Hi ! First thank you answering this interview. Could we start with a little biography of your band ?

Korpiklaani was formed between doing Spirit of the forest album. We were earlier known as Shaman
but suddenly it came another band who named their band also as Shaman.
It was band of ex. Angra members so that band wasn`t very tiny even from their very begining.
So we had to change our name even that we were much older band.

I can say that everything started when I moved from south of Finland to north of the country at the beginning of nineteens.
Year was 93.
Up north in Lapland lives Sámi people who have their own language.
Sami people is origins of Finland but they had a same situation as indians in America.
White people came, burn their villages and kick them up to the north.
Anyway I got familiar with those people and suddenly I lived with them in very deep in the forest and of course we started to play music.
Soon after that it excaped our hands and i noticed that I`m all the time in gigs making this music in acoustic way.
We made our own songs and album under name Shamaani duo.
Later after that I moved back to the south of Finland. I continued same thing but I took band around me
and Shaman was born.
Shaman was more like my own solo project and there was several different musicians during those years.
It was people from Finntroll and people from Barathrum etc.etc.
But when I got these guys who are now in the band we founded really our sound and right feeling.
Now we have a real permanent band and this band is Korpiklaani.
I will keep this band on so far that my hair is grey and the guitar falls down from my wrinkled hands

 

How would you introduce your brand new album “Voice of Wilderness” ?
Almost all the songs are made after "spirit of the forest". Excluding "Beer, Beer", that is a song from the
Shaman age. It is released earlier as "vuola lavlla on "Shamániac" album. I wanted to make it again now with
Hittavainen and all his "devices" like Estonian Bagpipe, mouth harp and violins. Also "Spirit of the forest",
as you might think of, is older material. Earlier I wasn\'t happy with the arrangements, but I kept processing
the song and after all we got a good arrangement and put it on "voice of wilderness". Even if it would have
been better on the "spirit" album. On the other hand it is nice change and traditional Korpiklaani feeling on
"Voice of the wilderness".

My way of making new songs is quite simple. I\'m just fooling around ant home, jamming some riffs and melodies
and when I got a good one I record it for further development. We had all the songs together in last spring and
then we selected Fantom Studio and Samu Oittinen for recording them. Decision was made on good recommendations
and references.

In August we started the studio work. We had one month to make a record and I can say the tempo was quite nice.
No hurry and we got enough time. After all we noticed all the recommendations of the Fantom were right and
recording the album was quite easy and fun but went quite fast.

Matson spanked and recorded couple of songs right after the drum soundcheck. He didn\'t need any demo recordings,
just "close your eyes and get the right feeling".

Rest of the songs were recorded as a band, traditional way.
Hittavainen made some violin tracks at home and sent them to studio. Result was better I dared to hope. Even my
English pronouncing was worse than ever.

This pronouncing thing is quite funny by the way. People here in Finland are always nagging at me how bad I am.
This is after all a Finnish problem. Nobody had said anything in native English countries. They even think,
like my American friend said, that my rough English is a big, positive and important part of the Korpiklaani
sound. Then I thought "hell with it", let it be rural and Finnish. That much I want to think of it that we
ripped all the biggest mistakes away that people can hear what I\'m singing about.

In a matter of fact I would prefer to sing in Finnish, but 99,9% of my Finnish writing are in the trash can
after my desk. That\'s because in Finnish you can see all the naive and stupid things more clearly. There\'s
only one song in Finnish on "Voice of wilderness". It is "Kädet siipinä". Maybe later, who knows...

The lyrics are usually the hard part for me. Composing new melodies and making riffs are usually the easy
part like the playing, gigging and singing. Hopefully the people aroung me will help me with the lyrics
in the future. I mean the other band members and may be some other guys. We have been talking about co-operation
for example with Pasi Koskinen. That might mean that korpi (forest) is much more darker place soon.

