Even now when doom scene is on it’s top and there’re too much bands around, it’s pretty hard to find a band which is really worth of attention. Sometimes bands break through and climb to the top in DIY style, sometimes fair guys from some label grants a good deal and sometimes some promo from fans or e-zines help to gain a good result. I guess that Vinum Sabbatum has all chances to keep their good positions for a succesful combination of all these factors. Famous label Eyes Like Snow released first full length of Vinum Sabbatum – “Bacchanale Premiere”, it’s full of retro doom rock songs with a vibe of progressive and hard rock of 70s, bluesy guitars and hammond organ are included. Yet we need to learn more about this band, right? Janne Salo (vocals) and Mika Pajula (bass) are ready to help.
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Hi mates! Not all of us still know about Vinum Sabbatum therefore I would like to ask you about some basic info – what do our readers need to know about the band firstly?
Janne: We are just a bunch of dudes from Finland delivering you some groove and vibes from the stone age of rock...
Mika: It was those very last days of 2008 that we started this band and by the end of 2009 we had a complete line-up; myself on bass, Janne on vocals, Juha Köykkä on guitar and Tomi Korpela on organ and keys. Our original drummer didn’t fit in so well and now we have a guy named Jarno Jaakkola on board. He's been around about a year now.
You released your first album not so long ago, “Songs From The Convent” was recorded in 2010, right? How long did you go to this record? What was your expectations from it?
Mika: Right, it was basically recorded just over two days in October 2009 and we pressed few hundred copies by ourselves few months later. Initially it was just a five-song demo-CD, we wanted to get some songs out and hopefully gain some sort of distribution or recording deal at the end. When we got signed with German label called Eyes Like Snow, they wanted to release it officially albeit different mixing and with two more songs which we did for a split-EP with brilliant british band called Groan. The final product became a bit mixed bag but we can live with that.
Did you realize all of your intentions onto ”Songs From The Convent”? Art-work, songs, production – does it suit band’s ideals?
Mika: There's always something you would like to go back and do over again. But those songs were best ones that we could wrote and band was relatively young at the time, so considering the situations it came out well, I think. I had just one thing in mind when we did the post-production and that was to lo-fi pretty much everything, so there was whole lot of EQing with all the high-ends dropping. I wanted everything to sound dated and dirty and it was important to leave air between the instruments. Artwork on the official release was done by amazing artist named David Csicsely and it was provocative with candy wrap colours and all, which gave psychedelic vibe for the whole thing. For the full-length I did some suggestions as soon as the title came up and David took it from there. Hopefully we can continue to do work together.
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Do you and other band’s members have another musical experience besides Vinum Sabbatum?
Janne: There’s a long history of playing rock or some sort of metal behind all of us. Well, I’ve sang all sorts of stuff just to keep my voice versatile. In couple of bands I have done some bass playing also while doing vocals. I have never played guitar in a live band, maybe I should venture that someday.
Mika: Yeah, everyone’s been doing something over the years. Our guitarist and I used to play in same band before this one. If anyone out there remembers band called God Forsaken, we both played in that one too. Our guitarist Juha was the original bass player and few years later I did the same slot. It was more stoner-kind of stuff but it went nowhere and rightfully so.
What are the reasons for the rising of retro rock and metal scene? Look – there’re more than ever of bands which follow old methods and teachings of their musical forefathers, how sudden did it happen from your point of view?
Janne: Mainstream rock is just so bad and dull nowadays so it’s no wonder alternatives must come forward. Still I think metal scene is somehow suffering at the moment while retro side is gaining popularity. Thinking of myself, I must admit that in Vinum Sabbatum I am not specifically aiming at some sort of style. I just make the vocal lines that feel good and appropriate to each individual song. It may be that modern sounds and over-the-top mastering of everything are starting to tire people’s ears. We just try to sound natural, cost is that all the flaws are audible as well, heh.
