Metal Sucks / May 2014

Source: Henri's blog

This text was published at www.metalsucks.net as a part of their "Idol Listening"- section. As it was only concerning the albums found from the upcoming Moonsorrow vinyl box set, the last chapter- concerning Varjoina...- album and the future, was left out. So, for those who are interested, here is the whole story in it´s whole bori...uhm, epicness. If you´ve already read it, skip to the last part straight away, as the rest of the text is completely identical with the already- published version.

THE INFLUENCES OF MOONSORROW THROUGHOUT THE YEARS

a.k.a “how we managed to steal everything and never got caught”

Written by Henri Sorvali 2014

“Andi Fara/ Prologr”

This story begins in a boring suburbs of Helsinki, Finland, in summer 1995 at my parent´s garage.

When we weren´t tape- trading together like hell and hanging at the record stores with my cousin Ville, we spent our time doing project- esque rehearsal demos with my four- tracker at that garage. And among others, there was something called Monhzur.

1995- 1998 : The early years.

Our feeble, partly Finnish- sung attempt to rip off Burzum (sic!) recorded half of a demo, which we found not good enough to even finish (especially because of the cheap drum machine we used at the time) and left us quite a load of ideas and riffs for future use. After the halted demo recordings, we still wanted to do black metal, so it evolved into something we called as "Sorrowwoods". I remember us being quite influenced by Carpathian Forest, Bethlehem, Emperor and Celtic Frost at the time and blended it all together badly, resulting in "Thorns of Ice", which was recorded in different takes during the year 1996. Shortly after making the demo covers, we thought Sorrowwoods was a rather bad name for a band and thought we could use "Moonsorrow" instead, (being a song from Monhzur, actually) and thus the name you nowadays recognize better was used instead.

In early 1997, being heavily inspired at the time by Enslaved´s debut and the last Behemoth demo, we started creating a proper demo instead of using different takes and recordings, resulting into "Metsä". Originally called "Thrymgjöll" but changed in the last minute, we were proud of the result and this time we actually thought this could be worthy to release to other people as well. I guess it´s also safe to confess now that as we didn´t have any "medieval battle"- samples available for our intro nor we had the possibility to record them straight from Conan The Barbarian like they did, we actually took them straight out from Demoniac´s "Prepare for War"- album. Recycling at it´s best!

When I finally got a real sequencer and recording facilities in 1998, we thought only the sky would be the limit. Tämä Ikuinen Talvi was something that had to be done in order to realize that it wasn´t the musical direction we wanted to go after all...but the visual, almost theatrical audio was definitely there to stay, though! Both Enslaved´s “Eld” (obviously) and Emperor´s “Anthems” were a huge influence to us, especially the latter with all the synthwork, and there are traces of Immortal, old Dimmu Borgir and tons of Obtained Enslavement (especially in the last song) scattered everywhere. The demo earned us our first record deal, but before it was even released to the public, we had already dwelled into more slower, heavier- and most of all- folkier sounds, which would be known more as of our style in the following 15 years.

1999- 2003: Slowing down a bit.

Less than two months after the release of the last demo, we were already rehearsing our first full- lenght album with Marko- the strongest influence being Bathory´s “Blood on Ice”, which had completely blown our minds earlier. Combined with a dose of Hades´ “Dawn of the Dying Sun”, Borknagar´s debut, Thyrfing´s “Valdr Galga” and Einherjer´s “Odin Owns Ye All”, we felt we had found our spiritual and musical home. One can still find traces of Enslaved and Ulver scattered every here and there, but the "Finland´s answer to Bathory" was probably the most used term for our debut album.

We continued the path onwards and Marko participated on composing for the first time with us on the next album, “Voimasta Ja Kunniasta”. The creation of the new material already begun a couple of months after the recordings of our debut album, and while we were still influenced by the abovementioned albums -Bathory being even stronger influence than ever- this time we brought even more folk music to the package. I was listening a lot of Scandinavian folk at the time (Garmarna, Annbjørg Lien, Hedningarna and Nordman (!!!) being my favourites), and picked a ton of influences from there, while Marko also brought in some ideas from 70´s proggressive rock for the first time. We also listened a lot of punk and vikingarock while drinking together, and brought some ideas from there too- especially in the song "Kylän Päässä".

The natural evolvement of our sound and tendency for dramatic pompousness led to creating the massive opus "Kivenkantaja", which was the first album we had the artistic courage to blend in any kind of elements we had previously thought not to fit our music. Like Marko, I also have a history with progressive rock, so we listened a lot of old prog vinyls (Rick Wakeman´s “King Arthur” being the most influential record for us at the time due to the historical themes it sported as well) and experimented with all sorts of instruments we could think of. We felt we combined every single musical influence we had ever had in our lives, resulting in a rather interesting blend of metal, folk and progressive music. Jumalten Kaupunki was very much inspired by Bal- Sagoth, and Kivenkantaja bows heavily to Windir, who we all loved. The sampled vocals in the beginning of Tuulen Tytär were taken from a Mari Boine- album, and even though I don´t like Pink Floyd, I had to borrow some influence from them to the ending of Raunioilla with the guitars. (And as you probably know, that sure wasn´t the only one “being inspired by” - part done with that song, hah!)

But when everything is done, topped, creamed and overproduced...how are you supposed to do it even better? With Kivenkantaja, we felt we had painted ourselves into a corner and there would be no way to make another, even more epic and over - the- top Kivenkantaja #2.

So we decided to BLOW THE FUCK OUT THAT CORNER instead.

2004- 2008: Speeding up again.

When me and Ville gathered for the first time to think what would we want to do with the next album, we both agreed to wave goodbye to the overproduced epicness and concentrate more on moss, woods and more "traditional" production. The first song which was completed was “Jotunheim”, and it had a completely different, Kivenkantaja- sounding music in the middle of it at the time. After having started with “Karhunkynsi” and turning it into the enslavedesque it became, I quickly went back to Jotunheim to realize it needs more of that "traditional approach" as well, which was the turning point for the whole sound to become. Soon we were basically inhaling our records shelves like crazy, being heavily inspired by pre- 2000´s era Satyricon, Enslaved, Burzum ...and many other less pompous Norwegian bands who were a big influence for us in the beginning. When the recordings were finished, we were sure no- one would like the album but us. To this day, still I consider Verisäkeet having the best atmosphere from any of our records thus far.

Picking up from where Jotunheim was left, we continued working with Hävitetty in spring 2006. As a band of eternal opposites and controversy, it was pretty natural move to make a way slower album after a rather fast one. During the time we composed and recorded the album I was also having the worst period of my personal life ever, which reflected quite much on the musical side and production as well. I was listening to tons of Cold Meat Industry bands (In Slaughter Natives and Puissance in particular), but held Drudkh, Esoteric and the debut albums from Katatonia and In The Woods extremely inspiring at the time. For what it comes to the biggest influences, though, I can safely say that without “Forgotten Legends”, “Hvis Lyset Tar Oss” and “Disintegration” (The Cure) we would had probably sounded way different. My purpose musically was to create a web of music where tones and timbres tangle into each other, forming into a tightening and suffocating grip resembling of drowning, depicting how I felt at the time. I still cannot listen to Hävitetty due to the memories it brings me from the time it was recorded, and consider the album being the most personal I have ever done in my life.

