Archive Interview: Tomi Koivusaari of Amorphis

Originally printed in Buzz Magazine, May 2009.

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“I’m chilling at home.”

Wait, I’m sorry, what did Tomi Koivusaari, founding guitarist of progressive doom legends Amorphis and huge rock star say?

“I’m just at home in Finland taking a break before we start on all the summer festivals.”

Yep, the lackadaisical tone in his voice definitely sounded like he wasn’t writing or touring, but this reporter had to remain skeptical. Nevertheless, I forged ahead with my barrage of inquiry into what exactly makes this Finnish powerhouse tick and seemingly, go boom.

Their latest album, Skyforger sounds like an explosion of tender and swirling melodies plucked from the heyday of the 60s and 70s progressive and psychedelic era; touches of mellotrons sweep across soundscapes built on thick, bulging guitars and pulsing, fanciful synths, even more so than their previous efforts. How did they make the album sound so lush and organic?

“Well, I’ll have to have a think about it,” Tomi says, while a deep Finnish hum rumbles around my phone as he ponders. “I guess it’s because of the mixing and the mastering. It doesn’t sound as compressed. So there’s more dynamics and space. You can just hear those small things a little better.

“And there might just be a bit more delay guitar maybe. I don’t know. Maybe it’s just delay guitar. The sounds are just more, like, dynamic. Spacey in a way. We didn’t do any more psychedelic stuff on purpose though.”

And fittingly, the band’s obsession with the Finnish folk tale epic Kalevala isn’t something they set out to re-tell via their music and lyrics, as the music again just evolves naturally.

“I think they’re interesting stories and philosophies, but they aren’t the thing we use to write music with. I think they fit with our music very well because they’re timeless and there’s a lot of emotional stuff [behind it]. But I wouldn’t say that [Amorphis] are the ‘storytellers.’ It’s a very old tale but it gives you a good perspective on today’s life [and culture.]”

Koivusaari, like an concerned parent-to-be, doesn’t enjoy waiting for their new album, Skyforger to be released (which was three weeks away at the time of the interview) because, well, it might just get annoying listening to it.

“I feel very anxious waiting for it to come out. There are a few things we can do before hand like the artwork and promotion but that’s about it really. I wouldn’t say I feel nervous because we are very satisfied with the album. I listened to it about a hundred times during the mastering but I haven’t listened to it since because to your own ear, it might sound like shit.

“Once you get a bit of distance from the recording session you can almost listen to it like an outsider.”

The band have been taken in out of the cold by the mainstream in Finland, with their last two albums, Eclipse and Silent Waters charting rather well, achieving gold status – something that they would never have expected, even in the normally metal-crazed Northern Most Land.

“It’s good; and we can respect that happening in a different way than from say, when we were twenty years old. It feels good, but it wasn’t our goal or anything like that. Its funny because ten years ago things were a little bit different with us in Finland.”

How does he figure?

“Well,” he continues, “after [our current singer,] Tomi [Joutsen] joined it’s given us so much more energy and [a bigger] audience in Finland as well.”

I ask if it was due to the surge of popularity of Lordi after they won the Eurovision Song Contest; but in Finland, heavy metal is the pop music over there, outstripping sales of rock and other genres by a significant degree.

“It’s always been like that. It’s unbelievable how big it is in Finland. Lordi went to Eurovision because metal was already big in Finland. But them [winning] has nothing to do with it, actually.

But as for bands like [symphonic metal band] Nightwish, their sales have been amazing. They sold something like 100,000 albums which is in the top five biggest selling albums in Finland.

“It’s amazing, knowing that little kids and grandmothers are listening to it. People were ashamed that Lordi was making fun of the Finnish people, but after they won [Eurovision] everyone was like ‘Yeah, Lordi!”

And of course, here’s the fun part of the interview where all Amorphis’ Australian fans get the news they’ve all been waiting for:

“We’re coming down at the end of the year,” he proudly tells me. But is it a sure thing, amidst swine flu, GFC and other terrors?

“Yes, of course. There should be two shows in Australia. It should be good to be there.”

