The Metal Crypt - Abhorrence/Demilich Interview

Interviews Abhorrence/Demilich

Interview with vocalist Jukka Kolehmainen of Abhorrence and vocalist and guitarist Antti Boman of Demilich
Interview conducted by Luxi Lahtinen

Date online: April 14, 2017

Two Finnish Death Metal legends, Abhorrence and Demilich, had the rare opportunity to do a mini-tour together in Finland during February 2017. The father of this idea was Jukka Taskinen from Svart Records, who arranged four dates for these bands on back-to-back weekends. The shows were successful as far as the size of the crowds was concerned. Their last gig in Hell-sinki on February 18, 2017, was completely sold out. No wonder as Abhorrence and Demilich gig relatively infrequently and it's highly unlike a tour like this will ever happen again but as long as both bands are still out there ready to play, there's hope the final chapter is not yet written.

The Metal Crypt also saw it as a rare opportunity to do a split interview with both bands' frontmen, Jukka Kolehmainen of Abhorrence and Antti Boman of Demilich so without any further introduction, let's hear what these fine and polite gentlemen have to say...

Luxi: First of all, hell-come to this interview boys!

Jukka: Thank you!

Antti: Thanks.

ALLIANCE OF 2 FINNISH DEATH METAL GODS

Luxi: How did the idea of an Abhorrence and Demilich split tour come about?

Jukka: Without knowing much about the details, I believe it was Jukka Taskinen from Svart Records who supposedly suggested this idea first...

Antti: Yes, I also think it was Jukka's idea to get the wheels rolling for this tour with Abhorrence and Demilich. He asked us first if we might be available to do this with Abhorrence. He gave us a schedule for weekends when the tour would be possible. When came back with his suggestion, we gave the green light as it sounded like a brilliant idea to us.

Jukka: I remember we were pondering something like this for Abhorrence and wondering if there would be enough interest. I suggested Jukka (Taskinen) from Svart Records start contacting venue owners with an offer of both bands in the same package. After a while he got back to us with some suggestions. As far as I recall, Jukka had already asked the guys in Demilich without letting us know about his thoughts regarding this tour. He's such a rogue... [*laughs*]

Antti: Indeed he is... [*laughs*]

Jukka: ... But in such a good way.

Luxi: How familiar are you with the music of the other's band?

Antti: I had heard Abhorrence before we even started Demilich. Abhorrence were one of the very first Finnish Death Metal outfits so everyone into the more extreme side of Metal was aware of them. Besides them, we were listening bands like Sentenced, Demigod and other Finnish Death metal bands from those days as well. We thought we should get a band together and start churning out similar stuff.

Jukka: Yeah, I got to know about Demilich when they started putting out their first songs/releases. But I need to confess that by that time there was a big Death Metal explosion here in Finland and I sort of lost my spark for the whole genre which was into technical Death Metal and then melodic Death Metal. I didn't follow any of the new Death Metal genres and I got fed up with everything back in the day. When I look back, I was also writing about all kinds of underground stuff for some different publications. My interests were somewhere else, not in Death Metal at that time.

Luxi: How have the past three gigs prior to this one here in Helsinki gone? I know Helsinki is sold out. Did the mini-tour draw a lot of people for the other gigs?

Antti: All in all I would say it's been a pretty successful tour for us, despite the fact I suffered from a slight flu during the first weekend. Happily it didn't ruin it for me as I tried to cure myself with as much garlic as possible, poisoning the room air around me [*laughs*]. Sorry guys. We have had a lot of fun together with the guys of Abhorrence; they've been such great company. It's been very important for Abhorrence that we decided to participate because otherwise they wouldn't have had a chance to play due to their broken equipment. Most of their equipment was borrowed from US...!!! [laughs*]

Jukka: Hahahah... That is so true Antti. It's been kind of embarrassing for us borrowing their amps, the more I think about it.

