The Botherers
Photo by Salla Keskinen
The Botherers is a four member band from Oulu, Finland. The line-up consists of Roku Rousu (guitar, vocals), Lasse Junnila (Farfisa, synthesizers), Joona Hiltunen (synthesizers, bass) and Masa Kenttälä (drums). They cover a variety of genres: psychedelic surf garage, rootsy power pop and other things from northern Finland.
The upcoming album Urban Schizophrenia deals with the various insanities of living in a city. We go to a noisy café to work on our laptops and at home we require a constant stream of background noise from YouTube or television in order to focus or relax. And we are not the only generation affected. Roku Rousu recalls childhood memories of visiting his grandparents: "Whenever I turned up at their house, both the TV and the radio were turned up to eleven."
Are we addicted to these stimuli and does calming down in a western urban setting mean suppressing your own inner voice with a barrage of outside noise?
