Modern Drummer / April 2010

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Hey, Modern Drummer readers! Marko Tarvonen is my name, and I’m writing from Detroit. I’m on tour with my band Moonsorrow. We come from Finland and play epic melodic metal with some black metal influences mixed with some folkish and progressive rock touches. On the bill are also Finntroll and Swallow The Sun, so this really is a Finnish metal tour. I believe it’s the first time something like this is going on in the North America. So far the response has been really great. Thanks so much to our fans in U.S.A. and Canada!

I started to play the drums when I was seven years old. My mother thought I had some potential to become a drummer, so my parents bought me my first drumset. That same year, 1985, I entered the Pop & Jazz Conservatory in Helsinki. I took lessons there for just over ten years, until I decided to quit because of lack of time and a growing interest to form my own bands playing my own tunes and such. After my teenage metal years I really got into progressive rock and started to admire drummers like Bill Bruford, Carl Palmer, and Phil Collins—quite the obvious choices from the British prog scene. They influenced the playing style that I have today. Even though I hit hard playing in metal bands, I’ve kept my proper technique, and that really helps with the physics of your body—no problems with your hands, feet, or back when you keep the basic technique and posture together.

So after some experimenting for years with different music styles (such as jazz fusion, technical thrash metal, progressive rock, and even hardcore punk) I found my home in Moonsorrow, with whom I’ve been playing now for ten years semi-professionally—yes, I still have a day job—since playing in more underground bands doesn’t pay my bills. I still consider this as a good hobby. Not too much to stress about the business side of the ride. I’m there only for the music, that’s what really counts. Indeed it’s good therapy.

In 2007 I was invited to join a new Finnish metal group called Barren Earth, a band mixing some death/doom metal with echoes from psychedelia and progressive rock from the ’70s. So after all it really cannot be called progressive—regressive maybe, huh? Anyhow, we got signed to Peaceville Records in 2009 and recorded our debut EP and album during the summer. It was a very relaxed session, playing the drums in a fine studio, built in an old barracks of our nation’s pride—the coastal fortress of Suomenlinna. The result is a very big but natural drum sound that suits the material very well. The album, Curse Of The Red River, was just released on both sides of the Atlantic. It has nine songs of heavy, atmospheric, and almost depressively melodic metal with both growling and clean vocals.

Speaking of vocals, I also sing a lot of harmonies in both bands with my precious headset mic. That is something I’ve been good at since I was a child. My mom told me I used to sing every day at home. So now I’ve brought something special to my bands, being able to help out with the background voices and even some lead vocal parts. With the drumming it’s very challenging, and at the same time a musically productive thing to do, as I see my strongest point is in serving the music. So I don’t see myself as a selfish musician at all.

My gear: Kumu drums handmade in Finland, Alchemy cymbals by Istanbul, Regal Tip sticks, and Shure microphones. Thanks to Pekka Helanen and Kumu drums, Alchemy cymbals, and Musamaailma in Finland.

Crimson Dawn / December 2002

Link (English) | Link (Russian) - but it's all fucked up, like àëüáîìîì

Interview with Henri Urponpoika Sorvali (Moonsorrow) 16.12.2002

Text: CaT & Kris

C&K: As far as we know,the band was recently in studio recording the new album, so what's the name of it and how many tracks it includes? (if it's not a secret :)

Henri: The name of the album is called "Kivenkantaja", which stands for "Stonebearer" in English. It was actually mastered today (today is 16th of December 2002 :) - Kris), thus making it absolutely complete, fokken majestic and EPIC as Hell!!!!!! The album will contain 6 tracks, and the total running time is 53:48, so we're not exactly try to challenge old Napalm Death here, heh.

C&K: Where was the album recorded and how long did it take? Any funny crap happened while recording session? :)

Henri: The album was recorded in Tico-Tico studios in Kemi, north Finland, as usual. We were so satisfied with Ahti's engineering skills, as well as a person, of course, that we didn't see any other options when choosing the studio. It took us 11 days to play everything and 4 days to mix it. It was pretty hard job, as we had something like 70-90 tracks on each song, but we made it after all!

