1.
First of all, I heard your latest album (A Virgin And A Whore),
which I think is a really heavy and cool one, a masterpiece I could say
and I enjoyed it very much and for this I voted it as the best album of
2001!. Tell me some information about the band. How did the idea for
ETERNAL TEARS OF SORROW come about?
J:
Thank you very much!
It
came to three fellow's mind in the early 90's. One of them was I,
Jarmo;
the other guys were Olli (who left the band 3 years ago) and
Altti.
We had some projects in 1990-1994, and they slowly transformed into
Eternal Tears of Sorrow.
Basically, we had recorded a demo tape in October 1993 called
"Beyond the
Fantasy". We still didn't have a proper name and we didn't take the
recording sessions so seriously. However, we got very surprised by the
tape because it turned out to be much better than we expected.
So, we instantly started planning a new promo tape. In May 1994 we
started
recording it. And during the recording sessions we made up a new name
for
us: Eternal Tears of Sorrow. Well, we didn't get a record deal with this
demo; we needed to go to Tico-Tico studio in October to record
"Bard's
Burial".
2.
Tell me about the musical background of each of the members of
ETERNAL
TEARS OF SORROW.
J:
I think I should start with Pete who has always been into heavy
metal;
he's been listening to it for twenty years. I and Altti have been huge
heavy metal fans as well, but nowadays Altti is more into gothic music
and
I'm more into rock (CMX/Rammstein) and prog (Dream Theater, Spock's
Beard). Pasi has always been a huge prog/jazz fan and Antti a
thrash/death
fan. So, we all listen to many kinds of music, not just metal only.
3.
What are the things that inspire you to write such a heavy melodic
and melancholy music?
J:
Everything we see, hear, read, feel and so on. We just do what feels
right. Our biggest strength is intense teamwork, which makes our music
sound like all of us. Everybody listens to many kinds of music, and we
have our roots in heavy, melodic and melancholic music, so our music
just
comes out that way.
4.
What do the lyrics talk about and who writes them?
J:
Altti and I have written most lyrics. I think our lyrics have
always dealt with the dark side of mind and life. We have collected our
dark emotions, modified them and inserted them to our songs.
5.
Do you have some sort of interest toward obscure and mysterious
things and the dark side?!?
J:
Doesn't every human being have a dark side? Some of them just don't
want
to deal with, which may cause problems. There are just some people who
know how to deal with the dark side, like horror writers. I'm very
interested in the mysteries of life. I do not mean black magic or
anything
like that but I like to think about metaphysics, ie. whether there is
anything
beyond this life.
6.
Do you like most your brutal vocals or the clean ones? Are you
planning to change your way of singing in the future as so many others
have done?
J:
I like them both. You could think the growling vocals are "the
whore" and
the clean ones "the virgin", so the support each other. I
don't know if we
are ever going to change it, we shall see.
7.
What do you mean by your title of the
album? Who exactly is the
virgin and who is the whore? Is there a fight between the evil and the
good inside of the people?
J:
The title "A Virgin And A Whore" is very closely related to
"Chaotic
Beauty". I wouldn't like to explain any of those titles. But I can
reveal
they deal with the different sides of life and how everyone sees them.
Nothing is black and white, after all. And everyone sees things in a
very
different way.
But I agree, there is a fight between good and evil inside every human
being every day, it is there every time we make a choice. We just
usually
don't see it.
8.How
exactly did you get your name? What does it mean for you and what
kind of situations does it remind you?
J:
Altti came up with it during the tour, so he would be the best person to
talk about it. For me, it reminds me of the tour :).
9.
And now we go on with the “Weird Questions”!!!…..I will give you 5
words, and you will tell me what album do you believe that describes
best
each word.
a)
Darkness , b) Pain , c) Melancholy , d) Hate , e) Tears
J:
a) Darkness is what we Finns have to deal with every winter, it is a
very
important part of winter. I like both summer&sun and
winter&darkness,
without darkness I couldn't appreciate summer like I do now, and vice
versa.
b) Pain.
An interesting word, because the band "Pain" (with Hypocrisy's
Tδgtgren)
has released the new album a couple of days ago :). Pain,
especially
emotional pain, means growth as a human being, re-evaluation of
values and so on.
c) Melancholy.
Every man and woman has it. I'm not so sure whether I am a
melancholic
person.
d)
Hate.
I can't say I hate anyone or anything. It doesn't usually last long
for me. However, it can still be a very positive and refreshing emotion.
e) Tears.
A good way to let it all out, although I prefer to express myself
in
other ways.
10.
Tell me 5 albums that you would rather choose to sell your soul to
the devil so can keep them than loosing them! And why?
J:
CMX: Cloaca Maxima - best music from Finland ever
Death:
Symbolic - I like four of Chuck's last albums, a tough one to choose
Edge
of Sanity: Until Eternity Ends - heavy and aggressive
Radiohead:
Bends - an unbelievable and unique album
Rammstein:
Mutter - heavy, symphonic, great
11.
Ok, I wish you the best for this new album. The last words of
this
interview belong to you.
J: Thanks
for the interview! Check out our website at
http://www.eternaltears.net/
...!
by
Thanos & Kyriaki
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