|
Rock, metal, instrumental,
eclectic, a bit "folk-ish": lots of facettes in order to
describe Amorphis' music, but
what is the real soul of Amorphis and what could be the future evolution
of the band?
The real soul of Amorphis is that all the guys in
the band come with ideas and we start experimenting with them in the
rehearsal room. You never know how something new will sound after we
jammed on it for a while. In general I think the Amorphis sound on the
last 3 albums has been more specified than before and I think that’s
where the basis are for the Amorphis sound at the moment.
What does it mean “to
play together” as group in Amorphis: what is your collective attitude and which are the spaces left free for the individual
personalities?
To play together means for me that you don’t just
go out and perform your own parts but you go with a unit, when the drummer
makes a move I follow or the other way around. That way the songs live a
bit every night and that makes it more interesting for the musicians and
for the crowd.
Though i prefer the
"old good growling" , concerning the new sound direction i like
Tuonela and in particular Divinity and Summer's End, and i know for
certain that this is the opinion shared by many. what makes these two
songs so special in your opinion, and still so modern?
They both have very strong melodies.
Far from the Sun: honestly,
top or flop? critics are divided isn’t it?
Critics are always divided unless they were I would
be worried. You can’t please everyone and why should you. I think the
reviews for Far From The Sun have been overall good. When we go and
perform those songs live that’s when we get the real feedback that
matters.
What does it mean for you
the term "Northern"? i was told that, since Far from the Sun
is melodic , melancholic, cold, Finnish and bla, bla, bla, it is
therefore "Northern", as well as other albums of yours . But
isn't all this one of the worst clichés ever seen?
Perhaps it is. If we would live in Portugal would it
be southern?
If you should present and
explain Amorphis to a person totally profane, having the opportunity to
show (with listening) only one song as symbol and coat of arms of the group, which track would you pick up?
Day of your beliefs, it’s new and it has some
elements from the bands past.
What are your impressions
about the latest tour together with Paradise Lost?
It went really well, we only played with them in
Scandinavia and Switzerland. They are nice guys and we get along really
well, maybe in the future we do more shows with them. The rest of the
shows we did was headlining so we could play twice as long. For a short
set it very hard to pick songs, it always feels like there is something
missing.
What lands would you play
, in which you have still not been there with Amorphis, and, related to
this, is it that difficult to gather a good number of dates in England?
We play anywhere where organization
goes to proper manner. It’s been quite hard for us to get to England I
don’t know why. Last time we had to cancel because the label couldn’t
get the album out and it would have been too expensive to go there without
any support from the label. In any case it is always expensive to go on
tour to anywhere from Finland because we are up here in the corner.
We would “investigate”
more about your bass
and about your playing technique; the scales and chords you prefer; 5 and
6 strings...
I’m a pretty straight forward rock bassist and I
have only 4-string basses. The only time I would have wanted a 5-string
was for the Moonspell recordings, it would have fitted in there very well
but there was none so the 4-string had to do.
I’m
very much into drums, I tend to follow more what the drummer is doing
rather than the guitars and of course there are exceptions in every song.
If the drums and bass lock together the result is a more solid groove and
that’s the key to rock.
Oh and now please tell us
the biggest quantity of details possible and allowed concerning your
cooperation in The Antidote,
Moonspell's latest (kicking ass imo) release !
I felt honoured when they approached me, it sounded
great to do this cross “European collaboration”. Since we were old
friends it helped out a lot, and they were coming to my neighbourhood. I
rehearsed all the songs from a demo cd that they sent me. We never had an
opportunity to play together before the studio, so I had to go straight to
the studio. It was fine because we had just finished the work for the
Amorphis and the Verenpisara albums, so I was kind of used to the studio
atmosphere. In the studio we went through the parts with Pedro and Ricardo
and then recorded the track. It all went very quickly and we all were very
focused on the album so I don’t really remember all the details of that
day, except that we ended up at their apartment for Portuguese dinner. I
think it’s a very good album from what I know the guys have been busy
promoting it all over the place. I hope it will take Moonspell to the moon
and back.
To separate the Flesh from the Bones isn't the name of a course of
applied biology, but the name of a band which is one of your side projects,
where you play bass as well! Only, the music is "far from Amorphis":
here we deal indeed with an extreme brutal Death/Grind Core. Obviously i
can be interested, and, however, the
titles of the tracks included in the
upcoming EP, "For those about to Rot", are all a program:
Infected Rectum, Rotten
Vagina, Genital Massacre, among others , without forgetting
Fistfucked ´til Death. Anyway, for what i have heard downloading
the files available on the
band's official page , that music really f*ck you till death!!. Recorded
and mixed in Helsinki just
few days ago, when will this EP see
the light ? Please tell us all you want about this project!
This was something that I’ve been talking about
with Pasi for maybe two years now, that it would be fun to make something
really brutal. We had some ideas but we didn’t really have a clue what
they would sound like. Then we had one rehearsal and went into the studio
and recorded everything in one day. I recorded and mixed it and now it’s
ready. What made it even more fun is that we managed to do it so fast, but
I guess by talking about it for so long helped us to create our vision
without wasting too much time. Now we are in the process of looking if
anyone wants to release it or maybe we will release it by ourselves, we
don’t really know yet. I just hope people have as much fun listening to
it as we did recording it. Even though it’s not even out yet there has
been a few people who has taken it too seriously, that’s not the point
it’s pure fun!
Finland,
musically, is...
Tough question, I think it’s very……………northern
; )
Slayer
are one of your fav bands. But damn hey. are Slayer really that goddish?
why do you admire Slayer?
I was 13 when saw the Hell Awaits video for the
first time, I was totally blown away because the intro was so cool. Soon
after that came Reign in Blood which blew my mind and is still one of my
all time favourites. I just got it re-mastered and it still blows everyone
else away. They have been making albums for over 20 years and still going
strong, you just have to respect that.
About
burgers being one of your fav foods i couldn't agree more (maybe cause i'm
a Scorpio too!) But what about other fav tastes in your everyday food?
spaghetti , pizza, goulash, potatoes in every sauces, and nouvelle cuisine
française...cheese, mushrooms?
I eat almost everything. I was a very lazy cook but
I’ve started to like it more. I have just made my first ever meatloaf.
If
you would be a scientist, which kind of experimentations would you improve?
and in which field: biology, astronomy, medicine, chemistry....?
I’m a bass player so I would start combining all
the different sciences to see what happens. But what is essential for our
planet is important and in many places I think it would be about time to
clean up. It’s more of a regional thing which form of science needs
improvement.
Now
our typical gryphonmetal -last- question :
the Game. To the bands we interview for the very first time we
propose the Game of the Tower: there is a very high tower, and,on the top
of this tower, 3 bands are waiting for you. you must kick down 2 of them,
saving only one. The 3 bands for you, Niclas, are:Children of Bodom, My
Dying Bride, Six Feet Under
Children of Bodom
Thank you very much Niclas !!
|
AMORPHIS
:
Interview with Niclas Etelävuori
Niederrohrdorf
- Switzerland