D-Drive с Антоном DragonT Павленко - Finntroll Interview Translation

Translation by Lotta, originally posted on the Finntroll forum.

2.51 Finntroll's main characteristic is synthesis of incompatible things like conceptual black metal and plain humor of humppa
2.58 hello, we are very happy to see you in Ukraine. tell us please about your impressions of our country
3.05 Mathias did not have time to acquainted (i think it's totally wrong word here, but i can't find better one XD) Ukraine today, but he saw much in his last visit at this summer
3.17 he was impressed by ukrainian public, they're very energetic
3.39: can you tell what was happened in that day this summer, when you were must to play on pro-rock festival?
3.46: Mathias doesn't actually knows which reason was of concert cancellation, but it seems financial reason
3.53: but decided find the way to go out from this situation and to play somehow, if they come in Ukraine. it's sad, but not everybody could go in then
4.09 and it was very interesting to play with Rotting Christ
4.34: Mathias, tell us please about unusual combination: you've played with Rotting Christ on one stage. which more bands (which playing another music compare to Finntroll) you've played with on one stage?
4.48:in Mexico for example with Celtic Frost
4.52: in 2008 on fest with Belphegor
5.00 (can't understand what they saying.. probably about the year - 2007, not 2008)
5.26 in press many finnish bands say that it's cool to tour and spend the time with Finntroll. and who for you are most comfortable to tour with?
5.42 last time was very interesting to tour with Eluveitie. Last summer european tour was good and mostly all was good with Eluveitie. And likely next summer tour will be with them too. Especially Finntroll's and Eluveitie's new albums will be released simultaneously
6.21 in which country public reaction was closest personally to you?
6.25 in Mathias' opinion is Holland, Belgium. Especially memorable gigs in east europe, because there public just 'tear the roof'
6.41 tell us please about your creativity before Finntroll?
6.45 before Finntroll Mathias doesn't work in big bands, but basically he was interested in metal music and enjoyed little vocal black death bands which was created by himself since he was 6 years old
7.20 do you have any work besides music, and if yes what is it? do you have another profession, another occupation?
7.26 he's occupation is a sound engeneer, and he works on one studio in west Finland. when work in Finntroll needs not so much time, he can move to east Finland and work as sound engeneer there
7.47 do you have any hobbies besides music?
7.50 making music needs much time. sometimes trying to go to the swimming pool
8.05 tell us please which music do you listen right now? maybe there is some last album, which surprised you, you've listened to it and said "wow!"?
8.13 last time he opened for himself one british progressive band named Frost
8.20 i wish you good luck on the concert, i think it will be great!

Interview with Vreth from Finntroll France

Author: Josué, November 9th 2008
From Finntroll France
Original link

Voici une interview, faite rapidement à cause des problèmes avec la Loco, par Josh et Lord USA de Vreth lors du Heidenfest à Paris le 9 Novembre 2008.

Finntroll France : Salut Vreth, nous sommes content de revoir Finntroll faire un concert à Paris pour le Heidenfest Tour. Quelle est ta réaction à chaud après ce concert et sur le Heidenfest depuis le début de la tournée ?

Vreth : C'est toujours un plaisir de jouer en France, car nous aimons beaucoup le public français qui est très chaleureux et très présent lors de nos concerts, ce qui a encore été le cas ce soir. Concernant le Heidenfest, je suis un peu déçu de l'organisation mais également de la salle de concert qui ont du mal à gérer quelques situations, comme tu as pu le voir avant notre show, quand nous avons discuté, j'étais un peu stressé à cause de tout ça. Mais ça ne nous a pas empêchés de prendre plaisir à jouer devant ce très bon public.

Finntroll France : Le 20 septembre 2008, Finntroll a filmé son premier live, comment s'est passée cette expérience et pour quand est prévue la sortie du DVD ?

Vreth : Cette expérience est très enrichissante et nous sommes contents que tout se soit bien passé aussi bien pour nous que pour l'équipe technique ainsi que le public qui était particulièrement énorme pour cette occasion. J'ai hâte de voir le résultat du DVD et l'accueil de nos fans ensuite. Concernant le montage et la sortie du DVD, je n'ai pas plus de renseignement pour le moment car nous sommes très pris par la tournée du Heidenfest, mais je t'informerai par mail quand j'aurai plus d'informations.

Finntroll France : Est-ce qu'un nouvel album est prévu pour 2009 ? Et quelle en sera l'inspiration ?

Vreth : Pour le moment, je n'ai pas d'informations, vu que c'est Katla qui écrit les textes, mais je pense que c'est envisageable oui.

Finntroll France : Un nouveau show en France est-il prévu pour l'année prochaine ?

Vreth : Pour le moment les tournées et festivals ne sont pas en encore prévus pour 2009 avec notre tourneur, mais il y aura des shows je pense.

Finntroll France : Finntroll France fête sa première année d'existence. Quel est ton ressenti par rapport aux soutiens des fans français avec la création de ce site ?

Vreth : Un an, c'est super ça, félicitations les gars j'en suis ravi (en nous serrant la main avec un grand sourire). C'est un énorme plaisir de vous avoir avec nous et de nous promouvoir en France, et je vous en remercie beaucoup, tout le groupe pense de même d'ailleurs. Je suis moi même passé sur le site, c'est très bien fait mais malheureusement je ne comprends pas le français, ça serait cool d'en faire une version anglaise comme ça je pourrais venir regarder tout ce que vous faites pour nous et lire les commentaires de nos fans français.

Finntroll France : Merci beaucoup Vreth, pour cette interview et tes encouragement pour Finntroll.fr.

Vreth : Merci à vous, et on se recontacte très vite par mail pour la prochaine interview et que je te donnes quelques news concernant le DVD.

Interview with Skrymer and Vreth

Author: Simon, May 2nd 2007
From BurnYourEyes Webzine
Original link

Nach einem langem, schönen und anstrengendem Tag hüpften Gitarrist Samuli "Skrymer" Ponsimaa (S), Vokalist Mathias "Vreth" Lillmåns (V) und ich durch das Treppenhaus der Markthalle und machten uns auf den Weg zu einem der drei geräumigen Tourbusse. Offensichtlich erfreut über etwas Abwechslung und bester Dinge - wenn auch etwas ermattet - rauchten die beiden Finnen ein paar Mentholzigaretten oder tranken Weißbier, während sie mir Auskunft gaben und sich die Sonne langsam hinter den Horizont Hamburgs schob.

Vielen Dank, dass ihr euch die Zeit für das Interview genommen habt. Wie geht es euch?

S: Gut, ein wenig müde, aber das ist normal auf Tour.
V: Gut.

Wie ist das Touren? Mit dir, Mathias, habt ihr ja auch einen neuen Sänger. Ist das Touren entspannter oder noch aufregender?

V: Ich denke, die Frage sollte er dann wohl beantworten. Hehe.
S: Ja, es ist auf jeden Fall entspannter. Wir sind eher wieder bei diesem Band-Geist. Wir kommen alle super gut aus. Es gibt da keine Probleme.

Nun zu den wirklichen Fragen: Welche Themen beeinflussten euch beim Schreiben von "Ur Jordens Djup". Natur, Kunst, Politik…?

S: Musik oder Text?

Beides.

S: Natur ist wohl das zentrale Thema. Welche Inspiration noch, hm? Uns langweilten einfach die alten Stücke.
V: Ja. (lachen)
V: Das ist nicht einfach zu beantworten.
S: Es gibt hier und da Einflüsse, aber die lassen sich nur schwer aufzählen.

Von aktueller Politik oder Ähnlichem lasst ihr euch nicht beeinflussen?

V: Nein, wir halten uns von der Politik fern.

Die nächste Frage hat entfernt mit Politik zu tun. Denn besonders in Deutschland gibt es viele rechte Strömungen und rassistischen Dreck, der mit der Szene in Verbindung gebracht wird. Sorgt ihr euch da nicht, dass Rassisten auf euren Konzerten herumspazieren? Denn immerhin habt ihr ja "You Suffer" von NAPALM DEATH einst gecovert und viel politisch korrekter geht es ja nun kaum. Dennoch gibt es viele Rechte und Rassisten, die FINNTROLL mögen.

S: Das ist seltsam, denn es hat ja nun nichts mit Rassismus oder Rechtsextremismus zu tun. Der Punkt ist, dass irgendjemand irgendwann diese fabelhafte Idee hatte, dass Wikinger und Nordmänner irgendetwas mit dem rechten politischem Flügel zu tun hätten.
V: Aber wenn die zu den Konzerten kommen, ist mir das egal. Ich meine, wenn die wegen der Musik kommen…
S: Wenn sie nur wegen der Musik kommen, ist das okay.
V: Aber wenn sie versuchen, irgendwelche Scheiß-Botschaften zu verbreiten, wird es zu einem Problem.
S: Aber es passiert leider sehr, sehr häufig, dass die Bands missverstanden werden in letzter Zeit. Ich weiß es auch nicht… (seufzt)
V: (lacht)

Gibt es immer noch Bands, die ihr bewundert und mit denen ihr gerne spielen würdet, bisher aber noch nicht die Gelegenheit dazu hattet?

S: Oh, gute Frage. Ich denke, da hat natürlich jeder so seine eigene Auswahl. Aber ich würde zum Beispiel gerne mit DISMEMBER spielen.
V: Ich würde generell eben gerne mit den Bands spielen, zu denen ich aufgesehen habe, seit man klein war. DISMEMBER sind ein gutes Beispiel, ansonsten…
S: Ältere Bands eben, denn eigentlich habe ich lange kein neues Death Metal-Album mehr gekauft. Die Musik hat da ziemlich an Energie verloren. Aber, na ja, das würde nur ein langes Gezeter darüber werden, was heutzutage falsch läuft in der Musik.

Da liegt der Brückenschlag wieder nahe zu "Enemy Of The Music Business"?