Any funny crap? Shitloads, including lots of beer... (Whenever there is beer, there is funny crap, as you might know ;) And of course Autopsy's "Mental Funeral" is always listened at full volume in Moonsorrow-crew's parties! Check the studio-diary out from our webpages, at http://hem.passagen.se/metalmusique/moon/moonsorrow_studiodiary.html and find out, why did Ville fight some imaginary dragons, how badly we thrashed the hotel-lounge or why yours truly was trying to find someone particular to get him beaten into a pulp in a bar at 3:30 am.!

C&K: What was the source of inspiration for this album? Is there any special concept or theme on the new album?

Henri: For me, the inspiration came pretty much from "older" records this time, as I was basically only listening to classical film scores, Richard Wagner's various works as well as Rick Wakeman's solo albums and old Folk music. So I really wasn't so keen on metal as a "musical inspiration" (which actually has never been my mug of mead, as I really don't listen to any music in order to get inspired to compose something similar...as long as we are speaking about the passion in making music and not the job.) What it comes to Marko, or "Baron", if you prefer, he was,as far as I know, inspired mostly by old prog such as Rick Wakeman and ELP, and metal such as Bathory or Iron Maiden. And I think that these influences can be heard in the forthcoming album, too. For the concept or theme I really can't say anything, as they are Ville's things.... I just make music. :)

C&K: Do you think that Moonsorrow's style changed on the new album?

Henri: Yes and no. We still are the same band that produced "Suden Uni", or Hel, even "Metsä"-demo, but by all means, I could never have dreamt of using Mellotrons of Moogs in our music back then, although we have always found them extremely interesting and cool instruments, as we all have listened to 70's prog for very long. However, I'd say we definitely carry the same concept, ideas and ideals, but now musically expressed in more "mature" and "daring" way, as we didn't want to go for the "safe" way, so to say. And of course in my opinion we have always had this bombastic "more is more"-attitude for what it comes to the arrangements, heh.

C&K: Will we have a pleasure of hearing the drunk vikings choir doing the backing vocals again? :) And maybe some interesting guest appearances?

Henri: Yes, and this time there are way more of them! On the choir-side, guest appearances are pretty limited this time, as the Thyrane-guys (who basically are the Kemi-scene, if not counting the trendy faggots from Sonata Arctica *spit* ) had to be in Savonlinna for recording their upcoming (godly) album, but of course there was our "official drunken Viking" Janne Perttilä again. He's very good and professional singer, so he adds some real singing in our quasimusical howling, heheh. Also Lord Eurén took a plane from Helsinki to participate on the choirs, as well as our Swedish webmaster Stefan and his brother Robert came to shout and clap their hands.
What it comes to other visitors, we have Hittavainen from Shaman playing some fiddle in three songs and an old friend of mine singing the last song.

C&K: Who'll do/has already done the cover art?

Henri: The cover art was made by a certain group who are specialized on that certain kind of ancient art. I won't reveal here how it will look like, as it's going to be a surprise, but I can assure that if you're into the Viking age, you will most likely like it!

C&K: Is it planned to release the album outside Finland and if it's possible to define, when? 'cause in most cases Europe gets albums at least with 2 months delay from the Finnish release and we all envy you damn much. :)

Henri: Of course! And trust me, it won't take something like two months, if counting on Spinefarm's way of taking care of things.They are fast and professional in these matters.

C&K: Do you have something like a tour or at least a couple of festival appearances outside Finland in mind?

Henri: Actually, I don't know. There has been discussion about a small tour inside Finland with Ajattara and some other (maybe foreign) band, but I don't think we're going to tour outside Finland's borders. But of course single gigs can be arranged abroad, be it a festival-appearance or just a single club-gig with some other bands. The problem is, that, as we're not so big band, the organizators are not willing to pay us much, but we can't either afford to go to a gig if we don't get all the expences paid. It's frustrating to go play a gig just to loose money, you know. Trust me, as we're all pretty experienced on this matter...

C&K: In your opinion, can the fact that you sing in Finnish become an obstacle when promoting the band in other countries?

Henri: Has Burzum, Enslaved, Horna or every second Norwegian band had any obstacles caused by their performing language? ;) Besides, I think that it's more like a bonus if you play Pagan metal and use in your native language in the lyrics and the titles. And of course there is this certain fact about no-one ever getting any sense from the vocalist's growls and screechs anyway, heh.