In 1992, there was Conquest of Paradise. Twelve years later, there was Arns Rike. And as I couldn´t wait my turn to rip Vangelis off at 2018, we did Tulimyrsky already in 2008 to break the tradition. The composing of the song started with Marko´s main riff (4:50 onwards) and ended up being probably something Jethro Tull or Yes could had sounded like if they played Enslaved- inspired black metal. The song was probably our most technical entity thus far, it´s structure and arrangements resembling more of a progressive rock song from the 70´s or classical music rather than straightforward Bathory- rip- off. While we had implemented quite much sound effects to our music earlier, Tulimyrsky also took that to completely into another dimension and featured even acting and foley sounds behind the music. (The tradition which kept continuing in “Varjoina”- album later). We were doing the album at our friend´s studio with no strict schedules, so we had time to test ideas, drink beer and have fun as well instead of extremely organized working we were used to do under pressure. While we make extremely visual, dramatic and pompous music on purpose with absolutely no irony on it, we often tend to hide some musical "tributes" here and there for our own amusement. And as usual, all sorts of them were also present this time. Vocal delays done purposedly out of time in the true Norwegian tradition, some parts sounding so much like old Amorphis that we actually asked our friend Tomi Koivusaari to grunt on top of them, and in one riff the vocal arrangement was mimicking Ulver´s "Soelen Gaaer Bag Aase Ned" as closely as possible. The best thing for myself, however, was to actually have a chance to finally hide a Wilhelm scream to the part where the ships were attacking, haha!

2009 onwards: The heavier combination of everything above.

Dust settling and firestorms slowly extinguishing in early 2010, I wasn´t totally satisfied with Tulimyrsky as a composer. I felt it had way too many parts and sometimes stumbled into it´s own technicality. As a personal statement, I wanted to open the next album with something slow, crushing and celticfrosty, resulting into the first minutes of "Tähdetön". We were completely sick of post- black metal (spit!) bands popping out of everywhere and wanted to make a clear distinction on them as well, and thought it had the perfect start for the album. And as the whole concept and tracklist was written before the composing started (!), we ended up creating all the songs in the order they were intended to be, in where the first chords of Tähdetön served us as a great starting point from where to continue onwards. We took inspiration from other stuff as usuall- from the metal side I listened a lot of albums like Thyrfing´s “Hels Vite”, Melechesh´s “Emissaries" and Raate´s “Sielu, Linna” to name a few, and you can spot traces from Gentle Giant, Paul Simon (!!) among other weird influences. And believe it or not- 1800´s traditional Scandinavian funeral music (played with pedal harmonium and other folk instruments, which I unfortunately couldn´t find from Youtube, so this was the closest reference I could dig up and has nothing to do with folk music in particular) was a huge source of inspiration throughout the process, which can be mostly heard in especially in “Kuolleiden Maa”. Perhaps the most influential record during the arrangement- process, however, was the stunning debut album of Triptykon, which inspired us to take heavy (pun intended) advantage on guitar department- adding quite a lot of feedbacking and very bottom string- structured playing to our music besides our usual string arrangements. Which, I believe, will also play a huge part in our upcoming album we are working with as we speak.

“Epilog/ Slaget”

As a music fan first and then a musician, I have never found any shame on giving credit to the artists who have inspired me in my own art. Without the abovementioned artists, albums and songs Moonsorrow wouldn´t probably existed in the first place and I´d like to express my sincere gratitude towards all the people behind my inspiration and influences. Hopefully this wall of text has shed a bit light on the creation of Moonsorrow´s sound throughout the years, and I thank you for actually reading this far. We´re currently in the process of composing our new album, which is scheduled to be recorded at end of 2014 if everything goes as planned. Expect to hear traces of everything listed here with a ton of new elements and other nasty tricks up our sleeve.

Hails,

Henri Urponpoika Sorvali, Moonsorrow.

Soundscape Magazine / February 2015

Link
Alternative link

February 20th, 2015. York, England. Click the link above, because the interviewer doesn't seem to want it compiled.

Pagan Storm Radio / March 2015

Brescia, Italy, right before Bixia Obscura Festival.

TRANSCRIPTION

Welcome to Pagan Storm and thank you for your time. Let's start from the future of the band... You've always worked silently to your albums: how is it with the writing process and the preparings going? Are you pretty satisfied yet, or not?

Mitja: Yes, we've been working on it for a long time actually, and we even almost composed the whole album, and then we deleted it completely and started again. Right now we're again pretty much on the final run of the songs, 30% of the album is still unfinished, but other than that it's going great.

Can you tell us a period in which you think will the new album came out?

Ville: Not yet, but it's probably gonna be out a year from now.

 

A year from now?

 

Ville: Along those lines.

In the next fall, something like that?

Ville: Fall... or winter.

Mitja: The timelines are so long. If we go to the studio in summer, it means it's gonna come out late that year, or even next year.

During the years, you actually have forged your very own trademarks: what do we have to expect from the new album? Maybe something new from this point of view?

Mitja: I would say, we never try to find an album and repeat it sound-wise again. It's gonna be very different from the last one, and again, it's going to be a very different mix of elements completely. That's something we always do, and the time we find out we cannot do it any more, that we cannot find a new approach or a new aspect to the music any more, then it will mean that we have come to the end of... But so far so good, it sounds great.

Ville: I'd say the new album sound-wise is gonna be more black metal than doom metal.

In the latest stuff of your career, starting from Verisäkeet, one of your trademarks are long timing and structured songs. How will the new songs be under this point of view?

Mitja: It's not gonna be that long songs this time. They are long for sure, it's very hard to get out of the 15-minute format that we found on Verisäkeet, but it's not going to be 30-minute songs or anything. We really didn't want to repeat ourselves in that aspect either.

Ville: Definitely, on our scale there are gonna be radio hits. [Something something] is gonna be a real radio hit then, compared to our previous works it's gonna be more accessible.

Good for us, because we are a radio and it's very difficult to share your songs, we have to cut them. How do you work in creating new stuff, usually? From what do you begin? Do you work all together or each on his own?

Mitja: We don't.

Ville: The magic just happens. Nah, it's Henri who does most of the work, and he does it at home.

Mitja: Everybody can contribute to that process and give riffs and songs and ideas, and usually we either just send him the material or we go to his place and we have sessions with him, or we start arranging the songs. It might be that the next day everything that we did is gone already. He's very fast when he's working, when he starts building up a song he can write five or six minutes in no time, with all the orchestrations and instruments, but if he feels "nah, this isn't good enough," he just presses delete or puts it in some folder that's hidden somewhere. It's amazing what kind of stuff you can find there over the years.

Ville: Years of folders.

Mitja: Yeah, if you find them.

Ville: Legendary riffs that will never be released. For the good of everyone.

I think from the deleted part of Moonsorrow maybe seven or eight good bands can grow and publish a lot of good albums.

Ville: Maybe seven or eight bands, but I don't know about the "good" part.

One year ago, your "Heritage: 1995-2008 - The Collected Works" came out in only 100 copies. Why did you choose to press them on such limited quantity?

Mitja: Actually it was 450 copies, there's just 100 of each edition, because there are different ones: plain black vinyl, white, splatter, and then the diehard one that was 150 copies. The whole point was: if you make such a deluxe item, it's very costly to produce anyway, there's no point in pressing two thousand units or something, because if even 100 of them don't get sold, the company would go bankrupt completely. It was done based on the demand and assumptions of how many people would buy it. And it was very carefully planned in every stage of it.

