I haven’t written an interview in about four years, however, I decided it was time to start performing other duties for SicZine aside from my reviews. I’m always coming across amazing bands, whether it’s through past shows I’ve put on or more than likely through this zine. Aside from praising their releases, I felt more exposure through interviews was a great way to help get their band some more attention.

So my first interview here at SicZine is with an amazing Finnish hardcore band named Deathbed. I was introduced to this band through Finnish hardcore record label, Brown Records. The fine folks over at Brown, sent me a package of their releases to review for SicZine. Among this package was Deathbed’s debut full-length, ‘Veritas’. As you should have read in my review already…I loved the CD and decided they were the best option for my first interview.

Through my own zine I shortly did while living in Dublin, I did a few interviews. Those interviews, however, were all face-to-face with the bands. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be able to achieve this here with no future plans to travel to Finland or Europe in general. So my hand was forced and I had to do an email interview. This isn’t the best way to perform interviews, since all the questions are set in stone. As an interviewer, I can’t feed off the interviewee and alter or add new questions to the mix. Not that I’m coming up with excuses or whining, I’m just giving you, the reader, a background as to how this interview came about and how it was carried out. One last note, I want to thank Deathbed and in particular Jani, for taking part in this interview.

Please check out this band at their myspace page: Click Here

Let’s start this interview by getting all of the band members names and what instruments they play in Deathbed.

JANI: Mika-guitar, Ville-bass, Jani-vocals, Antti-Ville-guitar and we are looking for a new drummer because our old drummer got really busy with the other things in his life.

Some of Deathbed’s members play or have played in other bands. Could you tell us what other projects some of you guys have been involved with?

JANI: Mika played in Endstand (RIP) and Ville is playing in a trash band called Delta Force 2 and he also played in Manifesto Jukebox (RIP), Antti-Ville is playing in Lighthouse Project.

In my album review for ‘Veritas’, I compared your sound to modern U.S. hardcore punks such as Dead Hearts and Modern Life Is War. I also felt you drew significantly from late 90’s American hardcore bands such as The Hope Conspiracy and American Nightmare. Do you feel this comparison is accurate? Is there an aspect of your sound you think I may have overlooked? Don’t worry, I won’t be offended.

JANI: It’s your opinion but I wouldn’t compare us to the bands you mentioned. People have different opinions and that’s good. We like American Nightmare and Modern Life Is War but they’re not our influences.

What are some of Deathbed’s influences both musically and perhaps away from the realm of music?

JANI: One common influence was His Hero Is Gone when we started Deathbed. Lyrically we get more and more political everyday. It’s really important to us that bands have something to say.

Are there any Finnish or other European bands you feel Americans should know about, aside from your own groups?

JANI: There are many good bands in Finland at the moment and in Europe as well. I think you should give a lot of attention to the bands like: Presley Bastards, Ghost Brigade, Day Of The Dead, Kylmä Sota, Unkind, Just Went Black, Hero Dishonest and Abduktio.

Obviously, SicZine covers primarily U.S. bands, however, it’s always interesting for me to hear opinions through non-American eyes and ears. What are your personal opinions on the state of the current American hardcore scene? Are there any U.S. bands that you are really into collectively of individually?

JANI: To be honest I don’t know much that’s going on in the current American hardcore scene.

I think your music would go over extremely well here in America. Does Deathbed have any desire or ambitions to be heard or recognized in the States?

JANI: We want to be heard everywhere but before getting recognized in the States, we have to have a record label who’s releasing our records in the States. It’d be great to have a record label in the States as well.

Brown Records released the CD version of your new album, ‘Veritas’ and Blacktop Records put out the vinyl…how did you hook up with these two labels?

JANI: The guy behind Brown Records is our old friend. We asked him if he was interested in releasing the CD version of Veritas and he was. He had already released our split CD with Kolt. We are happy to “work” with him. He’s a really nice guy. I think the first contact with Blacktop was when he wrote us an email after hearing our songs on myspace. He was really excited and wanted to put out the vinyl version of Veritas.

Another attribute of the ‘Veritas’ album that I loved was the artwork and layout. Who did the art and were you satisfied with the finished result?

JANI: Our bass player Ville did the artwork on Veritas. He’s a professional graphic designer, so it was no surprise that the result looked great. We are totally satisfied with the result. He’s doing all the artwork for Deathbed.

Aside from ‘Veritas’ full-length, Deathbed also released a split with Kolt. Do you have any other releases that I don’t know about?

JANI: So far we have only those 2 releases.

What does the immediate future hold for Deathbed? Any new music in the works or extensive touring plans?

JANI: The main thing for Deathbed at the moment is to find a new drummer. We are doing a small tour in Finland with Ghost Brigade in May. After that, more shows in Finland/Europe. We are also writing new material for our next record.

Seeing as I’m a huge hockey fan (Philadelphia Flyers) and two of my favorite players are Finnish (Sami Kapanen & Antero Niittymaki), I had to ask at least one hockey question. Does Deathbed’s members follow hockey? If so, what teams and players locally and/or internationally do they support?

JANI: Everyone in deathbed are more or less into hockey, I assume. I used to play hockey when I was younger. I know for sure that Ville is supporting Edmonton Oilers. I’m supporting Detroit Red Wings. My all time favourite player is Brendan Shanahan.

Last words

JANI: Thank you for doing this interview