AS I MAY NTERVIEW

1.Introduce yourself and your band and tell us why we should listen to you. 

As I May is a four-piece modern melodic metal band from Mikkeli, Finland – formed in 2016.

Members are Tipi Nokelainen (vocals and bass), Lasse Hiltunen (vocals and guitar), Jani Valhola (backup vocals and guitars) and Marko Korhonen (drums).

The band has grown into a Finnish metal genre in a short time. Our music has been streamed more than a million times and has played around the world on radios.

2.What do you classify your sound as, Who do you tell people you sound like?

We play modern metal that combines post-hardcore, nu core and traditional Finnish metal sound.

We sound the most modernized combination of In Flames and Amorphis.

3.With digital music in today's world would you vote to keep or eliminate physical media?

Absolutely to keep! People want to experience deeper touch on albums and this is also reflected in the huge increase in sales of vinyl records. It seems that some people want to test the album by streaming before buying it.

As well, streaming services make listening to music easier in many situations. So both are needed.

I don’t think either of these options will go away, but after the digital hangover people have really started to miss physical products.

4.What is the reason you decided to be a musician and has that reason paid off?

I was 8 years old when I first heard Anthrax’s album and that was the moment when I really interested in metal music.

The first time I heard Enter Sandman was that kind of experience that I wanted to start produce that same noise!

We have had a good opportunity for self-fulfilment and to grow as a band. The future looks really good to us!

People seem to be identified with our music and they add it to their playlists more than we could imagine.

5.How do you feel about females in metal getting special attention? Do you feel it is fair?

I don’t think females are getting any special attention.

It’s amazing have really skilled female artists and women as a head of band.

We come from Finland, where we have a lot of talented female musicians.

I see it as a challenge for women, that yet there isn’t so many female metal musicians so they are usually compared to each other.

6.In the world climate with hatred being at an all time high and metal being an “ angry” music

Do you think your music contributes to anger and hatred?

Absolutely not! It seems that metal music listeners can channel their feelings much better than people who don’t listen metal.

Anyone who listens to metal knows it’s not a hell of anger. It’s just a genre that uses more emotions than many other genre.

Many musicians also deal with in-depth thoughts in metal music.

7.Are you opposed to religious beliefs or politics being used in music?

Yes and no. As I May is a non-political band and I think that music and politics do not mix.

On the other hand, when you think a band like Rage Against the Machine, maybe it’s not such a bad idea to bring up with music things that require change.

8.We have dive into some pretty deep issues here do you think your music sends a message and if so what is it?

We doesn’t have any special agenda in our music. Each song has its own separate story, most of are written so that they can have multiple meanings.

9.The market has changed and many bands believe that record labels are a thing of the past, with many labels now charging bands to “sign” how do you think a band can make it in todays scene?

Record labels are really good marketing platforms and also contacts for bands. I think that it has been more difficult for labels to adapt to this change.

But still I see the advantage that the band has a record label that grows and develops the band forward future goals.

It’s true that today it’s not obligatory to have a record label. After a certain point, the workload will grow so big that it may be better for the band to focus on making and playing music.

I see it as a great advantage that we have two record labels on different continents and also manager and booking agency.

It will help us focus on better on the essentials. I think gigs can now be the biggest earning method fo bands.

We have never done this for money, it’s mainly a dream that in the future we could concentrate on full-time music.

10.Why with the thousands of options including netflix , sporting events everything on demand

Why do you think people should take the time to listen to what you have to say in your music?

Well our new album is like whole story. You need to listen it from the beginning to the end to get a full experience.

It's like journey. You will hear great melodies, big singalong choruses. That is what we do: catchy melodies and big choruses. Your head is banging and couple seconds later you will hear very beautiful sounding parts.

Album sounds huge, I mean really huge. We broke a new record in our producers studio. Album has 529 different tracks. Yep, 529 tracks and just little over 30 min.

It's fast moving forward and just stays in vibes so long that you have little time to breath before it`s time to go again. There's small details every where. You can`t hear all of those at one listening.

It´s just something that you won`t expect. If you like metal, catchy melodies, big choruses, modern sounds, this is album for you!

11.How do you feel about pay to play? Do you think it is fair for a band to have to pay money to play?

I hope it’s not going to happen that way, but maybe also many of the big band have started that way.

It’s understandable that many small bands will go on tour together to cover the costs and that’s the way they can get to the tour.

12.It is fact that you are the talent and the entertainment explain what you think is the most important key to success?

Only a great music and that you are ready to do a lot of hard work for success.

13.In country music and even in some cases rock music is written and performed by different people would your band perform a song written by someone else?

No. We have the ability to make good functional songs ourselves.

But maybe sometimes in the futureit might be nice to make a cover of a song that the whole band gets excited about.

However, we don’t want to ride anyone else’s material into the famous.

14.If you are pro female in music are you pro using sex to sell your music?

We cannot take a stand on this thing.

15.What is your view on the lawsuits against people saying lewd or unprofessional things to women or men and how does that affect an art described as sex drugs and rock n roll ?

We cannot take a stand on this thing.

16. Ok lets lighten up a bit. What is your favorite band of all time and why?

In Flames. I don’t think that we have to explain that more.

17.What would you be doing if you were not in a band?

Some other creative work.

18. Do you have a favorite sports team?

We are from Finland so we are crazy about ice hockey. The whole country is messed up when Finland wins the world championship in ice hockey like this year.

So I say that Finnish national team in ice hockey and also local ice hockey team Jukurit.

19.If you could get on stage with anyone dead or alive who would it be?

Finnish national composer Jean Sibelius. 

20.This is your shot to let loose, Throw down your biggest complaint about the music biz

We come from Finland, so we don’t complain anything. If there’s  something that doesn’t work, then we just work as a hell so it’s gonna work.

We are satisfied with our band growth and how we go forward