Interview with Discard

It wasn't sure if we are going to interview Discard before we arrived at the venue. So we prepared a few questions just in case that the guys will have some minutes of time. In the end they got thrown out of their beds to do the interview with us one hour before the show should start.
We are sorry for any inconvenience and really appreciate that Mikko and Heikki have taken the time for a little chat even though they were tired as hell.

"Want to taste my nuts?"

finnbands: We don't have that many questions, 'cause we weren't sure if we have this interview today. So it's a little spontaneous and you need to talk a lot!
Mikko: Yeah, okay. We are spontaneous now actually too.
finnbands: Is this your first time here in Germany?
Heikki: Yes.
Mikko: Yes.
Heikki: This is my first time outside of Scandinavia since I was two or three or something like a pint size. So it's pretty exciting but we haven't had much time here to explore the city or anything like that. We did the soundcheck and then decided to have a little bit of a rest in the hotel room.
Mikko: Which we didn't get!
Heikki: Yeah, thanks.
finnbands: Sorry again.
Mikko: It would be nice to get to know Berlin a little bit but we don't have much time for that.
Heikki: I would like to see that huge fucking tower that you have.
finnbands: Yeah, it's near by.
Heikki: Is it?
finnbands: Yeah, a ten minutes walk.
Heikki: Is it open very long?
finnbands: I don't know. Maybe eight or nine in the evening. So if you hurry up after the interview you can go there.
Heikki: I guess I will look up and think 'Oh no. No fucking way'.
finnbands: But it's really near by, you can see it from here.
Mikko: We are not really big on walking right now. We are trying to save our energy for the gig.

finnbands: What do you expect from the German audience?
Heikki: Well I heard that they are kind of energetic. They aren't really musically illiterated. They just don't stand around 'Oh, that fucking sucks. Look at that. He played that note wrong.'
Mikko: Usually if you go to a gig in a Finnish bar we have all those people standing in the back, drinking beer, pointing out 'He played wrong now'. That sucks.
Heikki: It is really depressing, 'cause nobody should go to a gig just to closely examine the band's music. They should take a look on the whole experience.
Mikko: Interact with the band.
finnbands: But is it happing that often in Finland?
Heikki: No, not everywhere. It's kind of strange, 'cause in Helsinki, the capital city of Finland, where you have lots of Metal gigs over the year the audience tends to be most passive. They have maybe too much entertainment and become jaded about the whole thing.
Mikko: They have too many gigs there so they get bored.

finnbands: You released your first album last year and it got pretty good reviews in Finland. But I guess most people in Germany haven't heard of you so far. So how would you describe the band and the music you're playing in your own words?
Mikko: Well, it's a mix of mostly Death Metal and Thrash Metal with catchy and groovy riffs and...
Heikki: ...hooks.
Mikko: Yeah.
Heikki: I don't know. It's kind of hard to describe accurately what the album sounds like. You really just have to hear it to form a complete opinion of the musically style we are doing right now and the mixture of the different styles.
Mikko: We have weird guitar riffs and lots of thrash drumming...
Heikki: Yeah, I think we've held it terribly well.

finnbands: The singer of the band Amorphis appears on serveral tracks of your album. How did it come to this co-operation?
Heikki: It was a...
Mikko: ...an accident actually. It was just that we were thinking about the few clean vocals we have on that album. We just wanted to get the best clean vocals as possible. I'm not sure who was the one who mentioned...
Heikki: It was Markus, our record label mogul. He first came up with the idea of getting Tomi Joutsen to sing on the album. I don't know if they are close friends but at least they are acquaintances. So he got Tommi to sing on our album and instead of paying him any money he gave him a signed poster of Turbonegro. Which was nice.
Mikko: Tomi is apparently a really big fan of Turbonegro.
Heikki: He is a good singer and a good guy. He actually sung with us at a gig in our hometown Joensuu a couple of months ago, which was really cool.

finnbands: Although your first album is not older than half a year: What about a second one? Is it already in progress?
Mikko: No.
Heikki: Slowly. It's coming along really slowly. We are not that kind of band that writes a hundred songs and then decides about the ten best of luck. Usually I make songs completely ready before we even rehearse them. That leads to some problems like...not really problems, but when we started to record the album we had that hand full of songs that we know we are going to record. You know, there's no extra track or anything like that.
Mikko: We only have one extra track which we recorded. So we don't make too many tracks.
finnbands: So it will take a few years?
Mikko: I don't think that it will take a few years. We just don't make any extra songs, we only make the ones we are going to record.
Heikki: But it will be different. We are not Manowar and sing the same songs over and over again. It'll be different. It will be just as good but in a different way.

