Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / AMORPHIS Reflect On Evolution, Freedom, And Their Long-Awaited Return To Australia

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AMORPHIS Reflect On Evolution, Freedom, And Their Long-Awaited Return To Australia · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Cool. So we were just talking about I'm here with
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Tommy from a Morphus and we were just talking about
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: coming back to Australia and the set list.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, it's not easy to choose because we have
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: six different opinions in a band and of course a
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: couple of thousands more opinions from the fans, and we
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: have fifteen albums. It's not easy easy one to pick
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: up the songs, but we're trying to make it like
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: from all career and also of course if we have
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: a new album out, we want to of course have
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: some chains to ourselves to play like a four or
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: five from that.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: So yeah, perfect, perfect. And your music often feels very cinematic.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: When you write a rift, do you picture a scene
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: or story in your mind or does the narrative come later.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Well, I think personally, I always have some kind of
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: cinematic vision in my mind when doing like a new
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: song or something like that. But sometimes it's totally different
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: than when it's like finished and we have like lyrics
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: on it and everything like that, because lyrics are coming
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: and the vocal parts like that's the last thing before
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: that we're doing at the instrumental versions of the songs.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: That's what we're like concentrating in the beginning. So yes,
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: I have sometimes it's been like fun to have it
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: like it's exactly the theme is like what I've been
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: thinking it and it comes like a night per song.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: I had a vision. The work title was also like
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: some night I can't remember, but I had very same
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: kind of vision. And I told me when he was
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: working with vocals and lyrics, he didn't have any idea
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: what I've been I was like thinking, and it just fits.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: It's there, so it's it's funny. But yeah, it's always
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: something like I think one inspiration is nature as well,
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: like writing tickets. It's a very big part of it.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, definitely, and Amorphous has evolved massively since the
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: early Death Droom days. When you look back on those
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: early records, do they feel like a different band to
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: you or just like another chapter in the same story, Well.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: It doesn't feel like a different band, because yeah, it's
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: still like nowadays we have all four original members who
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: was in a band like a first album as well,
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: and I still remember like recording tales from the thousand
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: legs and time just goes so fast. Of course, nowadays,
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: if I'm listening to them. Of course I would do
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: like some things differently nowadays, but of course I would
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: have touched them like like really because that's a milestone
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: of that time. But of course we are When we started,
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: we were like seventeen years old, so of course there's
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: a lot of changes happening in our personal lives as well.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: So yeah, but I still feel it's the same band
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: and still have like certain kind of starting point when
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: we are starting to make new songs or something like that,
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: so that haven't changed changed that much.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense. And
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: I think what's really interesting about a MorphOS too is
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: that even though you guys have sort of you know,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: shifted genre or style every now and then, it just
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: made a Morphis grow bigger, where other bands can sometimes
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: fail when they experiment in other genres.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I think we did some like especially in
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: like a millionium times, we kind of lost what we
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: have been doing because we just taking so much influences
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: and wanted to try so much things. But in the end,
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: I think that was very important to us to do
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: those choice choices and try those things, because otherwise we
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: would feel like we're in some limited, like in building
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: us limits too much, but we just have to try
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: those paths. And nowadays I think we have tried everything
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: we want to and of course there will be some
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: new things, I hope hopefully in the future. But yeah,
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: I guess, as like musician, I think it's very important
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: to have like freedom of making music, not like thinking
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: that what kind of refew should be or it's too
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: like happy or too light or too heavy or whatever.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, not be restricted too much by outside
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: influence I guess maybe or confines.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Our company were thinking that
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: we lost our like lost our minds, like when we
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: were they first hear like well, even Tail from the
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: Thousand Legs, there was some strange parts and they were
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: thinking like are you sure about this? And then Electic
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: came and they were even more like confused maybe, but
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: I think they were right. Solutions at the time made
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: us original and unique things.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: That's right, that's right. And your latest album, Borderland explores
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: new musical territory. Again, was there a particular idea or
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: mood that guided the writing of this record?
