Interviews

Turisas appeared pretty much from nowhere when I got their promo in my mail-box. I must agree that I didn't believe it was as good as I found out it was after playing it some rounds in my CD-player. I know that a lot of people have enjoyed their debut Battle-Metal. Therefore I asked Jussi to let me interview him, which he gladly answered positive to.

Hello Jussi. Can you tell us a bit about your band and your position in it?
Hi, I'm Jussi Wickström, the guitarist of Turisas. Turisas was found by me and Mathias (Vocals) in 1997. We started just with a shitty keyboard and some cheap Stratocaster copy. Shortly Tude (drums), Antti (Keyboards) and Ari (guitar) joined the band. In 1998 we did our first demo-recording called “Taiston Tie - The Battle Path” but it was never released. It was recorded with very bad equipment so it sounded poor. After few years Ari decided to leave the band and was replaced by Georg. Tino Ahola (bass) joined band also and we recorded our first real demo "the Heart of Turisas" in 2000. It was released in 2001. After release of the demo we got very good response from many labels and we started negations with Century Media. After long negations Turisas was signed by Century Media in 2003. And here we are now, our first album has been released and everything is going great!

Your debut sounds very professional and I guess some of you’ve been active with music for a while before making the album. Have you guys played in any previous bands before Turisas, and do you have side-bands/projects now?

Yeah. First of all I have to say that some of the songs in the album are almost six years old so we have had pretty much time to finish them. I and Antti had one project before Turisas and Tude and Ari also. I think one reason is that the band is almost the same now and when we started it, so we have "grown" with it and the music has developed much also. But I think that the main thing is that we have had long time to polish and arrange the songs many times. About the side-projects.. Georg has one project called Cadacross with Antti. Nothing more to mention in that area.

The bombastic elements in your music could fit very well into a movie. Do you obtain some inspirations from movies? If so, which movies?

I have heard this question more than once earlier! Yeah, there are elements that could fit into movie. Our influences are in different things, some movie soundtrack music and completely different style of music. But there is no certain movie that I can mention. It is big thing for me if you can visualize the music in your head because then you can make lyrics that fits with the music perfectly.

You mention that you are inspired by music too. Which bands/artists are your biggest inspirations? I would guess Bal-Sagoth is one of them?

We all have broad tastes when it comes to music. If I have to pick one band, that would be Manowar. I would say that the Bal-Sagoth is not the biggest source of influence. But it has been in a way a spark to thing for us. "Starfire..." and "Battle Magic" were very good albums in my opinion. We have six guys in the band so I can't say any "main" common influence.
We’ve always been doing our own thing not paying so much attention to what others are doing.

Sounds good. What about your next album? Bet you’ve already made up some thoughts about it?

Yes, I think we have to do the next album in shorter time than the earlier. I mean that we can't fix and polish the songs for next six years. Of course we have had some thoughts and ideas for the next album and I think that there will be more stuff from the other members also. On the Battle Metal most of the songs have been written by Mathias. There is some stuff from me and Antti also. I won't say much about the upcoming stuff, I don't want to spoil the surprise.

But you will stick to the same style that you had on Battle Metal?

Yeah, we will be Metal also on the second album. But we don't want to do same album twice. So there will be progress in the music for next album, that's for sure. How much? That is hard to say yet.

Good to hear! It looks like the Finnish metal scene is getting more and more attention as we speak. Do you know why? And can you mention some Finnish metal bands you would consider as worthy.

Yeah, The Finnish metal scene has grown much in few years. It is really hard to say why. More good bands have come up of course. Nowadays metal music is quite popular here in Finland. Many Finnish metal bands are on the charts and so. But it is absolutely a good thing. Some GOOD Finnish metal bands, hmmm... Amoral is good, Death metal stuff, very talented musicians. Sotajumala is also one band worth to mention, Ultra fast and brutal. Moonsorrow is a killer band, Epic pagan stuff.

Absolutely agree! Except the band and such; what do you do in the spare time (if you got some)?

There is really not much spare time. I'm in school now and I do work also. But if/when I have some spare time I usually do graphics and stuff like that: Photography, drawing, 3D and so on. It's my passion along music. I also try to spend some time with my friends on my spare time, get wasted and so!

What about concerts or tours? Are there any further plans?

Everything is quite open on that area. We were in Latvia a week ago. That was our first gig in abroad. We have done few gigs in Finland and we have one coming up in a couple of weeks at Stella Star club in Helsinki. The common misconception is that bands have much influence over where they play. Most of it is up to the concert organizers, promoters and booking agencies who are the people responsible for making things happen. So of course I would like to do gigs all over the world but it is not up to me. But I hope that we can do an European tour in near future and come to Norway of course!

That’s all! Thanks for the interview and Norway should be put on the top of your priority on your concert list! We can’t wait to see you guys live. And now when you got the chance; anything you want to add to the readers?

Thanks for the interview. First IRC interview for me! Check out our new album, Battle Metal. Keep reading Beat the Blizzard and check out the Norwegian talent Gjenferdsel!

With this I thanks Jussi for the interview and uses the opportunity to tell you that I didn’t pay Jussi for his last answer! He-he…