“I think that everybody has embraced our new music, new songs and new sound” – Interview with Shiraz Lane

When you think of hard rock/glam metal, the biggest references to the musical style come from North America or, in the case of Europe, directly from the strong Swedish scene. But Finland, which in the 80s exported Hanoi Rocks to the world, has seen Shiraz Lane becoming one of the best Finnish bands through the last decade in what makes hard rock so fascinating: great melodies, live performance and charisma.

The band, originally formed in the city of Vantaa, has just released its fourth studio album internationally, In Vertigo, via Frontiers Music srl, and once again managed to combine very well all the elements that bring the best out of the group: the powerful voice of Hannes Kett, the technique of Jani Laine, the precise rhythm of Miki Kalske, the energy of Joel Alex and the groove of Ana Willman. Chaoszine closely followed the buzz surrounding the new album, attending the pre-listening party and just before the album release show at Tiivistämö in Helsinki, we had the pleasure of talking with vocalist Hannes and guitarists Jani and Miki. It was a fun chat about the band’s current moment, the making process of the new album, and how they feel about being a reference for new fans.

Listening to the album, which just came out yesterday, I couldn’t agree more with what the press release says, that the album is unapologetically melodic, in a really good way. What has the feedback been like among fans and the media, both on social media and in person?

Hannes Kett: Exactly that in fact! People can hear that we found our sound and the songwriting process of this album was completely different from most of what we’ve done before, so we could actually really concentrate on the arrangements revolving around the melodies. We also wanted to simplify things when it came to this album and simplify doesn’t mean songs are simple per se, but what it means is that we have had more opportunity to concentrate on actually creating these beautiful melodies, harmonies and hooks. So thank you very much for that!

Jani Laine: Yeah, I think what I just read yesterday, most of the comments were really positive, like “it’s your best album”, “sounds great”. Been loving it so far. Yeah, at least what I have seen. So that’s really good! I’m feeling all happy about it. It’s been a while and we’ve been working with this album quite a lot, so it’s always a relief after you release it and if people like it, it’s even better.

Miki Kalske: I think that people are fans and everybody has embraced our new music, our new songs and our new sound and the overall feedback has been really good, really positive.

Hannes: Yeah, It’s really positive. Of course, there will always be people that for some reason enjoy some of the older stuff, but that’s perfect, the older stuff is already there, so it’s for them to find out and listen to, but I have a feeling that lots of new fans will find us through this album.

The album was once again produced by Per Aldeheim, who knows how to mix pop and hard rock very well. The last time you guys worked with him was on the EP Vibration I. In these five years apart you’ve evolved as musicians, so what was it like working together again?

Hannes: Fantastic! It was fantastic because as we started writing these songs, we didn’t have a clear vision of what it’s gonna become or when the album is gonna come out. We just decided with Jani and Miki to just hang out in the studio and just write songs, and we realized this is the way we’re supposed to work from now on, at least for the most of the time. We took all these things that we have learned so far during our career songwriting wise and as we started writing these songs, we already had this bag of tricks that we knew how to use in a different way than before. So if you take a look at us five years ago and now it’s a complete different band, musicianship and songwriting wise, and as we were writing the album and we had a bunch of demos that we did sent to Per, he told us that he wasn’t sure if he can help us because it’s already perfect, in his words not mine, but I told him “I know you can help us make this even better” and that’s exactly what he did.

Miki: Yeah, It’s always a pleasure to work with Per because he really knows how to push us and get the best out of the songs and the band so he’s a really crucial part of the album actually.

Hannes: Yeah, he is.

Jani: Yeah, I think it’s actually gotten to be easier to work with him now, because when we started with Carnival Days we were pretty strict about our sleaze and hard rock roots and he was like, “Hey, you should try this and this” and we were “No, we can’t do that, we can’t do this” and now we’re more open. Of course, back then we were open to do different type of songs and everything, but now when doing demos for these songs, we we’re like “Ok, we could probably try this” and we knew that Per would appreciate our ideas already.

Hannes: We were already experimenting with sounds, and melodies have always been and will always be a crucial part of Shiraz Lane, and now that we have the possibility to just go take the time to write these songs together and try out all different kind of things arrangement wise/songwriting wise, everything worked very well together.

This year you played cruise shows in the US, a tour in the UK, and will soon be performing in Spain. What has it been like reconnecting with your international fans and playing the new songs live?

Hannes: I mean, it’s fantastic. It’s different experience altogether compared to playing in Finland, but that’s a part of cultural differences, of course. We play rock and roll music that’s written in English, so it feels very natural to go abroad and play these songs for these people. I’m not saying that it’s not cool to play in Finland, but it’s a different experience and depending on which culture background they have, which country we’re playing, it’s always different.

Jani: We’ve already played a few new songs live in UK and started with Dangerous already at Monsters of Rock cruise and it’s been a pleasure to see that people really love those songs live and that they work live. So it’s great!

Miki: We’re eager to get on the road and to be able to perform all the new songs to our international fans, though that’s gonna be something to look forward to in the future.

Jani: Actually, when doing the new songs, we also thought about the live stuff. We wanted to make sure that these songs work live really well. It’s great to have these new songs in the set, because they’re made to be played live, not only to be studio stuff that’s hard to recreate live.

Hannes: We we’re thinking what would work live, because it’s a completely different experience, as you can always cheat in the studio. I think many bands do that. We want to bring the same stuff in a different way when we play live. When we were writing the songs, we definitely had in mind “how does it feel when you’re standing in front of the audience and do these things, would it work and why would it work?”.

These last few years have been quite difficult for the hard rock scene, with bands retiring and classic musicians passing away. How do you feel about continuing the legacy of these bands and helping to evolve hard rock with Shiraz Lane’s music?

Hannes: That’s just the sign of the times, you know? You got to pass the torch forward, we’ve been doing this now for almost 15 years, we started the band in 2011 pretty much, and I guess that’s just the way it’s supposed to go. We’re gonna do our thing and we already know that there are some bands and singers and musicians that have started because they found our band. So yeah, it’s an honor to be on those lists when people say their favorite bands and we’re one of them, but also some of our favorite bands are on the same list.

Miki: Of course, it’s sad and a pity that our heroes are passing away and stuff like that, but we just want to keep doing our thing. We want to keep the scene alive, perform to people and spread out a good word of rock and roll music.

Yes, and it is very nice that for some new music fans, their first hard rock reference is Shiraz Lane.

Hannes: Yeah, that’s great! Especially this new album. I think it’s a great combination of pop and rock. It’s 100% Shiraz Lane, so for the new fans that will find us through this album, this will always be the album for them where they found us and then they will check out the older stuff, but they will always come back to this album and then hopefully the next album as well.

New album released and many shows happening, but what else can we expect from Shiraz Lane in the coming months?

Hannes: We’re gonna play some shows in Finland now, then we’re going to Spain as well.

Jani: Actually, I think we will release two more music videos from the album. It’s something to expect.

Hannes: And for next year, we’re looking for opportunities to play abroad as well. We’ve got some shows that we know we’re gonna do and tour wise we’ll see what’s to come. It all depends on who we’re gonna play with if we’re going to tour, because in this modern age, you need to do it smart.

Thank you for taking the time, guys!

Shiraz Lane: Thank you very much!

Words by John Wins
Photos by AJ Johansson

You can listen to Shiraz Lane‘s new album “In Vertigo” here: