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Interview Interrogation: Petri Lindroos of Ensiferum (Finland)

14/7/2020

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"Heavy Metal is still very very popular in Finland and every time a metal band brings out an album, it's always in the top 10 chart over here."


Ensiferum celebrate 25 years in 2020 and have just recently released their 8th studio album "Thalassic"; which in itself marks as a first as the band's first themed album. Sadly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as with all forms of entertainment and art, Ensiferum's plans have been put on hold or cancelled, sure they managed to do a live stream show, but the anniversary celebrations may have to wait until next year, that's if they do it. Stepping up to speak to GMA was vocalist / guitarist Petri Lindroos, he survived our interrogation as he confessed his passion for vinyl, his sorrow at the depletion of venues in Helsinki, his excitement at the new album being released and his nostalgia for the pastimes or indeed things he grew up with, that is as said vinyl, but also cassettes, CD's and going into a record store and being able to listen to a record before purchasing the item(s).

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Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, how did you celebrate your new album "Thalassic" and your 25th anniversary as a band?

     "That is an excellent question, well we did a live stream show and this was really the only form of celebration that we can pull off this year [Ensiferum had some shows planned prior to the COVID-19 pandemic]."


What in your opinion are the main factors that have made Ensiferum retain solidarity over the years?

     "Well I would say we get along really well, our chemistry matches really well, we have a good crew that takes care of us on the road and stuff, we all still love and enjoy the things that we are doing - writing music, recording albums, going on the road and performing them."


You released the single "Rum, Women, Victory" prior to the "Thalassic" album release, what was the reception like and what can you tell us about the single? What does the word "Thalassic" mean?

     "We received very positive feedback from it and for great reason as it's a killer track, we really love that track, it was a very good choice for our first single from the album. It's a nice starting point for the album, it gets your feet moving and head banging very nicely, even if it's a very metal-ish song from the Ensiferum repertoire, it's a very guitar-driven song and is definitely one of my favourites.

     Thalassic means 'relating to the ocean and water', so it's not actually pinpointing anything specific but like water-related, ocean-related, this is the first ever themed album by Ensiferum, so this was a new approach for us - our bassist Sami Hinkka came up with this idea a couple of years ago and has been working every now and then until we started to actually form album material. He did a lot of research in historical events, ocean-related myths and things like that, so he is very much responsible for the whole theme actually."



Talk us through the "Thalassic" creation process from start to finish, was there any challenges you had to overcome?"

     "Well the recording took around 5 weeks, and then it was mixed and mastered in 2 weeks by Jens Bogren in Sweden. Basically our style of writing music is really really slow, our guy Markus Toivonen one of Ensiferum's founding members brings across the ideas that he has, puts it down at the rehearsal place and plays around with them... we try all of the ideas including the crazy ones before we nail anything down, this takes a while as things change a lot and then when we were ready to hit the studio, we done it and then the final touches actually happen on-the-fly in the studio whilst we are recording."


Could you tell us what the track 'Cold Northland (Väinämöinen Part III)' means?

     "Well the song is the 3rd part of the 'Väinämöinen' trilogy of what has been in existence with Ensiferum for a long time, since the first album... we also wanted to add a little bit of old school Ensfierum vibe into that song and I thought we pulled it off pretty nicely; you can hear that it's completely new but still has a lot of the old Ensiferum elements in it."


Most albums tend to have some songs that never make the final cut, did this happen with "Thalassic"?

     "Actually nope, we have almost never had any leftover songs that does not fit into the album, we basically worked the material already and when it's almost ready to be recorded we start to figure out things for the studio; basically we don't ever have leftovers."


Therefore it keeps things tidy and not open for reflection in the context of what songs should have not been left out right?

     "Absolutely! Then there is no questions of 'what if', what if this song should have changed to this one and why it didn't make it into the album, things like that, but also saves us getting a headache with that."


Do you have any funny stories to share through your touring experience?

     "A lot of cool stuff has happened, it's usually in the middle of the night when people are drunk, when you're just coming out from a show and gear is packed up from the venue and loaded into the bus, ready to head to the next venue. All the funny things between the night and following morning, I cannot pull out any significantly funny moments out of my back pocket like that."


What are your thoughts on "Thalassic" being out on vinyl, was vinyl something you were used to growing up?

     "It's very nice to see the album out on vinyl, actually I think that all of our albums are now pretty much on vinyl, even the first one, so the whole catalogue is out. I think that is just wonderful, I don't use Spotfiy at all basically, I just don't like to use Spotify. When I am at home, I listen to vinyls and have CD's, I also have a CD / cassette player attached to my stereo system which I also find very cool. I was listening to a mix-tape I made somewhere in the early 90's and was pretty surprising stuff what came out then, because the title just said 'Power Metal'.

     When I was a child, we had this very old stereo system at home with an analogue radio, I think there was even a double cassette / CD player and vinyl player, so yeah there was vinyls back in the days when I was growing up. I actually bought myself a vinyl player a few years back and have started collecting vinyls now, I really do enjoy listening to vinyls, it feels very good."


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Uspenski Cathedral, Helsinki / Source: Rough Guides

Of course there are people who prefer digital and others like yourself preferring physical, do you feel at some point there will be a common ground?

     "Yeah of course, I also have all of my music stored on my iPad, so of course the convenience of having all of your music on your little iPad or mobile phone, or you store it to the cloud so you can basically listen to it anywhere in time; that one comes to mind when I am travelling. I don't think it's that handy to be travelling with a vinyl player, amplifier and two huge speakers to pump music out you know? Travelling with dozens of vinyls could be tricky... so I think there are good and bad sides for both in a way, but I guess the older people from the 80's & 90's prefer the physical copy of the album in whatever format, that they can hold it in their hands.

     But the new generation who have been growing up alongside this digital technology, they will appreciate it a lot more just to have it as a download in mp3 version or whatever it is on their mobile phones, etc.

     In a way it is also nice that you can listen an album or at least parts of it online before you purchase them, back in the days you could just go to the record store, pick up an album and take it to the guy at the counter who would hand you over headphones so you could listen to it there, now you can do this at home or wherever you are, sitting on a bus, train, you name it... you can listen to so much music now in an easier way with this digital technology."


    
Some bands are not fussed about genre tagging and some are, where does Ensiferum sit in this?

     "That is a very good question because I think it also depends on who you ask, we have a lot of songs that take influences from many different metal styles, it's hard to pick one specific genre and apply us to it, but we have these Pagan and Viking metal elements alongside Folk Metal... I think we are a part of all of those genres somehow, but we still do consider ourselves a Heavy Metal band which has folk influences in it."


With that in mind, given how distinguishable Finnish folk music is, how would you describe it, how does it differentiate from other folk music?

     "That is a really good question actually, well to me when I listen to the Finnish bands from this genre, they all sound very different to each other, but they are easy to recognise - they have this 'Finnish' sound and touch on the music. If you listen to Turisas, they have very much got their own sound in contrast to say Finntroll who have a totally different sound, to me there is a lot of common factors with these two bands - for example, that they come from Finland."


Speaking of which, given how global metal music is with bands from Botswana, Syria, etc., what are your thoughts on the genre's universal appeal?

     "Heavy Metal is very universal, that is something I can say. Every place that we have played at has had metalheads there no matter where it is. But these countries definitely have Heavy Metal bands from there, just that we over here in Europe or the USA haven't actually noticed them somehow, that's perhaps the trickiest part - I don't know that many bands though I have seen it on Facebook here and there, that there are metal bands coming from the Middle East and have been taking a listen and are like 'oh, this sounds very cool, why not'."


