Beyond Awareness: Modern Metalcore from Finland

Beyond Awareness is a modern metalcore collective from Finland ready to break out into the great big world!  Their latest single Autopilot has been issued via Ranka Kustannus, and its super intensive soundscapes are well worth seeking out.  Posting absolutely phenomenal numbers on Spotify with their previous songs Crime and Burn, Beyond Awareness is sure to appeal to fans of bands such as Bring Me The Horizon and It Prevails.  Highwire Daze recently caught up with bassist Jani Järvinen and drummer Joonas Paahtio – the dynamic rhythm section of Beyond Awareness – to find out a whole lot more about this band headed straight into the stratosphere.  Read on…

We’re here with Beyond Awareness. First of all, introduce yourself and tell me what you do in the band.
Jani Järvinen: Okay. Hello, I’m Jani. I play bass guitar and there might be some musical things here and there in the band, but mostly bass guitar and backing tracks in live gigs and all kinds of that stuff.

Joonas Paahtio:  I play the drums. I’m Joonas. Yeah, I’m actually the dude who keeps the click in line, so to say.

Give me a little background on the band, and how long you guys have been together and where you guys are based out of.
Joonas: So we are from Finland, Tampere and this rendition of the band was formed in 2019 and we decided to just make the best metalcore out there because in the Finnish scene, there isn’t quite a lot of modern metalcore music like I Prevail or Bring Me the Horizon or Wage War or bands like these. We didn’t hear it in Finnish scene, so we decided that it’s time to up the ante, so to say.

But yeah, 2019 was the year we were formed and one EPs later and a few singles later, we got signed to Ranka Kustannus. And at the moment, we are in the middle of making our debut album.

It sounds like you guys started right before the pandemic. What was that experience like starting a band and then boom, we’re in a pandemic?
Jani: Well, I don’t think it affected us as much as the other bands because we were beginning in our career, and we were making songs back then, but I don’t think the Corona time affected too much because we were so focused on making new songs and doing music.

Joonas: Yeah, it kind of gave us some precious time to write some quality music. I know that a lot of bands had challenges with the gigs, but we thought, okay we don’t have the gigs right now, so we have only time to make some quality music some more.  So, it was kind of a blessing in disguise for us.

Jani: Yeah, but there were few gigs, and festival shows that we missed because of Corona but all turned out to be really good.

You have a brand-new song that just came out, Autopilot. Tell me about the song and the inspiration behind it, behind the lyrics.
Jani: Well, if Jere was here, he would be the best one maybe to tell. But, yeah, Jere told us, it’s some kind of taking the control, the lyrical themes and making your own path, that kind of stuff.

Joonas: Yeah. It’s like the autonomy of your own life, like take control of your own decisions, your own actions. Don’t just do what the societal norms tell you to do, do the things that you want to do, and which are your passion. So those kinds of things are to be found in the text.

And of course, the chorus and the song is quite different from our earlier stuff. It’s kind of more like in-your-face and more uplifting so to say than our previous singles, so it’s a bit different from our usual stuff but you can still find the BA sound in that song also.

Let’s talk about your hit single Crime…
Joonas: Crime, it’s our most streamed song and many regard it as the catchiest and maybe even the best song up to date from our catalog and of course, the song changed the trajectory of this band. It became a huge banger shortly after it was released, and I really like the song. It’s really simple. It’s only three minutes but it consists of a really catchy chorus and a bit of a breakdown and of course the sentimental verse sections. It’s just a so well put-together song, so we are quite proud of that also and of course the themes, they’re so relatable and that’s why I think it become quite successful.

Jani: I think that we all can relate to those lyrics, each one of us, we all have those kinds of experiences. What we sing in the song and say in the song, it kind of tells all of our story and feelings and all kind of that stuff. It’s really good.

Now, your song Crime has two and a half million streams on Spotify and Burn is zeroing on a million streams right now. What do those numbers mean to you? Those are fantastic.
Jani: Yeah. Those are really crazy numbers. Two million streams. It’s crazy. We can’t even imagine we could get those kinds of numbers but here we are somehow. It’s really amazing.

Joonas: Yeah. It’s hard to fathom one million, but two and a half million and going up, so it’s unbelievable. It’s unbelievable.

Well, congratulations on that. That’s absolutely amazing.  So, what could one expect from a live Beyond Awareness show?
Joonas: Live shows. Well, we have a few live shows coming up and what can we say about those? It’s been quite a while since our last live show, so it’s quite hard to say what people can expect. Great songs of course and great energy and great night all together. I think once we wrap these next few singles, we are going to focus more on the live side of things and hone it to perfection.

Jani: There is going to be some new things in all of the areas of the live show, but you have to wait until those live shows.

Has Beyond Awareness ever been here to the States to play some shows or is that something you would like to do?
Joonas: We have not yet been to the States, but we would of course want to be there. Primarily, the hit single Crime has been streaming in the States quite well so I think we would have a warm welcome and a profound audience all across the States, so I can’t wait. I can’t wait because the modern metalcore scene in the States is very alive and well, so I think there would be a warm welcome for Beyond Awareness as well.

If Beyond Awareness could open for any band either now or from the past, who would it be and why? And you both may have different answers.
Jani: If I have to pick one, it would probably be Falling in Reverse. That is really a big band right now and a really good one, so maybe that one.

Joonas: I totally agree that some more contemporary metal band would be a great opportunity, and a great dream come true, but I still think that the metal giants are the thing. Metallica was in Finland a few months ago and Ice Nine Kills were the warm-up band, so if Ice Nine Kills can warm up Metallica, I think Beyond Awareness can warm up Metallica too.

How close are you guys to releasing an EP or a full-length album and what could we expect from that?
Joonas: We just are finishing three new singles, and I think we might have a full-length coming out next year, but we can’t say the date exactly, but the singles which we have are going to be some of the best work up to the standard which Crime has set. I think this will surpass it.

Jani: If you like Crime and also the other songs, you’re going to love the rest of the songs from the album. It’s going to be really good.

Prior to Beyond Awareness, what other bands or projects have you been involved with?
Jani: I didn’t have any real bands, maybe jamming with friends and also with Joonas back in the days when we were young but yeah, Beyond Awareness was my first real band.

Joonas: Before Beyond Awareness, I had this technical death metal band, but it didn’t give me much, so I didn’t want to play demanding music, so to say. It’s hard to relax if you’re playing that kind of music. Of course, I’ve done some session work and live work for other bands, totally different genres but at the moment my musical focuses are only for Beyond Awareness, so I have no other plans for any other bands.

Do you have any messages for your metalcore fans out here in the States who are reading this now?
Jani: Well, thank you to all of those, probably millions who have listened to our songs. There are a lot of people who listen to our music in the States, probably in Canada too, but one day we will get to meet you everyone.

Joonas: Yeah, I agree. It’s true that it’s quite hard to find your place if you’re from Europe or from Finland to the States, to tour there and gather some name for yourself but I think we have already done some of that. And we are so grateful that the fans from the States have found us and have supported us and told us how much, for example, Crime means to them. Because the lyrics are quite relatable so it’s always nice to hear those kinds of comments.  We will meet you and we will have fun at the gigs.

(Interview by Ken Morton)

Line-up:
Jere Tarkkanen – Vocals
Miika Huhtala – Guitar
Jani Järvinen – Bass
Joonas Paahtio – Drums

Beyond Awareness on Instagram