From Joel's interview with Laura VƤhƤhyyppƤ 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 hadnāt 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 heās been "cured from a disease".
He āwent traveling in the faraway lands and found a senseiā [Pauli Rantasalmi] that āused his spellsā 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 (āBatman goes on missions and Alfred takes care of Batmanā). 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 āsuper good looking, young, extremely great drummer and he knows social mediaā. 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 āfemale energyā 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.
Thereās still a lot to do before the New Yearās Show. The first actual gigs will be sometime in spring 2026.