Archive Interview: Cult of Luna - Enigmatic

This interview originally appeared in Buzz Magazine, September 2008.


Johannes Persson, enigmatic guitarist for sludge/doom band Cult of Luna makes the unlikeliest of friends up in the wintry steppes of Umea, their home town. “We have made lots of friends from people in Australia. One of the bands that recorded up here, you may have heard of. We’re very good friends with the Dukes of Windsor.” I was flabbergasted. The Dukes of Windsor? From Melbourne? Persson too was taken aback. “Yeah,” he laughs. “I thought I recognized the name of [your] town. They played up here in our hometown. I was totally blown away by them. Jack, the vocalist, has a voice that could not be compared to many people on this Earth. They’re a great live band too.” A ringing endorsement from a man who lives and plays in the extreme? Priceless.

Persson is one of eight members that includes some three guitarists and two vocalists in the gargantuan line-up of Cult of Luna had humble beginnings, with most of the core group playing in a hardcore band called Eclipse. “Well we just started to write slower and slower songs…eventually the band broke up and our sound changed so much that we decided to change the name of the band.” Persson says. Persson also quite earnestly enlightenens us on how a band with eight members forms one cohesive whole in the songwriting process.

“Well, we start off with a basic idea that someone in the band has. There’s no pre-defined structure or anything like that, we just jam it out. It would be a lie to say everyone has as much to say in every song, but it’s usually I, Fredrik (guitarist) and Erik (guitarist) that writes most of the stuff, and a majority of the songs come from me, to be honest.” Persson, not shy of telling like it is, even confesses that CoL’s latest album, Eternal Kingdom has its rough edges. “Well, some of the best songs on there is some of the best material we’ve ever [written], he explains.

“But some of the other songs could have used a few more jams in the rehearsal room before we went into the studio.” He also quashes the rumor that CoL recorded the album in a disused psychiatric ward, evoking images of a haunted menagerie of padded walls and blood-curdling screams. “Well, where we recorded was on the site of a big institution. It’s all been rebuilt now. There’s a cultural centre, music studios, etc.”

However, the use of a madman’s diary as the central theme to Eternal Kingdom is very much true, as Persson tells. “Well, a year before we started writing music, we did a T-shirt design for one of the characters, which was a hare, but with moose-horns. (laughs) - It was a hybrid kind of animal. Besides, when a story like that just falls into your lap you can’t not do anything with it. It was an interesting story and a good story.”

Persson, being the earnest and endearing musician he is also has a strong passion for raising moral and political issues through Cult of Luna. “Well, every album has to have a clear and [defined] issue running through it,” he tells me. “If you’re in a band and people listen to your music, you may as well say something important.” He even rages against the established music “machine”, critiquing the homogenization and routine dumbing down of popular music culture.

“When you pick up any music magazine it almost makes you want to poke your eyes out,” he laments. “[Musicians] sometimes get really stupid questions from journalists about the ‘sex, drugs and rock and roll’ lifestyle; it’s all uninteresting and it’s been done so many times. They ask you things like ‘what’s your quickest tap solo’ – f—k off! That kind of music journalism isn’t journalism at all. Having that said, we’re not a band that wants to point fingers and tell people what to do. But we’re also a band that doesn’t avoid controversial and important issues.”

Such as?

“Well, [for example], every time you pick up a magazine it [reinforces the] male-domination of the rock ‘n’ roll business and traditional male values. I don’t want to generalize, but a lot of the American bands have this jingoist, macho attitude. First off, it’s just plain boring; it’s very unoriginal and just lame.”

Living in a land of extremes ourselves, Cult of Luna would find themselves at home among the “cult” like following of the sludge and experimental doom movement, with Isis, Sunn O))) and Boris all touring successfully here – I ask, would Persson like to take his outfit down under? “Yes, we would love to tour Australia. We have many friends that loved touring there – in fact, every band I know that toured Australia say that it’s the best thing they’ve ever done. In that sense, we want to go to Australia as soon as possible…hopefully we’ll be there soon.”

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Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved, Crushtor Media Services Pty. Ltd.