My HeadBangers, today we have an interview with Kassu Merilainen of Wake Up Frankie. Their new song and video are being released today “Shotgun Prophecy”. I have heard it already and I have to say they just keep getting better and better, so please welcome Kassu.
Hi Kassu, thank you so much for coming on again to talk about your song. Before we start, how are all of you doing with the covid? I know you must all be going crazy not being able to do any gigs yet. Did you spend a lot of time in the Studio?
I guess as well as possible. And you are goddamn right about that….. When festivals 2021 got cancelled also this all started to feel just never ending nightmare. Thankfully there is now bright light at the end of he tunnel 😉 ! And yes, basically at one point it started to feel like that we live at the studio or rehearsal place but in my opinion that was the right thing to do. Give up or keep going, and we kept going.
And we are so glad you kept going! I have listened to the song “Shotgun Prophecy”, at least 10 times. I absolutely love it. The Band was flawless and your vocals, I can honestly say you have a great voice, it’s deep, raw, and I can hear every word. My question is where did the inspiration for this song come from?
That’s awesome to hear and big thanks to you! It all started with the chorus, which is pretty usual when we compose songs. When it comes to the lyrics, it’s pretty much about affected people and unnecessary negativity. That’s something that we don’t need in our lives and the lyrics just kindly tells to “f*ck off” to those kind of people. We can have our party and they don’t need to try to ruin ’em.
How long did it take from idea to the finished product on this song?
Actually it got finished very quickly because this is traditional Wake up Frankie song and we knew immediately what to do with the song. Of course now we also have producer Nino Laurenne working with us so he brought absolutely great ideas to this song like how to rhyme smoothly, how to go to chorus etc. That’s what good producer does. It was actually Nino who came up with the name ”Shotgun Prophecy” because he misheard one part of the chorus and I loved it! I made little bit of vocal changes to the chorus and it worked out perfectly.
Does this song have any particular meaning to you and the band?
I think every song does but I would say that the special meaning to this song and it’s release is that we have survived through the pandemic, (even tho it’s not over yet) and it’s time to celebrate it with brand new song from our upcoming release!
Here it is my HeadBangers:
“SHOTGUN PROPHECY”
Let us know what you think my HeadBangers, we want feedback!!
Do you have any upcoming plans for this summer?
Actually we are spending basically the whole summer at the studio recording new stuff since festivals got cancelled due to covid19. So yes, we got plans for this summer 😉
That’s great because I’m looking forward to more from you guys, and of course another interview. Is there any talk about gigs opening up soon?
Yes! Nothing can be revealed yet, but like I said earlier, there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel. It’s getting closer slowly but steady. When we get back to the stages we are absolutely going to blow off some rooftops baby!
I know you will and everyone is looking forward to it. What is the green hair about, I know there has to be a story there somewhere?
Hahaha, it actually started as a joke and I wont go too much into details… But I just decided like “f*ck it” let’s try it! And especially since green has been our theme color from the very beginning of Wake up Frankie, it was definitely worth it! The outcome has actually been really great!
Well I have to say it does look good on you!
Does the band have any plans for the future of WuF?
Definitely, we have lots of stuff planned and lots of stuff that’s going to happen but I cannot go into details just yet even tho I would love to. All I can say basically is that new music will come for sure, since we are now officially entering studio and starting to work with our debut album with producer & studio engineer Nino Laurenne! So we are not going anywhere. That’s a promise!
We are also releasing digital-EP on midsummer called “Bathe in Blood”. It’s basically made for people who wants to support this band because everybody knows that covid hurt music business financially, so we took damage too. And to clarify the EP is only digital and it’s not coming to streaming services like spotify etc. but it can be bought from iTunes etc. It includes our older demos & songs which cannot be otherwise heard after midsummer because they will get deleted from spotify (our EP obviously stays everywhere because it’s an an EP)! It also includes “Shotgun Prophecy” and another brand new song ! So that’s one way to support us and the only way to hear another new song!
There you have it my Heabangers. Another hit from one of the nicest bunch of guys you will ever meet. I want to thank the band for always thinking about me the when they have music to release. I really appreciated it, and know that I’m always here when they have something to blast out. Why do I feel this way? Well I’ve been doing this blog for almost 3 years now and I’ve talked to alot of bands, during that time, you can tell who’s genuine and their excitement for what they do, it’s so contagious and how they are willing to share information with you, so I can bring it to my HeadBangers. Wake Up Frankie is one of those bands. During this time of Covid, they have stayed positive, and kept working on their music. Like Kassu said when gigs start back up they are going to blow the roofs off, and I believe they will do exactly that.
Well that’s it for this week my HeadBangers, join me next week for another band and another song. In the meantime don’t stand to close to the fire if you can’t handle the burn…..
Please feel free to leave me a comment or question, I appreciate it HeadBangers: