If you’ve been snooping on this website, you might remember us covering PIHKA IS MY NAME whenever we got the chance to it. The band’s producer and sound designer, Lasse Turunen, now has a solo album, “On tapahtumassa räjähdys,” out under the name of LASSE SOUNDBLASTER. We chatted with Lasse about his latest release. Read the complete interview here…
Hi there! Thanks for taking the time to do this interview. How are you doing?
My pleasure! I’m currently in Berlin, working on new PIHKA IS MY NAME music and doing sound design for a dance theater piece. The Sun is shining and there are some really loud but friendly pigeons outside my window here.
You just released your first solo effort, “On tapahtumassa räjähdys.” How was the release of the record for you?
It’s very tough and very very rewarding! It’s a mixed bag of feelings – on the other hand, it felt safe to just have this music for myself, but then again it’s such a relief to have it out there. It’s a lot of work to get an album recorded, mixed, and mastered, and you really need to want to put it out. It’s a statement and I’m very proud of it.
We know you around here from PIHKA IS MY NAME, why did you decide to start LASSE SOUNDBLASTER? Was a solo project something you always wanted to do?
I guess it’s all about just writing so much material all the time. I believe my time on this Earth should be about making music, and I need more than one outlet for it. I’m influenced by a lot of different sources, and for this record I let myself take in some very different ones, compared to those that influence PIHKA IS MY NAME. PIHKA IS MY NAME is influenced by, for instance, club music, soundtracks, and instrumental sounds. For my solo work, I let in more pop sounds, guitars, and vocals, blended with vintage game sounds like chiptunes.
In PIHKA IS MY NAME you are part of a duo, but LASSE SOUNDBLASTER is a solo project. How do you go about the songwriting process and does it vary from your other projects because it is a solo effort?
For LASSE SOUNDBLASTER I had the lyrics first, and just a handful of synth riffs. It’s very different from PIHKA IS MY NAME, where we mostly start with emotional sounds that move us and take off from there. With this LASSE SOUNDBLASTER record, it was very much the singer-songwriter approach with the acoustic guitar and lyrics in front of me. Then I self-produced the songs I wrote.
Sound-wise, what can you tell our readers about LASSE SOUNDBLASTER? What were your biggest influences that inspired you for this project?
I wanted to combine ’80 and ’90s game music sounds with my ’90s and ’00s rock influences. I’m sure my music doesn’t sound anything like the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, but I am a big fan of John Frusciante’s solo work and I feel like there’s a lot of that in my guitars and vocal melodies here. Like on the songs “Homeinen ja tunkkainen” and “Silppuri.” I also think that some of my fandom for the Swedish glam rock band THE ARK comes through some way in my higher-energy tracks. But the listener might hear something else completely, and that’s fine! I’m always super interested in [that] and [I] like to be surprised by what others hear in my music.
I read somewhere you are working with lo-fi sounds made with a genuine 8-bit Nintendo. How much of your sound is inspired by games or by vintage game scores?
I was the biggest Mega Man fan as a kid. Takashi Tateishi’s score for Mega Man 2 has surely influenced me in profound ways. It’s so tense, and there’s this amazing feeling of rush and hurriedness. Sure it can be a bit humorous these days too and that’s fine, but it’s also damn finely written music. Also from that era, Chris Huelsbeck’s scores like Turrican and Giana Sisters are big influences that I’ll maybe channel more on the next LASSE SOUNDBLASTER album.
The lyrics are in Finnish, what can you tell our international readers about them? Is there an overarching theme on the record or are they all loose stories?
There’s definitely an overarching story, not completely autobiographical but somewhat yes. It’s a story about growing up in the ’90s depression, and not quite fitting into the patterns and stereotypes that the previous generation had ready for us. It’s also about being an adult now and facing some of the difficult issues you’ve carried within you and now coming to terms with them.
The album has a title track, “On tapahtumassa räjähdys,” why did you decide that was a good title for the record, or do you feel this song is the most representative of the whole album?
Yes, I think it represents the album quite well as a whole. It’s got those chiptune sounds, but also guitars and the lyrics go deep. And I just really really love that main synth riff, it’s been with me throughout the whole process.
What was the most challenging song for you to get ready? What was the easiest one?
The most challenging one was “PVC 1999,” I wrote the music like 3-4 times before I was satisfied. I’d already abandoned it, but then, a very short time before I had album mastering booked, I had yet another go and got it. I guess I just really wanted that lyric to make it. The easiest one was probably “Silppuri.” There’s the most distortion there. Everything is easier when you put a lot of distortion on it!
Now that the album has been out, what are your plans? Do you plan on playing any shows under LASSE SOUNDBLASTER?
I have a dream of playing these songs live with a band, and maybe blending them in with some covers from my older bands. I’m on the lookout for opportunities, but I’m also not in a hurry. I know it’ll be great when it happens!
Thank you so much for your time! Any last thoughts you want to share with your fans before wrapping this up?
I am just very grateful you’ve stumbled upon my music amid all the noise. I’ve put a lot of heart into it and it’s very touching and humbling to have someone listen to it.
Interview by Laureline Tilkin
