Astral Magic is a band that has been around since 2020 and it’s the spaceship of our Finnish brother Santtu Laakso! His music, influenced mainly by space rock's planet Hawkwind, the true Masters of the Universe, is a colorful and multidimensional trip to the most distant galaxies in the universe!! Wherever they are!! Either are a million light years away or just in our mind. Space rock music for all ages, for all parallel universes, for every single minute! Don't fasten your seatbelts, close your eyes and open the conscience of your mind-soul!!
The journey begins!!
interview by: g. markou
What music did you listen to as a child and how much do you think it influenced you
When I was 9 or ten, I fell in love with rock'n'roll, Elvis, Eddie Cochran etc. My father also had some Beatles, Stones and jazz stuff that I liked. Then I got into punk, post-punk, new wave, synth pop etc. After that heavy rock/metal was the main thing for me for years. In the late 80's I got more interested in prog rock, and then also psych, garage, space rock. Also tried out some trance and other electronic music, went to raves a bit. All this has influenced my own music for sure.
I guess you know how to play a ton of instruments, when did you start learning?
I started playing piano for a while when I was about 12, then switched to acoustic guitar. I did not take lessons for that long, started doing my own thing. Bass guitar became my main instrument in 1990. Then I also fell in love with synthesizers!
Did you play in any bands in your teens and what kind of music? Also, what kind of music was heard there at that time?
I had some free-form punk rock jams with my friends when I was like 13 but no serious bands. My first band was Oppression, a thrash metal band from Vantaa, Finland. I joined them as a singer in 1986 and stayed with them for two or three years. We were influenced by Black Sabbath, Slayer, Metallica etc. Then in 1989 I started my own band Exitus, that was doom metal. We played quite a lot of gigs with both of these bands.
Which bands did you listen to that sent you directly to the kind of music you play, when and what emotions did they make you feel?
I had heard of Hawkwind but only really got into them in 1989 when the drummer of Exitus loaned me Hall of the Mountain Grill on tape. I'm still on that trip and it's my fave Hawkwind studio album! Hawkwind makes me fly through space, I love that vibe!
Are there enough people interested in space rock music?
I think many people have different ideas of what space rock is. Some think indie/Britt rock bands are space rock, but i don't think having a repetitive, stupid guitar riff with tons of effects in a song is enough. Space rock really is so much more, it's an ideology, a cosmic vibe, universal thing. I don't think it is really that popular, and that's fine with me. Of course I'd like more people to have the option to check it out and see if it talks to them. If not, that's okay.
Are people in Finland interested in space rock music?
Like most of the world I guess: only select few!
Tell me a little about Dark Sun. When was this band formed, did you perform live, and what was the reason you stopped being together?
In the mushroom season of 1991 we started Dark Sun with my friends. Since the beginning the idea was to make mind-altering, trippy space rock. We recorded some demos, one single and a couple of albums, played quite a lot gigs mainly in Finland but also in Germany and Sweden and hooked up with Nik Turner (EX-Hawkwind). The band went on hiatus in 2007, although a few low-key releases have been put out after that. The reason we stopped playing was that we were not able to get a record deal and things started to fall apart. We spent the last years jamming at our rehearseal space wich was nice but not that productive. Final straw was when Ylli, one of the main writers moved quite far away.
For some years you were putting music on the Aural Innovations, how did you meet Jerry Kranitz? Is there a possibility that someone could listen to these shows?
Well, as I have been a dj (Dj Astro) for a long time I started to make psychedelic shows for Aural Innovations web site to host. Before that, I had also written some stuff for Aural Innovations. Since the international space rock family has always been quite small I think I knew almost everybody back then, if not now! When Aural Innovations ended I put all the shows to Mixcloud and kept doing the show there for a few years. So yes, all 95 shows are still here: https://www.mixcloud.com/AstralVisions/
Astral Visions is on Mixcloud. Listen for free to their radio shows, DJ mix sets and Podcasts
I can say with certainty that you are quite productive in recording many albums with great frequency. How long does it take you to record an album when you do everything by yourself?
