Finland's gothic rock act Silene have been working upon some new music with future plans ready to go! Nauku and Katinka talk about those new tunes and plans they have in-store!
1. Let’s start by getting our readers up to date on what’s the latest happening with Silene?
Nauku: Silene is currently getting ready to release their new single "Unseen Memories" and we are really exited about it. We are also hoping to have a record release party later this spring to celebrate the event with our fans and friends. We are also actively writing new songs and shooting a video, so we're having quite interesting times at the moment.
2. Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
Nauku: Silene was formed in 2004 by five eager musicians who all had a long history in Finnish music scene but were not actively involved with any band so it was a good time to group together and start playing again, just for the fun. We started as a Siouxsie and the Banshees cover band, which was the music we loved, but soon we realized that we have much more to offer to the gothic scene than just covering others' music and started to make our own songs. This is how the Silene journey began and here we still are, alive and kicking after ten years. The nice thing with the band was that all of the members were able songwriters and as it happened, our first EP "107 Raven Road" contained five songs, each composed by one of the band members.
Two of the founding members Pawel (drums) and Heky (bass) have already lef the band and the current line-up is Katinka - vocals, Nauku - keyboards, Toby - guitar, Antti - bass and Otto - drums. Nauku and Toby have also played with a Finnish gothic band Two Witches, Toby has played with several early Finnish punk bands, Antti in a gothic band Suruaika, and Katinka has been performing since childhood with a Finnish gypsy band called Romales.
3. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?
Nauku: Silene comes from Tampere, Finland, which is often referred to as "the capital of Finnish gothic scene" as we have a lot of bands for the scene as well as Finland's largest yearly gothic event, Lumous festival (www.lumous.net). Tampere has always been very active in introducing new bands and events and the scene is still rather active today. The hardest thing for us in Finland is to find venues to play at, especially for bands playing marginal music like gothic. Hence, you don't see too many gig dates in our calendar, but luckily we can meet our friends and fans also in gothic clubs organized by other active scene members. Gothic scene in Finland is relatively small but it also makes it more like a one big family. People know each other (at least by face) and travel from cities to cities to see the gigs and visit the clubs; quite a fantastic thing, really. In Finland we have also other gothic influenced bands like Two Witches, Wreckdance, The Flatfield, Murnau's Playhouse and Masquerade, to mention a few.
4. How did you guys come up with your band name?
Nauku: The name "Silene" was found from an old gardening book and since Nauku has some plants from the Sinene genus in her summer cottage (yes, Nauku loves gardening :), it was a perfect fit for the band. We wanted the band name to be something that symbolizes how we perceive the world and life, to be modest but tough, beautiful yet nothing pompous.
5. How would you describe your style? Which bands influenced your music?
Nauku: Our music style could probably be best described as traditional gothic rock, but with influences also from other genres, like punk and pop. We are not too strict with the style as we also love other music genres but we still want to keep our music close to its origins, 80's gothic rock, and make music with real musicians, not with machines.
We'd like to keep our music uninfluenced by others but of course one of the biggest influences for our sound in general is be The Mission (UK), a band who shares the same passion and attitude towards music than we do, and who makes fantastic songs. Other importand bands for us are, for example, Love Like Blood, The Fields of the Nephilim, Siouxsie and the Banshees... For Katinka, the biggest influence is of course her dad, the songwriter of Romales.
6. What lyrical theme do you guys use in your music? What message do you want to send?
Katinka: There's no message. The lyrics just come, from the mood you are in at the moment, from the past, from the future, from the heart and brain. From hopes and disappointments. The music is the source for the lyrics, that sets the mood, always.
7. You will be releasing a two-song single with "Unseen Memories" and "For You" now this two single isn't the same as the two song EP release you're working upon is it?
Nauku: Yes, it is. The songs were obviously made already last year but the recordings happened only this year. Us Finns don't rush into things, you see :).8. Where are you in the recording process of the new music, in regards to the two song EP and recording of the new songs reported back in December 2013.
Nauku: The new two-song single is soon to be released but we are already making new songs for the new EP/album. We are quite productive but at the same time we easily "bin" some of the new songs when other new ideas come so the pace of releasing can be rather slow.