Mika: I think music fans are going back to basic stuff and music that breaths life. I used to categorize everything in the past, now I just make a difference if something is good or bad for my taste. We as a band don't have a just one point to follow, a certain style that we must emulate blindly. This retro boom has been on over ten years now, which is pretty long time and probably it's fading out even. But everything must go in circles and I don't mind that. There's always a danger when fads are coming and going and if you're connected too tightly into one specific movement, you become yesterdays news pretty soon.
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As i think Finland has concentrated doom metal scene, and there’re few unique and really strong bands with great atmosphere and mood. The Wandering Midget for example which album is released via Eyes Like Snow records too. Is doom music realy so popular in your land or is it just a kind of dillusion?
Mika: With bands like Reverend Bizarre, Spiritus Mortis, Fall of the Idols and Garden of Worm it became noticed more. It's been around a long time and does seem to attract listerners year after year. In recent years, bands have evolved a bit and it's either gone to sludgier or a bit lighter with influeces from kraut- and psychedelic rock.
Janne: Heavy Metal is one of Finland’s main culture exports, so it’s no wonder that also doom flourishes as another variant of it. As Mika mentions, doom seems in some occasions strayed out of metal categorization into another rock music genres. We are somewhere in between as well.
And, men, how old are you? I’m asking because it’s interesting to know why do you like that epoch – only because of music or because of something more?
Janne: I think I’m still too young to play this stuff with credibility enough, though I’m in my forties. I’m eagerly waiting for greyer beard, meaner stare and rougher tone. Thinking of seventies, it’s not only the music that moves you when it’s a decade of your childhood. All the culture and how everything was more secure, fresh and innocent comparing to today has an effect to the music you play. It grows to be more than just pathetic nostalgia.
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Was it naturally to you to work out that specific sounding? I guess that you have strictly limited approach to songs arrangements because of that, but it’s obvious that there’s nothing unnecessary in your music.
Mika: Well, obviously we had to lay down some sort of a plan at the beginning. But even then we already knew what we wanted to do. I was just a case to find five guys that thinks alike and everybody in this band is adamant about the sound and approach we want to pursue. I'm sure that our basic foundation will always be in heavy blues and doom but we also want to add some other influences and hopefully make a mix of our own. Therefore, songwriting is a natural process and doesn't limit us to just one thing.
The band has expressive title yet how often do you plunge yourself in bacchanalias and sabbatical orgies? Though you know… it sounds like stereotype as if band play brutal death then they must eat dead meat in the graveyard.
Mika: Thankfully it doesn't say "We the Sabbatum" or something like that... At least I'm not aware of any orgies around, hah. The name was intended to represent a theological event and more imaginary type of thing to be honest. Somehow it suits us well what we are about musically, so that what it is.
So, you do not crush bars and pubs after few portions of alchohol?! Man, look you play songs about evil, demons, graveyards and so on – there must be a part of it in you or you’re not bloody true and bloody evil.
Mika: Not evil for sure, just melancholic at times which creates good atmosphere for creating and writing. I should be depressed more as I think of it now... I haven't come up with any great ideas for a while, hah.
Janne: In the artwork of ”Songs from the convent” ELS-release there is this sexy nude nun giving oral pleasure to a crucifix. As a picture it kind of still stops me in it’s evil decadence and feminine beauty at the same time. I still haven’t showed the record to my mother who is a devoted christian. There is one rule: You know you are on the right track in making rock’n roll if you have to ask yourself ”am I going to hell for this and this”.
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Eyes Like Snow Records released first full-length album of Vinum Sabbatum “Bacchanale Premiere” in CD and LP editions, and I see that it was really successful deal for your music deserves vinyl format absolutely. What would you like to tell about process of record and production of this release?
Janne: We spent too much time creating it, I would say now. There was quite much hassle getting all the bits and pieces together. Luckily the end result turned out to be firm package of 70’s hard rock with doom and prog influences.
Mika: Album was done pretty much the same way we did "Songs from the Convent". To keep the cost down we recorded basic tracks in our own studio. It gave us freedom to do whatever we wanted to do but some of the focus got lost in process and I'll take the blame for that. Other thing that bothered me was that after we cut basic instruments down, I became aware that our original drummer was not a right one to do the job. Jarno came in but we didn’t want to start things all over, which we should have done, and it did restricted overall feel of the album. But it was a good learning exprience and now we really know what to expect whenever we start to do next one.
