The Median Man spoke with Spacejam about all things music.

The Median Man spoke with Spacejam about all things music.

SPACE CAKE

What inspired the name of the band and what are your influences?

I once ate a space cake in Amsterdam and I felt i needed some jam with it as I was completely high and I ordered space jam for my space cake and the waiter laughed at me! And I think we finished on bikes trying to figure out where was our hotel.

I have so many musical influences…The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, all the UK and US Punk bands (Sex Pistols, Damned, Clash, Ruts, UK Subs, Ramones, Television, DK, Dead Boys, Bad Brains…) Siouxsie & Banshees, The Cure, Joy Division, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam…

How do you approach songwriting? Are there any themes that you are keen to explore when you start off?

I am the songwriter and the leader in the band. I am a dictator and I will kill anyone who gets in my way or disagree with me. Being in a band has nothing to do with being in a democratic country if that ever existed! You’ll have to see things as I do and have to understand the one and only point of view – Does it serves the fucking song or not? More seriously I come up with all the songs and ideas, so it’s just a matter of “does it serves the song?
There is no theme in particular. I work on the instinct and the feeling of the moment, so I use the feeling i am in when I write. I can also deal with themes such as love, hate, hope, life, death, betrayal, revolt … It all depends on the state in which I am at that time. I can explore any theme.

DICTATOR

DICTATOR

How do you approach songwriting? Are there any themes that you are keen to explore when you start off?

I am the songwriter and the leader in the band. I am a dictator and I will kill anyone who gets in my way or disagree with me. Being in a band has nothing to do with being in a democratic country if that ever existed! You’ll have to see things as I do and have to understand the one and only point of view – Does it serves the fucking song or not? More seriously I come up with all the songs and ideas, so it’s just a matter of “does it serves the song?
There is no theme in particular. I work on the instinct and the feeling of the moment, so I use the feeling i am in when I write. I can also deal with themes such as love, hate, hope, life, death, betrayal, revolt … It all depends on the state in which I am at that time. I can explore any theme.

PART OF ME

Why do you write the sort of music that you do?

That’s a funny question! I write the music I write because it’s a part of me that I want to share with my audience, yes I know it’s very self-absorbed, but after all, isn’t a writer an egotistical narcissistic schizophrenic lost in his little world, who only asks that we read his stories? There is only me to write my songs and nobody can write them for me and when I am dead, no one will ever write my songs like me! Beautiful, init?

How do you decide what songs to perform live and how do you transpose them into that live setting?

In general we know the songs that can have the most impact on the audience in terms of emotion. Often we change the tempo of the songs and unconsciously we play according to the energy of the place and the audience. On stage anything can happen and everything will happen, so we remain open to everything! I am the conductor so I am often the one who will decide the most appropriate tempo depending on the emotion I want to convey in the room.

IMPACT

IMPACT

How do you decide what songs to perform live and how do you transpose them into that live setting?

In general we know the songs that can have the most impact on the audience in terms of emotion. Often we change the tempo of the songs and unconsciously we play according to the energy of the place and the audience. On stage anything can happen and everything will happen, so we remain open to everything! I am the conductor so I am often the one who will decide the most appropriate tempo depending on the emotion I want to convey in the room.

TOUR

What plans do you have for the future?

Recording and playing shows and touring the world. Yes with our record label The Animal Farm Music we’re thinking of starting a series of online gigs. The Label’s CEO – Ville Leppanen – has plenty of great ideas and has been doing a great job since lockdown started he’s a great human being and we love him.

We are working on new songs (I have another 30 songs in stock) and thinking of different ways to bring our music to our audience. I’m shooting the video clip for our song Stay Alive. I created all the sets and the story. I will direct and edit the clip for the end of June hopefully.