But it sold all copies, I think.

Mitja: Yes, it sold out pretty fast. I would say, if we had 50 more it would be still be sold out, but I think it was very cleverly calculated how many would move.

It would be interesting to know your favourite bands, and then the ones that in your opinion have influenced Moonsorrow's music the most.

Ville: Venom. (laughs) No. I don't even like them.

At all?

Ville: No, I really don't. Bathory I do, they copied Venom a bit in the beginning and then they copied Manowar. It made it so much better! One fo my favourites definitely, and you can probably hear it in Moonsorrow's music as well.

Mitja: When you hear Manowar in Moonsorrow's music it means we've been copying Bathory. There are lots of bands, like Enslaved, that influence us all actually, very much. Also the language thing, that you don't have to sing in English. It was one of the first bands we came across that actually made us think: wait a minute, you don't need to sing in English, you can do this in your own language or... Well, it wasn't their own language, it was Icelandic or whatever they were using, but...

Ville: Their ancestors' language.

Mitja: But it's much more interesting to do it in different ways than the other bands. Of course we all have our personal preferences, like Slayer and so on, which doesn't have anything to do with Moonsorrow, and then King Crimson has been very influential for many of us, you can also hear it in the music, we have this progressive rock element and that's definitely from there. But I would say Scandinavian black metal is the key, like many bands.

Ville: And Satan.

Mitja: Of course.

It is not a band, so...

Mitja: It IS a band! From the UK!

Ville: Very true.

Are there any bands born after the year 2000 that you enjoy or usually listen to, or even non-metal bands?

Ville: There's so very few of them, because I don't follow music any more. I just listen to what I used to listen to when I was a kid. I don't find that many new bands. There are a lot of interesting bands, of course, music is constantly evolving, it's not like all the music after 2000 has to be crap, there's a lot of good bands, but I'm just too lazy to check them out. I know a few, but...

Mitja: For me it's the same thing, unfortunately. For example, in 98 or 99 I grew tired of the black metal explosion, because there were so many bands coming up that I couldn't follow it any more, and then I realized most of those were crappy anyway. Then, after a few years I started to listen to the new bands again and I think black metal is still doing very well right now, for a few years already. That's interesting. But it's very hard when you've lived the years where you find your favourite bands and all these things to follow all the time some new forms of metal, for example. I do listen to a lot of other stuff also, but it's very hard to find new metal bands that would really catch me.

In the end of the 90s there was a blast of new bands coming out from Scandinavia, something similar to what happened in the 60s in Great Britain  for the Rock Music. Why, in your opinion, this situations occur?

Mitja: There are many reasons, but one thing... Well, I can only speak for Finnish bands, and I know that we didn't have a national identity in what comes to music or metal or rock music really, we had some really good local bands singing in Finnish but we didn't have any breakthrough internationally until some bands started to do what they really wanted to do in their on way, and not trying to copy Swedish or American bands or something, and they started really gaining attention, and other young upcoming bands realized they could do that in their own way, they could do this a bit similarly or something and take influence, and suddenly they're just growing and growing en masse and you get this huge scene that's lifting up. In Finland it caught on during the early 2000s.

Are there not economical reasons, in your opinion, or political ones, social...? Only musical?

Ville: I would say that Finland has always been a very safe and boring country when it comes to economy and politics, there are no big uproars anywhere in our history

Mitja: And if you have a band and want to make money with it, you're already going on the wrong track, because none of the bands who formed and became successful and influential started it for the money. It would be the worst business move to form a band. (laughs) Anything is better than that.

You can just go to pop.

Mitja: Even that is difficult. You have to be really talented to make it in pop music.

Ville: My advice would be to work for bands.

 

Not for money?

 

Ville: Not work in a band, but work for bands. Like the technician or whatever, outside the band, so that the band pays you, and you get money. The band doesn't get money.

Thnk you, this interview is Finnished, thank you very much.

 

Transcribed on March 15th 2021. Thanks for appreciating the phonetic license I took at the end, glad you noticed what I did there. Aren't I hilarious?

Red Hard n Heavy / September 2014

Link

The concert in Virgin Oil was on September 13th, 2014, and the Japanese shows were short after that. Since this interview was published in March 2015, I suspect the interviewer cheated a bit.

Entrevista a MOONSORROW en Finlandia

mar 18, 2015 por Red Hard´n´Heavy en Entrevistas

 

Ya podemos leer la interesante entrevista que Ángel Ruiz mantuvo hace unos días con Mitja y Ville (guitarrista y bajista respectivamente) de MOONSORROW sobre su futuro disco, planes de gira y muchas cosas más. 

Hablamos con Ville y Mitja antés de su actuación en Virgin Oil de Helsinki, donde entre otras cosas, nos adelantaron en primicia detalles de su próximo álbum, recordamos peripecias vividas hace años en España y debatimos sobre la actualidad del metal en general.

Un placer conoceros chicos, he de decir que durante mucho tiempo no erais precisamente la banda más fácil de ver en mi país.

Ambos: Igualmente.

Mitja: Bueno, cada vez vamos tocando en más sitios…

No soléis daros mucha prisa por editar vuestros trabajos, y no es una queja, pero han pasado ya tres años desde vuestro último álbum ¿Qué habéis estado haciendo?

Mitja: Hemos estado girando durante dos años, y luego hemos ido bajando el ritmo poco a poco para trabajar en el nuevo disco, aún estamos trabajando en él de hecho, escribiendo temas y demás. Debería haberse grabado ya, pero siempre tenemos algún detalle que pulir o cambiar. El proceso no está siendo tan fluido como otras veces.

 

¿Cuáles son los planes inmediatos de la banda ahora mismo?

Mitja: Básicamente estamos centrados en el nuevo álbum que debería salir en algún momento del año que viene. Habrá alguna que otra actuación puntual y muy exclusiva, pero poco más hasta que lo publiquemos. Luego nos centraremos en girar de nuevo.

Creo que habéis vuelto de Japón hace tan solo unos días,  ¿no?

Mitja: Sí, de hecho estamos intentando tocar en sitios donde no habíamos ido nunca y nos gustaría en futuro cercano ir a Sudamérica. De hecho es uno de nuestros principales objetivos ahora mismo.

Hablando de nuevo material, he leído hace poco acerca de vuestro monstruoso “Box Set” ¿Qué me podéis decir de él?

Mitja: Es una barbaridad, hay cosas que ni nosotros mismo hemos escuchado: demos etc. También están los DVDs, que es algo que no habíamos hecho antes. Todo ello en diferentes versiones, colores, en CD, Vinilo, con extras, etc… La verdad es que la compañia ha hecho un trabajo genial.

Esperemos que funcione bien, porque el precio también es brutal, unos 300€ de media…

Mitja: Pues sí.

Ville: De hecho creo que se ha vendido todo ya.

¡No me digas! Pues ya voy tarde entonces…

 

Mitja: La verdad es que si me hubieras preguntado hace unas semanas habría dicho que no íbamos a vender más de 60 copias, pero es un placer ver que hay la suficiente gente y que está suficientemente loca para comprar unos boxsets tan caros.

Recientemente habéis cambiado de sello, de Spikefarm a Century Media ¿Qué tal se están tomando la espera?

