Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
It’s a warm, spring evening in Helsinki and the temperatures rise just as much as the tension before 8th May 2026 – the day The Switchblades release their first double single, “Keep running / Life’s gonna get ya”. I’m reviewing my notebook full of questions to the band as I’m waiting for them at a rock bar we decided to meet up at for the interview. For a second I look at the wall covered in classic rock vinyls and get lost in my thoughts – I wonder who are the people I’m going to talk to. As I found out about the band, I got the impression that they were a bunch of guys trying to bring oldschool rock and roll back to life – an idea which by itself I respected. But will they try to play roles just to impress, or do they really live for the music they play…? Just in case that they turn out intimidatingly unapproachable and full of themselves, I prepared twenty dull questions I could ask.
I hear the heavy door of the bar creaking and, as I raise my eyes, I notice a long-haired rocker with a bold, 80s punk inspired style entering.
Hold on… that’s Matheus Luck, The Switchblades’ bass player, I realize.
He grabs a beer and joins me. What hits me instantly is that he’s a friendly, down-to-earth guy. We start a small talk about glam-punk inspirations and bands updates, as well as the local rock scene. Matheus notices the genre is slipping out of public attention. There are, of course, great Dharma Guns or undeniable Helsinki glam-punk heroes Lovers Left Alive maintaining the genre alive and proudly carrying on what’s left of the legacy of legends such as Hanoi Rocks or Smack, but…
“There’s such a shortage of similar bands nowadays” – Matheus complains, laughing. It’s hard not to agree it indeed makes a painful gap in the genre. …And, well, this might be a gap for the Switchblades to perfectly fill.
With a spark of passion in his eyes Matheus tells me the story of how a few years ago he packed a suitcase, left his hometown and came to Helsinki with a clear goal in his mind – start playing rock. For the past few years he’s been striving to make this dream come true, persistently practicing playing, getting into the rock network, forming or joining bands, quitting, re-joining… until recently he met a duo of crazy guitar players – Spike and Jesperi – and managed to convince drummer Kalle and singer Leo to join the band they now form as The Switchblades – what started as a project seems to have evolved uncontrollably into an “us against the world” family of rockers, fueled with laughter, passion, music and friendship.
Though Matheus seems laid-back, as he looks out the bar window I notice in his eyes the emotional weight of the rock and roll dream he’s pursuing. The next few days might change a lot for the band – right after the release of their first double single, “Keep running / Life’s gonna get ya”, The Switchblades will perform at Lepakkomies in Helsinki, finally taking a place that they deserve among local rock and roll bands. Matheus’ stage name may be Luck, but this luck was supported by a lot of silent effort behind it – I can tell how much of hopes he’s placing on this music, how hard he’d been working to put the band together and how motivated he is to take it as far as he can.
“And if i’m not mistaken… that’s our drummer.” – through the window Matheus spots his fellow bandmate heading towards the bar. Even if I didn’t know Kalle, I could assume it was him – I immediately noticed The Switchblades’ logo on the tshirt he was wearing.
And indeed, the guy confidently walking towards us was the same powerful, calm rhythm force whose incredible drumming performance got so stuck in my mind after watching the band’s live videos. Soon as well the voice of The Switchblades, Leo, joins us. From the first seconds I can tell his onstage charisma is nothing of a role – he owns the stage, whether on it or not.
You’re all excited for releasing the first single? – I asked once we all sat down at the table.
“Yeah, definitely.”
“Keep Running”, apart from a chorus that gets stuck in one’s mind, brings a rebellious, oldschool rock sound. I wondered if the Switchblades intentionally aimed for producing a piece with such a natural vibe – for once I could not tell whether a song was recorded in the 80s or only recently.
I heard the snippet of “Keep running”, it gives the impression of pure 80s punk rock sound. Which is something super hard to achieve nowadays as everybody’s sort of… digitalizing the music. – I started.
“Well, we definitely wanted to keep a live feeling to it.”
“The recording we did mostly live.” – the drummer says.
“I don’t think it was intentional, I think that’s like…”
“…a happy little accident.” – Matheus finished Leo’s thought.
