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A Musical Awakening With NIILO SEVANEN From INSOMNIUM · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I'm Nilo from Insomnium band from Finland and I'm the
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: basis vocalist and we're coming to Australia in May. I
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: think we have five shows there. I think it's the
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: third time we come over there. It's always been really nice,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: really really good shows. People are super friendly, so it's
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: very exotic of course to come to Australia from Finland.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: So I'm looking forward to it.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Beautiful mine, thank you for joining us this evening.
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: Thank you very much.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Pleasure.
• 0:38
  Speaker 4: So as you say, Insuddny in return to Australia for
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: the first time since twenty seventeen. It's my run of
• 0:44
  Speaker 4: show is starting on the sick in Brisbane and then
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: you hit Camera, Sydney and Melbourne and finished Adelaide on
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: May the eleventh. So so there a month in a
• 0:52
  Speaker 4: bit of way, mate, get packed and ready to go.
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: Well not packed maybe, but.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: We'll have to do some visa work permit things for
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Japan and China, but the Australia things are already done.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: We can just come over there, but it will be
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: all right. We have one month to prepare and get
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: those papers ready and we can do the whole tour.
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: Very nice now, it gonna be your first visit in
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: eight years, right, So what's changed within so many ever
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: since the last time you'readier?
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: Well, our guitarists keep changing.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Uh Lima Klane left the band last year, a the
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: O the previous year actually, and now we have a
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: touring member, guitarist Tommy lais touring with us, and he
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: is an excellent old friend of us, excellent player, very
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: good singer, super nice guy and he's a kind of
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: permanent live member at the moment.
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: And let's see, let's see what happens with.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Our guitarist situation in the future, but at least at
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: the moment, we're touring with Tommy and Australians are gonna
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: get to witness hit his vocals and he's playing I
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: can promise he's an excellent.
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: Guy, nice And you also release a new album that
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: period and I sixteen ninety six, So are you going
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: to be focusing more on that or again I have
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: a bit of an even.
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: Spread of things.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the tour is still kind of this
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: world tour, so we're mostly playing that. Well I don't
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: know mostly, but of course we're concentrating on the new album,
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: but we're playing many many old songs as well, so
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: it's kind of balanced said, because our fans they want
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: to hear the old songs well, so it can't be
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: just just a new one.
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: So but yeah, it's still promoting the newest album.
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: Of course, you can never know how good a song
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: is on an album until you go out and live.
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: So how does that that album translate to the live
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: stage The song's come off all right?
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: Well, you're absolutely right.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: You never know beforehand which which songs are gonna work.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: But I think with this album I have a feeling
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: that every song has worked well, and some have been
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: surprisingly well. Some songs you thought, okay, this might be
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: to something to strange or to progressive for the live situation,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: but in the end it works really well and the
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: crowd goes crazy. So it's been really good, really good
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: crowd response for all the songs we have played. I
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: think there are some songs we haven't yet tried, but
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: I at least six seven.
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: Songs from from the from the new album we have
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: played love.
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: So runs are typically in some new live show and
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: what you expect benefit of those you might not have
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: seen it before.
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: Well.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: Of course on the album, we are very serious and
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: sad and melancholic and dramatic, but I think the live
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: show is more about having fun.
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: So we're having good time there. We hope people are enjoying.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: So it's a lot of a lot of headbanging and
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: good times that we try to deliver a very energetic
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: show every time, no matter how jet lack or tired.
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: We would happen to be.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: But once you go on stage, you forget every everything
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: and you get your energy up and for that hour
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: or hour and a half you'll you'll be like super
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: pumped and after that it's time to rest again.
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: But for sure all the shows we gave everything we got. Yeah.
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: Nice, and you're bringing out fellow Finnish band Omnium gathering
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: video as well.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: It's a long way to bring my mind, so it
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: must be pretty good.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: Of course, they're amazing and they are good friends and
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: we share one guitarist of course because Mark was one
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: places place in both bands. Yes, and we have been
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: touring with them actually this whole year now. We did
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: the European tour with them and now also finished shows
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: with them because they are playing there beyond album. They
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: had been playing there beyond album and we have been
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: playing the Shadows of the Dying Stun anniversary shows together,
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: so we kind of continue that now in Australia, but
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: we are not We are playing then sixteen ninety six
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: show within some of I'm not sure what was doing
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: in Australia, but they're always good.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: So let's come back to the beginning, like years southern
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: Marcus founded Insomnia and back in nineteen ninety seven in Finland, mate,
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: So what's the musical climate like in the country back then,
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: and then where did the bend fit in when you
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: first came on the scene.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we were just sixteen seventeen year old kids, kids
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: in school.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: We're in the same school I started the band.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: We liked bands like I'm Old Fish, Sentenced in Flames,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: darkment quality, in that kind of melodic death metal. They
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: were our favorites and we tried to do something like
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: that in the beginning. And uns is just where we started.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: It's a small city but there's a university, so there's
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: a lively music scene, a lot of young people, and
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: there's a really good summer festival, big summer festival. So
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: it was good music down back in the nineties and
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: there were a lot of bands and the like scene
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: was really active and it was easy to find other musicians,
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: so it was good time to start the band. Like
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: nowadays it seems to be really really difficult for youngsters
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: to find bad mates, but back in the nineties it
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: was easier.