Antti: It all started when one of their guys first asked, "Do you have a guitar belt I can borrow, as I don't have any?" It escalated from there. [*laughs*]

Luxi: Both Abhorrence and Demilich officially broke a long time ago but both bands reactivated some years ago to do occasional gigs here and there. Your crowd still has a lot of old-school fans, people that have been following you since day one. Have you noticed a new generation of people that have found Abhorrence and Demilich coming to your gigs?

Jukka: I would say there's different generations of people that have shown up at our gigs, which feels great, of course! Both the fans we saw at our gigs in the early 90s as well as all of the new faces that were obviously born at the end of nineties and are in their twenties have appeared at our gigs. At least that is the gut feeling I have regarding our audience these days.

Antti: Surprisingly, young women have also been coming to our recent shows, which isn't a bad thing I would add, heheh!

Jukka: Yes, I have noticed the same, with some "older" women as well.

Luxi: Do you have any idea why this type of extreme Metal is attracting both younger and older women?

Antti: I have no idea about these ugly men though - not on stage anyway, hahah!

Jukka: I forgot to add that I have seen very ugly men on our recent gigs, but that's another story...

Antti: Perhaps other bands have a bunch of ugly men playing on stage. Neither Abhorrence nor Demilich have anything to do with such ugliness as far as I am aware.

[*laughs*]

Jukka: People could call us "boy bands", with pretty faces, nice clothing and stuff, hahah!

Luxi: Okay, I see. But let's get a bit more serious for a short while. I am sure this special tour with both Finnish Death Metal legends Abhorrence and Demilich will stir up some interest outside of the borders of Finland. Have you noticed any people in the crowd that have traveled to Finland just to see this tour?

Jukka: Yes, I have noticed this. I cannot tell which countries these people have come from, but many have a different English accent. For example, I heard as many as six Russian fans had appeared at the doors of the venue asking if they can still get in (the Helsinki show was completely sold out). As they had traveled such a long way to see us, we appreciated their efforts so we let them in for free. That's the least we could do for them.

Antti: Same here. I have seen many people on our Facebook page that have shown interest in this split tour. They have been telling us how great and special it would be to see these two "Finnish Death Metal legends" on the same tour together. One of these non-Finnish people came all the way from New York, USA, Sergei was his name, and he had already seen us live seven times, which is pretty incredible. He flew from New York to Moscow then rented a car and drove to Finland just to make sure he would have this ultimate chance to see us live as many times as possible. He told us he may never have a chance to see both of us playing live, so talk about some true dedication here.

Jukka: For me personally this type of fanaticism feels kinda odd and strange though, perhaps just because I don't go crazy for any bands that at this age I would travel around the world to see them live a half-dozen times. I do understand why some people get fanatical toward the bands they love and travel long distances to see them even though it costs a huge amount of money.

It was even quite surprising for us that we were able to make this tour possible in the first place. But yeah, it's great to see that people have noticed this tour, even abroad, and we have people from far away coming to see us. Sometimes I tend to get these odd vibes from my teenager days when I see young people wearing on denim vests that are fully covered by a varied selection of band patches and stuff like that. It's been "a little while" since those days... [*laughs*]

Antti: But hey, those guys still look exactly same as 25+ years ago; perhaps just having thicker mustaches and perhaps a few extra kilos, hahah!!

Luxi: We touched this next topic quite a bit already. The gig in Helsinki sold out quickly makes me ask if you believe this type of tour package might have some demand outside of Finland?

Antti: Absolutely. I honestly believe so. I don't have anything else to say...

Jukka: Yes, I share Antti's thoughts as well. The interest is definitely there; it just depends on people's readiness and determination to get us to play shows in their countries.

Luxi: Have you been contacted you about a possible co-headlining tour with Abhorrence and Demilich?

