1. If I knew absolutely nothing about Apocalyptica,
how would you describe the group’s music to me?
-- We're a kind of strange rockband from Finland
Scandinavia, our line up is funny..3 cellos and drums and we play rock
music that gathers influences from many different music styles...from Slayer
as well as from classical composers like Shostakovich... just for our own
fun we began to play some Metallica and Sepultura songs with cellos in
93-95, we performed for the first time in some parties of some music-camps
or in our Academy (we all have a classical education-except our drummer,
he has no education at all...hehe) he comes from pop and jazz conservatory.
Then there came this opportunity to make the first record out of the Metallica
covers, it turned out to be a thing that entertained people, so another
record was made, then in the moment of album number three, we decided to
go into the way of making own music and own songs, it gave us most freedom
to really create something new that didn't exist earlier -cello-rock.
2. If I were to buy your new album Worlds Collide
(CD Review),
what songs should I pay particular attention to and why?
-- Albums are always entities for us, and we
want to make records that have a long lifetime and that you could listen
to from the beginning till the very end without falling asleep (i don't
know weather we are successful or not, hehe)
But some of the recent songs are touching me most at the moment (it's so
funny how the songs go through a huge evolution: you might like something
in the beginning of the process and then get bored to it, some other you
might not understand at all until you perform it first time live)
But I'm not Jesus is simply a diamond,heh...I love the strength of the track,
of the performance of the really well achieved chamber-music in between us
and Corey(Taylor)
From the instrumentals I like Last Hope and Burn maybe the most at the moment...
3. When and where did the band form, and where didthe
name come from? -- Yeah, we begun
in classical summer camp, in the beginning the line up was always changing,
whoever was capable of playing anything available would come to perform,
then in ‘95 we played in one rock club after Christmas and there was
this guy from an independent record-label who wanted to sign us, we thought
he must be crazy, who would like to listen to this horrible sound of cellos
on a record??!!
But, luckily, it all happened, not all accidents are bad...the name was necessary
to make a proper change. We called ourselves a "Jailhouse band" before
the ‘95 gig.
4.
What was your worst on stage experience?
-- Oh no!!! don't ask, because this always goes
back to Moscow several years ago where I had wonderful and tasty pasta
day before the gig. But i also got a food poisoning and horrible diarrhea.
aaargh. Then we performed in a huge hall in front of crazy Russian fans, people
were screaming my name while I had poo in my pants...HEHE!!!! That was some serious
shit! really fun!!!
5. Do you think that the Internet (whether it be Internet
radio, legal downloading, MySpace, streaming audio, etc.) is a good tool
for musicians or is it a bad thing because it hinders profits?
-- I think it is fantastic for all the bands and artists
to easily show their work people all around the world! For example I find
out if something is cool and good from checking out myspace,
It makes me wanting to further discover the artist's/band's
record/music. I think it is still important for many music listeners to
have the real album
in your hand, the booklet, the whole product. For a real fan it is not the
same to download, the quality is not the same…but in general I think
internet is the future of music, but it is also the thing that could destroy
it -full of possibilities, but yet dangerous.