9. Will this new music be coming in terms of a follow-up full-length release to 2012's "All Our Yesterdays"?
Nauku: "All Our Yesterdays" is a nice cross-section of our musical path so far as it contains quite a versatile mix of our songs, from the re-makes of some of our all time favorite songs to the new material ranging from acoustic ballads to rock. Just the way we like it and just the way the new single is made of. We think that we have a distinct "Silene-sound" and a way of performing, so all of our releases follow the good, familiar pattern. You know what you get when you buy our music.
10. Who is producing the new music? How has the producer aided the recording process?
Nauku: We don't use producers - we are probably too stubborn for that - but of course the recording/mixing guy, Jarkko Heinonen, has helped us with balancing the music and instruments during the recording process. So, the music is practically produced by us, and helped by whoever is behind the mixing desk.
11. Where are you recording the new music?
Nauku: Studio prices in Finland are quite expensive so we had to keep it simple. The new songs have been recorded at our rehearsal studio and at our recording/mixing guy's home studio. And with the the new technology you can get the same results, or even better, than in a commercial recording studio, apart from those "million dollar" studios, of course. And the truth is that as a small band you'll never get your money back from the sales no matter how much you'd try to save the costs,but that's not even the purpose; we don't do this for the money of fame, we simply want to share our music to people and let them enjoy it, too.
12. What label will be releasing the new music?
Nauku: The single will be released through Secret Entertainment, a label which has really taken us under its wings and helps us to distribute the music world-wide.
13. How would you describe the overall sound of the new music? How does it compare to your previous works?
Nauku: The new single represents well our overall style, "Unseen Memories" being more catchy and rocking song while "For You" is more melodic and ballad-like. This is how our releases have always been because we have different composers with different styles and tastes.
14. When can we expect the new music to be released?
Nauku: The two-song single "Unseen Memories" will be released May 2nd 2014.
15. You shot a video for one of the two songs on that single for "Unseen Memories" were the settings for that video real like the subway and that graffiti room?
Nauku: Yes, the scenes in the video has been shot, for example, during our visits abroad, like Berlin subway/S-bahn or streets of Poland & Germany, but also at the back stage of a local venue in our home town 'Vastavirta club' (the graffiti room), our rehearsal studio, gigs and in different places in Tampere. A nice mix-and-match of places to be :). We especially love the winter scenes of Tampere; winter time can be extremely beautiful even though darn harsh and cold, too, as you can probably see in the video..
16. What should labels/zines/promoters know about your band? Why should they be interested in it?Nauku: We like to think that Silene is doing its best to keep the gothic scene alive and we really hope that also labels/zines/promoters would do the same. Even though gothic rock is a marginal genre we would not want it to be lost and forgotten. Thus, letting people know about us and booking us to shows would really help in boosting the scene. Still, Silene is not just a "band for goths" but hopefully a band for everyone who likes good music and knows how to have a good time. That is really the purpose of the band; have a good time with our fans and friends all over the world.
17. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
Nauku: Our two first EPs, "107 Raven Road" and "In The Middle" are only available through us, visit our home page www.silene.in/releases and you'll see the ordering information. The album "All Our Yesterdays" and the new single "Unseen Memories" can of course also be bought from us but also from, for example, Inverse music store (www.inverse.fi) who delivers internationally. Or you can also ask your local distributors or check other web shops like CDON.COM, CMDistro.com or Amazon.co.uk.
We have some shots from the live gigs and the video for "Unseen memories" in YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/s1ln
For music tracks, visit: http://silene.bandcamp.com - or
MySpace for older songs: https://myspace.com/sileneband
News can also be followed in the Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Sileneband
We also have t-shirts but unfortunately they are not officially available anywhere yet. However, we are hoping to open a web shop in the near future from where you can then order all the stuff, so keep on visiting our home page www.silene.in and Facebook page for more information.
18. What else do you guys have planned for this year and planned for playing shows and touring?
Nauku: We are hoping to get some more gigs for this year and of course we keep on making new good music. A new EP/album will hopefully be released next year. We are also going to make a video for our song "Fear" (recorded exclusively for a Finnish gothic compilation yet to be released) and the shooting should start in May. It will be placed in YouTube so follow up our YouTube channel s1ln and other Silene's social media pages. Thank you Natalie for this great opportunity to talk about our band!
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