“We wanted the simple quality for the song. “
Matheus starts singing the catchy “Keep running” chorus as the singer adds:
“I think the ending product of the song is pretty polished… to my ears.”
And yet as much as it sounds polished, it’s not digitalized – it’s raw and natural.
“Yeah! The only digital thing on either of the songs is a bit of keyboards at the end of “Keep running”.”
“I think also” – Leo continues – “when we were recording these songs, our intention was to focus more on the sound combining the modern polished mainstream thing and also keeping the raw, natural live sound. At least that’s what I thought about when making of it.”
“It definitely sounds oldschool, but like… well-made oldschool.” – Matheus adds. – “There’s a lot more of modern flair in the mixing of it. But we did use amps, and not plug-ins, and there were no triggers or anything like that on drums.”
And what was the inspiration for “Keep running”?
“It’s Jesperi’s song.” – Matheus says. – “I wrote the lyrics, but I sort of wrote it based on what Jesperi was explaining to me. We just went to a bar, he got shit-faced and complained about his personal life and i was like ALRIGHT, *noted*, *noted*, *noted*…” – he explains as the band members laugh. Shoutout to musicians’ heartbreaks for bringing to life the best songs, I thought to myself.
“I mean, every band needs a “complaining after a failed relationship”, kind of a song.”
“Everyone can relate to that.”
“And for us it’s such a fun song, we have so many jokes about it.” – Leo chuckles. – “It’s fun to perform it live too.”
“We played it live a couple of times” – Kalle says – “and the audience afterwards is telling us that they hear not “Keep running” but “Give me money” or “Keep coming” or something like that.”
We burst out in laughter.
Yeah… Can you imagine your fans singing that, when it’s something completely different than the actual lyric!
“Everybody’s singing something different!” – Matheus says. – “When i was doing the promo video for the song on Tiktok i put the automatic subtitles and it was something completely different from the lyrics” – he adds.
“I think… I kind of prefer the “give me money”.” – the drummer states with a serious, unreadable gaze.
Matheus turns to Leo:
“You need a hat to sing and walk around with it, “gimme money!” “ – he jokes, taking off his purple flat cap and holding it upside down.
Your live gigs seem to be great shows as well. They have an authentic feeling – you’re basically just a gang of dudes who go out on the stage and play whatever they feel… and whatever way they feel like it.
“Not a lot of choreography going on around…” – the bass player comments.
“I think the energy comes from the same roots as other natural feeling bands.”
I mean, Spike is definitely one of the best “party guys” on stage… in the entire Helsinki.”
Speaking of which – six PM passes; we’re still waiting for another Switchblade, their cosmic guitar player Spike. One of the questions I was about to ask the band was “which one of you is most likely to be late for a rehearsal”… Well, I smiled to my thoughts and crossed that one out.
“Oh, he’s actually walking here.” – Leo points out the window.
I’m turning around to see The Switchblades’ guitar player. It wasn’t possible not to notice him – a dude looking as if he was a rockstar taken out of the mid 80s was crossing the road, walking towards the bar with his long coat and a guitar case by his side. His strongly backcombed and even stronger hairsprayed, black hair, (or maybe a wig…?), was resisting the force of the wind, cruelly attempting to ruin the masterpiece Spike was carrying on top of his head.
Well, I thought, I suppose the guy might be the reason for the ozone hole.
Matheus seems to have read my thoughts:
“We’ve always questioned, is that a wig or not…?”
“We still do” – Leo adds and the guys burst out in laughter. – “Maybe he will show us today.”
“We don’t need pyrotechnics because we can always light that shit on fire.” – Luck adds.
Spike enters, completely unaware of how many intrusive ideas of ignition his hair has sparked over the past minute. As he’s approaching the bar to order a drink, Kalle pragmatically draws everyone’s attention from the guitarist’s hair back to the topic of our talk:
“But yeah, the live feeling… we definitely don’t spend a lot of time worrying about choreographies and shit like that. You just go on stage and do what you do.”
Well, it does give the impression of a very natural show.
The Switchblades might not have been around for long, but they’ve already shown what they’re capable of on the stage. Their performance brings to the mind an idea of a chaotic art, exploding with rebellion, fun and insane skills of each member.
