Status: Active
Scream Me a Dream - Deleted Scenes
Chapter 40: DS: Soya's Interview with Rosalind
Note: I would follow the links in the chapter if you don’t know who the bands are, just to make sense of what Rosalind says :D
With every new release of a record, the international English/Spanish rock band Revolution ask a member of their fan club or a friend to interview them with fan based questions, which one of the three members always answers, last time it was Hugo. This time around, the answering fell on Rosalind Riviera, drummer and lead singer for the band; Rosalind asked her Juilliard roommate and dear friend Soya Toivonen to ask the questions. Soya Toivonen is famous in her own right, as she is a prominent ballet dancer of the Miller Dance Company based in New York.
About the Band
Soya: How old were you when you started playing the drums?
Rosalind: I was about…7? Hugo and Luis [brothers] had already been playing around with the guitar and bass respectively, and I, always wanting to tag along decided I would play drums. I asked my dad for a set and two days later, I was banging away.
S: How did Revolution form?
R: Uh, it actually started as something to do after school. We would go out to La Rambla and just play, Hugo would leave his guitar case open and with the money we would get from tourists and passersby we’d go get ice cream or go to a movie.
S: You got signed when you were ten didn’t you?
R: [laughing] Yes we did. I was ten, Hugo was thirteen and Luis was fifteen. We were playing one weekend, just fucking around, and Marcos saw us and asked us if we were signed to a label. Hell, we hadn’t even made a demo at that point, we hadn’t even thought about what movie we were going to go see that night, let alone anything for music in the future.
We were kids playing covers of our favorite songs; we liked the idea of being signed to a label so we begged our parents to let us do it. Our parents were always supportive so they agreed, as long as Marcos, who became our manager, also agreed that school no matter what, came first.
S: Did it?
R: [nodding] It did, when we started touring around Spain, we weren’t allowed off the bus or anywhere near the venue until we finished our homework.
S: Did you always have a fascination with music?
R: My brothers did, I liked it [shrugs] I wasn’t huge on it though, at least not when I was little. I was seven when we started playing together and that was only because I wanted to play with my brothers. I was listening to groups like Menudo and Timbiriche, more pop stuff. Then you have Hugo who was listening to KISS and Led Zeppelin and Luis leaned more towards Tigres Del Norte, which is like…Mexican country music. Most days I don’t even know how we became a band. [laughs]
S: What about now?
R: I definitely have a wider knowledge of music, and obviously, it’s a large part of my life. What was just me wanting to spend time with my older brothers became something that I’m very passionate about. I really don’t know what I would be doing if I weren’t drumming or singing.
S: Fans have seen pictures of you when you were younger, how long did you guys play together before you stopped?
R: Like I said before, we got signed when I turned ten, when I was fifteen we decided it was time for a break; we were all stressed and weren’t even sure if music was what we wanted to do in the long run.
S: What made you start back up?
R: Hugo actually, he was pretty unhappy working nine to five at an office, he hated wearing a tie to work and absolutely hated the elevator music that they played over the speakers. So one night at dinner, he asked us if we were interested in starting the band again, I said ‘fuck yes’, Luis was a little harder to convince.
S: Obviously, you wanted to do something with music.
R: I did, when I was sixteen I was accepted into Julliard’s music program in New York, I was still deciding if I wanted to do something in music but I left at eighteen before completing the program. I went home with the mindset of getting back into music. When Hugo brought up the prospect of getting Revolution back together, I jumped at the chance.
S: Why was Luis harder to convince?
R: He has a family, he was hesitant on leaving them, still is most days. He hates not being there for his kids. His wife is amazing and supportive though and told him that if music was what he wanted to do, they would make it work. I was nineteen when we talked to Marcos [manager] and he got us signed to Olympia.
S: Do you write your own lyrics?
R: When we were younger, no, well for the most part we didn’t. Luis and Hugo wrote three or four that we ended up recording back then, but for the most part we were given the lyrics and scores to learn. We were pretty adamant about playing our own music, mostly because Luis couldn’t sing for shit back then. [laughs]
But now we do, it’s one of the things Olympia was originally pretty hesitant on letting us do mostly because they didn’t know if we could write songs. Thing is, Hugo and Luis have been doing it from the start, and I learned to enhance my writing techniques when I attended Julliard. So they let us, with the terms that if the CD did badly, it was on us and not them. We agreed, [jokingly] the CD did well and Olympia took all the credit. [laughs]
S: Who writes what?
