Local record company MTG were showcasing their pop and rock artists last week, and as we're ever so supportive of the local talent, RockUnited was there, represented by me and Mira. One of the highlights of the evening was te performance of GLITZ, a Turku-based hard rock band, who released their first album on MTG last year (review in the archives, 8 out of 10). We talked with Bass, the singer of the band. And no, contrary to what you might think, the band's bass player isn't named "Microphone"...heh.

I heard you were recently in Sweden working on your music?

Yeah, we were there working with a songwriter/producer Mats Stanfors, just to get a new angle on the songwriting. The trip was quite productive, he was a nice guy to work with and we managed to put together a demo for one song, all this in just few hours. Hopefully and most likely we'll continue collaborating. We have no final, concrete plans yet though.

Mats Stenfors doesn't ring any bells right away...

He was in Andreas Johansson's band, and has written a whole lot of songs for artists all around the world. He's a seasoned veteran in the music business.

What kind of a musical style can we expect from the second album?

Compared to our first album "Livin' Like A Bullet", the style will be more straight-forward rock. Surely the influences from the eighties will shine through, but mostly it'll be guitar-based rock. Less metal, more rock.

Who's been the main songwriter for this album? You and keyboardist Juuso Rantasalo were responsible for the first album?

Me. Juuso did bring in some song ideas, but about a month ago he announced that he'd be leaving the band, so we're going to be a 5-piece band from now on.

That's quite a radical change then...

Yeah, and that will effect the live sound of course, nothing else really.

Well, you never were that synth-based band to start with.

We weren't, and because of this change the next album will have even less keys, more guitars.

Juuso's backing vocals were a big part of your sound though?

We're enocouraging our bassplayer Pessy to taking a bigger share of the backing vocals, and this will help us to recreate the three-part harmonies.

Your video "Away From You" topped the Nordic Video Chart. That's quite remarkable. Is that show actually broadcasted all over the nordic countries?

I'm not so sure about it, I think it's shown in Sweden at least, but I don't know how the voting system works there. The chart position didn't really make that much an impact generally, but of course it was a boost to have a "Number One", so far it's our only chart position. The video did work for our benefit here in Finland, especially as it was shown in the popular "Levyraati" TV-show, which is just about the only show in prime time where they show music videos.

Do you have ideas for new videos yet?

Not yet. We're working hard on songwriting, and once we feel that we have a strong single candidate, then we'll start thinking about a new video. We are hoping to have a new single out in the autumn and a new album early next year.

Is the album available anywhere abroad?

I don't think so. We did start negotiations about the second one being released abroad, but this first one didn't reach that point. It did do us a lot of good here in Finland.

What about the gigs of summer 2004?

It looks frighteningly quiet, but we're hoping to have a few good gigs set up. The first album was released a while ago, and although we did get a decent amount of airplay, we didn't get a real hit single which would have helped to sell the gigs. It'll be easier to start organizing gigs when the next album is out.

You did have a rather unusual gig last weekend in Uusikaupunki though, advertised as Glitz and "Would you like to be a porn star"-competition. Did the latter have anything to do with your performance?

No no...we've played in that place before, and then there were male strippers performing downstairs...our hotel rooms were next to each others and they had a huge party in theirs.

So there's no "Glitz and Pornstar-wannabes"-tour going on?

Unfortunately not, It might be quite interesting.

Interview and photos by Kimmo Toivonen
(c)2004 RockUnited.Com