Soul Corner’s new album ”Partners in Crime” was published in October
2008, 2,5 years after the debut album “Twilight Report”. The new album
is recognizably heavier and darker than the first one and the lyrics
have even some political connotations and society critics. What do the
guitarist-songwriter Aki Virtanen and lead singer Juha “Izzi Snake”
Uronen think about each song of the new album:
1. Intoxicated
Aki:
”haha, this one is actually containing drums that were originally
recorded in 2006, if I remember correctly. I played the bass lines. The
whole song was born accidentally when I was just jamming with my guitar
at home and catching an idea about a simple and rhythmic blues type of
a song. The guitars are quite harsh, and you may recognize that there’s
actually only one melody guitar (besides of some few seconds solos),
which is repeated in the other channel with a slight delay effect. I
like this one with all its simplicity. The lyrics tell about a guy who
is walking his own path and doesn’t give a damn about what the others
around him think about it. A bit like my buddy Izzi is…and his vocal
performance is containing some nice self-irony as well…”
Izzi:
“funny song and since I..m a natural born fuck up with an urge to
indulge myself...I got I.N.T.O.X.C.A.T.E.D and recorded the vocals...no
memories from that event...Surprised even myself in the morning...”
Aki:
“way to go man, I don’t remember that much about the recording sessions
of this song either...perhaps I was just so tired...no sleep ‘till
hammersmith, hahaha...”
2. You Don’t
Aki: “there are many
guys out there who kind of think that they are so tough, big time
rebels and have lived so hard and significant lives…even though in the
end they are just pretty normal dudes, compared to those ones who
REALLY have lived to the extremes. Ya know those guys who have ‘big
words’ and less action in reality…they are everywhere in the bars, on
the streets and so on…mother’s spoiled lil’ kids they are in the
end…Izzi is great as usual with this type of songs, Timpa (drummer) has
a good groove here…and I like the sound and feeling I myself caught
while improvising the guitar solos. One of my favourite songs of the
album…”
Izzi: “I was a street fightin’, bar brawlin’ mofo in the
past life, now I..m a nice guy ya know...I recommend dying for these
little “mommas boys”...Worked for me...Fuck just kidding...Do you wanna
live your life like me...Come on...Let daddy show how...”
Aki:
“great advices, haha...and Izzi is a father for 3 kids now...he’s a
real nice guy...for his friends...but the best I heard was when he told
me that the doormen once threw him out of his own gig with Lucky 313
after a lil’ conflict with some asshole in the audience...”
3. Partners in Crime
Aki:
“a mix of grunge, metal and punk, perhaps? Korn meets Nirvana and the
Foo Fighters…The lyrics are a bit emotional though, telling about a
need to share our lives with our significant others and good REAL
friends. The most important people for us are those who stay with us
and support us whatever happens. This is also one of the rare songs by
SC where you have the keyboards…”
Izzi: “I..ve been watching
those lonely highways for all of my life...I have this one person...one
hideout...Everybody needs someone or some place to go when world around
gets fucked...”
Aki: “amen...nothin’ to add for that one”
4. Hate (feat. Liz Aday)
Aki:
“perhaps the best song of the album to my ears, especially when it
comes to the vocal performance. Dark melodies mixed with a catchy
chorus and heavy-handed playing…Izzi and the guest Liz are performing
extremely well together (and separately here). By the way, there are 6
tracks of background vocals, 4 by Liz, 1 by me and 1 by Izzi. This song
tells about cheating, lying and double-moralistic behaviour, the common
weaknesses of humankind…”
Izzi: ”this song explains itself...if
you don’t get it, when get fucked ho-ho-ho...Liz is great on
vocals...About my vocals I got nuthin’ to say bleargh...I growl more
than sing anyway...”
Aki: “yeah, most of us have no idea when
something is going on behind our backs. But this is how this world
runs, just full of shit and double-moralism... not to mention the
everlasting hate between people...”
5. Take the Bad Away
Aki:
”the lyrics are chaotic and may not make much sense, however there’s
kinda positive message here: understanding that boozing and other ways
of escaping from troubles may not be the solution…at least the final
solution, even if you had fun for a while…The rhythm played under the
verses sounds like a relative to Queen’s Another One Bites the Dust,
which was not my initial meaning, but anyway…nice breaks and nice
chorus after a bit more classic bridge…strangely both commercial and
non-commercial tunes put into the same package. Love the bass and drum
lines here!”
Izzi: “my brains are so crushed that to me Aki..s
lyrics make whole helluva lot of sense...This is the way I feel every
morning...”
6. Love in Vain
Aki: ”Soul Corner’s only true
ballad song so far…Might remind of Metallica a bit, even though I don’t
listen them at all. Combination of very dark lyrics, scream for a lost
love…I dig the bridges before choruses. A good band performance as
such…Izzi recorded the lead vox first, but then we decided upon having
my lead vocals and Izzi’s background vocals...”
Izzi: “I had
some real trouble about singing this...I just can’t cry over a woman,
reason being that I..ve been with a same lady more or less for 17
years...Sometimes she kicks me out but I..ll always do A COMEBACK...”
