INTERVIEWJUSSI SYREN
by Christer Davidsson, July 2007
Hey Jussi! You're one of the first bluegrass/country musicians I've heard from Scandinavia that actually sounds good. For how long have you been doing this?
I've been into roots music since late seventies. My first commercial recording was in 1981.
How come you decided to start playing this kind of music? Do you think there's some kind of similarity between Finland and the wild west?
My parents use to listen a lot of American music when I was a kid. I guess I got the bug from there. In the late seventies/early eighties there was a big rockabilly boom in Finland and I got involved with it. That led to bluegrass and country music. Yes, the Finns are pretty wild from time to time, especially when a bit drunk, but I never really thought of any similarites though.
What are your influences, what artists do you look up to?
There are so many of them... just to mention a few:
Jimmy Martin - the King of bluegrass
George Jones - the greatest singer ever lived
Carl Perkins - He was my idol when I was a teen ...and still is.
I know you sing and play the mandolin. Do you play any more instruments on your recordings?
I play guitar. I also play electric guitar on my rockabilly recordings.
Is there room for this kind of music up here in the north? Are people putting up shows?
There's always room for good music. I make about sixty bluegrass gigs a year - approximately once a week. Most of them in Finland, but we've made tours in USA and many European countries.
Finland is sort of a metal country, am I right?
Heavy metal is very popular in Finland. There are many world famous metal bands in Finland such as HIM, Nightwish, Amorphis etc.
You have a HIM-tribute record out. How did you come up with that idea?
Some US groups did metal tributes. I would make a try and decided to tribute a Finnish band instead of US or UK group. I've never really done any "hipie-stuff" - so it was a learning process for me and the group
Tell me about your latest record "Most Requested".
There songs are from our earlier now out-of-print recordings. We made all new versions of some of our most requested numbers with some guest vocalists and musicians.
Where can people get a hold of your records?
The recordings are available on Goofin Records www.goofinrecords.com. They ship anywhere.
Have you been doing a lot of touring?
Mostly in Finland, but we've done some tours in US and central Europe.
You've had the opportunity to play in the U.S. How was that compared to play in Finland?
The bluegrass audience is a bit older than in Finland especially in festivals, but still there's not much difference. The Finns might be a bit more rowdy. I think music is international language and there's not much diffence between the audiences around the world.
Any shows in Sweden?
Yes, many times. Chances are thet we'll be on Torsåker bluegrass festival July ..08
What kind of people usually show up at your shows?
There's lot of variety in age and genres: bluegrass & country-music fans, rockabillies, and roots music people in general. One big group is "mr. & mrs average" - the fans of Jussi Syren & The Groundbreakers, but not connected to any sub-genre.
Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions! Good luck with everything. Is there anything you'd like to add before we say Good Bye?
Thank you for supporting real music. I hope to see you all in Sweden some time.
Thanks again!