A week before the release of their new album Weirdo, singer Lauri Ylönen and new guitarist Emppu Suhonen made a quick stop in Paris to promote this bold new chapter in The Rasmus’ career. They sat down with us for an open-hearted conversation, balancing intimate confessions, spontaneous humor, and exclusive stories.
From the shadows and light that run through the record, to their “weirdo” philosophy, unexpected collaborations, and the unbreakable bond with their fans, the duo offered a glimpse into the band’s world in 2025. Thirty years on from their beginnings in Helsinki, the Finnish rockers continue to evolve without ever losing their identity, proving that even in the darkest moments, there’s always a spark.
Hi guys, how are you?
Lauri Ylönen (vocals): Good!
Emilia “Emppu” Suhonen (guitar): Fine, thank you.
How do you feel just a few days before the release of Weirdo. Excited?
Emppu: Yeah, we’re super excited to release the album next week and start the tour next week. This is a special album for me, especially because it’s the first one.
The album is called Weirdo. After more than 30 years, what do you think still makes The Rasmus “weird“?
Lauri: I think it’s just the way we look at life and look at ourselves. How we have always been a little bit weird in our own way, like when it comes to looks, but also not really adapting to the society in that sense that we never had a real job, so to speak.
Trying to survive as a musician, and it’s not always been easy for us. Many times we’ve been at the edge of quitting, and the last time was four years ago, just before Emppu joined the band, the guitarist and us, we had some difficulties and he ended up leaving. There was just COVID before that, and I think that had also an effect on the situation, or maybe it just brought up the issues into the daylight, and we were considering stopping and quitting the band. But then we found Emppu.
Emppu: Yeah. I didn’t know anything about their issues or problems, I just came to play. (laughs)
Lauri: Yeah, in fact we asked Emppu for the audition, telling her we are looking for another, like a tour guitarist, like a second guitar.
Emppu: It was kind of a lie. It was a lie, yeah. Well, not kind, but it was a lie. But it actually made it easier for me, because I thought it’s not that big of a deal to be a tour guitarist, but then I came to the rehearsal place and there was no other one.
Lauri: There was no guitarist. (laughs)
Emppu: I was like, ‘wait a minute‘. (laughs)
Lauri: Well, he couldn’t come. (laughs) And then we asked her to play a couple of songs.
And how was your reaction?
Emppu: As I said, it was easier to say yes to the whole audition and the idea, because I didn’t have to picture me being a full member at first. But then, when we were playing in the rehearsal place, it felt so natural. It almost felt like I had been playing in this band for a long time. It felt like home, kind of. We have a similar background and history in music and in personal lives as well. So when they asked me to be a real member, it felt kind of easy to say yes. It felt very natural.
On the title track, you sing “I’m just a weirdo, I’d never be a hero.” It feels like an anthem, maybe even a bridge between your old emo fans and the new generation. Did you write it with that idea of connecting people?
Lauri: I think that kind of message has been, that kind of thought has been in The Rasmus from the very beginning, since we started. What I’m saying there is that I’ll never be a hero, but there are so many different types of heroes you can be.
I don’t think I would ever be this brave soldier guy. I don’t have that in me, but I can do other things. I can play a great concert, like we just played in Ukraine, this charity concert a couple of weeks ago. It was very heroic to be on stage, bringing good vibes for the crowd in the middle of a crisis. We also could donate all the money we made to the children’s hospital.
Emppu: And there are so many different kinds of heroes in the world. Not only the visible, obvious ones, but in different levels and in people’s personal lives.
Lauri: Yeah, some are not so recognizable. Some are more quiet and heroes.
Yeah like nurses.
Emppu: Yeah, exactly.
Lauri: Like everyday life heroes.
The album as a whole feels pretty dark lyrically – lines like for example “Every night reminds me that in the end I’m not enough” (“You Want It All”), or “I’ve been a loser since the day you lit the fuse” (“Love Is A Bitch”). Lauri, are you okay? (laughs)
Lauri: (laughs) Well, honestly…
In what state of mind were you when you wrote these songs?
Lauri: Sometimes I’m not okay. I have very dark moments. And, you know, I’m mostly a very light and fun and happy person. But I also have a very dark side of me. And sometimes I have to, you know, treat it and really be worried about it. But mostly, if the band is doing great, like now, we are having an incredible feeling in the band. We’re going somewhere. We have visions of the future. That helps me mentally. That kind of keeps me on track and happy. I feel like there’s a meaning why should I keep doing this.
Emppu: The darkness is kind of one of the core elements of this band. It has always been in The Rasmus‘ DNA, as you said. Some of those darker things. And then some lighter, softer things. I think it’s a combination of light and dark.
Yeah, there’s a balance.
