Category: Music

music

Categories
Concerts Music

Drums and Guns

Days before the gig, the sun was shining in the capital, probably as a prelude to the great gig Low was going to perform in support of their latest album, Drums and Guns. It was a Saturday, and at the break of dawn it was already rainy and foggy. The gig was supposed to be beautiful, and charming, but also unavoidably sad and melancholic.

 

{mosimage}  

Rather than simply going through new material, Low played many old tracks. (Say whole it's almost impossible due to the vast of it). Upon listening to the new album you would expect more electronic tunes throughout the night, but they seemed to play more pop than ever, staying loyal to their roots and absolutely no one in the hall could complain. Low had an impressive start with, Death of a Sales Man! They touched the latest album with, In silence, in the third song.

They were getting bigger and bigger on stage.  It was amazing to see how only three people could fill such a huge place. Nothing else needed. Just Low. The feeling grew and grew while they were going through the night. Three people captivating hundreds of people.  It didn't matter much if Alan broke the strings of his guitar a couple of songs before the end their main performance. It was beautiful to see him and Mimi talking. They were both surprised to see how great the night was slowly turning into, and how many small things made the event even bigger.

After the obligatory first visit to the backstage they still came back to delight us with three more songs. They thought they were putting a perfect end to the night with, Sandanista. Nevertheless, going for a second time backstage, the people didn't agree, and wanted more!  So Alan, Mimi and Matt had to comeback, and thank God they did, because they likely played the best song of the night with Soon , and one they feels so intimate moments that remain deep in your body, where almost no one can reach. 

Then it was time to go, not sure with the sights up or down, but with shining sights nevertheless. A great gig that won't be mentioned anywhere, but one that will most certainly stay in everyone’s heart and mind. It was surely an amazing night, and one that made the difficult Finnish spring a little bit more bearable.

 

Photo: Andres Ahuir

Categories
Interviews Music

Heavy Metal Opera Thundering!

{mosimage}Holland: the cradle of tulips, a source of tales about crazy adventures in coffee shops… and the native country of Arjen Lucassen, a versatile artist who has been able to gather and compose music for an incredible list of the best heavy metal musicians around the world in his Ayreon´s albums . He answered (with excellent doses of good humor) the questions shot at him.

 

Arjen, in your biography says that when youngster, you were a trouble-maker in class. Do you have any particular anecdote of those times?

Well, for one I was always chasing (amongst other things) girls, instead of learning! I also remember I once filled a condom with 20 liters of water in the principal’s personal toilet. I also once hit a teacher, because he tried to push me down the stairs. That’s when they kicked me out of school. Hmm… I’d better stop here! 

You are always immersed in many different musical projects. Do you consider yourself a work-alcoholic or it just does not feel like work for you?

Oh yes, I’m a workaholic at heart. I feel best when I’m being creative. But you’re right; it certainly doesn’t feel like work for me. {mosimage}

Please, tell us a bit more about the new Ayreon album: 01011001. Do you give a lot of importance to the new technological era? How is it possible than living in a world so interconnected, people seem to search for an own identity more than ever?

I’m very much a recluse, so I don’t really live in this world. Luckily my profession enables me to live in another dimension. I try to make technology work for me, instead of the other way around. It’s easy to be sucked into the computer and become a part of the game. I devise the game.

How is the normal process of recording an Ayreon album? Do all the musicians record their parts separately?

Yes, I fly them all in separately. 

Do you meet them all personally before recording to discuss about their performances?

No, we start recording very spontaneously in the studio.

We publish from Finland, a land with many talented heavy metal bands. Are there any Finnish singers that you would like to see participating in future Ayreon´s projects?

Oh yes. Marco Hietala, for instance, is a great singer.

Do you like the voice of Tarja Turunen, ex-singer of Nightwish?

Who doesn’t? I approached her once, but her husband/record company director didn’t want her to do it.  He was doing a project with her at the time. So maybe one day…

 

"Marco Hietala is a great singer" -Arjen Lucassen, musician and composer-.

 

Any dreamt names of musicians that you would like to see in your projects and still not had the chance?

The list is endless. Obviously the musicians I grew up listening to, but also new talents.

I have recently interviewed Johan  Edlund of Tiamat, who collaborated in previous Ayreon´s album, but he is not included this time. What was the reason?

I like to work with new musicians every album to keep things spontaneously.  I’ve worked with over a hundred singers now. Johan is great by the way; I love his voice and music.

