Original subtitles

Yo, what the fuck are you doing in here, we're rehearsing.

This is a rehearsal for the upcoming album

we're going to record next week.

This is the first time in two months.

Feels strange to go into the studio in couple of days.

It feels like a long time ago

It feels like 2 months ago but it's 10 years on,

so it's... it's strange.

Just writing some lyrics because we have a new song coming up

and, er, there's nothing to it so far.

So I just have to...

think out the best I can.

What's it about?

Heat seekers and bleeding girls,

you know, the regular stuff.

Normally bands practice at least you know

like 2-3 weeks before

just straight practising before going to the studio.

That's not us, we don't need to, we're so fucking good.

We'll have a couple of drinks and then everything's gonna

turn out nicely.

Turned out good, good.

Now this is our time but it's still dark, depressing and

you get this fucking rain.

Every single day.

The only thing that keeps us going is the music.

Otherwise we would be like flat out just destroyed.

But also too like living in a shitty weather place,

like probably one of the biggest things I can imagine that keeps

you here is all your friends.

Exactly,

because then you've got friends that understand you.

If you move and you take the mentality that you have

that you can't you can't get rid of anymore because

you grew up here,

and you go some place else you won't find people that are

like you or at least understand you on that level.

So, so in a way you are stuck, you can always travel and go and

come back but still

you need to find a true thing to understand how fucking fucked

up that actually is.

In the western side of Finland it's more related to

western Europe, for example Sweden is more easy listening

music, more light music, like ABBA, you know.

But other part of Finns are from east,

so that music is more or less, more melancholic.

Not depressed but in a way

sort of mood that it's not so lively

or happy all the time.

And that reflects I think also the attitude to metal music.

Gloom people, gloom music.

But we enjoy that dark side of the music also.

We're here in Helsinki, Finland at the Tuska festival.

It's gonna be 3 days of pure fucking metal. We got bands here

like Carcas, Slayer, Morbid Angel and...

The list is ongoing.

That's all you need, you got beer, you got hot women,

you got all these crazy motherfuckers just here

for one thing and that's pure fucking mayhem.

So, enjoy!

You know the metal music it's generally speaking really

mainstream in Finland. Album charts, metal music

there like top 10, there's bound to be at least like

5 metal bands there.

I didn't even think it's weird until I started getting people

asking me in interviews 'and how come metal

music is so big in Finland?'

They like their metal, that's all there is to it.

And they're bored?

I think it's just one of those things you can't really explain,

it just sort of progressed to what it is.

Finland has better beer too, way better.

Is that a bear?

The thing is this is downtown Helsinki,

and er,

you got this heavy metal festival in the heart

of the city.

You got the train station like 50 metres up there.

You got the festival...

It's insane,

and there's still of course struggling with the noise

permit, it goes on till 10 and after that it has

to shut down but this goes on for 3 days,

in the heart of the city in Helsinki, so there's a lot

of people. If you want to sleep during the day, fuck that.

It's gonna be fucking loud, it's gonna be fucking heavy,

it's gonna be fucking dirty.

Hey, how's it going?

It's great yeah it's fucking nice beer.

I heard that there's a man playing over there

in the tent, you know.

Yeah, OK.

Probably just some cock suckers, but you never know.

Just better check it out you know.

Do you have the programme?

- Yeah, yeah. - You know the timetable

- for all the shows, you know? - No, I don't.

- Oh, you don't have it? - I don't care.

Oh, fucking hell.

For me this festival is basically just being drunk.

Yeah, okay, okay.

I just saw the next band is gonna be a killer band

you know in this smaller tent here.

- Oh okay. - Shall we go and check it out?

Yeah well whatever you wanna do.

The church behind me, that you see like with the new roof,

burnt down a year ago.

The drummer of a local black metal band

actually set the church on fire.

He was drunk, it was in the middle of the night and

for some reason he thought that's a good idea.

He's now sentenced for 6 or 7 years in jail

and they just finished rebuilding the roof.

The church is one of the oldest in Finland,

so the whole thing got a lot of media attention all over Europe

and this is what we ended up with,

an old church with a shitty roof.