Mitja: Bien, desafortunadamente tienen que esperar, no podemos darnos más prisa. Nosotros no vivimos de la banda. No hacemos esto por dinero así que no tenemos que estar editando algo cada dos por tres para poder sacar todo el dinero que podamos, lo hacemos porque nos gusta y siempre intentamos dar con la mejor fórmula posible para cada álbum, y no hacemos nada hasta dar con ella.

Ville: En Century Media lo entienden, así que estamos bien.

Eso está bien, no sé si conocéis a vuestros compañeros de sello ANGELUS APATRIDA y todos los problemas que tuvieron con su primer disco (ndr: les hago un resumen de la historia por todos conocida)

Ville: Menuda faena, pero no creo que les pase eso ya con la gente de Century Media.

Vuestros primeros 4 álbumes estaban enfocados hacia la mitología, mientras que los dos últimos se decantan por la temática del fin del mundo. ¿Puedes decirnos por dónde ira el futuro álbum?

Ville: Bueno, si tengo que decir algo es que va a ir más por el lado de la mitología de nuevo.

¿Va a ser de nuevo algo tan complicado como “Havitetty”?

Ville: No, van a ser más como pequeñas historias; sencillas, pero no como en “Verisäkeet”. Cosas que todo el mundo pueda entender.

 

Bueno, te sorprenderías cuanta gente en España puede conocer vuestra mitología, yo sin ir más lejos. Aquí tenemos a Tuulikki, y conozco el significado el nombre, la hija de Tapio, el dios del bosque.

Mitja:  Es más que posible (risas).

Vuestros primeros cuatro disco eran, digamos, discos normales dentro del folk/pagan/viking metal o como queramos llamarlo, sin embargo con “V: Hävitetty” rompisteis todos los patrones. Dos temas de media hora nada más y nada menos. He de decir que la crítica de ese disco fue, y con diferencia, la más complicada que he escrito en mi vida.

Mitja: Bueno, es que es con diferencia nuestro álbum más complicado (Risas).

¿Os atreveréis a tocar alguno de los dos esta noche? 

Mitja: Eeeeh, me da que no (risas).

¿Habéis tocado alguna vez el álbum entero?

Mitja: No, cuando lo publicamos tocamos en directo la segunda canción durante un año más o menos en nuestros conciertos, pero nunca ambas.

Vuestro último disco hasta la fecha también era algo diferente a lo habitual pues aunque los temas eran más comedidos,  eran realmente solo cuatro con unas narraciones intercaladas ¿Cómo creéis que va a ser el nuevo?

Mitja: Va a ser de nuevo diferente, de momento parece que va a ser un disco de temas más o menos normales dentro de nuestro estilo. Temas sueltos que cuentan cada uno historias diferentes, pero si se nos ocurre algo sobre la marcha podríamos cambiar eso.

Las portadas de vuestro discos han sido siempre muy diferentes entre sí, de hecho la última era una fotografía, ni siquiera era un diseño como soléis hacer normalmente ¿Qué tenéis en mente esta vez?

Ville: No tenemos ni idea aún.

Mitja: Exacto, es de las últimas cosas en llegar en el proceso de un nuevo álbum. No solemos pensar en nada en concreto, de hecho para el último hablando con Henri (Sorvali) le dijimos: “Oye, ya hemos hecho antes un disco sobre el fin del mundo, ¿qué tal una foto de un grupo de gente? Una especie de supervivientes de un apocalipsis”.

Siguiendo con el futuro nuevo disco, dadme más detalles: productor, lugar de grabación…etc.

Mitja: Mayormente lo vamos a grabar en Helsinki, quizá enviemos algunas cosas fuera para algún retoque o algo, pero principalmente Henri se va a hacer cargo de todo. Nadie conoce la banda mejor que él mismo y tiene muy claro cómo tiene que sonar un disco de MOONSORROW. En general tenemos muy claro con quiénes queremos trabajar.

Eso es una gran ventaja, ni te imaginas la de bandas de mi país u otros que vienen a Finlandia para grabar en condiciones sus trabajos.

Ambos: Pues  la verdad es que sí, tenemos suerte.

Cambiando un poco de tercio, siempre habéis sido una banda un tanto difícil de ver en directo, y no es que ahora os prodiguéis demasiado comparados con otras formaciones. ¿A qué se debe?

Mitja: Somos vagos (risas). Supongo que somos muy perfeccionistas y no somos ese tipo de grupo. Hemos tenido que cancelar muchas fechas por diversos motivos, y personalmente puedo decir que no creamos una banda pensando en el dinero y hacernos ricos sino por afición, porque nos gusta.

Hombre, no creo que nadie se dedique a esto del metal para hacerse rico, bueno, quizá METALLICA…

Mitja: Por supuesto (risas), pero como ya he dicho, no nos metimos en esto por ese motivo. Para mí salir de gira es como ir de vacaciones, no me gusta estar preocupado por si nos pagarán o no el siguiente bolo, no me gusta estar dependiendo de esto para poder pagar mi alquiler…

Bueno, dejemos el tema monetario pero sigamos con los conciertos, ¿cuál el lugar que recordáis como más raro para tocar, el más peculiar o lo que simplemente recordáis especialmente por el motivo que sea?

Mitja: Pues creo que fue en Austria, no recuerdo muy bien el sitio ahora mismo, pero era una especie de granero, cobertizo o algo por el estilo. Muy grande pero claramente un sitio donde se guardaba algún tipo de ganado.

Ville: ¡Y recientemente!

Mitja: Sí, olía a pura mierda todo aquello, pero curiosamente resulto ser un sitio estupendo para la música. 

Volvamos la vista atrás un poco, ¿Qué recordáis de vuestros conciertos hace ya muchos años en el Atarfe Vega Rock (en Granada) y Heavy Metal Heart más al norte?

Mitja: ¡Oh!, el Atarfe fue realmente genial, toda una aventura. El vuelo llego con mucho retraso, íbamos tan justos de tiempo que el minibús que nos llevaba iba todo el tiempo por encima de 140 km/h por esas sinuosas carreteras. Pensábamos que no llegábamos vivos. Al final llegamos tan justitos que nos quitamos las camisetas, nos echamos un poco de sangre por encima y al tajo directamente.

Recuerdo también que los artistas tenían barra libre ese festival, algo totalmente nuevo para nosotros, y estuvimos allí de fiesta con las otras bandas finesas (IMPALED NAZARE y TO/DIE/FOR) del cartel y algunas locales. Pues bien, se fueron todos los españoles y allí seguimos nosotros hasta el final. He visto vídeos de aquella noche que espero que nunca salgan a la luz (risas).

Supongo que no sabían que no se le puede dar de beber gratis a los fineses…

Ville: Totalmente, es peligroso (risas).

¿Cómo veis la situación actual del metal en Finlandia? Sigue estando muy normalizado a pie de calle, hay emisoras de radio etc, pero han cerrado mucho bares, tiendas… Los niños ahora van todos con la gorra apuntando al cielo y escuchan Hip-Hop…es una imagen muy distinta a la que la gente tiene de Finlandia.

Mitja: Ha cambiado mucho si, antes sólo en Helsinki había al menos una docena de bares heavies, karaokes heavies, un montón de tiendas…, pero ahora apenas quedan cuatro garitos abiertos. El metal no es tan masivo como antes, poco a poco está volviendo a ser lo que era, un estilo importante pero sin dejar de ser algo más cercano al underground, de donde no debió haber salido nunca quizá. Personalmente a día de hoy me siento más cómodo en mi casa, a mi aire.

