Just a few days before the 69 Eyes’ return to Greece after 16 years we got to chat with frontman Jyrki 69 whose impressions about our country are still intact, while he is ready to begin a course of… Ancient Greece in September. Plus, he wants to visit Mount Athos! “You’ve had Silver Dollar, a glam club. I think that was in Thessaloniki. It had a great screen playing really cool glam rock videos and we were sitting there with Korn”. On our extensive talk, among other things, Jyrki notices how things in music and they industry has changed since the band played in Greece for the first time, comments on the music scene and trends that dominated and he talks about the evolution of the band and its goth style and aesthetics that defined them. Finally, he reveals something about their next album. Interview: Yiannis Dolas
Rockpages.gr: What do you remember from your last two shows in Greece? It’s a long time ago. I know.
Jyrki 69: Yeah, it’s a very long time. If you think that it’s 16, 17 years, something like that. So, I mean, how many bands you know that have the same lineup? As long as that even? So, you guys saw us on our thirties, early forties and now you will see us on our sixties! So, it’s a farewell… Goodbye!
Rockpages.gr: No, I don’t think so!
Jyrki 69: There’s not so much time left man! If the next time is in 15 years that won’t happen!
Rockpages.gr: But, I thought that you were the Helsinki Vampires!
Jyrki 69: Then we meet in heaven with Jimi Hendrix!
So, what I remember is that we were living in a happy world back then. It was an extremely cool time. It was the end the first decade of the 2000s,. It was fantastic time. The world was blooming. That time period, the whole 2000 to 2009, that was like the new ‘80s.
Literally, if you think about it right now, it was great! Great movies, you know “The Lord of the Rings” was coming out. Good stuff, good bands… The ‘80s were like resurrected or sort of brought back into the state of art through rock and roll. Remember, there was a time when Hollywood was the place to be, there were a lot of young bands, everybody was tattooed, colorfully tattooed up their necks. Beautiful young people got completely tattooed. They had their hair up. They had makeup, cool clothes, also, the music scene was kind of glamy, emo, punk was something between glam and goth and that was big time and it was happy time.
Right after that… Right after we visited you last time (Ed, in 2010), everything collapsed. The world changed and especially entertainment and the record industry completely changed. For the 69 Eyes the decade from 2010 to 2020 was kind of a miserable time! We were alive, but we were limping around Europe, releasing some records. Honestly, can you name some bands that really really made big difference and change the landscape of rock and roll or even metal between 2010- 2020? Was there? I mean, is there anything new right now? Maybe. Maybe not even that. But I mean, even that that decade was kind of miserable, nothing really cool came out. It was somebody stopped the party again. But it goes like that. I mean, ‘90s came after the ‘80s. The ‘80s didn’t stop in 1989, they continued a few years to the ‘90s. And then the ‘80s started all over again, in some extent, in 2000. The happiness and optimism and the looks how people looked was there… and no more depression. Those depressed guys had killed themselves or were about to, so you know that was the time when we recorded an album in Hollywood (Ed, “Back In Blood”). We spent there a lot of time, like during that decade. And after recording the record in Hollywood and having it out, we came to play for you guys. So, it was a Hollywood version of the 69 Eyes. Now, this version that you’re going to see now it’s basically the same band. You point out the difference! Maybe there is not! I Have longer hair, that’s for sure.
Rockpages.gr: I will. I will because I was there the last time.
Jyrki 69: Okay. All right.
Rockpages.gr: So, I will I will spot the differences.
Jyrki 69: Yeah. Thank you. Tell me. Tell me… the harsh reality is that you can’t you get. We can’t go back. I mean, but maybe there’s none (ED, difference). Maybe you’ll be shocked, like: “Holy shit, It’s exactly the same”. I think that. That most likely it is.
Rockpages.gr: Actually, you mentioned that, you belong to a very small club of bands in the history of music in general, that you have almost the same lineup since the beginning. With the exception of course of Jussi 69, who joined…
Jyrki 69: He’s the new guy. Yeah, he really is a new guy. He came like after recording a couple of EP’s (Ed, 1992). So, he’s a very new guy. He’s been less than 40 years.
