Name: Joe Blazey (aka Joe Kantalainen)
Born: Tampere, Finland
Place where living now?: In London, England now, but movin back to Helsinki, Finland in couple months
Occupation: studying and doing some it-consulting

1For the not so clued up person in regards to the world of Soulful House and Garage, music. Could you tell us how you got started in this game?

Throughout my life I have always been exposed to different genres of black music, my father is a jazz fanatic and so I have listened to jazz since i was born, attending pori jazz festival almost every year. From there on it went towards dance music with soul, funk, and hip hop influences in the mid 80's turned my head towards the house sound which was then coming more out from Uk to Finland with acid house boom. Living a year in the Usa back in 1988, I got more into the scene and when returning to Finland I wanted to dj so others could hear this stuff too..

1B. Finland isn't traditionally known towards its love for Soulful House and Garage music. How did you fall into the trap?

The more I got into the house scene, more I found liking the US stuff, cuz back then the sound escalated in few years to Hard Techno stuff and the Dutch and Germans were going mad over the harder sound. I still enjoyed the pianos of garage tunes and harmonies of the vocals. I listen to whole variety of music jazz/soul/funk/r'n'b/disco/house/d'n'b and lot of those elements can be found in variety of house tunes.

2.I noticed that you are a member the group called House Collective. Could you explain to people outside Finland what this means, and why it came into being.

House Collective was set up to promote Finnish house music internationally and to promote Deep House Music in Finland, as the scene is not so big. I've been dj'ing for 10 years now and basically knew most of the deep house guys in finland, so I thought is set out a unified voice. First it was a mailing list and now it is a website too, we have parties and try to help out in different events relating to house music. Finally we are gettin more attention in general, lil stories in media, we have big thing coming up and hopefully we get some foreign dj's to spin in our parties, but it's always about the costs, Finland is far away and the scene is small, but hey if you dj's are looking for new places to visit, come to spin in our parties and we'll show you the midnight sun... ;)

3. You come from an area in Finland known as Turku?

No, i was born in Tampere, but I have lived the last few years in Helsinki, the capital...

It seems to me that this could be your "New Jersey/ Baltimore area for Soulful House music from your Country".How come it seems to breed so many dj's that wants to play Soulful House and Garage music?

That's correct I always say that Turku is the New Jersey area of Finland, cuz their sound is very very deep and jersey like. The scene is also small there but very tight. I think the reason for Turku's many deep house dj's is the fact that the Finnish house scene originated there by the posse called The hyperdelic housers, and I think that they have the history advantage... I like the scene very much there, it carried the development of the scene for many years...

3a I remember ( Correctly if I'm wrong!!!) that the town of Turku has managed to caputered Dj/producers of the nature of 95 North Productions, from Washington D.C to play there.Is this true?

It is true, unfortunately I wasn't there that night, but the Turku posse did it again, mind you David morales played in Helsinki '95, Kevin Saundersson '96... We had some big names dropping in every now and then, but hopfully we can fix this.

4. Living where you do during the winter months; most of the day compared with other areas of the world are nearly always immersed in darkness and bitterly cold winds. How do you managed to create melodic and summer sounding tunes within such an atmosphere? Do you produce as much in the winter months as you do in the summer months?

I think that that's what makes the finns relate so much to soul music, cuz it's deeply emotional. We get the blues on winter time and makes the Finnish house sound very melancolic and moody, and then summer comes and it's like another country all together so we enjoy the sun like there is no tommorrow. I think that in summer it's nice to just chill outside in the sun and on winter people do tend to sit inside and do their thing more, like working in studios and such.

5. Is seems more than any other music in House music spectrum that Deep House can be made all over the world from countries such as Scotland to South Africa, and New Zealand to Canada? Has the Deep House sound become the most favourite style House music to play and create in Finland?

