We Are In Such High Spirits – Stay Out of Our Way
The article written by Jukka Stenberg appeared in Finnish magazine Intro 7/1971, so before release of the first album of Haikara!
Translated and sent by Mikko Meriläinen, revised by Esa Järvi. Thank you guys!
Haikara’s fertile summer is in a ”good hay”. And as the grass is really high, who knows if we have here a new top band which has something to say even on an international level.
Haikara is formed by Note, TV and Markka.
Markka may be the best known of them. He is Markus Heikkerö, 19, whose surrealistic paintings have aroused fake sensations and hullabaloos. Having got training as a percussionist, Markka is now sitting behind Haikara’s drum set, keeping the band on the rocky road of rhythm.
Note’s real name is Vesa Lattunen, 22. He plays the lead guitar and sings. Original compositions to original English lyrics. So far, the intense sound of the band has been heard principally at the Lahti region where Haikara rises to its flights.
TV is thin and pale, long-haired bassist. Timo Vuorinen by his bourgeois name, aged 21. Haikara trains at his cellar lodgings. The flat is so small that there is barely room for the new vocal equipment and other musical gadgets. But despite the cramped conditions, or perhaps just because of them, music flies far away on the wings of Haikara. The cellar and everyday life are forgotten. The electric landscapes of the world in your eyes!
PLAYING TOGETHER MUST BE LIKE HONEY!
Haikara has already gained growing popularity at the school parties of Lahti and its immediate neighbours. In May the band visited Helsinki’s Wanha club at a spring jubilee of modern art.
The basic elements of Haikara’s music are familiar, with progressive pop as the starting-point. But a professional touch and the joy of playing are strong elements in the Haikara sound. Nowadays when Finnish bands are getting recognition abroad as far as in the USA, it is no wonder Haikara is on such a high level. They haven’t played together more than three months, but as the base is strong, you can get fast results.
Is Haikara going to record their own compositions?
- Of course. But we need not hurry. Making records is such an endeavour that you have to lay a strong ground before it’s worth getting into serious efforts, says Markka.
- And playing together must be smooth like honey by that time, states Note.
- Real artists always conjure gold out of nnothing, that’s the dream of all creative geniuses - to be an alchemist, that is. This is Haikara’s goal as well. There’s no reason to repeat things that have been already said once, explains Markka. – And even though nothing new is found, there’s always a new way to say old things!
- When you go far enough into the past, youu realise you’ve entered the future, comments TV. – This is an old conjuring trick that is used succesfully by many. Fashion is the most obvious and ridiculous example. That’s where you get fooled!
MUSIC COUNTERBALANCING THE MAKING OF PAINTINGS
- What’s the relation between music aand painting for you, Markka? Which wins?
- Both do. They are of advantage to each otther. Painting is so tough that it needs something for its counterbalance. In the old days artists tended to solve this thing by drinking. But that is tough as well and demands money or friends, at least. Playing is more fun!
And Note? Which is more fun, playing symphony or pop?
- Both are fun. Haikara is like your own chhild. There’s your own creative effort in it when you play things of your own. It’s quite a funny feeling when you notice that you can speak and you have a language of your own. Many things go better and life is more interesting when you stake your imagination.
WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT
TV doesn’t speak much. He thinks more or looks like thinking. I heard that he had spent a big part of his last years here in his cellar lodgings, underground. Interested in underground activities?
- I don’t know. Had some things that took time. Got to get things clear before starting to do anything. As Note called us together that was just something for me! It all went without saying.
And the future?
- To play and create good music, answers Noote. – And when the time is right we fly far away. I won’t reveal yet what Haikara’s bill carries then. But it is not a small thing.
- I believe that we are still doing fine, ssays Markka. We have such high spirits that stay out of the way. And people are about the same all around the world. If you’re succesful here why not elsewhere as well? And by no means forgetting here, it’s alright to play here, but the market is so small.
- And when you go far away to get somethingg it will be noticed better here, too, declares TV.
- That’s why it’s worth going ffor a small gig outside Finland if you can, as going there itself is something.
As we can see, Haikara’s summer is in a ”good hay”. And when the grass grows high, who knows if we again have another band that has something to say even on an international level.
Along with Wigwam and Tasavallan Presidentti!
Jorma Kaukonen is doing very well in Jefferson Airplane, so it’s no use being shy anymore, and to stay playing at these home quarters.