Considering the speed with which V for Violence's career has taken off, they could just as easily be called V for Velocity. Although the formation of this Helsinki-based quintet took a few years - vocalist/principal songwriter Jay Tan, guitarist J. Salò, and drummer Mr. Kunt joining forces in the early 2000s, Mr. Kock (guitar) arriving later on, and Varjo (bass) completing the line-up in 2008 - recently, things have happened very quickly for them. In 2008, V for Violence released their first promo and shortly thereafter were signed by Osasto-A, the label founded by MC Raaka Pee of Turmion Kätilöt. They have released two videos and one single so far, and their debut album, The Cult of V, hit the stores on November 18th, 2009. Closing out the year with a flurry of gigs, they have started 2010 in similar fashion, and the early part of their schedule will be highlighted by a performance at Finnish Metal Expo.

Fortunately, Finnish Metal Webzine was able to get Jay Tan to slow down for a while and engage in a marathon internet chat, in which he shared the story behind V for Violence's devilishly seductive, elegantly brutal music.

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Hi! Thanks for doing this interview. Congratulations on the release of The Cult of V and on being selected to play at FME 2010.

Thanks! Releasing a debut was an experience. And FME will probably be a good one too.

I'm sure it will. Also on the program with you at FME is Turmion Kätilöt, your label boss, MC Raaka Pee's popular band. How did your deal with Osasto-A come about?

Well, in our case, when we got our first "demo" done, we didn't get a chance to even send it to any other label. None of us knew Osasto-A back then either. A friend of the band mentioned about a new record label (Osasto) and we contacted them. Sooner than we expected, we got that offer to do a whole albumful of music. That was nice.

Quite! An all-too-rare opportunity.

You seem to have been adopted into the Turmion Kätilöt extended family, so to speak: you have MC Raaka Pee himself doing backing vocals on the single version of "Break the Face", and is that Linda Karhu, his partner in 2 Times Terror [also on Osasto-A], as the woman with the noose in the video for "Constant of Death"?

Yes. It was Linda's head in that noose :).

Who is responsible for the concepts of that video and of your first, the one for "Boy Called Fucker"?

"Boy Called Fucker" was pretty much entirely the director's (Toni Riekkinen) own vision, and quite a lot of improvisation (breaking a TV n' stuff) with the stuff we could find from the place we shot the video at. "Constant of Death"'s concept, or at least the main idea, came from me. And then band and Riekkinen added their ideas. You can see, the result is quite a mix of different things. In the beginning there were just ideas written down. Some of 'em were shot, some left undone.

Has the "Constant of Death" video received much airplay so far? Has it been entered in any competitions?

I don't think "Constant of Death" has been played that much, at least not on TV, as far as I know. And it's not in any competition either. (Let me know if it is, haha .) "Boy Called Fucker" got more airplay 'cos it was in Garage Countdown competition, and did ok, too. But I think we kinda took a bit distance from the band competition things, at least those which were mainly for unsigned bands. We wanted to concentrate more on getting our promotional to a different level.

That's understandable.

What prevented the "Constant of Death" single from making it into the stores (other than digital ones)? Did the ensuing give-away contest ultimately benefit you from a publicity standpoint?

"Constant of Death" single didn't end up in normal stores 'cos there were only [a limited number of] physical copies made. The whole point was to start with a digital single. I'm sure it was a good idea, when you think of the single sales and that we are newcomers. It is a lot better way to get the music to the listeners, for a new band to release a single in digital form. It spreads way faster that way. I myself, don't like the idea of not having a CD single in my hands, so that whole contest thing was done more as a bonus, and of course it got us some more audience too. Now the situation is already a bit different. Some sort of single/EP thing would now be more possible … or reasonable :).

So will there, then, most likely be at least one more single from this album? Or is that more a thought for the future?

I would like to think there will be, and both label and band have been talking about it. But this much I've learned so far in my short involvement in this business: never expect it to happen if it hasn't already happened :). Band has a HUGE need to record new stuff - and by need I mean urge - so some small release with some possible bonus stuff would be great. We'll see…. I'm also a big fan of vinyls, so some 7" would be great.

Do you have a great deal of new material already written?

This band is very productive. There's lots of material, more or less ready.

I'm very pleased to hear that, but not surprised, considering that you've already made a 14-track debut album. Is the productivity a matter of having a very fertile imagination, being highly disciplined, or both?

When working with the ideas, I would say it's about that "fertile imagination," and once ideas are ready enough, there's more disciplined way of working to get them into their final shape.

Have you always been this productive, from the beginning? And did you do any recording prior to the 2008 promo?

No, we haven't recorded other stuff. There's always been a lot of songs, but you know, it's not that long time since we got our full line-up. The band wasn't whole before that. Once we got Kock, I was really able to start concentrating on vocals more.