Jukka: Unfortunately, not at the moment. I myself haven't heard of anyone that would be interested in organizing both Demilich and Abhorrence for gigs abroad. We have been getting random messages from people from all over the world via social media sites asking why we don't play in their country and so on. There have been some smaller festival organizers that have contacted us but unfortunately they cannot even pay our flights to their festivals. The discussions have pretty much ended right there as we cannot pay everything from our own pockets, as you know. On the other hand, there's also been difficulties getting our own schedules lined up so that we would be available for doing these gigs. For example, in Abhorrence we have two musicians who make their living by playing in their own bands. It's really tough to arrange our own schedules so that we could be ready to do more gigs with Abhorrence. But anyways, I would be all for doing more gigs not just in Finland.

Luxi: What about Demilich?

Antti: No, we don't want to play with the guys of Abhorrence under any circumstances.

[*laughs*]

But seriously, people have been asking us constantly for gigs and many of these requests come from our fans. It's just a matter of one's willingness and dedication to organize those gigs for us. I have heard this type of request numerous times already and am sort of getting used to them. As I mentioned, it's all about some issues we have had in our lives in Demilich. Some of our members have some true challenges lining up their schedules around their jobs and stuff. But what can you do? We are just a bunch of amateurs with this nice "hobby band" called Demilich, hahah!!

Luxi: This question is primarily for Antti. Demilich appeared at a unique underground festival in 2015 that took place in Pori, Finland. The festival concentrated on introducing old and new Finnish Death Metal bands to audiences and was a success in many different ways. Not only it was sold out but it was advertised well in many places around the world and this brought people in from long distances (Canada, Russia, Spain, etc.). What was this experience like for Demilich?

Antti: It was a great experience for us. There were great bands and an amazing festival atmosphere with many old and new faces. One of the minor downsides that I can remember was a lot of hassle to get things sorted for our own set - just like has happened today. But other than that, no complaints whatsoever, even if we found this festival venue quite an odd choice at first. But at the end of the day there was not too much to be worried about because everything went relatively smoothly, at least from our own part.

Luxi: I also happen to know that there's been interest toward Abhorrence from the festival organizer, correct?

Jukka: Yes, that's true. But our plans for Abhorrence to play at this festival have failed due to our other comings and goings in our life. It's been really tough for us to get our schedules arranged so we can get Abhorrence on the road for some gigs. Unfortunately it seems to be damn difficult to make these arrangements in order to get all five of us on the band.

SVART RECORDS DIGGING UP THE OLD GRAVES

Luxi: Svart Records from Finland has been digging up the old graveyard of the country's underground scene quite a bit over these last years, bringing back many underground gems that have been basically the property of those people who were there when the underground tape trading scene was going on some 25 or so years ago. The company released a luxury box set from Demilich titled 20th Anniversary of Emptiness at the beginning of 2014 and two years earlier put out Abhorrence's past demo, EP, live and rehearsal stuff on both vinyl and CD (titled Completely Vulgar). Just recently they released an album (Totally Vulgar) which is a live soundboard recording from Abhorrence's performance at Tuska Open Air Festival in 2013. How much is Svart Records responsible for boosting the careers of both Abhorrence as well as Demilich during the past 3-4 years?

Jukka: When I look at this from Abhorrence's perspective, it had a very important effect when all of our old stuff got re-released by Svart Records. All the credit goes to Svart Records for the fantastic job they did with our past releases! I had this idea in my head for the last ten years but I didn't get anything done with it. Happily the guys behind Svart Records, Tomi Pulkki and Jarkko Pietarinen, had the devotion and dedication to get these projects done. Of course when you put something out through a label like Svart Records, you get more exposure for your releases than you could personally due to their good promotion channels. And people shouldn't forget that not only has Svart Records brought some rare Finnish underground (Death) Metal releases into the daylight but also re-released a wide range of Finnish Pop, Rock, Prog, Jazz, etc. back catalogs with a huge amount of passion and done a magnificent job with everything they have touched so far. I honestly have to say Svart Records is doing the kind of job that all other record companies should do.

Antti: Exactly. They are THE RECORD COMPANY, with screaming capital letters, and not the kind of greedy corporation with the main purpose of bringing huge amounts of money into the pockets of those people invested in the company. I would add that they run this label for the right reasons, unlike so many other record companies.