C&K: Are you going to make a promovideo from this album? If yes, what would your dream video look like a clip with some story behind it or just band playing?

Henri: A video would be nice, but as our songs are not the shortest around, it would pretty frustrating to edit the songs to last for 4-5 minutes, as they tend to lose their musical meaning then in my opinion. If we ever did one, though, it must be done very professionally and good-looking. This kind of band has all the elements of failuring the video lurking behind, as there is a very fine line between "pompous and dramatic" and "pathetic and laughable". If I could choose, it wouldn't be a "story" but more like a scenario, or "sum" of the story of the song. And of course it would include forests, castles, horses, swords, battles, fire, and things like that with no guitars etc. at all. Now imagine how easy it would be to turn a great, Ýberpompous video-idea into a massive pile of world's most pathetic crap a'la Grave Digger or Rhapsody. Got the point? ;)

C&K: Which bands you would most of all like to tour with?

Henri: I would love to tour with Bal-Sagoth, as they are one of my favourite bands and most likely are a killer band on stage. Also Thyfing would be really nice, as they are our friends and make some fokken great music! From the Finnish scene, a tour with Ajattara, Ensiferum (they are pretty known as very good and energetic live band) or maybe Thyrane would be nice.

C&K: Is it possible one day to hear Moonsorrow taking part in somebody's tribute album? What kind of tribute would that be?

Henri: First of all, I'd really like to express my humble opinion about the fact that 99% of the "tributes" aren't nothing else but a lame excuse to copy the tributed band as closely as you can. And I mean, why? Have you ever heard a Motörhead tribute album? If yes, can you please explain me why almost all the bands and especially the singers are desperately trying to sound exactly like Lemmy and co.? I think, that when you make a cover song, it is a shame to not put something your own into it. For example, Terra Firma's version of MotÆrhead's "Bomber" is incredible, 70's styled killer hippie song. (!!!!) Bathory's "Ace of Spades" sounds like it was written by Quorthon himself. Oh, you get the point. What I was trying to say, that no, you really can't see us tributing half-heartedly some old band with our "version" of their song, the only difference being screechy vocals and some synth. If we do a cover-version, it must sound like US. Period. And thus the opportunity to see us on some lame umpteenth Venom- or Metallica-tribute album is pretty much close to zero, unless there is a song we really want to do in our style.

C&K: I know that most of the metal bands become really annoyed when being compared to some other bands. What does Moonsorrow think of all that?

Henri: We don't, as long as anyone doesn't compare us to Finntroll, which irritates us (and especially me) pretty much. Of course there are some similarities, but Finntroll is WAY more "joyous" music than Moonsorrow, and it irritates us a lot if someone finds too much joy or happiness from Moonsorrow's music, as I personally think us as a very gloomy and "dark side of the folk-music"-kind of band. Well, this shall be fixed as soon as Kivenkantaja will be released, heh. Anyway, comparisons with Bathory or Bal-Sagoth are not so "far", but in the end I think that at least with this upcoming album we have most definitely found our own style. To sum this up; People can compare our music to Elton John for what I care, because it really has nothing to do with our own opinions, whether they find resemblances with A-ha or Cannibal Corpse.

C&K: Was there any special story behind making the complete Suden Uni album available for download at mp3.com?

Henri: Yes. That Peruvian bastard no-business-talent-whatsoever Carlos from Plasmatica Records (spit on him) took an extra pressing of the "Suden Uni"-album without telling us anything, to flee away for paying the royalties. (What a dishonourable subhuman.) We found this out, and mailed the fucking retard to send our payment immediately, or we will come and visit him with some baseball bats. He kept promising and promising, "yes, I send you money" for over a month and finally, when nothing (surprisingly) happened, we put the "Suden Uni" to the internet for free download, because we thought that people want to hear and buy the album but because of Carlos they can't, so let's put it into a free download and simultaneously show Carlos that "if we don't get our money, you won't get any profits either". We're mostly likely getting rid of him soon anyway, as he has violated so many parts of the deal that we can pretty surely sue his poor ass and have the legal rights to the album all by ourselves. Besides, this unloyal cunt owes us 2000 euros, so there really are millions of reasons why this unprofessional dick should be beaten into a pulp and get his money.
Happy for the explanation? :)

C&K: What do you think of all so-called fantasy metal bands?

