Brother Firetribe formed in 2001 in Finland when a couple of guys got together to write melodic rock songs "just for the hell of it". I'd found them on Myspace at the beginning of 2006 and was immediately impressed by the material. When I noticed that they'd be making an appearance at Spinefeast in October in Helsinki, arrangements were hastily made to see the show and interview the band. Anyway, I figured that as there's lots to like about Finland, for example ice hockey is like a religion and they have an energetic and enthusiastic music scene, I thought it was about time I paid a visit.

Those nice folk from Spinefarm Records made me feel really welcome and ensured I got everything I needed. On being shown into the green room, however, I had immediate stage fright as I looked through a sea of faces to try to spot the guys. I recognised Pekka (vocals) immediately, but he was otherwise engaged doing another interview. I spotted Emppu (guitar) next, but he was surrounded and appeared to be holding court. Finally I breathed a sigh of relief on making eye contact with Jason (bass) who instinctively knew who I was. Smiles, hugs and handshakes were followed by an introduction to Tomppa (keyboards) who hastily made space for me on the couch, and we got down to the business of getting to grips with each other's accents in a noisy room.

How did you all get together and whose idea was the band name?

Tomppa: I played with Pekka for about seven years in a band called Cashmir …
Jason: … and I met Pekka in the army and Emppu through Cashmir's bass player …
Tomppa: … and when Emppu moved to Kerava we actually played in a band together called Harmonice and Jason was doing the lead vocals. Kimi our guitar technician was on bass, and so on and so on. We did one gig and then the whole thing was forgotten. After that I did some keyboards for Emppu on his solo project. Actually, the whole Brother Firetribe thing started with a keyboard riff that I'd come up with (which turned out to be "One Single Breath") and I gave it to Pekka and said "listen to this, something must be done with this". It took him fifteen minutes to come back with a melody and some lyrics. Then I passed it to Emppu and said "This is so good, listen to it … see what you can do with it." He sent it back with the guitar parts within a day or so …. and that's how it started! And the band name came from a mutual friend. We'd gone to his summer house for some drunken nights and he started talking about this Finnish tennis player Veli Paloheimo who's name translated into English is Brother Firetribe.

Finland is well known for its metal – what made you want to do melodic rock?

Jason: Well, the music scene here is definitely very heavy, very black, very melancholy. I don't know what you thought, Tomppa, that day when you made that riff? But afterwards, when we heard it, we just thought that people can smile and enjoy the melody and be happy listening to this music.

You got picked up by Spinefarm very quickly. How did this partnership come about?

Jason: Well, as you know Emppu is with Nightwish and they are on Spinefarm, so he knows the people there very well. Emppu passed the first two tracks to them. They thought it was a bit funny, and that was that, but after working some more in 2005 we presented them with more tracks, and they realised that we were serious. We said that we had enough songs to make an album, so we took it all the way and then we sold it to Spinefarm. We didn't have to ask anywhere else because they wanted us to do it.

Do you all have similar musical influences? Who are the major ones?

Jason: I think everybody digs Van Halen. They would be the major one, plus we are all into Journey, Bon Jovi … all those big bands.

We are interrupted momentarily as Pekka announces his arrival with a flurry of vocal scales. More handshaking, hugs and smiles, and I hand over the much promised gift. With a "Good Evening, Mr Jameson", he stashes it away carefully until "opening time" after the show.

How do you approach your songwriting? Is it down to one or two of you, or is it a more democratic shared approach?

Pekka: Well the process usually starts with Tomppa coming up with some chord progressions or keyboard riffs. He is very good at riffs – you've probably noticed this (winks). He then passes it to me, and I do my best to do some justice to what he's done and write the melody and lyrics and when we've got the core of the song we pass it to these guys (indicates Jason and Emppu) and they do their parts, and that's about it. Then it comes back to me for some more refining.

What's your main reason for writing the songs in English?

Pekka: I've been in bands since I was 12 years old and I never sang in Finnish. I've been a huge music fan since I was 7 years old and the bands that I started listening to back then, the bands I grew up with and the bands I still listen to these days all sing in English. So that's the reason, really.

Do you deliver your shows in English as well?

Pekka: No way, that would be suicide in Finland. It depends on where we're playing. If we know if there's someone who's recording the show for radio or something, then of course we'll do it in English, or at least half of it in English. But if we did this when we play in Finland, people would be asking "What's wrong with this guy? He's Finnish, why's he speaking in English?"

Who came up with the album title? Is it anything to do with Manowar, by any chance?

Pekka: (with a huge grin almost choking on his drink) … I did …. and it's got everything to do with Manowar (much laughter). It typifies everything that they don't like according to their slogan "Death To False Metal". I think our stuff is exactly what they meant by that. Joey DiMaio actually heard the first demos we did through Emppu and liked them, which was cool as hell...

Tell us about some of the tracks – which ones came in moments of inspiration, for example?

Pekka: Pretty much all of them. We used the same writing process for all of them – it was very spontaneous, with most of the songs being written in 30 minutes max. Some of the lyric content really proves that...

Where there any tracks that were more difficult to deliver?

Pekka: Not really no... ‘Kill City Kid' might have taken a bit more on the vocal melody department, especially the chorus. But still far from difficult. It was all done with a beer can in other hand and a frisbee in other.

Which is your favourite track to sing live?