“Yeah.” – the drummer nods. – “A lot of rehearsals I guess, just to get familiar with the songs.”
“The “choreography” also comes naturally from us doing a lot of rehearsing on the songs… also having fun with these songs. And, I think, we don’t plan it but we have the general idea of how the gig is going to go.” – Leo says. – “Between the songs we have some plans of what’s gonna come here, but not specific choreographies or anything like that.” – casually says the same singer whose onstage moves strongly reminded me of early Elvis Presley (…if Elvis had sung for a hard rock band, i guess).
“And we spend some time putting together the setlist, choosing what songs to mix together and what comes naturally after the other ones so… that kind of stuff.”
The chair loudly screeches as Spikes pulls it out to join us at the table.
“You alive?” – Matheus asks Spike who, I can assume, had a rather tough night.
“Yeah… almost.” – the guitar player rasped out.
“So now we have everyone who’s attending.”
We’re not calling Jesperi?
“Oh, he said he has such bad reception that it’s probably best that we handle it.”
Clarification: Jesperi joined us from a phone call for just a few seconds. The guys have separately warned me Jesperi – besides being the one band member to always have perfect makeup on – is also somewhat of a loud buddy, so I’m more than curious to hear how loud he gets. We jokingly make a “plan B” of muting Jesperi and carrying on the interview in case he gets too loud (i’m sorry, Jesperi!). Unfortunately for me, and possibly luckily for other bar guests, Jesperi has to hang up before he manages to present the power of his voice. I can only assume he’s a truly charismatic rock’n’roll hurricane in everyday life as much as he is on the stage, since watching this guy playing live, you get the impression of being transferred into a whole different dimension of rock realm. He seems to have been born to be a rockstar – and he definitely realizes that.
Pondering on that, I once again take a look at these guys. It’s mindblowing how different they all are, yet how much of a perfect whole they create together.
What are your main inspirations? Each of you represents sort of a different style in music.
“Well, my main inspiration is Stray Cats and all these bands… blues punk rock… Muddy Waters, Dead Boys.” – I realize Spike mentions the exact inspirations that his look already boldly depicts.
“I like all of that, but I do lean really to the British glam-punk thing.” – Matheus adds.
The drummer reflects:
“I listen to a bunch of stuff, but maybe on drums… Remu!” [Hurriganes]
“When we were in the studio, he had a picture of Remu Aaltonen next to his drums!”
“For inspiration.” – Kalle concludes in a low voice and the look serious as usual.
Well, I mean… anything works. – I chuckle.
“And he’s murdering me with his look if i fuck up or something.”
I nod as I wonder if Remu Aaltonen realizes how much motivation he brought into the outcome of the Switchblades drum parts just with his murderous sight silently judging Kalle’s playing from that photo at the rehearsals.
“I have a really broad taste in music, and it’s also developing…” – Leo continues. – “I don’t really listen to the same music for more than a year or two, then I start experimenting and finding new stuff. I remember when I first started listening to music, I started from the heaviest, like black metal. Then I went much lighter into rock and then I started exploring more and it’s recently gone really light. I like listening a lot to classical music and also pop.”
It’s hard not to find it impressive how effortlessly Leo mixes his broad musical influences on the stage. He naturally expresses pure leadership; Great vocals, relaxed, charismatic performance are filled with melodies that seem to run through his veins.
“I think that’s the best part of playing in a band” – Kalle adds. – “Everybody brings something, like, their own stuff to the mix. It would be boring as hell if we all listened to one band and tried to copy it.”
“Yeah” – Matheus fakes cough – “thankfully that never happens… uhm, uhm… in our case, UHM…”
The guys break into laughter.
“Touché.”
How did you all first meet? – I’m curious. – How did you come up with the idea of creating this band?
“I think it was Jesperi and Spike trying to form a band for… way too many years.”
“And then you joined last year” – Spike says to Luck.
“Yeah. And they already had Kalle in mind for drums, but they just hadn’t asked him yet. And thank fucking God because it did not sound good at that point!” – he jokes. – “I’d been trying to lure Leo into different kinds of bands for… a while. And then i told him “if you come to the rehearsal, i will stop asking you!” – the bassist recalls as Leo laughs.
