Finntroll Interview With Metal-Rules.com
Interviewed by Luxi Lahtinen
Trolls donīt exist! In fact, they never have.
Sometimes you get lucky, tho. I had this extraordinary chance to
get my hooks into a couple of meek and mellow Finn trolls who were very
keen on discussing about the life in the woods, DANZIG(!), food
recipes(!!), big ears(!?), a Cooperīs test(??) - and even surprisingly
enough, their musical journey right into the heart of "Jaktens Tid"
which actually is their 2nd album as well.
A huntingīs time on hand, keep on reading what else the
maestros themselves Katla and Somnium had in their minds on the verge of
a new era...
Be
sure to read out CD review for Finntroll's CD - JAKTENS TID!
To start things off, here comes an obligatory
sport-like 1st question for you guys; howīs it feeling at the
very moment when youīve got your new album out titled "Jaktens Tid"
and the selling for it has been doing pretty good since it came out for
like 2-3 weeks ago?
Katla: What else can I say, but it feels great!
Somnium: I agree, it feels great. Itīs not been
released anywhere elz yet...
Katla: So far itīs been released here in Finland only.
As far as I know, a great bunch of promos has been sent out for
magazines, radiostations, labels, etc. by SPINE/SPIKEFARM RECORDS, tho.
Like you just said, itīs only been out for a very
short period of time. Do you have any idea how itīs been starting
selling...?!
Somnium: HMMM(!!), hard to say... maybe 1000-1500
copies has been sold thus far... (?)
Your new albumīs called "Jaktens Tid"
as we stated earlier. I was just wondering whether it is some sort
of a concept album where every song is in a way at least connected to
each other as far as some stories there go?
Katla: No, not really. At least not the way our
1st album happened to be. But anyway, it does have some sort of a
feeling to the end of the world, but not much else really. The
songs on it donīt have that kind of a connection to each other in the
sense of a concept album. Every song has its own separate little
story, so I wouldnīt talk about any concept thing in its very meaning
too much...
J A K T E N S T I D
Letīs scratch the surface of "Jaktens Tid"
a bit deeper way next. Would you introduce us the whole album song
by song, starting off with an awesome intro titled "Krig... "?
Somnium: We came up with the intro (a straight
English translation for it would be simply: "War".)
spontaneously during the sessions of "Jaktens...". We
had this idea to get some sort of a percussion background for it to kick
our album off...
Katla: ... trying to get something which could have
sounded like... letīs say, "warlike" or something, yīknow?!
Somnium: Yea... and even that, too - and while we
were thinking of it further, we told our drummer to record something
which could make it sound like something really powerful yet imminent
could roam out of a distant horizon; that kind of feeling, yīknow?!
Katla: Yeah, and by adding our keyboard playerīs (Trollhorn,
who is) ideas all over it, I think the result turned out to be something
really powerful and cool.
I was thinking did you try to achieve something
similar to an atmosphere of BATHORYīs "Blood, Fire &
Death" album by that intro...?
Somnium: Well, not exactly, but...
Katla: Itīs really cool if someone compares the intro
to some of the feeling on "B.F.&D." as I admit it does,
however, have some epic-like hints from that particular release indeed.
Somnium: But what I was personally thinking of it, I
wanted pretty much to get a sort of a tribal- feeling into "Krig".
In the very beginning, I kind of wanted it to have a bit more
"tricky" feel to it; a rhythm where could have been happening
something all the time. Katla, however, said it should definitely
be more "warlike".
Katla: The intro sounds very cool in my opinion, tho.
"Födosagan" ("A Tale of Birth"
in English)
Somnium: In fact, the very 1st riff for this particular
song was used for it by accident. The first version for this song
had more a Thrash-type of feeling; faster Thrash-like riffs and just
later on we decided to try it out with a bit slower tempo.
Katla: We thought it sounded cool īcoz it has a bit
different riff what people had used to hear from FINNTROLL before. Many
of our songs that were supposed to be for this release as we knew them,
had this tendency to sound quite fast, so the riffs what we used for
"Födosagan", made the song sound a bit different compared to
the other songs on the album.
The song tells a story about "Rivfader" whoīs
a trollking which I have created in my mind. We already had a song
about him (named "Rivfader") on our debut album which was
titled "Midnattens Widunder". Anyways, "Födosagan"
tells about this giant, very massive trollking who is kept as a God-like
figure amongst all these other trolls. Itīs not only a myth for
the trolls, but also a very real, existing thing which you can actually
hear, see and smell, too - HA! HA!! This song is basically about
him...
Slaget vid Blodsälv" (The Battle of the
Bloodriver")
Somnium: Itīs the most brutal and violent song we have
ever written so far as far as its lyrics go. We had a couple of
songs similar to that song on our debut album already - and I just
realized myself that the more joyful and happy we sound like, the more
gruesome and frightening our lyrics are as a matter of speaking.
Some of them have been done in purpose and I guess thatīs something
FINNTROLL is all about. We wanna tell people stories about some
startling topics which honestly even frighten us from time to time, HE!
HE!!
Katla: "Slaget..." is about a battle of
encirclement where a legion of crusaders get slaughtered by a great
bunch of fierce trolls that were lurking to kill them by the river.
Thatīs where the name for this song came from.
"Skogens Hämnd" ("A Revenge of the
Forest")
Katla: I was actually writing the lyrics for it in the
studio while we were recording the album. I kind of not had any
clear idea what the story could have been behind this song, but
eventually I came up with this idea where a whole village gets vanished
by a swallow of the forest. The story behind it is indeed very
eerie and spooky. It kind of brings a cool contrast to this song
as the song itself ainīt that gloomy or aggressive music-wise putting
it thru by FINNTROLLīs standards.
"Jaktens Tid" ("A Hunting Time")
Katla: This song is basically about the end of a
"local(!)" world - NOT the whole world!! Itīs about
trolls and forest divinities and spirits that occasionally appear on
earth within a certain period of time in order to wipe out all the
living form from earth. With "all the living form" I was
naturally referring to human beings, of course - HE! HE!! This song is
about kind of a thinning down the ranks of the human beings...
The first song where you used Jonne Järvelä as a
guest "star(!)" on the album, was actually this title track,
"Jaktens Tid". He did some amazing "joik-singing"
on this tune, so that made me ask from you guys how did you get the idea
for using him for this album - and just out of my own curiosity, is he
really originally from Lapland... ?
Somnium: In fact, heīs originally from the Southern
part of Finland, but he has been living in Lapland for a long time
already.
Katla: What makes this even more special, is the fact heīs
one of those rare joik-singers whose origin is not Lappish, but whoīs
still been accepted by the Lapp population to perform this monotone
chanting together with them. I was told that the Lappish are very
exact yet somehow picky people - and Jonne who indeed is accepted to do
this joik-singing thing in their community by their terms only, is quite
an achievement itself.
Somnium: If you still may remember, he was previously in
a band called "The Shamanic Duo" for a few years back...
Katla: Also, he has been in another band called "Angelin
Tytöt (translated in English "Angeliīs Girls")" for a
relatively short period of time. "Jaktens Tid" was, in fact,
the 1st song on the album we thought that Jonneīs vocal parts could fit
in perfectly.
"Bakom Varje Fura" ("Behind Every
Fir")
"Bakom Varje Fura" brought Edward Griegīs
well-known classic "In the Hall of the Mountain King" in my
mind in some strangely appealing way. Obviously thereīs some guys
in your unholy camp who have some interest towards classical music as
well... ?
