I believe that this interview with Sonata Arctica makes it a first ever "three-peat" for Metal Reviews. I'm so glad that it is with a band of the caliber of Sonata Arctica as well. This past September, the Nightwish / Sonata Arctica US tour was a soggy dream come true and I had to ham it up with the guys. Again, grateful for any show I can see of them, the boys of winter delivered the goods. Before the show, out back behind the venue, in a relaxed atmosphere I spoke to keysman Henrik Klingenberg and new guitarist Elias Viljanen. This is a highly personal interview. I know pretty much everything about this band, inside and out and I thought it would be nice to probe the psyche and personality of the individuals present. So, if you're wondering "what does Sonata Arctica mean" or "who is Dana or Tallulah" then check out my other two interviews with Tony Kakko as well as tons more on the net.
From left to right Sonata Arctica is : Marko Paasikoski, Tommy Portimo, Tony Kakko, Henrik Klingenberg, Elias Viljanen
Henrik: For that I guess I would have to go a little bit about how I began to play actually. When I was a kid and first began to practice, it wasn't so much of a creative outlet. I was more trying to learn the instrument and learn to play other people's tunes. At some point I realized that, “Hey, I can start making something of my own.” I think that that is something that I gradually grew into and it is really hard for me to define a point or one specific raeson why it happened.
Elias: My father showed me some stuff when I was eight or nine and basically I knew that [the guitar] would be my instrument. I was eleven, twelve when I got my first electric guitar and I was thirteen when I formed my own band. When I was doing my own music I just knew that this was my thing.
Henrik: For me, it was not really connected to music, at least that way. A lot of my friends listened to metal. I was an outcast but that was because I was maybe not... normal (laughs). I was interested in other things that most people weren't when I was growing up and this music was just one part of that. I wouldn't blame metal on being an outcast. Both metal and other music has helped me a lot ever since I was a kid. If I was feeling down or whatever, music was always good, no matter what kind it was. In that sense, heavy metal has helped me out as well.
Elias: I think metal music is not so much plastic music like disco or something like that. Somehow we were outcasts, me and my friends, but I don't know if it was just the music. I felt pretty normal growing up.
Henrik: The least favorite is all the hours on tour when you are not doing something interesting. There's so many hours spent on the bus driving, or standing around waiting for the show to happen. It feels like you are losing parts of your life little by little. But then of course when you see something new, or experience something genuinely good then everything is alright. On the other side of the coin then touring is my favorite part as well. Mainly because of the shows and also after this we are driving to New Orleans where we have two days off and we will see a lot of it. Those kind of moments are really great.
Elias: Playing live is like a big party you know? Also the creativity process, composing music, it's cool.
Henrik: I buy albums because when I want to listen to music I want to put the cd in my stereo, I want to flip through the booklet. That's the way I've been listening to music since I was a kid. Somehow, downloading even if you pay for it... I don't want to see a picture of the album cover on the screen. It just seems wrong (laughs).
Elias: I don't buy that much anymore. Maybe I'm lazy or something. I buy albums from my favorite bands still, but not much else.
Henrik: It's not like I go out on some shopping spree and buy albums, but every once in a while I do. The new Metallica for example, and other groups that I really like that I want to get the albums by.
Henrik: I embrace the technology to an extent. For example, I appreciate that I have the opportunity to record at home. Elias is working on his new solo album and he's been sending me tracks and I'll record stuff and send it back. That aspect of it is good. But being in a band is the way I grew up and it's blood sweat and tears, standing in the same room with each other 'til you're about ready to kill each other. I think that's the way it is supposed to be (laughs). I mean I could work with musicians from other countries in that kind of way but it would be just for a project or something like that.
Elias: I feel the same way. I've been sweating my ass off in a garage since thirteen. I couldn't imagine not going through those experiences.
Henrik: To some extent we like to buy stuff to bring home but I do have limited funds, if I did that every day I would be broke. I have a Playstation...
Elias: Yeah I have a PSP and keep up with writing my blog.
Henrik: I always try to read. I watch a lot of movies. Basically anything that you can do with your space on the bus which isn't too much. There's been a lot of drinking in the past and we've tried to cut down on that. But we can see how well that worked out yesterday.
Elias: It's dark all the time.
Henrik: That and also the country is restricted in a way that it gets really cold in winter. When it gets down to minus forty degrees Celsius, you really don't want to spend too much time outside. We also have a month where it is totally dark so you get a lot of time to think about stuff and that's just the way that it all comes out. We are kind of geographically excluded from other European countries in the way that we don't have so many different cultures in Finland. There really isn't a lot that goes on. Sometimes on the weekends a band will come through but there is not that much to do. For example, New Orleans there is a ton of things to do but in Finland it is not that diverse. Also, one thing for sure that I know is that the three guys you mentioned are all pretty sensitive guys. Not everybody would write like that in Finland.
Henrik: Yeah it really does if that's what it says.
Elias: It describes me pretty good, I'm surprised.
Henrik: (laughs) I think it describes everybody in the band! The friend thing is really good. I mean there's like millions of people that I know and have met before but the real friends, there's not many. And those people are usually ones that I've known since I was a kid. I think that is the same for most of us as wel both in the band and crew. I think the things you said basically describe ninety percent of Finnish musicians.
Elias: Technique is such a boring subject for me.
Henrik: Ha, yeah it really is. Give me a moment here to think... I could be interested in talking about books but I'm not sure I want to get too into that. I used to read so much when I was a kid. I can easily say the most boring questions I've been asked! “So when is your next show?” Stuff you can find if you go to the home page and don't even have to search for it's right there. I don't think there is something specific that I would love to talk about that I haven't already. But especially keyboard technique, programming and stuff, that is so boring! When you are out on tour and then at home recording, this is stuff that you deal with everyday and is definitely not something I like to talk about too much. I think that playing technique and technology should be there to help you, not make life harder which it ends up doing sometimes.
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