melodylane

 

Melody Lane had an interview with the Finnish rockers PLASTIC TEARS, their sound can be defined as a "sleazy dark rock’n’roll with a glam punk attitude".
Don't miss their latest album 'Anthems for Misfits' that will be released on March 26th via Wormholedeath Records!!!
Band highly recommended to fans of: ALICE COOPER, HANOI ROCKS, THE 69 EYES, THE DOGS D' AMOUR and SMACK

MELODY LANE: The line-up of the band is confirmed, is it the same from the beginning of the band…or have you had changes in the last years? Can you tell us anything about the roots of PLASTIC TEARS ? And where the band was born?
Miqu: The lineup has changed over the years. This one has been together since the last album, around three-four years. We have a good lineup now, so let’s hope it continues like this, we’ve had more than our share of lineup changes. I lived in London for a few months back in the day, trying to get a band started there, without significant success. So I came back to Helsinki and put together Plastic Tears with my old friend Tommy, our original bass player, and a couple of other guys. I guess the seeds of the band were already planted in London, but the roots of Plastic Tears are firmly rooted in Helsinki. After this lineup broke up after our infamous gig at Tavastia, Eco joined the band and has since been the stable backbone of the band, joined by Edu, the other half of our solid rhythm section, a few years ago. Andy’s been in the band for maybe ten years, he always makes us laugh and is a whirlwind on stage. Juha is the last, but not least, joining our motley crew at the time of recording the last album.

MELODY LANE: Can you list us 5 songs, from PLASTIC TEARS‘ discography (including new material), that can define the sound of the band … 5 songs that can help our readers to know PLASTIC TEARS  at the best?

Juha:

1. Drown me in wine (Stranded in Rock’n’Roll album)

2. Love is for losers (Nine Lives never dies album)

3. Headless Army (Angels with Attitude album)

4. Restless outsider (Anthems for Misfits album)

5. Nobody likes a crybaby (Anthems for Misfits album)

Eco:

1. Riot Zone (Anthems for Misfits album)

2. London Rain (Nine Lives never dies album)

3. Dark Passenger (Angels with Attitude album)

4. Hallucinations (Anthems for Misfits album)

5. Underworld Angels (Nine Lives never dies album)

MELODY LANE: Tell us something about the creative process of your music. Is there a main composer or we can talk about a team work? The songs come from ideas of a single member and then the band works on these ideas in the studio jamming together, or your songs are written in the studio and all the members compose together?
Miqu: I guess I’ve written most songs, but I’m not the only composer. For example on the new album there’s a couple of Juha’s songs too. For the most part we work on them and arrange them together, so everyone contributes to what it sounds like in the end. As our recording process was pretty slow this time, and we had time to listen to the raw versions, we made quite many changes in the studio before the final mix. Usually the song ideas just pop out of nowhere, the miracle of inspiration.

MELODY LANE: Can you tell us something about contents and messages of your last album ? …Can you tell us anything about the whole concept of ANTHEMS FOR MISFITS? And please tell us where does this title come from?
Miqu: There’s not one whole concept to the album, every song has its own message, story or mood. Rebellion, gothic melancholy, fun, desperation and so on. I guess we're hopelessly positive, as usually we encourage the listeners to believe that, after all, everything ends well. Well, maybe not with Doomsday Girls or Candlelight Hate Affair, but mostly... I think the band has always been outside of all trends and chooses to walk its own way, no matter what others think. So we wanted to dedicate this album to other misfits and outsiders, there might be a song on this album just for you!

MELODY LANE: …After time, are you totally satisfied with your choices about sound and the writing of your previous albums? If you could… would you change anything? About the new album…What did you focus on to make the sound better and perfectly consistent with the musical ideas you had in mind?
Miqu: There’s always something you think could have been done better. But, in the end, you have to let go at some point, otherwise you’ll never get anything released. And often those small flaws just spice up the album. It’s rock’n’roll, it doesn’t have to be perfect, and we are no Def Leppard who analyze every beat and sound until it doesn’t have any life left in it all. But then again, imperfection just might make it perfect. About the older albums, especially the first and second. They have good songs, but the band is tighter and more mature now. So If we would make those albums now they would be better, and of course they could be improved on soundwise too. But they are what we were then, and I think they’re good albums. On the new album we focused on not making it overcompressed, thought a lot about the right track order and everyone refined their parts before the studio. I myself focused on getting the lyrics right in good time, but as always, some changes were still made in the studio. For example I changed the lyrics and vocal melodies of Radar Eyes in the studio. Wonder if we recorded that first version, gotta check. I’ve also been focusing on my vocals, to find the right pitch and key note for me. And we just had the right songs, so everything clicked in the studio.

