INTERVIEW
HEARTBREAK STEREO
by Sascha Gill, January 2007

Hey Antte how are you?

I'm good thanx, life seems to start going in the right direction.

Tell me about the band. Who are the members and where are you from?

The three of us are from a smalltown in Finland called Pargas. We've all been in bands for as long as I can remember. Robin joined in on bass guitar in late 2004 and that's when HBS took of. Affo has been beating the drums with me for 15 years now... yeah I play guitar & sing. We play somekind of energetic punk rock´n´roll/street punk.

How come you call yourselves Heartbreak Stereo?

I not quite sure, guess 'cause alot of the songs I write aren't really "happy songs"? We had a bunch of ideas but this one kind of felt right.

Tell me about how HBS got together.

As mentioned Affo & I have played together for 15 years but our bands never really took us anywhere. We got Robin to join us cause he had the same ideas as us on what we wanted to do musically. We rehearsed a few times and played our first show 2 weeks later.

You will release your full lenght record "Echo Road" on february 7th, tell me what we can expect.

You can expect a whole lot! For those who got our first record, you can expect faster, angrier & louder songs. For those who haven't heard our earlier stuff, well you´ll love it! It's energetic, catchy & all that it's suppost to be.

I'm really excited about your record because I love the song "Struggling Soul" so much! The beginning of the track reminds me a bit of Dropkick Murphys! So tell me, what are your influences?

In the band we listen to everything from old Clash & Pogues records to Foo Fighters and from bands we've played with to all the good old punk bands like Rancid, DKM, Street Dogs, Bombshell Rocks, Bronx & so on...

Have you been getting any reviews of the new album yet?

We haven't yet got "Echo Road" reviewed but our old record got nothing but good reviews all over Europe. So I think this one should do even better.

What are the most inspiring things for you when you write songs?

Hope. I mostly out of frustration & despiration.. I seem to write less when I feel good..

What is the meaning of the title "Echo Road"?

"Echo Road" is the name of the street I lived on while living in Canada. And that's what the last song "Chemical Valley" on the album is all about.. leaving all your friends behind to be a memory... so it's also our expression for going down memory lane.

I saw you the last time on tour with Born To Lose! Tell me about expierences you got from that?

Those two weeks were the best! We had so much fun with BTL from day 1. I wish all the bands we play with would be so easy to get along with. On that tour we got see alot of autobahns & free beers. We also got to be tourist once in a while. All I can say is we experienced a whole lot!

Tell me about the reactions of the people about HBS on tour?

People down there in europe were great. And they really seemed to enjoy our set. We sold a bunch of t-shirt and cd's so alot of the people at the shows had to like us. People there were more open than here in Finland so a lot of people came up to talk to us & made us feel good.

What's the best show you have played?

I really liked the show in Bocholt cause the venue was packed and we shared a couple bottles of jägermister with BTL, signed cd's & stuff.. Another great show was in Sölvesborg, Sweden in early 2006...crazy swedes.

Will you be touring again to support the new record?

We'll tour Finland this winter & probably Sweden in spring. I think will do some kind of europian tour as well in 2007 but I'm not sure when.

Do you have a favorite band you like to share the stage with?

Many.. I'd like to share the stage will all the bands in my record collection and of course with our friends' bands.

Tell me the plans for the future.

Right now we're concentrating on 2007. We're gonna play as many shows as possible in and out of Finland. We might release some splits later this year as well. We can't start thinking about "the future" right now cause there's a whole lot to be done right now. But touring is what we wanna do so I guess that's our plan.

I wish you all the best for the future guys! I love your music! Thanx for answereing the questions! Anything else you like to add?

Thanx & no problem. I could add that we have distribution all over Europe so once the record is out go and get it!!!



Links:

http://www.heartbreakstereo.com

http://www.myspace.com/heartbreakstereo