Katla: Yeah... our keyboardist Trollhorn is actually
studying classical music and I guess you can really hear that, too,
according to the all the effort he has put into "Bakom Varje Fura".
Our debut had a couple of songs like this as well where you can rather
easily hear and witness Trollhornīs classical background by yourself.
Somnium: I agree. Heīs really professional at
what heīs doing...
Katla: As we speak, heīs a big fan of movie
soundtracks, too, which is an integral part of his own creative process
towards FINNTROLL.
Being as talented and creative guy as he obviously
is by composing all these breath-taking sounding intros/outros/backgrounds/whatsoever!
for FINNTROLL, I was thinking it might be a cool idea if he carried his
ideas out even a bit further in the future, maybe somewhere else than in
FINNTROLL only...?!
Katla: Actually one of his dreams is that he could work
with soundtracks for some computer games in the future. Heīs a
big fan of them indeed.
Somnium: As far as I know heīs already trying to create
some compositions of that kind that could sound like they could have
been taken from out of these computer games...
Katla: For example, guys like Tim Burton and Daniel E.
are both specialized for some sort of soundtrack compositions like we
have "Bakom Varje Fura" on our new album.
"Kitteldags" ("An Hour Around the
Cauldron")
Katla: Itīs originally written to tell about some
obscure markets which took place in the ancient times which you can
still read from the lyrics for it. But eventually the chorus for the
song turned out to remind us about some trollish food recipes - how they
cooked and made their food in their community.
This particular song, however, tells how one poor priest
gets cooked in the cauldron and then gets eaten by the trolls, HE! HE!!
(... and like nothing seems to be holy for these trolls
here, HA! HA!!)
"Krigsmjöd" ("Warmead")
Katla: Itīs about these martial trolls who prepare
themselves for a battle by getting drunk and telling extravagant stories
to each other around a campfire about what they have achieved in the
past and hopefully will achieve in the forth-coming battles to come -
when they have fought against their enemies and all that kind of shit.
Naturally they also drink a toast for their ancestors and their
achievements in the past and stuff.
"VargTimmen" ("An Hour of the
Wolf")
atla: Itīs simply about some kind of a triangle drama -
our "love song" on the album (-laughing!-). As for its
music, we tried to get a bunch of women singing in Finnish on the
background of the song, but somehow in its final version, it was
replaced by Jonneīs joik-singing because we have our songs sung/written
in Swedish. We simply thought it wouldnīt be that cool idea to
mix Swedish to Finnish. Thatīs why we took Janne to do these
parts and we are very happy with the result.
"Kyrkovisan" ("A Church Song")
Katla: It basically has the very same characters of the
two priests we had on the song, "Bastuvisan", on our 1st
album. These priests try to exorcise demons by some Latin-written
verses; then by building a church on the unholy ground, they eventually
fail and get attacked by these evil spirits in as a consequence of the
priestsī death.
"den Hornkrönte Konungen/Rivfaders Tron" ("The
Horned King")
Katla: This songīs a song of praise for Rivfader.
The name itself refers to "The Horned King" himself. And
by this name, we also wanted to refer to the forces of nature, too.
What I personally wanted to bring out in the lyrics for it, is the way
how some people turn all the pagan-like divinity to satanic illusions.
Actually Iīm already prepared for that moment when
someone comes to me and say: "HEY(!), you are writing about Satan,
so you are worshipping Satan... (!!)". So I can fight back by
saying something like: "Sorry my friend, this song is definitely
NOT about Satan... go and tease someone else with your miserable
thoughts...!". Why an earth Christianity always turns
everything to evil and ugly; especially when some other religions come
into their picture about holiness and shit?! Itīs so much beyond
my understanding!!
As a matter of fact speaking, we are having a new shirt
design printed soon - and it has "The Horned King" on it.
In my opinion, it looks really great!! The actual picture
represents a head of a goblin that has horns and a long beard.
That goblin looks pretty ugly yet obscene indeed, I have to tell.
"Aldhissla"
Katla: "Aldhissla" as a name, doesnīt have
any particular meaning. Itīs just a name I came up with in my
mind. When Somnium started to work with this song, he only had a
few of riffs ready for it and nothing else basically. While he
kept on progressing with the song, I came in and gave him some advises
how I wanted this song to be like. Music-wise, it turned out just
great, I think.
The story behind this song tells about a malicious,
extremely big goblin called Aldhissla which is lurking for all the
living creatures in the unknown forests and mountains of Lapland all the
time. This goblin is really mean and cruel, but most of the time
however, itīs just watching all the other creatures there without even
catching them or doing any harm or anything else really.
The last song on your album is called "Tomhet
och Tystnad Härskä" which is actually an intro; a real
ear-catcher indeed! After the intro, there was like 1 or 2 minutes
nothing there, but like all of a sudden, this "hidden song"
came up, too - which for some strange reason, brought an olī western to
my mind where John Wayne could play the main role at a saloon where he
could have some heavy drinking sessions going on with a dozen of drunken
goblins and they could sing and get drunk together and just have tonz of
fun there without caring their different appearances too much at all...
(-laughing!-)
Katla: In fact, we wanted to achieve some sort of a
"Deep-Down-South-Kane" -feeling into it (-laughing!-). We were
thinking that letīs just do something for our own fun and I guess that
"ending" kind of gave us that humor aspect for the album.
Why should we be serious all the time? Besides, we thought it
should be cool to use banjo as an instrument in one of our songs and it
finally ended up being in this particular song...
Somnium: Donīt you remember any longer that we already
used banjo on "Jaktens Tid" song; in that fast part...?!
Katla: OH, sorry, sorry... I almost forgot. The banjo is
used there indeed. Some of us thought, however, that the song
sounds corny enough. Now when this song has both some joik-singing
and banjo as well, it actually sounds pretty scary, I guess, HA! HA!!
The further we thought about it, the better we got convinced it really
fits there, so we saved the banjo for this "hidden" track as
you put it yourself. Funny enough, people havenīt given us any
comment back about it yet which I find quite strange in my opinion...
(?)
Somnium: I remember someone saying that "you guys
are pretty damn crazy for what youīve done again...", HE! HE!!
I guess only a little bunch of people have listened to our whole album
thru the very very end so far, including that hidden song there.
Katla: And I think most of the people have reacted
pretty normal way towards the outro in the end of our album. When
the actual outro ends, I believe they have just turned off their
CD-players īcoz they thought that was the end of our album.
Cannot blame them for doing so as the actual outro is, honestly said,
quite boring indeed; thereīs not much happening there, Iīm afraid, HE!
What kind of budget did you have for "Jaktens..."
anyway...?
Somnium: We didnīt agre to any terms with the label
concerning the budget for the recording of "Jaktens Tid"...
So, they allowed you to spend as much time in the
studio as you may have needed to get it completely finished?
Somnium: Yeah, kind of so. Sami just said to us
that if we can do the whole recording within a month or so, that would
be OK. However, while weīre doing our recordings for it, at some
point we realized that the deadline was drawing nearer and nearer and we
really should start pushing ourselves in order to get it done in time.
Katla: TIMO RAUTIAINEN & TRIO NISKALAUKAUS (a
unique Finnish metal band w/ vocals done in Finnish!!! -Luxi) had
booked time for this studio after us as well, so we knew that we should
rush things a little bit without causing any troubles to anyone.
