A Q&A with Flush
Punk-altrock quartet from Helsiniki – here’s Lasse from Flush…
What’s the title of your latest release, and what does it mean to you?
We released a new EP recently called ‘Conspiracies, Threats and Chaos’. The title is a line from one of the songs on the EP and we thought it nicely captures the state of the world we live in today. Anyone can lie and be rude, empathy and tolerance are deemed negative traits, and people will cheer on
What was the hardest part about putting this release together, and why?
We decided to produce this one ourselves with engineering and mastering help from a couple of guys we knew. There were some intense debates about the mixes and our aspirations to achieve a slightly heavier sound than before. We also deliberated long about the song selection and especially how much we can do in just two days in the studio. Typical questions for a band, really.
What do enjoy most about producing your own material?
Yeah, we did it ourselves this time. On our 2020 debut album we worked with one of Finland’s most esteemed rock and metal producers, Hiili Hiilesmaa, and we learnt a lot from him. This time we had both time and money constraints, and decided to do it ourselves. Probably the most enjoyable part of the whole process was the realization that we had in fact learnt something and were able to transform those learnings into the recording process to make the songs better. For example, we knew we wanted louder guitars and we got them, and we knew how to record vocals in ways that worked better for us.
What do you want the listener to take away from listening to your music?
I’d love for someone to feel some connection to the music. Maybe the lyrical theme will be a familiar topic, maybe the melodies will stir some emotions, or maybe the song will make the listener feel like the best thing to do now is to go to the nearest bar and enjoy a drink and a chat with a friend.
How does a track normally come together? Can you tell us something about the process?
I am our songwriter and typically I bring nearly ready songs to the band. Sometimes the band arrangements end up close to my vision and sometimes the song changes completely in this process. I write about things around me and in my life. Some of it is very personal and some of it is more from an outside observer’s point of view. Some songs are very riff-based whereas others are built around a melody or chord progression. We arrange the songs as we would play them live, so almost everything on our recordings can be reproduced live.
What band/artists have influenced you the most since you started this project, and why?
When we started, we were very much trying to sound like Bad Religion, and I don’t think this band would have existed without Bad Religion’s blend of speed, melody and attitude entering my life. But I listen to a ton of music, and we have songs with all kinds of working names based on what someone hears that they sound like. On the new EP we referred to bands like Deftones, Nirvana and Anthrax. My all-time musical heroes are Tom Waits and Nick Cave. Their creativity and integrity are out of this world.
What countries would you like to tour? Are there any standout venues you’d like to play in?
Right now, our ambition is to play some of our neighbouring countries, mostly because of economic reasons. But we have some following in Latin America, especially Brazil, so who knows where we end up one day… Having played mostly clubs, we’d love to play more outdoors events. Festivals, city stages and places like that.
If you could pick one track for our readers to listen to in order to get a taste of your music, what would you pick, and why?
Let’s go for the track ‘Kings and Queens’ from our new EP. I’m proud of the riff that drives the song, the bass sounds amazing, and we made a pretty cool (hot) video for it too!
What ambitions do you have for the band/your career?
Short term, we just want to get back to playing live shows, both local as well as somewhere further away. We also have more new music in ourselves, so hopefully we will release new music regularly. We don’t measure ourselves with commercial metrics, but instead by our own artistic standards. As long as we feel that we have original music to play and we get to enjoy live shows, that is all we ask for and all we need.
Finally, as you leave the stage, what are your parting words?
It’s been a tough couple of years for small and independent venues and artists. If you care about music as a creative artform, you need to get out and support your local venues and the small, indie bands you like. They desperately need your support. And by support I primarily mean money. Without new, creative music, in 5-10 years all music will be AI-generated commercial commodity creating revenues for the big digital ecosystems and platforms. Let’s not let it get to that!
For more info visit: flush.rocks