Bueno, yo soy del País Vasco y ahí el tema del Rock y Metal, o incluso el Punk, está bastante normalizado comparado con el resto del país donde, quitando las grandes ciudades, cuanto más al sur vas más difícil es ver un metalhead. Es casi como ver a un alien por la calle a veces, así que Finlandia no está tan mal (risas)

Mitja: El punto es que aquí empezamos a tener muchas bandas allá por los 90, y cuando empezaron a crecer y a hacerse populares de verdad, sobre todo a nivel internacional, crearon un movimiento inmenso a nivel nacional. El mundo del metal creció de manera increíble, llegando a tener cuatro o 5 conciertos el mismo día a veces. Era imposible ver a todas las bandas así que creo que en cierto modo está mejor así.

Creo que una de las mayores ventajas que tenéis aquí es el contar con un par de sellos importantes, eso da mucha más salida y facilidades a las bandas locales. En España, aunque contamos con muy buenos grupos en este momento, siempre tienen que mirar hacia fuera. Por ejemplo, un par de bandas españolas han ganado la batalla de bandas del Wacken en los últimos años, y no por ello lo han tenido mucho más fácil.

Mitja: Bueno, supongo que todo es cuestión de que alguien se atreva a montar algo. Aquí antes siempre dependíamos de sellos extranjeros, sobre todo americanos, pero con el boom del metal, aparecieron las primeras discográficas importantes del rollo a nivel local.

¿Cuál creéis que es la mayor diferencia entre un fan fines y uno español?

Mitja y Viller a la vez: ¡La pasión! ¡La entrega! Los españoles no paran en ningún momento, todo el rato animando, saltando, cantando…, es realmente genial. El fines medio se te queda mirando sin más por lo habitual.

Sí, las primeras veces que fui a conciertos aquí tenía la seria de duda de si les gustaba lo que estaban escuchando.

Mitja: Es diferente, sí, pero lo aprecian, te lo aseguro.

¿Conocéis a alguna banda española en concreto?

Mitja: En el pasado solía escuchar mucho Black Metal que me llegaba de todas partes, pero no caigo ahora en ningún nombre en concreto.

Juraría que Henri se encargó de producir el disco de unos paisanos míos, “AIUMEEN BASOA”, y quedó bastante satisfecho con el resultado.

Ville: ¡Oh, sí!, gran banda, me gustó mucho ese trabajo ahora que lo mencionas.

Mitja: ¿No grabaron hace muchos años un Split con otros grupos?

Si, junto a ADHUR e ILBELTZ, bandas vascas todas ellas.

Mitja: Sí, lo recuerdo. Aún lo tengo por ahí, me gustó mucho.

Pregunta del millón, ¿Qué escucháis cuando estáis en la intimidad de vuestra casa?

Mitja: No me salgo mucho de lo que hago, escucho mucho Black antiguo, Rock y Metal en general salvo algunas excepciones.

Ville: Lo mismo, me gusta está música por algo.

Todo un alivio para mí escuchar eso… ¿Tenéis planeado actuar en España próximamente?

Mitja: De momento nos centraremos en el nuevo disco con alguna que otra actuación local salteada, pero supongo que después saldremos de gira, así que sí.

Por mi parte esto es todo, si queréis decirle algo a vuestros fans en España…

Mitja: ¡Por supuesto! Siempre que hemos ido a España nos lo hemos pasado muy bien, es genial tocar allí, de verdad. Todos nuestros conciertos han sido geniales ¡No esperamos menos de la siguiente vez!

Texto y fotos: Ángel Ruiz

Spirit of Metal / September 2012

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Interviews Moonsorrow - September 2012 “Well, really, when we started the band we had a goal in mind: to have a record contract, someone who is actually paying for the making of the album and releasing it. We got that! Then, we got some shows here and there. And then we were thinking like: it would be nice to tour… it grows all the time, in our own heads. But, fundamentally, we are happy that we got the first record deal. Everything else is just bonus.”
Check out the chat that SOM had with Ville Sorvali (bass and lead vocals), Marko Tarvonen (drums) and Markus Eurén (keyboards) from Moonsorrow!!!

You guys will be playing tonight with Korpiklaani, Metsatol and Tyr. This is an incredible lineup. Was this planned between you guys (the bands) or was it planned by “management”?
Ville: Blame the manager. No, no… seriously, we don’t really make those decisions but it is always nice to tour with people who are actually friends and not just “other bands”.

Marko: Korpiklaani was about to do this tour and we were invited as a direct support for them. We said: “Yeah, why not?” We’ve been together for many tours before. It is a good combination, really.

Ville: It is the fourth tour [we do] with them.

April 2010 was the last time you had toured North America. How much has the band changed in between these couple of years? Do you feel like you have grown since then?
Ville: We party less… we are getting old (laughs). I can already see that.

Marko: And we have new material out to play in the States, we have a new album. Well, actually, it is not out in the States because the record labels fucked up the whole American release. It is only available in iTunes and that’s a very sad thing. We really can’t do anything about it because it is about the corporate and stuff like that. We kind of got into the crossfire of two different labels and the new one, Century Media, was willing to put our latest album out for this tour, in the States but the previous one, Spinefarm, somehow fucked it up with the licensing contract, blabla… It is all legal stuff…

Ville: The business part of it…

Marko: But, as for your question of what has been changed from the previous tour, it is really nice to play the new material here and to actually see the people liking it. It doesn’t necessarily matter if it’s released physically or not; people are downloading it and stuff, and they are still coming to the shows, buying t-shirts. So, it is very cool to see that we still have a growing fan base over here.

The other side now: Has your fans and public in general changed since last time?
Ville: I think that the turn outs are increasing tour by tour. People get to know us and tell their friends.

Marko: It’s better than with Finntroll [previous tour in North America]. Actually, somehow, it is more fanatic during this [current] tour, the moshpits and everything…. it is more intense.

Markus: It is because of the set list (laughs).

Marko: Well, we really tried hard to put on a set list that kind of “moves” people, actually.

Ville: That actually has everything… we have two songs of the new album that takes half of the set already… (laughs)

Marko: It is always really hard to pick the songs from the past catalog that “fits” with the new songs, together. I think that the set list that we’ve been doing on this tour is working very well.

Ville: Yeah, it’s working.

From 70000 tons of metal to label change. This year has been a “big” one for you guys. Any new big things coming up until the end of the year?
Marko: No… when we finish this tour we still have one occasional festival concert in Holland coming up in October but after that there’s really nothing. I think we have to prepare for the new material…

Ville and Markus: Yes.

Marko: That’s always…

Markus: …challenging.

Marko: A big challenge and a big discussion!

Ville and Markus: Yes! (laughs)

Ville: We have been touring for this album for one and a half years now.

Marko: Quite many shows…

Ville: [It is] better to start concentrating on new material soon…

All or most of you guys have side projects. How do you split your time in between these projects and Moonsorrow?
Ville: It is quite easy. The word “side” project already involves the concept of priority. Actually, none of us is spending time in other serious bands except for him [he points out to Marko] and Janne [Perttilä], who are in Barren Earth. The other ones just have projects. Pro

jects can be done at anytime when you are not playing with your band.

