Interviews

JJM: Greetings Aleksi. How are you and how are things in Finland these days? I bet its ultra cold there right now. I just wanted to use this opening space to congratulate you on the album. Each time I listen to it I find myself enjoying it more and more. I must also admit it makes a damn fine album to listen to on rainy days hehe.
Aleksi Ahokas: I’m doing fine I guess. It’s been a 2-week roller coaster with emotions. I’ve been drinking a lot and there have been rehearsals almost every day. Glad to hear you like the album. I don’t know how the rest of Finland is doing, but I just heard there’s a lack of working places and they are firing people all the time. They are closing down hospital services and mental institutions. So in a way we are going for more globally valuable critters of a country.

J: Okay let’s get to the basic stuff. Tell our readers how the band was formed, who the members are, your musical style, ect.
A: It’s a nice story so far. The start was like a dream. Would you believe a band would sign a deal before forming and making all the songs? That’s basically what happened. Francesco from MKM was offering a deal for my band Prophet. I had to reject it and made a deal with Avantgarde Music. I had some songs I could not use with that band and send ´em to Francesco. He liked those songs even better so we fixed a deal both could be happy with. It was a wonderful situation. I knew I could make the songs with my own time and own way, there wasn’t any stress. When I had most of the songs ready, I showed songs to Sami and Tim. I like Sami´s strong touch playing chords. And Tim is a great drum player. That’s the reason I called the guys and I’m so glad to play with my good friends. Also the guests in the album are my close friends.

J: Why did you choose the name Rain Paint? I’m also kind of curious as to what ‘Nihil Nisi Mors’ means?
A: Rain Paint was originally a name of one song "Rain Paint". It’s the song that started the whole thing. I had the lyrics ready for about a year before we started. It's about rain that leaves its mark to nature. It engraves a love scene once happened. The album name "Nihil Nisi Mors" came later. We thought of "De mortuis nihil nisi bene". That’s said to respect the dead, no matter were their life bad or good. And finally "Nihil Nisi Mors" - "…nothing but death" that reflects the despair of the lyrics better. But for us it would as well be "Of the dead nothing but good". At one point the title was even going to be "Of Longing and Regret".

J: In addition to Rain Paint you guys have a few other bands you play in. The other two members have bands and you have three other bands you play in. Sounds like your all really busy guys. Could you tell us a little bit about these other bands and what they sound like?
A: Fragile Hollow is making sad music with thought full lyrics. I really can’t describe it but I would not call it gothic metal. We started as melodic metal band influenced by Type O Negative and Black Sabbath. Gothic metal has a bad clang here and people tend to categorize us in the same place with Entwine, T/D/F & Charon. I don’t like one of those bands so... I don’t know where we are going with the next album since I am starting a new band for my most hit songs. Maybe we can make the music more diverse and original this time. www.fragilehollow.cjb.net

Rapture - Gothic doom death. It sounds honest. The lyrics are depressive... come on you know Rapture, ha :). www.rapture.tk

Snowgarden - Melodic Death Metal listen out www.snowgarden.cjb.net

Denigrate - It’s Tim’s band, I’ve played some gigs with the guys but only sessions. You can check out the pages in www.denigrate-music.com

Triones - Black Metal, it’s a project that Henri Villberg started, but as he has so much going on too, I don´t know where it’s going.

Kuningas Lintu - Finnish indie thing, I sing and Sami plays guitar.

Mielen Pisarat - The other guys write the music and I play the bass to their songs.

Humboogie - Bass, 70s era rock ´n blues

Whipstone - Lead Guitar, 80´s rock n´ pop.

J: Now you use to also play in a band called ‘Prophet.’ Is this band similar sounding to Rain Paint or something entirely different? What lead to the break up of this band? Who else was involved in the band?
A: Basically the band just changed its name and stylized it’s sound. From Prophet to Fragile Hollow. The last mcd we did with Prophet had two styles. Other was progressive doom (Rain Paint) and other was this more easy and stylized stuff we are now doing with Fragile Hollow.

