Interview Como Back to school lehti 9/2005

- How did Lovex come about?
The band was started in the spring of 2002. We were just a loose bunch of friends who wanted to get together and play some Mood Metal. The members changed and gradually the music changed from just mood-metal, nut then in March 2004 we found the final make-up of the band and it happened. The sun had just set when Lovex was born and burst metaphorically from the cave. The light was confusing but pleasing to the newborn and it was clear that Lovex would not live in others shadows. With 6 noisy heads and a manly body Lovex hardly differed from the other newborn but little did they know, who thought that it would soon cease its playing and its sounds as it grew older. The 6 headed smiler was born to be a rock star. That is the story of Lovexes birth in a nutshell then

- Have you studied music or are you self-taught? Sammy and Jason have briefly been in some band school but I don’t know if you could count that. Five of us are petty much self-taught apart from a few guitar or drum lessons from friends. Christian, our specialist in keyboards, on the other hand, has been studying music for about 15 years and at the moment is studying music technology. We have all played different instruments for nearly ten years, though.

- Who or what are Lovexes musical inspirations?
There haven’t been any clear influences. Of course, there have been bands which we have all liked a bit but we’ve all got quite distinct musical tastes and finding any particular role models is impossible. Our musical tastes only come together in Lovex. That’s why it’s such a fine band. When there are so many different points of view and we are all producing the songs then we don’t get stuck in any musical ruts. It all sounds like us of course but some pieces may be orchestral film music style or perhaps real nock your socks off rock/metal.

- What’s Lovexes main aim at the moment?
To become the worlds biggest rock band…..wink, wink….

Then, if you could give brief answer to these questions, we could get a clear picture of the band.

- Who are you?
Vivian Sin’amor (Guitarist)

- What do you listen to for inspiration?
From heavy to classical. All “good” music goes.

- What’s the best film you’ve ever seen?
Without the slightest doubt, The Lord of the Rings, Return of the King; extended version.

-Who are you?
Julian Drain (Drummer)
- What do you listen to for inspiration?
Incubus is my favourite
- What’s the best film you’ve ever seen?
The Godfather trilogy.

- Who are you?
Jason (Bassist)
- What do you listen to for inspiration?
At the moment; Used, System of a down, Enya and film music

- What’s the best film you’ve ever seen?
Fifth Element is the best, but lately Star Wars episode 3.

- Who are you?
Theon a.k.a. The terror, Laid back juicy lips (singer)

- What do you listen to for inspiration?
I don’t get inspiration from other sources. I hear enough sounds in my own head

- What’s the best film you’ve ever seen?

Titanic (yeah right!), really, Avain pakoon and Austin Powers.Strong soundtracks.yeah!

- Who are you?
Sammy Black (guitarist)

- What do you listen to for inspiration?
Finnish metal bands., Entwine, Nightwish and Cob, for example. I’ve been playing Joe Satrian’s and 3Doors Down’s albums a lot..

- What’s the best film you’ve ever seen?
Lately it’s got to be Phone Booth

- Who are you?
Christian

- What do you listen to for inspiration?
Hans Zimmer and film music in general.

- What’s the best film you’ve ever seen?
The Rock

Interview for Fani 8/2005 Magazine

- What’s the story behind Lovex? Did you have any other names for the band?

Vivian: The story behind the Lovex name is quite simple. It came from our first songs. Right in the beginning most of our songs were about lost love and Lovex is those two words, ex and love. The biggest reason for the name is that it’s really annoying and sticks in your head. Some people love it and some hate it, which in our opinion is a good thing. The world’s best and crappiest name for a band.

- Bands get very different levels of recording contracts. What’s the story behind yours?

Vivian: We just pooled all of our money and made a great demo and it landed in the right peoples hands and that was about it. It was rare though for a band to get a contract from their first demo, but when we’d finished it we had a huge amount of confidence that it was hot and that it would be strange if something didn’t budge. The reason that our first demo was so good and we got a contract from it, is that we had all played in many other bands before. All the guys have been playing at peast10 years and our keyboard player, Christian, has played in various academys for over 15 years.