What do you think of other metal-opera projects like Avantasia , and his creator Tobias Sammet (both latest albums from him and yours were released with a few days of difference and as appears in your website, there was some crossing of declarations between both of you) 

Although we both do rock operas our music is very different from each other. I think he’s doing a great job.

Now it is recently announced that you are releasing an EP together Avantasia and Ayreon. Could you tell us more about it? So it was that “hate” between you two a creation of the press more than reality, or you really have something against Tobias…?

 {mosimage}

Of course not, we are just fooling around! We have become the best of friends and I’m glad we’ve been able to record this track together. I’m sure we will make people laugh when they hear it!

Are you afraid that people could pay more attention to the album just because of the list of participants than because of the quality of the music itself?

No. I hope people enjoy the album, for whatever reason. My sales are still increasing and the last album has charted in 13 countries, so I must be doing something right!

What are your future plans? Would there be any chance to see Ayreon´s compositions ever played on live?

Ayreon is not a live project, it would be impossible with (or without) the many guest musicians.

Anything else you want to add or say to our readers? 

If you are in for an adventure and you have an open mind for different musical styles, check out my music! But you are warned …  

 

For more information, check out: www.ayreon.com

 

Categories
Concerts Music

Good glamour

{mosimage}The fact that Good Charlotte lead guitar player Benji Madden arrived in Helsinki with his new girlfriend Paris Hilton nearly took the shine out the Good Charlotte concert scheduled for the evening. Each Paris’ movement in Helsinki was scrutinized by the flocks of local paparazzi, but unfortunately Good Charlotte's concert didn’t get equal amount of attention. 

 

Huge Helsinki Ice Hall was filled only by one-third. Hard to say why, but it is highly possible that in the country with a very strong heavy metal music scene Good Charlotte music was seen as being too pop. An older man behind me, who perhaps has seen the first Woodstock festival, was grumbling: “These guys play pseudo rock”.  Most of the audience at the Ice Hall consisted of 13-17 year old teenagers. Local warm-up band which showed up on stage at around 8 p.m. wasn’t impressive at all – the guys looked like a school band lost on the huge stage.

{mosimage} 

Fortunately, their performance lasted only half an hour. While Good Charlotte crew was doing their job tuning up the instruments the Finnish audience showed northern-ice-cold patience and even didn’t try to call for the band to come to the stage. Finally the lights grew dim and the intro was in the air: the sounds of a lullaby grew into thunderstorm-like rock. Flashing green lights helped to raise the audience impatience's and in seconds Good Charlotte guys were on stage. At the very moment it became clear that ear plugs were sold at the Ice Hall entrance not because of too loud music, but because of Good Charlotte fans’ vocal chords strength. When the band members were making their first moves on stage it seemed that the fans’ voice sound wave would destroy the whole building. 

 

Good Charlotte singer Joel Madden, who recently became a lucky parent of a wonderful daughter together with another US gossip column hero Nicole Richie, has grown a goatee, perhaps trying to look more mature and his identical twin brother Benji was hiding behind the black sunglasses. Interesting enough: did he try to hide the marks of fatigue or was it an attempt to look more like his new girlfriend, always hiding from the pain-in-the-neck photographers under huge dark eyeglasses? At the beginning of the concert Good Charlotte guys were quite stiff and despite the fact the musical performance was as brilliant as usually they really didn’t look to be in the mood. Only Good Charlotte bass player Paul Thomas was obviously having fun on stage. Towards the middle of the concert the brothers started communicating with the crowd.

{mosimage}

They made a break between the songs and decided to tell everything they knew about Helsinki and Finland. Also Benji and Joel reminded that they got to know all that only due to the fact that they have good friends in Helsinki – Finnish rock band The 69 Eyes. After this short “commercial break” Good Charlotte kept on performing. They played nearly all songs from their last album Good Morning Revival. One of the songs was introduced quite ambiguously; Benji addressed the audience in quite a strict command tone: Keep your hands off my girl! Indeed, this song has to do a lot with Benji’s recent love affair. Song Where Would We Be was performed in an acoustic version so that everybody could enjoy Joel’s wonderful voice; but that was the only ballad played during the whole concert. All the rest of the time one hit was changed by another, Benji and Joel encouraged the audience to show their emotions, but there was no need in encouragements any more: the sea of hands was running high at the stage and everybody was singing together with Good Charlotte guys. The whole concert lasted for a little bit more than an hour. Right from the Ice Hall most of the band and crew members went to Helsinki night club LUX where Benji was dj-ing for about an hour. On Friday Good Charlotte left for Greece where they continue the tour.  