With respect to not just upcoming Finnish bands, but upcoming bands worldwide, what is the biggest bit of advice you could offer?

     "Well first of all play the music that you want to play, play from the heart, never give up; it's a hard and rocky road, with COVID-19 obviously it's not easy for anybody. Just keep on doing what you do and believe in it."


For Metalheads visiting Helsinki, surely there are a lot of venues and so what venues have you most enjoyed performing at? What more can be done to support grass-root venues?

     "Well unfortunately there was 3 venues that have just closed in Helsinki permanently, these 3 venues went down within a period of around 6 months. One of those venues was also working as a rehearsal room for dozens of bands, was knocked down and demolished and from what I know, office buildings will be built in it's space. This venue is actually looking for new premises to continue their work, hopefully they can find some.

     The 2nd one which was called Virgin Oil is being converted into a hotel, so that one is gone and The Circus in down-town Helsinki is also being converted into an office building. So 3 major venues are gone from Helsinki, but we still have the classic Tavastia club - I guess this one will never go away, it's been there since roughly the 60's / 70's, a very long time. Then there are a couple of new ones popping up here and there, I haven't been to those ones so I don't know how they look and sound from inside, but hopefully we will get some new venues to replace the ones that we have lost so far.

     I have seen many shows in these venues and seeing them go really sucks, the local crews from these venues have lost their jobs - both of which are very sad situations.

     That's an excellent question, well I think a lot could be done to make this venue situation a lot better... I don't know, it's so much out of my field of knowledge and know-how to know how these things could actually work in being somewhat successful."



For Metalheads visiting Helsinki, what sights / attractions could you recommend, is metal still as popular in Finland?

     "There are museums and a fair good number of record shops to visit just around the city centre, so I definitely recommend looking those ones up, they have very nice selections and great staff, decent prices too - so check them out and support the record shops. There used to be a lot of metal bars in Helsinki, but I am not sure if we have one left, that was one of the good things about Helsinki, a long time ago though.

     Heavy Metal is still very very popular in Finland and every time a metal band brings out an album, it's always in the top 10 chart over here."


https://www.facebook.com/Ensiferum
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Interview Interrogation: Ember Falls (Finland)

11/6/2020

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"Our influences vary from pop to progressive metal and musicals to death metal."


Right now the Modern Metal genre is massively hot with bands dabbling in pop, electronic music and other avant-garde genres that would otherwise make metal purists vomit in their mouth... guy's it's the 21st century, keep up... metal is evolving and so embrace it. Ember Falls have done exactly that and by bolting together the unmistakable sound of djent with pop and Groove Metal, the Finnish horde have crafted a sound that would be the ire of the elitists (who cares anyway, metal is about opening your mind and Ember Falls do exactly just that).

Now they are working on their new album which is destined to see daylight later this year or early next year, depending on the situation regarding COVID-19. GMA interrogated on their current plans, how COVID-19 has affected them, their past blessings in touring, future plans and what their sound consists of.

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For those who have not heard of Ember Falls, could you give us a brief history of the band and what the band name means?

     "The band was originally formed under the name Mekanism in 2010. We started out as a kind of attempt at a Pantera / Muse hybrid as we can recall. Later it became much 'djentier' and heavier for a few years, and then more and more electronic influences started creeping in. After some line-up changes in 2015 (Thomas joined on vocals and Olli joined on bass; Mikko - who’s since left the band - switched from bass to synths), we changed the name to Ember Falls and released the first song with the new name and image. In a way the Ember Falls sound is sort of a mixture of the earlier “Pantera-influenced” poppy stuff and the later electronic-influenced sound. But a lot better and more compositionally mature, we feel, of course.

     Ember Falls is a name we came up with to stand for a fictitious city in an imaginary multiverse somewhere in the distant future. On the newer songs we are trying to paint this into the lyrics a lot more than on the debut, where the lyrics were a bit all over the place thematically."



You've had a good career so far through supporting bands like Amaranthe and W.A.S.P., surely this must have blown you back a bit?

     "We’ve had great moments and shows definitely. Sometimes it’s hard to believe what we have actually accomplished so far. But we have also worked hard not just as a band but individually too."


How would you describe your sound as you have an eclectic style of metal music going on? What are your influences?

     "Our influences are all over the place. We all share a passion for metal music sure, but our influences vary from pop to progressive metal and musicals to death metal. I think in some of our latest songs you can hear multiple different genres happening."


Were you in bands previously? If not how did you get into playing music, specifically the instruments you play?

Thomas:-

     "I was, and still am, the lead singer in a metal band called Everwave. I have a history as a drummer when I was younger but nowadays see myself clearly as a singer. I do dabble a bit with the acoustic guitar sometimes."


Jay V & Calu:

     "We are brothers and we both started playing guitar as teenagers.We also had a Melodic / Technical Death Metal band called Damaging Fallout back in the days. Jay V was one of the founders of Mekanism and soon Calu joined in as a rhythm guitarist / vocalist."


Ace:

     "I started playing drums when I was 17. Played in one “semi-serious” band in high school / college, but Ember Falls (then ‘Mekanism’) was my first real band so to speak, and here we still are 10 years later."


Oswald:

     "I've been a part of various projects ranging from pop to progressive metal but Ember Falls stands out as being the most serious one. I started playing the bass and the guitar at the age of 15 or so. I'm also writing and producing my own music."

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Tampere, Finland / Source: Sponda

You dropped your latest single 'We Are Become Fire', what was the reception like and have you had any listens from outside of Finland?

     "The reception has been overly positive. We feel our music is now more “us” than it has ever been and people can probably hear that. Currently United States and Germany outrank Finland in streams but we do have have listeners all over the world at least according to Spotify."


What plans did you have before the lockdown set in and were any cancelled / postponed? What plans do you have for late 2020 / early 2021?

     "We did have some live shows planned for the spring, which either got cancelled or postponed to next year. We also were planning to finish our second album which is still on the works. Depending on how this situation develops the album will be released late this year or early next year."


For metalheads visiting your city of Tampere, what sights / attractions and bars / venues could you recommend?

     "Tampere is having a lot of construction done at the moment. Things don’t look very pretty down-town but we do like to sit in the parks and have a few beers when it’s warm out. The basic go-to bars for a metal head would be Jack The Rooster, Trasherie, Majava Bar and the legendary Klubi / Pakkahuone."


Do you have any greetings or thanks that you wish to send out to friends, family, fans etc?

     "Thank you for all the support! We hope you are staying safe and that this situation eases out soon so we can start touring again and say hello to as many of you as possible!"

https://www.facebook.com/EmberFallsOfficial/
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Interview Interrogation: Memoremains (Finland)

30/5/2020

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"Nowadays we have promotion going on in our releases, but in the beginning people outside Finland found us mostly accidentally."


Metal has to evolve naturally and in doing so has to embrace what some might see as unorthodox sounds. One such band who is devoid of being restrained and willingly exploring the music avenues in pop music and disco, is Finland's Memoremains of whom released their latest single and music video "Pounding Heart" to critical acclaim. If you were to strip Amaranthe of it's Death Metal influences and inject it with ABBA or the BeeGees, then you get Memoremains. Given their sound, it almost seems inevitable that they will go far and become another Finnish Metal success story.

Filling in the details of their history, their sound, plans and what metalheads can do in their city of Seinäjoki, the band clearly have a roadmap of where they're aiming to go and showed no weakness in their interrogation... determination radiating from this quintet.

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For people who have not heard of Memoremains, could you please give us a brief history of the band?

