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Interview

Deutsche VersionInterview mit Catamenia (09.03.2010)

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Logo Catamenia

HH: Hello to Finland from the very south of Germany. I guess you will not remember me, but I have done an interview with you for the magazine subkultur.de in 2006 after Location: COLD had been launched. And in 2006 you told me that the wolf is a kind of trademark of the band Catamenia the fans can recognize. So - where have the wolves gone? Calvacade is your first album without wolves on its cover... a sign for a change?

Ari: Hey, yes the wolf was our trademark until we realised that there is about ten bands which use also wolf or wolves on their covers. We wanted to make some musical changes for this album, so the time was right to put the wolf aside in the same time.

Riku: Actually I think I do remember you and the interview back then! Yeah, I agree with Ari. We were wondering that almost every album you take in your hands, there's a wolf or something similar to it. We did not feel comfortable using wolves on our covers anymore. Ari said also the main reason for this - we wanted to have major changes in our music, so the natural step was to change the cover also because when there's something familiar, people intend to have this image that there's nothing new in the music either. I would not say that we wanted to have a clean start, but we wanted to have something fresh.

HH: After I listened first to Calvacade I thought something like - o.k... welcome to a new chapter of Catamenia. Would you agree?

Ari: Yes, definitely! We have opened a new chapter in life of Catamenia. More than a decade of blastbeat, fast tremolo picking and black metal scorch we felt that everything is done with that style what we can do. There was no idea to fall into circle that keeps repeating yourself. We didn't even discuss about this, it just happened as a part of normal evolution of the band and Riku's composing.

Riku: When I started to compose the new songs fot the album, I realized that the songs were a bit different from the previous ones. So, I recorded my first song with my laptop and sent it to the guys and waited for their reaction. The impact was awesome and everyone was really happy about the new style. So I continued making the songs, but I really did not think of any changes or anything, the songs just came into my mind and I transferred them into my guitar. We needed this new spark cos during recordings of VIII we lost the passion already. We did not feel comfortable anymore. But now we're back in business, found the flame of passion and enjoying the playing again and all this happened again with a natural evolution.

HH: What would you say are the main differences between your last releases and Calvacade?

Riku: I think this new album of ours is way more mature than previous ones. You can find more melodies in music as well as in vocals too. The overall tempo has been set lower compared to our earlier releases. We succeed to grow the power and the punch in our music with that. There are parts in our songs that are so much heavier and more crushing which propably couldn't have been done with our former style. This album creates a certain mood and emotions that make listener feel the weight, melancholy and darkness in our music.

HH: What secrets lie behind the title of the cd?

Ari: The word 'Cavalcade' turned to be way darker and thoughtful than its origin and also it has several meanings on this album. When you hear word cavalcade, you see homecoming of celebrated conqueror and its troops. Now, we gave this warrior a conscience and everything he has done for victory to carry in his mind, while his victims are watching among celebrators. This same idea continues with all songs and stories on the album. Things have always two sides and we tear the nice and beautiful cover away and took painful side for everyone to see and feel. All the songs are somehow connected to each others though we do not see it completely as an concept album. There are several stories from different aspects and they have different point of views.

HH: One of the faster songs on Calvacade is called "The Path That Lies Behind Me". And this is one of the songs that seem to be a little bit in the vein of your older releases. I hope your fast and aggressive material does not belong to the past and will find its way in your upcoming works...

Riku: Sure there will be songs that are faster and are more influenced from our earlier releases, but those work much better in small doses than full fifty minutes of same blastbeat and tremolo picking over and over again. There is always our traditional sound, melodies and harmonies where you can recognize this band. We don't want to destroy our heritage and sound completely, no! We are proud of our roots and those elements shall be there as long this band is alive.

Ari: As you said about aggressive material, I think we have aggressive material also now and more aggressive than before. It is just packed in a little bit differently now. There are more dark emotions added and it will take a few listens before the whole picture opens, but when it does, it'll unveil something new for you with every listen.

HH: For the first track "Blood Trails" you recruited Ville Laihiala from Poisonblack as a guest musician. How did this collaboration come into being?

Ari: Everything goes back several years when we thought that we could use guest artist on our CD, but it had to be someone who has some real connection and meaning to our music besides that we take some guy just for the name - like so many bands unfortunately like to do nowadays. From the beginning of this idea, Ville's name came up and we tried to do his guest appearance already on VIII-The Time Unchained, but our schedules didn't match back then and everything was not going so good with our recordings. Anyway, this time he had a chance to come over. Actually it was a good that he came now, because our new style matches much better with his voice and the result is just awesome. The funny thing is that Ville really likes our music and new style so much. He had some things to do after recordings of his parts, but he wanted to stay and hang with us at the studio. All the time he asked 'Can you play that, that and that song again?' It was really fun to spend some time with him. Eventhough we live in the same city, we see each others quite rarely because both bands spend lot of time around the world. Normally we say greetings to each others with writings on the walls on the backstages, heheh.

HH: Would you say that bands like Poisonblack or Sentenced have been some kind of influence on the songwriting of Calvacade?

