Interview с Sirenia : DARKSIDE.ru

Let’s begin with your former band Tristania. How and why did you come up with the idea of creating Tristania? Was it difficult to chose the musicians for the band, and did you manage to fulfill everything that you wanted?

Well, it’s long-long time ago – 13 years or something, I think. When I started the band, at that time I was playing in pretty rock’n’roll band Uzi Suicide which we started in 1992, and we were playing for a few years. Then we started to get more and more inspired by, for example, UK gothic-rock bands like The Sisters Of Mercy, The Mission and Fields Of The Nephilim. We started developing the music more and more in gothic direction and more of a metal band. It was I think in 1996 or something that we changed to Tristania. In Tristania first we released a mini-CD consisting of 4 songs I think, then we released a full-length album – “Widow’s Weeds”, then we released “Beyond the Veil”, then there was also an EP called “Angina”. And yeah, I parted ways with Tristania at the end of 2000 and at the 2001 I started up to Sirenia.

How difficult was it for you to part ways with such a popular band and create something new, to start everything from the very beginning, to turn the page so to say?

Yeah, at the beginning it was a little bit hard, but at the same time in the years with Tristania I got also in a contact with lots of people here and there, Record companies, so when I first started up with Sirenia things went pretty fast and as I was also the main songwriter in Tristania it was now very easy for me to write song-material in Sirenia. So things went really pretty fast when we started up with Sirenia.

How did you begin playing in Elusive? The music you are playing there differs considerably from that of your main band… Who composes most of the music for Elusive?

Elusive was not actually my band. It was the band of two very good friends of mine. They asked me if I wanted to record some lead-guitars for the album, I said: “Yes, sure!” and I joined them on their first album, I put some extra lead guitars and stuff like that, then I also did some concerts with them back then, most of the music and the lyrics was written by Tommy Olsson. I only added some lead-guitar parts.

On the mini CD “Sirenian Shores” you made a cover-version for the song by Leonard Koen “First We Take Manhattan”. This cover is the only one in your career so far, as far as I know. Why did you choose this song? Do you like Koen or does anything connect you with this song?

Leonard Koen has been one of my favorite artists for years and years and years. I grew up with Leonard Koen since my parents were listening a lot to him. He has been my favorite artist since I was a small boy, and his music and his lyrics has certainly inspired me a lot. And I was thinking about doing a cover-version by Leonard Koen, but it took some years before I felt that I was able to make a Sirenia version of one of his songs and the song was “First We Take Manhattan”- that’s what I really like. And when a made a cover-version I was really happy that I decided to choose this song.

Now lets pass on to your new album. Your new work sounds much lighter than your previous albums. And together with this it became more gothic and there are more hits on it. Aren’t you afraid of being accused of becoming too pop?

Well, when I started writing songs for this album I just tried to continue down the same path, I was trying to take songs one step further as I always do, and as the song writing process went on I started to realize that I had pretty much done everything before and I felt that I started to repeat myself and I felt the time was right and I felt the strong need with this album to do bigger change in style, than I’ve done before and one of the things that I wanted to do was to take the song material into a more melodic direction. Then it became pretty natural that the female vocals would get a more important part in the songs. In the past I was writing pretty long songs – about 6-7 minutes long. And with this album I tried to say what I wanted to say in 5 minutes instead of 7, so I wanted to make the songs sh

orter, more intense and more exciting from the very beginning till the very end. Off course I knew that this album would create some waves, because even now I get a lot of mails from my fans and some of them write that they would like to see Sirenia going to a more extreme direction, some of them would like to see Sirenia in a more melodic direction, some would like to see Sirenia playing just the same music as we did on “At Sixes And Sevens” (2002) , some of them would like to hear music as we did on “An Elixir For Existence” (2004). It’s impossible to make everybody happy. I just have to follow my own heart and try to create music I really burn for, the music that I really like and the music I want to play in the future.

On your new album there are less male vocals than on your previous works. Why did you decide to concentrate on female vocals?

