BLAME ME

With a new single called “TOXIC” and an intruduction like this….

“Blame Me! a massive kick to your eardrums. An undenied extravaganza live and a banger on record, this needs to be witnessed!A fresh female fronted alternative rock band with a huge sound and melodic modern tracks. We get the crowd pumping!”

I’m interested…so I’m very happy that I had the opportunity to interview the band. So let’s find out about Blame Me.

First of all, can you introduce yourself?  The band members, the instruments, musical background etc.

Bini: Hi! I am Bini the singer of Blame Me!. I’ve always been participating in various singing  opportunities whether it’s a choir, school band, musical or something else, I’ve always wanted to perform and it has followed me to this day.

Jesse: I do the guitars and programming. My background in music includes everything between electronic to metal and beyond.

Juho: I’m the bass player. My musical background is more from metal and progressive rock. In addition to Blame Me!, I play in a hard rock band called Thy Row.  

Vallu: Im Vallu the drummer. My background is more punk and metalcore. I also play drums in St.Aurora.

Can you tell us something about the history of the band?

We’ve known each other since 2015, but Blame Me! was established in 2017. We released our first single that year. But after our bass player Juho joined the band in 2018 we’ve been complete. Since then we have found our own style and started to work towards our full length debut album.

The band is called “Blame Me”. What’s the story about this name? I don’t know if the meaning is the same as in Dutch, there it means “I’m Guilty’.

In life it is easier if you don’t take things too seriously. Blame Me! means that we can laugh at ourselves and that we are the people in charge of our own lives, our own success stories and our own failures. And also to take matters into our own hands. We take control.

How will you describe the kind of music you make?

Blame Me! is a fresh but powerful breeze of alternative rock/metal. Our sound is crisp and massive, spiced with electronic music elements. Clear and melodic female vocals often tell a story of difficult personal topics. Even though our lyrics are dealing with distressing things we want to share them with our listeners and give strength and hope to whoever is dealing with the same kind of difficulties.

Are you influenced by some bands in particular?

Vallu: I think we’ve been influenced by the alternative scene. Bands like BMTH, Linkin Park, PVRIS etc.

Jesse: Paramore has given birth to our music, but it has been nurtured by many representatives of modern music. The intention is not to do it constantly with the same influences but to change them a little always in the future. In other words, we never make two musically similar albums. influences can come from the 80s all the way to today’s trends. Sometimes it can be classic and sometimes synth pop. this kind of musical freedom has brought me great joy to make our music.

You have released a new single called “Toxic”. What is the song about?

Vallu: Its fuckin sick dude its got blastbeats n stuff.
Bini: Toxic is a song about anxiety and how it takes control of your thoughts. When your mind is fragile even a small bump on the round can make a crack. A line on Toxic “I’m still breathing” depicts the end thought of the song. As long as you are still breathing you are alive and up for a fight.

You had already released a few other songs. Is there a difference between the “earlier” songs and the new one.

Earlier Blame Me! had more of a pop punk vibes and riffs. We didn’t have any electronic effects on our first releases. We are proud of them, but while we’ve been making new music, we’ve found our own style. Now we have taken more interest in the melodic alternative metal.

You also released an earlier Ep called ‘World Doesn’t Owe Anything to You’. What can you tell us about this EP.

This EP displays our previous style and sound very well. It’s energetic pop punk that we still really like and we use that same energy in our new material. You should definitely give it a spin or two!

Is there another EP or album to expect soon or in future?

We are releasing our debut album ‘The Invisible You’ this year. Our next single will be released on April 16th.

Who is responsible for the music and the lyrics?

Jesse is the mastermind behind our tunes and Bini the lyrics. He has a great gift to create new sounds and new elements to try on our songs. We all try to help in the creation process.

How was your last year? Were there possibilities to play live? In Holland we had only a few concerts with no more than 30 people in the audience. But in Finland  there were less rules I believe.

Last year was a little difficult for all bands. Last year we had to cancel a few shows, but that gave us more time to focus on fine tuning our debut album and everything related to it. We really do hope that there’s a change for us to get back on stage soon.

If we talk about metal we always say Sweden or Finland. Can you explain why there are so many metal bands in those two countries?

I believe it is just the grim nature of the people in the Nordics. Haha. We get so little of sunlight during those winter months, so there must be something we can put our thoughts and frustration into. Metal music is just so relaxing.

Is there a difference between metal in Sweden and Finland?

Sweden has always been a little bit modern with their taste in metal music starting from the Göteborg metal in early 00’. Finland is more traditional with its metal, but we do still have some great new metal acts such as Lost Society, Blind Channel and Arion.

In our country and in Belgium we see more and more classical instruments in metal (violin). Is this the same in your country or is it more “European mainland”?

I believe it is more related to the style of the metal. A fun fact about our recording process for the album is that we also do have some organic cello and violin recorded on a couple of our songs.

How important is the audience for you? And can you tell something about the Finnish audience?

Audience is everything. You need to entertain em afterall. It’s your main job as a musician and we value each and every person that comes to see our show. Finnish audience is quite reserved and a little slow to warm up, but it is also very heartwarming when they get engaged.

In Holland we have only a few metal festivals and most of them are small, how is this in Finland?

In Finland we have multiple larger rock and metal festivals each year. The biggest being Tuska Metal festival with 43 000 visitors during the Festival weekend. The festivals are also big gatherings for Finnish metal audiences to feel a sense of connection.

Is there attention for metal music on the radio and tv in Finland?

We have a few radio stations that are dedicated to mainly rock and metal music. One of them, Radio SuomiRock, even picked our single “Fire, Fuel and Scars” for their playlist and it’s still playing there daily.

Even though we don’t really have rock/metal programs, our love for metal music shows in many other ways on TV. For example many metal musicians are featured on different TV shows and people often sing or play metal in TV competitions. It is great that we have ways and possibilities to bring rock and metal music to a wider audience.

Is there a possibility we can see you in Holland some day?

I really do hope that we can make it there one day. We’d love to do a tour to visit Germany, Holland and other countries of Central Europe in the future.

Are there things I didn’t ask but is important for us to know? Please tell us!

Like we said earlier, our next release will be out on April 16th and that single will be some kind of a surprise. In the meantime, listen to our previous songs – and be prepared!

Thanks again for answering the questions!

Thank you, it was a pleasure. Stay safe!

Blame Me:

https://www.facebook.com/blamemeband

https://www.instagram.com/blamemeband/

blamemebandofficial@gmail.com