But after all I think we succeeded very well and made "Voice of wilderness" to be a much better album in any
point of view than "Spirit of the Forest".

 

In which way is it different from the previous one “Spirit of the forest” ?
We got better sounds to album. Also the songs are clearly better and somhow we found our ownest way to make
the music. Also it affectted in positive way that we played gigs after Spirit of the forest album.
When we made "Spirit" the band was new and we don`t had then so many gigs behind us so we knew each other better in musical way as in personal way as well.

 

What is the main source of inspiration for your ideas and issues for the Korpiklaani stuff ?
Main inspiration is beer.

 

What do you lyrics talk about ?
Beer drinking :) Also the Finnish nature is big point of Korpiklaani lyrics.

 

How much do you personally listen to the traditional folk music and have you studied more about ancient Finnish?
I don`t listen traditional folk music so much. I mostly listen metal but I don`t listen music so much in these days anymore. I work with the music every day so I my music listening limits to the car driving.
In the car I listen the music all the time.

I ever studied ancient Finnish or any other ancient myths or something like that. It is interesting but not that much I need to study it. Of course I have heard much of everything about that.

 

After “Spirit of the Forest”, “Voice of Wilderness” is your second album with Napalm Records, so everyhting is OK with them till now?
Everything`s went just fine forward with them little by little.
I still thinking that it was good choise to Record company o

f Korpiklaani.

 

When I heard your album, I tought to Finntroll. Do you think Korpiklaani might have something in common with Finntroll, did you get inspired by them ?
I was on their Jaktens tid album and toured with them after that and I would say that without that two years with Finntroll my music would be totally different because the music is from my life that I live. Everything affect to it. Time with Finntroll was so comprehensive in every way and we were in touch with Somnium (rest in peace) all the time and almost every day so the affect was huge. On the latest Shaman album "Shamániac" was playing two members of Finntroll so it started sound a bit similar some way already then.
B.Dominator of Finntroll played also drums at the first Korpiklaani album "Spirit of the forest"
If you listen Korpiklaani more you can see that it is not so similar with Finntroll after all.
We just have some of same roots to do it.
Almost every other folk metal bands use keyboards and synths with those folk melodies. We use only real instruments, not synths at all so Korpiklaani
is more like pure and autenthic more folk than the most of the others folk metal bands.
Our roots are deeper on the Finnish ground.

 

How do you usually start doing Korpiklaani music and songs? What are the first parts to be written and composed before going any further with the material?
I make the songs from riffes and melodies which just comes naturally.
I always make the music first and then after that the lyrics what is more difficult to me.
It`s always accident which kind of songs it comes. I can`t really make by making those. The songs just comes to me from somewhere when I play the guitar.
Of course it would affect that I like to play those fast and funny songs on the gigs more that slow ones. We can get the better feeling with the fast songs.
I make music in different moods and it sounds on the albums. I don`t want to make only one kind of songs thinking this is our line.
Of course I keep in my mind what Korpiklaani is in it`s deepest truth.
I want to keep it like we play folk songs but in hard way.

 

Are tour dates planned ? Will french metal heads have the chance to see you on stage soon ?
We don`t have even the booking agency yet but I hope that we got the somekind of tour now after the
second album. We would like to come everywhere because playing the gigs is our main reason to do this.
We have just couple of Finnish festivals and Summer-Breeze in Germany booked already so we have a lots of free space in the calendar.

 

Other project now ?
I don`t have any other projects and I have enough work to do only with Korpiklaani so I don`t mind.
Hittavainen have several little more or less traditional folk projects going on all the time.
Also our accordion player JuhoKusti have his Falchion band.

 

A philosophical question, what is for you the Spirit of Metal ?
Attitude, style and life.

 

Thank you very much for your precious time, a last word to all your french fans ?
Thank you !
It would be more than great to get a chance to come to France playing some gigs.
Please help us with it and take contact to your local promoters and make him to book us.
See you then !!!