Henri: It depends pretty much of the band. Some bands, like Summoning, Heresiarh or Bal-Sagoth can escape the ridiculousness as they do a great job with their stuff, but unfortunately there are some too many "Tolkien-inspired" bands, who pour their musical crap into the recording industry, playing those a-thousand-times-heard-so-called-medieval-melodies with drum-machine and singing about Sauron and the Uruk-Hai, trying dramatically to sound as much Summoning as possible. Besides, fantasy is most often situated in the Power Metal scene, and I really can't stand that cheesy crap. :)

C&K: Can we expect Moonsorrow playing at summer festivals in 2003 in Finland?

Henri: Most likely, but at this time of the year it's pretty impossible to predict anything.

C&K: The question I always wanted to ask (hihi) Is that an absolute necessity for the pagan to be evil or it's just for metalscene and a common pagan is as mean as a teddybear? :)

Henri: Heh, I get your point. However, Paganism has nothing to do with the concept of Christian, or any kind of "evil". It's more about things like honour, harmony, enjoying of life and being yourself. I, for example am propably as mean as a teddybear (with similar outlooks, hih), as I have never found the "celebration of supreme evil" or whatever to be intelligent enough. The whole concept of being a walking asshole isn't based on any religion anyway. :) Why to be "good" or "evil" when you can just be yourself? As much as I hate Christian "goody-two-shoes"-attitude, I despise even more
the "evil" attitude. It's just plain stupidity. We all have our nice and mean sides.

C&K: When you're on stage, do you look at the audience? If yes, what is more pleasant to see cute girls in the first row or moshing big men? :)

Henri: Of course! I think that the band must have contact with the audience, as nothing is more lame than see a band on stage who just keep on staring their instruments or the floor. We try to have that contact with the audience, as the both parties enjoy it. For the latter part of the question; I actually prefer "big men" in the first row as our music is very powerful, somehow violent and requires an audience who is metaphorically kinda "similar" to it. Then again, if I played in The Back Passage Boys or whatsoever, it would be most embarrassing to see those long-haired men in the front row. It all depends on the music. ;)

C&K: Does Moonsorrow already have crazy fans who stand at the front of your houses crying for autographs? :)

Henri: Luckily no. I prefer privacy extremely much, and can't even stand any ass-lickers or idiots, who think we're so great because we have this band. People who don't know us as persons, people who don't realize that we would do this even we didn't have a record deal. So I really strongly dislike the concept of the word "fan", if it has something to do with non-musical things. Besides, we have sold like 7000 albums so far, so I don't think there are any crazy Japanese fans in the near future standing in our front yards, heh.

C&K: Have you already decided what you wanna get as a Christmas present?

Henri: The ultimate present would a huge sack of peace of mind, with some additional good literature. And maybe a new calendar would be nice.

C&K: Now the finale :) We thank you veeeeery much for the interview and waiting either for Moonsorrow coming here to play or we will come to Finland ourselves! We're leaving this final point to you, you're allowed to ask us smth equally stupid to the interview or/and say some cool and clever stuff to people who will (maybe?) read all that :)

Henri: I tried really hard to invent a really stupid question, but it didn't seem to go very well, as I couldn't come up with anything. :( Anyway, thanks for the interview, and KEEP ON ROTTING IN THE FREE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Skulls N Bones / May 2009

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I'm not sure if this is an interview with background music or music with a background interview. Good luck in uderstanding & following!




TRANSCRIPTION

[Nonsense about pronouncing Sorvali correctly]

The last time I talked to you was about a year and a half ago, no?

Yes, something like that.

A lot actually happened since then. We lost [somebody], you've been accused of being nazi, you released Tulimyrsky... Do you feel different now than you did a year and a half ago?

I've grown older. [Something about worse hangovers]

This is fucking absurd so I'll paraphrase from here on. Approximations follow. Additional detail: this interview happened during a US tour.

Do you like touring with these bands?

Yes I love touring, but it doesn't matter who we're touring with. It doesn't have to be the same kind of music. It's better for the audience. To tour with Korpiklaani is great because they're great guys.

