Por Patricia C
Free Spirit is a rock band from Finland who plays Hard Rock music inspired in 80’s, with medium tempo songs that remind to Blind Guardian, and MNTv have noticed them. They don’t play in international tours, but they even have fan clubs in United States and Japan. ‘Pale Sister of Light’, (their description of the moon) is their first album, and their songs are a same story about dreams and reality. And they have varied influences: Rammstein, Metallica, The Beatles and Abba includes.
We interview Sami, the band singer, whose kindness and humility is a reflection of the human quality of their songs. Before reading the interview, we recommend you listen his favorite ballad ‘Heroes Don’t Cry’ that to Sami: “tells a story of despair and a battle that cannot be won. It's also a story of a child in an alcoholic family. That probably explains the title of the song".
- How many years is Free Spirit playing?
In one form or another, Free Spirit has been playing since the 90's, but in it's present Free Spirit was formed in 2006, when Vesa and Markku joined as guitarists. After a few rehearsal and recording sessions, it quickly became clear that we finally had a lineup that could make real all the musical visions that Free Spirit had been aiming for all these years. So the natural next step was to record our debut album, and the result came to be known as 'Pale Sister of Light'.
- Probably your music style is a mixture of the 80's melodic hard rock, to all Spanish people who don't know Free Spirit yet, how do you define your music?
I'd say that Free Spirit's music brings back the massive melodies and huge choruses and do that in a modern way. Perhaps one way to define Free Spirit's music would be to say that it's unashamedly ambitious melodic stadium rock.
- Free Spirit is compared with Blind Guardian in medium tempo songs... What international bands do you identify with?
There are many bands and artists from different genres who have influenced us. We like all kinds of music and we go from ABBA to Rammstein, from Metallica to Beatles and back again. We are a bit of mixture of many genres and decades and I guess that makes our sound unique.
- And what about Pale Sister of Light? What are we going to discover in this LP?
You are going to discover an escapist journey through an alternate reality, where dreams are real, evil is evil and good is good and love stories really are bigger than life. There will be huge choruses, massive guitars and moody synthesizers leading your way through this strange world. And you will have an musical experience unlike anything you've experienced since those classic rock giants.
- What topics do you tell in your songs?
The lyrics in the album form a coherent story when the songs are played in album order. In 'Shadow of a Man', the protagonist dreams of running with the wolves through a night time forest. As he wakes up, he finds himself in another world. The rest of the album then follows his journey from his old life into this another world, where he has to meet his past that is turned into a flesh and blood.
He also has to fight back his once lost love. His guide on this journey is the spirit of the moon, or the Pale Sister of Light, as she calls herself. Finally, in 'Preacher Man', we meet a new character, with whom I'm sure Free Spirit's listeners will cross paths again.
- What of your ballads would you choose?
I have to say 'Heroes Don't Cry', which tells a story of despair and a battle that cannot be won. It's also a story of a child in an alcoholic family. That probably explains the title of the song.
- How is the musical industry in Finland?
I'd guess it's pretty much the same as in most other places, with the four big record companies taking by far the biggest share and all the others coming far behind. A very positive development during the last ten years or so has been that it's actually
become possible and even common for Finnish artists to gain international success.
- You have fans in many countries, what of them do you go to visit this year? Do you want to play in Spain?
In Finland, we will surely be playing on some festivals this summer, but at the moment, there are no scheduled gigs abroad. We are of course working all the time on getting to play our music in as many countries as possible. We'd definitely love to play in Spain, with all the passionate people and the warmth of the southern sun to rock for!
- You have powerful guitars rhythms, solos, and a particular vocal style... Can you give me several musical advances to young musicians and any practical exercise to them?
It's really difficult to give any definitive advice in a subject as subjective as music. Perhaps the most important thing to say would be that concentrate on your own thing and believe in yourself. If you want to get ahead with your music, you have to play well, you have to perform well, you have to look like your music, and above and beyond everything else, you have to have great songs.
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