Blind Channel raider no longer mentions alcohol.
Blind Channel is in for a big year, yet again. On the first day of March, the band’s fifth studio album Exit Emotions will be released, and after that there will be a three-month tour.
– This is our best album and it should be so, Niko Moilanen says.
Blind Channel’s aim is abroad, as it has always been. The band is serious, so serious that even lifestyles have been changed. In Blind Channel’s raider, no alcohol is mentioned at all anymore, it has been replaced by vissy.
– We noticed that it’s hard as hell to pull off so many gigs a year, Joel Hokka says.
Joel Hokka (left) and Niko Moilanen (right) say Blind Channel is an alternative to Tiktok music in Finnish. Jani Korpela
On their first Yankee tour, the band celebrated wildly, but now it’s different.
– We’ll see, because we celebrate next time. Maybe when we break another glass ceiling. Now look at the ball and focus on the dune, says Niko purposefully.
Niko has put the cork on for at least a year, and he hasn’t drunk at all this year. Joel, on the other hand, has considerably reduced his alcohol consumption and he also tries to eat regularly.
– I just released my own white wine and I plan to drink it in very festive moments. At the Emma gala, I partied until the morning, but otherwise it’s Hartsport and stretching these days, that’s how it’s gone, Joel smiles.
– Brenkku (alcohol) destroys the body, it destroys the mind and in my case it destroys sleep, Joel continues.
Joel has had sleep problems ever since the band won the New Music competition in spring 2021. Stress and alcohol worsen sleep problems.
Joel says that he was really surprised last fall during the tour of the United States, when sipping white wine had become a habit.
– We started having bad arguments among the band, the gang started getting angry with me. I hadn’t slept and there was a certain grumpiness. I noticed that for my own mental health and to keep the band together, I have to make changes, says Joel.
Blind Channel has already received good reviews from metal critics for their Exit Emotions album. Jani Korpela
Joel realizes how they have young fans for whom the Blind Channel members are idols.
– Alcohol is a total poison. It has destroyed many relationships and bands. There are many warning examples, Joel continues.
Tough summer
Last summer was exceptionally tough for Blind Channel, and the toughest since the start of the corona pandemic, when the band considered quitting.
In the summer of 2023, the band toured across Europe at various festivals and simultaneously made the Exit Emotions record.
– At our worst, we were awake for almost 72 hours when we were gigging and flying from place to place. Then we arrived in Finland really tired and then to the studio, where we slept with the instruments in hand, says Niko.
Niko and Joel don’t even know at what point the record was created. At first, they didn’t even dare to listen to the record.
– Memory freeze due to lack of sleep. We have wondered if we did something really bad, says Niko.
In the fall, Blind Channel went on “a break of a couple of months from the whole album”.
– Now that we’ve listened, oh well. The record was insane. It somehow has that raw live energy. The things we talk about on the album come across as genuine, because we’ve been in a situation where there’s no strength to lie.
United States
Blind Channel is well aware that heavier music in English is not the kind that rises to the top of the charts in Finland. In general, it is difficult for music in English to succeed in Finland.
– Internationally, this will be our most significant record. The songs have already received radio play in the United States, says Joel.
The band is aiming for the United States.
– It is a long and rocky road to conquer the United States. At Deadzone, we’ve got the game unlocked, and it’s playing on the radio. There had to be a song like this, says Niko.
Niko and Joel think that Finland does not necessarily understand how big a deal it is to get radio play in the United States or on the British BBC.
– If someone tries to enter the world, they will be trampled down by all means. We may have been spared from that, as we are still perceived as national heroes, says Joel.
Blind Channel will perform at Nokia Arena on April 27. Jani Korpela
Niko and Joel say that export artists really need support, or at least they strive to do so. For example, they try to support Robin.
– Of course, Robin and Alma know that metal music is the easiest way to get out of Finland, Joel reminds.
English has always been the band’s language, it has been a matter of course even if Finnish could be more successful in Finland.
Niko was only seven years old when he wrote his first song.
– It didn’t have a song, but it was called The Fox and The Scorpion in English, Niko laughs.
Exit Emotions will be released on March 1.