Jussi Hyyrynen’s Wöyh band will release a new album soon.
When Jussi Hyyrynen was a young high school student, he had a dream. Hyyrynen, who studied at Savonlinna art high school, thought that playing in a band was the best. That’s what he wanted to do as a profession, and playing in TV productions wouldn’t be a bad thing either.
Hyyrynen’s passion took him with him and he went to Oulunkylä Pop & Jazz Conservatory to study guitar as a profession.
Soon, however, the man’s mind changed.
– I wasn’t really interested in teaching so much that I would have wanted to continue it as a career. On the other hand, even as a musician, I thought that I wasn’t so talented that I could support myself with it, Hyyrynen says.
Through his own sports background, Hyyrynen was interested in human physiology and anatomy. In addition, he wanted to secure a good bread job for himself, which guarantees a good livelihood and enough work. So Hyyrynen decided to study to become a doctor. He has been on that path for more than 20 years now.
However, Hyyrynen did not want to abandon music. Therefore, about half of Hyyrynen’s working time consists of medical work and half of musician’s work in, for example, the Wöyh band.
According to him, balancing between two professions is not difficult, on the contrary. The different natures of the professions create a good balance.
– Doctor is a quite conservative and science-based profession. When a patient comes in, they expect that they will have a certain kind of encounter and that the doctor will behave in a certain way. In other words, we go according to certain norms and rules.
– It’s quite liberating to work in another profession on a very different basis. You have to try to be creative and do things a little differently than others do.
Jussi Hyyryne has two professions. Inka Soveri
A tangible benefit
Hyyrynen believes that if he only did another one of his jobs, it would not be an acceptable situation for him.
– I wouldn’t be so happy professionally.
Working as a doctor has also been of tangible benefit when it comes to the work of a musician.
– Yes, the medical profession makes it possible to have been able to run my own record company Kaskelotti Records, through which the records are released. Otherwise, record sales nowadays are such that everyone who knows anything about the record business knows that it’s a zero-sum game, so to speak.
Hyyrynen states that he does so few gigs with the Wöyh band that they alone do not go very far financially.
– In that sense too, this has been a good combination for me.
Doing other jobs is familiar in the Wöy band anyway. For example, Hyyrynen’s brother Antti is influential not only in Wöyhi but also in Stam1na. In addition, he works as a writer and otherwise extensively in the field of art.
– Most of the musicians I know also do something else. Many do teaching work or other things related to music. Or there is another profession.
Balancing between two professions is easy for Jussi. Inka Soveri
New album
Wöyhi now has 15 years of working together. According to Hyyrynen, it’s been a lot of fun and it’s conveyed, for example, in the band’s energetic live performance.
In one respect, Wöyh differs from other bands.
– Before the studio, we never had training. In that sense, this has not been a completely traditional band activity.
Instead, Wöyh is training for the gigs and plans to go to them next year. Before that, there is a sixth album that will be released at the beginning of December.
The name of the nine-song album is Whoopera.
– I think that every song should have a story to tell. That’s what makes it interesting. Each of the songs on the album is like one act of an opera, Hyyrynen opens.
Jussi Hyyrynen’s Wöyh band is releasing a new album. Inka Soveri