     "Memoremains was founded 2016 in Seinäjoki, Finland. The band began to build its career by releasing singles. In 2018 the band released its first EP, “Louder”. Memoremains started touring late 2018. Their first gig in Bar15 was chosen as “The Best Gig of the Year at the Venue”. Since the very first show, the road has already taken the group on an European tour and to summer festivals in Finland - including Provinssi, one of the biggest festivals in Finland. 

     2019 was a roller-coaster and climaxed with gigs and a new single. Always flirting between metal and pop it was probably just a matter of time when this genre-bending band would release their first pop cover song: Madonna’s “Sorry”.  

     Memoremains wastes no time and is already fiercely writing new music after COVID-19 cancelled all of the spring and summer gigs. Well received new song "Pounding Heart" was released in early April. As a release party Memoremains set afoot on new territories and dived in the world of streaming as they had their first live streamed gig on YouTube. Memoremains is locked and loaded! Ready to release their debut album this fall and hit the stages ASAP!"



How would you describe your eclectic sound seeing as you bring in influences from Symphonic Metal, Groove Metal, pop and disco?

     "We don’t use time thinking about what genre we play or are some musical influences right for our music or not. We listen to a wide variety of music and bring the best parts to our music. We haven’t yet found any limits where we could not lead our songs."


You released your latest single and music video "Pounding Heart" (taken from your debut album out this Autumn), what was the reception like and have you had views outside of Finland?

     "Reception was awesome! Thanks to everyone who has given feedback for us! People have said that the song is catchy, fast and well-produced. They have liked the music video as it presents the song genuinely. We have got fans outside of Finland already from our very first releases. It’s actually a bit strange how music can spread nowadays all around the world. Of course nowadays we have promotion going on in our releases, but in the beginning people outside Finland found us mostly accidentally."


Given the COVID-19 pandemic, what plans have you had postponed or cancelled? What have you been doing whilst under lockdown?

     "We had a few gigs in April / May and those have been moved to the future. We had to have our support gig with Battle Beast in April in our home city cancelled; it was very sad that it was cancelled. But we have used this time by making our debut album “The Cost Of Greatness”. We still have some recording to do, but we have progressed quickly. We also had a live stream on the 3rd of April when we released the “Pounding Heart” single."

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Seinäjoki, Finland / Source: Senaatti

What plans do you have for late 2020 going into early 2021? With Brexit, are you worried about the financial cost of coming to play in the UK?

     "Our debut album should come out 16th of October and we have few gigs already agreed during autumn and winter. We try to get some more gigs and plan a tour outside Finland in 2021; and who knows if we write new music also. About Brexit. Well, it makes things of course more complicated, but we don’t think it would be a problem to come to play in UK if we had a chance!"


Do you have any other hobbies or interests outside of Memoremains? How do you unwind at the end of the day?

     "We all have jobs because Memoremains is not working full-time yet. So most of our time goes to our work. Music is the biggest hobby in our free-time and some of us has other bands running on. We also try to do sports and sometimes we are just hanging out together, which has nothing to do with music."


For metalheads visiting your city of Seinäjoki, what sights / attractions and bars / venues could you recommend?

      "For metalheads we would definitely recommend to check out “Rytmikorjaamo” if there would be interesting gigs for you. It’s our city’s biggest venue, you can also find more live shows and underground metal at “Bar 15”. But we recommend to explore Seinäjoki open-mindedly, we have a lot of nice pubs and bars all around the city. There’s not many any mind blowing sights. We recommend to look around and enjoy the rivers, lakes and nature or whatever makes you feel comfortable."


Do you have any hellos or thanks you wish to send out to friends, family, fans etc?

      "Hey everyone! Follow our journey! We have awesome singles and music videos coming out over the coming months. And don’t forget to check out our debut album in October!"

https://www.facebook.com/memoremainsband/
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Interview Interrogation: Timo Kontio and Mathias Lillmåns from ...and Oceans (Finland)

28/2/2020

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It's been 18 years since the Finnish Industrial Metal band ...And Oceans released an album and yet here we are, album number 5 'Cosmic World Mother' is due for execution on the 8th of May. There is a reason behind the lengthy period between albums and that is because the band was under another moniker for 8 years (2005-2013), the name being Havoc Unit. However the sextet from Pietarsaari are back with a new lease of life and are set to carry on from where they left off albeit with 2 members being from the original set-up. New vocalist Mathias Lillmåns and original guitarist Timo Kontio spoke to GMA about this change in name, the new album and the current health of the Finnish Metal scene.

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So here we are album number 5, "Cosmic World Mother" - it looks like ...and Oceans are coming back with renewed vigour, what does it feel like coming back under your original moniker other than 'Havoc Unit'?

Timo:-

     "Of course it feels great. We had such a great run with …and Oceans back in the day. We had thought of coming back a few times. Then we always thought that maybe it’s better to leave it to rest and not trying to force it and make a comeback for the sake of it. Then we had a couple of rehearsals and it was clear that we had to do this. We made a short rehearsal room video and put it online. Feedback was quite great. It gave more boost to that to happen. Soon we got some offers for gigs and festivals. After those we thought that it would be great to do some new music as well and here we are now.

     Havoc Unit was totally different thing music wise and basically everything else as well. …and Oceans, Festerday and Havoc Unit have always been different units. It’s a known misinterpretation that we would have just changed names between them. For example Festarday and …and Oceans are both active now."



Could you give us a brief background behind each of the songs on the album itself? It must feel good to release a new album after 18 years since 'Cypher'?

Mathias:-

     "When I wrote the lyrics to this album it started to shape into a concept album and each song has it's own place and story within that concept. I will not at this time reveal any clues to unlocking each song, since I think that people should think for themselves and form their own vision of what the songs stand for. I can tell that much that this album is all about energy and how it transforms."


Do you feel there is a current lack of Industrial Metal bands? What is about the genre that captivates you and how does this filter into ...and Oceans?

Timo:-

     "I don’t know about that. Don’t follow the current scene that much. Even less of industrial metal bands. My cup of tea is more of black metal and death metal. People might hear that on our new album as well."


Would you say the artwork can be interpreted in many ways? In the case of ...and Oceans perhaps shedding your old line-up away to be reborn anew?

Mathias:-

     "That can be one of way looking at it, yes. It would fit, but it's not my own interpretation. As I said before, I think everyone should form their own opinions. Don't wanna spoil too much here either, but it is very closely connected to the concept. In fact you when you will see the whole artwork of the album you can unlock everything that is "Cosmic World Mother"."

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Pietarsaari, Finland / Source: Marinas.com

What were (if any) the more challenging aspects of creating the new album? Will there be a European tour (and overseas) in support of the album?

Timo:-

     "There were thoughts not doing this like mentioned earlier. Reason was the doubt how it would turn out. Now when the album is ready those doubts were unnecessary. New riffs and melodies kept coming like it’s ’95 again, haha.

     One challenge was the fact that we live so far away from each other and in several different cities. Arrangements and testing new stuff for example. That wasn’t possible at least not so often. It turned out great though.

     We are working on a tour and a few nice possibilities is already there, but we come back to those when confirmed. European tour first."



What is the current state of the Finnish Metal scene? Is it still in the public domain or has it receded more to underground levels?

Timo:-

     "Quite a lot new bands both in death metal and black metal scene. Almost like a 3rd or even 4th wave, haha. People seem to appreciate Finnish bands a lot and why not since quality stuff. Metal in general has been noticed quite well since that is the one thing people know when talking about Finland. Though there are only a few big bands coming from here. Most of the bands are in the underground willingly or forced to stay there for a reason."


