Interviews

Date: Wednesday, September the 8^th. Time: 18:30. Place: Central hotel of Athens. Band: Sonata Arctica. After a thorough check at the entrance of the hotel lobby, like we were entering the JFK airport, we found our way up to the roof garden, where Jani Limatainen was waiting for us, drinking a cup of coffee, which seemed not to be his first of the day. Although tired from the hectic and constant flights for the promotion of their new album, “Reckoning Night”, Jani talked about a variety of topics including, Nightwish, Metallica, and of course…Sonata Arctica.

Interview: George Anasontzis and Sakis Nikas

Rockpages.gr: Jani, this is your first time here in Greece. How come you haven’t been here so far, with the band, for a concert?

Jani: I really don’t know. It just hasn’t happened yet. I had heard about the crazy Greek crowd, which a lot of people compare it with the South American one, but for some reason we have never managed to extend our tour down to Greece. Hopefully, we will do it this time.

Rockpages.gr: Your next tour will be as a support act to Nightwish. Are you looking forward to it?

Jani: Very much! All the guys from Nightwish are really good friends of mine. Now, with all the success of Nightwish, we will have the chance to play in front of lots of people, who haven’t heard Sonata Arctica before.

Rockpages.gr: Tuomas (Holopainen, from Nightwish) was telling us how much admires your success that you had gained in Japan. Sonata Arctica is very famous in Japan and Nightwish are not, yet.

Jani: I see. Nightwish had conquered the world, but not Japan and he is the one who should be jealous! How selfish of him. (laughs) But it is just a matter of time before Nightwish become, also, very popular in Japan.

Rockpages.gr: You are having a new album out, “Reckoning night”. Tell us a little bit about it.

Jani: It’s our first album with Nuclear Blast and we are really happy with our new company. Nuclear Blast is such a huge company, nowadays, and they can really push us forward with the promotion of the album. “Reckoning Night” is different in a lot of ways from our previous releases. For instance, it’s much heavier and the structure of the songs is very well thought out comparing with our previous works.

Rockpages.gr: Maybe, more technical…?

Jani: Yes, but not in the “Dream Theater” way. I am not impressed by someone’s instrumental abilities, but by the song itself.

Rockpages.gr: Does this heavier approach reflect on the lyrics, too?

Jani: Definitely. The lyrics are somewhat darker!

Rockpages.gr: The cover of the new c.d. is awesome.

Jani: Thanks. We are trying to keep our trademark, the wolf, in each and every release of ours.

Rockpages.gr: Your first single, “Don’t say a word”, went on the top of the Finnish charts. Did you expect it?

Jani: We had number # 1 songs in Finland, so we kind of expecting it to be in the first top three positions. We didn’t expect it to go straight to #1, so it was a surprise for us. But you had to understand that it is pretty much an easy thing for a metal band to be in the top of the Finnish charts. Not that this is a bad thing for us, of course! (laughs)

Rockpages.gr: You had also won in the past the award of “Best New Band” from Hard n Heavy magazine…

Jani: Yeah, I remember that one. It was really nice to see other people accepting your work. We had also won the award of “Best Video” in 2001.

Rockpages.gr: Do all these nominations and awards mean anything to you or you prefer to stick with the fans’ reactions?

Jani: Well, all the awards are really nice, but they don’t tell you that much. I prefer to see the crowd’s reaction during our shows and reach a conclusion, after that, of how good or not we are.

Rockpages.gr: Let’s talk a little bit about some of your cover songs. You had paid tribute to Helloween, Scorpions, Metallica… You had chosen these songs, mostly because of your admiration of these bands or you just liked the songs?

Jani: For the Helloween and Scorpions songs, I have to say that we were asked to cover their songs.

Rockpages.gr: You mean the record company asked you so?

Jani: Exactly. They had a couple of tribute albums in the making and they wanted us to participate on them. Same thing with Metallica, but on this album we chose our song. We really liked Depeche Mode, so we put our cover song in the album.

Rockpages.gr: So, Metallica or Scorpions weren’t among your influences?

Jani: Scorpions…not really, but Metallica and later on Helloween and Stratovarius had an impact on my musical taste.

Rockpages.gr: We said earlier that you are really popular in Japan. Was this the obvious reason to record your live record there or it was just another decision by the record company?

Jani: It was, basically, a decision of our Japanese record company. They wanted us to record our shows for an official release. In the beginning, it was supposed to be released only in Japan, but then everybody wanted it so we set a worldwide release date.

Rockpages.gr: Did you have a different opinion? I mean, did you propose to wait for a couple of records and then record it?

Jani: Not really. Of course, we would like to have more studio records, but we had fun and that’s all that matters.

Rockpages.gr: You had said in the past that your favorite live show is the one in Chile. Was it your best performance or the reaction of the crowd?

Jani: The people! They were absolutely crazy! They knew each and every song of ours. Amazing!

Rockpages.gr: The Greek crowd is crazier! (laughs)

Jani: That is what I’m told! (laughs) Hopefully, I’ll see you in our upcoming tour.

Rockpages.gr: You had worked in the past with Jens Johansson. How did this collaboration come up and are you thinking of repeating similar moves with other artists?

Jani: When our keyboard player left the band, we had an album to record. Tony could play keyboards, but he doesn’t know to do solos. So, we asked Jens and he was more than happy to do it. He is such a nice guy and an excellent musician. Now, we are not really thinking of working with someone else…

Rockpages.gr: Not even as a dream, an ambition? How about James Hetfield?

Jani: Yeah. That would be great! (laughs) Please, do call him please and ask him if he wants to be in the next Sonata Arctica record! (laughs) And then ask Britney Spears!

Rockpages.gr: I suppose, for her musical talents…

Jani: Of course, what else?

Rockpages.gr: Do you keep up with the modern metal scene? Have you seen any new metal band that attracted your attention?

Jani: I don’t really notice the new metal scene. Of course, I get promos and see various bands on the road, but I am not into that whole new wave. But, I don’t see anyone as a competitor. There is room for everyone.

Rockpages.gr: Future plans?

Jani: Constant tour! First, with Nightwish and then on our own, headlining shows up to Christmas time. And after that, we will fly to Japan for our final shows of this tour.

Rockpages.gr: Thank you!

Jani: Take care, guys!