Interview Interrogation: Memoremains (Finland)

"Nowadays we have promotion going on in our releases, but in the beginning people outside Finland found us mostly accidentally."

Metal has to evolve naturally and in doing so has to embrace what some might see as unorthodox sounds. One such band who is devoid of being restrained and willingly exploring the music avenues in pop music and disco, is Finland's Memoremains of whom released their latest single and music video "Pounding Heart" to critical acclaim. If you were to strip Amaranthe of it's Death Metal influences and inject it with ABBA or the BeeGees, then you get Memoremains. Given their sound, it almost seems inevitable that they will go far and become another Finnish Metal success story.

Filling in the details of their history, their sound, plans and what metalheads can do in their city of Seinäjoki, the band clearly have a roadmap of where they're aiming to go and showed no weakness in their interrogation... determination radiating from this quintet.

For people who have not heard of Memoremains, could you please give us a brief history of the band?

     "Memoremains was founded 2016 in Seinäjoki, Finland. The band began to build its career by releasing singles. In 2018 the band released its first EP, “Louder”. Memoremains started touring late 2018. Their first gig in Bar15 was chosen as “The Best Gig of the Year at the Venue”. Since the very first show, the road has already taken the group on an European tour and to summer festivals in Finland - including Provinssi, one of the biggest festivals in Finland. 

     2019 was a roller-coaster and climaxed with gigs and a new single. Always flirting between metal and pop it was probably just a matter of time when this genre-bending band would release their first pop cover song: Madonna’s “Sorry”.  

     Memoremains wastes no time and is already fiercely writing new music after COVID-19 cancelled all of the spring and summer gigs. Well received new song "Pounding Heart" was released in early April. As a release party Memoremains set afoot on new territories and dived in the world of streaming as they had their first live streamed gig on YouTube. Memoremains is locked and loaded! Ready to release their debut album this fall and hit the stages ASAP!"


How would you describe your eclectic sound seeing as you bring in influences from Symphonic Metal, Groove Metal, pop and disco?

     "We don’t use time thinking about what genre we play or are some musical influences right for our music or not. We listen to a wide variety of music and bring the best parts to our music. We haven’t yet found any limits where we could not lead our songs."


You released your latest single and music video "Pounding Heart" (taken from your debut album out this Autumn), what was the reception like and have you had views outside of Finland?

     "Reception was awesome! Thanks to everyone who has given feedback for us! People have said that the song is catchy, fast and well-produced. They have liked the music video as it presents the song genuinely. We have got fans outside of Finland already from our very first releases. It’s actually a bit strange how music can spread nowadays all around the world. Of course nowadays we have promotion going on in our releases, but in the beginning people outside Finland found us mostly accidentally."


Given the COVID-19 pandemic, what plans have you had postponed or cancelled? What have you been doing whilst under lockdown?

     "We had a few gigs in April / May and those have been moved to the future. We had to have our support gig with Battle Beast in April in our home city cancelled; it was very sad that it was cancelled. But we have used this time by making our debut album “The Cost Of Greatness”. We still have some recording to do, but we have progressed quickly. We also had a live stream on the 3rd of April when we released the “Pounding Heart” single."

Seinäjoki, Finland / Source: Senaatti

What plans do you have for late 2020 going into early 2021? With Brexit, are you worried about the financial cost of coming to play in the UK?

     "Our debut album should come out 16th of October and we have few gigs already agreed during autumn and winter. We try to get some more gigs and plan a tour outside Finland in 2021; and who knows if we write new music also. About Brexit. Well, it makes things of course more complicated, but we don’t think it would be a problem to come to play in UK if we had a chance!"


Do you have any other hobbies or interests outside of Memoremains? How do you unwind at the end of the day?

     "We all have jobs because Memoremains is not working full-time yet. So most of our time goes to our work. Music is the biggest hobby in our free-time and some of us has other bands running on. We also try to do sports and sometimes we are just hanging out together, which has nothing to do with music."


For metalheads visiting your city of Seinäjoki, what sights / attractions and bars / venues could you recommend?

      "For metalheads we would definitely recommend to check out “Rytmikorjaamo” if there would be interesting gigs for you. It’s our city’s biggest venue, you can also find more live shows and underground metal at “Bar 15”. But we recommend to explore Seinäjoki open-mindedly, we have a lot of nice pubs and bars all around the city. There’s not many any mind blowing sights. We recommend to look around and enjoy the rivers, lakes and nature or whatever makes you feel comfortable."


Do you have any hellos or thanks you wish to send out to friends, family, fans etc?

      "Hey everyone! Follow our journey! We have awesome singles and music videos coming out over the coming months. And don’t forget to check out our debut album in October!"

https://www.facebook.com/memoremainsband/