Jukka: Now Antti just made a really good point; Svart Records truly is a record company and not some money-grubbing corporation that is interested in big and quick wins only.

Luxi: Do you believe Svart Records has helped foster all the requests that you have gotten for playing live?

Jukka: Hmm... For me it's tough to say but I do believe it has had quite an influence on people in general that have told us or messaged to us about how badly they would like to see us playing live in their countries.

Antti: For us it has had some meaning for sure, although we put Demilich back together long before they got interested in releasing the 20th Anniversary thing with us. Since we activated for gigs, we have done quite a lot of gigging and people seem to understand now that Demilich is back and is not finished. Then again, if they think we are back for good, it's pretty much sort of illusion because our next gig may well be even our last gig. You just never know... [*laughs*]

Jukka: If I can continue, I think the biggest difference is between the underground tape trading scene of the past and what we have nowadays going on in the Metal scene. Having said this, times are naturally so different now than, let's say some 20-25 years ago. I feel like when we started Abhorrence the (underground) Metal scene was very important and meaningful for all us back then; everyone seemed to be a part of it in one way or the other, supporting each other. The metal heads that came into the picture more than two decades later have obviously done a lot of research regarding the past Finnish underground scene and have even been influenced by it at some level. The echoes from the past are among these younger metal heads too, if you just get familiar with some of these extreme underground bands that cite Abhorrence and/or Demilich as their true influences for instance if you know what I mean... Damn, I think I forgot what the original question was...?!

[*laughs*]

Antti: I am afraid that I didn't stick to the original topic so much either, sorry about that.

Jukka: Anyway, I still would like to continue by saying that when we started, we had our own thing, reached some level of success and undoubtedly encouraged some of the people who came to see us on tour to form their own bands. And doing something similar to our stuff; not ripping us off but still doing brutal Death Metal with their own sound and attitude. Also, it's somewhat amazing how well some of these (die-hard) metal heads that were born 20 years later than us have adopted what 90s Finnish Death Metal was all about. They are digging up some old underground 'zines and scanning them on the Internet and making them available for everyone as PDF files and stuff, sort of teaching the history of the first wave of Finnish underground Death Metal to all interested parties. That's pretty darn cool, I would say. I remember back in the tape trading days spreading band demos, flyers, etc. to each other. It was insane. That was the only way to get the word out because there was no Internet at that time.

But to answer your question now, I think our relationship with Svart Records does have a pretty huge influence on keeping Abhorrence's name alive; both by the releases that they have done with us so far plus promoting Abhorrence via their label as well.

Luxi: Do you believe that both bands will continue to cooperate with Svart Records? It's always good to have merchandise at shows because there's always a bunch of potential buyers eager for shirts, patches, CDs and vinyl, you name it.

Antti: This is a matter that I should think more of from now on because I am bad at thinking about this type of thing in advance. I have never talked with Svart Records about making some shorts and stuff for us. We have made our shirts ourselves thus far, but I guess this is something that I might discuss with Svart Records about in the future.

Jukka: Our previous pile of shirts was made for us by Svart Records and the ones that we have here for sale today, we made ourselves. In my opinion, Svart Records is the kind of label that is easy to work and deal with. Of course we can always ask them to do something more for us but then again perhaps we are simply too shy to ask for their help with these types of things. Getting our own stuff (i.e. shirts, patches, etc.) out for sale by the DIY method works for us too. We have this DIY/Punk attitude pretty well installed in Abhorrence, so we can get things done on our own without any headaches. Anyways, our relationship is good enough with Svart Records and we can always ask them to do different things for us whenever we feel like asking.

WHERE'S THE NEW STUFF?

Luxi: Moving on, can I get the latest updates from both camps about what you guys have been up to lately. First Jukka, do you have the spark to do any new stuff with Abhorrence?

