In their native Finland, the Von Hertzen Brothers have long been veritable superstars. Two of the last five albums by Kie, Mikko and Jonne Von Hertzen reached the top of the charts there, and also their current album "New Day Rising" was in the first week of the show as a matter of course on the top of the charts. When will the three brothers finally succeed in their long earned breakthrough?
Helsinki, late March. The band's Finland tour has just started and is already heading for one of its highlights with two sold-out shows at the legendary Tavastia Club. In the rehearsal room of the band singer/guitarist Mikko Von Hertzen takes his time for the eclipsed interview despite the hectic home game weekend and looks back to the sixties ...
eclipsed: Mikko, you and your brothers come from a very musical family.
Mikko Von Hertzen: Music has always been our father's favourite hobby. At the beginning of the sixties he was guitarist in different bands like The Savages or The Rooster. Our uncle played Cumulus in parallel with the relatively well-known folk troupe. When my mother became pregnant with Kie at a young age, my father thought it was time for a real job and so he finally became a lawyer. But the music was still the focus of our attention, and so my father brought us records instead of sweets from his travels.
eclipsed: Do you remember certain souvenirs?
Von Hertzen: I remember very vividly that he once towed the whole back catalogue of the Eagles from a trip to San Antonio, from England there was a Queen-Box as a present. He taught us so early on to listen to as many different styles as possible. He himself was a Southern Rock fan of bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd, but we also often heard the Beatles or Elvis as children. When we bought our first own records in the eighties, it was the harder stuff like Anthrax or Iron Maiden.
