finnbands: This is your first gig in Germany on this tour.
Mikko: Yeah.
finnbands: Actually we haven't heard that much about the concerts before but we heard that there are many changes in the stage design...
Mikko: ... compared to previous tours?
finnbands: Yes.
Mikko: There is a lot. We did so many gigs on previous tour close up to 200. So I think we were kind of bored though the audience who saw us many times was kind of bored as well. Even when we ended the last tour we thought next time we are doing some shows we are going to do things fairly differently.
And then the whole process of making the album and all the ideas we got from that and the musical development which happened during the making off process was something that we really wanted to do things differently. Musically and also visually. And we have been really lucky to meet the coolest persons like Mikki Kunttu, who did stage design and light design for Eurovision Song Contest. He designed our stage and the whole system. And then we have a really superb light designer with us who runs the system, Pekko Martti. It's just phenomenal: the whole visual image we have on stage. Also musicwise: we are playing really lot of new songs.
We are doing from six to nine new songs every night. We are changing the setlist quite a bit all the time which is of course nice to us to be able to perform new songs. And we have also arranged older songs a bit to new versions and actually doing that all the time.
Yesterday we played Prologue and Somewhere Around Nothing and we rehearsed for two hours to make new arrangements out of them and they were so bad on the show - it was just hilariously horrible! It didn't work out at all *smiles* but we tried them anyway *smiles*.
And then the whole sound system. We have a very brilliant Front of House engineer at the moment. The guy has worked with Rammstein before, Michael Bauer. And he is just a superb guy. And we have a really really great team at the moment and we also perpared ourselves very well for this tour. We rehearsed a lot in our rehearsal place. The five of us like the band and Antero. And then we had like one week stage rehearsals in a warehouse in Helsinki where we built the stage and lights and PA over there and rehearsed one week in there to get everything really settled down. Yeah, it's been all good and we are at least as enthusiastic about it as the audience. And the audience has been really really great I think. What it feels like that they really get the point about what we are trying to say on our show. It's a great feetback from the audience all the times.
finnbands: Your chairs, well the chairs of the guys, are they still there?
Mikko: There are chairs *smiles* they are a bit different.
finnbands: And what happend to the old chairs?
Mikko: The old chairs are on our rehearsal room.
Because the stage setup is otherwise totally new there are new images and stuff like that. But we want to have something connecting to the previous tour. So there are chairs which are big ones and sort of reminds of that earlier times but they are renewed and it suits better for this tour.
And they are not for sale! *laughs*
finnbands: You are writing a blog on the internet.
Mikko: Every now and again, yeah.
finnbands: "The climate is hot"...
Mikko: Yeah *smiles*
finnbands: What is this about for the people that might not follow or don't understand?
Mikko: Ah, the campaign is called "Ilmasto on hot" which means "the climate is hot". It's hard to translate from Finnish. But it's a campaign together with World Wildlife Foundation and YleX, this Finnish broadcasting company, this radio station. And it's basically concentrating on the details how people can easily effect to climate change. And it's not like being hypocrisy. You don't need to eat tofu and you don't need to be totally... You don't have to be a weirdo to safe the earth. It's not like that. It's the tiny things. Like in the last blog I just worte about that Eicca for instance changed his electricity contract to this... which is now based on the wind power. So which is of course really good thing for everybody to do. And just people easily don't think such things and it's really not effecting that much. For instance if you life in a compartment building in Finland your electricity bill per year is under 300 Euros so if you change to this wind power energy it increases it maybe 20% which is like 60 Euros a year which is really really nothing. And things like that.
Because we are not really good role models. We are flying with aeroplanes all the time and we are having a show which uses power worth of a tiny city every night so this is not a good thing to do but we are telling people to get rid of everything. Just on the things you can effect some matters you should think.
finnbands: So small steps.
Mikko: Yes, small steps.
finnbands: You haven't been on tour with Apocalyptica for quite a while but of course you haven't sat at home I think.
Mikko: *smiles* Yes!
finnbands: So what did you do?
Mikko: Oh, one album we did *laughs*
finnbands: Yes *laughs* but besides the album.