Most of the black metal bands sing about

the dark sides in life and Satan is not evil and stuff like that,

so that's why a lot of black metal followers or

band members tend to kick down gravestones and

desecrate graveyards, burn down churches.

That's kind of the message in the music as well and

some people take it really seriously

and think that's the way to go.

In the 80s when bands like Twisted Sister, Scorpions

and Kiss and Wasp and bands like that were huge,

they were also huge here in Finland, but the Finnish bands,

there weren't that many Finnish metal bands at that time.

The Scandinavian movement started from the early 1990s

with death metal bands from Sweden like Entombed,

and At The Gates,

and then the black metal bands of Norway.

And the Norwegian bands for me were

kind of like the first wave, and then it moved on to

Sweden and now it's all Finland.

Nowadays, black metal bands don't have to sing about Satan.

They can sing about other stuff.

Like a lot of Scandinavian black metal bands

sing about the nature, the coldness, the rawness

of the land you know, just

like ice and snow and the winter

dark frost, grim nights, you know.

The folk music in Finland,

the music that has been played here

2,000, 3,000, 5,000 years,

it's pentatonic pentachord that goes

first up and then goes down.

And that music

is, some think that it's quite melancholic

and it's very deeply in Finnish nature,

that kind of music.

The first bands that I started listening to were metal

and I've been a metal fan since then, so...

and I listen to more and more metal every day.

It's the only heavy metal festival during midsummer

in Finland,

and mid-summer is the biggest festival, music festival

time in Finland. Every God damn little fucking town

has their own festival.

In the beginning of the trip we were lost.

And sober. Now, we're heading the right direction.

We're fucking pissed.

We don't need a map anymore,

we got a tour guide, he's right here.

We're kind of the definition of a hybrid metal band.

We really do incorporate all kinds

of shit into it.

And, of course catchy choruses, you know,

because you need to have people singing in the shower,

that's the thing, that's what sells albums, right?

We are definitely going places. I'm going to be rich and famous.

In general, I like the Finnish metal audience

for the simple fact that they're usually fairly drunk.

You kind of feel that we're all on the same level, basically.

'Cause it's a very...

even though it's a community that encompasses a lot of

different bands, a lot of different styles within

the genre of heavy metal,

still there is a very strong feeling of kind of a unity.

You know if you do metal then you're one of the guys,

or the gals, or whatever, you know, one of those people.

I started with Kiss, 'Creatures of the Night',

and then I got heavier and darker.

For this latest album we have political and religious issues

and of course personal demons.

December, January, we don't have sun at all here.

It's dark the whole day.

Maybe it gets you thinking, so yeah I guess the people

at least in

More music at that time but for me it's, I do

cross-country skiing.

I have 2 greyhounds that are the fastest dogs in the world.

Australian dogs cannot beat them.

Oh man, this is so great.

This is how we drink beer in Finland.

Yeah, it's the only way

I've been swimming in that lake over there, and

my dick looked very small.

It actually was very small.

I also really like to drink beer and go to my camp and drink

some more beer and listen to heavy metal music.

This one's called 'Soul Sweeper'.

We founded a band in 1990 in Holland.

This is the first time to Finland for us.

I like it, you know, there's a lot of space, lots of forest.

Mostly we play like Germany, France, Spain,

Portugal, England. We play like a lot of death metal,

with a little bit of black metal into it.

I'm the only original band member left, actually.

I'm the old guy.

Thank you very much

So far it's been good, the last concert was the best.

No way dude...

I actually think this is good, you know.

Just take it from the side, and pull it like that.

You're not gonna get the intestines, just the flesh.

Hey, what's going on? We got no chicks,

we got nothing, we got pretty wasted last night.

Nah.

Started out when I was 17.

I took a small, er, bat for no reason

and added a couple of skulls,

the grim reaper,

and, erm,

then um, like I said before, this is the album cover of.

Mercyful Fate's 'Don't break the Oath',

classic heavy black metal album.

Back in '82, '83,

and er,

then I just added on shit I got like 21 or 22 skulls

all in all if you count every fucking cock sucker,

you know, like that.

This is just something I designed myself

and took it to the shop and told him hey this is what I want.