In last few years the Finnish house scene has experienced a big boom of new talent, thanks to pioneers like Jori Hulkkonen, Sasse, Tuomas Salmela, and Marko Laine, who have been working hard to make their unique sound known more internationally. I think that it has inspired and encouraged lot of people to experiment and bring forward their talent to other people too. I think you'll see lot more new artist coming from Finland soon...

6. Have you played outside your country to play? What did it feel like to Dj out of your country for the first time?

I unfortunately haven't had the chance to Dj outside Finland yet, but I'm workin on some gigs now to Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland and Germany... i'll get back to you on that...

7. For anyone new to you. Have you got a resident a Dj spot in your country? And if so does that allow you have some control over what you can play. Do the promoters tell you what to play in some instances.

As I have lived in Uk for last 3 years and spend occasional periods in Finland I havent had a residency. But the problem is that there really no deep house/garage club in finland, except for the Kerma, where I spun whenever I've been in Helsinki. The club scene in general is quite weak in Finland at the moment and there are mainstream discoclubs and couple of Pophouse/Trance clubs, not really permanent Deep house clubs. I'm right now in negotions with a bar/cafe to set up a monthly Sunday night to spin with the guys of House Collective.

The lack of decent clubs have led to the fact that we have more concentrated in one-off events like vol 1 last summer, and soulsonic last january

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8.We have heard in disbelief that "Todd Terry" is to do a Jungle/Drum and Bass album. Has the sound of Jungle and Drum Bass something that you would like to add to your sound in the future. Whether playing out as a Dj; or creating sounds and making new tunes as a prooducer? What are your thoughts towards to this style of House music?

I think Deep house in it's many forms already have so much variety that even the straight 4/4 beat is no longer the definition of house music. All these Jazz-, Latin-, and Afrohouse tunes, that bring the original funk breakbeats to house tunes are already so diverse that it is impossible say the effects of single genre. I think house producers take some influences from whatever they head and apply them to bring them their own interpetation of house music, but if you change the house music too much it's no longer house music.

As for myself, I like some D'n'B, but still like to keep my house sets as they are... Deep soulful house..

9. Would you prefer the playing of the long, long sets that are given to American Dj's that European Dj's can only dream of at places like the "Tunnel" in New York, etc, etc. Then the customery 1 or 2 hours that are given out to most European Dj's?

I like to take all my records and play everything from old disco and funk to deep vocal house via sum tighter grooves throughout the nite. I think the setting up the atmosphere works better if u can spin a long set and make sum peaks, the chill it down a bit and then raise it again. 2 hours is very short and u only tend to spin the current "hits" and not really show the variety of the musical taste u might have.

10.Has London become the New "NewYork" in regards to dance music. Personally have never seen so many visiting Dj's out in the city already this year, and its not even summer yet? What has happened to New York in your views? ( I say this because I know that you visit England quite a bit yourself!)

As for my experiences in New York, I think that London has it's own unique vibe. In New York the whole dance scene is still very much underground and u gotta know what u want and where to find it. As for London, there is this owerflow of dance music, there is always something going on. I also think that the dance music here in london is very much big business, which I understand that people have to make money, but sometimes it's not the best thing. But I think it is beneficial for all to have lot of us dj's here in London so we can experience what they have to offer and they get some fresh ideas too. I still think there is nice homegrown talent in London that is somewhat underappreciated like Bobbi & steve, Paul trouble Andersson, Alan Russell, Chrissy T, who spin sum really nice and soulful tracks...

11.Kiss 100 Fm Radio station (London) has come in for a lot of stick of late for moving away from its dance music ethos in favour of a more commercial and pop orientated sound, which has infuriated a large amount Londoners. What is the state of play in your country with regards to Dance music over the radio airwaves?

Unfortunately not very good, there are couple of mainstream radio stations which offer very much the same as European Mtv, which is very much the chart stuff, with an odd house tune like stardust gets thrown in. Then there is Nationwide Radio station, mafia, which has couple nice shows, kinda like Radio One in UK.

12.I posed this question to DJ Cosmo,Usa and now I'm going to pose it to you.Have you ever been given the chance to play on those "famous or infamous Pirate Radio Show's within London or Outside London in your career?