Mikko: Nothing actually besides. It took in total twelve months to do. When we got back from the previous tour in mid July 2006 we had one month everybody was trying to recover and then we started to work on new songs. We started to compose and rehearse them. And composing and rehearsing continued until Christmas. We had two weeks of and then we continued rehearsing with our producer and we did that until beginning of February I think. And then I moved to that point to Stockholm already to record drums. I was there alone a couple of weeks recording drums. And then Eicca came in and started to record cellos. And then Paavo and Perttu came in and basically most of the time we were living there. But sometimes it was just Eicca who was there, sometimes all four of us where there. But mainly the whole spring was spent in Stockholm recording and finally mixing it in the beginning of summer.
And then I was doing some shows myself like with Megaphone, my other band. And I have done some production stuff, some electronic music stuff and things like that by call. But that was maybe one month only.
But already on that point we were designing album covers and we were designing the stage and all this things that you really need to take care of.
And answering mails three hours a day and stuff like that. So it was all concentrating on that one. And then we already started rehearsing late August for this tour and then we are here. So it feels like on one hand I haven't been doing anything and on the other hand I have been doing only this. *smiles*
finnbands: And how is it to be on tour again?
Mikko: It's really nice. It's really nice! As I said we have just a fantastic crew here on tour and the atmosphere is exceptionally good - on stage and off stage. And everybody is so hungry to show what we have created 'cause we are very proud of our show. It's fantastic what we think and we are proud of our new songs. We are very happy to be able to perform in front of the audience. For instance when we were in the Baltics we were so surprised because there were two sold out shows like for 4,000 and one was like 2,500 and so really lots of people and Finland was also really good. Finland hasn't been ever too good but now it's remarkably that we had a really great time there as well. And Sweden was fantastic. That Stockholm show was hysterical in the audience and really really funny. And now we are looking forward 'cause now, today is the first time we are having full production like every decoration system we can. 'Cause most of the stages we couldn't be able to put them all there. So we start to pull it with full force. We are happy!
finnbands: I think it will be great tonight and it's sold out....
Mikko: I hope! I don't wanna soil it like oversaying things but we are proud at least.
finnbands: Not too long ago the 6th Apo album "Words Collide" was released few weeks ago. Would you like to promote it here a little? That people go and buy *smiles*
Mikko: *smiles* Yeah, people should go and buy it! It's really hard to promote it like that. For me it's ... I have been talking lot with Eicca for instance and we both feel that it's by far the best album we have done like after the first album which is of course ... Like the first albums of bands are always in a way really really something. And I feel so also with Apocalyptica. And I like Cult album for instance a lot.
I think this is really something that we are able to take about 110% out of us and we were really forced to push ourselves to next stage and it's something. 'Cause it was so hard to do and demanded so much and we were so exhaused after making of it and so in the final result when it was satisfying we were so pleased of it.
And already now we are thinking some new ideas and new songs, some new arrangements and new sounds and stuff like that. It will be again something different but that's the point: we are not afraid to do the things differently.
The album has really really great reviews. Someone has of course criticized because it's different from the previous album. But that's something what we really wanna do. There is no reason to do five times same album again. Like not renewing yourself. But we are really happy. We are musically feeling very self confident at the moment and we can do what we like and the band sound is like we can fool around with it. We are not stocked with every sound needs to sound like cello. Some fans for instance have been disapointed that this doesn't sound like cello and we were 'what the fuck, it sounds like good music!' It's a good sound and it's...
finnbands: Yeah, some parts sound more like guitars...
Mikko: Yeah! But the point is, when you listen to Grace where is the guitar player along everybody can hear the difference between guitar and cello. So people think, when something is distroted, it's guitar. But when they are really next to each other then you can easily hear the difference. And if it sounds like guitar I personally don't give a shit 'cause...
For instance what have Radiohead would have thought when they made Kid A album - if they thought 'we are a guitar band'. Now there is a synth start in the album. 'Oh my good what will the people think 'cause we are a guitar band'. Or The Beatles when they made Sgt. Pepper 'we are guitar band, we can't do this orcestral thing'.
You can't limit yourself. You have to be open to experiments. Of course cellos are our thing and every sound is made with the cello it's just more experimental. On the next album it might be less or even more. Really hard to tell but it's really cool to be sort of in the mood you are able to do such things. And to have the courage to do things.
finnbands: What's your favorite song on that album?
Mikko: I think it changes like almost every time I listen to the album. Maybe at this point I'd take *thinks* Peace or Helden. At this point. Maybe I am a bit in a mellow mood so I'd prefer some like that but for a long time I loved to listen to Last Hope. Recently I haven't been listening to the album. I was listening to it quite a lot so now it's good not to listen to it. But now I think almost every song has it's day.
