Interview with Jyrki69 (vocals) from The 69 Cats
It’s been a year now, since I did my first “Lockdown Interview” with PARADISE LOST and when I got my hands on got THE 69 CATS up and coming release ‘Seven Years Itch’ I wanted to know a bit more about the album, that was recorded before everything came to a full stop. Jyrki69 gave me the chance to ask him a few questions about the album, the writing process and how it feels to promote and release an album during a time where nothing can be taken for granted.
Reflections of Darkness [RoD]: First of all thanks for making the interview possible. How does it feel to promote an album during a time where the whole planet came to a standstill, without speaking to your interview partners face to face and seeing their reaction?
Jyrki69: I feel like I’ve done my share of interviews to be honest, I’m not sure if I have nothing to say anymore except I love Rock’n’Roll and want to make people rock.so, this is totally cool!
RoD: When did you start writing the songs and how was the road until the album was finished? Any challenges?
Jyrki69: We started talking with Danny that maybe we should do another 69 CATS album after all these years. This time it should be own songs. Danny had a bunch of songs ready pretty fast and then we had an album worth of songs. Cleopatra Records had some suggestions as well and then we just hooked up with Kim for bass and Rat for drums. I visited Austin in January 2020 and recorded my vocals there and Danny finished mixing the album by the summer 2020. It was very smooth really, we felt that all the gods were on our side. I think we will record another album sooner, seems like people are very excited about THE 69 CATS!
RoD: ‘Hollywood’s Bleeding’, ‘Let’s Go Psycho’ and ‘Teddy Boy Boogie’ are all fantastic cover songs. Where did you draw inspiration from, when you wrote your own material?
Jyrki69: Thank you! Danny had the songs; he wrote some lyrics and I wrote some. For instance, Danny had a really cool ghost storyline for ‘Graveyard Blues’ and I turned that story into the lyrics. The album is just weird, a bit of sick collection of dark but rocking songs. Even those cover tracks feel like our own, at least sound like that and their lyrics totally fit.
RoD: ‘Hell of The Mountain King’ is obviously based on a ‘Hall of The Mountain King’ theme and there are many covers of all kind of Metal. Who got the idea to make it the instrumental piece on this Rock’n’Roll based album?
Jyrki69: Since Danny B. Harvey is considered as a rockabilly guitar legend, there always should an instrumental or two on THE 69 CATS album. He really is the best there is, just ask from Brian Setzer!
RoD: ‘Seven Years Itch’ has more aspects of Psychobilly and Gothabilly than your previous release, is this a coincidence or did you want to develop the band further to these genres?
Jyrki69: Absolutely and Kim brings modern psychobilly sound with his bass too. I think we should go into the 60s Garage Punk sound next!
RoD: Could you give us a short summary about every song (1-2 sentences)?
Jyrki69: Sure!
01. ‘She’s Hot’: Old school simple Rock song with the best riff in town! You can really hear all the musicians on it and their recognizable sounds. Real music and real instruments and rockers in action!
02. Hollywood’s Bleeding: Post Malone is a new cool Rockstar. This is my favourite of his. We just wanted to make the song rock. The lyrics are incredible and so true.
03. ‘(You’re) The Kind Of Girl I Need’: This is my favourite song on the album. Danny wrote this, it brings me a summer and a romance!
04. ‘Good Time To Die’: This is a kind of Tarantino movie theme song. I love Danny’s title; I wrote lyrics from my life.
05. ‘Graveyard Blues’: A ghost love story in a bluesy Rock song. A perfect song to play in a late-night bar for a handful of people…
06. ‘Hey World feat. Sky Saxon’: I’m a huge fan of THE SEEDS and SKY SUNLIGHT SAXON. Danny had recorded an album with him and this song was still unfinished, so we teamed up with his ghost!
07. ‘(Let’s Go) Psycho’: This is a Danny B. Harvey original but recorded with a female singer earlier. This is psychobilly! It came out as the third single and people seem to love it!
08. ‘Vampire Shuffle’: Vampire Lestat rockabilly!
09. ‘Teddy Boy Boogie’: We used to play this Crazy Cavan and The Rhythm Rockers classic on our live set. I wanted to record it and quite recently Mr. Cavan Grogan, the original singer, unfortunately passed away, so this is our tribute the KING OF TEDDY BOYS.
10. ‘The Hell Of The Mountain King’: Danny B. Harvey is a rockabilly guitar legend - listen to him in action!
11. ‘I’m Evil’: Danny wrote these cool lyrics; I can’t wait to play this alive!
12. ‘It Ain’t Enough’ feat. Larry Wallis: Unfortunately, Mr. Larry Wallis (MOTÖRHEAD etc.) passed away as well recently. Our record company suggested us to make this tribute for him.
RoD: What would you people want to say about ‘Seven Years Itch’ in about 20 years?
Jyrki69: That they will talk about this album instead of Corona times!
RoD: Do you have any plans for a tour in Europe?
Jyrki69: Absolutely! We will tour again.
RoD: Your favourite song on the new album?
Jyrki69: I love ‘(You’re) The Kind Of Girl I Need’. But in general, the whole album is just rocking like no other record for a long time!
RoD: A question you always wanted to answer, but no one ever asked?
Jyrki69: What kind of girl I need?
RoD: Any Message for the fans?
Jyrki69: Thank you for sticking around talking about THE 69 CATS and asking for more music from us. Now you’ll get it! Thank you for believing!
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