J: I personally thought your vocals were great. Yet the album features a lot of extra vocals from two other people. So how come you used the two guest vocalists? Do you normally sing or is this your first time singing for a band?
A: Thank you. Lots of people say they’d like to hear more of my vocals with the cd and it gives me confidence. The lack of it wasn’t the reason anyways. I’ve sung for sometime now. Singing is somewhat easy but I am not so satisfied. I keep telling my self I can’t use my voice right. I could imitate various singers really well, but I feel it's not me. I want to sing with my own voice. When I made the lyrics and produced the vocals I understood I wanted to create a different mood to some parts. ‘In Raven Nevermore’ I thought out some Jim Morrison and the American prayer, amphetamine trips, I wanted the horror clang from Poe and I thought Micko would be good choice for this. He also sings the scream vocals on "Death drive & fear". We originally talked with Azhemin of Thy Serpent to make the growl-vocals but could not reach him at the summer. Booze or something. Henri decided to help us out once again. Besides this I do clean vocals in all songs and the growls to Freezes Day. There are many guests in this cd who are our good friends. Trollhorn was too busy with his projects so Tea played the keyboards and Make plays some drum parts.

J: I didn’t notice any live dates on your home page. Are there any shows planned or is this band just a studio project? If you do play live what bands would you like to play live with?
A: We’d like to play yes. We just don´t have anyone to organize a tour for us. It’s not our job, we just play. And we will sure play if someone organizes the gigs. The bands I’d like to tour with are Opeth, Katatonia, My Dying Bride, and Anathema... We’ve been close to tour with some of these but there have been some complications. From Finland maybe "Swallow The Sun". Hmm, or maybe it would be cool to tour with some big Black Metal band.

J: I’m a big fan of depressing lyrics, and sadness and such seems to be the main theme of this album. Can you explain the lyrics to some of the songs and what influenced them.
A: Forbidden Love
About coming to realize that you ill-treat people close to you. And as you try to fix it up you see you’re too late. It’s about seeing what you have done and that you better leave than hurt people even more. The first thing I did was the vocal lines to the chorus and it reminded me much of Moby.

Rain Paint
About making a choice to do something even though you know it’ll cost you everything that you have. A story of a love scene once happened that rain paints by engraving this to a portrait.

Death Drive & Fear
Like the title says, it’s about fear of death and death drive. My friend Jape had wrote some lyrics and I asked if I could use ´em on a song with same kind of lyrics I had made. It is the fear and misanthropy some of us feel when we go to places with lot of unknown people. A weird thing happened at the studio and finally Hiili Hiillesmaa speaks German at the end. Maybe the most ambitious song in the cd.

Sleeping Beauty
It’s about coming to an end of tolerating people using you. You give your best and you just get shit in return. In this case you might notice you are much stronger. You know you can just as well destroy him/her. The last day of your tolerance.

Miss Spring
This is the saddest song on the cd. It’s about missing someone you know that you won’t see in a year. Who misses you too. The most doom song in the cd. I think we’ll do a Miss Spring II to the next album.

Raven Nevermore
At this point at last you come to realize that this is a cd with lots of different styles. The song is most horror in the cd. It’s a fiction of wild forest near shore, murder… As the title says there are some Poe things here. I like the middle part the most, as there is this schitzophrenic scale in the melody. Btw, The baby cry is not a sample although none of the crazy babies were injured during the sessions.

Freezes Day
This must be the last song I wrote to this cd. You can get the lyrics in different ways. It’s something else for someone else. It’s introspection about "could you leave everything?” And finally a mass suicide. The instrumental part in the end is one of my favorites.