My connections havent reached that far yet ;)

Would you be willing to play on them ?

Sure i'd jump the opportunity...

In short what do you think of the Pirate radio set-up within the London area.Do they serve a purpose, or have they outstayed their welcome?

I think in the recent light of the events like Kissfm 100,London there seem to be a need for them to supply real underground dance music, and not some stuff that is dictated by the record companies.

Do you listen to them, whenever you in London? What about other parts of the Uk? Have you visited them, and also listen to the Radio set-up there?

I tend to flip through them occasionally, sometimes finding sound that I like, but generally they tend to cater towards speed garage, which I'm not so much into.

13. Do you still do your own stint of record shopping or hunting? Or do you leave it up to being supplied by labels, etc to keep you up to date? When you play out? A lot of DJ's nowadays survive by living of what given to them by Record labels of all shapes and sizes. What about you. Does this apply to you?

Heh... getting into promolists of the record companies of which productions of which i like, is extremely difficult. I mean, who would be interested in sending records to a country somewhere in North who no one has really heard of and has only 5 million people. I try to get on some particular lists but generally even getting on the lists of American labels in Europe is hard. The record pool systems doesn't really work in Finland and the one promo pool there is very mainstream pop dance. I can say I buy all my records myself and do select them carefully. I think dj's should always visit the shops and not rely on pools and promos to provide them with the latest stuff, I think that shows no love for the music if u dont hunt for it....

14..If you had a Club that was yours to do with what you will.. What would be you music policy within the spectrum of House music...?? (If you have night already running please tell us..and who has played there!!!)

I'd play deep soulful vocal funky house and garage. Unfortunately in Finland it could not really be house club alone, but it would need to have different genres of music in different nights, like Drum'n'Bass, more mainstream Clubhouse, etc..

15.If you were given the chance as a DJ would you like to work with in the World of House and Garage music to produce a track?Masters at Work, Don Carlos, Derrick Carter, Kerri Chandler, Grant Nelson, Joey Nergo..who??

Well my big favourites are Glenn Underground, Maw, Kerri chandler, Joe Claussell, Shazz, the list goes on.. any one of them would do nicely...

16.Who do you rate as one to look out for in the future?Who should we keep an eye out for! From your own country? DJ/ music artist/s producer and from what you have heard or seen from abroad? DJ/ music artist/s producer.

I think there is this Roberto Rodriguez who has just released his debut ep on new finnish house label called Keys of Life. His stuff is what I call Deep House Disco... and it is really nice, u can listen to his stuff on our web site. as for foreign guys, I think Mark Grant has dome some nice ground work and will soon release a massive deep tune...

17. Are you at peace with the press? Do you still constantly worry about being misquoted.Or do you have a good relationship with the press or media as a whole? Or do you sometimes have to muzzle yourself just in case you might say the wrong thing..???

Hehee, I just had an inccident over what happend in our last party, I talked for about 25 minutes in regards to the Finnish house scene and 5 minutes about the drugs scene... You know what the 2 page article was about..

18. The very mention of UK Underground House brings about mummerings of "Here we go again", or "More please". It has led to some hefty and heated conversations/exchanges on the "World famous Global House-mail forum in the past" for instances. And also many heated arguments in Us and UK magazines as well. Many have see UK Underground House fans (* Speed Garage ) see it as a breath of fresh air by getting rid of the old and tired record promoters, producers, who go by the same old routine of producing and promoting the same sounds... Others who's views are just as strong with their detrimental views towards UK Underground House claim it to be a pile of "Do Doo"...What are you thought's about it?... Have you listen to any of it?

I think it's always good to bring new blood onto the scene... and there is always the time to shake the old foundations around a bit. I think there is couple nice tunes I like, some of the stuff I like more is not so speed garage but i'd call it Uk garage, like Booker T and so on....