R: Many of the heartbreak songs and sexy songs come from Hugo, as he is the one to fall in and out of love so quickly. He is our hopeless romantic and because of that, he has a lot of fodder for songs.
The everlasting love songs, come from Luis who has been in a relationship since high school, he’s married to his high school sweetheart so his songs are mostly based on his relationship with her.
As for me, I write the rest, I’ve experienced both sides of the spectrum and have my own experiences with relationships as well as other things we sing about.
S: Do you guys ever collaborate on any songs?
R: Very rarely, we all write at different times, so when it’s time to record we sit around my living room, pull out our notebooks and say ‘Okay, what did we go through last tour?’ and just toss out the lyrics or notes and make the ideas flow together. As for sitting down and talking out lyrics, rarely do we work like that. We prefer it that way though; it’s the fun part for us, making all our experiences flow together in an album, like fitting a puzzle together.
S: How did Revolution end up touring with The 69 Eyes? You both have such different sounds.
R: [laughs] We had just signed to Olympia about two months before I met Jyrk.i [Frontman of The 69 Eyes]We were still recording when they did a small show in Barcelona where we all live, I couldn’t pass that up. This was back in ’99. Marcos got me tickets and a backstage pass and ended up meeting the band. Meeting Jussi 69 had always been a dream of mine, he is one person that I have emulated when drumming, his intensity is amazing. So we got along amazingly well and from there I met Jyrki and when I told him our band had recently been signed, he showed interest in seeing a show so I told him when we were playing next.
S: He came?
R: They all did, apparently they had been looking for an opening band. While we’re rock we are nothing like the Goth ‘n’ Roll that ‘The Eyes’ are, but they took a liking to us, asked us to come on tour with them and we jumped at the chance. Ever since then, we tour together on and off and both our fans seem to appreciate both types of music. So it has worked out quite well, There’s never been a crowd we played where we didn’t feel welcome by the fans, even if they’re not necessarily fans of ours.
S: What is your favorite song off the new album?
R: Um, I love them all really. We worked hard on this album so I am proud of all the songs we have done. The one I have the most fun playing though is probably ‘Me Vale’ or ‘I Don’t Care’ on the English version of the album. It was written during a time when I was with Jyrki and we were being written about a lot in both the Finnish and Spanish tabloids, and it just got to the point where I didn’t care. They could say what they wanted but at the end of the day I was secure enough in myself and my relationship, so what they said just didn’t matter.
S: Where do you live when you’re not recording?
R: Spain for the most part, but since after touring we’re usually eager to get back in the studio, we split time between New York, where we record and Barcelona, which has always been home. I have a two bedroom apartment right at the heart of Barcelona, in La Rambla.
S: Does La Rambla hold a special place in your heart?
R: Oh, yes, it’s where we got our start, playing on that street at night. La Rambla has always felt like home, so when I decided I wanted to move into my own place, La Rambla was the only place I wanted to be.
Friends, Family, and Love
S: How would you describe your brothers?
R: Oh, um, let’s see…Hugo is the prankster, the life of the party really, he is always smiling, laughing, and getting everyone pumped before a show. He’s very slow to anger, he’s always so trusting of everyone and everything. Luis is much more serious and quiet, he conveys everything with his eyes and doesn’t talk unless he absolutely has to. He’s a man of few words but he’s got a temper on him and unlike Hugo, he tends to be wary of people. But at the end of the day, they’re both solid as a rock and loyal to a fault, both of them are full of love.
S: How would you describe yourself?
R: No filter. [laughs] I talk, a lot. Sometimes I don’t even realize what I’m saying, and after I say it I could care less, obviously it needed to be said. I’m pretty easy going for the most part, laid back. I’m happy on the road with my family or at home sitting on my balcony looking over La Rambla. I’m pretty easy to please really.
S: You’ve mentioned you’re psychic before, would you like to elaborate?
R: My great, great grandmother on my father’s side was a gypsy, as was my grandmother, both of which had some sort of extra sense of just knowing things. I have it as well, but no one believes me. [rolls eyes] But I do have this extra sense of just knowing things about people and having an eerie sense of knowing when things are going to happen. You can vouch for me!
S: [laughing] I can, you really do have a very odd sense of knowing when things are going to happen!
R: Thank you!
S: [laughing at the question] It’s pretty well known that you’ve been in an on and off relationship with Jyrki 69, how does that work?