So we did, but afterwards we noticed that we could have done some things
just a little bit better and different way on the album. According
to the time we had got for the whole recording, I think, everyone of us
was really satisfied how it turned out in the end.
Can you still remember what was most difficult yet
stressful in the studio while you were doing "Jaktens..."
there?
Katla: I remember having this terrible hangover in one
morning which didnīt feel that good at all, I can tell, HE! HE!!
But donīt you guys forget it belongs to as a part
of "aftershow parties(!)" when you have done your homework in
the studio as intensively and determinedly as possible, so you had all
the reasons for easing up your tension every once in a while, right?
(-laughing!-)
Somnium: When we were in the middle of the recording
session, we didnīt feel too stressed at all. Before entering the
studio, yeah - we did a little bit īcoz somehow we got pretty
suspicious yet worried about ourselves whether our songs couldnīt have
been as ready as we wanted them to be for the recording.
Katla: In the studio I still had 2 or 3 songs that didnīt
have any lyrics for them at all. I personally had a lot of
pressure because of that as I canīt say that Iīm fond of that kind of
situation where I should force myself for getting the shit done almost
without no time at all. In the very beginning of that process, I
thought thereīs no way I could have done all the lyrics for those three
songs, but then I realized, while our recording kept progressing on that
actually I had all the time I needed for writing the lyrics for the rest
of the songs. It was such a big relief for me when I got them
written down for these
remaining songs; it definitely was...
Somnium: One of those songs was "VargTimmen",
our so-called "cover song" on the album. We had no idea,
whatsoever how it would turn out in the studio as a final version.
We had only played the very 1st riff for that song in our rehearsals
like 2 -3 times before, so we naturally had our own expectations towards
it whether we could get it included for the album or not.
Katla: Especially the vocals for it provided us some
hard times īcoz thereīs so much of it there really.
Somnium: We got the vocals done for the album just
before we added those drum parts into it. Now we are really happy
with the way how the vocals came thru for it, tho.
Katla: We didnīt feel that we were slipping into a
situation where we could have been getting into a
panic-like state in the studio. The SPINEFARM staff let us know
very early that we could work in peace and there couldnīt be any rush
for anything, so that helped us a lot. When the recording was
over, some of us decided to stay at the studio for a little bit longer
in order to make sure the whole mixing for it would turn out the most
satisfying way for all of us,tho.
Somnium: Besides that, we had this deal for a mastertape
which forced us to really work hard with the final mixing for the album.
In case we couldnīt have been as happy with it as we wanted to - and
could have gone into the studio one more time for doing some re-mixing
for the tape, all the extra costs could have been taken away from our
royalties beforehand. In the other words, we had to make sure the
final mixing was really the very final mixing we wanted for our album,
so I think we did everything alright in the very end of this whole
process.
The album was recorded at Sundicoop Studio and a
guy named Tuomo Valtonen took care of the mixing for it. I was just
wondering whether he gave some cool and useful ideas concerning the
whole recording for the album and so on... ?
Somnium: Yeah, he gave some cool advise for the
recording. I have to say this guy has been doing all these
recordings for so many years already, so he really knew what sounds good
and what doesnīt. He didnīt, however, produce our album that
much at all which I think was just good for us īcoz we pretty much knew
ourselves what kind of sound we were after for and so on. He kind of
gave us very free hands to do whatever we wanted to do there with the
whole recording process - guiding us every now and then when we needed
it and providing us some of his professional help when we asked for it.
The only thing that I regret afterwards a bit, the sound
could have been just a little bit better on the album after all. I
guess itīs because Tuomo whoīs quite a rock-orientated producer, kind
of ainīt necessarily a master of enormous streams of different sounds.
Maybe he just wasnīt capable of sorting out several different sounds
from each other, I donīt know.
Katla: In the same breath I need to point out as well
that it was really easy yet relaxing to work with him at the same time,
too. Like myself, I had never worked that professional way
at that professional studio ever - and with as professional producer as
Tuomo obviously is. What I have heard, based on either rumors or
facts, there are some producers out there who necessarily arenīt
interested in working with some particular bands for some strange
reasons. They arenīt interested in giving their very best out of
themselves when they really should do just that in order to be as
professional and devoted to these bands and the work they are supposed
to do. Luckily Tuomo had just the opposite way to work with us; he
was really into the recording right from the very beginning to the very
end, so we donīt have too much to complain about really. Maybe
one of the many reasons why he wanted to work with a band like us, is
the fact we sound so different compared to other bands he had worked
with in the past, so I guess he may have found us pretty kind of
inspirational band as well - who knows?!
Did you give him, for example, some CD which had a
sound you liked very much and were after for - and asked him if he could
get the same kind of sound for your album, too...?
Katla: No... no... no...
Somnium: That idea didnīt cross our minds as far as our
debut album was concerned either.
Katla: He knew anyway what kind of sound we wanted for
our forth-coming album as he had heard our 1st album. We told him that
it should sound as heavy as possible, too.
Somnium: To be really honest with you, it wasnīt clear
for ourselves either what kind of sound we were
hunting for "Jaktens Tid...".
Katla: I have noticed myself - being as a member of this
band during all these past months that many good ideas come up just
naturally for us if we improvise some things a little bit. Itīs
been working out just well for us so far.
"Jaktens Tid" was mastered by Mika
Jussila at Finnvox Studio. Are you happy with the result or do you
think that there were some parts on the mastered version that could have
needed a bit better treatment in order to make it sound even better?
And are you going to use Mikaīs skills in the future as well?
Somnium: We are very happy with the mastered version
this time around compared to our 1st album. Believe it or not, but
our unmastered version for the 1st album sounded slightly better than
the actual mastered version for our debut!! Iīm glad now it
happened just other way around for our new album as it should have
happened in the first place as a matter of speaking. The mastering for
it turned out really great, I think. We were all positively
surprised by that.
Still... are there some things on your album youīd
like to improve afterwards? Just anything...
Somnium: When we were listening to the album over and
over again, we noticed that are some things which we would have
corrected there right away if we had spotted them immediately while we
were doing the final polishing for it. But what is done now, is
done forever, so what the heck... Some melody parts are missing
from it at least - and also one guitar solo was dropped...
Katla: Oh-yea..., but didnīt we agree that it should be
dropped anyway... (-laughing!-)
Somnium: Well, I guess so..., HE! HE!!
Katla: But arenīt we all humans; we certainly are not
any machines. I think our music shouldnīt be too polished in the first
place. Thatīs not our thing at all...
But overall you must be happy now with the album
and all those efforts what Tuomo and Mika brought into it; do you think
you may use their professional help in the future as well... ?
Katla: Why not, itīs possible...
Somnium: Who knows, thatīs quite possible, I think.
When Iīm thinking of this a bit further, we should set us that kind of
a goal where we couldnīt settle for less as far as the sound quality of
our album is concerned. And I think Tuomo has already done
everything for it what heīs capable of doing.
Katla: I pretty much agree. But anyways, without
turning him down too much for what he did for "Jaktens...", I
guess itīs wiser if we just keep our eyes out what heīll be doing
within a next year or so...
Somnium: Youīre right. And besides that we just
cannot deny the fact how much the sound quality has
improved on our new album compared to our debut album, "Midnattens
Widunder".
Katla: Definitely! Thereīs a huge improvement to
be heard - really! A general sound is much better now than it was
last time.
