When and how was your band created ?
I started to make Desertplanet.com -stuff summer 1999.
I just started to mix my classic video game hobby with pop-music. And the result was kind of joystick-pop, arcade-electro or something like that.

I live in north of Finland, Lapland.
The distances are long, so the touring is quite expensive.
I thought I could use internet as a "stage to perform my music", "place to make my stuff heard and seen", and thatīs one reason why I named my band after a internet-site.
The idea has worked well.
I have get many international fans and friends from Japan, France, Italy, USA, Holland and UK etc. Also I have a managed to make a record deal with a quite good record label here in Finland.
Things have went more than well, I canīt complain.:)

What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your life / work ?
As a "videogame pop" -musician I respect the composers of the classic video game music as Rob Hubbard ( commodore 64), Allister Brimble (Amiga), Martin Galway (c-64), Koji Kondo (Nintendo Entertainment System, SNES) etc.
Though I respect those golden days of video games I dont wanna be a purist regarding to making music.
I try to take influences from childrens music to industrial noise, too.:)
Basically everything good, wild or weird goes.

What "image" do you have of french music ?
Nowadays in Finnish music media there is lots of talk of French new good electronic music like Daft Punk, Air and Telepopmusik. "Airi" is our nickname for Air. "Airi" is a traditional name for a woman up here.:)
Also Manu Chao is one good one and quite popular here.
If youīre talking about electronic music from France you cant forget to mention Jean Michelle Jarre. I like his Oxygene record.

Is there one french song that you prefer ? If so, what song is it ?
"Plastic Bertrand: Ca plane pour moi"
Fun punk/new wave song from the late 70īs.

How could you qualify your style of music ?
There is a good conversation in one french websites forum (freeoldies.com): a guy named RyF describe desertplanet.com music as
" bon je sais, c'est pas un jeu, mais la zik est trčs forte (entre, pong - pop corn et space invaders... =^___^= ) tiiiiiiiiii tituu tiititi "
This sounds like a good description. :)

Have you ever considered the possibilty to change totally your style of music ? If so, what style of music would you choose ?
I have done it allready once. I have been playing electric guitar in indie/alternative guitar rock -style for years in a band called Jalla Jalla. Jalla Jallas records have been published in UK, USA and Germany. And we toured in Europe many times. We didnīt ever had a gig in France, but once we travelled trough some norhtern part of your country on our tour in Europe.:)

What are stories/topics you tell/treat in your songs ?
The tracks are kinda soundtracks for imaginary video games from the 80īs and early 90īs mixed with my personal attitude and sense of humour.

What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why ?
It is usually the newest song that feels better than the older ones.
Now I think that the best song is "Dune Buggy".

Do you tour regularly ? Do you actually prefer performing your music live or in a studio?
Iīm doing live gigs with Jari Mikkola.
We have worked together with Jari a lot. Jari directed the "Asteroid Hopper" -music video.

When we are performing live we are dressed as spacemen in green helmets. Our gigs are quite fun to perform as a musician.
We are planning to do a tour in Finland with Tero, who plays live commodore 64.

All of Desertplanet.com music is made in my home studio by simple equipments. In general "My home studio" means a couple of computers, some software for recording and mixing and some real instruments. I use a lots of freeware software. These simple equipments are enough to produce "retro-game-pop" or "lo-fi-game-pop" sounds I like.

During the process of making an album, what is the moment that you prefer ? Why ?
The best moment is when you get a track ready and play it to your friend. Thats the moment. And occasionally the moment even gets better when the listener thinks it sounds good. :)

What kind of music / What artists do you currently listen ?
- If I want to check out some new stuff I listen some electronic mp3 -labels like monotonik, commie etc. ,
- And I listen some webradios. In fact there is quite good electronic demoscene webradio called Nectarine. And its run from Paris, France.

What are your actual and future projects ?
- Iīm working with a release to odor-label.
- A future project: Iīll be neat if one of my future releases could be "a soundtrack for an imaginary long animation movie".:)

A stupid question but... what is among all the songs you've been listening in your life the BEST song ? Why ?
The Replacements: Bastards of Young. Replacements did come from Minnepolis USA and the style is kind of alternative guitar rock. The band was active at the 80īs and early 90īs.

The songwriter Paul Westerberg have got his own style and he has made many great songs with his band Replacements. "Bastards of Young" is one of my all time favourites.

Internet is something interesting for musicians because it gives them the opportunity to touch a larger audience but it is also a threat for them (regarding the copyrights). What is your opinion regarding this medium ?
I think there will allways be people who wants to buy records or wants to support their favourite artists.
I dont worry about the copyrights regarding to mp3īs.
On the long run I think internet will help musicians a lot.