"My collection amounts to ca. 17.000 albums (50/50 vinyls and CDs), which is pretty goddam TOO MUCH! You just CAN’T REMEMBER WHAT YOU OWN!!!"

What was the first record you bought? When, where and why? Where was it the last time you saw it?
The first record I bought was The Beatles’ Help album when I was around 10. I bought it in one of the few record shops in my hometown, Jyvaskyla. It was only natural that my first record was by the Fabs; they turned me on to pop music. Of course, I still have the album in my record shelf. I didn’t really care for other bands at the time, but I remember I loved The Stones’ Last Time, The Hollies’ Bus Stop. Manfred Mann’s Come Tomorrow, The Byrds’ Mr Tambourine Man and The Seekers’ Georgy Girl. But when I was a stupid, ignorant little kid I loved Little Peggy March’s I Will Follow Him madly.
After Help I bought some Beatles singles and Eps, and Paperback Writer/Rain especially blew my mind. It was so marvellously weird; The Beatles had clearly stepped on to another level. This was, at least for me, the dawn of psychedelia; the drugs had clearly started to work. My second album was Waiting for the Sun by The Doors. I remember listening to it A LOT. In those days I only had a few records so I listened to them so much I learned them by heart. My brother bought The Who’s second album (the German version with a different cover and track selection, called simply The Who). I loved listening to it LOUD.
At around this time I also started dabbling with the guitar; my brother had an old grumpy acoustic guitar which was almost impossible to play, the strings were so high. But playing with that kinda guitar was VERY GOOD practice, I think. The teenage pic of me here shows me playing a guitar, but I can’t figure out which brand it is. But dig my Rick Wakeman hair-do (sorry, Richard!)!. At about 13, I formed my first band with my best friend, Hannu Lehtoranta (RIP), called Mellow Taste. We never gigged (fortunately) but we me made some very interesting home tapes, which I still enjoy listening to. Much, much later, in around 2005, we reassembled Mellow Taste, played one gig, and recorded some pretty stunning stuff. The US Guitar Player magazine raved about our Tantric Love, as did Shindig! magazine. Shindig! called it “wondrous music”, and who am I to disagree! We have an album’s worth of melodic but far-out psychedelia; maybe FdM would be interested??!

What was the first gig you remember going to?
I first heard a band playing live (when I was about 10) in a circus tent doing a sound check while walking my dog (a collie). It was a pleasant surprise how GODDAM LOUD they played. The band was the local number one in my hometown, called Silvery. They played one of my favourites at the time, The Move’s Night of Fear, and I couldn’t believe how close to The Move’s single they sounded.
The best gig I ever saw was Magazine in a small club in San Francisco, August 1979. They were just so fucking great!!

What was the first band/solo artist you obsessed about?
The first band I was truly obsessed with was, of course, The Beatles, simply because they were streets ahead of the competition. During the first psychedelic era (1966 – 68) there were others: Jimi Hendrix Experience, Pink Floyd (but for me they were listenable only during 1967-1973), The Byrds, Syd Barrett, The Move, early Bee Gees (their first 4 albums were psych-pop masterpieces and their songwriting talents were only rivalled by The Beatles at the time. Robert Wyatt also loved them!), Traffic, Procol Harum, Tyrannosaurus Rex (Bolan’s finest period by far), the psychedelic era Pretty Things, Trees, Cream, King Crimson (their debut blew this school kid’s mind out completely! Still does, btw), Van der Graaf Generator (their Refugees and Afterwards still remain my favourites. I think we covered both of them for FdM), Quintessence, Fairport Convention, ISB, Soft Machine, Lindisfarne, Jefferson Airplane, Moby Grape, Spirit, Love, The Doors, Bob Dylan, The Band, Captain Beefheart, Mothers of Invention, Tim Buckley, Pearls Before Swine, United States of America, Van Dyke Parks (his debut, Song Cycle, still remains a mystery to me), Amon Duul II, CAN, Faust, Wigwam and SEVERAL others. But to this day, Pink Floyd’s See Emily Play remains my all-time favourite pop/rock record. I hope some day Permanent Clear Light will cover it, if only just for ourselves. Or perhaps it would be wiser not to! Syd’s version just can’t be bettered; I always remember how I hated Bowie’s version of it. Still do

What was the first gig you played? what was the name of the band and what kind of stuff did you play?
The first band I actually gigged with (mid-70’s) was called Mandrax. PCL vocalist, Matti Laitinen, was the lead vocalist and I played bass guitar. In the black & white photo here you can see Matti (second from left) who, btw, was an OVERWHELMING David Bowie look-alike in those days. I’m standing sideways in the middle. We played mainly covers: The Who, Yardbirds, Dylan, Neil Young etc. LOUD!! We used to play Young’s Like a Hurricane more than a year before of was officially released on American Stars & Bars. A friend of mine had a Young bootleg recorded in Rome, which had a much faster version of Hurricane. Mandrax played it faster, too; I think it worked better at a faster tempo. After Mandrax, I played bass for a couple of years in a pretty famous Finnish folk/rock/jazz group called Fyyralyyra (please don’t ask me, even I have no idea what the name means!) But this wasn’t really my thing, and I gave up playing in bands for some 30 years. Besides, I HATED playing live, probably because of my shyness. But I didn’t give up playing; I bought a Fostex 4-track cassette recorder and started experimenting alone at home with guitar, bass, keyboard and a drum machine. Some of the tracks I recorded then actually sound, to my great surprise, pretty interesting even today.

