Review Fix Exclusive: Joensuu Riihimäki’s Sami Joensuu Talks Goals And Future

joensuu-riihimäki

Review Fix chats with Sami Joensuu of Joensuu Riihimäki, who lets us know what makes their music special and what 2018 has in store for them.

Review Fix: How did the band get together?

Sami Joensuu: Well, It all happened by accident. I asked Kari to play a few songs on the guitar that I was doing at that moment. We did not know each other before. This happened sometime in the summer of 2013, I guess. We noticed right away that the co-operation works unusually well together, we played a few gigs more and we did a few songs together more.

Some point soon we realized that we have a whole album ready. First there was the idea to make music as a duo but we realized we needed percussionist and Moilu was the ideal choice. Fortunately, he liked the band and the music, he has been involved from the beginning and the rest is history.

Now Joensuu Riihimäki has made three albums and numerous gigs. The cooperation works nicely and, when necessary, is used by additional musicians.

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?

Joensuu: Usually the idea of a song can be created anywhere. It does not look at time or place. I write all the time up to the lyrics to the memo and the song can originate from a single word, someone’s gaze, from any point of view, really.

Usually the melody sounds in my head at the same time when I write and I see them like the pictures, like in the movies. I make a so-called base for the songs and everyone writes their own part in the studio, this way of working works fine with us.

Review Fix: What’s your standout song? How was it written?

Joensuu: I always try to make the songs stand out. Perhaps the most recent is The Ballad Of James John Belcaire. It has sought medieval spirit with lyrics and authentic instruments. The story is set in the Highlands and I read a lot about Britain’s history at that time, maybe it got started from there, who knows. The arrangement I also wanted to find something unusual, something different.

Review Fix: How do you want your music to affect people?

Joensuu: I would like people to find the same feelings of my music as I felt when writing it. It is always a very personal experience when you write a song and whenever you give the song to the audience, you also hoped the audience to find something of their own.

Review Fix: What are your goals for 2018? What’s next?

Joensuu: The Highwater tour starts now in January and we will be playing throughout the year in Finland and abroad and video shoots will also start soon. New music comes out surely, at some point and he Highwater vinyl version will also be released in spring 2018. I look forward to it.

I believe that this year will be a busy and awesome music year for Joensuu in Riihimäki. There’s no doubt about it! Hopefully, this year the doors will open properly and gigs abroad will also start outside Scandinavia.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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