IMPALED NAZARENE (Eng.)
– Hello and first of all, thanks for taking the time. How is everything doing right now with IMPALED NAZARENE?
Well, Croatian festival called Underwall which was supposed to happen last weekend did not happen in the end, we had flights and all booked and it was cancelled Friday evening. So that kinda left taste of shit in the mouth. But apart from that, we are fine, thanks for asking.
– And how is your new album, «Vigorous and Liberating Death» working thus far?
It is doing great, we have been great reviews everywhere except in Germany and one in Sweden. Everywhere else reviews been good and pre-orders to the shops have been way higher than the previous album so nothing to complain.
– I read the actual recording was quite fast; do you think this had any effect on the final product? Could you say is something that helps keeping the intensity and honesty?
We have always worked fast, our first three albums were all done (including mixing) in five or six days. We see no point spending days in the studio. Waste of money and energy. You just have rehearse well, make sure you are ready and that you know the songs inside out. And yes, personally I think it does help keeping the insentity and momentum going on when you work fast and precise. It is like a well planned military strike: Go in, do the damage, get out.
– Once more, it has been mixed by Max Kostermaa. Having worked with him for a couple of releases now, do things get easier?
Max has been our live sound engineer from 2007 on. So he knows us well and we know him, this definitely helps while doing the album. None of us were present when he mixed the album, we gave him totally free hands because we trust him and we know he delivers the goods. He came to a couple of rehearsals to hear what kind of stuff we were coming up with so he did not have to start “blind”.
– I have also read you had writer’s block when you started to write the lyrics for this new opus. When this happens, where do you look for inspiration?
You cannot really do anything about it, if you don´t have anything good to say, you just shut the fuck up and wait. My main problem was that I was so fucking satisfied with RttO album so I kind of raised the bar myself. i wanted it to be at least the same level as RttO was. But anyway, like I said, you just have to wait and gather ideas, eventually it will all come out in some form or another.
– And this being said, what’s the overall concept/main themes covered on this effort?
VALD is basically based on death. Death seen from different perspectives, be it the death of the freedom of the speech (Sananvapaus) or death seen thru the eyes of serial killing maniac (Pathological Hunger For Violence) and so on. It is not full concept album but every song deals with the death one way or another.
– Songs as «Snanvapaus» are almost social criticism, and describe a situation that fits Spain perfectly right now. Did you get inspired by the current state of Finland for them?
Basically yes. Due to the sad fact that you are forced to tolerate everything and if you try to say something negative and/or criticise current situation, you get labelled right away this or that. Freedom of speech is dead in Finland. Unless you are green communist and then you can say whatever you want.
– On the other hand, the cover artwork was done by Taneli Jarva. How did he work on it? Did you give him any kind of guidelines? It actually looks awesome, and not digitalized at all, as nowadays most covers look.
Taneli was given free hands, only thing I did, I send him lyrics of Flaming Sword Of Satan for inspiration. It is actual painting on canvas, one metre by one metre dimensions and it does look fucking killer. Very old school.
– All this about «Vigorous and Liberating Death» being said; how could you describe it in just 3 words?
ALBUM OF (THE) YEAR!!!
– You are the only founding member remaining in the band, and you have been with IMPALED NAZARENE for almost 25 years now. What does motivate you to keep on working with the band? Have you ever felt unmotivated?
Sure there has been times when I have been thinking that I will just pack this shit in and forget the whole music business. But then you go and play a show and remember what this is all about. A good show can make you feel so fucking powerful afterwards it is unreal. When everything clicks correctly, audience, sound, mood, atmosphere, it is like fucking religious exprience. And that´s the motivation. It is simply love for this kind of music and to get to play it live. See places, meet people. Get to taste local foods and drinks, stuff that normal tourist will never be able to do.
– After over half your life with this band I guess it may be an important part of your life but, what does IMPALED NAZARENE mean nowadays to you?
It means something that keeps me sane. We all have normal jobs so everything that we get to do with Impaled Nazarene is a huge escape from normal daily routines. You have like two families, one is at your home and then there is Impaled Nazarene family that includes all the people who work for us, some fans that have become our best friends. And it is great you know.
– And have your goals changed compared to back when you started the band?
Well, we did not have any goals in the beginning, we were not even looking for a record deal. Then suddenly there was things going on here we are. Whole
music business has changed so much that I do not know what the fuck is realistic goal anymore. Get one or two songs on the next GTA game would be the biggest fucking thing ever for me.
– I guess you may have answered a lot of times questions like what your best concerts have been but, what have been the worst ones? And is there any band you would never share stage with or whom you have already done it and would never do it again?
One of the worst, if not the worst that comes to mind is back in 1999 when we played in Oaxaca in Mexico. Oaxaca is like the poorest area of Mexico, people are extremely poor. Only four guys had bought the tickets and when we arrived, there was like at least 200-300 people outside. Before the doors were even opened, all these people decided to break in into the venue. The stage was horrible, we were waiting it to collapse at any minute. Our backstage was situated that way that we had to go thru the audience in order to get there. People tried to steal everything from us, guitars, passports, fucking everything. In the end, after we had played, we could not leave the venue because they started a riot outside and started burning everything so we had to wait for police and fire department to clear out the riot. It was fucking insane, we were sure we are gonna get slaughtered there. We would definitely refuse to play with any openly religious band or some communist greenparty scum bands.
– And finally, what are your near-future musical plans?
We have festivals in June, July and August, then nothing so I guess we need to come up with some diabolic master plan to take over the world.
– That’s all, thank you once more for answering our questions. If you want to add some final words; feel free to do it.
To all who read this, drink vodka and be free!!!
Thanks! Finally a new ImpNaz album. Badass stuff!