Octopus Syng interview (September 2004)
Octopus Syng is a one-man psychedelia orchestra by a Finnish guy called Jaire.
Under this name, he has released two 7"'s, one MCD and a fresh full-length,
that was released in Finland on CD and has just been issued on vinyl by
Nasoni in Germany. Jaire's music is a wonderful mix of Syd Barret era Pink Floyd,
acid folk and this and that other hippie oriented, and it was time to make
an interview with this enigmatic guy who has stayed in the shadows for far too long.
How and when where did you get interested in the psychedelic music of the 60's and 70's?
Jaire: A friend of mine, who was older than me, introduced me to the music of Hendrix.
That's where the expedition into 60's psychedelic pop/rock music started. I was
eleven then and was turned into a total Jimi freak.
What was your first band? What kind of music have you played during the years?
Radio Romance was my first actual band when I was 15. I did have a few attempts
prior to that, though. Radio Romance played a bit Hanoi Rocks styled rock.
Since I turned 17 and founded my own band, where I wrote the songs my self, has
all the music been mostly rather personal and hard to describe rock music. I've
had all kinds of odd projects along the way. Then I've also played some kind of
crossbreeding of prog and jazz and some acoustic folky stuff, as well.
When and how did Dildo Mania get started? How would you describe the music of that band? Releases?
Dildo Mania sort of slide out of an earlier short-lived band called
Weed in Kuusankoski. Weed was a band with two guitar players, vocals and sort of drums.
My ex-girlfriend Tea played "drums" in it. There were no bass. The members just changed during the
summer of '95, until we realised that we had a whole different band together, and
it was christened Dildo Mania.
The music of Dildo Mania is hard to put in any category. It's this electronic freak
rock with pop melodies and a bit twisted, but good-humoured feel to it.
The name Dildo Mania originates from a female neighbour of our singer, who had a whole
variety of different buzzers, you know... The band was originally Dildo Maniacs, but
was shortened into Dildo Mania, because maniacs sounded a bit too personal, since
we are all drawn to female sex. Dildo Mania has released only two vinyl singles
ages ago in years '97 and '98. We were also on a couple of compilations.
When did you get the idea to make music on your own under the name Octopus Syng?
Where did that name come from?
Things were really quiet at the Dildo Mania camp during autumn '98, and
I didn't have anything else to do except to start playing around with a four-track,
and I got carried away. After a year I bought a digital 8-track, which can be
seen as a birth of Octopus Syng. The "band" was originally called just Syng,
but it felt incomplete somehow, so I added the word octopus, that came from,
surprise surprise, Syd Barret's "Madcap Laughs" album, to it.
What are your biggest influences with Octopus Syng?
Jaire: It's no secret that Barret/early Pink Floyd has had a vast impact on me,
but even bigger influence has been Pekka Streng, absolutely. Then there's
of course T. Rex/Marc Bolan, Neil Young, Ravi Shankar, Jukka Tolonen, Love,
The Doors...and the whole 60's pop and rock music in general. In a spiritual
sense the whole oriental world view and New Age foolery has had a big influence
on me. I'm not a believer in any way, though.
How do you write your songs?
I don't know. There's no use trying to write them, they just suddenly come
from somewhere, when it's time for them to be born into this world. First
comes usually the melody, then inner feel of the track dictates the lyrics into itself.
Please tell us shortly about the Octopus Syng releases. How they were recorded, marketed, etc.?
A couple of first O. S. releases were made on the digital 8-track. I recorded
the drums with only one microphone or with two at the most. "Mandala" was recorded
at my place for the most part, and I didn't even have a mike stand, so the mike was
hanging from the floor with wires. All the O. S. discs were recorded with rather lo-fi technique.
"Karmadelic" was recorded on an analogue 16-track recorder at the rehearsal place in
Koria with a couple of microphones, but I had to continue the recordings in Helsinki
after I moved here in the beginning of 2003, and after that I recorded the album in
five different locations and with a variety of recorders, at the worst I recorded
(the vibraphones) with a Mini Disc. The album was mixed three times, until I felt
like it was finished. There were a lot of all kinds of misfortunes. Well, that was
"Karmadelic". The work title of the next album could be "Quick and Easy"; that might
help the process.