Rockpages.gr: How do you achieve that? I mean you don’t have fights…
Jyrki 69: Well, I mean like, I’ve been asked this so many times… Well, I think maybe for you it’s easier to explain. But, if there’s some younger person reading or listening, it might not make sense. But, we were friends. We met in the nightlife. We were interested in each other, because everybody looked kind of weird or interesting and we got to talk to each other at the rock shows, the club scene. We went out all the time, we were talking about the late eighties in the Helsinki rock scene. Glam was the big thing. The Hanoi Rocks was not around, but the legacy of it was living still and Hollywood was bringing out bands that where looking at sounding like bands that used to exist in Helsinki.
So, it seemed like the Sunset Strip Hollywood scene was existing all around the world at some bar or some street in major cities, except in Germany, I think! Hahaha! It’s true! So, you know, so there were glam spots or goth spots. In Helsinki there were a couple of bars that everybody went to see the shows and cool bands came. We were there and we got to meet each other just because out of curiosity… “who the fuck is this guy”? And “hold on, I was talking to this girl and now this guy goes to talk to the same girl. Who the hell dows he think he is?” So, we met like this and it turned out that these guys were also playing instruments. And one weekend we just decided to go and try it out, just to jam or something.
And I was there just out of curiosity because I thought that I would like to have a friendship with the guys who are in a band. That would be interesting. That would take me to endless parties or something. So, that was the idea. There was never like a musicianship… I’m speaking on behalf of me, of course. They might say something else, but in general we were just cool guys and we thought if we put up a little band we could tell in the nightlife “we are in a band. This guy over there, he’s the guitarist”. So, the idea of the band was like forming like a loose gang, so that we could be like gang members in the nightlife. It’s not that we figured out how to play some Alice Cooper or the Stooges or New York Dolls or the Ramones covers.
In the modern day and age bands are based on very talented musicians and there’s business and then they talk about how to get yourself heard. The hardest part, when you become an artist, any kind of artist, a writer, painter, a musician, whatever your art is… is that nobody cares. The first ten years… nobody cares! In a rock band, probably girlfriends and parents will come to see the first shows, then friends because you promised them that we will have some alcohol, beverages after show or something. “Your name will be on the guest list”.
But then, after that, after the honeymoon, nobody cares. And you perform, make movies, interview bands, the first ten years nobody cares and nothing happens. We experienced that exactly. And we had the chance to make records, but nobody cared. We were an ‘80s band living in a ‘90s world and we tried to figure out how to make our ideas and sound modern.
And then, after ten years, and during that time, we started to add more gothic elements, which was also our favorite. But, we were a guitar driven band, so it wasn’t that obvious, because nobody was playing synths or keyboards or something like that. Then, all of the sudden it happened. All of the sudden our sound became unique and the time was right. And then, we are all through these decades.
So, the answer for you, how come it is (ED, the lineup is the same since the beginning), it’s just because it’s an adventure for us ever since. It’s fun and it’s our gang. That’s the answer! But, going a little bit further think about a more famous band like Megadeth, for instance. I’m talking about the 69 Eyes, but a loose example could be Megadeth. Megadeth is now the coolest metal band in the world. Nobody denies that. They’re No.1 in the States and they made a fantastic sounding record, which sounds like fresh and extremely cool. But, what about Megadeth five years ago or ten years ago or the 69 Eyes? At some point as you play along or make whatever art you do, you and what’s the current in the world they meet and then that’s when you’re number one. That’s when you are noticed again and remembered; “Wow, thank God you still exist! This sounds great”.
But, most of the time you are based on the fact that you might have reached some fans who are interested in what you do and they are happy that you’re existing and creating, that you bring back the memories with the music they first learned from you or whatever art you do. And then, sometimes you and the time current meet and then all of a sudden everybody’s clapping hands like, “yeah, you’ve always been great!” “Good to have you here”. Which goes on and on, you know, it’s a circle. This is some lesson to learn, but it’s also a sad story to tell somebody who’s already played five years because… Sorry, guys or ladies or whoever it is, they’re still five more years. And then it might start to happen.