Yeah, when I came to the idea that I wanted a more melodic album it came pretty naturally that female vocals would get more attention, a bigger role in the songs. When I was writing most of the songs were just screaming for female vocals. On some of the songs it would out of place to start growling because it simply wouldn’t fit into the songs. Growling parts are still a part of Sirenia music, but they were reduced on this album if compare to the previous albums.

Tell us a bit about your new album. Can you explain the concept behind the album?

The album wasn’t meant as a concept album and there are individual songs on it and I tried to build them individual for each of them to have its own sound and expression. When it comes to the lyrical part I still write the lyrics about the same things as I have done in the past. I am still focusing on darker aspects of life, mankind but I am just trying to have a different approach in the way I am writing the lyrics and I always work hard to try to improve the lyrics to become a better songwriter, but I am still fascinated by the same themes as I was on the earlier albums. There is not really a big change in the lyrical direction.

The cover artwork was made by Anthony Clarkson (Blind Guardian, Rage, Hypocrisy) Why Anthony Clarkson and how did you get in touch with him?

Anthony Clarkson has been making a lot of cover artworks for our record company so they told us that I should check out Anthony Clarkson and see some of his works. Beside of that he has been a fan of Sirenia music for many years so he was interested in making the artwork so we just sent him a copy of the songs, the lyrics and the album title. So he just sat down and listened to the album, read the lyrics and tried to interpret the album in its way and was trying to create the cover that would reflect the essence if the album. I think that he has done a wonderful job, because we really happy with the cover artwork.

What did you want to say by the CD cover?

The main idea for me was a cover artwork walking hand in hand with the album title in a way and I feel that Anthony was able to do this.

Before recording the new album you must have had some goals. Which of them did you manage to reach and which of them you didn’t?

The goal I had set was to try to make this album more melodic which I think we had definitely been able to do. When it came to the recording process of this album we chose slightly different solution this time – working on the previous albums we did the recording and mixing of the whole album in one studio – in Sound Suite studio in France. And on this album we worked in four different studios – we recorded the drums at Jailhouse studio in Norway, then we went on to the Sound Suite in France to record more or less the rest of the material, then we did some additional recordings at my own studio and then we went to Denmark to Antfarm Tue Madsen studio to where we mixed and mastered the album. The reason I did this solution was that I wanted to be able to refresh our sound and our style in a way and I feel that we were absolutely able to do that, because I think that the sound has improved a lot and there a lot of fresh and new elements there. But at the same time we tried to keep a lot of the

elements also – that was the goal for Sirenia music.

Do you communicate with your former band-members of Tristania? Have you heard their works after you left them? If you did – what do you think of them?

I still have a little contact with some of the members in Tristania, but I didn’t have an opportunity to listen to their latest album yet, so I am not quite sure what direction they are taking at the moment or how they sound.

About line-up changes. Why did your former vocalist leave the band and how did you find Monika? Did you make some casting?

Our previous singer decided to leave about two years ago. The music was taking more and more of our time and she felt that she needed more time for herself and also more time to do other things beside the music. She came to the conclusion that it was probably the best way for her and the rest of the band that she parted ways. And as soon as she left the band we immediately began to search around for a replacement for her. We spreaded in the news that Sirenia was seeking for a singer, we posted some adds at the web-site and so on and after a while a lot of singers got in ouch with us from all over Europe and even America. We checked all the applicants and sorted out 6 that could be appropriate for the band. Monika from Denmark was one of them, we decided to invite her to Norway, we worked together for a couple of days and she swamp very well and she made a good impression, then she came back to Denmark. Then we decided to call her one more time and make some test recordings of some of the new songs and work a little bit more together and we found that her voice fitted really well to Sirenia’s new songs and we decided to go further with Monika.

How does the work with Monika differ from that with your previous vocalist?

I think it’s easy to work both with Monika and Henriette. They are both great persons and it’s really easy to work with both of them, they work really hard and gave them all to the music and it’s just a pleasure to work with both of them really!