Marko: And personally, I think that we are spending more time with our personal lives than on the side projects; our personal every day life, going to your “normal” work. That takes more time out of Moonsorrow than the other bands because we don’t get paid so well for this [playing]. So, we cannot afford to quit our day jobs. It’s [just] like that…

Is it too hard to have your day job and the band?
Marko: It is hard and it is not… it depends. At the moment, I have this “alternation leave”, that we have in Finland that allows me to take, for example, 6 months off from work to do touring. But, it is not every year it is like, after 10 years working history behind you, then you can apply for this leave, which I did, and I got it, and I’m really happy about it.

Now, I have been able to tour 3 tours with Moonsorrow and one with another band. So, it is kind of cool to spend a little bit more of this “rock n’ roll life style”. (laughs). But then again, on October 1st , I need to go back to work and have the normal daily routine again.

You have mentioned that you have changed labels (from Spinefarm Records to Century Media). How big is this change for you guys?
Ville: We haven’t done anything with them [Century Media] yet so, it is hard to say. It seems that we have a very good relationship already, on a personal level. They were interested in signing with us. We had a couple of meetings before even talking about the contract. They were just like, trying to figure out where we stand. I’m really happy with that. They came to shows and just wanted to meet us.

Markus: Like yesterday, we met for the first time their US staff.

Marko: And also some friend’s bands like Finntroll, Insomnium and Turisas: everything that we’ve heard from them about Century Media is positive. So, that’s something we can trust on.

You mentioned earlier that you are planning to start working on a new album. Any ideas of what directions will be taken for this next release?
Ville: Yes and no. We’ve been in discussion about it, but…

Marko: Like [I] said: it is a big discussion first and then it is a lot of work.

Ville: The point where the direction of the album is actually determined is the point when you actually start writing it. When we have the first material at hand then we know where it is going.

So, when can your fans expect the new album? Any idea?
Ville: Before 2020 (laughs)!

Marko: I think it should be out the end of next year/early 2014.

Markus: Yes, something like that.

Marko: Something we don’t want to do is to work with schedules. We hate the schedules, we hate the record labels setting certain dates that: this must be finished until this date. There’s when usually things get fucked up, like on the last album, the German release got fucked up because the schedules went wrong. It wasn’t our fault, we delivered everything on time, but labels fucked it up in the end.

Ville: They didn’t communicate.

Marko: They had a schedule for us and we delivered everything by the schedule but in the end they fucked it up. So, what is the point of having those schedules?

Ville: And the thing with Century Media is that already, at the early stage, our artist and relation person told us that he know our band very well (he has been following us since the beginning) and he knows that we don’t work with schedules and he respects that. So, he is not pushing us to make a new album like, right now. He accepts that the new album will be ready when it’s ready.

About these schedules: could they hurt the creativeness of the writing process, in case you get closer to the due dates? For example, the time you had the schedules with Spinefarm?
Ville: Actually, in truth, I wouldn’t like to be talking shit about Spinefarm. They didn’t make those schedules, we made them. They just asked us to make “A” schedule. We told them that we needed time and they also respected that.

But talking about anybody: if someone asks you to set-up these schedules and you end up getting tight, would you have to sacrifice the creativeness because of that?
Marko: Not for the music. Usually, if we have to sacrifice something it’s the promotion mainly and maybe some parts of the cover art or something like that.

Ville: Yeah, because the schedules are made so you have the product in your hands at least 3 months before the release so, you can have to promote it. If we set these schedules in stone, which we always have to do in the end anyway, if we delay the finalizing of the product then the times is taken off from its promotion. We don’t sacrifice the music.

Markus: No… never.

Marko: We hardly book the studio before the album is written.

I know this question is the basic standard one but I can’t resist! I have to ask you: you guys have been growing so much the past years, getting more and more known around the globe. What is your personal goal out of this? What would be your ultimate goal that would make you feel as you are an accomplished musician?
Ville: Well, really, when we started the band we had a goal in mind: to have a record contract, someone who is actually paying for the making of the album and releasing it. We got that! Then, we got some shows here and there. And then we were thinking like: it would be nice to tour.

Markus: [It would be nice] to do some gigs out of Finland.

Ville: Yeah… outside Finland. Then we got that. Then we started to think about touring and then suddenly we got a booking agency, we toured Europe a few times…

Marko: And somehow we got some money and that was the turning point (laughs).

Ville: Yes. And then, after touring Europe a few times we thought: “It would be nice to tour outside Europe as well”. And then we got an offer to do an American tour. We came here, did that and then we said: “We want to come back here again! And actually we want to see some other places than Europe and North America!” Then we got an offer for Japan and China. And now, we are talking about other continents then these 3… it grows all the time, in our own heads.

But, fundamentally, we are happy that we got the first record deal. Everything else is just bonus.

Marko: In the end, if this was supposed to end tomorrow, we would still be happy that we got the first record deal.

Ville: Yeah… especially that (laughs)… they screwed us over so bad!!

Marko: Seriously, we are very down to earth we don’t have big plans…

So, it is milestone by milestone…?
Marko: Day by day…

Ville: Whatever happens, happens…

Marko: There are other people who may have some schedules and big plans for us. Well, they may discuss about them… we are all ears but, we are very good saying “No” to things. We have always been…Since the beginning, we were offered so many bad tours. For 5 years, we were offered such bad European tours we just had to say no.

Ville: We just had to wait and see if somebody would come up with a reasonable offer and we did that. We basically did the ground work with only a few shows here and there.

Marko: And I think we were very wise with that decision, to not take part of those crappy tours.

Ville: Yeah, because we would still be in debt if we did 2 or 3 of those tours. It’s what it costs.

Any messages to the SOM readers?
Ville: It is always pretty hard to answer this question because I don’t really have “last words”, I have so many words to say before I die so, I would’ve like to finish it here (laughs).

Marko: Kick ass!!! Drink “metal” (laughs)!! Freeze hell! Come to the shows! Have some good time with Moonsorrow, we are very friendly and nice and… come to see us after the shows and have a party.

Ville: Offer us some alcohol!!!

Marko: Cheers! (laughs) We are able to drink all your money!!! (laughs)

>

Interview done by Deesse_de_la_nuit

Riding Hellwards Newsletter / May 1999

This interview comes from what we probably can call the smallest fanzine in history, with only 2 pages, featuring 3 interviews in total. I was going to cut out the Moonsorrow one and post it alone, but since it's so little, I decided to upload the two scans in full. These, by the way, were recently scanned by Henri himself, and shared online by Velkaarn, whose blog Asmodian Coven (linked below) you need to check out instantly if you're interested in rips of ultra-rare demo cassettes and similar stuff. This micro-webzine came together with a compilation tape which is also available for download in the blog. Thanks a lot!

Link: Asmodian Coven

Update: Now, two days later, I realized that this one was already posted here. However, I'm leaving both: the other one is easier to read, but having the scan of the original document has an added value, don't you think?

Click to enlarge.

Hel Rocks / September 2014

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September 13th, 2014 right before the band's longest concert ever, in Helsinki.

