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Don’t forget to check out the reports on each of the Rockharz days: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4.
In the history of music, there are always a few albums that become genre-defining in their very own way. AMORPHIS can literally sing a song about this, because their second album, Tales from the Thousand Lakes, is just such an album. On the album, the band knew how to interweave Melodic Death Metal with influences from Gothic Metal and Death Doom, thus skillfully realizing the concept, which revolved around the Finnish national epic Kalevala. Today, 30 years later, the spell of this album remains unbroken, at least for me, and AMORPHIS have released a live version, Live At Tavastia. Reason enough to question guitarist Tomi Koivusaari about the album and its influence!
Shieldmaiden’s Voice: Looking back thirty years to when Tales from the Thousand Lakes was first released, would you ever have guessed that your music would take you this far?
Tomi K.: No, definitely not! Our thinking at that time was that being 30 years old was an high age for Metal musicians because we were quite young ourselves. We never could have imagined that we’d still be doing this 30 years later. Even more so because we didn’t know what people were going to think about this album. It was very nice surprise to us that it became such a classic.
SV: What role has this album played for your artistic career as well as your personal growth?
Tomi K.: To us, Tales from the Thousand Lakes was one of the most important albums because it really opened the world for us. With that album we started touring all over the world and we found our specific style with it in a way. We found our balance of melodic parts as well as the Folk elements. Same with the lyrics.
SV: The Live at Tavastia-Version was recently released on July 12th and for that you rerecorded Tales from the Thousand Lakes in a Live-Setting. What did it feel like playing it again as a whole after all these years?
Tomi K.: We have played songs from Tales from the Thousand Lakes there and then, and while we haven’t played all the songs in a while, it’s still engrained in the muscle memory. We didn’t have to practice that much. The main difficulty was to play to an empty Tavastia because of Covid. It honestly felt very good to play those songs again since the small anniversary tour we did for Tales from the Thousand Lakes happened ten years ago already.
SV: What has changed the most about AMORPHIS in the 30 years since the release of Tales from the Thousand Lakes?
Tomi K.: Of course, we are a bit older! We do have more experience now and are significantly more professional than we used to be back then. As I mentioned, we were quite young when Tales from the Thousand Lakes was first released and the whole album session only took 10 days and that includes mixing! We barely had any studio experience either! Nowadays we’re doing everything a bit more detailed. [We laugh]
SV: What is your favorite thing about the new live version?
Tomi K.: Well, it would be silly to make a new studio version of it because you would never be able to recreate the original feeling that we had on the album when it first came out. The only good solution if you want to do something with the album is to do a live version of it. You basically take the material and reimagine it with the sound that the band has today.
SV: It’s a bit strange for me to be asking all these questions because when Tales from the Thousand Lakes first came out, I wasn’t even born. [We both laugh] Even so, it became such a huge part in my personal musical development and it’s nice to see you guys so very at home with the songs on this new version.
Tomi K.: Oh yes, it’s the muscle memory! We never really forgot!
SV: Would you say then that the new version is a must-have for Metal fans?
Tomi K.: It’s maybe a must-have for AMORPHIS fans who haven’t listened to our older stuff that much. We have a lot of fans that have listening to us when Tomi Joutsen joined the band and for these people it’s perfect. They get the same songs with his voice which might get them excited for the older songs as well.
SV: Is that your way of saying that we’re going to get all new versions for the albums you made before Tomi joined the band?
Tomi K.: I don’t think so, you never know, but there’s just too many albums and not enough time to redo them all.
SV: I mean, you could do an unplugged version, I’d be totally down for that! Or go even bigger and go for a whole orchestra!
Tomi K.: We have been thinking about that since we already did some projects like that, but the whole Tales from the Thousand Lakes album as an acoustic version would be quite difficult. Overall, a good idea though!
SV: Looking into the future, what is something you hope for for AMORPHIS?
Tomi K.: I hope that we’ll stay healthy and continue doing what we do. We still have a good spirit in the band and are not even thinking about quitting anytime soon. I think we’re going to do this as long as we can. I’m really looking forward to going into the studio at the end of this year to make a new album
SV: The last three albums kind of belong together, at least in my mind. Will there be a fourth part of will you start a new journey?
Tomi K.: I guess, it’s going to be a part of a new one. I like think of of all our albums as sets of threes. This time, it’s going to be a bit of a new direction.
SV: Nice! I’m going to be looking forward to it! What is something you always wanted to be asked in an interview but never were so far?
Tomi K.: That is a difficult question… I’ve never been asked what my favorite color is…
SV: What is your favorite color then?
Tomi K.: Blue! Or Black…
SV: I think it’s so telling that you said „blue“ because it’s the color I associate with Finland because of the stunning lakes and the beautiful skies… Would you say that growing up in that environment has had an impact on your musical style?
Tomi K.: I don’t know about musical style because when we started listening to music it was IRON MAIDEN, SLAYER, PINK FLOYD and bands like that, but it wasn’t until later that we started listening to Finnish bands. That is where the Folk elements came from, but even then it was more of a global thing anyway. Of course, you’re always influenced by the stuff you listened to when you were a child, my mom used to listen to ABBA a lot for example.
SV: What is advice you would give your younger self, but also young musicians that are just starting and are looking up to you?
Tomi K.: Do your own thing. Don’t try to copy others. You can always take influences, but make something out of it that you like or love because then you have a bigger chance that someone else might love it too.
SV: Now on to my last question: If you could give your fans any message, what would it be?
Tomi K.: Stop wars, make love! [We laugh]
So, that’s it for the second Rockharz interview. But don’t worry: there are more to come! Stay tuned for a band that is unique in many ways and makes music that is just as captivating.
Shieldmaiden's Voice 