Fireal Interview With YleX (English Written Version)…
Fireal’s front man, Caleb, recently sat down with YleX for an interview (in Finnish) and as a courtesy to Caleb, Fireal and all of their fans, we’ve had the interviewed translated to English (written form only). You can hear the original audio interview at YleX. Read below for the translated version…
Caleb, Fireal: “I had to change the band’s name or my own sexuality. So the name got changed.”
[Intro]
Toni:
The Finnish band Bleak was mainly based in the spirit of American Rock, but that band has not existed for a while, 2009 they announced on their website that it was time to call it quits and say finito. However, the main character from Bleak, Caleb, has continued writing music and according to him, he has already written so many songs he could make several albums. Nothing has been released yet, though.
Venla:
And now his band is called Fire Real. Or Fire Al. Or For Real. Or however you wanna pronounce it. Toni met Caleb earlier today and of course asked the most important question straightaway:
Why does not Bleak exist anymore?
[Interview starts]
Caleb:
Because Bleak broke up. Suddenly.
Toni:
Okay.
Caleb:
You wanna know why it broke up?
Toni:
That would’ve been my next question. [chuckles]
Caleb:
I thought so too. Well, it broke up because of musical and inner differences. It was like this long marriage that lasted for 12 years. 12 beautiful and not so beautiful years. Eventually the problems weighed it down and couldn’t carry it further.
Toni:
Well, how bad is your relationship between you and the other members now?
Caleb:)
Well, that’s not how it went either. The break-up was relatively peaceful considering the circumstances. It was more about realizing we could not continue together anymore. So, I suppose we are not in such a bad terms, not that I know of. But of course we don’t spend time together like before.
Toni:
If you guys meet on the street, you change the side of the road? [chuckles]
Caleb:
Most likely. [chuckles]
Toni:
But you won’t attack each other? [laughs]
Caleb:
Well, that’s possible too. When we’re drunk.
Toni:
Ouch…[chuckles] Anyways, Bleak became a pretty significant band during its existence, the setting was good for the band. The album [Burns Inside] was on YleX’s Album Chart for two months and the singles made it to the Single Chart as well and got airplay. A lot of good things were achieved with that band, so how hard is it to let go of it all and start over again?
Caleb:
Well, here’s one thing that not everybody have realized: the album [Burns Inside] will be re-released by Fireal…
Toni:
Ah…
Caleb:
…cos most of the songs, or actually all the songs on the album, save for two, were written entirely by me or my producer. Now that I have new members around me, there’s no sense in letting that album be forgotten just because the name of the band is different and the members are new. So in a way I haven’t had to let go of that album – and in fact, this new album is, in a way, the long-promised second album of “Bleak”. Cos I’ve been writing those songs since 2006, and even though the band broke up or changed in a way, the songs have remained the same. Actually I feel really positive about all this. I see it like this: if we had continued with Bleak, it could have become worse than it was, but with this new band, we’re clearly aiming high and for the better.
Toni:
Fireal is the name of the band now. Perhaps taken from Deftones?
Caleb:
Well, perhaps yes. [chuckles]
Toni:
[Laughs]
Caleb:
And it’s been pretty challenging with the pronunciation of the name. To me the word automatically meant something beginning with the word “fire”, but later on I found out it was a slang word for the phrase “for real”.
Toni:
For Real. [laughs]
Caleb:
“Are you guys for real?”
[Both laughing]
Caleb:
And now with this flaming logo it got twisted into “fire-real”. [both laughing] The beloved child has many names, I think it’s pretty cool. In Finland, you can say it just like it’s written (fee-re-ul).
Toni:
Yes, yes. And we’ve been playing with the idea that you should create this character called Fire-Al.
Caleb:/h4>
Well yeah, the logo actually represents this guy Fire-Al.
[Toni chuckles]
Toni:
Oh, I see. [laughing]
Caleb:
It was all very carefully planned. We got the Fire-Al merch coming soon. These little Fire-Al action figures.