I see that Vinum Sabbatum plays gigs time to time – how often do you play? And what kind of people visit your gigs? I wonder if they’re those old rockers from 70’s.
Janne: We play here and there once and awhile. Playing gigs is fun but the amount must be reasonable and it’s important to keep up some quality in where you play and in what occasion. On this level you get no money from playing live but that’s not important. I don’t understand underground bands that refuse offered gigs just because they are not paid enough. If you want some money go play in a cover band, though it doesnt come easy there as well. About the people.. I think it’s those younger-than-us metalheads who have interest also for this kind of stuff. One old jazz guy in his sixties was checking out us just by coincidence on our latest gig. His praises where overwhelming after the show. But I just think it maybe was because of Tomi’s 60’s built Hammond organ on center of the stage that night and couple of drinks too much..
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Will you (or would you like) play a breif tour in support of ”Bacchanale Premiere”?
Mika: We will do some gigs but those will take place just here in Finland. We will do at least second album before we can seriously think about playing somewhere else.
What are main differences between “Bacchanale Premiere” and “Songs From The Convent”?
Janne: Composing of the songs was done totally differently on "Songs from the Convent" comparing to "Bacchanale Premiere". There was no keyboards along when we wrote our first songs that are on "SFTC". More thought was given to the new songs.
Mika: Yeah, I think we had a bit more field to work with arrangements, that’s for sure. And writing itself went up a notch on the second release. The EP was a good starting point for us and after that we wanted spread out a bit, so the album presents quite well where we want to go with our music.
What do you want to put in songs’ lyrics? Is it important for you?
Mika: I’m more about the rhyme and look of it than what I’m actually trying to say. Topics are whatever we may come up with - sometimes it’s a tale or a story, some others are more about real life experiences and stuff like that. I used to write more lyrics in the beginning but now Janne has done most of them. And I must say he’s pretty good twisting out words and themes.
Janne: Lyrics are important in a sense that I need to feel confident to sing them live without thinking; “Oh my God, how shit this is”. I have blocking issues at times with my lyrics writing. It might take months before I get every word in place in worst cases. In the new album there is not any specific theme, each song tells a different story. “In and Out of Faith” for example is about three women letting themselves to be badly abused because of severe emotional disorders. So, all our lyrics are not about drinking Sabbath wine in a witch convent. Song “Vinum Sabbatum” is the occult blast of the record. Lyrics of it were actually quite tricky to put together, but that’s always the case with songs with length.
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Thank you for your time comrades! That’s all for this time, so if you have few words to our doom-congregation then bring it on! Good night.
Mika: Thanks for the interview and hello to all who have read it this far. Visit Northern Silence website to find more about our releases and sleep tight!
Interview By Aleks Evdokimov.
Facebook
Myspace
Northern Silence | Official
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Janne: We are just a bunch of dudes from Finland delivering you some groove and vibes from the stone age of rock...
Mika: It was those very last days of 2008 that we started this band and by the end of 2009 we had a complete line-up; myself on bass, Janne on vocals, Juha Köykkä on guitar and Tomi Korpela on organ and keys. Our original drummer didn’t fit in so well and now we have a guy named Jarno Jaakkola on board. He's been around about a year now.
You released your first album not so long ago, “Songs From The Convent” was recorded in 2010, right? How long did you go to this record? What was your expectations from it?
Mika: Right, it was basically recorded just over two days in October 2009 and we pressed few hundred copies by ourselves few months later. Initially it was just a five-song demo-CD, we wanted to get some songs out and hopefully gain some sort of distribution or recording deal at the end. When we got signed with German label called Eyes Like Snow, they wanted to release it officially albeit different mixing and with two more songs which we did for a split-EP with brilliant british band called Groan. The final product became a bit mixed bag but we can live with that.
Did you realize all of your intentions onto ”Songs From The Convent”? Art-work, songs, production – does it suit band’s ideals?
