QUICKIE OF THE WEEK

QUICKIE OF THE WEEK: A short interview with Frozen Factory

Pix666: Hello guys. The most important question right at the beginning. Are you well and are you healthy?

Stephen: Doing very well thank you! Healthy and happy to be engaging with music fans!

Tomi: Yes, tired and in need of some holiday but otherwise ok. Thanks for asking.

Mici: All good, thanks for asking. Busy spring with everything, so supporting Tomi with saying a vacation is more than welcome!

Eetu: Yeah, all good thanks!

Pix666: Recently your debut album ‘Planted Feet’ has been released. How satisfied are you with your work?

Stephen: Personally I’m very happy to get such a great start with Frozen Factory, this was our first album together and I’m really excited to build on this foundation.

Tomi: Very happy about it! After mixing I didn’t listen to it at all until now but now when I did it felt so good!

Mici: Very satisfied, long process finally in the covers.

Eetu: I’m very happy and satisfied with the result. Maybe the best album where I have played in my life!

Pix666: Will there be video clips for some of the songs?

Stephen: We have music videos out for Tiresome Times and Hammer, watch out for more soon!

Tomi: Yes indeed – few are already out and more will follow!

Mici: Yes, we have been active as a band to include a visual part of the art as clips, music videos, social media teasers, etc.

Eetu: yes! 🙂

Pix666: Which musicians or bands have influenced you and what message do you want to convey to fans or people in general with your music?

Stephen: There are so many influences but you’ll hear Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden in my voice from time to time, he’s the guy who made me want to sing in the first place. The songs on ‘Planted Feet’ are meant to open up conversations about the darker sides of human nature.

Tomi: There’s many but Alice In Chains, Depeche Mode and Pink Floyd are probably the biggest ones for me. I know that Stephen tells the message so much better so I’ll leave that to him. Overall we want to create atmospheres together with lyrics that create big emotions and have a meaning.

Mici: I would like to say the obvious; we are nice mix of personal tastes of very different music that has influenced us and then combining all together as individuals has given us a nice blend of various styles. Where Tomi likes Alice In Chain, Depeche Mode and Pink Floyd, Stephen among others likes Bruce Dickinson, I have had the joy to blend my inheritance from Iron Maiden at the end of the song By The Way, get off the balance with Quit solo influenced by Kerry King (Slayer), smack the guitar on Tiresome Times like a young John Frusciante or just enjoy with the notes like Gary Moore. All that comes out as what I feel is myself in our song Life Found Away. I’m most of all a theme player.

Eetu: I always get some influences for the art that I’m doing, even though nowadays it’s so hard find some new really mind-blowing bands and artists. For this album I got influenced in drums by Korn, Lordi, Rammstein and Anssi Nykänen (the most recorded drummer in Finland).

Pix666: Have you worked in other bands before or are you all ‘newcomers‘?

Stephen: I’ve been involved with a few things before. You can check out the bands ‘Aeon Antenna’ and ‘Atom Works’ if you want to hear something old from me.

Tomi: There’s always been something since school times and it’s all been a path to Frozen Factory.

Mici: I was playing for years with Ronnie Starr, a Finnish rock group, and also as a hired gun guitarist for Finnish chart artists, like Pistepiste and Tuuli to mention a few.

Eetu: I’ve a really colourful background in the music industry even though I am a rock drummer. For example, I did a tour for one popular Finnish rap artist called Nikke Ankara, and I’m also currently playing as well in Delta Enigma in a role of Eddie X. But most of my works in the industry has been focused on the things that I love: rock, and metal music.

Pix666: Normally you go on tour as a band after you have released an album. Now the Corona crisis has turned life upside down. At the moment there is not yet the possibility to do events and concerts. Did you have to change many of your original plans?

Stephen: We’ve been flexible with plans the whole time, luckily we haven’t had to cancel things but just adjust our focus, for example we’ve been writing new material.

Tomi: Some yes but we adapted to situation fast and put our focus to other things.

Mici: We are still in the early stage that we have many paths, fortunately to take before hitting the road again.

Eetu: Of course, it feels sad that we can’t go on tour, but like my brothers said we can focus on other things until the boarders are open again and we could conquer the world!

Pix666: When should your next concerts with an audience take place, and do you believe that these dates can be kept??

Stephen: We have a competition to compete in for August. With the corona situation improving here we’ll be trying to arrange new shows, TBA!

Tomi: At the moment August – hopefully that happens!