I can do one album in a week. Including going to work on five days, making dinners and walking the dog.
Why did you decide not to be in a band and start your own musical trip? Do you feel like you miss that camaraderie in songwriting, the exchange of ideas, and all that characterizes a team effort in writing an album?
I’ve sort of had enough of the band life drama and very bad conditions small bands have to work and play live under. I might also be getting too old for that. I’ve been in two bands lately that also played live, Octopus Syng and UFO Tutkimuksia. I’m okay with occasional gigs, but let’s see. Being in a band always means compromises and sacrifices, but I do miss improvised jam sessions with other musicians. That was sometimes so awesome, minds melted together! I still also take part in numerous music projects with other artists and write stuff together, although remotely. That is cool too. We just recorded an album with Shane Beck and Kevin Erhardt Hansen as Dreaming Apparition, did not take much more than a week and was super fun! A bit longer projects are an album with Paul Roland and another one with Bridget Wishart. The main reason I started Astral Magic was that when the covid lock-down started I finally had enough time to begin making music again and got some new equipment to get started. I had not written a song in like 15 years so there was a lot of stuff that needed to pour out of my mind and soul! Seems like there still is. I love to be my own boss and usually do things just the way I like it. But having dozens of collaborators from all over the world is another great side of it.
For someone who doesn't know Astral Magic, how would you help them understand the type of music they play? Also, what would you say to the same person about your lyrics?
When I started Astral Magic in 2020 the idea was that the music could be anything as long as it was psychedelic. So I have made quite different stuff from electronic, experimental and ambient soundscapes to space/psych/prog/kraut/garage rock and even synth pop or new wave stuff. Last year I decided to start another project called Strange Vibrations and release the more electronic and experimental music under that name. We released five albums last year and the sixth album is out right now in January 2026! First two albums it was a duo of me and Shane Beck, after that we asked Jonathan Segel, my most frequent collaborator, to join in with guitars, violin etc. That way Astral Magic can focus more on being a psychedelic space ROCK band. It’s hard for me to write lyrics, I don’t really like it, but I tend to write stuff about inner reflection, otherworldly things, space, ancient astronauts, sci-fi stuff of all kinds. Also some critical stuff about the wickedness of mankind. I guess the bottom idea is that why can’t we all live in peace and appreciate each other and that there are lots of things we can find within our our minds.
I see that your collaboration with Shane Beck has remained stable in recent years. What are these elements that unite you two?
Well, we both like pretty much the same kind of music and ideologies for starters. Another thing is that we both work super fast! He’s also a great guy and we have became very good friends even though we have never even met in real life. Also, he does not write any music so he needs me, I was looking for someone native English speaker to deliver cool spoken word for my music since my own pronunciation is not that good, so we’re a perfect match.
How much importance do you give to the lyrical part? I'm talking about your own lyrics. And what about Beck, for example, who has his own lyrics? Do his lyrics express you? Also, how is the recording of the songs done with the above artist, does he send you the lyrics and you start writing the music? Or is it done in some other way?
Like I said writing lyrics is the hardest part for me. I’m very seldom really happy with what I come up with. I guess I should spend more time with that, but it’s hard to find time to even record vocals at home since I’ll have to be alone in the house to be able to do it so I sometimes just improvise something in half-an-hour. That is not to say lyrics are not important to me, they are, but I sort of struggle with them. Sometimes they come easy like music, and I feel like I have tapped into something sublime! With Shane it depends. We just decide it’s time for a new album, and he starts writing and recording his poems and I start making music and I always add and process his recordings on top of my sounds. With Strange Vibrations things have been a bit different since I have come up with the song titles beforehand and given him instructions about what the spoken word should be about and even some words and sentences to use. It also happens the other way around, especially when he asks me to record some stuff for his solo albums. Then he might describe what kind of song he would like.
I think that with the ease with which one can find anything they want on the internet, the charm that used to exist, where bands were much harder to listen to, has been lost. All this great music was for the true lovers of the different bands who struggled to find each group they wanted, etc. Do you feel that if there wasn't all this "monster" maybe things would be better in relation to your music? Or do you think that the help you get from all these music platforms is useful for your songs, your vinyls, your CDs and what they represent?