MELODY LANE:  So apart from the covid/pandemic situation…will you tour in the next future? Have you already a touring schedule? Any chance for us to see PLASTIC TEARS  playing live here in Italy/Europe in the next months/year?
Juha: We don’t have any big plans yet, only a few gigs are planned, but this pandemic situation looks very bad at the moment. Touring is also very expensive, but of course we hope things get better soon.
Miqu: As Juha said there’s been no possibilities to plan tours as no one knows what happens next. We were supposed to tour the UK last summer, but then the virus struck. It was postponed till this year's summer, but let’s see what happens. We would love to play in Italy, so hopefully that will be possible soon and someone books us over there. I have very warm feelings towards Italy, as since the beginning we’re had a maybe small, but loyal following there.

MELODY LANE: Could you tell us two bands, from the actual international scene, you’d like PLASTIC TEARS to tour with?... Two bands that would represent a perfect line-up for PLASTIC TEARS to play with. And why these bands?
Eco: Trench Dogs (SWE) and Paradise Alley (UK). They are the same tribe as us, which is very rare nowadays.
Miqu: I agree, love those guys. We’ve already played with Trench Dogs in Helsinki and Stockholm, and Paradise Alley’s Steve and Taj are old friends of ours. And they’re both rock’n’roll bands with a hint of old fashioned glam, so I think this would be the perfect lineup. Speaking of Paradise Alley, I remember when Steve visited Finland for the first time. He wanted to try Finnish meat pie, lihapiirakka, cos Razzle liked it. So on a drunken night we went to a nakkikioski (kind of a Finnish hot dog joint) and he had his gourmet dreams come true! If you mean bigger bands, I’d love to play with Cheap Trick or Alice Cooper.

MELODY LANE: We know that ‘to define is to limit’… but how do you define PLASTIC TEARS’ sound? Are you a Sleaze Rock band…a Street/Glam band… an Hard Rock band…Or…?
Miqu: I think we’re not so easy to define. If you listen to our new album, there’s a lot of stuff there. Rock’n’roll, glam, punk, hard rock, reggae, power pop, goth and so on. We use this phrase and I think it sums up the band pretty well: sleazy dark rock’n’roll with a glam punk attitude. But we’re perfectly happy to be called just a rock’n’roll band without further definitions. We’ve also used the street rock term, which is basically the translation of a finnish genre definition that refers to rock with influences from punk, hard and garage rock.

MELODY LANE: Which musicians are/have been your main musical inspirations? And which are your favorite bands nowadays?
Juha: I listen to all kinds of music but Aerosmith is my all time favorite band.
Eco: Clifford Hoad (Kings Of The Sun) and Kinde (Smack) have inspired me the most. Sometimes I like to watch skilled drumming shows by Tommy Lee, Lacu Lahtinen, Zoltan Chaney etc. My favorite band has been Alice Cooper for the last few decades.
Miqu: I’ve been listening a lot to Slade, The Generators, Jason & The Scorchers and D Generation lately. Of newer bands my favourites are The Interrupters, Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, Biters and Masked Intruder.

MELODY LANE: As a musician, what has been your biggest achievement to date and what do you want to achieve in the near future?
Eco: Plastic Tears' four albums are my biggest achievements to date and I hope I can participate in recording of the next four albums too. Many great gigs too.
Miqu: We haven’t conquered the world, and have no need to sell our souls to be the next commercial big thing. But please send me money, you don’t earn much in an honest rock band! My biggest achievement is to have made music from the heart for years, that I can still stand by and be proud of. And of that timeline, the new album is the biggest, best and most beautiful achievement. Of course we would also want to get more international gigs and meet all cool rockers around the world and spread our rock‘n’roll gospel.

MELODY LANE: Until today today...What was the most important concert for PLASTIC TEARS’ career? And why?why?
Miqu: I think our most important concert is still to come. We’re supposed to play the HRH Sleaze festival in the UK this year. That’s a concert we’re hoping will come true, and if so, it might be the most important show for us this far. It has just the right kind of audience for us, and we’d love to win over some hearts there. So now even I, a sworn atheist, is praying to all possible gods that it can be arranged!

MELODY LANE: In the end…A message from you to all MELODY LANE readers.
Miqu: Thanks for the good questions Melody Lane! And to the readers, go check out our new album ‘Anthems For Misfits’ when it’s released, and hope to see you on that rock’n’roll road once it’s possible again. Stay safe and keep rocking!
Eco: Rock´n´Roll is not dead yet.
Juha: Rock’n’Roll is here to stay

MELODY LANE:Thank you, 
Best regards and all the best!

 

WEB: https://www.facebook.com/PlasticTears

ARTICLE BY: Mike Matty