Mici: Live stage with audience in August is planned, so let’s keep our thumbs up! Recent news warns of second waves coming, so let’s see… We haven’t yet planned virtual gigs but you never know!

Eetu: I’ve a really positive feelings at the moment, but we’ll see how things get to work.

Pix 666: How are your friends and families? How do you stay in touch with them, what kind of techniques do you use?

Stephen: Video calls are great, especially with family. My family are in the UK where the corona situation has been rough, they’re healthy though and getting through it as best they can.

Tomi: At the moment it’s a bit better so it’s ok to see friends already but during the Spring time it was lots of video calls.

Mici: Praises above, everyone’s good so far. Distant hugs and limited time with close ones have been a key in times like these.

Eetu: I’m so happy that we have the technology that we could keep in touch with our closest ones so lots of phones and video calls to them. Of course for now I’ve even met few my friends while this situation in Finland has got to a bit better stage.

Pix666: You are from Finland – what is the general mood in the country regarding the Corona crisis?

Stephen: Very positive mostly, the government here has generally kept their promises and lead by example.

Tomi: Country is opening bit by bit. Looks promising but being careful still.

Mici: Generally looks positive, as Tomi and Stephen said. We had Schools open last 2 weeks before summer holidays and surveys showed that it was exact 50 / 50 % divided by population who was giving green light and who was giving red light to the idea. I think this same trend follows at the moment with the general opinions and actions regarding to Corona.

Eetu: Looking promising!

Pix666: What things do you miss the most at the moment?

Stephen: I’ve missed our usual family Spring-time trip to the UK and I missed having a beer on a terrace.

Tomi: It’s a long time since we’ve been playing together. Really looking forward to that!

Mici: Giving a long embrace to loved ones and then just hitting the rehearsals place with the band!

Eetu: Playing live shows for the audience is something that I miss.

Pix666: Do you believe that this crisis will change the behaviour of humanity in the future?

Stephen: I believe we’ll see many leaders trying to go back to business as usual unfortunately, I guess it’s up to us civilians to unite and push for progress.

Tomi: This has forced people to stop and look things from different angle which may have some positive outcome as well. What that means in practice – the future will tell.

Mici: Yes and no, I think effects will last several years as the economical balance is so disturbed and new ways to stabilize it will take place. At the same time it will change our behavior but will we remember Corona as a catalyst? I don’t know. We have a tendency to forget and therefore we need art – music!

Eetu: There’s a lot of good things that have happened despite the crisis. Even though the situation was terrifying it brought some time for people to re-think what’s important in life. I just hope that we won’t get back to the old days anymore, but we could take all the positive things from the old times and from the crisis for creating a new era of our lives!

Pix666: What do you think will be the long-term consequences of this crisis for the economy and especially for the music business?

Stephen: Like many I am wishing for economists to back environmental reform so we can reduce our impact on the global climate. Artists will suffer financially for a while but inspiration will be high and the artists will feed off of the hurt.

Tomi: Difficult to tell – depends so much of how long it will last. Perhaps people learn to respect more things like live music when it was taken away for a while.

Mici: For the economy it will hit hard and long-lasting; it might challenge the existence of the euro more than we can imagine at the moment. Same time I really don’t have a fear that the music business will suffer (excluding live performances e.g. incomes for artists, venues, booking agencies and all the staff they need) as the music business has learnt the lesson of digitalization – look into the future, not the past. It took for major companies a decade but now to adjust the business for everyday use is happening in a day!

Eetu: The music industry is full of creative people, so we will always find the way to get things happening. Of course financially we’ll face some difficult times, but we all have survived from a crisis before, so we’ll survive from this one too!

Pix666: Do you have any other news about Frozen Factory that you would like to share with the fans?

Stephen: We’re writing, we’re planning, we’re excited, we’re in this for the long run.

Tomi: There’s lots of exciting things happening in near future – keep following our SoMe channels to keep updated.

Mici: For the people now and the people in the future who have found us or will find us – let’s keep it old school! We like to have you close; share our thoughts with you, hear what you like, what moves you – without you we are not here!

Eetu: We have planted our feet to the ground, and we’re here for now, and we’re staying forever! So memorize Frozen Factory because there will be lots more to come!

Pix666: Thank you very much for the interesting insights into your present life and good luck with the band for the future – stay healthy!

Stephen: A pleasure!

Tomi: Thanks – You too!

Mici: It was a pleasure, hope to stay in touch with you!

Eetu: Always a pleasure, thank you and keep up the great work!

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