change to a creative way
Hello Juhani, how are things making in these cold days over there in the north? What is the actual weather in your country? Seems that the winter have said last word over here....
Greetings. It isn't cold anymore due to a climate change. There’s snow on the ground, but don't know how long. Weather is definitely getting warmer all the time. Here’s hardly any frost and it can start raining any moment. Quite lousy weather.
How did you come to idea to found funeral doom metal band such as COLOSSEUM? Is COLOSSEUM project only or is it a regular band? Are you going to play live shows?
I wanted to try something new and take a bit different approach to music compared to Yearning. I had had material for a latest Yearning album ready for a long time and started to experiment with combining Funeral Doom, Ambient and classical music. On the first actual demo that was released on the web and sent to some labels I played all the instruments myself, but this changed pretty soon as I found a members to complement the line-up. Thus COLOSSEUM became a real band and we've played live three times this far. One gig here in Finland and two gigs in Latvia. Our debut album Chapter 1: Delirium was also recorded with a full line-up.
How did you find play mates for your band? You come from YEARNING band...where do the other members come from and how are you get along with yourselves? How can you see the future of COLOSSEUM?
I've known the guitarist Olli for a few years and have had a few beers and worked with him since the pre-production of YEARNING's "Merging into Landscapes" album. He was also the engineer for that album. Since the things seemed to be working I decided to ask him to join COLOSSEUM and he was right in. Olli has been working as a sound engineer and in various musical projects all his youth. He has got his own musical project called FATAL EMPATHY. Anne is an old friend of mine with whom I've had some musical projects in the nineties such as ACELDAMA, very bad old-school death metal where I played drums, AUTUMNAL was our Doom Metal band where I did also drums and vocals + some guitars. They were just some demo stuff for our own amusement. We never approached many labels or anything, they were just projects. We put an add to the web in search of a drummer and Sameli answered and later joined to the band. He lives about 200 kilometers from our rehearsal place, but we've succeeded with him despite of that. He’s been playing in DROWN ME BLUE in the past, they released some stuff on their own. He’s very much into Funeral Doom/Black/Dark Metal etc so that ain't so bad thing at all. We all get along very well and there hasn’t been any huge catastrophe so far. Right now we're planning to do a few more gigs and in the summer we'll start to record a second COLOSSEUM album.
What was process of „Chapter I: Delirium" album creation? How much are you satisfied with it? Does it all sound as you wanted? What are you least satisfied with?
I made the demos of all the six songs and then we rehearsed them as a band. Drums were recorded at the Haven Studio, Salo and most other instruments at D-Studio, Klaukkala. Some finishing touches were done at our own studio and Olli mixed and mastered the album by himself. Considering the low budget we had we're quite satisfied with a result. There’s some details in the sounds that might be even better and let's see that with a next album.
You are the biggest surprise of last time for me and you are expressly predestinated to make such music style. Every one song of the album is fascinating and breath taking. I feel dying, despair, bizarreness, atrocity, fear, depth and essence of darkness in your music...can you feel something similar, or you see it different as a music author?
Yes, I still get some kicks out of the album. It’s quite rare for the artist himself, 'cause you usually get bored to your own songs after hearing them so many times. At least with me this is the case. You usually have to take some distance to the material, so you can judge it better f.ex. after six months. Of course I tend to think more of the technical aspects in the music, but wouldn't like to loose the listening experience itself that can be very rewarding when you just go with the mood of music. There’s some dangers in making music, but I try to avoid being too analytical and can still succeed in that to some extent. The atmosphere and depth in music is what counts in the end. The original idea was to make massive, extremely dark and rich atmospheres through music and we've succeeded in some way, I believe while reading some reviews of the album.
Very good element of your music are keys. Wanted you to use this instrument immediately from the beginning? Contrasts of ambient passages vs. heavy dying guitar riffs sound excellently. Do you prove to imagine your music without keys?
Orchestrations and ambient sounds are very important in COLOSSEUMs case. There’s some structures in our songs that are common in classical music, but they are combined with extreme metal elements. This was clear from the very beginning. I usually search the right structures with acoustic guitar or keyboards and build the songs from the basis that there are some interesting chord structures. To play only basic guitar music wouldn't be too interesting from my point of view. Unless it would be some progressive shit that's hard to play, but no one wants to listen.
Do you still remember exactly primary thought about this COLOSSEUM project? When it happened and what were the conditions.