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: Well, we never had like plans what direction we should go.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: And it's also the fact that we always have something
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: like thirty songs before we're going to the studio because
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: almost all of us are making songs. So the final
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: decision with songs were taken to the record and we're
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: recording as a producer, and we want a producer to
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: pick the songs because we have six different opinions from
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: that as well, so to us easiest, then we don't
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: have to talk about it. It's as like a producer
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: just the songs which he thinks are more most like
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: having a good album. And yeah, that's so. That's that's
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: why you never know, like ourselves, like what kind of
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: album next album will be, because it's there's so many
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: different moving parts when we are in that situation to
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: have like the ten songs. So but we still have
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: the same kind of we're still trying to make like
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: our best album, and we haven't like, ah, get get
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: it to the mode that we're thinking that as a
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: job too much like that we are just doing albums
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: and going to tours playing all stuff. So we're still
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: trying to look forward and go into better as a band.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, no, I love that. That's fantastic, like keep
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: reaching for more goals. I guess with every album that
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: you're coming out with.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, and of course all of us trying to
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: do our best, and sometimes it doesn't sound like we
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: were like expecting it to sound, and sometimes there's no surprises.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: But it's very hard to listen like own albums like
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: from Outsiders Ears as well, definitely, but to me, Borderland
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: sounds like fresh in a way. Yeah, and sound wise
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: it's very good. It's a lot of air and still
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: like space even there's a lot of things happening.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Definitely, definitely. I got a lot of a sort of
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: melodic sort of vibe in there too, which I really liked.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: I thought it was really interesting for you guys.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's more melodic than that previous like
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: hey album. Yeah, to have like some some kind of chances.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's it. And i'm Aphous is famous for
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: drawing from Finnish mythology and poetry like the color of
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: I don't know if I said that right, Kalavala, Yeah,
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: what keeps that mythology inspiring to you after so many albums?
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: Well, first weekend with that idea, when we started to
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: have like influences from like folk and ethnic music styles
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: to our music as well, and then we had just
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: an idea to use that caleb al and mutualogies because
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: it's of course it's feels like our own thing as
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: like Finnish persons, and also that not used it before,
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: and we didn't want to make lyrics about like rotten
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: corpses because that's been done. Yes, exactly, nothing wrong with
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: that if you're in cos or something. But it's like
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: old things and it's kind of never ending story in
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: a way, Like at first we were taking it directly
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: from the Kalabla and nowadays it's like influenced by that,
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: and we have Becokinolan and who's writing the lyrics, and
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: it's very like a timeless stuff. So it's easy being
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: that that territory in a way, and I think fits
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: very well those like tams and our music.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely. Yeah. And do you feel a sense of
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: responsibility representing Finnish folklore to audiences all over the world?
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: Not really. Actually, at some point we were like pissed
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: off when like in Finland there was the magazines asking
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: like colevel and that we are kind of bringing it
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: to and we didn't want to like it's not it's
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: not yeah, it's not like we're trying to be a
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: embassadors of Finnish culture or anything like that. But it's
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: it feels like punting and uh it fits well. And
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: of course of course it's fun when like people from
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: other countries are having their own translations and asking for that,
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: and it's fun that. Uh, it's it's like spreading in
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: a way, but it's not our goal or anything like that. Yeah,
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: it's interesting stuff and even like their Tolkien was like
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: fanatic to that, Caleb al and taking a lot of
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: influences for a lot of the Rings book stories. So
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: it's interesting stuff, but we're not trying to be embassadors
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: anything like that.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: That makes a lot of sense. It wasn't like a
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: conscious decision of like we're going to teach the world
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: about our heritage or anything like that.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, and sorry, it's also like something we
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: are learning in school as well. And at that time,
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: that time it was like the most boring thing ever.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: I couldn't care about these things. Yeah, when you get
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: trying to study it a little bit, it came a
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: little bit like more interesting.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, no, I can understand that. And after
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: so many tours and albums together, do you still challenge
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: each other creatively or does the writing process feel more
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: intuitive now?