Loose And Over
I think this one is a great song to close the album with. It’s like a good bye. The song is about schizophrenia. You realize that the life that you live is not you. You are just watching from aside what you are doing. When you hurt other people and yourself even though you don’t want, you might want to destroy yourself completely just to erase the sick half in you. So the song is actually a dialogue of one sick person. (Great guitar-solo karaoke for someone)

J: Finland seems to be a country filled with a lot of depressed individuals. If I’m not mistaken Finland has the highest suicide rate in the world. So would you consider yourself a depressed person or is this just the type of stuff you like to write about?
A: No, it’s Russia, but we are a smaller country. The top suicide day is Monday. Guess it’s about hangover or going to job or something. For me the lyrics are relief, my way to express solitude. I am never angry you know. I learned just to be disappointed and bitter to the world and people. Life is full of problems and unfair things but life is spectacular, spectacular. I'm not negative or pessimist. People tent to mix realism with pessimism. That’s just stupid. That everything will fail is as true as there’s only black cards in the deck.

I'd say that the lyrics are of true life. I try to leave space so much that anyone can use it with own introspection. There is a situation where we can all find ourselves in but you might see the veil of metaphors and imagination. Some of 'em are sick visions I've had. Sort of like chimeras. Horror pics with twisted horror clang from Poe. The album is about everyday misfortune and setbacks. Lust, Regret, Introspection, even love in a way although I don't believe in it. And about contradict the value of life.

The lyrics are related not to my life but anyone's life that has suffered the same kind off feelings or losses and disappointments. I usually wrote about what how I felt the things and not about what happened. The lyrics are really much for me. It’s about 50/50 with the music I guess. Lyrics represent something else for someone else. What has came as surprise afterwards is that I can listen the songs and read the lyrics as outsider and for example "Effete Mind" makes me really sad and moved. Maybe the meanings come much later. I realized what "Loose and Over" was all about few weeks after studio and the feeling was horrible. With lyrics I’ve become more aware of myself. I mean I know myself much better and I CAN say or write down how I feel.

I like to have strong feelings and it's not unpleasant to wallow in depression, sometimes. And yes it’s a great time to write a song if you can. If you are not too fucked up at the moment. Some days I’ve been so down, tired, drunk or heavy pain killers when I have made songs, that I don´t even remember making ´em. It’s great to listen that stuff afterwards. Sometimes I write too close to my personal life, it cut’s deeper when I hear ´em.

J: Where do you feel Rain Paint fits into the gothic/doom metal scene? Do you feel the band is bringing something new to the genre?
A: It’s not up to me to decide that. I don´t even know about the genre. There´s a few good doom bands and a lot of those that suck! I like the ones with good chords and melody. My favorites must be October Tide, Novembers Doom, old Anathema, and Mdb. But, well, I feel we make different music.

J: What’s with the baby crying on ‘Raven Nevermore,’ and how come the big gap of silence that leads up to a little bit of drumming on the final track?
A: For me the feeling of the song is in the lyrics and in the guitar melody in that part. It’s art. *Laughs* ... yeah right :D. We brought a baby to the studio. We did not harm it or anything... And the gap... It’s there to wake you up. I like the gate drums found in one track I decided to show it to everyone. It’s really Björk.

J: The artwork for the album is very interesting. Who did this artwork and what exactly does it represent?
A: I could not think of a better artwork for the album. The cd factory on the other hand was so official that it was amateur. Let’s all together say FUCK SONY! Thanks. Yeah, they are just what we wanted. They are lonely photos from New York. In a way you can see the sad irony. Big city and its people. Decay, loneliness. New York is presented quite distressing. Not so good travel brochure? The photos remind me of being alone. You know, there are people but there is no one for them. Nihil Nisi Mors... It reminds us that everyone is alone. We selected the best of his works and put ´em together here in our secret laboratory.

J: Have you heard your label mates Crowhead, Kilmt 1918, and Room with a View? If so what are you opinions on these bands? Do you feel My Kingdom Music is the perfect label for Rain Paint?
A: Yeah, I’ve heard em. All of them had some good songs. I think Klimt was the best of ´em. I’ve tried to listen more but I just don´t have the time. It’s still hard too since they are so new to me. MKM is a great label for us. We have really friendly contacts with Francesco. He’s really supportive and, hmm, I wish he doesn’t get stressed running the company :D.