I think Uk underground sound needs to diversify more and not to rely on so much of that same format it's been doin last couple of years... when it came out it was new and fresh, now it just seems to repeat the same old patterns...

19.Changing the subject again..Are you running a label of anykind? And if so, who have you got signed to the label? Any important Releases that we should keep a look out for?

Not really a label, but we're in a process of putting out a compilation album of House Collective artists' music incorporation with this one other label, but since nothing is confirmed yet, I cannot reveal the name of the other label... The compilation album will feature the top house collective artists...(check the web-site)

20 It seems as if New York via its records labels are hitting back of late which have definitely caught eye of the Soulful Head buyers in England and Europe..Already Spiritual Life, Ibadan and Wave Records are starting to become cult status over here...Is it a case of "The Empire Strikes Back!!!

Or have you seen this all before with Strictly, Bottomline, Nervous, Easy Street, Area 10, Nu-Groove, etc, etc before-hand in the early 1990's...???

I think these label have both good artists and good distribution, I dunno why but for example the Chicago labels' releases are so much harder to get a hold of. But I think you could say there is that second wave of New York sound invasion, even though Strictly and Nervous did not really go away they just held a lower profile, plus Strictly has licenced lot of it's material to eurolabels like Positiva....

21.It great to see that France, Norway, Scotland, Germany and Ireland are adding their Deep House influence to House and Garage music.. Do you like the Deep House sounds that are coming from those countries.. Or does The USA have the edge when it come to making Deep House or Vocal Garage tunes... Glenn Underground, Larry Heard, Chris Gray, Robert Owens, Barbara Tucker, etc ,etc comes to mind here?

I'm still and old skool kinda guy, I buy mostly USA stuff, but every now and then there is some european release that makes me go "wow, is this really from europe", like shazz and innerside...I really love that track. I find that French have their own filterdiscosound, The UK have their own deepfunkhousesounda and so own, it's funny how you can still tell most of those tunes apart by what they sound like.

22 The Body and Soul club on a Sunday in New York is often talked about as New York's finest Deep House and Garage club at the moment.The Sunday Scene equivalent within London is the Uk Underground Garage Scene which still is making noise with the club known as the "Twice as Nice" maiking all the noise there..Is there a similiar Sunday Scene in your area of the World that you could inform us of?

Not yet... as ia said we're working on it...

23.Moving back to the music side of things.As labels go..Have you a favourite. One that you always stop by as you flick through the piles of Records in your specialist record shop?

There are so many... Guidance, Suburban, Soulfuric, Ibadan, King st & Nightgrooves, pan... to mention but a few..

24.Record mixing. Your technique when playing out. Do you use a style of blending when you playing out; or are you a person who like to jump straight in and out of a track without warning!!! What styles do you like to use?

I like to make my mixes as smooth as possible, some people think it's boring, I wanna make a constant flow of good feeling and not to make any sudden interruptions in that flow....

25.As we enter the year 2000. We are all braced for the party of our lives. Are you booked to play anywhere. Or will you be joining the rest of the human race and partying till the break of dawn!!!

I think we have some craly lil house thing goin on in some hole in the wall... hehee

26.Talking about putting one's foot up. When you do get the chance to do so. Do you ever read the Dance Magazines? And if so which one and why this particular one?

I tend to pick up Dj mag sometimes, because it's the most pro like, it has the features I like, I'm not into these flashy club mags who go on about drugs and fashion....

27. Have you got any advice for any aspiring record label producer, DJ or club owner within the world of House and Garage.Any rules that he should adhere to!!!

Be true to what u like, and you'll get your break eventually, learn the roots of the music, without the roots there is no direction in the future...

I just like to welcome everyone who wants to learn more about finnish house scene or work together with me to check out the web-site... http://www.housecollective.org

(This Interview is of the respondsiblity of Joe Blazey, Helsinki, Finland) and Carl Brown, Ipswich, England).Any part of this Interview that you Would like to use then you will have to gain the permission of these 2 parties to do so. This is copyrighted!!

Please e-mail me if you require any further information.....