Negative - Interview mit Larry Love, 11.09. 2005, Bochum - Zeche
About deathly threats, alcoholconsumption and ambitious future plans
Where as they´ve already been superstars for some years in Finland, Negative now start, as well as their collegues of HIM, The Rasmus and Nightwish, entering the German charts. In September they did their first headliner tour in Germany. We asked guitarplayer Larry Love some questions and got some interessting and amusing answers.
V.U: Ready to start ?
LARRY: Yeah, let´s go !
VU: Ok, so it´s your first tour in Germany. How did you like it so far and what are your impressions until now ?
LARRY: Eerrr...I like it very much you know, it´s been fuckin great I have to say. Nothing negative to say about this one. Great audiences, great time with the guys, you know, just partying..having fun. We just had a...you know....really great night out in Hamburg, in Reeperbahn (laughs).
VU: (laughs) Yeah, of course. Do the German fans differ a lot from the Finnish ones ?
LARRY: Are they different ? Ummm....ummmm......
VU: For example are they more enthusiastic or....
LARRY: Maybe a little bit, yeah, maybe. It´s so hard to say ´cos this is the first time so...but hmmm.....my impression is that they are more...um..how should i say (silence)......crazy (laughs).
VU: Are the Finnish ones younger than the fans here ?
LARRY: Yeah, maybe a little bit, yeah. Maybe few years, yeah. That has always been like that when you´re going abroad the fans are always a little bit older.For example in Japan, everybody´s over 18.
VU: Do you consider it positive or negative that most of your fans are female ?
LARRY: (in a deep voice) Positive of course (laughs). I´d rather watch beautiful women than, you know....fat ugly men.
VU: So what is the craziest thing a fan has ever done for you?
LARRY: Umm...maybe some letters that "I will kill you if you won´t leave your girlfriend !" or something.
VU: Oh, nice.
LARRY: (laughs).
VU: Your success in Germany came quite fast. How can you handle it ? Would you say you´ve stayed down to earth ? Have some guys changed?
LARRY: No, no, nothing like that. I think we´re not that successful like we should be. The plan is to be successful all over Europe and after that in the United States. So when you´re so hungry all the time, you know, you want more and more and more. So if you stop and start to think something like "Oh, now we´re so successful" and stuff, that´s when you start to lose your mind. You have to always look to the future.
VU: Another question about success: can you make a living out of your music or do you have any other jobs ?
LARRY: No,no, we don´t do anything else.
VU: It´s not that bad then.
LARRY: Yeah, it´s cool.
VU: Bochum Total and M´era Luna were the first festivals you played in Germany. What was it like ?
LARRY: Eh, of course Bochum was very great as I told you earlier (...actually he didn´t ; ) must have been another interview... ). M´era Luna was also great but different ´cos it was more like..more gothic scene in there and people were just wondering "Who the fuck are those guys?" But in the end of the set I think we did pretty well.
VU: There is a big hype about "Finnish Rockbands" in Germany. How do you like it to be compared to bands like HIM or The Rasmus, 69 Eyes ?
LARRY: It´s fine... I like HIM, it´s a great band. Rasmus is also... they have a few good songs, but they are more poppy.....(silence).........to me......too poppy. I´d say, you know, of course people are always comparing and it´s just a natural way for people to behave and there could be worse examples to compare us with. I think our main influences come from the 80´s as well as HIM´s and Rasmus´. You know, all the three of us bands like bands like Led Zeppelin, Ramones and stuff like that. Aerosmith...Guns´n´Roses, Bon Jovi (laughs) and all the 80´s stuff.
VU: Your outfits are quite extraordinary. Do you also wear them in private ? Or does the management demand a certain image ? And how do you like it that you are kind of "trendsetters" in fashion to the girls who dress the same way?
LARRY: Umm...it´s nothing, you know, what record companies have told us. We´ve been like this for several years now, even before we got signed so there has never been anything like "You should wear this" or "You should play that song". We´ve always done everything like we wanted, you know. For girls wearing the same things: it´s just cool, you know. If somebody likes your band so much it´s really a big honour.
VU: We heard several times that you´ve been compared to Slash. Was it your intention and do you like the comparison ?
LARRY: Umm...Slash is one of my biggest idols but maybe more from my teenage years. I also like very much the style of Chuck Barry, and Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin and Marc Bolan. So Slash is just one of them. But maybe he is just the most famous one.
VU: "War of love" is only available in Finland until now , so do you.....
LARRY: Only in Finland ? No, it´s also released in Russia, Scandinavia and Japan, and in Italy also.
VU: OK, we didn´t know that. But do you plan to release it in Germany, too ?
LARRY: I don´t really know. Next one is going to be our third album, that´s for sure. But maybe at some point, of course, if the band gets successful enough, you know, yeah...of course they are going to release it.
VU: Why did you shoot a second video for "the moment of our love" ? Whose decision was it and why did you do it?
LARRY: It was because of the German label guys, they just wanted a new video because the first one was an old one, it was a few years old, so.....Yeah, they just wanted to update that song. It would have been a stupid thing to put that old video out and then release another single and the guys would look totally different.
VU: How did it happen that you worked together with Ville Laihiala on the song "Until you`re mine" ? Sentenced are Metal, you are Rock´n´Roll, so this combination is a bit extraordinary...
LARRY: It was a few years ago at one summer festival in Finland.... Err, we had this crazy party with Ville and the guys from Sentenced. And, you know, we just had such a crazy time and then a couple of months after that we were rehearsing the songs for the second album and we had this song. But it didn´t have the title yet "until you´re mine" so we just called that song "Sentenced song" cos it has the same kind of melodies and stuff and it´s heavier than the other songs. And then I just made a joke, it was like a joke, you know, "Let´s call Ville and ask him, it would be cool to sing a duet with Jonne". And then the next day Jonne came to the rehearsal and just said to me " I called Ville and he will listen to the song". And then he said yes! So it was just a crazy idea.
VU: Good one!
LARRY: Yeah, yeah. I think so.
VU: Finns are famous for drinking a bit too much from time to time. What about you ? Are you desperately longing for killing your booze catering and get pissed immediately after the shows or do you just have few beers to relax ? Who is the strongest drinker in the band ?
LARRY: Umm.....yeah, I´m always having a couple of beers, you know, after the shows. But yeah...we are drinking... a lot, you know.....all the time. And the thirstiest guy is Christus. Especially in the early days we have learned everything through the hard way, you know. ´Cos drinking before the shows it´s like art... artform or something. It´s hard to drink....just... you know, it depends on the person. But, you know, to me it´s like I can drink about four beers before the show and that´s great. But if I have like 8 hours waiting before the show, it´s easy to end up drinking all day and that also would be a disaster. We are more professional nowadays with that thing but...yeah, we are drinking heavily i have to say (laughs).
VU: What are your plans for the future ?
LARRY: Drink more....
VU: (laughs) Good!
LARRY: (laughs)...and play some Rock´n´Roll.
VU: I think that´s a good ending. Any message for the fans left ?.... Drink more (laughs)?
LARRY: Yeah!! Drink more and listen to....Negative!
VU: Alright. Thank you. (laughs)
LARRY: (laughs)
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