Interviews

Your new album Äpäre ("Bastard") will be out next month. On the earlier Ajattara albums you played all the guitar and keyboard parts yourself, but we've heard that this time things were done differently. Did you record Äpäre with the full five-piece line-up known from the live shows?

Yes, we did!

Did this bring any changes to your musical approach?

Well, I guess you can't really change your pace that much... But there will be some more atmospheric guitar stuff on it!

The cover artwork looks quite interesting, who did it?

It's a painting by Lauski (Tomi Lauren). He's the same guy who also did the album cover for To Separate The Flesh From The Bones.

Tonight you already played a new song...

Or actually two: one was from Äpäre, the other one was "Teuras" from the Christmas single.

Who had the idea of doing those Christmas singles?

That was Sami Tenetz of Spikefarm! We were having some beer and he actually came up with this idea. So that's why we are doing the Christmas single stuff. And why not, it's a tradition now. And because of their chart success even Spinefarm manager Riku Pääkkönen has asked: "Would you do this next year also, please?" (laughs)

It saves Christmas!

Yeah, some alternative kind of music. It was funny: I've heard that the single was on display at the Anttila department store, and even old people were checking it out, like "what's this?" They actually bought it! Some friends working at Free Record Shop also told me that some grandmas bought it...

Like, "The cover picture looks harmless and the logo a bit like Nightwish's, so it can't be bad… "?

Yeah!

My favourite of the Christmas songs is "Ilon Päivä"because of its hymnic style. Is there anything of that sort to find on the new album? 

Hmm, I don't know... I have no idea, you have to listen to it yourself! (laughs) With these Christmas singles I decided that we could do some different stuff if we wanted. For example Teuras is played in a totally different tuning.

Which tuning?

A. It is very low but the strings are in the same tuning. But we played it in the normal tuning for this show, so that it wasn't necessary to retune the guitars on stage.

You could have taken a different guitar...

I don't have any! (laughs) I have only one guitar!

Isn't [Finnish luthier] Jarno Salo making one for you?

Yeah, he actually has one under construction. But I'm such a poor man, so I'll have to wait a bit. It's going to be a fancy one!

Is the model based on the Gibson SG?

Yes, but a bit slanted, like the ESP Viper.

Will the lyrics on the new album differ from the first three albums? Because the first three seemed to be like a trilogy: Itse - Kuolema - Tyhjyys... kind of like a story.

Well, they're not actually a story, but the same characters are involved. The same murderer kidding himself...

Who is the Äpäre?

It's me! (laughs) Or it can be you, or whoever. It can be also Ajattara… the bastard child.

How important is it to you that your fans understand your lyrics? 

Well, in Finland it's important of course, and that's been a quite big part here actually, as you've noticed, our lyrics and so on. Actually it's quite flattering if people are telling me, "you are doing good texts!" Of course in other countries I can't presume that people understand it in a way. But of course there is always this feeling you can get through to the audience although they do not understand what I am saying.

The music speaks for itself...

Exactly!

There is a thread in the Ajattara forum where people are posting English translations, some of them pretty good.

Oh yeah, that's good!

Do you ever read those?

I saw some very lousy ones two or three years ago. I haven't seen the new ones yet. It's good if someone really succeeded in translating them…

It's very hard because the lyrics lose a bit of their force intranslation. Finnish can sound so full of hate in a way that is hard to match in other languages...

I understand what you mean. Every word has its negative side, in a way...

Who are your favourite writers?

Oh, there are quite many. I've been fascinated with war literature, mostly World War Two. Anthony Beaver is one of my favourites. His book about Stalingrad is one of my favourite books of all times.

Any Finnish writers?

Eino Leino, the poet. He's very good. There are so many, actually, and I have a very bad memory. 

What were the Russian gigs like? 

Well, of course it was great fun first of all!

Why did you use a different logo on the Russian posters?

Actually the Russian promoters did the posters and stuff, we weren't involved. For example I wouldn't put my name on a poster at all (laughs). But yeah, that was a really great trip and I hope to get there again. We just went to St. Petersburg and Moscow. I don't know - it was the first time outside of Finland for Ajattara and we were all like "wow!" 

Why was your gig at the German PartySan Festival last year canceled? 

Actually we were looking forward to it quite much, but it became impossible for us in economic terms. We would have had to spend four days there to get the plane tickets at 200€ for each of us. Otherwise they would have cost 800€ and that was ridiculous. So that's why. 

Will you play Germany one day though?

I hope so, yeah! We have some gigs in Belgium and Holland, Antwerpen and Tillburg. They are both some sort of festival. 

Have you ever considered the Wacken Open Air?

Well, it doesn't depend on us but on the promoters. As a small black metal band from Finland singing in Finnish, you face some distrust first... (laughs) 

Wacken would probably be the right place then, as there is always a strong Finnish presence.

Yes, I think the language question wouldn't be a problem there.

How do you write your songs? 

When I was younger I did certain rituals before writing to mentally prepare myself... But nowadays I have two children, and it really changes the whole thing. I have to steal the time to compose from my family in a way. You might understand what I mean...

Do your kids like your music?

Oh yeah! They talk about it like: "Daddy is going to sing some screaming music - huutomusiikkia!"

Do you listen to a lot of music at home?

Yeah, quite much actually. There is always something, and of course my wife is listening, too. The latest Amorphis album is what I've been listening to for the last few days. It's pretty good! (laughs)

It's amazing how things went: after you quit Amorphis they got Tomi and you joined Mannhai  - and to both bands it seemed to be the best thing that could have happened!

Yeah, I had to do something for our line-ups!

How do you achieve to change the sound of your voice in each band you sing for?

Well, I am such a hectic personality!

Especially in Mannhai you seem to switch to a totally different personality. 

Actually it was totally different for me. Before the first Mannhai show in Berlin, I was thinking: What am I going to do?! I had only rehearsed by myself with the the albums for a few days in the rehearsal room, and I decided to put everything into it. I just went crazy.

Today was the first time for Ajattara to play the Finnish Metal Expo, did you enjoy it?

Yeah! The only thing was that it was so early so that not everybody had gotten inside yet. I heard some people complaining; some said "this is the only band we came to see, and now we are standing in the queue here outside and they are playing inside..." But it happens. It's not our fault.

Will there be more gigs soon? 

The next show is at Tavastia, but that's in two months or something (laughs). 

So you won't have an actual release gig when the album is coming out in March?

No, not really. But we have our tenth anniversary this year, Ajattara was formed in 1996. So we plan to make some kind of special show at the end of this year somewhere! 

I think we are through with our questions, thanks very much for your time!

No problem! I'll see you around, my friends are waiting!