Korpiklaani (en)

If you like drinking, parties and metal, you are bound to like Korpiklaani. You haven’t heard their music yet? What are you waiting for?? This is a Folk Metal band from Finland who play incredibly energizing and contagiating music. It is almost impossible not to catch yourself dancing while listening to them!
This year, the band came to North America for the third time. During this tour, SOM had a conversation with the bass guitar player Jarkko Aaltonen about the band’s plans for 2012, future albums, curiosities and much more. Check it out!

interview KorpiklaaniYou guys are touring North America for the third time now. How different is this tour from the previous ones done here?
Not that much different… actually not that different at all. We have noticed in some places a slight growth with the attendances. It’s being pretty much what we already expected.

Do you think that there has been a growth in folk metal in general here in the US?
I don’t know about that. It is clearly a really small thing in the US, still.

I was going to ask you about your “new violinst” but I saw on your Facebook today that you don’t have a violinist anymore…
No, we just have many former violin players… We are going to finish this tour without a violin player but then we will have to think about something else.

So… is it hard to find a good violin player?
It seems so… to find someone who hasn’t had any mental issues and can actually be on a tour bus and not be a pain in the ***.

So, what is the plan now? How are you going to look for someone else?
I don’t know, we are not in a hurry right now. We will finish this tour without a violin player. You will hear it tonight … it is not that bad. Then, we still have one show to do at the end of this year, in Switzerland. We will probably have a violinist for that.

And then we will do a new album and we will find someone to play on it as well. That will be in January/ February. We have this guy who played two or three shows with us, in between two former violin players. We would have gladly taken him with us and he wanted to play with us too but he is a teacher so he can’t just go on a tour like that.

But then, in the future, we are actually thinking: “If it is so difficult to have a permanent violin player why don’t we have like 3 violin players and just see which one is able to do each show and tour”… I don’t know… we will sort it out!

So you guys will be working on a new album in the beginning of the year?
Yeah, we have started it already, actually. The original schedule was to start in mid-January but then we
interview Korpiklaanidid a demo track to participate in the Eurovision contest. The demo didn’t go anywhere, not even top 40 in Finland. But, for some reason the National broadcast company wanted to record that song.

So, while we went to record that, we set up all the drums and such so we actually ended up recording the drum tracks of all the song of the new album. So, in terms of the new album we have the drums for all the songs and one song is complete.

Talking about this new album. Will anything be different?
No, no. I don’t think there will be any [changes]. The direction will be the same as the previous one.

Some reviews about your latest albums mentioned the fact that Korpiklaani has been pretty consistent throughout its discography, that the fans know what to expect when a new album comes out. Do you think this is a good thing or do you think that at some point you guys will take a slight different direction?
If you think about bands like, let’s say ACDC who has been doing the same thing for 40 years, every time they released an album (sadly rarely nowadays but anyway) the critics always complain that they never change. And then there are the people who buy their CDs and are happy to get their album that it is still the good old ACDC.

So, the only thing that we have to worry about is that we have to be honest to ourselves. If you start to do what other people say or if you start doing what you think that is what other people want you to do, then you don’t really please anyone because you want a different thing [pointing at me] than what you want [pointing to another person].

Anything planned for next year? Any festivals?
Yeah, festivals are being booked now. It seems that we are going to have a nice busy summer. Last summer was a bit slow actually, because in 2010 we did basically all major European festivals and they don’t take the same band two years in a roll. So, last year was sort of a bit “silent”. But 2012 will be different.

About “Ukon Wacka”: did it bring all the results that you guys were expecting?
I don’t know. I don’t know what I was expecting. Maybe like every new album: a little growth. F
interview Korpiklaanior some reason I felt like the album probably didn’t get the attention that it deserved because it is a f** brilliant album.

I didn’t get to read many reviews of it. I didn’t do 1/3 of the interviews that I did for the previous album [Karkelo]. To me it felt like the album fell into a complete silence, I don’t know… it’s strange. I know that there were some people leaving from the record label’s promotional department [at that time].

Our albums don’t sell that much anyways… I’m fairly sure that it [Ukon Wacka] sold just as much as the previous one [Karkelo] or maybe a bit more.

I don’t know if someone would buy our album just because they read a review of it. What I read was pretty positive but I don’t know if someone would read and say: “Humm... Korpiklaani, Ukon Wacka, sounds interesting; I’m going to buy that”.

Since all “Ukon Wacka” lyrics are in Finnish, can you explain to us what the lyrics of this album are about?
Most are basically about Finnish folklore. And then there are some a bit strange. The first song of the album was based (laughs)… it will sound strange… on this Finnish Kong-Fu movie that was based on Kalevala. Don’t ask me… (laughs).

Correct me if I’m wrong: You music tends to bring a party and happiness feeling to the person listening it. Considering this… what has been the weirdest thing that you have seen the public doing at your concerts?
I don’t know… Actually I do know. It wasn’t the audience, it was the band. It was at the last show of the previous tour in North America, in Vancouver. Usually, the audience may throw stuff on the stage but then, Jonne [Järvelä] took a couch and threw that on the audience. And then, it was like, people were having it up and I remember one girl being on the couch.

Really? Surf crowding on the couch! Do you also see people dance during your concerts?
Yeah they do that. Sometimes there is this pit…but it is not a standard “trash metal” pit… it is this strange “polka” pit.

Vodka, Tequila… what will be the next one?
No alcohol songs anymore. Yeah… I think we are done with that.
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Interview done by Deesse_de_la_nuit

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StAnger - 22 December 2011: Merci Pour cet Interview!
NagaShadow - 22 December 2011: Interview très sympa !
Ce que je reprocherais à Korpiklaani, c'est bien qu'il ne se renouvelle plus assez...
Donc qu'ils ne s'étonnent pas trop que leurs ventes ne soient pas faramineuse ! ^^
DarK_Wiccan - 03 January 2012: Vous savez quoi ? C'est dans ces moment comme ça que j'regrette de n'être pas doué en Anglais car j'aurai bien aimé lire cet interview car j'suis un méga fan de Korpiklaani... Et franchement, le traducteur intégré automatiquement de mon navigateur (Chrome) est NULOS ! Ce qu'il m'a "traduit" (soi-disant) n'a carrément aucun sens, pff!
Enfin bref, j'remercie quand même Deesse_de_la_nuit de nous faire partager moultes interview de nos groupes adorés :-)
A++ Les Gens
InfernalDiatribe - 04 January 2012: a gr8 band to hear frm..one of my favs..thnx man..keep up d gud wrk.. \m/
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