Rockers from a Faraway Land

Finland,starts its five-city tour in India to promote its new album Temple of Thought,its vocalist Marko Saaresto speaks about reaching out to India,song videos and their music at large. They will perform in Bengaluru,Delhi and Pune as part of VH1’s Handpicked,and later in Hyderabad and Kolkata.

You are one of the contemporary international bands popular in India. What do you think connects the music that comes from a distant land with Indians?

I don’t think I’d be able to point out what precisely connects with the Indian audience. But I believe our music is very atmospheric; it sucks people into it. We make music for the heart — it can move anyone,no matter how distant or faraway a place or people may be.

YouTube is a great place where we can check responses from across the world.

You had once mentioned the influence of India on your music following a trip to the country. Tell us more about it.

The first time we had come to India,it was sort of a cultural shock. But as we settled in after a day or two,we could see the stories around us. I can’t say whether the effect was spiritual or not,but they were collected in our subconscious and in some way or the other,found an outlet through our music.

Why are the videos of PoTF’s music such a significant aspect of the band?

It helps people understand our music and ideas better. Our music is anyway very cinematic. The video complements the music and the impact is very satisfying. Also,it helps to count your fans (laughs). You can see the number of hits and ‘likes’ on YouTube on your video.

Your music is classified under the alternative rock genre. How do you define yourself?

I wouldn’t like to classify our music. It’s a great advantage to be under something as broad as rock. People call our music various names,from cinematic rock to stadium rock. I’ll leave it to the audiences to define it.

Critics point out that your sound hasn’t evolved much.

I don’t know why and how that happens. We believe that the sound has to change and progress. Maybe,it has something to do with my voice,which is distinct and you immediately recognise it as a PoTF song.

A large part of your music is set in dystopia,escapism. Does that say anything about world view of PoTF?

When you are telling a story,it is important to keep enough space for everyone to interpret it in their own way. It’s,after all,a form of entertainment and we try to create a fantasy land for our audience where they can find their own stories.