Many winters have since passed through Finland but Amorphis is still there and is bigger than ever, more important than ever and better than ever! With their fateful thirteenth studio album ‘Queen Of Time‘ out May 18th, the band provides a ground-breaking epic about the rise and fall of civilization. On top of the new album, the band also welcome back original bass player Olli-Pekka Laine who returned in 2017 and in time for the work on the new songs, we talk to Olli-Pekka about his return and his involvement on the latest Amorphis album.
Andrew: Before we get started I should say welcome back to Amorphis, it’s nice to see you back in the band again!
Olli: Yeah same here! It’s still kind of a surprise [laughs]. But it’s good fun, it’s fun to play with the guys and we are enjoying each other’s company. We’ve had a fun time playing gigs together, last summer was amazing and really looking forward to the upcoming tour.
Andrew: Yeah obviously it’s been some time since you were last in Amorphis, does it feel like old times again? Has it been an easy transition to go back into the band again?
Olli: Yeah of course in a way it feels like the old days but even through that, so many things has changed. It’s much more professional nowadays and determined, back in the late 90’s it was still kind of a messy situation with the band, we didn’t have proper management and stuff like that so we did need to do many of the things ourselves and we were not that great in managing the band! Now we can just concentrate on playing and doing the things we can do the best but the same bad jokes are still there and on a personal level it’s all the same which is really nice.
Andrew: Yeah definitely it’s good to see you back again in the band and obviously the new album “Queen Of Time” coming out soon, I’ve had the privilege to listen to these new tracks and Amorphis is always known for making different decisions on where to take the music. What was the idea behind this album this time around and what was some of the things you guys wanted to achieve with these new songs?
Olli: Well we didn’t worry that much about how it should sound like, we just started to compose music and arranged the material together to make as strong songs as possible. As compositions we didn’t think too much on the production for example, that was Jens Bogren’s part of the process but there was nothing intentional in “Queen of Time”, it’s just a natural progression of the band. I see it as a continuation of “Under The Red Cloud”, mainly because there was the same producer but also the music is a little more on the metal side than it used to be like in the 2000’s era. That has something to do with Jens Brogren’s preference in metal music and harsher vocals and stuff like that. But I think the greatest change in the soundscape is that there is real orchestration and arrangements in the soundscape, that is totally new which is a good thing to have. Of course having a new guy in the band which always changes the chemistry in the band and the songs as well so you cannot escape from that even if you would like to, so I don’t know how the change has been as it’s hard for me to view that. But it’s a little bit different from the previous one but there was some welcome changes, I think “Under The Red Cloud” was a great album and it’s good to have similar production and add some new elements in the music.
Andrew: At what point during yourself joining the band did the whole idea for the album start to come together? I mean were you there from the beginning when the pieces starting forming together for song ideas and stuff?
Olli: The method was we started to send demos last summer, we didn’t rehearse the material much before we started the pre-production period. We just started to choose the songs we wanted to work on with Jens Bogren and there were maybe 11 songs we agreed to start to tweak, so that was my part. I was there while we arranged the music and that was from every member of the band, it was Esa (Holopainen, guitars) and Santeri (Kallio, keyboards) who composed the material so I didn’t come up with any material for the album but of course we had a really hectic pre-production for maybe 6 weeks and we rehearsed 4 times a week. Jens came over to Helsinki to check it out as well but we all had our say to the material on which would work and which would not work and how we should arrange the songs and for example how we should arrange the guitar parts off certain songs in certain parts. So we all had our say and we all had our part to compose the end product.
Andrew: I’m always fascinating with the whole process of song writing and for someone who has been out of the band for a number of years now, did you find their process had changed over the years or was it pretty much the same as you remembered from last time?
Olli: Yeah it has changed a lot because back in the day we tended to compose songs together from scratch. We went to the rehearsal place and started to create music but nowadays because there is computers and possibilities to compose at home so it’s just easier to come up with ready songs which is kind of a shame. I sort of enjoyed the mutual process more but it’s also impossible to do with a band like Amorphis these days because the timetable is hectic, there’s deadlines and songs have to be ready for the tour so we don’t have time to get together and write music for 3 months or so. We have to hit the studio right after the tour because we need to keep this thing going on, this is our day job so we have to hit the road as soon as possible again after the release. So it’s a shame that we cannot compose together anymore but that’s how it goes these days [laughs], it’s kind of hard to change that fact so we just have to adapt to that. But of course when we do the pre-production we have the opportunity to work together for the songs.
Andrew: It is interesting these days compared to how it was back in the day before digital streaming and stuff took over, I guess you guys have found a way to embrace the technology and make it work for the band.
Olli: Yeah definitely and I think if the technology had been there in the early 90’s we would probably have used it like today. But nowadays we can compose when we couldn’t compose ourselves, we were not able to do it ourselves so we needed each other but nowadays we are able to come up with new songs ourselves. There’s no need to lean on each other that much!
Andrew: Well sort of on a similar subject, from what I’ve been reading the concept or theme behind these songs on the album is about civilization and the ups and downs of society. Where did that idea come from and who was instigating that idea for the songs?
Olli: Yeah it’s all coming from Pekka Kainulainen, he’s our main lyricist these days and he’s kind of our lunatic artist friend from the town that Tomi Joutsen (vocals) is coming from in Lohja. We didn’t give him too much instructions on how he should come up with the lyrics but the thing is we have used that Finnish folklore book called Kalevala traditionally in Amorphis so the only rule is it should not be the same as Kalevala but somehow there should be some timeless mood in the lyrics and not too modern elements. He’s writing in Finnish and he’s using that sort of frame where Kalevala is coming from and a friend of ours, Erkki Virta, he’s translating them to English and Tomi Joutsen is arranging them in the songs we are working on. That process is a little bit complicated [laughs].
Andrew: I can imagine so!
Olli: [laughs] But it’s working so why not! So all the themes are coming from Pekka Kainulainen, Tomi is choosing the words he’s going to use for different tracks so that’s how it goes. We don’t have much to say about themes in a way, we can choose what to use on the album but we are not coming up with the themes.
Andrew: Yeah it’s cool, obviously it’s been a signature of what Amorphis has used over the years so a lot of fans love that stuff. Now before I let you go, you mentioned that you have a hectic schedule which means you must have a lot of tours coming up. What’s the plans for 2018 and within that plan, will Australia be on the radar as well?
Olli: Yeah we are planning to start with festival gigs so it’s not like a tour, just festivals. We are playing a few new songs and the old ones as well, it’s going to be a best of type gigs for about 3 months from now on and then we will go to North America, to Canada and the US and then we are planning to tour Finland with some big gigs here. From there on it’s kind of hard to say if we have plans but it’s too early to reveal what we are going to do. When it comes to my personal preferences I would be totally keen to come to Australia as well and I promise to push that idea to management as well, Amorphis played there 5 years ago or something like that so there has to be some kind of fanbase for Amorphis.
Andrew: Yeah there’s definitely a fanbase here, a lot of people I know are certainly fans. I remember the last time the band came over I think it was quite successful so a return to the country could certainly be in the cards or I certainly hope so anyway.
Olli: Yeah I think it’s going to happen, I’m not promising anything but I’m quite positive about it and personally I think it would be a great idea because I’ve never been in Australia so it would be great to come over and see the local scene and your country and see how what it’s like. But yeah I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t happen.
Andrew: Yeah looking forward to that hopefully and will be listening out for that. In the meantime congratulations on the new album, it’s always good to see you guys come out with new material and of course it’s great to see you back in the band again! Thanks for your time, it’s been great chatting to you today.
Olli: Thank you very much!