Lauri: It’s been a long career. So we’ve had these moments when we go really low and almost quit the band. And then we just somehow get up again. Rise to the top. And then we come down. It’s almost like the seasons.
You get the short summer, but then comes the long winter. And then you just have to survive through the winter. And then you finally get the… It gives rhythm to your life. You can’t always be sunny and happy. Because you wouldn’t appreciate it. I have been living in Hawaii and Miami and Los Angeles for the last 10-11 years. And I really miss the seasons in Finland. Because the weather is always the same. Always sunshine, 21 degrees. Always, every day. And then I was born and raised in Finland, so I’m used to that. It’s in my genes. And now I moved back.
And I moved back to Finland this summer. So I’m really happy to experience that again. I can feel that the autumn is coming. This is amazing. I can see the trees turning to red. And all the changes in the nature. It’s fantastic. But it’s the same as in this band’s long history. You have ups and downs.Those are all important and necessary to go through.
So you feel more like a therapy when you’re writing these songs.
Lauri: Well, sure. Sometimes it’s hard to put things in words or say things to people.
Emppu: Music is the best kind of therapy.
Lauri: Yeah, it is the best.
Emppu: Cheap! (laughs)
Lauri: Some songs are getting really personal on this album. There’s a song I wrote for my son, my teenager son. It’s about being a parent. Maybe not the perfect parent. It’s about maybe a confession to him. I want to tell him these things. But it’s not very easy to start that conversation ‘Listen, son. I don’t know how to say this’. I just wrote this song. And I had all the time to make it right. Say everything I wanted to say. And then I played him the song. He was the first to hear it.
And how was his reaction?
Lauri: He was just like, ‘Okay’. (laughs) I said, before he said anything, I said, you don’t have to say anything. I told him, because I don’t want him to, well… The second verse was tricky. I just told him, I just wanted to play you this song. And now it’s done. And I don’t want him to… It feels uncomfortable. It’s a lot. Someone writes you a song. It’s really a very big gift. Or maybe not. But something to receive. A song from somebody.
And this is a gift he will have forever.
Lauri: I hope so. I was trying to explain how I’ve tried to be a good father. But also, I’ve had to go and work and live my life in a different country. And be away from him. It’s not easy. Nobody is perfect. But still, I’m in a very good contact with him. He’s doing great.
On this record you’ve got two collaborations – Niko from Blind Channel on “Break These Chains” and Lee from The Funeral Portrait on “Weirdo”. And then on “Banksy” you even share vocals with Emppu, which is quite new for The Rasmus.
Lauri: Yeah, it’s great. Emppu has a great voice. And she’s a good singer. Also on a live concert, she’s singing some parts. We have this song called “October And April” from 2005 with Nightwish ex-singer (ed. Anette Olzon). Emppu is singing that song. It’s a great advantage to have you a microphone in front of you.
Emppu: As I said before, it’s very natural for me. It’s nice to get to also sing.
Lauri: Yeah, and on “Love Is A Bitch”, that song got so much better with the answering part. She started to do the chorus part. That was improvised in the very last day in the studio.
Emppu: Yeah, it wasn’t planned like that.
Lauri: No, like, ‘Hey, why don’t we try it? Emppu do the same thing as louder but just answer‘. And it’s like, wow, this is cool. And we started to like the song more and it actually ended up on the album.
But we have collaborations too. Yeah, Nico is a friend. Finland scene, you know. Everybody knows each other. And so we just call and like Hhey, please, would you like to hear this song?‘ And he enjoyed the song a lot.
Emppu: Such a great vocalist as well.
Lauri: Yeah, he’s amazing. Nice guy. And then Lee Jennings from The Funeral Portrait is our new American French band. We supported them in May for five weeks, one month in America.
Emppu: And they’re coming to support us on this tour. So that collaboration is also very like smooth and natural.
Lauri: Yeah, also like I felt like a connection with him very fast, like somehow he’s a similar mind as we are. And they even had a song called “Stay Weird” which is almost the same idea in the lyrics. And I didn’t know about this. So it was really a good match.
Perfect match.
Emppu: Yeah, perfect.
The bridge of “Dead Ringer” even has this rap-slam moment – really original for you. Where did that idea come from?
Lauri: Actually I’ve done this rap part a lot more like in the beginning of our career like the first three albums. Every second song was kind of rapping or kind of like very fast singing at least.
Emppu: So getting back to the roots.
Lauri: Yeah, kind of.
Emppu: But it’s a like fun part in that song. I think it’s good what you did. It’s a different vibe.
Do you enjoy pushing yourselves into things fans wouldn’t expect?
Lauri: I think we have always surprised our fans with each album we’ve ever put out. Like somehow…
Emppu: But that’s not the point why we do stuff too.