What was the name of the first song you wrote/recorded/released?
The first songs I ever wrote were called Portland Tickler and Midnight Hamilton. I was about 15; I think I have Mellow Taste cassette recordings of these lying around somewhere. Wildly out-there psychedelic 3-minute wonderments. The first “proper” song I wrote was Higher Than the Sun. It was released as an FdM single in ca. 2013, and I think that turned out pretty damn nice. Nice 3D cover, too; designed by Mr Keith Jones. We also have a 10-minute album version of Higher, the last 5 minutes of which go to a different Galaxy, never returning back. This turned out a minor radio hit around the distant Galaxy. Which is nice.

Describe your dream backing band...
Besides PCL (Arto & Matti are geniuses, you see!), my dream band would be: Greg Lake (vocals), Rick Danko (bass & vocals), John Hiseman (drums), Rick Wright (keyboards, vocals), Syd Barrett (songwriter, guitar, vocals), John Lennon (songwriter, lead vocals, rhythm guitar), David Jackson (sax), Peter Hammill (vocals, keys), Tom Rapp (songwriting, vocals), Pete Townshend (rhythm guitar), John Paul Jones & John Entwistle (bass),Roger McGuinn (lead vocals & 12-string Rickenbacker), Hugh Banton (keyboards), Bob Dylan (Theremin), Steve Winwood (vocals, Hammond), Peter Sinfield (Mellotron), Garth Hudson (Lowrey), Jack Casady (bass), Rick Crech (bass), Grace Slick (vocals) & Jimi Hendrix and Kenny Håkansson (lead guitars), Keith Moon (drums). BIG BAND, BIG SOUND!I think this line-up would work partucularly well for bluegrass music. (I suppose I could play the triangle and occasional underwater backwards guitar).

What is your favourite era/genre of music?
My favourite musical era is more or less 1965 – 1973. My favourite genres are: 60’s pop, psychedelia, early prog, British psychedelic folk, folk-rock, early electronic music, krautrock & some of the current neo-psychedelic bands. But the only new band I’ve got REALLY excited about are The Temples. Their debut album (Sun Structures, 2016) is the only one I’ve treasured after The Stone Roses’ debut. The Temples’ songwriting is top-notch, the vocalist is great, and the album production is spot on. A masterpiece! Their second album is very different and much harder to get into. I’ve only had time to listen to it once; gotta have another listen asap. But I respect the band because their 2nd album isn’t a carbon copy of their debut!

What's the most recent record you've bought?
The most recent record I bought was a massive 27-CD King Crimson box set called Sailor’s Tales 1970-72. I haven’t opened it yet, but I know I’m gonna love it because it covers the most exciting period of the band.

Which artists/labels have you collected over the years, if any?
I’ve collected quite a lot of artists. My collection amounts to ca. 17.000 albums (50/50 vinyls and CDs), which is pretty goddam TOO MUCH! You just CAN’T REMEMBER WHAT YOU OWN!!! Some of the labels I’ve collected are Island, Harvest, Sundazed & FdM. But I’ve collected, among others, the following artists: The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Byrds, Spirit, Love, Grateful Dead, Van der Graaf Generator, Petr Hammill, Traffic ISB, Fairport Covention & others I’ve mentioned above.

Beatles or The Stones or Dylan or Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin? (or none of the above?) why?
The Beatles, of course. Needs no explanations.

If you were stranded on a desert island and could only take three records with you...?
If I were stranded on a desert island with a record deck (highly unlikely, though), I think it would be wise to choose double albums. Consequently, I’d choose The Beatles’ White Double, Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde and The Byrds’ (Untitled). Some “Best of” doubles might be a better idea, though. Oh, and I’d take Electric Ladyland, too although I was only supposed to choose three.

Is there anyone whose music is seriously 'out there' who you're into?
My favourite “out there” musicians are, without a shadow of a doubt, Captain Beefheart, Syd Barrett, early Mothers of Invention and Wild Man Fischer. And Faust.

...what about Finnish bands?
one of the finest groups in the world during the late 60’s and early 70’s was definitely our Wigwam. Immensely talented musicians who gradually moved towards prog. I’m honoured to have met them all personally. Their co-vocalist, Jim Pembroke, is not only one of my all-time favourite singers but easily the finest songwriter in the early 70’s. They were always TRULY POWERFUL live, and as regards prog an sich, I think Wigwam wiped the floor with all the big-name prog bands of the time. Recommended listening: Hard & Horny, Tombstone Valentine, Fairyport, Being, Nuclear Nightclub and Dark Album.

Your favourite film involving music...?
Stupid question; it is, naturally, Antonioni’s Zabriskie Point, featuring rare Floyd, Dead, Kaleidoscope etc.

CDs, vinyl or downloads?
Vinyl, CDs or downloads?? Everything goes, but vinyls are, of course, the most desirable. But I absolutely love listening to my favourite music (especially our 1st album!) on iTunes when I take contemplative walks.

Which do you prefer - on-stage or in the studio? and why?
I much prefer studio to playing live. I’ve got a pretty accomplished home studio, loads of synths, amps, effects boxes and around 120 guitars (pretty bad case of OCD!). I think of a studio as an instrument in itself; the MOST IMPORTANT instrument, in fact. I’m primarily interested in SOUNDS – I’m searching for sounds that nobody has heard yet.
Permanent Clear Light don’t do gigs. We have our 2nd album, Corneville Skyline, completed but we have no idea who (if anyone) is going to release it. If anyone has some ideas regarding this, please let me know!

And that’s it, folks.