The song saw daylight as a late night jam; some of us were already packing their gear, eagerly waiting to head home after a long day of rehearsals, but then this groovy yet somehow solemn and even foreboding melody captured us and we ended up jamming for quite a bit on wards. A few rehearsals later the song was ready, without too much of a hassle. Everything just locked in place real easily. We're huge sci-fi enthusiasts, and Ville (one of our synth players) was just reading through Frank Herbert's Dune series, so immediately the theme of interstellar space travel and long ornithopter flights across the desert planet were implemented into the song. These themes probably molded the song into the krautish piece it came to be.
What do you want people to take from the song and video ‘Melange’?
We think it represents our naïve, even child-like enthusiasm towards space, the cosmos and the prospect of unraveling the mysteries beyond our own galaxy. It's also part of a semi-canonical back story that has been around since the beginning of STRAKTOBEAM. The enigmatic Moai statues, the origin of our civilization, the origin of cosmic synth-pop... It's an intriguing and inspirational thought for us, that perhaps life here on Earth has connections to a place far, far away from the compounds of our Milky Way.
I noticed that the video is filled with 3D models . How long did it take it complete and what made you want to do it?
The script for the video was made by the band, but the idea of using 3D-printed models to execute the concept came from Julius Koivistoinen and Martin Linnankoski of Vild Productions. We played around with different ideas at first, including puppet and shadow theathresque ideas, but we felt this new fun technology would fit great with the themes and soundscapes (little bit retro, little bit retro-futuristic) of the song.
The 3D-modelling of the figures was done by Julius based on sketches made by the band members and probably took quite a while. The actual 3D printing was a fun, but also time-consuming process. There happens to be an almost-free-to-use 3D printer facility in a library in Helsinki (http://www.kaupunkiverstas.
Being American I don’t really know a lot about the Finnish music scene. Do you think your music is influenced by where you are from?
Somewhat, sure. Musicwise, there’s a really nice synth scene in Finland, with cool bands like Aavikko, Hidria Spacefolk and Trio Tetris being a big influence on us when we were growing up. Also Finland is quite a sparsely populated country, so there is a lot of nature and wide open spaces to get your cosmic juices flowing, especially during cold winter nights. But to be totally honest, we’re that generation that’s had the Internet omnipresent since we were quite young, and thus most of our musical influences are probably from abroad.
What do you think has been a big influence on your music?
Growing up in the 90s, in a country suffering from economic depression, we all found ourselves locked in front of soft-glowing TV-screens - be it at a friend's house or alone in your room - playing video games. This has had an impact on the way we approach music and our band's visual style. The innovations in the industry at that time, with the limitations of the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Sega Megadrive (Genesis outside Europe), is an inspiration to us still. To create such stories, such emotions with such simple methods...still gives us goosebumps.
Of course there are also musical influences involved: Kraftwerk, Neu!, Jean-Michel Jarre, Space, Add N to (X), and all the memorable synth leads and solos from various artists (see: Queen's I Want To Break Free or Michael Jackson's Thriller album)
What are your favorite synths and why?
Of the ones we actually have and play, the good old Korg MS-10 has to be our favourite. Being a one-oscillator monophonic synth with no presets but a killer filter, it’s simple and powerful instrument. Live, we use it only for bass, but on record we tend to record it a lot. Another more recent addition is the Logan String Melody II, which has one of the best string/pad sounds out there. Add a little bit of phaser and you’re on your halfway to the moon already!
If we had the money and means, we’d naturally love to get our hands on a Jupiter 8, an Arp Odyssey and a Korg Polysix, but probably have to crack out some (more) killer tunes before we can afford any of those.
To sum it up - though it sounds kind of cliché nowadays - we love analog synths with lots of buttons, no or minimal preset memory and a VCO-sound.
What can we expect from you guys in the future?
More songs and videos, to be sure. We’re currently working on an EP exploring the themes of space travel and planetary exploration, although it will probably be quite a loose concept album. We are quite bad at meeting deadlines, but the EP will surely be finished before the start of the Mars 1 mission. Our very next release will be “Arcadia” a more uptempo and uplifting track than “Melange” with a cool music video also in the works.
On a general note, in the future we’d like to really crystallize our sound, combining simple but powerful melodies with a cosmic, but fun, atmosphere. We love to play live, but right now feel like it’s time to make some new interstellar tunes first.
Where can people find you music?
Soundcloud (which is probably our favorite place, as you get and can give good and interesting feedback):https://soundcloud.com/
Youtube (where you’ll also find a bunch of quite interesting self-made music videos and visual collages to our songs):https://www.youtube.com/user/
And of course Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/