Photos by Jana Blomqvist.

Categories
Features Music

When the music is over


{mosimage}In 2005, Swedish punk rockers The Hellacopters claimed that rock was dead with the album Rock & Roll Is Dead. Nothing close to reality and that album was a fine collection of fast-paced old-fashioned rock and roll tunes. However, three years later the band heads (off) to its end with one last album and tour. Guitarist Nicke Andersson and keyboardist Boba Fet visited Helsinki to promote the album and play some records at Bar Loose.


Since 1995, when the band released their first single, the emblematic Killing Allan, has delivered good doses of high energy punk rock, with MC5, The Rolling Stones and The Stooges as main influences. Head Off, out on 18 April, will be the band’s seventh and final album. Last week, before Nicke and Boba started spinning some records, Head Off could be heard in its entirety at Bar Loose. It is a strong set of songs that brings back some heavier guitars, while keeping the characteristic Hellacopters sound.

We asked Nicke Andersson (also known as Nicke Royale) how did the band feel while recording and releasing their last album. “We didn’t know it was going to be our last album”, he said. “We decided to break up after the album was recorded. It wasn’t planned. Now that we are releasing the album, it feels ok. It’s normal, like any other album”.

Over the years, The Hellacopters became one of the most popular rock bands to come up from Scandinavia in the mid nineties, along with Turbonegro and Glucifer, to name a few. The Hellacopters have successfully toured all around the world. Once Head Off is released, the band will start its final tour with some gigs at the summer festival and then a full tour in the fall. “Now we know when everything is going to end”, continued Nicke. “Of course, we’ll come to Finland. It is a major market for us”.

The artwork designed for Head Off will be quite striking. It features the members of the band dressed as combat pilots next to a helicopter. Some might say that such design is very similar to Black Sabbath’s album Never Say Die! from 1978. Nicke quickly clarified that they didn’t think about that album. “We just wanted to do something original and spend some time with the artwork. It was our idea to make a tribute to Hipgnosis [the design group responsible of the cover art of many albums by Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Yes, among others]. Bands don’t do this any more, with all the mp3 and so”.

Indeed, The Hellacopters always kept the tradition of  70s rock. Head Off will also be released on vinyl, and like with other Hellacopters albums it will include one bonus song. Vinyl is the preferred format for the band. They released a tremendous amount of limited 7-inch singles, ep, split albums, coloured vinyls… A true fan’s and collector’s dream. Some of those editions were limited to a few hundred copies. Nowadays those editions are really valuable in the second hand markets and many singles are sold for 20 and 30 euros, and even a handful of them can reach a price of over 100 euros.

Unfortunately, an outstanding rock and roll band will be gone soon. But still there’s one more party to celebrate. Head Off will be a very good last statement from the band.

{mosimage}

The Hellacopters performing two new songs on Swedish television:

http://www.tv4.se/1.283438?videoId=1.351183
http://www.tv4.se/1.283438?videoId=1.351534

Categories
Interviews Music

27 Years at the forefront of industrial music


Einstürzende Neubauten (translated from German means something like “Collapsing New Buildings”) is a legendary industrial music German band that has always been able to renew themselves in these almost 3 decades of existence. They are currently on tour and will visit Helsinki pretty soon at the end of April. A piece of European music history still alive and kicking!

{mosimage}


Berlin now and then

In fact, the historical changes have played an important role when shaping the career of the band: The fall of the Berlin wall was a turning point in the member´s lives. Alex Hacke, who joined to the 3 original band members, Blixa Bargeld, N.U. Unruh and FM Einheit, some few years after their appearance, tells us more about his personal vision of what is going on in the German capital nowadays:

“I am still based in Berlin, but it turns out, that I spend the main part of the year everywhere else, which is good because obviously the place has changed to the extent where it is fair to say that the spirit, which once possessed this city has forever departed, to put it mildly. Certainly, West-Berlin was a special place, but it doesn’t exist anymore. Where there was room and artistic headroom resides now the government of this country and where there was intuition and rebellion rules now the struggle of survival and competition”.

But if a great part of the bohemian spirit is getting lost, is music still able to inspire and excite the minds of the listeners?

“Of course! I like all kinds of styles and genres and better still it is to combine a choice of them. To me it is all about friction. 1 + 1 = 3. It’s that third kind of music I’d like to create” affirms Alex.