No really long songs this time: Moonsorrow talk the new album, inspiration and staring at vinyls

Posted on October 7, 2014 by Nikky Holmes in Backstage, Videos // 0 Comments

We tracked down Ville Sorvali and Mitja Harvilahti from Moonsorrow before they played the longest live Moonsorrow set ever in Virgin Oil Co this September. Sitting outside in the dying light of the day, editor Rachel Roth set to trying to find out how the new album is going. Some time markers:

• The album writing process & inspiration: 3m50s
• Moonsorrow’s sound and Paganism: 6m45s
• Touring, Live shows and Laziness: 9m30s
• The success of the Finnish Folk Metal scene: 12m30s
• Replacing furniture with the Blood Music box set: 14m35s
• First band shirts: 18m45s

TRANSCRIPT (edited for readability):

I’m Rachel with Hel Rocks, and we are here with Ville and Mitja from Moonsorrow. We’re going to have our signature Having a Pint interview without the pints today, but that’s ok. I think we’ll live.

Mitja: Yeah, I think so.

Ville: We have just changed our habits, we don’t drink anymore. This is proof.

That’s terrifying, I can’t handle that, I need to leave now. So we’ve been hearing that the new album’s had some delays, and we drew the conclusion that you guys aren’t really willing to compromise on what you’re putting out so we have to ask, what is Moonsorrow all about for you? What’s this next album going to be all about?

Ville: You actually answered the question, while asking it.

I did?

Ville: We aren’t willing to make compromises.

How do you think that’s going to come across?

Mitja: Well at the moment it’s coming out great. We had a lot of delays, and also we had to ditch a lot of ideas and songs. A lot of material was erased that we had already written. It took a long time to find a direction and we still are working on it. It’s something that’s going to be tweaked until the very end of the process but, it’s coming good now.

So you feel like you’re making those big steps that are necessary.

Ville: We have some good stuff coming.

Awesome. Can’t tell us any little sneak peeks?

Ville: No.

 

OK. Fair enough.

Ville: But it’s not going to be those half an hour songs.

Oh, that’ll be a change. Henri mentioned a while back that Moonsorrow was never meant to be a household name. How has the success you’ve had kind of contradicted that?

Ville: I don’t think it contradicted it in any way. Any success we got just happened. We didn’t really aim for anything else than creating the best music possible.

Mitja: It’s a thing that I actually really like about our so called success, because it’s kind of honest. We never marketed the band to be able to go to Japan or America. Everything, all the demand, came from outside instead of us pushing us all the time. Of course when we switched to a bigger record label and booking agency and managers, then people are working for you and trying to make the band more visible. But the groundwork was done just by demand from the people who like our music.

Was it kind of a big surprise though? From when you initially started out?

Ville: Kinda, yeah. To start with, our lyrics are in Finnish. When we got the first offers from abroad, it was quite amazing. We were just thinking like, ‘someone actually listens to this outside of Finland?’ and they want us to come there and play.

Do people like sing along at the shows?

Ville: They try.

Mitja: In some countries they really can sing along like in Hungary for example, at least at some point, they really knew the lyrics but there are a lot of mumbo-jumbo happening in the crowd that’s not really accurate, but…

Ville: Like in the States. They are keen to sing along.

And the efforts got to be like, it’s got to feel really awesome.

Ville: I appreciate it. Definitely.

With your last album, Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa, that was a huge success and it brought a lot more international attention, how was the development of that different than the new upcoming albums?

Mitja: Well. It was quicker. The development of Varjoina was actually…

Ville: …quicker? Still four years since the last full-length album.

Mitja: Well we had Tulimyrsky in between. But when we had the idea, the concept in mind, it just started taking off very fast and we came up with pretty much everything, like the musical concept, pretty fast. So it didn’t take that long to compose, compared to this time when we really are searching for the right way to go and right things to emphasise in the music.

Where do you think the bulk of the time goes during the process, is it the recording, the lyric writing, the composition?

Ville: Ah… getting the ideas together. The so-called ‘divine inspiration’ takes most of the time. When we actually have started working, like when we have a good basis for a song, it usually happens pretty fast.

Where do you find that you can kind of get that inspiration from?

Ville: Forest.

Mitja: The forest is good answer. Yeah.

Ville: I don’t know really, It just happens.

Mitja: And something that creative people usually have is that they don’t have to actually go, to the forest or anything. If you have a lot of imagination, then you get the inspiration from there. To be able to sing about the forest you don’t need to go there all the time to get the inspiration, it’s more of a metaphor.

Ville: And most of the inspiration is still just hard work. It’s quite irritating when big artists talk about inspiration in a way that it’s just something that happens to you and you just have to wait for it. It actually might never happen if you just keep waiting. You have to push yourself to work.

So your philosophy is more, reach out and take it than wait for it to come to you? It’s a good philosophy.

Mitja: Well I’m not very creative in Moonsorrow, I haven’t written a lot of stuff, and the stuff that I write for example is not very Moonsorrow. So I cannot talk so much about that, but I also notice that the more you create the more you will get inspired. And you start creating more, so…

Ville: It feeds itself.

The sound has definitely developed a lot, you’ve gone from melodic black metal to folkish black metal and it’s been developing and changing all the time. How is that kind of changed or continuing with this next album? Without giving too much away.

Ville: No, we still keep doing what feels right at the moment. And that’s probably why we have always, kind of “changed” our style, because we always did what we felt like doing at that very moment.

I mean, a phrase that gets tossed around a lot is Pagan metal. What does that mean to you guys?

Mitja: Well, the word ‘pagan’ that’s the answer. It’s a core of the band beliefs. None of us are very religious even in a way of being Pagan, but there is something like, the core of Paganism is nature for example and that’s also in our music. You don’t even have to read the lyrics and you will hear that the nature is the source of it in a way. At least, I feel like that.

It’s more about the way the music speaks and comes across and conveys that rather than it being about any sort of school of thought.

Ville: Uh, yeah and about how nature speaks to us, and we channel it to music.

It’s a good way to look at it. You have a lot of bands that are really obsessed with, well, one specific aspect of it and that can get kind of frustrating.

Mitja: Yeah, and when it comes to music we never want to find the perfect recipe of making Moonsorrow music, we always want to challenge ourselves and we kind of almost hate the previous albums, we always want to clean the table in a good way. I mean, we want to clean the table and do something completely different. Like for example, after Kivenkantaja we didn’t want anything to do with that kind of music and that’s how Verisäkeet came along because we turned our back on it completely.

Ville: That’s progression. We could always do the previous album twice. Because we already did it, we know how to do it again. But, it wouldn’t be fair to us or the fans.

Do you have anything that you’re working on now that kind of encompasses that, that you’re really excited and it’s a bigger change?

Ville: Hmmm.

Mitja: I don’t know.

Ville: Yeah, the material is still quite kind of spread across in my head. Really can’t grasp it just yet. Like what would be the focal point.

When you think about getting up there on stage and playing one of the new songs, what about it makes it so exciting for you?

Mitja: I think it’s just the joy of playing the new songs, or something we haven’t played before. It feels, I mean we played the other songs we played so many times for so many years, it’s really refreshing to have something new to play.

Ville: And it starts from the rehearsals actually. For example, I’m, I can be quite a lazy person. But when I get a new song, and I know that I have to practice it because we are going to play this live.

It lights the fire.

Ville: Yeah. Be it, whichever band I’ve played with, it’s always when I get some new material to rehearse, gives me a kick. Makes me feel useful again.

Do you have anything like that? That kind of lights the fire?

Mitja: Well I’m even lazier than Ville. I practice the songs the previous night. So, day before is my method. But yeah, it’s the same, I mean I really enjoy playing live. It’s, I would say, the most inspiring thing in my life is to play shows.