For metalheads visiting both Pietarsaari and Vaasa, what sights / attractions could you recommend?

Timo:-

     "Visiting Pietarsaari, hmmm. Not too much to see here. Hardly any live events at least not metal. Our band members live in four different cities nowadays. None of us lives in Vaasa any more."


What are your plans for 2020 post-album release? Are there any greetings you wish to send out?

Timo:-

     "Of course we want to have a really strong coming with this new album. Loads of gigs/festivals, tour. A new video in the making. Hope to see new fans out there and also old fans from the old era of this band. See you on the road!"

https://www.facebook.com/andoceans/
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Interview Interrogation: Jere Luokkamäki of Segmentia (Finland)

20/12/2019

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Pop Metal? Melodic Heavy Metal? Finnish Metal? However you want to describe Segmentia is down to you, but the truth remains that they are one of the fresh products coming off of the Finnish Metal conveyor belt. Only having formed this year, devised and unleashed their debut EP 'Shanghai' and signed a deal with renowned Finnish label Inverse Records, things certainly are going well for this quarter. But as Jere explains, their humble beginnings have provided some guidance for this new beast to follow by...

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"Rumours say that Alvar (Aalto) wanted to paint the coffin shaped church black!"


Give us a brief background of Segmentia, were you in previous bands? What does 'Segmentia' mean?

     "We started playing together with Arttu in 2012. During that time we were playing only covers and the line-up changed a lot during the years. I had already composed a few songs of my own but before that I proposed that we started to create own music, with the band I wanted to have line up that works. I think it was around 2015 or so when we recorded our first demos with that line-up. After that the line-up still changed a lot but we still decided to start recording the songs for our EP.

     All the recordings were ready at the end of 2017 but we were still struggling with our bassist and vocalist. Finally in the end of 2018 when Sami joined the band I was sure that the 3rd member was found and soon after that Laura joined to complete the line-up. I personally have played in many bands, but before Segmentia my main band has been a Power Metal band called Celesty. Actually when we decided to end Celesty it took like a couple of years when I started to look for a new group.

     Segmentia doesn’t mean anything. Our first name was Seventh Segment, but we wanted to have a band name with only one word so I came up with the idea of Segmentia.


You play Pop Metal, would you liken yourselves to Dead By April or how would you describe your sound?

     "When I start to compose a song I never think about the genre or any other band. I just create what’s in my mind and basically clear my head from melodies to my computer. Then I start to write vocal lines and add rhythms etc. then I go to my rehearsal room’s studio and start to produce the song. I know Dead By April and I listened to their first album a lot when it came out, but they might be like one of the 100 influences I have when I create music."


Shanghai' is your debut EP and so what was the response like? Will you tour in support of the EP? Any shows outside Finland?

     "The response has been great. I only have heard good things and when we play live, people really seem to enjoy our performance and music, even if they don’t know our songs well. We have done some shows in Finland and yeah we are planning to play worldwide. This is only the beginning of Segmentia and we have lots of plans for the future, so we’ll see what is going to happen. Anyway I’m very excited about the future."



     Talk us through 'Shanghai', what do the tracks mean and why is the EP title borrowed from a city in China?


     "Shanghai reflects the light that comes when there is someone whom shares the joys and sorrows of this life. We are quite alone here on Earth called "The Dark Sea" in the song, and when there is someone whom you can share that life, the shores of the dark sea shimmer. Geographically, Shanghai is an island in the middle of a dark sea, and thinking of that actual island maybe can help to see this idea.

     I almost ended my entire musical career after Celesty about 7 years ago. Then my current wife told me to stop those crazy talks. This gave me the courage and the spark to try and start a new band. Shanghai's lyrics are not only a tribute to love, but also a tribute to my wife. The song also tells us how each of us should have that bright person in our lives. We called the EP Shanghai also because every song tells a story in its own way from different parts, from the trip to a band and family. We have to be able to share joys and sorrows because that sense of security really has a lot to do with how our band holds together."


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Lakeuden Risti Church, Seinäjoki / Source: Pinterest

How does it feel to be a part of the Inverse Records family? Surely this is a dream start for the band?

     "Well this was very natural choice for us. I have studied their work a lot and I know the guys who work there. Also we decided to try to do a lot of ourselves for the release and that we didn’t try to get any labels behind us or anything like that. We just started this by ourselves and so that we can do a lot of ourselves we choose Concorde Music Company and Inverse to help us out."


For metalheads visiting Seinäjoki, what sights / attractions could you recommend? Any pubs, venues?

     "Actually Seinäjoki is like other cities in Finland as well, it's at it's greatest in the summer. Here in Seinäjoki is quite little sight so see but one of our sights is the church in the down town who has designed by famous Finnish Architect Alvar Aalto. Rumours say that Alvar wanted to paint the coffin shaped church black!

    We also have many quite big festivals here in summertime. Provinssirock is one of the coolest and biggest festivals in Finland and the venue called Törnävän Saari is also wonderful sight to see. Also we have Tango music festival here, which also brings a lot of people to our city. Then there is also Vauhtiajot rock and race festival which is music and rally on the same weekend. Then we have the famous club called Rytmikorjaamo and a legendary pub called “Warttibaari” Bar 15, where also Segmentia played their first gig on 6th April 2019."


With 2019 coming near to a close, what plans have you got for the rest of the year leading into 2020?

     "We have planned a lot. Priority one is to finalize our own website http://www.segmentia.net. Also this end of the year we are planning to play at least one gig and also we shoot our second music video from one of the EP songs but I won’t tell you yet which one. Also I have started to record demos from new songs I have composed and I believe that we start the pre-production of Segmentia debut album in year 2020.

     Also, we are going to be active in many ways to keep the name Segmentia familiar in people’s ears. Play lot of gigs in Finland but hopefully also in approach, maybe support some bigger bands."



Are there any greetings, or thank you's that you wish to send out to friends, family, etc?

     "Hello all Global Metal Apocalypse readers! Greetings from beautiful Finland, the land of the thousand lakes! I hope that you enjoyed our interview. Go and check Segmentia music, follow us on social media, tell us to your friends and families and most important, remember to say kind words to your loved ones!"

https://www.facebook.com/8egmenti4/
https://instagram.com/segmentia
https://twitter.com/S3gm3ntia/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB1kF2Fbv9xk_I15fCHc52Q
https://spoti.fi/2lKIYLn

Order the CD: https://www.recordshopx.com/single/segmentia/shanghai/#654877
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Interview Interrogation: Tuomas Seppälä of Amberian Dawn (Finland)

9/3/2017

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Hailing from the arctic nation of the north, Finland, Amberian Dawn have been wandering the icy landscape for the past decade and despite having parted ways with numerous musicians along the way including vocalist Heidi Parviainen (who now fronts Dark Sarah), guitarist Kasperi Heikkinen and sadly the late Tommi Kuri, Amberian Dawn are leading the Finnish Metal front-line with newfound renaissance and oomph in their stride. 

Celebrating their landmark achievement, the Neo-Classical Power Metal outfit fronted by Capri (Päivi Virkkunen) since 2012 have shown no signs of stopping and as they have recently completed their first ever headline tour, it was only right for them to be grilled by means of our interview interrogation. Tuomas Seppälä stood up to the task of giving the accounts of Amberian Dawn's past, present and future....

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Hi guys, firstly how was your UK / EU tour? What were the highlights?

     "The tour was amazing. It was our first European tour as headliners and there was a lot of new things for all of us. It’s different to arrange your own headliner tour, than take part in some other tour as a supporting band. We all had a great time. There was a lot of highlights, the London show was one of those I think. We had a nice amount of gig-goers everywhere and that encourages us to continue touring."


