KORPIKLAANI: Interviewed by MFF. Jonne talks about Finnish Fire-tour and forthcoming album

Metal From Finland.com conducted an interview with the vocalist/guitarist Jonne Järvelä from Korpiklaani. Jonne shared his thoughts concerning their forthcoming Finnish Fire-tour with Battlelore, Falchion and Kivimetsän Druidi. He also shed some light to their new Korpiklaani album and their plans to tour the US in the future.

MFF: Finnish Fire-tour which contains Korpiklaani, Battlelore, Falchion and Kivimetsän Druidi starts in mid-november and during one month there are over 20 shows. What are your thoughts for the tour?

Jonne: We are starting the tour with great expectations as always. Playing our music to people around the world is what we love and want to do. This is exactly what we were dreaming ever since we were young guys. It is always nice to reach new countries where we haven't played before and on this tour Portugal is going to be one of them. We will also do more shows in Spain and Italy where we have only done festival shows until now so it's all good.

We just arrived from Calgary, Canada where we played a sold-out gig. That was excellent!

As for Finnish Fire-tour and 4 bands that play on that tour, things always happen while touring but we are familiar with each band and have toured with them in the past so we have nothing but good and positive expectations for the tour.

MFF: Having a tour with 4 bands is a huge task basically every evening. Are the bands playing in same order each night or are there any variations? How about the playing times for each band?

Jonne: I heard that Falchion and Kivimetsän Druidi are changing positions as an opener each night. They made those decision themselves and us being a headliner we obviously didn't have anything against it. Korpiklaani will play a set of around 90 minutes each night and I have no knowledge how long the other bands are going to play.

MFF: Are all the venues on this tour familiar to you (Korpiklaani) or are there new ones?

Jonne: As a matter of fact there are very few familiar venues on this tour cause we are playing on slightly bigger venues than normally. And also in different cities than normally. Korpiklaani has been doing few tours per year for some years already and there has also been individual shows here and there so there is a danger of 'wearing out' locations and venues. On the other hand it's very nice to see that the places we've played before are still showing interest of having us back playing there. It shows that we have done something right.

MFF: On a personal level, have you prepared yourself to this tour normally or has the tight schedule forced you in some special preparations? After all you are the vocalist of the band.

Jonne: It only requires physical basic condition. And of course the playing throughout the whole band has to work well. On the latter part there is nothing to worry about since we haven't had a break from touring that lasted more than a week in a whole year. And we have been quite busy in the rehearsal room putting together new songs for the forthcoming album. Composing part is already done and we have all the new songs ready.

We also decided to make 3 different setlists for this tour and we will be rotating them. Doing that keeps things fresh and interesting throughout the tour cause now even the people who come and see us on 3 nights in a row will see and hear 3 different setlists and it won't get boring to them. And to us of course. We've been practising lot of old songs again cause some of them haven't been played in years and some of them haven't been played live ever.

Read the entire interview at this location.

FINNISH FIRE-TOUR (Korpiklaani, Battlelore, Falchion and Kivimetsän Druidi)

13.11.2008 / Hessenhalle, Giessen GERMANY
14.11.2008 / Alte Spinnerei, Glauchau GERMANY
15.11.2008 / Retro Music Hall, Prague CZECH REPUBLIC
16.11.2008 / Boogaloo, Zagreb CROATIA
17.11.2008 / Alcatraz, Milano ITALY
18.11.2008 / CCO, Lyon FRANCE
19.11.2008 / Le Camji, Niort FRANCE
20.11.2008 / Mephisto, Barcelona SPAIN
21.11.2008 / 2 Pi R, Mengibar (Jaen) SPAIN
22.11.2008 / Sala Live, Madrid SPAIN
23.11.2008 / TBA, Basque Country SPAIN
24.11.2008 / TBA, Tolouse FRANCE
25.11.2008 / Espace Julien, Marseille FRANCE
26.11.2008 / L?aterie, Strasbourg FRANCE
27.11.2008 / Centrum, Erfurt GERMANY
28.11.2008 / Matrix, Bochum GERMANY
29.11.2008 / MOD Club, Hasselt BELGIUM
30.11.2008 / Melkweg, Amsterdam NETHERLANDS
01.12.2008 / Wulfrun Hall , Wolverhampton UK
02.12.2008 / ABC 1, Glasgow SCOTLAND
03.12.2008 / Jillys Rock World , Manchester UK
04.12.2008 / Scala, London UK
05.12.2008 / Rio´s, Leeds UK
06.12.2008 / Hard Rock Hell, Prestatyn Sands, North Wales UK