Interview with Lassi Kähärä (Inner, Long Gone...) 09/2017

For the very first post of this blog/web-zine/whatever, I had a chance to speak with Lassi, who like me hails from the moribound town of Hämeenlinna in Southern Finland. Lassi has been active in the Finnish UG-scene since around 2009. Given how young he is that means that he has been doing this shit for almost half of his life!! 

Lassi started out in the metal/punk scene, playing drums in the bands HORROS, LEFT COLD, NIGHT OFFER and LONG GONE, but since 2012 he started to branch out into hip-hop with the release of his first instrumental beat tape under the name KONJU. 

After the Konju beat tape was released he has been focusing a lot more on electronic music with his projects INNER and MACHINIST, as well as doing some production for the new enigmatic rap figure PEHMEE GOO! 

Because of some difficulties with our schedules we had to do the interview in a few separate sessions, but eventually I think we were able to wrap everything up quite nicely.

 

PROCRASTINATE: Helloooo!! And thanks for agreeing to the interview! How are you doing? What are you listening to at the moment?

LASSI: Hello and thanks for having me! Everything is well. At the moment I’m listening to loads of different stuff. Today I was listening to a lot of new weird rap and harsh noise because I was selecting tracks for a DJ-set. Otherwise I'm closely following the grime scene and new interesting electronic music.

PROCRASTINATE: Very nice!! When and where will the DJ-set be? I'm asking because I understand that you have a show today with the Finnish rapper ‘PEHMEE GOO’!

LASSI: You're correct! Goo is performing at Merikerho, a new club in Helsinki. I've never been there but I've heard that its a boat! Really looking forward to it

PROCRASTINATE: A fucking boat??? NICE!! You're performing the DJ-set there in connection to the GOO show? By the way I've been listening to quite a bit of Goo recently and I really like that stuff!! Can you tell us anything about this guy?

LASSI: Yeah, seems like a crazy venue! One of my favourite clubs ‘Trax Casino’ is gonna be active again and it's gonna be at the same venue. Pehmee Goo is a mysterious, kind of annoying guy that always pops up at my apartment door.

He comes in, says nothing, records a track in 10 minutes and leaves. I’m like an engineer on those sessions. Goo likes to use his own techniques with the mics etc. so my job is to press record and see how all the meters are peaking on red all the time.

Goo gang is the future!

PROCRASTINATE: Well tell him I said hello and that I think he is O.K! By the way I'm just listening to the Inner releases from bandcamp and the new stuff sounds great! I understand that 'Black Label' EP was just released on vinyl! Congrats!! How has the album been received? Was it a stressful project, it being your first solo vinyl release and all?

LASSI: I will, he is OK! Yeah, the EP was released by Signal Life two months ago and i'm very happy with how it turned out. The feedback has been nice and it's great to have it out finally, it took a good while. I was a big fan of Signal Life before and i'm really grateful for Desto and Twwth for having me on the label. Now I can focus on making new music fully.

[At this point we had to put the interview on hold because Lassi arrived in Helsinki and had to go and do the show. We got in touch again a few days later and picked up the interview from there.]

PROCRASTINATE: Hello again! How was the show??

LASSI: HELLO! The show was great, was really fun playing out and meeting people. The venue was also nice and had a great sound system.

PROCRASTINATE: Nice to hear!! Was this GOO's first performance by the way? I'm listening to some GOO tracks right now and it sounds great!! Any major sources of inspirations for these sounds?

LASSI: Yes, was the first time Goo performed anywhere. Goo once told his biggest influences include the Based God (TYBG), Hanatarashi and Antares autotune. Listening to Waka Flocka from a cellphone speaker at an early age made GOO who he is today.

PROCRASTINATE: Going back to your main project Inner, I noticed that you have taken down a lot of the earlier material from your bandcamp and soundcloud. Is that available anywhere else? As I recall these early releases have been sold out quite a long time ago, which is a shame, because I really liked them! Any specific reason why these aren't on your sites anymore and have there been any talks of making represses of the earlier releases?

LASSI: Yeah, that’s true. I guess the reason is that I wanted to "clear the table" from the old stuff and concentrate on new releases. Obviously my sound has progressed over the years and I still love the older stuff, but having the older releases there felt a bit messy and confusing for me. A few people have contacted me asking for the older stuff and I've sent them over, but for now they are off the platforms. I guess the Anti-Party cassettes will remain as the only pressings, for now.

[Let's hope there will be a repress! Klowdtape was THE SHIT!!]

PROCRASTINATE: I can definitely understand that. It's actually quite a courageous move, making such a clean break, as the new tracks are quite different from your early material, maybe even more challenging in some ways! Was the change in style a gradual process or was there a point at which you knowingly wanted to change the sound to a certain direction? How did your audience react to the new material?

LASSI: Yeah, I really thought about it for a while before I took them off. Felt good to do it though. I'm constantly making music and it would be weird to be doing the same album and tracks all over again. At some point I just realized that the stuff I was making was leaning to a different direction. 

I've always had loads of different projects and aliases going on, but with Inner it just felt like a natural enough progression in style and to be fair I don't consider it being completely different at all. I am aiming for a certain feeling and aesthetic but at the end of the day it's all just organized sound.


