Vanity Beach. Photo Matti Tanskanen.
Based on looks alone, it would be easy to label Vanity Beach as yet another goth band afraid of daylight. However, under the surface lies a modern rock band that knows how to utilize electronic instruments and pop melodies.
“I think the current lineup was finalized when we woke up at an after-party and asked whoever was there to join us,” laughs Vanity Beach vocalist JONAS KARSTEN. The story might be a bit exaggerated, although keyboard player SOPHIE SARISALMI claims that this was indeed the case – at least for her. Whatever the truth, the story says a lot about the attitude of Vanity Beach. Rock on.
Karsten and guitarrist PONTUS NYBERGH formed Vanity Beach in 2002, when they were both 17 years old. They were full of young enthusiasm, and their self-published debut Nights of the New came out a couple of years later. 2006 saw the release of EP Vengeance, after which the band headed to the studio to record their second album along with former The 69 Eyes producer JOHNNY LEE MICHAELS.
The studio session turned into an epic nine-month working spree, during which the band broke up except for Jonas and Pontus. “In the end it turned out to be a good thing,” Karsten says optimistically. “We got rid of the people who weren’t as committed to this project.” The split-up did, however, create a need for the aforementioned after-party recruiting session.
Push it out (yourself)
Vanity Beach has been playing gigs for about a year with their current lineup which also includes bassist JESSE VALO and drummer MIIKKA TIKKA. The reincarnated Vanity Beach has toured Russia, Estonia, Sweden and Germany. Still, the record started in 2006, A Life of Vice, hasn’t been released yet, an inconvenient truth that’s clearly bothering Karsten and Sarisalmi. After all, the album has been more or less ready for about a year.
“We still want to record a couple of new songs. The problem is that we don’t know yet how the album will be released. The offers from Finnish record companies haven’t been too tempting, so we’re probably going to publish it ourselves,” Karsten clarifies. After that, Vanity Beach will head to Los Angeles or Berlin for a couple of months to make new music.
Jonas Karsten acknowledges the progress the band has made over the years. Older recordings don’t match the band’s current sound. “Our older records can be found on the web, and I don’t know if it’s a good thing or not. Although the band still has the same basic concept, we’ve matured a lot. We just sound a lot more sensible,” he sums it up. The new Vanity Beach is more synthetic, more melodic and less aggressive, at least on record.
Photo Matti Tanskanen.
Crossing genre lines
One of their latest tracks, Natalie and the End of the World is a perfect example of this. A lingering and lazily loose-grooving new wave synth pop song isn’t the type of thing you’re used to hearing from a Finnish rock band. Vanity Beach is very atypical of its genre. But which genre is that?
“We’re a rock band, but we use a lot of electronic instruments. Some have labeled us as industrial, but that’s just a simple way to pidgeonhole any bands mixing rock and electronica. Everything starts with a good chorus. An analogue synth sound is also important to us,” Karsten defines.
However, it isn’t misleading that Vanity Beach was the warm-up act for industrial overlord MARILYN MANSON in Helsinki. There have also been talks of collaboration with CHRIS WRENNA, who has played keyboards for Manson and Nine Inch Nails.
Rockers as DJs
Image and looks are essential to Vanity Beach. When you play dark electronic rock, there’s no way you’re getting up on stage wearing colorful nu rave gear. Even though the band’s bassist Jesse Valo is the younger brother of HIM’s VILLE VALO, Vanity Beach won’t become a new HIM – nor The 69 Eyes, to whom they have been compared because of a common producer.
“I think we have absolutely nothing in common with HIM or The 69 Eyes,” Karsten says. Just a few weeks prior to the interview he and his band performed at the Helldone indoor festival, hosted by HIM, and played records at the same party.
Vanity Beach’s members admittedly feel at home in the nightlife, and spinning records isn’t a new thing for Karsten. He and his friend hosted a club called Tartar in Beatroot all through last summer. “We like to play everything, pretty much mixing as a joke. Gary Numan, Prince, The Cure, and maybe some death metal to freshen it up.”
So rock. Or whatever. †
Teksti Teemu Fiilin Kuvat Matti Tanskanen Translation Jyri Paavilainen
Light snow 