Mika: There's always something you would like to go back and do over again. But those songs were best ones that we could wrote and band was relatively young at the time, so considering the situations it came out well, I think. I had just one thing in mind when we did the post-production and that was to lo-fi pretty much everything, so there was whole lot of EQing with all the high-ends dropping. I wanted everything to sound dated and dirty and it was important to leave air between the instruments. Artwork on the official release was done by amazing artist named David Csicsely and it was provocative with candy wrap colours and all, which gave psychedelic vibe for the whole thing. For the full-length I did some suggestions as soon as the title came up and David took it from there. Hopefully we can continue to do work together.
Janne: There’s a long history of playing rock or some sort of metal behind all of us. Well, I’ve sang all sorts of stuff just to keep my voice versatile. In couple of bands I have done some bass playing also while doing vocals. I have never played guitar in a live band, maybe I should venture that someday.
Mika: Yeah, everyone’s been doing something over the years. Our guitarist and I used to play in same band before this one. If anyone out there remembers band called God Forsaken, we both played in that one too. Our guitarist Juha was the original bass player and few years later I did the same slot. It was more stoner-kind of stuff but it went nowhere and rightfully so.
What are the reasons for the rising of retro rock and metal scene? Look – there’re more than ever of bands which follow old methods and teachings of their musical forefathers, how sudden did it happen from your point of view?
Janne: Mainstream rock is just so bad and dull nowadays so it’s no wonder alternatives must come forward. Still I think metal scene is somehow suffering at the moment while retro side is gaining popularity. Thinking of myself, I must admit that in Vinum Sabbatum I am not specifically aiming at some sort of style. I just make the vocal lines that feel good and appropriate to each individual song. It may be that modern sounds and over-the-top mastering of everything are starting to tire people’s ears. We just try to sound natural, cost is that all the flaws are audible as well, heh.
Mika: I think music fans are going back to basic stuff and music that breaths life. I used to categorize everything in the past, now I just make a difference if something is good or bad for my taste. We as a band don't have a just one point to follow, a certain style that we must emulate blindly. This retro boom has been on over ten years now, which is pretty long time and probably it's fading out even. But everything must go in circles and I don't mind that. There's always a danger when fads are coming and going and if you're connected too tightly into one specific movement, you become yesterdays news pretty soon.
Mika: With bands like Reverend Bizarre, Spiritus Mortis, Fall of the Idols and Garden of Worm it became noticed more. It's been around a long time and does seem to attract listerners year after year. In recent years, bands have evolved a bit and it's either gone to sludgier or a bit lighter with influeces from kraut- and psychedelic rock.
Janne: Heavy Metal is one of Finland’s main culture exports, so it’s no wonder that also doom flourishes as another variant of it. As Mika mentions, doom seems in some occasions strayed out of metal categorization into another rock music genres. We are somewhere in between as well.
And, men, how old are you? I’m asking because it’s interesting to know why do you like that epoch – only because of music or because of something more?
Janne: I think I’m still too young to play this stuff with credibility enough, though I’m in my forties. I’m eagerly waiting for greyer beard, meaner stare and rougher tone. Thinking of seventies, it’s not only the music that moves you when it’s a decade of your childhood. All the culture and how everything was more secure, fresh and innocent comparing to today has an effect to the music you play. It grows to be more than just pathetic nostalgia.
Mika: Well, obviously we had to lay down some sort of a plan at the beginning. But even then we already knew what we wanted to do. I was just a case to find five guys that thinks alike and everybody in this band is adamant about the sound and approach we want to pursue. I'm sure that our basic foundation will always be in heavy blues and doom but we also want to add some other influences and hopefully make a mix of our own. Therefore, songwriting is a natural process and doesn't limit us to just one thing.
The band has expressive title yet how often do you plunge yourself in bacchanalias and sabbatical orgies? Though you know… it sounds like stereotype as if band play brutal death then they must eat dead meat in the graveyard.
Mika: Thankfully it doesn't say "We the Sabbatum" or something like that... At least I'm not aware of any orgies around, hah. The name was intended to represent a theological event and more imaginary type of thing to be honest. Somehow it suits us well what we are about musically, so that what it is.
