Fresh Acts: Ornament <br>STALKERs Fresh Act June 2012 - STALKER MAGAZINE inside out of rock´n´roll

Ornament
STALKERs Fresh Act June 2012

Our Fresh Act in this month comes from Switzerland and is inspired by the melancholy of their Scandinavian colleagues. Ornament (previously Lament) from Zurich play bitter-sweet Goth-Rock with various influences. Alain, Ted, Cedric und Jukka tell us what inspires them and which goals they have.

Hello guys, can you introduce yourselves first? Who are you, where are you from? Which kind of music do you play?
Alain Hellas, we are Ornament from Zurich. My name is Alain Kaiser, singer and guitar player …
Ted Terve, I´m Ted White, bass player and part of the band since the very beginning
Jukka Hey, my name is Jukka Rautavaara and I´ve been the drummer since September
Cedric I´m Cedric Gottet and joined the band in September 2011 as Keyboarder
Alain Our music is a mixture of Gothic Rock, Stoner Rock, Hard Rock and 70`s. As the Gothic Rock elements are dominating, I would prefer this genre.

How did the band come into being? And how come that you have a Finnish drummer (as the name suggests)?
Alain After many band projects which finally failed, I was totally fed up and decided to start a solo project named Lament.
Ted In November 2006 I met Alain at a NEGATIVE concert. After some fooling around and some more philosophical talks he played me a song he wrote. I was excited and we talked about founding a band. As I was still at school back then, it worked out only in 2007.
After 100 line-up changes – at least it felt like that – and a 2-year hiatus, we finally managed in 2011 to complete the band and now we floor the accelerator.
Jukka My parents are from Finland, they had moved to Switzerland in their youth.

Why did you choose the band name Ornament?
Alain As you know, Ornament stands for „decoration, to adorn something“. This meaning of the name combined with our music goes well together. Until now we had the band name „Lament“. There were a lot of bands with the same name, therefore it was only a matter of time until the „bitchfight“ would start. Moreover, there were big changes within the band. Therefore it was a decision that happend with perfect timing.

You played your very first gig ever in March, how did you prepare for it, and were you excited about it?
AlainWe prepared in classic style, rehearsing, rehearsing and lots of beer…
Cedric It has always been my dream to be on stage with Ornament. When I heard of them first, I was so excited that I told myself „I want to play with this band“! It was exactly this kind of music that I have always been looking for. Excited??? Of course, mixed with some adrenaline.
JukkaNaturally you are excited, I think if you are not, you do something wrong.

Who is responsible for the song writing and what are your lyrical themes?
Alain „Girls, Girls, Girls“… I have never written about anything else but love and women. The song „I´m Yours“ deals with the naive first love as well as the bitter end in reality, which often occurs when it comes to love.
So I am the one responsible =)

You had announced a CD already in winter 2011, so what happened to those plans?
AlainOur basic plan was to release the existing songs once again with a fresh attitude and to release an EP, because until now we had only released this one demo. But something else happened, when I played some new songs to the band, all the guys wanted to put those on the EP instead, and to produce a full-length album. And this is what I am working on now... Moreover, parallel to this long player we want to release a video clip for the song „I´m Yours“. There are frantic preparations for this...

Which bands inspire you? I´d say that in the case of singer Alain it is easy to spot that he is a fan of Ville Valo. Or is that a wrong impression? How about the rest of you, who inspires you?
Alain Haha, this is maybe a wrong way to put it. It is rather an inspiration, and I also want to mention: Nick Cave, The Doors, Beirut, Kyuss, Agalloch, Chris Isaak, Sopor Aeternus, or also Indian Bhajan Music as examples.
Cedric Mainly Rock. The essential is the emotion.
Ted I am inspired by many bands: Rob Zombie, The 69 Eyes, HIM, Swallow The Sun, Motionless In White, Black Light Discipline etc

Ted, I know that you are an enthusiastic fan of Finnish culture and travel a lot to the North. So what makes Finland so special, in comparison with Switzerland? And how about the rest of you?
Ted The land, the people, the music, ice hockey, mentality and the life in Finland, that´s it for me, totally!!!!
The Finnish landscape leaves nothing to be desired!
Helsinki, my absolute favorite and my second home.
In comparison with Switzerland, it is the mentality and the candour of people, what I enjoy much more in Finland.
JukkaTo make it short, it is a beautiful country where beer is way too expensive.
Alain Lakku Pippu!!!

What would you Swiss guys say about the situation in the music scene – do you have disadvantages just because you are in small Switzerland, where the scene is small, too?
Alain We have noticed that many people who are not part of this scene like our music. And the fact that our music has some mass appeal is a beautiful thing.
The main thing is still the music as such, the secret for success is just about writing good songs and to touch people. Then also the small Switzerland cannot be an obstacle anymore. We´ll push our plan through...

What makes your band so special, why should people support Ornament?
Ted Because we are nice guys with humor who enjoy doing this! And we hope that many people share those emotions with us.
Cedric Exactly, we are something like a small family, we are connected with something that cannot be put into words. I think people who see us on stage feel this connection between us. We are real and not a fake.
Jukka Because there are not enough bands in this genre, in my opinion.

Where do you see yourselves in 5 years?
Alain In big halls, on festival stages and in small clubs, it doesn´t matter where.
Cedric And at funerals =)

What would you like to achieve in the future, which goals do you have?
Alain I hope that we all will keep on rocking together, also in the distant future, and that we are on tour and make great albums.
Ted I´d like for the future that we write a lot of great songs and get a lot of gigs. And it would be cool to play abroad.

Last but not least: If you could change into another person for 24 hours, who would that be and what would you do in the body of this person?
Alain Jim Morrison… there´s a little latent Hippie inside of me, I´d like to have lived in the 60`s and 70`s, and in his body I had done exactly the same: Sex, Drugs and Rock`n`Roll…
Cedric I´d like to be Winston Churchill. Equipped with a box of cigars and a huge bottle of Whiskey, I´d do the „shufflin dance“ for 24 hours. A big challenge...
Jukka I enjoy being myself.
Ted Elliot!!! Then I could spend a day with E.T. And „phone home"!!!

Thanks for your time and all the best for the future!

More information: www.facebook.com/officialornament

Author: Sandy Mahrer trans. Klaudia Weber photos: Band
Date: 2012-05-31

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