Hell yeah! Are you hungry for a little crossover hardcore delicacies?! Treat yourself to this delicious raw food plate from up North. Today’s plat du jour at IDIOTEQ’s is… FORESEEN from Helsinki, Finland!
FORESEEN plays thrashy metal-influenced hardcore punk that reminds of bands such as… You be the judge and call them yourself! But better watch out, the player below is a time-machine that will immediately bring back to a time when crossover bands stirred things up in hardcore scenes a little. It will put you out of control and make you explode! Play it loud and read up on their adventures below.
Hey, Mirko! Thanks so much for your time, man! Hows winter been treating you there in the cold lands of Finland? Haha :D Where you at now, bro?
This winter has been pretty much different for me from the previous ones. Me and my lovely girlfriend adopted a lovely dog, so obviously we’ve been causing mad trouble in our neighborhood with our new baby boy. He has destroyed a few pair of shoes and gloves already and now he’s eating cat poop for some reason.. He’s German shepherd and his name is of course, REX. He’s a bit simple, maybe not the best material for a police dog..
This winter has also been quite productive for FORESEEN. We released a new 7″ called Structural Oppression and played some of our best shows around Finland, UK and Russia. Now we’re just trying to spend more time at the rehearsal room so we can put out the LP later this year.
Nice one. Say hello to your new baby monster :D
How did you like Russia? Russian kids are fuckin crazy, arent they?
Russia was unbelievably good for us. When we got to the venue in St.Petersburg I noticed a bunch of skinheads and metalheads hanging out together and I knew something good was bound to happen. It turned out to be our top 3 show this far. It was so great to see all the punks, skins and metalheads thrashing and stagediving together. The real unity crossover!! We instantly felt like home there. All people were so nice to us even if they didn’t speak the same language.
Of course there were some problems too.. Some sketchy security guards at the venue in Moscow asking in Russian if we were an anti-facist band or something. Locals just told us to leave with a big crowd right after the show. It’s crazy how things are so different in a country that’s so close to Finland, in good and in bad.
A big thank you to Dima Kovalev and others for arranging such a great trip for us.
What did they have in mind exactly? Why would those guys be a threat to you?
I wish I could answer to that question of what their intentions were. They didn’t speak one word in English or Finnish and I don’t speak Russian. All I heard from the locals that they were some kind of right-wing bad guys.
Ha! Douche bags!
What else have you noticed about Russian local scenes?
That Russian kids take the music much more seriously. Less expensive sportswear and more pit action. Less complaining about Carnivore shirts and more fighting with the nazis. They just aren’t spoiled by seeing all those boring American bands 4 times a year.
Any cool local names youd like to shout out to?
RANGER, a dangerous speed metal band fronted by our bass player, Dimitri. New tape called Combat Metal out now. UPRIGHT, sharing Mĺrten the drumlord with this band. Groovy and heavy as hell. Losing Touch 7″ is almost sold out, get it while you can. DISKELMÄ, Manowar of D-beat featuring our lead guitar maniac, Lauri. New LP in the works. Also check out HARDA TIDER, MAAILMANLOPPU, OBNOXIOUS YOUTH, FORCED KILL, NO PART, PERIKATO, KYLMÄ SOTA and BOLT!
Hahaha :D Dude, were still in Russia, I meant the Russian bands you met on the road!
Fuck Haha. I was too excited.
We were too late to see DISTRESS and then I missed NOSEBLEED because I had merch business to handle, but we saw GORILLA TROOPS who had a good thing going on.
I wasn’t really feeling the bands we played with in Moscow. THE PACK and TRANSILVANIAN broke up like a day before the show or something and obviously canceled the show which was a bummer. I heard that someone from THE PACK plays in a new band called OCCUPATION which seems really cool.
Oh yeah, it was really sad to report it a few weeks ago.
Right before your Russian adventure you hit English roads with one of my favourite bands from Dublin, NIBIRU. How was it?
Yeah!! Right after the Russia to be exact. NIRBIRIBU or whatever they’re called were a great band to tour with. Great “lads” indeed. Brighton was probably my favorite city. We played a good show, had burgers with peanut butter and I even found some cool Finnish punk records from some record store. The show in Sheffield was really good too. The venue was Catholic Men’s society or something like that which was really odd place for a punk show. I could never imagine a venue like that in Finland. But yeah, we got burritos and THE FLEX ruled the show so nothing to complain about hah. Their bass player Andy was the first guy in the UK sharing my love for the almighty SACRILEGE!! Max Mitchell is the guy to thank for the best place to sleep on this tour. He even served us pancakes with peanut butter for breakfast, Great “lad”. The final show of the tour was in London and it was wild. UNHOLY MAJESTY and bunch of other bands played. They were good.
