- THE NMO'S ARTIST OF THE WEEK -
ZEBRA AND SNAKE
We are always on the look-out for signs that there is such a thing as a Scandinavian sound, and there definitely seems to be a uniquely sounding electro pop scene in Finland right now. Zebra and Snake combine melancholy with danceable beats to create tension and dynamics, and some really gripping songs. "The Colours" and the new "I Felt Nothing" are filled to the brim with pain and 808s. Their new EP Nighttime, released on Big Stereo, includes remixes from hannulelauri, Emperatron and MVSEVM. All interesting artists from the Finnish house / electro pop scene who frequently collaborate and swap remixes with each other. The original is however the coolest this time, and a great example of the 80’s-inspired, dark, droning electro pop sound we are beginning to connect with Helsinki. -Nina & Steffi, Nordic By Nature
meet the band
look, listen & learn!
'Big Bad Drummer' - Zebra and Snake
gallery
the Super8
Name: ZEBRA AND SNAKE. Line-up: TAPIO and MATTI (synths, bass and vocals). From: HELSINKI, FINLAND.
Q1: How did the band start? And where did the name come from? The band started just as a project to do something different from what we had done before. The name we got from a t-shirt print and decided Zebra and Snake would be stupid enough. It's always hard with names.
Q2: For anyone who has never heard of you, give three reasons why they should? the music has healing powers, we hope it could make you dance and cry and laugh.
Q3: Tell us a little about where you’re from and how your surroundings affect the music that you create. Nowadays we both live in Helsinki. Helsinki has an ok atmosphere to do stuff since people are quite supportive. I think we're more inspired about our original environment, since originally we are both farmer's sons from a small town in the rural part of Finland, so that kind of gives a good perspective to things.
Q4: Which other artists influence your work? This is really hard. Everything influences us, from Handel to Suicide to Die Antwoord.
Q5: What has been your most memorable experience of being in the band? Maybe the first time we had a show in Paris. It was our first gig abroad too and Paris was beautiful. The gig was packed full and the bar owner came to the stage and started mimicking the seizure-like thing we do in our first video for "The Colours". We felt very welcome there.
Q6: If you could organize your own dream festival which three acts would you choose to headline and why? THE KNIFE, since we've always loved them; CAN (Ege Bamyasi -era) how can you not love a band that had a juggler on stage, Jaki liebezeit on drums, and songs like "Vitamin C" or "Spoon"; and FLEETWOOD MAC (Rumours -era) - they all hated each other, were all coked-up and burned-out but still performed like hell and made the best music ever written.
Q7: What are your current plans and what are your main ambitions for the future? We would like people to learn our lyrics and sing with us but, before that, we have to finish our first album and rehearse for Zebra and Snake Live 2.0.
Q8: Which other new acts would you recommend to The NMO and its readers? We don't listen to a lot of new music so it's hard but we like Oneohtrix Point Never, they're great. We’ll recommend that!