From Joel's interview with Laura Vähähyyppä on Radio Rock 11.11.2025:
Joel says that with Blind Channel he had become a "whiny marketing man" and a performer. He was obsessively trying to make the band bigger and bigger. He was no longer writing songs and hadn’t been having fun in a couple of years.
He mentions the gig in Ruisrock 2024 when there was a bit less people in the audience than the year before and how he screamed enraged at the band & crew that the band is done.
He says that after leaving the band it feels like he’s been "cured from a disease".
He “went traveling in the faraway lands and found a sensei” [Pauli Rantasalmi] that “used his spells” and gave Joel a new burn for making music again.
Joel says that he is Batman, Pauli is Alfred and Jimi is Robin - although Pauli has told him not to make the comparison. He says that they have a good hierarchy (“Batman goes on missions and Alfred takes care of Batman”). Joel and Pauli talk on the phone 2,5 hours every day.
Joel found Jimi Aslak on TikTok. "He has lots of followers, many viral videos and hundreds of millions of views." Joel thought that Jimi is “super good looking, young, extremely great drummer and he knows social media”. Joel is happy that Jimi came along to this project and hopes that they can "conquer the world together".
There will be more musicians at the live shows. Joel has an idea about having “female energy” on stage, possibly female back-up singers. He is also planning to wear the cape on stage and have wind machines.
The familiar sound of In The Darkness is honoring The Rasmus circa Dead Letters album. Joel talks about how he associates the early-mid 00s Nordic music such as The Rasmus, HIM and Kent with his childhood, and making music similar to that for him is like returning to womb. He says that for the same reason he likes going to swimming pools, because the warmth and smell of chlorine is like going back to the womb.
In The Darkness gives a hint about the upcoming album, but there are some surprises. They call the style "melancholic Nordic-Asian fusion".
They have plans on making an album trilogy and possibly a full-length fantasy movie.
There’s still a lot to do before the New Year’s Show. The first actual gigs will be sometime in spring 2026.