- How would you describe your music to someone who hasn’t heard it yet?

Vivian: Varied symphonic rock; or Rock symphonies...or ultimate 80’s love rock. It’s really hard trying to categorise it, because some of the songs are pure orchestral film soundtrack style and others are hard rock/metal tracks. Big sounds and beautiful melodys. Super Rock.

- When is your debut album out? What sort of material will we hear on it. Is it very varied?

Vivian: We’re hoping to have the album on the streets for the beginning of 2006. The record will be a compilation of hardrock,mood metal and film/symphony music. Machine music and some things with a whiff of the 80’s. The final choice of songs for the album hasn’t yet been finalised. All the time there are new options but the main idea is to put together a diverse mix, but of course that big sound full of rock made with real feeling and cool melodies is the main theme.

- How is your music conceived? Do you have any specific methods?

Vivian: Usually what happens is that someone has got a song roughly ready and we listen through it and then the group works out what everyone should be playing. Then we get down to putting it together. Theo plays a leading role but of course the others give their opinions too. Sometimes we’re just jamming and a song comes through.

- What about the lyrics? Where do they come from?
Vivian: for me what happens is that I’ve had some sort of idea where I’ve got the feeling for the piece and then just scribbled it down with the flow, then looked to see how it can be put into a usable form.

Theon: Things happen to us all but perhaps more to me. On Sunday mornings I just put down my feelings about them on paper

. – Are the lyrics based more on real life or your imaginations?

Vivian: Some of it’s true and written from the heart but yeah, some of it’s the product pure imagination.

Theon: It’s just not possible to use only our own experiences to write the lyrics. What happens is that you use what’s happened to you as a base and embellish it a bit.

- What’s your message to your listeners?
Theon: Your not alone…It all comes down on us all.

- Now you’ve had time to digest your gigs. Have you found any theme or other memorable happening, or happenings…?
Theon: We just had to break something, so a bunch of us smashed up a barstool in the Kaivohuone restaurants back room for about half an hour. It broke.
Vivian: Yeah, and in that frame of mind it really was fun…

- What’s the best show you’ve seen another band put on? And why?

Theon: Darkness really took my soul. A perfect entertainment!

Vivian: Metallica 18.11.1996...Their first big icehall gig and oh boy! It was a great show.

- What bands are your all-time favourite bands?

Theon: Queen. So many other good bands at some time or other wig out and produce some real bullshit, so that’s gotta be my answer.
Vivian: Guns’n Roses. For the same reasons...all of their songs are terrific..

-And have you found any interesting new bands lately?

Theon: Just recently I’ve been listening to some heavier stuff. Kill switch Engage and Soilwork really kick ass!
Vivian: The first new band to come to my mind is Crashdiet. It’s a great orchestra. There aren’t really any more that I could honestly give a 10 to.

- Which Finnish bands are most to your taste?

Theon: Disco Ensemble, Paskalataus. In Finland, (mainly Tampere) there’s some really good ”underground music. It pays to go the gigs!
Vivian: Hei...that Paskalataus is hot: Other good home-grown bands are HIM, The Rasmus, Uniklubi, Maija Vilkkumaa, Disco Ensemble and yeah, Sentenced was good until they broke up. Oh, and Entwined new album is good stuff. ,

- How often do you visit your own web site forum?

24/7. Or at least once a day, or nearly every day.

- What is Lovexe's objective?
To become the worlds biggest rock band! And to find me a beautiful wife. (Theon).

Here are 8/2005 Favourite Web slave Theon’s Funnies

TOP 13 songs for the selfconfidence booster.

1. Survivor: Eye of the Tiger
-2 sharp left hooks, raw egg down your throat and your ready for the ring again.

2. Daze: Superhero Lover
-Best ever name for a song and easy to take in this “ carefully thought out” song’s message. WARNING: it doesn’t bear listening to too often.

3.Britney Spears: Oops... I Did It Again
-Looking at my beautiful features in the mirror, my athletic body and my impeccable sense of style, I can only say “Oops…I did it again!”

