RockUnited checked out Brother Firetribe at Nosturi, Helsinki, on a nice summer day on 2nd of July. At the same time the Finnish metal crowd filled the streets of Helsinki, as the Tuska-festival was starting its last and third festival day. Firetribe-guys also checked out the festival on Friday, but decided to rest a little on Saturday, a day before the video shoot. "One Single Breath" marks the making of their first video together and is a "live"-video, shot in front of audience in the Nosturi stage. Finding the audience for the video happened through various medias, through friends and word of mouth. Already early on Sunday morning the most anxious fans were waiting to get inside to Nosturi for the shoot and meet the band, but there was still a few hours of waiting, until something was going to happen. The Firetribe-guys had already been at the scene early on and working, but the drummer was still missing.

Brother Firetribe started out as a four-piece band, including Pekka Ansio Heino (lead vocals), Emppu Vuorinen (guitar), Tomppa Nikulainen (keyboards) and Jason Flinck (bass, backing vocals), but their video fill-in drummer Kalle Torniainen has now taken the drummer spot for good. Kalle arrived to the video shoot straight from the airport, but being a little bit late didn't really matter. The band was having trouble finding a new make-up artist, since the booked person couldn't make it to the shoot. After a few calls all over places all worries were gone, and Kalle, along with the make-up artist, found his way to the shoot too. By now the clock was ticking almost five in the afternoon.

While waiting for the sets to be completed and something to happen at the scene, the guys spent their extra time at the small and hot backstage. Having gained fame at the Brother Firetribe Forum, Jason's shiny chromium bass was a talk of its own already at the backstage. But no matter how hard it shined through the day, nobody walked out blind! The backstage catering worked alright for the guys, filling their stomachs and their fridge was bursting with different liquids. Not all alcohol, mind you, and most of it went down the throats of the thirsty audience later on, who along with the band were sweating hard under the army of lights. While the other Firetribe-guys were restlessly moving around, Emppu mostly relaxed and hardly moved from his comfy couch at the backstage, toying around with his laptop and cellphone. The band hardly seemed anxious with their humourous conversations. While Jason's US-imported bass (through the help from Emppu) drew attention, Emppu was second to none with his gear. One of his guitars is the white ESP, which I personally like a lot, but Emppu referred to its colour, being the typical ironic Emppu he is, as "kusenpolttama", roughly translated as "pissburned" (say Washburn?!). Well, his guitar has seen some rough days and isn't all shiny and innocent white anymore, but still looked fine enough.

As the make-up and the guys' hairs were done and the pyros and all were in place, it was time to call in the audience. The normal Nosturi stage included a "catwalk" in front, so the band members were able to walk more, show off more and get closer to the audience, that filled both sides of the catwalk. The crowd was given orders from the director how to move in the video, and all it took was clapping hands together. Clapping hands doesn't sound "metal" really, but when viewing the final version of the video the atmosphere is great, fitting well with the bands '80's sound. The band played "One Single Breath" completely through a few times with the crowd, and already after the first take the whole room had turned into a sauna from the lights and pyros. After taking ten-minute breaks, everyone was ready for another take and the band looked fresh again.

The crowd was colourful, but only a few nice faces are seen in the video, which otherwise is a show of hands from tens of excited people. The spirit in the venue turned surprisingly emotional and the crowd actually reacted to the shoot like they were meant to. The excited and cheerful crowd showed genuine feelings and the mood made the band give their 100 percent to both the crowd and the shoot. The guys seem like big stars on the video, they were very easy-going on stage, giving great vibes for the crowd with their huge smiles and bursting with such energy, that the stage seemed way too small for them. As Emppu and Pekka took the catwalk and reached for the crowd, most of the crowd wasn't acting, when they tried grabbing their hands, legs or guitar. And the showman that Emppu is, he even threw some guitar picks to the crowd, doing just what he does while playing with Nightwish. Everyone was all smiles, Jason was shining together with his bass and doing tricks and Tomppa w as so into playing his keys, that at times he seemed like taking off on flight with them. Drummer Kalle was the hardest to spot from the back, but he was drumming away crazy and also giving his best. All this was done a few times, what a rush! And like the greatest shows, loads of confetti poured on people at the end of the song.

Right after the work was done, the audience was treated with beverages and the band took time to chat with their new and old friends, along with signing things and taking photos. The fans were very pleased of the attention and the band was as easy-going as on stage, so it was all worth of taking the time to participate. What a way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Participating on the shoot seemed like an easy task and it didn't take that much time from the audience to do their part, but the hardest thing was one thing you hardly would think was hard at all. That was the only thing asked from the crowd to do, clap their hands together. No one hardly claps their hands at a metal show for minutes without a break, so it was hard to imagine beforehand how hard it was gonna be. While resting between the takes, the simple exercise showed the results in tired hands and shoulders. But the toughest job went to the band, who put hours of work into it, not to mention the film crew, sets designers and all. When you see this extremely cheerful and rocking video, it's hard to believe how much effort was put into it. So take a glimpse into the Firetribe-world, a place of joy, warmth and hope. All said with one single breath; what a band!

Check out the video and more from:
MySpace
Brother Firetribe
Spinefarm BFT Forum

Report by Satu Reunanen, satu [at] rockunited.com
Pictures by Kari Helenius, carda [at] metalphotos.com
Metalphotos
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