R: [laughing] I’m not quite sure myself, to be honest. We have always had an odd relationship, and we’re quite happy with it; somehow we find our way back to each other and we never split on bad terms. He’s a beautiful soul, I love him dearly.
S: Who’s your favorite member of The 69 Eyes?
R: [without hesitation] Jussi
S: Really? I’m pretty sure the fans were expecting Jyrki.
R: I bet he is too, no, no. [laughing] I love Jyrki, I do, but he knows that out of all of them Jussi will forever be my favorite.
S: What’s the most romantic thing Jyrki’s ever done for you?
R: Is his name actually on there?
S: Yes, [teasingly] would you like to see it?
R: Yes!
S: [Shows Rosalind the questions]
R: His name really is on there! Oh, god, um Jyrki’s done a lot of romantic things, oh this is going to sound so stupid and when he reads this he’s going to be like. ‘Really? Out of everything, this is what you consider romantic?’ [laughs] Really, the most romantic thing he’s done, in my opinion has to be the first Christmas we spent together in Finland, I can’t cook for shit, so he made breakfast and we sat out on his balcony, huddled in blankets, drinking coffee and watching the snow fall. I just felt very comfortable and loved at that moment. He is going to kill me when he reads this, especially when just this morning he sent me my favorite chocolates just because he thought of me. [laughs] Sorry Jyrks!!!
S: What is romance to you?
R: It is definitely not candles or rose petals, and before you ask, Jyrki knows this. I feel like roses are way to pretty and expensive to tear apart and not let bloom and wax is fucking hard to get out of any surface. It’s just moments for me, just moments that make me feel special or loved.
S: What’s the most romantic thing you’ve done for someone?
R:[laughs] No specific person?
S: [laughs] Just generally.
R: Oh…um…[starts laughing] I’m not a romantic person at all, but probably attempting to cook for Jyrks. Nearly burnt down his kitchen in the process, but he thought it was endearing. Really I try for those moments, no grand gestures, just little moments that show I’m thinking of him.
S: Would you ever want to settle down and get married?
R: Oh. Wow. I think every little girl dreams of getting married, I know I did, but my life’s so different now than it was when I was a kid, and my life is definitely not what I thought it would be. I’m happy with my relationship now, I really don’t need marriage, and for the most part I am settled, I have a place I call home, I have a job that I love. [shrugs] I think right now, my life is where I want it to be and I’m happy with it.
S: Who are your best friends?
R: Bitch, you snuck that one in there! [laughs]
S: [grins] I did, so do tell.
R: Not saying you now. [laughs] No, best friends, you of course, godmother of my child
S: Oh! Thank you!
R: Jussi is up there on my best friend list, he has been just an amazing friend and person, I love that man to death. I swear these questions are just aiming to get me in trouble with everyone! I feel bad for leaving people out of the category of best friend. All my friends have been amazing, and just had such large impacts in my life. It’s hard to categorize them into columns. Best friends, close friends, friends, acquaintances, I love all my friends…just some more than others [Sticks tongue out]
Motherhood
S: You have a daughter, and you’ve said before that her father is well known, but you’ve never stated his name. Who is he?
R: Ah. That’s one question I won’t answer, I will say Impi [Rosalind’s daughter] has a wonderful relationship with him and when he wants to be known he will be. I respect his decision not to come out in the light, and we will keep it that way until he’s ready.
S: How old is your daughter? And what does her name mean?
R: Impi just turned 4, and her name means ‘virgin’. Her father actually named her; he and his friends have a very twisted sense of humor, but I loved the name so we kept it.
S: I’ve heard your daughter’s nickname is Impi 69, is that a hint to who her father is?
R: [laughing] I didn’t know the identity of my daughter’s father was such talked about gossip within the fans. No, it’s not a hint, it’s actually a fan given nickname when Impi was about one. Because we tour so much with The 69 Eyes, and I was on tour with them when I was pregnant, the guys took to caring of her. It got to the point where Impi was seen either in the arms of my brothers and I or The Eyes’. A fan cleverly noticed this and mentioned it to Jussi when she met him, ever since then Impi has been known as Impi 69 and it just stuck.
S: Are you going to stop touring once Impi starts school?
R: It’s actually something I’m not sure of. I think once she is old enough to start kindergarten we’ll ‘bus school’ her as I like to call it. Have her go through the same set of rules my brothers and I went through when we toured and probably continue until she tells me she wants to go to school. Really, I never understood what Luis meant when he said he would do anything, even stop playing music, if his kids asked him to. I didn’t understand until now, if Impi asks me to stop I would, without hesitation and without regret, if that made my baby girl smile.