S: Ja, genau! Hm… ansonsten an Bands natürlich noch NAPALM DEATH, IMPALED NAZARENE…
V: Norwegischer Black Metal…
S: Oh ja.

Ihr habt einst gesagt, es sei sehr trollish, Schwedisch für die Texte zu verwenden. Klingt denn Finnisch nicht eher exotisch und seltsam?

V: Nein, denn das Schwedisch klingt eigentlich besser mit der Musik.
S: Viel besser als Finnisch…
V: Das R lässt sich zum Beispiel viel besser rollen, und die Worte lassen sich besser ziehen, wohin gegen Finnisch…
S: Tak! Tak! Tak! (klopft dabei mit einem Feuerzeug auf den Tisch)
V: Zudem denke ich, es gibt so viele Bands aus Finnland, die Finnisch singen, und wenn man Finnisch singt, ist man schnell abgestempelt als finnische Band und außerhalb des Landes haben es damit nur wenige weit gebracht.
S: Natürlich ist das nicht die Hauptsache – es weit zu bringen, aber es passt ja eben auch besser zur Musik.
V: Ja, es passt besser zur Musik, zu der Band, und dafür wäre Finnisch einfach zu akzentuiert.

Was seht ihr, wenn ihr einen Blick in die Zukunft werft, für euch als Band?

S: Mehr Kick-Ass-Shows.
V: Neue Musik machen…
S: Hoffentlich mehr Fans zu erreichen, für mehr Kick-Ass-Shows. Eben Leute zu erreichen. Es wäre eben ideal wenn, sagen wir, fünf Leute heute im Publikum losziehen, sich die Alben kaufen, weil wir nachher so gut spielen.

Also ist es wichtig, auch weiterhin als Liveband überzeugend zu sein und nicht durch ein Image?

S: Exakt, denn da sieht man die Band ja so, wie sie wirklich ist. Bevor die Leute eben im Geschäft sehen, wie es auszusehen hat, ist es doch besser, sie live zu überzeugen.

Und was wollt ihr noch in bezug auf FINNTROLL loswerden, was muss noch gesagt werden, oder mit welchem Vorurteil wollt ihr abrechnen?

V: Wir werden oft als eine reine Saufband abgestempelt. Nach dem Schema: "Finntroll? – Die singen über Trolle und Bier…".
S: Ja, das ist nervig, denn so ist es nicht. Von diesem Ruf würden wir uns wirklich gerne trennen. Denn es ist mehr dahinter als dieses dämliche Zuprosten und so…
V: Naja, das ja auch irgendwie, aber da ist eben mehr. Natürlich ist da manchmal ein bisschen Saufen im Spiel, aber zu viele Leute sehen das als das zentrale Thema.
S: Als einziges Thema.

Wenn es nicht darum geht, worum dreht es sich denn dann? Geht es darum, Leute zu erreichen, Leute zu verändern, die Welt zu verändern oder eben einfach ein Künstlerdasein zu führen?

S: Viele Aspekte.
V: Ja, viele Aspekte. (lacht) Folklore, Schmanismus…
S: Dann sind da natürlich noch moderne Themen, die Selbstfindung und natürlich Stücke gegen Religionen. Nicht gegen das Christentum, gegen den Islam oder gegen das Judentum im Speziellen - gegen alle. Es geht um Natur-Religionen… wobei wohl eher natürliches… Benehmen und Verhalten.

Wirklich gesprächig waren die zwei Finnen nicht und machten einen ermüdeten und matten Eindruck - auch wenn sie versicherten, vom Touren nicht genug bekommen zu können. Nach dem Interview plauderten wir noch locker zehn Minuten daher, während Samuli "Skrymer" Ponsimaa, der sich auch für die Cover der Bands verantwortlich zeichnet, auf dem Blatt, das ich ihnen zum Gestalten gereicht habe, ein eindrucksvolles Kunstwerk schuf.

Finntroll - "Samu Ruotsalainen"

Author: Smathers, posted on 07.05.2004
From Uranium Music
Original link

Uranium: You recently went on a European tour with Ensiferum. Were you friends with the band, did you know them before you went out on tour?

Samu: Yeah, we've actually toured with them in Finland a few years ago. They're old friends of ours, we have many of the same fans. It was excellent, a lot of partying and drinking.

Uranium: Was this the first full-scale European tour that you've been on?

Samu: Actually yeah, this was the first one that made it. We had to cancel like 5 or 6 before for various reasons. So this was actually the first one that happened, so it was fun.

Uranium: You guys play a lot of European festivals on a regular basis, how does the festival experience compare to touring?

Samu: Touring is obviously a lot more work and a lot harder than festivals because it's so easy to do a single, one-off show. We fly in to play the festival, have a party, and then fly back home. To be stuck in Europe for a whole three weeks and having basically a festival every night is very different. But I like them both. Touring is basically better because you get to see more places and play to more people, like playing in front of 15,000 drunk Germans. (laughs)

Uranium: Do you guys have any tour plans coming up, besides festivals?

Samu: We'll be doing another European tour in December for two and a half weeks. I'm not sure if it will be with other bands, we are still negotiating, but our agents have been talking to Obituary about it, which would be great. It should be fun.

Uranium: People here in the U.S. have known about you for a while and I'm sure there are a lot of fans here that would love to see you come over... any plans for a U.S. tour anytime?

Samu: Yeah, hopefully. (laughs) We're still waiting. It's just way too expensive to fly us in for a one-off from Finland, because there's like seven of us with the sound guys. But hopefully, one day we'll come across the Atlantic and play, hopefully.

Uranium: Yeah, I hope so man, you guys would be a big hit here. So, I've never actually seen a Finntroll show before, I'm dying to. What's a typical show like? Do people mosh, do they polka dance, or what do they do?

Samu: There are of course the classic rock fans just standing in the back, drinking and watching, then there is the mosh pit, and then pretty much the rest of the people are just dancing. But it's always a wild party. We actually prefer to play later, the later the better, because more people are drunk then, and they get more into it. (laughs) People usually go wild, it's just a big party, and I like it that way.

Uranium: Have you every played any shows or festivals where people just didn't know what was going on and didn't know how to react to your music? Or do people always get into it?

Samu: If we're playing some kind of weird festival that we shouldn't have played, like when we played at the Sweden Rock festival, where there were mostly 80's heavy metal bands like Whitesnake and Twisted Sister. It took two or three songs for people to figure it out and get into it, but once again it was just a big party. It was kind of odd, watching these old heavy metal guys with huge moustaches and Whitesnake shirts rocking out with us.

Uranium: That's awesome! For your live show, do you have any stage props or decorations or is it usually just the band playing?

Samu: It is the band playing, and we have our usual weird leather, fur, troll costumes you can see in the promo pics. But, nothing like fireworks or shit, just the band playing as many songs as possible. There are no breaks, no talking, just music; it is usually just a full hour of Finntroll music.

Uranium: Congratulations on "Nattfödd", it is an amazing album. I've been listening to you guys since I first heard "Jaktens Tid", but I think you guys outdid yourselves with this one. It's quite a different album than "Visor Om Slutet", which was a lot more folk-ish and epic. What prompted the return to the faster, heavier, more "metal" approach?

Samu: Actually, the "Visor Om Slutet" thing was not supposed to be an album at all. It was supposed to be a b-side release of music we had made that could never make it onto a metal album. It was never going to be a new direction of music; it was something we always wanted to do so we did it, but our main focus has always been to perform metal albums so for that matter, "Nattfödd" is more of a continuation of "Jaktens Tid". So basically, there are 3 Finntroll albums, and one weird thing. (laughs) That's pretty much it.

Uranium: How does the song writing process work for you guys? Do you usually start with a keyboard melody of guitar riff?

Samu: It depends on who's writing, because nowadays it's our bass player and keyboard player who mainly write the songs. Sometimes our guitar player will bring in a new, cool guitar riff, but usually it's a keyboard riff or melody and all that other stuff is tacked onto that. There are a few occaisions where the guitar is the main part of the song, like the first song on the "Jaktens Tid" album was written totally on the guitar. On the new album, it was mostly the keyboard.

Uranium: How big is humpaa in Finland? Is it one of the main types of folk music over there, are there many festivals and that kind of thing?

Samu: Actually there are some humpaa bands that go around and tour 365 days a year in Finland, playing at dance halls and so forth. There's actually only one folk festival here in Finland, they don't have Humpaa there but they have other types of folk. But yeah, it's very popular I think, nobody buys a humpaa album but many people go to the shows to dance and so forth. It's very traditional.

Uranium: Has Finntroll attracted any fans of humpaa that would otherwise never listen to metal?

Samu: I don't know, never met one! Hopefully, yeah, I don't know for sure. (laughs) For some reason a lot of punk rockers like Finntroll a lot; I don't know what it is. I guess there's some punk rock in Finntroll. Definitely a lot of different kinds of Finntroll fans around, though we've definitely pissed off a lot of "true" Norwegian black metal guys, who only listen to bands like Darkthrone and shit, they don't like us. (laughs) They're too "true" to listen to Finntroll.

Uranium: Over the past few years Finland's metal scene has really started to get big, Children Of Bodom are getting big oversees and you have bands like Kalmah and Omnium Gatherum that are starting to put out some really impressive releases. Can you tell that the scene is getting bigger over there, are there more fans coming out for shows and so forth?

Samu: More bands, definitely. More fans, I don't know. The fanbase in Finland is basically the same, but there are definitely more recording bands, which is a good thing. As long as they're original, though, because in the past few years every new Finnish band coming out is either a copy of Stratovarious or Children Of Bodom or whatever. But then there are good, original bands like Omnium Gatherum, so that's good. So yeah, some good, but most of them bad, that's what I think.

Uranium: So how about nu-metal, shit like Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park? Is that big over in Finland?