The shows in Southampton, Brighton and the other one in London were okay, but I’ll rather spend my time talking about the better ones hah.
Thanks to Nial for driving us. Conor for the hangouts. Everyone who booked a show and all that. NIBIRU gonna have a new record out called Oxygen Eater, it’s gonna rule. And of yeah, shout outs to VIOLENT REACTION too!!
Have you met any Polish guys over there? There are legions of us in the UK and its scene ;)
Only hung out with Mr. Adam Malik if I remember correctly. FORESEEN should definitely play more shows in Poland.
Agreed! By the way, both PAIN RUNS DEEP and INHERIT rule :)
How do you compare these two runs to your June tour last year?
Yes they do! These two trips were much better. I mean, I don’t even know where to begin with the European tour. First of all, we didn’t have Erkka, the guy who’s responsible for the majority of the FORESEEN riffing with us, so my long time friend Tatu filled in for him and saved our asses. Also our old drummer, Jonni was still in the band at the time. Touring was the last nail in the coffin of his motivation or something poetic like that and we parted ways with him shortly after the tour. By the time we didn’t even have a current release to promote, but I still think it was good thing to do, I mean we had good times with Upright and the locals. We didn’t have big expectations for our first mainland tour, so I see it more of like groundwork for future tours. Me and Mĺrten even spent a night in the van in Hamburg and we started talking that he should start playing drums for FORESEEN too and here we are now. This line-up is stronger and tighter and better in every possible way.
Did you play a lot of shows in between? How did Fall of 2012 treat you guys?
Not really. Only a few in Finland. Nothing special.
And you’re hitting the road once again this Summer. Two weeks, is that right? What places will you be conquering this time?
That’s true. I’m booking the tour right now, so everyone who wants to put up a show for us or help us in any other way just get in touch. ([email protected]) We got Helsinki, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Copenhagen, Paris, Toulouse, Nantes, Berlin, Malmö and Gävle booked this far, but there’s still a few more left to book. Can’t wait to play those shows.
Will you be partnering with another band for this?
We are doing it alone this time.
Any chance to catch up with you at this year’s Fluff Fest?
Nope. No one asked us to play there.
Have you ever attended this amazing gathering?
Yeah I was there in 2009 to see TRIAL, which was one of the craziest shows I’ve seen this far. Are these our lives? is such a great record.
Ok, and what about the period between today and the Summer tour? Any plans for some single shows?
We are playing a show in Gävle, Sweden in early May with STRIFE, HARDA TIDER and a bunch of others. We also got a few shows in Finland coming up. Really looking forward to “United Forces #2” we’re playing with RANGER, SPEEDTRAP and DISKELMÄ. True Helsinki Hardcore Metalpunk mayhem!
Alright, guys. You have recently put out a repress of your self-titled EP. How fast did it sell out? What were/are the numbers?
We thought it was a good idea to keep the 7″ available for the Russian dates, because Structural Oppression wasn’t ready yet. Of course there were some problems at the pressing plant so we didn’t get them in time Haha. Only 150 were pressed and we still got some copies of it.
Oh yeah, the Structural Oppression 7?. Tell me more about this release.
The first time I heard Maailmanloppu LP, I was blown away by the sound and production, so obviously we had to record at the same studio. We had two quite old songs laying around at that point, so I booked two days for November 2012 straight away. The recording process was a bit different than on the previous records, because this was an analog studio, which was something none of us had done earlier.
First we didn’t really have clue what to do with the recorded songs. “Absorb” was meant to appear on a compilation 7″ The Essence was doing, but when it got delayed, we just agreed to do a 7″ of our own instead. It was released in early February and there’s only a few copies left of it
What are some of the pros and cons of recording it this way?
The possibilities to patch up the mistakes in analog recording is much smaller, the band really needs to know how to play their songs properly. I guess that should be the case anyway before entering the studio, right? Sound-wise the difference between analog and digital recording is like comparing vinyl and cd. It’s safe to say that every classic record was recorded that way.
Are you trying to say you became perfect musicians and did this to show off? ;)
Yes. You got the point. Hah!
