Music does not only live from the sound, but also from words. The last mentioned refers not only to lyrics - musicians have to speak their minds in connection with media, fans or simply because of too much alcohol. In some cases that can become kind of annoying - if you happen to run into one of those persons, who principally have to talk off your ears. Luckily drummer Tatu Turunen and singer Jemmy Kaumi from Autere kept it rather short and crunchy and displayed an interesting sense of humor. To this kind of musicians you really listen gladly...

Could you give a brief flashback for those who don't know Autere yet.

Tatu: Autere is a Death Metal band from Turku, Finland founded in 2002 by two ex-members. At first our songs had a lot more melodies, but through time we've been developing our style towards the more brutal and extreme side of our genre. Melodic riffs and guitar harmonies are still a big part of our music but we like to HIT HARD!

At the moment you are making a little fuss with touring on your own, tell a bit about those gigs in retrospect. Are you more playing in the smallest of the smallest clubs or are there already die-hard Autere fans following your shows?

Tatu: I think we have couple of "fans" who come to see our gigs almost every time we play here in our hometown. Outside of Turku, very few know that we even exist. Considering the lack of loyal fans we've been quite pleased how people react to our shows even if they haven't heard about us in advance.

You put fresh material online in form of the video to "Perdition". Where do you guys get the energy from to do so much on your own (and probably also from your own money)... demos, videos, gigs... without, let's say a "safe haven" in sight, a record label in other words, which would let some pocket money flow in? Or is a band with your status maybe better off without a label at the moment?

Tatu: We sure would like to have some kind of a record deal, but as long as we don't, we have to do things by ourselves. We like to hang out in the studio and record new material for promotion and it doesn't even cost so much if you do it only once a year. Everyone can handle that. What comes to our video material, I personally like to work with everything that includes filming and/or video editing and if you do it yourself, you don't have to pay anyone. Our music videos have been created with a really low budget. At least so far… Money has never been such a big motivation. We just like and want to do this.

How would you describe the music scene, that surrounds you? Is there a different breeze in Turku than for example in Helsinki?

Tatu: I don't know about the music scene in Helsinki, but we've been quite satisfied here in Turku so far. We have many "brothers in arms" here and the atmosphere has been supportive. I can't think of much more to say about that. Happy happy, joy joy!

Your mates from Hateform inked a deal with 7:45 Records last year. Would there be an opportunity for Autere to join that label, is there anything going on or is that not at issue?

Jemmy: It would be great, if Jani Rämö, the executive of 7:45 signed us. But we understand that 7:45 is a small record label and it just got to get some air under its wings... Maybe in the future, who knows.

Jemmy, you are quite a turmoil maniac, when you're roaring I want to shit my pants - and that though you have asthma! Your brother Jussi plays guitar in Autere and was the first in the band. Did he come to you like "Hey, you know how to do that, join the band!" or did you realize it on your own and started practicing? Do you have tips for people, who just started growling / shouting?

Jemmy: My asthma does not really effect the vocals. I must say that I'm lucky because of that. All my lung problems have been caused by smoking. Now I have quit smoking and you can guess the reason why. Well, I must say that the new smoking law is a fucking great deal in the little clubs, where you couldn't escape the horrific smoke of the poisonous venom. Seriously, QUIT SMOKING! Save your money and your health - you have so much more money for drinking beer (laughs). I can just hope that it does not go any worse than it is. My tips for the growling singers are: remember to breath. If you have "blackouts" and terrible headache after singing and you lose your voice, you must have done something wrong, and the last but not least tip is: keep your physics in good shape, it's really a bit of an exhausting job when you're spinning your head and growling like 45 minutes under inferno of the fucked up spotlights (laughs).

Tatu: Jemmy is an asshole!

Jemmy:You are a smoker. Quit smoking immediately!

Jemmy, I've experienced you throughout as a funny friendly fellow, advocate of Chakaron, Benny Lava and youtube videos. Is there also a serious Jemmy? And how does this pensive, museful side reflect?

Jemmy: I'm serious when I'm hungry, that's why I am so fat... goddamn! Well, it's nice to be museful and I love when the people aside me are relaxed and they enjoy their evening with us. I got to say our sense of humour is something that many won't understand, but they still have a hilarious time, because we shout out laughing our own jokes.

Tatu: Jemmy is an asshole!

Jemmy: Shut the fuck up, chimp (laughter).

You can't deny that your sound holds influences from the Swedish Metal scence. What do you tell those people, who claim that Autere sounds like the same old stuff and doesn't offer anything new?

Tatu: That's a tough one... Hmmmm... I think I would tell them to go fuck themselves. Seriously, it's almost impossible to offer something new these days. We're only trying to make music that pleases us, if someone likes it, we're glad. Can't please everyone.

Do you have a musical borderline - could it be for example that Autere is doing Black Metal or Doom Metal some day?

Jemmy: Not our thing. Hell, for me Doom Metal sounds like bunch of bastards playing song intros for the whole gig. I just keep waiting for the groovy and serious headbanging. Still, I have to say that the Finnish Metal scene owns many skillful Doom Metal bands like Ablaze In Hatred and Swallow the Sun.They rock, don't they? And what comes to Black metal: I'm not into the religious side of the music, if you ask me I would deny any religious point of view in music, because opinions are like assholes, everyone has one and I'm not into someone else brown hole. If you hate God and deny the existence of Jesus or the other side you'll kick ass for the holy spirit, just shut the fuck up and enjoy the fucking music! Still, there are also great bands like the Black/Death Metal band called Funeral Feast - they fucking rip your head off!! 

Tatu: Briefly: we'll stick to the Death Metal.

Jemmy: I'll stick your sticks right up your ass, and your arms will still be attached to them!

The year is still young - how does 2008 for Autere look like?

Tatu: At least we're going to consume a preposterous amount of alcohol and figure out what the hell we're going to do next. Right now we're looking for gigs to fill our summer and autumn schedule and focusing to promote ourselves by sending our new promo CD everywhere we can think of. The rest is not so much up to us...

Alexandra Zischow - 25.02.2008                                                                                                                                            

Photos: Riina Aarrekorpi