The Stakeout from Turku became better known when they released a split with Wasted a couple of years ago. Their style is old school hardcore without obvious metal influences. I interviewed the band when they had a gig in Lutakko. I mostly talked with the singer, Jussi, but also their new guitarist, Teemu, and their drummer, Janne Aalto, took part in the discussion. (I guess he was Janne A. I'm terribly sorry if he wasn't...)
Tuomas: What do you think if someone says that The Stakeout is the Minor Threat of Finland?
Jussi J�nis: It sounds good. I take it as a compliment. It's cool if it sounds even a bit as good as Minor Threat.
Tuomas: Are you a straight edge-band?
JJ: Look there [the rest of the band is drinking beer]. I'm the only one in the band who doesn't drink or smoke, but the rest of the guys do it on behalf of me. So we're not a sXe band.
Tuomas: You guys are from Turku where there is some skinhead scene.
JJ: Do you mean nazi skins?
Tuomas: I mean generally.
JJ: Maybe it has died down a little. It�s hard to say. Ask the others.
Teemu: There are no nazi-skins.
Tuomas: How about other skins?
T: There are other skins, but there's nothing wrong with them.
Janne: Hate Unit, Back Against The Wall, and Phoenix Foundation have some skinhead members.
Tuomas: My point was, is there any punks versus skinhead thing? Like fights etc.?
T: Absolutely not. We are one group.
J: There's only hardcore kids versus emo kids.
Tuomas: So it's unity going on.
JJ: There are skins too, playing in bands, but there are no nazi-skin goings on in the punk scene.
Tuomas: How about if The Stakeout goes to the Number One slot in a Music List and everybody buys The Stakeout records because it's �the thing�?
JJ: That's wishful thinking, though I think it's hard to take a sensible stance for it. I can't really imagine that kind of situation. It will shock me very much. I will think of what has changed in people�s music tastes.
Tuomas: Would you get pissed off if some people are fans for a week and after that they throw your records in the garbage?
JJ: Of course it would piss me off if we're a good band for two days and then a shit band. Sure it would be nice if people liked (us), but without getting into any kind of hype and buy our stuff because some others buy it.
Tuomas: You are also in Silent Majority. What kind of music do you play?
JJ: It's an old band I�ve been in since '94, '95.
Tuomas: SM will release a split with Armageddon Clock.
JJ: We recorded maybe 5 songs and we haven't really played together since '95 except during the summer we had one gig at my friends� little festivals.
Tuomas: So it's a clear 2nd band project?
JJ: It's not a 2nd band or even a project. It's kind of dead. We just recorded those songs that we had done before. We haven't done anything new or played after that and probably will not play again.
Tuomas: So SM will release only one record?
JJ: Yeah. We just did it for fun. We recorded songs because we've been asked to do a split with Armageddon Clock. Thanks to Mikko for that.
Tuomas: Do the rest of you have any other bands?
J: I have a band called Selfish. I'm doing vocals in it and that guy [Teemu] has a band called Heartbreakers.
T: It's blah blah punk.
J: It's good punk.
T: Do a different story about it in a different magazine, but probably no one is interested in it.
Tuomas: What are your favorite bands in Finland?
JJ: What do we have... Manifesto Jukebox is really good. Of course Turku's own Hate Unit is a fine band.
J: 9. Surmanluoti
T: Mellakka was quite good. I guess they haven't played for a while.
Someone: And Hanoi Rocks.
Tuomas: What do we need more in the Finnish punk scene? More gigs? Should people change their opinions etc.?
JJ: I don't want to say that people should change their opinions. I think it's good that we have different kinds of bands and different opinions. I don't want us to have only the same kind of thing everywhere. We also have many gigs in Finland. We should have more gig places...
Tuomas: We�re also losing this one.
JJ: Oh Lutakko?
Tuomas: I think it�s definite now.
JJ: We lost Oranssi... There's not many places in Turku either.
T: Gigs at Old School may end too but it's not necessarily a bad thing.
Tuomas: Why?
T: It sucks!
JJ: I think there should be more gigs in Helsinki, it's a bigger town.
J: There should be some somewhere else other than in a factory.
JJ: Yeah... what was that question?
Tuomas: What do we need more of?
JJ: Good bands... There are good bands too. I think there's quite a lot of good going on in the punk scene in Finland. I can't say so quickly what we need more of.
Tuomas: Anything else?
J: Buy our records. The split LP with Burnpile and we still have some EPs too.
Tuomas: Anything else?
JJ: Teemu, our new guitar player, say something cool right here.
T: I think you people in here Jyv�skyl� have a fine dialect.
Tuomas: Thanks!
For more information about The Stakeout go to dive.to/thestakeout