Samu: I guess they're on the charts and all, but no, it's not that big. I don't know if there are any Finnish nu-metal bands, actually...

Uranium: Well, that's a good thing, those bands tend to spoil a lot of things for the metal scene.

Samu: (laughs) Yeah, I hate nu-metal. I actually bought a Korn album 5-6 years ago, and that's it for my nu-metal. And especially a big fuck-off to bands like Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park, ugh, bullshit. Burn them, kill them.

Uranium: Alright man, that's actually all the questions I had for you, thanks a lot for your time!

Samu: Good talking to you man, thanks a lot for the support. Hopefully we'll see you one day in the states.

Interview with Trollhorn

September 2002
From Rabenkind's Finntroll Fanpage
Original Link

Rabenkind (RK) : What are your (current) favorite albums ??

Trollhorn (TH) : The albums I have been listening most recently and enjoyed them very much in numerous ways are Marduk´s “Dark Endless”,Thyrfing´s “Vansinnesvisor”,Dargaard´s “In Nomine Aeternitatis” and The Nightmare Before Christmas-soundtrack by Danny Elfman. Also some Ultima Thule.

RK : What have been your "first steps" in music ?? Your first band ??

TH : My first steps in music were taken I the day I was born,as my dad was a professional musician and from the day one I had passionate interest on music. However,my parents also noticed that and so just before I had my 4th birthday they put me into classical piano lessons.My first band was formed in the mid/late 80´s with my dad and a couple of his friends and played jazz. My first real metalband was formed in 1991 with my schoolmates. It was called Battery and we played Thrash,heh.

RK : What has been the first album you ever bought ??

TH : Wow…this is a bad one! I think it was an Elvis-tape when I was something like 8 years old. For some reason I used to like Elvis then. :)

RK : What has been your first concert (as a visitor) ??

TH : The same question was asked from me a couple of days ago and I had to confess then that I have no single clue.I think it was some of my dad´s gigs somewhere in Finland when I was a baby.

RK: What do you think about the German metal-scene?? Do you know any bands from Germany??

TH : You have couple of very good bands like Falkenbach (well is it even German? I think so.), Dew-Scented,Morgoth (well,not the newer stuff…),Sodom,Kreator,Viu Drach and a couple of others. I really don´t keep my attention on the German scene as nowadays most of the “blacker” bands have very precisely ruined the reputation of your entire scene in my mouth. Bands like Mystic Circle or Nargaroth should really consider of changing their little hobbies for photographing or something in my opinion. If you don´t agree, just prove me wrong!

RK : You are using quite many "folkish" elements in your music?? Are you listening to that kind of music, too ?? Any favorite bands from that genre (folk / folk-rock)??

TH : YES WE DO!!! My faves are Garmarna,Nordman,Gjallarhorn,Annbjörg Lien, Battlefield Band, Wimme,Hedningarna,Mari Boine,JPP,Pekka Pohjola (not so traditional stuff) and many others.

RK : Are there any great "Folk-Festivals" in Finland / Scandinavia ??

TH : Actually I haven´t got a single clue about any other festivals in Scandinavia,but at least in Finland we have “Kaustisen Kansanmusiikkijuhlat” in every summer. I have never visited there as I am not into festivals in general so much,but I can warmly recommend it to everyone who likes folkmusic and it´s different forms!

RK : Some of your songs and lyrics seem to be inspired by all those ancient tales about trolls and things like that ... do you believe in the existence of such creatures ??

TH : I really don´t know….sometimes I tend to think there are some creatures of the old tales existing,lurking in the remaining big forests and mountains….but as I haven´t ever seen one how the fuck am I supposed to know any-thing? :) Maybe the industrializing forced them to flee so we haven´t seen them for a couple ofgenerations? In Finland we have very long traditions about those creatures and as our people is still very superstitious (and some kind of “still-Heathen”) I think I have to say “yes” as my final answer.

RK : On your last album with Finntroll you also recorded one traditional folk-song ("Vargtimmen") in a very cool (Black)Metal-version ... could you imagine to use some more traditional songs for your upcoming releases ?? Maybe even record a whole album with traditional folk-songs ??

TH : Actually I don´t think Finntroll is going to do more cover-songs,but there has been certain talk of an acoustic mini cd….we´ll see.

RK : Even though you're using quite many elements from that genre with Finntroll, it seemes that you don't take the whole "evil BlackMetal-thing" too serious ... how important is the image of a band in your opinion ??

TH :It depends. We are not a Black Metal-band in the “traditional” sense of a word,so naturally we don´t take it seriously,but I understand what you mean by the question. We have always had this tongue-in-cheek type of thing with Finntroll,and the music is also done in the same way. (well,of course I don´t say we´re just just farting around in the rehearsals, but we include a bit more “daring” and “out-of-place” things in our music than a normal BM-band,heheh…) The image is very important to my but it strongly depends on the artist.

Like,you really wouldn´t want to see Mayhem playing with chickens or drunken skinheads dancing polka on stage but in Finntroll it would most likely be just funny and entertaining. Like they say in television,Image is nothing - thirst is everything. (well…how the Hel had this to do anything with the question…? :)

RK :Beside your work with Finntroll, you also have your own project ("Moonsorrow") ... where would you see the similarities and differences between both bands ??

TH : We both use eg.eletric guitars,which make us sound similar to each other. Also we have drums. Well,I guess you got my point,heh. Seriously,we use folk elements (including certain instruments) with both bands but basically,this is where the similarities end. You will never find a single polka-part from Moonsorrow,no Swedish language,no cheesy Power Metal parts :) or Joik…While Finntroll is fast,Moonsorrow plays mid-tempo.While Finntroll is brutally “joyous”,Moonsorrow is melancholic. And while Finntroll has Trollhorn, Moonsorrow has Henri Urponpoika Sorvali. And because of that,people find odd parallels between these two bands. Maybe we should hear the editor´s opinion on this matter…?

RK : What are your thoughts about religion, christianity and paganism ??

TH :I really could write a book concerning this topic,but as there is only a limited space here I try to shorten things. So,here we go.I think every religion is ok as long as they don´t oppress people to act unnaturally. Which is something eg. Pestianity and Islam do. All that women-stomping bullshit and denying of people´s natural urges,be it sexual or anything else is complete waste of time. Period. For me,the Semitic God (Jahve,Allah,whatever you want to call him) reminds of a certain Austrian/German fellow who used to be pretty popular during the 1930s and early 40s. Later he ended up himself and a couple of other guys in the process,if you know of whom I am talking about ;) I oppose fascism and thus I oppose also the Semitic God and all its likes. Besides, the moral of the abovementioned is nothing I would ever even consider to adopt. Anyway,I think that Gods are supposed to be like us-they all have their good and bad sides. This is something Christianity and other monotheistic religions can never understand. We are not some inferior creatures who have to worship their master in fear,but “friends” of the Gods and Mother Nature. Mutual respect between the race of Gods and the race of men,harmony and balance are the keywords if you ask me. Slave-morality is definitely not something I am used to.Christianity has bloody roots in Scandinavian history,which is very sad and totally unacceptable,and I will never turn to an imported Jewish fascist if I need spiritual guidance. Hell Tor! Hell Oden! Hell Freija!

RK : What are the three most important things in your life ??

TH : My beloved ones,music and my health.

RK : Describe yourself in five (or less) words.

TH :Ambitious,unyielding and short-tempered,I guess.

RK : Who has been the "hero" of your childhood ??

TH : I remember thinking that Paul Stanley must be the toughest guy in the universe,heh. My school books were always full of KISS logos and pictures. Also McGyver was really cool. Yes,and He-Man. (Here we are….it seems that basically my childhood idols have more or less been fictional.I guess that tells a lot of me :)

RK : Your favorite book ??

TH : I don´t know…maybe some David Eddings (yes,I read fantasy every now and then… *blushes*) or Dean R. Koontz. Mostly history and music- related stuff.

RK : If you would get the chance to live your whole life a second time -- are there any "wrong decisions" or "bad mistakes" which you wouldn't do again ??

TH : I think I wouldn´t take so much shit from different persons.You know,in school etc. (yes,I was the “picked” guy for years) Nowadays I have the self-esteem I didn´t have when I was younger and if I could go back in time and give it to “earlier” me,I would most likely to do it. But then again…everything that has happed during my 23 years of living in this planet affects me in one way or another. So,as I am quite comfortable right now,I think I wouldn´t change anything after all.

RK : Name a person (living or dead) which you would like to meet.

TH : My father,absolutely! He died whan I was 10 years old and there is so much I wish I could have learnt from him,both as father and musician. Also Quorthon would be nice to meet…. ;)

RK : Name a musician (living or dead) with whom you would like to play in a band / project.

TH: Well,I suppose it would be fun to thrash some good old stuff with Chris Barnes or Nicke Andersson but as they are both so wasted or just completely into different musicstyles I think it would never happen even if I had the opportunity to do it someday. It would also cool to do something together with Jens Johansson,Johnny Maudling or let´s say……..Nordman,for fuck´s sake!

RK : Do you have any piece of jewellery which has some kind of "special meaning" to you ??

TH : Soon will be one more,as we are right now looking for engagement-rings with my girlfriend.
I also carry Mjöllnir as a sign of my personal faith and heritage.

RK : What is (in your opinion) the "best song" you have ever written ??

TH: Hopefully I haven´t done that one yet! But the musical achievements I consider to be the best I´ve made (until this day) have nothing to do with metal at the end. My deepest ambitions lay in classical music although metal is something I´m known of…..now. The future may change some things.

FINNTROLL - TOUGH, WITTY AND THIRSTY

Published in Rock Hard Slovenia, August 2009
Author: U. Majdič


Translation by M

Finntroll are those immortals who live in a stinky cave where they dry the legs of goats, sheep and catholic priests. They come out when they run out of beer, which they drink instead of water, and in return they give mortals a great metal party where they grab two young virgins to scratch their hairy backs with rakes after the show.

