Check out the interview that Spirit of Metal did with the guitar player Sami Yli-Sirniö on September 26th when Kreator played in Los Angeles with Accept and Swallow the Sun.
You guys are currently doing a world tour to promote “Phantom Antichrist”. Is this tour also a way of celebrating the band’s 30 years?We didn’t think about celebrating the 30 years of the band when we went [on tour]. Right now it is just an US tour and it ends at the end of this month. Then, in October we have a little time off, and then we will do a European tour with Morbid Angel, Nile and Fueled by Fire. After that, we will tour England with Behemoth and then some Russian dates and probably Asia too, but they are still “on the bookings” so there are still no exact dates.
If you talk about a world tour, it is usually in blocks, not constantly on the road. There are always times in between, to stay at home too, you know?
Do you guys have any celebration scheduled for the band’s 30th Anniversary?
Well, we kind of did that for the 25th year already. There was a book coming out in German, it is called “Violent Evolution”. Unfortunately it is not translated in English yet but they are working on it. We did a 25th Anniversary tour back then. It is only 5 years since that so I didn’t really think about any kind of celebration for the 30th. No… we didn’t think about that… because I don’t really think it is necessary. I have been with the band for only 12 years anyway so, it is not a big deal for me in the first place (laughs).
You are touring with Accept and Swallow the Sun here in the US. How has this tour been when comparing to your previous North American tours?
Well, it has been great, you know? A lot of good shows! Accept wants to have a day off once a week. We’ve decided to do shows on the days that they have a day off so we just do the concert with Swallow the Sun… we thought: “Well, since we are here we might as well make use of the time that we are here.”
Yeah, it has been great. I like that Swallow the Sun is here because they are Finnish and I’m from Finland too and the singer from their band sings in my other band called Barren Earth so, there’s a link there. I actually don’t have anything to do with them getting booked here [to do the tour with Kreator].
You mentioned that you guys have some “breaks” in between tours. Do you like having these breaks or do you prefer to do constant touring?
I don’t like constant touring. I mean, it is always good to have 2 or 3 weeks in between, otherwise it would turn into a nightmare (laughs). Not because it would be difficult with the people or anything like that, but you know, different “blocks” are different. When we go to Asia, or Russia, or Australia, it is always flying and then we have hotels. It is more com
fortable than living in a bus. Living in a bus for more than a month it is kind of unbearable (laughs). You don’t want to do that.“Phantom Antichrist” was released after a 3 year wait for the fans. From all the reaction regarding this release so far, in your opinion: are the fans satisfied?
I hope they are (laughs). We always have 3 years waiting in between albums, I don’t know… because we don’t like to write on tour. Mille [Petrozza] is the main songwriter and he likes to have time completely off for rehearsing and arranging that there are no gigs there. He doesn’t like to mix things up because he likes concentrating on the new stuff. We are lucky enough to be able to do that.
This is a very “politically themed” album. Mille wrote the lyrics. Do you share the same kind of opinions about the topics mentioned in the lyrics?
Well, I mean, obviously, taking a look at the times we live in, it has a lot to do with the Arab’s spring or the Greek economy crushing and all that stuff you see in the news. It doesn’t take a political stand, that much, as more to observing the situation and of course also bringing your own opinions about that stuff.
It is such a cliché but: It leaves room for interpretation. Yeah, I think we share kind of that political “vision”… maybe slightly on the “left” (laughs), do you know what I mean? But not on everything… Mille has a talent to writing music, I like the way he did it.
Considering all the countries you have visited: are there any ones that come close to your “perfect” vision of the world?
In every country, I think there’s “good” areas and “bad” areas. You see it, especially here in the United States. Yesterday, in San Francisco, there were people sleeping on the streets. If you think about, how the United States is supposed to be the “place to live”. It’s not… it is such a fucked up country. Vancouver also… we always end up playing at the shadiest parts of towns (laughs).
I used to live in Germany, back in the 90’s, for a year and a half but I had enough (laughs). Now I live in Finland for [the past] 10 years. I don’t like everything about it… I don’t like the political situation over there, it is like things are going backwards and I don’t like, of course, the cold and the dark and the winter… I haven’t found a perfect country or city in the world yet.
Ok… next question…
Humm… I noticed you are wearing a 70000 tons of metal t-shirt…[Sami pointed out to the t-shirt I was wearing].
Oh yeah! You guys were just announced on 70000 tons of metal 2013!!
ont>I was about to tell you but I didn’t know it was announced…
So… what are you expecting for the cruise?
Well, a lot of friends went there, I saw the pictures… nice boat I suppose (laughs). Yeah, 5 days in the Caribbean, for me, because January really sucks in Finland, so, I am really looking forward to it.
So, you guys are playing there and going directly back to Europe?
The way it looks now… yeah, it is not sure yet (laughs).
You guys provided a song for the John Sinclair dark symphonies radio play soundtrack. What will be the song?
It is a song called Wolfchild. Wolfschild is a German expression for an orphan in a war, for some reason, I don’t know too much about it. And to be honest, I don’t know what the radio play is about but, obviously, when they hear it [the song], they thought it fits there. So, I am looking forward to listening to it [the radio play].
Coming back to the music now: Kreator has been playing for nearly 30 years, you have been playing with them for more than 10 years now. The band is a really successful band. Considering all this, do you consider yourself as a successful musician?
Well, I mean, I guess we can consider ourselves kind of lucky that we are even able to tour in the States, not everybody can. But, I don’t put too much thought into that, really.
I started to play the guitar when I was 13 or 14 and by accident I ended up doing it for a living. Sometimes I enjoy it more and sometimes less (laughs). But, most of the time I love it, because music is my life.
Any other hobbies you like to spend time doing?
Other music (laughs). I play the sitar, you know, the Indian instrument…. Some studio jobs with that. Traveling, diving, playing tennis… I don’t have too much time for that these days (laughs).
Talking about your history with Kreator now: if you could go back in time and live one moment all over again, which moment would that be?
(laughs)… Well, well, well… one of the biggest shows we’ve ever had by ourselves, not being a festival, it was 8000 people in Sao Paulo [Brazil]. It was two years ago. That was a special show… there were many special shows like that. But, I am always looking forward to the next one!
Any messages to the SOM readers?
Ohh… what would be fitting to the spirit of metal… Keep metal alive! Keep coming to concerts and buying albums. This is such a cliché but, you know, it is the only way to keep the scene alive and I hope people keep on doing this.
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Interview done by Deesse_de_la_nuit
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