You've released 7 albums in 11 years, which is your favourite out of the lot? Do you keep in touch with Heidi? Are you aware of her new band Dark Sarah?

     "My favourite ones are probably all the latest albums on which Capri is on vocals. That’s because at the moment I feel that I’ve found my true way of composing music with her as vocalist. About Heidi, I haven’t really been in contact with her and I haven’t checked out her musical projects. It’s nothing personal, I’m just not interested in that kind of music."


Would you say your sound has changed a lot over the last decade? Or would you say it's still considered 'Neo-Classical / Power Metal'? What is Neo-Classical?

     "The sound & feel has changed a lot over the years. My way of composing music varies a lot in time and I’m always trying to find some new angle with each and every new studio album. I don’t want to do the same kind of music over and over again. It’s obvious that Neo-Classical & Power Metal elements haven’t been in front lately, but I think that some of those elements are coming back on our next studio album. Neo-Classical as a term (as far as I know) means having elements of classical music mixed in your own music. "


With Eurovision coming, as a band would you ever put yourself forward to represent Finland?

     "I would do it if the circumstances would be just right. It’s also about timing, about my other projects, schedules etc. Someday I just might go and apply for that contest but I still don’t know if that is what I would like to do it with Amberian Dawn, or by myself as solo artist. Let’s see what’s going to happen in the future. I’m always open for different and new things (new things for me at least)."

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What in your opinion makes metal music popular in Finland? Is it still as popular as say a decade ago?

     "Rock & metal music in general has always been popular here in Finland but it’s starting to change here. Finland is following the trends set by the rest of the world so metal music is losing it’s fan base (not so popular among younger generations) here and many heavy metal enthusiasts are really worried about that.


What does Amberian Dawn mean?

     "The name of the band is just something we came up whilst doing a lot of brainstorming and discussing. It’s always hard to come up with a new band name. So many good names are already taken. Gee, I would love to have “Rammstein” for example as a band name, if it would be unused as a band name. It would be awesome to have a cool name like that for our own band"


With Brexit impending, as a band are you concerned about touring the UK or fairly calm about it?

     "Yes I’m worried about it a little bit but I don’t really know that I should be worried about it or not… but it’s going to be a real shame if we’re not able to do shows in the UK any more due to some political things."


Finally what are your plans for the year ahead? Any greetings, thank you's that you wish to send out?

     "Well, right now we’ve just started recording a new studio album and that’s how the next few months are going to be spent. The album is coming out later via Napalm Records, the exact release date isn’t decided yet though. After the release there’s probably going to be some touring in Europe at least. I wish that all of our UK fans would have a chance to see us live. With our previous tour we were only able to do just one show in the UK (in London). I hope that with our next tour we’re able to do more shows in UK."

amberiandawn.com
https://www.facebook.com/amberiandawn/

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Interview Interrogation: Armi Päivinen from Ravenia (Finland)

9/6/2016

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It's conceivable that the Finnish people are metal-music crazy, with a hole host of bands making names for themselves and achieving mainstream success. From Children of Bodom to Nightwish and HIM to Lordi (who won Eurovision 2006) and Apocalyptica who still to this day remain as the sole Cello Metal band. But gnawing at the latter's heels is the nonet Ravenia of whose self-styled Symphonic Metal sound takes on an epic dramatic twist, with the symphonies being engulfed by film-score/operatic elements that leave the listener entranced by this sensational outfit.

Having released their debut album "Beyond the Walls of Death" back at the end of April, it was about time GMA locked the group away in a Lapland cabin, waited till dark and under the night sky watched the Northern lights dance away whilst we interrogated Armi Päivinen, Ravenia's vocalist. It begins with the background story of Ravenia's past...

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"I don't think that metal music is very well represented in the the history of soundtracks but maybe we can fix that"


"Back in 2013 Samuli Reinikainen asked me to sing on a couple of his songs, so I wrote the vocal arrangements and lyrics for them. The vocals had already been recorded when he decided that he no longer wanted to work with me. Well, we figured why waste the vocals when they were already recorded, so we decided to compose new songs around them. Hence Ravenia was born. After that we started composing music for our full-length. Samuli knew our other violinist, Ville, so we asked him if he wanted to be a part of the album, he also recruited the other guys.

We previously worked with Veikko in the group In Silentio Noctis, so we really wanted him to be a part of this as well, he was an obvious choice for us. Samuli has also played together with our bassist Toni Hintikka, so he asked him to tag along, we felt that his style would fit our album perfectly. After we finished recording in the summer of 2015, the album was then mixed at Sonic Pump Studios and mastered at Chartmakers. Finally, our debut ”Beyond The Walls of Death” was released April 29th via Inner Wound Recordings."



Ravenia is called a 'Epic Film score Metal' band, what is inspiration behind this and do you hope it will enable you to create your own genre?


"Who knows, it would certainly be cool. We really love film score / trailer music and we really wanted to get a chance to do that ourselves. Since metal has always been the thing closest to our hearts, we didn't really want to stray too far from it, so we figured why not combine the two. The trailer music elements are definitely our main focus, so the guitars and drums are there really to support that theme and not the other way around."


Because of your distinct sound, could you see Ravenia writing the score for a film? What upcoming film(s) would you love to pen the score for? Do you feel that metal music is not well represented in film soundtracks?

"We could definitely see ourselves writing a score to a fantasy or a war film. It would have been fun to be involved in writing the music for the Assasin's Creed movie but since it's already coming out in December, it's a little late for that. I don't think that metal music is very well represented in the the history of soundtracks but maybe we can fix that, hahhah!"


As Ravenia is a nonet (nine-piece), is it hard to maintain stability and write music together? What challenges has the band faced?

"Since Samuli and I write all the songs together, it makes it a lot easier than having nine people all pitching in with their ideas. We've had quite a few challenges, of course budget wise and more than our fair share of difficulties with the studio computer not working because of the massive amount of tracks. Sometimes we are forced to do things really slowly and it's wasting a lot of valuable time, so we certainly hope that once we start making our next album we would have been able to fix that issue."


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Armi Päivinen, defining 'Film-Score Metal'

Your debut album 'Beyond The Walls Of Death' is now out, what has the response been so far? Do your plan to tour the UK / Europe in support of the album?

"So far the response from most people has been absolutely incredible, it's truly wonderful to see that the emotion is coming through in our music. I have never really heard such beautiful things that
some of our listeners have said, it is very touching. We don't have any touring plans at the moment because of the size of our group, also we have quite a large amount of backing tracks, so unfortunately the venue needs to be quite large in order for those things to work well in a live setting. We have kind of dug a little grave for ourselves with that."



Could you give us a brief breakdown as to what each song means, which was the easiest and hardest to record and what one is your favourite?


"Here it goes, I'll do my best to break them down..

  • ”For Those We Forsakened” is about everything going wrong, feeling like giving up and there's really no one you can lean on. Finally ending up losing everything because you didn't really have any strength to fix things alone.

  • ”Into Oblivion” is a song basically about suicide and giving into the darkness, it's sort of a continuation to ”For Those We Forsaken”.

  • ”We All Died For Honor” tells the story of those who were left behind when their loved has passed at war.

  • ”There Is But One Path” is about you letting go of a loved one.

  • ”In Silence” is about crossing to the other side really. I wouldn't call it a very positive description of that though.

  • ”When Darkness Rings” is actually a ghost story, being possessed by a spirit.

  • ”The Fallen” is about not forgetting who you are and what you were meant to be even though it seems like all hope is gone.

