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How are you?
Great, fine, thanks. It's been an amazing day.
You played today, didn't you?
Yes.
How was the English crowd for you?
It was alright. We didn’t expect much because this was our first festival gig in the UK. We had done only club shows this far, so… And besides, it was a very early show, so people were not that drunk yet. It always has to do something with [shakes his fist in the air] headbanging and suff like that. It was very OK, very… I don’t know…
How was the energy from the crowd, how did you feel it?
I don’t think it was lame or anything like that, it was alright. It’s always the same in festivals when you’re playing during the daytime. I think it has to do something with alcohol! But also, if you’re playing very late, it can be boring, a boring audience, like we have witnessed a couple of times, playing at 3 AM or something like that. It’s not time to work any more, even as a band, because you’re tired as well. But anyway, there was many people and we very much appreciate our British fans.
I read somewhere that the description of your sound was mother nature’s wrath descending upon us.
Where did you get that?
I researched!
Alright, from the internet! Oh, really! I don’t know! Hm!
Would you say it’s like that?
Yeah, it’s a good expression, really.
Are you gonna use that now?
Maybe. You have to write it for me. Write it down. I always say we’re epic heathen metal, but that doesn’t bring [¿?] for Moonsorrow, so mainly it’s about having our roots in Scandinavian black metal from 92, 93, bands like old Enslaved, Ulver, Borknagar…
It’s so [¿?] especially black metal where you’re from, so do you feel it’s your job to bring a new edge to it?
Yes, definitely, we always try to develop from our previous works, and like I said, the band started with some kind of symphonic black metal, with the demos, and during the first couple of albums the songs got more mid-tempo, it wasn’t that aggressive, not that fast, and there were all these traditional folk melodies coming along. But on our fourth album we kind of turned back to our roots and started to do that blackier, dirtier sound again. I think we have sucked so many different elements from so many different music styles, be it extreme metal or 80s pop or whatever 70s progressive, even some ambient stuff. We are very open minded. But the basic sound will always remain the same. It may be hard for somebody to understand what it’s all about, because it’s not your ordinary easy-listening music anyway. So you have to listen to those albums, you have to concentrate more on them, not just your ordinary background music. Of course someone can be doing the dishes and listen to those, but the most important thing is that every listener can make their own movie for those songs. It’s very visionary stuff.
You have a headlining tour in Canada. Are you looking forward to it?
It’s going to be our third time in Canada. We did a small tour one year ago, or one and a half, and yes, we’re looking forward to it, it’s been a good area for Moonsorrow, especially the French-speaking Canada. There are quite fanatic fans, actually, mainly in Montréal and Québec, so it’s good to go there again.
Since you’re going to Canada again, when will you be coming back to the UK? Do you know?
We were trying to come back in October or November, but things got kind of fucked up because of our civil jobs, families, stuff like that, so we had to postpone the whole UK thing till next year. But we’re definitely going to do a proper tour in the UK next year.
More will be released later on?
Yes, I think so. What we’re going to do next year is also a Paganfest USA tour in May, that’s our first actual American tour, so looking forward to it. But besides that, it would be awesome to come to England as well. Or Scotland or whatever. UK.
Why did you decide to cover Metallica’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls?”
Metallica being our childhood heroes, and they still kick ass… well, not St Anger, but… I mean, old Metallica, who wouldn’t love them? I think they are a big influence on any metal band. At first it was just for fun. Henri, our main songwriter, had this arrangement and he introduced it to the rest of us, and we liked it so much, so we went to the studio and recorded it. It was recorded in 2005, actually, so it wasn’t from the Tulimyrsky sessions, and it was a well-hidden secret or something, until this EP. An EP is a perfect way to release it.
Are there any endorsements to the band?
Yes, Mitja has some kind of… amp endorsement, and guitar strings… I also have my own custom hand-made Finnish drum kits and a local cymbal deal. I don’t get anything for free, that would be a dream come true, but…
Maybe in a couple of years’ time.
Yes. Even if I got sticks for free that would be something. Those two things, cymbals and sticks, you have to buy new ones every time, because metal stuff is so consuming. All the money I get from the band goes back to the band.
It’s a constant cycle.
Yes. We still consider Moonsorrow as a good hobby, actually, more than work. We don’t make our living from this.
You mess up the songs in your set at each gig, is that something you do to excite the crowd?
We always like to differ it very much, we always try to pick songs from every album, but for festivals it’s impossible. If we pick a song from Hävitetty, the first album, that’s 20 minutes already, and if you have a festival slot, 40 minutes, like today, it would be half of the set, but when we’re headlining we always try to pick songs from every album. We like to vary it a lot from show to show.
You have a 30-minute-long track. What was it like recording that? That must have been a lot of stuff [¿?]
We do those longer tracks in pieces. Every member tries to record as lengthy a part as possible, but at some point you lose your mind and can’t remember what’s the next part, so… But nowadays it’s so easy to put them together with modern studio technology.
Practice makes perfect.
If we were to play the first song from the fifth album, which we never did, it would take at least 3 months to rehearse it through. That’s why we are not doing that! [laughs] We are very lazy when it comes to rehearsing.
You have other commitments as well. Moonsorrow seems to be going [¿?]
We have other bands as well, for example I’m playing in a couple of other bands too, actually next week I’m going to do drums for a new Arthemesia album, it’s some sort of atmospheric, even psychedelic black metal. It’s gonna be out from Spinefarm later this year or early next year.
Thanks for the interview. Have you got any websites?
Moonsorrow dot com, plus our Myspace.
Angel of Metal. Keep it loud.
Transcribed on April 10th 2020. Believe it or not. Effects of the quarantine.