I think that without Bandcamp, especially, not
many people would have ever heard of Astral Magic. I think the ”monster” really
shows its face in the fact that not many people buy physical copies anymore,
especially the younger generation, but also some old-timers. Small bands and
artists can’t make any money on digital platforms only. That’s really sad. It’s
hard to sell even 100 CD’s or LP’s.
I guess music takes up a lot of your time. What other interests do you have?
Yes, it takes most of my free time. I used to read a lot more before, and watch movies, still enjoy that from time to time. I enjoy travelling when I can, wondering in nature, seeing live music every now and then, meeting friends and new people although I have gotten a bit more antisocial lately.
You have collaborated with some well-known names in psychedelic/space rock underground music and more. Tell us a little about all these wonderful people if you want.
Well, I know quite a lot of people through music since I used to review a lot of releases, do interviews and also organize gigs and festivals and dj a lot, for example at Roadburn Festival in Holland for many, many years. I’ve never been”star-struck” in anyway, I think all people are equal and pretty much the same deep inside. I bet some of the bigger stars are assholes anyway, so… There are people I have asked to collaborate who have not even answered and that’s fine, if not very polite. And some come up with excuses several times so I stop asking. I guess not everyone feels comfortable collaborating online and so on, and that’s their decision and I must respect that. But Nik Turner was the easiest and coolest guy to work with! I was lucky to get some saxophone from him also to one Astral Magic song (Cosmic Energy Flow) just before he passed away. Lots of funny and adventurous stories about him from the Dark Sun days, but maybe I’ll save them for later!
Are you planning on finding people to do some gigs with as Astral Magic?
That’s a question people keep asking me! The honest answer is maybe, but probably not. The biggest reason is that it would need to be a big band since there is a lot of stuff in my songs, like there might be 10 synths tracks alone! Also, I would have to rehearse a lot even to sing and play bass at the same time, and I don’t really like the idea of using backing tapes. Also, most of my collaborators live outside of Finland! I have recorded three singles in analog studio pretty much live with musicians from a cool band called Kultti-25 and a couple of their friends and we talked about maybe playing some Astral Magic live gigs with them but we would need like three additional synth and Keyboards players… They also live quite far away from me so it would be hard to rehearse. I have been asked to play abroad for example at Kozfest in UK, that would be awesome. So let’s see!
What is it that gives you this gift of inspiration and helps you be so productive, I believe, without losing quality or interest from your listeners?
I don’t know exactly, but I guess I am quite musical by nature. I usually just start making a track and let it come out of me naturally. Almost everytime it is something I can use and polish it into a real song! Having listened to a lot of different kinds of music and discussed about it with so many others musicians helps too, I think. I also get new inspiration from new synths and different sounds. I love writing and recording music! I also pretty much know how I’d like it to sound. I’m no expert in mixing, actually really only started doing that when I started Astral Magic, but I still know a few tricks and learn more all the time.
What are your next plans?
Well, I am in the middle of producing two Astral Magic albums, one with Paul Roland (we have made one EP already) and one with ex-Hawkwind singer Bridget Wishart (first collaboration with her was the album Ad Infinitum in 2023). In addition, I have one single ready with Dr. Koch (Vibravoid) playing all the guitars and Bridget Wishart doing backing vocals. I have a third Astral Magic album taking shape as well! We also plan to make a second Chakra Vimana album this year with Shane Beck and Mark Cook. Our debut was released last year by Tonzonen Records. No other plans at the moment, but probably next week there will be more! Thanks a lot for taking the time to interview me, much appreciated! I hope we can all find some hope and light to guide us through these dark and scary times.
All Peace to You, Galactic Brothers and Sisters!
Santtu Laakso, 11.1.2026
New Astral Magic album Into the Cosmos to be released on 6.2.2025 on LP (200 copies) and CD (100 copies).
https://astralmagic.bandcamp.com
Astral Magic, space rock, psychedelic rock, progressive rock,