S: What made you decide to take Impi with you on tours in the first place?
R: Luis’ wife offered to take care of her, but she has three rug rats of her own and I couldn’t just hand Impi off. My parents passed away when I was younger, and I don’t want to burden Impi’s other set of grandparents. Impi’s father also travels and all my friends travel for work too. Really we’re all just gypsies. [laughs] So a sense of guilt is my reasoning to have Impi with me. That and I think I would miss that child way too much to ever leave her somewhere else.
S: Does the fact that you have Impi on the bus with you ever affect your touring schedule?
R: Well really, it hasn’t changed because of Impi. When we were younger we toured non-stop, when we started back up, one of the terms Luis had for joining the band again was having the months of his kids’ birthdays off, and the months of major holidays. So it limits the time we spend touring, but we don’t mind it. When Impi was born, we were already limiting our tours and I really liked it. It’s nice to go home for a few months and give her that sense of normalcy.
S: You say you like giving her a sense of normalcy by taking her home, how do you maintain that on tour?
R: Just like any other child, she has her rules. Just instead of not crossing the street without an adult, it’s don’t wander around the venue or fair grounds without an adult. She has a set bedtime, eight o’clock during the week and on Fridays and Saturdays she is allowed to be up until she passes out, which is usually around ten.
S: Does she like being on the road?
R: For the most part, she’s been to a lot of places that four year olds can’t even pronounce. There are moments when she gets a bit stir crazy and fussy, but then so do the rest of us. We’ve learned with Impi, that really we can only travel for about three months at a time before she just doesn’t want to be on the road anymore. So we also take that into account when planning out tours.
S: I’m guessing tours are a lot more work in planning for you guys, than it is for most bands.
R: Marcos hates us. [Laughs] he dreads when we start planning an album because it means that he’s going to be spending his nights calculating time frames we can travel, marking out months we can’t, taking Impi’s fussiness into account, what other bands are touring at the same time that we might be able to hook up with? What festivals are we committed to?
I remember we were having dinner at Luis’ house just after we finished the album and he came in just looking horrible, his suit was un-tucked and dirty, his hair was just in disarray from how much he was pulling at it. He just kept bitching about how we make his job so fucking hard because we can’t travel six months out of the year. We were teasing him about how he just likes to complain. So as proof as to how hard we make it on him, he showed us the calendar he uses to mark out months and days. Half of the calendar was blacked out and the months that weren’t still had days that were still blacked out.
We felt so bad for him; we are probably one of the only bands that will hold concerts on a Tuesday in September because Friday, Luis has to be home for his son’s soccer game.
Fun Facts about Rosalind
Full name?
Rosalind Josefina Riviera
Birthday?
April 1, 1980. Seriously, you have no idea how many pranks have been pulled on me on my birthday.
Natural hair color?
Dark brown
Eye color?
Brown.
Favorite Color?
It changes every week, this week it’s green
Favorite Food?
Paella. I’m from Spain, I can’t not love paella.
Favorite song?
So many, but probably the one I love the most is ‘Claridad’ by Menudo, we still perform it at concerts.
Favorite Movie?
Lost Boys, apparently quoting obscure lines from this movie is a turn on for certain men. [laughs]
Favorite Band:
Oh…so many. Not enough time in the world to name them.
Preferred side of the bed:
The right, Impi tends to take the middle and cuddle up to my side so I’m forced to one side of the bed.
Any tattoos and what are they?
I have four. Cherry blossom branches on my ribs with two birds sitting on the branches, a heart on my left wrist, but the heart is made up of Impi’s name, an Ankh on my right hip, and J69 in a gothic script on…well, it’s somewhere on my body. [laughs]
What do your tattoos represent?
The cherry blossoms are for my parents, I got it a few months after they passed away. I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve and since Impi is my heart, I thought it was only fitting to get it; as for the Ankh and the J69….they represent reminders to never gamble with Jussi and Jyrki.
Any parting words for fans?
Love yourself, live life as you want to and listen to our music…I need the money. [laughs]
With every new release of a record, the international English/Spanish rock band Revolution ask a member of their fan club or a friend to interview them with fan based questions, which one of the three members always answers, last time it was Hugo. This time around, the answering fell on Rosalind Riviera, drummer and lead singer for the band; Rosalind asked her Juilliard roommate and dear friend Soya Toivonen to ask the questions. Soya Toivonen is famous in her own right, as she is a prominent ballet dancer of the Miller Dance Company based in New York.