This is fucking sad.

Is that fucked or what?

Even if the cops come right now they would just start laughing,

like, 'hey come on dude!'

I would get a fine for making such a shitty joint.

Learn from our mistakes.

All our way to Arkansas, for the good old rodeo.

Mama told me not to go, told me not to go

but Frank my good old friend said, let's hit the road

and Mama told me not to go.

Not to go.

But as any old man, I'm crazy for the rodeo.

Yee-haw.

Yeah, testing, testicles 1,21,2.

Ah, two actually.

Well my father died in '92.

Like '94, '95 I was working out on the ships in Helsinki

and er, the pay was shitty.

Actually we didn't even get paid, we worked, like,

6 days a week and after 6 months there were still

just excuses here and there why we don't get paid,

and blah blah blah.

So basically I was out of work, my girlfriend just left me

and er, everything was kind of shitty.

So I had a friend of mine going down to Cape Town

to visit her father

and she just asked me, do you wanna go down with me there?

And I was like err, I have nothing to lose so why not?

So I just went for a holiday,

ended up turning out that I came back as a tattoo artist.

So that was kind of strange.

And after a while, let's say 2 or 3 months,

I had too many customers running in and out of my home,

which wasn't good, so I was thinking I need

to open up a shop.

I opened up a shop and that's 10 years ago.

Shaving somebody's arm is not heavy metal, you know.

Let the madness begin.

Colouring in the background of the whole design,

we got most of the animals done.

There's a big spider, there's a bird there's a butterfly

and a snake, and just to get the,

the depth in it, to fill it up with leaves underneath

that's what we're doing today.

Dip the needle into the ink, then you just

ram it into the customer's skin.

Make him scream and squeal like a pig.

Tattooing has only been popular for the last 10 years.

It's been a little bit underground because Finland,

we're so far up north, so everything's dragging like

10-15 years behind, something happens in the States,

it travels to Europe, goes through Germany,

through Denmark, and from Denmark

through Norway, Sweden and then Finland is the last country.

So everything always ends up here last.

The cultural side of it is different.

But here, because it's connected to music,

it's a way of expressing yourself.

Like permanently.

So there's the same element that music, within heavy metal

that you're dedicated to what you do,

that's your lifestyle, that you live all the way, you know.

You shouldn't be worried about 'what am I going to look like

or think when I'm 75,

if I even live that long?' you know.

You should think about who you are at the moment,

and focus on that.

And if you are true to yourself all the way,

then you can't regret it later either, you know?

Because that was you at that time you know.

This doesn't actually feel like work.

And the whole band thing, our band doesn't feel like work,

it's just... that's your life.

But since I've been doing this 10 years,

as a professional tattoo artist,

absolutely I would give this up if we could do our band stuff

professionally for the next 10 years.

The whole, rock and roll scene is you know it's girls,

liquor, bikes, cars, tattoos, all that,

it's combined, you know, together.

So anything within that, that's good.

Every single part of the culture, you have done

to the extreme.

It's one point of, it's hard to look at yourself like that,

but

you saying that, I realise it's true in a way

but I don't feel like I had to make an effort,

it's just, that came natural,

that's the way, I wouldn't have it any other way so...

so it's not fake.

The call of the wild.

So I was 3 years old and Christmas was coming up

so my Mother asked me what I want for Christmas

and I wanted all sorts of toys and balloons and

things like that, but number 1 on the list

was Harley Davidson.

And I have no idea how I got that idea into my head,

because my father wasn't riding and my mother

didn't know how to even spell the whole fucking word.

So I think it started around that time.

That's a while ago.

It's cold and dark and snow for 6 months, so we

got a lot of spare time to just build the bikes

because we can't ride them, so

that's why they end up looking like this.

After you put so much effort and time into the bike and money

as well, you're kind of expecting that the first

time you start and just go that it's gonna be fucking great and

it's always fucking great.

The first ride after the long cold winter...

it's better than anything.

Like heavy metal is the most extreme music style, well

these bikes are the most extreme when it comes to bikes.

So of course, there's a connection.

But you have to be that kind of person to understand it.

