HOOTENANNY FREAKS
HOOTENANNY FREAKS is a hard rock/heavy metal band from Finland, formed in 1997. The members are Marko Kuurne (drums), Pepe Tamminen (vocals), Esko Kemell (guitar), Aapo Häyrinen (guitar and keyboards) and Marko Leino (bass). They have released a few records through the years, and they are so good that I had to do a little interview with them.
The interview was done in mid-September 2021.
I read that you started the band already in 1997, but you didn't release anything until 2013. Is that correct? (tell the story about the band, please)
Yes, our band was formed in 1997, but in the early years we didn't focus on releasing records, and we just played gigs and had fun. Little by little in the 21st century, the idea of whether we should also release a record began to mature, and the idea was developed a few years until we finally completed our first release in 2013. This first release mainly features songs from the early days of our band from the 90s. When we finally got the game open, we have been actively working on new music and releasing new songs every year since 2016. The most recent example being the "Eyes Of The Warrior" LP released in August this year.
Your sound seems to be rooted in the 70s/80s hard rock and heavy metal. Am I right, or how would you describe the sound of HOOTENANNY FREAKS?
Yes you are right, our sound is largely based on the 70s and 80s hard rock and heavy metal scene and sound.
Where does the inspiration for your lyrics comes from?
Usually lyrics comes from life experiences, but some from anything that affects life somehow, like TV-series, current world situation like COVID-19 or even history. For example this album song "Eyes of The Warrior" is inspired by Indian wars, "Isolation" about feelings during the isolation period of our capital city Helsinki. The idea for the song "Night Train" came from the singer's own Harley Davidson hobby combined with an "Outlaw" themed story inspired by the Sons Of Anarchy TV-series. Of course there are lyrics about love and having fun as there has always been in rock music. It's typical that we have a melody before lyrics, and that's why the most important thing is that the lyrics reflect the song.
What do you think about the Finnish hard rock/metal scene of today? Are there any good bands that you can recommend?
Finnish hard rock is not the main stream at the moment, but the situation of heavy metal is better and several bands from Finland have entered the world on the heavy metal scene, like AMORPHIS and SONATA ARCTICA.
In addition we would like to mention a few good hard rock bands who are our good friends and play really good music, and we can recommend them; HAZY TRIBE, WISHING WELL and GOBRA :)
(They were kind enough to link the band names to Spotify, so click and listen).
Any plans for the future?
About the future plans, we will have a record release gig for our new album at the end of October, and we are also currently working on new music that we may release next year when our band turns 25 years old :)
UP | INDEX
Everything made by Blom since 2001