A straight relation band-supporters

The band has recently released his new album Alles Wieder Offen (“All Open Again”), and once more, there is space for a committed and risky tone in tunes like Nagorny Karabach, a line that is not new at all, since the Germans have always been very politically active in their lyrics, like in their previous work Armenia (1983). Innovation is their way of life. Years ago they recorded albums just using pieces of garbage picked from the streets, but this time the change comes when we talk about producing the album. There is no record company behind the creative process, and the album is just founded by the fans themselves, who paid even before the album is completed. On exchange, they have a much more active role giving feedback and advice to the band members via Internet. 

“To have an immediate response to the music we create is the most stimulating aspect of working in this set-up. It’s very much like playing a show with an audience in attendance. Besides that we just do what we choose to do, but we are able to tell when we are going astray, because at that point the attention of the supporters will quickly fade. What I like about this album is that for the first time it seems to deal with us, as a group of individuals, who spent the major part of their lives together. And it does that in a very intimate and loving manner. If you open yourself to that extend and let your guard down all the way, you certainly put yourself in a rather fragile position” explains Alex.

There is also time for a more relaxed and lascivious tone in their music, like in the new track “Let´s do it dada”. Simply love for Marinetti´s artistic movement? Hacke discovers the meaning behind it:“DADA is a French slang- or children-word, which means rocking-horse. It is also position in sexual intercourse, where one person is lying on its back, while another is straddling the former and therefore riding him like a horse…”

Einstürzende Neubauten will visit Finland on April 24th, playing at Tavastia club in the capital, Helsinki. If you want to listen to one of the bands that have defined the industrial music in the European scene, do not miss them!

www.neubauten.org
www.tavastiaklubi.fi

Categories
Concerts Music

Heavy metal lecture

{mosimage}Good Friday meant a night of top quality heavy metal with Phil Anselmo’s Down hitting the stage at Pakkahuone in Tampere.

After Pantera disbanded, Phil Anselmo focus his efforts in his other band Down, a supergroup that includes guitarist Pepper Keenan, of Corrosion of Conformity and Kirk Windstein, of Crowbar, and Pantera’s bass player Rex Brown. Indeed, a strong line-up that with only three released albums since 1991 has become of the most critically acclaimed and popular bands in the metal scene at the moments, especially since last year’s album Down III: Over the Under.

A little bit less than two years after the band’s great performance in June 2006, Down returned to Tampere. Perhaps due to the holiday season, the venue didn’t sell out completely, although it was pretty full and Finnish metalheads wore their best and toughest outfit (although it was strange to spot a Grateful Dead t-shirt). The venue was divided with a small bar that provided the required drinks. Fortunately, the audience was this time more into the show than the drinking.

Instead of an opening act, there was the screening of some music videos. Down chose to displayed some of their heroes and on screen there were clips from Lynyrd Skynyrd and Black Sabbath among many others. The band indeed does not forget their Southern roots (it was formed in New Orleans).

For two hours, Down delivered a very strong set that really covered its repertoire and the different aspect of its music: heavy riffs, a little bit of moody southern rock, stoner… A very tight performance from the band with Anselmo all over as an excellent frontman.

The band seemed comfortable on stage, telling the audience to enjoy a little weed. Between songs they teased different classics, like Led Zeppelin’s Dazed and Confused or Twisted Sister’s We’re Not Gonna Take It.

Metal cannot get better than this, good songs, good performance, good attitude. Modern, yet classic.

Categories
Albums Music

The Raconteurs – Consolers of the Lonely

{mosimage}Quickly cooked and served! Fast music world. At the beginning of March, The Raconteurs finished the masters of their second album and just a couple of weeks later, the album is released all over the world, in every possible format, from download to vinyl, being the latter the recommended format by the band. So here goes a quick review on the day of its release.

This immediate distribution is another step for the fast changing music industry. It not only avoided the album from being leaked, but it has also brought some attention to a release that needed no presentation. The band’s first album (Broken Boy Soldiers) was one of the biggest surprises in 2006 and it created a lot of hype due to the popularity of the band’s line up, which includes Brendan Benson and White Stripes’ Jack White. The song Steady, As She Goes became a hit and the band was quickly as a supergroup. Now, without little announcements, the band comes up with its second album Consolers of the Lonely.  This time it cannot be said that this is a long-awaited album, but no disappointment here. The band delivers a refreshing dose of garage rock, with some hard rock riffs and lots of ideas and originality (for a genre with little room for this quality).

