Achiote
Terve,
Kiitos for letting us interview you. Let's begin with discovering a bit more about the band. How did everything start ? What's the story of the band
We´ll, I met Janne, I think on summer 2002 when I was a working as trainee at his workplace. We found out rather quickly that our taste in music and life in general is quite similar. After that couple of years went by that we weren’t that much in contact with each other but I had quite clear vision that we would be playing in the same band someday.
Jussi I have known since high school and we have done other music projects also in the past. I sent him some demo tapes on 2006 or 2007, difficult to remember anymore :) and asked if he would be interested of playing with us. A year went by and I almost forgot the whole thing and then one day I received a SMS from him “Good shit, let´s jam”. We had some difficulties to find bass player in the beginning and at some point and I think it was 2009 Jussi mentioned that we should check if Anu would be interested. And luckily she was. Anu is also really talented singer and generally a gifted musician so she lifted us in totally new level as a band. We weren’t that active on that point yet just jamming and trying different ideas every now and then. We played our first show in 2010.
2011 we started to really concentrate on playing together and got to the point that we decided to start recording full length album in January 2012. It took over two years to finalize the album because everybody was quite busy with other projects and also we financed everything by ourselves. In the final phases of recordings we wanted to add some keyboards to the songs and decided to ask if Tuomas would be available for the sessions. So it happens that he is still with us :)
From where does your name come from ? How did you get the idea for it ?
It´s a kind of a wordplay :) But at the same time It also has an actual meaning. Coincidence or not?
We still like to keep it a bit of a mystery. Let´s see if people are able to figure it out :)
On the 22nd of August, your first album called «Deimos» got released. Tell us more about it. What was atmosphere you wanted to give on it ?
'Deimos' contains tender and soulful metal dealing with subconscious imagery and demons inside. And I think we succeeded to do it.
Are there any particular things that influence your music ?
Lots of influences just taken observing life in general. Music wise I would say some influences coming from the Seattle grunge scene. Bands like Alice in Chains, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam were and still are big part of our musical landscape. But at the same time lots of influences can be heard from the 70’s bands. Black Sabbath maybe being the biggest influence. Regarding Finnish bands, Amorphis and Kingston Wall have been important bands. At least for me.
If you need to choose one song in all the songs you made, which one would it be and why ?
I would say my choice would be the title track Deimos. It pretty much has all the elements that sums up who we are. It’s a versatile song which is a bit all around the place :)
Do you often write songs with a theme in your head or do you go more for random ideas as they come?
My own song writing pretty much reflects how I feel in particular moment of time. I try to just let it out as it comes and not trying to create anything on purpose. It´s more real when it comes naturally. And I think those emotions also comes across on the album very well.
Some of the people who will read this interview don’t know your music. What can you say for giving them desire to discover you ?
If you are into soulful, melodic metal spiced up with some grunge and 70’s-vibe, we are your choice!
If someone will come to see you live, what kind of show will he/she see ?
Energetic, well sung beautiful vocal harmonies and lots of hair!
What are your plans for the future ?
Plan is to do lots of shows in the near future. Hopefully soon outside Finland also. And at some point to go back in to studio and write a new album.
If you could recommend some Finnish artists to discover, who would they be ?
There is so many good underrated bands in Finland… At the moment I would say that people should check out Willie and the Goodsouls. And everyone should know Kingston Wall.
Thank you for giving us some of your time. Is there something you want to say to FI Musica's followers ?
Thanks for the support and hopefully we meet on gigs soon!
(Interviewed : Timo Interviewer : Isa)
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Twitter : @Achioteband