Finntroll returns to
Spain....
November 13th 2009....
Marina Mendive....
.. ..
After three
years, the Finnish folk metal band, Finntroll, stepped on Spanish soil. Finntroll MySpace Spain had the
pleasure of interviewing Vreth and Skrymer a few minutes before their concert
in the Madrid venue, Sala Caracol.....
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(FM) Finntroll Myspace: Welcome, what happened? We heard someone missed
a flight?....
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(S) Skrymer: Yeah, the other
guitarist missed a flight and all of our gear was lost. Luckily we got it now
here.....
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(V) Vreth: We only had the hand
luggage with us. Everything else was lost. ....
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FM: During the process of recording a new album, is there a part, a
moment, which you like best? Which
is it? ....
.. ..
S: Actually, the whole process this
time.....
V: Yeah, but the stress was big.....
S: Yeah....
V: We should have had like one more
week.....
S: But, really cool environment.
Like, Three different studios, like one studio 2 guys were making children
music, “can you guys come here and do backing vocals for this track,” and the
other studio were doing like this old Finnish folk singer kinda dude, singing,
and then there was like this one living room where we all drink coffee and
smoke cigarettes. It was really, really nice environment.....
V: Yep....
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FM: So you helped with some backing vocals for children songs…....
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S: Yeah, and they did some for us
too. ....
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FM: What
do you usually do to prepare for a show? ....
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S: Joking and have a big group hug, no, [laughs]
I don’t know, just sit around and wait for it to happen, write a set list, put
the makeup and gear on, nothing very special.....
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FM: The
first time you went on stage, did you have any stage fright? ....
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S: Still do.....
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FM: What do
you do to avoid it?....
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S: Get drunk! [Laughs] Typical Finnish solution
to problems, get drunk [Laughs], no, I don’t know, it’s kind of a cold feeling
5 minutes before going, then we actually go on stage and nothing.....
V: I don’t think I actually have any stage
fright anymore, when I was little, then I was really nervous. The first shows
with Finntroll, then I was nervous. ....
.. ..
FM: Vreth,
how long have you been practicing growling?....
....
V: Mid nineties, something like that. ....
S. Since his birth.....
[They both laugh] ....
V: I was a very quiet child. ....
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FM: What
is your opinion on the fact that there are women like Angela Gossow from Arch
Enemy that also practice growling? ....
.. ..
V: I think it’s good that females do it also,
because they have the same instrument that we have, so why not? Why would it
all be male?....
S: Once in Seattle this tiny little girl walked
on stage and it was like [imitates growling sound] roar, and, ....
V: yeah, it was really angry. ....
S: it was like, fucking hell that’s scary. That
tiny little fragile creature, that could create that sort of…, I don’t know,
like he said, the same sentiment, so it doesn’t really matter. If it’s good
it’s good, if it’s really bad it’s bad, it doesn’t really matter,....
V: yeah, there is an equal amount of bad male
singers as well as female singers. ....
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FM: What
is the weirdest thing a fan has ever said or done to you or where is the
weirdest place you’ve had to sign an autograph? ....
.. ..
V: There was actually, a couple of years ago,
this mother, she was probably around thirty something, and I thought she wanted
an autograph, but no, no, no, she lifts up her little child and she wants an autograph. She had like a
pink bag that she wanted me to sign. The girl was like 7 years old or something
like that, she was a big fan and I got to sign her little pink purse. ....
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FM: How much time do you usually require to learn a song?....
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S: Depends on the song.....
V: Yeah, like you never learn some
songs. We have really hard songs to play and we have easy songs to play.....
S: Some may take 2 weeks to learn,....
V: the other ones take 2 years…....
S: It took like 9 years actually for
me to learn, 8, sorry, [Vreth laughs] till I finally learned one thing from one
song. ....
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FM: Can we know which one?....
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S: No, It’s like this, thanks to the
other guitarist player on (Jaktens stage), who is a million times better
guitarist than I am now, I kind of had to play his parts… it just didn’t
happen. Finally, I learned after 8 years, so. It took me 8 years to get sort of
close to the level [laughs]. ....
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FM: How
long have you been playing the guitar? ....