Jukka: Indeed we have, but again we have our limits due to different things in our lives. Don't read me wrong; it would be super-cool to do new stuff with Abhorrence after such a long break. Even if we have ideas and willingness to get things done, it's basically this harsh reality that has always pushed us back to square one. We may discuss arranging a rehearsal session for next week and all of a sudden, "Ooops... It's been almost two years since we were last together - what on earth happened?" This type of break happened to us earlier and it's difficult to plan what might be our next step with this band. I hope for the best, of course, but expect the worst for us. Hopefully the future for Abhorrence will be somewhere in the middle, but you can just never know.

Luxi: It's been "a while" since Abhorrence created any new songs. Do you have any raw new material just waiting to be finished some day?

Jukka: At an individual level I can say for sure that we do have some bits and pieces of songs that are simply waiting to get worked on further but there isn't much more to tell at the moment, I am afraid.

Luxi: What about Demilich then...?

Antti: Das ist my kampf... In other words, I gotta be honest with you but the existence of Demilich depends pretty much on me nowadays. I have done basically everything for this band since the very beginning; the songs, booking gigs and so forth. At some point I remember trying to share some of this workload with my band mates but it hasn't ever worked out. After 1993 it has been extremely difficult for me to get any new material done and finished with Demilich. I remember struggling with this new song titled "The Faces Right Below the Skin of the Earth". Perhaps I should start looking at the songwriting process with new eyes, sort of kicking my own butt and getting things started for Demilich again as far as new music is concerned. Anyways, the strive is definitely there to get some new Demilich stuff done some day.

RETURNING TO THE PAST - AND PRESENT

Luxi: Looking back, the Death Metal boom really happened at the beginning of the 90s. The scene in Sweden was a very good example and many of these initial Swedish Death Metal bands had some pretty remarkable careers by sticking to that what they did best; playing Death Metal. Almost at the same time the same thing was happening here in Finland; the country producing bands like Abhorrence, Funebre, Xysma, Disgrace, Demilich, etc., but for some reason or the other, none of these Finnish comrades made it big even when the Death Metal wave reached its peak. Of course we can always speculate, "what IF....", and so on, but can you see any reasons why the labels back then seemed to avoid Finnish Death metal bands like the plague? Why didn't Abhorrence, for example, manage to turn the right heads?

Jukka: Actually we can look at this from a different angle because actually something good came out of all this for one of our members, Tomi Koivusaari. After Abhorrence disbanded in 1990, he made a career in Amorphis.

Luxi: But what IF Abhorrence had never split up in the first place...?

Jukka: Hmm... It's a very tough to say if Abhorrence would ever have made it that far. I don't know whether we had enough potential to make it big.

Antti: I myself don't believe either Abhorrence or Demilich would have had a chance to really become the kinds of bands that have brought food our tables. I mean, both bands sounded so unusual, non-commercial and not mainstream that it's hard to imagine any major label signing us. I think both Abhorrence and Demilich churned out stuff that was too challenging for the masses so labels didn't find us worth investing in. That's probably the main reason why neither Abhorrence nor Demilich ever broke through. If we had modified our sound a bit for the masses to a more straightforward sound, perhaps - just perhaps - we would have appealed more people, who knows.

Luxi: If we keep on speculating with this same thought, at first Swedish names such as Nihilist/Entombed and Dismember were not music of the masses, since they were some of the first bands to come up with the extremely down-tuned guitar sound and shit. Both bands, however, got a lot of hype helped by such phenomena as Sunlight Studios, Tomas Skogsberg, i.e. "The Stockholm Death Metal Sound" and that carried those bands far...

Jukka: Yes, that's all true. Entombed changed their sound pretty drastically after the first two albums, of course. Their third album, Wolverine Blues, was quite a different sounding record compared to their groundbreaking debut album and its follow-up record, Clandestine. Some call it as a musical progression, some as a musical regression. You decide.

Antti: The same thing also happened with many Finnish Death Metal bands. Amorphis changed their sound a lot after their first two albums and so did Sentenced after their North From Here album. And Demigod called it quits.