“I think most of us knew each other from the scene – meeting each other at different gigs or playing in the bands.”
“Leo was actually the only one who wasn’t hanging out in the same sort of big friend group. Like, I didn’t know Kalle but I did know OF him.” – Matheus continues.
Kalle nods:
“And we’d seen each other around, though didn’t really know each other that well before starting this [band].”
I notice each time the drummer speaks, everyone’s attention is on him – it reminds me of the way he quietly keeps the stable background for the band, both as the furious rhythm master on the stage and the calm companion for his bandmates. I’m not surprised Remu is one of his greatest inspirations.
“And now it does give a lot of fresh perspective. Like, when everyone else is sort of going on autopilot and “Oh, we did this before so let’s do that again”.”
“This is my first time in a proper band.” – Leo continues. – “I’m learning a lot of stuff here like overall on how this business works and… it’s fun and exciting. Because every time you learn something new.”
So you guys are in some way still letting the band evolve.
“Yeah. I don’t think that the original idea that Jesperi and Spike had is really what we are now…” – Kalle reflects.
“I mean, i think we would have all just fucking ended up in Kiss!” – Matheus sums up.
Spike laughs:
“The original idea was hard rock and goth rock mixed with rockabilly and grit rock… and glam rock.”
“Most of those we have in the mix, but I think we kinda got rid of the goth thing.”
So that’s what you and Jesperi were trying to do at first. – I say to Spike.
“Yeah, we were at his home doing demos with a garage band. Shitty demos” – he adds as he takes another sip of his beer.
“And telling everyone in bars that you have the greatest rock and roll band.” – the bass player laughs.
“Yeah… and we did nothing, basically.”
“I was basically out of a band and really bummed out about it so I went to the guys and was like: “do you actually wanna do this now..? You’ve been talking about it for a while.”
“Then we had rehearsals like four times a week, six hours a day.”
“We recorded some shitty demos to send to these guys” – Matheus points at the singer and the drummer – “and it’s kind of a miracle that they even showed up, if you listen to those demos!”
“They were… something else. They were not this band. Thankfully.” – Leo laughs.
“A lot of them did end up being the songs that we play right now.”
Luck and Leo are trying to figure out which demo was the one that made the singer eventually decide to join the Switchblades – as they mention the band name, i get curious:
Speaking of which, whose idea was the name Switchblades? How did you come up with it?
The guys exchange a look and laugh.
“It was… a journey.”
“We had to negotiate a lot about it because we couldn’t find anything.”
“The original name was Spank” – Spike says.
Matheus turns to him:
“I think Spank would have been a fun name but some other band in Helsinki already named themselves Spank so… I wasn’t really agreeable to that.”
“I think the hardest part in forming any band is deciding on the name.” – Kalle adds.
“Jesperi came up with the name Switchblades.” – the guitarist recalls.
“I remember us having a longass list of really, really shitty names.”
“And it was the least serious, to be honest. It was sort of okay: Switchblades, let’s go with this. But now…”
“We’ve grown into it.”
“Yeah, definitely.”
“And it looks good on a shirt” – Luck points at Kalle’s band merch as the drummer shows me the tshirt with the logo depicting a knife and a pink name “the Switchblades”.
What was the worst band name idea on that whole list?
“There were… really bad ones.”
“Well, there was actually one name that we were deciding on, it was… Shockfuck” – Leo tells me.
“Oh” – Matheus turns to the singer – “you wanted to name the band Pretty Little Bitch or something like that, which was just… absolutely horrifying!” – he laughs.
“And Bathtubs.” – Leo recalls.
“Bathtubs was also pretty bad.”
“That would have been cool!” – Spike raises his heavily black-lined eyes.
“No, that would have made for an interesting promo shoot in my opinion.”
“But, like they said, name is what you ask at a record store so… that’s what it is” – Kalle concludes.
[The Switchblades] is a really good name honestly. It’s that one that you see and you remember. And the logo is cool too.
“I think it’s fun that we can use the knife imagery.”
“That’s like in my opinion the most important thing: as long as it’s memorable.” – says Spike.
“And even this aesthetic we got it’s like pink and curved, like 50s rockabilly style.”
“Well, it could also fit as punk.”
