There’s a radio show that i listen to every week and that’s the Rogues Gallery. It’s a prog show, it on Internet radio The Dividing Line, it’s got a great host (hello, Frans!), great music and an excellent bunch of regulars who hang out on the station’s IRC channel during the show. Yeah, it’s an actual interactive multimedia experience. So there!
This morning — the show goes live on Friday mornings Finnish time, Thursday nights US time — i had the great pleasure and privilege of being part of Rogues Gallery by arranging an interview for the show, an interview with Pide of the von Hertzen Brothers. And what a great interview it was! I urge you all who are even remotely interested in The Talented Von Hertzen Brothers to download the latest Gallery or even subscribe to the podcast (also searchable on the iTunes store if you prefer that platform).
The whole story started maybe a month ago, and i’m not sure from what. In any case, i mentioned in the chat that vhb:s new album will be out soon, and that Frans would have to play it. And then that he really should have an interview with them. Well, things turned back and things turned forth and soon i was chasing record label representatives to try and set up a date! This is almost like working for the radio again, and i’m loving it!
The unsung hero in this story, until this point, is Liisa from Dynasty Recordings. Liisa provided both Frans and me with a promo ex of the new album, and me with quite some handling and organizing to set a date for the interview. Turns out that a live interview on Friday morning won’t be as easy as pie. Or peanuts. But we try. Maybe it will be live, maybe it will be recorded. I would love to do the interview myself, face to face, but i know i just don’t have the time to edit it. So the work goes to Frans. He’s the man. I’m helping out from the shadows, and to be fair, i’, quite liking it that way. I’m not sure if i’m ready for prime time after all this time off air. We also decide with Frans that i would help him out thinking of questions to ask whoever brother we get on the line.
And then, for quite some time, nothing.
Of course, not everything always goes like it should. When it finally is clear that Pide (Mikko) von H would be able to talk, there was no answer from Frans. I tried IRC, i tried mail, i tried telepathy, i tried Skype. If i’d had Frans’ phone number, i would have called him in the middle of his night. This was on Wednesday.
Come Thursday, and i still have zero signs of life from the Frans. And then, on (our) Thursday night, Frans flashes up on Skype for a while and tells me he’s mail’s been down. So i mail him again. No response.
In the meantime, i’ve been SMS-ing back and forth with Liisa, telling her that everything will be fine (probably) even though i still haven’t got a greenlight from Frans. Pide is alerted and ready for an interview, but evidently he is still awaiting confirmation from her. At around midnight i get the last message from Liisa: if we aren’t hearing from Frans, we’ll just have to postpone the interview.
Damn. So close. Damn technology.
But lo! Behold! At around three in the/our morning, i get a message! It’s Frans, and he’s going “Crikey! There is no way i can do this!”. Frans feels he is not prepared, and asks if i can chip in somehow. This i read at around five or six in the morning when our bed was invaded by my daughter and her furry dolphin. I was not able to sleep after that.
Liisa has basically told us that the interview is no-go. IF we get no word from Frans. Except… of course, that we did — not just in that order.
Plans go through my mind. I can’t do the interview from work. I’m sitting next to a server (temporarily placed next to my desk nearly a year ago) and it’s making enough noise to mask out any phone conversation. I could sit in the meeting room… except if it’s occupied. And while my employer knows that i’m mentally off-line with regards to work on Friday mornings until ten, it still doesn’t seem like the kosher thing to do. At least not without previous arrangement. And on the company’s phone bill… (which technically i am allowed to misuse — to a certain degree at least — since i pay 20 € of my wages for that privilege each month). But still, i’ve done my questions and Frans have them too as a shared Google document. Everything else failing, i could do it. The show must go on. This is rock and roll and it cannot be stopped.
At about 6:30, i drag myself up and get on the IRC. The Rogues Gallery has already been on for half an hour, so i know i’ll be catching Frans now. And what a relief. Frans has checked through my questions and likes them. He is ready, willing and able to do the interview. I can just sit back and listen.
Which of course i can’t, because Pide hasn’t been checked with.
I arrive early at work. Those lovable kids were really, really quick today. In fact, i’m at work shortly after eight in the morning. I don’t know if that’s happened ever before. At 08:30, i call Pide von Hertzen and politely ask him if he’s okay with an interview. I fill in the man on what the Rogues Gallery is all about, about the international audience, the hang gang on chat, the fact that Frans is only half way up to par about the situation… so that Pide has some context to grab on to. I inform Frans that we are go in each direction. And now i sit back. And enjoy.
What an interview it was. If the von Hertzen brothers play music with a Big Heart, so does Pide in this interview. I am happy as a clam for the forty minute interview + the two follow-up songs. Frans tells me on air how he’s thankful about my part and both he and Pide nearly sing to my glory… and i’m actually blushing behind my keyboard 
After the interview, i call Pide and thank him for his excellent appearance. It truly felt like he enjoyed it. And i call Liisa; “Hi, Robin Laurén here. About the interview… we just did it… and it was great”.
Tags: vonhertzen brothers, vhb, rogues gallery, dividing line, radio, interview
som klarat av med konststycket att locka lyssnare på en bred åldershajdare och även från “andra sidan språkgränsen”. Extrem är en kanal som ger ett bra intryck av oss finlansvenskar till toleranta och intresserade finskspråkiga. Jag har genom åren hört både kommentarer från ett bra och omväxlande musikutbud till att här är en kanal som ambitiöst och ohämmat (åtminstone vad tävlingen gäller) sysslar med journalistik för en ungdomlig publik. Extrem är helt enkelt bra.
