Continued…
HRH: Tell me more about the video ‘Night on Fire.’ How did you come up with the whole choreography and locations setting?
Olli: We combined our effort with the video director, but mostly the work on the video production and the location was all his idea. He was just taking the imagery out of the lyrics-context and album cover. Originally that was the idea just for the record cover, but we thought how all would look if we transfer that on the video. So that was the whole idea of painting the faces.
HRH: Last time, you said that before every tour you all have to work hard to keep fit. Are you still going to the gym to keep those biceps intact?
Olli: Well, you have to keep yourself fit for the tour. Now days when records are not really selling, bands are constantly on tour, like touring never ends! (Laughs) This is surprisingly short tour, but last time when we toured in Europe we have like eight shows in a row and before that we had four consecutive shows in a row. It was like one after the other, with no break, so it was really hard on your physique. You need to be fit in order to survive and carry on and to give maximum performance! It’s not like we follow any strict regime, like must go to gym every day. At least for myself, I do it because I wanna feel good and deliver the best on our shows.
HRH: …and of course throw some more impressive high kicks on stage. (Laughs) In the past you’ve been often compared to David Lee Roth and Michael Monroe. I read somewhere, that one of your fans said “If David Lee Roth had a lovechild anywhere in the world, then Olli Herman must be one of his illegitimate sons! I mean, the voice, the screams, stage kicks and usually ‘the chosen one’ when it comes to women!”?
Olli: (Laughs) Hmm… I hear this a lot! Well, for the record, my mother has never been into Van Halen or in any way come close to David Lee Roth! So I hardly doubt that I am his illegitimate child! (Laughs) I mean yeah, Van Halen and David Lee Roth been huge influence for me, but Hanoi Rocks not so much. I didn’t even know who Michael Monroe was until I saw him on the sleeve of the ‘Use Your Illusion 1’ with Guns N’ Roses. I remember thinking, ‘this guy looks cool, what does it do’? I looked on the credits and found out that he plays harmonica and saxophone that he is Finish and he is from Hanoi Rocks! I have never been into that kind of music, he is more of a punk rock and I like more heavy metal! Van Halen kind of stuff! The think was that Hanoi Rocks were dead and buried by the 1985 and I was two years old so I didn’t know anything about the band. Also around that time Michael Monroe lived in America so there was no press coverage of him or the band in Finland until he came back in the late 90’s. Since then I met him few times and he really is one of the nicest guys! We played on the same Festivals and I did found out all about who really is Michael Monroe. I mean I have great respect for this guy for the way he is still handling it all! To keep up with all what he still does on stage at his age is amazingly impressive! I am in my 30’s and I have to work damn hard to keep fit so I can do all those splits on stage without serious damage on my knees. (Laughs) He is still doing splits and stuff effortlessly! So, of course I look up to him and admire his professionalism and true passion for what he does!
HRH: You mentioned recently that beside Van Halen, Axl Rose was a guy who was mostly responsible for you getting into hard rock and heavy metal?
Olli: He did more than that for me! I mean he was the first rock star I ever saw. I saw this Live in Japan video and that was actually from where I took those high kicks as well! I saw this video and thought, ‘Wow, I like to do all those kicks.’ I never rehearsed or took any training. I just started doing them my way and I am paying the price for that now (Laughs) I have surgery on my left knee and my right knee actually making those cracking noises all the time (Laughs)
HRH: Have you heard how Michael Monroe broke two ribs while hitting a metal barrel in front of the stage during his performance with Slash in Tokyo, back in 2010? True to himself, he carried on with the show!
Olli: You have to if you are true professional like Michael. I remember I fell from one of those stage stands and I remember it did hurt, but I keep on going because you can’t feel it much when you are high on adrenalin! I mean you feel it later (Laughs)
HRH: When you look back on everything you have done with Reckless Love, what would be the biggest highlight for you so far?
Olli: The whole career‘s been fucking highlight for me! (Laughs) I never expected to live of this. You know, as I said at the beginning; we’re just bunch of fools from Finland! When the first record came out, that was like dream come true for us! After that things start happening for the band, people start talking about us … all those magazines and our faces on the front page! Then we did a whole headlining tour in the UK, and so on! It was like, ‘what the fuck is going on!?’ (Laughs) After that as you go along, you get more hungry and more ambitious. So now-days we like to push ourselves making a step further. All it comes down to; ‘so what can we do to get there’?’ Getting a hit on the radio in the UK and getting a tour in the States! Instead of Venues playing in Arena, big Stadium for the massive audience! More Festival shows… I mean it’s the greatest thing for any band when you know that people want to see you back!
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