Maybe, in spite of the general opinion of Americans, this isn't quite correct. Nevertheless Finntroll have made a breakthrough in its own genre - extreme and folk metal – in the world outside of its native cocoon. Before the show they drink some wine and beer, Skrymer paints everyone with »corpsepaint« and they set loose some primordial energy.

Existing since 1997, after several shocks and line-up changes, Finntroll defies it all with its persistence and creativity. After five studio albums and one EP they are soon going to release the first record after two years. Since they always know how to surprise us, we can only wait and see what comes from their cave this time ... Until then we can have a chat with guitarist Routa, known to the human world by the name of Mikael Karlbom, who hasn't shown the slightest clue of barbaric behavior during the interview ...

Hello, Routa ... How's life in Helsinki?

R: Heya. Everything is fine here, thank you. It's becoming hellishly hot, but ... I guess we can enjoy the sun for these few months.

Hellishly hot there in the north and here we've had weeks of rain ... But if we stick with the hot part ... Finntroll hit the jackpot with its music and appearance. You've travelled all around the world; your music is selling well. The crowd sings with you even if it has no idea what you're talking about! But you've had a long period without gigs or recordings. Is there any special reason for that or just vacation?

R: Actually both. After last year all of us in Finntroll have been really exhausted. Not so much because of the touring, but because of the music business in general. We felt that we have to take a short break and consider who to work with in the future. We wanted to ˝clear the table˝ and have a fresh start. We didn't have any gigs planned in the beginning of the year so it was an ideal time for that and also to take a break.

Did it help? Are all six trolls back in shape?

R: It was probably the best decision we've made in a long time! Now we can't wait to be back on the road. We have a lot of new material, the recording is supposed to start in the end of July.

OK, we'll talk about your current activities later. Now back to basics.
In the folklore, trolls are supposed to be hideously ugly and stinky, but none of you can be described as such, even though you try to achieve that on some of the photos. Perhaps you're a specie of troll mutants?

R: I can assure you we smell very badly. While touring at least! And about trollishness: it's all a state of mind!

The Finntroll recipe includes one indispensable ingredient – alcohol! How many bottles of rum and beer do you demand for your backstage?

R: I don't have enough fingers to count that! But these aren't just our needs. We have to be ready if any of our friends show up. Riiight.

Would you accept an offer of a completely paid one month tour if one of the terms of the contract was not to drink any alcohol? Like an alcohol-free tour?

R: Beer doesn't count as alcohol, right? Neither does vodka, right? Of course!

But seriously, you've travelled a lot. Which places were the most remarkable?

R: I think the most interesting places we've been to were those that were not so ordinary. Like Iceland or Russia. And there were some interesting cities in Canada and USA. Oh, and Mexico City was insane ... But the list doesn't end here.

I remember a piece of news that once during your sound check the roof broke off. Your vibes seems to be lethal for buildings. Do you remember anything else like that?

R: Not really. Usually everything works like it should, except of course problems with bad technical equipment on the spot.

What is the greatest myth or the biggest misinterpretation of Finntroll?

R: Probably when people come to us and start asking why don't we wear fur. For some reason some people believe we live in the woods or in caves or something. Oh, and that people think we're nice.

(Laughs)... Well, that's how they imagine folk metal. You draw your influences from Norse mythology, Kalevala, paganism, from Celtic culture. Do you read literature about that or do you create your own mythology?

R: Katla, who writes all the lyrics, indeed reads a lot of literature about ancient myths and history in general, he could explain more. As for the music, you can probably hear all sorts of influences. We're not narrow-minded about our inspiration...

Do Finns share your opinion that Swedish sounds more trollish?

R: It's 50-50. Some say it sounds good, others say they like the music but they can't stand the language. I'd say it's their loss.

When you're not eating priests, do you have your day jobs?

R: Unfortunately, yes ... And it's damn hot in here.

What music do you listen to in your car or on the tour bus?

R: That differs a lot, for me at least. You never know where you might find new ideas.

About originality ... What is your opinion on your imitators? Do you insist on being recognized as the starters of this sound and mix of styles?

R: We're not the ones who could point a finger. We're just making music with our own style and everyone who's interested can probably find out by themselves which was first: the chicken, the egg, or Finntroll.

Who would have thought that Finnish humppa can be so metal! But do you ever get tired of that and want something new?

R: Have you listened to our last album?

Yes, Ur Jordens Djup is indeed different...

R: It contains only one or two parts with humppa, the rest is quite different. We always try to move on with our music and find new directions and ideas. That's why it takes so long for us to make a new album.

Traditional joiking in your music is fantastic. Whose voice is that?

R: We borrowed Mixu from Catamenia on our last tour, while the Jaktens Tid album was made in the spirit of traditional music from Lapland. That voice belongs to Jonne from Korpiklaani.

You joined Finntroll in 2003. Has anything changed in the band since then?

R: I can say the changes have been immense. Today we are more responsible towards what we do.

Your last album, Ur Jordens Djup, was released 2 years ago. What now and when, how much new material have you got ready?

R: Almost all the material for the new record is ready, but I don't know when it's coming out and with which label. I can assure you we'll let you know as soon as we gain that information. We've done two demos for the upcoming album and soon we'll get a new homepage as well. There you'll find video cuts from the sessions and a small preview to what to expect.

You're fully ready for the tour. The closest you'll get to Slovenia is Germany. But we saw you on MetalCamp last year. Do you have any (if any at all) good memories of it?

R: Many! I hope we get to play there again, excellent festival!

I sincerely hope you'll return soon to our country, until then be safe on the road and keep on the great work!

R: Thank you! See you!

Interview with Routa and Tundra

Author unknown, from April 11th 2007.
Source unknown, a video interview in Finnish, transcripted and translated by Zarok.
Published on the old Finntroll Forum.


(Interviewer marked as I, Routa R and Tundra T).

I: Ur Jordens Djup is 34th on the list. How does that sound like?

T: Should I cry again?

R: It’s good that it made it on the list.

I: Yeah, it’s on the list and you can always push forward from that, people are sure to find it there.

I: Our guests today are Tundra and Routa (Interviewer had the guys backwards). This name Ur Jordens Djup sounds really nice, it’s a good Swedish pronounciation drill. Do you have some kinda test on how often can you say the name quickly within the band?

R: Heh, I’ll leave talking Swedish to our singer Vreth.

I: Where does lyrics in Swedish come from for the band anyways? As far as I know you have a singer that debuts on this album and he speaks Swedish, but where did the Swedish lyrics originally come from?

T: It was our first vocalist who started the whole band and wanted to sing in his native language which happened to be Swedish, just because of that.

I: Well, you’ve had some singer changes in the band, so is it hard to find someone who can sing this style of music in Swedish?

R: When Wilska left the band, or our paths went our separate ways so to say, it felt like goddamnit, we’ll never find a singer to replace him.

I: Yeah, so how did the process of finding the singer go? Did you ask friends or did you do some big audition like Nightwish?

T: *chuckles* Yeah we aimed for this Idols-theme with country-wide searches but well, that didn’t exactly pan out in these circles…

I: Put guys who are good looking as hell in a line with the main criteria being how do you look, huh?

T: Exactly!

R: There were a few pretty nice demos sent to Spine, but we never really got around to listening to them there.

I: So , why did you choose Vreth? He’s Swedish-speaking obviously, but what other criterias were there?

R: Sounds good as hell. He came to our practise room after Katla, our first singer said there’s this guy in Uusikaarlepyy ( Katla’s home town if I remember right) , and so we asked him for a practise session and he sounded fucking amazing straight outta the gate so, why waste time on useless shit.

I: So, what kind of band initiation rites were there? I’m sure you pulled some pranks on the new guy, right?

R: Not really pranks, but the first gig was in germany in front of 5000+ people, so he was a bit nervous, heheh.

I: Starting off in the bathroom with a locked door yelling “I’m not coming!”, heh. So, now that Ur Jordens Djup has been released, how deep do you go lyrically? What is the album about?

T: Well, this is this sort of a shamanistic baptism-by-fire, birth story so to say. I’m not gonna go any deeper into this tho, as the lyrics are by our original vocalist Katla and they are pretty hard to figure out, so whip out your Nya Vindar and start translating!

I: Yeah, Swedish teachers should take some of your material for their classes as study material!

T: Now we’ll just wait for the money to roll in!

I: Yeah, that would be nice. Nya Vindar + atleast one song of Finntroll, they already have Hasse och Het Potatis so why not Finntroll, that would be pretty great. But so, you leave for a tour on Friday, it starts in Nottingham, England, then Europe, USA and Japan, all around the world. What do you expect from this tour?

T: Headaches.

R: Headaches and interesting moments, to put it mildly.

I: Allright. So, Ur Jordens Djup is in 34th place which is very nice, and you Tundra made… Sorry, Routa made a video for it, so what is the video about?

R: It’s this kind of a shamanistic birth story like the whole album, the lyrics are pretty much about rebirth and such.

I: National romantic themes it seems, that’s always nice when a girl is dragged through the woods, so here’s the video Nedgång!

*VIDEO*

I: So, that was Finntroll with Nedgång. Where was the video filmed at ?

R: The outdoor images were filmed at Musta vuori (Svartberg, black mountain, heh), which is near Vuosaari, and the rest were filmed in a studio.

I: Yeah, nice looking and a very on-topic video. Now that you’ve made Finntroll music for 10 years and you’ve obviously had a lot of great moments and some set backs too, singer changes and so on, what would you say is Finntroll’s main goal for the upcoming year?

R: That’s a tough one. Surviving and staying sane?

I: Spreading the message of Finntroll around the world?

R: Yeah, something like that.

I: So boys, now you have a national historic crossbow aimed at you and it’s revolver-question time! That means tough questions and answer as quickly and spontaneously as you can.

