Lullacry's Tanja

Musical Discoveries: Please tell us a little bit about your background prior to Lullacry.

Tanja: My musical history starts from my childhood. Believe it or not. When I was two years old I started to sing! Yeah, my parents told me that.

I began music school when I was a child. I played recorder and alto horn, but I have also played clarinet, guitar and keyboards and studied music theory.

Even though I learned and played several other instruments I think that my voice is the most important instrument to me. I also went to music high school and music theatre school. So you could easily say that music fills my life.

Who are your favourite artists/bands, who else do you find yourself listening to all the time?

I have many favourites, because I listen all kind of music! I like Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Uriah Heep, Madonna, Celine Dion, Beethoven, Mozart, Kiss, Dio, Stratovarius, Deep purple, Lenny Kravitz and so on.The list is big! What do I listen to all the time? Well, iIt depends in what kind of mood I'm in, you know.

How did you develop your vocal style?

I sing every day if it's possible. It's very important to sing several times in week so that you don't loose your touch to it. I try to develop my vocal style every time I sing, you know, as a practice. I also try to imagine the story behind the song and try to create some picture in my head with the help of words and melody. I think how my voice should sound, you know.

When I was in music high school I took some singing lessons, but now I have been training of my own. I don't think that I have some specific style to sing. I think my style depends on what kind of music I sing. I mean I changed it automatically; I can't sing rock the same way that I sing example Finnish folk music!

Lullacry is somewhat varied in their style of music, but obviously grounded in heavy metal. What artists to you feel have influenced the group's sound over time?

Our main goal is to make rock metal with the strong melodies. We are all fans of ´80s metal--Kiss, Dio, Black Sabbath--which probably can be heard in our music.

Please explain the various sequences you go through when writing the music.

Sami Vauhkonen wrote most of the music. Usually he just plays his guitar and tries some different vocal lines. He records them on tape, because there can be some brilliant idea and it's important to have that on tape! After he has a pretty good idea how the song should sound we try vocals together and then play the whole song with the band.

There were many people to help us when we recorded the album. Thanks to all them! We did our demo tapes in Sonic Pump studio at Helsinki. Engineers were Nino, Tapsa and Max who are really great guys. I had a really great time there-- lots of coffee--hehe.

We recorded the Crucify My Heart album in Hästholmen, Helsinki. It was really beautiful place right in the middle of the nature. I even saw one rabbit there! I got to know Mikko Karmila (producer and engineer) which was nice. With his and Sami Vauhkonen's professional attitude and help I found new levels from my voice. That was fabulous!

Where do you draw your inspiration for the lyrics and messages within the recordings?

Sauli Kivilahti, our second guitarist, makes most of the lyrics. Lyrics are about love, hate, passion and pain. You can easily connect to a song which lyrics are about human relationships. It's real life, you know. Of course we have also lyrics where approached more as stories/likely scenarios.

Do you have a career or work outside music?

I am studying marketing. I´ll finish my studies soon. My opinion is that it's good for your knowledge if you study. You can study on your own, read books and see information programs.

How about your live performances and the audience's reaction to your on-stage persona.

I love live performances! There is so much energy in the air. I have had really good response from our listeners who have been there in gigs. Of course there's always a little difference between live and studio versions which comes to songs.

For example, we don't use keyboards on our live shows, but if you listen the album you can hear that we have used keyboard sound in some songs.

How do you view the response to your music outside Finland?

We have got a very great response from outside Finland. I'm glad to notice that people have found our music and that they like it. We get lots of feedback at our website www.lullacry.com. Please visit us there!

Have you worked with some of the other bands from Finland we have reviewed at Musical Discoveries, Nightwish, for example?

We haven´t worked so much together with Finnish bands, but we have some gigs coming up for example with To/Die/For. Well, let´s see. I hope we can work with many different Finnish bands in the future!

How has the internet influenced your musical career and the promotion of your music?

I think that website can help us to reach some new listeners. There are some samples from our songs, pictures, message board, biography, tour list and other important information from our band. I think that website is great channel to communicate with your fans!

Thanks for the interview, I hope it comes out great

~Tanja~

More Lullacry
Crucify My Heart

Interview, reviews and HTML © R. W. Elliot 2003
All images © Spinefarm Records and Toni Härkönen 2003
Last updated 06 April 2003