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: I think we are. Yeah. If I'm listening to those
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: like Charity song demo, which was done by us before
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: going to the studio, there's a lot of like different
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: kind of stuff, like very wide scale and so I guess.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: But it's like you said before, it's up to producer
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: with songs he kicks. Yeah, so it's always risky to
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: have like a totally different kind of song, but sometimes
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: it's up to producer if he feels like it fits
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: yah the album and it's good. But I think we're
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: challenging ourselves and with one test, if I'm taking kits
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: or I'm not trying to make a Morphis song, I'm
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: trying to make some song, and then it might become
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: a Morphis song when other guys are playing with it
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: and stuff like that. So yeah, I still feel it.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: It's very like interesting and I enjoy very much doing music.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know what, I actually think it's a really
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: good idea to have an outside, someone on the outside
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: to listen to your songs and choose for you, because
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: I imagine when you're in a band, you're hearing things and
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: you think something is great, but you're not really sure
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: because you're not outside of it.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that's how it is, of course. Yeah, with
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: the six members in the bandits, it's impossible to start
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: that discussion and it's we have done that. I think
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: one album sounds even more like that. It's too long,
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: Like in the beginning of times that was like we
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: couldn't agree anything, so it was kind of a compromise
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: to have an over long album. And I don't know,
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: nobody from us are like satisfied fully to that album
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: because of that. So because it's it's better than there's
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: an outsider here.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's it. That's it. And when you're not
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: making music, what kind of things inspire you creatively?
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: Well, it's nature, I guess always when I have like
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: three time or anything, I'm going to my cabin place
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: which is the middle of forest and small lake and
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: stuff like that, and that that place, I think it's
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: more most inspiring to me because then I don't have
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: any like.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: A city noise or anything like. I don't worry about
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: anything like routines too much. It's just like you're there
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: and you have to chop the water, hit the sauna
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: and stuff. Like that, and then your brain is like,
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: you know, relaxed mode and it's ready to take everything
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: in like if you have some ideas musically. So to
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: me it's like and I believe the most of the
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: guys in the band are feeling the same thing. Yeah,
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: nature is very like inspiring.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: Oh definitely that that sounds so beautiful. I am so jealous.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: Do you I know that film gets a lot of
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: darkness in the winter. Do you find that inspiring at all?
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: Do you feel like you can get a lot of
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: work done when that happens or are either opposite? Do
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: you go to sleep?
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: Well? Yeah, I think that's one reason there's so many
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: metal bands, mostly because in winter time it's it's long
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: and it's dark. And when I was like, we were
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: young and there was really nothing to do in winter time,
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: if not going to skiing or anything like that, then
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: going to rehearsing place and doing some stuff and that
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: that was like out that that was like own bubble
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: in a way to me at least, And I guess
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: there's something to do with that. If we had a
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: summer all the time in Finland, there would be a
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: lot of different things you could do instead of going
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: to rehearsing.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe not so many metal bands that that's crazy.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: That's that's what I think. And also I think the
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: melancholy stuff comes from that as well. And it's also
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: in the winter time you're thinking nostel to take things
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: about summer or looking forward summer, and that affects some
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: kind of feelings as well.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, oh my goodness, that's such a good point. I
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: never thought of it like that. And sorry. Second last question,
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: if you could go back and give your younger self
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: in the early nineties one piece of advice, what would.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: It be, M don't trust everyone advice. Yeah, my son
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: is having a band as well, and at least I
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: have some advices for him. Check the check the thinks
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: you are going to sign on everything like that. Oh yeah,
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: but otherwise I don't know if I would do anything differently,
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: like no, it's too late to think like some other
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: other profession or anything that train like game went already.
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: But yeah, but yeah, I'm very like grateful that I'm
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: able to do this as like my job as well,
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: and it's not like it's quite rare in Finland that
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: it's it's possible to leave out of this. So I'm
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: grateful for that. So yeah, that's one.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: And it's so nice that you're able to now teach
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: your son, like, you know, the way to go about
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: the industry because it's so important.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, especially nowadays there's a lot of Yeah, it's
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: a music business. Industry has been so so much changed
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: and it's it's not the same things of course that
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: we we used to have. We just had a record deal,
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: but nowadays they have like all the you know, TikTok
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: acting TikTok things and uh, you know digital or whatever.
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, Oh it's totally changed. But if I can
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: have some advices, there would be something like that exactly.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, that's that's fantastic. And last question for fancying
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: Amorphous live in Australia this September. What kind of experience
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: do you hope they walk away with after the show? Hm?
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: Hmmm. It's been thirty years later from last time, and
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: I think we are getting more tight as a band
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: and there will be a lot of songs from whole career,
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: and yeah, I think it will be very good. If
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: there's people. We don't have any ideas or expectations. If
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: there will be anyone, they will be definitely we're looking
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: forward there.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: That's so lovely, Tommy. We can't to see you in September.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: Thank you so very much for your time.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: Thank you