Flow Festival Helsinki
- Text by Alex King
- Photography by Samuli Pentti
Bands know better than most those moments when you’ve got to put together what you have to keep the show on the road. It could be trying to turn a dime into a dollar to record a demo or trying to fix an equipment meltdown mid-show. At Flow Festival Helsinki, an explosion of music, art, creativity and culture in a breathtaking former power station we’ve been asking the hottest local bands and international superstars: What was your biggest DIY or die moment?
Little Dragon, Sweden
Erik Bodin, percussion: I remember one time we went to play in Colombia. For the first time ever I saw the the kick pedal, the stick that actually hits the drum, was made out of wood. After two songs I had made hole through the skin of the drum and I was like ‘aaaaaaaaaaaaah!’ Extreme desperate stress! I made a drum skin out of gaffer tape during the show. I made the hole disappear and made a whole skin with gaffer tape and the show went on. That was my do it yourself moment, but as a band we’ve had a lot of those…
Check out Little Dragon.
Cocoa Music (Finnish hip hop label)
Markku Mäkelä: It’s been a constant DIY or die vibe for us from the very beginning. We are a young label and as you can probably imagine, it’s not exactly easy to break new hip hop artists from Finland. It’s hasn’t been what people expect from Finland. Cocoa Music basically started as a very street level operation around Gracias and I have to say we are more than happy to see the guys like him, Noah Kin and Biniyam getting a lot of attention around Europe and the US at the moment. We’ve been working on a true DIY level and finally the work is paying off. But the DIY mentality sticks with us. We’ve been just grindin’ on a daily basis.
Get deep into Cocoa Music.
Aino Venna, Finland
Aino Venna, frontwoman: Our band started in that kind of moment. I had been doing a solo thing for about two years and I got my first bigger gig at a huge venue in Helsinki. The idea of me playing there alone was terrifying, so I just started to ask people to join me. Our drummer was playing on the street and I remembered him because we used to hang out when we were fifteen. He was playing this wooden box, and I was like ‘Hey, that’s cool. What is that?’ And he was like, ‘Hey, its called cajonita.’ I liked it so I asked him if he wanted to play in my band and he said ‘yes… who’s playing with you?’ At that point it was only us, but then we found this 12-year old double-bass player (he’s not 12, he’s really 22), so he came and we had just two weeks to rehearse. We found each other, played the first gig and it went from there.
Find out more about Aino Venna.
Huck was at the awesome Flow Festival a music, arts and culture festival in Helsinki, August 8-10. Check out all of our Flow coverage here.
Latest on Huck
No one captured Greenwich Village’s heyday like Fred W. McDarrah
Pride and Protest — As the first staff photographer for the legendary Village Voice, the documentarian found himself at the heart of the Beat Generation, the Gay Liberation movement, and the AIDS pandemic. A new exhibition dives into his important archive.
Written by: Miss Rosen
Krept & Konan cover Huck’s new digital issue, focusing on our home city
The London Issue — As we gallop into a hyperconnected age, we think it’s never been more important to engage with our local surroundings. So, we’ve put together a special magazine, exclusively for our Apple News subscribers, to celebrate London and its unending vibrancy.
Written by: Isaac Muk
On the sidelines with Rise United, the football club redefining Asian identity
Football, family style — Blending creativity on and off the pitch, the London ESEA+ grassroots team is providing its burgeoning community with spaces to express, and be, themselves.
Written by: Isaac Muk
Greentea Peng: “Everyone’s trying to drown us in dread”
TELL DEM IT’S SUNNY — As the psychedelic singer gears up to release her darkest record yet, we caught up with her to talk about making a record fit for the times, the fallacy of healing in the west, and a grassroots charity venture that we should all be aware of.
Written by: Isaac Muk
Sakir Khader’s wrenching, resilient portrait of Palestinian life
Yawm al-Firak — Last year, the photographer became the first Palestinian member of the famed Magnum Photos agency. His new exhibition is a sharp window into the life under occupation, displacement and atrocities.
Written by: Zoe Whitfield
Two years since Patagonia’s founder gave everything away, what does it mean now?
The Announcement — In 2022, the outdoor clothing and equipment brand’s billionaire owner Yvon Chouinard revealed that he was handing his entire company over to fight the climate crisis. Now, podcaster Matt Barr has released a deep dive into the seemingly seismic move, and we caught up with him to hear about his findings.
Written by: Isaac Muk