ShareLauri Johannes Ylonen, (seen here at the front), a singer song writer, best known as being the co-founder and front man of The Rasmus, chats with Kevin Cooper about recently playing a show in the Ukraine, playing dates with Metallica, their latest album Weirdo and their 2025 UK Tour.
Lauri Johannes Ylonen is a Finnish singer songwriter, best known as being the co-founder and front man of the Finnish alternative rock band, The Rasmus.
He initiated the project of The Rasmus in 1994 whilst still at school, along with bass player Eero Heinonen, guitarist Pauli Rantasalmi and drummer Jarno Lahti who was later replaced by Janne Heiskanen who passed away in 2022.
Playing songs in the style of rock and funk, Ylonen became the lead singer, composer and song writer of the band. In 1998 after having released three albums Heiskanen was replaced by Aki Hakala. And when Rantasalmi left the band he was replaced by guitarist Emilia ‘Emppu’ Suhonen in 2022.
Best known for their 2003 hit single In The Shadows, the band has sold over five million albums worldwide and 350,000 albums in Finland alone and has also won numerous awards, both domestic and international. The band represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 with the song Jezebel.
In 2011 Ylonen released his solo album, New World but The Rasmus have released eleven studio albums with the last, Weirdo being released in 2025, and whilst busy promoting that album, Lauri Johannes Ylonen took some time out to have a chat with Kevin Cooper and this is what he had to say.
Lauri good afternoon.
Hi Kevin, so finally we get to speak with one another (laughter). How are you keeping today?
I’m very well thank you and I have to say that it is good to finally get to speak to you. How are you today?
I’m good thanks. I am currently in Finland back in my home so yes, I am feeling very good.
Well before we move on let me thank you for taking the time to speak to me today.
Of course, it’s my pleasure.
And just how is life treating you at this moment in time?
Life at the moment is good. Obviously, we have recently released our new album Weirdo, so as you can imagine this is a very busy time for us. I am currently doing interviews all day every day (laughter) but yes, life is good. We are all excited about the forthcoming tour where we will be going to some very cool places including Nottingham right (laughter).
Indeed you will, indeed you will (laughter). However, we really must speak about the album, Weirdo, and I have to say that I have been playing it now for a few days and I think that it’s fantastic.
Wow, thank you.
Are you happy with it?
Yes, I am, I am very happy. In fact, I have to say that it is far better than I was expecting it to be. I was happy with the songs as they were written, which is for me the most important. We really did spend the time making sure that they were just right. Having said that, when it came to the production of the album, we felt that in a couple of places the whole thing felt a bit flat, so we did them over and over until we were all satisfied with the end product. So yes, I was really happy with the songs, but most of all I was really happy with the chemistry within the band.
You mention the chemistry between the band, but I have to say that it’s not always been like that has it?
(Laughter) no, that’s absolutely correct but this time, there really was a perfect balance between all of us. As a band and as a group we are all really feeling great which is fantastic because we haven’t always felt like that. It used to feel like an old relationship that had run dry, especially when Pauli Rantasalmi left the band back in 2022. At that time, we realised just how many issues we had and felt that it was time to move on with our lives. Emilia “Emppu” Suhonen joined shortly after Paul left, and this is the first album that we had worked on together with her from the very beginning. It’s great to have her energy together with her attitude and her skills on the album.
Putting you firmly on the spot, just who is the Weirdo?
Am I a weirdo, yes damn right I am (laughter). Just Google the name and you will see (laughter). Every picture of me is weird in some way so it’s a good way to check if you are a weirdo or not (laughter). I have always thought of myself as being a weirdo. I enjoy it and it is a great way for me to express myself and my feelings. Being a weirdo is an invitation for people like me to recognise me, to come to me and to find me especially back when I was a teenager. Back then there was no social media so, for me, it was very important how you looked and what you put on when you went to school, what band t-shirt did you put on, that kind of thing.
It also included other things like how you wore your hair, your make up, and all of the stuff like that. It’s all about expressing yourself and I have always been very brave doing that when it came to expressing myself even when I was called a weirdo or whatever, and so were my friends. There weren’t that many people like me but yes, there were a few; enough for me to have a good childhood and it was those people who eventually formed The Rasmus when we were just 15 years old. And I have to say that for me to still be doing this with my best friends after all of these years really is quite something. We want to bring back the word weirdo, after all of these years, but in a positive way, not a negative way. I actually am quite proud of being a weirdo (laughter).
Well, I have to say that at this moment in time I have four go to tracks, they are Dead Ringer, Weirdo, Banksy and Love Is A Bitch. I think that those four songs are absolutely fantastic.