How are you?
Great, fine, thanks. It's been an amazing day.
You played today, didn't you?
Yes.
How was the English crowd for you?
It was alright. We didn’t expect much because this was our first festival gig in the UK. We had done only club shows this far, so… And besides, it was a very early show, so people were not that drunk yet. It always has to do something with [shakes his fist in the air] headbanging and suff like that. It was very OK, very… I don’t know…
How was the energy from the crowd, how did you feel it?
I don’t think it was lame or anything like that, it was alright. It’s always the same in festivals when you’re playing during the daytime. I think it has to do something with alcohol! But also, if you’re playing very late, it can be boring, a boring audience, like we have witnessed a couple of times, playing at 3 AM or something like that. It’s not time to work any more, even as a band, because you’re tired as well. But anyway, there was many people and we very much appreciate our British fans.
I read somewhere that the description of your sound was mother nature’s wrath descending upon us.
Where did you get that?
I researched!
Alright, from the internet! Oh, really! I don’t know! Hm!
Would you say it’s like that?
Yeah, it’s a good expression, really.
Are you gonna use that now?
Maybe. You have to write it for me. Write it down. I always say we’re epic heathen metal, but that doesn’t bring [¿?] for Moonsorrow, so mainly it’s about having our roots in Scandinavian black metal from 92, 93, bands like old Enslaved, Ulver, Borknagar…
It’s so [¿?] especially black metal where you’re from, so do you feel it’s your job to bring a new edge to it?
Yes, definitely, we always try to develop from our previous works, and like I said, the band started with some kind of symphonic black metal, with the demos, and during the first couple of albums the songs got more mid-tempo, it wasn’t that aggressive, not that fast, and there were all these traditional folk melodies coming along. But on our fourth album we kind of turned back to our roots and started to do that blackier, dirtier sound again. I think we have sucked so many different elements from so many different music styles, be it extreme metal or 80s pop or whatever 70s progressive, even some ambient stuff. We are very open minded. But the basic sound will always remain the same. It may be hard for somebody to understand what it’s all about, because it’s not your ordinary easy-listening music anyway. So you have to listen to those albums, you have to concentrate more on them, not just your ordinary background music. Of course someone can be doing the dishes and listen to those, but the most important thing is that every listener can make their own movie for those songs. It’s very visionary stuff.
You have a headlining tour in Canada. Are you looking forward to it?
It’s going to be our third time in Canada. We did a small tour one year ago, or one and a half, and yes, we’re looking forward to it, it’s been a good area for Moonsorrow, especially the French-speaking Canada. There are quite fanatic fans, actually, mainly in Montréal and Québec, so it’s good to go there again.
Since you’re going to Canada again, when will you be coming back to the UK? Do you know?
We were trying to come back in October or November, but things got kind of fucked up because of our civil jobs, families, stuff like that, so we had to postpone the whole UK thing till next year. But we’re definitely going to do a proper tour in the UK next year.
More will be released later on?
Yes, I think so. What we’re going to do next year is also a Paganfest USA tour in May, that’s our first actual American tour, so looking forward to it. But besides that, it would be awesome to come to England as well. Or Scotland or whatever. UK.
Why did you decide to cover Metallica’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls?”
Metallica being our childhood heroes, and they still kick ass… well, not St Anger, but… I mean, old Metallica, who wouldn’t love them? I think they are a big influence on any metal band. At first it was just for fun. Henri, our main songwriter, had this arrangement and he introduced it to the rest of us, and we liked it so much, so we went to the studio and recorded it. It was recorded in 2005, actually, so it wasn’t from the Tulimyrsky sessions, and it was a well-hidden secret or something, until this EP. An EP is a perfect way to release it.
Are there any endorsements to the band?
Yes, Mitja has some kind of… amp endorsement, and guitar strings… I also have my own custom hand-made Finnish drum kits and a local cymbal deal. I don’t get anything for free, that would be a dream come true, but…
Maybe in a couple of years’ time.
Yes. Even if I got sticks for free that would be something. Those two things, cymbals and sticks, you have to buy new ones every time, because metal stuff is so consuming. All the money I get from the band goes back to the band.
It’s a constant cycle.
Yes. We still consider Moonsorrow as a good hobby, actually, more than work. We don’t make our living from this.
You mess up the songs in your set at each gig, is that something you do to excite the crowd?
We always like to differ it very much, we always try to pick songs from every album, but for festivals it’s impossible. If we pick a song from Hävitetty, the first album, that’s 20 minutes already, and if you have a festival slot, 40 minutes, like today, it would be half of the set, but when we’re headlining we always try to pick songs from every album. We like to vary it a lot from show to show.
You have a 30-minute-long track. What was it like recording that? That must have been a lot of stuff [¿?]
We do those longer tracks in pieces. Every member tries to record as lengthy a part as possible, but at some point you lose your mind and can’t remember what’s the next part, so… But nowadays it’s so easy to put them together with modern studio technology.
Practice makes perfect.
If we were to play the first song from the fifth album, which we never did, it would take at least 3 months to rehearse it through. That’s why we are not doing that! [laughs] We are very lazy when it comes to rehearsing.
You have other commitments as well. Moonsorrow seems to be going [¿?]
We have other bands as well, for example I’m playing in a couple of other bands too, actually next week I’m going to do drums for a new Arthemesia album, it’s some sort of atmospheric, even psychedelic black metal. It’s gonna be out from Spinefarm later this year or early next year.
Thanks for the interview. Have you got any websites?
Moonsorrow dot com, plus our Myspace.
Angel of Metal. Keep it loud.
Transcribed on April 10th 2020. Believe it or not. Effects of the quarantine.
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