I: What inspires Finntroll?

T: Cow turds.

R: Madness.

I: What would you rescue from a burning church….err, home?

T: Spoons.

R: The cat.

I: Who would you want to go to the sauna with?

T: Samantha Foxx

I: No explanation needed, huh…

R: Goddamn… That’s a tough one… Shakira.

I: Finntroll gets a new member. What would you call him? You can’t use any of the old names.

T: Ronald Reagan!

R: (couldn’t really hear what he said) Tittelituura (or something like that).

I: Fill in the blank. The most important thing in Viking black metal is….

T: Wolf!

R: And the “tättärätää”

I: What other band would you want to go to the sauna with?

T: What are there… *silence*…

I: Ok, moving on. What is the most memorable place you have performed at?

T: I was going to say Tokyo, but we haven’t been there yet.

R: Almost Tokyo.

T: Moscow.

I: If you were comic book super heroes, who would you be and why?

T: Spider-man, because he can shoot web out of his ass.

R: Fantom, cause he has the coolest wolf.

I: Where is Finntroll in 10 years?

T: Six feet under.

R: Dead and buried.

I: Allright, thank you for coming to the show.

Interview with Routa

Author: VG, July 9th 2007
From Daily Rock
Original link

De retour à la maison après l'annulation du Earthshaker Tour pour cause de problèmes d'organisation, Routa passe son énervement sur les quelques questions qui l'attendaient dans sa boîte e-mail. Interview avec le guitariste d'un groupe destroy… Pardon, de trolls.

Qu’est-il arrivé à votre dernier chanteur ?

Des rumeurs disent qu’il a été mangé…
Ça se pourrait. Je n’ai plus de nouvelles depuis un moment…

Comment avez-vous choisi le nouveau venu ?

On a entendu sa voix puissante et on a voulu se lancer avec lui. Vreth est venu répéter avec nous et ça a tout de suite collé.

Est-ce que son arrivée a modifié votre façon d’écrire de la musique ou la musique elle-même ?

On n’a rien changé dans la façon d’écrire, mais bien sûr, sa voix a amené une nouvelle couleur à la musique. Elle amène une certaine rugosité aux morceaux et c’est exactement ce que nous recherchions.

Raconte-nous l’histoire du morceau bonus à la fin du CD. Est-ce une chanson traditionnelle finlandaise ou une chanson à boire ?

Aucun des deux. Il a été joué sous l’influence de plusieurs substances…

Qu’est-ce qui vous a donné l’idée d’intégrer du folk dans du metal ?

Chacun d’entre nous joue du metal depuis qu’on est gamins et chacun aime le folk également, donc c’est un peu dur de ne pas tomber dans ces influences.

Est-ce que les Finlandais sont aussi attachés au folk que les Irlandais par exemple ?

Pas tant que ça. La plupart des Finlandais ne remarqueraient même pas le folk même si ça leur explosait à la face.

La scène metal semble très développée en Finlande. Comment l’expliquez-vous ?

Nous savons comment faire de la bonne musique et, le plus important, nous n’avons pas peur de faire notre propre truc. Je ne peux pas vraiment te donner des raisons à ça.

Est-ce un problème pour vous de ne pas être compris en dehors de Scandinavie ? Sentez-vous la différence pendant les concerts ?

Je ne pense pas que ce soit un problème. Certains fans sont assez curieux pour prendre un dictionnaire, histoire de savoir de quoi on parle, mais même s’ils ne le font pas, je pense que la musique est un langage universel et il n’y a pas besoin de mots pour capter l’idée de la chanson.

Finntroll semble être un groupe qui fait ça pour le fun, mais finalement ça a pris une tournure assez sérieuse. Comment gérez-vous ce nouveau statut ?

Nous n’avons pas vu de différence dans notre statut. Nous sommes toujours des mecs barrés faisant des jobs de merde. La seule chose sympa est que nous faisons de plus en plus de concerts.

Peux-tu nous parler du Earthshaker Tour ?

Je ne vais pas rentrer dans la polémique. On a dû annuler quelques concerts.

Beim Summer Breeze verstehen die Leute etwas von Musik!, interview with Skrymer and Routa

Author: Mathias Schwappach, August 17th 2006
From FolkMetal.de
Original link

Manch einen Eindruck von Deutschland hätten sich die Mythen-Metaller von Finntroll wohl ganz gerne erspart: Zum Beispiel jenen einer völlig überfüllten deutschen Autobahn, weshalb die Finnen erst knapp eine Stunde vor ihrem Auftritt auf dem Summer Breeze in Dinkelsbühl ankamen. Das Interview wurde somit in die späten Abendstunden verschoben. Dann allerdings standen uns die beiden Gitarristen Skymer und Routa in einem sehr offenen Gespräch Rede und Antwort. Da die beiden ziemlich viel miteinander diskutiert haben, und auf dem Band teilweise nur noch schlecht auseinander zu halten sind, werden die Antworten hier größtenteils nicht persönlich, sondern als von „Finntroll“ wiedergegeben.

FolkMetal.de: Viele Deutsche denken ja immer noch, dass Euer Bandname irgendwas mit finnischen Wald-Gnomen zu tun hat. Was steckt tatsächlich dahinter?

Finntroll: Als schwedische Wikinger das erste Mal nach Finnland kamen, wurden sie von den finnischen Eingeborenen gleich wieder hinausgeworfen. Diese schwedischen Kapitäne schrieben in ihre Tagebücher: „Da waren seltsame Leute, ich nenne sie Finntrolle.“ Der Name wurde als kreiert von den schwedischen Seemännern. Dazu muss man noch wissen, dass Trolle in der skandinavischer Mythologie riesengroße Viecher sind.

FolkMetal.de: Woher bezieht Ihr die Inspiration für die Themen Eurer Lieder?

Finntroll: Die Hauptthemen sind die Menschheit und Religion. Unsere Songs richten sich allerdings nicht ausschließlich gegen das Christentum, sondern gegen jede Religion, die andere Menschen zwingen will zu konvertieren. Verpisst euch, wir haben unsere eigene Religion! In unseren Texten werden viele Sagen über alte Götter verarbeitet. Viele Lyrics sind aber auch schlichtweg erfunden, Geschichten über Trollkönige und solche Sachen. Das alles hat aber nichts mit Dungeons & Dragons und so 'nem Scheiß zu tun (lacht).

FolkMetal.de: Auf Eurer Website steht, dass Ihr Humppa-Metal spielt. Wie würdet ihr Humppa-Metal selbst beschreiben?

Finntroll: Die Humppa-Musik (Anmerkung des Verfassers: Polka-Rhythmus) hat denselben Rhythmus wir unsere, aber wir sind Finntroll. Wir machen das, von dem wir denken, es sei richtig. Man kann nicht in jeder Musikrichtung alles machen. Denk nur mal an den Black Metal. Da gibt es Sachen, die sind einfach unmöglich. Wir versuchen immer genau die Sachen zu machen, die man in unserer Musik nicht erwartet.

FolkMetal.de: Wenn Ihr ein Kochrezept für Eure Musik entwerfen müsstet, welche Zutaten wären da drin?

Finntroll: Jeweils zwei gute Melodie-Linien, um die es dann 'ne Menge Diskussionen gibt.

FolkMetal.de: Hat sich an Eurer Art des Komponierens seit den frühen Jahren etwas verändert?

Finntroll: Alle unserer Lieder klingen exakt nach Finntroll. Natürlich gab es mit der Zeit Änderungen. Beispielsweise hat einer die Band verlassen. In die neuen Stücke bringt jedes Band-Mitglied seinen Teil mit ein. Ich denke, inzwischen haben wir ein Line-up, das bis zum bitteren Ende so bestehen bleiben könnte. Es sind jetzt sechs feste Mitglieder dabei, die alle zum Bleiben bestimmt sind – so auch Mathias, unser neuer Sänger. Der kann nebenbei auch noch Gitarre spielen, das heißt, er bringt bei der Komposition auch mal neue Riffs mit ein. So ersetzt er nicht einfach jemanden, sondern bereichert die Band durch seinen eigenen Stil. Dabei ist er sogar noch sehr gut mit unserem früheren Sänger befreundet, und manchmal schreiben sie sogar Texte zusammen. Die meisten Lyrics des aktuellen Albums wurden maßgeblich von unserem ehemaligen Sänger Tapio Wilska geschrieben. Textlich ist es also ein „back-to-the-roots“, nur musikalisch ist es total anders. Am Anfang war unsere Idee, Black Metal zu machen, aber dabei gibt es dann eben wieder solche Sachen, die man machen darf, und andere Sachen, die nicht erlaubt sind. Und wir dachten uns: Fuck you! In der Szene ist es sowieso üblich, dass die eine Hälfte des Publikums eine Band total mag, und die andere nicht. Wir dachten uns also, machen wir das, was wir wollen: Die eine Hälfte wird uns dafür lieben, die andere wird uns hassen.

FolkMetal.de: Beim Summer Breeze scheinen mehr Fans der Liebhaber-Seite anwesend zu sein.

Finntroll: Ja, das ist bei den Deutschen ein bisschen komisch. Reden wir mal über ein paar Musikerkollegen. Die Hälfte von denen machen totalen Müll, eine Art Witz-Musik. Diese Bands haben keine eigene Identität, und klingen wie hundert andere Bands – trotzdem werden sie akzeptiert. Andere Musiker und Fans haben dagegen kapiert, was das Besondere an unserer Musik ist; und genau deswegen mögen sie uns.

FolkMetal.de: Hier beim Summer Breeze scheint es keine wirklich geteilten Meinungen zu geben. Euer Konzert fanden alle super. Gefällt euch das?