That’s great, thank you. It must mean that we are doing something correctly (laughter).
Do you have a favourite track on the album?
Yes, I do. You can always tell which of the songs both the fans and the audience appreciate in that moment when you play a song live for the very first time. I have to say that I felt a lot of warmth and thanks coming from the audience when we performed a song called Break These Chains. That song itself is very typical of the Rasmus sound, but I think that we have updated that to today’s modern sound in the fact that it has energy and to me, it sounds really solid. Having said all of that we haven’t played all of the songs as yet, so there is a good chance that I may change my mind (laughter). Obviously, I like all of them, and I look at different songs differently.
I’m told that there is a particular song on the album that is very personal and very special to you. Is that correct?
(Laughter) just who have you been speaking to. Yes, you are quite correct in what you say. There is a song on the album, in fact it is the last song on the album, which is called I’m Coming For You. I wrote it for my teenage son. I wanted to tell him that perhaps I haven’t been the best parent, or at least not a perfect one, and I really do find these things really difficult to say to him, so I wrote the song. For me, it is hard for me to say these things to him. However, writing a song about it, I was able to say the things which I needed to say. That song really does feel personal to me and it’s out there.
From writing to recording, how long has it taken you to put the album together?
I would have to say that it has taken us maybe two years. These things always take time (laughter). Please don’t get me wrong, we have had the album almost ready for the past year; it’s crazy. We are very fortunate in the fact that we had so many countries releasing the album at the same time, so as you can imagine, it takes an awful lot of time to set these things up. That’s why I have already moved onto the next album (laughter). As you have most probably guessed, I am a very impatient person (laughter). Every time that we drop an album I am closing an era or a chapter of my life, and releasing the album is a good end, like a period. That was that time, and now I’m over it, so I am moving onto the next one.
I understand that it wasn’t all work and no play (laughter).
(Laughter) I really do have to find out just who you have been speaking to. That’s right, we actually wrote the song over in Greece, on a very small, beautiful, very quiet island called Folegandros. That has become a place where we go quite often. Every June it is time for us to go there and write songs. It has become a sort of tradition for us now. I don’t think that it has anything to do with our music, it just happens to be a quiet, nice place where we can go, concentrate and write new songs whilst getting away from everyday life.
Warm sun, clear skies, blue ocean and Ouzo a plenty, it’s a hard life but someone has to do it (laughter).
(Laughter) as you say it’s a hard life, but someone has to do it so why not let that someone be Rasmus (laughter).
You have already released six singles off the album, are there plans to release any more?
What can I say, some tracks just happen to feel like singles, but you have to remember that people just might start liking some other tracks. For us that helps a lot because we can see which track is trending and which track is not. We have been talking about recording something live in the studio but for now, I don’t know (laughter). We currently have no plans to do any of this, but I know that there will be sometime later down the line.
Tell me about the current tour?
We recently played a few shows here in Finland, and we will be touring all of this year and mostly all of next year. There are plans for us to go over to Australia for the very first time in January next year, together with lots of shows in America. We haven’t been to America now in a very long time, but we recently signed to an American label so that has opened doors for us over there, so we are all very excited to see just how things go for us over in The States.
Do you still enjoy being out on the road?
I love it, its fun (laughter). I love it whenever we do a bus tour, as I have always found it romantic whenever I find myself sleeping on a bus, driving to the next city overnight. It’s great when you are able to have a few drinks with your friends, and you keep going on what seems to be a never-ending road trip (laughter).
A lot of the fans are already saying that Weirdo is your best work to date. Would you agree with them?
Wow, it is always nice whenever I hear that because I always feel like that whenever something new is out. Every time that I write a song it’s not like I feel like, ‘oh my god, this is the best song that I have ever written’ (laughter). Joking aside, that really is a good feeling, and it emphasises the creative process, especially whenever I find myself crying to my own songs (laughter). Please don’t get me wrong, that’s why I do it. So, in answer to your question, I always feel that the latest stuff that we put out is always our best material to date.
But ask me the same question in five or maybe even ten years from now, then let’s see if I agree (laughter). Like I mentioned before, that feeling within the band, that enthusiasm, that hunger, all of that is really good at the moment. At the beginning of 2000 I had a feeling that something was about to happen, and I now have it again. That is what I am excited about.
You produced the track Rest In Pieces on the album. Is producing something that you would like to get more involved with?
