Interview with Santeri Guitars/Bass of Veriluola and Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (https://petesrocknewsandviews.com)
PD: How would you describe yourself or your band as an artist?
S: I would describe Veriluola as an experimental project in the sense that I don’t like to get stuck with any specific style, and I enjoy combining various different musical influences into a cohesive whole.
PD: Can you tell us briefly about your background – i.e. where you’re from, how you came to make music, etc.
S: I’m from Finland and I started playing drums at about 14 and then a year or so later started playing the guitar. I started making metal music at around 15, and continued ever since. There’s a few songs from back then that have been used for Veriluola.
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?
S: Bands and artists that always push their own style forward inspire me, and lately that’s been Manilla Road. They’re eccentric in the sense that they continued doing their own thing all the way from 80s to 2010s, always doing something a little bit different. Writing lyrics is for me the fun part after crafting the songs together, so I don’t really have anything in specific I like to write about, as long as it fits the sound of the track.
PD: What are your aspirations as an artist?
S: Just to keep making new and different music, and hopefully having people enjoy it.
PD: What is the proudest moment in your music career so far?
S: Veriluola’s debut album release for sure, it’s my first band and first full-length so it’s something to be at least a bit proud of.
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?
S: I don’t go out of my way too much to promote the music. It is a bit hard, but for now my main method of promoting would be to just get the release stream on some Youtube channel that has similar music. I also show it to some closer friends. Basically, I do as much as I can myself, and leave the rest to the label.
PD: And how do you book and promote your live shows and tours? Any performances coming up?
S: No plans for live shows with Veriluola.
PD: What do you think about downloading music online? What about streaming sites like Spotify?
S: I personally use Spotify, and I don’t really care how someone listens to our music or anyone else’s music. That said, I really do appreciate the people who are willing to pay for the physical or digital releases of music and I think it’s very generous in this day and age.
PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?
S: Hole in the Head by Autopsy. It’s one of those songs that has a very strange structure but it flows perfectly. Structure in songs is one of the most difficult things to get right in my opinion, so I wish I was able to do it like in that song.
PD: Is there anything you don’t like about the music industry, which you would change if you could?
S: I think metal has a unique industry, because the support for smaller artists is immense and there’s passionate people running labels. From my little understanding it really doesn’t seem this way for a lot of other music genres, so that’s what I dislike and would change if I had the power to.
PD: So, what are you working on at the moment?
S: Mostly school, but there are plans for some new Veriluola as well. We have a few song drafts made, and we’ll see what to do with them once they’re finished.
PD: Where can we learn more about you and buy your music/merch online?
S: You can check out our Facebook and Instagram page, and you can buy our physical releases from our Bandcamp or directly from Nameless Grave Records’ website for cheaper.
Veriluola links:
Band/Artist location – Finland/USA
Facebook – Bandcamp – Merch –
Instagram – Apple – Spotify – Amazon – Deezer – Last Fm –
Check our page for Veriluola