Why is that?

Mitja: First of all, touring is a lot of fun. You get to travel with your friends and you get to play your music for people, and when you enjoy playing shows and you enjoy travelling and so on it’s something that nothing can really replace in your life. It’s something that I thought just a couple of days ago, if I don’t play in a band anymore, what am I going to do in a way? Because you get used to having, getting sort of kicks out of playing shows and the adrenaline, all the funny times that you are having on tour and you can’t really do that at home. Breaking stuff!

You don’t have people shouting your names.

Ville: In just a normal job, you probably wouldn’t have that job for a long time.

No, maybe not. I would not think so, I guess the fans probably give back a lot too. Are there any specific countries that you just keep going back to to capture that? There’s a lot of talk about Brazil.

Mitja: Well we haven’t been to Brazil actually.

Is that a goal?

Mitja: Yeah.

Ville: We would definitely like to go there. Anywhere basically.

What are some other kind of untapped markets? You’ve been to Asia?

Mitja: We’ve been to China and Japan, but places like Thailand and Indonesia would be interesting and well, anywhere, I don’t really care where.

Anywhere you roam. Well the Finnish metal scene went through several years of this kind of fanaticism on the international scene stemming mostly from the Folk metal. How was that kind of impacted you guys personally? Do you think you owe any success to that?

Ville: It felt weird.

Why?

Ville: Weird knowing that you actually played a part in that. Our band actually played a part in that and it feels weird.

It’s going to be in the textbooks one day. In these music history books. How does that feel?

Mitja: Well, at there is a mark somewhere.

Ville: Yeah, exactly like sometime way back, people used to think that there is no point in life if you’re not mentioned after you’re dead.

Mitja: We have already been in a museum.

Ville: I’m kind of happy if I’m mentioned after I’m dead.

In a nice way.

Ville: Well actually, I won’t know because I won’t actually know because I don’t think I can be happy or not happy when I’m dead, but you know what I mean.

I gotcha.

Ville: I’m happy now knowing that I might be mentioned after I’m dead.

Mitja: You already are in a museum in Hungary.

Seriously?

Mitja: Yeah.

What did you do?

Mitja: In some, I don’t know, ethnographic museum of Budapest but there was a poster of Paganfest and it was about Finnish people and how people see Finland, and one of the things in the exhibition was…

Ville: How people see Finland… Hello! *waves*

Mitja: Korpiklaani and Moonsorrow in a poster.

Well, I mean, years ago when I first moved here, people thought that Finland was in Sweden to be very honest, I don’t know what that says about Americans. But now, people are like ‘Oh yeah!’

Ville: They think Sweden is in Finland? No? Ok.

I wish. No, nowadays people actually know some of the big bands, they’re like ‘Oh yeah, that’s where Korpiklaani is from, that’s where Moonsorrow is from.’ Kind of make me a little prouder, they’re educating themselves. One other thing I’ve been hearing a lot about was the release you guys did with Blood Music, vinyl box-set. How did that come about? That was a really strong response.

Mitja: Yeah, it was a long process.

Ville: Like two years or something?

MS: Yeah. I met the owner of the company and he was just starting the label when I met him and suddenly the whole label took off very fast. And they started releasing big records like this Strapping Young Lad box and I think that was the biggest so far and got a lot of attention. He started talking to me, ‘Hey, can we do a Moonsorrow boxset?’ and it was a great idea. And I never thought it was going to happen actually, because it was such a big project to put it all  together is hundreds and hundreds of hours. I don’t know, maybe thousands for this guy.

What’s the process like for that, converting audio to vinyl?

Mitja: The process is… well the audio is one thing, the other thing is all the cover art, all the details. Everything and DVD and like there are millions of factors.

Ville: Everything has to be made new.

I mean one of my friends told me that she had a friend who had a jar on her desk at work, and people were like donating money to that because she wanted it so bad. Did you hear any other stories like that? How does it feel to hear that?

Ville: It’s humbling. Seriously.

I guess it would be, that’s huge to hear somebody saves up.

Ville: I can understand why some people really wanted it so badly, because it is one of a kind thing.

What made you guys decide to do that.

Ville: And it’s like this big.

Yeah, I’ve seen it, it’s monstrous.

Ville: I need to get rid of some furniture if I get it home.

What did you get rid of?

Ville: I haven’t decided yet. I’m probably going to get it next week, so I have to be quick in my decision.

Did you get rid of any furniture?

Mitja: Um, yeah, but I emptied one of my terrariums so I could maybe put it there.

Ok, see that works. I don’t need a crib, I’ll just keep my Moonsorrow boxset there and the baby can sleep on top of it.

Mitja: Also very good.

Ville: There is one problem, you can’t put anything on top of vinyls. It really can’t serve as a chair or a table. Even if it’s a quite fitting size for that.

It has to be just like a sculpture in the home.

Ville: You can replace your TV with it. Just stare at it.

Ok, I’ll do that.

Ville: I don’t even have a TV to begin with so…

Well you’re going to get the vinyl.

Ville: Yeah, I can start staring at my vinyl collection.

Trippy. So we’ve heard that you guys are going to play your longest set ever tonight, so that’s going to be like… six songs?

Mitja: Six hours.

Ville: No no.

Are there any songs you had to kind of practice extra to remember? I mean your songs are so long, it seems like quite a challenge!

Ville: Everything came together really easily. I was really surprised when we got together at the rehearsal place and just started playing these songs we haven’t been playing for years. Everything just like…

Fell into place?

Ville: Yeah. There was a flow.

Mitja: But it’s a bad sign.

Ville: It’s a bad sign, yeah.

Uh-oh. Why?

Mitja: Because if everything is so easy in the rehearsals, you will forget something during the show. It’s the same as having soundcheck with a perfect sound. You know that when you go onstage again to play the show it’s going to be horrible.

I remember one soundcheck where it went so bad the guy couldn’t capture my violin or anything like that and then the show went perfectly. I don’t know.

Ville: Usually it happens that way.

Well you might trip on the way to the venue, it’s probably fine.

Mitja: From there.

That’s a lot of stairs!

Mitja: Yeah.

Well a fun question we always like to ask, what was the first band shirt you remember buying? For me it was David Lee Roth, and for Nikky it was definitely Pantera.

 

Ville: Hmmm. First. Could have been Amorphis.

How old were you?

Ville: Uh… when was Tales released? ’93?

Mitja: or ’94?

Ville: Thirteen or fourteen.

I was like four. What about you?

Mitja: Well, I don’t know if it counts I wanted to have a Beatles shirt when I was four. So that’s my first band shirt.

That counts. That’s a good one. So is there anything you’d like to share with our listeners?

Mitja: Should we?

Ville: Alcohol?

Mitja: No we don’t share alcohol.

Ville: No we don’t share alcohol.

Why can’t we share alcohol? I mean, I can’t but you guys can.

Ville: It’s too expensive in Finland.

Mitja: Yeah. In Germany we can share it.

And, Bourbon or Scotch?

Ville & Mitja: SCOTCH.

Dammit. She’s winning.

Mitja: I mean Bourbon only with Cokes but.

You don’t need Coke with Bourbon.

Mitja:That’s the only way I drink Bourbon.

*dejected* ok.

Ville & Mitja: I’m sorry. [unison]