Uniklubi rehearse in an old factory building in Tampere. In the rehearsal place there’s a mystic back box and atmospheric Christmas illuminations. Reporter Jenni-Maarit Koponen (J-M) met Uniklubi.
Watch the video HERE.
[Arriving at the building in which the rehearsal place is in, going inside. Guys currently playing Mitä Vittua, and first not looking at the camera. Jussi stops singing after „sä olet näiden katujen…“ half-singing „hei!“, and the guys stop playing]
J-M: Ciao! Hello!
Guys: Hei! Welcome!
Jussi: We’re in our rehearsal place in Tampere, Onkiniemi. And that’s how it looks.
Teemu: Yeah … that’s what it’s like. [Guys laughing, probably about the fact that it’s such a small place and the camera already captured the most important things when entering the room]
J-M: Over there you have a little storage-room?
Jussi: Yes, this is where we store all our equipment packed in boxes. And now that we’re here to rehearse we arrange ourselves in a way that everyone can see each other.
[takes out a drum] That’s actually a bongo which is from India.
J-M: Who brought this?
Jussi: I brought this. I didn’t even remember it was here, I just found it.
J-M: When have you been to India?
Jussi: We should add this to our set…. Uhm, three … four years ago when I was travelling around there.
J-M: Was it much played on?
Jussi: Yeah you get this percussion-kind of feeling. Pretty nice. Really cool that I found it again, I’ve got to take it somewhere else.
J-M: What about this writing on the wall, „X-MAS“?
Teemu: Well it’s Christmas.
Antti: From what I remember the X came from a band who was just here for drinking and playing Irwin [note: Irwin Goodman, a Finnish artist from the 70s] and they wrote „Las Palmas“ onto their guitar amplifier. The „MAS“ didn’t fit on the amp, so they wrote it on the wall, and somebody added the „X“ before it.
Teemu: Yah, that’s how it was.
Jussi [rummaging around in their stuff and finding holiday lights in the shape of billiard balls, the 8 of course]: Well! It’s going to be a really pretty rehearsal place now that we found the right decorations!
Teemu: We have Christmas-lights for f*cks sake!
J-M: Why are they not on the wall?
Jussi: That’s what I was wondering about.
Tuomas: Well, Christmas is over.
Teemu: Well but we have Christmas here every day so we can put them up.
Jussi: Which amplifier will we put them on?
J-M: Did you find a place for them?
Antti: Put it into a socket on the wall.
Janne [leaning over the amp to look for where to put the plug]: Is it on the other side?
Antti: Now there’s definitely going to be some fuse or something because we have so many things plugged in. There are probably some lights broken [light chain lights up] oh look!
[All the other lights switched off and a general „whooo“ going through the room]
J-M: Atmospheric lighting at its best!
[Tuomas playing the appropriate tune on the keyboards]
Janne: And now we’re playing…
Teemu: That’s how we always rehearse!
Antti: That’s how it is.
[Lights on again, Jussi rummages through some more stuff]
Jussi: yees… an umbrella…
J-M: Oh that’s really colourful!
Jussi [laughing, taking out a cap with two visors and space to put a drink in – and putting it on his head]: That’s a drinking system -cap for festivals.
J-M: Did you use this a lot?
Teemu [laughing]: Very useful in summer!
J-M: It even has two visors!
Jussi [having put the cap on top of the bongo]: Now that we started decorating…
Teemu [with the colourful umbrella on his head]: That’s meant for the Finnish summer. And if somebody is in a bad mood then he has to wear this so that everyone knows he has a rain cloud over his head.
[Now Teemu goes looking through there stuff, Tuomas continues playing on his keyboard and either Janne or Pasi are joining in as well.]
Teemu: This is a present bag.
J-M: From your fans?
Teemu: It’s a gift from fans, yes, from … 2009. Here we have a drinking game, a card game „nice questions and funny answers“ … as it looks we were perceived rather childishly. Look, here’s a Jackass card game
[note: not the TV show, the card deck where there’s one „jackass“ card you are not supposed to have in your hand at the end of the game. A literal translation would be „Black Peter“, Teemu says it in Swedish, Svarte Petter and shows that the box has a picture of Jussi, Kehä-era.]
[Camera is showing Jussi again]
Jussi: Look what we found here.
J-M: Oh! A secret box.
Jussi [opens the box and starts laughing, instantly holding the box closed]: Ah, dammit
Teemu: HEY!!! That IS a f*cking black box!
[Everyone laughing]
J-M: What’s in there?
[When she attempts to get the box, Antti shouts: „NO, don’t look inside there!“ and everyone is laughing]
Teemu: That’s some myth in there that needs to be preserved. [when she tries to open it, saying „hei, you have to show what’s in there“: ] No no no! [taking it away]
J-M: There are skulls on it.
Teemu: There are skulls on it exactly because the contents are hazardous.
J-M: You’re not gonna reveal what’s in there?
Teemu [earnestly]: This is where all the love letters go that we have sent each other over years.
Janne: And pictures.
Teemu: Oh yes, all the dubious pictures.
[everyone laughing]
Teemu: Well what’s in there … let’s see next time, maybe then we’ll reveal what’s in there.
[In the end, photos from the rehearsal place are shown why we hear the guys playing some melody until the video is over]
Originally on: YLE Finland
Uploaded to: yle.areena, 18.03.2011
Reference Link: http://areena.yle.fi/video/1300182710711
Video and questions by: Jenni-Maarit Koponen
Translating Uniklubi 