4. Kenny Loggins: Danger Zone
-Top Gun offers 80’s rock. What would I do if I could be Maverick for just a day?

5. Sepi Kumpulainen: Mighty Man
-Sepi has written in his memoirs what all Finnish men think about themselves after a few brews

6. AC/DC: Thunder
-this is what I’ve named one of my body parts…… my right bicep.

7. Bee Gees: Stayin' alive
-New York dance moves that humble us..

8. Judas Priest: Turbo Lover
-The second best ever name for a song. Raising wonder and awe in every true lovin’ machine.

9.Matti Nykanen: Only a Hill Man Can Know It
-Our Masa is just a misunderstood genius!

10. Hot Chocolate: You sexy Thing
-To the best of my knowledge this timeless masterpiece is about me.

11. Abba: Dancing Queen Terrible song! But sometime my feminine side just takes over.

12. Twisted Sister: I Wanna Rock
-so that you won’t immediately forget in what’s name this revolutionary bit of music has been created..

13. Right Said Fred: I'm Too Sexy
-A rough diamond from these long time musicians which every time I hear it, remind me why people stop and stare at me on the street.

Yours, Theon

Promotion Shots 26.5.2005

My mobile alarm went off at 5:10 in Jason’s place in Tampere, and after a couple of dozes I got myself up. Then Sammy called and said that he’d pick up Chris and Theo first, then come and get us, ( Viivi had gone on to Helsinki ahead). After popping in to the Nekala Esso to buy some fuel and take-away coffees, about 6am Sammy’s new Ascona was heading for Helsinki. We stopped once for a ciggie at a motorway rest and arrived about 8:30.

We were met in a small office by two stylists (one we’d maybe seen on MTV3’s Model School program) and our photographer Alexi and his assistant. After a while we had our hair styling done. I was the first prepared for the shoot and while the road to beauty can be a difficult one, with the help of the professionals everything went well:) During this time the rest of the band were scoffing “delicious” meatball rollsJ Don’t need to buy them again. The whole group went one by one to make-up and about halfway through this process Alexi, his assistant and I left for the shoot site. We took a short break for a ham roll at a service station and then kept on going to the selected spot, a bit of forest in Kirkkonummi, about 30 kilometres west of Helsinki. It was around 1 o clock ….

The photographic pair then started setting up the equipment and after 20 mins. Bullhead’s Jakke arrived. We chatted a while and the subject of the day’s filming requisite, nearly every boy and girls dream, a Hummer. One of those funny/strange cars. Its whereabouts were uncertain. The car rental agency had said that the car was on its way but when asked again said that it was still in the garage under a dust-sheet. Super, but after half an hours frantic phone calls from Jakke, the car was supposed to be on its way again. A horn sounded and the made-up and the make-up artists arrived. The time was somewhere between 3 and 4 pm when we started getting changed for the shoot and they once again touched up our hair and make-up.

There was no sign of the Hummer and everything was ready. The weather looked a bit uncertain so we decided to begin the shoot. Just then the Hummer showed up and then, right after the first photograph, it started to rain. Fuck. The cameras were packed up and we all sheltered in the cars. There we sat and wondered. With the make-up people and the camera pros and the special effect, the whole day was incredibly expensive and it was impossible to postpone till another day. But things have a way of sorting themselves out and after half an hour the rain gradually stopped and we able to continue the session!

Again hair and make-up, the smoke machine working and the Hummer in place and the photography commenced. I sat on the Hummer’s roof and they started to take pictures as fast as possible and they came out great! The cover for the Bleeding single was one of the first shots taken. It was cloudy and spitting with rain and we never new if it would start pouring again. When it didn’t start raining properly again we tried out some different camera angles and all that. The, as the weather was still reasonable we decided to pack up the gear and change location

Another break for a roll and then we changed to another spot. The side of the road somewhere where there was a bus stop. I remember we took a few more pics with the Hummer, and then they got some shots of it leaving. Next Alexi told us to lie down in the middle of the road and we did what we were told and it was funJ but I doubt that any usable pictures came out of it.