“Yeah! So it’s kinda both. It’s our style, I think.” – Leo sums up.
I turn to Spike:
I’ve already heard the stories of Leo, Kalle and Matheus starting to play and sing. What is your story? When did you start playing guitar?
“I was seven years old when my parents bought me an acoustic guitar. And then I started taking lessons” – he pauses. – “That’s my story basically. I’ve been playing guitar for I don’t know how many years… i think since 2009. A couple of years. And before that I was playing with a toy guitar in front of a mirror and trying to be a rockstar.” – he smiles.
“Backyard rockstar!” – Matheus laughs.
“Yeah!” – Spike really has something about himself that makes you feel you’re dealing with a true rockstar. I’m thinking of that Switchblades gig video I saw of him hopping off the stage and playing the guitar among the fans going crazy.
So you knew straight away that you wanted to play.
The guitarist looks out the window as his thoughts seem to wander away.
“Yeah. I mean, since I was a kid. First rock and roll band that I liked was Kiss. I was 3 years old… after that i found Iron Maiden and Ozzy Osbourne and stuff like that.”
“So you have a tragic past.” – Matheus laughs.
“…then I found Stray Cats and… everything changed.”
Kalle’s sharp gaze makes me have a hard time figuring out whether he’s joking or being absolutely serious as he states:
“I think that 3 years old is like… a suitable age to move on from Kiss.”
I nearly spit my coffee out laughing.
Ouch, i won’t tell that to Kiss fans.
[I actually just did as I suspect there’s a few of them reading this interview… and over 3 years old.]
Anyway.
A while ago you were playing with Lovers Left Alive… No, wait a second. You were supposed to, but in the end you didn’t.
“Yeah, that gig didn’t end up happening but I would imagine us end up playing with them at some point.”
You present sort of a similar style so I could see that. But do you guys have any dream collaboration? If you were to pick just one artist, one band that you’d want to record something or play live with?
“Do they have to be alive?”
I… suppose that would make playing easier.
“I don’t think recording, doing features, works in rock music… Two bands making one song…?” – the singer starts.
“Some people do it. I mean, Mike Monroe, he sticks himself pretty much anywhere he can.” – Matheus takes a sip of his beer and I notice a Michael Monroe shirt he’s wearing.
“But he’s a solo artist.”
“He does have a band though.”
“Maybe it would be interesting to work with a saxophone player, or a horn section.” – Spike says.
“I guess that could happen…”
“Or an orchestra.”
“For some of our rockabilly songs that we work on” – Leo adds as Kalle wonders:
“It’s not like any band comes to my mind, to record with… But to play live with – a bunch of bands, anyone who would have us basically.”
“Anyone whose standards are low enough.” – Matheus jokes.
Are there any bands though that inspire you when you’re on the stage? I don’t mean just the music, but general performance style?
“Paul Stanley” – Spike blurts out.
“Well, fuck you.” – Matheus rolls his eyes as everyone laughs.
“Rane Raitsikka from Smack.” – Spike adds.
I was about to ask you if Smack is one of your inspirations.
“Yeah. He really is a big inspiration.”
“I just basically like bands that don’t really plan anything for the stage, just go there and… be cool.”
“I think movement is kinda important.” – Kalle starts slowly. – “It would be boring as hell if we were just a bunch of guys looking at the floor and not doing anything. It’s also a performance so you kinda… give the people something.”
“Give the people what they want!” – Matheus quotes the Kinks.
Is there any particular message behind your style, behind your music?
“It’s… we were born to rock!” – Spike says, being the kind of guy who’ll really use any opportunity to bring up rock and roll.
“We’ve sort of been using it as a slogan, “simple music for simple people” – the bass player laughs.
“The message is the music. Having fun.” – Spike concludes.
“Plus, our music is not too serious. Would be tough to look for a deeper meaning. I think it’s just fun, rock and roll.”
Having fun is enough, especially in this type of music. – i smile. – But do you all play just for fun, or maybe have some further plans for the band…?
“Ah, no, we do attempt to get as far as we can with the band, of course that’s our goal. “
Can you see yourselves playing outside of Helsinki, outside of Finland? Maybe Stockholm, they have a strong rock music scene as well?
