INTERVIEW: Lily Black (LILLI)

We interview Lily Black, the frontwoman of the Finnish Hard Rock band, LILLI. In September of last year, LILLI released a new album entitled “Kintsugi”. With a great concept for the album and a modern Hard Rock sound, I was happy to ask Lily Black more about her band’s music and her thoughts on different topics.

Hello, Lily. It’s really wonderful to talk with you. How are you doing today?

Thanks for having me! I’m quite okay, winter has arrived in our region and since being a bit of a ”Chilly Lily” I’m trying to cope and adapt. But otherwise, everything’s good!

Yes, it’s winter here as well, not as cold as your part of the world, but I can relate! You released your second album “Kintsugi” at the end of last September. How are you feeling about the way the album was received by your fans?

Basically, all the feedback we have received so far has been very positive! We made a conscious choice to lean towards heavier sounds with this second album and seemingly it has pleased many of our fans, old and new.

How would you describe your sound to someone who hasn’t heard LILLI’s music before?

I think it’s a mixture of heavy rock and traditional rock, with different kinds of seasoning adapted from different styles of music. We try not to limit our creativity too much and usually we want to at least give a try to all ideas brought to the table.

Brilliant. If you were to pick one song from “Kintsugi” to be played on every radio and every station all over the world, which song would you pick and why?

Personally, my favorite one is Dark Soul Woman so I’m picking that. It brings together many themes addressed in the album’s songs and it has a variety of tones. To me, it represents our current sound really well. And it’s also my favorite one to perform live!

In order to get to know you better and from a different point of view, how about playing an imagination game? I will set a scenario in an alternate universe with new rules and see how you’d react to the different situations. Ready?

Oh wow, a bit nervous but ready!

In a universe where you are made the queen of a country, what would be the first law you’d make?

Oh, starting with an easy one! Umm, personally I’d want to ban all sorts of animal exploitation for food, clothing, chemicals etc.

In a universe where humans can choose either to be able to teleport from one place to another or travel back and forth in time, which superpower would you pick?

Definitely teleportation! I don’t believe in regretting or changing the past and also I believe we can make our own future by choosing our actions so I’m not really interested in time travel. But since there are some people who live at a distance from me, teleportation would be really handy!

In a universe where you’re the statue of liberty, what object would you be holding instead of a torch?

This is a tough one really. I guess instead of holding an object passively, I’d have my hand extended to give ”a hand” to someone in need of help or support. People are made to be here for each other and everyone needs people in their lives so that’s what I’d like the statue version of me to represent.

This is a great answer! In a universe where money does not exist, but instead, people pay for things by making other people laugh, how rich would you be considered?

Does making myself laugh count? I try to bring joy to people but since my sense of humor is often quite dark, not all people get it. I’m also a big fan of puns but they might be incomprehensible to others too. I guess I’d be quite average, at least because of my sometimes unintended sitcom.

Oh, I love dark humour! In a universe where the senses of taste and hearing are mixed up together, what food would you imagine LILLI’s music would taste like?

It would be a pizza with some chilli added to the tomato sauce and topped with cheese (representing traditional rock), medium steak strips (representing metal/heavy rock), onion (because of the tragic stuff our lyrics sometimes are about), olives just for fun and fresh herbs on top.

Sounds delicious! In a universe where making magic is real, what would your favourite spell do?

Make people give up their negative thoughts and will for retaliation.

Thank you for playing, Lily! I hope you enjoyed this! There are many things you need to do when you release an album other than the music itself. What were your favourite and least favourite parts of the process of releasing “Kintsugi”?

My favorite part is the creative process, writing lyrics and creating sounds and structure for songs. Trying out different stuff to find the best choice and playing around. My least favorite part is the repetitive studio work, even though the routine was much easier during Kintsugi recordings compared to Awful Hits for Women.

Have you ever faced any kind of sexism in your professional or personal life? How would you deal with sexist behaviour and what advice would you give young people around the world who face any kind of discrimination?

So far I personally haven’t had to deal with sexism or discrimination. It sucks that some people are very prejudiced towards other peoples’ abilities as artists or performers based on their gender, age or other qualities. But if someone chooses not to listen to our music because of their prejudice, it’s their loss then. I cannot bow in every direction – no one can – and for me, it is perfectly okay that we’re not everyone’s cup of tea.

Thank you for giving us this interview, Lily. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Thanks for the fun questions! We hope the readers like our new album.