Can
you imagine if Graham Nash took a one way ticket on the Marrakesh
Express and never came back? Psychedelic space music pioneers Jeavestone
come from Finland and like the best Finnish music, their 2008 CD Spices,
Species & Poetry Petrol is expertly played. Steve Hillage
era Gong style vintage ‘70s space madness mix things up with
a modern slant on pop songwriting ala late period Hollies and early
CSN&Y. Catchy melodies and a solid beat push Jeavestone to the
top of the prog-pop heap. The first 5 tracks here form an amazing
Side 1 with an intriguing pop attitude.
www.jeavestone.com
mwe3.com presents an interview with
Jeavestone guitarist MIKKO RAIHALA
Musical Background
I got my first acoustic guitar when I was seven years old (I’m
27 now), but I started playing it seriously few years later. I found
The Beatles when I was about nine. I became a hardcore Beatles fan
immediately and I have a massive cassette collection. I also listened
some AC/DC and metal music. I played some punk as a teenager and got
interested in prog/art rock when I was 17-18. I’ve been really
open to different kinds of music since then.
New CD
We started to put the album together in the summer 2007. We had
some songs ready and lot’s of musical ideas, riffs etc. to finalize
to new songs. We made some demo versions of the songs during fall.
The process was quite fast considering that we live in different towns
and could see each other only about twice a month. The recording was
done at Pro Tools based Studio Water Castle in Jyväskylä
Finland by Arttu Sarvanne in November in only two weeks. We first
played drums and demo guitars and bass live and then overdubbed everything
except drums. We didn’t use metronome. We had quite a lot of
quests to record like a string quartet, vibes and different reeds
so we really had to hurry. We were producing the album by our selves,
so it was a bit stressful but super exciting time! Sometimes hurry
is a good thing. In our case it was more important to capture the
feeling on tape rather than timing and tuning every single note. During
the intensive recording I learned a lot about playing, arranging and
producing. I’m not really a studio musician and sometimes it’s
hard for me to get in the real mood for playing in studio. It’s
much more easier to advise and encourage others but when it’s
my turn I often think and analyze my playing too much. But when I
get relaxed the playing just starts to flow it feels so awesome! The
album was mixed at Perfect Sound studio by Sami Sarhamaa from Presence
Records. He also did very good job and we are very satisfied with
the result.
Favorite Guitars 
Our lead singer and guitarist Jim has a 1979 Gibson RD Artist
which was heavily used during sessions. It’s a very versatile
guitar with active electronics manufactured by Moog. The guitar has
an active EQ and a compressor built in. It also features humbucker
pic-ups that can be split to single coils. We also used Strato- and
Telecasters and my Gibson explorer. Most of the acoustic guitars were
played with my dear Martin D-1, which has really big, wide and warm
sound. We had borrowed different amps and pedals to achieve some variation
to guitar sounds. Our guitar sounds are based on my 1969 Marshall
super bass head and Jim’s Marshall Jubilee 2550 head. In studio
we also had some small boutique combos and heads. The nasty overdriven
sound on the rhythm guitar on The Plastic Landscaper was created with
a battery powered mini-Marshall amp as a pre-amp connected to Pro
Tools from the headphone out put. We used the same amp on Rapist’s
Tango, but it was connected to Jubilee 2550’s power amp. We also
had some home made fuzz pedals and a Color Sound fuzz-wah from 70’s.
Musical Influences
I started listening music with The Beatles and I didn’t listen
hardly anything else for many years. Because of the Beatles I’m
very melody oriented. I also learned that it’s legal to mix influences
from different kinds of music to pop/rock music. I think The Beatles
was the first true prog rock band. I had really intensive Gentle Giant
season few years ago and that’s one of my favorite bands. Brazilian
jazz guru Hermeto Pascal revolutionized my musical thinking about
four years ago. I’ve been really hooked on Brazilian music since
then. I recommend everyone to have a listen to the great Hermeto.
To name few favorite guitarists I would say Jeff Beck, Jukka Tolonen,
Steve Howe, Keith Richards, Frank Zappa, John Frusciante and Jimi
Hendrix. Some of my most influential albums include:
Sgt. Pepper -Beatles
Led Zeppelin II
Acquring The Taste – Gentle Giant
Só Não Toca Quem Não Quer – Hermeto
Pascal
Giant Steps – John Coltrane
Fragile – Yes
King For A Day Fool For A Lifetime – Faith No More
Blood Sugar Sex Magic - RHCP
Web Site
jeavestone.com
myspace.com/jeavestone
postmaster@jeavestone.com
--------------------------------