Jukka: It's pretty pointless to speculate WHAT IF this and that... [*laughs*] But anyway, the fact is that IF we had recorded like let's say 4-5 Abhorrence albums back in the day that all sounded the same and even toured for each of them, I believe I myself would have felt it was more like work that needs to be done with no passion or spark of ambition left in it at all. In our current situation doing gigs from time to time, this still feels like fun and that's how it should be. Some bands can still pull this off from one year to another like Bolt Thrower (R.I.P.) and Cannibal Corpse. I still haven't forgotten my negativity and getting fed up with all that the whole Death Metal genre represented back in the early nineties. There was so much going on back in those days and new extreme Death Metal bands were popping up everywhere, like mushrooms after a heavy rain. I found this other extreme after all these Death Metal bands which was extremely slow Doom Metal for me. At my worst times, so to speak, I was listening Doom Metal nonstop for days. That was bad, my addiction to Doom Metal. But back to your original question, if I had ever made my living by playing in Abhorrence, repeating from one album to another, I honestly believe I would have lost my passion and spark for this band in no time.

Luxi: If you think back to Abhorrence's most successful times and then think about today, would you say that Abhorrence seems to be more popular now than they ever were back in the day?

Jukka: That's a good question. I think when we had this long silent period, when we didn't do anything with this band, I believe our name more or less vanished, sort of. From my point of view, the sharpest peak happened when the breakup was right there around the corner. People seemed to talk about us a lot when we had already broken up (Abhorrence disbanded in 1990 for good - Luxi). If the band had kept going for a couple more years, I believe we would have had a chance to kp the band alive longer. What also killed Abhorrence in the beginning of nineties was things weren't going anywhere; certainly not the way we would have hoped for. I cannot analyze this any better than this now.

Luxi: When it comes to Demilich, I have noticed more hype around the band nowadays than in the past. Why do you think that is?

Antti: For some reason or another, Demilich has become a "cult" thing in some circles. When we started, we had no following whatsoever. Many saw us as some sort of "freak band" and even a "spittoon" among extreme Death Metal bands in the early nineties. It didn't help our situation because the first wave of Black Metal had just started to raise its head from the underground's darkest holes and put many Death Metal bands under its ominous shadow. That when most of the Black Metal bands and fans shit on us. Little by little my interest in Demilich started to fade. Sarcastically I would say that it was better to put an end to Demilich and make room for "better bands". I also stepped away from the whole scene for a little while as it didn't feel right doing new music with Demilich any more. 5 years later I went to a local bar where I found these young fellows listening to our record. They even had some Demilich posters hanging on the wall, which made me wonder, "what on earth has happened while I was away from everything?" It's really hard to explain but since then Demilich has enjoyed a "cult" following so to speak and that has lasted up to this very day.

Jukka: If I can continue a bit, I think one of the things that boosted Abhorrence's obscurity a bit is when we called it quits, people firmly believed we would never rise from the grave, but it did. That brought new hype around Abhorrence and people were interested in us and asking for gigs. It's easy to post on social media "Hey guys, come to play over here!", which we get a lot but arranging for us to play is a whole different story. There are not too many people out there that can take the bull by the horns, you know.

Luxi: How does it make you feel that both Abhorrence and Demilich have influenced many younger musicians that dreamed of forming their own bands?

Jukka: To be honest, it is pretty baffling actually but at the same time very cool because it's been nearly 30 years since we started and in some odd way Abhorrence still seems to be a relevant band for many people. For me it's hard to say why because I am on the wrong side to say anything but, in my opinion, the stuff we have churned out for years somehow doesn't feel outdated at all but quite relevant, even today. I remember when I was a teenager and listened to bands that I was really into and when I listen to them now they somehow sound "old" to me. Some of those 2-cent Speed Metal bands (no names here, though) that have lost their charm over the years. But it's a great feeling after all this time that the younger generation of metal heads consider Abhorrence a huge innovator. It makes me proud of this band to be honest with you.

