– Hello, thanks for answering to our questions. What are you currently up to?

Juhi: Hello and no problem! We’re rehearsing our live set at the moment, since we have a couple of gigs in Finland this month.

Riku: All’s just well here, thank you. As Juhi said, we’re settingup our setlist, because we’ll be having couple of tours coming on next summer, and also bit by bit we’re writing new songs for the actual new album.

– You will soon release your first compilation album, “The Rewritten Chapters”. Why did you think it was the right moment for a release as such? What is the main goal and reason behind this release?

Juhi: I think this is the perfect timing for such a release. The whole band has changed since the last album and this is our (the new guys) way to show what we can do and that it’s still Catamenia.

Riku: We already thought of making this kind of album with the previous members, but after some bad events occurred inside the band, it was postponed. But now with new crew it makes even more sense to re-record the songs to sound the current Catamenia.

 

– Some people say this kind of albums mark an end and start of an era for the band; is this the case for CATAMENIA?

Juhi: Yes, definitely. It’s a great way to sum up the past and make way for new.

Riku: Could not agree more! This crew is freaking awesome and everytime we’re on the road, in rehearsals or in the studio, the atmosphere is just damn awesome!

 

– Anyway we could say, line-up-wise, you have indeed started a new era. With your exception, this has been your first album with all the new members. CATAMENIA has been throughout these years of existence through several line-up changes but, what prompted the current ones?

Riku: I am not sure about the details about them, but I do not even want to go there deep. Everyone had their personal reasons like work, family, etc. and they thought they cannot give their full 100% for the band. Everyone made their own decisions, we’re still friends and no bad mouth or words about anyone.

 

– And what motivated the comeback of Mikko?

Riku: When the previous members decided to leave the band, I was really close to quit everything and end the path of Catamenia. After thinking few days, I decided to phone to Mikko and asked would he be interested to come back to the band if I decide to keep it going on. He came by and we talked everything thru and after that we decided to give Catamenia another push together. Also Mikko knew already couple of possible players for the band, guitarist Sauli and drummer Toni. We set up rehearsals and that was it, it was clear that we would continue with new and fresh Catamenia.

 

– All songs on this opus have been re-recorded. Why did you choose to do so? I guess most bands would have gone the easy way and just collect the original versions.

Juhi: Yeah, it was clear for us from the beginning that we would record everything again with a new sound and fresh feeling. I think there’s no point in doing those boring remaster compilations. This way we were able to make more value to the album even if you own all the previous ones.

 

– When we interviewed you in support of “Cavalcade” you told us you would like to re-record “Eternal Winter’s Prophecy”. In fact you have included one song on “The Rewritten Chapters” off that third album, “Blackmension”. Are you satisfied with this second chance you have given to this tune? After seeing the result, have you considered actually re-recording that record?

Riku: Heheh, yeah, you remembered that. Actually that would be really awesome to record that song all over again, because we’re so damn proud and satisfied with the result on Blackmension. But of course there are people that think the original is better, but I disagree on that totally – the new version wins the original by far I think! It was really difficult to choose the songs on this album, because we had to make tough decisions which songs to choose, because obviously you cannot choose all the songs. But we’re really happy with the songlist on this one.

 

– This being said; how could you say you have changed these tracks? How has the new line-up affected to these new versions?

Juhi: Some of the changes were thought of and some just came naturally when we started playing the songs with the band. There are some minor changes in song structures and tempo changes. Also the re-introduction of keyboards brings its own spice to the songs. I’ve also changed the vocals towards a more brutal sound with more low growling and less clean singing.

Riku: We also wanted to respect the original versions, so we did not change the songs too much. The idea among bringing the new sound for the songs and introduce the new crew, was having all the songs sound the same, because if you’d have remastered them, you can clearly hear the difference.

 

– You have even featured a cover for BON JOVI’s “Born to be my Baby”, a song really different to your style; was this the reason why you choose it? And how did you come up with the idea?

Juhi: I think the song was Riku’s or Toni’s idea. It was fun recording that song and making it sound like Catamenia.

Riku: The idea to make a cover from Bon Jovi’s song collection was Toni’s. I listened to songs from Bon Jovi, which I love to do by the way, and I think one evening drinking beer, I made a decision to suggest this one as for the cover and guys loved the idea and now you can hear the result, hehe.

 

– About the song selection; was it easy to pick just 14 (or 15 with the cover) off your whole discography? Did you follow some kind of protocol to make things easier?

Juhi: Most of the songs are straight out of our setlist, so the decisions were actually made when we started rehearsing for last year’s tours.

Riku: Yeah, it was kinda easy to choose, but still pretty hard. The ones on the setlist were easy picks, but we wanted to include songs from all the discography of Catamenia. So there we were some struggling which songs to include, so we had a democratic voting and that’s it. We knew that we had to drop great songs that would be great to re-record, but what can you do. Othervise it would be quite a cd package, heheh.

 

– For the re-recording you have still been loyal to Mastervox. What does this team so good for any CATAMENIA release?

Juhi: Mastervox is a great studio and this was my third time working there. It’s near to where I live and has a kind of cozy feel to it.

Riku: As Juhi said, it’s really close to us and the studio owner, Immu Ilmarinen, is really good friend of ours. Also our trusted sound engineer, Kari Vähäkuopus, is easy to come there to record and engineer the album. So it’s a perfect ‘ecosystem’ with damn great equipment in the studio, and it feels really cozy, like being in home.

 

– And finally, what are the near-future plans for CATAMENIA? Do you plan releasing a brand new album anytime soon?

Juhi: I’m looking forward to playing gigs, at the moment we have plans for Finland and Spain for this summer.

Riku: We’re slowly starting to make some new songs for the next actual new album, but cannot say anything about it yet. Just that it’ll be more in to the beginning of Catamenia, but with fresh sound and some new cool ideas. Maybe we’re targeting the studio to happen around early next year or summer 2013, but surely no later than Fall 2013. But as said, we do not know it yet, so maybe it’ll be recorded already this year.

 

– That’s all from my side, thanks again for taking your time to answer our questions. If you now want to add some final words; feel free to do it.

Juhi: Thanks, see you out there everyone. Cheers!

Riku: Cheers and beers!

Tania Giménez

tania@queensofsteel.com

 

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