Lost Society – 27-03-2015

Interview with: Samy Elbanna
By: Nilla Meri

One of the most promising Finnish bands of all, Lost Society had a killer show in Tallinn as a part of Tallinn Music Week. And I had chance to have a very nice conversation with the founder and the frontman of the band Samy Elbanna.

How did you form the band?
Basically, the whole idea of the band started in 2010 when I was in 7th or 8th grade or something and it was just me and my friend said that, “Hey, let’s form a band.” Because we both played something and liked metal music. Basically, we just started playing together and I think it was 2011 summer when the other guys joined. So it was totally different line-up at that time. 2011 we got together and and ever since we played like couple of hundred shows and recorded two albums. I’m pretty happy

Did you know the other guys before?
Noo, I actually met the drummer first since we played in another band together. A glam metal band. I was the singer and he was the drummer. Then I just stole him from there into Lost Society. And then the others joined.

I really enjoy your music videos. They are so sincere in a way and I always feel like, “They are having a great party, I want to be there!” Can you tell me a bit about the process of Lost Society’s videos.
Haha, thank you. For the first two music videos, it was actually from Nuclear Blast. They gave us the ideas. So we did those two like that. And from the second album, for the Terror Hungry music video, it was Iiro the guy who also takes pictures of the band who also filmed the music video. We just said that, “Let’s do something really fucking stupid.” Because we also had a very small budget. So we just filmed it in couple of days and we had such a good time while filming it which was of course the most important.

I suppose there is nothing fake about your music videos. I mean drinking and such…
Oh no, there is nothing fake… Unfortunately.

What about the lyrics? You mainly write the lyrics. How do you get the inspiration?
They are mostly angry lyrics and people are so surprised when they got to know us. Like those lyrics are so angry but we are not like that at all. It is just the music. Basically, we first make the music completely and after that I start making the lyrics. So it goes like that. And when I listen to the music, I think about what it makes me think about. And often it is something angry. But for the third album which is gonna come out at some point, I’m trying to focus on more at the lyrics. It is not gonna be angry bullshit all the time.

So maybe some love and stuff like that…
Well, yeah… We’ll see about that.

For example, Bitch Out’ My Way is a harsh one. “16 years of bullshit and a lot more to come” This words sounds like rising against mother…
It is just the teenage angst. It is our feelings towards society and all the shit that happens. Junior kinda anarchy. And I was 16 when I wrote that song. There is nothing towards moms, we love our mothers!

Clearly, drinking inspires your music a lot. It is obvious in your lyrics and music videos. And I really wonder how much alcohol do you generally consume?
Well, I think it is a bit misconception about us. People always think that when we’re touring we drink everyday and we are fucked up all the time. But it is not really true. Well, when we go out then we really go out! That’s when the party time is on. But of course when it comes to gigs we do everything really professionally. We don’t drink at all before the shows. Never. Music is so important and we don’t wanna fuck it up because of something like alcohol. But, in a regular night we do consume a lot of alcohol

And after the gigs?
Our rider consists couple of wine bottles, beers, booze and stuff and then after that we go to a bar.

And now, you are in the country of cheap booze. Especially after Finland…
Exactly, I’m pretty scared, haha. Last time when we were here it was actually to watch Children of Bodom. They played somewhere in Tallinn and I remember that we came up the boat in to this country and that’s it. Haha, but that was a good show… I think… 

Speaking about COB, I’ve seen your BBQ Party show on the stage with COB guys last year in Tuska. It was amusing. How did you come up with the idea? And do you have any similar plans?
Yeah, we really enjoyed that show. It was couple of weeks before the show that Janne called me and told about this idea of bbq party on the stage and asked if we wanna go and hang around. We really had a good time doing that and after a couple of weeks we did the same in Ruisrock Festival. It was fun. And let’s see what future brings.

You get support from those bigger bands like COB. And you have been touring with some of them as well….
We’ve been super lucky with that thing. Because for most of us Bodom guys are some of our biggest idols. When we had the first show with COB as a support band, we were like “Why did the want us to go with them?” But after the show, they said that they really like our music and stuff. It is so cool getting to know your idols. And also all Stamina guys from Finland are awesome. We hang out with them. They are just so supportive. They took us into the metal scene very easily. They are not looking us like, “You’re fucking kids, go away.” Maybe they can see a lot of themselves in us from when they were young.

What would be Lost Society’s dream line-up?
That’s a hard question. Hmm, I would really like to tour with COB for a longer period. We did two Finland tours but if we could tour around Europe that would be the coolest thing ever. And Santa Cruz. We’d like to tour with them. We’ve done so many gigs with them in Finland and they are like the best guys in the world. And, from the bigger names, I would fucking like to tour with Iron Maiden. It’s my favorite band of all!

Between Fast Loud Death and Terror Hungry albums there is roughly one year. And if you go with the same routine the new album should be coming soon. Is that so?
Yeah, it was pretty fast that we released those two albums. But now for the third one we really wanna take our time and focus on the songs much more to get best possible outcome. This summer we’ll release a single at some point. And I think the new album will be released beginning of next year. We are gonna play some new songs live anyway so people can enjoy them. 

Alright, I wonder about your female fans… As a band you’re young, talented, famous, touring around and so on. There are not many bands like Lost Society in a way…
Haha (Blushes). I’m not sure about famous thing. For the first two years playing live shows we didn’t really see a lot of female fans. It was mostly like guys with long hair. But for the past times we recognized that there are a lot more female fans than we actually thought. We don’t know why but of course we take them in.

Hopefully more of them coming to the show tonight…
Well, at least you are here and that’s cool. Haha.

How would you describe Lost Society to your potential fans? Not necessarily females.
They should really come to see us live. Because it is when we really put it out. Because, it is just four guys who just give everything away on the stage. We love music. It is fast, energetic and happy music! Although we are so angry we are very happy.

Well , I can see that. Do you want to add something else before we finish?
I just want to say thank you to all who kept us up all the way. Without the fans we would be absolutely nothing. And we’re here in Tallinn for the first time. I’m sure it’s gonna be a kickass show and hopefully we return after this one.

Links:
Lost Society Facebook