  • ”We Stand As One” I would call almost an end of the world song, fighting to survive but standing united even when it all comes to an end.


Hmm, the hardest one to record for me was probably ”In Silence”, I don't know why, it just took the longest. The easiest one for me, I would say was ”For Those We Forsaken”. It's hard to name a favourite, parents love all their children equally but ”Into Oblivion” has always been close to my heart musically, it really has the best of both worlds I think."




Your music video 'We All Died For Honor', what is it about? Is it about the Lapland War against the Soviet Union in WW2? Or something else?

"We didn't want it to be about a specific war, so it's more of a general description. The point of the video is not so much on the war itself as it is in those that were left behind to mourn. We wanted that to be the main focus."


Barack Obama acknowledged Finland's long history of successfully exporting metal music at the Nordic summit, what is it do you think that makes Finnish Metal music so popular? With Lordi's Eurovision win arguably being the most outstanding achievement for any Finnish musician, let alone metal, would Ravenia contemplate putting themselves forward to represent Finland at any forthcoming edition of the ESC?


"For some reason, you are not the first person to ask us that. Lately quite a few people have been
asking the same thing. We can't really see ourselves participating in the contest at this point but who knows what crazy plans we'll come up with in the future! It's kinda hard to say what makes Finnish metal so popular but it might have something to do with that that it's cold and dark almost all year long and what else is there to do in Finland besides making music?"



Finally have you got any hello's, thank you's, greetings you wish to send out?


"First of all thank you for the interview and to all our listeners a huge thank you for all the kind words and support. Stay epic."


Ravenia's debut album "Beyond The Walls Of Death" is out via Inner Would Recordings

https://www.facebook.com/raveniaofficial
http://www.raveniaofficial.com/

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GMA Interview Interrogation: Whispered (Finland)

12/4/2016

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It's not uncommon for a metal band to fall into a sub-genre that is totally unique, not only in terms of lyrical content or sound, but by the sub-genre name itself. So when Finland's Whispered announced details for their forthcoming album "Metsutan - Songs Of The Void", the slight-head turn became imminent after the first word. Why is a Finnish Metal band using a Japanese word in their album title? Turns out they're a 'Samurai Metal' band, well musically they're Melodic Death / Power Metal tinged with Eastern 'Oriental' Folk music influences, but we prefer the new genre tag as a way to describe them.

They might be fashioning blades, experts at martial arts, or masters at kanji calligraphy, but they're not resistant to our interrogation methods. Sadly no sake came between us or the band....

Vocalist / guitarist Jouni Valjakka and guitarist Mikko Mattila entered the interrogation chamber.


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"I can't really say what defines "Samurai Metal". Maybe just the lyrics? I dunno. Since our new stage wardrobe, we should maybe be called Kabuki Kombat Metal!"

Whispered has been going now for 12 years, what challenges have you had to overcome and how does it feel to be releasing album #3 'Metsutan - Songs of the Void'?


Jouni:
          "Well thinking of the history of us (the band), we've had the usual. Finding a committed line-up, making the best out of our thematics, getting enough cash to go on etc., Particularly with this album we run into some minor technical problems, some choir sessions were really hard to compile, and I had the pleasure and pain of programming most of the orchestrations and Japanese instruments for the first time. Among the usual, programming a huge orchestra and making the  ethnic instruments sound as organic as possible besides the band was quite a challenge for me."


Mikko:

          "Hey! It feels really awesome to be finally releasing our new album. It's been in the making for so long and finally we can get "rid of it". There's been a lot of challenges even with this album. You just don't make this kind of music by going to the studio, hit record and bang away a few tunes. Although we sometimes wish we could do that."


Could you please explain your choice of lyric topic, namely why and how did you come around to singing about Samurai's, Bushido and Japanese Legends? Do you hope your designed sub-genre 'Samurai Metal' will catch on?


Jouni:

          "Well I have been into Japanese culture and especially aesthetics for a really long time. When I was young I really felt the urge to create something unique and this kind of style felt really natural choice for me. Japanese culture has an endless inspiration for me and for a time now, the lyrics have had a bit more personal touch in them too. Meaning that thinking about struggles, opportunities and values of life, the way of the warrior can and should be represented in those too. 

         I don't care much for genres and at the beginning when we were called "Samurai Metal" I wasn't too excited, but nowadays when I'm not so angsty-teenager-elitist anymore I think it's a really cool sounding genre. I can't really say what defines "Samurai Metal". Maybe just the lyrics? I dunno. Since our new stage wardrobe, we should maybe be called Kabuki Kombat Metal!"



Because Metal music has endless ways it can transform, do you think that bands could create any style of metal they want, or are there limitations? Should it be a natural process rather than looking for new styles to do, just because they don't exist?


Jouni:

          "There are no limits and there never should be. When you're creating something you just gotta let everything go and not restrain yourself in any way. Of course someone might not like your modern-fusion-rap-progressive-extreme-swedish-folk-influenced-nomad-metal, but that's their problem. Not yours."


Mikko:

          "I think there's really no limitations whatsoever. If you come up with something unique that sounds really cool then just go for it. It's always good to search for a new angle on things musically, but it definitely shouldn't be forced. If it's forced it's bound to sound fake. For example Folk Metal is still a rather new style and when it got popular many new bands started to copy the originators. So now there's like a million Korpiklaani / Ensiferum etc. copies around. In a way we are doing it ourselves too, but you should always draw influences from many different sources and try to blend them to a unique mix of your own."


What instruments do you use to incorporate the Eastern Folk (Oriental) influences? Do you think this is a relatively new concept?


Jouni:

          "Well we use mostly the most common Japanese folk instruments like koto, shamisen and shakuhachi and some Chinese folk instruments too. Most of them are programmed, but we've used some real woodwinds earlier and now we have real shamisen played on the CD. Using these kind of instruments in rock music is not in anyway a new idea, but using them with rather fast, brutal and melodic metal is something quite fresh I think. At least I can proudly say that no-one in Finland has never done this before!"

Regarding your new album 'Metsutan - Songs of the Void', what song is your favourite and could you give us a short but concise explanation behind the song titles?


Jouni:

          "I can't say what's my favourite yet but I really like the song "Tsukiakari". It''s mostly a bit slower than the others and I think we really got a nice atmosphere in it. "Tsukiakari" means moonlight and it tells of a servant who kills himself in order to change his powerful master's evil ways. I read a story about the concept years ago and the idea really stuck with me."


Mikko:

          "I think my favourite song of all Whispered tracks is "Bloodred Shores of Enoshima". It is an epic journey, the most symphonic track we've ever done and the story can be realized as a kabuki play with 5 acts. It's also a very challenging track to play and in that regard just how I like it!"


Surely if and when you tour Japan (unless you have already?), they will admire you for this choice of metal? Do you have any fans out in Japan? Will you release your album out there?


Jouni:

          "Our gig in Japan had a really nice reception and we had extremely fun to interact with the fans there. I hope we have a chance to release Metsutan in Japan too!"


Mikko:

          "We played one showcase gig in Japan in 2013 and yes, it seems we have fans there. We were really not sure if they would think that we're too weird coming from Finland wearing hakamas and kumadori face-paint. But the audience response was unbelievable when we played in Tokyo, although a bit surprised at the beginning of the show. "Shogunate Macabre" was later released there and hopefully Metsutan too at some point. I'm actually very much looking forward to getting to record some bonus tracks for a possible future Japan release. It's always great fun to make some game music covers or something along the lines."


As 'Metsutan - Songs of the Void' is out in a months time, will there be a tour across the EU, possibly the UK, or just across Finland? Where have you toured before?



