The Helsinki Vampires are on the scene over 20 years and their music is a warranty for who loves gothic rock.
2016 has been an important year with the release of their last work “Universal Monsters” and 2017 is going to be a blast with their tour.
Last December we had the pleasure to have a chat with Bazie and talk about the last album, the long career and the plans for the future.
Peter Tägtgren is one of the most relevant personality in the international metal scene, 20 years of successful career as producer, founder of Hypocrisy as well as PAIN.
The last album of PAIN “Coming Home” has been released last September and now they are burning the Europe with an energetic tour. Before one of their sold out gig in Finland we had the opportunity to meet Peter and talk about the album, the video-clips and the opportunity to see them also in America.
-Hey Peter, how are you doing?
Good, just got here from Sweden so ready to go.
-Your new album “Coming Home” has been released last September, what can you tell about its genesis and lyrics? And what are the main differences compared to the previous ones?
Well, I don’t know for me is a little bit more mixed up. You know, it’s a little bit wider album, same with lyrics it’s about everything and nothing. I mean, there is a little more dynamic stuff in this album. I don’t know it was just feel natural to do it, for me is just a Pain album.
-Your son Sebastian tracked the drums, how has been work with him? Also Joakim from Sabaton made an appearance in this album and you managed to get him singing something else than war, how happened this collaboration?
With Sebastian we live in the same house, so for me it was the easiest way to do it. I wasn’t sure when I was needed a real drum and stuff like that on what I was writing, and when I was done I had to do it very quickly, to do the drums, so it was easier to take Sebastian than David also because he lives 3 hours from here.
With Joakim was easy too because I had Sabaton knocking on the door when I was doing the Pain stuff, and that’s also the reason why Joakim was singing on the album. When we’re done with their album I asked if he wants to put some vocals on “Coming Home”. It was fun to see him singing something different.
-From the album have been released 2 video-clips; “Call me” and “A wannabe”,would you mind tell us something about the making-off of both videos?
I wasn’t really involved in “Call me”, actually they did it here in Finland because our director, that’s been doing a bunch of Pain’s video-clips, had someone who can do dolls and stuff. So he had an idea for it and he started to spinning around a lot. “A Wannabe” was more easygoing, you know, against a green screen and a lot of computer visual effects and stuff like that.
-In 2017 Pain will play for the first time in America, in fact you will play at 70.000 Tons of Metal, How do you expect will be the reaction of the audiance?
This is what we was hoping and we are working on. I don’t know what to expect, I think there are a lot of people that are curious but also a lot of Europeans as well that goes on the cruise, so not only Amaricans on the audiance.
-In the last 2 decades you have been one of the most relevant figure in the international metal scene as producer, founder of Hypocrisy as well as Pain, how would you describe this music journey you have been on?
I don’t know, I mean,I’ve been just lucky to working with a lot of good bands and also doing my stuff. There is nothing that you choose, it just happens. I’ve been just lucky enough to work with all these great bands for over 20 years.
-What’s on plan for the future?
I think a lot of festival this summer, I hope, and we definitely gonna do another European tour more Eastern. We are just going to work it as long as we can and see what happen after when the summer is ending.
-What advice would you give to a young band that is going to record the first demo?
You have to do and redo it, you know, you can only get better what you do. Just keep on believing in yourself and keep on doing it because it’s going only to be better. More experience, better songwriting and so on. I mean, the production is not so important before you get sign in a label. I think the most important thing is to get the feeling that people can hear, it comes from the inside, and then in the future if you get a contract then you can get fancy, producer or whatever but first you have to capture the moment that other people can get into.
-We have done with this interview, thank you so much for your time! Would you like to say something to your fans?
Thank you for your support and I hope to come to your town and turn it upside down.
The Offering: How would you describe your new EP “Caricatures”?
Brian Glennon : “Caricatures” is a very dark EP lyrically and instrumentally and it still has the old AOMR sound while incorporating a new style for us. I really feel like we evolved on this record song writing wise, instrumentally our vocalist has definitely improved with his technique as well. We feel like we’ve created something that really has our own sound to it.
TO: How did you approach the songwriting?
BG: Every song had its own way of being put together. Normally how the songwriting will go is Chris and Brandon will sit down and work on most of the instrumental together and then once that is finished Chris will go over it and write all the lyrics and melodies and layer some keys and synths and make some transitions if needed. Brandon will go work on the drums and just make sure everything was recorded properly etc etc.
TO: Is there a particular inspiration behind the lyrics?
BG: Every song has its own inspiration. For example “Incorruptible” is based on depression while “Fooled me twice, now pay the price” was inspired from Chris’s ex girl friend who cheated on him awhile back. Every song has its own meaning and is inspired by something different.
TO: How did you approach the filming of the video for the song “Daydreams”?
BG: When it comes to the video we kind of gave Alex from Blackwolf Imaging the song and asked him what his vision was for it. He kind of guided the rest and we really couldn’t be happier with the way the music video came out.
TO: Which band/artist inspired you to become a musician?
BG: Me personally Muse was my biggest inspiration. They have been my favorite band for as long as I can remember.
TO: Do you have any touring plans?
BG: As of now were planning on hitting the Midwest in December! When it comes to 2017 we want to be able to tour as much as possible.
TO: What are your expectations for the future of the band?
BG: Well we hope to one day be touring as much as possible playing too sold out crowds. We really want to make this our career and we hope this release will put us that much closer to getting there.
Melodic death metal filled with Japanese folk elements could sounds a bit unusual, especially if the band is from Finland, but what Whispered has created is something of unique.
An epic sound characterizes Whispered’s music and wearing an hakama during the live shows gives that something more.
We had the opportunity to meet the frontman Jouni and talk about the last album “Metsutan”, the experience to play in Tokio and much more.
http://www.whisperedband.com/
https://www.facebook.com/whisperedband
A common passion for black metal has given origin to Vorna, a finnish metal band from Tampere, with its atmospheric sound the band collected a lot of consent around Europe and over.
We had the pleasure to interview with Vesa and Henri and talk about their last album, the new single just released and the projects for the future.