Your new album came out via Nuclear Blast. Why did you leave your previous label? Were dissatisfied with the way this label worked with you or were there other reasons? And are content with NB?

The reason why we parted ways with Napalm Records was that the deal with Napalm was over and we needed to get a new record deal there were a lot of labels that were interested in the band. Napalm was also interested in offering us a new contract, but Nuclear Blast was the label that could offer us the best contract so that’s why we decided to go with Nuclear Blast.

And are content with NB?

Absolutely. They do a wonderful job for us there, they really like our music, they take good care of the band so we feel that cooperation between the label and the band is very very good.

How difficult it was to chose the song from the latest album to make a video? To my mind there are lots of hits there, and each song deserves it.

I think “My Minds Eye” has a lot in a pretty short time, it has a lot of elements in it – much things happening in a very short time. And it is extremely important – when you make a video clip it mustn’t be too long. So I guess it came pretty natural with this song. Besides I think it is one of the most melodic songs on the album.

How do you usually work on the new material? What do you create first – music (and then compose the lyrics to fit it)or vice versa?

Usually when I start writing a new song I always start with the music and then I start writing lyrics for it. I just look at the feeling, at the atmosphere that is already lying in the music or compositions and then I try to put words to it.

Where do you take the inspiration to write music? Do you write about some abstract things or do you write about events from your own life?

I can get inspired to write music or lyrics by a lot of things really. Off course first of all by things that happen in my life, that I see around me. But also when I even r

ead a book or if I watch a movie or if I listen to some great music it can inspire me in some way. So I take inspiration from really everything around me – really.

About live shows. What do you like more – to perform on a big venues or do you like more to perform before small audience in a club for example? Some musicians say that the connection with the public in small clubs is closer…

Yeah, that’s correct! I think both of these things have their own charm. Playing in a small pocked club you’re getting really close to the fans, the atmosphere is getting really intense and this is a really cool and special feeling. At the same time playing at bigger open air festivals you before 10 or maybe 20 thousand people – it’s also undescribable feeling. I really love the both things each of them has its own charm.

There are a lot of sympho elements in your music and it is rather difficult to perform it on stage – so how does it happen on stage and how much is the sound different from the studio version?

On stage we try to recreate our studio sound as good as possible. One of the things we do in order to be able to recreate is that we have on a sequencer program all the keyboards parts and everything. So we try the songs to sound as studio version, but off course there more energy coming out when you are doing a concert, it naturally becomes a special experience.

Have you ever thought of performing with an orchestra live? And how difficult is it to fulfill?

I think it’s rather difficult to bring an orchestra to the stage. Maybe we can do something like that in the future. To play together with an orchestra you need a really big stage and a lot of equipment and all the stuff to make it work. And also you need a lot of money to be able to pay the orchestra. So at the moment it looks difficult to do something like that, but maybe some time in the future it may be actual, I don’t know. We have just to see what the future will bring really. (laughs)

Do you have any plans to shot a live video and to make a DVD? Or is too early to do it in your opinion?

Yeah, I’ve been thinking about it, but I think it’s a little bit early. Maybe we will do a live DVD after the next album, but right now I think it’s a little bit early to think about live DVD.

Do you have time to listen to new bands? If yes – who of them surprised you? Have you ever thought of creating your own record label or to produce young bands?

I listen a lot to all the music – really from the music from 70-s, 80-s and early 90-s. But speaking about the new albums that surprised me I think Nightwish has a great latest album, Within Temptation delivered a very good album, and also the last album of side-project I – was very original and fresh. They appeal to me really. What about the record label – it’s not something that I’ve been thinking for, it’s too much work for me and I’d rather spend more of my time on the music instead of working with papers so I don’t think I will ever start a label.

Among the bands that you listen to you called I, and the music that I are playing differs considerably from that of your band. So do you take some elements even from such music?

