On day two of the Music Interview Marathon, we speak to the band Segmentia who aims to get pop metal into the mainstream music scene.
Band Name: Segmentia
Members: Kansana (vocals), Jere Luokkamäki (drums) & Matti Siekkinen (bass, backing vocals)
Genre: Pop Metal
Founded: 2012
Originated From: Seinäjoki, Finland
Discography: Shanghai (EP, 2019). Shanghai LIVE (EP, 2021), Forget Me (Single, 2022), Alone (Single, 2022), Save Me (Single, 2022) & Alone (EP, 2023)
How would you describe your music?
We call our music pop metal because we mix melodic metal with song structures and melodies that are strongly influenced by pop music. We also have an increasing amount of electronic and symphonic elements in our music. Our music tends to be a bit melancholic, yet hopeful!
One should also not forget our singer Kansana, who has her own unique tone adding the cherry on top of the pop-metal cake!
We have just released our second EP Alone, which sums up the style of Segmentia perfectly. It’s a great overlook of what we are about musically!
What is your musical creative process like?
Our drummer and band leader Jere does most of the songwriting, though Matti has also started to bring some song ideas to the table. Typically whoever comes up with an idea for a song will write the structure, main themes or melodies and their own parts before other members get involved.
Jere usually has lyrics already written too before he sends the demo version of the song to the rest of the band. Matti however may come up with only lyrics, so we also have a few stories ready waiting for the right song to put them in.
From there, each band member will share their thoughts on the main idea of the song and write their own parts (like vocal or bass lines). Luckily we have the competence and the gear for recording and mixing the songs, so we can produce some high-quality demos of the songs on our own.
The next step is playing the songs as much as we can as a band while working on the details of the song. The final stress test however is playing the songs live, because that’s the ultimate test for us if the song actually works or not!
How did the band form?
Segmentia started as a cover band around 2012 and we played all kinds of music, for example, Finnish pop music but also music from Paramore, Nirvana, Avenged Sevenfold and Porcupine Tree… just to mention a few.
Jere had just ended things with his old band, Celesty, and at some point, he thought that now is the time to start making some original music again. This time the vision was to compose music with a female vocalist.
There have been some line-up changes over the years and it took a lot of time before things started seriously moving forward with the band, but that’s the long and slow origin story summed up.
How did you come up with your band name?
At first, we named our band as “Seventh Segment”, but just before our first EP release we started thinking that the band’s name should actually be only a one word and Jere came up with the name Segmentia. Seventh Segment is quite a mouthful to pronounce, at least for a Finnish person, so we are glad to be called Segmentia these days.
Who influenced you within the music industry?
There are quite a few people actually and each band member probably has their own ever-growing list! However, it’s impossible to answer this question without tipping the hat to our very own Finnish metal pioneers, such as Timo Tolkki, Tuomas Holopainen, Alexi Laiho, Ville Valo and bands like Amorphis and Sentenced to name a few. Fellows like Devin Townsend and Peter Tägtgren have been influential to us, though we are not too sure if and how these influences may be heard in our music. Maybe the influences can be heard, maybe not, but these are some influential figures that we respect a lot!
Have you performed live much and what was your favourite gig to play at?
Not as much as we would like, to be honest, but obviously the main reason for that has been the pandemic and its aftermath. We have been able to book a decent amount of shows regardless and one could say that the quality has overcome the quantity!
So far our best shows have been the latest two we have played! We have been working very hard for the past year to get things seriously moving with the band and now we are starting to see more and more people attending our shows and they seem to start “getting” what we are all about.
In Finland, sub-genres like melodic death metal, thrash metal and power metal alongside genres like metalcore and deathcore seem to be the most popular sub-genres.
The term “pop metal” seems to be a bit of a bogeyman to many, but now it’s starting to look like people are willing to give it a fair chance so to say.
What is the best thing about being in a band?
Playing live, for sure! All of us in the band just love the whole process of getting to the venue, setting everything up, hanging around joking, meeting people and finally playing the show. Though there’s of course a lot of stress involved too with gigging.
Also, just the connection and the chemistry that we three have together is something very special! We are best friends together and most likely the best thing about being in this band, in particular, is that it’s us three doing this together!
What’s the biggest problem you’ve had to overcome so far as a musician(s)?
Well, if we’ll refrain from mentioning the pandemic, it’s the reality of the music business and how difficult it is for a smaller band to try to build a career out of this. It’s like you get the s**t kicked out of you if not daily, then on a weekly basis. And as far as we can see, the only way to survive is that you need to be made for this purpose. You have to love music with every fibre of your being and be willing to sacrifice almost everything else to do this and then you may overcome this hurdle.
It’s also paramount to surround yourself with people who share your passion and work ethic. It would be damn near impossible to do this alone so you better choose your band members (and significant others) wisely! That’s at least the advice we would give to any youngsters wanting to start a band and build a music career!
What plans have you got coming up this year?
We will lock ourselves in our workspace and start writing/doing the pre-production for our first full-length album! We have a good amount of material already written too! We have some touring plans for the second half of 2023, but we can’t really share too many details about that at this point!
What is your ultimate dream as a band?
We want to become a professional, internationally touring band! We want to also be known as the band that brought pop metal to mainstream popularity.
You can find out more about Segmentia by visiting their website.
If you’re in a band or a musician and would like to appear on this blog, please contact me and I’ll forward you an interview template.
Also, check out my other Music Interview roundups from 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 & 2022.
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