Marketing, what is that? Well, this has mainly been this kind of a one-man propaganda machine.
Earlier on, I've probably sold half of the records from hand to hand to people at festivals and
where ever. A few shops have also stocked them in Finland. Now in the "Karmadelic" times
there have appeared a few O. S. friends who have helped to get the music into the people's
ears and from there to their hearts, for which I'm truly grateful.
How did you start practising playing the sitar? Do you think it's hard?
Jaire: I've been digging India feel and Ravi Shankar for over ten years now, so in 2001 I went to
India to buy a sitar that I had lusted for a long time. This is also what happened. I took
a few sitar lessons in Varanasi, and from there on I've been playing sitar. The difficulty of
sitar playing is relative. If you want to play it sufficiently well in a Western way, sitar is
a rather easy instrument, but if you want to play it the Indian way, like Ravi Shankar for
instance, it's almost impossible to master it, at least for a Western man, since then you
should also know the Indian philosophy and vibe.
Why do you want to keep O. S. as your solo thing, and play gigs as Karmadelic Brothers
play Octopus Syng?
I don't have to compromise. I can get exactly the vibe I want for my music, or at least
I have all the possibilities for that. Since I can't play all the instruments simultaneously,
that's the reason why Karma Brothers exists. The name is Karmadelic Brothers play Octopus Syng so
that people would realise that it's not the same band that plays on the records.
Do you ever play or record any cover songs?
I have never played nor recorded. So far there has been no need for that. One can never
know about the future. "Tomorrow Never Knows".
Among your own songs, what are your favourites?
All my songs are like my children. You just can't say which one is dearer than the other.
I love them all is my own way.
Do you like any modern artists or bands? Why?
I don't like the modern sound. It's too perfect and flawless. The life itself is
imperfect in all its completeness. So why don't sound and music follow the flow of life? Okay,
I do like really much the English rock/pop band called Supergrass and a Finnish rock/pop band called
Barefoot Brothers. I do know a bit about the Finnish music scene. There are a lot of fine
bands in here, but most of them are virtually unknown. I think that it's the same thing
also in other parts of the world; the bands that I might like I'll probably never hear.
What's you opinion about drugs?
There are many kinds of drugs. For some it's hash, for some heroin, for some alcohol,
for some television soup operas... Myself, I'm addicted to love, nature, making music, coffee,
sex and from time to time also to having some time for myself and I'll get moody if I don't
get the drug I need when I need it. I think that universal love that is eternity is after all
the only reality that all the creatures are searching for through different substitutes, drugs.
Everybody wants to be happy.
Do you consider yourself a hippie, or would you prefer some other categorising?
If you define hippie as someone who seeks happiness in his own heart, "love yourself,
so you will love life", then in that case I'm a hippie. I guess I'm just a creature on his
long journey to find himself.
What are your future plans in the field of music and in life in general?
I will start the new O. S. recordings any day now. I've got quite a lot of
tracks ready. If everything goes well, a new O. S. CD/LP might be out next summer. I'm going to
organize some gigs for both Dildo Mania and Karma Brothers, so I could get the taste of being on the
road again, for a change. There are plans to do some kind of a release with Dildo Mania as
soon as we've got the money for the studio together. It's hard to plan your life any way
rationally, but if I were to find an apartment of my own, a rehearsal place, a bit more money,
so I wouldn't have to be so poor all the time, and an open, happy about life and loving,
warm hearted woman, that would be great. I might go to India next winter in the middle of the
recordings to get back that "something" I left there in 2001.
Anything to add?
To quote Pekka Streng: "the reasons for my present I find I've chosen myself",
so there's a few words for you readers, what does that mean. Love yourself/love each other!!! Jaire
www.octopus-syng.tk
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