Sometimes I get very excited about music and this year the most excited I got outside of a live gig was the first time I heard the great new CD from Finnish rockers White Flame. Now White Flame may well just be the best new band you’ve never Heard of. Their new CD Tour Bus diaries is my album of the year and I’m guessing that they could well be the next big thing.
Vince and Anthon kindly took the time to speak to The Rockpit just in time for Christmas 2009. Many thanks to Silke for setting it all up.
The Rockpit: The first I heard of you was the ‘Yesterday’s News’ album and that was really cool, but I must admit that the new album ‘Tour Bus Diaries’ absolutely rocks and is probably my album of the year! Did you feel you had something special with the new album?
Anthon: I think that we succeeded very well with both albums, especially with TBD. There are great songs and very good stuff inside them, if you really go deep into the songs.
Vince: We took everything a step further on this one. Deep is deeper, Big is bigger and raunchy is raunchier. It’s all about pushing the envelope.
The Rockpit: For people who have no idea who you are tell us a little about yourselves?
Vince: White Flame is four guys playing what we see to be the essence of classic hard rock. We aren’t about re-inventing the music scene nor are we about following the chart action and playing about with the flavour of the month. It’s four guys with your basic instruments doing what comes naturally.
The Rockpit: How would you best describe your sound and what are your main influences?
Vince: White Flame is like a logical follower to the music of bands such as The Stones, Zeppelin and Aerosmith. Our sound has a lot of depth as we like to mess about in the studio, but on stage it comes down to the bare essentials: high energy riffs licks and rolls mixed with a beer and a good ol’ time.
The Rockpit: The feel and sound on the new CD is to me about as close to classic late 70’s Aerosmith as you can get albeit with a modern twist. Hell you sound more like Aerosmith than they do these days! Is that what you set out to do?
Vince: It’s like when Aerosmith was in their early years people said they just want to be Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. And it was true! it’s the same for us. Of course we look up to those guys and wish we could do half of the music they have. But I do believe that if and WHEN they get back down to business at Boneyard they’ll sound awesome and put us young punks in our places.
Anthon
Anthon: Vince’s phrasing, especially on songs like ‘Dancing with Her Sister’ is very Tyleresque; he has to have one of the best rock voices I heard in a long while.
The Rockpit: ‘Gun’ is an absolute favourite of mine I bet it goes down well live?
Anthon: Yeah, it is! It used to be the opening live track after the Yesterday’s News album and quite often the closing track on the Tour Bus Diaries album. There’s a good rollin’ rhythm in the song and people seem to like it.
The Rockpit: Your lyrics are also really interesting on the new CD there’s some great stories from the road! Is this the first Sleaze-Rock concept album!
Vince: I think every musician has told stories from the road at one point of their career. It’s only logical since you spend so much time there. We just got a lot of writing done on the road and I had a lot of stories on my mind at the point. The concept of pinning them into one story came along the way. It’s maybe not the first, but then again I haven’t heard of too many before TBD.
The Rockpit: You’re also not afraid to use horns on some of the songs either and the backing vocals are great on the album.
Anthon: Thanks, nice that you noticed J
Vince: We feel that we should add those elements. Why? Because we can!
Vince
The Rockpit: ‘Frontrow Girl’ is a very strong track and I understand it recently topped the Finnish charts. I dream of living in a country where songs like that make the charts let alone hit the Top! What is the next move after that milestone?
Vince: I dream of a country where you don’t have to buy two different PPV channels to watch your favourite sports season from the start to the finals. The next stop is to make new albums, do more tours, see the world and having a beer doing it
The Rockpit: The sound has changed over the years, is that more evolution or experimentation and are you now comfortable with the sound you have now?
Anthon: Well I think that the band is learning and moving on all the time so it’s kind of the evolution. And in these years together we’ve been found the White Flame Sound. On the YN album the sound was little bit more punk and raw than the latter, it was pretty good picture where we were in that era. On TBD we were close to that sound what we were aiming for in that point. So I think that it was pretty much that what we are. In the future there might be a little more differences between the sounds of the different kinda of songs, but I think that TBD rocks so hard, that there’s now reason to chance much.
