In their career span, the band has performed in 15 countries, released seven albums, headlined festivals and toured with great blues legends. A documentary titled “Family Meeting,” which is based on the band’s 20th anniversary concert, was also nominated for the Finnish national film award, the JUSSI, in the feature documentary category, and is still being showcased at film festivals in Scandinavia.
It is the band’s first time in Asia as they are participating in the 6th Himalayan Blues Festival. The Week caught up with the band for an exclusive interview. The band spoke about their musical backgrounds, their expectations from the event and their take on Blues.[break]
How has your journey into music been like?
As we all come from the same town, we used to play music together as kids and performed in some of the school gigs as well. Our town also hosted music camps for young kids and by participating in such events, our interest for music grew even more. As we grew older, we started performing at local gigs, in various bars and restaurants. But forming a band happened without any planning as such. Through one of our band members, we got to perform in a gig in the US as well. With the musical background we had and our hard work, we found our way. It was 27 years ago that our journey in music started professionally and there’s been no looking back ever since.
How would you define Blues?
In older times, blues was all about entertainment. For instance, if someone arranged for a party, they would hire a blues musician and then everyone would stomp their feet and would sing along. Well, it still is a fun music. Blues is a form of expression for us. Many times, it’s associated with the bluesy feelings you have, the melancholy, the way your life has been. But it’s all about letting out your inner sentiments. The best thing about this genre is that the basic rules of playing are quite simple and you get to learn quite fast and jam together with people and it’s fun that way.
What does your band’s name signify?
The word “Wentus” originally comes from Latin and it means fresh air. We don’t know how that word ended up in our hometown but it’s become a part of our town as an area is known by that name. Our bass player’s parents also lived in that part of town and our first rehearsals also took place there. So the name has a special significance. But true to its meaning, we try to bring something fresh and original to the audience through our music.
What’s the scenario of Blues in your hometown?
In the whole of Scandinavia, Blues has developed quite a bit. We have many local associations of Blues music in various cities and they arrange for festivals time and again in various parts of Finland. Since we have lots of gigs happening, we get the opportunity to perform, and that’s one of the reasons how we started to play blues music in the first place itself. When we were young, the musical scene was dominated by punk and rock bands and they hardly had any gigs. But as we became a part of the blues music, we got the chance to explore our talents by participating in various events. There are lots of blues band in our country but not many of them are professionals. There are many organizations of blues, and generally in Scandinavia, there are many good musicians. So the level is quite high as well. The overall prospect is quite good as this genre has become popular worldwide.
What does basically inspire your compositions and music?
Our inspirations have basically been the good old blues music, including Reggae and Soul music. But we feel that it’s more fun to play blues than soul or any other kinds of music. We’ve been backing up with old Blues legends and been on various tours. So while playing together with them, we got to learn a lot as well. The great Bluesmen have different stories behind every song. So our music and compositions derive inspiration from their experience, too. Moreover, it’s life that inspires us as we live and learn each day. Blues is all about letting out your emotions and you basically play because of your feelings. So it just comes to you naturally. Unlike pop songs, our songs can turn out to be different every time we perform as we can alter the composition or the melody, depending on the situation.
(L–R) Olli Ontronen, Juho KInaret and Kepa Harkonen. Photo:Bhaswor Ojha
Can you tell us about your documentary, “Family Meeting”?
When we celebrated our 20th anniversary as a band, we arranged three shows in our capital Helsinki. We rented an old opera house where we invited musicians from all over the world with whom we had performed. They joined us for a week and we shared our stories and experiences. The documentary “Family Meeting” basically is about those moments in that week with concert footage and commentaries from our fellow musicians. It’s all about the bond we had, and our guest list included legends like the ex-Rolling Stone Mick Taylor, Kim Wilson of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Omar Dykes of Omar & The Howlers, Eric Bibb, Louisiana Red, Eddie Kirkland, to mention a few. The documentary even made it to the local cinemas and television, and it was a special thing for us.
Have you faced any challenges as musicians?
Well, we certainly have had our shares of ups and downs. But that’s a part of life. The career we are in isn’t a goldmine as you can’t really make a lot of money out of blues music. But you can definitely afford a kind of lifestyle on the road. The tragedy of this career is that we’ve lost many friends as we went along as they got into drugs or had problems. But that’s life and we also write songs about the things we’ve experienced, too. You need support from your family and friends as well, otherwise it’s hard to have the drive to move on. For us, the band has been more like a small family and that’s how we surpass any obstacles that come our way.
Since you’ve traveled worldwide and performed in various cities, what have your experiences been like?
We’ve had the opportunity to travel to different countries and each tour has been learning as well as a fun experience for us. We not only get to show what we have but get chances to see what other artists have to offer. We’ve traveled quite a bit with famous Blues musicians as well, and that has added more to the charms of Blues that we play. The main thing is that you should be open to all kinds of music and that’s how you can learn and improve, too.
What expectations do you have from the Himalayan Blues Festival in Kathmandu?
We’ve come here with an open mind to be a part of this event. So it’ll be just like going with the flow. We performed in a local blues club in Mumbai before we came here, and even here we came to know that lots of gigs take place on regular basis in Nepal and that people here are more open to Blues. So in that way, we can expect something positive. So far, it’s been quite nice. So let’s see how everything goes.
Related story
Nepal and Finland to cooperate to reduce climate-induced natura...