Yes, I would. I have previously done a few bits and pieces but yes, I would love to. I worked on it myself and I have to tell you that track wasn’t even supposed to be on the album (laughter). We were almost finished mixing the other songs and then I had an incident with an old friend of mine. He said something really nasty to me which made me really angry so I wrote the song one night and it was at that point that I thought, ‘oh this is good enough, I have to get this on the album’. So I went into the studio, recorded the vocals and did the best that I could with the production. When you have a good vision, you really can do a lot. That drive really can take you far. I really do wish that I could learn more about production (laughter). I’m so happy with that song because it was a very instant one.
Do you enjoy your time here in the UK?
Yes, I do. It is always a pleasure whenever we are over there in the UK. We have a good solid fan base in the UK, so it is always a pleasure to return to the UK to play a few shows. The fans are great, and it already feels as though we know all of their names and that they are all close friends of ours (laughter). For me, it is nice to be a tourist, walking around a city, drinking something local and eating something local (laughter).
On Saturday 6th December you are playing Rock City here in Nottingham and I have to ask you, in your opinion, what makes Rock City a must play venue?
For me, I think that it is because as soon as you step out onto the stage at Rock City you can immediately sense the history of the place; such a lot of music has happened in that building. It really does make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. You are so close to the audience that it really does feel as though they are all around you as you perform. I love Rock City; it is one of the old-school venues and long may it continue.
How many of the new songs have made it onto the set list for the current tour?
At the moment it is six which some people will say is quite many (laughter). Obviously, we do play all of the old hits, plus we play a couple of rare ones like From The Beginning but most of the focus is on the new material. What we are finding is that the new songs sit nicely with the older songs, whilst they are a little more solid and a little harder than the previous Rasmus material, plus I have to tell you that it feels really good to play them live.
You have been in the business for over 30 years now, have you enjoyed the ride so far?
I have loved it. As the late Ozzy Osbourne once said, “if it is time for me to go, I’m grateful as I have had a great life” and I have to tell you that when I heard Ozzy saying that I thought to myself I have absolutely no complaints whatsoever. I have been so very lucky, but I have been working really hard and sometimes I forget that I have sacrificed so much to get to where I am today. When I was younger, I was basically an arsehole. I ruined a lot of things for myself and also for the band. So, I can honestly say that I have earned everything that I have the hard way.
Putting you on the spot, what would you say has been the highlight of your career so far?
In January 2003 we released the song In The Shadows from our fifth studio album Dead Letters, and that has become the song that everybody knows, and everybody now recognises The Rasmus because of that song. That song has enabled us to continue writing, recording and performing for another twenty-two years since. Sometimes having a huge hit can be a burden, but in our case, we always treated it like that song guaranteed me artistic freedom and it still pays my bills (hysterical laughter). It is one of those things that most bands will never have or achieve throughout their entire career. Most bands don’t even like to talk about their most famous song(s) but I personally feel that is childish, come on (laughter). For me there is no other song like In The Shadows, it really is unique. There really is something very special about that song and I am so proud of it.
Where is your favourite place where you have performed?
Wow that is such a hard question for me to answer. We recently counted up all of the places where we have performed, and it was well over eighty countries that we have played. So, let me think (laughter). Around eighteen years ago we toured South Africa where we had the chance to tour with Metallica in three different cities, in three different stadiums. I have to say that for me that was truly amazing, because I grew up listening to Metallica. Listening to Metallica was how I learnt to play the guitar. It was listening to those guys that got me into music. At that time South Africa really was not only a diverse country but also a beautiful country. We were told that it really was a dangerous place and that many bad things could happen to us, so we were aware that South Africa had its problems, but it also had the most beautiful nature, and many interesting things.
So that would have to be up there as it really was a great trip. This once again shows just how lucky we are being able to travel to all of these wonderful countries, to see the world, play our music which I have to say is all good for the soul, understanding how the world works. You can see it all on TV and social media but it’s not the same as when you actually go to these places; then you really understand better. We recently played a show in the Ukraine where obviously we saw all of the hostility there, but when we were actually there we thought, ‘wow is this really how the war happened’. It really was a crazy trip. We spent four days in the Ukraine where we actually managed to raise a lot of money for a local children’s hospital.
It really was awful to see what is really going on over there, but also it was good for us to see it because we were reminded that this was everyday life for these people; they are still battling day after day. We made the trip, and I have to say that we really did gain something; we learned something. We gained an experience plus we were also in a position to do some good. We raised some money plus we made some of the people feel good, and we managed to give them hope in the middle of the crisis. That was all down to the power of music and the power of the band.
On that note Lauri I will once again thank you for taking the time to speak to me today, it’s been educational.
Thank you very much Kevin, it was really nice talking to you. You take care and I will see you in Nottingham.