Santa Cruz is a band that is making a lot of waves in the hard rock/metal world right now and rightfully so. With their catchy, melodic, and downright infectious songs, Santa Cruz is this generations answer glam metal and they do it right. While wearing their influences such as Hanoi Rocks, Guns N’ Roses, and Skid Row on their sleeves, Santa Cruz still manages to infuse a modern sound to keep it all from sounding dated or sounding like a throwback band.
I recently had the chance to talk with lead guitarist Joonas “Johnny” Parkkonen from his home in Finland. We spoke about the origins of Santa Cruz, what it was like playing the US for the first time, just why he loves Deep Purple so fucking much. Johnny was an absolute blast to talk to and I really enjoyed getting to know him and more about his awesome band, Santa Cruz. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did!
Thanks for taking the time out to talk today, Johnny. How are ya today?
Hey, man. No problem. I’m good. I’ve been very busy!
=======================================
So where are you at as we speak?
Right now I’m at my home in Finland. I just got back from the studio where I did some demos with another band mixing their demos.
=======================================
Oh, that’s cool. I thought for some reason you were in the States and was like, “Why the fuck is this guy doing interviews at 9am?”
[laughs] It’s like 4:30 in the afternoon here [laughs].
=======================================
Santa Cruz isn’t really that new of a band but you guys are a new band for me and maybe a lot of my readers. How would you describe Santa Cruz to someone who hasn’t heard you before?
How many words can I use? [laughs] I’d say it’s just pure fucking adrenaline hard rock with catchy songs and a great live show. We give 110% always when we play live so you should totally come and see us when we’re in the US in May.
=======================================
The thing about Santa Cruz that really appealed to me was that you guys really channeled that kind of classic, heavier glam yet you managed to put a modern twist on it. What would you say are some of the influences behind the Santa Cruz sound?
I think it’s really just a combination of what we’ve been listening to. When we started the band, we listened to a lot of Guns N’ Roses, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi; those kind of bands and we tried to be those guys. As we’ve grown, we listened to much more music and more genres of music. From there, the sound became what it is now. It’s a combination of those. Everybody in our band listens to different kinds of music. Our bassist listens to a lot of punk and we all listen to everything from classical to jazz to as metal as you can be [laughs]. We get our ideas and influences from everywhere. We wanted to try something new with the 2nd album because we don’t want to be a throwback band. We want to be something modern and something fresh but still kicking ass and not being pop.
=======================================
It’s really best to not pigeon hole yourself and emulate one band when you can pull from so many different influences.
Yes. I think there are so many bands out there that try to be like Motley Crue or Guns N’ Roses but we wanted to do something totally different and go somewhere else with it.
=======================================
What’s the story behind the 4 symbols on the album cover?
It was actually Archie’s (Arttu Kuosmanen; guitar/vocals) idea to have those symbols. I drew a couple of them myself and the other two were already symbols. The first one is a hexagram, the second is the chaos symbol, the third one is one I drew to make it to say “Santa Cruz”, and the fourth one is the reverse all seeing eye. Really, there is no story behind them. We just thought they looked cool [laughs].
=======================================
I figured there was some dark mystical thing behind the symbols or something.
[laughs] Actually, this one girl at one of our shows came to us saying, “You cannot put those symbols on your CD. It’s devil! Don’t do that.” It was like she studied magic at Hogwarts or something [laughs].
=======================================
Ok, I haven’t heard the story so I have to ask about the name. Why did a bunch of Finnish dudes call themselves Santa Cruz?
[laughs] When we met with Archie in 2007 and formed a band, he was like, “Why don’t we call the band Santa Cruz?” and we were like, “Ok.” [laughs] He actually found the name on the globe. He just put his finger on the globe somewhere and it landed on Santa Cruz. It sounded cool and sounded like a band name a crowd could chant. It’s a pretty good band name I think. We read that there are 36 cities all over the world named Santa Cruz. We would love to make a tour where we played all 36 Santa Cruzes. That tour shirt would look awesome [laughs].