I was very bored to everything and didn't care much about anything. Luckily this was channeled in a creative way.
Funeral / drone / sludge doom metal is entirely popular genre among some fans today. Interesting is that most bands come straight from Finland! How do you interprets it?
Finns have got strange ways in expressing themselves. This is an enigmatic question. Maybe we drink too much Koskenkorva.
Do you like nature as source of inspiration? Which season do you prefer and why?
Nature has been very important to me as a past, but nowadays I live in a small city. Anyway, it's great to head from the bar at 4.00 to the woods and start a one person community over there. It feels good until it's time for a reality check. Nature in Finland is great and I really appreciate it. I like summer, 'cause usually you're not so down as usual and it's great to have a beer or two. Winter is a time when you cut your wrists with a cheese slicer.
Funeral doom is very special metal subgenre. It evokes unbelievably intense feelings of melancholy and doom in listeners. What is his strongest element? Which band deserves your biggest respect?
I'd choose all the elements together. Now after our album has been released I've been checking these bands out from the web and figuring out how the people compare us with others. I like bands such as ESOTERIC, UNHOLY, EVOKEN, SKEPTICISM, SHAPE OF DESPAIR, COMATOSE VIGIL etc. Everyone of these have got some great moments in their output.
Slow and monotonous tempos used in this genre are almost hypnotic. Do you think this music is more interesting for listeners in altered state of mind?
Death Cap Moonshine maybe?? You can get some kicks out of this music with substances, but how clever that is, is for everyone to find out for themselves.
Seems to me that this whole genre is still in underground. To be sure maybe the biggest bands as ESOTERIC or SKEPTICISM are unknown for many people...do you think that funeral doom metal will once get more popular or it will stay in underground?
I believe it will stay in the underground.
I have perceived that in your thank list is cultish DEAD CAN DANCE band. Interesting is how did they influenced many metal bands...what CDs are playing in your cd player most often? Do you watch also today scene?
DEAD CAN DANCE is mentioned as an influence.“ Within a Realm of a Dying Sun" is an album I can recommend. Nowadays I've been listening to Ziltoid the Omniscient by Devin Townsend, Ithyphallic by NILE, Stinking up the Night by Death Breath, Pernicious Enigma by ESOTERIC, A Caress of Void by EVOKEN, Jäähyvästi by SAATTUE, Foreign Affairs by Tom Waits, Wish you were here by PINK FLOYD and everything else. I should visit the local library more often to check out the works of experimental electronic music and contemporary modern classical music that drives you totally insane. I listen very much music, maybe too much, but there's always something to look out for if you dig deep enough.
Your lyrics are influenced mainly by creation of my fave H.P.Lovecraft. How did you get to contact with his works? What were your feelings after reading first story and which one it was?
In fact only one COLOSSEUM song is influenced by his work, but he's an interesting character definitely and I've always been into his writings since I got familiar with it. I was a teenager when I found his writings from a local library. At the time I was reading only horror literature. I don't remember which story I read first, but wouldn't be surprised if it was "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward“. I’ve read that book few times afterwards also. I’ve also bought some of his writings in English language to reach the original tone. Lovecraft's stories are captivating indeed.
Have you read Simon's Necronomicon? What is your opinion about it? Do you think that magic of this book is applicable? And what do you think of original Necronomicon from pre Lovecraft era?
I own only the original version of the book, so I haven't read Simonomicon. If someone wants to waste his time to these invocations, be free, but I don't believe in any of these issues. I believe it's fictional and that's it. The book in itself is interesting when we consider it as a part of Lovecrafts great works.
You are probably interested also in old Sumerian myths...what about northerly mythology? Do you have some relation to it? Have you read Kalevala e.g.? Interesting are some parallel points among Kalevala and old Sumerian myths...
I'm not too familiar with Sumerian myths as a whole, but have had a time in my life when I was strongly interested in mythologies. I’m of course familiar with Finnish Kalevala, Gilgamesh, Norse Edda, Sagas from Island, some Greek writings and such. There’s interesting elements in all of these. Dialing directory can be also very useful now and then.
How are you satisfied with life in Finland in general? How would you describe your mentality?
Finland is a quite good country to live in. My mentality changes from general apathy to special apathy.
That would be all from me, if I forgot something you can write. Thank you Juhani for the interview and please add your actual personal top 5.
Thanks to you. COLOSSEUMs Chapter 1: Delirium is available now from Firebox Records. Feel free to check it out.