Aki:
“haha, these days, for the last 1,5 years, I didn’t have to make any
comebacks either, wasn’t thrown out by my woman...anyway, she’s the
best that has ever happened to me...but all of us might have had some
bitter experiences about love or missing the real love...that’s what
this tune is about...”
7. Go and Cry on Somebody Else’s Shoulders
Aki:
”haha, nice tempo here…this piece is a reminder of 1980s hard rock
including the non-edited live sounds. Very nice visiting bass
performance by Norman from 4Order and Supernatural Band…some
middle-eastern tunes in the solo part, have I been too long in the
neigbourhood (Turkey), haha? Anyway, the lyrics tell about those
assholes who don’t leave you alone to enjoy your time out alone or with
your buddies. You know those miserable creeps who insist your company
and wanna tell you their whole life-stories, without you asking for it?
They often try to make an impression by ‘proving’ how tough guys they
are, as if it would make them worth your time…I’m sure most of us have
such experience about unwanted company...”
Izzi: “Everybody
knows these sorry-ass losers...Sometimes you punch ..em, sometimes you
don’t...Basically...you never should even knockout these
fuckers...Wannabees, has-beens and attention seekers ain’t worth of
while...”
Aki: “couldn’t agree more with that. I just wonder where the hell those idiots always come from?”
8. Slave of the System
Aki:
”some society critics here…damn I hate how the societies and cultures
brainwash their members through religions, cultural ‘truths and facts’,
education, army, media and so on…In that way they try to make us as
their obedient and loyal ‘slaves’ who think our countries, cultures and
religions are somewhat superior compared to others. The societies teach
us not to question anything and not to use our own brains at all…fuck
the system, long live freedom of thought, I say! In the end some parts
of the song are repeated backwards together with the straight play…some
cut-and paste done here with the editing…”
Izzi: “This one was easy to me...Feeling...YEAH...I..ve..
been livin’ by my own rules ever since I was fuckin’ born in my
family...We ain’t got no money but we will never submit...My whole
family is full of fuck ups...We ain’t nobodys “boys” or “slaves”...You
can pay us but we say fuck you anyway...Yeah...I do work and pay my
taxes, my children go to government funded schools but...I try to live
as far apart from normal society as possible...Don’t want YOUR rules,
YOUR moral standards YOUR laws...There is a price to pay livin’ my
way...BUT I PAY IT with a ease...”
Aki: “I was grown up in a
typical middle-class family and had an easier background for this life,
I guess, but I couldn’t avoid the fucked-up attitudes by the
society...teachers, relatives, priests and media always kept on
preachin’ us about how we should live our lives and what to believe
in...I know that most people need some feeling of ‘belongingness’ to
the others, but fuck it, I really don’t care, and I never cared,
especially because I know that there are many truths out there, not
only the ones that are told to us...It has led me into several
problems, but I’m happier in this way, because I can look into the
mirror and say that: yeah, I always did how I felt...”
9. Devil’s Playground/Jamie’s Nightmare
Aki:
”this song is about the current world order, especially contributed by
the conservative government of G.W. Bush. When there is no will for
understanding other countries, cultures and religions, but instead a
will to pretend that the American system, democracy and lifestyle is
superior over the others, not to mention the greed for oil and other
natural resources, here we go with bombing developing countries based
on stupid and unrealistic excuses, such as ‘war against terrorism’.
Screw it all, it’s all about politics and ignorance in the same
package. Unfortunately it has caused and will cause loss of innocent
lives all over the world…The drums of the song are actually a
combination of my Turkish friend Cihan’s darbouka and my ‘guitar
slamming’. Cihan also played nice didgeridoo lines here and I played
the bass. Some have said that this is like Led Zeppelin meeting Hendrix
and Iron Maiden…I don’t know about that, but I certainly love the
atmosphere of this song, even though the song was born pretty
‘accidentally’, like Intoxicated was…”
Izzi: “Turn on your
TV...Devil’s playground is shown before you...Like it or not this is
reality...As a child I was really into war...Used to adore it...until
my grandfather told me few truths about it...”
Aki: “there are
many people in Finland who adore, for example, how the Finnish soldiers
stopped the Russian attack during the Second World War, which in a way
saved our country...but adoring a war, army or soldiers is something
I've never understood..or adoring guns and violence like some sorry-ass
muthas...There are also people who spend all of their time watching
some idiotic splattering and war movies and imagine themselves as
heroes while killing the enemies...and they think they are tough or
even handsome, haha...I have never understood that. My grandfather
fought in both of those wars and told me how he killed dozens of enemy
soldiers, as well as how his best friends died next to him. Did it make
him happy and a national hero? Of course not, he saw nightmares until
the end of his life, because he knew that all those people he killed
were normal human beings forced to fight for the sake of their stupid
government. He used to tell me that: son, there is nothing glorious in
any war, no heroes, just fucked-up and scared human beings willing to
survive...I spent 11 months of my life for my army service and learned
how to kill with grenades, hand guns, machine guns, anti-tank
missiles...fuck it, that’s crazy...”