Somnium: Also we all have progressed a hell of a lot as
musicians, too - cannot deny that either.
Katla: I agree. We sound so much tighter and more like a
band now than before. Everyone has kind of understood what
FINNTROLL is and will be all about and thatīs really important for us,
I think. From my own point of view I can only say that itīs so
easy for me to go into a studio now as Iīm quite experienced by all
that what Iīm supposed to do there than earlier. I donīt feel
like I should ask from the other guys anymore whether itīs gonna be OK
if I sing this or that way. Itīs actually very easy for me now to find
my own ways to put my vocals thru for the songs and so on. Itīs
more relaxing situation for me than it used to be as my vocals
come out more naturally than before, yīknow?!
What about your musical influences, then? Do
you think when you have been maturing both as musicians and song
writers, you have also started to feel like thereīs so many other
interesting genres around there that could offer some great things
musically, too - and from which you could possibly get some cool
"spices(!)" into your own music? When I was listening to
"Jaktens Tid", I thought these guys have really had their
lessons in Folk-music just lately...
Katla: To be completely honest with you, I think we are
now LESS Folk-influenced than what we were when we did our first album,
"Midnattens Widunder". At that time we were listening to
quite a lot of Folk-music indeed and some other
"Folk-inspired" music as well.
Somnium: We are not listening to that kind of music that
much any more nowadays, although I just recently discovered an excellent
Folk-influenced band called MYLLÄRIT. They are really
outrageous!!
What about some other genres except Folk music...
?
Katla: Itīs no denying that our music is also
influenced by some other kinds of music than Folk and Black Metal only.
I think, all those influences that we have in our music - and that are
indeed pretty hard to be defined īcoz everyone of us is influenced by
so many different kind of music, can be heard on our new album
better than on our debut.
Somnium: Yeah, I guess so. I also need to point out that
we are definitely NOT trying to head into any specific style on purpose.
Katla: No, definitely not. What I found pretty positive
is the fact our musicīs incorporated more of
that Slavic sound with. And thatīs really cool as it makes our
sound pretty unique compared to other bands around, I guess. And this
Slavism thing is much darker and gloomier in our sound - and I think it
works out so well as there's quite a few surprising tempo changes going
on there within our music all the time. Other than that, in my opinion
the Slavic music sounds pretty wicked and mean at times and that's the
reason why I like it so much.
Do you still, however, consider FINNTROLL as a
'Black Metal' band? I guess it's gonna be damn hard for people to
categorize your music due to your many different influences and a set of
pretty unusual(!)
instruments used on "Jaktens..."
Somnium: By placing us under the category of
"classic Black Metal" luckily doesnīt work out for us as we
donīt have either satanic lyrics or a satanic image.
Katla: Thatīs true. Thatīs not our thing at
all...
Somnium: As for our music, it does have some hints from
Black Metal, but you can hardly call our music Black Metal these days.
I guess Katlaīs vocals could possibly be the only
thing for doing some justice for that statement... ?
Katla: Partly, yes... - but Iīve been trying to be more
Death Metal orientated vocal-wise lately. In some songs Iīm using
more Death-grunts whereas in some other tunes my vocals have more a
Black Metal type of emphasis going on there. HMMM...(!), I donīt
know; letīs just say that we play metal...
Somnium: Yeah, we are a metal band...
Katla: ...metal with our own distinct sound, thatīs
what we are... yea...
Somnium: Thereīs definitely a "crossover"
thing involved with our music as well; kind of a "crossover"
of metal...
Again, you think people may have hard times by
putting you under some certain category...?
Somnium: You could say that, but thatīs only a definite
plus for us, I think.
Katla: One fact still remains the same, tho. If
you go to any record store that has metal there, youīll find our albums
from the "Black/Death Metal" section for sure īcoz thatīs
the nearest label for our kind of music without doubts.
What would you say if a "brutal
Folk-music" as a description was linked to FINNTROLLīs name as a
press release statement, for example?
Katla: That would be something of which Iīd personally
like at least. "Brutal Folk-music..." HMMM... (?),
sounds good to me indeed!
Somnium: On the other hand, itīs pretty damn difficult
to define "Folk-music" in the first place what it is actually,
right?!
Katla: Very true. Thatīs why I find it as a good
definition, HE!
Somnium: Even if there couldnīt be any melodic parts on
our album - only totally brutal in-yer-face shit or something alike, you
could still say we are Folk-inspired despite of having no melodies,
whatsoever! in our music.
Katla: I remember there was this guy in a Finnish radio
program who also said that our musicīs like ībrutal musicī with some references
to Folk-music and some of those feelings around it. It felt great
when hearing such definitions about the music we do īcoz we are
influenced by some other music styles, too, than metal only - or just
vice versa. So I think what that nice fellow said about our music
in that particular program, really hit the bullīs eye īcoz our music
is a great package of many different styles which we consider as our
influences, too.
Somnium: If we had only clean vocals on our new album,
it, in fact, would almost be considered as a pure Folk-music. But
as we have Katlaīs harsh vocals stamped all over it, they make it sound
more brutal. And also some more traditional brutal metal parts keep us
away from that "Folk-music" category, I think.
Did you have any īleftoverī material from the
sessions of "Jaktens Tid" which you may use for your
forth-coming album(-s) possibly...?
Somnium: No, we used everything we had for "Jaktens...".
We had some songs, tho, which we couldnīt finish completely in time for
this album.
Katla: But those songs will ease up our burden next time
when weīll enter a studio again to record our next thing. We were
thinking of doing a cover version out of one IMPALED NAZARENE song for
this album already, but it didnīt happen.
Somnium: We decided to save the idea for a possibly
split album we may do with them later on...
Katla: Itīs too early to say yet when weīll do it, but
time will tell.
I was checking the credits out for "Jaktens..."
and noticed that your rhythm guitarist Skrymer has done all the artwork
for the album. Obviously heīs a fan of arts, but is he also
studying it at some school?
Somnium: Heīs entirely a self-taught.
Katla: In fact, that particular artwork for the cover of
our album was done for several weeks by him. He was just learning
how to use oil colors with a good enough technique, so it took some time
to get the cover finished for the album. He had done 3 paintings
with the oil colors before this painting for "Jaktens...". He
had been doing some graphites earlier. But as for this particular
cover, Skrymer did the cover and then we did some picture manipulation
for it at my place and brought it to SPINEFARM.
Was this the 1st album cover he had ever made... ?
Katla: Yea, he had done some demo covers before, but not
much else really.
So, Iīm assuming you may use his arts in the future as well... ?
Katla: Yeah, guess so, but Iīm also sure many others
will be interested in his works, too.
Somnium: At least IMPALED NAZARENE will ask for his
help for their next thing they will do.
Katla: I also need to point out that he can do many
styles of artwork; from cartoon figures to larger yet
demanding and time-consuming work of arts. He has his
periods when he may do like lots of cartoon-like arts
and then he may get inspired by bigger painting
processes which he may do for a long period of time in
a row. At the moment heīs more into a psychelic type
of artwork; all kinds of bikini bimbos between planets
and shit like that. He can draw and paint many kind
of different things really. Heīs got really keen eyes
for everything he does as far as his own artworks go.
He has studied arts a little bit at some stage of his
life if I remember correctly.
