Interview Jyrki 69 Eyes

Lineup: Jussi - Drums Bazie - Guitar Jyrki - Lead Vocals Timo Timo - Guitar Archzie - Bass

The 69 Eyes Damone HOB 3/12/06 Interviewer: Erika Kristen Watt

“Top or bottom!?!” these were the first words uttered to me by vocalist Jyrki Linnankivi (aka  Jyrki 69 of The 69 Eyes) after a mannerable hand shake followed by the international, respectable bow. The self proclaimed Helsinki Vampires may be a bunch of old souls but there’s nothing really vampiric about them in the least.

Jyrki n’ friends pay homage to what worked within good ol’ fashion rock n roll. “Rock n roll all night and party every day.” I was fortunate enough to have been granted a 20-minute time slot with the singer. I was also forewarned that although he was a fun guy (hence, the response to giving me first choice to sit on top a bar stool or a short folded chair) he had a mild case of ADD (I use the term very loosely!!!). He laughed nervously at his forwardness, “Just kidding!” My response: “On top, thank you. I’ll have more control that way!” He laughs hysterically. Jyrki’s tour manager takes on the responsibility of being embarrassed for him. International customs gets lost in translation and it is apparent that it becomes the running theme throughout this interview. His boyish, nervous persona was most enduring. This nervousness came across in his 20-minute ramble to the tune to where I couldn’t get another question in. Being the diplomat he is, his ramble provoked by who and/or what I am and how he appealed to me, the audience shows that he is an excellent spokesperson for those who don’t have a voice. Now, I’m intrigued. Read on…  

Erika: So you are literally smack dab in the middle of the US tour, playing in Chicago tonight.

Jyrki: Yes, yes.

Erika: Is it everything you’d expect it to be?

Jyrki: More! Like you’ve been telling the last couple of days which is pretty much true, the 69 Eyes has always been since the beginning like a sort of imaginary American rock n roll band. You know like, we recycle all this old school stuff which is sometimes even forgotten here. Ever since the good elements from 50’s rock n roll to 80’s garage punk rock, psychedelic punk rock to the 70’s New York punk rock and so on. Those other elements which are pretty much present in our sound in music and what goes on in my mind. A lot of these things seem to be a little while ago seem to be forgotten here. So we’re sort of recycling that stuff or bringing that stuff back here. So, in saying this, it feels like we are finally home as we’ve been doing this tour.

Even though at the moment we’re like this dark underground rock band. Everybody’s “secret”, everybody probably wants to keep it that way. It seems like, according to the feedback, for instance the presales for today like we are opening up the lid of our coffin more than probably the most hardcore underground people would want and on the other hand like I said we are finally home which is like really, really cool. Like occasionally we’ve been meeting fans, we want to meet fans so after we play we most likely, if we have time, we go to the merch stand to meet people and say hello. Tonight is actually an exception because we stop like 15 minutes before this place closes down, so that’s impossible. We’ve been meeting a lot of young kids early teenagers who are like really into our band. That’s the coolest thing. That’s really really cool. 

Erika: It’s appreciated I know…

Jyrki: That’s really nice. That’s nothing new. Because on the other hand like I said here we are like a little underground band touring and having warm response from people who know us most likely through internet. On the other hand, in Finland, we are like totally a mainstream band. With all this teenage magazine called Rage and posters and stuff. And we sell platinum there. Over the last five records have been selling gold and platinum there. Whatever we come up with a single, it’s always one of the most played song on the radio and so on. And so, there we have total mainstream of the audience, weather it’s rock people. And of course a lot of kids, the first five rows is always screaming teenagers.

Erika: [Laughs]

Jyrki: That’s always nice for over thirty year olds. Of course,… so that’s why we are called Helsinki Vampires. I know that was long answer but it’s hard to explain. But to make short, it’s like we are finally home. Doing the same tour that… Somehow, as we  had time we visited the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame…

Erika: Oh you did?

Jyrki: Yea!

Erika: Oh, what was your experience, how did you feel about that?

Jyrki: It was all new, as we had a long past and we are really big fans and fan boys more or like [less]. So, it was like no new news for us but in the way I sat down there and watched, like there was a couple of really nice films about the beginning of rock music. You know like how [trash] country and old rhythm and blues melted together and the train took it to Chicago and all that and what happened and then from Memphis, this guy started to sing about it. Or maybe earlier of course, in respect of who was first whose to say but it’s no big deal but it’s really spiritual experience in that way because I sort of feel like we’re doing the same tour of Rock n’ Roll and also like being able to go through the continent, in the same places that all that started. But we’ve been in The States before but not with the band in such a big way. To be in the Midwest, like to be in Chicago is a big for us. But on the other hand, actually, I wanna add that, [clears throat] I was in West Africa in Benin. And Benin is like where Vodou comes from. I was there like for a month and that’s where I wanted to take back some inspiration for our album, Devils. So, I wrote, there’s a song called "Hevioso" which is about like…

