A Conversation with Disco Ensemble

This is the original transcript of the interview, only minor editing has been applied for readability. This has been the basis for articles but has never been published in the original form.

Wortraub: I have to admit, when I first received a newsletter from your record company, I dropped it into the waste basket, because Disco Ensemble sounded like something my dance colleague would listen to, not like post-hardcore. Why did you choose the name?
Miikka: Originally, it was just Disco. That’s a long long time ago. It was actually Jussi and Mikko who started the band. I think, the main idea must have been: if you have the name Disco, you can put it on posters and then people would come to disco, and then there is a punk band playing. The idea was to shock people. Then there came this other band called Disco in Finnland who actually were kind of disco pop, so we added the Ensemble.

Wortraub: Wouldn’t the people be disappointed, expecting dance music and then you guys come on stage and play post-punk?
Miikka: I think that was just the point.
Lasse: I wonder how many music business people have thrown it away.

Wortraub: I was, of course, reminded not to judge a book by its cover, so I listened and it sounded like my music after all. How did you get your sound? What has influenced you?
Miikka: I think the mutual ones that we have are Refused and At The Drive-In. They impacted all of us. Our music was much more hardcore before, like aggressive hardcore. We came up from that background. Also there are bands like Snapcase or Refused, Breach, that kind of got us going with music. And for the other guys Metallica and AC/DC have been an influence.

Wortraub: I read your favourite disco was on a ferry to Europe. Do you have a cool disco story from the ferry?
Lasse: Yeah, we do. It was last year, when we went on tour. We took the van and therefore had to take the ferry. We were all really excited to be on tour and me and Mikko started drinking half pints of the tables. We collected what was left in the glasses on the tables and at the bar and started pouring them together for some strange cocktails.
Miikka: And then they got really, really sick.
Lasse: We wanted to get drunk and we wanted to safe money. Those ferries are hideous places with terrible people. So boring. Old people singing Karaoke and getting really drunk.

Wortraub: On your homepage you stated that music should have message as well as a musical and visual impact. What is that message for you?
Miikka: I think, having a message in music is important. I don’t mean like a political view, something like handing out party programs for people but like having … how do I describe that. Singing about something real like about … I’m not into giving rules. What they should think about stuff. But like having the impact of feeling. Making a story that says something about the world as it is. About real things. I guess that is the kind of message that we are trying to put through. Having the heart and the brain in the music.

Wortraub: Well, but bands like Refused or At The Drive-In have a prominent political view…
Miikka: I think, I’m not as confident with that as they were. I feel, there is a really fine line of being political in a tacky way, that almost makes the message a cliché. Like wearing a logo, a Che Guevara T-Shirt or something. Anyone can wear that. But if you are actually singing something that makes people have a feeling. If it is a story, comes out as a feeling, than you have that. Something you can do with the lyrics, that has people experience that. I think it is an important factor. Giving people something to put their negative energy into. Letting steam out, that is important as well.

Wortraub: Is that the reason why your lyrics are not all positive, so that people can put their negative feelings in there?
Miikka: I think that is what a good rock’n’roll band or show is about. Letting out energy, living that song in that moment. Some people might find the lyrics a bit depressing but others find it kind of liberating as well.
Lasse: We get a lot of great feed-back from people.
Miikka: Yeah, the most amazing thing that has happened, is that some people have actually written emails that some song has helped them through something in their lives, which is totally amazing. That is something that we would like to pursue in the future as well.

Wortraub: In „This is my head“ you state that a message, thinking, has brought your head to boil, too much pressure building up … is music your ventilation?
Miikka: I think it is that for all of us. Playing live, sitting in the car for nine hours and then getting on stage and letting everything out. It is like Disco Ensemble has been a life-saver for all of us.

Wortraub: Do you think music can be therapy? To what exactly?
Lasse: I don’t know. For example, when we have a long break and we are not rehearsing you notice that something is missing. After we rehearse then, you kind of feel whole again. It’s funny. And I think it works the same way for the listener as well. Our music fixes something.
Miikka: I think every one has those moments, when you can hear that one song five times a day. You might not even know what it is about, why you like that song so much. I think, music works beautifully that way. It can sum up a certain situation in your life and bring comfort. For example, I think of Weezer’s „Pinkerton“ album when I think of having a huge amount of emotion in my personal life.
Lasse: There is a record for any situation, like for cleaning up your house: Breach or Nirvana’s „In Utero“. Or whatever.

Wortraub: In a song you state: „Blow up the world / See if I care / Leave us to burn / See if I care / Blow up the world, leave us to burn / Make it a mess, I couldn’t care less / Blow up the world / See if I care“ … that sounds quite misanthropic, not really positive … is this world beyond hope?
Miikka: Doesn’t everyone feel like that sometimes. Definitely. Everyone should feel like that sometimes. Like you could just … If we have been on a very long tour and you come home and put the TV on and there is this text message coming at you, you read the paper about some stupid politician and you just go like … everyone has that … I know it is a bit ironic to sing that, but it seems inevitable at some point. There are moments when that kind of teenage-anger against the world comes up and I think it is great, it is inspirational. It is pure feeling.

Wortraub: If rock’n’roll is supposed to have a message, what would you make of this „American idols“ casting-show pop events?
Miikka: It feels like it has nothing to do with music.
Lasse: Yeah, there is nothing in common with us.
Miikka: True. It is really disgusting, but it is so hard to actually criticize it as music because it is so un-music. That sums it up.

Wortraub: But aren’t the charts in Finland dominated by pop music products like that on the one hand and Death metal bands on the other hand?
Miikka: Yeah, that’s true. Roughly put, number one is Robbie Williams, number two is Children of Bodom. Which is really funny.
Lasse: It could be worse.

Wortraub: Was it hard to start then, with music like yours?
Miikka: It was hard for a couple of years, yes. But we have been lucky in a way to get a lot of shows. We played a lot and gained a lot of fans through our gigs. That way, if we look back three years, the situation wasn’t that good for alternative music other than metal. Nowadays people are really open-minded in Finland and they listen to a lot of really talented indie bands in Finland.
Lasse: We haven’t seen it as a struggle to come here, because the mode to do it hasn’t been blown up, it has been a natural thing.

Wortraub: Is it true that the long and depressing winters are an inspiration to your sound? It sounds like a contrast actually …
Miikka: There has to be something to do with it. The heavy metal thing for example, has to be a national characteristics, maybe the darkness or something like that. Also, the drinking is characteristic, drinking even without partying.

Wortraub: Since you are from Finnland, I have to ask, what do you think about Lordi winning the Songcontest.
Miikka: I think that is funny. The Eurovision is full of shit, it doesn’t have anything to do with music. It doesn’t make me angry, it is not a personal insult against Finnish people, but I think Lordi is kind of funny. It is a strange phenomenon. 80.000 people in Finland watching him come back, that is funny.

Wortraub: You came into the band a bit later, actually attending a gig in your home town. You spoke to the band after the gig in order to become a member?
Miikka: I was actually singing in another band at the time, saw them and was really amazed. They asked me if I could play the second guitar with them. I remember that day! I did change my life, it sounds stupid but it did. I had the privilege of being asked and after our singer quit they forced me to sing. And Lasse we found in Helsinki.
Lasse: I was like raving about this band called Disco Ensemble to everybody I knew. You have to check this out, they are great!