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S:
I’ve been playing since 9; I’ve been practicing for [shrugs], well, actually,
really practicing for like 4 or 5 years. It sounds weird, but yeah. ....
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FM: If
you had to do a balance about your entire career as a musician, what positive
and what negative aspects would you highlight?....
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V: Well, the good side is to be able to travel
around the world and play.....
S: Play and see that people actually like what
we’re doing.....
V: Yeah, the negative side is probably the
travelling.....
S: yeah, waiting.....
V: The airports and stuff.....
S: That’s the glamour of rock and roll you get
to wait a lot.....
V: Stand in lines,....
S: Looking like retards ....
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FM: What
do you think about music festivals, do you prefer big venues or small venues?....
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S: small venues, definitely. Festivals are more
like, party for the people. If I would really, really want to see a band, I would
rather see them in a club. In a festival the sound is never really what you want
it to be.....
V: Yeah, and usually in a club people are there
to see you, not to party, because in a festival there is like a week of
partying, it’s just a plus if there is a good band.....
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FM: What
do you think about today’s musical landscape? ....
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[The rest of
the group calls Skrymer and they talk in Finnish for a few minutes]....
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S: They just had a great idea for the album
cover.....
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FM: Can we
know?....
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S:
No, you’ll see.....
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S: (musical landscape) Honest opinion? It’s
going to hell, it’s like there’s less and less real rock bands playing, more
and more commercial bullshit. I don’t know, I’m really the worst person to ask
that question. [Pauses] Now, it’s all so polished and nice and clean.....
V: yeah, it’s lost the punk and the rebelness in some way.....
S: Now days, there is more people that listen
to Britney Spears than metal bands, the difference is a fucking haircut, but
like I said, I’m really the worst person to ask that question.....
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FM: Songs that make you dance: ....
S: hummm....
V: You mean in a club, now?....
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FM: For example, yes.....
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S: Janis Joplin, but you need, you
know, a female to dance.....
V: and the right setting, somehow.
You know sometimes, we can go, like after a show to a club....
S: and groove out....
V: and be like: Oh, it’s Britney
Spears let’s go dance....
S: Toxic....
V: Britney Spears Toxic....
S: that’s Max Martin so…....
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FM: Person that has inspired you:....
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S: [Looks at Mathias] Him. [They
both laugh] I don’t know.....
V: ugh, this is a hard one.....
S: I don’t know I couldn’t name one;
it’s like all this bunch of people for different reasons.....
V: Different artists, different
painters, ....
S: different musicians, different
writers, different filmmakers,....
V: ordinary people....
S: Just nice people....
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FM: Where do you see yourselves in five years?....
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V: probably here....
S: yep, probably here, warming up
some local band, I don’t know, or Los Angeles, driving fast cars, I don’t
really know, I don’t even know where we’re going to be next week, well, I know
actually, we’re going to be in Ukraine.....
V: yep....
S: It’s kind of as far as I can
tell. Hopefully playing.....
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FM: Earliest childhood memory:....
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S: I don’t know....
V: I cannot answer that one....
S: It goes the other way as well; I
can hardly remember what happened last week so…....
V: Probably running around some like
summer cottage or something like that.....
S: My grandma’s place....
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FM: A book....
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V: a book? The hitchhikers guide to the galaxy....
S: Hyperion, Dan Simmons, Trilogy....
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FM: A city....
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V: My hometown....
S: A city? All the cities have some
good qualities and some bad. [Pauses] San Francisco is mellow.....
V: San Francisco is nice. ....
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FM: A movie....
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S: Holy crap [they laugh].....
V: Actually, I saw a really good
Norwegian movie a month ago, I really like, called Dead Snow, that’s a cool one.....
S: I think Monty Python the Holy
Grail.....
....
FM: A color....
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S: Blue....
V: Green....
S: Really dark blue....
V: Green, definitely ....
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FM: favorite smell....
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S: I don’t know, girlfriend, at the
time, whatever that is, at particular moment girlfriend, I don’t know....
V: nice smells....
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FM: Any word for your MySpace fans?....
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S: Thank you for supporting us.....
V: Check out the new album.....
By: Marina Mendive, Maria Hernández and Gemma Palmeiro