Rockpages.gr: Maybe you are like that movie, I know that you like it, “The Outsiders”… A gang, a brotherhood that goes through thick and thin. They stayed together until the end, I guess.
Jyrki 69: Yeah! This was our story and it’s not over. Speaking about returning somewhere to play after 16 years, it’s a fucking long time, man. It’s horrible! If your baby was born back then, then your baby is moving out from home right now.
Rockpages.gr: If that makes you feel a little better, Metallica play in Greece two days after you guys and they haven’t been in Athens for 16 years as well.
Jyrki 69: They always copy us, I know, I know! Even eyeliner times. It was ridiculous. But, nevertheless and with all due respect I’m so excited to come to home of the Western culture.
Rockpages.gr: I read somewhere that you are studying ancient Greek…
Jyrki 69: It starts next fall. It hasn’t started out yet. I started studying it at the university.
Rockpages.gr: Good luck!
Jyrki 69: It’s the first language of Christianity. So I’m really excited to learn about it.
Rockpages.gr: I also read that you want to go Mount Athos, in the north of Greece.
Jyrki 69: Yeah. Mount Athos. I was thinking of going there. I don’t know. Let’s see if I have time after Thessaloniki show. I’m not sure yet, but yeah, that would be like fantastic to go. I’d love to see that place. It’s a holy place and very exciting and whatever Mel Gibson is doing I’m fan of!
Rockpages.gr: You said that your next studio album, correct me if I’m wrong, it’s going to be unplugged… acoustic…
Jyrki 69: Yeah. Well yes we are recording at the moment. We will have it… “unplugged” is a nice word! Yes, it’s unplugged album. We’re recording it at the moment and we want to tour and bring that sound outside. We want to tour unplugged acoustically because we have songs, we have beautiful music there. If everybody guessed that we will do an acoustic version of “Lost Boys”, obviously for the record, why not?
But, but there’s a lot of songs that really deserve to be re-recorded this way.
Rockpages.gr: So, it’s songs from your career. It’s not new songs.
Jyrki 69: No, no, it’s not. We re-record some usual classic stuff. It’s going to be very moody, actually very dark and it’s a very interesting concept and I really enjoyed that and I can’t wait to for us to play that kind of shows next year, 2027.
Rockpages.gr: And is there any special guests involved there or…
Jyrki 69: Oh yeah, there is some Portuguese werewolf, but I won’t tell you more!
Rockpages.gr: Okay, let pretend that I don’t understand what you’re talking about! It would be very interesting…
Jyrki 69: Yeah, I think so. We’ve done everything. We haven’t done a Christmas record, but we have done a Christmas song…
Rockpages.gr: Please, don’t do a Christmas record!
Jyrki 69: Okay. All right, well, but we’ve done everything, so it’s time to do a little bit more, let’s say mature and like more… I would say valuable record. I was at the studio yesterday and one of the things is this fucking A.I. and modern technology… I mean, most of the modern music, I’m not talking about dance music, I’m talking about music that call themselves rock music… Like if you listen to especially some of the metal… it starts to sound very plastic because they use a lot computer things and AI corrected drums. I mean especially certain metal is very plastic sounding. I know that they know and they like it and probably there’s a young generation who loves plastic sound.
But, if you put Slayer’s “South Of Heaven” on, listen to that fucking drum sound motherfucker. That’s drums! That’s a real drum sound! So, you know, it’s time to do a record with fucking mistakes and acoustic instruments.
Rockpages.gr: I think that this thing that you were talking about has begun before the explosion of AI. I think one of the reasons is that the nostalgia for the ‘80s and the ‘80s kind of sound of, you know, glam rock etc has led mostly European bands to emulate this sound…
Jyrki 69: Yes, yes. True, true. Yes, that’s true.
Rockpages.gr: And the result is what you see. It’s plastic and kind of fake, kind of glossy, but not real.