finnbands: It seems that every guy in Finland is a member in a band or at least a musician. So what were your reasons to choose music business for you and to start playing in a band?
Mikko: First it was a hobby and then ... here we are.
Heikki: At some point I realised that I was a fucking awful singer so I decided to put some more volume in it and I thought it sounded good. So when I started this growl thing I am rewinding this thing ever since and been doing it for close to seven years now. With the aid of my friend Jack Daniels and such.
Mikko: I don't think we have chosen to be a musician. It just happened.
Heikki: It's just a hobby that gets out of hand...and the next you know is that you were in Germany.
Mikko: It can go on like that.
Heikki: You guys have good beer.
finnbands: But that's not the best.
Heikki: Yeah, I know but it's pretty cheap here.

finnbands: Let's talk about the future: Where do you see the band in ten years?
Mikko: Oh don't ask that. I don't even know where I see myself in ten years.
finnbands: Some bands have special kinds of dreams...
Heikki: Completely alcoholic. I guess at least one member will be dead by then. I'm betting on myself. I don't know, yet. No, I'm not suicidal or anything but I have this feeling in the back of my head that I'm just not long in this world...but I just take a drink.
finnbands: So you don't know? You are just going to play and will see what happens?
Mikko: Yeah. Hope for the best, fear for the worst. That's a boring answer but we don't have any better one.

finnbands: If you could choose a band (or an artist) for supporting them on their tour - who would it be?
Heikki: I choose...fuck, I don't know. Well there are two bands I always wanted to see. The first one is Morbid Angel. I think we will see them in summer at Tuska festival where we are playing and the other one is Clutch, an American rock band. Probably the last real rock band who has some real balls. I mean, we're not a rock band, are we?
Mikko: No, I don't think so.
Heikki: But I would love to play with those guys. They are so incredibly cool.
finnbands: Any other wish?
Mikko: I don't really know. Well, it's probably if you wish to go touring with some band you always wanted to go with they turn out to be some kind of motherfuckers that don't give a shit about anything. I don't know. I like a lot of bands but...maybe it will be nice to play at Tuska festival this year, 'cause there is Slayer coming in. I haven't seen Slayer before.
Heikki: Some people are rather be a supporting act than the headliner. There is less preasure on you and...
Mikko: When you get to play first.
Heikki: Yeah, when you get to play first you can get drunk first.

finnbands: So, you have already talked about Tuska festival and you are going to play there this year. Are you looking forward to that?
Heikki: Yes, it'll be great.
Mikko: Definitely, yeah.
finnbands: Do you have any expectations?
Heikki: Well, I hope we attract the attention of some important people.
Mikko: And drink beer in the backstage with the guys from Slayer. That might be fun.
Heikki: I really wanna see if David Vincent from Morbid Angel is really as big as an asshole as he seems to be these days. I really would like to exchange a few words with him, 'cause he is the greatest Death Metal vocalist of all times regardless what kind of an asshole he can be at times.

finnbands: Okay, actually we're done but there's one question we have already asked Stam1na in the interview before and I'm going to ask you as well.
We have heard in the television that Metal music is evil and made by Satan. What do think about that?
Heikki: 100 % true. Well it's gotten out of had but...
Mikko: It is 100 % true that Metal music is evil and made by Satan but you know, Satan and Santa Clause are made by humans. So humans are evil.
finnbands: Yeah, what a great twist.
Mikko: We are Satan!
Heikki: These so called Satanists, they have their convictions and I'm glad that they have something they really believe in. At least some of them do. It's really good to have a goal in your life, try to achieve something even if the achievement is something like burning down churches or stupid shit like that. Cause their life doesn't really affect mine. As long as it doesn't go to the point where it starts to affect mine negatively...but until that: do what you want. It's your life.
Mikko: Do something.
Heikki: I heard that Satan is a cool dude.
Mikko: Oh, I don't know. Never met him.
Heikki: It's not all that horns and pitchfork shit and flames.
Mikko: Is he red?
Heikki: I don't know. I don't know if he fucks Saddam Hussein either.
Mikko: Oh yeah. I saw that one.
Heikki: I've read the old testament and it was kind of fun. The new one was like a fucking Disney movie or something. God is a fucking awesome guy with fire and brimstone shit.
Mikko: Fire and lightning!
Heikki: 'Hey you, don't look back! I'll turn you into a pillar of salt, you fucking bitch!' Sodom and Gomorrha, fucking insanity.
Mikko: This is Sparta!

finnbands: Now we are really done. If you want to say anything else, feel free.
Mikko: No.
Heikki: I'm sorry about us.
finnbands: You don't have to be. Thanks for the interview.

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