Mikko:

          "We get asked this a lot and unfortunately the answer is still the same: we are very open to opportunities to play anywhere outside Finland, but at the moment there's nothing concrete in the planning. Organizers, promoters, really anybody that can help us change the situation please contact us ASAP or be devoured by Gozuryu!"


Jouni:

"What he said".


Because Eurovision is taking place in May, have you ever considered entering the competition? What was your reaction when Lordi won Eurovision? Surely this has to be monumental not only for Finland, but for the Finnish Metal scene (as well as metal generally)?


Jouni:

          "Eurovision would be fun to attend, since I think I'd get some sick pleasure making as "pop" song as possible. Then we'd of course need clean vocals too, since the masses aren't ready for a full-blown samurai mayhem! Or are they? I was sooo happy when Lordi won! For a one night the whole Finland was celebrating the return of Hard Rock and Metal! Of course tomorrow we all went back to work and to listening to some more Kanye West."


Mikko:

          "I remember being in a bar, watching Lordi win Eurovision and thinking how can this be.. is this real life? Of course it was awesome and I'm so happy they won with a song that wasn't directly composed as a "Eurovision song". You know like the pop format "demands" or so it seems they think. Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät should have won too last year!"


Finally have you got any hello's or thank you's you wish to send out?

Jouni:

          "Thank you for the good questions! Keep your blades up high and be sure to get the new album to your hands 20.05.2016 ! Hail Gojira!"


Mikko:

          "Thank you for the interview! Kanpai and hail Gozuryu!"


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GMA Interview Interrogation: Sami Hinkka (Ensiferum)

15/3/2016

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"Finland is a metal country, you know if you just go to a normal shopping mall you might hear Amorphis playing from the speakers, and that's like normal."


At Ensiferum's gig at the 02 Islington on 25th March, GMA found a moment to talk to vocalist and bassist Sami Hinkka about their tremendous 20 year career, their latest album "One Man Army", thoughts about Bloodstock, the fabled Eurovision question and of course many other things. The tour was coming to a close on the 25th and so understandably it was going to be a fairly emotional night, the tour was with their friends Metsatöll from Estonia (who we also interview) and was supporting the new album. As Ensiferum have been going over 20 years (as said), Sami gave us an insight into what the high and low points of the band's career have been so far:-


"(laughs), I'd say every show has been a high point of the career, low point? Erm, I guess for Markus the founder of the band, back in 2004 where there were a lot of line-up changes - those were the moments that kind of tested his faith". Since then the line-up has been solid for 10 years, and who knows if it will or wont change again (bands are constantly evolving). Thankfully Sami admitted that "Everything's working better than ever", so the prospect of a line-up change? Virtually zero chance.


Given the fact that "One Man Army" did exceedingly well across Europe having nabbed the coveted top 40 spot in four countries (Finland #1, Germany #15, Austria #37 and Switzerland #24), I asked Sami for his thoughts on whether metal music is or is not being accepted by the mainstream more nowadays or on the other hand is metal breaking newer ground?:-


"I guess so, it's kind of hard to say as a Finnish person because you know, Finland is like a 'metal country', you know if you just go to a normal shopping mall you might hear Amorphis playing from the speakers and that's like "normal". But yes I think in general metal of course is reaching new people, on the other hand all the young metalheads are getting older and they are having kids, and of course you teach them to listen to good music (laughs happily)". So is metal in the Finnish blood? "Yes! For some weird reason, I wish there would be like a really good 'deep' answer why there are so many metal bands coming out from Finland but I still don't have.... I just blame the long winter, nobody has anything better to do than sit in the rehearsal room and make music (laughs)".


Of course after making music, bands generally speaking go on tours and or play festivals to showcase their new stuff on the live half, so with Ensiferum having played Bloodstock last year, Sami shared his thoughts on the festival, question is would they ever contemplate going into Eurovision?


"Well we've played Bloodstock quite a few times already, it's honestly one of the best festivals in Europe, it's always a lot of fun and we have a lot of friends in the UK so it's always cool to see them. It's a professional festival where everything works and some of my friends have been there you know as guests. I've never been there myself, I've always been there just as a musician, but from my festival guests perspectives I've heard that everything works really well so, so keep up the good work!"


Sami gladly shared some tips for those unsigned bands or those new to the festival experience:-

  • DON'T get drunk before the show, just do your best and remember when it's your time to get on stage, get THERE on time.

  • Do your thing with 110%, because then it's your stage, do not apologise for anything.
  • When it's your time to start the show or get off the stage, find the stage manager and respect all people.  Those who talk about your band, buy your CD's, respect those people.


"To be honest I don't really have an opinion about Eurovision (laughs), I haven't really followed anything what goes on in the pop culture in a way. It's OK if you like it, but I can't see Ensiferum doing it, we're.... nah, we trust in our own music so we don't need that kind of exposure"


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As said the show that night is the last on the tour, so naturally Sami was happy to reflect on the past few weeks and share his thoughts. Additionally when speaking earlier about their landmark achievement of 20 years activity, has Ensiferum ever contemplated making a band documentary?


"We go home for around a week and then we go to a festival in Sweden, and a few weeks later we're going to hit the road with Fleshgod Apocalypse (IT) to do a European tour which is going to be fantastic! Then it's summer festival season, and for autumn and winter we have some special things coming up sorry I can't reveal anything yet, you know 'politics' about releasing dates and so on (hint there dropped?). All the time we try and work on new songs, we're hoping we can make the studio early next year and start the 'circle of life' again so, release the new album and do some touring around the world.

It looks pretty busy because we also did a few acoustic shows in Finland and they work out really well and is a lot of fun for us and for also fans, some people even said that they were the best shows they've ever seen from Ensiferum; they're like hardcore fans who have seen us like seven times, so maybe we also record some, there will be a lot of stuff that are like acoustic material so maybe we record acoustic things some day and it would be cool to do an acoustic tour actually. Metal Blade also kinda showed the green light for the new DVD's, so we also have to start working with that, so we're pretty busy for the next 20 years (laughs)!


Regarding the documentary:-

"Yes! At one point that was the plan, we actually started working with the new DVD already in 2010 and we shot some material and Markus the frontman of the band, he has LOTS of material of the early days, even from the very first show of Ensiferum when the guys were like 15 years old (chuckles), 'teenagers'. But yeah that would be so cool to do a good package with all kinds of history stuff, interviews with old members, stuff like that you know good material from all the 20 years, and then also have a really good show, some big venue with pyro's well you know a good show. But Spinefarm actually said that these days nobody actually buys DVD's, so let's put that on hold.

Now we changed the label to Metal Blade and I think it was around last Summer we were drinking with the guys, they were actually the ones to ask have you thought about a new DVD? We said yeah but nobody buys DVD's, they were like no no no no! So we talked about it a little bit and they are into making new DVD's so maybe some day, I'm absolutely sure that it's not going to come out this year but maybe when we turn 25 or something like that, but that's something we're working on. It's not the highest priority at the moment and the album will be.... (Sami gets lost in thought)... ah it's lost, I really like Metsatöll (basically Metsatöll were sound-checking downstairs and you could hear it through the double doors separating the stairwell (where we standing) and the auditorium)".

So we changed our conversation to Metsatöll, is it the first time they've played here?


