Page 18 - Black Velvet Magazine Issue 106

BV106 pg16-21 Reckless Love Interview.qxp_BV106 pg18 03/05/2022 00:06 Page 3

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band did, and I remember at the time the guys lli feels the changes that they have I did think Reckless Love wasn’t going to make
saying it would be nice to see their sons and Omade have been very natural, with the it back. It’s a weird feeling right, because every-
daughters every now and again and not miss whole writing process being very quick. Intense, thing is going so well.
their first steps and first words because that lit- but very quick. “But everyone went through a tough time.
erally is what happened for a couple of the guys. “We had a ton of songs ready before we My own personal problems, I think, were a result
They missed those moments because we were went into the studio, but once we found this of 10 years of rock ‘n’ roll, as I had a slight heart
out on tour, so they had to watch those things sweet spot, we wrote the whole album in two problem about a year ago and that was a wake-
by video on their phones. weeks. Everything was new. We left the old up call. I couldn’t sleep and it was an arryhyth-
“So, I totally understood it and we decided songs because we felt the new songs were a mia thing that would not go away and I had
to take a sabbatical and stay away medication for a while and thank-
for a year, maybe a year and a half. e’re not the band to do the same thing fully now it is OK, but it was scary
It ended up being a year and a half. for a while. And there are plenty of
In late 2019, we started piecing the “Wover and over like, say, AC/DC. Don’t get these scares and really difficult
new stuff together and figuring out me wrong, I love AC/DC, but we’re not that good that we times which the whole band has
how to get back on the road and it gone through in the last few years.
turned out to not be that hard. We can do the same thing 50 years in a row! In order to sur- It’s been a really weird time.
booked the biggest tour in celebra- vive we need to evolve, we need to change.” - Olli Herman “I wish it would be true that our
tion of our 10th anniversary of our system has no weakness, but that
first album and we started the tour is more for the imaginary character
in Australia. We were supposed to go to Japan, more interesting way of expressing ourselves, of the song! But, as a band and as a unit, I truly
Europe, UK, America, a shitload of shows in Fin- which still felt natural and that it was us making feel we are stronger than ever. I’ve always be-
land, and in came the pandemic and each and progress as a band as well. And yeah, that was lieved in the band; the reason why Hessu’s back
every one of those shows was cancelled. I re- how we stumbled on the new elements which do problems were so important to me personally is
member it was 107 shows! We were supposed come from the crazy sounds of the late 1980s. because I didn’t want to lose another brother. I
to go into the studio as soon as this tour finished, “David Lee Roth’s ‘Skyscraper’ was one of didn’t want to lose this unit that we are, this band
in early 2021, but, at that point, it was clear noth- my first musical influences and is one of the first of brothers, that’s what Reckless Love is. We’ve
ing was going to happen until 2022, so instead, rock records I remember hearing, and we used had the same line-up since the first record. I
we entered the studio in 2022 and here I am, still the same synth bass on this album and went full know we are a dysfunctional band and not com-
sat in my bedroom, which is also my office, still nerd on the 80s sound, so what you hear is the patible with each other, but still we love each
postponing tours! And it’s still going on now, exact same thing that David Lee Roth used on other like brothers. It’s weird how we are so
even though it’s not the main headlines right that album. And there are Judas Priest and Van much better as a group.”
now. Halen sounds everywhere. A lot of the electronic
“The world is a weird place after six years drum kit influences come from Van Halen. is latter comments are a nice bridge to
that I don’t recognise anymore. Everything has “ZZ Top has also been an influence. I’ve al- Hthe song ‘Outrun’, another highlight of
gone to hell, basically! So, naturally, the band ways loved ‘Eliminator’ and especially ‘After- the new album, which boasts the lyric, ‘I’m
has changed too. Actually, I always knew we burner’. They are a strange mix of blues and the gonna outrun everyone’. With this in mind, we
would. We’re not that kind of band. We’re not the 80s sort of electronic, synth vibe and I wanted ask Olli if he can tell us what he thinks the secret
band to do the same thing over and over like, to try and create something a little like that. Billy has been to the band standing the test of time,
say, AC/DC. Don’t get me wrong, I love AC/DC, Idol is another who has used those kinds of bearing in mind that, while their debut record
but we’re not that good that we can do the same sounds his whole career and it’s always been came out in 2010, the band has now been in ex-
thing 50 years in a row! In order to survive we really fascinating to me. istence for 20 years.