Mortuary
Greetings. It isn't cold anymore due to a climate change. There’s snow on the ground, but don't know how long. Weather is definitely getting warmer all the time. Here’s hardly any frost and it can start raining any moment. Quite lousy weather.
How did you come to idea to found funeral doom metal band such as COLOSSEUM? Is COLOSSEUM project only or is it a regular band? Are you going to play live shows?
I wanted to try something new and take a bit different approach to music compared to Yearning. I had had material for a latest Yearning album ready for a long time and started to experiment with combining Funeral Doom, Ambient and classical music. On the first actual demo that was released on the web and sent to some labels I played all the instruments myself, but this changed pretty soon as I found a members to complement the line-up. Thus COLOSSEUM became a real band and we've played live three times this far. One gig here in Finland and two gigs in Latvia. Our debut album Chapter 1: Delirium was also recorded with a full line-up.
How did you find play mates for your band? You come from YEARNING band...where do the other members come from and how are you get along with yourselves? How can you see the future of COLOSSEUM?
I've known the guitarist Olli for a few years and have had a few beers and worked with him since the pre-production of YEARNING's "Merging into Landscapes" album. He was also the engineer for that album. Since the things seemed to be working I decided to ask him to join COLOSSEUM and he was right in. Olli has been working as a sound engineer and in various musical projects all his youth. He has got his own musical project called FATAL EMPATHY. Anne is an old friend of mine with whom I've had some musical projects in the nineties such as ACELDAMA, very bad old-school death metal where I played drums, AUTUMNAL was our Doom Metal band where I did also drums and vocals + some guitars. They were just some demo stuff for our own amusement. We never approached many labels or anything, they were just projects. We put an add to the web in search of a drummer and Sameli answered and later joined to the band. He lives about 200 kilometers from our rehearsal place, but we've succeeded with him despite of that. He’s been playing in DROWN ME BLUE in the past, they released some stuff on their own. He’s very much into Funeral Doom/Black/Dark Metal etc so that ain't so bad thing at all. We all get along very well and there hasn’t been any huge catastrophe so far. Right now we're planning to do a few more gigs and in the summer we'll start to record a second COLOSSEUM album.
What was process of „Chapter I: Delirium" album creation? How much are you satisfied with it? Does it all sound as you wanted? What are you least satisfied with?
I made the demos of all the six songs and then we rehearsed them as a band. Drums were recorded at the Haven Studio, Salo and most other instruments at D-Studio, Klaukkala. Some finishing touches were done at our own studio and Olli mixed and mastered the album by himself. Considering the low budget we had we're quite satisfied with a result. There’s some details in the sounds that might be even better and let's see that with a next album.
You are the biggest surprise of last time for me and you are expressly predestinated to make such music style. Every one song of the album is fascinating and breath taking. I feel dying, despair, bizarreness, atrocity, fear, depth and essence of darkness in your music...can you feel something similar, or you see it different as a music author?
Yes, I still get some kicks out of the album. It’s quite rare for the artist himself, 'cause you usually get bored to your own songs after hearing them so many times. At least with me this is the case. You usually have to take some distance to the material, so you can judge it better f.ex. after six months. Of course I tend to think more of the technical aspects in the music, but wouldn't like to loose the listening experience itself that can be very rewarding when you just go with the mood of music. There’s some dangers in making music, but I try to avoid being too analytical and can still succeed in that to some extent. The atmosphere and depth in music is what counts in the end. The original idea was to make massive, extremely dark and rich atmospheres through music and we've succeeded in some way, I believe while reading some reviews of the album.
Very good element of your music are keys. Wanted you to use this instrument immediately from the beginning? Contrasts of ambient passages vs. heavy dying guitar riffs sound excellently. Do you prove to imagine your music without keys?
Orchestrations and ambient sounds are very important in COLOSSEUMs case. There’s some structures in our songs that are common in classical music, but they are combined with extreme metal elements. This was clear from the very beginning. I usually search the right structures with acoustic guitar or keyboards and build the songs from the basis that there are some interesting chord structures. To play only basic guitar music wouldn't be too interesting from my point of view. Unless it would be some progressive shit that's hard to play, but no one wants to listen.
Do you still remember exactly primary thought about this COLOSSEUM project? When it happened and what were the conditions.
I was very bored to everything and didn't care much about anything. Luckily this was channeled in a creative way.