Pekka: If my voice is in good shape then ‘I'm On Fire' absolutely. I love that song and people always get off on that. ‘Mighty Wings' is a killer too even though it's not our own song. Wait, let me rephrase that; BECAUSE it's not our own song!

Is there any track you'd do all over again if you had the chance?

Pekka: Yep. ‘Devil's Daughter' and ‘Spanish Eyes'. We're satisfied with the performances but the mix is not exactly what it could and should be. ‘Devil's' especially, it lacks some serious ooomph unfortunately. I love the song but can't listen to it. Well I can but don't enjoy it that much.

Have you played outside of Finland yet?

Pekka: No not yet but that's something we're not worried about as it's inevitable at some point. If there are people out there abroad who wanna see us live then absolutely.

Any plans for the UK?

Pekka: Not that I know of right now but it would be awesome. There was some talk of Firefest but it fell through timetable wise. Damn shame, as a fan of the genre it would've been fantastic to get to see the other bands on the bill too. I read some great reports from last year's Fest. We've got some amazing fans in the UK, it would be great to play for them and thank them for all their support for the band.

What has been your favourite show to date and why?

Pekka: Most of them have been great but if I had to pick one it would probably be the one we did in Helsinki's Virgin Oil Company club a while a go. The place was packed with people who really had come down to see BFT. People dancing and singing along, it was beautiful. It was also cool to support Yngwie Malmsteen. The first big gig I saw was Malmsteen in Helsinki back in ‘88. Blew my mind. plus Fate supported them which was a big thing for me!

What plans for a UK release of False Metal? What other territories has it reached? (Actually, at the time of writing, I can report that I found a copy in HMV recently in the metal section – hooray!)

Pekka: I'm the last person you should ask this as I have absolutely no idea...I think it's out in Finland, Baltic countries and Asia as far as I know. I suck at these things… among many other things!

Are there any plans in the pipeline for another album? Was there anything left over from the first one, for example?

Pekka: Sure. We're in the middle of writing new songs actually. No release dates yet though. But it's good to see the same pattern of writing is still in good form, we're coming up with stuff quickly and with minimum stress. There were no leftovers from False Metal, those songs were all we had, which is nice. It's always a bit of a drag to get back to something that didn't work first time round.

Is music full time for all of you or do you have other commitments?

Pekka: We all have other commitments that mostly have something to do with music. Lots of bills to pay!

What was your funniest moment on tour?

Pekka: Every day is high comedy with this band when we're out there. It's usually and naturally the late hours after the gig when some of the best stories are born. I'm afraid I'd get in trouble if shared them with you here. Our roadies and tech guys take care of most of the mayhem actually!

Who are you listening to at the moment?

Pekka: After some serious hunting I managed to get my hands on Glen Burtnick's ‘Talking In Code'. Preview is on my car stereo right now … what an underrated classic that was. And I always have some Jack Ponti stuff within arm's reach. Never leave home without it.
Tomppa: Wigwam! They're great! (When I tell him I'll give Glam a copy of False Metal his infectious grin gets even wider)

Is there any song you wish you'd written?

Pekka: Anything from Thriller or Eagles'Greatest Hits for example... the royalties would be reasonable I think. Music-wise I'd love to be able to point out that I wrote Journey's ‘Don't Stop Believin'. The guys who can have something everlasting in their resume.

How would you describe Brother Firetribe to our readers who perhaps aren't familiar with your work?

Pekka: Well if you're into feel good, laid back, hard melodic rock with big hooks and sound, then I suggest you check us out. If you prefer angst and gloom and deep philosophical lyrics, don't bother. It's all about fun maaaaan!

How much do you attribute the contribution of Myspace to your fan base?

Pekka: MySpace is great, I check it every now and then. It's cool to drop a line every once in a while to someone who's been kind enough to write to us. It's easy and I think it might make someone happy.

How have you been received by your heavier label mates?

Pekka: I really don't know. I can bet my ass they don't buy or listen to our records, which is cool by me, but I'd like to think we get along fine every time our paths cross. All in all I think the vibe in the Finnish metal scene among the players is great. It's more like "way to go man, this one's on me" more than "my band is better than yours". Exactly the way it should be.

Finally, what do you say to those people who wrongly accused you of being a "joke" band?

Pekka: Have a good listen and think again. I understand why there are people who think we're just taking the piss but it's really far from the truth. This ain't Bad News. We love this kind of stuff and everything you hear comes from the heart. It's just that it's been a while since someone has done music with this kind of twist in it, you know, keyboards dominating kinda thing. The melodic rock community appreciates it from what I understand but the others are a bit puzzled, like "Don't these guys understand it's not the 80's anymore?" Yes we do but we just wanna bring back what we feel are the better parts from that particular decade. And if possible, update the sound a bit. The biggest joke this band has to offer is our faces on Sunday mornings!

As I get ready to leave the boys to their pre-show bonding, Pekka delivers an amazing rendition of Journey's ‘Lights' that Steve Perry himself would have been immensely proud of. It is unfortunate indeed that we won't have the pleasure of seeing Brother Firetribe at Firefest IV as Nightwish will be on tour at the same time meaning Emppu's going to be otherwise engaged for a while, so we may be resigned to waiting for another while yet before they make it to the UK. But when they do, make sure you don't miss it.