About the Band
Soya: How old were you when you started playing the drums?
Rosalind: I was about…7? Hugo and Luis [brothers] had already been playing around with the guitar and bass respectively, and I, always wanting to tag along decided I would play drums. I asked my dad for a set and two days later, I was banging away.
S: How did Revolution form?
R: Uh, it actually started as something to do after school. We would go out to La Rambla and just play, Hugo would leave his guitar case open and with the money we would get from tourists and passersby we’d go get ice cream or go to a movie.
S: You got signed when you were ten didn’t you?
R: [laughing] Yes we did. I was ten, Hugo was thirteen and Luis was fifteen. We were playing one weekend, just fucking around, and Marcos saw us and asked us if we were signed to a label. Hell, we hadn’t even made a demo at that point, we hadn’t even thought about what movie we were going to go see that night, let alone anything for music in the future.
We were kids playing covers of our favorite songs; we liked the idea of being signed to a label so we begged our parents to let us do it. Our parents were always supportive so they agreed, as long as Marcos, who became our manager, also agreed that school no matter what, came first.
S: Did it?
R: [nodding] It did, when we started touring around Spain, we weren’t allowed off the bus or anywhere near the venue until we finished our homework.
S: Did you always have a fascination with music?
R: My brothers did, I liked it [shrugs] I wasn’t huge on it though, at least not when I was little. I was seven when we started playing together and that was only because I wanted to play with my brothers. I was listening to groups like Menudo and Timbiriche, more pop stuff. Then you have Hugo who was listening to KISS and Led Zeppelin and Luis leaned more towards Tigres Del Norte, which is like…Mexican country music. Most days I don’t even know how we became a band. [laughs]
S: What about now?
R: I definitely have a wider knowledge of music, and obviously, it’s a large part of my life. What was just me wanting to spend time with my older brothers became something that I’m very passionate about. I really don’t know what I would be doing if I weren’t drumming or singing.
S: Fans have seen pictures of you when you were younger, how long did you guys play together before you stopped?
R: Like I said before, we got signed when I turned ten, when I was fifteen we decided it was time for a break; we were all stressed and weren’t even sure if music was what we wanted to do in the long run.
S: What made you start back up?
R: Hugo actually, he was pretty unhappy working nine to five at an office, he hated wearing a tie to work and absolutely hated the elevator music that they played over the speakers. So one night at dinner, he asked us if we were interested in starting the band again, I said ‘fuck yes’, Luis was a little harder to convince.
S: Obviously, you wanted to do something with music.
R: I did, when I was sixteen I was accepted into Julliard’s music program in New York, I was still deciding if I wanted to do something in music but I left at eighteen before completing the program. I went home with the mindset of getting back into music. When Hugo brought up the prospect of getting Revolution back together, I jumped at the chance.
S: Why was Luis harder to convince?
R: He has a family, he was hesitant on leaving them, still is most days. He hates not being there for his kids. His wife is amazing and supportive though and told him that if music was what he wanted to do, they would make it work. I was nineteen when we talked to Marcos [manager] and he got us signed to Olympia.
S: Do you write your own lyrics?
R: When we were younger, no, well for the most part we didn’t. Luis and Hugo wrote three or four that we ended up recording back then, but for the most part we were given the lyrics and scores to learn. We were pretty adamant about playing our own music, mostly because Luis couldn’t sing for shit back then. [laughs]
But now we do, it’s one of the things Olympia was originally pretty hesitant on letting us do mostly because they didn’t know if we could write songs. Thing is, Hugo and Luis have been doing it from the start, and I learned to enhance my writing techniques when I attended Julliard. So they let us, with the terms that if the CD did badly, it was on us and not them. We agreed, [jokingly] the CD did well and Olympia took all the credit. [laughs]
S: Who writes what?
R: Many of the heartbreak songs and sexy songs come from Hugo, as he is the one to fall in and out of love so quickly. He is our hopeless romantic and because of that, he has a lot of fodder for songs.
The everlasting love songs, come from Luis who has been in a relationship since high school, he’s married to his high school sweetheart so his songs are mostly based on his relationship with her.
As for me, I write the rest, I’ve experienced both sides of the spectrum and have my own experiences with relationships as well as other things we sing about.
S: Do you guys ever collaborate on any songs?