Riku: I have always thought Sentenced as one of my biggest influences when it comes to song writing. Even on our previous albums you can hear the influence from them. I do not intend to take any influences by force or anything, I just happen to absorb things when I hear some good stuff... does not matter is it metal, pop, jazz... as long as it pleases my ears.

Ari: Sentenced is absolutely so big thing in Finnish metal music that it is impossible to ignore it when talking about anything that has something to do with Finnish metal scene. Of course Sentenced has their influence on our music, but that is something which came through the times and has always been heard. Cavalcade is a result of normal evolution of Catamenia and there is no designed similarities to any other bands. It's funny how bands been always compared to others, but I find Cavalcade still unique Catamenia album with Catamenia sound!

HH: Do you have a favourite Song on the album?

Ari: It changes all the time. At the moment it's Silence, but tomorrow it can be any other song from album. I feel that there is no weak song on Cavalcade and this is the strongest work of Catamenia so far.

Riku: Impossible to say your favorite one from the album because as Ari said, it changes every single time you hear it. But the good thing is that I have listened to the album so many times in my car, but still it's spinning there, so it means it lasts many spins, heheh. But at the moment my favorite is the title track "Cavalcade".

HH: Are you satisfied with the whole album or is there something you say that you will do it better next time?

Ari: I had to say that I wouldn't change anything or do anything in different way. We had really rare session with this album. Everything went without any problems and we had good time to finish the album. The sound, all the songs and all the little things went into direction we all wanted and it is shown in the result of complete CD. There is plenty of energy and newfound joy in our music.

Riku: Cannot add anything into that! The whole session was perfect, songs are awesome and the passion is back in the band!

HH: You chose Megadeth's "Angry Again" and "Farewell" from Sentenced as covertracks. What do you associate with these bands or songs?

Riku: I have always wanted to do "Angry Again" cover as long as I remember hearing the song for the first time, heheh. With this line-up and with this album, I felt the time was right, so we decided to record it. We wanted to respect the original one, but also wanted to add some Catamenia on it... so we made it a bit faster and added some harmonies on the chorus and made it flow a bit more by giving it some air.

Ari: What comes to "Farewell", it's more a tribute song than it's just a cover song. It's our tribute and honor for Miika Tenkula and Sentenced!

HH: You took part in the Pagan Fest Tour last year. What impressions and what experiences could you take home after this amazing occurrence?

Ari: Actually it was Heidenfest. Anyways, it's the same corporation that arrange these Paganfests as well. It was just a perfect tour and great opportunity for us. We had a great time with all the bands, especially guys of Finntroll became good friends with us. Most of the shows were sold out and it was a blast after blast to play in huge and full venues. Wouldn't change those experiences into any amount of money! Hope that same kind of chance is peaking behind the corner somewhere for this year.

Riku: The whole experience was amazing. We had absolutely great time there and had great shows though I had some problems during whole tour. My wrists' tendinitis became really bad at that time and it was really close that we would have had to step off from the whole tour. The guys were supporting me fully and were behind me in whatever the decision would have been, so I could not do that for them, so I struggled my way thru whole tour for the sake of guys, eventhough it hurted like a hell to play every single night. But it was a damn great tour!

HH: Some very happy or bad events on this tour you will ever keep in remembrance?

Ari: There are so many happy and funny events from that tour, like when Toni and I went on stage in bug costumes when Finntroll was playing. Another one is when I realised with Riku that there are few 'man-fitted spaces' between monitors on the stage, so of course we went there, kneeled down and played 'human monitors' for Finntroll.

HH: Do you already know if you will get the opportunity to promote the new output live in Germany?

Riku: Yes, so far there is Ragnarök Festival confirmed which takes place late April. The exact date will be informed soon, so check it out from our site or at Ragnarök Festival's site.

Ari: I'm pretty sure that there will be a tour in Germany at some point during this year as well. Germany has always been a really good for Catamenia and we have really enjoyed our playing there every time. Also the people are great, so we are really looking forward to come there again as soon as possible.

HH: We're coming to the last question. Please tell a little bit of your dreams as musician. What do you want to achieve in this life?

Ari: Well, first of all we are so lucky because we have had so long career in music business. Nowadays thousands of bands come and go in one night. To be one of those who has been there for a while and seems like will stay for a while, is so great privilege that I feel happy if this keeps going on this way. I don't feel that it's necessary to break thru and hit the charts. One dream is to play in new countries and of course go back to play in places we know and see familiar faces. In few words, LOTS OF TOURING!

Riku: Well, Ari said it all. We have seen already so much and we have had already so much in this business. But I would like to go and play in as many countries and places as possible, to see our fans thruout the world and have a beer and a chat with them. For sure, there'll be a tenth album of Catamenia coming at some point, but that's way ahead in the future, so that's a great thing. I do not want to plan too much of my life, so I go with a flow and see what the future brings on.

HH: I thank you very much. The last words, any essential wisdoms to our readership - except that they shall run and buy Calvacade - belong to you?

Ari: Thank you! Here comes the hidden and most secured wisdom of the world. Check out what is said in middle part of 'Farewell' cover. See you on tour our German brothers!

Riku: Cheers and beers!

Dagger

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