Interview with Letterbombs

Letterbombs are a Finnish emo-violence quartet that has been cutting their way through the scenes since 2020 and driving their listeners crazy.  This year they release their first full-length album after X compilations, EPs and singles.
Alan - Greetings to Finland.
Chris – Hey Alan! Thanks for getting in touch.

Alan – What I was looking at, you have dated the formation of the group to 2020. So you have been on the scene for about 4 years, and you are only now releasing a full-length album?
Chris – So yes, the band initially formed in early 2020, but even back then it took us a while to finally release our debut ep (Burn This Poem After Reading). Personally (Chris, gtr/vox), I’ve always been a bit all over the place musically, and easily get both distracted and excited about different things, hence the start of multiple releases.
Writing music for splits with all the bands we’ve worked with allowed us to push the boundaries of our sound sonically. This in helped us create the album in its finally shape and form and represent us as a band. For instance, Pictures, Memories and Wisps of Love was pretty much the fifth song I wrote for the band back in 2020. Soliloquy was the last song, which was written just before Jussi, our previous drummer started tracking drums in March of 2023. The album took a while, but I believe it portrays that four-year period very well and what we believe Letterbombs was at that time.  

Alan - The World Is Cursed... published by quite a publishing house, in collaboration. the album cost some money, did everyone paid their share?  Or did each publisher make their own press?
Chris – We collaborated on one single pressing, which I belience was 300 records in total. Each label took their share, and we got some records and bought some extras.
Moya from Semi Collective Records did an amazing bundle, that features the album on cassette with a t-shirt and that’s the only exception.

Alan – Finland is more focused on metal as such.  How is playing there?  And in general, how do you play with bands with a similar focus to yours?
Chris – Overall Finland’s a decent country to play shows despite the distance between cities, especially up north where half of the band reside. With that in mind we’re pretty used to traveling long distances, since it’s a six-and-a-half-hour drive from Oulu to Helsinki. 
When it comes to screamo, most shows happen in the bigger cities like Turku, Tampere and Helsinki. Nowadays there’s quite a few screamo/screamo adjacent bands, which is a good thing.

Alan – I don't suppose Letterbombs is your first band.  Who played where and in what before forming Letterbombs?
Chris – Letterbombs is most certainly not our first band at all. All of us have played in a ton of different bands. There’s too mean to mention, since most of us have been playing in bands for over 10 years.  I’ll mention a few of our other active projects that people can check out!

Hävitys (Crust/Grindcore): https://havitys.bandcamp.com/album/raivo-ep
Qwälen (Black Metal): https://qwaelen.bandcamp.com/album/syv-hiljaisuus
Kuvotus (Goregrind/Death Metal): https://kuvotus.bandcamp.com/album/split-with-tunkio
Stolen Kidneys (Noise Rock/Post-Hardcore): https://stolenkidneys.bandcamp.com/album/maailma-loppuu

Alan – If you had to name 5 bands that you are most close to creatively, what would they be?  Rorschach?
Chris – Rorschach is a great band and I’m a big fan, thusly I understand why that might come to mind when listening to our music. It’s difficult to pick some specific bands that represent us or are a main source of inspiration, but I’ll try and narrow it down to at least a couple.
If I think of important screamo bands then In Loving Memory come to mind. Such an amazing band and glad that they’re active again. ILM has managed to meld melody and dissonance in a way that really speaks to me. If you haven’t listened to their masterpiece As Years Pass and Feel Like Seconds, I highly recommend you do so. 
Another band that’s actually not too far off Rorschach is Converge. An absolutely essential hardcore band that pushes the envelope and have a very distinct sound that they still managed to keep whilst evolving constant with each release. 
This might come as a surprise, but Discordance Axis is a big influence too. It’s the mathy blasty madness and that urgent edge-of-your-seat feeling that is something I actively seek for Letterbombs too. 
Finally, I’d say Youth Funeral. Heavenward is pretty much one of my all-time favourite emoviolence albums. Straight to the point, with melodic passages that offer you ears a break from the sonic assault that’s eventually over to soon and leaves you yearning for more.
Those are the ones I can think at this point, so I’ll just name some other important bands, so here goes: Coma Regalia, Abduktio, Cloud Rat, Neil Perry and My Chemical Romance.

Alan – Emo-violence was listened to a lot in the early 90s, bands had the opportunity to tour the world, or at least Europe.  Do you think this genre is coming back?
Chris – I’d say it very much is, especially with big bands, such as Jeromes Dream and pg.99 getting back to doing shows and new material.

Alan – You've already gotten to play outside of Finland. where?  Britain?
Chris – Currently, we’ve played in Denmark and Sweden with our friends from Demersal. We’ve got some new plans for next year, which will hopefully result in us visiting some old and new places with good friends. 
We’ve pretty much decided very early on that we’ll proritise playing abroad. Mainly because that’s where our fans are, but also, since there’s no point in playing the same three bigger cities in Finland multiple times a year. We love playing live, despite not being too active on that front this year for family reasons, since three of us have kids. 
As I am half-British (My dad’s from Middlesbrough), we’d definitely love to come to Britain and the UK in general. There are many amazing screamo bands that we’d love to share the stage with, such as Cady, Kaddish, incaseyouleave and Punch On!. If you haven’t checked those bands, you are missing out big time.

Alan – If you had to describe each song what are they about.
Chris – I won’t go into too much detail about each song, but they are divided into five themes that represent different stages of the grieving process.
Denial - Soliloquy, Dreamlike Bliss
Anger - Hell on Earth, It Eats You from the Inside Out
Bargaining - Pictures, Memories and Wisps of Love, Nothing
Depression - Incomplete, Your Ghost Keeps Me Awake, Encased in Rose Quartz
Acceptance - Mo(u)rning Dew

Alan – For our readers from the Czech Republic and Slovakia.  Do you know any emo-violence bands from the Czech Republic and Slovakia?  "Clean Slate" band?
Chris – Off the top of my head, I can’t think of any Slovakian screamo, but Nulajednanulanula and Zmar are amazing bands from the Czech Republic. Tried to google Clean Slate, but came up empty as I could only find a band of the same name from the Philippines. Sorry!

Alan – Thanks for the interview, and maybe we'll do something together again sometime.
Chris – Thank you Alan very much for the questions, it was a pleasure. Hope to work you in the future. Cheers!

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