This is the good stuff, the thing you should do

in a summer day, you know?

Hey cock sucker, you got a problem?

The only thing probably that keeps you a little bit back

or takes away a part of the feeling and the freedom

is the helmet law, but since we make up our own laws

we don't need helmets.

Yeah I think that you should, like, be able to choose

what you want, you know?

Obviously if you're in a crash with your bike.

- You will die. - Yeah.

The helmet will not rescue you, well it can rescue you but

then you're stuck like you know like an invalid.

You're a fucking vegetable.

For the rest of your life and I don't know if that's something

that I really want. - That's shit!

So if, when you gotta go, you gotta go,

so the helmet only prevents you from dying,

it actually keeps you alive but you're a fucking vegetable.

We don't want to be like fucking carrots or cucumbers.

Cucumbers?

on a plate that's waiting to be thrown away.

What the fuck is that, you know?

We're actually 6 guys but here's like 3 or 4 horny guys

and a couple of hot chicks.

That's not gonna turn out that good.

Can you see my hair? My hair, my hair.

Do I look like a wanker?

Always.

Hey, you can't even see me right now!

Hey come on, you need to look nasty.

Beneath the velvet sky I ride

on this night of evil.

Expect no mercy for your life mercy at all.

Expect no mercy!

Mercy at all.

Expect no mercy!

Mercy at all.

Bands...

they are not that much concerned about creating an image.

It's more about writing the perfect song.

To make, that's not the point,

what happens after that when you make it,

and you've got that one song

and people are gonna look at it and say:

'OK, we like this shit, but who are those guys?'

Every band says the same thing,

that 'we don't care what everybody else tells us

to be and how to be because we are what we are.'

But they look like shit.

Creating an image is important

but afterwards we don't go and joke about it.

We're serious about that image.

To us, we stand behind it, even though it's girls in chains,

or high heels, or whatever.

Any cock sucker could understand that this guy is not gonna bend

over or step down for nothing,

but you know, he's sincere.

When it comes to heavy metal, it's something that you need

to get you away from everyday life.

It's good that it's cold and dark and shitty

a long time of the year, because when it's summer

you're gonna just, you know, take everything out of it,

while it lasts.

That was huge knockers,

- Huh? - Huge knockers

Yeah I'm fucking proud of this festival because

it's the 11th year, 10th in outdoor,

but this is 11th year.

I was thinking about like 5,000 people, 2 days, outdoor,

and that was my main goal, but this

is like a double time in my main goal,

this is a 4 days, 44,000 people, 11,000 each day,

so it's fucking huge.

I went first Tuska 10 years ago when it was

a small happening in the inside of a restaurant,

then it moved to a little bit bigger ground

and now we're here, 11,000 people a day,

so even though I'm turning 33 years old, once a year

you still have to have the makeup,

get all the black leathers on, you know.

You just gotta be, feel that same feeling

that you had when you were 13 you bought the Anthrax record

and you were like, this is the toughest mother fucking shit

that I ever heard.

Well, the inspiration begins first from the Kiss and

then all the guys from Norway when they were burning

the churches and they took the step a little bit further

so it's just paying respect to the traditions.

You will not get any pussy with this makeup,

but my bride is there, so I'm getting married in one month,

so it's taken care of.

Are you ready for some fucking rock and roll?

If you live in Greece or nice weather countries

you stay out, drink coffee on boats, stuff like that.

But you know in Sweden, Finland,

we have a lot of shit weather. Compared to the population,

we have many, many bands playing music,

and I think because of the weather you can stay inside

and you want to do something inside and then you play music.

Or jerk off, maybe.

Yeah, that's nice.

Or maybe both.

Your work can be serious, or, like, you know, yeah,

but metal, you know, is for fun. It's entertainment.

Ah, I'm not drunk, I just had one beer you know.

He can hear the sirens.

Yeah are you a fucking undercover cop?

Tuska is best fucking festival in the world.

I make these myself and I have been using my

corset, like, a year,

and I make this for custom work.

And this is also my creation.

I just like to make these kind of custom, what's a little

bit different than what you can buy at a shop.

Does it makes you feel sexier?

Well, yeah, little bit.