Erika: I was meaning to ask about that…

Yea, Hevioso is the vodou god of thunder in African vodou. That was really interesting and there’s this village which is called Whydah and that’s like on the coast of Benin and that’s like the “vodou town”. And that’s actually the place where like 15 million people were taken, brought by boats, here. So there’s still the houses and everything where the Portuguese kept the people and so on. So it’s really… There’s even the tree that those who were taken away they walked like seven times around the trees so they won’t forget where they are from. So like all theses places are still there. And there’s like this vodou forest and a lot of these things which are like really really interesting, I mean like vodou itself of course. One of the places is called Point of No Return. That’s the most beautiful beach and that’s the place that people were walking into water and climbing into boats. There’s big gate which was put there because as a symbol, as a ummm…

Erika: As a passing over?

Jyrki: Yea, it’s like now people go there to remember that it all happened there. So on the other hand, being a Scandinavian guy and just looking far away from all this history I couldn’t help thinking, there which was what I found really interesting that maybe talking about this Rock n Roll Hall of Fame and thinking a little about the history of rock music, maybe actually the real birthplace is like there, in that Point of No Return in Benin. In some ways...for reggae music, for American blues, pop…

Erika: You seem very worldly. There’s so few interviews of you out there. You literally hit on every question I was going to ask you.

Jyrki: Okay! We could talk for hours! So there was something interesting to have. So like in the song "Hevioso" we have some African [chimper] drumming and also original singing from my friends, [goth] musicians that made French with Albanian.

Erika: Really?

Jyrki: Yeah, yeah, and I don’t know if you know but I particularly went to Benin to draw some inspiration from there to this album Devils. Because you know coming from Scandinavian Finland it’s always been, I’ve always been in Europe being asked like you know ‘okay, you come from this dark part of Scandinavia so that...

Erika: ...so they believe you’re dark throughout!

Jyrki: Yeah, so ‘is that where the darkness comes out?’ So I thought fuck that’s so boring! Let’s go to the heart of darkness actually to find some different kind of darkness or dark side sort of aspects. I never thought, African music tradition, vodou. That I would get interested in that so much that I would want to use that for the album. That was like cleaver. That was something that no one has ever done before. Play like goth-rock still mixing it with like real African stuff. That was like the first thing. Later on, after that first African trip, I don’t know if you know but I’m a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador of Finland…

Erika: No I didn’t! Oh my God, when were you inducted? 

Jyrki: Yeah, that was like last August. So, I was like in Kenya in East Africa to have my first field trip. I rented a Kenyan/Somalian border to see how the local Nomadic tribes are living and what’s their progress. How they can’t get like, actually how important water is there so that’s something totally different but that was really cool from UNICEF having my kind of person as their spokesperson, Goodwill Ambassador, that actually like reaches a lot of different kind of audience, totally different kinds of kids. That makes it more interesting. Of course, I have all the respect to Sir Roger Moore with whom I’ve met and all this other group of Ambassadors. That’s something that’s another interesting side project that I have, you know. So, good guys don’t always wear white.

Erika: [Laughs]. Amen to that, brother!

Jyrki: Amen! [Laughs] Thanks cool.

Erika: For you to be this worldly and you bring all those elements into your music. How are you able to balance those two totally different lives?

Jyrki: Yeah, that’s something but I’m not like everybody else.

Erika: So I see.

Jyrki: I’m like five years ahead of my time. Maybe more.

Erika: How old are you exactly?

Jyrki: Oh I’m 37.

Erika: Really? Okay!

Jyrki: The 69 Eyes, we don’t wind up singing about evil things or something like that or desperate misery or something. It’s more like a cartoon image, kind of like tongue in cheek way. It’s more like Halloween everyday. It’s not like this deadly serious misery stuff. It’s more like dark rock n roll. For instance, hence, the album is called Devils; it stuck me as I was reading my old Marvel Daredevils issues. I use to be a big, ahhh ummm, I still am. I use to be a really nerd guy who was reading comic at home after school and actually I use to subscribe to American Marvel comics for like Daredevil…

Erika: You still have 'em under your bed?

Jyrki: Well, um, at my moms’ house. [Big laughter] [When] these movies came out I was like hey! I could be on to something…

This is where the recorder cuts out and the lights flicker. His energy was too much and I am retrieved by his tour manager. But not before he was able to inform me that he attended the University and has a Degree in Social Science. OHHH, yet another facet of this old soul. Hence, how he became a spokesperson for the UNICEF’s school campaign “Stolen Childhood”. “Stolen Childhood” is a campaign designed for schools and the beneficiaries are children in West-African Benin, who run the risk of becoming trafficked. Check out www.unicef.org to find out more about the cause and how you can make a difference. Sorry kids, I lost control of the interview. But I’ll make sure to answer questions for you guys when they come back through.  

We’d like to thank Jyrki’s camp and crew for the interview. Click here for photos of tonight's show!