WL 373 - Sunday, July 29 - 10pm
Purveyor of: extra letters

Thrust into the interviewing coliseum with only a keyboard and a MySpace page as his weapons Miles Baker was charged with the task of taming the Llions in their first group interview. Let's see how he did.

Why spell Llions with two L's? Was this a typo that took on a life of its own?

Satu: Why not spell Llions with two L’s?

Jarkko: It’s a text-hook. The extra L makes the name more memorable. 
Matt: Our name with two L's - The more the merrier? To differentiate us from that animal crowd? A subtle recognition of our twin sirens?

Was part of the reason that you knew that if you got big that you'd have a really cool name for your fans -- the pride -- that would be much better than "The Kiss Army?"

Suvi: We actually pride ourselves in calling us (that being the band) the Pride! But I suppose our fans can also be called The Pride! Or, the PPRIDE! Headline: "Llions Playing For The Ppride Tonight" Or something to that effect. I'm not a great headline writer...
Satu: Haha. Well that was actually a bonus. A cool bonus at that. A cool bonus that Jarkko thought of. Yeah Jarkko!

Jarkko: That was accidental, but quickly realized once we settled on our name. Not sure if the fan club would be Pride or Ppride, but maybe it means we’ll get invited to play a lot of Pride festivals?

Matt: The Pride - It would be hard to top the "Kiss Army," but does the "Kiss Army" purr when you pet their belly?

I enjoy that on your MySpace that you say that your influences are everyone you've met until now. Can you talk about some of the people who have influenced your music who are not musicians?

Suvi: Well, Jarkko usually writes and composes the songs. However, each individual band member brings a little something of their own to the music. Of course we bounce ideas off each other, and are always willing to try something new and different. So, when you talk about people who have influenced our music who aren't musicians, I think that Jarkko would be best fit to answer that question. But if I were to mention anyone, I would have to say Tom Thompson of the Group of Seven [Owen Sound represent! – ED]. I love his artwork; the way he depicts nature, and the colours, hues, tones, and textures. I also love nature, which is why I appreciate Thompson's art. I find inspiration for the harmonies particularly for the slower and more mellow songs in nature, found both in Thompson's paintings and in real-life. It brings me back to the times I've been surrounded by nature, particularly at Algonquin Park and Georgian Bay (a few hours North of Toronto).


Satu: Everyone I’ve ever met influenced me, and everyone I’ve never met as well. Random people on the street influence me. Just seeing how people interact and react is so amusing and inspiring.

Jarkko: Maybe the real answer is that the most influential non-musicians have been my friends that really couldn’t get into any of the metal or math-rock bands I used to play in.

Matt: Non-musical influences - Tough question. I've got nothing ... sorry

In March you were distributing your CDs for free. Are you trying to bring about the end of our capitalist system? What is the deal with that?


Suvi: We just want to get the word out (the music out, in this case). First, we'll give people free CDs to get them hooked, then hopefully in the future they will be willing to pay for our CDs. That's the deal. Deal or no deal.)


Satu: Everyone loves a freebie.

Jarkko: They’re just CD-Rs and we’re still handing them out. Maybe if they were painted and packaged up all nice they’d be worth a few bucks?

Matt: Free CDs - In this early stage of our existence any way we can get people to listen is a good way. I figure if MySpace is free, then think of the CDs as a lazy man's/woman's MySpace. Albeit at a higher cost to us, if we can get people hooked on the free shit then we can count on our capitalist compadres to ante-up when we slap a price tag on our next release.

As a group you're fairly young, how did the group come together?


Suvi: It all began last summer when Satu, Jarkko, and I would get together just to jam some Low songs. We had fun with that all summer long, and then Jarkko started introducing some of his own compositions. We all liked the idea of becoming a band, as well as using Jarkko's original compositions (and maybe some Low covers) for our music. So then began the quest for a drummer. Luckily enough Matt was willing to join us (he is also in China Jean with Jarkko). We then decided on a name, and since then have been called Llions!


Satu: It was almost like magic. Well, honestly Suvi, Jarkko and I just jammed a bit last summer and it kept going from there. Jarkko would write songs that we would play, and before we knew it Matt was in the picture jamming with us too. Great fun!

Jarkko: I’ve always wanted to make music with my sisters and after we found ourselves singing songs we all liked, we moved on to singing some songs I had kicking around. Once we started composing new material last winter it was evident that we needed another element and I had already been playing some new ideas to Matt who I play with in China Jean. He got on board pretty quick and with him on drums we were finally complete.

Parting words, future plans, warnings to the public at large?

Suvi: This still feels very surreal! We had our first show this past Sunday, I'm doing my first interview, and we have more shows lined up. It's all very extremely exciting. Look out indie-world, here come Llions, proud of their Ppride!


Satu: Thanks for your support. I know, I know it’s so cliché, but honestly it’s true. We would be nowhere without all your llove and ssupport! Future plans: for now more shows and maybe do some more recording and writing. Warnings: wwatch out Llions are coming!

Jarkko: More shows, more recordings.

Matt: Parting words: rrrrooooaaarrr!

By Miles Baker