You know, we play basically like, modern death metal,

brutal, straightforward, you know, crushing death metal.

The guys started a band like 10 years ago so they decided

early on that we're gonna do all the lyrics in Finnish.

I mean the crowds in Finland, generally speaking it's

really good crowds, you know, people are into the music

and they really want to show the bands

that they are there to see the bands.

I love metal.

First place where we actually made it kind of big-ish

was Japan.

We already I think with the first album sold fairly good,

it was like half of our albums at the time, but now it's

getting like, settling down a little bit.

Japan is coming down and Finland has risen to be the

biggest single country.

Metal music, it's become so pop thing,

that it's not 'metal' anymore,

there's no mutiny or anything kind or rebellion on it,

in that sense, of course, there are bands that are

still doing that you know like pure way and really hard,

but there are so many 'pop metal' bands, like us.

There's a lot of stereotypical ideas about Finnish fans,

that they need to be really drunk

to get any emotion out of themselves, you know,

like really get into it.

But I don't think it's true really, maybe they have a beer

or something, well that's normal, everybody does that.

Between countries, it's the same thing within Finland itself,

they're like, the audience differs from Lapland to

middle parts of Finland and southern Finland.

The people are different, there are different kind of cultures,

and this happens everywhere, in the USA, in Europe.

It's normal.

It's hard to say where the audience is the best.

I don't even want to go there, because it's nice everywhere,

it's really good.

Really, I wouldn't like to touch your beard, you know,

because it's just too strange.

I actually had a shaving accident this morning.

You can see it, you know.

Fuck you!

You pull down your pants in the middle of Helsinki...

hey, come on dude.

Hi.

At this moment I'm feeling pretty nice, you know.

I don't know where we're going, but you know the festival's over

for tonight so we have to move along.

How you doing baby

Danny boy conta, you know what I’m saying, pretty fly, baby.

I’m gonna hit your, you know what I’m saying, gangster cool.

Better believe it.

We are here in southern Finland

in a secret location, recording a new CD

called "Let the Suckers Bleed."

We've got 11 new songs, we're gonna try to make

it happen in 5-6 days.

So we know the songs are good

but we don't know how it's gonna turn out.

It's getting there.

I think it's working out pretty well.

- After all. - Yeah, after all.

There was a lot of buts,

a lot of ifs.

A lot of butts and tits.

I fuck like a beast.

Still hungover, I didn't drink anything last night

or during the whole day...

any alcohol that day, but I had a good time though.

I can feel it in my stomach.

Down the streets of pain.

Down the streets of pain, it burns right under your skin

ohh.

The only thing is that we need to sound better than before

and have better songs,

look better live,

so whatever the standard was when we started out,

we need to grow from there, every time.

If that's good enough in the long run for some people

or not, we don't know,

so we can't just go out and say "yeah, we're gonna be

fucking playing in Australia in Sydney

for 10,000 people next summer." Because that would be stupid.

It could happen, but it depends on so many goddamn things

that we can't do anything about.

Thing is, this is going to be really nice when it's done.

There's this book called Kalevala, a Finnish epic,

and a lot of other Finnish folklore

that are kind of really, really moody, and I don't think...

it's not just about gloomy music, it's in the blood

of the Finnish people.

It's 'cause it's so dark and gloomy and horrible and

we're all alcoholics and suicidal, that's

probably why it is, yes, yes.

I don't know, I have no idea.

The purpose of metal music is not like to torture people.

It's to give at least, or as far as I'm concerned,

it's to give a relief to the suffering that you feel.

Whatever personal problems I have, whatever that I feel

that this is too much.

I just escape into my music.

Like any person would

with what they believe in.

When this generation grows older and older,

the music from their youth is metal music.

So they want to, when they are 60s or 70s

in their rocking chairs,

they want to hear their Metallicas and Slayers still,

and try to bang their heads also,

if it's possible anymore because their neck is so, er, painful.

Finnish metal hasn't reached its peak yet,

it's getting bigger all the time.

I think Finnish metal's going to rule the world.

It's been a pleasure for us to guide you through

the life of metal.

This is the way we do it in Finland.

Metal music...