{"id":2349,"date":"2014-11-08T10:49:32","date_gmt":"2014-11-08T10:49:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kkdowning.net\/steelmill\/?post_type=interviews&p=2349"},"modified":"2024-09-06T09:45:07","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T09:45:07","slug":"leather-rebels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/kkdowning.net\/steelmill\/leather-rebels\/","title":{"rendered":"Leather Rebels"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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\"lreb1\"<\/a>
\n\u00a9 J. Parkku<\/span>
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\n<\/span><\/p>\n

LEATHER REBELS<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n


\n<\/strong><\/span>
\nJudas Priest Tribute from Finland<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Interview By Kimmo Tattari \/ November 2014<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Leather Rebels is a Priest coverband from Tampere, Finland. Steel Mill met the guys when they were prepairing for their show at the Biker\u2019s Party at Motorcafe Suviranta.<\/p>\n

Welcome to the Steel Mill! Please introduce yourselves to our readers.<\/p>\n

Hi, I\u2019m Marko Niemi and I play bass in this band.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m Ville Aatsinki, drums. I\u2019ve been with Leather Rebels for about 6 months\u2026 oh, wait a minute, it\u2019s actually almost a year now.<\/p>\n

Paavo H\u00e4rk\u00f6nen, vocals. Maybe it\u2019s an interesting fact that, although I\u2019ve been in bands before,<\/p>\n

Leather Rebels is the first band where I\u2019m singing. We\u2019ve played only 4 gigs so far, so I can\u2019t really say I\u2019m that experienced as a vocalist yet.<\/p>\n

Lassi Tiainen, guitar, been in this band for 6 months.<\/p>\n

Marko: \u2026and Anssi Salonen is the other guitarist. He\u2019s on his way here, but I can introduce him. Anssi has been in the band from the start, like me and Paavo. So, the drummer and the guitarist are different from the original lineup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"lreb2\"<\/a>
\nAnssi \u00a9 J. Parkku<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Do you have any other musical experience than Leather Rebels?<\/p>\n

Marko: This whole thing started from the other band I have with Anssi, Evil-Lyn. Then Paavo asked us if we were interested in playing Judas Priest. So we took all the guys from Evil-Lyn and started a Judas Priest cover band.<\/p>\n

Paavo: Yes, Anssi and I had talked about starting a Priest cover band for years\u2026<\/p>\n

Marko: It was quite easy to start this band, because we already had everything we needed, all the instruments and stuff. We also had a place to rehearse. Later on, there\u2019s been a couple of changes in the lineup, but nothing too challenging so far..<\/p>\n

Why Judas Priest?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ville: Because Priest is just so hard!<\/p>\n

Paavo: For me, Judas Priest is definitely number one, my favourite band. It was fascinating to notice that my vocal range suits Priest\u2019s music quite well. If I try to sing Iron Maiden, for example, it won\u2019t work at all, but Priest is a different thing. So things couldn\u2019t be better!<\/p>\n

I was about to ask that. How much effort does it take to sing like the Metal God?<\/span><\/p>\n

Paavo: Of course, the vocals are challenging, and I\u2019ve done some really hard work with the songs.<\/p>\n

Marko: It\u2019s funny how the vocal performance depends on the day, really. There are days when certains songs just don\u2019t take off, while some other songs work nicely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"lreb4\"<\/a>
\nPaavo \u00a9 J. Parkku<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

What are your favourite Judas Priest albums and songs?<\/span><\/p>\n

Marko: Painkiller is my favourite album, and maybe Leather Rebel is the best song.<\/p>\n

Ville: That\u2019s a hard question, I have to think for a minute\u2026<\/p>\n

Lassi: My favourite is Painkiller, but Reckless from Turbo might be the best song.<\/p>\n

Yeah, that\u2019s kind of a hidden gem, as far as I know, Priest has never played that live\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

Ville: Yes, but we have! Unfortunately, it\u2019s not in the setlist today, but we have played it before.<\/p>\n

Anssi: I like Defenders of the Faith album, and my favourite track is either Hell Patrol or Rock Hard Ride Free.<\/p>\n

Ville: The best album is Screaming for Vengeance \u2026or Painkiller. And I have to agree with Lassi on Reckless. When I tried to learn Reckless, pick out some drum parts and fills etc, a few times I noticed in the middle of the song that I had just sort of wandered off, gone with the feeling\u2026 so I had to start over\u2026 and it happened again and again\u2026<\/p>\n

Paavo: The best album is Painkiller, and the best song right now is, also, Reckless. That has changed many times during the years. Hell Patrol was the first song that really got me into Judas Priest. Reckless came pretty late, somehow I hadn\u2019t been listening to that album that much.<\/p>\n

Marko: We played Reckless this summer in Denmark, and the audience just didn\u2019t recognise it at all. Of course, the diehard fans know it, but it seems to be quite unknown for the rest of the lot.<\/p>\n