Interview with Eicca and Paavo

MT interviews Eicca & Paavo of Apocalytpica September 30th at 6pm TLA in Philadelphia

I would like to thank the guys for taking the time out of their schedule for this interview. It was my first time meeting them and seeing them perform and I was overwhelmingly surprised on all levels. They are really nice guys and I loved the way they interacted with each other. Finishing each others sentences without talking over one another...a very tight bond. The show was one of the best I have ever seen in my life. Very talented musicians and I look forward to seeing them again! I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I enjoyed talking to them! ~ mt

MT: How did you guys come up with the band name?

Eicca: Band name was actually found by our old label mate, Kari Hynninen. Basically it was so he asked us to do the album and we did the album as an interesting project and when it was time to bring the covers, the booklets to print we were like desperately trying to find a good name for the album and the band. It was maybe come in the last possible week.

Paavo: Yea we had so quite many different options…

Eicca: Yea but in the end Apocalyptica sounded best cause it reminds about Apocalypse and like…

Paavo: Dark, moody……in a cliché sort of way and Metallica...Apoc-alypti-CA the ending was like…

Eicca: Because the band was not meant to be a band. We just trying to find a name for the group of guys that wanted to do metal for fun and we were planning to make one album. Because there were no plans for the future after that first album and we were strongly connected to Metallica also the band name. People could find it easily, but it is still a good band name. We were lucky.

MT: Have you met Metallica?

Eicca: Yea, lot of times. Just last time in Ozzfest I was doing an interview with Lars.

MT: How was Ozzfest? How was that experience?

Eicca: It was good. Very hot.

Paavo: It was hot. Very hot. It was terrible. It’s really bad. 107 or 108 degrees straight sunlight…So hot, it’s not for metal. Metal needs a chill. There needs to be enough energy for a mosh pit and so on. People get lazy when it is too hot.

Eicca: People get wasted there all day. It’s just you know and the playing conditions are horrible on stage, but otherwise it was a good experience.

Paavo: The lineup was excellent. All the bands that were playing they were very nice.

MT: Any bands that you enjoyed seeing? That stuck out?

Paavo: Not really, all the bands were really good.

Eicca: Cavelera Conspiracy, Serj Tankian, Jonathon Davis was great...his solo, Ozzy was cool. Metallica was cool. We didn’t see much of Metallica because we had to get out of there for next day show. Next day departure.

MT: I have never seen Metallica.

Eicca: Really? I have seen them like a thousand times. Yea, because we have played together with them. This summer already we played three festivals together. Ozzfest, we did Radio Festival and then we did Rockin Rio.

Paavo: That’s a huge festival. The cap is 400,000.

MT: Wow.

Eicca: Yea it was amazing. European festivals, I would say are way bigger than America.

Paavo: Here are some big ones as well, but…those are huge festivals.

Eicca: There’s Lars on stage. (shows me pic of him on his cell phone).

MT: Oh wow! Neat. That’s awesome.

Eicca: I was there checking it with my son behind the drums. That was cool.

MT: Can you give me one word to describe your music and then one word to describe each of you in the band?

Paavo: Ahhhhhhh….(groans loud!)

MT: Weird question I know…

Paavo: Our music is Active Rock or Modern Rock...

Eicca: Or is it Alternative?

Paavo: It might be all of those.

Eicca: We were just joking about this. What’s the fuckin difference on the radios. They try to be very different, but there’s no difference at all, but um…we would be…

Paavo: Active-modern-alternative-progressive-metal-rock-classic…(everyone laughs as his voice gets really low and deep as he speaks without taking a breath)

MT: One word with a little hyphenating!

Paavo: Yea! One word!!

MT: How about a word for each of you? Your personalities…

Paavo: At this time?

Eicca: It changes from time to time based on happiness.

They speak Finnish to each other…

Paavo: Mikko? Mikko?? The Jaw....

They continue to speak Finnish.

MT: Which means what? (we all laugh)

Paavo: They need something nice as well.

Eicca: Mikko…animal. Mikko is animal on stage.

Paavo: He has one face…one face on stage. You will see. (Makes crazy face)

Eicca: Paavo is Spede. Spede, he was old, he’s dead already, Finnish guy legendary in the comedy business.

Paavo: Do you know him? Pretty well?