Choosing a final artwork for your own release is
always kind of a tough task to do. Has Sami (the
label manager for SPIKEFARM) afforded you completely
free hands for everything, including artwork, in what
order your songs should be on the album, etc. etc.?
Katla: Itīs kind of funny because you asked this īcoz
I just answered to one interview for some other
webmagazine where this guy asked from me whether we f.ex. changed our old logo to this new logo which we
have on our new album just because our label forced us
to do so!?! HA! Of course that wasnīt the question at
all!!
Somnium: In the very beginning we didnīt have any
clear idea in what order our songs should be on the
album, except we did know however, what song could be
used for ending it. Thatīs all we knew in the very
start of this process. But we got īem sorted out for
"Jaktens..." rather painlessly after all.
Katla: Sorry, but what was the question all about?! I
somehow missed it... !?
About the order of the songs for "Jaktens..."
Katla: Oh, sorry... Sami didnīt guide or tell us in
what order the songs should have been on the album -
we just decided that by ourselves. For the 1st album,
"Midnattens Widunder", our songs were put in in that
kind of formula which gave it a real feel to be a
concept album. And all this happened by accident, I
can tell. It didnīt happen that way with our new
album anyway. The only thing that connects its songs
to each other is the fact every song deals with some
sort of "the end" of something and thatīs basically
all.
As some of us already know, CENTURY MEDIA has licensed "Jaktens..." to be released everywhere else in Europe.
How did they end up licensing it anyway?
Katla: First off, it was actually NUCLEAR BLAST that
was interested in us first. There were a couple of
guys in that label who showed a serious interest
towards us, but eventually a license deal wasnīt done
with them as some other guy in the very label started
to back off for some strange reason, so SPIKEFARM did
this deal with CENTURY MEDIA instead.
Somnium: As far as I know, SPINE/SPIKEFARM RECORDS is
usually into offering these license deals for their
products exclusively for NUCLEAR BLAST. If they are
not interested, then they go for offering them to
CENTURY MEDIA, I guess.
Why wasnīt your debut album licensed by CENTURY MEDIA?
Somnium: Well, that was close to happen, too, but as
it had been out for almost a year already since it
came out on SPIKEFARM, they probably thought there
wasnīt any sense to license it any longer. I guess
they thought the selling for it maybe wouldnīt have
been that good for it as they probably would have
expected, I donīt know...
Katla: SPIKEFARM is also having a license deal going
on with HAMMERHEART. They wanna release "Jaktens Tid"
as a vinyl version, too...
Somnium: Yeah, thatīs right. They are supposed to
release both of our albums as a double vinyl
relatively soon, I think.
I got to know that NUCLEAR BLAST was distributing your
debut album thru their mailorder, right?!
Somnium: Yeah, thatīs correct - they did, but it
wasnīt working out too well either for them or us as
they didnīt do any promotion for that album over there
at all. They didnīt put too much effort into it which
was kinda pity indeed.
Right, without advertising certain albums, it always
makes things a bit harder for labels to get their shit
sold well enough to people...
Katla: Youīre so right, it really is...
Somnium: Actally the best distributor what we got for
our debut album was INDIGO from Germany. They did
really great job for us there by selling a respectable
amount of our album.
Katla: They were even asking from us via emails if we
have had any suggestions for increasing the sales for
it - and otherwise they kept in touch with us all the
time. That was really cool from them.
Somnium: Now when CENTURY MEDIA will license
"Jaktens...", it will be widely spread as the deal
covers both South - and North America - and Europe
naturally as well.
And Japan... ?
Somnium: So far everythingīs open for the Japanese metal music markets. It would be cool to get our
albums out there, tho.
Katla: Probably our debut album was too hard rock for
Japanese maniacs to bite as they werenīt too thrilled
about it.
Somnium: But I hope our new album will be a bit easier
for them to swallow as what I have heard this
"joik-singing" is becoming largely accepted amongst
people over there which is of course nice for us.
Katla: We just have to wait and see what will happen.
Like I said earlier, only time will tell...
Do you have any idea where both SPINEFARM and CENTURY
MEDIA will be promoting your new album for (magazines,
radio stations, etc.)?
Katla: SPINEFARM has been taking care of the promotion
for Finland mainly.
Somnium: They have also been sending some promos to
all these bigger magazines abroad as well. However,
it's gonna be CENTURY MEDIA that will do most of it for
the rest of the countries both in Europe and in the
States, too.
Katla: If I remember correctly, "Jaktens..." will be
released 23rd of May thru CENTURY MEDIA, by the way.
As you guys may remember a fabulous commercial clip
for a Finnish beer called "Lapin Kulta" where it said
something like: "Lapin Kulta is a strong and tasteful
beer... a strongly Finnish beer!!". I was just
playing with a thought that do you think it could be
clever to connect FINNTROLLīs name to something as
strong as this previous clip proclaimed and somehow
borrow the same slogan for advertising FINNTROLL as a
strong Finnish-Slavic Folk-metal act for people? What
you think... a crazy idea or what?! (-laughing!-)
Katla: (-laughing!-) Why not, I think it would sound
really good... (-more laughing-) .... At least all the
guys in the infamous FINNTROLL camp are beerlovers,
HE! HE!!
Somnium: Or what would you say about a commercial clip
about us where an earthmover could play a main role
and it would have a giant FINNTROLL logo on both of
its sides, HAR! HAR!! Actually this was one of those
crazy ideas, SPINEFARMīs label manager Ewo Rytkönen
had in his mind for some time ago (-laughing!-).
What about talking about FINNTROLL as LOUD and clear
as possible as "the ultimate trollkings (-eh?)" of the
metal scene, do you think this statement might turn
out to be that ultimate break-through thing for you
which even could bring other bands along with similar
sound to yours?
Katla: (-laughing!-) Iīm sure theyīll come up with
some insane definitions for promoting us in their own
way - thatīs for sure!! Actually Iīm already looking
forward to see how theyīll do it, HE! HE!!
Somnium: (-laughing!-) They will probably let some
crazy bastards do all this "advertising(!)" for
FINNTROLL who may have not got a slightest idea what
FINNTROLL is truly all about.
Katla: In fact, Iīm a bit afraid that there may be a
great number of people out there who might
misunderstand the whole "troll" -concept that we have,
a wrong way. So, I need to point out here that when
weīre dealing with all these lilī creatures in our
lyrics, weīre only, in a sense, referring to
rebellious primitive people(!) of which you can read
from all these fairy tales of your own childhood, f.ex. . We have been receiving very strange yet
pretty insane questions from many people where they
have asked us something like: "What do these trolls
eat..?!?!, etc. It gives us an impression that some
of these people seem to be very serious by asking all
these (stupid?) questions from us; like they just
couldnīt understand that our trolls arenīt any flesh
and blood. They are only mythological creatures in
our stories and nothing elz.
I think when we bring a fairytale concept
together with an almost indecent style, it works out
the best way for us really.
Somnium: Itīs all about that "folk-thing..."
Katla: Yeah... yeah..., kind of.
Can you still remember where you actually found
your interest towards trolls from?
Katla: When we started to write our 1st songs, all of
us were interested in mythology; we were kind of true
freaks with it and I guess we still are. An interest
for the folktales that we have, pretty much comes out
naturally from us as a matter of speaking. In fact,
your question was pretty much a Freudian-like and Iīm
afraid that I cannot answer your question properly,
sorry.
Somnium: I guess we are having some sort of
repressions towards trolls...
