Transcript of an interview I recorded with Tony Kakko of SONATA ARCTICA - 15/08/19. Full article here. MAL-
On the line Tony Kakko from SONATA ARCTICA, Tony, thanks for taking my call. TONY- My pleasure. Thanks for having me. MAL- It's good to have you back again. I spoke to you in October 2016, Right when 'The Ninth Hour' was just about to come out, just do a bit of a recap for us. How did that album go for you and what have you been doing in the meantime? TONY- Well, we have great tours with all over the world and then you know, the beginning of the tour was pretty tough. It was intense, we had a lot of shows and not enough free time. So after we've gone round the world once we decided to kind of calm it down a little bit and have breaks between tours and, and do other things also start slowly concentrating on writing the new material, obviously, and had an acoustic adventure tour here in Europe. And so that's about it. But anyway, the album was great success it people seemed to enjoy it. It was very much in line with with the previous album 'Pariah's Child', and I somehow feel 'Talviyö' is also in the same family of albums. MAL- Right. So when did we sit down and start on this new album? TONY- Well, I've been of course compiling material for years and years. Some of the ideas are really old, like 20, some 30 years old, almost. And, but I really started compiling the actual songs, early 2018. And in the summer, during some festivals here in Europe, I was able to play all the demos to the guys already, and our producer Mikko Tegelman, and that's about it, like roughly half a year to get all the songs together. And then we entered the studio in September and it took like, what 10 months, eight months almost, to get the final album up, but we did a lot of things in between. It wasn't just spending time in studio the whole time, MAL- As far as writing the songs, is it just you? TONY- Yes Yeah, yeah, thus far. Jani, the ex-guitar player he composed one song and keyboard player Henrik he has composed one song, but the rest hundred and something songs are by me so yeah it's me. MAL- What process works for SONATA ARCTICA? Do you all then get in the studio as a band or are different members elsewhere recording the material? TONY- We just get together in the studio at least in, not the whole time but but in some points to get a good feeling together like what which songs we really want to have and what kind of atmosphere we want to have on the on the album there. But a lot of the recordings are done like separately. This time, we had a little bit different approach, our drummer Tommy and bass player, Pasi, they played their parts live in the studio, which was really it was great. It gives this more organic live like feeling the whole album when the rhythm section plays together. And the rest of the guys are just, you know, enjoying the ride up until that point and then then started doing the overdubs. But we usually we spend a lot of time in the studio even when it's not really necessary, like together as a band, because it certainly gives the whole album more like band feel. At least, you know, I like to be there when anybody's doing anything, you know, because I always have something to say to anything. And it's so much easier when you're actually there instead of you know, hearing a track that Elias has played with guitar or something. And I have to like, Oh, this would be great if we did do it, like slightly differently, or whatever. So I enjoy I love being there too. MAL- Gee, I really wish you played it like this. I really wish you didn't do it like that. TONY- Yeah, yeah, exactly. Could you play it more like you know something, I don't know. MAL- Now what sort of studio we recording it is, is it someone's home? Is it a cabin in the mountains? What's the deal? TONY- It's called Studio 57. And it's owned by our bass player, Pasi and his business associate it's nearby town of Kokkola in Finland, and it's a real actual studio, and with just, you know, just a lot of the overdubs, like I sang all the backing vocals and a lot of the other stuff back home because it's just it's really easy to buy a computer and decent microphone and, and, and such thing, and then you can just go ,and same applies to many many, many things. But but there are still a lot of lot of parts on the album that are I think it's really necessary to go and an actual real studio, like obviously the drums at least, because it's got a lot to do with the space that you're using to play if you want to have real drums really have real drum sounds on your album and then this is what we aimed at. MAL- Now I've listened to a lot of the new albums I hear in the car and I did with this new album but just before you called I was listening and actually had a pen and paper and write some things down let's talk about them if you wouldn't mind. TONY- Sure. MAL- In the 'Whirlwind' song there's one lyric that really grabbed me, 'Walking away in the dark leaving everything'. Tell me how you came to, what that one's about? TONY- The whole song is about like a relationship ending and just leaving everything behind, ...(?) there's nothing too deep behind it but but you know ending a relationship and just you know going without saying anything and just. MAL- It's a very final line isn't it? TONY- It's Yeah, but not killing anybody about just you know, leaving the current situation, life behind and moving forward. That's the idea. MAL- Now, 'Storm the Armada'. 