This album’s single, Salute Your Solution, is a quick three-minute song, with crunchy guitars and crazy melody. It easily tops Steady, As She Goes and along with R.E.M.’s Supernatural Superserious, it can become one of this year’s hit singles.

Like in the first album, there are clear references to Led Zeppelin’s music. The mid-tempo Old Enough captures the folky vibe of Gallows Pole and the opening track, Consoler of the Lonely (like in the first album, the title track is in singular and the album title in plural), brings some Jimmy Page-like riffs.

Perhaps the most surprising songs include some soul oriented moments, which bring some horns to the mix in The Switch and the Spur and, overall, in Many Shades of Black.

Consolers of the Lonely is a rocking album (just listen to the smoking Hold Up), delivered with a tremendous energy and spontaneity. It is fast and direct, not so moody as Broken Boy Soldiers. If the band keeps up with this energy on stage, The Raconteurs shows can be epic.

Rating 4/5 

Categories
Albums Music

Kometa – A strange Revelation

{mosimage}Second album by the guys from Helsinki: Kometa. 

The three-piece band from the Finnish capital features their second studio album: A Strange Revelation, after releasing in 2005 their debut record Like a Light Bulb.

The band is well known and experienced in the Finnish music scene, having played in hundreds of venues here, including some big festivals, and having also visited other foreign countries such as Germany or Estonia. That experience gets transformed into maturity and consistency in an album that surprises all over the 11 tracks. From the starting guitar riffs of Jet Pack to the final song that is named after the album´s title,

Kometa achieves something lacked by many Finnish bands: a personal style. Rock with guts and a feeling of assisting to a controlled sloppiness while playing that for some moments can remind you of The White Stripes in songs like Holy Spirit or Quit.

They will be playing during March and April in the biggest Finnish cities, and surely it is a band worthy to check on live.

Rate: 4/5

Categories
Albums Music

Stam1na – Raja

{mosimage} “Hyrde”, “Pexi”, Kaikka” and “Kake” are the four members of Stam1na, one of the most interesting metal bands in Finland nowadays. are the four members of Stam1na, one of the most interesting metal bands in Finland nowadays. 

Raja is the third studio album of a band that shows a lot of “sisu” not only in their names. After signing with Sakara records in 2004, all the critics have been favorable to a band that, far from the usual shyness of the Finnish society, is quite pompous on and off stage.

Lyrics in Finnish that combine speed metal with progressive rock, all under the control of the powerful voice of the vocalist Antti “Hyrde” Hyynynen. It is not just by chance that they are currently sharing stages around Europe with that big Finnish phenomenon called Apocalyptica.

Raja has only 10 tracks, but diverse enough not to have the feeling that the album is too short or too monotonous. Metal riffs close to Kotiteollisuus in a song like Kädet vasten lasia, a drum on fire in the initial tracks Hammasratas and Susi-ihminen or heavier guitar riffs in Vartijaton makes the album one of the most interesting compositions released in the extremely rich Finnish metal scene of the last months.

 It would be interesting to see if in the future they would jump to sing lyrics in English too. 

Rate 4/5.

Categories
Albums Music

51 Koodia – Mustat Sydämet

{mosimage}Looks like the Finnish Winter left some black hearts in Joensuu. 

51 Koodia has been around since 2002. After Nimetty and Rautaiset Linnut, they release a new studio album, being their most ambitious project so far. It has been recorded in the legendary Finnvox studios in Helsinki and the promo photographs have been taken by Ville Juurikkala, the photographer or the Finnish rock stars. With so many good ingredients to create a good cocktail, the only thing left is that music answers to the high expectations.

And certainly the quality of the sound is pretty good. Pete, Om, Jutte and Hannu achieve a square work of good rock/pop with the unavoidable doses of Finnish melancholia in the lyrics. Vocal skills are pretty decent and the compositions sound catchy and rocky enough, like in the romantic Toivomus  or in Mustat Sydämet.

Nevertheless, the band will face the usual problems of these kind of works: the limits of singing in Finnish language, and a soft rock style that will delight a fair amount of female fans, but will make them difficult to become more mainstream in a saturated market. Just a good album of Finnish pop-rock, but do not expect big surprises here.