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: Like everybody was either.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: Doing some sports or playing in the band, so those
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: were kind of the options for the guys ready to sports,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: and he was easy to find friends and and there
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: were some similar kind of bands in the nineties in
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: Finland like Omnium Gathering is as old as we Are
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: and some other bands as well.
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: So I think we fit.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: In quite well from the start, but I think we
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: also found our own thing, so after we started, it
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: was not just imitating our idols, but we also found
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: our own sound at some point.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and your.
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: Music blends things like progressive metal, there's black metal, folk metal,
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: do metal.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: There's a lockdown on in there, Maiden. When you look
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: at it on paper, it shouldn't really work.
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: So did you always have a set musical direction in
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: mind that wanted to model like that, or it more
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: just sort of happened over time.
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: It just happens, like.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: It's hard to plan your compositions beforehand.
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: That Okay, let's make album like that.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: You'll just start making music bleand's the guitar and then
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: something comes out of it. So it has all been
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: really like organic and natural the whole thing with the band.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: And I think, like you said, it sounds like a
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: miss math that it couldn't work. But I think still
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: everything we have done sounds like insomnium, even if they're
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: we have really like black metal is harsh songs or
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: then some really mellow acoustic songs. So there's a wide
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: range of stuff we can do. And as a kid,
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: I listened to that kind of albums, that kind of
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: bands that they did, all different kinds of songs, and
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: that's the kind of music I want to do, and
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: those kind of albums I want to listen to myself.
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: And then the creative process for your music, man, Like
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: there's so many genres, are so much going on, Like
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: how do you find the balance? You know, how do
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: you know if you're going too far in one direction
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: or not far enough in another direction?
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: Is it difficult?
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: Well, yeah, it's always thinking about what you're doing.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: And sometimes somebody makes a reef and the other guy's
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: comment that, Okay, that's too much something and that doesn't
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: sound the insomnium that it has to be changed. So
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: it's a combination of like all our visions are put
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: together and if everybody agrees, Okay, this sounds like insomnium,
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: then probably it does. And nobody like goes astray to
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: some direction that the others don't approve. So it's a
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: good thing that everybody is involved in the songwriting and arrangements.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: Everybody get to say, is this what we want to do?
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: So it's a teamwork and joint effort.
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: No, I said, before we let you go, mate, I've
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: got a new section that I've introduced called photo bombs.
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: So basically, before we speak, control through your social media
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: and I'll find some photos that I want to ask
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: you about. So I've got a couple of a couple
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: in store for you with this. So this part of
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: your fail mate, Like, where is it? There's that's a
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: hell of a lot of metal, hord, It's been right
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: out you're on stage, bro, Like how awesome is out
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: of stage looking out there and seeing that it's a
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: very nice photo.
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I don't.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: I walk around when I grow go to growthery store
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: right and look like that on stage. On stage, you
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: it's of course it's a show, and you have to
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: take the role. Being the lead singer in the metal
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: burd is what you do, and it comes at this point.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: It comes quite naturally when you go on stage, like,
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: no matter if you're tired or somebody, if you're sick
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: or anything, when you go on stage, you get this
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: feeling shut.
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: I've always wondered, Broy, like, how much can you actually
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: see from stage? Like with all the licen and stuff
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: in your eyes, you see people in the crowd that
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: are waving at you and how they think they catch
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: your eye and they're swooning and stuff, But can you
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: actually make anyone out in the crowd.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: Or is it just all shadows?
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: Usually you can see the front role all right, something
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: like that, But it depends on the lights. But like, yeah,
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: usually the people in the front that's that's all.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I thought that, cause you get paid. So he
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: just looks straight at me and it's like you can't
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: even fucking see it.
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: Exactly.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: Oh right, now, we're gonna have a bit of fun
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: with this one.
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: So I found a couple of photos, so if you
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: had to caption this one over the bay.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: Okay, that's the way. That's the basic impression that Marcus has.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: I think I think he's pleased at the moment.
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: He's a bit price but happy about this.
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, if you had to put a caption to that,
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: what do you reckon he's thinking.
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: I don't know, maybebe he's looking at the girls in
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: the front drawer. I don't know, I don't know.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: What about this one? This one's even better.
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: It's the same guy. Yeah, he's a man of many faces.
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he just leaves and reads a rock and roll
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: and you can see it in this picture clearly.
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: But he's enjoying himself.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: He looks like a very fun gentleman.
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: He's a fun gentleman of course.
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: Fantasy mat Well, thanks very much for your time, bro,
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: it's been a pleasure.
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: I'll be at the Brisbane show when you come out, mate,
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: so I'll be standing more than one road from the front,
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: so you might not see me, but i'll be over
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: to you alright.
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: Thank you very much.