Today we speak to Finnish rock band Flush about their love of creating rock anthems and the joys of performing live.
Band Name: Flush
Members: Lasse (vocals, guitars), Janne (guitars, vocals), Eero (bass) and Börje (drums)
Genre: Rock (alternative rock/punk rock/hard rock/metal)
Founded: Late 90s
Originated From: Helsinki, Finland
Discography: New Beginnings (EP, 2019), Shine (single, 2020), Dark (single, 2020), Two-Minute Punk Song (single, 2020), It Began as a Mistake (album, 2020), Entertainment (single, 2021), Conspiracies, Threats and Chaos (EP, 2021)
How would you describe your music?
Musically we are a blend of punk rock, alternative rock, hard rock, and a bit of metal. It’s easier to just describe it as rock music with a dark twist of Nordic melancholy.
What is your musical creative process like?
Lasse writes pretty much all the music and as a band we then hash the songs out into their final form. Lasso’s songs come from all kinds of places, and they don’t have a consistent process for writing, at least yet.
Some songs begin with a lyric idea or storyline, while others begin with a guitar riff, chord progression or melody. Some songs come together very quickly, while others take months or years and go through several transformations.
How did the band form?
Börje and Lasse met when they were five or six years old, playing in our backyards. In our teens, after being excited about all kinds of rock music, we then decided to start learning how to play music.
We had a few band iterations before Flush, and we knew Janne from one of those earlier bands.
After years of turbulent “bass player solutions”, Eero joined us in 2018 and that is when the band really came together to its current setup, sound and way of being.
How did you come up with your band name?
Again, it’s very long ago. We liked the name because it was short, easy and could mean a few different things. There is no bigger story behind it, really.
Who influenced you within the music industry?
We don’t think the band would exist, or at least not sound anything like it does, without Bad Religion. In the early days we basically wanted to write songs like Bad Religion.
We were also massively into Pavement, and it helped to get over the concerns of not being very good players and singers.
During the years we’ve been inspired by tons of bands and artists, but those two were the ones to kick everything off.
Have you performed live much and what was your favourite gig to play at?
We are essentially in this for the live experience. It’s the reason we keep going. We’ve played a bunch of shows locally and further away too, some to very small audiences and some to larger crowds.
Obviously, the pandemic has basically put live music on hold for roughly a year and a half, and we had our first show in a really long time last week.
It was not a massive success audience wise, and it was a cold and rainy outside gig, but we had a good time and just enjoyed playing live again.
So right now, we feel like that was our favourite gig, just because there was such a long break in between.
What is the best thing about being in a band?
Gigs, definitely. And the comradery aspect of the whole live show experience.
Lasse also enjoys the creative process and would do it without a band too, but everything is better with the band.
What’s the biggest problem you’ve had to overcome so far as a musician(s)?
These last two years have been hard. No shows, which means we basically don’t get to fulfil the purpose of our band. But we’re still together and quite active.
We have recorded new material and are busy promoting it, doing videos and stuff.
All of us probably also deal with the effort/gain question of a small, independent band. Is this still worth it, will things get better and what really drives us forward?
But we’re excited about our new material and are hopeful that the live music scene will start opening latest in 2022.
What plans have you got coming up this year?
We just released the first single of our upcoming EP. The single is called Entertainment and is a party rock anthem celebrating live music.
The EP is called Conspiracies, Threats and Chaos and includes four songs, ranging from party and punk rock to heavier and groovier metal tones.
We’re also busy creating videos for the singles and trying to dominate our social media channels.
What is your ultimate dream as a band?
As a band, we want people to experience our songs and find something meaningful in them. It could be comfort, joy, clarity, or something else – as long as it is something.
Also, right now, we just want to get back on the stage and play for and with people. We’re also keen to go to places we have not been before and are planning shows in Central Europe and Scandinavia.
You can find out more about Flush by following them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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