Lauri: No, it’s not like we want to pull the carpet. But it’s just we do it for ourselves honestly. We have to be selfish and kind of love what we’re doing so much that if we want to do whatever type of song or production there’s always a reason for it. We just don’t do it as a mistake. We really carefully think about everything we do. And it’s like we want to explore maybe sometime we made an album that was more electronic like Dark Matters for example. We spent a lot of time with synthesizers and coding and stuff like that. And now I don’t feel like that anymore. I mean I actually felt like when Emppu joined us like ‘Hey, let’s do a rock album, let’s put a lot of guitars in it and like a good old you know‘. And again it started to feel fresh. But you can’t always repeat the same. I think that’s one of the reasons why this band is so interesting for the fans.
Emppu: And even though they would be surprised or even like disappointed or whatever with the changes throughout every album or phase or whatever. I think they appreciate it because you can’t repeat the same thing like over and over again. That would be boring.
Lauri: I think for many fans they, especially the ones who follow us very closely, they already know us and they know that. There’s something like oh they are just saying like: ‘Oh are you going to change the logo again? Because I’m thinking of taking this tattoo‘. (laughs) That’s what I heard last time here in Mexico. It’s like oh, well.
Emppu: Let’s see.
Let’s talk about the track “Banksy” again, which is clearly inspired by the artist of the same name. What about his work spoke to you so much that it became a song?
Emppu: We have been seeing a lot of Banksy works on our tours because we’ve been touring in the cities that he has actually done all the original pieces and they are as well as they are cool street art but also very political and they have interesting points and things that are inspiring in many levels. But also the song is not very serious. It’s more like this punkish party song. But I love the references that you make on the lyrics.
Lauri: Yeah. We put some like the one with the girl with the balloon and then there’s the rain inside the umbrella which is one of my personal favorites of him. It’s just like I don’t really know what he meant with that. I haven’t read what’s the real meaning but it just gives me so many ideas like when I see the pictures like it’s a beautiful image.
Emppu: I went to this big Banksy exhibition in Tallinn, Estonia and there were some like explanations behind some of his artwork but I can’t remember exactly.
Lauri: But always with art I mean you don’t have to know the real idea. If it just gives you any vibe like ideas or thoughts that’s the way it should be.
Do you see a connection between his outsider art and the “weirdo” identity you celebrate?
Emppu: It’s definitely the same, like same origin because there’s a lot of similarities in that like as you said being an outsider of some like masses or trying to like find your own way as he does as well.
Lauri: Yeah it’s very close to our thinking. Also I have little graffiti background like before I joined the band I was doing some tags and also like painting graffiti but then I actually I got caught too, yeah I was arrested.
Emppu: Oh really? I didn’t know. So you have this like criminal record. (laughs)
Lauri (laughs): I was underage but anyway it’s like then the band started to happen and I was actually in a quite rough like a friend circle those guys they were like doing crazy stuff. And even when I was with them they were like saying ‘Oh we’re thinking of robbing that shop‘ and like doing stuff like that and I was like bye! (laughs) So maybe the band saved me from that. But yeah, thanks.
And then you end with “I’m Coming For You”, which is way more positive, with those uplifting “oh-oh” parts. Was it important for you to close the album on a hopeful note, like going from darkness to light?
Lauri: I think always carefully pick the last song of the album, the last song of the live set what leaves you there certain feeling after hearing the thing so I think that kind of a song it’s really hard to place anywhere except the end.
Emppu: Yeah that’s the only right place for a song like that.
Lauri: After that everything would feel like “Banksy” would feel like: ‘Oh no‘. So we carefully think about the song and the tracklist.
Emppu: And that song has positive sadness in it and it’s an important thing of this band.
Because at first at the beginning of the record it was a bit dark and then you see the light at the end of the day.
Emppu: Yeah. Always light and dark.
Your fans from the 2000 years have grown up with you. Do you think about that generational journey when writing new songs?
Emppu: I don’t think you can think about so many things when you are writing. You just have to write whatever feels good for you at the moment. If you think too broadly or too many then you lose yourself and you lose emotion.
Lauri: …when you start writing songs.
But I think before we got into this album I was thinking a lot. I was seeing signs of bands like My Chemical Romance coming back. Papa Roach, Linkin Park. There’s like stuff that happened beginning of 2000. And you see that wave sort of comes back again and then also new bands that are great like Bad Omens and Falling In Reverse. New interesting things that sort of fall in that category but are just new.
I was really excited following the music scene. It made me really happy because there’s been so long time that the rock was not in the spotlight. Now it’s again like Billboard number one. Sleep Token. That’s so great. I think in that way we think about our fans in a bigger picture.
