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Take two parts Finnish stomp and mix it with one part childlike insanity and enthusiasm and you've got a pretty decent idea where Turku's Maniacs Dream are coming from. On their first few releases (a cassette on Lal Lal Lal and a brand new LP on HP Cycle), Maniacs Dream proved that they can stand with all the other great bands pouring out of Finland. This semi-revolving group of musicians wants to have fun and make each other laugh. At times, these crazy good times feel like one giant inside joke that none of us really get, but still love to listen to all the same. Featuring members of Avarus, this new group is ready to fuck shit up. This interview was conducted through email by Brad Rose in the latter parts of December 2004 and in January 2005.

H: Hesedelic Mc Bong
F: Fricara Pacchu
B: Bella Blossa
J: Jorma Pavarotti

B: Well I was looking at this poster of the Beatles where George Harrison looks like the evil one and suddenly realized that making music is the same as running backwards in a labyrinth. I mean that you can never know what's behind the corner so if you would run otherwise, it would be like running in the dark. So you have to smash all your footprints to bits so that the monsters don't catch up with you and trust the music to make you not smash in to a wall. And if you keep making the same sounds, you'll leave a straight line behind for satan to run on and you'll never be free. If you don't try to peel your skin off all the time, it will get stiff and you'll be trapped in forever. Just like a mandarin. It can't peel itself. You need satan to do that.

F: Alright... Maybe I should be the one to answer this. Hese was our janitor in school and one night he was really sad because his wife had left him. We heard him crying behind a door so we thought we should chear him up. We set up some instruments in the hallway and started to play. But this session was the first of its kind. We were trying to make a person feel the positive vibes in life. Soon Hese came out and said the music had made him feel better.

B: After a few weeks we asked him to come and play with us. He played a flute. I don`t think his wife has come back.

H: That's none of your business! I don't care anyway. I'm happy... I AM!

F: It's very similar to Avarus, but somehow the feeling is different. With Maniacs Dream it's a more total freak out. We just pick up some instruments and start to stream ourselves to the exploding community of sounds. We usually record with a four tracker, which
separates all the sounds. That's why listening to MD is like listening to parallel realities, all telling the same story almost at the same time.

B: I usually pick the best songs for the archives for all the other members to listen and then we decide which ones of them end up for a release. After that we listen to the album until it's a perfect gem.

H: I just have to do something or else I'd be lying in bed thinking about my wife, but I'm happy!

F: I don't know. The usual. Environment is always different, the time is different, the music is different. When I eat blueberries, I play in a more happy WAY. I don't sing because of that insolent and upright frog right there. If it would go away I sure would sing like Melly.

B: You don't have the skills for that! And the name is Nelly! You're always comparing yourself to Nelly. Leave her spirit alone! You're not on the same level.

F: But I am!

B: I didn't mean the surface of the Earth. I meant your soul.

F: Yeah... maybe if you put it that way... But I'm almost there. You can hear it from my forthcoming solo tape on Lal Lal Lal. When people hear that my soul goes poing.

J: If somebody would steal all our equipment and move to Romania with it, we would follow him for sure to get it back.

B: Yeah, even if there might be vampires, Jorma. I'm not afraid of them after having spent that night with you in the forest. Remember?

J: No. Oh! Hey yes I do. I was so out of control, wasn't I? Did I have any clothes?

B: Yes you did.

J: Okay. Anyway, no one could stop me because I was in the zone! Climbing onto trees and screaming "I love you Anna!!!". She had just dumped me at a rave and all the people tried to calm me down...

B: No they weren't. I was the only one there.

J: What? I thought you meant that night when... Heh. Yeah we sure would follow that guy to Romania and take that stuff back no matter what!

B: Everything is improvised, straight flow. That's the WAY.

H: Oh yeah! WAY to rock man! I mean, when I get my bass in my hands I treat it like a shovel. I get such a grip my head starts hurting and my hands go white and then I start digging. Like a dirty MOLE with no EYES! digdigdigdigJAM baby. I'm going to dig tonight mister president! Bring the dead bodies up to the surface. All the artists! If there's like some hard rock in front of me I just kneel down and flip the bass over my head and jump like a moose! Then I see the coffins...

B: Hese...

H: ...and smash the wood and shout "let's rooock!" and shake my ass. But I never...

B: HESE!

H: ...know what's coming two feet under me so I have to improvise... sorry Bella...

B: JESUS!

B: I have not been a child, yet. When I was born, I felt like I was 61 years old. Of course I looked like a baby, don't get me wrong. Do you think my mother could give birth to a 61 year old soon-to-be-rock-star? That's right. At the moment I feel like I'm getting younger every day. At least I'm stupider every day and I haven't found any other explanation. So I suppose I'm going to die when I'm 61 on the outside and 0 on the inside, because I think I'll be too tired to play guitar at that point. I have a guitar-shaped heart. But at the time when I was this really wise, but kind of weird, old dude trapped inside this child's body moving backwards in time and hanging around with these lunatic kids screaming and throwing mud at each other, I was probably listening to the same shit on the radio that all the other kids were listening to. I don't remember! Why me?

J: That's okay Bella... Don't cry. Let's move on, please... Don't ask this the next time around! Look at him! His brains are so fucked up right now. I hope you're happy.

B: There are lots of bands. My favourite ones are... errr... sob...

F: Go on. Don't stop. I like it like that.

B: Errr... Why can't I be like everybody else? I want to be a child too. WHAT IF MY PA...

J: Thanks Bella! Yeah, there sure is a lot going on. Lots and lots of great bands. That's neat. Some people have microphones. Some people like boys, others like girls. Some people know what music is, others aren't sure. Some people are shy, others like to go crazy on smack. The attention is great. Thanks to everybody across the world. Keep sending those pictures. Especially from Greece.

J: Red wine and sexuality.

B: Funk is pretty inspiring. You`re band is NO good if you don't have that WAKAWAKA DWUUNNG BAKA DUKA DODO KWITADOO DUPADUPA FATA RAU RAFA HRRR-AUNG ZUUBABABABBABABABABABB ABABA...Aaahaaahaa... Ungh.. Ungh.. FROSTYYY!!! LICKSNAP! RAKAFAKA...

J: SHUT THE FUCK UP!

B: Waidi waidi... doctooor? Waidi...

H: They found Avarus somehow and contacted them. So we used the same connections because we thought that HP Cycle people might like our stuff too. I like HP Sauce but I looove HP Cycle, bro!

J: I'm a new member. My brother Lullu is only singing... He broke his arm in a BMX accident and while recovering he lost his passion to play. So maybe you can hear my share.

B: The album is even more spacier and groovier than the tape.

J: Yeah, and you can expect to having it in your record collection!