So, you do not crush bars and pubs after few portions of alchohol?! Man, look you play songs about evil, demons, graveyards and so on – there must be a part of it in you or you’re not bloody true and bloody evil.
Mika: Not evil for sure, just melancholic at times which creates good atmosphere for creating and writing. I should be depressed more as I think of it now... I haven't come up with any great ideas for a while, hah.
Janne: In the artwork of ”Songs from the convent” ELS-release there is this sexy nude nun giving oral pleasure to a crucifix. As a picture it kind of still stops me in it’s evil decadence and feminine beauty at the same time. I still haven’t showed the record to my mother who is a devoted christian. There is one rule: You know you are on the right track in making rock’n roll if you have to ask yourself ”am I going to hell for this and this”.
Janne: We spent too much time creating it, I would say now. There was quite much hassle getting all the bits and pieces together. Luckily the end result turned out to be firm package of 70’s hard rock with doom and prog influences.
Mika: Album was done pretty much the same way we did "Songs from the Convent". To keep the cost down we recorded basic tracks in our own studio. It gave us freedom to do whatever we wanted to do but some of the focus got lost in process and I'll take the blame for that. Other thing that bothered me was that after we cut basic instruments down, I became aware that our original drummer was not a right one to do the job. Jarno came in but we didn’t want to start things all over, which we should have done, and it did restricted overall feel of the album. But it was a good learning exprience and now we really know what to expect whenever we start to do next one.
I see that Vinum Sabbatum plays gigs time to time – how often do you play? And what kind of people visit your gigs? I wonder if they’re those old rockers from 70’s.
Janne: We play here and there once and awhile. Playing gigs is fun but the amount must be reasonable and it’s important to keep up some quality in where you play and in what occasion. On this level you get no money from playing live but that’s not important. I don’t understand underground bands that refuse offered gigs just because they are not paid enough. If you want some money go play in a cover band, though it doesnt come easy there as well. About the people.. I think it’s those younger-than-us metalheads who have interest also for this kind of stuff. One old jazz guy in his sixties was checking out us just by coincidence on our latest gig. His praises where overwhelming after the show. But I just think it maybe was because of Tomi’s 60’s built Hammond organ on center of the stage that night and couple of drinks too much..
Will you (or would you like) play a breif tour in support of ”Bacchanale Premiere”?
Mika: We will do some gigs but those will take place just here in Finland. We will do at least second album before we can seriously think about playing somewhere else.
What are main differences between “Bacchanale Premiere” and “Songs From The Convent”?
Janne: Composing of the songs was done totally differently on "Songs from the Convent" comparing to "Bacchanale Premiere". There was no keyboards along when we wrote our first songs that are on "SFTC". More thought was given to the new songs.
Mika: Yeah, I think we had a bit more field to work with arrangements, that’s for sure. And writing itself went up a notch on the second release. The EP was a good starting point for us and after that we wanted spread out a bit, so the album presents quite well where we want to go with our music.
What do you want to put in songs’ lyrics? Is it important for you?
Mika: I’m more about the rhyme and look of it than what I’m actually trying to say. Topics are whatever we may come up with - sometimes it’s a tale or a story, some others are more about real life experiences and stuff like that. I used to write more lyrics in the beginning but now Janne has done most of them. And I must say he’s pretty good twisting out words and themes.
Janne: Lyrics are important in a sense that I need to feel confident to sing them live without thinking; “Oh my God, how shit this is”. I have blocking issues at times with my lyrics writing. It might take months before I get every word in place in worst cases. In the new album there is not any specific theme, each song tells a different story. “In and Out of Faith” for example is about three women letting themselves to be badly abused because of severe emotional disorders. So, all our lyrics are not about drinking Sabbath wine in a witch convent. Song “Vinum Sabbatum” is the occult blast of the record. Lyrics of it were actually quite tricky to put together, but that’s always the case with songs with length.
Mika: Thanks for the interview and hello to all who have read it this far. Visit Northern Silence website to find more about our releases and sleep tight!
Interview By Aleks Evdokimov.
Myspace
Northern Silence | Official
