Interviews

First, What is your name and what do you do in the band?

MW: "They" call me Master Warjomaa for reasons of which it would be unlawful to speak. In Aarni I take responsibilty for the stringed instruments as well as the vocals, lyrics, music, rituals, intuition, wossname and whatnot.

What does the term "heavy metal" mean to you? What significance does heavy metal have to your band?

MW: The term brings to mind the time in the mid-80s when I listened to bands like Iron Maiden, Dio, post-Ozzy Sabbath and the occasional Judas Priest tune. I think "heavy metal" is somewhere between the proto-metal or "hard rock" of the 70s and modern metal (with all its perplexing subgenres) from the 90s onwards. I consider heavy metal today to be a "mere" style/subgenre with distinct features. To oversimplify: pretty basic and predictable arrangements, clean vocals and more or less apparent roots in blues rock. To me these musical elements nowadays often equal a boring listening experience, if encountered in a modern band. I still occasionally listen to the what I see as timeless heavy metal classics: Iron Maiden, the latest Bruce Dickinson albums, Dio-era Sabbath etc.

As for Aarni's material, you can perhaps hear the odd Maiden and Sabbath influences here and there. But for the most part I regard our music as influenced by other genres of metal/rock/folk than heavy, for example acts like classic Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Candlemass, Camel, Hawkwind, Van Der Graaf Generator, King Crimson, King Diamond and even Pantera.

How does your nationality influence the type of music you play?

MW: Fuck nations and nationalities... They exist only as abstractions on paper anyway. In my view rock/metal should be about rebellion and achieving by any means necessary at least a degree of freedom from the social, political and religious systems that seek to enslave us all. Rants aside, I think my cultural background does indeed influence Aarni's music in a conscious way in our Finnic folky tunes. Often when I choose to have a shamanistic/mellow ambience in a song, stylistic influences from the ultra ancient "Kalevalan" pre-pentatonic tonality and its post-Stone Age developments tend to creep in. Naturally the Finnish language is usually used if I have included lyrics in this kind of songs. But generally Aarni's music seems directed at a more universal audience, hence the use of English, Latin, German, Ancient Egyptian, Enochian, Ouranian Barbaric and other globally (and elsewhere) understood tongues.

If you are releasing music for sale, how is your band not simply a commercial enterprise?

MW: Perhaps because we don't seek to maximise profits... not by a long shot. Otherwise we would be making the kind of nihilistic lowest-common-denominator dance music that smears the "official" media today. I like to think of Aarni as residue from my personal musical psychotherapy, in effect almost total introversion with no apologies. Yet after I have vomited forth the main parts of a particular song, I usually try to switch myself into a more objective state of mind and throw in some hooks as well. Hopefully the end result will be listenable to some of the people dissatisfied with most of the bland big-buck music industry waste of our dark times. So maybe Aarni has altruistic goals, but an altruism that is not for all. Do you believe that?

There are a ton of bands releasing albums these days. Why should anybody care about your band?

MW: Because we at least try to make more original music and not live in the past or just ride on the latest trend's bandwagon like most current acts sadly seem to do. People with strong neophobia and short attention spans probably shouldn't listen to Aarni unless they wish to be cured of their pitiful but all-too-human condition. The above can also be taken to be a convulted way of saying "I don't know".

Complete this sentence: "The ideal fan of this band is somebody who..."

MW: ...pays up and shuts up. But more seriously, I don't much care for fanatics and collectivism. Don't look for others to give meaning to your life.

What are the best and worst trends that you are seeing in heavy metal lately?

MW: (From hereon I assume you are using the term "heavy metal" to refer to metal music in general and reply accordingly) For some years now I've been trying not to even look. I think I'm too busy with my own best and worst tendencies to be interested in current pop culture fads. If you need to outwardly show you're part of a group, you ain't.

What is the greatest challenge facing you as a band?

MW: To overcome inertia and make music that passes our self-censorship. Actually the biggest challenge might be to be deconditioned of our sense of self-censorship...

Rank these musicians, from first to last, according to their historical importance to heavy metal. (Trey Azagthoth, Joey DeMaio, Ronnie James Dio, Leif Edling, Steve Harris, Tony Iommi, Quorthon, Chuck Schuldiner, Jesper Strömblad, Tom G. Warrior)

MW: Here's how I currently rank their contribution: Iommi, Harris, Dio, Edling, Schuldiner, Azagthoth, Warrior, Strömblad, Quorthon, DeMaio.

Rank these magazines, from first to last, according to their integrity and commitment to heavy metal. If you are unfamiliar with one of them, note that and put that mag at the end. (Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles, Isten, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Legacy, Metal Maniacs, Miasma, Pit, Scream, Snakepit, Terrorizer)

MW: I don't really pay attention to music writings either, but here goes: LotFP (extra points for the RPG section), Miasma (the Finnish mag), Metal Maniacs. The rest are more or less unfamiliar to me, except Terrorizer which I'll place at the end because I dislike its mostly mainstream/shallow approach and limited coverage.

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