Finntroll: Na klar! Die Leute mögen einfach gute Musik, sie sind nicht so engstirnig, und nur auf eine einzige Musikrichtung festgefahren. In Finnland gibt es da immer wieder diese Nörgler-Typen, die nur dastehen, nicht mal der Musik richtig zuhören, und nacher trotzdem behaupten: „Aha, Mr. X hätte es besser gespielt.“ Das klingt jetzt vielleicht arrogant, aber eben dies Mr.-X-Leute werden niemals mit irgendeiner Band Headliner bei irgendeinem Festival sein. Bei unserer Musik geht es einfach nicht darum, jede Note perfekt zu spielen. Wir versuchen, die Leute zu unterhalten. Wenn eine Band keine gute Zeit auf der Bühne hat, sieht man das auch an ihrer Performance – und die Leute spüren das.

FolkMetal.de: Ihr seid zum vierten Mal beim Summer Breeze. Was gefällt Euch hier so gut?

Finntroll: Es gibt dieses Jahr ein paar kleine Probleme. Fast wie bei einem ganz neuen Festival, das eben noch so seine Kinderkrankheiten hat. Aber was ich wirklich schätze ist Bodo, einer der Organisatoren und die Bühnentechniker. Alles andere hat leider bisher nicht so gut funktioniert wie es sollte.

FolkMetal.de: Im nächsten Jahr feiert Finntroll sein 10 Jähriges Jubiläum. Wie feiert Ihr das?

Routa: Sind es schon 10 Jahre? Cool! Wir feiern das mit einem richtigen Scheiß-Album (lacht dreckig). Zwei Lieder davon haben wir auch heute schon gespielt. Also erst mal das Album-Release und hoffentlich kommen wir dann auch endlich mal auf Tour nach Südamerika. Viva Mexiko! Wir sind in den letzten 10 Jahren in ganz Europa herumgekommen. Vielleicht schaffen wir es jetzt sogar mal nach Japan, das wäre nett. Allerdings haben wir keine Gitarrensoli auf der Platte, das könnte ein Problem werden. (lacht)

FolkMetal.de: Was reizt Euch an Japan?

Finntroll: Wir waren zwar noch nie dort, aber wir würden da sehr gerne mal hingehen. In Europa und Skandinavien ist alles immer ziemlich gleich. Zu Beginn dieses Jahres waren wir in den Staaten, und das war eine komplett neue Erfahrung, weil es total anders war als hier in den europäischen Ländern. Trotzdem starten wir im Dezember erst mal noch eine Europatour, die brillant werden wird.

FolkMetal.de: Zum Schluss noch ein kleines Assoziationsspiel. Was fällt Euch ein zu den folgenden Begriffen: Fußball-WM...?

Skymer: Das verdammt noch mal falsche Team hat gewonnen. Ich hatte erwartet, dass Portugal gewinnt, oder Schweden. Schweden ist das einzige nordische Team, das wirklich Soccer spielen kann. In Finnland spielen wir immer nur Kickball, im Rest der Welt Football. Ich wäre wirklich, wirklich glücklich, wenn Finnland eines Tages im Finale der WM wäre - aber für dieses Mal habe ich gehofft, dass es Schweden schafft.

FolkMetal.de: Finnland?

Routa: Ich liebe alles daran: Angepisste Leute, niemand mag niemanden – aber die Natur ist echt großartig!

FolkMetal.de: Euer Lebensmotto...?

Skymer: Tod allen Scheißköpfen im ganzen Universum!

FolkMetal.de: Korpiklaani...?

Routa: Du bringst uns gerade echt in Schwierigkeiten, denn wir sind mit Korpiklaani befreundet – trotzdem mag ich ihre Musik nicht. Um ganz ehrlich zu sein: Der Sänger kam mit der Art Musik an, nachdem er bei Finntroll gesungen hatte. Tut mir leid, Jonne, aber so ist es nun mal!

FolkMetal.de: Lordi?

Routa: Bitte töte mich! Ich mag sie nicht. Ihre Musik hat man schon viele Male zuvor gehört. Aber die ist eigentlich nicht der Punkt. Sie sind einfach verdammte Arschkriecher bei jedem, der ihnen zu mehr Kohle verhelfen könnte.
Skymer: Die Musik ist vom gleichen Typ wie Kiss in den 70ern, aber sie sind einfach nicht so gut. Es gibt Bands, die machen Musik um der Musik Willen – und es gibt andere Bands, die machen es nur für die Show. Lordi gehören zu den Letzteren, sie sind eine Show-Band. Ich mag ihre Musik nicht, aber ich hab nix dagegen, dass sie erfolgreich sind. Ich wünsche ihnen das Beste.

FolkMetal.de: Deutsches Bier...? (Anmerkung des Verfassers: Beide haben eins in der Hand.)

Routa: Ich mag lieber britisches Bier. Aber deutsches Bier ist wenigstens nass, es enthält Alkohol und es ist braun.

FolkMetal.de: Deutsche Mädels...?

Skymer: Ich mag sie sehr gern, besonders süddeutsche Mädels. Die sehen wenigstens aus wie Frauen. Die haben einen schönen runden Arsch, nette Titten und ein hübsches Gesicht...
Routa (verdreht die Augen) : Das kann jetzt noch ne Weile dauern...

Wir bedanken uns bei Skymer und Routa für das offene und sehr informative Interview!

Interview with Tundra and Skrymer

Authors: Yvonne B, Renate W., from 2006 (?)
From Goth-zine.de
Original link

goth-zine: Die Sauna ist eine finnische Tradition. Was macht ihr dort?

Tundra: Das wisst ihr nicht?
Skrymer: *lacht*

goth-zine: Was macht ihr dort? Redet ihr?

Tundra: Es ist eine finnische Tradition, dass man in der Sauna nichts redet, wenn es nichts zu reden gibt.

goth-zine: Sind Traditionen wichtig für euch?

Skrymer: Ja schon, aber so richtig habe ich noch nicht darüber nachgedacht.

goth-zine: Nun zum musikalischen, Wann habt ihr angefangen Musik zu machen?

Skrymer: Ich hab mit irgendwelchen Punksongs angefangen und habe später Melodien hinzugefügt.

goth-zine: Was waren eure Einflüsse und Vorbilder.

Tundra: das ist unmöglich zu beantworten.
Skrymer: Es ist unmöglich, nein … Punkrock, alte Melodien, Death-Metal, 70er-Jahre-Zeug, 60er [Tundra: 50er] 40er [Tu lacht], Jazz und so weiter.

goth-zine: Also habt ihr keine Lieblingsband?

Skrymer: Schwer irgendeine zu nennen.

goth-zine: Was war eure letzte CD?

Skrymer: "Where Iron crosses grow" von "Dismember".

goth-zine: Und euer letztes Konzert?

Skrymer: Ich glaub, Dismember war auch das letzte Konzert … nein Pain war es.

goth-zine: Könnt ihr von der Musik leben. Oder habt ihr "Nebenjobs"

Skrymer: Arbeitslosengeld [lacht], Nein wir machen wirklich nicht viel Geld mit Finntroll. Hin und wieder bekommen wir genügen Geld für Anschaffungen wie zum Beispiel eine Mirkowelle [lacht]

goth-zine: Ihr schreibt ja auch oft in eurem Forum, wie wichtig ist euch der direkte Kontakt zu den Fans?

Tundra: Manche von uns.
Skrymer: Ja, ich poste hin und wieder, hab 5 Posts [lacht] Es erleichtert es uns mit anderen Bands in Kontakt zu kommen.

goth-zine: Also der Kontakt zu den Fans ist wichtig für euch?

Skrymer: Ja, es ist cool, nach einem Konzert zu lesen, was die Fans darüber schreiben.

goth-zine: Eure Texte handeln größtenteils von Trollen, Fabeln und Mythen - warum glaubt ihr, dass das so gut bei den Fans ankommt?

Skrymer: Es ist komisch, eigentlich verstehen nur schwedisch oder skandinavisch sprechende Leute unsere Texte zu 100 %. Ich weiß es nicht, wie auch immer, es geht auch darum Christen zu killen [lacht]
Tundra: Es ist wirklich komisch, zum Beispiel gestern Abend in der Slowakei hat die erste Reihe alle Texte mit gesungen …. Ich frage mich ob sie alles verstanden haben [Beide lachen]
Skrymer: Sie singen mit uns gegen Christen und wissen eigentlich nicht, was sie singen.

goth-zine: Ist es euch wichtig anti-christliche Einstellungen rüber zu bringen?

Skrymer: Nein, nicht wirklich anti-christlich, eher anti-religiös, also nicht "Satan ist mein was auch immer", es geht mehr um alte finnische Wurzeln.

goth-zine: Wie lässt euch eure Einstellung mit eurem Leben vereinbaren, z.B. zu Weihnachten?

Skrymer: Ich mag es nicht wirklich irgendwelchen Göttern zu huldigen. Weihnachten läuft immer gleich ab. Ich geh zu meinen Großeltern und wünsche ihnen ein frohes Weihnachten [lacht]

goth-zine: Seht ihre eure Musik eher als Party-tauglich oder eher melancholisch?

Skrymer: Ich glaube es gibt beide Arten von Songs. Wir haben grauenhaft lustige Melodien und dann auch wieder epische Doom-Songs.

goth-zine: Also ihr mögt Doom-Metal.

Skrymer: Ja sehr.

goth-zine: Auch Stonerock?

Skrymer: Ja auch ziemlich, aber ich glaube, dass trifft nur auf mich zu und nicht auf die ganze Band. Vor allem Kyuss find ich cool.

goth-zine: Wie wichtig ist euch das Artwork euer CDs oder T-Shirts?

Skrymer: ich mache das Artwork. Es ist wichtig, seine Ideen selbst umsetzen zu können und nicht irgendeinen Typen zu haben, der das Cover für dich macht, der nicht wirklich weiß worum es geht. Es ist besser, wenn es einer von der Band machen kann.

goth-zine: Also hast du alle Covers selbst gezeichnet.