Katla: We have smaller ears than they have...
(-laughing!)
HE! HE!! Alright then, how would you indeed describe
your band musically to all those curious people who
would like to hear and know more about you?
Somnium: Letīs say that mix SLAYER with ELÄKELÄISET (a
pathologically pervert Finnish "humor" group who have
become pretty popular especially in Germany!!?) and
you have a tiny idea about FINNTROLLīs music. I think
those bands cover well enough.
Having a close look at some of your credits on
"Jaktens...", Martin Walkyrieīs name (that SKYCLAD
fame!) popped up on Somniumīs īthanxxī list. Just out
of my curiosity, is the guy a hardcore FINNTROLL -fan
nowadays?
Somnium: (-laughing!-) I guess you could say that.
He has heard our debut album already and I just mailed
him over our new one, but havenīt got any feedback
back from him yet. Anyways, he got really excited
about our 1st album by telling us how great it is and
all that - and yet he was telling us that we have a
growing fanbase in Nottigham these days, too.
Thatīs nice to hear really. So I assume the name of
FINNTROLL is spreading like a bushfire over there
right now... ?
Katla: I really hope so it does īcoz we truly would
like to play in England as soon as possible.
Somnium: I just heard that their gig promoter would
like to arrange a gig for us in Nottingham...
Katla: I think it would be very cool to play with a
band like SKYCLAD at the same gig īcoz basically they
remind of us a little bit musically and we remind a
bit of them musically as well. There are indeed some
similarities to be found between two of us, so I think
we could make a rather nice package together.
Itīs īspeculation time(!)ī again. What if
SKYCLAD,
like all of a sudden, changed their style to Black
Metal, do you believe a result might be pretty close
to what FINNTROLL is all about nowadays?
Somnium: Hard to say, but maybe an older SKYCLAD shit
would sound a little bit like us, but more melodic,
however.
Katla: ... and much heavier sound, I think. We
obviously have musically many things in common with
them. I happen to know that Martin is like a true
maniac as far as all Folk-alike music is concerned. I
am too, but not as devoted way like Martin is.
You (Somnium) are also playing in IMPALED NAZARENE
nowadays. Have you been facing any troubles for
sharing your precious time between these two bands so
far?
omnium: No, not yet, but...
Katla: When you do, weīll kick you out of the
FINNTROLL, HA! HA!!
Somnium: Seriously speaking, I have told to the rest
of the guys of IMPALED NAZARENE that FINNTROLL is -
and will always be my main band if we will hit on the
road at the very same time. So far, everything has
been working out just smoothly for both of the bands
as we have tried to arrange our gigs on separate days. Also, we have been thinking of the idea whether we
could sell "2-bands-for-the-price-of-1", well, sort
of, for gigs because it could save us this trouble of
which I just mentioned earlier here, yīknow?!
Katla: And it would mean a "double-training" for you
then, HA!! HA!!
Somnium: ... and a "double-reward" wouldnīt do that
much harm for me either, HE! HE!!
Katla: SHUT UP! It would mean a Cooper -test for you
and Iīm sure you wouldnīt make it thru, HARK! HARK!!
Having a short look at a crystal ball next, do you
believe all these trolls will be blessed a
"comfortable(!)" playground on your next release as
well... ?
Somnium: I think so. Why to waste such a good
concept... ?!
Katla: I agree. We belong to trolls and the trolls
belong to us. There will surely be a bit different
lyrical concept there next time around, however, when
weīll do our next album, I guess. Iīm pretty much
done with dealing with Christianity for now; I mean
that thematic side of it. My newest lyrics are more
spirit of rebellion -orientated, but still not the
same way I put them across on our 2 albums.
Somnium: Music-wise, I think we are heading towards
more aggressive direction...
Katla: Yep, I think so, too. Our new material is a
bit rougher and more reduced than on "Jaktens..." -
kind of "back-to-the-roots(!)". I could claim that we
play ītechnoī on our next release... (???)
(-laughing!-) Just kiddinī ya there, of course!!
What you can expect from our next release, well, let
that remain as a mystery for all of you, HE! HE!!
Letīs have a short glance at the Finnish metal scene
with this question. Namely as Iīve been following the
Finnish metal scene for almost two decades thus far -
sometimes very actively, sometimes a bit less
actively, Iīve noticed that there are a few elements
in the Finnish bandsī sound which have made us Finns
far superior (now see whoīs doing the talking here,
-eh?!) compared to other bands out there; one of these
elements being originality and an endless strive for
originality indeed! Actually we could have talked
about some sort of a `boomī amongst the Finnish metal
acts for achieving a sound which could have given our
bands their very own distinctive imprint of
originality during all these past few years - and I
guess even some of our metal bands successed in that
territory pretty well like AMORPHIS, SENTENCED,
WALTARI and so on.
Thereīs still some of
that boom left in the depths of the Finnish
underground scene... -or what you think?
Katla: Somehow I have that kind of feel that itīs
more or less over now and you cannot tell whether this
or that band comes from Finland any more as regards
how they sound like basically...
Thatīs true. But we cannot forget either how many
bands (even from Finland!) tried to plagiarize the
sound of the famous 1st Death Metal invasion from
Sweden (ENTOMBED did change quite a few things in
metal music as we all can surely agree with) - or we
cannot underestimate what those crazy Norwegians
accomplished by their even more sinister and raging
blackish metal assault...
Somnium: No, we canīt - and I guess there are still
quite a large number of Finnish bands there that are
influenced by one or the other of the trends you just
mentioned herein.
Katla: What makes things even funnier in my opinion,
is the fact how Finnish metal bands have started to
plagiarize each othersī sound. I donīt wanna bring up
any names, but still, itīs pretty damn ridiculous and
strange indeed.
Another fact is that the most famous Finnish metal
bands (STRATOVARIUS, AMORPHIS, CHILDREN OF BODOM,
NIGHTWISH, etc.) have been gaining some credit for
their unique and different sound they have already had
for years. I think itīs already there; in our blood
to be just a little bit more experimental and
imaginative than many others. They may take some old
idea for use, but eventually they twist and twist
even more all these 2nd-hand ideas as long as they
have made their own thing out of them, ya know what I
mean?! And thatīs something of which Iīm also very
proud of as a Finn.
Somnium: Me, too. Some years ago we didnīt have that
big or famous metal bands in Finland that could have
sold like thousands of thousands of albums in foreign countries. Therefore, some of these bands kind of
"found" the easy way out and became bandwagoners in
order to gain some reputation for themselves. It was
very easy for the Finnish bands, too, to follow
especially the paths of both Swedish - and Norwegian
bands right into the fame and glory.
Katla: Precisely. In Sweden they once had more than
100 ENTOMBED clones, more than 200 IN FLAMES clones,
etc. - and in Norway... (!), well, you all know
already what happened there, right?!
Somnium: Iīm glad that many bands here in Finland, at
least try to become known for their own thing and make
a breakthrough that way...
Katla: On the other hand, we are kind of far away from
the rest of the world, too...
Somnium: ...Finland is a pretty isolated country
compared to the rest of the Scandinavian countries.