Antti: When people consider Demilich as a huge inspiration for creating music, it feels odd to me though I partly understand it because I guess we did create some special music back in the day. At one point I even thought that perhaps one day there would be a bunch of bands that would try to clone our sound, but it never happened, not in a large scale. I think Demilich's sound is perhaps too tricky and strange that the masses probably try to avoid playing the cranky and twisted shit that we created back in those days, hahah!! However, it gives me a great yet odd feeling every time someone tells me I am his/(her) biggest influence. My tolerance for listening to praise about myself lasts about one minute then I start looking for the nearest escape from that absurd and uncomfortable situation.

[*laughs*]

Jukka: This must be some sort of "Finnish" dilemma. We are not used to getting our asses kissed, not that way though, hahah!

Antti: Yea, I bet that is it; the "Finnish" dilemma. We are two typical Finnish prototypes in this interview in that we both want to play down who we are, what we have done and achieved with our bands, etc. haha! Well, nothing wrong with being modest...

Jukka: I suck at accepting compliments from people. I normally don't know what to say or how to react to them.

KEEP IT BRUTAL

Luxi: What attracts you to playing downright brutal Death Metal after 27-28 years? What makes it still so fun?

Jukka: For this I can use the same word that I used three decades ago; it's BRUTAL!! All this primitive brutality makes you feel good inside and gives you this special feeling of relief, especially for myself as I growl my guts out in this band the best I can. Plus, Death metal just oozes tons of power; very primal power that feels just great!

Antti: I agree. It's just a great feeling overall to meet people and watch bands that you like because it's makes you think, "Oh man, this is so cool...!", not to mention how cool it is actually to go onstage and perform with my own band for the crowd. Plus, when you have a routine, daily job it's so great to go out for gigs and shred. It's not only the power of beer that makes you feel good after a long week at work but also the power of this music that gives you a needed break from everything else around you, for a short while at least.

Jukka: The more volume and brutality, the better. Those elements have a healing power for your spirit and soul...

Luxi: Okay, it's time for the last question guys. How familiar are you with this book in the making about the past and present Finnish Death Metal scene? Markus Makkonen (ex-Hooded menace, Sadistik Forest) has been putting stuff together for it for quite some time already...

Antti: Yes, I know the guy as we were on tour with Hooded Menace in the States sometime ago. As for the book itself, he was supposed to interview me on that tour but somehow things never got that far. We agreed he'll interview me for this book later on.

Jukka: I don't know the guy at all, even if I know Hooded Menace.

Luxi: So, he has not been in touch with you yet?

Jukka: No, not yet. But the idea of a Finnish Death Metal book sounds awesome to me! I am glad there's one in the works. I, for example, also really liked the book "Valtio Vihaa Sua ("Your Government Hates You" in English), which is about Finnish Punk bands. I liked the way the book was written even though Punk music was never a big thing for me personally. I was listening to bands like Lama, G.B.H. and others back when I was a kid. Those bands oozed the same rebellious energy, attitude and power that you can find from many Death Metal bands.

Anyways, I think it's really cool and very important that someone has the time, passion and determination to get the past and present history of Finnish Death Metal collected for a book. That's absolutely killer! I noticed that there was an expanded edition of the Choosing Death book, which also had some Finnish underground Death Metal bands added, including Abhorrence, which felt great of course! I didn't check this version out that carefully so unfortunately I cannot say which other Finnish Death Metal bands were mentioned. But yeah, the idea of having a history of Finnish Death Metal bands is something that I fully support.

Antti: All kinds of history is important to be preserved for future generations. That's my opinion, so why not the history of Finnish underground Death Metal as well...

Jukka: Let me also borrow American film director John Waters' wise and immortal words, who once said, "If you ever go out and are lucky enough to be invited to her place, please avoid fucking her if there are no books at her place. The books are damn important..."

[*laughs*]

Luxi: Okay, we can end this interview to these famous lines, so thanks to both of you for your time and all the best for tonight's performances.

Jukka & Antti: Thank you.