“That would be lovely…”
“That would definitely be good.”
“All over the world.” – the guitarist perks up and I could actually imagine this guy rocking the world’s stadiums.
“Yeah. I would love to play everywhere but it’s more of a money quest than anything. There’s not a lot of venues that are willing to fly a band in from another country, so you really have to put your own time into it.”
Well, fingers crossed. In a few years maybe.
“Yeah, hopefully.”
I’m sorry but… how do you backcomb this hair? – I point at the artistic mess that Spike’s hair is. – I spent many hours in front of the mirror and I’m always getting a flat hair result.
“Well I’ve done this for over 10 years so it is like…”
“…stuck that way.” – Matheus finishes, laughing.
“It’s a 5-minute thing.”
“He has a good wig.” – Kalle adds.
“Wig Manager.”
Is that a wig? – I picked up on the idea, as I’m getting more and more curious.
Spike touches his forehead.
“Yeah. It’s a wig.” – he drops the topic as the other band members (and now me too) are left with their doubts regarding the hair.
“It’s a five-minute-thing to do today, but… I use a lot of hairspray.”
Oh, I can see that.
“He’s a real flammable guy.” – Matheus says and I can clearly tell he has not yet gotten rid of the intrusive thought of setting Spike’s hair on fire. – “I tried to do that for a while and for a few months I had the big hair thing going on and then I got tired of doing it so I just put on a hat.”
“I also tried that when I was younger, it was so hard.” – the singer adds.
“I mean… short hair fits you better. I’ve seen some of the photos of when you had long hair and you looked like an Iron Maiden reject.”
The Iron Maiden Reject bursts out in laughter.
So for which one of you does it take the most time to prepare for a gig? Let’s say, with the hair, the makeup, clothes?
“I think probably Jesperi puts in the most effort, because he does like a lot of makeup and stares at himself in the mirror for a long time.”
Gosh, I can relate to this dude so damn well, I smile to my thoughts.
“I just change my clothes and then just warm up my voice and that’s it.” – Leo adds.
“I have the same style, same makeup and the same hair every day.”
“Yeah, same pretty much. I don’t really do anything different for gigs.”
“It takes about half an hour.”
“He just puts on sunglasses and chooses which suspenders to put on” – Luck comments on Spike.
“Yeah, it doesn’t take that long.”
And if you were to describe each other in just a few words? Each of you brings a whole different energy to the band. And in every friends group there’s always that one person who keeps track of things, always that one who reads the messages in the groupchat but will never really reply anything or… the one who gets into random trouble for absolutely no reason.
“Jesperi and Spike are probably like the morons of the group” – Matheus laughs. – “In the sense that if someone does something stupid it’s probably one of these two.”
“I think Matheus is the brains behind the operation.”
“Leo is probably the most talented guy of the band.” – says Spike, as the bass player agrees:
“Oh yeah, he probably plays both of our instruments better than we do.”
“Yeah. He’s a multiinstrumentalist.” – Spike nods.
Kalle points at each of the guys one by one:
“So it’s like: [Spike] the goofball, [Matheus] the brains guy, [Leo] the talented one and I’m the…”
“You’re the dad.”
The rockers’ loud laughter fills the bar and drowns out Winger’s “Miles away” playing in the background.
“I’m the one with the car!” – Kalle laughs.
How about Jesperi?
“He’s a troublemaker. Fucking annoying.” – Spike roasts his guitar twin. I smile as I can tell they’d be the first ones to actually walk through the fire for one another.
“I mean he is definitely a really, really good marketing gig” – Matheus laughs – “because he is very loud and noticeable. You can’t really miss him. And he just says a lot of weird shit so… I think he brings in a lot of people.”
“There’s no quiet moment with Jesperi.”
That’s what I was told earlier, so I can imagine. I kind of regret that he couldn’t join it – I chuckle.
“But in our last interview he was in charge of communicating with the interviewer…” – Matheus continues. – “And when they asked for pictures he sent like five of himself and one of everyone else.”
Leo looks at him confused.
“Did he really?”
“Yeah.”
“No way.”
“That’s why there’s a fucking mirror selfie of him in the magazine.”