The Rockpit: How long did it take to write ‘Tour Bus Diaries’? You seem to have been pretty busy on the road this year.
Anthon: It didn’t take that long, we already got some ideas and complete songs in the end of the YN sessions and we did the rest of the songs in about six month while touring. We had a good period then, you know. Usually the song writing goes in cycles, when you’re inspirited then lot of good ideas comes out. I think at the moment we’re in the mood again.
The Rockpit: On your latest blog you mention that you have been working on some new songs, when can we expect a follow up, and will the new album have a similar style?
Anthon: Yeah, we’ve been starting to write new songs now and work around them. The main line is similar, but of course there’s also some new things coming up. I got the good feeling that we’re able to make really good songs in the future too, like I said, we’re in that mood now. Next we need to make demos and find to way to release ‘em, don’t know when it might happened, but hopefully in the fall 2010 or so.
The Rockpit: How has the latest tour been?
Anthon: At least great memories and we’ve been getting better to play together, so it usually means better live shows.
Vince: This time around it was easier, at least for me that is. I got into the rhythm faster and found my spot in the Sprinter to be a suitable equivalent for home. Visiting new places was cool, but especially going back to places we’ve been to earlier was a treat.
Rockpit: Where are the best crowds?
Vince: Outside of Finland I really digged playing the UK and the Czech Repubic. And it’s always fun to play the hometown shows in front of all your friends.
Rockpit: In 2007 you opened a few gigs for one of my favourite bands of all time the legendary Hanoi Rocks, how did that come about?
Vince: They are definitely the biggest band we’ve ever had the pleasure of sharing the stage. Hanoi was in brilliant form and I just tried to absorb all I could from their performances. I’d like to especially mention rhythm guitarist Conny Bloom who recently reformed his own band Electric Boys. he is hands own one of the coolest people I’ve met.
Rockpit: Mike then guested on one of your singles ‘Swimsuit Issue Centrefold’
Vince: It was really a matter of Mike digging our stuff and having a suitable moment in his schedule. He also played us some harmonica and gave a very nice touch to the song.
Rockpit: How did they treat you and how cool were they?
Anthon: Great experiences. We were in the same studio recording our first album at the same time, when they made pre-production of their Street Poetry album, so had chance to hang around little bit with them. I was little surprised how nice they were to us, the whole band. Mike and Conny, they’re sooooo f**’kin cool!
Rockpit: For people who want to listen to a bit of White Flame where is the best place for them to start to get to know White Flame better?
Vince: In this day and age the easiest way is to go online and have a listen on Myspace or Spotify. But if you really want to grab a feel you better get up and personal by checking out a show. We’ll try to catch a venue near U!
Rockpit: I know a lot of people who love physical CDs and won’t touch I-tunes. I know you have a Finnish Store but what is the best way to buy White Flame CDs from overseas?
Vince: The albums have been released in Central Europe and you can find a combination album called Rock Hard witch is out in Japan. Other than that I’d recommend an online store like Record Shop X or such. Or you can send me an SMS and I’ll send it over!
Rockpit: Who are you guys listening to at the moment and who do you recommend we check out?
Anthon: Steel Panther – Feel The Steel
Vince: The new Lynyrd Skynyrd album God & Guns is quite an enjoyable album. It sounds like what Bon Jovi is aiming for but is failing miserably. Another one is not new but is always worth the mention. And that’s Slash’s Snakepit. Check out both albums if you haven’t already. And if you have, listen to it again. It’s worth it.
Rockpit: That’s cool we saw Steel Panther earlier in the year in LA they put on a great show, we also to catch Skynyrd in Cincinnati you’re right the new CD has a great sound.
Rockpit: Cheers guys and thank you so much for taking the time to speak to us. we will definitely be speaking again when the new CD is out! Merry Christmas to you all.
V&A: Anytime man, anytime!
by Mark Rockpit
