DEVIL'S ISLAND featuring Flush
Welcome to this weeks edition of Devil's Island! Every week we maroon a band or artist on the island and see what they get up to, how they cope with being all alone on a small island in the middle of the ocean. It's not your average desert island and we'll see just how each person copes with the extreme conditions.
This week when we arrived at Devil's Island we find Flush sat on the beach. The island is far from their home, so how did they end up here and how did they cope with life on Devil's Island?
Find out now...
Welcome to The Razors'e Edge and our somewhat lovely, warm desert island. Don't worry about it's name I'm sure it's not as bad as that would suggest.
So you're marooned here on this island, but before you ended up shipwrecked you chose one album that you couldn't live without. Which album did you each chose and why?
Lasse Girs (LG) (vocals, guitars): Temple of the Dog (self-titled). An amazing project album that has incredibly many layers to continuously discover, and there is amazing musicianship on it too. I also think this needs to be an album to actually listen to. Moshing to Rage Against the Machine’s debut album all alone on a desert island sounds weird...
Eero Luukkonen (EL) (bass): Shinedowns debut ‘Leave a Whisper’ was one of the most influential albums in my youth and still holds up well even to today's standards.
Janne Kontiokorpi (JK) (guitars, vocals): Metallica’s ‘Master of Puppets’, the ultimate best! Is there any electricity on the island, by the way?
Börje Stén (BS) (drums): AC&DC’s ‘Back in Black’. It just does not get old.
Just behind that palm tree is a shack for each of you to stay in, with enough space for you to put up a poster on the wall of one album cover. What album cover do you each chose?
LG: Pearl Jam’s ‘Ten’. Great pic that perfectly captures what the band and the album was about at that time.
EL: Tool’s ‘Lateralus’. A reminder that even if all you have is an island there's also a more metaphysical level to it all.
JK: Kreator’s ‘Coma of Souls’. The image would definitely help to keep bad spirits away.
BS: Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. My very first CD and therefore it has a special place in my heart. It is also quite current today, as the “boy gone greedy”
There's also a bar on this here island. But alas each of you only get to choose one drink for the entirety of your stay. What's your tipple of choice?
LG: Whisky Sour. No debate or thinking required here.
EL: Adios Jätkäsaari, the local drink. Includes tequila, vodka, gin, rum, and southern comfort, and gets topped up with some soda.
JK: B52
BS: I hope Lasse will get his Whisky Sour, always a good choice. If the whisky is Bourbon, I’d be happy with an old fashioned as well. But if it is a peated whisky, I’d prefer having a straight whisky dram.
Your suitcases were lost when your ship sank, but you each managed to salvage one item of band merch. What’s the merch and for what band?
LG: My Bad Religion logo t-shirt (with the cross). Then everyone knows not to come establishing any silly religions on the island.
EL: A vinyl of the compilation album ‘Sparka röv’ where we are also represented. Works as a frisbee.
JK: My Flush t-shirt. I could give it to the one that saves us from the island.
BS: My Anthrax t-shirt, a reminder of my very first big idols. Caught in a Mosh!
You’re sat on the island thinking “I’m stuck here on this island with my bandmates for eternity”… who would you rather have been shipwrecked with?
LG: I have a son and he is incredibly fun to spend time with. So this is another easy one, my son Roy.
EL: Barack Obama. Probably interesting stories and a good chance that someone will come and pick us up at some point.
JK: Dimebag Darrell, alive, just to be clear. He could teach me some nice guitar solos there.
BS: My daughter Milma, she is four and a half, and the light of my life!
There's a walkman in your pocket, on the tape inside is the recording of the one live show that stands out for you. It could be any show, from any band, anywhere in the world. What show is on that walkman?
LG: It doesn’t say it has to be music, so I might consider something with Robin Williams in his prime. Music wise, Biffy Clyro at Wembley Arena in 2010(?).
EL: Tool, Roskilde 2006
JK: Iron Maiden, Ruisrock festival in June 2000
BS: Foo Fighters gig in Gothenburg, Sweden, in June 2015, where Grohl broke his leg.
You're getting desperate, you decide the only course of action is to put a message in a bottle and hope someone finds it. Your message could be to any member of any band, but should be the most suitable for a rescue attempt. Who is it?
LG: Definitely not Sting, but I’m sure everyone says this. He would bore us to death with his smooth harmonies. Although, I guess that is one type of a solution as well. The obvious right answer here is Keith Richards. A pirate who has sailed all the seas, lived for centuries, and has no fear. He would come save us.
EL: Bruce Dickinson. He can fly an airplane and has the means to fund a rescue operation.
JK: No bottles to musicians if you really want to get saved.
BS: Jaska, guitar player in the band NinetyFive50
You've been stuck here for a while and food supplies are running low. There's only one thing for it... which fellow band member gets sacrificed to help the others survive?
LG: Ouch. Can we just all sacrifice one leg each? At least to begin with. Are there animals on the island that we can teach music to? In that case, we might sacrifice whomever can be replaced by the animal musicians. Then again, if there are animals on the island, we might just eat them. I’m worried this question might break up the band.
EL: After getting to know the guys and their "healthy" ways of living, I'd rather eat sand.
JK: Who would eat a band member?? No way, gone fishing.
BS: If we are there only with the band and we sacrifice one, there would be no band left, right? Ergo, no can do. Let’s go vegetarian. Mushrooms, yay!
Finally, when the ship sank you each managed to save one person from the wreckage. That person is the one musician that has influenced your career the most, shaped your way of thinking and your outlook on life. Who did you save?
LG: I can’t believe I was on the same ship as Tom Waits! Although, I guess it makes sense in that he comes across a bit “piratey”, at least the voice and habitus.
EL: Chester Bennington, but in the end it doesn't even matter.
JK: Kurt Cobain, or at least his spirit, as he could not be saved physically anymore at the time of the shipwreck.
BS: Bonzo would deserve a new run so that he could influence us drummers even more. But if I’m still without cigarettes all these weeks, I’d take Lemmy, haha! 🙂
