The first chapter
Regardless of the place or time, every time I am in the present of this band and its members, they only amplify the view I have about them. The important, governing element of 15 Minutes Before The Dive is the obvious love and trust between its members. The group dynamics they behold is energetic, easy and happy, and they seem very fortunate to have found such fit people to form a group.
The guys joke around and laugh so hard they have tears in their eyes. The atmosphere is cosy and healthy in every way possible. "This is what we're all about", the vocalist, Frenger says. The only one not present is the drummer, Maikki. This is still the atmosphere among these guys in general, though tonight it probably also has something to do with the fact that they've been in the studio for hours. "We've been recording our album since June and now it's December, so 6 months" the guitarist, J thinks out loud. "It's still not ready", he adds and laughs. "I think we have like 80% done already", the bassist, Madu says and once the other guitarist, Hank snorts sarcastically, he adds: "Optimistically, really optimistically."SUCK THAT, JARED
The guys met each other by touring with their other bands. The idea of forming a band was born between J and Hank at an early morning McDonalds session after having a wild night out. J recalls making a few songs with the two of them plus the drummer, Maikki, before starting to search for a vocalist and a bass player. "We kind of talked if we could ask Madu. He's a really great guy and he's a great guy to party with, but we kind of like hesitated if we could actually ask him to play bass ‘cause he likes
to play guitar, and no one who likes to play guitar, wants to play bass. But Madu was like ‘Hell yeah, I wanna play bass!'" J says. "Yeah, but I have to say; I was probably drunk when you asked me so I was kind of forced to join you", Madu says and the whole gang laughs.
The majority of the band members play in other, pretty known bands in Finland. J was label mates with Frenger but Hank also knew him well so he called him up and asked if he was interested. He thought the line up was great and that he'd definitely want to check the band out if he was good enough.
The first time the new band went to Hank's other band's rehearsal space. They clicked right away and jammed a couple of days; 15 minutes Before The Dive saw the daylight. "We had a really fun time being together and we messed around and joked around so it was pretty like…" "…easy." J continues where Madu left off. Madu says that at first it was more like therapy from some of the member's previous bands. J seems most grateful to have found such great friends even outside the rehearsal space: "Of course we all have known each other mainly from different bands, not outside of those bands but only from gigging with each other. But soon I noticed that shit, these are like my new best friends and they've been ever since."
In the beginning the band didn't have any plans for the project, they just decided to play together and make songs. After a while they realised that they had created something really special; therefore they decided to make a demo recording of the songs. "It went really slowly but steadily ahead", Madu says.
The band makes it very clear that the band name has nothing to do with 30 Seconds To Mars. "And think about it; 15 minutes is way much more than 30 seconds", Madu says and laughs.
The actual origin of the name 15 Minutes Before The Dive lies in a picture J took somewhat 3 years ago. The guys were tossing around with names and ended up keeping the name even though it sounded a bit cheesy to some of the members. "It's a good name because it turns conversations", Frenger says and the rest of the guys agree.THE PANDA PHENOMENON
The guys name the snowballing effect and the positive feedback they got from the internet as the main thing that got the band moving on to a different phase and different goals. "The whole MySpace thing is quite astonishing if I may say so", Frenger says, pauses and continues: "Because people just started to talk about us and then perhaps we felt that maybe we should do something more to the fans or to the
people who like us. That's the reason we did this album." He also adds that they want to leave something that proves this band was and is.
15 Minutes Before The Dive played their first show on April 2008, J thinks it definitely boosted their confidence in this band; the positive feedback also kept the band going. The group suddenly quiets to reminisce the first show. Frenger breaks the silence: "It was stellar…" he says and pauses. "I mean it was really cool for our new band that our first gig was completely sold out. It was really amazing, I think."
Madu says that they had to play the live show to know how things eventually work out: "You can spend time at the rehearsal space for like years but playing one show equals like hundred rehearsals. So it was a really great moment for us."
After the band had been together for a while, some furred pandas started to appear in their stage set, internet layouts, and EP's cover amusing the followers of the band. The band labels it as an old joke, referring to people using excessive amounts of eye liner. "It's a stupid inside joke but it kind of stuck with us", Madu says. "But we made it an outside joke", Frenger adds and laughs. The panda phenomenon snowballed and J tells how after a while some people started to show up to their gigs with some furred pandas and threw them on the stage. "They were stuffed", Frenger clarifies and the groups bursts in to laughter.HEADING FOR THE SECOND CHAPTER
"I don't contribute so much to the writing process of the basic layout of the song. I only do the melodies and then we write the lyrics together", Frenger begins before he's interrupted. "I only do the melodies…" Madu repeats and laughs out loud. The other guys join in the laughter. "He's so modest", Hank laughs. "He only makes those catchy hooks that everyone loves", Madu grins and continues: "The fun thing is that most of us have been really collaborating with our stuff, so basically we really like to write our songs together so they're…" "...co-produced in a way" J continues where Madu left off.
"Each of us has been playing in different bands and some of us are still playing in different recording bands, and the older we get it becomes harder to go to a rehearsal place and just like jam and come up with the songs, but this band has it and that's a rarity to me." The rest of the band agrees. All of the songs have been composed in their jamming sessions. "It's a pretty straight forward and honest way of making music", Madu adds. "The method that we use to compose our songs; maybe that's the largest part of our sound, I think", Frenger says and the guys nod. "Because it comes through so clearly", he completes.
The band will be in the studio for a while now, hoping to get the record finished as soon as possible. After that they're hoping to play some gigs. What the future brings for 15 Minutes Before The Dive, only time will tell. Whatever it is, they're surely ready for it. The guys agree on the fact that they're going to make new songs because the ones they're recording now are at least two years old. "By the time you get this album, we'll be like really fucking tired of these songs", J says and laughs. "Yeah, and it's just an act that we're smiling on the stage, we're really crying inside", Frenger says and the group bursts in to laughter once again.
"We just had to record these songs and move on", Madu says. "So this is like the first chapter."
Text: Joanna Tzortzis.
Photography: Nelly Tatti.