Von Hertzen Brothers reveal the one musical genre they wouldn't play
Mikko and Kie von Hertzen have extolled the virtues of being musically eclectic.
Over the course of seven studio albums, the Finnish siblings have embraced a plethora of musical genres – from classic rock to prog to folk and elements of punk and more.
Speaking to Wyatt shortly after stepping off the stage at Download Festival, singer Mikko says it’s important not to be straddled to one particular style.
“We consider music as songs that we love, whatever comes out is creativity,” explains Mikko. “To label it and to kind of narrow your expression by deciding that you are a prog band or a metal band or you’re this or that, you kind of cut your own wings in a way, you kind of make decisions not based on music but something else and in our point of view – we’ve talked about this a lot – it’s kind of like restricting yourself.
“Of course, we know that if we would want to enter the metal scene, we would do things differently and be bigger in the metal scene but that’s not our way.”
Guitarist Kie adds: “It’s a lot easier to look in the mirror in the long run. To say ‘ok we did it all and we could express all these things’. Take (Led) Zeppelin, take Queen, take (The) Beatles. Did they have one style of music? No, they did what they wanted in every style.
“Within VHB we can do all the things we want to do, that’s something that keeps us together. If we would be like Iron Maiden and AC/DC kind of thing and only did one thing, we wouldn’t be here anymore.”
Asked by Wyatt if they had to stick to one style, what would it be, Mikko said: “It’s impossible. It’s really about the song and the melody and the mood.
“When we were kids we were listening to Elvis and Aretha Franklin and ABBA so it was very broad what we listened to. The kind of musical landscape in our family house was like that. Then my little brother came in with Anthrax and I started listening to Iron Maiden, Kie listened to Dire Straits. We don’t think in those terms. It puts us in a place where we are odd birds in a way but as Kie just said it’s an ideal about ourselves.
“The whole point of view of the world is to be open to things, like open to different cultures and different kinds of music. There are a few things that we feel… for example rap, I can’t see Von Hertzen Brothers really doing a rap song because it wasn’t in the cereal bowl when we ate it when we were kids.”
Watch the full chat below where Mikko and Kie talk about the challenges of performing an early set and how they tailor their performances to suit the crowd.
PHOTO GALLERY: Friday at Download Festival 2018
PHOTO GALLERY: Saturday at Download Festival 2018