  

PROCRASTINATE: I see what you mean and I really respect that decision, it can be pretty tempting to just stick with the sound that your fans have gotten used to but that will usually get old pretty soon!! By the way, I remember your very first hip-hop/beat tape coming out in 2012 when you were still making music under the name ‘Konju’. At the time you were playing in the crust band HORROS, the grindcore band ARROYO and the hardcore band LEFT COLD. How was the transition from punk music to making hip-hop? It seems that the punk scene was quite supportive as the Konju tape was even released by the punk label FACE YOUR GODS!

LASSI: Konju was my first solo project, making sample based beats on fl-studio hah. Face Your Gods was a label formed by friends and the release of the beat tape happened naturally. It's not that common for a punk label to release that kind of stuff but in Finland it feels like people involved with music are often versatile with their tastes. 

Horros, Arroyo and Left Cold were all bands where I played drums; crust, grind and hardcore. We played a lot of gigs and playing drums is still one of the most fun things to do. My musical taste has gone from listening to a lot of metal to punk and hardcore to hiphop and everything interesting that catches my ears. Somebody said it well: good music is either weird, dark, melancholic or the combination of those three.

PROCRASTINATE: I think I'll have to agree with that last part!! The Konju tape was a really big success as I recall and people are selling it for crazy amounts of money on discogs nowadays. How do you feel about this? There was a cd-r pressing that you made as a DIY release prior to the tape too right?

LASSI: Yeah, it's funny to me but I guess people sell pretty much any sold out releases on Discogs for crazy prices. Yeah, I made a small amount of cd-r of the tape too, really rare! The DIY thing is something that I respect and it feels like a lot of people in Finland are doing it across many genres. 

Cover art of the mega-rare Konju cd-r.
Good thing I have copy #1/20, haha!!

 
PROCRASTINATE: You definitely have a strong history with DIY with all the crust/grind/hardcore bands you've played in! By the way, was Horros your first 'proper' band? You started all the way in 2009 if I'm not mistaken. Can you describe your time in that band? Wasn't Arroyo conceived as a sideproject of it?

LASSI: Yeah that’s true, it was started by me, Elias and Miska somewhere during the seventh grade of school, haha. That was my first proper band and I think I've played most of my gigs with Horros. Arroyo was maybe considered a side project, but now that I look back at it the releases we made were probably my favourite of any band I've played in. I guess we just nailed the noisy sound that I loved during that time. Still do!

PROCRASTINATE: At what time did these bands disband / you stopped playing in them? Any favorite memories / shows / releases?

LASSI: Different times, but at around 2014 I didn't play in any of them. In 2014 I played in Night Offer for a while until the band stopped altogether. Now I play in Long Gone and our split 7" with VVEGAS is out now. There were obviously a lot of shows that I really enjoyed, but our trip to Luleå and Oulu with Horros is one of my favourite. Just spending such a loud night with the friends!

PROCRASTINATE: I actually forgot you played in Night Offer too! Did you get the chance to record drums for any of the bands recordings? How long have you played in Long Gone? Can you describe your sound for those who haven't heard your music yet. Is the band based in Hämeenlinna by the way?

LASSI: Yeah, I guess I played in Night Offer for about a year, maybe bit more. They were keeping quiet and looking for a drummer and a singer, so the band kinda got formed again. We played some gigs with Night Offer together with Horros and I always loved the over the top japcore / iron maiden approach, so it was a great experience playing with them. We recorded three tracks that were supposed to be released in some form, but now they're only dumped on bandcamp. 

I like the recordings but the band just fell apart right after that. Members of the band had different situations in life etc, basic stuff. Long Gone formed maybe four years ago already, but we've always been pretty laid back with releases and gigs. Long Gone plays hardcore with influences from bands like Integrity, Rot In Hell, Extreme Noise Terror etc. 

We just had a gig last wednesday and it was really fun! All in all its really nice to still have a band to play drums in, even though my main focus is on the Inner stuff. Playing drums still is the best form of stress relief and getting your mind clear.

THE HUMAN HURRICANE!

PROCRASTINATE: I'll have to check out those tracks right away, I'm not sure if I've ever heard them! Any thoughts on the VVEGAS split? Did it turn out the way you wanted, how was the recording process etc.? You played some shows with them too when they toured Finland right?

LASSI: The VVEGAS split turned out nice, we recorded it in our rehearsal space and I mixed it. I guess it's about as good as I can do as it's recorded in that crappy space with a couple crappy mics, hah. We played with VVEGAS in Oranssi, it was a cool gig, many people showed up and the vibe was right!
 

PROCRASTINATE: Nice to hear you are still producing punk stuff too! It's definitely a very different process than with producing electronic music, especially when you are going for the DIY approach. Speaking of music production, what kind of a set up do you use for inner stuff? Are you constantly looking for new elements that you'd like to add to your music or do you make it as the mood takes you? Do you have a certain process that you follow when you make the tracks or is it different each time? I think you've definitely developed a pretty distinctive sound so I'd imagine there would be certain things that you try to incorporate into your tracks more frequently.