The fans are so important part of the band. Nowadays consider that the fans are part of the band in a way. They keep things rolling and in a concert for example we’re all there equally participating the concert and making that thing what it is. We need them to make it perfect. And so I think when we released the title Weirdo so many fans were like ‘Oh God!‘ by just seeing the word. ‘Is this the new album title? Me too, I’m a weirdo. I’ve always been in life. Thank you guys‘. They got it right away. We don’t have to explain anything.
Emppu: Just with a word.
Lauri: They just like: ‘Okay‘.
Emppu: That’s so nice.
Lauri: I think a lot of our fans can identify and maybe that idea obviously it’s from our point of view but also it’s been enhanced by seeing the fans and like we do a lot of meet and greets, we do a lot of signing sessions. We try to be close to our fans, hear their stories. I think we’re quite easily approachable like we are quite kind people. People feel like they come and talk to us a lot.
Emppu: And they want to tell about their life experiences where the music has helped them and saved their lives.
Do you notice differences between older fans and the younger ones discovering you now?
Lauri: We’ve noticed since we get all kinds of data now that we have many younger people discovering our band which is a really awesome thing and especially now with the newer songs with these 4 or 5 songs that we’ve put out something has happened and we’ve almost doubled our Spotify for example, more than doubled from something less than 2 million like more than 4 million now. So it’s like there’s something happening and it’s great that this music is resonating in the younger generation too. It’s been a very long career for us. I think we’re still as passionate about it especially now when there’s balance in the band we are happy being here. It’s like a good starting point for anything. And you know having that need to still learn more and I think we always felt like we’re not complete we’re not near perfect. Always like something going somewhere and that feeling is good.
You recently signed with Better Noise Music. How does it feel to join that family?
Lauri: It feels great. It’s very flattering that they showed their interest and signed a deal with us. Also they’re very good in America like they’re based there so America is kind of the last piece of the puzzle we’re missing because we never had real tours there so hopefully we get something happening. We just played a tour.
Emppu: 5-6 weeks in US and Canada.
Lauri: We played some of our own headline shows too and those were just freaking powerful. People were like, ‘Oh my god! I told my husband 20 years ago when The Rasmus comes, I’m going no matter what. We’ve been waiting for 20 years‘.
Emppu: Yeah, we were surprised to see so many very dedicated fans in cities that we’ve never played before. It was crazy. Super cool.
If you look ten years ahead, how would you like people to talk about Weirdo compared to your other albums?
Lauri: That’s a nice question. Maybe I hope that the message of Weirdo which is embracing the fact that we should just celebrate being our true selves and weird selves and like unique selves. I hope that someone who maybe is now a teenager will hear this and take it in their hearts and then get some strength and hope out of that and feel better and stronger and maybe in 10 years they’re like, ‘I’m proud that I was always myself. I didn’t change myself because society or the surroundings were suggesting me to do so‘. So I hope that the message goes through.
Emppu: Yeah, it’s a beautiful message because there are so many people, young people, old people, people all over the world who are struggling at the moment like really struggling to be themselves or feeling the pressure from outside to change or to fit in a certain group or whatever.
Lauri: I think for young people it’s a lot about their looks. I have to say I was the same when I was younger I was like, ‘Oh I have this small nose and I’m so short‘, I could always find something about myself that I wasn’t happy about and then later in life I realized that it meant nothing really, but it’s hard to see when you are kind of so young and your life has just begun it’s almost like a survival you try to fight for your place and find your life and find yourself so it’s not easy, I’m not saying that.
Emppu: Maybe we can give so strength.
Lauri: Yeah. Maybe we can give an example of how to still make a difference.
And how would you like to look back on it yourself?
Emppu: I think we can still after 10 years recognize the turning point or starting of a new era I think so.
Lauri: Yes, I think it’s always as time passes it’s easier to analyze your own music and songs and everything right now of course we feel like, ‘Oh this is the best shit we’ve ever done‘ you know like always that every time we write a song we’re like, ‘Oh my god this is my best song‘ and then time goes by and then you can really say what it is. So I enjoy looking back at our career like now it’s been 30 years of music, 11 albums, a couple of hundred songs and now you can sort of see like oh there’s been a red line through all this and like things start to make sense. It’s almost like one long story like ‘Oh something I said here 25 years ago‘ now it’s like it’s completed here like a puzzle. But it’s still far from being complete, we still have couple of more decades please!
More to come!
Lauri: Oh yeah, we have a lot to come.
To finish, our website is called RockUrLife, so, what rocks your life guys?
Emppu: That’s a beautiful question and I won’t say music. I’m gonna say animal rights.
Lauri: I’m gonna say chocolate! (laughs)
Oh, because last time you said ‘to live each day different‘.
Lauri: Oh god, that was deep! (laughs) Now I feel a bit different. So just one answer: chocolate!
So thank you!
Emppu: Thank you very much.
Lauri: Thank you very much, nice questions.
Website: therasmus.com