need to evolve, we need to change. “But those things were done 40 years ago, A giant smile forms on his face and he tells
“And the pandemic kind of boiled it all down so we needed something fresh. There’s no point us, “Stupidity and pig-headedness, I think!
into what became ‘Turborider’. I read an inter- in doing something which has already been “If you want me to put it more beautifully, it’s
view with Rob Halford when he was talking done; that’s how the modern synth sounds came probably determination”, he then adds. “I think
about ‘Painkiller’ and it being a turning point for in and you can hear it on the songs, because the that’s how it is. The band was founded in 2001,
Judas Priest. I remember him talking about the 80s songs are not played in the way more mod- but the first album didn’t come out until 2010, so
imaginary character who was a saviour from the ern songs are with a click and a grid and it it was nine years of frustration, trying to write the
skies. This metallic man which sounded fun and started to make sense to us because the songs perfect song and album and always reaching for
new and something I had never done before be- already sound modern. We added a few tricks it, but, when it finally happened, it didn’t feel stu-
cause I had always written from my own life and and little things as well which I don’t even have pid anymore. But, for nine years, it felt pretty stu-
my own life experiences and not something the knowledge of how to do, but our producer is pid!”
imaginary, so this was going to be the change. a wizard and they make a real difference!” The last comment is followed by another
The world is in a weird place right now. We’re in burst of Olli’s infectious laugh, but the comment
a lockdown and people don’t want to listen to a he title track includes the lyric, ‘the sys- sparks an obvious question of how does it feel
party track right now. It even sounded bad say- Ttem got no weakness,’ so we ask Olli if a decade and five albums later? Is it the same
ing you are having fun on your own in your bed- he feels the band’s absence from the stage and determination, or rather the same stupidity?
room! So I decided I wanted to try that same recording studio has created any weaknesses “I’ve thought about it myself, because I don’t
analogy and create something of my own and, within the ranks and, if so, how they will over- feel any pressure to make a new album any-
rather than create a metallic man, I found an come them. more, because, to me, we’ve made it. Those
inner child from myself and everyone in the band “Personally, maybe,” he responds. “Every- previous albums are there because we did it.
and created this character who became the ‘Tur- one of us has gone through a rough time, during They were a dream of ours which we realised.
borider’. That is why the album cover is how it is the last two years especially. I’ve always been a The first album, we couldn’t believe it was hap-
because she is a lovely 11-year-old kid, but I positive and optimistic kind of guy. I rarely feel pening at the time. It was a childhood dream,
wanted to create a more darker and sinister ver- depressed. I’m always smiling and have a sunny bucket list-type thing.
sion of Van Halen’s ‘1984’ album cover as well! disposition, everything is fun to me. But, a year “When we did the second album, it was like,
“The lyrics are all about the change of what ago, I felt very depressed. I lost a dear friend of ‘Wow, this was meant to be over already.’ We
the band went through. ‘More electric than be- mine; that affected me. Everyone in the band just thought we would do the album and every-
fore’, ‘rotten hybrid to the core’. We decided to went through some kind of health issue, not just one would forget us, but then, it’s 18 months
incorporate a lot more electronic elements into the coronavirus because everybody had it, but later and everything is going great and here we
our music this time, even though they’ve been our drummer Hessu had back surgery and, at are now, four albums later. It’s the stuff we used
present throughout our career, even in 2010 on the time, we weren’t sure if he would be able to to dream about and we still can’t believe it is
our debut record. We had a song called ‘Back play again. At the time, he wasn’t even able to happening.
To Paradise’, which had the same kind of elec- sit down. He could only be in two positions, “By the time I got to the third album, I just
tronic elements, like the electronic drum kit. standing up or laying down, and, for a couple of stopped thinking about it because it was already
“But this time it’s different. On the first album months, it looked really bad. more than I had ever dreamed of doing, I’ve ful-
it was like a retrospective, hats-off nod to the “That was a dire situation because it was not filled the ultimate dream and I’m making a living
80s hair metal, while ‘Turborider’ looks to the fu- something I was prepared for. There is a lyric in with music and can support myself and do the
ture. It’s more of a modern day version, almost the last track, ‘it’s a miracle we made it back’, stuff that I love. Everyone around us was putting
more 80s than the 80s.” and that is literally true. There was a point where on more pressure, ‘You need to do this or that
RECKLESS LOVE