I'm trying to find the secret formula to their wonderful music, but in fact I'm afraid there is none. Just true musicianship. Both: "All of the tracks have come up in a different way. ‘Skip’ was the first track we ever made together, but it has changed quite a lot since day one. Antti came up with the background, like the rhythmical idea and atmosphere and some chord changes, where Jose did melody and lyrics. Tunes like "Toys" and "You'll be Loving Me" were composed by Jose." Jose: "I had those ideas ready and Antti finished off with arranging and coding."
Usually their tracks keep changing during the production process and ideas grow along the process. "It's like an adventure. The tune just takes you there, if you try to feel what it has to say." Antti: "The wicked chord changes in 'You'll be Loving Me' came up at 3pm at night, as I was trying to get some action in it. The next morning they still sounded cool. Some of the horn arrangements were first improvised solos and then we took the best ideas and tried to create a whole new part over that. Some tunes took us a year to get finished. 'Toys' was recorded and produced in a week."
Both: "As you see there's not any sure or only way. Always have to be open for new and fresh ideas and that's what makes it interesting."
No secret formula, no master plan ... Antti: "I think nothing is very intentional in a way. We had no planning for this album at the beginning. We just did how we felt and
Martsa aka
Martti Heikkinen (
Texicalli /
Jupiter label chief, red.) got our vibe and wanted to release this album."
The last (bonus) track of the album is a 'hip hop' version of 'Satellite'. I'm interested to know which artists - alive or death - they would like to see experimenting with their songs. Antti: "I think there are lots of good remixers and producers and composers to work with, but it's not the name but how you do it. All of us have heard bad remixes from good producers just because they were made in a hurry. A good one gives a totally new conception and vision to a track. I like
Madlib's way of working and his creativity."
They don't seem to go jump on the dance floor remix album wagon though. Antti: "Im not really into dancefloor remixes. Mostly they're just there because they need one on the single's b-side. Those usually sound quite boring to me."
Any more? Antti: "Maybe some of those godfathers of rnb;
D'Angelo or
Saadiq. Maybe
Marc De Clive-Lowe or some of those West London pioneers would do interesting work ... Maybe
Herbert?! Well in general I would like to hear whatever version because the surprise is the most interesting part of the remixing business.
Dharma One did a remix of 'Satellite' but I haven't heard it yet. We used to be roommates ... Will have to ask next time I see him ..."
Right now they're working on getting a live band together. "Our live crew varies from time to time but usually we have Jose on vocals, Antti on sax and flute,
Ville Riippa on keys,
Heikki Laine on bass,
Mikko Kaakkuriniemi on drums,
Valtteri Pöyhönen on guitar and
Janne Toivonen on trumpet. We used to have backing vocals too, but we decided to skip those for a while. If good gigs appear we'll take some with us."
"We have had a couple of gigs but everyone seems to be quite busy. Heikki and Mikko are involved in
Quintessence and
Q-continuum, Ville is a member of
Teddy Rok 7 and
Husky Rescue and Valtteri is currently working on
Dalindéo. All of the Fly members have like 100 projects each. So as you can imagine, there's not so much spare time left and it's hard to get those guys in the same room at the same time. But when its happening it sounds totally cool."
If any of you promotors is reading this, pay attention. "We're looking forward to getting invited to Belgium! It would be so nice to get somewhere abroad to play ..."
Meanwhile we could go up there and visit Helsinki. "Lots of good places here in Helsinki have closed their doors recently but Rose Garden, Liberte and Pacifiko are good ones nowadays. There's the Club Bundolo night, hosted by Anna S. And Kasio from
Nu Spirit, which started again in Uniq but I haven't been there yet. Good club anyway. Fly gave its first live performance in Bundolo back when it was in another bar."
"If you're staying longer you have to visit Finland's most hetero friendly gay bar Lost and Found. All of the musicians hang around there once in a while. And there's stuff like nature in Finland you know ..."
Since he's a member of Dalindéo, I ask Jose if there's any more material coming out from them in the near future. Jose: "We are going to the studio in May to do another 12" for Ricky Tick, likely coming out in autumn."
Are they working on their image too (check this post on beyondjazz)... Jose: "I had a great laugh. On my behalf I can say that I don't feel like being an entertainer under a certain brand or style. Nowadays I'm focused on doing music and on it's content. I don't mind if someone doesn't like my green cap
".
Thanks Antti and Jose for the nice words and especially for the great music. Fly's self titled debut album is out soon on Jupiter Records, distributed worldwide by Soulseduction.
