Interview with Rain Diary

«Rainy Party»

Rain Diary is a Finnish rock band that plays beautiful and graceful dark wave melodies. The project's roots are in Finnish melancholy, landscapes of evergreen forests, sleepless nights, and snowy wilderness, although the band often breaks this Finnish stereotype. Rain Diary brings an urban atmosphere with electronic drumming and thoughtful pop elements, making this music a must-listen for those who are looking for a snowy paradise away from the dark chaos of this world. Jonas and Tutti kindly agreed to answer our questions about their plans for new releases.

There is a legend that musicians and artists hate getting up and doing something early in the morning. Could you share how you were able to arrive for the interview so early, at 8am?

Joonas: It's all because of coffee. Lots of coffee. Well, also because there is some pressure to get up in the morning for work. I'm a bit of a night owl, and I like to party all night.

Tytti: I've been getting up at 7 or 8am for years now, but I still hate it.

Recently we talked to Tom, the singer of the German band Sodom, about how most people have a very unrealistic view of the life of a musician and the music business. What do you think about this?

Tytti: I think that when you reach a certain level of fame, there are always people who want to invite you to a party, pat you on the back, and buy you a drink. But before you earn that fame, you have to work hard. I mean, actually go to work and earn money! And only then do you do your music business. It's a pretty tough business. I think it's kind of cute that people sometimes have this image of a party animal and a rock musician. But that's not always something that has anything to do with reality. Music can be just a hobby for the soul, but it can also be a serious job.

But it's also quite difficult to have a real job and be an artist. A lot of people feel terrible pressure from both sides.

Joonas: Yeah, that's the reason I left my "real" job at the beginning of this year. I want to try being a real musician!

Tytti: But that's also the reason I still have my job. Because at least someone in this band has to make money!

I also saw that you recently released a couple of new songs and a new video. Do you have any plans for a new album?

Tytti: Yeah! We're working on something.

Joonas: I think we can release something early next year. It's also possible that we can release a couple more singles this year. We're recording right now. And then I hope we can do a tour in Germany.

Can you tell us a few secrets about the new album right now?

Tytti: Yes, but not all of them. I can say that the new records will sound more like the classic Rain Diary records, but there will also be some new twists. Because we have a new sound team—a new producer.

Joonas: And it was literally love at first sight with the new sound. We can guarantee that listeners will enjoy both the classic Rain Diary part and the new approach to the sound.

What emotions, thoughts, and feelings would you like to convey to listeners through your songs? And how would you like listeners to understand or interpret your songs?

Joonas: I think these questions are always kind of difficult, because everyone has their own unique feelings. And everyone has their own unique inner world.

Tytti: I hope that when people listen to the new album, they will feel like they are at a dark, gloomy, rainy party, and the album will give them a spark of light.

How do you think the Finnish music market is different from the music market in other countries?

Tytti: That's quite difficult to answer, because we only have experience with the German music market and the Finnish music market. But I think the main difference is that in Finland all the people in the music industry go on holiday for the whole summer. Nobody works for the whole month of June and July. Of course, we still have all these summer festivals because it's the festival season. But all the people in the industry are just unavailable.

Joonas: I also think it's quite hard to become a successful band in Finland if you don't sing in Finnish. That's the thing with a lot of pop and rap artists in Finland right now.

Tytti: Also, most record companies want to focus on all these new young artists, not the bands.

Joonas: Also, a lot of these pop and rap artists have similar names and are similar to each other in some ways. That doesn't mean they're bad. That's just how business is right now.

Tytti: But also companies and people are sometimes interested in punk bands and rock bands. To a lesser extent, but still. I think there are still a lot of bands in Central Europe that are at the top of the industry.

How do you feel about the idea of producing more videos and art with AI?

Tytti: I have mixed feelings about AI. On the one hand, it is quite a convenient tool for artists to create music videos or visual art. It is a good assistant in creativity. But if you only use AI, then I don’t know what to think about it. It’s quite a difficult question, because the world is changing so much now. I think in the future there will be almost no possibility NOT to use AI. It’s quite a difficult topic to discuss, especially in the morning.

Joonas: This is just my opinion, but if you use AI to create music, it’s not okay. If you use similar technologies in visual art to create covers or videos, as an additional tool, it can be good. We have also considered using AI to create our music videos, to make the process more creative and technically cool.

Since we have a morning interview, I heard that in Finland people prefer coffee to tea.

Joonas: Yes, that's our topic! I think 95 percent of the Finnish population drinks coffee.

Tytti: I think Finland is the world's leader in coffee consumption.

Maybe you need some new merch? Your own coffee?

Joonas: Rain Diary coffee! For a gloomy morning. Good idea.

What would you tell someone about your band who doesn't know anything about you?

Tytti: I would say that Rain Diary is a band for people who want to feel the cold northern breeze on their faces.

Joonas: With a little bit of hope.

I often hear the opinion that successful musical projects need a big creative team. What about you?

Joonas: We do all the creative work ourselves. But we also have one producer who helps us perfect the sound. So 99 percent of the creative work is done by the band.

Let's talk about the challenges you've faced as a band and how you've dealt with them.

Tytti: Our biggest challenge was a couple of years ago when our previous singer left us. We had to try out a few other singers until we found Jonas. And we had a period when we were at a crossroads. We had the songs, we had the drive, we had the musicians, but we didn't have a frontman. And we're glad that we finally found Joonas.

Joonas: I think it's also a big challenge to try to find a balance between the band life and your personal life. Of course, the band always comes first, especially when it comes to touring.

A lot of musicians say that they're actually extroverts and don't like all this partying and traveling. What about you? Do you manage to combine the different sides of your personality?

Joonas: It's funny, but I have completely opposite views! I like parties and traveling and meeting new people. That's easy for me! A big problem for me is to calm myself down and be quiet.

Tytti: Oh, sometimes that's a problem for all of us!

Is there any music that you hate?

Tytti: I think "hate" is too strong a word. Music is music, and art is art. If it's not good enough, at least you can have respect for the fact that someone put in the effort and created it.

Joonas: No, I don't think so. I don't have that type of music. I think sometimes you just have to learn how to listen to some music.

What do you think will be trending in the music industry in the next 5 years?

Tytti: I hope Rain Diary will be trending.

Joonas: I hope that in the next 5 years English-speaking bands will be more popular. And our band too.

Do you have any plans to record a couple of songs in Finnish? Or maybe in German?

Joonas: I'm afraid that if we want to release songs in Finnish, we'll have to change the name.

Jenet Bonishi