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Interview
Deutsche VersionInterview mit Medeia (19.10.2008)
HH: Medeia was the wife of Jason in the tragedy Medeia of Euripides. Medeia was betrayed by her husband and therefore killed a lot of people including his beloved and the two sons of Medeia and Jason. Why did you choose Medeia as the name for your band?
Samuli: There are many interpretations to her story, maybe that's one of the reasons we chose the name, it's pretty controversial. It's also somewhat of a strong name in my opinion, and at least to me, it implies to maliciousness, cruelty and power at some level.
HH: The promo sheet says Medeia is playing Alternative Death Metal which is quite a nonstandard style description. Can you please explain "Alternative Death Metal"?
Samuli: We're not even close to being purely death, but still it's the closest of all categories for us. I think it actually describes our sound pretty good, once you get used to it.
HH: Cult is your second record but the first one for your label Fullsteam Records. How is the cooperation going?
Samuli: Perfect, at least until now. They work hard and we work hard. At this point, I think they've realized that we're really going places and the interest from their side is only growing.
HH: Cult is quite an interesting record where you combine different Metal-styles mainly Death Metal, some Hardcore-influences and even some Black Metal things. Where do your influences come from?
Samuli: I think we generally listen to some older stuff, or at least have a lot of influences from bands like Carcass and such. Personally, I'm really into all sorts of metal, mostly death though. I think the thing is that we just kind of combine stuff from what we like, and there's something to like in every metal genre.
HH: Looking on the songs, the structures have sometimes a little progressive touch which makes Cult interesting for a long time. Would you agree?
Samuli: Hope so, though we really haven't aimed for the whole progressive thing at all. It could also be that the songs turn out a bit crooked because we're not that good at composing. No but really, we like to go for the awkward stuff every now and then, and still try our best to keep the songs intact.
HH: Another interesting aspect of Cult are the sometimes classical keyboard passages by Laura Dziadulewicz. How important are keyboards to your music? Will you use them on further releases?
Samuli: Sure, we'll keep them, they've become a part of our sound. The importance lies in the fact that Laura is a classical pianist, and therefore it's her best way to express herself, the same way I express myself through a lot of distortion.
HH: After your first record Quantum Holocaust World Domination your former singer Teemu Karjalainen left the band and was replaced by Keijo Niinimaa which is also frontman of Rotten Sound. Why did Teemu leave the band?
Samuli: He didn't feel like being in the band anymore, he's more of a solo artist/studio musician in my view.
HH: How did you get in contact with Keijo? What was the reason for you to work with him and what was the reason for him to join Medeia?
Samuli: Keijo tried out as a guitarist at first, but that just kind of faded away as Laura joined and we decided not to have another guitar. So we knew each other when Teemu left, and it was a pretty somehow natural to ask Keijo to join.
HH: Is Keijo a full time member of Medeia?
Samuli: Fuck yeah!!!
HH: The worst thing about Cult is the playing time of about 30 minutes. It's a little bit short in my opinion. Why isn't there more music on Cult?
Samuli: Let's put the blame on our drummer Janne and Keijo, these bastard always want to pick up the tempo in each song and this means the songs go by faster. Generally we make short songs too, maybe that'll change in the future.
HH: Beside your official website Medeia also has a MySpace-site like many other bands. Which one is more important for the band? What's the reason for this?
Samuli: The space, everything pretty much happens there.
HH: Cult was awailable as stream on MySpace some time before the release. How did that affect sales of Cult?
Samuli: I don't know, I hope it did good. It's actually more important to me that the music we make reaches a lot of people, not how many albums we sell.
HH: Nowadays really lots of people use YouTube or MySpace to spread their private videos but also bands and labels use these platforms to present their video shots. Some years ago there was no possibility to spread a video because MTV and all sorts of music television stopped showing Metal videos. Is it profitable again to shoot some videos for a record nowadays?
Samuli: Have you seen our video for Cold Embrace? The budget was like 200 euro's, so no, it's not at least expected to be very profitable.
HH: Can you tell us some words about the video of "Cold Embrace"? Who directed it? Where has it been shot? How has it been to shoot it?
Samuli: Oh, so you have seen the vid, nice! We directed it and got some help from our friends shooting it. The idea was just to be as Immortal as possible while having a fun time around our home town. We spent one sunny day drinking beer and fooling around, people were pretty shocked including us.
HH: Imagine your record Cult is an animal. Which animal would that be and why?
Samuli: What would be the gayest animal, shit, I don't think animals can be gay. Well, maybe a baboon or something. Some big fish could do as well, maybe a dolphin? And don't tell me it's not a fish!
HH: Is there any possibility to see you live over here in Germay?
Samuli: We'll come there as soon as possible!
HH: Thanks for your time and good speed! Any last words?
Samuli: Zum Wohl!