Tell me about Tulimyrsky. When we spoke last time you told me about a 30-minute long song, and you actually did it. It's an awesome song that feels much shorter. Have you had any negative feedback?

No. Of course some people could consider it borig, but these people actually [inaudible] and even if they did [inaudible]. I like it a lot but [inaudible].

You play it in sections, anyway, right?

We used to play it in sections, the first part and the last, then we started playing it in full.

Are you gonna play "For Whom the Bell Tolls"?

No. It's Henri singing and he's not on the tour.

Last time you told me you don't play any instrument, but then I saw you in a photo playing bass.

Yes, I play bass, but I don't consider myself a musician.

You've been called a nazi in Germany by some human rights organizations. How did that happen?

It had nothing to do with human rights. It was some dude doing it in the name of Antifa. There wasn't any organization behind it, just one guy. He started looking at album covers and lyrics and pointing at things: this is nazi, this is nazi. But those symbols have nothing to do with nazism, they're ancient symbols.

And how did you respond to that?

At first we wanted to just forget about it, but then we realized we had to make some sort of statement, because we were in danger of getting our berlin gig cancelled. In the end there was no problem.

You have two other bands, Lakupaavi and Homosika. What about them?

Just Lakupaavi. Homosika is supposed to be the forthcoming album. Sometimes we write something when we are at home. It's crappy hardcore. Maybe we'll make it at some point when we have time. We don't need much time. One day in the studio and eight crates of beer. That's an album.

Personal goals?

To get fat and happy. I don't know, I've achieved more than I've ever dreamed of. Being here, for example. Playing on a stage for lots of people. It feels weird, I'm just a normal guy from Finland. Suddenly I'm here. It's weird. Other than that, some peace of mind in my personal life. There is a lot to achieve in that. Music-wise, I'm living the dream.


Transcribed on 6·II·2021. What a fucking waste of time.

Ultimate Metal / October 2002

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Finnish Epic Heathen Metal gods almost completed writing new songs for their yet untitled album now. But I asked their vocalist and bassman Ville Sorvali about second Moonsorrow's opus and the band's history...



Two wonderful CD's within a year. How in the world was it possible for Moonsorrow to record such masterpieces like "Suden Uni" and "Voimasta ja Kunniasta"?

Well, the primary reason for why those cd's were both released in 2001 was that "Suden Uni" was delayed for a year or so. Most of it was composed already in 1999 anyway. So our pace is not that fast after all; we use the time we need to reach the best possible result, there's no use of rushing things. I'm glad that you consider our recordings masterpieces, yet we couldn't have made them if the gods hadn't guided us!

You can clearly hear some influence of Enslaved or Einherjer on your debut album "Suden Uni". Do you find that you are often compared to the Norwegians?

We sure have been compared to a variety of bands, heh. There are influences from both Enslaved and Einherjer in our musical work, we won't deny that, but after all we create our own music from the very foundation. Comparisons to Bathory are certainly the most reasonable we've heard, after all it is our collective icon.

Now you represent your own style. But what in fact is it that you are playing? You call your style Epic Heathen Metal. Could you decipher this slogan for me?

Hmm, in my opinion we have always represented our own style. However I get your point. Epic heathen metal is what we play, and it means what it says. It's 'epic' because of the atmosphere, 'heathen' because of the message and 'metal' because of the core. There's absolutely nothing more one needs to describe our music with.



Your compositions are usually long, complex, and very well arranged. How does this process take place?

It is either Henri or Baron who brings the basic idea for a song. The most useful of the ideas are developed, often by time, and some of them grow to be full musical pieces in the end. Henri is employed in pre-arranging the pieces, but the final arrangement is laid down by the whole band. Further details about the process are simply boring, there is no mystique in it, heh.

Your "Voimasta ja Kunniasta" is overwhelmingly accepted. Are you also as satisfied?

We are satisfied, but of course there are always aspects to improve, our next album will be even better and blah blah. But the response has certainly surprised us, we could never have thought people would like the album as much as they do!

Tell me, why do you sing in Finnish?

Would you believe if I said this is a question no foreign interviewer forgets to ask..? And it is always more and more simple to give an answer. We are a Finnish band, the subjects we deal with are of a Finnish nature, we are proud of our Finnish heritage and we love our Finnish tongue. There are no such reasons for us to sing in any other language, that's about it.