LASSI: It's definitely refreshing to produce/record something else than electronic stuff for a change, it's much more hands on and physical somehow. On Inner stuff I just use Ableton, nothing else really. I experiment with different plugins and even though it can feel sometimes too "digital" I just love to experiment with vst synths and effects. Samples are also a big source of inspiration. 

Nowadays I tend to manipulate the samples very heavily beyond the point of recognizing the original. It's not because I don't want people to recognize the sample but just because I like to mess around with them, and that gives me ideas. When I start to create a track I may have some kind of idea about the mood or a melody, but most of the time it's just messing around and getting an idea. 

When I write down a melody or a drum loop or whatever it usually gives me a pretty clear vision on how the track should sound in the end. I've noticed that as I'm making the track forward I automatically incorporate familiar elements later on that appear in other Inner tracks. It's really nice to notice that you might have a sound of your own.

PROCRASTINATE: Yes I see how that can go, that one initial element leads to another and the chain goes on until you end up with the finished track. By the way, I remember listening to your interview on Bassoradio, and you guys were talking about whether it's cool to use digital samples or if everything should be ripped off the record. Personally I don't see a problem with digital samples, as it does give a lot of new producers the opportunity to develop their sound without too much hassle, but on the other hand I do see the point in using only 'real' samples too, as it can be pretty fucking annoying if you have dedicated a huge portion of your life to a scene/movement/genre and then because of advances in technology pretty much anyone can start participating without putting in the work and dedication. So I guess I see this as an issue of subcultural authenticity and dedication, but I'm not that well informed about this issue, so I was wondering if you'd like to share your thoughts about this?

LASSI: Exactly, one thing leads to another and that's how it usually goes for me. Hah, that interview was a pretty long time ago! I don't remember what I said in the interview, but I definitely encourage to use any sample you can find. I use youtube samples all the time, I've never really cared about it personally. 

I know where people are coming from when they talk about sampling vinyl only, but I personally don't care at all. Living in Finland you'd have to work really hard to find good vinyl samples as vinyl costs a lot in fleamarkets and all you can find is disco or classical stuff. I guess that whole conversation is mostly with old-head hiphop producers, not so much with the new experimental electronic/club scene. Or maybe not with any younger artists for that matter, hah.

PROCRASTINATE: Yes I see, nice to hear it's not such a heated point of discussion after all! Do you have any other hip-hop/electronic projects that you are working on at the moment and if so, could you tell us a little about them?

LASSI: Well we just made a new track with Pietari, under the Machinist name. That turned out pretty nice! I've been also making quite a lot of more beatless/ambient Inner tracks lately and I'm considering putting them out as an EP or something. 

I'm trying to keep from creating new aliases or projects to keep things more clear, but it's always tempting to create a new thing, a new platform. I do music everyday so there's loads of stuff on my hard drive that doesn't fit under Inner or anything, I guess some of that stuff may come out one day. Who knows!

PROCRASTINATE: Sounds great! Nice that you have a wide variety of stuff you are working on. A compilation of this rare unreleased material would be fucking awesome!! I'm sure there would be lots of people who would be interested in this! By the way, what are the strangest/most out of place samples that you have used in your tracks?

LASSI: Yeah would be nice to do like a "random works" cassette or something. Maybe the weirdest samples are from Crash Bandicoot gameplay or random synth demos etc. Can't think of anything too crazy right now, but I love sampling off youtube. Like when somebodys playing a synth and it's recorded with the crappy camera mic it can create great sounds. Sampling off cassette is really great aswell, it has amazing texture. I bought a couple local 90's pop cassettes from Hong Kong and they had amazing stuff in them.

PROCRASTINATE: Hahah didn't expect Crash Bandicoot to be mentioned on this one!! Which sound did you use from that game and on which track? Your method sounds fun and its definitely quite an innovative way to create new sounds. I'm actually running out of questions for now so maybe to finish up you could list a few artists/releases you've been inspired or otherwise excited about recently and say your final words!

LASSI: Can't remember which track but I've used some of the box breaking and TNT sounds etc, SFX stuff. It is really fun to search for samples and integrate them to a track, or even base the whole track on a certain sample. To name a few things I've been listening to: Croatian Amor, Tommy Wright III, Harlem Spartans and Ecco2k. Different stuff for different situations and moods, so much great music out there! Thanks a lot for this interview and thanks to everyone reading, easily the most in depth interview i've ever done. Big up!

THAT'S IT! A THOUSAND THANKS TO LASSI!

HERE'S A BUNCH OF LINKS TO HIS SHIT.

GO CHECK IT OUT!

INNER:
https://soundcloud.com/inn_er
https://innermusic.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/innerinner/

SIGNAL LIFE:
https://www.facebook.com/SGNLF/

MACHINIST:
https://machinist2029.bandcamp.com/

LONG GONE:
https://longgonehc.bandcamp.com/

PEHMEE GOO:
https://soundcloud.com/pehmeegoo
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChDaQBoBLu9txeinKmMznkg

NIGHT OFFER:
https://nightoffer.bandcamp.com/

HORROS:
https://horrosband.bandcamp.com/