I listen to a lot of music starting from Johnny Cash and Leonard Koen to classical stuff and a lot of metal bands or rock bands The I album was something that I found really original fresh and new so I really liked that one! But I don’t let them inspire me in a direct way, in the way they make the music. I mean when I listen to music I can really like it, it can give me some feelings, some emotion and I rather let this feeling inspire me to write music. That’s what I always try to do.

Do you have to work somewhere else beside music? Do you have a day job? Because I know that many musicians have to combine these two things – having a day job and working in musical sphere. Music nowadays is not that profitable as it could be I think...

Yeah, exactly! I’ve been having a day job for a long-long time, but for the last ten months or so I’ve been only

working with music, I also have my own studio where I am working a lot so I have been able to live from music for quite a time, but things went very fast up and down in music. When you play in a metal band it’s very difficult to be able to live from music and especially when you are living in Norway which is a very expensive country to live in.

Every musician in his career has to go through some crises. How do you manage to overcome them?

I don’t think I’ve ever head such situations, with me it’s other way around – I am being so productive and so creative that I must really focus on finding out what of the material I write is the best, because I write so much music that I really need to pick up material and end up using bad material. So my problem is probably in that way, cause I never have writing blocks or something like this – for me it’s rather way around. So my challenge is to pick up the best parts and to put them together in the best possible way.

What do you think about piracy? How much does it influence your music? On the one hand it helps to promote the band, on the other – it may reduce the sale figures…

Yeah! But it’s not so much to do about it. It is a good promotion for the band for sure, but off coarse record company and the artist loose a lot of money on it. And for the artist it usually means that he must spend more time working for living, to earn money and spend less time on music and on writing new songs and going on tours. So I think it is the way it affects an artist.

Moreover gothic-rock is no longer so popular as it was. Are you still as interested in this style as before?

Well, my experience is actually that gothic, at least the gothic-metal movement now is bigger than ever before and it’s getting really popular with such bands as Evanescence and Nightwish which are doing very well. And I also feel that there are a lot of new bands coming up and starting to play this kind of music. So my impression is actually that gothic-metal is more popular than ever. But if you mean gothic in a way of gothic rock – Sisters of Mercy – then I feel that it’s not as popular as it was in the 80-s or in the early 90-s.

And how difficult is it to organize band in Norway? I can say that in Russia it’s pretty difficult to start a band, you come across a lot of problems...

Well, it’s pretty easy to start a band, pretty easy to find the musicians, but off course the challenge is to find “right” musicians if you have a vision of how your music should sound like. But I think there are good possibilities to start a band – if you have a wish and want to start a band there are really good possibilities.

I meant the money side of the problems – is it difficult to find a place to rehearse in, a club to play in and so on...?

Off course your band has to be somewhat popular otherwise the club wouldn’t be interested in arranging your concert. It’s off course easier to perform in a club and to organize a concert if you already released at least one studio album. I mean that if the band works really hard I think everything is possible.

You are the first time in Russia. What do you expect from this country? And what prevented you from visiting our country before?

Playing in Russia for the first time is something that we’ve been looking forward to for a long time and I don’t know why we were not able to come to Russia before –you know there are lots of things connected with this – booking agencies and so on...I don’t know so much about it, but I know that I’ve been getting males for some years from fans from Russia who wanted us to come and play in Russia and it feels good now that we are finally able to come over to Russia and play a concert, because it is something we are really looking forward to.

And finally, to round up the interview. What should Sirenia’s fans expect from the band in the future – tours, new albums or maybe some side-projects?

Yeah, you can at least expect new CDs to come and off course we do a live DVD when we feel the time is right. I hope that Sirenia will have a lot of tours also in the future and to give our music to people who are interested in music, who love music.

Could you say a few words to your Russian fans?

I would like to say cheers to our Russian fans and we are really looking forward to come to your country with a concert and play in Moscow and we hope to see all of you there!

Interview by Ksenia “Wolfin” Khorina
January, 15th, 2007
14 фев 2007 the End

Sirenia

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