“One of our motto’s is, if things are hard you find some way to solve things . If your life is easy, you will not find a resolution. I think that this works in our case with our musical journey, things can happen or not happen, time will only tell.” -@joffelproject
Listen to the show: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/avaliveradio/2015/08/27/episode-252-ava-live-radio-behind-the-music-with-jacqueline-jax
GETTING TO KNOW THE JOFFELL PROJECT
by Jacqueline Jax host of A.V.A Live Radio
was created in August 2011 in Finland by guitarist Joffel. The band’s first recording line-up included Ismo Turunen – bass guitar, and Jani Linnanmäki – drums. In September 2011, the Joffel Project had their first studio session and recorded 8 songs with guitars, bass, and drums. At the end of September 2011, the Joffel Project finalized and released 4 songs with 3 legendary Finnish rock vocalists: Mr. Leiden (“Downshift” and “Tomorrow and Yesterday”), Mr. Pänttäjä (“Customer” and “Fool for your stockings”), and Mr. Mikko Herranen (“Rosalie”). The band’s debut album “Shaken’ Not Stirred” (12 songs released, 15 songs recorded), explores complex areas in people’s lives and hard experiences that they’ve been going through, without any musical prejudice and without music industry pressures. The musical abandonment is present in all stages in the making of this album: composition, production, and especially in the vocal and instrumental performance. They are all truly genuine expressions of the feelings that inspired these songs. The Joffel Project’s songs are being heard and accepted with rave reviews by new fans throughout North and South America, thanks to FM, Internet and many independent online web radio stations. Joffel Project’s debut album “Shaken Not Strirred” won best hard rock album category by Akademia Music Awards LA California in July 2014 .(http://www.theindieauthority.com/joffel-project-wins-akademia-music-best-hard-rock-album-award-at-july-2014/)
To me success is…
when you are happy about the things what you do and those thing go forward the way you expect them to. If I can live with that and go forward and do the best that I can do that is part of my success. Our motto is, “No name no fame … we just want to play”. We don’t have pressure to succeed but if that did happen to us it would be awesome. I am happy that I can play my music and some people like our stuff. I have to be happy with that and honored and that is my idea of the perfect success.
Challenging ourselves…
we record our songs with the quality that we would be proud of. We are going to play our songs and gigs with the mentality we always have had by being genuine. We will never stop trying.
I started to play more than 30 years ago. I played in different Finnish rock bands since 2006. I had a long break and started playing again at 2011. One day I was walking in the park with my son and I realized that what I left behind … playing in a band and motorcycling because my daily work takes so much of my time. Then I made the decision to get those things back in my life and now I never leave them behind any more. I would rather quit my job than leave music and motorbikes. Of course my family, wife and kids are first but my daily job is no more. One day I called my friend Mr. Leiden and said that I wanted to arrange studio time because I still have songs that I want to record. Then I realized that I didn’t have band. So I start calling my old friends asking them for help. They said that they would help me and I said “See you in the studio!” We recorded our first songs drums, bass and guitars in Seawolf Studio. Awesome and one of the best studios in Finland. After mixing and mastering we finally know how the song sounded. Then we released those songs to people via the Internet. This was the way the rock group “Joffel Project” started and goes forward still. “No name no fame” we just want to play and share our songs to people hoping someone likes our stuff and if they don’t they don’t have to listen it. It’s awesome to see that our songs are going forward worldwide and every day new people hear them.
https://soundcloud.com/avaliveradio/joffel-project-rosalie
The song’s name is “Rosalie”. It tells the story of my first “big love” what comes my way but ends too fast. I wrote that song in the early 90’s but recorded and released the song in 2012. Many people ask who the girl is in the story and I tell them that I’m not going to tell her name but she knows in her heart who she is 🙂
You can expect Finnish rock with a hard and big punch of sound. The songs will tell of either someone else’s or my life and feelings. Like our previous album, the next one will explore complex areas in people’s life without any musical prejudice or music industry pressures with high quality. We are going to put time and effort into our sound and mixing and mastering. Our songs will we sounding like “world class” songs. In July 2014, we won best hard rock album where the judges said, “This outstanding collection of pulse-pounding, adrenaline-charged rock jams, led by Joffel’s distinct voice, will bring you to the edge of your seat and kick the chair out.” (http://www.theakademia.com/hard_rock_best_album_july_2014_awards.html)
Honestly, our band is happy that we are not the type to “sell our souls” and be like “puppets” who have to earn their oney and do what the record company & label says. We know that we are not going to get fortune and fame and we can live with that. We have the freedom now to do things how we want and what feels right to us. It’s a good thing that today we have the Internet that we can use to share our songs worldwide. If something good is to happen to us it will be an awesome thing if not we are still going to make music and play gigs. One of our motto’s is, if things are hard you find some way to solve things . If your life is easy, you will not find a resolution. I think that this works in our case with our musical journey, things can happen or not happen, time will only tell.
Social media…
is very important today. If you want to find new listeners or keep in contact with your listeners you have to be on social media. On the internet there are so many bands and music so it’s hard to raise your profile and social media name. People find our music only because we share it via the Internet and we use social media.
Marketing in music…
is very important but we don’t have any strategy in use right now. We play and make music. In the future, let us see what we can do to sign with a “Hollier Than Thou” record label.
Creation of the music…
My songs come from somewhere I don’t know where. I usually start with some guitar riffs and start to put together the different parts. If I create some riffs I have to record it right away otherwise I forget it. Sometimes I find an idea about the melody and maybe some lyrics too. Writing song lyrics can be a very hard task. Sometimes it takes couple hours and a song is ready and sometimes it can take weeks, months or even years until it’s ready. When I have a draft I present that to my group then together we start to find a final version of how the songs have to sound.
I would love to have 5 minutes alone with…
This is a hard question… very hard. In this world there are so many people that I want to meet and talk with but if we stay in music and are talking about some person who I admire and inspired me then we are talking about Mr. Slash. Slash is the best guitarist in the world and I really like his sound and style. So if I get a chance meet him, it would be an awesome experience. One of my dreams is to jam with Slash during my life time.