Jyrki 69: And also, if you think that music has really nonstop blast beat drums, which is done, corrected by mouse, even if they are played live… it doesn’t matter to me. I’m not judging. Maybe people’s ears are ready to listen to something else. I notice a mistake there and a real acoustic instrument for a change. So, I think it’s really, really refreshing and I’m excited to do it in the most old school way.
Rockpages.gr: Like the cover version you released recently, “Cold Sweat” from Thin Lizzy… it’s old school.
Jyrki 69: Yes sir, it’s very old school.
Rockpages.gr: I was never expecting the 69 Eyes to do this cover.
Jyrki 69: Yeah, well, I mean, we recorded that demo probably at the same time we played in Greece last time. Yeah, it’s a really old demo song and sometimes I sent these demos to some friends of mine like “hey, we just did this”. So, this friend sent me that, that demo in a text message and it’s like, what? “what’s up with this?” And I am like, “Holy shit, I forgot this. When was this even done?” And I said, like, “why don’t we just cover this?” Because this demo sounded already really good and was everybody agreed. Our record label guy actually agreed and said that it sounded like exactly how does he hears the 69 eyes to be like; a rocking band with guitars to be played on a rock radio. In Finland, we are played on the rock radio channels nonstop. If you come to Finland and put a local channel on you will hear Nightwish, Him, Sentenced, The 69 Eyes… that’s our classic songs 20 years old songs… But, I said okay let’s make a new song for the radio!
Rockpages.gr: I still remember the times when Greek TV was playing the video for “Lost Boys” To see that on Greek TV that was a big thing back then. Unfortunately, there’s no music channels in Greece anymore.
Jyrki 69: On the other hand, that was great times and I’m glad we were there. Now it’s time to enjoy what’s going on right now. And that’s why having an unplugged acoustic album… All right, it’s 2026. What would be the most uncool thing to do? Hey, let’s do acoustic record. Nobody cares! Hahah! And believe it or not, you understand this, we’ve been preparing for it and I keep thinking of it further and actually one of our references… we’ve sort been fan boys of MTV Unplugged albums. And if you think of “Kiss Unplugged”…
Rockpages.gr: The best unplugged album of all times!
Jyrki 69: Exactly! So, we’ve been actually taking a time machine going back to the MTV Times and we don’t give a fuck if everybody knows or even remembers. We remember and it still fires us up. So, now we’re actually doing our MTV Unplugged record, to be honest. But don’t tell anyone that sounds kind of retarded, but that’s how we see it.
Rockpages.gr: It doesn’t sound retarded at all. It makes sense. Especially now that MTV stopped broadcasting music.
Jyrki 69: Yeah, Yeah, exactly. But I mean, those records were great, obviously, until Nirvana. That’s the most famous record ever… probably, even from Nirvana! But, I mean, then there’s Alice in Chains… it’s great. They don’t give a fuck. They’re kind of strung out there, but it’s still cool… Then, well we talked about it…. KISS! It’s fantastic, you know?
Rockpages.gr: If a song is good, it will sound good whenever however you play it. Even if you just sing.
Jyrki 69: Obviously, we are happy when we perform this this way. If you remember those unplugged things, everybody’s happy, you know? It’s like the part of the music, it’s cool to play, it’s enjoyable, It gives something else, it’s closer to fans in a way. I think we’re done being joyful, to be honest, over the years. When you do a record you are always really happy and you feel great to create and it’s always exciting to be in studio and so on. Then, you’re done with the record and after a couple of months you realize like, “hold on, it comes out like next week. I forgot that there’s going to be a review”. So, the reviews come, but and no matter what the reviews say or anybody else, it can’t take that great time you had in your life creating that record, no matter what kind of music you do or no matter what artist you are. It’s the most happy place for us who like make music… to record it. So, if nobody cares, if it gets bad reviews. It doesn’t change the fact that you had a great time in the studio, you know?
Obviously, you learn this aspect after a few years. At this age what matters most is that we’re standing in front of you guys, we’re on stage… that’s a great moment. It took a long time, but we made it! I can’t wait for the show!