Funeral / drone / sludge doom metal is entirely popular genre among some fans today. Interesting is that most bands come straight from Finland! How do you interprets it?
Finns have got strange ways in expressing themselves. This is an enigmatic question. Maybe we drink too much Koskenkorva.
Do you like nature as source of inspiration? Which season do you prefer and why?
Nature has been very important to me as a past, but nowadays I live in a small city. Anyway, it's great to head from the bar at 4.00 to the woods and start a one person community over there. It feels good until it's time for a reality check. Nature in Finland is great and I really appreciate it. I like summer, 'cause usually you're not so down as usual and it's great to have a beer or two. Winter is a time when you cut your wrists with a cheese slicer.
Funeral doom is very special metal subgenre. It evokes unbelievably intense feelings of melancholy and doom in listeners. What is his strongest element? Which band deserves your biggest respect?
I'd choose all the elements together. Now after our album has been released I've been checking these bands out from the web and figuring out how the people compare us with others. I like bands such as ESOTERIC, UNHOLY, EVOKEN, SKEPTICISM, SHAPE OF DESPAIR, COMATOSE VIGIL etc. Everyone of these have got some great moments in their output.
Slow and monotonous tempos used in this genre are almost hypnotic. Do you think this music is more interesting for listeners in altered state of mind?
Death Cap Moonshine maybe?? You can get some kicks out of this music with substances, but how clever that is, is for everyone to find out for themselves.
Seems to me that this whole genre is still in underground. To be sure maybe the biggest bands as ESOTERIC or SKEPTICISM are unknown for many people...do you think that funeral doom metal will once get more popular or it will stay in underground?
I believe it will stay in the underground.
I have perceived that in your thank list is cultish DEAD CAN DANCE band. Interesting is how did they influenced many metal bands...what CDs are playing in your cd player most often? Do you watch also today scene?
DEAD CAN DANCE is mentioned as an influence.“ Within a Realm of a Dying Sun" is an album I can recommend. Nowadays I've been listening to Ziltoid the Omniscient by Devin Townsend, Ithyphallic by NILE, Stinking up the Night by Death Breath, Pernicious Enigma by ESOTERIC, A Caress of Void by EVOKEN, Jäähyvästi by SAATTUE, Foreign Affairs by Tom Waits, Wish you were here by PINK FLOYD and everything else. I should visit the local library more often to check out the works of experimental electronic music and contemporary modern classical music that drives you totally insane. I listen very much music, maybe too much, but there's always something to look out for if you dig deep enough.
Your lyrics are influenced mainly by creation of my fave H.P.Lovecraft. How did you get to contact with his works? What were your feelings after reading first story and which one it was?
In fact only one COLOSSEUM song is influenced by his work, but he's an interesting character definitely and I've always been into his writings since I got familiar with it. I was a teenager when I found his writings from a local library. At the time I was reading only horror literature. I don't remember which story I read first, but wouldn't be surprised if it was "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward“. I’ve read that book few times afterwards also. I’ve also bought some of his writings in English language to reach the original tone. Lovecraft's stories are captivating indeed.
Have you read Simon's Necronomicon? What is your opinion about it? Do you think that magic of this book is applicable? And what do you think of original Necronomicon from pre Lovecraft era?
I own only the original version of the book, so I haven't read Simonomicon. If someone wants to waste his time to these invocations, be free, but I don't believe in any of these issues. I believe it's fictional and that's it. The book in itself is interesting when we consider it as a part of Lovecrafts great works.
You are probably interested also in old Sumerian myths...what about northerly mythology? Do you have some relation to it? Have you read Kalevala e.g.? Interesting are some parallel points among Kalevala and old Sumerian myths...
I'm not too familiar with Sumerian myths as a whole, but have had a time in my life when I was strongly interested in mythologies. I’m of course familiar with Finnish Kalevala, Gilgamesh, Norse Edda, Sagas from Island, some Greek writings and such. There’s interesting elements in all of these. Dialing directory can be also very useful now and then.
How are you satisfied with life in Finland in general? How would you describe your mentality?
Finland is a quite good country to live in. My mentality changes from general apathy to special apathy.
That would be all from me, if I forgot something you can write. Thank you Juhani for the interview and please add your actual personal top 5.
Thanks to you. COLOSSEUMs Chapter 1: Delirium is available now from Firebox Records. Feel free to check it out.
Mortuary