TROUBLES - Wanna Mess With Us ? (Finland - Garage Punk - Interview with Ida-Lotta & Laura).

Hello ! Can you introduce yourself and tell us how it all began for you - your encounter with this musical universe, what appealed to you, what fascinated you and what made you want to get into music?
Ida-Lotta: I’m Ida-Lotta, the guitarist and singer of Troubles. My first huge music crush was Hanoi Rocks. I found the “Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Hanoi Rocks” album from my dad’s CD collection. I fell in love immediately. I remember I listened to only that album the next summer. I have always loved catchy melodies but also a bit rebellious attitude. So no wonder why I later got into punk.
Laura: I’m Laura. I play bass and sing, mainly backing vocals but also some lead. I guess it all began when I started playing piano at the tender age of five or six. Then I ditched the piano and got into something more dangerous (my opinion as a 13-year-old) which was ROCK’N’ROLL, obviously. Though it was basically more than a decade before I started playing any instrument again. I guess I identify myself within the punk scene but I’ve always listened to music from a wide array of different genres from death metal to power pop and even hiphop. Though I’m especially picky when it comes to bands or artists. Music’s all feeling to me.

Tell me about the band... How you met - the current line-up - past experiences - and above all - WHY the need to form THIS band?
Laura: Ida-Lotta writes most of our songs and I write some. Though obviously we all play part in arranging them into their final form. Me and Ida-Lotta started playing together. Ida-Lotta already had some songs and I had a bass haha. I was a singer in a hardcore band back then and knew I wanted to do something different on the side. And as we both have a thing for garage punk, it seemed worth a try. I know our drummer Mikko from way back and when we started looking for a drummer it turned out that he was interested and had time. Mikko is by far the most experienced of us. He’s been playing in bands his whole life and he’s actually a trained musician but as a drummer he was a rookie. That was in 2022 or 2023. But from that on things just kinda evolved naturally. We found our sound and our thing and got better.
Ida-Lotta: I started playing guitar during corona lockdown. I hadn’t played any instrument before (ok, ukulele for a couple of months). I had two bands before Troubles but they didn’t work out. Luckily because I’m way better now haha. Learning by playing together with friends has been amazing.

Describe your sound and explain why I should listen to YOUR band at all cost ?
Laura: It’s really hard to describe your own sound or even compare it to anything. But I guess we’re catchy and raw at the same time. And everyone should at least try our stuff because I also think we’re quite good.
Ida-Lotta: We’ve been described as “fierce sounds and good songs!” and I’ll stick to that. Combining catchy melodies with distorted, lofi sounds is our thing.

Lyrical and musical inspirations/influences ? How important are the lyrics for you ? Are there any specific messages or thoughts you try to develop and share through your lyrics?Laura: Tons of influences and inspiration and they shift all the time. Lately I’ve been listening to Marthe a lot, for example, but tbh her influence probably shows in my other band, not in Troubles. But from the garage side my absolute favourites are Dead Moon, Gories, The Detroit Cobras and Oblivians.
I’m a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to lyrics. I always kinda balance between how much of my feelings I should share and not to share. Haven’t come to a final conclusion yet.
Ida-Lotta: I’m not sure if I’m really influenced by any bands but for sure it can be heard that I listen to bands like Dead Moon and The Rats a lot.
Lyrics are an important part of a song for me. They kind of add another level to the songs and can highlight the atmosphere. They can also be phonetically very pleasing. Our lyrics are mostly about mental health issues and broken hearts, but there are also songs about sexual violence, miscarriage and pms symptoms. It’s important to write lyrics when you feel like shit!

About your latest release ?
Laura: Our upcoming album "Red Alert" is really important to me because it’s so fully ours. This band has always relied strongly on contributions from each one of us and it is so cool to see all the things we cooked at our practice space come to life. And I have to say Ville Valavuo who recorded, mixed and mastered the whole thing got what we were after perfectly.
Ida-Lotta: We just released our first single called “Gimme Danger”. You can go and listen to it from streaming platforms (excluding Spotify), Bandcamp and Youtube. The second single from our upcoming album is gonna be out in April! 

Future plans ?
Ida-Lotta: Currently most of our songs are written by me. But I’m looking for Laura to make more songs too! I really like them. We already have some new songs waiting for the second album so I guess our plan is to make one. And we are planning good gigs! Loads of them!

Your most insane dream with the band would be ?
Laura: I don’t have insane dreams but it would be cool to tour around Europe, even in the UK as I’ve never played there.
Ida-Lotta: Touring abroad would be nice!

Your BEST & WORST concert - as a band - and why ?
Laura: Worst was probably our first gig though it was still fun. Best has been Puntala-rock last summer because it felt like a culmination point or something.
Ida-Lotta: Yeah, the first one was really bad. We played the whole gig in different tunes with Laura hahaha. But I agree that Puntala has been the best. We were the first band on a Saturday morning. The sun was shining, punks were drinking their morning hang-over beers and everyone seemed to be in a good mood.

Next live-appearance(s) ?
Ida-Lotta: Our next already announced gigs are 30.4. in Lepakkomies, Helsinki and 16.5. in Vastavirta, Tampere. But there are more gigs to come. Garage punk summer 2026 ahead!

Last word is yours..
Ida-Lotta: One can never be too old to start playing a new instrument and start a band. I actually think we need more +30 year old women making punk. They are angry and frustrated enough. Angry men are so boring.
Laura: Free Palestine! Go vegan! Smash patriarchy! DIY 4ever!

Credits : 
Live photo 1 : Jarkko Järveläinen.
Live photo 2 : Hemi Kärkkäinen.