Toni:
I always wondered what that guy was called. So he’s Fire-Al.
Caleb:
AL.
Toni:
Yeah. [laughs]
Caleb:
We had to kick Al from the band. “We had to Fire Al”.
[Toni laughs]
Toni:
In the Helldone Festival 2009, you were performing as Flamer with the same guys. What happened to that band suddenly? [chuckles]
Caleb:
Well this is another misunderstanding.
Toni:
Okay.
Caleb:
Flamer was Fireal, only with a different name.
Toni:
Yes, I know it was.
Caleb:
It was exactly the same band, only with a different name. It really happened unexpected when Bleak broke up and I had to come up with a new name for the band. For a long time, I had had this slogan “flamer”. So I thought the new band should be called Flamer….but of course it had these nice little double-meanings…
[Both chuckle]
Caleb:
And to me it was actually a funny thing in a way. If the front man of the band is this a bit gothic guy with heavy make-up, and plays this heavier music and Flamer means this “effeminate gay person”, it has this nice twist to it. I like to shake things up a bit and cause commotion. But then I realized I had two options: either to change the name of the band or my own sexuality. And since I didn’t like guys that much…
[Both laugh]
Toni:
So the band’s name got changed?
Caleb:
Yeah, I had to do it.
Toni:
You were thinking about the options for a little while? [laughs]
Caleb:
For a little while, yes. I went to the gay bars and I was checking out the scenery, thinking could this be my thing. But I just couldn’t do it, I don’t have it in me.
Toni:
[Laughs] Okay.
Caleb:
I don’t have it in me.
Toni:
But anyways, now that Fire-Al is…
Caleb:
Fire-AL.
[Toni laughs]
Toni:
…Fire-Al is mainly your creation, just like Bleak was, the music is very similar. But how much have you had to think about how you are gonna make the new Fireal album different from Bleak’s [Burns Inside]?
Caleb:
Well, if we take the musical differences between the members of Bleak, this was actually the direction where I was going. The other members were heading for a different direction, so when Bleak broke up, I took it even further. This music is a bit more…what’s the word…more industrial? Maybe more industrial, and there’s clearly some commercial stuff but also clearly some heavier stuff. Not so much the natural sound.
Toni:
That’s always something to respect when the artist himself mentions the word “commercial”.
Caleb:
Yes. To me there’s nothing to be ashamed of. Of course it depends on the band, for example if some band that made 3 records of very street-credible metal or rock, would suddenly make this very commercial album, I’m sure a lot of fans would be disappointed. But if you listen to the first demos of Bleak all the way from 1998, you can hear the commercial direction was already in those songs, that was something we were aiming for from the beginning. So, I don’t see any reason to hide it.
Toni:
Mm-m. Before this interview I asked if the release date for the album is already set, and it will be released in November, the first born of Fireal. Did I understand this right between the lines on your website, that the album is called The Dark Side?
Caleb:
…Nooooooo….the name of the album hasn’t been decided yet…
Toni:
Oh? Cos the text was somehow in bold on the website…
Caleb:
Well, it’s like that…you never know, it could be it…
[Toni laughs]
Caleb:
Good idea, by the way. [chuckles]
Toni:
Good working-title, at least.
Caleb:
Yes, before its working title was ‘Molotov Cocktails’, because the name had some COCK in it. [Info: also the Finnish slang word 'molo' means 'dick']
[Toni laughs]
Caleb:
MOLO-tov COCK-tails.
Toni:
So it has been decided the album will be released on the 3rd of November, was it?
Caleb:
So I’ve been told.
Toni:
Exciting, so that’s when the album will be released. So, we’ll be waiting for that, and then I suppose we’ll talk again when we got the album?
Caleb:
Absolutely.
Toni:
Thank you, Caleb. All the best to Fire-AL.
Caleb:
Thank you very much, you too.
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