Katla: Very true. As the fact is, we do have pretty
small circles of metalheads even here in Helsinki who
play in bands and are active with things concerning
this matter - comparing to cities like f.ex. Stockholm
or Oslo where, may I say, everythingīs on more
"professional(!)" yet bigger level. But on the other
hand, a small dose of isolation may do some great
things for bands, too. I think I have a good example
of just that. Just think of some smaller townships in
the Northern part of Finland, whereīs like a dozen of
people alike you who are into metal - including
yourself. And then some of you decide to form a band
in that "isolated" part of the world where youīre in
the middle of nothing - where youīre not influenced by
current trends, whatsoever!, Itīs pretty evident this
band may turn out to sound pretty original and unique
indeed. The less people, the less youīre influenced
by something - the better chance you may have to avoid
all these "hottest" trends that are going on around
you when youīre basically influenced by what youīd
like to do for yourself and for your band, yīknow what
I mean?
Sure, I agree. Well then, I heard that youīre having
some plans to do your 1st ever promo-video out of some
song on the album; am I well informed... ?
Somnium: Yes, you are. We were supposed to travel to
Kuusamo for doing it (a city in the Northern part of
Finland) for a while ago already, but thought itīd
better to wait for ESEKīs financial support first
before rushing things any further owing to the video.
What kind of a video is it going to be like?
Somnium: Everything has been thought out for it
already...
Eh(!), could you be more specific, please... ?
Katla: Itīs gonna be very much a fairytale-like...
Somnium: And if everything goes as we have planned,
itīs going to be really awesome clip, I promise you
that!!
Katla: I think itīs gonna be really outrageous...
Somnium: Yep, it wonīt be any "ordinary" music video
at all.
Katla: Nope, itīll be more of a story-like...
Somnium: ... like a short film or something alike...
Katla: ... yea... yea...
Somnium: Like a "musical", HE! HE!!
Katla: (-laughing!-) Not anything like that for
GRSTSAKE!! Not at all!!
HMMM... (?!), you guys donīt reveal too much ībout it,
but anyway - out of my curiosity, are you going to use
some elements on that video that are characteristic of
Lapland; like reindeers, wolves, etc. ?
Somnium: Apparently there wonīt be any of those
creatures on our video you just mentioned herein...
Katla: Hopefully at least there wonīt be any mad
reindeers or wolves there that may attack on us, HA! HA!!
Somnium: Actually we thought it would be great to
shoot our forth-coming promo-video in Kuusamo īcoz its
surroundings offers us many great opportunities to shoot
many things together at the very same time.
Katla: Thatīs right. We do have quite a few different
episodes on that video and I think now we have found a
suitable place for carrying our ideas out for it.
Somnium: In fact, we originally had these plans to
shoot it at Seurasaari (a scenic islet near by
Helsinki), but some people from the Museum Office were
totally against the idea.
Katla: They didnīt give us a permission for that which
sucked bad ass.
What will this song be of which you have these plans
to shoot this promo-video, by the way?
Somnium: "Jaktens Tid..."
Katla: We have a script for it almost ready. But I
guess there may be some changes in the script as we
donīt know yet whether itīs possible to carry all
those most difficult parts out for it? Maybe we just
have to improvise some of them while a shooting for it
is in progress, hard to say yet...
Could you already reveal some details out of it... ?
Katla: No, not yet as thereīs not too much to be
revealed about it so far. What we just told you
earlier, pretty much covers all the scenes which we
are going to be there, I suppose. Like I said, the
surroundings over there looks just great and it wonīt
be any typical "Heavy-Metal-from-Hell" promo-clip for
sure!! Just wait and youīll see...
For what channels are you going to offer your
promo-video primarily when itīs out?
Somnium: For JYRKI and MOON TV (="666 Seconds" to be
more precise!) in Finland at least. In fact, I
personally donīt know that much ībout all these metal-
orientated music channels.
What about getting your video to be spread via internet
like thru SUOMI FINLAND PERKELE webmagazine...?
Katla: Itīs more than likely that we try to get it out
thru their webīzine, too. Itīs one of the best
alternatives amongst others for sure.
Nowadays itīs pretty easy to download many different
things from the internet if you just have powerful
enough computer for that purpose...
Katla: I agree, even tho I havenīt thought about all
the possibilities yet for getting our video out for as
many people as possible.
Thereīs even that kind of service in METAL RULES
webmagazine nowadays where people can become aware of
a large selection of past and present metal videos...
Katla: Thatīs cool īcoz videos are an essential part
of promotion. I guess weīll get in touch with you the
MR -guys when our videoīs ready to kick all of your
ugly butts out there, HE! HE!!
Somnium: Iīm just thinking of another video thing
which could be sale...
Katla: (-laughing!-) OH(!), I almost forgot to mention
that we have a few hours of FINNTROLL material on
videotapes which we have filmed by ourselves.
And then you also had this commercial clip - sponsored
by a famous Finnish company called SONERA - that has
been running in Finnish MTV3 for a long time
already...
(-laughing!!-)
Katla: Yea, but it has nothing to do with our band!!
The thing was that Skrymerīs father had taken some
photos from us for some person at one advertising
agency as he had heard from somewhere they were
looking for guys who could have had both a long hair
and a long beard. And those of us who had eventually
enough beard, were chosen for that clip by SONERA. As
you can surely imagine, the rest of us who were left
outside, were naturally bitter towards the chosen
bastards, of course, HA! HA! HA! The funny thing is
that we did receive loads of response back from that
clip, people telling us that they have seen us on
SONERAīs commercial TV clip, although the hard fact
was/is there only appeared a couple of guys from our
band - and NOT the whole band was featured for it by
any means!! In other words, it hasnīt anything to do
with FINNTROLL. Period!
Now when you have got two albums out, I guess people
have become interested in seeing your band live as
well. Rumors keep on telling me that youīre actually
going to play a gig in Moscow, Russia relatively soon,
so how are things standing for it now?
Katla: In fact, we have kept the fire burning for it
since our 1st album came out.
Somnium: Right, everythingīs still in hand at the
moment...
What are the other news concerning the very matter
here?
Katla: We have these plans to go to Germany this
Summer again as some guys over there wanted us to play
at one festival where we actually played last year
already. The festival is called "Partisan Open Air";
itīs a small festival in the Southern part of ex-East
Germany and it lasts 3 days (there wonīt be any bands
playing on the 1st day; only DJs keep the volume
high!). Last
year the headlining acts were bands like AMON AMARTH,
MANOS and bands of this caliber and approximately 3000
people showed up within these 3 days. Now we are told
that at least DISMEMBER will be one of the headlining
bands in this yearīs festival which will be held in
Julyī01, by the way.
What about some other festivals this year... ?
Katla: We will play at Tuska (="Pain" in English)
-festival here in Helsinki at least...
Somnium: We have to remember anyway that now when
CENTURY MEDIA has licensed "Jaktens Tid", they may put
us on the road in order to get their release promoted
as well as possible - who knows! Before that, itīs
kind of hard for us to arrange any gigs for ourselves,
yīknow?!
Katla: We have, however, sent some promo-packages to
organizers of some festivals already. It would be
totally cool to play at a festival like Wacken, f.ex.,
but just think how many promo-packages they receive
every year from bands and labels?! I guess those
packages can be counted in thousands and thousands
again. A good thing is that CENTURY MEDIA has already
their foot in the door of Wacken Open Air -festival,
tho.
As far as I know, people in CENTURY MEDIA have
understood how important it is for them to keep their
bands on the road and do gigs in as many countries as
possible in order to get the very best effort out of
every CENTURY MEDIAīs release...