We went back to Alexi’s studio and he took some individual portraits of us all. It must have been 9:00 but it was still another 2 hrs.until all the shots were taken. Then we looked through some of the day’s pictures and Alexi showed us what it’s possible to do with Photoshop. Tired but happy we piled back into Sammy’s Ascona and headed back to Tampere. One stop at the services so our driver didn’t fall asleep …. Some continued from Tampere to Hämeenkyrö and I went on to Ikaali. I was home at 3:00.

Today I got the single cover by e-mail and I’ve got to say that it looks damn cool! This‘ll bring Finland’s music world to its knees! J

.

Julian Drain

Divine Insanity – First Studio Session

Divine Insanity – First Studio Session

28.02.2005, 12:13:

Well then. My day started at Theon's at 5.30 when the radio-alarm switched on and Radio City came blasting out so that we could make it in time to the Inkfish Studio at 9:30 After 3 or 4 hour sleep, we watched the prize giving ceremony for the Oscars, then called the others to make sure that they were up and moving. Apart from Christiana and us the others would have all overslept, so we were having problems sticking to the schedule from the start:D Only 45 minutes late we had the essential gear and the band packed into 2 cars and heading for Helsinki,,,,,,

(to be continued)

Julian

28.02.2005, 13:45:

Ok, ..I’ve come to this pc after doing the drum check and we had a pretty damn good sound right from the off! :D but this is where I left you. Something strange had happened (especially for Lovex). We were on time when we arrived at the studios, 15 mins ahead of schedule even! We went together to see what sort of place the studio was, the fetched all the stuff from the cars the set up the drums and the rest of the band headed off to check out the hotel. I stayed with the technician and Bullhead’s Boss. Then about 12:30 we started the drum sound check, which lasted about an hour, and then the others came back and now it’s time to get something to eat! Yep. I'll be back :P

After eating we came back and demoed Guardian Angel in one take. Then we agreed to do some of it again differently. Then started the recording for the drumming on Guardian Angel. There was a little stress when we had to play the new revision we’d agreed but it went well and after a few takes we had it in the can and it sounded great..! Then we left for the hotel etc…:)

Julian

1.3.2005, 10:40:

Up at 8.30 today and after a decent breakfast we made it to Inkfish by 10. Now the boys are jamming with the acoustic guitars and I’m here writing this diary and soon we should start the demo for Bleeding and work it out and then get the drums down and so it goes on.!:D

Julian

01.03.2005, 16:08:

Well, the same as last time, now we had to do the demos J I should say that” this time we edited the drums for Guardia Angel” but in fact we reworked Bleeding and now and it’s really going the right way! More “hit potential”. When we had the arrangement pretty much agreed we played a few pieces through and then went to get some pizza.. Then we finished recording Bleeding and headed for the hotel. The band has the rest of the day free and tomorrow we’ve got the bass to record and should get started with the guitars. Maybe Thursday we can do the synths and guitar sounds and Friday the vocals. Yeah, whatever! Let’s keep it real. :P

Julian

02.03.2005, 12:45:

Right then. This song has gone pretty much the same as the previous ones. Breakfast at the hotel and Jason and I made for the studios at 10. First we listened to the edited drums for Bleeding and a few pieces from the new 51code. Then we tried a few bass options and decided on Jason’s own Ibanez. The others started to get everything ready for recording so that we were waiting for Jason to finish the bass work but I couldn’t interrupt a genius at work! Enough of that then. . When the bass was ready we stated to wind up the guitar sounds and maybe something got recorded…we’ll seeJ

Julian

02.03.2005, 14:25:

Now the bass for Guardian Angel is ready and it sounds good! There was some fine tuning to be done because on Monday we re-arranged some pieces so radically that the base lines had to be totally reworked, but all seems ok now. We started recording the bass for Bleeding and chucked out all the non essential crowd from the control room. So, Theon and Christian left for the city centre Jason and Vivian are in the control room and I’ve no idea where Sammy is:D …get back to you….