J: One of the interesting things about Finland is that metal and I mean real metal is actually popular in your country. I remember seeing bands like Nightwish or Children of Bodom (I'm just using these as examples...I'm really not fans of either of these bands anymore) on the top of the charts in Finland. Here in America all we have is shitty nu metal, pop, and fucking rap on the top of the charts. You Finns are damn lucky! Umm anyway when did you start listening to metal and what are some of your favorite bands?
A: I think Nightwish isn’t too much "heavier" than new limp bizkit. But yes, it’s true. Metal is on charts and of course that’s good in a way. There are more options and chances in new bands. And even the heavier, original bands get a little share of everything this way. Rap and metal just don´t mix! The pop music in Finland is going heavier all the time and there’s 80s things again. With glam and with kind of VH way. I guess it’s cool. Cooler then Britney anyways. Or that FUCKING "blink 182" or what the fuck it was.

The first band I knew was W.A.S.P. I was 6 years old. I listened to Last Command every day. Twisted Sister too, Stay Hungry & Come Out and play! I had the chance to listen to my brother’s vinyls and we papered the walls with the monsters Blackie & Dee, and tricked our father to paint a pentagram to the wall. Then there was KISS, Ac/Dc, Dead Kennedy’s, Death Angel too but I did not like ´em so much. Nuclear Assault and D.R.I. was my thing. Later on we had to move and all of our best posters and vinyl’s were stolen ... I’m so pissed off and sad about it :(. Well then came Guns n´ roses and Metallica & Suicidal Tendencies. At first I was more of a GNR fan. For years. But then Metallica. Mötley Crue was a really big thing for me after releasing Dr Feelgood. After that I found the old albums again. The next biggest thing for me was Gorefest, Type O Negative, Katatonia, Anathema, Mdb & Opeth. Even Finnish bands like Amorphis and Sentenced released good stuff back in the 90s.

J: I noticed one of your favorite bands is ‘The Cure.’ I’ve been a fan of these guys for a good ten years now. So what’s your favorite release from them and has Robert Smith served as an influence at all?
A Personally I do not notice the influence as a singer but some people tell me, and it’s a compliment. As a music writer I guess I am more the same. I can make songs with any mood. Hmm, some of his songs sound sad although they are "happy". Hope can be big feeling such as hopelessness. My favorite release. Disintegration is my fav song... but a release. Maybe blood flowers although I like em all.

J: Besides writing and performing music for your bands what other hobbies/activities do you enjoy?
A: My thing is really expensive. It’s drinking and having the best time almost all the time. I read, but I’d like to read more. I like to listen to people talk and wondering about things. I like to think a lot. I like to cheer up people and encourage them to be what they are and stop acting and fearing. I go to clubs. Answer interviews and browse the Internet.

J: Finally what is the band currently up to and what are your musical plans for the near future?
A: There is no rush. I’m glad that the album isn’t disposable. I never understood why the newest album of a band should be the one that makes the band. I really want to see what happens with this first one and I’m really happy with the replies and reviews we’ve got. Now we are spending time having fun and jamming but we are talking about the style we want to create for the next album. I believe Tim will have more responsibility with drums. Last time I produced most of ´em too. That was because of the time. The songs we rehearsed last rehearsals were close to Opeth and October tide. Various time changes and everything.

Right now I had to take a little vacation from everything. I saw that with the bands and all there hasn’t been a 3-minute time in 5 years that I had been in my own place. There’s no rush no more and now we had a good chance to think about the future of Rain Paint, Fragile Hollow, Rapture and the new thing I started. I hope getting the deal from a big company goes as easy as with My Kingdom Music. I’m going to the studio with it next December. And there’s a Rapture gig in few days.

J: This will about do it. Thanks once again. I hope this has been a pleasant and stimulating interview for you. The final words are all yours.
A: Yeah, thanks for the interview. Use condoms and be nice to each other. Fuck the church! Fuck laws! Fuck army! Fuck the school! Hey, you can check out the songs on our pages if you want to:
www.rainpaint.cjb.net
See ya!