MT: Yes, well…

Eicca: We call Spede a guy who is really freaking out in a good way…In a very entertaining way. He is Spede. So we have animal, Spede…

Eicca: Perttu is um…Perttu is Sleeping Beauty.

Paavo: Yea, Sleeping Beauty, that is fine.

Eiica: Antero is Mr. Cool.

Paavo: Bram Stoker’s Mr. Cool. (says it in a very deep voice)

MT: I asked Jyrki for a question and he actually sent me a text question for you. He said it would be a good question. (Handed Paavo the phone to read text)

Paavo: Ask them who has more influenced them: Irwin Goodman or Spede Pasanen! SPEDE PASANEN!!! (both Paavo and Eicca shout and laugh, we all laugh)

MT: I said “WHAT?” I had to Google it!

Paavo: Exactly the guy we are talking about!

MT: Isn’t that funny?

Eicca: We need Spede t-shirts.

Paavo: He used it, but we get to use it as well.

Eicca: Check out Spede Pasanen.

Paavo: You Tube Spede Pasanen.

Eicca: He made many technical innovations, but he was making comedy movies and series. Some of them very bad, but still funny. They are not very funny to Foreign people because they are in Finnish you know. It is based in the language. He really made his own business all the time.

MT: Take me through the songwriting process of the band.

Eicca: We actually…mainly we write alone and then we create pretty good demos by ourselves…that we present pretty well what we are aiming for…

Paavo: And then come the critical fuckers…

Eicca: We play the demos there’s others and we determine which songs are worth developing and which songs are not...and try to figure out the average style of the stuff people are writing…because sometimes if we want to have a tight album you can’t go to every direction. Like figuring out a style and sometimes the song doesn’t need to be arranged very much anymore and sometimes we arrange them a lot. I think in the past, when I did all the songs, the song writing was a little more classical. The songs were written through. The songs didn’t have kind of traditional pop/rock structure or choruses or stuff like that. Many of the songs they would just flow or something. The melodies were maybe not the main role it was more about having a lot of riffs…lot of information in the songs. I think nowadays they are more traditional in the structure. The songs start to be build up with harmony and melody and arranging that and building up everything up around it. It has changed. It is good. The method you are actually creating the music and how it is going to be.

MT: How do you go about selecting guest vocalists?

Paavo: First the song, then we try to find…then we start to think what kind of voice would be best.

Eicca: First you have to feel if the song would be best with vocal track or instrumental.

Paavo: It is easiest to think about those people that we know and who are interested. We have festivals and many different occasions we have met many different musicians and then if there is something interesting in that artist we are always talking about would it be nice to do something in the future if something appears. What happened with Corey Taylor, that is such a story. We had been talking to him already for a couple of years…

Eicca: We should do something together and then we had the song “I’m Not Jesus” done, basically the song was there and I was in one songwriting session in London while he played with Stone Sour, I went to the show and gave him the song and told him ok if you like the song just let me know and we’ll do it and he said oh wow, let’s do it. Sometimes with Ville and Lauri and really with both of them we were talking for a long long long time because we know each other, since I know Ville since 95 or 94 and as Lauri as well since 96. So we were talking long time with them and then it was like before that we worked with foreign artists and we didn’t write together. We thought it would be exciting to write together because we are in the same city basically and then Ville got the idea of doing a duet. Why don’t we just do song together and not separate songs on an album. That was a long process of writing because everybody was busy and we met time to time to develop the song step by step. Sometimes everything is done sometimes a new artist comes in the studio…every time is a little bit different approach. Adam we didn’t know him before. We had the great song in our hands, we did not finalize lyrics, but the song was there and then we needed to get a singer and did not know who it should be but we had a great song. Then we checked out Three Days Grace and liked his voice and he was willing to do it without meeting us before. Every time is a little bit different.

Paavo: Except Dave from Slayer...

Eicca: Dave Lombardo!

Paavo: He always comes when we ask him. He has already played in three albums.

Eicca: Yea…

MT: That’s great. It says a lot. How do you feel about the US response to your live show? I have heard nothing, but great things.

Paavo: The audience tends to be really good here and it has been a lot of joy to play for American audiences. It would be nice to see a bit more people…

Eicca: Yea, could be more audience.

Paavo: I would like to see something like from 600 to 800 to 900 people, but still there is space in places.

MT: There always room for more!