"No they've been here (UK) before and I'm really happy that we got them on board, I can't really remember where we met the guys.... err no we did a few shows in Poland and just talking shit and drinking after the show, where we was telling them 'Oh we're going to the UK' and they were like 'Arrrr we really want to go there also and we're planning to go there, so we were like 'hey come on, let's unite forces' and so here we are. We're old friends and it's so cool to share a bus with them because they're old geezers like we are and then it's really mellow in the bus, most of the time, old men can party (chuckles) also but it's been a really nice tour", and so are Metsatöll realistically the best well-known band from Estonia? "Yes they probably are, well we always called them the 'Metallica of Estonia' (laughs)".


Picture
We hope Ensiferum don't kill us for this


As with a handful bands in the past, I asked Sami a question that has pretty much become a stable household question within the GMA repertoire. Would you say that Metal lyrics (in Ensiferum's case folkloric) can be educational? Could metal lyrics generally demand a certain amount of intellect?


"In a way yes, when I write the lyrics of course I want there to be a point actually in the lyrics, so educational? Yes I hope so but on the other hand I never want to explain my lyrics too much, because like art in general there is no right or wrong and I think it would be really wrong to kind of tell the fans 'this song is about this, this and this', I want everyone to have the freedom of interpretation and if its just like a 'grab a beer and yeaaaaah into battle and just kill your f*cking enemies', but you can also find a deeper level if you want.

However the second part really stumped Sami:

"That's a really tough question because, I don't think art should be an elitist thing, that only this kind of music is for people who like jazz or something like this, it's just for people who really understand the music and all the theory, I have many friends who don't understand anything about music theory but they really like jazz, this was the first thing that came to mind. Even for me when I first heard this stuff I was like 'ah its so like.. artificial', something they're trying to be, something very artistic. But I am really happy that I went the whole circle and I really love the art nowadays, it just took some time for me to open my eyes and find some really good music. There shouldn't be IQ tests to be able to enjoy music, no matter what genre it is".


So how did Sami get into metal music, become a musician and keep himself active outside of playing music?


"I have to blame my big brothers, I grew up with AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath... that was just... those were my lullabies when I was a baby (laughs) and my other big brother he was an excellent guitar player oh when I was like 10 or something, and I just wanted to jam with him because it was so cool seeing him play "Stairway To Heaven", I was like 'awwwh that's so cool' and I really loved Iron Maiden already back then and Steve Harris was my god so, I thought 'hey' maybe I should start playing bass and he (Sami's brother) helped me to pick my first bass, taught me the first songs including 'Iron Man' (Black Sabbath), 'Comfortably Numb' (Pink Floyd) and of course 'Stairway To Heaven', those were the first songs.

Yeah from there on it was really natural to go to Metallica (he also got into some melodic band - could not quite catch the name), later on I got into much more, but also I think it's really good to have a wide horizon and keep your eyes (and ears) open, because the world is full of good music and nobody can be angry all the time you need all the scale, and as a musician it's really good to play different stuff and I think that's one of my strongest points as a musician, as a bass player that I played with so many different peoples, different kinds of music. Even when I started playing metal in my home town, the best musicians of all the guys were older than me and had a metal band. I hadn't heard any of the stuff that they listened to at that time but they were just the best musicians, it was so cool to play like them, it was challenging for me and I got into metal much later."



Sami had this parting message for various peoples:-


"I'd like to thank all the fans who came to the shows and in case you haven't heard the new album, check it out 'One Man Army' and hope to see you all soon and 'vittu perkele saatan' (is assumed what is said), it's cursing in Finnish" - make of it what you wish.

http://www.facebook.com/Ensiferum
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Interview Interrogation: Amberian Dawn (Finland)

12/2/2016

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Our latest interrogation focuses on the Neo-Classical Power Metal outfit from Finland, Amberian Dawn. Having released their latest music video 'Fame & Gloria' (featured above), it was about time we caught up with the quintet as they celebrate their tenth anniversary this year (happy birthday guys!)

We talk about Eurovision and their thoughts about it, insinuating a possible future participation - if they could win it for Finland like Lordi did, then lightning would have struck twice. Their latest album "Innuendo" also receives a cooking as we find out what simmers underneath the latest effort, we ask how the change of vocal duties have affected the band as a whole and how they cope with the stress of touring.

Tuomas Seppälä (below second from right) gave us the lowdown.

Picture


  
Amberian Dawn formed way back in 2006 and since then the band has gone from strength to strength, with very few low points to reflect upon Tuomas shed light on what the positives have been:
"One of the biggest one was our first European tour in 2008. It was really awesome to get a chance to tour with Epica just after releasing our debut album. As a young band we were just learning how to do it all. We learned a lot during this tour from Epica."


Taking notes from such a well and truly respected metal band such as Epica has helped Amberian Dawn clamber up the ladder to reach heights they might well not have imagined back in their early years. Their latest chapter in the band's career came in form of their latest album "Innuendo", in fact at the back end of 2015 they toured in support of said album along with Delain and The Gentle Storm. However they don't plan to stop there not by a long shot, with Tuomas admitting that they're "planning to tour again this year, (so) let's see when it's going to happen. It takes some time to organize a tour". Time does appear to fly by and as 2015 came to a close and 2016 came into our lives, this inevitably started a new chapter for Amberian Dawn, a period of down time and time spent away from band activities except for some Summer festival appearances of which Amberian Dawn will need to rest and recharge themselves for.


For Tuomas taking a break from the band means he is able to enjoy doing "
sports of all kinds. In the summer I like to jog. In the winter I like to do indoor cycling for example", it is always important for musicians to take a break once in a while and spend time with their loved ones or indeed on their own life and maintain their well-being. Tuomas admits that most of the time touring has it's best and worst parts, right at the top of the best parts is performing and that "If we wouldn't enjoy it so much, we wouldn't do it all", yet hovering in the background of every good moment is elements of bad moments waiting to strike, "of course there have also been some bad moments on tours and usually those are somehow related to technical matters". With all the concerns and worries, bouts of excitement and happiness, time does have a knock on effect on all musicians, sometimes taking things slow can be for the best.


On the continuing theme of time, 2012 became a turning point for Amberian Dawn and in specific their departing vocalist
Heidi Parviainen who was soon to be replaced by incumbent vocalist Päivi "Capri" Virkkunen. Naturally with the change in vocal duties there was a subtle reason behind this, Tuomas explains the decision behind this change:


"Capri has a totally different approach to singing than Heidi does. Capri is able to do both rock vocals and operatic vocals. At the moment I prefer her rock vocals and it gives me new possibilities with the songwriting process. Heidi's departure from Amberian Dawn was as amicable as is humanly possible. Heidi and I decided in early 2012 that we're going to part ways after recording ”Circus Black” and after all the promotional work relating to the album release is done... we also decided to do our final show together with Heidi despite the fact we  had already found a new singer. I think it was a good call for everybody that we finished our co-operation with Heidi at a such a good festival. Now our lyrics are written by Capri. Writing of the lyrics has always been a job for the vocalist in AD"


Songwriting is never an easy process, especially when you're stuck on what ideas you wish to circumvent around the song as a whole, yet there are times where a song can be as bonkers as the performers and yet still score a reputation no matter the genre. So when asked about whether Amberian Dawn could and would write a song to enter the Finnish national selection for Eurovision with, Tuomas admits that he "
would see that as a possibility. Maybe even next year ;) I don't see what harm it would do to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest.", well Lordi won it for Finland and even then Teräsbetoni represented Finland at the Eurovision Song Contest the following year.
 

Tuomas hopes to see all Amberian Dawn fans on future tours as they have tour plans in the future, so watch this band with interest, once again it's all a matter of time.

"Innuendo" is out now via Napalm Records


http://amberiandawn.com/
https://www.facebook.com/amberiandawn/
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