Julian

04.03.2005, 17:17:

Hija, I didn’t get around to writing much yesterday, when nothing much happened. My part was finished on Tuesday.. but how did yesterday go then (?) J 10 am as normal, we were all at the studio. Most of the day went recording the guitars,and the rest of it trying out different synth sounds. Today Christian and Theo arrived about 9ish and first Christian recorded some synth sounds then Theo started singing and now Bleeding is ready and Guardian Angel is on the final straight. .The band, except for me and Theo, just left for the Cumulus Hotel and in the evening they’re going to the Cable Factory for Kiss FM’s anniversary party. Theon will be leaving when the vocals are ok and I’ll be catching a train for Tampere and Jani’s place in an hour. It’s got pretty tiring in the studio towards the end of the week, especially the days when I haven’t been playing. Next week the last of the guitar and synth parts and the backing vocals. Then there’s the mixing and mastering. Later we’ll record the b-side for our first single. Jup, my job here is done, so thanks to the band, Inkfish, Ava Hotel and Alepa ! J During the week at the studio Lovex managed two songs nearly completely finished and emptied over 150 bottles of different shapes, sizes and flavours.:D That’s it then , seeya…

with <3>

12.3.2005

Helloh=)

I thought I’d write something too, when when apart from Julian, no one else has been doing much. The situation now is that on 15.3. Christian and I will be in the studio together and at the end of the day everything should be ready to master the first two singles

The first week, Thursday 3.3 we recorded the guitars. We worked on the mikes and then tried a few different guitars. By the end of it we’d used 4 different guitars, 3 Les Pauls and 1 Stratocaster. I think Sammy played it all on his own Steve Vai Jem.

After we’d tinkered with the sounds for a few hours we got down to the playing. We recorded guitars on Thursday 3.3 and Monday 7.3 and got it in the can. Some it went down real easy and some was a bit harder. The new arrangements gave us the most problems because we hadn’t had a chance to practice them at all before getting into the studio but it was all worth while. Some of the new work-ups changed the whole framework of the songs and there are some great new killer riffs. You’ll hear them =) but I can already say that they are the best stuff we’ve ever done. Thanks to the producer who made us produce the new riffs and who really got the best from us.

The second week went fairly easily. Just a mild concussion when Christian ‘s and my head hit the asphalt after a night out on Wednesday. With Theo’s help I made it from the Maria Hospital back to the Hotel about 9:30. Christian got back a little earlier. I had to stay for observation because of the concussion. The stupid head causes pain to the whole body. No more about that.

During week 2 we played all the guitar pieces and the synth sections and also did a lot of mixing. The mixing took a lot of time when sometimes just the vocals were on 30 tracks. But oh boy what a sound we got, just what we wanted, big and beautiful. Some critics will say that we’ve over produced our music, but what can we do if we really dig this finely finished sound.

Of the hotel evenings, the sauna and Dead or alive 3 were in heavy use and I bet that if we had a Dead or alive tournament with any other band, we’d crush them. We played so much that all the worlds’ 15 strike combo hyper killers became well known =)

See ya!!!

Yours: Vivian Sin’amor

The Chamber Rocks!

Chamber rock 5.11.2004

Been looking forward to this gig for months. Day by day the vibes began to rise. Chamber Rock was starting to feel like the next milestone in Lovexes history. The only thing to bring us down a bit was the lack of practice. The month before Chamber was spent in the studio, working on our web site and handling other Lovex stuff. We just didn’t find any time for practice.

Chamber rock –day started busy like most other gig days in Lovexes calendar. Out of bed and straight to the shower. We were due to leave from Vivian’s place for the sound check at 5. This time it would be better to be there on time and change the almost calling card style of being fashionably. Girls can get away with it but hair-dos and make-up don’t cut it now.

Unbeleivable but true, both Theo and Christian were both at Vivians by 3 and the others were on the way to Ikaali. We rocked and got the rest of the stuff loaded in the car and then we were away...

At the Ikaali health club there were loyal fans waiting when we turned into the car park. We were told that some of them had been waiting since 4.

Anyway, when we got into the hall I glanced at my watch and it was already 5. And what did the place look like? At least the stage had been put up. So, as is usual in the rock business – there was a terrible rush first and then waiting and then a hurry again. A never ending circle.

