I think the first time I listened to CMX was in 1988. How long was the band playing back then ?

Janne : The band was formed on Good Friday 1985.

Could you tell us some of the important turning points the band had to manage through the years (music, record companies, ...). I heard about a new line-up in 1999, so is CMX heading to a new direction ?

Janne :

1988 First EP "Johannes Kastaja " was released. (this is a Hardcore classic on P TUOTANTO Rds !! - Ed.)

1990 First album "Kolmikarki" was released.

1992 17-date European tour with another band from Northern Finland called Radiopuhelimet (crazy music, they've released a 7" on ALTERNATIVE TENTACLES a couple of years ago, that contains songs from their early records - Ed.). A record deal with EMI was signed.

1997 Long time manager and a friend, Veda Honkanen, dies. One of the forming members, drummer Pekka Kannianen leaves the band.

1998 Ex-Faith No More bass player Billy Gould produces Vainajala-album. Both Vainajala and Discopolis (released 1996) sell gold in Finland.

1999 Last live concert at Ilosaarirock festival.

2000 New double album released in October.

New album is a very progressive album and quite different what we've done before. But it's still very clearly a CMX album.

At the beginning I think your music was a crossover of hardcore, metal and perhaps older bands like 70's "psychedelic" stuff... Am I wrong ? Which new bands do you feel close to ? Janne : Not wrong at all. In the beginning our music was labelled 'jazz core' even though none of us ever played jazz. But punk, metal and progressive rock were the main influences. Not so much any of the then existing hard core bands. Terveet Kädet was a big influence, of course. Because they came from our hometown Tornio. This new band question is almost impossible to answer. All members of the band have different tastes in music so there are no collective influences, except maybe for Black Sabbath, The Stooges, Yes. Other bands worth mentioning are Rush, Pixies, Judas Priest, Genesis, Pink Floyd.

What were the pros & cons of signing a contract on a major label ? What was the main reason to sign ? Did you get negative feedback from the finnish underground scene where your first records were released ? Bigger budget. More studio time. Better distribution of our music. More studio time was probably one of the biggest reasons to sign a major deal. And also the fact that change is good, most of the time. Bad Vugum was and still is the coolest indie label there is and we are still grateful for them for everything they've done for us. But we never intended to be an underground band, our aims were and still are somewhere else. The most important thing is to be able to make this music with the best resources available. EMI offered us something that Bad Vugum couldn't. Of course there was backlash from the hardcore scene, but that was expected. But they never stopped coming to our gigs, for some reason.

CMX played at the last Leppakko's gig. Could you tell us a couple of words about this place ? Was that night kind of special ? Did you play with your current line-up ?

Janne : We played with our most long standing line-up (Yrjänä, Halmkrona, Rasio and Kanniainen). The reason was obvious : with that line-up we played most of our so called hard core gigs (and the original guitar player wasn't available at the time). Lepakko was a very important place for most of the bands originating from Helsinki and also for a lot of the underground scene in Finland, but for us as a band it never was such a big deal, really. We played there maybe ten times or so and had really good gigs and some not so good gigs. That Lepakko's funeral night was scary, luckily we had our own backstage ! But also it was worth doing. We rehearsed six songs very quickly. It was really odd to have our previous drummer back at the drums again.

Tell us more about your new CD. There was quite a long time between your latest & previous album ?

Janne : It's a double album with very long songs.

I really can't tell how popular you are in Finland. Do you get a wide exposure (on TV, mags, radio...) ? Are you as popular as Hanoi Rocks ? :o)

Janne : Cannot compare to Hanoi Rocks, really.

Definitely in the top three of the bands singing in Finnish (to be modest !). Our last three albums have sold gold. Vainajala went to #1 on the national album charts. It's hard to measure. We still are in a way underground that not everyone in the street knows about CMX. But if you listen to any music, you'd know.

Did you tour Europe many times ? Ever had the opportunity to play in France ?

Janne : Only on tour. Then odd gigs in Barcelona, Spain and Thessaloniki and Athens, Greece. No France, I'm afraid.

If you could change something in your whole career, what would you do in a different way ?

Janne : There's an old Finnish song about looking back to your life and wanting to change nothing.