Jussi Lehtisalo Quotes

I hardly follow the Finnish metal scene at all at the moment. I'm more interested in traditional '80s heavy metal, and I'm still a little scared of black metal and death metal and their provocative imagery.

I sing only in Meronian - my own language - but there are also elements of English and Finnish languages in our songs. When we use the spiritual Meronian language, the word 'international' doesn't do justice to our band. This kind of psychic language's means of communication can reach galaxies beyond our planet, not to mention the other living and inanimate entities of our own planet.

Understanding Meronian - my own language - is a psychic process which succeeds when we break through the boundaries of comprehension and reach for what's beyond our limited perception. Its ambiguousness is related to the ambiguousness of music, and it doesn't guide us too much towards semantic domains. It contains all the necessary meaning required in our rock music.

We as the band are geriatric, and I've got one foot in the grave. But when I start to think about it in the quiet of the night, I'm filled with energy and I think that time does not proceed chronologically for us after all. Instead, we are bend back towards eternal youth and immortality.

I try not to define my own music. I think we are the only ones in the genre that's of our own creation.

We as the band are passionate and energetic musicians. We have minimised the amount of self-criticism. Fear of death, total impatience and an unconcerned attitude to weary notions of good and bad is what's making us exceed speed limits. We're hijacking the holy inspiration from otherness, and we don't spoil it with personal aesthetic preferences. We are panthers and gazelles, not slugs and tortoises. Though it must be said that after turning forty I've started to resemble a sloth more and more.

The group is enthusiastic about making art, but it's also a good excuse to get together with friends and to enjoy each other's company and to catch up on what's going on with us. Our attitude to making music is carefree and we don't stress about it at all. If music or a particular feeling doesn't come out willingly, we'll force it out.