Are the new songs in the vein of those on The Cult of V?

It's a difficult question, as the main idea for the band is not to think in that way - that the music would sound like some certain type of music. If it sounds good, it's probably going to be used. The Cult of V has many different surfaces in it and, yes, some of those surfaces can be found in new material, some are new :).

The variety in those surfaces definitely comes across clearly, yet they all work together cohesively. For this mixture of "different subgenres of metal and rock as well as pop and punk," with a potentially wide appeal, as you've described your sound, you've come up with the term "gothcore". What sort of reactions have you gotten to this self-designation?

Well, first of all, the story behind that term comes from when we had some early mixes of our songs while recording in D-studio. A friend of the band, now a partner, described the music with the words "gothic" and "hardcore" and said that Finnish metal scene has been waiting for this. Well, we never had thought about what to call our music or, more important, how to describe it to someone who hasn't heard it. So after those comments we just thought, what the hell, why not; there's a lot of those both included. Let's say it's gothcore.

But [as for] the question, mostly people haven't accepted it. Funny [thing] is that people either do find goth but not core, or they find core but not goth :D. And I've read that we're industrial, too. Well, for me Rammstein and Turmion Kätilöt kind of bands are industrial. We have a few samples there, but to say we're industrial (for example) is not close at all. You can say it's rock metal, alternative metal, but we chose to go with that term, and it has gotten attention; doesn't matter if it's bad or not. And people in heavy music can be surprisingly narrow-minded and afraid of people who fuck with "their" music style. I have never considered myself as a "metal head" or any other. I like good music from Swedish pop to French Black Metal.

It's easy to imagine "gothcore" being a somewhat polarizing term, partly because there are such widely varying conceptions of what goth is - moreso, perhaps, than with any other genre name. Although I hear a little gothiness in your music, to me, the most "goth" thing about you is your look. The industrial thing is hard to fathom. Several of you list Rammstein amongst your influences, I noticed, but their sound doesn't seem to be represented dramatically in yours.

I'm also quite surprised with what kind of music I hear the word "goth". We're just playing their game there. And how we look, it just makes the contrast bigger. We sound different to different people, and also our looks have had different opinions. Some say emo, some say glam. It's great! People are confused. And influences or inspirations from bands like Rammstein can probably be heard in the effectiveness and simplicity. Or even sing-along melodies. NOT in genre itself.

Whether it's playing the game or keeping people confused, as long as the approach leads people to check you out, that's all that matters.

Let's talk about violence, which can, of course, take many forms, not all of them physical. How is violence manifested in your music and in its intended effect on the listener?

It's quite obvious we're not going as far with the physical violence as, for example, Cannibal Corpse does, but if you read the lyrics you might find me balancing between mental and physical abuse of body and mind :D. Not that far from each other. The line "break my heart and I'll break your face" sums it up pretty well. Sometimes it's more in your face; sometimes the violence is underneath the "poppish" surface. And I can say that about the music as well.

Yes, I've noticed those recurring themes of breaking faces and breaking hearts in your lyrics and also promotional material. Do you see fracturing a heart as being just as violent an act, in a way, as doing that to a face?

Takes longer to heal, at least :).

Very true :).

How did you arrive at the concept of violence as an ingredient (or THE ingredient) crucial to metal and rock music?

I've said this before, but, after sex, violence is the best entertainment - even better if you can mix them both. And the entertaining (like watching it in movies) part of violence is the violence we do.

Do you see that characteristic as being somewhat lacking in much of the music being made today?

Yes. I would say so. And I don't mean there's no good music done nowadays. There's a lot. But I want excitement.

Of course. So when you speak of bringing "the Devil a little bit closer to mainstream" (as stated in the press release for The Cult of V), you're talking about something that's mutually beneficial? That is, while it's obviously to your advantage to reach a broad audience, you also have a sense that the mainstream NEEDS a bit of the Devil and you're here to provide that?

Exactly. We're not here to be as commercial as a band can be, but neither do we want to make it underground on purpose. We're making, I would say, music in a more 'pop' way than many other metal bands. But there's a lot of stuff that someone might find disturbing or just too heavy - if you think of someone who might like a really melodic, almost pop song like "Scream," which makes your hips move, and then think of more extreme songs on the album like "All Insane" or "Entertainment", which are perfect for mosh-pits. Mainstream music needs the Devil, indeed.

Satan, who is the sole (no pun intended ;)) influence listed at your MySpace page, is frequently mentioned in your lyrics and other writings, where you evoke both the "conventional", Judeo-Christian conception of the Devil (minus a pious viewpoint, of course) and the Morning Star, a.k.a., Lucifer, historically a bringer of light and illumination. Have you concretely defined for yourself a "Fallen One" who represents some kind of reconciliation of these versions, or are you using "Devil"/"Satan" in a very broad sense, as is commonly done?

