Madonna certainly isn’t an artist that you would think of when it comes to metal music, yet many metalheads tend to cover the pop goddess’ songs. One of the recent additions to that camp is a Finnish metal band Memoremains who have covered “Sorry,” a song from Madonna’s 2005 album “Confessions on a Dance Floor.”

The group fronted by singer Johanna Ahonen answered our questions about their beginnings in music, the new single, and more.

Let’s start from your early music beginnings. How did your musical career begin? When did you start playing? Which groups have been your favorites? Please tell us something more about your early life.

Johanna: I think that I’ve been singing always, at least, as long as I remember. Singing has been a natural way for me to express my thoughts and feelings. I have performed ever since I was a child, mostly by myself and singing cover songs. Memoremains is the first actual band in which I’m involved. I always wanted to sing in a band and make own music so I can honestly say that Memoremains is the best thing that has happened to me!

Mikko: I’ve done songs for as long as I can remember. I have thousands of demos in my stock over many years. Music has been a part of my life for a really long time. I took my first contact with the piano sometime between the ages of 4 and 5 and drums and other rock instruments came along at around the age of 10.

How did you go about starting Memoremains? Who was the most influential when the band started its musical journey?

Mikko: It’s really hard to determine who did what, because our band is really democratic. However, I had written the first songs of Memoremains before the band was born, so in a way it is possible to think that this is where our band was born. Eemeli and Aapo came along as old musician acquaintances. We found Johanna through an online announcement, just as we found Aleksi. Soon we were playing together and releasing our first song ‘We’re Not Alone.’

How would you describe Memoremains’ music on your own?

Our music is a combination of pop melodies, metal riffs and groovy disco beats. We’ve mixed together elements of different genres and created an own recognizable sound from them.

The new single is a cover of Madonna’s hit “Sorry.” How did you come to an idea to cover this song?

Mikko: Oh, it’s such a great song from the Queen of Pop. Unfortunately it has been forgotten from the general public during these years and we wanted to bring it back to life but in our style. Hopefully, people will find the song and listening to it takes them back to the last decade.

How difficult was it for you to shape this song and make it different than the original? Obviously, originally it is a pop song and you combine these elements with metal, but what would you say is the thing that separates your version from the original?

Mikko: It’s been a fun and creative job that we’ve been excited about. The first step was to internalize the song as our own, that is, to have it feel like our own song. Only through this can a functional cover be obtained. Once the song was thought to be our own, it was easy and fun to work with. But, strictly speaking, our version is faster, more energetic and heavier. However, we have retained the original song’s epic melodies.

What is the most important thing for the structure of your songs? Is it a riff, a melody line, vocal arrangement?

It really depends on which of those elements the song is created from. ‘Ballerina’ was born simply because it sounded like a good name for a song. “Time Is Running Out” was born from the melody of the chorus, and other parts of the song were built around it. In the end, though, the most important element of our music is addictive melodies and engaging rhythms. That’s where our sound comes from.

Recommend us some good metal acts coming from your area.

Mikko: There are so many great bands coming from Finland. We made a European tour together with Resolution 13 which is an alternative metal band from Helsinki. We’ve also been following Escalane, a band from middle-Finland, and their story. I need to bring up also a very original band, Awake Again, from Turku. On our tours abroad we have met many really awesome bands like Austrian Ardenite.

Are you also involved in any other projects or bands beside Memoremains?

Mikko: I play drums in a finnish language metal band called Riesa. The band name means like “ nuisance” or “annoyance”. Go and check it out!

Aleksi: I made own project with drummer Teemu Koski last year called “i Helvete”. It released two long songs and right now I am writing new ones. It is much darker and heavier than Memoremains. I also play bass in one another, unknown band.

So, what comes next for Memoremains?

We strive to make everything that happens even bigger. The goal is to make every release and tour bigger than the last one and there will also be more festivals.

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