Rate 3/4

Categories
Interviews Music

Hellslaughter prefers to look onwards

More than one metal fan can think that Johan Edlund is a kind of “enfant terrible” in the death metal music scene; a musician with a reputation of being able to change the sound, the band members or even his own vocal registers with every new Tiamat´s album in the search of new musical achievements. However, the person who salutes me on the phone from Greece sounds relaxed, friendly and pretty talkative (for being Swedish…). Tiamat is releasing pretty soon their new studio album Amanethes and there is a lot of curiosity surrounding every Edlund´s new project. I talk to him from Finland during half an hour, and the feeling is that we could go on chatting for a whole night if we would be sitting in a bar with some booze in the middle. 

{mosimage}

How long have you lived in Greece, Johan?

I have lived for 3 years. My girlfriend is from here, and I like it pretty much. I live in Thessaloniki.

The hot topic surrounding Tiamat nowadays is the incoming release of your new studio album Amanethes. Can you tell us a bit more about the recording process?

It has been very relaxed, quite straightforward album. We are not so connected with the music scene nowadays or with the new bands, so we just try to make the music that we like, out of what others want us to do or what the record companies want us to do.

Usually Tiamat was a band that had no problem in releasing a new album every 2-3 years maximum, but it has been 5 years since the release of your last one: Prey (2003). Why such a long waiting?

Well, there were many things going on with the band. I moved several times, I was living in Germany and then I moved to Greece, and we had other family issues. As well, it seems that when we are not teenagers anymore, when we grow up, the time is passing by faster!

Do you have any favorite track from the new album or do you love all your new babies equally?

I do not really can pinpoint just one. After mixing it and finishing I listened to the whole album a lot of times, in different environments and music equipments, to check how it sounds. But for me, now it is kind of “old material” since the songs were made some time ago, even when it is not yet released. I am already thinking about new songs…

So it is kind of “when it is done, it is done, and better to look at the future”?

Yes, exactly. It is like when you pay taxes, for example. You pay every year different ones so you cannot keep looking back at what you paid in the past.

Uhhh…  Taxes are a sticky topic here in Finland… hehehe

Yes, well of course creating songs is a much nicer activity than paying taxes!

You released in 2005 the excellent DVD The Church of Tiamat, which was recorded in Poland. Why the decision to do it just in that country?

Well, we always had a special relation with Poland. For example, it was the first country where Tiamat went to play outside Sweden. So it was kind of normal for us to continue the relation with the country.

I see that you used Greek language in the title of the song Katarraktis Apo Aima (literally translated as A Waterfall of Blood) Can you speak Greek?

No, only some few words. It is a very difficult language! Same than Finnish. And you, can you speak Finnish? 

Well, I have lived here for 5 years, so more or less I can communicate, but it is very difficult too. I am far from speaking it perfectly. Do you speak Finnish? Because there is a big Finnish speaking population in Sweden, and many Swedish have Finnish ancestors.

No, but I have been in Finland many times. And I know that in Finland a lot of people speak Swedish

Yeah, they have a Swedish speaking minority and it is compulsory to study it at schools. I knew that during the recording of Prey you were working with it in Finnvox studios here in Finland

Yes, I spent 3 weeks there. I also visited a city called Oulu, but most of the time I was in Helsinki. It is a city that I like very much!

I have also heard that you are a great football fan, so I suppose it must be something special to live the atmosphere of football in Greece, where they are so passionate!

Yeah, actually I was last Saturday in a match. They really live it with passion! It is a bit crazy. This summer Sweden is playing against Greece, and I am used to display the Swedish flag on my balcony and shout a lot during the matches. But let´s see… I think my neighbors are going to hate me…

This time maybe you will have to keep a low profile there…

Yeah, well, fortunately maybe I will be in Sweden at the time of the match! hehehe

Many fans of the band, no matters in what way you innovate in the following albums, always compare every new  Tiamat´s release to Wildhoney (1994), that has been kind of the most successful album for the group so far. Do you feel any kind of pressure with these comparisons?

No, not really.  I mean, I am very happy that we did Wildhoney. I think that it is a great album, and I certainly know that has influenced many bands later. But we just do what we feel that it is ok to do. I do not have any problem feeling pressure.

You have your parallel project, a band called Lucyfire. Will there be anything coming up for 2008?

There were rumors about a second album being released soon…I worked a bit on it during 2007, but then we were busy with Tiamat´s projects. So I don´t know, we will have to see about it. It depends on the time.

 

 

"I would love to go to play to Finland on summer, if we would be invited!" Johan Edlund – Tiamat

 

 

The title of the first (and so far unique) Lucyfire´s album is This Dolllar Saved My Life at Whitehorse.  Do you have any kind of item that you carry always with you to give you good luck?