R: Very rarely, we all write at different times, so when it’s time to record we sit around my living room, pull out our notebooks and say ‘Okay, what did we go through last tour?’ and just toss out the lyrics or notes and make the ideas flow together. As for sitting down and talking out lyrics, rarely do we work like that. We prefer it that way though; it’s the fun part for us, making all our experiences flow together in an album, like fitting a puzzle together.
S: How did Revolution end up touring with The 69 Eyes? You both have such different sounds.
R: [laughs] We had just signed to Olympia about two months before I met Jyrk.i [Frontman of The 69 Eyes]We were still recording when they did a small show in Barcelona where we all live, I couldn’t pass that up. This was back in ’99. Marcos got me tickets and a backstage pass and ended up meeting the band. Meeting Jussi 69 had always been a dream of mine, he is one person that I have emulated when drumming, his intensity is amazing. So we got along amazingly well and from there I met Jyrki and when I told him our band had recently been signed, he showed interest in seeing a show so I told him when we were playing next.
S: He came?
R: They all did, apparently they had been looking for an opening band. While we’re rock we are nothing like the Goth ‘n’ Roll that ‘The Eyes’ are, but they took a liking to us, asked us to come on tour with them and we jumped at the chance. Ever since then, we tour together on and off and both our fans seem to appreciate both types of music. So it has worked out quite well, There’s never been a crowd we played where we didn’t feel welcome by the fans, even if they’re not necessarily fans of ours.
S: What is your favorite song off the new album?
R: Um, I love them all really. We worked hard on this album so I am proud of all the songs we have done. The one I have the most fun playing though is probably ‘Me Vale’ or ‘I Don’t Care’ on the English version of the album. It was written during a time when I was with Jyrki and we were being written about a lot in both the Finnish and Spanish tabloids, and it just got to the point where I didn’t care. They could say what they wanted but at the end of the day I was secure enough in myself and my relationship, so what they said just didn’t matter.
S: Where do you live when you’re not recording?
R: Spain for the most part, but since after touring we’re usually eager to get back in the studio, we split time between New York, where we record and Barcelona, which has always been home. I have a two bedroom apartment right at the heart of Barcelona, in La Rambla.
S: Does La Rambla hold a special place in your heart?
R: Oh, yes, it’s where we got our start, playing on that street at night. La Rambla has always felt like home, so when I decided I wanted to move into my own place, La Rambla was the only place I wanted to be.
Friends, Family, and Love
S: How would you describe your brothers?
R: Oh, um, let’s see…Hugo is the prankster, the life of the party really, he is always smiling, laughing, and getting everyone pumped before a show. He’s very slow to anger, he’s always so trusting of everyone and everything. Luis is much more serious and quiet, he conveys everything with his eyes and doesn’t talk unless he absolutely has to. He’s a man of few words but he’s got a temper on him and unlike Hugo, he tends to be wary of people. But at the end of the day, they’re both solid as a rock and loyal to a fault, both of them are full of love.
S: How would you describe yourself?
R: No filter. [laughs] I talk, a lot. Sometimes I don’t even realize what I’m saying, and after I say it I could care less, obviously it needed to be said. I’m pretty easy going for the most part, laid back. I’m happy on the road with my family or at home sitting on my balcony looking over La Rambla. I’m pretty easy to please really.
S: You’ve mentioned you’re psychic before, would you like to elaborate?
R: My great, great grandmother on my father’s side was a gypsy, as was my grandmother, both of which had some sort of extra sense of just knowing things. I have it as well, but no one believes me. [rolls eyes] But I do have this extra sense of just knowing things about people and having an eerie sense of knowing when things are going to happen. You can vouch for me!
S: [laughing] I can, you really do have a very odd sense of knowing when things are going to happen!
R: Thank you!
S: [laughing at the question] It’s pretty well known that you’ve been in an on and off relationship with Jyrki 69, how does that work?
R: [laughing] I’m not quite sure myself, to be honest. We have always had an odd relationship, and we’re quite happy with it; somehow we find our way back to each other and we never split on bad terms. He’s a beautiful soul, I love him dearly.
S: Who’s your favorite member of The 69 Eyes?
R: [without hesitation] Jussi
S: Really? I’m pretty sure the fans were expecting Jyrki.
R: I bet he is too, no, no. [laughing] I love Jyrki, I do, but he knows that out of all of them Jussi will forever be my favorite.
S: What’s the most romantic thing Jyrki’s ever done for you?
R: Is his name actually on there?
S: Yes, [teasingly] would you like to see it?
R: Yes!
