INTERVIEW NUMBER 2
with Ville Hopponen of Cats on Fire
buy their newly released CDEP at Fraction Discs

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1. Was it a hard decision for the band to let Fraction discs carry your release, or was it an obvious such?

It was a hard decision at first, because the songs felt kind of like demos and they began to feel a bit old, but then we decided that we should record one new song and remaster the old ones, so we were very satisfied with the result in the end. And even though the recordings of the demosongs are a bit old, the songs still feel like they are a good representation of us. As a label, Fraction feels perfect since they are really enthusiastic and extremely nice people and seem to really know what they are doing, plus they haven't lost interest even after all our usual indecisiveness. We tend to take things quite seriously so we are perhaps a bit too wary of things sometimes, but now it seems to work out fine.



2. Cats on Fire has recently played a handful of gigs in Sweden, Emmaboda and Bräkne-Hoby, for example. I have also heard that some of the members have intentions to move abroad. What further plans does the band have for the future?

Mattias and Kenneth are moving to Sweden for a while as exchange students, so we definitely can't play as often as now, but I think we are on quite steady ground so I think it will work out. We feel we have achieved quite a lot in connecting musically with each other so it just feels too important to let go just because we will be living in different cities. It took a few lineup-changes before we arrived at the current one, and it just feels like it's perfect, we really do see eye-to-eye on many things and work very well together and sort of have the same ambitions. A full-length album will be released in the autumn on the German Marsh-Marigold label, we are now in the final stages of mixing it, so that should be exciting. We won't be able to practice as much but we are definitely going to do concerts anyway. The album will consist mainly of new songs, and a few older ones re-recorded.



3. According to your taste, how would you describe the music-scene of today in Finland (and worldwide if you like)?

Oh, that's a hard one. Everything metal is very big in Finland, and obviously I'm not even slightly interested in that. It doesn't even irritate me anymore, I just don't care. It's gone way too far. It just seems that nothing really counts if it isn't sort of "in your face" or vulgar in some way and that's really boring. It seems to spill over into every musical direction, everything has got to have that "rocking" thing or whatever, sometimes it feels like everyone that plays in a band in Finland really want to play guitar solos with their legs spread widely and be some kind of star, regardless of what kind of music they are actually playing. To me, these things just feel like they have got very little to do with making beautiful music, and more to do with the notion that it's somehow "cool" to be in a band, which it isn't. (sorry about the ranting.... )
Anyhow, the indie-scene, compared to Sweden, is quite small, but it really seems to be growing rapidly, and there are a few very good bands around. I get the sense that finally something really good is happening with the Finnish indie-scene, whereas a few years ago it wasn't really that exciting. One problem here seems to be that there are quite a few good bands, but there are too few clubs, record labels, places to play, and all sorts of people involved in different aspects of the music scene, which really is a shame, but I think this thing is growing too.



4. Finally, there are some kind of obvious influences in Mattias way of writing lyrics, (Morrissey) but can you tell us a bit more about what music/artists the other members of the band likes and dislikes?

I can't really answer for the others, but I think we all listen to quite a lot of different music, but of course there are many things we all like. At least I think we all have in common that we always try to find new (well, not necessarily literally new) things and I could perhaps say that no one is particularly limited to listening to a certain style of music. I just like things that sound beautiful, and you never know where you might find that. I should guess that the others see it in about the same way too. My personal favorites right now happen to be mostly things I have listened to lots over many years but always come back to once in a while. A lot of Felt. Other favorites right now are Fosca, Denim, Morrissey, the Radio Dept, Lee Hazlewood, Love, Television Personalities, Carpenters, Bob Dylan, the Kinks, Leevi & the Leavings, the Honeydrips, and the Mare.


My favorite:
Sarah Records 7": Hmm..... tricky one. I'll have to go with the Field Mice "Emma's house" since that was the first one I heard and that I still like a lot.

Actor/Actress: No one really comes to mind right now. Does Homer Simpson count? Probably someone from one of Kaurismäki's films, like Kati Outinen.

Film: Spontaneously "Lost in translation", but if you asked me another day it might as well be something by Monty Python. Or "Breathless" by Godard. Or "Planet of the Apes" since it's kind of funny.

Album (ever, right now): This is just too hard to answer. Right now I would say Felt "Poem of the River", and the "ever" part could probably be Felt "Forever breathes the lonely word"

Author : Haven't read anything all summer except Bob Dylans autobiography, which I quite like. So, right now, Bob Dylan.

visit Cats on Fire at:
http://www.catsonfire.net/