Here's the details from Pete!
The support act was one of the coolest Finnish instrumental groups, the Hypnomen,
featuring Esa Kuloniemi (that sunglass dude with two-neck Hofner), a good friend
and a musician/journalist/DJ colleague of mine (see Honey B. & T-Bones story
on my 'Dark Side Of Rock'n'Roll'-website). During Link's encore, also Esa was
invited to the stage and I recall he and Link jammed together 'Lawdy Miss Clawdy'
and some other tunes. The concert itself was of course an earth-shaking,
certainly unforgettable experience for me. Although I've been collecting Link's
records for years, this was the first time I saw him live, and boy, did we have
a ball there!
This particular '97 tour included four gigs in Finland (in towns Tampere,
Helsinki, Turku and Seinäjoki). Before that, Link visited here also in June
1985, performing at 'Valkeakoski Koivu & Tähti Juhannusrock'-festival with
a very popular Finnish rock'n'roll/dance music group called The Agents. There
were also Jason & The Scorchers, who met Link again at same year's Roskilde
Rock Festival, and this time they even shared the stage together, playing a
rockabilly classic "Tear It Up" (which by the way can be heard on
Jason & The Scorchers' "Two Decades Of Outtakes And Rarities", Yep
Roc CD YEP 2031, 2002).
here's an
interview by Pete of Hypnomen guitarist Esa Kuloniemi - multifarious musician,
journalist and radio dj
- "I have had three straight contacts with Link Wray. The first time was a
telephone interview I made for the Finnish National Radio (Radio Mafia) in 1997,
right after the release of "Shadowman" cd. (I taped this
conversation back then. Link was really talkative, good-
humored and even sang some phrases of Hank Williams' "I Can't Help
It")
- "Most importantly I remember admiring Link's manic hillbilly-preacher attitude. I almost went goose bumps, when I heard him saying things like 'Satan
tried to kill me and they took out my lung...my left lung'." (That
particular sentence ended up to 10" album 'We Three Hypnomen' by the
Hypnomen, where it was used as a spoken intro of "Satan Took My
Lung".)
- "I have only good memories from June 13, 1997. The day had an exciting
start, when I was asked to interview Link on a live tv show
"Jyrki".
They called me just a half an hour before the broadcast so I wasn't really able
to prepare myself but... of course I WENT THERE!"
('Jyrki' was a five-days-a-week teenage music and trend program, and every
period featured several live performers, interviews, music videos and special
insert-spots, using the format of Much Music.)
- "I did some simple questions, but basically I introduced Link to the
show's regular host, who seemed to know nothing about him. I guess that's why
they wanted me to do the interview in the first place. I demonstrated the
first chords of 'Rumble' with my guitar and enlightened viewers about their
revolutionary influence. I also asked Link to sign my Stratocaster while
the tv-cameras were still rolling. In conclusion Link performed a solo
interpretation of 'I Can't Help It'. I had presumed in advance, that Link is
friendly and humane person, and this meeting certainly confirmed all my pre -
sentiments."
- "The day continued with the sound check at the Tavastia rock club. When
we (Esa, Pekka Laine & Juha Litmanen of the Hypnomen) arrived, Link and the
backing group (Eric Greevers & Rob Louwers) had already finished and gone
for a lunch. We were playing 'Branded' when the head performers walked in. Link
was really into our version. He hadn't heard anyone else playing it live
before, and possibly he had forgotten the entire song. While we kept blasting on
our repertoire, Link started wondering the source of mysterious, high
siren-voices that chimed on background: There were just three guys on stage and
no one of us seemed to make them. Eventually,
Link and others couldn't
help but burst out laughing when it came out that Aija (Esa's wife Aija 'Honey
B' Puurtinen) was playing the keyboards, hiding behind the monitor mixer!
We also played Link's adaptation of a Beatles-song 'Please Please Me', which
especially PLEASED Link!"
- "Our own gig went like in dream, and Link fired his own set with the way
he always does: at full speed! During the encore, he asked me to jam with him on
stage, and once again, of course I WENT! We played 'Lawdy Miss Clawdy' and
Jimmy Reed's 'Baby What You Want Me To Do'. We shared the guitar solos and sang
in harmony."
(The place was full of enthusiastic crowd and Hypnomen warmed up us all pretty
well. When Link came in and played the first chords of his Screamin' Red,
everybody went totally wild. It was certainly one of the most unforgettable live
experiences I have ever seen.)
- "Afterwards we changed addresses and the next day we were supposed to
perform together in Turku (at Down By The Laituri-festival). Unfortunately
we had overlapping sets, and didn't meet each other. The day after we both
headed to Seinäjoki (Provinssirock-festival) but didn't encounter there
either."
- "Despite our age difference and Link's legend status, he was still just
like any of us and a very humble person. He didn't criticize anybody and for
instance he praised spontaneously Dick Dale, another Pulp Fiction guitar hero,
who was talk of the town back then. Link was very thin and spiritual man. His
kind of real stars aren't too many anymore - probably none."
Esa Kuloniemi
multifarious musician, journalist and radio dj
(interviewed by Pete Hoppula)