Somnium: I pretty much agree with you, but also what I
have heard, the less royalties youīll get, the more
theyīll spend on the tour costs and all that...
Katla: Yea, Iīm not too thrilled about that myself
either...
Somnium: But on the other hand, it would be really
cool to tour in as many countries as possible, I
think.
Katla: In my opinion the most rewarding thing in this
business is - besides playing in the front hundreds of
metalheads - the fact that youīre able to see
different cities, different people, different anything
really! Itīs been a long time since I visited to
Germany last time; I think I was just 5-year-old or
something when I was in Berlin for a couple of days,
so itīs really been
a long time. I myself am excited over touring and
seeing different places - and thatīs what we get as a
reward for this touring and thatīs just coolest thing,
I suppose.
If you chose a headlining band for yourself of which
youīd like to tour with, what band that might be?
Katla: SKYCLAD could be my choice, definitely!
Somnium: Mine as well. Absolutely SKYCLAD!! If
NUCLEAR BLAST could have licensed our album(-s), we
had had far better chances to go on tour with them, I
think. But SKYCLAD could be really ideal band to tour
with as we have so much in common with them musically
already. But of course it could be cool to play gigs
with some of those bands which we have always
considered as our all-time fave bands, although they
might not have too much in common with our band
musically or some other way. HE, I guess it wouldnīt
be that smart idea to tour with a band like DANZIG,
for instance. It just wouldnīt work out at all! Now,
tho, some hypothetical thinking here; just wondering
what we would do after gigs and day-offs when at the
same time, the guys of DANZIG would concentrate on
making sin the rockīnīroll way?! I assume we would
just read some stupid cartoon and watch some boring
channels from TV and that would be it basically, Iīm
afraid, HE! HE!! So, touring with DANZIG would sound
totally absurd for us.
As Iīm scratching the surface of your music a little
bit more, in my opinion your music, especially on
"Jaktens...", will definitely reach many listeners
from different genres due to its wide range of
influences which is blessed by a healthy dose of
melodies and catchiness and everything really what you
could personally expect from an entertaining
release...
Katla: I guess itīs just about doing that. And thanx
for your kind words, too! I have noticed while we
have been playing these gigs that sometimes there are
just the most weird-looking people at our gigs which
you donīt expect to see there too often. Thatīs kind
of funny, I think.
Somnium: I totally agree with Katla. itīs really
great and re-freshing to see different type of persons
at the FINNTROLL -gigs īcoz that only proves that not
only die-hard metalheads are into our stuff, but also
some other type of people as well.
Katla: What I personally have found kind of
disappointing is that I havenīt seen as many
hardcore/punk guys and especially girls, at our gigs
as I have expected to see. Itīd be cool to see more
of them there for sure.
Now when even CENTURY MEDIA is also making FINNTROLL`s
name known all over the world, do you honestly believe
you have fairly good chances to make a break-through
the way like f.ex. bands like NIGHTWISH or CHILDREN OF
BODOM have succeeded very well in every continent thus
far?
Somnium: Well, I hope so at least...
Katla: I cannot see any reason for that why we
couldnīt get our name on everyoneīs lips īcoz itīs no
denying that we, however, have pretty unique sound
after all. I believe we have all those potential
chances to be on the top in the future.
Somnium: Besides, I honestly believe that our music
reaches many genres both in metal and outside of metal
music as well...
Katla: Actually such things have been happening
already. If weīre not able to reach, letīs say, a
"mega-success(!)" the way like CHILDREN OF BODOM have
certainly done, then I guess weīll definitely achieve
something by our music - whatever that might be!
We are about to reach the end of this interview; one
more question, tho. What if you were provided by a
limitless settings for making a colossal film -
spectacle-like, out of one song on your new album,
what song would be chosen and what kind of a film
would it be like according to a script by the
FINNTROLL nuts?
Katla: WOW!! This was a hard one...
Somnium: Mix some porn scenes with the Star Wars
movies and the result could well be a balanced mixture
between these two!!
(-laughing!-)
Katla: Hard to say really...
(-more laughing!-)
Somnium: A megalomaniac porn movie...
(-even more
laughing!!-)
Katla: Seriously again. I think it would be really
difficult to say how this film would turn out if we
all wrote scripts for it together. I guess it would
be a mess of everything possible. No, maybe it could
have something to do with woods... and with fire and lightning, HE! HE!!
... imitating flashes out of Lapland and Northern
lights, too?
Katla: HELL YEAH!!
Somnium: I think the coolest idea might be some kind
of an old Scandinavian film and restore it the
FINNTROLL way. I think there arenīt too many (good?)
old Scandinavian films there made anyway...
Katla: Heīs right, not many at all... HE! HE!!
The original idea for the name of "Finntroll" was used
by (Swedish?) Vikings for the very 1st time when they
tried to conquer the maidenly pure lands of the Water
God of the ancient Finns... ?
Katla: Yea... the story keeps on telling that in the
past, Finland was lived by a bunch of mysterious
people and nobody really knew who they were. In
principle, these conquerors may have referred to the
Lappish population, too.
... and they had also heard that these mysterious
people were protected by very giant trolls who were
living in the ancient woods of this part of the
world... ?
Katla: Yea... guess so, kind of.
Somnium: Thinking of your last question again, it
would be cool if the film was based on the facts...
Katla: That would be really cool! On the other hand,
our(/my) lyrics are just a product of imagination and
nothing else. Or, letīs just say that they donīt
directly refer to anything, although they do have some
influences from some folktales, maybe... (?) So, I
think itīd be better if it was some sort of a
fairy-tale movie.
What could be a perfect working title for that film in
your opinion; any suggestions... ?
Katla: What would be a better working title for it
than "Den Hornkrönte Konungen", HA! HA! HA!! That
would work out just great, I think! Or "Jaktens Tid"
could be as good as my first suggestion, too. It
could be an ultimate catastrophe movie, HE! HE!! No,
really; it would be very hard to decide whether this
or that name could work out better than others. It
would be my big dream to write a script for a whole
movie, tho. I could get lots of money and fame out of
it, HA! HA!! HA!!!
I hope your dream-will-come-true some day Katla. If
you still have something youīd like to say for the
readers of METAL RULES, feel free to speak out now (or
forever be silent, HA!)...
Katla: Well..., not really... Canīt think of anything
right now. Or wait a second! I only could say that as
long as people love to listen to this type of music...
- well, I wanna get this right what I mean exactly.
As long as people are into a well-thought out and
well-played metal music - and have an open mind and
arenīt afraid of trying some new traces out in metal -
and arenīt afraid of turning rocks over in order to
find out whether they could be witnesses to an
absolutely unique yet original band which has a
constant strive for their own distinctive sound, they
should really check out our band īcoz I donīt think
these people get disappointed that badly when they
hear us; I can almost guarantee that to them!
And if youīve ever visited to our homepage
(http://koti.mbnet.fi/necroth/)
and got some sort of
picture about how we may sound like and all that, I
could say to all of you that we actually sound even
better than what has been described on those very
pages!! Many people have already got really enthused
over our metal ("with a difference"!), so hopefully
even the rest of you will give it a fair try as well.
If I, as a olī-timer metal maniac did, I believe why not the others, too... ?
Katla: Yea, why not - letīs at least hope so...
For more information on Finntroll visit:
http://www.spinefarm.fi/metal/index.html
or
http://koti.mbnet.fi/necroth/index2.html
Đ2001 Metal Rules!!