Med 54 dagar kvar till Sweden Rock Festival fortsätter vi med serien ”Inför Sweden Rock 2015”. Nästa band ut i denna serie är STEVE’N’ SEAGULLS. Rocknytts Lisa Willman fick chansen att ställa några frågor till Pukki Kaalinen (sång, bas).
Steve´n´Seagulls består av fem spelskickliga finnar med en förkärlek till traktorer, höbalar och dragspel. Irwin Remmel, Musta Magisteri, Puikkonen, Hermann och Wild Till Hiltunen har levererat medryckande bluegrassversioner av kända rockklassiker sedan 2011. Efter en hejdlöst populär version av The Trooper blev de ett världsomfattande Youtubefenomen, och spelar nu flitigt över hela Europa. Debutalbumet Farm Machine släpps 8 maj och bjuder på 13 spännande låttolkningar av allt från Dio till Pantera. Gitarrsolon? Glöm det. Banjo är så rätt det kan bli.
You probably have the coolest name in the business. How did you get the idea to call the band Steve´n´ Seagulls?
– Our banjo player’s girlfriend made it up and we all thought it was hilarious. The previous suggestion Grainsville Cocks was considered a bit too “vulgar”.
Your cover of Iron Maiden´s The Trooper was the first of your songs to be posted on Youtube. It did not take long before it went viral, and now it´s got more than 4 million hits. Did you ever expect it to be such a success?
– Definitely not. We just shot the video for fun and to get some promotional material, since we didn’t have any. That said, we knew we had a good thing going and did expect someone to take notice, but the amount of attention was a surprise.”
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Why did you choose that particular song and how do you decide which songs to pick?
– We had already been playing “The Trooper” on gigs for a few months and knew the arrangement was sure to work. The idea when we first started working on the song was to crossbreed it with “Great Balls Of Fire”, but that resulted in something far too terrible to unleash… The arrangement process is fairly straight-forward: somebody comes up with a suggestion, we get together, let ideas collide and see what comes out.
What´s the most difficult thing when it comes to transforming classics songs like Holy Diver and Thunderstruck into American roots music?
– Probably selecting a song to arrange. The rest is easy. And, since we’re not purists of any kind (or Americans), we do take influences from non-american music as well.
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Your debut album is out in May. What can you tell us about it?
– Well, the track list (found here) is already published so that’ll probably speak for itself, at least to those who recognize the titles. But you really don’t need to know any of them to enjoy our cookings. A good song is a good song, no matter in which style it’s done. And I think we’ve done justice to the originals.
What are your expectations on Sweden Rock Festival?
– Screaming hordes of swedes coming to see us live. Even if you have by then listened to our album we promise to have a trick or two up our sleeves. And maybe see a few bands ourselves!
Thank you very much for your participation! I am looking forward to seeing you at the festival!
Steve´n´Seagulls spelar torsdag 4 juni 13:00-14:00 på 4Sound Stage.
Sweden Rock Festival äger rum i Sölvesborg och det är 3-6 juni som ska markeras i kalendern. Klara band är bl.a Def Leppard, Judas Priest, Mötley Crüe, Toto, Slash, Ace Frehley, Backyard Babies, Five Finger Death Punch, The Darkness, Ghost, Airbourne, Opeth, Meshuggah, Extreme, Hammerfall, D-A-D, Children Of Bodom, Gojira, Dokken, Michael Monroe, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, Molly Hatchet och Lucifer’s Friend.
Mer info och biljetter: www.swedenrock.com
