You seem to be closely connected to Anekdoten. How did this come about? Peter Nordins of the band even plays on your latest album, Huono Parturi.
Well we are good friends. It turned out that we had the same kind of humour, the same way of putting things in perspective. We are always joking of doing something together, not on record, but only live. We went with them on tour once to Brussels. A French guy Collignon organized a gig for us and then we found some other gigs around it to turn it into a tour. We did everything by car.
Is that also the King Crimson link between the two bands?
We do not listen that much to King Crimson anymore.
From somebody I got this question whether you were any further getting a new singer. I didn't even know you lost your old one.
Topi has left the building. He's now in Paris singing with the opera, pursuing a classical career. He would have been crazy not to do this. We are still looking for a new singer. It should be somebody very different. We are looking for someone with personality and not necessarily someone who sings very well. We tried some people out, but they turned out not to be the right kind. We need a special kind of person, someone who fits in. A good thing is that Topi wrote nothing at all, and only arranged the vocals. So all people who wrote anything are still in the band. We do have some new ideas already, but as yet they are all instrumental.
How do you work?
An idea arrives by somebody bringing it in recorded as a demo. Then we play around with it, and people are free to suggest changes and everything. Laina-Ajalla for instance was at first without vocals. The other guys all thought it was too long, the chords were held too long. The vocals were improvised and taken from a live tape. Lahhaustaja was formed by taking a riff from one guitarist and the melody from other. Baksteri was by Tuomas and we also played it with drums and guitar, but thought it better to hire some real brass to do it. And that is what happened. The song Tottele is live a lot freeer and heavier than on the record where it is quite concise. Jarno (Sarkula) sings the grunt vocals here.
I also got a question about Jarno Sarkula's Alamaailman project. What is it? Well Marko, Teemu and Jarno and a keyboardist are rehearsing. They have finished six songs. The music is more oriental and has no bass or guitar on it.
Why do you sing in Finnish?
Well we think it fits better with our music and we also know it better of course. And nice thing is that it also stands out.
What are your own musical interests and those of the others?
I'm a lot into film music like Danny Elfman of the Batman soundtracks. And Tuomas is interested in computer game music. You know, we all listen to very different kinds of music, but one thing we all have in common: we love Iron Maiden. Our audience takes people from both progressive and hard rock. We play a lot harder live than on record. We do not know why.
What about music education?
Jarno is self learned, but learned to play bass on a music school, Topi went to the Sibelius Academy and all the rest of us had private tutoring.
What about this Beata Viscera cover on Huono Parturi.
Well this was Topi's idea and he sings it in quite different way. We do have two other covers: The Trooper by Iron Maiden and Memorial by Michael Nyman.
Where did this title Terva-Antti Ku Ha"ihin La"hti (Tar Antti Went To A Wedding) come from?
Well there is a bar here called Mannala. There is a painting there and we named it the song after that.
I also asked this of Ageness, but what is this Cultural Foundation that Finnish band thank on their records?
Well in Sweden there's this set-up that big bands get money to record their music. Here in Finland even small bands can get money and that helps of course. We can also get money for touring.
Do you rehearse a lot?
Not really no. We have to rearrange lot when we get a new singer and sometimes we improvise.
What is your goal in music?
Our goal is to surprise ourselves and the audience. The nice thing about writing songs is how the personalities of the people involved change a song. Of course the outcome of such a process should be something all in the band can stand for.