Yes, actually I have my own silver dollar. After the release of the album, with the first money we earned from it, I went to this kind of shop where they sell coins and stamps and I got one. I always have it with me in my pocket since then.

And you have managed not to spend it in booze!

No, no! I am quite a superstitious person actually when it comes to these kinds of things…

And you have also collaborated in one album with Arjen Lucassen´s and his Ayreon projects. He has released a new one a few weeks ago, but you are not in this new one.

Yes, it was nice to collaborate with him. He wanted other members of Tiamat playing also in the project, but at the end we could not make it happen.

By the way, maybe many of your fans who are searching for Tiamat information can feel a bit surprised because of your official website is not currently working. What happened with it?

We have had some problems with the domain, but hopefully it will be running again pretty soon, with the same name that had before.

Do you have any kind of idea of how the touring season will be for summer?

We have only 3 gigs confirmed so far. We are not even sure yet what are the places where the album is going to be released, so once that it is in the market I think that it will be easy to plan where to go.

Do you have anything confirmed in Finland?

No, actually we have never been invited to summer festivals in Finland, and it is a pity because I have heard that they are pretty good. I actually would love to go there to play with Tiamat, if we would be invited! 

Yes, actually there are many and with a great quality for such a relatively small country. We will try to spread the word because I am sure the audience here would love to have you coming. There is a wide musical culture in Finland. It would be nice to see you playing here this summer! So if any Finnish promoter is reading these lines, you already know! Tiamat has a new album and its leader, Johan Edlund, is more than willing to come to Finland, so this would be an excellent chance to see one of best kicking ass Swedish bands playing here after the snow melts! 

Categories
Albums Music

iRonica – Consequences

{mosimage}I am not sure that Ironica – no, wait, iRonica – is that entire smart name for a band.

Of course, the world is full of good bands with crappy names, but still, I find it somewhat hard to look at this Finnish five-piece’s debut album without fearing the worst. Luckily, the record is better than what the band name suggests.           

It would be fitting to describe iRonica’s music as power metal with female vocals. Having a female lead singer in a metal band hasn’t been a new concept in years, but luckily, iRonica are not another Nightwish copy band. The band’s fast-paced, very melodic metal is performed solidly and with conviction. They are not the most original band around, but they clearly have their place in the local music scene.           

The focal points of iRonica are guitarist/songwriter Ville Nepal and singer Elina Iron, who both handle their respective fields well. The song writing is sharp, although there are some less-exciting tracks as well, and Iron is quite different from standard female metal vocalists. Her vocal sound is kind of dirty, and she sounds genuinely angry. The other musicians handle their respective fields well, also, although some cheesy synth sounds and drum fills appear.           

The kind of metal that iRonica plays is not really my cup of tea, but I have to admit they are good at what they do. Despite the name. 

Rate: 3/5 

Categories
Albums Music

Kauko Röyhkä & Riku Mattila

{mosimage}Kauko Röyhkä, the (somewhat) unsung genius of Finnish rock music, makes an interesting and unexpected career move.

Kauko gets reunited with his old collaborator, guitarist Riku Mattila, who used to play in his band in the beginning of eighties, when both of them were just starting out. Since then, Mattila has played with many other Finnish musicians and become a respected producer, whereas Röyhkä has continued his career as an artist and an author.           

Despite being a good songwriter and one of the best Finnish lyricists ever, Röyhkä has always been a bit uneven artist. However, he has made good records during all the years, and with Mattila, he sounds better than in a long time. Somehow it looks like these two guys can really bring the best out of each other.            

There are plenty of good songs. The album opener Helvetti is surprisingly dark and melancholy for a Kauko Röyhkä track, but it works. Odotetaan kultaista laivaa is a much more positive, relaxed piece with brilliant lyrics and an equally brilliant guitar solo by Mattila. And the album closing epic Välitila shows that nobody can put a short story to music better than Kauko Röyhkä.           

The overall mood of the album is very loose and easy-going, like one could expect – Röyhkä and Mattila have nothing to prove to anybody. That this record has been the biggest commercial success of Kauko Röyhkä’s career is at first surprising, but in the end, it feels very logical. After all, this is a huge artistic success as well. 

Rate: 4/5 

Categories
Interviews Music

Drunken lullabies

In the early nineties, guitar player Dennis Casey moved from his hometown Rochester, NY to Los Angeles. Inspired by classic punk rock bands like The Clash, Dead Kennedys and Sex Pistols, and impressed with newcomers like Nirvana and Red Hot Chili Peppers, Casey searched for bands and gigs to make a professional career playing guitar. What he could not guess then is that 15 years later he would get involved with Irish music and tour the world with the most successful Irish punk band of the moment: Flogging Molly. To celebrate the release of the band’s latest album, Float, FREE! Magazine called Dennis Casey while on tour in Florida.

