Avery Dey Interview: Dolla Lova

Merging various degrees of hip hop and soul, the Helsinki Finland trio Dolla Lova has a sound that is uniquely their own.  The group is a successful formula of modern funk, with a hearty dose of definitive soul with an overall product of a dope fresh sound.  The band members are: Heini Ikoen – vocals & production, Eliel Viitala – drums and production, and Tatu Santaniemi – bass & production.  I had the pleasure of speaking with Heini and we definitely had a lot to talk about.

AD:  Thank you for taking the time to speak with me.  So how are you?

HI:  I’m really good, doing gigs and working also, having a bit of a vacation in the midst of working but really good.  Thank you.

AD:  I will be terribly honest; this was the first time that I have ever heard about your group and sound.  Have you heard of Teena Marie? 

HI:  Yes.

AD:  That is whom I immediately thought of.  Then when I did my research on you my first thought was “It’s Teena Marie" all over again.  How were you influenced by so much R&B and soul? 

HI:  I listened to a lot of Stevie Wonder so maybe that’s one of the reasons.  (Both of us laugh)

AD:  I must say that your voice is amazing!

HI:  Thank you, Thank you so much.

AD:  Ok, so tell me how did the band come about?

HI:  Dolla Lova is a trio and we were in the same school in 2008; that would be the bassist, the drummer and me.  We started a band playing hip-hop covers.  We played like Biggie, Queen Latifah, Tribe called Quest and DeAngelo.  Then we thought maybe we want to do our own music. So during school is when we did our record and that’s about it.  (Laughs)

AD:   You all call your music “Soul Hop” which you define as a mixture of soul and hip hop. Who was it the came up with that concept?

HI:  It was the three of us.  We were trying to figure out what style are we?  You know…we are not exactly like hip hop or old school soul.  Mary J. Blige called it Hip Hop Soul and so we kind of flipped it and call it Soul Hop; that was one source of our inspiration.

AD:  So tell me more about your CD “Fall for You”.

HI:  We are working musicians and so we are constantly working, but that is the only album for the group.  We each work with other groups…I’ll work with other rappers and things like that; so it’s not the only thing we do BUT it is a priority.

AD:  I ask because I was greedy…I wanted MORE!!  (Both of us laugh)

HI:  Ok, well we are working on it.  (both of us laugh)

AD:  I listened to the entire CD and it’s great.  The three songs that I really liked are “Hopeless Dreamer,” “Gotta Have” and “Flying High”.  Then I see that there is a single called “Millionaire” and I’m thinking where did that come from?  Is that a hidden track or something because it was great too.  So who wrote those tracks? Did you write those or did you all collaborate together?

HI:  The three of us wrote them. I wrote the vocals and vocal arrangements.  Eliel (drummer) and Tatu (bassist) arranged the harmonies and the beats.  The “Millionaire” tune is our first ever single and it didn’t make it to the album…I’m not sure why.  (laughing)  It is the first single and song that we did together.

AD:  It’s a HOT song.  So have you thought of collaborating with other artists?

HI:  Yes, we are working on it.  We have ideas but it’s taking time, we want to be sure of what we are going to do.  We don’t want to just start doing “something”.

AD:  I can hear your sound combining with artists such as: A Tribe Called Quest/Q-Tip; I hear The Roots through your music, and a little bit of Common; but definitely I can see it a collaboration with A Tribe Called Quest and the Roots…        

HI:  Interesting that you say that because they are our biggest influences and inspiration to the beats, especially The Roots.

AD:  So are you all currently touring?

HI:  We have a few gigs right now but we are currently doing jobs as well.  You know it’s hard to be a musician.  You need to be doing everything all the time. So we do the gigs that we have but no tour yet.  We had a tour in Finland last year and London.  However, the show with MusicConnex will be a big one and we are waiting for that one.  It is great to be selected for this!

AD:  In your opinion is it hard for you to get your music heard outside the UK/Europe?

HI:  Of course.   It’s harder because we are in start up and it’s the hardest one to be taken seriously.  I don’t know if we are being heard in the States yet; it’s bigger than London.  If we can get to Sweden, then we are on the way to the states. You need a lot of contacts and have to do a lot of jobs to get the contacts.

AD:  Do you have other artists, producers or musicians that you would like to work with on this next project?

HI:  Well we have some friends here in Finland that we might want to be involved in the next project; but we are still putting the ideas together.  For me personally, I would like to do something that brought in different rappers, you know?  We would do the beats and the chorus - let’s say on one of Eliel’s track.  That would be cool.  That’s my personal view.

AD: So what are the group's 3 year goals?

HI:  Well, of course success (we giggle) but the more immediate would be to work on new stuff.  To have some new music ready to go out, that is really important.  We’d like to have more gigs and really be able to enjoy the music.

AD:  I know that it’s difficult being an independent artist but are you getting airplay with radio stations?  Also, being that your first CD is currently out is your fan base increasing?

HI:  It is hard getting radio airplay, but we have friends at some of the radio stations and the fan base is growing.  We hope to gain more; again, we have the London gig and we have others as well.  It’s great because we’ve had fans at the gigs also, and it’s really cool to have them singing with you on songs you’ve written, you know? It’s like [hey] that’s our music and they’re singing with us.  It’s a great feeling to me and it’s so cool.

AD:  Do you have any words for your fans and new fans to come?

HI:  Honestly, just to say thank you and listen for our music.  We really hope you enjoy it.

To hear and see more of Dolla Lova, you can catch them on their web site: https://dolla-lova.squarespace.com/

Tickets to MusicConnex can be purchased by clicking here