Interview with Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (http://petesrocknewsandviews.com)
PD: How would you describe yourself or your band as an artist?
RP: We are an independent, authentic and a DIY spirited band. Our music sounds upbeat with an almost humorously depressing lyrical twist. Trial by fire seems to be the motto we live by. It is always easy to throw money at the problems you encounter, but we’ve realized that usually if you walk that extra mile you’ll come out stronger and more knowledgeable as a result. We walk the “pineapple” way.
PD: Can you tell us briefly about your background – i.e. where you’re from, how you came to make music, etc.
RP: We are a band from Helsinki, Finland formed in 2014, inspired by the Californian punk scene. We started our journey practicing in our drummer’s parents garage, then slowly but surely climbed our way to where we’re at now, wherever that is. Our current lineup consists of: Ozzie (vocalist/guitarist), Thoubi (drummer), Jake (bassist/vocalist) and our newest member Johnsson (guitarist). Our lineup has changed a lot along the years and we’ve had quite the journey, old band mates disastrously injuring themselves, a funeral right before a show, you name it! Jake was the vocalist/guitarist in a band called Too Hot For Radio, our first encounter with him was Ozzie lending his guitar to him due to a string snapping on set. We never would have thought that after some years he would join us as a bass player. It’s weird how life happens.
PD: Who and what inspires you to make music, both in terms of musical and other influences? What do you like to write about in your songs?
RP: Bands such as: Blink 182, NOFX, Green Day and Alkaline Trio have been the main culprits when it comes to inspiration musically. Other than that, usually the songs are lyrically about personal mental health problems and life in general. Ozzie basically writes about anything that he finds interesting and quite usually about his own struggles. Jake on the other hand might make some imagined situation into a song.
PD: What are your aspirations as an artist?
RP: We would love to tour the world and meet equally insane and weird people, it would be cool to see how the punk scene can differ around the globe. We crave adventure and new experiences.
PD: What is the proudest moment in your music career so far?
RP: The current moment, It’s great to look back now and think of where we’ve come from. It’s all slowly but surely coming together and we’re just going to get better and better. Patience and hard labor, there’s no shortcuts around that.
PD: Promoting one’s music is such a challenge these days, especially with so many new artists emerging from bedrooms in the day of the home studio. How is that going?
RP: Super hard! There’s so much noise on the music market that it feels almost impossible to get your music to the right people, but I guess you just have to keep going at it until the algorithms favour you. We’ve also noticed that if you don’t have that “generic playlist” sound it becomes a problem real fast if you want to get plays, but it is what it is. We’re still going to do this the “pineapple” way. In the long run it might be the best way forward, at least we can respect ourselves.
PD: And how do you book and promote your live shows and tours? Any performances coming up?
RP: We just try to contact as many venues and festivals as possible until someone gets interested, then we spam our social media with gig posters and other adverts. On top of that we send personal messages to friends and fans closest to us. Before you even know it the venue is suddenly full with your fans and friends causing mayhem and destruction. We are currently working on some local shows and a possible “mini” tour from Finland to Sweden with Glass Wipe (FIN) and Astro-Lloyd (SWE) in October 2023. If everything turns out right we might even get to play a show in Denmark. How cool is that!?
PD: What do you think about downloading music online? What about streaming sites like Spotify?
RP: Either way of music consumption is fine, we just hope we could get more out of music streaming. We’re a small band so the money amount is less than peanuts at this point.
PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?
RP: Barbie Girl by Aqua, We refuse to elaborate.
PD: Is there anything you don’t like about the music industry, which you would change if you could?
RP: It would be cool that if the industry wouldn’t be as scam prone, it’s really hard to trust people nowadays because of that.
PD: So, what are you working on at the moment?
RP: We are currently recording an EP and there’s plenty of other projects on the way too. There’s a “live” session slowly cooking, we’re probably going to do a music video or two and as we previously mentioned we’re trying to get a tour happening.
PD: Where can we learn more about you and buy your music/merch online?
RP: Our music can be found on Spotify and every major music streaming service. You can follow our journey on Instagram, Facebook, and all other social websites.
At the moment, our merch can only be purchased at shows or by contacting us directly, but we might start up a webshop in the near future.
Radioactive Pineapple links:
Band/Artist location – Helsinki, Finland
Facebook – You Tube – Soundcloud – Twitter – Instagram –
Apple – Spotify – Amazon – Deezer – LinkTree – TikTok –
Check our page for Radioactive Pineapple
