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15 Jan 2011

Finntroll returns to Spain...

Published by Finntroll Spain Myspace, from November 13th 2009
Author:  Marina Mendive
Original link: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=482864169&blogId=518720065

After three years, the Finnish folk metal band, Finntroll, stepped on Spanish soil.  Finntroll MySpace Spain had the pleasure of interviewing Vreth and Skrymer a few minutes before their concert in the Madrid venue, Sala Caracol... 

(FM) Finntroll Myspace: Welcome, what happened? We heard someone missed a flight? 
(S) Skrymer: Yeah, the other guitarist missed a flight and all of our gear was lost. Luckily we got it now here...
(V) Vreth: We only had the hand luggage with us. Everything else was lost.

 FM: During the process of recording a new album, is there a part, a moment, which you like best?  Which is it? 
S: Actually, the whole process this time.
V: Yeah, but the stress was big.
S: Yeah.
V: We should have had like one more week.
S: But, really cool environment. Like, Three different studios, like one studio 2 guys were making children music, “can you guys come here and do backing vocals for this track,” and the other studio were doing like this old Finnish folk singer kinda dude, singing, and then there was like this one living room where we all drink coffee and smoke cigarettes. It was really, really nice environment.
V: Yep.

FM: So you helped with some backing vocals for children songs.
S: Yeah, and they did some for us too.

FM: What do you usually do to prepare for a show?
S: Joking and have a big group hug, no, [laughs] I don’t know, just sit around and wait for it to happen, write a set list, put the makeup and gear on, nothing very special.

FM: The first time you went on stage, did you have any stage fright? 
S: Still do.

FM: What do you do to avoid it?
S: Get drunk! [Laughs] Typical Finnish solution to problems, get drunk [Laughs], no, I don’t know, it’s kind of a cold feeling 5 minutes before going, then we actually go on stage and nothing.
V: I don’t think I actually have any stage fright anymore, when I was little, then I was really nervous. The first shows with Finntroll, then I was nervous.

FM: Vreth, how long have you been practicing growling?
V: Mid nineties, something like that.
S. Since his birth.
[They both laugh]
V: I was a very quiet child.

FM: What is your opinion on the fact that there are women like Angela Gossow from Arch Enemy that also practice growling?

V: I think it’s good that females do it also, because they have the same instrument that we have, so why not? Why would it all be male?
S: Once in Seattle this tiny little girl walked on stage and it was like [imitates growling sound] roar, and,
V: yeah, it was really angry.
S: it was like, fucking hell that’s scary. That tiny little fragile creature, that could create that sort of…, I don’t know, like he said, the same sentiment, so it doesn’t really matter. If it’s good it’s good, if it’s really bad it’s bad, it doesn’t really matter,
V: yeah, there is an equal amount of bad male singers as well as female singers. 

FM: What is the weirdest thing a fan has ever said or done to you or where is the weirdest place you’ve had to sign an autograph?
V: There was actually, a couple of years ago, this mother, she was probably around thirty something, and I thought she wanted an autograph, but no, no, no, she lifts up her little child and she wants an autograph. She had like a pink bag that she wanted me to sign. The girl was like 7 years old or something like that, she was a big fan and I got to sign her little pink purse.

FM: How much time do you usually require to learn a song?
S: Depends on the song.
V: Yeah, like you never learn some songs. We have really hard songs to play and we have easy songs to play.
S: Some may take 2 weeks to learn,
V: the other ones take 2 years…
S: It took like 9 years actually for me to learn, 8, sorry, [Vreth laughs] till I finally learned one thing from one song. 

FM: Can we know which one?
S: No, It’s like this, thanks to the other guitarist player on (Jaktens stage), who is a million times better guitarist than I am now, I kind of had to play his parts… it just didn’t happen. Finally, I learned after 8 years, so. It took me 8 years to get sort of close to the level [laughs]. 

FM: How long have you been playing the guitar?
S: I’ve been playing since 9; I’ve been practicing for [shrugs], well, actually, really practicing for like 4 or 5 years. It sounds weird, but yeah.

FM: If you had to do a balance about your entire career as a musician, what positive and what negative aspects would you highlight?
V: Well, the good side is to be able to travel around the world and play.
S: Play and see that people actually like what we’re doing.
V: Yeah, the negative side is probably the travelling.
S: yeah, waiting.
V: The airports and stuff.
S: That’s the glamour of rock and roll you get to wait a lot.
V: Stand in lines,
S: Looking like retard.

FM: What do you think about music festivals, do you prefer big venues or small venues?
S: small venues, definitely. Festivals are more like, party for the people. If I would really, really want to see a band, I would rather see them in a club. In a festival the sound is never really what you want it to be.
V: Yeah, and usually in a club people are there to see you, not to party, because in a festival there is like a week of partying, it’s just a plus if there is a good band.

FM: What do you think about today’s musical landscape?
[The rest of the group calls Skrymer and they talk in Finnish for a few minutes]
S: They just had a great idea for the album cover.
FM: Can we know?
S:  No, you’ll see.
S: (musical landscape) Honest opinion? It’s going to hell, it’s like there’s less and less real rock bands playing, more and more commercial bullshit. I don’t know, I’m really the worst person to ask that question. [Pauses] Now, it’s all so polished and nice and clean.
V: yeah, it’s lost the punk and the rebelness in some way.
S: Now days, there is more people that listen to Britney Spears than metal bands, the difference is a fucking haircut, but like I said, I’m really the worst person to ask that question.

FM:  Songs that make you dance:
S: hummm.
V: You mean in a club, now?

FM: For example, yes.
S: Janis Joplin, but you need, you know, a female to dance.
V: and the right setting, somehow. You know sometimes, we can go, like after a show to a club.
S: and groove out.
V: and be like: Oh, it’s Britney Spears let’s go dance.
S: Toxic.
V: Britney Spears Toxic.
S: that’s Max Martin so…

FM: Person that has inspired you:
S: [Looks at Mathias] Him. [They both laugh] I don’t know.
V: ugh, this is a hard one.
S: I don’t know I couldn’t name one; it’s like all this bunch of people for different reasons.
V: Different artists, different painters,
S: different musicians, different writers, different filmmakers,
V: ordinary people.
S: Just nice people.


FM: Where do you see yourselves in five years?
V: probably here.
S: yep, probably here, warming up some local band, I don’t know, or Los Angeles, driving fast cars, I don’t really know, I don’t even know where we’re going to be next week, well, I know actually, we’re going to be in Ukraine.
V: yep.
S: It’s kind of as far as I can tell. Hopefully playing.

FM: Earliest childhood memory:
S: I don’t know.
V: I cannot answer that one.
S: It goes the other way as well; I can hardly remember what happened last week so…
V: Probably running around some like summer cottage or something like that.
S: My grandma’s place.

FM: A book.
V a book? The hitchhikers guide to the galaxy.
S: Hyperion, Dan Simmons, Trilogy.

FM: A city.
V: My hometown.
S: A city? All the cities have some good qualities and some bad. [Pauses] San Francisco is mellow.
V: San Francisco is nice.

FM: A movie.
S: Holy crap [they laugh].
V: Actually, I saw a really good Norwegian movie a month ago, I really like, called Dead Snow, that’s a cool one.
S: I think Monty Python the Holy Grail.

FM: A color.
S: Blue.
V: Green.
S: Really dark blue.
V: Green, definitely.

FM: Favourite smell.
S: I don’t know, girlfriend, at the time, whatever that is, at particular moment girlfriend, I don’t know.
V: nice smells.

FM: Any word for your MySpace fans?
S: Thank you for supporting us.
V: Check out the new album.