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- Hierophant Nox: Hail Solacide, how
are you doing?
- Kimmo: Fine, writing and rehearsing
new material for Solacide. At the same time we’re promoting "Baptized In
Disgust", and we are starting to get pretty good response, from abroad at
least.
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- HN: For those of our readers who have
not encountered you previously, could you tell us the history of the band so far?
- K: Well, we’ve been together
with drummer Matti Jauhola since 1996. we first worked under a name Lost Dimension, we
were 13 years old when we started. We made one demo with that name, but... We wanted to
change our style, Lost Dimension was more easy-going stuff, heavy metal meets death metal.
1998 we changed the name to Dim Moonlight, we made two releases, "To
Tranquility" (2000) and "Pleasure Of Existence" (2003). After
those we had feeling of changing the name for more suitable for the music again, and in
2004 Dim Moonlight turned into Solacide. Solacide sounded more suitable for our music.
Many people has been asking the meaning of Solacide. Solacide means death of solace. 2005
we met Sami Tikkanen, and he joined to band as bass player, and his friend Joonas
Vanhalakka followed him as guitarist to the band. We released "Waves Of Hate"
in 2006, after that we tried to find a lead singer for the band since I got a bit tired of
singing, and after trying a few guys we found Gökhan Korkmaz in 2008 and went to record "Baptized
In Disgust" with the complete line-up.
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- HN: We recently reviewed that latest
demo, "Baptized in Disgust" which has been available now for some weeks -
how are you feeling about it? Is there anything you would like to have done differently?
How has the response been from the press and fans?
- K: Of course I’d like to change
few things according the mixing, but we were in such a bad hurry, five days of recording,
two days mixing with Räihä, who was touring with Before The Dawn between the studio
days... Well, we couldn’t have made it better at the time. Few press releases have
come out, and they have been good. Foreign feedback has been 99% positive, in Finland
it’s been pretty ok, in here people just want to criticise everything you do. People
seem to like our stuff more in abroad than here in Finland.
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- HN: What ideas does the demo explore?
What are the three tracks about?
- K: Musically it turned out much more
progressive than our previous releases, it wasn’t planned or anything, songs just
turned out to be bit more epic, at least songs "Disgust" and "God
On Fire". Lyrically it is as aggressive as music.
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- HN: Are lyrics an important feature
for Solacide? Who has responsibility for writing them?
- K: I am writing both of them. In
Solacide music comes first, then lyrics. Lyrics are many times a burden, when you’ve
worked out a new song sometimes for months. Lyrics are quite aggressive, influences comes
from everything that you experience in your life. "Baptized In Disgust"’s
lyrics were born from the idea of everything you’ve been disgusted with in life. And
in a black metal cliché, religion is the one of the most provoking subject when writing
lyrics. Bad people will do bad things because they enjoy it, but if you want good people
to do evil things, you only need religion. And when you see it happening, it makes you
feel sick.
- HN: Your style has been described as
'progressive black metal'; would you agree with this label these days? Did you begin the
band seeking to create a certain sound, or has your style developed over time?
- K: People can call it what they want,
but progressive black metal may describe our music best. I started the band when we were
just kids, but the point back then already was to play music that I like to hear, and
that’s what we are still doing. In "Waves Of Hate" I think we found
our style, and on Baptized In Disgust it went more progressive direction. Our style has
evolved between every release. You can hear much more range of musical influences on the
new songs.
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- HN: As mentioned, you have a number
of previous demos, under the name of Dim Moonlight as well as Solacide. Has there been a
big development from the first of these to "Baptized in Disgust" in terms
of your skills as well?
- K: Yes, if you listen to the first
releases... You can hear the writing and playing skill development between each record. We
are proud of all our releases, from "To Tranquility" to "Baptized
In Disgust". But new influences affects your writing, and makes your view wider.
That’s what makes you a better player and a songwriter in my opinion.
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- HN: There are a huge number of
extreme metal bands trying to be recognised these days- what would you say especially
makes Solacide stand out from the pack?
- K: I think we don’t have the
boundaries that many bands try to keep around themselves musically. Band members’
playing skills are really good comparing to many other bands, and the songs the way they
are composed is a bit more complex and experimenting than many bands won’t be able to
create. Many black metal bands are too narrow-minded to explore anything that’s not
strictly black metal.
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- HN: When you were first discovering
extreme metal, what bands impressed you most? Do you have influences from outside of the
metal genre?
- K: Morbid Angel, Deicide, Cannibal
Corpse, Emperor, Sentenced and Immortal were probably the first that caught my ear. Later
came Nile, Akercocke, Meshuggah, Keep Of Kalessin etc, but also bands like Symphony X,
Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Korn, Waltari, Devin Townsend and Dream Theater has been
influencing quite a lot.
- Gökhan: Mayhem, Dissection, Emperor,
Urgehal, Craft, Ondskapt, Marduk, Cannibal Corpse, Meshuggah, Lamb Of God, Deicide,
Behemoth, Slayer, Sodom, Destruction, Motörhead, Iron Maiden …
- HN: Over the years you have gone
through a large number of line-up changes, but it seems as if the band was 'completed'
when Gökhan joined in 2008. Does the current line-up have a good creative atmosphere? Are
you confident for its future?
- K: Yes, we are all good friends
together, we get along really well. And it of course affects positively when working
together. We don’t have any problems with anyone in the band, so I hope this line-up
will last.
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- HN: How does the song-writing process
work within Solacide? Does one person take the lead or do all the members bring their
different ideas to the practice room?
- K: I write the songs ready, record a
demo at home, give it to guys, and then we check out some arrangements together. Up until
now I’ve been writing all the lyrics also, but in future Gökhan will also
participate writing lyrics.
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- HN: You have produced new material
consistently over the years, averaging one demo every three years; do you find it easy to
create new tracks? What difficulties do you face?
- K: The hardest part is to create
something that is fresh and new, yet it has to have "our" sound and it has to
please mine and other band members’ ears. Riffs may sometimes be born very easily,
but arranging riffs to a complete song is often the hardest part.
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- HN: In the rest of the world we tend
to think of Finland as being a good place for metal although you’ve suggested it is
also a critical place- is the local scene strong? Does your geographical location inspire
you or affect your music in any way?
- K: The metal scene in general is
pretty ok. Of course there are a lot of bands and gigs, but there are only a few I go
check out. Everything that surrounds you affects your writing. Landscapes, the weather,
people... They create these atmospheres, and many times these situations inspires you to
re-create or translate that feeling into a music.
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- HN: Is playing live important for the
band? Do you have any shows booked for the coming months?
- K: We like to do live shows, at this
point we haven’t booked any new gigs, but I think we’re gonna start doing gigs
around this summer.
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- HN: Have you had interest from labels
following the release of your demos? What kind of label would you eventually like to sign
with?
- K: A few labels have contacted us,
but there haven’t been any interesting offers yet. If we’re going to make a deal
with some label, label has to support the band i.e. financially so that in the studio band
can focus on making the best possible record. We can smell the rip-off deals from mile
away, that is also a reason we are still unsigned.
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- HN: What are your long-term ambitions
for the band? Are there any goals you have set yourself which you hope to achieve in the
near future?
- K: Next thing is to get a proper deal
with some label, make a full length album, and start doing more gigs. ´Cause we’re
not sure if we want to release anything self-financed anymore.
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- HN: Many thanks for giving up your
time- if you've any further messages for the world, please go ahead:
- K: Thank you for the interview, and
all readers go to www.myspace.com/solacide
or www.solacide.com, you can order "Baptized
in Disgust" from band (a) solacide.com
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