S: [Shows Rosalind the questions]
R: His name really is on there! Oh, god, um Jyrki’s done a lot of romantic things, oh this is going to sound so stupid and when he reads this he’s going to be like. ‘Really? Out of everything, this is what you consider romantic?’ [laughs] Really, the most romantic thing he’s done, in my opinion has to be the first Christmas we spent together in Finland, I can’t cook for shit, so he made breakfast and we sat out on his balcony, huddled in blankets, drinking coffee and watching the snow fall. I just felt very comfortable and loved at that moment. He is going to kill me when he reads this, especially when just this morning he sent me my favorite chocolates just because he thought of me. [laughs] Sorry Jyrks!!!
S: What is romance to you?
R: It is definitely not candles or rose petals, and before you ask, Jyrki knows this. I feel like roses are way to pretty and expensive to tear apart and not let bloom and wax is fucking hard to get out of any surface. It’s just moments for me, just moments that make me feel special or loved.
S: What’s the most romantic thing you’ve done for someone?
R:[laughs] No specific person?
S: [laughs] Just generally.
R: Oh…um…[starts laughing] I’m not a romantic person at all, but probably attempting to cook for Jyrks. Nearly burnt down his kitchen in the process, but he thought it was endearing. Really I try for those moments, no grand gestures, just little moments that show I’m thinking of him.
S: Would you ever want to settle down and get married?
R: Oh. Wow. I think every little girl dreams of getting married, I know I did, but my life’s so different now than it was when I was a kid, and my life is definitely not what I thought it would be. I’m happy with my relationship now, I really don’t need marriage, and for the most part I am settled, I have a place I call home, I have a job that I love. [shrugs] I think right now, my life is where I want it to be and I’m happy with it.
S: Who are your best friends?
R: Bitch, you snuck that one in there! [laughs]
S: [grins] I did, so do tell.
R: Not saying you now. [laughs] No, best friends, you of course, godmother of my child
S: Oh! Thank you!
R: Jussi is up there on my best friend list, he has been just an amazing friend and person, I love that man to death. I swear these questions are just aiming to get me in trouble with everyone! I feel bad for leaving people out of the category of best friend. All my friends have been amazing, and just had such large impacts in my life. It’s hard to categorize them into columns. Best friends, close friends, friends, acquaintances, I love all my friends…just some more than others [Sticks tongue out]
Motherhood
S: You have a daughter, and you’ve said before that her father is well known, but you’ve never stated his name. Who is he?
R: Ah. That’s one question I won’t answer, I will say Impi [Rosalind’s daughter] has a wonderful relationship with him and when he wants to be known he will be. I respect his decision not to come out in the light, and we will keep it that way until he’s ready.
S: How old is your daughter? And what does her name mean?
R: Impi just turned 4, and her name means ‘virgin’. Her father actually named her; he and his friends have a very twisted sense of humor, but I loved the name so we kept it.
S: I’ve heard your daughter’s nickname is Impi 69, is that a hint to who her father is?
R: [laughing] I didn’t know the identity of my daughter’s father was such talked about gossip within the fans. No, it’s not a hint, it’s actually a fan given nickname when Impi was about one. Because we tour so much with The 69 Eyes, and I was on tour with them when I was pregnant, the guys took to caring of her. It got to the point where Impi was seen either in the arms of my brothers and I or The Eyes’. A fan cleverly noticed this and mentioned it to Jussi when she met him, ever since then Impi has been known as Impi 69 and it just stuck.
S: Are you going to stop touring once Impi starts school?
R: It’s actually something I’m not sure of. I think once she is old enough to start kindergarten we’ll ‘bus school’ her as I like to call it. Have her go through the same set of rules my brothers and I went through when we toured and probably continue until she tells me she wants to go to school. Really, I never understood what Luis meant when he said he would do anything, even stop playing music, if his kids asked him to. I didn’t understand until now, if Impi asks me to stop I would, without hesitation and without regret, if that made my baby girl smile.
S: What made you decide to take Impi with you on tours in the first place?
R: Luis’ wife offered to take care of her, but she has three rug rats of her own and I couldn’t just hand Impi off. My parents passed away when I was younger, and I don’t want to burden Impi’s other set of grandparents. Impi’s father also travels and all my friends travel for work too. Really we’re all just gypsies. [laughs] So a sense of guilt is my reasoning to have Impi with me. That and I think I would miss that child way too much to ever leave her somewhere else.
S: Does the fact that you have Impi on the bus with you ever affect your touring schedule?