“He was in charge of that, those pictures? What the fuck… I thought that you were!” – the singer can’t hold back the laughter.
“No! Why would I…”
“You’re the most stable person in this fucking band!”
“We’ll see how much our previous interview sells… we’ll find out then if it was a mistake or not.” – with a poker face Kalle once again pragmatically sums up.
“Yeah. It’s just business.” – Leo laughs.
I’ll need to look up that picture in the magazine! And how are you all feeling about the release of “Keep running”? Are you nervous about the feedback from your listeners? After all, it’s the first single!
“Not really.” – the guys say almost simultaneously.
“I think they are two really good songs and I don’t really care if someone else likes it. I do music for me. If I like it, then I like it and that’s the most important thing. If someone else likes it, it’s a bonus” – Spike concludes.
At this point I put my notebook away – I don’t need to take a look at the plain questions I had written. The conversation flows effortlessly and unrolls by itself. I’m feeling less like an interviewer and more of an observer, a witness of this band allowing me to catch a glimpse of their special energy. Unlike what I was suspecting, they don’t play anyone and wouldn’t even care about whatever others might think of them. They know who they are, and that’s enough.
“I would really like it if other people also liked it” – Matheus comments. – “it would kind of help us playing in the future. I like the songs, I think they’re gonna do well at least in the circles we hang out at, and if we can get the songs pushed somewhere further… Hope for the best!”
“They are good rock songs. People are gonna take that, I’m sure.” – Kalle actually really lights up for the first time since I met him.
“Keep running” is a sing-along song.” – the bass player adds. – “Even if you don’t like it, the fucking chorus gets stuck in your head.”
And everyone sings different lyrics – I can’t hold back a smile. – That will be so fun to hear it live.
“We need to encourage it more.”
And what are your plans for the next year, as a band? Are you thinking of releasing something more?
“We’ll probably just market these two songs for a bit and then maybe at the end of the year studio… But our most pressing thing is just to get somewhere else than Helsinki. “
“Do a lot of gigging. That’s like the most important thing: to get out there.”
“A lot of bands seem to get stuck in Helsinki and then they only play in Helsinki and they’re really disappointed when they go somewhere else and there’s no one listening. So you gotta get to the other cities early on.”
I guess. You can start building the fanbase right now.
“I think the best way to build the name is to play live.” – Kalle states, and, as each time, it’s hard to argue with it.
Matheus sums up:
“It’s the whole grapevine thingy… like if someone has seen a great gig, they can tell a friend… and then they can also come and see a great gig!”
I asked if there’s anything the band members would like to mention that I might have missed in my questions.
“No, just for all those who might read or look into this interview… listen to the songs, we’ll see ya at the show and… rock and roll!” – Kalle smiles.
“Buy our merch.” – Spike adds – “Give me moneyyy!”.
Everyone bursts out in laughter as we get up of the table and ham up the “Keep running” song with the “give me money” wrong version of the lyrics.
We’re finishing the interview and I’m struggling to get over their sharp sense of humor, unconditional faith in the band but also the enviable indifference towards potential judgement. The Switchblades are the exact band you’d want to hang out with, being completely sure the time would be full of laughter and adventures. I’m watching these guys and it hits me how truly they express rock and roll, even though they’re not on the stage. They carry the spirit and passion for music in its most genuine form. I look at this group – Luck, Leo, Kalle, Spike, and absent at the bar but definitely present in our conversation Jesperi – and I smile to my thoughts, glad that I got to experience this talk.
After an hour we’re leaving the bar, and I feel that something has changed. They’re no longer just another random group which I simply find intriguing. They’re a band with a true rock and roll soul and a common dream, a clear goal leaning on the foundation of their strong friendship. Musicians who know well who they are and were meant to find each other to create something big together.
As I pack my notebook with previously prepared questions that I naively thought I would need to use, I look at the band leaving the bar and I smile – they may not yet fully realize it, but they are going to get far. The Switchblades with both their attitude and the passion for music bring into the world of rock something so pure, so authentic… exactly the spark of aliveness that people subconsciously crave for in music – especially nowadays, as we’re drowning in an ocean of rotten AI songs with no human emotion in it, in the world where rock and roll spirit is fading away in the well of time.