It depends on the context. If we talk about, for example, music, it's a synonym for rock music. But to give some kind of understandable answer, for me Satan is rebellious and dangerous and seductive and many other words that might have a negative tone, but actually the whole good/bad thing is dependent on who is saying it.

How big a factor is shock value in your use of these Satanic elements?

Well, I don't think Satan in lyrics would anymore shock many. If it does shock, that's nice, but I'm not trying to shock with it. Politics would be a more effective playground for really shocking. The whole point of including biblical or some other themes in lyrics is more in the fact that most of us have some idea, or feeling even, that is experienced through such a, let me say, common, symbolic language. It's like if you see a pentagram: it gives you some idea. PLUS, it's also a great concept to fuck with :).

The lyrics for "The Omega Song", where you play on Satan's role in Eve's downfall, are credited as having been inspired by the novel And the Ass Saw the Angel, by Nick Cave (who is also among the influences listed in your profile). Would you elaborate on this connection?

It's a pretty simple connection, but essential. The thing I got influenced by was that in Cave's story (only in one event of a big story) he spoke of Melancholy as if it were a person. The thing that was in the book is the way a character went mad: Melancholy came knocking on her door, and it kept knocking long enough to force the character to open it. It just got stuck in my head :). I took it a bit further and, of course, Satan got involved.

Are you familiar with Nick Cave's lectures "The Flesh Made Word" and "The Secret Life of the Love Song"? He says some interesting things about melancholy in the latter.

NO, I'm not … could be interesting. Have to check them out. Cave has a great way of making stories.

He does indeed. Do you, like Cave, have any aspirations to write novels?

Why not? Not now, but maybe some day :). It would be something.

Those unconventional band member bios [over-the-top yet subtly erudite depictions of the musicians as evil incarnate] that appeared on your old website read like character sketches. Did you write those?

Yeah :). It was fun. Just away to entertain ourselves and the reader, haha. But I somehow thought that it was a bit too much of a senseless and perverted supervillain biography thing :). Just too much nonsense. It was fun to write, but … c'mon. Even though we're not that serious guys (and that is a common problem in music - it's often too serious), too much is too much :). And since we don't mean to take that "role thing" to a level where it actually might become an essential feature of the band (like Lordi), it's better not to play with it.

So that concern about turning into Lordi is why they don't appear at the new site?

Yes. Pretty much so.

Recently - and somewhat belatedly - you had your album release party. How did that go?

It went nicely. At least that's how we feel. One review of it came out already. The critic liked it too (although I forced him to eat my microphone - didn't know he was a critic ). There are supposed to be more [reviews], too. And yes we had delays already in releasing the album, so no wonder we had the release party late also. There's a lot of booked dates in Helsinki all the time.

Glad you didn't alienate the critic :).

With so many songs to choose from, do your set lists vary significantly from show to show?

There are a few songs that are always there, i.e "Constant of Death", "Boy Called Fucker", "Break the Face", and some we think could be more easy to approach in a live environment. But yeah, if we have longer time to play, we think of "extra" songs.

Are there songs that have a particularly different vibe live than on the album?

Yes, more or less. But it's more about making live versions of them. Some songs need a bit higher vocals to have more energy and stuff. Some have more space for a different interpretation and so on.

Looking ahead to the coming year, tell us, if you will, what you think should happen (i.e., best-case scenario) with V for Violence, you individually, and/or with anything else you care to offer a forecast about.

Gigs are always good to have, hopefully some festival shows and stuff now that Live Nation is [handling] booking. The debut album just came out, so nothing is yet agreed about the future things.

Do you have any current side projects? I see that Mr. Kunt also plays drums in the acclaimed underground band Stereo Junks! and that Varjo was previously in a black metal band called Ravenstorm. What about you, J. Salò, and Mr. Kock?

No, we don't have any at the moment. And I wouldn't even have time for any other projects right now :).

I imagine not :). But are there any previous bands you can mention?

No, I've always been only with V for Violence and Salò [has] too, since [we were] teenagers. And Kock hasn't had anything serious either.

The long time spent solely involved with V for Violence must account for the fact that you came out of the gates with such a well-developed sound.

Yes, might be so.

Finally, what best-kept secret about V for Violence has been straining to get out but has found no opening ... until now?

So far, every new member of the band has been taught how to put on make-up. Varjo is still learning :D. Don't really know how we ended up doing it :).

And who is the cosmetics teacher?

Me, Kunt and Salò learned it by ourselves, though Kunt is trying to give advice. But I'm not taking it :D.

Thanks very much for being so generous with your time and with the insights about V for Violence. Is there anything you'd like to add?

"Kick out the jams, motherfuckers!"

And thank you, Maud. it was nice chatting with you.

Likewise :). Bye for now, then.

Bye, bye!

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V for Violence Official Website

Osasto-A

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