It becomes a little incoherent now due to by ourselves limited time running out. Sorry!
finnbands: You had your first gig with Megaphone last August again after two years break. How was this for you?
Mikko: It was so funny...
finnbands: You know, I mean the concert with the own songs and not those gigs you did coversongs....
Mikko: Yeah, we did some coversongs if I remember right. But it was so fun, too. 'Cause it's so - this one as well but especially Megaphone - it's like a bunch of guys and friends playing together and it's just hilarious and so nice to play with the guys and do something different. And like doing music on that band is so different from this one. So refreshing and so fun. I got to sing on that band so it's also fantasticly nice for me. *laughs* Not for the audience but I enjoy it.
finnbands: I think also the audience enjoyed.
Mikko: *laughs* Yeah! It was fun!
finnbands: How serious is this project? Ilari said after the gig "It's too sad that we are still playing at Semifinal and..."
Mikko: Yeah! It is!
finnbands: So is that just a fun project or ...
Mikko: Äh... I'd love to say no but ... I am sure that on some point we will find more time for it but me being all the time away and Ilari's doing all the things he's doing as well as Kristian... So at this point we can't find enough time to really develop it but I feel the band has sort of potential to be where ever. We could play with Megaphone this same place we are playing today with Apocalyptica.
So it's not just a fun project. At the moment it is because Bjarki is concentrating to finish the school.
But we will play.... We are actually planning to do some show now in the end of November so ... But you gonna be informed if we do something! *smiles*
finnbands: Ok, thank you *smiles*
finnbands: Ok, our private secrets *smiles* We watched the Kengurumeininki DVD yesterday and today.
Mikko: *smiles* Good for you! *laughs*
finnbands: Can you tell us a little bit about that band?
Mikko: Kengurumeininki is something I was playing with Ilari, who is playing in Megaphone.
I was playing with him just when I finished high school. And it was Ilari's band called Dust Company which was like this sort of funky, Prince, one way this country music with horns and everything. And in that time Ilari for some reason joined in this band performing for children and then Ilari just asked me to join in for fun because we have always loved to play with each other. And then I joined in and we had so many gigs together....
Time was run out now and Uli came to fetch Mikko but he kindly asked Uli for five minutes more and Uli allowed us to finish at least some of the questions. Thank you, Uli!
... And then we started to do gigs and we did almost 240 gigs a year, like tons of them. And it's really like the best friends going out. And I did some shows with them as well this fall and last summer *smiles* and it's so funny. The guys they are like my family in that sence. And it's so good to be with them. We are having so much good memories and the time is always laugh. Yeah, I like it a lot. Now again I can't do it for this fall 'cause I am all the time on the tour but next year for sure when ever I'll have time. And Pekka and Klaus, who are the two leading guys of the band just have been to Tavastia show and it was good to see them again!
finnbands: And what are the lyrics about? You know, we don't understand anything.
Mikko: Lyrics? *laughs and some strange sound is coming out of him* It's really surreal. So you just have to find out! It would be too easy found. It's not exactely referring to Bob Dylan's lyrics. It's kind of nonsence.
finnbands: But it's funny.
Mikko: Yes, it's funny!
finnbands: Ok, as last question: you played in The Contact...
Mikko: Which is Ilari's.... It's just a new version of this Dust Company band. And I was doing half of the drums for this... I think he is releasing himself this album I played half of the drums. Hannes played the rest of them and ... I am actually not too sure what Ilari is planing to do with the band. Those songs, most of them have been composed ten years ago and now he is just doing them in a new way.
finnbands: But the band is still alive?
Mikko: Yeah! It's sort of and I always love to play with Ilari because he is a super musical guy and just a great player and a nice guy. Actually what ever he asks me to do I always say yes. *smiles* Without a doubt.
finnbands: Ok, think we are done.
Mikko: Cool!
We continued with some not interview chatting and saved all skiped questions for an other interview maybe. Nobody knows what will come!
Very special thanks goes out to Mikko for taking time for answering questions and to Uli for giving us more time :)
apocalyptica.com
megaphoneworld.com
kengurumeininki.fi
Hamburg, 21. October 2007
Interview by Niina © finnbands.com &
Mikko Sirén Fanpage
filmed by Sonia