{mosimage} 

How is the tour going so far?
Great! Every show has been sold out so far. We have some new songs and the audience is getting to know these songs. The album is also getting some radio airplay already. So far so good!

Dubliner Dave King formed Flogging Molly in Los Angeles in 1997, when he gathered a bunch of musicians and start playing every week at the Molly Malone’s pub. The seven-piece band evolve a characteristic sound that blends sharp punk guitars with accordions, fiddles, mandolins and banjos. It’s The Dubliners meet Johnny Cash. The live shows of Flogging Molly are intense and festive. Every member of the audience cannot help dancing to the band’s “drunken lullabies”. The Finnish audience knows it well. Flogging Molly have played in Finland very often in the last couple of years. In May the band is playing at Tavastia in Helsinki twice. The tickets for the first show were sold in just a few hours and a new date was added. A couple of months later, Flogging Molly will return to play at the Ruisrock festival in Turku.

Some reviews speak of Float, like it is a mature album for the band. Are you getting softer and old?
No, not at all. The album is as hard as the others. It’s been four years since our previous studio album and the band grew, but Float rocks as the others.

How different is Float from the previous albums?
The main difference is that it was completely recorded in Ireland. We stayed there around one year in three different periods of time. We got together, close to each other. We lived in the same house, then went to the studio and the pub to have some pints. Four years since Within a Mile from Home seems like a long time. Why did the new album take so long?
We wanted to have some time to release the live album / dvd Whiskey on a Sunday. Besides that, we kept on touring. We were busy.

In Within a Mile from Home, you recorded a great duet with Lucinda Williams (Factory Girls). How did this collaboration happen?
Dave wrote that song and it is very biographical, about his mother. He thought that it would be great to have a female singer on it. He believed it would relate very well to the theme of the song. We dropped some names and Lucinda Williams came up. We got in contact with her, but we had no hopes that she would accept. But surprisingly she liked the idea and the song. We did it and it was great.

Who was your first guitar hero and how did you decide to start playing guitar?
My parents were always playing Elvis stuff and Sun records artists. Then I got a guitar and that became my only hobby. I just wanted to play guitar and that’s the only thing I wanted to do.

When you arrived in LA, did you get into the sleazy hard rock scene?
Not really. I first liked all the classic punk rock bands, but when I arrived in LA , I listened to the Chili Peppers and Nirvana and I thought “wow, this is the shit”. But I tried to play whenever I could, whatever I could.

I bet you didn’t imagine that you would play in a band like Flogging Molly.
No way! I would never have said that I would play Irish music. That comes from Dave, he’s originally from Dublin. I have never thought I would play something like this or get this popular. This is no other band doing this.

Flogging Molly is really popular in Finland. What memories do you have of the country?
Finns are the craziest people I’ve seen. Very energetic people. I remember the first night we were there, we went out to some pubs and everybody was crazy. People were drunk all around. And there were many pretty girls too. Great memories.

What can we expect of the upcoming shows?
We have a new set of songs and we’ll be just as hard and as energetic as usual. We’ll give it all on stage. We are playing two nights there, so we’ll play some different songs.

Categories
Albums Music

Astrid Swan – Spartan Picnic

{mosimage}After Poverina, the Finnish artist releases her second studio album. 

Compared to other female singers such as Kate Bush or Tori Amos, Astrid Swan is undoubtedly one of the most “exportable” Finnish singers, out of the heavy metal scene. Having released simultaneously her debut album in USA and Finland, and having toured in the new Continent quite often, there is no doubt that Astrid´s career is lead to perform in more places than just the relatively tiny Finnish market.

I must recognize that first time I heard this Spartan Picnic, I did not like it at all. The rhythms were too commercial, but after giving it a new chance, I started to like more Astrid´s vocal skills. Songs like This Could be Mother´s Milk or For Those Who Drown will make you move your feet and give a very positive vibe, while some others as Continents can make you appreciate Astrid´s quality as a singer while intonating a slow tempo ballad.

Still, if I have to compare her with other Finnish artists closely linked to America as Janita, I still prefer the later one. Not a bad album thought, but it will take some time to catch the fully taste.

Rate 3/5.