Skrymer: Ja, alle bis auf das Erste, damit habe ich nichts zu tun.

goth-zine: Nun zum Tourleben. Bevorzugt ihr Festivals oder kleine Clubs?

Skrymer: kleine Clubs. Festivals dauern immer 3 Tage, aber man spielt nur eine Stunde. Es ist eine lächerliche Zeitverschwendung für die Band.
Tundra: Touren ist einfacher.

goth-zine: Wie wichtig ist es für euch als Headliner zu spielen?

Skrymer: Das ist egal, also haben wir uns geeinigt mit 2 Bands zu spielen und wir sind eben die Letzten.

goth-zine: Euer bisher lustigstes Tourerlebnis?

Skrymer: [lacht] Schau dir den Bus an, darin leben wir seit einem Monat, es passiert immer irgendein Scheiß….

goth-zine: Mögt ihr die After-Show-Parties?

Tundra: Das wirkt nur so [lacht] Es gibt immer viel Bier und endet feucht fröhlich.

goth-zine: Ist es ein Problem für euch, so viel unterwegs zu sein?

Beide: Ja
Skrymer: Du musst dir vorstellen wir sind mit 30 Leuten für 44 Tage in diesem Bus eingesperrt. Dein persönlicher Platz ist einen halben Meter mal einen halben Meter mal zwei Meter groß.

goth-zine: Und seht ihr viel von der Stadt in der ihr seid?

Skrymer: Nein, nicht wirklich, alles was wir sehen ist das [deutet auf die kleinen Sehschlitze vom Bus]. Wenn wir ankommen machen wir einen Soundcheck und haben gerade mal 1 ½ Stunden Zeit um sich Rom anzusehen.

goth-zine: Plant ihr eine DVD heraus zu bringen?

Skrymer: Ja
Tundra: Hoffentlich nicht.
Skrymer: Vielleicht zu Weihnachten 2006

goth-zine: Und was kommt drauf?

Skrymer: Live-Material und unsere Videos.

goth-zine: Macht ihr gerne Videos?

Skrymer: Nein, es ist sch... ….. sch…. Dreck, ich hasse es. Letztes Mal [Anm. Finntroll - Trollhammaren] waren wir bei +5° halbnackt in einer Höhle.

goth-zine: Aber es hat ziemlich heiß gewirkt.

Skrymer: Ja, es wirkt so, aber das war es wirklich nicht.

goth-zine: Wann kann man mit einem neuen Album rechnen?

Skrymer: Nächstes Jahr, wir werden sehen.

goth-zine: Trollhorn will nicht mehr touren?

Skrymer: Trollhorn ist dieses Mal auch nicht mit, er mag das Touren nicht.

goth-zine: Gibt es Ersatz für ihn?

Skrymer: Ja, der Kerl da drüben [Zeigt auf einen großen Blonden]

goth-zine: Plant ihr, mit anderen Musikern zusammenzuarbeiten?

Skrymer: Es gibt ein paar Gespräche, aber wir wissen noch nichts Genaues.

goth-zine: Was haltet ihr von Musiktauschbörsen im Internet und MP3s`

Tundra: Was???
Skrymer: MP3s!!
Tundra: Oh ….
Skrymer: Ich liebe es, ich habe meine gesamte Musik aus dem Netz.
Tundra: [lacht] ich auch.

goth-zine: Wie reagiert ihr, wenn euch jemand bei einer Autogrammstunde eine gebrannte CD hin hält?

Skrymer: Dann würde ich …. Nein, es ist schon ok. Was soll man dagegen machen? Nichts. Es ist nur blöd, wenn ein Album vor der Veröffentlichung schon im Netz kursiert. Da kann man nichts dagegen machen, außer das Internet abdrehen [lacht]

goth-zine: Welche anderen Projekte habt ihr neben Finntroll?

Tundra: da muss ich mal tief durchatmen?
Skrymer: Welches?
Tundra: Wir machen so viel nebenbei.
Skrymer: Es sind einfach zu viele.

goth-zine: Wo habt ihr gestern gespielt?

Tundra: In der Slowakei in einem seltsamen, dreckigen Bunker.

goth-zine: Und, wo seht ihr Finntroll in 10 Jahren?

Tundra: In Hell [lacht]
Skrymer: nein, schwer zu sagen …. Halb-alkoholkranke, alte, dicke, finnische Männer die Humppa spielen. Nein, das ist noch lange hin.

goth-zine: Wollt ihr noch irgendetwas sagen?

Tundra: Pretty bad hangover

Interview with Tundra

Author: Unknown, published April 19th 2004
From EMP Online
Original link

Diese Band ist nicht unterzukriegen! Nachdem erst vor wenigen Jahren Sänger Katla aufgrund einer Stimmbanderkrankung (der gute Mann hatte einen Tumor, welcher seine Stimme angegriffen hatte) das Mikro an den Nagel hängen mußte, verstarb letztes Jahr Gitarrist und Gründungsmitglied Somnium unter mysteriösen Umständen in Helsinki (er ist von einer Brücke gestürzt oder runtergesprungen). Finntroll lassen sich aber nicht entmutigen und liefern mit ihrem hervorragenden neuen Album "Nattfödd" den Beweis, dass man aus Krisen und Tragödien gestärkt hervorgehen kann. Bassist Tundra wollte nicht auf die Details zum Tode von Somnium eingehen und beließ es bei der Aussage, dass "Menschen nun mal sterben und jeder früher oder später den ein oder anderen Verlust zu beklagen hätte." Mika von Impaled Nazarene hatte die Unfalltheorie für Unfug erklärt und behauptet, Somnium habe Selbstmord begangen.

"Ich habe keinerlei Interesse daran, etwas Negatives über meine Freunde zu sagen, egal ob tot oder lebendig",

antwortet der Finne patzig. Gut, dann bleibt das eben so im Raum stehen. Eine Auflösung Finntrolls stand jedenfalls nicht zur Debatte.

"Ich weiß nicht, wie die anderen darüber gedacht haben, aber für mich war das keine Frage. Finntroll haben ja nicht nur aus Somnium bestanden, und die Band und die Musik waren und sind enorm wichtig für mich. Allerdings hatte ich direkt nach dem Tod von Somnium auch andere Dinge im Kopf, als diese Frage."

Das neue Album "Nattfödd" steht ungeachtet dessen ganz in der Tradition der ersten beiden Scheiben.

"Somnium hatte nach 'Jakten´s tid' nicht mehr viel zum Songwriting beigesteuert. Unser Keyboarder Trollhorn und ich schreiben die meisten Songs und unser neuer Gitarrist Routa hat auch ein paar brillante Sachen beigetragen. ,Nattfödd' ist aber in der Tat ein klassisches Finntroll-Album!"

Was bedeutet, dass sich das Sextett seinem Stil - einer ausgewogenen Mischung aus melodischem Black Metal, Folk und Humppa - treu geblieben ist. Chef im Ring der Band ist Keyboarder Trollhorn.

"Er hat das Album auch produziert und weiß am besten, wie unser Sound auf Band festzuhalten ist. Gemastert haben wir den Longplayer übrigens in den legendären Finnvox Studios."

Einige Melodien des Albums erinnern an klassische Zirkusmusik, so zum Beispiel in "Eliytres". Sind Finntroll Zirkusfreunde?

"Natürlich mögen wir Zirkus, wer zur Hölle mag denn keinen Zirkus? Wir haben sogar ein paar Zirkustiere im Studio gehabt, ein Seehund hat die Melodien zu ,Eliytres' eingeheult, was sehr gut klingt. Außerdem haben wir eine Frau mit Bart organisiert, die ein paar Zeilen im Titelstück eingesungen hat",

meint Tundra scherzhaft. Finnische und Russische Volksmusik scheint artverwandt zu sein, ein Stück wie "Det iskalla trollblod" erinnert jedenfalls fatal an den russischen Bären.

"Die finnische Musik und auch die Mentalität sind ziemlich slawisch und die Kulturen Finnlands und Rußlands ähneln sich doch sehr. Der angesprochene Song erinnert mich aber eher an Hühnchen als an einen Bären."

Die erste Feuerprobe wird das neue Line-Up bereits ab Mitte April bestehen müssen.

"Wir gehen auf Tour mit Ensiferum und The Wake, zwei coolen Bands. Das wird bestimmt lustig."

Erfolgreich dürfte sie in jedem Fall werden, mit ihrem dritten Album ist Finntroll möglicherweise der ganz große Wurf gelungen. Man darf gespannt sein, wie es mit diesen verrückten Finnen weitergeht.

Humppa by Night, interview with Wilska

Author: Geert Van Mook, April 18th 2004.
From Archaic Magazine
Original link

Last Friday (16 april) two hours before the third show of their second European tour I did an interview with Wilska, the new vocalist of Finntroll. In a quite small backstage room with the sound of Trollhorn (keyboards) and Routa (Guitars) playing the computer-game Worm Armageddon on the background in the same room. I talked with a very relaxed and friendly Wilska about different subjects like: the new album ?Nattfödd?, the greatest recording session ever, touring, Windir and a lot more. First of all I congratulated Wilska with the new album and I told him it?s in my opinion the best in the Finntroll history so far?

Thank you, from the first moment I heard the first demos I was very exiting because of the good songs. And now we are finally getting the album out and getting back on the road, it?s a really good feeling I have right now.

Nattfödd

Through the years Finntroll build out an unique style by mixing traditional ?Humppa? and metal. ?Humppa? is a Finnish variant of Polka. What?s the main difference between the traditional ?Humppa? and Polka?

The rhythm of both styles is the same. I guess polka was mostly played in Germanic countries and the States, the main difference is the instrumentation. Traditional Polka bands use mostly other instruments as Humppa bands do. Yet the style difference isn?t that big, humppa is just the Finnish variant of Polka.