'Write a letter to your future self'. Tell us about this song. TONY- 'Storm The Armada' is it's about how we are destroying this planet by the choices we make basically and it's really easy to think what kind of letter you would write to your young version of yourself basically, that giving advice that this thing that you did didn't go really well and that one was really good. And you should do this and that but you know, you can sometimes write also, though think that what going to letter you would write to a future self and what kind of especially what kind of letter your future self would write to you right now that are you doing the things the right way, right now and and, and that song is basically somehow like it's just environmentally, trying to raise awareness that we should not sell things that we cannot buy back and something that we will lose definitely. And in this case, it's just veiled in moon that that destroyed the moon, the future, children won't have moon and basically it means that the world they'll be destroyed in the process. MAL- One of my other favorite tracks on the album, I know it's the one you've chosen as the the lyric video and that's, 'A Little Less Understanding', now possibly the greatest line in the last 10 years, 'Like the window pane of life, you only see the stains in the sunlight'. That's an amazing line. TONY- Thank you very much. It's a funny funny thing it has its sort of together with 'I Have A Right' from 2012 album, 'Stones Grow Her Name', and it's a it's about doing the right choices or bringing up your child and not spoiling the kid too much. And it was funny I when I wrote the song it was the last track that I came up with and with an idea that it might it would probably be the bonus track for Japan and being really simple and everything and and and you know, same thing happened with I have arrived that it actually it was written to be the bonus track but it became the first single and and then still, you know that the lyrical content is like, this is like sequel for "I Have A Right' to understand if you are talking about a child that is a little older that you know you should give them freedom and all the, you know, vanities things like smartphones and such or should you, basically and where is the line for being a bad parent that's a good parent giving all these things to a kid because when you when you give your child too much you are denying him or her also a lot of things you know because it's a it was somewhere there was a study that a smartphone is as addictive as cocaine. MAL- I'm actually on my smartphone now looking at the SONATA ARCTICA album. TONY- Nice. MAL- One more. You can't write an instrumental and title it, 'Ismo's Got Good Reactors' and not expect people to ask you what the hell it means. TONY- Yeah, all right, there's a short story behind it. I had a friend and his name was Mika. He was seven years older than I was and and he died like maybe eight years ago unfortunately, age 42 the Elvis age but when I was like 12 or 13 he was already older than I was obviously and the big brother of my best friend and and he was studying to be a kindergarten teacher. And as a part of the whole thing he had to also work with disabled kids and and with with some kids that are have like developmental issues. And one time they went out for this retreat on an island and they had to take this fairly small boat with an outboard motor, the engine thingy and they were standing there on a pier and it was pretty shallow so they had lifted the engine up and Mika noticed that it's about the dip back in the water and hit the rock possibly. And it manages to grab the motor right before it falls down on the rocks on the water and they sit back up and one of the kids says that 'Oh, Ismo's got good reactors', which of course he meant that Mika has really great reflexes and reactions, and that when I heard that as a kid already stayed with me and it's like a phrase that I use every time someone saves the day and the moment that it's a really nice way to remember my late friend as well, it's it was a heartwarming explanation for that weird name I think. MAL- It's good I like it. At the beginning. I didn't even ask you how we're pronouncing this album title. TONY- 'Talviyö'. Talvi means winter in Finnish and yö is night, so there, Talviyö. MAL- The new album, which basically translates as winter night is coming out on Nuclear Blast on sixth of September. What happens then for the band? TONY- On the same day the album is released we are starting our North American tour from the USA and it'll go on for like six, seven weeks roughly, and then we have like two weeks off at home and go on the European tour. And then it's Christmas time, tiny break, like a month maybe off and then continue somewhere. I'm not sure yet where but probably have more shows in Finland and South America. And hopefully sometime late next year, Australia as well. We have been talking about this at night. really keep my fingers crossed that it happens and hopefully have more shows contest three, you know, I'd like to see more than Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. MAL- Yes. So would we over here in Adelaide? TONY- Yeah, exactly. MAL- Right, Tony. Absolutely, fantastic talking to you. Good luck with the new album out on September 6. I really like it. As I mentioned, it's been on repeat all day here and good luck with the following tour, and yes, we will have our fingers crossed for a tour sometime next year. Thanks for talking to me tonight. TONY- Absolutely. Thanks very much Mal, see you in Australia hopefully. Comments are closed.
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