A Musical Renaissance
An exit from metal and a journey into the underground scene of Finland
I had a weird break-up with (metal) music in 2023.
If you don’t know much about me or my history in the music scene in Finland, that’s because my foolish choices to avoid networking were successful. I started doing journalism professionally in 2011 for Musicalypse.net after writing little gig reviews for my own amusement for a few years, but I never really wanted to get to know people in bands. This is because, when I first moved to Finland in 2009, I learned about a bunch of new bands when I met new people; as well, a lot of my favorite bands were from Helsinki, so if I hung out at metal bars, I had the chance to meet some of them. Maybe it was because I wasn’t used to how coldly Finnish people receive new people, or maybe it’s because regardless of that, the Helsinki metal scene has always been, if I may say, pretty gatekept and snobby, but one way or the other, it ended up leaving a rather bad mark on me and I didn’t feel much compulsion to interact with artists. I didn’t want to fall in love with bands and find them to be rude, so I simply went to shows and wrote my reviews and called it a day. I didn’t even bother with interviews unless one of the previous owners/photographers, Jana Blomqvist, wanted to meet someone (she’s never much liked the act of conducting an interview, so I was usually the words guy and she was on the cam).
I took over as editor-in-chief after a year, remade the whole website… you know the story, gave the whole place a facelift, rebuilt the reader base… and ultimately merged with Tuonela Magazine in 2021 so I could collaborate with a like-minded person rather than having a friendly nemesis. Plus, not having to be in charge of everything was pretty nice. But by this year (that’s 2023, for anyone reading back), even that wasn’t working for me anymore. I had a handful of strange moments where I felt very disrespected by people whom I’ve only ever helped out and I just felt like… maybe this isn’t where I belonged after all. The more I thought about it, the more I just felt like the metal scene was starting to turn into a direct metaphor of my relationship with alcohol…
Back in 2018, I had a little (re: a lot) too much to drink and realized the next day—when I was so ill that I had to pass on my ride home from the north of Sweden—that I had poisoned myself and it was no one’s fault but my own, and if I never wanted to feel that way again, the answer is simple: never drink that much again. I’m pleased to say that I haven’t (I’ve actually had only one hangover since 2018), as I’ve found much more enjoyable things to do with my recreational time. I do like to have a drink now or then, I feel no compulsion to avoid alcohol entirely, but I’m in a place where two drinks is enough to make me start getting sick of it, and more than that already puts me at risk of vomiting, because my body tends to like to train me out of accepting things that my brain dislikes (funny little trick, eh?). I still make my own faux umeshu, I still have a lot of favorite drinks, I still love a good rum, but generally speaking, alcohol and the relationship people have with it (especially in Finland, where probably 1/4 of my friends have a serious drinking problem) bums me out and I don’t want to spend my time drinking or supporting drinking culture anymore.
This is a perfect metaphor for my relationship with the metal scene. There are still plenty of bands that I love and want to support (like Merta) and whom I’m extremely happy to work with/for, but I’m really not that interested in doing journalism anymore, especially since I’ve been able to start writing about going to shows on this site, and have a (barely) more lucrative time selling merch.
But much like with recreational relaxants, I’ve found a new way to experience music that I’m finding suits who I am these days much better. I’ve been seeing more small-scale clubs in the indie and psych scenes and am starting to find myself having some sort of musical renaissance. The more I see groups or individuals who are deeply talented in small venues, the more happy I feel.
The first time I felt this unhinged sense of joy was when my friend Vincent and I were at a Frozen Factory show and the guitarist couldn’t reconnect to his amp fast enough after the Bluetooth battery died, so he grabbed the mic and sang his solo instead. It was such a magnificent moment of on-the-spot improvisation that impressed the hell out of me and made me burst into a maniacal grin that I couldn’t shake off for a day or two.
I felt it again when I went to Kosmos Festival this year. Not because of the music, necessarily—though I was really pleased with most of what I heard and found a lot of fantastic new acts to check out—but because of the people I met. I had bought a flannel vest-hoodie at Kosmos in 2022 and by 2023 realized that I didn’t think I was going to wear it, so I opted to list it online and mentioned that if anyone was coming to Kosmos this year that we could arrange a pick-up there. A guy was interested in taking me up on that, so I even agreed to wash and seal it, because the guy who wanted it had cat allergies. No problem, we managed to find each other by the entrance gates and he was delighted. But more than that, a friend of his came bounding out of nowhere and thanked me for arranging this sale, for washing the vest, called me beautiful, and asked if she could hug me. I was pretty knocked out of my shoes because I am not used to Finnish people being so open and friendly. That stuck with me for… well, frankly, I’m still getting a smile out of that and it’s been half a year since it happened. She kind of made my year, in a way.
Then, since I made a friend in the indie scene this year, I opted to go check her out with some other local acts back in November. I had an amazing time and made the acquaintance of so many nice people that once again I left feeling quite warm and welcome in a way that I am unused to in the metal scene. Between that and the Love Potion Psych Fest, also in November, I had a great time checking out all of these underground artists and taking their recommendations for other underground artists; every single time, I discover something amazing and new. For example, I’ve become acquainted with Emmy June through Helena Haaparanta, and through her, I’ve discovered Susanna Syrjälainen, and by following her shares online, I also discovered Viitasen Piia. Through Helena, I’ve also discovered Johanna von Hertzen, and through that, also discovered Vies Vignette fully by accident. From going to see Pihka Is My Name, I also discovered Jekaterina X. I also had an awesome time seeing Heikki Hänninen doing a pub show, whom I learned about at the aforementioned psych festival; I suspect that if I keep an eye on him, I’ll be able to find more blues and jazz in Helsinki as well! It’s also worth mentioning that not one of these artists has asked me to write about them… which is exactly why I’m so happy to do it!
I’m starting to think that our species has lost track of what music was meant for and I find myself really envious of Irish and (maybe) British pub culture, where you have local artists come in and play 45 minute sets with 15 minute breaks for 4 hours or however long. Not to imply that musicians shouldn’t make a living out of what they do, by any means, but I’m starting to suspect that the moment an artist reaches some degree of mainstream fame, they also lose a bit of their magic, before the official selling out for the masses happens later on. Or perhaps it’s that fame ruins everything… I mean, look at how they portrayed Elton John’s life in Rocketman—the more famous he got, the worse his addictions and problems got. Yet I see so few musicians who take this as a cautionary tale and try to do better or try to do things differently. Most of the bands I know get arrogant or weird after they reach a certain level, but the indie/underground/psyche scene? It’s just full of people who are happy to find people to share their music with. I love that and it makes me feel like there might be a place for me in the music world still, which is a hopeful feeling after a big break-up that left me feel like I lost 10 years of my life. Maybe all of that music journalism wasn’t for naught after all.
I suppose we’ll see, but for now, my plan is to keep following the trail of shares between artists to see what kind of wild and weird shows they lead me to seeing. I also hope to attend more of Love Potion’s clubs and generally have as many new experiences with music as I can. While I’m sure there will be a few stadium shows that I see in the next year, I’m hoping that I’m seeing most of my events in dive bars and tiny venues, because that’s where I’m having the best time.
And, to wrap this up, here’s a list of local artists that I think you should check out!
Helena Haaparanta
Frozen Factory
Johanna von Hertzen
Emmy June
Buko Shane / Heikki Hänninen
Pihka Is My Name
Jekaterina X
Bambi L.
Julye Blom
Vies Vignette
PS - here’s a link to a playlist I’ve been making from these discoveries!
