Faster than the speed of light, BLIND CHANNEL are rising to the top! These clever young fellows from Oulu have proven themselves quite quickly to be smart song-writers and fantastic performers. With their debut album, “Revolutions,” and its release gig coming out in a few short days, we got both Niko “NC Enroe” Moilanen (vocals) and Joonas Porko (guitar) in here to give us the playlist of their lives!
1. The first song you remember hearing as a child
Niko: LINKIN PARK feat. Jay-Z – “Numb/Encore.” I remember this exact song because as a kid I listened to the radio a lot and this song was playing on every goddamn channel. I especially fell in love with the intro sample. It’s funny that I started listening to LINKIN PARK many years later.
Joonas: DINGO – “Autiotalo.” DINGO was maybe the most popular boy band in Finland back in the ’90s. Somehow I ended up listening this song from the tape my parents owned. I remember I really loved that chorus, oh boy!
2. The first song you can recall ever really and truly loving
Niko: FIVE FOR FIGHTING – “World.” FIVE FOR FIGHTING was the first artist I remember fan-boying [over] and this was the song that got my attention. I think I heard the song on a TV show and looked it up.
Joonas: Celine Dion – “My Heart Will Go On.” Titanic is perhaps the best movie ever made. After the movie I immediately fell in love with this song (HA!) but I’m not ashamed of it because it’s still one of the best songs I know.
3. A song that you loved as a teenager/reminds you of high school
Niko: KEMMURU – “Kobehärkä.” In high school all my friends were rappers who wrote lines in Finnish and I produced beats for them so I kinda had to listen to Finnish rap music. I still like this particular song though.
Joonas: MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE – “Welcome to the Black Parade.” This song was released when I was 12 or 13 years old but still that song reminds me of my high school years when I played this song with my friends. Waiting for their comeback 😉
4. The song or band that got you into metal music (or the current genre you play in)
Niko: ENTER SHIKARI – “Arguing with Thermometers.” No doubt about it. The first time I heard this song I remember laughing at it and showing it to all my friends. I remember thinking, “No one can mix genres like that.” Then I slowly started to get into it. As of today, ENTER SHIKARI is one of my all-time favorite bands.
Joonas: IN FLAMES – “Swim.” This was the hardest question because I could have named many other songs and bands like BLACK SABBATH, CHILDREN OF BODOM, etc. But when we talk about my final steps into metal music it was that catchy and melodic riff in this song that turned me into a metalhead.
5. The most recent song to get stuck in your head
Niko: TWENTY ONE PILOTS – “Heathens.” Talking about my favorite bands, this is the other one. I’ve been a fan of this duo for so many years now and I think this year they released their best song yet. It’s stuck in my head and I just love it.
Joonas: Hank Solo – “Söpö.” Well… this is a song from a talented Finnish pop-producer who just wanted to do “an extreme pop song.” It has almost every goddamn element you can add when you’re doing a mainstream pop song – and that’s confusing! I’m not really sure what I should think about this song but it has played repeatedly in my head for the whole week… catchy?
6. Your guilty pleasure song/band
Niko: Natasha Bedingfield – “Pocketful of Sunshine.” In high school I had a crush on Emma Stone. In a film called Easy A she’s jamming to this tune and it’s been my guilty pleasure jam ever since. The crush is far gone though. Trust me. I heard she’s dating Spiderman.
Joonas: BACKSTREET BOYS – “I Want it That Way.” This is my all-time karaoke favorite. I’ve always told my friends that this is just a joke hahaha… BUT this song is just simply awesome!
7. The first album you bought with your own money/the first album you were really excited to own
Niko: PARAMORE – “Riot!” My emo phase. PARAMORE was and still is a big deal for me.
Joonas: THE RASMUS – “Into.” The best Finnish rock band ever. Period.
8. A song that makes you want to curl up on the couch with a hot beverage
Niko: COLDPLAY – “Everglow.” This song from COLDPLAY’s latest album has this beautiful piano and touching lyrics. Definitely the song to listen while drinking hot beverage. And crying.
Joonas: COLDPLAY – “A Sky Full of Stars.” Same band – different songs! This song is huge but somehow I also find it relaxing.
9. The album to blast at full volume while you’re on the road
Niko & Joonas: BLIND CHANNEL – “Revolutions“ 😉 Let’s not get too specific. The album is gonna blow your mind.
10. The song you’d most like to be played at your funeral
Niko: AC/DC – “Highway to Hell.” People should know where you are.
Joonas: Bob Marley – “No Woman No Cry.” I’m the kind of person who thinks that the worse thing in the world is if my friends and family have to grieve because of me. Of course death is the natural part of life but at my funeral I would like people to remember me of my positive way of life. Shit just got deep…!
Since we’re celebrating the release of their debut album next week, the boys collectively put together a playlist for you! Here are the songs they recommend:
1. Bring Me the Horizon – “Throne”
2. Linkin Park – “In the End”
3. Justin Bieber – “Sorry”
4. Twenty One Pilots – “Car Radio”
5. Bring Me the Horizon – “Avalanche”
6. Disco Ensemble – “Black Euro”
7. Ed Sheeran – “Nina”
8. Muse – “Psycho”
9. Backstreet Boys – “Everybody”
10. Ember Falls – “Shut Down With Me”
Interview by Bear Wiseman
Musicalypse, 2016
OV: 3135