Eicca: Audience is great! I enjoy very much to play here because compared to Europe because here is completely fresh and new audience. You know in Germany and Central Europe we see the same faces for ten years already in the front row. (laughs) All the same people always there, I start to feel like I am repeating myself and it starts to affect my excitement about doing it because every night needs to be first time, but in America I really love the feeling the whole audience is fresh and you see the amazed faces of the people witnessing it first time and most audiences is just seeing it first time.

MT: We brought six people with us tonight.

Eicca: It is exciting…it is exciting how to catch the new audience. We are actually playing with the audience. SPEDE! (all laugh) Spede especially...

MT: I will ask you another strange question…What is your worst habit and best trait?

Eicca: As a person or a band?

MT: As a person.

Paavo: Ahhhhh (loud groan). I can start…I am sometimes a bit CRANKY. (all laugh)

MT: Everybody is cranky at times.

Paavo: No, I am ESPECIALLY cranky sometimes. I woke up with the wrong feet and I have not got any food. That’s a reason then I am really bad. And afterwards I feel sorry, but sometimes not even sorry.

Eicca is still staring into space in deep thought…

MT: How about your best trait?

Paavo: My best trait? Ahhhhhh….my best trait is….you know Finns are not saying any best traits. (We all laugh including Eicca)

Eicca: Say something!!!

MT: There has to be something.

Eicca: Yea…

Paavo: I have a brother!

MT: A nice brother!

Eicca: Paavo is very nice to people. He loves to…

Paavo: But that is a bad habit.

MT: I am too nice too. How about you?

Eicca: Worst habit is I would say is that I easily overload myself which creates a chain reaction which makes me sometimes really mean.

Paavo laughs

Eicca: Mean and lazy at the same time. It is an opposite reaction against overloading and you start to be lazy and not to care about things too much. But I am really good at organizing things and making things to happen when they are needed to…

Paavo: When the last day comes…

Eicca: Yea, when something has to be done, I am very good at getting it done.

MT: What do you want your fans to get out of your music?

Eicca: Hmmm, mental health.

All laugh…

MT: That is important!

Eicca: Unfortunately it doesn’t help us here!! You know, nice trips you know for different places in their minds.

Paavo: We don’t have, how do you say…meaning. Meaning of our music. We don’t have a message, but it is more like…I would say it would be great if people could feel same kind of feelings and emotions that we do. It is wonderful…

Eicca: The meaning of music basically is to create a space for your mind. You know that when you listen to music that music creates head room in your head and for your feelings and you can actually handle your feelings.

Paavo: And there are many reasons…getting a good mood, having fun…

Eicca: It’s also getting the head room for the feelings.

Paavo: Yes! That’s good. Nice!

Eicca: Nice!

MT: What do you miss most while you are on tour?

Eicca: Family.

MT: If you could meet any one person dead or alive who would it be and why?

Paavo: I would like to meet my wife.

All laugh…

Paavo: Historical or important?

MT: Yea.

Paavo: Dalai Lama …

Eicca: Yea, Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu…

Paavo: I have met already Nelson Mandela.

MT: How was that experience?

Paavo: It was nice experience. I was offering coffee for him…offering breakfast…

Eicca: Breakfast waiter…

Paavo: I was working at Intercontinental Hotel in Helsinki for just one Spring and Summer after my army. My brother and I lived together and he was working and I was always loaning money and he got to pay everything for me. I had a lack of money so my brother was working in hotel and got me a job.

MT: Your nice brother! One more question. If you could be invisible, stop time or fly. Which would you choose?

Eicca: Invisible, stop time or fly???

MT: Yea…

Paavo: I am flying all the time in my dreams.

MT: Do you fly in your dreams?

Eicca: I dream of flying as well.

Paavo: Yes, lots! I can go to ceilings and I just jump and go (whistles) really high and sometimes I go…it is a bit scary to go over the roof to the really open high, but sometimes I am really good at that.

Eicca: Strange we have never met flying you know? (laughs)

MT: So if you could do that in real life you would like to do that?

Paavo: You know what they say about the flying people? (Devilish grin)

MT: What?

Paavo: Something to do with the sexuality. (all of us laugh)

MT: Oh, it always goes back to that!!!

Paavo: Sexual freedom!

Eicca: But I would still take the flying I think being invisible…If you can’t go with your whole face there then you shouldn’t go at all. You know, being invisible, I don’t want to be a stalker. I would rather fly. I would rather fly.

MT: That is true. That says a lot about a person.