R: Well really, it hasn’t changed because of Impi. When we were younger we toured non-stop, when we started back up, one of the terms Luis had for joining the band again was having the months of his kids’ birthdays off, and the months of major holidays. So it limits the time we spend touring, but we don’t mind it. When Impi was born, we were already limiting our tours and I really liked it. It’s nice to go home for a few months and give her that sense of normalcy.
S: You say you like giving her a sense of normalcy by taking her home, how do you maintain that on tour?
R: Just like any other child, she has her rules. Just instead of not crossing the street without an adult, it’s don’t wander around the venue or fair grounds without an adult. She has a set bedtime, eight o’clock during the week and on Fridays and Saturdays she is allowed to be up until she passes out, which is usually around ten.
S: Does she like being on the road?
R: For the most part, she’s been to a lot of places that four year olds can’t even pronounce. There are moments when she gets a bit stir crazy and fussy, but then so do the rest of us. We’ve learned with Impi, that really we can only travel for about three months at a time before she just doesn’t want to be on the road anymore. So we also take that into account when planning out tours.
S: I’m guessing tours are a lot more work in planning for you guys, than it is for most bands.
R: Marcos hates us. [Laughs] he dreads when we start planning an album because it means that he’s going to be spending his nights calculating time frames we can travel, marking out months we can’t, taking Impi’s fussiness into account, what other bands are touring at the same time that we might be able to hook up with? What festivals are we committed to?
I remember we were having dinner at Luis’ house just after we finished the album and he came in just looking horrible, his suit was un-tucked and dirty, his hair was just in disarray from how much he was pulling at it. He just kept bitching about how we make his job so fucking hard because we can’t travel six months out of the year. We were teasing him about how he just likes to complain. So as proof as to how hard we make it on him, he showed us the calendar he uses to mark out months and days. Half of the calendar was blacked out and the months that weren’t still had days that were still blacked out.
We felt so bad for him; we are probably one of the only bands that will hold concerts on a Tuesday in September because Friday, Luis has to be home for his son’s soccer game.
Fun Facts about Rosalind
Full name?
Rosalind Josefina Riviera
Birthday?
April 1, 1980. Seriously, you have no idea how many pranks have been pulled on me on my birthday.
Natural hair color?
Dark brown
Eye color?
Brown.
Favorite Color?
It changes every week, this week it’s green
Favorite Food?
Paella. I’m from Spain, I can’t not love paella.
Favorite song?
So many, but probably the one I love the most is ‘Claridad’ by Menudo, we still perform it at concerts.
Favorite Movie?
Lost Boys, apparently quoting obscure lines from this movie is a turn on for certain men. [laughs]
Favorite Band:
Oh…so many. Not enough time in the world to name them.
Preferred side of the bed:
The right, Impi tends to take the middle and cuddle up to my side so I’m forced to one side of the bed.
Any tattoos and what are they?
I have four. Cherry blossom branches on my ribs with two birds sitting on the branches, a heart on my left wrist, but the heart is made up of Impi’s name, an Ankh on my right hip, and J69 in a gothic script on…well, it’s somewhere on my body. [laughs]
What do your tattoos represent?
The cherry blossoms are for my parents, I got it a few months after they passed away. I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve and since Impi is my heart, I thought it was only fitting to get it; as for the Ankh and the J69….they represent reminders to never gamble with Jussi and Jyrki.
Any parting words for fans?
Love yourself, live life as you want to and listen to our music…I need the money. [laughs]
♠ ♠ ♠
Here is a bit of insight into Rosalind, whom a lot of you already are looking forward to reading about. I was actually going to put this in Chapter 40, but because it revolved more around Rosalind then it did Soya and Ville I cut it out. But I already had about half of it written, and couldn’t just leave it unposted. So I hope you guys enjoyed a bit of a sneak peek into Rosalind’s life.Note that Rosalind's band 'Revolution' is based off a real latin rock band by the name of Mana, so the song 'Me Vale' does not belong to me, but to Mana. :D
Also, Comments get you previews. I do have one more deleted scene written. So if you comment for Scream me a Dream, you’ll get a preview to the next chapter, comment for this one, get a preview for the next deleted scene. I’m a comment whore! I love knowing what you all think!
One more thing, I’m looking for a good pic to put up for this story, for the layout, Scream Me a Dream has ballet shoes, so I was wondering what you guys thought I should put for this one?
Anyway, hope you enjoyed and I can’t wait to see what you thought :D
-Kassandra