[Earlier this year The Rasmus performed a concert in Ukraine.]
Cris Cohen: I read about how you were there during evacuations because of airstrikes, where missiles and drones were raining down. You slept in a bomb shelter. How has that affected you as a musician going forward?
Lauri Ylönen of The Rasmus: That will affect me for a long time. I still haven’t written that song about it, but I’m quite sure it will come. That night in that bomb shelter, looking at my phone showing the map of Ukraine getting red… region by region getting red, with little symbols of missiles and drones, telling you real-time information what’s happening. I’m thinking, “This is the everyday life for these people for three years now.”
It’s so bad. I feel so sad. I hope it’s over soon. These people are getting tired. I talked to so many of them. I talked to a soldier who gave me his shoulder patch. He said, “I want you to have this. I worked for this two years in the front line. Thank you for being here. This means a lot to Ukrainians. It shows the outside world hasn’t forgotten us.”