You’ve worked with Collision Records and Take It Back before. What other labels have you been working with? How and where will you be releasing your new outing?
We have worked also with a bunch of other labels in the past, but not anymore. I gotta say that TAKE IT BACK does the best job promoting their bands and records. We got much more attention with the new 7″ that we even thought of. Wouldn’t have been possible without them. All their releases look and sound perfect. Christian knows punk rock and hardcore and it’s safe to say that he doesn’t follow any trends with what he is doing. We got nothing but love for these guys. And everyone should buy the last copies of the new UPRIGHT 7″ from Collision.
Will do, sir.
Not, lets get to the point. Thrash or hardcore? What would you choose (and why) if you had to limit your style to just one? :)
Hardcore bands usually have better lyrics, more personal touch and more real emotions and attitude, but Thrash bands usually have more talent and song-writing skills and so on. What is that magical difference between a hardcore and a metal band? Honestly I don’t know, because both genres have influenced each other so much. There’s millions of bands who label themselves hardcore, without sounding anything close to SSD or KAAOS, but sound more like a bad death metal or some shit. I’m not the one to judge, but that’s what it is. The meaning of the terms just change over time. Can’t really wait to be an old grumpy man listening to the new kids talking about old school hardcore bands like Earth Crisis [laughs]. So the answer to your impossible question is: no Haha
Fair enough :)
When you were growing up what bands drew each of you to metal? What did you love about them?
We didn’t discover “Thrash Metal” because we saw some cool yankee guy in a Youtube video wearing a NUCLEAR ASSAULT t-shirt whilst stage-moshing. Do what you want, but don’t pose. We don’t. I really think that many of the bands playing this “style” dont dig deep enough into Thrash Metal and that’s why can’t pull it off.
Nice. How did you get introduced to hardcore punk? When did it appear real and attractive to you? :)
I started skateboarding in early 00’s when I was less than 10 years old. A couple of years from that my interest grew and I started checking out more videos and mags and I’m pretty sure I got it from there. I remember hearing ZERO BOYS, SLAYER, BAD BRAINS, MOTORHEAD, SUICIDAL, GRAY MATTER, DANZIG, COCK SPARRER and lots of other great bands for the first time through skatevideos. Of course there were some missteps along the way too, but that’s definitely from where I got it.
Personally, do you find it somewhat liberating being a part of this band?
Yes of course. That’s why I do this band. After working 40 hours a week, playing a show is the best possible release. Sometimes it causes a lot of stress too. Right now it feels like I got an endless list of things to do. We got a bunch of shows coming, A couple of songs left to finish for the LP, lyric writing, tour booking, merch printing and there’s also a couple other interviews going on. But when I get my ass back to the van or open the cardboard box full of new records I know it’s been worth it.
Alright, lets sum it up.. What do you have lined up for this Summer and the rest of the year. What can we expect from FORESEEN next?
We got a few Helsinki shows coming up. We are playing at BOLT’s record release soon. A week after that we’re doing a show called “United Forces”. SPEEDTRAP, RANGER, DISKELMÄ and us are playing. Two weeks from that we’re playing with KICKBACK. It’s gonna be an aftershow of the biggest Finnish metal fest, so I guess we can say we played a show with KING DIAMOND and BOLT THROWER then? We also got shows confirmed in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Copenhagen, Paris, Toulouse, Nantes, Berlin, Malmö and Gävle for the European Oppression tour. More dates coming soon. Check the internets for more info.
Ok, thanks so much for the chat, Mirko! Any last words for the kids out there?
Thanks a lot Karol, for spreading the word about FORESEEN. Check out BOLT, they have a new album called True Colors out in a minute. RANGER, SPEEDTRAP, DISKELMÄ, NO PART, UPRIGHT, MAAILMANLOPPU, PERIKATO, HORROS, FORCED KILL, URBANOIA, HARDA TIDER, THE FLEX, VIOLENT REACTION, TAKE OFFENSE, MINDSET and CONCRETE rules. Keep Punk in Hardcore. Less 5 panels and more boot to a face and probably more CRUCIFIX covers? Thank you.
Haha! Hope to see you somewhere, sometime! Thanks for your time!
FORESEEN Facebook
FORESEEN BigCartel
FORESEEN Bandcamp
FORESEEN Stereokiller
[email protected]
High quality live pictures by Roope Palve – the 15 years of Full House Records celebration in Helsinki!
