Weak Trees’ debut album Unsuffering is a raw, DIY creation born in a garage-built studio. Blending stoner rock, grunge, and blues, the album captures personal stories, nostalgia, and an unfiltered, authentic sound.
1. Your
debut album Unsuffering is a DIY project recorded in a garage-built studio.
What was the most rewarding and the most challenging part of creating the album
this way?
Most time
consuming entity was to learn almost everything and almost every aspect of
making a record from the scratch. And of course building the garage studio
itself was a huge dreamy trip for us too.
One of the most scary single things was to finally play our tracks for people
outside our safe bubble. Feedback was always pretty good, but of course tiny
voice inside the head says “are they telling the truth?”
Realizing that we can record good enough quality by doing everything on our
own, and finally doing it, track after track has been such a big reward for us!
So many hugs and fist bumps have been happened during this journey!
2. You mentioned that many of the instruments and studio gear were either
homemade or second-hand. Can you share a specific piece of gear that had a
unique impact on the album’s sound?
The whole
garage studio is the biggest “instrument”. With its small playing room and lots
of wood inside the space gives warm and pretty dry character for the tracks.
• Masterhawk, Defender green jazzmaster built by Juuso is such a beauty by its
looks and how it sounds, it can be heard in many “Unsuffering” tracks. It has
maple neck and alder body, all finnish lumber. And the nut is made from mooses
shinbone that was running in nearby forests.
• Orange Tiny Terror is powering “Plank Cabinet” which Juuso built in a rush
night before we had one cover gig many years ago. Fabric in front of the
speaker is ripped from an old sofa. Soon we realized that the fabric wasn’t
acoustically transparent and it was deadening the sound, so there is a hole in
the fabric nowadays.
• Subkick mic is an old 18” Peavey Spider element that our little brother found
from the trash. I found out that you could make subkick mic just by soldering
XLR jack to the other end. It had too powerful signal so it needed attenuator
in between to keep signal level in control, attenuator is set to -30 dB. Sadly
I realised that the Spider element is now having some coil rubbing problems.
• Snare in the album is self made Rågö Dark Birch snare. It was made using
stave technique and some Youtube tutorials. Wood used in the shell is birch
(Betula pendula) that was growing in our parents cottage. It is stained with
dark brown colour and coated with some beeswax. After the album was recorded I
started to educate myself how to tune it and nowadays it sounds much more
powerful and is in much higher tuning, now it spanks!
• Pedalboard itself doesnt change the sound, but it gives so much feeling! It
is also made night before gig, and is made out of heavily decayed wood with the
help of couple long screws. Old bed springs and zip ties are holding pedals in
their place. So, it is heavy, but also portable, it carries like a suitcase,
just drop it and plug it in!
3. Your music blends stoner rock, grunge, psych, blues, and alternative
influences. How did you go about balancing these genres to create a cohesive
sound for Unsuffering?
I am kind
of blind to the albums cohesiveness, too many listens stitching the album
together, maybe. When choosing songs and their order we wanted to have
diversity to make listening to the album a more dynamic and versatile journey.
Genre variation between tracks keeps it more interesting, at least to our
taste.
4. The album is described as a long-timespan diary, with tracks reflecting life events and moods. Can you share a song from the album that holds a particularly strong personal meaning for you?
I think Desolation is the song. Maybe because it is kind of the first chapter of this journey as it tells about beginning of the friendship and adventures that started it all. At the same time it is kind of a sad song as we can realize that nothing in our surroundings is permanent. However, friendship and memories can be permanent, they should be cherished and valued to the highest degree.
5. Songs like "Red Door" and "Desolation" have deep
personal and nostalgic roots. How do you approach storytelling through your
music?
I think
they all get born pretty differently.
• Desolation came about from the fusion of two songs that were combined. Lyrics
from one song, instrumentation from another.
To our surprise the combination turned out to be a compelling presentation of
those magical memories.
• Seed of a Red Door was heard in a dream and chords and harmonies were brought
to real life in the middle of the night, melodies still ringing in the head.
The atmosphere coincidentally met with unpleasant memories from elementary
school, and that’s how the lyrics started to build themselves.
• Most of the time, I quess, it is the melody, drone, or something else that
brings certain emotions and feelings, almost like scents, that guide you to the
suitable story for the context.
6. Finnish nature and the backyard atmosphere seem to play a big role in
your creative process. How does your environment influence your songwriting and
sound?
Complex
question, but on the other hand, maybe it is an easy question. Maybe it is the
simplicity and relieving character of the nature and backyard that fuels
creativity, or kind of resets your brain and relaxes any mental tensions and
allows things to flow naturally. Couple of beers wont do harm either.
We have always cherished simple things, that must also have a big influence to
our songwriting and sound.
7. You
grew up listening to everything from ZZ Top and The Beatles to Nirvana and
stoner rock bands like Kyuss and QOTSA. If you had to pick one artist that
shaped Unsuffering the most, who would it be and why?
Hmmm. Hard to pick one, but maybe it is the Nirvana. The diversity and roughness in their songs is compelling. Especially those demo tapes and their rawness is palpable.
8. The album’s raw and unfiltered approach stands out in an era of polished
production. Was this a deliberate artistic choice, or did it evolve naturally
during the recording process?
I think it
is part of who we are.
Artificiality has never really worked for us. Being in the nature, it opens up
the senses so much more, and everything is so raw and honest, and so beautiful
at the same time.
Of course, the album could sound better if we really knew what we are doing,
but it was also important to finally get the album out.
9. You’ve mentioned that Weak Trees is about playing music you love, without
compromises. If mainstream success were to come your way, how would you
maintain that authenticity?
I wonder
how mainstream can this music be.
Well, maybe we should then consciously spend more time around backyard
campfires, spend more nights in the woods and take more road trips.
It is good that we have maybe 2 more albums worth of “authentic” material to
pick from. So if we lose the authenticity, we still have those songs, lol.
10. You have some upcoming performances, including Kulttuuri Goes Baari and Pelmurock. What can audiences expect from a live Weak Trees show?
Songs from
“Unsuffering”, at least couple, will be played.
But we are also having so much new material on our hands that it will be a hard
pick between those as well!
We try to bring the honest backyard mentality to those performances as well,
playing as laid-back yet tight as we do in our garage studio would be nice to
accomplish in live performances as well!
11. Looking beyond Unsuffering, what’s next for Weak Trees? Do you already
have new material in the works?
New material is on the making and old unreleased songs are being refined and composed. We already have at least two songs picked up for second album single releases.
12. For those discovering Weak Trees for the first time, what’s the best way
to experience Unsuffering—any recommended setting, mood, or activity?
Car is one
of our favourite places to listen music, combine that with some good friends
who also have a good taste of music and keep driving. Well, maybe relaxed
weekend with friends and beer is even better way to experience “Unsuffering”.
Either way, listen it loud!!
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