Aina kun kalifornialainen yhtye tekee suomalaisten HC-punklegendojen innoittamana musiikkia suomeksi laulettuna, niin AudioVideo tekee siitä jutun. Kysytäänpäs kuitenkin ihan herrojen äidinkielellä, kuka, mitä, häh?! Tässä tarinassa olisi aihetta rockumentiksi.
Did you know that Ransu the dog is almost the national animal for Finnish kids?
We learned some rude words from our Finnish friends, one day we were joking around saying that Pranjal should get a Finnish name, we looked it up and found “Pransu” which kind of looks similar to Pranjal. So he told our friends that and they started laughing saying “do you know who Ransu is???” They showed us some clips and we loved it, so we watched more Ransu ja Pekka and Kokkelivekkulit stuff like that, and we fell in love with this adorable, big hearted friendly dog. I can totally see why he’s the national animal.
I hope people understand that we love Ransu, i think in a way the ideals of punk also have that sort of childlike spirit of freedom and fun and being nice to each other and standing against bullies and mean people of the world.
Does any of you have Finnish roots?
Absolutely zero Finnish ethnicity in the band haha. Closest would be our drummer Bil Bowman whose ancestors are from various parts of Europe, but our the ancestry of our vocalist and lyrics writer Pranjal “Pransu” Tiwari is Indian and our guitar player Arthur Urquiola is Filipino.
Pranjal plays drums and sings in Cardinal Wyrm and Bil used to drum for Acid King, both those bands put out albums on Svart Records out of Turku, Finland. We also have a lot of Finnish friends from having bands stay with us on tour or playing shows with them while they’re in the Bay Area.
The band kind of started as a fun project from learning dude words in Finnish from our friends.
The band kind of started as a fun project from learning dude words in Finnish from our friends, real intellectual stuff like “vittu” and “kyrpä”. Pranjal saw there was a Duolingo course in Finnish so he started some lessons just to be able to say a few phrases to our Finnish friends in their own language and freak them out. But Pranjal always takes things too far, he finished the Duolingo course and some other online Finnish courses and started writing ridiculous lyrics for fun. Then we decided we had to make a band out of those lyrics haha.
How old are you guys?
30s and 40s. All played in bands since we were kids so I guess we are “lifers” at this point haha.
Is Ransu`s Revenge a real band? If so, what are your future plans?
100% a real band! It’s a fairly new project but we’re all serious musicians who have been in various recording and touring bands in the punk and metal and weirdo rock scene throughout the years, music is our life and we take all our projects very seriously no matter how ridiculous they are haha! I think that sincerity comes through in the music.
One is called “Lukittu Mielisairaalaan” and another is “Mä En Jaksa”
We have more songs on the way, just need to find time to record them, as we have other projects that are playing live, touring or recording at the moment. Plus we all work our asses off trying to survive out here. But as usual some great lyrics can be expected. One is called “Lukittu Mielisairaalaan” and another is “Mä En Jaksa”, just for a small taste of what’s to come. Live shows are coming too.
Oh we just put out a shirt for sale! We even worked out a deal so they ship from Finland to save money for our friends there. Check it out here:
https://ransusrevenge.bandcamp.com/merch/pre-order-ransus-revenge-logo-t-shirt
Are you fans of Finland or just the punk side of it.
Finland is awesome! Musically it’s not just great punk, I just about love everything from Sibelius to Impaled Nazarene haha! But so much other stuff too. Kalevala! Maila Nurmi! Tom of Finland! Jari Litmanen! The eternal spirit of Sisu!! So much to love. Definitely a country that punches well above its size in the world.
You know, there’s a bit of Finnish history in our area too. The city of Berkeley is right next door to us, the west part of Berkeley used to be known as Finntown back in the day due to the large number of Finnish immigrants there. We still have remnants of that history with us today – the Finnish Kaleva Hall is an event space in Berkeley, there’s a historic building in the city built by Finnish immigrants known as the Toveri Tupa, and there’s a big church that does services once a week in Finnish (the other languages the church services are held in are English and Korean, great example of the diversity of US immigration haha).
Would you like to visit our country some day?
We’d love to tour or even just visit Finland! We have a ton of friends in various cities and we would love to explore and learn about the country in person. Bil is the only one who has been there before, he played a festival in Helsinki with another band.
I think, you understand, that your lyrics sound quite naive, but for example lyrics of Terveet Kädet never could have won nobel prices : )
Oh I think our terrible Finnish is a big part of the band’s appeal haha. The lyrics are ridiculous but also somehow they work for punk. There’s a long history of bands from outside the US and UK singing in English, it’s about time American bands sang in other languages I think haha.
Have you had any response in US. You sing at a very exotic language?
Most of the response to the band here is “what the fuck are you doing” or people looking at us like we’re crazy. But the music kind of speaks for itself, the response to the content of the demo has been very positive. Nothing like the reaction we got in Finland of course, which is still mind blowing to me.
I am friend of Jarkko ”Jake” Marjamäki (original Rattus guitarist and singer). He sends regards and a humble thank you. ”I did not know back then, that our music would have such a big impact, even now 2023 and as far as in U.S.A.”
Subcultures in general are very strong in the USA and punk is no exception! People in the underground punk scene love Finnish punk and hc, in oakland we have an annual punk festival called Manic Relapse which has killer bands from all over the world… Riistetyt, Terveet Kädet, Appendix, Destrucktions, Pyhät Nuket have all played in our city at that fest over the years. I saw Foreseen play a free show in a skate park out here which was amazing. Plus we just have the regular network of punk / hc and metal bands rolling through on DIY tours, bands from Finland have crashed on our floors or with other folks locally and we’ve made some great friends that way. I guess maybe weirdos and freaks find each other wherever they are in the world haha. I think “Jake” should come hang out here now that we’re fully back to having shows and feats after the COVID shit of the last few years.
Say hello to Finnish people, in Finnish!
Moi kaikille suomessa!! Rakastamme teitä kaikkia!! Rakastamme koiria! Tämä biisi svengaa kuin hirvi! Haluaisin uskoa muutokseen, mutta en pysty siihen. ON JUHLAN AIKA!!!
Mutta vakavasti: KIITOS kaikille. Ja kiitos tästä haastattelusta!
Poliitikot ovat vitun sukkanukkeja
Ei ole aivoja
Ei ole sydäntä
Lyriikkapuolta:
-Sukkanukke-
Poliitikot ovat vitun sukkanukkeja
Ei ole aivoja
Ei ole sydäntä
Ei ole aivoja
Ei ole sydäntä
He ovat kusipäitä
He eivät syö perunat
Ovatko he edes ihmisiä?
Ovatko he edes ihmisiä?
Vittu me vihaan nukkeja
-Koira-
Olen koira
Olen koira
Olen vitun koira
Haista minun persereikä
Alla vielä bändin demo Youtubesta, olkaa hyvät. Miten tuon muka arvostelet. Punk on!
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