So many modern metal bands have so many angry songs. Young people like those angry songs because they feel the same way but you can turn it around and have some fun if you want. I mean, we have some kind of dark lyrics but it’s not so angry. It’s a different kind of anger I guess. Kind of like a party angry. Like Andrew WK [laughs]. Listening to music and life should be fun.
=======================================
Having never seen Santa Cruz live, what can I expect from a live show?
Oh man, you have to come see us [laughs]. It’s pure fucking energy. We do everything we can. We are a live band definitely and we love to play live.
=======================================
You guys recently played two shows here in the states? Was this your first time here and if so, how was it for you?
In Finland, people don’t show that they like the music. They just stand around [laughs]. In the UK, in Germany and in the States everybody went nuts especially when we played Webster Hall in New York. It was insane. There were like 400 people and they were totally mental. They sang all the lyrics and we were like, “What the fuck is going on? We’ve never been here.” [laughs]
=======================================
What is your favorite American food to indulge in while here?
Mac and Cheese [laughs]. It’s the best! We went to this place in New York that was like a barbecue place where you got to choose your own steak. I was like, “What the fuck, man?” [laughs] They were huge. Like you could get huge fucking steak [laughs].
=======================================
I’ve read a lot of press on you guys and you get pinned as a “glam” band quite a bit. Are you ok with that?
Yeah. I mean, if they want to see us as a glam band, I don’t care. If they want to see us as a pop band, I don’t care. Hell, if they want to see us as a black metal band I don’t care [laughs]. Just as long as they come out and see the shows. I think most of the glam comments come from how we look. We don’t look like a metalcore band [laughs].
=======================================
Who would’ve thought that having long hair in a rock/metal band would be a weird thing? I mean, so many new bands look like a bunch of bankers or something.
I know. Led Zeppelin, those guys looked cool. Not this other shit [laughs]. They look like they work for some computer company or something. It’s stupid [laughs].
=======================================
If you had to pick one song that you felt best described Santa Cruz what would it be and why?
From the new album, I would have to say probably “My Remedy.” It’s more of an old school song but with a new twist so it’s really the best of both sides. That is probably the best on to listen to if you want to understand what we’re about.
=======================================
If you guys could tour with any band, who would it be?
Touring with Led Zeppelin would be great [laughs]. Actually, I’d love to tour with Ozzy Osbourne. Touring with Ozzy would be pretty fucking cool.
=======================================
If you could play for just one night with any glam metal band, who would it be and why?
Dude, it would be probably Led Zeppelin or maybe even Deep Purple. Deep Purple is actually the reason I play guitar. I listen to a lot of Deep Purple.
=======================================
What’s your favorite Deep Purple era?
Mark 2. I was like 7 years old and there was a CD called Air Guitar that had “Smoke on the Water” on it. When I first heard “Smoke on the Water” I knew that’s what I wanted to do.
=======================================
So why Mark 2 over the other line ups?
Oh I just think that they had the best songs. I love the Made in Japan album. Machine Head, Fireball, those albums are just so great.
=======================================
What is in store for Santa Cruz for the rest of 2015? More US touring I hope?
We are going to be touring Europe for a month, then we’ll do a Finnish tour, then we’ll be in the states for three weeks and then back to Europe to play festivals. We’re going to do a UK headline tour somewhere in there and hopefully another North American tour.
=======================================
Well I hope you’ll make it to Atlanta eventually so we can have beer. I’ll hook you up with some Deep Purple bootlegs.
That would be awesome, man. Thank you.
=======================================
Finally, finish this sentence: If I wasn’t a musician, I would be __________________.
Dead [laughs]. I’d be dead. Music is all that I do. I don’t do anything that doesn’t contain music somehow.
=======================================
Thanks so much for taking the time out to talk today man. It was great getting to know you.
Thank you so much. Take care, Don.
About The Author