Your last composition on this album "Sankaritarina" begins with two verses of the eddaic poem "Havamal". Why did you use it? Did it fit to the concept of the song, or was there another reason?

The simple reason was because it was perfect for the concept. I know it's a cliché to use verses from Edda, those two in particular, and I have never actually planned doing it. Those two verses just came to my mind while I started writing the lyrics for "Sankaritarina", although in the end I did make my own translation. Hávamál is a collection of some very wise words and deserves to be promoted anyway.



I'm greatly impressed by your lyrics. They're tiny literary masterpieces! Is it easy for you to write such a wonderful texts?

Well, thank you! Writing lyrics is not easy, nor is it hard. It just happens if it is to happen. Unfortunately I can't explain how... heheh. I only know that the most fruitful time to begin writing is when I have a complete composition to write to, because then I can grasp the atmosphere in its entirety and develop a story that flows with the music.

I won't ask about Avather and Blastmore from Thyrane, everybody knows them; but who is Janne Pertilla, who had helped you so greatly on "Voimasta
ja Kunniasta"?

Janne Perttilä is a friend of us, who plays in such bands as The Sinkage, Rytmihäiriö and zillions of others. By the time of "Suden Uni" he, for some reason, visited us in the studio and ended up singing choirs with us. And it worked so fine that we decided to invite him for "Voimasta ja Kunniasta" as well. His powerful voice is an integral part of our drunken viking choirs.

Let's go back to the beginning of Moonsorrow. Between the first and second album, you released a demo "Tama Ikuinen Talvi" on CD. Tell me how this came about.

Sagitarius Productions had wanted to release the demo ever since it had been recorded, but the project was delayed because they didn't have the resources back then. In 2001 they approached us on the issue, and we had no reason to refuse. Our only demand was some studio time to re-record the vocals and improve from the original sound quality by remixing and -mastering the tracks. All of this was smoothly taken care of.

Henri Sorvalli also plays the keyboard for Finntroll. This group is decidedly more well-known than Moonsorrow. Which of those two bands is more important to him?

We are all very serious and dedicated about Moonsorrow, and even though we have our other bands and projects, they all finish second. Including Finntroll.



As far as I know, other group members are also involved in different projets, not necessarilly metal. Could you tell me what other projects you
are in?

Yes, this is true. Our musical ambitions are too enormous to be bordered inside Moonsorrow, and after all it's good for the band members to express themselves in various ways, so we will always have
some more or less important projects around. Some of the primal examples at present are Finntroll, Larharyhmä (dirty punk/rock), Luokkasota (prog), The Sinkage (death), Tyrant (black), Gorewinter (battleblack) and May Withers (rocking metal).

Henri and you bear the same surname, but you two don't look like twin-brothers. Are you related to each other?

Yes we are, in fact we are cousins. Our adopted middle-names Seponpoika (the son of Seppo) and Urponpoika (the son of Urpo) refer to our respective fathers. We certainly don't look like brothers, you got that right... heheh.

By the way, is that true that Henri teaches music at a school?

Yes, that is true. As far as I'm concerned, he teaches the band projects at his former school, Sibelius high.

During the first years of Moonsorrow, only the two of you played. So that is the influence of the remaining band-members? Do they have their bring in their own style, or do they just carryout what you and Henry tell
them to do?

Moonsorrow was founded by the two of us, but it certainly is a band of five members now. As I said previously, all of us are involved in arranging, and Baron in particular has also been of a great help in
song-writing. The Moonsorrow-sound derives from the collective, it couldn't work if any of us were muted.

You don't play a lot of concerts, do you? Are you going to change this and go on the tour more often?

No, we haven't played a lot of concerts... yet. We have finally got a booking agency behind us, so it should change things. Extensive touring is not in our foremost plans, but I assure the time will come.



To finish off, tell me how work on your third album is going? I'm sure you've started it already.

But no, we haven't started working on our next album... We have gathered some ideas, yet we have decided not to start hassling with them immediately. Right now we concentrate on sharpening our live
condition, and the periods of creation will follow when the impulse is at its strongest. We have no particular hurry, because our next studio time is booked for November 2002.