Half an hour later we were able to begin the sound check. Drums, bass, guitars and vocals set up one at a time and then we played through Guardian Angel. For Uniklubi/Bitch So Sweet, Janne sings harmony so we set up two mikes.

Around half past seven we left to Jason’s to prepare for the evening, and on the way we popped in the Sihi-drinkshop. We had a few hours time to relax a bit and we managed to revive our spikes with a bit of hair lacquer. Twister got popular with the gang. Watch you eyes with the spikes guys.

Once again a taxi-van took us to the gig. The whole schedule saw running late and we didn’t see T.A: P, Essential and Bitch so Sweet. Now it was our turn to rule the stage!

While paying the Intro the screaming and applause started reaching the stage. Wounds exploded into every corner of the hall. Lovex was the last band on stage but the fans were right with us even though they were clearly tired. There were a few mistakes on the playing side and the tempo was a little fast, but like Theon says, the speed covers the mistakes

Problems with the Timetable brought some disappointments for Lovex and the fans. Halfway through the set we got the bad news that the entertainment license was expiring and that there would only be time for two more songs. After a quick conference on stage we decided to play Guardian Angel and Bleeding for an encore. This meant that our hit Heart of Stone and I Try didn’t get played at all.

After the gig we had some mixed feelings. Happily signing some autographs dissolved any negative thoughts. There were a good crowd of kids trying to get some ink on paper. When the masses thinned out, we decided to go to the after show party at Jason’s place.

Twister, pizza and slowly sobering up brought the usual philosophising and people at about half past 5 people started wending their weary way home through the night.

Good Night Ikaalinen

-the court poet

Studio Diary Lovex "Story" EP recording

Studio sessions, October 2004

First studio day, Monday 4.10:

An early morning start. At the studio for 10 and started laying down the synth track. Then we started on the drums. When many snare, tom-tom and cymbal options had been tested and the set had been re-miked a couple of times we took a break. Then the drum recording began. We took the songs in turn; Heart of stone, Guardian angel, Lovex story and Wounds. After a few initial problems recording went pretty well. A few coffee and listening breaks broke up almost constant playing and by 2300 this drummer boy was utterly shattered…we nearly gave up for the day and left Wounds until Tuesday. A last wild push and we laid it down and it came out really well. The studio session which had caused the most apprehension was over. Actually, there was still more to do and the Ep recordings stretched over 2 more weeks because our producer, Jari Latomaa, wanted to take real care, as he thought the band had such potential.. There was so much material that we were unable to record it all with care in the time we had the studio reserved and the EP was a couple of weeks late. But then, good things are worth waiting for.

Second studio day, Tuesday 5.10:

Around 11 to12ish we were back in the studio and started to listen to the previous days drum recordings with wide-open ears and it still sounded really good. Then the bands singer, Theo, sang the demo songs, each recorded in one take. They sounded really good, even though it was just an hour after waking and without warming up. D Just like it made some difference in the end. DD.anyway,after a couple of hours and a coffee pot of setting up we started recording Vivian’s Les Paul riffs. All the songs got a really strong rocking rythm backing. After take-away pizzas Jason B started the bass sessions. The bass lines came off really well and the songs recordings went fast except for Guardian Angel where practically the whole bass score was re-written. The end result was a slew of earthshakin’ bass tracks! :) Around 9 we got Sammy Black set up and recorded another set of real kickin’ guitar backing tracks. Sammy’s tracks got done fast, with 1-3 takes per song! When all the rhythm tracks were in the can, we stared to record the lead and solos and nearly got them all ready. Only the clean acoustic guitar parts were still to do. We got out of the studio about 2am. I crashed over at Sammy’s for a whole 4 hrs before leaving on the 7:30 bus for home, a shower and fresh to my studies!:DD

So, that’s the school day over and from the text you can guess that I’m more than a little tired, but this got written as promised! The recording continues at the beginning of next week. I’ll keep you posted on the studio sessions and anything else of interest!

Peace & Love
Julian Drain