Groovy murders with Von Auer

Greetings, please introduce yourself to our readers

- We are Von Auer, the greatest (and the only at the time) graveyard punk rock
band singing in finnish from Tampere, Finland. Our line-up is and will be 'til
the final day:

Otto von Auer - lead vocals
Juha Silmämaali - drums
M. Coffin - bass
H.C. Kuivala - guitar

Your band´s name is Von Auer, story behind the name?

- At the beginnig, the band name was Auer
which is rarely used old finnish word
for haze or mist and we tough that it would be a good name for us, adding horror
and finnish language together. Unfortunately,
some other jerks had came out with
the same name here in Finland, so we added Von afterwards
according our lead singer Otto von Auer.

Von Auer is relatively new band, briefly go through the beginning to the
present day.

- I (H.C.) have played in several bands with Otto before Von Auer
(mainly hardcorepunk) and M. Coffin and me used to play Ramones together
(mainly Havana Affair) while getting drunk or whatever.
Von Auer was put together at fall 2003, first
with our friend Läski-Heikki behind the drums.

Along the years 2003 - 2005 we got kicked out several times
from our rehearsal spaces and that really slowed down
our development as a band.
Also it didn't help us at all that our drummer Läski-Heikki
broked his back badly and were
unable to play drums anymore (or so he said...[kapina.org/abduktio]).

At spring 2005 after a long search for new drummer Juha Silmämaali
joined the band.
At fall 2005 we recorded our first EP
"Torkahtaminen voi olla kohtalokasta"
and after that we have done some gigs, mainly at Tampere.
Future is insecure, as always. And of course,
just month ago we got yet again kicked
out from our rehearsal place.

While listening to our EP "Torkahtaminen voi olla kohtalokasta",
I´m picking up influences from Misfits-Samhain to Calabrese, what else has
influenced you?

- I think we are musically influenced by all of those punk and rock bands
which we have listened through the years.
There are too many to list.
Spiritually of course Misfits, Samhain and Danzig
have been the inspiration to start a band
like this.

What do you think about the modern Misfits? IMO the whole merchandise
parade
has just got out of hand.

- Modern Misfits with Graves on vocals was kickass stuff
and Michale is a wonderful singer.
This is the opinion that the whole Von Auer share.
Personally I lost my hope on Jerry and the Misfits when Graves left/get kicked
out of the band...
Also some should remark Dez that he looks more spooky
without his corpsepaint.

Let´s go back to your EP, are you happy with the result?
Are there any things you would do different?

- Yes, there are things that we would do different.
"Torkahtaminen voi olla kohtalokasta"
is a kind of complication of songs
from years 2003 - 2005.
On the album there are songs that are first ones with melody
that we (mainly Otto and I) have composed and
it was first time ever when Otto sang in studio.
So I think we have developed in many ways,
and of course the new songs are so much better.
Also the sound atmosphere of our next record will be less pop and more dark
and punk, like our gigs have been.

What inspires you when you write lyrics? Any special rituals in the
songwriting process?

- I get my influences mainly from movies, books, tv-series
(don't have fervour to start name dropping...you know which ones i mean)
and missheard sentences.
Also the latest ouija board session with the band gave me some bizarre ideas.
For the
"Torkahtaminen voi olla kohtalokasta"
Otto made all the lyrics expect for "Murhagroove",
but after that I have done most of the lyrics. I think that the
essence of Von Auer lyrics will be more cartoonish in the forecoming records.

Next step with Von Auer?

- Get a new place of rehearsal and grow our irc-galleria -community.

Fangs for your time, last howls are yours!

- 138 times thanx for you, virpoen varpoen,

H.C.

for the upcoming horror business,
check out our website and download "Torkahtaminen voi olla kohtalokasta" EP for
free:

http://www.vonauer.com

http://www.myspace.com/vonauer

All pictures by Lassila Juha

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