In the beginning the total sound of Finntroll was a little bit rawer with a bigger role for the black metal element. Nowadays most black metal influences are gone, yet still the Finntroll sound is quite raw and the production of Nattfödd isn?t polished at all. Which is great in my opinion, because I hate those too clean produced metal albums. Did you guys consciously choose making the total sound of the album not too clean?

Yes of course, that is mostly thanks to him (Wilska points his finger to Trollhorn, who is sitting behind a laptop on the left of us and plays the game Worms Armageddon against Routa.). First thing when we started thinking making this album was that the sound of it must not be too clean and not as ?Power-Metallish? as Jaktens Tid was. It came quite natural to make a rougher album, we had 3 weeks to record the ?Nattfödd? album. We wanted to bring in all progress we made in the last few years and make this album a bit rawer, with a fuller sound. Nowadays it?s quite easy to make a very clean sounding précised album, because of the improved studio technology. In Pro-tools for example you can edit everything, yet we just didn?t want that, so there are no triggered and/or edited drums on Nattfödd for example. We wanted this album as a band-album, not an engineer-album or something like that. Now we?re more closer as a band than ever before and we wanted to make that clear on the album.
I do like good produced albums yet I don?t like those nowadays metal albums with auto-tuned vocals and a too clean overall sound. The mastering of that kind of albums is always the same, everything nowadays sounds too much the same. We just didn?t want that.

You told me that you?d got 3 weeks of studio time. Where all songs already written before you guys went into the studio?

Yeah, they where. Trollhorn did a lot of pre-productional work before we entered the studio. And everybody in the band has got a own home-studio where we made demo versions of all songs before we entered the studio.

When I listen carefully to the album, I have the feeling most additional instruments I hear aren?t played on the real instruments yet on the keyboards, is this correct?

Yes, most of them are played in on keyboards. We did it this way because of the studio-time and recording with guest-musicians on additional instruments takes a lot of time and money. We are still a small band and we can?t effort the London Symphony Orchestra or something like that, hehehe? We are lucky we?ve got a musical genius in the band in the person of Trollhorn who can play almost every instrument on his magical keyboard, hehehe?.

Can we expect in the future something like Finntroll working together with an orchestra?

Maybe someday, or with a drunken Polka band from Poland, hehe?

After some research I found out that ?Nattfödd? means something like ?Born by Night?; do you want to say something with this title?

The title means Night-born. Actually the idea comes from the Troll-lord that healed people who go by night. There isn?t really a message behind the title.

In times Katla was the singer of Finntroll he sang his lyrics in the Swedish language, Are you also singing the lyrics in that language?

Yes, because the Swedish lyrics has always been an important part of Finntroll?s sound. There where some rumours we wouldn?t continue that way, but that rumours are like you can hear on the album totally false. There where some hints from several voices close to our record company that if you would like to change the lyrics from Swedish into, lets say English, this would be the perfect time to do it. We just told them to Fuck Off. The language has always been a big basis of this band and I just wanted to continue it that way. The way the Swedish language fixes in our music and the way it is pronounced is such a divining part of our sound.

Is Swedish also your original language?

No, it isn?t. Finland is a 2 languages country with a minority of Swedish speaking people, but almost all the Swedish speaking people in Finland can also speak perfect Finnish. I originally come from another part of the country than the other members, I come from the east of Finland, near the Russian border. All the other guys come from the Helsinki area. I studied the Swedish language on university so I can speak it quite naturally right now.

You?re just telling you are coming from another part of Finland, how did you get involved in Finntroll?

I already knew the guys of Finntroll before I started singing in it. I?d knew Dominator, Trollhorn and Somnium since mid-90?s. They where playing with Barathrum, I was the Light-guy at live gigs of Barathrum, so I know them for a long time. I?ve helped them already with some clean vocals on the first album, and when that album came out I did live-sound for Finntroll and also the Lights at gigs. So it was quite easy for me to take the step from behind the desk to the stage.

The first song on the album ?Vindfärd / Människopesten? starts very aggressive and Grim, is there a special reason for that?

We wanted to have a rougher sound on ?Nattfödd? and for me this song is the perfect beginning of the album. We wanted to have that very old school intro which flows over into this raw, black metallish beginning. It?s also a sign to those people who liked the ?power-metal?-sound of Jaktens Tid, it?s a kind of fuck you to them, eat this motherfuckers, hehehe? We wanted the album to start like: BANG, we?re back!

Are you guys control-freaks? I mean, the album is produced by Trollhorn. And Skrymer designed the beautiful cover-artwork.

Yes, in a way you can say that, we want to hold most in our own hands, that?s also one of the reasons we didn?t want any outside guests on this album, we wanted to do all by the band. Skrymer?s artwork has always been the big visual side of our music. It feels like the album is like our baby, and we want everything on it the way we want it. We don?t want someone mess into it and take control of our baby.

Katla/Somnium

Despite of the hard times Finntroll came through The music is in general very optimistic and cheerful. Yet I can imagine that you would make a very depressing album, because of all the band has gone through in the recent history.

On this album there are some parts that are deeper, but I think that?s just the music that comes out naturally. We?ve gone through rough times but they only made us stronger. The music of Finntroll should be the way it is now. Live shows are, at least for me, very special and it may be ?Verboten? in some metal-circles to dance on songs at a live gigs but that?s just the way we want our music to be. If I want to make depressive music I can start an own project, I do have a home-studio, so that isn?t the problem. But Finntroll is a mixture of partying and aggression, and not for making depressive music.

I don?t want to talk about the dead and loss of Somnium, I think the media talked enough about that, and it must be frustrating for you guys to answer again and again questions about his dead?

Yes, I mean, what Happen happened and we don?t want to talk about that anymore. I refuse to answer question about that during interviews now. A friend of us died, that?s it, I mean, just let us deal with it in our own way. There?s talked enough about it, and it is maybe not a nice thing to say but this case doesn?t concern most people.

Since almost 2 years now, Katla doesn?t sing in Finntroll anymore, how is he doing at the moment?

He moved up North in Finland for studying Art-school. I haven?t talked with him for quite a time, we lost contact a bit a few months back when he moved up there, but the last time when we saw him his speaking voice was pretty bad, he?s now on an almost two year program for trying to fix his vocal voice. Last time when we had a show in Helsinki at a festival, Katla came up stage for like 2 songs and it was great, it was totally great. One song he sang alone, the other I sang together with him, for that one song I get off stage and run to the front of the stage and I started banging it was amazing, because I started out as a big fan of Finntroll. I don?t think that in the next few years his voice is in that shape that he can come back as the singer of Finntroll. He?s doing OK, but at the moment we?re not that much in contact because he lives so far away now.

There are some differences between your vocals and style of singing and Katla?s style. Yet there are also lots of similarities between both voices I think. Do you agree with this?

Yes, we come from a very different musical background and do have different voices but from the beginning when the guys asked me to join the band I told them that when I would join the band I will do the singing my way. Yet I heard more often people saying that our voices have similarities.

Visor om Slutet

The Visor om Slutet Mini album was a quite special one, all songs where acoustic played yet without loosing the typically Finntroll sound. I think this mini album must have been big fun to make?

On that MCD Katla and I shared the vocal parts. We wrote the lyrics together and both sang half of them on the MCD. That was probably the most fun, and great recording session I?ve ever been involved in. We made that MCD in a completely different way. We didn?t went to a studio, in stead of that we went to a cabin outside of Helsinki in the middle of winter. Just barricaded us there for a week there. It was actually a cabin full of studio-equipment and liqueur. We just slept every day until afternoon, woke-up, and started making music, someone had an idea we tried it out and somebody was recording for example the percussion another guy was warming-up the sauna and a third was cooking something. And at the end of the evening everybody went to the sauna and had some drinks, than we came back and continued the recordings. It was very relaxing, and we had the most fun I ever had. And I think you can hear it back on the MCD, hehe?

Was ?Visor om Slutet? an once-only project, or can we expect in the future again an acoustic release from Finntroll?

Nobody knows? We don?t live in the future, I absolutely refuse to talk about anything in the future of this band. The future of this band is now that we get hold the line and come back alive from this tour and maybe when we?re healthy enough after the tour we can do some festival shows in the summer, that?s as long in the future as I want to talk about.

Touring

Although this is only the third show of the tour, how is the tour going so far?

From the beginning on 7 in the morning on Monday 12th of April on Helsinki Airport till now it?s been complete party and we brought 2 bands (the Wake and Ensiferum) along with us on this tour, it are their first Foreign shows ever. And we are making our best effort making this tour as un-pleasure and hellish to them as humanly possible. We?re now having a sort of game with some people on how long does it take before they start to crack-up, hehehe? It are every night total drunken never-ending parties and that?s the way I like it.

?Nattfödd? isn?t released yet, but I can imagine (and hope) you will play some songs of that album tonight, are you?

Even although it is not released over here, it came out in Finland about a week ago and this is the record release tour and so like 40/45% of the setlist now is from the new album. As we did wait for the album to get out, we just fucking dying for get out and playing the songs live. On stage we just do what we want to do, and now that?s playing the new songs, in combination with a good variation of older songs. We even play one totally made-over song of the Visor om Slutet MCD, which is actually the last song Somnium wrote for Finntroll, that version is also on the new ?Trollhammaren? MCD also.

Valfar Tribute Show

In September Finntroll is playing at the Last Windir gig ever. What?s the reason you are playing on that Valfar-tribute show?

The Windir-guys asked us. We, and especially Trollhron, have always had tremendous respect for Windir. And what happened to them (the dead of Valfar) is sort of like what happened to us. The Windir-guys asked us, and we love to do it and help them. It was also a big honour they asked us for doing that show.

Oke, that was my last question, thanks for your time.

Thank you, and enjoy the show tonight!!!