KALMAH

// Falber Teles

SOURCE - What´s the theme of your new record "The Black Waltz" and what can we expect the hear from you guys on that record?
ANTI KOKKO (G) - This album invites everybody to join our waltz. There is no certain theme or concept when it comes to lyrics or music. Each song has its own story.

The album represents agressive, extreme melodic death metal band and offers something new to the listener. The most important thing for us is to create an album with certain mood or spirit. If the album has no soul it cannot be a great album. This one can.

S - After releasing your album you will be doing couple of shows in Finland. What are your future plans after these shows? When can your Brazilian fans catch you guys on a Brazilian tour?
AK - Our plan is to promote the album with gigs here in Finland. We have planned to do gigs in the South Finland and maybe some festivals in Europe. It is very hard to tell if we are ever going to reach Brasilian shores but hopefully some day. I guess we would have to be somewhat more mainstream to reach Brasil.

S - Does the band have a big fanbase and where in the world are you the most popular do you think?
AK - When it comes to selling points Japan is absolutely the best place for us. But when it comes to the feedback we get from fans it seems North America is the most popular. It is hard to tell the size of the whole fan base but we have managed to spread the word with every album.

There is hundreds of different visitors on the website daily and it really seems there is lots of fans out there. One guy from Canada flew to see us live in Oulu couple of weeks ago. That was truly amazing!

S - You made a new deal with Spinefarm Records as "The Black Waltz" was supposed to be the last album from you guys as a part of your old contact with them. What made
you re-sign a new contract with them again? Was it the fact Spinefarm made a contract with Universal Records in order to make a better distribution for their own releases, getting a better promotion for the Spinefarm releases under this new kind of co-operation etc?
AK - Things have always been fine with Spinefarm and the most important thing is that we can discuss with native language. It makes things easier. We discussed with some of the biggest European labels as well but ended up with Spinefarm.

I truly hope the contract with Universal helps us as well and the label promotes us more than before. One thing that is great about Spine is that they let us do what we do. They don`t set any guidelines for our music.

S - Can you give us an idea of the working habits of the band's members? What must be present in order for a song to be brought to life and how much say do the members have individually as to what goes on an album and what is left off?
AK - I write most of the songs and the process is nearly always the same. At first comes riff or melody. Then I write more parts to the song and try to make it as a whole. After that we start to arrange the song with the whole band. More than often there is going to be changes since everybody has ideas we try to fit to the song. After few rounds at the rehearsal place the song takes its final form.

This time our new keyboard player Marco Sneck did 3 songs which was great. He brought some new elements to our music as well and that makes the new album even more interesting for old fans especially since they know our prevoius albums.

I have lots of riffs and melodies at the table draw. Some of them just does not fit for Kalmah because the bar has been rised so high.

S - All your albums seem to have a distinct sound. Do you plan to be different each time or is it an evolution of your music?
AK - Of course there is natural evolution as well as technical evolution.

This time we used traditional tube amplifiers with guitars. I guess that was the biggest change when it comes to recording process.

The vocals are different as well. Since every band here in Europe have started to add clean vocals to support the growls we decided to dig deeper and go
towards the good old trash and death metal times when the vocals were pure genuine and raw.

S - How many videos you made ?
AK - Only one which was a school project for some of our friends. Since the budjet was so minimal it ended up not so well..:)

We have recorded nearly all of our gigs and we have planned to do a video that has live material as well as some story supporting material as well.

The video is on its way but I don`t know when it is going to be ready and how it is going to be available for the fans.

S - What kind of music or what kind of bands do you listen to
nowadays?
AK - I assume that each of you have a long list of your own personal favorite bands that you have been dug and are digging even nowadays...

Actually I do follow the current market but I haven`t found anything interesting for years. I listen to the good old stuff
like MEGADETH, EDGE OF SANITY, HYPOCRISY, DEATH, PARADISE LOST.

I don`t know if there is something wrong with my music taste or the market but I just can`t find anything interesting nowadays. Maybe the new Madonna album would offer something..:D In general we like very different artist among the band. The taste varies from 70`s disco to CANNIBAL CORPSE.

S - What kind of tips, you'd give to young musicians who want to make it big in Finland's metalscene?
AK - In Finland it seems every crap gets big, yet Kalmah is still somewhat underground band here. There is lots of labels here and the market is generally filled with all kinds of crap.

Our goal has always been to not follow the market and just concentrate on our own stuff. Maybe that is why we are not so big here in Finland but every day there is new fans that discver our music and it seems there is others as well that have bored to the current scene. Kalmah offers the new way.

S - What are the main goals, if any, that you and the band hope to accomplish in the long run ? How much more life do you feel KALMAH has left ?
AK - After "Swampsong" we had some motivation problems but the new album showed that we do have lots to offer and everybody in the band is exited. I guess our goal is to continue recording albums as far as we get the kicks out of our music. Now it seems that line is far.

I hope we could reach more fans with every album and end up as a artist that people will always remember. That is a great goal but I guess we have the tools to do it.

S - Are there any last words that you would like to share with the readers of SOURCEwebzine ?
AK - I hope you like the new album!

Spinefarm Records
KALMAH

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