!
M: I think the songs that were finished after the EP had more influence from the other band members, and they maybe sound more "complete". The third single "The Downfall, Part 3: Fragments Of Memory" for example was completely constructed at the rehearsal place and was one of the last tracks we worked on. I think it might give some indication of where we might head on the next album!
J: We have used so much time and effort to achieve this sound. It has been our decision that no matter what, we need to have as perfect sound as possible - a sound that begs for no forgiveness and can compete with the best bands in the world. We tested so many different approaches and mixing engineers until we found our guy, Jussi Kraft. We've known him for a long time and done some mixes before with him but we didn't have good enough references at that time. And maybe we didn't know at that time what we wanted. But now with Jussi doing all the mixing and Svante Forsbäck handling the mastering, we have reached the quality we've always wanted.
J: This is yet another song from real life. It's a story of a relationship. And much like relationships, it bounces back and forth, it has ups and downs. Of course, we had an idea that we want to have at least one slower song on the album but since it's not a love story, it reaches quite hard and dark places from time to time. So yeah, someone might even say that is a result of a rich flavor!
J: Our main writer is our guitar player Jussi Laulainen. He had this idea of a great classic metal song and he even gave it a working title "Children Of Bodom". He wanted to have fast guitar riffs, with bass and drums punching between the beats. When Mikael joined the band we finally got the great melodic chorus and I added the varied bass lines to support the vocals. As a band, we really like this song and style a lot. Even though we come from different backgrounds I think this song unites us the most. Maybe we will hear more of this style in the future…
J: As Mikael often talks about this trilogy, he has always heard these three songs as part of this dark emotion. When he started to write the lyrics for these songs he got the idea of this character who is experiencing this Downfall.
This is what he writes about it: "The Downfall is an epic and heavy as hell musical trilogy, which tells us the story of a protagonist who experiences a fall from grace. Through bad decisions and bad influences, he is led on a road to ruin which will finally be his end. Addiction leads to depression, depression leads to disease, and finally he arrives back to that infant state of mind where he questions reality itself, back to the womb so to say, having experienced the mystery that is life."
J: As of now it really feels like a natural selection for us! At first, we wanted to have something special for the Japanese audience on our tour but right after we decided to try out this song, we knew that we needed to record this piece as a bonus track. I think that our guitar players got some powerful influences from this song since some of our new demos are sounding quite a bit of X Japan style.
Mikael has lived, studied and worked in Japan many times, so it really was a no-brainer for him to sing in Japanese. We all are really proud of this cover and we're so happy that we can offer this special treat to our amazing fans in Japan.
J: First of all, we really want - no, sorry - need to get to play gigs. We have some hopes to maybe even get to tour at some point. Otherwise, we have already started to write new music and we can promise that there are some epic songs coming for the next album. Someone might even say that our style will develop in a way…
J: Thank you!
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